USA > Connecticut > Windham County > Eastford > Town of Eastford : Centennial 1847-1947 > Part 7
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This family was of importance in the records of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Gilbert Havens having been a Bishop for Connecti- cut. The home of Felix Klee was the original home of Simon Havens. His eldest son, William, was bequeathed the homestead and a large area of land.
Grandma Wilson seemed to think the land was bought from the Indians, as she could recall in her girlhood where there was the ruins of an old Indian encampment near the spring. Plows often turned up relics.
*
Mother's grandfather, James Lyon, was moderator at the meeting held to incorporate Eastford as a separate township.
I would love to attend the Centennial Services but it will of course be impossble, as my paralysis will not let me accomplish much.
Very sincerely,
FLORA PHILLIPS.
EXCERPTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF A. M. BOWEN IN THE WINDHAM COUNTY OBSERVER
Carlton (Tatem) met with an accident last week by getting his fingers caught between rollers of the lathe in his father's handle mill. Came near being serious. As it is he has lost two nails and produced some abrasions of the hand. This is the first accident of any note at this greatest enterprise of Eastford.
During the month of August let your truck alone, eat fig bars and my nice corned beef. Sell about a barrel a week.
We live long in Eastford and prosper according as we merit pros- perity.
Lots of people leave Eastford, thinking they may find a better place, but they come back sooner or later . .. We like to welcome them home.
An Edison home phonograph entertainment will be given at Bowen's hall, March 24.
The automobile has commenced to come this way. One came shizzing up the river road Sunday evening ... Occupants consisted of two men riding at their ease up any steep hill.
I see in The Observer of last week an item about the old familiar darn coat or darn man, so called, over forty years ago. When I was a small boy he (Mr. Thompson) was a very eccentric person. Seemed to be an old man to me then. Always had on the gray suit darned. Never would speak to you unless he wanted something. Frequently called on my parents for a button or needle full of thread. If he drop-
77
ped one of his buttons I frequently hunted and found the same, as my eyes were sharper than his. Same old man was found dead side of the road in Pomfret thirty years ago.
Darwin Clark was upset by a small bull on Sunday while salting his cattle. His Charlie came to the rescue. About one year ago his wife's father, Mr. Bradway, was "more than killed" by one of these small pets. I have a number of these noisy fellows, but I give them a pretty wide berth this hot weather.
Mrs. H. A. Bosworth and some of her children have just returned from a visit in Southbridge. Mrs. Bosworth and husband are young, but have twelve bright girls and boys, sexes about even.
Everyone who attends school should have a fine tooth comb. We have plenty of combs, but not the crawlers.
My earliest recollections of Eastford are history and because I may now be the only one who remembers that time I am confining my- self to it.
They illustrate vividly the changes which have come within the span of a lifetime.
It must have been 1870 that I was suddenly in a small story and a half house where several women were preparing a meal for the newly arrived minister and his family, over the fire in a big fireplace. I never had seen one and the cranes and cooking utensils made a lasting im- pression.
There was an immense central chimney with fireplaces in the north and south rooms - a tiny "entry" where we had to back into the south room in order to open the big outside door wide.
It was this place which my father afterward bought, and made into a home for his family.
The "meeting-house" across the road had a beautiful "steeple" which was afterward struck by lightning and so badly damaged that it had to be taken down, and was replaced by the present one.
The church was entered from the front, facing the congregation and from the "entry" (I am using the old terms as I remember them). Two flights of stairs ascended to the gallery which ran round three sides of the building. At the further end was a large reed organ with yellowed and considerably battered keys.
The choir sat up there and when the hymns were sung, the con- gregation stood, turned and faced the singers-when later a change was made-some people faced the pulpit and some the choir for several weeks until all became accustomed to the new way.
The church was heated by two big stoves at the front end the pulpit between them sometimes became a hot place-perhaps in more ways than one.
The rest of the room was often cold and people had small per- forated iron stoves to put under their feet. Sometimes they came over
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to the parsonage for coals to put in the stoves.
There were two services-a morning and an afternoon one with an intermission at noon, when people ate lunches and enjoyed visits with neighbors whom they seldom saw on weekdays.
I cannot remember when this program ended but when the baby of the family was about four years old-one very hot Sunday my mother allowed us children to decide whether we would go to the afternoon sermon service, and our youngest said: "If Mama can stand it I can"-She went.
There were two or three old fashioned donation partys for the parson in those early years, but my father and mother did not care for them, so they were given up. Probably the parishioners also were glad.
My father always liked the village with its roads extending in all directions, unlike the one long single road of most New England villages of that time, but it was dreary without trees. There simply were none and I remember the first "setting-out-trees" day when the men worked with a will plus several ox teams planting trees which are now the beauty of the village.
That was long before there was a chapel so where the women fed those hungry men I do not know. Possibly in the basement of the Methodist church.
There was a small sweet toned pipe organ in that church, played by an elderly woman who became my first music teacher and started me on my life work.
I was in my teens when Mr. Green gave the present pipeorgan to the hill church. It was the finest in the region outside of a possible one or two in the cities like Putnam.
There was a Burnham store where, its seems to me, we were fitted with shoes with copper toes, and I remember there were women who used to "peg" shoes in their homes.
The "Pond" was a naturalists paradise as long as my father lived in the village.
There were only one or two houses within sight of its shores. The people of those days felt no interest in that our of the way spot, which now as Crystal Lake is so much appreciated.
There were no telephones until I was nearly twenty years old, when I remember one in the Isaac Warren store. My father went down to the Post Office-in that store-when the stage broke down in a muddy (March) road in South Woodstock and we did not reach Eastford till dark.
My father had the first lawn mower in town and Charles Warren the next one, but the farmers could do wonderful mowing in those days with their sythes.
In happy remembrance of the far off days.
MILDRED S. JONES.
79
DID YOU KNOW?
During the days of stage coach travel, one could leave Eastford at 9 a.m. and arrive in Boston at 8 p.m. The fare was $4.50.
* *
The Village Improvement Society in 1876 gave the roads in East- ford village the following names:
County Road North Main Street
County Road South Main Street
Village to Phoenixville Elm Street
Village to Westford Road School Street
Village to Woodstock Valley - Pleasant Street
School to south
Broadway
Village to east
High Street
A newspaper clipping described the winter of 1912-1920- "The drifts were 18 feet high. No mail came for five days. Ice averaged 32" with many wells frozen. Thirty-five snowstorms were listed."
*
It is known that as many as 86 children attended the Shippey District school at one time.
* ** *
The telegraph station located in Andrew Lamphier's house (Wal- ter Howletts') received the news of General Lyon's death.
%
A Business Directory of Windham County was printed in West Killingly in the year 1861 - Dorothy Bowen Mattocks has a well pre- served copy.
General Statutes-1778
"Because the increase in the transporting of private property and other goods threatens to lessen the business of agriculture and the rais- ing of grain and provisions for use of our people, also threatens the supply of beef for the use of our army - be it enacted that after April 1st, carts moving goods, wares and merchandize use no more than one pair of oxen."
E. K. L.
AN ANECDOTE OF ASHFORD .- PUB. 1861
A concourse of people were assembled on the hill in front of the meeting house, to witness the punishment of a man who had been convicted of neglecting to go to meeting on the Sabbath for a period of three months. According to the existing law, the culprit was to be publicly whipped at the post. Just as the whip was about to be applied, a stranger on horseback appeared, and inquired for what purpose they were assembled. Being informed of the state of the case, the gentlemen rose upright in his stirrups, and with emphasis addressed the aston-
80
ished crowd as follows: "You men of Ashford serve God as if the D- - - 1 was in you! Do you think you can whip the grace of God into men? Christ will have none but volunteers." The people stared, while the speaker, probably not caring to be arraigned for contempt of court, put spurs to his horse, and was soon out of sight; nor was he ever seen or heard of again.
E. K. L.
ANECDOTES
My first experience in holding a plow may seem humorous to some of the readers. Father was running the Preston farm on halves. Mr. Preston had a pair of four-year-old steers never half broken that would "turn the yoke" just for fun, or otherwise. (To "turn the yoke" was to spread their rears apart, throw their heads in the air, look backwards over the yoke, and the yoke would be upside down and the oxen would be facing the wagon.)
We started to plow. I tried to drive but could not. Father said, "You try holding the plow." He put a rope on the near ox hoping to have some control. All went well. We got most around the field and started on the last lap when the oxen started for the barn on the run. Father yells to me to "Stick it in." When I managed to right the thing, the plow did stick in the ground, the oxen turned the yoke, they were facing the plow and father was on the off side.
Mr. John Morse used to tell me about one time he was taking a load of charcoal to Springfield with his ox-team when a heavy rain storm came up. He walked two miles on his hands and feet under the wagon to keep from getting wet. Mrs. Morse told him, "John Morse, you will tell that stuff until you will believe it yourself, sometime!"
H. B. BUELL.
CRYSTAL LAKE
" 'Clear as crystal', is a Bible expression that can be applied to Eastford's most famous and picturesque sheet of water."
John P. Trowbridge.
In the early 1900's it became a camping place for the few who were attracted by its charm. Since that date the lakes popularity has increased until now we find thirty cottages and three camps on its shores. For fifteen years the following camps have given to their guests the influence of nature at its best; Camp Eastford, owned and operated by James O. Wood of the Latin School in Chicago. Camp Keemosaubee, the New Britain Boy Scout Camp; and Camp Wabba- quasset, owned by the Willmantic Congregational Church and operated for the benefit of its young people. Sloping hills surround the lake which is fed only by springs. No nearby farm house, with its charac- teristic sounds, mar the quietness so many seek. Truly this is a para- dise in which to secure rest, relaxation, and pleasure.
E. K. L.
81
ANECDOTES
"Captain Jack" (Lorenzo Bullard Latham), a sea captain, named his five children in good seafaring style. His first child, a daughter, was named Cora for his ship The Cora. His four sons were named for ports which he had visited: Roy (Port Royal), Caro (Cairo, Egypt), Tunis St. Leger (Africa), and Sidney (Australia) .
"I always like to have the boys cut their fingers-it learns 'em to be careful."-A. M. Bowen.
In 1831 a church was built jointly by the Methodists and Univer- salists because the Congregationalists refused to allow "a distinguished Universalist minister" the use of their church.
Ebenezer Bosworth began to go to church every Sunday when he was an old man because, as he said, "The Bozzards had gi'n more to that church than anybody else and they'd never been enough to get the good on it."
That there was another hurricane in Eastford more than a hundred years ago, is proved by old tales such as the following which is related about "the old Frank Bowen place", now owned by Franklin Wethe- rell: "The adventure during a September gale that threatened the prostration of the old house; they (the occupants) adjourned to the garden and by tying blankets to bean poles fashioned a rude hut for the night". From an old letter.
In the house now owned by the Rosyar family there once lived a lady by the name of Mrs. Baker who was, apparently, a Spiritualist, for folk used to go there to see her make the table rise off the floor when she placed her hands upon it.
If you follow the road past Clifford French's house, down into the woods and turn into a lot on your left, you will see the famous rock on which is "the Devil's footprint", a well defined print of the foot of some animal made, no doubt, when that piece of rock was once soft mud.
EXCERPTS
A town that boasts inhabitants like me Can have no lack of good Society. Longfellow.
Hail Guest! We ask not what thou art:
If friend, we greet thee, hand and heart; If Stranger, such no longer be;
If Foe, our love shall conquer three.
Guiterman. .
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind?
Burns.
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1847 HOUSES STILL STANDING 1947
1947, Mrs. Ruth I. Goodhall
1947, George P. Ahner - D. Wilbur
1947, Mrs. Mary Rosyar - H. B. Burnham
.83
1947, Miss Marie Gurnee "Buss House" - Martin Buss
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1947, Kenneth W. Walker - Albro
1947, Anthony Chilkott - James Lyon
84
1947, Miss Susan Van Wert - Aaron Davis
1947, Miss Jessie Gerow, Tripp House - Ingoldsby Works
1947, Miss Ethel Gardner - N. Lyon .
85
1947, Mrs. Maro E. Lewis - A. C. Sumner
1947, Fred Bowen - Joshua Lewis
1947, Mrs. Herbert W. Cunningham - James Dean
86
1947, William S. Warren - A. C. Sumner
1947, Franklin Wetherell - Jobez Bowen
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1947, Marie Gurnee, Red Cottage - Joseph Dorsett
87
1947, Marie Gurnee, Old Congregational Parsonage - E. D. Bosworth
A
4
1947, Howard Black - William Cheney
1947, Mrs. Florence Latham - A. Clark
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1947, Henry Lawton - E. P. Arnold
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1947, Felix Klee - W. Lyon
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1947, Edward Keith - Merrill A. Keith
1947, Mrs. Edith W. Smith - Clifford Thomas
1947, Victoria Szymanski - Lorenzo Bullard
1947, Mrs. Alice Latham - J. B. Latham
90
1947, Herbert Merrill - Zinglius Bullard
1947, Charles Dvorak - S. F. Burnham
1947, George Spaulding Estate - D. Spaulding
91
1947, Asa Ethridge - Wilson
1947, William B. Anderson - W. Beals
1947, August Benz - A. H. Potter
92
1947, Ellery Bartlett - J. D. Barrows
1947, Esther Harmon - James Lyon
93
1847 HOUSES STILL STANDING 1947
Present Owner
A hundred years ago
Yale University
Hotel-F. Mann Est.
Third Baptist Church and Parsonage M. Darwin Lewis
Widow Carpenter
Robert Hunt
P. Carpenter
Mrs. Clementine Dechand
Daniel Bartlett
Charles Grippi
J. N. Walker
Michael Smoolca
U. B. Carpenter
Charles Floeting
Walker
Nancy Montanero
E. Lyon
Charles H. Buell
Capt. Zenas Bugbee
J. R. Stoddard
David Lewis
Alex Shishko
Preston Sibley
Henry B. Buell
J. Holman Jr.
Mrs. Fritz King
Kenneth and Mary Green
Mrs. Mary Jones
3. H. Preston
Miss Lillian Huntington
Harvey Spink
Eugene French's Store
J. Henry Day
Miss Ethel Gardner
Charles W. Clark
Charles Clark, home
Ernest Stevens Vernon Bowen
Harold and Newton Carpenter Lewin Newth
Mrs. Benj. Bosworth, Ten-house
Oliver Bowen, Ten-house
Tatem Manuf. Co.
J. Mumford
F. Bosworth
A. W. Judson
J. Skinner
M. Mumford
I. M. Lewis
W. Carpenter
J. Griggs
R. Spaulding Temperance House
Merrill Keith
J. Lyon
James Lyon
Mrs. Blanche Barlow
A. Dodge
S. A. Johnson
E. Dana Keith William Spink
Gordon
Griggs David K. Lewis
A. Mumford
W. Rindge
J. Warren Geo. Dean Joshua Lewis J. Tuffts Russell Randall
Increase Sumner
Oliver Bowen
Jonathan Skinner
Alex Kaletchitz
Mrs. Florence Latham (P.O.)
Archa S. Walker
John M. Tatem
John King
Thomas Bebbington
E. Grant Trowbridge Grant Skewes
Mrs. Beatrice Kennedy, Inn
Wm. Warren, Ten-house M. Keith Lewis Ellery Badger
J. W. Cheney
94
E. Bosworth Joseph Hall
William Farnham
Philip Voorhis
Ira Morse D. K. Lewis
Present Owner
A hundred years ago
Frank King
Geo. Randall John B. Adams
Roy and Caro Latham Royal Clemens August Kochberg George Willis Mrs. Amelia Ratasep
J. B. Latham James Trowbridge
A. Lamphear
H. Whitaker
Mrs. Kate Buehler
E. Bontell
Earl Newth
W. Clark
Norman Green
M. H. Atwood
State of Conn. (M. Stone)
W. Snow Mrs. Burnham
Mrs. Alex Fabian
Mrs. James Vaida
Robert Greene
Lorenzo Bullard
James Lyon
C. Whitaker
John Griggs
School House Center Dist. No. 1
Congregational Church, Eastford Baptist Church No. Ashford
Phoenixville Community House, Union Society of P.
Methodist Church (Town Hall) Built 1847.
PRESIDENTIAL FLAG
During presidential campaigns the two political parties in town flew huge flags in the center of the town with names of candidates in white on a strip.
The flags were raised previous to the election. After the election, the defeated party pulled its flag down amid the enthusiastic cheers of the winning side.
I remember my father, Arthur M. Keith, having the Republican flag while he was Town Clerk. It was huge. I recall seeing it suspended on a rope over the road in the center. One end of the rope was secured at French's store and the other from the top of a very tall pole which stood on the opposite corner. I have been told the Democratic flag was hung south of the Republican flag from the point of the common to the corner of Bowen's Garage lot.
E. K. L.
* ANECDOTES
When Clark Barrows owned the tannery, Charlie Dean worked there. The story is told of how one morning a stray horse was wander- ing around the village with a sign on it which said, "I want to go to Barrow's Tanyard." This was one of Dean's tricks. He used to have lots of fun blowing the whistle. They used to have fun in the old days, too.
MARY GREEN.
95
John Gabrys Griffin and K str p State of Conn. Forest Dept. William Nieminen
Compliments of
Tatem Manufacturing Co. -
Manufacturers of Axe, Pick, Sledge, Hammer and Farm Tool Handles; Hickory Dimension Stock, Hickory "Wearever", "Ny-Stick", "Ny-Lam" Brands Picker Sticks, Other Wooden Loom Parts
Tel. Putnam 514-2
Eastford, Conn.
CENTENNIAL PHOTOGRAPHER
Herbert Grube
Serving the photographic needs of this area at the Grube Camera Shop
Hotel Putnam
Putnam, Conn.
"Everything Photographic"
Gunsmithing and Repairs Sight Fitting Scope Mounting
Federal Firearms Act Dealer's License No. 2299 Connecticut District
Arthur A. Hess
GUNS - AMMUNITION - ACCESSORIES
Eastford, Connecticut
French's Store Eastford's Oldest Place of Business
Built by Albert Hewit in 1836 on property ("with a cellar hole on it") purchased from Captain Jonathan Skinner in 1835.
The present owners are proud to add their name to a long list of merchants who have helped to make history in Eastford.
E. H. FRENCH, Prop.
Merrill E. Simpson CONTRACTOR
Bulldozer, Shovel, Trucking and Trailer Service Excavate with Simpson Tel. Willimantic 1084-W1 Ashford, Conn.
Compliments of
Medbury & Trowbridge GENERAL CONTRACTORS
Putnam, Conn.
Tel. 664
Sumner & Sumner INSURANCE and TRAVEL
In 1851, just four years after Eastford became a town, this agency issued its first insurance policy. During all these years we have endeavored to provide the best possible service for our clients. We shall continue to serve and to improve our facilities in future years and invite you to consult us with your insurance and travel problems.
Rooms 4 and 5 Jordan Bldg. Willimantic, Conn.
Compliments of CAMP EASTFORD
Mr. & Mrs. James O. Wood, Directors
Chicago Latin School Chicago, Illinois
Snow Queen Bread and Rolls QUALITY PASTRIES
Special Cakes for Birthdays, Showers, Weddings and Anniversaries made upon request
See Roland the Baker
Charles W. Clark SAND - GRAVEL - WOOD
Tel. Putnam 793-32 Eastford, Conn.
HEARTIEST CONGRATULATIONS Deary Bros. - MILK -
Compliments of
Capitol Garage Inc.
CHRYSLER PLYMOUTH
Carl B. Lewis, Pres.
Tel. 1933W
Willimantic, Conn.
Sumner's Auto Body Shop Eastford, Conn. Telephone Putnam 1255-5
Compliments of
Marion's Restaurant
State Line
Union, Conn.
State Line Garage GENERAL REPAIRING 24 Hour Service Telephone 440-4
Union, Conn.
Heirloom House ANTIQUES Howard R. Black, Jr.
Tel. Putnam 318-4
Eastford, Conn.
/
Compliments of
Smith & Walker
Putnam, Conn.
(
Joseph Kovarovics
CONTRACTOR
MASONRY BUILDING
Commercial
Dwellings
Tel. 2482-W2 Willimantic
When you think of apples and turkeys, compare BUELL'S qual- ity and prices and order early.
Direct From Farm to You
Thanks to our customers for their patronage in 1946 and for repeat orders for 1947.
H. B. BUELL & SONS Eastford, Conn.
P. O. Woodstock Valley, Ct.
Tel. Putnam 1085-4
H. W. Barrett RED & WHITE FOODS Swift's Branded Meats
Leonard Refrigerators A. B. C. Washers
Zenith Radios
Lowe Bros. Paints
DELIVERIES MADE
Tel. Putnam 657-12
Eastford, Conn.
!
6
-
1.
Bowen's Garage
SALES
Bird
SERVICE
General Repairing
Body & Fender Work
Tel. Putnam 1255-3
Eastford, Conn.
Mill Bridge Farm Wm. S. Warren & Sons
HOLSTEIN - FRIESIAN CATTLE Hay - Grain - Seeds - Lumber - Fertilizer - Farm Supplies Telephone Putnam 293-2
Eastford
Connecticut
Warren's Garage JOHN DEERE EQUIPMENT
Sales
Service - Parts - CARS - TRUCKS TIRES
Tel. Putnam 1604-12
Eastford, Conn.
CHEVROLET SALES & SERVICE
New and Used Cars and Trucks
G.M.A.C. Credit Service Genuine Chevrolet Parts REPAIRS ON ALL MAKES
Phoenixville Garage
Telephone Putnam 229-14 V. Szymanski
Phoenixville,
Conn.
Legal Sales for Executors, Receivers, Private Dwellings, Estates, etc.
Legal Sales for Dairy and Poultry Farm and Equipment Carl J. Kraus AUCTIONEER - REAL ESTATE Telephone: Putnam 318-12 Eastford, Connecticut
Potters Oil Service SOCONY HEATING OILS
Metered Service Tel. Willimantic 1388-W2
Prompt Delivery North Windham, Conn.
Rawley Plumbing Supply Wholesale Dealers
-EVERYTHING IN PLUMBING Heating and Sheet Metal Supplies
71-81 Front Street
Putnam, Conn.
Pre-War Prices Eastford Carpet Cleaners Domestic and Oriental Rugs Shampooed and Repaired ALL TYPES OF ALTERATIONS Thoroughly Cleansed Rugs Last Longer Putnam 318-12
Eastford, Conn.
Compliments of
A. Gilman & Co.
Putnam, Conn.
WISHING OUR FRIENDS and NEIGHBORS
of THE TOWN OF EASTFORD ANOTHER CENTURY OF HAPPINESS and PROSPERITY
Trepal & Sanga Building Contractors
Eastford
P. O. Chaplin
Compliments of
Wheaton Building & Lumber Company
Putnam, Conn.
WE EXTEND OUR HEARTIEST CONGRATULATIONS AND BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY CELEBRATION
Ingalls Printing Company
Telephone 410-2
Danielson, Conn. James E. Ingalls, Prop.
Joseph Meir GENERAL STORE
Lunches
Socony Products
Phoenixville Four Corners
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GEN. LYON INN
EASTFORD. CONN. Tel. Putnam 649-2 Route 91
CHICKEN DINNER ROAST BEEF DINNERS $1.75
EVERY SUNDAY
Transient and Permanent Guests
OPEN ALL YEAR
BANQUETS
HECKMAN BINDERY INC.
FEB 94
Bound - To -Pleas® N. MANCHESTER, INDIANA 46962
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