USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. I > Part 69
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Especially prominent among these is the Willimantic Linen Com- pany, manufacturing spool-cotton, which is outside of the county and so not mentioned in any of the sketches in this history. From small beginnings it has grown to a great concern of $2,000,000 capital, em- ploying 1,500 persons. One of the master minds in building it up was Austin Dunham, who was for many years its president, until his death in March, 1877. He was also largely interested in manufactures in Rockville, Windsor, and other places in the State. He was born in Mansfield in 1805, and came to Hartford in 1834, where he acquired a large fortune. He became vice-president of the Ætna Life Insurance Company, and director in the Ætna and the Steam Boiler Insurance Companies, the Phoenix Bank, and other important concerns. He was a man of much public spirit and a leading citizen of Hartford.
Another great Hartford manufactory, which is sketched at length in the history of Enfield, is the Hartford Carpet Company, with its cap- ital of $1,500,000. Much of its later success is due to the able man- agement of Mr. George Roberts, of Hartford, who was its president for thirty-two years, during which it grew from moderate beginnings to its present great importance. Mr. Roberts was born in East Hartford in 1810, and died in Hartford in 1878. He was connected with many of the most successful business enterprises of the city, and was held in wide respect and esteem.
W. a. ayres
574
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
SECTION XII. SOCIAL LIFE AFTER THE REVOLUTION.
BY HENRY BALDWIN.
SOCIAL LIFE FROM THE REVOLUTION TO 1830. - CUSTOMS OF THE TOWN. - AMUSE- MENTS AND THE THEATRE. - THE ASSEMBLY. - HOLIDAYS AND ELECTION DAY. - FASHIONS AND LUXURIES. - SOCIETY.1
THE condition of society in Connecticut at the close of the Revolu- tion, as revealed by publications, sermons, and letters, was, as else- where, disordered, and looked upon by faint-hearted prophets as almost hopelessly lawless.2 Vice, intemperance, and irreligion no longer trembled before pulpit and statute. Sanctuaries were deserted, or attended with little zeal, and suffered to stand with broken windows and leaky roofs ; moreover, "the horrid and indecent practice " of sleep- ing in meeting had become common. The minister no longer offered prayer before and after the raising of a house-frame. Barbers' shops were open on Sunday. Family discipline was lax. Respect for supe- riors and elders was ceasing. In places where before the war disputes between townsmen had always been settled by their neighbors, the lawyer was now called in. Honors, Contents, and Mindwells eloped or " behaved oddly ;" and recreant husbands, unsettled in habits by army life, departed for remote Vermont, or the regions beyond what was then called "the formidable Hudson." It had become necessary to bar doors at night, so many "transient persons " were roaming about. Slaves were heading for Boston, "that asylum of runaways," as one owner called it in his advertisement. Speculation in lands and lotter- ies had become a craze ; and beggary was increasing in the community, which, if never wealthy as a whole, had at least been noted for its thrift.3
In view of these things, one could not expect the pictures of social life in Hartford before 1800 to be agreeable in their subjects or to possess rich color and interesting detail ; but while it is true that the little town presented its infrequent pageants in a meagre way and
1 In addition to the information obtained from newspapers, the writer has received aid from members or descendants of the Boardman, Colt, Day, Dodd, Ely, Goodrich, Goodwin, Hooker, Lloyd, Sheldon, and Talcott families.
2 An earlier seer kindly postponed the day of doom. A carved box in the possession of Samuel Talcott's descendants, which came from the Wyllys family, and originally from a French privateer, bears the following sentences on the inside, and the date, July 17, 1764. "In July 14, 1866, America's fate is fixt. O posteri ! Posteri ! Cavete in Anno 1866. . . . Propheticus est. - HEZEKIAH WYLLYS."
8 The passion for investing in lotteries pervaded all classes. In 1790 Chauncey Goodrich wrote : "We draw our Lottery the next week, and Mary Anne is to have the highest Prize, which is already laid out in an economical manner." The objects seemed so laudable, - now a meeting-house, now an Episcopal academy, Harvard College, the Washington Monu- ment, - that he who lost in 1784, and he who lost in 1830, could take some comfort from the fact that his money was well wasted.
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dispensed its hospitalities in simple fashion, its annals weary a reader by their monotony oftener than they offend his moral sense. The foundations of religion and virtue after all were not undermined ; and a romance writer would doubtless declare that the citizens erred most flagrantly by being prosaic. Velvets and brocades were kept for special occasions ; and more time was spent behind counters than in ball-rooms, since there had never been much, if any, pride about going "into trade," and the profits arising from transactions in St. Croix rum, Madeira, Muscovado sugar, Young Hyson, Bohea, and East India silks were not to be despised. Whatever the manners and business of indi- viduals were during the first half of the period discussed, the toiling, money-getting population, as a whole, was filling its mind as well as its pockets; and the list of books offered for sale or published here before 1800, to go no further, should be sufficient to stop the mouth of any sneerer. The daughters of the small lawyers, storekeepers, and inn- keepers finished at boarding-schools in Boston, New York, or Bethlehem, Penn .; 1 or learned to use the globes and to paint on velvet at Mrs. Royce's or Mrs. Patten's. The sons fitted for Yale at the grammar school, or were commercially trained under private teachers. Profes- sors of music, French, drawing, and fencing always found employment. This was not barbarism; and it will be seen from the following re- view of town and household life, and especially from the instances of the long continuance of certain old customs and laws, that a love of morality and order was more general than the gloomy foreboders first mentioned would lead one to believe.
Among the customs we have space to mention was the important one of deference to superiors. Children were taught to rise when aged people entered the room, and in some families to stand in the presence of their parents, and to bow or courtesy to a passer-by, though this was not insisted on in Hartford long after 1800.2 A rather amusing instance of filial obedience was given in an advertisement in the "Cou- rant" in 1803, in which a young lady stated that her father had given hier permission to teach music. Correspondence was modelled upon letter-writers' guides. Fathers addressed their sons as "Sir," or "Dear Friend ; " sons replied, "Sir," or " Honored Parent." Miss Stoughton, of East Windsor, in inviting sprightly Nancy Williams, of East Hartford, to parties, began her notes, "Worthy Lady." These formal expressions occur in letters written as late as 1830, and usually encrusted sincere respect and affection.
Valentines and decorated love-missives were of home manufacture ; the paper, often cut in various devices, folded in diamond or other shapes, and covered on the outside with true-lover's knots, floral hiero- glyphics, and astonishing flourishes. Tissue-paper circles, pinked, and painted or simply ornamented with a lead pencil, were common pres- ents to gentlemen to put in their watches. There were few who did not keep diaries; and extracts from two will show what important
1 A correspondent of the "Courant," in 1795, grumbled over the "affected simplicity and piety " taught at Bethlehem, and asked of what advantage it was to a young miss to learn scholastic eloquence and embroidery on satin.
2 The late James Hosmer, at the age of ninety-six, politely rose to receive some little children who came to call on him.
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events transpired then, and how quick-witted some of the girls of the time were : -
1790. We had roast pork for dinner, and Dr. S-, who carved, held up a rib on his fork and said, ' Here, ladies, is what mother Eve was made of.' 'Yea,' said Sister Patty, 'and it's from very much the same kind of critter ! '"
" March 26, 1819. The geraniam blew out of the window."
It was a universal custom to acknowledge favors through the press ; thus, in 1827 :-
" Enoch Perkins presents his most cordial thanks to the engineer, fire-wardens, fire-companies, and citizens for their able and spirited exertions, which, by the blessing of God, were successful in preserving his house from the imminent danger which threatened it in the conflagration which took place on the night of the 9th instant."
If Dr. Strong was made a life-member of the Bible Society, or Mrs. Flint was presented with a goodly number of runs of yarn by the ladies of the parish, the same method of expressing gratitude was taken. In driving, people apparently followed their fancy when meeting each other, as the "Courant" in 1796 advised them to adopt the habit of turning to the left.
At a wedding on Main Street, in 1811, the bride wore an India muslin, with short embroidered train, over silk ; the groom, who was probably a Federalist, small-clothes. As the happy pair left the house, neighbors, servants, and townspeople generally came up to congratu- late, and cake and wine were passed through the crowd. A chaise adorned with silver platings had been made expressly for the wedding journey ; the harness was silver plated; a trunk matched the chaise ; and with a colored outrider the bride. and groom departed for their three days' trip to Boston. When Abigail Ledyard wedded Samuel Tal- cott (1767), the " Courant " praised her as a lady " possessed of every accomplishment requisite to render married life happy." The local papers seldom gave way to sentiment, over such occasions in town, though the marriage notices in the " American Mercury " were long headed by a picture of some affectionate doves; but when the ceremony took place elsewhere, the bride, Miss Jemima Loomis, of Suffield, for instance, would often be described as amiable and accomplished, and the politic editor would be rewarded with a loaf of cake and a bottle of wine.
At funerals every ornament, mirror, and picture was either removed or muffled in napkins, a custom that survived to a very recent period. The body was borne on a bier on men's shoulders ; a practice done away in Hartford in 1800, but continued in Farmington and elsewhere long afterward. The mourners wore crape on their arms and long weepers on their hats. The bell tolled the age of the deceased as the procession moved along; a custom that survived until 1864 cer- tainly. After the funeral the friends returned to the house and partook of cake and wine. Their kindness was acknowledged in the papers somewhat as follows (1807) : -
"The Parents, Bretheren, and Sisters of Horace Bull, deceased, take this method, the only one in their power, to return their most unfeigned thanks to
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their neighbours and friends for their very humane, tender, and friendly attention unceasingly exercised toward the deceased during his very distressing sickness, and also toward the very afflicted family, thro' the painful and very impressive scene. It becomes them, also, most gratefully to recognize the marked attention paid to their dear departed child and brother on the day of his interment by the gentlemen officers and soldiers of the first Company of the Governour's Foot Guards of which the deceased was a member, by attending the corpse to the place of interment tho' the weather was inclement, and returning back again to the house in company with the mourners. May all these kindnesses meet a tenfold reward."
The practice of presenting mourning rings to relatives and to the officiating minister was more general in the last century than in this. As these, in early times, sometimes bore devices of coffins and skeletons, it is hard to believe that they were favorite articles of adornment. They were, of course, useless to clergymen, except when exchanged for money ; and such transactions were not considered scandalous.
Obituary notices, which, before the days of warm-hearted and long- suffering Mrs. Sigourney, were not often in verse, usually rehearsed the virtues of " the surviving consort " and of the family, as well as of the deceased. Sometimes the stock phrases were discarded, as in the case (1798) of Mr. Ebenezer Lines, aged eighty-one, " well known for feats of strength and activity in his younger days, and for a fund of wit and humour through his whole life. Alas, poor Yorick !" etc. Some- times the words were full of pathos, as, "Mrs. Lucretia Perkins, in the bloom of life." The titles " Mr." and " Esq." were applied with tolerable discrimination ; a person not entitled to either would be desig- nated as a respectable citizen of this town. Services commemorative of the death of Washington were held on the Friday following that event. Business was suspended ; mourning badges universally worn ; and the muffled bells tolled at intervals from nine in the morning till the hour of service. A long procession composed of all classes marched to the First Church, where Dr. Strong preached from the text (Exodus xi. 3), " And the man Moses was very great ; " and a hymn composed for the occasion by Theodore Dwight was sung.
In the meeting-house the congregation faced the choir during the singing, and in prayer-time all stood. The latter practice was gradually given up by the women ; but the writer recollects seeing old men stand- ing in prayer-time in the Fourth Church as late as 1866. Any man from out of town who dared to drive on to Main Street on the Sabbath was pretty sure to have his horse's head turned toward home by some watchful deacon. Shops were closed on Saturday night as late as 1835.
As caterers were unknown and the style of entertainment was simple, social gatherings were more frequent than now. In 1830 the old programme was still adhered to; old and young were invited to- gether, and shook hands with their hostess at seven o'clock. Wood-fires crackled on the hearths, candles glowed on the mantel-pieces, and the company, ranged stiffly around the walls, chatted with each other or listened to music, - some old song perhaps, like "Snatch Fleeting Pleasures," or " At Lucy's door was Colin seen." If dancing was not allowed, it was rather dull for some of the young folk. A stranger would be made to go the round of the rooms until introduced to each person present. At a quarter before nine refreshments were carried
VOL. I .- 37.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
about on trays, and the guests, spreading their handkerchiefs in their laps, partook of cold tongue, biscuits, cake of various kinds, and sweet- meats and cream, for ice-cream was unknown. On one occasion a con- servative who had partaken of (and enjoyed) preserved limes at the Ellsworth's shook his head on leaving the house, saying he feared Mrs. Ellsworth was introducing foreign luxuries. A few always left at nine o'clock, and ten was " rather late " for anybody. Invitations to tea- parties were no longer worded, "Come at early candlelight," but the ceremony itself was still primitive. After the temperance movement began, many families that had banished liquors from their sideboards continued to offer it at weddings and to drink the health of the absent on Thanksgiving Day, and a bride's outfit was not considered complete without wine-glasses ; but when Henry Clay visited the city and jovially informed the assembly he addressed that he had simply come to take a drink and have a chew of tobacco with them, the best citizens felt insulted. Old men who were allowed toddy because they were too old to change to currant-shrub were a source of great anxiety in temper- ance households, from their habit of giving children the sugar left in their glasses. It is said that opposition to the location of the United States Armory here arose largely from a fear that "a fast set" would be introduced.
Amusements, as the word is now interpreted, were almost as scarce as holidays. Billiard-playing appears to have been common in 1797, but chiefly among men who frequented taverns, and who were satir- ized in the papers for having no subject of conversation in ladies' soci- ety except when gambling or horses were mentioned, when they loosed their tongues and chattered in the "elegant dialect" of the hostler. Chess and draughts were tolerated generally ; card-playing was com- mon, and in the Lawrence family, which is remembered as otherwise strict, whist-playing was an art; but after 1820, and in consequence, probably, of revivals of religion, cards, like dancing, were rather the property of Episcopalians and the " gay sets." Sleighing parties were always popular, especially after 1821, to Wethersfield, where " Mother Bunce," who kept a hotel, was famed for her flip and her doughnuts. Singing-schools were well patronized, whether it was Andrew Law who taught psalmody, as at Ogden's tavern in 1798, or Amos Bull on the south side in 1808. Young people passed their evenings together con- tentedly in ways that would now be voted childish by our fifteen-year- olds. One favorite amusement when they met at the Wyllys house was to make each other walk blindfolded to the Charter Oak. Mrs. Governor Ellsworth introduced the custom of giving valentine parties, and about the same time historical parties were popular, at which the guests personated celebrated characters and related their life histories.
Outside amusements, though few in number, averaging one a week in early times, were sufficiently varied in character to suit all tastes. In June, 1786, " Mr. Webster " read " some remarks on the government, population, slavery," etc., of the United States, at eight o'clock, in the North Meeting-House. In 1787, Mr. Poole, " An American Equestrian " performed in "a Manage with convenient seats ... near the landing." A clown appeared, and the entertainment ended with " the noted droll scene, the TAYLOR riding to BRENTFORD." In 1789, Two camels were
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SOCIAL LIFE AFTER THE REVOLUTION.
quartered at Bull's; 9d. admittance. The advertisement contained a quotation from Genesis, relating to Abraham's camels, and must have ensnared the clergy, who refrained from witnessing the variety show "at the free school-house," of Mr. Bennett, from Sadler's-Wells. In March, 1796, a lion " as tame as any domestick animal" was to be seen ; and in May, at Mr. Pratt's, a real male Bison ; " allowed to be the most surprising animal ever exhibited in this country." At the " house " of Mr. Ramsey there were trained dogs and monkeys : "the most serious person will not refrain from laughing." At a waxwork exhibition at Mr. Janes's might have been seen "Caroline of Litchfield, Philemon and Levinia, and The Late Dr. Stiles." The following advertisement appeared in 1798 : -
The ELEPHANT 'S now in the City at the House of Mr. LEE, where he will continue for a few days. Hartford, May 7.1
In 1799 Mr. Franklin's "New Circus " exhibited on the South Green at five o'clock. In that same year crowds went to dissipate in the " Archimideal Phaetons, Vertical Aerial Coaches, or Patent Federal Balloons, near Mr. John Lee's; the machine so strong that persons of a timid nature will enter with assurance and be much delighted ; others may progress 500 yards per minute." Similar machines were put up on an eminence near the South Green, " where Invaletudinarians may regain their health by a sudden revulsion of the blood and humours." Another attraction was a beautiful African lion at Mr. Joseph Pratt's. The public was assured that the cage was substantial and the lion under good command. In 1804 a museum of waxworks at David Bull's included the duel between Burr and Hamilton, and the beautiful Eliza Fales (the victim of a murder in Massachusetts) ; " with music on an organ." Wild beasts met with much favor : the lion and the elephant paid several visits to the town, and in 1808, at Joseph Pratt's, "a Leopard strongly chained " was an object of interest.
In 1809 Steward's Museum was removed from the State House where it had been located for four years, and established opposite the Episcopal church, and " gentlemen sailing to foreign parts" were begged to col- lect curiosities for it. It was removed in 1824 to the fourth story of a building on the corner of Main Street and Central Row, and was for many years the only permanent place of entertainment. Among its wonders was the model of a railroad, thirty feet long, with a four- flanged-wheel box, and a full-size model of a guillotine, brought from Paris by Mr. Ellsworth.
In 1814 a Mental Entertainment was given in the Centre Meeting- House for the benefit of the State Bible Society ; also Moral Disserta- tions and Recitations for the benefit of the Charitable Society (with the approval of Governor Smith, to whom " the nature and object " had been explained). In 1815 some waxworks at the city hall included "the Austere Father frowning upon his daughter, finding her with her gallant." In 1816 a sacred concert, consisting chiefly of selections from the Messiah, was given at Christ Church. The concert began at five
1 The advertisement in the "Mirror" warned people with papers in their pockets from approaching too near, as the elephant had destroyed several valuable ones.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
o'clock, and tickets (37} cents) were sold at the door; but this was forbidden when, " at the request of several respectable gentlemen," the concert was repeated. The Handelian Society sang at the same place in 1817, for the benefit of the deaf-mutes. Recitals by Mr. and Mrs. Bartley (the latter reader to the Queen) gave much pleasure in 1820,1 and the public singing at the Brick Meeting-House, with lecture by Mr. Hawes, must have been profitable. The County Agricultural Society Exhibition also deserves mention, though its programme was repeated for many years after. There was a cattle-show on the South Green, a procession from the State-House to Colonel Elijah Terry's field, in the South Meadow, to view a ploughing-match, and after dinner a proces- sion to the Centre Meeting-House, where appropriate services were held and premiums distributed. An agricultural ball was given at Morgan's, the cards to which were engraved. 1822 was a musical year : witnessing the oratorio of " The Intercession," sung by the Jubal Society ; a sacred concert by the Episcopal Musical Society (both in Christ Church) ; and at the South Church "a select oratorio by Alvah Hathaway's choir." A " Travelling Tripod " was to be exhibited in 1824, if the owner's health would permit. In 1826 the North Singing Society performed at the North Church. The dedication of the new South Meeting-House, in 1827, closed with a sacred concert; and with this our list may appro- priately end.
The drama may be said to have made its entry in May, 1778, as a letter written by the Rev. Andrew Eliot, of Fairfield, to his father, informs us.2
" Could you think it ? On Monday Evening, in election week, in Hartford, the Capital of the State, in the Court House, the place where the Fathers of the Senate meet, at the most public time, and in the most public manner, was acted Tancred & Sigismunda, by the Junior Sophister Class of Yale College, who had been forbidden to act the same at Glastonbury (where they have lately studied), and who embraced the opportunity of vacation and secured the Court House for the purpose. To this succeeded a farce of their own composing, in which Gen'ls Burgoyne and Prescot were introduced. To keep up the characters of these Generals, especially Prescot, they were obliged (I believe not to their sorrow), to indulge in very indecent and profane language.
" The audience consisted of the Gentry of Hartford and the vicinity, and a number of strangers, among whom were Dr. Rodgers and Mr. Tennent. Those Rev'd Gentlemen were very much offended at the profane language intro- duced . .. What adds to the illegality is that the actors were not only dressed agreeable to the characters they assumed as Men, but female apparel and orna- ments were put on some, contrary to an express statute. Besides, it cost the lads £60 to prepare for the exhibition."
An advertisement in January, 1789, shows how insidiously the evil crept in. Mr. McPherson, of the theatre in New York, proposed to give, by authority, " An Attic Entertainment," at Mr. David Bull's long room ;
1 Mrs. Bartley was very popular in New York and Boston, and in Hartford read to crowded houses several times ; but barely escaped arrest in January, 1820, at the hands of some over- zealous interpreters of the old law against play-acting, for reading and reciting Shakspeare's plays, at Morgan's coffee-house. See Clapp's "Record of the Boston Stage." A portrait of Mrs. Bartley hangs in the gallery of the Wadsworth Athenaeum.
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