USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > Reports and papers. Fairfield County Historical Society, Bridgeport, Conn. 1882-1896-97 > Part 29
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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 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
Its uses are obvious. In short, we learn in great measure by experience. Hence the record by competent authority of the experiences and observations of those who have preceded us is one of the best sources from which we can derive wis- dom for the guidance of our opinions and conduct. Then, history gives permanence. Facts. their connections and re- sults, duly recorded, are made available and useful for all the generations following. But I must not enlarge.
We are met, as has already been stated, to receive and ac- knowledge the crowning contribution of one of our most lib- eral and honored fellow-citizens, to the well-being of this community and to Fairfield County.
"The Barnum Institute " has already entered into history. Its story and its relation to Science has been rehearsed. It is my province to speak of it in its relation to History, and in some slight measure, its uses. Would that my powers were equal to the dignity and importance of the occasion.
We are well apprised that P. T. Barnum was a practical man, and anything producing or fairly promising practical re. gults of value, had a pull upon his recognition and generosity. Fairfield County was the stamping ground of his young life. He knew it in its length and breadth, and every nook and
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corner. and Bridgeport came to be his peculiar treasure. Mr. Barnum's family was among the very early settlers of Nor- walk, and in the first generation intermarried with the Thompson family of Stratford, and in the second with the Beardsley family of Stratfield, (now Bridgeport). They were among the first and most substantial settlers of Danbury and Bethel, and the generations and families are orderly and quite fully set forth by the historian of the Fairfield County Historical Society, the late lamented Samuel Orcutt, in his history of Old Stratford and Bridgeport, which we know was very much appreciated by Mr. Barnum.
P. T. Barnum himself began to make history quite early in life, and it grew in volume and interest to the very end of his long and eventful career. He more than most men knew and appreciated the value of the pen of the seribe, and the types that multiply the results of the labors of his head and hand. He knew the rich fields for historical research in his native county and state, and that for effective work this Society must have a home. His practical mind intuitively saw the beneficial and elevating effects of the study of history and application of the sciences, and, not least, of Medical science- the healing art divine. Hence he grouped science and history under one roof, covering a pile of such proportions, elegance and solidity as shall be his best and most enduring monument.
We are thus elegantly honsed, and have a noble and neces- sary work before us, but we need the means to prosecute it. To give effect to the grand gift of Mr. Barnum, we must have the co operation of his and our fellow-citizens. We want and must have your names as members and a reasonable attend- ance upon our meetings for business and instruction. We need the peenninry aid a large membership will give us. To give solidity and momentum to our progress, we need the ap- preciation and confidence of friends who have the means to contribute a fund, of not less than fifty thousand dollars, the income of which, with the annual dues of members, would en- able us to gather np, record and publish history of great in- terest and vital importance.
It will be our object, as we may, and have the means, to
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gather facts of history, their causes and results, from fields of widest scope, giving special attention however to our own county and Commonwealth. Pre-eminently, our field is local, extending over Fairfield County as we can secure the co oper- ation of interested parties in the various towns of the county. It is highly important that the ancient records of the old towns; also, old church records with their lists of marriages, baptisms and membership, be looked after, copied and index- ed. The old records are fast fading out and going to decay. Their loss would be irreparable. These form the skeleton or frame work of our local history. They need to be supple- mented, amplified, clothed or illustrated by personal and fan- ily sketches, specimens of implements and articles, nseful and ornamental. The store rooms and atties of many old family residences in every town are the receptacles of books, papers and quaint articles, useful in their time, and exceedingly use. ful now as illustrative of the methods and industries of a cen- tury or two ago, and should be preserved to show the present and coming generations how our grand parents lived and worked. Numerous facts about our early history are now ac- cessible on research, more or less diligent, which in a very few years will be beyond recovery.
If, to illustrate, we take the history of Stratfield. Here in this parchment covered book are the records of the founda tion of this parish, the first, by the way, in the colony (of Connecticut) on lines other than those of the township. Ec_ clesiastical privileges were granted to the inhabitants on the western border of the town of Stratford, and on the eastern border of Fairfield with Division street (now our Park ave- nue) as a central line, and extending northward from the coast about four miles, covering substantially the territory of the present town and city of Bridgeport. It was first chartered under the name of Fairfield Village, subsequently changed to Stratfield, significant of the fact that it was partly from Stratford and partly from Fairfield. This grant rendered it, in most respects an independant community. having its own society's committee or Selectmen, as they were called, Re- corder and Constable ; its own minister and church privileges.
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They managed their own schools, laid and collected their own taxes, &c. Here are the records of their doings, for a hun. dred years, many important deeds and family records, throw- ing a flood of light on the conditions and methods of those early times. But look at its condition. It was written in from both ends and there are some twenty leaves at either end which have become detached, torn and worn, rendering portions of the writing illegible. This book has been copied under the auspices of the Historical Society, and none too soon for the preservation of its contents. Another book of the same antiquated style is the special record of the Church of Christ in Stratfield, kept by the ministers or pastors of the church and parish, and covering about the some period as the first mentioned Parish record.
It commences with the formation or, as it is called, the gath- ering of the church in 1695, June 13, with nine male mem- bers, five of whom were previously the members of the first church in Fairfield and four were from the church in Strat- ford. On the tenth of July following, fifteen females were admitted. on letters from the churches in Stratford and Fair- field Then followed the records of the votes and acts of the church concerning the strictly religious interests of the com- munity, records of marriages, baptisms and memberships.
The Historical Society has made copies of these, alphabeti- cally arranged, for its own purposes, which are frequently consulted and are found to be very useful. This work should be extended to every old town and parish in the county for convenience of use ; also, for preservation and amplification now while that is possible.
Our plans of labor thus embrace local biography and his- tory, in which we have made a good beginning. We may in- stance as subjects already treated-in Biography-Rev. John Jones, Roger Ludlow, Nathan Gold, Roger Minot Sherman of Fairfield and John Read the Colonial Lawyer, by the late William A. Beers.
Rev. Richardson Miner and Rev. James Beebe of North Stratford (now Trumbull), by the late Richard C. Ambler.
Rev. Gideon Hawley of Stratfield, an early missionary to
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the Indians in Stockbridge, Mass., and in Central New York, afterwards an Indian Pastor at Marshpee near Plymouth, Mass., by N. E .. Wordin, M. D.
Stephen Burroughs of Stratfield. Merchant, Mathematician and Astronomer, by Rev. Samuel Orcutt.
William Samuel Johnson, L. L. D., by Prof. W. G Andrews, D. D.
Rev. Blaekleach Burritt, by M. D. Raymond. Esq, of Tar- rytown, N. Y., besides numerous shorter sketches of promi- nent deceased citizens, by the President of the Society.
Also the following historical subjects,-History of New- bury (now Brookfield, Conn.), and its first minister, Parson Brooks, by Rev. Asa C. Pierce.
History of the old Stratfield Baptist Church and its first elder, John Sherwood. by R. B. Lacey.
The Stillwell Methodists of Stratfield and vicinity, by Mr. Samuel Main.
Early Dutch troubles between New Netherlands and Con- necticut, by William A. Beers.
Stratford, New Hampshire, settled from Stratford, Connec- ticut, in 1772, by Rev. Samuel Oreutt.
Sketches of the Bridgeport Chinrches in 1835.
History of the Bridgeport Bank, 1806-1884, and History of the Saddlery business, all by R. B. Lacey.
The Pilgrim Fathers of Plymouth, and what they wrought, by Rev. Charles Ray Palmer, D. D.
And notably " The History of Old Stratford and Bridge- port," in two vols., by Rev. Samuel Orcutt.
These with others unmentioned, constitute a record of bis- tory garnered, that we may point to with satisfaction. We mention them as showing what may be accomplished in one direction with very slender means. There is yet a rich field, which only needs to be worked to yield abundant harvest, for which adequate means are required.
Library and museum have already been alluded to. These are exceedingly interesting and important. Vigorous meas- ures will be taken to awaken interest in gathering additions by loau or gift from the valuable old books, documents and relics now resting in secluded corners of atties and closets
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in every part of the county. Their deposit with the Histori- eal Society will insure their safety and avail ability for obser- vation and study for all time.
Attention to Family History and Genealogy has within a few years received a great impetus-largely growing out of the oceurrenee and celebration of the notable series of Centen- eras, connected with the Colonial and Revolutionary periods, nial's culminating in the formation of Societies of Colonial Wars, and the several societies of the Sons and Daughters of the Revolution and the American Revolution. This upheaval and search among the official and family Records and tradi- tions, for evidence of elligibility to membership in these soei- eties, brings out a great amount of data that will need to be collected, arranged, corrected and harmonized in consistent reliable history. Here is an immense field for the Society, re- quiring patient and expert labor, and all involving a liberal income in money for its encouragement and support.
We are right then, in appealing to our fellow citizens of all elasses. Your membership and reasonable attendance are helpful. Those especially who are blessed with abundant means and are seeking a channel in which it may be useful and promotive of the well-being of soeirty, we ask to exam- ine the claims of the great objects represeted in "The Bar- num Institute of Science and History" and supplement the generous gift of its donor by a liberal endowment-thus making possible its highest usefulness.
MR. WARNER :- I don't know as I have ever been so solemn on a platform as I have this evening. The reason is I took up some casual remark and wanted to throw a little more light on the matter. I looked down the list and saw on the platform all were presidents or ex-presidents. I see one or two have left the platform because the seats were not com. fortable, declining the historical chairs at a meeting of the Historical Society, which it seems to me is a thing a man oughit to be ashamed of. (Laughter.) As they have declined them and as there are other ex-presidents to address us I shall re- frain from the remark I was going to make and introduce Dr. G. L. Porter who will address you on behalf of the Medical Society. (Applanse.)
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DR. PORTER'S ADDRESS.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :-
The province of medicine recognizes no hours : and if your introduction to the Medical Society is a little late to-night, you must remember that "midnight oil" is that which counts in the long run ; although to-night I trust that the light thrown upon this medical investigation may not turn out all gas.
In common with our sister societies the Bridgeport Medical Society rejoices to-night in the possession of its new domicile, and our joy is only tempered by the thought that one who had looked forward to this inauguration with as many antici- pations as any has been removed from us: and in the death of our president, Dr. Young, we feel that part of the joy of this meeting to our society is erased. His chair is draped with crape. It is indeed a badge of woe. There are drapings which a man may show, but we have that within our hearts which passeth show, in that we loved him as a man, we hon- ored him as a physician.
As a happy home to the individual citizen, enriched by the labor of willing hands through years, and perhaps gener- ations, enshrined in memory by the recollection of the joys of boyhood and the sorrowful and happy experiences of ma- turity is the best guarantee of loyalty to the country and the preservation of the state: so the development of a literary and scientific institution is best secured by the possession of a permanent home which may become the repository of its treasures and a rendezvous of its members. Therefore our hearts rejoice, owing to the beneficence and the practical gen- erosity of Mr. Barnum, that the home our society has received, without restrictions, a local habitation and a name.
The members of the legal profession for their assemblages have provided for them rooms in our public buildings. For the meetings of our clerical brethren the congregations pro. vide churches and vestries; but for the meetings of the Medical Society hitherto we have had only private homes or hired halls. This results from the failure to appreciate the proper relations which exist between the medical profession at large and the community, a matter of the very gravest importance.
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The treatment and the cordial recognition of the services of the individual practitioner, by their respective clientage among the people of Bridgeport is a matter in which they are examples to others. But it seems to me in some respects they fail to furnish to the medical profession those opportu- nities of improvement which would largely redound to their personal and public welfare. I speak in a particular sense of the relation of public opinion to the medical profesion, and not especially to the acts of the people of Bridgeport, for I remember that they deserve well of us for their liberal and generous contributions to our hospital, for their sturdy sup- port of the action of the Board of Health, and for the wise and beneficient and intelligent enactments of our city officials, which has placed the medical profession in Bridgeport far ahead of any other city in the state and of the state itself, and as the result of what such an enactment may accomplish allow me to call your attention for a moment to the last return of the State Board of Health for the month of January, in which was stated the number of deaths to the thousand. In New Haven it was 26; in Hartford 27; in Stamford 34; while in Bridgeport it was 21; and of these 9 per cent. oc- curred from accident and violent deaths, a larger number from these causes than took place in any other part of the state.
The application of surgical appliances to the treatment of individual eases of sickness constitute the art of medicine. The discovery of the causes of disease, their action upon the organism of the body, means for their destruction and pre- vention elevates medicine to a science. Hence it is that to- day, among intelligent and educated people, the profes- sion of medicine, if not the practitioner, occupies a higher plane than it has ever done before. The modern investigations which have shown us largely the causes of disease have con- tributed to this result. The "germ theory" fighting many desperate battles with doubt and deception, has finally earned a well won victory and established, the generally accepted theory that every disease has its specific seed. The germ of diphtheria, of typhoid fever, of consumption, of cholera, has
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been shown as conclusively to be the causes of those several diseases as that the oak grows from the acorn, or corn or rye or wheat or any other grain requires the germination of its respective seed. This gives to the profession great power. .Could they but learn those things that are necessary to be known, and which are now largely the subject of investiga- tion, but which are not yet revealed so that it may be ap- plied ; could we have these methods of investigation placed within our power, we cannot realize how much the people at large would be benefitted by the prevention of those diseases and of the other active diseases to which our flesh is heir. Now public opinion, the intelligence of a community, is re- sponsible, in the long run, for the general health of that com- munity, and for the average attainment of its medical men.
The practitioner of medicine is required, or theoretically expected to be conversant with the action of disease upon the human body ; but a perverted, ignorant and selfish public opinion deprives the medical man of almost the only accurate means of acquiring such knowledge. Should there be de- manded by the public opinion of Bridgeport-not Bridgeport alone but of the whole country-that every eanse of death should be examined there would be less sickness in the im- mediate family, there would be a mneb smaller number of deaths among the young, sudden deaths, and there would be very much wiser doctors. The logical result of depriving them of this knowledge is we have non-accommodated doc- tors ; we have unnecessary funerals, we have the nonsensical certificate of death "heart failure." New York is to-day more or less terrified by the typhus fever. It may extend to other cities. It is a matter, not only of personal, but of gen- eral danger. It is a disease more desperately dangerous than any other, it is more dangerous than the perils of battle. It is more dangerous than a trip to the north pole. As showing the evidence of the malignancy of this disease, let me eite a single instance. Not many weeks ago I was told by Mr. Wilson, the president of the Board of Health of the City of New York, that one batch numbering 220 of unfortunate ten- ants was taken from an old tenement house, and within ten days, of this 220, 100 had died.
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It is the only disease that the couregeous doctor fears. The list of professional volunteers, who have died in discharge of their duty, caring for patients with this disease, enriches the list of many hospitals.
But dangerous as this disease is, supported by public opinion, there are plenty of doctors who would gladly ex- amine the cause of it, and probably stamp it out.
Why, you say, of course they have public opinion in behalf of so benficient an object. Well, now, let us see. There was a right clever man in Providence, Doctor Miller, who was called in an emergency to a poor fellow who had been so se- verely injured in a railroad accident as to require amputation of the leg. He was surrounded by a crowd of smpathizing on-lookers who were urging the doctor to do the best he could for the poor fellow. The doctor was a quick man, and he was nettled. Said he, "words are cheap." Now I am going to give this poor fellow one hundred dollars and take the risk of losing my life from blood poisoning. What is the sympathy of this crowd worth in dollars and cents? This brought a ready response.
Now the support of public opinion means this :- That in our schools and colleges and universities and laboratories, the investigation of the diseases, their causes, their nature, their effect upon the human organism will be studied, understood and taught. It means that every community should require that whoever comes in their midst to practice should show that they are qualified for the performance of the sacred duties of the profession. (Applause.) It means that the in- telligent action of the Board of Health should receive the support of the community in its exercise. It means that every practitioner in his publie functions should receive from the State honors and emoluments commensurate with the im- portance of his grave responsibility.
We are ready for all this you say in Bridgeport. I mean the community at large through the republic. Is it so ? Yellow fever, typhus fever and cholera terrify a community, create panies, and speedily demand medieal interference. But there is a disease which annually destroys a larger num- ber of persons than these three all put together. It is con-
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stantly with us, and we have been informed officially that it is a preventable disease.
Now in a republic whose corner-stone is that each man has the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of hap- piness one might ask in such a community when life and the pursuit of happiness is imperiled by disease, would not public opinion demand that such preventable diseases be discovered and met, if assured by so eminent an authority as Dr. Austin Flint, author of the American Physician, that constitutions predisposed to consumption would never have the disease if it were not for tuberculosis baccilli, the particular germ of that disease. Would they not demand that by the national assist- ance they should seek out the cause of that disease and seek out the nature of its action, and its great tendency to pro. duce this large loss of life. If assured by their official sta- tisties that annually one hundred thousand of its citizens die of preventable diseases wouldn't they demand some official and national investigation ? For a decade of years hundreds of thousands of unwilling victims have fallen under this jug- gernaut of ignorance and indifference. A father's care, & mother's love, a sister's affection and a brother's respect, a citizen's loyalty, a philanthropist's humanity, a philosopher's study, one and all have failed to arouse a nation to demand its rights. Against them all has appeared the handwriting on the wall, "mene, mene tekel upharsin," they have all been tried in the balance and found wanting.
Not many years ago in the memory of many of us, a poor tramp received from the benevolent in Bridgeport money and food to relieve his pains and sickness. But when it was dis- covered he was suffering from small pox that showed in his face, four weary hours he plodded our streets, his brain racked with sore pain, his body feverish with sore sickness. Women drove him from their homes, men fled from his presence. Oh it was pitiful. In that whole city of philanthropists, of friends he had none. As I watched by his dying bed I wished that every opponent of vaccination could have been with me. He was a man, when in health, much like the rest of us ; but then moaning in pain or in delirium referring to the home of
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his childhood. His face that had once been hallowed by the tears of a mother's affection, or dimpled with joy at a moth- er's smile, now so changed that none might know his name or family or lineage or race, without the hand of a father's love without a word of sympathy from a loved brother, without the care of a sister he died, no reckoning made, but sent to his account with all his imperfections on his head.
That death was unnecessary. If by his own fault he died, then it were a grievous fault, and grievously had that man answered it. If by the fault of his parents then did they doom him to a shameful and painful death. If by the neglect of the state, then was it a blunder which is worse than a crime.
Small pox, from a preventable has become almost a pre- vented disease. Till all preventable diseases receive a like quietus it is the duty of public opinion to demand that the means of that prevention shall be discovered. Says Prof. Merwin, every citizen of every state owes it to himself and the community and to those who are weak and wronged that they shall go to his assistance and help redress the wrong. If any law or social custom should inflict injury on any one, and that one of the humblest, then it is the duty of those who are stronger or know better to right or redress his wrong, and demand and fight for the repeal or correction of the law or custom.
We boast and boast rightly of our great Republic. But this Republic conferring upon its individual citizens liberty, demands a personal service. Throwing open all means for self improvement it imposes the greatest responsibilities. When then shall we look for this public opinion which may accomplish these beneficient results ? As I look over thuis audience to-night, so representative of the financial and the - political and the social institutions of this city I am reminded of that scene in the far east where the trusted advisor said, as Nathan said unto David, "Thou art the Man." (Loud Ap- plause.)
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