USA > Connecticut > New London County > Stonington > Old homes in Stonington : with additional chapters and graveyard inscriptions > Part 18
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At one time there were some eight or nine stores south of Wall street. As the shipping fell off, merchandising moved in a large measure north- erly to the upper section of the village.
In a workshop on the west side of Front street Mr. Davison manufac- tured hats, but no hatter could make a living there now. Quite a num- ber of shoemakers were then required to provide for the needs of the community in the line of footwear, but now boots and shoes of the different qualities and sizes are found at the counters of the merchants and the shoemaker's business is mostly confined to cobbling. So ready- made clothing, both for men and women, in all styles and grades of richness and cost are offered for sale in every center of trade, thus for the most part superceding the business of the old-time tailor and man- tuamaker.
Years ago there was a "Salt Works" on the ground now covered by the railroad depot, where the water from the harbor flowed through pipes into a tank and was then pumped by windmill power into shallow vats to be evaporated by the heat of the sun for the making of salt. These pipes were provided with removable covers or roofs which could be placed over them in damp and rainy weather, but the outlay for such a business, would far exceed the profits now. The Pottery down Shin- bone Alley where the workmen shaped the clay upon their wheels into jugs and pitchers and stone pots and then baked them in the Kiln is not needed these days, and the two long rope walks owned by Elisha Faxon and Thomas S. Ash, in which the manufacture of cordage and long ropes was carried on by quite a number of workmen, are in ruins and the memory of them almost entirely passed from public knowledge.
The Public Square in the lower part of the village, where now rest the old guns, has been so changed and improved since the great confla- gration there that its aspect is completely changed. On the north side of the square, as it used to be, was the large two-story house occupied by the family of John Denison, and in the south side of the house lived Giles Hallam; on the east side of the square was the large house be- longing to the Jonathan Pendleton family, south of which was the res- idence of Thomas Ash, a rope maker, which after having been removed was made the site of Gurdon Trumbull's new house, subsequently bought and occupied by Capt. Joseph Smith. On the south side of the square stood the "Swan Hotel," a large square building, occupying the entire breadth of the space between Front and Water streets. On the west side it had a long L with a door or entrance and a staircase at the south end. In the second story of this L there was a commodious hall devoted to dances, balls, singing schools and public entertainments. The Free Masons also used it on certain evenings. At the head of the stairs in the southeast corner was a small room or office which was made a play or amusement room for George, son of Major Paul Babcock, his sister Lucy and myself. She was a lovely girl now living in Old Say- brook, the widow of Giles Ward, the last of a family of twenty or more children. Major Paul kept this hotel (and Rev. Mr. Whittlesey boarded there previous to his marriage). The Major was a large, stalwart man, whom it was not very prudent to oppose. He had a stentorian voice,
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which when let out could be heard to the upper end of Front street. On the west side of the square Capt. C. P. Williams built a two-story building in which he established his shipping office, which was a kind of store under the charge of Horace Niles. South of this building was a driveway down to a wharf. On the other side of the drive-way stood the dwelling house of Dea. Elisha Faxon, but on or before his second marriage he built a handsome dwelling on the corner above the Hart Place.
Going south, on the left hand corner of Diving street stood Capt. Wil- liam Pendleton's house. From this corner passing eastward, on the north side, were
there no buildings except Zebbie Han- cox's house and an old dilapidated store house on the shore. On the south side of Diving street, about half way down towards the water, was the house of Andrew Stanton. who was a spinner in the rope walk, which extended southward towards the lighthouse. The next building to Dea. Faxon's old house on the right was a shop or store used as a bakery for baking pilot bread or hardtack for sailors. When you reached Diving street you had on the right hand corner the Jabish Holmes house and further along the Joseph Wright house. On the left was the one-story house occupied by Samuel Bottum and on the south corner was the Waldron house. The houses below this were the Elkan- ah Cobb, Capt. Fanning and a small one-story house in which Capt. Wilcox, a coasting captain, lived. On Water street there was no other house beyond except one near the light house where Capt. Otis Pendleton lived and there were also a few houses in the rear of Capt. Fanning's house on a new street.
Eighty or ninety years ago it was the accepted view of family disci- pline that it should be administered according to the Solomonic prin- ciple, "Spare the rod and spoil the child." John Kirby brought with him the same theory from the Old World and applied it faithfully in the government of the school, which was in the Academy situated on the corner of Water street but set a little back of the Grand street line. Here stood the building which was sacred in the eyes of a whole gen- eration of young people, who under the tuition of Mr. Kirby were ini- tiated into the fundamental principles and facts of orthography, geogra- phy, history, mathematics, Greek and Latin. He was a wonderful man of Irish blood, educated in Dublin College, designed for the Catholic priesthood, but having lost an eye, which as a blemish disqualified him, he came to America and devoted himself to teaching. He was always ready to assist a scholar who was anxious to learn, kindly and faithful, but woe to the lazy bones and ill behaved. Sometimes it was the fer- ule applied to the outstretched hand, sometimes the switch was admin- istered to the back, not lightly. Once I remember one of the older boys who obstinately refused to spell a word correctly in the class, earned a whaling with a rope's end. If a boy came to school with dirty hands and the fact came to his notice, a committee of two scholars was appointed to take the culprit out and scour the filthy members with a cob or some other efficient way. We used to think he could see more with his one eye than other teachers could with two. As the years
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passed his methods of discipline became more lenient and once after giving one of his boys a severe whipping he almost immediately after went to his father with a humble apology. But what an intellectual and moral power was evolved under his labors. What a bright galaxy of cultivated and scholarly characters shone out from that old Academy. James Hammond Trumbull, Nathan F. Dixon and his brother Court- land, the sons of John Hyde, Rev. Daniel Rodman, Rev. Joshua Brown, Latham Hull and many, many others. And the female pupils were fully the equal of the male. Eliza Dixon, who married Rev. Dr. Mark Tucker, and her sister Priscilla; Eliza Babcock who married Capt. Nat Palmer, and her sister Abby and Lucy; Caroline Ann and Jane Deni- son, Harriet Hubbard and many more. Dr. William Hyde, Jr., William Woodbridge, the three sons of Simon Carew, and Sarah, the brilliant daughter of Cyrus Williams.
No one would now recognize the grounds around the Academy who had not seen them since my boyhood. There was then not a building on the west side of Water street from Rev. Mr. Hart's house down to Church street. That piece of ground was "Open Commons" and it was quite a treat among the boys to begin at Mr. Hart's house and without touching the ground to skip from rock to rock southward up the street which led up to Polly Breed's. There were a few small houses over west near the water of the harbor. There were then only four buildings on the east side of Water street, between Pearl and Church stheet. On the Southeast corner of Pearl street diagonally across from Mr. Hart's lived Mr. Samuel Burtch; thence southward came the Academy. On the next block, about half-way down to the corner, was a small barber's shop occupied by a colored man who was also the sexton of the Con- gregational church. On the corner below, Frederick Chesebrough (a religious enthusiast) lived, who married Priscilla Miner.
On Pearl street about half-way between Water and Front street, stood a low, long building where Samuel Hancox taught a common English school which was largely patronized. He was a very short man but un- usually large around. He was a good teacher and his boys and the boys from the Academy often had a scrimmage when there was snow on the ground.
Miss Nancy Stanton, the second wife of Rev. Charles Brown, kept a Dame school till she was in middle life, in a building on the east side of Water street. The lower story of the building constituted the work- shop of her brother Azariah. He was a painter and as there was then no prepared paint on the market he ground and mixed his own paints. He had a large iron pot, slung by a rope attached to the bail which was fastened to the rafters. He would put his materials into this pot and then dropping in a heavy cannon ball swing the pot round and round thus grinding and mixing the materials together. In the second story Miss Nancy taught the young idea how to shoot. She was a special friend and disciple of Mrs. Hart and her character may be judged from that fact.
Miss Lucy Ann Sheffield succeeded her in the teaching line. She was rather strict in her way of thinking and discipline, but she was pos-
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sessed of a lively and cheery nature that made her an excellent teacher and her qualifications were of a much higher order than those of her predecessor. She was very particular in regard to the deportment and neatness of her pupils. Every morning after the religious exercises every scholar was required to rise in his seat and report, "This morn- ing after I arose, I read a portion of Scripture and brushed my teeth." The delinquents had some unfavorable marks attached to their record. Miss Sheffield in her childhood fell and injured herself so that she was obliged to use a crutch, but it did not impede her activity for she would start from the top of a flight of stairs and hop rapidly to the bottom, tip, tip, and never miss a step.
The present inhabitants of Stonington Boro do not realize how much they owe in respect to the beauty of their village to the Rev. Joseph Whittlesey, for previous to his settlement, there was very little care taken of the streets, very few trees, no side walks, and, with the excep- tion of a few houses, no efforts were made to keep the house fronts neat and clean. Grass and weeds grew rank, mayweed, catnip, pigweed and thin-apple claimed as much of the ground as was not used by the passing teams and foot passenger. If there was any law forbidding swine in the street it was not enforced. Mr. Whittlesey started a sub- scription paper, and a sum of money was raise d to begin a sidewalk, and the first rough curbing was put down in front of Nathaniel Miner's dwelling on the corner of Main and Church streets and extended north a few rods toward Grand street. Prior to this, on one occasion, when there was to be some patriotic observance, either a 10th of August celebration or a visit from some Uniter States president, an ox team was sent around the principal streets with a group of men to pull up and cart off the large growth of vile weeds which disgraced the village. But now how different the aspect of the place.
It has sometimes been alleged to the reproach of Stonington Boro that it has grown so slowly in comparison with neighboring communities and that it is a dull place devoid of enterprise. There is perhaps on a superficial view an apparent ground for this judgment, but it will doubt- less be reversed when the facts of the case are carefully examined and weighed. The moral, intellectual and industrial forces of a community are not to be measured by it's own internal home growth. There are vil- lages and cities in this and neighboring communities which expend their resources on themselves and draw in population from abroad, much of which is alien blood. Other communities, smaller in area and popula- tion, are seed beds of moral and intellectual enterprise of native stock that are continualy sending forth their products to enrich and improve abroad. In their quiet and cultivated homes they are raising up well trained sons and daughters and sending them forth to the great cen- ters of human activity where they reach the highest position of influ- ence and power.
Stonington has been very generous and munificent in the distribu- tion of trained talent to the world of business and enterprise, and the boro has been most liberal in this respect, even to the sacrifice of her own home town interests. Let a person examine the family record of
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Judge Richard A. Wheeler's "History of Stonington" or Mrs. Anna C. Wildey's "Genealogy of the Chesebro Family" and he will be astonished to see what a flood of talent has been year after year pouring forth from this small center.
In the city of Hartford I find natives of this village ranking among the most honored members of the community, as scholars, artists and as holders of social positions. I find them in New Haven also, and for the last seventy-five years New York city has been drawing hence most precious life blood, and in the commercial and mercantile life of the great metropolis, in its financial agencies and its cival affairs, are found the names of many distinguished men who began life and were reared here. Natives of the Boro will be found also in the history of the busy life of Philadelphia, Baltimore and especially New Orleans, not to speak of scores of other great marts of trade in the south and in the wide west.
Among the more distinguished sea captains, representatives of Ston- ington are found also in the records of the United States Army and Navy. In the sphere of the learned professions, in the world of litera- ture and art, not a few names carry our thoughts back to "Wadawon- net's" fruitful homes.
Stonington Boro, as the center from which these moral and intellec- tual and industrial forces have proceeded, has not been altogether inert within its own borders. It has doubled its population since the days of my boyhood, and if it had retained all its natural increase within its own borders its homes would have spread themselves over a territory a mile or more in extent, northward and eastward beyond its present boundaries. But that it has like a fountain been year after year pour- ing forth its refreshing waters to impart life and fertility to other fields and at the same time has not in the least exhausted its native resources is a result not to be contemplated with regret but with the highest satisfaction and there are at present no indications that the sources of supply in "The Stonington Homes" are failing.
CHAPTER THIRTEENTH
REV. JAMES NOYES, 2ND, 1640-1720 A Colonial Clergyman Living in the 17th and 18th Centuries Written for the Celebration of the 250th Year of the First Church of Stonington, Connecticut August 1st, 1924 By Miss Ethel J. R. C. Noyes, now Mrs. Robert G. Barckley, of Milford, Penn., 7th in decent from Rev. James Noyes
Prelude
1634
Newbury
1640
Stonington 1664
Conclusion
1720
Epilogue
1924
To essay a theme with the foregoing title and present object one would try for oneself to go, and hope-indeed endeavor- to take hear- ers also into a past not dead but living. That is to see by the mind's eye, imagination, or as you will, the people, a person of days far from this indeed, but days that were just as vital, as glowing as our days are.
Were we seeking the acquaintance of someone living today, of whom we had been told, or learned of and about in other ways, we would, doubt- less, already know, or else seek information, as to the person's family --- not as of genealogical but of momentary interest. Also if a personal meeting were pending we might, though unconsciously, note various special surroundings.
From this knowledge of ourselves ,then, we need not grope so vaguely in turning away from our own century to follow a path into others that are behind us.
This evocation may commence on shipboard, on a certain March morning in the year 1634. The ship is the "Mary and John," lying off Southampton, England, that the oath of allegiance to England's govern- ment and principles may be taken by the passengers about to leave their native land for a new home in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
In the fourteen years since the "Mayflower's" keel had made the al- luring white trail across the Atlantic many English colonists had fol- owed that gleam. The voyagers on this ship, therefore, were to ex- perience few of the perils and a minimum of the discomforts of the first intrepid pioneers. Our interest is in a group of four persons, three young men and a young woman recently married to one of them in Southampton, her home. These are, as you surmise, Thomas Parker, the moving spirit of the quartette, his cousins, James and Nicholas Noyes, and the bride, Mrs. James Noyes.
The larger group of which this was a portion settled, on landing in America, in Ipswich and Medford. A year after some of them founded a new town in the Colony, calling it Newbury. That Thomas Parker was the leader in this venture is noted by their naming the river upon which they settled Parker river, and the town which they made, Newbury, for
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the town in old England in which both Thomas Parker and James Noyes had resided and taught. A church was organized with Mr. Parker as pastor and Mr. Noyes its teacher. Because of deep affection for this estimable cousin James Noyes had given up his theological studies at Oxford to join him in various wanderings caused by the currents of religious unrest then prevalent. They had, with other Puritans, found refuge in Holland for a time, and associated with that group now known as the Pilgrims and their famous pastor, John Robinson. How- ever, when they decided to emigrate to America, it was not to Plymouth that they were to go.
In Newbury our family party built a plain little house in which they lived for some time. Two years after this house was finished the family was increased by the first child of the Noyes name born in America. He was called Joseph for his grandfather Brown in Southampton. This family continued in the highest honor and affection by their neighbors and their home life, by all the indications we have, was an example to be followed. Into this happy home came in March, 1640, another baby, another son, to be named for his father, James.
Other children came and therefore a larger house was needed. This they built and moved into when the second James was about six years old. Of the furniture which they brought with them to America and which was moved to the new house some of us may have seen two pieces, a chair and a table, in the house standing in Newbury today, as it has for almost three centuries.
Medieval history was nearing its close. Events of that era were happening fast in the years following the first James Noyes' arrival in this country. To the three men of such brilliant minds as Parker and the two Noyes brothers intense interest was doubtless aroused by the occurrences at home and abroad. The Thirty Years War dragging on; the Long and Short Parliaments, in turn; Scottish invasion of England; revolutions in Spain, Portugal, Ireland; the rise of the great Elector of Brandenburg; beginnings of Civil War in England; the death of such famous men as Archbishop Laud, Richelieu, Louis XIII; discoveries of new lands; publications of new philosophies; the opening of the West- minster Assembly to formulate a body of doctrine; religious controversy in another church; another war begun (between Sweden and Denmark) ; and, highly important, the founding of Harvard College, also the union formed by the New England Colonies must have been ample mental diet to these preachers, teachers and writers. The writings of James Noyes occupied much of his later years. For a more personal interest the news came across the sea of the death of Rev. Nathan Noyes, rector of Choulderton, England, elder brother of James and Nicholas. He had succeeded their father as rector in the home parish of their childhood.
From this family atmosphere, in which he had passed sixteen quiet, uneventful years, James Noyes Jr., went to Harvard College. This year was for him momentous otherwise, and sadly, due to the death of his loved and loving father. Of this parent it was then said that not only was he one of the greatest worthies of the age in which he lived,
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but that there was never anyone acquainted with him who did not desire the continuance of his society. He was celebrated throughout New England, and his early death at forty-eight years was much lamented.
The family life went on in the Newbury home. Young James grad- uated from college, having taken courses in medicine and theology, and for five years more studied books and the times, taught and looked about him into the early years of what we call modern history-a period wherein ideas were germinating, with preparations for consequences of utmost importance to the world.
Thomas Parker remained a member of the Noyes family in the house by the great elm, never marrying; doubtless a prop and comfort to his cousin's widow and children. Young Nicholas married and built his own home in Newbury, his children and their cousins forming the second generation and starting the two lines in America of this noted family. One of these, in the younger branch, the second Nicholas, was doubtless a fond companion of those days to our James. Unlike in some charac- teristics, their talented personalities must have been congenial in many ways, from what we know of both in their after lives, as ministers of the Gospel.
In the Noyes homestead during these five years but one incident is recorded which marked any variety in its well-ordered, peaceful days; the marriage of the oldest son, Joseph, and his moving not only from the home but the town, into Sudbury, where he made his residence. This left James as the oldest son at home. His gentle, kindly spirit re- sembled his father's. His work for the church and community endeared him to all. Whether the fancy for adventure ever touched him, as so many of the young men of that time, whether a shade of unrest or wish for change was ever felt, these were soon to be gratified if sometimes they had been subdued, for quite suddenly an opportunity came to him and, as he opened to the knock, he must have been waiting.
From Southertown, a settlement miles to the south in a sister colony, a committee had journeyed to Boston in search of a minister. There they heard of James Noyes of Newbury and their journey continued until they met him and invited him to preach for them.
With the deliberateness of that era we can fancy family consultation, certainly with the pastor and loved relative, Thomas Parker; the weighing of conditions and possible consequences. Perhaps the com- mittee waited his decision as guests in his mother's house.
To dwellers in or near Boston this settlement of Southertown had been known by reputation for about fifteen years, both because of the calebre and characters of the unusual men who had formed it, and because of the unpleasantness they had experienced in learning to which colony they belonged. Probably the three men who composed this special committee to obtain a preacher were Samuel Chesebrough, Capt. John Gallup, 2nd, and Judge Thomas Stanton. They were on the Board of Townsmen for that year, all were familiar with Boston and had interests there. That the reply to their invitation was favorable, if tentative, we know, and that later James Noyes traveled into the new country. The sweetness of June accompanied him on the journey, and
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we may picture the young minister riding into Southertown, his future home, though he knew it not, for half a century. How earnestly he gazed at the beautiful surroundings into which he came; what interest and expectancy were evident, though his broad brimmed hat shadowed his face. Around his throat fell the white collar of the Puritans spreading across the shoulders of his plain, tightly buttoned coat. Rid- ing breeches and woolen stockings (knit by mother or sister, and the low buckled shoes of the time completed his costume except for a cloak rolled in front of his saddle. Saddle-bags, we may be sure, held his Bible and Bay-Psalm Book. The journey had been of several days length. His way had lain through Ipswich, first stopping place of his family on their arrival from England, through Salem and Lynn to Boston, a road well known to this ex-student of Harvard. From here, however, the trail was strange; across the Bay Colony, then through part of Plymouth Colony into Providence Plantations till the gleaming Pawcatuck with its fording places at Kitchamaug was passed and he had come to his journey's end. The warehouse and store of Thomas Stanton with his residence nearby, wharfs and boats, reminded him of home, for Newbury, also, built and sailed her merchant ships.
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