USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. II > Part 24
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With this cantion, the persons above named and their associates seem to have proceeded deliberately in the work of organization, having previously 1 located their meeting-house on the ground afterward known as the " Green." The founders of the town having come from the neighborhood of Glastonbury in England, the General Court, in June, 1692, with a disregard for correct spelling, in which the succeed- ing generations down to the present have sympathized, named the " town at Nabuc, over against Wethersfield," " Glassenbury."2 The name is practically unique in this country, there being no other post-office of that name, and only one other town, Glastenbury, situated among the Green Mountains in Vermont.
The Rev. Timothy Stevens came here to reside April 15, 1692. The inhabitants met in town-meeting on the 28th of the succeeding July, and expressed their unanimous desire that Mr. Stevens should continue and settle in the work of the ministry among them ; made a generous provision town-wisc, and by the grants of individuals, for his settlement, including the building a residence for him ; and appro- priated for his salary £60 " current money " per year. Joseph Hill,
1 February, 1690.
2 This method of spelling the name continued to be used in the records until about one hundred years ago, when it was changed to " Glastenbury," and so written until 1870, when the town, by vote, made it "Glastonbury," by which name it is now known in the State and nation.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
Ephraim Goodrich, and Eleazar Kimberly were chosen townsmen (or selectmen), and Eleazar Kimberly, town clerk. Mr. Kimberly con- tinued as town clerk until his death, Feb. 3, 1708-9, and in his pen- manship and method of keeping records has not been surpassed by any of his successors. He was also secretary of the colony from 1696 until his decease, and was the first deputy from this town to the General Assembly, May session, 1694.
Glastonbury was the first town in the colony of Connecticut formed by the division of another town. Its earlier history and traditions are inseparably a part of those of the mother-town, and as such are amply treated in Mr. Adams's history of Wethersfield. We have the satis- faction of knowing that territorially we sprang from, and are connected with, the oldest town in this Commonwealth, and that nothing but the ceaseless tide of the Connecticut River was the occasion of our separa- tion. The territory included in Glastonbury is six miles in width from north to south, and eight miles in length from east to west. These measurements are by estimate, and probably are actually exceeded by a large fraction of a mile, especially as to length. In 1803 a part of the southeast corner was detached, to form, with portions of Hebron and Colchester, the town of Marlborough ; to which another small portion was added some ten years later, and in 1859 a small farm owned by Henry Finley. Aside from these, no change has been made, except by a resolve of the General Assembly in 1874, fixing the river as the boun- dary on the west between the towns of Wethersfield and Glastonbury. The town is bounded north by East Hartford and Manchester ; east by Bolton, Hebron, and Marlborough ; south by Marlborough, Chatham, and Portland ; west by the Connecticut River, or the towns of Wethers- field, Rocky Hill, and Cromwell. It has almost every variety of surface, from the level plains of its northwestern portion, the elevated table-land of Nipsic, to the rugged ridges of Minnechaug, Seankum or Dark Hollow, and Meshomasic, and the hilly region approaching the river at Red Hill in Nayang. The activity of the fathers in " lifting up their axes upon the thick trees " at an early period denuded the country of its forests, so that miles in extent could be swept with a glance of the eye. Its soil is as varied as its surface, -from the fertile meadows on the river to the beautiful and productive second lift of land between these and the meadow hill, and the lighter, sandy, and loamy lands upon the higher ground extending to the foot of the hills. In the eastern and southern portion it becomes more rocky, with occasional patches entirely free from stones. In the northeastern portion its fertility is principally confined to the valleys between the rugged hills of Minnechaug and Kongscut and the table-land to the north and west; and in the southern part along the valley of the Roaring Brook adjoined by the table-lands in the ro- mantic vale of Wassuc, and the higher grounds in the southern part of the town. The mountains, as they are called in this State, together with their spurs, are connected with the great eastern range which comes down from the valley of the Chicopee River in Massachusetts and is broken through by the Connecticut River at the "Straits " below Middletown. They afford, from their summits and declivities, unsurpassed views of the Connecticut valley. The streams which flow through the town, following the natural course of the valleys from northeast to southwest, form a pleasing feature in the landscape.
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Roaring Brook is also famous in its upper part as the habitation of the trout, though many of its seekers have often proclaimed them- selves the victims of misplaced confidence. Still farther east lies the lake known as Diamond Pond, from the shining rocks sprinkled with garnets found near its banks. This is fed by springs clear as crystal, and abounds in fish.
The organization of this town was in great part the work of Eleazar Kimberly, assisted, as it is said, by the wise counsel, among others, of the Rev. and Hon. Gershom Bulkeley,1 an ancestor of the Bulkeley family in this country. By the intermarriage of his daughter Dorothy with Thomas Treat, of Nayang, grandson of Richard Treat, one of the first settlers of Wethersfield, he became also the ancestor of a large part of the descendants of the ancient families of this town. He was a man of marked ability, possessed in a large measure of the learn- ing of that day, being clergyman, physician, and lawyer. His attach- ment to monarchy, as shown in that most curious document, " Will and Doom," a copy of which, obtained from the archives of the English Government, is deposited in the library of the Connecticut Histori- cal Society, does not seem to have affected the wisdom and prudence of his counsels as one of the founders of our municipality, which show him, notwithstanding his prejudices, to have been worthy of his birth as a true American. He died in this town Dec. 2, 1713, aged sev- enty-eight, while on a visit to his daughter Dorothy (Mrs. Treat).
The ancient surveys of the lots in the west three miles were made prior to 1684, under the auspices of Wethersfield. By that survey each proprietor had a strip of land assigned to him of a certain number of rods in width, fronting on the river, and extending back three miles to the eastward. Each share included a section of the meadow, the fertile and arable lands adjoining it on the east, and the " wilderness " at the end of his lot. An ample measure of land was reserved for the " coun- try road," or main street, then, as now, six rods in width, and other convenient highways to intersect the same from the east ; while, to make up for the land taken for the street, an extension of many times its width was annexed to the east end of the lots, and bounded by land left for a highway of ample dimensions running from the north to the south bounds of the town. Still farther east were measured out the "five large miles," which, soon after the organization of the town, were as- sumed as the property of the town and its proprietors, and regarded as undivided public lands, to be held for future distribution to its citizens, as their interests might require. Claimants from other towns were evicted, and the interests of the town in the lands and the lumber thereon were protected by votes of the town, and by suits when re- quired. The westernmost mile of this tract was established as com- mon land, but grants were made from it to settlers from time to time before the year 1700. It was, however, too valuable to be held in this way, including as it did the beautiful and fertile section of Nipsie, with its mineral spring, and Nipsie Pond (long since drained by the ad- joining proprietors). Finally it, with all the other eastern lands, was divided among the town inhabitants from time to time, in proportion
1 His autograph may be found in the Wethersfield history.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
to their lists and position, by the proprietors and the town. In 1768 the whole matter was closed from all further controversy. All the grants were made in fee. Two hundred acres near Nipsic Pond were given to the First and Second societies in equal shares, which were immediately leased by them for nine hundred and ninety-nine years.
Many of the farms on the " street " are now held by the lineal de- scendants of the first settlers ; and in the case of the Welles family, descendants of Governor Thomas Welles, the descendants of George Hubbard, Frances Kilbourn, and John Hollister, the titles go back to the survey of 1640. The descendants of Richard Smith, Samuel Hale, Samuel Talcott,1 William Goodrich, Thomas Treat, and Edward Ben- ton still own a portion of the lands their ancestors improved in 1684. Wright's Island has been in the family of James Wright ever since the first allotment in 1640. In the East Farms, now comprising what is known as East Glastonbury and Buckingham, the land was taken up at a later period, but the families of Andrews, Curtis, Dickinson, Goslee, Hills, Hodge, Hollister, House, Howe, and Strickland trace their titles for nearly two centuries.
The material used for building was wood, so that there are few of the dwellings now standing that are more than one hundred years old.
THE HOLLISTER HOUSE, 1675.
The old Hollister house at South Glastonbury is said to have been built in 1675, in which case it was probably erected by John Hollister, the second of that name, son of one of the early settlers of Wethersfield. He is said not to have lived constantly on this side, although he owned and improved land here. He is distinguished as having been the de-
1 Often in the records spelled "Tallcott."
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fendant and the vanquished party in a lawsuit before the General Court, with the redoubtable Gershom Bulkeley as his antagonist. This mansion is said to be the oldest wooden house now standing in this State, and is in excellent repair ; and bids fair, accidents not preventing, to stand
THE TALCOTT HOUSE, 1699.
as long again. Another famous dwelling was the old Talcott house, built about 1699, which occupied the site of the present residence of the venerable Jared G. Talcott, and was built by Samuel Talcott for his son Benjamin Talcott, grandson of the first settler, John Talcott, who came from England in 1632. This house was fortified in the earlier part of its history, and bore the sharp compliment of an Indian tomahawk upon one of its doors. The house Farol Falcon now standing near Welles Corner, formerly occupied by Jared Welles, was built by Samuel Welles for his son Thaddeus, a great-grandson of Governor Thomas Welles, and brother of Colonel Thomas Welles, who occupied the old mansion re- moved by David C. Brainard within a short time. Welles Corner, with its elegant and ancient elms, is the site of the domicile of the first an- cestor of the Welles family resident in Glastonbury, though the present house has hardly completed the century. Besides the ancient houses built by John Goslee, Samuel Talcott, and Thomas Hollister, in the castern part, there are a number of very respectable antiquity in differ- ent parts of the town.
The first meeting-house was erected on the Green, at or about the time of the Rev. Mr. Stevens's ordination, in October, 1693. It was en- larged in 1706, and stood until destroyed by fire on the night of Dec. 9, 1734. The second meeting-house, by compromise between the north and south, and by the decision of the General Court, was erected on the main
VOL. II. - 14.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
street, about one fourth of a mile south of the Green, standing half in the street, just north of the old Moseley tavern,1 where David H. Carrier now lives. It was used as a church for more than a century, having been built in 1735. On the division of the society in 1836, by the establishment of the society at South Glastonbury, it was abandoned as a meeting-house, and during the year 1837 was demolished. The town, on the establishment of the East Farms as a society, had no further care of ecclesiastical matters, neither did it resume the charge of schools and cemeteries until a hundred and twenty years later. The meeting-house spoken of was forty-four feet wide and fifty-six long, and twenty-four feet in height between joints. It was clapboarded without and ceiled within, the walls being filled (a very proper thing in those stoveless days), and the whole " finished in a manner suitable for a Christian people to worship God in." It was furnished with a high pulpit, overshadowed by a sounding-board at the west end, pews for the dignitaries, and seats and galleries on three sides for those of lesser magnitude, and included a seat in the southeast corner, somewhat raised, for the colored servants.
The number of people at the East Farms having increased, and the space between them and the western people being too extended for con- tinnous attendance on public worship, they petitioned the General Court in 1730 for the establishment of a separate society. David Hubbard, Thomas Hollister, and others represented them. The petition was granted, and those inhabiting the East Farms, and certain other resi- dents on the mile of common, with their farms, were allowed to be a distinct ministerial society, called Eastbury. Stephen Andrews, the Iophon Andrews ancestor of the Andrews family, was the first clerk of the society. In 1765 the mile of commons was wholly annexed to the East Society. Upon the petition of David Hubbard and others in their behalf to the General Court in May, 1732, a committee was appointed to view the selected site for their place of public worship, " being near a certain rock near a pond called Little Nipsick." This committee made its report, which was accepted in October, 1732, locating the place " upon the northerly part of a plain in said society, being northeasterly of a pond called Little Nipsic, about ten rods southeasterly of a small pine marked on the southeasterly side with the letter ' H,' -- to be set on the highest range of a plain where there is laid a small heap of stones." The order was thereupon made that " said inhabitants forthwith proceed and set up the same at said place." The meeting-house was begun during the next year, but not finished until three years later. In archi- tecture it was similar to the house erected in the First Society about the same time, though it was somewhat smaller, being " forty feet long, thirty-five feet wide, with eighteen-feet posts." Neither had steeple or bell, and both were of the " barn order " of building, which, however well adapted to shelter a public assembly, does not afford much scope for the gratification of architectural taste. The location was extremely lonely, no dwelling, except for the sleeping dust of our ancestors, having
1 The tract of land on which this house stands was originally ninety-three rods wide, and was purchased by Joseph Maudsley (afterward written Moseley) in 1718. His descendants now own a portion of it.
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GLASTONBURY.
ever been erected near by. In 1821, after an agitation of more than twenty years for a new location, the society accepted a meeting-house from the proprietors, having in 1819 voted to sell the old one and the land on which it stood. This new meeting-house, aside from being ample in size, was, after many improvements, not much more "a thing of beauty " than the first. So in 1867 a new meeting-house was erected, with steeple and bell, which is a landmark among the hills of Buck- ingham, -as the society has been named, from the post-office estab- lished there in 1867.
By the division of the First Society in 1836, and the dilapidation of its ancient edifice, a new meeting-house became a necessity for the mother organization, and it was so voted in society's meeting January 17, 1837. This was located farther to the north, on land which in 1640 was owned by the Rev. Henry Smith, the first settled minister of Wethers- field (from 1641 to 1648), and later (in 1684) by Samuel Hale, the an- cestor of the Hale family. It was built in 1837, under the supervision of David Hubbard, Josiah B. Holmes, George Plummer, Benjamin Hale, and Ralph Carter, as a building committee. It was a very tasteful edifice, with tower, bell, and clock, especially attractive after its enlarge- ment and thorough repair in 1858, which made it a most fitting and beautiful sanctuary. It was burned on the morning of Sunday, Dec. 23, 1866. The church which takes its place was erected in the year follow- ing, and with its graceful spire (rebuilt in 1880) forms a prominent object in the views of the valley.
The Congregational meeting-house at South Glastonbury was erected in 1837. It occupies a commanding position in that village, and has, among other improvements, a large town clock.
The Episcopalians organized St. Luke's Parish about 1806, and built their church soon after, - a quaint and modest edifice in what, measuring on the main street from north to south, is the old historic centre of the town. It was occupied for church purposes until about 1838, when a brick church was erected in South Glastonbury village. The old edifice was used for various educational purposes until about 1860, when it was removed farther south on the main street, and is now known as Academy Hall. About 1858 the same denomination, at the northern part of the town, including a part of East Hartford, formed the St. James Parish, and erected a church a short distance above Welles Corner.
The Methodist organization was formed in 1796, and in 1810 erected its plain and unpretending house of worship at Wassuc, near the then residence of "Father" Jeremiah Stocking, just north of the school-house. The numbers for many years were few ; but incited by the enthusiastic clergymen 1 of their denomination at that day, they
2 Among the many who favored the company of believers with their spirit-stirring pres- ence and exhortations was the Rev. John N. Maffitt, afterward a Doctor of Divinity. The Hon. John R. Buck sends to the writer the following reminiscence : -
John N. Maffitt, the elder, came to Glastonbury in 1819, in the early part of the year, and later on in the year his wife followed him from Ireland, where Maffitt had left her, and came to this country alone. She then first met him in Glastonbury at the house of the Rev. Jeremiah Stocking, during the progress of a prayer-meeting which Maffitt was conducting. Maffitt, who had rare natural gifts of oratory, somewhat of the coarse quality but matchless in effect, preached not only in Glastonbury but in many adjoining towns for some time afterward. In that year both his wife and infant son were taken sick in Hartford and were conveyed to
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
more than made up in zeal and fervency of spirit what they lacked in numbers.
On the removal of the ancient Congregational place of worship to its present location, their attendance increased so that in 1847 the old house was taken down and a new one built near Roaring Brook, in the present village of East Glastonbury. This is a beautiful edifice,1 and with its sister church farther up the valley in Buckingham rings forth the sound of the " church-going bell " as the fathers in this portion of the town never heard in their generation.
A Methodist church at South Glastonbury was erected in 1828. This is a brick edifice, and is the only one in town without spire or bell.
A Baptist meeting-house is said to have been erected on Matson Hill about fifty years ago. It has long since disappeared, and its exact location is known to but very few people.
As in most country towns, the subdivision into various ecclesiastical organizations has been a source of weakness to each. The thoughtful care of the fathers furnished the several Congregational churches with limited funds by which they are materially assisted in their proper work.
The Roman Catholic church, St. Augustine, at South Glastonbury, was built in 1878, and supplies a long-felt want of a large number of people in devotional exercises. The edifice is finely situated on the rising ground overlooking the village, and of very tasteful model.
Our ancestors at an early day provided a school for the children of the town, the selectmen having hired one Robert Poog as schoolmaster in 1701, at the expense of the town and by its direction. Schools were then established at the Green, at Nayang in 1708, and at the East Farms in 1714. They were supported half by taxation and half by assessment upon the children between six and twelve years of age, " whether they attended school or not." Before the close of the eigh- teenth century an academy was located on the Green, and in the early part of the present century at South Glastonbury. Both these buildings were destroyed by fire. Efforts have been made from time to time to secure the establishment of academies ; but owing to lack of permanent endowments, notwithstanding the expense of their in- ception on the part of public-spirited individuals, they have in all cases maintained a sickly and temporary existence, though a great benefit to our educational interests while they lasted. The Glastonbury Academy, established in 1869, is the only one which remains in exist- ence, and only waits for a small portion of the funds that are lavished on foreign objects, to become a permanent educational institution worthy of the town whose name it bears. The eastern people for a long series
the residence of Halsey Buck (Mr. Buck's father), in Glastonbury, where they were both eared for in his family. Mrs. Maffitt soon recovered, but the lad continued ill for many months. However, he finally recovered and again joined his father, who had in the mean time contin- ned visiting his wife and sick boy at the residence of Mr. Buck as opportunity offered. This incident acquired an additional interest when afterward the elder Maffitt became chaplain of the Lower House of Congress; and when, still later, the little sick boy became known to the world as John N. Maffitt, commander of the Rebel privateer "Florida," sailing in the service of the late so-called Southern Confederacy.
1 Burned June 14, 1885, but rebuilding began at once.
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of years had a select school during a part of the time in an academy building near the homestead of David E. Hubbard, Esq., which was attended by a large number of our older citizens, including many from the adjoining towns of Bolton and Manchester. The basement of the Methodist Episcopal church in East Glastonbury was also used for that purpose for some time after its erection.
Columbia Lodge, No. 25, F. & A. M., located first at Stepney (now Rocky Hill) in the latter part of the last century, is one of the oldest country lodges in the State. It was removed to South Glastonbury in the carly part of the present century, and has ever since held as its property the building on the corner near the present residence of George Pratt, formerly owned by Stephen Shipman and Jedidiah Post in succession. Many of our prominent men - including Jonathan Welles, Deacon Asa Goslec, Henry Dayton, and George Merrick - have been members and Masters. Daskam Lodge No. 86 was estab- lished at the north part in 1857, and has recently finished and occupied its own building for lodge purposes, and a small public hall in the lower story.
The population of this town in 1790 was 2,732, and in 1880, 3,580. The farming population has evidently decreased within the last hun- dred years, but the advent of manufactures has rather increased the total. At present farming is profitable, and it only requires the Oswin Welles attention which is bestowed on other business to make it more so.
Wohn Miles .
The pioneer in packing and mar- keting Connecticut seed-leaf tobacco was Oswin Welles, Esq., a native and resident of this town.
In the early history of this town, and down to within liv- ing memory, large amounts of corn, potatoes, rye, oats, and other farm products were shipped to the West Indies, with horses and mules, salt pork and beef. Ebenezer Plummer, Samuel Welles, and others at the north part of the town, John Welles, Lyman Munger, Henry H. Welles, Russell C. Welles, and others at South Glastonbury, had not only a large domestic commerce, but also carried on a large trade with the West Indies, some of it in articles not now regarded with favor for ordinary consumption.
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