USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Litchfield > The history of the town of Litchfield, Connecticut, 1720-1920 > Part 18
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The late Hon. Joseph Hopkinson, one of his distinguished political associates, thus wrote respecting him :-
"Oliver Wolcott was a man of a cheerful, even playful, disposi- tion. His conversation was interesting and earnest, but gay unless
the occasion was unfit for gaiety. He enjoyed a good joke from He himself or another, and his laugh was hearty and frequent. delighted in the discussion of literary subjects, and the works of distinguished authors, and was particularly fond of poetry. ... His domestic life was most exemplary; his greatest happiness was in his family, with the friends who congregated there. His devotion to the business and duties of his office was severe and unremitting. He possessed, in a high degree, a very rare qualification, the capacity for continued hard work, and was in everything systematic and orderly. His attachments to his friends were strong and lasting, never taxing them with unreasonable exactions. He was open and direct in all his dealings, without duplicity or intrigue in any- thing; his sincerity was sure, he deceived nobody. His political opinions were the honest convictions of a man of undoubted integrity. of distinguished intelligence and high attainments, and, above all, of a true and sincere lover of his Country". (Wolcott Memorial, p. 307).
His home in Litchfield, during the short periods of his resi- dence there, was always the scene of a large hospitality of which he
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was the presiding genius. He lived in the house built in 1799 by Elijah Wadsworth on a part of the Wolcott farm. He enlarged the house considerably in 1817. The house was later that of Col. George B. Sanford, and is now owned by Mrs. Harry G. Day.
We insert here a quotation from a 'Letter of Digestion' of that day, written by Josiah Quincy, Boston, September 30, 1801, after a visit to the house: "Sir; We reached home in four days from Litchfield, and found nothing terrible on the Hartford side of your hills; nothing which the recollection of the attention and pleasure we had received from our visit did not make appear trifling obstacles. It is impossible for Mrs. Quincy and I (sic) not to reckon the time passed at your house as the most delightful part of our excursion, as well as not to dwell upon your promise to give us in the Spring, by a long visit, a chance of returning a few of those many kindnesses which you and Mrs. Wolcott found means to extend in so short a time. ... "
The fact that Governor Wolcott had been elected on the Demo- cratic or Toleration ticket set him apart a little from some of the most uncompromisingly Federalist families. The second, Mrs. Lyman Beecher, on first coming to Litchfield (December 1817) wrote of him: "The Governor resides here. He has honored me with a call. He is a Toleration man. Comes half a day to meeting and no more. We heard the Governor was going to invite us to his house, but at a party where we went, he did not like our manage- ment of closing the evening with prayer and singing, and so has given it up".
Oliver Wolcott Jr. married in 1785 Elizabeth, only daughter of Capt. John Stoughton. They had five sons and two daughters, but with the death of the sons, three of them in infancy, and of two grandsons, his male line reached an untimely end.
Mrs. Oliver Wolcott Jr. was a very beautiful and charming woman. When he announced his engagement to his father, the elder Wolcott answered: "Litchfield, January 10, 1785, Sir: Your letter of the fourth instant is received. The Character of the young Lady, whom you mention as the Object of your Affection, justifies your Choice, and receives the Approbation of your Par- ents. And if you shall wait upon her here, when you shall come to see us, it will increase the pleasure of the Visit. Yours, Oliver Wolcott".
The testimony to her beauty is universal. In the diary of Caroline Chester, a pupil at Miss Pierce's in 1816, (Vanderpoel, p. 153), we read: "Mrs. Wolcott called and very politely asked Mrs. Sheldon to permit me to take tea with her. ... The party was large. Though Mrs. Wolcott was the only married woman in the room, yet no one would have thought her the oldest for she looked very beautiful".
She "belonged to a class of women of whom Connecticut could then boast many, whose minds were formed, and habits of reflection directed by men; and without coming within the category of female
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politicians, they had been almost from childhood familiar with questions of public and general interest. An anecdote of Uriah Tracy, whose sarcasms were of old dreaded alike in the Senate Cham- ber and the drawing-room, has been preserved, commemorative at once of Mrs. Wolcott's attractions and his own peculiar wit. Mr. Liston, the British Minister, who was thorougly English in his ideas, on some occasion remarked to him: 'Your countrywoman, Mrs. Wolcott, would be admired even at St. James'. 'Sir', retorted the Senator from Connecticut, 'she is admired even on Litchfield Hill!'" (Gibbs, Federal Administration, Vol. I, p. 162).
That Litchfield girls and women are unusually beautiful is a statement the truth of which has been confined to no single gener- ation. We are as proud of it to-day, as ever was Mr. Tracy. It is interesting to trace the growth of the observation of this happy phenomenon. In the diary of a Law student, George Younglove Cutler, August 18, 1820, (Vanderpoel, p. 195), we read: "Evening, Miss Tallmadge here-is certainly elegant-there is no such woman in New Haven -- Litchfield is certainly an extraordinary place for beauty-the mountain air gives them the expression of health & that is the principal ingredient".
We think too that perhaps even Lyman Beecher had heard about the ladies of Litchfield, for immediately after arriving here, March 5, 1810, he wrote at once to reassure Mrs. Beecher: "There are many agreeable women here, but none so handsome or pleasing as to occasion a momentary wandering of my heart from the object where it has so long and with such satisfaction rested". (Autobiography, Vol. I. p. 190).
Good, faithful Mr. Beecher; all the newcomers to Litchfield have not been as constant! When James Gould first came to Litch- field, he was present one day at the Court House. Uriah Tracy was in the Court room, and watched the handsome young lawyer with admiration. He asked him to lunch, at his home where possi- bly his daughter surprised him by monopolizing some of Mr. Gould's attention. We can let Mariann Goodrich tell the rest, just as she wrote it to her favorite brother, Frederick Wolcott, in 1794, (Wolcott Memorial, p. 333) : "New Haven folks, especially the women, are most terribly angry at Mr. G. for quitting Miss W. They say he has been engaged to her seven years, and now he writes her a civil letter informing her that he has been so unfortunate as to fall in love with Sally T., and cannot possibly fulfill his promise to her Ladyship-and so wishing her a great deal of happiness he bids her adieu. I had several reasons for taking the man's part, which I did with some zeal. I told them it had always been an established practice with the Litchfield Ladies to steal the hearts of all the Gentlemen who came here, and that I thought a New Haven Lady must have a degree of modest assurance to expect to keep her sweet-heart after he had seen the Litchfield beauties!"
The friendship between the charming and very sprightly Mari- ann Wolcott and her brother Frederick continued as warm after
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she married Chauncey Goodrich, and their letters form one of the most fascinating chapters in the delightful Wolcott Memoirs. They are not adapted for quotation in a history concerned primarily with Litchfield, and we must turn rather to speak of Frederick Wolcott as a citizen. He is described as having been a very retiring and modest man, almost diffident, taking after his father in that respect, but in the discharge of many public duties in Litchfield he was very active. He was for instance our County Clerk for forty three years, surpassing his immediate predecessor, Isaac Baldwin by just one year of service. These two men held the office consecutively from the formation of the County, 1751, until the year before Fred- erick Wolcott's death, 1836, eighty five years in all. Frederick Wol- cott was also Judge of Probate for forty one years. He declined the nomination for Governor of the State on two occasions, when it was tendered him by a convention of his political friends; in both cases their final nominee was elected. Probably no man in the State had a stronger hold on the confidence and regard of his fel- low-citizens. He felt that his health was inadequate to the cares and responsibilities of positions more important than the many which he discharged so well. He also loved his home in Litch- field and was loath at any time to leave it and the pleasures of his family life there. He lived in his father's house, which, after having been out of the family for some years, is now owned by his grand-daughter, Miss Alice Wolcott of New York.
Frederick Wolcott was twice married, first in 1800 to Betsey, daughter of Col. Joshua Huntington of Norwich, who died in 1812, and in 1815 to Mrs. Sally Worthington Cooke, daughter of Rev. Samuel Goodrich. He had four daughters and five sons. One of the latter was the donor of the fund which made possible the estab- lishment of the Public Library here.
His four daughters and his second wife were especially known for their many varied charms. Mrs. Wolcott was fitted for Yale College when she was twelve years of age, and cried because she could not enter that institution. In Litchfield, with her daughter and three step-daughters she is said to have "sat as a queen sur- rounded by her maids of honor".
Of the four Wolcott girls, E. D. Mansfield, wrote, (Personal Memories, 1879, pp. 129-130), "One of my temptations to an after- noon walk was to meet the girls, who, like ourselves, were often seen taking their daily walk. Among these, were the Wolcotts, the Demings, the Tallmadges, the Landons, and Miss Peck, who after- wards became my wife. ... Of the Wolcotts there were four, and I think now, as I did then, that I never beheld more beautiful women than were Hannah and Mary Ann Wolcott. Many a time have I met them on North Street when it was a pleasure to look upon them, with the clearest complexions of white and red, the brightest eyes, with tall and upright forms, and graceful walk. These ladies would have attracted admiration in any place of the world. The two other Wolcotts were also very handsome".
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Mary Ann Wolcott, who afterwards was very happily married to Asa Whitehead of New Jersey, must not be confused with her charming Aunt, Mariann Wolcott Goodrich. At this time, 1820, Mary Ann had an unfortunate love affair with Henry W. Livingston, a very wealthy Law student from New York. "I remember", writes George Younglove Cutler, (Vanderpoel, p. 197-8), "when he first went to Litchfield, I was in his room opposite M. A.'s door, we were looking out and saw them-she & the amiable Hannah-L. remarked, 'I suppose these young ladies, i. e. the ladies of this village, depend upon law students for their husbands-I will be very careful they do not ensnare me'-within three weeks he was engaged to M. A. & talked to me of Father W."
The engagement was summarily broken a few weeks later. "It is probably the interference of friends", continued Cutler, "who have caused the mishap in this case-if I was an Emperor I would hang such a man". Though the affair caused a great excitement at the time, Mary Ann Wolcott was undoubtedly fortunate and she took the experience with the spirit characteristic of her family. Six weeks later Cutler could write: "A charming visit at Mary Ann W's-how interesting! how beautiful! how much improved in her personal appearance. I could not help telling her my opinion-In return she reciprocated my compliments-which I always like- she is one of the finest looking females I ever saw".
FREDERICK WOLCOTT PLACE, SOUTH STREET
F
THE WOLCOTT HOUSE
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CHAPTER XIV.
SLAVERY.
The question is sometimes asked whether slavery was ever gen- eral in Litchfield. We find no evidence that it was. After the Revolution slaves were still employed quite generally in the North, but the majority of families in our town were not in a position to keep slaves, even if they had been inclined to do so. Probably the greatest number of slaves here was during the ten years following the war. In 1800, there were only seven left in the town, and probably the last one was emancipated soon after that date. The sentiment in the North was undergoing a rapid change at this time. Earlier, the keeping of slaves had been a matter of course; but at this date, both law and sentiment were turning with increasing momentum against the custom. George C. Woodruff, in his Resi- dents of Litchfield, gives a list of 29 slaves, with their owners' names, and their dates of birth, ranging from 1777 to 1801.
Two Tallmadge receipts for young slaves are preserved. One is a bill of sale from John Shethar for 36 pounds for a negro boy named Prince, seven years old, dated May 19, 1784. The other is a bill of sale from Ezra L'Hommedieu, for a negro girl named Jane, thirteen years old, dated March 10, 1787.
In the Wolcott household, the slaves, and later the free colored servants were apparently numerous. There is an interesting letter from Oliver Wolcott Jr., to his mother, written from New York two months after the marriage of his sister Mariann: "I can easily judge", he says in part, "from my own feelings, that your own situation, since the removal of my Sister, must be in some respects lonely and disagreeable. But as you will be able to hear frequently from her, and must be perfectly satisfied with the character of Mr. Goodrich, I feel not so much anxiety on that account, as from the multiplied attention which you will give to the family servants, with which you are burdened. I must request that your humanity to them be not so particular as to suffer your health to be impaired on their account. If any measures consistent with propriety can be taken, to prevent an increase of that kind of trouble, it is surely your duty to attempt them". (Wolcott Memorial, p. 237, Letter of December 21, 1789).
It would appear from this letter that the Litchfield slaves were very kindly looked after. This is confirmed by the lack of notices in the press of run-away slaves. Only one of these is established: In the Witness for October 23, 1805, John Bird of South Farms
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advertised a $20. reward: "Ran away on the 21st instant about midnight, a man slave, by name Tom, who has long lived with my father, Doct. Bird". This advertisement was continued weekly for upwards of three months, so that Tom probably was not found.
In the Monitor of June 7, 1797, David Welch of Milton adver- tised for the return of "a mulatto servant Jep 21 years old, about five feet 7 or 8 inches high, understands the trade of a Bloomer, will probably seek employment in that business". But this was not necessarily a slave.
The consideration of the Litchfield slave owners in liberating their slaves when they considered them able to look out for them- selves is shown in the following document of the elder Oliver Wol- cott, notable also for its early date:
"Know all men by these Presents that I Oliver Wolcott of Litch- field in the State of Connecticut in expectation that my negro Servant Man Caesar will by his industry be able to obtain a comfortable subsistence for Himself and that he will make a proper use of the Freedom which I hereby give him Do Discharge liberate and set free him the said Caesar and do hereby exempt him from any further Obligation of servitude to me my heirs and from every other person claiming Authority over him by from or under me-and that my said servant whom I now make free as aforesaid may be known hereafter by a proper Cognomen I hereby give him the name of Jamus so that hereafter he is to be known and distinguished by the name of Caesar Jamus. As Witness my Hand and Seal in Litch- field November 23, A. D. 1786".
As the slaves were freed they became in many cases useful and desirable members of our community. At least three figure on the Honor Roll of the Revolution. These are Cash Africa, George Negro, and Jack Negro. The name of the first of these is so unusual that we would gladly know more of him. After the War, May 19, 1788, we find a contract between him and Col. Tallmadge for services. One Jeph Africa lies in the East Cemetery, and the stone is still legible: "Here lies the body of Jeph Africa, servant of the Rev. Judah Champion, who died June the 5th. 1793". This stone appears to have caught the eye of Nathaniel Hawthorne when he visited Litchfield in 1838, though if it be the same one he misread it; the page he devotes to Litchfield is so interesting as giving his impres- sions that it is here quoted at length, though concerned with matters not immediately pertinent to the story of Africa: (Am. Notebooks, Wayside Edition, p. 201).
"In Connecticut, and also sometimes in Berkshire, the villages are situated on the most elevated ground that can be found, so that they are visible for miles around. Litchfield is a remarkable instance, occupying a high plain, without the least shelter from the winds, and with almost as wide an expanse of view as from a mountain- top. The streets are very wide, two or three hundred feet, at least, with wide, green margins, and sometimes there is a wide
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green space between the two road tracks. Nothing can be neater than the churches and houses. The graveyard is on the slope, and at the foot of a swell, filled with old and new gravestones, some of red freestone, some of grey granite, most of them of white marble, and one of cast-iron with an inscription of raised letters. There was one of the date of about 1776, on which was represented the third-length, bas-relief portrait of a gentleman in a wig and other costume of that day; and as a framework about this portrait was wreathed a garland of vine-leaves and heavy clusters of grapes. The deceased should have been a jolly bottleman; but the epitaph indicated nothing of the kind.
"In a remote part of the graveyard, remote from the main body of dead people, I noticed a humble, mossy stone, on which I traced out 'To the memory of Julia Africa, servant of Rev.' somebody. There were also the half obliterated traces of other graves, without any monuments, in the vicinity of this one. Doubtless the slaves here mingled their dark clay with the earth.
"At Litchfield there is a Doctor who undertakes to cure deformed people-and humpbacked, lame, and otherwise defective folk go there. Besides these, there were many ladies and others boarding there, for the benefit of the air, I suppose". While on this digression, it should be added that the hospital for cripples here referred to was at the present Mrs. W. H. Sanford house. It was established in 1832 by Dr. Alanson Abbe.
Of the Africa family we know nothing further. In the Wood- ruff list we find a slave, Cash, belonging to Col. Ebenezer Marsh. It may be that he accompanied Col. Marsh to the War, and so gained his position on the Honor Roll. Col. Marsh had another slave, Nim, the first colored man in town, reputed to have killed three deer at one shot.
Evidence of Litchfield's reputation for generous treatment of slaves, if any were needed, is furnished by the story of Old Grimes, here abbreviated from Kilbourn's Bench and Bar, pp. 329-330:
William Grimes was a run-away slave who came to Litchfield about 1808, and became a general servant to the students at the Law School. Judge Reeve had acquired a reputation for defend- ing fugitive slaves, and several came here simply from hearing about him. Grimes was thrifty and bought a piece of land west of the Fire Department building, to which he moved a small building which he used as a barber shop. His former master found him out some fifteen years later and attempted to recover him. He was obliged to dispose of his property through his friends, Dr. Abel Catlin and William H. Thompson, who used the proceeds to purchase his freedom. He left Litchfield and removed to New Haven, where he continued to serve the students at Yale College. He published a sketch of his life, and always seemed to enjoy his own picturesque- ness. When Albert G. Green, of Rhode Island, afterwards United States Senator, was a student in Litchfield, he had the reputation
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of being a great rhymester. Old Grimes hearing of this importuned him to write a poeni about him, which he did, and which became famous as an epitaphı written before the fact. Kilbourn gives nine stanzas and there were perhaps more; here are four of them:
Old Grimes is dead-that good old man, We ne'er shall see him more; He used to wear a long black coat All buttoned down before.
He lived in peace with -all mankind, In friendship he was true; His coat had pocket-holes behind, His pantaloons were blue.
But good old Grimes is now at rest, Nor fears misfortune's frown;
He wore a double-breasted vest, The stripes ran up and down.
His neighbors he did not abuse, Was sociable and gay; He wore large buckles on his shoes, And changed them every day.
The last survivor of the freed slaves around Litchfield was probably Tom Jackson, a former slave of Col. Tallmadge, who lived with his wife and a daughter on the Milton Road. He died there some time after 1857.
Another class of servants, both white and colored, were known as Indented Servants. These were persons who sold their services for a definite period of time in return for a cash contract or some other equivalent. We find many of these old contracts. "Indenture for Mistic boy, named Ebo, from his mother to Benj. Tallmadge, April 7, 1785"; and again "Indenture between Benjamin Tallmadge and Ruth Woodhull for services, November 25, 1788". More often young boys were indented as apprentices, pledging a certain period of service, in return for the teaching of a trade. Occasionally, men or boys who wished to come over to this country, sold themselves to the ship captains for their passage across the Atlantic. They were called Redemptioners. On arrival their pledged service in the form of an indenture would be resold by the captain at auction or private sale. Col. Matthew Lyon, who figured in public life as Congressman from Vermont and Kentucky, was an Irish boy who came over in this manner. He was sold for a pair of stags, valued at 12 pounds, to Hugh Hannah of Litchfield, and he stayed here for ten years before going to Vermont. He died August 1, 1822.
Many apprentices ran away, and the columns of our early papers often contained advertisements for their return. They were prob- ably troublesome enough to their masters, and the small amounts
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of the rewards offered may indicate that the masters were not especially keen for their return, the advertisements being put in merely out of duty to the parents who had indentured them. The smallest reward noticed is for a girl: "Ran away from the subscriber on the 6th instant, an indented girl, 12 years old, by the name of Sarah Moss. She has blue eyes, light hair, and is hard of hearing ... Whoever will return said Girl to the Subscriber shall have twenty cents reward and no charges paid. All persons are forbidden har- boring said girl on penalty of the Law. Reuben Webster. Litch- field, Aug. 9, 1805". (Witness).
Indented servants could be sold, like slaves, for the unexpired terms of their contracts. We close this account of the servant problems of 120 years ago with a sample advertisement for a sale of this character:
"For Sale. Eight Years and Six Months Service of an indented Mulatto Girl, at the expiration of which period she will be 21 years and 6 months old. She is of middling size, strong and healthy, and has been brought up to housework. Her present owner not having sufficient employ for her, she will be sold on easy terms at the moderate price of 34 pounds, payable by instalments, in sheep or young cattle, for two thirds, the residue in cash. Inquire of the Printer". (Monitor, October 18, 1797).
CHAPTER XV.
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT.
On May 9, 1789, a Temperance Association was formed in Litch. field in an endeavor, as the pledge signed on that occasion states, "to reform a practice which leads so many to poverty, distress and ruin". Such an Association would be of interest to us in any event owing to the very early date at which it was formed; but it gains added significance because it can be considered as pre- paring the soil in which Lyman Beecher, thirty seven years later, initiated his far more famous crusade against intemperance. It is perhaps well to say a little more about this pioneer movement than would be necessary had it led no further.
In those early days drinking was considered an absolute neces- sity if only to counteract the rigorous climate of our hill country. Thus, for example, the very year of the Temperance Association, Oliver Wolcott Sr. writes from Litchfield in a letter of advice to his son, Oliver Jr., when the latter first went to New York as Auditor of the National Treasury, (Wolcott Memorial, pp. 185-6) : "November 24, 1789, Sir; ... Your Service will be complicated and arduous ... You may therefore safely indulge yourself with as much Exercise and Relaxation, as will be necessary for your Health. Endeavor to preserve the mens sana in sano corpore, by indulging at times a certain Vacancy of Thought, etc. As to your Mode of Living, I need say but very little; your Habits of Temper- ance will render it unnecessary, only this you will recollect, that there are many old Men in Connecticut, who have drank Cider for three quarters of a Century, who are active and almost blooming, and exempt from all Gout, Rheumatism, and Stone; while the drink ers of beer and Spirits die soon, and in misery. Simple Diet and fermented Liquors, except rich Beer, will with the moderate use of water, be always found to be best, especially for sedentary persons".
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