USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Litchfield > The history of the town of Litchfield, Connecticut, 1720-1920 > Part 19
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It was not thought possible for the average workman to keep his health without a very considerable amount of rum or cider to restore the vitality consumed in his physical work; the non-laboring class also assumed that it could not live through a Litchfield winter without a large consumption of stimulants. It was a matter of much concern some years when the apple crop had been small, and when orchards at best were limited, how the necessary supply of cider was to be obtained. Among the letters of Oliver Wolcott Jr. to his brother, Frederick Wolcott, in the Litchfield Historical
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Society, is one from Washington specially urging him to get an ade- quate supply from Harwinton while it was still possible to buy cider there.
Even at the raising of the Meeting Houses no work could be done without a liberal distribution of rum. The classical instance of this occurs in connection with the raising of the second Church by the South Farms Society in 1785. In April of that year, the Society voted, "that the meeting house committee shall have good right to furnish Rum, Grindstones, and Ropes sufficient for framing the meeting house according to their best discretion". And in June of the same year, the Society appointed an Overseer, to direct the issue of liguor at the raising, and voted, "that the overseer shall give two drams per day to the spectators, one a little before noon, the other a little before night". They entered upon the work with such spirit, that the Meeting House was finished in twenty weeks after they began the frame. This distribution was a regular part of all community movements. The first attempt to do away with it was in connection with the raising in 1829 of the third Congre- gational Church, three years after Lyman Beecher had preached his Temperance Sermons, and it was not a success. "A hogshead of small beer had been brewed in the cellar of Galpin and Goodwin's store, across the street, an innovation which did not meet with popular approval. There was a crowd of people around the church cellar, but not enough hands could be found who would lift even the ground timbers into place. When the strike was seen to be thoroughly 'on' Dr. William Buel asked William Norton and some other boys to go to his store and bring over a certain box, which the lads found to be very heavy. When the doctor opened it and the company saw a case of liquors, there were plenty of men ready to handle the largest timbers! The last day when the spire was raised there were two or three Shaker tubs of rum punch set at the east end of East Park with little tin cups near by ... ". (Miss Esther H. Thompson in Waterbury American, March 8, 1906).
The Association of 1789 was naturally the subject of a good deal of banter. An echo of this appears in one of the sprightly letters of Mrs. Chauncey Goodrich (Mariann Wolcott) to her brother Frederick Wolcott (Hartford, August 13, 1793) : "I hope you will attend to Papa's health and encourage him in moderate exercise and to live generously. It is supposed that Mr. Sherman and Gen. Wol- cott brought on their disorders by too great temperance in living. I hope our Father will be a comfort to himself and a blessing to us for a long time. My duty and Love to him and to my Mother". (Wolcott Memorial, p. 331).
But there was another side to the picture, in the men, some of them, as it happened, very prominent ones, who fell victims to intemperance; and unquestionably it was these examples that led to the inception and growth of the temperance movement. The most signal case was that of Jedediah Strong.
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The picture of Judge Strong drawn for us by Kilbourne (pp. 147-150) is not an attractive one, but his story at least deserves pity. He was born in Litchfield in 1738, and spent his whole life here; he graduated at Yale in 1761, and was the second native of Litchfield to receive a collegiate degree. He first studied divinity, but, being early elected to a town office, he abandoned his studies for the more congenial pursuits of a politician. With only his own skill to help him, he soon acquired and long maintained a political ascendency second only to that of Wolcott and Adams. An imperi- ous will, an affectation of power and a faculty of making himself popular all contributed to his success. His diminutive figure, limp- ing gait, and unpleasant countenance were in some measure atoned for by his promptness and tact in the discharge of the public busi- ness. He was a good penman, then an important qualification, familiar with legal forms, and held possibly as many public offices for as long terms as any of our citizens. Many of these will be found in the Appendix. His habit of intoxication gradually grew on him and led him to poverty and degradation. He is said at one time to have been a beggar and a charge on the Town. He was twice married, his daughter, Idea Strong, remaining to the last his chief comfort. He died in 1802, and was buried in the West Bury- ing Ground, but no trace of his grave remains.
Already in 1789 his habit of intemperance was proverbial, and it is possible that the Association was formed in part at least to try to give him the support of his fellow townsmen in an attempt to reform himself. It is at least noticeable that while the other signers put all their names together at the foot of their pronouncement, Judge Strong signed a separate statement after them. The original pledge is given at length in Woodruff's History, p. 50. Among the signers were Ephraim Kirby, Julius Deming, Benjamin Tallmadge, Uriah Tracy, Ebenezer Marsh, Moses Seymour, Daniel Sheldon, Tapping Reeve, Frederick Wolcott, Lynde Lord, and John Allen.
The separate pledge of Judge Strong was as follows: "By Necessity and on Principle, in consequence of little experiment and much observation, I have effectually adopted and adhered to the salutary plan herein proposed during several months past, and am still resolved to persevere until convinced that any alteration will be productive of some greater good, whereof at present I have no apprehension whilst Human Nature remains the same".
His good resolves were of short duration. In 1790 he was arrested for ill treatment on the charge of his second wife, Susannah, daughter of George Wyllys, then Secretary of State at Hartford. He was afterwards sued by her for a divorce, which she obtained, the trial being held in New Haven. In spite of all his misfortunes, he remained something of a character to the end, and we may per- haps quote from his Will, dated March 31, 1801, as it is one of the most unconventional ever filed in this Probate District. It is mainly occupied with pious reflections and counsels addressed to his
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daughter. "And finally", he adds, "that worldly wealth or earthly estate which it has pleased the Universal Proprietor to commit to my temporary care and stewardship on the sublunary, probationary theatre, (or the remnant fragments after so much spoliation of envy, Covetousness, Oppression, or whatever mistake in extreme career of permitted human vicissitude), my most mature and deliberate option and volition is, that disposition be made as follows: I recommend, give and bequeath, to my beloved daughter, Idea Strong, my Bibles and inferior Orthodox Treatises on Religion and Morality, or relative or appertaining to Vital Piety or Practical Godliness, and all other Books, Pamphlets or Manuscripts, except Romances, if any be left extant, which I have long since, (though not soon enough), intentionally consigned or destined to deserved oblivion in native shades of chaos". The amount of his worldly wealth, says Kilbourne, as per inventory, was $96.66; while as an offset to this, claims against him to the amount of a few hundred dollars were sent in.
No good purpose can be served by detailing the circumstances of all those who were in the minds of the men who kept alive the temperance movement between the original pledge of 1789 and the Beecher Sermons of 1826. Reference should however be made to another very distinguished lawyer, John Allen, a signer of the pledge of 1789, who in his last years yielded to intemperate habits, and lost his business and wealth, dying at the farmhouse north of Town to which he retired.
He was a striking figure, in many respects the very antithesis of Judge Strong. David S. Boardman, in his Sketches of the Early Lights of the Litchfield Bar, 1860, describes him as follows: "He was six feet four or five inches high, very erect and with an atti- tude and walk well calculated to set off his full stature, and though quite lean, weighed full 230 pounds. His countenance was strongly marked and truly formidable, his eyes and eyebrows dark, his hair dark, what little he had, and indeed his whole appearance was cal- culated to inspire dread rather than affection. His manner and conversation were, however, such as to inspire confidence and respect, though little calculated to invite familiarity, except with his inti- mates, of whom he had few, and those, knowing the generous and hearty friendship of which he was capable, were usually much attached to him and ready to overlook all his harsh sallies, imputing them to the 'rough humor which his mother gave him'. His feelings were not refined, but ardent, generous and hearty. His friendships were strong and his aversions equally so; and his feelings were all of the great sort". He was born in Great Barrington, Mass., in 1762. After teaching school in Germantown, Penna., and in New Milford, he came to the Law School in Litchfield, and remained here for the rest of his life. He attained a high eminence, but was content to confine his practice almost entirely to Litchfield County, though he
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practiced in other parts of the State in special cases of importance to which he was called.
It would appear that his case influenced Lyman Beecher to a consideration of the temperance question, just as that of Jedediah Strong influenced the men who formed the Association of 1789. Another influence on Beecher was furnished by the conditions he found within the church itself, especially in connection with what was then considered a necessary form of hospitality at such gather- ings as the Ordination of new ministers. Here is the description he has left us of the first ordination he attended after coming to Litchfield, that of Mr. Hart in Plymouth, (Autobiography, I., pp. 245-6) :
"At the ordination at Plymouth, the preparation for our crea- ture comforts, in the sitting-room of Mr. Hart's house, besides food, was a broad sideboard, covered with decanters and bottles, and sugar, and pitchers of water. There we found all the various kinds of liquors then in vogue. The drinking was apparently universal. This preparation was made by the Society as a matter of course. When the Consociation arrived, they always took something to drink round; also before public services, and always on their return. As they could not all drink at once, they were obliged to stand and wait as people do when they go to mill. There was a decanter of spirits on the dinner table, to help digestion, and gentlemen partook of it through the afternoon and evening as they felt the need, some more and some less; and the sideboard, with the spillings of water, and sugar, and liquor, looked and smelled like the bar of a very active grog-shop. None of the Consociation were drunk; but that there was not, at times, a considerable amount of exhilaration, I cannot affrim. When they had all done drinking, and had taken pipes and tobacco, in less than fifteen minutes there was such a smoke you couldn't see. And the noise I cannot describe; it was the maximum of hilarity".
A temperate man himself, Lyman Beecher had never been an advocate of total abstinence. "Two leading members of his own church", says Miss Esther H. Thompson, Waterbury American, February 22, 1906, "Capt. Wadsworth and Deacon Bradley, kept a tavern and a grocery store in Bantam, where fermented and dis- tilled liquors flowed freely as was then the universal custom in such places. Unseemly carousals were common, in one of which there was a battle wherein salted codfish figured as weapon, adding thereby no dignity to the church, and deeply grieving the wife of Capt. Wadsworth, who was the sister of Deacon Bradley. She was a woman of superior intellect, deep piety, and early became a believer in total abstinence. It is said that her influence was potent in arousing Dr. Beecher to see and to preach against the evil of intemperance. But he was especially led to sentiments so much in advance of the age by the scruples of his friend and parishioner, Hezekiah Murray, from the Pitch. This man owned a Still. Noticing the evil effects of its product on the young men
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of the neighborhood, he forbad his own sons to drink from it. Then he questioned, 'if distilled liquor was bad for his children, was it right to put it before the sons of his neighbors?' and he came to Dr. Beecher for advice. At first the minister, in accordance with the almost universal opinion of the time, argued strongly in favor of moderate drinking. But the subject was before him and 'would
not down'. After weeks of careful thought and study, there thundered from the pulpit the memorable Six Sermons on Intemper- ance, which we are told were afterwards extensively circulated on both sides of the Atlantic, and started a movement which has never stopped".
No man in the country was more earnest or fearless in his attacks on anything which he had definitely decided for himself to be an abuse. He had previously, in 1806, while at East Hampton, after the Burr-Hamilton duel, led the attack against the then uni- versal custom of dueling. This reform, strange as it may seem to us to-day, was considered a more radical departure than his later crusade in behalf of temperance, but that story is not a part of the History of Litchfield.
Of the Six Sermons themselves, we need speak only in Dr. Beecher's own words; "I didn't set up for a reformer any more than this: when I saw a rattlesnake in my path, I would smite it", and elsewhere, (Autobiography, II., p. 35) : "I wrote under such power of feeling as never before or since. Never could have written them under other circumstances. They took hold of the whole congre- gation. Sabbath after Sabbath the interest grew and became the most absorbing thing ever heard of before. A wonder: of weekly conversation and interest, and, when I got through, of eulogy. All the old farmers that brought in wood to sell, and used to set up their cart-whips at the groggery, talked about it, and said, many of them, that they would never drink again".
With the Six Sermons and the departure of Lyman Beecher the same year for the wider field of his activities in Boston, the question of temperance passes out of the History of Litchfield.
CHAPTER XVI.
FEDERALISTS AND DEMOCRATS.
In Litchfield, as in every other community, party spirit has from time to time run high, in connection with local, state and national elections. In general, no special interest attaches to these incidents once the questions which have been at issue are settled. Only in one instance has the storm of party feeling in Litchfield had an effect outside the borders of the township. This was the bitter fight between the Federalists and the Democrats, which first reached high water mark in 1806, in the imprisonment at Litchfield of the Democratic editor of the Witness, Selleck Osborn; which had its effect upon the establishment in 1814 of the Phoenix Bank in Hartford, with its branch in Litchfield, now our First National Bank; and which culminated with the election in 1817 of Oliver Wolcott Jr. as the first Democratic Governor of Connecticut and the ratification of a new Constitution for the State in the follow- ing year.
The election of Jefferson as President in 1801 had started the tide of party feeling running higher throughout the country than at any time since the Revolution. Perhaps this feeling was less marked in Connecticut than elsewhere; for in this State the govern- ment was solidly Federalist, and while every act of the new party was met with condemnation, the Democrats were treated more with disdain than opposition. The Democrats were however a rising force everywhere, and they had no intention of neglecting Con- necticut. They were well organized, they had complete faith in Jefferson and in themselves, and where they thought it advisable they were absolutely careless of the methods they used to arouse feeling and to win votes. At this day it seems as if much of the feeling was due as largely to the methods they used as to the actual principles involved.
One of the dominant strongholds of Federalism, in this strongly Federalist State was Litchfield. Moses Seymour was at first the only citizen of prominence who was a Democrat, though many of the younger men and very many of the workers in the mills were Demo- crats. Practically all the men of the families of wealth were Federal- ists. The Congregational church was also strongly Federalist. Orig- inally the so-called religion tax. which was a part of the regular tax, was applied exclusively to the benefit of the Congregational church throughout the State. In many parts of the State, as in Litch- field there was no other church. Since 1729 other sects could pay their religion tax for the support of their own ministers instead
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of all having to pay for the Congregational preacher, and later each denomination was allowed to pay its tax in its own way and at separate rates. "In effect, the Congregational was the 'established church' of Connecticut. There were the outward symbols too, as witness the election-day services for generations in the First Church, Hartford, when all the Congregational clergy in the state marched in the procession with state officers and soldiery; and there never was an election sermon by aught except a Congregationalist till that by Dr. Doane the year of the new constitution, 1818". (First Century of the Phoenix Bank, pp. 14-15).
It is not to be wondered at then that politics got into the pulpit. Years before, when Jefferson was elected as the Vice-President with John Adams, Judah Champion prayed for "Thy servant, the Presi- dent of the United States", and then added fervently, "Oh! Lord, wilt Thou bestow on the Vice-President a double portion of Thy grace, for Thou knowest he needs it".
The Episcopal Church, corresponding with the Church of Eng- land was generally considered as being a Tory body, and to carry on the distinction, it was usually identified with the Democratic party. The distinction between the two churches was of course not a true one, however convenient politically, for in the Revolution there were happily patriots in every church, and later the Demo- crats were found in increasing numbers in every church. The best
Americans were too sensible to share in these distinctions. "The
church of St. Michael in Litchfield, was a mark (in the Revolution) for the maliciously disposed; and its windows stood as shattered monuments of the vengeance of adversaries. When General Wash- ington passed through Litchfield the soldiers to evince their attach- ment to him threw a shower of stones at the windows; he reproved them, saying: 'I am a Churchman, and wish not to see the church dishonored and desolated in this manner'." (Mrs. Anna Dickinson, in Saint Michael's Centennial Pamphlet, Nov. 5, 1845, Appendix).
When, after Jefferson's election to the Presidency, the Demo- crats determined on the systematic invasion of Connecticut, they staged a series of political rallies, which they called Festivals. Of these Tapping Reeve wrote, (The Litchfield Festival, 1806) : "It has been fashionable ever since the organization of the Democratic party, for their leaders to appoint public meetings and festivals, which all are invited to attend, and on which great numbers constantly do attend. Thus in March, 1801, a festival in honor of the election of Mr. Jefferson as President, and Mr. Burr as Vice-President, was holden at Wallingford; in 1802 a like festival was holden also at Wallingford; in 1803 at New Haven; in 1804 at Hartford to cele- brate the purchase of Louisiana; in 1806 at Litchfield to celebrate the independence of the United States; and in 1804 a great number, denominated the representatives, from 97 towns were convened at New Haven by order of the then State Manager to devise means for forming a new Constitution for this State".
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The festival in Litchfield was elaborately staged. Timothy Ashley, an editor, was sent to Litchfield, where he started a news- paper, the Witness, on August 14, 1805. He was evidently not considered sensational enough, for presently another editor was sent. Selleck Osborn. Together, the two men made a tremendous stir. Apparently Ashley did the work in the office on South Street, while Osborn furnished the sensations. He started in with a rush that would have done justice to the most radical or sensational paper ever published since, evidently trying to draw out the Federalists to some action which would lay them open to criticism. The more prominent citizens always appeared under nick-names: Col. Benja- min Tallmadge figured as 'Billy Bobtail', Judge Gould as 'Jimmy Dross'; and Julius Deming as the 'Crowbar Justice', so called on account on a supposedly rigid insistence on justice in the matter of the price of a crowbar bought from a political opponent as they came out of a tempestuous town-meeting. (Miss Thompson in Water- bury American, March 1906). The nicknames given to some other residents of the town and printed weekly in the Witness were such as could not appear in print to-day. Osborn began to achieve
results promptly, as might have been expected. Going into the Tallmadge store one day and beginning to criticise everything in sight, one of Col. Tallmadge's sons caught up a horse-whip and sailed into him with a will. This was a great success for Osborn,
and the Witness made the most of it. But more was needed.
Eventually the chance came. Julius Deming lost his temper com- pletely and brought a libel suit against both editors. The result was inevitable. Judgment was brought against both men and they were subjected to a fine. In default of payment they were com-
mitted to the County Jail. Ashley was not so ready to play the martyr as Osborn, and was soon liberated. "I prefer the imprison- ment of the body to that of the mind", contemptuously replied Osborn, when the opportunity to regain his freedom was offered him. The Democrats now took up the cudgels for Osborn, and he was proclaimed a political martyr. The news of his incarceration reached other States, and Democrats elsewhere expressed their sym- pathy and gave their support to the effort to make political capital
It was announced that Osborn's health was out of the incident. suffering from confinement in a damp and loathsome cell, and this was printed in the columns of Democratic journals published far from Litchfield. The Democrats appointed a committee to visit
the Jail, to learn the true situation. Just what secrets of the
Jail the Sheriff revealed, or whether there were any to be revealed, will never be known; but the committee reported that Osborn was confined in the same room with two criminals, charged with capital offences; they reported that the walls were ragged stone work, and the air damp; they asserted that his health was failing. From this time forward the committee made regular visits to the Jail and issued weekly Bulletins through the Witness. In vain the Sheriff, John R. Landon, denied the truth of the reports; the story
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of Osborn's persecution went abroad throughout the land. It was decided to have a demonstration in his honor on August 6, 1806, and this was worked up into the Festival already mentioned. It was a great day for the Democrats in the history of Litchfield. After early salutes by guns and music, there was a parade of troops and civilians. In the procession were United States Cavalry, Militia from Massachusetts, distinguished public officials so far as they proved available. Osborn had the opportunity to enjoy the demonstration in his own behalf. The procession marched past the Jail, which occupied the site of the present School-house, with bared heads. Opposite his window a salute was fired.
Notwithstanding the hatred with which many of the Congre- gationalists regarded Democracy, the Society had generously offered the use of the meeting house for the occasion. Here occurred an unfortunate incident. The Rev. Judah Champion and his colleague, Dan Huntington, had taken their places to hear the exercises, when the chairman of the day, Joseph L. Smith, (son-in-law of Ephraim Kirby and Ruth Marvin, and himself afterwards the father of the celebrated Southern General Kirby Smith), rudely came up to the two ministers and is said to have insulted them and forced them to leave the building.
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