USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Windsor > The history of ancient Windsor, Connecticut > Part 26
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Dr. Wadsworth graduated at Yale College in 1766, and was a surgeon in the Revolutionary army. He was a native of Hartford, and settled near the geographical centre of Ellington (about a mile in a strait line northeast of the meeting house) about 1775. Old people invariably described him as the hand- somest man and the most polished gentleman they ever knew. Besides his regular education, Dr. Wadsworth possessed many elegant accomplishments rare among his cotemporaries; a pecu- liar neatness and elegance of taste and style was a marked characteristic. While in the army he kept a journal, which, with many other historical papers, were after his death neglected and destroyed. Dr. W. wore a large three-cornered hat, scarlet coat, white or yellow vest and breeches, and topped boots - a costume which it appears was rather frequent among those who occupied a high rank in society.
The following letter written by him to his father-in-law, Mr. Allyn, of Windsor, during the Revolutionary war, may, perhaps, prove not uninteresting to some of our readers :
Camp, West Point, May 1, 1778.
Hon'd Father:
I return you my hearty thanks for the favor of your two let- ters. I can inform you that notwithstanding my taking a bad cold coming from home, whereby I have been incapable of join- ing my regiment until last Saturday, I am now, through the goodness of God, almost well. As to news we have none here, except what you wrote. We have no enemies nigh that appear, but snakes; and they have not yet forgot the severity of winter, and I desire the time may come when the tories, and ministerial tools may lie as still as the snakes have here the winter past.
Let me beg the favour of a line from you every opportunity, as it will revive the spirits of your obedient son
JOSEPH B. WADSWORTH.
My sincere regards to mamma and sisters and all friends.
P. S. I can not forget to return you my sincere thanks for the kind care you have taken of my family since my absence.
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PARISH OF ELLINGTON.
May the choicest of Heaven's blessings rest on you, your family, as well as on them, is the prayer of your obd't son, in haste. J. B. WADSWORTH.
N. B. I have now 21 under my care, sick with the measles, fevers, &c.
In memory of The REV. JOHN BLISS who Dicd Feby ye 13, 1790, in ye 54th year of his Age.
Whenever you walk this hollow ground
And o'er my dust yon tread
O dont forget you soon must sleep Upon this dusty bed
This monument is erected in memory of Col LEVI WELLS who died December 18th 1803 in the 69th year of his age.
Oh Death thou sole proprietor of man,
Since the sad hour apostacy began,
No patriots love, no human worth can free From the great tribute that is duc to thee.
After the close of the Revolutionary war, Col. Wells removed from Colchester to Ellington, not having been previously a resi- dent of the latter town. During the siege of Boston he was a captain in Spencer's Regiment - in 1776, then a major, he was taken by the enemy in the battle of Long Island and underwent a painful captivity. His case, with those of other officers is described by Ethan Allen, in his account of the cruelties per- petrated by the British upon American prisoners. After his exchange, while in command of a regiment of state troops distributed as a guard near the South West part of this state, Col. Wells was surprised in the night by a vastly superior force, and again made a prisoner. On this occasion John Lathrop, a respectable young man of Tolland, was killed, and Lemuel King of Vernon, then a mere boy, but afterwards one of the first citi- zens of that town, received a stiff knee for life. During his residence in Ellington, Col. Wells was held in the highest estima- tion. By a fortunate second marriage (with the widow of Charles Ellsworth, Esq.) and the success in life of his children, unlike too many of his brother officers, he spent the latter years of his life in abundance as well as honor. He was chosen a representative, and was for about ten years before his death a justice of the peace, then an honorable and even lucrativo office. His grave stone was the first of marble erected in that burial ground.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
This monument is erected to remind the living of the life and death of MATTHEW HYDE EsQ., who died Sept. 24, 1806, aged 72 years.
Mr. Hyde was a native of Franklin, married a Miss Stough- ton of Windsor (probably east of the river), and settled in Ellington years before the river was made the dividing line. Besides his farm he followed the trades of carpenter, joiner, cabinet maker, and general worker in wood-all which and sometimes others were wrought at by the same person. Hav- ing embraced the creed inculcated by Thomas Sandeman, and perhaps engrafted some improvements of his own upon it, he was conscientiously opposed to all war, as opposite to the plain and undoubted injunctions in the gospel, consequently was not an advocate for the American Revolution. He even allowed his cattle to be distrained for war taxes, though he would im- mediately redeem them. He also opposed the war as impolitic on any ground whatever, declaring his apprehensions that if independence were secured the large states would eventually oppress the smaller ones. But it was evident that his actual sympathies did not harmonize with those of the American ad- herents to the British cause; he was not therefore deemed an enemy to his country, and never lost the confidence and favor of his fellow citizens who in that war contributed even their personal services. As a practically wise man, Mr. Hyde enjoyed a standing in Ellington similar to that of Roger Sherman in a more extensive field. He was the first representative elected by the town, and was chosen to that office fifteen times. On the organization of the town he was appointed a justice of the peace and chosen the town clerk, both which offices he held until his death, or a period of twenty years. Transacting the principal business of the former office in a town then somewhat famous for its petty lawsuits, and in numerous other offices and trusts, his good judgment and unsuspected integrity rendered him a remarkably useful and influential man, while his excel- lence as a private citizen gained him equal respect.
On the decease of the above, his oldest son, ROBERT, succeeded him as justice and town clerk, to which office he was annually reappointed for about thirty years, the records of the town re- maining in one house from 1786 to 1835. During much of the time
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PARISH OF ELLINGTON.
from 1806 until constitutionally disqualified in 1837, Robert Hyde, Esq., transacted the greater share of such business as is referred to a justice of peace. He also represented the town at several sessions of the general assembly, and received numer- ous other proofs of the confidence of his fellow citizens. This gentleman, still living, is a son of Windsor, having been born in Ellington during the last days of the entire ancient township.
DANIEL HYDE, second son of Matthew, and occasionally a representative, select man, &c., was, like his father and elder brother, a man of extensive reading (besides their own library the social library was kept in their house), and enlarged capa- city for public usefulness. But, undesirous of public employ- ment, he either wrought at his father's trades, or enjoyed a quiet home with his brother at the family residence, neither of them having ever been married. Mr. Hyde is still living at near ninety years of age.
ALLYN, youngest son of Matthew Hyde (we have made no account of one who died in boyhood), inherited the family sense and intelligence in full. He studied medicine, settled in Elling- ton, and stept at once into a very extensive practice, which he retained until superannuated. Doct. Hyde married a Miss Mather of Windsor, daughter of Col. Mather, and niece of Chief Jus- tice Ellsworth, by which last, and his children, the Hyde family was always held in particular respect. As property has no small share in fixing a position in society, and as that fact exists, it may not be amiss to mention that during the most exalted years of the Hyde family, in a town abounding in wealthy men, their condition in life was that of the common farmer. Doct. Hyde deceased two or three years ago, shortly previous to which all three of the brothers, each of them being above eighty years old, went to the polls and voted the Whig ticket. Two at least, if not all the three daughters of Matthew Hyde, had the family cast of character. The same was the case with two grand children, brought up at the family residence - the male one, JOSEPH WADSWORTH BISSELL, having been a represent- ative and justice when those offices yet conferred some honor on their holders. The wife of Matthew Hyde, Esq., was a woman of a remarkably strong character and highly cultivated mind.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
Her reading, even in old age, consisted in works of the sound- est character. She has many times been scen, when above eighty years old, engaged in the perusal of Plutarch, Rollin, and other similar authors.
To the memory of Col. JOSEPH ABBOTT, who died Jan. 5, 1814, aged 78 years.
Col. Joseph Abbot moved into Ellington from Brooklyn, at about the close of the Revolutionary war, having purchased a tract of more than a square mile of excellent land, situated in the south-west part of the town. He was celebrated for his skill in farming; his equal in that business, on so extensive a scale, probably never has been found in Tolland County. In conjunction with other favorable circumstances at the time, it was by observing his success and imitating his example that the farmers on the plain discontinued their ridiculously sloven- ish and unprofitable mode of tillage - ambition and emulation were soon followed by prosperity - in a few years the agricul- tural features of their part of the town were changed, and El- lington became the pleasant place that never fails to excite the admiration of a stranger. It is related of Col. Abbot, probably with truth, that on one occasion he said he did not know of a single bush on his farm - and that if he did, he would instantly send a man to cut it down. He brought his military title from Brooklyn, and as he must have held a commission in the time of the Revolution, he probably saw service in that contest. Col. A. was twice a representative. He had a son bearing his name who represented Ellington several times. Col. LEVI WELLS also had a son LEVI, whose name among the representatives might lead to a mistake by one who was not acquainted with the cir- cumstances.
In memory of Capt. ICHABOD WADSWORTH, who died March 3, 1815, aged 73 years.
Stop reader spend a mournful tear,
O'er the dust that slumbers here And whilst you read the fate of me Think on the glass that runs for thee.
Capt. Wadsworth was raised in Ellington, "put out " until he was sixteen years old; sold his hair for a shilling, the first he ever had, and, when his period of service was up, enlisted in
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PARISH OF ELLINGTON.
the army (war of 1755); was in the expedition to Cuba, 1762, and at the close of that war was a sort of veteran of the age of twenty - like many of the soldiers in the heroic days of our country, with his moral and religious principles entirely unin- jured. He married a Miss Drake, who owned about forty acres of poor land in the northern part of Ellington - within a few years after marriage she died, leaving one child, a son. Mr. Wadsworth was by this time in sufficient standing to be wel- comed for a second wife into the family of Deacon Porter. In this prattle of family affairs, we ought to mention that the new wife was always one of the kindest of mothers-in-law -having however no child of her own. She survived her husband many years. In 1776, Mr. W. had arrived at the dignity of orderly sergeant of the militia company, and went with it to New York, where his former experience in eamp and field duties, and in taking care of the sick, elevated him so highly in the esti- mation of his comrades, that on the resignation of the captain directly after, he was promoted over the subalterns to the com- mand of the company. As a captain he was several times in actual service, and was one of the three or four chief veterans of the town. Captain Wadsworth was extremely well qualified to cut a path for himself through the world. He acquired a large property, and for many years was one of the principal farmers of the town. Punctual in attending church on Sun- days, he used to ride in a superior style that indicated the wealthy farmer, viz: in a large, heavy, two-horse farm wagon, set strong and stiff upon the axles, the sides built like a eart and painted red, with movable end boards, and unpainted side boards. The men were seated on a slip of board, while the females were accommodated with chairs. In those days of comparative simplicity, Capt. W. occasionally attended meeting with his three-cornered, large, old-fashioned military hat on - nobody dreaming of its being in any way improper.
In memory of Mrs ROXANNA KINGSBURY wife of Dr Joseph Kingsbury.
Born April 20, 1773 Died March 5, 1820.
In memory of Doet. JOSEPH KINGSBURY who died Aug 29, 1822 Act. 66.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
Doctor Kingsbury was born in Ellington many years before the river line of separation was adopted, and was therefore a son of Windsor. At the age of twenty-one he enlisted into Washington's army for three years as a fifer, in which capa- city he was in the battles of Germantown and Monmouth, and in various other minor engagements. He fully participated in the sufferings of that army during the period of his enlist- ment ; he was also in the State troops as a sergeant. In early life it was the settled resolve of Joseph Kingsbury to be a phy- sician - his country needed his services in the field, and he cheerfully rendered them. But he did not relinquish his plan, and being a musician he often enjoyed some leisure, during which he sought improvement by observation and otherwise, in the hospitals, and there were surgeons who readily gave him what instruction might at the moment be practicable. Possess- ing a remarkable aptitude for gathering medical information, for arranging it into some system of ideas peculiar to himself, and to adapt it to a practical purpose, he quitted the army with a good stock of professional knowledge, and after studying awhile with Dr. Joseph B. Wadsworth, he commenced practice. In a few years he married the widow of Doct. Wadsworth, who, inheriting a large fortune, and his health failing, the result of the hardships endured on his campaign, he gradually relin- quished practice. Dr. K. was in most cases partial to botanic and simple remedies; his ideas on medical science were origi- nal ; his success often indicated a peculiar skill. He enjoyed & high rank in his profession ; health and poverty only were needed to urge him to exertions that must greatly have extended his fame. Dr. Kingsbury was the son of a common farmer, and in his latter years often used to describe the habits of society in the days of his youth. Though residing more than a mile from the meeting, he used in summer, until more than a dozen years old, to attend without a hat or coat, and with breeches that left the legs bare below the knee. Such simplicity of apparel however was common at that time in Ellington among persons of his age. He wrote an elegant hand, acquired mostly by writing on birch bark of a peculiar kind, that was in general use among school boys as a substitute for paper. Under simi-
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PARISH OF ELLINGTON.
lar disadvantages he acquired a good English education - the basis in after life of a competent share in the general intelli- gence requisite to sustain himself creditably among well informed people. For about twenty-five years before his death, Dr. K. was a deacon in the church ; he was a gentleman of the old school, as it was called, adhering to the costume of the revolutionary age, which, with his noble countenance and bear- ing, gave him the look of just having stept out of some splen- did revolutionary painting. He was venerated next to Mr. Brockway. Dr. Kingsbury was a rare instance of one who had the good fortune to ascend from comparatively humble life to the highest rank in his native town, and yet retain the warm friendship of the early companions whom he had so greatly dis- tanced.
Mrs. Roxanna Kingsbury was daughter of Mr. Josiah Allyn of Windsor, a desendant of Col. Matthew Allyn, and, as before mentioned, was the widow of Dr. Joseph B. Wadsworth. As a humane, amiable, considerate, worthy woman, and a lady in all the relations of life, she was rarely equaled.
"In memory of ELEAZER PINNEY who died July 15, 1855, aged 83."
Eleazer Pinney was born in Ellington about sixteen years before the incorporation of the township east of the river, and was consequently a son of Ancient Windsor. He was a ser- geant in the campaign against Burgoyne, in a corps of Con- necticut militia. that distinguished itself for bravery. He was engaged in the battle fought at Stillwater on the 19th Septem- ber, 1717, and also in the battle of Saratoga 7th Oct., 1777, which decided the fate of Burgoyne's army, and was one of the division that stormed that general's camp.
Lieutenant Pinney (for in Ellington, the commission that he afterwards held, conferred upon its possessor the title for life), Leftent Pinney, until his active career was closed by age, ranked among the first citizens of the place. He represented the town in the legislature, was a selectman fourteen years, no other person having ever held that office so long; and received his full share of other town meeting honors. In the settlement of estate, guardianships, and other responsible trusts, he received a
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
marked preference, although Ellington then contained an un- usual number of men well qualified for similar proofs of con- fidence, and was often jocularly called the administrator-gen- eral of Ellington.
For a week preceding his death he suffered much pain, which was endured with true Christian patience and resignation. Few men in life were more respected, or, in death, more universally regretted. His funeral was numerously attended, for he was truly a friend of all, especially of the poor.
The McKinstry Burial Ground,
Originated in the determination of the first pastor of Elling- ton, not to be buried by the side of those of his former charge who had, as he thought, treated him mjustly in life. He, there- fore, chose a spot in about the centre of the present village, where he and many of his kindred have been interred. Lately, the whim of the old pastor has been perpetuated by a portion of his descendants, who have erected (1858) a large and ele- gant granite monument, and have enclosed the ground with a. handsome iron railing. It contains the graves of the allied families of Mckinstry and Ellsworth. The following unique inscription is copied verbatim et literatim :
Here Rests ye Last Rema- ins of MR. ALEXANDER McKIN- STRY ye Kind husband ten- der Parent Dutiful Son affectionate Brother Faith- ful Friend Generous Master compassionate & obliging Neighbor ye unhappy hous looks Desolate & Mourns & Every Door Groans doalful as it turns ye Pillers Languish and cachi Silent Wall in Grief lament ye Masters Fall. who Departed this life, Novem: ye 9, 1759 in ye 30th Year of his Age. Here also are interred:
" The remains of the Rev. JOHN ELLSWORTH, A. M., minister of the Presbyterian Church in the Island of Saba, in the West Indies, son of Daniel Ellsworth, Esq., and Mrs. Mary, who died Nov. 22, 1791."
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ELLINGTON PARISH.
This young man graduated at Yale College in 1785; was ordained at East Windsor, in Sept., 1785; and was settled over a small Presbyterian Church in the Isle of Saba, in the West Indies. Being obliged, by the failure of his health, to relinquish his charge, he returned to Ellington, where he died, as above stated, at the age of 29. The sermon at his funeral was preached by the Rev. Dr. McClure, of East Windsor, and was afterwards published.
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CHAPTER XV.
WINDSOR, EAST OF THE CONNECTICUT RIVER. - CONTINUED.
The North, or Scantic Parish (now the town of East Windsor).
Our cstecmed friend, Mr. AZEL S. ROE, has already written so thorough and excellent a history of this parish, 1 that any at- tempt to rewrite it for the mere sake of originality, would be a work of superoragation. Therefore, as the elucidation of his- toric truth, rather than any display of authorship, is the object * of this work, we shall content ourselves in the following chap- ter, with simply abridging the substance of his interesting little volume; and adding thercto a few items which we have ourselves collected.
As before mentioned, the first settlement of Windsor, east of the Connecticut River, was along the river from Scantic to Po- dunk, and included the whole of the present town of South Windsor. At a subsequent period (1696-1700) a few families began to locate themselves north of tlic Scantic. Thomas Ells- worth, the Osborns and the Stileses were among these north- ernmost settlers, all of whom were near the Connecticut River. But the gradual increase of numbers, and a necessity of larger accommodations, drove them, in the course of a few years, back into the higher forest lands of the interior.
"As early as 1736, settlers began to select favorable spots
1 History of the First Ecclesiastical Society in East Windsor, from its forma- tion in 1752, to the death of its second pasto", Rev. Shubael Bartlett, in 1854. . With a sketch of the life of Rev. Mr. Bartlett, and his farewell discourse, pre- pared for the fiftieth anniversary of his settlement. Hartford, 1857.
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NORTH OR SCANTIC PARISH.
for location amid the forests - some choosing their position where the land was favorable for grain, some where the large pines afforded means for the manufacture of tar, and others amid marshy places where the grass grew rank, for the pur- pose of gathering hay to winter stock, the sowing of grass-seed being an improvement in agriculture not then known to them."
At what time the Ketch Mills' settlement was commenced is uncertain. As early as March, 1663-4, the court allowed Mr. Matthew Allyn "to take up that meadow at Catch, beyond Goodman Bissell's, on the east side of the River, and what up- land he pleaseth, so he exceeds not his former grant." And in Feb., 1687, the town voted that
"Samuel Grant, Senior and Nathaniel Bissell shall have liberty to set up a sawmill with the use of ten acres of land upon the brook that is known by the name of Ketch, and the town is to have the boards for 4s per 100 at the mill, or 5s at the Great River, they to have no right to the land any longer than they maintain a mill upon the place."
We think the settlement in that neighborhood, however, be- gan at a much later date- and subsequently to that on the river. The first settlers there, or among the first, were JOHN, ROGER and LUKE, sons of John Loomis.
I It is related that once, " in the olden time," the men engaged at the old saw mill here were suddenly alarmed while at dinner by the unceremonious appearance of a huge bear. Unprepared for such an honor, they sought their safety in flight, while their unwelcome visitor, snuffing around in search of something to eat, espied the luncheon which one of the men had left on the huge log that was set for the saw. Mounting the log, Bruin began, with his back to the saw, quietly to dispose of the luncheon. Meanwhile the owner thereof, taking courage to reconnoitre, found his four footed adversary thus busily employed, and started the saw. Away it went, steadily sliding along the timber, on which unconscious Bruin was seated, in happy enjoy- ment of his stolen feast, until he was awakened from his " sweet dream of peace," by a savage scratch on his shaggy back. Quick as thought he faced around, and instinctively grasped the shining blade in a deathlike hug- but still, up and down, the relentless saw held on its way - and a mangled carcase testified to the exultant settlers that Bruin had " cuught a Tartar."
This incident has been assigned as the origin of the name Ketch Mills, but this is an evident mistake. The name is a corruption of catch, by which the brook was known at a very early date in the history of Windsor. The low wet lands on its borders were then covered with a large quantity of coarse grass, of which each of the surrounding inhabitants had liberty to gather in what he could ; hence the name of Catch Brook.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
Ireland Street, in the northeast part of Scantic Parish, was settled about the middle of the last century, by a number of families of Scotch-Irish, who came from the north of Ireland . with the Rev. Mr. Mckinstry, and others, who settled at Elling- ton. The names of Thompson, McKnight, Harper, Gowdy, Cohoon, and others, have been long and honorably connected with the history of this parish.
"From all," says Mr. Roc, " that can be now learned of the character of those who first settled the north parish of East Windsor, we must judge them to have been men of strong reso- lution, untiring industry, and of religious habits. They were not mere speculators, who sought to make the most out of the land they occupied in the shortest possible time, and then to remove and try their luck upon some other uncultivated spot; but they seemed to have settled with a design to make a life- stay of it, contenting themselves with a bare living for the first few years, and enlarging their incomes as they extended their clearings and brought more land into a state of cultivation. The houses which they erected were not log-houses, such as have formed the first houses of settlers in the far west, but they were frame buildings of small size, made comfortable without any pretension to ornament. Many of the original settlers pur- chased large tracts of land, which have sufficed even to the present day for division among their descendants, so that in very many locations among us the present owners can sit be- neath the shadow of the trees that sheltered their forefathers, and cultivate the soil where their great-great. grandfathers labored.
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