USA > Connecticut > New London County > Old Lyme > The educational history of Old Lyme, Connecticut, 1635-1935 > Part 12
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Industries as such have, however, never played a conspicu- ous part in the history of Lyme. They were probably at their height in 1819 when two woolen factories, one paper mill, two hat factories, eight grain mills, eleven sawmills, one card- ing machine and two tanneries were listed.16
The civil divisions of the town at that same time are also given: "three located Congregational Societies, twenty-four school districts, two Baptist churches, one Methodist church, one Separatist church, twenty-four primary or common schools and three social libraries, twelve mercantile stores, seven physicians, two attorneys and six clergymen."
The War of 1812 was considered very unnecessary by the people of Connecticut. Their industries were crippled by the embargo and they opposed the national order for troops for the war. Governor Griswold, a native of Lyme and a staunch Federalist, led this opposition and held the full support of his assembly. The position of Lyme in this regard is clearly presented in their memorial to the President of the United States under date of September 26, 1808.17
Lyme's most intimate contact with the war, however, came on April 7, 1814, when two or three ships of the blockading squadron anchored at the mouth of the Connecticut River. On the following day, finding the fort ungarrisoned, they sent two launches and four barges up the river as far as Essex where they landed and set fire to a large amount of valuable shipping. By noon they started for Saybrook where a consid- erable number of militia had gathered with field artillery to
15. Harwood, History of Eastern Connecticut, p. 580.
16. Pease and Niles, Gazetteer of Connecticut and Rhode Island, 1819, p. 160.
17. Lyme Records, Town Meeting Book, September 26, 1808.
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impede their progress. It is also believed that a similar group was gathered on Chadwick's Hill on the Lyme shore and that ammunition found in the sub-basement of Hart's store in 1 840 was the residue of their supply. Legend has it that the militia found the English so well armed that they restrained their ardor, fearing to start something that would end in- evitably to their disadvantage.
Peace came, but brought no relief. Only the coast trader could face British competition. No state suffered greater in- jury than Connecticut. The state's commercial importance went into a speedy decline. Federalist memorials to Congress were unavailing. A new era was ushering in manufacturing as the chief pillar of the state's wealth. Available capital, cheap power and convenient markets favored its development.
With the concerns of the war removed, Connecticut turned arduously to the affairs of the state and in 1818, in the midst of prayer, oratory and caustic debate, set up for itself a new constitution better suited to the needs of the new common- wealth. Written on more democratic lines, it provided abso- lute religious freedom to all sects, with complete separation of church, school and state. Lyme's delegates to this conven- tion were Ebenezer Brockway and Moses Warren Jr.
The ecclesiastical affairs, so important in the early days of the town, declined rapidly in importance after the turn of the nineteenth century, and with the new constitution religion be- came largely a matter of individual concern. However, since the town of Old Lyme includes approximately the same ter- ritory as did the First Ecclesiastical Society of Lyme after 1755, and also since the Congregational Church of Old Lyme is the true successor of the parent church of 1666, it seems ap- propriate that its vital history be here completed.
The third meetinghouse, built on Meeting House Hill in 1738/39, caught fire in the roof in 1780 from the tow wad of the old-fashioned flintlock musket which one of the guardians of the house used in shooting some woodpeckers. It was saved by the light-horsemen stationed in the village.18 18 Then in 18. Wight, Some Old Meeting Houses of the Connecticut Valley, pp. 137- 139.
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1815, after standing seventy-six years, it was finally struck by lightning and burned to the ground.
It was replaced in 1817 by a beautiful building designed after the churches of Sir Christopher Wren and placed on the south end of Main Street on the site of the present meeting- house. The cornerstone was laid with impressive religious ex- ercises conducted by the pastor, the Rev. Lathrop Rockwell.
This meetinghouse was first seated with old-fashioned square pews at the sides and slips in the center. The original pulpit was a high, circular one, reached on either side by a flight of steps. In 1836 it was lowered and in 1850 it was re- moved and a platform built with a pulpit upon it. At the same time modern pews were substituted.19 In one corner of the churchyard the whipping post was erected and across the street stocks were built. The fine elms which surround the church were planted in 1828 when a committee was appointed to procure ornamental trees to set about the meetinghouse. This beautiful structure was completely destroyed by fire of unknown origin on July 3, 1907, the ninety-second anniver- sary of the burning of its predecessor.
The cornerstone of the present Congregational Church in Old Lyme was laid on November 8, 1908. The new building is practically a replica of the old and stands on the same foun- dation. It is as exact a replica of the front, sides, spire and de- tail of design as could be produced from photographs. The interior is a reproduction of the old with a simplification of certain decorative features. It is as fireproof as its type would permit and promises to withstand the violence of storms and carry forward to oncoming generations the sacred teachings of the past. Rare in its architectural beauty, it stands as a sym- bol of the best that has gone before and an inspiration for years yet to come. Generations have been fortified by its pre- cepts and artists have made it a classic.
The quiet routine of country life in Lyme between 1818 and 1857 is pictured very intimately in the monumental diary of Josiah Burnham,2º one of her native sons. A sea captain in
19. Hurd, History of New London County, pp. 554-560.
20. Burnham, The Diary of Josiah Burnham, 1818-1857.
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charge of trans-Atlantic vessels, retiring at the close of the war and habituated to the daily log book of the sea, Mr. Burnham kept, during these forty years of retirement, his daily log book of the land. This log was written on home- made notebooks of uniform size, each containing the record of a single year. It is nautical in its atmosphere and brevity, but contains many intimate details of family life, of church- going, of farm practices and of neighborliness.
This diary was written in the new house which Captain Burnham built on the Neck Road adjoining the present Wig- gin's home, across from Calves Island wharf. Here he lived with his second wife, Hannah Hall Burnham, and the later records, dictated during his approaching blindness, are in her handwriting. Here he carried on sufficient farming to meet his household needs and spent his leisure on or near the sea. This house, twice removed, is now the home of Nathaniel Conkling Hall and the diary, bound in two great volumes, reposes in the inner vaults of the state library at Hartford.
In those days weather was the great determinant. The sea- sons brought their regular tasks and each day had its quota of accomplishment, "weather permitting." The day started early with regular chores and all major tasks such as plowing, plant- ing, haying, threshing, butchering and logging were done cooperatively. A group of neighbors with their oxen and plows would gather and prepare twenty acres of land for corn. With that planted they would move on to "Neighbor Peck's" and so around until all the corn was planted. From that first warm day in March when the spring came until the final days in early November when, with wood piled high, cider barrels filled and beef and pork butchered, the snow came, it was one round of seasonal occupation. It was a program of group sur- vival in which every man knew his part.
The food for the family was provided, in large measure, from the farm and river. Staples such as sugar, molasses, tea, coffee and spices were bought with oats which sold at about fifty cents a bushel. Occasionally a side of beef or pork was sold for cash and, in good seasons, some potatoes and apples. In the main, however, it was a self-sufficient program in which
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the crops were scaled to meet the family needs. Similarly, the program of the household shows much time spent in making butter and soap, in preserving fruits, in drying corn and in curing meat.
Sunday was a day set apart for churchgoing and family gatherings. There were regularly two meetings each Sunday and families went with their lunches prepared to remain. The amount of time allowed for the luncheon period was then voted at the regular meeting of the ecclesiastical society and as usual varied with the seasons. Mr. and Mrs. Burnham were regular attendants and remained "all day."
The practice of selling pews for the support of the minister, which started in 1792, was repeated annually. On December 29, 1819, Mr. Burnham bought his slip for $10.50 and on January 4, 1821, he "secured pew No. 4 at $8.00."
On June 15, 1819, the Association of Churches21 assembled at the new Lyme meetinghouse for a three days' session. Mrs. Burnham kept some five people at the house as there were "about 1000 souls at the meeting all told." Camp meetings also attracted large numbers and one finds difficulty in visual- izing the scene on Ayers Point on September 3 to 5, 1827, when approximately four thousand gathered for three days of singing and preaching.22
The river seems to have provided by far the larger share of transportation and recreation. Stores in many instances were near the docks where sloops stopped. So we find the following entries:
3/6/19 Went to Saybrook, got some tea, sugar and spirits.
3/29/19 Went up in a boat to Eight Mile River after a barrel of flour.
11/8/19 Carried down 261/2 bushels of oats to the point. Got 50 cents a bushel. Did some trading.
17/Sept/1821 Went with Mrs. B. in a sail boat to Deacon Spencer's. Left at meridian and arrived at 6 P. M. Remained all night.
21. Burnham, The Diary of Josiah Burnham, June 15, 1819.
22. Ibid., September 3, 1827.
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10/16/19 Took a sail down to the lighthouse in Capt. Smith's new sloop.
14/Oct/1827 Mrs. B. and Miss H. Miner went on board the Sloop Talma bound to N. Y.
Bass fishing was for years an important industry, combin- ing hard work and real pleasure. Long winter evenings were spent in repairing old nets and knitting new ones. Captain Burnham's net, made during the winter of 1826, took twenty- four balls of twine and measured 121 yards in length. That Lyme waters were rich in bass is indicated by the scattered entries on bass fishing.
March 28, 1820 caught a vast amount of bass 3000#
April 16, 1821 Capt. Hughes caught 1100 bass off Proverty Island this morning.
Feb. 21, 1828 Capt. Hughes nett caught 1200# bass
March 9, 1828 Capt. Hughes nett caught 700# bass
March 10, 1828 Capt. Hughes nett caught 1100# bass
Two holidays, Thanksgiving and Independence Day, re- ceive regular mention. The former was spent usually at home or at "Sister Peck's." Turkey, roast duck, chicken pie, pud- ding, cider and pies were familiar items on the menu. Inde- pendence Day was a public day with a drill by the militia and a town picnic of some nature. The entry for July 4, 1822, seems something of a boyish confession: "Independence Day, God bless it-there was a great party of gentlemen at Watch Rock. Self did not go-stay'd at home and drunk sour punch. Had peas for dinner for the first time this season." No refer- ence is ever made to Christmas.
To those familiar with the scene there is real romance in the tales of ice storms, violent winds, high tides and pro- longed blizzards. It is difficult to imagine Calves Island sub- merged three and a half feet under water or to appreciate the series of cold cloudless days in January, 1821, that made ice sufficiently thick to provide "good crossing at the Ferry with horses and slay." It is somewhat easier to bear the heat of
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July 24, 1825, which must have been excessive indeed. "Never, never, never was weather ever so hot in any part of the world I have been."
The remaining hazards of the sea are pictured in the brief notes about local men absent on long voyages. On December 12, 1821, word was received by Sister Peck that "Capt. Peck was cast away and all hands lost." In the afternoon letters arrived telling of their safe arrival in North Carolina. Then on October 22, 1824, Joseph Conkling arrived home unex- pectedly after being gone fourteen months round Cape Horn. "Captain Nathaniel Conkling arrived home some six months later after being cast away in the Gulf Stream, being at sea nine days at latt. 36, long. 71." No doubt numerous other men of Lyme had similar experiences while their families were at home carrying on the household tasks and hoping for their safe return.
Coastwise trade, on a commission basis, for the handling of local commodities was a growing occupation. In season fast sloops carried fruit, vegetables, fish and meat to the New York markets. The building of the "good Sloop Talma," near Higgin's wharf (Hall's wharf) in the summer and autumn of 1826 was a part of this program. The story is briefly told in Captain Burnham's diary.23 The interest of the neighbors is readily appreciated. One can see them gather daily to watch the craft grow and to offer those comments and warnings so pertinent to rural enterprise. "On January 10, 1827, the Talma was launched at 10 M from the Navy Yard on the Neck with Nathaniel Conklin as Master." It was equipped soon after and made regular trips to New York for
23. Burnham, The Diary of Josiah Burnham, July 3, 1826-January 10, 1827 :
3 July 1826 Sold my old lot and a small piece of land by the barn to Mr. S. T. Lord for $250.00. He paid me down the money and I gave him a deed.
12 July 1826 Lord and Noyes set up timber on the old house lot for a vessel to be built soon.
14 Aug. 1826 Raised the Keal, stem and stern part of the new sloop.
7 Dec. 1826 Got the New sloop's mast and riggin over head.
10 Jan. 1827 The Sloop Talma was launched at 10M from the Navy Yard on the Neck. N. Conklin master.
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a considerable period of years, carrying farm products from Lyme shores.
The first steamboat mentioned in this diary was the Ex- periment which came to Hall's wharf on August 30, 1824. It was the first steamboat ever seen on the Connecticut River and first appeared in 1814 as the Fulton. It is described in the Courant of November 10, 1818. Frequent references are made thereafter to the first appearance of these river steamers, early in March, as the river ice breaks away. That there were a number of such steamboats on the river seems certain from the names given: Daphney, McDonough, Mercury, Chief Justice Marshall, Oliver Ellsworth and Waterwitch. The connection between these boats and the stages evidently pro- vided the chief link between New York, New London, Provi- dence and Boston until 1850, when the first through rail service was inaugurated.2 24
So the years moved along in Lyme with a great similarity, varied by the problems of changing weather and changing seasons. Old neighbors grew ill and died. Newspapers arrived with greater frequency. Railroads progressed and stages came less frequently. The year 1850 found the local sloop trade rapidly declining and old captains retiring or passing away. Coal, steam trains and manufactures were building new cen- ters of population, transforming industry and creating new fortunes in Connecticut and New England. Lyme, however, was gradually settling into the land of its forefathers and agriculture again became, for decades, the chief interest of the people.
This is clearly seen from a study of birth records given for the years 1847 to 1856, which includes the occupations of
24. "Last week was launched from the shipyard in this city, the first steam- boat ever built on the Connecticut River. It is designed for a tow boat, to ply between this city and the mouth of the river.
"This boat of 104 tons did not meet requirements and was afterwards re- named the 'Experiment,' running to Saybrook in 1822 and the following year to New London." Harwood, History of Eastern Connecticut, II, 392.
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parents in the first school society in Lyme.25 The list indicates both the interests and the needs of the place. It had become very definitely a farming community.2
With the generally disturbed condition of state and local affairs, the town reports for the early years of the nineteenth century were rather meager. In 1817 these town records in- cluded only the list of elected officers. Then in 1818 a plan was reintroduced for the rotation of town meetings so that they might be held in different sections of the town. This plan met with such favor that it became the regular practice in Lyme until the later division of the town. "These meetings were held in the meetinghouse of the First Society, the meet- inghouse at Pleasant Valley, the Baptist meetinghouse of the East Society, the Congregational meetinghouse of the Third Society and the meetinghouse of the Second Society. Frequent meetings were also held in the meetinghouse on Grassy Hill." This plan catered to the wishes of a widely distributed agra- rian population. In 1820 the records of the board of relief appear for the first time.
The educational affairs of the half century between 1800 and 1856 are divided very naturally into two periods: 1800- 1838, before Henry Barnard; and 1838-1856, the period in which Henry Barnard worked through the legislature to re- gain state control of education. These periods immediately
25. Lyme Records, Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1847-1856:
Occupation
Number
Occupation
Number
Farmer
118
Sailor
7
Carpenter
13
Coaster
I
Merchant
12
Housekeeper
1
Shoemaker
9
Painter
1
Laborer
23
Minister
3
Physician
3
Druggist
I
Manufacturer
8
Book publisher
2
Blacksmith
5
Attorney-at-law
I
Carriage maker
Mechanic
I
Cooper
2 NN 2
Boat builder
I
Miller
2
Artist
I
Stone cutter
6
Sea Captain
3
Pedlar
I
Fisherman
2
26. Pease and Niles, Gazetteer of Connecticut and Rhode Island, 1819, p. 159.
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followed four important legislative acts passed during the closing years of the previous century, 1795-1800: the sale of the Western Reserve, the establishment of a state school fund, the creation of school societies for the administration of schools and the provision of a state tax for their additional support. Each of these acts was the result of bitter political controversies, highly influenced by ecclesiastical affairs. The Federalists were largely Congregationalists, while the new Republican party included Baptists, Methodists and Dis- senters.
Republicans complained of the Federalist bias given to all Connecticut schooling. "Schoolmasters," they claimed, "were as orthodox in politics as in religion. Even the text-books were Federalist in tone. . . . All expressed the dangers of the de- mocracy."27 "The minister with two or three principal charac- ters was supreme in each town. Hence the body of the clergy with a few families of distinction, among whom there was ever a most intimate connection, ruled the state."28 Education was completely dominated by the Congregational order. The lower schools were essentially Congregational parochial schools. Primary schools opened with prayer and the reading of the scripture and Saturday afternoon was devoted to teaching the Congregational catechism, which was included in the New England Primer. Not until 1818 did the Congregationalists find it necessary to establish Sunday schools.29
Antagonisms were also increased by the new industrialism. Mechanics and artisans were considered inferior to the land- owners and agriculturalists, who were Federalists and Con- gregationalists. These antagonisms dominated all the public thinking of the first years of the nineteenth century and com- pletely submerged the major concerns of education.
Before 1800, as has been indicated, there were few private schools in Connecticut. People were of a common mind and common purpose and the public schools of the state were organized to meet their major requirements. Yet after 1800 those defeated by the new educational program withdrew
27. Purcell, Connecticut in Transition, p. 202.
28. Ibid., p. 310.
29. Ibid., p. 95.
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their interest, their funds and in many cases their children from the district schools which they themselves had created. Private schools developed on every side for the favored classes and public schools entered a period of marked decline. In Lyme for a period of years the Rev. Lathrop Rockwell conducted a large private school for boys, while increasing numbers of academies in the nearby towns offered adequate secondary education. Secondary education for girls was still very limited, although academies were becoming increasingly coeducational.
The secularizing of the public schools conducted by the new school societies was entirely devoid of either civil or ec- clesiastical affiliation.3º The schools were left to make their way without the patronage of town or church, among people whose interest in public education was inconsiderable.3
Before 1805 the teachers in these schools were too often hired on the basis of kinship or discipline and the salary of one dollar to two dollars and a half a week for men or sixty- two cents to one dollar a week for women did not attract people of too great promise. After 1805, as a suggestion of standards, district certificates were required. No school term was mentioned and neither reading nor writing was included in the curriculum of letters, religion, morals and manners. By 1823 the district committee was increased to three or five members and their duties were fixed. They were to hire in- structors, call meetings for tax levies, formulate rules for schools and enforce requirements.
The school societies were civil units, comprising all in- habitants living within the limits of the located (Congrega- tional) societies, who had a right to vote in town meeting. To these school societies the state transferred all the former powers and duties of the towns and ecclesiastical societies rela- tive to schools. These societies might also divide into districts and appoint one committeeman from each school. This district committee in turn selected the schoolmaster with the approval
30. Steiner, The History of Education in Connecticut, p. 35.
31. Walker, Development of State Support and Control of Education in Connecticut, p. 27.
1
out This certifies that the beaver M Hm - oult is a young Gentleman of good moral char has been a member of the school under my superintendency for several months during which his department and improvement were com - mendable and he's herely recommended as a person well qualified to teach an English school.
Jonathan Dodge PS
Lyme March 6th 1817
1817
TEACHER'S CERTIFICATE, IN LYME, CONNECTICUT, 1817.
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of the district visitor. This same law of 1798, while setting up numerous provisions for elementary education, omitted the requirement that county towns establish and maintain gram- mar schools. This was left to a two-thirds vote of any school society. Only six such schools, no one of which was in Lyme, were established between 1798 and 1838. No demand for public secondary education, and a limited demand for public elementary education, characterizes this period.
To the school committees of the school societies were also sent the moneys from the dividends of the state school fund. In turn a certificate was required from them as evidence that the school had been kept according to law by a qualified in- structor. The money was for the instructor's board and salary and the total amount was sent to each society for division even though some of the district units failed to operate. All money not supplied by the state fund was raised in some form from the parents of the children who attended the schools. Thus the rate bill, nurtured by isolation and segregation, be- came firmly entrenched and remained so for fifty years.
In 1821, when the dividends of the state school fund sur- passed $62,000, the school tax of two dollars on one thousand dollars of ratable property was abolished and the school money was distributed to the towns according to the number of children between four and sixteen years of age. By 1826 the amount per child was raised to eighty-five cents and years later, between 1849 and 1850, the amount was fixed at $1.50 per child. It then diminished, due to the rapidly increasing population. From 1821 until 1854 all money for schools was derived from the school fund, local funds and voluntary taxa- tion, but in 1854, after years of great striving, the state again required a tax for the support of schools.32
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