USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > The bench and bar of Litchfield County, Connecticut, 1709-1909 : biographical sketches of members, history and catalogue of the Litchfield Law School, historical notes > Part 2
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Thus Torrington, Barkhamsted. Colebrook, and a part of Har- winton, were appropriated to Windsor ; Hartland, Winchester, New Hartford, and the other part of Harwinton, were relinquish- ed to Hartford ; and the remaining lands in dispute. now consti- tuting the towns of Norfolk, Goshen, Canaan, Kent, Sharon and Salisbury, were retained by the Colony. These claims having at length been adjusted, the western lands began to be explored, and their facilities for cultivation to be known.
Woodbury. as I have before suggested, by several years our el- der sister in this new family of towns, began its settlement in 1674. The Church at Stratford had been in contention, and the Rev. Mr. Walker, with a portion of that Church and people, removed to the fertile region of Pomperauge, soon distinguished by the name of Woodbury, and then including, beside the present town, also the region composing the towns of Southbury, Bethlem and Roxbury.
Pomperange is said to have felt some of the effects of Philip's war-enough, at least, to add another to the many thrilling scenes of Indian depredation, so well drawn by the author of Mount Hope. New Milford next followed in the course of settlement. This commenced in 1707. Its increase of population was slow until 1716, when Rev. Daniel Boardman, from Wethersfield, was or- dained as the first minister. This gentleman was the ancestor of the several distinguished families and individuals of the same name, who have since been and now are residents of that town. His influence over the Indian tribe and its Sachem in that vicinity, was powerful and restraining, and so much confidence had this good man and his family in the fidelity of his Indian friends, it is said, that when his lady was earnestly warned to fly from a threaten- ed savage attack, she coolly replied, that she would go as soon as she had put things to rights about her house, and had knit round to her seam needle! The original white inhabitants were emigrants from Milford, from which it derives its name.
Emigrants from the Manor of Livingston, in the New York Colony. made Indian purchases and began a settlement at Wea. togue, in Salisbury, as early as 1720. After the sale of the town- ship in 1737, the population increased rapidly,-coming in from the towns of Lebanon, Litchfield, and many other places, so that it was duly organized in 1741, and settled its minister. Rev. Jonothan Lee, in 1744.
The first inhabitants of Litchfield came under the Hartford and Windsor title. in 1721, and chiefly from Hartford. Windsor and Lebanon. This territory, and a large lake in its south-west sec- tion, was known as Bantam. Whether it was so called by the In- dians, has been doubted. and is not well settled.
The settlement of the other towns commenced soon after, and progressed steadily, vet slowly. The town of Colebrook was the last enrolled in this fraternity, and settled its first minister, Rev. Jonathan Edwards, in 1795. Rev. Rufus Babcock, a Baptist min .
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ister, had, for some time before this, resided and officiated in the town.
One general characteristic marked the whole population ; it was gathered chiefly from the towns already settled in the Colony. and with but few emigrants from Massachusetts. Our immediate an- cestors were religious men, and religion was the ruling element ; but it would be a mistake to suppose that it absorbed all others.
I shall not detain you with an eulogium on Puritan character. This may be found stereotyped every where-not only in books and speeches, but much more accurately in its influence and effects, not in New England alone, but throughout this nation. Our American ancestors were Englishmen, descendants of the same men, and in- heritors of the same principles, by which Magna Charta was estab- lished at Runny-mede .- They were Anglo-Saxons, inspired with the same spirit of independence which has marked them every where, and especially through the long period of well defined English his- tory, and which is destined in its further developments to give tone and impress to the political and religious institutions of Christen- dom. So much has been said and written of the Puritans, I have sometimes thought that some believe that they were a distinct race, and perhaps of a different complexion and language from their other countrymen ; whereas, they were only Englishmen, generally of the Plebian caste, and with more of the energies and many of the frailties and imperfections common to humanity. If our first settlers here cherished more firmly the religious elements of their character than any other., the spirit of independence to which I have alluded developed another-the love of money, and an ingenuity in grat- ifying it.
Since the extent and resources of this County have been better known, the wonder is often expressed, how such an unpromising region as this County could have invited a population at first : but herein we misconceive the condition of our fathers. Here, as they supposed, was the last land to be explored and occupied in their day. They had no where else to go, and the growing population of the east, as well as the barren soil of the coast, impelled them westward. Of the north, beyond the Massachusetts Colony, noth- ing was known ; only Canada and the frozen regions of Nova Scotia had been heard of. On the west was another Colony, but a dif- ferent people ; and still beyond, was an unknown realm, possessed by savage men, of whom New England had seen enough ; and not much behind this, according to the geography of that day, was the Western Ocean, referred to in the Charter. A visible hand of Providence seems to have guided our fathers' goings. Had the valley of the Susquehanna been known to them then, they would but the sooner have furnished the history of the massacre of Wyoming.
If there were here the extensive and almost impenatrable ever- glade of the Green-Woods, the high hills of Goshen, Litchfield
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and Cornwall, and heavy forests every where-these were trifles then in the way of a New England man's calculation, and had been ever since the people of the May Flower and the Arabella and their descendants had been crowding their way back among the forests. These, and a thousand other obstacles, were surmounted, with hard- ly a suspicion that they were obstacles at all, and every township began ere long to exhibit a well ordered, organized society.
This was no missionary field, after the manner of modern new settlements. Every little Colony, as it became organized and ex- tended from town to town, either took its minister along with it, or called him soon after. He became one with his people, wedded to them almost by sacramental bonds, indissoluble. A Primus inter pares, he settled on his own domain, appropriated to his use by the proprietors of every town, and he cultivated with his own hands his own soil. and at his death was laid down among his parishoners and neighbors in the common cemetery, with little of monumental ex- travagance to distinguish his resting place. The meeting-house was soon seen at the central point of each town, modestly elevated above surrounding buildings, and by its side the school-house, as its nursling child or younger sister, and the minister and the master were the oracles of each community. The development of the Christian man, spiritual, intellectual and physical, was the necessary result of such an organization of society as this.
The original settlers of this County were removed two or three generations from the first emigrants from England, and some of the more harsh pecularities of that race may well be supposed, ere this time, to have become modified, or to have subsided entirely. If a little of the spirit of Arch-Bishop Laud, transgressing the boundaries of Realm and Church, had found its way over the ocean. and was developed under a new condition of society here, it is not to be wondered at: it was the spirit of the age, though none the retter for that, and none the more excusable, whether seen in Laud or Mather -- in a Roval Parliament, or a Colonial Assembly.
Less of these peculiarities appeared in Connecticut than in Mass- achusetts ; and at the late period when this County was settled, the sense of oppression inflicted by the mother country, whether real or fancied, was a little forgotten, and of course neither Quakers, Praver Books nor Christmas were the object of penal legislation. A more tolerant, and of course a better spirit, came with our fathers into this County, than had before existed elsewhere in the Colony, and, if 1 mistake not, it has ever since been producing here its legiti- mate effects, and in some degree has distinguished the char- acter and the action of Litchfield County throughout its entire his- tory. as many facts could be made to prove.
Before the year 1751, this territory had been attached to dif- ferent Counties-most of it to the County of Hartford; the towns of Sharon and Salisbury to the County of New Haven ; and many of the early titles and of probate proceedings of several of the
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towns, before their organization or incorporation, may be found on the records of more early settled towns. The first settlements of estates in Canaan are recorded in Woodbury, and many early deeds are on record in the office of the Secretary in Hartford.
In 1751, the condition of the population of these towns was such as to demand the organization of a new County, and the subject was extensively discussed at the town meetings. As is always true, on such occasions, a diversity of opinions as well as the or- dinary amount of excited feeling existed, regarding the location of the shire town. Cornwall and Canaan made their claims and had their advocates-but the chief contest was between Litchfield and Goshen. The latter town was supposed to occupy the geographical center, and many persons had settled there in expectation that that would become the fixed seat of justice, and, among others, Oliver Wolcott, afterward Governor of the State. But at the October session of the General Court in 1751, the new County was established with Litchfield as the County Town, under the name of Litchfield County.
Litchfield County, associated with the thought of one hundred years ago! A brief space in a nation's history; but such an hundred years !- more eventful than any other since the intro- duction of our Holy Religion into the world. This name speaks to us of home and all the hallowed memories of youth and years beyond our reach,-of our truant frolics, our school boy trials, our youthful aspirations and hopes ; and, perhaps, of more tender and romantic sympathies ; and many will recall the misgivings, and yet the stern resolves, with which they commenced the various avoca- tions of life in which they have since been engaged. And from this point, too, we look back to ties which once bound us to parents. brothers, companions, friends-then strong-now sundered! and which have been breaking and breaking, until many of us find our- selves standing, almost alone, amidst what a few years ago was an unborn generation.
Litchfield County ! Go where you will through this broad country, and speak aloud this name, and you will hear a response, "That is my own, my native land." It will come from some whom you will find in the halls of Legislation, in the Pulpit, on the Bench, at the Bar, by the sick man's couch, in the marts of Trade, by the Plow, or as wandering spirits in some of the tried or untried ex- periments of life. And sure I am, that there is not to be found a son of this County, be his residence ever so remote, who would not feel humbled to learn that this name was to be no longer heard among the civil divisions of his native State.
The usual officers, made necessary by the erection of the new County, were immediately appointed by the General Court. William Preston, Esq. of Woodbury, was the first Chief Justice of the County, and his Associates were John Williams, Esq., of Sharon, Samuel Canfield, of New Milford, and Ebenezer Marsh, of Litch-
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OLD LITCHFIELD, 1851
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field. Isaac Baldwin, Esq., was the first Clerk, and the first Sheriff was Oliver Wolcott, of whom I shall speak again. The County Court, at its first session in December of the same year, appointed Samuel Pettibone, Esq., of Goshen. to be King's Attorney, who was, within a few years, succeeded by Reynold Marvin, Esq., of this village, and these two gentlemen were all in this County, in this capacity, who ever represented the King's majesty in that ad- ministration of criminal justice.
The tenure of official place in the early days of the Common- wealth, was more permanent than since party subserviency has in some degree taken the place of better qualifications. The changes upon the bench of the County Court were not frequent. The office of Chief Judge, from the time of Judge Preston to the time of his successors, who are now alive, have been John Williams, of Sharon. Oliver Wolcott, Daniel Sherman, of Woodbury, Joshua Porter, of Salisbury. Aaron Austin, of New Hartford, also a member of the Council, and Augustus Pettibone. of Norfolk. I can not at this time present a catalogue of Associate Judges. It has been com- posed of the most worthy and competent citizens of the County- gentlemen of high influence and respect in the several towns of their residence.
In the office of Sheriff. Governor Wolcott was succeeded by Lynde Lord. David Smith, John R. Landon, Moses Seymour, Jr., and Ozias Seymour, of this village, and the successors of these gentlemen are still surviving.
Mr. Marvin was succeeded in the office of State's Attorney, by Andrew Adams, Tapping Reeve. Uriah Thacy, Nathaniel Smith, John Allen, Uriel Holmes, and Elisha Sterling, whose successors, with a single exception, still survive.
Hon. Frederick Wolcott succeeded Mr. Baldwin in the office of Clerk, and this place he held, undisturbed by party influences. for forty years, and until nearly the time of his death in 1836.
The common Prison first erected was a small wooden building. near the late dwelling house of Roger Cook. Esq., on the north side of East street. This stood but few years, and in its place a more commodious one was built, nearly on the same foundation. The present Prison was built in 1812. and essentially improved within a few years. The first Court House stood on the open grounds a little easterly from the West Park, and may still be seen in the rear of the buildings on the south side of West street. It was a small building, but in it were often witnessed some of the most able efforts of American eloquence. In this humble Temple of Justice, Hon. S. W. Johnston of Stratford, Edwards of New Haven, Reeve, Tracy, Allen, and the Smiths of this County, ex- hibited some of the best essays of forensic power. The present Court House was erected in 1798.
The early progress of the County presents but a few incidents of sufficient note to retain a place in its traditionary history. The
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apprehension of savage incursions had passed away, and the people were left undisturbed to carry out, to their necessary results, what might have been expected from the spirit and enterprise which brought them hither. The old French War, as it has since been called, disturbed them but little. Some of the towns in the County, moved by a loyal impulse, and a legitimate hatred of France, as well as hostility to Indians in its service, furnished men and officers in aid of some of the expeditions to the northern frontier.
The pioneers here were agriculturists. They came with no knowledge or care for any other pursuit, and looked for no greater results than the enjoyment of religious privileges. the increase of their estates by removing the heavy forest and adding other acres to their original purchases, and with the hope, perhaps, of sending an active boy to the College. Of manufactures, they knew nothing. The grist-mill and saw-mill, the blacksmith and clothier's shops,- all as indispensable as the plow and the axe,-they provided for as among the necessaries of a farmer's life.
Thus they toiled on, till the hill-sides and the valleys every where showed the fenced field and the comfortable dwelling. The spinning wheel was in every house, and the loom in every neigh- borhood, and almost every article of clothing was the product of female domestic industry. Intercourse with each other was diffi- cult. The hills were steep, and the valleys miry, and the means of conveyance confined to the single horse with saddle and pillion, with no other carriage than the ox-cart in summer and the sled in the winter. The deep winter snows often obstructed even the use of the sled, and then resort was had to snow-shoes. These were made of a light rim of wood bent into the form of an ox-bow, though smaller, perforated and woven into a net work with thongs of raw-hide, leather or deer skin, and when attached to the com- mon shoe enabled the walker to travel upon the surface of the snow. Four-wheeled carriages were not introduced into general use until after the Revolution. Ladies, old and young, thought no more of fatigue in performing long journeys over the rough roads of the County, on horseback, than the ladies of our times in mak- ing trips by easy stages, in coaches or cars.
The County Town constituted a common center, where the leading men of the County met during the terms of the Courts, and they saw but little of each other at other times. The course of their business was in different directions. The north-west towns found their markets on the Hudson River-the southern towns at Derby and New Haven-and the eastern ones at Hartford. In the mean while, and before the breaking out of the war of the Revolution, nearly every town had its settled Pastor, and the schools were every where spead over the territory.
No manufacturing interest was prevalent in the County at first. The policy and laws of the mother country had discouraged this. But the rich iron mine which had been early discovered in Salis-
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bury, and the iron ore found in Kent, could not lie neglected. Iron was indispensable, and its transportation from the coast almost impracticable. The ore bed in Salisbury had been granted by the Colonial Assembly to Daniel Bissell of Windsor, as early as 1731, and produces a better quality of iron than any imported from abroad or found elsewhere at home.
The manufacture of bloomed iron in the region of the ore. com- menced before the organization of the County. Thomas Lamb erected a forge at Lime Rock, in Salisbury, as early as 1734,- probably the first in the Colony. This experiment was soon ex- tensively followed in Salisbury. Canaan, Cornwall and Kent, and there were forges erected also in Norfolk, Colebrook and Litch- field. The ore was often transported from the ore beds to the forge in leathern sacks, upon horses. Bar iron became here a sort of circulating medium, and promissory notes were more frequent- ly made payable in iron than in money.
The first Furnace in the Colony was built at Lakeville, in Salis- bury. in 1762, by John Hazelton and Ethan Allen of Salisbury, and Samuel Forbes of Canaan. This property fell into the hands of Richard Smith, an English gentleman, a little before the war of the Revolution. Upon this event he returned to England, and the State took possession of the furnace, and it was employed, tin- der the agency of Col. Joshua Porter, in the manufacture of can- non, shells and shot, for the use of the army and navy of the country, and sometimes under the supervision of Governeur Mor- ris and John Jay, agents of the Continental Congress: and after the war, the navy of the United States received, to a considerable extent, the guns for its heaviest ships, from the same establishment.
It will not be any part of my purpose to become the Ecclesiasti- cal historian of the County. This duty will be better performed by other pens. And yet. the true character and condition of a people can not be well understood without some study of their re- ligious state.
I have already suggested, that there was here a more tolerant and better spirit than existed among the first emigrants to Ply- mouth and Massachusetts. The churches were insulated, and in a manner shut out from the disturbing causes which had agitated other portions of the Colony. I do not learn from that full and faithful chronicler of religious dissensions. Dr. Trumbull, that there was in this County so much of the metaphysical and subtle in the- ology, as had produced such bitter effects at an earlier time, in the churches at Hartford, New Haven. Stratford ard Wallingford. The Pastors were men of peace, who had sought the retired parishes over here in the hills and valleys, without much pride of learning, and without ambitious views. The influence of the Pastor here was paternal; the eloquence of his example was more potent than the eloquence of the pulpit. It might be expected, that by such a Clergy, a deep and broad foundation of future good would be laid .-
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a fixed Protestant sentiment and its legitimate consequence, in- dependent opinion and energetic action.
There was here, also, very early, another element which modi- fied and liberalized the temper of the fathers, who had smarted, as they supposed, under the persecutions of an English home and English laws. A little alloy was intermixed in the religious crucible, which, if it did not, in the opinion of all, render the mass more precious, at least made it more malleable, and better fitted for practical use. There was not in this Country an universal dislike of the Chuch of England. We were removed farther back in point of time, as I have said, from the original causes of hostility. We were Englishmen, boasting of English Common Law as our birthright and our inheritance, and into this was interwoven many of the principles and usages of English Ecclesiastical polity. This respect for the institutions of the mother country, though long felt by some, was first developed in the College, and extended sooner and more widely in this County than any where else; so that congregations worshiping with the Liturgy of the English Church were soon found in Woodbury, Watertown, Plymouth. Harwinton, Litchfield, Kent, Sharon and Salisbury, and were com- posed of men of equal intelligence and purity of character with their neighbors of the Congregational Churches. And yet, enough of traditional prejudice still remained, uncorrected by time or im- partial examinations, often to subject the friends and members of the Church of England to insult and injustice. Some of it remains still but too little to irritate or disturb a Christian spirit.
The spirit of emigration, that same Anglo-Saxon temperament which brought our ancestors into the County, and which constantly pushes forward to the trial of unknown fortune, began its mani- festitations before the Revolution, and sought its gratification first in Vermont. Vermont is the child of this County. We gave to her her first Governor, and three Governors besides ; as many as three Senators in Congress, and also many of her most efficient founders and carly distinguished citizens,-Chittendens, Allens, Ga- lushas, Chipmans, Skinner and others. The attitude assumed by Vermont in the early stages of the Revolutionary War, in respect to Canada on the north and the threatening States of New York and New Hampshire on either side, was peculiar and delicate, and demanded the most adroit policy to secure her purpose of inde- pendence. In her dilemma, her most sagacious men resorted to the counsels of their old friends of Litchfield County, and it is said that her final course was shaped, and her designs accomplished, by the advice of a confidential council. assembled at the house of Governor Wolcott in this village.
Perhaps no community ever existed, with fewer causes of dis- turbance or discontent than were felt here, before the complaints of British exaction were heard from Boston. But the first mur- murings from the East excited our quiet population to action, and in
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nearly every town in the County, meetings of sympathy were holden, and strong resolves adopted, responsive to the Boston complainings. The tax on tea and the stamp duty were trifles. The people of this County knew nothing of them, and probably cared no more. The principle of the movement was deeper-more fundamental ; the love of self government-"the glorious privilege of being in- dependent !" The excitement was general throughout the Country. Individuals opposed it, and from different, though equally pure mo- tives. Some supposed resistance to the laws to be hopeless at that time, and advised to wait for more strength and resources ; others were influenced by religious considerations, just as pure and as potent as had influenced their fathers aforetime ; others had a deeper seated sense of loyalty, and the obligations of sworn allegiance. But the County was nearly unanimous in its resistance to British claims, and saw in them the commencement of a Colonial servitude, degrading, and threatening the future progress of the country, in its destined path to wealth and glory. I believe no individual of distinction in the County took arms against the cause of the country.
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