Two Centuries of New Milford Connecticut
by Various · English · Gutenberg #49048 · 615,204 chars · public domain (US)
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Two Centuries of New Milford Connecticut
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: Two Centuries of New Milford Connecticut
Author: Various
Release date: May 25, 2015 [eBook #49048]
Most recently updated: October 24, 2024
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/49048
Credits: Produced by Charlene Taylor, Chuck Greif and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO CENTURIES OF NEW MILFORD CONNECTICUT ***
TWO CENTURIES OF NEW MILFORD, CONNECTICUT
One thousand copies of this book have been printed from type and the
type distributed.
[Illustration: ROGER SHERMAN
From a painting by Ralph Earle, now in the possession of Mr. Charles
Atwood White of New Haven]
TWO CENTURIES OF NEW MILFORD CONNECTICUT
AN ACCOUNT OF THE BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE FOUNDING OF THE TOWN
HELD JUNE 15, 16, 17 AND 18, 1907, WITH A NUMBER OF HISTORICAL ARTICLES
AND REMINISCENCES
PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE HISTORICAL COMMITTEE BY VARIOUS
CITIZENS OF NEW MILFORD AND BY THE EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT OF THE GRAFTON
PRESS
[Illustration]
THE GRAFTON PRESS
PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT, 1907
BY THE GRAFTON PRESS
CONTENTS
PART I
THE PAST AND PRESENT
PAGE
INTRODUCTION. By MINOT S. GIDDINGS 3
The first settlers of New Milford. Zachariah Ferriss sued for
trespass. John Reed and his career. Organizing a township. Organizing
a church and calling a minister. The sturdy character of the Fathers.
Noted men. Roger Sherman. The splendid heritage of New Milford.
GLIMPSES OF OLD NEW MILFORD HISTORY. By CHARLOTTE BALDWIN BENNETT 8
The site of New Milford two hundred years ago. The character and
career of John Noble. The Boardman well. The first minister and
the first meetinghouse. The union of town and church. “Seating and
dignifying the meetinghouse.” People called to church by a drum.
The tithing-man. The Sabbath-day house. Importance of the minister.
The first Episcopal services. The Separatists. The Baptists. The
Methodists. The Quakers. The different church edifices. Church music.
The schools. The singing schools. The early wars. A romance of the
Revolution. Illustrious visitors. Social life after the war. Anecdote
of Parson Taylor. Transportation. Main street nearly a century ago.
Beautifying “The Green.” The village doctor. Slavery. The “Underground
Railroad.” The Civil War. The fire of 1902.
THE OWNERS OF NEW MILFORD. By GEN. HENRY STUART TURRILL 22
Proprietors to the amount of £1, 4s. Proprietors to the amount of 12s.
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO. (POEM). By SARAH SANFORD BLACK 24
THE TWO ABIGAILS. By GEN. HENRY STUART TURRILL 26
Caleb Terrill settles in New Milford. Major Turrill. Marriage of Caleb
Terrill and Abigail Bassett in Stratford. Caleb and Abigail visit
Caleb’s family at Milford. They mount the “Great River.” Halt at “the
Cove.” The home on Second Hill. The wonderful life of Abigail. The
career of Abigail Ufford.
NEW MILFORD IN THE WARS. By GEN. HENRY STUART TURRILL 31
Military inactivity of the first fifty years. The first company in New
Milford. Arduousness of the train-band service. The Second Company.
Tenth Company of Col. David Wooster’s Third Regiment of Connecticut
Levy. Other Companies. The Eleventh Company of the Fourth Regiment.
The Tenth Company of the Second Regiment. Captain Joseph Canfield’s
Company. The good understanding with the Indians. The most prominent
names in military affairs. The first company mentioned in connection
with the Revolution. Its history indefinite. Captain Isaac Bostwick’s
Company. The Nineteenth Regiment of Connecticut Line. Part played in
the movements about New York. At Spuyten Duyvil Creek. Tradition of a
sergeant’s guard under the command of David Buell. The capture of Fort
Washington. New Milford men made prisoners of war. Confined in a barn.
The Old Sugar House Prison. Prison hardships. Roger Blaisdell’s pork
barrel. The prison-ship _Dutton_. Arrival of the surviving prisoners
in New Milford. Captain Bostwick’s company about Philadelphia. The
Danbury alarm. Captain Daniel Pendleton’s company. The stay-at-homes.
The leading families in the Revolution. Engagements in which New
Milford men participated. New Milford soldiers refreshed by Deacon
Gaylord. New Milford men at Stony Point. The old age of David Buell.
Reunions of old soldiers at the home of John Turrill. The adventures
of Stephen Turrill.
THE COLONIAL WARS 45
New Milford men in the Colonial Wars as given in the Connecticut
Historical Society rolls.
THE REVOLUTION 49
Muster roll of a company said to have been raised in New Milford and
to have formed a part of Colonel Andrew Ward’s Regiment of Connecticut
Militia. Roll of Captain Isaac Bostwick’s company, Seventh Company,
Sixth Regiment, of Connecticut Line. Men who crossed the Delaware
with Captain Isaac Bostwick and were in the battles of Trenton and
Princeton. Officers and men from New Milford who served in the Sixth
Company of the Fourth Regiment of Connecticut Line. New Milford men
who served in Lieutenant-Colonel Josiah Starr’s Regiment, Connecticut
Line. New Milford men who were in Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Canfield’s
Regiment of Connecticut Militia at West Point in 1781. New Milford
men who served in Connecticut Regiment of Pioneers. New Milford men
who served in Col. Moses Hazen’s Regiment, Connecticut Militia. New
Milford men who served in the Fifth Troop, Shelden’s Dragoons. New
Milford men who served in Second Regiment, Connecticut Line. Company
of forty volunteers. New Milford men in Captain Charles Smith’s
company. General David Waterbury’s State Regiment. Lieutenant John
Phelps’s Troop of Horse. New Milford men in Sixth Company, Fourth
Regiment, Continental Line. New Milford Men in Captain Kimberley’s
Company, Second Regiment, Continental Line. New Milford men who served
under Lieutenant-Colonel Canfield in the Tryon invasion. New Milford
members of the Society of the Cincinnati.
THE WAR OF 1812 53
THE MEXICAN WAR 53
THE CIVIL WAR 54
List of men from New Milford who had service in the Civil War.
Recapitulation.
THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR 66
RECOLLECTIONS OF OLD NEW MILFORD HOMES.
By ALICE MERWIN BOSTWICK 67
The pre-Revolutionary houses. The great chimney. The good cooking of
the early days. The hard work. The quilting bee. The shoemaker. The
schoolmaster. Homeless wanderers. Indians from the Reservation. The
calls of the parson. Visiting. Sunday. Fast Day. Thanksgiving. The
long winters. Comparison of the life then and now.
UNCHARTERED INSTITUTIONS. BY FREDERIC KNAPP 75
The general “sitting-down” place. Levi Knapp’s store. Its influence.
Remarkable longevity of its habitués.
TRAINING DAYS IN THE ’FORTIES, AS TOLD BY AN OLD BOY. BY FREDERIC
KNAPP 78
Emerson’s appreciation of boys. Training day _the_ day of the year.
Off for a good time. On the parade-ground. At the tavern. The
evolutions of the train-band. The lessons taught.
REMARKABLE LONGEVITY OF NEW MILFORD CITIZENS. By MINOT S.
GIDDINGS 81
ACTIVITIES OF NEW MILFORD IN LATER YEARS 84
Original extent of New Milford. Well watered and fertilized. Beauty
of the landscape. Growth of the town. The production of milk and
butter. Account of the tobacco industry, by Vincent B. Sterling. The
hatting industry. The button industry. The furniture industry. The
manufacture of machinery. Paper making. Grist mills and saw mills. The
iron industry. Cloth making. Operations in wood and lumber. Quarrying
and burning lime rock. The electric light plant. The New Milford Power
Company. Pottery making. Account of the Bridgeport Wood Finishing
Company by George B. Calhoun. Education in New Milford. The early
schools. The Housatonic Institute. Adelphi Institute. The Center
School. The first kindergarten. The Ingleside School. The New Milford
churches. The Memorial Hall and Library. The New Milford newspapers.
The New Milford Brass Band. Roger Sherman Hall. The banks. The
Agricultural Society. The water supply. The fire department. The fires
of New Milford. The fire of 1902. Recovering from the fire of 1902.
Recent growth and improvements.
THE STORY OF NEW MILFORD TOLD IN CHRONOLOGICAL EPITOME. By RUSSELL B.
NOBLE AND MINOT S. GIDDINGS 98
RECORD OF THE PUBLIC SERVICES OF ROGER SHERMAN. By HON. EBENEZER J.
HILL 115
PART II
THE BI-CENTENNIAL EXERCISES
INCEPTION AND ORGANIZATION.
Call for a meeting in the New Milford Gazette. The meeting. Preamble
and resolution adopted. Further action of the meeting. Meeting of
the General Committee of Arrangements on July 6, 1906. Action of
this meeting. Officers. Sub-committees. Duties of sub-committees.
Assessments. Other sub-committees. Names of the officers and members
of the General Committee of Arrangements. The members of the special
committees. The work accomplished by the various committees. The
Finance Committee. The Executive Committee. The Committee on
Exercises. The appointment of district committees. Names of the
members of the district committees. The Committee on Refreshments. The
Committee on Decorations. The Committee on Publicity. The Committee of
Invitation, Reception and Entertainment. The Committee on Religious
Observances. The Committee of Public Safety. The Historical Committee.
The Loan Exhibit Committee. The Committee on Colonial Features. The
Committee on Colonial Reception. The Committee on Vocal Music. Rest
houses. Committee of Public Health and Comfort. Marshal’s aides.
Faithfulness and efficiency of the committees.
THE OPENING EXERCISES 136
The weather. Beauty of the decorations on “The Green.” The Doxology
rendered by the chimes of all Saints’. The Invocation. Address of
welcome by Charles N. Hall. The flag-raising.
THE LOAN EXHIBITION 140
Richness of the collection. Source of joy to the aged and a means
of instruction for the young. An exemplification of public spirit.
Possibility of a permanent museum. A complete list of the exhibits.
THE OLD HOME GATHERING 170
Address of welcome by W. Frank Kinney. The exercises. Poem by Mary
Murdoch Mason. Cablegram from Frank Hine. Letter from Henry S. Mygatt.
OUR FOREFATHERS. (POEM.) By CHARLES N. HALL 175
THE SUNDAY EXERCISES 176
Preaching appropriate to the occasion. Sermon of Rev. Frank A. Johnson
in the First Congregational Church. Hymn by Charlotte Baldwin Bennett.
Sermon by Rev. Samuel Hart, D. D., in St. John’s Episcopal Church.
Sermon by Rev. S. D. Woods in the Baptist Church. Sermon by Rev. H. K.
Smith in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Sermon by Rev. Orville Van
Keuren in the Gaylordsville Methodist Episcopal Church. Sermon by Rev.
E. Z. Ellis in the Advent Christian Church. Sermon by Father Ryan in
the Catholic Church. The Union meeting. Address by Rev. Frederick A.
Wright of New York. The evening services. The services at All Saints’
Memorial Church. Sermon by Rev. Charles J. Ryder, D. D., of New York
in the First Congregational Church. Sermon by Rev. George S. Bennitt,
D. D., in St. John’s Church.
THE AUTOMOBILE PARADE 227
A bold experiment. Unqualified success. The owners of the cars. The
prize winners. The decorations of the various cars.
THE HISTORICAL MEETING 228
Greeting by Frederic M. Williams. Address by Dr. Samuel Hart.
Introduction of Chief Justice Baldwin by Mr. Williams. Address on
“Roger Sherman” by Chief Justice Baldwin. Introduction of Hon. Daniel
Davenport. Mr. Davenport’s address.
THE COLONIAL RECEPTION 275
The arrival of Governor Woodruff. The dinner at Ingleside School.
Arrival of the gubernatorial party at Roger Sherman Hall. List of
persons who assisted in receiving. The ordering of the reception.
Brilliancy of the spectacle. The dancing. Governor Woodruff
entertained by various organizations.
GOVERNOR’S DAY 277
Temporary population of New Milford. The weather. The Civic and
Military Parade. Formation of Parade. Its distinguishing and memorable
features. The school floats. The Colonial floats. The industrial
floats. The review. The last formal exercises on “The Green.”
Introduction of Rev. Timothy J. Lee by Charles M. Beach. Remarks
of Mr. Lee. Introduction of Governor Woodruff. Address of Governor
Woodruff. Presentation of Rev. Watson L. Phillips, D. D. Eulogy of the
Foot Guard by Dr. Phillips. Presentation of Hon. E. J. Hill. Address
of Congressman Hill. Remarks by Rev. Marmaduke Hare. Concluding
remarks by Mr. Beach. The fireworks.
THE AFTERMATH 295
Retrospect in the New Milford _Gazette_. Letter from Governor Woodruff
to Charles M. Beach. Letter from J. Moss Ives to H. Le Roy Randall.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Roger Sherman; reproduced from a painting _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
Minot S. Giddings; Dr. George H. Wright; the Knapp
Residence 4
Elijah Boardman 6
Congregational Church, with Residences of Rev. Nathaniel
Taylor and Nathaniel Taylor, Jr. 14
Jehiel Williams, M. D. 18
Sally Northrop; David Curtis Sanford; Henry Seymour
Sanford; William Dimon Black 20
The First Well in the Town of New Milford 24
Falls Bridge and the Gorge 28
Henry Stuart Turrill 44
Charles D. Blinn 54
Levi Sydney Knapp 74
Alanson N. Canfield 76
William J. Starr 80
New Milford Hat Company 84
Honorable Isaac Baldwin Bristol 86
United Bank Building 88
Manufacturing Plant of the Bridgeport Wood Finishing Company 90
Views of Ingleside School. Post-graduate Department; Ingleside
Bungalow; Foundation House 92
Andrew B. Mygatt 94
New Milford after the Fire 96
Captain Garry Brooks 102
Rev. Noah Porter, D. D., LL. D. 110
John Prime Treadwell 112
Henry S. Mygatt 120
Seymour S. Green; Stephen C. Beach; Andrew G. Barnes;
Francis E. Baldwin 124
H. Leroy Randall; W. F. Kinney; Frederick E. Starr;
Charles P. Bentley 128
Edwin G. Clemence; Miss Adaline L. Buck; Charles J. Ryder,
D. D.; Henry Donnelly 132
Charles N. Hall; Charles M. Beach 136
Roger Sherman Hall and Church Street 170
Some New Milford Churches. Methodist Episcopal; Baptist,
Northville; Methodist, Gaylordsville; Saint Francis Xavier 176
Saint John’s Church 182
Advent Christian Church 196
New Milford Pastors. Rev. Frank B. Draper; Rev. Timothy
J. Lee; Rev. Harris K. Smith; Rev. Marmaduke Hare;
Rev. Frank A. Johnson; Rev. John F. Plumb; Rev.
Father John J. Burke; Rev. Solomon D. Woods; Rev.
Stephen Heacock 202
Memorial Building and Public Library; All Saints’ Memorial
Church 208
Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin 232
Egbert Marsh; Han. Daniel Davenport 254
Governor Woodruff, Staff and Guard, in front of Roger
Sherman Hall 276
Samuel R. Hill; Samuel Randolph Hill, Jr. 278
Main Street from the North 280
Main Street from the South 282
Honorable Rollin S. Woodruff 286
PART I
THE PAST AND PRESENT
INTRODUCTION
Two hundred years ago, in the summer of 1707, the pioneer John Noble,
with his little daughter, made his way through the wilderness from
Westfield, Mass., and set up his rude cabin in the beautiful valley of
Weantinock, on the west side of “Stratford” River, under the shadow of
Fort Hill, near neighbor to the Indians, with whom he became very
friendly. He trusted their friendship so much that he left his daughter
in their care while he went on a journey, following the Indian trail
through the wilderness to Albany, to pilot some gentlemen; and, on his
return, he found her well taken care of.
He subsequently built a log house on the east side of the river on land
now occupied by the residence of Levi P. Giddings.
The next year his son, John Noble, Jr., came and made a settlement, and,
before 1712, twelve families had settled here on sites purchased by the
Milford Company from the Indians, the purchases having been ratified by
the Colonial Legislature; but, strange to say, only two of the twelve,
Samuel Prindle and Isaiah Bartlett, came from Milford town.
Some thirty years previous, Henry Tomlinson and others of Stratford,
Conn., had purchased from the Indians who assumed to be owners, this
tract of land, and Mr. John Read, joint owner, representing them, came
and laid claim to it.
It is said that Zachariah Ferriss, a brother-in-law of Mr. Read, came
here in 1706, before any other white man, and plowed a piece of land
where Roger Sherman Hall now stands, in order to claim title to the land
under the deed of the Stratford Company.
He was sued for trespass by the Milford Company, but won his suit, Mr.
John Read being his counsel.
Mr. Read built a house on or near the site of the Knapp residence, in
which he lived, meanwhile prosecuting his claim to the title of the
land. He obtained a verdict in his favor fifteen times, but the
sixteenth time the General Court ruled against him; and he, being
discouraged, soon after removed to Lonetown, now Redding, named for him.
The Colonial Government soon set off to him a large tract of land in
what is now the town of Kent, of which the Scaghticoke Indians long
after held possession, Mr. Read having exchanged it for territory in the
town of Redding.
Mr. John Read was a notable man: He was well educated in theology and in
the law, being a graduate of Harvard College, and is said to have
preached the first sermon in this place. He was under thirty years of
age when he came here. He married a daughter of Major John Talcott, was
held in high esteem by the Governor of the Colony, and was appointed by
him to many important positions. He held the office of Queen’s Counsel
under the reign of Queen Anne. His son, widely known as Colonel John
Read, was for many years very prominent in the Colony.
Other settlers came through the wilderness and erected their rude
houses. The next thing these pioneers and pilgrims did was to petition
the Assembly for the power and privileges of a township, which were
granted, conferring authority relating to ecclesiastical matters. They
then formed themselves into a church, and called a minister to settle
over them.
“What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?
They sought a Faith’s pure shrine.
“Ay, call it holy ground,
The soil where first they trod.
They left unstained what there they found,
Freedom to worship God.”
They called Mr. Daniel Boardman to be their minister, and built the
meeting-house and the schoolhouse, for these two institutions went hand
in hand throughout New England and formed the characters of their
descendants.
These early settlers of our town were busy men. They had
[Illustration: MINOT S. GIDDINGS Chairman Historical Committee]
[Illustration: DR. GEORGE H. WRIGHT Chairman Loan Committee]
[Illustration: THE KNAPP RESIDENCE]
hard work to perform in those early days to subdue the wilderness, to
plant and cultivate the corn and the rye for their sustenance, to raise
the flax and the wool which the womenfolk made into garments. Mechanics,
artificers, and wheelwrights were at a premium. The village blacksmith
was a most important and necessary person, and concessions were made and
land given to induce blacksmiths to settle in the community.
Small manufactories were soon established on every considerable stream.
The grist mill, the saw mill, the flax mill--these were important
institutions. The spinning wheel was in every house, and the loom was
set up in every neighborhood. It remained for our day to develop the
immense manufactories situated near the large marts. Those were days
that developed brawn and brain--two hundred years ago.
What were the deeds our fathers performed in those strenuous times? They
have told us but little; a few things were recorded in the town books of
record. They were too busy making history to expend much time in writing
it. They cleared and fenced the fields; they built the town and the
village.
They did not pretend to great academic learning, but they had good
common sense which served them well. They went out to drive off the
French and Indians who harried their borders in their peculiar savage
way. They rallied to defend their liberties in the great War of the
Revolution, for which they poured out their blood and treasure, more
than two hundred and twelve from the town serving in that war.
Referring to the founders of this country, a noted orator said, “How
little did these rulers of the Old World--James the First seeking to
strangle the liberties of England, or Richelieu laying his plans to
build up a kingly despotism--realize that a little group of English
yeomen were founding a colony in a Western wilderness, from whose
vigorous loins would spring a mighty nation to dominate the world when
the Stuart and the Bourbon were alike forgotten!”
Of these Puritans and their English brethren, King James had scornfully
said, “I will make them conform, or I will harry them out of the land.”
He did indeed drive these Pilgrim Fathers from his land; but within five
generations thereafter their descendants had harried the English
Government from these shores, and, within another five generations, had
compelled not only England, but the whole world as well, to conform to
America’s principles of free government, to America’s ideas, to
America’s commercial predominance.
Those early days of New Milford produced some noted men, whose lives and
example did much to mould the characters of the inhabitants. The names
of Boardman, Taylor, Noble, Gaylord, Bostwick, Canfield, Baldwin,
Griswold, Sherman, Sanford, Mygatt, Marsh, Hine, Turrill, and others of
the same stamp will be recalled as those of leaders in the affairs of
the town and the church.
The greatest and the most celebrated man that ever honored the town with
his citizenship was Roger Sherman. He came from Newton, Mass., in 1743,
at the age of twenty-two years, and was active and influential in
affairs of the town and church; but the town could not retain him long.
Of him Edward Everett Hale said: “They say dear Roger Sherman was a
shoemaker. I do not know, but I do know that every central suggestion in
the American Constitution, the wisest work of men’s hands, that was
struck off in so short a time, is the suggestion of this shoemaker,
Roger Sherman.”
It was said that Roger Sherman was placed on every important committee
while in Congress, and that no law, or part of a law, that he favored
failed to be enacted. John Adams said that Chief Justice Ellsworth told
him that he made Roger Sherman his model in youth.
The Fathers of New Milford wrought wisely and well in establishing the
religious and civic institutions. They built well the town and wide the
streets, and their descendants have enlarged and improved so much that
this little village has the name far and wide of being one of the most
beautiful spots in New England.
Remembering these hardy pioneers, their devotion to righteousness, their
perseverance amid discouragements, and their
[Illustration: Elijah Boardman]
many virtues, we all--the loyal sons and daughters of New Milford, those
who went forth to make homes for themselves elsewhere and have now
returned hither, and the strangers from foreign shores who have settled
here--join together this beautiful month of June to celebrate the
founding of the town, two hundred years ago.
MINOT S. GIDDINGS.
GLIMPSES OF OLD NEW MILFORD HISTORY
CONTRIBUTED BY CHARLOTTE BALDWIN BENNETT
Few contrasts could be more striking than our beautiful village of
to-day against the background of the place John Noble, the first white
settler, found two hundred years ago. An unbroken wilderness met his
eye, save for the Indian settlement across the river on Fort Hill, where
the smoke, curling from many wigwams, marked the homes of over two
hundred warriors with their families.
Even four years later, when the white man’s plantation included twelve
settlers and about seventy souls, we find it a rather dismal picture. An
irregular cart path, winding in and out among stumps of newly cut trees,
formed the Main Street. A narrow road led from the north end of this
street to the river, then followed the river bank a mile north to the
rapids, the general crossing place. The first bridge over the Housatonic
was built at New Milford, but not until 1737.
John Noble’s house, the first in the town, stood on the site of Mr. Levi
P. Giddings’ present residence. At the time it was built, it was the
last house this side of Albany, and fourteen miles from any white man’s
dwelling. The original “Town Plot” was on Aspetuck Hill, our forefathers
evidently being impressed even then with the beauty and healthfulness of
the hilltops. What is now Park Lane was also in the first century of the
town a more populous neighborhood than the one in our village. But the
valley offered more shelter and protection in the rigorous winters, and
doubtless the toilsome life of the pioneer made the hill-climbing a
heavy burden; so the valley triumphed at last, and claimed the larger
population.
In 1712 the “New Milford Plantation” became a town, the inhabitants
having petitioned the General Court to that end. In this year, also,
“Mr. Daniel Boardman was called to preach ye gospel at New Milford.”
Previous to this, except for occasional preaching here, the people had
been obliged to go to Woodbury or Derby for church services. John Noble
became a member of the Woodbury Church in these first years. When we
recall what was meant by that long journey of twenty-eight miles through
the wilderness, in which the narrow Indian trail was the only path, we
bow in reverence before the faith and sturdy manhood that laid a sure
foundation for the blessings that have come down to us. John Noble was a
tower of strength to the little community during his brief life here.
He was evidently a modest man, who did not exalt his own deeds; but we
may read between the lines a story of noble service and heroic courage.
He fortified his house as a refuge for the people in times of danger
from hostile Indians. He was the first town clerk elected by the town,
and a surveyor of lands. When he died, in 1714, there must have been
sincere mourning in the little community. He was the first adult person
to be buried in the little graveyard. All honor to John Noble, our first
citizen!
The first sermon preached here was by John Read, who had studied for the
ministry, and who resided here from 1708 to 1711. His house, where
Ingleside School now stands, was used, for several years after he left,
as a meeting-house.
In 1713 the town voted to pay the expense of a minister; also to layout
a pastor’s lot, and to dig and stone up a well for Mr. Boardman, if he
became a settled minister. This recalls one of the first necessities of
the new community--pure water. Strangely enough, this well is the only
vestige now remaining of that earliest settlement. It is on the lawn of
Mrs. W. D. Black’s residence.
The town, meantime, allowed five shillings and sixpence a week for the
minister’s board. His salary was to be paid one-third in grain and
two-thirds in labor, linen, or pork. This gives a pitiful glimpse of the
slender resources of the people, but we remember with pride that there
is no record of the church here ever receiving aid from any outside
source. In 1716 the church was organized, and, on November 21 of that
year Mr. Boardman was ordained. The first meeting-house was commenced in
1718, but was not open for worship till 1720, and was then quite
unfinished, the floor not being laid till 1723. It stood on the highway
on Aspetuck Hill, a little north of the Knapp house.
Until 1745 the Congregational Church was the only one in the town, and
every person was taxed for its support.
There was no Ecclesiastical Society till after 1750. The town was the
Society, and provided for all expenses of public worship. It has been
remarked of these early New England towns that “one might almost say
that the church had selectmen and the town had deacons, so closely were
the two united.” From 1750 to 1790 those who aided in supporting other
churches were relieved of the tax for the support of this one, and, from
1800, only members of this society were taxed for its benefit. The
renting of pews began in 1854.
Before this, committees had “dignified the meeting-house.” All persons
of the age of fifty-six years and upwards were assigned to the first
rank of seats, and all others were seated “according to the taxes they
have paid toward building said Meeting-House.” We are told that in the
early days of the colony the “dignifying the meeting-house,” that is,
the seating people by certain grades of wealth, was unknown. It became
common only after slavery was an established institution.
The people were for many years called to church by the beat of the drum.
An appropriation was made for this when the church was organized, and,
annually, the town appointed a person to beat the drum, and voted to pay
him for the same.
This method may have been employed to remind the people that they
belonged to the church militant. Certain it is, that the marching with
measured tread to the martial sound was a fitting prelude to the grim
and lengthy service awaiting them.
The meeting-houses were not heated till 1823, when two box stoves were
put in the second meeting-house. No wonder our forbears developed strong
and decided traits of character under such Spartan training!
The tithing man was an important factor in church work. As early as 1729
it was voted in town meeting “that James Hine have oversight of the
female sex during exercises on the Sabbath.” We are left in painful
doubt as to whether the “female sex” needed more oversight than the men.
But a later vote recorded relieves our minds, for “two men were
appointed to oversee the youth (males), and one for the female sex;”
during service. So we may conclude our foremothers needed only _half_ as
much watching as the fathers and sons.
The law requiring the appointment of tithing men was passed in 1721.
Earlier, it was customary in New England to appoint an officer to keep
people from sleeping during the delivery of the sermon.
In 1745 the town voted that “any farmers, inhabitants, have leave to
build a small house to repair to on the Sabbath Day, on the common land,
provided the public is not damnified thereby.” This building was “north
of the meeting-house on the side of the hill.” After the second church
was built, in 1754, on “The Green,” opposite the spot now occupied by
Mrs. Henry Bostwick’s residence, the Sabbath Day house was built on the
site of Mr. James Orton’s present home on Bridge Street. These “Sabba’
Day houses,” as they were called, were an important institution in the
Sunday life of those old days.
Here those living at a distance stored loads of wood and barrels of
cider, refilled their foot stoves and rested between services.
This little intermission, in which the settlers took breath after the
two hours’ sermon of the morning, and gained strength for the ninthlies
and tenthlies of the afternoon, is a pleasant picture in the midst of
the rigorous Sabbath. We like to think there was a little relaxation for
the housewives in exchanging their doughnuts and Indian bread, and
comparing receipts for the same, and, _perhaps_, indulging in a little
week-day gossip, when James Hine was not at hand to “oversee.”
The most notable figure in the town was always the minister. He was
_the_ person, the “parson.” Even the “divinity that doth hedge a king”
commands hardly more reverence than that which was paid to the early New
England minister. The very children were taught to make obeisance to him
as he passed along the street. An early rule of the New England churches
read as follows: “If any person or persons shall be guilty of speaking
against the minister, in any shape, form or manner, or of speaking
against his preaching, said person or persons shall be punished by fine,
whipping or banishment, or cutting off of ears.”
Mr. Orcutt, in his “History of New Milford,” says that Episcopal Church
services were held here as early as 1742, perhaps earlier, Rev. Mr.
Beach of Newtown conducting occasional meetings. The first resident
Episcopal clergyman was Rev. Solomon Palmer, who came in 1754. The
second Episcopal church stood on the lower end of “The Green.” It was
consecrated in 1793, though begun many years before.
The Separatists, or Strict Congregationalists, as they were called,
built a house of worship in 1761, near the entrance to the present
cemetery. They disbanded in 1812. The Baptists had a small church in
“The Neck,” now Bridgewater, in 1788, but soon moved away. The Baptist
Church in Northville was formed in 1814. In 1825 the Methodist Church
was established at Gaylordsville. The Methodist Church in this village
was erected in 1849.
The Quakers were early in the field, their first meeting-house in the
south part of the town being built about 1742.
The present Congregational Church edifice was built in 1833. In 1883 the
beautiful new St. John’s Episcopal Church, which is one of the chief
ornaments of our Main Street, was completed. All Saints’ Memorial
Episcopal Church was organized in 1880. The beautiful church building
was erected later on Aspetuck Hill, in memory of the late Judge David C.
Sanford, by his wife. It was consecrated in 1888. The Church of St.
Francis Xavier, Roman Catholic, was built about 1860, and has a large
and flourishing congregation. The most recent addition to our list of
churches is the Advent Church, which has done an excellent work already
in our community. It was built in 1901.
From very ancient times it seems to have been ordained that harmony and
discord should go hand in hand in the churches, for no subject was more
prolific of disturbance than the singing. In the first days of New
Milford the deacons led the singing, standing in front of the pulpit.
There seems to have been a difference of opinion as to any change, for,
in 1739, a meeting was held “to consider about the singing of God’s
praises in the congregation,” and it was voted “that we should ‘half’
the time; that is, to sing one day all the old way, and the next Sabbath
all the new way, for the space of one year, and then have a
reconsideration of the matter.” Samuel Bostwick was chosen chorister for
the new way, and “Nathan Botsford second, in case of the other’s
absence.”
The difference continued, for the following year a meeting was called to
“agree about the singing in church.” It was put to vote that all in
favor of singing all together the old way should go to the east end of
the meeting-house, and those for the new way to the west end. On being
counted, thirty favored the new way, against sixteen for the old. They
peaceably voted that the majority should rule.
Eight years later a new trouble arose as to using Dr. Watts’ version of
the Psalms. It was voted “that Dr. Watts’ version be sung the last
singing in the afternoon on the Sabbath and at lectures.” The next year
it was voted to sing from the old version in the morning, and from Dr.
Watts’ version in the afternoon, for one year, and then altogether from
Dr. Watts. Who could imagine Dr. Watts as a dangerous innovation!
Up to this time no reference is found here to any musical instrument but
the pitch pipe. The bass viol and the rest of the stringed instruments
must have come into use in the church services soon after. How the old
fugue tunes, with the parts chasing each other all the way through, must
have shaken the rafters and waked all the sleepers, without the help of
the tithing man!
This town very early began to uphold morality and order. In that first
century it fined certain persons “for bringing into the town unwholesome
inhabitants.”
The care with which the town guarded its temporal interests is shown by
an early vote, “that a black bonnet, a red woman’s cloak, and a worsted
gown belonging to Hannah Beeman, deceased, be kept for her daughter till
she is of age; if she die under age, the town to have them.”
The cause of education went hand in hand with that of religion in those
early days. When there were but twenty-five families in the town, a
public school was ordered. In town meeting, September, 1721, it was
voted that a school be maintained for four months, the town to bear half
the charge. The next year a committee was appointed to raise money to
hire a schoolmaster three months in winter, and a schoolmistress three
months in summer. One of these early schoolmistresses was the little
daughter of John Noble, who had come hither with him alone through the
wilderness. Deacon Sherman Boardman, son of the Rev. Daniel, mentions
going to school to her, and says she was an excellent teacher. The
“little red schoolhouse” was preceded by the log schoolhouse, which was
soon a frequent landmark through the town. The town was often divided
into new districts. In 1782 there were twenty-one school districts. In
1787 a new building for townhouse and schoolhouse together was erected
at the north end of the Main Street.
The singing schools were a pleasant feature of early days, and, in a
time of few pleasures, afforded a harmless enjoyment. They were usually
held in the schoolhouses, but sometimes at a dwelling in the
neighborhood. In 1792 Mr. Cyrene Stilson is recorded as beginning a
singing school at a private house. There are to-day treasured in many of
our homes, brass candlesticks that were kept bright by our grandmothers
to carry to the schoolhouse for the evening singing school. They suggest
many bits of romance. When the boys were privileged to walk home with
the girls, they carried the candlesticks, we hope, and they doubtless
lingered on the broad doorstep sometimes, in spite of zero weather.
[Illustration: CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
HOME OF NATHANIEL TAYLOR. JR. HOME OF REV. NATHANIEL TAYLOR.
Gen. LaFayette lodged here for a night Count Rochambeau spent a night
here during the Revolution during the Revolution]
One of the brightest spots in New Milford history is the patriotism the
town has shown through all its generations. This sentiment seems to have
been a perennial spring in the hearts of the inhabitants, ready to burst
out into action whenever a crisis arose.
The long list of soldiers in the wars is proof of this. The War of the
Revolution called out a host of brave men from New Milford. Not less
patriotic was the minister, Rev. Nathaniel Taylor. He had long before
served as chaplain in the French and Indian War, and, in 1779, he
remitted his entire salary to alleviate the suffering caused by the war.
It is inspiring to read that in this same year the county treasurer at
Litchfield received the sum of ninety-four pounds sixteen shillings, by
the hand of Col. Samuel Canfield--money contributed by the first
Ecclesiastical Society of New Milford, for the relief of the distressed
inhabitants of the towns of New Haven, Fairfield, and Norwalk.
The actual conflict came no nearer than Danbury. A large number of our
citizens participated in that battle. The sending out of troops, and the
mourning in many households for those who did not return, must have kept
the war very near to the hearts of all the inhabitants of the town.
Furthermore, the presence of three brigades (nearly 5000 men) in camp on
Second Hill, for nearly a month in the autumn of 1778, brought the war
atmosphere almost to their very doors.
Once during the war Lafayette and Rochambeau were entertained over night
here; Rochambeau, at the home of Rev. Nathaniel Taylor, north of the
present Congregational Church, and Lafayette, at the house of the son of
Rev. Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Jr., south of the church.
There was a pretty romance of the war here also. Major Jones of
Virginia, in charge of the commissary stores kept here the summer after
the burning of Danbury, fell in love with pretty Tamar Taylor, the
minister’s daughter. We have the story from Mrs. Helen Carr, the
granddaughter of Tamar Taylor, as she heard it from the lips of her
grandmother. The Major’s affection seems to have been returned, but her
parents frowned upon the affair for the sole reason that they could
never let their daughter go to that far country--Virginia. The wooer was
said to be “a very fine man, who won golden opinions from everyone,” the
question of distance being the only obstacle to parental consent.
Four years later Major Jones wrote to Daniel Everett of New Milford, his
sweetheart’s brother-in-law and his near friend, from Yorktown, during
the siege, shortly before the surrender of Cornwallis. Even that
exciting and arduous time seems not to have made him forget the young
lady, for he says: “She is never out of my mind, though it seems Fortune
has not been so favorable as to allot us to the possession of each other
in this short transitory life, or if she has, parents seem to clash....
I wish I had time to write you fully on a subject that floats in my
head, the last when I go to bed and the first when I awake, but must
omit it till a future opportunity.”
After the war was over and the country had become settled, Major Jones,
with his body servant, journeyed on horseback from his Virginia home to
New Milford; but the journey was in vain, and he went sorrowfully home
alone. Pretty Temmie Taylor seems not to have been inconsolable, for she
was happily married later to the Hon. Nicholas Masters of this place.
Mrs. Carr still cherishes the ring and locket given her grandmother by
the earlier lover; and when we touched the ancient tokens, the long
years fell away, and we, too, seemed to live in the love story of olden
time.
New Milford was on one of the regular post roads from Philadelphia to
Boston, and, if the old highways could speak, they might tell many
stories of distinguished men who have travelled over them. We read in
the letters of John Adams of his going through this town on his way to
the Congress in Philadelphia. During the war there was frequent passing
through the place of both British and Continental troops.
When the war was over there was still further expression of the
patriotic sentiments of the people in a vote “that none of those persons
who have voluntarily gone over and joined the enemy, shall be suffered
to abide and continue in the town during the present situation of our
public affairs.” A committee was appointed to carry out these
resolutions, with the result that several never came back, and their
lands were confiscated by the State.
We learn of much pleasant social life in the peaceful days following the
war. There were the “assemblies.” An invitation card for one of these
functions is for “Friday Evening, July third next, at six o’clock.” What
would the young people of our day think of that? Another is for a
“Quarter Ball, at Mr. G. Booth’s Assembly Room, on June 3d at three
o’clock, P. M.”! In winter there were merry sleighing parties to
neighboring towns. Often large companies in twenty or thirty sleighs
enjoyed an early supper together, getting safely home before ten
o’clock.
Afternoon teas were frequent; not like yours, dear up-to-date woman of
to-day, but “tea-drinkings,” where the women took their knitting work
and spent long afternoons in visiting. Mrs. Nathaniel Taylor had on one
occasion such a company. The parson, in his study overhead, was greatly
interested in the fragments of conversation that floated up to him. Each
woman had some exciting tale of her domestic experiences to relate. One
quiet sister, unable to hold her own in the babel of tongues, tried
again and again to tell her story, beginning, “My goose----.” But each
time the quiet voice was drowned, and the story never proceeded further.
When good Parson Taylor was summoned to the tea table he said: “Ladies,
I have been so interested in your conversation, I thought it worth
preserving. So I wrote it down and will read it to you.” Great was the
amusement when he read the persistent efforts of their friend to tell
the story of “My Goose.” After all, human nature is much the same in all
generations.
The town enjoyed in the old days quite a reputation for good living, and
many were the notable feasts cooked over the great fireplaces and in the
huge brick ovens before the days of stoves and ranges. What an amount of
seasoned hickory logs went up the chimney in smoke to cook them! Forty
cords of wood, the record gives, as one item of the minister’s salary
for the year.
The means of transportation in early times furnished one of the most
serious problems. The Housatonic Railroad was not completed till 1840.
Before this, all transportation of produce and merchandise was by wagons
to Bridgeport, and thence by sloop to New York. The mail also came in
much the same way, being brought here from Bridgeport by a carrier on
horseback. Our old friend, the late Colonel Wm. J. Starr, remembered the
postman of his childhood days, who announced his arrival by shouting as
he rode, “News! News! Some lies and some trues!”
We owe to Colonel Starr a vivid picture of the Main Street of the
village nearly a century ago, as he recalled it. It is not an agreeable
picture. Pigs were kept in the street, and before almost every house was
a long trough, where twice a day they were fed. We can hardly wonder
that fevers broke out mysteriously. Geese also roamed at will, and
mischievous youths were known to play a practical joke on some unpopular
man by penning all the geese in the village into his front porch during
the night.
Many of the front yards were adorned with huge wood-piles. A part of the
street was a swamp, through which ran a crooked water course that, after
a shower, left pools of mud, in which pigs and cattle cooled themselves,
for “The Green” was also a cattle pasture. The story is told of a
dignified gentleman of the old school, who, dressed in immaculate white
on a summer Sunday, was hastening across “The Green” to church, making
his way among the puddles, when a large hog, frightened from a pool, ran
violently against him. He had an unsought ride on its back across the
street, and was deposited in a puddle, in full view of the waiting
congregation gathered on the church steps.
In 1838 the open-paved watercourse through “The Green” was constructed
and was regarded as a grand improvement.
The Village Improvement Society as organized in 1871,
[Illustration: JEHIEL WILLIAMS, M. D.
An early and beloved physician. B. 1782, d. 1862.]
and, a little later, under its auspices, “The Green” was put in its
present attractive condition, a covered brick sewer being laid to
replace the open-paved watercourse which previously ran through the
center of the street. This was accomplished on the initiative, and
largely though the instrumentality, of Mr. and Mrs. William D. Black,
whose efforts and energies were always directed for the benefit of the
village. A large and successful fair to raise money for this purpose was
held in a tent on “The Green” in July, 1872, and the residents of Main
Street accepted a voluntary assessment of a large amount to perfect the
work.
A familiar and welcome sight of long ago was the village doctor on
horseback with his saddlebags. He was the friend of everyone, beloved
and venerated next to the minister. His store of huge pills and herbs
and simples carried healing and comfort to all the countryside. Dr.
Jehiel Williams was the last of these old-time doctors in New Milford.
He is still remembered by many with reverent tenderness. His kindness
knew no bounds, and his hearty laugh carried cheer wherever he went. A
cautious man he was. Even his most cherished opinions were always
prefaced with “I ’most guess.” He was cautious also in his remedies, and
the overworked woman of this busy age would hardly accept his cure for
nerves and sleeplessness: “Take a hop, put it in a teacup and fill the
cup with hot water. Drink it at night and I ’most guess you will feel
better.” It was whispered that his huge pills were often made of bread,
when he felt none were needed.
He rode up and down the hills for a lifetime, charging twenty-five cents
for a visit, fifty cents when the journey was long--afterwards sixty-two
and a half cents! On one occasion he rode five miles to find that his
patient had been already relieved by some housewife’s simple remedy. He
declined any fee, merely saying, “What I have learned in this cure is
worth far more to me than the trouble of coming.”
He was friend and helper to three generations, and when, at last, full
of years and honors, he went to his well-earned rest, every household of
the town mourned his departure.
Slavery existed here, as elsewhere in New England, in the first century
of the town. A written advertisement for a runaway slave, offering a
reward for his capture, and signed, “Gideon Treat, New Milford,
September, 1774,” is still in existence. It sounds strange enough to
twentieth century ears. Judging from the records, slaves were generally
well treated in New Milford, and many owners freed their own negroes
long before the days of slavery were over.
A woman is recorded as the first in our town to free a slave. Mary
Robburds, in 1757, gave her negro servant Dan his freedom. Partridge
Thatcher, a lawyer here, was especially noted for his kindness to his
slaves. Judge David S. Boardman wrote concerning him: “He had no
children, but a large number of negroes whom he treated with a kindness
enough to put to shame the reproaches of all the Abolitionists of New
England.” And he freed them all during his lifetime.
But the sins of old days in this matter were somewhat atoned for in
after years by the zeal of the Abolitionists of New Milford in aiding
runaway slaves to reach Canada and freedom. In the later days of slavery
in the South there were several stations of the Underground Railroad in
this vicinity. Mr. Charles Sabin’s house in Lanesville was one, and the
house of Mr. Augustine Thayer on Grove Street in this village was
another. Mr. Thayer and his good wife devoted their lives to the
Abolition cause. They helped many poor slaves on their way, rising from
their beds in the night to feed and minister to them, and secreting them
till they could be taken under cover of darkness to Deacon Gerardus
Roberts’ house on Second Hill, from there to Mr. Daniel Platt’s in
Washington, and so on, by short stages, all the way until the Canadian
border was reached.
The spirit and courage of the fathers have descended to the sons through
many generations. This has been proved again and again in later years,
notably in our Civil War. During all the dark four years from the
terrible day when the flag fell at Fort Sumter to the memorable
rejoicing over the fall of Richmond, there were not wanting brave sons
of this old town
[Illustration: SALLY NORTHROP
Born 1776, died 1870
A resident of New Milford for One Hundred Years]
[Illustration: HENRY SEYMOUR SANFORD
Born 1832, died 1901
Son of David C. Sanford: Attorney at the Fairfield and Litchfield County
Bars]
[Illustration: DAVID CURTIS SANFORD
Born 1798, died 1864
A Justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut]
[Illustration: WILLIAM DIMON BLACK
Born 1836, died 1889
Member of firm of Ball, Black & Co., New York City; for eighteen years a
resident of New Milford and active in the development of the town till
his death, 1889]
to offer their lives, and fathers to give of their substance. The
daughters of the town vied with each other in loyal labors for their
country, and, gave their time with their hearts to loving ministry.
In recent days the courage of our citizens has been “tried as by fire.”
The great conflagration of May, 1902, swept away the entire business
portion of the village; yet the Puritan fathers could not have met
disaster more stoically than our brave men of to-day. The cheerful
optimism that built “Shanty Town” on “The Green” while the ruins were
still smouldering showed that the stout hearts of old New Milford were
the same in the _new_, and that noble lives have been its inheritance
through all its years.
We smile as we recall the old days and ways, but we bare our heads
reverently before those godly men and women whose hardships meant a
better way for us. Two hundred years hence others will read _our_
record, and smile, perhaps. Will it be as worthy?
THE OWNERS OF NEW MILFORD
NAMES OF THE PROPRIETORS IN THE MILFORD COMPANY, WHO, UNDER A DEED OF
DATE OF JUNE, 1703, WERE THE OWNERS OF THE TOWN OF NEW MILFORD
COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY GENERAL HENRY STUART TURRILL[1]
The following were proprietors to the amount of £1 4s.: Col. Robert
Treat, Mr. Thomas Clark, Ensign George Clark, Lieut. Joseph Treat,
Ensign Joseph Peck, Jonathan Baldwin, committee; Capt. Samuel Eells,
Sergt. Edward Camp, Rev. Mr. Andrews, Thomas Wlech, James Prime, Stephen
Miles, Barnabas Baldwin, John Woodruff, Mr. Richard Bryan, Daniel
Terrell, Samuel Brisco, Timothy Botsford, Sergt. Daniel Baldwin, Mr.
Robert Treat, Deacon Platt, Thomas Clark, Mr. Samuel Clark, Jr., Samuel
Buckingham, Thomas Buckingham, John Buckingham, William Wheeler,
Nathaniel Farrand, Sr., George Allen, Samuel Camp (mason), John Smith ye
4th, Samuel Clark, Sr., Ephraim Burwell, Joseph Beard, Joseph Camp,
Samuel Camp (Lanesend), Nathaniel Farrand, Jr., Thomas Tibbals, Thomas
Canfield, John Merwin, Samuel Smith (West end), William Gold, Joseph
Wheeler, John Prince, Samuel Camp, (son of Edward Camp), Eleazor
Prindle, Lieut. Camp, William Scone, Samuel Baldwin (wheelwright),
Lieut. Joseph Platt, Sergt. Miles Merwin, Samuel Sanford, Sr., John
Beard, Mr. Samuel Andrews, Sr., George Clark, Sr., Joseph Clarke, Joseph
Peck, Jr., John Camp, Sergt. John Smith, Jonathan Law, Jr., John Allen,
Hugh Grey, Joseph Ashburn, John Summers, James Fenn, Zachariah Whitman,
William Adams, Joseph Rogers, Samuel Stone, Jonathan Baldwin, Jr.;
Jesse Lambert, Frederick Prudden, Sergt. Zachariah Baldwin, Benjamin
Smith, Sr., John Smith, Jr., John Platt, Josiah Platt, Richard Platt,
Samuel Prindle, Sergt. Samuel Beard, Sergt. Samuel Northrope, George
Clarke, Jr., Samuel Coley, Samuel Merwin, Lieut. Samuel Burwell, Samuel
Miles, James Beard, Samuel Nettleton, Joseph Treat (son of Lieut.
Treat), Jeremiah Canfield, Thomas Smith, Nathaniel Baldwin, Jr.,
Jeremiah Beard, Bethel Lankstaff, Andrew Sanford, Sr., Nath. Sanford,
John Merwin, Joseph Tibbals, Billin Baldwin (in right of her father,
Sergt. Timothy Baldwin, deceased), and Mr. Samuel Mather.
The following were proprietors to the amount 12s.: Mr. Robert Plumb,
Andrew Sanford, Widow Mary Baldwin, James Baldwin, Nathaniel Baldwin
(cooper), Henry Summers, Samuel Smith (water), John Clark, and William
Fowler.
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO
CONTRIBUTED BY SARAH SANFORD BLACK
Upon this hilltop stood the doughty priest
And bade his minions, men of brawn and bone,
To dig for water ere the frost should come
To lock the land and shroud the hill in snow,
Two hundred years ago.
And here they labored long and valiantly,
Till far beneath the sod a rill arose
And ’twixt the rocks a stream broke forth
And sparkled in the Autumn evening glow
Two hundred years ago.
“Thank God for water pure and clear,” he cried,
And in the twilight grey the good priest stood
And looking off beyond the valley fair,
To where the same hills which we love and know,
Two hundred years ago
Seemed to touch Paradise, as now, he called
On God, the wanderers’ God, to bless the well
Which was to them that day, the most desired
Of all the gifts which man or beast could know,
Two hundred years ago.
The years have passed, two hundred years,--and now
We stand beside the well, which was the first
Our village knew,--“The Ancient Boardman Well”;
To-day the bucket dips, the waters flow,
Just as they did
Two hundred years ago.
We look where purple hilltops touch the sky,
We kneel and thank our God for all the past--
[Illustration: THE FIRST WELL IN THE TOWN OF NEW MILFORD
Dug by Priest Daniel Boardman. The property is now owned by Mrs. William
D. Black, and known as “Hickory Hearth”.]
They clasped His hand as we do, tho’ that day
All that their future held they could not know
As we know now,--
Two hundred years ago.
We thank our fathers’ God for all His care,
For smiling fields and busy haunts of men,--
For all the gifts of Science and of Art,--
For lives whose deeds His loving guidance show
Brave as those lives
Two hundred years ago.
All are from Him, these works of hand and brain
His love has made men wise, has kept men true,
Since first upon this hilltop life began,
And water in the wilderness did flow
Here at this well
Two hundred years ago.
THE TWO ABIGAILS
REMINISCENCES OF A TYPICAL NEW MILFORD FAMILY
CONTRIBUTED BY GENERAL HENRY STUART TURRILL
Caleb Terrill, eldest son of Daniel and Zorvia (Canfield) Terrell, was
born in Milford, Connecticut, December 3, 1717. Nearing his majority, he
was given the right of land in New Milford of which his grandfather,
Daniel, Sr., was the original proprietor. The first allotment to this
right was made April 14, 1729, and consisted of about forty-two acres of
land on Second Hill, fronting the old Bostwick place. Here, in the
spring of 1738, Caleb built his house, cleared a little part of his land
and planted a small garden. Late in the summer he returned to Milford.
In September he married, in Stratford, Abigail, daughter of Josiah and
Alice (Canfield) Bassett, his first cousin, and, in a few days, returned
with his bride to the little home on Second Hill. On this spot he lived
until his death, February 29, 1796.
This house was the home of his youngest son, Major Turrill, until his
death in 1847. Among my very earliest recollections, is a visit to this
old place. It was in 1846. I had just passed my fourth birthday, and
spent my first day at school. So I, as the youngest of my name, was
taken by my father to pay my respects to the oldest living member of my
family. I think that this visit produced one of the most lasting
impressions of my childhood. I can recall it now, sixty years after. At
that time Major Turrill was seventy-eight years old. The large
splint-bottomed chair in which he was seated had four enormous legs,
seemingly six inches in diameter at least, the two in front continuing
up to support the broad arms on which his hands reposed, the two behind
extending far above his head. As he rested his head against the broad
splint back, he produced the effect of a grand old gentleman in a
rustic frame. Major Turrill was a broad-shouldered man of medium
height, very upright even in his seventy-eighth year. He had a large,
well-formed head and a strong face of a rather stern cast of
countenance, while his hair, which was abundant, was steel gray rather
than white. My father presented me to him as the youngest of the race,
who had just commenced his life work by his first day at school. He
called me to him and, placing a broad hand upon my head, said to my
father, “A fine little lad,” then turning to me he said, “You must grow
up as fine a man as your grandfather, and stand for your country as he
stood for it.”
The marriage of Caleb and Abigail, descended as they were from some of
the most important of the founder families (she, from the Baldwins,
Bryans, Bruens, and Schells, he, from the Fitches, Pratts and Uffords,
and both, from the Canfields, the Mallorys and the Cranes), was an event
of great importance in Stratford and Milford; and, when it was known
that Caleb was to take his bride to the new Plantation of the
Weantinaug, the interest in the affair was much deepened. The conditions
in those days were quite different from what they are at present. There
were no parlor cars, nor honking autos to whisk the blushing bride, amid
a shower of rice and old shoes, to the seclusion of the city hotel,
there to hide her nuptial joys among the unknown multitude. So Caleb and
Abigail were married in that pleasant Stratford home, she, surrounded by
the friends of her girlhood, who, if the records are to be believed,
were about the whole community, and he, supported by his three stalwart
brothers and troops of cousins. A few days were passed in all the
feasting and gayeties of the times, after which the young couple,
surrounded by a band of the Stratford friends, started on their wedding
journey. At the ferry across the “Great River,” they were bidden
farewell on the Stratford bank, only to be received on the Milford shore
by an equally enthusiastic band of Milford friends, and to be escorted
to Caleb’s home in Milford. This was the founder home of Roger, and
Caleb was the fourth generation to bring a bride to its shelter. His
bride was a namesake of an earlier Abigail, who, ninety-nine years
before, had come with her life mate to the then wilderness of Milford.
Now, this second Abigail, this tenderly reared girl of scarce eighteen
summers, was starting with her life mate, for another wilderness--the
New Milford.
After a short stay at the old Tyrrell home, the wedding journey was
resumed, up the “Great River” to the Weantinaug country. The “house
plenishing,” demanded by the customs of those days, had been furnished
by Josiah Bassett, and had been securely packed in a stout boat to be
rowed and poled up the river, this being, at that time, the only means
of conveying heavy articles to the settlements above. The various
animals necessary to farming, although scarce in the New plantations,
were plentiful in the older ones; and, since Daniel Terrell was a man of
“much substance,” as the records say, an abundant supply had been
assembled at the usual starting place for the journey up the river to
the “Cove,” just above Goodyear’s Island. On a bright September morning,
surrounded by brothers and sisters from both families, and a large
company of friends and relatives, the newly-married pair set forth.
The accompanying friends went as far as the first “nooning,” somewhere
below Derby. There, the last farewells were said, and Caleb, with his
sweet girl wife on the pillion behind him, journeyed to their future
home. They moved up the river, camping at night in some quiet nook,
their boat, with their provisions and camp equipment, securely fastened
to the river’s bank. The bright camp fires flashed out from under the
dense foliage of the grand old primeval forests that lined the banks of
the Great River, while this pair of children strolled in the deepening
gloom, whispering their love, their plans and their hopes of happiness
in their home in the wilderness. For four days they thus leisurely
journeyed towards the cot on Second Hill, reaching the Cove about noon
of the fifth day.
By the mouth of the little brook that falls into the Cove, just at the
foot of “Lovers’ Leap,” they made their last camp, while their boat was
being unloaded and a more permanent camp
[Illustration: FALLS BRIDGE AND THE GORGE]
established, for it would be several days before their belongings could
be conveyed to their home. As the sun was sinking toward the cover of
Green Pond and Candlewood Mountains, Caleb led his bride up the winding
trail that mounts the southern face of the grand old cliffs of Falls
Mountain to Waramaug’s Grave; and, from that sightly place, she had her
first view of the beautiful Weantinaug Valley. Waramaug’s grave has ever
been held an almost sacred spot by the descendants of Caleb and Abigail.
In my early youth, on just such another September afternoon, I was taken
by my father up this winding trail, and sitting on the grass by the side
of those honored stones, was told the tale I have been relating, as each
succeeding generation of the name had been told it before me.
The wedding journey ended in that rough little home on Second Hill.
There, the pair lived for fifty-eight years in happy wedlock; there,
they reared a family of fourteen children (eleven sons and three
daughters) of whom all came to manhood and womanhood; and, thence, in
1796, at nearly four score years, Caleb went to his eternal rest.
Abigail survived him more than twenty years, in the full possession of
all her faculties, and, at the extreme age of ninety-seven years, seven
months, and eleven days, was laid beside the husband of her youth and
the loving companion of so many years.
A wonderful life was that of grandmother Abigail. She lived through four
French and Indian wars, and two wars with England. She saw one son go to
the last French war and return from the decisive battle on the Heights
of Abraham. She saw six sons go to the Revolution, and, having
faithfully performed their part in their country’s struggle--at the
siege of Boston, in the battle of Long Island and White Plains, in the
crossing of the Delaware and at Valley Forge with Washington, in the
battles of Trenton, Saratoga, Princeton, Monmouth, and Germantown--return
victorious and unscathed. She also saw Stephen and Isaac return from the
successful and conclusive struggle at Yorktown. Finally she saw four of
her grandsons return from the second contest with England.
It would be hard to find in American history two more remarkable women
than the two Abigails of the Tyrrell family. The first, Abigail Ufford,
leaving a happy English home in Essex, braving the trials and privations
of the American voyage of 1632, lived through the horrors of the Pequot
War, and went with her young husband to found a primitive home in
Milford. She stood among that company, which, under the umbrageous trees
of Peter Prudden’s home lot, listened to the stately Ansantawa, as,
plucking a branch from a tree and gathering a grassy clod from the
earth, sticking the branch in the clod and sprinkling it with water from
the Milford River, he waved it in the air, declaring that he “gave to
them forever, the earth with all thereon, the air, and the waters above
and below.” In this home, thus acquired, she lived for fifty-five years,
rearing eleven children; saw her sons go to King Philip’s War; and saw
them when they had reached man’s estate, start off with their loving
helpmates, as their father had done before them, to found other
homes--in Southold, in Newark, in Stratford, and in Woodbury.
Ninety-nine years after, comes into that Milford home the second
Abigail, to venture forth in her turn, like the first Abigail, into the
wilderness.
NEW MILFORD IN THE WARS
BY GENERAL HENRY STUART TURRILL
For the first fifty years from its settlement by John Noble, the town of
New Milford had very little concern in the military affairs of the
colonies. The Colony of Connecticut furnished soldiers in the war of
1711 and in 1713; and, in 1721, occurred a great outpouring of
Connecticut colonists for foreign service. In 1745 a call came to
Connecticut from the sister colonies for large numbers of troops for
service outside her borders, and, again, in 1755. In response to these
calls, New Milford seems not to have sent any men. The defense of their
own town and of its outlying districts was about all the colonists of
New Milford undertook in a military way, this being sufficiently
strenuous to engage their entire attention.
We are inclined, in these later days, to smile at the train-band of the
ancient times, but the train-band service of our Colonial fathers was
one of exceeding severity.
The first company in New Milford was organized in 1715, and was
commanded for twenty years by Captain Stephen Noble. The service for the
guarding of the frontier towns in the colony of Connecticut was an
exceedingly arduous one. Every male citizen, except the aged, the
infirm, and the ministers, was obliged to do military duty. These
militia-men had to provide their arms and equipment at their own
expense, and, if any business required their absence from the town, they
were obliged to provide a substitute and to pay, themselves, for his
services. The arms which each soldier furnished consisted of a musket or
rifle, a bullet pouch containing twenty bullets, a powder horn
containing twenty charges of powder, and such an amount of cloth or
buckskin as would make sufficient wadding for this number of charges.
These requirements were constant, and frequent examinations were made
to see that all of the men of the company complied with them.
As New Milford was, during most of these first fifty years of its
existence, a frontier town, a line of guards was established which
reached across the country from Woodbury to the New York boundary, and
the members of the company had to take turns in patrolling this line.
The second company in New Milford was organized in 1744, and both of
these companies continued to exist until the Revolution.
The first recorded service of the New Milford men beyond their own
borders occurred about 1758. The greatest accumulation of men found on
the record is a company raised for the French and Indian War in 1759. It
was commanded by Captain Whiting and was known as the “Tenth Company of
Colonel David Wooster’s Third Regiment of Connecticut Levy.” The New
Milford men were First Lieutenant Hezekiah Baldwin, Sergeant Israel
Baldwin, Corporal John Bronson, Drummer Zadock Bostwick. The privates
were Isaac Hitchcock, Barrall Buck (there are two mentions of Buck, he
being recorded also as David Buck), Martin Warner, David Hall, Dominie
Douglas (whether Dominie stood for minister or was just the baptismal
name, I do not know), Thomas Oviatt, Daniel Daton, Joseph Lynes, Ashel
Baldwin, Elnathan Blatchford, Ebenezer Terrill, William Gould, David
Collings, Joseph Jones, Moses Fisher, Zachariah Ferris, Jesse Fairchild,
Joseph Smith, Benjamin Wallis, Benjamin Hawley, Moses Johnson.
The Colonial Records do not show where this regiment was used. Colonel
Wooster had a long Colonial service and marched with several expeditions
toward Canada. How far these men marched is not on record. They were
enlisted in the spring, and seem to have returned to their homes in the
fall. Whether they went as far as the expedition of that year toward
Canada does not appear. Possibly family traditions might throw some
light on the matter.
In the Eleventh Company of the Second Regiment, Colonel Nathaniel
Whiting commanding, Ruben Bostwick was ensign, and the records show
that Private James Bennett went from the town in 1760.
In the calls from New Milford of 1759 and 1761 occur the names of
Hezekiah Baldwin, Second Lieutenant, Second Company, Third Regiment
(Lieutenant Colonel Hinman commanding), Israel Baldwin, and Josiah
Baldwin. The records show that, in the same year, Ashel Turrell, son of
Nathan, with his brother Nathan, went from the town to the army in New
York or Canada. Caleb Turrill, Enoch Turrill, Isaac Turrill, sons of
Caleb Terrell, also went in the same organization. John Terrell is
mentioned as being in the war (1761), but I judge that to be a mistake,
as there was no John Terrell in the town of New Milford of age
sufficient to answer that call.
The Eleventh Company of the Fourth Regiment was commanded by Captain
Josiah Canfield, the Regiment being commanded by Colonel Wooster. There
appear the names of Ashel, son of Nathan Terrell, and of Enoch, son of
Caleb Turrill.
In the Tenth Company of the Second Regiment (Colonel Nathaniel
Whiting’s) commanded by Captain Gideon Stoddard, the name of William
Drinkwater appears. The following New Milford names are scattered
through the Second, Third and Fourth Connecticut regiments: Bronson,
Baldwin, Beach, Bardsley, Beebe, Bennett, Boardman, Booth, Buck, Buell
(David, afterward a Revolutionary soldier) Bostwick, Camp, Comstock,
Couch, Crane, Curtis, Drinkwater, and Ferris.
Captain Joseph Canfield raised a company in 1758, of which Jeremiah
Canfield was the drummer. The last edition of the Colonial Records
(issued only a year or so ago), the best existing authority upon the
period, gives merely the names of the members of this company and the
length of their service, with dates of enlistment and of discharge.
Exactly what rôle they played it is impossible now to find out. There
are many traditions in the families of their doings, but these family
traditions are not as full as those of the Revolution, which, following
so quickly, effaced memories which would otherwise have survived. There
are some tales of Bill Drinkwater, of Stephen Terrell, and Thomas
Drinkwater, but they are so indefinite that all which can be gleaned
from them is that these men went as far as Quebec, and were in the
battle on the Heights of Abraham, and, possibly, in some of the others.
Most of the members of this company must have returned, as their names
appear in the town affairs after this period. There is no record of any
loss of life, so far as I have been able to find, among the New Milford
men who participated in the French and Indian War. Very little
disturbance from Indians occurred in the vicinity of New Milford during
this war; there is but one instance of trouble, I think, recorded. A
very good understanding with the Indians was attained by the warm
friendship between Waramaug, chief of all the tribes of the region, and
the New Milford minister, Rev. Mr. Boardman, who attended old Waramaug
on his deathbed. Quite an interesting tale is told of his death, but
that will probably be recorded in another place. After the close of the
French and Indian War there seems to have been little military activity
in New Milford, except the keeping up of the two companies under the
rigorous acts of the Colonial Guard. These were officered and drilled as
they had been from their formation. It is not till the period of the
Revolution is reached that the town takes on very much of a military
character.
Canfield, Bostwick and Noble seem to have been the most prominent names
in military affairs during the Colonial period.
The first company of which mention is made in connection with the
Revolution is that of Lieutenant Ebenezer Couch, who served in the
regiment of Colonel Andrew Ward. This company does not appear at all in
either the Connecticut War Book or the rolls of the Connecticut
Historical Society. The first notice of Ebenezer Couch in the
Connecticut War Book is of his commanding a company of Colonel
Canfield’s regiment at West Point and Peekskill in 1777. The only record
of the company is in a roll which was in the possession of the late
Colonel William J. Starr of New Milford, and which, I suppose, was among
his papers when he died. It was raised in May, 1775. The names of its
members are given in the roll of New Milford men in the Revolution,
which is appended to this article and need not be repeated here.
Its history is rather indefinite. It seems to have been raised for the
Lexington alarm, but, being too late for that purpose, it probably went
to the Sound or to New York. The date of its discharge does not appear
on any record, but most of the men are soon found on the rolls of other
companies in the service.
In July, 1775, a company was formed in New Milford, commanded by Captain
Isaac Bostwick, who was first commissioned on the sixteenth of that
month and, later, was recommissioned at Boston. It joined the regiment
of Colonel Charles Webb, under the name of the Seventh Connecticut Levy,
served along the Sound, and then went to the siege of Boston. Its term
of service was to expire in December, 1775. About the time it was to be
discharged, it was reorganized as the Nineteenth Regiment of Connecticut
Line, enlisted for one year. Most of the men of Captain Bostwick’s
company, as well as those of Lieutenant Couch’s company, appear in the
new organization. The company and regiment remained at the siege of
Boston until after the evacuation of that place by the British, when
they accompanied General Washington to New York, going by land as far as
New London and thence by boat. They were put to work at first upon the
fortifications of New York, then, on the completion of that work, they
were taken over to Brooklyn, and were employed, on the left of the line,
in completing the fortifications there. They were not engaged in the
battle of Long Island, but they covered the retreat, after that
disaster, and played an important part in the subsequent movements about
New York. They rendered some aid to the Brigade of Connecticut Militia
in the disastrous affair of Kipp’s Bay, moved with the army across the
Harlem to Westchester, and were hotly engaged, with considerable loss,
in the battle of White Plains.
After this battle, and before the capture of Fort Washington, they were
brought down to Spuyten Duyvil creek, just at its junction with the
Hudson, and were kept there furnishing guards, orderlies and escorts
for the movements about the fort. While the Jumel mansion (then the old
Morris house) was being used as the American Headquarters, many of
Captain Bostwick’s men were frequently on duty about the place as guards
and orderlies. The following is a tradition for which the only authority
is the stories told by the old soldiers around John Turrill’s fireside
many years after: During the engagement of the British with Fort
Washington, a sergeant’s guard under the command of David Buell of New
Milford, which had been placed at a picket station near the base of
Inwood Hill, were separated, by the rapid advance of the Hessians up the
Harlem River (a movement, which, but for the quickness of a soldier’s
wife at the Morris house, would have resulted in the capture of General
Washington), from their regiment across the creek and obliged to fall
back to Fort Washington. Being hotly pursued by the advancing enemy,
they were forced to take cover under the banks of the Hudson, to avoid
the fire of almost an entire regiment. A small party of the Hessians
endeavored to cut off their retreat to the fort and one of them
succeeded in jumping down the bank in front of the New Milford men.
Roger Blaisdell was in the advance, and, as the German stumbled down the
bank in front of him, pushed him with a thrust of his bayonet into the
river and the party reached temporary safety in Fort Washington.
The Fort was soon captured by the British, however, and our New Milford
men found themselves in the unfortunate position of prisoners of war.
The prisoners, according to the stories told by them afterward, were
moved down to a point about where Union Square is now, and were there
confined in a barn, for three days, before any food was given them.
Then, wagons from the British slaughter-houses arrived, loaded with the
hock bones of the cattle killed for the British troops. These wagons
having been backed up to the door of the barn, the hock bones were
shoveled in on the floor, while the prisoners scrambled for what they
could get. It is said that their hunger was so great that they seized
the bones and gnawed them as a dog would. They were kept for three days
in this barn, and were then conveyed down to that much-dreaded place of
confinement, the Old Sugar House Prison, a sugar store-house, which was
between Ann and Fulton streets. It was a building with a large central
portion, and had two wings which projected on either side of a little
courtyard. There were no cellars and the floor was of puncheons (hewn
logs eight or ten inches thick) laid loose on the floor timbers. It was
very strongly constructed in order that it might sustain the weight of
the heavy casks of sugar and molasses which came from the West Indies.
The place where our twelve New Milford men slept was just inside one of
the doors. The two projecting rooms on either side were occupied by the
guard of the prison and the officers, respectively. A sentry paced up
and down the front from the guard room to the room of the officers. The
provisions furnished to the prisoners were exceedingly scanty and of so
poor a quality that they had been condemned as unfit for the use of the
soldiers and sailors of the British army. Their rations consisted mainly
of moldy and wormy pilot bread. This régime, following the “bone diet”
of the barn, soon reduced them to the verge of starvation. These poor
Continentals had little or no money with which to purchase favors and
they were soon in a very bad way. The British profited by this situation
to try to get the Americans to renounce the Patriot cause and enlist in
the British army. A guinea a head was offered to each British soldier
who would induce a rebel to join their cause. The English guard was well
fed and it was very tantalizing to our New Milford men to see the burly
Englishmen enjoying their abundant repasts. Necessity is the mother of
invention, however, and our men soon formed a plan to obtain some of the
much coveted food. The cooking for the guard was done in the room
occupied by them and a limited amount of provisions was, from time to
time, brought there. Late one afternoon, a half-barrel of mess pork was
brought in and opened for use, and left standing under the charge of the
sentry for the night. This was our boys’ opportunity and, as soon as the
other prisoners were sound asleep, they very quietly raised one of the
logs in their floor space and scooped out a little hole in the sand
underneath. A place having been thus prepared for their expected booty,
they then proceeded to get the much desired pork. The night was so dark
that a man could not be recognized at any distance and this was much in
their favor. Roger Blaisdell quietly approached the sentry and,
explaining that he was tired of starving, asked to be told where he
could go to enlist in the British army, adding that he did not dare to
come when the other prisoners were awake. The sentry, overjoyed at the
prospect of the guinea, and fearing that, if he let the man go, some
other would secure the much-coveted prize, told Blaisdell to walk up and
down his beat with him until he should be relieved, when he would take
him to the officer of the day. Accordingly, they paced up and down the
sentry’s beat until, when a good opportunity occurred at the point
farthest from the quarters of the guard, Blaisdell hit his companion a
blow behind the ear which would have felled an ox and which knocked the
sentry senseless. The men, who were on the watch, rushed to the pork
barrel, scooped out an armful of pork each, quickly deposited it in the
hole that they had prepared, replaced the plank, and dropped down upon
it, snoring to beat a bass drum. Of course an alarm was raised and the
prisoners were turned out, but the sentry was too much shaken up by the
blow to be able to tell much about the matter. The loss of the pork was
not discovered that night, if at all, so there was nothing to direct
attention to the men, and they escaped detection. Each night, while the
other prisoners were sleeping, the enterprising twelve would quietly
raise the plank and have a meal of raw salt pork. In after days, those
of the group who survived the prison experiences (particularly Sergeant
David Buell) used to refer to their prison pork as the sweetest food
that they had ever eaten, and for years the standing toast at their
reunions was, “To Roger Blaisdell’s pork barrel.”
Within the last few months I have compared my recollections with those
of other descendants of these men and have found that the traditions of
these events agree so nearly as to warrant the belief that there was
much truth in the stories told by the old veterans.
After being confined for a number of weeks in the sugar house, the
prisoners were taken to the prison ship _Dutton_. Two hundred of them
were transported to Milford and put ashore there. Twenty were dead
before the vessel arrived and twenty more died very soon after. All the
forty are buried in the graveyard of that place. Of the twelve men of
New Milford, tradition narrates the return of only four, Roger
Blaisdell, David Buell, William Drinkwater and Lyman Noble. Through
friends in Milford, they were able to secure a horse, and thus worked
their way back to New Milford, reaching there about March, 1777. This
group was eliminated from Captain Isaac Bostwick’s company and did no
further service until their companions came home from the successful
fields of Trenton and Princeton. Shortly after the fall of Fort
Washington, the regiment containing Captain Bostwick’s company was
ordered to Philadelphia. It was with Washington at Germantown before the
army went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. Its term of service was
to expire December 20, 1776. But Washington was then planning the move
which ended in the crossing of the Delaware at Trenton, and many of its
members remained in service, at his personal request, for a six weeks’
campaign.
Most of the men of Captain Bostwick’s company were with Washington and
crossed the Delaware on the twenty-fifth of December, 1776, and, on the
early morning of that day, they were in the battle of Trenton, where
they assisted in the capture of the Hessian regiment. They were engaged
in the succeeding battle at Princeton, January 3, 1777, and were finally
discharged on the first of February, 1777, when they returned to New
Milford.
Captain Bostwick appeared as a leader in the Danbury alarm. With him was
John Terrell and David Buell, who had so far recovered from his prison
experiences as to join his old companions on that occasion. Roger
Blaisdell does not appear, but Bill Drinkwater does. With them was a New
Milford man who had been in Captain Couch’s first company, one Ruben
Phillips. Ruben Phillips was a colored man, living in New Milford, who
had evidently been the cook in Captain Bostwick’s company. The
descendants of Ruben Phillips were living, in my time, in the little
house where the road goes up Chicken Hill toward Bridgewater, and this
family knew that their ancestor had been in the Revolution with my
grandfather. A descendant of this Phillips, Chester Phillips by name,
volunteered in the Twenty-ninth Connecticut Infantry in the War of the
Rebellion and was killed in front of Petersburg, Virginia. Truly the
Revolutionary blood of New Milford was as good in the black man as in
the white.
The group from Captain Bostwick’s company were engaged four days in the
Danbury alarm. The following story regarding this little band is extant:
The British had commenced their retreat from Danbury by way of
Ridgefield and these men were following them up very earnestly, pressing
close upon a grenadier regiment which was the rear guard of the British
force. John Terrell, William Noble, Bill Drinkwater and David Buell
rushed together up one side of the famous rock in Ridgefield, while the
grenadiers were still on the other side. One of them (which one I do not
know), showing himself imprudently, was shot by the British grenadiers.
Of the truth of this story I have never been able to learn. It is firmly
believed in and about Ridgefield and also in New Milford. There is a
plate on the rock, I think, commemorating the death of one of the
company.
A number of men from New Milford were in the company of Captain Daniel
Pendleton of Watertown, which belonged to the regiment of Colonel
Judthon Baldwin, a regiment of artificers that served under the
direction of the Quarter-Master-General as a Construction Corps. This
regiment was in all the engagements of the war except those about Boston
and those of the northern army above Albany, in more engagements, in
fact, than any other body of Connecticut troops. In 1780, when General
Green took command of the Southern Department, he requested that Captain
Pendleton’s company be sent to him. The company joined him, as
requested, and was the only body of Connecticut men that served south
of Virginia. It was on duty there until the disbanding of the army in
November, 1783.
This was the only considerable group of men that went as a body from New
Milford after the first two companies; perhaps it might be called the
third company. The enlistments were for short periods and the changes
were quite frequent, until 1778 and 1779, when enlistments began to be
made for three years or the war.
New Milford is credited on the Connecticut War Records and the
Connecticut Historical Society’s rolls with two hundred and eighty-five
men in the war, many of whom served two and three, and some even four
terms of enlistment.
While these soldiers of the Revolution were in the field doing military
duty, their fathers and brothers were at home laboring for their
support; not so easy a task when it is remembered that in the first
three years of the war the Colony of Connecticut paid for the
maintenance and equipment of her troops in the field, for the damage to
her people in the British raids of Danbury and Norwalk, the immense sum
of £516,606. During the last four years of the war the Continental
Congress fixed Connecticut’s share of the expenses of the war at
$1,800,000 a year. At times the tax rates were three shillings on the
pound. The eight years of the war were years of toil and suffering to
those on the sterile hill-farms, where the striving and stress were
about as great as in the midst of the dangers of the battle-field.
Indeed, much of the war had come to these farmers’ very doors, for the
Tories of Squash Hollow and the Quakers of Quaker Hill and Straits
Mountain had not proved themselves exactly the men of peace that they
professed to be.
The leading family of New Milford in the Revolution was the Bostwicks.
There were ten of the name in the service during the war--Amos,
Benjamin, Elijah, Elisha, Ebenezer, Isaac, Israel, Joel, Oliver and
Solomon. The next was the Turrills, of whom there are nine on the
records--Ashel, Caleb, Ebenezer, Enoch, Isaac, Joel, John, Nathan and
Stephen. The Canfields have seven names to their credit--Amos, Ezra,
John, Josiah, Moses, Nathaniel and Samuel--and the Baldwins,
four--Jared, John, Jonas and Theodore.
It would be impossible to give all the actions in which New Milford men
were concerned during the Revolution without giving a history of the
entire war. Some of the marked battles in which they were engaged were
those about Philadelphia, the Mud Forts, Germantown and Monmouth. They
participated in the crossing of the Delaware from Princeton and, later,
were at the surrender of Germantown. New Milford men were with Morgan at
Saratoga and tradition says that they were at the capture of Ticonderoga
and Crown Point, with Ethan Allen. Colonel Warner of Roxbury, the
companion of Allen, who was well and favorably known in New Milford, had
many friends, some of whom may have gone with him on that expedition.
There may be some truth in this story, therefore, as it is extant.
According to one of the legends current in Western Connecticut, a troop
of New Milford and Roxbury men on their way to the Hampshire Grants to
join Ethan Allen, assembled at New Milford. Their first morning’s march
was up the Housatonic to a little spring which comes out near the
present railroad a short distance below Merwinsville. There, they were
met by Deacon Gaylord, who had crossed the river from his place in a
canoe, with a lunch, which included a bottle of applejack, and a jug of
hard cider. He distributed these liquid refreshments so freely, deacon
though he was, that the party were quite jolly before they moved on to
their night camp, which was to be at Bull’s Bridge. Whatever may be the
truth of this story, it is evident that the New Milford men’s eyes were
turned very much toward the Northern Department, and that many of them
served in the operations of that department.
New Milford men were present at the famous charge of Mad Anthony Wayne
at Stony Point. A company of pioneers was selected to go forward and cut
away the pickets in order to facilitate the advance of the charging
column up into the fort. There is a tradition that Lieutenant David
Buell was one of these pioneers, and, as he was in the engagement, the
tradition is probably correct. The pioneers, having cut away the
pickets, scattered to the right and left, in accordance with their
orders, leaving the way open for the charging column, which began the
ascent. The cannoneer of the fort was swinging his linstock to fire a
cannon which pointed right down the line. History gives it that, at this
critical moment, one of the pioneers rushed forward with his axe and
knocked the cannoneer over before he was able to apply the linstock,
thus saving the expedition; and legend claims that this pioneer was
Sergeant David Buell. Legend goes on to say that, in the fort at Stony
Point, the Continental soldiers found a number of Tories (some from the
vicinity of New Milford) who had retired thither for protection. These
Tories were paraded about the fort with ropes around their necks and
David Buell, as a mark of distinction, led the procession, holding a
rope around the neck of the most valiant and troublesome Tory. David
Buell received a pension for his services and was long a resident of New
Milford, where, I believe, he is buried. His house was on Second Hill,
and, in his advanced years, he did little but travel about among his
friends, frequently stopping for some time with a sister who lived in
“Pug Lane” (now Park Lane). His favorite resort, when he was with his
sister, was Mr. Cushman’s Tavern, which is still standing on the road
going up to Second Hill and Northville. It was his morning custom to go
over to the tavern and meet his friends there. It was observed that,
whenever an Englishman and Tory happened into Cushman’s place, David
Buell immediately left. He would go home and say “Umph! an Englishman
was there; I could not stay.” Another favorite gathering place of many
of these old soldiers was at the home of John Turrill, and it was there
that they celebrated the anniversaries. Their habit was to gather in the
morning, go and make a call on Captain Isaac Bostwick, drink a glass of
wine, and then return to dinner at John Turrill’s home, where they would
afterward tell their stories. Many of these stories were quite lurid,
possibly by reason of the quantity and quality of John Turrill’s hard
cider and applejack; for John, although extremely temperate himself, is
said never to have stinted his former companions in arms either in food
or drink.
Stephen Turrill was another noted man in the regiments. He belonged at
first to the company of Ebenezer Couch, but, soon after drifted into a
number of organizations from New Milford which served about West Point.
He was in that part of the country for nearly two years. There are
numberless stories of his encounters with the Tories. One of these is as
follows: A band to which he was attached, while marching through the
lower part of the Debatable Land, came to the house of a Dutch Tory.
They wanted something to eat and asked the woman of the house if she
could give them some milk or anything. She very gruffly told them that
there was nothing in the house to eat, that she had nothing for the
Rebels. Just then, something called her out of doors for a minute, and
the soldiers saw that, over the fireplace, in a large pot, the dinner
was boiling. Stephen Turrill’s inquisitive mind determined to know what
was in that pot. Accordingly, he pulled off the lid, saw a fine bag
pudding, pulled it out, put it in his haversack, and marched away. The
woman quickly discovered her loss and came crying that the Rebels had
stolen her pudding. The sergeant in command marched by his men and then
told the woman there was no evidence of her pudding there; but, after
she had retreated a short distance, he said “Turrill, did you get that
woman’s pudding?” “Yes,” said he, “here it is in my haversack.” The
company passed on and dined sumptuously.
Scattered over the Debatable Land were little guard houses, in each of
which a guard was kept for a week at a time, to intercept the approach
of British or Tories. These guard houses usually consisted of two rooms,
a front and back one. On one occasion----
[General Turrill’s narrative of “New Milford in the Wars,” was
tragically cut short at this point by his sudden death in the office of
the Grafton Press, where he was dictating it. It has seemed more fitting
to leave this narrative in its unfinished condition, as a sort of
memorial to him, than to have it completed by another. Any
inconsistencies that may exist in it may be attributed to the fact that
it did not have the benefit of his correction and revision.--EDITOR.]
[Illustration: HENRY STUART TURRILL
Brig. Gen. U. S. Army]
THE COLONIAL WARS
The names given in the rolls of the Connecticut Historical Society are
as follows:
RANK. NAME, COMPANY, AND REGIMENT. LEVY.
Privt. Ashmon, Justus, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
Sergt. Baldwin, Israel, 11th Co., 3rd Reg. “
Lieut. Baldwin, Hezekiah, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759
Privt. Baldwin, Ashael, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. “
“ Baldwin, Benjamin, 3rd Co., 1st Reg. 1762
“ Baldwin, Joseph, 10th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ Ball, Joseph, 1st Co., 2nd Reg. 1759
“ Baker, Thomas, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ Bartholomew, Lemuel, 2nd Co., 2nd Reg. “
“ Bartholomew, Noah, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Beach, John, 1st Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Beardsley, Amos, 2nd Co., 2nd Reg. “
“ Beecher, Nathaniel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Bell, Robert, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Benedict, Ezra, 11th Co., 2nd Reg. “
“ Beeman, Benjah, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Bisbee, Joseph, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Bliss, Gillum, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Botchford, Elnathan, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Bostwick, Elijah, 2nd Co., 3rd Reg. “
“ Bostwick, Joseph, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Bostwick, Robert, Jr.[2]
Drummer Bostwick, Zadoch, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759
Corp. Brownson, Benjamin, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. “
Privt. Brownson, John, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ Brownson, Abram, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Brownson, Israel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Brownson, John, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Birch, Joseph, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Bradley, Jahuel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Bryan, Augustus, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
Privt. Buck, Bethial, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ Buck, David, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Buck, Daniel, 11th Cc., 4th Reg. “
“ Botchford, Elnathan, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Buell, David, 6th Co., 2nd Reg. 1759
“ Buell, Abel, 6th Co., 2nd Reg. “
“ Bunce, John, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
Capt. Canfield, Joseph, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
Privt. Canfield, Nathan, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
Drummer Canfield, Jeremiah, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
Privt. Canfield, Josiah, 2nd Co., 4th Reg. “
Lieut. Castle, Phineas, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
Privt. Carter, Elezer, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Chittenden, Isaac, 6th Co., 2nd Reg. 1759
“ Chittenden, Timothy, 6th Co., 2nd Reg. “
“ Clark, Roger, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ Colhoon, David, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
Drummer Cogswell, Edward, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
Privt. Cogswell, Asa, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Collengs, Daniel, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759
“ Curtis, Elezer, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ Daton, Amos, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Dayton, Daniel, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759
“ Dean, John, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ Deveraux, Jonathan, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Divine, Timothy, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Divene, Nathaniel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Dean, Uriah, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Dinsmore, Samuel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Douglas, Dominey, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759
“ Downs, David[3]
“ Drinkwater, Thomas, 10th Co., 2nd Reg. 1758
“ Drinkwater, William, 10th Co., 2nd Reg. “
“ Durkee, David, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
Privt. Downs, Jonathan, Col. Nath. Whiting’s Reg. 1762
“ Fairchild, Jesse, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759
“ Ferris, Zachariah, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. “
“ Fisher, Henry, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ Fisher, Moses, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759
“ Foot, David, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ Galusha, Jacob, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Gould, William, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Green, David, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Gurney, John, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Guthrie, Ephraim, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Hamblin, Simon, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Hamlin, Joel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Hawley, Jeptha, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Hawley, Benjamin, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759
Corp. Hawkins, Zadoc, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
Privt. Harris, David, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
Clerk Hine, Abel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
Privt. Hall, David, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759
“ Hitchcock, David, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ Hitchcock, Isaac, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Hill, Silas, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Hinman, Benjamin, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Hurd, Lovel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Hurd, Noah, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Hurlbutt, Aaron, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Hurlburt, Elijah, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Hurlburt, Josiah, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Johnson, Moses, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Jones, Joseph, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759
“ Lake, Gresslone, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ Latimer, Thomas, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Lynes, Joseph, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759
“ Manville, Daniel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ Manville, John, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Mun, Gideon, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
Privt. Murray, John, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ North, Thomas, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Oviatt, Thomas, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Owen, David, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Parish, Jacob, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Peet, Jaihael, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Pike, Daniel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Phelps, James, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
Sergt. Prindle, Joseph, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
Privt. Read, David, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Robbards, Eli, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
Capt. Ruggles, Benjamin, 12th Co., 2nd Reg. 1759
Privt. Rayment, Samuel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ Sanford, Nathan, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Sanford, ( )ade, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Sawyer, Jess., 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Squire, Solomon, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Smith, Joseph, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759
“ Stone, Benjamin, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
Chaplain Taylor, Rev. Nathaniel, 2nd Reg. 1762
Privt. Taylor, Abram.[4]
“ Terrell, Nathan, 2nd Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ Terrell, Ashael, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Terrill, Ebenezer, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759
“ Turrill, Enoch, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ Turrill, Caleb, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Turrill, Isaac, 7th Co., 2nd Reg. 1759
“ Turrill, Stephen.[5]
“ Tuttle, Andrew, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ Walker, Gideon, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Walker, Zachariah, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
“ Warner, Benjamin, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759
“ Warner, Martin, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. “
“ Warner, Solomon.[6]
Privt. Wallis, Benjamin, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759
“ Welton, John, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ Wright, Solomon, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758
“ Wood, Elisha, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “
THE REVOLUTION
The following is the roll of men on the various records as having had
service in the Revolution who are accredited to New Milford:
Muster roll of a company said to have been raised in New Milford and to
have formed a part of Colonel Andrew Ward’s regiment of Connecticut
Militia, as given in Orcutt’s New Milford:
Lieut. Ebenezer Couch, Lieut. Elizur Bostwick, Ensign Noble Hine, Clerk
Benjamin Bostwick, Sergt. David Whittlesey, Sergt. Benjamin Weller,
Sergt. Mathew Bronson, Sergt. Oliver Bostwick, Corp. Gideon Morgan,
Corp. Uri Jackson, Corp. Nathaniel Cole, Corp. William Nichols, Corp.
Lemuel Thayer, Drummer Eleazer Hendrix, Fifer David Ruggles, Fifer John
Couch.
Privates--Nathan Averill, Benjamin Adams, Salmon Bostwick, John Baldwin,
John Beach, Israel Bostwick, David Buell, Jared Baldwin, David Bosworth,
Caleb Barnes, Mathias Beeman, Stiles Bradley, Joel Bostwick, John
Canfield, Jesse Camp, Jonathan Crittenden, Elija Cary, Israel Camp,
Samuel Copley, Ezra Dunning, Jedadiah Durkee, Caswell Dean, Thomas
Drinkwater, Stephen Evitts, Asa Farrand, William Foot, Jonathan Gray,
Epenetus Gunn, Elnathan Gregory, Liverus Hawley, Ashael Hotchkis, Lewis
Hunt, Richard Johnson, John Keeler, Nathan Keeler, David Keeler,
Jonathan Lumm, Joseph Mygatt, Lyman Noble, Ephram Minor, David Porter,
Samuel Prince, Amos Prime, Ruben Phillips, William Peet, John Rood,
Isaac M. Ruggles, Aziah Robbards, Nathan Rowley, Liffe Sanford, Asa
Starkweather, Jonah Todd, Ebenezer Trowbridge, John Turrill, Stephen
Turrill, William Whitley, Nathan Wildman, Cooley Weller, Abel Wilkins.
Roll of Captain Isaac Bostwick’s company, Seventh Company, Sixth
Regiment, of Connecticut Line: Colonel Charles Webb; Capt. Isaac
Bostwick; Lieut. Hulbutt; Ensign Amos Bostwick; Sergts. Gideon Noble,
Simeon Porter, Simon Mills, Elisha Bostwick, Sowl. Barnum; Corps. Samuel
Bennett, Harmon White, Ebenezer Barnum, Seth Hall; Drummers Eleazor
Hendrix, Calvin Pease; Fifers Nathan Avery, Theodore Baldwin, David
Roch; Privates Nathan Avery, Theodore Baldwin, David Beach, Elizur
Bostwick, Joseph Bates, Jonathan Brown, Reuben Bellamy, Ashel Case, John
D. Comstalk, Timothy Cole, Aaron Curtis, Hedekiah Clerk, Thadeus Cole,
Charles Chapen, Joseph Clerk, Ashael Dean, Jeremiah Douchey, David
Everist, James Gates, John Green, Hedakiah Gray, Daniel Grinnel, Amaziah
Griswold, Joseph Hawley, Levit How, William Hale, Abner Kelsey, John
Lewis, Simeon Lyman, David Lyon, Joseph Murray, Samuel Millar, Ruben
Mager, Josiah Munger, Ruben Philips, Rufus Partridge, Howard E. Prince,
Jeruel Philips, Phineas Palmer, John Smith, Cordeal Smith, Isaac Smith,
Caleb Swetland, Job Tousley, Ruben Taylor, Absolem Taylor, Gamaliel
Terrey, Benjamin Thomas, John Walter, Thomas Woodward, Cornelius
Whitney, Samuel Waters.
Men who crossed the Delaware with Capt. Isaac Bostwick of New Milford,
December 25, 1776, and were in the battle of Trenton and the succeeding
battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777: Lieuts. Hulbutt, Elisha Bostwick;
Sergts. Brownson, Beach; Ensign Amos Bostwick; Corps. Thayer, Grover,
Bell; Drummer Gunn; Fifer Humstead; Privates Jeptha Bartholomew, Luther
Bartholomew, Isaac Brownson, Moses Camp, Moses Canfield, William
Cressey, Jonathan Crittenden, Hezakiah Clark, Jonathan Davidson, Francis
Fields, Aaron Foot, Moses Hurd, Robert Nichols, George Norton, Elisha
Phiney, Ruben Pitcher, Asa Prince, Wills Sherwood, John Turrill.
Officers and men from New Milford who served in the Sixth Company of the
Fourth Regiment, Continental Line: Capt. Josiah Starr; Sergt. John
Stevens; Privates Oliver Bostwick, Josiah Buck, Dar. Barns, William
Beal, Asa Beal, Michael Beach, Amos Beach, Jas. Brown, Josiah Brooks,
Herman Smith, Ephram Alderman, Domini Douglass, Jabes Frizbee, Oring
Ferriss, Elihu Grant, Levi Hunt, Christo. Hington, Geo. Lummis, Eben
Lewis, Jere McCarte, Nathan Nichols, Oliver Phelps, Jos. Phelps, Lemuel
Peete, Timoth. Stanley, Benajah Smith, Geo. A. Smith, John Seeley,
Nathl. Stewart, Enos Scott, Zimri Skinner, Joseph Thair, John Tuff,
Ezekiel Towner, Lem Walter, Jos. Worden, Amos Mc’Kinnee, Robt. Brown,
William Drinkwater, Jonathan Mayo.
New Milford men who served in Lieutenant-Colonel Josiah Starr’s
Regiment, Connecticut Line: Lieut. Col. Josiah Starr, Comd. Reg. and
Co.; Lieuts. Augustine Thayer, James Bennett; Ensign Josiah Buck; Sergt.
Oliver Bostwick; Privates Caleb Maxfield, Leef Sanford, Eleazor
Hendricks, Ebenezer Bostwick, Solomon Bostwick, David Cole, Prince
Crosley, Leverus Hawley, Samuel Hubble, Prime Hubble, Sep Hubble, Titus
Heart, Stephen Headges, James Higgins, William Handy, Ira Hotchkis,
Benjamin Heart, Aaron Hall, Ely Nichols, Robert Nichols, Samuel
Nettleton, Holan Nettleton, Samuel Phillips, Jurel Phillips, Elijah
Parker, Elab Parker, Nehimiah Piffany.
New Milford men who were in Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Canfield’s
Regiment of Connecticut Militia, at West Point, in 1781: Lieut-Col.
Samuel Canfield, comd.; Quartermaster Jonah Baldwin; Surgeon Dr. George
Hurd; Capt. Ebenezer Couch, Comd. Co.; Privates Ruben Brownson, Elijah
Hoyt, John Case, Andrew Merwin, Stephen Bennett, Benjamin Mead, Ebenezer
Couch, Jr., Asa Read, Simeon Taylor, David Merwin, Henry Straight, Ruben
Hurlbut.
New Milford men who served in Connecticut Regiment of Pioneers: Colonel
Judthon Baldwin; Capt. Daniel Pendleton, Comd. of Co. in which the New
Milford men were engaged; Sergt. David Porter; Privates Jessie Cole,
John Eggleston, Isaac Turrill, Jonathan Wilkinson, Ashael Turrill, James
Bradshaw, John Turner, Lyman Mott, Samuel Oviatt, Abel Wilkenson, Isaac
Mott, Samuel Turner.
New Milford men who served in Col. Moses Hazen’s Regiment, Connecticut
Militia: Capt. Jeremiah Parmelie’s Co.: Michael Welch, Jabes Tomlinson.
New Milford men who served in the Fifth Troop, Shelden’s Dragoons:
Sergt. Liffe Sanford, David Buell.
New Milford men who served in Second Regiment, Connecticut Line: Col.
Herman Swift; in Capt. Samuel Comstalk’s Co., Squire Davenport; in Capt.
Richard’s Co., Ezerah Canfield, David Cole; in Capt. Belden’s Co., David
Johnson, Moses Scott, Mathew Stewart.
A company of forty volunteers was raised in the towns of New Milford,
Newtown, and Danbury, in December, 1776. The officers were: Capt.
Benjamin Brownson, Lieut. Shadrack Hubble, Ensign Benjamin Seeley. The
names of the privates are not given in the records.
In General David Waterbury’s State Regiment, Captain Charles Smith’s
Company, were the following New Milford men: Sergt. Josiah Barnes;
Drummer Eleazer Hendricks; Fifer Oliver Mead; Privates Nathan Murray,
Benton Buck, John Ingersol, Achillies Comstalk, Amos Canfield, Daniel
Davis, Jonathan Beecher, Isaac Utter, Mingo Treat, John Warner, Jonathan
Jessup.
In Lieutenant John Phelps’ Troop of Horse was Private Nathaniel Canfield
of New Milford.
In Colonel Benjamin Hinman’s Fourth Regiment, Continental Line, Sixth
Company, Capt. Josiah Starr, were the following New Milford men: Sergt.
John Stevens; Privates Oliver Bostwick, Herman Smith, Asa Brownson,
Josiah Brooks, Ephraim Alderman, Josiah Buck.
In Colonel Herman Swift’s Second Regiment, Continental Line, in Captain
Kimberly’s Company, served from January until June, 1783, the following
New Milford men: Sergeants Charles McDonald, Ebinezer Bostwick; Drummer
Job Hawkins; Privates Isaac Lockwood, Bostwick Ruggles, and John McCoy.
The following New Milford men served under Lieutenant Colonel Canfield
in the Tryon invasion: Benjamin Stone, Nathaniel Barnes, William
Cogswell, Ebenezer Couch, Noble Hine, Ruben Bostwick, Adam Hurlburt.
The members of the Society of Cincinnati from New Milford were Colonel
Josiah Starr, Lieutenant James Bennett, and Lieutenant David Beach.
THE WAR OF 1812
The list of men from New Milford who served in the regular army during
the War of 1812, taken from the rolls of the Adjutant General’s office,
is as follows:
Lieutenant Thomas Weller; Privates, Hedekiah Baldwin, Theopholus
Baldwin, Joseph C. Barnes, Rufus Beeman, Samuel Bunnel, Charles H.
Crampton, Kneeland Edwards, Philo Gregory, Joseph Hawley, Stephen
Hawley, Abram Hunt, Warren Hyde, Ithamer Lane, Benjamin Lee, James Lee,
Stephen Lyon, Seth Nelson, Ebinezer Reynolds, John Saxton, Stephen
Seignor, Caleb Shelden, Peleg Slocum, Levi Smith, Eliakim Stow, Samuel
Summers, Jonathan Tharrs, Benjamin Warner, Harry Wakelee, William S.
Wakelee, Thomas W. Way, Squire Whitney, Shelden Wooden.
The War Records of Connecticut do not give the places from which the
Militia and Volunteers came, so it is impossible to tell exactly how
many New Milford men participated in the war. The names of Baldwin,
Barnes, Bartholomew, Bassett, Beech, Buck, Buell, Bostwick, Booth,
Canfield, Comstock, Noble, Starr, Taylor, Turrill, and many other New
Milford names are upon the rolls, but just how many are to be credited
to the town it is impossible to say.
THE MEXICAN WAR
The names of the men from New Milford who served in the Mexican War,
taken from the rolls of the Adjutant General’s office, were:
Henry Burrhants, Sherman Crosby, Albert Morey, Abner M. Philips, Ruben
W. Phillips, Warren S. Tenbrok, James Schemmerhorn.
Two other men from the town were, I believe, in that war: Henry Soul,
son of John Soul, who lived at the point of Buck’s Rocks, and Charles
Ford, who afterwards served in the war of 1861.
THE CIVIL WAR
Allen, Charles J., Mus. Co. I, 8th Inft., Dis. Disa., R. E. Co. D, 28th
Inft., deserted.
Allen, William, Pvt. Co. A, 8th Inft., deserted.
Anderson, Charles F., Sergt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Atkins, James, Pvt. Co. D, 6th Inft.
Bailey, Andrew E., Mus. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Bailey, Joseph A., Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.
Baldwin, David A., Pvt. and Lt. Co. I, 8th Inft.
Baldwin, Francis E., Mus. 4th Penn. Cav.
Banker, Miles N., wagoner, Co. E, 12th Inft.
Banker, Philo, Pvt. Co. I, 13th Inft., R. E. V. Co. B, died in service
May 6, 1865.
Bartram, Andrew, Pvt. Co. I, 17th Inft., deserted.
Bartram, Ashbel E., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., Dis. Disa.
Bartram, Charles E., Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.
Bartram, Charles M., Pvt. Co. I, 14th Inft., missing at
Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863, supposed dead.
Bartram, Ferdinand, Mus. 4th Penn. Cav.
Bartram, Oscar F., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., Dis. Disa.
Beardsley, Daniel S., Petty Off. U. S. Navy.
Beeman, Charles E., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Beeman, John A., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Beeman, Rufus, Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Benedict, William E., Pvt. Co. C, 17th Inft., died at Folly Island, S.
C., Nov. 17, 1863.
Bennett, George D., Pvt. Co. I, 2d h. Art.
Bemus, Charles F., Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft., killed at Port Hudson, La.,
June 14, 1863.
Bennoit, Antone, Pvt. Corp. and Sergt. Co. H, 11th Inft.
Birch, George, Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., killed at Sharpsburg, Md., Sept.
17, 1863.
Bishop, Orange P., Pvt. Co. I, 11th Inft., deserted Apr. 4, 1863.
Booth, Charles M., Mus. Band 4th Penn. Cav., Lt. Co. D, 28th Inft.
Booth, Henry, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.
[Illustration: CHARLES D. BLINN
Colonel of 13th Conn. Vols.]
Breen, John, Pvt. Co. K, 15th Inft., Trans. to Co. K, 7th Inft., Sub.
Briggs, Daniel, Pvt. Co. D, 13th Inft., R. E., Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art.,
Dis. Disa., May 4, 1862, Wd. Cedar Creek, Oct. 19, 1864.
Bingham, Charles, Pvt. Co. D, 6th Inft., Sub., deserted Nov. 9, 1864.
Bright, John, Pvt. Co. A, 7th Inft., Sub., deserted March 23, 1865.
Breunel, Charles, Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Dis. Disa. May 29, 1865.
Bronson, Andrew A., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., deserted Aug. 11, 1865.
Bronson, Doctor, Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Bronson, Charles R., Pvt. Co. C, 3d Inft.
Bronson, Francis H., Pvt. 14th Reg. Inft., U. S. A.
Bronson, William N., Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft., died in service July 28,
1863.
Brown, Jackson J., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft.
Brush, Joseph, Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft.
Buck, Andrew N., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., Dis. Disa. May 11, 1862.
Buckingham, Andrew, Sergt. Co. I, 11th Inft., Dis. Disa. Oct. 24, 1862.
Buckingham, Clark, Band 4th Penn. Cav.
Buckingham, Earl, Band Leader, 2d Lieut. 4th Penn. Cav.
Buckingham, Irwin C., Corp. and Sergt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Wd. Oct. 19,
1864, Cedar Creek, Va., Dis. Disa. May 23, 1865.
Buckingham, Orlo H., Mus. and Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Burk, Joseph, Pvt. Co. A, 10th Inft., Sub., deserted June 15, 1865.
Burke, Nicholas, Pvt. Co. M, 2d h. Art., deserted March 25, 1865.
Burns, Edward C., Pvt. Co. C, 8th Inft., Sub., deserted to enemy March
21, 1865.
Burr, Thomas, Pvt, Co. B, 29th Inft., Col’d., Dis. Disa. May 28, 1864.
Cady, Cyrell, Pvt. Co. I, 11th Inft., Dishon. Disc. Dec. 28, 1863.
Caldwell, Smith P., Pvt. Co. K, 13th Inft., Dis. Disa. Jan. 19, 1863.
Calnen, Thomas, Pvt. Co. F, 2d h. Art.
Camp, Edwin, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.
Camp, Edwin T., Pvt. Co. C, 13th Inft., Dis. Disa. Feb. 17, 1863.
Campbell, James, Pvt. Co. A, 5th Inft.
Canfield, William E., Pvt. and Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Carman, George, Pvt. Co. C, 5th Inft., Sub., deserted Nov. 1, 1863.
Carpenter, George E., Sergt. Co. F, 29th Inft., Col’d., Dis.
Disa. May 21, 1864.
Carroll, Edward, Pvt. Co. H, 5th Inft., deserted from 14th
Inft. March 29, 1863; Sub., deserted Oct. 5, 1864.
Clark, Titus, Corp. Co. D, 28th Inft.
Cleggett, Louis A., Corp. Co. K, 29th Inft., Col’d., died
Dec. 25, 1864, Point of Rocks, Va.
Cole, Ferdinand, Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., deserted July 27, 1865.
Cole, Henry S., Pvt. Co. D, 7th Inft., deserted Nov. 11, 1864.
Cole, Hobert, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.
Conlon, John, Pvt. Co. K, 14th Inft., Dis. Disa. Dec. 12, 1863.
Conley, Daniel, Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art., Dis. Disa. May 11, 1864.
Copley, George D., Band 4th Penn. Cav.
Corcoran, William, Pvt. Co. D, 20th Inft., Sub., deserted Oct. 5, 1864.
Conkwright, Alexander, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft., died July 13, 1863, at
Barancas, Fla.
Cummings, James P., Pvt. Co. G, 28th Inft.
Disbrow, David B., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., R. E., Pvt. Co.
H, 2d, h. Art., Dis. Disa. Jan. 15, 1863.
Disbrow, Henry S., Corp. Co. I, 8th Inft.
Disbrow, William E., Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Dix, William, Pvt. Co. E, 8th Inft., Sub., shot for desertion Jan. 8,
1865.
Doane, Edward, Corp. Co. D, 13th Inft., Dis. Disa.
Dodge, Robert, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft., injured at Port
Hudson, La., July, 1863.
Driscoll, Cornelius, Pvt. Co. G, 1st Reg. Cav., Sub., deserted July 1,
1865.
Dubois, Hiram, Corp. Co. K, 2d h. Art.
Dunham, Benjamin F., Pvt. and Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Durand, William, Pvt. Co. I, 11th Inft., Sub., deserted Aug. 25, 1865.
Dutcher, William P., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., Wd. May 7, 1864, Walthall
Junc., Va., Dis. Disa. July 15, 1865.
Erwin, George S., Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Erwin, Robert, Reg. Qm. Sergt. and Co. Qm. Sergt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Wd.
Oct. 19, 1864, at Cedar Creek, Va.
Evans, James H., wagoner Co. C, 13th Inft.
Evits, Oliver B., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Farrel, John, Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., Sub., deserted Feb. 18, 1865.
Farrell, William, Pvt. Co. A, 6th Inft., Sub.
Ferris, Hilliard, Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., died in New Milford July 27,
1862.
Ferris, Jay, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft., died at New Orleans,
La., June 1, 1863.
Ferris, John, Pvt. Co. C, 13th Inft.
Ferris, Robert, Corp. Co. I, 8th Inft., killed at Sharpsburg, Md., Sept.
17, 1862.
Ferris, Stephen, 1st Sergt. Co. D, 28th Inft.
Finn, John, Pvt. Co. I, 10th Inft., Sub.
Fisher, James, Pvt. Co. I, 14th Inft., Sub., deserted Aug. 14, 1864.
Ford, Aaron N., Mus. Co. D, 28th Inft., died at Brashier
City, La., May 22, 1863.
Ford, Charles, Mus. Co. I, 8th Inft., Dis. Disa.
Franklin, Henry J., Pvt. Co. K, 29th Inft., Col’d.
French, Francis L., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Fuller, Alfred E., Mus. Co. D, 28th Inft.
Garlick, Charles, Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., Wd. at Antietam, Md., Sept. 17,
1862.
Gaylord, Charles H., Sergt. and 1st Sergt. Co. C, 13th Inft.
Goodsell, Jerome, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft., deserted Nov. 16, 1862.
Graves, Franklin S., Corp. Co. B, 2d h. Art.
Green, George A., Pvt. Co. K, 28th Inft.
Gregg, John, Pvt. Co. H, 5th Inft.
Gregory, Charles B., Corp. Co. D, 28th Inft., died at Baton
Rouge, La., July 30, 1863.
Gridley, Henry S., Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Wd. Oct. 19, 1864, Cedar
Creek, Va.
Griffin, Edward, Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art., killed June 1, 1864,
at Cold Harbor, Va.
Harrington, George W., Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art., died Feb. 25, 1864, at
Alexandria, Va.
Hartwell, Willis, Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., died Oct. 28, 1864, at
Martinsburgh, Va.
Hatch, Calvin B., Sergt. and Lieut. Co. A, 2d h. Art., killed at Cold
Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864.
Heacock, Richard, Pvt. Co. K, 29th Inft., Col’d.
Healy, James, Pvt. Co. A, 10th Inft., Sub.
Hess, Christian, Pvt. Co. G, 10th Inft.
Higgins, John, Pvt. Co. I, 5th Inft., Sub., deserted Oct. 1, 1863.
Hill, Samuel R., Pvt. and Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Hine, Frederick R., Pvt. Co., 11th Inft., died Feb. 1, 1864, at
Alexandria, Va.
Hoag, David D., Capt. Co. D, 28th Inft., killed at Port
Hudson, June 14, 1863.
Hoag, George W., Pvt. Co. I, 6th Inft., Wd. at Drewry’s
Bluff, Va., May 16, 1864.
Hodge, Homer W., Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cold
Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864.
Hoffman, Herman, Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Hoyt, Charles A., Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cold
Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864.
Hoyt, Denman, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.
Hoyt, Henry R., Corp. and 1st Sergt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Hoyt, Horatio S., Pvt. Sergt. and 1st Sergt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Hunt, Gideon L., Pvt. Co. G, 23d Inft.
Hunt, Merritt, Mus. Co. G, 28th Inft.
Hurd, Charles A., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cedar
Creek, Va., Oct. 19, 1864.
Hurd, Robert B., Pvt. and Corp. Co. E, 1st h. Art., deserted July 28,
1865.
Hutchinson, John, Pvt. Co. I, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cold Harbor, Va., June
1, 1864, at Cedar Creek, Va., Oct. 19, 1864.
Irwin, Charles N., Sergt. and Lieut. Cos. I and E, 8th Inft., Wd. at
Antietam, Md., Sept. 17, 1862, killed at Chapin’s Farm,
Va., Sept. 29, 1864, he having Vol. to remain for that battle after Exp.
of his term of service.
Jacklin, Philip H., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., died at Newbern, N. C., Sept.
23, 1862.
Jackson, Charles W., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., killed at Cold Harbor, Va.,
June 1, 1864.
Jackson, Henry F., Pvt. and Corp. Co. C, 29th Inft., Col’d.
Janks, August, Pvt. Co. B, 11th Inft., Sub., deserted Sept. 6, 1865.
Jennings, Alvin H., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft.
Jennings, David J., Pvt. Co. A, 2d h. Art.
Jennings, Jay, Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., Dis. Disa. Dec. 11, 1862.
Jones, Horace E., Pvt. and Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Judson, Charles, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft., died, Aug. 10, 1863.
Karge, Earnest, Pvt. Co. C, 11th Inft., Sub.
Kinney, Andrew S., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Dis. Disa. Feb. 6, 1863.
Knowles, David W., saddler Co. C, 1st Cav.
Lake, David, Corp. and Sergt. Co. I, 8th Inft., killed at Antietam, Md.,
Sept. 17, 1862.
Lampson, Charles E., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Lampson, Frederick G., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., R. E. Pvt. Co. C, 2d h.
Art., Dis. Disa. Feb. 3, 1863.
Lampson, William, Pvt. Co. G, 28th Inft., died July 21, 1863, at Port
Hudson, La.
Lapoint, Joseph, Pvt. Co. E, 6th Inft.
Lathrop, Herman S., Pvt. Co. A, 2d h. Art.
Lathrop, Orrin F., Pvt. Co. F, 6th Inft.
Lathrop, William G., Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.
Law, Sidney A., Pvt. and Corp. Co. K, 2d h. Art., died Jan. 29, 1865.
Lawrence, Thomas, Pvt. Co. E, 8th Inft., Trans. to Co. A, 10th Inft.,
Sub.
Lefever, Adolph, Pvt. Co. D, 10th Inft., Wd. at Ft. Gregg, Va., Apr. 2,
1865.
Logan, Frederick J., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Dis. Disa. Apr. 12, 1863.
Logan, George E., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., died at Weaverstown, Md., Nov.
15, 1862.
Loverage, Joseph R., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., died at Washington, Sept.
12, 1864.
Loverage, Remus, Mus. Band 4th Penn. Cav.
Loverage, Romulus C., Sergt. and Lieut. Cos. H and B, 2d h. Art.
Loveridge, Royal T., Pvt. Co. E, 1st h. Art.
Lyon, Edward F., Corp., Sergt., and 1st Sergt. Co. H., 2d h. Art.
Lyon, James, Pvt. Co. D, 1st h. Art., Sub., deserted May 21, 1865.
Mallett, Henry W., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Winchester, Va., Sept.
19, 1864.
Malloy, William, Pvt. Co. L, 2d h. Art., died Aug. 22, 1864.
Marsh, Albert N., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Marsh, Charles N., Corp. Co. D, 1st Cav., Wd. and Cap.
at Gordonsville, Va., Aug. 7, 1862, Cap. at Thoroughfare
Gap, Oct. 7, 1862, awarded Medal of Honor.
Marsh, Daniel E., 1st Sergt. and Lieut. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Marsh, Decater D., Corp. Co. D, 28th Inft., died at Barancas,
Fla., Apr. 12, 1863.
Marsh, Edward W., 2d Lieut. Co. H, and Capt. Co. M, 2d h. Art.
Marsh, George W., on Orcutt’s Rolls as being from New
Milford, but on the Conn. Offl. Rolls, as a deserter from Co.
A, 7th Inft., and a Sub. from Southbury, and as an unassigned
recruit to 18th Ill., who failed to report.
Marsh, Irwin G., Band 4th Penn. Cav.
Marsh, Philip G., Pvt. Co. I, 5th U. S. Art., on Orcutt’s Rolls, not on
Conn. Rolls.
McBath, David, Pvt. Co. A, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cold Harbor, Va., June 1,
1864.
McHenry, Hugh, Pvt. Co. A, 1st h. Art., Sub., deserted July 29, 1865.
McKeagany, William, Pvt. Co. C, 1st h. Art., Sub., deserted July 10,
1865.
McLoy, John, Pvt. Co. C, 8th Inft., Sub., deserted Jan. 15, 1865.
McMahon, Joseph, Pvt. Co. G, 28th New York Inft., Sergt.
Co. A., 2d M. R. of N. Y., died in Serv. in N. M., July 17, 1864.
McMahon, Michael, Pvt. Co. F, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Petersburg, Va., Aug.
31, 1864.
McMahon, Michael, 3d, Pvt. Co. F, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Winchester, Va.,
Sept. 19, 1864.
Mehan, John, Pvt. Co. H, 11th Inft., Sub., deserted, confined, escaped.
Meney, Francis, Pvt. Co. A, 13th Inft., Sub., Wd. at Winchester, Va.,
Sept. 19, 1864, deserted Oct. 31, 1864.
Merwin, Garwood R., Sergt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., died Jan. 25, 1863, at
Alexandria, Va.
Mintsch, John L., Pvt., Co. D, 28th Inft. and Pvt. Co. A, 2d h. Art.
Monroe, Edward, Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art., Dis. Disa. Jan. 25, 1864.
Monroe, John, Pvt. Co. A, 11th Inft., Sub., Dis. Disa. Nov. 11, 1865.
Moore, Frank, Pvt. Co. I, 10th Inft., Sub., deserted March 8, 1865.
Morehouse, Frank, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.
Morehouse, Lyman F., Pvt. Co. A, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cold Harbor, Va.,
June 1, 1864, Dis. Disa. June 21, 1865.
Morehouse, Henry S., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Morgan, William, Pvt. Co. C, 5th Inft., Sub., deserted Nov. 1, 1863.
Morrison, William E. L., Sergt. and Pvt. Co. I, 29th Inft. Col’d., Wd.
at Kell House, Va., Oct. 27, 1864, died Nov. 12, 1864.
Mosher, James D., Corp. Co. C, 13th Inft., died at Brasier City, La.,
Aug. 6, 1863.
Mosher, Lewis W., Corp. and Sergt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cold
Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864, Dis. Disa. May 24, 1865.
Munson, John, Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cold Harbor, June 1, 1864,
died from wounds, Aug. 30, 1864.
Murphy, Michael, Pvt. Co. C, 5th Inft., Sub., deserted Nov. 1, 1863.
Nichols, Ezra L., Pvt. Co. K, 29th Inft., Col’d.
Nichols, Orlando, Pvt. Co. G, 10th Inft., Sub.
Noble, Andrew B., Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.
Noble, Henry C., Corp. and Sergt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Dis. Disa. Feb. 4,
1865.
Northrope, Lawrence, Mus. Band 4th Penn. Cav.
O’Callaghan, Timothy O., Pvt. Co. F, 2d h. Art., killed at Winchester,
Va., Sept. 19, 1864.
Odell, John, Pvt. Co. C, 13th Inft.
O’Niel, William, Pvt. Co. E, 10th Inft., killed at Fort Gregg, Va., Apr.
2, 1865.
Parkes, Joseph P., Sergt. and 1st Sergt. Co. A, 2d h. Art., killed at
Cold Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864.
Phillips, Chester, Pvt. Co. K, 29th Inft., Col’d., killed at
Petersburg, Sept. 23, 1864.
Phillips, Henry, Pvt. Co. I, 11th Inft., deserted Dec. 16, 1861.
Pike, Luther M., Corp. Co. D, 28th Inft.
Plumb, Alonzo, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft., died Aug. 21, 1863.
Plumb, Harvey G., Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.
Plumb, Henry, Surgeon 2d h. Art.
Plumb, Harvey G., Pvt. Co. I, 123d New York Vol.
Potter, George D., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Potter, George H., Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Purdy, Charles, Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., Wd. at Fort Huger,
Va., Apr. 19, 1863, Dis. Disa., Apr. 4., 1864.
Randolph, Harvey J., Pvt. Co. K, 29th Inft., Col’d.
Read, Herbert H., Pvt. Co. H, 2d, h. Art., Pris. at Ford’s
Mills, Va., June 14, 1864, died in Andersonville, Ga., July 3, 1864.
Rice, Levi, Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., appears on Orcutt’s Rolls,
but not on Government Rolls.
Roach, Thomas, Pvt. Co. D, 8th Inft., Sub., deserted Dec. 2, 1864.
Roberts, Andrew, Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., died at Newbern, N. C., Apr. 1,
1862.
Roberts, Henry M., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., died at Newbern, N. C., Apr.
6, 1862.
Roberts, William J., 1st Lieut. and Capt. Co. I, 8th Inft.
Wd. at Fort Harrison, Va., Sept. 29, 1864, Dis. Jan. 31, 1865.
Rogers, Austin V., Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art.
Root, Nathan H., Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Ruby, Eli, Pvt. Co. D, 13th Inft., Dis. Disa. Sept. 29, 1862.
Ruby, George M., Pvt. Co. D, 13th Inft., deserted Aug. 27, 1864.
Sanford, Isaac L., Pvt. Co. A, 2d h. Art.
Savage, Edward P., Pvt. Co. G, 8th Inft., deserted Aug. 19, 1865.
Shultz, Myron, Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., Dis. Disa. Feb. 24, 1863.
Sherman, Lucius S., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cedar Creek, VA.,
Oct. 19, 1864.
Sherwood, Asahel, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.
Sherwood, Reuben H., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Schook, Louis, Pvt. Co. E, 8th Inft., Sub., deserted July 24, 1864.
Shove, Henry, Sergt. Co. D, 28th Inft.
Smith, Charles H., Corp. Co. K, 11th Inft., Sub.
Smith, William, 1st, Pvt. Co. F, 10th Inft.
Soule, David E., Corp. Co. H, Lieut. Co. F, 2d h. Art.
Soule, Henry, Band 4th Penn. Cav.
Sparks, Edwin, Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft.
Spengler, Edward, Pvt. Co. E, 8th Inft., Sub., killed at
Fort Harrison, Va., Sept. 29, 1864.
Stephens, Edgar, Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art.
Stephens, Henry L., Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.
Stephenson, William, Pvt. Co. A, 5th Inft., Sub., deserted
July 11, 1865.
Sterling, Homer, Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Dis. Disa., Apr. 18, 1864.
Stevens, Franklin B., Pvt. Co. B, 2d h. Art., killed at Cold
Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864.
Stevens, George, Pvt. Co. E, 6th Inft., Sub.
Stevens, William H., Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art., Wd. Cold Harbor,
Va., June 1, 1864, Dis. Disa., June 6, 1865.
Stokes, Henry, Pvt. Co. A, 5th Inft., Dis. Disa, Jan. 30, 1862.
Tallman, Martin N., Corp. Co. K, 29th Inft., Col’d.
Tarr, James, Pvt. Co. E, 11th Inft., Sub., deserted July 7, 1865.
Taylor, Joseph, Pvt., Corp., and Sergt. Co. C, 13th Inft.
Thayer, Edward A., Pvt. Co. B, 20th Inft., deserted Sept. 29, 1862.
Thayer, John Q., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft.
Thompson, Edward E., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Tibbetts, Charles E., 2d and 1st Lieut. Co. C, 13th Inft.
Treat, Frederick M., Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft., Wd. at Port
Hudson, La., June 14, 1863.
Turrill, Henry S., 1st Lieut. and Asst. Surg. 17th Inft.,
Cap. and held Pris. in Macon, Savannah, and Charleston.
Van Anden, William, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.
Vanderwater, William G., Pvt. Co. H, 13th Inft., Wd. at
Irish Bend, La., Apr. 14, 1863.
Van Lone, Peter, Pvt. Co. D, 8th Inft., Sub.
Vorey, Charles, Pvt. Co. D, 11th Inft.
Walden, Edward, Pvt. Co. F, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Winchester, Va., Sept.
19, 1864.
Walker, Albert, Pvt. Co. D, 7th Inft., died on Morris Island,
S. C., Sept. 18, 1863.
Warner, William C., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., died at Washington, D. C.,
Dec. 23, 1862.
Waters, Alexander, Pvt. Co. C, 3d Inft.
Waters, Frank, Pvt. Co. G, 17th Inft., Sub.
Way, Charles A., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Winchester,
Va., Sept. 19, 1864, at Salors Creek, Va., Apr. 6, 1865.
Welch, Patrick, 1st, Pvt. Co. F, 8th Inft., Trans. to U. S. Navy.
Weller, Chester A., Band 4th Penn. Cav., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Wentworth, Jacob, Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cold
Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864, died June 20, 1864.
Wenzenger, Daniel, Pvt. Co. B, 8th Inft., Sub., killed at
Ft. Harrison, Va., Sept. 29, 1864.
Wiedmore, Paul, Pvt. Co. D, 8th Inft., Sub., deserted Sept. 10, 1863.
Wiley, James, Pvt. Co. D, 8th Inft., Sub. deserted Dec. 1, 1863.
Williams, Burr, Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Dis. Disa. March 27, 1865.
Williams, George S., Capt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Williams, James, Pvt. Co. A, 5th Inft., deserted Oct. 3, 1863.
Williams, John F., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.
Wilson, John, Pvt. Co. C, 20th Inft., Sub., deserted Oct. 5, 1864.
Wentworth, Hiram, Pvt. 1st Conn. Lt. Batt., deserted Jan. 24, 1862.
Wooden, Charles E., Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft., Wd. at Port
Hudson, La., June 14, 1863, died of wounds, July 17, 1863.
Woodruff, Theron M., Pvt. Co. I, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cedar Creek, Va.,
Oct. 19, 1864.
Worden, Richard T., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., killed at Walthall Junc.,
Va., May 7, 1864.
Recapitulation: Number of men credited to New Milford, 282; killed in
battle, 17; wounded in action, 34; died in service, 35; discharged for
disability, 33; deserted, 44; dishonorably discharged, 1; shot for
desertion, 1. Casualties, honorable, 119; dishonorable 46; total 165.
There were thirty-seven drafted men and substitutes credited to the
town; of these, twenty-seven deserted, leaving seventeen as the number
of the town’s volunteers to desert their colors, and most of these were
of foreign birth.
THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Walter Campbell.
Wesley Collins.
Gabriel Erwin.
George Isaac Hine.
Charles A. Hull.
Charles Kellogg.
Andrew Nichols.
Cyrus Northrop.
Albert Piper.
Albert Timms.
Walter Thompson.
Arthur Wheeler.
Walter Wheeler.
RECOLLECTIONS OF OLD NEW MILFORD HOMES
CONTRIBUTED BY ALICE MERWIN BOSTWICK
Indelibly stamped on my memory are pictures of the old homes of my
ancestors, and the simple life within them, in which it was my privilege
to share in early childhood. These houses, built before the
Revolutionary War, were of the “salt box” style, two stories high except
at the back, where the roof sloped from the steep gables down so low
that my grandfather, a tall man, had to bow his head to go under the
eaves into the stoop. This made windows necessary on but three sides of
a house, and was designed to evade the heavy tax on every pane of glass
used. The shrewd colonist preferred to have less light, rather than add
to the King’s revenue. Every stick of timber was oak from the forest
primeval, felled and hewed by the strong arms of the men who, with stout
hearts, braved the perils and hardships of the wilderness for their
altars and homes. Every shingle was “rived out” by hand. The laths,
window sashes, doors, handles and latches, hinges and nails, were all
hand-wrought.
How well our forefathers builded, these old houses, still standing in
good habitable condition, after braving the summer suns, winter winds,
and storms of more than a century and a half, bear witness. The great
stone chimney was a tower of strength from its foundation in the cellar,
fifteen feet square, up to the garret, strong as granite rocks could
make it. It anchored the heavy beams and roof timbers, giving ample
space for the many fireplaces needed in the large rooms growing around
it. The kitchen fireplace was like those we read of, but seldom see. At
one side of the crane was a bench where I, as a child, often sat
watching the building of the fire--a work of skill. The big green
back-log was first rolled in: then, the back-stick, fore-stick, chips
and kindlings were added--a veritable woodpile, which, when kindled by
the aid of the bellows, sent sparks and flame crackling and roaring up
the cavernous chimney.
There may have been much poetry in “the hanging of the crane.” There
surely was much prose in cooking for a family, in pots and kettles hung
on its hooks and trammels, over the burning coals and smoke.
Long-handled frying pans, spiders, skillets, turnspits, bake kettles,
and Dutch ovens would be unknown quantities to graduates from modern
cooking schools; but they, with all their science and new appliances,
cannot surpass the savory dishes evolved by our grandmothers from the
limited means at their command, with the aid of these same out-of-date
utensils.
From out the arch-roofed old brick ovens came famous loaves of rye and
Indian bread, biscuits, pans of pork and beans, cards of gingerbread,
seed cookies, election and pound cakes, baked as none of our ranges can
ever bake. They had a flavor all their own, a color golden-brown as the
fallen autumn leaves of the maple trees, whose “fair white hearts” went
up in smoke out of the doorway, while the long-handled iron peel spread
the glowing coals over the worn floor of the old oven.
Those were not days of ease and idleness. From sun-up till sun-down,
there was work for each and all, indoors and out. “Hired help” was
scarce. Some neighbor, not so “well-to-do,” who had more children than
income, spared a daughter “to come as one of the family” to work for
board, clothes and winter’s schooling till of age. Then, she was paid
five dollars a month, and, at her marriage, was given a black silk dress
and a feather bed.
Country stores were few and far between. Every family made and kept on
hand their own supplies, loaning and borrowing in time of need;
exchanging spare-ribs, roasts of beef and lamb; arranging their
“butchering” in rotation, to accommodate each other. Fresh meat was a
luxury, salted meat, the main reliance. In the smokehouse hung hams,
shoulders, beef, tongue and sausage. Under these it was my task to pile
green hickory chips, pine sawdust and corncobs, which made a smoke of a
peculiar, pungent, spicy quality and odor.
Tallow candles, the only light in the long evenings, were to be dipped;
dozens and dozens, the whole year’s supply. To run out of candles was
“shiftless.” A few, partly wax, for the tall silver and brass
candlesticks on the mantels in parlor and keeping-room, were run in
moulds and hung to bleach.
Soap was to be made, hard and soft. An empty soap barrel was thriftless.
A cake of scented soap, brought from a distant city, was highly prized.
Of spinning and weaving there was no end. The mother and daughters,
instead of going to clubs and lectures, after the housework was done had
their stents, so many knots of yarn to spin. No need to walk for
exercise; back and forth they briskly stepped, as the wheel swiftly
whirled, the rolls stretching into miles of yarn, “single twisted” for
cloth, “double and twisted” for stockings and carpet warp. Then, the
yarn must be scoured and dyed, not with “Diamond Dyes” from the drug
store, but with vegetable dyes from fields and woods--white oak roots,
butternut bark, chestnut burrs, sumach “bobs,” onion skins, and the
wonderful indigo “dye pot blue.” Every good housewife was past master in
the art of dyeing, and looked with pride on the line and fence draped
with skeins of yarn of bright, unfading hues and shades. Flax wheels,
not then strictly ornamental, hummed evenings by the fireside, while
deft fingers drew from the flax-covered distaff fine linen thread for
sewing, and for sheets, pillow-cases, towels, and all the underclothing
of the family. The loom in the garret was never without its web of cloth
in process of weaving--wool, linen, or wool and linen mixed (called
linsey-woolsey). The linen was spread on the grass, bleached snowy
white, then laid away in oaken chests, ready for the wedding “setting
out” of the daughters, who made it up by hand, stitching “two threads
over, two under,” the rule of the good seamstress.
From “homespun fulled cloth” the “every day” suits of men and boys were
made, with the help of the tailoress who came spring and fall with
press-board, goose, tailor-shears, and rolls of patterns supposed to
fit all figures. What wonder if these home-made garments looked their
name! Bedquilts were pieced in intricate patterns--baskets of flowers,
butterflies, peonies, chariot wheels, log-cabin, goose chase, double and
single Irish chain--and quilted in shells, circles, squares, diamonds,
sawteeth and herringbone. The quilt frames in the “spare bed room”
usually had one of these marvelous constructions on, ready for a
“Quilting Bee,” after which the company gossipped over _their_ cup of
tea as we over _ours_ after a card party.
The shoemaker came with work-bench, kit of tools, lap-stone and
boot-trees to make the common boots and shoes for the family (strictly
common sense, no French heels). A smell of leather and “black wax”
pervaded the room where he hammered merrily away at the heavy shoe soles
on the lap-stone, singing of “Captain Kidd as he sailed, as he sailed,”
and telling stories of haunted houses. One blood-curdling tale of a
ghost in a cellar, seizing the feet of everyone who went upstairs after
dark, still lingers in my mind--uncomfortably, if the truth be told.
The schoolmaster came, a welcome guest, “boarding around,” a week for
each scholar, and perhaps an extra week for the child of some poor widow
needing kindly help.
There came homeless wanderers silently claiming lodging and food. Under
the low sloping roof was the “Old Shack’s Room,” where a bed was always
kept in readiness.
One whom we knew only as “Old Shiver-to-bits” had been “crossed in love”
and his mind unbalanced. He never spoke, except to himself as he looked
up to the sky, muttering, “The air is full of women, all
shiver-de-bits.” Another would sleep only on the floor by the kitchen
fire, wrapped in a blanket, cooking his own food for fear of being
poisoned. He was an astrologer and philosopher. A woman came, who wore a
quilted hood, never taken off and kept drawn over her face, which was
always averted when she was spoken to. None of these unfortunates was
ever turned away from the open doors of those hospitable homes.
The Schaghticoke Indians, who came from the Reservation with squaws and
hounds on their fishing expeditions to the “Eel Rocks” at the Great
Falls, always expected the privilege of sleeping in the barn. Their
desire for cider was greater than their desire for food. They willingly
paid for both with splint baskets. Sometimes they became quarrelsome and
noisy, and then the “riot act” was read to them, whip in hand.
The visits of the parson were prized events. An atmosphere of dignity
and solemnity seemed to emanate from his black clothes, high stock and
white cravat. A reverence now unknown was felt for him, and he was
looked up to as the fountain head of theology and religion. The
doctrines of election, predestination and eternal punishment were talked
of, filling my childish mind with dire forebodings of literal fire and
brimstone. After a “season of prayer,” and dinner (always an extra good
one), he drove away, to my great relief.
Visits in those days did not mean calls. Company came from miles away to
spend the day, often uninvited, but not unwelcome. To “drop in and take
pot luck” was not, as to-day, a figure of speech, but literally true,
for a “boiled dish” was the regulation dinner. Corned beef, salt pork,
and vegetables were served together on a big pewter platter, with a
boiled bag-pudding of Indian meal. This may not sound as well as Beef _à
la mode_, _entrées_ and desserts; but, when well cooked, it was by no
means to be despised; and on it our ancestors lived; thrived, and were
content, thankful and happy. Possibly it _did_ give them bilious and
depressed views of the hereafter!
Sunday began Saturday night, when the sun went down behind the hills.
With the lengthening shadows came a seeming stillness, in advance of the
long day of rest to follow. The Sunday breakfast was early, giving
plenty of time for the long drive to “meeting.” Come sun, come rain,
snow or wind, nothing but sickness excused absence from the two long
sermons, morning and afternoon, with prayer meeting between. The day was
kept to the very letter of the old Sabbatical law. Dinner was prepared
Saturday, and eaten cold. For Sunday reading, the leather-bound Family
Bible and Psalm Book were brought out; also Baxter’s Saints’ Rest,
Pilgrim’s Progress, and the Book of Martyrs. A walk beyond the garden
and dooryard was not allowed, till after sundown; a drive, except in
case of necessity, was never thought of. Only “York State folks” did
that. A maiden aunt reproved me for cracking nuts on Sunday, giving me
to read the Fourth Commandment, and Isaiah 58: 13-14, “If thou turn away
thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day,” etc.
The remembrance of those well-kept, solemn Sundays still remains; and,
to this day, my inherited New England conscience never fails to accuse
any transgression of the Fourth Commandment. Howells says, “The devout
spirit of the old Puritans remained to their descendants long after the
stern creed that had embodied that spirit had passed away.”
Fast Day, too, was strictly kept in Puritan households, without
reference to Good Friday. We might ramble in the woods for wild flowers,
however, gather wintergreen, birch and sassafras for root beer, and have
fritters and maple syrup for supper.
Thanksgiving was _the_ great feast day of the whole year. Then, the
children to the third and fourth generation came trooping back, filling
the low-ceiled rooms under the old rooftree; and for them high festival
was held.
For days before, great preparations were made. The “buttery” was full of
good things. On the shelves were rows of mince, pumpkin and tart pies,
the last named made from cider apple sauce,--a lost art,--and pans of
doughnuts and crullers, flanked by the sage cheese, ready to be cut.
Baking in the brick oven was an immense chicken pie, made with cream
crust,--another lost art,--and an Indian pudding rich with suet--still
another lost art.
The turkey, the choicest young gobbler of the flock, stuffed with savory
dressing, also a pig with an ear of corn in its mouth, were roasting in
a Dutch oven on the hearth, all these together filling the house with an
odor of good cheer.
Oscar, of the Waldorf-Astoria, can do mighty deeds in his line, but,
with all his skill, cannot equal one of those real old-fashioned
Thanksgiving dinners.
After all the kin had come and gone, there was abundant “skippin” for
the worthy poor; yes, and for the unworthy, who might come to partake of
the free bounty of the ever charitable.
The winters were long, shutting families indoors by themselves. Books
and papers were few, but these early settlers kept abreast of the events
of the day, and they had clear-cut, strong opinions, which they
expressed with no uncertain sound. In the long evenings they gathered
around the great fireplace, listening with never-failing interest to the
oft-told tales of Indians, of Tory raids, and of hardships and suffering
in camp and field.
“Shut in from all the world without,
They sat, the clean-winged hearth about,
Content to let the north wind roar
In baffled rage at pane and door;
* * * * *
And for the winter fireside meet,
Between the andirons’ straddling feet,
The mug of cider simmered slow,
The apples sputtered in a row,
And, close at hand, the basket stood
With nuts from brown October’s wood.”
If neighbors joined the circle, promptly as the tall clock in the corner
struck nine they donned surtouts, mufflers and striped knit mittens,
lighted the candle in the pierced tin lantern, and trudged away over the
hills to their distant homes.
The back-log had by this time burned down to glowing coals, and from
these the shining brass warming-pan was filled, to warm the bed of the
great-grandmother, and the trundle-bed of the small great-granddaughter;
the remaining coals being carefully covered to kindle the morning fire.
“Early to bed and early to rise,” was a lived-up-to motto. Each one of
the household climbed the steep, draughty stairway, with flaring,
flickering candles, which dimly lighted the cold bedrooms, with their
frost-covered windowpanes, Hastily undressing, they hurried under the
blankets, and, burrowing into the deep feather beds, were soon lost in
sound sleep, such sleep as open air life, good digestion, and a clear
conscience alone can give.
This life of the early days may seem dull and humdrum to us in the rush
and whirl of ours. If it was sober by reason of struggles with the hard
conditions and stern emergencies contended with, it was cheerful,
kindly, dignified, full of high ideals, aims and works. Who shall say
our life is better?
None of us would willingly go back to the “good old times,” to their
seeming narrowness, inconveniences and discomforts; yet let us not
forget to give all honor to these, our forbears, through whose piety,
loyalty, courage and toil _we_ have received so goodly a heritage.
[Illustration: LEVI SYDNEY KNAPP
From a photograph taken about 1870, now in the possession of his son,
Mr. Frederick Knapp]
UNCHARTERED INSTITUTIONS
CONTRIBUTED BY FREDERICK KNAPP[7]
Among the unchartered institutions of the New England town, none has had
a greater influence than its general “sitting-down” place, where, by
common consent, the leaders of all classes gathered. It was to the town
what political and social clubs are to the city; it was an exchange
place, a go-as-you-please Lyceum, a modern market-place, where the
newspapers of the day were criticised, where affairs of Church and State
had to be discussed, where politics and politicians were weighed,
ticketed, and shelved for future reference, and where neighborhood
events were gone over and approved or disapproved. War, domestic or
foreign, and its generals, were subject to this trial by jury. The jury
consisted of lawyers, doctors, bankers, merchants, farmers.
Party-leaders of every shade of opinion--Whigs (later Republicans),
Democrats, Abolitionists (brass-mounted, or not mounted at all),
Prohibitionists, Independents--all met here on common ground. It was an
intelligent, earnest crowd, always good-natured, whose “give and take”
was without circumlocution or apology.
In no town in Litchfield County, I fancy, was there quite such a
sitting-down place as the store of Mr. Levi S. Knapp on Bank Street in
our own town of New Milford, which was conducted by him until his death
at the age of ninety-three, and, afterward, by his son, Gerardus Knapp.
The place was known to everybody in the towns around. During the
Kansas-Nebraska troubles in the late “Fifties,” a witty neighbor
christened it “Topeka Hall”; and the name was accepted as quite the
proper thing. For a half century, “Topeka Hall” was an informal
congress, where earnest men threshed out the problems of the hour. As
our late Governor Andrews said of it, “It was the place where the world
was wound up.” Had it been honored by a historian, like the late George
William Curtis, and a _Harper’s Magazine_ for record, its quips and
repartees might have furnished the “Easy Chair” with abundant and
amusing copy; and its “wise saws and modern instances” would fairly have
covered the history of the town. While its good stories made fun for the
day, the place became, none the less, an educator of public opinion, and
wielded an influence second to no institution in the town.
The remarkable longevity of the men who assembled there is worthy of
special record, covering, as it does, the greater part of the nineteenth
century. Below is a list of several of the prominent men, and their ages
at death. It is a matter of regret that a more complete list cannot now
be made:
Col. William J. Starr, 97.
William Roberts, 92.
Royal I. Canfield, 76.
William N. Canfield, 86.
Ralph E. Canfield, 85.
Judge David C. Sanford, 66.
Sheldon Blackman, 69.
Eli Mygatt, 86.
A. B. Mygatt, 80.
Augustine Thayer, 70.
Rev. John Greenwood, 85.
Rev. David Murdoch, 76.
John S. Turrill, 64.
Benjamin J. Stone, 78.
John Peck, 81.
Cornelius W. Peck, 78.
Elijah Hall, 70.
William Hartwell, 87.
Theodore Buck, 78.
Charles H. Booth, 81.
Frederick G. Bennett, 74.
Col. Gerardus Roberts, 70.
Levi S. Knapp, 93.
Gerardus Knapp, 74.
Charles C. Noble, 72.
John Glover Noble, 77.
Hiram B. Noble, 70.
Van Rensselaer Giddings, 79.
Merritt Beach, 79.
William Bostwick, 80.
Ethiel S. Green, 84.
Rev. J. B. Bonar, 79.
John P. Treadwell, 64.
Isaac B. Bristol, 84.
Anan Hine, 71.
Dr. James Hine, 80.
William H. Hine, 77.
Clark Hine, 84.
Eli Clark, 87.
Charles Sabin, 74.
Royal Buckingham, 81.
Samuel Randolph Hill, 62.
[Illustration: ALANSON N. CANFIELD
Born Oct. 6, 1807. The oldest resident of New Milford.]
Albert N. Baldwin, 80.
James H. McMahon, 68.
Henry Merwin, 77.
Robert Ferriss, 87.
Eleazer T. Brewer, 81.
Cyrus Northrop, 95.
Robert Irwin, 88.
Ezra Ferriss, 90.
Joel W. Northrop, 74.
And, living with us to-day, the only survivor of the older men, Mr.
Alanson Canfield,[8] who will be one hundred years old on the eighth day
of October, 1907.
TRAINING DAYS IN THE FORTIES AS TOLD BY AN “OLD BOY”
CONTRIBUTED BY FREDERIC KNAPP
“I like boys, the masters of the playground and of the street--boys, who
have the same liberal ticket of admission to all shops, factories,
armories, town-meetings, caucuses, mobs, target-shootings, as flies
have; quite unsuspected, coming in as naturally as the janitor--known to
have no money in their pockets, and themselves not suspecting the value
of this poverty; putting nobody on his guard, but seeing the inside of
the show--hearing all the asides. There are no secrets from them, they
know everything that befalls in the fire company, the merits of every
engine and every man at the brakes, and how to work it, and are swift to
try their hand at every part; so, too, the merits of every locomotive on
the rails, and will coax the engineer to let them ride with him and pull
the handles when it goes to the engine-house. They are there only for
fun, and not knowing that they are at school in the courthouse, or the
cattle show, quite as much and more than they were, an hour ago, in the
arithmetic class.”
Our Emerson was right: he knew boys. And at no place or time was the boy
let loose to see and do, quite equal to the training days in the
“Forties.” This was his day, when school didn’t count, when the
schoolma’am or master wasn’t in it, the day long anticipated. When the
morning broke he was no laggard, but the wise mother would not allow him
to skip or hurry his breakfast, for she knew that when the day was done
her laddie would be too fagged to eat. So, breakfast over, she ties the
ribbon in his broad turn-down collar, and the father gives him two
fippenny bits for all his own to spend as he pleases, and then they
launch him forth with a “good time” for a blessing.
At the hill’s foot he meets his comrades, and, further down, more Johns
and Jims and Sams and Bills, and then the fun begins. On the village
Green things begin to take on a warlike aspect and the boys catch on to
every movement and miss nothing; while the girls--pshaw! they ain’t in
it to-day--keep in yards or on church steps. The darkey boys, as happy
as any, begin to bring on the warlike steeds, which are praised or
jeered as appearances demand. Presently there is a drum-beat on the big
bass drum, and every boy scampers for the band, which consists of a
fifer, a snare-drummer, and Charles Ford to beat the big bass drum. And
he just could beat it like Sam Hill! I tell you, if the Britishers could
have heard those fellows play, they would have got right off from Bunker
Hill, you bet! Sure! they all admit. Now, at the upper part of “The
Green,” a soldier in uniform appears, and soon another. It’s nine
o’clock, and the first parade begins at ten. Soon they come in, in
squads, until “The Green” seems to be covered with the mounts, after
which the soldiers dismount and take things easy. Our boys are in and
out amongst the horses, scooting, howling, criticising, or jeering, when
an officer rides up and gives an order. This means business, and the
small boy “gits,” nor does he “stand upon the order of his going, but
goes at once,” and the soldiers hold the field. This is only preliminary
work, however, a shaking down of the files preparatory to the reception
of the Colonel and his staff in the afternoon. This over, the troops are
off duty.
The soldiers take their ease as they please, some on “The Green,” but
more over at the tavern, where the boys flock in amongst them, until the
“barkeep” shouts to them, “Get out; there’s too many of you!” It’s lunch
time, too, for the boys, who begin to mass around Aunty Thatcher’s
gingerbread stand feeling about their jackets for the small coin.
Whether they have any or not--it’s all the same. The boys are democratic
and divide, paying just like grown-ups for what they buy with the coin
of the realm. No line drawn to-day between the boy with money and the
boy without, nor is the color line apparent. This cuts no ice with our
boys. Here’s Dandy Lazarus, Fred Wilson (afterward sold into slavery),
Joe Bassett, and Phil Jacklin. Black or white, the boys never think, or
care; so long as the fippenny bits last, no boy goes hungry.
Then they stroll over and wash the gingerbread down with some of
Jennings’ ginger pop, happy as lords. Simple pleasures these; but, as
Josh Billings says, the boys then got more fun out of a quarter of a
dollar than do boys now out of a five-dollar bill. The bugle sounds, and
every boy is off, for now the Colonel takes command. This is the
“crowner” of the day which no boy will miss. The troop is again in line,
with sabres drawn to receive its Colonel. A shout from the boys, and
down the line comes Colonel Starr with his staff. Hurrah! ain’t it
great! It’s Napoleon, or Old Put, or Ethan Allen, or Lafayette over
again! The Colonel is received and takes command. The small boy holds
his breath, for now you’ll see how it’s done in battle. The Colonel
gives his orders; by fours, by eights, they wheel, they turn, they go
_en masse_--it’s wonderful how they do it! Golly gracious! At last they
return to place, salute their Colonel, clang their sabres back into the
scabbards, and are dismissed, and Training Day is over. Our lads return
to their homes to relate to the fathers and mothers the excitements and
perils of the day.
Well, my lads of the Forties, you had your fun; but, without knowing it,
you learned much more than the pleasures of the day. You learned
patriotism, you learned what it was to subject yourselves to obedience
for the common good; what team work was, to work together, shoulder to
shoulder, for the achievement of a common purpose. You learned
self-control and discipline, which stood you in good stead later, on the
real battlefield, and for which we, the living, honor you as you sleep
in God’s acre, on each Memorial Day. And you also learned, without
knowing it, what we older boys are slow to learn, that no man liveth to
himself or dieth to himself, but that self-sacrifice, the greatest good
to the greatest number, is the cornerstone of republics, the goal toward
which the whole world is moving.
Lads of the “Forties,” I sing the “Sabre Song” to your honor, and may
“_Qui transtulit sustinet_” be your sheet anchor and your motto!
[Illustration: [William J. Starr]]
REMARKABLE LONGEVITY OF NEW MILFORD CITIZENS
A PARTIAL LIST COMPILED FROM THE RECORDS BY MINOT S. GIDDINGS
Samuel Wheeler Smith, 83.
Eli Mygatt, Jr., 80.
Zephaniah Briggs, 101.
Nathan Gaylord, 81.
David Sterling, 81.
John Gaylord, 90.
Gideon Camp, 79.
Stephen Ferriss, 1st, 102.
Stephen Ferriss, 2d, 88.
Dea. Russell R. Pratt, 78.
Lewis Allen, 80.
Dr. George Taylor, 78.
Samuel Buel, 83.
Joseph Ferriss, 98.
Benjamin E. Bostwick, 83.
Henry Hoyt, 88.
Lyman Hine, 89.
Orrin B. Marsh, 94.
John B. Peck, 77.
Henry Camp, 78.
Wm. Albert Knapp, 86.
Jair Morehouse, 87.
Eli Gaylord, 76.
Jabez Morehouse, 79.
Amelia Gunn, 82.
Gracia Minerva Merwin, 78.
Sarah B. Allen, 80.
Henrietta Hine, 88.
Marcia L. Baldwin, 79.
David D. Northrop, 79.
James A. Giddings, 87.
Daniel Gaylord, 83.
Peter Gaylord, 95.
Peter Waller, 84.
David Marsh, 82.
William A. Lewis, 77.
Adolphus Hallock, 80.
Benjamin Buckingham, 84.
Seymour Buck, 81.
George A. Ferriss, 78.
George W. Mallory, 80.
Isaac Hine, 82.
Harvey Jennings, 78.
Daniel Marsh, 82.
William H. Fairchild, 81.
Northrop Dunning, 94.
Irwin B. Gaylord, 93.
Charles Lake, 83.
Benjamin Treat, 78.
Darius Williams, 88.
William Couch, 78.
Albert S. Hill, 85.
William Cummings, 78.
Eliza Leavitt, 86.
Hetty Mygatt, 82.
Janett Force, 82.
Polly Canfield, 88.
Thalia M. Nickerson, 80.
Chloe Nichols Turrill, 83.
Betsey Evitts, 88.
Betsey Sterling, 90.
Ann Brownson, 85.
Martha Bennett, 81.
Mary Ann Boardman, 80.
Eliza S. Knapp, 87.
Mabel Baldwin, 87.
Lucia Tomlinson, 93.
Eliza Roberts, 84.
Betsey Sterling, 90.
Martha Gaylord, 88.
Lucy F. Lathrop, 79.
Marinda Ruby, 81.
Jerusha Sanford, 97.
Catharine Lewis, 82.
Lamira D. Clark, 88.
Mercy Canfield, 94.
Emily Weaver, 81.
Loretta Geer, 85.
Helen C. Marsh, 80.
Charlotte Evans, 87.
Harriet Smith, 80.
Armida Giddings, 96.
Cornelia A. Morehouse, 82.
Salome Williams, 88.
Anna Walker, 91.
Martha E. Dewey, 81.
Susan Buckingham, 78.
Harriet Hoyt Addis, 86.
Elizabeth M. Northrop, 76.
Adeline Buckingham, 76.
Elizabeth S. Hine, 85.
A. Maria Garlic, 84.
Julia A. Garlic, 80.
Lucy L. Crofut, 78.
Helen M. Giddings, 75.
Polly Bull, 94.
Anna Sheldon, 86.
Urania Marsh, 82.
Elizabeth Morehouse, 92.
Marthat Mygatt, 87.
Laura M. Hallock, 87.
Jerusha Roberts, 91.
Marthat D. Mygatt, 90.
Marietta Bryan, 89.
Elizabeth Monihan, 92.
Elizabeth C. Miner, 78.
Phœbe R. Stillson, 89.
Electa Thayer, 92.
Sara A. Sabin, 88.
Rebecca Buck, 97.
Emily Bostwick, 97.
Eliza Bristol, 99.
Polly M. Bishop, 90.
Lois C. Fairchild, 80.
Abigail D. Sturges, 90.
Jane Jennings, 82.
Mary A. Haviland, 85.
Emeline C. Morrison, 85.
Phœbe Briggs, 101.
Sarah Ann Canfield, 80.
Elizabeth Briggs, 85.
Betsey Baldwin, 75.
Fannie C. Warner, 78.
Mary M. Hine, 83.
Lucy Morgan, 79.
Mary A. Treat, 82.
Mary C. Wooster, 76.
Julia Brewer, 84.
Henrietta Nobel, 85.
Hannah Lake, 79.
Esther H. Wheeler, 83.
Laura M. Baldwin.
Maria Green, 84.
Nancy Newton, 83.
Eveline G. Marsh, 83.
Maria Marsh, 78.
Irene Hoyt, 82.
Betsey Platt, 77.
Minerva Franklin, 81.
Elsie Hoyt, 81.
Lucia H. Noble, 78.
Rebecca A. Phelps, 84.
Elsie O. Nickerson, 79.
Sally Northrop, 101.
Abigail Camp, 81.
Susan Merwin, 79.
Sophia McMahon, 89.
Mary Stephens Brewer, 81.
Mary Olcott, 82.
Sarah Kellogg, 77.
Laura L. Camp, 76.
Maria Gaylord, 83.
Caroline Erwin, 88.
Electa Morehouse, 84.
Eliza Roberts Knapp, 77.
ACTIVITIES OF NEW MILFORD IN LATER YEARS
CONTRIBUTED BY MINOT S. GIDDINGS[9]
The town of New Milford originally was of much larger extent than it is
at present. It contributed New Preston Society, on the northeast, to the
town of Washington; Newbury Society, on the south, to the town of
Brookfield; and “The Neck” (Bridgewater Society), in 1856, to form the
town of Bridgewater. Notwithstanding this depletion, it is still one of
the largest towns, territorially, in the State.
It is well watered and fertilized by the Housatonic River through the
whole length of the town; by the Aspetuck River, East and West branches,
from the north; by Still River and Rocky River from the south and west;
and by other streams.
The hills and vales of its rolling landscape present to the eye a
spectacle which equals, in some respects, the much-lauded scenery of the
Old World.
The growth of the town has been slow but steady. Agriculture is the
chief industry. The fertility of the soil and its adaptability to
grazing purposes make the production of milk and butter profitable.
There is a large creamery near the railroad in the south part of the
village, where farmers of the surrounding country bring their milk,
which is sent to the large cities. There is also a creamery at
Gaylordsville, and there are two private establishments in the village
to supply the local wants of the people.
Raising tobacco and preparing it for market are among the principal
occupations of the inhabitants, the Housatonic Valley being celebrated
for the fine quality and abundant growth of this plant.
[Illustration: NEW MILFORD HAT COMPANY]
Vincent B. Sterling, who has been engaged with one of the large tobacco
firms for many years, and is familiar with the tobacco business, has
contributed the following regarding it:
“Like most great enterprises, the raising of tobacco in New Milford
started from small beginnings. About the year 1848, the first tobacco in
New Milford was raised by George McMahon, who was soon followed by
Seeley Richmond and Elijah Hall. These three men were without doubt the
pioneers of the tobacco-raising in the Housatonic Valley.
“From that time it has been cultivated with more or less success, until,
to-day, it is the leading crop of the farmers of this and surrounding
towns. The amount grown at present is about one thousand three hundred
acres annually. The variety was Broad Leaf, up to 1883; since then, it
has been almost exclusively Havana Seed.
“Probably the amount invested in tobacco in the early fifties did not
exceed five thousand dollars per annum, while, at the present time, at
least five hundred thousand dollars is used annually buying and packing
it. No crop grown by the farmer requires such constant attention. From
the sowing in April, through the transplantation in June, until the
matured plant is harvested and placed in the curing sheds in August and
September the greatest care must be exercised. ‘Eternal vigilance’ is
the price of success, and a sharp hailstorm of a few minutes’ duration
may destroy the results of the summer’s labor. During the early fall the
plants are taken from the poles, the leaves are stripped from the stalks
and packed in bundles, and the tobacco is then ready for the buyer.
“It is probable that tobacco was first assorted and packed in New
Milford in 1848 by George McMahon, who was followed, a few years later,
by Perry Hall. These men were the first packers in the Housatonic
Valley. Space will not permit mention of the parties who have been
engaged in the business since that time. At present, it is one of the
leading industries of the town. There are twelve tobacco warehouses,
employing through the packing season in the neighborhood of four hundred
men.
“Most of the capital needed to pack the tobacco is furnished by the
large tobacco jobbing firms of New York and Chicago, who employ local
men as buyers and packers.
“The crop as a whole is an important source of wealth to the farmers, as
is evidenced by the many thrifty and beautiful homes of the successful
tobacco growers scattered over the hills and valleys of New Milford.”
There are some notable manufacturing industries in this town.
The manufacture of wool hats here dates back nearly a century. Glover
Sanford began making them in 1823, on a small scale, in Bridgewater
Society. The business steadily increased and was carried on by himself
and brothers till 1870, when the firm removed to Bridgeport, Conn.
Smith & Erwin opened a hat factory in Bridgewater in 1834, and removed
to this village in 1855, occupying the long building now used as a store
by the firm of Ackley, Hatch & Marsh.
Isaac Reynolds began hat manufacturing in Bridgewater in 1847,
afterwards removing to Lanesville. Joseph Sanford, Lyman B. Stone, and
Francis Callahan engaged in the business at different times. A company
was organized there in 1853 under the name of the Union Manufacturing
Company.
The modern hatting industry was established in this village in 1885.
Some of the leading citizens donated to the firm of Bates & Green a
piece of land on West Street Extension, where a building was erected,
and the making of hats of fur was carried on in a moderate way until
1898, when a fire destroyed the plant. It was not rebuilt, but the
business was reorganized as the New Milford Hat Company, which purchased
a tract of land a short distance north of the village, near the mouth of
the Aspetuck River, and erected there a large plant with modern
improvements. The officers of the company are: Andrew G. Barnes,
president; Seymour S. Green, secretary and treasurer, and William G.
Green, superintendent. Under their able management the enterprise has
been very successful. In 1906 the amount of business done was five
hundred thousand dollars; the pay-roll amounted to one hundred and
eighty-five thousand dollars, and there were two hundred and fifty
employees.
[Illustration: HONORABLE ISAAC BALDWIN BRISTOL
President of First National Bank, 1902-1905, and of New Milford Savings
Bank at time of his death]
Merritt W. Hill and E. W. Hanke formed a partnership and began making
hats, about 1890, in the Randolph Hill mill building on Mill Street. At
the end of two or three years they removed to the upper part of Maltby
Leach’s flour and feed store on Railroad Street, where they were
incorporated as a stock company in 1894. This company was dissolved in a
few years. Mr. Hill now has a jewelry store on Bank Street. Mr. Hanke
went to Bridgeport, Conn., and is doing a flourishing hat business
there.
The manufacturing of buttons from vegetable ivory was begun here in 1866
by Henry S. and Walter B. Bostwick, under the firm name of Bostwick
Brothers. The ivory nuts were at that time brought to this country as
ballast to ships and sold at a small price, so that the making of
buttons from them was quite profitable. Bostwick Brothers erected a
building on Railroad Street and carried on the business with great
success till 1884, when the plant was damaged by fire. Soon after the
firm dissolved. Walter B. Bostwick went to Bridgeport, Conn., where he
engaged in business, became prominent and was elected mayor.
Buttons were made at the old hat shop, corner of Bridge and Railroad
streets, for several years by Isaac B. Bristol, Robert H. Isbell,
William Schoverling, Rufus Leavitt, and perhaps others. About 1878 the
Noble Brothers purchased the business and carried it on for a few years.
After that, various mechanical inventions were developed there. A few
years ago, the building passed to the firm of Ackley, Hatch & Marsh, and
is now used for a general store.
A button shop was erected in 1884 on West Street Extension, in which
buttons were manufactured by William Schoverling, George W. Anthony, and
David E. Soule till 1889, when it was burned to the ground. This put an
end substantially to button making in the town, the cost of raw material
having increased so much that it became unprofitable.
Making lounges was begun in a small way many years ago by De Watt
Pepper. From this slight beginning, the business increased until it
became necessary to establish a large plant to meet the growing demands
of the trade. The Eastern Lounge Company was first housed in William
Schoverling’s brick building on Railroad Street, occupying, in addition
to that, the old hat building on the corner of Bridge Street. In 1895
the business was removed to the commodious plant built by William
Schoverling, on the site of the West Street Extension button factory,
where it has been large and flourishing. The company is composed of De
Watt Pepper, president, Mrs. William Schoverling, vice-president, and
William P. Landon, secretary and treasurer.
Roswell and Sheldon Northrop began in 1832 the manufacture of machinery
in a building, in Maryland District, near where the trout pond of Turney
Soule now is, using the waterpower to carry on their business. In a few
years they removed to the brook south, and erected a foundry and machine
shop, enlarging the business and admitting a younger brother, David, to
the firm. They made castings to order, cast-iron fences, and various
kinds of machinery. Changes in the firm occurred from time to time, but
it always continued in the Northrop family. In 1887 Jasper A. Northrop
removed the business to this village on West Street Extension, erecting
a foundry and machine shop. He invented and began making a heater for
warming houses, which he named the “Unique.” This heater is made for
both water and steam, and is sold extensively in this region.
Paper making from straw and rags has been carried on in this town for
many years. Albert S. Hill and Edward Barton erected a paper mill in
1852, about a mile above Northville, on East Aspetuck River, where they
made straw-board paper for hat and dry goods boxes. This business was
continued until within a short time. The site had been used for a
saw-mill more than seventy years before the paper mill was erected.
Just below this mill, on the river, was a grist mill, which was
purchased in 1862 by William W. Wells and his brother Edwin S. They
ground flour and feed there many years, and also constructed a saw-mill.
This property has been used as a mill site for more than one hundred and
twenty-five years.
Justus Miles came from Milford in 1742 and purchased the farm in Park
Lane where the old house known as “Miles’
[Illustration: UNITED BANK BUILDING]
Tavern” still stands, and where, from an ancient sycamore, still hangs
the old iron crane which bore the tavern sign a hundred years or more
ago. He built the works known as the “Miles’ Grist Mill” in 1748 “by the
north end of Henry Garlick’s home lot” on East Aspetuck River.
Manufacturing of some kind has been carried on there ever since, paper
having been made there for the last fifty years. A company organized as
the “New Milford Paper Company” recently purchased the property, and is
preparing to do a large business in making cardboard and paper.
The Merryall Plough Foundry was established soon after 1800 by Elijah
Hall. He made castings for ploughs and invented the “Hall Plough,” which
was very popular among farmers for many years. Mr. Hall was the first
man in the State to use bituminous coal for forge work.
In 1768 Angus Nicholson purchased land on West Aspetuck River, and, some
time after, built what was known for a long time as Nicholson’s Iron
Works. He erected a square marble stone, which is now standing, on the
corner of the road a short distance above Wellsville, with the following
inscription: “To Wm. Nicholson’s Ironworks, 2 miles from New Milford, 85
miles from N. York, 1788.” On the east side of the stone, the words, “To
Kent,” are inscribed, with an index hand pointing northward.
The manufacture of wool and linen into cloth was begun in the town at an
early date. Mills for that purpose were erected on various water
courses. Such a business was carried on near the mouth of Rocky River.
About 1820 William Roberts erected cloth works at Gaylordsville. A dam
across the river was constructed in the early part of last century, and
a saw-mill put into operation on the west side by Homer Gaylord, and on
the east side a grist-mill, by Peter Gaylord.
George Wells and brother established cloth works at Wellsville, where
they manufactured cloths quite extensively from wool and from wool mixed
with cotton. The plant burned down eventually, and was not rebuilt. The
property subsequently passed into the hands of Chauncey B. Marsh, who
erected a saw-mill and machine shop, which he carries on at the present
time. Mr. Marsh is also engaged in large operations in wood and lumber.
As many of the hills about New Milford are of lime rock formation, the
stone has been mined and burned for lime since an early date; but this
business has been somewhat neglected in recent years. In 1893 Charles E.
Griffin leased or purchased of Marshall Marsh a tract of land near
Boardman’s Bridge, much of which was composed of lime rock. There he
erected buildings and lime kilns, quarrying and burning lime
successfully until 1897, when a fire destroyed the property. It was soon
rebuilt and carried on until 1902, at which time the plant became
incorporated in the New England Lime Company. Under that name, the
business has greatly increased, and a large quantity of excellent lime
is produced.
The mill site at Little Falls, about one mile below the village, has
from early times been used as a grist mill. It was first known as
Ruggles’ Mill, then, for fifty years, as Stillson’s Mill, and, after
that, as Giddings’ Mill. The structure is substantially built of stone.
In 1884, William D. Black joined with Levi P. Giddings in establishing
an electric light plant there. Lewis F. Curtis joined the firm a few
years later. The New Milford Electric Light Company was incorporated in
1893 by Lewis F. Curtis, Mrs. William D. Black, and Levi P. Giddings. A
new dam of stone and concrete has been recently constructed across the
river, which furnishes abundant water power. This company furnishes
electricity for lighting the streets and public and private houses in
the village. A few years ago, an acetylene gas plant was established,
which is used to a limited extent.
For many years a company bought land and “rights” to use land on the
Housatonic River from Falls Village southward as far as Newtown. The
late Hon. Nicholas Staub was very active in this project. In 1898 a
company was incorporated as the New Milford Power Company. This company
built a high dam at Bull’s Bridge and constructed a canal for about a
mile down the river. At the lower end of the canal, on the border of
this town, they built a power-house and established on the river
electric machinery about one hundred and
[Illustration: MANUFACTURING PLANT OF THE BRIDGEPORT WOOD FINISHING
COMPANY]
ten feet below the level of the canal. Water is conveyed down this steep
declivity to the wheels through a huge cylinder thirteen feet in
diameter. The electricity generated here is carried on wires to
Waterbury, Bristol, and other cities, and moves the trolley systems of
those places.
A company was formed in 1888 for the purpose of making pottery.
Buildings were erected a short distance east of Giddings’ Mill, which
received their power from the mill by means of a long wire cable
connected with a water-wheel. Quite a large business was carried on for
a few years; then the plant passed into other hands for other purposes.
George B. Calhoun contributes the following concerning one of the large
industries of the town, the Bridgeport Wood Finishing Company:
“This company was incorporated in Bridgeport, Conn., on October 7, 1876,
with a silex manufacturing plant at Fort Ann, N. Y. In 1881 the company
removed to its present location at Still River, and erected there a
large silex, filler and paint, and japan and varnish plant. The
principal portion of this plant was destroyed by fire in February, 1902,
and was rebuilt with better facilities for meeting its business
requirements. The products of the company are ground silex and feldspar,
Wheeler’s Patent Wood Filler, Breinig’s Lithogen Silicate Paint,
Breinig’s Water and Oil Stains, Japans, Varnishes, etc. The business of
the company has steadily increased in volume from year to year, and its
products now have a world-wide reputation, so that, at the present time,
agencies have been established in all the principal cities of the United
States and Canada, as well as in Porto Rico, South America, and the
principal European cities. With an auxiliary silex manufacturing plant
at Branchville, Conn., and branch offices and warehouses in New York
City, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago, the company is well equipped to
care for its largely increasing interests at home and abroad. The
officers of the company are: David E. Breinig, president and general
manager; Edward E. Porter, vice-president; George B. Calhoun, secretary;
Henry S. Mygatt, treasurer.”
The cause of education has always received the earnest attention of the
citizens of New Milford, and the little brown schoolhouses, planted a
few miles apart, in which the boys and girls received all their book
learning, were landmarks in the New England colonies, as are to-day the
more pretentious structures which have supplanted them. In the early
days, the Bible was read every morning at the opening of school and
religious instruction was given; it was also thought proper to invoke
the blessing of the Great Ruler of the Universe.
New Milford was divided into twenty school districts, the schools of
which taught the elementary branches. In later years, as the population
increased and a greater desire for knowledge was manifested, private and
select schools and academies were founded in different parts of the
town; at Gaylordsville, at Northville, and in this village.
The most noted school, established in the early part of the last half
century, was the Housatonic Institute, which was carried on many years
by Benjamin J. Stone and Mary A., his wife. It was situated on the site
now occupied by Memorial Hall. This school was known far and wide and
received pupils from the surrounding towns. Many of the older people of
the town received their education there.
A famous school for boys was the Adelphi Institute, which removed from
Cornwall, Conn., to this town in 1860. Ambrose S. Rogers put up fine
buildings on the sightly hillside southeast of the village, and
conducted for many years an educational institution which took the form
of a military school during the Civil War.
The Center School is graded. Its several departments range from the
kindergarten to the high school, which last prepares students for
college. It is estimated that there are about one thousand one hundred
children in the town between the ages of four and sixteen years.
The first kindergarten school in the town was opened in 1873 by Mrs.
Andrew Bristol, assisted by Miss Mary C. Wells. Miss Wells succeeded
Mrs. Bristol in 1878, and removed the school to her own home on Elm
Street. It is called “Sunny Nook.” She prepared herself for teaching at
the New York Normal Ingleside School was established in 1892 by Mrs.
William D. Black, a daughter of Hon. David C. Sanford and a native of
New Milford.
It is a school for girls and has been patronized by prominent families
in most of the states.
The literary standard is high. The best specialists are employed as
teachers and the regular course exceeds the college entrance
requirements. It is especially a finishing school and its Post-Graduate
Department gives unusual opportunities for specializing in music, art,
literature, languages, etc. Physical training is a popular feature. The
number of pupils is limited to one hundred.
[Illustration: POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT]
[Illustration: INGLESIDE BUNGALOW]
[Illustration: FOUNDATION HOUSE
VIEWS OF INGLESIDE SCHOOL]
Kindergarten, at which she graduated in 1878. Miss Wells conducts her
school with great success.
The Ingleside School for girls, which was established by Mrs. William D.
Black, in 1892, and is the pride of the town, is described in another
place.
There are six churches in the village--the First[10] Congregational, the
parent church; St. John’s (Episcopal); the Methodist Episcopal; St.
Francis Xavier (Roman Catholic); All Saints’ Memorial (Episcopal); and
the Advent Christian. There is a Baptist church at Northville, a
Methodist Episcopal church at Gaylordsville, and the old Quaker
Meeting-house at Lanesville. Boardman and Merryall have each a chapel,
in which Sunday schools and religious meetings are held weekly. A
Sabbath school is conducted in Chestnut Land District.
The Memorial Hall and Library was erected in 1897 as a memorial to the
soldiers and sailors of New Milford. Egbert Marsh contributed ten
thousand dollars toward the building and gave part of the lot. He also
gave the fund for supplying books to the library. Individuals
contributed the balance of the cost of this memorial. The upper story is
the headquarters of Upton Post, Grand Army of the Republic, which was
organized December 20, 1882, with twenty-six charter members.
The first newspaper in this village was the _New Milford Republican_,
established in 1845, by J. K. Averill, who carried it on for a year,
then removed to Litchfield, Conn.
Messrs. Bailey and Donavan of Danbury, publishers of the _Danbury News_,
began, in 1872, to publish the _New Milford Journal_, which was soon
after sold to J. R. Johnson, and, later, to Marcus L. Delevan, who
changed its name to the _Housatonic Ray_. The _Gazette_ was started by
Gee and Hale in 1877, and passed shortly after into the hands of Robert
Erwin. Joshua A. Bolles and Franklyn Henry Giddings of Great Barrington,
Mass., purchased the _Ray_ in 1882 and, a little later, the _Gazette_,
and merged the two papers into the _New Milford Gazette_. Mr. Giddings
soon withdrew from the paper, not finding sufficient scope probably as
an editor of a country newspaper for his great ability. He has since
attained world-wide fame as Professor of Sociology at Columbia
University, having written several works on sociology and kindred
subjects, some of which have been translated into many languages. Mr.
Bolles continued to conduct the _Gazette_ with much ability till he was
stricken with a disease which suddenly caused his death, to the sorrow
of the whole community. The paper then passed into the hands of Philip
Wells, the present proprietor.
New Milford has had a brass band most of the time during the last half
century. The original band was organized in 1855 by Earl Buckingham, who
was its first leader. At the breaking out of the Civil War, the band
engaged with the Fourth Pennsylvania Cavalry. It was discharged by Act
of Congress after having served about eleven months. In 1872, a
reorganization was effected, with Winfred Soule as leader. Under
different leaders, the band has continued, with occasional lapses, to
the present time.
Roger Sherman Hall was built in 1875, at a cost of nearly fifty thousand
dollars. It is of brick, and has a large hall on the second floor; a
courtroom, probate, town offices, and a law library on the first floor;
and a town courtroom and “lockup” in the basement. It stands on the site
of William Sherman’s store, where Roger Sherman had his shoe shop. On
the twenty-sixth of October, 1897, a bronze tablet to the memory of
Roger Sherman, which had been placed on the north side of the front
entrance of the building, was unveiled in the presence of a large
company. The tablet was the gift of the Roger Sherman Chapter, Daughters
of the American Revolution, organized May 15, 1893. Mrs. Sara T. Kinney,
State Regent, D. A. R.; Senator George F. Hoar, a nephew of Roger
Sherman; Senator Joseph R. Hawley; and Henry S. Sanford made addresses.
The first bank was started here in 1852 with one hundred thousand
dollars capital, under the name of the Litchfield County Bank. It
occupied a small brick building near the Boardman residence on Main
Street. Frederick G. Chittenden was president. The first cashier was A.
McAllister of Bridgeport, Conn. George W. Whittlesey succeeded Mr.
McAllister
[Illustration: ANDREW B. MYGATT
Born 1820, died 1901]
as cashier, and Eli Mygatt and Henry W. Booth were successively
presidents. In 1865 it was changed to a national bank and called the
First National Bank of New Milford. The presidents were successively
Daniel Marsh, Henry W. Booth, Andrew B. Mygatt, Isaac B. Bristol, and
Henry S. Mygatt; the cashiers, John J. Conklin, Henry Ives, Henry S.
Mygatt, and Everett J. Sturges. The present officers are: Henry S.
Mygatt, president; Seymour S. Green, vice-president; and Everett J.
Sturges, cashier. The clerks are Robert E. Murphy, Roland F. Mygatt, and
Ray W. Leach.
The New Milford Savings Bank was organized in 1858. Eli Mygatt was
president, Silas Erwin vice-president, and John S. Turrill secretary and
treasurer. Mr. Turrill was succeeded by Charles Randall, who was
succeeded, in turn, by his son, H. LeRoy Randall, the present incumbent.
The present officers are: Turney Soule, president; Seymour S. Green,
vice-president; H. LeRoy Randall, treasurer; Edwin J. Emmons, assistant
treasurer. When Dr. James Hine was president, a fine building for the
bank was built on Bank Street, which was destroyed in the great fire. On
completion of the new United Bank Building, the bank was installed
there.
The Agricultural Society of New Milford was formed in 1858, and, since
that time, has held fairs and cattle shows each year--with a few
exceptions. It now occupies a fine site at Conetia Park.
The New Milford Water Company was chartered in 1873, and organized with
a board of directors. Charles H. Booth was chosen president, Charles H.
Noble, secretary and treasurer, and Henry O. Warner, superintendent. A
reservoir was located on the hill about one mile and a quarter northeast
of the village, near the source of Cross Brook, which is fed by springs
of pure water. Three other reservoirs have since been built of such
capacity that the supply of water is ample for the public and private
uses of the village. The present officers of the company are: Albert H.
McMahon, president; Verton P. Staub, superintendent; and Harry S.
Sanford, secretary and treasurer.
The first fire company, organized in 1830, was disbanded in 1863, and
succeeded by the Water Witch Engine Company No. 2. This company was
succeeded, in its turn, in 1876, by the Water Witch Hose Company, No. 2,
which now occupies a commodious building on Church Street.
New Milford has had several ruinous fires in its history. A fire swept
through Bank Street in 1860, and another, a few years later; but the
most destructive conflagration occurred on May 5, 1902, when the village
was startled by the ringing of bells, the tooting of steam whistles, and
the cry of “Fire!” Smoke and flames were seen issuing from the stables
back of the New Milford House. The hose company hastening to the scene
put forth great efforts, and for a time seemed to have obtained control;
but the flames spread in all directions, to the alarm of the
inhabitants, who were removing their goods to supposed places of
security. The solid block on Bank Street was soon in flames. Then, in
spite of the strenuous exertions of the firemen, the fire leaped across
the street to the north side and ignited the roofs of brick buildings
where merchandise had been placed for safety. The neighboring city of
Danbury sent a gallant band of firemen with one of their best engines,
with which they labored with great zeal to subdue the flames. With the
aid of our own brave boys, this was finally accomplished, but not until
the whole block and both sides of Bank Street were smoking ruins. Three
hotels, two bank buildings, the Post Office building, and the largest
mercantile establishments in the town, with their contents, were
destroyed. The only building in the whole square that was saved intact
was the fine mansion on the southeast corner of Main and Bridge streets,
the residence of State Bank Commissioner Charles H. Noble and his
brother, Town Clerk Russell B. Noble--worthy descendants of the pioneer
settler of the town.
Did the brave merchants and men of affairs, who could do nothing while
they saw their property go up in smoke, sit down in despair? Not they!
They cleared away the rubbish before it was cold. They worked with a
will to bring order out of chaos. They erected on “The Green” cheap
wooden buildings, in which they gathered the remnants of their goods;
and
[Illustration: _Photograph by C. D. Hine, May 7, 1902_
NEW MILFORD AFTER THE FIRE]
soon the beautiful square looked like a mushroom city in some mining
district of the West. They named it “Shanty Town,” and for several
months business was transacted there.
After the fire, streets were improved, and the system of drainage was
extended. Stores were enlarged--some to double their former size--their
business increased, and in less than two years no trace of the terrible
catastrophe was visible.
The town was rebuilt of brick, iron, and stone, more beautiful and
substantial than before. The three hotels, which had been of wood, were
replaced by much larger buildings of brick. On the site of that famous
hostelry, the New England Hotel, now stands the magnificent United Bank
Building, one of the best equipped banking establishments in Western
Connecticut. The National Bank occupies one side, and the Savings Bank
the other side of this structure, while in the second story are
handsome, commodious offices.
The railroad station was partly burned, but was soon renovated, and at
that point in the town great changes are now in progress. A new freight
depot is being erected and more tracks are being laid. In the near
future, a new passenger station is to be built, and other improvements
will be made.
The population of the town is increasing, being estimated at the present
time as fifty-five hundred inhabitants. A Board of Trade was organized
many years ago. A commercial club now occupies the fine rooms over the
new Post Office. The Town Court was established in 1901, and Postmaster
George H. Jackson was appointed the first judge. J. Edwin Hungerford
succeeded him, and J. Butler Merwin is the present incumbent. The wooden
bridges that spanned the Housatonic, and were at times swept away by
floods, have given place to graceful iron structures, which are above
the reach of high water. The town possesses an excellent telephone
system. The facilities for supplying all the needs of the inhabitants
are adequate. In a word, to quote Newell Calhoun, “Wealth, learning, and
religion have their abiding places here, and have helped to make this
village the resting place of the weary, and the working place of the
industrious.”
THE STORY OF NEW MILFORD TOLD IN CHRONOLOGICAL EPITOME
CONTRIBUTED BY RUSSELL B. NOBLE AND MINOT S. GIDDINGS
1702. Indian Deed to the Proprietors of New Milford was given, signed by
fourteen Indians. Consideration, Sixty pounds current money of the
Colony of Connecticut, and twenty pounds in goods.
There were 109 proprietors who owned Rights.
The Committee were Robert Treat, Sen., Thomas Clarke, Sen., George
Clarke, Joseph Treat, Joseph Peck, Jonathan Baldwin.
New Milford was called a Plantation till 1712.
1703. The Legislative title called the “Patent” was granted by the Grand
Court to New Milford.
1706. Zachariah Ferriss came to New Milford and plowed a piece of land
near Roger Sherman Hall--the first work done by a white man here.
1707. The names of the three earliest settlers of New Milford are: John
Noble from Westfield, Mass., John Bostwick, from Stratford, Ct., John
Noble, Jr., from Westfield, Mass.
1708. Daniel Bostwick was born; the first male child born in New
Milford.
Dea. Samuel Brownson, Farmington, Ct., Major John Bostwick, Jr.,
Stratford, Ct., and Zachariah Ferriss, Stratford, Ct., settled in New
Milford.
1709 or 1710. Roger Brownson, Farmington, Ct.; John Weller, Springfield,
Mass, and Thomas Weller, Westfield, Mass., settled in New Milford.
1710. Sarah Ferriss was born; the first female child born in New
Milford.
1711. Benjamin Bostwick, Stratford, Ct.; Isaiah Bartlet, and Samuel
Prindle, Milford, Ct., settled in New Milford.
1712. The General Assembly of Conn. granted the powers and privileges of
a Township.
1712 and 1713. Samuel Beebe and John Weller were chosen grand jury and
sworn.
Benoni Stebbins and Stephen Noble were chosen haywards, or
field-drivers.
William Gaylord
Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/49048