USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > New Britain > New Britain, Connecticut, 1635-1935. [Tercentenary program] > Part 2
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When New Britain, in 1754, became a separate society, it was given its name by Colonel Lee, in honor of Great Britain.
Page Seventeen
SARAH SMALLEY
"A WOMAN of remarkable skill and economy in household matters, relieved her husband from much of the anxiety, incident to the care of a farm and parish at the same time.
"Dr. Smalley was numbered among the 'rich ministers of Hartford County,' and for this success was doubtless much indebted to her fore- thought.
"The exemption of the clergy from all taxes of person or property was no unimportant item of relief, and twenty cords of wood must have been very convenient. And, then, too, the butter and cheese, and the clothing of the family, were nearly all made in the house. The farm furnished the flax, wool, and milk, and the inmates of the house had the skill, industry and tools to manufacture them. The daughters engaged cheerfully in teaching the district common schools of the parish, in the summer season. They were at length, suitably and agreeably married, though the early affections of one, were crossed by the sternness of the father."
Page Eighteen
REV. JOHN SMALLEY
TOHN SMALLEY came to New Britain to preach in 1756, two years after graduating from Yale. In 1758, the Ecclesiastical Council organized the church and called Mr. Smalley to be the minister. "The town granted to Rev. John Smalley about twelve acres of land in the forty-rod highway to be in two pieces, if it may there be had without damaging the road, and . . . chose a committee to lay out said land, and deed it, so as may be best for said Mr. Smalley, and least damageable to the said highway." This land was west of the north end of Main Street. Dr. Smalley sold it to Colonel Isaac Lee and bought for himself a house and farm of twenty-six acres on East Street which at that time was much nearer the most thickly settled part of his parish.
Mr. Smalley was reckoned among the "new divinity" men of his age. He preached forcefully and convincingly. He was prominent as a leader in the community as well as in his own church, and after continuing as minister fifty-one years, much beloved by his church, he resigned in 1809.
Page Nineteen
-
Daniel Hart
John Clark
1
of New Britain
Timothy Stanley
God Stanley Gm
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in the
STANLEY
Stanley {
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The Stanley Tavern
Smith's A Mill
Farming ton
Connecticut
D:1758.
Strip Lane
Old Fulling Mill
John and Thomas Lusk lived near here
(Josiah Kilborna)
Robert awoodruff D
Farmington
Major- General John Paterson Born1, 1743-
to
Gideon Griswold
D
Re
a and David Mather
Line between old Farmington and
Kensington Societies
East
DUBenjaminJudd James Judd
Saw Mill
Meeting House !!!
widow of
PAYAJE
Capt. Stephen Les
Hezekiah Andrews
Col. Isaac Lee
Nathan Judde
uriah Judd
Ladwick Hotelbian / william Paterson Blacksmith Shop DILEM! OF L. Hotchkiss Joseph Smith
Robert Booth 0 Nathan Booth Of
Ezra Belden
Joshua Mather 10
Judah Hart
EAST
STREET
a John Kelsey
QUARTER
HART
Phineas Judd
Woodruff lived on this road
@ Elijah Hart
D Daniel Dewey
P
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Capt. John Langdon
9
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Ebenezer Gilbert
Dea, Elijah Hart
First well about & Mile South of here
Christian Lane
Hart's Grist Mill
1_ Line between old Farmington andNewington Societies
Ebenezer Smith
Joseph Clark
4
william D Smith
Daniel & Kilborn
to Farmington
Street
Horse Plain
Rex John Smalley
מ.ט.ח
Main Street
Road
D Josiah Lee Jediah Smith hta, Joseph Elijah Smith Smith
Moses Andrews
John Jund
Thomas Hart
Stanley
John, Joseph and Simmore
Adenyah Lewis Q
.
Jonathan 1 Thi mos Griswold 1
QUARTER
Town of
Blacksmith Shop Thomas Richards
FarmingTon
Judd's Saw
ECclefiaftical Society
FROM MAP ARRANGED BY JAMES SHEPARD M. A. IN 1908 - CARTOGRAPHER Estelle Care Gard 1935
INTERIOR OF FIRST MEETING HOUSE
Page Twenty-two
INTERIOR OF FIRST MEETING HOUSE
6 HE INTERIOR was built over in 1784-5. The house had large galleries ; the two 'high pews' one at each extreme corner to the right and left of the pulpit, in the galleries, were so much raised as to require stairs to ascend and descend, and so high that a tall man could scarcely stand erect without touching his scalp to the wall over head. The pulpit had a huge 'sounding board'; the inclosure was small, and had a door each side, with a wood button.
"The broad aisle was a solemn place. It was not carpeted, but it re- ceived many tears of penitence, both from those joining the church, and from such as fell into gross sins, and stood there while their public confession was being read.
"The pews were made square, with straight backs; seats extending quite round on every side, except barely the door, which was narrow, and fastened with a wood button. The occupants faced inwards, some would sit with their backs to the speaker, and hence the habit of standing part of the time during the sermon, which was from one to two hours long.
"The hour-glass which stood on the pulpit, was turned at the reading of the text, and the audience felt slighted if the sermon ended before the sands had all dropped."
This Meeting House is not standing, but occupied part of the small triangle now called "Paradise Park."
Page Twenty-three
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FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN 1822
A NEW MEETING house was erected where Burritt School now stands. Isaac Lee gave a piece from his farm for this purpose, and Amos R. Eno with his grandfather's team brought the first load of stone for the foundation.
Above the belfry was a slender spire topped by a gilt weather vane. The bell rope hung down into the vestibule. There were three galleries, one behind the pulpit for the choir and at either side, one for the women and one for the men. This church had a large box stove and around this all the little boys gathered in cold weather.
The large choir was accompanied by a bass viol, trombone, flute and cello. The very long morning service was followed by Sunday School. The afternoon service came at 1:30.
Page Twenty-four
SKINNER HOUSE (not standing)
A T THE NORTH end of East Street was the old home of Josiah Lee, later called the Skinner House, because it belonged to the Rev. Newton Skinner, after passing through the hands of several others.
"Down the narrow stair-case there once stepped as lovely a bride as one would wish to see. This was Elizabeth, only daughter of Deacon Josiah Lee, who in June, 1766, was married to the young lawyer, John Paterson, afterwards Major General in the American Army. In the Pater- son biographies we read of the courtship of the young couple, the beauty of the fair-haired bride, of the wedding celebrated at this house with festivities and rejoicing and of the happy married life that followed."
"John Richards bought A. D. 1776, for £555, of Deacon Josiah Lee, the Skinner House and farm of sixty acres, and lived there a few years ; built and occupied the Smith Shop, subsequently occupied by Elijah Hinsdale. He sold to Capt. John Hinsdale for £900."
Page Twenty-five
Page Twenty-six
THE JOSEPH CLARK HOUSE
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THE JOSEPH C. CLARK HOUSE
J
OSEPH C. CLARK came from Farmington to live near the northern end of East Street about 1754. He had one of the earliest and largest stores in the new settlement. An old leather account book which belonged to him is in the possession of the Clark family and shows a long list of customers both in Farmington and New Britain.
At the annual meeting of the New Britain Society in 1755, provision was made for painting the church. "Att ye same Meeting it was tryed by vote whether they would culler the Meeting House. Mr. Joseph Clark was chosen to procuer coloring stuff and culler the Meeting House."
Among the bills for materials on the meeting house is this from Joseph Clark, "Ye Parish of New Britain Dr. to Joseph Clark for three Galons of Linset Oyle & for 24 pounds of White Lead & for 2 p'd of Spanish White & 2000 8 penny nails, all is in procklamation Bills of this colony. £2.18.6."
Joseph Clark built the Clark House sometime between 1754 and 1759. Seven generations of Clarks have lived in this house.
Page Twenty-seven
Gard
1
ELIJAH HART II HOUSE
J
Page Twenty-eight
ELIJAH HART II HOUSE
ELIJAH HART II, son of Elijah Hart I, built this house between the years 1757 and 1759. The house still stands at 63 Kensington Avenue, opposite Buell Street.
"Elijah Hart was a plain farmer with a large family and large property. He was chosen deacon June 1, 1780, which office he held for twenty years. His business was all laid aside at 4 o'clock Saturday afternoon by himself, workmen and servants, his face shaved, his low boots brushed, and his cows milked before sunset. His best boots would last him seven years, and his best surcoat twenty years. He led the singing in church many years, having a grand voice and good musical taste for that age."
In 1793 he deeded the south side of the house to his son, Elijah Hart III, who with his father had a mill near Willow Brook Park. He was an ex- tensive manufacturer of corn-meal for West Indies' trade. His grandson, Elijah IV, also lived here.
Six generations of Harts have lived in this house.
Page Twenty-nine
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ELIHU BURRITT - THE LEARNED BLACKSMITH
LIHU BURRITT, third of that name, was born in New Britain, in 1810. The father of Elihu was a farmer mechanic, plying the shoe-maker's hammer and awl in winter, and the hoe and sickle in summer. This son followed a wider diversity of occupation, and could say at fifty that no man in America had handled more tools at manual labor than himself.
When 15 or 16 years of age, his father died and Elihu apprenticed himself to a blacksmith. While at the anvil he studied languages, carrying a Greek grammar in his hat. He practiced problems in mental arithmetic which he extemporized and solved while blowing the bellows. One was- "How many barley-corns at three to the inch will it take to go around the earth at the equater?" Another was, "How many yards of cloth, three feet in width cut into strips an inch wide, and allowing half an inch at each end for the lap, would it require to reach from the center of the earth ; and how much would it all cost at a shilling a yard ?" He would not make a single figure in working out this problem, and he would carry home to his brother all the multiplications in his head, and give them to him, so that he could verify them. They were found to be correct.
He spent a winter in New Haven, studying Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Hebrew. On his return, he was a preceptor of an academy for a year, but stopped because of poor health. Then he set up a grocery store, but lost everything in a business crash.
Page Thirty
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WHERE ELIHU BURRITT LIVED WITH HIS SISTER, MRS. STRICKLAND
At the age of 27 years, he went to Worcester, and obtained employ- ment at an anvil, and access to a rare library of the Antiquarian Society, dividing his hours between labor and study. From his diary is the follow- ing "June 18th, forty pages Cuvier's Theory of the Earth ; sixty-four pages French; eleven hours forging. June 19th, six lines Hebrew ; thirty pages French ; ten pages Cuvier's Theory ; eight lines Syriac ; ten lines Danish, ten lines Bohemian ; nine lines Polish; fifteen names of stars; ten hours forging." A list of over thirty languages, which Elihu Burritt studied, is given in his biography.
From his study of geography, he became interested in the idea of the brotherhood of people of different countries. His study of languages in- creased his interest in the cause of peace.
Elihu Burritt sailed for England May, 1846, and prolonged his sojourn in England three years because of openings for work in the peace cause. With the support of his English friends in Manchester and Birmingham, he developed the basis of an international association called "The League of Universal Brotherhood." He went up and down England, addressing public meetings on this subject.
International postage was then almost a crushing restriction upon correspondence, especially between English and Irish in America, and their relatives in the mother country. In 1847, Elihu Burritt first developed
Page Thirty-one
the proposition of a universal Ocean Penny Postage; that is, that the transportation of a letter across the sea should be performed for one penny, or two cents. This could be added to the two or three cents for transportation on land to the seaport. In two winters, Elihu Burritt ad- dressed 150 public meetings on the subject, from Penzance to Aberdeen, and from Cork to Belfast. Hundreds of petitions were presented to Parliament in behalf of the reform.
Through Elihu Burritt's initiative and leadership, four large peace gatherings were held in Brussels, Paris, Frankfort and London. The Peace Conference of 1849 in Paris was the most remarkable assembly that had ever convened on the continent of Europe up to that time. The English delegation, which numbered about 700, headed nearly all the benevolent societies in Great Britain. When they were conveyed across the Channel by two steamers specially chartered for the purpose, it was said that if the steamers sank in the Channel, all the philanthropic enterprises in the United Kingdom would be stopped for a year. The delegations from the United States included presidents of Oberlin and Bowdoin Colleges and other prominent men. Nearly all the European countries were represented by men full of sympathy with the movement. Victor Hugo was chosen president. The Congress continued three days, and the interest constantly increased up to the last moment.
Elihu Burritt was Consular Agent for the United States at Birming- ham, England from 1865 until 1869. In 1870, Elihu Burritt returned to New Britain, where he made his home with his sister, Mrs. Alvira Strick- land, and her two daughters in their large house which stood on Main Street until a few years ago. Here Elihu Burritt, an "Apostle of Universal Brotherhood" died in 1879.
Page Thirty-two
JEDUDAH HART HOUSE
J
EDUDAH HART was born in 1739, the third of nine children of Deacon Elijah Hart I, who lived near the present intersection of Corbin Avenue and Lincoln Street, a descendant of Stephen Hart of Farmington.
Jedudah built a farmhouse in 1767, about 20 rods south of his father's house. This house now stands at 267 Shuttle Meadow Avenue. "He was an honest man, retiring in his manners, with such fondness for home that it is said that he never saw the city of Hartford, although living to old age within 12 miles."
His wife, Mary Munson, died in 1786, on the same day that her eighth child was born. Jedudah then married the widow of Phineas Judd. She already had two children, and bore three through her second marriage. Thus thirteen children were raised in this family.
Page Thirty-three
RUSSELL & ERWIN, FROM LOCK SHOP POND, 1892
Page Thirty-four
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Page Thirty-five
Gand
WALNUT HILL RESERVOIR IN 1865
"W 66 HEN IT was discovered that a supply of water for New Britain could probably be obtained at Shuttle Meadow, it was thought essential to have a reservoir on Walnut Hill. The summit of the hill was for sale as part of a bankrupt estate. When it was sold at auction, a few public-spirited gentlemen invested in the property and presented it to the borough authorities for a reservoir and a public park. The tract embraces about eighty acres and has been made into a beautiful park with a com- manding view of the surrounding country.
Page Thirty-six
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H
Gard-
THE WORLD WAR MEMORIAL
HROUGH the efforts of a citizens committee, first appointed by the Common Council in 1922, and reappointed and enlarged in 1926, and with the cooperation, from the outset, of the local service organizations and the Park Commission, the World War Memorial was erected in honor of the more than four thousand citizens of New Britain who served in the World War and of the one hundred and twenty-three who gave their lives.
From drawings and models submitted by five distinguished artists, the beautiful design offered by the noted architect, H. Van Buren Magonigle, of New York, was chosen.
The corner stone was laid on the summit of Walnut Hill, July 20, 1927, and the monument was dedicated September 22, 1928.
"The Memorial is a symbol of Patriotism, expressed in chief by the Flag of our Union folded above the shaft. A pair of Eagles, emblematic of Freedom, wings and heads upstretched, seem about to lift the flag to the heavens in their mighty talons."
Page Thirty-seven
POINTS OF INTEREST
Burritt Monument, The Elihu Civil War Memorial City Hall Hawley Memorial Children's Library
*Industrial Exhibit, State Armory Jerome Home for Aged People Klingberg Home for Children Masonic Temple New Britain General Hospital
¡New Britain Institute Patterson Monument, The Major General John Polish Orphanage Post Office Spanish War Memorial Stanley Municipal Golf Course and Club House Stanley Municipal Swimming Pool Shuttlemeadow Club
Teachers' College of Connecticut
World War Memorial
Site of old Stockade and well on Christian Lane, a quarter of a mile below the line.
Franklin Square Center Park 27 West Main Street 28 High Street 285 Arch Street Corbin Avenue 91 State Street 256 West Main Street 92 Grand Street 8 High Street East Street 594 Burritt Street 114 West Main Street Willow Brook Park Hartford Road Stanley Street 795 Lincoln Street 1615 Stanley Street Walnut Hill Park
The State and City Tercentenary Information Bureau will be located at the Chamber of Commerce, 300 Main Street
*The Industrial Exhibit may be viewed during the week of July 22, Monday to Saturday inclusive.
+The Journals, Writings and other mementoes of Elihu Burritt will be on display in the New Britain Institute during the entire summer.
Page Thirty-eight
OLD HOUSES BUILT BEFORE 1790 (now standing)
1. John Andrews House
2. Joseph Andrews House
3. Ezra Belden House
4. John Clark House
5. Joseph Clark House
6. George Francis House
7. Cyrus (or Benjamin) Hart House
8. Elijah Hart II House
9. Elijah Hart II House
10. Jedudah Hart House
11. Joseph Mather House
12. John Osgood House
13. Thomas Riley House
14. Selah Steele House Steele Street
15. Part of the Stanley Tavern (Noah Stanley's House)
15 Homestead Avenue
62 Burritt Street
530 East Street North Stanley Street
1242 East Street
1939 Stanley Street Linwood Street
655 Lincoln Road
63 Kensington Avenue
267 Shuttle Meadow Avenue
741 West Main Street 5 Osgood Avenue 889 West Main Street
1928 Stanley Street
16. Part of the Gad Stanley House Stanley Street
Page Thirty-nine
44.4
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