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 3
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Our remote position from the scenes of strife and the march of armies, will not permit me to speak to you of battle-fields, of vic- tories won or villages sacked any where in our sight. We were only in the pathway between the different wings of the American army. I have no means of determining the amount of force in men or money furnished by this County in aid of the war. From the tone of the votes and resolves passed at the various town-meetings, and from the many officers and men, Continental and militia, who joined the army, I may venture the assertion, that no county in New England, of no greater population than this, gave more efficient aid in various ways, or manifested by its acts, more devoted pa- triotism.
Sheldon's was. I believe, the first regiment of cavalry which joined the army. It was raised in this County chiefly. and com- manded by Col. Elisha Sheldon of Salisbury. The services of this regiment have been favorably noticed by the writers of that day, and on various occasions called forth the public thanks of the Commander-in-Chief. Among other officers attached to it, was Major Benjamin Tallmadge, afterwards and for many years a dis- tinguished merchant and gentleman of this village, and, for several sessions, a valuable member of Congress in the Connecticut dele- gation. Major Tallmadge distinguished himself by a brilliant ex- ploit against the enemy on Long Island, for which he received the public approbation of General Washington ; and through the whole struggle, this officer proved himself a favorite with the army and the officers under whom he served. Besides these, several other officers of elevated as well as subordinate rank, were attached to the Continental army, from this County. Among them were Col. Heman Swift of Cornwall, Major Samuel Elmore of Sharon. Col. Seth Warner of Woodbury, Major Moses Seymour of Litchfield,
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Major John Webb of Canaan, Capt. John Sedgwick and Edward Rogers of Cornwall, Col. Blagden and Major Luther Stoddard of Salisbury, and many others not now recollected.
Contributions in support of the war were not confined to the payment of heavy taxes, but voluntary aid came from associations and individuals in every town. The aggregate can not be com- puted,-if it could, it would show an amount, which, rich as we now are, I think could not be demanded of our citizens for any cause of patriotism or philanthropy without murmurs, and perhaps, resistance.
Nor was the Patriot spirit confined to men and soldiers,-it warmed the bosoms of wives, mothers and sisters, in every town. An equestrian statue of the King, of gilded lead, before the war, had stood upon the Bowling Green in New York. As soon as the news of the signing of the Declaration of Independence reach- ed New York, this was missing. Ere long it was found at the dwelling-house of Hon. Oliver Wolcott, in this village, and in time of need was melted down into the more appropriate shape of forty thousand bullets, by the daughters of that gentleman and other ladies, and forwarded to the soldiery in the field. Other la- dies still. and in other towns, were much employed in making blankets and garments for the suffering troops.
I have no means of determining the number of killed and wounded soldiers belonging to this County.
Mr. Matthews, the Mayor of the city of New York, was for some time detained in this village, a prisoner of war, and it is said that his traveling trunk, and some parts of his pleasure carriage. still remain in possession of the Seymour family. Governor Franklin, the Royal Governor of New Jersey, and a son of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, was confined as a prisoner of war in our jail which was often used to detain English prisoners as well as Tories.
Although the treaty of peace brought peace to other parts of the State, it did not bring it to the whole of this County. One town was left,-not to the continued and merciless inroads of British soldiers and savage Indians, as before, but to the unjust oppressions of Pennsylvania,-Westmoreland, better known to the readers of Indian tragedy by the name of Il'yoming. Its history is one of melancholy interest. This territory is in the valley and region of the Susquehanna River, and included the present flourish- ing village of Wilkesbarre. Its extent was as broad as this State. It was supposed to be embraced within our chartered limits, and such was the opinion of the most eminent counsel in England and in the Colony. Under this claim, a company associated about the year 1754, by the name of the Susquhanna Company, and purchased the Indian title to the country, for two thousand pounds, New York currency. This was a voluntary movement .- a people's enterprise. unsanctioned by any direct Legislative act, but unforbidden, and probably encouraged. Within a few years, a settlement was ef-
TEARING DOWN STATUE OF GEORGE III.
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fected upon the choice lands of the Susquehanna, chiefly by emi- grants from the counties of Windham and New London, with sev- eral from this County, among whom was John Franklin of Canaan, the brother of the late Silas Franklin, Esq., of that town, a gentle- man whose fortune and history were closely interwoven with the fortunes of that colony. The Authorities of Pennsylvania, though claiming under a later Charter, opposed this settlement, and kept up a continual annoyance until the breaking out of the war with England, and even then sympathized but little with our people there, under the dreadful afflictions which that event brought upon them.
Sad indeed was the condition of the colonists of Wyoming !- persecuted by their Pennsylvania neighbors, and left defenceless to the ravages of British troops and their savage allies! The Legislature of this Colony recognized this interesting band of its own children, and incorporated them into a township, by the name of Westmoreland, in 1774, and annexed it to the County of Litch- field. They would have been protected from the aggressions of Pennsylvania, if the war of the Revolution had not prevented, and the good Friends of that Commonwealth would have been compelled to doff the Quaker a while, or quietly to have left our fellow-citizens in peace. Under the protection of their parent power, this little col- ony now looked for security. They were a town of the Connecticut Colony, organized with Selectmen and other ordinary Town Of- ficers, and semi-annually sent their Deputies to the General Court at Hartford and New Haven; chose their Jurors to attend the Courts of this County, and their Justices of the Peace were mag- istrates of the County of Litchfield, and all writs and process. served there, were returnable to the Courts of this County. and remain now upon our records. But their security was transient : the war of the Revolution brought down upon them a combined force of British Provincials and Tories. from Pennsylvania. New Jersey and New York, and a large body of Indians. commanded by Brant. a celebrated chief. This whole force was directed by Col. John Butler, of infamous memory.
I have no leisure to describe, in its details, the progress of the tragedy of the Wyoming massacre. Cols. John Franklin and Zebulon Butler were conspicious in their efforts to avert the sad destiny of the citizens. It was in vain. . The battle opened on the 3d day of July. 1778. and it closed with the entire destruc- tion of the settlement. Men, women and children. whether in arms or defenceless, were devoted to the bayonet and scalping knife, and such as were so fortunate as to escape, were driven away, houseless and homeless. many of them to be dragged from their hiding places to the slaughter, and others to escape after many perils by the way. That massacre was without a likeness in modern warfare, and a stain upon the English character, for which English historians have found no apology.
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"Accursed Brant ! he left of all my tribe
Nor man, nor child. nor any thing of living birth ;
No,-not the dog that watch'd my household hearth
Escaped that night, upon our plains,-all perished !"
Men, maidens, widowed mothers and helpless infants, flying from this scene of death, are remembered by many still living, passing on foot and on horseback through this County, back to their friends here and to the eastern towns. Such was the fate of a portion of the citizens of our own County. Nine years Wy- oming had been a part of us, and after the war was over, Penn- sylvania renewed her claims and her oppressions. Our Pilgrim fathers could recount no such afflictions ! Our jurisdiction ceased in 1782, after a decision by a Board of Commissioners ; but a great portion of those who had survived the conflict with the Indians, gathered again around the ruins of their former habitations, and still refused submission to the claims of Pennsylvania. Col. Frank- lin was the master spirit of resistance, and upon him fell the weight of vengance. He was arrested, imprisoned, and condemed to death as a traitor. After a long confinement in jail, he was at length released, and survived many years, and was a respectable and in- fluential member of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, from the County of Luzerne.
The result of the compromise of our claim to the town of West- moreland, was the acknowledgment, by Congress, of the claim of Connecticut to the Western Reserve, from which has been derived the School Fund of the State.
The war of the Revolution had ceased, and left us an exhausted people. The extravagant hopes of many were disappointed : they felt the present pressure, but anticipated none of the future prosper- ity and glory in reserve. This disappointment, in a neighboring State, had produced open resistence to the laws,-rebellion ! It was a contagious spirit. and such as municipal lines could not con- fine. Much was feared from it here. A spark from that flame in Berkshire county had flown over into Sharon. One Dr. Hurl- but, an emissary of Shay's, visited that town, in the spring of 1787, to enlist men in his cause. He made some impression. The
General Assembly was then in session, and took efficient measures to prevent the spread of the treasonable contagion. Col. Samuel Canfield, of New Milford, and Uriah Tracy, of this village, were
sent to suppress it. Several individuals were arrested and im- prisoned in the jail of this County; but, as the disturbance in the sister State subsided, the advocates of resistance to the laws were disheartened. the prosecutions were finally abandoned, and these disciples of the treasonable doctrine of resistance were permitted to go at large, punished enough by the contempt which followed them.
Although the resources of our citizens had been consumed by a wasting war and a bankrupt government. the elasticity of our
Canfield. Born April
COL. SAMUEL CANFIELD.
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former enterprise was not relaxed. Released, now, from Colonial dependence, and free to act without foreign restrictions, the ener- gies of our citizens soon recovered all they had lost. A Consti- tution of Government, uniting the former Colonies into a great nation, was proposed to the State for adoption ; and, in January, 1787, a convention of deligates from the several towns met at Hartford to consider it. The votes of the deligates from this County, upon this great question, stood, twenty-two in the affirm- ative, and nine in the negative. The negative votes were from Cornwall, Norfolk, and Sharon. Harwinton, New Hartford, and Torrington were divided.
No portion of the country sooner revived under the new im- pulse, given by the establishment of a National Constitutional Government, than this County. Our resources were varied. Our soil was every where strong on the hills and by the streams. Var- ious sections possessed their peculiarities of production. Wheat was a staple of the western towns. Dairy products were yielded in abundance in the northern and central regions; and, in almost every location, every species of grass, fruit, and grain. indigenous to any northern latitude, by reasonable culture, was found to flourish. We were rich in the most useful mineral in the world, and our streams of purest water afforded privileges every where for con- verting our ores into iron and our forests into building materials. But we had more-that, without which, all these were worthless ; we had an industrious, and what was better, an economical and an intelligent yeomanry. We had a few slaves, to be sure : not enough of these, nor enough of a degraded foreign population to render the toil of our own hands, in the fields, or of our wives or daughters, in the kitchen or the dairy, dishonored or disgraceful. Our people were Native Americans! And here is the secret of our prosperity and progress.
In 1784 the first newspaper press was established in this County by Thomas Collier, and was continued under his superintendence for more than twenty years. It was called the "Weekly Monitor." It was a well conducted sheet, and it is refreshing now, after the lapse of many years, to look through its columns, as through a glass, and see the men of other days, as they have spoken and acted on the same ground on which we stand. Mr. Collier was an able writer. and his editorial efforts would have done honor to any journal. It is a Litchfield monitor now, and whoever shall look over its files will see, at a glance, the great changes which have been introduced, in later days, into all the departments of business and of social and political life.
Then. the intercourse between the several towns in this County and the market towns was slow and difficult. The Country mer- chants were the great brokers, and stood between the farmer and the markets. They received all his produce and supplied all he wished to buy. The thrifty farmer, on settlement, received his
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annual balance from the merchant. This enabled him to increase his acres. He did not invest it in stocks ; of these he knew nothing, except such as he had seen attached as instruments of punishment, to the whipping post in every town.
The merchants, thus employed, almost all became wealthy. A broken merchant in the County was seldom heard of. Among the most successful and respectable of these gentlemen, whom I now recollect, were Julius Deming and Benjamin Tallmadge, of this town: Tallmadge, of Warren: Bacon, of Woodbury ; Lea- vitts', of Bethlem and Washington ; Starr. Norton, and Lymans', of Goshen : Battel, of Norfolk: King, of Sharon : Holley, of Salis- bury, and Elijah Boardman, of New Milford, afterwards a highly respectable Senator in the Congress of the United States. At that time. Derby was the chief market town for many of the mer- chants in the southern towns of the County.
The age of Turnpike Roads commenced about the year 1800, and no portion of the country was more improved by them than this County. Before this, a journey through the Green Woods was spoken of as an exploit .- a region now accommodated by the most pleasant road in the County. The roads constructed about the same time, from New Haven to Canaan. from Sharon to Goshen. and from Litchfield to Hartford, changed very much the aspect of the County and its current of business, and if they have not been profitable to stockholders. they have been invaluable to the people.
The spur given to agriculture by the wars following the French Revolution was felt in every thing. If our farmers have failed in any thing. it has been in a proper appreciation of their own calling. They have yielded a preference to other employments. to which they are not entitled. If we are to have an Aristocracy in this country. I say, let the farmers and business men. and not our idlers, be our Princes !- not such as are ashamed of their employments and with- draw their sons from the field and their daughters from domestic labor. I would have no such to rule over me. But, in spite of some such false notions, agriculture has kept pace even with other branches of industry in the County, as the appearance of our farms and the thrift of our farmers attest. Much of this may be attributed to an Agricultural Society. which was formed here several years ago, and has been well sustained until this time.
I have alluded to the condition of manufactures as it was before the Revolution-limited to iron and confined to the furnace in Salis- bury and a few forges in that vicinity: to which may be added, the manufacture of maple sugar, to some extent by the farmers in some of the towns.
Even a few years ago. this County was not believed to be destined to become a manufacturing community. During the Revolutionary War. Samuel Forbes, Esq .. commenced a most important experi- ment in Canaan-the manufacture of nail rods. Before this, nails were hammered out from the bar iron -- a slow and expensive process.
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There was a slitting-mill in New Jersey, in which nail rods were made, but the machinery was kept hidden from public inspection. Forbes wished to obtain a knowledge of it, and for this purpose employed an ingenious mechanic and millwright, Isaac Benton, of Salisbury. Benton, disguised as a traveling mendicant, obtained admission to the mill, and so critically, and without suspicion, marked the machinery and its operation, as to be able immediately to make such a model of it as to construct a mill, of the same sort, for Forbes. This was the foundation of his great fortune in after life. He afterwards erected another slitting-mill in Washington, (now Woodville. ) By these he was able to supply the great de- mand for this article. This was a great improvement upon the former mode of nail-making, but was itself superseded, some years afterwards, by the introduction of cut nail machinery. Esquire Forbes, as he was afterwards familiarly called by every body, may justly be deemed the pioneer of the manufacturing interests in this County. His efforts were confined, generally. to the working of iron. His forge he extended, and accommodated to the manufactur- ing of anchors, screws, and mill irons. He introduced this branch of the iron business into this County, if not into the State. It was not long after followed by those enterprising manufacturers, Russell Hunt & Brothers, at South Canaan, by whom the largest anchors for the largest ships of the American Navy were made.
The manufacture of scythes by water-power. was commenced in this County first at Winsted, by Jenkins & Boyd, in 1704. These enterprising gentlemen, with the brothers Rockwell, soon extensive- ly engaged in various branches of the manufacture of iron and steel in Winsted and that vicinity, from which originated, and has grown up to its present condition, one of the most flourishing manufactur- ing villages in the State.
The furnace, in Salisbury, continued for many years in most successful operation under its active proprietors, and especially its last owners, Messrs. Holley & Coffing, by whose energy and success, the iron interest, in Salisbury, has been most essentially promoted ; and it has extended into the towns of Canaan, Corn- wall. Sharon, and Kent. Ames' works, at Falls Village, are not equalled by any other in the State.
In speaking of the iron interest. I cannot but allude again to the Salisbury iron ore, which is found in various localities in that town. It stands superior to any other for the tenacity of the iron which it produces, with which the armories of Springfield and Harper's Ferry are supplied, and from which the chain cables and best anchors for the Navy are made. And I am confident. if the machinery of the steam vessels and railroad cars were made ex- clusively from this iron, and not from a cheaper and inferior ma- terial. we should know less of broken shafts and loss of life in our public conveyances.
Paper was first made in this County, at the great Falls of the
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Housatonic, in Salisbury, by Adam & Church, as early as 1787, and soon after in Litchfield. The first carding-machine erected, I think, in this State, was built at the great falls in Canaan, about 1802. Previous to this time, wool was carded only by females, at their own firesides.
A general manufacturing policy was suggested by the measures of government, and not long after a more extensive experiment was made in the manufacture of woolen cloths by the late Gov. Wolcott, and his brother Hon. Frederick Wolcott of this place. than had been made in this County before ; and although the trial was disastrous to its projectors, it was the parent of the subse- quent and present prosperity of the village of Wolcottville.
The same policy has spread into almost every town in the County, and has not only extended the manufacture of iron, from a mouse trap to a ship's anchor, but has introduced, and is intro- ducing, all the various branches of manufactures pursued in this country : and of late, the elegant manufacture of the Papier Mache. Plymouth, New Hartford, Norfolk, Woodbury, as well as the towns before mentioned, have felt extensively the beneficial effects of this modern industrial progress, so that our County may now be set down as one of the first manufacturing Counties in the State ; and this confirms what I have said, that here are all the varied facilities of profitable employment, which can be found in any section or region o fthis country. Our young men need no longer seek adventure and fortune elsewhere! Neither the desire of wealth, nor the preservation of health and life, should suggest emigration.
As soon as the war was over, and the Indians subdued into peace, our people rushed again to Vermont, and to the Whites- town and Genesee countries, as they were called: so that, in a few years, let a Litchfield County man go where he would, between the top of the Green Mountains and Lake Champlain, or between Utica and the Lakes, and every day he would greet an acquaintance or citizen from his own County.
And then followed the sale and occupation of the Connecticut Western Reserve. Many of its original proprietors were our citi- zens ; and among them, Messrs. Boardman, of New Milford : Holmes, Tallmadge, and Wadsworth, of Litchfield: Starr and Norton, of Goshen: Canfield, of Sharon; Johnston. Church. and Waterman. of Salisbury. For a time it seemed as if depopulation was to fol- low. The towns of Boardman, Canfield. Tallmadge, Johnson, Hud- son. and several others on the reserve, were soon filling up with the best blood and spirit of our County; and since then, we have been increasing the population of other parts of the States of New York and Ohio, as well as of Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana, so that now there is not one of us who remain, who has not a parent, a brother. or a child, in New York, Vermont, or the States of the West. And we believe that these children of our own raising, have
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transmitted the impress and image of Litchfield County, to the gen- eral condition of society where they have gone, and that they have fixed there a moral likeness which proves its parentage. This em- igrating propensity has characterized the Saxon race in all times of its history ; and it is still at work, scattering us into every corner and climate, and away to dig for gold and graves in the barrens of California ! Notwithstanding this exhausting process of emigration, our population which, in the year 1800, was 41,671, has increased to the number of 46,171.
I do not know that before the Revolution there was a public Grammar School in the County. The preparatory studies of young men, intended for collegiate course, were prosecuted with private instructors-generally, the Clergy; and this course was pursued still later.
Among the clergymen of the County most distinguished as in- structors, and in fitting young men for college, as it was called, were Rev. Daniel Farrand, of Canaan, Ammi R. Robbins, of Nor- folk, Judah Champion, of Litchfield, and Azel Backus, D. D., of Bethlem. This last named gentleman was afterwards President of Hamilton College.
Soon after the war, Academies were instituted, and among the first and best of them was the Morris Academy in the parish of South Farms, in this town, which was commenced in 1790, by James Morris, Esq. Esquire Morris was no ordinary man. He was a distinguished graduate of Yale College, and an active officer in the Revolutionary Army. His learning was varied and practical, and under his direction the Morris Academy became the most noted public school of the County. and so continued for many years. An Academy at Sharon, not long after, acquired a deserved repu- tation, under such instructors as John T. Peters, Elisha Sterling, and Barzillai Slosson. Many years afterwards an Academy was conducted in Ellsworth Society, in the same town. under the super- intendence of Rev. Daniel Parker, which soon attained a high reputation.
Our relative position in the State, and the controlling influence of the cities, have left us without College, Asylum, or Retreats ; but our district schools have been doing their proper work, so that Judge Reeve remarked while alive. that he had never seen but one witness in Court, born in this County, who could not read. And these schools have not only made scholars, but school-masters, and these have been among the best of our indigenous productions, and have found a good market every where. When Congress sat in Philadelphia, a Litchfield County man was seen driving a drove of mules through the streets. A North Carolina member congratul- lated the late Mr. Tracy upon seeing so many of his constituents that morning, and enquired where they were going, to which he facetious- ly replied, that they were going to North Carolina to keep school.
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