The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I, Part 50

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard company
Number of Pages: 1038

USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Windsor > The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I > Part 50

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All travelers, with one notable exception, whether going north or south, stopped at Sergeant Sam's, and, after his day, at Pickett's, for refreshment, whether the Plains lay before them or were already passed. The exception to this general rule was Gen. George Washington. On the 21st of October, 1789, Washington, then President of the United States, passed through Windsor on his New England tour, and the follow- ing sentence appears in his journal of that date: " Between Windsor and Suffield you pass through a level, barren, uncultivated plain for several miles."" We think it unfortunate for the Plains that he did not stop at Pickett's as he would then have had a fresher start ; and, we laney, would have omitted the words barren, uncultivated; and, looking beyond the shrub-oaks which skirted the road, would have seen ( with prophetic eye, at least ), large fields of Indian corn and rye, or might have sweetened the uncultivated fields with the mention of strawberries, and the wood with whortleberries. But he had that morning breakfasted with his old friend, JJudge Ellsworth, a mile or so below. We would not have the reader infer that we have any doubts about the breakfast : it was a good, substantial one, the best the times afforded, but it is not un- likely that they both discussed the affairs of the nation with more inter-

1 A hundred years ago much of the produce from the north which found a market at Hartford was conveyed over this and other roads by ox teams.

2 Rev. Sammel Davis Journal of a Tour to Connecticut, in autumn of 1789 .Max. Hixt. Sue. Proceed. 1869-70, pp. 13, 14), also mentions " Pickett's Ion. IS miles from Springfield. Between Springfield and Windsor there is a long tract of pine woods, through which the road leads, a growth of wood very common to this region, I believe."

420

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

est and solicitude than they did the eatables which the Judge's accom- plished lady had set before them.

"Capt. Dont [Jonathan ] Ellsworth," kept For many years a famous tavern, half a mile north of the meeting-house, on the spot now owned by the heirs of the late Joel Thrall.

In later days taverns have been at various times kept at the places now occupied by Mr. Thaddeus Mather, Mr. Hayden Filley, Judge H. Sill, and Mr. Lemuel Welch. There was also a Bissell's Stage House above Major Ellsworth's place, and a half-way house on the road between Windsor and Hartford, kept by the father of the present mayor of the latter place.

The subject of taverns is suggestive of the following anecdote, illus- frative of the men and manners of days gone by. There was a enstom among the young people, in the early days of Connecticut, of stealing the bride, as it was termed. When a young couple were to be married, those of their acquaintance who were not invited to the wedding would some- times combine, go stealthily to the house where the ceremony was cele- brating, and, watching for a favorable opportunity, rush in, seize the bride, carry her out, and placing her upon a horse behind one of the party, gallop off with her to some neighboring tavern, where music, sup- per, etc., had been bespoken. If the capture and flight were successful. and the captors succeeded in reaching their rendezvous at the tavern without being overtaken by the wedding party, the night was spent in dancing and feasting at the expense of the bridegroom. Mr. Elisha Gris- wold, of Simsbury, a descendant of Old Windsor, used, in his later years, to relate with nich glee, the particulars of one of these bride-stealings, in which he was a principal actor. It seems that a certain couple were to be married in Simsbury, and Mr. Griswold, with others of their acquaintance who had not been honored with an invitation, resolved upon retaliation by stealing the bride. Accordingly, on the evening of the wedding, having first ordered a nice supper and engaged the music, ete., very privately, at a tavern at Turkey Hills, himself with two or three others went into the neighborhood of the bride's residence. Here they reconnoitered, but, as the party was large and the rooms crowded, they were obliged to watch for some time before the favorable opportu- nity presented itself. At length, however, the evening being warm and beautiful, the company gradually withdrew from the house and dispersed through the grounds and garden which surrounded it. Through a win- dow they could see the bride, distinguished by her bridal dress, almost alone in the parlor. Now was their chance. One or two of the surprise party quietly entered the dwelling by a back door. To seize the bride and bear her out to where their confederates were holding the horses, and to place her behind one of the party on horseback, was but the work

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421

OLD WEDDING CUSTOMS TREES.

of an instant. In another moment they were speeding over the road to Turkey Hills with a swiftness which almost defied pursuit. But to their surprise, the whole wedding party seemed also to have sprung to their saddles, and were almost immediately in pursuit, as their lond voices and the clear ring of their horses' hoof's too plainly told. The race was ex- citing; their laboring horses seemed not to gain one inch on their par- sners ; but at last they reached the tavern, dismounted, carried their fair prize into the hall, and had just time to arrange the dance when the wedding party arrived. The music struck up, the dance began, but the astonishment of the gallant captors can scarcely be imagined when they discovered for the first time that the supposed bride wore men's boots, and that her steps and movements were altogether too masculine and antie to comport with the dress and known refinement of the real bride. It then flashed upon them that they had been awfully sold : the whole wedding party now came rushing into the hall, langhing and ex- ulting with the greatest glee. It seems that the friends of the bride had suspected or learned of the attempt to be made upon her, and had pur- posely dressed up one of the young men and left him exposed in the parlor. having their horses also in instant readiness for pursuit. The hilarious scene that followed the denonement was amusing. The whole thing was taken in perfect good humor, the dancing and supper were very highly enjoyed, and the company broke up and dispersed at a very late hour - the kidnappers paying all erpeuses. And for years after they had to bear the laughs and jokes of the neighborhood for having the "lobby turned upon them."

We have heard of another instance in which the joker unexpectedly became the victim. The bride in this case was the heroine of the story. Mrs. C., of East Windsor, on her wedding night was stolen from her husband and friends, placed in a sleigh (for it was winter season), and driven by her abductors to a distant tavern. While they were at table she contrived in some manner to elude their observation for a few moments, let herself ont of a back window, went to the barn, helped her- sell to a horse and cutter, and was lar on her homeward road before her captors even dreamed that she was absent.

Trees. The oldest free in Windsor, perhaps, is the old cedar, the stump of which now stands in the door-yard of the Chief Justice Ells- worth place. Tradition says that it was one of the original forest trees : ' and that, for several of the first generations of settlers, it was the rally- ing spot for the hunters when they made a general hunt. High in its branches hung an immense pair of deer's antlers, which disappeared some fifty years since. Lieut. Joseph Stiles's house stood a little north of this

1 See also, page 145, for reference to original forest trees on Rocky Hill.

INESTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

tree, and its foundations were dug up by the pow in the summer of 1858. This tree was Down down in November, 1877, and its available wood was carefully husbanded and manufactured into chairs and other articles of use and ornament, to be distributed among the members of the Ellsworth family.

The beautiful chos in Broad Street were set out in 1755' by a respectable citizen of Windsor, who afterwards fell from grace by reason of dissipation, and was publicly whipped, on two several occasions, at two of his own trees. The peculiar indignity of the punishment rankled deep in his memory, and subsequently, when in want of wood, he threatened to ent down the trees at which he had been punished. Afterwards, in his drunken moods, he used to threaten the destruction of the remain- ing trees, but was always bought off by old Squire Allyn with a cord of wood and some cider.

The "Old Smoking Tree " and the "Hayden Oak," hoth relies of the primeval forest, have already been alluded to. While on the topic of trees, we cannot refrain from presenting an extremely interesting article by J. Hammond Trumbull, LL.D., of Hartford, which was first published in the Hartford Press, entitled :

Early Apples and Old Cider- . 1 Windsor Orchard in 1650. - Josselyn, on his first visit to New England in 1638-9, found " not one apple-tree nor pear planted yet, in no part of the country, except on Governor's Island in Boston Harbor, where he procured half a score of very fair pippins." In the account of his second voyage, some thirty years later, he says that "our fruit trees prosper abundantly, apple trees, quince trees. cherry trees, plom trees, barberry trees," and he "observed with admiration that the kernels sown or the snekers planted produce as fair and good fruit, without grafling, as the tree from whence they were taken; the country is replenished with fair and large orchards." On his return to England in 1671 he was told by Mr. Henry Wolcott, of Windsor (who was a fellow passenger), that " he made five hundred hogsheads of Syder out of his own orchard in one year." "Syder," adds Josselyn. "is very plentiful in the country, ordinarily sold for ten shillings a hogshead."

Mr. Wolcott's apple orchard was one of the first, and, for many years, was proba- bly the largest in the Connectiont Valley. It was in bearing before 1649, and his cider- presses were at work in 1650 For twenty years afterwards he supplied young trees, sununer and winter apples, and cider by the hogshead, gallon or pint, not only to his neighbors at Windsor, but to other towns in the vicinity, and occasionally for exporta. tion to other colonies. The account book in which he entered, year by year, the product of his orchard, the sales of trees and grafts, the times of making cider &c .. is still extant. To save paper, or to conceal his profits from the eyes of prying neighbors, these accounts were kept in short-hand From this book are derived the following partienlars, which may not be without interest to our agricultural and horticultural readers,

The first entry is :

"A note of several sorts of apples I had grown. 1649," under which the quantity gathered from each tree of the old and new orchard is carefully entered : " Of the earliest apples, 1 bushel; of 2 early sorts of sour apples in the new orchard, I bushel of

' The date of erection was out on a small iron plate and atlixed to one of the trees, which was afterwards in its old age blown over, and the plate was then placed on an- other in front of the residence of 11. S. Hayden.

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TREES AND FRUIT CULTURE.

the summer pippin, by well, 4 bushel; of the Holland pippin, Il bushel; of the Prar- main, 15 bushel; of the 4 trees of winter apples (of the tree next John Loomis's 2} hushel, the next 6!); 19 bushel; of the 4 trees of B. llybonds [as Mr. Wolcott spelled the name of an old favorite; Bellibone was the English form of the French Belle et bonne ], 6 bushel and I peck; of the London pippin, 1 bushel; of Mr. Allen's green apples, in the lower side of the orchard, 2 bushel," &c. Total, for 1649, 91 bushel.

In 1650, the orchard yielded 212 bushel, the greater part of which was made into vider, which was sold at 1x Sd per gallon, and 91 4s por hogshead; the apples bringing from fix to 8% per bushel. Three bushels were " sold at the Faire," for $1:7. 31 gallons of boiled cider sold at 2x 6d. This year, a half bushel of quinces is charged al Ix.

Bush.

producing

including tidler.

In 1651, " 1652, ·· 1653, ** 164,

496

£117.12

$40: 5

452

92:18

72.10

1197

19:10

1588

The price of apples had gradually fallen from Sx, in 1650, to 2x 6d, and 3x in 1634; and of cider from 1x Sd, to 1x 44 per gallon, or 21 10s per barrel. [In October, 1674, the General Court ordered that no innholder should ask more than 4d a quart for cider; So the retail price seems to have remained nearly constant, from 1650, though Josselyn tells us it was sold, in 1671. at Hx a hogshead. ]

In 1633, wheat sold at 4x, rye at 3s, and Indian corn at 2x per bushel. By these standards, it is easy to compare the prices of apples and cider, or other luxuries, of that day with this. Occasional credits on Mr. Wolcott's book show that he exchanged a part of the produce of his orchard for sack [Spanish wine] at 6s per gallon, white wine at 18%, strong water at 3% per quart, &c. Venison at 18 6d for a quarter, of 9 lbs, and 3× 10d for one of 16 lbs .; 32 lbs. Sugar (a rare luxury), at Ad per lb. " The forbearance of (24 for one year" is charged at $1 18%, or at the rate of Is id per pound (T& per cent).

Here are a few entries of sales from the nursery and orchard. showing that Mr. Wolcott was doing a tolerably large business in trees and Fruit at this carly period.

1650. JJuly. To Mr. Gisbert [Gysbert op Dyck, perhaps - who had formerly been commander of the Dutch Fort, in Hartford]. 50 bush. apples. 911 175 6d.

04. 18. To the same. 100 pare trees, 9.

1651. Aug. 22. " George Phelps bought balle my thousand of young trees for which he is to pay me two pence per tree to be paide halfe in wheate and halfe in pease, in March " &c., 94. 3x 4d.

July 17. " Sold Joseph Magget [ Mygatt, of Hartford] a parcel of young trees," 202 10 .

Sept. To the same. 500 trees, 84.

1652. Sept. 14. Sold to Mr. Goodyeare [the deputy governor of New Haven]. 100 bushels of apples, to be delivered presently, 220

20 blls. cider, to be delivered the 10th of October next, $10.

1653. Wm. Edwards "owes, for a cor, 32 cider barrels to be delivered at the land ing place, by Sept. 12th."

For aught we know, some of Mr. Wolcott's apple or pear trees are yet bearing fruit in their season.

From inns we naturally glide into the cognate subject of

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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

Stores, Trade, Commerce, etc. - For, in those early days, as now. tavern-keeping and trading were often carried on by the same persons. The notes which we have gathered relative to this subject are exceedingly seanty, yet sufficient to show us conclusively that Windsor, in the early colonial days, was a leading commercial town and port of entry. This position it held until subsequent to the revolution, when its neighbor, Hartford, " took a start " and left poor Windsor quite in the background. The WoLcorTs were probably the first and most extensive merchants here, especially HENRY WOLCOTT, JR. JOSIAH WOLCOTT was a large merchant in 1681. He had land - laid out by Sammel Grant, Town Measurer. 20 feet square, on which to set a warehouse, on the hillside adjoining Wid. Marshall's fence, being on the North end at the West side of the grant - where an old cellar stands that was built by Geo. Phelps by [i. e. near ] the Wid. Marshall, her warehouse."

MICHAEL HUMPHREY was quite a merchant as early as 1662. Among the papers in the State Archives are many inventories, ete., of goods shipped by his brothers Samuel and Henry Rose, merchants of St. Malo.

Captain NEWBERRY and GEORGE GRISWOLD had warehouses here in 1679 on the north side of the Rivulet, near the ferry : and, about the same time, GEORGE and CHRISTOPHER SAUNDERS Were traders to England and the West Indies.

In 1720 MATTHEW GRANT, on the east side of the river, was assessed €40 - faculty and vessell": Captain Timothy Thrall was assessed $40. and Captain Daniel White £20 for " trading." Both resided north of the Little River.

TIMOTHY LOOMIS makes the following entry in his Common Place Book : " 1739, I sent 221 weight of tobacco to Barbadoes in the sloop, The Windsor, whereof 20 pounds was my son Timothy's." Half a mile below Hayden's Station was Master John Hayden's shipyard : and another at the Rivulet ferry.

Mr. JAMES MAACKMAN was a very considerable merchant from about 1690 to 1698, when he died : and, abont same time, and later, Mr. Joux ELIOT, who married his widow.

Still later. Capt. ROGER NEWBERRY was a prosperons merchant in Windsor, on the place now owned by Dr. Preston, of Hartford. After his death in the Cuba Expedition, in 1740, his widow received a pension From the English government, which she had transmitted to her in goods instead of money, and so continued the store many years after her his- band's decease. Her account books are yet preserved in Bloomfield.

Prior (o and during the revolution -or in other words during Windsor's palmiest mercantile days-the Palisade Green was the " commercial center " of Windsor. Here was the great firm of HookEn

CAPTAIN JAMES HOOKER.

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STORES, TRADE, COMMERCE.

& CHAFFEE, known through the length and breadth of the country for its extensive dealings and its high mercantile honor. The following sketch of this Windsor firm has been furnished for our pages by EDWARD HOOKER, Esq., Commander U. S. N. See also the Hooker Genealogy in the genealogieal portion of this work.

" James and Horace Hooker, sons of Nathaniel Hooker, of Hartford, received their early mercantile training in their father's business house ; and at an early age they com meneed business at Windsor, very probably at first as an extension of their father's husi- ness, in which they always retained an interest. After his death they alternated in the superintendence of the Hartford honse, and went back and forth with such regularity that some wag gave them name of the "Two Buckets," alluding to the custom of put- ting the well-rope over a wheel and attaching a bucket at each end, so that when one bucket was coming up the other was going down.

"Soon after coming to Windsor they associated with them Mr. John Chaffee, and the firm of ' Hookers & Chaffee' became an exceedingly prosperous one, and widely known through all the region around for its prompt and energetic business habits. its high moral standing, and its strict and unswerving integrity.

" Their ships - principally in the West India trade, but some of them going to other commercial points, -discharged their cargoes upon the Windsor wharves, and made commercial life and activity upon the water front. It was largely through the influ- ence of Mr. James Hooker that Windsor was made a port of entry.1

" Previous to the revolutionary war this firm was one of the greatest and most exten- sively connected of all the business houses in this part of the country, and its members. all courteous and genial gentlemen, and highly esteemed by all who knew them, were renowned for their ardent patriotism. Mr. James Hooker sold out his interest to the other partners, though his fortune still remained largely in the hands of the firm.

" When the ' Boston Port Bill' was passed they opened their stores for the reception of provisions and material in aid of the Boston people; and Mr. James Hooker was appointed by the town one of a committee for collecting aid for the distressed city. When the war commenced their stores were made a depot for collection of supplies for the army. Mr. James Hooker was commissioned a captain in recognition of his active services. They promptly responded to the calls for financial assistance, and freely advanced their money to help the government in its hour of need, while the families of those who had shouldered the musket found ever helpful friends at the great store.

" When the war came to a close these patriotic men found their business almost ruined, their funds gone, and the fact forcibly presented to them that they must com- mence life over again, and build up their trade anew. Cheerfully and with prompt energy they set about the task, which, from the impoverished condition of the country, was rendered a much more difficult one than it had been in their younger days. Their high character and mercantile integrity were greatly to their advantage, and their prospects for success were bright and cheering, when the ' French spoliations ' fell with remorseless weight upon them. Their ships were swept away, and the great firm. crushed by the weight of adversity, succumbed to overpowering misfortune and passed out of existence.

"The settlement was entrusted to Mr. Chaffee, and Mr. Horace Hooker removed to western New York, and finally found a home at Sackett's Harbor. Without doubt Mr. James Hooker aided Mr. Chaffee in the settlement and the work of honorably closing the business affairs, and saving what could be saved from the wreck; and, though even to this day the money advanced to the government, and the losses by the French

' Windsor by the Acts of U. S. Congress (viz .: ) August, 1290, and 2 March, 1799), was made a Port of Entry. - F. E. Mather.

VOL. I .- 54

426

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

spoliations has never been repaid, the affairs of the great firm were honorably and sal isfactorily adjusted.

" Mr. James Hooker settled down to quiet but active participation in public duties. To the needy and unfortunate he was ever ready to give counsel and advice in their troubles, and such more substantial aid as he could bestow; and thus, in peace and quiet, with love and respect from all, his years sped along until December 10. 1805, when he quietly passed away, sincerely mourned by all, but by none more so than by the great army of the poor to whom he had been so truly a friend "

The Chaffee and Hooker houses are now standing on the eastern side of the Green: the former retains much of its pristine appearance: the latter has been somewhat remodeled and modernized, and is oceu- pied by Deacon Woodford. North of this, and a little back from the street, stood the old store, packing houses, etc. Their trade was large. From every portion of the country there was constantly pouring in large supplies of horses, beef cattle, wheat, and produce of all and every sort. The Green was often heaped with goods of all kinds which had been received, or were being shipped. An eye witness assures us that from her window she has counted as many as thirty teams in the road waiting their turn. Old people even now love to dwell upon the theme. " They sometimes retailed a hogshead of molasses in a single day." " They did a. larger business than any house in Hartford at the time," are some of the expressions which fall from their lips.

Nothing seemed to come amiss to their mill; notes at thirty days were given in exchange, and always promptly paid; while under the bank of the Little River near by,' lay many - sometimes six or seven - coasting vessels, and generally some larger English or West India ves- sels. A letter from Oliver Welles to Mr. Peter Verstille, merchant at Boston, dated Windsor, 12 April, 1778, says: " Bara Webb is not yet heard of: the rest of our sea vessels are all returned, and it was really a pleasant sight to see seren (From our steeple) coming upthe the meadow at once, all near at equal distances." Their trade to Liverpool and the West Indies was at that time very extensive, and during some parts of the year the Little River was quite full of vessels, loading and unloading. and the Green was lively with hearty sea-captains and bronzed and jolly sailors. Several of these captains resided here, among whom was Capt. NATHANIEL HOWARD. Father of the late Major Howard and of William Howard. He always brought home a little stock of fine silks and choice goods from his various voyages, and his wife kept store in the building now ocenpied by the Misses Stiles. It is related of her that she was remarkable for dressing well, which excited the envy of some of her

' There being at that time no bridge at Hartford to obstruct the navigation of the river, Windsor was a port of entry, and West India and other goods were, during : part of the year, landed at the Rivalet ferry.

427

STORES, TRADE, COMMERCE.

less fortunate neighbors; and that when on one occasion she sported an umbrella, which the captain had brought from furrin parts, and which was the first article of the kind ever seen here, she was followed by sev eral of her fellow-citizen-esses, in a spirit of derision, carrying sieres elevated on the tops of broom-handles, etc .! William Howard afterward traded here, and kept the post-office. The business had previously been carried on under the name of Howard & Afford.

At MATsox's store, which stood a few rods from Pickett's Tavern, a comparatively large business was done, down to about the beginning of the century. A few years before this the amount of business was $40,000 per annum. They dealt largely in Turk's Island salt, which, during high water in the Connecticut, was landed direet from the West Indies and exchanged for northern produce. The old salt-room of the store is still cold and damp.

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The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I, Part 50

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909 Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard company Number of Pages: 1038

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard company
Number of Pages: 1038