-^ ■ • - r . O '/^^^^ ^0 J v^*^. .,^''^. fC •''^. . i- ^- -. ^ . 5 ■■ "", % .^^ .0^ O - "^ ' \o^- 'i vV>- -^ ^ ^>'^V^V <*, '^ ^ * •■ a » - ^*3^'" y' ^b > ^^r. cy V ,S<^ .'^^ ./ -^ ( ,-; ^ J '"-^--0^ , ^^ ^ ''<- , ^,- V .^^ 'Wt^^' 0^- ,o««, '^a " ^^^ C°^ 'n^> 0^ °i?, ^G :mX: -^s^^^ {MM', \<^ ■\ ^.-.0^ c^^ -^ tf V ■JO ^ ^'"- '•' ^-~ -.'' ■ % -S •-1^-. V^^ . „ ^SJ) '%' \' 2. r^ V <^, ^^ o ^ -7* vt. 0^ *i> - - - ^' -^ .\X o •-T', .-?-' ->_ %#f^> '-P S 1 ^''^ > V •''*° 0'' .<^ ^ -y^-%'^' ^ ,-j^' „/7-/^, o V ^>^. o o ,>i^ o > V, O ' . . s ^ , V < A '^^ .•^ "^. ■^^c^ -f .■//^ t^-o^ 0^ '^ A O O ,-^- ^^V C HISTORICAL ADDRESS, DELIVERED AT THE COMMEMORATION ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY FIRST ANNUAL TOWN MEETING OF THE TOWN OF SALISBURY, OCTOBER 20, A. D. 1841. BY SAMUEL CHURCH NEW HAVEN: HITCHCOCK & STAFFORD, PRINTERS. 1842. IN EXCHANGE JAN 5 . 1915 s.-^ At a legal Town Meeting of the inhabitants of the Town of Salisbury, holden Oc- tober 20th, 1S41, it was Voted, That the thanks of this Town be presented to the Hon. Samuel Church, for the Address he has this day delivered. Voted, That the Committee of Arrangements be directed to request of Judge Chubch a copy of his Address, to be printed under the direction of the Selectmen. A true copy of record. Attest, ROGER AVERILL, Town Clerk. To THE Committee of Arrangements : Gentlemen — I have this day received from the Town Clerk and from the Secre- tary of your Board, the foregoing votes, requesting a copy of the Address delivered by me at our Centennial Town Meeting, October 20th, 1841, for publication. I have hesitated much whether in justice to myself I ought to permit the Address to be published. It was not intended originally for the public, but rather to give some additional interest to our Commemorative Meeting. Besides, I have had neither leisure nor patience to prepare it for the public eye. If you receive it, gentlemen, you must be content to receive it with all its imper- fections. So far as it purports to give a history of our Town, I think it may be relied upon as correct ; at least, as nearly so as it could be made by a very cautious dependence upon well authenticated tradition, and a resort to public records and private documents. If its publication will add at all to the gratification of the inhabitants of my native Town, or to the pleasure of our widely-dispersed friends abroad, to whom I am under many obligations of gratitude, I consent to it. SAMUEL CHURCH. To Messrs. Eliphalet Whittlesev, ~ John C. Coffing, Alexander H. Holley, I Coinmittee of Jared S. Harrison, j Arrangements. Samuel C. Scoville, rcoer avepjll, j Salisbury, January 21, 1842. i ADDRESS. Mr. Moderator,* This day completes a century since the first of your prede- cessors, Thomas Newcomb, presided as moderator of our first Town Meeting. Our records do not inform us where that meeting was convened ; probably not far from the place where we are now assembled. More than one half of this period has passed away since I have lived, and you, Sir, have survived nearly three fourths of it. Within this brief space, what mighty events have trans- pired ! Kingdoms have risen up and kingdoms have fallen, and almost the entire map of the world has been changed. The progress of science and the arts, the recognition and se- curity of human rights, the tolerant spirit of genuine Chris- tianity, all have been in full and successful accomplishment, within the last century, to an extent never before witnessed iii this world's history. And within our own town, hardly an evidenoe of its original identity exists, except its hills and waters and public records ! Were our powers of fancy and anticipation of prophetic mould, what think you. Sir, we could now see of the results of another century of equal pro- gress ? Our ancestors, whose deeds and memories we would now recall, and of whom our early records speak, were free in spirit and purpose, and yet were the subjects of a master ; * Lot Norton, Esq- and our town was an appendage of a dependent Colony. For us, and our children, the bonds of servitude have been broken, and we are called upon this day, by every motive which grat- itude can suggest, to cherish and express our veneration for the character and example of those departed men, and to ten- der the offering of devoted hearts to that Being who has been our fathers' God. To commemorate the birth-day and perpetuate the annals of a retired New England town, may seem, to some, a ti ifiing affair. But there is nothing dearer, to a man of sensibility, than his home — the scenes of his youthful adventures and hopes — the earth upon which his fathers have trodden — the mountains upon which they have looked — the streams they have followed. He listens to stories of objects so endeared to him, with untiring ear. The old man, in his recollection of these, will go back to the times of his boyhood, and for a mo- ment live over again the days of his young, unclouded hopes. And the youth looks upon them all, though inanimate, as his cherished friends. The long absent emigrant, on his return, as he views these well remembered objects, fancies himself surrounded by the nearly forgotten companions of his former days, which such associations bring back to his memory; and, though reflections such as these may bring over his heart a cloud of momentary sorrow, as the image of some long lost friend is renewed before him ; yet in such a grief it is luxury to indulge. Here is the only true source of patriotijjpi ; and the man who loves not to indulge in recollections of the home of his youth, is constituted of such materials as traitors are made of. But a New England town, when philosophically considered, is of more importance than at first may be supposed. It is not a mere corporation, but is a little commonwealth of itself. Our towns are pure democracies. Here, alone, the people de- liberate, decide, and act, without the intervention of a second power ; and their most important interests are here consulted and regulated by themselves. The chief objects of taxation are entrusted to the towns. The great and absorbing interests of learning and religion are within their jurisdiction, in their capacities of school and ecclesiastical societies. In town meetings, these primary assembhes of the people, our youth and young men are instructed in the first elements of political science ; not by study alone, but by actual obser- vation and participation. Here have been the nurseries of our statesmen, and here, too, the quiet duties and'submission of the citizen are first learned. I am persuaded, that without these rudimental institutions of civil liberty. New England could never have furnished her bright example in the struggle for independence ; nor could we have so successfully carried out the dangerous experiment of a people governed by them- selves. My fellow-townsmen, we have a right to be proud of our town, and to perpetuate its history. In this meeting, we cannot restrain our fancies from run- ning back to a time still earlier than the occasion we now commemorate. We see here these hills rising above us, these streams flowing along beside us, and these valleys and lakes spread out before us ; and here they have been, from a time we know not of. But who were the men who lived and ranged among them all, before our fathers saw them ? The rightful lords of these woods and waters, who were they ? Here and there some little memorial of their existence may even now be found in our fields. Often, in former days, as I have wandered along the banks of the Housatonuc, the arrow head of the Indian's bow, or his rude stone axe, has attracted my attention. I have found them of various dimensions and fashions — some rough in workmanship, and some displaying taste and ingenuity of construction ; and never did I gather up these relics of a forgotten race, without the silent, instinct- ive inquiry, — From whence was this arrow tfirown ? By the chieftain in the battle, or the Indian in the chase ? I have seen, as the falling banks of the river annually crumbled 8 away, whole skeletons of men exposed, in an upright or sit- ting posture, and have, in my young imagination, addressed them, almost as living men, — Who and what were ye once ? Upon the first arrival ofthe white men here, many of the abo- rigines still remained, clustered in the valleys along the streams and lakes. They had too long been within the reach of the enervating influence of the whites. Our Puritan ancestors had, for some years before, occupied the lands along the Con- necticut river on the one side ; and the Dutch of New Am- sterdam and its dependencies, had been their neighbors on the other. The fearless independence, the noble bearing of the Indian character, was gone. The Indians here, were peace- able, harmless, and servile. There seems to be much plausibility in the conjecture, that the race of Indians found here by our fathers, was not the original tenantry of this region ; but had come in as wander- ing tribes or bands from other forests, driven perhaps by wars, to take the place of an earlier and more noble people. The tradition is, with much probability, authenticated, that King Philip, the last of New England's proud Sachems, and the re- lentless foe of the Puritans, extended his ravages on this side of Connecticut river, and that he burned, or otherwise broke up, some settlements of English and friendly Indians in the present town of Simsbury, and particularly an Indian village there, called Weatogue, the name of which still remains ; and these Indians, flying from Philip, settled down upon the banks of the Housatonuc, within the present limits of Salisbury and Canaan, giving the name of their former home to their new residence. Hubbard, in his history of Indian wars, affirms it, that the Indians as far west as Hudson's or Dutch river, were con- cerned in Philip's wars ; and Bancroft, speaking of the Indians of New England, says, " The clans that disappeared from the ancient hunting grounds, did not always become extinct ; they often migrated to the north and west. The country between the banks of the Connecticut and the Hudson, was possessed by independent villages of the Mohegans, kindred with the Manhattans, whose few smokes once rose amidst the forests of York Island." The Indians of these villages spoke the same language, the Mohegan, or Pequod dialect, and which was^ with perhaps some variation, the language common to the Indians of New England. The Indians here, were proba- bly connected in some relation with the Stockbridge, or Mo- heaconnuc tribe, and perhaps made part of the tribes or clans lower down the river, at Kent and New Milford, and connect- ed in amicable relations with the Indians who acknowledged the sachem Wyantenock as their common protector. This chief resided near the Great Falls in New Milford. I have myself, when a child, conversed with old men, who could re- collect the remnant of tribes considerably populous, in Wea- togue, near the former residence of the White family, and on the noi'thern margin of Wonunscopomuc lake, (now called Furnace Pond,) and also on the eastern shore of Indian Pond, in Sharon. There was, upon the first arrival of the Dutch settlers here, a well defined Indian trail, or path leading from the Stock- bridge tribe, along the valley of the Housatonuc, through Weatogue, to the Scaticoke settlement of Indians in Kent. Apple trees had sprung up, and were growing along that path, through its whole extent, at unequal distances, accurately enough marking its course. Many of these were standing when I was a youth, and some I believe remain to this day. Tradition has pointed out the spot, on the easterly &ide of Wonunscopomuc lake, upon which the Indians held their coun- cils and powows. It is in the grove, a little vv^est of the road leading from Furnace Village to Town Hill, and near a tall pine tree, now standing, overlooking the lake. Frequently, when I have stood upon that interesting spot, I have attempt- ed to call up before me the groups of savage men who con- gregated on that ground. I have, in fancy there, looked 10 upon the grave, stern face of the counselor, the fierce visage of the impatient warrior, in his listening attitude, and the en- circling group of women and children around. It was, and still is, a plat of romantic beauty, well fitted to call forth the innate religious feeling of those men of nature. This spot was frequently visited by wandering Indians in after days, and the stately pine which then marked the place, was long known to the white inhabitants, as the Indian tree. Although the Indians of this neighborhood were friendly, yet such was the well known treachery of the Indian charac- ter, and so frequent were the causes of disturbance among the northern and western tribes, and so dreadful were the tales of savage cruelty, that the early white settlers were cau- tious in their intercourse with them, and were constantly on their guard against surprise and attack. A supply of ammu- nition was always on hand, furnished at the expense of the town ; forts or block houses were erected for defense and refuge ; and the house first erected for the minister, and which was improved as the house of religious worship, was con- structed with a view to defense, and with port holes, through which a fire of musketry could be kept up against assailing Indians. Our fathers assembled to worship God, with arms in their hands ; unlike us, their children, who have none to molest or make us afraid. One of these Block Houses was erected at the junction of the roads opposite the late dwelling house of Nathaniel Church, at Weatogue, and its stone foundations have been visible in my day. Another, a little southerly from the present dwelling house of William P. Russell, Esq. — the first location of the Dutcher family, nearly then inclosed by deep coves and dense thickets ; and still another, on the northerly side of Wonuns- copomuc lake, not far from the present residence of Newman Holley, Esq. Before the charter of the town was granted, Thomas Lamb, in behalf of the Governor and Company of the Connecticut 11 Colony, purchased certain Indian rights of land in the present town of Sharon, and in Weatogue, " for the consideration of eighty pounds and divers victuals and clothes." This deed was signed by the marks of many Indians, who describe them- selves as of the Indian nation, belonging to Muttapacuck. The name of one of the signers of this deed, as nearly as I can read it upon the ancient state records, was Tocconuc. Soon afterwards, the Indians complained to the general court, that they had been defrauded by Lamb in this purchase ; and a committee was appointed to investigate the alledged causes of complaint. Lamb afterwards received a grant of land from the Colony for his services and expenses in the nego- tiation. The Indian burial places, as well as any thing, designate the places of Indian settlements. There was one on the eastern side of the north pond ; another on the east side of the road leading through Weatogue and a little southerly from the old burying yard on my late father's farm ; and still another, to which allusion has before been made, on the bank of the Housatonuc, on the old White farm. This probably belonged to an earlier race than the Indians found here by our fathers. The annual encroachment of the river by the spring freshets, upon the banks, frequently exposed the bones of the buried Indians, which upon exposure, became dust. These exposures have long since ceased, and probably the shifting current of the stream has borne along with it to the ocean, the last ashes of the Indian, as has the stream of time borne away his memory from among men. The Dutch emigrants before their settlement here, made purchases of land of the Indian occupants, supposing, as has been said, that the intervals of the Housatonuc were within the limits of the province of New York, from whence they emigrated. William White and Abraham Vandusen purchased the Indian title to a tract of land lying, as I suppose, about two miles south of the falls. And in January, 1720, John 12 Dikeman and Lawrence Knickerbacor, of Livingston's Manor, in the province of New York, purchased of the Indians a tract of land lying on the west side of the Housatonuc river, " be- ginning at the upper falls, south of Wootawk, (meaning Wea- togue,) thence ruimiiig along the side of a hill called Wooto- wanchu, now called Sugar Hill, two miles, to the land pur- chased of the Indians by White and Vandusen ; thence with a straight line to a mile above the falls of a brook called Wachocastinook, (probably the falls at Lime Rock furnace,) thence south three miles, thence east to the river, &c." Thomas Knowles and Andrew Hinnian, of Woodbury, about the same time, made a very extensive Indian purchase, including, as they probably supposed, nearly all the feasible land of the town, described in their deed as lying on the river, six miles in length, north and south, and four miles wide, east and west. These grants, however, were afterwards all relinquished to the Colony ; the Indian right being considered then, as now, only as a right of occupancy, not of sale ; the right of pre- emption being solely in the Colony. All these grantees, how- ever, as a compensation for their expenses, received grants of land from the Colony. After the charter of the town was granted, and as late as 1742, the Indians made claim to lands here ; and in October of that year, Daniel Edwards, of New Haven, was appointed to purchase of the Indians, two miles square, at the northeast corner of the town, and to deliver to one Tocconuc, two blankets to resign his claim. The territory now including the towns of Salisbury, Sharon, Canaan, and Norfolk, before the survey of these towns was made, was known as the western lands. The first grant made of lands in this town by the general court, was made to Will- iam Gaylord, of New Mil ford. This grant embraced nearly the whole of the Weatogue intervals. Many other grants were subsequently made, before the sale of the town to pro- prietors ; among these, were Woodbridge's, Lamb's, Fitch's, Knickerbacor's, Bissell's, Butcher's, Wadsworth's, 13 Whiting's, Hinman's, Stiles', Lewis', Newton's, Knowles', and perhaps some others. Mr. Thomas Stiles is now the pro- prietor of some part of the lands included in the grant to his ancestor. In no other instance do the heirs of any of the original grantees possess any of the lands originally granted to their ancestors. I do not find that the general court made any grant of lands here to Yale College ; although in all the other towns em- braced within the northwestern lands, a grant of three hun- dred acres in each, was made to that institution. But as early as 1730, the trustees of the College received a deed of six hundred and twenty-eight acres of land from Rev. John Fisk and James Leavins, of Killingly, in exchange for land of equal value in that town. This land was located southeasterly of the center of the town, and still remains the property of the College, in the occupancy of tenants under leases for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, yielding an annual rent to the College. Fisk and Leavins had received from the Colony a grant of this land in October, 1729. As these lands contribute annually to the support of the College, they have euer been treated as exempt from taxation for other purposes, under the provisions of the statute of 1702. Whether the provisions of that statute really extended to lands thus acquired, it is now probably too late to inquire. Settlements of white people commenced within the present limits of this town, several years before the public sale of the lands. Three Dutch families from Livingston's Manor, in the province of New York, commenced the settlement in Wea- togue. Their land? were purchased of William Gaylord and Stephen Noble, of New Milford, by deeds dated August 29, 1720. These were the families of William White, Abraham Vandusen, and RulufT Dutcher. They probably took pos- session of their lands the same season. White was by birth an Englishman, but had long before been connected with the 14 Dutcli inhabitants of the New York province. He married a Dutch wife and had reared a family. He located himself upon the farm lately owned by my father, Nathaniel Church, and a few rods north of the small stream which flows east- wardly across the highway to the cove below. White had several sons, who settled around him; — George, on the west side of the road, opposite his father's house ; Benjamin, a little south of the brook ; Joshua, still further south, and near the river ; and Isaac, who resided with his father. Ben- jamin was a man of considerable repute ; he afterwards re- turned to the province of New York, where he died. The other sons of William White lived and died here. None of the lineal descendants of this gentleman, bearing the family name, remain with us; yet there are many from female branches. Rufus Landon and his children ; the wife and children of Calvin Moore ; and many others, now our inhabitants, are lineal branches of this original family. Vandusen settled upon the farm now owned by Elias H. Joslin, and the lands adjoining on the north. His sons wei'fe Henry or Hendrick, Godfrey, James, Isaac, and perhaps some others. Captain Henry Vandusen, Horatio Vandusen, and their children, are the only lineal representatives of Abraham Vandusen, of the same name, now remaining among us. Dutcher settled upon lands still further north, and extending to the state line, or near to it. His sons were Christopher, John, Cornelius, and Gabriel. Christopher, the eldest son, settled in Canaan, where his descendant, Rulufi' Dutcher, now resides. The others sons remained in this town. The name of this family has become extinct here ; yet much of its blood flows in descendants of the female line. The wife and children of William P. Russell, Esq. are of this family. The Knickerbacor family came into the town soon after White and others. John Knickerbacor occupied the Knicker- bacor grant, at the mouth of Salmon Kill river. Some of the lineage of this ancient family are here to this day. Cor- 15 nelius Knickerbacor, a brother of John, settled at the Furnace Village, about the same time that John came here. His dwell- ing house was nearly on the same spot where the silversmith shop of Wilham C. Botsford now stands. Cornelius Knicker- bacor's was for some time the only white family in that sec- tion of the town. He afterwards removed to Sharon. Thomas Lamb, I believe, was the first New England man who settled in this town. He emigrated, I suppose, from Springfield, but the precise time of his settlement here I can- not ascertain. He received several grants of land before the sale of the town. He located a tract of fifty acres at Lime Rock, upon a grant made to a Sergeant Tibbals, for services in the Pequod war. He received another grant of one hundred acres on the northeast side of the Furnace pond ; and after the sale of the town, he became the owner of four and one half rights. He secured the water privileges at Lime Rock, at the outlet of the Furnace pond, at the falls west of the center, now owned by N. Clark, as well as the outlet of the pond on the mountain. Indeed, he was the distinguished spec- ulator of his day. His place of residence was probably first at Lime Rock ; but he afterwards resided on the hill, south- easterly of the Furnace Village, where Thomas Conklin form- erly lived. He left the town about the year 1746, and became a mariner, and resided successively in New Jersey, Maryland, and North Carolina. Mr. Caleb Woodworth, the ancestor of our respected fel- low townsman, Josiah Woodworth, I suppose, was the first white man who settled with a family in the neighborhood of the Ore Hill. He came into the town as early as 1738. Thomas Baylis settled at the center, where William Bush- nell now lives, as early as 1740. John Weldon came into the town in 1740, and Isaac Vosburgh in 1742 ; both located themselves in the north part of the town, near where the late Colonel Elijah Stanton lived and died. Samuel Beebe settled near the upper or little falls of the Housatonuc, and 16 where John Adam now hves, about the year 1740. Within one year after the incorporation of the town, there were forty-five tax paying inhabitants here. The ore bed, the iron works of Thomas Lamb, at Lime Rock, and the various water privileges discovered here, probably invited emigrants ; though the appearance of the land was at first uninviting. The hills appeared barren, and with little wood to cover them ; the frequent Indian fires had nearly destroyed the timber, and the valleys were covered with a tall and useless grass, called bent-grass. At the May session of the general court of the Colony, 1732, a committee was appointed, consisting of Edmund Lewis, Esq., of Stratford, and William Gaylord and Stephen Noble, of New Milford, with directions to lay out one or more townships, in the northwestern lands, if in their opinion they were such as to accommodate a town. In the following sum- mer, the committee explored the lands and laid out the towns of Salisbury and Sharon. They began their survey of this town on the line of Massachusetts Colony, and on the bank of the Housatonuc river, and run thence west, nine and a half degrees north, seven miles and one half to the northward end of the line of partition between this Colony and the province of New^ York. This boundary is upon Tocconuc mountain. Thence they ran south, twelve and a half degrees west in the Colony line, eight and three quarters miles to a bound about eight rods east of the Indian pond ; thence east, nine and a half degrees south, seven miles to Housatonuc river ; thence following the river to the first bounds. The committee rep- resented the lands as much broken by mountains and ponds, but were of opinion that the land would accommodate a suit- able number of persons for a town. The lands thus surveyed they designated as township M. In May, 1733, Nathaniel Stanley, Esq. and Capt. John Marsh were appointed by the General Court to take in sub- scriptions for the lands in township M., and the avails of the 17 sales were to be appropriated for the support of schools in such towns as had before been settled. I do not know that any thing was ever done under this appointment. But at the October Session of the Assembly, (then called the General Court,) in the year 1737, the lands in this town were ordered to be sold at Hartford, on the third Wednesday of May, 1738, with a reservation of former grants. For this purpose, the • lands were divided into twenty-five rights. One of these rights was appropriated to the first settled minister ; one for the use of the ministry for ever, settled according to the con- stitution and order of the churches established by law in this Colony ; and one for the support of schools. Here is the ori- gin of the ministerial and school funds of the town. The re- maining rights were purchased by individual proprietors. The original proprietors were Thomas Lamb, Thomas Fitch, (afterwards Governor of the Colony,) Christopher Dutcher, Elias Reed, John Beebe, James Beebe, Daniel Edwards, Jo- seph Tuttle, David Allen, George White, Joshua White, Titus Brown, Edward Phelps, Thomas Pierce, Thomas Newcomb, Benjamin White, Eleazur Whittlesey, Richard Seymour, Rob- ert Walker, and Tliomas Norton. It is not known that any of the lands originally drawn, remain now in the occupancy of the descendants of the original proprietors of them, unless it be the lands owned by the children of Henry Gay, the descendants of Elias Reed. ^^^^^^^^ The proprietors held their first meeting in this town, on the 12th day of April, 1739, and directed the manner of making the division of lands, and established their rules of proceed- ing. Among other things, they directed that near the center of the first division there should be a proper space laid out for a green, or market place, about thirty rods square. This green was accordingly laid out on Town Hill, and includes a part of the burying yard there. They reserved from draft, privileges for a saw mill, on the first great falls of the Fell- kill, and also, " at Succonups brook, near the place where the 18 same runs out of the southernmost of two large ponds, lying almost close together." The first of these locations was near the Lime Rock Furnace, and the latter a little below the Fur- nace, at Chapinville. Thomas Lamb, however, the persever- ing Thomas Lamb, soon after procured a privilege of erecting a saw mill at Lime Rock. In pursuance of the first votes of the proprietors, four divi- sions of land were laid out. The lots in these divisions were • distributed among the proprietors by lot, or chance. All the subsequent divisions were by pitches, made by each proprietor, of the quantity of land to which he was entitled in each divi- sion, as authorized by vote of the proprietors, and surveyed under the direction of the proprietors' committee. The first division commenced in a tier of lots running north and south, near the present school house, at Lime Rock, and extending westerly across Town Hill, and around on the west and north- west side of Furnace Pond. These lots contained from fifty to one hundred and fifty acres, sized according to quality. A highway, six rods wide, was reserved over them ; and this accounts for the spacious road across Town Hill. What induced the proprietors to make provision for a road so broad, with green and market place, in that lower section of the town, is not now certainly known. They probably believed that the ore hill at the western extremity, and the water power at the eastern limit of this di^ion^f land, together with the su- perior beauty of its most elevated point, would constitute that, as the central point of business ; which, for that reason, re- ceived the name of Town Hill. The lots in the other divi- sions of land were not always contiguous, but surveyed and drawn in widely scattered locations, which cannot be conven- iently designated here. Although there was a population to some extent here before the incorporation of the Town, yet the people possessed no political rights. They were protected by the laws, but had no voice in their enactment. The first political power en- 19 joyed by this people, was conferred in 1728, At that time there were few enclosures, and the horses and cattle were per- mitted to run at large, and without restraint. It was neces- sary to distinguish the beasts of one town from those of an- other, so that estrays might be returned and reclaimed. Each town, among the new settlements, had its own form of brand, prescribed by the Assembly. Every beast was branded. The General Court, at its October session, 1728, conferred upon the people of Weatogue the special liberty of using a brand in the form of an X, together with the privilege of electing a brander. The mode of choice was entirely democratic, though peculiar. It was directed by a resolve of the Assem- bly, that a paper should be circulated among the people, upon which each man should write the name of the person of his choice for that office, — that the paper should be returned to the Town Clerk of New Milford, and should determine the result of the election, as it disclosed the state of the vote. I have not been successful in my inquiries to ascertain the dis- tinguished individual who first received political honors from the people of Salisbury ! In the spring of 1741, the population had so much increased as to encourage the hope that the ministry could be supported here, and the people became impatient for the possession of the civil and religious privileges enjoyed by the incorporated towns in the Colony. There were no roads nor bridges, nor the power of constructing any. Especially, religious instruc- tion and worship could not be maintained, without corporate powers ; and therefore a petition was presented to the Gene- ral Court, in October, 1741, for a town charter, and it was granted. Among the powers conferred, the most important one, was, to embody in Church estate, according to the laws of this government. At that time there was a connection be- tween the Church and the State, nearly as close as existed in the mother country. 20 Mr. Benjamin White, by the charter, was empowered to warn the first town meeting, and direct the time and place of meet- ing. He did so, and it was holden, according to the warning, on the 9th day of November, 1741, and was organized by the choice of Thomas Newcomb as Moderator ; Cyrenus New- comb, Town Clerk ; Benjamin White, Thomas Newcomb, and John Smith, Selectmen ; Samuel Beebe, Treasurer ; Thomas Austin, Constable ; with the usual minor officers. Thus, we became a town, by the name of Salisbury. From whence our name was derived, our records do not inform us. A tradition, which has been adopted as true, by Rev. Mr. Crossman, in his New Year Sermon, preached in this house, on the 3d day of January, 1803, says, our corpo- rate name was derived from a man whose name was Salis- bury, and who, it is supposed, resided a few feet south of the present garden of William Bushnel, at the center. There is much reason to doubt the authenticity of this tradition ; some parts of it are incredible, and I am disposed to reject it alto- gether. That a man of that name once resided at the place mentioned, may be true ; but that he was a personage who would give his name to a town, I do not believe. His name does not appear upon our records ; he owned no land, he paid no tax ; he was obscure and degraded. The traditional ru- mor is, that he removed from this town into the State of New York, where he was convicted of the murder of his female slave, and sentenced to be hung on his arriving at the age of one hundred years, and in the meantime was permitted to go at large ! There was no Colony with laws thus administered. It is much more probable, that our name, like those of most New England towns, was borrowed from a city or town of the same name in the mother country. The first list of taxable estate here, was made up in 1742, and amounted to the sum of £2279 IO5. 6c?. In 1755, it amounted to £9988 4s. 6d. This was the grand list, upon which the first State tax was assessed upon this town. In 1756, the number of inhabitants was 1100. In 1774, there were 1936 white, and 44 colored inhabitants. Under the first census, taken by authority of the Government of the United States, in 1790, there were 2070 inhabitants; in 1800, 2266; in 1810, 2321 ; in 1820, 2695 ; in 1830, 2580 ; in 1840, 2551 inhabitants. Under the revised system of assessments, introduced in 1820, the hst of this town amounted to the sum of i30,826, and in the year 1840, to the sum of $41,805; showing an in- crease, for the last twenty years, of twenty-five per cent. The present number of electors is 493. I have said before, that previous to the act of incorpora- tion, there were no public roads here ; yet there were some w^ell defined paths. The most prominent among these, was the one leading from Butchers, in Weatogue, and follow- ing, as I suppose, the general direction of the present high- way to Fui'nace Village, and thence along nearly to the Ore Hill, and down through Sharon Valley to Sacketfs Farm, in Dover, nearly west of the southwest corner of the town of Sharon. Another path led from the Oi-e Hill, and in the vi- cinity of what we call the under mountain road, to the iron works at Ousatonuc. how called Great Barrington. This was called the ore path ; and iron ore, in leathern bags, was trans- ported on horses, over this road, from the Ore Hill to the forge. Another path connected the Ore Hill with Lamb's iron works, at Lime Rock ; and another extended from Lamb's works to the fording place, about one half mile below the present Falls Bridge. In the division of the town, by the proprietors, an allow- ance for roads was made, (jver nearly all the lots, but none were actually located by them, unless it was the six rod high- way, over the first division lots, across Town Hill. The first recorded survey of a highway, was made Nov. 6th, 1744, from Gabriel Butcher's, in the northeast section of the town, to Benjamin White's. Another, the same year, from Cornelius 22 Knickerbacor's, at the Furnace, to Samuel Bellow's, at the eastern foot of Smith's Hill. Another, in 1746, from White's, in Wcatogue, westerly to the foot of the hill, called by us Frink's Hill. This road has been discontinued for several years. Another, the same year, from Furnace Village, by Nathaniel Everts', to the Colony line ; and another, the same year, from Thomas Baylis', at the center, easterly, to the foot of the mountain, near Chauncey Reed's, and thence southerly to Lamb's iron works. These were among the first legally established highways. The first bridge erected across the Housatonuc river, was the falls bridge, for many years known as Burrall's bridge. This bridge was built about the year 1744. Butcher's bridge was erected in 1760. A bridge at the south part of the town, about one half mile below the present bridge, was erected about the year 1790. It was built by funds raised by a lottery granted by the General Assembly, and was long known as the lottery bridge. It was discontinued upon the opening of the present road, called the Johnston road, leading from the late Nathaniel Gr^jen's to South Canaan, in the year 1808. Be- fore the erection of these bridges, access to this town was difficult from the east. There were but few fording places upon the river, and these could only be improved when the river was very low, in the summer or fall. Indeed, I believe no more than, one fording place was improved, which was about one half mile below the falls bridge. The river could be forded, with some difficulty, near William Sardam's. Canoes were used for the transportation of persons, and I have not been able to learn whether any ferries were at any time established ; I believe there weje none. Horses and cattle could cross the river only by swimming. In investigating some titles, some years ago, of lands in Weatogue, I found the prominent description of one corner of a tract, to be, Christopher's canoe place. I infer, therefore, that this was a well known crossing, aud near to the present 23 residence of Ruluff Dutcher, in Canaan, whose ancestor was Christopher Datcher. Perhaps there is not an ancient highway in the town, which can now be accurately defined. We can depend only upon the practical location, or the dedication of the highways by usage, as the legal evidence of their existence and extent. Rev. Mr. Grossman, in his Sermon, says, that the charter of this town was granted in 1745, and signed by Governor Law. This is an error, Mr. Grossman has confounded the charter of the town with the deed of confirmation, which deed was executed in May, 1745, and signed by Govei^nor Law, This town was originally attached to the county of New Haven, and remained a part of that county until the county of Litchfield was constituted, -in 1751. For several years after the incorporation of the town, little business, which to us would appear important, was transacted. The ministerial and school lands were leased upon long terms of years, and a fund created for the partial support of the gospel and the schools. These funds remain, diminished some- what by the depreciation of continental money during the war of the revolution, but since have been increased from oth- er sources. By-Laws and regulations for the killing of beasts of prey, were necessary for some years, and bounties were offered for their destruction. Wolves, especially, were abundant, and committed extensive depredations. It is only within a few years, that they have been driven entirely from our mountains. Bears, deer, and other game for the hunter, were also numerous, and many and interesting have been the tales of the hunters' feats, with which the old men of other days have amused their children. The last of Bruin's race, ever found upon our soil, was killed by Richard P. Stanton, on the mountain east of Thomas B. Bos worth's, in the winter of 1821. As one of the most prominent purposes to be accomplished by corporate privileges, was the support of the gospel minis- 24 try here, so the earliest efforts of the town were directed to that object. As early as January, 1742, a committee was ap- pointed to "seek out for a minister to preach to us three months." As yet, there was no established place of public worship in tlie town, and no building which could accommo- date even the then few inhabitants ; and therefore the town designated places of worship in its different sections, that all might be alternately accommodated. The house of Henry Vandusen at Weatogue, of Cornelius Knickerbacor at Furnace Village, and of Nathaniel Buell at Lime Rock, were estab- lished as places of meeting ; and this system was pursued un- til after the call of Mr. Lee. In June, 1742, a gentleman whose name was Hesterbrook, was employed to preach three months. Of this gentleman, or his character, I know nothing. In April, 1743, an unsuccessful attempt was made to call a minister. In the succeeding, month the effort was renewed, and Mr. Thomas Lewis was invited to preach on probation. He preached seventeen Sabbaths, but not proving acceptable to the people, no call for settle- ment was given. I have not been able to learn any thing of the history of Mr. Lewis. On the 3d day of January, 1744, Mr. Jonathan Lee, of Lebanon, received a call for settlement, which was accepted. The letter of acceptance was as fol- lows : "Salisbury, Aug. 19, 1744. " To the Inhabitants of the Town aforesaid. " Gentlemen and Brethren, — I have again carefully con- sidered your call to me to labor with you in the saci-ed work of the gospel ministry. I have endeavored to hear and dis- cern the call of God, which is my only rule to act by. I have considered your proposals for my maintainance and sup- port ; among which, as I understand them, are as follows : — You have voted annually to give me forty pounds, lawful money, which, in Old Tenor money, amounts to £160 pounds. And, for the fourth year of my ministry, you have voted to 25 add fifty shillings, lawful money ; and for the fifth year, you have voted to add fifty shillings more, of the same tenor, and so to continue, which amounts to £180 pounds of Old Tenor bills, being £45 pounds of lawful money. And having re- ceived encouragements of other needed assistances and helps, and, as far as I can discovei', I being called not only of you, but of God, I therefore do hereby testify mine acceptance of the call, and your proposals, and hereby profess my willing- ness to labor for your good in the work of the gospel minis- try, according as I may be assisted by the grace of Almighty God ; and hoping and trusting in his goodness, and depending upon a continual remembrance in the fervent prayers of the faithful, I give and devote myself to Christ, and my services to you for his sake, who am your friend and servant, "Jonathan Lee." He had preached on probation for a short time before. Pre- vious to Mr. Lee's call, the town had voted to erect for the minister a log house, thirty feet long and twenty- four feet wide. A clergyman of the present day would consider such accommodations somewhat restricted ! This house, too, was intended, and used temporarily, as the meeting house, and was situated near the northwest corner of Thomas Stiles' garden. The terms of Mr. Lee's settlement, aside from the right of land appropriated to the first minister, were forty pounds, law- ful money, with an annual increase until it should amount to forty-five pounds, or one hundred and eighty pounds in Old Tenor bills ; as appears by his letter of acceptance. Though our fathers were indeed poor, and had few facilities for raising the means of support for their Minister, yet the privileges of the Gospel were to them of inestimable value, and to enjoy them, was the great purpose of their association ; and they submitted to privations little realized by us, to attain and secure them. And after all, had not their Minister him- self made sacrifices equally with his people, their efforts would not have succeeded. The log house erected for the Minister 26 was not finished when Mr. Lee came here with his family, and his first dwelUng place was an apartment temporarily fitted up in the end ofa blacksmith's shop, with stools for chairs and slabs for tables. And the poor Minister was often compelled to carry his bushel of wheat upon his back to Lamb's mill, for grinding ! Mr. Lee having accepted the call to settle here, he and Thomas Chipman, Esq. were requested by the town to fix upon the time of Ordination, and " agree upon the men to do the work." On the 23d day of November, 1744, Mr. Lee was ordained by a select ordaining council — the men agreed upon to do tlie ivork, at the log house which had been erected for his use. Why a select council was called to perform this service, instead of the Consociation, to which the town belonged, we are not informed. The proceeding was afterwards condemned as irregular, and as a departure from the Saybrook Canons ; and several of the council were censured for participating in the Ordination, without the advice of the Association.* No evil, however, resulted to the town from this procedure, nor was Mr. Lee at all implicated in its irregularity. The con- nection of Mr. Lee with this people was long and successful, and attended, perhaps, with as much harmony as was usual in those days of acquiescence in ecclesiastical measures. Mr. Lee continued to be the sole settled Minister here forty- four years. He died Oct. 8, 1788, and was interred in the old center burying yard. I never knew this gentleman, and can only speak of his character as a matter of reputation. I have ever understood he was a man of sagacity and respect- able intellectual powers, as well cultivated by science as was usual for the clergy of that day. He was a graduate of Yale College, of the class of 1742. The family of Mr. Lee was numerous, and some members of it in after life distinguished. His sole surviving son, Rev. Chauncey Lee, D. D. we rejoice * Trum. Ills. Con. 2 Vol. pp. 493, 518. 27 to meet and embrace on this occasion. Many of the de- scendants of our first Minister remain yet with us, sustaining highly respectable characters. It was not until the 23d day of April, 1746, that the town voted to build a meeting house. And the place first designated for this purpose was the elevated ground north of John C. CofRng's dwelling house. This location was opposed by the people at the north part of the town, and in May, 1747, a committee, consisting of Ebenezer Marsh, Joseph Bird, and Joseph Sanford, was appointed by the general court to desig- nate the place for the meeting house. The committee desig- nated two places ; one where the town had by its vote fixed it, and another a little north of Joseph Lee's dwelling house. Joseph Lee dwelt where William Bushnell now lives, nearly opposite this house. The General Court directed the house to be built near Mr. Lee's, and that the sills of it should enclose the stake placed by the committee, exactly in the center. Meas- ures were immediately taken to build the house ; the time of the raising was fixed, and the town voted, that Ensign Samuel Bellows should procure sixteen gallons of rum, and Sergeant Samuel Moore eight bushels of wheat, to be made into cake, for the raising. The meeting house was raised on the 24th and 25th days of March, 1749, on the spot where the Hotel now stands, opposite this house. The town had no title to the land on which they erected their meeting house ; but Mr. Robert Walker, of Stratford, one of the original proprietors of the town, by deed dated 29th May, 1750, gave to the town a small triangular piece of land, on the west side of the high- way, including the meeting house, for a burying yard. This piece of land extended from the south line of the old burying yard, northerly, along the highway, forming an acute angle on the highway, nearly opposite the present school house. This burying place has been since enlarged by purchases of land from Mr. Jeremiah Bushnell, on its western side. At the same time, Mr. Walker conveyed to the town, for a 28 parade, a piece of land on the east side of the highway, on which the Congregational meeting house now stands. It was bounded south, by the highway, then open, and running east- erly, through Stiles and College grants, to Lamb's iron works ; it was six rods in width, and extended north, from the afore- said road, twenty rods. The old meeting house continued to be used as such, fifty years only, and until the present Congre- gational meeting house was finished, in the year 1800. It was used for town and society meetings until the year 1813, when by lease dated the 19th day of January, 1813, the town con- veyed it to the late Simeon Granger, on condition that he and his assigns, should at all times furnish the town with a conven- ient room for town and society purposes, public libraries, &c. The lease included, also, the vacant lands derived from Mr. Walker, on the west side of the highway, which had not been before disposed of, nor included within the burying yard. A considerable portion of this was then used as a public high- way, extending westwardly, up the hill, and has never been discontinued as such, but still remains open and used as the only practicable way to the burying yard. In 1789, the parsonage committee was directed to apply to Mr. Chauncey Lee, son of the deceased minister, to preach here on probation. In November, 1790, a call was given to Rev. William F. Miller, and in 1791 a call was given to Rev. John EUiott, to settle here in the ministry ; but both invitations were declined. On the 2d of October, 1792, a call was unanimously given to Rev. James Glassbrook to become the minister of this people, under restrictions and conditions such as I suppose the ecclesi- astical authorities could not have approved. The call was accepted. It was a mere hiring for an unlimited time, with liberty to either town or minister, to dissolve the connection, upon a previous six months' notice. The assent of the Asso- ciation was neither asked nor given. Mr. Glassbrook was a Scotch gentleman of popular talents, but for some cause, not 29 now very well defined, his popularity waned fast, and before the expiration of his first years service, the town gave him notice to quit. Mr. Glassbrook did not long survive this event, but died at his residence, where Mr. Revilo Fuller now lives, on the 8th day of October, 1793. The Rev. Timothy Cooley was invited to settle here on the 30th day of October, 1795, but refused. On the 27th day of March, 1797, Rev. Joseph Warren Grossman, of Taunton, Mass., accepted a call here, and was soon after ordained, and continued a successful ministry, until his death, on the 13th day of December, 1812. Mr. Grossman was a graduate of Brown University, R. I. Of this good man, we have not yet ceased to speak. He was a man of great excellence of char- acter. As a preacher, many excelled him ; as a pastor, he exhibited a model worthy of all imitation. Prudence was prominently displayed in all his intercourse with this people. The religion he preached was exemplified in himself. He loved his fellow men, not because they bore the same secta- rian name with himself, but because they were his fellow men. He was the minister of a denomination, but he was the friend of all. His piety was not spoiled by prejudice, and he could joyfully recognize a disciple of his Master, as well among the ministers, as the people of other denominations. The ecclesiastical concerns of the Gongregational parish, in conformity with the general usage of this Colony and State, had been managed by the town, previous to the year 1804, in which year a Gongregational Society, distinct from the town, was organized, and succeeded in all the property and interests which the town had managed in its ecclesiastical capacity. After the death of Mr. Grossman, no minister was settled here until the year 1818. In the meantime, several attempts were made to effect this purpose. From the first establishment of religious ordinances in this town, until the death of Mr., Grossman, there existed, perhaps, as much harmony in the ecclesiastical relations of the town, 30 as prevailed generally in New England parishes. Here and there, perhaps, a root of bitterness would and did spring up, but it soon drooped, and left no permanent evidence of its ex- istence behind. On the 5th day of April, 1813, the Society, by a divided vote, called Mr. John B. Whittlesey to become its minister. This was an occasion of much subsequent excitement. The friends of Mr. Whittlesey were numerous and respectable, and his opponents influential and determined. For a time, the permanent union of the Society seemed to be in danger. Mr. Whittlesey at first accepted the call ; the opposition to him continued and increased ; he doubted, then declined. His friends persisted, and again he accepted the call, but finally declined altogether. During this strife, much exasperated feeling was manifested. But new candidates begat new pre- ferences, so that harmony was again restored, and the Society, by a united vote, on the 26th day of July, 1815, invited the settlement of Mr. Chauncey A. Goodrich, now Professor in Yale College, but without success. Again another unsuccess- ful call was given, and on the 29th day of November, 1816, Mr. Fedral Burt, of Southampton, Mass., was solicited to be- come our minister. But in November, 1817, a call was given, under some op- position, to Mr. Lavius Hyde, of Franklin, which was ac- cepted, and Mr. Hyde was ordained on the 18th day of March, 1818. Soon, however, increased opposition appeared, and the harmony of the Society was once more broken up. Councils were called for consultation and advice, and at length, after a faithful, but unhappy service of about four years, Mr. Hyde was dismissed from his charge. Some of us yet remain, who participated in the excitement produced by Mr. Hyde's minis- try and dismissal ; and as I was one, among many, who bore a testimony, somewhat active, in favor of that good man; so I rejoice, that, on this occasion, I have an opportunity to renew and perpetuate the evidence of my affection. 31 The Society remained destitute of a settled ministry, until Rev. Leonard E. Lathrop was installed, on the 2d day of February, 1825. Mr. Lathrop was a distinguished graduate of Middlebury College, Vt., and had been ordained as a Pres- byterian minister, and had been settled as the pastor of a Presbyterian parish in Wilmington, N. C. Few clergymen possess, to such an extent, the confidence of the entire com- munity, as did Mr. Lathrop the respect of all classes and de- nominations in the town. The regret at parting was deep and mutual. Mr. Lathrop, at his own solicitation, was dis- missed from his Society here, on the 25th of October, 1836, and was soon after settled in Auburn, N. Y. Rev. Adam Reid, a native of Scotland, was ordained as pastor of the Congregational Church and Society here, on the 27th of September, 1837. Until the year 1824, public worship, in the Congregational Society, was supported by the taxation of its members. This system has been since abandoned, and the voluntary principle successfully adopted. Experience, both here and elsewhere, has fully proved that the clergy are better supported by a re- liance upon the affections of the people, than by a resort to legal coercion. Our laws, in all matters of a religious nature, effectually protect, but do not compel. The present number of communicants in the Congregational Church is about three hundred. This town, like most New England towns, was settled by the descendants of the Puritans, and of course the peculiarities of Puritan faith and practice were engrafted upon and into the habits, both of feeling and action, and gave character to the institutions of the town. But this was not universal. The earliest settlers were of Dutch descent, emigrants from the Province of New York, who were not entirely assimilated to their neighbors of New England origin. Some of these were inclined to Quakerism, and others, especially the Vandusen family, were partial to the institutions of the English Church. 32 At an early period in our history, several of our most respecta- ble families were found sincerely attached to the Church of England. Among these were the Landon's, the Chittenden's, the Chapman's, the Bissell's, the Selleck's, the Moore's, and some others. But as no ecclesiastical organization, in conformity with their views, could then be had, they supported the estab- hshed churcli here, and united in sustaining the institutions of religion, as approved by their Congregational brethren. Be- fore the war of the revolution, there were so many families belonging to the Church of England, in this town, that some efforts were made at organization, but nothing effective. There was a church edifice in Sharon, before the war, which was occasionally occupied by Missionaries of the Church of England, among whom was Rev. Mr. Davies ; to which the Salisbury Churchmen resorted, for the enjoyment of reU- gious ordinances and worship. But upon the commencement of the revolutionary struggle, these Missionaries were practi- cally silenced, and the church was converted into a prison house. It was common, then, to brand all Churchmen as To- ries — a charge untrue, and of course ungenerous. The Churchmen of that day were necessarily dependent upon Eng- lish charities, English sympathies, and English Episcopacy, for the protection and support of their religious privileges. It was but natural that they should hesitate longer than others, who had no such religious partialities, in engaging in a strug- gle by which every thing to them valuable in religion was put to hazard. But in very many, and prominent instances, here and elsewhere, the hatred of oppression, the paramount love of home and country, prevailed. In this town, Timothy Chit- tenden, Col. Blagden, Dr. Lemuel Wheeler, and others, were as active supporters of the war, as they were zealous friends of the Church. And so it was, to a considerable extent, throughout the whole country. And as a partial refutation of g, very general and stereotyped calumny upon the patriotism of the members of the Church of England in the United 33 States, it cannot be considered irrelevant to refer to George Washington, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton, who have, with much propriety, been called the granite pillars of the rev- olution, as well as to Rufus King, Bishop White, and very many others. These men were Episcopalians. Were they Tories ? But this is digression. Not long after the close of the war, in 1783, the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Uni- ted States was organized ; and it was organized upon a sys- tem entirely independent of the English Church, and, in many of its most prominent features, essentially variant. Soon af- terwards, an Episcopal parish was organized here, but for many years was too feeble to erect a church edifice, although several attempts to do this were made. In 1792, several individuals contributed to the purchase of a piece of land for the scite of a church, of the late Robert Walker Lee, opposite the dwelling house of the late Dr. James R. Dodge. This land was conveyed to Mr. Luther HoUey, who was one of the contributors, in trust for the members of the Episcopal Church. The service of the Church was for some time regularly performed by Capt. Timothy Chittenden, and the late Samuel Moore acted as the Clerk of the parish. Oc- casional visits were received from the neighboring clergy, Rev. Messrs. Baldwin, Marsh, Burhans, Bostwick, and others. Bishop Seabury also visited the parish, and administered con- firmation. The places of meeting and worship were at the school house at Furnace Village, and at the dwelling house of Dr. Lemuel Wheeler. At a later time. Rev. Sturgess Gilbert and George B. Andrews frequently performed divine service for the Episcopalians in this town, and by the spirited exer- tions of the latter gentleman, seconded by the contributions of the friends of the Church, and generous assistance from some liberal individuals of other denominations, the present church building was erected in the year 1822. Rev. Stephen Beach was placed here, as the first Rector of the Salisbury Episco- pal Society, in 1823, and officiated here two thirds of the 5 34 time, until 1832, when he resigned his charge, and removed to East Haddam. He was succeeded by Rev. Lucius W. Purdy, who officiated, alternately, in this town and Sharon, until the year 183G. The present Rector is Rev. David S. Devins, of Charlestown, Mass. The present number of communicants is about thirty. Before the war of the revolution, there were but few Meth- odists in this country, and I believe none in New England. The Methodist preachers, upon their arrival here, soon after the war, found tiieir earliest friends among the former adher- ents of the Church of England ; the doctrines of which Church they believed and taught. The founders of Methodism, Messrs. John and Charles Wesley, lived and died ministers of the Eng- lish Church. Upon the first appearance of the Methodists, the Churches of all denominations, both in England and the Uni- ted States, had relaxed much in energy and spiritual life. Whitefield, to be sure, like a meteor, brilliant, but evanescent, had passed through the country, and enkindled a warmer spirit in many places, and excited a religious curiosity. The public mind seemed to be waiting for some religious develop- ments, when Mr. Wesley's preachers arrived. They were not received with favor in New England ; their doctrines and practice were at entire variance with the staid notions of our Theology. As early as the year 1787, the first Methodist preacher, Mr. Talcott, preached in this town. He was soon followed by Messrs. Candle, Abbott, Freeborn Garretson, Peter Moriaty, Samuel Wigton, Samuel Bloodgood, and others, zealous ministers of the new sect. In this town, if the Methodist preachers were not received with general favor, they were not persecuted. In 1788, the town, by its vote, gave liberty to Mr. Garretson to preach in the meeting house, and Deacon Nathaniel Buell threw open his house, as a preaching house, for the Methodist ministers. School houses were most commonly improved as preaching places. This town was included in a circuit, extending from the Hudson river, as far east as Canaan in this county ; and 35 the preaching places were visited once in each fortnight, by the circuit preachers. The house of Mr. Eldridge, in the western part of the town ; the house of James Holmes, at the north, and of Nathaniel Church, in the eastern part of the town, for several years, were the most frequent preaching places. The first Presiding Elder, in this District, was Rev. Freeborn Garretson ; and the first quarterly meeting, or com- munion season, here, was holden in the barn of Thomas Bird, at the west part of the town. The first class organized under Mr. Wesley's system, which included any of the inhabitants of this town, was constituted at the dwelling house of William TrafTard, in Canaan, near the present Methodist meeting house in South Canaan, about the year 1788, at which time Mr. Eli- sha Horton and his wife, Rufus Landon and his wife, Aaron Mills and his wife, and my father, Nathaniel Church, inhabi- tants of this town, were admitted members of the Methodist Society. Of these, all have gone to their reward, except my venerable friend, now sitting near me, Mr. Rufus Landon. The Methodist meeting house in South Canaan was erected and partly finished, as early as 1793, I believe ; within a few years it has been finished in good taste. The meeting house at Furnace Village was built in 1816, and the chapel at Cha- pinville in 1832. For many years, this town was included within a circuit, but for some years recently, it has been made a station for a resident minister, who oiRciates at Furnace Vil- lage and Chapinville. Among the Methodist preachers of distinction, who have ofiiciated in this town, have been Rev. Samuel Merwin, Rev. Nathan Bangs, D. D., now President of the Wesleyan University, and Rev. Samuel Lucky, D. D. The number of communicants in the Methodist Church in this town, at the present time, is 126. I know not that any other organized body of Christians, than such as I have spoken of, has existed here. There have been a few Baptists and Universalists, but no Societies of either of these denominations. I have, as my means of knowledge permitted, given you 36 the history of our religious denominations. Of their spiritual condition I presume not to speak. The disclosures of eternity- can alone reveal it. In no particular, perhaps, has a greater change come over us, since the days of our fathers, than in the tone and fashion of religious action and feeling. Our first meeting house had neither bell, nor cushion, nor carpet ; but it contained sincere w^orshipers. At this day, when the course of the wind and the state of the clouds are so anxiously consulted on the Sab- bath morning, it is thought impossible for a congregation to remain through the time of religious worship, without the luxury of the cushion and the stove. Our fathers regarded these luxuries and comforts less than their descendants ; yet they resorted to such means as were within their power, to render the services of the Sabbath comfortable, as well as profitable. For this purpose, they erected several small build- ings near the meeting house, called by them, Sahba-day Houses. A few families, associating in winter, appropriated each one of these to their use, and furnished it with fuel, took care that .a cheerful fire should be found burning on their arrival at meeting, that all might be warmed before " meeting time" and to which they could resort at the intermission, to spend it in cheerful and pious intercourse. Religious revivals, as they are now understood, were hardly known in this town, before the arrival of the Methodist preach- ers ; and, when introduced by them, were regarded wiih jeal- ousy. And it was many years after the Methodists had be- come established in this vicinity, before they introduced camp meetings here. I believe the first camp meeting known in this region, was holden in Sharon, in the year 1806. The itching ears, the fastidious taste, the severe criticism, which unsettle so many valuable ministers in these days, and disturb so many congregations, were not so much in exercise formerly. There was more respect for the clerical office, and less for the " forma loquendi." A review of our ecclesiastical history, in more respects 37 than one, affords ground of satisfaction. A history of inter- mingUng sects has generally been little else than a history of unchristian contentions. In this town there has been as little display of this unhallowed spirit, as in any other community. I find that men of differing religious opinions, and denomina- tions in nearly equal proportions, have enjoyed the confidence of our citizens, as town officers, magistrates, and legislators. True, indeed, in Salisbury, as elsewhere, sectarian jealousy has found a place ; and it is no good apology to say, it has been the error of the age. As well may intemperance, or any sin, be excused as the error of the age. It is beheved, by many, that a brighter day seems to be breaking, and a brighter light shining, now. I hope these appearances are not decep- tive ; but I am not without my misgivings on this subject. It is certain, that as the genuine influence of the Christian reli- gion shall be more and more felt, a wider range will be given to the exercise of a religious charity, which shall include within its circle good men of all varieties and names. If there be any thing — any danger, against which, more than another, I would caution the youth of my native town, it is sectarian jealousy. This spirit has been, and to some ex- tent now is, a withering curse and blight upon all the endear- ments and charities of social life, wherever it has existed. A spirit opposed to the clearest principles and duties of the Chris- tian religion — the spirit of the hypocrite ! My young friends, I wish I could persuade you, that, should any of you hereaf- ter claim greater purity of life, or honesty of purpose, by rea- son of the sect or denoiriination to which you are attached, no intelligent man will give credit to your pretensions. Salisbury has given birth or education to several ministers of the gospel ; among whom have been James Hutchinson, Samuel Camp, Chauncey Lee, D. D., William L. Strong, Henry P. Strong, Horace HoUey, D. D., Isaac Bird, Jonathan Lee 3d, George A. Calhoun, Edward HoUister, Edwin Holmes, Josiah Turner, Joseph Pettee, Edmund Janes, Edwin Janes, and perhaps some others. 38 In New England, the Church and the School were equal objects of care ; and although our Salisbury ancestors pro- fessed, as their first object, a desire to be gathered into Church estate, yet this estate was understood by them to include the School, as a consequence. In 1743, and before the settlement of a minister, the town voted to procure a school-master for one year ; and directed a school to be kept under the superintendence of a committee, three months at Weatogue, four months near Cornelius Knick- erbacor's, at Furnace Village, and three months in the Hollow or Lime Rock. Robert Wain was probably the first school- master in the town, but his services were confined to the Dutch population at Weatogue. In December, 1743, the town ordered the building of two log school houses, — one at Wea- ' togue, and one at Lime Rock. Dr. Wilson, or Williams, was the first school-master employed under the authority of the town. In January, 1745, five school squadrons, as they were then called, were established ; and the public school money was distributed to them, in proportion to the number of scholars in each. At that time, money for the support of the schools was raised by a general tax upon the inhabitants of the town, and also from the rents of the school lands. In 1743, Thomas Newcomb, Benajah Williams, Thomas Lamb, Benjamin White, and Samuel Bellows, were appointed a committee to lease the lands on the school right for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, taking security for the avails. The fund thus raised composes a part of the present school fund of the town. In 17G6, the number of scholars receiving instruction in the common schools was four hundred and eighty. Reading, writing, arithmetic, and the Assembly's catechism, constituted the full course of school instruction for many years. It is only within a period comparatively modern, that English grammar has found a place in the schools. Much complaint now exists against the state of our district 39 schools, and many remedies have been suggested for their im- provement, in our own times. The schools in this tov^^n have generally been well sustained, and always, where they have received the patronage and oversight of parents. Our schools, at times, if not generally, have sustained a high character. And when they have not, it has been when more exciting objects have engrossed the attention of our inhabitants. Although our public funds have been ample, yet money alone cannot sustain the cause of common school education. Well qualified instructors, a faithful visitation, and the constant watchfulness of parents, alone, can elevate and support the district schools, and render them, as they are intended to be, the chief nurseries of science among us. In the winter of 1804, the town was highly excited by a collision between the school visitors and the instructors, occa- sioned, as the instructors claimed, by an unwarrantable inter- ference with the religious opinions of some of them. Many of the school-masters were dismissed from their schools, and the school houses closed awhile. But harmony was restored again, and no evil abiding consequences resulted. The number of scholars between the ages of four and six- teen years, in the town last year, was seven hundred and eigh- ty-nine, and the average number for several years has been nearly the same. The public money appropriated for the use of the district schools last year was as follows, viz : Interest of the ancient school fund derived from the sale of school land, ..... $54.16 Amount received from the school fund of the state, 1065.15 Interest of the town deposit fund, derived from the deposit of the public money, under a law of United States, passed in 1836, .... 198.78 $1318.09 As connected with our public schools, and the subject of 40 education, I may advert to our libraries. Before the Revolu- tionary War, successful measures were adopted to establish a public library in the tow^n. Mr. Richard Smith, an English gentleman of respectability, was a proprietor of the Furnace, and felt a deep interest in the welfare of the town. Through his agency, and from funds raised by several public spirited individuals, a library, consisting of about two hundred volumes, was procured from London, and received the name of Smith Library. It was judiciously selected, and contained works of established excellence. For many years it flourished and increased ; but within a few years, and by reason of the flood of light and ephemeral books, with which the reading public for some time has been deluged, this library has become neg- lected, and many of its volumes dispersed and lost. In January, 1803, Mr. Caleb Bingham, of Boston, a native of this town, influenced by a generous regard for the youth here, presented a small library of one hundred and fifty vol- umes to the town, for the use of the young, and appointed a board of trustees for its management ; consisting of Rev. Joseph W. Grossman, Samuel Lee, Luther Holley, Asa Hutch- inson, Peter Farnam, Phineas Chapin, Timothy Chittenden, Elisha Sterling, Lot Norton, Jr., and Benajah Bingham ; all of whom, save two, are now dead.* These trustees had power to fill vacancies in their own board. At that time, when books, especially useful to youth, were comparatively scarce, this donation was of peculiar value, and gratefully received by the town. The library received the name of the " Bing- ham Library for Youth." It was a small beginning, but it infused into the youthful population a new impulse ; and a taste for reading before unknown was soon discoverable among the young. The books were sought for and read with avidity. The town, from time to time, by grants from its treasury, has contributed to its enlargement, and generous individuals too, * Asa Hutchinson and Lot Norton. 41 have made to it valuable additions. Among the benefactors of this cherished institution, have been the late Professor Averill, of Union College, and the late Dr. Caleb Ticknor, of New York — a nephcM^ of its founder — and both natives of this town, and w^ho, in common with many others, have acknowl- edged their obligations to this library for much of their success and distinction in after life. The generous and unwearied efforts of our respected friend, Mr. John Whittlesey, in aid of the Bingham Library for Youth, will be long remembered. The present number of well selected volumes is about five hundred. The influence of our common schools and our libraries upon the character of our citizens, has been very visible and sal- utary. A general taste for reading has been diffused among all classes. In 1810, there were received by subscribers through the Post Office in this town, only eighteen newspapers, weekly ; — now there are three hundred and sixty-six. These are political, religious, and literary. Besides these, many newspapers are distributed by the private post ; so that we have now probably, a newspaper circulation considerably exceeding the number of our electors. As nearly as I have been able to ascertain, the following persons have received Academical literary degrees from American Colleges, while inhabitants of this town, viz : Hon. Nathaniel Chipman, James Hutchinson, Samuel Camp, Jona- than Lee, 2d, Elisha Lee, Chauncey Lee, Gen. Peter B. Porter, Caleb Bingham, Thomas Fitch, William L. Strong, Myron Holley, Horace HoUey, Samuel Church, Thomas G. Water- man, Jonathan Lee, 3d, Orville L. Holley, Isaac Bird, Lot Norton, Jr., John M. Sterling, John M. Holley, Jr., EU Reed, Graham H. Chapin, George A. Calhoun, Chester Averill, Al- bert E. Church, Caleb Ticknor, Roger Averill, George B. Dutcher, Edward Hollister, Gurdon Spencer, Charles A. Lee, Edmund Reed, Churchill Coffing, Joseph Pettee, Amos B. Beach, Josiah Turner, William G. Sterling, Eliphalet Whit- 6 42 tiesey, Jr., Charles Whittlesey, George Bartlett, Samuel P. Church, and Jonathan Edwards Lee. Of this catalogue, thirteen have been Lawyers, — twelve Clergymen, — five Phy- sicians, — four Instructors, — two Farmers. Our fathers had hardly become settled in Chufch estate, and had only begun to taste the fruits of their early and hardy enterprise, before the war, commonly called the French War, commenced. But little is now remembered of the part taken in that war by our inhabitants. Nathaniel Everts, 1st, was a lieutenant, and several men of this town enlisted into that ser- vice ; among whom were William Bradley, John Owen, Tim- othy Chittenden, Peter Mason, and several others. In the war of the Revolution this town w^as not inactive. Few towns in the state of only equal population, contributed more efficient means in the prosecution of that eventful struggle. An embarrassment severely felt at the commence- ment of the war, was the want of a cavalry force, Sheldon's regiment was the first body of cavalry of considerable effi- ciency which joined the army. That regiment was raised in this town and this vicinity. Col. Elisha Sheldon, Lieut. CoL Samuel Blagden, and Major Luther Stoddard, were attached to it. The services of Sheldon's regiment are frequently alluded to by writers of American history. In 1780, malicious char- ges were preferred against Col. Sheldon ; he was tried by a court martial, of which Col. Hazen was President, at Fishkill, on the 25th day of October, of that year. He was acquitted " with honor and full approbation," and his accuser, Dr. Da- rius Stoddard, of this town, severely censured. Before the commencement of the war, Mr. Richard Smith an English gentleman, of whom I have before spoken, had pur- chased the furnace at Furnace Village, and then the only irorf foundry, I believe, in this State. Upon the breaking out of the war, being a loyalist, he returned to England, and left his es- tate here, without an agent. It was not confiscated, but the 43 State took possession of it, and appointed the late Col. Joshua Porter their agent in its management. Here, on behalf of the country, large quantities of cannon, shot, and shells, were made, in aid of the Revolution, from the iron ore of the town ; and the orders of the Governor and Council, upon their agent, were frequent, for these necessaries of war. John Jay and Govei'neur Morris wei'e often here, as agents of Congress, superintending the casting and proof of the guns. The can- non were intended chiefly for the Navy ; and after the close of the war, the Navy, to a considerable extent, was supplied with guns from this town. The ship of Commodore Truxton, the Constellation, in her brilliant and desperate conflict with the French ships, Insurgent and Vengeance, was armed with Salisbury cannon ; as was the popular ship, the Constitution — " Old Iron Sides !" These guns were not of beautiful or fin- ished workmanship, but they were of the most test-worthy metaL We may say, boastingly, that our miines furnished the ma- terial, our streams the power, and our citizens the labor, by which much efficiency was given to the great cause of Ameri- can Independence ! The enthusiasm and excitement occasioned by the aggres- sive acts of the British Parhament, can hardly be appreciated by us of this generation. There was an electric spark com- municated to the extremes of the Colonies, producing a simul- taneous action every where. In this town, a meeting was called on the 22d day of August, 1774, to deliberate upon the threatened state of the Colonies. Spirited resolutions were adopted, accompanied by a preamble of the following tenor : " After reading and deliberating upon the several acts and laws, denouncing dangerous exertions of Parliamentary pow- er, as well as a partial, absurd, and self-confuted spirit of puni- tive malevolence, particularly leveled against the Province of the Massachusetts Bay ; and being deeply impressed with the visible declension of the virtue and rectitude of British ad- ministration, which threaten insupportable convulsions to the 44 whole empire ; and willing, as far as in us lies, to ward off the impending ruin, and revive the expiring liberties of the country : We resolve," &c. The resolutions which followed, denounced the acts of Par- Uament, especially the Boston port bill ; approved the pro- posed call of a general Congress ; and pledged the contribu- tions of the inhabitants, for the relief of their suffering breth- ren of Boston, " from their plentiful harvest ;" and concluded by appointing a committee to lake up subscriptions, consisting of Hezekiah Fitch, Esq., Capt. Elisha Sheldon, Luke Camp, Lot Norton, and Samuel Lane ; and also constituting Col. Joshua Porter, Hezekiah Fitch, Abial Camp, Dr. Lemuel Wheeler, and Josiah Stoddard, a Committee of Correspon- dence. On the 5th day of the succeeding December, the town ex- pressed its acquiescence in the then recent resolutions of the Congress, and appointed Col. Joshua Porter, Luke Camp, Lieut. Nathaniel Buell, Lot Norton, Dr. Samuel Lee, Capt. James Bird, John Camp, Samuel Lane, William Beebe, Heze- kiah Fitch, and Capt. Elisha Sheldon, a committee to carry them into effect. At the next meeting of the town, a Com- mittee of Inspection was appointed, and a committee of the same character was constituted annually, during the war. The duties of this committee were various ; such as to look well to disaffected persons, to approve of substitutes for draft- ed men, to inspect all provisions intended for the army, &c. The spirit of the people did not waste itself in resolutions, and the appointment of patriotic committees. What was ex- pressed was intended, and was carried out in calmer moments, by continual and efficient action. Every requisition of the General Assembly was complied with — men were raised — supplies were furnished on all occasions, when the emergency of the war demanded them, and to an extent much beyond the requisitions of the General Assembly. On the 7th day of April, 1777, Col. Nathaniel Buell, Lot Norton, Abial Camp, Daniel Bingham, and George Marsh, 45 were appointed a committee to encourage enlistments into the Continental Army, and to furnish the families of such as should enlist, with necessaries, during their absence. A simi- lar committee was annually appointed, while the war con- tinued. On the 6th day of January, 1778, the town, by resolution, approved the Articles of Confederation of the Thirteen United States, and instructed their Representatives in the General As- sembly to confer upon the Delegates from this State, in Con- gress, sufficient authority to ratify them. In the spring of 1780, the General Assembly ordered the raisins of five regiments for the Continental service ; and in June, of the same year, the town levied a tax of three-pence on the pound, to be paid to the non-commissioned officers and soldiers who should enlist into the regiments. In January following, the town voted to hire six men, to serve for one year, and appointed Luke Camp, Joshua Stanton, Timothy Chittenden, Nathaniel Buell, Lot Norton, and Capt. James Watrous, a committee for that purpose. In June, 1781, Gov. Trumbull issued his proclamation, of- fering a bounty to encourage enUstments. This town forth- with authorized a grant of three pounds to every non-com- missioned officer and private, who should enlist here, for every three months service, in addition to the offer made by the Governor ; and previously, in February, 1781, Col. Nathaniel Buell, and the late Samuel Lee, Esq., had been constituted a committee, to hire the enlistment of four men, for the defense of the western frontiers. And again, in February, 1782, six men, in addition, were raised, with an extra pay of twenty shillings each, per month, and a pair of shoes for each man, upon his marching to join the army. And on many subse- quent occasions, necessary supplies for destitute soldiers serv- ing in the Continental army, were raised here, and forwarded to the suffering troops. Yes, men, as well as money and supplies, were found here, ready to serve the country and the cause, both in the army 46 and at home. Many of our most prominent, wealthy, and influential citizens, joined the troops, either in the militia or Continental service ; and young men, sons of our best inhabi- tants, sought no exemption, but left cheerfully the endear- ments of home, in exchange for the privations of the camp and the dangers of the battle-field. Among the officers w^ere Colonels Elisha Sheldon, Samuel Blagden, Joshua Porter, and Nathaniel Buell, — Majors Luther Stoddard and John Chipman, — Captains Roger Moore, James Claghorne, James Holmes, Joshua Stanton, Nathaniel Everts, Timothy Chittenden, James Watrous, Jesse Sawyer, Samuel Lane, and Ebenezer Fletcher, — and Lieutenants Nathaniel Chipman, Richard Bignall, Adonijah Strong, Daniel Brins- maid, and James Skinner. The names of more than one hundred non-commissioned officers and privates, inhabitants of this town, who served in the Revolutionary Army, are now recollected, and will be perpetuated by being lodged in the Town Clerk's Office. Of the officers, but one now survives, — Hon. Nathaniel Chipman, of Vermont. And I have not been informed that more than three or four of the non-commissioned officers and privates are now alive. All who are known to me as sur- viving, are Rufus Landon, Hugh Montgomery, and David Beebe. Messrs. John Russell, Joseph Hollister, and Archibald Camp- bell, now and for many years our inhabitants, enlisted and served, before they became residents of this town. Mr. Rus- sell was a Sergeant of Artillery, in the New York line of the army, and was for some time attached to the military family of the Commander-in-Chief Mr. Hollister was a Sergeant from Glastonbury, and commanded a guard upon the Hudson river, attached to General Putnam's command, which captured a British agent, supposed to be a messenger with despatches from General Burgoyne to General Clinton.* * Dwigbl's His. Cod. 37G. 47 It i§ not to be denied, that among our inhabitants were some, who doubted the propriety of opposition to the demands of the mother country, and who behoved themselves restrained by their oaths of allegiance from taking part in the contest ; or who considered armed opposition as premature and hope- less. But none here, gave aid to the enemy, nor did any oppose the efforts of the Whio-s. At length, in 1783, the battle ceased, — the victory was achieved, and the war-worn soldier returned to his home. The gratitude of the people was expressed in rejoicings and thanksgivings. On the 6th day of May, 1783, our town ap- propriated thirty pounds of powder " to congratulate the Con- tinental soldiers belonging to this town upon their return and discharge." A day of rejoicing was set apart, and Colonel Nathaniel Buell was appointed " to address the returned Con- tinentals, and present them with the thanks of the town, for their generous and spirited exertions in the cause of their country." Worthies, where are they now ! Here and there a trembling memorial remains of this band of patriots ; and but one is here in this great assemblage !*' Brave men, what shall I say of you? The blessing of Providence upon your efforts, and the efforts of your associates, has brought to your country a glory envied by the world. Even crowned heads are compelled to walk circumspectly before your example ! To you, we owe, and our children will forever owe, a debt which money and pensions can never pay ! We renew to you, who survive, the thanks which our fathers expressed to you fifty-eight years ago ! Farewell, go join your comrades in a happy, holier country than any your arms have defended, and reap rewards richer than any your country can bestow ! But it is not to the soldier, alone, that our debt of gratitude is due. The privations and burthens of the war were uni- versal. The action of this town during the contest and at its * Mr. Rufus Landon, aged 82 years. 48 termination, as you have seen, displayed a moral and political temperament, which demagogues of this day should blush deep, to review. In May, 1783, the people, in town meeting, gave what they called instructions to their Representatives in the General As- sembly. They declared it " to be their indispensable duty to use their influence, and make the most reasonable efforts, for the security both of their interests and rights, and early to have a stop put to injustice and oppression." They say, more- over, that " we are sensible, when you come to act in your public characters, you will be under the obligation and so- lemnity of an oath, and we mean not to desire or request any thing that shall infringe on your conscience or judgment." — The true relation between the representative and the constit- uent, is here expressed. The town proceeded to recommend the following particu- lars : 1. That our public accounts may be settled, so that a rea- sonable account may be rendered of the expenditure of such vast sums of money, as have been granted and collected in this State, since the commencement of the late war. 2. That effectual care be taken to prevent such persons as have been known to be inimical to these States, from being admitted to be free citizens of this State ! 3. That the recommendation of Congress respecting pay to the officers of the army, for a number of years after the war, be wholly rejected, as unjust and oppressive upon the people. 4. That a suitable address be made to Congress, to suppress, prevent, and remove, such place-men as hold trifling offices, with large and unreasonable salaries, which must ultimately be drawn from the people. These instructions were addressed to Hezekiah Fitch and Elisha Fitch, Esquires, who were at that time our Represen- tatives in the General Assembly. They breathe the true spirit. They recognize no submission to cliques or caucusses, — the 49 tyrants of the present da;y ; and they dare to rebuke even the Congress itself. EHsha Fitch, Esq. for many years had been a distinguished and popular man, and frequently represented the town in the General Assembly. In the spring session of 1787, he made a very active opposition to the proposed call of a Convention to revise the Articles of Confederation. This opposition de- stroyed his popularity, and extinguished him as a public man. The Articles of Confederation were revised, and the present Constitution of the United States was recommended to the people of the respective States, for adoption. The Convention of this State assembled to deliberate upon the Constitution at Hartford, in January, 1788. The Delegates who represented this town in that Convention, were Hezekiah Fitch and Joshua Porter, Esquires, both of whom voted for the adoption of the Constitution. The revolutionary struggle had imposed impoverishing bur- dens upon the country. The times, in prospect, were gloomy, and the hearts of many were desponding. An immense debt had been contracted — commerce annihilated — the currency depreciated — the public faith distrusted. In this state of af- fairs, a town meeting was called on the 11th day of March, 1785, by which it was resolved, "That we will continue to maintain harmony, good order, and unanimity, among our- selves, as well as the good and wholesome laws of society." A resolution like this, carried out to practical effect, would conquer difficulties not physically insurmountable ; and nothing less than this will relieve us now, from the evils of which we at present complain ; and, were it in order, I would propose the same resolution for adoption in this meeting. I have remarked before, that a green and a market-place were reserved on Town Hill, in laying out the first division lots. That reservation was never appropriated to its original destination ; but, in 1785, the General Assembly established a public market upon the meeting house green, which had been 50 originally designed for a parade. The Selectmen were em- powered to make by-laws and regulations for the market, and to define its limits. Twice in each year, it was made lawful for all merchants, handicraftsmen, dealers, and others, to re- sort to the market with their vendible commodities. Such fairs were then common in this State, but were unlawful with- out legislative license. They furnished days of festivity, and were of a demoralizing tendency. Horse-jockeying and horse- racing prevailed, and perhaps some of the propensities to yankee trading were acquired in schools like these. There was no Post Office in this town before the year 1792, when Mr. Peter Farnam, at the Furnace Village, was ap- pointed Postmaster. Now, we have six Post Offices within the limits of the town. Before the war, emigration from this town to Vermont had commenced, and soon after its close, it was renewed ; so that but few years had elapsed before there was hardly a family connection in the town, which had not been ruptured by emi- gration. Removals to the western part of the State of New York next followed ; and soon there was scarcely a village or settlement in that region, which did not contain a Salisbury man. The Chipman's, Owen's, Bingham's, Camp's, Chapin's, Everest's, Sheldon's, White's, Allen's, Skinner's, Claghorn's, Porter's, Stoddard's, Bronson's, Hanchett's, and others, of our ancient and prominent families, were much dismembered, and some entirely disappeared, by early emigration. The State of Vermont owes something to the men of Salis- bury, for its present position among the States of this Union. As early as 1761, John Everts, the same gentleman who was our first Representative to the General Court of this Colony, procured from Governor Wentwort, of New Hampshire, the charters or grants of the towns of Middlebury, New Haven, and Salisbury, in the former State. The first proprietors of Middlebury were almost all of them inhabitants of this town; and these proprietors held their first meeting at the house of 51 Landlord Everts, in Salisbury, and elected Matthias Kelsey, Ebenezer Hanchett, and James Nichols, to be the first Select- men of Middlebury ! Some of the most energetic and resolute of the Green Moun- tain Boys, emigrated from this town ; and among these hoys were Thomas Chittenden, Ethan Allen, Ira Allen, and Jonas Galusha. Thomas Chittenden was Governor of Vermont, with the exception of one year, from 1778 to 1797. In the early disputes between the Province or State of New York and the settlers of the New Hampshire Grants, no man was more active than Ethan Allen. He defied the admonitions and the threats of the Governor of New York, contained in a proclamation addressed to the settlers, and says, in a mani- festo signed by himself and others, on the 5th day of April, 1774, " We flatter ourselves we can muster as good a regi- ment of marksmen and scalpers as America can afford, and we give the gentlemen (of New York) an invitation to come and view the dexterity of our regiment," &c. Ira Allen was, for many years, the Treasurer, and Jonas Galusha the Gov- ernor, of Vermont. The history of the Western Reserve, in Ohio, is familiar to us. That tract of country was surveyed into townships by Augustus Porter, son of our distinguished townsman, Colonel Joshua Porter, assisted by other gentlemen ; among whom was our late excellent and much lamented friend, John M. Holley, Esq. Among the original purchasers and proprietors of the towns of Canfield and Johnston, in Trumbull county, Ohio, and some other towns in that Reserve, were James John- ston, Daniel Johnston, Nathaniel Church, David Waterman, and Timothy Chittenden, of this town. Many of the earliest settlers of the town of Canfield, were our inhabitants, viz : — Champion Minard, James Doud, Aaron Collar, William Chap- man, Ziba Loveland, Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, Ensign Church, and some others. There has been a manufacturing interest in Salisbury, from 52 the beginning ; and yet we have been, pre-eminently, an ag- ricultural people. There have been but few places in which the agricultural facilities have been more diversified than this, although the committee which first explored our territory, had some doubts whether it could sustain a sufficient population to support a minister ! For many years, wheat was a staple pro- duction ; of late, the culture of this grain is much diminished. The influx of flour from other regions, is the cause. The cul- tivation of flax has been relinquished. Our farmers formerly found their markets either with the merchants in town, or up- on the Hudson river. The town market, except so far as it is sustained by the manufacturers, is now at an end, and our grain finds no market on the North river ; and yet our agri- cultural prosperity has been well sustained. This town, in common with other places, has suffered by a fashionable aver- sion to agricultural pursuits, which, for some years, has been very perceptible. The experience of the few last years, how- ever, has taught our farmers some salutary lessons, and led them to appreciate more correctly the superior advantages and independence of their condition. Few towns can boast of a more intelligent agricultural population than ours. Formerly, there were not more than three well established mercantile concerns in the town — Holley's, at the Furnace — Moore's, at the Center — and Chapin's, at Camp's Forge. Now, we have no less than thirteen dry goods stores ! How they are sustained, if sustained at all, I am not informed. Not more than three of this number are engaged in the sale of ar- dent spirits ! The iron ore, the forests, and the frequent water power found here, at a very early period introduced the manufacture of iron, and we have had but few other manufactories. The first forge was erected by Thomas Lamb, in the Hollow, as it was formerly called, now called Lime Rock, before the charter of the town, and I believe before its sale at Hartford, in 1738. Lamb's Iron Works are referred to as existing in the 53 earliest conveyances. They were probably erected as early as 1734. Soon afterwards, a grist mill and saw mill were built just below, upon the same fall of water, by Lamb and others. The Lime Rock forge and furnace of Messrs. Can- field & Robbins, now occupy the sites of these ancient works. Iron ore was first taken from the Hendricks ore bed, now called the Davis ore bed, to supply Lamb's iron works. Lamb was a proprietor of that ore bed. These works have subse- quently been occupied by Thomas Starr, Martin Hoffman, Joel Harvey, Thomas Chipman, Jun., Ebenezer Hanchett, Thomas Austin, and James Johnston ; and, for many years, were known only as Johnston's forge. Capt. Samuel Beebe built a grist mill at the upper or Little Falls of the Housatonuc, where Ames' iron works now are, as early as 1742. It was not many years in operation. A grist miill was built by John Corbit, in the southwestern sec- tion of the town, where Benedict's mill now is, in 1746. Ja.cob Bacon and Daniel Parke, in 1748, built a grist mill and forge upon Succunops brook — the outlet of the pond in Chapinville. Deacon Hezekiah Camp became its proprietor in 1759, and the forge retained the name of Camp's forge, for several years. The works at that place were afterwards owned by the late Phineas Chapin, Esq., a descendant of Dea- con Camp. The furnace now in operation upon the site of the old forge, was erected by Sterling, Chapin, & Co., in the year 1825 ; and the neighborhood there then received the name of Chapinville. Thomas Lamb, who owned the outlet of the Furnace Pond, conveyed it in 1748, to Benajah Williams, Josiah Stoddard, and William Spencer. These persons soon after built a forge, near where the remains of the old furnace now are. After- wards, Moorhouse, Caleb Smith, John Dean, John Pell, Gideon Skinner, Joseph Jones, Eliphalet Owen, John Cobb, and Leonard Owen, were at different periods its proprietors. It was called Owen's Iron Works. In 1762, Leonard Owen 54 conveyed this property to John Haseltine, Samuel Forbes, and Ethan Allen. These gentlemen erected the first blast furnace ever built in this State, as I suppose. Charles and George Caldw^ell, of Hartford, purchased this property in 1763, and they conveyed it to Richard Smith, of Boston, in 1768. Jo- seph Whiting, William Neilson, Luther Holley, and Holley &L Coffing, have since been its proprietors. Thomas Lamb was proprietor of the water privilege on the mountain, since called Riga, and had control of the stream flowing therefrom. Very early he erected a saw mill and grist mill on that stream, about one half mile northwest of the Center Village, at or near the falls upon which Clark's mills now stand, — as early, I think, as 1744. This property was soon afterwards owned by Joel Harvey and Joseph Parke, and from them has been transmitted through various proprie- tors to the present owners. Nathaniel Jewell, in 1753, built a grist mill on the northern line of the town, near Sage's present works. No business was done at the great falls of the Housatonuc, before the erection of the paper mill, in 1783. That manufac- tory was established by the late Samuel Forbes, Esq. and Nathaniel Church, and for several years was an active and prosperous concern. Paper was then made exclusively of linen rags, and by the slow process of the hand mould. A saw mill and fulling mill were erected there about the same time. An extensive lumber business was prosecuted. Pine timber in large quantities, and of excellent quahty, was by the spring freshets annually drifted down the river from the towns above. About the year 1797, Charles Loveland erected an extensive manufactory of gun barrels there. The entii'e works, except the saw mill, were destroyed by fire in February, 1800, and never rebuilt. For several years thereafter, no active busi- ness was done in that neighborhood. Abner or Peter Woodin erected a forge at Mt. Riga, about 55 the year 1781. Daniel Ball succeeded ; and the forge was many years known as Ball's forge. Seth King and John Kel- sey commenced building a furnace there, about 1806, but were not able to complete it. The entire property in the forge and furnace came into the hands of Coffing, Holley, & Pettee, in the year 1810, who, the same year, finished the furnace, and for many years prosecuted a very extensive and profitable business. Pig iron, anchors, screws, and various kinds of manufactured iron, were made there. This establishment, in- cluding the works at Lime Rock, were incorporated in 1828, by the name of the Salisbury Iron Company. The furnace near the Falls Bridge, was built by Leman Bradley, in 1812. It was burnt in 1814, and immediately re- built. The refining forge there was built by Canfield, Sterling, &D Co. in and the neighborhood, about that time, received the name of Falls Village. The iron works there and at Lime Rock, are now the property of Messrs. Canfield & Bobbins. The iron works at the upper or little falls of the Housatonuc, were bi!iilt in 1833, by Eddy, Ames, & Kinsley, but have since that tim.e been much extended by Mr. Ohver Ames, their present proprietor. Within the last thirty years, our manufactories have been confined chiefly to iron, in its several varieties, from the raw material to the finished article. Our mines have yielded an ore superior to any other yet found in this country, for all pur- poses requiring great strength. I have alluded before to the cannon made here in former years. Iron for the manufacture of muskets, anchors, chain cables, &c. is made here of a superior quality, and has engaged the attention of the national government. We have now four blast furnaces in operation, and five refining forges. The daily consumption of charcoal in one of our furnaces, is about six hundred bushels. And the average yield of pig iron, is about three tons per day. A refining forge will consume about three hundred bushels 56 of charcoal at each fire, per week. Our forges generally run with three fires each. In connection with the iron business of the town, it may be in place here to speak of our mineral resources. The ore bed in the west part of the town, called by way of distinction, The Old Ore Hill, is a tract of one hundred acres, originally granted by the General Court, in Oct., 1731, to be laid out by Daniel Bissell, of Windsor. It was soon after surveyed and located by Ezekiel Ashley and John Pell. The descendants of Ashley are at this day proprietors in that ore bed. From this mine the most abundant supplies of ore have been fur- nished. For many years the mineral was easily obtained and with little excavation. At this time it is much more expensive- ly raised. For the last twenty years, the average quantity of ore raised from the old ore bed, has been about four thousand and five hundred tons, annually. The price when raised is now $2.50 per ton, of which the proprietors receive $1.25, and the miners the balance. The proprietors were incorporated many years ago. The present proprietors are the heirs of the late Gen. Henry Liv- ingston, of Livingston's Manor, New York, the heirs of the late Samuel Forbes, Esq., of Canaan, and William Ashley, Esq., of Sheffield, Mass. The Chatfield Ore Bed, so called from its original proprietor, PhiUp Chatfield, lies in the vicinity of the old ore bed. For- merly it was considerably worked, but within a few years very little ore has been taken from it. It is owned by the heirs of the late Samuel Forbes, Esq. Hendrick's Ore Bed, now called the Davis Hill, was at a very early period owned by Thomas Lamb, the Salh>hufy speculator, and ore was taken from it to supply his forge, at Lime Rock. At this time it is worked to a considerable ex- tent. This ore bed is situated about a mile southwest of the Center Village, and is owned by the heirs of the late Samuel Forbes, Esq., the heirs of the late Jared Canfield, and by the 57 late firm of HoUey & Coffing. The Bingham Ore Bed, since called the Scoville Ore Bed, lies about three miles northwest of the .Center Village ; it has not been improved for many years. Still further north is Camp's, or Chapin's Ore Bed. This ore is found in considerable quantities, but is so impreg- nated with manganese, as to be little used. In the extreme southwest corner of the town is the Bradley Ore Bed. On the Sharon side of the town line, ore in considerable quan- tities is taken from this mine. The ore from our mines yields from forty to forty-five per cent, of iron. The ore is of the brown Hematite variety. Copperas, or sulphate of iron, has been found on Barack- matiff Hill, and at a place called Samuel Moore's mine, on Sugar Hill. For many years Salisbury had the reputation of affording a successful field for gentlemen of the legal profession. This was not the result of a litigious spirit in the people, nor of any unusual propensity of the lawyers ; but rather, of the active and business-like enterprise of the population. The first law- yer who settled here was Jabez Swift, Esq., a native of Kent. He built the stone house on Town Hill. Upon the breaking out of the War of the Revolution he joined the army in Bos- ton, and there died. The late Adonijah Strong, Esq., was a pupil of Mr. Swift, and succeeded him in practice. Colonel Strong was a man of vigorous mind, had a large practice, but possessed none of the graces of eloquence. For many years he was an efficient magistrate, and a member of the General Assembly. He died in February, 1813. Joseph Canfield, Esq. commenced his professional studies with Colonel Strong, and finished them at the Litchfield Law School. He commenced his practice at Furnace Village, about the year 1789. Mr. Canfield was a gentleman of graceful manners and good talents ; he died in September, 1803, having been several times a member of the Assembly. Gen. Elisha Sterling was a graduate of Yale College, and a 58 member of the Law School, at Litchfield. He commenced his professional life in this town, in 1791 ; and he prosecuted his profession with great industry and success, until the year 1830 : when he retired to his farm at Furnace Village, where he died Dec. 3d, 1836. General Sterling was a well-read lawyer, and possessed a discriminating mind. Twice he represented the seventeenth Senatorial district in the Senate of this State ; and for several years represented this town in the General Assembly. He was many years a magistrate, nine years a Judge of Probate for the district of Sharon, and for a con- siderable period State's Attorney for this county. The name of no other citizen appears more frequently upon our town and society records than his. Hon. Martin Strong was the eldest son of Col. Adonijah Strong. He commenced the practice of law here in 1801. Several years before his death, he exchanged the legal pro- fession for agricultural pursuits. Judge Strong was for many years one of our most active magistrates, and an Associate Judge of the County Court. He had been a member of both branches of our Legislature. Besides the gentlemen now in practice here,* there have been several lawyers who com- menced business in this town, and subsequently removed to other places ; among whom were Chauncey Lee, Myron Hol- ley, Hon. Ansel Sterling, Ezra Jewell, John M. Sterling, Ed- ward Rockwell, Churchill Coffing, and Norton J. Buell. In the department of medicine, we have retained the ser- vices of many valuable men, from the beginning. Our first physician was Dr. Solomon Williams, who, as I suppose, emi- grated from Lebanon, as did many other of our most conspic- uous men. He died in the year 1757, and in the same year was succeeded by Dr. Joshua Porter, from the same place. Dr. Porter graduated at Yale College, in 1754. His place of residence was at Furnace Village, on the farm originally occu- * These are Philander Wlieeier, Joba G. Mitchell, John H. Hubbard, and Roger Avciill, Esqukes. 59 pied by Cornelius Knickerbacor. For half a century his pro- fessional practice was very extensive, and he was esteemed as one of the most skillful physicians of his day. But his pro- fession did not engross his whole attention. He was much in public life, both civil and military. For twenty years he was a Selectman ; a Justice of the Peace thirty-five years ; an Associate Judge of the County Court thirteen years ; Chief Justice of the same Court sixteen years ; Judge of Probate for the district of Sharon thirty-seven years. In the year 1764, he was first elected a member of the Assembly, and was a member of that body fifty-one stated sessions ! Col. Porter was not attached to the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, but was an efficient Militia Officer. As a Colonel of Militia, he was in service with his Regiment, at Peekskill, and again at Saratoga, at the capture of Burgoyne. The descendants of Col. Porter were, and are still numerous, and many of them not only highly respectable, but distin- guished. This venerable and much esteemed gentleman died on the 2d day of April, 1825, aged ninety-five years. Dr. Lemuel Wheeler commenced practice here about the year 1765. He too, was a public man, and several times a member of the General Assembly. Dr. Samuel Cowdray settled near Chapinville, or Camp's forge : subsequently, he was attached to the navy of the United States. He was a surgeon on board of the unfortunate frigate Philadelphia, when that vessel was captured by the Barbary pirates, and he was a long time detained as a slave, in Tripoli, and until reclaimed by his government. Our other physicians, besides the medical gentlemen now in practice,* have been Drs. Jonathan Fitch, Darius Stoddard, John Johnston, William Wheeler, Samuel Lee, William Wal- ton, the elder, William Walton, 2d, John P. Walton, Samuel * These are Asahel Humphrey, Henry Fish, Luther Ticknor, Ovid Plumb, and / William J. Barry. 60 Rockwell, Joshua Porter, Jr., James R. Dodge, Abiram Peet, Benajah Ticknor, now of the United States Navy, Perry Pratt, John J. Catlin, Caleb Tickor, and Moses A. Lee. The geographical features of the town, truly indicate a healthful climate. For the last twenty years, the annual average number of deaths has been from thirty to thirty-five, or about one and a half per cent, of our population. Yet, in common with most other healthful localities, we have been occasionally visited with fatal pestilence. About the year 1784, a fever of uncommon mortality raged in the north part of the town, and in the vicinity of the ponds ; called then the pond fever, and supposed to have been produced by the unusual accumulation of water in the ponds. Many names, before frequent and pi'ominent upon our civil and ecclesiastical records, ceased thereafter to be any more seen. Again, in the years 1812 and 1813, a fever, called from its general prevalence, The jEpidemic, swept over this and some neighboring towns, with fearful mor- tality, uncontrolled by medical skill. During the first of these .years there were about eighty deaths, and in the latter, nearly seventy, and chiefly from that disease. Indeed, all other maladies seem to have fled before it, and to have given place, that it might rage and conquer alone. It was the Pneumonia Typhoides of the Books, or a Typhoid Pleurisy. In connection with the professional gentlemen who have been our inhabitants, I ought not to omit the name of the late Sam- uel Moore. He was the first of our inhabitants who practiced the science of land surveying, and was the eldest son of the first emigrant here, of that name — Sergeant Samuel Moore. He was a distinguished mathematician of his time, and was the author of a valuable and extensively circulated treatise upon surveying, which I believe was the first American work on that branch of mathematical science. He died in the year 1810, aged seventy-three years. Other gentlemen, who have exercised the same profession in this town, have been Stephen Reed, Daniel Reed, and WiUiam P. Russell. 61 I have spoken, especially, of professional men ; — this has not been done invidiously. No man respects the mechanic and agriculturist more highly than I do ; but my leisure will not permit me to speak of them individually, on this occasion, as many of them deserve. But there have been those among us, who were self-made men, in the various occupations of life. They deserve a place in our memories and esteem. By self-made men, I mean such as, by patient endurance, have overcome the adverse and depressing influences of native penury, and, by lives of industry and integrity, have advanced themselves and their families to competence and respecta- bility. Among these were Adonijah Strong, Timothy Chit- tenden, Peter Farnam, Jonathan Scoville, Thomas Ball, Na- thaniel Church, Gideon Bushnell, and Luther Holley. I could name many others. To Mr. Holley I refer as an example well worthy of more general imitation. He commenced his trial of life, with no other estate than his axe, wqth which he was seeking employment in the colleries of Cornwall, when he was, fortunately as we suppose, diverted from his purpose, by the persuasion of the late Lot Norton, Esq. I cannot speak of Mr. Holley's progress from poverty and obscurity to wealth and prominence. He was a working man through life ; but he was no slave. He was a choice pattern of a New England farmer. Industry combined with leisure — the labor of the body associated with the labor of the mind. Luther Holley's life was a visible refutation of the too common opinion, that the necessary toil of the laboring man, in this country, is in- consistent with an independent spirit, and high mental culti- vation. You perceive, I speak here only of the dead. Were this a proper occasion, I should love to allude to the living also. It is a just occasion of pride, in any community, that it has sent forth from its numbers, to other regions, men of eminence and usefulness ; and perhaps this town, retired and obscure as it is, has furnished other sections of our confederacy its full 62 proportion of distinguished men. Hon. Thomas Chittenden, though a native of Guilford, was, for many years, one of our own men, and represented this town, many times, in the Gen- eral Assembly. He emigrated from us to Vermont, befoi^e the War of the Revolution, and was Governor of that State for many years. He built and resided in the brick house lately owned by the Brewster family. His son, Hon. Martin Chit- tenden, also Governor of Vermont, and a member of Con- gress from that State, was born here. Col. Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga, resided in this town some years before his emigration to Vermont, and was one of the original proprietors of the old furnace. Hon. Jonas Galusha was one of our citizens. He was the son of Jacob Galusha, who removed from Norwich to this town, in 1771, and settled on the north side of the north pond. Jonas Galusha, for several years, was a very popular Gov- ernor of Vermont. Hon. Nathaniel Chipman, late Chief Justice of the State of Vermont, and a distinguished member of the Senate of the United States, was born and educated here. He was the son of Samuel Chipman, who formerly occupied the dwelling house and farm on Town Hill, now owned by Mr. Reuben Chapman. This venerable and distinguished gentleman, as we hope, still survives, at the age of eighty-nine years. Hon. Daniel Chipman, youngest brother of Judge Chipman, and for many years one of the most prominent members of the Vermont Bar, also a native of this town, still lives, at the age of seventy-six. Hon. Ambrose Spencer, late Chief Justice of the State of New York, was born here on the 13th December, 1765. He was the son of Philip Spencer, Esq., whose place of residence was near the western extremity of the town. The character of Judge Spencer is extensively known, as one of the most accomplished members of the judiciary department of the State of New York, and will be perpetuated without any aid 63 from me. This gentleman still survives, and resides in Lyons, in the State of New York. Gen. Peter B. Porter, now of Niagara Falls, is the youngest son of Col. Joshua Porter. Soon after he completed his col- legiate and professional studies, he, together with his elder brother, Hon. Augustus Porter, emigrated to the county of Ontario, in the State of New York. Gen. Porter was a member of Congress, and very early laid before that body the great national importance of the Erie Canal. In the late war with England, he took a conspicuous part, as commander of the New York volunteers, upon the northern frontier. He was actively engaged against the enemy, at the celebrated sortie from Fort Erie, and other important occasions. During a part of the administration of John Q. Adams, as President of the United States, Gen. Porter was Secretary of War. Hon. Augustus Porter, second son of Col. Porter, equally useful and respected in civil life, still survives — the father of a highly distinguished family. Hon. Josiah S. Johnston, late of Louisiana, and a much valued member of the Senate of the United States, was the son of Dr. John Johnston, of this town. He removed, when a child, with his father to Kentucky. He fell a victim to a fatal explosion of a steamboat, on the Mississippi river, a few years ago. Among the members of Congress from other States, who were born or reared in this town, the names of Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, of Ohio, and Hon. Graham H. Chapin, Charles Johnston, and Theron R. Strong, of New York, are now re- collected. Rev. Horace Holley, D. D., a distinguished scholar and elo- quent divine, President of the Transylvania University, was the son of the late Luther Holley. Rev. Isaac Bird, a devoted Missionary in Asia, a descend- ant of Joseph Bird, Esq., one of our earliest settlers and first magistrates, was born and educated here. 64 Myron Holley and Orville L. Holley, Esquires, sons of the late Luther Holley, distinguished as scholars and gentlemen, and by various responsible employments in public life, were nurtured and educated, if not born among us. I ought not here to omit the name of Chester Averill, late Professor of Chemistry in Union College, who died in 1836, just as he began to give certain promise of extensive useful- ness and high literary distinction. He was the son of Mr. Nathaniel P. Averill, of this town. In connection with the names of professional gentlemen who have lived and died with us, and distinguished individuals who have removed from us, I refer to others, whom we and our fathers have honored with our confidence, as Representa- tives to the General Assembly of this State. As no Colony tax was assessed and collected of the people of this town, before the year 1756, so we were not, until that time, entitled to a representation in the Colony Legislature. Previously, however, the town, on special occasions, appointed and paid special agents to the General Court. In 1743, Samuel Bellows was appointed an agent to attend the Assembly, at its October session for that year, to get a land tax for the town. In the following October, Benajah WiUiams and Thomas Newcomb were appointed agents to get an explanation of the tax of the previous year. In January, 1745, Samuel Bellows was appointed an agent to procure a patent, or deed of confirmation, of the lands in the town. In February, 1747, Thomas Chipman, Esq. was appointed an agent to procure a location of a scite for the meeting house. The following is a Roll of the members of Assembly from this town : 65 May Session. 1757, Joha Everts, Thomas Chipiuan. 175S, James Landon, John Everts. 1759, James Landon, Samuel Moore. 1760, John Everts, Josiah Stoddard. 1761, John Everts, Josiah Stoddard. 1762, John Everts, Josiah Stoddard. 1763, John Everts, James Landon. 1764, James Landon, Amos Fuller. 1765, Thos. Chittenden, Joshua Porter. 1766, Thos. Chittenden, Joshua Porter. 1767, Thos. Chittenden, Joshua Porter. 1768, Thos. Chittenden, Joshua Porter. 1769, Thos. Chittenden, Joshua Porter. 1770, Joshua Porter, James Landon. 1771, Joshua Porter. 1772, Thomas Chittenden, John Everts. 1773, Joshua Porter, James Landon. 1774, Joshua Porter, James Landon. 1775, Joshua Porter, Abial Camp. 1776, Abial Camp, Joshua Porter. 1777, Joshua Porter. 1778, Joshua Porter, Hezekiah Fitch. 1779, Timo. Chittenden, Joshua Stanton. 1780, Joshua Porter, Hezekiah Fitch. 1781, Joshua Porter, Abial Camp. 1782, Joshua Porter, Elisha Fitch. 1783, Hezekiah Fitch, EUsha Fitch. 1784, Lot Norton, Hezekiah Fitch. 1785, Hezekiah Fitch, Joshua Porter. 1786, Elisha Fitch, Lot Norton. 1787, Elisha Fitch. 1788, Lemuel Wheeler, Hezekiah Fitch. 1789, Lemuel Wheeler, Adonijah Strong. 1790, Hezekiah Fitch, Joshua Porter. 1791, Hezekiah Fitch, Joshua Porter. 1792, Hezekiah Fitch, Joshua Porter. 1793, Hezekiah Fitch, Adonijah Strong. 1794, Joshua Porter, David Waterman. 1795, Hezekiah Fitch, Joshua Porter. 1796, Joshua Porter, Adonijah Strong. 1797, Joshua Porter, Samuel Lee. 1798, Joshua Porter, Joseph Canfield, Jr. 1799, Joshua Porter, Joseph Caniie'd, Jr. October Session. John Everts, Josiah Stoddard. Josiah Stoddard, John Hutchinson. Josiah Stoddard, Samuel Moore. John Everts. John Everts, Timothy Brownson. John Everts. John Everts, James Landon. Thomas Chittenden, Joshua Porter. James Landon, Samuel Moore. Thomas Chittenden, Joshua Porter. Thomas Chittenden, Joshua Porter. Thomas Chittenden, James Bird. Thomas Chittenden, Joshua Porter. Joshua Porter, James Landon. Thomas Chittenden, John Everts. Joshua Porter, James Landon. Joshua Porter, James Landon. Joshua Porter, Hezekiah Fitch. Abial Camp, James Bird. .Joshua Porter, Abial Camp. Joshua Porter, Abial Camp. Joshua Poiter, Hezekiah Fitch. Timothy Chittenden, Hezekiah Fitch. Joshua Porter, Abial Camp. Joshua Poiter, Hezekiah Fitch. Joshua Porter, Hezekiah Fitch. Joshua Stanton, Lot Norton. Joshua Porter, Hezekiah Fitch. Hezekiah Fitch, Joshua Porter. Elisha Fitch, Lemuel Wheeler. Lemuel Wheeler, Hezekiah Fitch. Lemuel Wheeler, Samuel Lee. Hezekiah Fitch, Lemuel Wheeler. Hezekiah Fitch, Joshua Porter. Adonijah Strong, Samuel Lee. Adonijah Strong, Samuel Lee. Hezekiah Fitch, Adonijah Strong. Hezekiah Fitch, Joshua Porter. Joshua Porter, Samuel Lee. Joshua Porter, Samuel Lee. Joshua Porter, Elisha Sterling. Joshua Porter, Joseph Cantield, Jr. Joshua Porter, Joseph Canfield, Jr. GO May Session. 1800, Samuel Lee, Jeremiah Danchy. 1801, Joshua Poller, Jeremiah Daiiuhy. 1802, Jeremiah Daiichy, Nath'l Church. 1803, T. Chittenden, Jr., Pbineas Chupiii. 1804, Phineas Chapin, Eli.sha Steiling-. 1805, James Johnston, Jeremiah Dauchy. 1806, Phineas Chapin, Stephen Keed. 1S07, Phineas Chapin, Nathaniel Everts. 1803, Elrsha Slei-ring, Lot Norton, Jr. 1809, Lot Norton, Jr., Phineas Chapin. 1810, Silas Moore, Peter Farnam. ISll, Luther HoUey, Lot Norton. 1812, Timothy Chittenden, Peter Farnam 1813, Peter Farnam, Lot Norton. 1814, Lot Norton, Eliphalet Whittlesey. 181-5, Elisha Sterling, John C. Coffiiig. 1816, Elisha Sterling, Jonathan Scoville 1817, Daniel Johnston, Abijah C. Peet. 1818, Daniel Johnston, Abijah C. Peet. 1819, Daniel Johnston, Abijah C. Peet. 1820, Silas Reed, Samuel Church. 1821, Samuel Church, Newman Holley. 1822, Martin Strong, Thomas N. Smith. 1823, Samuel Church, Parley Hubbard. 1824, Samuel Church, Parley Hubbard. 182.5, Seneca Petlee, Newman Holley. 1826, Silas Reed, Newman Holley. 1827, Newman Holley, Robert Ball. 1828, Phineas Chapin, Thomas N. Smith. 1829, Samuel Church, Robert Ball. 1830, Abijah C. Peet, Jared S. Harrison. 1S31, Samuel Church, Lot Norton. 1832, Jared S. Harrison, Luther Ticknor. 1833, Luther Ticknor, Nathaniel Benedict, Jr. 1834, Nathaniel Benedict, Jr., Frederick Plumb. 1835, Jared S. Harrison, Frederick A. Walton. 1836, Frederick A. Walton, John Ensign. 1837, John Ensign, William P. Russell. 1838, Nathaniel Benedict, John Russell, Jr. 1839, William H. Walton, Thomas B. Bosworth 1840, Thomas B- Bosworth, Nehemiah Clark. 1841, No choice. October Session. David Waterman, Jeremiah Dauchy. Joshua Porter, Samuel Lee. Adonijah Strong, Nathaniel Church. Timo. Chittenden, Jr., Phineas Chapin. John Whittlesey, Lot Noiton, Jr. Timothy Chittenden, Jr., Phineas Chapin. Stephen Reed, Samuel Lee. Nathaniel Everts, Samuel Lee. Lot Norton, Jr., Peter Farnam. Lot Norton, Jr., Samuel Lee. Lot Norton, Silas Moore. Luther Holley, Lot Norton. Lot Norton, Luther Holley. Martin Strong, Eliphalet Whittlesey. Elisha Sterling, Lot Norton. Elisha Sterling, Lot Norton. Elisha Sterling, Jonathan Scoville. Dan Johnston, Abijah C. Peet. Silas Reed, Alexander Lamb. 67 The following gentlemen have officiated as magistrates of the town : — Thomas Chipman, Joseph Bird, James Landon, John Hutchinson, Thomas Chittenden, Abial Camp, Elisha Fitch, Joshua Porter, Lot Norton, Adonijaii Strong, Samuel Lee, John Whittlesey, Lot Norton, Jr., Elisha Sterling, Phineas Chapin, John M. Holley, Eliphalet Whittlesey, Martin Strong, Samuel Church, Seneca Pettee, Philander Wheeler, John G. Mitchell, Newman Holley, Abijah C, Peet, Abial Chapin, John H. Hubbard, Albert Moore, William P. Russell, William C. Sterling, Nathaniel Benedict, Samuel C. Scoville, Lot Nor- ton, 3d, Elisha Lee, Roger Averill, Timothy Chittenden. The members of the State Convention, in 1818, for forming a constitution of civil government for this State, were Daniel Johnston and Samuel Church. These delegates advocated the adoption of the constitution, in the Convention ; and the question of its adoption, at a meeting of our electors, in Oc- tober, 1818, was carried by an affirmative majority of eighty- three votes. In the late war with England, of 1812, several non-com- missioned officers and privates enlisted from this town, but few of whom ever returned : although it is not known that more than one of them was slain in battle. John O'Kain was killed in the battle of Bridgewater. It is said of him, that while lying upon the ground, after receiving his mortal wound, he twice discharged his musket at the enemy. In a review of the progress of our town from its infancy until the present time, it is impossible to repel the recollection of its political condition in reference to the agitating questions, which, for the last half century, have disturbed the peace and social condition of the country. I have no disposition on this occasion, to say more on this subject, than to remark, that we have not been exempt from these disturbing causes. Party has found here a theatre of action, as well as elsewhere, and has been productive of the same demoralizing results. I feel some complacency, if not pride, however, in being able to say, G8 that during the first conflict of parties, the spirit of political proscription found no place for its exercise here. For a period of fifteen years from the adoption of our State Constitution in 1818, I do not recollect that a magistrate of the town was dis- placed from office by reason of his party attachments. But here I must stop. Since that time, a different disposition has entered, and civil officers of great worth have been made to yield to party denunciation. This has been the equal fault, yes, the unjustified crime of both parties ! This is not the time nor the proper occasion to indulge in political I'eflections. But I cannot discharge a duty which I owe to the young men of my native place — the persons with whom, in part, the destinies of this country are soon to be entrusted, without entreating them to divest themselves of party and political prejudices. What is prejudice but an opinion formed without impartial examination ? This is a crime, and inexcusable in this age and country. My young friends, never be afraid of bringing preconceived opinions to the test of a patient and disinterested inquiry ! There have been traditionary accounts of events within our borders, which might merit perpetuity,if the evidence of authen- ticity would warrant it. Such as have not come down to us accompanied with satisfactory proof, I shall pass over without a notice. Mr. Grossman, in his sermon before alluded to, relates the circumstances of the defeat of a lai-ge body of Indians, in the northeasterly section of the town, before its settlement by the white people. In that narrative, I suppose there is an intermingling of fact with fiction. The best au- thenticated account of that affair, warrants me in saying, that in the year 1676, and just before the death of King Philip, Major TaJcott, of the Connecticut forces, pursued from West- field, towards Albany, a ffying body of Indians, who, after dis- comfiture in Philip's war, were seeking safety among the Mohawks. These Indians, under the direction of the Sachem of Winnimissett, or Brookfield, were overtaken, lying securely on the western bank of the Housatonuc river, at the ibrdino- place, about one mile south of the State line, near William Sardam's present residence. They were surprised just before the dawn of day, and about fifty of their number, including their Sachem, were either killed or taken.* An incident worthy of relation occurred at the Great Falls of the Housatonuc, in the spring freshet of 1837. Two of the men employed by Mr. Ames, at his iron works, attempted to cross the river in a boat ; such was the force of the current, that they were precipitated over the cataract. One of them, David O'Neal, an Irish laborer, was killed ; the other, Walter Holley, almost miraculously escaped, with little injury. The late Dr. Dwight, in one of his volumes, speaks of the moving rocks in the North, or Washining pond, in this town. There are several rocks, and one of considerable size, near the southern margin of that pond, which appear to have been propelled by some powerful force towards the shore, leaving deep trenches or gutters behind, and accumulating mud and gravel before them. Such appearances alone would not per- suade me, uncorroborated by the credible testimony of ob- servers, that these rocks had changed position. But I am compelled to yield my assent upon evidence of the actual observation of men of respectability, whose means of knowl- edge have been accurate. I am not sure that these are unusual phenomena. And, perhaps, they are the result of the immense pressure of the ice upon the rocks, connected with what may be the peculiar state of the earth, or bottom upon which they rest. Our ancestors were very little acquainted with what we boastingly call the credit system. They were men of thrift, and of sober, industrious habits. I do not find a single mort- gage deed upon our records, until nine years after our incor- poration ; nor any account of pauper expenses beibre the * Vol. I. Trum. His. Con. 36.5. Dwiaht's His. Con. 190. 70 year 1762. I do not infer from this, that we had no paupers before that time ; for the poor we always have with ns. Be- fore the year 1797, the poor charges had increased to such an extent as to induce the town to sacrifice its character for hu- manity, to its love of economy, and to dispose of its paupers for support, to the lowest bidder, at a public vendue ; and thus give to cupidity an easy opportunity of gratification, by lit- erally grinding the face of the poor. This cruel system was soon abandoned ; but within a few years it was resorted to again. Our pauper expenses, from various causes, notwith- standing, increased until they amounted to an average sum of one thousand dollars yearly. A new system was resorted to. In the spring of 1829, the town purchased of the late Simeon Granger, a farm with convenient buildings and utensils, and in that year established an Asylum for the maintainance of the poor. This farm consists of about two hundred and thirty-six acres of land, mostly on the College grant. The purchase was made for four thousand and five hundred dollars ; to i-aise which, a town stock was created, and sold in shares of one hundred dollars each, redeemable at different periods. Only thirteen hundred and fifteen dollars of this stock now remain due. The present expense of supporting the poor will average about four hundred and thirty dollars annually, inclusive of the interest of the unredeemed stock. Connected with the Asylum is a work house, for the punishment of small offenses. At this Asylum our paupers are supported in a style of com- fort and competence equal to that enjoyed by the generality of our citizens. This institution is deservedly a favorite of the town, and under humane and careful management, will continue to be, as it now is, a comfortable resting place for our aged, infirm, and destitute friends, on their way to the grave 1 The present number of paupers supported at the Asylum, is fourteen. The town ought not to forget the philan- thropic zeal and efforts of the late Elisha Sterling, Esq. and Mr. John C. Coiiing, in the establishment of this institution. 71 In connection with poverty, it has not been unusual to speak of crime. They have no necessary connection, however. And when they have been associated, the common cause of both has been intemperance. A Temperance Society was formed here ten years ago, and produced salutary efiects upon the habits of our people. Formerly, the commission of petty of- fences, such as batteries, breaches of the peace, &c., were very frequent; but within the last ten years, have very sen- sibly diminished, so that we seldom hear of a prosecution for these delinquencies. There have been two indictments found against our citizens, for the crime of murder, both of which resulted in acquittals. One against the colored slave or ser- vant of Col. Blagden, for killing the slave of Col. Sheldon, soon after the Revolutionary War ; and one against Jacob Van- dusen, for poisoning his wife with arsenic, in the year 1817. The progress of the temperance reformation, within the last three years, has received a check among us, from which I fear it will not soon recover, without sincere, as well as united efforts in its favor. ^-^ Since Rev. Mr. Crossman's account of our public cemete- ries was published, but one burying place has been located — the new burying yard, north of the center village. This was purchased, and the south half of it laid into lots, in the year 1830. Deacon Mylo Lee was the first person buried in it. A map of this burying place is lodged in the Town Clerk's office. An allusion to the geographical peculiarities of the town is not irrelevant to its history. To us, who live amidst, and are con- stantly looking out upon our surrounding scenery, it is familiar and common-place ; but to our emigrant friends, to whom these objects were once endeared, the mention of them may revive recollections and associations of deep and grateful in- terest. A distinguished clerical gentleman, who had passed several years in the south of Europe, said to me, that the landscape 72 scenery of Salisbury surpassed, in beauty and variety, any thing he had witnessed abroad. Brace mountain, the westernmost summit of Tocconuc, fre- quently invites the visits of strangers. From this elevation, in a day of sunshine, the counties of Dutchess and Columbia, in the State of New York, as far as the vision can extend, ap- pear spread down before the observer ; while, in the western distance, the lofty Catskill, with its mountain-house distinctly visible, rises up to arrest the sight. The traveler, as he approaches us from the south, and as he commences his descent from Town Hill, frequently stops to gaze upon the prospect which opens to his view. From the most elevated points of Smith's and Brinton's hills, too, and where the public roads pass over them, the landscapes are of peculiar beauty. Indeed, the pencil of the artist can be fur- nished with as many and as splendid subjects of employment, among the hills and waters of Salisbury, as can be found even in the far-famed and more fashionable highland scenery of the Hudson river ! Our streams and our lakes are not without their attractions, especially to the disciples of good Isaak Walton. The for- mer are well stored with the speckled trout, and the pickerel and the perch abound in the latter. But it is not every vain and uninspired knight of the hook and line, who can lure our cunning fish to his bait ! The pickerel was not originally found here, but was transplanted from Bantam pond, in Litch- field, about the year 1812. Such has been the even tenor of our way, since the events of the Revolution and the settlement of our national govern- ment, that the history of one year tells the story of the suc- ceeding one, from year to year, with little to diversify. Our fathers have been passing away with the passing cur- rent. We look around, and wonder where are the old men, and our contemporaries of other days. Either the burying places in our midst, or other regions of our country, contain 73 nearly all of them. There are now surviving, over the age of sixty years, and present inhabitants of the town, only about fifteen native born male citizens. The progress of change has been gradual, and yet it has been almost radical. We can note it only by comparing what is, with what has been. In nothing, perhaps, has there been a greater change, from olden to the present time, than in the facilities of travel and intercourse. The early settlers had no carriages for the conveyance of persons. For many years the state of the roads would not permit their use. The horse supplied the place of traveling carriages. The ox cart in summer, and the ox sled in winter, were the only vehicles used. The horse was early trained to carry double, and this qualification was essential in the estimation of all purchasers ; and a false warranty in this respect, was a frequent cause of litigation. In order to use the horse for double riding, a pillion was a notable and necessary accompaniment. This was al- ways furnished by the ladies, as it was intended for their ex- clusive accommodation, and they frequently displayed much taste in its fashion and ornament. Thus provided, the good man and his wife, with perhaps the youngest child, were sure to be found at meeting on the Sabbath. And in this way too, the lads and lasses, defying, with their sure footed beast, the roughest roads and darkest nights, attended the quilting and the dance ! In the amusements of former days, there was nothing of ef- feminacy. Perhaps our amusements are more intellectual, if by this be meant an indulgence in all the frivolous literary dissipation of the present day. The wrestling match, among the young men, was universal, and the leader of the ring was esteemed of some consequence. The apple-pearing, the quilt- ing, and the ball, afforded the young of both sexes their most frequent social amusements. Artificial distinctions in society, particularly in the female branch of it, were hardly visible fifty years ago. " When Adam delved and Eve span. Where was then the gentleman 1" 10 74 I would not insinuate that the females of this age are less in- dustrious than their mothers of a former one ; but it is very certain that their industry is less healthful and productive. The neatly sanded floor has given place to the carpet ; and the wheel, the distaff, and the loom, are viewed now, rather as antique curiosities, than as things of use. But, after all, this is rather a misfortune than a lault — a misfortune produced by what is called, falsely I think, the improving progress of society. Our ancestors, here and elsewhere, had no respect for In- dian character, and seemed to desire, with the extinction of the race, to extinguish all memorials of its existence. In nearly all instances, Indian names of prominent objects were discarded, and others adopted, frequently vulgar and without meaning. Indian names were always significant ; but in al- most every instance their meaning is lost to us. Housatonuc, is said to signify, Over the Mountains, or the River of the Hills. The Furnace Pond, as you know, was called, by the abori- gines, Wonunscopomuc ; and this name is retained, w^ith va- rious spellings, in many of the early conveyances. The two ponds at the north part of the town, described in the old records as lying " very nearly close together," were called Washinee and Washining. The Long Pond at the southwest part of the town, the In- dians called Wononpakook ; and the stream flowing through our center village, they called Wachocastinook. The stream flowing from the pond at Chapinsvill:>, was called Succunops. The eastern range of hills', parallel with the Housatonuc, the Indians called Wotowanchu. The steep mountain bluff', which extends itself almost into our midst, has always retained its Dutch name of Barack-Matiff"; meaning, as I suppose, a steep and high hill. The range of high lands in the northeast part of the town, extending westerly from the Housatonuc river, is known to us as Tom's Hill. But before any white people had settled here, 75 and as as early as 1717, that hill, from good authority, received the name of Mount Eschol, which it ought now to retain. The Commissioners of the Colonies of Massachu- setts and Connecticut, run a line between them, in Septem- ber, 1717; and, after crossing over to the west bank of the Housatonuc, they say, " On the west bank we set up a stake and heap of stones, and proceeded two miles, which ends on a mountain we call Mount Eschol, from the mighty clusters of grapes there growing." From that elevation, the Commission- ers could overlook the intervening valley, and they discovered the long waterfall, as it descends from the top of Tocconuc, nearly along the State line, to the low grounds, and which the Commissioners say, " may be seen for many miles distance, and which runs through a stony gutter, tivo hundred feet deep ! /" The hill on the southwesterly quarter of the town, is called Indian Mountain, from a very considerable village of Indians, which w'as once situated at its western margin. This is an appropriate occasion to refer to the names and character of some of the most useful and efficient of the early settlers of the town — the men by whose efforts our social foundations were laid. Curiosity prompts us to know what they were, and where they lived. In addition to those to whom allusion has been made, I speak of some others. Thomas Newcomb resided here before the sale of the town, and was a large landholder and a prominent inhabitant. He presided in our first town meeting, and was the first Select- man chosen in the town. His place of residence was on the road leading from Lime Rock to Town Hill, and at or near the old Bradley tavern. Cyrenus Newcomb, the first Town Clerk, I believe was the son of Thomas Newxomb. He resided on the farm lately owned by the late Samuel Lee, Esq. Both of these gentle- men, about the year 1747, removed from the town, to a place then known as Crom Elbow precinct, in the present town of Amenia, in the State of New York. 76 The Chipman family was numerous and highly respectable. Thomas Chipman, the ancestor, and who was the first offi- ciating Justice of the Peace in the town, emigrated from Barn- stable, Massachusetts, to Groton, in this State ; and from Gro- ton he came here, in 1741, He settled near Lamb's iron works, and was a proprietor in the saw mill and grist mill there. He erected the house now standing, which for many years was the residence of the Johnston family. He was a member of the first Church organized here. He was appointed an as- sociate Judge of this county, but died in the summer of 1752, at the age of sixty-five, before he entered upon the duties of the office. His sons were Thomas, John, Samuel, Amos, and Jonathan. Thomas, the eldest son, was one of the first elect- ed members of Assembly. He died a bachelor, here, at an ad- vanced age. John also died in this town. The other sons removed to Vermont, before the Revolution ; and I am not in- formed whether a single descendant of this family remains with us. The longevity of this family is remarkable. Jona- than and Samuel died at the age of ninety-one years. John, the eldest son of John Chipman, was a Captain in the army of the Revolution, and died at the age of eighty-six. Four sons of Samuel Chipman died, successively, at the ages of seventy-five, seventy-six, seventy-seven, and seventy-eight. Hon. Nathaniel Chipman, the eldest son of Samuel, now sur- vives, at the age of eighty-nine ; and Daniel, the youngest son of Samuel, is living, at the age of seventy-six. Capt. Samuel Beebe was the first Treasurer of the town- He emigrated from Litchfield. Was a large landholder in the eastern part of the town. The only descendant of this gentle- man, now alive among us, is David Bebee. His homestead and place of residence was the farm now owned by John Adam, near the Little Falls of the Housatonuc. Benajah Williams was a Selectman in 1743; he removed from Goshen here in 1742, and settled near the Furnace Pond, and was one of the first eleven members of the Church. The 77 Ticknor family, by a female branch, are descendants of this gentleman. John Smith was one of the first elected Selectmen, and a gentleman of considerable estate and respectability. His place of residence is not known by me. He removed from the town, and settled at Beekman's Patent, in the Province of New York, about the year 1746. Thomas Austin, the first constable of the town, was a bloomer at Lamb's iron works, and resided in that neighbor- hood, and I believe, was an ancestor of the late Hon. Aaron Austin, of New Hartford. Nathaniel Skinner was a Selectman in 1743, and one of the first members of the Church. He was the son of Nathaniel Skinner, Esq., of Sharon. He owned the farm on the side of the mountain, about one mile and a half northwest of the meeting house, and since owned by Reuben Chapin. His daughter Rebecca, the widow of Moore Bird, was the wife of Capt. Timothy Chittenden. Deacon John Hutchinson came here from Lebanon, in 1743, and settled on the farm lately owned by the Brinsmaid family. He soon afterwards removed to a farm at the westerly foot of Barack-Matiff" Hill, where his son, Mr. Asa Hutchinson, and his grandson, Myron Hutchinson, have ever since resided. He was, for several years, one of the Justices of the Peace in the town. He was the third Town Clerk, and was elected in 1747, and held the office thirty-one years, and was succeeded in the office by his son, Asa Hutchinson, who held the same office thirty-eight years. Deacon Hutchinson was one of the first deacons of the Church here. Josiah Stoddard emigrated from Litchfield in 1743, and settled on a farm on the south side of the Furnace Pond, where Harvey D. Warner now lives. He was our second Town Clerk, and for several years a member of the General Assem- bly. He was the father of Major Luther Stoddard, of the Revolutionary Army, and ancestor of Hon. Josiah J. Johnston, 78 late Senator of the United States from Louisiana. The chil- dren of Judge Burrall, of Canaan, are lineal descendants of this respectable gentleman. Samuel Moore came originally from Southold, on Long Island, to Litchfield, and from thence to this town, in 1743. He settled at the foot of Barack-MatifF, near deacon Hutchin- son, where his descendants now live. He was for many years Treasurer of the town ; and this office, with few inter- ruptions, has been, and now is in a family of his descendants. The Landon family, in England, was located in Notting- hamshire, on the Welch border. That branch of it which settled here, came from Southold, on Long Island, to Litch- field, and settled on the present Marsh farm in that town, at the foot of the hill, about one half mile north of the village. James and John Landon, brothers, came to this town in 1749. James settled in the south part of the town, near the small pond, called by us the Beezlake Pond, and by the Indians, Non- Cook. He was one of the first magistrates in the town, and, for many years, a member of the General Assembly. His de- scendants were numerous, and among them still surviving, are our highly valued friend, John R. Landon, Esq., of Litchfield, for many years SherifFof this county ; and our venerable fellow townsman, Ashbill Landon. John Landon settled on Sugar Hill, in the east part of the town. He married a grand- daughter of William White, the first settler. Mr. Rufus Lan- don is a descendant of this branch of the family. The family of Camps was an early and respectable one. Deacon Hezekiah Camp, the ancestor, came from New Haven, now East Haven, in 1746. He erected the dwelling house still occupied by his descendants — the Ball family. This is the oldest inhabited house in the town. The sons of deacon Camp were Hezekiah, Abial, Luke, John, and Samuel. The family name here is extinct ; but the descendants are numer- ous. The families of Ball, Lee, Chapin, Smith, are, in some of their branches, lineally descended from deacon Camp. The Chapin family, for many years, was numerous in this 79 town and highly respectable. The brothers, Charles and Reuben Chapin, emigrated, I believe, from Enfield, in 1746. Reuben occupied the farm adjoining the Brinsmaid farm, before that time owned by Nathaniel Skinner. Charles settled under the mountain, north of and adjoining the Lyman farm. The late Phineas Chapin, Esq., and his family, were lineally descended from Charles Chapin. Of the Binghams it was once said, that they and their kin- dred constituted half of the population in the northern section of the town. Jabez, Silas, and Daniel Bingham came from Windham, in 1750. They were the sons of Jabez Bingham, formerly of Lebanon. They were at first located under the mountain, adjoining deacon Camp's. Daniel subsequently set- tled upon the Washinee and Washining Lakes ; or, as we say between the ponds, where he died in the winter of 1803. The late Caleb Bingham, of Boston, was his son. The Ticknor fam- ily and a branch of the Moore family are his lineal descendants. John, Nathaniel, and Sylvanus Everts, from Guilford, settled in the vicinity of the Furnace Pond, in 1749. John was our first representative in the General Assembly. The children of John Russell are descended from this gentleman. The de- scendants of Nathaniel yet remain, and in the occupancy of the farm of their ancestor. Sylvanus married a sister of Gov. Thomas Chittenden, and removed to Vermont before the Rev- olution. Thomas Chittenden, the first Governor of Vermont, and Capt. Timothy Chittenden, sons of Ebenezer Chittenden, of Guilford, settled here in 1750. Timothy was the ancestor of the Chittendens now remaining with us. Noah Strong was the ancestor of our Strong family, once numerous here, but now nearly gone from us. He removed from Coventry, in 1747, and settled on Town Hill. Joseph Bird, the ancestor of the families of that name here, removed from Litchfield, in 1748. His descendants occupy the farm where he first located himself, on the western con- fines of the town. 80 Lot Norton, 1st, was a native of Farmington, the son of Thomas Norton, one of the original proprietors of the town. He settled here early, and upon the farm where his son, my venerable and long respected friend, the moderator of this meeting, and his grandson, Lot Norton, 3d, now reside. This gentleman was long a respectable magistrate, and one of the most prominent of our early inhabitants. I intend, if future leisure shall permit, to collect materials for a more minute and circumstantial notice of all the most active inhabitants of the town, from the beginning until this time. It is expected of a history of new settlements, that it be a story of privations, and dangers, and suffering. The early adventurers here, especially those of English descent, experi- enced but little of such adversities. What we suppose now to be the necessaries of life, they would have relished as its luxu- ries. Our position, between the old settlements on the Hudson and Connecticut rivers, secured us from Indian incursions. The indispensable accommodations of the grist mill and the saw mill, were here, almost in advance of the settlements. Our fathers were brought into a good land, " a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, that spring out of valleys and hills ; a land whose stones were iron." The first list of taxable estate was made in 1742, which shows, as well as any thing, the relative wealth of the first in- habitants. The list of Thomas Newcomb amounted to one hundred and thirty-seven pounds ; Henry Vandusen's to one hundred and seventeen pounds ; Caleb Smith's to one hundred and thirty-six pounds ; John Smith's to one hundred and twelve pounds, and Samuel Bellows' to ninety-seven pounds. These were the rich men of that day ! An extract from some of the early records of births may amuse those unacquainted with the Christian names of the ladies of Dutch descent. Areonchee Vandusen, daughter of Hendrick Vandusen and Nelche his wife, was boi-n April 3, 1740. 81 Yockamenche Vandusen, daughter of the same parents, was born March 26, 1736. Yacimitia, daughter of Henry Butcher and Eleanor his wife, born Sept. 15, 1730. Janaca, daughter of the same parents, born Aug. 3, 1746. But, my fellow townsmen, time hastens to take us up, upon its circuit of another century ; and when, upon the course of her flight, she shall, at the close of the next hundred years, sit down the men of that day, here upon this spot of earth, what will they see 1 Yonder heights of old Tocconuc will stand as now, and overlook these valleys ; but whether in all the freshness of their forest garniture, or bleak, despoiled, and leafless, none can tell. Whether the smoke of the colliery, and the sound of the hammer, shall, as now% denote the exist- ence of a cheerful and thrifty population there ; or whether those hills will be forsaken, as desolate barrens, we cannot tell. Our beautiful lakes and streams will then remain, to give variety and beauty to the landscape. But whether they will be then, as they now are, surrounded and bordered by richly cultivated fields, displaying the neat and commodious dwell- ings of freemen ; or whether they will remain only to furnish a pittance of food to an enslaved and cringing population on their shores, none can tell. The more stately flow of the Housatonuc — the River of the Mountains — will then, as now, be seen, and the sound of its majestic water-fall be heard ; but whether its waters will be permitted to run wastefully away, or the populous and busy village shall spring up and flourish there, years must deter- mine. To the youth and the young men of Salisbury, I put a more important inquiry. At the close of another century, what will be the condition of our religious, literary, and civil insti- tutions, which your fathers have reared and cherished ? I put to you this question, because into your hands they are soon to be committed. 11 r^. 82 Shall these temples of rehgious worship, consecrated to the service of the Hving God, be permitted to moulder into ruins, with no pious hands to build them again ? Shall the religion of the Bible, pure and unadulterated by this world's philosophy, be taught in them, then ; or shall the advancing spirit of Pan- theism and infidelity take its place 1 Shall sectarian and de- nominational jealousies palsy the energies, and chill the affec- tions of good men, so that the advances of the common enemy cannot be stayed ? I charge you, here, in the presence of your assembled fathers, be faithful to the trust about to be com- mitted to you ! To contribute of your pecuniary means is but a part of your duty in perpetuating your religious privileges. Attend steadily and without excuse the public services of the sanc- tuary. I would with hesitancy give credit to a young man on his oath, in a court of justice, whom I should find habitually absenting himself from the public worship of God. That the men of another century will witness here, what our imaginations cannot now anticipate, is certain. Ever since the discovery of printing, and the dawn of the reformation, the march of intellect has been progressive. What shall impede it hereafter ? Does not the shining of one light illu- mine the way to the discovery of others ? The laws of mind as well as of matter will be more clearly developed and better understood. Every thing unusual will not, as heretofore, be considered as supernatural and miraculous. The malevolence and strife elicited by the discordant opinions and prejudices of this day, will be considered then, as the infirmities peculiar to . a by-gone age. At least this must be true, if the hopes of many a believer in the near approach of a day of millenial peace, shall ever be realized. My young friends, the days in which we live are portentous of evil to the civil and social institutions which our fathers have established, and of which you, with others, are soon to have the guardianship. Will they withstand the shock of con- flicting parties ? Can they resist the inroads of demoralizing 83 principles and actions, which party strife has brought in upon us? A shorter period than another century will reply ! But I am admonished to forbear. My much respected fel- low townsmen, another occasion like this will come neither to us nor our children ! The reflection need not be one of gloom or regret. A succession of men, like the succession of time, will come and pass along, until the purposes of God, in creation, shall be accomplished ! When the next Centennial commemoration of the event we now celebrate, shall be observed, the proceedings of this day will be repeated, and the examples which we and our children shall furnish, will then be appealed to, in praise or in censure. Our descendants, from the clustering cities of the Mississippi, and may be, from the Oregon of the Pacific Ocean, will some of them, here visit the places of their fathers' sepulture, and search among the fallen monuments and defaced inscriptions, to learn who w^e were, and what we have been ! Our respon- sibilities are immense ! And now, while we take our leave of the first century of our corporate existence, and to-morrow shall have commenced another ; ought we not, as we have reviewed the history of our social state, also review the temper and disposition of our hearts I Is there no bitterness, no jealousy, nor evil speaking, which should this day be put out from among us ? Can our social condition be worth pre- serving, unless this be done 1 Must we and our children be spoiled by faction, and agitated by division ? Will you leave to your descendants a legacy of strife ? Would to God, this could be made a day of jubilee, on which all former accounts " of envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness," could be canceled for ever ! But I will not indulge in these reflections — others, of a dif- ferent character, impress me. I see here, many of our old associates, the former inhabitants of our town, and I bid them welcome to their native home again ! My friends, you have not, in your absence, been forgotten by us. More frequently than you suppose, your names have 84 here been repeated ; and we have, by our fire-sides and in our social circles, spoken of you, again and again, with honest pride, as Salisbury men. Upon some of you, fortune has be- stowed favors with liberal hand ; and bitterness of spirit, un- der disappointed hopes, may have been the portion of others. But here, on this cheerful occasion, while within the embraces of your common parent — your native towii, which knows no distinction in her affection for her children — we invite you to be happy with us, your brethren. No small purpose of our present meeting has been, that we might take you by the hand, with a heart-felt God bless you. You look about this assembly for the once familiar faces of other friends. You see them not. We point you to their marble monuments ! Soon — to-morrow — with " lingering look behind," again, and perhaps for ever, you leave us, for the homes of your later choice. You leave these consecrated walls, where, perhaps, your earliest devotions w^ere paid, and your vows registered, to worship in other temples. And we acknowledge to you, that the duty of us, who remain, will ever be, so to live and act, tiiat the name of your parent town shall never make you ashamed. Others, very many, there are, of our emigrant friends, whom we had hoped to meet, but do not see among us this day : — they are with us in heart and spirit : — in their fancies and af- fections they are looking over these hills into the midst of our assembly. In the same affectionate spirit we receive them ! In our approaching festive and convivial interview, we will speak of them — we will inquire after them with anxious soli- citude — we will recall them again to our recollection, and the scenes of former life in which we have participated. And before we separate here, we will unite with our reverend and venerable friend,* who will close the public exercises of this house, in commending them, and all their interests, to the care of our heavenly Father, whose merciful Providence encircles us all. * Rev. Chauncev Lee. D. D. At a meeting of the Committee of Arrangements for the Centennial Celebration of the settlement of the Town of Salisbury, holden October 21, 1S41, Voted, That the thanks of this Committee be presented to John M. Holley, Esq. for his Address delivered yesterday, and that a copy of the same be requested for publication. ROGER AVER ILL, Clerk. Gentlemen — I place at your disposal the remarks I made at the late Centennial Celebration, feeling that the peculiar interest of the occasion, is all that can make it worth while to preserve them. Your obedient servant, JOHN M. HOLLEY. To Messrs. Samuel Church, Eliphalet Whittlesev, John C. Coffing, Jared S. Harrison, Samuel C. Scoville, Alexander H. Holley, Roger Averill. Lyotu, N. Y. January 1th, 1842. ADDRESS JOHN M. HOLLEY, ESQ., OF LYONS, N. Y. Mr. Moderator, I FEEL not a little embarrassment in addressing you. Not wholly a stranger, yet not quite a citizen — expa- triated from my native town by residence, yet still a loyal townsman in affection and in the pride of origin — I came here to-day to listen, not to speak. Especially, among so many, whose minuter knowledge, and longer reach of memory, could so much better interest you, I cannot feel justified in detaining you long. But he would be unworthy to be ranked among your children, who would hesitate to bear the part assigned him in your proceedings, although it were but to strike a single chord, with whose tones your hearts could vibrate in unison, upon an occasion appealing so strongly to the feelings ; knocking so earnestly at the door of the affec- tions, whose heart can be cold ? I can add nothing to what has been said already. The discourse, to which we have all been delighted listeners, has told us so misutely, so faithfully, and. so well, of our origin, our progress, and the interesting 88 events in our history, that we can best improve the moment that is left us of this unreturning day, by endeavoring to prolong, for a little while, the general impressions it has left upon our minds, and treasuring them there for future enjoyment. How full of interest is this occasion ! We are met to commemorate the origination of our native town — to revive the era of our social origin — to testify our rever- ence for the memory of our fathers, and to refresh the recollections, and brighten the associations, which bind together their children ! We stand together, to-day, on our native soil, to look back over the period of an hundred years, a space ex- ceeding the ordinary limits of three generations ; we stand together — the fathers and their children — in the midst of the homes, the fields, the mountains, and the graves, which have witnessed all of joy or of sorrow, that life has allotted to most of us — to rekindle the long gone past, hallowed to us by all that is precious in the eye of patriotism, of social affection, of civil freedom. The remembrances that crowd upon our minds to-day, are rife of mingled pain and pleasure : pain, that the review we have taken, calls up before us so many of the departed, our fellow citizens, our brethren, our fathers, and all the griefs that wrung our hearts when they died : of pleasure and honest exultation, that these, our blood and kindred, have left us the boast of a worthy lineage, and an inheritance of blessings. It is ever profitable to recur to the past. If its his- tory be painful, it may yet he full of instruction ; how much better then, when that history is the record of a 89 thousand virtues ! Who were our ancestors, the im- mediate founders of the Uttle community here assem- bled 1 They were men of the soundest character, the manUest mould. We admire that hardy enterprise, which led them into the wilderness ; that patient en- durance, which enabled them to bear its early priva- tions ; that unconquerable energy, which subdued the stubborn barrenness of nature, as she flourished here a century ago, and brought these vales to teem with fruit- fulness, and these hills to smile with culture. We re- vere their intelligence and wise foresight, which assisted to plant civil and religious liberty in our land, and to organize social institutions upon just and equal, upon broad and stable foundations. Forever honored be their memories ! Let the virtues they illustrated, be perpetuated among their descendants, whether lingering by the old hearths and firesides, or wandering in remote quarters of the earth, to the latest generations. Some of the aged are still left among us ; a few frost- ed heads and time-bent forms proclaim the primitive settlers. Venerable men ! the links which bind us to our social origin — the witnesses who tell us of the past ! Your race is almost run ; you have acted your parts ; you have transmitted to us the legacy of our social in- stitutions, our liberty, our principles, without waste or detriment. The business of hfe, the burden of pubhc duty, has fallen upon us of a younger generation. As one of that generation, may I not here, on this occasion, in their name, pledge to you and to all, our solemn promise, to preserve all that is precious in the inheri- tance you leave us ; to emulate all that is worthy in the 12 90 example you bequeath us. We will not waste or de- stroy the least of so goodly an heritage ; we cannot be so base as to bring shame upon so proud an origin. We cannot forget, on an occasion like this, another fact in our history. We are a part of New England — of glorious New England — whose name shall never perish from the records of renown, which tell the story of that resistance to oppression, of that desperate strug- gle for the establishment of civil and religious liberty, which was so nobly crowned in the success of the American Revolution — of New England, whose sons have scattered themselves, and the principles which were their best inheritance, into every part of this wide- spread country. Yes, in the language of one of her cherished sons, " every valley is vocal with the voices of her children ; the bones of her sons have whitened the soil of every State from Maine to Georgia ; at this hour her blood swells every vein of this mighty repub- lic." If there be any thing of which a man may be proud, it is that he had his origin among her industri- ous, hardy, virtuous, free population ; that his birthright was that regulated liberty, and his nurture that manly training, which enabled him to win or to conquer for himself, all the good which civilized and instructed man may covet or enjoy. If I might assume, Mr. Moderator, to represent the emigrant portion of your citizens, on this occasion, in their name I would thank you for calhng us together, here, this day. You have summoned us back to our native town, and we again tread its soil with hearts all as filial and devoted, as that of the Scottish bard : 91 "Breathes there a man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said. This is my own, my native land ? If such there be, go, mark him well j For him no minstrel raptures swell. High though his titles — proud his name, Boundless his wealth as wish can claim ; Despite his titles, power, and pelf. The wretch, concentered all in self. Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust from whence he sprung. Unwept, unhonored, and unsung." It was here that our eyes first opened upon the light of heaven ; it was among these valleys that our boy- hood wandered. These hills echoed the voices of our buoyant, fresh-springing youth ; these streams rippled the music of our dawning life ; this soil still nourishes the most of our living kindred, and embraces, in its hallowed bosom, the bones of our departed fathers. We thank you, that you have called us back once more, and upon this marked era of time, to look upon the moss-grown monuments, which tell their graves. We thank you for this opportunity of exchanging wel- come and congratulation, and all kind, sociable wishes, with all our early friends and kindred. ODES FOR THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION AT SALISBURY, CONNECTICUT, OCTOBER 20, 1841. PREPARED BY REV. JONATHAN LEE. EMIGRANTS. " Land of our fathers ! wheresoe'er we roam, Land of our birth ! to us thou still art home : Peace and prosperity on thy sons attend, Down to posterity their influence descend." CITIZENS. Dear brethren, home-born I welcome to these seats ; Gladly we greet you, in our loved retreats : Bright shine our lakes, still — beauteous are our hills — Rich are our corn-fields — pure our mountain rills. EMIGRANTS. " Though other climes may brighter hopes fulfill, Land of our birth I we ever love thee still ; Heaven shield our happy homes from each hostile band, Freedom and plenty ever crown our native land." CITIZENS. Come to our fire-sides, where, long years ago, Those now in heaven, strung their harps below : O let us worship where our fathers bow'd. Tune all our heart-strings, sound our anthems loud. CHORUS. " All then inviting, hearts and voices joining, Sing we in harmony our native land." 93 BY REV. JONATHAN LEE. Where erst the red man twang'd his bow, Where howl'd the beast of prey, Near Housatonuc's lonely flow, Where brooding darkness lay. Secure we drive the glittering share. We sow the furrow'd field, Rich plains, beneath the tiller's care. Their golden harvests yield. A Pilgrim band, our fathers came, They fell'd the wilderness ; These lovely scenes their toils proclaim, And deep our hearts impress — Ye towering hills, repeat their praise. Fair lakes, their story tell, While we recall the ancient days. And hear a century's knell. In darkness lay the unwrought oar. Till call'd by Freedom's voice. It bade the fiery cannon roar, And made our land rejoice ; Then Peace spread forth her golden wing, Wealth pour'd its flowing tide ; Our sires their songs triumphant sing, Where we, their sons, abide. Our fathers' God, thy name we praise, For thou, in peril's hour, Heardst when they knelt their prayers to raise, And sought thy guardian power : Praise for this goodly heritage, By them so dearly bought, And may our sons, from age to age, Preserve it as they ought. 94 Let Science here ne'er cease to shine ; Here may Religion dwell ; Let Truth and Righteousness combine, The general bliss to swell : Good Spirit, come, make thine abode In these our native seats, Thyself the purest gift bestow'd, While Time his hours repeats. BY CHURCHILL COFFING, ESQ. Written for the Celebration of the Centennial Anniversary of the Settlement of the town of Salisbury, Ldtchfield Co., Connecticut, October 20th, 1841. Marsailles Hymn. Sons of the Pilgrims, hear the story, List, list to deeds of ancient days, To deeds of courage, bright with glory, Eternal be their meed of praise ; When lawless tyrants, peace deriding, Our fathers drove from their native land, Far o'er the sea, a helpless band. In God's right arm alone confiding. CHORUS. For truth, for truth they came, For truth their toils were borne ; They came, they came, their hearts resolv'd On liberty or death. On them high rose a rock-bound shore. With shadowing forests grimly spread ; Beneath them dash'd, with ceaseless roar, A raging ocean, black with dread : 95 Yet o'er them with his spirit cheering, Lo ! Israel's God was present there ; To them, the children of his care. Was shown the sign of his appearing. CHORUS. They saw, they saw his form, They heard, they heard his voice ; They saw Him in the rushing storm, And lo ! their hearts rejoice. Before them fled the Indian wild, The affrighted panther left his lair. Each mountain, and each valley smii'd, For lo ! the Pilgrim's hand was there ; And there their ashes, calmly sleeping, Shall hallow the soil in which they lay, Till heaven and earth shall pass away : — Their sons are now their labors reaping. CHORUS. For truth, for truth they came. For truth their toils were borne ; They came, they came, their hearts resolv'd On liberty or death ! BY CHUK CHILL COFFING, ESQ. Almighty God ! at whose behest, The rolling years their cycles run ; Whose presence through all time confest ; Eternal and unchanging One ! Our fathers' God ! at whose command The Pilgrims sought New England's shore. Contented, on its barren strand. Thy name to worship and adore ; 96 Whose presence cheer'd, whose arm upheld Our fathers in that darksome hour ; And all the savage hosts inipell'd, Submissive to a Christian power ; "Who bade for them the deserts bloom, And blest the soil on which they trod ; And show'd through all their hours of gloom, Thyself an ever-helping God ; Who on their sons, with lavish hand, Through years by-gone, thy grace hath shed ; And on their rugged mountain land. Thy choicest blessings too, hath spread. 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