USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Washington > The church on the green; the first two centuries of the First Congregational church at Washington, Connecticut, 1741-1941 > Part 9
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Apparently this engagement added fuel to the fire. Fred- erick Gunn was now the prospective son-in-law of General Brinsmade and the Brinsmade family was one of the most influential in Washington. Mr. Hayes continued to brand Mr. Gunn as a dangerous man and one to be shunned by the community. It was natural that the Brinsmade family should begin to resent it.
Whatever may be said of Mr. Hayes, he was a man of courage and very aggressive. He now carried the attack fur- ther. Mary Brinsmade, Abbie's younger sister, had estab- lished a successful young ladies' Seminary in Judea. She had graduated from the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in 1846 and had returned to Washington, filled with a desire for some form of useful service. She was a born teacher and therefore in the fall of 1846, she had gathered a group of sixteen girls together. She began the school in her father's house whose site was in front of the present location of Brownley Inn. The number of pupils increased rapidly and within two years they moved to the ballroom of "Uncle Andrew Hine's" house, which later became the "White Inn." There is an excellent sketch of the Judea Female Seminary written by Miss Amy Kenyon and kept in the Washington Library.
In September, 1848, the school moved to the second story in the building which was occupied by the Methodist Church.
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A few of the girls boarded around in the different families. One girl was from Alabama, another from Ohio and others from nearby states. The school followed a rather advanced type of curriculum, modeled somewhat upon that of Mount Holyoke. In addition to academic studies, there was needle- work and nature study. Calisthenics were adopted as a school exercise and occasionally, we are told, pupils engaged in parlor dancing. On one or two occasions, the company at General Brinsmade's were entertained by simple tableaux in which a niece of the General took part.
Suddenly, without warning, Mr. Hayes preached a ser- mon denouncing calisthenics, promiscuous dancing and tableaux as being thoroughly evil and in the service of Satan. It was an open and direct attack, in the style of the attacks against the abolitionists. Mr. Hayes had gone too far. The friends of General Brinsmade and his family ral- lied to their support. There was no movement against the Female Seminary. Instead, the majority of the church con- cluded that Mr. Hayes was the one who was disturbing the community peace. He was given six months' notice after which his connection with the church was dissolved. With the departure of Mr. Hayes, the tensions within the church and community gradually healed. The abolitionists were invited to reunite with the church but some declined to do so. They were no longer derided or shunned. Mr. Gunn was restored to public esteem and the slavery issue ceased to divide the community.
In view of Mr. Hayes' long pastorate, it is clear that he had the respect and affection of a great many people in his congregation. His lengthy reply to the notice given by the church is a touching document. In it he commended to the church and society the gospel of Christ as the light of eter-
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nal life. It is said that on subsequent reflection, Mr. Hayes modified his views concerning the anti-slavery movement and came to feel more kindly toward the abolitionists, and especially toward Mr. Gunn. The latter was deeply touched many years later to learn that Mr. Hayes entertained for him only kindly feelings.
The following sketch of Rev. Gordon Hayes, written by Deacon S. S. Baldwin, was given at the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the church and is worthy of record- ing: "The Rev. Gordon Hayes was a native of Granby in this state, graduated at Yale in the class of 1825, studied theology at Andover, preached for a Presbyterian church in northern New York one year, came to Washington as a candidate on the recommendation of Dr. Porter, in August, 1829, preached four Sabbaths, received a unanimous call from the church and society, and was installed as pastor October 28, 1829. He was a man possessed of superior tal- ent, of an ardent temperament ; a deep student of human nature, and good common sense. He was invited at different times to preach before the General Association and other public bodies. For years he was a leader and counselor of the Litchfield South Consociation. His reply to the protest of Dr. Hewett in the case of Judge Groves of Bridgeport, brought before the Consociation at Harwinton in 1850, would rank him among the first lawyers of the state. His health and the inadequacy of his salary led him to engage in farming on a small scale. He became a model farmer. His sermons were short, crisp, and practical, conveying the most in the fewest words of any man I ever heard. He loved revivals, and was an excellent counselor in such seasons, easily approached, and very clear in his instruction. Two hundred and fifty-four persons were added to the church
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under his ministry, which extended over a period of twenty- three years. He was dismissed by the society January 15, 1852, according to the terms of settlement, which were that the pastoral relation should be dissolved, by either party giving to the other six months' notice. This was his last pastorate. From here he removed to Bennington, Vt., where he was teacher of an academy for several years. From thence he removed to Galesburg, Ili., and from thence to Iowa, where he died among his children, some twenty-three years since, at the age of eighty-three years."
At a church meeting, held on March 8th, 1852, it was resolved to send a call to Rev. Ephraim Lyman to become the minister of the church. In this call the members of the society concurred. The church had already had some knowledge of Mr. Lyman and the members were impressed by his abilities. Mr. Lyman felt impelled to decline the call. On June 10th, the church passed another resolution re- questing Mr. Lyman to reconsider his opinion. On June 25th, Mr. Lyman sent word from Plymouth, Connecticut, that he would accept the call. Apparently one condition of . Mr. Lyman's acceptance was that the church and society should build a parsonage for the minister. This was agreed to and the work taken in hand. Up to this time the ministers of the church had possessed their own homes, this arrange- ment being part of each settlement. The society appointed a committee of five to select a proper location and to give out the contract. The building was finished in due course and from that day to this has been occupied by the succes- sive ministers of the church.
There is an amusing story which would indicate that when the parsonage was completed it was not entirely weather-proof. The story is that during a severe snow storm
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a good deal of snow drifted in through the cracks in the attic. Therefore the society sued the contracting builder for damages on the ground that the building had not been prop- erly finished. Mr. Lyman gave his testimony in the court, telling of the number of baskets of snow which he had actu- ally removed from the attic. It was such a tall story that in spite of Mr. Lyman's ministerial standing, the judge was unable to believe it and the church lost the case.
Under Mr. Lyman's able and devoted leadership, the last vestiges of the abolition controversy were removed. Once again the church picked up the threads of harmonious co- operation and was united in spirit. Mr. Lyman was pastor of the church for eleven years, leaving in the year 1863. He was a man of affairs, taking an interest in everything per- taining to the public welfare. He was a fearless preacher and faithful pastor.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Civil War Days
W HILE the slavery issue was the most lively topic agi- tating the mind of Washington during the years pre- ceding the Civil War, there were other events taking place of great significance to the people of the community.
For one thing the town continued to grow. New roads were being built and new houses erected. Virgin territory was converted into farm lands. Each year the process went on. In her account of the old highways, Mrs. A. C. Titus speaks of the gradual transition of the Indian trail into a bridle path, then a crude cart road, and finally into a public highway. The early highways were laid out by corporations and toll was collected from travelers to pay the expenses. Toll gates were established at different places and at each gate there was a man to collect the toll. The gate was a pole across the road, the pole being fastened to a post at one end by a spike which turned on itself. The toll price for a horse was six and a quarter cents and for a team was twelve and a half cents. The first turnpike survey of the Woodbury and Washington Turnpike Company was made in the year 1804.
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In general the roads of the town were laid out from east to west over the hills and from north and south through the river valleys. The stagecoach from New Haven to Albany passed along the road that runs through Nettleton Hollow. The main traveled roads from Boston to Poughkeepsie skirted the northern section of the town. The surveying and building of these roads and highways required a great deal of time, effort and expense. A severe flood on Nov. 13th, 1853 brought destruction to a large number of the roads, bridges and dams located throughout the town.
Many traditions have come down through the years con- nected with Sabba' Day Lane. This road had the distinction of being the subject of a poem written by Mr. E. K. Ros- siter, a life-long summer resident of Washington. Tradition has it that Sabba' Day Lane extended from Davies Hollow, now Romford, where there was an Episcopal Church, to the Congregational Church on the Green. It is said that the houses along this road were all closed on Sunday while the families were away at church. Mrs. Addie Hollister quotes Charles G. Fenn as recollecting that seven deacons lived on this lane and that several others drove along it on their way to church.
Between the years 1820 and 1860 Washington was the home of a number of small industries, the water power being obtained from the brooks and streams flowing through the town. An account of these old time industries, written by Edith H. Rossiter, is among the town history papers. A number of these industries were on the Aspetuck, the outlet of Lake Waramaug. It is rather strange that there were only a few mills on the Shepaug above Washington. At Woodville there was an iron foundry owned by Frederick Chittendon and there were sawmills both in Davies Hollow
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and at the foot of Goose Hill. Simeon Mitchell operated a saw and cider mill near the present site of the John Sheehy house and it was here that Deacon David Punderson made his cheese boxes. Truman Hickox built a sawmill with a large wheel on Kirby brook about 1840.
The section now called Washington Depot was known as Factory Hollow from the thirties to the sixties because of the mills in that locality. There was a stone mill built in 1833 for the manufacture of cotton cloth and owned by a stock company. There was a mill built by John Titus which was planned to produce clocks but which eventually was used for the manufacture of handles for axes, hammers and sledges. It is said that the mill sent a good many handles to California for the miners' picks at the time of the gold rush. On the west bank of the river stood the saw and grist mill built by Smith Platt in which the timber for the Methodist Church on the Green was sawed, the timber being the gift of the miller, Armand Olmstead, who had bought the mill in 1835.
There were few industries on the Green because of the lack of water power. Nathaniel Galpin made woolen hats and dried them on the sunny slope near the present home of Dr. Wersebe. Deacon Waite Abernathy who lived in a house on the site of the present Bartlett Dormitory of the Gun- nery School made oxcarts in a shop south of his home. The deacon lived to be almost a hundred and became very deaf in his later years. Therefore it became his custom to stand on the platform near the pulpit to hear the sermon. We are told that Mr. Colton, the minister, rather liked the arrange- ment and had a chair placed for him on the platform. Mr. Colton often made gestures but was careful not to hit the elderly deacon. Deacon Abernathy was very honest and it
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WILLIAM CRAWFORD MINISTER 1882-1883
HERBERT B. TURNER MINISTER 1884-1892
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was his custom to return medicine bottles given him by Dr. Brown. He once made a special trip to return a cork. In her Town History Paper, Edith H. Rossiter says that when he was about eighty years old, Deacon Abernathy sold his house to Mr. Erastus Hurlbut who gave him a life lease on it and each year, on his birthday, he would apologize to Mr. Hurlbut for living so long. When Dr. Orlando Brown prescribed some spirits for him in his last years, he bought a half pint of whiskey but expressed the fear that he would die a drunkard.
Elijah Woodruff had a tannery and made shoes in his house on Church Hill. Mr. James Aspinwall, who lived in several different houses at various times, also was a shoe- maker. There were a number of blacksmith shops located in various parts of the town. There was a lime kiln owned by Mr. Charles Whittlesey which produced from 600 to 1000 barrels annually. Potash Hill received its name from the fact that potash was made at the foot of the hill. Maple sugar was made in Nettleton Hollow, originally called Pork Hollow, a name given to the valley when the people of Southbury drove their hogs there to escape the foraging raids of the British soldiers encamped at Danbury during the Revolutionary War. Still other industries included the production of pig iron, the making of cotton twine, the quarrying of marble, the tanning of skins and furniture making.
The industrial life of Washington reached its peak about 1850, due to various causes. The manufacture of pig iron was stopped because of the high cost of bringing the ore such a distance. The decline of the marble industry was largely due to the increasing competition with Vermont and New York State where marble of a better quality was avail-
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able. Similarly the making of cotton twine became impos- sible after the beginning of the Civil War because it was not possible to secure cotton from the south. And with the in- crease of factories in larger centers, it was natural that the industrial life of smaller towns should gradually diminish.
Another noticeable change in the years preceding the Civil War was the increasing use of horse-drawn vehicles. The old custom of riding on horseback, with the use of the pillion, was given up. Now it became a case of wagons and carriages and buggies of various kinds. This trend made it necessary to organize the Washington Horse Shed Com- pany which was done on October 19th, 1857. When people came to church it was a great convenience if there was a place to hitch the horse and if there could be some protec- tion from inclement weather.
A committee of three was appointed to draw up a consti- tution for the Association and was composed of Seth S. Logan, H. Baldwin and Charles Ford. At a meeting on October 22nd, the following officers were appointed: Ed- ward J. Pond, Nelson Ford and Orestes Hickox, supervis- ors ; J. S. Kinney, secretary ; Charles L. Ford, treasurer. It was agreed to purchase a plot of land bordering the prop- erty of D. B. Brinsmade, the plot of land being purchased from Mr. Brinsmade. The work was taken in hand and forty-four horse sheds were built upon the land. The sheds were numbered and, on Nov. 29th, were sold to different bid- ders. Whereupon the building committee was instructed to place the number and the name of the owner of each shed in a conspicuous place over each stall. These sheds were to have a long usefulness and were a testimonial to the reign of the horse and buggy. It was a reign symbolized by the fa- miliar figure of the local doctor, beloved by the people, driv-
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ing up and down the hills of Washington. In her delightful account of Dr. Remus M. Fowler, Edith H. Rossiter says : "He drove an ancient brown horse, given to wheezing, and great was the sympathy between master and horse, for 'Johnny Dargus' knew the roads as well as the doctor who could indulge in a little sleep on the way, knowing that the faithful Johnny would bring him safely home." Alas, the horse no longer reigns supreme but has been replaced by the ubiquitous automobile! And the horse sheds, keeping their lonely vigil, have yielded to the spirit of the times, making way for parking space.
In September, 1862, Henry Ward Beecher published an article in "The Independent" of New York City, in which he described a Sabbath spent in the town of Washington, Connecticut. The article gives such a vivid picture of the village life that we are taking the liberty of making a rather extended quotation from it.
"Here am I upon the round hilltop of Washington, Con- necticut. It is a genuine old-fashioned New England town. The people in the region round about are agriculturalists and no railroads have introduced new-fangled notions. It is true that some old men mourn that Washington is not what it used to be; that children are not brought up as strictly ; that there is more extravagance of table and dress ; that Saturday night is not kept, and especially that Sunday is not so rigorously kept as formerly.
"The old church stands in the midst of the 'Green.' There are but about twenty-five dwelling houses on or near the Green. These are for the most part venerable. The windows contain glass six by eight inches in size, the ceilings are low, the frame timbers show through the plaster and huge stacks of stone chimneys use up much space in the center. The
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stairs are crooked, hard to ascend, but too easy of getting down if you don't take care. These old two-story dwellings have an imposing look from without, especially with the grand old elms half covering them with their pendulous branches.
"On Sunday morning we waked and wondered where we were. No voice was heard, no footfall out of doors. The stillness of a New England Sabbath rested on this lovely hill. The first bell began to ring. It says to all mothers, 'Get the children ready' and to all housekeepers, 'Set your affairs in order, the sermon is coming.'
"In one hour comes the second bell. The village bell is mute all the week and wakes up to great officiousness on Sundays. And yet neither the first nor second bell is rung with a worldly swing. It opens with one or two low strokes, as if sounding the pitch ; it goes steadily on for ten or twelve notes and then it pauses as if it had sung out a note and was taking breath. Bells roll down the valleys and over the hills their message 'Come worship.' How sweet it sounds no man knows who was not brought up in New England.
"The people are gathering. Up comes a one horse wagon ; another waits behind it; two more are coming around the corner. They empty their load and drive off. Others take their places. Now a two horse team, an open wagon ; now a covered plain carriage, a buggy, any kind of vehicle-but none on horseback. Mounting-blocks are done away with. The door is thronged. Little children in red jackets climb up the steps.
"It is a modern old church. The great triple window is over the pulpit. The galleries are exalted on high and are sustained by great square columns. We look in vain for the old-fashioned square pews. They have been supplanted. The
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pastor, Rev. Mr. Lyman is absent, and the deacons are to read a sermon. Two clergymen from the city are present and one of them consents to read a sermon of Dr. Bushnell's.
"An hour's intermission, during which children are gath- ered in classes ; old men and young formed groups outside, under the trees. The slender noon meal was eaten by those who lived out of town ; while the villagers proper retired to their homes to partake of gingerbread and cheese, with an apple pie following. The hour having ended, again the bell took up its part, and called the houseful again to a 'Con- ference Meeting,' in which, instead of formal preaching, the devotional services were intermixed with several addresses. (Note. These addresses were by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher and Prof. Robert R. Raymond of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.)
"When these services were ended, it was half-past three in the afternoon. There had been a sermon, a Sabbath School and a conference meeting and all ended by half-past three ; yet the farmers thought it late. One would think so by the alacrity with which the wagons rushed up, caught their loads, and rolled off. In ten minutes the church was shut, not a man walked the Green and the town was still again.
"At four dinner. At half-past five singing in the church. The singers of the neighborhood quietly gathered. Whoever wished came in and went out when they chose. Anthems and tunes, and religious set-pieces were sung. The sun went down upon the happy company. It was Sabbath evening, calm, soft, clear, as if there had never been a sin or a sigh among these lovely hills. We wandered down to Mr. Gunn's school when messengers came. A wedding !
"A young soldier just going to the wars meant to give his girl the right to come to him should he be sick or wounded.
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Tomorrow he leaves. Tonight they must be married. To Mr. Frank Brinsmade's we posted. Just then, in coarse soldier's blue, came the man and his flower by his side. By one of those generous sympathies that seize good people, out ran a noble woman (Mrs. Frederick W. Gunn) to invite them to stop and be married there, as several families were gathered there for an evening's singing. Not one had ever seen the parties. It was enough that the man was going to fight for the old flag. The rooms were thronged. The service proceeded and closed. Then some one, unbidden, began to sing, 'Guide me, O thou great Jehovah.' Then 'America' and the 'Star Span- gled Banner' were added. Flowers were brought in for the young wife. The dear venerable mother (Mrs. D. B. Brins- made) of that neighborhood sat by the pretty child-wife, giving her cheer and comfort. Thus two strangers came rid- ing into town seeking a solitary wedding. They were stopped, borne into a refined home, surrounded with scores of loving hearts, giving them a wedding of joy and glad- ness." (Note. The young soldier was Horace Q. Judd of Bethel and the bride was Ellen E. Crofut of New Preston. )
Like other New England communities, Washington was deeply stirred by the issues arising from the Civil War. At a special memorial service, held in the church fifty years after the outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. Samuel J. Nettle- ton described the part played by Washington in that con- flict, from which address we have taken the following ex- tracts.
After the firing on Fort Sumter, an organization was formed to drill in the manual of arms and marching, meeting in the Ladies' Seminary, the old Methodist Church, after- ward turned into a dwelling house known as Wesley Place. The drill master was Simeon H. Mitchell, a former state
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militia officer. At President Lincoln's first call for 75,000 volunteers for three months, three young men responded. Their names were Logan, Goodyear and Rowe, and all were at school at the Gunnery. Soon after came the calls for 40,000 three year men and for 50,000 for the duration of the war. The Governor of the state called for volunteers. To these calls eight young men responded, namely, Dwight and Fitz-Greene Hollister, Simeon H. Calhoun, Lucius W. Fox, William Black, Harvey Perkins, Samuel Nettleton and Weston Cogswell, brother of Mrs. Sherman Woodruff. A few individual enlistments continued through the following winter, mostly from New Preston.
After the failure of Mcclellan's Peninsula Campaign, there came two calls ; one for 300,000 for three years, and later, 300,000 for nine months. In answer to the first call, forty-eight men volunteered, among them being the follow- ing : Edgar W. and Henry Calhoun, Sheldon Clark, Jerome Titus, R. C. Loverage, and Gustavus Black. From New Preston there came Seth N. Taylor, Whittlesey, three Cogs- wells, Bolles, Cable, Barnes and others. In response to the second call there went fifteen men, some older and some who were boys in their teens. The number included Mr. J. B. Whitehead and James Black of the older ones. Among the younger men were Lewis Hollister, Elmer Kinney, Remus Ford and Joseph Wellman. For the Twenty-Ninth Regi- ment (colored) Washington furnished three men.
In 1863 there came the draft. The town had voted to fur- nish substitutes for those drafted if they did not wish to go. Among the first names drawn were the names of Abner W. Mitchell and Cornelius B. Gold and both decided to go rather than send substitutes. They became members of the Sixth Regiment. According to the record of Orestes Hickox,
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