USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Windsor > The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I > Part 96
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112
In the first hundred and fifty years of the church it had fifteen set- tled pastors. The first of these was Rev. Jons MCKINSTRY. He was born in the parish of Brode, county of Antrim, in the north of Ireland, in 1677. of Scotch parents, who had removed thither from the vicinity of Edinburgh to escape perseention in the reign of Charles Il. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, where he received the degree of M.A. in 1712. In 1718 he was one of a large company who emigrated from the north of Ireland to New England. He was chosen pastor of the church in Sutton, Mass., March 21, 1720, and settled Nov. 9, 1720. His pastorate there ended in September, 1728. Some little time after- wards, as he was journeying with his family toward New York city, he was delayed in East Windsor by the illness of his wife and was invited to preach at " Goshen." The result was his continuance there a quarter of a century, till the end of his life. In 1731 a definite agreement was made with him to minister there. This was four or five years before the
822
HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
society and the church were organized. After that organization he was regularly settled as pastor. The date of his settlement cannot be ascer- tained, because the records of both church and society for the first half century have disappeared. His salary for the first four years was forty pounds a year and his firewood, and for the next two years fifty pounds and firewood. In May, 1737, he petitioned the Assembly for an increase, alleging that his salary was too small, and that the ability of his people was not equal to their benevolence. He therefore requested that the lands in the parish owned by non-residents might be taxed for the next six years and the proceeds added to his present small salary. His peti- tion was negatived in both honses. He had previously bought of An- drew MeKee a piece of land in Ellington, by deed dated April 27, 1736. On this he built a house, very elegant for those days, which stood near the spot occupied by the residence of the late Mr. Austin Tilden. Public worship was held in this house before the first meeting-house was erected. [Three years after, he bought about thirty acres of land ad- joining his first purchase, of Simon Parsons -deed witnessed by Daniel Ellsworth, John Fairfield, and Samuel Parsons. - Windsor Rec.]
In May, 1717, a petition was presented to the Assembly by Daniel Ellsworth, agent for the society, "representing the burdens lying upon said parish by the diminution of their inhabitants, and the resignation of their minister in his pastoral office, and their inability to settle an- other minister, and praying for a tax on all the unimproved lands within said parish." The Assembly granted the petition by authorizing a tax of four pence an aere on all such lands for four years, for the use and benefit of the parish ( Col. Rec., p. 314). Mr. Mckinstry, though he resigned in 1747, seems to have continued to be pastor, at least nomi- nally, until 1749. He resided in Ellington until his death, January 20, 1754, at the age of 77. He preached on the Sunday before his death. He was sensible, pious, a sound Calvinist, plain in manners, and spoke a broad Scotch dialect. His widow, originally a Miss Fairfield of Wenham, Essex County, Mass., died in 1762, aged 81. One of his daughters, while on a visit to Massachusetts, was killed by a slave who hoped thereby to secure his freedom, but was executed therefor. Some disagreement between him and the church arose in his later years, in regard to church discipline. He considered himself ujustly treated, and for that reason was unwilling to have his grave among the graves of his people. He therefore selected an- other spot for burial, now known as the MeKinstry Burial Ground. Many of his descendants have been buried there with him. His oldest son was the first pastor at Chicopee, Mass., from 1752 to 1813. Another son was a physician in Taunton, Mass., for 15 or 20 years, until 1775. There are many descendants of Mr. Mckinstry now living in various parts of the country, a few of them in Ellington.
PASTORS OF ELLINGTON CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
The second minister, NATHANIEL HUNTINGTON, was born in Wind- ham, Conn., gradnated at Yale in 1747, was ordained pastor in October, 1749, and died of consumption, April 28, 1756, in his 324 year. His grave is in Ellington.
The third minister was SETH NORTON, born in Farmington, gradu- ated at Yale in 1751 [from which, as well as from Harvard University, he afterwards received the degree of M.A. J. The date of his ordination is unknown. He died of consumption, January 19, 1762, in his 31st year, and was interred in Ellington.
The fourth minister, JOHN BLISS, was a native of Longmeadow, Mass., graduated at Yale in 1761, was ordained in October, 1764, and dismissed in December, 1780. He resided in Ellington till his death, February 13, 1790, in his 54th year.
After his dismissal the church remained without a pastor till 1791. The people felt the burdens of the Revolutionary war, and were unable to maintain a minister. The salary of Mr. Bliss was not fully paid till March, 1785. On the 17th of November, 1785, the society voted to set- ile Mr. Daniel Thomessen, or Tomblensen, as their minister. The call was repeated a month later, but was not accepted. The person referred to was doubtless Mr. Daniel Tomlinson, a native of Derby, and a gradu- ate of Yale in 1781. lle was pastor at Oakham, Mass., from 1786 to 1842. More than three years afterward, Feb. 23, 1789, a call was given io David Hale, a native of Coventry, and a graduate of Yale in 1785. This call was declined, and six months later, August 31, 1789, John Ellsworth, a native of Ellington, and a classmate of Mr. Hale, was in- vited to be pastor in his native town. He also declined. He was a grandson of Mr. Mckinstry, the first minister. He died November 22, 1791, and his gravestone is in the Mckinstry burying ground.
In November, 1790, a call was given to Azel Backns, a native of Norwich, and a graduate of Yale in 1787. He did not accept, but the next year he became pastor at Bethlem (now Bethlehem), Conn., and after a pastorate of 22 years there he accepted the presidency of Hamil- ton College, Clinton, N. Y., where he died in 1816.
The fifth minister, JOSHUA LEONARD, was born in Raynham, Mass .. June 25, 1769, and graduated at Brown University in 1788 [receiving his second degree ai Yale in 1792]. Ile was ordained September 7, 1791, and dismissed in October, 1798. He died at Cazenovia, New York. December 18, 1843.
The sixth pastor was DIODATE BROCKWAY. He was a son of Rev. Thomas Brockway ( Yale, 1768), pastor of the church in Columbia, Conn., where he was born December 29, 1776. Ile was graduated at Yale in 1797, and ordained pastor at Ellington, September 18, 1799, his father preaching the sermon from a platform erected under the elms
824
HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
adjoining the church. His salary for several years was £110, and the use of about fifty acres of land laid out for the benefit of the ministry. In 1813 he tendered his resignation because the salary was inadequate to support his family. Instead of accepting his resignation, the society added 50 per cent. to his salary, and he relinquished the use of the par- sonage land. In February, 1821, he relinquished seventy dollars of his salary for the current year, and continued to do the same for the two following years. He performed the duties of his office till May, 1829, when ill-health obliged him to ask for a colleague. The pastoral rela- tion was continued unchanged till his death, January 27, 1849, at the age of 72, after a fifty-years pastorate. He was a member of the corpo- ration of Yale College from 1827 till the close of his life. During his whole life
"he enjoyed the public esteem to a degree, and with an unanimity that has seldom fallen to the lot of any clergyman. Perhaps very few persons whose lives were pro- tracted until old age, so remarkably escaped the ill-will of their fellow-men as Mr. Brockway. Even the most worthless delighted to speak of him with high esteem and veneration. Possessing the kindliest feelings of nature, and having in his own family an unusual amount of affliction, in the form of disease and death, he knew how to sym- pathize with those who were called to mourn, He possessed in a rare degree that union of qualities which made his presence equally agreeable at a funeral and at a wed- ding: he was therefore often invited out of his precinets to officiate on those occasions. Kindness to the poor, gentleness to the young, and equal affability to all, were marked features in his character. Possessing superior abilities as a pastor, he had become a father in the ministry, and the common title, 'Father Brockway,' truly expressed the regard in which he was held far beyond the limits of his own parish."1
On the 19th of August, 1830, a eall was given to Rev. Henry Rob- inson, a native of Guilford (Yale, 1811, Andover, 1816), but was not accepted.
The Rev. LAVIUS IIYDE was the seventh pastor. lle was born in Franklin, Conn., January 29, 1789, graduated at Williams College in 1813, and at Andover Seminary in 1816. He was installed in Novem- ber, 1830, dismissed February 4, 1834, and died at Vernon, April 3, 1865, aged 76. Ilis grave is in Ellington cemetery.
After his dismissal a call was given, in March, 1834, to Rev. James W. Ward (Dartmouth, 1826, Andover, 1830), which was not accepted. In August, 1834, Rev. John Boardman (Dartmouth, 1817, Andover, 1820), was invited to the pastorate, but he declined.
The eighth pastor, Rev. EZEKIEL MARSH, was born in South Dan- vers (now Peabody ), Mass., October 5, 1808, graduated at Bowdoin Col- lege in 1831, and at Yale Seminary in 1834. He was ordained April 29,
' A biography is contained in Hon. Thomas Day's Memoirs of the Class of 179 ;. See also Dwight's Tracelx. It is related of him that he fell from the tower of the church dedicated in 1806, a distance of 65 feet, and was not killed. Ilis son, llon. John Hall Brockway, was in U. S. Congress, 1839-43.
PASTORS OF ELLINGTON CONGREGATIONAL. CHURCH.
1835, dismissed April 29, 1844, and died of consumption at Enfield. August 30, 1841, at the age of 36. His grave is in Peabody, Mass.
His successor, the ninth pastor, was NATHANIEL H. EGGLESTON, a native of Hartford. He was born May 7, 1822, graduated at Yale in 1840, and at Yale Seminary in 1843, was ordained February 19, 1845. and dismissed March 4. 1850. He now resides in Washington, D. C.
Rev. GEORGE I. WOOD, the tenth pastor, was born in Stamford, May 20, 1814, graduated at Yale in 1833, and at Yale Seminary in 1838. He was installed June 26, 1850, and dismissed July 20, 1854. He now ro- sides in Washington, D. C.
The next pastor, the eleventh in the succession, was Rev. THOMAS K. FESSENDEN. He was born in Brattleborough, Vt., September 10, 1813, graduated at Williams College in 1833, and at Yale Seminary in 1837. He was installed January 30, 1855, and dismissed November 10. 1864. Ile has since resided in Farmington.
He was followed by Rev. HORACE B. WOODWORTH, a native of Chel- sea, Vt., where he was born March 1, 1830. The twelfth pastor gradu- ated at Dartmonth in 1854, and at the Theological Institute of Conneeti- eut - now Hartford Seminary - in 1861. He was installed February 8. 1865, and dismissed Angust 24, 1869. He is now living in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
From October 21, 1869, Rev. Geo. I. Wood, a former pastor, was acting pastor for eighteen months, till the spring of 1871. Rev. JOHN C. MOSES was installed the thirteenth pastor, September 13, 1871. He was a na- tive of Ticonderoga. New York, and was born February 25, 1824. He was graduated at the State Normal School in Albany, N. Y., in 1846, and at Auburn Seminary in 1852. His pastorate was terminated by his dismissal, October 22, 1872. He is now living in Clinton, Iowa.
Rev. SHEARJASHUB BOURNE was acting pastor from December 15, 1872, for two and a half years, till June, 1875. He was born in Bristol, R. I., December 28, 1822, graduated at Yale in 1849, and at Andover in 1853. His residence is now Bristol. R. I.
The next pastor, the fourteenth, was DAVID S. HOLBROOK. He was born in Chester, Mass., October 29, 1848, graduated at Yale in 1872. and at Yale Seminary in 1875. He was ordained May 4, 1876, and dis- missed on account of ill-health October 11. 1880. He died of consump- tion at New Haven. January 25, 1881, aged 32.
The fifteenth pastor, Rev. SYLVANUS C. KENDALL, was born in Sears- mont, Maine, November 23. 1824, graduated at Amherst in 1848, and at. Andover in 1852. He was installed April 20, 1881, and dismissed Sep- tember 14, 1886. He now lives in Bradford, Mass.
Rev. WILLIAM T. HUTCHINS became acting pastor December 19, 1886. Ile was born in Springfield, Mass., January 20, 1849, and graduated at VOL. I .- 104
826
HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
Yale Seminary in 1876. A call to settle as pastor was extended to him in September, 1887, and he was installed June 13, 1888.
Deacons of the Church in Ellington. As the church records previ- ous to 1799 have long been lost, no complete list of these officers can be made. The list given herewith is as nearly complete as practicable.
NAMES.
ELECTED.
MED.
Timothy Nash,
Unknown.
March 15, 1756.
Isaac Davis,
I'nknown.
AGE. 57 Unknown.
Job Drake, - Hubbard,
David Skinner,
Unknown.
Unknown.
Medina Fitch,
Nov. 14, 1792.
70
Jonathan Porter,
July 5, 1783.
63
John Hall,
May 26, 1796.
52
Gurdon Ellsworth,
June 26, 1803.
65
Rufus Collins,
..
Aug. 29, 1822. 66
John II. Goodrich,
May 4, 1809.
Removed elsewhere.
John Newell,
Oct. 17, 1812.
Feb. 11, 1836.
Benjamin Pinney,
Oct. 17, 1812.
June 9, 1860.
80
Charles Sexton,
Nov. 3, 1826.
Removed elsewhere.
Noah Pease,
Oct. 2, 1835.
Feb. 22, 1876.
8.1
Dan Russell,
Oct. 2, 1835.
Oct. 27, 1840.
47
Julius S. Hammond,
Oct. 4, 1856.
Jan. 23, 1878.
79
Edwin Talcott,
May 1, 1863.
Still in office.
Elisha Smith,
May 1, 1863.
Feb. 28, 1876.
51
Henry Beebe,
March 14, 1878.
Still in oflice.
VII. The Methodist Episcopal Church.
A church of this order was formed in the northeast part of the town as early as 1790. It has usually been united with one or two other churches, especially those in Tolland and West Stafford, the whole form- ing a kind of circuit under the charge of the same minister or ministers. The following list gives the names of the ministers who have had charge of this church: 1790, Nathaniel B. Mills : 1791, Lemmel Smith, Men- zies Raynor; 1792, Hope Hull, George Roberts, F. Aldridge : 1793, Jo- soph Lovell : 1794, Lemuel Smith, George Pickering: 1795, Christopher Spry, Nathaniel Sneathing; 1796, Evan Rogers; 1797 . . (?) 1798, Lawrence MeComb: 1799, Daniel Ostrander; 1800. Abner Wood : 1801, Justus Jocelyn, Henry Eames : 1802, Elijah Bacheler, Alexander Mc- Lean ; 1803, Augustus Jocelyn, Elijah Bachelor; 1804, John Gove ; 1805, Noble W. Thomas, Benjamin Hills : 1806, John Tinkham, The- ophilus Smith; 1807, Hollis Sampson, G. R. Morris : 1808, Benjamin F. Lambord for Lambert ]; 1809, Benjamin P. Hills, William Hinman ; 1810, Joel Steel, Samuel Cutler; 1811, Philip Munger, Robert Arnold ;
July 20, 1808.
57
Joseph Kingsbury,
. 4
April 26, 1791.
Ithamar Bingham,
4.
Removed from the town.
827
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ELLINGTON.
1812, Elias Marble, Thomas Tucker: 1813, Edward Hyde, Benjamin Sabin : 1814, Joel Winde, JJob Pratt ; 1815, William Marsh, O. Roberts ; 1816, Salmon Winchester, Nathan Payne; 1817, Benjamin Sabin, Salmon Winchester ; 1818, Leonard Bennett, Hezekiah Davis: 1819, L. Bennett, Francis Dane: 1820, Ebenezer Blake : 1821, Ebenezer Blake, Daniel Dorchester ; 1822, Joel W. MeKee, Allen Barnes : 1823, Joseph Ireson, John W. Case; 1824, Moses Fitield, J. Ireson, Seth Cogswell: 1825, Elisha Frink, B. F. Lambert, Leonard B. Griffin ; 1826, Erastus Otis, Daniel L. Fletcher: 1827, Erastus Otis, Rufus Spaulding ; 1828, Hermon Perry, George Stone ; 1829, Hezekiah S. Ramsdell, Paul Townsend, Horace Moulton ; 1830, John W. Case, Paul Townsend : 1831, II. S. Ramsdell, Jefferson Haskell ; 1832, Nehemiah Rogers, Charles Hayward : 1833, Moseley Dwight, Hiram Gregg, William Wit- eutt : 1834, Ezra Withey, Loren Pierce : 1835, Leonard B. Griffin, Proc- tor Marsh : 1836. L. B. Griffin, John Cadwell : 1837, Stephen Cushing, Robert D. Easterbrook ; 1838, James Shephard, Asa Niles : 1839, Asa Niles, Moses Stoddard, Loren C. Collins ; 1840, Lorenzo W. Blood, Lyman Leffingwell : 1841, L. W. Blood, Edmund A. Standish ; 1842, Warren Emerson, Jolm Standish ; 1843, Isaac Sherman ; 1844, Abraham Ilol- way; 1845-6, Charles Morse : 1847. J. Burleigh Hunt ; 1848-49, B. M. Walker: 1850, W. W. Ilmrd; 1851-52, Charles Dixon : 1853-4, Ziba Loveland ; 1855, E. Strobridge: 1856-57, William Philips; 1858, Fred- eric C. Newell ; 1859, Joseph Smith ; 1860-61, George W. Cortiss; 1862, Nathan F. Culver : 1863, George Burnham : 1864, D. L. Brown : 1865, - Boyington : 1866, William Dixon : 1867, Isaac Forbes; 1868-70, Leonard S. Goodell; 1871-74, William Dixon: 1875-76, Henry Arnold ; 1877-78, Leonard S. Goodell ; 1879, no regular preach- ing; 1880-84, O. E. Thayer: 1885, J. B. Ackley ; 1886-89, O. E. Thayer; 1890-91.
A church edifice was built about 1798, but was not completed till 1822. It was burned about 1830. The present edifice, on a site oppo- site to that of the previous one, was built in 1834.
The Advent Church.
This is an offshoot from the Methodist Church, and dates from the " Millerite" excitement in 1841-42. The congregation still have oc- casional services.
VIII. The Baptist Church.
A Baptist society was formed January 17, 1842, at the house of Thomas King, where Mr. Shippey now lives. A Baptist church was organized February 8, 1842, consisting of six members, which number was increased within two or three years to thirty-two. Services were
828
HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
held for two months in the schoolhouse of the center district, afterwards at the conference house belonging to members of the Congregational Society, now Mr. Mandell's residence. Rev. George Mixter was the pastor.
Meetings of the society were held at intervals for nearly three years, the last one Der. 25, 1844. A vote was passed Oct. 11, 1842. " That when the Society build a meeting-house they build within half a mile of Ellington green." The list of members of the society contains the names of forty-two persons, but several of these had little more than a nominal membership. The organization had neither the numbers nor the resources requisite for a vigorous and prosperous existence. The leading men soon saw that the project could not succeed, the minister removed from the town, and public services ceased. The church was not formally disbanded, but when the Baptist Church in Rockville was formed, in June, 1849, some of those who had been members of the Ellington church were among the original members of that new organiza- tion, and the record books of the Ellington church and society are now used for keeping the records of the church and society of Rockville.
Rev. George Mixter was born in Monson, Mass., Jan. 7, 1795. He had no distinctively theological education, but began to preach in Monson and Wilbraham about 1835. He was ordained and settled at Wales, Mass., in 1836, and removed from there early in 1842 to Ellington, where he remained about three years. He afterwards preached at vari- ons places in eastern Connecticut till 1862, when he gave up pastoral work on account of failing health, but continued to preach occasionally. He died at Somerville, Con., Jan. 8, 1879.
IX. Schools.
Mention is made of a school at "Great Marsh" in 1724, several years before the parish of Ellington was incorporated. The records of the parish or society previous to 1785 have long been lost, but there is no reason to doubt that during that half century it maintained one or more schools, as the law required.
The earliest votes of the society that have been preserved are dated Nov. 7, 1785. One of them is this : " Voted to apply to the gineral assembly to be held at hartford in may next to let the Parish of Elinton of as a town." This application was granted in May, 1786. On the 6th of December, 1785, Col. Joseph Abbott, Dea. Ithamar Bingham, Gurdon Ellsworth, Lieut. Matthew Hyde, Hezekiah Russell, Ichabod Wadsworth, John Shurtleff, and Ezekiel Mckinstry were appointed school committee. Messrs. Abbott and Mckinstry were designated " to take care of the school money belonging to this parish, and apply the
-
-
829
THE SCHOOLS OF ELLINGTON.
same to the use of the parish." The amount of this money depended, in part, upon the Grand List of the parish, which is stated in these samle records to have been for 1785, 66,617, 0x, 94. The rate of taxation for schools, as established by colonial law in 1702, was " forty shillings upon every thousand pounds."
At a town meeting held in December. 1788. a committee was ap- pointed " to revise the school districts." This implies that separate dis- triets had been formed before that time. This committee reported Dee. 14. 1789, and in accordance with their recommendation the town voted that there should be seven districts, and designated what families should be included in each. No exact territorial boundaries were established, not being then required. The distriets now numbered one to five corre- spond in general with those so designated a hundred years ago. The other two were in the part of the town lying north of Tolland.
In 1798 the oversight of schools was transferred from towns to school societies. A new distriet was formed in the center of the town in April. 1812, inelnding parts of Nos. 1. 2. 3. and 5. At the same time the most eastern district in " Equivalent " was divided into two districts. but they were re-united in 1820. In 1814 the new central district was designated by vote of the school society No. 6, and the three Equivalent districts as Nos. 7, 8, and 9, until the two last named were reunited in 1820. A new district was formed at the west side of the town March I. 1822, which has since been known as No. 9.
The town gave consent, by vote passed Jan. 7. 1867, that the south- cast part of the town should become part of the Rockville East district in the town of Vernon. October 4, 1869, three families in the north- west part of the town were set off to the 7th district of East Windsor.
Town Deposit Fund. At a town meeting held Jan. 23, 1837, the town appointed Asa Willey its agent to receive from the State Treasurer its portion of the " Surplus Revenue " distributed to the States by act of Congress, passed Jime 23, 1836. The money thus received is now known as the " Town Deposit Fund." The amount assigned to Elling- tou was 83,736.93. The town voted, Ang. 28, 1837, to appropriate the whole income of this fund to the use of common schools, to be divided equally among the school districts. But the next year, Dee. 3, 1838, the town voted that one-half of the interest aceruing from Oot. 1. 1837, to Oct. 1, 1838, should be used for ordinary town expenses, the other half for schools. The law of the State until 1855 permitted such use of the money.
Local School Fund. There is a fund belonging to the town amount- ing to 82,177. the income of which is yearly applied for public schools.
830
HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
The origin of this fund is not now known with certainty. A part of it is believed to have come from the sale of lands in the parish which were at first reserved for highways. A part may have come from the " Western Lands " (so called), that is, those now forming nine towns in the northwest corner of the State. The sale of those lands was ordered by the General Assembly in 1733, but no actual sales were made until five years later. The whole amount received by the Colony is believed to have been about £70,000. Another source of the local school funds was " Exeise moneys," granted by acts of the General Assembly passed in 1766 and 1774. The school fund belonging to the town was in ex- istence before the close of the eighteenth century.
Schools of a higher order. On the 10th of October, 1831, the school society voted, by two-thirds of those present, to institute a school of a higher order, the society to be at no expense for providing a building. Nothing ever came of this vote.
But private enterprise had already established a school which for many years was of great benefit to the community. In 1825, Mr. John Hall opened a school, primarily for the instruction of his own children, though it was not limited to them. It was taught in a small building then standing a short distance east of the spot now occupied by the house of Austin Tilden. A graduate of Yale was employed as teacher, and both boys and girls were received as pupils. This school was continued till 1829. The building is now the residence of Lemuel P. Henry.
This was succeeded by " the Ellington School," which was incorpo- rated by the General Assembly in 1829. Mr. Hall and several promi- nent gentlemen of New Haven, Hartford, and other places, were the trustees. A large and handsome building, 128 feet in length, was erected on the gentle rise of ground west of the village, where Joseph Bancroft's house now stands, and the school was opened in the autumn of 1829. Mr. Ilall was principal for ten years from that time, and his assistants were mostly graduates of Yale. Some of those teachers afterwards filled prominent positions. Of these may be named Hon. Alphonso Taft of Cincinnati; Rev. Dr. Samuel G. Brown, a graduate of Dartmonth, professor there, and president of Hamilton College, N. Y .; Rev. Dr. John L. Taylor, professor in Andover Theological Seminary : Rev. Chester S. Lyman, professor in Yale University; Rev. Dr. Edward Strong, pastor in New Haven and Boston ; Rev. Julius A. Reed, Home Missionary Superintendent in lowa ; Ariel Parish. principal of Westfield Academy and of the High School in Springfield, Mass., and Superin- tendent of Schools in New Haven ; Luther Wright, principal of Willis- ton Seminary, East Hampton, Mass .; and Rey. Stedman W. Hlanks, Sec- retary of Seamen's Friend Society, Boston.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.