USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. II > Part 38
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A Sunday school was established in 1819 by a few of the church- members, which now numbers 223 members, and has eight hundred books in its library.
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The fifth minister, the Rev. William Pope Aikin, was the son of Lemuel S. and Sarah (Coffin) Aikin, of Fairhaven, Mass., born July 9, 1825. He graduated at Yale in 1853, and became a tutor in that institution. He received a call
William P. aikin.
to settle in Newington March 3, 1856, which he accepted, and was ordained Jan. 15, 1857. He married Susan, daughter of Edwin Edgerton, Esq., of Rutland, Vermont, Aug. 13, 1857. He discharged the duties of pastor for ten years, greatly to the satisfaction of his people, to whom he endeared himself by the high qualities of his mind and heart ; and they reluctantly yielded to his resignation and departure to another field of labor in the summer of 1867. During his pastorate the admissions were 54; baptisms, 63 ; marriages, 31; deaths, 109. The deacons chosen were Rufus Stoddard, May 3, 1867 ; died Jan. 30, 1870. Levi S. Deming, May 3, 1867 ; resigned in 1870. Mr. Aikin died at Rutland, Vermont, March 29, 1884.
The following ministers have also officiated as pastors during the years designated : The Rev's Sandford S. Martyn, 1868-1869 ; Dr. Robert G. Vermilye, 1870-1873; William J. Thomson, 1875-1879 ; Jolin E. Elliott, 1879-1884. The deacons chosen during the same period are Jedediah Deming, Feb. 6, 1870; Charles K. Atwood and Heman A. Whittlesey, March 6, 1870, who are still in office. The church now numbers 191 members, with 102 families, who habitually attend its public worship.
The eighteen years' controversy as to the site of the second meeting- house settled down, toward its close, to a choice between two rival loca- tions. When the question was decided, in the summer of 1797, many of the defeated party joined with persons in Worthington and Kensing- ton, that same fall, in erecting an Episcopal church in the southwest part of the parish, a little below where William Richards now resides. This church was fifty by forty feet in size, with a tall steeple, and was erected and finished at about the same time as its rival. It was called " Christ Church," and kept up an active organization for thirteen years. Its clergymen were the Rev. Seth Hart, the Rev. James Kilbourn, and the Rev. Ammi Rogers, besides others who may have officiated tem- porarily. Mr. Jonathan Gilbert was appointed warden of the parish April 18, 1808. The members were few and the expenses heavy, so that the church did not prosper. No records were kept from 1810 to 1826, when the society had become virtually defunct. A remnant of the church organized in 1826 for the purpose of disposing of the church edifice, which had become somewhat dilapidated by neglect, and it was sold for one hundred and fifteen dollars, and the avails turned over to the Episcopal Church in New Britain. There was a burying- ground connected with this church on the opposite side of the street, which is the only vestige left, visible to the eye of the passing traveller, of what was the first Episcopal church in Newington. There is a record-book in the hands of Mr. Selden Deming.
The second Episcopal organization held its first church service in 1860, in the house of Jared Starr, Esq. Such services were held in private houses or in the depot until November, 1874, when the corner- stone of Grace Church was laid, and in March, 1875, the edifice
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was completed and occupied. The audience-room has seats for one hundred and fifty persons. It is located about a half-mile northeast of the depot. The number of families on the parish register is thirteen ; communicants, twenty-one ; average attendance upon public worship, forty. In the Sunday-school there are thirty scholars and four teachers. The clergymen who have officiated more or less are the Rev's Professor Francis T. Russell, F. B. Chetwood, Francis Goodwin, William F. Nichols, John M. Bates, and Howard S. Clapp. Grace Church is free to all, supported by contributions collected every Sunday. It was con- secrated June 15, 1882. Its wardens are Jared Starr and E. T. Day.
Prior to 1834 there had been too few Methodists to attempt an organization, but about that date they were joined by some disaffected members of the Congregational church, and on Nov. 28, 1834, Mr. Zaccheus Brown conveyed a rood of land, at the northwest corner of his home-lot, to Amon Richards, Robert Francis, Jr., and Hervey Francis, " in trust for the use and benefit of the trustees of the Methodist Epis- copal Church." A church was there erected twenty-six by thirty-six feet in size, without steeple or bell. Public worship was maintained for
some years. It had a Sunday school which in 1837 numbered forty scholars. But the organization did not attain any permanent pros- perity. In the fall of 1860 the meeting-house was removed to the corner northeast of the Congregational church, and in 1870 it was sold, and devoted to private uses. Its assets and members went to the Methodist church in New Britain.
The first action in relation to schools was taken at a society meet- ing held Dec. 31, 1723, when a school committee was appointed, and " the country money " was voted " to them to defray part of the charge of a school." The first school-house is mentioned in a vote passed Dec. 15, 1729. A new school-house at the north end was built in 1757. It was voted, Dec. 1, 1760, that the summer school be kept by "a school dame," which shows an early appreciation of the value of female teachers. A school-house at the south end is mentioned in 1773. In 1774 a new school-house was ordered to be built in the centre of the society, " near to Captain Martin Kellogg's house." The society was divided into three school districts in 1783, called the North, the Middle, and the South districts. A fourth district was created by the school society in 1835, called the Southeast district. These districts still con- tinne, with some changes of boundaries. The four districts have five school-houses, all in good condition. A new school-house was built in the Middle district in 1883 at a cost of two thousand dollars. The number of children enumerated in the town in January, 1883, was two hundred and thirty-one. In 1829 an association `was formed, called " the Newington Education Company," for the purpose of building an academy for a school of a " higher order" than the district schools. The building was erected, and an academy flourished there for a quarter of a century. Though there has been no academy in the place for the last thirty years, education has not been neglected. It was estimated by Dr. Brace in 1855 that for twenty years prior to that date one thou- sand dollars annually had been spent in educating Newington children abroad, in seminaries, high schools, and colleges. This annual ex- penditure has undoubtedly greatly increased with the added years.
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Dr. Brace had a private school for thirty years, in which he fitted boys for college, instructing two hundred in all. Our common schools have made steady advancement, never having afforded better advantages to the scholars than to-day.
There are three mill-privileges which have been occupied as sites where mills have been carried by water-power : one in the centre of the town, at the north end of the pond ; one in the north district, on Piper's River ; and one at the west side, near the boundary line. There have been five grist-mills. The first was built as early as 1720 probably, by Deacon Josiah Willard, at the north end. The second, at the west side, was built by Benjamin Adkins, on the spot where Luther's mill now stands. The third was built by Martin Kellogg, 4th, and Daniel Willard, 2d, where the first one stood. Its long mill-dam was several times partially carried away by the freshets to which that river is sub- ject. The fourth was built at the centre, north of the pond, by Israel Kelsey and Joseph Kelsey, of Berlin, and Unni Robbins, of Newington. It was afterward destroyed by fire. Several other mills and factories have been built and destroyed by fire since at that place. The present factory there makes paper for binders' boards. The fifth grist-mill was built by Joseph and James Churchill, where Adkins's mill had been, at the " west side." It is still used as a grist-mill, owned by Martin Luther, and is now the only one in the town.
A satinet-factory was built by General Martin Kellogg, Daniel Wil- lard, 3d, and John M. Belden, at an expense of abont twelve thousand dollars, at the north end, about 1838. It was destroyed by fire a few years ago, and the site is now vacant. There is a brick-kiln at the west side of the town, where a large quantity of brick is made, carried on by the Messrs. Dennis, near the New York and New England Railroad, and a station has been established there called Clayton. There was formerly for some years a distillery at the centre, where cider-brandy was manufactured, until the Washingtonian temperance movement touched the conscience of the owner and he abandoned the business. The manufacture of cotton-batting and of edged tools was also carried on at that point for a few years by Edwin Welles.
The principal industry of Newington has at all times been the tilling of the soil. In former days there was some commerce with the West Indies. The products of the soil were exported, especially onions ; and molasses, sugar, and rum were brought in return cargoes to Wethersfield. But our inland situation has proved a barrier to com- mercial enterprises. Our soil is well adapted to the cultivation of all of the ordinary farm crops, as potatoes, corn, oats, rye, turnips, onions, tobacco, hay, fruits, and seeds. Hartford and New Britain furnish markets of easy access, while two railroads offer convenient transpor- tation to those more remote. The soil is generally a sandy loam, ex- cept in the northern and western portions, where clay abounds. A good deal of money is annually spent in fertilizers, but the land yields a return which makes the expenditure a paying investment. The fences are almost wholly of posts and rails ; rarely you see a stone wall.
The first trainband or militia company in Newington was organized at the meeting-house, Oct. 18, 1726, by the choice of John Camp
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
as captain, Ephraim Deming lieutenant, and Richard Bordman en- sign. At that time the militia of each county constituted a regiment, with no fixed number of companies. This first company in Newington was the fourth in the town of Wethersfield, there having been two in the old society and one in Rocky Hill prior to this time. Those on the muster-roll in Newington had probably been attached to the north, or second company of the old society. These three officers were prominent among the early settlers. Their names appear signed to a petition to the town, presented in 1712, for the forming the settlers into a distinct parish. Captain Camp died Feb. 4, 1747, in his seventy- second year. He left a son, John, born in 1711, who was deacon of the church for many years, and lived in a house west of the residence of Shubael Whaples. Lieutenant Deming died Nov. 14, 1742, in his fifty-seventh year. Ensign Bordman became a lieutenant, and died Aug. 7, 1755, in the seventy-first year of his age. The second captain was Martin Kellogg, appointed in October, 1735. He was born Oct. 26, 1686, the son of Martin and Anne Kellogg. He lived with his father in Deerfield, Mass., when that place was sacked by the French and Indians, on the 29th of February, 1704. His father and four chil- dren, including himself, were captured, and were obliged to make the long march through the snow to Canada. The four children in their captivity learned the Indian language. The eldest daughter, Joanna, became attached to that mode of life, and married an Indian chief. Martin, Joseph, and Rebecca became useful frequently afterward as interpreters. Martin was captured by the Indians several times, and taken to Canada. He says, in a petition to the General Assembly in 1745, that more than thirty years ago he escaped from a long and distressing captivity among the French and Indians. He married, Jan. 13, 1716, Dorothy Chester, daughter of Stephen Chester and great-granddaughter of Governor Thomas Welles, a cousin to the wife of the Rev. Elisha Williams. In 1726 he was appointed one of the committee to arrange the terms of Mr. Williams's removal from the Newington church to Yale College. After that event he owned and lived in the mansion built by the church for Mr. Williams, and died there Nov. 13, 1753, aged sixty-eight. He was remarkable for bodily strength and presence of mind. Many exploits of his early life have been handed down by tradition. In June, 1746, the legislature ap- pointed a committee to employ him in the proposed expedition to Canada " as a pilot on board his Majesty's fleet" for " the river of St. Lawrence." In 1749 and 1750 he was engaged as instructor to the Indians, especially of the Six Nations, of the Hollis School at Stock- bridge. In 1751 he was sent with clothing, as colonial agent, to Hendrick, chief of the Mohawks. Indeed, the colony and parish records show that he was a man of affairs whose services were often made useful, especially in negotiations with Indians.
In 1739 the militia of the State was organized into thirteen regi- ments : Wethersfield was embraced in the sixth. In that year war was proclaimed between England and Spain. In 1741 an expedition was sent against the Spanish West Indies, and a draft of one half of the Newington muster-roll was made, July 2, 1741, at one hour's warning, of six officers and twenty-three privates. Their names were: ensign, Robert Wells; sergeant, Caleb Andrus; drummer, David
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Wright ; corporal, Jonathan Whaples; sergeant, Samuel Churchill; cor- poral, Zebulon Robbins ; privates, Samuel Hunn, Jonathan Devernx, Thomas Stoddard. Zebulon Stoddard, Nathaniel Churchill, Daniel Wil- lard, William Andrus, Judah Wright, Henry Kirkham, Joseph Andrns, Jedediah Atwood, Stedman Youngs, Elijah Andrus, Abraham Warren, Elisha Deming, Janna Deming, Benjamin Goodrich, Jonathan Blinn, Martin Kellogg, David Coleman, Thomas Robbins, Charles Hurlbut, Josiah Whittlesey. The age for military duty was then from sixteen to fifty.
Some of the captains that succeeded those already mentioned were Josiah Willard, Charles Churchill, Martin Kellogg, 3d, Robert Wells, Sr., Robert Wells, Jr., Jonathan Stoddard, Roger Welles, Levi Lusk, Absalom Wells, Robert Francis, Jonathan Stoddard, Jr., Martin Kellogg, 5th, James Deming, Joseph Camp. On the re- organization of the militia, a light infantry company was enlisted from the old society and that of Newington, about two thirds of them from Newington. The captains who belonged to the latter parish were Joseph Camp, Simeon Stoddard, Daniel Willard, Erastus Latimer, Erastus Francis, Selden Deming, Daniel H. Willard, Albert S. Hunn.
According to a census taken August, 1776, Newington numbered four hundred and sixty white, and seven colored inhabitants. It has had four colonels ; namely, Roger Welles, Levi Lusk, Martin Kellogg, and Joseph Camp. Three of these, namely, Welles, Lusk, and Kel- logg, were afterward brigadier-gen- erals ; and two of them, Lusk and Changer Willes Kellogg, were promoted to the rank of major-general. In the war of 1812-1815 two small drafts were made from the company, and stationed at Groton, to defend New London, and the frigate "Macedonian " and the sloop-of-war " Hornet," from any attack that might be made from the British fleet on the coast. General Levi Lusk commanded the militia, and Lieutenant Joseph Camp (afterward colonel) had a command there.
In the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, Newington sent forty-nine volunteers and nine substitutes into the contest. Perhaps the most prom- inent in all this list of military characters was General Roger Welles. He was a descendant of Governor Thomas Welles, in the sixth genera- tion. He was born Dec. 29, 1753, at Wethersfield, in the house lately occupied by General L. R. Welles, just north of the State prison ; which property has been in the ownership of the Welles family since it was bought by Governor Welles. He was the sixth child and second son of Solomon and Sarah Welles, in a family of twelve chil- dren. His mother was also a Welles, a descendant of three governors, Welles, Pitkin, and Saltonstall. He graduated at Yale College in 1775. He taught school at Wethersfield till the Revolutionary War broke out, when he entered the service, and continued in it till the war closed. He served as lieutenant in Colonel S. B. Webb's battalion Connecticut troops, known as the Ninth Battalion or Regiment. He was first lieutenant in Captain Joseph Walker's company, where he remained till April 22, 1779, when he was transferred to Captain Thomas Wooster's company. As lieutenant he was in command of the
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
company till Aug. 1, 1780, when he was transferred to the Light Infantry Company, having been promoted to a captaincy, to date from April 9, 1780. In 1783, and perhaps before, he was in command of the Light Infantry Company, Third Connecticut Regiment, Colonel S. B. Webb commanding. He was present at the siege and capture of York- town, in command of one hundred picked men, none of whom were less than six feet tall, under General Lafayette, by whom he was ordered to storm and take a redoubt; which he accomplished, being foremost in taking possession of the works, though wounded by a bayonet-thrust in the leg. He was afterward presented with a sword by General Lafayette. He married Jemima Kellogg, daughter of Captain Martin Kellogg, 3d, on the 25th of March, 1785, and settled in Newington, where he lived till his death, March 27, 1795, in his forty-first year. In May, 1788, he was appointed colonel of the Sixth Regiment of Militia. In May, 1793, he was appointed Brigadier- General of the Seventh Brigade. He was a member of nine sessions of the legislature, from 1790 to 1795, being a member when he died. He was of commanding appearance, being six feet two inches tall in his stockings, with blue eyes and light-brown hair. He had five children.
One of these, the Hon. Martin Welles, born Dec. 7, 1787, was a prominent lawyer at the Hartford County Bar. He graduated at Yale College in 1806; was
1850 judge of the County Court for several years ; a repre- sentative in the legislature for six years ; clerk of that body three years ; speaker two years; and State senator two years. Like his father, he was over six feet tall, dignified and commanding ; a man of strong will and immense perseverance. He addressed a court in words terse and well-chosen, and as a lawyer was particularly skilful in the science of pleading. He died Jan. 18, 1863.
Finger Inelles
XX.
PLAINVILLE.
BY SIMON TOMLINSON.
TN 1869 Plainville was set off from Farmington, where it had been earlier known as the Great Plain, and was incorporated as a town. It is bounded north by Farmington, east by New Britain, south by Southington, west by Bristol, and contains about twelve square miles. The village proper is only about four and a half miles from the busi- ness centre of Farmington ; but its history and business interests had been so separate from those of the town to which it was attached that the legislature of 1869 granted its incorporation, although the place was not even represented in that body as a voting district. The peti- tion was signed by every legal voter, and the division was effected without discord.
Plainville is probably the most level township in the State. Nearly all of its area is in the broad open plain lying between the mountain ranges which run north from New Haven harbor to Vermont. Plain- ville is distant twenty-seven miles from the Sound coast, and twenty- five miles from the Massachusetts line. The whole plain is composed of drift, and seems to be of comparatively recent origin. The shallow, sandy loam of the surface rests on gravel and sand, with here and there a stratum of clay, and the red sandstone lies under all and occasionally crops out. Water is abundant at from six to twenty feet below the surface. The Peqnabuck River flows northward from Plain- ville into the Farmington River just opposite Farmington village, furnishing in its course the water-power for Terryville, Bristol, and Plainville. On the east side of the plain, about a mile from the Pequabuck valley, is Hamlin's Pond, known in the old records as Big Pond. It is fed by small streams from the north and east, and itself is the source of Quinnipiac River, which flows due south through South- ington, Meriden, Wallingford, and North Haven, to New Haven Bay. Thus Plainville rests upon a dividing ridge of water-shed, and is the highest bottom-land along the valley, Its measured altitude is 186 feet above tide-water. It is a current geological belief that the Con- necticut River formerly flowed through this valley and was at a com- paratively late day diverted by some convulsion near Mount Tom, in Massachusetts.
It is not probable that any large tribe of Indians made this place their camping-ground, but there are evidences that the tribes of the Quinnipiac and Farmington valleys met here in conflict. A field near Big Pond has yielded stone arrow-points to many curiosity-hunters ; and they have been found, too, in large numbers along the river-bank
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
on the north side of the village. Stone axes, samp-bowls, and other relics have also been found ; and many bones were uncovered when the canal was being dug. The last Indian who lived in this section was named Cronx, and the land where his hut stood still bears his name.
The rich bottom-lands of the Tunxis valley attracted and held the first settlers ; and the outside lands, like the Great Plain, being less fertile, were mapped off into divisions, and these into small sections, which were allotted by vote to settlers, on condition that they would pay the taxes for a number of years. Thus these lands fell to many proprietors, and few settlers located upon them, as the lands of the east and west border were preferred. The western slope was called Red Stone Hill, from the quantities of broken red sandstone which lie
THE "OLD ROOT PLACE."
there. It was thereabouts that the Hookers, Curtises, Roots, Bishops, Twinings, Phinneys, Richardses, Morses, and others settled. To agri- culture was early added the manufacture of tin and japanned ware, and Red Stone Hill was for years the centre of this industry. This section received further importance in 1778, when Samuel Deming, of Farming- ton, bought a section of land on the Pequabuck River and built a saw- mill and grist-mill there, near the present site of the hame-works of Edwin Hills. This property was subsequently owned by the Roots, who added wool-carding and the manufacture of cloth to the other occupa- tions. They were descendants of Jolin Root, who built the " old Root Place," now owned by E. N. Pierce. Mr. Root was one of the first set- tlers on the Great Plain proper. In 1784 John Hamlin for £30 bought 6 acres 16 rods, at White Oak, as the eastern slope was called. He located near what was thereafter called Hamlin's Pond, and his
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descendants still own much of the land thereabouts. In the same year Chauncy Hills gave &12 for 8 acres and £16 for 42 acres, and he was the first man to locate on the broad plains. He entered extensively upon the purchase and cultivation of these lands on the plain, which, though not apparently very fertile, were level and easily tilled. He borrowed money to buy Chaney Lag still more, paid promptly, and in time came to be the independent owner of more than one thousand acres, - nearly all the eastern plain. His grain-crops alone exceeded fifteen hundred bushels. At his death he left a large and well-tilled farm to his seven sons and daughters. No less than ninety-five of his immediate de- scendants are now living, of whom thirty-five still reside within the limits of Plainville. His eldest son, the late Elias Hills, brought up a Chias Hills family of eleven children, seven of whom are still living, and all of whom are residents of this place. With these exceptions, few of the descendants of the early settlers remain here, and the family- names are found oftener on the headstones of the cemetery than in the homes of the living.
Much interesting information as to this place is found in the " Plain- ville Notes " of the venerable Jehiel C. Hart, who came to the Great Plain in 1814 to teach school, and who in later years gave much time to tracing the histories of the old families and the town itself. He reported twenty families, with a population of about two hundred J.b. Mart and fifty in his school district in 1814, and abont one hundred pu- pils in the school, though some of these came from Bristol. In 1871 he recorded the fact that "only eleven are to be found here now." Such has been the restlessness of population in this moving century. Mr. Hart said that in 1814 he found already established an excellent library, which was kept at the school-house. The people were intelli- gent and orderly. There was no meeting-house, and the inhabitants worshipped in the neighboring towns. Mr. Hart, who died in 1881, was the last of the eighteen petitioners who, in 1839, asked leave to with- draw from the Farmington Congregational Church and establish one at Great Plain.
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