USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. II > Part 46
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398
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
The State line west of the Connecticut River was established in 1803, and then for the first time in its history the town was at rest within its known borders. The motives of its inhabitants for secession have been attacked, but the facts furnish a complete defence.
The town was first represented at the Connecticut General Assem- bly in May, 1750, by Phinehas Lyman and Asaph Leavitt. It has since been represented every year, except in 1838, when a " Conservative " candidate left neither Whigs nor Democrats in a majority, which was then required to elect.
Suffield was established an independent probate district June 4, 1821, having previously formed a part of the Hartford District. Its judges have been : -
Oliver Pease, 1821-1830.
George Williston, 1851-1860.
Luther Loomis, 1830-1842.
David Hale, 1860, 1861.
Kneeland Loomis, 1842, 1843.
George Williston, 1861, 1862.
Odialı L. Sheldon, 1843, 1844.
Horace Sheldon, 1862-1864.
Harvey Bissell, 1844-1846.
George Williston, 1864, 1865.
Luther Loomis, 1846, 1847.
David Hale, 1865-1867.
Harvey Bissell, 1847-1849.
George Williston, 1867-1879.
Samuel B. Low, 1849, 1850.
Luther Loomis, 1850, 1851.
William L. Loomis, 1879 (present incumbent).
The recorders, or town clerks, have been : -
Anthony Austin, 1682-1708.
William Tuttle, 1845-1849.
John Austin, 1708-1715.
George A. Loomis, 1849-1851.
Joseph Winchell, 1715-1722.
Luther Loomis, 1851-1856.
John Austin, 1722-1737. William L. Loomis, 1856, 1857. Horace Sheldon, 2d, 1857-1859.
Joseph Winchell, 1737-1743.
Joseph King, 1743, 1744. Benjamin Kent, 1744-1762.
William L. Loomis, 1859-1862.
Horace Sheldon, 2d, 1862-1864.
Aaron Hitchcock, 1762-1775. William L. Loomis, 1864-1870.
Alexander King, 1775-1802. Alonzo C. Allen, 1870-1878.
Oliver Pease, 1802-1840. Odiah L. Sheldon, 1840-1845.
William L. Loomis, 1878 (present incumbent).
In 1681 Suffield had " a foot company " of soldiers under Lieuten- ant Anthony Austin, with George Norton "his ensigne." Norton became, in 1692, Suffield's first captain. His few successors in the Massachusetts militia were Captain Joseph Sheldon, 1705; Captain Joseph Harmon, 1709; Captain Joseph Winchell, 1722 (who served until his death, in 1743, in his seventy-third year) ; Captain Jonathan Sheldon, 1743 ; and Captain Phinehas Lyman, 1746. The royal road to civil office lay through military promotion. The town records are studded with titled names, that of " corporal " being no mean honor. Indian wars were frequent and long-continued. Military watches were then kept up day and night under the charge of the officers, and the guard seats in the meeting-house were occupied by soldiers. Every soldier was liable to be detached or impressed into their " Majestics' Service." In Queen Anne's War, from 1703 to 1713, Hampshire County soldiers were constantly employed in keeping watch at home, or in seonting and garrison duty up the river. Judd's History of Hadley says, "Judah Trumble, of Suffield, was slain July, 1706." The town records do not allude to these wars.
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SUFFIELD.
New England's fourth Indian war, from 1722 to 1726, caused much distress throughout Hampshire County. Though remote from the bor- der, Suffield men were constantly in service as guards, scouts, or in garrisons. A few names are preserved. Nathaniel Austin, Samuel Halliday, Daniel Spencer, David Smith, Samuel Granger, Samuel Con- ley (drummer), John Morse, Nathaniel Smith, James Pomeroy, Abra- ham Burbank, Thomas Remington, James King, and William Allen were in Captain Samuel Barnard's company at the Deerfield garrison in 1722-1723. Captain Joseph Kellogg, of Suffield, commanded the garrison at Northfield in 1723-1724. Corporal James Stevenson, John King, Joseph Allen, David King, Nathaniel Austin, David Smith, Matthew Copley, Thomas Austin, and Ebenezer Smith were in his com- pany. Captain Kellogg was taken prisoner by the Indians at Deer- field in 1704, when twelve years old, and lived among them ten years. When liberated he made Suffield his home, where his father, Martin Kellogg, and family had resided since 1711. Captain Kellogg was in command at Fort Dummer from 1726 to 1740. Two of his children were born there. This fort was built, in 1724, on the Connecticut River, within the present town of Brattleborough, Vermont, and was the first white man's abode erected in that State. Captain Kellogg was the best Indian interpreter in the country, and was employed in that service until his death, in 1756. In the old French and Indian War of 1744-1748 Suffield took a part. Captain John Harmon, Lieutenant Benjamin Harmon, and Ensign Joseph Adams commanded the sixth company, first regiment of Massachusetts enlisted troops, at the forty- nine days' siege and capture of Louisburg, in 1745. No muster- roll of the company is found in the Massachusetts archives. Suffield had three militia (foot) companies in 1744, and held that number for more than a century. The officers of these trainbands first holding commissions under the Connecticut government, in 1751, were : North company, first society, Captain Asaph Leavitt, Lieutenant William King, Ensign Samuel Granger; South company, first society, Captain Phinehas Lyman, Lieutenant Abraham Burbank, Ensign Elijah Kent ; West company, second society, Captain Medad Pomeroy, Lieutenant Samuel Harman, Ensign John Granger.
The French and Indian War, 1755-1762, terminated the French rule in Canada. Overshadowed by the War of the Revolution, its history is little read or known. For eight years, and eight campaigns, Major- General Phinehas Lyman, of Suffield, commanded the Connecticut forces, aggregating thirty thousand men. He was also a colonel of the first regiment, and captain of its first company in each campaign. No muster-rolls of this war are found in the State archives. The names of these Suffield soldiers are collected from various sources. Elijah Kent was first lieutenant, ninth company, fourth regiment, in 1755. These men served in 1755, were in the battle of Lake George that year, and re-enlisted in 1756, receiving " half-pay " bounty there- for ; namely, Benjamin Bancroft, Nehemiah Harmon, John White, Joel Adams, David Bement, Phinchas Lyman, Jr., Noah Pomeroy, Benjamin Scot, Seth King (drummer), James Halliday, Ezekiel Hale, Zeh. Norton, Edward Foster, John Spencer.1 In 1756 Elihu Kent was second lieutenant in the first company, Aaron Hitchcock captain of
1 See Half-pay Roll, State Archives.
400
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
the sixth company, and Benjamin Bancroft was commissary of General Lyman's regiment. In 1757 Aaron Hitchcock was first lieutenant in General Lyman's company. In this year the Albany alarm occurred, and some five thousand Connecticut militia-men were quickly off for the frontier. The Suffield men known to have gone were Daniel Austin, Sergeant Benjamin Harmon, Jonathan Norton, Jonathan Shel- don, Stephen Old, John White, Joseph Brunson, Isaac Hale, Aaron Phelps, James Halliday, Corporal Joseph Old, Daniel Spencer, Caleb Allen, Zaccheus Hanchett, Job Fowler, Abel Rising, Jeremiah Nel- son, besides some that came home without leave. They were in Captain Jonathan Pettibone's company. They went on horseback twenty-four miles, then on foot to the frontier. They were gone sev- enteen days, cach getting $3.25 for the campaign, and about one dollar for horse-keeping. In 1758-1759 Elihu Kent was lieutenant and Seth King ensign in General Lyman's company. Abner Granger was quar- termaster-sergeant, Aaron Phelps was adjutant, and his brother Timo- thy quartermaster in General Lyman's regiment in 1758. Timothy died in the service, Ang. 22, 1758. Caleb Sheldon was first lieutenant in the second company, General Lyman's regiment, and died near Lake George in 1759. He was a son of Josialı Sheldon. In the campaign of 1760 Seth King was first a lieutenant of the fifth company and then a captain of the twelfth, and was also adjutant in General Lyman's regi- ment. In 1761 Seth King was lieutenant in General Lyman's company. In 1762 England and Spain were at war, and Connecticut raised two regiments. The First Regiment, under General Lyman (except its eleventh company), was in the fatal Havana expedition. Of one hun- dred and thirty-four privates in Lyman's company forty-three died. The Rev. John Graham, Jr., was chaplain of the regiment. Seth King was captain of the twelfth company ; on his way home he was taken sick, and died in New York, Dec. 23, 1763. He served eight full campaigns under General Lyman, and was a valuable officer. He was born at Suffield, Oct. 18, 1735, a son of Josiah, and died unmarried, at the age of twenty-eight.
Within forty-eight hours after the battle of Lexington one hundred and eleven Suffield men were on the way to Boston, commanded by Captain Elihu Kent, Lieutenant Oliver Hanchett, Ensign Consider Wil- liston, Sergeant Benjamin Harmon. They soon returned. A month later, in May, 1775, a company of one hundred seven months' men were enlisted here, commanded by Captain Oliver Hanchett, Lieutenant Samuel Wright, Second Lieutenant Consider Williston, Ensign Eliphalet King. They were with the main army at Cambridge, within the sound of the battle of Bunker Hill, ready and expecting to be called into the fight.
In September, 1775, Captain Oliver Hanchett, of Suffield, com- manded a company in Arnold's expedition through the wilderness of Kennebec to Canada, against Quebec. After incredible hardships they were taken prisoners in the attack on Quebec. The Suffield men in his company were, John Morris (killed), James Morris, Jedediah Dewey, Sergeant Peletiah Dewey, John Conley (fifer), John Risden,1 David Sheldon.2
1 John Risden married a daughter of Elijah Sheldon.
2 David Sheldon settled in Vermont, and became eminent.
401
SUFFIELD.
In the War of the Revolution a committee of inspection was annually chosen to look after Loyalists, and aid the "Sons of Liberty." It is said of Suffield, there was not a Tory there. These Suffield men held commissions in the Continental army, and probably others : namely, John Harmon, Jr., captain : Benjamin Harmon, Jr., first lieutenant ; Nathaniel Pomeroy, second lieutenant : Joel Adams, ensign ; Consider Williston, first lieutenant : Bildad Granger, ensign : Phineas Lovejoy, captain ; Samuel Granger, first lieutenant ; Bildad Granger, second lieutenant. The number of non-commissioned officers and privates is unknown. Clothing was provided for sixty-two three years' men in 1777, and the selectmen reported the names of forty-seven men in the service in 1781, enlisted for three years, or during the war, and a deficiency of two in the town's quota. In 1777 the town voted £114 to procure tents and camp utensils, and to supply the families of soldiers with provisions ; also voted £135 for soldiers' clothing, consisting of shoes, stockings, overalls, shirts, and frocks. Inoculation with small-pox was initiated, but soon prohibited, and " those who had taken the infection were to be cleansed and discharged." The town procured and distrib- uted salt to every family, thereby preventing much suffering ; and fur- ther provided for soldiers and their families. The town records indicate no soldiers recruited in 1778 or 1779.
In 1780 the terms of some of the three years' soldiers expired. The town offered bounties to supply its quota. John Spencer enlisted for three years or during the war, receiving £32 10s. 6d., and his taxes abated. Edward HIowe and Josiah Rising each received one hundred Spanish milled dollars. In 1781 the town was classified, each of nine classes to procure a three years' soldier, or pay a fine of two hun- dred hard dollars. Jagnes Harmon served through the whole war, was orderly sergeant, and present at the execution of André. His orderly-book of that date, containing the order for execution, is preserved.
In the war to save the Union, Suffield furnished thirteen commis- sioned officers and three hundred and fifty-eight soldiers (about two hundred of them being Suffield men). Thirty-two were killed in battle or died in the service ; twenty-seven were discharged, disabled ; forty- eight deserted. No Suffield name is found among the latter. Three companies were recruited at Suffield. The first, in response to the call of the President in April, 1861, was mustered into the Fourth Connecticut Infantry for three years' service, May 23, 1861. One year later it was merged in the First Connecticut Artillery, serving with distinction as Company C. Forty-eight members were accredited to Suffield. The second was Company D, Sixteenth Connecticut Infantry, recruited August 1862, to serve three years. Of this company sixty-four were accredited to Suffield. Four of these were killed at Antietam, ten were wounded in battle, three died at Andersonville, and six more died in the service. The third was Company G, Twenty-second Regiment Connecticut Infantry, organized in September, 1862, for nine months' service. All its officers were Suffield men. Seventy-four were ac- credited to Suffield in this company. Two men died of disease, and one committed suicide. The town furnished thirty-seven men to the Twenty-ninth (colored) Regiment. The remainder of the quota were scattered in many other regiments.
VOL. II. - 26.
402
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
The amount disbursed to eighty-eight families of volunteers was $17,892.70. Of this, Suffield paid $6,599. The town paid bounties in 1862 of $125 each for cighty three-years' men (in Company D, Six- teenth Regiment) and $200 cach for seventy-four nine-months' men (in Company G, Twenty-second Regiment), with recruiting expenses amounting to $25,170. For procuring thirty-seven men (in Twenty- ninth Colored Regiment) the town paid $3,700. This makes a definite sum of $35,469. Other bounties and expenses not itemized in the town reports would easily swell the war disbursements of the town to $50,000.
For many years the wooded lands and heavy soils, though aided by the shad and salmon fisheries of the Great River, afforded but a bare subsistence to the inhabitants. This led young men of enterprise to seek a livelihood in trade and traffic. The Suffield pedler was known in every village within the outposts of New England civilization. He was welcomed at every home and fireside, for his bright, cheery ways, and his fund of information and news gathered in his travels from town to town. There were no newspapers, and the pedler's visit to these scattered hamlets was a benefaction. He sold feathers, wooden- ware, indigo, and cotton yarn in the past century, and tin-ware, powder, whips, cigars, and clocks in the present. The origin of many estates that have contributed most to build the meeting-houses and school- houses, and to push all public improvements here, can be traced to the pedler's wagon.
Improved methods, with improved implements and the successful culture of tobacco, have placed Suffield in the front rank as an agri- cultural town. In 1849 the number of farms here was 295. All but 19 produced tobacco. In 1859 the number was 240; all but 14 pro- duced tobacco. In 1869, of 316 farms, only 24 failed to cultivate it. The culture of tobacco in small patches for home use, as a substitute for the more expensive Virginia product, was common in New England at an early date. It was smoked in pipes, and when twisted and prepared for chewing was called " fudgeon." Parliaments and General Courts in vain sought to repress or regulate its use. It was soon known that the Connecticut Valley soil was congenial to it, and the natural home of the Indian weed. In 1727 well-cured tobacco was legal tender at fourpence a pound to pay Massachusetts taxes. Tobacco was raised in Connecticut for export to Great Britain and his Majesty's Dominions in 1753. The law of that date required each town wherein tobacco was raised for exportation, to annually appoint tobacco inspectors. Suffield appointed them that year, and annually thereafter until 1772, when the impending war strangled the market. Tobacco was packed and pressed into casks. The packer received fivepence a hundred weight. His ini- tials, with the brand of the town, were upon cach. Little is known of Connecticut tobacco as an article of commerce for the next half-cen- tury. About 1832 small quantities were packed in slats for New York market. It had assumed sufficient importance to be first noticed, in the United States census of 1840. In 1845 it began to be recognized that Connecticut tobacco, properly sweated and cured, had no equal as a wrapper for a first-class cigar. Its popularity was such that the Suffield manufacturers in 1849 used 52,700 pounds of Connecticut seed-leaf for
403
SUFFIELD.
wrapping Spanish cigars, and 270,700 pounds for the same purpose in 1859. The Suffield product in 1839 was 66,390 pounds ; in 1849, 109,550 pounds ; in 1859, 475,650 pounds ; and in 1869, 719,687 pounds. The figures of the yield of 1879 are not obtainable.
The year 1810 marked an important era in the town's history. Cigars were seldom seen here before 1800. These were imported from the West Indies. A foreigner, Spaniard or Cuban, of intemperate habits, - a cigar-maker by trade, and a tramp, -drifted to West Suffield, and in some way made the acquaintance of Simeon Viets, who was a man of enterprise, and a Connecticut Yankee. The result was that Viets bought a little Spanish tobacco, gave the man a " job," and began the manufacture of " genuine Spanish cigars," -the first industry of the kind in the Connecticut valley, if not in New England. Girls were taken as apprentices, and instructed by the Cuban in the art of making a " Principe" cigar. This was made 43 inches in length, with a " kink head." To make the " kink " was such an accomplish- ment that when it was mastered the trade was acquired. Mrs. Clarissa Rose, née King, and Mrs. Sally Olds, nee Ingraham, were the first two learners, and were not out of practice fifty years later. Viets employed many women and girls in making cigars, and sold them to pedlers to distribute over the country. James Loomis was the first pedler to carry Connectient cigars into the State of New York. Viets failed in 1821. His home and shop (a cellar-kitchen) were in the North School District, now Irish Row. The buildings have all disappeared. In 1836 Simeon Viets died in poverty. The fate of the Cuban is unknown, and his name forgotten, though he is remembered by persons yet living. In 1820 many women had " taken up " the trade, and Connecticut tobacco was used for cigars. About this time (certainly in 1822) the country stores received " supe " (or super) 1 cigars in trade, and employed ped- lers to market them. In 1830, in many a household the cigar-table and cutting-board had taken the place of the spinning-wheel and the loom. For a quarter of a century a large number of Suffield families met their store-bills with " super " cigars made by deft fingers within their own households. They brought in trade from one to two dollars per thou- sand. They were made of uncured and unmerchantable tobacco of every shade of color. Expert hands could make a thousand a day. A single Suffield firm in 1852 and 1853 bought from the country stores and packed 3,000,000 " supers," and sold them to New York and Boston wholesale grocers at from $3.50 to $3.75 per thousand, chiefly for a Southern market. Before 1860 the price of Connecticut tobacco had so advanced that the farmers found it more profitable to sell their tobacco ; and domestic cigar-making soon ceased in Suffield homes. This indus- try was chiefly in Suffield, Windsor, and East Windsor .? The failure of Viets by no means ended the manufacture of " Spanish " cigars. Some who had been his pedlers had begun manufacturing their own cigars and peddling them. It may be said of all the leading cigar-manufac- turers of the town, that the foundation of their ample fortunes was laid from the peddling wagon, and that the industry they reared had its rise, culmination, and decline within the lifetime of many of them. A list of
1 " Supe," or "super," was a contraction of the word "superior," and was first used derisively.
2 See article by F. S. Brown on Hartford County Tobacco, vol. i.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
pioneer manufacturers in successive order is given : James Loomis and his brothers (Parkes, Allen, Kneeland, Aaron, and John W. Loomis), Moses S. Austin and brothers (Samuel and Thomas H. Austin), Henry P. Kent, Preserved Allen. Many of them were dealers in Spanish tobacco, and Suffield was for several years a centre for this trade.
The United States Census of 1850 (manuscript) contains the first statistical account of the manufacture of Spanish cigars in Suffield. The domestic " super " cigars are not included. In 1849 the number of establishments was 21; the average number of men employed was 152; number of women, 80; Spanish tobacco used, 178,984 pounds ; Connec- ticut seed-leaf, 52,700 pounds ; number of cigars made, 14,482,000, - value, $165,000. In 1859, census of 1860, the number of establishments was 15; the number of men, 216; the number of women, 50 ; number of cigars made was 16,800,000, - value, $282,600. In 1870 the num- ber of men was 109; the number of women, 40; the number of cigars made, 6,000,000, - value, $282,825. In 1880, leaf used, 74,965 pounds ; cigars made, 3,244,035. In 1884 the number of men em- ployed was 43.
The town had some importance on account of its manufactures of iron and cotton, and its fulling-mills, all located on Stony Brook. In 1700 the first iron-works were "set up," the second in 1721, the third in 1722, and all were in operation until about 1770. The town gave Samuel Copley liberty to set up a fulling-mill1 in 1710. A cotton- mill1 for making cotton yarn was established here in 1795, and is be- lieved to be the first in Connecticut, and possibly the third successful cotton-mill in the country. Niles's " Gazetteer " (1819) credits the town with four cotton-mills, one paper-mill (Eagle Mill burned in 1877 and not rebuilt), one oil-mill, three fulling-mills, and clothiers' works ; two carding-machines, three grain-mills, three tanneries, four stores, and five taverns. To this a score of cider-brandy stills might have been added. Now there are one paper-mill, two grain-mills, four stores, two taverns.
The First National Bank of Suffield was chartered July 12, 1864, with a capital of $100,000. It was increased to $200,000 in January, 1865, and again increased to $300,000 in 1869. It was reduced to $200,000 (its present capital) in May, 1877. Daniel W. Norton was its first president, and Charles A. Chapman its first cashier. Its present officers are I. Luther Spencer, president, H. S. Sheldon, vice-president, Alfred Spencer, Jr., cashier.
The Suffield Savings Bank was incorporated at the May session, 1869. Its first officers were Martin J. Sheldon, president, Charles A. Chapman, treasurer. Its present officers are William H. Fuller, presi- dent, Samuel White, treasurer.
The Suffield Agricultural Society was incorporated in 1877. Martin J. Sheldon was its first president.
Town-meetings here were held in the meeting-houses for one hun- dred and fifty-seven years, and were conducted with great decorum. The first board of selectmen was chosen by ballot, and the manner was never changed. The constables warned the voters to attend, and
1 These mills were on the Old Factory Road.
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SUFFIELD.
the clerk called their names at the opening of the meeting. Those not present were fined five pence. Those wholly absent without a " satis- fying reason " were fined 2s. 6d. Every person presuming to speak without liberty from the moderator, or not keeping silent when ordered, forfeited five shillings for each " breach of order," one half the money to be given " to the poor of the town." After many generations had
THE SHELDON HOUSE, WEST SUFFIELD.
come and gone, new meeting-houses were built, and carpeted floors and cushioned seats appeared instead of plain pine deal. The town-meeting was not the orderly assemblage of old, and the town was compelled to provide a place for its meetings. It united with the first centre school district in procuring the present site, and built a basement hall, to which their school-house was removed from the Common and placed above. The hall was first occupied Oct. 7, 1839; it was in use twenty- one years, and destroyed by fire, Oct. 2, 1860. The present town-hall, built upon the same site, with the same copartnership, was first used in October, 1862. The town expended for the building and appointments $7,798.48, and the district about one half as much additional. The roller-skating craze struck the town in 1884, and our fine town-hall is now a rink.
In 1682 the town held 60 families and about 300 inhabitants. Twenty-five of these family surnames are yet found here. For thirty years, or until the close of Queen Anne's War (1713), there was little increase of numbers. In 1739 there were 200 families, - indicating
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