USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Ridgefield > The history of Ridgefield, Conn. : from its first settlement to the present time > Part 12
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
The above house was known as the Independent School-House.
" At a meeting of the Proprietors of the Independent School House holden at the House of Widow Clemence Smith on April ye 218+ 1786 Silas Hull Moderator and Jacob Smith Jun Clerk protempore of said meeting, Voted
" That the proprietors of ye said Independant School House will take and Appropriate the now Town House, agreeably to the vote of the Town Respecting said Town and School House and do wholly and fully Invest the Town with all the Privileges respecting said School House, which are Mentioned in the Town Vote respecting ye same."
This independent school-house was located in Mr. Lounsbury's yard, directly in front of his present car- riage-house. It seems to have been a school of higher
162
HISTORY OF RIDGEFIELD.
grade than the common district schools, and for up- wards of thirty years was taught by Mr. Samuel Steb- bins.
In 1799 there were ten schools kept in the limits of the first society, in as many houses built for the pur- pose. The number of scholars at that time taken by the Visiting Committee was four hundred and thirty- three.
Since then other districts have been formed and other schools established.
The following are the numbers and names of the several school districts as at present existing in the town :
District No. I. Scotland.
2. Bennett's Farms.
.
3. Limestone.
66
4. Titicus.
5. West Mountain.
6. Center.
7. West Lane.
8. Whipstick.
9. Flat Rock.
IO. Branchville.
II. Florida.
12. Farmingville.
13. North Ridgebury.
66
14. South Ridgebury.
The number of scholars enumerated in the list of the town in the month of January, 1878, as of school age, is four hundred and thirty-four.
Within the last three or four years new school-
163
SCHOOLS OF THE TOWN.
houses have been built in the Branchville, Whipstick, North Ridgebury, and South Ridgebury districts.
The school-houses in the Scotland and Limestone districts have been almost entirely rebuilt, and the one in the Center district enlarged, newly seated, and much improved. Of the school-houses in the other districts, some are in good repair, others need to be rebuilt or otherwise improved.
The enumeration of the children of school age the last year (1877) was four hundred and twenty-seven ; the whole number who attended the schools was four hundred and six ; the registered number in the win- ter was three hundred and fifty-nine ; in the summer, three hundred and nine ; and the average attendance during the year was two hundred and twenty-nine.
The following persons comprise the present Board of Education for the town :
Dr. Daniel L. Adams, Dr. William S. Todd, Rev. David D. Bishop, Archibald Y. Paddock, Gould Rockwell, Daniel S. Sholes, Charles B. Northrup, Lewis E. Smith, and William H. Beers. Daniel L. Adams, President of the Board ; William S. Todd, Secretary ; William S. Todd, Rev. David D. Bishop, Archibald Y. Paddock, Acting School Visitors.
Select schools have been a prominent feature of the town almost from its first settlement until the past few years. In some cases these schools have been conducted by the pastors of the churches, and in others by professional teachers. They have generally been taught in buildings erected for the purpose, al- though in a few instances private houses have been occupied.
For many years several of the neighboring towns
164
HISTORY OF RIDGEFIELD.
looked to Ridgefield in most part for their educational privileges. Young men have been educated here who afterwards filled some of the most important positions of public trust or professional responsibility. At present there is a dearth of such schools, although sadly needed, Miss Hurlbutt's school for young chil- dren being the only exception to the rule.
A decided improvement in many features of the district schools, however, has tended to make up the deficiency. Through the deep interest and zeal of our excellent school committee, great improvement has been made not only in the school buildings, but in the libraries, the desks, and all the school-room furniture. And it is to be hoped that the day is not distant when an academy or a first-class graded school shall form one of the most attractive and useful fea- tures of our beautiful village.
2
PHOTO END CONY
RESIDENCE OF MRS. NATHAN SMITH.
CHAPTER XII.
RIDGEFIELD IN 1800.
IN the library of the Athenaeum, at Hartford, Ct., there is a manuscript work entitled, "A Statistical Account of Ridgefield, in the County of Fairfield, drawn up by Rev. Samuel Goodrich from Minutes fur- nished by a Number of his Parishioners, A.D. 1800."
Mr. Goodrich was pastor of the Congregational Church in Ridgefield for twenty-five years, and was the father of S. G. Goodrich, Esq. .
The following extracts are taken from the above history, through the kindness of the Library Associa- tion, and are now, many of them, published for the first :
"In consequence of the exchange made by this State with the State of New York, in 1733 for part of Stamford and Greenwich, of what is commonly called the Oblong, one mile and three-quarters in width, the whole length of the first patent was cut off from Ridgefield, the whole town therefore contains but two located societies, being the first or old society and Ridgebury. The town in its present form is nearly in the common figure of a coffin. The first society con- tains about 16,000 acres, and Ridgebury society in this town about 11,000. The whole township is about fifteen miles in length, the width at south end about three miles and three-quarters, at about one-third of the length northward it is about five miles wide, and at the north end only half a mile ; bounded south by Norwalk, east by Reading and part of Danbury,
I66
HISTORY OF RIDGEFIELD.
north by Danbury and New Fairfield, and west by the State of New York. There were in the year 1799 ten (10) schools kept in the first society by masters in as many school-houses built for that purpose, and the number of scholars taken by the visiting com- mittee were 433.
" There are three foreigners in the town who are paupers, viz., two men and one woman ; one of the men, named Yabecomb, was from Wales ; the other, named Jagger, is an old man about 95 years, an Eng- lishman, who served under the Duke of Cumberland at the battle of Culloden in 1745, and was in Flan- ders with the regiment previous to that battle.
" There is the appearance of sundry Indian graves at a place commonly called Nooricus Ridge. There is one mountain which retains its Indian name, As- proom (high or lofty), and there are several ponds, as Mammenusquah, Nisopack, Aokeets, and Umper- wauge. There are no Indians at present living in the town, except one who has learned the mason trade and has married a white woman. One died in the town about two years since at a great age, not cer- tainly known, but supposed ninety-six or more.
" The general face of the land is gently swelling ridges, extending from north to south, though there are some broken abrupt rocky precipices, and a con- siderable quantity of very stony land, which is yet and probably will be reserved to grow wood and tim- ber upon. The soil on the ridges are generally com- posed of loam and clay, and there is a considerable quantity in some parts of the town of a light lime- stone soil, but little of gravel. The low lands, or swamps, of which there are several, are generally a deep black soil made by the fallen timber and leaves, and the wash from the ridges, but they suffer much for the want of drainage. The soil was originally very fertile, and produced plenty of excellent wheat, which has generally failed since the appearance of the
167
RIDGEFIELD IN 1800.
Hessian fly, though now and then it does well on some favorite spots.
"It at present produces good rye and Indian corn, a considerable more than for the consumption of the inhabitants ; flax, large quantities of oats, buckwheat, beans, and peas. Onions grow as well in some open gardens as in any part of the State. The land is very good for grass.
" The middle of the township lies about fourteen miles from the landing at Norwalk, and is equally dis- tant on the highest land between the rivers Hudson and Ausatonuck, and in particular the hill or ridge lying west of and near the town street, is, by way of eminence called the High Ridge (Indian name Can- doto), from which, in clear weather, the mountains west of the Hudson, and the West Rock, near New Haven, may be clearly seen, and the Sound for fifty or sixty miles. The waters rise at the foot of this hill and run in different directions, discharging into the Sound at Fairfield, Norwalk, and Stamford, and into the river Hudson by the river Titicus, and through the river Croton. The waters also which rise in this town discharge into the Ousetonuck at the great falls in New Milford. There are, therefore, no streams of any considerable magnitude and consequence before they leave the limits of the town, and thus all are fre- quently during the summer months too small to carry mills. There are, however, some ponds in the town that have by improvement been made sufficient to answer the necessities of the inhabitants and more. The town being a hilly country furnishes a number of excellent small springs of water, which is light or heavy according to the soil from which they flow. Some of the springs have in the course of ten or fifteen years changed the quality of the water, and some few wells, from what cause is not certainly known ; it is, however, in one well attributed to its being not long used. The most remarkable spring is in the southerly
I68
HISTORY OF RIDGEFIELD.
part of the town, and is commonly called Silver Spring; the water is very cold and heavy. It dis- charges about one-fourth water sufficient to carry a grist-mill, and is not materially affected by the freshet or drought. The wells on the height of the ridges are commonly from thirty to forty feet, those in the valleys from twelve to thirty ; but in time of severe drought many wells fail of water. There have been but two in- stances of aqueducts in the town, and those only to supply a single family each, which experiments have been made in the course of this summer, and are likely to answer their design. The expense by the rod is about 4s. There are a great many small streams in all parts of the town, but most of them in a dry sea- son fail, except near the springs which produce them. " There are in most of the mountains, amongst the rocks and stones, appearances of sulphur and iron. There has not yet any bed been opened that prom- ises to pay the expense of working. There has been several attempts to dig after the precious metals, and a considerable quantity of the ore has been carried away ; but to collect any quantity of the metal has proved impracticable. There are several beds of lime- stone of good qualities, and some quarries of a gray- ish and sky-blue stone which is serviceable in build- ing, but no freestone. "
' The original timber consisted of the several sorts of walnuts and oaks. Butternuts are plenty, with maple beech, ash, dogwood, elm, sassafras, and a number of shrubs, as whortleberries, bayberries, etc., stately spruce trees. In the first settlement of the town the inhabitants annually burnt over the high rough land for the benefit of the wild feed that grew on them, which was a great injury to the old trees, and entirely prevented the young from growing ; but since that practice has ceased, our rough lands have a most beautiful thriving young growth coming on, which promises plenty of timber and fuel. There is a considerable number of the sugar maple trees grow-
169
RIDGEFIELD IN 1800.
ing, but no more sugar made than is consumed by the makers. The common method of perforating the tree is either with a twist auger or a narrow chisel. Our woods yield lumber for our maple tubs, etc., and some small quantity for exportation, as heading, staves, and hoops. It is probable with prudent management this town will produce sufficient wood for fuel for the in- habitants for a century to come. The price of wood for fuel has not yet been more in the street than one dollar per load, containing half a cord. There have been several forges set up in the town, and near it, within a few years past ; but it is probable that they will soon cease on account of the extraordinary con- sumption of wood, having in a short time more than doubled the price of wood land in the extremities of the town. There are five grist-mills in the town, two fulling mills, and several saw-mills carried by water, which answer for the inhabitants, but carry on no business on an extensive scale.
" The price of land has gradually increased since the first improvement, but is not so high as in the neighboring towns, for the reasons that there are no gatherings of the people for or on account of the pub- lic business in the town, and our rivers are so small, being at the head of them, that no water-works can be carried on to profit on an extensive plan. There are but few mechanics and manufacturers, traders, or men in the learned professions, to the number of peo- ple who follow agriculture, and most of the inhabit- ants raise provisions for their own consumption and some for exportation, for which reason the price of labor or provisions is not generally so high as it is in more populous places.
" The people generally manufacture their own linen and woollen cloths in their families, using all their wool and most of their flax.
" It is supposed that the quantity of flax-seed annu- ally sent from this town is from 500 to 1000 bushels, according as the season is more or less productive.
I 70
HISTORY OF RIDGEFIELD.
The old people love turnips yet better than potatoes, and there are considerable quantities used every year- from 2000 to 4000 bushels a year ; they make good feed for sheep and cows that give milk. Potatoes are very much used, and increased attempts are making to raise them for market ; but the distance from mar- ket is so great that it is not expected the practice will be general.
"Our teams used for transportation and the sev- eral branches of industry and husbandry have been generally composed of oxen and horses together, and our vehicles for carriage have been carts and sleds ; but within a few years past wagons drawn by horses have greatly multiplied, and the cart, harrow, and plough are more frequently drawn by oxen alone. The increase of cattle is doubtless an advantage to so rough a country as ours, and the increase of horses, except for sale and exportation, a disadvantage to us, if not to every country.
" Pleasure sleighs and those for lumber have greatly multiplied since the Revolution. Our grain is uni- versally thrashed with flails, and cleaned with a fan and riddled.
" The town being originally much covered with chestnut timber, that was for about fifty years chiefly used for fencing ; since that time the post fences have gradually been replaced with stone, and at present there is but very little timber cut for that purpose, except for posts and bars, and there is probably mova- ble stone enough for the purpose of fencing.
" This town, by the mode of laying it out at first, was cut into small pieces or tracts of land, and the people being generally husbandmen, scarce any man has more than he and his family want to improve, and of course we have no tenanted lands. There are some people who crop it, as is termed with us, that is, plough and sow for a certain share ; the common custom is to the labor two-thirds and to the land one.
" There has been for the last forty years a constant
I71
RIDGEFIELD IN 1800.
emigration of the people born in the town to the different parts of the United States.
" In our Revolution many of the young people left the town, and some of them now reside in the British dominion ; some have returned and several are dead. The people of this place have hitherto been so fa- vored with the grace of God that there has never been one convicted of any crime punishable by laws of the land with death.
" There have been two instances of suicide, natives, in the prime of life, one male and the other female ; both were married and had families.
" Until about the year 1760 there was a considera- ble number of good sheep in the town, and they were kept by a shepherd in the summer months, and regu- larly twice in the week let to the highest bidder to lay on his plough land during the night season, which method of manuring caused the worn land to produce excellent crops of wheat of the best quality, and great quantities of the land belonging to the proprietors was kept for the sheep to feed upon ; but about that time (1760) the proprietors agreed to divide their in- terests in said several lands, and they were soon fenced up, since which time the sheep have gradu- ally decreased, and would have become almost extinct but for the encouragement and protection of the State legislature.
There are probably about half as many sheep in the town as there are people. It would be but a ven- ture to guess the number of swine ; there may be not far from 1400 or 1500, and there are from 150 to 200 barrels of pork annually carried out of the town, and about as much beef. There may be from 250 to 300 firkins of butter exported and half the weight of cheese (9000), and about one hundred (100) head of fat cattle driven to market on their legs to New York:
" The making of butter has much increased within twenty years. As it can now be carried fresh to New
I72
HISTORY OF RIDGEFIELD.
York market, the price is more than three times than it then was.
"There is a good tan-work in this town, in which about fifty vats are occupied. It has, however, been the custom for almost all the farmers to tan their own leather, and do many other parts of mechanical busi- ness. There is also a hatting manufactory, in which about five or six workmen are employed to good advan- tage ; it furnishes the inhabitants with hats and sends abroad work to a handsome amount. There are like- wise two boot and shoe factories, which will probably send abroad 5000 pairs of boots and shoes ; the mate- rials they work are chiefly brought from New York or abroad. Cabinet-work is done in town for the inhabi- tants and some of the neighboring towns. It has al- ready been observed that the inhabitants manufac- ture all the wool they raise, and a considerable quan- tity is brought from abroad.
" A large quantity of ducking (not for sale, but for the southern market), perhaps 3000 yards at Is. per yard, is annually made and sold. The great quanti- ties of cotton cloths, as muslin, etc., imported and sold at a low price, has a tendency to discourage mak- ing American cloth, though many make linen and exchange with the shopkeepers for cotton goods.
" There are no breweries in this town, and the gen- eral custom, which used formerly be practised, of mak- ing small beer for family use, is almost entirely neg- lected, except for sake of the lees to make bread.
"There were formerly deer, bears, wolves, pan- thers, and wild-cats in our woods, and beaver in our ponds, but they are now extinct. We have red and grey foxes, some few racoons, wood-chucks, grey and striped squirrels. There were at the first set- tlement great numbers of rattlesnakes, and snakes equally poisonous, but they are almost destroyed. One method for their destruction was the turning of swine among them, which devoured them. About the year 1780, and for several succeeding years, the
I73
RIDGEFIELD IN 1800.
canker-worm destroyed our apples and apple-trees in many of our orchards to a very alarming degree ; but about the year 1794, in the spring season, soon after the leaves and worms 'made their appearance, there came into the orchards several flocks of uncommon birds, a little larger than a blue-bird, of a brown color, and picked the worms from the trees, as was also the case with a number of flocks of pigeons, which greatly checked them, and the frost which happens sometimes the latter end of May entirely destroyed them, so we have not one canker-worm since that has been heard of.
" Respecting the bird, it has never been seen with us since, except it be the one that appears in the win- ter, which, if it is the same, is considerably changed in its colour.
" There were a few barberry bushes in town that were for a long time kept for medical purposes ; the great blast of wheat about the year 1775 induced people totally to destroy them. " It is an undoubted fact that a bunch of those bushes, not more than an armful, blasted several fields of wheat, so as totally to destroy some and much injure others, at half a mile's distance. As to the cause of their blasting, it is conjectured that it is their sour- ness, as it is observed that wheat delights in light sweet soils, which naturally produces the white and red clover. It has also been observed that wheat fields lying near swamps producing cranberries have been blasted by them ; but it is necessary, in order to produce this destructive effect, that the weather be moist and the wind blow in a direction from the bushes or swamp to the fields of grain, when the noxious effluvia which the bushes emit fills the air, and being of such a nature that as soon as it comes in contact with the straw it poisons it, and destroys it so as to afford no nourishment to the kernel.
" There are two places or houses built for public worship in the first society, and two in Ridgebury,
I74
HISTORY OF RIDGEFIELD.
one of which, the Episcopal, has gone to decay. One of the houses in the old society is used by the Congre- gationalists and the other by the Episcopalians. Mr. Thomas Hawley, from Northampton, was settled in the first society soon after the town was settled in the year 1714, and was their first pastor, and continued till the year 1739, when he deceased in the prime of life. He was an able divine, a man of great frankness and sociability, an excellent scholar, and was very use- ful to the town, not only as a minister but in a civil capacity, serving them as their town-clerk, and do- ing almost all their writing business until his death.
As an encouragement for his settlement in the ministry, in the then infant state of the town, he received one twenty-ninth part of the land to himself and his heirs. Some of his descendants are now living in the town. His salary was small at first, but increased gradually as the people became more able ; but it may be remarked as a capital error in the original pro- prietors of this town, as in many others, in giving away the right of soil. It is probable that had what was given to Mr. Hawley been appropriated to the ministry and for religious purposes, that the interest at this day would have defrayed all the expenses of the society. Some may perhaps think it best, and that it endears a people and their minister supporting him by tax. Mr. Jonathan Ingersoll succeeded Mr. Haw- ley in the ministry. He was from Milford. He was ordained in the year 1740, and fulfilled for many years his duty with ability, ingrafting himself in the affec- tions of the people, and was universally beloved and esteemed. Some years before his decease a shock of the palsy weakened his body and mind, but he con- tinued to do his duty in office until near the time of his death, which was on 2ยช October, 1778, after which time there was a succession of temporary preachers until 6th of July, 1786, when Mr. Samuel Goodrich, of Durham, was ordained, and is the present pastor. It is worthy of remark that the people in this town have
t
175
RIDGEFIELD IN 1800.
always been attached to their ministers, and great har- mony and peace has subsisted between them.
" The Episcopalians built their first house of pub- lic worship in the year 1740; they never had a clergyman to themselves steadily, but have succes- sively employed a number ; first, Mr. Caner, then Mr. Beach, Mr. Fowle, Mr. Townsend, Mr. De Lan- cey, Dr. Perry, and lastly Mr. Butler, who is esteemed a worthy man and gives good satisfaction to his peo- ple.
Ridgebury society was set off in the year 1763, and Mr. Samuel Camp was ordained to the pastorate care of the Congregational church in the year, who still continues their minister. He is a man of a feeble bod- ily constitution, a critical scholar, a sound and ortho- dox divine, retentive memory, and great logical abili- ties. There has been in years past a number of peo- ple who call themselves Baptists, who showed much zeal in religion and met in private houses for worship. At the present they are much on the decline. A few have joined the Methodists, whose preachers, though very zealous, have made but little impression on the minds of the people in this town. Almost all the people attend public worship with the Congregation- alists or Episcopalians, and there is and has been for a long time past the utmost harmony and friendship prevailing between the several denominations of Christians here, who frequently worship together and evince the efficacy of that spirit whose leading char- acter is charity. A spirit of litigation has also greatly abated, and it is worthy of remark that at a late ses- sion of the County Court for this county there was not one man from the town during the whole term except one of the judges, and we never had any man living in the town who was a lawyer by profession.
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.