USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. I > Part 66
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VOL. I .- 35.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
first characterized it, the institution in 1878 obtained from the legis- lature a change of its corporate name to that of Hartford Library As- sociation. The library, which was at first a good collection for the time, grew rapidly, and in 1844, when its first catalogue was pub- lished (which contains a historical sketch of the Institute), contained nine thousand volumes, which number has steadily increased, until at present there are about thirty-six thousand. A second catalogue, very carefully and thoroughly made, was issued in 1873. The library having thus offered constantly increasing advantages to the members, the annual price of subscription has been raised from three to five dol- lars ; but the receipts from members' fees have never been adequate to the support of the library, and strenuous efforts have been made to raise a permanent fund. For this purpose some generous donations of money have been made, among them a gift of $10,000 from Roland Mather and one of $5,000 from Timothy M. Allyn. Since 1860 the library has frequently profited by a grant of $500 in a year from the trustees of the Watkinson Library, made in accordance with Mr. Watkinson's will, and conditioned on the appropriation of a like sum from the treasury of the library, and the expenditure of the whole for books under the direction of the trustees of the Watkinson Library. Some bequests have also been made to the library ; among them that of $500 by the Hon. Thomas S. Williams; that of $1,000 by David Watkinson, in addition to the annual grant just referred to; that of $3,500 by John W. Bliss ; that of $5,000 by Charles H. Northam; and that of $1,000 by Robert Buell. Still, its funds are inadequate to keep it above the annually recurring danger of a deficit in its treasury. Strong hopes are enter- tained that the time is not distant when by some arrangement this valuable library may be adequately supported, and thrown open to the public free of charge. Its librarians have been : H. M. Bailey, 1846- 1868; L. M. Boltwood, 1868-1875 ; Miss C. M. Hewins since 1875.
Watkinson Library of Reference. - Among the active members of the Connecticut Historical Society and large subscribers to the Wads- worth Atheneum, none was more distinguished for intelligent interest in these and all other measures for the public welfare than Mr. David Wat- kinson.1 And at his death, in 1857, he fitly crowned the efforts of his life by making a bequest of $100,000 (to which was added a residuary interest in his estate) for the establishment of a free reference library "in connection with the Connecticut Historical Society," and giving an additional sum of $5,000 to the same Society to enlarge their build- ing for the purpose. Mr. Watkinson had conferred with some of his intended trustees, particularly with Dr. Henry Barnard and Mr. Alfred Smith, as to the management of the proposed library ; and his wishes and intentions were thus well known to the trustees, and guided them largely in the shape which they gave to the new institution. The board of trustees named in the will consisted of eighteen members, - thirteen designated individually by name, and five being members ex
1 " David Watkinson came to the United States with his family in 1795. He commenced his business life in this country as a merchant's clerk. After a few years he engaged in mer- cantile pursuits on his own account, and continued in that line of business upward of forty years, until in 1841 he withdrew from active pursuits. He was a pure-minded, benevolent, Christian man." - Address of Alfred Smith, Esq., at opening of the Watkinson Library.
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officiis, namely : the governor of Connecticut and the presidents of the Connecticut Historical Society, Wadsworth Atheneum, Young Men's Institute, and Trinity College. This board was incorporated by the legislature in 1858.
It was Mr. Watkinson's intention that his library should supplement and reinforce other libraries existing in the city, as well as that of the Historical Society, occupying the field of general litera- ture, and leaving to the more special libraries the depart- ments belonging to them. By the sim- ple and judicious plan adopted in the organization of the board of trustees, a practical combina- tion of the various library interests in the city was ef- fected. In the li- braries thus brought into prac- tical co-operation, - namely, the Wat- kinson Library, and those of the His- torical Society, the Young Men's Insti- tute (now Hartford Library Associa- DAVID WATKINSON. tion), the State of Connecticut (in the State Capitol), Trinity College, and the Theological Institute of Connecticut, - there are at present about one hundred and eighty thousand volumes ; and in any comparison of Hartford with other cities it may well be credited with having a well-selected public library of that extent. By virtue of this arrangement, and in view of the annual grant made (as already stated) to the Hartford Library Association out of the Watkinson fund, which enables the Watkinson Library to dispense with purchasing popular and ephemeral publications, the latter library has for its own field that of a general reference library of tolerably well-defined limits, within which it has already become meas- urably complete ; more so, indeed, than many libraries of much greater extent but of a wider range of selection. The forty thousand volumes now on its shelves, having been carefully selected, and bought with a view to their special fitness for a library of this character, are worth more to the student than double the number not thus chosen.
Soon after Mr. Watkinson's death an arrangement was effected between his trustees and the Connecticut Historical Society, for the carrying out of his intention of closely connecting the two libraries.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
The sum of $5,000, left to the Historical Society by Mr. Watkinson for the purpose, was appropriated to the erection of a building on that por- tion of the Atheneum land lying in the rear of the Society's building, and appropriated to its future extension. As the Society had no right to alienate this property from its own uses, it was understood that the new building, while serving to accommodate the Watkinson Library tem- porarily, will ultimately revert to the uses of the Historical Society. In order that the proposed connection of the two libraries might be maintained, the mansion and grounds formerly occupied by Daniel Wadsworth, and lying between the Atheneum and Prospect Street, were purchased by the Watkinson Library trustees, giving ample room for its future building, with an extensive front on Prospect Street, and immediate connection with the Historical Society.
The Watkinson Library was first opened to the public in September, 1866. On the evening of August 28th it was formally presented to the city, appropriate exercises being held at the Allyn House. The regu- lations governing its use, adopted by the trustees, were few and simple, intended to carry out its founder's intention that the library should " be accessible, at all reasonable hours and times, to all citizens and other residents and visitors in the State of Connecticut, under such control, rules, and regulations as . . . will best secure the preservation of the books . .. and comport with the general convenience."
The first president of the trustees of the Watkinson Library was Alfred Smith. He was chosen in 1858, and annually re-elected until his death, in 1868, when he had nearly completed the tenth year of his service in that capacity.1 Mr. George Brinley was appointed to succeed him, and remained in the office until his death, in 1875, when the present incumbent, William R. Cone, Esq., was elected. Mr. Brinley, who is widely known for his remarkable private collection of books, especially on American history, was a native of Hartford. His life was largely devoted to his favorite occupation of collecting books ; but he took a decided and public-spirited interest in the Watkinson Library, and served it most efficiently as president. In providing for the disposition of his private library at his death, he made generous gifts to several public institutions, including one of $5,000 worth of his books to the Watkinson Library. This gift goes far to augment the already considerable collection on American history in the Watkinson Library and that of the Historical Society, and a still further large accession to it will be derived from the bequest of Mr. Sydney Stanley, who died in 1878, leaving all his estate to the library, subject to the life interest of a relative, who soon after deceased. The sum realized from this bequest was about $7,000; and by vote of the trustees this fund is to be kept separate, and its interest devoted to the purchase of books relating to Connecticut, the class of literature in which Mr. Stanley himself took the most interest. He also left his library of about four hundred volumes of well-chosen and carefully kept books to the Watkinson Library.2
1 Mr. Alfred Smith deserves more than passing mention in a notice of these institutions. He was the intimate friend and special adviser both of Daniel Wadsworth and of David Wat- kinson; and to his good judgment and untiring diligence in serving the interests of all these co-related institutions, much of their success is due.
2 Mr. Stanley was a man of quiet and unpretentious life, its simplicity such as to give him a reputation for eccentricity; while to the few who knew him he was remarkable for the
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LIBRARIES.
The library has received gifts of books from time to time from others, chief among which are the numerous and valuable donations of Mr. George F. Bacon.
J. Hammond Trumbull, LL.D., has been the librarian of the Wat- kinson Library from the beginning, and has been charged with the selection and purchase of books, subject to the approval of a library committee annually appointed by the trustees.
State Library. - The State Library of Connecticut, founded on the gradual accumulations of public documents, statutes, and law reports of other States, has in the last twenty-five years, under the manage- ment of Charles J. Hoadly, State Librarian, and with substantial appro- priations voted by the legislature as required, become a most valuable and useful collection, numbering at present about sixteen thousand volumes. It is constantly open for consultation to all proper appli- cants. It has thus far been devoted mostly to law reports (of which it contains one of the best collections in the country ) and other works suitable for a legislative library ; but in its new and spacious quar- ters in the new capitol building its range is to be somewhat extended, and it is proposed to embrace in it whatever works are of interest from their connection, through author or subject, with Connecticut and its literary as well as civil history. The walls of the present library hall bear a nearly complete series of portraits of the Governors of the Colony and State of Connecticut.
Other Libraries in Hartford. - Besides the libraries of Trinity Col- lege and of the Theological Institute of Connecticut, of which a fuller account appears in the chapters devoted to those institutions, Hartford contains several excellent and quite extensive libraries, either public or semi-public, to which the space allotted to this chapter permits only the briefest allusion, but a mere mention of which shows that the com munity possesses rare advantages in this respect.
At the Hartford Hospital is a well-chosen, though as yet incipient, medical library of over three thousand volumes, which is supplemented by the library at the Connecticut Retreat for the Insane, of about seven thousand. The American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb has about two thousand five hundred volumes of books largely relating to its specialty, and keeps well up with new publications in that direction.
The library of the Hartford Public High School contains about one thousand five hundred volumes of an unusually high order of merit, and is regularly increased by annual appropriations for the purpose. Other school libraries contain over three thousand volumes more. The library of the Natural History Society (not now in active existence) is accessible at the Hospital, and contains some hundreds of volumes of valuable scientific works. The Hartford Bar Library Association has about eight hundred volumes of the best law books. The Hartford
kindliness and excellence of his character, coupled with a genuine love of books and a retentive memory, which gave to his conversation a quaint flavor of bookishness. Early in life he came to Hartford from the neighboring town where he was born, and was for many years clerk in the office of the Secretary of State. In later life he spent his time in reading, in hunting for books and pamphlets at the junk-shops and book-stalls, and in visiting the pub- lic libraries, where he felt more at home than anywhere else. He was not married. He died Oct. 18, 1878, aged seventy-three.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
Catholic Institute, the Sister Dora Society, and other associations also have libraries. There are also several large parish libraries in the city supported for the benefit of the members of the respective parishes by annual appropriations, probably the oldest and largest of which is that of the First, or Centre (Congregational), Church, which has an endow- ment yielding about $500 annually for the purchase of books.
W.J. Fletcher.
DANIEL WADSWORTH, FOUNDER OF WADSWORTH ATHENEUM.
(From a copy of Ingham's portrait.)
551
TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION.
SECTION X. TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION.
BY W. A. AYRES.
ROADS AND TURNPIKES. - STAGES. - STEAMBOATS. - RAILROADS.
WHEN the Hooker Colony came across the country to Hartford, in 1636, they travelled through what was literally a trackless forest. They built up their settlement, and within it they laid out roads at once ; but they were still shut in by forests, remote from other settle- ments, and had no special motive or reasonable cause to build ways outside of their own narrow limits. For many years the phrase was, " the path to New Haven," or wherever the place was. In 1638 a road " for cart and horse," with bridges over the swamps, was ordered made to Windsor. Road-making at that time was a serious business. The country in that region had been partly cleared by the Indians, and the most desirable routes were known; but, on the other hand, the work was to be done by a few men who had more than enough other claims on their time. The lay-out of the settlement was so good that it remained substantially unchanged for a very long series of years ; but at the end of that time the roads were mere country roads, deep with mud in the spring or after heavy rains, sometimes nearly or quite im- passable, so that for foot-passengers they were, like such roads now, worse than none at all. This, however, was for only a small part of the year. In 1760 many residents of Hartford, including all the clergy- men, petitioned the General Assembly for a lottery to raise £6,000 to repair Main Street, because it was probably the worst road in the colony. The lottery for some reason was not granted, though this method of raising money was long after held to be perfectly legiti- mate. As for Hartford itself, the roads, such as they were, were laid out with foresight, and in lines that met public requirement much longer than could possibly have been anticipated when the work was done. Only one new highway was ordered for one hundred and forty- four years, from 1640 to 1784.
There is an interesting paragraph as to this early road-building in the address made by Mr. John C. Parsons, of Hartford, at the celebra- tion of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Centre Church. The address was on the topography of Hartford, and the passage is as follows : -
" One of the first embarrassments of the settlers -an embarrassment that has long remained to haunt their successors-was the badness of the roads. As a gen- eral rule in new settlements, the better the soil, the poorer the roads. The tenacious clay that underlies the loam of Hartford is the most intractable of all material for road-building. Those who have seen, within the last thirty years, wheels sunk to the hub in the native clay of Pearl Street, within two hundred yards of this spot, can faintly imagine what must have been the condition of all the high- ways of the town, not only in 1640, but for long years afterward ; and it is
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
easy to sympathize with the ardor which, one hundred and fifty years ago, fired the people of this church in the fierce and long dispute about a new location for their meeting-house, when we remember that every additional yard of distance between home and church meant additional weary struggle with mud and mire. About the middle of the eighteenth century some attempt was made to improve the condition of Main Street, but little seems to have been done then, or for fifty years afterward, except to fill the worst holes and quagmires with stone from Rocky Hill. There is a credible tradition that not far from the beginning of this century the late Mrs. Daniel Wadsworth, on a Thanksgiving Day, was unable to cross Main Street, from her home near the City Hotel, to Colonel Wadsworth's house on the Atheneum lot, except on horseback. How the first settlers, in bad weather, ever travelled the road to Wethersfield, which has been all but impas- sable for wheels during the memory of many here present, is a puzzle and a wonder to us."
A foot-note to this passage, as afterward printed, mentions a peti- tion of prisoners at the jail on Trumbull Street, which, dated in 1774, asked that the jail limits might be extended as far east as the court- house, because the charitable, who would otherwise relieve their needs, were kept away " by reason that the gaol is in so retired and back part of the town, so seldom frequented by any inhabitants of the town, all the roads which lead to it being for a considerable part of the year miry and uncomfortable to walk in." Shortly following the incorpo- ration of the city, in 1784, came the laying out of streets, and in 1790 the stoning of Main Street began. About the same time began the era of turnpikes. Before this there had been a gradual making of roads through the country. They spread out from the few earlier centres, and extended by degrees until they began to connect and make a network over the whole region. This development was not very rapid ; it seems to have gone, however, quite as fast as the needs of the colony required. In 1717 the General Assembly granted to Captain Joseph Munson, of New Haven, the exclusive right of transporting persons and goods between New Haven and Hartford for seven years. This was in con- sideration of his having first been at "the cost and charge to set up a waggon to pass and transport passengers and goods" between the two places. The privilege was conditioned, " that said John Munson . . shall annually during the term aforesaid, at least on the first Monday of every month, excepting December, January, February, and March, set forth with the said waggon from New Haven, and with all conven- ient dispatch drive up to Hartford, and thence in the same week return to New Haven, -bad weather and extraordinary casualties excepted,- on penalty of ten shillings for each neglect." There was a penalty of forty shillings for infringing on Mr. Munson's privilege, and it was to be paid to him on successful proof on his part that the exclusive right given him had been violated. This stage is believed to have run at intervals of two weeks, thereby improving on the requirements of the grant. In 1772 a stage began to run between Boston and New York, passing through Hartford, occupying four days in the journey. A trip in each direction was made every second week. In 1802 there was a daily stage line over the route. The coach left Boston at 10 A.M., and reached Hartford at eight o'clock on the evening of the following day, and New York at noon of the third day from its departure from Bos- ton. The stopping-places for the night were Worcester, Hartford, and Stamford, and passengers had to start at 3 A.M. from each of these
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places. By this time, however, turnpikes had been considerably ex- tended. Their growth was an important element in the development of the whole region through which they passed, and made a closer connec- tion between the larger centres, like Hartford and the county towns.
The first turnpike chartered by Connecticut was the Mohegan, between Norwich and New London, in 1792; the Hartford, New Lon- don, Windham, and Tolland County came next, in 1795; and from this time almost every year, up to 1839, added one or more to the number. The desire for rapid and easy communication was stimulated with every addition, and all this paved the way for the development of steamboat and railroad traffic. A list of the turnpikes chartered from 1792 to 1839, arranged according to the date of the charters, will show some- thing of the forces that were at work : -
1792. Mohegan.
1795. Hartford, New London, Windham, and Tolland Counties ; New London and Windham County ; Norwalk and Danbury ; Oxford.
1797. Fairfield, Weston, and Redding; New Milford and Litchfield ; Sauga- tuck ; Straits ; Stratfield and Weston.
1798. Green Woods; Hartford and New Haven ; Litchfield and Harwinton ; Ousatonic ; Talcott Mountain.
1799. Canaan and Litchfield ; Windham.
1800. Cheshire ; Farmington River ; Granby ; Hartford and New London ; Windham and Mansfield.
1801. Bridgeport and Newtown ; Danbury and Ridgefield ; Hartford and Tol- land ; Norwich and Woodstock ; Torrington ; Waterbury River.
1802. Greenwich and Ridgefield ; Hebron and Middle Haddam ; Middlesex ; New Haven and Milford ; New Preston ; Pomfret and Killingly ; Rimmons Falls.
1803. Goshen and Sharon ; Middle Road ; Stafford Pool ; Thompson ; Wash- ington.
1805. Colchester and Norwich.
1806. Connecticut ; Connecticut and Rhode Island ; Warren.
1807. New London and Lyme.
1808. Colchester and Chatham ; Columbia; Middletown and Berlin.
1809. Chatham and Marlborough ; East Haddam and Colchester; Middletown and Meriden ; Sharon and Cornwall.
1811. Durham and East Guilford.
1812. Farmington and Harwinton ; Southington and Waterbury.
1813. Killingworth and Haddam ; Middletown and Durham.
1814. Litchfield and Cornwall ; Haddam and Durham.
1815. Still River.
1816. Cheshire and North Killingworth.
1817. Dragon.
1818. Groton and Stonington ; New Milford and Sherman ; Pettipauge and Guilford ; Windham and Hamden.
1820. Pleasant Valley.
1822. Essex.
1823. New Milford and Woodbury ; West Middle; Woodbridge and Water- bury.
1824. Fair Haven; Guilford and Durham ; Pine's Bridge; Salem and Ham- burgh.
1825. Humphreysville and Salem ; Providence ; Sandy Brook.
1826. Centre ; Monroe and Zoar Bridge; Windham and Brooklyn; Wolcott- ville ; Zoar Bridge ; Northfield.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
1827. New Milford and Roxbury ; Norwich and Salem.
1828. Huntington ; Tolland and Mansfield ; Weston.
1829. Newtown and Norwalk ; Shetucket ; Sugar Hollow.
1830. Moosup ; Wells Hollow.
1831. Branch.
1832. Black Rock and Weston ; Simpaug.
1833. Monroe and Newtown.
1834. Cheshire and North Killingworth (second) ; Fairfield County ; Had- lyme ; Hartford and Worcester; Kent and Warren; River; Sherman and Redding.
1835. Hop River ; Madison and North Killingworth.
1836. Litchfield and Plymouth.
1839. Millington.
Almost as soon as the last of these charters was granted, the revo- cation of charters began. The railroads took away the need for turn- pikes, and within twenty years very few were left. The turnpikes became open highways, and at present only six remain. They were strictly regulated by law, and were in charge of commissioners who had very considerable powers. The gates were usually at intervals of about ten miles, and the tolls were about twenty-five cents for a stage- coach or carriage, six and a quarter cents for a one-horse wagon, and so on down to one cent for single animals driven along the road. Per- sons attending funerals, or going to church or "training," were not required to pay, nor those living within some fixed distance of the gate, and passing it on their ordinary business. Over these turnpikes ran numerous stage lines. As late as 1842 there were twenty-two running from Hartford. The longest routes at that time were to Haverhill, New Hampshire, one hundred and ninety-six miles, and to Brattle- borough, Vermont, eighty-eight miles. By the former, passengers left at 5 P.M., travelled all night, and reached Haverhill in the afternoon of the following day. By the second, they left at 4 A.M. and arrived at Brattle- borough at 7 P.M. There was at this time a daily mail stage for New Haven, though the New Haven and Hartford Railroad was in opera- tion. Belonging about this time is a handbill, printed on a large sheet of yellow paper, of which a fac-simile is given on the next page, repre- senting part of the business of a leading Hartford citizen.
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