USA > Connecticut > Tolland County > Columbia > The story of Columbia > Part 4
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(greatly through your instrumentality), obtaining among us that the mem- `bers of your school have all along been as free from temptations to any vicious courses or danger of fatal error as perhaps might be expected they would be on any spot of this Universally polluted Globe.
Here, Dear Sir, your school has flourished remarkably. It has grown apace; from small beginnings how very considerable it has become; an evidence that the soil and climate suit the institution - if you transplant it you run the risk of stinting its growth, perhaps of destroying its very life, or at least of changing its nature and missing the pious aim you have all along had in view: a danger which scarce need to be hinted: as you are sensible it has been the common fate of institutions of this kind; that char- itable Donations have been misapplied and perverted to serve purposes very far from or contrary to those the pious donors had in view; such is the subtilty of the old serpent that he will turn all our weapons against our selves if possible. Aware of this, you have all along appeared to decline and even detest all such alliances and proposals as were calculated for, or seemed to promise any private emolument to your self or your friends. This we trust is still your prevailing temper and rejoice to hear that your friends and those who are intrusted with the affair in England are exactly in the same senti- ments, happy presage not only of the continuance of the institution itself but we hope of its immutability as to place. One thing more we beg leave to mention, not (to tire your patience with the many that occur,) viz. if you remove the school from us, you at the same time take away our Minister, the light of our eyes and joy of our hearts, under whose ministrations we have sat with great delight: whose labors have been so acceptable and we trust profitable for a long time; must then our Dear and Worthy Pastor and his pious institution go from us together? Alas shall we be deprived of both in one day? We are sensible that we have abused such privileges and have forfeited them: and at God's bar we plead guilty - we pray him to give us repentance and reformation, and to lengthen out our Happy State; we own the justice of God in so heavy losses, if they must be inflicted ; and even in the removal of our Candlestick out of its place, but we can't bear the thought that you our Dear Pastor and the dear friends to your pious institution should become the Executioners of such a Vengeance. However we leave the matter with you, and are with much Duty and filial regard Dear Sir, Your very humble servants or rather Obedient Children.
By order of said Society,
Israel Woodward, James Pinneo, Asahel Clark, Jr.
June 29th, 1767.
Invitations came from Virginia for Wheelock to start a school there; also from Carolina, New York State, Pittsburgh, Stockbridge, Pittsfield, and New Hampshire. After visiting, and considering the merits of the different places, and after an eight-weeks tour of the north country on horseback, in the spring of 1770 he decided on Hanover, New Hampshire.
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In August he was directing thirty pupils at felling trees which rose one hundred feet up in the air to the first branches, two hundred and seventy feet tall. That first summer the trees on six acres were felled, and used to erect log cabins during the winter.
In August 1770 the first letter came from Hanover, signed "From my hut, but without glass, brick or nails".
In September the final instructions came for the migration of the family. "Don't bring cows unless they give milk, 100 pounds of tobacco. if you have a barrel of old pork bring it with you. You would do well to bring a gross of pipes, Jabes barrel of rum, barrel of molasses, keg of wine. half barrel of sugar".
Dr. Wheelock sent Dr. Crane back on horseback, as a special mes- senger with a license to travel on Sunday, to meet the procession which was on its way, consisting of a horseman or two at the head, an English coach carrying Mrs. Wheelock and family, John Thornton, another Indian student who later graduated, ox cart bearing rum, school books, negro servants, cows, and thirty students on foot. There was great confusion. and they could travel only a few miles a day.
Dr. Crane met them and told them that they were to go back to Lebanon Crank to wait further orders from Dr. Wheelock, because there was not enough water near the house that they had built to supply their needs. But Mrs. Wheelock was a determined woman, and decided that as she had come thus far, the getting of a little water wasn't going to stop her, so Dr. Crane turned around and joined the procession on its way to Hanover.
Besides the rum that was carried in the ox cart, there were two hun- dred books, two hundred manuscripts, and letters from Lebanon Crank. A song sung at Dartmouth today tells the story thus:
"O Eleazar Wheelock was a very pious man, He went into the wilderness to teach the Indi-an. With a gradus and a parnacum, a Bible and a drum. And five hundred gallons of New England rum."
Overcoming all difficulties, Wheelock established his Indian school, and along side it Dartmouth college, named in honor of his great bene- factor, the Earl of Dartmouth. The Indian school did not survive long, for in 1772 he had only five Indian scholars. Dr. Wheelock was Dartmouth's first president.
The weather vane on the Baker Memorial Library at Dartmouth depicts a tall pine tree, Dr. Wheelock preaching, the traditional barrel of rum supporting his Bible with an Indian squatted before it. His spiritual resolve is preserved in his own words:
"And it is my purpose, by the grace of God, to leave nothing undone within my power, which is suitable to be done, that this school of the proph- ets may be, and long continue to be, a pure fountain. And I do with my whole heart will this my purpose to all my successors in the presidency of
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this seminary, to the latest posterity, and it is my last will, never to be re- vokcd."
Elcazar Wheelock.
The publications of Dr. Wheelock arc:
A Narrative of the Indian Charity School at Lebanon - dated 1762.
A Sermon at the Ordination of Charles Jeffrey Smith - 1763.
Narratives - in several numbers from 1763 to 1771.
Continuation of the Narrative - 1773.
A Sermon - "Liberty of Conscience, or no kind but Christ in the Church" -1775.
Dr. Wheelock's Memoirs, by Dr. McClure and Dr. Parish, were published in 1811.
The Reverend Dr. Wheelock was seized with epilepsy, and after three months of illness, he died on April 24, 1779, at the age of sixty-cight.
Two lasting memorials to Dr. Wheelock may be seen in Columbia today.
On the Green in front of the Congregational Church is a gray stone slab which reads:
In 1755 Elcazar Wheelock D.D. Minister at Lebanon Crank (Now Columbia) Founded Ncar This Spot Moor's Indian Charity School In 1769 The School Was Removed To Hanover New Hampshire From This Beginning Arose Dartmouth College Elcazar Wheelock President 1769-1779 Presented by The Connecticut Society of The Colonial Dames of America 1949 Carved near the top of the monument in a circular insert is the head of an Indian, to represent Samson Occom, Dr. Wheelock's first Indian student.
The other memorial is more unusual, perhaps unique. It is a plaque depicting the migration of Wheelock and his students from Lebanon Crank to Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1770. About five feet long and twelve inches wide, it shows, in colorful bas relief, the old school here, an ox cart, a cow, Mrs. Wheelock beside her coach, servants, Indians, and a man on horseback, all headed toward a log house in New Hampshire; there stands Wheelock preaching to Indians ("vox clementis in deserto"). Then the Dartmouth Library of 1950 is shown, with its famous weathervane, and Wheclock's face looking down upon it from the clouds. "By the Gospel he subdued the ferocity of the Indian, and to the civilized he opened new
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MOOR'S INDIAN CHARITY SCHOOL
Now located in front of the Horace W. Porter School.
paths of science." In the lower corner appears Occom receiving money bags from the Earl of Dartmouth. Pine trees form a background for the scenes.
The plaque was designed in 1950 by Mrs. Robert C. Tuttle, sculptor and artist, who chose several of the town's boys and girls, of different faiths, to help her with the project, which took six months to complete. She pre- sented the plaque to the Horace W. Porter School, and it is displayed in the little white schoolhouse where the history it depicts had its beginnings. A keen student of the town's history, Mrs. Tuttle wrote an article about Wheelock, part of which is included in the story printed here. In an accom- panying plaque, she acknowledged assistance in her research by Mrs. Lillian Rice, Librarian, by Dr. George S. Brookes, and by Professor N. Arnold of Dartmouth.
Some years ago, April Fool jokes were not as tame as they are today. The young folks went to a lot of bother to enjoy a good laugh. There is a story told of a joke played on the late Edward P. Lyman when he was a young man. His doorbell rang, and upon opening the door, he encountered a white horse, tied to the door latch and about to enter his home.
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Education
The first indication in the records that the settlers were thinking of education for their children was on January 6, 1732, when a School Com- mittee was elected with Captain Ephraim Sprague, Nehemiah Closson, and Deacon Wright as its members. Money was given to various towns by the state for instruction of children of the parishes, and this first school committec in the North Parish was allowed to spend the money at its dis- cretion.
The entire life of these people centered around the church, and it was a written obligation of every parent and guardian of children "not to suffer any child to grow up in their families unable to read the holy word of God and the good laws of the colony under penalty for each offence."
In 1738 the parish voted to raise by tax fifty pounds to be added to the country money to kecp two schoolmasters for the three winter months. In those early days there were no school houses, and school was held in the homes, the teachers moving from place to place for the best advantage of the parish in general. It was the duty of the school committec to see that the teachers fulfilled their jobs. These first teachers lived with their pupils' families, their time with each being allotted in proportion to the number of children in each family. Many of the early teachers were young mcn filling in time between the farm scasons, and young women occupying themselves until they were married. During the winter months when all the big boys were in school, men were hired to cope with the discipline problem, but when the big boys had gone back to the farms, women tcachers would always finish out the year.
The parish voted in 1744 to allow the neighborhood adjacent to the meeting house to build a schoolhouse on the common, and that two other sections north and south could also build schools. Because of having fewer families and being less able to maintain a school, no school was built in the center at that time, that district being temporarily divided between the north and the south. The "Indian Charity School" described elsewhere in this book eventually became the center district school.
Our forefathers appointed committees, much as we do today, to solve their school problems. In 1768 such a committee was chosen to set off the school districts in the parish. By 1773 there were fivc districts, and the School Committee then included Henchman Bennet, Rufus Collins, Jabez Wright, Nathaniel White and Lt. James Pinco.
Eventually there were eight districts, which remained the same through- out the years except for the one school in the Wells Woods development, which was abandoned for lack of pupils. These districts were: Center, Pine Strect, West Street, North, Old Hop River, Hop River Village and Chest- nut Hill.
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SCHOOL CHILDREN - 1903 - 1904
Back row: Raymond E. Clarke, Herman Wolff, Raymond Strickland, Herbert Collins, Ned Squier Myrtle Collins, Josephine Lyman.
Second row: William Wolff, Clinton Loveland, Edward Lyman, Horace E. Little, Cassius Fuller, Clement Lewis, Richard Lyman, Lena August, Helen Lyman, Edith Lyman (front)
Front row: Vera Collins, Lura Collins, Agnes Lyman, Dora Tucker, Marion Lyman, Lena Wolff, Ruth Harvey, Ruth Lyman, Gertrude Loveland. Teacher, Miss Alice Carey.
These schools were operated for many years, until they were no longer of use to the town. The first school to be sold was the North District School which was closed on June 17, 1929 and sold for $1000 .. The other district schools remained in use until 1948, when a new consolidated school was built. The old schoolhouses in the outlying districts were then auctioned off, but the one at the Center, originally Moor's Indian Charity School. was retained by the Town because of its historic associations. Originally standing near the southeast corner of the crossroads at the center, it has been moved several times. Still retaining the original timbers, the little building had to be moved with the greatest care in order to preserve it intact. It now stands permanently in front of its modern successor - a study in contrasts.
The consolidated Horace W. Porter School can boast of much modern equipment available to the teaching profession. Gone forever are the one room schools with their ink wells, double seats, many grades, outdoor toilets, wood-burning stoves. drinking water in a pail, and absence of lights.
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Old Houses
An accurate list of houscs now standing in Columbia which were here in 1804, would be rather difficult to compile. From our Town Records since 1804, and older records in Lebanon, we can trace ownership of land, but can only surmisc as to the buildings which stood on these early home- sites.
On October 24th, 1866, John S. Ycomans, who was born in Columbia, rcad a paper at the 150th anniversary of the organization of the Congre- gational Church. The following quotation from his writing is of interest:
"In 1816, the dwelling houses were mostly in a dilapidated condition, weather-worn and mostly unpainted: such as were painted were a dingy red. I can recall to mind but two in town at that time that were painted whitc. All were warmed by fires in the large old-fashioned fireplaces of the olden time. There were no stoves in town: not more than two or three houses with a carpet upon any of their floors.
"Today, as compared with fifty years ago, we are abundantly blessed. The most of our dwellings have put off their brown, and arc painted white; arc comfortably furnished, warmed, and carpeted. The majority have prob- ably been built new or essentially remodeled."
One of the houses which was old in 1804, and is still red, has in recent ycars been known as "The Bailey Housc." It stands at the junction of Basket Shop Road and West Street. This was the homesite of Nathaniel White (1629-1711) and the house was probably built about 1723. It is believed to be the oldest house in town. Seven generations of Nathaniel's descendants have lived there and the house is still owned and occupied by one of them, Edward Merritt. It has been decded down from Frederick White, a soldier of the Revolution. The house is of the story-and-a-half type and covers an arca 37 by 41 feet. It is rather an unusual design to bc found in this part of the country, in that it has two large stone chimneys scparated on the first floor by a central hall. Unfortunately, some of the original panelling and wainscotting have been removed from the down- stairs rooms. On the north end of the house the old hand "rived and shavcd" oak clapboards are still intact. These vary in width from narrow at the bottom to wider at the top.
None of us who now live in Columbia need an introduction to the building on The Green known as "The Old Inn", now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Squier and family. Built, probably before 1750, on the stage route from Hartford to Norwich where the Willimantic-Hebron road crosses, it served as a place of refreshment for weary travellers as well as for the horses which pulled the heavy coaches in olden times. About a mile and a half north of the old inn on the west side of Routc 87 ncar where the Whitney Road joins it, stands an old milestone inscribed
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"18 M N T H" -eighteen miles to Norwich Town House. Through the years this old building has been known as Lebanon Crank Inn, Tavern Stand, and some of our older residents remember an old suspended sign bearing the inscription "Tavern House 1840". A crude metal eagle sur- mounted this sign and "How it squeaked and squawked as it blew in the wind." Sign and eagle disappeared many years ago. At a later period it was known as Bascom Hall.
During the period of our seven year conflict with the "Mother Country", French troops bivouacked on Lebanon Green and there were camps at Bolton, Windham, and other towns in this region. French officers and men were no doubt familiar with the inn at Lebanon Crank. In his diary, de Chastellux speaks of the Lebanon Crank as a little inn, and notes that he secured excellent green tea and fine loaf sugar there. A few years ago, Marshall Squier found a musket of French manufacture of the type used in the Revolution. It had been hidden in the wall of the attic at the inn, put there no doubt because the barrel had burst.
This old building as originally built was square, with a hip roof. A long, low, one-story ell extended from the south side, and beyond that stood a small gambrel roof building which served as a store and post office. The ell and store were taken down when the new and wider Hebron road was constructed some years ago. In the ell was a supplementary chimney with a fireplace and oven for the heavier cooking. Under the floor of the ell was a deep, dug well and the inn was sometimes spoken of as "The house with the well". On the second floor, opening out of the stair hall, there is a narrow door made of one wide board, in the top of which is a swinging panel through which someone may have been fed. The original room into which this opened was very small and apparently had no other opening than the door. The use made of this space can only be conjectured. A door in the cellar has unusual tapered wooden hinges held by wooden pins. In the attic a large brick smoke-oven adjoins the massive chimney. Its in- terior is incrusted with black residue of years of hickory or corn cob smoke and one easily imagines the smell of the beef and pork hams which in years gone by hung on the hand-forged hooks.
Just when the north end of the inn was added is not known, but its construction would indicate carly nineteenth century. Downstairs, a small room was used as a pantry-bar from which the bar parlor and the dining- room in the rear could be served. The dining-room is a long room with a curved ceiling, and can be divided by folding doors into three small rooms. The bar is the simple counter type with cupboards, on the glass doors of which could be seen traces of lettering which advertised "All drinks 5c".
The entire second floor is occupied by the ballroom, which extends over a porte-cochere and is supported by large wooden posts. This room has a domed, curved ceiling, and the floor was so constructed as to spring under the weight of the dancers. Benches for spectators extend along both sides of the room. Mrs. Raymond Squier has an old program for the
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THE BAILEY HOUSE ON WEST STREET
This may be the oldest house in town, dating back to 1723.
"Dedication Ball, C. I. Hills Hall, Columbia, March 21st, 1854". This dedication probably took place when Mr. Hills became landlord. In later years, Masonic Balls were held annually in the ballroom for several years until Columbia Lodge was disbanded. During World Wars I and II, Red Cross work and British War Relief work were carried on there.
Space does not permit description of the many other old houses, but among the more interesting may be mentioned three of the gambrel roof type, probably built in the late 1700's. One of these is the home of Ray- mond E. Clarke on Route 87, a half mile north of the Green, and further along on the same road, the home of Irving W. Lohr. The other is the home of William Macht on Cherry Valley Road.
Of the carly two-story, central chimney construction, are the Porter house on The Green, the Hennessy house on Lake Road, the Ramm house on Woodward Hill, the Brand house on Old Willimantic Road, the Robin- son house on Post Hill, and the Rubin house on West Street. This latter home was formerly known as the old West house, named for Samuel West who purchased a large farm in Columbia and came there to live in 1773. He rebuilt the house after a fire, raising the lower half, and adding a first floor sometime before 1800. On this property near the house stood an elm tree so venerable that it appears on a Tolland County wall map printed in the eighteen thirties, and called "Big Tree". As the tree had become weak- encd by a very high wind in August 1871, it was taken down limb by limb. The circumference at the base of this tree was forty feet, and at the smallest
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THE PRESENT HOME OF MR. AND MRS. RAYMOND CLARKE
On Jonathan Trumbull Highway. An excellent example of a gambrel-roofed home surrounded by old-fashioned gardens.
place between the ground and the branches. twenty-six feet. Twenty-five years afterward, the old stump, sixteen fect high, was still standing.
Among early story-and-a-half houses are the Roland Smith and Lyman house; ncar the dam, the Wilbur Smith, Jr. house on Route 87, the Burnham house west of The Green on Hebron Road, the Tennenbaum house at the foot of Chestnut Hill, and the Sharpe house on Cards Mill Road. The salt box house owned by John Demesko, on Chestnut Hill, is a fine example of the carly homes of this style. At the junction of Lake Road and Route 87, the only old stone house in town is occupied by the Holmes family and was built by Alanson Little in the carly 1800's. He admired a house in Penn- sylvania and reproduced it with stone from his own property. It is con- structed with very deep window casings, and originally contained the early small panes.
At the north end of The Green, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Rice, bu'lt about 1800, was in early days a stopping place for travellers on the old turnpike, as well as townspeople. There was a bar in the front room, and ovens built in the chimney in the cellar. On the second floor was a lange hall where debating societies met and social gatherings were held.
The present home of Miss Marion McCorkell was built by Dr. Henry Fuller in 1815 after he had returned from the War of 1812. It contains wide foor boards, the Christian doors with latches, and a huge chimney with Dutch ovens in the basement. In one small room in an ell of the house one can see the marks on the wall where at one time there were post office
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boxes. The postmaster who resided there also ran a small store in the same room, selling small wares such as candy and notions.
A map published in 1857 shows the homesites mentioned in this article to have been occupied at that time as follows:
Clarke (C. Nye); Lohr (G. W. Morgan) ; Macht (N. H. Clark) ; Porter (R. Loomis); Hennessy (H. Brown); Ramm (M. Woodward); Brand (E. Dewcy): Robinson (J. H. Townsend); Rubin (S. F. West); R. Smith (J. Perry); Lyman (B. Lyman): W. Smith Jr. (S. E. Lyman); Burnham (A. H. Fitch); Tennenbaum (W. B. Little); Sharpe (J. Burlingame) ; Demesko (R. Collins) ; Holmes (A. Little); Rice (D. Holbrook) ; McCorkell (J. Armstrong). The Old Inn, in 1857, was owned by C. A. Post, and the Merritt place by N. White. The Porter place was the home of the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock from 1735 to 1770. The Sharpe house was the early home of the Buckingham family.
At one time many socials were held in the upstairs hall of the present Howard Rice home. There is a story told of a maiden lady in town who disliked having to do her part when home-baked goods were solicited for these affairs. However, feeling that she really should contribute, she would bring something and put it away up on a top shelf in the kitchen, so that, more than likely, no one would discover it, and she could take it home again when she went. She received a surprise one night when she found nothing there but the empty plate. Some young boys had caught on to her trick and had eaten the whole cake.
THE OLD INN Probably built before 1750 and was a stage coach stop between Hartford and Norwich.
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Service to the Nation in Time of War
The compiling of a list or giving the accurate number of mcn from Columbia who served their country during the several wars, especially the earlier wars, would be a difficult if not impossible task, except for those who are known to have been killed, or who died or were wounded while in service. A visit to the cemeteries in Columbia where many veterans arc buried shows that the men from Columbia have served their country well in time of war.
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