USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. II > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
The Podunks, mainly friendly to the English, became disaffected in 1675, and joined Philip in his hopeless attempt to exterminate the white men, and few of them ever returned to this neighborhood. At this time grim dangers surrounded the young colony. The people were ordered into garrisons, - in our borders at Thomas Burnham's in Podunk, and at Mr. John Crow's on the meadow hill near the south- meadow road The enemy came into Hockanum and sorely wounded William Hills, and sconting-parties were sent out to find the enemy. Some of our residents were engaged in the Narragansett war, Obadiah Wood receiving a wound. A few only of the Podunks remained upon their reservation in 1677, and the Court divided the land between them. These after a time sold out their interests, which appear to have been wholly in the meadows, and in 1723 the record speaks of the last claim- ant to their lands De Forest says a fragment of the tribe was living on the Hockanum in 1745, but in 1760 had disappeared, merging into the Pequots or the tribes in the western part of the State. Stories of later visits from Indian families, returning for a time to camp in this neighborhood, however, remain. The assault on Deerfield in 1704 led to renewed precautions against the Indians. Four forts were ordered to be built on this side the Great River. Of these, one was erected near Mr. William Pitkin's on the meadow hill, looking toward Hart- ford; but it was the subject of no assault.
The town of Hartford once included in its boundaries the territory of the present towns of East Hartford and Manchester. Deeds from the Indians of all its land have been preserved, excepting of the terri- tory now covered by East Hartford. A deed of this was probably given, as allusions to its purchase occur in the records of early lay-outs and distributions of the land. The history of this territory (long known as the " three miles " tract ), and of the " five miles " purchase, made later, is included in that of Hartford until 1783, when these two sections were made a separate town, with bounds extending from the Great River to the Bolton town line, and known as East Hartford. The original boundary of the town of Hartford on this side the river on the south was " att the mouth of Pewter pott Brooke att the lower side of Hoccano, and there to run due east into the Country 3 miles ;" and on the north, at " the Riverett's mouth [by the Indians called Podanke] that falls into the saide greate River of Conectecott, and there the said Hartford is to runn dne east into the Countrey."
The lands on this side were at first owned in common, the proprie- tors' interests being proportioned by their share in the expenses of the
88
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
purchase from the Indians, and by other considerations. In 1672 the bounds of the town of Hartford were extended eastward five miles to include the tract bought from " Joshua Sachem." It was voted to divide this tract among the inhabitants, "according to the disbursements of ech person paid in list of 1682;" but a general division was not made until 1731, the lands lying mostly in common until that time. Early use was made of the meadow and the three-mile purchase on this side the river, and the hay and grain were carried across in boats, or in carts at times of low water. The meadow-lands were divided prior to 1640, for meadow and plough lots, and the owners were ordered to set bounds in them in July of that year. The land was divided into two sections, known as the north and the south sides, by a line drawn east and west near the present Hockanum Bridge. The land south of this line was reckoned worth more than that north of it by a ratio of 105 to 100. The southern part of the town was generally known as Hockanum, the northern as Podunk. Those in Hartford who lived north of the Little River shared in the northern division, and those who lived south of it in the southern division ; although some of the latter, owing to the smaller quantity of meadow in Hocka- num, took meadow in the northern division. Special grants were given to poor men and others, not proprietors; and large grants of timber-lands were made, to encourage the building of mills upon the streams.
Pounds were established here prior to 1641, and hogs were re- stricted from running at large on this side the river. A fence was appointed along the meadow swamp next the woodland in 1644. A vote dated Jan. 11, 1640, ordered a division of the three-mile tract, extending from the meadow hill eastward ; but it was not for- mally divided until June 12, 1666. The order of the division was determined by lot, the first lot lying next to Windsor bounds, and so successively. The number of north-side distributees was sixty-six, - their shares ranging from five hundred and ninety acres down to twelve acres, their division going " to the divident lyne between the north and south side of the river." The land south of the river, before division, was owned by sixty-five proprietors, their proportions ranging from two hundred acres down to four. After the allotment, many of the proprietors sold their shares; a number, probably, to those who had already settled on the land.
One of the first roads laid out through the town ran along the edge of the meadow hill, fording the Hockanum at a convenient point not far from the mouth of the present Gulf. Part only of this road is in use to-day. The meadow hill commands a view of Hartford, and was the site of most of the earlier houses. A road from the Connecti- cut River crossed the meadows to the above-described road, and is the present north-meadow road. From the earliest settlement a road extended northward through the meadows to Podunk and Windsor. Main Street was laid out in 1670. It had no bridge over the Hocka- num. until the year 1700. Others of our principal roads were not for- mally made town roads until a later date, though many of them were early used. The road eastward to the mills (now Burnside Avenue) was not laid out until 1722, but was used from the first settlement. Silver Lane was laid out in 1728, but was a thoroughfare earlier. The
89
EAST HARTFORD.
Connectient River was crossed by a ferry, leased in 1681 to Thomas Cadwell, and a scale of prices established.
The dates of the earliest houses upon this side the Connecticut River are uncertain. Among the most prominent of the early settlers were the following : -
Richard Risley, of Hockanum, who died in 1648. The inventory of his property appears in the records of the colony.
William Hills, of Hockanum. He was assaulted and wounded by the Indians in Hockanum in 1675.
Edward Andrews settled in Hockanum, near the mouth of the river of that name, about 1657.
Thomas Spencer built on the north corner of Main and Mill streets. He died in 1687.
Mr. John Crow, one of the largest land-owners, and one of the few who had " Mr." attached to his name, lived on the meadow hill, near the south-meadow road. He was one of the settlers of Hadley in 1686.
William Pitkin, progenitor of the Pitkin family - so prominent in the affairs of the colony - settled on the meadow hill, north of the present railroad, about 1659.
Thomas Burnham was made a freeman in 1657. He practised before the courts as an attorney. He settled in Podunk.
John Bidwell, a partner of Joseph Bull, and with him owner of a saw-mill at Burnside, probably settled here about 1669.
William Warren, who lived on Main Street, below the Hockanum, was made a freeman in 1665.
Sergeant Samuel Gaines appears on the records in 1667.
Lieutenant John Meakins came here before 1669.
Richard Case was made a freeman in 1671. The last three persons bought land of the original grantees.
Thomas Trill, a soldier of the Narragansett war, was the first person buried in our Centre Burying-Ground.
Obadiah Wood was also a soldier of 1675. His is the first stone set in the Centre Burying-Ground (1712).
William Buckland came here before 1678. When the north-meadow road was made public he lived on it, close by the site of the old utilizam Crcklump meadow gate.
James Forbes lived
in Burnside in 1688. This section was until 1865 known as Scotland, deriving that name from the Forbes family, which was of Scotch origin.
William Roberts married the daughter of James Forbes, and added land to his wife's property in 1688. He lived on the meadow hill mid- way between the bridge road and the south-meadow road.
Jimelty Contos John Good win
Deacon Timothy Cowles appears on the records in 1695. He lived just south of Gilman's Brook, on the east side of Main Street.
Deacon Jolm Goodwin lived near the Centre Burying-Ground about 1703.
90
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
Lieutenant Thomas Olcott, Jr., settled at Hop Brook (now in Man- chester), and kept a hostelry there (1711). The Olcotts bought land in the three-mile tract shortly after 1666.
Joseph Postao 30ml Jonathan prak
Deacon Joseph Olmsted (1699) lived on the meadow hill at the northwest angle of Prospect Street.
Jonathan Pratt, a tanner (1730), lived on the west side of Main Street, north of the old meeting- house.
Hezekiah Porter, selectman for the east side of Hartford in 1707, lived in Hockanum.
Nathaniel Stanley (1720) resided in the north part of the town.
A full list of settlers and early inhab- itants would comprise many other names than these, most of them honorably perpet- nated in our town to-day.
Hor Pastor
The inhabitants on this side the Great River had a share in the offices and government of the town of Hartford, and some of our citi- zens conspicuously served the colony and With Standy the State. Local officers were early ap- pointed on this side as haywards, fence- viewers, surveyors, listers, etc., and from about the year 1707 they were allowed a selectman of their own. In 1749 sign-posts were ordered in the towns ; the one placed in the Centre was popularly known as the whipping-post, its use for the legal application of the lash being remembered by persons now living.
The town bounds with Windsor (now South Windsor) were in dis- pute from 1675 to 1719. when the line was settled, and the heirs of Thomas Burnham and William Williams were given three hundred acres in the northwest corner of the Five Miles to make good to them " what Windsor line had cut off their upland lots."
Foto party No burial-place was established on this side the Great River until Jan. 1, 1710, when John Pantry deeded one acre in what is now the Centre Burying-Ground to the town of Hartford for that purpose. The two burying-grounds in Hockanum date from about 1776.
The petition of the inhabitants asking for the " liberty of a minister" among them was dated May, 1694, and in October of that year per- mission was given. The society was known as the Third Ecclesiastical Society of Hartford, and included all of the town of Hartford on this side the Great River, - now the towns of East Hartford and Manches- ter. All persons living on this side were to pay their rates toward its maintenance. The earliest preserved record of a meeting is of one held Dec. 29, 1699, when a committee was appointed " to see about the meeting-house " - probably already begun. A rate of threepence in the pound was laid, - one penny payable in corn, the rest in work if any chose. The meeting-house was built on a little hill which once filled the
91
EAST HARTFORD.
triangle formed by the roads at the north end of the Hockanum cause- way. It was not fully completed for several years. In 1707 a rate of £45 was voted for " seating and sealing " the meeting-house, two thirds payable in timber delivered at the water side of the meeting-house. In 1713 galleries were built, and in 1718 four green casements ordered for the south windows. The structure was very plain, and was used until about 1740. A minister's house was begun in 1699, and a rate of £ 200 was laid to complete it. It was built on the west side of Main Street, not far from the meeting-house.
A committee was early appointed to " dignify the meeting-house " by assigning seats to each family according to dignity, age, or impor- tance in the rate-bill. A rate of three halfpennies in the pound was laid in 1699, " to satisfy the Rev. John Reed for his pains in the min- istry among us, and to defray charges about providing for him." The following year an invitation to settle was extended to him. This he did not accept. He afterward preached at Stratford, and later prac- tised law in Boston, and was counted the most celebrated lawyer in New England before the Revolution.
The Rev. Samuel Woodbridge, a graduate of Harvard, was ordained here March 30, 1705. His salary was £60 a year ; and the society gave him the minister's house and £25 with which to complete it after the walls were " filled up," on condition that he " continue with us during his life, or that it be not his fault if he remove out of the place." Ile was a man of abil- Samt Woodbridge. ity, and was honored and be- loved by his people. A rate of £9 in addition to his salary was voted, payable in firewood delivered at his door. He preached the Election Sermon in 1734. His health became uncertain about the year 1736, and the society declined to pay his salary. This, however, the General Assembly directed them to do. He died June 9, 1746, aged sixty-three years. During Mr. Woodbridge's pastorate the first meeting- house was replaced by a new one. It occupied nearly the exact site of the old building, and had horse-sheds built near it on the north, east, and southwest sides. Like its predecessor, it was a plain building with green blinds, and had neither belfry nor chimney. Stoves (save foot-stoves) were not introduced until 1817, when the pipes were run out at the windows. The stoves at first gave great annoyance, complaint being made of headaches, and of the warping of the back combs of the women, until it was discovered that no fire had yet been kindled in them. The new meeting-house had galleries around three sides. At the west end was the high antique pulpit, with its dome-like sounding- board overhead. The floor and gallery were provided with square, box-like pews, - the corner ones over the stairs for the colored slaves or servants. The singers sat in front, all around the gallery. The fre- quent high water in the Hockanum valley near the old meeting-house made the maintenance of a ferry there on Sundays and lecture-days necessary, and the society made annual appropriations for its support for many years.
Mr. Woodbridge was succeeded in the ministry by Mr. Eliphalet Williams (afterward D.D.). Mr. Williams's pastorate was a long and
92
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
useful one, extending through fifty-five years (1748-1803). He was a typical old-time divine, - reverenced by the old and regarded with something like awe by the young. A printed sermon on "the late terrible earthquake " (1755), and other literary work of his, have been preserved. He preached the Elec- Elight Williams tion Sermon in 1769, and in Octo- ber of that year the funeral sermon of Governor Pitkin, before the assembled dignitaries of the colony. His house, - large, unpainted, gambrel-roofed, - near the site of the old meeting-house, still stands, a fine example of the better class of houses of a hundred and thirty years
PFF
SELF
DR. WILLIAMS'S HOUSE.
ago. Mr. Andrew Yates was ordained as colleague of Dr. Williams in 1801. He was " a man of wide learning, of strong sense, of simple, loving heart." 'He was a warm friend of the children, who in his day were gathered once a year and reviewed upon the Westminster Cate-
your Servant in Christ Andren Yates
chism, then taught in the schools. Mr. Yates was a sturdy opponent of the use of intoxicating liquors at a time when most ministers were habitually tolerant of them. At a ministers' meeting at his house he set out decanters as usual, saying, " Brethren, here is rum, gin,
93
EAST HARTFORD.
brandy, landanum, - all poison. Help yourselves !" He was dis- missed in 1814, to return to the professorship which he had previously held in Union College.
Various " supplies " filled the pulpit until the settlement of Mr. Joy H. Fairchild in 1816. He was dismissed in 1827. Mr. Asa Mead, a graduate of Dartmouth College, was settled here in August, 1830. He died in October, 1831.
The Rev. Samuel Spring. D.D., came here in January, 1833, and min- istered faithfully until December, 1860, when his ill health led him to resign. Afterward the society voted him an annual sum for a num- ber of years, and held him closely in their affection with a regard which his Sanwich Spring. death, in 1877, did not annul. Dr. Bur- ton said of him, " A model preacher, whom to have heard was a pleasant and abiding remembrance." Early in Dr. Spring's ministry the society built their present meeting-house at the head of the Bridge Road. In 1876 it was injured by fire, and the interior was remodelled. A tower clock and new bell were presented to the society in 1878 by Mr. Albert C. Raymond.
Mr. Theodore J. Holmes succeeded Dr. Spring in the ministry in 1861, and served until 1872. From 1863 to 1865 he was absent as chaplain of the First Regiment Connecticut Cavalry, Mr. Walker preaching during his absence. Mr. Holmes was dismissed, to accept a call to a church in Brooklyn, New York. Mr. Frank H. Buffum was settled here in 1873 and dismissed in 1876. After him the Rev. Theodore T. Munger filled the pulpit for a little more than a year. Mr. Richard Meredith was installed in April, 1878, and resigned in 1883.
The inhabitants of the Five Miles (now Manchester) were released in 1748 from so much of their minister's rate as would procure them preaching at home for the winter season. In 1763 they petitioned to be made a separate society ; but owing to disagreements the petition was not granted till nine years later. Their further history is con- neeted with that of Manchester.
Toward the close of the last century the Baptists and the Method- ists began to obtain footing here, and drew some away from the Con- gregational churches. Meetings were held at Esquire Elisha Pitkin's house, - called for its hospitality the ministers' hotel, -at Benjamin Roberts's, and elsewhere. Inhabitants living in the old societies became exempt from their rates by presenting certificates showing that they helped support the gospel among the new sects. The defection of the old church-members, caused partly by the hard theology of Dr. Wil- liams, aroused a feeling of deep solicitude in his mind, and he pub- lished, with honest faith in its efficacy, a pamphlet dialogue, " Sophro- nistes : persuading people to reverence the ordinances of God in the teachings of their own Pastors. Hartford : 1795."
The Hockanum Methodist Episcopal Church obtained land for its present meeting-house in 1837. Its people became a separate charge in 1846. The church edifice has lately been enlarged and improved.
The first meeting-house for the Methodist Episcopal Church in
94
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
Scotland, now Burnside,1 was a plain unpainted structure, built prior to 1834. It stood just east of Mr. William Hanmer's house. The present meeting-house occupies a site given by Mr. George Goodwin.
The Baptists held meetings for a time in the old school-house in South Burnside. There is now no church of this order in town.
Grace Church was organized in Burnside in 1854 as a Protestant Episcopal Society. A little chapel south of Mr. Agis Easton's house was fitted up and used. Meetings were afterward held in Elm Hall, on Main Street, and the society was reorganized as St. John's Parish. The stone church on Main Street was begun in 1867, and completed under the fostering care of Mr. John J. McCook, its present rector.
St. Mary's Church includes all the Roman Catholics in this town and a part of South Windsor. It became a separate parish in 1873, and its first service was held in Elm Hall. Its church edifice on Main Street was completed in 1877.
The Hockanum Ecclesiastical Society (Congregational) is a recent organization. Part of its members were once connected with the old First Society. Its meeting-house was completed in 1877.
Memorial Hall, a commodious chapel built by Mr. William G. Com- stock, on Locust Hill, north of his residence, is freely open to public use for religious purposes without regard to sect or class.
The inhabitants living on the east side of the Great River, in the town of Hartford, unsuccessfully petitioned the General Assembly to set them off as a separate town as early as 1726. The petition was renewed from time to time until January, 1783. In October of that year it was granted. The reasons given for asking for town privileges were the six, eight, and ten miles of travel necessary to many of the people, and the difficulty of crossing the Great River at some seasons in order to exercise their privileges as freemen, and the very respecta- ble number of their population, - 2,000 in 1774, with a property list of £19,000. The total population of Hartford at that time was 5,031. The area incorporated was bounded west on the Connecticut River, east by Bolton town line, north by East Windsor town line, and south by Glastenbury town line. The new town was to share with Hartford in all moneys due, stock on hand, if any, and in debts owing, and in the poor belonging to the old town. To it also was granted the privilege of keeping one half the ferry across the river, subject to the pleasure of the General Assembly. The officers of the old town, dwelling in the new, were to continue in their respective offices until others were chosen. The two selectmen then living on this side (Daniel and Rich- ard Pitkin), with an assistant, or a justice of the peace, were to warn the inhabitants to meet on the second Tuesday of December, 1783, at ten o'clock, A.M., in the meeting-house in the First Society, to choose town officers, and to transact any other business proper to the town-meeting.
The Hon. Colonel William Pitkin was chosen moderator of the meet- ing. Daniel Pitkin, Richard Pitkin, and Captain Samuel Smith were
1 The name of Scotland was changed to Burnside in 1862, when it was made a post-station, there being already one Scotland in the State. The name was chosen because of its perti- nence, signifying in Scotch a burn's side, and was suggested by Miss Susan Goodwin, after- ward Mrs. Henry L. Goodwin. The earlier name was given to it by the Forbes settlers, who were of Scotch descent.
95
EAST HARTFORD.
chosen selectmen ; and Jonathan Stanley, town clerk and treasurer, - offices which he held for eighteen years.
This first town-meeting was held in the old meeting-house which stood near the north end of the Hockanum causeway, and town-meet- ings have been held in the meeting-houses of the First Society ever since. In 1813, and afterward, they alternated here with the meeting-
Loft Jonathan Stanly Jun Toun plesk
house in Orford Parish (now Manchester Centre). When the present meeting-house was built, the town gave the society one thousand dol- lars for the permanent use of the basement for town and electors' meetings. The manner of voting in the early meetings was by a ris- ing vote upon all questions. Representatives were separately chosen by ballot in 1787. From 1837 both were voted for on one ballot.
The number of paupers in our town has always been comparatively small; still, there has constantly existed the inevitable necessity of providing for the incompetent and the unfortunate. In 1787 the town voted to build a house for its poor on land bought of Daniel Pitkin. Thirteen years later this house was sold, and the poor ordered " let out" to the persons " that will keep them cheapest where they will be com- fortably provided for." In 1823 the present town-farm in Hockanum was purchased for a work-house and poor-house combined. A fire origi- nated in the " tramps' room " in 1877, destroying the house. A com- modious building has since been erected on its site. A pest-house was built on this side the Great River in 1761, on land of John Goodwin, three fourths of a mile east of Main Street, on what is now known as Pock-House Hill. Later a hospital was built upon the same site by Dr. Hall and Dr. Flagg, who had the town's permission (September, 1791) to " set up inoculation for [with] the small-pox."
The town's share in the ferry over the Connecticut has been to it a source of litigation and trouble. In the early days it was often some- thing of a tax to the people to maintain it. Afterward it became a source of revenue, the town selling the privilege at vendue. In 1839 it was voted to loan at interest the surplus received. In 1805 there were two ferries, one probably crossing to Ferry Street and one to State Street, in Hartford. The boats were run by horses working in treadmills on board the boats.
The Hartford Bridge Company was incorporated in 1808, its charter stipulating that "nothing in said act shall now or hereafter injure said [ferry ] franchise." Its unsuccessful efforts to buy the privilege of the towns, however, were followed by its procuring the passage of an act suppressing it in 1818. The town persisted in urging its claims until, in 1836, the right to keep the ferry was restored to it. The Bridge Company secured its suppression again in 1841. The town obtained a fresh grant of it in 1842, when the company carried the matter to the courts. The decision was that the new grant of the ferry to the town was in violation of the State's contract with the Bridge Company in 1818, which abolished the ferry ; and the amount of damages awarded
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.