USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. I > Part 40
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The proprietors held frequent meetings to discuss the management of the Common; and finally, at a meeting convened Nov. 20, 1753, it was voted that a division of these lands - which the inhabitants had " quietly held and enjoyed from Time beyond the Memory of Man "- should be made to the proprietors, according to the grand list of 1752. Captain Stephen Hosmer, Captain John Pitkin, Lieutenant Jonathan Seymour, Captain Jonathan Hills, Mr. John Skinner, and Mr. Daniel Bull were appointed a committee to make the list. When the list was presented, on the 21st of December following, it was voted that the same committee should lay out the large tract known as the Town Commons, on the west side of the river; which was accordingly done, and the method of division adopted by the committee confirmed by a town vote, March 26, 1754. The report of the committee by whom this last considerable portion of the Commons was distributed is still in existence. This tract stretched from Wethersfield bounds to Windsor, lying west of the two branches of the Little River, and extending west- ward to the lots previously apportioned to the proprietors on West Hartford Street. It was laid out in thirty tiers of lots, and provision was made for numerous highways across the tract. The common lands on the east side of the river were obtained in 1672 by the pur- chase of the tract known as the Five Miles, from Joshua, sachem of the Niantic Indians, son of Uncas, sachem of the Mohegans. This land is now comprised in the town of Manchester, and a further account of it will be found in the history of that town.
The Green, or Square, in front of the Court House, was also a part of the public domain. It was encroached upon greatly, and in 1749 it was
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found necessary to set up monuments at the corners to show the boun- daries. These monuments were to be placed, - one on Mr. Ebenezer Wil- liamson's lot, one on the northwest corner of the homestead belonging to the heirs of Mr. John Caldwell, one on the north end of the dwelling- house of Moss, and one on Joseph Olcott's home-lot. The land outside of straight lines run from one of these monuments to the other was to be sold, and Messrs. Daniel Edwards, James Church, and Thomas Seymour were to have charge of the matter. The Square at first included the space from Kingsley Street on the north to Grove Street on the south (though neither of those streets were then in exist- ence) and Market Street on the east. This enclosure was the scene of all the festivities and solemnities that occurred in the town, and many persons well known in American history have walked across its pave- ments. The freemen of the colony assembled in this Square yearly for the purpose of choosing the governor and other public officers, and the General Court held its sessions in the meeting-house; here Colonel Fletcher attempted to read his royal commission and instructions, Oct. 26, 1693, when stout Captain Wadsworth ordered the drums to be beaten to drown the aide-de-camp's voice, and uttered the sanguinary threat, found in all the school histories, that "he would make the sun shine through him" if he interrupted the trainband exercises any further. Here, Sept. 19, 1727, George II. was proclaimed King, the proclamation being read at the head of the First Regiment, drawn up on the Square, with " many of the principal planters and gentlemen of quality " standing by ; when the glorious news of the capture of Louisburg was received, July 8, 1745, an ox was roasted whole on the Green in the presence of many gentlemen of distinction, and in the midst of great rejoicings. The first company of the trainband drilled and exer- cised here, and the Square has often resounded with the clang of arms ; later, as we approach the Revolutionary period, we see Ingersoll the Stamp-master reading his resignation, while the Sons of Liberty regard him with stern faces ; later still, Washington and Rochambeau, accom- panied by their respective staffs, met, according to tradition, near what was the east end of the State House yard, - now covered by the post- office building, - when they came to Hartford, in 1781, to plan the campaign which closed with the capture of Yorktown ; Count Rochan- beau, General Chastellux, and their suites came from the ferry up Market Street, Washington and Knox up Main Street, from their quarters at Colonel Wadsworth's.
The fatal accident known in the annals of Hartford as " the blowing up of the school-house " occurred within the borders of the Square, that building standing in front of the present American Hotel. It was the day of thanksgiving for the repeal of the Stamp Act, May 23, 1766, ushered in by the ringing of bells, the display of colors by the shipping in the river, and the firing of cannon, and preparations were making for a general illumination in the evening. A number of young gen- tlemen had come together to make sky-rockets in an upper chamber of the brick school-house, while the powder stored in the room below was being distributed to the militia. Two companies of soldiers had just received a pound for each man, when the powder scattered by this delivery was thoughtlessly set on fire by boys, and in an instant the building was reduced to a heap of ashes, and twenty-eight persons
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were buried in its ruins, six of whom died after being taken out of the crumbling mass, and the others were more or less injured. On the 25th of May a sermon was preached in the North Meeting-house by the Rev. John Devotion, of Saybrook, as a funeral discourse in memory of the unfortunate individuals killed by the explosion. These were Mr. Levi Jones ; Mr. William Gardiner, a merchant on Queen Street ; Dr. Nathaniel Ledyard, brother of Colonel William Ledyard of the Groton fort, - all young and newly married men; Richard Lord, son of Mr. John Haynes Lord ; John Knowles, an apprentice to Thomas Sloan the blacksmith ; and Richard Burnham, son of Mr. Elisha Burnham.
In 1694 the sign-post was ordered to be set up near the bridge, but it was afterward removed to the Square, and was probably used as the public whipping-post also. In early days the stocks were also located on the Square, and the spectacle of men seated in the stocks must have been frequently seen, as it was a common punishment for drunkenness or profanation of the Sabbath. Later, there was a pillory ; and in 1768 Thomas Baldwin, of Meriden, was condemned to stand in this instru- ment of torture one hour, and to receive ten stripes on the naked body, for the crime of blasphemy. Blood must have flowed on the Square, too, for occasionally criminals were condemned to lose their right cars ; and in 1767 two men convicted of burglary were sentenced to have their right ears cut off and to be branded on their foreheads with the letter " B."
The jail was on the north side of the Square, "a prison house " being built in 1698. A workhouse was ordered to be constructed in 1727, and Captain Nathaniel Stanly, Mr. John Austin, and Mr. Jolin Skinner appointed a committee to procure land for the purpose. In 1729 a building was erected on what is now Pearl Street, beyond Trum- bull, 50 feet in length, 32 feet in breadth, and 14 feet between the joints. In 1734, £60 was appropriated to be used for the workhouse, part for the hiring of a good and suitable master, and part for bed- ding, etc. The master was to have one third part of the earnings of all persons under his care, and was not to exact more than 8s. per week for boarding occupants except in cases of sickness. Later, the jail was removed to the spot now occupied by the Case, Lockwood, & Brainard Company, on the corner of Pearl and Trumbull streets. After the Revolution the street now known as Pearl Street was Prison Street, and the road from the jail to the Little River was Workhouse Lane. It was somewhere in this locality that the selectmen were ordered, Feb. 25, 1782, to set out a small piece of land and build a house on it for the use of Niel McLean, " the old soldier, as long as he lives," "to remain to the Town for a Poor-House."
The public market was on the south side of the Square, - an open building with stalls, standing in front of what is now Central Row, and extending easterly to Prospect Street. Wednesday was the market-day for all manner of commodities that might be brought in.
The Square was formerly called Meeting-house Yard, and the meeting- house of the First Church stood on the east side of the present City Hall Square. The building was nearly square, with a hip roof, in the centre of which was a turret, in which hung the bell used for both eccle- siastical and secular purposes. This bell was broken in 1725, and
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Captain Nathaniel Stanly, Captain Hezekiah Wyllys, Captain Thomas Seymor, and Mr. John Austin were appointed a committee "to take the best advice they can what is best to be done with the Town Bell, under the present broken Circumstances of it," whether it should be " Sent home to England," or to have it new cast in New England. The next year a rate of £100 was levied to pay the charges of sending the bell to Great Britain.
In 1737 the old meeting-house was pulled down, after an existence of ninety-nine years ; the people having decided, after a long discussion, to place the new building on the southeast corner of the burying-lot, permission to do so being granted by the town. The First Church has continued on that site now for nearly one hundred and fifty years, the present church being the second building.
As before stated, the General Assembly met in the meeting-house, and evidently the building was somewhat dilapidated before the new court-house was built ; as in 1715 Joseph Talcott, Esq., was ordered " to take care and set workmen to mend and repair the court chamber in the first meeting-house in Hartford, so that it may be safe for the court to be held in the same."
The General Assembly granted £500 for a new Court House in 1718, which was built in 1719 on the west side of the Square, nearly on a line with Main Street. This structure was 72 feet long, 30 broad, and 24 between joints, with a range of pillars under the middle of the beams of the chamber floor, a door on each side and at each end, a staircase at the southwest and another at the southeast corner, and two chambers of thirty feet long, one for the Council and another for the Representatives, a staircase into the garrets, and a lobby to the Council-chamber.1 Truly, not such a spacious and elegant building as the present sightly Capitol of Connecticut. In 1734 James Church, of Hartford, was appointed doorkeeper of the Court House, at a salary of £3 annually.
Main Street as originally laid out was much wider than at present, a fort being placed at either end, one near the South Green, at the fork of the roads leading to Wethersfield and Farmington. The other fort was on Centinel Hill, near what is now the head of Morgan Street. The street being straight, the guards on duty were able to see from one fort to the other ; but the land being desirable for shops and business purposes, many persons petitioned for license to build on the highway and public Square, and in this way the parade- ground and street were contracted to their present dimensions. Almost the earliest permission of this kind was given to David Bigelow, Dec. 18, 1711, for the use of a piece of land opposite the burying-yard, next to Captain Williamson's fence, where he proposed to carry on the potter's trade. "In the good old Colony days, when George the Second was King," Main Street was Queen Street, and State Street was King Street. Many signs were used after the English fashion, as we learn from old advertisements ; for instance, - " Hezekiah Merrill sells Books, Painter's Colours, and Medicines at the Sign of the Unicorn and Mortar ; " "Thomas Hilldrup sells and repairs Watches at the Sign of the Taylor's Shears ;" " Thomas Green sells Bibles, Common-Prayer
1 Colonial Records, vol. v. pp. 198, 289.
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Books, &c., at the sign of the Heart and Crown ;" and Sally Tripper kept a shop " in Draw Lane, opposite the Sign of the Trowell."
The burying-lot mentioned above was the one now known as the old Centre Church grave-yard, which then came forward to the street, cov- ering the space now occupied by the Centre Church, the lecture-room building, and the adjoining block. In 1712 all persons were prohibited from carting over the burying-ground. Apparently at a later period the " burying Lott " was leased to individuals, who kept it fenced and fed calves and sheep in it. On these terms it was leased to Mrs. Abigail Woodbridge, 1737, by the selectmen. She was probably the last person to whom it was so granted, for in 1756, after her death, the Selectmen were desired to have " the Burying Lott in the Body of the Town" well fenced about, and so kept at as little expense as may be to the Town. In 1771 a school-house was built on the northeast corner of the " bury- ing Lott," south of James Mooklar's barber-shop.
The pall, or funeral-cloth, used at burials was invariably provided by the town; and in 1742 it was voted that Mr. Samuel Talcott be paid £18 for a funeral-cloth for the use of the town.
The population on the east side of the river formed a much larger proportion of the inhabitants of Hartford before the Revolution than now, and their importance was proportionately greater. A census taken in 1761 gives the whole population of Hartford as 3,938 people, black and white, 152 being negroes. Of this number 1,588 lived on the east side of the river. The influential Pitkin family, of East Hart- ford, held a prominent place in the civil, military, and judicial affairs of the colony. From 1659 to 1840 the Pitkins were conspicuous in the Town, Colony, and State, and furnished judges to the bench, besides one chief magistrate, and military officers to lead the forces of the Col- ony against the French and Indians, and later against the British regulars. This pre-eminence of one family was not an infrequent occurrence in colonial times, - the Wolcotts of Windsor being another example : and the Wyllyses, of Charter Oak Hill, held the offices of Sec- retary of State and Town Clerk of Hartford, father and son continu- ously, for nearly one hundred years ; and the three sons of old Secretary George Wyllys held prominent positions in the Continental army.
Long before the Revolution the people of the east side considered themselves of sufficient importance to form a town by themselves ; but the west side succeeded in preventing any separation until 1783, when the town of East Hartford was incorporated.
While considering the history of the town of Hartford, our atten- tion has thus far been seldom called to the affairs of the outside world. It was only occasionally that new inhabitants presented themselves, and they had to be admitted by vote of the town ; as, for instance, Dec. 25, 1705, it was voted in town-meeting that Ephraim Jones, of Concord, would be made an inhabitant if he came here. This for- mality was continued for many years ; and Dec. 6, 1757, Mr. Gabriel Ludlow, " late of the City and Province of New York," having removed hither on the 17th of July previous, and desiring the approbation of the inhabitants, was graciously accepted and declared a resident. The population of Hartford in 1756 was 2,926 whites, 101 negroes. / The whole county did not contain as many people as now reside in
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Hartford alone, - the number then being 35,714 whites and 854 negroes.
In 1757 we obtain an unexpected glimpse of the Acadian exiles, immortalized by Longfellow. The Town-book of Hartford is not the place where we should look for souvenirs of the companions of Evan- geline ; but those unfortunate people were distributed among the colo- nies from Massachusetts to Virginia,1 and Connecticut received four hundred of these "French neutrals," who were called so, because, although the soil they lived upon was British territory, they claimed to be regarded as neutrals, not liable to be called upon to bear arms either for or against the English. Thirteen of these people were assigned to Hartford, nine to Wethersfield, fourteen to Farmington, etc. ; and the selectmen of the various towns were directed to take care of them, and not to allow any of them to depart out of the towns where they belonged, without permission. Dec. 6, 1757, by town vote the selectmen of Hartford were directed to build a small house for the accommodation of these people, as no suitable habitation could be hired ; and also to find business and employment for them if possible. The only further mention of these emigrants is two years later, Dec. 26, 1759, when Mr. Robert Nevins is granted the sum of 20s. for portion of rent and damages sustained while the French people lived in his house. Whether they remained here, or whether they found their way back to Nova Scotia, as many of the Acadians did finally, we have no means of discovering from the town records.
Our materials for a history of the post-office in Hartford are very seanty. King William III. established a post-office in Boston in 1694, the mails to be conveyed thence to New York and the New England colonies; but probably for a number of years there was no very regular means of communication. In 1708 John Campbell, post- master, Boston, wrote to the Governor and Council of Connecticut, offering to establish a constant post between Hartford and Saybrook.2 How frequent this was we can only judge from the fact that in 1715 the western post left Boston for Connecticut, New York, and Pennsyl- vania once a fortnight in the winter months, probably once a week in the summer.
June, 1755, James Parker, postmaster at New Haven, and printer of the "Connecticut Gazette," employed a post-rider from New Haven to Hartford, who carried the " Gazette " and letters. Leaving New Haven Saturday morning, going by Wallingford, Durham, Middletown, and Wethersfield, to Hartford, he returned Monday evening, so as to be in New Haven Tuesday evening. John Mc Knight was the postmaster in Hartford then.
In 1764 John Walker was postmaster. A weekly post between Hart- ford and New London was ordered in 1767, leaving Hartford Tuesdays, and returning Friday night or Saturday. William Ellery, a merchant on Queen Street (grandfather of the late Governor Thomas H. Sey- mour), succeeded Walker about 1770 or 1771; and May 7, 1771, the post-office was removed to the house of John Ledyard, Esq., on Arch Street. Ellery received his commission from Franklin and Hunter,
1 See Parkman's " Montcalm and Wolfe," vol. i. p. 282.
2 See Colonial Records, vol. iv. p. 47, note.
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the Postmasters-General under the Crown, who introduced many im- provements, and made the post-office department much more like the modern institution than ever before. In 1777 Ellery resigned, and Thomas Hilldrup, the watchmaker and jeweller, from London, was appointed in his stead, and the post-office was removed to his shop, " a few rods north of the State House." During Hilldrup's incumbency, which continued until 1794, the office was very frequently moved, ac- cording to tradition.1 In 1779 he advertised that, having removed his family a few miles from town, "in future the post-office will be attended at stated hours only ; namely, the post days, immediately after service in the afternoon ; and on every other day in the week, from nine o'clock in the morning until sundown, Saturdays excepted, - the riders to depart at nine o'clock Monday morning." A few years later, in 1786, the mail facilities were improved ; and Jan. 7, 1786, the post- master advertises that the different mails (except Providence) will arrive at the office, by stage, twice every week ; namely, Wednesdays and Saturdays, at seven P.M.
The first attempt to establish a regular communication between Hartford and New Haven was in 1717, when Captain John Munson, of New Haven, was given by the General Assembly the sole privilege of transporting passengers and goods between the two places for seven years, with the provision that it should be lawful for any person to transport his goods, or any of his own family, in his own wagon. Any person who should employ any other conveyance than John Munson's, or his own, should be fined 40s. Apparently this method of transporta- tion was interrupted in the winter; for Munson was to start from New Haven on the first Monday of every month excepting December, Jan- uary, February, and March, and with all convenient despatch to drive to Hartford, and thence in the same week return to New Haven.
Fifty-five years later the travelling facilities were so far improved that stages left Hartford once a week for Boston and New York. In February, 1772, Jonathan Brown and Nicholas Brown advertised that their coaches would leave Hartford every Monday, one for Boston and one for New York, reaching their destinations Wednesday night. The return trip was made on Thursday, arriving in Hartford Saturday night ; thus requiring a whole week for the round trip from Hartford to New York, which can now be made in one day. Many travellers undoubtedly went by water to the various seaports. Jan. 30, 1769, Paul Hatch, master of the sloop " Betsey," advertises that he will take freight, or passengers, for Boston or Nantucket; and the journey to New York was frequently made in a similar manner.
The position of Hartford, midway between New York and Boston, made it a convenient stopping-place in the old coaching days, and we read in the columns of the ". Connecticut Courant " the names of many prominent individuals who passed through the town. Sometimes the chronicle sounds quite like the "Court Journal." June 30, 1768, Sir William Johnson came to town from New London, where he had been " for the recovery of his health," and proceeded the same day on his journey to Johnson Hall. "July 4, 1768, came to town his Excel-
1 It is said that Sheriff Williams drove up one day to the office and was informed it had been removed. He replied, "Hilldrup moves so often, he will have moved again before I can get there.
V
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leney Lord Charles Greville Montague, Governor of South Carolina, and his lady." Later we find the names of our Revolutionary heroes, - Mr. Paul Revere, the Hon. John Hancock, Esq., his Excellency Gen- eral Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, the Chevalier John Paul Jones, and others.
Hartford was also a stopping-place for troops on their way to the camp at Charlestown during the siege of Boston. Aug. 9, 1775, it is stated that nine companies of riflemen, from Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, passed through the town. When the British were driven out of Boston the current was reversed, and numerous bodies of soldiers passed through Hartford, going southward.
In 1776, when New York was threatened by the English troops, besides companies of foot, three regiments of light-horse, under Colonel Thomas Seymour, of Hartford, marched to the aid of the beleaguered city. The " Courant " of July 22 contains an item that the troop of light-horse belonging to this town had returned, their place being supplied by the foot.
In January, 1777, Colonel Samuel Wyllys's battalion was ordered to rendezvous in this town, for the purpose of filling the ranks and perfecting the raw levies in military exercises and the selectmen were directed to assist Colonel Wyllys in procuring barracks, etc.
A portion of General Gates's division of the Continental army was encamped for a time, in October, 1778, on the North Meadow, and later in West Hartford. On the 3d of November an entertainment was given by his Excellency Governor Trumbull, to the general, his brigadiers, and field-officers. A company of the train of artillery paraded before the Court House, and " by the exactness of their discipline rendered them- selves respectable to the numerous spectators." Dinner was served at three o'clock, probably at Bull's tavern, the " Bunch of Grapes," oppo- site the Court House ; and at half-past five the distinguished company were conducted back to the Court House, after a salvo of thirteen guns. On the 17th of November, General Putnam took the command of the troops, and a week after they marched to Danbury. A year later Gen- eral Gates was here again, with two regiments; but the visit of the French troops under Rochambeau, in East Hartford, made a stronger impression on the popular mind, and has been the longest remembered in tradition. The place of their encampment was Silver Lane, in East Hartford, which derived its name from the kegs of silver coin which were opened there for the purpose of paying the troops. This was a welcome sight to eyes accustomed to the ragged bits of depre- ciated paper-money issued by Congress. The high value set upon specie is shown by an advertisement in the " Courant," Oct. 31, 1779, in which John Watson, of East Windsor, offers $3,000 reward for the recovery of 125 guineas, 20 half-guineas, 7 half-joes, and 34 dollars, "all very bright and new," stolen by thieves.
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