USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Meriden > Years of Meriden 150: published in connection with the observance of the city's sesquicentennial, June 17-23, 1956 > Part 6
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In early times rum was largely consumed. A half pint was given, as a matter of course, to every day laborer, especially in summer. In all families, rich or poor, it was offered to male visitors as a sign of hospitality, or just plain good manners. Women had their nip in the form of "Hopkins Elixir," which, at the same time, probably promised to cure everything. Crying babies were
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OLD CUSTOMS, OLD WAYS AND PROGRESS
silenced with hot toddy because it was supposed to be good for colic. Every man imbibed his morning dram, and this was considered temperance. There is a story of a preacher who thus lectured his parish, "I say nothing, my beloved brethren, against taking a little bitters before breakfast, especially if you are used to it. What I contend against is this dramming, dramming, dramming at all hours of the day." Tavern haunting, especially in winter when there was little to do, was common, even among respectable farmers. A story is told of one man who frequently went to the old Central Tavern to meet some cronies. Late one cold winter night he said goodbye to his friends, wended his way home, and tucked himself snugly in bed before he remembered his patient nag left tied in the tavern shed more than a mile away.
Now and then in records or recollections of the days when Meriden was in its infancy there is a reference to a "house painted red." The inference is that Meriden, like the run of old New England communities, was made up of houses unpainted for the most part, whose shingles were allowed to mellow with the weather. When paint was used, it was generally either bright red or equally bright yellow. Even the meeting houses usually glowed with the favorite red paint which was retained throughout succeeding years as a favorite barn shade. The fashion for white paint which is now so much a part of New England tradition, didn't come in until the second or third decade of the nineteenth century.
A description in Mrs. Breckenridge's Recollections of the old Hough house so famous as a tavern is applicable on a smaller scale to the plan of houses in general use at the time. The front door opened into a square hall from which a narrow crooked stair rose to the second floor. On either side of the hall, doors opened into flanking rooms, each with its fireplace. From each of these rooms doors gave access to the big kitchen, the actual center of family life, its huge fireplace and brick ovens in constant use.
The family ate in the kitchen, spent their evenings there reading, sewing, spinning, or knitting, commonly received their visitors there. In some homes the kitchen also doubled as sleeping quarters for a part of the brood growing too numerous for bed- rooms. Low ceilings were far more common than the high ones such as wealthier home owners affected. The furnishings were quite simple - usually a few straight-backed chairs primly lined
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against the wall, a dresser covered with an array of pewter and whatever lusterware the housewife could collect, a small table, a stand or two for candles, and a high-backed settee, maybe two, beside the fireplace.
During the earliest days in Meriden, houses were provided with strong barricades for doors and windows as protection from marauding Indians. The Belcher Tavern was an example of the sturdy defense system necessary to the times. After the com- munity grew and the Indian menace was being forgotten, less protection was needed. Door latches were first wooden and later iron. The earliest ones had no thumb pieces. The latch was on the inside of the door to which a cord was attached and run through to the outside by way of a hole bored for the purpose. Locking the door was simply accomplished by pulling the string inside.
Some houses were built with a wide front door made of two separated panels swinging in from each side. Such a doorway remains in the old Johnson house on Eaton Avenue now owned by Carter H. White. The simple handleless latch was no pro- tection for such a double door. Locking, in such cases, was accomplished by a stout wooden bar, longer than the width of the door frame, carefully fitted into equally stout wooden arms attached midway on the door casing, a device still in the old Johnson house.
Ornamental trees on private property were neglected for many years after the first settlement. Landowners were too busy wresting a living from the stony land, which was actually a blessing in disguise since to it may be credited the developing of the creative, inventive genius of future Meridenites. But it was the custom from the beginning of road building to plant lines of trees to flank the highway. Lombardy poplars had a brief vogue, probably a bit of French influence, the last specimen of which was a scraggly tall skeleton near Hough's tavern felled in the 1890's. But poplars were never as popular as the stately elm so much better suited to giving shade and graceful ornamentation.
Orchards were an early acquisition in the neighborhood. Fruit trees never objected to their stony surroundings. Many barrels of apples were stowed away in Meriden cellars. But more found their way into presses of the cider mills. As early as 1718 there is a record of official permission to one man to erect a cider mill.
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Before Meriden became a separate town, cider mills were dotted all around the community.
Creaking machinery could be heard throughout the apple season as it squeezed the presses that drew sweet liquid from fleshy pulp. No doubt Meriden boys used to congregate around the tubs elbowing one another out of the way as each tried to get his sucking-straw into the golden juice. Full barrels of cider were carted home. Many families had cider on the table at every meal. Sweet-apple cider was also boiled down to make "apple- molasses" much desired in pies and puddings and sauces. Inciden- tally tea was a beverage used only for special company. Coffee, home ground of course, and sweetened with molasses, was far more commonly used.
Just as "Yankee" became a synonym for ingeniousness, thrift, and careful bargaining, - as has been said a Yankee "is a born arguer, a born peddler, a Jack-at-all-trades and good at them all," - so is "Yankee housewife" a synonym for scrupulous cleanliness. Indoors in Meriden, neatness was the supreme rule. Perhaps with the advent of wallpaper and carpets and a great variety of furniture and knickknacks, the neatness which was the well- earned repute of the New England housewife took a bit of a backward step. But cleanliness was always solidly next to godli- ness. Mrs. Breckenridge gives a delightful description of the hustle and bustle of seasonal housecleanings by which the early Meriden housewife purged her house in almost the same fervor that found its outlet in a spiritual revival.
When the settlers first moved into what is now Meriden there was little fencing done. Pasture lands were more or less common property during the days before threat from Indians was entirely laid at rest and while wild animals were making their periodic depredations on domestic breeds. Men found it safer to make a joint project of protecting herds and flocks. It was from this period that "Milking Yard" got the name that is still used for a tract partially included in Walnut Grove property today. It was out there a pen was built into which cows were driven at milking time where owners came to milk, each his own cows.
Cattle were branded but strays from other areas now and then found their way into Milking Yard, and others were too carelessly marked for proper identification. One of the earliest requests for the separation of Meriden into a village with its own
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governmental system was based on the need for a more conveni- ently located "Pound" for caring for such strays. Driving cattle to Wallingford was far too irksome for the busy men of this neighborhood.
Gradually the wilderness was being conquered. Soon it became feasible to divide land into parcels for private use. The tinkling of bells on cows and sheep that once had sent out merry tunes in common pasturage was reduced from mass orchestration to smaller units. Fences were built. Plenty of stone was at hand on Meriden hills for the purpose. Unhappily those picturesque piles of moss-grown, vine-covered rocks are fast disappearing. But in the early 1800's they were an integral part of the landscape. In the lowlands the usual fences were made by digging a ditch. On the ridge made by the excavated dirt a low barrier of rails, stakes, and brush was put up.
Oxen did most of the heavy farm work like plowing and hauling. It was not until 1825 or later that horses took up that burden. Farmers worked from daylight to dark, from seed time to harvest. Tools were few and clumsy in the earliest days, but the very plentitude of stones put native ingenuity to work at devising new equipment, better than those of wood with rough iron edges and points - a talent that was quickly extended to the making of all sorts of handy gadgets that made the progress of Yankee peddlers welcomed throughout the countryside.
There are many jokes about the wooden nutmegs, basswood hams, and white-oak cheeses, but the Yankee peddler's knowledge of his market, care in selecting useful goods, and integrity in driving what may have been a "hard bargain," planted the seed from which American industry has made its sturdy and phenom- enal growth. Some of the best seeds were planted by Meriden. Charles and Hiram Yale sent out peddlers with their tinware. The Twiss brothers marketed their Meriden-made clocks by peddlers. Pratt's ivory combs went to market with peddlers. Charles Parker got his start making and peddling household coffee-mills.
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CHAPTER TEN
Separation from Wallingford
NOT LONG after Meriden attained the dignity of being a parish society with a name of its own, some of the settlers began to agitate for a new step to importance and independence. Residents in the north end of the parish found it inconvenient to go to Wallingford to attend church, town, and freeman's meetings. Several petitions were sent to the General Assembly requesting permission to become a separate town, or at the least to be annexed to other towns nearer than Wallingford.
By May 1786, feeling was waxing rather high on the subject. A formal petition went to Hartford over the signatures of three appointed agents, John Couch, Sam Whiting, and Dan Collins. Citing how grievously the inhabitants were subjected to "great trouble, inconvenience & expence" in attending the "ordinary Business of the Town, Proxys, Town Meetings, &c." and upon their business at the County and Superior Courts, they asked that the parish become the town of Meriden and annexed to the County of Middlesex.
Wallingford countered by sending a special and eloquent committee to speak against the petition, which they did success- fully. Again in 1794 another petition to the same effect was drawn up to be met with a counter proposal from Wallingford that it would be "highly reasonable and expedient and likely to unite the two Societies together and prevent a separation." Recognizing the "disagreeableness" suffered by the society of Meriden in attending meetings in Wallingford, it was proposed to hold one-third of the meetings in Meriden, and the rest in Wallingford.
Still the inhabitants of Meriden were determined to be set apart. Attempts in 1803 and 1804 continued to fail, but Wallingford leaders either tired of the struggle or accepted the inevitable. It was voted to choose a committee of equal numbers from each Wallingford and Meriden to confer. At last the final petition went to the General Assembly in May, 1806, showing that Meriden constituted in extent, population, and property more than one-
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third of the parent town of Wallingford. Thereupon the Assembly passed the resolution that "The inhabitants living within the limits of the parish of Meriden be and they are hereby incorporated into and made a Town by the name of Meriden."
The first town meeting was held in Meriden on the third Monday in June, 1806, which was the 16th, at one o'clock, and the town officers were elected. So it was that 150 years ago Meriden joined the federation of independent communities so distinctive of Connecticut, and in the direct pattern by which our nation was consitiuted and has waxed in the freedom of the self-governed.
The moderator, George W. Stanley, was selected by the General Assembly. Under his chairmanship, clerk, selectmen, constables, tax collector, treasurer, surveyors of the highways, "fence viewers," pound keepers, jurors, and weight sealer were elected. That was an exciting day for Meriden.
Some of the minutes of the meeting make amusing reading today. Voted, they say, that any person may wear his hat in Town meeting "Except" when addressing the Moderator. Voted, That Geese shall not be suffered to run at large on the highways unless they are well Yoaked.
On that day it was also voted to "lay a Tax for the purpose of defraying the debts and expences to which this Town now is or may be liable." Five mills was the first tax rate.
A paper on taxation preserved in the Historical Society's collection says the list for 1826 for collections made by Asahiel Curtis shows nine persons paid over eight dollars each for both town and state tax. There were only 21 others who paid more than five dollars. Some who were influential citizens paid much less. The two smallest taxes were for a fraction of a cent, and both of them marked on the record as paid. It is interesting to note that in 1800, coaches were assessed at $168, chariots at $134, phaetons at $75, curricles at $68, other four-wheel carriages on springs at $30, each gold watch at $34, other watches at $10, steel and brass wheel clocks at $20, clocks with wood wheels at $7.
According to the same paper, dwelling houses back in 1702 were put on the books at $5 for each fireplace. Sheep that were sheared got a reduction on the list of 75 cents. There was a poll tax on citizens from 18 to 21 at $30, from 21 to 70 at $60.
As George Munson Curtis said in his historical address for
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Meriden's Centennial celebration, "There was little about the town in its early days which indicated that some day it would grow to a place of considerable size; it was simply a quiet, peaceful community, bent on getting a living as best it could from the rather sterile soil. .. . " It was still primarily a farming community when it attained its position as a separate town.
There were a few business places begun by citizens who were looking for something other than an agricultural pursuit. The agriculture of Connecticut which had so recently fed Washing- ton's armies in Massachusetts and New York during the Revolution, was already of too little profit to satisfy the ambitious without sufficient love of the soil to compensate for its limited productivity and remuneration therefrom. Some were beginning to branch into other lines, to take what Judge Simeon Baldwin called "a spot of earth ... rough hills, far from the sea, with no streams to furnish any considerable power, and by their inventive faculty, their quick eye and ready hand, their wise economy, their watch of markets and creation of markets .... " turn this community into a place of diversified industry whose products have a world-wide market.
But in 1806 Meriden still looked very much the farm com- munity it was. Life revolved more or less around the tavern up on the East Main Street hill at the corner of Broad. It was in that tavern kept by Dr. Insign Hough that the town officers and selectmen had their headquarters. It was there, also, that the farmers gathered to talk over the news of the day and to discuss and argue community affairs. Moreover the tavern offered an opportunity for Meriden farmers to meet outsiders and to sample opinions from other parts of the country, because it was the popular stopping place for stagecoaches enroute from Hartford to New Haven or bound the other way from New York to Boston.
Mrs. Breckenridge in her Recollections of a New England Town says also that the stages brought glimpses of city fashions as the passengers stopped at the famous "Hough's Tavern," the "Halfway House," to dine or sleep. So we can imagine that the tavern was a center of interest for Meriden women as well as the men burdened with the vote and hence obliged to keep up on the news.
Most of the houses built in Meriden in the years immediately
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before and after the year it became a town are of modest construction and lacking some of the elegant touches in wood- work or appointment of those that came before and later. It seems obvious that Meriden was a bit on the "poor" side in that particular era - poor at least in what could be gleaned from the land, but rich in possibilities. Little shops began to spring up, places where one or two men working together were making things they could sell. George Curtis says that by 1820, 105 of the little more than 1,200 inhabitants were engaged in some sort of manufacturing. By the end of another two decades the proportion had increased to 21 per cent. Shops were larger; goods were durable, handsome, and useful; Meriden was making a name for herself in the commercial world.
These were the sort of men to whom Meriden must be thankful for fashioning the shape which is our city's today. Back in 1849 Reverend George W. Perkins pays his tribute to the breed of men who founded Meriden, and their succeeding generations who built the community: " ... those fathers of ours were men, Christian men, New England men."
There is a pertinent comment in one of the historical papers written by Leland Ives to set down the history of his own family. He prefaces his factual genealogical account with the dry remark that in writing the Ives family history he was "by no means embarrassed with a superfluity of interesting material. A suc- cession of generations of most reputable New Englanders whose quiet lives were devoted largely to farming and mercantile pursuits, is not well calculated to inspire a stirring essay."
In this present generation we can take exception to that judgment. It is so obvious now that the character of this city, which has been called an "ideal community," was shaped by the persistent efforts of the many "reputable New Englanders" who were not spectacular in their own day, but who left behind them a spectacular record. George W. Perkins in his history calls attention to a reply the Connecticut Legislature made in 1680 to a questionnaire from the mother country. "The country is a mountainous country, full of rocks, swamps and hills; and most that is fit for plantations is taken up," was what was in the report. Yet the whole state contained only about 10,000 inhabitants then. The men of "quiet lives", who were devoted to farming and their children and who used their ingenuity to manufacture
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desirable goods which could be made without an abundance of water power, wrested a good living and built the foundation for a happy life for succeeding generations out of meager resources.
In another of the papers prepared for the early historical society, Henry Dryhurst reports that "when in 1806 Meriden was set apart from Wallingford, Amos White was named by President Jefferson as the first postmaster. The office was located in a one- story building ... on the southeast corner of Broad and East Main (this was the Eli Birdsey property). He was followed by Patrick Lewis who served until President Jackson appointed Levi Yale who served the next 12 years, transferring his office to 641 Broad. The West Meriden post office was established in about 1845 with Joel H. Guy appointed as postmaster by President Polk," - the office on West Main.
The center of town life was up around the white churches on the top of East Main Street hill. Welcome Benham, whose paper for the historical society has already been quoted, recalls in 1894 his own memory of the downtown part of Meriden as being "a bog swamp extending from Colony Street on the west to beyond Veteran on the east and southerly to South Colony Bridge and northerly up to or beyond Cedar Street."
H. S. Wilcox writes in his paper for the historical collection that for a period of over 125 years after the Boston merchant Andrew Belcher built his old stone fort there is no record of any merchant doing business in this place and "probably the early settlers bought their supplies in Wallingford and Middletown."
Mr. Wilcox notes: "In the year 1792 John Butler started the boot and shoe business on South Market Street (now Broad) nearly opposite the Center Congregational Church. . .. A few years later Amos White had a grocery and provision store situated a little south of the old Meriden bank. Mr. White was the first town clerk of Meriden. ... Eli C. Birdsey had a dry goods store on the corner of East Main and South Market Streets, occupying the front portion of the brick building now standing there (paper dated in 1893) and Alanson Birdsey occupied the rear part with a stock of groceries."
The Century of Meriden notes there was a store run by Amasa Curtis and Isaac Lewis in the former's house which stood at the fork of Broad and Curtis. Across the street and a bit to
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the north was Seth D. Plum's tavern. There was also a big barn just east of the Central Tavern where the stagecoach horses were kept. With the many residences in the area, this was Meriden's busy center of activity. Another "center" was growing down the hill near Harbor Brook, where Perkins' Blacksmith Shop appears on the map of that era and houses were scattered along the way up old Liberty Street hill past Cowles' stone-cutting yard and toward a tannery still further to the northeast. But the hilltop was the nucleus of the new town of Meriden.
Another of the same 1894 collection of historical papers that fails to bear the name of its writer says: "Just what the state of religion was in Meriden at the beginning of this century we don't know, but soon after the Revolutionary War and during the hard times and the unsettled state of the country following that period, we have every reason to think it was at a low ebb. For 74 years there seems to be no record of a revival of religion in this town." This anonymous writer refers with admiration to the "great and wonderful reviving" that had occurred under Jonathan Edwards in 1735. Also he expressed himself as being deeply impressed by the revivals of 1852-53 under the same Perkins who wrote our charming old history of Meriden.
It is Mr. Perkins who has something to say about that gap in Meriden's spiritual growth. "So far as the morals of the town are concerned," he writes, "there are some rather curious facts. The number of taverns was astonishingly great. In 1790, and for some time before, when the whole population of the town was not more than nine hundred, and as late as 1812, there were five if not eight taverns within the limits of Meriden. As those taverns always kept ardent spirits, and as the population of the town was small, and as the amount of travel then was much less than it is now (1849) these facts indicate a low state of morals." He continues by contrasting his own era with the old, pointing out that but two taverns served Meriden in his day, a Meriden with a population of 3000, and at only one of those "are spiritous liquors sold."
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CHAPTER ELEVEN
Meriden Mines
MERIDEN ONCE had its era of seeking hidden wealth in the ground. Soon after the town was settled, people began to think of what riches might lie hidden in the rocks of our hills. As early as 1712 the legislature passed a law for the protection and encouragement of potential miners in this area and in Simsbury. Shafts were sunk in Meriden and some vigorous prospecting done, but by whom nobody now knows. In 1737 a company was formed to try again in the abandoned works located in "milking-yard hill."
Papers carefully copied by G. W. Perkins in his Historical Sketches indicate the search was for gold as well as for copper. He further relates that men who were "old inhabitants" in his time said that in their boyhood it was a matter of current belief that gold had actually been found here. The story also went that the "foreigners" working the mine appropriated and kept for themselves what gold was found. Anyway the means for smelting ore was not at hand. One attempt to ship ore to England for smelting resulted in disaster when the ship was lost at sea. Once more the mine was abandoned, never to be tried again.
This was called the Golden Parlor Mine. Several records of contracts for work were preserved into Mr. Perkins' time. They indicated that what was then a very considerable sum of money was expended on a futile search. The Golden Parlor in the Walnut Grove section was not the only such venture. Land south of the Belcher property amounting to some 50 acres was leased in 1735 "for digging all manners of metals." A good century and a half after that ended as an unprofitable operation, Meridenites fre- quently found fragments of good crystal quartz in the old pits - some recollect discovering bits of "lovely blue quartz."
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