USA > Connecticut > Middlesex County > Middletown > Middletown and the American Revolution > Part 3
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83. Ralph Pomeroy, Assistant Quartermaster, reported on July 15, 1781, that seventeen teams were loading at Middletown with ordnance stores and rum for movement to the Continental Army. Rec. Conn. Rev., p. 627 n.
84. Van Dusen, op. cit., pp. 262-263.
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Name James Cornwell William Durie E. Fenno Samuel Gill Thomas Green
Products Advertised Wine
Years Advertising
1783
French indigo
1777-1778
Wine, sugar, spices
1777-1778
West Indies goods
1775-1776
English, East and West Indies goods
1775-1776
Wensley Hobby
Dry goods
1777-78, 1781-83
Elijah Hubbard
West Indies goods
1783
Mary Jehonet [Jehonnet] Dry goods
1775-1776
Joseph King
Wine
1778
James Lamb (& Son)
Dry goods
1776-1777
Silas Laurens
Salt, oil
1779
Giles Mergo
Nail rods
1779
Return Mergo
Coppers
1781
Jonathan Palmer
Rum, salt, breeches
1780
Joshua Plumb
Codfish
1774
John Rogers
Drums
1774-1775
Ebenezer Sage
Coats, train oil
1777-1778
Comfort Sage
West Indies goods
1782
Lemuel Storrs
Dry and West Indies goods
1782
George Thomson
European and Indies goods
1773
Jacob Whittimore
Teapots
1781
Chauncey Whittlesey
1778
Dr. Willis
Drugs
1773 85
In summary it may be said that wartime conditions favored mercantile activity in Middletown. The farmers in the town, the largest occupational group, benefited greatly from the sale of their surplus produce to Continental and State commissaries. Thus they had more funds available for purchases from Middletown merchants. The overall wartime mercantile picture in Middletown was one of considerable prosperity.86
MILITARY SERVICE IN CONTINENTAL ARMY, STATE TROOPS, AND THE MILITIA, 1776-1783
It is impossible in brief compass to give the names and records of all Middletown men who had a Revolutionary military record. Most of the principal commissioned officers and a sampling of the non- commissioned officers and privates are all whom space permits to be included here. A listing of the former follows.
85. The spellings of proper names are given as they appear in The Connecticut Courant.
86. Van Dusen, op. cit., pp. 391-392.
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I. General and Staff Officers, 1776
Charles Whiting - aide-de-camp- to Gen. Spencer; earlier adjutant Elihu Lyman - Ensign, Col. Huntington's 17th Continental Regt. - wounded and taken prisoner at Battle of Long Island; ex- changed May 1778
Elihu Hubbard - Captain, 17th Continental Regt.
Ebenezer Sumner - Captain, Col. Wylly's 22nd Continental Regt. Robert Warner - 1st Lt., 22nd Continental Regiment - reentered Continental service in 1777
These men saw service in the New York campaign, including the Battle of Long Island. Nehemiah Hubbard was in the regiment which went to Quebec and later was stationed near Ticonderoga.
II. Continental Line, 1777-1781
Stephen Ranney, Jr. - Surgeon-General's Department, March 1777 - October 1780
Col. Wylly's Third Regiment
Robert Warner, Capt., 1777-1781
Edward Eells, Capt., 1777-1781
Hezekiah Hubbard, Lt., 1777-1781
George Cotton, Ens., 1777-1780. Promoted to ensign in 1780.
Col. John Durkee's Fourth Regiment John Sumner, Lt. Col., 1777-1781
Col. Philip B. Bradley's Fifth Regiment
Jonathan Johnson, Lt. Col., 1777-1781
William Henshaw, Paymaster, 1777-1781. (Ensign earlier) 87
Appointed 1778
Col. Return Jonathan Meigs' Sixth Regiment, 1777-1781 88
Return Jonathan Meigs, promoted from Lt. Col. of Sherburne's "Additional" Regt. on May 12, 1777; Sag Harbor, May 1777; Light Regt. at Stony Point, July 1779; relieved January 1, 1781 Timothy Hosmer, surgeon, 1779-1781
David Starr, Capt., 1777-1781 (appointed Capt. 1780)
Col. Sherburne's "Additional" Regiment, 1777-1781 89
Return Jonathan Meigs, Lt. Col., 1777 (January-May)
Abijah Savage, Capt., 1777-1780, earlier to Quebec, exchanged 1777 Jesse Peck, Lt., 1777-1778 Elijah Blackman, Capt., 1777 -? Amos Galpin, Ens., 1777-1780 90
87. Rec. Conn. Rev., pp. 98, 101, 107, 143, 169, 182, 193, 194.
88. This regiment saw much active service in the Hudson area in outpost duty, Ft. Montgomery episode, Stony Point, West Point, building fortifications, etc. Ibid., p. 205.
89. This regiment apparently had practically no actual fighting.
90. Rec. Conn. Rev., pp. 205, 206, 253-255.
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The majority of Middletown's citizens who served in the Con- tinental Line were, of course, in the humbler ranks of non-commissioned officers and privates. In Colonel Sherburne's "Additional" Regiment at least eight non-commissioned officers and sixteen privates served. Most of them enlisted in Captain Abijah Savage's Company in the spring of 1777 and served until March or April of 1780. Not a single man became a casualty of any sort.91
In 1777 a special corps was raised in Connecticut to serve with the Continental Army. The statistics on the group of fifteen Middletown men in the "First Troop" of this corps are more complete than usual, and thus give an interesting close-up view of their service records.
Name
Rank Date of
Promotion
Occupation Notes
Enlistment
Butler Gilbert
Sgt. Dec. 27 '76
-
Farmer Disch. Sept. 30 '80
Joseph Cone
Cpl. Jan. 31 '77
-
Apr. 4 '78
Jonathan Roberts Trump- Jan. 13 '77 -
Farmer Disch. in '78
eter
James Johnson
Pvt. Feb. 3 '77
Cpl., Jan '78
Joiner
Daniel Robinson
Pvt. Dec. 27 '76
Trumpeter, May '78 Blacksmith
Richard Daude
Pvt. Apr. 1 '78
Farrier, June '78 Blacksmith
David Atkins
Pvt. May 1 '78
Farmer
Abijah Hubbard
Pvt. Mar. 19 '77
Cpl., Jan '78
Farmer
Elijah Clark
Pvt. May 1 '78
Jonathan Chauncey
Pvt. Mar. 22 '77
-
Farmer Killed Dec. 4 '77 in Penn- sylvania
James McDavid
Pvt. Jan. 8 '77
Barber Farmer
Allen Gilbert
Pvt. Apr. 1 '78
-
-
Shoemaker
Jacob Rash
Pvt. Feb. 3 '77
Jonathan Treat
Pvt. Jan. 13 '77
Tailor Farmer Waggoner92
The men signed up either for three years' service or for the duration, probably mostly the latter. It is of interest to note the occupational listings. Middletown still had a predominantly agricultural economy so that it is not strange to find "farmer" the occupation most often
91. Ibid., pp. 254-255. The Company Book of Captain Abijah Savage (MS. in Connecticut State Library) gives much pertinent information on this group. It includes weekly returns of arms, clothing, and other equipment.
92. Rec. Conn. Rev., pp 273-274. The height, complexion, and color of hair and eyes of each man also are given.
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-
Thomas Pentland
Pvt. Dec. 6 '79
-
Farmer
Shoemaker Deserted,
listed. In the "Fourth Troop" of the same corps seven out of eight Middletown men classified themselves as farmers.93
In the reorganized Continental Line of 1781-1783 Middletown men filled many positions of real responsibility. Major Robert Warner was on the staff of Colonel John Durkee's First Regiment. He also commanded a company of fifty-seven men in the same Regi- ment composed largely, or perhaps entirely, of Middletown soldiers. Lieutenant Hezekiah Hubbard and Ensign George Cotton served under him as company officers from 1777 to 1781. Captain Edward Eells headed another company which, like Major Warner's company, saw active service only during the year 1781.
Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Johnson was second in command of the Second Regiment, Connecticut Line, 1781-1783, while William Henshaw was paymaster on the same staff. In the Third Regiment John Meigs was adjutant and Ebenezer Frothingham, quartermaster.94
One of the best personal accounts of army service is found in the Journal of Oliver Boardman, of Middletown. He served in 1776 in Colonel Matthew Talcott's regiment at New York and on Long Island. His next call to service came in the final stages of the Saratoga campaign. Finally in May 1780 he put in six months of service on the Hudson River.
He gives a fairly detailed story of his participation in the Saratoga venture. On September 2, 1777, he set out with Captain "Blacque's" company and ten days later joined General Arnold's troops at Still- water Farm. A week later, on September 19, the Company saw heavy action and suffered casualties of eleven killed, thirty-six wounded, and three missing, but took forty-six prisoners. In the next few days Boardman reported a steady stream of British deserters who were "very scant for Provision". Soon thereafter the British position be- came hopeless, and General Burgoyne asked for terms. Boardman's comments were jubilant:
Friday {October] 17th, 1777 The Hand of Providence work'd wonder- fully. In favor of America this Day.
It was a glorious sight to see the haughty Brittons march out & Surrender their arms to an Army which but a little before, they despised and called paltroons.
Boardman was one of fifty men called out to take 128 prisoners to
93. Ibid., pp. 277-278.
94. Ibid., pp. 315, 316, 317, 322, 330. Major Warner served continuously from May 1775 to January 1, 1783; Lieutenant-Colonel Johnson, from 1777 to June 1783.
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Hartford. There must have been some who disappeared as the Journal reported the arrival of 123 prisoners, and commented that "five of them Left us on the March".95
The great depreciation of the Continental currency adversely affected soldiers, as well as most other classes of the population. At the end of the six months' service in 1780 Boardman got paid. "My wages when Rec'd would not pay the expense of food on My road to the North and back. One of my Company Mates gave $100 for 10 lb. Flax. 3 coppers would buy a Dollar." It must have been thoroughly demoralizing to exhaust one's pay for six months merely in buying a few meals en route home!
Throughout the War the Militia remained in a state of readiness for British attack. No serious invasion of the State ever occurred, but several sharp raids were made on such places as Danbury, New Haven, and New London. Middletown men seem to have answered the alarm sounded at General Tryon's incursion against New Haven in July 1779. No less than fourteen companies of Colonel Comfort Sage's Twenty-Third Regiment of the Militia turned out to help repel the British attack.96 Since men from the towns of Middletown and Chatham composed the complement of this regiment, we may assume that large numbers of local men participated.
One other catagory of soldiers, the so-called "State Troops", de- serves brief attention. These were special groups, eventually number- ing eighteen regiments in all, which were used chiefly to plug gaps in the Continental Line, or to carry out special missions.97 They operated independently of the Militia, but had many of the same officers. Comfort Sage, for example, was on the staff of Colonel James Wadsworth's regiment which served in the Boston area early in the War. Major John Sumner as a staff officer went with Colonel Samuel Mott's battalion to reinforce Continental troops in the Ft. Ticonderoga area in the summer and fall of 1776. In the same period Colonel Sage commanded the Third Battalion in the New York area.98
95. Journal of Oliver Boardman (MS. at Connecticut Historical Society) .
96. Rec. Conn. Rev., p. 547.
97. Connecticut as Colony and State, II, 82-83.
98. Rec. Conn. Rev., pp. 389, 398. Colonel Sage led the Third Battalion of Wadsworth's Brigade to New York for service there from June 1776 to December. Some losses were suffered in the retreat from the City. They were engaged in the Battle of White Plains. The seventh company, incidentally, was under Captain Edward Eells of Middletown.
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Space limitations preclude any detailed account of individual or group participation in particular battles, but two episodes deserve special mention. Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs commanded one of the most dashing and daring actions of the War, that against Sag Harbor, Long Island, in May 1777. From Sachem's Head he took four hundred men in whaleboats across the Sound. The American forces completely surprised the heavily armed British, destroyed twelve ships, killed six, captured ninety, and seized large quantities of provisions held for the British Army in New York. Within twenty- four hours the entire expedition was completed without loss of a single American. The exploit greatly impressed Congress, and led that body to present Colonel Meigs with a sword and a memorial.99
Colonel Meigs played a leading role in the midnight assault, July 15-16, 1779, against Stony Point on the Hudson. Under "Mad Anthony" Wayne he led a hand-picked Connecticut light infantry regiment of 400 men. By his audacious handling of the troops Meigs won fresh laurels. Again the element of surprise greatly facilitated the American success.100
Although there existed no real "draft" in the modern sense, a large number of Middletown men saw service in the Continental Line, the State Troops, or Militia, or some combination of the two or three.101 In most of the significant campaigns of the War, except those in the South, some Middletown men served. The Lexington Alarm, Boston seige, New York campaign, Quebec and Ticonderoga, and many other areas saw Middletown men in action. It is not certain exactly how many men served altogether102 as the records are very incomplete and vague on important points. There is no question, however, that the total military contribution of Middletown in terms of personal service and provision of supplies was large.
99. Middlebrook, op. cit., I, 212.
100. Rec. Conn. Rev., p. 241. John Fiske, The American Revolution (Boston, 1891), II, 112.
101. For the record of Middletown service see Rec. Conn. Rev., and Rolls and Lists of Connecticut Men in the Revolution, in Collections of Connecticut Historical Society, Vols. VIII and IX. The latter supplements the former. Interesting information is found, for example, in Collections, VIII, 55-69, 80-82, 89, 107, 204.
102. The local enumeration of September 1, 1776, listed 588 men on the militia rolls, 104 able-bodied men, ages 16 to 45, not on the rolls; 202 men in Con- tinental Army; and 5 men "raised for defence of the Colony and now in the Colony". At that time the town had in the category of males 20 to 70 years of age, 679 married and 268 single. Middlesex County, p. 73.
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POPULATION
How many people lived in Revolutionary Middletown? For- tunately a Connecticut census was taken in 1774, and another in 1782, so that a fairly accurate answer is possible. In 1774 the census gave Middletown 4878 persons or a rank of tenth among the towns of the Colony. Since Hartford then had only 5031 people, and New London 5888, it is apparent that Middletown ranked near the top.103 In the previous census, that of 1756, Middletown had led all the towns in population.104
During the Revolutionary years Middletown lost slightly - to be exact, a drop from 4878 to 4612 in 1782, or a six per cent decrease. This loss was not an atypical phenomenon in Connecticut as no less than ten of the twelve most populous towns of 1774 reported losses in the census eight years later.105
Why the decline in Middletown's population? It is difficult to say with any degree of accuracy. War very often has operated as a definite check upon population. It is known, furthermore, that a moderate emigration occurred during the war, especially after 1780, a continuation of an earlier trend. It is probable that some of the emigrants were from Middletown. During the war, immigration from Europe practically ceased.106 A few of Middletown's young able-bodied men were killed, died of disease, or were seriously disabled in their military service. Some combination of these factors perhaps helps to explain the decline in population.
A small but significant part of Middletown's populace which deserves attention is the Negro element. In 1774 there were 198
103. C.R., XIV, 485, 487.
104. Ibid., XIV, 492. That was a larger Middletown both in size and population (5664). Part of Middletown was cut off in 1767 to form the new town of Chatham. This explains the apparent decline between 1756 and 1774. The 1756 area of Middletown actually had a population of 7275 in 1774, a healthy 67 per cent gain.
105. Ibid., XIV, 485-491. A. R. W., X, 124-125 New London dropped from 5888 to 5682, for example. Middlesex County, p. 73, cites an enumeration in Middletown on September 1, 1776, which gave a total of 5037 (4836 whites and 201 negroes). There is no certain way of checking the validity of these figures. If accurate, these figures indicate growth in the 1774-1776 period, and point to the all-war period of 1776-1782 for the entire decline. The town meeting voted on April 14, 1777, to take an "Exact Account of all Male Persons of the Age of Sixteen Years or upwards" except those already in military service. Town Votes, II, 353. The author has been unable to locate any additional information concerning this census, if it ever was taken.
106. Jedidiah Morse, The American Geography (London, 1792), p. 218.
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Negroes reported as residents of the town, four per cent of the total population. Only five towns reported a larger total of Negroes.107 Joseph Stocking seems to have been one of the largest slaveholders in the town and in Connecticut.108 In the Town Records one finds occasional references to manumission of slaves. Dr. Eliot Rawson, for example, rewarded five of his Negroes for services to the Patriot cause by declaring on June 26, 1780, that one slave should become free in six months, and the other four at twenty-four years of age.109
The Middletown of Revolutionary days was larger in area than the Middletown of 1950, but it had roughly only about one-fifth as many people. By eighteenth-century standards, in the prevailing agricultural economy, however, it was considered to be heavily settled.
MEDICAL CONDITIONS
By eighteenth-century standards the health of Middletown appears to have been good. No serious epidemics, for example, struck the town during the war period. At that time there were three well-known and highly-respected physicians in active practice; namely, John Osborne, Eliot Rawson, and John Dickinson.
Dr. Osborne, whose father had served the town for many years, was considered an eminent practicioner and a person of vigorous opinions.110 When the War broke out, he was in the twelfth year of a local career which was to last sixty-two years. He ardently upheld the British Crown so that he did not contribute his services to any Patriot political endeavors. Dr. Osborne possessed one of the best medical libraries of the period and instructed more than a few young men in medical science.111 Dr. Rawson also served successfully for many years.
Dr. John Dickinson likewise enjoyed the favorable opinion and patronage of the townspeople. During the Revolution he mixed politics with prescriptions, apparently with good results! Frequently Middletown sent him as a representative to the General Assembly, and politics tended to encroach steadily upon his medical practice.112
107. C.R., XIV, 485-491.
108. Lorenzo J. Greene, The Negro in Colonial New England, 1620-1776, pp. 350 ff.
109. Town Votes, II, 391.
110. Middlesex County, p. 20
111. Ibid.
112. Ibid.
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One of the most serious medical problems of the times was smallpox. Dr. Osborne labored long and hard to overcome the deep local prejudice against inoculation for smallpox. The following excerpt from the Town Records suggests the persuasiveness of his argument:
(March 9, 1778) This Town having at their Lawfull Town Meeting held on the 29th Day of Dec{embe]r A D 1777 Given Liberty to Ennoculate for the Small Pox Such Persons as should prcure a Permit from the Maj[o]r Part of the Civil Authority and Selectmen of S[ai]d Town therefor which Liberty has been Improved & about 1200 Persons have been Ennoculated & now the Season of the Year is Coming on when it will be necessary that all Hands should be Employed Either in the Field or War or Husbandry or in Trade or Manufactures. It is now Voted and ordered that no more Permits be Granted. And all Informing officers and other Persons are hereby Desired to be Vigilant & make presentment of all Breaches of the Late Law relating to the Small Pox.113
RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS
The religious phases of Middletown's life in the Revolutionary era centered about the three churches - the First Church (Congrega- tional), the Strict Congregational, and the Episcopal Church. Each church seems to have been under the charge of an energetic clergyman of patriotic outlook. In the war years no serious denominational rivalries marred the scene, perhaps in part because the War itself resulted in the submergence of most petty differences.114
Since the First Church was the oldest local religious body, the representative of the Established Church, and commonly considered one of the most influential churches in Connecticut, it deserves atten- tion. The church edifice was located on High Street nearly opposite the head of Church Street. The Reverend Enoch Huntington, brother of Samuel Huntington the Signer of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, assumed the pulpit of the First Church in 1762, three years after graduation from Yale. His coming coincided almost exactly with the assumption of more rigorous policies by the Mother Country toward the American Colonies. He seems to have been opposed heartily to the new policies and did much to mold opinion in the
113. Town Votes, II, 361.
114. The Strict Congregational Church arose in 1747 as a result of differences in outlook stimulated by the Great Awakening. The Strict or Separatist Church basically was an off-shoot from the First Church. No evidence exists in the records of the churches that any serious denominational dispute arose.
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period of mounting opposition to and break from British rule.115
The attitude of Huntington comes out clearly in the sermon he preached on July 20, 1775, for the general day of fasting ordered by the Continental Congress and observed throughout Connecticut. Some excerpts follow:
We see, for a course of years, a long series of plans and schemes of subtle statesmen, and parliamentary debates, and acts, and resolutions, under ministerial influence, all evidently calculated to subjugate this country.116
He went on to ask whether whole fleets and armies were not used "to convert us as a people, to a state of the most abject slavery to the crown, court-parasites, minions and placemen of Great Britain?" But Americans asked only the peaceful enjoyment of the rights and privileges accorded by former British rulers and parliaments. Hunt- ington closed on this note:
And Oh! that we might be enabled, like God's antient people, under the conduct of the good Nehemiah, to keep this Fast and like them obtain favour of God.117
His denunciation of the British leadership easily ranked in vehe- mence with that of the more rabid Patriot political leaders of Connecticut.
It is of interest to note that the roster of deacons of the First Church included several of the best-known political figures of Middletown. The deacons were Jonathan Allen, Joseph Clarke (to 1788), Jabez Hamlin, John Earl Hubbard (to 1782), Jacob Whitmore (elected in 1782), and Chauncey Whittlesey (elected 1778) .118
The Strict Congregational Church (now South Congregational Church) also seems to have been thriving during the early war years under the able leadership of the Rev. Ebenezer Frothingham. Although the religious fervor which had marked its inception in the excitement of the Great Awakening had quieted down, the
115. Azel W. Hazen, Brief History of the First Church of Christ in Middletown, pp. 33-54.
116. Enoch Huntington, A Sermon Delivered at Middletown July 20th, A. D. 1775 (Hartford, Ebenezer Watson), pp. 17-18.
117. Ibid., pp. 19, 21, 22, 25.
118. Field, Statistical Account, p. 159. At the church meeting on Dec. 8, 1778, Titus Hosmer served as moderator. Matthew Talcott, Nehemiah Hubbard and Jacob Wetmore were chosen a committee to manage the "Prudentiall Affairs" of the society for the following year. First Congregational Church Records, 1702-1864, Ser. II, Vol. III, p. 40.
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congregation apparently was fairly large and active.119 The new church, located on the south side of South Main Street between Mill Street and Pameacha Pond was a structure of fifty-six feet in length, and forty-six in breadth.120
The picture of organized religion in Revolutionary Middletown was rounded out by the Episcopal Church, organized two-hundred years ago. Among the prominent citizens who led the drive for the erection of the first church edifice, concluded in 1755 at the South End of Main Street, were Richard Alsop, William Johnson, Philip Mortimer, and Captain Caleb Wetmore.121 In the Revolutionary years the Reverend Abraham Jarvis, who had assumed his duties in July 1764, was rector of Holy Trinity Church. Wardens at different times included Philip Mortimer, Ichabod Wetmore, Richard Alsop, Nathaniel Shaler, and John Osborn.
As to the state of morals in the war-time town, it is exceedingly difficult to make any specific observations. The Reverend David D. Field, in his very valuable early nineteenth-century study of Middlesex County declared: "The revolutionary war ... gave a shock to the moral habits of the people, from which they have not yet wholly recovered. From that time to the present an unusual number have indulged in Sabbath-breaking, profaneness, and intemperance."122 Other reliable testimony as to religious conditions in the town is unfortunately lacking. Church records themselves bear almost no reference to the War, or to any special results of it.123 The clergy and members of the three churches, by all reports, seem to have been ardently patriotic and united in the war effort.
THE DAWN OF PEACE
The definitive Peace of Paris of 1783 brought peace to the infant United States and joy to the hearts of Middletown's populace.
119. At least it was able to erect a new church in 1774 and pay Mr. Frothingham a $450 yearly salary, considered excellent in those days. See Charles Hill, Historical Sketch of the South Congregational Church (Middletown, 1876), for background facts.
120. Field, op. cit., p. 150. One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Organiza- tion of the South Congregational Church, p. 27.
121. Historical Sketch of the Parish of the Church of the Holy Trinity (Middle- town, 1837), pp. 9, 11, 31. Church of the Holy Trinity, Middletown, Con- necticut, Records, 1750-1937, Vol. II. (MS. at State Library). The Holy Trinity records indicate serious opposition to the Episcopal Church by many townspeople, especially in the early years of Jarvis' efforts. Ibid., p. 7. Apparently this opposition largely disappeared by Revolutionary days.
122. Field, Statistical Account, p. 33.
123. Church of the Holy Trinity, Records 1750-1937. First Congregational Church, Records 1702-1864, Sec. II, Vol. III. Also Records, 1668-1871.
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To the inhabitants of the small agricultural and commercial village it was a pleasure to forget the grim days of war and look forward to a happier future.
The War had brought many dislocations to individuals and to the town as a whole. There had been a small mercantile boom chiefly stimulated by the supply business for the Continental troops, but many failed to share in the prosperity - least of all did the under- paid soldiers and their dependents. Acute problems of spiralling prices, depreciating paper money, and severe shortages of certain necessities, such as salt, plagued the townspeople for most of the eight years. Stark tragedy came to a few in the loss of loved ones from wounds or disease incurred in military service. As always the impact of the war upon individuals was cruelly uneven.
Undoubtedly Middletown's greatest claim to fame in the struggle lay in the high caliber of its civilian leadership in which Jabez Hamlin and Titus Hosmer led the procession. By and large Middletown was deeply affected by the Revolution, but the town managed to "weather the storm" successfully. It came out of the War in a very favorable position to capitalize upon the expanding commercial and industrial opportunities of the next several decades.
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The Rockfall Corporation was organized and endowed on January of 1935 by the late Colonel Clarence S. Wadsworth for eleemosynary purposes, but it was not until 1941 that it took an active part in community life when the de Koven House was restored and beautified by Mrs. Wadsworth as a Com- munity Center in memory of her husband.
The deKoven House was constructed about 1792 by Benjamin Williams and shortly thereafter purchased by Henry deKoven, the great-grandfather of the founder of the Corporation. Now this historic landmark has taken on new life to become a unique and useful center for the whole Middletown area.
OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS OF THE ROCKFALL CORPORATION
Thomas M. Russell, Jr.
President
Everett V. Dana
Vice President
Mrs. W. Ernest Harrington
Secretary
Henry H. Lyman
Treasurer
Robert I. Laggren
Director
Elmer E. Schattschneider
Director
Seymour Wadsworth
Director
The Middlesex County Historical Society came into being by an act of the General Assembly in April, 1901. This act authorized that the first annual meeting should be held at such time and place as designated by the following men:
Reverend A. W. Hazen Albert R. Crittenden George A. Craig
The first home of the Society was the old Henry G. Hubbard mansion which stood at the corner of Union and Crescent Streets at the site now occupied by the Y. M. C. A.
On April 18, 1927, the Society purchased from the North Congre- gational Church, the property which it now occupies on Court Street. There it houses a unique and valuable collection of antiques pertaining to this entire area. Its object is to maintain safe housing for the historical documents and objects already held, and to receive from time to time additional material and to make these available for inspection and study by the public.
OFFICERS OF THE MIDDLESEX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Ansel A. Packard
President
George M. Dutcher -
Vice President
Thomas M. Russell, Jr. Vice President
Lester D. Fowler
Secretary
Mrs. Henry Bacon Assistant Secretary
Howard E. Murkett
Treasurer
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