History of Berlin, Connecticut

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J\k - Ann^^vtZ

HISTOEY OF BERLIN

CONNECTICUT

BY

CATHARINE M. NORTH

EEAEEANGED AND EDITED WITH FOREWORD

BY

ADOLPH BURNETT BENSON, Ph.D.

INSTBUCXOR IN
SHEFFIELD SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL OF YALE UNIVERSITY

NEW HAVEN

The Tuttle, Mobehocsb & Taylob Company

1916

COPTBIGHT, 1916
BT

Elizabeth W. North

s

TO

THE MAmr DBAE BEELIIT FEIENDS,

WHO WEEE SO TAITHEUL IN THEIE FEIEITDSHIP,

SO WAEM, LOVIITG, AND TEUE IN THEIE AFFECTION,

THIS BOOK IS GEATEEtTLLY DEDICATED BY THE ATTTHOe's SISTBE,

ELIZABETH W. NOETH

rOEEWOED

Catharine Melinda I^orth, daughter of Deacon Alfred North
and Mary Olive Wilcox, was born March 1, 1840, and, with the
exception of one year in girlhood, spent her whole life in Berlin,
Conn. She was educated in the Curtis School in Hartford,
studied in the Boston Conservatory, and taught music for a long
time in her home town. "roUowing the example of her father,
whom she so greatly loved and reverenced, she lived his
daily prayer, 'filling up each day with duty and usefulness.' "
She interested herself in every good cause, and especially in the
work of the Second Congregational Church of Berlin of which
she was a member. In the Sunday school, both as pupil and
teacher ; in the missionary work of the church ; and more par-
ticularly in the church music, her cooperation was of the
utmost importance. At one time she assisted the choir with her
truly cultivated and musical contralto voice, and then for years,
she led, as organist, the worship of the church. During the
declining years of her father. Miss Il^orth assisted him in his
duties as town clerk, and after his death she gave up her music
and continued as agent for the fire insurance companies which
he had represented. Her historical work falls in the last quar-
ter of her life, and her notes seem to show that she was working
on the history of East Berlin and Beckley Quarter, paying
considerable attention to the Bowers family, when a stroke of
apoplexy ended her work, July 8, 1914.

Miss ITorth was a director in the Berlin Library Association
and a member of the Emma Hart Willard chapter of the
Daughters of the American Eevolution. While organist of the
Berlin church, she turned over the remuneration she received
to the Library Association to be used as a fund. One of her
former pupils characterized her as a "truly educated" woman,
"fond of study," and whose influence was to teach others. In
her research work, she often sat up until the "dawn o' day,"

VI HISTORY OF BEELIBT

pondering on historical problems, and it is thought that this
may have reduced her physical vitality enough to shorten her
career. She possessed, also, a considerable knowledge of botany
and had a "genuine love for a flower." An intimate friend has
paid the following tribute to the memory of Catharine North :

A long-time friend wishes to express her loving admiration of the
character of Miss North, who recently entered into her heavenly rest.
Her personality was strong, upright and most interesting; strong in
the force of her mental gifts, and in her moral nature; upright in
a most conscientious fidelity to all known duty; interesting because
responsive to many interests. Her whole nature vibrated in many
chords. Did one seek her for advice on any point, how quick she
was with her helpfuLiess and spirit of service! Did one lead the
talk to music, art, travel, history, genealogical research, or the
deeper things of the spirit, how she brightened and enlarged the sub-
ject by her own original ways of looking at it! Who could ever
tire of such a companion? When one thinks of the physical pain,
endured for several years past with the most heroic fortitude, one
can but rejoice at the thought of the freed spirit reaching its highest
development where aU is light and love. We who were her friends
are grateful for the companionship of these years, and are glad to
believe what has been wisely said, that "Ohristians never meet for
the last time."

s. 0. 0.

Beelin, July 16, 1914.

The following chapters contain all of Miss North's work on
the history of Berlin which is available for printing. Most of
the notes, as is w©U known, appeared in the Berlin News, from
November 9, 1905, to October 3, 1907, and many readers
expressed the desire at the time that the articles might some
day be printed in portable form. In the present volume two
distinct papers have been added : one on "Daniel Wilcox, Pio-
neer Settler," which was read before a meeting of the D. A. E.
of Berlin, and another on "The Dunbar Tamily," which was
contributed by one of its members and was found among Miss
North's correspondence. To my knowledge, neither one of
these has ever appeared in print before. A few notes on Ser-
geant Beckley have been compiled by the editor from Miss
North's papers and added to the first chapter.

POEEWOED Vll

A strong revival of interest in the history of Berlin was pro-
duced in September, 1905, when residents of the town decided to
celebrate an Old Home Day. On this occasion, all interested
were invited to participate, either in body or mind, and a small
number, who were already engaged in some historical work on
Berlin, accelerated their efforts, brought their material into
tangible form, and presented it at this celebration, which took
place in the Second Congregational Church of Berlin on the
twentieth of the month.

At least three letters and papers were read, either wholly or
in part, on that memorable Wednesday evening: a letter by
Mrs. Jane Porter Hart Dodd of Cincinnati, which gave some
"delightful reminiscences of early Berlin" ; a paper by Miss
Alice Norton on "Memories of Berlin's Earlier Schools;" and
one by the Hon. F. L. Wilcox on "A Glimpse into the Industrial
Life of Some of the Early Families of Berlin." The first two
of these were printed immediately in the Berlin News, on
September 28th and November 2nd, respectively. A revised
version of Mir. Wilcox's paper began to appear the following
week, and formed the beginning of the series which Miss North
continued and expanded until it had assumed its present pro-
portions (see note, page 168). For a time. Miss North and
Mr. Wilcox worked together on the task of revision, but in all
collaboration — ^to use Mr. Wilcox's ovm words — ^Miss North was
the "real historian." All indebtedness to Mr. Wilcox, who
kindly placed his own manuscript at the editor's disposal, is
here gratefully acknowledged. Many facts and suggestions on
Berlin's early industries may be traced to his paper.

Miss North was the historian of the Committee on Prepara-
tions for Old Home Day. In an editorial in the Berlin News
for September 28, 1905, we find this testimony:

To Miss 0. M. North, the News, and all -wiio were connected with
the cotnmittee, are much indebted for her part of the work in com-
piling the great list of names, and in their arrangement for publica-
tion. She was the historian of the conmnittee, and her extended
and accurate knowledge of the history of Berlin was a great
assistance.

Vlll HISTORY OF BEELUiT

An examination of Miss Worth's historical legacy, both pub-
lished and unpublished, reveals a contribution to the history of
Berlin of no little importance. Above all, it shows true his-
torical sense ; that is, a conscientious research with an untiring
effort to obtain historical truth. Any mistake in a published
article (in the Berlin News) was always corrected and
explained in a subsequent paper, and the last installment of the
printed series, just before the publication of the Berlin News
was discontinued, was devoted exclusively to corrections and
additions. A study of Miss I^^orth's working tools or raw
material discloses a surprisingly large variety and quantity of
reliable sources. Records of interviews with the oldest residents
in town; extracts from correspondence with former residents,
who are no longer in Berlin ; innumerable newspaper clippings,
describing more recent events; hand-made maps of sections of
the town, as it existed a hundred years ago, giving roads, houses,
and waterways ; and, finally, quotations from the official records
of Farmington, Wethersfield, Hartford, Middletown, New
Britain, and other places, connected in any way with the history
of Berlin; all these are well represented among Catharine
N'orth's papers. Whenever necessary, of course, authorities
outside of the state were consulted.

A word about the literary method of the author. Her style
was interesting, decidedly unique, and she frequently punctuated
the more sober matters of fact with personal comments or his-
torical anecdotes. With respect to the mechanism of dealing
with the historical material, there seems to have been no well-
defined plan. As the author herself expresses it in the opening
sentence of the paper on Daniel Wilcox, she took "the liberty of
going backward, or forward or sideways at — pleasure." In so
far as there was a definite plan, it was geographical. Miss
iN'orth went from house to house, from street to street, giving the
history of both present and former residents.

It has been one purpose of this compilation — and the wish
of Miss North's friends — to preserve both the content and the
style of the original. As far as possible, this has been done.

POEEWOED IX

The task of tlie editor, therefore, has, for the most part, been
a mechanical one. There has been no re-writing in any real
sense; neither have any stylistic changes been made. It is
hoped, however, that the numerous misprints of the original
have been removed ; the titles of the chapters have, necessarily,
been simplified ; and all errors corrected which Miss ISTorth her-
self designated as such. The most important change has been
made in the mechanical arrangement of the material. As far
as convenient, all data about the same family have been brought
together under one heading. The arrangement of the first
chapters is meant to have a chronological import ; consequently,
the earliest settlers of Berlin have been placed at the beginning
to serve as an introduction to the rest. This rearrangement
has necessitated a few textual changes at points of transition.

Since several historical facts were treated but briefly in the
original, and it has seemed impracticable and unnecessary to
give each topic a separate heading, several different matters have
sometimes been introduced into the same chapter. The reader
in some cases, therefore, will be agreeably surprised and will find
more than he expected from the title. Whenever this occurs, and
there seems to be a break in the continuity of thought, the mind
of the reader, as in the original articles, will easily be able to
bridge the gap and adjust himseK to digressions and abrupt
transitions. It should be borne in mind, also, that most of the
articles were written ten years ago, and that the "now" of the
text refers to conditions as they existed at that time.

A. B. B.

Berun, Conn., July, 1916.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

Foreword v

CHAPTER I.

Tlie Earliest Settlers of the Town. Jonathan Gilbert and
His Family. Captain Andrew Belcher. Captain
Seymour, Keeper of the Fort at Christian Lane.
John Goodrich and Family. Sergeant Richard
BecMey 1

CHAPTER II.

The IN'orth Family; its Anceetors, Descendants, Indus-
tries, and Neighbors. Simeon North, the First
Official Pistol Maker in the United States 26

CHAPTER III.

The Hart Families of Lower Lane; Their Ancestors,
Descendants, and Dwelling Places. Abby Pattison
and Her Ancestor, Edward Pattison, the First Manu-
facturer of Tin-ware in America. Emma Hart
Willard and Her Work 55

CHAPTER IV.

Daniel Wilcox, Pioneer Settler of Savage Hill, Northwest

Division of Middletown, and His Family 80

CHAPTER V.

The Porter Family. Edmund Kidder, the Centenarian.

The Lee Family ., 103

Xll TABLE OF COlirTEIirTS

OHAPTEE VL

PAGE

The Eoot Family. The "Lee House" and its Occupants 118

CHAPTER VIL
The Deming Family , 131

CHAPTER VIII.
The Dunbar Family 144

CHAPTER IX.

Church History of Berlin. Early History of the "New
Ecclesiastical Society." The Divisions of the So-
ciety. History of Christian Lane Cemetery. The
Reverend William Bumham and His Family. His-
tory of South Cemetery. Incidents in the History of
the Worthington Church. Deacon Amos Hosford . . 150

CHAPTER X.

The Early Industries of Berlin. The Houses of Berlin

Street and Their Occupants 168

CHAPTER XL
Trout Streams of Berlin. The Peach Orchard 233

CHAPTER XIL

Belcher Brook and Its Industries ; the History of Risley^s
Mill, James Lamh's Stove Factory, and the Blair
Factory 238

CHAPTER XIII.

Lower Lane. Isaac ll^orton and His Descendants. Nor-
ton's Saw Mill. The Great Flood of 1797 248

TABLE OF CONTENTS XIU

CHAPTEE XIV.

PAGE

Disposal of Highway Property. The Building of the
New Haven Railroad. The Train Wreck at Peat
Swamp 258

CHAPTER XV.
Mount Lamentation 268

CHAPTER XVI.

The South District: The Roberts Farm; David Sage,
Alfred Ward, and Their Children; the Stantack
Road 280

CHAPTER XVII.
Benjamin Cheney, Pioneer Clock Manufacturer 288

OHAPTEE I.

The Earliest Settlers of the Town. — Jonathan Gilbert and
His Family. — Captain Andrew Belcher. — Captain Seymour,
Keeper of the Fort at Christian Lane^ — John Goodrich and
Family. — Sergeant Richard Beckley.

One of the early settlers of Hartford was JonathaiL Gilbert,
ancestor of our Christian Lane family of that name. He mar-
ried January 29, 1645, Mary, daughter of John "White, preach-
ing elder in Thomas Hooker's church. After her death in 1650
he married, second, Mary, daughter of Hugh "Wells. He had
eleven children. He died December 10, 1682. Besides con-
ducting a tavern and a warehouse in Hartford, Jonathan Gilbert
was deputy collector of customs and marshal for the colony.
He was also a member of Connecticut's first body of cavalry,
formed in 1658, under Major John Mason.

Tor twenty-six years, from 1638 to 1665, the General Assem-
bly of the Colony of Connecticut met twice a year, and with two
exceptions, at Hartford. It consisted of two magistrates and
three deputies from each town.

Dr. Horatio Gridley, in his manuscript history of Berlin, says
that for a long time their sessions were held in a chamber of
Mr. Gilbert's inn, where the members boarded.

In April, 1665, at the last session, before the Connecticut and
New Haven Colonies united, there were six magistrates and
twenty-five deputies present.

For his services, the General Court convened at Hartford,
August 28, 1661, granted him a tract of three hundred and
fifty acres of land, with the privilege of choosing it, "provided
it be not prejudicial where he finds it to any plantation that now
is or hereafter may be settled."

Gilbert's official duties had called him occasionally over the
"principal path," leading to New Haven, so that he knew about

i HISTOEY OF BEELIISr

the rich meadows in the valley now traversed in Berlin by the
New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad, and it was here
that he took up his grant. By other grants and by purchase he
added to his possessions until in 1672 his title deeds covered a
landed estate of more than a thousand acres.

The tract included Christian Lane and extended south to the
present bounds of Meriden.

Captain Andrew Belcher, born January 1, 1647, was a rich
merchant of Boston.

Professor David N. Camp tells us that he was engaged in
trade with the Connecticut and New Haven colonies, that he
ovmed several vessels employed in transportation and was the
agent of Connecticut in purchasing "armes and ammunition"
for the colony and was also employed by Massachusetts to carry
provisions from Connecticut to Boston for the supply of the
the army and the Massachusetts colony. That

He married July lat, 1670, Sarah, daughter of Jonathan Gilbert,
and had seven, children, two sons and five daughters.

His youngest son, Jonathan, bom in 1681, graduated at Harvard
College in 1699, and soon after visited Europe, where he made the
acquaintance of the princess Sophia (Dorothea, wife of King George
I) and her son, afterward George II. He was governor of Massa-
chusetts and New Hampshire from; 1730 to 1741, and afterwards
governor of New Jersey.. He was instrumental in enlarging the
Charter of Princeton College, of which lie was patron and henef actor.

His son Jonathan, grandson of Captain Andrew Belcher, graduated
at Harvard College, studied law in London, and was Lieutenant-
Governor and Chief Justice of Nova Scotia.

Sir Edward Belcher, a grandson of the preceding, was a com-
mander in the British navy, commanding the expedition which was
in search of Sir John Franklin in 1852-54.

When on business at Hartford, Captain Belcher was in the
habit of staying at the ■Gilbert tavern and here he found his wife,
Sarah Gilbert.

Soon after his marriage he purchased of his father-in-law the
greater part of his farm.

One of the deeds, as confirmed by court, reads in part as
follows :

THE EAELIEST SETTLEES o

Att a Genall Assembly holden at NewhaTen October -the 14 1703,

Whereas, tbe Govenr and connpany of this her Magesties Colonie
of Connecticutt in Genall court assembled at Hartford, Aug. the
28th, 1661, did give and grant unto Jonathan Gilbert of the said town
of Hartford, inn holder, deed, three hundred and fifty acres of
countr(ey land for a farm,

and whereas, the said Genall Assembly holdeai at Hartford, March
the 13th, 166J, and Octobr the 12th, 1665, did give and graiit to
Capt. Daniel Gierke of the town of Windzor three h»ndrpd acres of
land for the same use,

to be taken up partly upon the branches of Mattabessett Eiver,
and partly upon the road from Wethersfield to Newhaven, at or near
a place called Cold Spring on the west side of a ridge of mountainous
land commonly called or known by the nam© of the Lamentation
Hills,

all which appears on record; and the said Jonathan Gilbert did
purchase of the said Daniel Gierke his said grant, by which grant
and purchase the said Jonath Gilbert obteined to himself and his
heirs a good and lawfull right and title to :Sixe hundred and fiftie
acres of the said countrey land,

four hundred and seventy acres whereof was laid out to the said
Jonathan Gilbert ... at and nere the said place called the Cold
Spring on the west side of the said Lamentation Hill; lie said four
hundred and sevenitie acres of land comprehending within it three
pieces of meadowe, one qalled the south meadow, another the north
meadow, and the third beaver meadow; and the said Jonathan Gil-
bert having purchased the native right of the said land, and of the
land thereunto adjoining, amounting in the whole to the sxune of
one thousand acres and upwards of meadow and upland;

and whereas Capt. Andrew Belcher of the town of Boston in the
province of the Massachusetts Bay in Newengland, merchant, hath
by purchase gained to him self e and his heirs forever all the estate,
right and title that the heirs or assignes of the said Jonathan Gilbert
had or might have in, or to the said four hundred and seventie acres
of land, meadow and upland . . . This assembly considering
that the said Andrew Beldrer hath expended a considerable estate
upon the said land in building tennantable houses and settling
tennants therein,

and other improvements which are like to be a public as well as
a private benefitt, the said tennements being conveniently situate foj:
the relief of travailers in their journeying from place to place,

for his incouragement to goe forward with his improvements doe
see cause to grant 'his petition . . . provided always, neverthe-

4 HISTOEY OF BEELIN

less, that there shall be a country road or highway through the said
farme or part thereof, as there shall be occasion.

At the same srasion of the court Captain John Hamlin peti-
tioned for another grant of land for Captain Belcher :

Which land lyeth between sd Mr. Belcher's farme at Meriden and
the mountain called Lamentation.

Captain Thomas Hart and Mr. Caleb Stanley jun, "were ordered
to survey the tract and report both as to quantitie and qualitie."

At the next meeting of the General Assembly the committee
reported.

We found that the said land petitioned for aforesaid doth contain
about two hundred and eightie acres :

And as to the qualitie thereof by reason that the same is almost
wholly consisting of steep rocky hiUs and very stony land we judge
it to be very nLcan and of little value.

As early as 1664 this locality, as far north as New Britain,
was known as "Merrideem."

Jonathan Gilbert's deed from Daniel Clark, dated April 22,
1664, is still in the possession of bis Christian Lane descendants.
It describes the 300 acres of land conveyed as "lying, situate,
and laid out at a place called Moridam, where Mr. Jonathan
Gilbert's farm is and bounded partly on the Mattabesick River
where it may be allowed of the town of Farmington."

Later the whole of the present town of Berlin was known as
"Great Swamp."

When the Misses Churchill were planning to come to Berlin
to live, they were told in New Haven that there was a "great
swamp" up here.

In 1660, when Charles II ascended the throne of England, all
who had presided as judges, when the death warrant of bis
father, Charles I, was signed^ were in danger of losing their
beads. Ten of the regicides, as they were called, were executed.
To escape the same fate, three of the guilty men fled to New
England.

At first the "judges" were treated as distinguished guests, but
when King Charles sent officers across the water for their arrest,

THE BAELIEST SETTLERS &

it was dangerous for minister, magistrate or commoner to
befriend the fugitives. It is to be hoped, however, that those,
who assisted them, will not be held accountable in the day of
judgment, for all the lies they told the officers.

The regicides fled from one hiding place to another, as they
were pursued. In 1661 they were secreted in a cave at West
Rock, 'N&w Haven, since known as "Judges" cave.

Mr. Eichard Sperry who lived about a mile west of the
"Rock" used to leave food for them on a certain stump, where
the men would go for it under cover of darkness. The mountain
was full of wolves and wild cats and one night, when a panther
appeared at the mouth of the cave, its blazing eyeballs and
unearthly screams frightened them so that they abandoned that
retreat.

The tradition is that in their wanderings they encamped, for
several days, by the side of a river near what is now called West
Meriden. The stream is still known as "Harbor Brook."
Daniel Clark, secretary and clerk of the court, mentions "Pil-
groomes Harbour," by which name the locality was known for
more than a hundred years.

Mr. F. H. Cogswell of New Haven has written a very inter-
esting story entitled "The Eegicides." The book may be found
in our public library.

Wallingford, set off from New Haven, was first settled in
1670.

Hartford and New Haven had then been settled about thirty-
five years, and a road which had been made between the two
towns was mentioned, in the deed of this land to Wallingford,
as the "Old Road." It was the identical road now known as
"Old Colony," as it runs through West Meriden.

The court confirmed the grant for the new village, provided
it "doe not extend to the north any further than wh(ere) the old
road to New Haven goeth over Pilgrimes Harbour."

Edward Higby was the first settler in Westfield Society
(Middletown) . His deed, given October 15, 1664, reads as
follows :

6 HISTORY OF BEELIN-

I Seauikeety Indian, (abiding in or about Hartford, on Conec't,)
Sachem, owner ... of a large tract of land in the woods toward-
New Haven att and about the land now in possession of Mr.
Jonathan Gilbert, . . . doe sell unto Edward Higbey, one parcell
of land . . . Hills, rocks, brooks, swamps, and all other appur-
tenances bounded ... by marked trees, aJld by land of sayd
Jonathan Gilbert and Filgrim's Harbor Brook or Siver.

Another deed given in 1681, received for record at Hartford

August 10, 1684, reads:

. . . that I, Adam Pnit, Indian, now residing at Podunk,
(Windsor) doe hereby mortgage all my land lyeing upon the Road
toward New Haven, . . . next adioining to Jonathan Gilbert's
farme, ... in breadth North and South five miles, . . .
with all the sWamps, Eivers and meadow Land lyeing' within the
said Bounds ... to John Talcott of Hartford . . .

Adam Puit received in hand from the said "John Talent" one
parcel of "Trucking Oloaths" and stipulated that before the end
of the year he should "receive foure coats more, as full satisfae^
tion for the purchase thereof."

The next year, 1683, Mr. Talcott made over all this land to
Wallingford, and so, while the original northern boundary of
Wallingford was Pilgrim's Harbor, by this purchase in 1682, it
was extended to the present south line of Berlin. When we hear
that our Berlin grand sires married their wives down in Wal-
lingford, we need not necessarily think that they went so very
far away from home.

Some of our village people trace their ancestors to EnsigBs
IN'athaniel Koyce of Wallingford, who received three separate
grants of land at Dog's Misery, described as lying by the
southern branch of Pilgrim's Harbor (brook) that being the
name of the whole stream from its mouth up to the pond whence
it flows.

In 1700, the daughter of Nathaniel Royce received, as her
portion, three and a half acres at Dog's Misery. It had acquired
this name because a part of the land was a miry jungle, so over-
grown with a tangle of thorns and bushes, that when wild ani-

THE EAEIIEST SEITLEES

mals sought refuge therein, and the dogs followed, they stood no
chance when their chase turned upon them.

September 16, 1707, "The towne chose Eliezer Peck, Joshua
Culver, David Hall, a commetie to see that (dogs) misery hiway
may not be pinsht of the twenty rods in any place from the town
to miserie whare it was not laid out before the graint was of sd
hiway."

Meriden was organized as a town in 1806, but the name was
restricted to that territory from the time when, in 1725, the
thirty-five families living at the north end of Wallingford, tired
of going so far, over bad roads, to the center for their church
privileges, formed themselves into a distinct Ecclesiastical
Society.

When Captain Belcher received his grant, it was s.tipulated
that he should build a fort with port holes, where he should keep
arms and ammunition. This fort was built on the west side of
the "old road," a mile and a half or so below the Norton farm,
on what was afterwards known, for many yeaj«, as the ISTelson
Merriam place. (One winter, when Mr. Reddington taught in
the Worthington Acadeniy, the Merriam children drove up here
to school, a sleigh full of them, every day.)

Mr. Perkins says the fort was built in 1664. Barber says it
was erected between 1660 and 1667. Davis places the date
between 1661 and 1667. ]^ow if, as stated, Mr. Belcher was
bom in 1647, married 1670', and pnrchased his first tract ol
land, after that date, of his father-in-law, the deeds for which
were confirmed 1673-4, is it probable that at the age of seventeen,
or earlier, he was down in the Meriden woods, sixteen miles from
anywhere, building a fort ? Ten years later th'ere was use for
the fort, with its arms and ammunition.

Eumors were abroad that all the Indian tribes, in New Eng-
land, were to unite in an effort to rid their country of the whites.
Eing Philip, who hated the English, was going about, from
chief to chief, stirring up their passions. He told them that
unless they bestirred themselves they would be robbed of every
foot of land that had come to them from their fathers ; that they

8 HISTOEY OF BEELIJSr

would be crowded out from their hunting grounds ; their forests
would be cut down, and their people would be scattered like the
leaves of autumn.

In 1676 the war broke out with fury, and brought desolation
to many settlements, especially in Massachusetts. No attack
was made on towns in Connecticut, but the settlers were in
mortal fear, and many a stalwart soldier went out from his home
to help fill the state's quota, who never returned. Supplies of
food and clothing were sent to the army from every household.
Taxes were enormous. Houses were fortified, and no man dared
go to church, or into his field, or to set his foot outside his door,
without a musket, with a pouch of bullets, and flask of powder,
at his side.

In 1678, when King Philip's War closed, six hundred men,
of our forces, had been killed, and six hundred houses had been
burned. Every eleventh family was homeless, and every elev-
enth soldier had fallen by disease or the hand of the Red man.
With his land, Mr. Belcher had permission to "keep tavern
forever." He did not come himself, but sent some one to use
the privilege. It is said that the first house was of logs, with
iron shutters, the doors driven full of great spikes.

This building proved too small, and in 1690 a new, costly
stone house was erected, so substantial, that it was still in use
and famous in the times of the French and Revolutionary wars.

John Tale had a farm of five hundred acres lying on both
sides of the road, north of the Belcher tavern, and Deacon Tale
used to tell about the times when travelers staid at the "Half
Way House," as it was called. He said the men, sometimes
twenty teamsters at a time, would put their horses under shelter,
but they never thought of going to bed themselves — ^there were
only two beds in the house. They fiddled, sang, danced and
drank until morning, every man with his gun within reach.
One-half of the company staid outside, on guard, the first hours
of the night, and then the others took their turn. Pickets
were stationed all about, and over on the mountain, to watch
against surprise from the Indians. To get their drink, they
looked the wagons over until they found a cask of liquor, when

THE EAELIEST SETTLEES W

they knocked up a hoop, bored a hole with a gimlet, drew what
they wanted, and then plugged the hole, and drove the hoop
back in place.

About the year 1845 the foundations of the old tavern were
ploughed up by Mr. Sidney Merriam. The magazine, where the
powder was stored, was northwest of the house, and the hollow
where it stood may still be seen. The place is now owned by
Michaels, the Meriden baker.

North of the tavern was a blacksmith shop, the first in this
part of the country.

We have spoken of an old stage road, now abandoned, that ran
from Meriden up to Kensington. It is probable that Mr.
Belcher laid out that road, at any rate he built a stone wall
along its east side. This wall may be seen west of the railroad
track, where it bounds the Norton farm, for about half a mile,
and extends farther south into Meriden. It is four feet high,
and four feet wide at its base. In places it has suffered from the
hunters. It was once a great place for rabbits, and the dogs
would stand with nose pointed at a hole, in the wall, until their
masters came and tore away the stones to secure their prey.

Edward Augustus Kendall in his history, published 1809,
writes of this wall as follows :

When the road between New Haven and Hartford was originally
made, a Mir. Belcher, received a stipend from the government, on
condition of his residing here, and keeping an inn, or, as it is called,
a tavern. The Indians were at this time troublesome, and mention
is made of a wall, built by Mr. Belcher, as if for purposes of defense.

In this way however it could be of no use; for it was of more
than a mile in circuit, and formed of uncemented stones, raised
only four feet high, like the walls at present common in the country.
This wall however, had some extraordinary personages among its
builders.

It is current in tradition, that fourteen or fifteen settlers came
into M.T. Belcher's neighborhood, from the town of Farmington, of
whom the whole band possessed unusual strength and stature. Two
were of the nam© of Hart. Of these, one, whose son at the age
of seventy years is still alive (1809), is said to have had bones so
large, that an Indian, who, with others, was passing through the
settlement, stopped and examined him with surprise. Mr. Hart and
his fellow-giants were employed by Mr. Belcher on his wall.

10 HISTORY OP BEELIK

A stone south of Albert Norton's barn marks the ancient
southeast corner of Farmington.

On the old Colony road, about twenty rods south of the point
where the turnpike branches off toward East Meriden, a great
oak tree, on the west side, marks the division between Hartford
and If ew Haven counties, and also the town line between Berlin
and Meriden.

A barn about thirty rods south of the Norton house, sometimes
used as a cider mill, used to stand on the north side of the hill,
below Galpin's corner, where the foundations still remain. It
was purchased before the Civil War and removed to its present
location by Henry Norton.

Ebenezer Gilbert, son of Jonathan, married Hester AUyn,
daughter of Captain Thomas AUyn of Windsor and Abigail, his
wife, who was a daughter of John Warham, first minister at
Windsor. On the Warham side the Gilbert family claim rela-
tionship with Eev. Jonathan Edwards, Aaron Burr, Timotiiy
Dwight, Judge John Trumbull, General William Williams,
signer of the Declaration of Independence, John Sherman,
ex-President Woolsey, Eev. John Todd, Grace Greenwood, Rev.
Horace Bushnell, Elizabeth Stewart Phelps, and others equally
worthy of note.

Hester's grandmother AUyn was Margaret Wyatt, whose
ancestry has been traced back through Eichard Plantagenet,
King John of England, Henry II; Matilda, daughter of
William the Conqueror, and King Alfred the Great to Adam,
seventy-six generations distant from Hester. What are you
giving us ? Honor bright ! it says so in one of the genealogies,
and to think the poor girl had to settle down in "this desolate
corner of the wilderness" — a worse case than that of the
Bolderos — but then her husband owned a farm of 300 acres,
besides much other property, and he was the only "Mr." in the
community excepting the minister.

Ebenezer Gilbert was received to the Christian Lane church
by letter from Hartford in 1718-19. At a meeting of the society
held January Y, 1Y16, "Insign" Isaac Norton was appointed to
obtain a decent and fashionable "cushing" for the desk of our

THE EABLIEST SETTLERS

11

meetinghouse. He seems not to tave performed this duty, and
at the annual meeting December 1, 1718, Mr. Ebenezer Gilbird
was appointed to obtain a convenient "cushen" for our meeting-
house desk.

At a meeting of the Society held November 17, 1717, "Insign"
Isaac !N"orton, Sergeamt Benjamin Judd, and Mr. Ebenezer Gil'
bird had been chosen a committee "to order the prudentials of a
school in this Society and offer their advice about it at the next

The committee reported December 1, 1718 :

This Society being so very scattering in distances & out ways so
very difficalt, for smsiB ehildren to pass to a general scbool in the
Society great part of the year. We the Subscribers advice is, that
this society be divided into 5 parts or "Squaddains," for the con^
venient schooling of the children . . . That the first part or
squaddam be all the Inhabitants south of the river called "betses,"
"Honhius or Honehas" river, including Middletown neighbors with
them. And the Inhabitants in Wethersfield bounds be another part
or squaddam. And that aU firom "betses" River to the River called
GilbirdSi Northward, to be another part — & that from Gilberds River
Northward, tiU it includes Dea Judd & John Woodruff be another
part & that the rest of the society North be another part & further
that the money allowed by the country be divided to each "squad-
dam" according to the List of the Inhabitants within the limits
thereof & the rest of the charges so arising shall be leaved on ye
parents or Masters of ye children who are "taut."

Ebenezer Gilbert died in 1726. By his will, dated July 17,
of that year, he bequeathed £300, to his dear wife Ester, together
with the improvement during her natural life of one-half of his
Eastermost dwelling-house, within the bounds of Earmington.
To his daughter Sarah he gives £200, and to his sons, Moses,
Jonathan and Ebenezer, he "bequeathes all my housing and
lands in Earmington, Hartford and Symsbury .... to
be equally divided amongst them. Excepting my eldest son
Moses shall have my said dwelling Souse in Earmington above
& beyond his other Brothers parts."

The estate inventoried £4455 19s. lid. of which "dear wife
Ester" received £300, and half the dwelling-house! Included
in the list of personal property were : a negro £100, a negro

12 HISTOET OF BEELIIT

woman £45, boy £100, child £30, total £275. The widow
Gilbert died October 4, 1750, One item among specific bequests
made in her will reads "I give my grandson Thomas Gilbert
my son Moses son one Silver Spoon." The residue of her real
and personal estate which inventoried £326 5s. lid., she divided
equally among her sons Moses, Jonathan and Ebenezer.

Moses Gilbert, baptized June 22, 1707, married Elizabeth
Hooker. Their son Ebenezer, bom January 15, 1741-2, mar-
ried May 27, 1762, Mary Butrick. She was at one time a
member of the Worthington church, but their house was opposite
the John Ellis place, a short distance over the Berlin line in
New Britain. Ebenezer Gilbert was killed in the Eevolution-
ary army, Eebruary 15, 1776. Their son Sylvanus, born
February 10, 1763, also died in the army.

Widow Mary Gilbert married second, November 19, 1778,
another Eevolutionary soldier, Lieut. Elisha Booth, with whom
she moved to Hartland. After the death of Lieutenant Booth
she returned in 1800, to the old Gilbert place, where she died
March 30, 1831, aged eighty-six. She was buried in New
Britain, where it is probable that the graves of the two Gilbert
soldiers may be found.

Charles S. Ensign, counsellor at law, of Newton, Mass., a
descendant of Seth Gilbert of Berlin, has in his possession the
original 300-acre Gilbert deed. He is of the opinion that the
red brick Gilbert house was built by Ebenezer about the year
1709, and that it was the house willed by him to his son Moses,
or possibly that it was one of the taverns which Jonathan Gilbert
was allowed by General Assembly to maintain between Hartford
and Wallingford.

It is probable that the foundations are the same, but the pres-
ent house was built by Hooker Gilbert, born June, 1751, son of
Moses and'Elizabeth (Hooker) Gilbert.

The brick was made on the farm, southwesterly from the
house, and "Gilbird's Kiver" now washes around into the pit
from which the clay was dug. Some of the bricks, used for
ornament, are very hard and black. They shine to-day as if
enamelled. The process by which they were made is lost.

THE EABLIEST SETTLEBS 13

Without doubt those bricks were the first made in Berlin, and
now the north part of the original Gilbert farm, and nearly all
other farms in that region are full of clay pits, brickyards, kilns
and Italians.

Hooker Gilbert married first, Candace Sage, who died May
15, 1805, aged fifty-one. He married second, Sarah Hooker.
She died December 4, 1840, aged seventy-nine. He died two
days later, December 6, 1840, aged eighty-nine.

Moses Gilbert, 2d, bom March lY, 1793, son of Hooker
Gilbert and Candace (Sage) his wife, married Renie Rebecca
Steele. Her mother's name was Beccarena. Her father, Wil-
liam Steele, a noted fifer in the War of the Revolution, died
March 28, 1825, aged sixty-eight.

A long indenture paper, dated August 11, 1839, shows that
Moses Gilbert leased his farm on shares, for three years, from
April 1, 1840, to Abner P. Welcome. Other papers show that
he spent those years traveling in Virginia, selling clocks.
Gilbert children of later generations remember that the garret
of the old Gilbert house used to be full of clocks, which they
were allowed to play with.

A pocket-book contains many notes given for clocks long since
outlawed. Mr. Gilbert bought, December 27, 1843, of William
Leftwick a tract of land in Braxton County, Va., containing
3,873 acres, which he paid for in bonds, horses, etc. As late as
1865 he was trying to negotiate a sale of that land for $1,000,
but it is said that it was sold for non-payment of taxes. When
oil wells were discovered there an effort was made to redeem the
property, but it was too late, and the Gilbert name does not
appear in the list of "Oil Magnates."

A curious recipe was found with Mr. Gilbert's Virginia
papers. Outside it reads :

Recpt for Curing Cansors. Jan. 18, 1831. tod by a mane frome
Kentuckey & he had one & kured it By the same med son.

Inside it goes on :

January Sth, 1831. Eecpt for Curing Cansors:
Take Six Galens of Strong lye & Bile it down to apint then
takit of & stur it till it Becomes Cold then take the same quanetey

14: HISTOET OF BiEELIiq'

of salt stur it to gether till it Beeo-Baes a Save then a plie two plars-
ters twise in twenty fore ours & -whea the flesh Be Comes hard take
a rasar & share it of till it Becomes smooth with the other skin &
when you think the Oansor Becomes ded then take the yelk of uneag
& Beswax & rosum & muten talur & simer them to gether and make
a save & a plie once more in twenty four ours till it dros it out
& if !tihe roots Brake of then a plie the pastur a gen tiU it kill it.

Moses Gilbert, 2d, died August 30, 1882, aged eighty-nine.
Bemea Rebecca, his wife, died [February 28, 1862, aged sixty-
eigbt.

They had seven children, The eldest son, Moses, 3d, mar-
ried, in 1850, Lucelia Steele, daughter of Jefferson Steele. He
was a little man. The boys used to call him "Whiniky" Steele.
Me was a drummer in the State Militia, and was very proud
when dressed in his regimentals. Mr. Bulkeley remembers
attending in October, 1843, the last great general training at
H,artford, when 5,200 men in arms assembled on the north
meadows, Colonel Bichard M. Johnson, the reputed slayer of
T^umseh, and ex-Vice President ,of the United States,
reviewed the troops and as the parade passed through Main
Street, little "Jef." Steele walked the whole distance, with his
hand resting on Colonel Johnson's carriage.

A small account book kept by Alfred E'orth, 1830-1-2,
recently discovered, throws light upon the occupation of Jef-
ferson Steele. It appears that the young man, AKred, traded
off a flute for a wateh, giving three dollars to boot. Immedi-
ately began entries thus :

Jeferson Steel Or.

By repairs upon my watch 75

By do do 67

By Watch Ohrystal 20

Do 16

By cleaning Watch 50

By cleaning do 50

By mending mainspring to watch 20

June 1832 Albert Hulbert Or.

By Bulls Eye Watch, price agreed 7 OO

THE B.ABLIEST SETTLERS IS

The late William Gilbert, son of Moses, 2d, in company with
his sons Edwin and Henry J., carried on an extensive business
in market gardening. Henry J., who is a carpenter also, had a
shop north of the brick house. The greenhouses were on the
south side.

Mrs. Trank Bailey, a daughter of Moses Gilbert, 3d, still lives
at the north end of Christian Lane. Mrs. Lucy Gilbert, widow
of Edwin, who died in 1001, lives, witii her daughters Co^ra and
Florence, in the new house next sojxth of the brick house, and
these are all who remain to represent the family on the tract of
lajid granted to Jonathan Gilbert in 1661.

Henry J. Gilbert was the last of the line to occupy Ae old
homestead. The odor from the sewer beds, directly in front
of the house, only seventy-five feet away, made it unbearable as
a residence, and it was sold in January, 1906, to the city of
lifew Britain. iTow the place swarms with Italians, laborers
from the brickyards — eight beds in the garret, they say. Henry
Gilbert, when asked if he ever heard any Indian stories, said
"IsTo, only this" : His grandfathesr Moses told him that on© day,
when he had been at work in his field, he found, on his return,
an Indian in the house. He said he took a horsewhip and drove
him away.

Thomas Gilbert, to whom his grandmother Hester willed one
silver spoon, married a Majy NortL They had a daughter
Mary, born 1761, who was married to her cousin, Joseph Gilbert.

These three inscriptions in the Christian Lane cemetery, read
between the lines, tell a pathetic story :

Joseph Gilbert died May 8th 1784 se 26.

Miss Lydia only offspring of Mr. Joseph, and Mrs. Mary Gilbert
d Oct 4tli 1802 aged 19 yrs & 10 mos.

Mary wife of Mr. Joseph Gilbert died April 25th 1859 aged 98.

Joseph Gilbert's estate was insolvent and his land had to be
sold to pay the debts. Mary, his widow, went to work, bought
more land, had a cow and chickens, and kept up heart, for had
she not a child to love and rear ? Then "Miss Lydia" died and
after that her mother, as they said, "took to cats." She owned
a little house and bam over in the lots, northwest from the John

16 HISTOEY OF BEELIlf

Goodrich place, where she lived, with only her animals for com-
pany. She had the Gilbert passion for land and added to her
possessions until she owned forty-seven acres, or more, lying in
sight of her home.

Deacon North carried his daughter there to see her one day.
The house, as remembered, had three rooms. One on the south-
east comer was used as a sort of entry way. West of that, the
most comfortable room of the three was devoted to a lot of hens,
right in the house.

"Aunt Molly," as every one called her, lived and slept in a
room which extended across the north side. On her bed was a
cat nursing a litter of kittens. Toward the last it was thought
unsafe for Aunt Molly to stay alone and she was carried over
to the brick house to end her days. There, her work of nearly
a century done, she used to sit before the great fireplace and
smoke her clay pipe, and doze and dream. What interesting
stories she might have told for this history.

After Aunt Molly's eyesight failed, her greatest comfort was
to repeat, from the Bible, chapter after chapter which she
learned in childhood. One day when Doctor and Mrs. Brande-
gee called to see her she recited for them the whole of one of the
longest chapters in John.

Jonathan Gilbert of Hartford, who by grant of General
Assembly, in 1661, and by further purchases came into posses-
sion of a tract of land extending from "Wethersfield bounds to
Wallingford," died in 1682, aged 64. His estate inventoried
£2484 17s. 09d. His will, dated September 10, 1674, reads as
follows :

I Jonathan Gilbert of Hartford do make my last WiU & Testament.
I give to my wife Mary Gilbert the use of homestead and Dutch
Island, Land I bought of Mr. CMlsey, Land exchanged with James
Richard, pasture I bought of Andrew Warner, also my wood lott
on the west side of Rocky Hill, tiil my son Samuel attain to 21
years of age, then to be surrendered to him, with certain reservations
to her during life, then all these to Samuel and his heirs forever,
he paying to his brother Ebenezer £30. I give to my son Jonathan
Gilbert half the land at Haddam I bought of James Bates & Thomas
Shaylor, or £2.0 in othter estate, which is his portion with what he

THE EARLIEST SETTLERS 17

had before given him. I give to Thomas Gilbert my House & House
lott on the south side of the Eivulet. I give to my son Nathaniel
Gilbert my farme at Meriden and £30 moo-e. I give to my daughter
Lydia Richison 20 Shillings. I give to my daughter Sarah Belcher
20 Shillings; to my daughter Hary Holdea 20 Shillings; to my
daughter Hester Gilbert £100; to Eachel Gilbert £100.

I give to my son Ebenezer Gilbert, all that 300 acres of Land I
bought of Capt. Daniel Clarke in FarmSngton, also that purchase
of Land I bought of Massecup, commonly called and known by the
name of pagonchaumischaug; also £50. I desire my wife do remem-
ber Hannah Kelly & give her 20s, and more at her discretion if
she prove obedient. I give to my grandchild, John Eossiter, £10;
to my gr. child, Andrew Belcher, £5; to my gr. child, Jonathan
Kicheson £5. I make my wife sole Executrix, and desire Oapt.
John Allyn, my brother John Gilbert, and Sargt. Caleb Standly to
be helpful to her, and that she satisfy them for their pains.

Witness: John Talcott,
John Gilbert,
Jonathan Gilbert, L. S.

Mary (Wells) Gilbert, widow of Jonatliaii, died July 3, 1700.
In her will, dated May 23, 1700, she describes herself as "I,

Mary Gilbert of the Town of Hartford widow and

innholder." The "inn," which was kept by Jonathan Gilbert
and his wife, as early as 1661, is said to have stood on or near
the site now occupied by the Hartford Times.

Gravestones to the memory of Jonathan Gilbert and Mary
are in the Center churchyard at Hartford. Their eight chil-
dren were Hester, Lydia, Rachel, Mary, Nathaniel, Ebenezer,
Samuel and Sarah.

liTathaniel Gilbert is not mentioned in his mother's will. He
died unmarried at Meriden.

There seems to have been some difficulty over the disposition
of Mrs. Gilbert's wearing apparel. iN'ovember 14, 1701, nearly
a year and a half after her death, Oapt. Caleb Standly and
Lydia, his wife, testified in court under oath :

That we, being at divers times together with ]Mrs. Mary Gilbert
in her last sickness, did hear her declare that it was her will that
her two daughters that attended her in the time of her sickness,
2

18 HISTORY OF BEELISr

viz., Lydia Ohapman and Rachel Marshfield, after her death, should
haye all her wearing clothes divided between them, and that they
should have them as they were appraised in the inventory, and be
well paid for their attendance upon hfer. All which the sd. Mrs.
Mary Gilbert declared to us.

Richard Seymour, keeper of tlie Fort at Christian Lane, was
slighted recently and we must return to speak of him. Captain
"Seamer" was the leader of the company of families who came
from Farmington in 1686 to settle on the farms this side of
"Blow Mountain," and he was granted by vote of the whole
town the munificent sum of £1, as a gratuity for planting the
new colony. It was a great shock to the little community when,
in 1710, he was killed by the fall of a tree. There are many
descendants of Richard Seymour who may be interested to have
an account of the administration of his estate, as entered in the
Probate records at Hartford, here given in full :

Seamore, Richard, Farmington, Invt £ 416-13-03 Taken 29 Novem-
ber, lYlO, by Thomas Seamore' Thomas Hart and Thomas Curtis.
Court Record, Page 23-4 December 1710: Adms granted to Han-
nah Seamore, widow, and Samuel Seamore, son of sd. deed.

See Pile.
An agreement by the children and widow of Richard Seamore for
dist. of ye sd. estates vigt.

To the widow, her thirds in the moveable estate and in lands; also
a share in the lot called Bacholders, valued at £1-13-07. Bachelder
was a Parmington name.

To Samuel Seamore, half of the homested with ye house on it,
valued at £60 ; also his part in the land that lies on the west of Mr.
Gilbert, being 12 acres, and valued at £35-03-00.

To Ebenezer Gilbert, land on the east side of Mr. Gilbert valued
at £18-01-03.

To Hannah Seamore, out of the moveable estate, which is £32 10.
To Mercy Seamore, her part in the dist. out of the moveable estate,
which is £32-10.

Hannah (X) Seamore, LS
Samuel Seamore, LS
Jonathan Seamore, LS
Ebenezer Seamore, LS
Joseph Pomeroy, LS
Meroy (X) Seamore, LS

THE EARLIEST SETTLEES 19

Page 24, 1st January 1710-11: Hannah Seamore of Farmington,
widow, and Samuel Seamore, Jonathan Seamore and Ebenezer Sea-
more, sons of the sd. deceased, and Mfercy Seamore and Jonathan
Pomeroy in behalf of Hannah his wife, daughters of sd. deed.,
appeared before this court and exhibited a writing under their hands
and seals, made for the dist. or division of the greatest part of the
estate of the sd. deed, amongst themselves. And each acknowledged
the sd. writing or agreement to be their act and deed.
Wherefore this court allow and approve the sd. writing
See Pile: Paper attached to agreement; November 7th, 1712.
Then reckoned with and received of Samuel Seymour ye whole of
ye legacy yt was due to my wife from Pather Seymour's estate I
say received ia full

Pr. Joseph Pumry

Hannah Seymour was a daughter of Matthew Woodruff of
Farmington.

Hannah the widow did not long survive her husband. A
statement recorded on page 193 of Early Connecticut Probate
Records reads as follows :

Seamore, Hannah, Parmington, late wife of Richard Seamore.
Know all men by these presents : That we whose names are under-
written do agree that for the third of our mother's state, deed, that
the two sisters are to have all the moveables, and the three brothers
are to have all the lands.
Signed 7 November, 1712.

Samuel Seamore, LS
EicHARD Seamore, LS
Jonathan Seamore, LS
Joseph Pomeroy, LS
George Hubbard, LS

TTT-^ (Ebenezer Gilbert
Witness i^ TT

(Gersham Hollister

George Hubbard was the husband of Marcy Seymour, daugh-
ter of Captain Eichard.

Richard Seymour, father of Captain Richard, came from
Chelmsford, Comity Essex, England, in 1639. He was chimney
viewer in Hartford in 1647, was in Norwalk with the early
planters soon after 1650, and died 1655, leaving wife, Mercy,
and four sons. Thomas, the eldest, remained in Norwalk, had

20 HISTOKT OF BEELIN

three sons and seven daughters. The mother, Mercy, married,
second, Mr. John Steele of Farmington, where she brought her
three boys, John, Zachary and Richard, who were under age and
had been placed in her guardianship.

As Richard was made a freeman in Earmington in 1669, the
inference is that he was seven when his mother was left a
widow, that he was forty-eight when he came to Great Swamp,
and seventy-two at the time of his death. From. Richard's
brother John, who married Mary Watson, and settled in Hart-
ford, were descended Governor Horatio Seymour of New York,
Judge Origen Seymour of Litchfield, Major Gen. Truman Sey-
mour, U. S. A., and Rt. Rev. George F. Seymour of Springfield.

Samuel Seymour, son of Captain Richard, inherited the home-
stead. He married, May 10, 1Y06, Hannah North, daughter of
Thomas North, Sr., of Farmington. Their daughter Hannah
was the second wife of Allyn Goodrich. John Goodrich, son
of Allyn, with his son John — "Uncle John" — and Uncle John's
children, made six generations who abode on that spot.

Allyn Goodrich, son of John Goodrich and Rebecca Allyn his
wife, of Wethersfield, bom November 13, 1690, married Decem-
ber 29, 1709, Elizabeth, the second of seventeen children of
Colonel David Goodrich of Wethersfield. She was eighteen and
he nineteen when married. They came to "Little Farmington
Village," where she died August 25, 1726, one week after the
birth of her sixth child. He married, second, December 10,
1729, Hannah Seymour of Kensington, and they had two sons,
John and Asahel. At a society meeting held December 6, 1738,
Allyn Goodrich was granted 7s. 6d. for framing a bier to carry
the dead. He died April 8, 1764.

John Goodrich, son of Allyn Goodrich and Hannah Seymour,
born March 28, 1737, married April 7, 1757, Hannah Dewey,
bom March 9, 1740, daughter of Lieut. Daniel Dewey, son of
Daniel.

The Deweys, who were active in the affairs of Great Swamp
Society, lived within the present limits of New Britain, it is

THE EARLIEST SETTLEES 21

said on tlie Enoci. Kelsey place, southeasterly from the Martin
Ellis comer. Vermont claims Admiral Dewey as one of her
sons. A branch of the Dewey family moved from Connecticut
to Berlin, Vt., in 1789.

Mrs. Orpha North Edwards, bom in Berlin, Conn., in 1810,

now living at Derby, Conn., is a granddaughter of Hannah

(Dewey) Goodrich. She writes that she remembers an uncle

•David Dewey, who lived in Vermont, and that "they" go back

five generations to a common ancestor with the Admiral.

John Goodrich and his wife lie in the Christian Lane ceme-
tery. He died April 26, 1816, aged 79. She died September
15, 1812, aged 72. Their six children were Seth, Zenas, Han-
nah, Leonard, John, and Kebecca. Zenas married Lois, daugh-
ter of Pete Gapin. He was a blacksmith and learned, it is said,
his trade from his father. Hannah was the wife of Asahel
Root, and Eebecca, mother of Mrs. Edwards, was the wife of
Lemuel North.

It was the fashion in early New England days to marry while
young. John Goodrich was twenty-one and Hannah Dewey was
only seventeen when she promised to "love, honor and obey" him.

Their dwelling house stood a little way in front and north of
the old fort. Mrs. Edwards says the house was built by her
great-grandfather Goodrich. The outside doors were double
and were fastened at the top and again at the base. A loaded
gun hung on the wall. The logs for the great fireplace were
attached to a chain and dragged into the house by oxen.

Mrs. Edwards remembers hearing that some Indians had a
wigwam out in the cow pasture, west of the house, where they
made baskets on a large white stone. She saw the stone when a
child and thinks it must be there now, as it was so large that
fifty men could not have moved it. Every two weeks the Indians
carried their baskets to Hartford, where they sold them and
bought rum. They had a "high old time" as long as the rum
lasted, and the squaw used to come over and stay with Mrs.
Edwards' grandmother until they were sober again.

John Goodrich, Jr., bom May 19, 1776, remained on the
homestead. He married January 1, 1798, Ruth, daughter of

22 HISTOEY OF BEELIH

Jonathan Beckley of Beckley Quarter. Their children, six in
number, were Darius, ]S]"athan, Lydia, Mary, Hannah, and
Martha.

"Uncle John Goodrich," as he was called, was a tinner by
occupation, and his shop, where he busied himself to his last
days, stood easterly from his house near the front fence. He
was extremely fond of music. He was fifteen years old when,
in 1791, the wonderful new organ was set up in the church, and
he is said to have been the first to play it. He practiced at
home on a painted key-board, and "made his own music," what-
ever that might mean.

John Goodrich, Jr., died May, 6, 1858, aged 82 ; Kuth Beck-
ley, his wife, died January 16, 1849, aged 71.

Hannah Dewey, their daughter, born September 5, 1814,
remained at home and cared faithfully for the old people as long
as they lived. Afterward she was twice married, the second
time to Aaron Dutton of Clairmont, N. H., where she died
October 30, 1893.

Mr. Goodrich and his daughter, Miss Hannah, were always
present at church services. On a chilly May Sunday, in church,
he took a cold that resulted in his last sickness, pneumonia.
She was fond of little children, and was always trying to induce
them to come to Sunday school. Miss Boot remembers how
they used to bring her over to the village on Sunday, sitting
between them in a little chair, which they had in the wagon.

The old Goodrich house was built early in the eighteenth
century, probably by AUyn Goodrich. The style was like that
of the Boot house, at the south end of Christian Lane, except
that the front rooms had only one window in front. It was set
well back from the road, and great lilac bushes grew each side of
the front door. The place was sold about 1870 to Noah
Eawlings, father of W. J. Bawlings, New Britain's Chief of
Police. The house had become so dilapidated as to be scarcely
habitable, and Mr. Bawlings tore it down, much to the grief of
Mrs. Dutton, who as long as she was able to do so, made a yearly
pilgrimage to her old home, but after the new house was built
she would never set her foot inside, except to go into the wood-

pa

c

THE EARLIEST SETTLEES 23

house, whicli was all that remained of the ancient dwelling of her
fathers. She always wanted to take away a bottle of water from
the well, to use for bathing her head when it ached. Then
she would get a boy to go down into the well and bring up for
her a certain medicinal herb that grew on the stones.

That well, now over two hundred years old, dug by the first
settlers, a few feet outside of the fort, still affords excellent
water. It is said that when the well was dug the earth was
thrown out, for a depth of sixteen feet, by hand, without rope or
windlass, and that it caved in and buried a man up to his neck.

BECKLET QUAETEE AOT) THE BEOKLET MILL
(Notes discovered among Misa North's papers)

In October, 1668, The General Assembly at Hartford granted to
Sergeant Eichard Beekley "300 acres of land lying by Mattabesett
half a mile wide on both sides of the Eiver and to run up from
New Haven path so far till it doth contain 300 acres."* In 16Y0,
when the town of Wethersfleld confirmed the grant, Mr. Beekley had
already built a house and barn upon his farm. It is said that he
lived here sixteen years before any other white person came.

A business wagon may be seen daily passing through our streets,
bearing the sign "Ed. Slater, Beekley Mills." For a time these
mills were conducted by Giles London. The one on the east side
of the road has been used for grinding pla,ster and fertilizers.

Without doubt this water privilege was the first utilized in this
vicinity. The old records at New Britain and Wethersfield show
that the grist mill changed hands many times, with few exceptions

* This is undoubtedly the same piece of land which he is said to have
purchased from the Indian Chief Tarramuggus, and the "grant" from
the General Assembly at Hartford was merely an oflScial confirmation of
this purchase. Cf. the following: "Of the Indian Chief Tarramuggus he
(Sergeant Beekley) purchased 300 acres of land lying on both sides of
the Mattabesett river." See Emily S. Brandegee: The Early History of
Berlin, Connecticut, an Historical Paper delivered before The Emma Hart
Willard Chapter D. A. E., January 17, 1913 (printed privately), p. 1.

Sergeant Beekley was really the first settler in Berlin and "came from
New Haven to Beekley Quarter, which was then a part of Wethersfleld,
in 1660." As we have seen, however, he did not obtain an ofiicial title
to his land as early as Jonathan Gilbert.

24 HISTORY OV BEELIW

passing from one member of the Beckley family to another. Four
rooms on the southeast comer of the building were done off and
plastered to be used by the miller and his family for a dwelling.

In 1752 Benjamin Beckley deeded to John Beckley "1/5 part of a
Grist-Mill situate(d) on Beckley Eiver with 1/2 of said Eiver." In
1765 "1/4 part of one certain Grist Mill, known as Beckley Mill,"
in consideration of twenty pounds, was deeded by Daniel Andrews
to David Webster, who conveyed the same to John Beckley the
following year.

The property was described as being in Wethersfield near the
dwelling of Benjamin Beckley and the date was given as "April
4th in the fifth year of our Sovereign Lord George the III and 6th
King. Anno Domini 1765."

John Beckley died in 1776, leaving two sons, Asahel and John,
besides a wife, Ruth, who seems to have married again, as, in 1793,
Asahel transferred 1/9 of the Mill to Theodore Beckley, reserving
that part which was to come to him after the death of his mother
"Widow Euth Presley" who occupied it as dower right during her
natural life. John, the brother of Asahel, also sold his right to
Theodore Bediley. In 1810 Asahel sold for 28 dollars the right
described as being "1/8 part of the Mill Place" to Jesse Hart and
Elias Beckley, Jr.

Nov. 13, 1806, the Selectmen of Berlin purchased from Oliver
and Luman Beckley, Joseph Orofoot and Hannah, his wife, for the
consideration of three pounds, sixteen shillings, the road leading to
Beckley Mill, the same to be a highway forever.

Up in Beckley, in the rear of Cyrus Webster's house, was a tannery.
The tan bark was ground in a stone miU. and the two stones that
were used are now the front step stones of the house. A. mill oppo-
site Beckley MiU was used for grinding plaster and bone for ferti-
lizer. Prior to 1844 Elijah Smith had a shoemaker's shop at the
base of the hiU where the elder Siebert now lives. At the site of
Beckley station Mr. Beckley once made tinners' shears. Elias Beck-
ley had a gun shop at the Lotan Porter place, northeast of his house,
in the southwest comer, now the garden. He had also a blacksmith's
shop. He built the house and made all the iron work, nails, latches,
and hinges.

One day a stranger came around the comer at the instant they
were testing a new gun. He received the charge and was instantly
killed. Down the hill toward the Grist Mill there was a cider mill.
One day Rufus Goodrich of Eocky Hill came along and stopped
to refresh himself with cider. He said he had sold himself to the
devil, and he said there would be thousands at his funeral. As he

THE EABLIEST SETTLERS

25

went on his way, he invited all to be present. A few days afterward
it was noticed that something was wrong in the barn of a neighbor.
Swarms of flies were buzzing in and out. Investigation discovered
the body of the poor man, wedged between two upright posts back
of the hay-mow.

The Grist Mill on Beckley farm is said to be the second oldest
in the colony. Mr. William Bulkeley said that the first tinners'
tools were made in Beckley Quarter.

CHAPTEE II.

The North Family, Its Ancestors, Descendants, Industries and
Neighbors. — Simeon North, the First Official Pistol Maker in
the United States.

In the year 1635, Jolm North* at tke age of twenty, sailed

from London in the Susan and Ellen and landed at Boston. He

* Since the death of Miss North, it has been established that John North
was a descendant of Eobert North, who is known to have lived in England
in 1471; and since Catharine M. North is a direct descendant of John
North of Colonial fame, we obtain an interesting genealogical line as

follows :

Ancestey of Miss Cathaeine M. Nobth

(Contributed by Mrs. F. A. North)

Born Died
Eobert North A. D. 1471
Thomas North

Roger North, Esq. Died 1495
Roger North, Esq. ("A London citizen")

Edward, 1st Lord North about 1496 1564

Roger, 2nd Lord North 1530 1600

Sir John North about 1551 1597

Dudley, 3rd Lord North 1581 1666

John North (America.) 1615 1691

Thomas 1649 1712

Thomas, Jr 1673 1725

Isaac 1703 1788

Jedediah '. 1734 1816

Simeon 1765 1852

Reuben 1786 1853

Alfred 1811 1894

Catharine M , 1840 1914

The maternal ancestry of Miss North may be given here also:

Born Died

John Wilcox, Sr., came from England 1636 1651

John Wilcox, 2nd, came from England 1636 1676

Israel 1656 1689

Samuel 1685 1727

Daniel 1715 1789

Samuel 1753 1832

Richard 1780 1839

Mary Olive Wilcox 1812 1882

Catharine M. North 1840 1914

THE NOETH FAMILY 27

came to Farmington, wliere land was entered to him in 1653.
He was one of the eighty-four original proprietors among whom
the unoccupied lands of the town were divided in 1672. His
house-lot of three-quarters of an acre, purchased from John
Steele, was near the north end of Farmington Street. It is now
occupied by two houses, one recently owned hy Sarah Shiels
the other by Dorothy Palmer.

John !N"orth and his wife Hannah, daughter of Thomas Bird
of Farmington, were members of the Farmington church. She
joined in 1656. Of their six sons, Thomas, bom 1649, was a
soldier in the Indian wars and received a grant of land for his
services. His son Thomas, born 1673, was one of the pioneer
settlers in Great Swamp, where he ovpned much land, possibly a
part of the grant made to his father.

By deed of date January 24, 1709, Thomas JSTorth, son of
Thomas, conveyed to William Bumham two parcels of land, one
of eighteen acres, and one of twenty-two acres, described as
being in Great Swamp.

As shown by deed dated February 1, 1709, he sold land in
Beech Swamp, Great Swamp, to Samuel Seamore, who had mar-
ried his sister, Hannah North.

When the church in Christian Lane was formed, Thomas
North was one of the "seven pillars," as the original members
were called. He was described as a man of wealth and influ-
ence, but strajige to say we have failed to find his dwelling place.
Records give it as Kensington or Farmington, but now we know
that he lived near the Seymour stockade, and not far from the
church. He married, December 1, 1698, Martha, daughter of
Isaac Koys of Wallingford.

It is estimated that their posterity number one-eighth of the
Norths of this country. Their eight children were Martha,
Isaac, Thomas, James, Sarah, Samuel, Joseph and Hannah.

Thomas North, Jr., died March 2, 1725, when his youngest
child was three years old. James, who was ten when his father
died, was the ancestor of the New Britain Norths. Further
reference will be made to Isaac and his descendants when we
come to the old houses where they lived.

28 HISTORY OF BEELIBT

Martha, eldeist child of Thomas North, born June 30, lYOO,
was married August 6, 1719, to Daniel Beckley, grandson of
Eichard Beckley of Wethersfield, now Beckley Quarter. Their
daughter, Martha, bom October 27, 1720, was married August
4, 1742, to John Savage of Middletown, now East Berlin.
Their daughter, Huldah, born March 25, 1752, became, in 1779,
the second wife of Josiah Wilcox, and they reared a large
family of children in the house occupied by the late Sherman
Wilcox. Their descendants are scattered far and wide over
this land.

Occasionally letters come from them seeking information
relating to the genealogy of the family. Some want to know
if they are eligible to the patriotic societies. Related to the
Norths ! Absurd ! Never heard of such a thing ! But here is
the line back to Thomas and a soldier in the Indian wars, and
we might as well take this occasion to say that there is sufficient
evidence that Josiah Wilcox was a soldier in the War of the
Revolution to satisfy the authorities at Washington.

Lois, another daughter of Daniel Beckley and his wife
Martha North, was married November 15, 1753, to Pete Galpin.
They had lived in an old house that stood on the site of the large
house now owned by Luther S. Webster on Worthington Street,
Berlin, and they had nine children, from whom not a soul
remains to represent the family.

The mystery connected with an old well out in the lot, south
of the Gilbert place, has been solved by the discovery of a
mortgage deed signed by hand of Thomas Gilbert, April 17,
1794, by which he gives, as security for a debt to Sylvester
Wells, his home lot and house where he lives, described as
bounded north by Hooker Gilbert, east on highway, south on
burying ground and Asahel Boot. Thomas Gilbert married
Mary North, granddaughter of Thomas North, and it is possible
that this was the original North homestead.

Simeon North was a son of Jedediah North, who lived at the
north end of Berlin village. He married in 1786, at the age
of twenty-one, Lucy Savage, daughter of Jonathan Savage and

THE NOETH FAMILY ''29

Elizabeth Eanney. "We have seen that he bought, in 1Y95, one-
ninth of a sawmill privilege, on Spruce Brook, and that, in 1Y96,
he was living in the bouse be purchased of tbe heirs of David

By deed of date March 6, 1T95, be bought from Eben and
Isaac Dudley of Middletown, seventeen and one-half acres of
land, with bouse and bam thereon, described as situated in
Westfield ; bounded east on tbe foot of the first ledge and Asabel
Dudley's land, west on Capt. David Sage, and northerly on
bigbway leading from Berlin to Middletown. The deed was
executed before Amos Cburcbill, justice of the peace, and was
witnessed by bim and bis wife, Lydia Cburcbill, who were the
great-grandparents of tbe Misses Catharine and Sarah Cburcbill.
Although the buildings conveyed by this deed were said to
be in Westfield, they were on the top of the hill, on the south
side, next east of Spruce Brook. Why tbe JN'orths did not
occupy this place at once is not known. It was improved and
a large addition was made to the bouse. Possibly the family
took refuge at tbe Sage bouse while the plastering was left to dry.

On February 15, 1797, Daniel Willcox of Sandersfield, Mass.,
deeded to Jacob Wilcox, for the price of £12 10s. the sawmill
standing on Spruce Brook, which was set to him in the distribu-
tion of the estate of his father, Daniel Willcox, deceased.

At a town meeting held in Berlin September 5, 1797, it was
voted : —

On motion of Mr. Hosford that a committe to consist of Gen.
Selah Hart, Amos Hosford Esq. and Col. Gad Stanley be appointed
to repair as many of the bridges and abutments as were injured by
the late flood, as they shall judge proper at the expense of the town.

Voted — That this committee is empowered to agree with the
owners of a mill on Spruce brook to rebuild the bridge lately removed
therefrom in such m^anner as shall answer for a mill-dam and a
bridge.

On June 3, 1805, Jacob Wilcox sold to Simeon North, for
twenty-four dollars, the Mill site of forty-eight rods and three
links "where sd !N"orths blacksmith shop now stands."

Tbe children of Simeon North and Lucy Savage, his wife,
were Keuben, bom 1786 ; James, bom 1788 ; Alvan, bom 1790 ;

30 HISTOEY OF BEELIM-

Selah, born 1791 ; Elizabeth, born 1796 ; Lucetta, born 1799,
Simeon, born 1802 ; Nancy, bom 1804, all bom in Berlin.
Nancy died at the age of two years and three months, and the
mother, Lucy, died February 24, 1811, in her forty-fifth year.
They were laid in the burying ground east of the Eoberts farm.
A lease of that ground may be found on page 430%, volume 13,
of Berlin Land Records, at New Britain. It reads as follows :

Know all men by these presents that we John Eoberts and Eleazer
Roberts both of Berlin, . . . for the consideration of Ten Dollars
received to our full satisfaction of Col. Simeon North of Middletown
in the County of Middlesex, have leased and try these presents do
lease unto the said Simeon North and to his Heirs forever, for the
sole purpose of a Burying Ground, the following Lot of Land lying
in said Berlin, containing about four rods of ground, bounded North
on highway. East, South and West on our own Land, being the same
Ground which is enclosed and limited by a fence, and has been
occupied heretofore for a Buryingplace — ^to have and to occupy the
premises unto him and said Lessie & his heirs forever for the
purpose of a Burying Ground only reserving to ourselves our heirs
and Assigns the right of cutting & carrying away the Grass which
shall grow thereon, in such a manner as to do no Injury to the
monuments or Enclosure of the Premises.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set out hands & Seals this
4th day of January A. D. 1818,

Daniel Dunbar, Justice of the Peace.
Daniel Dunbar, John Roberts seal

Ephraim Crofoot Eleazer M. Roberts seal

This yard was used by all the neighborhood for many years.
In the eighties the Norths were removed to Maple Cemetery.
The Wards, Twitchells, and some others were removed also.
The inscriptions on the stones which remain are as follows :

Benjamin Cheney, Died May 15th 1815 M 90.
Deborah Wife of Benjamin Cheney Died Nov. 3d, 1817 M, 80.
(Both on one stone.)

Allen Son of Benjamin Cheney d. in New York Mar. 17, 1815
aged 40.
Infant son of Olcott and Maria Cheney.

Mary E Daughter of Olcott and Maria Cheney aged 10 mos.
Stephen Brewer died Sept. 23rd 1825 aged 23.

th:^ north family

31

Harriet Deming died July 12iii 1875 aged 79.

James F. son of David and Elizabeth Stevenson d March ISth

1847, aged 7 yrs.

James F. son of David and Elizabeth Stevenson died May Isti,

1848, aged 11 mos.

John Eoberts died June 19th 1837, aged 92 yrs.
Sarah, Merrils wife of John Eoberts, died May 25th 1830 aged
82 yrs.

Mr. Samuel Guy died August 4, 1811 aged 34 yrs. 3 mos.

(Stephen. Brewer worked for the Norths and boarded in their
family. He died there of spotted fever, or "Berlin fever," as
it was called. In the delirium of his sickness his screams were
fearful to hear, and it required the strength of several men to
hold him in bed.)

There were other burials here, but graves are unmarked.

Lilies of the valley, planted on the North graves, have spread
all over the yard and out into the adjoining field. The spring
after the Bensons came to the Hulbert place they saw a man,
with a big market basket on his arm, tramping all around in tlie
grass, picking the flowers. When they ordered him away he
said he came there every year, all the way from Hartford, to
gather those lilies of the valley to sell, and he thought they were
mighty mean to object.

The magazine, Outing, for January, 1902, contains an article
by John Paul Bocock, entitled "Collectors and Collections of
Pistols," in which he speaks of Mr. W. A. Hatch of South
Columbia, JN". T., who, in his work as a collector of odd pieces
of china in remote farm houses, occasionally happened upon
curious old pistols. He goes on to say: "In this way he was
enabled a few years ago to secure such a unique trophy as a
pair of flint lock duelling pistols made in the United States by
the first American pistol maker, S. North of New Berlin, Con-
necticut, whose output since that day in 1813, when he got a
contract from the United States Government for 500 horse
pistols, has been dearly prized by all fanciers of American arms."
In the same article Mr. Bocock shows a cut of four rare, early
American horse pistols from his own collection, made, he says,

32 HISTOEY OF BEELIN

by the first official American pistol maker, S. North.* They
were flintlocks, dated 1813, 1818, 1821 and 1828, subsequently,
with other flint lock arms in the government armories, altered
by act of Congress to percussion lock.

By chance, an account book, kept by Reuben, the eldest son
of Simeon North, has been preserved, and the entries, which
began in 1808, throw much light on the business conducted in
the factory at Spruce Brook.

In that year, 1808, many scythes were made and sold, mostly
one at a time, to farmers in Berlin, Meriden, Middletown, Chat-
ham, and Glastonbury. Occasionally there was a turn by barter,
as on July 11, "to one scythe delivered to a Gentleman from
Middletown Upper Houses to cancel a debt of $1.40 contracted
for fish." The prices ran from seventy-five cents to $1.67,
according to size and quality. The charge for a scythe four
feet long was $1.50. One William H. Imlay, from whom the
company purchased German steel at fifteen and one-half cents
per pound — and blistered steel at sixteen cents, bought scythes
by the wholesale. Twice ten and one-half dozen were delivered
to him at $1.00 each. Sea coal was fifty cents a bushel and
charcoal cost $7 per 100 bushels. Incidentally we learn that
the workmen paid $1.25 a week for board and counted out all
meals when absent. Washing was included.

A milliner's bill, entered July 16, 1809, "for making Betsey
and Lucetta's Bunnets" was sixty-two cents.

A copy of a letter in the book, dated 1808, signed by Simeon
North, shows that he had at that time agreed to make a quantity
of pistols for the United States Government, and that he had
procured bonds for the completion of the contract to be sent on
to the Secretary of the Navy.

Work on this contract began Wednesday, September 14, 1808,
and in November of the following year Reuben credited himself

* Since these papers were written, there has appeared a full and authori-
tative treatment of Simeon North and his famous Spruce Brook industry.
Cf. "Simeon North, First Official Pistol Maker of the United States," a
memoir by S. N. D. North, LL.D., and Ralph H. North (Concord, N. H.
The Eumford Press, 1913). This is a valuable contribution to the history
of firearms in the U. S. and contains many beautiful cuts.

l/h<rU-^t^>^c^^^0^

THE NOETH FAMILY

33

$432, for work he had done on 2,000 naval pistols. Special
parts mentioned in his account were side pins, side hammers,
sear hammers, hammer springs, sear springs, triggers, bridles,
tumblers, cocks, and side straps or hooks.

In 1810-11 hanamers were flying on the "second Job lot of
2,000 Naval Pistols," and the next year found the men busy on
2,000 horseman's pistols, and so we have evidence that at least
6,000 pistols were made in the Spruce Brook shop before the
1813 contract for 500 horse pistols referred to by John Paul
Bocock.

When the War of 1812 came on, our government was unable
to get arms fast enough to supply the troops. By a note in
writing, for which Deacon Frederic North was given as author-
ity, we learn that President Madison at this time visited the
North factory in person and urged the company to increase their
force.

As the water power there was already worked for all the
machinery it could turn, a new factory was built by Simeon
North at Staddle Hill, about a mile and a half southwest of
Middletown center. Now, certain family historians have said
that the son Eeuben attempted to carry on the work in Berlin,
but was unsuccessful. The truth was that the father who
established the business, kept it, as was his right, in his own
hands, and all finished arms bore his name, "S. North."

He removed to Middletown, but drove frequently out to
Berlin where Keuben superintended the factory. Mrs. John
North said he had the first carriage used in Berlin. It had a
white top. In the old account book, names of twenty-eight men
are found who came in 1813 to work for Keuben on the pistols.
Of those names still remembered are Selah and Alvan North,
Linas Hubbard, Abijah North, David North, Asahel and Jesse
Eoot, Justus Buckley, John North, Ephraim Higby, and Selah
Goodrich.

Most of the men lived with the North family and the price for

board had now advanced to $1.50 per week. Butter was entered

on the journal at ten cents per pound, and beef, "100 cwt. at

6 cts per lb." Wild pigeons made a fine stew, and they came

3

34 HISTOET OF BEELIH"

in great flocks. Mr. Bulkeley says they were so thick on their
ledge that his father used to bring down six or eight at one shot.

Amos Kirby, who lived in what is now known as the Atwater
place, peddled meat then. When he had a creature to kill he
used first go around to see if he could get orders enough for the
beef to save himself from loss.

Wages were low. Joseph Henderson "agreed to blow and
strike awelding pistols at twelve dollars a month."

"Selah Goodrich came to work three months at six dollars per
month and three months after at eight dollars per month."

This was in the days of apprentices. Many of the workmen
after their trade was learned set up shops of their own.

In that year, 1813, besides the work on pistols, 2,000 spurs,
2,000 burrs for spurs, 2,000 back pieces for spurs and 2,000
straps for spurs were forged and turned in the Spruce Brook
shop.

At the close of the war, Simeon North was commissioned by
the State of Connecticut to make two pairs of gold mounted
pistols to be presented as a testimonial for their services to
Captain Isaac Hull of the Frigate Constitution and Commodore
McDonough who captured, on Lake Champlain, the English
squadron under Commodore Downie.

Mr. North had so much pride in the making of those pistols
that he sent to England and brought over Peter Ashton a skilled
artisan, who superintended the work.

Commodore McDonough's daughter, wife of Henry Q-. Hub-
bard of Middletown, had her father's pistols. After much
thought as to their disposal she decided to give them to the
Hartford Athenaeum and they were deposited there some twenty
years ago.

Who can tell us what became of Captain Hull's pistols ?

Nathan Starr, whose sword factory was at Staddle Hill on
the same stream as that of Simeon North, made for Captain Hull
a beautifully engraved gold mounted sword, presented to him
by the State with the pistols.

It would seem an easy matter, when so many pistols were
made in Berlin before 1813, to pick one up in any old garret.

THE WOETH FAMILY 35

but they have disappeared, and it is next to impossible to find
one on sale in antique collections. Alfred M. North, great-
great-grandson of Simeon, recently came across one of the early
makes in Philadelphia. Money, however, would not buy it, as
the pistol was carried in the War of 1812 by the great-grand-
father of the owner.

Later on the l^orths made at Middletown and Berlin many
guns, rifles, carbines and muskets with bayonets to fit.

Deacon Frederick North was authority for the statement that
in 1781, when his grandfather Simeon was sixteen years old,
he shouldered his gun and marched to Saybrook to enlist in the
War of the Revolution, but when he reached his destination
negotiations for peace were pending and he was not mustered
into the service. He was Lieutenant Colonel of the Connecticut
Sixth Kegiment 1811-13 and was always known afterward by
his title.

It is said that Colonel North would never employ a man who
was intemperate or immoral in anyway, and that no one ever
worked for him who did not love him. His business with the
government called him often to Washington and on his return
he would go around the shop and shake hands with every man.
Once while in Washington he attended a reception given by
Dolly Madison and he was greatly impressed by her beauty and
affability.

When Lafayette made his last visit to America, in 1824, he
was taken to the Staddle Hill pistol factory, as one of the sights
of Middletown. In preparation for the event the workmen had
their machines brightly polished, and in clean white aprons all
stood in silence, backs to their machines. Instantly, as
Lafayette entered the doorway, the power was started and the
men whirled about to their benches and went on with the din
and clatter of their work.

Lucy Savage, the first wife of Simeon North, died Eebruary
24, 1811, aged 45 years. He married, second, in 1812, Lydia,
daughter of Rev. Enoch Huntington of Middletown. When he
brought Miss Huntington out to Berlin to see her prospective
home he had added several rooms to this house, purchased in

36 HISTOET OF BEKLIIT

1796 from the Dudleys, and was about to build another addition,
but she begged him not to do so. She said it would be work
enough for one woman to keep the house broom clean as it was.

Doubtless she was pleased when Mr. North bought, March
11, 1812, her father's place on the west side of High Streetj in
Middletown, where they spent the remainder of their lives.

There was only one house on the east side of High Street then,
that of Nathan Starr. Mr. North owned land on that side
which he sold with the proviso that during his life no building
should be placed there to intercept his view of the Connecticut
Eiver, south as far as the Narrows.

The second wife died in 1840, and Colonel North died August
25, 1852, aged 87 years. Their graves are at Indian Hill
Cemetery, Middletown.

The old Huntington house was removed and the site is now
occupied by the residence of the President of Wesleyan Uni-
versity. A street called Willis Street has been cut through
north of the house.

The pistol factory at Staddle Hill is now used by the Rock
Fall Woolen Company.

The children of Simeon North and his first wife, Lucy Savage,
daughter of Jonathan Savage and Elizabeth (Kanney) Savage,
were Reuben, James, Alvan, Selah, Elizabeth, Lucetta, Simeon,
and Nancy.

James, born September 16, 1788, was sent one day for grain
to a gristmill in Westfield. He returned with the announcement
that he had seen down there the prettiest girl he ever saw in all
his life. It was a case of love at first sight. He waited until
she was eighteen, and then, on October 24, 1810, he and Mary
Dowd, daughter of Richard Dowd, were united in marriage.
They "lighted their hearthfire and set up their family altar" in
a part of the old Spruce Brook house, but afterward followed
the father to Middletown. They purchased a large, pleasant
house, built by Oliver Wetmore, out at Staddle Hill — a sightly
place, where they lived to celebrate on October 24, 1860, the
fiftieth anniversary of their wedding day.

THE NORTH FAMILY 37

Fifteen children came to bless their home, thirteen of whom
were living at the time of the golden wedding, and eleven were
present on that occasion. James North died in 1865 and his
wife, Mary, died in 1866. The names of their children were
Henry, Lucy Ann, James, Mary, Norman, Harriet, Susan, Seth,
Elizabeth, Richard (died in childhood), Frances, Bichard,
Luther, and Franklin. An infant son who lived only ten days
made up the fifteen. The dates of their births ranged from
Oetober 11, 1811, to March 24, 1835. There were no twins.
Lucy Ann was married to James L. Wright, and her sister
Elizabeth was the wife of William S. Wright. Their husbands
were brothers, both Congregational ministers.

Aunt Mary was a lovely woman all her days. Sometimes she
was tired and discouraged with so many little ones clinging to
her skirts, and then Uncle James would come around with the
carriage and take her away for a long drive, until her nerves
were rested again.

They kept open house and entertained many visitors. How
did they ever manage to feed so large a family ? Well, for one
thing they made apple pies without peeling the apples.

Alvan North married and had ten children. His son Ralph,
born at Berlin, in 1814, studied law at Middletown and found
his way to Natchez, where he became Judge and Chancellor of
the 12th District of Mississippi. He died there in 1883. His
daughter Florence was sent to Miss Porter's school in Farming-
ton about the year 1854. After awhile she wrote home that she
vsdshed all the slaves could be freed.

Her mother then said that if Florence must live at the South
it would be better to educate her there, and she was taken back
to Natchez, where she was married.

The seed, however, sown at Farmington, had taken root and
when the Rebellion broke she was loyal to the Union. Her
husband was not permitted to continue his business, but she, by
virtue of being a woman, contrived somehow to carry it on, and
supported her family during those trying years.

Other children of Alvan North were Willis, Walter, Jane,
Emily, Horace, Mary Ann, Alvan, and Dwight.

38 HISTORY OP BERLIN

Selah ISTorth, bom at Berlin, November 29, 1Y91, was killed
by ligbtning August 13, 1850, while standing in his own door-
way at Stow, Ohio. He had thirteen children. The names of
eleven were JSTancy, Egbert, Julia, George, John, Philip,
Charles, Sarah, Newel, Charlotte, and Betsey.

Simeon North, Jr., the youngest son of this family, born
September 1, 1802, prepared for college partly in the old Berlin
Academy. He graduated from Tale, with honors and as vale-
dictorian, in 1825, and from New Haven Divinity School in
1828. A fellow student with the Kev. Joseph Whittlesey, he
always spoke of him with respect and affection.

While acting as tutor in Yale two years, 1828-9, calls to settle
in the ministry came to him from Fairfield and Greenwich in
this state. In 1829 he accepted the chair of ancient languages
at Hamilton College. After ten years service as professor he
was elected fifth president of the college. This office he held
until 1857. He married, in 1833, Frances Harriet Hubbard,
daughter of Dr. Thomas Hubbard, Professor of Surgery in Yale.
Their only child, a beautiful boy, bom in 1842, died in 1851.

Dr. Simeon North died February 9, 1884. His connection
with Hamilton as professor, president, and trustee covered a
period of fifty-five years.

Elizabeth North, bom October 5, 1796, died of consumption
March 25, 1831. She always entertained the boys who visited
at "Grandfather's," and they thought Aunt Betsey very nice.
Her beautifully wrought needle work has been exhibited at the
Berlin fair.

One evening as the family sat around the fireplace burning
com cobs, her father said he would give five dollars to any one
who would light a candle from a cob ; Betsey said she wanted that
money ; she knew what to do with it, she would buy for herself
some winter flannels, and she persevered until the candle caught
the flame.

Lucetta North, bom April 7, 1799, was the sister "Martha."
It was she who kept the wheels of housekeeping in order, and
she had not so much time to make herself agToeable to the chil-
dren as had Aunt Betsey. She remained at home unmarried

THE NORTH FAMILY 39

and cared for her father in his old age. She died January 24,
1863, at the house of her brother James, in Staddle Hill.

Lydia Huntington j^orth, a daughter and only child of the
second marriage, bom in Middletown, March 26, 1814, was
married March 2, 1836, to Eev. Dwight M. Seward of Durham.

He was ordained and installed February 3, 1836, at a salary
of $750, over the Congregational Church of New Britain.
Toward the close of his ministry there was much agitation over
the question of dividing the church, and on that account he
thought it wise to resign his charge. He was dismissed June
15, 1842, and on the 5th of July, 1842, "The South Congrega-
tional Church in "New Britain" was organized. Of its mem-
bers 119 came from the mother church ; 207 remained and their
next minister was called at a salary of $600.

Gloomy prophets predicted dire disaster for both churches.
The First Church now numbers 82Y and the South Church has
enrolled on its catalogue 1,111 members.

Mr. Seward was installed over the church in West Hartford,
January 14, 1845, and dismissed December 18, 1850. Other
churches which he served were at Yonkers, N. Y., where he
remained twenty-five years, and at Portland, Me.

Dr. and Mrs. Seward spent their declining years at South
IJ^orwalk, where they celebrated their golden wedding in 1886.
Mrs. Seward died there April 1, 1896. Dr. Seward retained
much of his youthful vigor and continued to preach occasionally
up to his ninetieth year. He died in January, 1901.

Two children survive them, William F. Seward, editor of the
Binghamton Bepuhlican, and Lydia E., wife of W. H. Grleason,
whose son, Arthur Gleason, is managing editor of Country Life.
Dr. Seward, in . his address given at the golden wedding at
Staddle Hill, said he feared that some branches of the family
were deteriorating. For, he went on to say, "a few weeks ago I
saw huge placards of a big show under the auspices of one Levi
J. IsTorth, which seemed to be made up of ponies, circusdancers,
banjos, and comic songs. Boys bearing the same honorable name
were among the performers. I suppose the showman must be
related to us, but I was careful not to inquire, I felt indignant

40 HISTOET OF BEELIN-

that the venerable name of our 'Uncle Levi' should be thus
dishonored. This is almost the first stain which I have seen on
the family escutcheon." Now, curiously, a newspaper cutting
without date falls from an envelope, and we read as follows :

Levi J. North, the famous old circus rider, died on Monday, at
his Brooklyn) home. He was bom. on Long Island in June 1814.
As a boy be was so infatuated with a traveling circus that stopped
in Brooklyn that h'e ran away and joined the company — ^becoming,
before be was thirty, the miost perfect horseback performer in the
world — exhibiting himself before the crowned beads of Europe, as
well as in all parts of bis native country. Last Thursday be attended
the funeral of his old time associate Frank Pastor (brother of Tony)
and while standing at the open grave be turned to a little group
of white haired veterans of the ring close to bis elbow and said
"Another one gone, boys. Who'll be the next?" On Tuesday night
the same group gathered at Denit's chop house (a Brooklyn restaur-
ant which North bad been accustomed to visit) to arrange for their
attendance at the fxmeral of North himself. He had fatally caught
cold at Pastor's funeral.

Eeuben !N"orth, the eldest son of Simeon North, born Decem-
ber 11, 1Y86, remained on the Berlin homestead. By deed of
date March 30, 1814, his father, for the consideration of $5,600
conveyed to him his farm of sixty-six acres, with all buildings
thereon. This did not include the shop, and the privilege was
reserved of flowing for benefit of the factory, and digging stone
from the quarry in the Pond Lot, so called. By the way, the
stone for the foundations of the Worthington Academy was
given by Eeuben North from that Pond Lot quarry, south of the
bridge.

By a second deed, dated March 22, 1826, Simeon North con-
veyed to his son Eeuben one acre of land "at a place called
Spruce Brook," with the shop and other buildings thereon,
together with all the mill privileges thereto belonging. The
price paid was $300. This water power was used to run a
sawmill before and after the time, in 1Y95, when Abraham Sage
sold one-ninth of his right in the mill to Simeon North. The
logs were pushed in on a tramway from the east side.

/^

(yyia^i^ c^c^ ^^yyLyr^-r^CK

*.y/''<>-*>-^^

THE BTOETH FAMILY

41

Eeuben ]!!fortla married, Jamiai*y 9, 1811, Lynda, daughter of
Josiah and Huldah (Savage) Wilcox, wlio lived at what, in
recent years, has been known as the Sherman Wilcox place.
Their sons were Alfred, bom October 3, 1811, and Samuel, born
March 11, 1814. Lynda, the mother, died March 18, 1816, and
an infant, Lynda Wilcox, the only daughter in this family, bom
March 17, too frail to survive, was laid in her mother's arms.
Deacon Alfred North* was five years old at the, time and he
remembered that one of the neighbors lifted him up to look in
the casket. He never forgot his mother and he fancied that his

*( Copied from papers of Catharine M. North)

Alfred North, eldest of the seven sons of Eeuben North, was born Oct.
3, 1811. His education was obtained in the public and private schools
of the neighborhood and in the old Berlin Academy. In early manhood
he assisted his father on the farm and in the factory, and taught in the
public schools of his native town and in Ohio.

In 1840 he started in business as a merchant in Litchfield. The next
year, however, he returned to Berlin where he conducted a general store
until 1886. He was a licensed pharmacist.

In 1844, six years before New Britain was set oflE from Berlin, he was
chosen Town Clerk and Treasurer. For over forty years he was annually
reelected to this of&ce, until, in 1886, he resigned on account of failing
eyesight.

Although a Whig and then a Republican, he received the votes of all
parties, and for many years no other candidate was nominated for the
office. He was also School Treasurer.

He was a member of the State Legislature in 1849 and in 1855.

As Recorder he received many mortgages held out of town, and he
determined to have a savings bank established in Berlin. Through S. C.
Wilcox, then representing the town in the Legislature, he obtained a char-
ter and, although he met with much discouragement, he persevered until
the bank was incorporated, June 19, 1873. Deacon North was elected first
president and held the office for twenty years. When he attended the
meeting of July, 1893, and resigned his position, the deposits amounted
to 200,000 dollars.

In 1829, at the age of eighteen, he joined the 2nd Congregational Church
of Berlin, under Rev. Samuel Goodrich. At the age of twenty, 1831, he
was elected deacon. For twenty years he was superintendent of the Sun-
day School and was Clerk and Treasurer of the Worthington Eccl. Society,
also of the Church, for 40 years. He died Jan. 14, 1894.

All his life Alfred North was characterized by a kind and generous dis-
position. He was the general counsellor and adviser of the town and
people of all classes came to him in their troubles and perplexities. He

42 HISTORY 037 BERLIN

own daughter was like her. Referring to her name, one record
gives it as Belinda and a grand-daughter had to endure Melinda,
but she herself always signed it Lynda, and she marked her
linen the same way.

Reuben North married. May 2, 1817, Huldah Wilcox, a sister
of his first wife. Their children were Reuben, Jr., born March
13, 1818 ; Edward, bom March 9, 1820 ; Simeon, born Febru-
ary 10, 1822; Frederic, bom March 14, 1824, and Josiah
Wilcox, the seventh son, born February 10, 1827. Huldah was
so much afraid that people might accuse her of being partial
that she was better to Lynda's boys than to her own. Some of
the neighbors did not like her as well as they did Lynda, who
was kind to everybody. They thought Huldah rather high feel-
ing. She said, "Samuel, if you can't go in the best society there
is in Berlin, don't go in any." The workmen used to sit at
evening around a huge fireplace in the kitchen, and the boys

abhorred a quarrel, above all, a, family quarrel, and he always strove to
bring about a peaceful settlement in such a case.

He married May 8, 1834, Mary Olive Wilcox, b. Aug. 7, 1812. Her
parents were Richard Wilcox of East Berlin, a descendant of John Willcox
(Willcocks), orig. propr. of Hartford, and Olive [Porter] Wilcox, a
descendant of John Porter, settler of Windsor. She died May 31st, 1882.

Childben :
I. Peancis Augustus, b. June 4, 1835, assisted his father in the store
and studied music under Dr. Barnett, organist of the Center Church,
Hartford. In 1858 he accepted a position with Andre & Company
of Philadelphia, Publishers and Importers of sheet music. Even-
tually he purchased the business, but later sold to the Ditsons and
started the Lester Piano Manufacturing Company. He died Sept. 9,
1904.

He married at Philadelphia, Oct. 10, 1867, Elizabeth W. Moor-
head. Their two sons, Alfred M., b. Feb. 20, 1872, and Robert L.,
b. Nov. 19, 1873, educated in the schools of Philadelphia and at
Princeton University, began business together in Philadelphia as
manufacturers. Robert died Jan. 12, 1901, at age of 27.

(It appears that Alfred Moorhead North, who resides in German-
town, Philadelphia, is the only living descendant of Deacon Alfred
North. He is the founder of The American Metal Works, of which
he is treasurer, and of the Chelten Electric Company of Philadel-
phia. — Editor. )
II. Catharine M. (1840-1914). See Foreword.

THE BTOETH FAMILY

43

loved to steal out there to hear them tell their stories, but this
was not allowed, they were called back and kept with their father
and mother in the "middle room." The large circle of cousins
delighted in visiting at Uncle Reuben's. They said Aunt
Huldah always put her best foot foremost, and truly she did
make an attractive home there. To her it was, as she said, the
"Garden of Eden."

Besides the Middletown Sentinel, for secular news, and the
Puritan and Recorder and Evangelical Magazine for Sunday
reading, the Boston Cultivator, with its weekly budget of advice
for better ways of managing farm work, brought also word of the
latest improved fruits and flowers for the garden.

A large, square plat of ground, southeast from the house, was
guarded from dogs, cats, and chickens by a close picket fence.
Here stately sun flowers, flaunting princess feather, and great,
red poppies elbowed com and beans. Along the fence were
currant bushes, and prickly gooseberries, and thorny raspber-
ries, with beds of strawberries and asparagus. From the cor-
ners tansy, motherwort, sage, catnip, and trailing hops, cut and
dried for winter, eased many a pain. Aromatic fennel, dill,
and caraway furnished meeting seed fresh from June to October,
and dry from October to June again. Did you ever feel around,
under the tufts of the pew cushions in the old church, with your
little fingers for stray fennel seeds ?

In the center of the garden was a great, spreading pear tree,
that bore bushels of fruit, small, sour, puckery, and hard at the
core; but the sauce! After the boys married their wives had
to "do up" a large stone jar full of those pears every year.

In the southwest comer a tall tacamahac or balsam-poplar scat-
tered sweet, sticky buds to be made into healing salve. Up the
balsam climbed a scarlet trumpet creeper, grown from a root
given to Huldah by her sister Hepsy when she lived at the
Dr. Brandegee place. Mulberry and cherry trees rivaled the
honeysuckle for the attention of the birds and gay flowers —
bee-balm, marigolds, butter-and-eggs, four-o'clocks, flowering
almond, dahlias, portulaca, flower-de-luce, 'stertions and every-
thing that anybody else grew, were found in this garden.

44 HISTOEY OF BEELIN

One winter's day Wallace, the hired man, who had never seen
a dahlia root, brought all the tubers up from the cellar and
boiled them for his dinner.

West of the house was the apple orchard. There was one tree
called the "bitter sweet," m ! m ! drawn from the brick oven, at
supper time, those apples were like nectar. Handy, at the foot
of the cellar stairs, was a sleigh body, yellow striped with black,
that might have come out of the ark, and almost as big, filled
with apples for winter use, and every time the cellar door was
opened up came a whiff of fragrance from those apples.

All along the fences were peach trees, pears, cherries, and
plums. Peaches were so abundant that they were fed to the
swine.

As tiie sun nears the western hills, let us follow the lane-way
south of the house. First, on the left hand, are the bee hives.
Go softly here, those bees are vicious; once they came out and
stung an innocent child. She ran screaming back to the house
to her grandmother, who sent Josiah down the hill to get some
mud, from a puddle in the road, for a plaster. In the lane, on
the west side, we take out a fence rail and step over into the field
to test the watermelons.

On the other side we halt to see how the walnuts are coming
on. Two famous, great trees stand here in the open meadow.
The shells, from one, chock full of buttery meat, are so thin that
the children crack them with their teeth.

Now, at the end, we let down the bars and call "Co, co."
Soon, from distant, shady corners of the great pasture, come the
cows, eager for milking time. There was no patent separator
for the cream of this dairy, but if you had once tasted the butter
that "came" in that old barrel chum, it would make your mouth
water to-day to think of it. Dr. Gridley always wanted Mrs.
Eeuben North's butter as long as she had it to spare.

And the cheese, — ^for this, a big tub full of sweet milk was
required, and so Mrs. North and Mrs. Normand Wilcox, across
the way, took turns about and put their milkings together. In
the long shed room, in the southeast comer, was the cheese press,
and up in the southwest chamber, on shelves, row upon row of

THE NOKTH TAMILT 46

cheeses were placed to ripen — turned every day and rubbed with
butter, until, sweet, mellow, and nutty, they would, to use
Edward North's expression, almost set one longing to be mites.

Sunday mornings the house was vocal with song. The father
led the choir in church and the boys all helped. Alfred sang
bass, and Samuel carried the tenor, Keuben played the violin ;
one he kept for that service, a sort of sacred fiddle, which he
would never allow anyone to use for dancing tunes. Josiah
played the flute so acceptably that the church gave him one with
silver keys. He also studied the piano with the first Mrs.
Joseph Whittlesey, and under her instruction he played the old
church organ. The mother boasted that she fitted out twenty-
one from her home, every Sunday for church.

The young people, who had to walk, struck into the woods
west of the Ward place and followed a well-beaten path, across
lots, that came out by Colonel Bulkeley's ledge. In summer
time, to keep their nicely blacked shoes clean, they carried them,
with their stockings, in their hands until they reached the
village.

Eeuben JS'orth was one of the first in town to take a stand for
temperance, but when haying time came the men would not
work without some liquid refreshment stronger than ginger and
molasses stirred with water, and Alfred was sent up street with
a jug for New England rum.

Eeuben North, Jr., in his dairy under date February 27,
1838, writes:

Attended a temperance meeting at the cihapel. . . . Mr. Gary
(principal of Academy) thouglit it was worse to drink cider than, to
drink brandy. Dr. Gridley thought we drank too much of every-
thing. Mr. — (a clergyman) thought a mam had a right to drink a
little wine or cider at his own discretion.

An incident helps us to a date relating to the work in the old
pistol factory. The Eev. James McDonald was settled here
from April 1, 1836, to November 27, 1837. One day as he
drove over the bridge by the shop he called out "Making guns
to kill people with !" "No," replied Mr. North, with indigna-

46 HISTOET OF BEELIW

tion, "I am making guns to save life !" Possibly this remark
of the minister's set the sons to thinking that the business was
not a proper one for Christians. They seemed to be prejudiced
against it, and not one of them, so far as is known, kept any
memento of the place more belligerent than a pair of tongs or a
tuning fork.

The size of the factory is unknown but it had two stories
above the basement and was entered from the street. Work
was discontinued there in the winter of 1842-3. As has been
said, "It is strange how fast a building goes to decay when out
of touch with humanity."

Twelve years or so later Deacon Alfred North went into the
shop one day and, upstairs, a beam on which he stepped, broke
and he fell to the lower story astride another beam, which for-
tunately held and saved him from being dashed upon the rocks
below. The factory was still standing in the winter of 1856-7
and George S. I^orth, a grandson, went all over it. When his
grandmother knew what the boy had done she was frightened
and told him never to go in there again. Then he stood on the
bridge and threw stones at the windows, and that hurt her
feelings. Many tools and scraps of iron were lying all about
at that time. Soon afterwards a flood came and carried off dam,
shop and all. The pond was a favorite swimming place for
boys, and in winter the young people of the village liked to go
there to skate, for the reason that they could warm themselves
by the shop fires.

Back in 1826 Reuben North had paid for his farm and was
prosperous, when a friend, for whom he had given his name as
security for a large amount, failed in business. Compelled to
face the obligation he covered his property with mortgages, and
from that time on, with broken health, it was a struggle to pay
interest money and make ends meet. However, "he did the best
he could for his boys." Edward and Josiah were educated at
Hamilton College, and the others had what advantages were
afforded by the district schools and the Worthington Academy.

Reuben North died April 4, 1853, aged sixty-seven years.
Huldah, his wife, remained on the homestead for awhile, but it

THE NORTH FAMILY

47

was lonely for her there, and she went to live with a favorite
niece, Mrs. Emily JSTorth McKay, in East Berlin, where she died
September 11, 1865, aged seventy-six years. At her grave on
the hill, Kev. Wilder Smith, who conducted the service, spoke
these words :

In bringing this aged mother to this place, we have brought her
past the home of her birth, past the home she entered as a bride,
and from the home of her old age, and have laid her down in this,
her last resting place, no more to be disturbed until the morning of
the Resurrection.

Of the seven sons in this family Alfred, the eldest, died
January 14, 1894, at the age of eighty-two years.

Samuel, social, cheerful and large hearted, died April 30,
1878, at the age of sixty-four years, in Middle Haddam where,
for fourteen years, he was deacon of the Congregational church.

Reuben, who was a very religious young man, was a favorite
with the young people for his musical ability and pleasant man-
ners. He died of consumption ITovember 22, 1844.

Edward North, now affectionately knovrai as "Old Greek,"*
united with the Second Congregational Church of Berlin in 1831,
at the age of eleven years. He fitted for college partly under
Ariel Parish at the Worthington Academy, and graduated from
Hamilton, as valedictorian, in 1841. Two years later he was
elected Professor of Ancient Languages in Hamilton, and when,
in 1901, he resigned the chair of "Greek and Greek Literature,"
he had covered a term of fifty-seven years in the service of the
college. He died at his home on College Hill, September 13,
1903, aged eighty-three years. His son, Dr. S. E". D. North,
also a graduate of Hamilton, class of 1869, is well known as
Director of the Census, and as head of the "North Tariff Com-
mission," recently sent abroad by President Eoosevelt for a
conference with the German Tariff Commission.

Gladys North, a daughter of S. N. D. North, is a member of
the "Olive Mead Quartette."

* Cf. "Old Greek: An Old Time Professor in an Old Fashioned College."
By S. N. D. North. New York, 1905.

48 HISTOET OF BEKLIN

Simeon North, the fifth son, died as the result of an accident,
January 20, 1842, at the age of twenty years. He went one
■winter day upon Lamentation to help bring home some firewood.
On the way down the mountain the sled slipped and overturned,
so that he was caught and crushed under the weight of the load.

Frederic North, once leader of the choir, and superintendent
of the Sunday school, and many years deacon of the Second
Congregational Church, in Berlin, died September 17, 1897,
aged seventy-three years.

Josiah Wilcox North graduated from Hamilton College in
1848, and from YaJe Divinity School in 1852. He went West
as a Home Missionary and held pastorates at Geneseo and
Como, 111. His health failed and he was abliged to abandon
his profession. He died December 13, 1882, in the fifty-sixth
year of his age.

Josiah was never punished when a child, for the reason that
he never did anything that merited punishment. His mother
said the only thing he was set about was that he would have a
clean collar every day.

Note. An incident is here given to show Dr. Edward North's
tact in dealing with his young men. One morning, as he entered
his class room, he saw upon the black board, a very clever caricature
of himself, drawn by an artist student. He looked at it a moment,
then turned and said "Young gentlemen, will you please rub that
out; one is enough."

The question has been asked how, in the days when no sturdy
handmaidens came from across the seas to knock at our doors,
work was done in families like the Norths. In this particular
household, homeless girls were sometimes taken, or bound until
of age, and trained in aU the mysteries of domestic science, until
fitted to conduct homes of their own — and they were all married.

A document, written in 1812, shows that the selectmen of
Berlin indentured to Keuben North, a poor child, whose parents
did not provide for her, under these conditions :

She was pledged to "obey all his lawful commands" and "to
serve him faithfully until she arrive at the age of eighteen

THE NOKTH FAMILY 49

years." He in turn agreed to provide lier with "sufficient meat,
drink washing lodging Oloathing and Phisick," and at the end
of the time "to give her two good suits of Cloaths one suitable
for every day wear the other for Holy days."

It was a rule in old times for a girl to have a pillow case full
of stockings in readiness for her marriage. Mrs. !N"orth told
one of her young women that for every pair of stockings she
would knit for herself, she would furnish the yarn and knit
another pair to put with them. The girl replied, "My Bible
tells me to take no thought for the morrow."

Sometimes it was a sister, or a cousin who lent a helping hand ;
one, the eldest of the family of eight daughters, came in her
youth, and staid on year after year, honored as the mother's
trusted assistant, until she was well past forty. Then a widower
hailed from New York State, in search of a wife to care for
himself ; his four daughters — one bedridden ; his three sons^ —
one crazy, and his twenty cows. Some one expatiated to him
upon the virtues of Aunt Patience and it was a sorry day for
the "tribe of Reuben" — ^that August 5, 1833, when he carried
her away as his bride. Her wages, carefully treasured for a
rainy day, went to pay off a mortgage on the farm "out there,"
and her husband was grateful to be free from debt. She worked
like a slave, but the family all loved her, and she did not die an
"old maid."

She is recorded on earth as having "no children."

Widow Landers used to come from Middletown Upper
Houses to nurse in time of sickness. She took snuff and used
a colored handkerchief ; and there was an "Aunt Mattie Savage"
who came for long visits. She was harmlessly deranged, and at
night she would place by the side of her bed a row of chairs.
She said the "Bill Witches" came in the night and sat in them.

Young women who had learned the tailor's trade came by the
week with patterns and shears and goose and made up clothing
for the men and boys. One girl, who sometimes worked for a
man tailor, laughed in her sleeve at an evening party, when she
heard a young man say that he would never wear a coat made
by a woman. She sewed every stitch of the coat he had on his
back at the time.
4

60 HISTOEY OP BEELIN

In the lang, east shed-room of the North house was a remark-
able washing machine, invented, 1808-10, by Reuben IsTorth. It
was a cumbersome affair, with heavy pounders in a round bottom
box. A pulley tackle passed outside to which, on Monday
mornings, a horse was attached and made to do the great wash-
ings. When the boys grew up they hated the sight of this
machine and without regard to the feelings of their father, they
managed to get it out to the bam. A duplicate of this washer
was to be mad© for Benjamin Wilcox in 1810.

The large back extension of the old North house was torn
away in the fifties, and the place has changed ownership several
times. Of the garden not a vestige remains. The great shag-
barks in the meadow, while still in vigor, fell victims to the steam
sawmill in 1885. Trees grown from a handful of the thin
shelled nuts, planted by Edward North on his grounds at Clin-
ton, have been in bearing many years. Even the fireplace
brasses and front door latch with the fine brass knocker disap-
peared. Strange to say this knocker has recently been found
down in Guilford, Conn., and an effort has been made' to obtain
it for the collection of antiques to be exhibited at Jamestown.

The farm is now occupied by John Hanson and his family
from Sweden.

By deed of December 10, 1807, Simeon North "for love and
affection" conveyed to his son Eeuben the place next east of his
own dwelling house, described as "containing one rood of land
. . . with the dwelling house thereon standing, that is now
occupied by Simeon Strickland." "The above land and house is
to be estimated at $150 toward said Reuben's portion." No pre-
vious deed of this house can be found and the inference is that
it was built by S. North to be used by tenants.

Leverett Moss occupied the place for a number of years.
Afterward somebody lived there whose companions were fox-
hounds and chicken thieves. One night in a drunken brawl he
shot and nearly killed a man. For this crime he served a term
in the state prison. Then Minot Piper, father of six boys.

THE NOETH FAMILY 51

purchased the property and repaired the house. The premises
are now owned by Wm. E. S. Turner.

Orrin 0. Clark of East Berlin, a grandson of Simeon Strick-
land, gives the following account of him :

Bom. in Glastonbury, March 25tli, 1755, he enlisted in the Eevolu-
tionary war — ^marched from East Hartford — served six months as
private under Captain Eowley, Oolonel Waterbury and General
Gates, and one year as private undeir Captain Miles and Colonel
Canfield. He built galleys at Gainsborough, was in the battles of
Ticonderoga and Skeinesborough and was discharged at Ticonderoga.

He returned to Glastonbury and later removed to Middletown.
In 1834 he moved to the Ward house (next west of Spruce
Brook), and died there June 25, 1836, at the age of eighty-one
years and three months. After his death, his wife, Mary Strick-
land, and her daughter, Ruth Strickland Clark, moved to the
old King house, the second west of the Ward place. Mary
Strickland died there October 29, 1839, aged eighty-eight years
and five months. She was buried beside her husband in the hill
cemetery across the way.

Simeon Strickland was employed in the !N"orth pistol factory
in 1811, as shown by credit, given him for work. His name
appears in the "Connecticut Men of the Revolution," as a
pensioner in 1832.

Daniel Clark, the husband of Ruth Strickland Clark, died in
Philadelphia, February 23, 1831, and she came back to Berlin
with her children. In her old age she lived with her daughter,
Mrs. Mary Ann Richardson. She died in the John Lee house,
west of the village hotel, June 14, 1885, aged ninety-three years.
Her grave is in Maple Cemetery.

Speaking of the loss of memory, Mrs. Clark said she never
forgot when told that anyone was sick or in trouble. Bom in
1792, at Glastonbury, she was quite young when the family
came to Berlin. She remembered the first wife of Simeon
North very well, and the little Lucy, whose short life of two
years and three months ended in 1806. When Lucy was two
years old her mother had a severe illness and she was taken over
to stay with the Stricklands. Mrs. Clark said she was a "cute

62 HISTOET OF BERLIN

litUe thing" and they became very fond of her. When Mrs.
North was recovering Lucy was taien back home and her
mother cried because the baby clung to Mrs. Strickland and
refused to go to her.

Housekeepers of the present day, whose tables are supplied
all winter with fruits and vegetables, canned at home, or brought
fresh from the South, can hardly realize the longing for green
food that came over some of the old people before their garden
sauce was ready for use.

Dandelion leaves, plantain, dock, mustard, shepherd's purse,
and milkweed, boiled with a generous piece of salt pork, made
an appetizing dinner, and besides all those herbs were "good for
the blood." In the last winter of Mrs. Clark's life she told a
neighbor that she prayed to live until spring so that she might
have a dish of greens. With the first April showers the neigh-
bor was seen out in her yard, a tin dipper in one hand and a
knife in the other, stooping here and there. When asked
what she was about, she replied "I am. answering Grandma
Clark's prayer."

A boy who was bound out ran away in the fall. In answer to
the question why he had left his place he said, "They kept me
on grass all summer and I was afraid they would feed me on
hay all winter."

The house next east of that occupied, in 1807, by Simeon
Strickland, is supposed to have been built by Elisha Cheney.
It was occupied in 1830-32 by John iN'orth whose wife was
Harriet Cheney. Their two younger daughters, Sarai. and
Elizabeth, were born there. The place came into the possession
of Elishama Brandege© and was purchased by William Dyer,
who, in 1855, sold it with two acres of land for $350, to Harriet
Doming, who made a home for her sister, Mrs. Emily Wright,
and for her brother, Lewis Deming. They were all short of
stature, so that they were known as "The Lilliputians." Sim-
ple, honest and industrious they managed to make a living.
Mrs. Wright went out washing. She would never slight
her work but would keep at her tubs from early morning
until eight or nine o'clock at night and all for fifty cents

THE IfORTH FAMILY 53

a day. She carried ker own sustenance in a tin pail and
was never known to eat a mouthful at the tables of those for
whom she labored. She had a perfect horror of the poorhouse
and declared that she would never be taken there alive. One
summer she lived with with her husband, Trout Wright, in
Kensington, under a shanty of boards that they set up, with
their stove outside. She said "I tell my husband that we are
like the Saviour. We have no place to lay our heads." She
always wore a short dress above her ankles and walked with a
funny little dog trot. Sometimes the boys, to scare her, would
fire off a gun, and she would drop in the road as if dead.

One morning when she came up to Mrs. William Riley's to
work she was full of indignation, because as she climbed into the
wagon and sat on the high seat, humped over to keep her balance,
her feet dangling, some boys called out "toad on a harrer." She
said, "I gave 'em as good as they sent, I told 'em they showed
their broughtage up." The family came from Wethersfield and
Mrs. Wright used' to say that George Washington was a friend
of her father's, and that he used to consult with him.

Dwight E. Bowers remembers that the sisters used to make an
excellent salve, of which one of the ingredients was obtained
from frogs, and boys were paid in salve for all the frogs they
brought in. They suspected afterward that the sisters had an
Epicurean taste for frogs' legs.

The house, besides its human occupants, was filled with cats
and hens. Mrs. Wright said the chickens always came out to
greet her on her return from work — first the rooster and then
the hens, all in a row, followed.

Lewis, the brother, was very pious. He had little, twitching,
black eyes. He said he had a wife when he was young, but she
stepped on a rolling cob and fell and hurt herself so that she
died. He was often seen in the fields collecting medicinal plants,
which he sold to the herb doctors. He used to carry great bun-
dles of them to Hartford, and he also supplied the saloons there
with fresh peppermint for the making of mint juleps. He
would come to the door and, in a faint, piping voice, explain that
he could not speak loud because he had the liver complaint.

54 HISTOKY OF BEELIH-

Harriet died July 12, 18Y5, at tlie age of seventy-nine years,
and was buried in tlie graveyard on the hill. Lewis then had
to go to the town house. He used to come up to Dr. Brandegee
to have his hair cut. The house was purchased by Alfred Lloyd
Bowers and has been vacant for many years.

OHAPTEE III.

The Hart Families of Lower Lane, Their Ancestors, Descend-
ants, and Dwelling Places.- — Ahhy Pattison and Her Ancestor
Edward Pattison, the First Manufacturer of Tin-ware in
America. — Emma Hart Willard and Her Work.

By "Mac" and "O" you'll surely know

True Irishmen, they say,
But if they lack both O and Mac,

No Irishmen are they.

"Mac" means son, "0" means grandson.

The Hart family originated in Ireland. Through various
transitions from Airt, O'h-Airt, O'Hairt, O'Harte, and Harte
comes the Americanized name of Hart.

John O'Hart of Dublin, Fellow of the Koyal Historical and
Archaeological Association of Ireland, published, in 1811, a
wonderfully complete genealogy of the O'Harts which bears
this title

lEISH PEDIGREES

OE

THE OEIGEN AOTD STEM

OF

THE IRISH NATION.

This work, which represents the research of a lifetime, carries
the O'Hart pedigree, family by family, name by name, back
through 114 sole monarchs of Ireland, and through long lines of
kings and queens of Scotland and England, back to the Garden
of Eden. Alexandrina Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ire-
land, comes in this family in the 136th generation from Adam.
Milesius, the last of the pre-historic invaders of Ireland, was the
progenitor of those 114 Irish monarchs and of the royal families
mentioned. He married Scota, a daughter of Pharaoh ISTectoni-

56 HISTORY OF BEELIN

bus, King of Egypt. Milesius was contemporary with King
Solomon, and it maJies us feel like giving tke latter the endearing
title of "Uncle Sol" when we read that his Egyptian wife is
supposed to have been a sister of Scota.

King Oormac Mac Art, called Ulfhada, on account of his long
beard, was the 115th monarch of Ireland. He excelled all his
race in wisdom, learning and goodness. Prior to the year 560,
the kings of Ireland had their royal residence on the beautiful
hill of Tara, twenty-one miles northwest of Dublin. The story
of King Cormac Mac Art and his life at Tara in the third cen-
tury reads like that of Solomon and his household as related in
I Kings 4. He had always one thousand one hundred and fifty
persons in constant attendance at his "Great Hall" which was
300 feet long, thirty cubits high and fifty cubits in breadth, with
fourteen doors. His service of plate, in daily use, consisted of
150 pieces — flagons and drinking cups of gold, silver and pre-
cious stones, besides dishes, all of pure gold and silver. King
Oormac ordained that ten choice persons should attend him and
never be absent from him. These were :

1. A nobleman to be bis companion.

2. A judge to explain the laws.

3. An antiquary to preserve tbe genealogies of tbe nobility.

4. A Druid or magician to offer sacrifice and presage good or bad
omens.

5. A poet to praise or dispraise every one according to his actions.

6. A physician to administer physio to tbe king and queen and
to the rest of the royal family.

7. A musician to compose music, and to sing in tbe king's
presence.

8. 9, 10. Three stewards to govern the house and the servants.

With the exception that since the Christian faith was adopted
the Druid or magician was changed to a prelate of the church,
this custom was followed without change by all the succeeding
kings down to the sixtieth from Oormac. The ancient records
of Ireland at Tara were brought to complete accuracy during
the reign of Cormac. Of several learned treatises written by
King Cormac, one, "Kingly Government," is still extant.

THE HAET FAMILIES

57

In his actions and judgment Cormac was so upright that seven
years before his death God revealed to him the light of his faith,
and thenceforward he refused to worship the idol gods of the
Druids, whereupon they caused his destruction by the "ministry
of damned spirits, choking him as he sat at dinner, eating of
salmon, some say by a bone of the fish sticking in his throat,
A. D. 266, after a reign of forty years."

St. Eodanus, in anger, because his brother was held a prisoner
by King Dermot, laid a curse on Tara and it was forsaken as a
royal residence in the sixth century. In 975 Tara was described
as a desert overgrown with weeds and grass. Some earthen
ramparts and mounds are now all that remain of its ancient
magnificence.

The Harp that once through Tara's halls

The soul of music shed,
Now hangs as mute on Tara's walls

As if that soul were fled.

So sleeps the pride of former days,

So glory's thrill is o'er;
And hearts that once beat high for praise

Now feel that pulse no more.

No more to chiefs and ladies bright

The harp of Tara swells;
The chord alone that breaks at night

Its tale of ruin tells.

Thus freedom now so seldom wakes

The only throb she gives
Is when some heart indignant breaks

To show that still she lives.

"That still she lives," was shovm in 1843, when Daniel
O'Connell, greatest of Irish patriots, held monster political
meetings in every comer of Ireland. There was never a mob,
and, thanks to Father Mathew, there was no crime or drunken-
ness at those meetings. The greatest rally of all was on August
15, 1843, at Tara, when the attendance was estimated at three-
quarters of a million. Of the limited editions of The Stem of

58 HISTORY OF BEELIW

the Irish Nation, a few copies were placed in the libraries of
large cities in America. A complimentary copy was sent to the
Librarian of Congress, and another is in the Philadelphia
Library. The latter may be taken out by a deposit of ten
dollars.

Mrs. F. A. North, some years since, wrote to Mr. O'Hart of
Dublin, author of the Stenij and asked him if he could tell her
how Stephen Hart of Farmington was connected with the
O'Harts of Ireland. In reply he said :

I am satisfied that your ancestor was descended from Stephen
Hart of WestmiD, Hertfordshire, England, who is the first of the
name recorded as living in that country, and I believe that said
Stephen Harte was a descendant of Lochlaan O'Hart . . .

Mrs. North is referred by Mr. O'Hart to the "Irish Pedigrees"
for further information. The work of a genealogist brings him
a scanty livelihood. Mr. O'Hart confided to Mrs. North an
account of his straightened circumstances. He says:

In 1889 Providence was pleased to take from me in the fortieth
year of his age and unmarried, jjasy good and only son, who up to
his death affectionately allowed me £100 (sterling) annually out of
his income as chartered Public Accountant in Dublin, and in 1894.
died my cherished friend, the late George W. Childs of Philadelphia,
Pa., who on the death of my son did benevolently grant me a muni-
ficent annuity . . . but as the good Mr. Ohilds did not mention
in his will his generous intentions toward me (and my dear wife if
she survived me) his estate has refused the annuity to me.

(Mr. Childs had promised to continue the annuity during the
life of Mr. O'Hart.)

The letter goes on to say "These two deaths have in my present
old age left me and my dear wife in very straightened circum-
stances . ..." A paper enclosed gave a list of subscribers
to a testimonial to Mr. O'Hart. The donations as there men-
tioned amounted to £43, "in recognition of his invaluable
services in elucidating Irish and Anglo Irish Pedigrees and
Ethnology."

THE HAET FAMILIES 59

We will now turn to Lower Lane, where, in ancient timea,
were four colonial houses, in a row, all occupied by Hart fam-
ilies, descendants of Deacon Stephen Hart of Farmington, born
about 1605, at Braintree, in Essex County, England. Stephen
Hart was at Cambridge, Mass., 1632 ; at Hartford,* with Kev.
Thomas Hooker's company, in 1635, and was one of the eighty-
four proprietors among whom Farmington lands were divided
in 1672.

John Hart, the eldest of the three sons of Deacon Stephen
Hart, lived near the center of the village of Farmington. One
night, in 1666, the Indians set fire to his house, and all the
family, with the exception of his eldest son John, who chanced
to be away from home, at JSTod (Avon), where he had gone to
care for some creatures, were burned to death.

The public calamity was increased by the destruction of the
town records, which were kept in the house, f

Captain John Hart, son of the John Hart and Sarah his wife,
who were burned, married Mary, daughter of Deacon Isaac
Moore of Farmington. They had five sons and two daughters.

Lieutenant Samuel Hart, fourth Son of Captain John Hart,
bom 1692, was a resident of Great Swamp in 1723, when he
carried two bushels of wheat, valued at eleven shillings, to Mr.
Burnham, the minister, as his tax for the support of the church
at Christian Lane.

He married, December 25, 1723, Mary Hooker, daughter of
John Hooker, Esq., of Farmington. John Hooker was regis-
trar, and you should see his beautiful handwriting, as it appears
on the deeds of his time.

* Tradition says, "The town of Hartford was named from a ford dis-
covered by Deacon Stephen Hart and used in crossing the Connecticut river
at a low stage of water — ^Hart's ford."

t It is a pleasure to say that the early church records of Farmington
which were said to have been burned in the house of John Hart, were
discovered in Hartford in the winter of 1841-2. The book, its pages
closely written, is about five and a half inches in length by four in
width. It is to be hoped that a certain volume of Worthington church
records, borrowed some twenty-five years since, and never returned, may
have escaped the waste paper man, and that it may yet be discovered.

60 HISTOEY OF BBBLIW

The home of Samuel and Mary Hooker Hart was west of
Isaac Norton's on the northwest corner, now owned by Deacon
Leonard 0. Hubbard.

Samuel Hart, Sr., died September 30, 1751, aged fifty-nine,
leaving three daughters and one son. The second daughter,
Mary, became the wife of the eminent physician, Joseph Wells
of Wethersfield.

The plan had been to give to the son Samuel, who was a boy of
"good parts," a liberal education, but he was only thirteen when
his father died, and his mother could not make up her mind to
send him away from home.

He devoted himself to the care of the family and inherited
his father's farm. He was connected with the local train band
of which he became the captain. His father, Samuel, had held
the office of lieutenant.

Samuel Hart, bom January 21, 1738, married, October 10,
1757, Rebecca Norton, a girl of eighteen, daughter of Charles
Norton. They had seven children, and then Rebecca died, July
38, 1769, in her thirty-first year. Captain Hart married, sec-
ond, October 4, 1770, Lydia, daughter of Captain John Hins-
dale, who lived up on the "Street." Lydia was twenty-three
when she took charge of Samuel Hart's little flock, and she had
ten children of her ovm. The names of Rebecca's children were:

1. Eebecca, born January 30, 1760, married William Cook o£
D anbury.

2. Samuel, bom May 17, 1761, married, April 8, 1791, Mary
Wilcox, daughter of Stephen Wilcox.

3. Charlotte, boo-n October 17, 1762, married December 2, 1784,
Orrin Lee.

4. Asabel, bom May 6, 1764, married, September 23, 1790, Abigail
Cowles.

5. Anna, bom February 16, 1766, died of consumption, March
25, 1784, aged 18 years.

6. Jesse, bom January 3, 1768, married, November 28, 1792,
Lucy Beekley.

7. James, bom March 5, 1769, died April 12, 1770-1.

THE HAET FAMILIES 61

The children of the second marriage were :

8. Mary, bora September 23, 1771, married John Lee.

9. John, bom Jaauary 23, 1773, died September 13, 1816, aged
44 years.

10. James, born Dec. 26, 1774, died December 25, 1796, aged 22
years, at Staimton, Del.

11. Theodore, born August 30, 1776, died November 1, 1815, at
Petersburg, Va., aged 39 years.

12. Lydia, bom September 18, 1778, married Elisba Treat.

13. Betsy, bom September 21, 1781, died , aged 11 years.

14. Htddab, bom July 12, 1783, died January 31, 1784.

15. Ifancy, bom March 8, 1785, married Joshua Simmons.

16. Emma, born February 23, 1787, married, 1812, John Willard,
M.D.

17. Almira, bom July 13, 1793, married, October 5, 1817, Simeon
Lincoln; second, John Phelps.

Ten of these children lived to marry and have families. A
notable assemblage, indeed, their descendants would make, if
they could be brought together for an "Old Home Day" at
Berlin.

Captaia Samuel Hart was the first clerk and treasurer of the
Second Congregational Church of Berlin, in 1775. His views
in regard to the final salvation of mankind differed from those
of his brethren in the church, and he withdrew from their
fellowship in 1807.

It was said of Mr. Hart that while his thoughts were strong
and clear, he was unwilling to speak in public until he had
committed them to paper — in writing. He was a lover of
books, and at evening it was said that he would gather his large
family about the open fireside, and read to them, from the best
English authors. Young, Locke, Thomson, Milton, and others
of his favorites. There was at that time a village library from
which he might have drawn his books.

An old account book kept by David Webster, Esq., of Berlin,
contains the f ollovsdng entries :

Dec. 1784. Worthington Library company. Dr. to Chesterfield's
Letters, 2 vol. a 24 agreed with committee. Feb. 25th, 1783, Cr. by
cash rec'd of Peat Galpin, part for books.

62 HISTOET OF BEELIET

"Peat" Galpin lived in an old house tkat stood on the site
of the large Edwards house now owned by Luther S. Webster.
The inside cellar door of that house was Pete Galpin's front
door.

The graves of Lieut. Samuel Hart and his wife, Mary
(Hooker) "Heart," and of Captain Samuel Hart, with his wives,
"Eebekah Heart" and Lydia (Hinsdale) Hart, are in the South
Cemetery at Worthington. The inscription on Lydia Hart's
stone reads as follows :

In memory of Mrs. Lydia Hart, Eeliot of Capt. Samjuel Hart,
who died Jan. IStli, 1831, M 84. Her generous self devotion in the
various relations of Daughter, Sister, Wife & Mother, are best
known to those who best knew her, but that hope of Salvation which
made her life cheerful and her death serene, was in the mercy of God
through a Savior.

We have heard that once on a time a certain D. A. K. Chapter
was rent asunder because they could not agree on the spelling of
this name Hart or Heart. In the old deeds it is given first one
way and then another, by members of the same family, and even
for the same individual.

Jesse Hajt, bom 1768, married 1792, was a cabinet maker.
Before he kept the hotel, at Boston Corners, he lived in the
brick house, now owned by Leon LeClair. It is probable that he
built that house. His first wife, Lucy Beckley, died in 1814:,n
and, in 1822, he married, second, Mindwell Porter, daughter of
Samuel Porter. Mr. Hart died in 1827, aged fifty-nine. Mrs.
Hart survived him forty-eight years, and died July 6, 1875,
aged ninety-one. It had been the custom, whenever there was
a death in the community, to toll the church bell. Mrs. Hart's
daughter, Mrs. Jane Hart Dodd of Cincinnati, said she could
not hear the bell toll for her mother, and that was the first case
remembered when the right was omitted.

Aunt Mindwell, as she was familiarly known, will always be
remembered, by those who knew her, for her quaint speeches.
She lived, in her latter years, with her two sisters, Mrs. Almira
Barnes, and Mrs. Sophia Camp, in the house now owned by

THE HAET FAMILIES 63

Mrs. Hopkins. The "Sisters" were noted for their hospitality.
They were always ready to open their house for missionary
meetings, and prayer meetings, for the sewing society and to
entertain guests.

Lydia Hart, fifth child of Samuel Hart and Lydia Hinsdale
Haj-t, married Elisha Treat of Middletown. They were the
grandparents of the Misses Emily and Adeline Wilcox of West-
field Society, Middletown. ,

It is known that Mrs. Emma Hart Willard, in her poem
"Bride Stealing," written in 1840, took the utmost pains to
make the story historically correct. She said she had no idea,
when she began it, of the difficulty she would have in collecting
the facts.

Of the Harts she says :

And thither hied, in friendly part,
Norton's next neighbor. Ensign Hart,
Whose comely spouse was, when he took her.
The modest maiden, Mary Hooker,
They walked with firm and even mien
Their little Sammy led between.

The genealogical books, copying from old church records, tell
us that all these children of Lieut. Samuel Hart, and of his son
Captain Samuel, were bom in Kensington, or possibly in
Farmington, and that is true.

Miss Abby Pattison used to point out a stone, set near her
house, which marked the old boundary line between Farmington
and Middletown.

The first Ministerial Society, formed October, 1Y05, in Great
Swamp parish, or "ffarmington village," as it was sometimes
called, received the name of the Second Society of Farmington.

In May, 1Y22, its name was changed, by General Assembly, to
Kensington.

The Act, as recorded, reads thus :

Resolved by this Assembly that the 3d Society of Farmington,
with what of Wethersfield & Middletown is by this Assembly annexed
thereto, shall for the future be called and known by the name of
Kensington. Passed by both Houses 1Y22.

64 HISTOEY OF BEELIlSr

Until the final division of the church, in 1712, nearly all of
what now constitutes the town of Berlin was, ecclesiastically
speaking, Kensington.

The Samuel Hart dwelling house stood a little way north of
the present house, on the comer. Some of the timbers from
the old house are a part of Leonard Hubbard's wood-house. The
well, south of the house, is the same that was used by the Harts.
After Mr. Hubbard purchased the place, Mrs. Willard and her
sister, Mrs. Phelps, called there and asked for a glass of water
from the well of which they drank in childhood. Mrs. Willard
left with Mrs. Hubbard, a framed engraving of herself, with
the request that it might always remain in the house.

A gravestone at the Bridge Cemetery in Worthington bears
the following inscription :

Thomas Hart,

Died Sept. 21, 1832,

Aged 78 yeaxs.

The yoimgest brother of John,

Elihu, Jonathan & Ebenezer,

sons of Ebenezer Hart, who died 1795,

Which was the son of Ebenezer Hart who died 1773

Which was the son of Thomas Hart who died 1771

Which was the son of Thomas Hart who died

Which was the son of Stephen Hart,

Who arrived in America &

settled in Berlin, 1635.

According to reliable records the family history as given on
that stone, is incorrect. Deacon Stephen Hart, the progenitor
of the iN^ew Britain and Berlin Harts, came to Hartford with
Mr. Hooker in 1635. He was a leader in the settlement of
Farmington in 1640, and he died there in 1682-3 aged seventy-
seven years. He never lived in Berlin, although in his will he
mentions his land in "Great Swamp."

Thomas Hart, son of Stephen, bom 1644, captain of the
Farmington train band, thirteen times chosen deputy; four
times speaker of General Court; chairman of committees to

THE HAET FAMILIES 66

protect the natives from "illegal trading" of lands with the
whites; "to draw a Bill to prevent disorders in Eetailers of
strong drinke and excessive drinking" and "to prepare a Bill
to pnt in execution the reform Lawes" was a man of wealth and
influence. It is said that he owned 3,000 acres of land which
was divided among his children.

"Worshipful Captain Thomas Hart," as he was called, died
August 2Y, 1Y26, in his eighty-third year, and was buried with
military honors.

The Hart homestead in Farmington was opposite the meeting
house.

A clause in Captain Thomas Hart's will reads as follows :

I give my two sons, Thomias Hart and Hezekiah Hart, all my
right in lands that have falleri to me within ye limits of ye Great
Swamp Society.

This son Thomas was the Deacon Thomas who lived on the
comer west of the Driving Park, and whose "home lot" was
taken as a site for the second meeting house. He was a member,
with his wife, of the Christian Lane church, in 1712, and was
chosen deacon, after probation, 1719. He was Clerk and
Recorder for the Ecclesiastical Society ; six times a member of
General Assembly, for the town of Farmington; chairman of
memorialists and petitioners, justice of the peace, and was
described as the most influential man in Kensington. His son,
Deacon Ebenezer Hart, inherited the place, which is now known
as Mott's Comer, and married widow Elizabeth Lawrence.
They had five sons :

Ebenezer J., bom at Kensington, July 29, 1742, removed to
'New Hampshire, where he died in 1796, aged fifty-four years.
He was the grandfather of Jonathan T. Hart, the manufacturer
of Kensington.

Jonathan, bom at Kensington in 1744, was a graduate of
Tale in 1768. He was in the public service from 1775 to 1791,
and was slain by the Indians, November 4, 1791, at St. Clair's
defeat. He held the military rank of major.
5

66 HISTOEY OF BEELIH-

Elihu, born March. 4, 175 1, was the unforttmate one of the
family. He removed to New York State, where he failed in
business. He was imprisoned for debt, and died in the jail at
Coxsackie, E". T.

Doctor John Hart, bom at Kensington, March 11, 1753,
graduated from Tale in 1776, and soon after entered the army
as surgeon. He died October 3, 1798, aged forty-five years.

Thomas Hart, born 1754, whose faulty inscription suggested
this account, was the fifth and youngest son of Deacon Ebenezer
Hart, and his wife, Elizabeth Lawrence. He never married,
but remained on the comer homestead, and adopted a daughter
of his brother Ebenezer, Lydia Hart, to whom he gave the
property.

In 1834, the second year after her uncle Thomas died, Lydia
Hart was married, at the age of fifty-four, to Theron Hart of
New Britain, and they lived on the place until her death in
1850.

Captain Thomas Hart, father of Deacon Thomas, was also a
maker of reeds, for use in weaving. In his will, dated July 24,
1721, is the following clause:

I give unto my son Howkins Hart all my reed m.akiiig tools, great
table and joynt tools, which he has already in. his possession-
Deacon Thomas Hart's wife, Mary (Thompson), died Octo-
ber, 1763, aged eighty-three years. Lieut. Isaac Norton, father
of Tabatha of "Stolen Bride" fame, died January 10, 1763, in
his eighty-fourth year.

At the beginning of the next year, January 11, 1764, Deacon
Thomas Hart, aged eighty-four, and Elizabeth, widow of Isaac
Norton, aged seventy-nine, were united in marriage, by the Eev.
Samuel Clark. She died March 28, 1771, and was buried beside
her first husband in the South Cemetery, at Worthington.

Deacon Thomas Hart died January 29, 1773, aged ninety-
three years, lacking three months. By his will, made 1760,
Deacon Hart gave to his grandson, Elijah Hart of New Britain,
all the tools of whatsoever name he used in making reeds for
weaving by looms ; also all the cane he might have at his decease.

THE HART FAMILIES 67

Hezekiah Hart, fourtli son of Captain Thomas Hart of Farm-
ington, born 1684, was assigned a "pue" in the Christian Lane
church, in 1716-17. His father, in his will, dated 1721, gave
him all his lands in Great Swamp. He married, in 1710,
Martha, daughter of Benjamin Beckley of Beckley Quarter.
They had nine children, of whom Zerviah, born December 16,
1728, was married, December 19, 1761, to David Webster, Esq.,
as his second wife.

Hepzibah, born April 16, 1732, was married January 18, 1753,
to Isaac I^orth, son of Deacon Isaac IJTorth.

Mrs. Hart died September 7, 1752, and Mr. Hart died on the
29th day of the same month. Their tombstones are in the South
Cemetery at Berlin.

They have many descendants who would like to know exactly
where they lived. It is probable that their home was on Hart
Street, in one of the houses long since torn down.

Zachariah Hart, fifth son of Hezekiah Hart and his wife,
Martha Beckley, born January 5, 1733-34, married, March 23,
1758, Abigail, daughter of Joseph Beckley. She died July 12,

1765, aged twenty-eight years, when he married second, June,

1766, Sarah Parsons.

There were in all eleven children, of whom Sarah, born 1770,
was married to Shubael Pattison. She used to say that when she
was two years old, her father, Zachariah Hart, built the house
now owned by heirs of the late James B. Reed. This house,
now a hundred and thirty-four years old, was built of fine
selected timber, and will outlast many a modern structure. The
inscription on the tombstone of Mr. and Mrs. Hart, in the Bridge
Cemetery, reads as follows :

In memory of Mr. Zecbariah. Hart who died Dee. 26th, 1811, in the
78th year of his age.

In memory of Mrs. Sarah Hart, relict of Mr. Zechariah Hart, who
died Jan. 26th, 1813, in the 80th year of her age.

From cruel death no age is free,
Nor sex, nor birth, nor blood you see,
Tho' we "were old, our time has come
And you must follow to the tomb.

68 HISTOET OP BERLIN

Tiie Zachariah Hart house now stands alone at the north end
of Hart Street. From that point a new road was extended, in
1865, straight north until it joins "Berlin Eoad," half way
between the village and the depot, while the old "highway" turns
directly east and runs up to the old church.

ISTot far from the corner, on the north side of the east road,
there stood, until a few years since, a house known as the Jarvis-
Tuttle place. The southwestern view, from this site, is one of
surprising beauty. The house was the home of Ebenezer Hart,
born iN'ovember 27, 1722, eldest son of Isaac Hart.

In 1741 Ebenezer Hart was one of a committee to receive
funds from sale of "western lands" that may be divided to that
part of this society that dwell in the bounds of Farmington;
"to be loaned out by said committee" ; "always disposing of the
interest thereof for the support of a lawful school in this
society."

The name of Ebenezer Hart's wife was Martha. They had
four children when he died, November 17, 1753, in his thirty-
first year.

Abel Hart, their eldest son, who married Mary Galpin, sister
of Deacon Daniel Galpin, had one son and ten daughters. They
removed to ISTew York State. "Without this Abel Hart family,
if we include that of Hezekiah Hart, we may count, by name,
sixty Hart children, born on this one street, and there were
others, whose names are lost to us.

Captain Isaac Hart, son of Captain John Hart of Farming-
ton, was baptized ISTovember 27, 1686. He came, with his
brother, Lieut. Samuel Hart, to Great Swamp, where, in 1713,
he was collector for the Ecclesiastical Society. In 1715 he was
appointed surveyor. In 1720 he was credited with one and a
haK bushels of corn at 5s. 9d. on the rate bill for support of the
minister. Money was scarce in those days, and men paid their
church taxes in grain, or firewood, or with whatever they could
spare from their farms.

Isaac Hart married, ISTovember 24, 1721, Elizabeth Whaples.
Their names appear in a list of members of the Christian Lane

THE HAET FAMILIES

69

cliuxcli made up, in 1756, by the newly-settled minister, the Eev.
Samuel Clark. Captain Isaac Hart was deacon of the church.
He died January 27, 1770, aged eighty-four. His widow,
Elizabeth (Whaples), died November 14, 1777. They were
the grandparents of Luther Pattison, father of Miss Abby Pat-
tison, and the old house, so dear to her, to which she clung to
the last, habituating herself to the increasing slant of the floors,
was the same to which Isaac Hart brought his bride.

A writer in "Old Houses of Connecticut" describes this
house, with its overhang, and goes on to say :

The house is said to have been built by Isaac Hart in 1721. This
we cannot believe. Isaac may have added the lean-to, but the house
is of a type which belongs to a time before his day. If it is not so
late as this, it cannot, on the other hand be earlier than 1670. The
house probably belonged to some settler, attracted to the neighbor-
hood by the presence of Eichard Beckley, and was built in the decade
which began with 1680.

It was related of Isaac Hart that one day, when at work in
his meadow over west, he saw a bear coming toward him. With
only a pitchfork for a weapon, he mounted his horse, set chase
for thfe bear, and killed it.

Miss Pattison was bom in 1811. When she was young,
Indians used to come straggling along, and stop to beg for feed,
and a night's lodging. Her mother, who was always kind to the
poor, used to prepare a bed for their comfort, out in the barn,
and sometimes Abby was sent, alone, with the Indians, to the
bam to make up the bed. She said she was not at all afraid
of them. One day an old Indian and his squaw came there.
The squaw took a Bible and pretended to read its pages devoutly.
Her husband said, aside, "She can't read a word."

About the year 1815 a number of lively young people of
Berlin, attracted by the doctrines and zeal of the Methodist
Church, formed a "Class," with a leader, and had preaching
services occasionally. Their first meeting was held in the south
front room of Luther Pattison's house. Miss Pattison said that
when they asked her father's permission to come there, he
answered, "I guess they won't hurt the old house."

70 HISTORY OF BEELIW

Miss Pattison's father had promised her that she should go to
Mrs. Willard's school at Troy, hut her mother became an invalid,
and thenceforth her life was one of self-sacrifice and devotion to
the needs of others. One instance will serve to show the kind-
ness of her heart. A man who had lived with the family many
years, paid a small sum for his board, until his money was gone.
Aunt Abby, whose own income was probably less than a hundred
dollars a year, said she could not send the old man to the poor-
house, and she gave him a home free for the rest of his life.

In her latter days Miss Pattison lived quite alone. One cold
night she thought her pet kitten would suffer out of doors, and
before retiring she carried it to a chamber. As she turned to
go down the crooked stairway, her foot slipped and she fell.
Her body was so bruised and broken that she could not survive
the shock. She died March 10, 1897, aged eighty-six. Up to
that time she was active and had retained all her faculties.
With her bright mind, if she could have had the advantages of
Troy, as was said, "what a lady she might have been."

After Aunt Abby^s death the "old house" was vacant. Noth-
ing now remains of it but the great chimney foundations, ten
feet or so square. One Sunday afternoon, it was August 2,
1903, flames were discovered leaping out from the windows, and
its end had come. A boy candidate for the Reform School out
of "pure cussedness" had set a match to a pile of hay stored in
one of the rooms. Speaking of the age of the house Miss Patti-
son said she could count it back 180 years, that was more
than nine years ago, and would take it to 1Y17, four years
before Isaac Hart was married.

A hundred years ago, around on Lower Lane, as it turns
eastward, there was an old, forsaken dwelling house. Mys-
terious lights were seen there at midnight, and the story went
abroad that the place was haunted. Emma Hart was not to be
scared by ghosts, or anything else. One dark, rainy night she
and a young friend disguised themselves, and started out to
investigate. Sure enough there were lights in the house. When

9 .o

04 LT

THE HAET FAMILIES

71

tlie two girls crept cautiously up to a window and looked in they
saw — a company of men playing cards.

In the first half of the eighteenth century, a Mr. Edward
Pattison, who, to escape religious and political persecution, had
fled from Scotland to the north of Ireland, planned to emigrate,
with his family, to America, but he was taken sick, and died,
before he could accomplish his desire. In accordance with his
parting advice, his eldest son, Edward, came over to see what
the country was like, aiid then returned for his brothers and
sisters, William and JSToah, Anna and Jennie.

It was said of Edward that he came from Boston to Berlin,
with only eighteen cents in his pocket. Is it not probable that
he had the same disposition seen in his great-granddaughter.
Miss Abigail Pattison, and that he had given all he could pos-
sibly spare to his younger brothers and sisters ?

It would seem that William Pattison came to Berlin with
Edward. He was in this vicinity in 1747, and was a member
of Great Swamp Society.

In 1754 he was in ilSTew Britain and was one of the school
committee in 1758-9. He was active in society affairs, and was
an original member of the Eirst Church, formed in New Britain,
April 19, 1758. He had a blacksmith shop next his house, on
East Street, and was rated as one of the wealthiest men, at that
time, in the parish.

In 1759 he sold, for £300, his homestead of twenty-six acres
of land, extending from East Street to Wethersfield line, with
buildings thereon, to Dr. John Smalley, who lived there nearly
thirty years.

William Pattison and his wife, Sarah (Dunham), were
received, April 11, 1762, by letter from !N"ew Britain church to
the Christian Lane church.

Another William Patterson* came to America from Ireland,
and settled in Baltimore. By his great business talent he
became one of the richest men in Maryland. His daughter
Elizabeth, bom February 6, 1785, was possessed of remarkable
beauty and wit.

* A variant spelling for Pattison. See below.

72 HISTORY OP BEELirr

In 1803, Jerome Bonaparte visited this country and met Miss
Patterson at the autumn races at Baltimore. It was a case of
love at first sight. They were married Christmas eve of that
year.

On July 7, 1805, a son, named for his father, was born to them
at Camberwell, England. Jerome professed to be very fond of
his wife, but Napoleon Bonaparte had other plans for his brother
and caused the marriage to be annulled.

Madame Bonaparte spent much time abroad, but returned to
Baltimore, where her last days were spent in a quiet boarding
house. She died April 4, 1879, aged ninety-four.

Their son, Jerome, married November 30, 1820, Miss Susan
May Williams of Baltimore. Their son, Charles Jerome Bona-
parte, grand nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, is now (1905)
Secretary of the Navy, U. S.

It would be interesting to know the connection between the
William Pattison of Berlin and the William Patterson of
Baltimore, both of Scotch descent, and both from the north of
Ireland.

Mr. Charles J. Bonaparte, in answer to a letter of inquiry,
states that he has not been able to trace his Patterson ancestry.
He said, however, that he did not think the two families could
be related for the reason that in Baltimore, the name was spelled
"Patterson" whereas his correspondent spelled it "Pattison."
If Mr. Bonaparte should consult the Berlin records he would
find Pattison, Patterson, and Paterson. Edward's branch of the
family have preferred the "Pattison" spelling.

Edward Pattison's sister Anna came to Berlin and was mar-
ried to Amos Galpin. They were the great-grandparents of
Henry N. Galpin. Noah and Jennie Pattison went South and
all trace of them has been lost.

Edward made his home on Hart Street. A well in the lot
south of Miss Abigail Pattison's is all that now remains to mark
the site of this dwelling place. He was a tinsmith by trade and
his shop stood opposite his house on the north corner of the
property now owned by the heirs of the late William F. Brown.

THE HAET FAMILIES

73

Here, about the year 1740, Edward Pattison established the
manufacture of tinware — the first made in America. At first
the ware was a luxury, and a great curiosity. At Tabitha
Norton's wedding the guests exclaimed :

"Oh what's that lordly dish so rare,
That glitters forth in spleudor's glare?
Tell us, Miss Norton, is it silver?
Is it from China, or Brazil, or — ?"
Thus all together on they ran.
Quoth the good dame, "'Tis a Tia Pan —
The first made in the colony;
The maker Patterson's just hy —
From Ireland, in the last ship o'er —
You all can buy, for he'll make more."

Mr. Pattison began the sale of his tinware by carrying it
from house to house in baskets suspended from the back of a
horse. The tinplate was imported from England and during
the Itevolutionary War the business in this country was
suspended.

Young men employed by Mr. Pattison set up shops for them-
selves and after the war peddlers were sent all over the South
and West with wagons loaded inside and out with bright tin
pans, kettles, etc., made in Berlin.

Edward Pattison was married !N"ovember 28, 1751, to Eliza-
beth (Betsey) Hills. They had six children, Edward, Shubael,
Lucretia, Lois, Elizabeth, and Rhoda. Mrs. Pattison had large,
brilliant, black eyes, that have been transmitted to some of her
descendants, to the present day. Mr. and Mrs. Pattison have
tombstones in the South Cemetery at Berlin. Their inscrip-
tions read as follows :

In memory of Mr. Edward Pattison who departed this life Dec.
22d, A. D. 1Y87, in the 57th year of his age.

In m.emory of Mrs. Elizabeth, relict of Mr. Edward Pattison, who
died Nov. 6th, 1804, ^t 72.

Mr. Pattison's age, as here given, would make him only ten
years old in 1740, and doubtless there was a mistake. Miss

74 HISTOKT OB- BEELIN

Kuth Galpin has a record of her great-great-grandmother, Anna
Pattison, which shows that she was bom in 1724, and was mar-
ried to Amos Galpin, Ifovember 5, 1745. She was sixteen in
1840 when her brother Edward was said to have settled in
Berlin.

Edward Pattison's sons, Edward and Shubael, continued their
father's business. By deed of date February 6, 1786, Mr.
Pattison, for the consideration of £30, conveyed to Shubael a
tract of land, which, judging from the description, must have ^
been the same that was sold by heirs of Shubael Pattison to
William E. Brown about the year 1848.

In 1787, Shubael married Sarah, the seventeen-year-old
daughter of Zachariah Hart, his father's second-door neighbor
on the north, and it is supposed that he built, at that time, for
the reception of his bride, the large white house now occupied
by the Browns. He also built a large, new shop on the south
comer of his lot, where he made great quantities of tinware,
which he carried in wagons to Canada, where he sold it in
exchange for furs.

It is said that John Jacob Astor was his companion on some
of those Canadian trips. The business was very profitable.
Mr. Pattison brought his furs home to Berlin and employed
girls who came from N'ewing'ton and all about to make them up
into muffs and other articles in his shop on the comer.

There is a springy feel under the feet as one walks through
this street. A few years since, when Elmer E. Austin planted
a row of apple trees along the side of the road, by his premises,
he found tin chips buried there the whole distance, and some of
the trees died because the roots could not penetrate to the under
soil.

In the fall of 1828, Shubael Pattison went to New York City
on business, where he was taken suddenly ill with congestion of
the lungs, on a Friday afternoon. A letter sent to Berlin was
received the next Tuesday night. Two of Mr. Pattison's sons-
in-law, who started the next morning to go to him arrived Thurs-
day. Think of that "slow coach." Mr. Pattison died the next
day, November 8, 1828, aged sixty-four. He was brought back

Emma Hart Willard
(From a painting by Robert Boiling Brandegee)

THE HAET FAMILIES

75

to Berlin, and his funeral, attended in tlie church on Monday,
"was calculated to he the largest funeral ever held in the town."

Shuhael Pattison and his wife, Sarah Hart, had ten children :
Harriet, wife of the merchant. Or in BecMey, ancestors of Mrs.
Caroline B. Sheppard of ISTew York City; Chloe, wife of the
merchant, Elisha Peck ; Lucy, wife of Frederic Hinsdale, mer-
chant ; Julia, wife of Lyman Dunbar ; Sarah, married first to
Michael Stocking, second to the Eev. Theron Osborn; Lois M.,
married first to Calvin Winchell, second, February 26, 1830,
to Dr. Caleb H. Austin.

Shubael Pattison's shop was moved about 1830 over to the
Captain Samuel Hart corner and was made into the dwelling
house now owned by Leonard C. Hubbard.

Should a resident of Worthington Street tell a man who lives
on Hart Street that "it is damp there," he will reply, "My cellar
is dryer than yours. If it were filled to-night with water, it
would all disappear before morning." There is a porous, sandy
subsoil all along that highway, which acts as natural drainage.

It has been said that a pupil of Miss Porter's school at
Farmington may be known by the way she enters a room.
Sixty or seventy years ago there was a class of young ladies
in Berlin, of superior qualities of mind, and of distinctive bear-
ing, the latter the result of a course of training at Troy Sem-
inary, under Mrs. Emma Hart Willard,* who seemed to have
the faculty to impart to her pupils somewhat of her own dignity
of manner.

Mrs. Willard was anxious that all the girls in her large circle
of relatives should have a chance to obtain an education, and
she invited them to come to Troy, at her own expense. Twelve

* It is well known that Mrs. Willard was educated at tlie old Berlin
Academy. Cf. "Memories of Berlin's Earlier Schools," an historical
address, delivered by Miss Alice Norton at the Old Home Day exercises,
in the Congregational Church, Berlin, Sept. 20th, 1905. (Berlin News,
Nov. 2, 1905.) This address gives an account of Mrs. Willard's experiences
in the academy.

76 HISTORY OF BEKLIN

or more of her nieces and grandnieces, who lived in Berlin
village, with a few others, in whom she became interested,
accepted her generous offer. Among these were three daughters
and three granddaughters of her brother Jesse Hart ; Julia and
Sarah Hart, daughters of Freedom Hart; Sarah and Susan
Hinsdale, daughters of Frederick Hinsdale; Harriet Hart,
daughter of George Hart; Jane and Laura Barnes, daughters
of Blakeslee Barnes, and Frances Durand.

Mrs. Emily Galpin Bacon, mother of Attorney 0. E. Bacon
of Middletown, was born in the house that stood across the way
from the Dr. Brandegee place. She has never forgotten how she
longed to go to Troy with the rest of the girls. Her father was
dead, Mrs. Willard did not know of her desire, and she could
not go.

Most of these Berlin girls were fitted for teachers in schools,
or for governesses. Some went South, whence not all returned
single; others remained as assistants in the seminary.

Harriet Hart, who afterwards married Nathaniel Dickinson,
taught in two of the Kensington schools, and in the Center dis-
trict of Worthington, and in ilSTew York State.

Susan Hinsdale, whose parents lived in the Captain Samuel
Hart place, had a select school in the Evelyn Peck shop, across
the way from her home, which was attended by children from
"up street."

An old woman used to go to the "Seminary" with a basket on
her arm, filled with candy and cakes, which she sold to the girls,
in exchange for their cast-oif clothing, and it was said that Jane
Barnes ate so much candy that she ruined her health. She died
September 1, 1834, at the age of eighteen. When her mother
went for her, to bring her home, she begged to be taken to
ITiagara, that she might see the Falls before she died, and her
request was granted.

Jane Porter Hart, now Mrs. William Dodd of Cincinnati,
taught music and drawing at the seminary.

Miss Emily Treat Wilcox, now of Westfield, a granddaughter
of Mrs. Willard's sister Lydia, was educated at Troy Seminary

THE HAET FAMILIES

77

which she afterward conducted for a mimber of years, as a day
school.

Miss Catherine R. Churchill, whose early home was in New
York City, was sent "away to school" to Troy. Miss Sarah
Churchill remembers seeing Mrs. Willard at a party in JSTew
York, given by the Scudders, as she sat, like a queen, with
her turban on her head, surrounded by a group of scientific
men, like Davies, the mathematician, while the young people
looked on from a distance.

Sometime during the ministry of the Eev. Wilder Smith,
1862-1866, Mrs. Willaxd visited the sisters, Mrs. Mindwell Hart
and Mrs. Sophia Camp, who lived opposite the academy. Mr.
and Mrs. Smith were invited to meet Mrs. Willard at tea. Mr.
Smith, on his way home, remarked, "What eyes ; she looks right
through you."

The popularity of Mrs. Willard's school was so great that
pupils came to her from all parts of the United States, from
Canada, and even from the West Indies. In 1838, she resigned
her charge to her son, John Willard, and his wife, in order that
she might travel abroad, and have more time to give to her liter-
ary labors. She died in Troy, April 15, 1870, aged eighty-three
years.

Almira Hart, known as Mrs. Phelps, was the seventeenth
child of Captain Samuel Hart. Born in 1793, she was six
years younger than her sister, Mrs. Willard, who for three years
was her teacher, in the schools of Berlin.

The Rev. W. W. Woodworth, writing of her says :

At the age of nineteen she taught a school in her father's house,
and not long after took charge of an academy at Sandy Hill, New
York. In 1817 she was married to Simeon LincoLi, of New Britain,
then editor of a literary paper, published in Hartford. He died in
1823, and in. 1831 she was miarried to the Hon. John Phelps, of Ver-
mont, an eminent jurist and statesman ... In 1841 she was
invited by the Bishop of Maryland and the trustees of the Patapsco
Institute, to "found a Church school for girls.'' Here she continued
fifteen years, doing, as her sister says, "her great and crowning edu-
cational work." Her husband died in 1849. She died in Baltimore

18 HISTOET OP BEELIN

in 1884, at the age of 91. She published many books for students
in the various departments of natural science, the best known of
which is her work on botany, published in 1829, while she was vice-
principal of the Troy Seminary.

Before the publication of Mrs. Lincoln's "Lectures on Botany,"
the science had been little studied in schools. Her work of
about 500 pages met a quick demand and in a little more than
three years nearly 10,000 copies had been sold. It gave a com-
fortable income to Mrs. Lincoln, and made her publishers rich.
For many years it was a standard text book on the subject of
botany in colleges and high schools throughout the country. It
was written in an attractive style, the unavoidable scientific
terms, which so often discourage a pupil, were interspersed
with interesting remarks relative to the history and uses of
plants, with occasional quotations from the poets. For instance
under class "Pentrandia" we read :

The garden violet, viola tri-color, has a variety of common names,
as pansy, hearts-ease, etc. Pansy is a corruption of the French
penseSj a thought; thus Shakespeare, in the character of Ophelia,
says:

There's rosemary — ^that's for remembrance,

And these are pansies —

That's for thought.

In 1833, Mrs. Lincoln, then Mrs. Phelps, published a small
botany for children. In spite of its long, hard words, such as
"helminthology" and "infundibuliformis," the "Botany for
Beginners" found a ready field. In six months the first edition
was exhausted and the second sold as quickly. In 1847 a third
edition, revised and improved with "many useful remarks inter-
spersed throughout the work," was introduced in the common
schools.

One of the sweetest memories of a lifelong resident of this
village is of a Saturday afternoon (school kept Saturday morn-
ing then) , nigh on to sixty years ago, over on the "Ledge," back
of the old Bosworth place, sitting on a mossy bank, where the
wind flowers grew, and partridge berries, and fragrant pipsis-

THE HAET FAMILIES 79

S6wa. There, teacher gathered about her knee, her class of
little girls, who had begun to study the new botany, and taught
them to name the parts of the flowers, which they held in their
hands. One of that class placed a mark in the index of her
book, against all the flowers she learned to know. There are 126
marks there, thanks to Mrs. Lincoln Phelps and to "Teacher."

Mrs. Willard and Mrs. Phelps both retained a lifelong interest
in their native town. Both expressed a desire that the street
on which they were bom could be called "Hart Street."

OHAPTEK IV.

Daniel Wilcox, Pioneer Settler of Savage Hill, Northwest
Division of Middletown, and His Family.

In treating this subject I shall take the liberty of going back-
ward, or forward or sideways at my pleasure.

Daniel Wilcox was fourth in descent from John Wilcox,
original proprietor of Hartford, 1639. The name of John's
wife was Mary, and their home was on a part of what is now
Bushnell Park. Their children were John, Sarah, and Ann.
Sarah was married to John Bidwell of Hartford. Ann, born
about 1616, married John Hall and settled in Middletown.

John Wilcox, Sr., was chosen surveyor of lands 1643, 1644,
and Townsman or Selectman 1650. The office of Selectman
in early times was one of honor, and it carried much responsi-
bility.

John Wilcox's life in this new country was short. He died
October 1, 1651. Our knowledge of his circumstances must
come mostly from his will dated July 24, 1651.

Charles J. Hoadly, formerly State Librarian, told me that
John Wilcox's will was the first probated in the colony. He
had a new house and an old house, so called. He had horses,
cows, oxen, swine, fowls, bees, fields of grain, of hemp, and of
flax. He had silver and wamppeage and a pew, a man servant
and a maid servant.

Besides other provisions for his wife Mary, he gives her the
old house to live in, with the use of his furniture and half the
fruit of his two orchards. She is to have the pew, a colt and
the use of a horse for two years with bridle and pannell to ride
to Windsor, to Wethersfield, to Hartford or to the Sermon.

We cannot connect John Wilcox with the English Wilcoxes ;
neither do we know the family name of his wife, Mary. It is
my theory that she had a clearing out time when she moved from

DANIEL WILCOX 81

the new house after John's death and that like some neat house-
keepers of the present day she destroyed all the family records.

The wife of one of my uncles, in a spasm of housecleaning,
threw into the fire their family tree, prepared at considerable
expense by a professional genealogist.

Charles IST. Camp, genealogist of 'New Haven, is authority for
the statement that John Wilcox, Senior, served in the Pequot
War. (See Colonial Year Book, page 811.)

It is probable that John Wilcox was buried in the Center
Church burying yard at Hartford where stands a granite
shaft on which his name appears with those of a hundred
founders of the Town inscribed thereon.

Mary survived her husband seventeen years and died in 1668.
In her will, dated October 4, 1666, about two years before her
death, she gives to "Oosin" Sara Long two pewter platters, and
to daughter "An" Haul forty shillings and "my best feather
pillow." All the rest of her estate after payment of debts and
her comly funeral expenses she gives to son-in-law John Bidwell.

Toward the last on account of weakness she had been unable
to occupy the "old house" and orchards, and according to a
provision of her husband's will her son John was ordered by
Court to pay her six pounds a year. She did not mention
son John in her will. It would have been natural that she
should have gone to spend her last days with daughter Sarah
Bidwell (variously spelled Biddle, BidoU) who lived in Hart-
ford, the other children being away at Middletown, and possibly
there was undue influence, as they, who are disinherited, say.

John Wilcox, 2d., eldest child of John, Senior, and his wife
Mary, bom in England, came to America with his father. He
received a grant of land at Middletown before 1653, but instead
of settling there at once, he went to Dorchester, was there in
1654, whereupon the General Court passed a vote to compel him
to occupy his land or to find a substitute. He returned to
Middletown and purchased the homesteads of Joseph Smith
and Matthias Treat. These he sold, and purchased elsewhere

82 HISTOET OP BEEMN

before iN'ovember 1, 1665. He married. September 17, 1646,
five years before his father died, Sarah, eldest daughter of
William Wadsworth of Hartford. Of this marriage, one child,
Sarah, was born, October 3, 1648. Sarah, the mother, died that
same year, probably when little Sarah was bom. From the
dates given she could not have died earlier than October 3,
1648-9, and the next January (January 18, 1649-50) John
married, second, Katharine Stoughton, daughter of Thomas
Stoughton of Windsor (Thomas Stoughton, called "The
Ancient," built the stone fort still standing at Windsor, page
742, "Upper Houses," Charles OoUard Adams), but then there
was the motherless little one and so we will excuse his haste.
Katharine took such good care of Sarah Wadsworth's baby that
she thrived and grew to womanhood and became the wife of
David Ensign, who was an original member of the first church
of West Hartford, 1713. Katharine, however, did not succeed
as well with her own children. According to Charles CoUard
Adams, John, Thomas and Mary, her first three children, died
young; only Israel, born June 19, 1656, and Samuel, bom
JSTovember 9, 1658, came to maturity.

Katharine Stoughton, the mother, died, and John married,
third, Widow Mary Famsworth, alias Long of Dorchester,
meaning that her first husband's name was Long. There were
no Wilcox children of this marriage. Mary (Long) Famsworth
Wilcox died 1671, before September 7. In her will, dated
May 3, 1671, she mentions her son Joseph Long and his wife
Sarah, and her son Samuel Farnsworth, not then of age. Mary
Famsworth was a dressy body. She gives to Mary Wilcox her
white "wascoat" and her red darning coat. To her daughter-
in-law Sarah she gives a feather bed and boulster "already in her
house at Hartford" and her "cloath wascoat with the great silver
lace and a petty coate likewise."

John was now well along in years, but although thrice
bereaved he was not utterly discouraged. He soon began to
look about and before the end of the year he took to himself as
wife Esther Cornwall, daughter of William Cornwall of Middle-
town, a girl just out of her teens, two years younger than his

DAWIBI, -WILCOX 83

daughter Sarali Ensign. Esther has three ways of spelling her
name, besides Esther it is recorded as Hester and Easter — an
uncommonly pretty name — the latter — for a girl.

Three children were born to John Wilcox and Esther Corn-
wall, Ephraim, Esther and Mary. After five years of wedded
life with Esther, John Wilcox died, May 24, 1676. Esther
survived him fifty-seven years. She married, second, John
Stow of Middletown and died May, 1T33, aged eighty-three
years.

Where, pray tell, vould have been the Wilcox families of
Westfield, Middletown and of Meriden, had it not been for this
marriage of John Wilcox with Esther Cornwall. Nearly all of
them come from their son Ephraim.

I was interested in looking up these families to find that Mr.
Arthur Boardman, Treasurer of the Cromwell Dime Savings
Bank, Town Clerk, Town Treasurer, Deacon, Trustee, member
and liberal supporter of the Baptist Church of Cromwell, traces
back to this same Ephraim, son of Esther Cornwall and John
Wilcox, Jr.

Israel Wilcox, son of John Wilcox, Jr., and his second wife,
Katharine Stoughton, bom June 19, 1656, married March 28,
1678, Sarah Savage, daughter of Sergeant John Savage and
Elizabeth D'Aubin, his wife, of Middletown.

In less than twelve years after their marriage Israel died,
December 20, 1789, aged thirty-three years. His wife, Sarah,
then thirty-one years old, was left with five young children,
whose names were Israel, John, Samuel, Thomas and Sarah.
Israel, just coming of the age of ten years, and Sarah, the baby,
seven weeks old. Sarah, the mother, lived a widow thirty-four
years, and died February 8, 1824. Her five children signed
an agreement for the settlement of her estate in which they
referred to her as "our honored mother."

Sarah, the daughter, signed the document as Sarah Eiley,
followed by Jonathan Kiley. (See page 544, vol. 11, History of
Wethersfield. )

84 HISTORY OF BERLIBT

Josiah Willcox, brother of Daniel, settled out Avon way.
Mrs. Aspinwall comes from both Daniel and Josiab.

Samuel, third son of Israel Wilcox and Sarah Savage, bis
wife, bom September 26, 1695, married March 3, 1714,
Hannah Sage, daughter of John Sage and Hannab Starr, bis
wife, bom December 21, 1694.

Their children were Daniel (announced as the subject of this
sketch), bom December 31, 1715, Josiah, Hannah, Rachel and
Elizabeth. Samuel, the father, died January 19, 1727, aged
forty-one years. In bis will he gave to his dearly beloved wife
the use of all his improved lands and of his house and bam
during ber widowhood, but in case she should marry before
Daniel, now fourteen, should come to the age of twenty-one
then she was to bave only one-half of the property specified, and
Daniel was to have the other half. Hannah was only thirty-two
when left a widow. Probably she found the care of the farm
and the stock and the buildings, not to speak of the children,
too great a burden and that she felt the need of someone to
help her. At any rate it was not long before she was married
to Malechi Lewis and be was installed on the place. Daniel
now set up bis claim, as by the terms of bis father's will, to one-
half of the property, "in order that be might improve it."
Wbether it was the fault of Malechi or Hannah we are not
informed, but Daniel had to go to law for bis rights. The year
he came to his majority he appeared before 1iie Court of Probate,
bold at Hartford, March 22, 1737, and laid his case before that
body.

He declared that bis mother had hitherto refused or neglected
to divide with him, although often requested. Wbereupon the
Court appointed Messrs. Jabes Hamlin, Tbomas Johnson and
Samuel Shephard to distribute the estate according to the will,
giving notice to the said Hannab Lewis and ber busband,
Malechi Lewis, first, of the time they shall proceed on the
service aforesaid.

DANIEL WILCOX 85

From Cromwell Graveyard

Here

Lietli the
Body of

Samuell Willcocks
who departed this
life January the
19, 1728, in the 43d
year of his age.

Here lies Interred

the Body of Mrs.

Hannah Lewis

formerly Relict

of Mr. Samuel

Willcox but

died wife of

Mr. Malachi

Lewis on Jan

ye 22, 1Y50

In the 56 yr of her age.

Someliow wlieii these young widows, even when they are our
own grandmothers, marry and go out f ronj the family they seem
lost to us, but we do not want to drop grandmother "Hannah
Sage," alias "Lewis." It is through her that we trace back to
Dr. Thomas Starr, who was a surgeon of the Colonial forces
in the war with the Pequots. He received his appointment
May 17, 1637. (Gol. War Tear Book, page 1 or 17.)

In 1785 the North West Division of Middletown (so called)
was set off to form a part of the town of Berlin, incorporated
that year.

We do not know exactly when Daniel Wilcox settled on Savage
Hill. The lots laid out to the original proprietors were long
narrow strips of land that came all the way over to Stoney
Swamp and it is probable that Daniel inherited from his
father, Samuel, land in Iforth West Division. He began to buy

86 HISTOET OF BEELIN

land there in 1735, when he was twenty years old, pieces bounded
partly on his own land. There was a story that when he left
home, to come through an unbroken wilderness and take up his
abode in the Third Division, prayers were offered in the log-
cabin meeting house in Upper Houses, for his safety. If this
story is true, he must have come as early as 1735. A new meet-
ing house, not of logs, was built in Upper Houses in 1735.
He purchased here and there a few acres at a time until he had
a fine farm one mile square in extent.

His house, a large, brown, frame building, stood on the west
side of the way on Savage Hill next north of what is now called
Bowers comer, and opposite the bam of Elmer Dyer. It was
torn down before my remembrance. At one time it was used
as a schooUiouse, and once a woman lived there who made very
fine linen. Large fields of flax were grown, and the flax, at
maturity, was left for months to decay on the ground.

Daniel Wilcox, bom 1715, Dec. 31st, died July 29, 1789.

Married Marcli 16, 1738
Sarah Wiite, bom April 22, 1716, died June 28, 1807.

Sarah White was a, descendant of John White, who sailed
from London in the ship Lion, June 22, 1632; arrived at
Boston September 16; settled flrst in Cambridge; sold land
there before 1636; was an original proprietor at Hartford,
1639. His house, on what is now Governor Street, stood where
the shadow of the Charter Oak fell upon it at sunset. He was
a preaching Elder in Thomas Hooker's church.

JSTathaniel White, bom about 1629, came from England with
his father, John White, when flve years old. He was one of the
original proprietors of Middletovm, 1650-51, where he held a
high position. In 1659 he was elected to the Great General
Court, and from 1661 to 1710 he was chosen a member of the
Colonial Legislature eighty-five times. He was eighty-two years
old when last elected. Legislators were at that day chosen twice
a year. E"athaniel White was Captain of the first "Traine
Band" of Middletown. This record would make his descend-
ants eligible to the Society of Colonial Dames.

DANIEL WILCOX

87

In his will, probated October 1, lYll, Nathaniel White gave
onerquarter part of his share of the undivided lands for the
benefit of the public schools of Middletown forever. In 1741
the land was sold and the proceeds invested. When Cromwell
was set off from Middletown in 1851, it received its share of the
fund. In 1902, when the fine new public schoolhouse of Crom-
well was opened, by unanimous vote it was named "The
Nathaniel White Public School."

To Daniel Wilcox and his wife, Sarah White, were born
thirteen children, seven sons and six daughters.

Sons Daughters

Daniel Lois

David Sarah

Stephen Hepzibah

Josiah Huldah

Samuel Olive

Isaac Patience
Jacob

Sarah, the mother, became very stout as she advanced in
years, so that she was not active. She apologized to her chil-
dren, saying, "I do not work, but I save your father a great deal
by my good management." Many of her descendants seem to
have inherited her physique.

In the spring of 1763 England, then engaged in war with
Spain, sent an armament against the Spanish West Indies.
Two Connecticut Colonial Regiments were ordered to join the
expedition and assist in the attack against Havana.

David Wilcox, second of the sons of Daniel, then in his nine-
teenth year, enlisted March 17, 1762, in the 4th Company;
Captain, John Patterson of the 1st Regiment; Col. Phineas
Lyman of Suffield, Commander.

This 4th Company numbered, officers and men, ninety-eight.
Ten never joined. Two deserted.

They arrived at Cuba June 17 where, in the intense heat,
lacking water, they worked two months under unsufferable pri-
vations. Some of the soldiers dropped dead from thirst, heat,

88 HISTOET OF BEELIW

and fatigue. In less than a month half the troops were dead
or sick. Of the New England privates scarcely any returned.

Such as were not killed in the service were generally swept
away by the great mortality that prevailed.

Of Captain John Patterson's Company twenty-nine died
between September 5 and jSTovember 30. He himself died
at Havana September 5, 1762, at fifty-four years, a victim of
the yellow fever.

David Willcocks died at Havana October 1, 1762. His name
appears on the payroll of the 1st Connecticut Eegiment, 4th
Company. JSTathaniel Willcocks, his cousin^ who enlisted the
same day, and in the same Company with David, died
itTovember 17.

Major John Patterson, son of James of Wethersfield, held a
Captain's Commission under King George III, and was the first
deacon of the First Church of 'New Britain. On May 11, 1753,
being called of God to assist his country and mindful as he
expressed it of the dangers of martial life, he made his will in
which he directed his wife Kuth (Bird) to give their son John
a college education. John, the son, graduated from Tale in
1762. He removed to Binghamton, IST. T., was a lawyer, and
was Brigadier-General in the Kevolutionary War.

Havana surrendered August 13, 1762. In the treaty of
Paris, signed February 10, 1763, Great Britain restored to
Spain all its conquests in the West Indies in return for Flor-
ida — all that Spain owned on the Continent of Iforth America
southeast of the Mississippi. At the time of the English and
French War, when the call of alarm came for the relief of Fort
William Henry, on the north shore of Lake George, Daniel
Wilcox, Sr., enlisted as corporal in the Com.pany of Captain
Josiah Lee of Farmington, 6th Connecticut Regiment. Daniel
Wilcox, Jr., just come to the age of sixteen, with other lads,
went along to lead pack horses and to bring back other horses.
The Fort, after a gallant defense of six days, was compelled to
surrender to the superior force of French and Indian troops,
and Daniel Wilcox returned after a service of eight days.
Daniel, the son, was credited with seven days.

DANIEL -WILCOX

89

Captain Josiah Lee was chosen deacon of the First Church of
New Britain to take the place of Deacon Patterson, who died in
1Y62 at Havana.

The old story that Daniel Wilcox gave to each of his thirteen
children a farm on which he built a house needs to be modified.
We have seen that David died at Havana. Isaac, born August
14, 1755, enlisted in the Revolutionary War. He was taken
sick at Boston and was brought home, where he died IsTovember
23, 1775, at the age of twenty years. His grave is in Maple
Cemetery at Berlin.

Olive, bom October 16, 1751, died iiSTovember 1, 1771, the
day she was to have been married to a Mr. Hart of New Britain.

Daniel Wilcox, Jr., bom November 17, 1741.

Married September 22, 1763, at the age of 22 years, Susannab
Porter of East Hartford.

Children : Nathaniel, bom August 10, 1764.

Susannah, bom May 1, 1766, married Richard Beckley.
David, bom December 6, 1768.
Susannah, the wife, died November 13th, 1769, in the ■ 28th year
of her age. Grave in Maple Cemetery.

Daniel, Jr., married 2d November 7, 1771, Mercy Gibson.
Children : Joseph, bom August 4, 1772, died February 26, 1773.

Daniel, 3d, bom October 26, 1774.
Daniel WiUcocks, Jr., received to Church September 2, 1764.

Four months after Daniel, Jr., married, his father gave him
six acres of land, deed dated January 10, 1764, on which to
build a house, bounded north by his own land (Daniel, Sr.'s),
east on highway, south on highway now known as Bower's
Corner. Daniel Wilcox enlisted in the Eevolutionary Army
and died at Eoxbury April 10, 1776.

On page 440, New England Register for 1900, appears the
following communication from Daniel W. Fowler of Chicago :

I send you copies of two letters written by Daniel Wilcox, Jr.,
from Middletown, Conn., who was at the defence of Boston in the
years 1775 and 6, and who died in the latter year, and was, it is

90 HISTORY OF BEELIK

stated, buried in the old cemetery in Eoxbury. I have seen the
pocketbook, which he had in his possession at his death, so it was
claimed, and I have now one piece of Continental money, which
says it is good for five Spanish Milled dollars, which was found in
that purse at the time of his decease.

The Middletown North Society, which had the ordering of
school affairs, voted ISTovember 7, 1748, that a school should be
kept the whole year — ten months in the Society's schoolhouse,
and two months in the JSTorthwest Quarter at the house of John
Savage.

These letters of Daniel, written from Koxbury, of which I
have copies, show him to be a loyal soldier, thoughtful of his
comrades ; a loving son, husband and father ; but the spelling
and the grammar ! ! However, what could be expected in the
wilderness with school only two months in the year. He held
the office of sergeant. The name of Daniel Wilcox, Jr., does not
appear in Connecticut Men of the Revolution.

After the death of Daniel Willcocks, his widow, Mercy Gib-
son, married John (?) Parsons and removed to Landersfield,
Berkshire County, Mass., with three Wilcox children.

At the time of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the
Worthington church, the Eev. E. G. Beckwith, then of Water-
bury, gave an address, vaguely remembered after thirty-seven
years as very interesting. No copy of it can now be found.
Mr. Beckwith comes from one of the Wilcox sons, taten by
Mercy Gibson Wilcox Parsons to Landersfield.

His grandfather on his mother's side was a Daniel Wilcox,
grandson of the Revolutionary soldier and the fourth in direct
line to bear the name. It was Mr. Beckwith who told about
prayers being offered in the log cabin meeting house at Middle-
tovra. for Daniel's safety in the wilderness.

Mr. Beckwith later went to Hawaii. Miss Ruth Galpin
having occasion to write to him there asked if he had a copy of
that historical paper. He replied May 9, 1897, that he thought
it was not a paper at all, but a bit of an off-hand talk — that he
had no such paper in his possession and never had published
any. He said his Revolutionary ancestor was with the army

DANIEL ■WILCOX

91

that invested General Gage at Boston and died at Koxbury
during the siege. He said he had a copy of a letter written by
him while there, one of several that were in his grandfather
Daniel's possession in his boyhood.

Miss Galpin thinks she has seen a notice of Mr. Beckwith's
death in the Oongregationalist.

While in Berlin Mr. Beckwith gave Deacon Alfred North an
account of the Massachusetts branch of the family, which should
have been written in black and white. Trusted to memory, it
is now lost.

The Eev. William' Henry Willcox of Maiden, Mass., and Kev.
G. B. Willcox of Chicago Theological Seminary came from this
same Wilcox stock.

W. H. Willcox was a trustee of Wellesley College. It is said
that he influenced Mrs. Stone to give the money to build Stone
Hall at Wellesley, and also to give large sums to other educa-
tional institutions. Mrs. Stone endowed a professorship of
I^atural Science at Hamilton College on condition that her
niece's husband. Professor A. P. Kelsey, should be the first
incumbent. Mrs. Kelsey was glad to have her aunt endow that
professorship, but she was bitter toward Mr. Wilcox because she
felt he had such strong influence over Mrs. Stone and got her to
will so much of her money to institutions. Mrs. Kelsey and
her sister were Mrs. Stone's heirs, and of course they wanted
all they could get. (L. D. IST. Eeed.)

Miss Gertrude M. Willcox, daughter of Prof. G. B. Willcox
of Chicago, went out as a missionary to Kobe, Japan, in 1898.
In Life and Light of November, 1899, page 528, is a letter
written by Mrs. Dr. Davis to Mrs. G. B. Willcox giving a
description of the interesting wedding of Miss Willcox to Mr.
Weakley of the Methodist Mission.

(Letter in Life and Light, Feb. 3, 1899.)

July 14, 1899.
Wedding of Miss Gertrude Willoox, by Mrs. Dr. Davis.
The storm had cleared the atmosphere and cooled it a little, too,
and everything outwardly went off just as it should. To the music

92 HISTORY OF BEELIF

of the organ out on the lawn the procession came down the steps
from the "home building," led by the two ushers. Three tiny little
girls followed, hand in hand, and then eight more girls in couples.

They went slowly and without a mistake to the right place. Of
course they were all dressed in white, with blue ribbons and sashes
of nearly the same shade, and they carried bouquets of white daisies
and small chrysanthemums.

They were so fresh and dainty and pretty.

Then last came your daughter dressed in the pretty, old fashioned
gown which her mother had worn, so long ago. I looked at her for
you, and wished I might have changed places for awhile. On her
shoulder was a tiny bunch of forget-me-nots, pinned on with a
daisy pin, showing through her veil. That was fastened with orange
blossoms. She carried a bunch of roses and maiden hair ferns. Mr.
Weakley and Mr. Davis stood waiting for her, and four gentlemen
stood in front of the bridal coupla The United States Oonsul, Mr.
Demaree, Mr. Curtis, who married them and Mr. Davis. Mr.
Demaree read. Mr. Davis led in prayer. All were touched when
he said he would offer Professor Willcox's prayer. The bridal couple
were moved by it, and theirs were not the only eyes that were wet
with tears at this prayer from over the sea. Then Mr. Curtis went
through the service and pronounced them husband and wife. From
beginning to end it was impressive and beautiful.

Kev. W. 0. Wilcox went out to TJmgoti, Natal, witk his wife
Ida in 1881. IsTo mention is made of him after 1909.

In the settlement of the estate of Daniel Wilcox, Jr., one-half
the house was set to the widow and the place was transferred
from time to time subject to the rights of Mercy Parsons.

Daniel's brother Jacob bought out the heirs, and in 1797 the
property was sold to the Orofoot family. Written on the
chimney piece of the house may be seen to-day "Samuel and
Mary Crofoot 17-7 — " the third figure illegible.

By deed of date January 22, 1822, Jacob Wilcox having
again an interest in the place gave a quit claim to William
Bowers,, and now for ninety years that corner has been occupied
by Captain William Bowers and his descendants. In early
days it was a public house, the road leading over those hills
being the New Haven and Hartford postroad before the Hart-
ford and ISTew Haven turnpike was opened.

DANIEL WrLCOX 93

Lois "Wilcox, eldest of the six daughters of Daniel Wilcox,
born June 14, 1738, died August 18, 1805. Married September
14, 1Y56, Solomon* Sage, born 1737 (Captain David,* John,^
David^).

Cnn/DEEN (Copied from Middletown Town Record) :

Grace, bom 1757. j Mindwell, bom 1767.

Solomon, bom 1759. ( Oliver, bom 1767.

Hozea, born 1761. Lois, bom 1771.

( Mabel, bom 1763. Josepli or Josbua, born 1772.

( Oalvin, born 1763. Isaac, bom 1775.

Hozea, died in Army, Luther, bom 1778.
West Point.

We do not find from town records that Daniel Wilcox made
gifts of houses or lands to any of his daughters. Solomon Sage,
Sr., was a large land holder in his own right.

Lois Wilcox and Solomon Sage were taken into the com-
munion of the Kensington church May 29, 1768.

The distinction of this family seems to lie in their large
households. Captain Oliver Sage, son of Solomon and Lois
Sage, had sixteen children, eleven sons and five daughters.
There were three pairs of twins. So far as known not a soul
remains in this vicinity to represent this branch of the Sage
family.

Jacob Wilcox, youngest son of Daniel and Sarah Wilcox, born
in Berlin, June 21, 1758, died at the house of his daughter,
Mrs. Elizabeth Porter, in Beckley Quarter, November 3, 1841,
aged eighty-three years, four months and thirteen days.

He married, June 7, 1780, Eachel Porter, born in East Hart-
ford, July 5, 1758 ; died March 15, 1847, at the house of her
son K'orris in 'New Haven, age eighty-eight years, eight months
and ten days, both buried in East Berlin.

1. Alvin, bom 1773, died August 17, 1870.

2. Norman.

3. Orrin.

4. Cyprian, bom September 22, 1795 ; died Ithaca, N. T., Febru-

ary 24, 1875.

94: HISTOET OF BEELIN

5. Norris, married Marcli 3, 1822, Harriet Hart, daughter of Jesse.

6. Jacob.

7. Albert.

8. Betsey.

9. Lueetta.

Jacob Wilcox and Kachel Porter married June 1, 1780.

Norris Wilcox, fifth of the seven sons of Jacob Wilcox, mar-
ried Harriet Hart, second daughter of Jesse Hart, brother of
Emm.a Hart Willard. He kept the hotel at Boston Comers,
so called, on Berem Street, for a time; was postmaster, with,
office in Freedom Hart's comb shop, and removed to New Haven,
where he became United States Collector of that port. His son
William was a professor of mathematics in the E"aval Academy
at Annapolis.

Norris Wilcox was a large, portly, handsome man, and his
daughter Katharine was a woman of remarkable beauty of per-
son and character. She married a Smith and lived in Phila-
delphia. Her daughter, Jessie Wilcox Smith, is the well-known
illustrator of magazines.

John Henry Wilcox, Mus.D., 1827-1875, of Boston, grandson
of Jacob Willcox, son of Jacob Willcox, Jr., and Catharine
Shellman, his wife, of Savannah, Ga., was considered the finest
organist in the country. When new organs were to be dedicated
it was thought that no one could show them off quite as well as
he. Once he was called to assist in the dedication services of
a fine new organ in a Philadelphia church where there was a
large chorus choir, which he could not make sing to his liking,
and his sarcastic remarks were not soon forgotten.

We have in our church hymn book two tunes written by John
William Willcox, "Paban and Jesu," p. 10; "Boni Pastor,"
p. 452.

Jacob Willcox, Sr., was very deaf in his old age. Elisha
Cheney, his nephew by marriage, lived on the southwest corner
opposite the Bowers place. Uncle Jacob would go over to the
Cheney house and ask to have brother Cheney come outside,
he wanted to have some privacy with him. They would go
out into the road and then Jacob would shout loud enough to

DANIEL WILCOX

95

be heard half a mile. The Cheney girls thought it great fun
to hear him.

Uncle Jacob, "Jeckup," so pronounced in his day, raised
a lot of turkeys and Mr. Cheney tried to raise grain. When
he complained that the turkeys destroyed his grain, Uncle
Jacob would say: "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness
thereof,' " and that was all the satisfaction he would give.
Jacob Wilcox's place was sold by his son If orris to William
Dyer of Woodbridge, forty-four acres with buildings, price
$4,500. (Vol. 15, page 373, IsTew Britain Eecords.)

Wallace Wilcox, son of Alvin, eldest son of Jacob Wilcox,
was a teacher and a very successful head of a boys' school in
Stamford for years.

Cyprian P. Wilcox, son of Cyprian, son of Jacob, was a pro-
fessor of modern languages, and had, before the war, a school
for languages at Geneva, Switzerland. Later he came home and
was in the University of Georgia till his death.

Hepzibah Wilcox, fifth child, third daughter, of Daniel Wil-
cox and Sarah White, his wife, bom January 31, 1745, died
Tebruary 19, 1821; married September 23, 1763, David
Beckley, bom February 17, 1742, died ]Srovember 19, 1798.

CHILDEBN

David, bom March 31, 1765.

Silas, bom September 28, 1766.

Caroline.

Joseph.

Hepzibah.

Luther.

Joseph, bom November 12, 1775.

David (1), Lt. Joseph (2), Nathaniel (3), Sgt. Eichard (4).

David Beckley and his wife Hepzibah Wilcox set up house-
keeping in the old red Beckley house built by the father of
David, Lt. Joseph Beckley. (No need for Daniel Wilcox to
give Hepzibah a house.)

96 HISTOET OF BBELIN

Lt. Joseph BecHey, born 1695, grandson of Eicliard, the
settler, married October 23, 1723, Mary Judd (deceased of
John North of Far) who was the mother of his seventeen
children. She died April 16, 1750, aged forty-eight years.

I read somewhere the latter statement, but cannot now give
the reference and have not the date. This Joseph Beckley
received permission to build his house on condition that he
would keep a public house. He was licensed as a taverner,
1733, 34, 42.

Dr. Horatio Gridley in his history stated that a public house
was kept there by the descendants of Kichard Beckley for
seventy-eight years in succession and that it was the first inn
between Hartford and ISTew Haven.

Inn-keepers of those days were of the best and most respected
families ; they often held positions of trust as town officers.

Miss Abigail Pattison told me that Hepzibah Wilcox was
renowned for her goodness and kindness of heart. She adopted
a son of Dr. Austin, who died when quite young. On his
gravestone in Maple Cemetery is inscribed "Our Little Lamb."

One day in war time a company of soldiers, almost starved,
came along and stopped at the Beckley tavern. Hepzibah had
a cow killed as quickly as possible and gave them a hearty
dinner. It was her son Silas Beckley who strained himself
carrying water from a spring for the horses of a company of
soldiers, so that he was an invalid the rest of his life. "Silas
Beckley died October 1, 1823, after a distressing sickness of
forty-three years, age 57 years." (Inscription at Beckley.)

The eldest son of David and Hepzibah Beckley, David Beck-
ley, Jr., bom March 31, 1765, and his wife, Eunice Williams,
born 1759, were grandparents of Mr. William Bulkley.

There was great excitement when about the time of the
Battle of Bunker Hill, General Washington and his Staff put
up at the Beckley House over night. It was said that Eunice
Williams helped to set the table for their supper.

George Washington must have traveled with a large supply
of elm tree switches, and we like to believe the story that the
great elm tree directly in front of the house was planted by

DANIEL WILCOX

97

him at the time of this visit. The tree stands, but the housei
was torn down by Dick Beckley, the last in town to bear the
name.

David Beckley and Hepzibah, his wife, joined the Kensing-
ton chnrch May 5, 1764.

Luther Beckley, bom October 11, 1778, died January 1,
1841; son of David and Hepzibah; married, 1803, Sally
Magg, daughter of Solomon Flagg. They lived in one half
of the old tavern, where their seventeen children were born.
He was appointed town clerk and they came down street' to
live in the old Eiley house opposite the present Mechanics
Hall. Toward the end of his life he lay in bed while his wife
worked hard to support the family by taking boarders. Grand-
parents of the first wife of Charles Eisley (Mrs. Orpha
Edward's story).

Patience Wilcox, thirteenth and youngest child of Daniel
and Sarah White Wilcox, bom January 4, 1760, died Sep-
tember 21, 1810, aged fifty-one; married Eli Barnes; died
June 18, 1815, aged 61.

The Barnes family came from Long Island with other
refugees in war time, when the British took possession of the
Island. They fled in such haste that the Barneses brought
along, unbaked, a batch of bread that had been set to rise.

One child, Jemima, was bom to Patience Wilcox and Eli
Barnes. She married Samuel Kelsey, brother of Stephen
Wilcox's wife, Mary.

Ezekiel Kelsey, father of Samuel, lived at the E'orth end
of Hubbard Street in East Berlin near the foot of Gravel Hill,
where remains of the cellar may be seen. He had five or more
children; two married in East Hartford. Elizabeth was the
wife of landlord Amos Kirby. She used to play the violin for
dancing parties. .

Miss Isadore Kelsey said that her great-grandfather, Capt.
Eli Barnes, built the house which she occupies on the east cor-
ner of Main Street (formerly called East Street), where the
Middletown road passes east toward the mill, and that her
grandmother Jemima was ten years old at that time. They

7

98 HISTORY OF BBBLIN'

lived at first in the house of Patience's brother Daniel, who
died in the army. Miss Kelsey said her grandmother Jemima
would have been 127 years old if living in 1906. This, as I
reckon it, would make her bom in 1779.

The Barneses kept a public house, with bar, and a ballroom
in the south chamber. The land on which the house was built
was a part of the mile-square farm owned by Daniel Wilcox.

When Patience died, on February 29, 1836, her brother
Jacob, who settled her estate, sold her silver teaspoons to Allen
Plagg, who gave them to his two daughters.

Miss Ida Wilcox is a great-great-granddaughter of Patience
Wilcox and she would like to see those spoons.

Miss Kelsey said that when her grandmother Jemima was a
little girl the family went into Upper Houses to attend church.
Prom 1703 to 1790 East Berlin belonged to Upper Houses
Ecclesiastical Society and were obliged to pay church taxes
there.

(See Vol. 1, page 230, Private Laws of Connecticut, Eesolve
of May, 1790, annexing a part of Upper Houses in Middletown
to Worthington Society in Berlin.)

Resolved by this Assembly that all that part of the second or
Upper Houses lying in the Town of said Berlin, excepting' the farm
or lot of land on which said Israel Wilcox now lives is hereby
annexed to and from henceforth shall be and remain a part of the
said Society of Worthington. Provided always that nothing in this
resolve contained, shall be construed to prevent the second or Upper
Houses Society from collecting at such society rates or taxes as are
now laid or due from said petitioners, or from any other person
liable to pay such taxes.

The East Berlin Mill was built in 1771 by David Sage, Jr.,
Daniel Wilcox, Jr., and Josiah Wilcox, on land of Daniel
Wilcox, Sr.

It was at first built as a carding mill and for spinning cotton
and woolen yarn which was put out to women of the neighbor-
hood to be woven into blankets and men's cloth. Deacon
Frederic ITortti remembered taking wool there to be spun into
yarn.

' Grandma Hcldah ^
Mrs. Reuben North

Birthplace of Lynda and Huldah Wilcox in East Berlin
Uouse built by Josiab Wilcox about 1779

DANIEL WILCOX

99

Josiah Wilcox, eiglitk child of Daniel and Sarah White
Wilcox, bom March 31, 1750, died September, 1835. Married,
first, Elizabeth Treat, from Gen. Treat ; married, second, 1779,
Huldah Savage, daughter of John; married, third, Naomi
Kirby, died 1837.

By deed of date February 14, 1775, Daniel Wilcox for
paternal love and affection gave to his son Josiah six acres of
land with house and bam thereon, bounded east on highway,
south on Israel Wilcox's land, "west on my own land."

His house stands at the south end of Main Street, east of
Berlin, on the west side of the way south of the Mildrum house,
just north of the stream of water which crosses the road there.
Large quantities of cider brandy were made by Josiah Wilcox.
On the east side of the road was a cider mill where apples
were crushed by a large wheel run by horse power which went
round and round in a trough. The distillery was in a lot,
south of the house, where the foundations may still be seen.
Later the cider mill on the east side was abandoned and another
was built south of the distillery. Deacon Alfred North pre-
served for a long time a large record book of sales of cider
brandy made by his grandfather. A while since I destroyed
the book, thinking the business was almost disreputable.

Samuel Wilcox, son of Josiah, built the brick house, now
owned by Fred M. North in East Berlin. He married Ehoda
North and removed to Ohio, where his descendants have pros-
pered. Occasionally a letter comes from them asking for
information of their Connecticut ancestors.

Robert Wilcox, who married the "Sweet Singer of Michi-
gan," is a descendant of Josiah Wilcox.

Olive Wilcox, daughter of Josiah, married in 1800 James
Booth of New Britain and was mother of Horace Booth.
Shortly before Mr. Booth died I called to see him. He told me
that his mother had a string of gold beads. One day a pedlar,
who went by the name of Squeaking Lease, came to the house
and told Olive that the beads needed something done to them
by a jeweler. She allowed him to take the string away, and
that was the last she ever saw of her beads.

100 HISTOEY OF BEKLIN

Four of our D. A. E. members come from Josiali Wilcox.

Stephen Wilcox, sixth son of Daniel and Sarah Wilcox, bom
October 19, 1Y46, died December 22, 1843, aged ninety-seven
years. He married January 31, 1771 (?)? ^ary Kelsey
(daughter of Ezekiel Kelsey), who died October 22, 1836, aged
eighty-seven years.

Mrs. Emma Penfield Botsford, whose husband was a descend-
ant of Stephen Wilcox, said there used to be in the family an
obituary of him, which began : "An Old Kevolutionary Soldier
Gone." Daniel Wilcox in 1777 deeded to his son Stephen
Wilcox, of Middletown, for love and affection, six acres of land
with house and bam thereon.

Stephen Wilcox and his wife were received to the communion
of the Worthington Congregational Church by letter from Upper
Houses.

Stephen Wilcox, son of Stephen, built the brick house stand-
ing on the corner where the Stoney Swamp road turns to go
up Savage Hill.

The two sons of Stephen Wilcox, Jr., went to Springfield
about 1822 where they set up the first stove and tin store in
that vicinity. They had the Wilcox gift of making money and
prospered in business.

The house built by Stephen Wilcox, Sr., is now the pleasant
home of the Misses Carrie and Hattie Mildrum.

Samuel Hart, brother of Mrs. Emma Hart Willard, married
Mary Wilcox, daughter of Stephen Wilcox and his wife, Mary
Kelsey, and four of our Daughters of the American Revolution
members claim Mary Wilcox Hart as a grandmother. Mrs.
Oowles has her silver teaspoons.

Mrs. Cowles has a cousin in this same generation from
Stephen Wilcox, Miss Harriet Lyman, a fine musician, who
has worked out a musical staff, so that the notes are alike on the
bass and treble clefs. If adopted it wiU save no end of trouble
for children learning to read music.

We all know Mr. Arthur Upson, a Christian lawyer of New
Britain, a descendant of Stephen Wilcox. Mr. Upson has a:
cousin in the same line, a brother of Miss Harriet Lyman, the

DAWIEL WILCOX

101

musician, Hon. Edward S. Lyman, wlio is one of the most
prominent lawyers in central Alabama, employed as corpora-
tion lawyer for the L. & W. E. K. 0'., Judge of the County
Court, ex-mayor of his city, and has been a member of the
State Legislature.

Samuel Wilcox, tenth child of Daniel and Sarah Wilcox,
born September 12, 1753, died March 12, 1832, married May
28, 1778, Phoebe Dowd. (Ancestors of Mr. Frank Wilcox. )

Their house was moved a few rods south of its original site,
where it was owned and occupied many years by the family of
Willys Dowd. Mrs. Dowd was a very efficient woman, and
she brought up a large family of fine sons and daughters. She
said that when her children were old enough to go to church,
she took every one of them out into the lobby and took her
slipper to them.

Huldah Wilcox, seventh child of Daniel and Sarah Wilcox,
bom May 24, 1748, married Jeremiah Bacon of Westfield,
and we do not know anything about her life except that Mr.
Frank Starr says her first husband died and that she married,
second, Joseph Porter.

Sarah Wilcox, second child of Daniel and Sarah Wilcox,
born December 31, 1739, married Jedediah ITorth.

Their house, at the north end of Berlin Street, was moved
back from under the two large maple trees, and turned into a
bam for Golden Kidge Creamery.

When they first set up housekeeping there the wolves used
to come down from the ledge and carry off the pigs so that
they had to be shut up in the barn over night for safety.

Sarah Wilcox and Jedediah North had eight children.
Sarah, the mother, died at age thirty-six, when her last child
was bom.

Levi, the second son, enlisted in the Bevolutionary War at
the age of sixteen. He was taken prisoner by the British
and on shipboard was compelled to fight against his own
countrymen. His story was that the blood ran ankle deep on

102 HISTORY OF BEELIlir

deck. In prison lie was fed on rice, and he never wanted to
see rice again. He was set at making tools and repairing
weapons, and at the close of the war, by advice of aji English
soldier who befriended him, he sent in to the British govern-
ment a bill for skilled services. The bill was allowed and he
received $1,200, with which he built his house in East Berlin.
He married his cousin, Rachel White, and they had twelve
children, all of whom lived to the age of sixty-six or over.

It would take too much time to tell of the ministers, mis-
sionaries, doctors, college professors, and teachers, who have
descended from Sarah Wilcox.

CHAPTER V.

The Porter Family. — Edmund Kidder, the Centenarian. — The
Lee Family.

Joseph Porter, Jr., born in 1Y02, son of Joseph and Hannah
(Buell) Porter of Hartford, grandson of John and Mary
(Stanley) Porter, and great-grandson of John Porter,* settler,
in 1639, at Windsor, married, in 1733, Joanna Dodd of Hart-
ford. They came to Great Swamp, where he was active in
church affairs. In 1733, when a vote of twelve pence a pound

* Mrs. F. A. North of Gcrmantown, Pa., has contributed the following
information about the Porter families in America. Some of the data was
obtained originally from Miss Catharine North's papers, especially the
part about the first American John Porter and his twelve children.
Incidentally, Miss North herself was a direct descendant of Samuel Porter,
the fifth child of John Porter of Windsor. It may not be out of place
to introduce this information here:

John Porter, born between 1590 and 1595 in Wraxhall, Parish of Kenil-
worth, Warwickshire, England, embarked at London, with his family, for
America, arriving at Dorchester, Mass., May 3Q, 1630. He died 1648 at
Windsor. His wife Rose died 1648 or 1649. There were twelve children:
John, b. 1618; Thomas, b. 1620; Sarah, 1622; Anna, 1624; Samuel,
1626; Eebecca, 1628; Mary, 1630; Rose, 1632; Joseph, 1634; Nathaniel,
1638; James, 1640; and Hannah, 1642.

(Joseph Porter, who came to Great Swamp, was a descendant of the
eldest son of the first John Porter.)

Samuel Porter married, in 1659, Hannah Stanley, daughter of
Thomas Stanley.

Hezekiah Porter, b. 1665, their son, married Hannah Cowles.

Timothy Porter, their son, married Hannah Goodwin.

Aaron Porter, their son, married Rhoda Sage.

Isaac Porter, b. 1755, their son, married Hepzibah North.

Olive Porter, 1782, married Richard Wilcox.

Mary Olive Wilcox, 1812, married Alfred North.

Catharine M. North, 1840.
Among the descendants of Samuel Porter and Hannah Stanley were
Israel Putnam, Clarence Steadman, U. S. Grant, Grover Cleveland, Thomas
W. Higginson, and John Brown.

104 HISTOET OF BERLIN

was laid for building a new meeting house, lie was appointed
to collect the tax.

Mr. Burnham was in ill health for a long time before his
death, and the people began early to look about for candidates
to preach "on probation" with view of settlement.

In 1742 Joseph Porter went to Stratford and brought up a
Mr. Judson, who assisted Mr. Bumhaan and boarded with the
Porters. The society voted £7. 16s. as compensation to Mr.
Porter for his journey to Stratford, and for entertaining Mr.
Judson, and his horse.

Mr. Burnham rallied so that he continued to preach until
near his last days. From 1750 for more than six years the
church was without a settled minister.

Mr. Samuel Clark of "Elizabeth town" was installed as
the successor of Mr. Burnham, July 14, 1756. When the
society was divided he chose to go with the Kensington parish
and remained with that church until his death, November 6,
1775.

The records of the church, as placed in the hands of Mr.
Clark at the time of his settlement, were in his words "very
imperfect and broken." A little girl said, "Papa, I have
cleaned out your pocket book for you, I burned up all those old
dirty papers, and put back just the clean ones." Her father
nearly fainted. Those old papers were his family records that
never could be replaced. Mr. Burnham's statistics, if he kept
them, have never been found, possibly some neat housekeeper
threw them into the fire. Mr. Clark proceeded at once to make
a list of "Such as were members when I came."

In this list of 1756 were the names of Joseph Porter and
his wife Hannah (Joanna ?). Their son Samuel Porter, bom
June 1, 1750, married June 14, 1779, Mindwell Griswold, of
Windsor. She died in 1810 and he married, second, 1812,
widow Elizabeth Percival, mother of the poet, James G.
Percival. Mrs. Percival had another son, Oswin. At his
death, about 1870, the family was extinct. A bureau full of
his mother's personal belongings was sold at public auction
from the house next south of the old Worthington church.

THE POETEE FAMILY

105

Among the articles were an immense green silk bonnet with a
great, black lace, embroidered veil and fine hand-woven linen
sheets. A beautiful bead handbag was struck off to a pack
peddler who chanced along. Colonel William Bulkeley was the
auctioneer.

William Bulkeley, Jr., bought a chest with its contents. In
it, besides a lot of old books, was a piece of metal, black as
iron, which proved to be a masonic jewel, of silver, worn as a
watch charm. In size it is two and one-quarter inches long,
one and three-quarter inches wide. Around the edge in front
is a motto, with number and name of owner, as follows :

AMOE HONOE ET JUSTITIA A. M. 5Y91, JAMES PEROI-
VAi JJTKR.

On the back appears the motto :

DsT THE LOED IS ALL OUE TEUST.

Under skull and cross bones is a coffin, on which are the
words "Memento Mori." Both sides are covered with masonic
emblems exquisitely engraved.

Dr. James Percival, father of James G., was Worshipful
Master of Harmony Lodge, 1797-1801, which then met in
Berlin.

Eev. J. T. Pettee, of Meriden, who has examined this jewel,
says that the number, 5791, corresponds with 1791 of the
Christian era, and it shows that Dr. Percival wore the badge
sixteen years before his death, January 21, 1807.

In the course of time the Bumham parsonage and farm came
into possession of Samuel Porter. Of the eleven children bom
there, to him and his wife, Mindwell, nine lived to maturity.
Their names were Samuel, Nathaniel, Mindwell, Almira,
Laura, Norman, Joanna, Chloe and Sophia.

Samuel, bom November 22, 1780, settled in Philadelphia.
Three of the sisters, Mindwell, second wife of Jesse Hart,
Almira, wife 5f Blakeslee Barnes, and Sophia, who was mar-
ried late in life to Joseph Camp of Newington, left in widow-

106 HISTOET OF BERLIN

hood, joined forces and kept house at the Squire Daniel Dunbar
place, on Worthington Street.

Joanna was married to John Ariadne Hart, botanist and
physician. He practiced in Berlin for awhile before his
removal to Natchez, where he died of yellow fever October 23,
1822, aged thirty-two years.

Sophia, born February 19, 1797, went to Natchez with her
sister, and afterwards taught school in Philadelphia. She
used to say that while there she took lessons on the piano, and
had learned to play "Robin Adair," when, somehow, it hap-
pened that she got married and that ended it. She died at
Newington, October 21, 1891, at the age of ninety-four. In
her latter years she did not know the faces of her lifelong
neighbors, but to the last she could make a beautiful prayer.

Norman Porter, bom December 12, 1789, married in 1823,
Abby Galpin, daughter of Col. Joseph Galpin, half sister of
Mrs. Seth Deming, and a lovely woman she was. Their wedding
journey was to Lexington, Ky., the first part of the way by
stage, then over the mountains they had to ride on the backs
of mules. When the time came for them to return they rode
all the way on horseback.

ITr. Porter, in his business as merchant at Lexington, gained
what was considered, in his day, a small fortune.

The town records at New Britain show that in 1824-5 Nor-
man Porter bought out the right of the other heirs in his
father's estate. The deeds were signed by Mindwell Hart and
Jesse Hart, Ohloe Peck and Everard Peck, and Almira Barnes,
all of Berlin ; by Samuel Porter of Philadelphia, Joanna Haxt
and Sophia Porter of Natchez, and by Norman Porter of
Lexington.

A life interest in the place was reserved for the father,
Samuel, who died January 22, 1838, aged eighty-eight years.
Then Norman, who had come back to his native town, planned
to built a new house, finer than any to be seen in this region.
He decided to use the homestead site, and wished to tear down
the old house, but his sisters, who loved the place, begged him
to move it off, and to please them he consented. The way was

THE POETEE FAMILY

107

narrow and the house was wide. It stuck fast in the road and
remained there several weeks. Finally, however, it was landed
on the new site, opposite the Berlin town house, where it
stands to this day. The work of removal cost more than the
house was worth when settled, except for the sentiment.

The sisters used to like to go and look over the rooms, J&Ued
with dear associations, hut there came a day — the time of IVEra.
Camp's last visit there, when, as she stepped over the threshold
of the east sitting room door, she turned and said to her com-
panion : "Let us go away, it does not look like home here now."

Mrs. Emily (Galpin) Bacon, a niece of Mrs. JSTorman Porter,
remembers that once, when she visited her aunt in the old house,
Sophia Porter (Mrs. Camp) led her up into one of the chambers
to see the silk worms she was raising. As she fed them their
supper of mulberry leaves they made as much noise as a horse
champing. In one comer of the room Mrs. Camp showed her
how she reeled the silk from the cocoons.

This house was photographed in the nick of time. Soon
afterward a carpenter, in want of a job, persuaded the owner
to let him cut off the west half. He said there would be lumber
enough in it to build another house. It was said that the lumber
was of no use when razed, but the proportions of the old
parsonage were ruined.

Mrs. Frank D. Jamison, a great-granddaughter of Samuel
Porter, after reading the account of the removal of the Burn-
ham-Porter house, recalled this story:

The carpenter, when consulted in regard to drawing the
house away, advised against it, saying that the building was so
old that it would not "pay."

"Can you move it ?" asked Mr. Porter.

"Yes," replied the carpenter, "I can move it." "Then
move it!" said Mr. Porter, "It is none of your business
whether it will pay or not."

Mrs. Jamison's mother, Mrs. Jane Porter Hart Dodd, who,
after the death of her father, Jesse Hart, lived with her widowed
mother at her grandfather's, remembers that attached to the
main house was a long line of back buildings that seemed

108 HISTORY OF BEELIW

interminable to the child. Besides the place piled with many
cords of wood for winter fires, there was a room nsed as a dairy,
and another was filled, in autumn, with vegetables and fragrant
apples.

Town Clerk William Bulkeley was at the raising of Norman
Porter's grand new house. A thunder shower came up that
afternoon, and he, with all the other boys, ran into the barn
for protection.

Mr. Porter was a fine looking man, erect of carriage, and
gentlemanly in bearing; quick of step, energetic and full of
business; always doing something, or going somewhere. It
is said that he went to Hartford nearly every day. His farm,
which he adored, was cultivated for pleasure, not for profit.
Here were found all the new fruits and flowers — and labor-
saving inventions. Japonicas bloomed in the windows, tulips,
lilies and strange new shrubs bordered the walks. Grapes,
Isabellas and Oatawbas, climbed over arbors; Bartlett pears
and Seckels grew in the garden, a delicious revelation to the
neighbors, who were welcome to take grafts. Children, who
had never seen strawberries growing except in the fields, heard
with wonder that over at Mr. Norman Porter's there were beds
of cultivated strawberries which bore so full that they were
left to decay on the vines. Mrs. Dodd has told us of the con-
sternation created when Uncle ISTorman cooked and ate the
fruit of the tomato he brought home from Kentucky.

South of the house was a hot-bed, filled in the spring with
"green things growing."

There was a patent gate at the driveway, west of the house,
that opened and closed automatically by a series of levers under-
neath, as the horses stepped upon and off the platform, that
slanted down to the ground on either side.

When Mr. Porter heard that Daniel Buck of Windsor had
a wonderful new breed of cows from Island of Alderney, he
took his neighbor, Cyrus Koot, and drove up to see the cows
and the butter. Not long afterward a herd of twenty or thirty
of those Aldemeys were grazing in the pastures on the Porter
farm.

THE POETEK BAMILY

109

The large horse barn, east of the house, was burned after the
place came into the possession of Richard Murray.

The field south of the Christian Lane school house, called
the Lee lot, came into the possession of Mr. Porter, and when
he was about sixty years old he planted it full of apple trees.
When asked why, at his time of life, he should set out apple
trees, he replied, "I expect , to live to send fruit from this
orchard to Queen Victoria." He did live to gather a bountiful
harvest of apples from what came to be known as the "prize
orchard of the state."

The trees were started in this way. Seeds from common
apples were planted and cultivated. In the fall of the second
year the saplings were pulled and stored in the cellar, where,
during the winter, they were grafted. In five years from seed
the trees were in bearing.

Gyrus Hoot, Jr., who is the authority for this description,
gives a list of the variety of apples, all grown on the Lee lot.
It includes the Baldwin, Peck's Pleasant, Roxbury Russet,
Hubbardston's Nonesuch, Belden, Sweet, Yellow Bell-flower,
Grravenstein, Sweet Russet, and Rhode Island Greening. There
were also Porter and spice apples there. Mrs. Webber used to
dry the spice apples on shares.

In after years it was sad to see that orchard browned, as
by fire, from the ravages of canker worms.

Mr. Porter was fond of children. He even allowed them to
swing, on that patent gate. One day a little girl who lived in
that neighborhood started to walk over to Upson's store in
Kensington, on an errand for her mother. She lost her money
in the road, and began to cry. Presently Mr. Porter met her
and asked her why she cried. Then he took money from his
own pocket, gave it to her, and sent her on her way, gratefully
happy.

On Sunday the Porter horses always knew that they were
to stop and add to their load any woman or child walking
toward the village church.

In his zeal for town and village improvement, Mr. Porter
sometimes gave offense by urging people beyond their inclina-

110 HISTOET OF BEELIW

tions. One day as he came up tke street lie stopped to speak
with a housewife out in her yard, and said: "You ought to
have a fountain here." She straightened herself up with
hauteur and said, "Can't you make a few more suggestions,
Mr. Porter?"

In 1849, when subscriptions were solicited for the new
church in Worthington, the name of N^orman Porter was placed
on the paper for $1,000. In 1852, when the recently-built
spire was found so defective as to be in danger of falling to
the ground, he subscribed $125 toward repairs. Again, in
1855, after the great revival, under Mr. Love, when galleries
were added to the church, he gave $200. On these subscrip-
tion papers may be seen the name of Captain JSTormau Peck,
who matched Mr. Porter by giving $1,000 for the new church
in 1849, $125 for repair of spire, in 1852, and $200, for
galleries in 1855. Samuel C. Wilcox, who contribut-ed $300
in 1849, gave $100 in 1852, and $200 in 1855.

Normaoi Porter died January 20, 1863, aged seventy-three
years, as recorded on his white marble monument in the Bridge
cemetery.

Norman Porter, Jr., only child of his parents, born in Ken-
tucky, was in sympathy with southern life and, in the autumn
of 1863, as soon as he could settle up the family affairs after
his father's death, he removed to San Jose, California. His
vsdfe, Hannah, was the eldest of three daughters of Captain
Peck. Their children, born in Berlin, were Mary, Arthur,
Margaret and Evangeline. Two daughters, Anna and Eliza-
beth, were bom in San Jose.

Arthur has been successful in the business of silver mining
in Nevada.

After the recent earthquake the family felt unsettled. They
said the only safe place they could think of was Berlin.

The mother of Norman Porter, Jr., was bom in 1796. She
went with her son to spend her declining years in San Jose,
and died there at the age of ninety-six.

We do not know the history of the little brown house opposite
the Porter place. James Richardson, a shoemaker, lived there
many years.

THE POETEE FAMILY

111

In 1Y86, Isaac Nortli, Jr., for tke consideration of £22,
deeded six acres of land to his son, Abel. This land lies on
the north side of the road coming toward the village from
Christian Lane, and the house, with brick basement, thereon
standing, long known as the Pollard place, was built by Abel
ISTorth, whose wife was Sarah Wilcox. She used to bake most
excellent shortcakes on a slanting board, before the open fire.

The place next east of Abel ISTorth's, now used as a town
home, was occupied early in the last century by Blakeslee
Barnes, who married Almira Porter, one of the daughters of
Samuel Porter.

Mr. Barnes had unusual natural business faculty, and in his
occupation as a tinner, conducted, with a number of apprentices,
in a shop near his home, he was quite prosperous. Denied the
advantages of schools in boyhood, he studied, after he began
business, to make up his lack of book knowledge.

Leonard Pattison learned his trade of Mr. Barnes and then
went to Lexington to work for Norman Porter.

After a while Mr. Barnes moved up on to the street where he
died, August 1, 1823, aged forty-two years. It is supposed that
he built the house which he occupied, and which was afterward
purchased and remodeled by Captain Peck, now owned by
Daniel Webster.

The town of Berlin bought the Town farm, with buildings
thereon, ISTovember 7, 1833, of Seth Deming, described by him
as "the place where I now live." In the cellar, fastened firmly
into the wall, are two iron rings, once used to secure charges of
the town who were violently insane. There was a fine brass
knocker on the front door of the house, and Mrs. Laura
(Barnes) Willard, who was bom there in 1808, obtained it
from the Selectmen in exchange for a modem bell.

We have been reminded that one of the tenants of the Burn-
ham-Porter house, after its removal, was Edmund Kidder, a
useful, honest, steady, sober man, who died there February 23,
1885, aged one hundred years, six months and six days. He
was one of the oldest Free Masons in the country, but was

112 HISTOET OF BEELIlir

unable to attend their meetings in Ms old age. He voted for
Jefferson in 1804.

Born in Fairfield, Conn., in 1784, his father died when he
was eleven years old, and at the age of thirteen he shipped on
hoard a merchantman for the East Indies. He made a three-
years' cruise and sailed around the world. Later he took up'
the trade of stone mason. He worked at various odd tasks
in the neighborhood up to his last summer and could swing an
axe as well as a man of sixty. He was fond of reading, and
was always pleased to receive copies of the Sailor's Magazine.

A bachelor up to the age of fifty-seven, he then married, in
1841, Lydia Fielding Johnson, widow of Shadrack Johnson,
of Hartford, twenty-five years his junior, and they had three
children. Mrs. Henry Moore, whose first husband was Darius
Kichardson, was a daughter of Mrs. Kidder's first marriage.
The only father she ever knew was her mother's second husband.

Edmund Kidder was buried at the south side of the family
lot in Maple Cemetery, l^ext north is the grave of Mrs. Kidder,
who died October 26, 1888, aged seventy-nine. These two
graves are unmarked. 'Next north of the father and mother
lies a daughter, whose stone bears the following inscription:

Elizabeth T. Lamb, Daughter of E. E. and L. F. Kidder, Born
Jan. 17, 1842 Died July 22d 1861.

Opposite the town house, on what is now a barren field sur-
rounding the Porter farmhouse, as it came to be called, there
stood, within the memory of some now living, a grove of wal-
nut trees. Farther south, near the Middletown turnpike, were
many grand old trees of walnut, chestnut, and oak, spared from
the ancient forest, so dense were they as to hide the prospect
from one road to the other. Here, village picnics were held.

One year, Clark Talbott attempted to run the old tavern as
a temperance house. To help eke out expenses he served a
Fourth of July dinner, spread on tables in the shade of those
trees. The tickets were sold for seventy-five cents each, and the
people in their desire to assist the temperance landlord, all
went forth to dine with him on the occasion.

THE POETEE FAMILY

113

One Sunday school picnic on that ground is especially remem-
bered, in the time of Mr. Love, when Miss Mary Talcott, a
successful Sunday school teacher, was active in trying to make
everybody have a good time. One of the boys, now in Washing-
ton, D. C, recalls his first experience with ice cream that day,
and a girl, now gray-haired, wishes she could have another piece
of the delectable sponge cake made by Mrs. Florence Brande-
gee. Her receipt called for ten eggs, their weight in sugar,
the weight of six eggs in flour, juice and grated rind of one
lemon, and a saltspoonful of salt. As for the rest it depended
on the skill in mixing and baking.

At that time, on the south side of the turnpike, opposite the
Porter grove, were acres of land covered with trees and under-
growth, known as Captain Peck's woods. Another piece of
woodland, west of the Abel !N"orth house, which until quite
recently remained uncut, was very attractive to the lover of
wild flowers.

Almira Barnes, daughter of "Blakslee Barns," was married
to Thomas G. Fletcher, a lawyer of ISTew York. City. They
had two sons, Frank H., bom 1831, married Helen Clapp;
and Charles S., bom 1833. Mrs. Fletcher died in 1835. A
deed on record at New Britain shows that she came to the age
of twenty-one JNTovember 15, 1833, and in that year Esquire
Dunbar sold for her, buildings ajid land that came to her from
her father's estate. The property conveyed consisted in part
of a lot, once owned by Samuel Porter, situated southwesterly
from Riverside or Bridge Cemetery, with bam, "Cider-mill
house" and "Still house" thereon.

A clump of trees, on a rise of ground, by a bend in the stream,
about flfteen rods south of the road, marks the site of the
distillery. Aunt Mindwell Hart said it was a wonder that they
were not all drunkards, with so much cider brandy around. It
is not known that any of the family ever were drunkards.,
ISTorman Porter was a strong temperance man, and so outspoken
as to gain the ill will of men of different views. One day, as
he drove up to the post office, at Mr. Galpin's store, a young
rowdy stepped up to him, with a horsewhip, and gave him a

114 HISTORY OF BEELIIT

thrashing. Mr. Porter was an old man then, and the act was
severely condemned by the community.

Captain Peck bought Mrs. Fletcher's property and the "still"
was turned into a dwelling house. Peter Mullen lived there
and worked for the captain. His wife, with an abundance of
water running close by her kitchen door, took in washing.

A boy who lived there came to the district school, his head
alive with pediculus capitis. Colonies of the pest soon swarmed.
Teacher and pupil shared alike in the invasion, and careful
mothers cried "Mercy on us" when they found what their
boys and girls brought home from school. Kerosene was not
then on the market, and one poor woman sent to a neighbor to
ask the loan of her fine tooth comb. She said she wanted to
use it to comb the lice from her children's heads.

This still house was sold to E. S. Kirby, who moved it over
near the railroad station, where it was used as a liquor saloon.

In the deed of conveyance from Mrs. Hetcher in 1833, the
"Point house" was included. It was described as occupied by
Samuel Durand. A part of this house which still stands near-
est the point, east of the cemetery, was made from Blakeslee
Barnes's tinshop^ moved from the north side of his house up on
the "Street." The names "blue house," "blue house ceme-
tery" and "blue house bridge"-^the north bridge — ^were given
because, as before stated, the house was once painted blue. This
dwelling house was remodelled by John Staveley.

A short distance farther east brings us to another point of
land. The deeds of this place show that it was purchased
itsTovember 6, 1832, by Cyrus Root, from Samuel A. Hamlin,
and that on the same day he sold it to Horace Sheldon for
the price of $400. The house was then there but not the brick
shop, which was built by Sheldon who was a blacksmith and
shod stage horses. On April 2, 1835, he sold out for $1,200
to Benjamin R. Fanning, who was also a blacksmith. In the
Riverside cemetery, on a little stone is the following inscription :

Clarence Lee, only child of Benj. E. Fanning and Charlotte
Fanning, d. May 28th, 1854, aged 3 yrs. 4 mos.
How many hopes lie blasted here.

THE POETEE TAMILT 115

Mr. Fanning had an unusually bright mind, but the loss
of this little son embittered his soul and he could never rise
above the blow. His wife, a refined, gentle, home body, died
September 2, 1885, aged seventy-four years. Mr. Fanning
married again and removed to Portland, where he died February
6, 1892, aged eighty-one years.

The Fanning place is now the home of Alonzo Sweet and
his wife, Alice Wilson [Dillings] Sweet. The large open field
opposite, on the south side of the way, was owned, a hundred
years ago, by Pete Galpin, who was seventy-seven years old in
1808. On November 7 of that year he sold, to Amos and Elisha
Edwards, for $100, sixty-five rods off from the east end of
that lot. It was bounded south by Jesse Hart, which shows
that Mr. Hart then owned the hotel property.

Amos and' Elisha Edwards were brothers of Josiah Edwards,
who kept the store on the northwest comer at the top of this
hill. They built a house, bam and shop, on their land, and
then, September 23, 1816, sold the property to John Lee, 2d,
son of Captain James Lee of Bristol. He was born May 28,
1766, and married at the age of twenty^two, Abigail Gerome.
The children began to come the next year, and seventeen years
later, thirteen had been born to them. Unfortunately, the last
six died young, and the mother followed them to a "land of
rest." In 1809, the father married, second, widow Charlotte
(Dorr) 'NeS. She brought to his home at least one child of her
first marriage, Delia Neflf, who became the wife of Nelson
Atwood (grandparents of Clarence Atwood).

The names of the Lee children were: Jeptha, John, Henry, .
Juba, Abigail, Edward, Aurilla, Jerome, Ebenezer, Lucy, Lucy,
Polly, and William. Then, after the second marriage, three
more children, Edmund, Charlotte, and Sally, came to bless
the Lee household.

Charlotte was the wife of Benjamin Fanning; her brother,
Edmund Francis Lee, married Melvina Allen, "daughter of
Thomas G. Addison, a descendant of Joseph Addison, Prime
Minister of England and author of the Spectator. He was
a civil engineer of some note at Louisville, Ky.," where he

116 HISTOET OF BEELISr

died July 15, 1857. Edward Gaylord Lee died at Janesville,
Wis., in 1862. He liad four sons and one grandson in the
Civil War. John Lee, the father, his two sons, Jeptha and
Henry, and William Palmiter, the husband of his daughter,
Aurilla, were all in the War of 1812.

John Lee came to Berlin from Burlington in 1816. He
was a blacksmith, and shod stage horses in his shop, which
stood east of the house. He died August 18, 1844, at the
age of seventy-eight years. His wife, Charlotte, died Septem-
ber 3, 1836, aged sixty-four years. Their graves are at
Riverside. The Lee place is now owned by Dr. K. E. Ensign.

At a town meeting held in December, 1785, it was voted
"That the Parish of Worthington may erect a Pound in sd
Parish at their ovna expense, in such place as shall be most
convenient."

Where the first pound was situated we do not know, but
within the memory of the oldest inhabitant, it was east of John
Lee's blacksmith shop. It was about fifty by thirty-six feet
in size, and was surrounded by a strong high fence. When
animals were inside, a row of boys' sat on the top rail of that
fence. James Eichardson had six sheep that lived on the high-
way, and whenever a neighbor's gate chanced to be left open,
in rushed that flock to trample and destroy the garden. One
day, when the hayward was half seas over, he came across those
sheep and drove them to pound. That ended the nuisance.

Once a large flock of sheep owned by a butcher were
impounded there. The owner refused to reclaim them and one
morning the sheep all lay on the ground with their throats
neatly cut, as if by butcher. If animals were not redeemed
within a certain time they were sold by the town.

Daniel Galpin, constable, sold at auction, July 23, 1802,
six sheep that had been impounded. They were struck off to
the highest bidder for $4.78.

When creatures fed on the commons it was customary to
mark them, and to have the mark recorded. Some of those
marks, taken from the early records, are as follows :

THE POETEE FAMILY

117

Elishama Brandegee Jr. Ear Mark is a hole in Each Ear and a
Bobtail. Eecorded May 21st, 1811.

Eoger Eiley's Ear Marke is half crop under the Eight Ear and
also a Bole'd tail. Eecorded March 22, 1800.

Samuel Wilcox Mark is a half penny underside the right ear, a
slit between the head & the half penny & Crop of the left ear.
Eecorded Nov. 21st, 1792.

Until within a few years a front fence was an expensive
necessity. The iron fence, removed not long since from the
front of the village church, was intended to last forever. The
bill for this fence, dated April 6, 1853, sent to Norman Porter
and committtee, was for $378.00.

The pound, which was a part of the hotel property, was sold.
May 26, 1883, hy Landlord Henry Gwatkins, to Alfred Worth,
for $100 cash, and with this lift, Mr. Gwatkins took his wife
on a trip back to their old home in England.

The small dwelling house, of which the pound is now the
south yard, was built about 1880 by Albert Holt to rent as a
market.

A description has already been given of the Edwards
carriage factory that stood opposite the John Lee place. The
tinners' business, now conducted on that site by Homer E.
Damon, was established by James B. Carpenter and S. 0.
Wilcox, and afterwards continued by Lorenzo Lamb, now of
Hartford.

This hill, known for over forty years as "Deacon ISTorth's
Hill," was formerly a quagmire when the frost was coming
out of the ground.

Mrs. Almira Barnes died March 29, 1858, while away on a
visit. She was brought home, and, as the procession attempted
to come up the hill, the carriages stuck fast in the deep mud.
Soon after this Deacon North took from the town a year's
contract for repair of roads. He dug a trench, three feet wide
and three feet deep, in the center of this hill, from the top
down to the tinshop, and filled the space solid with stones.
Another springy place that he made firm was over east of Wil-
liam Bulkeley's. He spent more than he received for his
year's contract.

CHAPTEE VI.

The Boot Family. — The "Lee House" and Us Occupants.

John Eoot, one of the early settlers in Farmington, was the
ancestor of the Christian Lane families of that name. His will,
dated April 21, 1684, reads as follows :

I, John Koote, sen. of the town of Farmington do make this my
last will & Testana.ent: I give to my wife Mary Roote a constant
comfortable maintenance to be paid to her by my Executors during
her widowhood and £20. But in Case she marry again, I give her
£20 more, and then the Constant maintenance to cease. I doe
solemnly charge my sons Joseph & Caleb, as long as the care of their
Mother shall be incumbent upon them to carry very dutiful! and
tenderly toward her & see from time to time that she want nothing
for her comfortable support, and I hope that the Overseers of this
my will will have an eye to this care. To each of my sons which
are already married, 20 shillings; & to my gr children 5 shillings.
I give to my daughter Mary, the wife of Isaac Brunson £15. I do
confirm, to my son Steven Koote the 20 acres of land which I engaged
upon his marriage with, his Wife that now is.

I give to my son Joseph both my Loonas with all the Tackling. To
my sons Caleb & Joseph I give the remainder of my Estate

Stephen Root, son of John, and father of the John who came
to Great Swamp, was called the "Giant of Farmington." He
was well built and of herculean strength and powers. In
height he was six feet and six inches. He was one of the
greatest racers of his day and was never outrun except by an
Indian. He was in the Narragansett war and was in the fight
when the fort was destroyed. He carried a sword and a huge
musket, now held as priceless family treasures.

In his will, dated October 16, 1716, Stephen Eoot gave to
his son, John Eoot, "a pair of brown steers," all his "wear-
ing clothes," and "half his husbandry tools." John, bom at
Farmington, 1685, was already hard at work clearing up a farm

THE BOOT FAMILY

119

in Great Swamp. The ground was covered with bushes and
wild grapevines, and those brown steers had a plenty of exercise.

John Root was strongly built, with broad shoulders and large
hands, but he was not so tall by eight inches as his father,
Stephen, and those wearing clothes would make over nicely for
him. Besides clothes were clothes in the days when women
carded, spun, and wove the material, and cut and made every
garment that went on to the backs of the family.

John Eoot married July 10, 1716, Margaret, daughter of
Col. John Strong of Farmington. Their house, which is still
standing on the west side of the way at the south end of Chris-
tian Lane, unchanged as built in 1712, is a rare model of the
homes in which our ancestors dwelt two hundred years ago.
The bam was built in 1706.

Are not these two buildings the oldest in town ?

Dwight Hoot and his sisters, the Misses Elizabeth and Han-
nah Root, children of the late Timothy Root, are the last of
five successive generations who have lived on this farm. The
family have in their possession the deeds by which the once
extensive farm was acquired by John Root. One given by
Ebenezer Gilbert is dated June 4, 1708.

The oldest deed of all is signed by Samuel Oxuis (his mark) .
Sounds like an Indian name. The land is described in three
parcels "known as the widow Oxuis her land," witnessed
before Thomas Hart, Justice.

Attached to the deed is a paper signed by mark E of Eliza-
beth, mother of Samuel Oxuis, by which she gives her well
beloved son power of attorney to sell her land.

John Root was never sick in his life until three days before
his death, when he had lung fever. He and his wife were
buried in the Christian Lane cemetery. Their inscriptions
read as follows :

Mr. John Eoot, d. Nov. 16th, 1764, aged 80.

Margaret, wife of John Eoot d. Apr. 20th, 1751, aged 60.

Their son, John Root, married May 26, 1762, Anna, daugh-
ter of Dr. Joseph and Elizabeth HoUister Steele. He was six

120 HISTOET OB- BEELIBT

feet two inches in height, with large shoulders, and was remark-
able for strength and agility. Foot races were very popular
in his day and he was one of the greatest runners Berlin ever
produced. He ran a race with John Judd, with a log chain
wound around his body, and defeated him. He died ISTovember
8, 1781, aged fifty-eight, after a sickness of sixty days of lung
fever.

Asahel Eoot, bom February 11, 1Y66, son of John Eoot and
Elizabeth Steele Eoot, married Hannah Goodrich, sister of
"Uncle" John Goodrich. Asahel Eoot died August 2, 1818,
aged fifty-two. Hannah, his wife, died in 1847, aged seventy-
seven. Their eight children were: Jesse, Asahel, Amos,
Cyrus, Samuel, Timothy, Eebecca, and Hannah, all born in
the Eoot house, still standing.

Jesse, who was a school teacher, lived with his brother Timo-
thy, on the homestead, and died unmarried, January 22, 1852,
aged sixty-two. He was the genealogist of the family, and to
him we are indebted for many of the facts given in this account.

The inscription on the gravestone of Asahel Eoot, Jr., in
the Christian Lane burying ground reads as follows :

Asaiel Eoot died at Farinington, Aug. 7th, 1833 aged 40; interred
here. His father Asahel, his grandfather John & his great-grand-
father, John Root, rest near this spot.

The widow of Asahel Eoot, Jr., was married, second, to
Deacon Cyprian Goodrich of Kensington.

Amos Eoot went to ISTew York State as a school teacher, and
married there, in 1830, Orpha Stanton. They came to Berlin
and lived for a time in the old Elishama Brandegee house.
Afterward their home was in Meriden. They had thirteen
children, nine sons and four daughters. Of the sons, Joseph,
Eeuben, Timothy, and Cyrus were soldiers in the Civil War.

Benjamin, the youngest son, has held for many years a place
of responsibility in the Bridgeport post office.

Mrs. Amos Eoot died in Meriden in 1896, aged eighty-nine.

THE EOOT FAMILY

121

Cyrus Eoot, who married, in 1829, Delia A. Stocking of
Blue Hills, purchased the Oswin Stanley place, over on the
road leading from the Eoot farm to the railroad station. The
house, on the south side of the way, its roof with the long
hack slant called a "lean-to" or "linter," still stands. The
great farm bam opposite the house was destroyed by fire a
few years since. Besides the care of his farm, Mr. Boot owned
a blacksmith shop, east of the bam, where horses and cattle
of the neighborhood were shod.

A daughter, Leontine, born to Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus Eoot,
died in 1853, at the age of nineteen. She was buried up in
their lot, easterly from the house, where her broken-hearted
mother could see the grave from her sitting room window.

The cousins remember Aunt Delia Ann as sitting by that
window, crying.

Cyrus Eoot died October 2, 1879, aged eighty-one years.
As the farm was then to go out of the family, he was carried
to Blue Hills for burial, and Leontine was taken there also.

Cyrus Eoot, son of Cyrus, the only surviving child, is in
the Department of the Interior, at Washington. His mother
died in his home at High Eidge, Md., February 12, 1897,
aged eighty-seven years and four months.

Samuel, son of Asahel and Hannah (Goodrich) Boot, was
an East India merchant and died on a vessel at sea. Two of
his sons, Samuel and William Boot, are in business in Buf-
falo, IT. Y.

Timothy Eoot, who remained on the homestead, married
Eliza Wilcox of Canton, Conn. He was paralyzed by a fall
from a tree, and remained an invalid for several years, until
his death, January 10, 1864, at the age of fifty-four.

He and his daughter Eliza, who died of consumption in
December, 1873, at the age of twenty-one, were buried in the
lot at the side of Leontine Eoot, but when that land was sold
they were removed to Christian Lane cemetery.

As has been stated elsewhere, Bebecca Boot was the second
wife of Samuel Durand. In giving the names of the children

122 HISTOEY OF BERLIN

of Mr. Durand and his first wife, Eloisa (Lewis), that of
Mrs. Jennette A. Durand Cox was omitted,

Asahel Eoot, Sr., had an elder brother John, and when he
married Mary Gilbert, daughter of Ebenezer and Mary (But-
trick) Gilbert, a new house was built for them next north of
the old place. Their children were Lois, Sarah, Harriet, John,
George, Mary, and Amanda.

The women of this family as well as the men were tall, and
of a commanding presence. Asahel was six feet two inches in
height. One father of six sons, all measuring six feet, used
to speak of his thirty-six feet of (Root) boys.

The inscriptions on the stones of John and Mary (Gilbert)
Eoot, in the Christian Lane burying ground, read as follows :

Mr. John Eoot b. Apr. 4, 1764, d. Aug. 27, 1827 aged 63. [After
two years' illness of consumption].
Mrs. Mary, wife of Mr. Jolm Eoot, d Sept. 18th, 1823, aged 54.

John, son of John and Mary (Gilbert) Root, married Mary
Brown and remained on his father's place until 1840, when he
removed with his family to Hanover, a little way south of
Buffalo, N. Y. It is said that his son, John, bom in Berlin,
1838, was the sixth John Root in succession. He became a
lawyer, in practice in Buffalo, where he died of consumption,
unmarried.

Elihu Root, Secretary of State, is a descendant of the first
John Root, of Farmington.

After 1840, the John Root house was occupied by Daniel
TuUer, a Second Adventist preacher, so many years that it
came to be known as the TuUer place.

Mrs. TuUer, who was a fine woman, helped to meet the
family expenses by teaching school in her home district, at
first, it is said, in a school house that stood on the west side
of the road, southerly from the Edward Deming house. One
night, after the school was dismissed, a teacher, not Mrs. TuUer,
deposited on the entry floor a pile of cold ashes. The next
morning nothing remained of the building but a pile of hot
ashes.

THE EOOT FAMILY

123

Mrs. TuUer taught as late as in the fifties in the new school
house on the corner south of Lardner Deming's, and her pupils,
to this day, speak of her with affection.

The TuUers had a son, Baxter, who won the admiration of
the school girls by standing on his head. They were very
sorry for him because his father, a stern man, used to shut him
up in a barrel when he was naughty.

When the Tullers moved away, Edward Deming bought their
place. It was rented to Elder Joseph Morse when his son
Joseph, who now lives in East Berlin, was six months old.

Stephen Belden, Joseph ISTorth, John Y. Wilcox, and others
lived there. When Cyrus Eoot, Jr., was first married, he
rented the place and it was made quite attractive with large
windows, a porch and fresh paint.

Luke Foiren was the next owner of whom we have record.
He lost his health, and his brother-in-law, August Splettstoeszer,
came into possession of the property. Soon after that the house
was burned and a new one was built in its place.

While Mr. TuUer was in Berlin, he used to hold services
in the houses of the neighborhood. Mrs. Cornelia Deming
Stowe remembers that he came to her father's house, and that
he hung pictures and charts all around the walls to use in
illustrating his subject.

By careful study of the prophesies, the Adventists demon-
strated that the world was to come to an end in 1843. The
month and day were set, some say it was April 23, others give
October as the time.

Deacon Charles Webster remembers that when he was a lad,
a camp meeting was held, a good three-quarters of a mile away
from his father's house and they at home could hear the sing-
ing across the hills^ — ^words as well as tune — so lusty were the
voices. One favorite shouting piece, as well as can be recalled,

ran this way :

We'U all go up in a chariot of fire;

I long to sing Hosanna, —
The devil's mad and I am glad;

I long to sing Hosanna.
In 1843

I long to sing Hosanna.

124 HISTOET OP BBELIIT

Cyrus Webster, father of Charles, went over to the camp
to hear one of the sermons, in which the preacher declared
that as sure as the Bible was true the world would come to an
end in 1843.

That year a brilliant comet with an enormous tail, 200,-
000,000 miles in length, appeared in the sky. It came within
32,000 miles of the sun, and a slight change in its course
would have caused a collision.

The Adventists believed that the comet was sent to destroy
the earth by fire, but that the righteous would be caught up
into heaven.

One of the signs of the times had been the wonderful display
of shooting stars of November 13, 1833. Now, in 1843, lights
were seen flickering in graveyards and yellow streaks crossed
the tombstones. As the time drew near, great excitement pre-
vailed, even among unbelievers. Timid women were fright-
ened nearly out of their senses, and children, who listened to
the conversation of their elders, feared to .step outside the door
after dark.

The story is told of one man who thought he could go up as
did Elijah. He mounted a pine tree in his yard and in sight
of a crowd, threw up his arms — and came to the ground with
many a bruise.

Miss Fannie Eobbins remembers that in Wethersfield, when
the appointed day came, their next door neighbor, a very
excitable man, came out of his house holding in his hands a
family Bible, which he continued to read as he paced back and
forth in his driveway.

A member of this sect, an estimable lady, who lived in Chris-
tian Lane, was the widow of a man who, previous to 1840,
was a prosperous merchant in a nearby city. He became a
convert to the new doctrine, sold out his business, and invited
his "time brethren" to come and share his home, which they
did until his means were exhausted. Then, reduced to poverty
and still on earth in the flesh, he had to go to work. He bought
and sold rags, took smallpox, and died in an attic.

A lady who lives in the village of Berlin relates this incident
of her childhood. She was invited, with a company of little

THE EOOT BAMILY

125

girls, to a candy pull. While they were having their fun the
father of their young hostess, an Adventist, came into the room
and reproved them for their hilarity. He said they ought to
be singing hymns.

Children had to suffer persecution for their parents' belief.
A boy and girl kept at home from school, to be ready for the
eventful day, were confronted on their return by caricatures
on the blackboard which represented their ascension, and the
girl was teased to wear her robe to school. What wonder that
she was deeply hurt and that she cried !

Stephen Belden, when a little fellow, heard his father and
mother talk of the great change at hand. One day the child
went into a blacksmith shop and said, "Did you know that
the world was coming to an end?" The only reply was a
stunning oath from the blacksmith.

The year 1843 passed, and a new calculation set the time for
the Advent forward to October 22, 1844. Other dates have
been made. !N"ot many years since, a lad in this town when
told that on a certain day the end would come, let himself
down into a well to escape the general doom.

Antoinette Root, or ITettie as she was called, the youngest
of the four daughters of Timothy Eoot, was a skillful organist.
She played the large cabinet organ in the Worthington Congre-
gational Church for some years, and then accepted a position
as organist at the Baptist church in E"ew Britain. She was
married to Waldo Curtis and went to Winsted, Conn., where
she still lives, a widow, with one daughter, Maud, who was
recently married.

Christian Lane road, as at first laid out, ran east of the old
church and of the Seth Deming house. Later, its course was
changed.

Vol. II of Berlin Land Records contains the following peti-
tion:

To the Inhabitants of the Town of Berlin to be convened in Town
meeting on Monday the 11th of Instant April (1814) the petition
of the Subscribers. Inhabitants of the town of Berlin humbly
Shusith ( ?) that thei road leading from John Root to Capt. Seth
Deming Is very crooked and lyeth across ground Extreamly Bad to

126 HISTOEY OF BEELIW

pass for a Considerable part of the year and that an alteration might
be made with but very little expence to the towm that would be very
Beneficial for the Inhabitants to get their Children to School and
for a Considerable number of the Inhabitants to go to and from
meeting as weU as to the adjoining town, the Subscribers therefore
pray said town to direct their Selectmen to open a road from near
Said roots dwelling house In Worthington to Capt, Seth Deming's
Dwelling house and compensate for the same by Exchanging of any
publick Lands in Said School district or any other way they shall
adjudge best for said Town.

(Signed) Samuel Porter, Seth Deming, Thomas Gilbert, Moses
Gilbert, Thomas Booth, Asaiel Blin, Joseph Wright, Aziel Belden,
Norman Porter, John Goodrich, Jr., Abel Worth, Hezekiah Stanley,
Thomas Hart 2.

The Boot family have some traditions of tke Indians.

The red man was fond of the white man's cider, and O'ften,
when the door was opened in response to a soft knock, an
Indian would appear and say in a low voice, "Got any eider ?"
The people used tO' give them a little because, if offended, the
Indians would stand off and run full tilt at the door and try
to break it in. Those doors were double planked, double
barred, and sometimes driven full of spikes. Dwight Eoot
remembers hearing that once a company of Indians came along
and asked his grandfather Asahel for some cider. He told them
they could have it if they would not fight. They promised not
to, drank the cider and went away quietly, but fell to fighting
before they were out of sight of the house.

It was a common occurrence to see an Indian peeking around
the corner of the Eoot bam.

Cyrus Eoot, Jr., now of Washington, D. C, gives by letter
the following incidents : "About that Indian story. As I heard
it, there were in Connecticut two tribes who were at enmity.
One of these Indians was helping my ancestor, I think it was
my great-grandfather, John Eoot, with his annual spring clean-
ing of the barn yard, when he saw in the distance one of his
foes approaching. Instantly he dropped down in the filth of
the yard and told the man to cover him up with the litter.
ISTo sooner was this done than the other Indian came to the

THE EOOT FAMILY 127

yard and asked if they liad seen a man of sucli a tribe, men-
tioning the name, pass by. He was answered in the negative,
for he had not 'passed by.'

During my father's boyhood days, the early days of the
nineteenth century, Indians frequently came to his father's
house begging for cider. Window shades and blinds were little
used in those days. My father related to me that one night
his parents were away and he was left at home to care for the
younger children. They were sitting in darkness because they
were afraid to have a light. Suddenly a man with a dusky face
appeared at the window and said : 'I see you, you are at home.'
Happily, the Indian turned and went away, much to my
father's relief.

People were careful not to offend the Indians, for with their
long memories and revengeful dispositions, one never knew
when the blow might fall."

Mr. Eoot in his letter gives other reminiscences of interest
as related to him by his father, Cyrus Koot.

Referring to the Eev. Mr. Johns he says : "He was a Welsh-
man and an exceedingly arbitrary man. In those days every-
one was expected to attend divine service, and no ordinary
excuse would answer for absence from 'meeting.' He was
accustomed to go among his parishioners and scold them for
not 'going to meeting.' A clergyman's word was accepted
without protest. It would never do to have any back talk
with a minister of the gospel.

Children meeting the Eev. Johns on the highway had to stop ;
the girls to make a low courtesy, and the boys to remove the
hat and reverently bow. He considered himself too digaified
to return the salutation, but woe be to the boy or girl who
failed to give him the proper salutation. The offense was duly
reported to the parents and an application of the rod would
follow.- Sometimes boys, rather than meet him, would make a
circuit through the fields."

Mr. Eoot brings to mind an incident of the sixties, which
illustrates the strong character of Josiah Robbins, father of
Miss Fannie Bobbins.

128 HISTOEY OP BBRLIKT

It was the first Monday in April, and Mr. Kobbins was
driving over to Kensington to cast bis vote for State officers
who were tben, and up to 1876, elected in the spring. Near
where the driving park now is, he overtook an old man plod-
ding along with a cane through the mud, which in those days
was knee-deep in places. Mr. Eobbins halted and asked the
man to ride. The conversation turned at once to politics and
the passenger began to rant about Lincoln. Mr. Kobbins

stopped his horse and said : "Mr. , get right out of my

carriage, I will not carry to the polls a man who talks as you
have done about so good a man as Abraham Lincoln."

Opposite the Timothy Root house, on the east side of the
way, was a "Lee house," long since gone to decay, and the
piece of land next south of the schoolhouse, on this street,
was knovTn as the "Lee lot."

John Lee, emigrant, settler in Farmington, married in 1658,
Mary, daughter of Stephen Hart of Farmington. John Lee
and Stephen Hart both ovsmed land in Great Swamp, and
Stephen Lee, son of John, with his nephew Jonathan Lee,
came over this side of the mountain to improve the property.

Captain Stephen Lee married October 1, 1690, Elizabeth
Royce of Wallingford, and they had ten children. His name
stands first after the minister as one of the seven male members,
and Elizabeth was one of the three women who were organized
into the Christian Lane church December 10, 1712.

Stephen Lee was captain of the militia, and was one of the
most influential men in the society.

His inscription in the Christian Lane cemetery reads as
follows :

Stephen Lee, one of ye first settlers of ye society and church of
Christ in Kensington, etc. d. June 7, 1753, in the 87th year of his age.

Elizabeth, his wife, died May 3, 1760.

Jonathan Lee, son of John, grandson of John the emigrant,
received from his father a tract of land in Great Swamp,

THE BOOT FAMILY

129

which, was known as "the Island" for the reason that it was
higher than the surrounding land. He was chosen rate-maker
and lister of tbe parish in 1714, and was made deacon of the
church. In 1Y16 he was seated in the "3d pue" of the meet-
ing house. By trade he was a blacksmith. He married June
4, 1T13, Mary Root. Their six children wore named Mary,
Elizabeth, Lucy, Euth, John, and Eunice.

The gravestones of Jonathan Lee and Mary, his wife, in
the Christian Lane cemetery, bear the following inscriptions :

Deacon Jonathan Lee, b. Mar. 20, 1686, d. Jan. 16th, 1758.
Mary Root, widow of Dea. Jonathan Lee d. Sep. 14th, 1764.

Ensign John Lee, only son of Jonathan and Mary Eoot Lee,
born April 20, 1725, married May 7, 1752, Sarah Cole. They
were members of the first Kensington church, of which he was
one of the deacons. They came into the Worthington church
at the time of its organization in 1775, and he was chosen a
member of the church committee. May 1, 1776. Deacon John
Lee died January 21, 1796, aged seventy. Sarah, his wife,
died April 5, 1800, at the age of seventy. Their graves are in
the Bridge Cemetery. Three of their sons, Jonathan, Orrin,
and Samuel, were soldiers in the Revolutionary War.

Jonathan, born October 3, 1755, died in the service.

Orrin, bom October 13, 1757, was a drummer. By occupa-
tion he was a blacksmith. He married December 2, 1784,
Charlotte, daughter of Captain Samuel Hart, sister of Mrs.
Emma Hart Willard. He represented the town of Berlin in
the State legislature in 1805. It is said that he removed to
Granby, Conn.

Samuel was taken prisoner and confined in one of the prison
ships in !N"ew York Harbor, where he was so nearly starved
that when he had the good fortune to catch a rat, he declared
it to be the sweetest meat he ever tasted.

Lieutenant John, the youngest son of Deacon John Lee, mar-
ried ISTovember 6, 1789, Mary Hart, another sister of Mrs. Wil-
lard. They lived in Blue Hills, Kensington, Their daughter
Lucy was the wife of Albert ISTorton.
9

130 HISTOEY OF BERLIN

On the way througli Christian Lane one place was not men-
tioned. Down the street that now ends at the river, east of
the schoolhonse, on the south side of the way, there stands a
house now occupied by George H. Kipple, which was built
by Linsley Austin. He bought the lot for twenty-five dollars,
March 3, 1846, from Gyrus Eoot, who stipulated in the deed
that if Mr. Austin should wish to sell, he, Mr. Koot, should
have an opportunity to take the place at a fair price.

George Austin, brother of Linsley, lived there afterward,
and John Hudson Webber, whose first wife, Laura Lucretia,
was a sister of the Austins, owned. the place for five years
previous to 1858.

The Mattabesett at that point, in summer time, was about
twenty feet wide, and two or three feet deep.

John H. Webber, Jr., who was three years old when the
family moved there, relates the following thrilling incident:
One day his sister, Mary, started to go across the lots to visit
Uncle George, who then lived up on the Hartford turnpike.
As she was going over the water on the plank that served as a
footbridge, a furious woodchuck came out of his hole in the
bank and chased her. The child was terribly frightened and ran
screaming back to the house. Her father, with an old-fashioned
pitchfork, came to her rescue, ran it through the animal, pinned
him to the ground, and told Mary to go on her way.

CHAPTER VII.

The Denting Family. — John Deming, the Settler.

There were other families in Christian Lane, to whom we
must now turn.

The Demings were early on that ground. John Deming,
settler at Wethersfield, in 1635, was a prominent and influential
man. He married about 1637, Honor Treat, daughter of
Eichard Treat, brother of Governor Robert Treat.

Their ten children were: John (Sergeant), Jonathan
(Sergeant), Samuel, David, Ebenezer, Rachel, Frances, Mary,
Hannah, and Sarah.

John Deming, by his will, proven !N"ovember 21, 1705, gives
to his son Jonathan his fifty-acre lot at, the west side of the
bounds.

Sergeant Jonathan Deming, born 1639, married first, Novem-
ber 21, 1660, Sarah Graves, who died June 5, 1668, the day
of the birth of her fourth child.

The baby, a girl, was named "Comfort." She became the
wife of !N"athaniel Beckley, son of Richard, of Beckley Quar-
ter, and they — Comfort and Ifathaniel Beckley- — were the
ancestors of many Berlin families.

Jonathan Deming married second, December 2S, 1673,
Elizabeth Gilbert, and they had eight children. The names
of the twelve were : Jonathan ; Sarah, married Jonathan Riley,
uncle of Squire Roger Riley; Mary, married Joseph Smith;
Comfort, married JSTathaniel Beckley. By second marriage:
Elusia, shortened to "Luce," married John Edwards; Eliza-
beth, married Richard Beckley, grandson of Richard the settler ;
Thomas, Charles, Benjamin, Jacob, Mary, and Anna.

Sergeant Jonathan Deming's home lot of one and one-half
acres was on Broad Street, Wethersfield. He died January 8,
1699-1700. Elizabeth, his wife, died September 3, 1714.

132 HISTORY OF EBELIN

According to Wethersfield land records, Thomas Morton bought
of Jacob Deming, March 12, 1712-13, a tract of land at Eocky
Hill "formerly Jonathan Deming's (father of Jacob, and who
had removed back to Far)." We are coming near home now.
According to Stiles, Jacob Deming (Jonathan, John), bom
December 20, 1689, married November 3, 1Y09, Dinah (daugh-
ter of Josiah) Churchill, who died October 3, 1751, aged sixty-
nine.

In the Christian Lane burying ground is this inscription :

Mrs. Dinah wife of Mr. Jacob Deming, died Oct. 3, 1751, M 69.

When the meeting house at Great Swamp was seated, in
1716-17, Jacob Deming was given a place in the second seat,
along with Samuel Peeke, Steven Cellsey, and Caleb Oouls.

At a meeting of the Society of Kensington December 7, 1730,
Jacob Deming was appointed one of "a committee to order
the prudentials for a school for this Society for the year
ensuing."

On the minister's rate bill for 1720, Jacob Deming received
credit for "V-/2 bush corn & 1% pt a Is. 2y2d."

There was another Jacob Deming — Ensign Jacob, born 1713,
who, with his wife, liUcy, joined the Worthington church in
1775. This Jacob died July 29, 1791, aged seventy-seven
years. His wife, Lucy, died March 7, 1802, aged eighty-one.
Their graves are in the Beckley cemetery. The births of two
of the children of the first Jacob and his wife, Dinah, are
recorded in Wethersfield; that of their son Moses, born Sep-
tember 8, 1720, is recorded at Farmington.

Moses Deming and his wife, Sarah (Cole), were members in
1756 of the first church of Kensington and they joined the
Worthington church February, 1775.

Sarah (Cole) Deming died December 25, 1802, aged eighty-
four. "Mr. Moses Deming, died January 16, 1795, aged
seventy-four years and four months." Their graves are in
Christian Lane.

Of the children of Moses Deming and Sarah Cole, his wife:
Seth, born 1749, married Hannah Gilbert; Sarah, born 1753,
was the second wife of Lieutenant Eoger Eiley; Anna, born

THE DEMIWG FAMILY 133

1755, was the second wife of Landlord Elijali Loveland;
Lardner, born 1765, married first, Mary (daughter Solomon)
Dunham, who died February 5, 1815, aged forty-six. He
married second, Sarah Griswold (Williams), who died October
29, 1852, aged seventy-three years. Their graves are in the
Bridge Cemetery at Worthington.

There were two other sons, Moses and John.

Land records show that Moses Deming, Sr., deeded land in
Christian Lane to his son Moses, January 4, 1792 ; to his
son Seth, 1784-1792, and to his son Lardner, 1789, 1792, and
1794.

(Thus far, this Deming line, with the help of Miss Julia
Roys and Miss Kuth Galpin, has been constructed from many
sources, a little here and a little there, without the help of a
local family history. We believe it to be correct.)

Moses Deming, son of Jacob, conveyed in 1789, to his son,
Moses, Jr., thirty-six acres of land with dwelling house thereon,
bounded east on Samuel IsTorth, west and south on highway,
north on Charles Nott, reserving to himself use and improve-
ment of north lot which was his father's.

We do not know anything more of this Moses Deming, Jr.
From the description of the property conveyed to him it is
inferred to be that long known as the Edward Deming corner,
where the meeting house formerly stood, and it is probable that
Seth Deming, grandfather of Edward A., came into possession
of his brother's place.

Eight here is a good opportunity to say that the memorial
tablet placed near this corner, which has been credited to the
Berlin chapter, D. A. R., was the gift of members of the Euth
Hart chapter of Meriden, Conn.

A statement has been made that Eoger Eiley, elected town
clerk in 1798, continued in office, with the exception of one
year, until 1814. It has been found that the last year of
Squire Eiley's service was in 1816, and that in the meantime,
Sylvester Wells and Seth Deming served, each one year.

The town meeting reports for 1804 were signed by Seth
Deming, Town Clerk. It may be of interest to know what were
some of the exciting questions discussed at those early town

134 HISTORY OF BEELIIT

meetings. Koads were uppermost, tlien came the use of the
"commons."

At a meeting held January 25, 1803, it was voted :

Ist, that the town will do something in restraining Creatures from
running at large in the Highway. Voted, that all horses and mules
shall be Eestrained from running on the Highways at large.

Voted 2nd, The selectmen with Ezra Scovell, James North Esq.,
and Jedediah Sage, are appointed a committee whose duty it shall
be to designate the poor people that shall have liberty to have one
cow Each in the Highway.

Voted, further that every man who is not a voter in any of our
meetings But pays taxes and does Military duty shall have liberty
to have one Cow go at large on the Highway in the day time only.

Voted, that all horn cattle shall be restrained from running at
Large in the Highway Excepting the Cow Belonging to the poor
people and them to be designated by the aforesaid committee who
are appointed for that purpose.

Again February 25, 1803 :

Voted that all Hog kind may go at large in the Highway through
the year they being well yoked and a good ring in their nose.

(Editor Beale: — ^Would it not be a good idea to revive this
law to apply to some of the drivers of automobiles on our modern
highways ?)

Voted: that sheep shall not run at large on the Highways without
a keeper.

Voted: that geese shall be restrained from going In the Highway
without some person to take care of, and keep them out of mischief.

Voted: that all creatures running at large & which are hereby
prohibited shall be subject to a penalty or fine as follows :

For all horse kind and for Horn Cattle. Each one dollar. And
for Sheep one shilling pr head. And for Geese Nine pence pr head.

Thirteen haywards were appointed at this time, and the town
clerk was directed to "put the doings of the meeting into some
publick newspaper." Another meeting was held April 18,
1803, "For purpose of making By Laws for restraining Horses,
Mules, Cattle, Swine, Sheep, & Geese, or any of them from going
at Large."

TUB DEMING FAMILY

135

This first stringent effort at village improvement seems not
to have met with approval. The next year, April 9, 1804, it
■was voted: "that Laws md April 18, 1803 for purpose of
restraining Horses, Mules, Oattle, Swine, sheep & Geese from
going at Large on the commons of this Town be repealed and
be no longer in force.

'Test Seth Deming Town Clerk"

In Vol. 1, page 514, of the old Berlin Town Eecords appears
the following entry :

Seth Deming was born May 21st, 1Y48. Harinah Gilbert daughter
o£ Mr. Ebenr Gilbert of Middletown was bom April Yth, 1758 ; was
married together 11th of June ITYY.
Children :

Hannah bom 31 March 1778.
Seth bom 28 March 1781.
Fenn Wadsworth bom 13 January 1783.
Demas bom 22 March 1787.
Sophia bom 10 February 1793.
Capt. Seth Deming died March 11, 1827, aged 79.
Hannah widow of Capt. Seth Deming died Feb. 9, 1838 aged 79.
Sophia dau. of Capt. Seth and Hannah Deming died July 31st
1826 aged 32.

They were buried opposite the Christian Lane cemetery in
a lot on the Deming farm. The graves were enclosed by a high
brick wall, which was afterward replaced by Demas Deming
with an iron fence.

Sophia Galpin, born September 4, 1783, was a daughter of
Deacon Joseph Galpin, who lived opposite the house now known
as the Doctor Brandegee place. Sophia was gifted, gay, fond
of music and dancing, and withal very beautiful in person.
Although her father was a deacon, the young girl managed to
attend balls, where she found many admirers. When she was
fourteen, Seth Deming, ten years her senior, made up his mind
that he must have her for his wife, and for fear that he might
lose her if he waited until she grew to womanhood before
speaking, he obtained her promise then, and the two were

136 HISTORY OF BERLIN

betrothed. Soon afterward a young lawyer met Sophia and fell
desperately in love with her, but as she was bonnd to another,
she refused to accept the attentions O'f her new admirer. The
despair of the poor fellow, in consequence, was so great that
he lost his reason and died in an insane asylum. Seth Deming
and Sophia Galpin were married January 29, 1804.

Their children were Seth, Edward, Cornelia M., Julia,
Albert, and Catharine. Mrs. Deming played the organ in the
old church before her marriage and for a year or so afterward.
She was a sweet singer and as they say, her children took after
her. As they grew up there were five of them at one time in
the church choir.

The daughter Catharine died of scarlet fever at the age of
twenty-one. Albert was for a time a member of the firm of
Plumb & Deming at the store recently conducted by Henry N.
Galpin. Afterward he removed to Wisconsin. He had ten
children.

Cornelia M. Deming, second wife of Lyman Dunbar, lived
in Buffalo.

Julia married and went to Canada. Edward A. Deming
went tO' La Harpe, 111., bought a prairie farm, built a log house,
married, and had five children. As he prospered he built a
frame house, the first in the town, which is now a large city.

After the death of Seth Deming, Sr., his son Seth lived on
the old place at the comer, where the first meeting house once
stood. After the sons and daughters had all left them, Mr. and
Mrs. Deming rented the farm for a year and went west to
make a long visit. Mr. Deming spent a year with Edward
at La Harpe, while Mrs. Deming stayed with her daughter in
Buffalo.

A stone in the Bridge Cemetery at Worthington bears the
following inscription :

The grave of Sophia wife of Seth Deming, d. Feb. 23d, 18Y6, aged
92 years. Also in memory of Seth Deming, aged 65 years, and Bruce,
his grandson and son of Albert Deming, aged 9 years. Drowned
in Lake Erie, Atigiist 12, 1845.

THE DEMING FAMILY

13Y

Mr. Deming, when he started to come home from the west,
had with him two children of his son Albert, Ambrose, aged
nine, and Catharine, aged twelve, who were coming east to be
educated.

On the night of August 12, 1845, they were on Lake Erie,
bound for Buffalo, where they were to stop for Mrs. Deming.
Toward morning their boat began to race with another, which
ran into them and cut a large hole in the men's cabin. Every
passenger in that cabin was drowned. The women were saved.
Catharine was taken from a window in her nightdress.

After the death of his father, Edward Deming sold his farm
and made arrangements to come back east in the spring of
1846, to care for his mother in the Christian Lane home.

During the winter preceding, a terrible sickness prevailed
about La Harpe and when Mr. Deming started on his way he
carried in his arms a little wailing sick boy, James, while
Cornelia clung to his side. These were all that were left of
the family. Cornelia, now Mrs. Stowe, has a vivid remem-
brance of that long journey, of the canal boats and of the
sympathy expressed for them. Little James refused to leave
his father, but the women used to take care of Cornelia. The
children were dressed all in black, even to black pantalets.
That !N"ew England air would save the life of the sick child
proved a vain hope. He died in two weeks after they reached
Berlin.

Edward Augustus Deming married second, January 10,
1850, Miss Betsey M. Morse of Litchfield, Conn. They had
four children, a daughter and then twins, a boy and girl, died
in infancy. The fourth, Edward, now lives in Hartford.

Mr.. Deming disposed of the homestead in 1862 to Eush B.
Whitmore, who was the first husband of his daughter Cornelia.
Their two sons, Arthur P. and iN'orman A. Whitmore, made
five generations who dwelt under the same roof.

The Demings obeyed the Horace Greeley injunction, "Go
West, young man. Arthur P. Whitmore is engaged in gold
and silver mining at Denver, Colo., and is the owner of several

138 HISTORY OF BEELIN

claims. His brother, Norman A. Whitmore, is a railroad man
in Nevada,

Mr. Deming came to the village and bought the house now
the parsonage, v^here his wife died November 19, 1886. Then,
after the second marriage of his daughter, he broke up and
spent his declining days with his two children. He died at
the home of Mrs. Stowe in Cromwell, June 15, 1896, in his
ninety-second year. Mr. Whitmore worked the Deming farm
eight years and then sold to Luke Toiren. Now, after passing
through the hands of several owners, it has shared the fate of
other places in the vicinity and is a part of the New Britain
sewerage system. The house is filled with Italians. Mrs.
Stowe remembers that when she was a little girl her grand-
mother Sophia used to send her with pies and cakes over to
Aunt Molly Gilbert's. Cornelia would stop for her friend
Adeline Gilbert to go with her, and they would stay half a
day with Aunt Molly, who seemed to like to have them there.
She was bent double and her hair was white as snow. She kept
a great axe beside the door for defense in case she was molested
at night. Her cow was stabled close to the house, and the hens
sat on the table with her where she ate. When Cornelia came
home she would give her some fresh eggs tied up in a rag.
Mrs. Stowe remembers too that her grandmother used to send
her over to the town house with delicacies for a worthy sick
man there.

Still another memory is of an old forsaken house east of the
Demings, across the river, back of two great maple trees, where
children played, and where tramps slept at night. That house
was torn down sixty years ago. Grandma Deming always
called it the "Steele place." Can any one tell us if that was
the home of Dr. Joseph Steele, on whose land the meeting
house was built ?

Dr. Steele had a son Ebenezer, who was a Revolutionary
soldier. He married August 10, 1749, Sarah (daughter of
David) Sage.

According to Andrews, "She was the mother of thirteen
children, from eight of whom, at the time of her death, March

THE DEMING EAMILY

139

16, 1823, had descended seventy grandchildren, one hundred
and seventy-one great-grandchildren, and twenty-four great-
great-grandchildren, making then in all, 278." Ebenezer
Steele and his vrife lived in this vicinity until after their chil-
dren were born, when they moved to New Britain. Both lived
to the age of ninety-four.

Sixty years ago, diagonally across the way, south from the
Steele place, there were foundations of another old house, all
overgrown with cinnamon roses, tiger lilies, bell flowers, and
"Bouncing Bets."

Grandma Deming said the house was burned. Some woman
lived there who loved flowers. Who was she ?

Further research has thrown more light on the Deming
family. Seth Deming, Sr., whose grave is in the small enclosure
opposite the Christian Lane cemetery, was a soldier in the
War of the Revolution, and was promoted from the rank of
lieutenant to that of captain in the 5 th Regiment, Light Horse
Cavalry.

By a deed drawn in 1784, Moses Deming gave to his son
Seth, land in Worthington Parish, "bounded east on Wethers-
field line, south and west on Highway to extend so far north
from the south highway as to make twelve acres, together with
the dwelling house he lives in, and the bam thereon standing,
which lands I judge to be worth £108 lawful money." This
disposes of the theory that Seth bought out his brother Moses,
whom we must place over in Beckley Quarter. This Moses
died in Whitestown, IST. T., in 1809.

The inventory of his estate included the following item:
One sixty-fifth part of Berlin Academy, appraised at $10.

In 1790 Moses Deming, Sr., deeded another tract of four-
teen acres, to his son Seth, described as being land that he,
Moses, bought of the committee appointed to sell highways and
common lands.

Hannah, daughter of Moses Deming, was the wife of Abijah
Porter, a Revolutionary soldier. She died in 1829, aged sixty-
nine. He married second, Sarah Hubbard, widow of Hart
Hulbert. They lived in Beckley Quarter on the cross street

140 HISTOEY OF BEELIF

next north of Beckley station. The house which stood on the
north side of the way was burned about the year 1845.

The Jacob Deming mentioned, with his wife Lucy, was a
brother of Moses, son of Jacob. Lucy was the daughter of
Hezekiah Hart.

Shortly before the death of Jacob Doming, Jr., July 29,
1791, he deeded land to Israel Deming, as expressed: "In
consideration of the love, esteem and affection I have and do
bear to my cousin Israel Deming."

This Israel Deming was the great-grandfather of Deacon
Erancis Deming of Worthington village. Mr. Deming's line
runs back through Israel, Abraham, Daniel, and Thomas, to
Jonathan and John of Wethersfield.

Demas Deming, youngest son of Oapt. Seth Deming, born
March 22, 1787, was a soldier in the "War of 1812, with the
rank of lieutenant, stationed at ISTew London. He afterward
went into business in Baltimore with General Kipley, father
of the Confederate general of that name.

In 1822 he went to Terre Haute, Indiana, where at that
time there were only a few log cabins. Now, his son Demas is
president of the First ]!^ational Bank of the city of over 36,000
inhabitants. Demas Deming was so fortunate in his invest-
ments and business that he became what was uncommon in
his day, a millionaire. Every summer he brought his wife,
with four children and two servants, back to Christian Lane
to spend a few weeks in the home of his birth. He died at
Terre Haute, March 3, 1865.

Fenn Wadsworth, born January 13, 1783, second son of
Seth Deming, Sr., and his wife, Hannah Gilbert, served in
the War of 1812. He married Sally Loveland. He was a
physician.

Moses Deming, in 1792, "for parental regard and affection,"
deeded to his son Lardner "a tract of land containing twenty
acres more or less, bounded south on highway; east on Isaac
and Abel North; west on my own land; north on Charles
Nott . . . which said piece of land I estimate to be worth
£117, lawful money." The father reserved for his lifetime the
use of wood and feed on said land.

THE DEMING FAMILY

141

Mr. Deming was now three-score and ten years old and lie
seemed to be settling his own estate. We are trying to find the
house where he lived.

In 1Y91 th.e committee for exchanging highways order "Mr.
Moses Deming to open the highway leading from sd Dealing's
to Seth ISTorth's, and that sd Deming be allowed a year to open
and fence sd highway."

The road east from Seth Deming's must be much older than
this, to allow time for bouses built thereon to have fallen into
decay. As long ago as 1716, the town of Wethersfield ordered
a highway through Great Swamp village. The road that runs
east around the little schoolhouse, now ends at the Mattabesett
beyond the house of George H. Ripple, but years ago it extended
on easterly across the lots until it came out on the highway
near the old Isaac Worth house, now owned by Aaron M. Bell.
"Wien Moses Deming was ordered to open this road nothing was
said about bridges. Teams forded the river and foot passengers
crossed on logs or waded as they chose.

The Lardner Deming house stood next north of the school-
house. In 1814, Mr. Deming borrowed $400 of Edmond Bol-
dero and secured the debt by a mortgage deed on his place,
described as "bounded ISTorth on Seth Deming, East on my own
land and partly on Ohas I^ott, South on highway. West on high-
way with dwelling house and other buildings thereon. Being
the Homestead where I now live."

In 1804 Lardner Deming was appointed collector of the
State tax, an office of great responsibility. He married first,
April 5, 1787, Mary Dunham, and they had six or seven chil-
dren. William Riley, the eldest son, married Eunice Strong,
daughter of Priest Nathan Fenn. They removed to ISTew Lyme,
Ohio. Their son, John Deming, invented the celebrated
Deming pump. A daughter of Lardner and Mary Deming was
married to William Crane of Augusta, Ga. Their descendants
are still living in that city.

Jane Augusta Deming, youngest daughter of Lardner Deming
and his second wife, Sarah Griswold (Williams), married Mr.
Ketcham of Birmingham, Ala. ; she died there in 1882. A
daughter, Mrs. Margaret Ketcham Ward, and her family, are

142 HISTOET OF BERLIN

residents of Birmingliam at the present time. George Griswold
Deming, own brother of Mrs. Ketcham, went south with her
and died a few years since at Rome, Ga.

Mrs. Lardner Deming had a daughter, Il^ancy Williams,
by her first marriage, who became the wife of Deacon Cyprian
Goodrich of Kensington. Their two sons, William and Henry
Goodrich, live in Philadelphia. Lardner Deming died Decem-
ber 6, 1855, aged ninety. His farm, with the old red house,
was sold to Albert Belden of Rocky Hill, a Second Adventist.

Mr. Belden, in the belief that the world was coming to an
end in 1843, had disposed of his property, almost giving it
away, and now that the calculation had failed he had to start
anew. His children had not been sent to school, for the reason
that they would have no use for an education, but they felt the
loss of it keenly as they came to maturity. Mr. Belden tore
the old house down, after a few years, and built anew on the
same site. In 1895 the property had changed owners, and the
house was burned to the ground. Still another built there is
now occupied by an estimable Swedish family. Wall by name.

Years ago, a young lady who lived at this Lardner Deming
place was ill a long time. She declared that her head was
turned half way around and no one could convince her to the
contrary. Finally a new physician was called, who, when told
of her trouble, said: "Anybody can see that, but I can set it
right." He twisted her head about this way and that and then
said "Now it is straight," and she said it was.

By permission, the following extracts are given from letters
written by Mrs. Margaret Dunbar Stuart of N'ew York City :

It is a delight to me after all these years to recall our neighbor
Col. Galpin.

Joseph Galpin was a colonel in the Revolutionary War and bore
his erect military carriage at the age of eighty. He was a man of
great personal dignity, of comfortable property and a large pension.

Mrs. Seth Deming, his daughter, was a very beautiful woman
even in extreme old age. Her daughter Cornelia was married to

THE DEMING FAMILY 143

my father's brother, Lyman Dunbar. I called upon her in Buffalo
after she was eighty years old.

Of the family, Mrs. Stuart writes that :

They were the i>erfection of neat and perfect housekeeping. Col.
Galpin's clock was always right. He had not a sun dial but he had
noon marks, and four o'clock marks of the sun shadows by which he
regulated his timepiece. I was often sent there to get the exact time
to set our own clock by. This was before the days of matches. I
have known my mother toward tea-kettle time, summer afternoons,
to send there for a live hickory coal to light our kitchen fire.

Deacon Daniel Galpin was brother to Col. Joseph Galpin and lived
next door to Parson Goodrich, my grandfather. He was of a more
ardent temperament than Col. Galpin. He spoke in prayer meetings,
and was a warm abolitionist.

In a wing of his house was a shop where he whittled logs into
pumps. Also his daughter Mary utilized this shop for her dame
school.

One day there was a sudden noise and my brother, a little boy
saying his lettfers, was greatly pleased to find the Deacon had fallen
over his pump log.

At one time Deacon Galpin put up a sign on his pump shop,
"Anti-Slavery Books for sale here."

This subjected him to some persecution and it was torn down by
the roughs of the village.

Colonel Joseph Galpin died December 26, 1840, aged
eighty-six. Deacon Daniel Galpin died July 9, 1844, aged
eighty-eight.

CHAPTEE VIII.

The Dunhar Family.

(Article found among Miss North's papers, written by
Inglis Stuart.)

The Dunbar family, of Berlin (or of Worthington as it was
first designated), traces its descent as follows: —

Kobert Dunbar,^ bom 1630, settled at Hingbam, Mass.,
165Y, and died there October 5, 1693.

John Dunbar,^ born Hingham, Mass., December 1, 1657,
date of death not ascertained — presumably New Haven, Oonn.

John Dunbar,^ born 1690, died Wallingford, Conn., May
13, 1746.

John Dunbar,* bom Wallingford, Conn., September 28,
1724, died there October 24, 1786.

Aaron Dunbar,® bom Wallingford, Conn., January 13, 1748,
died Plymouth, Conn., date not ascertained.

Daniel Dunbar,® born Plymouth, Conn., March 28, 1774.

Daniel Dunbar came to Worthington about 1800 and died
there (when it bore the present name Berlin) December 28,
1841. He is the one identified with the early history of Berlin,
where all his children were bom.

Edward Ely Dunbar,'^ eldest son of Daniel Dunbar.®

Frederick Dunbar,'' second son.

Daniel Dunbar, Jr.,'' third son.

Margaret Elizabeth Dunbar,'' daughter of Daniel Dunbar.®

Edward Mauran Dunbar,^ son of Edward Ely Dunbar.^

Edward McVey Dunbar,^ son of Edward Mauran Dunbar.^

Margaret Elizabeth Dunbar married Homer H. Stuart ; chil-
dren : —

Katharine Dunbar Stuart,* married John Godfrey Duns-
comb;

Homer Hine Stuart, Jr.,® married Margaret Beckwith
Kenny ;

TI-IB DUJSTBAE BAMILY 145

Inglis Stuart.*

Katharine S. Dunscomb's children, viz. : — ^M^rgaret S. Duns-
comb,® Cecil Dunscomb,® John Carol Dunscomb,® and Godfroi
Dunscomb.®

Homer Hine Stuart, Jr.,® has one child, viz. : — Homer How-
land Stuart.®

The foregoing is the descent as it stands July 20, 1910.

Referring now to the individuals alluded to in the foregoing
chain : —

While the name indicates Lowland Scotch extraction, it is
not, so far as I am aware, known where Eobert^ was bom. His
wife's name was Rose (surname not known). She came with
Robert^ and died October 5, 1693, at Hingham, Mass. Few
details of them have survived. They appear to have been
substantial, respectable individuals in the Hingham Settlement.

John Dunbar^ has left few traces. I think Mrs. E, McCurdy
Salisbury, in her Lyme, Conn., Memorials, traces his descend-
ants in her monograph of the Diodati family. John Dunbar^
married Mattithiah Aldridge of Boston, Mass. She was the
daughter of George (and Catharine) Aldridge (see History of
Mendon, Mass.) and was bom July 10, 1656, married July
4, 1679, and died 1699 (at New Haven ?). The date and place
of the death of John Dunbar^ has not been ascertained with
certainty, but is presumed to have been at New Haven, Conn.,
and to have occurred before the decease of Mattithiah.

John Dunbar^ has left scarcely more than his name. He
married Elizabeth Eenn (bom April 29, 1693, daughter of
Edward Fenn and Mary Thorp) June 14, 1Y16 (see Town Rec-
ords of Wallingford, Conn., Vol. 2, page Y83). John Dunbar*
died May 13, 1746. His wife died November 2, 1751.

John Dunbar* (references to him will be found in History
of Plymouth, Conn., by Senator Atwater, who is one of his
descendants) was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, and,
with the exception of his son Moses, all of his sons served with
him in the same regiment. He married Temperance Hall
(bom April 16, 1727, daughter of Jonathan Hall and Dinah
Andrews), November 8, 1743 (see Town Records Wallingford,
10

14-6 HISTOEY OF BERLIN

Ooim., Vol. 1, page 546), and died October 24, 1Y86, His
wife died in May, 1770.

Aaron Dunbar^ is also referred to in the Atwater History.
The date of his death is not at hand, but as he lived in Ply-
mouth, Conn., it presumably can be obtained from there. He
was a man of very fine appearance in his later years, despite
the fact that he was totally blind. He married Mary Potter
March 26, 1773. She died July 18, 1827.

Daniel Dunbar graduated in the Class of 1794, Yale, and
was a Phi Beta Kappa man. For a time he was an instructor
in Williams College, Williamstown, Mass. He then went to
Litchfield, Conn., and studied law. While at Litchfield he
roomed at the same house with Frederick Wolcott and Samuel
Whittelsey, and it is a notable fact that the three comrades
married three sisters. Frederick Wolcott married Sarah
Worthington Goodrich, Samuel Whittelsey married Abigail
Goodrich, while Daniel Dunbar married Katharine Chauncey
Goodrich. These were three of the daughters of Rev. Samuel
Goodrich and Elizabeth Ely. Daniel Dunbar* married Kath-
arine Chauncey Goodrich at Berlin, September 12, 1817. She
was born at Kidgefield,' Conn., December 4, 1791, and died at
Berlin, Conn., October 15, 1873. (See Goodrich Family, also
Chauncey Memorials.)

Daniel Dunbar was usually called Squire Dunbar. He built
and lived in a house nearly opposite the Congregational church.
He had a good practice as a lawyer and was greatly beloved.
He represented the town in the legislature, but was averse to
public office. He was especially painstaking in looking after
the affairs of the poor and unfortunate, and it was with diffi-
culty that he could be induced to send in his bills. He settled
the estate of Captain Newell, and the heirs were so pleased with
his mangement that they presented him, as a token of esteem,
with a pair of tall silver candlesticks and a beautiful silver
tray containing an inkwell and a sander for blotting. He was
a portly, ruddy-faced man, with blue eyes and white hair, and
full of fun and geniality. He suffered a stroke of paralysis
some months before his death, which left him helpless, but it

THE DUNBAE FAMILY

147

was a curious fact that during this period of incapacity he
used to read his Hebrew Bihle without difficulty. The shock
was brought on by family misfortune. His son Edward, who
had engaged in business in Boston, was involved, while abroad,
by the poor judgment of a partner, and Daniel Dunbar insisted
on coming to the rescue although not in any wise liable. This
took a great part of his property, but it enabled Edward to
meet the firm obligations. Then the sudden death of his son
Daniel was a great grief. Both these misfortunes took place
close together.

Edward Ely Dunbar was named after an uncle on the
maternal side, who lived at Goshen, E". T. In early life
Edward went to Boston and entered the establishment of Abbott
Lawrence. His business qualifications soon were apparent and
he was sent to England to buy goods. On his return he formed
a partnership, — Dunbar & Motley, — and the firm's prospects
were good, but, as stated, his partner did not use sound judg-
ment and Edward returned from another voyage to find the
firm badly involved. After this he went to ISTew York and
became a partner of Lewis and Arthur Tappan. Here he
recouped himself, but had a disagreement with his partners
and about 1845 withdrew. After the close of the Mexican War
he traveled in Mexico and returned from there in 1848. In
November of that year, he started for California and crossed
the Isthmus of Panama, arriving at San Erancisco in January,
1849. He amassed a fortune there in a short time. He opened
the first mint and the gold coins of Dunbar & Company were
widely knovyn and to-day bring enormous prices at coin sales.
He came east about 1852, and, after a brief season of leisure,
organized with Col. Sam Colt of Hartford, Conn., a corpora-
tion entitled "The Sonora Exploration Co." He undertook the
leadership of the expedition and led it through what is now
Southern Arizona and the State of Sonora in Mexico. There
was great hardship and it laid the foundation of the disease
from which he died — consumption. Once they were out of
water and came near perishing. In a valley a tiny spring was
discovered and he took his station with a teaspoon and doled

148 HISTOET OF BEELIM"

out the water to each man in turn, not taking a drop himself
until they had all had a supply. He was bitten by a rattlesnake
and only the prompt drinking of a quantity of whiskey pulled
him through. They discovered exceedingly rich silver ore
ledges on the site of what many years later was known as
Tombstone, but the hostility of the Apaches and the long route
to the coast rendered it impracticable to work the mines.
Returning to New York he resided on a fine estate near Sailors'
Snug Harbor, overlooking the Bay. In 1859 he married, at
Providence, R. I., Mrs. Sophia Sterry Dunbar. She was the
widow of Henry Dunbar of Baltimore. The relationship was
remote. Mrs. Dunbar had two children : Henry Jr., who died
at Panama in 1883, and Sophia, who married Henry D. Hill
of Brooklyn, N. T.

Edward Mauran Dunbar was born at Staten Island, ~N. Y.,
in 1860. About the date the war broke out, Mr. Dunbar
organized the Continental Bank E'ote Company. His health,
however, was giving way and he was obliged to travel. In
hope of finding benefit in the tropics, he went to South America,
but the journey was too late and he died at Montevideo,
February, 1870, and he was buried on the Isle of Flores. He
was a man of wonderful executive ability, but his imperious
temper, which could brook no contradiction, stood in the way of
success. He pointed out the road to fortune which other and
less gifted men followed to the goal. He wrote "Eldorado,"
an account of Sutter's discovery of gold in California, and
was president of the Traveler's Club of ISTew York.

Frederick Dunbar went early to ISTew York and with James
M. Brown and Frederick Seaver formed the firm of Brown,
Seaver & Dunbar, which lasted several years. Mr. Brown
withdrew to enter the banking firm of Brown Bros. & Co.,
which exists to-day. Mr. Dunbar then went to California where
he arrived October, 1849. He was very successful and was
rated as a very wealthy man, and had made all his preparations
to return when a disastrous fire occurred and all his capital
was swept away. The blow was so stunning that his reason
was upset and he was unable to engage thereafter in business.
He died, never having married, in July, 1892.

THE DUWBAE FAMILY 149

Daniel Dunbar, Jr., was a youth of fine promise, a diligent
and attentive scholar, and a very neat letter writer. He was
not very strong, and in the fall of 1838 he was sent to St. Mary's
Eiver, Fla., where his cousin, Asaph Dunbar, was operating a
saw mill. He stayed tintil spring. He died of appendicitis
on May 28, 1839. Here is an anecdote. That forenoon his
little sister was left in the room with him for a few moments.
The sunlight, falling through the leafage of the crabapple tree,
flecked the counterpane with light and shade as the breeze
gently stirred the boughs. Daniel's eyes rested on the rippling
shadows. He knew that he was dying and he said, "This is
a beautiful world. In a few moments I shall have fathomed
the deep mystery." Just then others entered and the little
sister crept away. Daniel died that afternoon.

CHAPTER IX.

Church History of Berlin. — Early History of the "New
Ecclesiastical Society." — The Divisions of the Society. —
History of Christian Lane Cemetery. — The Rev. William
Burnham and his Family. — History of South Cemetery. —
Incidents in the History of the Worthington Church. — Deacon
Amos Hosford.

The story of the first settlement in Christian Lane in 1686,
on land bequeathed to Ebenezer Gilbert, and of the Seymour
Stockade, built of stakes, set sixteen feet high, with a fort
within, and cabins for the settlers, who gathered there at night
for mutual protection from the dreaded Indians, is familiar to
us all, and we have been told that in 1Y05 permission was
granted the fourteen families of Great Swamp village to have
a minister and a meeting house of their own.

The new Ecclesiastical Society, which comprised parts of
Earmington, Wethersfield, and Middletown, was formed in
1705, but seven years passed before the meeting house was
ready. December 10, 1712, a church of ten members was
organized, and on the same day the Rev. William Burnham
was ordained and settled as its minister. Mr. Burnham was
then twenty-eight years of age. He was the son of William
Burnham of Wethersfield, was graduated from Harvard in
1702, and had already preached for the new society three years.

The "7 pillars" of the church were : Mr. Burnham, Stephen
Lee, Thomas Hart, Anthony Judd, Samuel Seymour, Thomas
ISTorth, and Caleb Cowles. These, with the wives of Stephen
Lee, Thomas Hart, and Samuel Seymour, were the original ten
members of the Christian Lane church.

Anthony Judd was the first deacon, confirmed and ordained
by a solemn service, after a two-years' term of probation.

Soon after the church was formed, it was agreed "that the
members should hold conference meetings on the first days of

CHURCH HISTORY OF BERLIN 151

every Month in the year, to begin about 2 hours before sun-
set at the Meeting house, and sd meeting shall begin with prayer
by one of the Brethren, who shall propose a Text of Scripture,
and a question or questions, on the same, in writing, then to
be discoursed on, by his next brother, by House row, by word
or by writing, if sd Brother shall see cause. And the Pastor
of the Church, and the sd brother from whom an answer is
expected at any Meeting, shall at the same meeting lay down
the Text of Scripture, and the question or the questions thereon
arising to be discoursed on at the next meeting, to his next
neighbor successively, till every brother in the Church has taken
his turn, then he shall begin again who first proposed the ques-
tion, and so on successively."

It was also agreed that "none should be present at sd. con-
ference, but those in full communion, but by liberty from the
church."

It was taken for granted that the women, if present at those
conference meetings, "kept silence."

Two years later, January 11, 1714, the society voted "To
build a pulpit and seats in number and form as foUoweth, to
say, two pues on each side of the pulpit, and three long seats on
each side of the brode alley to be left from the pulpit to the
east door of said meeting house, leaving convenient allies
toward ye north and south dores." "The said pulpit and pues
to be built batten fashen."

The work was not completed until 1Y16, when the "decent
and fashionable cushing" was ordered for the new desk.

This little church, with four short pews and six long seats,
soon proved inadequate for the growing congregation, and, in
1720, a contract was made with Kichard Austin and Moses
Bull, of Hartford, to put in galleries: They to receive in
payment, "£31 in Bills of credit .... or else in good
Mercha[ndise], Wheat, rye, or Indian Corn, at the price the
Merchants generally in Hartford or Wethersfield will accept
the said sorts of grain in way of payment of debt due to them."
The contractors' agreed to "put and trim decently 4 pillars to
be set under the beams of said galleries .... the said
committee providing suitable pieces of timber hewed square."

i52 HISTOET OF BEBLIN

The galleries, witb four seats in eacli side gallery and eight
seats in the front gallery, were to be "finished workmanlike —
after the manner of the work in the Galleries in Farmington
Meeting-house."

The heartburnings caused when the meeting house was seated
according to "age, list, and whatever makes a man honorable,"
have not been recorded. At the annual meeting: "1 Dec.
1724, it was voted & agreed that Thos Hart & Saml Bronson,
jun. should oversee ye Youth on ye Sabbaths in the time of
exercise, to Restrain them from unreverent behaviors therein,
for the year ensuing." !N"ot long after the new galleries were
completed the house was again found too small. Families who
had come into the Society and settled miles away from Chris-
tian Lane also complained that they were "under great dif-
ficulty to attend the public worship of God by reason of the
length and badness of travel especially at some seasons of the
year."

A vote of the Society was taken January 26, 1729, to build
a new meeting house over on Seagt. John Norton's lot. The
vote stood forty-two in the affirmative and thirty-six in the
negative. This new location was near the Milo Hotchkiss place,
more than a mile southwest from the old house. The troubles
that followed have been told by the Rev. W. W. Woodworth in
these words :

The seeds of forty years of strife were in that vote. Serious diffi-
culties arose respecting the location. Recourse was had in the most
solemn manner to the lot to decide the question. An advisory coun-
cil was called to decide what the lot did not settle. The council
advised that the site indicated hy the lot was the place pointed out
by Providence to build the meeting house upon ; but the people would
not build it there. The General Assembly of the colony was next
appealed to. In May, 1732, that body appointed a committee to
repair to the parish, view the circumstances, and fix the place for
building the meeting-house.

The committee fulfilled their trust and "pitched down a
stake in Deacon Thomas Hart's home lot." The society would
take no measures for building there, and in October, 1732, the
General court "ordered, directed, and empowered the constable

CHTJECH HISTOET OF BERLIN 153

of the town of Farinington to assess and gather of the inhabi-
tants of Kensington ninepence on the pound of the polls and
ratable estate on said society, and deliver it to the treasurer
of the colony ; who was ordered, on receipt thereof ; to pay out
the same to Captain John Marsh, Capt. Thomas Seymour, and
Mr. John Church, all of Hartford, who were appointed and
empowered to be a committee, or any two of them, to erect
and finish a meeting-house, at the place aforesaid, for the society
aforesaid." Kensington Society at that time comprised nearly
all of the present town of Berlin, and a part of New Britain.

This Hartford committee "speedily and effectually" did
their work. They erected a house, "60 feet in length and 45
in breadth, containing in the whole about 1500 persons." This
house, built "about one rod south of an apple tree, partly dead,"
in Deacon Hart's home lot, was on the north side of the high-
way leading from the Town house to the railroad station, not
far from the corner, west of the dwelling house of the late
Cyrus Hoot.

Oak timbers from the first church building were used in a
cow-house on the Gilbert place.

The Berlin chapter, D. A. R., secured one of these timbers,
which they have had made into picture frames. The more
worm-eaten holes, the choicer the frame.

The first division of the ancient Society of Kensington came
in 1Y54, when, at the May session of the General Assembly, it
was enacted "that there be another Ecclesiastical Society
Erected & Made .... within ye bounds of Earmington ....
& shall be "known by the name of 'New Briton."

The question of this division had been agitated since 1739,
when the inhabitants of the north part of the parish petitioned
"for liberty of four months to meet at some convenient place
for the ease of our travel to attend the public worship of God."

When the New Britain church was formed, April 19, 1758,
fifty of its sixty-eight members were received from the Kensing-

154: HISTORY OP BEELIIT

ton church. One hundred and seventy-four remained with the
mother church.

That meeting house, built so "speedily" by the Hartford
committee, seems not to have been appreciated. According to
the Colonial records, Thomas Hart and others, inhabitants of
the Society of Kensington, sent a memorial to the General
Assembly of 1764,

Representing that the meeting house in said Society for many-
years last past has been decaying and for want of proper & season-
able repairs is becoming very indecent and not fit and comfortable for
the purpose of public worship, and that the different sentiments of
the inhabitants of sd Society are such that they cannot by vote agree
to repair sd house or build another.

A committee was sent by the assembly to "view the circum-
stances," but the people could not agree, except to make the
house comfortable for another year. A vote had previously
been taken "to shingle the fore ruff" and to repair the windows.

Three years later, in 1767, Selah Hart and others of the
society of Kensington sent a second memorial to the assembly.

Representing that the meeting house is become ruinous, unsafe,
indecent & uncomfortable to meet in for public worship, and that a
place in sd society for building a new meeting house hath been
ascertained and that no vote or agreement of sd society can be
obtained either for repairing sd old meeting house or for building a
new one at sd place, whereby the attendance of the inhabitants of sd
society on public worship is rendered imcomfortable, and will probably
be impeded without the interposition of the assembly.

The feeling in regard to the meeting house may be inferred
from an action taken by the society January 11, 1770, when it
was voted.

That Messrs. Elisha Savage, Amos Peck, Elias Beckley, Oapt.
David Sage, Ezekiall Kelsey and others, twelve in all, be a committee
to oppose any persons that may .... pull down, destroy, or
carry away, any part or appendage belonging to our meeting
house .... Any boards, shingles, glass, window-frames or other
thing or matter whatsoever .... without due order of the
society .... to prosecute to final judgment any such person or

CHURCH HISTORY OF BERLIN 155

persons that hath, may or shall hereafter pull down, destroy, break,
or carry away any part of said meeting house ....

This was carried by a majority of twenty out of one hundred
and sixty-one votes cast.

All along there had been an undercurrent of feeling that
another division was inevitable. This feeling came to a head
when, in June, 1771, one hundred and thirty-seven men signed
a paper, by which they agreed to submit the whole matter to
arbitration. Colonel John Worthington of Springfield, Colonel
Oliver Partridge of Hartford, and Mr. Eldad Taylor of West-
field, in the Province of Massachusetts, who were appointed
to the task, came, studied the situation, accepted it, drew the
dividing line, and set stakes for two new meeting houses. On
May 6, 1772, as appears by the Colonial record, the society,
by their agent, sent a memorial to the assembly,

Showing to this Assembly that it is best and absolutely necessary
for the mutual peace & real happiness as well aa from the limits,
situation, extent & wealth and other respects that sd society should
be divided into 2 distinct ecclesiastical societies by a north & south
line, which they have a long time laboured to effect; and sd south
soc'y having now mutually agreed that the most reasonable line of
division will be in the following maimer and form ; to wit :

Beginning at the South line of the sd Soc'y at the place where
the river eld Belcher's river crosses the sd line, thence extending
northerly by sd river until it comes to the 4-rod hiway until it comes
to the south side of Selah Hart Esq'r land, thence east on the line
of sd Hart's land to the same river again, thence northerly a direct
course (leaving sd Hart's now land on the west if any of it should
happen to fall east of sd course) to a point on the highway 10 feet '
east of Deacon Ebenezer Harts dwelling house from thence north
to the north line of sd society, to include however the whole of sd
Deacon Hart's farm on which he now dwells in sd west society.

The West Society kept the name, the minister, the church
records and the communion service; the East Society in
gratitude to Colonel Worthington for his wise counsel, adopted
his name.

This division line, as it comes in from the south, crosses the
road half-way between John Norton's house and his millpond ;

156 HISTOEY OF BEELIIT

thence it follows north on a road, now seldom traveled, until
it comes to the General Selah Hart farm, now owned by heirs
of the late Mrs. Jacob C. Bauer.

To divide farms would make confusion in paying church
taxes ; Mr. Hart had particularly requested that all his land
might be in Kensington, and so here the line turns directly east
until it comes nearly over to Lower Lane.

At the point where Blue Hills brook and Belcher brook unite,
the line turns again and goes directly north to a large stone,
set as a mark, about half a mile northwest of the old Seymour
fort, where it meets the New Britain south line. This ISTew
Britain line was extended, in 1754, from Shuttle Meadow Lake,
east until it crossed Christian Lane, about one-eighth of a mile
north of the Fort, and was terminated a short distance east of
Christian Lane. The division line between the two societies
runs near Mott's comer, ten feet east of Mott's east door.

The hall now owned by the Agricultural Society stands in
Worthington; the cattle sheds are in Kensington, the line is
about half way between the hall and sheds.

The early settlers around the fort at Christian Lane carried
their dead back to Farmington or to Hartford, but Captain
Seymour, according to tradition, had given a plot of ground
for a burying yard and was himseK the first to be laid there.
Whatever his intentions were, it is evident that the society had
not received a title to the land. The actual deed was given
November 1, 1718, by the Eev. William Bumham, who,

for the regard he had for the public welfare of the parish at
Great Swamp in the southeast part of Farmington & in considera-
tion of the society releasing him from 20s, he promised to encourage
the building the Meeting house, he gave, sold, conveyed & set over
to Tho^. Hart & Thos. North a committee of said society a piece of
land containing by estimation half an Acre, moreor less, in length
10 rods & in breadth 8 rods.

It is part of the same lot that originally was James Bird's, and
which I purchased of Sam'l Semer, and it is understood that it is
for the use of said Society, for a possession, for a Burying ground
forever — said society is to maintain a good fence at their own cost,
and I. am not to be taxed for any part of the expense of a division
fence as the law in other cases provides, and further until such divi-

CHURCH HISTOEY OF BEELIW 157

sion fence is made, the said society are not to feed tlie ground or any-
way use it except to bury their dead. Said land is situate on a knowl
of up land lying a little to the North of a stream called "Gilbird's
Eiver," and abutteth east on the highway that passeth North from
the Meeting House and butts North on land of Nath'l Not, "West &
South on my own land.

Signed Wm. Burnham.
Stephen Lee )

Ebenezer Gilbert ) ^^*-

This cemetery, the oldest in Berlin or New Britain, is situated
on tke west side of the road, about one-half mile south of the
Seymour place, the distance divided by the brick Gilbert house.
Most of the stones placed at the graves in this yard previous to
1730, if stones there were, have disappeared ; one hundred and
thirty-eight remain (including those of more recent date), the
oldest dated 1726. The inscriptions show that twenty-four
persons who lived on this street, or near it, lived to an average
age of over eighty-four. In the decade including 1741-1751,
forty burials are recorded on stones ; of these, an unusual num-
ber of young persons, in 1741-2-3, would indicate some fatal
epidemic at that time. Those who have recorded these inscrip-
tions have found the lettering on the footstones often more
legible than that on the headstones, and in doubtful cases the
matter was cleared by turning to the f ootstone. The headstones
nearly all face the rising sun, and it is possible that the eastern
storms have worn away the marks of the chisel.

In 1737 it was "voted and agreed that Elisha Goodrich may
take within his own enclosure the burying yard of this society,
for five years, provided the said Elisha Goodrich clear and
keep the said yard from brush and keep swine from rooting the
same."

'Now, what about that "good fence ?"

Mr. Alfred Andrews in 1867 made the following statement:

This time honored cemetery .... had been sadly neglected
for many years previous to 1845, when by the enterprise and liberality
of Mr. John Ellis, some few subscriptions were obtained from indi-
viduals, and an appropriation of $30, from the parish of Worthington,
in which it is located, and a neat white fence, erected on sunk stones,

158 HISTOEY OP BEELIIT

with iron braces, at a cost of $160, an undue proportion of which
expense was paid by himself.

John Ellis was the father of Martin Ellis. He lived in the
large old-fashioned house next east of the "Martin Ellis cor-
ner," so called. The foundation stones of his work done on the
cemetery fence sixty years ago remain, but the hroken slats lying
flat on the ground remind one of the old adage that "what is
everybody's business is nobody's."

On the east side of the road, at the top of the hill south
of the railroad, and about a quarter of a mile south of the
cemetery, may be seen a stone, recently placed there by the
Euth Hart chapter, D. A. E., of Meriden, to mark the site of
Berlin's first meeting house. The land on which it stood was
leased from Dr. Joseph Steele, and "peter blin," of Wethers-
field, was the carpenter. The building was occupied in 1712,
without pulpit, "pues" or galleries, but with a debt of £60
to Peter Blinn.

The Eev. William Bumham, born July 17, 1684, was a son
of William and Elizabeth [Loomis] Bumham of Wethersfield.
His grandfather, bom 1617, of Hertfordshire, England, who
came to Hartford about 1647, was a lawyer of good education
and ability. Shortly before his death, in 1688, he made a
will, by which he gave his house and home lot to his unmarried
daughter, Eebecca. His wife, Ann, was made executrix and
the will was given to her to keep.

Two years later Eebecca was married to William Mann, who
complained that the will had not been exhibited in court, and
that he, the said Mann, was like to be dispossessed of what his
father gave his wife.

The marshal served the complaint on Ann and summoned her
to appear in court with the will. This account is given for the
sake of the following quaint reply sent by Mrs. Bumham :

24 June 1690.

Honred Sor, Mr. Ayllin: Thes ffew Lines are to Lett you under-
stand my SsorrowffuU eondishon. I have bene weke and Lame a

CHTJECH HISTORY OF BEELIW 159

long time, and Now did begin to be som what beter be ffor. my son
Will man did make so much trobell by ye autbority in Sending up
ye Marshall, and by Souerving Wamts on all my Children, by which
mens greved me very much, as I have declared to ye marshall when
he was at my house.

Thear ffor my earnest desir is that you would Not Let any thing
goe fforwaxd in a way off Setling my estate whillst I can Spak with
you my Sellffe, and then I hop I shall do it to all my Childrens'
Satisffaxsion.

Te writin which my son WiU man took, I know not what was in
it, for I never heard it read. My son Will man asked me to see ye
writing. I told him he mit. So when he had it he took it and put it
in his pocit with out my Leveffe.

off an X Bumham.

William Burnham, Jr., married May 18, 1704, at the age
of twenty, Hannah, daughter of Oapt. Samuel Wolcott and
Judith [ Appleton] , his wife, of Wethersfield. They were living
in Great Swamp in 1Y09.

On consideration that Mr. Burnham should remain with the
church as its minister nine years, the Town of Farmington
voted, December 23, 1Y07, to give him fifty acres of land in
three parcels "to be taken up in our sequestered lands not
prejudicing highways or former grants."

The grant was laid out to bim "in ye Great Swamp upon the
plains beyond ye boggy meadow Southward & lyeth in length
8 score rods. Butting east on ye highway 160 rods; West on
common land, ISTortb & South on common land 50 rods."

In regard to common lands, as the unappropriated land was
called, settlers gave the town so much trouble by putting out
fences to take in more than belonged to them that encroaching
committees were appointed. At the town meeting held January
2, 1793, it was voted that "tbe committee for the Parish of
Worthington enquire into the encroacbments on Christian Lane
and remove the same."

One of the conditions of Mr. Bumbam's settlement, as drawn
by his own hand, was that "the bouse begun by 2d Society be
finished in the manner and to the degree that is ordinary in
this country for such sort of houses, tbat is to say the two Loer

160 HISTOBY 01- BBELIN

rooms, at or before the last day of March that shall be in the
year 1710, the remainder within twelve months after, I only
finding glass and nails."

Further reference will be made to this house, which stood on
the site of the ISTorman Porter place.

Mr. Burnham was a faithful pastor and a sound preacher.
On election day. May 10, 1722, he preached before the General
Assembly at Hartford. His sermon, entitled "God's Prudence
in placing men in their Eespective Stations & Conditions
asserted and shewd," was published "by order of Authority,"
1722.

Mr. Burnham served the church until his death, September
23, 1750, in the thirty-eighth year of his ministry. His wife,
Hannah, died March 16, 1747, and he married second. Widow
Buckingham, who died soon after their marriage.

By his will, drawn July 15, 1748, witnessed by John Boot,
John Boot, Jr., and Eunice Boot, Mr. Burnham divided his real
estate equally between his three sons. He mentions his Spanish-
Indian woman Maria, and provides that she shall have a com-
fortable support during life, in sickness and in health, at the
expense of all his children.

"Concerning my Mulatto Boy James," he says, "my will
is that according to my wife's desire my daughter Abigail may
have liberty to take him at the price he shall be valued at."

Of the nine children bom to the Eev. William Burnham and
his wife Hannah, Captain William, born April 5, 1705, mar-
ried Euth, daughter of the "rich Isaac Norton," sister of
Tabatha, the "Stolen Bride." Their home was next west of
his father's, which must have been the Cyrus Boot place. It
is supposed that he built that house. When he died, at the age
of forty-one, his estate inventoried £8,426 10s. lid., a large
amount for his times.

In his will he mentions besides his wife, his only son, Elisha
(aged nineteen years), and two daughters, Sarah (aged fifteen
years) and Buth, "the youngest."

Hannah, eldest daughter of Bev. William Burnham, born
ISTovember 18, 1708, became the wife of Bev. Jeremiah Curtiss
of Southington.

CHURCH HISTORY OF BEELIW l61

Abigail, born September 14, 1713, was the wife of Lieut.
Eobert Wells of Newington.

Josiah, bom September 28, 1716, married another Euth
Norton, daughter of John ITorton and Ann Thompson, his wife.

Mary, born September 7, 1721, was married to John Judd
of !N"ew Britain. She was said to be very beautiful and highly
accomplished.

Appleton, born April 28, 1724, married Mary Wolcott of
Litchfield.

Lucy was married to Jacob Eoot of Hebron.

Some years since, George Dudley Seymour of ISTew Haven,
a patent office lawyer, a descendant of Abigail Bumham Wells,
came to Berlin to visit and photograph the ancestral home and
the graves in the old cemetery. The Bumham inscriptions there
read as follows :

Sarah daughter of Rev. Wm. Bumham, died Nov.- 23rd, 1Y26,
aged 8 years.

Capt. Wm. Bumliami, d. Mch 12, 1748-9 * aged 44 years.

Mrs. Hannah Bumham, wife of Eev. Wm. Bumiham., died iKch
17, 1747-8,* aged 64.

Mrs. Ruth. Bumliam, wife of Mr. Josiah Bumham., d. June 28,
1762, aged 39.

Here lies interred the body of the Rev. William Bumham, Senior,
first pastor of the Churcsh of Christ in Kensington, who having
served his generation according to the wiU of God, fell on sleep
September the 23d, 1750, in the sixty-sixth year of his age and the
thirty-eighth of his ministry.

Mrs Ruth Bumham, relict of Capt. Wm. Bumham, d. June 28,
1786, aged 76.

The Brandegee family had originally a private burying
ground in their home yard. Jacob Brandegee of New York, a
brother of Dr. Brandegee's father, did not like to see the graves
so near the house, therefore he bought a piece of land east of
the old south burying ground and east of the strip owned by
Mrs. Zenas Kichardson, and had the bodies removed to that
place.

* Note the curious inscription. The last figure seems to be the correct
one. Capt. Bumham, for instance, was born in 1705.

H

162 HISTOKT OF BEELIlir

In 1841 lie deeded that tract of land to the Worthington
Ecclesiastical Society, reserving forever a certain part for his
ovm relatives.

In 1853 Colonel Bulkeley, Philip Norton, and Henry Sage,
a committee appointed for the purpose, purchased of Mrs.
Eichardson, for thirty dollars, that intermediate strip owned
by her. Thus the old and new^ parts vs^ere joined and a con-
tinuous cemetery -was made.

The oldest inscription discovered in the west part, first used,
is that of Isaac Peck, who died October 2, 1748, aged forty-two
years. In May, 1888, the grounds were extended on the south
side by purchase from Walter S. Hart. On April 3, 1903, the
cemetery formerly known as the South Cemetery was legally
incorporated under the name of The Maple Cemetery (Inc.),
Berlin, Conn., and the Worthington Ecclesiastical Society
deeded to said association all its rights in the grounds. The
amount of its capital stock is five thousand dollars, divided into
two hundred shares of the par value of twenty-five dollars each.
One share entitles the holder to one vote and to one lot. It
was the intention at first to sell the shares at ten dollars each,
but when the committee went before the court, they were told
that they could not be incorporated unless they charged twenty-
five dollars per share. Bryan H. Atwater is secretary and
treasurer of the association.

There was a Zalmuna Atwood, whose wife, Sarah Mygatt,
joined the Worthington Congregational Church in 1828. She
died in 1835, aged sixty-four. Zalmuna died in 1836, aged
sixty-four.

When Walter S. Hart built his house next south of the Maple
Cemetery he tore down another old colonial house that stood
close to the street, where the well in front of the Hart house
may be seen.

Mrs. Harriet Hart Dickinson remembers that an Atwood
family lived in that house. There were several children, and
it is probable that Zalmuna was the name of their father. The
children were capable and bright. Jamison, who was a car-
penter, built the IJniversalist Church. N'elson, the grandfather

CHTJECH HISTORY OI" BEELIlir 163

of Clarence Atwood, who was also a house builder, moved to
ISTew Haven about 1848. Millicent was the wife of Samuel
Pattison and Sarah was the wife of Isaac Dobson.

In the forties the house was occupied by Jefferson Steele
and his family.

Sally Atwood united with the Worthington Congregational
Church early in life. The reason that her name does not appear
in the catalogue of members is shown by the following account
taken from an old record book :

In March, 1822, when she was nineteen years old, she asked
for a letter of dismission and recommendation to the "Methodist
Episcopal church of this place."

The reasons she set forth, six in number, for this step, cov-
ered a closely written page of foolscap paper, which was read
in church. She said she could not believe with tiiis church in
the doctrine of f oreordination of eternal election or reprobation.

iReason 3d reads :

I cannot believe with this ohureh that it is possible for men once
regenerated and bom again to backslide so as to faU of the grace
of God.

In number six she says :

When these doctrines are preached, that preaching darkens my
mind instead of giving me light, and I am constrained to believe it
my duty to walk in the light instead of walking where that darkness
of mysteriousness is thrown over my mind

(Signed) S Atwood

Deacon Daniel Gralpin and John Goodrich were appointed
a committee "to confer with said Sally Atwood and endeavor
to enlighten her mind and convince her of her error."

The next Sunday the committee reported that they had
attended to the duty assigned them and had labored "to con-
vince her that the views she entertained of the doctrines of the
gospel were erroneous and unscriptural," and that "as she

164- HISTOET OF BEELIBT

was young she tad better study tliem more carefully," but that
"she still professes to have the same views, and to be conscien-
tious in her belief formed upon a careful perusal of the bible
and earnest prayer to God."

Imagine a girl of nineteen in this age going through such
an ordeal !

Kecord states that "Sally Atwood joined the Methodist
church the same Sabbath and is no longer a member of the 3d
church of Worthington in Berlin" (the 2d Congregational
church of Worthington at that time was called the 3d church).

Sally's troubles were not at end when in the fold of her
chosen church.

She was a stylish young woman and liked pretty clothes.
One Sunday she went to meeting with a new bonnet on her
head and on the bonnet a bow of ribbon. Woe the day ! Sally
was disciplined for her audacity.

This story reminds me of another: A modest young lady
came from East Berlin one Sunday to attend the Methodist
church. She had inside of her cottage bonnet, each side of her
face, a spray of delicate pink jftowers. The preacher fastened
his gaze upon her and spoke of the sin of "outward adorning"
until he brought a color to her cheeks deeper than that of the
flowers she wore.

In a manuscript copy of the list of members of the Worthing-
ton Congregational Church, dated 1812, is this curious entry:

Edmond Boldero and Utica-aim his wife

Mr. Boldero was admited to partake occationly being under the
disopline of this church but not to vote being a piscopalin

In the same list of church members made in 1812 appears
the name of John Tryon, with this note attached, "a piscopalin
in principal but allowed to pertake occationly & to be under
the watch of the church but not to vote."

It is said that men are especially interested in the religious
experiences and the quarrels of their predecessors. A hint of
both is given in a letter discovered by Miss Ruth Galpin, in an
old record book.

CHUECH HISTOEY OF BEELIW 165

This letter, which relates to a neighbor of Mr. Johns, was laid
before the pastor at a meeting of the Worthington church, held
December 11, 1807.

It reads as follows :

Eevd Sir

Our obligations as Christians concerned for the honor of the
Kedeemer and the good of souls constrains us to perform a very pain-
ful service by preferring a heavy charge against a member of our
church

It appears from evidence altogether satisfactory that

has not only given himself up to the government of the most anti-
christian passions but allowed himself without even the least provoca-
tion to use language most dreadfully profane; he has dared impiously
to utter the sacred name of the Divine being, calling on God to
damn his fellow creatures, and particularly the pastor of the church
of which we are members

Such language uttered by a person accustomed to converse with
people of decent manners, is truly shameful as well as criminal;
uttered by a professor of the Gospel, it shocks the mind; but when
we consider that the accused is an aged man, language fails us when
we would fully express the feelings of our hearts

He seems to have descended to the lowest step in the climax of
depravity, when a sense of duty and Christian love induced us to
converse with him either personally or by delegation concerning his
unworthy conduct, so far was he from confessing his sin that he gave
the most unequivocal proof of being a slave to the most unchristian
temper

Aaron Porter

Peat Galpin

Amos Hosford

Eoger Eiley I Church's

Jedediah Sage f Committee

Daniel Galpin

Selah Savage

Samuel Porter

The accused person having refused to appear in vindication of
himself but caused a scandalous paper to be exhibited which consider-
ably aggravated the first offense and the charge against him having
been proved by two respectable and credible witnesses in its full
extent, he was unanimously excommunicated as guilty of impiety
profanity and breach of covenant.

166 HISTORY OF BEELIW

In 1830 charges' brought by William Savage against another
member from whom the church withdrew, were

First: that lie liad never attended communion since the day he
joined the church and that he seldom attended public worship with
tlie church.

Second: tliat he had violated the fourth commandment It was
stated on this coimt that "he had been in the habit of wandering in
the fields on the Lord's day — cracking butternuts and gathering
walnuts."

Third : that he has been guilty of falsehood.

S. Durand and Dr. Gridley were appointed to labor with
the accused. This committee reported at an adjourned meeting
that the member "acknowledged his guilt in all the charges,"
"but had nothing to ask of the church but only that they would
cast him out."

Under date of August, 1828, a record is found of a complaint
by Deacon Daniel Galpin against lIvTancy Norton, a member of
the church, for "withdrawing from the watch and communion
of the church in an irregular manner."

"It appears that the said Nancy Norton had joined herself
to the communion of the Methodists and said in doing this she
had acted from superior light which she had obtained as it
respected the darkness of the gospel."

A committee of the church labored with her, but in vain.
They reported: "She has acted conscientiously on what she
has done, and she will not be reclaimed."

Over a hundred years ago Zadoc Sage lived on the east side
of the road near Captain Sage's, and farther south, next beyond
the brook, set well back on a hill, may still be seen the home of
Deacon Amos Hosford, who died in 1822 in the eighty-fifth
year of his age.

At a meeting of the church in the parish of Worthington,
held August 4, 1803, the following resolutions were adopted:

Resolved That Amos Hosford, one of the Deacons of the Church
having presented the Church with a complete Set of plated vessels

CHTJECH HISTORY OF BEELIN 167

for the administration of the Lord's Supper to become forever the
exclusive property of the Commimicants as a body and their suc-
cessors they do accept and determine to use it for the sole purpose
designed by the Donor

Eesolved That the existing members of the church return their
cordial thanks to their kind Benefactor for his very liberal and hand-
some present, which they consider as an evidence both of his Christian
love to them and his concern for the divine honour ....

N. B. The just mentioned set of sacramental vessels consists of
the following Articles, four flagons, three platters and six cups.

N. B. The tablecloths for sacramental service were also given and
the trunk containing the whole furniture.

Moreover Amos Hosford said that it is his Will, the vessels may
NEVER BE DIVIDED though there should be a division of the Church and
Society hereafter.

'Test, Evan Johns^

To give the foregoing Resolutions all the Authenticity and con-
firmation of which they are capable so as that the property of the
above named plated vessels may be fully and clearly vested in the
undivided Body of communicants at Worthington and their suc-
cessors forever, I hereto annex my name this fourth day of August
one thousand eight hundred and three

Amos Hosford.

At a town meeting held May 4, 1798, it was voted "that
Amos Hosford and Gad Stanley Esq. be appointed agents to
oppose the road from Hartford to New Haven in the place
or places where the same has been laid in Berlin, by a Com-
mittee appointed by the Gen'l Assembly."

Again, October 15, 1798, it was recorded that "Amos Hos-
ford was appointed Agent, aforesaid, unless the expenses aris-
ing on the same shall be defrayed by a company formed for
that purpose, and such alterations shall be made in the places
where the aforesaid road is laid as will better accommodate this
town and the Public."

Besides being a man of affairs. Deacon Hosford was very
religious. It was said that he observed the fast days appointed
by the governor, strictly as a time of fasting, meditation, and
prayer. He would go to meeting and then shut himself in his
room, and was seen no more for the remainder of the day.

OHAPTEK X.

The Early Industries of Berlin* — The Houses of Berlin Street
and Their Occupants.

When we study the early industries of Berlin, we find that
it was distinctively a "Yankee" town, and on looking here for
that "Yankee" ingenuity that made the six small states of
ISTew England the nucleus of the developed prosperity of the
whole country, we are astonished at the way in which the sons
and daughters of every household adopted some trade or profes-
sion, which they practiced under the family roof or in a small
shop within the dooryard. In the earlier days all manufactured
goods were brought in slow sailing vessels from across the sea,
mostly from England, and sold at high prices. Our forefathers'
wants were few yet their dollars fewer, and with unbounded
energy and ability they soon set to work to make what they
had neither the means nor the desire to buy. No drones were
allowed. Laziness was a disgrace and a crime. Each member
of the community turned his hand to some art of practical

* A considerable portion of this chapter is based on a paper, read by
Mr. Frank L. Wilcox at the Old Home Day celebration in the Second
Congregational Church, Berlin, Sept. 20, 1905, and may be said to be a
revision and enlargement of his paper. The work of Mr. Wilcox is most
noticeable in the beginning — ^his specialty was the industries of Berlin —
and a number of pages were written by him. The material presented in
this chapter constituted the beginning of the historical articles on Berlin,
as they appeared in the Berlin News, and it is desirable that it shauld
all be reproduced here for the sake of greater completeness. With the
permission of Mr. Wilcox, therefore, his own contribution is reprinted
along with Miss North's. The reasons for not making this part the first
chapter in the book have been stated in the foreword. The introductory
paragraphs on the early industries of Berlin, written by Mr. Wilcox, may
be given here:

When a few years ago Miss Catharine M. North and I began a study of
the good people who lived in the early homes of Berlin in Worthington
Society, we were impressed with the fact that nearly every house had
sheltered a master mechanic with his apprentices and journeymen, and

THE EARLY IBTDITSTEIES OF BEELIN 169

utility, first for domestic necessity or convenience, next for
barter with his neighbor; then as money became more plenty
to sell in his own and adjoining settlements.

In the course of time certain manufacturers, of superior
executive ability, increased their forces until they were able to
undersell less fortunate makers.

Journeymen could earn higher wages in a factory than at
an independent bench and forsook their old masters.

It was no longer profitable for each family and community
to make what they could buy cheaply in the stores.

The constantly increasing tendency was to concentrate trade
in the larger towns, while leading men and skilled artisans
banded themselves together in factory centers.

Finally, on the principle that "In union there is strength,"
by the inevitable "law of the survival of the fittest," and as
the usual consequence of competition, ancient Berlin shared the
fate of all small towns in ISTew England. Her many and varied
industries were slowly but surely closed.

One result of these changed conditions of which we have been
speaking has been to destroy a type of our country life that
seemed ideal. The head of the family — and there were families
in those days — was like a patriarch, ruling his household with

there seemed no better way to interest this assembly of former residents
of Berlin who have returned for Old Home Day, than to present to you
the material gathered regarding the homes and activities of your ancestors
and their neighbors.

For much valuable information received especial acknowledgements
were due Miss Abby Pattison, Wm. A. Eiley, Dea. Frederic North, James
B. Carpenter, Wm. M. Fowler, Mrs. Caroline Porter Jones, Mrs. Leonard
Hubbard, Erastus North and William Bulkeley. We would also render
thanks at this time to all others who have so kindly assisted in bringing
to memory the pictures of olden days in Berlin, long buried under the
dust of modem strife.

While no trouble has been spared to make each statement accurate,
authorities have in some cases disagreed, and should errors be discovered,
the indulgence of this audience is asked by the writer who would be
grateful for corrections, or for further items of interest relating to our
subject. I have not undertaken to say anything regarding the parish of
Kensington, for the reason that some resident of that part of the town
would know his field better than I, and again a description of Kensington
would make a delightful subject for some future Old Home day.

170 HISTOET OF BEKLIIir

dignity, reverenced ty his children, his apprentices and his
hired servants. One of Berlin's "Fore-elders," at whose table
more than a score of persons were fed daily, was quoted as say-
ing that "As God was to the human race, so was the relation
of the father to his family." Alas ! the tribe has gone never
to return. ,

While we regret that so little of the former enterprise
remained for the development of its native town, still we feel
honored that its talents have been absorbed in the prosperity of
adjoining places. In many cities now famous for sheet metal
work we can trace the skill of the workmen back to the original
industry in Berlin.

Our town had its full share of "wooden nutmeg" fame, for
its enterprising manufacturers sent out by foot, by panniers
on horseback, and by wagons, the goods made within its borders.

By water from Middletown and 'New Haven to the southern
states was the route taken by our early "drummers." The
great West was then awaiting its time of development.

The chief manufacturing enterprises of the town were in its
tin shops, blacksmith and shoemakers' shops. The shoes were
worn by the busy people and were shipped to distant markets.

The blacksmiths were manufacturing metal workers, who
made by hand, with blows of the hammer upon the anvil, every
thing of iron and steel that was used, from nails, hinges, and
latches for their houses,, and tuning forks with which to pitch
their psalm tunes, to shovels, hoes, scythes, and plows for
the farm, while the tin manufacturers of Berlin commanded
the trade of the country.

The author of "Dwight's Travels" tells us that after the war
with Great Britain, in 1815, "10,000 boxes of tinned plate
was manufactured into culinary vessels in the Town of Berlin,
in one year." It was a grave question to know what to do with
the scrap tin. Piles of it are even now, occasionally, turned
up by the plow, and the road leading from the hotel west, and
from Brandegee's hill towards East Berlin is filled with the
waste pieces of tin so that a team driven swiftly over the roads
to-day will bring forth a resonant silvery ring,

THE EAELY IITDtrSTEIES OF BEELIW 171

It is interesting to learn that Charles Parker desired to locate
his plant here on the comer opposite the post office. Had he
done so the great works of the Charles Parker company in Meri-
den might have been in Berlin, and Berlin a city to-day instead
of a country village surrounded by cities which had hardly a
name when Berlin was well known and prosperous.

At another time the Meriden Britannia Company thought
seriously of combining with the tin shop now operated by Mr.
Damon, and locating here as one business enterprise. We hear
other similar stories. Why so many local factories were closed
and so few outside factories could establish a footing here it
is difficult to say; but this we know that the original layout
of the ISTew York, E"ew Haven & Hartford Railroad passed
along the west side of the "Golden Eidge," providing for a
depot on the comer in Lower Lane near Mr. Arnold's. But
the farmers were unwilling to sell their land and cut up their
farms; while the residents of "The Street" fought the plan
on account of the smoke, noise, and danger from fire, and to
life and limb, so that the survey was changed and the road
passed two miles to the west. The arguments that drove away
the steam cars were undoubtedly used to repel manufacturing
industries.

An idea of the way our forefathers transacted their business
can be gained from the following, as given by one of our oldest
residents :

When ships arrived at 17ew Haven or Middletown, the mer-
chandise for Berlin and towns beyond were loaded onto two-,
four- or six-horse teams, as it was a common thing to see twenty
or twenty-five of these heavily-loaded teams coming into Berlin
like a long caravan. The night was generally spent at the
taverns. The horses were stabled, but there was not room
under the sheds for the wagons so they were left in the road
and often lined the street on both sides for a quarter of a mile.

Many of us remember the dust-colored, canvas-topped, inno-
cent looking wagons that quietly passed through Berlin in strings
of a dozen or more, carrying gunpowder from Hazardville to
the seaboard, and we also remember the town ordinance that

172 HISTORY OF BERLIN

they should not be left at the hotel or on the streets but should
be stationed on the town hall green, under guard ; also we can
recall the words of command from our fathers, and the tender
admonitions of our mothers, to keep away from the wagons.
Under these circumstances how attractive the wagons were!
Each mother's son answered for his own obedience.

In addition to Yankee ingenuity and enterprise the many
streams with their water power have made JS'ew England the
manufacturing center of this continent. Nearly all of the
industries of Berlin that are in operation to-day are located on
our streams, viz., the Mill river in Kensington, Belcher brook,
west of Golden Eidge, Spruce brook, between Worthington
street and East Berlin, and the Mattabessett in Beckley Quar-
ter and in East Berlin. There were, however, formerly a great
many factories and shops in Berlin without water privileges.
The power was "horse-power" pure and simple. I offer this
as a brief description of a horse-power that was in practical,
daily operation in many places in Berlin one hundred years ago :

A large wheel of, say, thirty feet in diameter, lay flat upon
the ground moving around a shaft in the center, that was made
fast and stationary. A trough about four feet wide ran all
around the rim of the wheel ; a horse traveled in this trough, —
walked or trotted. As he was tied to a post he could not leave
the spot, but as he traveled he kept pushing the trough (and
attached wheel) from under him. ISTow we have the wheel in
motion, and to transmit power was only a question of mechanics.
Generally the transmission was accomplished by friction. Thin
iron plates were fastened under the trough; below the trough,
and immediately below the horse, was located an iron pulley
with shaft; the face of the pulley was the width of the iron
plates, and was in contact with them. The weight of the horse
in this trough made this contact close. As the wheel was moved
by the horse, the friction turned the pulley ; the pulley turned
the shaft. To the shaft was fastened another pulley of the
proper size, on which ran a belt which turned the machinery in
the shops.

Perhaps I cannot better note the early importance of Berlin
than to say that Edward Augustus Kendall, Esq., devotes thir-

THE EAELY INDUSTEIES OP BEELIN 1Y3

teen pages to it in his book of "Travels througli the JSTorthern
Parts of the United States, in the Years 1807 and 1808," and
then, to quote the closing paragraph of his chapter on Berlin :

Berlin has become a place of some notoriety, partly on account of
a tin manufactory which has been established here. Its founder
was one Patterson, a native of Ireland; and though it soon fell into
many hands, it was long confined to Berlin. At present, however,
the number of its tin manufacturers is increasing, many having
scattered themselves through the towns below, and others having
emigrated to the southward. One of those in Berlin employs sixty
hands during the summer season. In the winter he removes to
Philadelphia for the extension of his trade. The mode in which the
wares are disposed of is that of peddling and barter. They are carried
inside and outside of small wagons, of a peculiar and uniform con-
struction, on ioumeys of great length, and are to be met with in
all directions. From Philadelphia they cross the Allegheny moun-
tains, and are probably seen on the Mississippi. They go into Canada
and vend their wares in Montreal and Quebec.

Dr. Dwight, in his "Travels," after commenting upon the
methods used by Berlin manufacturers in disposing of their
products, says:

They went with their wares to every part of the United States.

I have seen them in 1Y9Y on the peninsula of Oape Cod, and in the
neighborhood of Lake Erie, distant from each other more than six
hundred miles.

They make tbeir way to Detroit, four hundred miles further — to
Canada and Kentucky, and if I mistake not to New Orleans and
St Louis.

Some idea of the industries of Berlin street, East Berlin, and
Beckley Quarter may 'be obtained from the following table,
which comprises only such as are mentioned in this paper and
the list is not yet complete:

Academies 3

BaU-rooms 4

Bandbox factories 2

Blacksmiths 9

Blind trimmings 1

Book binderies 2

Brooms 2

174 HISTORY OF BEELIir

Cabinet making 4

Carpenter shops • 2

Carpets and rugs 1

Carding mill 1

Chair seating 1

Cider mills 6

Cider brandy distilleries 3

Clock factories 2

Clock and compass jewels 1

Cotton factory 1

Cooper 1

Combs 1

Carriages and wagons 9

Corrugated shingles 1

Drug stores 3

Dry goods 3

Foot stoves 2

Tut goods 1

General merchandise 4

German silver spoons 1

Grist mills 4

Groceries 3

Guns 1

Hat factory 1

Hoe, take and chisel factory 1

Horse market 1

Iroti bridg:es and buildings 1

Japanning 1

Law offices •. . . . 2

Milliner and dressinaker shops 3

Mulberry groves, silk worms 2

Nails, cut 1

Ox yokes and wooden pumps 1

Peat factory 1

Percussion caps 1

Pistols 1

Plaster mill 1

Saddler and harness shops 3

Saloons 3

Saw mills 1

Schools — private 3

Screws 1

Scythes 2

Shoemakers 12

THE EAELY IITDUSTEIES OF BEELIW 175

Slaughters 3

Spectacles and jewelry 1

Stone and marble cutting 4

Stamped copper and tin ware 1

Stove factory 1

Taverns and saloons 9

Tailors 3

Tin shops 12

Tinners' tools 6

Town pumps 2

Whipping post 1

Tan-bark mills 2

Tanneries 6

Thread, cotton and silk factory 2

Undertaker i

Watch and compass jewels 1

Wood turning 2

Yam 1

The memory of nearly all of us goes back to the time when
the grocery and apothecary store, on the northwest corner of
Main street and Berlin station road, was kept by Deacon Alfred
ISTorth, and where from 1844 to 1886 he was consulted by the
town, not only in his capacity of town clerk and treasurer, but
as the trusted counselor and good friend of aJl.

For many years previous to 1844 this stand was occupied
by Josiah Edwards, Jr., who was assisted by one and another
of his five sons, whose names were Lewis, Edward B., Alfred,
Henry, and Eiisha.

At this store could be found groceries, dress goods — calico,
merino, and silk- — violin strings, jew's-harps, jewelry, crockery,
drags and medicines, and a little of almost everything needed
for family use those days. Here also seventy years ago "The
Hartford Oourant" was left for distribution in the neighbor-
hood.

It was said that the father of Mr. Edwards, who lived in the
south part of the town, gave him $6,000 with which to start in
business, and that the whole amount was lost through the ras-

176 HISTOET OP BEELIN

cality of his partner. The stairway and north part of the store
were added at a later date, and were finished off for a tenement.

The large double house north of the store, now owned by
Luther S. Webster, was built in 1828, for two sons of Mr.
Edwards — Edward B. and Henry, both of whom were engaged
to be married.

One day Henry drove to Hartford for a load of lumber to
be used in the new house. On his way home, coming down a
steep hill, he was thrown from the wagon in such a way that
the wheels passed over his body, and he was killed. He had
been an active member of the Second Congregational Sunday
School and was remembered as a remarkably fine young man.

The Edwards homestead, which formerly stood near the
north side of the store, was moved, about 1862, north of the
large house, and is now occupied by Miss Harriet L. Edwards,
daughter of Edward B. Edwards.

West of the Edwards house, at a distance of about 150 feet,
was a large carriage factory. The business, which was started
by Josiah Edwards, was continued by his son, Edward B., who
had an extensive trade in the south, especially in Augusta, Ga.,
and in Wilmington, IST. 0. The factory was burned in 1844,
was rebuilt, and is now the main part of Mr. Damon's tin
shop. Lewis Edwards, who learned the trade of book-binding,
built the house next north of the old church, now owned by
James W. Woodruff, and had a shop in his south yard.

One Sunday noon a workman went into the bindery to wash
and dress. On going out he left a cigar stump on a pile of
papers which caught fire, and destroyed the building.

An old letter, relating the circumstance, states that when the
fire broke out. Priest Goodrich was preaching his afternoon
sermon. He saw the flames and "with his knee buckles on,"
came down the pulpit stairs, with both hands upraised, and
exclaimed : "The church is on fire !" The bindery was rebuilt,
but soon after — about 1834 — ^Mr. Edwards moved to Norwich,
Conn., where, with his brother Elisha, he carried on the busi-
ness for many years. The new shop built by Lewis Edwards
was moved onto Hart street and made into a dwelling house
for Leonard Pattison.

THE EAELY IWDTJSTEIES OF BEBLIJST 1Y7

In the highway, south of the Edwards store, where the hay
scales are now, was once the Town whipping post. The last
man whipped there was Charles Stocker, a colored man, who
lived on Caesar's Hill, and whose father gave the name to the
hill. The crime was petty theft. Mr. William A. Eiley
rememhered seeing him whipped, and he said "How he did
holler."

There is a legend that Charles Stocker's feet were so large
that he always had to hang them outside of the wagon when
he rode, because there was not room enough for them within.
This is the man who pumped the organ in the old meeting
house for so many years, and received for his services one pair
of shoes each year. That both facts are recorded goes to show
that the church was very liberal in its appreciation of organ
blowing.

In early times this end of the town was known as "Boston
Comers." In 1796 Benjamin Galpin was licensed to keep a
tavern on the southwest corner, which was then the regular
stopping place for post-riders. After the Hartford and New
Haven turnpike was completed in 1800, the Boston and 'New
York stages changed horses at this same tavern.

In 1813 Jesse Hart, a cabinet maker, who lived in the brick
house on Willard street now owned by Mr. LeClair, purchased
the tavern at Boston corners and became its landlord. Mr.
Hart was appointed postmaster and the office was kept in his
house not only for all of this town but for surrounding places.
Until 1825 New Britain people came to Berlin for their letters,
weekly newspapers, and express parcels.

Where the hotel shed now stands there was a store, when
the place was sold to Mr. Hart. The next year, his son George,
who was a sheriff, placed overhead in that store for safe keep-
ing, a lot of household goods that had been attached for debt.
At night a fire broke out. 'A fresh coat of paint had just been
put on the building and the flames ran over it like wild-fire.
In the morning nothing remained of the store, barns or tavern,
but ashes. George Hart, who was the first husband of Mrs.
Col. Bulkeley, and the father of Mrs. Harriet Dickinson, died
in 1825, at the age of thirty. It was said that he caught his
12

178 HISTORY OP BEELIH-

death cold going out at midniglit to wait for the mail. Jesse
Hart rebuilt, but died in 182Y and was succeeded by bis son-in-
law, ISTorris Wilcox, wbo afterwards went to E"ew Haven, where
he was appointed United States Marshal and collector of that
port.

In 1839 a Portuguese slave trader toucbed at Ouba and dis-
posed of a cargo of negroes. Tbe planter wbo bougbt them
wished to take them to a distant port, and forced tbem, while
still in irons, onto another vessel. Tbe blacks under their
cbief, wbose name was Cinque, mutinied and killed all but
one of tbe crew, whose life was saved in order that be might
manage the vessel, and he was ordered to steer for Africa. In
tbe daytime be directed bis course due east, but wben night
came and tbe negroes slept, be turned about and beaded for
tbe United States.

In tbe course of a few montbs tbey brougbt up on the coast
of Long Island, and Deputy Norris "Wilcox, in whose cbarge
they were placed, locked them in the New Haven jail to await
tbe action of United States courts. Tbey were considered a
great curiosity, and people flocked to the sigbt, as to a circus.
Colonel Bulkeley and bis wife went down from Berlin to see
them. Tbe colonel gave a silver quarter to Cinque, who sbowed
bis gratitude by turning a double somersault backwards.

After two or tbree years of controversy it was decided to
take tbe entire company back to Africa, but meanwbile some
benevolent individuals wisbed to Obristianize the beathen
brought to tbeir doors, and a car load of tbem was brougbt by
Norris Wilcox to Berlin station, wbence they were taken in
sleigbs to Farmington. Mr. William Bulkeley remembers, as
a child, going to tbe old depot to see tbese Africans.

Wben tbe Black Prince and bis. company, wbo. bad been
placed under bonds for mutiny, reacbed Farmington, tbey were
boused in barracks that were built for tbem, near the cemetery.

After a spasm of terror at tbe tbougbt of baving a lot of
savages — and for aught they knew, cannibals — at large in tbeir
midst, the good people of Farmington, judging from old

THE EAELY IWDUSTEIES 01- BEELIIT 1Y9

accounts, gave their dark-skinned visitors the freedom of the
town.

So kind and faithful did they prove, that mothers trusted them
with the care of their little children. Grabbo, Phillie, Fuli,
Famie, and Foone, are some of the names remembered by those
who knew them. While confined in jail at New Haven, some
Divinity School students had labored hard, aoad with some suc-
cess, to teach them to read and write.

Again at Farmington, they were sent to school in a room over
the present post office. In the village cemetery may be seen a
simple marble stone with this inscription :

FOO]SnE
A native African ■who was drowned ■wMle bathing in the center
Basia Aug 1841. He was one of the Company of Slaves, under
Oinque, on board the Schooner A misted, who asserted their rights
and took possession of the vessel, after having put the Captain, Mate,
and others to death, sparing their masters Ruez and Montez.

Miss Porter's laundry was afterwards built over the Center
Basin. It was thought that Foone committed suicide, as he
was very homesick, and the day before had said, "Foone going
to see his mother."

The late John T. Norton, whose home is now owned by Mr.
Newton Barney, had befriended the negroes, and his son,
.Charles L. Norton, who remembered the incident, relates that
as the family sat on the porch at evening, a dark figure strode
up the path, went straight to his father, and said in broken
accents, "We — ^want — ^you — Grrabbo he daid," and sped away,
the big tears rolling down his cheeks.

In 1842, the thirty-six survivors were taken back to Mendi,
on the west coast of Africa, near Liberia. Teachers and funds
were provided and thus the Mendi mission was formed.

In 1834, Boswell 0. Hart followed Norris Wilcox as land-
lord of the Berlin hotel.

In 1842, James B. Whaples purchased the property, and
with the help of his efficient wife, and daughters, made it a very

180 HISTOEY OF BEELIBT

popular place of resort, especially in winter, for sleighing
parties.

The writer has often heard old residents of Southington, ISTew
Britain, and Meriden laugh as they recalled the suppers,
dances, and good times they had enjoyed at Blinn Whaples'
tavern, in Berlin, when they were young. A large sign swung,
creaking in the breeze, from a crane extending over the street,
from the ridgepole of the horse shed ; and helow the sign was a
well, with a large wooden pump, and a long horse trough. This
place was the hay market for the surrounding country, and here
also were brought horses for sale and exchange.

The great barns and sheds bear silent witness to the traffic iu
horses and other business that was carried on at this corner.
One large barn that stood on the west side has been torn down.

At the time of the Revolution, one stage left Hartford each
Monday morning for Boston, and one for New York. They
reached their destination Wednesday night and started to return
next morning, arriving at Hartford Saturday evening.

In 1802 a daily stage left Boston at 10 a. m., which reached
Hartford at evening of the following day, and noon of the next
day it was in New York.

Passengers had to be ready at the regular stopping places
along the line, at whatever hour of the day or night the stage
might be due. Hartford people had to take it at three o'clock
in the morning.

When the time between New York and Philadelphia was
reduced from three to two days, the coaches were called "Flying
machines."

At the close of the Revolutionary War, the treaty of peace
with Great Britain was signed at Versailles, January 20, 1783.
The news reached Berlin and Hartford March 23, nine weeks
later, by way of Philadelphia. After 1831 there were two
stages each way and the horses were changed at Berlin. When
nearing the town, the driver of the stage sounded his bugle as

THE EAELY IBTDUSTEIES OF EEELIIT 181

a warning to the landlord not to keep his hungry passengers
waiting for dinner. As the coach, crowded inside with travelers,
its top piled high with trunks, drawn by four horses, rolled
through the village, everybody in the houses ran to the windows,
and it is said that the wife of Dr. Hand used to stand in her
front doorway and make courtesies to the passengers.

The property next south of the hotel was owned by Joseph
Booth, who built the front part of the house in 1800. The large
ell was added later. In the corner of the lot, on the north side
of the house, Mr. Booth had a shop for making hats. These
hats were made of wool or skins. The boys of the neighborhood
earned many an honest dollar by catching mink and muskrats
and selling the skins to Mr. Booth, to be worked up into hats.
The old gentleman was very deaf and always carried an ear
trumpet. He was a good trader and invariably understood the
price at about half that mentioned by the boys, and then would
never settle on any basis except according to hearing.

Just north of Mr. Booth's hat factory was a small building
occupied by AKred Wood for the manufacture of spectacles and
jewelry.

In 1844 Deacon Alfred North leased and joined the hat and
spectacle factories and started business in them as a country
merchant. A few months later he moved to the old store on
the comer previously mentioned and these buildings were used
for making cigars.

On August 1, 1800, George Hubbard, who built the house
now the home of the Misses Churchill, deeded for the considera-
tion of $82.50 a piece of land to "The Worthington Academy
Company" and their heirs, bounded as follows: "West on
country road, north on Daniel Galpin's land, easterly and
southerly on land of George Hubbard Grantor." The deed
was made to Amos Horsford, Roger Riley, Giles Curtis, Samuel
Porter, Jesse Peck, Joseph Galpin, and their associates — "the
Academy Company," who proceeded to build on this ground
opposite the tavern, Berlin's first academy.

182 HISTORY OF BEELIW

For some reason, tlie project was not sustained, and the
property was sold to James Guernsey, who had a harness and
saddler's shop on the premises. The south upper floor, which
was still used for private schools, singing schools, and other
public meetings, was known as Guernsey's Hall. George Dun-
ham and Caroline Guernsey are names recalled of teachers
who had private schools in this hall. About 1831, Mr. Guernsey
sold out to Lysis Lamb, who added to the north side of the
house a large shop, where he made tin ware, and gave employ-
ment to a number of men.

Mr. Lamb was succeeded by James B. Carpenter, who
remodeled the house. The shop was moved up on the hill north
of the Lyman Nott place and is now the main part of George
Austin's dwelling house.

Following south, the next place was owned for many years
by Dr. Horatio Gridley, who was a skillful physician. Dr.
Gridley's next door neighbor on the south was Daniel Dunbar,
Esq., who practised law in Berlin from 1804 to 1841. His
office stood in the north front corner of the yard.

The Dunbar place, now owned by Mrs. Harriet Hopkins,
was occupied in 1848 by one McCartney, who enlarged the
office for a grocery store and liquor saloon. The town at this
time was tremendously excited over the temperance campaign,
and the influence of this saloon was considered particularly bad.
The wholesale liquor dealers of Hartford sympathized with
their patrons and urged them on to deeds of violence. It was
then no uncommon sight to see drunken men reeling on the
streets, and women who ventured from home after dark, with-
out protection, were subject to insult. One officer, who had
attempted to do his duty, found his cow poisoned, and another
good citizen after attending an evening meeting discovered that
his harness had been cut into small pieces. Acts of villainy far
exceeding these will be described later.

The addition built by McCartney was moved onto Willard
street by John Graham, who used it as a wood-turning shop,
operated by a wheel in the cellar run by horse power. Later
it was made into a dwelling house and is still used as a residence.

The Old Worthingion Academy in 1916
(Built in 1833)

THE EAELT IWDUSTEIES OF BBELIN 183

Squire Dunbar's office, after his death in 1841, was put to
various uses, before it was taken for McCartney's barroom.
Colonel Bulkeley made it his office when he was town clerk,
and the Millerites held their meetings there while they were
preparing to ascend the skies. At last it was moved and
attached to the rear of Mrs. Hopkins' house, where it still
remains.

A new generation having arisen since the'first academy was
abandoned, a second joint stock company was formed under the
name of "The Worthington Academical Company." The first
annual meeting of the company was called at six o'clock, Febru-
ary 7, 1831, at "Woodbridge's Hotell," and officers were
appointed as follows :

Daniel Dunbar, Esq., president.
Josiah Edwards, seeretaiy.
Horatio Gridley, treasurer.

DIEECTOES.

Elishama Brandegee, jr., Daniel Dunbar, Horatio Gridley, Josiah
Edwards, Allen Beckley, William Savage, Joseph Booth, jr., James
Guernsey, Eeuben North.

Their constitution read in part as follows :

Art. 7th. When the sum of YOO dollars shall be raised, the Directors
are authorized to purchase of Mrs. Almira Barnes & her children a
convenient plot of ground, on the comer of their lot, a little south
of the ■ dwelling House of Jacob Booth, and forthwith to erect a
Building thereon for an Academy, the lower room to be occupied
for an academy school & the Upper Boom for Eeligious Conferences,
Lectures & Singing schools & for Public Exhibitions of the Academy,
also for Society meetings, school society meetings, & a Library room
when necessary.

Art. 8th. And provided the Presbyterian Church in Worthington
will subscribe the sum of 125 dollars to be applied toward finishing
the Upper Eoom, arching it and finishing the stairways, said room
shall be subject to their use and control so long as they continue to
keep it in repair.

184 HISTOEY OF BEELIIT

The land was purchased from the widow of Blakeslee Barnes
for $250.00. Three hundred and eleven shares of stock were
taken by residents of the town at $5.00 per share, and the work
of building was started at once.

In 1835, the school had become so popular that to accommo-
date its pupils, numbering between one and two hundred, the
entire building was required, and the Academy Company bought
out the rights of the Ecclesiastical Society, who built a chapel
directly across the street. This chapel, a one-story unpainted
building, was also used for singing schools and lectures.

Next south of the chapel was a fine old colonial house, known
as the Joseph Galpin place. It was noted for the beauty of
its front entrance, with a double door, the frame ornamented
by carvings.

In 1856, the Eev. Asahel 0. Washburn, who came here
from Suffield, tore dovra. the Galpin house to make room for
his modem home. At the same time he bought the chapel with
the land on which it stood and moved the building back and
attached it to his bams.

In the rear of his barns, Mr. Washburn ran a steam grist-
mill and a large sign over the street entrance announced the
business carried on. The place was sold to Deacon Increase
Olapp, who moved to California in 1876. Shortly before this
time the house, while occupied by a tenant, was burned.

The large house next south of the Joseph Galpin place, which
is now owned by Marcus E. Jacobs, was built by Blakeslee
Barnes, who carried on business as a tinner in a shop situated
in his yard. Mr. Barnes died in 1823 and after some years
Captain iCTorman Peck purchased the property. The shop was
moved dovni onto the triangle made by the division of the
roads on the way to the station from Berlin street, and was
called Captain Peck's farmhouse. About this time Captain
Peck was in need of a man to work on his place. He went
to New York and returned with an Irishman — ^the only one

Ph o

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< s

O jS

a -
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p =
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THE EAELY INDUSTEIES OF BEELIN 185

employed at that time in Berlin. Mrs. Emily Galpin Bacon,
now eighty-eiglit years old, bom in the house opposite the acad-
emy, remembers that when she was a child she used to see a
Patrick McGuire at work on that same Captain Peck place
when it was occupied by the Barnes family. Patrick had a
daughter, who grew up to be a stylish young woman. She had
a talent for drawing, which she taught in classes in Hartford.

Deacon Alfred North remembered when there was only one
Irishman in the whole town and he lived in New Britain.

One day a son of Erin, who had taken up his abode in Berlin,
presented himself before the registrars to be made a voter.
In order to show that he could read, he carried his prayerbook
and, as he was reading along glibly, the town clerk, whose
suspicion was aroused, stepped back of him and saw that the
book was upside down.

Hyram Mygatt, who was an ornamental carriage painter,
married Anna Booth, daughter of Joseph Booth. They lived
in a large, pleasant house directly opposite the new Congrega-
tional church. Mr. Mygatt had a shop at the back of the
premises where tin was japanned and baked. When Mr.
Mygatt died, in 1831, James Guernsey came to this place from
the north end of the village. The harness shop built by Mr.
Guernsey in the old academy yard was quite a traveler. It
was moved west of the hotel, then to the northeast comer of
the yard where the new Congregational church now stands, then
across south of the Mygatt house, where it was used by Mr.
Guernsey for the making and repair of harnesses and saddles
until he gave up business when it was taken down to Hart
street and made into a dwelling house. Finally, one Fourth of
July, some boys celebrating set it on fire and it was destroyed.

Helen Guernsey had a shop in her father's house for millinery
and dressmaking.

James Guernsey, Jr., the only son of Mr. Guernsey, went
to California with a number of his acquaintances, in search
of gold, and there went through the experience common to
those days. "When the time came for him to retum, instead
of going around the Horn, he crossed the Isthmus, in the sum-

186 HISTORY OP BEELIlir

mer of 1852, caught the Panama fever, and died in one week
after reaching home. The event caused much excitement in the
neighborhood and one man ran through the street crying at
the top of his voice, "James Guernsey is dead, James Guernsey
is dead." He was heard plainly as far as Colonel Bulkeley's.

Following Mr. Guernsey, the place was occupied a number
of years by !N"orman Porter, Jr., who, in 1863, moved to
San Jose, Cal. ; then by the family of Ansel Talcott, and lastly
by S. 0. Twitchell. One night, in the fall of 18Y6, the house
caught fire from a defective flue and was burned to the ground
with most of its contents.

The two houses standing next south of the new academy were
built by Elishama Brandegee, the father of Dr. Elishama
Brandegee. The one nearest the academy, long the home of
Dr. Brandegee and his family, was designed for the teacher
and was occupied by Ariel Parish. The other, now the par-
sonage of the Second Congregational Church, strange to relate,
was built to be used as a parsonage by the Bev. James McDon-
ald, who was settled here 1835-1837.

The name and reputation of Dr. Brandegee, the trusted and
beloved physician of nearly every family in town, is too well
known to need any extended notice.

The place next north of the new Congregational church was
owned by Capt. Nathaniel Comwell, who carried on business
as a tailor, in a shop attached to the south side of his house.
The property was purchased by the Eev. Joseph Whittlesey,
pastor of the Second Congregational Church, 1838-1841, who,
after resigning his charge conducted a school in his home.

Close to the street, on the lot where the church now stands,
was the home of Deacon Daniel Galpin, and over by the soutia
fence was the shop where he made wooden pumps and ox-yokes.
His daughters, Hetty and Mary, to whose memory Mrs. Dodd
has paid graceful tribute, had a school in the north front
chamber of the house. Deacon Galpin was a Revolutionary
soldier and he had also the honor of being the first red-hot
abolitionist in the town of Berlin.. He died in 1844, aged
eighty-eight. In 1850, this Galpin place was taken as the site

Elishama Bbandegee, M. D.
(From a painting by Robert Boiling Branrtegee)

THE EAELT IWDUSTBIBS OF BERLIN 187

of the new churcli and the old house was moved by John L.
Dowd, around south of the residence of the late W. A. Kiley.
It is now owned by Mrs. William Pierce. If you care to see
Deacon Galpin's front door step, go down the walk south of the
church to the eastern entrance, leading to the basement.

Phineas Squires, the maternal grandfather of William A.
Eiley, was a man of wealth and prominence. He built or
remodeled the house next south of Daniel Galpin's, now owned
by Miss Julia Hovey.

The property was purchased by the Kev. Samuel Goodrich,
who was the third pastor of the Second Congregational Church,
1811-1833. He was the father of a distinguished family.

His son, the Kev. Charles A. Goodrich, was the author of a
History of the United States that was used many years as a
text book in the schools of the country.

Another son, Samuel G. Goodrich, known as "Peter Parley,"
edited a magazine and wrote many tales for young people.

He also wrote a "Child's History of the Western Hemi-
sphere" which, with its pictures, was a delight to the children
in our schools fifty years ago.

Mr. Goodrich was ably assisted in his work by Hawthorne.

A daughter, Mrs. Abigail Goodrich Whittlesey, edited "The
Mothers' Magazine," so highly prized by the families of her
generation.

The Kev. Charles A. Goodrich, who was a public-spirited
citizen, continued to live on his father's place until 1847, when
he removed to Hartford, where he died in 1862. Mr. Goodrich
had a comfortable study in his south yard where he could be
quiet while working on his books. That building is now
attached to the rear of Mrs. William A. Riley's house.

The Kev. Samuel Goodrich, who found the Worthington
church in a very low condition, was deeply loved and reverenced
by his people. The children thought, as one who remembers
him expressed it, that he was a "Jesus Christ man" and that
he came straight from God. When this lady was an infant
she was very ill, and Mr. Goodrich was called to pray for her.
She recovered, and as he watched the child growing up to

188 HISTOET OP BEELIlir

womanhood, he would lay his hand on her head and say,
"Spared monument."

The attractive colonial house situated opposite the Goodrich
place was built by Priest Nathan Fenn, who was the first
minister settled over Worthington parish. He was ordained
1780 and died 1799. The inscription on his tombstone reads
as follows :

In his pastoral oflSce lie was faithful; in the duties of piety con-
stant; in every relation kind and affectionate; and to all men
hospitable and benevolent.

Jesse Eddy, who succeeded Mr. Fenn as owner of the prop-
erty, had a large tin shop that stretched across the south yard,
where many men were employed.

This shop was burned and rebuilt. Mr. Eddy was assisted
in his business by his sons, George and Frederic.

One Sunday, a warm day in summer, George went with a
companion to East Berlin and went in bathing at the factory
pond. The water was unusually high, after a heavy rain, and
George was drawn by an undercurrent over the dam and was
drowned. Fifty men turned out to search for his body but it
was not until after the water subsided that it was found caught
in a tree.

Mr. James B. Carpenter purchased the Eddy shop and moved
it down west of Deacon jSTorth's store, where it forms the resi-
dence part of Mr. Damon's place.

Nathaniel James married the daughter of Jesse Eddy, and,
after that, the family used the house as a summer residence
only, while their winters were spent in New York City.

Afterwards, the Eev. Seth Bliss owned the property for
several years. It is now the residence of Charles S. Webster.

The house next south of the Eddy place was once the home
of Dr. Austin, and in 1823 the noted singing teacher, Elam
Ives, with his wife, boarded with the family. Timothy Butler,
who lived in the next house, was a great hunter and a lover of
dogs.

One Sunday, about 1847, he, with Peleg Chapman, went over
on the West Mountain in search of a fox. Mr. Butler's dog had

THE EAKLT USTDUSTEIES OF BBELIW 189

run the animal to his den under a large rock, and was digging
the earth away with all his might, when Ohapman crawled
under to help him. Suddenly he cried out, "Call off your dog,
Tim, the rock is falling." It was too late for dog or man, and
Chapman was crushed to death. Word was brought to the
village at noon and every able-bodied man and boy rode or
walked to Kensington to help lift the rock. The women and
children who made up the audience in the old church that
afternoon never forgot the solemn sermon preached by Mr.
Woodworth.

The TJniversalist church that formerly stood on the site now
occupied by the haU of the Order of United Mechanics was a
well proportioned building, with long windows and a cupola,
similar to that on the Academy.

It was built in 1831, and when the society disbanded, it was
purchased by the Methodists, who in turn disbanded and sold
the building to the Mechanics.

The house just south of this property was the home, until
1848, of Dr. Sylvester Bulkeley, the father of Mrs. John
Brandegee.

Afterwards, tibe place was occupied by Mrs. Justus Bulkeley,
"Aunt Kuth" as she was generally called, and her family of
bright, pleasant daughters.

Francis Chambers, Esq., assistant clerk for many years of
the Supreme Court of Hartford county, had an office here, and
took for his wife, Mrs. Bulkeley's daughter Mary.

Back of the Bulkeley house was a famous mulberry grove.

Adjoining the Bulkeley place were extensive sheds and barns
used by John H. Webber, Jr., as a livery stable, and as a
starting place for stage and 'bus for Berlin depot.

At noon of Easter Sunday, 1896, a dense cloud of smoke was
seen rolling up the lane way north of the TJniversalist church.
A bam at the rear owned by Mr. Kiley had been set on fire —
it was supposed by boys smoking cigarettes.

The church bell rang frantically. Everybody seized a water
pail and rushed to the scene, but the flames only laughed at
their feeble efforts and ran on to devour, not only all th.e
buildings at the Bulkeley place and the Warrens' barn, but the

190 HISTORY or BEELIW

good church edifice, and the whole village seemed doomed to
destruction, when an engine driven at breakneck speed arrived
from !N"ew Britain.

Across the street from the Universalist church was the
original Eiley homestead, occupied by Roger Riley, Esq., who,
after acting as Justice of the Peace for many years, was in 1798
elected town clerk. With the exception of one year, he held the
office until 1816. He was universally respected and was the
man of his time to whom everybody went for advice. He was
a saddler by trade, making use of the West Indies as his market.

His shop was north of his house and the leather for his saddles
was tanned in a vat at the rear of the Universalist church.

His dwelling house, which stood within about three feet
of the sidewalk, was also a hotel with a ballroom. The bams
and sheds were on the east side of the street. It is said that
General Washington stopped at this place and patted the heads
of his twin boys, Moses and Aaron. Moses was the father of
the late William A. Riley.

The shop was afterwards used by a milliner, and as a shoe-
maker's shop by Joseph Savage.

The Rileys owned large tracts of land on both sides of the
road, and their front yard extended south nearly to the corner.
There is a well near the comer, which was used in connection
with a cider mill in operation at that point. The well of the
old Riley house is in the cellar of the house now owned by Mrs.
William Pierce.

According to the grand list of 1Y90, Roger Riley was then
the wealthiest man in Worthington parish ; his taxable property
was rated at $425.44. Roger Riley, Esq., was a superior pen-
man, and it is a pleasure to-day, after the test of a hundred
years, to read the Town records, written in his firm, round hand.

Mr. Riley died in 1822, at the age of eighty-five, forty-six
years after the Declaration of Independence, when he showed
his patriotism by enlisting in the War of the Revolution.

Miss Abby Pattison remembered seeing him, in his last
years as he stood in his front door way, "A little old man."

After the death of Squire Riley, the premises were rented,'
until the house became so rickety that no families except those

THE EAELY IITDtrSTEIES OB BEELIW 191

objectionable to the neighbors, would live in it. Einally, at a
time when it was vacant, the boys of the village decided to
take its destiny into their own hands. Night after night they
assembled, with axes and saws, and worked away inside at the
timbers, until all were severed from the foundation.

One of their number, now a law-abiding and highly respected
citizen of the town, stood sentinel outside, to give alarm by a
whistle, whenever he heard footsteps approaching.

When all was in readiness, ropes were attached, and with a
long pull, and a strong pull, the old house, whose walls might
have told many an interesting tale of colonial days, was laid a
wreck on the ground.

On the corner, south of the Riley property, Frederic Hins-
dale put up a large building, which he used as a bookstore and
a bookbindery. A Bible bought at this place in 1824, by Alfred
l^orth, then a lad, is still among the attic treasures of his
family.

Mr. Hinsdale died in 1831, at the age of thirty-six. He left
an interesting family of children, whose names were, Frederic,
Hezekiah, Sarah, Susan, and Julia. They lived in the brick
house now ovra.ed by Leon LeOlair. Jesse Hart, before assum-
ing the position of landlord, at "Boston Corners," in 1813,
lived at this place, and here conducted his business as cabinet
maker. He made coffins for $2.50 each, as shown by the old
town records.

At the store, after Mr. Hinsdale, came William and George
Loveland, who carried a stock of general merchandise. The
Loveland brothers were succeeded by Cowles & Durand, who
afterwards went to Kensington, and kept a store near the old
depot, where they failed in 1846.

At the comer here, Oowles & Durand were followed by
Isaac Dobson, who made tin ware. Mr. Dobson also lived in
the brick house and, like Mr. Hinsdale, died young — 1847,
age forty-three. He had two sons and four pretty daughters:
Francis, Joseph, Sarah, Julia, Caroline, and Minerva.

Consumption made sad havoc among the young people of
those days. Among its victims were all the children of Fred-
erick Hinsdale, except Sarah, who was the wife of Jacob,

192 HISTOEY OP BBELIIT

Brandegee, and all the Dobsons but Trancis, who, at last
accounts, was living in Boston.

In 1848 John Graham took possession of the property on the
corner, and carried on an extensive business, making carriages
and vragons. At the time of his death, in 1855, Mr. Graham
employed thirty men, and was turning off wagons at the rate
of one a day. They were drawn in long strings to MiddletoAvn
in summer, and to ISTew Haven in winter, to be shipped south
by water. Mr. Graham's account books show that some of his
largest customers were the following: J. P. Stow & Co.,
Catawba, Ala. ; G. Taylor & Brother, Kensington, N. 0. ;
Kobertson & Pettibone, Spata, Ala.; Wood & Sage, Cross
Eoads, Jackson County, Miss. ; J. Delooche, Macon, Ga. ;
Wymans & Damon, Augusta, Ga. ; J. B. Jacques, North Caro-
lina; also parties in Arkansas and Louisiana.

The running part of a wagon made by John Graham soon
after he came to the village, is still in daily use by Albert
Pollard, and the wheels, with not a rattling spoke, seem good
for another fifty years.

Linus Comwell succeeded Mr. Graham in the carriage-mak-
ing business, and later, while occupied as a grocery, the building
was burned.

Captain John "Hinsdil" lived near this corner and had a
blacksmith shop in his dooryard. He died in 1T93, aged eighty-
six. His daughter, Lydia, was the mother of Mrs. WiUard
and Mrs. Phelps.

Near the crosswalk, at the parting of the ways, as WiUard
street joins Worthington street, may be seen a little triangle.
At this point, under the gravel, is a large flat stone and below
the stone is a well, a hundred feet deep. Sixty years ago, over
this well was a wooden platform, about ten feet square. From
the platform, to the water, extended a log of wood, through
which a hole was bored to admit a plunger, which was worked
by a wooden handle, six or eight feet in length.

This was a tovm pump, free to all, where the weary traveler
could slake his thirst without trespassing on private property.

THE EARLY IITDirSTEIES OF BEELIN 193

When this pump was in working order woe to the unlucky
urchin who offended his playfellows. A sousing of his head
brought him quickly to repentance.

(Additional notes supplementing the preceding paragraphs of this
chapter, and contributed at a later date.)

The Captain Peck farmhouse was once painted blue, and
was known as the "Blue house." The burying ground, west
of the house, received the name of "Blue house cemetery,"
and the bridge over the stream, on the north side, was called
"Blue house bridge."

I am unable to lay my hand on the statement at this time,
but I have read, somewhere, that Priest Nathan Penn was a
chaplain in the Revolutionary War.

The name of the man who was crushed by the rock on West
mountain was Lafayette Chapman. Peleg Chapman was his
father. They lived in a little one-story house, in the south
district, on the comer, southwest of William Luby's, now vacant,
where the old country road turns west, on to the Kensington
four-rod highway. Mr. Chapman had nineteen children. His
son George was an obstinate "Chap" and was often whipped
terribly by the teachers in the south school, but he did not
appear to mind his punishment in the least.

The reference to the Universalist church reminded me of an
incident connected with the raising of the building. It was
on one Priday afternoon, when the Congregationalists had their
preparatory lecture in the old meeting house. The frame of the
new church was about ready to go up, when some one said,

"Let's wait until the d d blue skins come along," and so

they waited. At the right moment they put forth a mighty
effort, but not an inch would the timbers budge, until the "blue
skins" were out of sight.

On the east side of the street, opposite the town pump, at
what is known as the Albert Warren place, Asahel Hart, a

13

194: HI8T0ET OF BEEXIK

brother of Jesse Hart, had a tailor shop. He died in 1821,
aged fifty-seven years. His son. Freedom Hart, inherited the
homestead, and nsed the tailor shop for the manufacture of
combs.

A man who once owned this property took offence at his
neighbor, who lived in the Dr. Bulkeley house, and to spite him,
he moved the shop from the south yard, around on the north
side, close to the division line, so as to shut off all the sunlight
from this neighbor.

When Mr. Hart gave up his business, the shop was changed
into a tenement, and later was moved to the hill north of the
Eben Woodruff house. Its site is now occupied by the Berlin
Free Library.

Within the memory of the writer, the children of the village
were allowed to romp in Mx. Warren's attic, where were stored
quantities of old bone combs, made by Freedom Hart, like
those that encircled the heads of our grandmothers, and towered
high above their hair.

Sixty years ago there was a little shop south of the Freedom
Hart house, where the Loveland brothers made foot-stoves — an
industry that has now passed out of existence.

The little iron pan, within its frame of tin and wood, was
filled with hard walnut coals, and covered with ashes, which
held their heat a long time, and the stove was a great comfort
on Sunday, as passed along, from one to another, in the pews
of the fireless meeting-house.

From the time as far back as the memory of the oldest living
person goes, a prosperous store has been conducted at the stand
south of the Freedom Hart place, which for many years has
borne the sign of Henry N. Galpin.

Names obtained of those who have been at the head of the
business here are as follows: Orrin Beckley, about 1810;
Samuel Porter (died 1838, aged eighty-eight) ; ikorace Steele
& Dr. David Carpenter; Plumb & Deming, 1835; Benjamin
Wilcox; S.O.Wilcox; Galpin & Loveland ; Henry E". Galpin ;
Strickland Bros., and lastly E. E. Honiss. This store formerly
carried a line of everything that the community might need,

THE EAELY INDtTSTEIES OP BEELIIT 195

including drugs. Physicians' prescriptions were compounded
here until, by mutual agreement, H. E". Galpin surrendered
his drug department to Alfred North, who, in exchange, gave
up the sale of his drygoods to Mr. Galpin.

It is worthy of note that in all the years that Mr. Galpin and
Deacon itTorth were fellow merchants, there was never the least
rivalry or unpleasant feeling between them.

Mr. Galpin was a public-spirited citizen, ready at all times
to respond liberally to every good cause. He was also a man of
sterling integrity, as one, who knew him well, said, she would
not fear to trust him with the last cent she owned.

In the store long known as that of Henry IsT. Galpin, Samuel
0. Wilcox, who preceded Mr. Galpin, conducted business, in
connection with a store in Wilmington, !N". 0., and goods were
peddled through the south by teams. Communication between
the two points was by sailing vessels, from New Haven to
Wilmington.

The list, in succession, of Berlin's postmasters, so far as
known, is as follows: Samuel Porter, died 1818; Jesse Hart,
died 1827 ; Norris Wilcox, removed to New Haven ; James M.
Plumb, removed to New York; Edward Wilcox; Jacob S.
Brandegee; Edward Wilcox; Henry N. Galpin; Sherlock 0.
Hall; Walter D. Atwater; Henry N. Galpin; Henry L.
Porter; Albert B. Goodrich; Seth D. Strickland; Henry L.
Porter.

Samuel Porter, who heads the list, was one of the early
occupants of the Galpin store, and, for the greater part of a
hundred years, the post office was kept in this same place.
Samuel 0. Wilcox has said that, as a boy, it was his duty to
wait for the eleven o'clock night stage, to receive and to trans-
fer the mail bags. In order to be awake, he sat on the stoop,
where he would be aroused by the toot of the horn, which was
always blown as the stage rattled down the hill by the south
cemetery. Later he took the bag in at his bedroom window.

At first, the mail was carried in a two-horse, homely, black,
gypsy-like wagon. A quick exchange of horses was effected
at the various posts, and no passengers were allowed to ride

196 HISTOKT OF BEELIIT

with the mail. The mail express was carried on horseback.
Without stopping, the messenger would leap from his jaded
horse to one freshly saddled, and was away, like the wiad, to
the next station.

Between ISTew Haven and Hartford, the regular places for
exchanging horses were Wallingford, Meriden, Berlin, and
E"ewington.

The Hartford and IsTew Haven railroad received its charter
in 1835, and in 1838 was completed from New Haven to
Meriden. In 1839, trains were running to Hartford. In
1844, the road had teen extended to Springfield, hut it was
not until 1848 that it was possible for Berlin people to go to
New York by railroad. As late as 1842, daily mail stages
passed through Worthington street on their way between Hart-
ford and New Haven. And then the glory of the old tavern,
which it had enjoyed for nearly seventy years, departed.

J. B. Whaples was the first mail carrier from Berlin depot,
after the railroad was completed. At ten o'clock at night
he would deliver the mail bag to the postmaster, who slept
with it until morning.

Thus far there has been no mention of a fire that occurred
once on "Galpin corner." One day Mr. William Bulkeley
was at work with his horse, on the ledge, when looking toward
the village, he saw a little blaze coming out from the back of
Mr. Galpin's barn. He quickly unhitched his horse, mounted
its back, and started full tilt for the street, yelling "Fire."

When he reached the store he jumped into another man's
wagon, and drove down to the hotel for some ancient fire hooks
that were then kept there under the horse shed. Mr. Galpin's
bam was connected with the store by a long open building.

The hooks were attached to this building, in order to tear it
away, but the ropes were so tender with age, that they broke,
and the hooks were useless. The fiames spread until the store
was destroyed, and the ell of the house, then occupied by
Samuel C. Wilcox, caught fire. The men, in their determina-
tion to save as much as possible, tore off the doors of the house,
took out all the windows, removed the stairway balustrade,

THE EAELY INDTTSTEIES OF BEELIW 197

pulled out the posts of the veranda, and even tried to tear away
the mantels.

Of course, the dwelling was not habitable in that condition,
and arrangements were made for the family to go at once to
the Major Curtis house, which stood on what is now the front
lawn of Major Frank L. Wilcox, and was occupied then by
Noah 0. Smith and his family.

Mrs. Samuel C. Wilcox was a very nice housekeeper and was
very sensitive, withal. She was deeply mortified, as she went
out on the street, and discovered her furniture, the contents of
her closets, the family wearing apparel, and all the rest of her
belongings, strewn from the starting place along the banks the
entire distance to the Curtis house.

It is difficult, at this late day, to get dates, but a witness of
this fire remembers that it was in the fall after Fort Sumter
was fired upon.

Mr. Galpin replaced the old frame store building by one of
brick, which was extended a few feet north of the old line.

The property opposite Galpin's store, now the home of the
Misses Julia, Sarah, and Hattie Keys, daughters of the late
Franklin Eoys, was long known as the Elijah Loveland place.
The house was once used by Mr. Loveland as a hotel. Accord-
ing to George H. Sage, whose history of the "Inns of Berlin"
was published in the Berlin News of May 30, 1895, Mr.
Loveland received his tavemer's license in 1797, and discon-
tinued the business in 1812. There was a large addition on
the north side of the house, with a ballroom on the second
floor, which was often a scene of festivity.

When Priest Goodrich was here, there was a revival in his
church. It was before the chapel was built, and the extra
meetings were held in Loveland's ballroom. One cold night,
when the place was crowded, the air became so close that sud-
denly every tallow candle went out, and all was in darkness.
Mr. Goodrich, who feared that the people would attempt to

198 HISTOET OF BEELIK

go down the stairs and be injured, said in a commanding voice :
"Keep still !" "Everybody keep still !" The people obeyed him
and remained quietly in their seats until fresh air was admitted
and the candles were again lighted.

Elijah Loveland died in 1826, at the age of eighty-one. His
son George, who inherited the homestead, had five sons and
three daughters: William, George, Elijah, John, Henry, Sarah,
Lois, and Maria. Henry, who remained at home, remodeled
the old house and tore down the north part, that in later days
had been used as a tenement.

Mrs. C. B. Eoot, a tailoress, had for a time a shop in the
lower rooms. The ballroom was used in the fifties by the
Misses Pease and Stone, as a millinery and dressmaking
establishment.

The bar of the tavern was in the south front room and the
money was kept in a corner cupboard in the next room back.
When this cupboard was removed, Mr. Loveland found beneath
it handfuls of sixpences and ninepences, that had slipped
through the cracks.

East from Mr. Galpin's, halfway down the hill, on the north
side, was once a building, used for private schools, for religious
meetings by the Methodists, and by the Universalists, and for
other purposes.

At the foot of the hill, on the south side, on the spot where
Mr. Shumway's greenhouse now stands, the Booths had a tan-
nery, during the first half of the last century. There were eight
or ten vats inside and outside the building. Water was con-
ducted into the vats from a spring in the lot now owned by
Mr. Gwatkins. The tan bark was ground by horse power.
The boys used to think it great fun to sit over the big wheel
and drive the horse, to keep him going. Cowhides and calf-
skins were tanned in the vats, to be made into boots and shoes.
Men's jackets and breeches were also made from the leather.
The inventory of Daniel Wilcox of East Berlin, who died in
1789, has in the list, "Best leather breeches," "Second best
leather breeches."

Mr. Bulkeley remembers seeing cowhides strung on the fences,
both sides of the road, from his father's, all the way to the

THE EARLY INDTTSTEIES OF BEELIN 199

footbridge over the stream, in the valley below. The Booths
also did considerable business in wool pulling. Mr. Booth
would go to the surrounding places where sheep were killed,
and bring home the pelts, by the wagon load. The skins were
placed in vats with lime until the wool was loosened. Then
they were spread on slanting boards and stripped by hand.
The skins were packed still wet into hogsheads and sent away
to be used for book covers and bindings.

In hot weather the school children who had to pass the tannery
used to hold their noses, and the young men who worked on
the skins had to use a great deal of perfumery in order to make
themselves agreeable to the girls whom they visited at evening.

The wool was spread on large platforms to dry in the lot
opposite the tannery.

In later years, Almeron Bacon used the old tannery building
for a marble- and granite-cutting yard. Mr. Bacon did off
a part of the building for a tenament. In the lot southeast of
the tannery was a distillery.

The bam in the field across the way, that was burned in the
fire of 1895, was built of timbers from the old Koger Biley
house, and was used as a slaughter, conducted by Kobert
McCrum and George Patterson.

Groing east from the tannery, on the crest of the hill, at the
left hand, stands a factory bearing the jiame of "Justus and
William Bulkeley," who in 1823 started here in the business
of making tiimers' tools. Horse power was used at first and
ten men were employed. The tools were forged in this shop,
and then were taken to what is known as Risley's saw mill,
to be ground and polished.

Justus Bulkeley, who lived in the house east of the shop, died
in 1844. His brother William continued the business and, in
1850, put an engine into the factory.

Colonel Bulkeley purchased his place in 1823 of Blakeslee
Barnes, or of his estate. At that time the shop, and the house
which is a part of that now occupied by the Kev. E. E. Nourse,
stood on the south side of the road, between the Bulkeley house
and barn, and had been used by Mr. Barnes for the manufacture
of tinware. Mr. Bulkeley was a genial man, full of fun, and

200 HISTOET OF BEELIH"

a good neigkbor — one of the kind wlio would go out of his
way to do a favor. In his day, whenever there was an auction
in town, Colonel Bulkeley was called upon to conduct the sale.
By his ready wit he made much fun for the people, as he led
up to the final "Going, going, gone."

The Sixth Connecticut Kegiment was organized in 1739.
Mr. Bulkeley was colonel of that regiment, 1834-1836, and thus
received his title. Colonel Bulkeley died in 18Y8, aged eighty-
one.

The Justus Bulkeley place was bought by Deacon Joseph
Savage, who died there in 1857, aged sixty-three.

Deacon Savage was remembered for his pleasant disposi-
tion, and for his sweet tenor voice, with which he led the
singing in the evening meetings. He used to start the tunes
by aid of a long pitch pipe, and later he would hum the scale
up and down to get the right key.

The row of beautiful maple trees along the north side of the
street in front of his property, was planted by Deacon Savage.

Mr. ISToah Smith, who occupied the place in his later years,
also planted many trees and vines on the premises.

The large trees in front of the Bulkeley house, and down the
hills toward the village, were planted by Colonel Bulkeley.

At the beginning of the last century, when Elijah Loveland
was keeping tavern, his next door neighbor, on the south, was
John Dunham, a tinner, who carried on his business in a shop
standing in his north yard.

The Dunham house was burned. It was said that in her
fright at the time of the fire, Mrs. Dunham shut herself into
a closet. Her daughter Maria, who seized a heavy table and
carried it across the street, remained, in consequence, an invalid
all her life. The house was rebuilt and later was owned by
Timothy Boardman, a skillful tailor, who employed, as appren-
tices, a number of young men and women.

Mr. Boardman, who was an excellent citizen, removed to
Middletovm in 1856. His shop, which stood on the north side
of his premises, close to the Loveland line, is now a part of the
house of W. H. Shumway, the florist, situated at the foot

THE BAELT IlTOtrSTEIES OP BEELIIir 201

of the hill going toward Colonel Bulkeley's. In 1864 the Kev.
Daniel Francis, who succeeded Mr. Boardman, sold the prop-
erty to Mr. Josiah Bobbins of Wethersfield, and it is still
occupied by his daughter, Miss Frances 0. Bobbins.

"Jacob Brandigee," the progenitor of all the Brandegee
family in Connecticut, was bom at Nine Partners, N. T. At
the age of thirteen he came to Newington.

The Newington records state that "Jacob Brandigat" mar-
ried October 11, 1753, Abigail Dunham. The family bible
says he was twenty-two and Abigail sixteen when married.
Jacob Brandegee owned the covenant at ]Srew Britain, July
27, 1755. He was a weaver by trade. He was also engaged
in the West India trade and sent out vessels from Eocky Hill.

In 1762 he bought a tract of land at Christian Lane, in
"Great Swamp," as all this section was called for twenty years
after the first white settlers came. There was a house already
on the land, and Mr. Brandegee set up a store, first near the
home of the late Moses Gilbert, and afterwards opposite the
Iforman Porter house.

He died at sea, on his passage from Guadaloupe to Connect-
icut, March, 1765, aged thirty-six, as recorded on the tomb-
stone erected to his memory in the South Cemetery in
Worthington. We are told that a stone was erected to his
memory in the Christian Lane burying ground, where some of
his children were buried. All the Brandegee stones were after-
ward removed to the family yard in Berlin Street.

Jacob Brandegee's monument, now in the "Maple Cemetery,"
the name under which the south burying ground was incor-
porated April 3, 1903, was placed there in 1834, by his
grandson Jacob. His son Jacob died at Cape Francois, Jan-
uary, 1786, aged twraity-one years.

Jacob Brandegee's widow, Abigail (Dunham), married, sec-
ond, Bev. Edward Fells of Upper Houses, Middletown. She
died January 25, 1825, at the age of eighty-six, and was
buried in Cromwell, but her inscription was cut with that of
her first husband on the monument in Maple Cemetery, Berlin.

202 HISTORY OF BEELIBT

Jacob Brandegee had at Eocky Hill a little negro boy from
Guinea, whom be bad picked up on one of bis voyages. Quam,
as be was called, became very bomesick. He said be wanted
to see bis motber, and begged to go back to Guinea. Tbe
Kocky Hill boys laugbed at bim. Tbere was a keg of powder
in tbe attic of tbe bouse, and one day tbe boys told Quam tbat
if be would go up and sit on tbat keg and strike fire, be would
go to Guinea, and would see bis motber. Soon afterward Quam
was missed.

Mrs. Brandegee, — remember sbe was only a slip of a girl,
just past sixteen — ^went up tbe attic stairs, and tbere sat the
boy, as directed, in tbe act of striking a flint. Mrs. Brandegee
ran for ber life and escaped, but poor Quam !

Tbe roof of tbe bouse was blown off, and tbe cbild's mangled
body was found in tbe garden. It was buried tbere wbere it
bad fallen. Wben tbe Connecticut Valley railroad was built
in 18Y1 it passed tbrougb tbis garden, and tbe workmen cast
out, witb their sbovels, tbe skeleton of Quam.

Elisbama Brandegee, Sr., tbe oldest of tbe six children of
Jacob, was born in 1754. He married Widow Lucy (Plumb)
Weston in 1118, and came over to Wortbington Street, where
be settled on tbe property known as tbe "Mulberry Orchard"
south of the John Dunham place. He also acquired consider-
able land on the opposite side of the way.

The Middletown and Berlin turnpike road, which was opened
in 1810, passed down the eastern hillside, south of tbe Galpin
place, through land owned by the Brandegee family.

Elisbama Brandegee was a Revolutionary soldier. After-
ward he followed tbe calling of his father, and sailed the seas
as a merchant. His business was chiefly witb tbe West Indies.
He managed bis own vessels and was always known as "Captain
Brandegee." He died in 1832. The house in which he lived,
situated on the west side of the street near tbe south boundary
of bis premises, is barely recalled by our oldest residents. A
tall evergreen tree, recently removed, stood in tbe front yard
and was for many years a landmark.

THE EARLY INDUSTRIES OF BERLIN 203

Among the historical articles exhibited by Mrs. E. M. Gris-
wold at the Berlin Fair of September, 1905, was a set of
liquor bottles from the brig Minerva, which sailed from the
river ports of Connecticut to Spain and the West Indies, pre-
vious to 1775.

During the time when our country was weakened from its
struggle for freedom, French privateers captured many Ameri-
can vessels, one of which was the Minerva, owned in part by
Capt. Elishama Brandegee.

The United States had been unable to keep all the agreements
of its treaty with France, made in 1778, and the two nations
settled their difficulties by making one grievance offset another.

Bills of indemnity, called "French Spoliation Claims," have
been before our government for over a hundred years, but the
heirs of Captain Brandegee have yet to receive their first penny
on account of the loss of the good brig Minerva.

In the days when the generation now come to the front
was fiUed with youth and enthusiasm, whenever funds were
needed for an extra church expense, or for unusual charitable
objects, a fratival, with tableaux and charades, was in order.
In 1871, a carpet that had borne the impress of the feet of
many a saint in its time of service, on the floor of the Congre-
gational church, since its dedication, was in tatters. The
young people of the society volunteered to raise money for
a new carpet, and gave a well-planned and popular entertain-
ment in the old town hall, on the evenings of January 3 and
5, 1872. The gross receipts for the two evenings were $384.

This seeming digression from our subject was suggested by
the fact that at such times, while every attic in the village was
ransacked (this was before the advent of rummage sales) for
calashes, bell-crowned hats, swallow-tailed coats and all manner
of old-fashioned garments, to be used in making up picturesque
costumes for the occasion, the loan of a certain red silk gown
was always desired.

This gown was a purely domestic production, the work of
the hands of Mrs. Lucy Brandegee. She reared the silk-worms.

204 HISTOBT OP BEELIJSr

which she fed with leaves from the mulberry trees that sur-
rounded her home. She spun and dyed the thread and wove the
fabric, with the intention it was said of presenting the dress to
Mrs. Martha Washington. Somehow it missed its destination
and was worn by Mrs. Brandegee.

It is still in a good state of preservation, but is so highly
valued that it would be presumptuous to attempt to borrow it
to be used in the hasty scramble of dressing for a tableau or
charade.

Emma Hart began her career as a teacher at the age of seven-
teen, in a schoolhouse which stood in that mulberry orchard,
on the Brandegee place. It was in the year 1804.

In the History of New Britain, by Prof. D. N. Camp, is
an account of Miss Hart's first day's experience with her
pupils, given in her own words, as follows :

I began my work by trying to discover the several capacities and
degrees of advancement of the children, so as to arrange them into
classes; but they having been under my predecessor, accustomed to
the greatest license, would, at their own option, go to the street door
to look at a passing carriage, or stepping onto a bench in the rear,
dash out of a window and take a lively turn in the mulberry grove.
Talking did no good. Reasoning and pathetic appeals were
unavailing.

At noon, I explained this first great perplexity of my teacher life
to my friend, Mrs. Peck, who decidedly advised sound and summary
chastisement.

"I cannot," I replied, "I never struck a child in my life."

"It is," she said, "the only way and you must."

I left her for the afternoon school with a heavy heart, still hoping
I might find some way of avoiding what I could not deliberately
resolve to do.

I found the school a scene of uproar and confusion which I vainly
endeavored to quell. Just then Jesse Peck, my friend's little son,
entered with a bundle of nice rods. As he laid them on the table
before me, my courage rose, and in the temporary silence which
ensued I laid down a few laws, the breaking of which would be
followed with immediate chastisement.

For a few minutes the children were silent, but they had been
used to threatening, and soon, a boy rose from his seat, and as he
was stepping to the door, I took one of the sticks and gave him a

THE EAELY INDUSTEIES OF BEBLIN 205

moderate flogging; then witli a grip upon his arm which made him
feel that I was in earnest, put him into his seat.

Site then exhorted the children to be good, etc., but informed
them that she must and would have their obedience.
But she says :

The children still lacked faith in my words, and I spent most of
the afternoon in alternate whippings and exhortations, the former
always increasing in intensity, until at last, the children submitted,
and this was the last of corporal punishment in that school.

Elishama Brandegee, Sr., had three sons and two daughters :
Jacob, John, Elishama, Lucy, and Sally Milnor. Lucy was the
wife of Major Giles Curtis; Jacob settled in New York ; John
went to New London; Elishama remained on the homestead
at Berlin ; Sally Milnor died at the age of sixteen.

As a man, Elishama Brandegee, Jr., was upright, kind,
genial, full of public spirit, and a leader in many important
enterprises of his day. According to the family tradition, he
planted, at the age of twelve, on his father's premises, the two
rows of stately maples that still remains a monument of the
work of his boyhood. After the Middletown turnpike road
opened in 1810, he planted the trees on the south side of the
way from the top of the hill down to the tannery.

In 1811 he married Emily Stocking of Middletown Upper
Houses. The next year he built, on the north side of the old
homestead, the fine large house, now owned by W. S. Brandegee.
The exact time is not known when he built the great rambling
store, once so famous, that occupied the corner opposite Jiis
dwelling, but it was in full swing in 1811, with Elishama
Brandegee, Jr., as proprietor.

At this store was carried the largest stock of dry goods,
groceries, boots and shoes, drugs, etc., to be found between
Hartford and New Haven. It was also the wholesale depot
for dealers in surrounding towns. The people came here from
Meriden and New Britain, and from all about, for miles
away, to do their trading. Farmers' wives brought their butter
and eggs to this store, where they could exchange them for

206 HISTORY OF BEELIN

finery — ^butter at twelve cents a pound and eggs eight cents a
dozen.

Twice a year Mr. Brandegee journeyed by stage to IsTew
York to replenish his stock. His business there was mostly
done on Pearl Street. The merchandise came by water to Mid-
dletown, and was brought out to Berlin by teams of horses or
oxen. The stock comprised many articles not to be found in
country stores of this day. Labels on the drawers are recalled,
as SILES, SATINS, LACES, FINE SHAWLS, etc. In one
drawer might be found dainty, colored kid slippers.

Our grandmothers loved gay attire. Mrs. Lucy Curtis used
to speak of wearing a pink satin dress on a steamboat excursion
down the Connecticut river.

It will give an idea of the part Mr. Brandegee bore in the
interests of the town to say that when the new academy was
built, he took two hundred of the three hundred and eleven
shares subscribed at five dollars per share.

On April 9, 1854, Mr. Brandegee was one of a hundred and
thirty persons propounded for admission to the Second Congre-
gational Church. The next day he died quite suddenly, while
sitting in his chair.

The children of Elishama Brandegee, Jr., were: Jacob,
Dr. Elishama, Camillus, Marius, John, Henry, Sarah (Mrs.
Barney) , and Julia. John, who assisted his father in the store,
kept up the business until 1856. Afterward, for a short time,
Mr. Wilcox of Meriden used the building for the manufacture
of hoop skirts and employed a large number of girls.

Then for a long while the old store lay idle and the boys and
girls of the village played hide and seek in the bins that were
formerly used to hold sugar and other commodities.

At last the huge old pile was torn down by William Sage.
One small building, made from the lumber, stands opposite
the house of 0. M. Jarvis. It was once used by Mr. Sage as a
stone cutter's shop. The door of that shop was one of the side
front doors of the store.

James H. Bunco, the well-known and prosperous dry goods
merchant of Middletown, began his mercantile career as clerk

THE EAELT IBTDtTSTEIBS OF BEKLHiT

207

for John Brandegee, and there are persons now living in Berlin
who recall his polite and accommodating ways.

At the close of the War of 1812, our country was burdened
with a debt of a hundred million dollars, and business generally
was paralyzed for want of money. The amounts attached to
names in the following list, made in 1817, of the men who were
at that time engaged in business in Berlin, will show one
method taken to relieve the situation:

UST OF ASSESSMENTS FOE 1817

MERCHANTS

Elish BraJidegee

...$80

Pattison & Peck

... 80

ATTORNEYS

Daniel Dunbar

... 120

PHYSICIANS

David Caipiater 40

Wm K Hand 40

TAVERNEES

Amos Kirby

Jesse Hart

25
30

BLAOKSMPTHS

Eeuben North 40

Andrew Norton 10

TINNERS

Benjamin Wilcox 25

John Dunham. 60

Samuel Pattison 30

John Hubbard 15

WAGON MAKERS

Ereman Howard 25

Salmon Warner 10

CARPENTERS

Urbane Kekey 10

Asaiel Kelsey 10

JOINERS

Oh'neey Shipman 15

MASONS

Jabez Dickinson 15

Daniel Eice 15

SADDLER

James Guernsey 10

HATTERS

Joseph Booth 20

CABINET MAKERS

Abijah Elagg 10

BOOK BINDERS

Elisha Cheney $40

Levi North 10

Jedediah North 20

John Lee 10

Lyman Latham 10

EliasBeckley 10

Allen Beckley 10

SHOEMAKERS TANNERS

Zenas Eichardson 10

Abijah Porter 10

Seth Savage 10

Elijah Stanley 25

Elijah Smith 15

Horrace Steel 15

TAILORS

Nath'n'l Comwel 10

DISTILLERS

Samuel Porter 10

Lyman Wilcox 25

OAEDING MAOHDifES

Jos E Wilcox 10

Lyman Wilcox 10

208

HISTOBY OF BEELIlSr

GEIST MILLS

Jos E Wilcox 45

Lyman Wilcox 45

Phineas Squires 15

Moses Eiley 15

Guernsey Bates 30

CLOTHIERS

Samuel Norton 12

Loren Percival 12

Blakeslee Barnes, (was a
tinner, no amount at-
tached to his name.)

TDJNERS

Jesse Eddy

20

LIST OF CHAISES AMD ASSESSMENTS

Adami Rittenhouse $15

E & A Edwards 15

Amos Hoaf ord 20

Erastus Sage 30

Erastus Sage 15

Edmond Boldero 30

Horace Steel 2 20

« " 20

E Brandegee Jr 30

Elisha Peck 30

Eojer Eiley 20

Ereman Howard 20

16

Lynian Latham 15

" " 15

Daniel Galpin 20

David Carpinter 15

« " 15

Joseph Both 15

Caleb Galpin 15

David Dickinson 40

Nath'l Dickinson 20

David Webster $15

Seth Deming 15

Lardner Deming 15

Samuel Porter 20

Wid Hep Beckl^ 15

Shubael Pattison 15

Eleazur Eoberts 15

Eeuben North 15

Ch'n'cy Shipman 15

Elisha Cheney 15

Jacob Willcox 15

Benjamin Willcox 20

Samuel Willcox 15

Josiah Willcox 15

Lyman Willcox 15

Solomon Norton 15

Samuel Whitlesey 15

Blakeslee Barnes 50

John Dunham 40

Daniel Dunbar 20

Giles Ourtise 20

At a meeting of the Listers of the Town of Berlin, convened at
Jesse Hart's inn, 13th of Oct, 1817, voted that the persons above
named be assessed the sums affixed their names

NOAH W STANLEY
LEVI WELLES, Jr
FEANCIS HAET
ASHBEL HOOKEE
WILLIAM STOCKING
JAMES GUEENSET
EEUBEN NORTH

THE EAELY INDUSTEIES OF BEKLIW 209

In 1817 Horace Steele, Elishama Brandegee's next door
neighbor on the south, was engaged in the business of book-
binding. Afterwards he made bandboxes, which he carried to
Hartford to sell to the milliners.

Mr. Steele's children were Eliza (mother of the Eev. Andrew
T. Pratt, missionary in Turkey), Caroline (Mrs. Joseph
Booth), Mary, Jane, Lucy Ann (Mrs. Lorenzo Lamb), and
William.

Their home, a large colonial house set well back from the
street, was, in its day, socially a center of attraction, filled as
it was with bright, merry young people. The old house was
torn down by William Steele and the house which he built on
its site is now owned by Walter Gwatkin.

In 1801 the Eev. Evan Johns and Mr. Edmund Boldero,
with their wives, who were sisters^ came to America from Eng-
land. The pulpit of the Second Congregational Church of
Berlin had been without a settled minister since the death of
Mr. Goodrich in 1799. Mr. Johns was called to be his suc-
cessor and was installed June 9, 1802. He was a man of good
ability, but he had a high temper, so poorly controlled that he
and his people were kept in turmoil until, to the relief of both,
he was dismissed February 13, 1811.

He chose as the text of his last sermon, the words "The
Devil is the father of liars, and ye are the children of your
father." He went on to say, "You are all liars, and the truth
is not in you." One good brother, in righteous indignation,
rose in his seat to go up and pitch Mr. Johns out of the pulpit,
and was hardly restrained from his purpose. Mr. Johns
desired to preach one more Sunday in order that he might
finish what he had to say, but he was not allowed to enter the
pulpit.

The two English families, Johns and Boldero, lived together,
in the house lately owned by S. F. Kaymond, situated next
south of the Horace Steele place. Mr. Johns had one son,
Thomas, who, for fear of contamination, was not allowed to
go to school, or to play with other children. When Tommy was
out in his yard, the little boys of the neighborhood would go
14

210 HISTOKY OF BEELIW

and peek at him througli the pickets. Then Mrs. Johns would
appear and say, "Tommy, come away. I do not wish you to
speak to those children." It was said that as soon as Tommy
came to his majority he plunged into all manner of dissipation
and went speedily to "the bad."

The Bolderos remained after the dismissal of Mr. Johns until
the death of Mr. Boldero in 1839. Then Mrs. Boldero boarded
in the family of Charles A. Goodrich until her death in 1842.

The inscriptions on their tombstones in the East Berlin ceme-
tery read as follows :

Edmund Boldero Esq. Youngest son of Eev. John Boldero, late
rector of Ampton, Suffolk, England. Bom Anno Domini 1Y6Y.
Emigrated to America 1801. Died at Berlin Aug. 3 1839 M 72.

Eutychia Ann Boldero, Relict of the late Edmund Boldero, Esq.
and youngest daughter of the late Eev. Thomas Harmer, D.D. Bom
at Hattisfield, Suffolk, England, Sept. 25th, 1Y60. Died at Berlin
March 27, 1842, M 81.

The Bolderos left some property in charge of Mr. Groodrich,
who turned it into money, and sent it, by the hand of his son
Samuel, over to England, where he delivered it into the hands
of the heirs, two interesting old ladies, who lived, if remembered
rightly, at Bury St. Edmunds.

There was a mystery about the Bolderos that was buried with
them. Some said Mr. Boldero had offended the king and that
he came to, America to avoid arrest. They lived a secluded life
and kept their house locked. Whenever anyone came there, a
door would be opened a crack, or a chamber window might be
raised, to inquire what the errand was. The children of that
generation used to think it great fun on Thanksgiving day
to dress up and go from house to house making calls. A party
of them once stopped at the Bolderos and knocked at the door.
Mrs. Boldero opened a window and asked what they wanted.
They answered : "It is Thanksgiving day and we have come to
call upon you." She replied : "Every day, with me, is Thanks-
giving, and you'd better run right along."

THE EAELY INDUSTRIES OF BEKLIIT 211

When Mr. and Mrs. Boldero left England they supposed they'
were coining to a wilderness and they brought chest upon chest
of clothing, all made up, sufficient to last a lifetime. Mrs.
Boldero used to wear to church a pink silk petticoat and a blue
silk long shawl. After the service they would wait until all
the congregation had gone out, when Mrs. Boldero would say,
"My dear, I think we may venture now." Then she would lift
her skirt daintily, take her husband's arm, and step down the
aisle. They always walked about the yard arm in arm. There
were two or three young ladies in the village to whom Mrs.
Boldero took a fancy and these favored few were occasionally
iavited to take a cup of tea with her. The Boldero house was
afterward occupied by Sherlock C. Hall, who about 1852 was
postmaster. The office was kept in the south front room of the
dwelling.

In 1857 Deacon Edward Wilcox sold his property in East
Berlin to Daniel M. Rogers and purchased the Boldero place,
where he died in 1862. His wife, who was Harriet M. Dowd,
died in 1865, and their daughter, Harriet Newell, died in 1893.
Deacon Wilcox and his wife and daughter were all devoted to
the interests of the church of which they were members, and
were eminently useful there and in the community at large.

Deacon S. F. Eaymond, who inherited the Wilcox place from
his cousin Miss Harriet IST. Wilcox, died January 19, 1905,
greatly lamented by his many friends.

The name of Edward Wilcox brings to mind a work in
which he was greatly interested. In 1857 a manual of the Sec-
ond Congregational Church of Berlin was published, which
represented many weeks of patient research and labor by the
Eev. William DeLoss Love, Deacon Benjamin Savage, Deacon
Edward Wilcox, and Deacon Alfred North. It is remembered
that every meeting of that committee was opened by prayer..

The book contains, besides thirty-four pages of historical
memoranda and other matter, a chronological index of every
member of the church, from its organization in 1775 up to
1857. Dates of deaths and ages are given and at the end is
an alphabetical index.

212 HISTOEY OF BEELIW

Mayor Giles Ourtiss, who was a Revolutionary soldier, lived
next south of the Bolderos. He died in 1842, aged eighty-nine.

The Curtiss house, which stood near the sidewalk, was very
well built, with fine mouldings about the ceilings. The prop-
erty was purchased by Samuel 0. Wilcox about 1861, and when
he built his new house back on the hill, the old house was taken
down by Ohauncey Griswold, removed to Meriden and set up
again, on Britannia Street, where it is still in use as a tenement
house.

On what is now the lawn of the Wilcox place, between the
Ourtiss house and the great button ball tree, there was once
a grocery store kept by a Mr. Latimer.

The Methodist church, situated directly opposite Horace
Steele's driveway, was built in 1830. At that time there was
no building on that side of the way between it and the Brandegee
store.

In 1871 the Methodist society bought the Universalist church
and their own building was sold to Eben Woodruff, who moved
it down on to his place north of the town hall, to be used as a
tobacco barn. It is said that the church fell to pieces as the
first load of tobacco crossed its threshold.

The house on the corner south of the Methodist church, now
occupied by Bryan H. Atwater and his sister. Miss Mary
Atwater, is one of the oldest in Berlin.

Some years since, when the house was repainted, the date
1769 was discovered on the brick work of the chimney, about
half-way between the roof and the top of the chimney. It
was built to be used as a tavern with a public hall and ballroom
on the second floor.

Miss Abby Pattison used to say to her mother, Abigail
Miller, attended a ball at Fuller's tavern in 1789. It was that
same year when Washington, on his return by stage from
Bunker Hill to ISTew York, escorted, as recorded in his diary,
by Major Jackson, Mr. Lear and six servants, "breakfasted at
Worthington at the house of one Fuller."

Amos Kirby assumed the proprietorship of Fuller's tavern
about the year 1814, and lived on the place imtil his death in

THE EABLT INDUSTEIES OF BEBLIN 213

1846 at the age of seventy-one. During the latter part of his
years he carried on the business of a butcher and peddled meat
about the town.

A bam formerly stood close to the street north of the Kirby
house. There was no fence in front of the house or barn. A
roof extended from this barn over the street and underneath
were scales for weighing hay. High up under the roof was
a large wheel with a shaft that extended the width of the build-
ing. Two great ropes, with strong hooks at the end, were
wound around the wheel and were connected to a small wheel
with a crank and windlass in a room at one side, on the ground.

The carts then in use had but two wheels. They were drawn
into the building, the ropes were let down, and the hooks were
caught into the cart wheels. Then by turning the crank of the
windlass the load was raised to the shaft at the top of the
building. Two hooks from the scale balance were secured to the
wheels, then the ropes were thrown off and by movable weights,
like those used on steelyards, the load was weighed.

On the corner south of the Kirby house there was formerly a
building used as a liquor saloon.

The following letter, written by Mr. Atwater and addressed
to Mr. F. L. Wilcox, gives further information of interest
concerning the ancient tavern :*

December 31st, 1904.
Hon. F. L. Wilcox:

Dear Sir: In' response to your request I have outlined below a
few points conoeming the Masonic chart which is in my house on
Berlin street and which may be of interest to you at this time. The
house, as you know, was built in 1769, and some twenty years ago
upon removing the paper from the east room upstairs we discovered
painted upon the plastering of the east side of the room the chart
referred to. Although not a Mason myself I am told that this shows
various degrees from the Lodge to the Oommandery. Two brazen
pillars surmounted by the arch and keystone of the chapter are con-
spicuous in the center, and from the keystone hangs, suspended by
a ribbon, the letter G, while in the foreground are represented three
persons clothed in royal robes, one under the center of the arch and

* See also The Eartford Courant for June 21, 1914.

214 HISTORY OF BERLIN

one at each pillar. Surounding the arch and colvunns are repre-
sented numerous Masonic sjrmbols, the Templar star with its nine
points and passion cross entwined with a serpent; cross, pens with
three crowns representing three kings; the ark and dove, the Jewish
tabernacle and many others. The wonder is that this chart should
have been so completely lost to memory these last sixty or seventy
years. Good authorities suppose it to have belonged to Harmony
Lodge, No. 20, of New Britain, which formerly held their meetings
there. This lodge was first located in Berlin under the name of
Berlin Lodge, No. 20, and was organized in 1Y91, two years after the
grand lodge of Connecticut was established. The house was a tavern
and relay house of the Boston and New York line of stage coaches.

The room in which is now the chart spoken of was first a part of the
dance room of the tavern, running across the house from east to
west. It afterwards changed hands and was converted into the
Masonic lodge room spoken of and the house with its surroundings
was known for many years as the Kirby place, which bears an addi-
tional historic interest as it is mentioned in the diary of George
Washington which diary is now in the possession of Mr. James F.
Joy of Detroit, Michigan, and in which he writes under date of
Tuesday, November 10th, 1789, as follows :

"Left Hartford about seven o'clock and took the middle
road (instead of the one through Middletown which I went)
breakfasted at Worthington, in the township of Berlin, at
the house of one Fuller, bated at Smith's on the plain of
Wallingford, thirteen from Fuller's which is the distance
Fuller's is from Hartford and got into New Haven which is
thirteen miles more, about half on hour before sundown. At
this place I met Mr Geary in the stage from New York and
he gave me the first certain account of the health of Mrs.
Washington."

A gentleman of Hartford, prominent in the Order, states that from
1797 to 1800 the lodge had Dr. James G. Percival for master. He
was the father of James G. Percival, Jr., the poet, linguist and
geologist. A more complete description of the early history of
Harmony Lodge was given by the late Hon. Robert J. Vance in hia
Centennial address, before that order in 1891 and which is shown on
the records of the above lodge in New Britain. Trusting this
information will be of interest to you, I remain

Yours truly,

Bryan H. Atwatee.

THE EARLY INDTTSTEIES OF BERLIN 215

When Amos Kirby was landlord of the Fuller tavern, he
and his guests were within easy call of a physician. Dr. Wil-
liam M. Hand lived across the street, in the house now owned
by Mrs. B. K. Field. He had an office in the south yard, near
the well. This little office building was moved up north, onto
the Levi Deming farm, and clever, old black Lindy, sister of
Charles Stocker, lived in it for a time. Afterwards it was
moved up to Twenty Eod, where it was burned.

A medical treatise, entitled, "The House Surgeon and Phy-
sician," published in 1818, was highly valued in our old
families. It was always called "Dr. Hand's Book," although
his name did not appear in it. A much-thumbed copy, for-
merly ovTned by Mr. Eeuben ISTorth, shows that it was well
studied. One day, Mrs. l^orth had the misfortune, in yawning,
to dislocate her jaw. She was unable to close her mouth or to
speak a word, and she was two miles from a physician. She
found in "Dr. Hand" the directions for treatment in case
of "Dislocation of the Lower Jaw," which read as follows :

Set the patient on a low stool, so that an assistant may hold the
head firm by pressing it against his breast. The operator is then to
thrust his thumbs (being first secured by wrapping them, in leather
or linen cloth, so that they may not slip,) as far back into the
patient's mouth as he can, while his fingers are applied to the jaw
externally. After he has got firm hold of the jaw, he is to press it
firmly downward and backwards, by which means the elapsed heads
of the jaw may be easily pushed into the former sockets.

Mrs. E'orth carried the book to her husband and pointed to
the directions, which he followed and made a successful opera-
tion. A tribute to a discreet wife. Some wives would have
been allowed to remain speechless — at least until a doctor
could be called.

Dr. Hand was succeeded by Dr. Josiah M. Ward.

William Bulkeley remembers hearing that Dr. Hand, or
Dr. Ward, he is not sure which,* was called down to Westfield
to visit a sick person, who lived opposite the church. He
found his patient so dangerously ill that he decided to remain

* It appears later that it must have been Dr. Ward.

216 HISTORY OP BEELIN

all night. To pass away the time he went out and sat on the
stone steps of the church, where he took a cold that caused his
death.

Dr. Josiah M. Ward and Son.

One of the first names placed on the list prepared of those
to be invited to Berlin's Old Home Day celebration, last Sep-
tember, was that of Alexander M.. Ward, son of the faithful
family physician, Josiah M. Ward.

Your correspondent* had the pleasure last week of a morn-
ing's visit with Mr. Ward, at his home in New Haven.

So far as known, Mr. Ward has the distinction of being the
next oldest living person born in Berlin. He will celebrate
his ninetieth birthday next year (1907), and the doctor tells
him that he is good for a hundred.

Mr. Ward is in possession of all his faculties and in a race
would distance most men twenty years his junior. He said
I might tell you that, with the exception of a little rheumatism
in one arm and shoulder, he had not felt a pain or an ache for
thirteen years. He attributes the good time he is now having
to an experience of his boyhood. He was sick and it was feared
that he was going into consumption.

Captain ISTorman Peck, who was a brother of Mrs. Ward,
used to carry cargoes of American goods to Scotland, and then
on his return he would bring a load of Scotchmen over to this
country. One day when he called to say "Good bye" to his
sister, he saw young Alexander, as he lay in his mother's bed.
The captain said : "Give me that boy and I will cure him. I
will take him to Scotland and bring him home well."

The mother gave her consent, and asked what clothing she
should provide — ^he had not a stitch of wool about him unless
it might be a pair of trousers. His uncle said, "Do not get
anything, I will see that he has an outfit when we reach New
York." And so his mother wrapped a great camlet cloak
with a cape about her child, and off he was carried in that rig.

* That is. Miss North.

THE EAELT INDUSTRIES OF BEELIN 217

The first night in New York the boy was put onto the ship,
where sloops, filled with rocks, were coining alongside. The
rocks were for ballast, and were thrown on deck. Alexander,
just out of his mother's bed, was set to throwing them down
into the hold. The next he knew they had weighed anchor,
and were off for Charleston, where they were to take on a cargo
of cotton. He said, "Where are my clothes?" "I declare,"
said the captain, "I forgot all about them. "Well, we'll get
some in Scotland." One of the seamen gave him a vest, that
came well down over his body, and finally another gave him
a woolen jumper, so that he was made fairly comfortable.

At Charleston, the vessel was ladened to its fullest capacity
with bales of cotton. One bale was left out in a certain spot
to make a place where Alec and another boy could sleep, but
there was not room for both there at the same time, unless
they lay spoon fashion.

On the return voyage, as the vessel neared !N"ew York harbor,
and the city was in full view, Alexander said to himself, "I
have not done a single smart thing that I can tell the boys at
home about. At that moment his eye caught sight of his
country's flag floating from the royal mast. The very thing!
Up aloft he climbed, shinned the flag pole, sat on the truck
and folded his arms, the ship under full sail. He said, "It
makes me shiver to-day to think of it."

Can you see the rugged sailor boy, who, a few days later,
skipped up the bank, across the way from Kirby's tavern,
clasped his arms around the neck of Mrs. Ward and called her
"mother?" No camlet cloak for him now! He tipped the
scales at a hundred and sixty-five. What life more noble, more
self-sacrificing than that of a country doctor? He, his wife
and his children hold a place in the hearts of the people,
equaled only by that of a faithful minister and his family.
It would be a pity should the names and good deeds of our
Berlin physicians be forgotten.

In 1825, the spotted fever, which for several years was
prevalent in New England, raged in Berlin so that it came
to be called "the Berlin fever." One story was that the disease

218 HISTORY OF BEELIN"

was brought from the South, by one of the young men who
had been there peddling goods. The day after his return he
played a game of ball with the Berlin boys, and the next day
he was dead of the fever. Others said it was caused by the
clogging of Spruce Brook. At that time Mr. Josiah Wilcox,
who for many years manufactured tinners' tools at North
Greenwich, Conn., was an apprentice with J. & E. ISTorth at
East Berlin. Shortly before his death, in 1883, he passed over
Stoney Swamp road, on his way to East Berlin, and noticed
that the meadows were overflowed. He said, "If your people
do not clean out the bed of that stream, you will have sickness
here," and then he went on to tell of that fearful typhus
epidemic, which he said was caused by stagnant water on those
flats.

Dr. Josiah M. Ward was then in his prime, and he had sixty
cases of the typhoid on his hands. Day and night he rode
and visited his patients until he was so exhausted that he would
sleep anywhere, even on horseback. Parson Graves and his
family in Westfield were all down with the fever, and it was
while in attendance there that Dr. Ward fell asleep on the steps
of the church opposite the house. He awoke in a chill — the
precursor of the fever, from which in his worn condition he
could not rally. He died August 25, 1823, at the age of forty-
three. Mrs. Ward and three of their children took the fever.
One morning the clock struck eight and the children did not
come down tO' breakfast. Diadema, a half sister, went to the
chamber and said, "It, is late, you must get up." She lifted
the little Samuel, four years old, and carried him down the
stairs, in her arms. On the way he spat on the floor, and
Diadema reproved him. The children were never allowed to do
such a thing as that in the house.

In was the beginning of the sickness. In twenty-four hours
the child was dead. Mary was sick two days and died. Laura's
fever ran two or three weeks and she recovered. The mother
was restored to health after a second attack of the disease.

During the epidemic many heads of families were stricken.
Among the victims were Blakeslee Barnes, the first Mrs. Eree-

THE EAELY INDUSTRIES OP BEELIW 219

dom Hart, and the wife of Colonel Eichard Wilcox. The
patients would call for "water, water!" but not a drop was
allowed them.

William Bulkeley remembers hearing that the "Street" was
strewed with tan bark in order to deaden the sound of the wagon
wheels, and that the hearse was not put up in its place at all
so steady was it in use.

Mr. Ward said that when his father knew that he could not
live he called his wife to sit beside him and gave her directions
about their business affairs.

It was not customary in the schools of Mrs. Ward's genera-
tion to teach arithmetic to the girls. Dr. Ward advised her to
go to some good arithmetician and learn to keep accounts.
Diadema Ward attended school in Hartford and taught there
out on the hill. She learned to paint in oils, and had classes
in painting.

In August, 1839, Louis Daguerre first made known the
details of the process discovered by him of producing permanent
pictures by the action of light on a sensitive surface. Morse,
the American electrician, discoverer of the magnetic telegraph,
was also an artist. While abroad he heard of Daguerre's inven-
tion, visited him, and learned the process, which on his return
to New York, he imparted to a class of young men. Diadema
Ward read accounts, in the New York papers, of the interest
excited in the new, lovely, soft pictures. She wrote to her
brother Alexander about it and said she thought the business
might be a good one for him. He took her advice, went to
New York, saw Mr. Morse, joined that class and was one of
the first six in America who learned to take daguerrotypes.
He ordered a machine, brought it to Berlin, set it up at home
in the south chamber over the kitchen and practiced on his
mother. She did not like to sit for him ajid would make up
faces, but he still has a fine likeness of her, made at that time.
William Sage made cases for the pictures.

Mr. Ward had an uncle, who lived in Newburg, N. Y. This
uncle wrote to him that no one there had seen the new pictures,
and if he would come there he would have all the business he

220 HISTOEY OF BEELIW

could attend to. Accordingly he went to Newburg where he
was rushed with work. His plates, made in Waterbury, were
heavy and not very sensitive. He spoiled so many that he had
to sit up all night scouring and cleaning them. After a while
he returned to Berlin and hired a room for a studio in the house
north of the old church. He took one picture there for which
he received five dollars.

For success, it was necessary to sit perfectly still for five
minutes, at least it seemed five minutes, without as much as
winking. The head was secured by an instrument resembling
a pair of tongs, and children were scared almost to death when
placed in the chair. Even their parents wore an expression so
serious, so funereal as to seem ludicrous to this generation.
Materials were costly and Mr. Ward found that his receipts
were not sufficient to cover expenses. In 1844 he went to the
West Indies. There in Barbadoes he sold his machine. He
said he showed the purchaser how to use it, but never heard
what success he had.

Mr. Ward had much interesting information to give relating
to the days of his boyhood.

The wife of Landlord Kirby was an Atwood. She was well
educated and was a violinist. She used to play for all the
dances at her hotel.

Allen North, who lived on the Jarvis corner, used to come
out ©very summer night, after his work was done, and sit on
the bank and play his violin. The boy Alexander would go
out to listen and he said he thought it was lovely music. Mrs.
Ward sold the doctor's office for just what it cost to build an
arbor over the well, that was in it.

The Bolderos made a friend of young Alexander and
employed him to bring in wood, etc. Mr. Boldero always kept
a supply of half cents on hand so that he might make exact
change. Mr. Ward said he often cited Mrs. Boldero to the
young ladies of his acquaintance, as an example of the proper
way of lifting a dress skirt. He said when they had to cross
a muddy street, they would catch up one side, and let the other
side drag in the dirt. When Mrs. Boldero started for church

THE EAELY INDXJSTEIES OE BEELIN 221

she laid one hand in her hushand's arm; with the other she
reached back to the center of her skirt and gave it a little
twist; then she would lift it in such a way that it escaped the
ground entirely. That was London style.

When Mr. Boldero died, a worthy neighbor, who had lived
within a stone's throw nigh on to forty years, ventured to attend,
the funeral. Mrs. Boldero noticed her, and said, "Who is
that woman?" When told, she said, "I do not know her; it
annoys me to have her here."

Mr. Ward remembers the flourishing debating society formed
in connection with Worthington Academy. He spoke especially
of Edward Dunbar, born in Berlin, a son of Esquire Daniel
Dunbar, who lived in the house now owned by Mrs. Hopkins.
Edward Dunbar showed his intellect by his powerful arguments
in the meetings of that debating club. He went to 'New York,
where he became a bank note engraver, then he published a
commercial paper, and was the originator of Bradstreet's Com-
mercial Rating Agency.

In 1802, Abel HoUister, George Hubbard, Jesse Heart, and
Leonard Sage were appointed a committee to "Sell the Brick
School House and Land adjoining Belonging to ye old South
west District, in Berlin, Worthington."

A deed, dated June 10, 1802, shows that the said committee,
for the consideration of two hundred dollars, conveyed the
property to Jonathan Sage. Roger Riley and Elisha Cheney
witnessed the deed. This schoolhouse stood close on the corner,
south of the Dr. Hand place, on property now owned by 0. M.
Jarvis. The building was fitted up for a tenement.

Miss Julia Brandegee remembers that once upon a time a
woman lived there who had a daughter called "Crazy Lois,"
and that the children used to take a bee line from the south
school to see "Crazy Lois," who would come to the door and
scare and chase them.

Another well-remembered tenant was Trout Wright, who
was a typical, old time, bloated drunkard, and his wife was

222 HISTOEY OF BEBLIN

a good second, but she was industrious and earned a living by
going out washing at fifty cents a day. She used to carry a
bottle of "tea" in her bag, to keep up her strength. Trout
gained his nickname in this way : He was fond of fishing, and
one day when he had caught a fine trout, he was heard to say,
"Trout, you are Captain Trout's trout now." He used to say
that a pint of rum would go farther in his family than a dollar's
worth of flour.

The couple were clever and peaceful when sober, but they
quarrelled with each other when they were having sprees. He
would get her down and beat her until he was tired. Then he
would wait and say "Enough! 'nough! say 'nough and I'll
stop!" If she refused to speak he would go on beating her
again until she cried "Enough."

At these times the boys delighted to tease them by such tricks
as throwing dead kittens in at the window. They would retali-
ate by throwing hot water at the boys, and Trout would rush
out brandishing an axe, with threats to kill them. They were
not at all afraid of him he was so weak and tottlish.

Poor Trout ! At last he had delirium tremens. He was seen
in the Brandegee orchard trying to run up the trees to escape
the devil, who he said was after him. He went over to East
Berlin to get away from his tormentor. It was a Sunday. He
went into the factory of F. Eoys and B. Savage to hide, and
squeezed himself back of a boiler where, after church, he was
discovered by his screams. Mr. Koys pulled him out and told
him to go home, get into a feather bed, and nothing would hurt
him.

The old schoolhouse was used at one time by the father of
Philip 'North as a stoncutter's shop,* and when, about twenty-
five years ago, John Thompson built the house that Mr. Jarvis
recently moved farther west, he pulled the building dovrai.

Mr. William Sage and his family lived in the Dr. Ward place
quite a number of years. Miss Hattie Sage says she is sure
that her mother told her that Mr. Johns built the house. Mrs.
Johns fell down the chamber stairs and was so severely injured
that she died. Her inscription on her tombstone in the East
Berlin cemetery reads as follows :

* See pp. 223-224.

THE EAELT INDUSTEIES OF BEELHif 223

JOHNS In memory of Sophia, second daughter of the Eev'd
Thomas Harmer, author of Observations on divers passages of
Scripture, illustrating them by travels in the East, and wife of Eev'd
Evans Johns, minister of this parish. She landed at New York on
the 12th of May 1801 and died in consequence of a fatal fall on the
28th of August 1808.

When Miss Sage was a little girl she lost a kitten under the
attic roof and in her efforts to rescue it, she drew out a diary,
dated Hartford, January 1, 1811. It was the journal of a
school boy and was ended January 13. The name "Johns"
is on the cover, but the first name is obliterated. It is supposed
to have been written by Thomas Johns. The language is good
for a boy, and shows that his speech had not been corrupted by
association with country school children.

He speaks often of Dr. Bacon, with whom he evidently
boarded, and of watering, feeding, and riding the doctor's
horse. A few extracts from the journal may be of interest:

Jan 1st Was made to stay some time after school
Jan 2nd Walked about the streets and looked at some boys
Jan 3rd Bought a roll of candy .... went to school and
had a scuffle .... read Don Quixote

Jan 4th In came Father, so I walked about a mile and had a chat
with him .... ate my supper .... read a little in Don
Quixote .... then wrote my Journal .... then cut some
bread and cheese after the Doctor came home and I talked with him
first on diet and then on the difference between English and Latin
grammar

Saturday Jan 5th Got up into the Dove-House .... went
and rode on sleds .... rode back and forth in the streets all
the afternoon .... threw snow at the boys .... read a
chapter in the Bible, then attended prayers
Jan 7th Studied a lesson in Virgil which we construed and passed
Jan 8th School being done I came home got three apples and
ate them

Saturday Jan 12th "Went to school .... in the afternoon
took some recreation .... slid down hill with the boys

Sunday Jan 13th Got up this morning late .... went to
meeting twice then spent the night in study Amen and Amen

Mr. Bulkeley says that Allen North, the father of Philip
North, lived in the old comer, near the south schoolhouse, but

224 HISTOET OF BEELIN

that he was not a stonecutter, it was Almeron Bacon who had a
marble yard at that place.

The mention of Orazy Lois brought to mind other stories
about her. When the school children passed her house she
used to go to the front door and say, "Pretty little children,
pretty little children!" Then, as she clasped her hands and
they scampered away, she would repeat, "See the little birds
fly, see the little birds fly."

Miss Julia Roys, who formerly lived in East Berlin, remem-
bers that when a little girl she came up to visit Harriet Bulkeley,
and that she was taken to see Lois as one of the sights of the
village. They looked in at the door of a room, where Lois
was in bed, with a large pitcher filled with clover blossoms and
daisies near her side.

After the mother died there was no one to care for Lois, and
she was taken to the town farm. Toward the end of her life
she had a severe illness. Her reason, that had been shattered
in yjouth, was now perfectly restored, but all the years from
childhood to old age were a blank. Dr. Brandegee attended her
in that sickness, and one day he noticed that she looked intently
at her hands. When he asked her what was the matter with
them, she replied, "Why, they look like an old woman's hands."

Going on south from the Maple Cemetery we come to the
Sage farm. There was once a cigar factory in the south part
of the house belonging to this estate. Across the road in the
apple orchard the Burt brothers manufactured percussion caps,
but the industry came to a sudden end one day in an explosion
which damaged the premises and killed one boy, the son of
Philip North. This factory is still a portion of Atwater's cider
mill.

At a town meeting held April 10, 1Y96, it was voted "that
the Selectmen of Berlin lay out the proposed road a little north
of Oapt. David Sage's dwelling house, westerly to the road near
where Israel Fuller now lives."

THE EABLY INDTJSTEIES OS- BERLIN 225

Follow this road a short distance and on the north side yon
will come to a house now owned by the florist and carpenter
A. A. Welden. This place was for many years the home of the
Piper family. Luther Piper, Sr., and his son Luther, were
coopers. Besides making large quantities of barrels for cement
manufactured by the Moores, of Kensington, they supplied all
the community with hogsheads, water barrels and cider barrels,
barrels for pounding clothes, pork and soap barrels.

Speaking of soap brings to mind an industry once practiced
by every family, of which the following description has been
given by an old 1-ady: "Ashes, bones, and refuse fat were
carefully hoarded through the year. In the spring a large
hogshead, set on a low platform, was filled with ashes, over
which water was poured. The lye thus formed was collected
in pails from holes bored through the lower part of the hogs-
head. A large iron or brass kettle was filled with the soap
grease, and set over a fire, sometimes kindled in the yard. The
strong lye was poured into the kettle and the whole mass was
boiled until the soap 'came,' which was known when it 'spun
aprons' from a stick lifted from the kettle." One family in
town, noted for slackness, threw away all their ashes until
spring came and the soap barrel was empty. Then they burned
all the wood they could pile on the fireplace, day and night,
for the sake of the ashes.

That this industry was not so innocent as may appear, is
shown by the records of burial in the Beckley Quarter Ceme-
tery, one of which reads as follows :

In memory of Sally North, daughter of Joseph and Ehoda North,
who died July 16, 1818 se 27 Killed instantly by the fall of a
hogshead of ashes.

Hot soap was no mean weapon in the hands of a woman.

Miss Fannie Bobbins tells a story of her grandmother who,
when she was twelve years old, was left at home alone one day
to keep the house and to watch a kettle of soap that was boiling
over a fire in the back yard. On the table in the kitchen was a
baking of bread just out of the brick oven. A company of mem,
15

226 HISTOEY OF BEELIN

straggling along the road, stopped and went prowling about the
premises. Miss Eobbins thinks she was told that they were
Indians, but her sister thought they were British soldiers.
Whichever they were, one of the men stepped into the kitchen
and helped himself to a loaf of bread; then another followed
and took a loaf ; as a third started forward, the brave girl, with
her heart in her mouth, spoke up, and said, "My mistress will
not like it to have you take her bread, she wants it for her chil-
dren, and if you take another loaf I will throw a piggin of hot
soap on you." And off they went. (A piggin was a wooden
pail with one stave left higher than the rest for a handle.)

Mr. George H. Sage has kindly given the following account
of his ancestral home and its occupants :

Berlin, Gonna., Jan. 29th', 1906.

My dear Miss North: It is a pleasure to reply to your request
for a history of our farm, house. The Sage house was built about
the year 1720 by Captain David Sage, (son of John and grandson
of David who settled in Middletown in 1652,) who, with his twin
brother Benjamin, came to Berlin from Middletown. It might be
well to add here that Benjamin's house built at the same time, stood
below David's and just south of the Clark place. Benjamin Sage
married Mary Allen of Berlin, and died in 1734; his house has long
since disappeared.

Captain David married Bathsheba Judd of Berlin and they had
four sons and four daughters. One son. Deacon Jedediah, married
Sarah Marcy of Berlin and remained on the present Sage farm.
Another son, Zadoch, lived almost directly across the road from
Benjamin, and the old well is now near the site of the house, a few
rods north of where the brick schooUiouse stood. As time went by
the Sage house was filled with the deacon's four sons and three
daughters, so Captain David moved into the house built by his
brother Benjamin and was ninety-three years old when the road
was built west toward Mr. Welden's. I believe Jedediah was deacon
of the Second Congregational church for twenty-seven years. He
died in 1826 aged eighty-nine years.

Colonel Erastus, his son, married Elinor Dickenson of Berlin and
succeeded to the farm where ten children were bom to them, my

§ I

THE EAKLT INDUSTEIBS OP BEELIW 227

father, Henry, being the one who stayed at home. I have my grand-
father's papers among which is his appointment by the General
Assembly to be Colonel of the 4th Regiment of cavalry in the militia
and signed by Oliver Wolcott Esq., as governor, and dated the 31st
day of May 1819.

The property has been in the family about 186 years, and for five
generations. The house has been added to from time to time, but
the original has been well preserved with its huge stone chimney,
four fireplaces, brick ovens, and the hevsm white oak timbers forming
the framework are as solid today as when they were raised almost
two hundred years ago. Tours sincerely,

Geo. H. Sage.

It will be remembered that, when a few years since Mr.
George H. Sage purchased the property on which be built his
new house, there stood on tbe lot, close to the street, embowered
in lilac bushes, a large, old, dilapidated, brown house. Zenas
Eichardson and Vashti Norton were married in 1807 and that
house was their home. Zenas was a shoemaker and in his
business he employed quite a number of apprentices.

The Ricbardsons lost a little son in 1810. His inscription
reads thus :

In memory of Orenzo, Son of Zenas & Vashti Eichardson who died
April 6th 1810 aged 8 days.

In the morning it looked promising.
In the evening it lay withering.

Queer names ! Other sons who came to the Eichardsons were
Andrew, Darius, and Nelson.

Zebulun Eichardson lived in this neighborhood ; was he the
father of Zenas ?

When the Hartford and New Haven turnpike was laid out
in 1800 tbe town voted to make the road four rods wide in
front of Zebulun Eichardson's by taking one rod off from his
front yard.

The ISTortons were large landholders and Vashti inherited
from her father, Andrew Norton, a piece of ground that

228 HISTORY OF BBELIN

extended across the east side of tlie old part of the south ceme-
tery which adjoined her house lot.

As we retrace our steps southward let us learn more about
the old places. When Zenas Richardson gave up shoemaking,
his shop on the Geo. H. Sage place was used for the manufac-
ture of tinware. If we stop at William Moore's, opposite the
old Atwood place, now Bert Hart's, and dig into his bank we
shall turn out quantities of tin chips. Mr. Moore's house was
once a tinshop conducted by Fred Squires. Mr. Squires went
to Rhode Island, before 1835, and the story is that he was one
of the leaders there in Governor Dorr's rebellion.

Russell Clark came to Berlin in 1828 and purchased the
farm south of the Sage homestead. His children were: Hope
S., John, Luther, Sarah 0., and Rozilla. Hope was a pupil
at Worthington Academy, when Mr. Parish was principal. At
the age of seventeen she taught the south district school. Her
sister Sarah, twelve years old, attended the school and was
made to mind. Hope was married when eighteen and went to
'N&w York to live. She married, second, the Rev. S. H. Beale.
They live at Camden, Me. Mr. Beale is ninety years old.

Sarah C. Clark we^s married to the Rev. JSTathan Coleman.
During the Civil War they taught at the south — at ISTorfolk,
Va., in 1864, and near Petersburg in 1865. Mr. Coleman
taught at one time in the Worthington Academy. He was an
enthusiastic naturalist and never tired of talking with his pupils
about flowers and insects, of which he made an extensive col-
lection. Mrs. Coleman lives with her sister, Mrs. Beale, in
Maine. Russell Clark died January 14, 1855, aged sixty-three
years. His inscription reads : "Help Lord for the godly man
ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the children of men."

Elbert J. Clark was not a son of Russell. He came from
Westfield, married Rozilla Clark, and succeeded her father in
charge of the farm. He died December 3, 1887, aged seventy-
eight, and the property is now owned by Charles M. Jarvis.

At a meeting of the inhabitants of the Town of Berlin held
April 22, 1805, liberty was granted the southwest district in

THE EAELT INDUSTRIES OP BEELIN 229

Wortkington to erect a schoolhouse on the old road a little
south of Zadoc Sage's dwelling house, near a stake set for said .
house, and the selectmen were "impowered" to set off a suit-
able yard to accommodate said schoolhouse.

This site was on the east side of the way, just north of the
little stream that crosses the road where the horses love to drink.
It is not known how the children had been accommodated since
the sale of their brick schoolhouse on the Jarvis corner, in 1802.

The new schoolhouse was a frame building. Some time
about 1835 it was sold to Luther Piper, who moved it over to
his place and used it for a cooper's shop. It was replaced by
a brick building which was burned about fifteen years ago.

At that same town meeting of April 22, 1805, the selectmen
were "Impowered" to dispose of the old road leading by Esq.
Hosford's, beginning a little south of Zadoc Sage's, near the
stake set to build a schoolhouse. This old road extended to a
road that ran easterly and westerly by Mx. Edwards' bam.

Mr. E. I. Clark says that when Mr. Henry Sage had charge
of the town roads, he used to tell him about a road that once
ran across the lots back of Deacon Hosford's and came out a
few rods east of Mr. Clark's house. Its course could be traced
at that time. On the corner next south of the schoolhouse lived
Samuel Bishop, who was a house painter. There were many
large old cherry trees in his yard and people from far and near
used to go to gather fruit from those trees. Mr. Bishop died in
1856, aged ninety-one. The old house was torn down long
since, and the new schoolhouse stands on the place.

Samuel Bishop, Jr., lived on the corner opposite his father
and made shoes, which he sold in New York. He employed
ten or twelve workmen, and in winter carried the shoes to
market in his sleigh. Mr. E. I. Clark says that one morning,
when the sleighing was particularly fine, Mr. Bishop started
early with his load, and drove the entire distance, reaching New
York at evening of the same day.

On the same side of the highway, farther south, we come to
the house once ovraed by Walter Edwards, the father of Miss

230 HISTORY OF BEEXIN

Martha Edwards, a well-known visitor in town. Mx. Edwards
kept a dozen young men bnsy in his shoe factory at that place.
The property is now owned by Henry HoUister.

Jedediah Norton, grandfather of the late Henry Norton and
of his brother Philip Norton, came to Berlin from Wallingford.
He married in 1764 Achsah Norton, sister of Tabitha, heroine
of "The Stolen Bride."

Going toward Meriden, the road beyond the Walter Edwards
place divides for a distance of about three-quarters of a mile.
Keep to the right of the little cemetery in the triangle, on past
the house built by Deacon Edward C. Hall, and just before
the ways unite we come to the Henry Norton farm. • This was
the home of Jedediah Norton and Achsah, his wife. They began
their married life in a small house a little south of the present
fine, large residence, the ell part of which, it is believed, was
built by Jedediah.* It was said that while on a visit to some
city, Mr. Norton heard an organ, which so delighted him that
he determined to have one in his own church at Berlin.

At a meeting of the Worthington Church, held November 1,
1791, it was

Voted that the thanks of this society be given to our friend Mr.
Jedediah Norton for so distinguished a mark of his good will in
giving us an elegant organ and erecting it in the meeting house at
his own expense, and we do hereby appoint Solomon Dunham and
Amos Hosford, a committee in behalf of this society to present this
our thanks to said Mr. Norton, and liberty is hereby granted to the
prudential committee to affix the said organ in the front gallery of
our m.eeting house.

The dedication of the organ was announced in the Hartford
Courant thus:

OEGAN.

The public are hereby notified that Mr. Josiah Leavitt of Boston,
organ builder hath lately been employed to construct an ORGAN
for "Worthington parish, which is completed and set up in the Meet-
ing-bouse. The Organ will be opened by said Leavitt on Thursday

* Cf . next page.

THE EARLY INDUSTRIES OF BERLIN 231

the Sth of November instant, at which time a sermon will be preached
on the occasion, and Music will be performed.

After the exercises there will be a collection for the benefit of said
builder.

I^" The exercise will begin at 1 o'clock P. M..

Worthington, Nov. 1, 1792.

Mr. Norton did not long enjoy tlie sweet music of his gift.
He died in 1794, aged eighty-two. Unfortunately the "front
gallery" proved to be in that part of the meeting house which
was destroyed by fire in 1848, and the organ was ruined beyond
repair.

Directly east of the Nortons, across the point made by the
coming together of the two roads, lived Abraham Wright, Revo-
lutionary soldier and tavern keeper. According to Mr. George
Sage his house was opened to the public for four years from
1797, and again for two years from 1814. Mr. Wright died
in 1825, aged eighty-seven.

The main part of the large iN'orton house was built by the
late Henry Norton after his marriage. May 22, 1825. The ell
of the house was built — ^not by Jedediah Norton — ^but by his
son Samuel. In the orchard opposite this house there was once
a tin-shop.

Jonathan Edwards, who lived on the road which was closed,
over west of the Edward Hall place, had a son, Joseph, who
settled on a farm in Meriden. Joseph had a pretty daughter,
Phebe, who was married to Samuel Norton, June 22, 1789.
They had ten children. He used to say that it was as easy to
save money and get rich with ten children as with only one.

When he was courting his wife he told her she need never
put her hands into hot water, or do any work, that he had money
enough to hire help. One day afterwards, when surrounded
by her little family, she reminded him of what he had said
about putting her hands into hot water. In his droll way he
answered : "Well, you need not do it, you can cool the water."

Her granddaughters remember that in her old age her hands
were as soft and white as those of a child. She boasted that in
all her married life she had never once been obliged to lift the

232 HISTORY OF BEELIK

dmner pot from the crane — some one was always ready to do
it for her. One of those old iron kettles filled with pot luck
for such a household as hers was no light weight.

Samuel !N"orton was a Eevolutionary soldier. He died Octo-
ber 2T, 1832, aged seventy-three. Phebe, his wife, died August
13, 1854, aged eighty-four.

George Norton, son of Samuel and Phebe, died in 1829, at
the age of twenty, while a student at the Vermont Academy of
Medicine.

Josiah Norton, son of Jedediah and Achsah Norton, was a
graduate of Tale, class of 1768. He went to Vermont, where
he had a large family which was located in Oastleton and its
vicinity. Old deeds and memoranda in the family show that
they were interested in a township in Vermont named Norton,
which may have attracted him there for settlement. His
mother, Achsah Norton, after the death of her husband, Jede-
diah Norton, in 1794, went to Vermont. Her gravestone at
Oastleton bears this inscription :

Erected to the memory of the widow Achsah Norton, who died
Aug. 8th, 1805, aged 84 years.

Fourscore revolving suns had past.

When Christ, my Saviour, called me hom.e at last.

OHAPTEE XI.

Trout Streams of Berlin. — The Peach Orchard.

Over northwest of Belcher's tavern springs a stream of water
called Belcher's brook. This stream runs northerly, nearly
parallel with the "Old road," into Old Fly and out again-
farther north winding about a little, so that the railroad crosses
it twice; thence onward — always in sight of the dwelling
houses — across l^orton Street, west of Lower Lane, on through
the pasture where Aunt Abby Pattison's cows used to drink,
and where the herons stand on one leg, in meditation, wonder-
ing where Aunt Abby and her house and her cows have gone.
Still onward the stream runs to a point west, and midward,
of the Lower Lane extension, where it takes a turn about, and
goes south a little way as if to take a parting look at itself;
then it winds toward the north again; turns eastward, runs
under the "South bridge," and about four hundred feet farther,
into the lot recently sold by Francis Doming. Here the big
Mattabessett, just in from under the "l^orth bridge," makes
a swoop southerly, opens its mouth, and takes in the little
Belcher brook, at the finish of its four-mile race.

The springs from which Blue Hills brook has its source in
Kensington are on the Norris Peck farm now owned by his son,
Langdon J. Peck.

Eunning north, this stream crosses the road, east of Blue
Hills schoolhouse comer. Dr. Brandegee, when driving over
this road, used always to let his horse stop and drink. He said
horses would drink there, whether they were thirsty or not, the
water was so sweet.

East of the stream, on the north side of that road, was once a
large white house, for many years the dwelling of Deacon Asaph
Smith and his wife, who was known familiarly as "Aunt Abby '
Smith." On account of some dissatisfaction at home they used
to come over this side to church. The white-topped carriage.

234 HISTOEY OF BERLIN

in which they drove on Sundays, is still remembered. That
was back in the forties. After the death of her husband in
1865, Mrs. Smith purchased the house on Berlin Street now
owned by Mrs. Wm. B. Pierce.

By economy she accumulated a considerable property, which
caused her much anxious thought, as to its disposition. She
made so many wills that she learned to draw her own. Once
she bequeathed several hundred dollars to the Worthington
Ecclesiastical Society, but when she detected what she con-
sidered a growing tendency to extravagance in dress of the
church members and in the conduct of church affairs she revoked
that bequest. She used to say that she never in all her life
had a dress that cost over fifty cents a yard. She kept her
place as neat as a pin, by the labor of her own hands. The
village school children were greatly amused when they saw her,
seated in a rocking chair, painting her front fence.

Blue Hills brook keeps on its way, northeasterly, through
Kensington, until near the home of the Misses Bauer; there
it turns due east, crosses the road, bounds the north side of
a pasture owned by heirs of the late James B. Keed, and joins
Belcher brook at a point about four hundred feet southwesterly
from the Lower Lane bridges.

Any boy within- a radius of a mile will direct you to the
famous "Swimming hole" a short distance away, in the Matta-
bessett. You will see the boy, a dozen of him, the first hot day
next summer, on his way there, with a towel, and perchance a
piece of soap, bulging his pocket, and you may hear his screams
of laughter, as you pass along the road by the Bridge Cemetery.

A short distance east of the springs, at the head of Blue Hills
brook, on the same Norris Peck farm, are other springs — ^the
source of a third stream, called "Crooked Brook." This stream
goes northeasterly through Kensington and crosses the Parish
line south of "JSTorton's Pond" so called, where it furnished
power for the saw mill that was burned in the fall of 1905.
Thence the current is swift, eastward, to a point back of the
Samuel Durand farm, now owned by Huber Bushnell. There
it joins Belcher brook.

TEOUT STBEAMS OB" BEELIN 235

In Mr. Thomas's lot on a few rods farther north is a pool
called "Silver Hole," where the children love to bathe in
summer time. Many years ago this pool was a favorite resort
of Sylvia Norton, and it was named for her, "Sylvia Hole."

The water of Crooked brook, like that of Blue Hills brook,
is singularly pure and sweet. There is nothing finer in this
part of the country. Its fall is rapid, and it would seem to be
a simple question of mechanical engineering to bring that water
to Worthington Street.

Section 2527 of the Connecticut statutes, 1884, reads as
follows :

The sum of three thousand dollars is hereby appropriated for the
artificial propagation of fish in the waters of this State.

The Legislature of 1905 appropriated, for the two years
ending September 30, 1907, eight thousand dollars, for propaga-
tion of game and fish, with the additional sum of three thousand
dollars for care and repair of state fish hatcheries, and all
property of the state connected with the propagation of fish.
Any one wishing to stock a brook or a pond with fish can obtain
the young fry by application to the State Fish Commissioner.

Blue Hills brook and Crooked brook are natural trout
streams, but the stock is kept up and improved by yearly addi-
tions of young trout from the state hatcheries.

The Indians could catch fish Sunday or any other day of the
week, wherever they pleased, but we have not that privilege,
and a breakfast of trout, caught from one of these streams,
might prove an expensive luxury.

Section one of Chapter 199 of the public acta of 1903, as
amended by Legislature May 20, 1905, reads as follows:

Every person who shall throw dowa or leave open any bars, gate,
or fence upon the land of another without permission of the owner,
occupant, or person in charge thereof for the purpose of hunting,
trapping, fishing, or taking or destroying the nests or eggs of birds,
or bee himting, or gathering nuts, fruits, or berries .... shall
be fined not more than fifty dollars or imprisoned not more than
thirty days, or both.

236 HISTORY OF BEELIN

The possession by any person while trespassing upon the land of
another, of a gun, dog, ferret, or fish rod shall be deemed prima
facie evidence of his intention of hunting or fishing thereon. .

Section two of the same act provides that :

The owner, occupant or person in charge of the land or such person
as he may command to assist him may arrest any person who violates
any of the provisions of the preceding section and forthwith take him
before some proper prosecuting officer who shall proceed to try such
person.

William H. Gibney is the special protective officer for Berlin,
appointed by the fish and game warden of Hartford county.

At a distance of a mile or so west of Earl Cooley's, the road,
which leads to Kensington, is crossed by Crooked brook, there
about a mile away from its head springs.

In April, 1895, a company of business men, known as "The
Kensington Fish and Game Club," whose office is at Hartford,
purchased a tract of land bordering this stream.

Now, by additional purchase through Mr. John !N'orton, their
agent at Berlin, they own most of the way on both sides of
the brook, for the length of a mile, extending north from the
Kensington road, and besides this, they have leased land for
half a mile farther down the stream.

As one good result of this ownership, the banks of Crooked
brook will not be despoiled by the wood-cutter, and while notices
everywhere warn trespassers, we may feast our eyes on the
mosses, the maiden hair ferns, and — ^well — only a poet could
fittingly describe the beauties of Crooked brook and its "sylvan
slopes."

Turning eastward from the brook we rise a hill and come up
onto the plains of Berlin, once covered with rattle boxes, now
the property of the Connecticut Valley Orchard Company.
This company was formed May 14, 1884, under the late John B.
Smith as organizer and president. Mr. Smith, with his usual
foresight, saw the possibilities of that sandy, barren plain, and
by his advice the company purchased two hundred and forty-
three acres there, to be used as a fruit orchard. Tor quick
returns peaches were at first the main dependence.

TEOUT STREAMS OF BERLIN 2S1

Now, if you care to count the trees, you will find 3,000
apples, 10,000 peaches, 1,000 plums, 500 pears, and 250
cherries. Of grapes there are 1,000 vines. Truly the desert
has been made to blossom as the rose.

The life of a fruit grower is one of eternal vigilance; Yellows
made no end of trouble with the peaches. A blight came over
the quinces, and now the fight is on with the San Jose scale, with
possibly the Gypsy and Brown Tail moth later.

In 1905 this property was transferred to J. T. Molumphy,
who is now president, manager and chief stockholder of the
business.

A walk across the fields north of the peach orchard brings
us to "Cranberry Marsh" curiously set, like a great basin,
on that high ground, little lower than the sandy plain above.
Hills are on every side. There is no inlet, no outlet to the
marsh. Wear the western bank is a little lake of clear water,
said to be fathomless. Who knows but here is the "lost crater."
All about the marsh is a dense thicket, where high bush huckle-
berries grow. Cranberry vines creep everywhere over the
mossy bogs. From pools, here and there, a greedy pitcher plant
lifts its rosette of cups. Women, in their craze for this queer
side-saddle flower, have been known to follow from bog to bog,
all the way across the marsh, but this is a dangerous under-
taking. A mis-step might swamp one to the neck, and worse.

Should you visit this interesting place, as the children say,
"keep your eyes peeled" for snakes — ^blaeksnakes, rattlesnakes,
and red adders. Great place for snakes ! and there are lots of
hornets' nests there, too.

»«»*».*»,

CHAPTEE XII.

Belcher Brooh and its Industries. — The History of Bisley's
Mill. — James Lamb's Stove Factory. — The Blair Factory.

As we drive eastward from the peach orchard, down one hill
and up another, so steep that we shall want to get out of the
carriage and walk, to spare the horse, we come to the farm long
known as the HoUister Eisley place, now the home of Sidney
Eoby and his family. Here Miss Helen Kohy will be pleased
to show you her studio adorned with many water color paint-
ings. That Miss Eoby is a lover of the sea is proved by her
charming coast scenes, chiefly from Gloucester and the Bay of
Massachusetts. These pictures, the wharfs, the rocks, and the
quaint homes of the fishermen, with their boats at anchor or
wave-borne, all show the artist and her superior skill as a drafts-
man. Miss Eoby spent three years abroad in study, under
Harry Thompson at Paris, and with Theresa Hegg at Nice.

As a painter of flowers. Miss Eoby has few equals in this
country. While in Paris she was told that it would be useless
for her to offer any of her work to the Salon without influential
support. She made the attempt, however, and a large bunch
of chrysanthemums which she sent was accepted solely on its
merit, and placed in the exhibit — a great honor for a young
American girl.

At the corners from Mr. Oooley's, the turnpike leads north-
easterly past the places once owned by 0. J. Griswold and
G. E. Aspinwall, the former a bricklayer and mason, the latter
a house carpenter.

From the same starting point another road runs north to
Eisley's pond, so called, on Belcher brook. A dam here, across
the stream, gives a good water power that has been utilized
many years.

A deed of date January 25, 1790, shows that, at that time,
William Kilboum of Worthington Parish, for the consideration

BELCHEE BEOOK AND ITS INDUSTRIES 239

of £147 16s., sold to Lucius Cook of Wallingford, 120 rods of
ground, "bounded West & North on Wait Smith, East & South
on Josiah Norton, together with my dwelling house, shop and
Dye House thereon standing. And also my Tools which I
improve to carry on the clothiers Business, viz. Dye Kettles,
Screw, Shiers & prep plate etc. together with every other article
which I improve in the works." "And also my EuUing Mill
standing by a Grist Mill now owned by Hezekiah Sage and
William Tryon."

From the description given in this deed, the conclusion is
that the property conveyed was that of this south mill on
Belcher brook.

When Mr. Eilboum started his business, or when Lucius
Cook sold it, we cannot say, but we do know that later Nathan
Elton made satinet there, and that he was a dyer and fuller
of cloth. Satinet is a coarse material used for men's wear,
made with a cotton warp and woolen filling. A part of the
building was used as a saw mill when Mr. Elton was there.

The property came into the possession of Elishama Brande-
gee, merchant, who, about the year 1830, sold it to the firm
of Justus & William Bulkeley, who used the water power for
polishing their tinner's tools. Then, when Mr. Brandegee
wished to start his son Jacob in the business of making German
silver spoons, the Bulkeleys fitted a room in that factory with
machinery for the purpose. Eor some reason Mr. Brandegee
was unable to carry out his plan, and the Bulkeleys made the
spoons, but used the J. S. Brandegee stamp. In a little while
they had twenty men at work on the spoons. Made of the
best German silver, they were quite durable, and many of them
may be found in the kitchens of to-day. The objection to them
was that they had a coppery taste and were readily attacked
by salt, so as to form verdigris, and it was too much trouble
to keep them bright. William Sage worked on these spoons
when he was married in 1840, and his daughter. Miss Hattie
Sage, has still a number of the sets that he made for his wife
when they went to housekeeping. Some are marked "J. S.
Brandegee," others bear the stamp "H. Kenea & Co."

240 HISTOET OF BERLIN

Henry Kenea was an uncle of Mrs. Henry Sage.

When the Bulkeleys repaired the shop one of the extensions
fell, and Kalph Sage had a leg broken, that kept him on his
back for a long time.

Besides the German silver spoons, the Bulkeleys made, for
E. K. Clark of 'New York, large quantities of brass spoons,
silver plated. The goods were stamped out at the mill, and
brought up to the factory opposite Colonel Bulkeley's, where
they were boiled in a silver solution.

The sheets of metal, German silver and brass, were pur-
chased in Waterbury of John D. Johnson, whose wife was
Sarah Loveland, daughter of Landlord Elijah Loveland. The
scraps were too valuable to be used as filling for holes in the
highway ; they were taken back to Mr. Johnson to be remelted,
and Mr. Bulkeley remembers riding with his father on a wagon
load of those scraps over to Waterbury. They drove home by
way of !N"ew Haven.

The Bulkeleys had all the work they wanted to do with
their tinners' tools, and so they gave up the making of spoons
to Ralph Sage and Henry Durand.

Mr. Sage invented a diving machine, in which he went down
into the depths of the pond. He survived the experiment.

In 1844, Justus Bulkeley died, and Lyman Wilcox, who
married his daughter Maria, and who had learned his trade
of the Bulkeleys, bought the old mill with its appurtenances.
He built a dwelling house, still standing, southeasterly from
the mill, and had established a good business in tinners' tools,
when he died March 10, 1855, aged thirty-six. His wife sur-
vived him less than four years. They left three little children.
Lyman, the oldest, a soldier in the War of the Rebellion,
prisoner at Andersonville and Florence, died May 29, 1875.
His wife and two children now live at Anaheim, Cal.

The second son, Robert M. Wilcox, long connected with the
Meriden Britannia Company, used to manifest his interest in
the boys of his native town by his annual gift of a silver cup
and medal, "The Bulkeley Prize Cup," to the one who won
in the foot race at our agricultural fair. Mrs. Wilcox is the
well-known poetess, Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

BELCHEE BEOOK AND ITS INDTTSTEIES 241

Harriet, the youngest of the three, the wife of Leander Bunce,
now lives in New Britain.

Deacon Selah Galpin of Westfield, the father of Miss Sarah
Galpin, bought the mill and factory property of the estate of
Lyman Wilcox, for his son Charles, who made a patent four-
tined barnyard fork. Eeuben Beckley made steelyards in a
part of the factory.

The Galpins ground corn and feed. Lemuel W. Elton, who
lived west of the pond, was a miller. Mr. Elton had a son,
Levi, who played the organ in church very acceptably. One
of his neighbors said of him, that "he was a fine musicianer."
He taught music, and had a large class of pupils around about
Berlin.

Deacon Galpin sold out to William H. Eisley, who removed
the machinery and partitions in the shop, and put in a new grist
mill. He also built a long addition for a saw mill. A machine
for sawing shingles, which he set up in the mill, seems to have
been little used. Now the property is in the hands of E. E.
Austin, who runs a saw mill, grist mill and cider mill. He has
also an ice house, near by, which he fills with ice of fine
quality, cut from the pond, for his own use, aad for sale.

At a distance of about a quarter of a mile north of Eisley's
pond another dam was laid across Belcher brook, another pond
was formed, and another factory built ; by whom we shall never
know. The story is that he was an infidel and that no industry
started here ever prospered. Certain it is that the place has
been the scene of much unprofitable business.

James Lamb, founder of the Lamb family in Berlin, was
born in Middletown in 17Y7. He learned the tinners' trade of
Shubael Pattison and invented a cooking stove.

Early in the last century Colonel Bulkeley worked on the
Lamb stoves, at what was known later as the Blair factory.
This stove, the first cooking stove used by our ajicestors, was
made on much the same principle as those of the present day,
and it was the first, patented in this country, in which the heat
passed around the oven. A stove was in use before this, but
it was a simple box affair.
16

242 HISTORY OF BEELIKT

In tkose days, of course, there was no place near Berlin
where castings could be made, and Mr. Lamb weiut to New
York, where he remained, while working up his invention, from
about 1813 to 1818, when he took out his patent. In 1818 his
son Lockwood was born in the hojise next east of the jBlair
factory. Mr. Lamb seems to have purchased this place befosr©
he went to New York.

A deed, on record at New Britain, shows that in 1800., Oliver
Hills sold land to James Lamb, bounded east on Jonah Norton,
south on highway, with house thereon. Mr. Lamb sold his
place in 1823 to Samuel Edwards of Philadelphia.

In 1822 he had moved over to the Colonel Bulkeley house,
where his daughter Louisa was bom.

The new cooking stove was square and upright, with brass
urns on the corners, which were kept shining bright by good
housewives. The lettering on the front was a great curiosity,
and many a child learned his a. b. c's frran the Lamb stove.

The fire was high up, over the oven, and when the new stove
took tiie place of the open-hearth fire, old men complained that
iiere was no place to warm their feet. Eeuben North made a
high platform, placed his chair thereon, and mounted hiimaelf
on a level with the fire. The oven was a good baker, equal to
any in use to-day.

Miss Fannie Eobbins tells this story of her father: "One
morning he arose early, made a fije in his new Lamb stove, and
closed the oven door. Presently he heard a pitiful mewing,
as of a cat in distress. He searched everywhere until at last
he opened the oven door and out jumped the cat." This story
brings to mind another, nothing to do with stoves : One morn-
ing before daybreak, there was a fearful noise in the dining
room of the Eobbins house, as of someone breaking up all of
the furniture and crockery. Mr. Eobbins did not dare to go
in and meet the intruder., single handed, but as soon as it was
light enough to see, he, with the hired man, each armed with a
club, ventured cautiously to open the door. Instead of a raving
maniac, there was only the .cat, her head fast in a milk pitcher,

BELCHER BBOOK AND ITS INDUSTEIES 243

whicli ske was siamming about in her frantic efforts to free
herself."

That the Lambs were fo^(i of alliteration is shown by the
names they gaye their children : Lysis, Lesbia, Lewis, Leverett,
(Huldah), Loomis, Lockwood, Louisa, and Lorenzo. Huldah
was named for Mr. Lamb's first wife.

Of the nine children, two are still living, in Hartford, Mrs.
James B. Carpenter (Louisa) and Lorenzo. ISTot a represe»ta-
tive of the family remains in Berlin.

The father, James Lamb, died February ,9, 1833, aged
fifty-six.

If Mr. Lamb had known the worth of his invention and
had held on to his patent, he and his family might have been
immensely rich.

It is impossible to find dates for all the industries which
were carried on at Blair's, by help of the water power from
Beldier's brook.

After James Lamb's time, meal, from coirn ground in the
grist mill, was dried for export to the West Indies. The
kiln, in which the meal was baked, stood north of the pond,
at a safe distance from other buildings. At the saw mill,
trunks of great trees, from our primitive forests, were made
into lumber for home use, and also for export. Tarn, spun
here, hj machinery, from cotton and wool, was given out to
families to be woven into cloth on hand looms.

After the Bulkeleys sold the Eisley mill to Lyrnan WjUcox^
they ground their tinners' tools and made rotary shears for
cutting sheet metal in circles at Blair's factory.

Isaac Famham, the father of Mrs. William Sage, .and his
brother, who were coopers, made tubs for Mr. Brandegee, in a
shop under the dam, at the north end of the pond.

The Famhams lived in the house next east of the factory.
The ell of this house and the bam were of hewn timbers, as
if made from some ancient building, probably on tlie place,
as mentioned in the deed, when James Lamb bought it, in
1800. The main part of the house was large and fine, built

244 HISTOEY OF BEELIN

of sawed timbers. It looked like the work of Elishama Brande-
gee. Families wKo lived here boarded the factory people until
it came to be known as the boarding house.

Lucy Farnham was a remarkably pretty girl, with a lovely
pink and white complexion. It will help us to a date for some
of these industries, to know that she joined the Worthington
church in 1837.

Elishama Brandegee, who owned the property about this time,
fitted up the factory with machinery for making sewing silk
and cotton thread. The industry, which was carried on in East
Berlin at the same time, gave employment to forty girls, under
the brothers Nicholas and James Douglass as foremen. Both
had families. James lived in the Deacon Horsford place.

Much of the thread was sold in penny skeins, but a part of
it was wound on spools; about the first attempt at spooling
thread in this country. It was dyed all colors, on the premises,
by Charley Bauer, who went to Hartford and set up a wine
store on Market Street. He used to go over to Germany to buy
his wines.

Plucart, who came after Bauer, lived in the second house
east of the factory. Word came to him from his home in
Prussia that a large fortune had fallen to him there. He
was greatly elated, and when he started off for his native land,
to take possession of his inheritance, he promised to come back
and make Ealph Sage and all of his other Berlin friends rich,
He never returned.

William Bevans, who succeeded Douglass as foreman of the
thread mill, lived in the house now occupied by F. H. Shaw.
The boys used to call him "Old Oampfire" because of the
way he pronounced the word.

His son William learned the wagon maker's trade of John
Graham. Then he went, with others of his family, to ITew
York, where he became a doctor.

Names remembered of other Bevans children are Sarah and
Frances. The Eev. E. McGonegal, who preached here in the
Methodist church, married Frances. Their young daughter,
Althea, who died in New York City of consumption in 1867,

BELCHEE BEOOK AND ITS INDUSTEIES 245

begged that she might be buried in the country under a tree.
She and her two little brothers, who had died previously, were
brought to Berlin and laid between two maple trees in the
South Cemetery, where the McGonegal monument may be seen.

In 1850 Charles Blair came to Berlin from OoUinsville and
established a business for the manufacture of steel rakes, plan-
tation hoes, axes, chisels and carpenters' draw shaves. His
name, which has been used by anticipation, was at that time
first given to this north pond and factory on Belcher brook.
The property was deeded on October 14, 1850, by Elishama
Brandegee, to a joint stock company, incorporated under the
name of the Blair Manufacturing Company. The capital
stock, mostly subscribed by the business men of Berlin, was
$20,000, which seemed unlimited in those days. $15,625 were
paid in.

Elishama Brandegee headed the list of subscribers with a
hundred shares. !N"orman Porter held sixty shares, Norton
and Arnold sixty. Other subscribers were: Timothy Board-
man, S. C. Wilcox, Elisha M. Hall, Henry ISTorton, ISForris
Peck, E. A. Deming, Benjamin R. Fanning, E'orman Porter,
Jr., Joseph Alston Wilcox, Charles Blair, Shubael Risley,
Joseph Whittlesey, Philip Norton, and Erastus J. Bassett.
Doubtless there were names, not at hand, that should be added
to this list. Norman Porter was president of the company,
Timothy Boardman secretary. Samuel 0. Wilcox was one of
the directors.

For a time great things were expected from the new enter-
prise, but the water-power, especially in summer time, was
insufficient to carry the heavy machinery. In order to store
the water and to increase the power, a second dam was built
south of the bridge, which flooded the land back as far as
Risley's. A vain hope. The company struggled on, losing
money, until the spring of 1856, when an assignment was made
for the benefit of the creditors.

The only incident reported from Blair's was the bursting of
a grindstone five feet in diameter, which flew through the side
of the factory and out into the lot a hundred feet away. No
loss of life.

246 HISTOKY OF BEELIN"

Mr. Blair, who, with Iris estimable family, had lived in the
Dr. Gridley house, returned to CoUinsville, where for many
years he filled the position of superintendent of the extensive
factories of the Collins Axe Company.

After the assignment the interest of a majority of the stock-
holders was taken by Philip Norton and E. J. Bassett. The
tools in process of manufacture Were completed, and, with the
movable personal property, were sold at auction, by Colonel
Bulkeley. Several days were required to complete the sale.
Finally, after all outside business was finished, the title to the
property Was vested in Philip J^orton, who sold to Frank Hart,
brothe:f of Walter Hart, a wood turner. Then Edward A.
Deming bought the factory and set Burt Brothers up in busi-
ness, as wood turners. They made a combination ladder and
chair, upholstered. One of. those chairs is still in use on the
porch at the house of the late Albert G. Warren. Mr. Bulkeley
has one of the Blair plantation hoes now, in his barn. It is
too bl*oad for New England soil. Besides the tools mentioned,
pickaxes were made at Blair's, and pikes for John Brown,
whose "soul goes marching on." Last of all the Burt Brothers,
or some one else, ran a cider mill on the prelnises. Then the
old factory stood idle for a time. One of the additions was
sold to George C. Austin, the carpenter, who tore it down and
used the lumber in his new house up on the hill north of the
village, but the principal building remained. Naughty boys
broke in the windows and did other damage. Some were
arrested, convicted and fined.

One evening in the fall of 1885, Mr. Deming, who then lived
in the house now occupied as a parsonage, looked out from a
window and saw a great light in the south. He mounted his
horse and galloped away to see where the fire was. Yes, it
was the Blair factory, all in flames, and not a cent of insurance.

The premium was high, and when the policy expired, he
declined to renew. He said he had paid out money all his
life for insurance, and had never received anything in return,
and he would take his chances on the factory. Moral ?

BELCHEK BEOOK AND ITS INDtTSTEIES 24:7

Since that time, the two houses that stood east of the factory —
the good boarding house and the Plucart house — have been
destroyed by fire.

Old Charley, the horse that Mr. Doming rode to the fire, was
worthy of mention. He was raised from a colt, over on the
Doming farm in Christian Lane,, and lived to the age of thirty-
six. He never served his master a mean trick. Mr. Deming's
daughter, Mrs. Stowe, thinks that Charlie's mother, "Old Kate,"
was also raised by her father, and that she lived to be thirty.

Mr. Doming died suddenly, June 15, 1896, in his ninety-
second year. Oidy two or thrfee days before his death he drove
his horse from Cromwell to Hartford and back. One of his
last requests was that Charley should be shot and buried with
his hide and shoes on. Mrs. Stowe thought it was a dreadful
thing to do, to kill so good a horse, so fat and nice.

Before Mr. Blair's time, the road running west from the
Hosford place terminated at the factory, and there was closed
by bars. A narrow laneway extended thence, west to the Ken-
sington road, and was used by farmers who wished to carry
grist to and from the mill. It is said that Mr. Blair paid Elton
$350 for a strip of land along one side of the laneway to widen
it, so that teams might pass and have room to turn around.

The house next west of the factory, now owUed by William
Luby, was the home of l^athan Elton the clothier, and of his
son, Lemuel W. Elton, the miller.

The north half of this house was the shoe shop of Samuel
Bishop, drawn here from the east yard of the E. I. Clark
place, at Bishop's comers. A little farther along, the; road,
as it comes from the south, turns a sharp comer toward Ken-
sington. Long ago there was a square here with a road on
all sides of it. A house was moved up the south road on its^
way to Kensington, and was left on this square over night.

Peleg Chapman, the man with nineteen children, was in
search of a home. He bought that house on wheels, left it on
the square of land where it stood, and lived in it many years.
Then it was occupied by a family of evil repute. One night
the neighbors formed themselves into a law and order league,
and tore the house down, over the heads of its iimaates.

CHAPTER XIII.

Lower Lane. — Isaac Norton and Ms Descendants. — Norton's
Saw Mill— The Great Flood of 1797.

As we go eastward from the Blair factory, the first left-hand
corner turns onto Hart Street, or "Lower Lane." We are told
that this road once extended farther south, half a mile or so,
to a point north of the Edward Hall place, where it came out
on the Hartford and New Haven turnpike. In early times
this Lower Lane road was the main street, the highway of
this part of the town. In 1786 Elnathan E'orton and Koger
Kiley, for the consideration of thirteen pounds, sold two acres
and eighty-five rods of land to the town of Berlin for a "High-
way," described as "bounded East on country road. West on
Highway, iJTorth partly on said Eluathan ISTorton's land, partly
on sd Roger Kiley and partly on land lately sold to Samuel Hart,
Junr., South partly on land of sd Eluathan Norton, and partly
on Elijah Loveland's land," and "is to run Easterly and
Westerly in parallel line with the road that runs east and west
between sd Norton's and Samuel Harts dwelling house, to be
improved forever as an open road only." "Said piece of ground
is 135 rods in length East and West, and 3 rods in width."

This road is the one that extends from Jarvis comer to Hart
Street. The brothers, Darius and Nelson Eichardson, lived in
the large, square-roofed house near the west end of this street.
Their father, Zenas, had a shoe shop, east of the house; their
mother was Vashti Norton; her father, Andrew Norton, used
to grind tan bark in the lot opposite the house, where the remains
of several dams and one of the old mill stones may be seen
to-day.

The ponds are dry now, but back in the fields are springs,
which, a hundred years ago, fed a brook of sufficient power to
turn Andrew Norton's mill wheels.

XOWEK LANE 249

Mrs. Arnold, the mother of Mrs. Leonard Hubbard, used
to say that when they came to Berlin, in 1838, that stream
ran through their lots, and on north, under the little bridge,
west of Benjamin Fanning's blacksmith shop, to the Matta-
bessett.

Besides the Richardson house, there was one other built on
this street soon after it was opened in 1786. It stands on the
north side, near the east end, a very 'attractive old place. Three
generations of the Wood family lived here. Father, son, and
grandson bore the name of Charles.

In the early fifties Tom Thumb was exhibited in Berlin and
everybody went to see him, down in the old church. Tom's
showman asked to have some little girl from the audience
placed upon the platform beside him, and when a little miss
was brought from the back of the church, people whispered
"that's little Eosa Wood; isn't she pretty?" And she was,
pretty as a picture, with her great brown eyes and dark curling
hair. Rosa was the daughter of Charles Wood, 2d. She was
married at sixteen to Oliver Bacon and died soon after her
marriage. Her schoolmates still speak of her remarkable beauty.

ISTelson Richardson married Hepsy Dickinson, one of the five
daughters of Russel Dickinson, who lived in the house on the
west side of Hart Street, nearest the Blair factory road now
known as the Shaw place. Mr. Dickinson was a tinner.

The house on the comer northeasterly from the Shaws,
formerly owned by Ansel and George Thomas, is now occupied
by Edgar M. Carter, the plumber.

The next house north of the Shaw's on the same side was
the home of Elijah Stanley, who for many years made fine,
well-fitting shoes. He had a number of apprentices. Elijah
Stanley died in 1857, aged sixty-five. The Stanley place is
now owned by C. 0. Hanford, who has made extensive improve-
ments in the dwelling house.

Hiram Francis and his family lived in a large white house
next north of the Stanley place. They moved to Meriden
about the year 1870, and soon after that the house, while occu-
pied by John Hannon, was burned. It was replaced by the

250 HISTORY OF BEELIW

house recently Occupied by E. S. Burniain, now owned by
George B. Carter.

Still going north we pass, on the left hand, the farm long
known as the Samuel Durand place. Mr. Durand and his
wife Eloisa (Lewis) came to Berlin from Cheshire. They
joined the Worthington church in 1827. At first they lived
in what was known as the "blue house" next east of the Bridge
Cemetery. Mrs. Durand died in 1832, leaving children whose
names were: Frederick L., Henry S., Andrew, John, Sarah,
Erances, and Mrs. Jennette A. Durand Cox. She joined the
Second Congregationa:l Church of Berlin in 1831 and was dis-
missed in 1837. Mr. Durand married, in 1834, for his second
wife, Kebecca Root, sister of Cyrus and Timothy Root. Their
children were: Almira H., LoTiisa E., Jane E., Hannah, Loyal
R., and William.

Mrs. Rebecca Durand died at Milwaukee, September, 1896,
aged ninety-five.

Frederick Durand was a lawyer and settled in Rochester,
K Y.

Henry was first a merchant at Meriden, at Berlin and at
Kensington. Afterward he went to Racine, Wis., and became
a noted fire insurance adjuster.

Andrew went south and was living there during the Civil
War.

John, a railroad man, lived in Rochester, N. Y.

Loyal went west and was in the fire insurance business, as
is also his brother William. Loyal died soon after the Chicago
fire, overtaxed, it was said, by the strain of work incident
thereto.

Samuel Durand died December 4, 1871. Then the farm
was purchased by Huber Bushnell, and Mrs. Durand, with her
daughters Louisa and Jane, went to Milwaukee to live with
William.

Almira and Hannah (Mrs. Gould) live in Rochester, E". Y.

Frances (Mrs. Miller) lives in Iowa City, Iowa.

Jules, a colored man, and his wife Flora, who worked for Mr.
Durand, lived in a little house that stood a short distance south

LOWBE LANE 251

of the Burand house. Jules used to blow the church organ
after Charles Stoeker died. He -was a big man. The school
children were afraid of him, and used to run and hide when
they saw him coming along the road.

ISTow prepare to take off your hats to the men, and women,
too, who dwelt around the corners to which we approach. In
1705 the men of Great Swamp, who, with their wives and
childreii, — ^babies in arms, muskets in front, muskets in the
rear, had been obliged to tramp eight miles through the forests
to Farmitigton village, for their Sunday privileges, decided
that they must have a church nearer their homes.

The town gave consent, and a petition dated October 11,
1705', sent to the General Assembly, was granted for the people
on this side of "Blow mountain" to "set up in this desolate
corner of the wilderness" for themselves.

Isaac Worton was one of the signers of that petition. He
was described as a rich merchant, pious and useful. He bore
the titles of Ensigns and Lieutenant. He and Elizabeth Galpin
of Stafford, Conn., were married in 1707. They were members
of Christian Lane ehufch in 1712.

Their dwelling was here on the northeast of the four cor-
ners, to which we have come — not the present comer house,
that is moderfl,— ^but f arthet east.

The children of Isaac and Elizabeth ITorton were ; Elizabeth,
b. 1708, married Jonathan Edwards of Middletown [near
Edward Hall's] ; Charles, b. 1710 ; Euth, b. 1711, m. Wil-
liam, son of Eev. William Burnham of Kensington j Isaac, b.
1713, m. Sarah Seymour; Abigail, b. l7l6, m. Luke Hitch-
eoek of SpriUgfifeld; Tabitha, b. 1718, m. 1740 Colonel Isaac
Lee; Achsah, b. 1721, m. Jedediah Norton of Guilford [it was
he who gave the church organ in 1791] ; Josiah, b. 1726 ;
Elnathan, ninth child, b. 1729, m. first, Kachel Woodruff,
second, Sybel Goodrich.

Solomon l<forton, son of Elnathan, inherited the Isaac ISTofton
pl&ee. Erom him it went to his son, Elisha ISTorton.

The late James C. Arnold came to Berlin from "dowii the
River," about 1838. He purchased from Elisha Norton his

252 HISTORY OF BEELIISr

great-grandfatlier's house, with a part of the lands adjoining.
The house, which then had a double-hipped roof, was remodeled
by Mr. Arnold beyond recognition, but the foundations and
frame, with a part of the ell, remain, and the floors are the
very same that on that July evening of 1740, trembled under
the dancing feet of the guests, "Beckleys and Buckleys, Norths
and Eoots, Gilberts and Porters," at Tabitha's wedding. For
Tabitha, the heroine of Mrs. Willard's "Bride Stealing," was
the daughter of this "rich Isaac Norton."

Isaac Lee, the bridegroom of "twenty-three," "grave and
sedate," "of giant mould," was commissioned Captain of the
Thirteenth Company of Train Bands in the Sixth Eegiment
in this colony, in May, 1767. The same year he was appointed
Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifteenth Eegiment, and in March,
1775, Colonel of the same regiment.

Lieutenant Isaac Norton died January 10, 1763, in the
eighty-fourth year of his age.

Elnathan, his youngest son, bom 1729, lived on the south-
west comer, diagonally opposite his father's house. In 1756
he and his wife, Rachel (Woodruff) were enrolled as members
of the Christian Lane church. They had three sons and three
daughters.

Elnathan Norton was a large landholder. It is said that he
owned down south as far as Edward Hall's, over west as far as
Norton's saw mill, and east up to the "Street." We can hardly
go amiss of his name on the old deeds of this locality. Elnathan
Norton died July 30, 1801, aged seventy-two.

Solomon Norton, bom 1760, son of Elnathan, lived in his
grandfather Isaac Norton's house. He had three sons : Linus,
Isaac, and Elisha. Linus lived in BecMey Quarter.

Isaac, bom 1788, lived on the southwest corner, after his
grandfather, Elnathan, and built a new house, still standing
there. He married Milly, daughter of Asaph and Eunice
(French) Goodrich, his next-door neighbor, on the south. A
deed of January 7, 1796, shows that at that time Elnathan
Norton sold to Asaph Goodrich a piece of land bounded as

LOWEE LAWE 253

follows : east on highway, south on Koger Eiley, north and west
on his own land.

Asaph Goodrich, born 1767, married Eunice French, daugh-
ter of Daniel French, and he, Daniel French, made, over on
the site of N"orton's saw mill, the first cut nails in the country.
The dam was built by George Hubbard. Mr. French died in
1784, aged thirty-eight, and the business was taken to
Middletown.

Deacon Selah Goodrich, grandson of Mr. French, was the
authority for the foregoing statement.

Asaph Goodrich was a tinner. He used the front room of
his house, built next south of Elnathan ISTorton's, for a shop.
His specialty was foot-stoves, which, with various articles of
tinware, were displayed in his front windows.

Mrs. Goodrich was a faithful attendant on church services.
One Sunday, as she walked down the north side of the hill,
on her way home, she saw some kind of a plant growing in the
lot, that she wanted, and so she bent over between the rails
and picked until she had a handful. As she gathered the
flowers she moved along to a place where the rails were so near
together that when she tried to remove her head it stuck fast.
There she hung, and there she would have died had she not been
discovered by a neighbor coming along the road.

Of three children bom to Isaac and Milly JSTorton, Henry was
the only one who lived to maturity. He married Gertrude,
daughter of the Eev. Asahel 0. Washburn. In 1869, with
father and mother Washburn, and mother Norton, they moved
to Syracuse, where Henry was engaged in the fire insurance
business.

The family met with severe financial losses, and to cap the
climax, Henry died, leaving five little children. Gertrude,
his wife, was a student of Mt. Holyoke, and had taught in the
schools of Berlin. She rose to the situation, started a kinder-
garten, and by her indomitable energy succeeded in giving a
good education to her two sons and three daughters. The
boys went to Cornell, and are now employed in smelters. Wads-

254 HISTOET OF BEELIN

wortli at Murray, Salt Lake, Utali, and Alfred at East Helena^
Mont. Of the daughters, N'ellie is a stenograplieir, Lena is a
school teacher and a violinist. Gertrude also is a school teacher.

Formerly it was a custom of the churches to appoint indi-
viduals to go about from house to house to solicit contributions
for benevolent objects. Mrs. Isaac Norton would wear a straw
bonaeit to church all winter, but siie always welcomed a coUectojr
for foreign missions with a gift of five dollars.

Over west of Isaac N^orton's, a family by the name of Miller
lived in a small house that was burned. The Millers, hus,band
and wife, were drunkards. In their sprees, she would scold him,
and be would abuse her. Once, when she ran out of doors and
yelled "murder !" the neighbors, wbo went to h.er rescue, found
him in the house, rocking the baby, as nice and pleasant as
could be. One day, while Mrs. Miller was at work for Mrs.
ITorton, as she saw her husband going by the house, she put her
head out of a window and said some hateful things to him,
whereupon he picked up a brickbat, threw it full drive at her,
and smashed in all her front teeth.

The Millers had a daughter, Amelia, who was quite a pretty
girl. This was in the forties.

Elisha Norton, son of Solomon, married Laura Belden, April
28, 1830. They had two sons, Horace and James, and five
daughters, Amelia, Harriet, Emily, Julia, and Ellen. They
lived, at first, on the old Isaac Norton homestead. Then Mr.
Norton sold that place to James 0. Arnold and built a new
house on the southeast comer, now owned by the Hall brothers.

One of the industries of the early settlers was the clearing
up of land. When Mr. Arnold purchased his place the lot
opposite the house was a tangle of wild grape vines, and it
was a hard task to root them out. People used to come from
a distance to gather grapes from those vines. Mr. Norton and
Mr. Ajmold, both carpenters, carried on business together under
the firm name of Norton & Arnold. They built the present
Oongregational church, in the village, which was afterward
altered by putting in side galleries and a lower ceiling. The
steeple was also strengthened by a new one built outside of and

LOWES LANE 25.5

higher than the old one. Mr. Arnold built th,e Lyman ¥ott
house, the Was-hburn house, the Fowleo- house, and in 1850, the
old Berlin depot. Mr. JSTorto^i's joiner shop still stands, ,east
of the house where he lived. Mr. Arnold moved his shop,
which was east of that, across to the north side of the road
and made it into a dwelling house ; then he bought a shop from
some place, up on the street (where?) and moved it down
onto the site of the first one — ^where it still remains.

About the year 1857 Mr. I^OTton renioyed to Kacine, Wis.
It was said, there, that Elisha ISTorton had the handsomest
family of daughters in Racine.

It used to be required of voters that they should own a
certain amount of real estate. A citizen of Berlin, a^ixious
that his son should vote, deeded to him a piece of land on the
south side of this street, with the understanding that the son
should convey the property back to him after he had voted, but
the young man concluded to keep it, and built hinaself a ho^se
there. The house and the people are all gone now.

!N"ear this place lives John Hudson Webber, now in his
nraety-fourth year, who for many years made shoes in a shop
attached to the rear of his dwelling.

Over in the lot back of Mr. Webber's, once stood a slaughter,
used by many butchers. At times the south winds wafted from
that spot were enough to make a horse break into a run. The
house recently remodeled by George S. Schofield was occupied
about the year 1840 by a brick mason whose name was Noble.
He disappeared, and his family were in great distress of mind.
A German doctor here, who professed to have magic sight,
said that the missing man had been murdered and that his body
was secreted up on iKTewington mountain. A wagon load of
men from the village — it was a .Sunday — went up there, but
found no trace of him. A few mornings after that William
Bulkeley, on his way down to the south district school, i».et
!N"oble, in the road, coming this way. The boy ran home, as
fast as his feet would carry him, to tell his father that Mr-
Noble was not dead — he had come home. The man had been
off on a "drunk."

266 HISTORY 01" BEELIN

The house now owned by Henry L. Porter was occupied in
the forties, and later, hy Marvin Lee, who used the basement
as a shoe shop, the entrance to which was by a door cut through
the brickwork. This doorway was afterwards closed, but its
outlines are still in evidence. The Lees had two gentle, fair-
haired daughters, Caroline and Mary. The family moved
away to New York State, and Anson Porter succeeded Mr. Lee
in the shoemaking business.

We do not knew when this street was opened but Aunt Abby
Pattison always spoke of it as "the new road." The Isaac
Norton house and the brick house, now owned by Leon LeClair,
are the only really old houses built upon it and both are so near
the main streets that they might have been placed there before
this road was cut through by the town, and then in old times
a laneway was possible. A comparatively modem house, that
stood west of Mr. Arnold's, on the comer now owned by E. E.
Austin, which was burned some twenty years since, was said
to have been built by Evelyn Peck, a stone cutter, who had a
marble yard connected with his house by a woodshed. This
place was occupied for many years by the Henry Doming
family. Silas Hurlburt, who married Elizabeth Doming, had
a stove store on the premises.

In August, 1797, Berlin was nearly drowned out by a flood.
A tremendous quantity of water fell from the skies — some called
it a cloudburst.

At a town meeting, held April 9, 1798, Captain James North,
Amos Hosford, and Selah Hart were appointed a committee
to examine respecting the damage done by the late flood, and
determine how much shall be paid to each parish out of the
town treasury to make good such damage. At the same meet-
ing it was voted that "the town will be of the expense of
building and repairing the wood part of Beckley's and Kirby's
bridges, and that the several societies shall be at the expense
of the other work and bridges in each parish."

LOWER LANE 257

-May 4, 1T98, committees were appointed for Kensington
parish and for New Britain to make good the damage done
by the late flood. ISTearly or quite all the bridges in town had
been swept away and according to Deacon Selah Goodrich, who
was then a well-grown lad, every milldam but the one at
Norton's sawmill was carried off.

Here at the "comers," Andrew Norton's pond broke away,
and washed nearly up to the houses. Great gullies wero made
on the hillside that may be seen to-day.

If Norton's milldam withstood the flood of 1797, its time
came later. Mr. Bulkeley remembers that it went off when
he was a boy. It was rebuilt by Philip Norton, who, in 1849,
built the mill and put in machinery for sawing lumber from
logs carried there by farmers of the vicinity.

In 1860, John Norton, son of Philip, was doing a prosperous
business at the mill making carriage lum^ber from; fine- trees
which he selected and bought for the purpose wherever he could
find them.

John Graham used the ground floor for turning spokes for
his wagon wheels. This mill was burned December,, 1905. No
insurance.

West of the pond, and also farther east, on the north side,
over in the Brown's pasture, are clay pits and traces of brick
kilns that were in use fiity years ago or so.

The clay was ground by a wheel with on© horse power, then
poured into wooden moulds, and slipped out onto boards to
dry — all by hand work.

Back of Norton's mill, up in the cliff,, in a sort of natural
cave, enlarged by hacking, lived Sam Smith, known as an out-
law,, a robber, and a horse stealer. It was said also that he stole
sheep and threw their bones into the pond.

A house that stood next west of the mill was occupied by
Abraham Stephens, who had a large family of children. They
had a carriage and an old horse, with which they took much
pleasure in driving about the country. One day, when Mr.
Stephens was at work in a field, and his women folks were all
out riding, the house took fire and was destroyed.
17

OHAPTEE XIV.

Disposal of Highway Property. — The Building of the New
Haven Railroad. — The Train Wreck at Peat Swamp.

In our early days much of the business brought before voters
related to roads. At a town meeting held in Farmington
December 27, 1784, the year before Berlin was set off by her-
self, a vote was taken to sell the highways unnecessary for
travel. A committee was appointed to locate such highways,
and after three months' notice to individuals, for redress, to
sell such highways to adjoining proprietors or to others, the
avails to be and remain a perpetual fund for the support of
schools in the several societies.

At a town meeting held in Berlin April 11, 1814, it was
"Voted that the several Societies of Worthington have the
'priviledge' of the Interest of all monies arising from the sale
of highways, within the limits of said Society in the same
manner as the other Societies in the town of Berlin have to
Improve the Interest of such monies in their Several School
Societies, the principal of such money to be Subject to the
Same rules and Regulations as in the other parishes."

According to the report of the town treasurer, Berlin has
on deposit, held in trust for the benefit of schools in the Society
of Worthington, a fund to the amount of $2,186.71, which
accrued from the sale of highways. When the town was first
settled, some of the roads were laid out twenty rods wide and
even forty rods in certain places, an advantage in muddy
weather. When one track was badly poached, another and
another could be chosen.

In the year 1786, after it was voted to sell highways, over
seventy deeds were given by the town to individuals who pur-
chased land adjoining their own property. At first twenty-
rod highways sold for nine shillings, ten pence, the length
bordering on owner's land.

DISPOSAL OF HIGHWAY PBOPEETT 259

Jonathan Edwards, one of the first settlers in the south part
of Berlin, died in 1Y76, aged sevent;;^-two. Miss Harriet
Edwards, his great-great-granddaughter, says she used to hear
that he lived on a road which was abandoned, Over west of
Edward Hall's place, and that the ruins of the house could still
be seen there in the woods. Jonathan Edwards was succeeded
by his son Josiah, Sr.

On May 30, 1786, a committee appointed by the town deeded
to Josiah Edwards, for the consideration of fourteen pounds
lawful money, "a part of the country road (so called) running
westward from said Edwards' dwelling house .... butting
west on the four rod highway so called .... and contains
about two acres and eighty rods of land." "Four rod highway"
ran around into Kensington.

Mr. Tale of Meriden used to say that once on a time there
was a road west of the peat swamp, and that stages ran over
that road. It butted on Hicks Street in Meriden and came out
a little west of the Worris Dunham place in Kensington. There
is still one house on that road near its Kensington termination,
and the road is yet kept open as far as that house by the town.

At a town meeting held December 4, 1797, it was "voted that
the selectmen be authorized to sell a highway east of the
country road lying between the lands of Jedediah Norton and
Josiah Edwards, and that they offer to Jedediah Norton that
part lying on his lands which if he will purchase at what they
shall judge its value they are to sell to him, otherwise they will
sell the same at auction." Turnpikes were owned by corpora-
tions or by individuals, whose revenue consisted of fees exacted
from those who nsed the roads, and toll gates were placed at a
distance of ten miles apart.

Certain travelers, as those going to a funeral or to church,
or to a training, were passed free, as were persons who lived
near the gate when going about their ordinary business. All
others had to pay toll according to a schedule of rates — twenty-
five cents for a stage or a two-horse carriage; six and a quarter
cents — ^fo'pence — ^for a one-horse wagon, and one cent for a
single animal when driven. Lovers who visited their sweet-

260 HISTOKY OF BEELIIT

hearts and remained until the small hours of the night would
escape payment of toll on their way home. The gate would then
be wide open.

About a liiird of a mile below the Abram Wright tavern was
a curious toll-house ; the lower rooms were divided by the width
of the pike, so that teams could go through. The second story
extended across over the road and made a shelter for the gate,
gate-man and for travelers while fumbling for change.

A family by the name of Bassett lived there, and the children
came up to the south district school. One of the sons, Erastus
J., became a valued adjuster for the ^S^tna Eire Insurance
Company. His house in Hartford is now owned by George H.
Sage. Another son, Edwin, was an aeronaut. His mother
worried so much whenever he made an ascension that he finally
promised her he would never go up again, and he kept his word.

The gate was abolished in 1855.

As we go to Meriden on the steam cars, we see at the left,
near the southern boundary of Berlin's town line, a large pond,
with buildings bearing the sign "Hartford lee Company."
The basin of that pond is a peat swamp, some twenty-five
acres in extent. A laneway which starts from the highway
just south of the Henry Norton house, leads westerly and
southerly, a distance of about three-quarters of a mile, to this
same swamp, which was once included in Jedediah Norton's
farm and was called "Old Fly."

A map of Berlin, dated 1867, shows on the east side of the
track a building with the words "Etna Peat Co." On the
west side is a "Boarding house." The Etna Peat Company was
formed for the purpose of making the decayed sphagnum into
bricks to be used for fuel. A factory which was put up was
fitted with a steam engine and other expensive machinery for
crushing and moulding the turf. A canal was cut across the
swamp for drainage and to make a water way for an immense
scow which carried a dredger for hauling up the sods. At
first the bricks were dried in the open air, afterwards they were
kiln dried. Some said the peat was not the right kind, and
was good for nothing to burn. Whether it was that, or the

BISPOSAL OF HIGHWAY PEOPEETT 261

cheaper transportation of coal, is not clear, but after two or
three companies had experimented and sold out, the scheme
was pronounced a dead failure, and it only represented a small
fortune lost. The persons who alone profited from the venture
were the farmers who sold the land and turned their wood lots
into money.

Mr. Albert Warren bought the scow, and broke it up for
the sake of tbe lumber. One long stick of yellow pine went
into the foundation of his bam, its mate, he sold to the town
of Berlin, and it is still in use, as a foot bridge, across the stream
at Beckley's mill.

The Hartford and New Haven railroad was opened to travel
in 1839. Some years later a second track was laid. One night
the laborers employed on this second track left, standing beside
"Old My," a train of cars loaded with gravel, their tools
piled on top. "Wien the men returned to their work the next
morning, they saw an island out in the pond that had arisen
in} their absence, while tools, gravel cars and track had dis-
appeared — ^had gone down into the depths of the marsh, and
there they remain to this day. The workmen must have needed
an extra bracer that morning to raise their spirits. Phineas
Case remembers that when the railroad was building, the women
used to come over to that saloon on the corner north of his
house with pitchers, pails and jugs to be filled with whiskey.

The story of a second accident at the same place, as gathered
here and there from persons who had scarcely thought of it
for years, is as follows: On the afternoon of April 6, 1880,
just after a heavily loaded freight train had passed the peat
factory boarding house, Mr. and Mrs. Kelsey, who lived there,
were startled by a thundering great noise. Eight rods or so
of the railroad track with its embankment had slumped again.

Night was coming on, the Boston express was nearly due,
and another train would soon come from the south. Mr. Kelsey
went to look out for the New York train. Mrs. Kelsey ran
into the house, lighted a lantern, took off her red flannel petti-

262 HISTORY OF BEELIW

coat and started up the road toward tlie north waving her
danger signals. Glory was the only reward she ever received.

As the engine approached, she screeched at the top of her
voice and the train was stopped its own length away from the
yawning chasm. It is said that when the trainmen asked what
the matter was they were told that the peat bog had gone
toh .

The story goes on to say that there were four millionaires
among the passengers on that train — that much praise was
given the brave woman who had saved their lives — ^but that no
reward whatever was given to her.

The next day a long procession of w^agons and carriages filled
with men, women and children might have been seen going
through Berlin Street toward the peat swamp and half of
Meriden was there.

The boys collected fence rails which they threw into the
water west of the track, the rails sank out of sight and then
bobbed up again. The telegraph poles had settled so that only
the tops were left.

Supt. E. H. Davison and the directors of the road walked
about and discussed the situation, while the crowd looked on.
The advice of the directors was to remove the track far enough
west to avoid the marsh, but the superintendent said he would
make a solid bed for the road where it was first laid if it
took the whole of Yalesville. A small boy gazed at him in awe
as he gave his orders, like a potentate, and thought he must
be a very great man.

Mr. Luby says that a caisson of heavy planks, laid flat, one
over another, was built and thousands of loads of sand were
brought up from the banks ovmed by the company in Yalesville.
As fast as the sand was dumped, water was poured on to make
it as hard as possible. After the work was completed a man
was kept at the place to watch the road every day for a year,
and it will always be under careful inspection.

A certain clever fellow, who was set to guard the embank-
ment, had his one failing, and it came to the ears of the com-
pany that he sometimes neglected his watch. He was severely
reprimanded and threatened with loss of his position. He was

;,,; DISPOSAL OF HIGHWAY PEOPEETY 263

SO scared that lie became a disciple of Father Murphy, and
was ever after a sober man. He wore a blue ribbon conspic-
uously pinned on his coat, and when he met an old friend and
was asked how he was getting along, he would say, "Firstrate,
sir, I am a blue ribbon man now, sir."

The depth of the morass at its center is unknown. Mr. Luby
says he has seen a whole coil of telegraph wire unwound and
dropped there until it settled by its own weight, without reach-
ing a foundation.

The story of the disaster at the Peat Swamp as given recently
in the Berlin history, started quite a discussion among those who
were taken by their parents to see the show. Charles Warren
and one of his schoolmates were sure they saw one car tilting
half over the track, and that another was down in the mud —
that trunks, soaking full of water, were fished up from the
depths, and that when the question was asked who was respon-
sible for the damage the reply was "Oh, the company will have
to make it good." Others said "'twas no such a thing — that
there was no car on the track when it caved in."

To settle the controversy Miss Ruth Galpin went to the
office of the Hartford Courant and copied from the file of 1880
their account of the catastrophe [pronounced "cat-a-strop-he,"
by a little girl in our fifth district school] . '

Mrs. Walter Gwatkin kindly obtained from the Hartford
Times their version of the accident. The two accounts are
here given :

OWL TEAIE" WRECKED.

Nine Cars in a Heap at BERLnsr, and Nobody Hurt — Wonderful

Escape from a Curious Accident — The Coast all

Clear Now.

(From the Hartford Courant.)

The midnight train for New York which left here about two o'clock

yesterday morning met with an accident only less remarkable than

the escape of all the passengers from the peril that it involved. The

track all fell out from under the train, tbe whole train of nine ears

264 HISTORY OiF BBELIIir

was brought to a sudden stop and its cars scattered right and left
and yet no one on the train was hurt. It occurred just below the ice-
house of the artificial pond below Berlin. On both sides of the
track there is a peat bog. When the double track was laid a train
of gravel cars was left standing there one night and ihe next morn-
ing had all disappeared — ^been swallowed up. The down train passed
at three o'clock. It consisted of two express cars, a passenger coach
and three sleepers. The engine was Planet — the engineer Bradford.
He suddenly felt a remarkable swaying as if everything had fallen
out from under. He applied the air-brakes. The engine crossed but
the tender was derailed. The track held together although the
foundation was gone. The first express car landed on the up track.
The second express car containing the miessenger twice turned
over and landed on its side in the pond. The mail car fell across
the up track with one end in the jK>nd. The baggage car landed on
Up track. The three sleepers staid on the track. The passengers
did not even wake up. Mr. Allen of this city did not know of
any trouble until waking he saw by daylight the peat bog where
he expected to see New York City. The up train was stopped at
Meriden. The loss was between $2,500 and $3,000.

(Prom the Hartford Times.)
The passenger train bound south on N. T. !N". H. railroad that left
this city 2.07 a. m. today met with a serious disaster when about
two miles this side of Meriden. At the point where the accident
occurred an artificial pond belonging to the Hartford Ice Co. lies
on both sides of the track. Por some days past the company has had
workmen employed in drawing off the water in the pond in order
to clean it out, as has been the custom each year since it was con-
structed. In consequence of this drawing off the water, the roadbed,
which at this point is in the neighborhood of thirty feet wide, was
undermined for a distance of seventy-five or more feet. The train
consisted of an engine and tender, a postal ear, two express ears,
the ordinary coacher and three sleepers. The number of passengers
on the train is not definitely known. The postal car was thrown at
right angle across the track, one end lies buried hard in the sandy
bottom of the pond. Every car in the train also we believe was thrown
from the tracks and the wreck is a bad one, covering as it does both
tracks and preventing the passage of trains in both directions, and
requiring as it will, owing to the fact that the water is on each side,
most if not the whole of the day to clear it away.

DISPOSAL OP HIGHWAY PEOPEETY 265

jrassengers and baggage are transferred around the wreck with
such dispatch however that the passengers from the south due here
by the 9.44 a. m. arrived only about half hour late. It is reported
to be impossible to lay a temporary track around the wreck and in
consequence the delay is greater than it would otherwise be.

Knowledge of the accident reached Hartford at about four o'clock,
and Division Supt. Davison, Mr. Packard and other under officials
of the road, soon had a wrecking train made up that took down a
niimber of workmen to assist in cleaning away the debris. Other
workmen also went down on the half-past six and eight o'clock
trains and with these, sent from Meriden, formed a large force that
is now at work in reopening travel on the line. (Later account.)

A visit to the scene of the wrecked train disclosed a worse situation
than the first reports gave and it shows too in a splendid way the
unequaled efficiency and promptitude of the work that is done in
such cases by the men and wrecking appliances of the K Y., N. H.
& H. road. Superintendent Davison had gone down long before day-
light with a wrecking car and 100 men with jackscrews, etc., from
this city, and Vice President Eeed came up from New Haven with
a work car, and a large force of station men with jackscrews and
other appliances and the work that has been done is surprising even to
those familiar with the expeditious ways of the Consolidated road
in such cases. The distinctive feature of this case which separates
it from all ordinary smashups, and from other cases of wrecks which
can be, and are removed entirely in a couple of hours are first, the
locality which is a spot between two sheets of water, that touch the
road bed on either side and then give no room for working, and
second, the way in which the wreck lay. It was all smashed up and
lying across both tracks while one, the east track, had sunk four feet
below the level of the other track. Two cars were deep in the mud,
another was lying across the tracks, and all the rest were smashed
more or less and lying in confusion in all directions. To all ordi-
nary view it seemed at daylight as if the situation could not be
corrected in three days. In reality it was made so the train could
pass in five hours from the time the whole force had got fairly to
work. The train from the south came by that spot at 1.52 p. m. on
the west track without even stopping. The practical mechanical judg-
ment and energy of Mr. Eeed and his very capable lieutenant Supt.
Davison were never shown to better effect. Mr. George Cutting a
Meriden builder after visiting the scene declared that the damage
must be $10,000 to the rolling stock alone. This may be a liberal
estimate but it includes only a part of the whole damage. Both tracks
will be clear at sundown and all restored to place.

266 HISTOET OP BBELIIT

Recent installments of the Berlin History gave accounts
somewhat conflicting of the railroad accident at Peat Swamp,
said to have occurred April 6, 1880. The Mr. and Mrs. Kelsey
to whom reference was made as flagging the trains, lived for
seventeen years in the boarding house west of the pond. The
first account was copied by the Meriden Journal, of the same
week, and thus came to the notice of Mrs. Kelsey, who now
lives with her second husband on Curtis Street, Meriden. Her
version of the trouble at the swamp shows that it is not always
safe to tell another man that his testimony is not true, because
it does not agree with yours. He may be thinking of one story,
and you of another, both true. Mrs. Kelsey says that on the
night of April 6, 1880, the track settled two or three feet and
at that time the midnight Washington Express, or "Owl train,"
was derailed. The baggage car went down the bank, and the
postal car lay across the track, while the sleepers remained
on the rails; all as described by the reporters. After that a
watchman was kept there night and day.

On the night of June 3 following, as the same express was
due, just after a heavy freight train had passed along, suddenly,
without warning, the embankment settled out of sight, for a
length of about a hundred and seventy-five feet. Mr. and Mrs.
Kelsey were aroused by the great noise and went out to see
what had happened. They were met by the watchman, who

said "The peat bog has gone to h ." His lantern had been

put out, and he was so dazed that he could not relight it.

Mrs. Kelsey ran back into the house, took her own lantern,
caught her child's* red fiannel petticoat from the clothes line,
started up the north track, and stopped the train, its length
away from the yawning chasm, and thus a terrible disaster
was averted. Mr. Kelsey and the watchman went south and
warned the JN"ew York express.

It was at this time, June 3, that the telegraph poles sank their
entire length into the water. ISo cars were thrown out of place.
The trains stopped on either side of the breach and passengers
walked over to make connections.

* See pp. 261-2. There seems to be some discrepancy about the ownership
of the petticoat. However, this is not of great importance.

DISPOSAL OF HIGHWAY PEOPEETY 267

oix monnis afterwards the railroad company sent Mrs. Kel-
sey a check for fifty dollars. As for the millionaires aboard the
train, she excused them, for the reason that they knew nothing
about her. The affair was kept as quiet as possible.

Mr. William Beckley of Torrington has contributed the fol-
lowing bit of history about Peat Swamp :

ToBKiNGTON, March 31st, 1906.
To the Editor of The Berlin News.

Dear Sir: I have been very much interested in the History of
Berlin as given in the paper.

An item about Peat Swamp that has not been mentioned is this:
that in the latter part of the eighteenth and the early part of the
nineteenth century, there was, a short distance below where the rail-
road crosses a swamp, a carding mill for the carding and making
into rolls for spinning the wool and flax raised by the neighboring
farmers. The swamp at that time was an open pond as now. What
caused the growth of vegetable matter upon it during that compara-
tively short period?

Tours truly, William Beoklby.

CHAPTEE XV.

Mt. Lamentation.

The following story tells why Mount Lamentation was so
named. It was written before the year 1833, as told to his
children, by the Eev. Charles A. Goodrich, who for many years
lived in the house now owned by Miss Julia Hovey:

"When I was telling you of the mountains of Connecticut, I
mentioned one, as belonging to the Middletown range, by the
name of Mount Lamentation. This mountain is situated in the
town of Berlin, to the east of the fine turnpike which leads
from !tfew Haven to Hartford. The view of the mountain from
this road is beautiful, and even grand. It rises like a steep
precipice to a considerable height, and forms a sublime con-
trast to the rich meadows, which extend to a considerable
distance from its base.

The name Lamentation was given to the mountain many
years since, from the circimistance that a gentleman was once
lost in the thick forest which crowns its top.

The name of this gentleman was Chester. He was one of
the pious men who first settled the town of Wethersfield, about
which I shall soon tell you. The event happened about nine
years after the town was settled.

At some distance south of Wethersfield, there was an unen-
closed ground, since called the Mill Lot. To this ground, Mr.
Chester went one day, for some purpose, but I cannot tell you
what it was. It was a cloudy afternoon, and he was alone.
Having completed his business, he set out to return. The
country on all sides was a wilderness. Scarcely a foot-path
led back to the settlement. He took the direction, however,
which he supposed would lead him home, and, for a time, went
on without anxiety.

After walking some distance, he began to wonder that he did
not come in sight of cultivated land. But still he was scarcely

MOUNT LAMENTATIOK 269

troubled, as it occurred to him that he might have gone much
farther into the forest than he originally intended. He there-
fore quickened his step, expecting soon to emerge from the
woods.

In this,, however, he found himself disappointed. The farther
he walked, the thicker the forest trees seemed to grow. A wild
and fearful gloom, by this time, was settling around him. Night
came on apace, and, for the first time, the painfuhiess of his
situation came over his mind.

He had mistaken his way, and he was now convinced of it.
He stopped, and asked himself, what he should do ? He looked
around, but he had no means of ascertaining the points of the
compass. The sun had been obscured all day. That had now
gone down ; and not a solitary star glittered on the traveller to
direct his course.

He could no longer tell the direction which he had come;
of course he could not retrace his steps to the spot from which
he had started. In this anxious moment, he scarcely knew
what course to take. Having decided, however, he pushed for-
ward, still in hopes of reaching home before the setting in of
full darkness should render it impossible. For a time, he
hastened his flight by running. But the dangers thickened too
fast around him to admit of this speed. Trees and rocks
were scarcely visible. Against some he struck, and over others
he f eU.

Injured as he was, he still went forward. But now he pro-
ceeded with redoubled caution, since a single step might plunge
him from some precipice into an abyss below. It added to the
horrors of his situation, that the wolves and panthers, which
inhabited the forest, were stealing abroad from their lurking
places, in quest of prey. At times he could hear their yells;
and, though at a distance, they soimded like the appalling war-
whoop of the savage.

Mr. Chester was a man of courage. He partook of that firm-
ness and daring which characterized the first settlers. This
was a fortunate trait in their character, since they were liable
to encounter dangers unknown to older countries. Mr. Chester

270 HISTOEY OF BEELIIT

was also a man of piety. He believed in God, and well did he
know that his providence could protect him; or, if in the
gloomy recesses of the forest he must die, God could take him
to his glory.

Trust in God, my children (said Mr. Goodrich), is a source
of comfort, in the saddest hour which afflicts the heart of man.
It imparts light in darkness, and inspires with courage, in
the midst of a thousand dangers. This pious pilgrim now fell
upon his knees, and commended himself to an Almighty Pro-
tector. He prayed for composure — for direction — for deliv-
erance. He supplicated for submission to the Divine will.

When he rose, he knew that God was there. Still his
heart was full. Whose heart would not have been full? He
thought of home; of a tender anxious wife; of her helpless
weeping children. He was a kind and tender husband, a fond
and affectionate father. His thoughts gave life to all the sensi-
bilities of his soul ; his bosom heaved with unutterable anguish,
when he felt that he might see his family no more.

Roused, however, by his feelings, he determined to make
another effort to reach home that night. He now changed his
course, and changed again, and again, and with increased cau-
tion proceeded on his way. All effort, however, was in vain.
'No opening disclosed itself to his weary step, and no glimmering
light fell upon his moistened eye.

In this state he continued to wander, he scarcely knew
whither, nor how long. At length, overcome with anxiety and
fatigue, he sunk upon the earth, concluding to wait till day.
At the same time, he determined not to sleep; but had he
determined otherwise, it would have been to no purpose, for
sleep approached him not.

Before the day dawned, however, he forgot his cares a few
minutes. Protected by Providence, he awoke, but judge what
must have been his gratitude to God. He had stopped the pre-
ceding evening — ^he had laid himself down on the very verge
of a frightful precipice. A few steps more, and he would have
slept the sleep of death.

MOUNT LAMENTATIOET 271

The mommg, which brings joy to most, brought little to
him. A dark cloud still hung (>n the sky, and a thick mist
obscured almost every object around him. He knew not where
he was, and what was still more painful, he knew not what
direction to take.

As he rose from the earth, he found his limbs stiff from
exposure to the damps of the night. A faintness came Over
him for want of food. He descried some berries on a neighbor-
ing bush, and drank some water from a neighboring rill.

The day preceding he had pursued a course which he sup-
posed to be north and east, though it was afterwards proved
to be a direction exactly opposite. The day continued dark and
gloomy. His exertions were now such as he could make; but
they were far less vigorous than they had been the day before,
for he was fainter from the loss of strength and courage.

Again night approached. A deathlike sickness settled upon
his head. The darkness and the solitude appalled his weakened
mind. He sank upon the earth and commended himself to God
in prayer. A kind Providence enabled him to sleep, and pro-
tected him from the dangers which surrounded him. The
bowlings of the wild beasts occasionally broke upon his slumbers,
but if they approached him they were not permitted to touch
him.

Another morning found him still in the land of the living;
but hope had now nearly fled. It was still dark and cloudy.
His exhaustion of body had affected his mind, and he scarcely
knew what he was, or whither he would go.

He perceived, however, that he was ascending an elevated
tract of country, which he conjectured to be the base of a
mountain. Up this ascent he dragged his way, faintly hoping
that from its top he might overlook the settlement at Wethers-
field.

But the impressions of what took place that day were too
faint ever to be distinctly recalled. He only recollected that
he reached the top — ^he looked abroad — ^but he could discover
nothing but a wild waste of woods, extending as far as the eye

272 HISTOET OF BEELIN

could reach. At the prospect, his heart sickened to its core,
and hope took her flight.

We will now go back, my children (said Mr. Goodrich), to
the home of Mr. Chester. His wife had expected his return at
an early hour of the afternoon on which he left her. It was
unusual for him to be absent after sundown. As that time had
arrived, she began to feel anxious that he did not make his
appearance.

Her solicitude increased as the evening advanced. The hour
of family prayer came. The large family bible was brought
out and laid in its usual place. Every moment it was expected
he would come. But he came not. At length, after waiting
long — after listening many a time to hear the sound of his
approaching step — she sent her family to bed, while she
watched still longer for his arrival. The morning at length
dawned, but he had not arrived.

The news of his strange absence was now spread through
the village. No one had seen him or heard of him. Several
of the inhabitants started in search of him. They were abroad
all day, but no trace and no tidings could they discover of him.
It was now settled that some serious disaster had befallen him.

I cannot stop to tell you of the cruel suspense of the family ;
nor of the agitated state of the village, on the setting in of this
second night. A thousand conjectures floated through different
minds — and many ill bodings respecting him went the village
round.

The next day, at an early hour, preparations were made for
a more extended search. iN'early all the men of the settlement
were summoned, and after settling their plan, they started in
different directions, on the intended search. They took with
them drums and firearms, to assist in guiding his course, should
he fortunately come within the sound of them.

This day, however, passed away like the other. Most of the
men came back at evening, to communicate their failure to the
now agonized family and friends. A small party, however,
had wandered so far to the south during the day, that they
concluded to encamp out for the night.

MOUNT LAMBNTATIOW 273

The following day, this party renewed their search. They
continued to pursue a southerly course. Occasionally they fired
their guns; they halloed; they called his name; they sounded
their drum.

At length, the sound of the drum broke upon the bewildered
man's ear. He stopped; he listened. He went on. Again he
paused. His brain was confused. His mind was disordered.
Still he had sufficient understanding left to think; and a
thought now glanced over his mind, that his friends might be
in search for him, and he dragged himself towards the coming
sounds.

He thought these sounds increased. He was sure they did.
He heard his name sounded at a distance. The sound came
through the forest like the voice of mercy. He could no longer
advance. He stood like a marble monument. A few minutes
brought the party within his view. They also saw him. A thrill
of joy he felt play round his heart, and, as they approached to
welcome him to their bosom, his mind seemed to recover its
tone. Tears of joy burst from his eyes; and ah exclamation
of gratitude ascended from his lips to the great Author of his
deliverance.

The joy of his neighbors was scarcely exceeded by his own.
They conducted him home, a distance of thirteen miles, which
he had wandered. The place where ho was found was this
mountain in Berlin ; and well afterwards was it called Mount
Lamentation.

I cannot describe to you, my children (said Mr. Goodrich),
the joy which thrilled through the hearts of his family — ^whioh
spread through the village, as the party made their appearance,
with the object of their toilsome search. I dare say the story
was long remembered by both old and young, and was improved
by the pious pilgrims, in a religious way. It would lead them
to reflect upon the lost and wandering state of mankind, in
respect to their creator. Let us (said Mr. Goodrich) improve it
in a similar manner. We are lost, my children ; we are wan-
dering, in a darker, and still more dreary wilderness. But
there is One, who is appointed Ho seek and save the lost.'
18

274

HISTOET OF BEKLIIT

Happy will it be for us, if we be found of Him, and are restored
to the family in Heaven above, wbo will welcome our restora-
tion with songs of joy, such as angels sing."

In the ancient burying ground at Wethersfield may be seen
a table monument which bears the following inscription :

Here lyes tlie body of Leonard Chester Armiger late of the town
of Blaby and several other Lordships in Leicestershire, deceased in
Wethersfield Anno Domini 1648 oetatis 39.

Strange figures, rudely cut on the stone, doubtless an armoral
device, have been supposed by some to represent the hobgoblins
that appeared to Mr. Chester when lost in the forest of Mt.
Lamentation.

According to Historian Stiles, Mr. Chester built a grist mill
at Wethersfield in 163Y, and tradition says that he was in
search of a suitable site for this mill when he lost his bearings,
and wandered for three days, while his anxious neighbors,
armed with drums, muskets, tin pans, tin pails and brass
kettles, with anything and everything that could make a noise,
searched for him.*

Some fine morning, should you join one of the processions of
college boys who come to Berlin village by trolley, and head for
the south, they will lead you on a tramp of three miles down
past the old toUgate site and a little farther on the turnpike,

* A part of this chapter, dealing with the origin of the name of Mount
Lamentation, called forth a criticism by Chas. H. Hollister, now deceased.
In a letter to the Berlin News, dated March 7th, 1906, he writes: "The
article [by the Rev. Charles A. Goodrich] makes Mr. Chester out to be
'a derned fool.' In coming from Wethersfield to Mount Lamentation, he
had to cross the creek at Rocky Hill, and again before he reached Mount
Lamentation he would have to cross the Mattabessett River. In that early
time he must have had to swim or wade, and being a thorough woodsman,
why did he not follow the creek or river until he reached the Connecticut
and then back to Wethersfield?"

No doubt it was Miss North's intention to let the reader determine the
historical value of Mr. Goodrich's tale, and reproduced it as such.

MOUNT LAMENTATIOIT 275

beyond the point where Old Colony Koad branches off toward
West Meriden, until in the distance appear three small houses,
on the west side of the road. When within about sixty rods
of the first house you will turn into a field and go eastward
until you reach a projecting cliff at the base of Mount
Lamentation.

This is the goal.

In the spring of 1887 Mr. William M. Davis of Harvard,
who in 1877 began a careful geological survey of Connecticut,
discovered at this place a very curious formation, which was
pronounced to be of true volcanic origin.

At first it was called "Connecticut's Extinct Volcano," but
Professor Davis submitted, as more appropriate, the name
"Ash bed," which was adopted, and the locality is now known
in the geological world as "The Meriden Ash Bed."

The deposit which, in general, is of a greenish gray color,
shows a depth of about thirty feet. It consists of pitchstone,
vitrified sand, angular fragments of trap and other materials,
with bombs of dense trap, vTrapped in rings of glass, rounded
and flattened, interspersed at irregular intervals, all cemented
together and technically called breccia.

What remains of the bed extends for an unknown distance
under Lamentation, and thus has been protected. If, as is
supposed, the original deposit covered an area of several square
miles, it was long since worn away by erosion.

Lands composed of disintegrated trap are remarkable for
fertility.

The theory at first advanced, after the discovery of the bed,
was that the ashes and bombs were thrown there from above,
from a central crater some distance away, spoken of, by a writer
in the Connecticut Magazine for January, 1905, as a "mammoth
volcano, a magnificent belcher, with tremendous force under-
neath, whose mouth vomited fire, ashes and melted rock." As
one remarked, "When the eruption was going on, there must
have been a great scurrying of the old reptiles, whose tracks
were found on the sandstone beds at various points in the
valley."

276

HISTOKY OF BEELIIT

Diligent and repeated search failed to reveal the exact locality
of the possible grand central crater. If lost, it may be under
the mountain.

The suggestion of a scientist from a neighboring town that
it might be in the peat swamp, was scouted by other wise men.

The crater, if ever found, will be as a pipe or neck of lava,
not as a cone. When it was announced that an extinct volcano
had been discovered at Mount Lamentation, great interest was
excited among geologists, and the "ash bed" was visited by
hundreds of persons from Meriden, New Britain, and Middle-
town, by classes from the colleges and schools, with their
teachers, until a well-worn path was trodden from the road
to the bluff. The Meriden Scientific Association, not content
with a surface view, laid the rock open in places by the use
of dynamite.

Ten years later Professor Davis wrote : "I have taken parties
there every summer since then and I hope to do my share
toward beating down that path for many years to come.

For several seasons this district was taken as one of the
training grounds in field study, for the Harvard Summer
School of Geology. Harvard, Tale, and Wesleyan students,
with their professors, once united on an excursion to this
locality. They left their trains at Meriden and walked along
the turnpike to Lamentation, which they explored to the point
where it terminates, over near East Berlin. There, Spruce
Brook cuts a trench, and shows how the trap rock passes to the
covering of sandstone. At the end of the day the company took
trains for their homes from East Berlin station.

The truth must now be told, though it should conflict with
the most interesting details of this description, even though
it may destroy the picture in our imagination of fire balls
shooting from "Old Fly" across the heavens to Lamentation.
Scientists have, with reason, modified their views as to the
origin of the breccia bed. Still it remains a fact that once on
a time there were great "goings on" in this region. We are
told that an arm of the sea came up from the south into Berlin,

MOrrNT LAMBNTATIOlSr 277

that rivers ran swiftly from an elevation of from 150 to 200
feet above sea level, and tliat a lake covered all of Middletown,
Cromwell, and Berlin.

Some years since, when a well was dug on the Eisley place,
now owned by Mr. Koby, a bed of shells was unearthed.

Where there are rivers, or lakes, there will be sand and mud,
and so here, layer after layer of sandstone was formed under
water.

While the earth was cooling off outside, and the heat under-
neath was still sufficient to melt all known substances, there
came a tremendous explosion of imprisoned steam, from the
underground reservoir. At the same time a stream of molten
trap was cast up through the sandstone. As the fluid rock
spread, like a vast sheet, over the cold, wet surface, the lower
part formed a thin, solid, glassy layer. Before the upper part
had time to cool, another explosion of steam, with more melted
rock, followed, which shattered the hardened layer of trap into
fragments and forced them throughout the red hot mass above
where they remained without melting again.

The whole sheet of trap was afterwards lifted, tilted to the
east, and broken apart, so that what now appears as the face,
is the broken edge, and this is the latest theory of the forma-
tion of the "Meriden Ash Bed." It all happened ages ago —
millions of years we are told, but its history written so plainly,
by the hand of the Almighty, on this cliff lies an open page,
so that, not "he who runs," but he who studies may read.

We must not linger too long at the "ash bed." Mount
Lamentation is a great sheet of trap and there are other inter-
esting localities. On our way back to the trolley we shall wish
to visit a mud volcano about half a mile farther north high
up on the mountain, over in Berlin.

The "ash bed" is not in the least like a bank of coal ashes,
and neither has the "mud volcano" the look of a mud hola
Professor B. K. Emerson of Amherst describes it thus:

"The place is on the same trap ridge and may be found by
going north from the last locality along the Berlin turnpike to
the point where a road comes in from the southwest.

278 HISTORY OF BEELIN

Opposite this road a wood road runs east to the ridge, and
going a few rods north one comes to a fine point of view of the
lake to the west, where beacon fires have been built. Directly
beneath in the bluff is a rock shelter, and the southern wall
of this is the south wall of the throat to be described. The
explosive force of the steam at the base of the trap sheet has
formed the same brecciated agglomerate as before, but has here
forced its way through the whole thickness of the trap sheet in
a throat tbree rods wide and flowed out on the surface as a
submarine mud volcano . . . The walls of the throat are
clearly exposed. At the lowest point visible the trap is rudely
columnar and compact. . . . This is plainly the undisturbed
surface of a normal lava flow.

The mass that rises in the throat and spreads over the lava
sheet has all the peculiarities of the breccia farther south.

It contains the rounded, bomb-like trap blocks, isolated blocks
of indurated white sandstone containing blebs of pitchstone
and rounded by abrasion, blocks of scoriaceous red sandstone,
also containing pitchstone and fragments of jet black, fine-
grained basal trap, often full of the long steam tubes which are
usually found at the bottom of the trap, together with various
other trap varieties. The whole is cemented by glass. . . .

It rises over the lips of the throat and flows southward. . . .
The breccia can be followed north about thirty rods. I traced
it south about forty rods. It is doubtless continuous with the
two thin layers of tuff in the sandstone above the trap east of
the ash bed."

"Altogether a very instructive locality," say the scientists,
and classes under their direction, obtain, from one day's visit
at Mount Lamentation, a clearer idea of conditions, far back,
when the mighty forces of flood, flre and steam were at work
giving shape to the earth's crust, than from many months' study
of books.

Professor William North Eice of Wesleyan University is
about to publish a work descriptive of the rocks and cliffs of
this region, and those who wish to know more of the subject may
do well to consult that publication.

MOUITT LAMENTATIOIT

279

On Mount Lamentation is a famous soft rock, its length of
about forty feet covered from end to end with inscriptions —
carved with jackknives — ^names of generation after generation
of Berlin boys and girls who thus immortalized themselves.

The outside of the rock seems to have hardened in recent
years, but the inside is still quite soft. The best way to
approach it is to take the mountain road at the Jarvis farm, and
follow the path southerly about a mile.

The rock is on the very top of the ridge, about half-way
between the E. C. Hall house and the old Abram Wright place
and can be seen from the turnpike.

One day two village lads, Charley Sage and Charley Warren,
went up to cut their names on the rock. Charley Sage's father
was a stonecutter ; to save his jackknife and make a better job
he carried along his father's mallet and chisel. When the chisel
broke, he looked at it sadly and remarked, "I don't know what
my father will say to me now."

On the southern slope of the mountain, back of Martin
Dunham's, a stone marks the point where three counties meet,
Middletown, New Haven, and Hartford.

Saturday, November 3, 1906, fifty-eight professors of geology
and their pupils from WeUesley, Holyoke, and Smith colleges
(ladies first), and from Harvard, Yale, and Wesleyan univer-
sities, came down at Spruce Brook, from the mountain, which
they had followed all the way up from Meriden. They called
on the Benson family, and one of its members carried some
of the company over to the Berlin station. The work of the
day had been quite satisfactory to the geologists, and many
new places were discovered which showed volcanic action.

The most envied of the party, however, was the one who found
a topaz, as large as a silver quarter. This souvenir is to be
cut, to bring out its luster. The topaz is a valued gem, found
usually in primitive rocks.

CHAPTEK XVI.

The South District: The Boberts Farm; David Sage, Alfred
Ward, and Their Children; the Stantack Boad.

The course of our history will now lead eastward from
Bishop's comer in the South district. The statement, in an
early chapter, that "The Bishop house was long since torn
down and the new schoolhouse now stands on the place," called
forth a response by letter, from Charles H. Aspinwall, in which
he says :

The new school house in the South district stands several hundred
feet UQrth of the site of the old Bishop house.

The old black heart cherry tree nearest the road which runs east
and west, stood in the angle formed by the main part of the house
and the ell. The well was located in this ell part.

I can just remember Samuel Bishop, Sr's daughter, Betsey, who
lived in the house alone for a time. She was a kindly, gentle, old
lady who must have loved children, for my impression of her is very
pleasant. After a time she moved away, and the old house was
occupied by several tenants until it gradually became uninhabitable.
I remember roaming through this empty house many times when a
boy. It was a low, rambling old place, with many small rooms, nearly
all on the ground floor.

Betsey Bishop spent her last years in Springfield, where she
owned half of a pretty house. A favorite nephew owned the
other half, and she lived happily until after his death. She
left a sum of money for the care of her family burying lot, at
Maple Cemetery, in Berlin, where she desired to be laid beside
her father and mother, but her wish was not regarded.

Miss Bishop's mother, Elizabeth [Galpin], born about 1767,
was the daughter of Benjamin Galpin, who kept the old tavern
at Boston Comers. Elizabeth Galpin's sister, Eoxy, was the
second wife of Selah Savage, and the mother of Mrs. Franklin
Roys. The two sisters used to sing songs that they learned
from the dancing parties at the tavern.

THE SOUTH DISTEICT 281

The large elm tree on the north bank in front of the Loveland
house, now occupied by the Koys sisters, was set out in 1Y84
by Samuel Bishop. He told Mr. Galpin that, when he was nine-
teen, he went over on the ledge, dug up that tree, and brought
it over to the village on his back. At the same time he planted,
on the south front bank, a buttonball, which grew to an immense
size. It was a target for lightning once too many times, and
shortly before 1870, it was split so that a large limb fell over
against the house, and for safety the old giant was cut down.

Samuel Bishop died September 27, 1856, aged ninety-one
years. His wife died December 25, 1840, at the age of
seventy-three.

Since Erastus North's day, women have complained that they
could not find anyone to put scions into their fruit trees. Mrs.
Bishop grafted her trees successfully with her own hands.

Over the hills, easterly and southerly, around Bishop's curve,
at the head of the road, as it runs east and west, may be seen
the house of Martin Dunham, built about 1850, by his brother,
Solomon Dunham. The farm next east was long owned by the
Koberts family. John Koberts died in 1837, aged ninety-two
years. His wife, Sarah (Merrills), died in 1830, aged eighty-
two years. They were members of the Worthington Congrega-
tional church previous to 1812.

There were twelve children in this family, whose names were :
Sarah, Electa, Eleazer, Samuel, Harry, William, Mary, Maria,
John, Emeline, Lucetta, and Julia. Besides the large house,
now standing, there was a smaller house farther east, which
was occupied by the son John, father of Walter Roberts of 'New
Britain.

John Eoberts and his father were blacksmiths. Their shop
was on the north side of the way easterly from the dwellings.

This story is told of John. He made a pair of tongs and
set the rivet so tightly that he could not open them. Men
in those days wore cloaks, and Eoberts, with his tongs hidden
under his cloak, came up to Lotan Eeckley, the village black-
smith. After standing around awhile he remarked, casually,
that he knew a man who made a pair of tongs and he couldn't
19

282 HISTORY OF BEELIIT

open them when finished. "Why didn't you tell the d fool

to heat 'em again," said Mr. BecHey. Koberts returned to
his shop, put his tongs into the fire and opened them easily.

The Roberts farm was purchased in 1844 by S. C. Twitchell.
It is now owned by C M. Jarvis, who is showing what can be
done with an abandoned New England farm.

Next east of the Roberts blacksmith shop was an old house,
known as the King place. Benjamin King was here in 1802.
Widow King was the last wife of Seth Savage, Sr.

The King house was occupied by tenants until shortly after
1850, when it was torn down. There were two front rooms
and a large kitchen at the rear. William Luby says that when
he was eight years old his father rented that house. His mother
was dead; there were four Luby children; and an aunt, who
came to keep house for them, brought her four children, so
that they had lively times.

There was no floor or ceiling over the kitchen and the chil-
dren used to jump from the front chambers down onto the
kitchen floor. One day, when left alone, they threw a bed
down and jumped onto that, and they "caught it" when the
old folks came home.

The farm house next east of the King place, now (in 1906)
the home of the Benson family, was formerly owned by Albert
"Hulbert," so spelled in 1824. Robert Hurlbert of this town
was a son, by adoption, of Mr. and Mrs. Hulbert. They had
no children of their own.

The road known as "Old Stantack," two miles in length,
which starts opposite the Hulbert house, is sometimes followed
by boys of an exploring turn of mind to its termination, on the
Middletown and Meriden road, near Bradley and Hubbard's
reservoir.

Spruce Brook starts in Middletown, a mile or so south of the
Berlin town line, and, as it runs northward, crosses Stantack,
a short distance south of the Hulbert house. At that point a
dam was laid and a sawmill was built. In 1798, Roswell Wood-
ruff leased, for seventy years, to Elisha Savage, that water

THE SOUTH DISTEICT 283

privilege, witli his mill and mill house thereon, described as
being east of the dwelling house of said Woodruff. From this
statement it would appear that Eoswell Woodruff lived on the
west side of Stantack road, but no one now living can tell us
anything about the Woodruffs.

At the expiration of the seventy years lease not much
remained of the property to revert to Woodruff heirs. A scat-
tered pile of stones, a shaft and a broken water wheel now lie
across the stream to mark the site of the old mill.

Elisha Savage was the grandfather of Mrs. Roys and she
remembered that when a child she was often sent from her
home on Savage hill with hot dinners for the men who worked
at the mill aU day.

In 1805, John Koberts, Jr., claimed Stantack road as his
private property, and petitioned the town for permission to
enclose the land.

Fifty years ago, the bank east of the Savage sawmill was
covered with elegant mountain laurel, and not far away grew
the pretty, though noxious, lambkill. The same young girl
who exclainaed over the laurel blooms, discovered a bed of
luscious wild strawberries extending up the mountain slope.
Her liking for strawberries overcame her fear of snakes until
a monstrous reptile leaped from the bushes and thrashed along
her pathway.

Ask the Benson boys to tell of their experience with rattle-
snakes, red adders, and black snakes. A rattler of unusual size
was caught alive in their yard a year ago.

Deacon North, whose boyhood days were spent in these fields,
used to tell this story : "A great black snake found by the boys
was cut apart, and, by actual count, forty-two little snakes ran
out of the body of the old one and around in again, at its
mouth."

Eeference has been made to the Stantack Eoad. According
to a report found on page 403, vol. 22, of Middletown Land
Eecords, that road was laid out December 12, 1Y80, by a com-
mittee appointed for the task by the town of Middletown. As

284 HISTOET OF BEELIW

surveyed it was four rods wide, and was bounded on either side
by stubs of trees ; a "Black Oak Staddle" here, a "bunch of
Maples," or a "Walnut Staddle" there, and so on throughout
its length.

On the north side of the way, next east of the Albert Hulbert
farm, may be seen an ancient house known to the last two gen-
erations as the "Ward place." The Sages once owned land
all the way from Connecticut river over to Berlin Street, and
this Ward place seems to have been the home of David Sage,
Jr., great-grandson of David Sage, the Welch emigrant who
came to Middletown in 1652.

David Sage and Lois Harris, his wife, had fourteen children,
seven sons and seven daughters, bom between the years 1Y54
and 1775. Their names were: Abraham, David, Harris, David
and Jonathan (twins), Sethj David, Lois, Ann, Mehitable, Aim,
Bathsheba, Euth, and Lois.

The father, David, died in 1779. On the stone at his grave
in Maple Cemetery, we read this inscription :

Under this stone doth lie the Body of Mr. David Sage, jun'r.
Killed instantly by a fall from a horse on the 25th of Eebry A. D.
1779. In the 47th Tear of his Age—

And all those little children ! What wonder that three years
later Lois, their mother, gave up the ghost, and died, as she
did, at the age of forty-eight years.

The children held onto their home until 1795, when, as
shown by a deed dated June 10, of that year, Abraham Sage,
the eldest son, conveyed to Simeon North, his right in the house
and bam, with the five-acre home lot bounded east on Spruce
Brook, and one-ninth of the sawmill. This deed included thir-
teen acres of land besides the house lot.

By another deed, of date August 29, 1798, Lois Sage, the
youngest child, and Bathsheba Bulkeley, her sister, sold for £24
to said North, one-third of the dwelling house and barn, "being
the same distributed to Lois and Bathsheba from their father's
estate," and "now occupied by sd. North." Then on May 6,

THE SOUTH DISTEICT

1799, their brother David sold to ]!Tortli his share of the houi
being one-sixth part thereof and eight acres of land.

Mr. North seems to have bought out the Sage heirs for t
sake of the land. He sold the part of their house and barn th
he had from Abraham, in 1795, to David Woodruff, the ne
year, for £195, but he kept the land, all except the five acres th
have always gone with the house lot.

David Woodruff deeded the place to Shubael Pattison JSTove:
ber 19, 1812, described by Woodruff as the place where I nc
live. With house, bam, shop and twenty acres of land, tl
time, the price paid was $1,130. This is the first mention foui
of a shop there.

Elisha Cheney came into possession of the property and so
it, November 4, 1822, to his son Olcott for $850, reserving
S. North his miU right.

Olcott Cheney sold April 10, 1824, for $1,000, to Ebenez
Post.

There were five Post children; Eliza, Harriet, Solomo
Ralph, and Ebenezer. Mr. Post died, and his widow, Lau
Post, sold to Alfred Ward, September 9, 1837, for $33
encumbered by her dower rights.

Mrs. Post became the third wife of Horace Steele, who
house was on the site now occupied by Walter Gwatkins. S]
had there in the front yard a famous garden filled with ol
fashioned flowers, and herbs, and vegetables of every sort. SI
delighted to cut nosegays for the school children. "Scarl
London pride," yellow lilies, sweetwilliams, columbine, "spidi
wort," "none so pretty," valerian and violets, with strip<
grass for green — ^what if they were not arranged artisi
cally, as to color and shape, the giver is remembered to th
day for her gay, sweet flow;ers. Another plant, popularly calh
"yellow myrtle," which Mrs. Steele cultivated, was considers
quite choice by the women of her day. They would break o
slips to give to their friends, with the assurance that they wou]
"live," and they still live.

Between the Hulberts and the Wards there was a piece (
land thickly wooded, with much undergrowth. After Mrs. Poi
married again and came up to the village to live, she used 1

286 HISTOEY OF BEELIK

go back to her old home and go all over those woods. She knew
where every flower and plant grew.

Alfred Ward was a blacksmith who understood his business
well. The shop, where he shod horses and cattle driven from
far and near, stood near the street west of his house. There was
never a saloon or store in this part of the town, and when their
day's work was done, the men of the neighborhood used to
gather at the blacksmith shop to discuss politics and town affairs,
and to exchange bits of gossip.

Alfred Ward and Maria Van Orden, his wife, had ten chil-
dren. Walter died in 1851, aged ten years. It is said of him
that "he was a good boy." Leverett, Martha, Mary, Olive,
Plumah, Elizabeth (twins), and Ellen lived to maturity.

In the lot west of the Savage sawmill, near where Koswell
Woodruff's house must have stood, is a never-failing spring of
fine water. Leverett Ward thought it would lighten the labor
of his mother if the water from that spring could be conducted
to her kitchen. He obtained permission to take the water, and
dug a trench for a pipe, below frost line across two roads, and
down the hill into the house. Now, for nearly forty years that
water has been drawn from a faucet over the sink in the Ward
house. Once, however, there was trouble, when a gang of
Italians, sent to cut wood on the mountain, came down and
washed their soiled clothing in the spring.

Mr. Ward died June 4, 1880, aged seventy-seven years. His
wife died November 29, 1896, aged ninety-two years and four
months.

Mrs. Plumah Skinner, now the only survivor of the ten
children, mother of Elmore Skinner, superintendent of the Ber-
lin Town Farm, came to the homestead to care for her mother
in her last days. She repaired the house so that it is good for
another century. A grand old maple tree, in the front yard,
whose heart had furnished a home for many generations of
squirrels, was blown over a few years since. In its fall some
of the branches struck against the house and caused consider-
able damage. When water was carried to the house from the

THE SOUTH DISTEICT

287

spring above, a branch pipe supplied a fountain in the shape
of a goose, under the maple tree.

Mrs. Skinner moved the blacksmith shop around to the rear
of the house and used it for a summer kitchen.

Mrs. Ward cut a fine, new, white, front tooth, one of a third
set, late in life. Even then she was not so fortunate as the old
lady who said she had two teeth left and she thanked the Lord
they were opposite. The Ward place is now owned and
occupied by C. J. Thompson.

CHAPTEE XVII.

Benjamin, Cheney, Pioneer Clock ManufftciV'rer.

At the Jamestown Exposition of 1907 was seen a clock
loaned by Mrs. Frank Cheney, Jr., of Manchester. This clock,
supposed to be the oldest in the state, was made by Benjamin
Cheney, Jr., bom in East Hartford, September 8, 1725.

The Cheneys lived in the eastern part of East Hartford, set
off in 1823 under the name of Manchester. Timothy Cheney,
bom 1731, brother of Benjamin, and a clockmaker also, was
the ancestor of the Manchester Cheneys, of silk manufacturing
fame.

There was another brother, Silas, whose granddaughter, Mary
Youngs, was fitted for a teacher. It is said that when on her
way to take a school in ISTorth Carolina, she met, in New York,
Horace Greeley, who afterward went south and secured her as
his bride.

Benjamin Cheney and his wife, Deborah (Olcott), came to
Berlin and spent their declining years with their son Elisha,
who was baptized in East Hartford (Manchester), January
11, 1770. On a single stone in the graveyard east of the Jarvis
farm are these inscriptions :

Benjamin Oheiiey, Died May 15th 1815 M 90.

Deborali wife of Benjamin Cheney Died Nov. 3d> 181Y M 80.*

Another stone bears this inscription :

Allen Son of Benjamin Cheney d. in New York Mar. 17, 1815
aged 40.

Word of the death of Allen Cheney was sent to the family
and Elisha went down, to New York only to find that his brother
had been buried. His trunk had been broken open and rifled
of its contents ; his gold watch was gone and his money also.

The ancestry of this branch of the family is traced back,
through Elisha, Benjamin, Benjamin, Peter, Peter, to John of

* See Chapter II, page 30.

BEWJAMIU CHEIiTEY 289

Newbury, Mass. It seems that before John decided to make
a permanent home in Newbury he was for a time a parishioner
of the Rev. John Eliot, who made the following enla-y on his
church record:

John Cheny he came into the Land in the yeare 1635, he brought
4 children, Mary, Martha, John, Daniel, Sarah 5t child waa borne
ia the last month of the same year 1635, cald rebmary, he removed
from or church to Newbury the end of the next suer 1636, Martha
Cheney the wife of John Cheny.

Now, there was another Cheney family in Mr. Eliot's
church — ^that of William Cheney. It is not known exactly how
he was related to John. In his will, drawn just before his death
in 1667, at the age of sixty-four years, he provides with tender
forethought for the comfort of his "deare & afflicted wife Mar-
garet." Six years later this curious record was placed on the
Eoxbury church book:

1673, 24, 3 m. Margaret Cheany widow having been long bound
by Satan under a melancholick distemper, (above 10 or 11 yeares)
wch made her wholy neglect her calling and live mopishly, this day
gave thanks to God for loosing her chain, & confessing &, bewailing
her sinful jdelding to temptation.

And so Margaret had recovered from a long attack of nervous
prostration.

Elisha Cheney probably came to Berlin as early as 1793,
when he was married to Olive, sister of Simeon North, daugh-
ter of Jedediah and Sarah (Wilcox) North. They lived for a
time on Berlin Street in the house known as Fuller's tavern,
now owned by the Atwater family.

In 1804, when Emma Hart had her first school in the Brande-
gee Mulberry grove, she made her home in stormy weather with
the Cheneys. Children were set at work early in those days
and it fell to the lot of ten-year-old Clarissa to clear up Miss
Hart's room.

Elisha Cheney bought the old brick schoolhouse on the Jarvis
comer and it is supposed that he made clocks there. At first
all the cogs were whittled out with a pen knife. The hand

290 HISTOKT OF BBELIW

carvings on those early clocks are beautiful. In 1801 Mr.
Cheney bought, for the sake of the water power, a tract of land
on Spruce Brook, north of the pistol factory and there in a little
shop he turned pinions and wheels by machinery. Long after-
wards children at play along the stream used to find those little
clock wheels.

By deed of date March 21, 1811, Keuben Woodruff con-
veyed to Elisha Cheney eleven acres of land "bounded North
partly on highway — ^East on highway. South on land of Hosea
Goodrich, West on land of Simeon iN'orth, containing all the
land I bought of John Eoberts, 2d, with Dwelling & Barn
thereon standing."

This will be recognized from the description, as the property
at the top of the hill, south of Bowers Comers. The house,
painted red, was of one story and additions were built on it as
the family increased in size, until it had more corners than any
other house in town. The shop stood opposite the house on
the southeast comer, which was then in the town of Middle-
town so that the clocks made there have on the label "Middle-
town."

Besides clocks, Mr. Cheney made by hand, screws for the
North pistols, and gunlocks. Benjamin Cheney busied himself
in the shop until he became enfeebled in body and mind.
Toward the last he had to use two canes. He would start up
from his chair and say "This will not do, I must not idle my
time away here." With his staves he would manage to go out of
the door and take a few steps across the yard toward the shop,
when down he would fall, helpless, onto the ground, where he
had to lie until helped up and back into the house. It was
considered a necessity of life in his day for old people to take
a certain amount of stimulant every day, and Elisha used to
mix and give to his father each morning the proper quantity.
A few minutes later Benjamin would call out "Elisha, where's
Elisha ? He's forgotten to give me my toddy."

The wife, Deborah, was extravagantly fond of tea so that
she kept her teapot on the hearth all day long. The family
thought it not good for her nerves to take so much strong tea

BBWJAMIIT CHENEY 291

and her supply was limited. Then she made a drink of herbs
until the end of the week, when she put her entire allowance
of gunpowder into the teapot and brewed a cup quite to her taste.

The children of Elisha and Olive (North) Cheney were:
Clarissa, bom February 5, 1794; Olcott, born May 27, 1795;
Polly, born December 11, 1796; Harriet, bom December 23,
1798; Orry, bom February 5, 1804; Olive, bom February
5, 1804, and Benjamin, born August 11, 1808.

Clarissa was married February 19, 1818, to Deacon Joseph
Savage. Their children were: Harriet JSTewell, . wif e of ISToah
C. Smith, Eliott, and Joseph. Mrs. Savage, her life filled with
kind, useful deeds, died November 25, 1874, aged eighty-one
years.

Olcott, who worked with his father, leased the business in
1826. He finally bought it out and carried it on for a number
of years in his own name, which appears in all the clocks of
later make, on the label which reads thus :

Improved Clock. Made and Sold by Olcott Cheney, Middletown.
Warranted if well used.

These clocks were excellent timekeepers, and in families
where they have been "well used," they are in good running
order to-day.

Olcott Cheney lived in the house at the foot of the hill east
of his father's, afterward knovsTi as the Bamet Doolittle place,
now owned by Gustaf J. Lund. The Cheneys were Methodists ;
their daughter Polly was a great singer and was very helpful as
a leader of hymns in the meetings. She and Koxy Doming, who
lived near by on Savage Hill, used to have fine times singing
together, and their voices were often heard away over on "East
Street." Polly's hair curled naturally and fell in pretty ring-
lets around her ears. This attracted the attention of the Elders
in her church and she was made a subject of discipline. Polly
was wide awake and full of fun, but she had been converted
and wanted to be good. She said she did not care anything
about the curls; she wore them because that was the easiest
way to dress her hair ; she supposed she could comb it straight

292 HISTOET OF BEBLIET

back and so she put it all up in a twist, and then could sing
her "title clear to mansions in the skies." She was married
October 8, 1826, to Kichard Oowles of Southington, Oonn., and
Lima, IST. T. She died December 3, 1839, aged forty-three
years.

Harriet Cheney was married October 13, 1819, to John
IsTorth, son of Abel and Sarah (Wilcox) North. Of their ten
children, eight lived to maturity. Their names were: Orrin
•Lyman, Elisha Cheney (died 1844, aged twenty-two years),
Isaac, Harriet Maria, Olive Cheney, Sarah Ann, and Elizabeth
Jane. A daughter, Louisa, aged three years, and a son, Wil-
liam H., aged one year, died only twelve days apart in Sep-
tember, 1839, while the family lived in the Deacon Hosford
place. ,

Mrs. North died May 2, 1889, in the ninety-second year of
her age. Her descendants' are more numerous than those of
any other branch of Elisha Cheney's family.

Orry Cheney was a school teacher. A paper of date "Berlin,
April 16th, 1822," reads as follows :

The Iniabitants of the South East District of Worthington School
Society are hereby respectfuly informed that Orry Cheney proposes
to cominenee a school the 1st Monday in May next at the house of
Mr. John North's in which will be taught Reading Writing Geography
E Grammer and Needle work. Terms of Tuition for those who study
Grammer and Geography $1.50 pr quarter, for those who attend only
to reading and spelling 76 cents. We the Subscribers do hereby agree
to send on the above terms the number of Schollars affixed to our
respective names.

In the $1.50 column are these names: Reuben ISTorth, 2;
Jedediah North, 1 ; Jemima Kelsey, 1 ; Allen Flag, 1 ; Har^
riet Wilcox, 1. Two daughters of Levi North, Marilla and
Julia, are in the list.

At 75 cents per quarter, E. North sends 1, Lynaan Wilcox
3 and Normand Wilcox 2. This was three years after the
marriage of John North, and his daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth
Piper, thinks that he lived at that time in the Olcott Cheney
house under the hill.

BENJAMIBT CHENEY 293

Orry was married to Walter W. Warner. They had five
daughters and one son. Orry had a sweet, gentle disposition.
The late Mrs. Eben Woodruff lived with her for a while in
Wethersfield and thought everything of her.

Olive, twin sister of Orry and youngest of the five daugh-
ters of Elisha Cheney, became the wife of IsTorris Wilcox, uncle
of Francis C. Wilcox, who formerly lived in the house on
Berlin Street now occupied as a parsonage. She died at Har-
mony, Wis., in 1895, aged ninety-one years. Olive was so
much like Orry that to distinguish the sisters a blue ribbon
was kept tied on "OUy's" arm.

Benjamin worked with his father and brother at clock mak-
ing. He married first, Adelia Blinn; second, Kebecea G.
Noggle. He had five sons and two daughters.

Elisha Cheney was anxious to have his daughters brought
up to be sober-minded women and he frowned on anything like
levity. Clarissa said she often held her hand over her mouth
and ran back of the house out of sight when she had to laugh.

Mrs. Cheney was a kind, motherly woman, who did all in
her power to make everyone happy. She kept open house and
her latch string was always out for the Methodist ministers,
who made their headquarters there, and were free to remain
as long as they pleased. Visitors were impressed by the
exquisite neatness of the housekeeping. The kitchen floor
was scoured so white that one need not fear to eat from off it.

About the year 1835, Mr. and Mrs. Cheney with their daugh-
ters, except Harriet, and their families, removed to Lima, IST. Y.
After a while they decided to go on to Roscoe, HI. — all but the
Savages. Clarissa had seen enough of pioneer life and set
down her foot that she would return to Connecticut. This
was a disappointment to the others. There were no schools
where they were going and they had depended on Harriet
Savage to teach their children.

Letters written east from Illinois by the Cheneys tell of
hardships on the journey, and in starting life in the new
country, and of the deer, wolves and other wild beasts that
came around their log cabin. By day, to keep these animals

294 HISTORY or ebelin

from stalking into the house, a blanket was hung across the
doorway.

In the cemetery at Roscoe, 111., are these inscriptions :

Elista Cheney •

died July 2d, 1847, se 78 years
Sweet is the sleep our father takes
Till in Christ Jesus he awakes.

Olive, wife of Elisha Cheney

Died March 6th, 1849

ffi77.

Olcott and Benjamin Cheney went west, also, and settled
in Beloit, Wis., where they prospered and lived many years.

Benjamin, while on his way to visit his mother in 1849,
stopped over night at a house where, as he afterward learned,
there had been a case of smallpox. He did not take it, but the
contagion was carried to his mother, in his clothes, and she died
of the disease.

Clarissa, Mrs. Savage, was only fifteen months old when
her brother Olcott was bom. She was so lively that her mother,
when busy, used to place her underneath a certain large rocking
chair, and then she said she knew where to find her. As Mrs.
Cheney was preparing to gt> west she said "Olarissy" was
brought up under that chair and she thought she ought to have
it for her own and it was given to her.