USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. II > Part 48
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
416
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
of God, and not be brought up in darkness in such a land of light as this is;" "the difficulties of leaving them unguarded at home, espe- cially in dangerous times, whereby we do not only expose them to their own fears, but to our Enemies' rage."
This petition was resisted by the town of Hartford because the help of " our neighbors of the West Division," was needed to maintain the three ministers already settled in the town. A special committee reported in favor of the West Division, and in May, 1711, the legisla- ture incorporated the society, according to the prayer of the twenty- eight petitioners.
This society built the school-houses and ordered and maintained the schools. In 1736, and subsequent years, the following vote was passed : -
" Voted : That the masters or parents of the children that are sent to school shall send half a cord of wood (for each child) to the school within fourteen days after they are sent to school ; and if any fail of so doing their children shall be barred (by the master) from any benefit of the fire kept in said school where they are sent."
At this time the school year was eleven months, and during part of the year each school was taught by women. About the middle of the last century there were three school-honses in the parish. There are now eight districts in the town, each district maintaining a school in its own school-house. Besides these, the town sustains a high school at the Centre. Until about seventy years ago, public education was con- trolled by the Ecclesiastical Society. Since then the district system has prevailed.
The church related to the Ecclesiastical Society was organized on or about the 24th of February, 1713, when also the first pastor, Benjamin Colton, was ordained and installed. Starting with a mem- bership of twenty-nine, it now numbers three hundred and twenty-five, having received into its communion during its life of a hundred and seventy-one years nearly two thousand persons. It was originally called the Fourth Church of Christ in Hartford, but for a long series of years has been known as the Church of Christ in West Hartford, Mr. Colton was pastor of the church about forty-three years, and several of his descendants became clergymen. One of these was his son George, the famous and eccentric "Colton of Bolton." The latter part of this long pastorate was marred by some unhappy divisions, which were healed only by summoning advice from without.
The second pastor, Nathaniel Hooker, Jr., was undoubtedly the ablest man who ever ministered to this church. He was a descendant
of Thomas Hooker, the first minister of Hartford Colony ; and Governor Talcott, Ntohave who earned his title by seventeen years of honorable service, was his grandfather. He graduated from Yale College at seventeen, and was installed pastor when just twenty years of age. After a brief but successful ministry of twelve years, he died, " extremely lamented," says his epitaph ; which further adds, that he was " a warm advocate for civil and religious liberty, and a hearty friend to mankind."
417
WEST HARTFORD.
The most remarkable pastorate was that of Nathan Perkins. He served sixty-six years, his pastorate being well begun when the first shot was fired at Lexington, and not quite over when the financial panic of 1837 occurred. Though probably inferior in natural ability to his distinguished predecessor, he was a Nathan Pink ins. man of excellent pow- ers. He was a grad- uate of the College of New Jersey, and received his doctorate from that institution in 1801. Mr. Morris, his most careful biographer, says : "Dr. Perkins assisted more than one hundred and fifty young men in their preparation for college, and had under his care at different times more than thirty theo- logical students." The most abiding evidence of his biblical views is the Theological Institute, located in Hartford. It was at his desire and in his own honse that a company of ministers met, and projected this institution, with its unique form of government, and his hands laid the corner-stone of its first building. He was one of the first home mission- aries, travelling at the bidding of his Association to what is now Vermont, and preaching from place to place. His diary of the trip is still preserved by his descendants. In many other new movements for the public good he was a pioneer, and was more easily persuaded to engage in enterprises of reform because of the progressive tendency of his mind. He wrote voluminously, and published a volume of miscellaneous sermons, several occasional discourses, and many magazine articles. His first published discourse was delivered on the public park, used as a training-ground, to a company of soldiers who were about to join the Continental army. It abounds in stirring and patriotic sentiments, and in severe denuncia- tion of the mother country. Dr. Perkins's most notable public deliver- ance on political themes was a sermon preached on the day of fasting that followed the declaration of war with Great Britain, in 1812. In this sermon he considers national sins, especially intemperance, duelling, and slavery. His remarks on this latter theme are far-seeing indeed. He thus foreshadows the "irrepressible conflict " of our day : "States which do not hold slaves, and those which do, do not seem in the reason and nature of the case capable of enjoying a permanently happy connec- tion. because they will be very different in their habits, education, views, principles, manners, and interests."
The good Doctor had a fine sense of humor, and many are the stories handed down from his lips. His salary was at one time partly payable in wood. One of his parishioners drove up to his door, and summoned him to examine and pronounce upon the load he had brought. It was a scragly lot of tree-tops. Dr. Perkins said nothing about the wood, but standing just behind the load and looking directly into the loosely piled wood, he remarked, "That's a fine pair of steers you have on the lead, Colonel." The Doctor could not be cheated on any product of the farm. He was an excellent farmer and a large landholder.
After the death of Dr. Perkins, in 1838, there followed a series of short pastorates. From 1833, when a colleague was called to assist Dr. Perkins, to 1850, the church was supplied by four different pastors. None of these is more widely known than Caleb S. Henry, afterward
VOL. II. - 27.
418
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
Dr. Henry, of New York. He wrote and translated several books in the course of his studies in philosophy, his favorite pursuit. He was succeeded by Edward W. Andrews, George I. Wood, and Dwight M. Seward.
Myron N. Morris was pastor of the church for about twenty-three years, from 1852, and still lives an honored citizen of the town where he so long and so faithfully labored. He has always been intrusted with the most important religious concerns of his State, and is still one of the corporation of Yale College. Twice he represented his town in the legislature ; and he has published, among other monographs, two discourses which contain the most complete history of the West Hart- ford church and community up to 1863.1 The present pastor of this church is Henry B. Roberts.
The society has occupied four houses of worship, all on or near the same spot. The last was dedicated June 7, 1882, and is one of the most substantial and convenient churches in New England. It is built of Monson granite, and contains many valuable articles of fur- niture presented by old residents or particular friends of the society. Among these is the marble communion-table at which Dr. Bushnell was wont to officiate in the old North Church of Hartford. A part of the church is a library building presented by James Talcott, of New York, once a member of this church. This library and reading-room is open daily, and contains the leading newspaper and magazine litera- ture, and about eight hundred bound volumes, chiefly of standard works. The society also owns the parsonage and lot adjoining its house of worship, and the park opposite.
Late in the last century a small society of Friends obtained a foothold in the town, in spite of the vigorous opposition of the " Stand- ing Order " led by Dr. Perkins. Few in number and weak in resources, it never flourished, and died after a brief life. It gave a name, how- ever, to one of the public roads, which is still called Quaker Lane, and on which is located the little cemetery where the Friends buried their dead.
No other religious society was organized in this town until 1843, when St. James's Parish, Episcopal, was established. The first public services of this society were held in the Friends' meeting-house, then standing on Quaker Lane. Worship was also conducted in the North District school-house. George Burgess, then rector of Christ Church, had charge of the enterprise. There was an interval of several years during which no regular service was maintained. At length, in 1853, Samuel Benedict having become rector, the corner-stone of a house of worship was laid. The building was completed in 1855, and at its consecration the sermon was preached by Dr. Croswell, of New Haven, who was born in West Hartford. This parish has been served by men who have attained eminence in the Church. Abner Jackson, President of Trinity College, was at one time rector; the same office has also been held by President Pynchon, Professor Huntington, and W. F.
1 Franklin S. Hatch was pastor from 1876 to 1883. It was during his service and largely through his influence that the society erected the stone church, which is now the chief orna- ment of the village, and regained possession of the village park, which it has graded and other- wise improved. This pastorate was helpful to the material, intellectual, and moral interests of the community, and more than a hundred persons united with the church. - C. H. C.
THE REV. DR. NATHAN PERKINS.
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
421
WEST HARTFORD.
Nichols, who is now rector of Christ Church, Hartford. The present rector is J. W. Hyde. The property of the society is in the centre of the town, and includes a large rectory, an old but fine building formerly owned by Dr. Perkins, and occupied by him when pastor of the First Church. The house of worship is of brick, and in good condition.
The Baptist society was established in 1858, and at once erected a church building at the centre of the town. The first minister of this church was Elisha Cushman, the well-known Dr. Cushman, editor of the " Christian Secretary." of Hartford. In the same enclosure with the church is a neat parsonage, and the property of the society is on one of the best corner-lots in the town. The present pastor is the Rev. II. B. Smith.
In the south part of the town there is an undenominational house of worship, which is open for service every Sunday. It is controlled by a board of trustees, and the services are conducted by ministers of different creeds.
In May, 1797, the Ecclesiastical Society voted unanimously to take measures to be set off as a separate township from the town of Hart- ford. Persevering in this object until nearly two generations were in their graves, they at last triumphed over the customary opposition, and in 1854, by special act of the legislature, the town of West Hart- ford was constituted. Its first representative was Edward Stanley, and its first selectman Solomon S. Flagg, who served the town in that ca- pacity for nearly ten years. Indeed, the excellent government of this town may be in part attributed to the habit of keeping efficient men in office. Thomas Brace was treasurer of the town for eighteen years, including the entire war period, and Benjamin S. Bishop has been as- sessor for about twenty years. The senior officer of the town in length of service is Leonard Buckland, who still holds the office of town clerk, to which he was chosen in 1861.
In the War for the Union the town of West Hartford bore an honorable part. Many and frequent were the town-meetings, and fierce and protracted the debates ; but supplies were always voted, and the recruiting went steadily on until one hundred and seventy-four men - twenty-four in advance of her quota -had been furnished. Some of these men went to the front and returned without having engaged in a single action ; while others were hurried into one of the fiercest fights of the war before they had ever been on dress parade, and before their officers knew enough of military tactics to lead them from the field when the retreat was sounded. They were detailed for picket service, for work on the trenches, for quick marches, and for guard duty ; they were led into the hottest battles and into skirmishes without number ; but so far as can be ascertained, not one was lacking in those qualities which are most essential to the good soldier.
In thus sending good men into the military service of the country, the town of West Hartford followed the example of the parish in earlier days. At the very beginning of the Revolution a company of soldiers marched from West Hartford, probably to Ticonderoga. The death-record of the parish, kept by Dr. Perkins with remarkable accu- racy, mentions the decease of several men who died "at camp in New York." Out of the number which this parish with its limited
422
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
population sent into the Revolutionary War, not less than twenty lost their lives in their country's service.
In the War of 1812 and the Mexican War this parish was also represented, and performed her part both in suffering and in the more conspicuous duty of the perilous fight.
The town-hall is a large building situated on the most prominent site in the centre of the town. It was occupied by the First Church until 1882, when it became the property of the town. The corner on which it stands has been occupied by public buildings for a hundred and seventy years. Some dispute as to the true bounds of this lot of land has gone on for the past twenty-five years. The town, however, will control so much of the neighboring land as it may really need for public purposes, thus settling an old controversy.
About seventy miles of highway are maintained at public cost. Some years $10,000 have been expended for roads and bridges, but these items now require only $3,000 dollars from year to year. About $4,000 are expended in sustaining the public schools.
The bonded debt of the town is $60,000, funded in part at four per cent. The grand list is about two and a half millions of dollars, and the rate of taxation is eight mills. The population of the town, according to the census of 1880, is 1,828, and the average death-rate is less than two per cent of the population. A careful record of births, marriages, and deaths was kept by the ministers of the parish for more than a century, and still exists. In the list of deaths it is especially accurate and minute, giving the cause of death with some particularity. It is often consulted by genealogists and physicians.
The southern part of West Hartford includes a beautiful street arched with elms a hundred years old, which give the name of Elmwood to this section of the town. More than a hundred years ago a pottery was established here, which has been in the same family for three or four generations. About twelve years ago three young men, under the firm name of Goodwin Brothers, took a little shop in which to continue the business their ancestors had begun. Under their control the business has grown very rapidly. To-day their new main building, fully occu- pied, consists of three stories above the basement. The potter's wheel is turned by steam-power. Two large kilns are constantly in use, and seventy-five hands scattered about over nearly an acre of floor-space do the work of the firm. While the old styles of pottery for house- hold and trade purposes are still made here, the bulk of the business is in decorated ware, which now has an extensive sale in the South and West, and a smaller but growing demand for exportation. Good- win Brothers have just completed a new building for an office, a neat brick structure well lighted, and adapted to the needs of the house. There are two creameries, one in the north and one in the south part of the town. The latter is largely supplied from the farm of Charles M. Beach. Mr. Beach was one of the first to introduce the Jersey stock into this country, and has one of the most valuable herds of pure- blooded stock in the State.
The reservoirs which store the water-supply for the city of Hartford are on the heights lying in the western part of the town. The same springs supply a stream which runs through the town and is ponded at different points for milling purposes and for a supply of ice of like
Mohoules Braswell
423
WEST HARTFORD.
quality with the city water. The cutting, housing, and delivery of this ice for the use of the city is a growing business.
The product of which West Hartford is most proud is her men and women. Not less than nineteen ministers, some of them famous men, were born in this town. Of these, Dr. Harry Croswell, the well-known Episcopal divine, has been mentioned. Joab Brace, D.D., was for more than fifty years pastor in the adjoining parish of Newington. His daughter married the Rev. John Todd, long the eminent pastor of the church in Pittsfield, Mass. The ceremony was in the meeting-house, on Sunday, and was followed by a sermon from the father of the bride, who " improved the occasion " by discoursing to the happy pair from the text, "In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage."
Many famous men in other walks of life had their beginning here. The most eminent of these names is that of Noah Webster, known wherever the English language is spoken. The house in which he was born is still standing about a mile south of the centre of the town, and
THE NOAH WEBSTER HOUSE.
his parents are both buried in the old cemetery a few rods north of the church. He was a pupil of Dr. Perkins, and it was perhaps from him that he imbibed those ideas which led him while a very young man to publish a pamphlet on the " Effects of Slavery on Morals and Industry." The story of Dr. Webster's life is told in the memoir by his son-in- law, Dr. Goodrich, in the Unabridged Dictionary. His work is weighed more fully in the biography lately prepared by Horace E. Scudder.
William Faxon, Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Lincoln, came from West Hartford stock. It was one of his ancestors who introduced into the parish the first four wheeled-vehicle ever seen there. He drove to church therein with his family. The people, filled
424
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
with wonder, surrounded the cart. Not a few entered the meeting- house late. The next day a committee waited upon Captain Faxon and informed him that no such Sabbath-breaking contrivance would be allowed on the highway during holy time. The committee urged that its attractions were so novel the people could not be expected to avoid watching it to their spiritual hurt. The Captain pleaded the needs of his family, for whom he bought the vehicle that they might all attend the worship of God's house. He was finally allowed to take his family to church in the new-fashioned carriage, if he would promise " to drive very slow."
One of the most eminent citizens of West Hartford was the late Charles Boswell. He was born in Norwich in 1802, and soon after he was twelve years old began his business carcer with the late Governor Buckingham as his fellow-clerk. When sixteen years old he removed to Hartford, and from that time to his death was identified with the growth and progress of that city. He began business for himself, before he was twenty-five, as a wholesale grocer, and there laid the foundation of his fortune. Later he became president of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank. With this organization and the Hartford Fire Insurance Company he was connected for more than forty years. He was one of the founders of the Athenaeum, and a supporter of all local charities. He removed to West Hartford in 1861. Here began his larger benevolence to Western colleges, which occupied much of his thought for the last ten years of his life. He represented his town in the legislature several terms, and was universally honored by his fellow- citizens. He was a member of the Rev. Dr. Bushnell's church in Hart- ford, and when the old North Church property was sold he purchased the communion-table and presented it to the church in West Hartford. It is a massive marble slab, now framed in oak, and used in the West Hartford church, which Mr. Boswell assisted most liberally to build. He died in October, 1884.
Many other men eminent in business and financial circles might be mentioned who were either born in the parish or came from West Hart- ford stock : but the list would be too long. It is enough to say that the influence of this community has gone abroad through all our country, and the sons and daughters of West Hartford have reflected honor upon their native town. The quiet of the town, its proximity to a delightful city, its attractive drives, well-kept farms, beautiful scenery, orderly, intelligent, and law-abiding citizens, make it an attractive place of residence. Church and school are both well maintained, and the public health is almost unprecedentedly good. Indeed, in all respects it still justifies the words of President Dwight, who visited it early in the century : "The parish of West Hartford, for the fertility of its soil, the pleasantness of its situation, the sobriety, industry, good order, and re- ligious deportment of its inhabitants, is not, so far as I know, excelled in the State."
XXV.
WETHERSFIELD.
BY SHERMAN W. ADAMS.
T THE township of Wethersfield, during the period of its greatest extent (from 1673 to 1693), included the whole of the present township of that name, the present townships of Glastonbury, Rocky Hill, and Newington, a section of about three square miles of territory now in the northeast corner of Berlin, and about four square miles now in the north end of Marlborough. Its area at that time was, in round numbers, eighty-four square miles exclusive of that portion under the river, - being something more than fourteen " large " miles long from east to west, and a little over six "large" miles broad from north to south. This great tract is to-day bounded northerly by West Hartford, Hartford, East Hartford, and Manchester ; easterly by Bolton, Hebron, and Marlborough ; southerly by Marlborough, Chatham, Portland, Cromwell, and Berlin; westerly by Berlin and New Britain.
The original " plantation " of Wethersfield was not definitely fixed. It was that small section known to the Indians as Pyquang, Pyquag, Paquiaug, or (as in the sachem's deed to Wethersfield men in 1671) Puckquiog. Dr. J. II. Trumbull tells us that this name (compounded of pauqui and auke) means "clear land," "open country." It was the area now occupied by the village, together with the Great Meadow, and the Great and Little plains. The " clear land " to which, prob- ably, the place owed its aboriginal name was the two plains mentioned above, with the present site of the village ; which, topographically speak- ing, is on an extension of the same plains. As thus limited, Pyquaug was bounded northerly mainly by a bend (now no longer existing at that point) in Connecticut River, separating it from Suckiaug (Hartford), easterly by the same river, southerly by Beaver (Goffe's) Brook or lands in that vicinity, and westerly by the ridge along the summit of which the road on Wolcott Hill extends. It embraced a part of Hoecanum, which lay on both sides of the river. So it remained a rudimentary hamlet, or " plantation," until June 7, 1636, when the General Court, which had organized in April of that year, took the first step toward defining its limits and making it a township. It then directed Samuel Wakeman, of Dorchester (Windsor), and George Hubbard, of Water- town (Wethersfield), to survey Dorchester, and Wakeman alone to survey Watertown, as to its " breadth towards the mouth of the River," to the end that "it may be confirmed."
On the 21st day of the following February the General Court christened the settlement " Wythersfeild." At the same date Wake- man and Ancient (Thomas) Stoughton reported, recommending that
4
426
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
the bounds be "extended towards the River's mouth, in the same side it standes in, to a tree sixe miles downeward from the boundes between them and Hartford, marked with N: F: [the initials of Nathaniel Foote's name ], and to runn in an east and west line, and over the Great River ; the said Wythersfeild to begin att the mouth of Pew ter Pott brooke, and there to runn due cast, into the country, 3 miles, and downeward sixe miles in breadth." This report was adopted. The north line was still further defined to be "att a tree marked N : F : and to wch the Pale of the saide Harteford is fixed, to goe into the countrey due cast, and on the other side of the Greate River from Pewter Pott brooke, at the lower side of Hocannom, due east, into the countrey."
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.