USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Windsor > The history of ancient Windsor, Connecticut > Part 25
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May, 1735. A memorial, signed by twenty-three persons, desired the erection of their precinct into a distinct parish, the western line of which should be four miles from the Great
1 Names of the Signers of the Petition of 1734. Those marked [*] had no male descendants in the town bearing their name in 1820.
Samuel Pinney,
Joseph Pinney,
*John Burroughs,
Benjamin Pinney,
*Jonathan Grant,
*Ephraim Chapin, *Isaac Davis,
? Simon Chapman, Jr.,
*Nathaniel Grant, Ephraim Person,
*Daniel Pearson,
*David Chapin,
** Nathaniel Taylor,
*Ephraim Chapin, Jr.,
William Thompson,
*Nathaniel Davis,
Samuel Thompson,
*Joshua Booth,
*Nathaniel Grant, Jr.,
*Roger Griswold,
*Benjamin Grant,
*Daniel Eaton,
*Daniel Ellsworth,
*John Graves,
*Daniel Eaton, Jr.,
*Joseph Graves,
Simon Pearson,
*John Burroughs,
Samuel Russell,
*Samuel Gibbs,
*Isaac Davis, Jr.,
*Samuel Gibbs, Jr.,
*Josiah Halock,
*Giles Gibbs.
Samuel Pinney, Jr.,
Nearly all the signers of this petition resided near the marsh-mostly west or north-west, two or three a mile and a half N. E. of the present meeting- house. Settlements on the mountain probably had not commenced.
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PARISH OF ELLINGTON.
River; and that they may " have liberty to ordain and settle an orthodox minister among us-that so we may have the or- dinances of Christ in the gospel dispensed to us in our own ter- ritories." They reproached their brethren of East Windsor for taxing them in two years of the four in which they had sup- ported a minister of their own; and requested that indemnity might be made in freeing then from country rates the two en- suing years. The paper was endorsed, "The petition of the Great Marsh people."1 The assembly appointed Ozias Pitkin, Esq., Capt. Thomas Wells, and Mr. Jonathan Hills, a committee "to hear, consider, and if they judged best to divide, then fix a line," and report to the assembly at its session in October.
October, 1735. The above named gentlemen made report, that considering all the circumstances, and especially that the inhabitants were ten or twelve miles from the place of worship in East Windsor, they " do judge it best that they be a distinct society there, and that they be endowed with parish powers and privileges, and have accordingly set them a line," running, how- ever, five and a half miles east of the river. The bounds and lines of the parish - subsequently those of the town - were fully defined. The assembly therefore constituted the precinct a society or parish, and ordained, " that the Society shall be known by the name of Ellington Parish." A petition was pre- sented to the assembly, at the same session, by a committee, viz. Isaac Davis, Daniel Ellsworth and Jolin Burroughs - " in hopes the Honorable Assembly will confirm what the Committee has done for us, we humbly ask liberty that we may ordain and settle a good orthodox minister among us." They were granted
1 Names of the Petitioners of 1735. Names marked [*] were extinct in 1820.
Samuel Piney, ** Isaac Davis, *John Burroughs, Samuel Pinney, Jr., Wm. Thompson, Samnel Thompson, *Nathaniel Taylor,
*Nath'l Drake, Jr.,
*Josiah Drake,
*Ephraim Chapin,
*Daniel Ellsworth,
Ephraim Parsons,
*John Burroughs, Jr.,
*Sam'l Gibbs, Jr ,
Simon Chapman, Jr., *James McCarter,
Simon Person,
*Benj. Grant,
Daniel Pearson,
*Nath'l Davis,
*Eph'm Chapin, Jr.,
*Samuel Gibbs.
*Nath'l Grant,
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
the privilege to " embody into church estate, they having first obtained the approbation of the neighboring churches."
May, 1737. The Rev. Mr. Mckinstry presented a petition stating that for "sundry years " he had been engaged in the work of the ministry in Ellington, four years of which his salary was but forty pounds annually and his fire-wood; since which, besides fire-wood his salary had been fifty pounds, which he represented as 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 should be taxed, the six years ensuing, and the proceeds added " to his present small salary," but the petition was negatived in both houses.
May, 1738. On the 20th of the previous December, the par- ish having voted to build a meeting-house forty-five feet long, thirty-five wide with twenty foot posts, more than two-thirds of the parish being in the affirmative, and being well agreed as to its site, they petitioned the assembly to confirm their choice, without putting them to the expense of a committee to select one - also on account of the increased value of lands by build- ing a meeting-house, they requested leave to tax the lands owned by non-residents, but the petition was negatived in both houses.
May, 1739. Mr. Isaac Hubbard waited upon the assembly with a petition from Isaac Davis and Daniel Ellsworth, com- mittee, stating that timber for the meeting-house had been pre- pared, and requesting the appointment of a committee to fix upon a site before the close of the session, that it could be ac- cepted by the assembly and the work proceeded with. They also requested the appointment of the same gentlemen who fixed the limits of the parish. The assembly appointed Capt. Thomas Wells, Captain Joseph Pitkin and Captain Jonathan Hills, who forthwith attended to their duty, and selected the place chosen by the society, whereupon the assembly ordered " that the place so affixed shall be the place wherein said inhabitants shall build their meeting-house for divine worship, and the said inhabitants are ordered to proceed to build the same in said place accordingly."
This first meeting-house stood about four rods east of the
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PARISH OF ELLINGTON.
three elms standing between the Windsor and Enfield roads, and fronted the former. It is said, on excellent authority, that at its raising, all the men belonging to Ellington sat down on the east sill of the frame. It continued in use until the erection of the present church edifice in 1806.
The successor of the Rev. Mr. Kinstry was Mr. Nathaniel Huntington, a native of Windham, Ct., and graduate of Yale College, 1744, who died April 28, 1756, aged thirty-one years- a little more than six years after the time of his settlement, and was long remembered with unusual esteem and regret.
Mr. Huntington was succeeded by Mr. Seth Norton of Far- mington, a graduate of Yale College, in 1751, from which, as well as from Harvard University, he afterwards received the degree of Master of Arts. He died on the 19th of January, 1762, aged 30.
In 1764 the parish settled Mr. John Bliss, a native of Long Meadow, Mass., and a graduate of Yale College in 1761, whose connection with the society ceased in 1780. He died in the town, February 13, 1790, aged 53.
The troubles of the Revolutionary war, and of succeeding years, prevented the settlement of another minister until after Ellington finally became a town, in 1786.
Rev. JOSHUA LEONARD, a native of Raynham, Mass., was or- dained pastor of this church Sept. 7th, 1791, and dismissed in October, 1798. He graduated at Brown University, in 1788, and received his second degree at Yale College, in 1792.
Rev. DIODATE BROCKWAY was the next pastor. He was a native of Columbia, in this state, and graduated at Yale College, in 1797. He was ordained to the pastoral office in this church, September 18th, 1799, the duties of which he continued to per- form until May, 1829, when, on account of ill health, he found it necessary to receive the assistance of a colleague. He was for many years a member of the corporation of Yale College. During the latter part of his life he did little more than to re- tain a nominal connection with the church as its pastor, and left the duties of the pastoral office almost entirely to his col- leagues. He died on the 27th of January, 1849, having been the minister of this church fifty years. During his whole life
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
" he enjoyed the public esteem to a degree, and with an unan- imity that has seldom fallen to the lot of any clergyman. Per- haps very few persons whose lives were protracted 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 sympathize 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 wedding: he was therefore often invited out of his precincts 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
Rev. LAVIUS HYDE was installed colleague pastor with the Rev. Mr. Brockway, in November, 1830. He was originally from Franklin, Conn., and graduated at Williams College, in 1813. He was dismissed from this church in February, 1834, and is at present settled as pastor of the Congregational Church in Bolton, Conn.
Rev. EZEKIEL MARSH was ordained as colleague with the Rev. Mr. Brockway on the 29th of April, 1835. He was a native of Danvers, Mass., and graduated at Bowdoin College, in 1831. He was released from his pastoral charge on account of ill health, on the ninth anniversary of his settlement, and died in the month of Angust, 1844.
Rev. NATHANIEL H. EGGLESTON was ordained as colleague pas- tor with the Rev. Mr. Brockway, on the 19th day of February, 1845. He is a native of Hartford, in this state, and graduated at Yale College in the year 1840. He was released from his
1 Rev. Diodate Brockway. A biography of him is contained in Hon. Thomas Day's Memoirs of the Class of 1797. See also Dwight's Travels.
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PARISH OF ELLINGTON.
pastoral charge at his own request on the 4th day of March, 1850.
The church records, previous to 1799, are lost. A list of deacons and earlier known members will be found in the Appendix.
There was a large immigration of Scotch-Irish (rigid Presby- terians) into Ellington abont the middle of the last century. They formed a valuable element in the formation of the society of the town, and their descendants, to this day, are among the most influential and respectable of its present population.
During the latter parochial years of Ellington there were two or three families of Episcopalians, two of Sandemanians, and possibly one or two of Methodists upon the mountain, though Methodism might not then have been introduced.
1762, May. "The memorial of the inhabitants of the Parish or Society of Ellington, in the town of Windsor," by Abner Burroughs and Stone Mills, agents, petitioned for incorporation as a town. They stated their distance was so remote from the main body of their fellow-townsmen, and from the place of holding public meetings, that they had little advantage of vote or voice in town affairs. So far as concerned the memorialists, they acknowledged confidence in the " prudent care and man- agement " of town affairs ; but claimed that the town's people generally being strangers to the circumstances of that parish, suitable regulations could not be adopted, nor officers appointed for it, so much for their interests as the inhabitants could for themselves; whereby they in a great measure lost their town privileges. That, moreover, the area of the town was suffi- ciently extensive, that they were not inconsiderable in numbers or in estate ; and there was no society in the colony which so much needed relief as Ellington-the town meeting's being generally held [in Windsor] on the west side of the River.
This petition was negatived in the lower house.
In May, 1764, a memorial, signed by the same agents, set forth that the township of Windsor was of very large extent on each side of the Connecticut River, and, without Ellington, was equal in size to some four towns in the colony. That
35
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ANCIENT HISTORY OF WINDSOR.
Ellington was near seven miles square, and their list was more than £7,000. They were situated in the north-east extremity of the township, the middle of the parish being more than ten miles distant from the river, and fourteen from the place of holding town meetings; the more important of which being held in December, could not be attended by the Ellington peo- ple. The transaction of business with the town officers required an absence from home of two days, and the expense of man and horse one night. They also wished for the means of reviv- ing "a good discipline," and reducing to good order some who, living so remote, "are now a law unto themselves." This, like the former petition, was negatived in the lower house.
Three years later, May, 1767, Matthew Hyde, as agent, pre- sented a memorial recapitulating the above mentioned incon- veniences, and petitioning for distinct town privileges. The assembly postponed it until October, then until May, 1768, when that part of Windsor east of the Connecticut River, was made the town of East Windsor. With this improvement of their circumstances, the Ellington people seem to have been content until the obvious claims of the parish to a distinct organization, resulted in their incorporation in 1786, as the town of Ellington
The relations of the town with East Windsor, were always amicable; the neighborly connection between them is not yet extinct. The Hon. Erastus Wolcott (" Old General Wolcott "), who decided upon many of the petty lawsuits that are so fre- quent among an ignorant and secluded people, was always remembered and admired by his Ellington cotemporaries, as the greatest man in the world, next to General Washington, the Governor, and possibly " Old Put."
The first merchant in Ellington was a McLean, who had a store on the old road formerly leading to Job's Hill. It stood about west of Daniel Warner's present residence. McLean, however, failed in business. His principal creditor was the celebrated John Hancock, of Boston, with whom he had exten- sive dealings, and to whom he had mortgaged his farm. The farm thus came into Mr. Hancock's hands, and has been known to this day as the Hancock farm.
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PARISH OF ELLINGTON.
John Hall, a native of Lyme, Conn., was for many years a successful merchant in the south-east part of the town. His house and store stood a little south of a house built by Lyman Ransom, and now owned by Nathan Doane. In those days a merchant did not seek a village, or central portion of a town, for business, but relied on his own energy to command trade, rather than upon any favorable location. To this store farmers brought their beef, pork and grain. Mr. Hall had many persons employed in packing meat, transporting it to market, and carry- ing on some mechanic arts. Wrought nails were made here At one time Nathan Hall, a brother of the merchant, and father of Rev. Gurdon Hall, one of the first missionaries from this country to heathen lands, had the care of the blacksmithing department. He afterwards removed to Tolland, Mass. The varied business carried on by Mr. Hall, was very exhausting to the physical energies of one who had the oversight of so much, and who carried it on under all the difficulties of transportation and exchange of those days. Heavy loads were drawn by ox teams, and exchange was in "hard currency." Goods were purchased at Boston instead of New York, in those days, by merchants in this region. Mr. Hall went to Boston on horse- back, and carried his " hard money " in saddle-bags thrown upon the horse. The weight of the specie was often greater than the weight of Mr. Hall, who was of medium size.
He was the father of JOHN HALL, Esq., whose name must ever be prominently connected with the interests and history of Ellington. He was born Feb. 26, 1783. His boyhood was spent at home, amid such scenes as the traffic carried on by his father, and such as the cultivation of a large farm, produced. This period of his life was marked by activity and ingenuity in his father's affairs, although he was not a robust lad. The father died when the son was thirteen years of age. He was then sent abroad to school, and spent some time in preparation for college, with Rev. Mr. Prudden, at Enfield. He entered college at the age of fifteen, and graduated in 1802. He was a superior scholar. At junior exhibition he received, for his appointment, the Latin oration. The year he graduated appointments were not given out, as they had previously been given, nor as they have
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
since been made. Parts were assigned, according as it was thought that each appointee would excel, and not according to his merit roll as a scholar. He received at graduating a dispute. Two years after this he was appointed a tutor in Yale College, and remained in this position between two and three years.
As Mr. Hall's health was delicate he did not take a profession. He purchased a farm in his native town, and superintended it from 1808 to 1829. During this period he spent much of his time in literary pursuits, and to the close of his life he cherished a great relish for books. He was not only an extensive reader, but he was eminently an original thinker. In college, and through life, he was fond of discussion; and he analyzed truth more boldly than men of his times were accustomed to do. He often employed himself in analyzing the sounds of the letters in the English language. He left manuscripts on the structure of our language, and arranged a Grammar, in which he fol- lowed no author. He devoted years to mental philosophy, and endeavored to make such definitions as would be undisputed, and as would not need defining. This subject he had completed in his own mind, but he died at the time he was ready to com- mit his views in full to paper.
His farm showed that taste, and adaptation of means to farm- ing, were not wanting. In his day the products from a farm, in Connecticut, did not compensate the man who carried it on through hired laborers. He had too much love of the beautiful, in all his efforts, to render his labors profitable in a pecuniary point of view. The beautiful and large elms, now adorning the village of Ellington, he either planted, or induced others to plant.
Mr. Hall originated the Ellington School, and was its prin- cipal for ten years from the autumn of 1829. The instruction was of the most thorough kind, and a direct and positive influ- ence was exerted by him on his pupils. Mr. Hall's health began to fail about the time he relinquished the school. This fact, added to the consideration that the school gare no pecuniary advantage, led him to resign his position. The school had en- joyed a high reputation, for fitting young men for college or for active business in life.
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PARISH OF ELLINGTON.
Mr. Hall was acknowledged as a man of strict integrity and of irreproachable purpose. His varied talent and reading ren- dered him agreeable to gentlemen in any one of the professions, and his acquaintance was much valued by those who were par- ticularly intimate with him. As he lived rejoicing to commit his ways to God, so he died rejoicing to commit himself to Him in whom he confided. His life closed and death opened to him the reality of his trust, Oct. 2, 1847, at the age of 64.
The first blacksmith shop in Ellington was about eighty rods a little northeast of the house now occupied by Mr. Horace Warner. It was on an ancient highway, now discontinued. Abner Burroughs, of famous counterfeiting renown, once used this shop.
The tavern, now occupied by Dr. Joseph Partridge, was built in 1790. Previous to this time, west of the meeting-house there were only the Davis house, about eighty rods west of the Elling- ton school; the house where Mr. Culver's house now stands; the parson's house, where Mr. Griswold's house now stands, the well is there now; and Deacon Fitch's house, a few feet east of Timo. Pitkin's house. John Cross had a small house near the spot on which the district school house stands.
Capt. Sessions then traded near where Mr. Julius S. Ham- mond lives, and carried on the potash business. Dr. James Steele traded where his son O. W. Steele now lives.
Legends of Snipsic Pond, Epitaphs, etc.
There was an Indian family living at the head of Snipsic sic Pond. The father of the family, Isaac Rogers, was going to mill in a boat, and being intoxicated, fell overboard. When he rose, he clung to the side of the boat, but was unable to get in. His daughter was in the boat, but could not help him into it. She however put a shingle under his chin, to keep his head out of the water, and then rowed the boat, with her father hanging to the side, to the shore. When he was taken away he was found to be dead. He had so tight a grasp of the boat that a piece of it was split off, and remained in his hand when he was carried to his house. This event happened in 1790. He
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
was the husband of Poor Sarah, whom we have before men- tioned in our chapter on Indian history.
Not long after this a colored boy, or young man, living with a Mr. Post, nearly a mile northeast of the pond, went in bathing there, on the sabbath, and was drowned.
On the road to Vernon, on the west side of the marsh, and a little north of Mr. Lawrence's house, is a stone with this inscription (verbatim et literatim):
" Killed in this place. SAMUEL FIELD KNIGHT, by a cart wheel roling over his head in the 10th year of his age, Nov. 8, 1812.
But O the shaft of death
was flung and cut the
tender flower down. Death's sharpened arrows gave the wound And now he moulders in the ground."
The boy had been sent to Capt. Abbott's, with a yoke of oxen and cart, for a barrel of cider.
Ellington seems to be somewhat noted for roadside epitaphs. On the farm of Mr. Frank Goodell, a large slab reveals to the passing traveler, a grim death's head, surmounting the following :
This is ye place where MR. JOHN ABORNS Was Killed by a Flash of Lightning From Heaven
August 5th 1768. Aged 46 Years this
Day all You yt Pass
this way Prepare For
Death while in Helth
For you must die this was Erected by
Mr. Samuel Aborns of Toland his brother."
Early Epitaphs in the Old Burial Ground in Ellington.
March 13, 1733-34, it was voted to draw 40s. from the town treasury, to purchase a burial place, " at the place called Great Marsh, in Windsor." (Town Acts).
The earliest inscription is the following :
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PARISH OF ELLINGTON.
Here Lies ye Body of MRS SARAH MOULTON ye wife of Mr Samuel Moulton who Died Oct ye 4, 1747, aged 36 years.
In Memory of ye Revd Mr NATHANIEL HUNTINGTON A. M., a 2d Pastor of the Church in Windsor six Years and 6 months, who Died April ye 28, 1756, in ye 32d Year of his Age.
In Memory of ye Revd SETH NORTON ye 3d pastor of ye Church of Christ in Ellington in Windsor who departed This Life Jan- uary ye 19, 1762, in ye 31st Year of his Age.
Behold as You Pass by as You are now So Once was I. as I am Now So You Must be
Prepare for Death and Follow me
In Memory of CHARLES ELLSWORTH Esq who Departed this Life Jan 4, 1776, in ye 47th year of his age
While yet alive his virtues shined The products of a Pious mind We trust his soul is now above Where all is peace, where all is love.
According to the unanimous statements of old people, Mr. Ellsworth fully deserved the eulogy implied in the first of the above lines. He was the earliest justice of the peace in the parish, having received the first appointment in 1769.
In Memory of Capt DANIEL ELLSWORTH who Died January ye 27th A D 1782 in ye 82d year of his age.
In Memory of Dea. JONATHAN PORTER, who Died July ye 5, 1783, In the 73d Year of his Age.
Beneath this stone Deaths prisoner lies
The Stone shall move, the dead shall rise Whats now concealed beneath the dust.
Dea. Porter came into Ellington when a young man, from Ipswich, Mass., bought a large tract of land, and in 1747 built a house near the junction of the West Stafford and old Somers roads, which was inhabited by himself and his descendants for uear a century. Its fashion, site, and remarkably antiquated air inside and outside, during its latter years, would strongly remind one of the garrison houses in early times. Dea. Porter was one of a class of men in his time who had a taste for solid reading otherwise than religious. Among his books were large quarto volumes of history, besides other valuable and curious works of a smaller size. Dr. DANIEL PORTER, who was in the action between the Trumbull and the Watts, during the
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
Revolution, and afterwards became a very respectable physician in the vicintiy of Warehouse Point, was his son.
In Memory of Doct JOSEPH B. WADSWORTH who Departed this Life March ye 12 A D 1784 in ye 37th Year of his Age.
When weeping friends draw near And drop a Sacred Tear My last Best [obliterated.]
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