USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. II > Part 41
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
About the beginning of the present century the Methodists began to hold religious meetings in this town. At first, itinerant preachers held services in school-houses or private dwellings once in three or four weeks. Their first quarterly meeting was in 1818, at Farms Village. In 1840 the present church was built. Its cost was about $3,000, obtained by subscription from all parts of the town. The church has been greatly prospered under the preaching of a succession
355
SIMSBURY.
of talented and earnest pastors. In 1882 the church edifice was remodelled and renovated at a cost of about $4,000, raised by sub- scription of its members and the gifts of outside friends. J. O. Phelps, Esq., contributed largely in time and money. In 1868 Mrs. Jemima Woodbridge left to the church, at her decease, a bequest of $3,000. In 1883, by the will of Mrs. Philomela Goddard, it was made her residuary legatec, receiving thereby about $14,500.
The Baptist Church of Tariffville was organized May 31, 1833, with a membership of thirteen persons. The following named pastors have successively officiated : The Rev's Charles Willet, William Reid, Asahel Chapin, R. II. Maine, R. H. Bolles, Charles F. Holbrook, Joseph Burnett, Mr. Lovell, William Goodwin, and Mr. Nichols. The first church was burned in 1876. A new one was built in the spring of that year, and dedicated in September.
During and in consequence of the controversy in regard to the loca- tion and building of the old meeting-house, a few individuals withdrew from the old society in 1740, and organized an Episcopal church in Scot- land, then in Simsbury. In 1743 their number was largely increased. The parish took the name of St. Andrew's, and is one of the oldest in the State. In 1868 an offshoot of this church sprang up in Tariffville, which has nearly supplanted the old stock ; many members of the old society of St. Andrew's, niting, have formed a new society and erected a beautiful church edifice at that place, at a cost of about $22,000.
In 1847 the Roman Catholics of Tariffville and vicinity, under the charge of the Rev. Luke Daly, erected a church in that place, which was well sustained under the care of his successors, - the Rev. Mr. Dwyer, and Fathers Fagan, Walsh, and Sheridan. A few years since a new church was erected, the old one being too small, and recently a new pas- toral residence has been purchased. The society is in a flourishing con- dition. It embraces Simsbury, Granby, and East Granby ; and included in the mission are Bloomfield, Scotland, and Cottage Grove. The pres- ent resident pastor is the Rev. Father John F. Quinn, under whose acceptable and efficient labors the church is exceedingly prosperous. Father Quinn has under his care about twelve hundred persons, of whom about six hundred belong to the Tariffville Mission.
At a town-meeting held in 1701 "a Committee was appointed to agree about the measures and method of a School, and chuse a School- master." They agreed with John Slater, Sr., "to keep said school : to teach such of sª town Children as are sent, to read, writ, and to cypher, or to say the rules of arithmatick." The school was to be kept at two places alternately, three months in a place ; the first school was to begin at the Plain, and the next at Wetaug, on the west side of the river, and the schoolmaster to be allowed forty shillings per month during six months.
In 1703-1704 the committee " agreed that there shall be four School- dames -two at Wetaug, one on ech side the river, one at Samon brook & one for Terries & at Scotland - and a schoolmaster ; and such par- ants as send their children from other parts of the town to said School- master, shall allow fourpence per week for every child so sent : cach of the Schools to be keept up five month in one year, at least."
In 1707 the town voted to sequester the copper-mines, and to appro-
356
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
priate and work them for their own use; and that before any division of the copper, refined or wrought, should be made, "the tenth part of it shall be taken from it, for pious uses ; viz. two thirds of it shall be to the maintaining an able schoolmaster here in Simsbury ; the other third part shall be given to the use of the Collegiate School erected within the Colony, to be improved as the trustees of said school shall see good." Probably neither the college nor the schoolmaster received any great pecuniary benefit from this source; but the act is a mani- festation of the interest felt by the men of that generation in the cause of education. For many years there have been twelve school districts in the town, where schools have been maintained most of the year in comfortable and convenient school-houses. In 1865 the three districts of the village of Tariffville were consolidated, and a union school- house erected, at an expense of more than $13,000, where a graded school of three departments was established. It has since that time been permanently and successfully conducted by teachers of ability and experience, and is an ornament to the village and an honor to those who were active in its establishment. At the centre of the town Mr. J. B. McLean has established the Simsbury Academy, a boarding and day school for boys and girls. The school is now (1884) in its fifth year of successful operation. In addition to the ordinary means of education, it may not be amiss to mention the Simsbury Free Library, established and opened to all the inhabitants of Simsbury, through the munificent gift of $3,000 by Amos R. Eno, Esq., whose other noble acts of beneficence to the church and the town have been previously men- tioned. The library contains a choice selection of books, which from time to time is added to as new works are published.
In the French and Indian War, which began about 1756, Simsbury contributed its full proportion of troops. A company was raised in this town for the protection Noah Stumptiny of Crown Point; and on the muster-roll of General Lyman's regiment, at the siege and capture of Mon- treal, are the names of a number of Simsbury men. In March, 1762, Noah Humphrey was commissioned captain of a company raised in and about Simsbury, which formed a part of General Lyman's regiment in his ill- fated expedition to Havana. Elihu Humphrey went out as second lieu-
tenant of the company, and in three days after Nath& Humphry his arrival there, was appointed adjutant of the regiment. His brother, Nathaniel Humphrey, enlisted as a private, and on his arrival at Havana was appointed ensign of Captain Humphrey's company. There were in the regiment eight hundred and two men. On the 16th of October only forty were reported fit for duty.
In the War of the Revolution, few, if any, of the towns of the State furnished a larger number of enlisted men than Simsbury. With great
357
SIMSBURY.
unanimity the inhabitants of this town espoused the cause of freedom, and rendered essential aid in the great struggle for independence. When the news of the passage of the Boston Port Bill was received in this country, meetings were held in many places to express indigna- tion at this arbitrary measure. On the receipt of the intelligence in Simsbury, nearly a year before the beginning of hostilities, a town- meeting was called, Aug. 11, 1774, and Hezekiah Humphrey, Esq., was made moderator. Resolutions were passed avowing loyalty to King George, but declaring that Parliament had acted without legal right ; favoring a Continental Congress, and calling for subscriptions to aid the people of Boston ; and that there might be no disguise of public sentiment, the resolutions were Her Trumphy ordered printed in the " Con- nectient Courant." On the 19th of April, 1775, the first blood of the Revolution was shed, and in three weeks from that time a com- pany of more than one hundred men, under the command of Captain Abel Pettibone, was raised in Simsbury and on the march to Boston. Many of the men were engaged in the battle of Bunker Hill. Immedi- ately after this battle an- Abel Pettibon Part other company was raised by enlistment, under com- mand of Captain Elihu Humphrey. This consisted of seventy-five men. Other troops were raised in 1776. From a return of the Eighteenth Regiment of militia, under command of Colonel Jonathan Humphrey, it appears that in 1777 two hundred and sixty-four of its men were in service in the Continental army. There was in the regiment an aggregate force of eleven hun- dred and forty-nine men, more than three quarters of whom belonged to Simsbury ; and all of whom were, in 1778, called into active service at and about New York. Captain (afterward Major-General) Noah Phelps also raised a company from this town.
Noah helps
In the War of 1812 many from Simsbury
were called into the service, and the Simsbury artillery company, under command of Captain Sereno Pettibone, marched to New London for the defence of that town.
When the existence of the Government was put in peril by the Great Rebellion, the young men of Simsbury rushed to the front. Pursuant to a call dated April 22, only ten days after the first gun was fired, "a meeting of the citizens of Simsbury and its vicinity, without regard to previous political opinions, who were in favor of upholding the present Government and Constitution of the United States at all hazards, was held at the town-hall in Simsbury, to consult with reference to the present crisis in our national affairs." The meeting having organized, a committee of five gentlemen was appointed " to receive and distribute such funds as may be subscribed for the benefit of those who have enlisted, or may hereafter enlist, in defence of the Government ; or for the support or assistance of the families of such as have families." On that day nine citizens of Simsbury were mustered into the service of the United States by voluntary enlistment. About $1,100 were immediately
358
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
subscribed, and the distribution began. It was a beautiful manifes- tation of patriotic sympathy. Then the town took up the benevolent work, and voted bounties to its volunteer soldiers. At the close of the war Simsbury had fur- nished about two hundred young men to maintain the integrity of the Union.
-175 - Three Guns & two t 65/ Back Gun & Baynoty of
the Select Men of the Town of Jimfury to
Supply my Folgers now going in the Service
of this Goverment/ the lipin without the Baynt
aprifed at 50/ the: (?
me Elihr Famphony Cap" A 8 kg
mark my! Banal- DH-two ofthe guns
S73-on thump
Rex- August -1
Haynotes gange
2-15:00
2 -15-0
3-10-0
his
gun mantão
Under the Colo- nial Government manufacturing was not encour- aged. In 1728 Samuel Higley petitioned the General Court for the exclusive right to manufac- ture steel for a term of years, set- ting forth that " he hath, with great pains and costs, found out and obtained a curious art by which to convert, change, and trans- mute common iron into good steel." The Gen- eral Court grant- ed a patent, giving him the exclusive privilege of mak- ing steel for the term of ten years, conditioned that he should bring it to " a good and reasonable per- fection " within
two years. With these terms he complied, as to quantity and quality : but on the whole the experiment was not a success. Twelve years afterward Thomas Fitch and others obtained a Sono giglsy like privilege ; but by reason of the death of the Rev. Timothy Woodbridge, who was their scientific man, the busi- ness was given up, though it had been partially successful. Their
359
SIMSBURY.
works were on Hop Brook, above the mills. These were a grist-mill and saw-mill erected by Thomas Barber and others in 1679, under a contract with the town whereby it gave them " the free use of . hoppe Brooke' during the time they shall keep up ye said Mills in good repair," with other conditions specified therein. These mills have been kept up from that time to the present, - more than two hundred years.
Aside from these and some other saw-mills, but little, if any, ma- chinery was put in operation prior to the Revolution. Everything was wrought by hand, - literally manufactured. Axes, hoes, forks, spades, ploughshares, scythes, all these were made by the hand of the black- smith. Every farm-house was a manufactory. Here the domestic or itinerant tailoress made up the winter clothing for the men and boys, and the peripatetie shoemaker, with his bench and lapstone, made up the shoes. Spinning- wheels buzzed in ev- ery house ; skeins of woollen and linen yarn hung on the walls ; on the loom- seat, now supplanted by the organ and piano, the matron plied the shuttle and the treadles. The cloth for the family, blankets and sheets, table-cloths and tow- els, bed-curtains and window-curtains, flan- nels and carpets, --- when carpets came in vogue, - all were woven there. Else- where grandmothers were seated by the THE OLD BRONSON HOUSE. " little wheel " spin- ning flax ; and mothers in the corner carded wool or tow, or hatchelled flax. In the morning the lawn was white with " pieces of linen" spread out to bleach, and the meadow covered with flax to rot. All these were the work of women. They made the bread, the butter, the cheese ; no bakery then, no creamery. They milked the cows, they cooked over an open fire, they washed and ironed, they serubbed the floors and sanded them, they made soap and candles, they raked hay, they pulled flax, they dug potatoes. When they visited, they "carried their work ;" when they sat by the fireside to rest, they were knitting, or patching the children's clothes, or darning their stockings. Of an autumn evening they were paring apples and quartering them for the children " to string" and hang in the morning in festoons on the sunny outside walls. All were busy, - always busy! What those women wrought is simply amazing. No wonder the women and girls of the present generation are weak and infirm : their mothers and grandmothers were overworked and physically exhausted.
360
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
During and after the War of 1812 several manufactures were under- taken, and prosecuted with varied success. At the Falls a wire-factory was put in operation. Similar works were afterward established on Hop Brook above the mills, in connection with which a card-factory was put in operation near the house of the Hon. Elisha Phelps, who was one of the proprietors. At first hand-cards, afterward machine- cards, were manufactured. Clark & Haskell and Thomas Case were likewise engaged in the same business. During this period the women and children of the town found employment in "setting card-teeth." This, however, was soon superseded by machinery.
About the beginning of the present century the making of tin-ware was an important industry, and successfully prosecuted. Titus Barber was for many years engaged in this business, and was largely successful, send- ing his wares by pedlers into the South, and realizing great profits.
About the year 1836 Richard Bacon, Esq., a prominent citizen, in connection with partners in England, introduced the manufacture of safety-fuse at East Wetaug. After successfully prosecuting the busi- ness a number of years, Mr. Bacon sold his interest to the Rev. Joseph Toy, who soon afterward removed the works to Hop Brook, at the centre of the town, where, under the firm name of Toy, Bickford, & Co., a large manufacturing establishment has been built up, employing about one hundred hands.
Tariffville, in the extreme northeast corner of the town, has had a varied history. With a water-power and other facilities unsurpassed, many works of manufacture have been carried on there during the last half-century. Cotton and woollen goods, carpets, serews, and other articles have been manufactured by large companies with more or less success. In 1881 the property was purchased by the Auer Silk Manu- facturing Company, organized, with a capital of $200,000, for the purpose of manufacturing dress-goods, tapestries, etc. The name is now changed to the Hartford Silk Company. Another company has since been organized for the purpose of manufacturing silk thread, etc. Both these companies are understood to be prosecuting their business with present success and the brightest prospects. They give employ- ment to a large number of hands.
In agricultural industries and products Simsbury, in comparison with other towns, occupies a very favorable position. Its soil and situ- ation render it adapted to every branch of agriculture. Grass, grain, fruit, and root culture are alike successful. The growing of Indian corn and tobacco is particularly adapted to the soil. They were both considerably cultivated by the aborigines here, and their successors have continued to give special care to these crops. Tobacco, always commanding cash at some price, is a tempting as well as a suc- cessful product. Nor is its culture limited to a recent date. In the middle of the last century it was an important article of culture and commerce in this town. At that time, for many years in succession, " packers of tobacco " were annually chosen in Simsbury. Stock-grow- ing and the dairy must not be overlooked. In these, Simsbury is not behind other towns. In 1882 a company was formed for the establish- ment of a creamery, which is now doing a successful and prosperous business. During the last twenty-five years a great advance has been made in scientific and practical farming in this town.
361
SIMSBURY.
Many of the descendants of the first settlers of Simsbury have filled important places in the history of the State and Nation. Among these was Colonel David Humphrey, the companion and aide of Washington, poet and historian, ambassador to Portugal and Spain, whence he brought the merino sheep to this country. He was a lineal descendant of Michael Humphrey, the pioneer of Simsbury. Another is Ruther- ford B. Hayes, late President of the United States, a descendant of George Hayes, one of the carly settlers.
Simsbury, too, has been the birthplace of many distinguished men. Our assigned limits allow the mention of but few of them. Among them are : -
The Hon. Walter Forward, Member of Congress, Comptroller, and Secretary of the Treasury, under President Tyler.
The Rt. Rev. Alexander V. Griswold, a distinguished bishop of the Episcopal Church, who lived in Boston.
Anson G. Phelps, Esq., a leading merchant and citizen of New York City.
The Rev. Heman Hum- phrey, D.D., late President of Amherst College, a man of distinguished literary and Christian character.
The Hon. Elisha Phelps, a leading man in public affairs, and for several years a Member of Congress.
Elisha Phelps
The Hon. Noah A. Phelps, late Secretary of State, and author of the "History of Simsbury."
The Hon. Jefferey O.
Phelps, a brother of the last-mentioned, who, though entirely self- educated, became a respectable lawyer, and at the age of forty-five was admitted to the bar. He repeat- edly represented his native town in Noah of Philips the State legislature, and for several years held the offices of Judge of Pro- bate and Judge of the County Court.
The Hon. John S. Phelps, son of the Hon. Elisha Phelps. For eighteen years consecutively Mr. Phelps was a leading Member of Con- gress from Missouri, and for four years Governor of that State.
Offery B, Phelps
The old house now occupied by Dr. Lucius I. Barber, situated on the east side of the Main Street, It was built in colonial times,
in Simsbury, is of historic interest. in the reign of King George III., in 1762, by the Rev. Benajah Roots, at that time the distin- guished pastor of the Con- Jotun . Mally gregational Church. It was occupied by Mr. Roots till his dismissal in 1773, when it was purchased by Major Elihu Humphrey, grandfather of the present occupant. Major Hum-
.
1
362
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
phrey was a distinguished soldier and officer in the French and Indian War, at Montreal and Ticonderoga; and was adjutant of Colonel Lyman's regiment at the capture of Havana.
At the outbreak of the War of the Revolution Major Humphrey raised a company, and on the eve of their march to Boston paraded them before this house, where he then lived, for the purpose of giving them the opportunity of taking a tender leave of their wives and chil- dren and dearest friends. The scene is represented by one of their number as affecting and almost heart-rending.
Major Humphrey was in active service till the battle of Long Island, when he was wounded and taken prisoner, and confined in the Old Sugar-House, where he was so barbarously treated that he died soon after his return Oliver Brownfor to his old home. In 1785 the house passed into the possession of Mr. Oliver Brownson, a distinguished composer and teacher of sacred music. For many years successively he was elected by the Ecclesiastical Society " Quoris- ter, to lead the singing, in the Society." In this house he printed and
published his celebrated singing - book,1 which license E. VPonton came into common use. He was the father of the Hon. Greene C. Bronson, late Chief Judge of the Supreme Court of New York, who was born in this house, and resided here till the age of sixteen years.
The next occupant was the late Colonel Calvin Barber, who, under a contract with the State, in 1802 erected the walls of the old prison, Calom Barker "at the copper- mines," which in 1773 had been purchased by the colony " for a public gaol and work-house for the use of the Colony, and called and named New-Gate Prison." Colonel Barber was described by his pastor, in an obituary notice, as "a substantial pillar of the church and society." He was the father of the present occupant, and died in the old house in 1846.
1 "Select Harmony," first published in 1783.
S.J. Barbier
XXII.
SOUTHINGTON.
BY STEPHEN WALKLEY.
S YOUTHINGTON, situated in the southwest corner of Hartford County, is bounded on the north by Bristol and Plainville, east by New Britain, Berlin, and Meriden, south by Meriden and Cheshire, and west by Wolcott. The Quinnipiac River, rising near the boundary between Farmington and Plainville, runs nearly through its centre from north to south. The Eight Mile River, rising in Bristol, flows in at the northwest corner of Southington, then taking a southeasterly course joins the Quinnipiac at the village of Plantsville. After this junction the river bears a little to the east of south across the Cheshire line, then turning to the cast flows through a gorge in a ridge of sand- stone into Wallingford. The principal tributaries of these streams are Roaring Brook from the west and Misery Brook from the east.
The town is about six miles long from north to south, and in its widest part the same distance in breadth ; having an area of about thirty-five square miles. It is skirted by mountains on either side. The Eastern Mountain is a trap dyke, -the end of the Mount Holyoke Range. At the north end of the town it is little more than 500 feet in height. Gradually rising toward the south, it terminates in abrupt cliffs called the Hanging Hills, the western and highest of which is, by barometric measurement, 995 feet above sea level. At the northern end water-lime is abundant. Copper and silver also appear near here in tantalizing quantities, and iron, barytes, bituminous coal, limestone, and fossiliferous slate have been sparingly found. The Western Moun- tain, a continuation of the Green Mountain Range, is a ridge of granite and granitic gneiss, having an average height of about 700 feet. The granite is mostly stratified, with the strata often greatly contorted. On this mountain, near Roaring Brook, is a cave called Alum Rock, in which alum is present in such quantities as to be easily detected by a touch of the tongue.
The sandstone between the mountains has been worn away by glacial action and covered by alluvium, except at the base of the trap and in a ridge called Wolf Hill, which extends from the north end of the town to the confluence of the Quinnipiac and Eight Mile rivers. As a rule this sandstone is shaly, contains much potash and consider- able magnesia, and on exposure to the surface readily crumbles into a productive soil. Near Hanging Hills, however, it is a coarse conglom- erate suitable for building-stone. Its strata have a uniform dip to the east of about twenty-five degrees. The alluvium between the mountains
364
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
is deposited at an average level of about 225 feet above the sea.1 A large part of its surface consists of two plains. The first, lying cast of the Quinnipiac, formerly called " Nashaway plain," is 225 feet high, and the second, in the southwest part of the town, anciently named the " little plain," is 216 feet high. The tops of the hills near Southington Centre are mostly on a level with Nashaway plain, - only one, the highest, being thirteen feet higher.2 The northern part of the town is a low plain, probably 160 feet high. The soil of these plains is sandy. A narrow belt of clay extends from the West Mountain half across the valley near the southern part. The strongest land, well adapted to grazing, is on Wolf Hill and at the bases of the mountains on either side where the sandstone comes near the surface.
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.