The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I, Part 52

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

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Those who released slaves who were too far advanced in life when the art was passed to be legally affected by it, generally took the precau- tion to obtain a release from the authorities of the town from all responsi- bility for their future maintenance. Among a family of slaves released without this precaution, some members who had removed to East Wind- sor became poor in their extreme old age, and the authorities of that town, finding that they had not been legally liberated, obliged the heirs of their old master (the family of the late Daniel Pinney ) to support them.

Those of whatever age, who were incompetent to support themselves, we're still slaves unless the town chose to release their owners. Such was Old Naves, whose death recently occurred in the family of Col. James Loomis. She was born on Greenfickl Hill. Fairfield County, toun., and remained in the family of Hezekiah Bradley until she was four years old, when she was given to Charlotte Bradley Chaffee, wife of Dr. Hezekiah Chaffee of Windsor. At his death in 1821, she became a household gift and charge, commended to the especial care of his daughter, Mrs. Abigail Sherwood Loomis, in whose family she was most kindly cared for to the day of her death in 1857, aged 82.

The first record of negro slavery in Connecticut appeared in the in- ventory of Henry Wolcott, Jr., in 1680. Old Nance, perhaps, closes the record within half a mile of the spot where the first one lived.

For many years previous to the American Revolution, and as late as 1820, or thereabouts, it was the custom of the Conncetient negroes -- in that spirit of emulation and imitation which is peenliar to their race and the monkey tribe -- to elect a governor for themselves : and not a gov- ernor only, but a deputy, staff officers, sheriff, and squires or justices of the prace, who were all elected with much discretion, pomp, and cere-

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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

mony, and exerted the same functions among those of their own color as their more lordly prototypes of the white race.

Negro election and parade generally came off on the Saturday sue- Feeding the election day of the whites, and was participated in by those who came up to the capital with their masters, and such others as were alle to be present. " They of course made their election, to a large ex- tent, deputatively, as all could not be present, but uniformly yielded to it their assent. . . The person they selected for the office in question was usually one of much note among themselves, of imposing presence. strength, firmness, and volubility, who was quick to decide, ready to command, and able to flog. If he was inclined to be a little arbitrary, belonged to a master of distinction, and was ready to pay freely for diversions, these were circumstances in his favor. Still it was necessary he should be an honest negro, and be, or appear to be, wise above his fel-

lows. . The precise sphere of his power we cannot ascertain. Probably it embraced . matters and things in general ' among the blacks; morals, manners, and ceremonies. He settled all grave disputes in the last resort, questioned conduct, and imposed penalties and punishments sometimes for vice or misconduct. He was respected as gubernor, say many old gentlemen to us, by the negroes throughout the State, and obeyed almost implicitly.

" Hlis parade days were marked by much that was showy, and by some things that were Indierons. A troop of blacks, sometimes a hun- dred in number, marching sometimes two and two on foot. sometimes mounted in true military style and dress on horseback, escorted him through the streets, with drums beating, colors flying. and tifes, fiddles, clarionets, and every . sonorous metal ' that could be found, .uttering martial sound." After marching to their content, they would retire to some large room which they would engage for the purpose, for refresh- ments and deliberation. This was all done with the greatest regard to ceremony. His chony excellency would pass through the files of his procession, supported by his aids, with an air of consummate dignity, to his quarters, and there receive the congratulations of his friends, and dis- pense the favor of his salutations, his opinions, and his appointments."'

The following amusing story is related concerning one of the oera- sions at Hartford. Dinner was duly set, the dignitaries had marched in and taken their places around the " groaning board," the governor at the upper, and the deputy governor at the lower end of it. when the latter with delicate regard for the proprieties of the occasion, exclaimed, " Mr. Subnor, seems to me dere ort to be sumthin said on dis 'casion." " Will

1 Scard'x Hartford in the Olden Tine, whose chapter on the negro governors of Hart ford is exceedingly humorous and vivid.

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ANCIENT NEGRO CUSTOMS.

Mr. Deputy say sumthin ?" responded His Excellency. Thereupon the Deputy spread himself and began, " Tunder above de Hobens, Litnin on de earth, Shake de tops of de trees. Table spread afore us, no vat avet. eat a'bimeby, for Christ's sake, Amen." " Well done," exclaimed the governor, " well done, Mr. Deputy ; I no idee you such able man in prayer." And straightway the company fell vigorously to work upon the object of the meeting.

We do not know that Windsor ever gave birth to a negro governor.

Negro Trainings were also common. At one time subsequent to the Revolution, training was held at Pickett's Tavern, about half a mile above Hayden's Station. General Ti, a slave belonging to Capt. Jona. Ellsworth, commanded on that occasion. His master, being a captain of the cavalry, furnished him with his own uniform, accontrements, and watch. to the chain of which he added several huge seals, and set him upon his own war steed. So General To rode forth that day, " the ob- served of all observers." Such exhibitions were a source of no little amusement to the whites, who often visited them to witness the evolu- tions and performances of their sable competitors. On this verasion, as we learn from an eye witness, the general was early on the ground, and becoming somewhat impatient at the tardiness of the soldiers belonging to the Pine Meadow (Suffield ) District. he ordered up his horse and rode through the crowd to take a survey of the field, and things in general. Pulling up his horse in the immediate vicinity of Esquire Bissell, and other prominent Windsor citizens, he exclaimed. " Wonder why de troops don't come on from de north." The squire, who was a bit of a wag, with a sympathizing air, inquired. " What time is it, General ?" Dropping the bridle rein, he drew up his watch, hand over hand, and holding it ont, exclaimed with scornful dignity, " Look for yourself, gem- men, by -," which not a little amused the squire and his friends, who happened to know that the general could not tell the time himself.

When the attempt was made to form the regiment, there was no little difficulty in arranging the soldiers so as to make the best appearance- for most had some bit of uniform, but no two alike. The general, anxious to put the best foot forward, hit upon a plan. and issued his orders ar- cordingly. Rising in his stirrups, he shouted, " All you what got white storea, rocker shoe, stand in de front." This order was readily under- stood, and the Front rank was soon formed of those who were equipped with shoes and stockings. Then came another order from the chief. " All you what got rocker shoe and no white storea, stand in de rear " ; and then, with the self-satisfied air of one who felt that he had " gone and done it," the general exclaimed, " Now you niggers what got no white stocca, and no rocker shoe, stand out of de way."

During some of the evolutions of the day, which were badly per-

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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

formed, the general's passions got the better of his dignity, and he ex- claimed, with heartfelt bitterness, " A nigga allus will be a nigga, don't know anthin, and allus did."

Caro, also, is remembered by some of our oldest citizens as a self- appointed tythingman, who exerted himself on the Sabbath to keep the boys in order, and attended to the ringing of the bell. He was areus- tomed to go around the town regularly to collect his remuneration for his services as bell-ringer, and when any one refused his or her mite to the voluntary contribution, he would say, " Well, no pay, shan't hear um hell."

At the commencement of the present century, and for some time after, there were many negroes in Windsor; but they all seem to have bron, or to have ultimately become, a poor, shiftless, lazy set of free negroes.

No town in New England can boast a worthier ancestry than Ancient Windsor. In social position, intellectual culture, sincere and forvent piety, and sterling integrity of character, her settlers were equalled by few, and surpassed by none. They were not mere random ad- venturers, seeking some fairy Utopia, and bound together by flimsy bonds of selfish interest, but a high-minded, large-hearted Christian brotherhood - selected with consummate taet and rare judgment from the wealthiest and most cultivated counties of England by the master mind of Rev. John White, who, when he saw them set sail from Plymouth harbor, felt that he was casting forth upon the waters precious bread, which, with God's Messing, was to enrich and beantify the ends of the earth. There was WARHAM, " a famous preacher," and MAVERICK, with a reputation equal to his years. There was WOLCOTT, whose ancestral antecedents, wealth. and personal character would have commanded respect in any com- munity, and Lemlow, with legal abilities, and ideas far in advance of the age in which he lived. Masox, also, with a reputation among the best warriors of the continent. PHELPS, ROCKWELL, GAYLORD, and others, all picked men, each possessing some trait or valuable quality essential to the welfare of the whole community. Woman, too, was there, with her sustaining and cheering influences, herself upheld by that deep current of religious faith which underlies the character of her sex. And in every heart - to a degree which we perhaps can never experi- ience, and therefore can never fully understand -dwelt that glorious light of Christian love and truth which maketh free. It sustained them in the hour of trial, it humbled them in the hour of prosperity, it regu- lated their every action, it developed the exercise of every virtue and talent. it softened the thousand nameless little asperities of individual character and social life, and thus contributed to the perfect and har-

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A WORTHY ANCESTRY.

monions working of the whole social polity. Such was the character of the first generation.

But, as has been elsewhere aptly said, the emigration from a civilized to a new country is necessarily a step backward into barbarism. The second generation did not fill the places of the fathers. Reared amid the trials and dangers of a new settlement, they were in a great measure deprived of the advantages, both social and educational, which their parents had enjoyed. Nearly all of the former could write -which can not be said of their children. Neither did the latter possess that depth of religious feeling, or earnest practical piety, which distinguished the first comers. Religion was to them less a matter of the heart than of social privilege, and in the half-way covenant controversy we behold the gradual " letting down of the bars " between a pure church and a grasp- ing world.

The third generation followed in the footsteps of their predecessors. Then came war : and young New England brought from the long Cana- dian campaigns stores of loose camp viees and recklessness, which soon flooded the land with immorality and infidelity. The church was neglected, drunkenness fearfully increased, and social life was sadly corrupted. Bundling -that pernicious custom which prevailed among the young, in some portions of New England, to a degree which we can scarcely credit - undoubtedly tended largely to sap the fountain of morality.' Next came the American Revolution, which merely prolonged the evil : for war, even where necessary, is always an evil. So that not until the commencement of the present century can it be said that any return was made to the purity of the first generation. And it is our solemn conviction that all those who eroak the romantic fune of " Alas! the good old time," will find, on careful examination, that in every respect, politieally, morally, religionsly, the present world, with all its vices, is no worse - nay, that it is infinitely better off - now than then.

We would not, however, be understood as saying that piety, moral- ity, or education died ont after the first generation, or was wanting among their descendants. The history of Windsor evidences that ro- ligion and education were always dear to her children, and that in every generation there have been many whose lives and characters come down to ns as a blessed legacy. These good men possessed a marvelously

1 Certain strictures made upon this statement in our first edition led the author to investigate the subject more fully, with the result of historically establishing the wide spread prevalence of this custom in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and elsewhere. His researches were published, in a limited edition, entitled. Bundling ; its Origin, Progres. and Decline in America, by Henry R. Stiles, M.D., 160, pub, by Joël Munsell, Albany, N. Y., 1865.

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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

strong faith and belief in special providences. Events which we should attribute to natural causes were by them referred directly to divine power. Wars, pestilences, victories, accidents -in short, all the thousand and one incidents which make up the life of a nation or of an individual -were considered as so many direct interpositions and revelations of God's will. They prayed with a fervency which grew out of this intense faith in God's power and willingness to answer prayer. And in New England history there are many instances in which we can hardly doubt that their prayers and faith were singularly answered.

The following Windsor legend is quite to the point :

" Once upon a time" - as all good story-tellers commence - the good people in Windsor had suffered for a long time from an excessive drought. until at last, viewing it as a judgment of God upon them for some of their sins, they resolved to hold a fast day, to be spent in Immiliation and prayer. In the lower part of the town dwelt a godly man by the name of Barber, to whom some of the people from up town extended a very pressing invitation to join them in this day of prayer. Mr. Barber happened to have a great quantity of hay ent at the time, and felt that he needed dry weather just then, and could scarcely spare the time to pray, while so much of it was out. But, with true Christian good feeling, he consented to join his brethren at the upper end of the town in their prayers for rain. When the time arrived Mr. Barber appeared at meeting, with his overcoat on his arm (although it was clear, hot, scorching weather), and on being wonderingly interrogated as to his motive of bringing it, replied that he "came to pray for rain. and he expected it." Before the day closed the rain did come, sure enough, and, still more wonderful to relate, in passing, as it did pretty generally, over the town, it passed around Mr. Barber's land, and left his hay uninjured.

Among some of the Rev. Timothy Edwards's manuscripts we find :

" A Record of Some Remarkable and Gracious answers of Prayer, Remarkable | Providences] and some other things of a Spiritual Nature I have met with in the course of my Life, and first of Remarkable Deliverances, Recoveries."

A few extracts will show our readers the nature of these remark- able incidents :

"1. When ? was a little child (as I have been told by my Father as I remember) I Tell into a Tub of Water, an ye providence of God sent one to my Relief and yt strangely, who passing by upon Occasion, Saw me and took me ont almost dead.

"2. When I was a School boy I took a gun In my hand, which was an Indian's hunt- ing Gun, and as he said yt was ye owner of it, a gun that Sellom or never missed fire. This gun was charged with a brace of bullets. I hell it out against one of my school- mates, John Hunter by name, who was old Goodman Mitchell's Seryt. I aimed at his breast putting my hand to y. pricker, he being at about 8 foot distance, and said these

1 1

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REV. TIMOTHY EDWARDS' SPECIAL PROVIDENCES.

wds as I remember. 'Oh. Hunter, if you were an enemy now how I could shoot you down,' thinking no harm at all, not being aware ye yr gun was charged or if it had been that there was any danger of its going off, but the cock being half bent, went down, and it either fired or as standers by affirmed tlashed in yr pan, and yet no harm ensued. Those that stood by were :unazed to see how narrowly the boy escaped, and so was my father, being called in out of ye Shop, together with y" Indian, both whom very much wondered when they heard how it was. My Father looked upon it as a little less than a miracle and said 'If Mr. Mather's Book of Remarkable Providences had not been out before, he would have that put in amongst them.' I was also much amazed and affected with God's wonderful goodness to me in keeping of me so | ] miraculously from wantonly, though [ ] killing one of my neighbors, and therefore 1 ] to keep y' Record of it by me."

On another occasion he tumbled off a cherry tree and liked to have broken his neck -only he didn't : and again he came very near going under the ice while skating - if some one had not called to him, and caused him to stop. And then he remembers that, when a boy at the grammar school at Hartford, he one day performed some very foolish feats of climbing on a cherry tree, by way of " bravado to show some of my mates (one of them, at least, viz., Thos. Oleott's son) how venture- some and bold I was, and yet God safely brought me down again," on to the solid earth, which was a sincere cause of gratitude to this pious man in all after life.

We have room for but one more example of the Rev. Timothy's hairbreadth escapes:

" When I was a school boy, as I was cating some [very ] mellow peaches, the stone of one [slipped ] down as [] was] sucking of 'em, and stuck in [my] throat, and | | speech and my breath so [ ] neither I strove [ ] couldn't, the boys seeing how it was clapi me on the back, but all would not do. I saw plainly that I could not help myself and if God didn't help I should surely die. I was very apprehensive and much afraid of death; my thoughts then I think I can remember pretty exactly, and they were these : 'Now, if God don't wonderfully and miraculously help (which I inwardly desired him to do) I shall die bye-and bye. Death is a coming towards me apace. 1 am not far off from it. I have heard of dying, but now if God be not very gracious I shall quickly know what it is, and I am afraid God will not help me. Ihave so sinned against him, but, oh, that he would though!' Thus being very sensible of my dying and dangerous condition, 1, seeing straining and striving was to no purpose, I was ready to despair of help though as I remember I had some little hope at least in the power and mercy of God. Only one thing the boys advised me to do, and that was 10 go down to the river and drink, which was so far off, that if God had not helped me. I should have dropped down dead long before I came there. However I was willing to make any experiment or take any likely course to save my life, for which I was so con cerned in my mind, that I did not think of the impossibility of getting any help by doing as they advised me. Accordingly I went to my master to ask leave to go out. and by the time leame half way to him I thought with myself, ' what do I go to ask leave for? I can not speak and besides my life lies upon it. 1 have need to make all haste I can, I may venture to go out without leave to save my life,' and so I turned back again before I came to him and run in a fright and in haste towards the door so as to go down to the river, and when I came to the door, unexpectedly without any straining or striving at all, when I had not many moments more to live, the peach stone

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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

came out as though it went of itself. God, by his power, brought it out from me and saved my life; he helped me when I couldn't help myself, yea, and when all the men in the world couldn't help me, when I was almost past help. being just at death's door. Then I was 'as a brand plucked out of the burning.'"

Apprenticeship. - The following Indenture, found among the Thom- as Houghton Mes .. afford a good illustration of the great care taken in arranging the terms of apprenticeships in the olden time :

" THIS INDENTURE witnesseth that Jonathan Stoughton, son of Thomas Stoughton of Windsor in the county of hartford and Coloney of Conectient in new england, with his father's consent hath put him selfe an apprentice to Nathan day of the abone-sd windsor county and coloney: blacksmith and white smith to Learn his art, trade or mistery after the mauer of an Apprentice to serve him until he the sd Jonathan Stough ton aftaines to the age of twenty-one years, during all which time the sd apprentice his mas. ter faithfully shall serue, his secrets keep, his Lawfull commands gladly obaye, he shall not do any damage to his sd master nor see it don by others without giveing notice thereof to his s' master. he shall not waste his st master's goods or Lend them unlaw- fully to aney, he shall not commit fornication nor contract matrimony within the sd terme, at cards, dice or any other unlawful game he shall not play whereby his sa master may sufer damage. he shall not absent himself day nor night from his master's service without his Leave. nor hunt ale houses, Taverans or playhouses butt in all things behave him selfe as a faithfull apprentice ought to do during ye st terme, and the s' master shall do his utmost to teach and Instruct the sd apprentice In the bout mentioned blacksmith and white smiths trade and mistery and to teach or caus the s. apprentice to be Taught the art of Arithmatiek to such a degree that he may be able to keep a book well, and provide for him meat, drink, apparel, washing and Lodging and phisick in sickness and helth sutable for such an apprentice during the sd terme, and att the end of sd terme the sd master shall furnich the s' apprentice with two good new suits of apparel boath wooling and lining for all parts of his body sntable for such an apprentice besids that apparel he carieth with him, and for the performance of all and every the sd covenants and agreement either of the sd parties bind themselves unto the other by these presents in witness whereof they have interchangeably put their hands and seals this first day of September in the year of our Lord god. 1927. sined. scaled and delivered In presence of

Daniel Stoughton Tim". Stoughton

NATHAN DAY (8) JONATHAN STOUGHTON (S)

Manners, Conveniences, etc. - From the Ms. of OLIVER ELLSWORTH. Jr., son of the Chief Justice, and written in 1802, we glean the follow- ing interesting items concerning Windsor in the previous century :

" Even by conversing with those who lived but fifty or sixty years since, one is astonished to learn the changes in the manners, &c, which have taken place in this town, within half a century. My father, who is now 17, says that, when he was a boy, the families in Windsor, or at least in his neighborhood, all ate upon wooden trenchers; and what is still more surprising, he says, that when he was born, he does not suppose that there was such a thing as a privy or necessary house, in the town. He says, as I can well believe, that the manners were then coarse and such as would now, in many respects, prove disgusting; that the men, in Windsor, formerly assem. hled together in each other's houses and would drink out a barrel of cider in one

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MANNERS, CONVENIENCES, ETC. IN OLDEN TIME.

night. As to carriages and dress, the change has been no less astonishing; for, by con- versing with elderly people, I have learned that 50 years since there was hardly such a thing as a common two-wheel carriage in the town of Windsor; at least, my father says, that since he can remember, there was but one in town, which belonged to Capt. Wadsworth, a trader; whereas now (1802-3) a large proportion of the people in Windsor (i.e. of the families in Windsor street, both North and South of the bridge) possess one. The change in dress has likewise been great. My mother, who has now lived in Wind- sor street 20 years, says that when she first came here to live there were but one or two umbrellas, and but one or two broad cloth cloaks in the town; let any one now see the women at meeting one winter and one summer's day, they will almost believe this incredible."

" With regard to grafting of trees, a singular instance occurred in Windsor in graft ing apple trees, a person took a twig of an early apple tree, when the tree was actually blowing out and grafted this twig with its blossoms on another tree; the graft succeeded well, the season being moist and favorable, these blows produced fruit the first summer in 1802."

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The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I, Part 52

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