USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. II > Part 47
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
about 1,000 inhabitants. In the Connecticut census of 1756 the num- ber was 1,438. No record of the 1762 census can be found. In 1774 the number was 1,980: in 1782, 2,248; in 1790, 2,412; in 1800, 2,686. For forty years after there was no increase, but a loss of 17. From 1840 to 1870 there was a gain of 608, owing chiefly to the cigar-manu- facturing interest, which culminated during that period. In 1870 the population was 3,277, the maximum ; in 1880 it was 3,225. The in- flux of Irish families fairly maintains our contributions to the census bureau.
African slave labor was employed here at an early period. In 1672 Major Pynchon's " negroes, Harry and Roco," helped to build the first saw-mill here. But few slaves (called servants) were held here before 1740. They were chiefly owned by the ministers, the magistrates, and the tavern-keepers. In 1726 the town voted Mr. Devotion " £20 to- wards ye purchase of his negroes." The names of thirty-eight are found in the birth, marriage, and death records, and the number of the unmentioned must have been greater. Early statistics are meagre. In 1756, the number was 24; in 1774, 37 ; in 1782, 53; in 1790, 28; in 1800, 4. The last were manumitted in 1812. They were a social, happy race, and some married and had children, who were well cared for by the masters. They were increasing in numbers before the Emancipation Act of 1784; but after that they dwindled away. For half a century before the Lincoln Proclamation a negro was seldom seen in Suffield.
The first " Burying Place " was laid out of the " Common Land" on Meeting-House Hill, in 1684, "twenty rod in length and twelve rod in bredth." In 1699 it was leased to Robert Old, " for pasturing and feeding cattle, for the term of twenty years, he to fence it and keep the bushes down, after the town has cut them." About one acre, laid out in private lots in 1849, adjoins it southerly. In 1850 it was enlarged westerly about an acre, and all are now within the same enclosure. In 1751 the West Ecclesiastical Society bought an acre of land for a burying-ground, next the meeting-house on Ireland Plain. In 1844 the School Society added to the east side half an acre. Soon after, a quar- ter of an acre for private lots was added on the east. In 1867 one more acre was annexed to the north and east sides of the whole, leav- ing within the present enclosure two and three fourths acres. On Zion's Hill, and West of the Mountain, are grounds owned by burial-associa- tions, incorporated severally in 1866 and 1869. Woodlawn Cemetery is situated three fourths of a mile east from Iligh Street, on the Feather Street road, contains twenty-one acres, and cost $4,263.75. Money ob- tained from the sale of lots has been expended for laying out and beau- tifying the grounds. It was appropriately consecrated Aug. 21, 1872. Somewhat remote from the busy centre, the quiet beauty of its natural scenery, and its graceful marble and granite memorials to the dead, will make it a mournfully attractive place to the living.
The Windsor Locks and Suffield Railroad Company was incorporated in 1868, with a capital of $100,000. Suffield subscribed and paid for one fourth that amount in 1869. This subscription was a bonus to secure
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the building of the road by the New Haven. Hartford, and Springfield Company, with which it was finally merged May 17, 1871. A part of the road was first used Oct. 12, 1870 (bi-centennial) to convey pas- sengers to South Street Station. The road was formally opened with a free excursion Dec. 10, 1870, and first opened to passenger and freight traffic Dec. 12, 1870. The town has never regretted its $25,000 invest- ment in the Suffield Branch Railroad.
A post-office was first opened in Suffield in 1796, with Hezekiah Huntington postmaster. William Gay succeeded him, from 1798 to 1835. His salary for the year 1800 was $89.52. In 1830 the amount of postage received was $256.36. A bureau-drawer at the Gay man- sion afforded ample room for the town's tri-weekly mail. The West Suffield post-office was opened in 1839, with Erastus H. Weed post- master, and a tri-weekly mail between Hartford and Westfield. In 1861 a daily mail-route to Springfield was established. In 1884 a semi- daily mail-route to Suffield, connecting with the branch road, was opened.
The East Suffield post-office was established (at the Ferry) in 1851, and abolished in 1855. Francis A. Sikes was its postmaster.
In 1681 the " Committee for settling the Town " laid out forty acres on the east side of High Street, " to remain forever to ye use & sup- port of a Schoole in Suffeild & yt of a Grammar Schoole when it can be obtained." Little income was derived from it for a century, and it has never exceeded twenty-five dollars a year since leased. The Prov- ince Law of 1693 ordered, " that every Town having 50 Householders should be constantly provided of a School-Master to teach children to read and write." And in a town having one hundred families there should be a grammar school set up, " and some person well instructed in the tongues" procured to teach such school ; and efforts were made to " set up a school" in 1682, with what success is unknown. In 1696 Anthony Austin, " with great relnetancy and aversation of spirit," consented "to teach children and youth " for the sum of £20 per annum. He served many years, probably until his death, in 1708. Anthony Austin Jonne p Parke Samuel Kent, 3d, was the school- master in 1710. His year's salary
was £27. He accepted sixty acres of land in settlement for one year's service. Nathaniel Griswold taught in 1714. William Allen was grammar schoolmaster, 1726-1730, for £30 a year. Jonathan Ashley was schoolmaster in 1731. The records disclose no other names of town schoolmasters. The school was variously termed a " Free School," a " Publick School," and a "Grammar School." In 1696 Anthony Austin's salary of £20 was raised £12 upon the list, and £8 upon scholars. In 1703 the town voted to pay the schoolmaster £24 a year, five of it to be raised on the scholar, proportioned to time of attendance. This twofold plan was continued in some form. To a late period wood was provided by a tax on the scholar. In 1710 the town voted " to lay one penny per pole on such scholars as go to school," and " the remain- der of the school Rates to be raised as other Rates." The Hampshire County Court sanctioned this vote. In 1731 the town " voted £20 for
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
ye promoting learning in the remoter parts of the town, that can't have benefit by the Publiek School, to be disposed of for the teaching of children at four pence per week for each scholar that are taught by School Dames." A single school-house and public school had sufficed the town until 1740, when the West Precinct was established for better ecclesiastical and school privileges, and another school was " set up." From this time until 1763 there were but two school houses and schools, each ecclesiastical society maintaining its own. In 1763 the first society was divided into four districts, and in 1764 the second was divided into three. Now the first has seven districts and eleven schools, and the second has four districts and five schools. In 1796 cach eccle- siastical society was made a school society, and the schools passed from under ecclesiastical control. School societies were abrogated in 1856, and the control of the schools has reverted to the town, as in the begin- ning. The school districts retain the ancient privilege of providing school-houses and hiring teachers, subject to the town board of school visitors. The number of children between the ages of four and sixteen in 1829 was 532; in 1884, 670. In 1884 there was expended for schools $6,227.21. The State and Town Deposit Fund contributed $1,976.53, or less than one third of the sum expended.
The first school-house stood on High Street Common, near the meet- ing-house. It was "20 foot in length, 16 foot in bredth, and 6 foot stud, made warm and comfortable to keep school in." It was two years in building, and was completed in September, 1704. With some repairs. it stood thirty years. In 1732, the town voted to give Josiah Sheldon the old school-house and £40 " to set up a school-house twenty-four feet long, eighteen feet wide, and nine feet between joints." It was built in 1733, near the site of the first, not " within ye space of ten rods of ye Meeting House." It was the last town school-house, and in 1797 was removed to the corner of Crooked Lane and Thompsonville Road, and is now one of the oldest dwelling-houses in the town.
The West Society built its first school-house in 1750, on Ireland Plain, a little west from the meeting-house and burying-ground. It was "eighteen foot one way, and fourteen foot the other." In 1764 the society gave permission to build three school-houses, one each in the Centre, North, and South districts, and the first school-house is not again heard from. The Rev's Ebenezer Gay (father and son) pre- pared many young men for college. Reuben Granger kept a quite famous school for boys and girls before 1833. It was located at the " Pool," a mineral spring of some celebrity seventy years ago.
The Connecticut Baptist Literary Institution, under the auspices of the Connecticut Baptist Education Society, was located here, and first opened for scholars in the upper rooms of the Centre District school- house, Ang. 21, 1833. Its first board of trustees was appointed June 11, 1833. The Rev. Harvey Ball was the first principal, with a salary of $600 a year, and Reuben Granger, assistant, with $350 a year. The Institution lot, 163 acres, cost $3,500, and the present south building was first occupied Dec. 10, 1834, with the basement unfinished. The building, completed, cost about $6,000. The Institution was incorpo- rated in 1835, with the word "Baptist" omitted from its name. The trustees were made corporators. The last survivor of these was Albert Day, of Hartford. The State gave it $7,000 in 1840. In September,
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SUFFIELD.
1843, the Institution was first opened for the reception of girls. The first ladies' building, near the site of the present, was erected and occu- pied in 1845. It was a neat edifice of brick, seventy-five by thirty-seven feet, four stories high, with a tower, and cost $6,000. In the early morning of Feb. 29, 1872, it was burned. Measures were immediately taken to rebuild, and the present beautiful structure was completed and
THE CONNECTICUT LITERARY INSTITUTION.
MAIN BUILDINGS.
first occupied in December, 1873. Its cost was about $65,000. The Middle Building, erected in 1853-1854, cost $13,050, and was opened Aug. 2, 1854. $5,000 were received from the State. In 1853 seven acres were added to the lot, costing $2,250, and on it the principal's house was built, costing $2,000.
Timothy Swan was born at Worcester, Mass., in 1758, settled at Suffield in 1782, and married Mary Gay, the daughter of the minister, in 1784, who bore him twelve children. He was a hatter by trade, and also a merchant. He was the author of sev- Timothy Twan eral popular pieces of sacred music, and was something of a poet. The famous " China " he composed at the old " Huntington " law-office, and it is first found in his book, " New England Harmony," published at Suffield in 1801. He wrote the lines to his "Poland," beginning, " God of my life, look gently down." He was a man of fine qualities,
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
but somewhat eccentric. He removed to Northfield, Mass., in the latter part of his life, where he died, eighty-five years of age.
Joseph Trumble, the Suffield proprietor, and a first settler in 1675, was a son of John Trumble, of Rowley, Mass., and had four sons. His son John (called " John 1st" in the Suffield Records) was born at Rowley, Mass., in 1670. His children born here were Joseph, born 1679; Ammi, born 1681; Benoni, born 1684. The oldest son, John 1st, lived and died in Suffield ; Joseph, the father of the first Governor Jonathan, settled in Lebanon; Ammi, in East Windsor; Benoni, in Hebron. Joseph, Sr., was made a freeman in 1681, and voted at the first town-meeting. He was a farmer, and had a fifty acre farm on Feather Street, West Side, below the present cross-road to En- field bridge. He was employed by Major Pynchon about the first saw-mill and dam at Stony River. He died at Suffield, Aug. 15, 1684, only five days after the birth of his son Benoni. He was the pioneer and founder of one of the most distinguished Connecticut families. Among his lineal descendants for generations are found governors, judges, legislators, ministers, historians, the poet, and the painter; not the least of these was his grandson, " Brother Jonathan," the war governor of the Revolution, and the bosom friend of Washington.
Major-General Phinehas Lyman was born at Durham in 1716, gradu- ated at Yale College in 1738, and was employed there three years as tutor, pursuing also his law studies. In 1742 he married, and Suffield became his adopted home. He established a law school here, and im- Phinehoe Lyman, mediately took the lead of the Hampshire County Bar in Massachusetts. The seces- sion of the town from Massachusetts in 1749 terminated his connection with its courts. The Hon. George Bliss, in his "History of the Western Massachusetts Bar in 1826," makes the advent of Phinchas Lyman (and his law students, Worthington and Hawley ) the beginning of a new era in the practice and knowledge of law. He says : "He was a very able lawyer, and his business soon became extensive. He was a distinguished advocate, and was afterward an able politician and a renowned officer." Once established in Connecticut, his diversified talents found constant employ. In 1750-1752 he was chosen deputy, and was a justice of the peace and a Massachusetts boundary commissioner. For ten years he was governor's assistant. He was chosen major-general of Connecticut forces in 1755, and served with distinguished ability until the close of the war. President Dwight says : " No American at this time possessed a higher or more extensive reputation. Besides the high testimony given to his worth by the colony, he received many others from the British officers who were his companions in service," and whom he had entertained at his hospitable home. In 1763 he visited England, partly for relaxation from care and to recruit his impaired health, partly to visit his soldier friends, and partly as agent to secure bounties for provincial officers from the home government, which had been promised. After many delays and disap- pointments he returned carly in 1773, having secured for the company only a tract of land in West Florida, now Mississippi, twenty miles below Vicksburg, on the Big Black River. In January, 1774, General Lyman and his son Phinehas, with eight slaves, removed to the new plantation with other pioneers, General Putnam being one of the
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SUFFIELD.
company. His wife and five children soon followed. He died Sept. 10, 1774, before their arrival, and only his son Thaddeus returned. He was the father of the late Thaddeus Lyman, a merchant of West Suffield. General Lyman has but two lineal descendants now living. One of these has been, and the other now is, postmistress at West Suffield.
The Rev. Cotton Mather Smith, son of Samuel Smith, of Suffield, was born Oct. 15, 1730, graduated at Yale College in 1751, and was ordained minister of Sharon. He died there Nov. 27, 1806, in the fifty- second year of his ministry. During all that period he occupied a large place in public affairs. He was a decided Whig, and served as chaplain in the Revolutionary War. His son, John Cotton Smith, was Governor of Connecticut 1813-1817, -the last under the colonial charter of 1662.
Thaddeus Leavitt, son of John Leavitt, was born at Suffield, Sept. 9, 1750 ; died Jan. 22, 1813. He was a prominent merchant, and a commissioner to settle the State boundary line in 1803.
Thats. Quanto
Elias Austin, son of Richard, and grandson of Anthony Austin the schoolmaster, was born at Suf- field, April 14, 1718, and settled at Durham. His son Moses, born in 1761, obtained, after various speculative adventures in the Southwest, a large grant of land in Texas from the Mexican Government in order to establish a colony upon it. This was about the year 1820. He died in May, 1822. His son, Stephen F. Austin, went to Texas and took possession of his father's grant, and laid out the town of Austin, which was afterward the seat of government. He was the founder of Texas. He was a commander-in-chief of the army, and was for a time at the head of affairs in Texas. He died in 1835, and General Samuel Houston was his successor.
Aaron Austin, son of Aaron Austin, and grandson of Nathaniel Austin, was born at Suffield in 1745; he settled at New Hartford about 1767. He was an officer in the Revolutionary War; a town Den Gangenafunion_ representative in twenty-seven ses- sions; a member of the Governor's Council for twenty- three years; State boundary line commissioner in 1803; a fellow of Yale College for fifteen years, receiving an honorary degree. He was judge of the Litchfield County Court many years, and a church deacon at New Hart- ford thirty years. He died in 1829.
Gideon Granger, Jr., son of Gideon Granger, of Suffield, was born at Suffield, July 19, 1767, and graduated at Yale in 1787. He became a lawyer of great distinction and celebrity. He served many years in the Connecticut legislature, and to his
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
exertions the State is principally indebted for its school fund, and its dedication to the support of common schools. The Western Reserve was sold for $1,200,000, in 1795. Six Suffield men, namely, Oliver Girahel Hathaway Phelps, Gideon Granger, Jr., Lu- ther Loomis, Thaddeus Leavitt, Ebenezer King, Jr., and Asahel Hathaway, took one fourth of the whole amount. In 1801 Mr. Granger was appointed Postmaster-General of the United States, serving with great ability thirteen years. He died Dec. 31, 1822, at Canandaigua, New York.
Francis Granger, son of the preceding, was born at Suffield, Dec. 1, 1792, and graduated at Yale in 1811. His adopted home was Canan-
Granger
daigua, New York, and he occupied a large space in the political history of New York State. He was appointed Postmaster-General in 1841, by President Harrison. He died at Canandaigua in 1868.
TIIE JUDGE GAY HOUSE.
William Gay, son of the first Rev. Ebenezer Gay, was born Oct. 16, 1767, and graduated at Yale in 1789. He was a lawyer and a justice of the peace. Mr. Gay was appointed postmaster in 1798, and served I'm Gay continuously thirty-seven years. Mr. Gay died Jan. 24, 1844. His son, William C. Gay, grad- uated at Yale in 1817, and was a young lawyer of much promise. He died, unmarried, Dec. 24, 1833.
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SUFFIELD.
Martin Sheldon, son of Elijah, and grandson of Captain Jonathan (who was the founder of this Sheldon family), was born Feb. 1, 1762. He was a man of the old school, of few words, plain in his attire, of limited education, but of great practical common Martin Shelton sense. He was a merchant. and a Western Reserve land-purchaser. He represented the town in the General Assembly seventeen sessions, and was a director of the Newgate Prison at Granby during its last ten years, with Hon. Thomas K. Brace his associate. He was a substantial pillar of the Baptist faith, a patron and a prominent founder of the Connecticut Literary Institution. He died Sept. 4, 1848, in his eighty-seventh year.
Dr. Amos Granger, brother of Gideon, Sr., was born Oct. 16, 1748. He represented the town in the legislature ten sessions, and late in life he removed to New York State, and died in 1811. His son, General Amos P. Granger, was born at Suffield, June 3, 1789, and settled in Onondaga County, New York. He was a member of Congress from that district in 1855, and was a most genial and popular man. He died at Syracuse, New York, Aug. 24, 1866.
Luther Loomis, son of Colonel Luther, and grandson of Graves Luther Forming Loomis (the founder of this Suffield family ), was born July 27, 1781. He was a success- ful merchant and an honored and useful citizen, serving the town in every capacity and every office within its gift, including that of probate judge. He was six years a representative in the House and four years in the State Senate. He was the candidate of the Conservative party for governor in 1842. He died March 31, 1866, in his eighty-fifth year.
Dr. Sylvester Graham was born at West Suffield, July 5, 1794, and died at Northampton, Mass., Sept.17, 1851. He was the youngest and seventeenth child of the Rev. John Graham, Jr., and grandson of the Rev. John Graham, of Woodbury. He en- tered Amherst College in 1823, and there exhibited great pow- ers of elocution. In 1826 he became a preacher in the Presby- terian church. In 1830 he was employed as a lecturer by the Pennsylvania Temperance Soci- cty. He soon came to the belief that the only permanent remedy for intemperance, and the only prevention and cure of disease, lay in the adoption of correct habits of living ; and he be- came the advocate of
Sylwester Graham
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
a vegetarian dietetic theory, since called the " Graham system." His energies were thereafter devoted to its establishment with an unceasing toil that shortened his life. He was a great student, unremitting to the last in his studies. He was editor of the " Graham Magazine," in Bos- ton, 1837-1840. His published works include an " Essay on the Chol- era," in 1832, and a " Lecture to Young Men," in 1837. A treatise on "Bread and Bread-Making," in 1837, led to his being mobbed by the Boston bakers. His chief work was " The Science of Human Life," in two volumes, in 1839; which has been the leading text-book of the dietetic and health reformers since. His last work -left unfinished at his death -- was the " Philosophy of Sacred History," its object being to prove that the Scriptures harmonized with his system. He was a graceful and fascinating speaker, and had a large following among the best classes of people in New York and Boston, where most of his lectures were given. All the world has heard of " Graham bread ;" while few know their indebtedness for it to Sylvester Graham, the distinguished vegetarian.1
H. J. Sheldon.
1 The portrait of Dr. Graham is from an engraving in "Harper's Magazine."
XXIV.
WEST HARTFORD.
BY THE REV. FRANKLIN S. HATCH,
Formerly Pastor of the West Hartford Congregational Church.
T THE locality now known as the town of West Hartford was two hundred years ago an undivided tract of land in the West Divi- sion of Hartford. It was owned by a large company of proprietors, sixty-eight of whom are named in the division record. On the 30th of January, 1672, the joint owners of this tract voted to divide a por- tion of the same according to their individual interests. In pursuance of this vote a committee set off, in November, 1674, an oblong section of land extending from the northern to the southern boundary of the town of Hartford, and from the eastern boundary of Farmington one mile and a half east. The Farmington line was at that time along the level land at the foot of Talcott Mountain, and the eastern bound of this new rectangle was not far from what is now known as Vanderbilt Hill. This strip of land was divided into lots running the entire distance across it, the width being proportioned to each person's interest in the undivided territory. The widest tract was ninety-one rods wide; the narrowest, a mere whip-lash three rods wide and a mile and a half long. The original strip was subsequently enlarged and made more symmet- rical by pushing the Farmington line westward to the top of Talcott Mountain and adding a strip of land to the east end of the division lots. This part of the town of Hartford was commonly called the West Division. It never ceased to agitate for its individuality until it became a distinct ecclesiastical society, and, very recently, a separate township.
The Ecclesiastical Society of the West Division in Hartford was the parent of the town. Indeed, for nearly a century and a half it con- trolled the religious and educational affairs of the community, and the history of the society is the history of the town. The talk of the peo- ple concerning their need of a church other than the two at the centre of Hartford culminated in a petition presented to the General Assem- bly sitting in New Haven, the 12th of October, 1710. Herein the petitioners " desire the liberty to call or settle, as we may see meet, a minister amongst us." The reasons recited may be thus condensed : " The distance is such that a good part of God's time is spent travelling backwards and forwards ;" " the difficulties of the way that many times must be encountered with, as bad travelling underfoot, uncomfortable- ness overhead, and a river not seldom difficult, sometimes impassa- ble ; " " that our small children may be present at the public worship
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