USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Derby > The history of the old town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642-1880. With biographies and genealogies > Part 47
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"To me this stately old maid had reached the pinnacle of human dignity when she sat in her high backed, splint bottom chair, holding that spelling-book by the top and pointing out the letters with a pair of bright, sharp pointed scissors, fastened to
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her side by a steel chain. The very rattle of her thimble against the wooden cover had an august sound to me
" This decorous spinster not only taught me the alphabet, but she put the first tiny thimble on my finger and guided my ear- liest attempts at an over-and-over seam. I can even now hear the click of the knitting-needles and see that ball of yarn roll in her lap, when I was seized with a wild ambition to knit with two needles and went up to that high-backed chair for my first les- sons. For these branches of useful knowledge I have thanked Abby Punderson a thousand times with a degree of pride and gratitude that I have failed as yet to bestow on my writing- master.
" Doctor Stoddard who lived at that time on the west side of the Naugatuck, sent his children to this school and was perhaps the first intimate friend my father made in this country. He was the principal if not the only physician in the place, and the medical attendant of our family all the time we lived in Hum- phreysville. I hold his kind attention to me during an attack of typhoid fever in grateful remembrance to this day.
" Indeed Doctor Stoddard was an extraordinary man, cele- brated for his professional skill through the whole country, over which his ride often extended both as a practicing and consult- ing physician. He was a man of wonderful humor and caustic wit, social, eccentric and kind. The poor of that neighborhood had good reason to bless the sight of him when he tied his well- trained horse to their gate posts and entered their dwellings with saddle-bags on his arm, filled with medicines for their re- lief; for, to those that were unable to pay for his care, the good Doctor was always cheerful and promptly kind. His daughter Hannah, now the wife of Doctor Johnson, was the first school and playmate I ever had. ' In that red school-house we two tiny children formed a friendship that has lasted pleasantly through all our after life. Her brother Jonathan was also one of my first playmates, and I have a sad, dim remembrance of a sweet little girl named Theresa, whose funeral was among the first mournful scenes that rests upon my mind.
" In this school-house my first friendships were made, and after this fashion my education began. But I could hardly have advanced beyond words of two syllables when our family re-
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moved from Shrub Oak to a low-roofed dwelling on the factory property. This house fronted on the factory, from which it was separated by an open green. A clump of fine oaks stood half way between the two buildings, and a garden ran back to the banks of the river.
" On the left of this house, as you stood facing the factory was a long range of buildings erected as boarding-houses for the operatives, and beyond that, lifted into prominence by an abrupt rise of ground, stood the counting-house, crowned by a cupola which gave it the look of an academy.
" Besides these buildings, there was a paper-mill run by the same water-power that supplied the factory, and opposite to that, a dwelling in which the superintendent lived.
Half way between the flats and the bridge was a never failing spring which formed a pond and had some fine trees growing on the hill-side behind it. This was called "the Spring Pond," and many of the houses were supplied with water from it. Above this pond on a rise of the road that crossed Bladen's brook, then a bright, wild stream, running through beautifully wooded banks, where we searched for berries and young winter- greens, stood a white basement house, to which William Hum- phreys brought his bride, a fair, pleasant lady, who was very popular among the people. All these buildings lay low down in the valley of the Naugatuck above the bridge and I believe were a part of the factory property. From "The Falls " to Castle Rock the bottom land was covered with the finest grove of white pines I ever saw. Here and there a grand old oak, a hemlock, a whitewood or tulip tree enriched the solemn mo- notony of the pines. The highway ran down the sand banks across the bridge through these woods and up " Falls Hill " near the Episcopal church where another group of dwellings appeared. This was the aspect of Humphreysville when I first remember it.
" Among its inhabitants the first person who presents him- self to my mind is the man who gave his name to the place. Col. David Humphreys was then a grandly handsome man, who kept up in his appearance and habits all the traditions that have come down to us from the Revolution. I remember him, at first dimly, in a blue coat with large gold-or what appeared
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to be gold-buttons, a buff vest and laced ruffles around his wrists and in his bosom. His complexion was soft and bloom- ing like that of a child, and his gray hair, swept back from the forehead, was gathered in a cue behind and tied with a black or red ribbon. His white and plump hands I recollect well, for wherever he met me they were sure to ruffle up my curls, and sometimes my temper, which was frequently tranquilized with some light silver coin ranging anywhere from a "four pence half penny " to a half dollar.
" Whenever this old gentlemen visited Humphreysville, he occupied a suit of rooms in the boarding-house building. These apartments were superintended by a housekeeper with whom I was a petted favorite. They contained pictures, books and many beautiful objects calculated to charm the fancy of a child, all of which I was permitted to examine and admire to my heart's content.
" Colonel Humphreys took great interest in the discipline and education of the apprentice boys attached to the factory. Sev- enty-three of these boys were indentured, I have been told, at the same time from the New York almshouse, and others from the neighboring villages. For these he established evening and Sunday-schools, with competent teachers; and indulged his military tastes by uniforming them at no light expense as a militia company, drilling them himself. Of course so many lads, gathered from the lower classes of a great city, must have numbered some bad ones. Thefts and other small vices were sometimes discovered, and at such times the offender was given his choice to be rendered up to the legal authorities, or tried and punished by a court organized on the premises. Almost inva- riably, they elected the latter, where they expected, and usually received a milder sentence than the severe laws of that period would have given.
" Sometimes the Colonel brought very distinguished com- patriots to visit the mills of which he was said to be very proud. I remember him dashing up the road one day in an open carriage, drawn by four horses, with Stephen Van Rensselaer, the Albany patroon at his side. They spent some time walking over the premises-took refreshments at the Colonel's apartments and drove back to a cottage that he owned in Hotchkiss Town on the New Haven road.
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"Indeed the old soldier usually came in state when he visited his native town, and his presence there was always followed by more or less commotion.
"One day, coming along the river road, near the bridge, he checked his carriage to learn the meaning of a crowd that had collected on the bank. A child had just been taken from the water insensible and apparently dead. The old man gave a few hasty directions, snatched the reins from his coachman, dashed across the bridge and up Falls hill with the dangerous reckless- ness of a man who had no thought of his own life, and disap- peared. In less time than seemed possible, he dashed back with Doctor Stoddard by his side. His prompt action saved the child, and endeared both the old soldier and the physician more than ever to the people.
" In his business enterprises Col. Humphreys did not forget the literary propensities that had mated him with Trumbull and Barlow in Yale College. He wrote a great deal for the benefit and amusement of the operatives, and the Christmas holidays were frequently celebrated with private theatricals where an original play, of which he was the author, would be performed by the most talented work people, and he more than once took a prominent part in them.
" As the best people of the neighborhood and other towns were invited to form an audience, these plays became a favorite amusement. In fact Col. Humphreys omitted nothing that could arouse the ambition or promote intellectual improvement among the operatives although he did it after a grand military fashion.
" After our removal from Shrub Oaks the nearest school was on the hill back of the sand banks. A new academy had been built in that neighborhood, known up to that time as Chusetown, after some famous Indian chief ; but the good town of Derby has always evinced wonderful eagerness in dropping historical names, and when that new academy, with a pretentious belfry, loomed up on the hill, looking proudly down on the cluster of houses at the cross roads, that Indian chief was crowded into the background and Chusetown became ' School Hill.'
"Among these houses on the cross roads, one of which was a country tavern, two or three dwellings were in the progress of
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building, one of which was intended for our future residence. They stood on a walled terrace and, in those primitive times, were planned with some degree of taste; but when the time came that the house by the factory was, by agreement, to be vacated, that in Chusetown was hardly half completed. ' Houses to let ' were not plentiful in Humphreysville just then, and the only dwelling in which we could find temporary shelter was a small building on the edge of the pine woods, into which our family was crowded for several months. Happy months they were for my sister Sarah and myself, for we absolutely lived in the pine woods, built our play-houses there, made ourselves acquainted with all the birds-nests, learned how to twist white- wood leaves into drinking cups, and enjoyed our young lives so completely that it was an absolute calamity to us when the new house was ready and we removed into it. This little house, which I am told has sometimes been pointed out as my birth- place, was occupied simply as a convenience until a more com- modious one was completed.
"Some time before the death of Colonel Humphreys it was arranged that my father should travel extensively through the South and West. I have an idea that he went in the interest of the firm to extend the market in the principal cities for an over stock of goods. In these travels, which were continued over six months, I infer that the condition of the slaves in the South made a vivid and painful impression on him ; for after his return he never arose from family prayers any morning without asking God's grace for the negroes. My father had reached Philadelphia on his way back from this journey, when he was met by the news of Colonel Humphreys's death. The suddenness of this event had given a shock of surprise and grief to every one in the old soldier's native town. He had seemed in good health an hour before his last breath was drawn. He was stay- ing at a hotel in New Haven, and, with the usual courtesy that distinguished all his actions, handed a lady friend to her carriage, stood, hat in hand, until she drove off, when he returned to the room from which he had led her, lay down on the sofa and died.
"Soon after this event, when I was about eight years of age, my father left Humphreysville and purchased a place in the Berkshire hills. Here his children were placed in school and he
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had a short season of rest. But a life of semi-activity to a man of his temperament soon became irksome and he grew restive under it. Hearing that a pleasant old homestead was for sale in South Britain, Southbury township, he purchased it and re- . moved back to Connecticut. Directly after this he bought a factory some miles below on a tributary of the Ousatonic, and went into business again.
" During some years he prospered in this new undertaking ; but prolonged and uncertain legislation in Congress, that kept the tariff in an unsettled state, made judicious contracts impos- sible ; the year 1829 or 30 found him with heavy payments to meet, a falling and uncertain market and an establishment that for more than a year had been running at a dead loss. This ended in financial ruin. He gave up everything to his creditors, gathered his family about him, and, with the exception of his eld- est daughter and myself, who were both married in 1831, removed to Ohio, then deemed, 'the far west.' Here, at the age of 58 years, he secured a tract of wild land, and with the aid of his young sons, the oldest of whom was but sixteen, cleared a farm and built a new home upon it. At the age of eighty-four years he died upon this farm, leaving the best inheritance that any man can give to his children when he said almost with his last words, 'no child of mine has ever given me an hour of pain.'
" Some of his children were born in Seymour.
"Mary, the eldest, married Robert B. Mote, a lawyer and county judge, who died in Auburn, DeKalb county, Indiana, where she is still residing a widow.
" Sarah, the second daughter, married Samuel Woodcock of Ohio, who became quite a land-holder in Savannah, Andrew county, Missouri, and died there leaving her a widow.
"John H. Winterbotham, the fourth child and eldest son, mar- ried Mahala Rosecrans, a niece of General Rosecrans of the United States Army. He inherits his father's intellectual ability and firmness of purpose, and has for some years been a state senator of Indiana. He has grown wealthy by close application to business and heads the firm of J. Winterbotham & Sons, contractors for the prison labor of Indiana and Illinois. He resides in Michigan City, Indiana, and has branch houses in Chicago and Joliet, Illinois.
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"Robert, the second living son, is a resident of Columbus, Ohio ; a man of independent means and out of business. He married Charlotta Roberts of Fredericktown, Ohio.
" Martha Elizabeth, the fourth daughter, married Fermin Fer- rer, a lawyer of Nicaragua, Central America, and resides in New York. William W., the youngest son, inherits his father's quali- ties of mind and character. He married Elizabeth Miller, the daughter of an influential citizen of Pittsburg, Penn., from whom they inherited a considerable property in Fort Madison, Iowa, where they reside.
" Ann S., married Edward Stephens of Portland, Me." (See Biog.)
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
As seen in the account of the M. E. Church in Birmingham,11 Methodist preaching was introduced in 1791, and the first soci- ety formed at the old village of Derby in 1793, with John Coe leader of the class. The members of this society who lived in Chusetown were first organized into a separate society in 1797, but it is probable that their ministers preached here several years before this organization. The first members were : Jesse Johnson, Isaac Baldwin, Sarah Baldwin and Eunice Baldwin. Daniel Rowe of Derby was their first class leader, and the fol- lowing names were soon added : George Clark, Lucy Hitchcock, Silas Johnson and Oliver Johnson.
The ministers preached wherever they found open doors ; once or more in Mrs. Dayton's tavern, the house now owned by William Hull, at the corner of Main and Pearl streets ; also in the house of Mr. Stiles, now the residence of Doct. Stoddard. Some years later they preached in the ball-room of the Moul- throp tavern, on the north-east of Hill and Pearl streets The ministers who were sent to the Middletown circuit, which in- cluded this place, were : in 1792, Richard Swain and Aaron Hunt ; in 1793, Joshua Taylor and Benjamin Fisher ; in 1794, Menzies Raynor and Daniel Ostrander ; in 1795, Evan Rogers and Joel Ketchum ; in 1796, Joshua Taylor and Lawrence Mc- Combs ; in 1797, Michael Coate and Peter Jayne ; in 1798, Augustus Jocelyn ; in 1799, Ebenezer Stevens ; in 1800, James
11 Page 360 of this book. This account of the M. E. Church in Seymour is taken mostly from Mr. W. C. Sharpe's History of Seymour.
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Coleman and Roger Searle. The Revs. Jacob Brush, George Roberts, Jesse Lee, Freeborn Garrettson and Sylvester Hutch- inson served as presiding elders.
For a long time the society continued small and encountered much prejudice and some persecution. On one occasion, while a meeting was held in the house of Isaac Baldwin, which stood on the flat east of H. B. Beecher's auger factory, the persecutors went up a ladder and stopped the top of the chimney in the time of preaching, so that the smoke drove the people out of the house. Squibs of powder were often thrown into the fire in time of worship, to the great annoyance of the people.
The preachers appointed to the circuit from 1801 to 1810 were : in 1801, Abijah Bachelor and Luman Andrus ; in 1802, Abner Wood and James Annis ; in 1803, Abner Wood and Nathan Emory ; in 1804, Ebenezer Washburn and Nathan Em- ory ; in 1805, Ebenezer Washburn and Luman Andrus ; in 1806, Luman Andrus and Zalmon Lyon ; in 1807, William Thatcher, R. Harris and Oliver Sykes; in 1808, James M. Smith and Phineas Rice ; in 1809, Noble W. Thomas and Coles Carpen- ter ; in 1810, Oliver Sykes and Jonathan Lyon.
The presiding elders on the district were; Freeborn Garrett- son, Daniel Ostrander, William Thatcher and Joseph Crawford. Freeborn Garrettson held the first quarterly meeting in this place in the old Congregational meeting-house in 1803, and Moses Osborn, a zealous local preacher of Southbury, by his faithful labors in Derby four or five years, prepared the way for a great revival in 1809, when seventy persons were converted in the Neck school-house.
In 1811 the preachers were : Zalmon Lyon and Jesse Hunt ; in 1812, Aaron Hunt and Arnold Scholefield. In 1813 Middle- town circuit was divided and Stratford was made the head of the new circuit, and Ebenezer Washburn and James Coleman were the preachers. Stratford, Milford, Derby, Humphreys- ville, Nyumphs, Great Hill, Quaker's Farm, George's Hill, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Newtown, East Village, Stepney and Trumbull were included in the circuit.
Among the early Methodists on Great Hill were Anson Gil- lett and his wife, five sons and two daughters ; Mrs. David Tomlinson, one son and three daughters ; Capt. Isaac Bassett
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and wife, one son and six daughters, and James Tomlinson and his wife.
In 1814 Nathan Bangs was presiding elder on the New Ha- ven district, and Elijah Woolsey and Henry Ames were the preachers on this circuit, where the preaching was divided-half a day at Humphreysville, half a day at Nyumphs, and once a fortnight at Derby Neck, it being a revival year at the Neck and Great Hill. The two brothers, Samuel and David Durand, and their wives, were added to the church in the little red school- house which stood north of where the Great Hill church now stands. Samuel was a good singer. In 1815 Elijah Hebard and Benoni English were the preachers on this circuit, but Mr. English soon located at Humphreysville and went into business. This year Walter French, a resident of Humphreysville, re- ceived license to exhort, and afterwards to preach, and became a useful, successful minister ; having a good memory, a ready utterance, and often spoke with great persuasive influence. He died in 1865, aged over eighty years.
When Nathan Bangs was presiding elder in 1816, he came to preach in the Bell school-house, and stopped with Stiles John- son on the Skokorat road. After some cautions from his host against doctrinal preaching, he went down in the evening and preached a free salvation to a crowded house, giving Calvinism its portion, as was the custom, and such was the influence of his words that at the close, when he inquired : " Who will have this salvation ? " the whole congregation stood up, and a revival en- sued. In 1817 the society numbered fifty-six members. On October 31, 1817, the Methodists bought the old Congregational meeting-house, and at watch-meeting the succeeding New Year's eve, an extensive revival commenced. in this house, when Jesse and Stiles Johnson, sons of Isaac Johnson, and their wives, united with the Methodist society. Jesse was afterwards a local preacher, a close student of the Bible, but became insane, and after a long confinement died in 1829. Stiles, who died October 4, 1818, by his will gave the land on which the church stands to the Methodist society, and also $334 in money. The old meeting-house was soon after made a two-story building, but not painted.
In 1819 the members of the church constituted three classes ;
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the leaders being Robert Lee, Timothy Hitchcock and Orrin Peck, the last class being in Woodbridge. The members of Timothy Hitchcock's class were Cynthia Johnson, widow of Stiles, Thomas and Lois Gelyard, Jared and Sally B. Bassett, (daughter of Stiles Johnson), Timothy and Urania Hitchcock, Anna Davis, widow of Reuben, Bezaleel and Martha Peck, Alva Davis and his wife Polly (daughter of Capt. Daniel Holbrook), Hepziba Johnson (daughter of Jesse), and Sheldon Hitchcock. The circuit preachers from 1816 to 1820 were : Nathan Emory, Arnold Scholefield, Reuben Harris, Ezekiel Canfield, Samuel Bushnell, Aaron Pierce, Beardsley Northrop, David Miller and Bela Smith. The circuits were large and two preachers were appointed yearly to each circuit to alternate at the different ap- pointments.
The quarterly meetings of those times were largely attended ; the people going from all parts of the circuit to attend services on Saturday and on the Sabbath. The presiding elder was usu- ally present, and preached strong doctrinal sermons ; one on Saturday, after which was held the quarterly conference, con- sisting of all the preachers, exhorters, class leaders and stew- ards, and one on the Sabbath after the love-feast service. At one of these meetings on Great Hill, in 1820, E. Washburn, presiding elder, fifteen persons were converted in one afternoon.
From 1821 to 1830 the membership of the church was much increased. The preachers were : James Coleman, Laban Clark, E. Barnett, John Nixon, Eli Denniston, Wm. F. Pease, Julius Field, Samuel D. Ferguson, Valentine Buck, John Lucky, Na- thaniel Kellogg, Reuben Harris, John Lovejoy and Laban C. Cheney. The presiding elders were : Samuel Merwin, Samuel Lucky, D. Ostrander and Laban Clark.
The circuit was divided in 1828, and this part called Hum- phreysville and Hamden ; at which time Samuel R. Hickox, a local preacher from Southbury, settled in this place and had charge of a grist-mill at the Falls, keeping boarders from the cotton mill, being a good preacher was of great service to the church. In the next year Thomas Ellis, a Welchman and a spinner in the cotton mill, was converted and joined the church, his wife being already a member. He had been a wild young man and a great singer ; it being said that he could sing all
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night without repeating a song ; but in two years after his con- version he had forgotten them all. In consequence of his mu- sical ability he was of great value to the church.
In 1831 Daniel Smith was appointed to this circuit, and was assisted by William Bates, a local preacher residing in Hum- phreysville. In that year a camp meeting was held in the woods west of the present Catholic church in Birmingham, and continued eight days. On the Sabbath ten thousand people were supposed to be there, and the result of the meeting was reported to be one hundred converts. Rev. Sylvester Smith, afterwards long identified with the interests of the church, was present during the whole of that meeting. In this year the churches in South Britain and Middlebury were built, the foun- dation of one at Waterbury laid, and a parsonage commenced in Humphreysville. Three hundred dollars' worth of books were sold on the circuit, a large amount of missionary money raised, and the ministers' salaries paid. In 1832 Sylvester Smith, a local preacher from Hotchkisstown, now Westville, where he was first licensed in 1850, settled in this village, add- ing to the strength of the church, at which time Robert Travis was preacher in charge, assisted by Daniel Smith. The parson- age, built by the two brothers Lane, from Monroe, was finished for Mr. Travis. After this the church was an ecclesiastical so- ciety under the statute and known as the Methodist society of Humphreysville.
In 1833 Thomas Bainbridge and Chester W. Turner were the preachers on this circuit, the former residing in the parsonage, the latter being a single man, who afterwards married the sister of the Rev. J. D. Smith of the Episcopal church. The next year Humphrey Humphreys and John Crawford were the preachers. Josiah Bowen was in charge of the circuit, and in the middle of 1836 he removed out of the parsonage into a house on Derby Neck, where he remained until his decease not long since. On the Ist of October, 1836, Rev. Josiah Smith rented the parsonage and occupied it four years. David Miller was preacher in charge two years, residing on Great Hill, closing his term of service in May, 1839; Owen Sykes having been the as- sistant preacher several years. Thomas Ellis received license to preach in 1833, and did good service on the circuit until 1838,
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