iiidhams 
 
 1692-1892

 
 MEMORIAL VOLUME 
 
 y BI-GENTENNIflL GELEBRflTION 
 
 V tf 
 
 TOWN OF WIRDHAM, CONNECTICUT. 
 
 CONTAINING THE 
 
 HISTORICAL ADDRESSES, POEMS, AND A DESCRIPTION OF EVENTS 
 
 CONNECTED WITH THE OBSERVANCE OF THE TWO HUNDRETH 
 
 ANNIVERSARY OF THE INCORPORATION OF THE 
 
 TOWN, AS HELD IN THE YEAR 1892. 
 
 Published by the Committee. 
 
 HARTFORD, CONN: 
 
 THE NEW ENGLAND HOME PRINTING CO. 
 I893-
 
 PRELIMINARY EFFORTS. 
 
 In the warning of the annual town meeting of the town 
 of Windham, called for October 5th, 1891, the fifth clause, 
 inserted by the selectmen on request of interested citizens, 
 called upon the town to decide whether it would au- 
 thorize an appropriation and appoint a committee to pro- 
 vide for the proper celebration of the approaching bi-cen- 
 tennial anniversary, May i2th, 1892. As October 5th was 
 the day of the annual town election, action upon the bi- 
 centennial was postponed one week, or until October i2th. 
 The town records show that on this latter date it was 
 
 Voted That James E. Hayden, John G. Keigwin, 
 Lloyd E Baldwin, Silas F. Loonier, Edwin E. Burnham, 
 James E. Murray, John M. Hall, Thomas J. Kelley, 
 Ex'erett H Moulton, and E. Clinton Winchester be em- 
 powered to nominate a permanent committee consisting of 
 twenty citizens of the town, who are hereby instructed to 
 consider the matter contained in the fifth clause of the 
 warning and devise means for the performance of the same, 
 and report to an early future town meeting. 
 
 In accordance with this vote, the nominating committee 
 met October iyth and named as the permanent committee 
 of twenty citizens, the following : John M. Hall, Allen B. 
 Lincoln, Everett H. Moulton, Guilford Smith. James E. 
 Murray, Henry Larrabee, James E. Hayden, Edwin H. 
 Hall, Eugene S. Boss, John G. Keigwin, Charles J Fox, 
 Lloyd E. Baldwin, Joel W. Webb, Silas F. Loonier, 
 Thomas j! Kelley, William C. Jillson, James Walden, 
 John H. Moulton, Janies T. Lynch, M. Eugene Lincoln
 
 The permanent committee organized October 24th, with 
 Eugene S. Boss as president, Henry Larrabee and 
 James E. Murray as active vice-presidents, Thomas 
 J. Kelley secretary, James Walden treasurer, and M. 
 P^ugene Lincoln, John G. Keigwin, Charles J. Fox, John 
 H. Moulton and James Walden as executive committee. 
 
 Subsequently, the following list of honorary vice-presi- 
 dents was announced by the permanent committee : 
 
 HONORARY VICE-PRESIDENTS. 
 
 Windham. John Brown, Israel G. ' Robinson, Hardin 
 H. Fitch, Elisha G. Hammond, Harry Boss, Charles 
 Smith, William Wales, William Swift, Edwin E. Burn- 
 ham, Waldo Bingham, Jonathan Hatch, Frank M. 
 Lincoln, Albert R. Moulton, John A. Perkins, Henry 
 Page, Joseph B. Bliven, Marvin Burnham, William Moul- 
 ton, Abner D. Loring, Freeman D. Spencer, Lucius Y. 
 Flint, Jairus Smith, Charles Larrabee, George Lathrop, 
 Chester Tilden, Charles S. Bliven, Rufus Huntington, 
 Edward L. Burnham, Albert L. Perry, .Silas F. Clark, 
 Joseph C. Bassett, Henry Sparford, W T illiam C. Cargel, 
 Chauncey W. Turner, Albert A. Conant, Lorin Lincoln, 
 Florimond DeBruycker, Benjamin B. Hoxie, William H. 
 Osborn, Norman Meloney, J. Godfrey La Palme, John 
 Hickey, Arthur P. Favroe, Jeremiah O'Sullivan, George 
 W. Burnham, Roderick Davison, Albert Hartson. 
 
 Chaplin David A. Griggs, John R. Utley, Origen Ben- 
 nett. 
 
 Hampton. Patrick H. Pearl, Linden T. Button, Da- 
 vid A. Greenslit, Storrs Swift, Palmer Fenton. 
 
 Mansfield. Augustus Storrs, Lucian Freeman, Henry 
 Starkweather. 
 
 Scotland. William F. Palmer, John P. Gager, Henry 
 Carey. 
 
 Julius G. Rathbun, Ward W. Jacobs, Edward S. Cleve- 
 land, of Hartford; Horace Winslow, of Simsbury; George 
 H. Chase, of Stamford; William C. Witter of New York. 
 
 Following were the permanent and special committees 
 appointed :
 
 5 
 
 PERMANENT COMMITTEE. 
 
 Chairman. Eugene S. Boss. 
 
 Active Vice-Presidents. Henry Larrabee, James E. Mur- 
 ray. 
 
 Secretary. Thomas J. Kelley. 
 
 Treasiirer. James Walden. 
 
 Execritive Committee. M. Eugene Lincoln, John G. 
 Keigwin, Charles J. Fox, John H. Moulton, James Wal- 
 den. 
 
 Other Members: John M. Hall, Allen B. Lincoln, Ever- 
 ett H. Moulton, Guilford Smith, Edwin H. Hall, Lloyd 
 E. Baldwin, Joel W. Webb, Silas F. Loomer, William C. 
 Jillson, James 1*. Lynch. 
 
 SPECIAL COMMITTEES. 
 
 Finance. James Walden, J. Griffin Martin, Horace M. 
 Chapman, Jeremiah O'Sullivan, Guilford Smith, E. Har- 
 low Holmes, Henry Larrabee, Frank F. Webb, Edwin 
 H. Hall, George T. Spafford, Theodore Potvin, J. Cal- 
 houn Bugbee. 
 
 Reception. Eugene S. Boss, Julius Pinney, Oliver H. 
 K. Risley, John L- Hunter, Arthur S. Winchester, Lu- 
 cius J. Hammond. 
 
 Oration. Elliott B. Sumner, George W. Meloney, T. 
 Morton Hills, Charles H. Colgrove, William Swift. 
 
 History. Edwin A. Buck, Waldo Bingham, Frank M. 
 Lincoln, Frank M. Wilson, James T. Lynch. 
 
 Relics. Horatio N. Bill, George Challenger, Charles 
 Larrabee, George Lathrop. 
 
 Abel E. Brooks of Hartford, Joseph B. Merrowof Mans- 
 field, Edgar S. Lincoln of Chaplin, Roger Williams of 
 Hampton, Rufus T. Haskins of Scotland. 
 
 Industrial Exhibit, John Scott, Albert R. Morrison, 
 Samuel L. Burlingham, J. Dwight Chaffee, Thomas C. 
 Chandler, Edgar S. Washburn, William H. Latham, 
 George F. Taylor, Arthur G. Turner. 
 
 Decoration, George H. Purinton, Thomas Ashton, 
 Hugh C. Murray, Everett H. Moulton, E. Clinton Win- 
 chester, James A. McAvoy, John Bowman, Marshall Til-
 
 den, John C. Lincoln, Albert S. Turner, John G. Keig- 
 win, Joseph E. Monast, Charles E. Carpenter, Amos T. 
 Fowler. 
 
 Printing and Advertising . John A. McDonald, Arthur 
 I. Bill, Allen B. Lincoln, William J. Sweeney, Charles 
 R. Utley. 
 
 Programme. John M. Hall, Edward F. Casey, Homer 
 
 E. Remington, John L. Walden, M. Eugene Lincoln. 
 Memorial. George W. Burnham, David C. Card, 
 
 Frederick Rogers, John H. Moulton, Charles A. Capen, 
 William H. Osborn, Frank H. Blish, John F. Carey. 
 Rvening Entertainment. Walter D. Brigham, Dennis 
 
 F. Broderick, Jerome B. Baldwin, Adelard D. David, 
 Huber Clark. 
 
 Fireworks and Amusement . James H. Ross, Daniel P. 
 Dunn, George H. Backus, Henry L. Edgarton, William 
 N. Potter. 
 
 Music. James E. Murray, Noah D. Webster, Charles 
 B. Jordan, William C. Jillson, H. Clinton Lathrop. 
 
 Collation. Joel W. Webb, Charles L. Boss, Luke 
 Flynn, 3. Chauncey Hooker, J. Octave Blanchette, Wil- 
 liam C. Backus, Charles Larrabee, Jr., Lester M. Hartson, 
 Samuel E. Amidon. 
 
 Military Parade Lloyd E. Baldwin, John H. Morri- 
 son, Herbert R. Chappell, Patrick Fitzpatrick, Charles J. 
 Fox. 
 
 Fitemari's Parade. Charles E. Leonard, James Tighe, 
 Fred S. Young, John J. Henry, James E. Hanlon, John 
 T. Bradshaw. 
 
 Citizen' 1 s Parade. Charles B. Pomeroy, James E. Hag- 
 gerty, George E. Stiles, George K. Nason, Moses Be- 
 lair. 
 
 The original purpose in all these preparations was to 
 hold the celebration in Willimantic, on May i2th, 1892, 
 the bi-centennial anniversary of the incorporation of the 
 town ; the exercises to consist of historical addresses, ex- 
 hibition of relics, etc., in the forenoon; a grand military 
 and civic parade, with the local military, firemen, and
 
 fraternal bodies in line, also an industrial pageant of local 
 industries, the Putnam Phalanx of Hartford, the Third 
 Regiment, C. N. G., the Governor's Foot Guards of 
 Hartford, and perhaps other outside organizations, all to 
 make an imposing demonstration ; and to wind up with a 
 grand banquet or entertainment with fireworks in the 
 evening. 
 
 The town was asked to appropriate $2500 for expenses, 
 and it was proposed to raise from $1500 to $2000 more by 
 private subscription. But the town could not legally ap- 
 propriate any sum for such a purpose without legislative 
 authority, and the famous legislative "deadlock" of 1891- 
 '93 was existing ; so it became necessary for private citi- 
 zens to assure the $2500 desired from the town until the 
 Legislature should in the future authorize the town to make 
 the appropriation. The sum of $2500 was voted by the 
 town, March 3rd, 1892, with proviso that it would be paid 
 to the bi-centennial committee when the Legislature should 
 validate it. On this basis James Walden patriotically set 
 out to secure the $2500 guaranteed from 100 citizens who 
 should pledge $25 each. He secured 67 of the necessary 
 100 without much difficulty, but it was seen that this 
 plan would hinder the raising by private subscription of 
 funds thought to be needed over and above the $2500 
 guarantee required to protect the town's appropriation. 
 It now began to appear that there was considerable differ- 
 ence of opinion among citizens as to the historic appro- 
 priateness of the kind of celebration proposed. The citi- 
 zens of Windham Centre, and with them not a few residents 
 of Willimantic, felt that Old Windham Green, which had 
 been the center of the town's inception and growth, and the 
 scene of its chief activities for nearly 1 50 of the 200 years of 
 its incorporate life, should be made more prominent in the 
 celebration ; and many thought, indeed, that the celebra- 
 tion should be held there. Judge John M. Hall mean- 
 while suggested that rather than expend so much money 
 for a parade, it were better to donate it to wards a Memorial 
 town building, which should at once meet the town's
 
 present needs and celebrate the bi-centennial event in a 
 worthy and enduring manner. At a town meeting held 
 March 26th, 1892, the permanent committee reported that 
 "we find very little public enthusiasm on the subject" of 
 the proposed celebration and "we refer the matter back to 
 the town for further instructions." The town meeting 
 therefore ' ' Voted, that the whole matter relating to the bi- 
 centennial celebration be abandoned." But John M. Hall, 
 C. A. Capen, E. H. Holmes, C. E. Carpenter and J. 
 O' Sullivan were appointed a committee to examine sites 
 and present estimates and cost of a suitable Memorial 
 building. At another meeting held April 30, the commit- 
 tee reported that they had examined various available 
 sites. No definite action was taken but the committee was 
 continued with instructions to examine further into the 
 subject and report at such future time as seemed expedient. 
 No further report has been had to date. 
 
 Many were disappointed that the plans for celebrating 
 the bi-centennial celebration were abandoned. The resi- 
 dents of Old Windham Green promptly resolved that there 
 should be a celebration, and one of a character suited to 
 the occasion. They therefore went to work with enthu- 
 siasm and energy, and on Friday evening, March 31, a 
 meeting was held in School Hall, at Windham Center, to 
 perfect organization for the event. 
 
 The following officers were elected : President, Guilford 
 Smith ; vice-president, Henry Larrabee ; secretary and 
 treasurer, Frank F. Webb ; general committee, Guilford 
 Smith, Henry Larrabee, Frank F. Webb, Charles Larra- 
 bee, Jr., George Lathrop, George Challenger, E. H. 
 Holmes, James G. Martin, H. C. Lathrop. 
 
 Honorary Vice- Presidents Elisha Hammond, Thomas 
 Ramsdell, John Perkins, Marvin Burnham, Andrew Frink, 
 William Wales, Waldo Bingham, Rufus Rood, Henry 
 Page, Charles Larrabee, Jairus Smith, Albert Perry, 
 Rufus Huntington, Charles Smith, Jonathan Hatch, Free- 
 man D. Spencer, Henry Spafford, Albert Hartson, L. E. 
 Baldwin, John Brown, Harry Boss, George W. Burnham,
 
 A. D. Loring, H. H. Fitch, F. M. Lincoln, J. C. Bassett, 
 Lorin Lincoln, Chester Tilden, E. E. Burnham and Israel 
 Robinson. 
 
 Special committees on finance, programme, decorations, 
 relics and reception were appointed as follows : 
 
 Reception Committee J. G. Martin, Wm. Swift, A. S. 
 Winchester, E. P. Kenyon, Mrs. Ann H. Johnson, Mrs. 
 Mary D. Taintor, Miss Mary Perkins and Miss Bertie 
 Campbell. 
 
 Decoration Committee L. J. Hammond, F. K. Hoyt, 
 L. G. Frink, Wm. Larrabee, Wm. P. Barstow, Robert 
 Stanton, Chester Woodworth, Miss Josie Bingham, Mrs. 
 Julia Arnold, E. S. Yergason, Miss Mary Perkins, Mrs. 
 Henry Hatch and Mrs. Chester Jewett. 
 
 Financial Committee Harlow Holmes, Henry Hatch, 
 Chester Jewett, Lester Hartson and Miss Emma Kenyon. 
 
 Programme Committee H. C. Lathrop, Dr. F. E. 
 Guild, T. J. Kelley, G. H. Alford and Mrs. F. F. Webb. 
 
 Collation Committee Charles Larrabee, Jr., George 
 Challenger, G. B. Peabody, C. H. Wilson, Arthur Wil- 
 liams, Mrs. Guilford Smith, Mrs. Henry Larrabee, Mrs. 
 Eliza Loomis and Mrs. G. B. Peabody. 
 
 Relic Committee George Lathrop, Horatio N. Bill, 
 Preutiss Lewis, Miss Julia Swift, Miss Emma Larrabee, 
 Mrs. Chas. Baker, Everett H. Moulton, DeWitt Lockman 
 and Mrs. Sarah Holmes. 
 
 Town Committees Chaplin: John Griggs, Edgar S. 
 Lincoln, Origen Bennett; Hampton: David Greenslit, Hen- 
 ry Burnham, Geo. M. Holt; Mansfield: Dr. E. G. Sumner, 
 I. P. Fenton, Prof. L. P. Chamberlain; Scotland: Wm. F. 
 Palmer, Amos S. Chapman, C. M. Smith. 
 
 Thomas Snell Weaver, editor of the Willimantic Jour- 
 nal, was appointed historian for the first century ; Allen B. 
 Lincoln of the New England Home, for the second cen- 
 tury. It was planned to have an outdoor celebration on 
 the old training ground, Windham Green, Wednesday, 
 June 8, as there was not time to complete preparations by
 
 10 
 
 May 12. It was announced that citizens from all sections 
 of the town, and from those towns which were offshoots 
 from the original settlement, were invited to unite in the 
 ceremonies of the day.
 
 THE CATHOLIC CELEBRATION. 
 
 While these preparations were going forward, another 
 event occurred which should be recorded in this Memorial 
 volume. It had been the intention of the Rev. Florimond 
 De Bruycker of the local St. Joseph's Roman Catholic 
 parish to signalize the bi-centennial celebration as at first 
 proposed in Willimantic by unfurling on that day the 
 American flag over the St. Joseph's parochial school. 
 When the Willimantic celebration was abandoned, Father 
 De Bruycker at once determined to change the flag-raising 
 incident into a formal recognition of the bi-centennial 
 date. Accordingly the bi-centennial was celebrated under 
 Catholic auspices on Saturday, May 14, and the Williman- 
 tic Journal of May 20, gave the following account of it : 
 
 Saturday afternoon was made patriotic and eloquent by 
 the Catholic citizens of Willimantic. Shortly after 2 
 o'clock a procession under escort of our local Co. E, Third 
 Regiment, C. N. G., Capt. Robinson, made a half hour's 
 parade through Main street, attracting a great number of 
 sightseers. The- Montgomery Hose Company, St. Jean 
 De Baptiste Society, Ancient Order of Hibernians and 
 Knights of Columbus, all local organizations, were in line 
 and made a creditable showing. When the yard of St. 
 Joseph's Parochial school was reached the procession filed 
 in and with the thousand or more citizens already there 
 made up a fine audience for the speakers to address. The 
 buildings were trimmed with the national colors and on 
 the north section of the broad verandah were ranged the 
 children of the school who sang patriotic airs in the in- 
 terim of the speakers and sang them well, their fresh, clear 
 voices ringing out with a true, patriotic ring.
 
 12 
 
 The exercises were conducted by Rev. Fr. De Bruycker, 
 who gave a brief address of welcome and expressed the 
 hope that all present would, by the celebration of the bi- 
 centennary of the town of Windham in this manner come 
 to a better understanding of each other. The children 
 present would be impressed by the occasion with a love 
 for the flag and for the country and gain a sense of the 
 great responsibilities which would rest upon them as they 
 grew into citizenship. The flag was then unfurled by 
 Thomas Ashton, a veteran Union soldier, and as it floated 
 gracefully to the breeze a shower of red, white and blue 
 stars fell from its folds. It was greeted with cheers and 
 the song "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" by the school 
 children. Father De Bruycker then very pleasantly intro- 
 duced Commander B. E. Smith of the Grand Army of 
 Connecticut and a resident of Willimantic, as one who 
 knew what it was to maintain the flag. Commander Smith 
 spoke of the sentiment of patriotism which gathered them 
 in the place and said that there was no higher motive than 
 that of loyalty to one's country and flag, and spoke of the 
 knowledge the Union veterans had of the depth of that 
 sentiment which impelled men to lay down their lives for 
 its honor. 
 
 Dr. A. D. David then addressed the French- American 
 citizens in the audience in their own own language. He 
 told his fellow countrymen that while they need not for a 
 moment forget the country of their nativity, yet they 
 should love the country of their adoption with an affection 
 that comes to the patriotic heart from a love of all that is 
 noble and enduring. He spoke of the greatest and best 
 loved of all Frenchmen in America, Lafayette, and closed 
 with an impassioned appeal for the maintenance of the 
 freedom he helped to establish here. 
 
 Principal A. B. Morrill of the Normal school, spoke of 
 the peculiarity of the gathering as one indigenous to this 
 country. Men of all beliefs and nationalities meet here 
 for a common purpose and on common ground. This re- 
 public was not the first of the great republics of the world, 
 but it differed from all the republics which have passed 
 away in the fact that it conserved the welfare of all the 
 people. So long as that principle was guarded, the re- 
 public would be safe and there would be a patriotic 
 acquiescence in the will of the majority. 
 
 James T. Lynch referred to the settlement of Old Wind- 
 ham two hundred years ago and to the fact that her sons 
 had taken part in all four of the wars which had occurred
 
 13 
 
 in the country, and besides had the battle of the frogs to 
 care for. He was proud of the history of the grand old 
 town and if there should ever be another war in which the 
 honor of the country should be at stake there would be no 
 Methodists, Baptists, Coiigregationalists, or Catholics, 
 none but American citizens, possessed with one purpose 
 and sentiment. 
 
 Rev. Fr. J. J. Quinn of Collinsville made an eloquent 
 address in which he traced the influence of the Catholic 
 church in the struggle for the republic, and paid a glowing 
 tribute to Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a signer of the 
 Declaration of Independence, who staked more upon the 
 issue than any other signer, as he was the wealthiest of 
 them all. Here in this republic there was no aristocracy, 
 but that of brains, honesty and ability ; the republic would 
 stand if we added patriotism, religion. 
 
 Gen. Thomas McManus of Hartford made a pleasant 
 and humorous address and after thanks had been returned 
 to the audience for its attention and presence, by Rev. Fr. 
 De Bruycker, three cheers were given for the flag and the 
 celebration was over.
 
 ON WINDHAM GREEN. 
 
 The celebration on Windham Green occurred as 
 planned, on Wednesday, June 8, 1892. It was thoroughly 
 "Windhamese" in all respects, every feature of the pro- 
 gramme having significance as to Windham and the towns 
 that have sprung from her, and all the speakers being of 
 Windham birth or connections. The Willimantic Jour- 
 nal of May 10, made substantially the following report of 
 the proceedings: 
 
 A modest and altogether appropriate celebration of the 
 two hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the 
 town of Windham, was that held on Windham Green, 
 Wednesday, the entire day being passed in the study of 
 the grand history of the town from its earliest, down 
 through colonial, revolutionary and the later times. To 
 begin with the citizens of the Green had made their 
 dwellings and surroundings brilliant with the stars and 
 stripes, while the skies were dimmed just the slightest to 
 shield the sun's glare, and the trees in their early leaf of 
 tender green, swayed as if in kindly benison upon the 
 gathering. In every direction from the tastefully decor- 
 ated speakers' stand, [which was erected on the Green, al- 
 most directly across the road from the church parlors] his- 
 torical landmarks, appropriately recognized, and the beau- 
 tiful arrangements of bunting, pleased the eye. Promi- 
 nent among the decorations were those upon and 
 about the Colonel Dyer mansion, where General Wash- 
 ington stopped on his visit to the town. Bunting was 
 tastefully displayed, a goddess of liberty stood upon the 
 lawn, while a huge frog stood a non-croaking sentinel at 
 the gateway. The house is now the property of L. J. 
 Hammond, and here the speakers and distinguished
 
 15 
 
 guests were received and entertained by Mrs. Ann John- 
 son, as hostess, and Arthur S. Winchester as chairman of 
 the reception committee. It was a beautiful spot wherein 
 to pass an hour, conjuring up visions of what had passed 
 beneath its roof in the trying days of those grand men 
 who had so much to do with carrying forward the revo- 
 lutionary war in New England. Near by was the Colonel 
 Elderkin mansion, fittingly draped by its present occu- 
 pant, William Swift, while down the Nipmuck path, the 
 Joshua Elderkin house, the old Webb place, the Abbe 
 house and others were hung with bunting. The old tav- 
 ern, now kept by George Challenger, was properly deco- 
 rated and the residences of John Perkins and Charlotte 
 Lathrop, Willard Beckwith, Chauncey Wilson, Rufus 
 Rood, Dr. Smith, and others w r ere tastefully trimmed. 
 At the Willimantic entrance to the Green was flung a 
 beautiful arch of red, white and blue, with the legends 
 "May, 1692 Welcome May, 1892." Up on a branch of 
 an elm tree in front of the old Staniford tavern, sat the 
 little fat image of Bacchus, as nearly as could be in the 
 location where he sat for so many years, until the old 
 tree blew down, and. that insatiable relic hunter, A. E. 
 Brooks, captured him. Mr. Brooks gave the little fellow 
 a car ride from Hartford on the early train that he might 
 once again feast his eyes on familiar Windham Green. 
 Down in the old cemetery John Cates, the first settler, 
 slept beneath the stars and stripes, and if he was a fugi- 
 tive, because of offenses to the crown of England, his 
 spirit must have looked down with kindness upon the em- 
 blem which restless men, like he, had, years after his 
 death, placed as an insignia of religious and political 
 freedom. 
 
 At sunrise the booming of cannon and the ringing of 
 the churchbells announced the opening of the day, and 
 shortly after 8 o'clock the Nathan Hale drum corps 
 of Coventry, with their continental uniforms, woke the 
 echoes of the Green as they have not been since the 
 regimental training days of General Baldwin Hop- 
 kins and Allen's band of Norwich was soon in tune, with 
 Charley Hatch of Hartford as leader, a Windham boy 
 showing his Windham friends what good out-of-door 
 music should be. Shortly after 10 o'clock the band led 
 the procession of speakers and guests from the Colonel 
 Dyer mansion to the speaking stand, where after a brief 
 concert by the band, Guilford Smith, chairman of the day, 
 rapped to order, and the exercises began. Rev. S. J.
 
 16 
 
 Horton, D. D., of Cheshire, formerly of Windham, read a 
 brief selection from an. old version of the Scripture, 
 printed in 1589, before the King James translation, which 
 had been preserved by the Devotion family and is now the 
 property of Mrs. L,ee L/athrop of this city. Following 
 are the passages which he read from Hebrews i., 10, n, 
 12, xiii., i. 2. 
 
 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning haft laid the foundation of the 
 earth ; and the heavens are the works of thine hands. 
 
 They fhall perifh, but thou remaineft; and they all fhall wax old 
 as doth a garment : 
 
 And as a vefture fhalt thou fold them up and they fhall be 
 changed ; but thy years fhall not fail. 
 
 Let brotherly love continue. 
 
 Be not forgetful to entertain ftrangers : for thereby fome have 
 entertained angels unawares. 
 
 Mr. Horton then offered an appropriate prayer, after 
 which Chairman Smith made a cordial address of wel- 
 come to the sons of old Windham, who had gath- 
 ered for this celebration, and to the friends from 
 other towns, who had come to look upon and gather les- 
 sons from the day. He then introduced Thomas Snell 
 Weaver, and paid a compliment to his father, the late 
 William L> Weaver, to whom the town owed so much for 
 its knowledge of the past. Mr. Weaver reviewed the 
 principal events of the first century of the town's history. 
 A short selection by the band followed Mr. Weaver's 
 paper, after which a poem, "At Home," composed by 
 Miss Josephine M. Robbins of Chaplin, was read by Miss 
 Nellie M. Griggs of Chaplin. 
 
 Hon. Edward S. Cleveland of Hartford, senator from 
 the first Connecticut district, a native of Hampton, and of 
 good Windham stock, made a characteristic address. He 
 felt most highly complimented in being invited to be pres- 
 ent and whatever inspiration he had for what he might 
 say had been gathered from contemplation of the events 
 outlined in the historical address to which he had listened. 
 He paid tribute to the patriotism of the town that had been 
 so full of heroic spirit, that had helped to maintain the 
 rights of the people and uphold the flag in all the wars. 
 He closed with an eloquent apostrophe to the nation's 
 flag "And now let us with town, state and national pride, 
 praise with songs of pride our ancestors who guarded that 
 flag from the foeman's steel."
 
 17 
 
 Led by the band the audience joined in "America" 
 and an hour's recess was had for dinner and a social 
 gathering. There was abundant preparation for feeding 
 the 2,000 or more people who were present. The speak- 
 ers and guests were entertained in the chapel of the Con- 
 gregational church, where the ladies served a banquet 
 that would have done honor to the king of all caterers, 
 whoever he may be. Grace was said by Rev. George Stearns, 
 son of a former pastor of the Congregational church of 
 Windham. During the intermission there were a great 
 many hand shakings, cordial greetings and meetings of 
 friends long since separated. It was a profitable hour for 
 renewing acquaintanceships and for brief expressions of 
 pride in the record of Old Windham. 
 
 The afternoon services began with the reading of a re- 
 view of the history of the second century of Windham, by 
 Allen Bennett Lincoln, editor of The New England 
 Home of Hartford, and son of the late Allen Lincoln. 
 
 Then followed a poem appropriate to the occasion, 
 written and delivered by the Rev. Theron Brown of the 
 editorial staff of The Youths' Companion, a son of John 
 
 A. Brown of Mt. Hope, and who was born in Willimantic. 
 At the close of Mr. Brown's poem, Edwin B. Gager, 
 
 son of Lewis Gager of Scotland, but now of Birm- 
 ingham, and judge of the Derby town court, spoke on be- 
 half of Scotland. 
 
 Amos L- Hatheway, Esq., of Boston, son of A. Morris 
 Hatheway, and maternal grandson of the Rev. Cornelius 
 
 B. Everest, pastor of the Windham Congregational church 
 in 1815-27, spoke of the significance of the life and char- 
 acter of the old New England town. 
 
 Charles Smith Abbe of Boston, a son of Windham and 
 an actor in the Boston Museum company, gave a most 
 felicitous bit of humor in 'an imaginary walk and conver- 
 sation with John Gates, the first settler, in which were 
 conjured up many merry things which kept the audience 
 in splendid humor. It was a delightfully conceived fan- 
 tasy, quaint, original and very funny, making a jovial 
 ending to a day in which the eloquence of fact and 
 eloquence of sentiment had vied with each other for the 
 glory of two hundred years old Windham. 
 
 The historical addresses of Messrs. Weaver and Lin- 
 coln, the poems of Miss Robbins and the Rev. Mr. Brown, 
 and the addresses of Messrs. Gager, Hatheway and Abbe, 
 are given in full in the following pages. There is also
 
 18 
 
 printed in full the poem of Miss Jane Gay Fuller of Scot- 
 land, which was written for the occasion but by some mis- 
 understanding did not reach the committee's hands in time 
 to be read at the celebration. The Journal thus summa- 
 rized the impromptu addresses of the other speakers of the 
 day: 
 
 Rowland Swift president of the American National bank of 
 Hartford and a native of "Ponde Towne," spoke briefly 
 of the close relationships which were found in the old col- 
 onial times, and told the story of the Windham girl who 
 held the candle while her father shod the horses of L,u- 
 zan's cavalrymen in the Revolutionary war, and to whom 
 was presented the little flag of tri-color which was buried 
 with her more than four score years after. 
 
 Dr. George Austin Bowen of Woodstock, master of the 
 Connecticut State Grange, spoke of the agricultural inter- 
 ests which were the pride of the town of Windham, and of 
 the great force and power the early farming community 
 had. 
 
 The Old Windham Bank Building, with the legend "site 
 of the Windham County Court House" over the doorway, 
 and with another legend near by "site of the public whip- 
 ping post," was converted into a museum of relics, to 
 which many of the families of the town contributed large- 
 ly. There were antique portraits, books, newspapers, 
 "samplers" and a thousand and one things that space 
 does not allow of chronicling here. It was visited all day 
 long by crowds, many times it being almost impossible to 
 move about, because of the number of interested persons 
 examining the many curious and historical articles of 
 value. Further reference to the relics exhibited will be 
 found elsewhere. 
 
 There were many invited guests, mainly those who were 
 from Windham originally, or were interested in historical 
 matters. Among them were Miss Ellen F. Larned, author 
 of the History of Windham County, Jonathan Flint Morris 
 of Hartford, treasurer of the Connecticut Historical So- 
 ciety, Rowland Swift, E. S. Cleveland, P. H. Woodward, 
 J. G. Rathbun, Chester Burnham, John M. Ney, Hart 
 Talcott, Andrew F. Gates, Ward W. Jacobs, Nathan
 
 19 
 
 Starkweather and many others from Hartford ; Henry 
 Allen, Hon. and Mrs. Lucius Brown, Reuben S. Bartlett, 
 S. T. Holbrook, Wm. C. Lamnon, Arthur B. Webb, James 
 P. Lathrop and others from Norwich; Mr. and Mrs. H. 
 C. Starkweather of New York, granddaughter of Zephan- 
 iah Swift of the Windham county court and minister to 
 France ; Mrs. E. H. Williams, widow of Judge Williams 
 of Grand Meadow, la., Mrs. Emeline L. Perkins wife of 
 Judge George Perkins of Fond du Lac, Wis., both sisters 
 of Henry and Charles Larrabee of Windham; J. R. 
 Cogswell of Putnam, a son of Windham ; Rev. Horace 
 Winslow of Simsbury a former pastor of the Willimantic 
 Congregational church.
 
 WINDHAM'S FIRST CENTURY. 
 
 BY THOMAS SNKLL WEAVER. 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 In briefly sketching the progress of Old Windham dur- 
 ing the First Century of its existence, it will be necessary 
 to go very lightly over the surface of events, otherwise 
 your patience would be wearied, so full of rich detail were 
 those eventful hundred years. There can but be, however, 
 in a gathering like this for the express purpose of study- 
 ing history, more than a passing interest in the general 
 movement of the past, as it affects a locality full of tradi- 
 tion and deep interest, like the one where we are now met. 
 Before entering upon the work, however, a single personal 
 allusion will be pardoned. To the indefatigable research 
 of my honored father, the late William L,. Weaver, car- 
 ried on under discouragements of an invalid life, with all 
 matter at arms length from his table, and painstakingly 
 and carefully pursued for more than six consecutive years, 
 I am indebted for the greater amount of the data which 
 will be used. I but feebly represent his undaunted his- 
 torical spirit, his energy and his love for Old Windham, 
 the town of his birth. 
 
 To begin at once then, Joshua Attawanhood, son of 
 Uncas, the great Redskin of Eastern Connecticut, being 
 sick in body but able and of disposing mind, February 29, 
 J675, by will granted to sixteen Norwich gentlemen of 
 whom John Mason was chief, a tract about eight miles
 
 21 
 
 square, the northeastern boundary of which was at Appa- 
 quogue Pond near the northeastern corner of the now 
 town of Hampton, and disposed to the westward and 
 southward to the Willimantic and Shetucket rivers. He 
 died while his father, the greater chieftain was yet living, 
 and the proprietors of the tract came into possession of 
 their grant May 27, 1676. The Nipmuck Indians, not a 
 very powerful branch of the Mohegans, occupied the land 
 in sparse numbers, probably coming to the rivers in the 
 spring \vhen the fishing was good, for they had some of 
 the latter day instincts, and some of them remaining to 
 plant and raise corn in the opens which were near the 
 rivers. The greater portion of the tract was wooded and 
 the path which the Nipmucks travelled in their journey- 
 ings to and from Uncas's headquarters near Norwich is 
 now your Main street, according to the best tradition. No 
 steps were taken to open up the tract to settlement imme- 
 diately, as King Philip was making a great deal of 
 trouble across the northern border and there was a con- 
 tinual movement of Indians over the tract for some years 
 until that plucky redskin was fully cared for. Even then 
 there was reluctance about settling here because of the 
 possible trouble over Indian titles, which had been boldly 
 disputed by Sir Edmund Andross, the colonial governor, 
 who regarded them as no better than the scratch of a bear's 
 paw. Andross, however, had his opinions very much 
 modified by one Wadsworth. He was the man who 
 thought to steal the charter of Connecticut colony. He 
 changed his mind on that also. 
 
 The sixteen Norwich gentlemen were Captain John 
 Mason, Daniel Mason and Samuel Mason, sons of Major 
 John Mason, the famous Indian fighter, whose expedition 
 against the Pequots was the most noted of all the events 
 in the history of early eastern Connecticut, and who after- 
 wards settled Norwich ; Rev. James Fitch, Major James 
 Fitch his son, John Birchard, Lieut. Thomas Tracy, 
 Thomas Adgate, Simon Huntington, Lieut. Thomas 
 Leffingwell, John Olmsted, physician, William Hyde,
 
 22 
 
 William Backus, Hugh Calkins, Captain George Deni- 
 son and Daniel Wetherwell. None of these settled in this 
 town. They were mainly elderly men, who had been 
 pioneers in the settlement of Norwich, and left for their 
 sons and immediate descendants the work of building up 
 this plantation. 
 
 An agreement to settle was made February 17, 1682, 
 and each man signed, promising to content himself with 
 the place where God's providence should determine by 
 lot, to fix his particular tract of land, a trustful faith in 
 such matters quite in distinction from modern estate 
 transactions. It was also agreed that only such whole- 
 some inhabitants as the company shall see fit to admit 
 shall purchase, so that the town in its beginning was 
 select and aristocratic to a degree, and not a little of that 
 flavor is said to exist even now. 
 
 John Mason had died and his brother Samuel had dis- 
 posed of his interest, and John Post had purchased the 
 right of John Olmsted, so that only fourteen proprietors 
 signed this agreement, thirteen only of whom were 
 grantees under the will of Attawanhood. These gentle- 
 men, however, were all well-known pioneers in Eastern 
 Connecticut filled with the spirit of breaking open the new 
 country, with perhaps a little vein of speculation running 
 through that. At all events when the settlement was act- 
 ually made, those enterprising real estate dealers, the 
 Masons and Fitches, had more than half the 60,000 acres 
 of the tract in their possession, and there is a record to 
 show that they sold even to the sons of those of whom 
 they had bought. To offset this, however, they had the 
 charge of Abimelech Sachem, for one third of his keep, 
 his father's generosity in land to the whites having 
 made him a pauper, a veritable "L,o, the poor Indian." 
 
 The survey of the lots was made by Ljeutenant Thomas 
 Leffingwell, Sergeant Richard Bushnell and Simon Hunt- 
 ington and the tradition is that they made their first 
 night's camp east of the Natchaug river just below the 
 Horse Shoe Bend, about opposite what is now the Willi-
 
 23 
 
 mantic Fair grounds. Whether this be true or not, tradi- 
 tion picked out a most lovely and beautiful clearing for 
 these pioneers to sleep in beneath the May sky of 1685. 
 
 The lots were laid out in three sections, one at Hither 
 Place, one at Willimantuck and one at the Pondes, or 
 what is now Mansfield Center. The first occupant of the 
 lands was John Gates, an individual about whom there 
 has been some mystery, more than has ever been satis- 
 factorily explained. He came in 1689 and with his negro, 
 Joe Ginne, erected a rude shelter which was afterwards 
 converted into a dwelling with the assistance of Jonathan 
 Ginnings, who was the first white man with a family in 
 the town and to whom the first white child was born. 
 Whatever Gates might have been before he came to 
 Windham, he was a respectable citizen here, took some 
 part, though never officially, in town affairs and was well 
 thought of. His will gave some portion of his estate to 
 the church and the town and his memory might well 
 remain undisturbed by any futile attempts to discover 
 whether he was a regicide, as some suggest, or merely an 
 adventurer, who for personal reasons did not care to have 
 his affairs in England known. After Gates, the settlers 
 came in rapidly and in 1691 the inhabitants petitioned the 
 General Court for a town grant, Joshua Ripley, John 
 Gates, Jonathan Crane, Joseph Huntington, William 
 Backus, Jeremiah Ripley, Jonathan Ginnings, Richard 
 Hendee, John Backus and John Larabee being signers to 
 the petition. The names have been familiar to the in- 
 habitants of the town to this day. These petitioners 
 were all residents of the Center. 
 
 Ponde Towne or Mansfield was settled almost contem- 
 poraneously with the Center, and for a few years the two 
 sections lived together comfortably and with religious 
 peace, but trouble over the church-going and ministerial 
 privileges arose and in 1701 Mansfield went her own way 
 as a separate town. The details of the steps that resulted 
 in this division have been recently published and there is 
 no time to go over them here. The incorporation of the
 
 24 
 
 town of Windham was May 12, 1692, and the first town 
 meeting was held here June n of the same year, two hun- 
 dred years from Saturday of this week. 
 
 At that meeting provision was made for the support of 
 the gospel, and Mr. Samuel Whiting, son of Rev. John 
 Whiting, pastor of the First church in Hartford, was chos- 
 en pastor and served the people in the capacity of spiritual 
 and general advisor until his death in 1725, thirty -three 
 years after. He was a man of uncommon fervor in the 
 pulpit, who mingled greatly with the people in their every- 
 day transactions and who had large interests in real estate, 
 his name appearing with great frequency in the early trans- 
 fers of property in the town. His wife was Elizabeth 
 Adams, whose mother Alice Bradford, grandaughter of 
 Governor Bradford of the Mayflower, and her children, 
 transmitted a goodly strain of Mayflower blood to many 
 descendants of Windham families. Her oldest daughter 
 married Joseph Fitch and Colonel Eleazer Fitch was their 
 son, the handsomest man in the American army, who served 
 at the head of the Fourth Connecticut troops in the French 
 and Indian war and whose sense of honor, having been 
 once a soldier of the king, did not allow him to take a prom- 
 inent part in the revolution. Elizabeth Whiting married 
 William Gager. William Whiting, a son, was Lieutenant 
 Colonel at the siege of L,ouisburg, and at L,ake George un- 
 der Sir William Johnson. John Whiting was a colonel in the 
 French and Indian war, and Mary, the ninth child, married 
 Rev. Thomas Clap who succeeded her father in the Wind- 
 ham pulpit and was afterwards president of Yale college. 
 Samuel, the twelfth child, was also a colonel in the French 
 and Indian war and the thirteenth child, a daughter, mar- 
 ried into the Salstonstall family, and a grandaughter was 
 the wife of General Wooster of New Haven, a revolutionary 
 soldier whose descendants were prominent in that town for 
 years. The family of Samuel Whiting was one of the re- 
 ligious militant families of the early town. Its members 
 could pray or fight as occasion demanded and whatever 
 they did they did well. No family of eastern Connecticut
 
 25 
 
 put better blood into its descendants nor allowed itself to 
 commingle with any better blood. It was very blue, but it 
 was tinged with the red blood of courage which sent the 
 Mayflower across the sea. 
 
 Rev. Thomas Clap was 23 years of age when he took 
 charge of the church here, but he impressed himself upon 
 the community by his scholarly accomplishments, his force 
 of character and his indomitable will. He ruled with a rod 
 of iron and his people endured it, although it was remarked 
 that when in 1739 he accepted the presidency of Yale col- 
 lege they acted like boys let out of school. The educational 
 influence of Mr. Clap, however, is not to be underrated. 
 He inspired a love for study in young men, as the list 
 of graduates of Yale college from Windham bear evident 
 witness. Benjamin and William Throop, both preachers, 
 Nathaniel, Enoch, Joseph, and Jabez Huntington, Joshua, 
 Vine and John Elderkin, Daniel Welsh, the noted preach- 
 er of Mansfield, Ebenezer Dyer, Perez, John, James and 
 Elijah Fitch, Asa Spaulding, Samuel Gary, Ephraim 
 Starkweather, Ebenezer Devotion, son of the Scotland 
 preacher, John Ellery, Zephauiah Leonard, Dyer Throop, 
 Hezekiah Bissell, Colonel Ebenezer Gray, Hezekiah Rip- 
 ley, Bela Elderkin, all graduated from Yale before the rev- 
 olution and all were more or less connected with the activ- 
 ities of the town. 
 
 Before leaving the religious movement of this early 
 part of the history of the town, a word for Rev. 
 Stephen White, whose term in the pastorate was over 
 fifty years, and whose influence was of great benefit to the 
 town. He was not of so aggressive a temperament as either 
 of his predecessors, but he was a preacher of conscientious 
 painstaking and a man of mild and sweet temper. The 
 closing years of his term were beclouded with ill health 
 and by a great deal of uneasiness in the parish, the influx 
 of worldliness which had come in with the largely -increased 
 population giving him a great deal of anxiety. His plaint 
 in his half-century sermon has a very modern sound, when 
 he speaks of profane swearing, disregard of the Sabbath,
 
 26 
 
 unrighteousness and intemperance, which had no place 
 when his pastorate began. He passed away in a discour- 
 aged state of mind, but the town itself was marvellously 
 prosperous at the time. 
 
 Another remarkable man in the religious life of the town 
 was Rev. Ebenezer Devotion, who was the first pastor of 
 the church in Scotland parish. He was a man of great 
 force and unexampled dignity, and while he took great de- 
 light in being a farmer and working with his own hands 
 and his own strength, which was marvelous, week days, 
 and was on common terms with his people, on Sundays it 
 is said of him that he entered the church between two files 
 of the worshippers who took off their hats that he might re- 
 ceive the respect due him. His service was from 1735 to 
 1771 and his work was for the great good of that section of 
 the town. He served also in the general assembly and was 
 an active force in all intellectual effort. His epitaph is a 
 lofty specimen of that older and better tribute of dignified 
 English which we seldom see in latter-day cemeteries. 
 
 The religious movement of the century was disturbed 
 by the Separatist agitation, which is of itself worthy of 
 special studv, but for which there is now no time. And 
 Mr. Clap says of an attempt of Israel Fulsome and his 
 wife that they called into their house an Episcopal teacher 
 and held disorganizing meetings, which like the pleasures 
 of sin, were only for a season. 
 
 These four men had so much to do with the early relig- 
 ious and social life of the town that it has seemed impossible 
 to pass by without this allusion. Seldom, if ever, even in 
 Connecticut, have four such noble men been given to a 
 town in its first century, have served it so long and so 
 faithfully. To them much of the influence the town had 
 in public affairs can be directly traced. 
 
 The geographical lines of the original tract and of the 
 subdivisions made during the first century are worth a 
 passing notice. Our neighbor to the south, Lebanon, held 
 a tract very near to the rivers which were the southern 
 boundary of Windham, but not quite. There was a strip of
 
 27 
 
 no-man's land which was in dispute between the towns, and 
 settlers having purchased it, it was decided by the General 
 Court that they could be better accommodated if the tract 
 was given to Windham -to govern rather than to Lebanon. 
 In this Lebanon readily acquiesced as she foresaw the 
 bridging of the rivers. Windham, with a speculative 
 eye thought of the fisheries and took the land for the 
 shad, taking both the shad and the bridge while Lebanon 
 had neither. She made a miss that time. 
 
 Mansfield was set off in 1701 and Hampton or Canada 
 parish went its own way in 1786 after having for many 
 years been a contributory parish of great value having 
 maintained a church of its own; for since 1723 the parish 
 was called Canada or "Kennedy" parish from David Can- 
 ada or Kennedy its first settler. Isaac Magoon, the first 
 settler in Scotland, gave the name to that parish as he was 
 a Scotchman. 
 
 While the religious movement of the century was 
 fraught with the greatest benefit to the educational and 
 social life of the town, the secular and commercial side 
 of the town was not neglected. Religious liberty was 
 abundant, from the point of view of the colonists, and 
 they soon branched out into those industries which became 
 a part of the new settlement. The timber was cleared and 
 saw mills were erected on Merrick's brook, the Shetucket 
 and Willimantic rivers, and grist mills for the grinding of 
 the grain raised on the plantation. The raising of cattle 
 and sheep, carding and spinning wool and weaving it into 
 the cloths necessary for the comfort of the settlers, all were 
 carried forward with energy and the push consequent upon 
 the condition of a rapidly growing community. While the 
 earliest settlers came here from Norwich, and were descen- 
 dants, many of them of the original proprietors, the bulk 
 of the settlers coming in during the first half of the century 
 were from the colonial townson Massachusetts Bay. Salem, 
 Rehoboth, Cambridge, Charlestown, Newton and other 
 places contributed to the energy of the new population 
 and the families were of a sterling and vigorous type.
 
 28 
 
 The Abbes, Larabees, Cranes, Backuses, Durkees, Hunt- 
 ingtons, Flints, Snells, Jenningses, Aliens, Binghams, 
 Browns, Bibbinses, Badgers, Babcocks, Basses, Billingses, 
 of whom the Hampton minister was a noble man and true, 
 Carys, Elderkins, Fitches, Dyers, Clevelands, Clarks, 
 Dingleys, Dimmocks, Denisons, Friiiks, Follets, Grays, 
 Hebards, Hunts, Kennedys, Kingsburys, I/incolns, L,ath- 
 rops, Mannings, Martins, Murdocks, Millards, Moultons, 
 Ormsb}^s, Palmers, Perkinses, Reeds, Ripleys, Robbinses, 
 Robinsons, Rudds, Skiffs, Spaffords, Smiths, Spencers, 
 Sawyers, Simonses, Stanifords, Southworths, Tracys, 
 Taintors, Webbs, Waleses, Waldens, Warners, Wood- 
 wards, Welches, Whites, Whitings, Waldos, were all 
 typical families, many of them having descendants in the 
 town to-day, and many of them having furnished men of 
 great distinction and of service to the state and to the 
 country. In 1 700 the first meeting-house was built on the 
 home lot of William Backus which had been purchased 
 for the purpose by Mr. Whiting and Knsign Jonathan 
 Crane. This fixed the location of Windham Green where 
 we are today, and during the century which followed it 
 became historic ground. Here were all the public 
 gatherings, the training days, here the courts were held 
 after their establishment, and here the great men of the 
 time stopped on their way from Hartford to Providence or 
 Norwich. Many of the revolutionary heroes were here, 
 and it is not at all unlikely that Washington often visited 
 here when on his calls to Brother Jonathan Trumbull in 
 Lebanon. There are many traditions as to this fact but 
 no record that I am aware of. 
 
 Connecticut was unusually prosperous and the happiest 
 of all the colonies in the early part of the century. There 
 was freedom from Indian troubles, the colony was inde- 
 pendent, and the conditions were right for peace and the 
 pursuit of the industries which opened for the new settle- 
 ments. The utility of the Sliding Fall at Willimantic 
 was early seen and an iron works established there, the 
 ore being dug in Mansfield. This industry was prose-
 
 29 
 
 cuted with varying degrees of ill luck until, after its aban- 
 donment, it was swept away by a flood. But little atten- 
 tion was paid to that particular section of the town after 
 this, until in the 'seventies, but the hay from the meadows 
 was regularly housed by the farmers on the Green to help 
 winter their stock, of which they had become large rais- 
 ers. Benjamin Millard, who lived near the crotch of the 
 rivers at the Horse Shoe bend, was allowed to set up a tan- 
 nery in 1700, and Jonathan Crane was licensed by the 
 General Court at Hartford to keep a victualling house for 
 the entertainment of strangers and travellers and the re- 
 tailing of strong drink. He was the first landlord of the 
 first hotel and his license came, as will be seen, from 
 headquarters. It was before the days of county commis- 
 sioners. There was a rigid line of conduct in regard to 
 common rights. The town granted and allowed what 
 rights should be used on the rivers, and when Jonathan 
 Bingham fenced in a spring for his own private use he 
 was prosecuted and fined. Schools at the beginning were 
 not much thought of, but Thomas Snell was allowed to 
 keep one in his house, which was the first of the school 
 privileges in town. In 1713 two schoolhouses were or- 
 dered ; one to be set on the Green and one in the east of 
 the town, Scotland. Highways received unusual atten- 
 tion and the town frequently called upon this or that 
 delinquent to assist in keeping his share of the high- 
 way in good repair. Arrangements were also made with 
 towns near by for the maintenance of sections of road 
 which had become great public thoroughfares. In 1713 
 the meeting house, never a good one, was enlarged and a 
 committee was appointed to seat the attendants upon wor- 
 ship according, first, to the place or station they are in, 
 second, to the age they bear, and third, to the estate they 
 enjoy. What became of those who had neither station 
 nor estate is not quite clear. 
 
 The turning point in the great prosperity and success 
 of Windham, was in the erection of Windham county and 
 its selection as the shire town. This gave unwonted
 
 stimulus to all kinds of activity and at once 
 made it the seat of public affairs, created a new 
 impetus in its life and really was the making of the 
 town. The necessit) r for concerted action on the 
 part of the towns was made manifest by the rival claim- 
 ants to their county government. Woodstock was claimed 
 by Suffolk county, Massachusetts, Windham and Ash- 
 ford by Windham and Hartford, and New London county 
 claimed the rest. The inconvenience was grekt, and 
 after an agitation lasting nearly eight years the county 
 was organized and Windham made the county seat. It 
 was the largest of the towns and really the most accessi- 
 ble, as the county contained towns to the west and south, 
 Coventry and Lebanon. Windham was not, however, at 
 the time, the wealthiest, Lebanon's ratable propert}' be- 
 ing some ^3,000 greater. The property in Windham was 
 largely in the hands of the few, the early comers having 
 the best of the land, while the mass of the people were in 
 hard straits. Money was scarce and the poorer people 
 could barely subsist on what they could raise. There 
 were no industries other than those of farming. The so- 
 cial condition at this time is known but little of, but the 
 religious state of the town was at its highest. There had 
 been a great revival under the ministrations of Mr. Whit- 
 ing and the settlement had been thoroughly aroused. 
 There were a great many poor but pious parents, and the 
 families were large, frequently going into the 'teens in 
 numbers. The habitations were by no means grand, but 
 they were reasonably comfortable for first dwellings. The 
 first court held was that of common pleas, June 26, 1726, 
 Timothy Pierce of Plainfield, presiding, having been 
 raised from judge of probate to judge of the county court. 
 Joshua Ripley of Windham, Thomas Huntington of Mans- 
 field, Joseph Adams of Canterbury, and Ebenezer West 
 of Lebanon, were justices of the quorum; Richard Abbe 
 of this town was treasurer of the county and Eleazer 
 Gary, Jonathan Crane, Joshua Ripley, jr., Joseph Hunt- 
 ington, Thomas Root and Nathaniel Rust were jurymen.
 
 31 
 
 Forty-six cases were tried and from that time litigation 
 was abundant. Jabez Huntington of Windham was the 
 first sheriff. Mr. Abbe's back room in his dwelling 
 was ordered to be a common jail until a new one should 
 be built, which was very soon, however, and Mr. Abbe's 
 back room was relegated to its original uses. In 1729 
 the county court house was planned and built in the suc- 
 ceeding year, the land being deeded by Thomas Snell, 
 who at the time was a prosperous merchant. Soon after 
 this Richard Abbe opened his mansion, by far the finest 
 in town, as a place of public entertainment and for years 
 it was the central point in the town. Business and trade 
 centered, tanning was carried on by Nehemiah Ripley 
 and Joseph Jennings. This state of prosperity continued 
 until nearly the middle of the century, when there was a 
 temporary check. Many of the prominent settlers and 
 leading men died, there appeared no one to take their 
 places, and there was an interim of dullness until after the 
 close of the French war. Just previous to this, in 1740 
 and 1746, two young men, graduates of Yale College, were 
 admitted to the bar and settled in Windham, their native 
 town, and their public services in the great branches of 
 public life, judicial and military, added lustre to the town. 
 They were, by their long and distinguished services, until 
 they died in the town, more than fifty years after, the most 
 illustrious of the citizens : Colonel Eliphalet Dyer and 
 Colonel Jedediah Elderkin. In 1745 the first execution in 
 the county occurred in this town, that of Betty Shaw for 
 the crime of infanticide. Roger Wolcott was chief judge, 
 and the trial attracted great attention. The hanging was 
 on Gallows Hill, and there was a great concourse on that 
 coldest of cold days, December 18, 1745. Tradition has it 
 that the hands and feet of the officers of the law were 
 frozen, and that the victim's fingers rattled like icicles 
 against the coffin upon which she sat on her way from 
 the jail to the gallows. Alas, for poor, simple minded, 
 much-sinned-against Betty Shaw. Those were days of 
 wrath and not of sympathy. Her story is worthy the pen
 
 32 
 
 of a Hawthorne, but it rests a charge against the unfor- 
 giving spirit and severe judgments of our ancestors. 
 
 And now for the event which has made Windham known 
 more than almost any other in its history, and which has 
 afforded amusement and speculation ever since it is al- 
 leged to have happened, that great Batrachian Battle that 
 occured on a murky night in 1754, about a mile east, at 
 the frog pond. This has been celebrated in song and told 
 of in story and just what the facts are no one exactly knows. 
 There was undoubtedly some unusual disturbance among 
 the frogs, and there was curiosity, if not alarm, on the part 
 of the inhabitants. Peters, who for good reasons was not 
 fond of Connecticut, says the frogs went in search of water 
 to the Shetucket river, and that they filled a road forty 
 rods wide, five miles long. Surely such an enfilading of 
 frogs was ne'er writ about before, and if true it may be 
 fair to presume that the frogs had heard that some of the 
 settlers in Scotland were French Huguenots and ran away 
 from their traditional enemies, the French. It is likely 
 however that, the pond having been drawn off, the frogs 
 suffered for water and made a large amount of noise about 
 it before they died. There might have been a pitched 
 battle and if so we shall have to accredit the frogs with as- 
 similating the militant spirit of the settlers, who were in 
 arms for the advance of the French and Indians, and fought 
 it out in one night instead of taking all summer. 
 
 At all events the occurence has found its way into tra- 
 ditional literature, and Windham' s descendants the world 
 over are likely to be confronted with a bullfrog at almost 
 any unexpected turn. 
 
 At the close of the French and Indian war there was a 
 renewed wave of prosperity sweeping over the town. James 
 Flint, Ebenezer Backus and Ebenezer Devotion, Jr. estab- 
 lished an extensive trade, buying up the products of the 
 town and exchanging them for West India goods. Wool 
 growing, cattle raising, tobacco raising to some extent, and 
 hemp culture were engaged in, and wheat was grown for 
 exportation. The trade with West India stimulated all
 
 33 
 
 enterprises and saltpeter, leather, and even silk manufac- 
 ture was begun, Jedediah Blderkin planting a mulberry 
 orchard in South Windham and making a coarse silk 
 which was used for handkerchiefs. In 1760 there were 
 twelve places in the town where liquor was licensed to be 
 sold, and Mercy Fitch of the Green kept one of them. In 
 such a state of prosperity and accompanying cheer the life 
 of the town was lively indeed, and the place was noted 
 for the lavishness of its hospitality and for general jollity. 
 Parson White's efforts in the pulpit to check this state of 
 levity and worldiness were of little avail. Old Windham 
 was hardened to a season of enjoyment. In 1760 the Sus- 
 quehanna company, which had organized just before the 
 outbreak of the French and Indian war for the purpose of 
 taking up the land in the beautiful Wyoming valley, was 
 reinvigorated, and Colonel Eliphalet Dyer went to England 
 to get the approval of the crown of a purchase made of the 
 Six Nations, the land in question being included in the 
 charter of the state according to Connecticut belief. His 
 mission was unsuccessful, but after a calling together of 
 the company at Windham it was agreed to enter in and oc- 
 cupy, the King's command to the contrary. The state 
 government had no desire to enter into any relations with 
 the scheme as Pennsylvania also claimed the land. In '69 
 however some forty pioneers went to the valley and began 
 the struggle for its possession. Of the forty, Captain John 
 Durkee, Thomas Dyer, Vine Elderkin, Nathaniel Wales 
 and Nathan Denison, were of Windham. No amicable 
 agreement could be made with Pennsylvania although Col- 
 onel Dyer and Major Elderkin made an attempt at one. 
 The Connecticut men, however, managed to keep their 
 grip, and after reverses in which Fort Durkee was captured 
 and lost and captured again, the settlement was made and 
 the Windhamites held the ground, many emigrants going 
 from their rocky surroundings to that most beautiful of the 
 middle state valleys. All was prosperity there for a time 
 until during the revolution in 1778 that base act of barbar- 
 ity designed by the British, aided by the Indians, the
 
 34 
 
 Wyoming massacre, occurred. The story ot that foul blot 
 on the conduct of the war with the colonies would be suf- 
 ficient tor a volume by itself. Women and children were 
 murdered in their homes and the men in the fields, and 
 when it was over the remnant made their way homeward 
 to Connecticut, a party of a few hundred women and child- 
 ren with only one man to lead. The sufferings of that 
 journey were participated in by the ancestors of some who 
 are in this audience, without doubt. The Wyoming tract 
 was afterwards added to Pennsylvania and Connecticut re- 
 ceived the Ohio reservation from which the state school 
 fund was largely made up. Thus Windham's enterprise 
 fixed itself for good upon one of the institutions of which 
 the state has long been proud. After the Revolution, there 
 was again a tide of prosperity and at the close of it the first 
 newspaper, "The Phoenix," or Windham "Herald, "was 
 founded, leaving a record behind of the transactions and 
 life of the town. 
 
 The military spirit which pervaded the town has been 
 purposely ignored in consideration, thus far, that it might 
 make a fitting close to this incomplete review. Early in 
 the century when there was danger of an Indian out- 
 break, a training company was organized. John Fitch was 
 elected captain and Jonathan Crane lieutenant. From 
 that time on there were regular training days and the 
 usual development of colonels, majors, captains, etc. But 
 show military display was not all that was to be had of old 
 Windham. When the French and Indian war broke out 
 a number of Windham men joined the regiment raised in 
 eastern Connecticut to assist in the reduction of Crown 
 Point under the command of Sir William Johnson. Eli- 
 phalet Dyer was lieutenant colonel, Captain Eleazer Fitch 
 commanded one of its companies, raised almost entirely 
 from Windham. Colonel Dyer was afterwards in com- 
 mand in the regiment with full rank. The services of 
 Windham's soldiers in that war were notable, and many 
 of them suffered the hardship of capture and torture by 
 the Indians. Three of the sons of Minister Samuel Whi-
 
 35 
 
 ting, Nathan, Samuel and William, were colonels in that 
 war, and Colonel Nathan Whiting and Colonel Eleazer 
 Fitch were present at the surrender of Montreal to Lord 
 Amherst. 
 
 At the first dawning of the revolution, the town of 
 Windham enlisted in the cause of the country and thence- 
 forward continued to serve it with energy and patri- 
 otic zeal. She was among the first to enter and the last 
 to retire from the conflict. The blood of her sons was 
 poured out on every battlefield of that great struggle from 
 Bunker Hill to Yorktown. The passage of the stamp act 
 in 1765 aroused an active resistance and the people of 
 Windham were of those who determined that no stamps 
 should be sold in the state ; and some two hundred men 
 from this and New London county mounted on horse 
 back, proceeded to Hartford and Wethersfield, and com- 
 pelled Jared Ingersoll, the stamp collector, to resign. 
 Windham had a large contingent in that company and on 
 its return from Hartford it halted for a night on Windham 
 Green and enjoyed an evening of great hilarity, burning 
 Ingersoll in effigy among other things. That was un- 
 doubtedly one of the liveliest nights ever seen on this spot 
 of ground. 
 
 In 1768 a non-consumption ordinance was passed, and 
 liberty meetings where the greatest enthusiasm was mani- 
 fested were frequent. In June, 1774, a remarkable town 
 meeting was held and a long and patriotic address was 
 adopted. The appeal was this: 
 
 "Let us, dear fellow Americans, for a few years at least, 
 abandon the narrow, contracted principle of self love 
 which is a source of every vice; let our hearts expand, 
 and dilate with the noble and generous sentiments of 
 benevolence, though attended by the severer virtue of self 
 denial. The blessings of heaven attending, America is 
 saved. Children yet unborn will rise and call you blessed. 
 The present generation will be extolled and celebrated 
 to the latest period of American glory, as the happy in- 
 struments under God of delivering millions from thraldom 
 and slavery, and securing permanent freedom and liberty 
 to America."
 
 And those old Windham men meant what they said. 
 When the news of Lexington spread through the New 
 Kngland towns, Windham sent four companies of 150 men 
 to Bunker Hill in Colonel Elderkin's regiment, and more 
 followed. Some of these first recruits sleep at the foot of 
 Bunker Hill monument in Charlestown, and, among the 
 graves in Windham cemetery, there is one tombstone 
 which reads, "The grave of Joel Webb, a soldier of the 
 revolution who fought at Bunker Hill." He was 26 
 years of age when he left this Green for the scene of 
 battle. 
 
 There are good reasons for believing that during the 
 war more than 1,000 soldiers went from this town, and at 
 one time there were 300 in the field. On one occasion 
 Washington complimented a contingent from Windham as 
 thoroughly reliable, and gave them a special commis- 
 sion of a hazardous nature. Time fails to give account of 
 the officers and men and their heroic deeds. They fought 
 and starved and took the hazard of fortune which came 
 to those brave continental soldiers, and the world has seen 
 no better stuff behind muskets. 
 
 Incidental to the war, Elderkin and Wales manufac- 
 tured a good share of the powder used by the continental 
 troops, at the mills in Willimantic, while Hezekiah Hunt- 
 ington, who had a major's commission in the army, re- 
 mained at home, repairing and manufacturing arms at the 
 old iron works in the same locality. The United States 
 government early had this location in view as a proper site 
 for the United States armory which was afterwards built 
 in Springfield, Massachusetts; but the latter state had a 
 stronger "pull" than Connecticut, or Willimantic would 
 have made muskets and rifles to-day, instead of thread 
 and cotton cloth, and silk. Eliphalet Dyer, Nathaniel 
 Wales jr., and Joshua Klderkiii were members of the com- 
 mittee of safety and doubtless often met with Jonathan 
 Trumbull and Washington in the Lebanon war office. 
 
 The conspicuous Windham men of the century were : 
 
 First and foremost Samuel Huntington, signer of the
 
 37 
 
 Declaration of Independence, for a brief time president of 
 the Continental Congress, succeeding John Jay, and for 
 ten years governor of Connecticut. He was also a chief 
 justice of the superior court. He was a man of great 
 ability, a devoted and sincere Christian who served his 
 generation with judgment and faithfulness. He is one of 
 the immortals whose signature to that old parchment of 
 July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, should give a tinge of pride 
 to every true-born Windham son. 
 
 Colonel Eliphalet Dyer was a man of great energy, a 
 member of the Continental Congress from 1774, and a 
 military man of high ability. He was respected more 
 than any man who spent his life in the town. He lived 
 to the good age of 87 years and in all the various dignified 
 stations he had occupied, both civil and military, he was 
 distinguished for his highly useful talents and the faithful 
 and honorable discharge of his important duties. 
 
 Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, D. D., who established the 
 famous Indian charity school at Lebanon, was a native of 
 Windham and his long march to New Hampshire to found 
 Dartmouth college, is one of the educational facts of im- 
 portance to New England. 
 
 Colonel Jedediah Elderkin, Colonel Ebenezer Gray, and 
 others, there is no time to mention in detail. 
 
 I have thus briefly reviewed the principal movements of 
 Windham, the religious, secular, commercial and mili- 
 tary, during the first century of its history. Much has 
 been omitted, much has but feebly been outlined. 
 Enough, however, has been done to show to this, a later 
 generation, that their ancestry and that of the town is 
 something ^n which we may well have a patriotic pride. 
 There have been lessons of self-denial, courage and per- 
 sistence brought to our view. No one can look upon the 
 history of that eventful century, as Windham, a typical 
 colonial town, reveals it, without a feeling of warmth and 
 reverence for those who founded and carried on its activi- 
 ties. How can we help loving old Windham ? As a 
 gifted son of the town has sung when once more he visit-
 
 38 
 ed familiar scenes and climbed again the gray old hill : 
 
 Obwebetuck, once more with grateful feet, 
 
 I tread at eventide thy mossy height, 
 Forget the city's crowd, the noisy street, 
 
 And feast upon the landscape with delight. 
 
 Afar encircling hills shut in the view, 
 
 Within, green fields and woods refresh the eye, 
 
 While just below Shetucket's line of blue, 
 Reflects the glory of the parent sky. 
 
 I see the village, nestling as of old, 
 Beneath the shade of sycamores and elms, 
 
 Its roofs and spires suffused with sunset gold. 
 The past comes back and memory overwhelms. 
 
 A little nearer lies the grassy slope, 
 Where sleep the early lost, but still endeared. 
 
 No marble mockery of faith and hope, 
 No broken shaft above their dust is reared, 
 
 But simple tablets cut from native stone, 
 
 Record the names of venerated sires, 
 And show the narrow path by which alone 
 
 Our souls can satisfy their ^deep desires. 
 
 There dwell the living whom I fondly love, 
 
 Here rest the weary whom I long to see, 
 And in the kindling heaven that bends above, 
 
 Our blest abode, our Paradise shall be. 
 
 Dear Windham, if my wayward heart forget 
 My mother's birthplace and her kindred's home, 
 
 With none to miss me, none to feel regret, 
 
 May I be doomed through earth's wide waste to roam.
 
 WINDHAM'S SECOND CENTURY. 
 
 BY ALLEN BENNETT. LINCOLN. 
 
 IN TROD UCTOR Y. 
 
 Human thought? has suggested but one Being to whom 
 "an hundred years are as a day." For one of His crea- 
 tures to attempt to comprehend a century of history in forty 
 minutes is to attempt the impossible. 
 
 Liberal borrowing from published volumes, inquiry of 
 old traditions, and prompt responses to my letters by many 
 interested, have brought me a flood of information con- 
 cerning Windham's second century, which I have had 
 barely time to compile, but not to comprehend. 
 
 I shall be able to read but a few suggestive passages, 
 which I hope may serve to indicate to you something of 
 what the life and character of the town of Windham has 
 been for the past 100 years. 
 
 TOPICS. 
 
 Old Windham, North and South Windham, 
 
 Early Willimantic, Willimantic Manufactures, 
 
 The Borough, Windham in Reforms, 
 
 The Old State Militia, Old Windham of To-day, 
 
 The Churches, Old Landmarks, 
 
 The Railroads, Willimantic's Newspapers, 
 
 The Schools, Notes of Interest, 
 
 Windham in War, Our Present Population, 
 The Future.
 
 40 
 OLD WINDHAM. 
 
 The opening of the second century finds Old Windham 
 in the zenith of her glory and in the beginnings of her de- 
 cline. 
 
 An hundred years of growth had ripened her into the 
 foremost inland town east of the Connecticut river. Nor- 
 wich and New London surpassed her in wealth and num- 
 bers, because they were at tide water, but Windham sur- 
 passed even them in influential association with the head 
 centers of government. The brilliant Samuel Hunting- 
 ton of Scotland Parish, ex-president of the Continental 
 Congress and late chief justice for Connecticut, was now 
 in the sixth year of his decade of service in the governor's 
 chair, and he made frequent visits to his old home. Zeph- 
 aniah Swift,* the young lawyer from Tolland county who 
 had settled in Windham years before, and had become the 
 oracle of local wisdom for many miles around, was chosen 
 to congress in 1793, and this gave Windham direct asso- 
 ciation with the centers of national influence. Judge 
 Swift was one of the most remarkable men of his time and 
 was widely sought for his practical advice in affairs. His 
 famous "Swift's Digest," compiled here in Windham after 
 he left Congress, was long a standard among law books, 
 and still ranks among the classics of the profession. The 
 clergy, lawyers, doctors and business men of Windham 
 were of high order of intelligence and took a lively inter- 
 est in public affairs. The Windham "Herald," estab- 
 lished in 1791, was fast gaining a wide circulation, reach- 
 ing about 1,200 copies during its first decade, and it 
 served to make Windham the center of actual informa- 
 tion as well as of intellectual prestige. 
 
 * Judge Swift was a native of Old Plymouth county, but in early childhood came 
 to Lebanon, and graduated at Yale in 1778, when fifteen years old ; studied law and 
 settled for a brief time in Mansfield, then came to Windham. He was naturally- 
 adapted to public life and received rapid advancement. He entered the legislature 
 in 1787, was speaker of the house in '92, went to congress in '93, and soon after was 
 
 secretary of a legation to France. Later he was for eighteen years a superior court 
 judge, and the five latter years chief justice His various legal writings brought or- 
 der to the confusion of the common law. He was the moving spirit in the revision 
 
 able working manual "Swift's Digest." He lived in the spacious mansion on 
 the crown of the hill east of the village now occupied by the family of the late George 
 S. Moulton. Judge Swift died at the age of 64.
 
 41 
 
 Here, too, was the center of commercial activity. The 
 old Green was a lively trading center. Here were several 
 small manufactures, large and progressive for those days, 
 and a score or more of stores, where the prosperous farm- 
 ers, of the vicinity bartered their products for the dry and 
 wet goods brought from the New York market and the 
 West Indies. Here stockings and mittens were made 
 from home-grown wool, and large flocks of sheep dotted 
 the hillsides. Col. Elderkin wove silk fabrics from his own 
 mulberry orchard for his favored daughters and for the 
 New York market. Elisha Abbe's stanch and dapper 
 little craft, "The Windham," with a frog militant at her 
 bow, plied the coast waters in the carrying trade as proud- 
 ly as her more pretentious rivals. Here on the Green 
 was "the largest drug store in Eastern Connecticut," 
 wherein Col. Dyer's son Benjamin had kept his fabulous 
 stock worth 1,000 pounds. Col. Dyer had built a dam 
 across the Shetucket at South Windham, and another at 
 the Frog Pond, and saw and grist mills were operated at 
 these and other points. Henry DeWitt, a convict at the 
 county jail, had caught the industrial inspiration and by 
 deft handiwork wrought headed tacks out of old iron, and 
 thus won rank among the pioneers in tack manufacture. 
 
 As shire town since 1726, Windham was also at this 
 time the great center of all county gatherings, not only 
 for courts and political conferences, but for religious as- 
 sociations as well, in which its "First Church" was a 
 leader. Here too was Windham Academy, finishing 
 school for her own thirteen populous districts, and educa- 
 tional center for surrounding towns. The population of 
 Windham at this time, including Scotland and parts of 
 Chaplin, Lebanon and Columbia, was somewhat over 
 2,500. Over at "Willimantic Falls" there was only a 
 grist mill and a tannery, besides the disused powder mill 
 and iron works, and nothing to foreshadow the future, 
 save that old "Uncle" Amos Dodge had predicted that a 
 great settlement would one day grow out of the privi- 
 leges of the rapid water fall.
 
 42 
 
 Such was Windham at the opening of the second cen- 
 tury. But her glory was more ripened than growing, and 
 decline had already set in. 
 
 The most potent factor of disintegration was religious 
 dissension. The Separatist agitation was in its last 
 stages. The demoralization and burdens of war had 
 fanned the flame of dissatisfaction with the existing order. 
 The men of the Dyer and Blderkin stamp, who had been 
 so influential on orthodox and established lines, were pass- 
 ing away, the infidel influences of the French revolution, 
 added to our own newly-acquired freedom from kingly 
 rule, led to a relaxation in moral and civil affairs that was 
 disastrous for a time, until the rising generation came to 
 a clearer appreciation of the responsibilities, as well as the 
 privileges, of civil and religious liberty. But this will ap- 
 pear in detail when we come to review the status of the 
 churches. Suffice it to say that with the first decade of 
 our new century, there conies a decline of public spirit 
 and unity, a scattering of the forces that had made Old 
 Windham what she was, and a looking towards new fields 
 of development. 
 
 The first avenue which led people away from Old Wind- 
 ham was the upbuilding of the great Turnpike lines for 
 through travel by stages. True, they brought to her 
 hotels an increasing patronage and for a time made her 
 more of a center of hospitality than ever, but they also 
 opened the eyes of her young men to the outside world 
 and her population continued steadily to decline. The 
 Windham Turnpike Company was organized in 1799 to 
 equip the road from Plainfield to Coventry, as a part of 
 the through system from Hartford to Providence. 
 Timothy L,arrabee was the moving spirit in this enterprise 
 and the next year he led in another company to build a 
 turnpike from Franklin to Stafford, an extension of the 
 New L,ondon & Norwich line, which afterwards went on 
 to Springfield. The building of turnpikes led also to the 
 general development of better roads to surrounding towns. 
 
 Four-wheeled wagons made their first appearance in
 
 43 
 
 Windham in 1809 and were the wonder of the time, few 
 believing that a horse could ever draw one. In 1818 the 
 Natchaug river was bridged at what is still called the 
 "Horseshoe" bridge (because of the shape in the bend of 
 the river just above) and direct connection with Willi- 
 mantic Falls was thus secured. 
 
 During the stage-coach days Windham' s taverns be- 
 came famous for their generous and free-hearted hospitality. 
 The most famous was the Fitch tavern, which stood on 
 the site of the present Windham hotel. Its distinctive 
 sign, then the type of the times, was the "jolly rotund 
 Bacchus," as the image was then called, which was 
 perched aloft on the sign post, but which looks to the ad- 
 vancing intelligence of to-day more like a grinning, 
 bloated idiot than an attractive type of pleasure. Later 
 the old Stanniford Inn was in its glory, standing where 
 Thomas Ramsdell's house now is, and with a magnificent 
 elm, long since gone, spreading its hospitable branches 
 over the inn and green. On an arm of that elm the 
 Bacchus image rested for many years until, some time after 
 the Washingtonian movement, a great gust of God's 
 righteous breezes broke off the limb and the image 
 descended. It is still preserved by A. E. Brooks of Hart- 
 ford. There were a dozen or more smaller houses that 
 entertained the numerous travellers who came this way. 
 Henry L,arrabee well remembers the four-horse coaches 
 that passed here daily in 1840, from north, south, east and 
 west. There were several smaller stage lines for mail ser- 
 vice, from Windham to Woodstock, Middletown and 
 other points. Such were the modes of public travel 
 until the advent of railroads in 1849. 
 
 Windham took keen interest in the movement for the 
 state constitution which culminated in 1818. The under- 
 lying motive of its advocates was to overthrow the church 
 tax and leave men free to worship as they chose. The 
 Federalist party, maintained on conservative lines, was 
 falling to pieces. It was only by showing liberal tenden- 
 cies that Judge Swift had been chosen to Congress. The
 
 44 
 
 "Sectaries" entered then with increased vigor the move- 
 ment for a new constitution. Peter Webb, a leading 
 merchant and Republican (as the Democrats of those 
 days were called) boldly declared that the Connecticut 
 Charter was "no constitution at all" and to the consterna- 
 tion of the Conservatives there was sufficient approval 
 of the sentiment to elect him to the legislature in 1804, 
 and thereafter he and others of similar view were repeat- 
 edly sent up to the General Court. It is interesting to 
 note that the same argument was made against constitu- 
 tional reform that we hear so much in the present similiar 
 movement, namely, that the instrument was "too sacred" 
 to be disturbed and that disaster would follow the repeal of 
 ancient customs. But the vigorous Windham reformers 
 kept right on, and Peter Webb was one of three chosen 
 from Windham county to help draft the constitution of 
 1818. 
 
 The decisive blow to Old Windham 's prestige and the 
 last great mark of her decline was the removal of the 
 court house and county seat to Brooklyn in 1819. She 
 had been shire town for nearly a hundred years, and all 
 the interests of this section had centered here. But now, 
 disintegrating . influences were at work all around her. 
 The northern towns of the county had grown in popula- 
 tion and influence and objected to travelling so far for 
 public conveniences. To the west, young Willimantic was 
 drawing away citizens and industries and opening up new 
 fields. As early as 1797 Timothy Larrabee and others 
 had met representatives of the northern towns to counter- 
 act their movement against Windham 's shire-town privi- 
 leges. The struggle was long and hotly contested. But 
 in 1819 the General Court decreed that Brooklyn should 
 have the coveted privilege, and Windham was reluctantly 
 forced to yield. The county-seat question has ever since 
 been one of intermittent interest, and even now lingers 
 with suggestive possibilities. For years after the removal 
 to Brooklyn, Windham fought to regain at least half- 
 shire privileges, but to no avail. Chaplin, portions of
 
 45 
 
 Columbia and Lebanon, which had made her their judicial 
 center, now drew away, and Old Windham's day was 
 over. But in later days these same towns have come to 
 look upon the new Windham at Willimantic as their 
 natural center in trade. The modern drift of people and 
 business to large towns has left Brooklyn more completely 
 at one side than ever Old Windham was left, and the par- 
 tial shire privileges granted to Willimantic in recent years 
 suggest that a new county of the towns surrounding her 
 is not an impossible thing. 
 
 EARL I" WILLIMANTIC. 
 
 With the loss of the county seat, attention centered at 
 once upon the growing settlement at Willimantic as the 
 hope of the town. 
 
 The years 1822-1827 were bi g witn prophetic events. 
 As early as 1806 a machine for picking and carding 
 sheep's wool had been set up at "The Falls," in the mills 
 of Clark & Gay, to supplement the saw, grist and paper 
 mills. But Eli Whitney's great invention marked a new 
 era of manufacture, and Willimantic, in common with all 
 the valleys of Eastern Connecticut, was soon attacked 
 with the cotton fever. The rapid fall of the river, 
 about ninety-one feet between the Windham Company's 
 and the Shetucket Junction, had given the place its 
 early name and now proved a rare attraction to manu- 
 facturers. 
 
 First came from Providence in 1822 Perez O. Richmond, 
 who with the financial aid of Solomon Loring, father of 
 A. Dunbar Loring, built a little cotton spinning mill near 
 the present site of the Linen Company's No. 3. Then 
 came the Jillson Bros., William from Rhode Island, and 
 Asa and Seth from Dorchester, Mass., and built three 
 mills, one now remaining, (the present spool shop), also 
 the old Duck mill and another three-story structure, both 
 of which stood next east of the spool shop, but were later 
 removed for the Linen Company's present structures.
 
 46 
 
 The Jillsons built in 1824 the "old stone row" of tenement 
 houses which used to stand along the north bank of the 
 river about where the N.Y. &N. E. R. R.'s south spur 
 track now runs. Tingley & Watson of Providence started 
 the Windham Company's mill at its present location 
 in 1823, building the main mill, and the new east mill was 
 built in 1827. Deacon Charles Lee of Windham had 
 meanwhile started a little mill on the site of the present 
 Smithville Company's plant, and built the row of white 
 tenement houses north of the mill on Main street, and in 
 1827 the stone store and boarding house, still standing at the 
 corner of Bridge and Main streets. But Deacon Lee's enter- 
 prise never obtained a foothold, and not much was done at 
 this site until the Smithville Company was organized in 
 1845, by Messrs. A. D. and J. Y. (afterwards Governor) 
 Smith of Rhode Island, who put Whiting Hayden in 
 charge and built up a prosperous industry. 
 
 The building of these mills in the early '203 was the one 
 theme of conversation for years. Fabulous stories were 
 told of the wealth of the men who could rear such stately 
 structures ! The employees of those days were of the 
 native stock. 
 
 Interesting recollections of the polling places of the 
 early part of the century have come to hand. After the 
 county seat was removed, the voting was done in the 
 church at Windham Centre until the Townhouse was built 
 in 1835. Contention soon arose from Scotland on the one 
 side and Willimantic on the other that it was not con- 
 venient to travel to Windham to vote. For a time, there- 
 fore, it was arranged that the voting should be done 
 by turns, one year at Windham Green, the next at Scot- 
 land, the next at Willimantic, and so on. But of course 
 this plan was still more unsatisfactory, especially for 
 the extremes of Willimantic and Scotland, so the polling 
 place was returned to Windham Center, and there 
 remained until removed to Willimantic about 1862. The 
 town records were removed about the same time, William 
 Swift, son of Justin, and the leading merchant and citizen of
 
 47 
 
 later Windham Center and for many years town clerk, 
 was succeeded by Allen Lincoln, one of the most active 
 promoters of the rapid upbuilding of Willimantic after the 
 war of '6i-'5, and who remained town clerk 17 years. Scot- 
 land foresaw that Willimantic was destined to overshadow 
 Windham Center, and not wishing to go so far for her 
 public conveniences, began to agitate for separation, and 
 in 1857 became a separate town in all but probate priv- 
 ileges, for which latter she still looks to Willimantic. 
 
 The building of so many dams across the river ended 
 the days of shad fishing. This had been a popular pas- 
 time for the old Windhamites in the first century of the 
 town, and was the first attraction to the vicinity of "The 
 Falls. " Not a few enterprising fishermen used to catch 
 shad from the Willimantic and take them to New Haven 
 when the legislature was in session, and sell them for fifty 
 cents a pound. Fish stories of the first magnitude have 
 come down to us from those old days, but I will eschew 
 fiction and mention only one fact, which proves that hand- 
 some shad were caught in the Willimantic as late as 1830. 
 
 Robert Brown, the veteran real estate agent, tells me 
 that he recalls sitting under an old tree in front of 'Squire 
 Howes's blacksmith shop near the "Iron Works bridge, " 
 one morning in June, 1830, while his father went to the 
 river with three other men, at a point near the end of the 
 present No. 2 mill, to seine for shad; and in a short time 
 they drew the net and caught thirty-one shad, weighing 
 from three to five pounds each. They hauled frequently 
 during the rest of the morning, but got only one more, and 
 at noon they divided, eight shad each, and went home. 
 Robert recalls that his father had some fresh-made butter 
 in a pail to deliver at the store, and it was left standing in 
 the sun during the fishing trip, to its great disadvantage, 
 and his father got a sharp talking to when he got home; 
 which incident is mentioned to show that men and women 
 were much the same in those days as now. 
 
 When the great dam at Greeneville, near Norwich, was 
 constructed, the builders agreed to place a certain number
 
 48 
 
 of shad above the dam each year, so as to keep the She- 
 tucket and upper rivers supplied; but it appears that they 
 used to comply with the letter of the law by placing the 
 shad in a fish preserve above the dam, and then placing 
 them in market for sale; and so the shad disappeared from 
 the Willimantic by the greed of short-sighted speculators. 
 One of the most interesting recollections of early Willi- 
 mantic appertains to the building of the upper bridge 
 leading from the Columbia road to the Windham Co.'s 
 mills. About 1830, Stephen Hosmer lived in the large 
 white house still standing at the foot of Hosmer mountain, 
 next east of the old Card road. He owned 500 acres or 
 more of land-, with a toll gate at either end, one on Post 
 hill in Columbia and the other standing at the northwest 
 side of what is now the junction of Bridge and Pleasant 
 sts., and where the foundation remains of the old red toll- 
 gate house, only lately torn down, may still be seen. It 
 used to cost six cents for a single toll when on business, 
 but one could pass free to mill or to meeting; while for $i 
 a year, free passage at all times was allowed. The build- 
 ing of the Windham Company's settlement and Deacon 
 Lee's plant made quite a village in that .section and a de- 
 mand arose for a bridge to reach it from Lebanon and 
 Columbia without going away down around by the Iron 
 Works Bridge. The fight for that bridge was a vigorous 
 one. The town did not want to bear the expense. Appeal 
 to the courts was taken and a special commission, after 
 vigorous hearings, ordered the bridge. It was a wooden 
 structure of course, and it was not until 1868 that the 
 present substantial stone arch was built by Lyman Jordan. 
 The lower stone arch, by the way, was also built by Ly- 
 man Jordan and Norman Melony, in 1857. The story 
 goes that Lebanon was a little longer-headed than Wind- 
 ham when she surrendered her shad-fishing privileges in 
 return for being released from Windham, thereby escap- 
 ing a share of the expense of building the many bridges 
 that stage-coach development and the growth of manufac- 
 tures demanded.
 
 49 
 
 Many stories are told of the wealth that might have 
 been this one's or that one's if he had only held the land 
 in Willimantic now covered by costly buildings, but it is 
 to be considered that had the land been held the buildings 
 would not have appeared ! But some did hold land to 
 great advantage in early Willimantic. One of the best 
 illustrations is the case of Jesse Spafford, who, shortly be- 
 fore 1820 and the appearance of the factories, was settling 
 an estate, and he set off to one of the heirs, as equivalent 
 to $100 in value, a strip of unoccupied land stretching 
 alongside the Willimantic river and south of the turnpike 
 (now Main street) from about opposite the Hooker house 
 to E. A. Buck's present steam mill. The heir in question 
 grumbled at the allotment and Spafford offered him his 
 choice of the land, or $100 in cash, Spafford to take the 
 land. The short-sighted heir seized the cash and Spafford 
 took the land. Shortly afterwards came the factories, 
 then the railroads, with the depot located on the Spafford 
 tract. General I,. E. Baldwin bought of Spafford the 
 Franklin hall site, paying $600 for that alone. Spafford 
 died worth about $40,000, practically all the outgrowth of 
 his $100 tract. 
 
 THE BOROUGH. 
 
 In 1833 the Willimantic settlement had grown to a char- 
 acter of its own, as a manufacturing center distinct from 
 Old Windham; and to conserve its own ends more directly, 
 application was made for a Borough charter, which was 
 granted by the legislature in 1833, through the efforts of 
 Representative Stephen Hosmer. . July ist of that year, 
 the first Borough election was held with the following re- 
 sult: Warden, Coring Carpenter; Burgesses, Wightman 
 Williams, Asa Jillson, Samuel Barrows. Jr., Wm. C. Boon, 
 Dr. William Witter, Royal Jennings, Elisha Weaver, Dr. 
 Newton Fitch; Bailiff, Stephen Dexter. A tax was levied 
 and Thomas Cunningham was appointed Collector.
 
 50 
 THE OLD STATE MILITIA. 
 
 Among the most interesting of memories are those of 
 the old " Training Days. " Company trainings were held 
 the first Mondays in May and September of each year. 
 
 All men between the ages of 18 and 45 were obliged to do 
 training duty, unless they had some reasonable excuse. 
 The military or commutation tax takes the place of this 
 system to-day. 
 
 Training days were made gala occasions. "The 
 Plains" that smooth stretch of land at the foot of the 
 hill, west of the Center were the scene of the regi- 
 mental trainings. 
 
 The farmer's motive for quick and early planting in 
 May and for quick and early harvesting in September, 
 was to get done in time for training day. 
 
 The Windham Rifle Company was organized in 1828, 
 with Henry Hall as Captain. The members of the com- 
 pany attained a high degree of soldierly proficiency and 
 dignity which nothing but the old Hebard tavern ban- 
 quets could overcome. July 4th, 1829, the company was 
 presented with .a handsome silk banner by the ladies of 
 Willimantic, and the ladies were entertained at Hebard's 
 tavern. The company served as special guard in Brook- 
 lyn August 3ist, 1829, at the hanging of Watkins the 
 murderer, the last public execution in Connecticut. 
 
 Successive captains of the company were David Smith, 
 Wm. L. Jillson, John H. Capen, John S. Jillson, Uoyd E. 
 Baldwin, EdwenS. Fitch, Wm. B. Hawkins, Pearl L. Peck, 
 Rensalaer O. Hovey. They disbanded in 1847, when the 
 State militia system was changed. The greatest event of 
 Windham in militia times was the great field drill inspec- 
 tion of the 5th Brigade Conn. Militia Sept. 29th and 3oth, 
 r846, at Windham. Spectators were gathered from miles 
 around and from all parts of the State. Gen. I,. E. Bald- 
 win was in command, and about 2000 privates and officers 
 were assembled on the Green. Major Gen. Amos Fowler 
 of Lebanon was reviewing officer, William Swift was aide, 
 and the Rev. Horace Winslow was chaplain. Three of
 
 51 
 
 these men, Messrs. Baldwin, Swift and Winslow, are here 
 at the bi-centennial celebration to-day. General Fowler 
 still lives, in Lebanon. 
 
 WINDHAM'S CHURCHES. 
 
 The opening of the second century finds Old Windham's 
 churches in the last stages of the Separatist or Sectarian 
 agitation, and the old-time united loyalty and obligation 
 to a common church and creed were never to return. It 
 was now settled that any person could worship according 
 to the dictates of conscience, but it was still obligatory to 
 worship somewhere, or at least to pay taxes for the sup- 
 port of some religious institution. The venerable Rever- 
 ends White at the Green, and Cogswell at Scotland, were 
 sorely perplexed by these difficulties, and found it impos- 
 sible to preserve harmony. Mr. White died in 1793, and 
 young Elijah Waterman came from Bozrah to succeed 
 him. His youth attracted many to him for a time, but he 
 began a vigorous crusade against the prevailing heresies. 
 Finally a portion of the liberals "certificated" themselves 
 away to form an Episcopal society, and they had the Rev. 
 John Tyler of Norwich, for an occasional preacher. They 
 thus escaped paying taxes to Mr. Waterman's church, 
 which was thereby sadly crippled, so that he resigned in 
 1805, and no settled pastor came again till 1808. Then 
 the Rev. Mr. Andrews undertook the troublous task, but 
 to no avail, and he requested dismissal, which was granted 
 him in 1813. The next incumbent, Rev. Cornelius B. 
 Everest, ordained in 1815, proved a man of superior tact, 
 and the church became more united, and there were even 
 accessions. He was much favored, of course, by the new 
 era of religious liberty under the constitution of 1818, by 
 which the old tax obligations to the church were abolished, 
 and people were left free as now to sustain the church or 
 not, as they chose. Mr. Everest remained until 1827, 
 when he was succeeded by the Rev. R. F. Cleveland of 
 Norwich, father of him who has since become famous as
 
 52 
 
 President Grover Cleveland. This was Mr. Cleve- 
 land's first pastorate, and soon after he was ordained he 
 went to Philadelphia and brought back a bonny bride to 
 share his new responsibilities. They are remembered as 
 very agreeable young people. Tw r o of the children were 
 born here, but not the future president. It is recalled 
 that Mr. Cleveland was fond of horse-back riding. His 
 ministry was quite successful, lasting three years. In 
 1828 Deacon L,ee and a number of others withdrew to join 
 the newly formed church at Willimantic. No settled pas- 
 tor was again ordained until the Rev. J. E. Tyler came in 
 
 1837- 
 
 The other pastors since Mr. Tyler, who resigned 
 in 1851, have been Revs. Geo. I. Stearns, Samuel Hopley, 
 Hiram Day, A. F. Keith, Frank Thompson, F. A. Hold- 
 en, W. S. Kelsey, F. M. Wiswall, the last named having 
 just resigned. Four buildings have served the church, the 
 present structure having been dedicated in 1887. The 
 first church of Windham has sent out four strong 
 churches from her loins, to Mansfield, Hampton, Scotland, 
 Willimantic, besides others minor. 
 
 The first attempt to form an Episcopal Society in 1803, 
 did not gain a foothold. In 1832, however, a permanent 
 society w r as formed, and in 1833 the present church was 
 built. The first rector was Rev. L. H. Corson, who 
 recently died in Michigan; then William A. Curtis, Charles 
 Todd, John W. Woodward, Henry B. Sherman, Giles N. 
 Deshon, Abel Nichols, A. Ogden Easter, Joseph Brew- 
 ster, Harry Edwards, Sanford J. Horton (who started here 
 a select school for boys and took them with him to 
 Cheshire), John H. Anketell, Alfred H. Stubbs, Clayton 
 Eddy, E. W. Saunders, and since the establishment of 
 St. Paul's mission at Willimantic, the rectors there have 
 officiated at Windham, as will appear in my subsequent 
 reference to the Willimantic mission. The present num- 
 ber of communicants in the Windham Episcopal parish 
 is 23 ; connected with parish 61. 
 
 One of the Separatist organizations in Old Windham was
 
 53 
 
 a Baptist society, which we find at the beginning of the 
 second century in charge of Elder Benjamin Lathrop, 
 who was chosen to the Legislature chiefly on that issue. 
 
 Over at North Windham, Joshua Abbe led another 
 Baptist sect, called the Abbe-ites. Little other than mis- 
 sions have ever been maintained at North or South Wind- 
 ham. Attempts at regular church organization have been 
 feeble and short lived. After Elder Lathrop's death, the 
 Baptists at the Green were weakened and scattered for a 
 time, but soon rallied and held meetings in Andrew Rob- 
 inson's great kitchen, with various preachers, including 
 Lorenzo Dow and Roger Bingham, but after the constitu- 
 tion of 1818, and the abolition pf the church tax, these 
 meetings died out. There was another Baptist organiza- 
 tion on the Green about 1846, but it was short lived and 
 its members drifted to Willimantic and Mansfield. In 
 1850, this church was changed to Presbyterian, but soon 
 disbanded. The old church was sold and removed to 
 Bolton for a Baptist church, and was afterwards burned. 
 
 In Willimantic, the Congregational church was organ- 
 ized in 1827. Dennis Platt, a Yale theologue, was the 
 first pastor. Its first church, now made over into the 
 Meloney Block, opposite the Hooker House, was built in 
 1828. Rev. Ralph S. Crampton of Madison was the next 
 pastor, then came Philo Judson of Woodbury, then the 
 Rev. Andrew S. Sharpe, who served for nine years. 
 November 8th, 1846, the Rev. Samuel G. Willard entered 
 upon a long and successful ministry of nineteen years. 
 Mr. Willard was a staunch friend of education, taking 
 active interest in the public schools, was acting visitor for 
 many years, and his scholarly attainments won him a 
 place among the Fellows of Yale College. 
 
 He was succeeded in 1869 by the Rev. Horace Winslow, 
 w r ho remained twelve years and was chiefly instrumental in 
 getting the society to build the new church at the corner 
 of Walnut and Valley streets, dedicated in May, 1871. 
 After Mr. Winslow, came two popular acting pastors, but 
 not ordained, Rev. S. R. Free and C. P. Crofts, and in
 
 54 
 
 December, 1890, the present pastor, Rev. C. A. Dins- 
 more, was ordained. The church has 225 members. 
 
 The Baptist church was the first one organized in Will- 
 limantic, Oct. 20th, 1827. The Rev. Chester Tilden was 
 first pastor. They first held meetings in school houses, 
 but hot prejudices barred them out. Their first structure 
 was dedicated in 1829, on the site of the present one. It 
 was sold to the Catholics in 1857, and the present build- 
 ing, since much enlarged and improved, was then built. 
 
 The pastors since Mr. Tilden have been Alfred Gates, 
 Alva Gregory, Benajah Cook, John B. Guild, L. W. 
 Wheeler, Thomas Dowling, Henry Bromley, Cyrus Miner, 
 Henry R. Knapp, Edward Bell, Jabez Swan, E. D. 
 Bentley, E. S. Wheeler, G. R. Damon, P. S. Evans, W. 
 A. Fenn, Geo. W. Holman, M. G. Coker, J. B. Lemon. 
 
 The church has now about 400 members on its roll. The 
 late Deacon A. H. Fuller was closely identified with it for 
 many years, donating its handsome pipe organ. 
 
 The Methodists organized in Willimaiitic about the 
 same time. Some of them held class meetings as early as 
 1825. The Rev. Mr. Gardner came and preached in the 
 west school house about 1826, and in September, 1829, 
 the first M. E. church was built, on the present site of the 
 Atwood Block. The Rev. Horace Moulton was the first 
 pastor. 
 
 The present church was begun in 1850, but has since 
 been thoroughly modernized in its interior. The parson- 
 age on Prospect street was built in 1868, before that street 
 was built, and was then thought to be almost in the wil- 
 derness. The numerous itinerant pastors have been since 
 1828: Daniel Fletcher, H. Ramsdell, P. Townsend, E. 
 Beebe, George May, J. E. Raisley, Hebron Vincent, K. 
 Ward, Moseley D wight, Philetus Green, S. Leonard, H. 
 Horbush, Reuben Ransom, Pasdon A. C. Wheat, F. W. 
 Bill, Chas. Noble, John Cooper, Daniel Dorchester, A. 
 Robinson, Jonathan Cady, N. P. Alderman, Geo. W. 
 Rogers, Chas. Morse, Wm. Purington, John Ljvesey, Win. 
 Kellen, E. B. Bradford, Geo. W. Brewster, Edgar F.
 
 55 
 
 Clark, Geo. E. Reed, Chas. 3. McReading, Shadrach 
 Leader, Geo. W. Miller, S. J. Carroll, Wm. T. Worth, 
 A. J. Church, S. McBurney, D. P. Leavitt, Eben Tirrell, 
 C. W. Holden, A. P. Palmer, the present pastor. 
 
 In connection with the Methodist church, the Williman- 
 tic camp ground should be mentioned. Started in 1860, 
 it at first grew in popular favor in a manner quite different 
 from what its projectors intended, and the annual summer 
 meetings became after a time, the rendezvous for thous- 
 ands of pleasure seekers, and with the crowd there flocked 
 to Willimantic and along the road to the grounds, a horde 
 of hucksters or horse traders, to the equal annoyance of 
 the association and the borough. "Right away to camp" 
 became the annual shibboleth of a crowded, lively and 
 sometimes boisterous week in Willimantic. But the as- 
 sociation firmly pursued the even tenor of its way, de- 
 veloping the grounds as intended, and in later years 
 the popular furore over camp-meeting has given place 
 to gatherings in keeping with the place. There are to- 
 day about 200 cottages and tents there, many families 
 finding it a quiet, wholesome summer resort for weeks at 
 a time, and the annual religious meetings in August are 
 largely attended. The crowds that used to flock to Wil- 
 limantic have disappeared, and camp-meeting is orderly 
 and circumspect. Many distinguished Methodist preach- 
 ers are heard at the grounds. 
 
 The Rev. Father H. Brady, then resident priest at Mid- 
 dletown, opened the first Catholic mission in Willimantic, 
 in Franklin Hall in 1848, with about 300 in attendance. 
 He purchased the land where the present church stands 
 on Jackson street. The Rev. Bernard McCabe of Daniel- 
 sonville, had charge of Willimantic mission until 1857. 
 In later years he purchased the Baptist building and 
 removed it to the site of the present church, christening 
 it St. Joseph's Roman Catholic church. The Catholics, 
 like the Baptists, but more severely, suffered persecution 
 in their early days here. One Sunday Father McCabe 
 found Franklin Hall locked against him, and the key
 
 56 
 
 nowhere to be found. Nothing daunted, he promptly led 
 his flock to the then lately-purchased lot on Jackson street, 
 and there under God's free dome he erected a rough altar, 
 and offered up the adorable .sacrifice. Another time he 
 started to drive to Baltic, when suddenly a wheel came 
 off and he was thrown violently to the ground. Exami- 
 tion showed that some scoundrel had removed all the 
 nuts. 
 
 Father McCabe died in 1860, and was succeeded by the 
 Rev. Hugh J. O'Reilly, who became the first resident 
 pastor. In 1861 he built the present pastoral residence 
 and also purchased the land for a Catholic cemetery, just 
 beyond the Horse-shoe bridge. 
 
 The Rev. Daniel Mullen succeeded Father O'Reilly, 
 and after four years was succeeded by the present incum- 
 bent, the Rev. Florimond DeBruycker. Father De- 
 Bruycker had under his charge when he first came here 
 missions at Stafford Springs, Bolton and Coventry. 
 
 In 1864 he purchased the new Catholic cemetery, and 
 in 1883 the old wooden church, (bought of the Baptists) 
 was removed to Valley street, where it is now a part of 
 the parochial school property, and on the site of the old 
 church he erected the beautiful structure of brick and 
 stone at a cost of $80,000, including the high altar, which 
 was brought from Munich. The corner stone was laid 
 August 17, 1875, by the late Bishop McFarland, his last 
 official act. November 17, 1874, came the dedication led 
 by the Rev. Bishop McQuade of Rochester. Our Catholic 
 population is from 3500 to 4000 including about 1500 to 
 1800 French Canadians. 
 
 St. Paul's Episcopal Mission at Willimantic was organ- 
 ized about thirty years ago and the late Dr. Hallam was 
 placed in charge. Meetings were long held in the upper 
 hall of the Commercial block, afterwards in Dunham Hall. 
 The present church was built in 1883, the parsonage in 
 '87. By the '91 report 258 persons are registered parish- 
 ioners and 84 communicants. The rectors since Dr. 
 Hallam are Revs. R. K. Ashley, L. H. Wells, R. C. Sear-
 
 57 
 
 ing, H. B. Jefferson, George Buck. All officiated at 
 Windham also. 
 
 A Reform church was organized in 1881 in connection 
 with the Willimantic Reform Society in Mission Hall, with 
 Elder J. I,. Barlow as pastor, but did not gain permanent 
 foot-hold, and was disbanded in 1885. The Reform So- 
 ciety, organized in 1878, has since held weekly meetings, 
 with the temperance question the chief topic of discussion. 
 
 Universalism has never gained a permanent foothold in 
 this town. About 1840, a flourishing Universalist society 
 was organized in Willimantic, a church was built on 
 "Exchange Place," and the old church building is still 
 standing, as a tenement house with basement stores, the 
 third building east of Jackson street on Main street, and 
 owned by George W. Burnham. Elder Harry Brown, a 
 seceder from the Baptists, was a leader in this movement, 
 and Whiting Hayden was the financial backer. The 
 society nourished for a time, and out of it grew the present 
 Spiritualist Society. The latter society has been active 
 in Willimantic for about thirty years, in 1868 completed 
 its church on Bank street, has maintained regularly its 
 "Progressive Lyceum" every Sunday, and the church 
 desk has been occupied by different speakers. George 
 W. Burnham has been the leading spirit in this society, 
 and is now also president of the State Spiritualist Society. 
 
 THE RAILROADS. 
 
 In 1849 the railroads came, and it was the biggest event 
 of all. 
 
 Nothing will ever equal the first impression made by 
 the iron horses. We have had since then the telegraph, 
 the telephone and all the wonders of electricity, but they 
 have come so thick and fast that we are now prepared for 
 anything, and surprised at nothing. 
 
 The railroad had long been heralded, yet it was to most 
 people an incomprehensible thing that the engine should 
 go right along without anybody pushing or anything
 
 58 
 
 drawing, and no sign of a motive power but little puffs of 
 smoke and steam. 
 
 It is reported but I have not been able to fathom its 
 accuracy that one good old lady along the South Wind- 
 ham outskirts stood within hailing distance of the track 
 one morning soon after the cars appeared, and waved her 
 apron so frantically that the engineer stopped and asked her 
 what the matter was. She inquired if they took "summer 
 squashes." 
 
 As the first railroad appeared herein the fall, there is 
 an apparent anachronism in the seasonableness of the 
 squashes if not of the story. 
 
 The great "Air Line" was the first to be talked of and 
 the last to be built. The first road appearing here was 
 the New London, Willimantic and Palmer, now the New 1 
 London Northern. The first train arrived here from Nor- 
 wich in the fall of 1849, with an engine and two passen- 
 ger cars. It stopped down back of John Moulton's house, 
 and passengers w r ere transferred by teams up to the place 
 opposite Hardin Fitch's where the tracks from Palmer 
 had reached. Large crowds were gathered at both points 
 to see the sight. 
 
 It was several weeks later before the tracks were con- 
 nected, but then a grand free excursion was given from 
 New London to Palmer and a large number of people 
 went along, General L. E. Baldwin among them. 
 
 The Hartford, Providence and Fishkill road came 
 through in 1853. John F. Lester, the first station agent, 
 met the first train from Hartford up near the Smithville 
 Go's., before the depot was built, and is said to have sold 
 the first tickets while standing by the track in the open 
 air. William Storrs of Ashford, and before this date one of 
 the teachers in the old stone school house, and to-day a 
 wealthy director in the Reading Coal Co., in Scranton, 
 Pa., became the agent of the New London Northern 
 road. The depot was built in 1850, and did passenger 
 service until 1880, when the present structure was built 
 with the daily death trap of four tracks before it.
 
 59 
 
 Nearly twenty years later the long agitated Boston, Hart- 
 ford and Erie railroad, now main line of the New England, 
 was completed from Boston to Willimantic, and in 1872. 
 the New Haven, Middletown and Willimantic, (now the 
 Air Line) entered the town, thus completing the quar- 
 tet of railway outlets to all important points which 
 make Willimantic to-day one of the most convenient and 
 accessible railway centers in the country. 
 
 What Willimantic ought to have is a handsome new 
 union passenger station, and I believe proper effort on 
 the part of the citizens could induce the railroads to build 
 it. The recent move of the Consolidated road makes the 
 time opportune for united action. There too, on that 
 magnificent location in front of the Windham Go's., is 
 just the place for the union station. It would help both 
 the town and the railroads in every way to build it. Such 
 a move too, would give a fair chance -for the prompt and 
 convenient handling of freight in the present yard, and 
 thus prove a great help to our mercantile interests. 
 
 The coming of the railroads broke up not only the 
 stage coach business, but also the great teaming industry 
 which preceded the modern freight traffic. The teaming 
 thoroughfares from Willimantic led to Providence and 
 Norwich, then our chief sources of supply. The Windham 
 Company had a six horse team ; Henry Brainard and 
 Grant Swift were for many years their principal teamsters 
 to Providence. Charles Huntington, the elder Ephraim 
 Herrick and Martin Harris were among the teamsters to 
 Norwich. 
 
 WINDHAM'S SCHOOLS. 
 
 Windham has always taken a good degree of interest in 
 her schools. Early in her second century she had a good 
 academy at the Green, and thirteen populous districts with 
 well kept schools, and later, about 1850, Dr. Jabez Fitch 
 maintained a very creditable academy at South Windham, 
 known as the Grove Seminary, and the academy building
 
 60 
 
 is now standing on the hill east of the railway station and 
 in the rear of the Warner House, being sometimes used 
 for public gatherings. Several well-to-do citizens of the 
 borough sent children to school there. Dr. Fitch was a 
 very strict disciplinarian and demanded thoroughness of 
 his pupils. An unfortunate occurrence resulting in the 
 death of a young man whom he punished brought his 
 labors here to a close. He afterwards went to South Nor- 
 walk and there built up a private school of considerable 
 reputation, some Willimantic boys being sent there, and 
 he conducted it until his death. 
 
 The first public school house built in the borough was 
 in the Second District, and stood on the site where now 
 stands the little cottage nearly opposite Charles B. Jor- 
 dan's house on Pleasant street. Next was built a larger 
 structure located on the north side of the river almost 
 midway between the present spool shop and No. i mill. 
 Then a two-story wooden structure was built a little 
 west of what is now the Linen Co.'s dye house; and in 
 1831, near this same site, was built the famous "old stone 
 school house" which was Willimantic's chief educational 
 influence for nearly a generation, and is treasured in fond 
 memory in many hearts here to-day assembled, and in 
 many more that are widely scattered. Here are some of 
 the sterling minds who taught Willimantic's young ideas 
 how to shoot : Roger South worth, Samuel I,. Hill, Dr. 
 Calvin Bromley, Dr. Kleazer Bentley, Wm. Kingsley, 
 Robert Stewart, L,eander Richardson, Wm. L,. Weaver, 
 Fred F. Barrows, Henry W. Avery, Harriet Moulton, 
 Martha Chipman and Remus Robinson. The advent of 
 the lyinen Co. displaced this historic structure, and in 
 1865 the Second District took up its quarters in the 
 Natchaug building as at present. 
 
 The first school house in the First District of Williman- 
 tic, stood about where the Windham Co.'s east dwelling 
 house is on West Main street. This was a small building 
 and was later removed to the lot now occupied by the First 
 District buildings, and enlarged.
 
 61 
 
 In 1847 the central and oldest building of the present 
 three were built, and this, like the old stone school house 
 in the Second District, served for many years as the educa- 
 tional center of that part of the town. In this district 
 taught such sturdy pedagogues as John G. Clark, Horace 
 Hall, Leonard R. Dunham, Dr. Wm. A. Bennett, Wm. 
 L. Weaver, Saxton B. Little, E. McCall Cushman, Jabez 
 S. Lathrop, Perry Bennett, John D. Wheeler. 
 
 For many years these two districts were rivals, but in 
 1887 came the union town High School, then in 1889 
 the State Normal Training School, with its model advan- 
 tages for the First District grades, soon to be enjoyed 
 also by the Second District grades. 
 
 I must not pass over the private High School main- 
 tained by David P. Corbin in Franklin Hall about 1862- 
 '5. It was a school of high character, and attracted a 
 large number of young men and young women from this 
 and neighboring towns. Mr. Corbin followed Mr. Pow- 
 ell who was first principal of the new Natchaug school, 
 and was himself succeeded by Thomas Hart Fuller, 
 John B. Welch, Wm. L. Burdick and George A. 
 Cadwell. 
 
 In the First District the principals since John D. 
 Wheeler have been Wm. A. Holbrook, Chas. F. Merrill, 
 Chas. F. Webster, Roderick W. Hine, Frank A. Young 
 and F. A. Verplanck. 
 
 Frank H. Beede has been principal of the High School 
 since its inception in 1887. 
 
 The Catholic parochial school was established in 1878, 
 drawing about 200 pupils at that time from the public 
 schools, chiefly in the Second District, and now number- 
 ing nearly 700 pupils, drawn from the families of Irish 
 and French extraction in all parts of the town. 
 
 The reason for the establishment of parochial schools, 
 here as elsewhere, was the absence of purely religious in- 
 struction in the public schools and the belief of Catholics 
 that it should be given there. 
 
 The Protestants were thus made to realize also, that in
 
 62 
 
 many instances too much of a Protestant bias had been 
 given to the public schools. 
 
 At the present time there is a tendency toward making 
 the parochial schools public. It is not generally believed 
 wise to grant public money to parochial schools while 
 they remain such, not because they are Catholic, but be- 
 cause it is felt to be unwise to maintain separate sectarian 
 schools of any sort from the common fund. On the other 
 hand, the patrons of the parochial schools, many of them 
 tax-payers and all sharing directly or indirectly the bur- 
 dens of the town, feel that they bear a double burden for 
 schools when paying tuition at the parochial school. The 
 new Faribault plan of Archbishop Ireland, by which par- 
 ochial schools are to be committed under Catholic teach- 
 ers to public charge but with no religious instruction save 
 by Catholic missionaries at their own expense after regu- 
 lar school hours, may prove an entering wedge for an 
 harmonious settlement of the whole matter. 
 
 WINDHAM IN WAR. 
 
 The war of 1812 was unpopular in Windham as among 
 Federalists generally throughout the north, but quite a 
 number of young Windahmites enlisted nevertheless, at- 
 tracted by love of adventure and good pay. 
 
 Windham sailors had been impressed into British ser- 
 vice. That sturdy little coasting frog, "The Windham," 
 had been seized and confiscated, and these incidents gave 
 the town a special interest in the struggle. Yet the Fed- 
 eralist influence was so strong that comparatively few en- 
 listed at the beginning of the war. A number of 3 r oung 
 fellows from the Center and from Scotland Parish saw a 
 week's delightful service in "guarding" New London 
 Harbor, but they saw no fighting. 
 
 Windham was well represented in the regular army, 
 however, at the time this war broke out, by Major 
 Charles L,arrabee, Capt. Adam L,arrabee and Col. Stani- 
 ford. Of the last named I can learn but little, save that
 
 63 
 
 he was a young and popular officer. Major Charles Lar- 
 rabee was a Windham boy, but had been on the western 
 frontier fora number of years. He served under Gen. 
 Harrison, whom he well knew, and he also had personal 
 association with Gen. Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. 
 Capt. Adam Larrabee was a grandson of Timothy L,arra- 
 bee, of whom we have already heard. He was born 
 and reared in Ledyard, was educated at West Point, 
 and entered the regular army. At the battle of 
 French Mills, near Plattsburg, on the northern fron- 
 tier under General Wilkinson, his captain was dis- 
 abled, and young L,arrabee was placed in command, 
 but was soon severely wounded, shot through the 
 lung. He was carried from the field as fatally shot, but 
 he rallied. The physician who examined him said, "Well, 
 Larrabee, you're a queerly made fellow. If your heart 
 were where it ought to be, you'd be dead by this time." 
 "My heart, doctor," promptly explained the gallant young 
 officer with a significant twinkle in his eye, "I left at home 
 in Ledyard." He was taken to the home of the late 
 Reuben H. Walworth (afterwards State Chancellor) at 
 Saratoga and while recuperating there formed a life- 
 long friendship with the distinguished New Yorker. At 
 the close of the war, young L,arrabee, who inherited strong 
 affection for home and family, made up his mind that the 
 army was no place for him, so he threw up the captain's 
 commission which he had earned by brave service, return- 
 ed home and claimed the hand of her who had his heart in 
 keeping (Hannah G. Lester) and settled down to farming 
 in old L,edyard, where for forty years his farm was the 
 model of thrift and intelligent agriculture. In later life he 
 removed to Windham, and many now living recall him. 
 His sons, Charles and Henry, are well known residents of 
 Windham. 
 
 I do not learn that Windham was especially interested 
 in the Mexican war, but our late distinguished citizen, 
 Col. Rufus L. Baker, was chief of ordinance during that 
 struggle, though not a resident of Windham until after that
 
 64 
 
 date. His son Chas. L. Baker, who lived here, was later 
 connected with the regular army. 
 
 Oh, those days of '61 ! How little we to whom they are 
 history, or but the dimmest memory, can realize what thev 
 meant to you who were in and of them ! Windham was 
 alive at the outset to the country's needs. From the fall 
 of Richmond she took keen interest in the struggle and 
 gave freely of her blood and her substance for the union. 
 Lester E. Braley was the first to enlist, joining the first 
 company of Connecticut Volunteers, and he afterwards 
 helped to raise and became captain of the "Lyon Guards", 
 (Co. G. 1 2th C. V.) 
 
 Other well-known Windham boys who went to the front 
 were Chas. D. Bowen, (Capt. Co. H. i8th C. V.) Francis 
 S. Long, first lieutenant, and captain of Co. D. 2ist C. 
 V., who fell at Petersburg in '64, the gallant officer for 
 whom our local G. A. R. Post is named. At the time 
 he was killed he was in the command of the Brigade 
 sharpshooters. 
 
 Henry E. Taintor, now of Hartford, was second lieuten- 
 ant Co. H. i8th C. V.; Wm. H. Locke, Sergeant and 
 second lieutenant i8th C. V; the patriotic Ripley Broth- 
 ers, four of them in the service, of whom Eleazer H. 
 became captain Co. D. 8th C. V., came back with an 
 empty sleeve and is now in the civil service at Wash- 
 ington; Andrew Loomis, lieutenant Co. H. second C. V.; 
 all of whom went out from Willimantic. Samuel J. Miller 
 went to Virginia and enlisted there. Joel R. Arnold re- 
 ceived commission as lieutenant and aide on the colonel's 
 staff of 1 65th N. Y. Lieutenant Chas. Wood, a popu- 
 lar Willimantic boy, was killed at Petersburg in '64. 
 Dr. Lathrop of Windham gave his life for the boys in 
 the hospital and was brought to the historic old Wind- 
 ham cemetery. On his shaft erected by the 8th C. V., 
 are the words, "Faithful Unto Death." 
 
 In all, 304 enlisted from Windham during the war in 
 twenty-two different regiments, of whom fourteen were 
 killed, twenty-five died, thirty-nine were wounded and
 
 65 
 
 thirty-two, alas, deserted. Benajah E. Smith, now 
 worthy state commander, enlisted from Windsor in 1862, 
 and Captain Charles Fenton, now of General Alger's 
 staff, and Captain Jerome B. Baldwin, went out from 
 Mansfield. 
 
 John Bolles, the veteran letter carrier, whose stirring 
 drum beats have inspired many a loyal heart, went out 
 from old Ashford, and James Haggerty of the present 
 Court of Burgesses, was one of the youngest, if not act- 
 ually the youngest, to enlist from Connecticut. He went 
 out from Willimantic in Co. H, i8th C. V., Jan. 5, 1863, 
 being then thirteen years, one month and eleven days old. 
 
 Many things happened to bring the people of Windham 
 into close touch with the war. Troops passed through 
 here frequently by rail, and the battalions of General 
 Burnside and Governor Sprague of Rhode Island aroused 
 special interest. General Wool, one of the veterans of the 
 Mexican campaign, also passed through here. 
 
 But the event which brought the realization of the war 
 to Windham County and all her towns was the death and 
 funeral of our own beloved General Nathaniel Lyon, who 
 fell in that gallant charge at Wilson's Creek, Aug. loth, 
 1 86 1, at the very outset of the struggle. The body was 
 brought to his old home in Eastford, and with its distin- 
 guished escort, and greeted with signs of sincere popular 
 mourning in its long journey from Missouri, reached Wil- 
 limantic on the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 4th, by 
 special train. .Thousands of people had come together 
 from miles around, the procession was formed and moved 
 to the outskirts, where carriages were in waiting. Sam- 
 uel J. Miller and John Henney tolled the Methodist bell 
 as the solemn train moved to the north. 
 
 The next day came the funeral at Eastford, business 
 was generally suspended, and Willimantic, like all the 
 surrounding towns, was fairly deserted, so many attended. 
 It was a deeply impressive occasion, and aroused a pro- 
 foundly patriotic spirit throughout the whole region. 
 
 I well remember the closing days of the war. First
 
 66 
 
 came the joyous news of the fall of Richmond, when bells 
 rang and cannons boomed. Young and old displayed the 
 national colors, My own special delight was in a tiny 
 flag worn proudly in the hat or carried running in the 
 breeze we little folks had them, we knew not really why, 
 but we knew and felt that some great joy was at hand. 
 Then came the sudden plunging into deepest grief, our 
 little flags were trimmed with crepe, and the church bells 
 tolled, and solemn services were held, men and women 
 wept like children. The great grief hangs even now like 
 a heavy pall over my childhood's memory, though I knew 
 not what it meant. They said the President was dead, 
 shot by the hand of a traitor, a martyr to the cause of lib- 
 erty and the Union. 
 
 I remember, too, when the "boys in blue" came march- 
 ing home boys in faded blue, with garments war-worn, 
 flags tattered and faces haggard. I can see them now, as 
 though it were but yesterday, standing there on Union 
 Street, in front of the Baptist Church, where we children 
 attended lovely Rose Dimock's private school in the ves- 
 try, and though the spectacle was to our childish minds 
 simply one of awe and wonder, we felt that somehow 
 those men had suffered. Another memory, quite as vivid, 
 is that some of the soldiers in mock menace "charged 
 bayonets" upon our ranks, and we fled in terror to the 
 protection of "teacher." 
 
 NORTH AND SOUTH WINDHAM. 
 
 By the kindness of Mr. P. H. Woodward, a native of 
 Franklin, son of the late Ashbel Woodward, M. D. and who 
 is now secretary of the Hartford Board of Trade and an 
 active member of the Connecticut Historical Society, I 
 am able to present the following facts concerning the man- 
 ufacturing settlements at North Windham and South 
 Windham. Much of the material, which was gleaned 
 from original sources by Mr. Woodward, is now for the 
 first time published.
 
 67 
 
 North Windham. About the year 1810, the firm of 
 Taintor, Abbe & Badger (John Taintor, Charles Taintor, 
 George Abbe and Edmund Badger) built a paper mill at 
 North Windham, then known as "New Boston." Prev- 
 iously, the water power at this place had been utilized 
 only for driving a saw mill. They made writing paper of 
 three grades respectively, No. i, No. 2 and No. 3. The 
 texture was firm and strong, but the finish inferior. The 
 Taintor Brothers and George Abbe were merchants of 
 Windham Center. To a large extent help was paid and 
 stock purchased through orders on neighboring traders, 
 who in this way bartered for the products of the mill, 
 money playing a small part comparatively in effecting the 
 exchanges. 
 
 After a few years of doubtful success the other partners 
 prudently retired, leaving Badger alone in nominal owner- 
 ship. About the year 1825 he failed, when the property 
 practically reverted to the Taintors, by virtue of claims 
 upon it. 
 
 For a short period after the withdrawal of Badger, a 
 new firm, Foster & Post, ran the mill, but from lack of 
 capital or encouragement, soon abandoned the business. 
 
 Meanwhile, one Pickering, an Englishman, had shipped 
 to this countty a Fourdrinier machine, the first imported 
 in America. It was sent from London by way of Ger- 
 many on account of certain duty regulations. On the 
 passage hither the owner entrusted the care of the machine 
 to t\vo fellow countrymen of his, coming himself by an- 
 other vessel direct. On the voyage a severe epidemic 
 broke out, so prostrating both passengers and crew, that 
 the craft was with difficulty brought into port. Pickering 
 attributed the preservation of his life to the fidelity of his 
 servant, John Carter, an Irishman, one of a very few that 
 escaped the disease. 
 
 He soon formed a 'partnership with Mr. Frost, a Boston 
 bookseller, under the name of Frost & Pickering. In 
 seeking a location they finally selected North Windham. 
 The old mill had become dilapidated, but was in the mar-
 
 68 
 
 ket at low figures, and this was probably the inducement 
 which determined their choice. 
 
 The new firm took possession in 1827. The structure 
 was in a great measure rebuilt, under the supervision of 
 George Spafford of South Windham, an experienced mill 
 wright. 
 
 Notwithstanding the superiority of the new machine, 
 misfortunes continued to pursue the enterprise. Picker- 
 ing is represented as a dashing man, more devoted to 
 jolly companionship than to work. A similar disposition 
 prevailed among the employees. As a set they were in- 
 temperate and consequently indifferent. The inevitable 
 catastrophe in due time followed, bankruptcy again stop- 
 ping the wheels in 1829. 
 
 Grant & Daniels, Boston creditors of Frost & Pickering, 
 then operated the mill for about two years, but managed 
 its affairs at arms' length, with unsatisfactory results. 
 
 In 1831 the property was sold to Justin Swift, Charles 
 Taintor having foreclosed the mortgage which he had held 
 from the time when it passed into the hands of Bdmund 
 Badger. Mr. Swift converted the concern into a cotton 
 mill, and supervised the business personally till 1860. At 
 his advent the train of disasters that had for twenty years 
 involved successive operators in trouble, happily came to 
 an end. Applying to the work, industry, capacity and in- 
 tegrity he succeeded in making money where others had 
 failed. 
 
 The mill was burned in 1837 and again in 1860, and in 
 both instances rebuilt. The second rebuilding was in 
 1862, and it was then leased to Merrick Bros, for thread 
 making. In 1872 it was bought by E. H. Hall & Son. 
 K. H. Hall died in 1884, and the son, E. H. Hall, Jr., 
 buying out the heirs, has since continued the business 
 under the old firm name. Forty hands are now employed 
 in the manufacture of cotton yarns, the finished product 
 amounting to 3000 pounds per week, making a yearly 
 product of about $40,000 value. 
 
 At the instance of Mr. Pickering, Mr. Stowell Lincoln
 
 69 
 
 who owned a fulling mill at North Windham, began about 
 the year 1827 to make the felts that were required in 
 operating the Fourdrinier. After the general introduction 
 of this machine he continued to make them for the trade 
 till 1857, when the appliances of the business were sold 
 and transferred to South Windham. The factory is now 
 unused and going to decay. 
 
 Soiith Windham. South Windham has earned a notable 
 place in the history of manufactures. Its water power is 
 derived from a stream draining "Pigeon Swamp," a 
 watershed of perhaps four square miles on the eastern bor- 
 ders of Lebanon. The fall is quite remarkable, being over 
 150 feet from the upper reservoir now in use, to the place 
 where it empties into the Shetucket. 
 
 Aside from a sawmill higher up, the power was first 
 used for driving a fulling mill, located on the present site 
 of the works of Smith, Winchester & Co. Cloth woven 
 on hand looms was brought to this establishment not only 
 from the neighborhood, but from places twenty or thirty 
 miles distant, to be dressed, finished and dyed. During 
 the last war with Great Britain the army cloth turned out 
 here won a high reputation for the excellence of its indigo 
 blue. From the hands of Joshua Smith the mill passed 
 into the ownership of Geo. Spafford, and was demolished 
 in 1829. 
 
 In the year 1800, Amos Denison Allen established the 
 cabinet business at the old homestead near South Wind- 
 ham, where he continued to carry it on for about a third 
 of a century. He was an excellent workman and very 
 thorough. The products of his shop were distributed ex- 
 tensively through Eastern Connecticut and portions of 
 Massachusetts. Many old fashioned long clock cases were 
 made here for the southern market. At different periods 
 from six to fourteen hands were employed. 
 
 Many pieces, embracing articles of rare and curious de- 
 sign, that have been in constant use from half to three 
 fourths of a century, are still to be found in the neighbor- 
 hood in excellent preservation. Chairs that have de-
 
 70 
 
 scended in the course of two generations from the parlor 
 to the kitchen, as firm in every joint as when they left the 
 maker, are still triumphantly exhibited in proof of the 
 superiority of the old regimen in cabinet making to the 
 new. Mr. Allen was born March 13, 1774 and died 
 August 19, 1855. 
 
 Mr. Joseph Pickering imported the first "Fourdrinier" 
 ever landed in the United States and located at North 
 Windham in 1827. George Spafford of South Windham, 
 a skillful mill-wright, was employed to rebuild the mill, 
 which had fallen into decay, and to adapt it to the uses 
 now required. While thus engaged he became impressed 
 with the merits of the "Fourdrinier" and foresaw the rev- 
 olution it was destined to accomplish. All paper pre- 
 viously manufactured in the United States had either been 
 made by hand, or on the primitive cylinder machine, the 
 product of which was much inferior to the hand-made. 
 
 The theory of making paper in a continuous web was 
 first wrought out in 1779, by L/ouis Robert, a common 
 workman of Knsonne, France. The Fourdrinier Broth- 
 ers, (Henry and L,ealy) wealthy booksellers of London, 
 purchased the patent right for Great Britain in 1804. 
 They not only improved the invention greatly, but also 
 brought its utilities into general notice. It has since 
 borne their name, and notwithstanding the wonderful de- 
 velopment of mechanical ingenuity since their time, still 
 remains the standard machine for the manufacture of all 
 the finer grades of paper. In its modern completeness it 
 is justly regarded as one of the greatest achievements of 
 human contrivance. 
 
 Although it soon became apparent that from extrinsic 
 causes the enterprise of Pickering was doomed to failure, 
 Mr. Spafford, convinced that the Fourdrinier was destined 
 to supersede the clumsy devices then in use, determined 
 to begin the manufacture of them. Having at different 
 places been brought into relations with Mr. James Phelps, 
 a mechanic of wide experience in building paper mills, 
 the two men formed a partnership for the purpose.
 
 71 
 
 On the 8th of January 1829, Charles Smith, son of 
 Joshua, then a youth of 21, went to Stafford (New Fur- 
 nace) now Staff ordville, to take charge of the business. 
 Having supervised the building operations at North 
 Windham he had become familiar with the mechanism of 
 the Fourdrinier. Stafford was selected because a foundry 
 was already established there where the castings could be 
 made. The work was carried on in a loft, and ample pre- 
 cautions taken to protect the secrets of the undertaking 
 from the knowledge of the public. Of course curiosity 
 was rife and some laughable explanations were given to 
 place it on an innocent scent. 
 
 The first Fourdrinier made on this continent was duly 
 completed and sold to Amos H. Hubbard of Norwich, by 
 whom it was put in operation in May, 1829, at "The 
 Falls." A second quickly followed and was purchased 
 by Henry Hudson of East Hartford. Both yielded such 
 excellent results that the projectors were encouraged to 
 make preparations for the continuance of the business. 
 Accordingly having removed their tools and a third 
 Fourdrinier from Stafford, they broke ground for a shop 
 on the site of the old fulling mill at South Windham, 
 Nov. 30, 1829. The building was ready for occupancy in 
 February, 1830. 
 
 They were the pioneers not only in building the Fourd- 
 riniers, but also in many other cardinal improvements. In 
 1831 the first dryers produced in this country were made 
 in this shop. Hitherto each American paper mill was 
 provided with an airy loft wherein the fresh sheets were 
 suspended by hand till their moisture evaporated. By 
 means of the dryers the same result was accomplished 
 automatically, thus effecting a great saving both in space 
 and labor. Soon after Mr. George Spafford invented the 
 cutter for dividing the continuous web into sheets of uniform 
 size, a contrivance hardly inferior to the dryers in its 
 economic bearings. 
 
 Phelps & Spafford built numerous paper mills for cus- 
 tomers in different states and supplied them with machin-
 
 72 
 
 ery. The country was then comparatively poor, each 
 Fourdrinier costly, and bad debts numerous. As the hard 
 times of 1837, so painfully noted in our annals for finan- 
 cial disasters, approached, the strain upon the resources 
 of the firm became too severe to be successfully withstood. 
 The partners sold their interest to Charles Smith and 
 Harvey Winchester, both brothers-in-law of George Spaf- 
 ford. In 1838 the new organization was completed under 
 the name of Smith, Winchester & Co., the name which it 
 still bears, Mr. Smith taking the general management. 
 
 By the death of his father Mr. Smith was left an orphan 
 at the age of thirteen, when the duties cares and responsi- 
 bilities of manhood at once devolved upon him. Before 
 attaining his majority he directed the operations of large 
 gangs of men, proving equal to every task as it came. 
 Uniting rare executive ability to mechanical talent both 
 natural and cultivated of a high order, he started the con- 
 cern upon a career of prosperity which it has since pur- 
 sued undeviatingly through all the ups and downs of the 
 general business of the country. It has been a funda- 
 mental rule of the establishment to knowingly permit none 
 but first class work to leave its doors, while the integrity 
 of its dealings has won the confidence of its patrons. 
 
 Since 1838 the works have been several times enlarged, 
 and commodious out buildings for storing lumber, pat- 
 terns, etc., erected. Above the "fulling mill pond" two 
 large reservoirs have been built, the last 150 feet above 
 the bed of the Shetucket and flowing over 35 acres, hav- 
 ing been begun in the autumn of 1877. Aside from sup- 
 plies for the home market, machinery has been made here 
 on orders from Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Kngland and 
 other foreign countries. At present the works have a 
 capacity for the employment of about one hundred hands. 
 In the quality of its productions the firm has always 
 aimed at durability, strength and efficiency. 
 
 South Windham is also entitled to the credit of revolu- 
 tionizing the cutting of wood type and multiplying many 
 fold the demand for these useful articles by increased
 
 73 
 
 cheapness and excellence. Until Mr. Edwin Allen entered 
 the field, wood type had been cut exclusively by hand and 
 was so inferior in design and finish that even in the large 
 sizes metal was generally preferred. Edwin Allen, son of 
 Amos D., was born March 27, 1811. Having served an 
 apprenticeship in his father's shop where he introduced 
 several valuable inventions of his own, he moved to Nor- 
 wich in 1835, to assist an elder brother in cabinet-making. 
 The following year the factory was burned. While out 
 of employment he strolled into the printing office of the 
 Norwich "Courier," when he became suddenly interested 
 in a font of wood type. Having made numerous inquiries 
 in reference to their cost, utility, manufacture and other 
 cognate points, he left for home inspired w r ith the belief 
 that machinery could be devised for making them. 
 Although in delicate health he devoted his entire energies 
 to the evolution of the idea that had seized him. The 
 thought triumphed. In the short period of three days it 
 had become embodied in wood and iron, for in that brief 
 interval a small machine had been contrived which pro- 
 duced specimens far superior to any ever exhibited before. 
 He returned to South Windham to begin the cutting of 
 wood type for the general market. 
 
 In the spring of 1837 he visited New York City where 
 he entered into an arrangement with Mr. George F. Nes- 
 bitt who undertook to introduce the article to the trade of 
 the country. It was brought out as "Nesbitt's wood 
 type," and was thus known for years. 
 
 Mr. Allen was able not only to devise and make the 
 machinery even to the tempering of the steel cutting 
 apparatus so that it would take the most exquisite edge 
 needful for the purpose, but also to draft the letters of the 
 whole alphabet to correspond with any specimen that 
 might accompany an order. Many of his designs won 
 great admiration as specimens of art. 
 
 The first effect of the invention was to drive inferior 
 products out of the business, and to stimulate the rest to 
 higher excellence. Prior to 1837 a large proportion of
 
 74 
 
 wood type were cut on the side of the grain for the reason 
 that the blocks were more easily chiseled on the side than 
 on the end. Letters thus formed, however, left a poor, 
 imperfect impression in printing and deteriorated rapidly 
 with use. The leading firm then in the trade was kev- 
 ingworth & Wells of New York city. Their choicer 
 grades, though cut on the end and recognized as the best 
 in the market, made but a poor exhibit beside the deep, 
 sharp, smooth and true lines of the machine made work. 
 It was not long before the competition of the old methods 
 came to an end, leaving Mr. Allen in undisputed pos- 
 ssession of the field. 
 
 A second effect was the complete supersedure of large 
 metal type, tons of which were now melted down and cast 
 into small type, since their new rivals of wood were lighter, 
 better, more durable, much less expensive, and not liable 
 to be injured or to cause injury when falling or when 
 pied. 
 
 It is a notable fact that the essential principle of the 
 machine, born in the brain of the inventor during those 
 three days of intense thought, though now in world-wide 
 use, has never been altered or improved. 
 
 The one first constructed was run by foot. As the bus- 
 iness increased a shop was fitted up for Mr, Allen in an 
 outbuilding of Smith, Winchester & Co., power being 
 conveyed across the highway by an underground shaft. 
 A steam mill was subsequently built at the old home- 
 stead, which in 1852 or 1853 was moved to the stream. 
 
 While at South Windham, Mr. Allen invented and 
 manufactured in large quantities the "Educational 
 Tables," which combining instruction with amusement, 
 once enjoyed wide popularity. In 1852 he sold his fac- 
 tory and fixtures at South Windham to Mr. John G. 
 Cooley, who after a year or two transferred the business 
 to New York city. Other inventions of Mr. Allen have 
 been numerous and some of them very valuable. 
 
 Guilford Smith (son of Charles and grandson of Joshua) 
 purchased the property in 1863 and still owns it. He
 
 75 
 
 made woolen felts till the disproportionate rise of the raw 
 material during the war gave foreign a great advantage 
 over home manufactures. He is now the active manager 
 of the works of Smith, Winchester & Co. 
 
 Several journey-man wood type cutters leased the prem- 
 ises in 1878, and under the name of "The American 
 Wood Type Co." re-established the business for which 
 the mill was originally built. The quality of their work 
 is said to be unsurpassed either in this country or abroad. 
 
 About the year 1837 a grist mill was built at the lower 
 end of the village by Elisha Holmes. Since 1850, thous- 
 ands of tons of gypsum, imported by the ship load from 
 Nova Scotia, have been ground here and distributed over 
 an extensive region to fertilize the soil. 
 
 In the year 1871 a brick mill driven by steam, was built 
 near the depot of the New London & Northern railway, 
 by "The Adams Nickel Plating and Manufacturing Co," 
 the president of the company being the inventor of the 
 process. After the expiration of the patent the property 
 was bought by a coal Compaq- and is now used for the 
 manufacture of buffing wheels. 
 
 WILLIMANTIC MANUFACTURES. 
 
 The second era of manufactures in Willimantic began 
 with the advent of the Willimantic Linen Company. It is 
 a familiar story, oft recorded, and I need not dwell upon 
 it. The company was organized in 1854, "to manufacture 
 flax or cotton into yarn or cloth." They occupied the old 
 Jillson Mill (now the spool shop) the Jillsons having 
 failed to establish their manufactures permanently, and 
 the Linen Company first manufactured fine and coarse 
 towels or crash, also fish lines. 
 
 The Crimean war of 1853-6 deprived them of flax, and 
 they were compelled to abandon the linen enterprise ; but 
 under the same name they promptly turned their attention 
 to spool cotton. Spool cotton was at that time all im- 
 ported, and only black and white thread was wound on
 
 76 
 
 spools, the colored varieties being- sent over in skeins. 
 The little penny skeins of colored thread will be recalled 
 by many. The company first made up a lot of colored 
 threads wound on spools, of quality much inferior to the 
 present make and even to the goods they imported, but 
 brightly glazed, and put them on the market. The bright 
 colors and the novelty and pride of home manufacture 
 caught the public eye, and gave the new industry a good 
 start. In 1857 the mill now known as No. i was built. 
 Then came on the civil war. Dunham and Ives were 
 shrewd enough to buy up large quantities of cotton before 
 the rise, and they became very wealthy. The capital 
 thus acquired was turned to good account in beginning 
 the development of a great plant. 
 
 In 1864, they purchased the tract now covered by mill 
 No. 2 and its adjuncts ; and the "old stone school house," 
 the blacksmith shop, and the grist mill of earliest Willi- 
 mantic gave way to progress. 
 
 The whole section round about was revolutionized, 
 the "New Village," or large group of tasty tenement 
 houses opposite the mills w r as built, and a new era dawned 
 for Willimantic. 
 
 The "new mill" was the wonder of modern Windham, 
 marking the advent of our greatest industry, and the 
 forerunner of growth to a large town. In ,1876, the old 
 Jillson and Capen Mill (now No. 3) was acquired by pur- 
 chase, and filled up with new machinery. Feb. 28, 1880, 
 the building of No. 4 mill was authorized by vote of the 
 directors. The next day, March ist, the workmen were 
 cutting away trees and digging for the foundations. The 
 pines then growing in the Florida forests were speedily 
 selected for the lumber of the mill, and so rapidly was the 
 great structure pushed that on the first day of October 
 following it began turning out products. This feat was 
 characteristic of the company's enterprise. "The Oaks" 
 settlement of cottages was built to accompany this mill. 
 
 The development of this company has materially af- 
 fected the whole process of thread manufacture, by means
 
 77 
 
 of the improvements which its enterprise stimulated. Two 
 notable inventions, the winding and ticketing machines, 
 which act with almost voluntary power, were generally 
 adopted by other thread companies which paid royalties 
 to the Willimantic company until other improvements 
 were introduced. 
 
 The Willimantic Company claims to make the best 
 thread in the world, has sustained the claim by winning 
 the first medals at the Philadelphia and Atlanta Exposi- 
 tions, and looks confidently forward to beating the world 
 again at Chicago in 1893. Latterly other branches of 
 manufacture have been introduced by this company, 
 notably the lisle thread industry, which has been quite a 
 feature for six months past, but was a sort of temporary 
 "fad," and is now giving way to the manufacture of cer- 
 tain varieties of fancy yarns. 
 
 The employees now number about 2000, and the total 
 yearly product is about fifteen millions of miles of threads 
 and yarns. 
 
 Old Windham has a tradition of the revolutionary war, 
 telling how Hettie's pet black cosset Dido was shorn of 
 wool one morning, to make a suit of linsey-woolsey for 
 Hettie's soldier brother, who was to leave next morning 
 early to rejoin his company on the memorable march of 
 the winter of '7 7- '78, from Rhode Island to New Jersey ; 
 and that the next morning after the wool was shorn, the 
 proud young patriot was wearing his new suit, not 24 
 hours from Dido's back, so deftly had the hands of Hettie 
 and the willing neighbors wrought. 
 
 Modern Windham has a story to match it, true beyond 
 question. At the Atlanta Exposition of 1880, at the in- 
 stance of our L,inen Company, cotton growing in the boll 
 in the fields in the morning, was picked, ginned, carded, 
 spun, woven and dyed, and by the close of the same day 
 was sewed by Willimantic thread and lined with Cheney 
 silk, into two dress suits which were worn by the govern- 
 or of the state and by Edward Atkinson, the distinguished 
 economist, at a public reception that- evening. The enter-
 
 78 
 
 prise shown and the fame won at Atlanta developed a 
 large southern trade for the company, which it still enjoys. 
 Next in importance to its cotton thread industry stands 
 the silk industry of Willimantic, now fast assuming rank 
 with the foremost. 
 
 After Col. Elderkin's death in old Windham, his silk 
 industry passed into the hands of parties in Mansfield, 
 the pioneer town of silk, and it is a curious coincidence 
 that the leading silk manufactory of later Mansfield 
 should have drifted again to Windham, in the Williman- 
 tic field. I refer to the O. S. Chaffee company, which 
 was organized in Mansfield as early as 1838, became 
 O. S. Chaffee & Son in 1867, established itself in the old 
 Paisley mill corner Church and Valley Streets in Willi- 
 mantic in 1874, organized as the Natchatig Silk Com- 
 pany Dec. 5th 1887, with $25,000 capital, increased to 
 $200,000 Aug. 27th, 1888, and is now located in the hand- 
 some new building on North Street, manufacturing 
 braids, linings, dress silks, watch guards, eye glass cords 
 and fish lines, which are sold all over the country; and 
 employing about 225 hands. Sewing silks are still made 
 at the old mills in Mansfield, but the new plant at Willi- 
 mantic has far outgrown the old. 
 
 The first silk industry to locate in Willimaiitic, how- 
 ever, was that of the Holland Manufacturing Company, 
 which was started in 1866 by J. H. and G. Holland, 
 brothers of Dr. J. G. Holland of literary fame. They 
 built the two brick mills now on the opposite corners 
 of Church and Valley Streets. J. H. Holland built for 
 his home the brick house on Maple Avenue now occu- 
 pied by the Misses Brainard, and Goodrich Holland 
 erected the residence at the corner of Church and 
 Spring Streets now owned and occasionally occupied by 
 his widow, Mrs. Jane Holland. J. H. Holland died in 
 1868, and Goodrich in 1870, and since that time the 
 business has been conducted under the old firm name, 
 with Samuel L,. Burlingham as resident agent. The 
 manufactures of these mills are machine twist, button-
 
 79 
 
 hole twist and sewing silk. They employ 150 hands 
 Mr. Goodrich Holland was the inventor of the machine 
 for stretching silk now in universal use among manu- 
 facturers of twist and sewings. 
 
 The latest accession to the silk industries of Willi- 
 mantic is Arthur G. Turner's four story brick spinning 
 mill on Bank street. This industry was started in 
 1886, and entered its present mill in 1889, and during 
 the past year has paid out over $25,000 in wages to 
 about 100 hands. The business is that of spinning silk 
 yarns, which are shipped for use in the manufacture of 
 all kinds of silk fabrics, for sewing machines and for 
 fringes. 
 
 One of the largest and most important industries of 
 Willimantic to-day, employing about sixty skilled me- 
 chanics, is the W. G. & A. R. Morrison Machine Co., 
 manufacturers of silk machinery. This company has 
 grown out of a little machine shop started by Walter and 
 Henry Morrison in 1875, and was organized .as a joint 
 stock company in 1882. They now occupy the wooden 
 building at the corner of North and Valley streets, and 
 the lower floor of the Natchaug silk mill. They manu- 
 facture machinery for making silk twist complete, from 
 the stock as imported to the finished spool also machin- 
 ery for making organzine and tram, which constitute the 
 warp and woof of silk dress goods ; also machinery for 
 putting the gloss on cotton thread and winding it on 
 spools. The business is not covered by patents, but has 
 only two or three competitors in this country, as it calls 
 for special machinery, which is all designed by Mr. W. G. 
 Morrison. The sales for the past year exceeded $100,000 
 in value, and were shipped from Maine to California. 
 
 Among the other industries of modern Willimantic, the 
 old Windham Cotton Company is still doing business at 
 the old stand, which it has occupied since 1823. The 
 present product is both wide and narrow goods in cottons, 
 and includes sateens, twills, sheetings and print cloths. 
 The plant has been enlarged, and improved in many ways
 
 80 
 
 within the past few years the mills have been thoroughly 
 renovated and repaired, and nearly all the machinery, in- 
 cluding water wheels, engine and boilers, of new and mod- 
 ern type, so that hardly anything remains of the original 
 mills, save the familiar walls and roof. About 300 hands 
 are employed. A number of small, but important inven- 
 tions, now in universal use, have been invented at this 
 mill. 
 
 The Smithville Company has had a rather checkered 
 existence. There have been long intervals of idleness 
 there. At the present time a Providence Company are 
 employing about 300 hands there, making twills and print 
 cloths, and turning out a yearly product of 3,000,000 
 yards. 
 
 These comprise the leading manufactures of the Willi- 
 mantic of to-day, besides which there are planers' and 
 builders' mills, blind factories, several large lumber yards, 
 and a host of business houses for all sorts of domestic 
 supplies. 
 
 An Electric Light Company lights the streets and has 
 applied for a street railway charter. A complete system 
 of public water works, established in 1885, has already 
 become practically self-sustaining, and its power may 
 some day be utilized for the generation of electricity for 
 lights and motive power, including a street railway. Wil- 
 limantic expects to become a city in December, 1893. 
 
 WINDHAM IN REFORMS. 
 
 The interest of Windham in the Abolition agitation was 
 intense, and one typical reminiscence is at hand. During 
 President William Henry Harrison's administration 1840- 
 44, Aaron Phelps attempted to give a course of three 
 anti-slavery lectures in the old Methodist church 011 the 
 site of the present Atwood Block, and when the Rev. 
 Moses White was pastor. The first lecture passed off 
 quietly. The second night a mob gathered, but spent 
 their wrath on the church after the meeting was over, by
 
 81 
 
 breaking windows, etc. The third night their propor- 
 tions had grown to a well-organized mob, and as I am 
 informed, they gathered at the Congregationalist church, 
 and when the speaker was well under way, marched 
 under, the lead of Charles Schofield to the M. E. church. 
 There Schofield approached the desk with followers, pre- 
 sumably to drag the speaker out, when young Orrin Rob- 
 inson, tall and strong, interfered, and taking Schofield 
 by the arm, quickly marched him back again through 
 the crowd and into the street before the astonished mob 
 had time to collect its wits sufficiently to know what was 
 the matter. But the reaction soon came, and serious 
 trouble was imminent. Edward Clark of Windham Green 
 read the riot act, Robinson was arrested, tried and sen- 
 tenced to a term in Brooklyn jail. Constable William H. 
 Hosmer set out for Brooklyn with his prisoner, but finding 
 he had forgotten necessary papers he requested young 
 Robinson to walk on alone while he returned for the papers. 
 Robinson trudged cheerily along, and when asked by one 
 whom he met where he was going, promptly replied "to 
 Brooklyn jail." He was soon overtaken by the constable 
 and placed in durance vile. To return to the meeting 
 which the mob had broken up, it is gratifying to add that 
 Aunt 'Rushy Robinson cheated them of their victim, the 
 speaker, by dressing him in her cloak and taking him to 
 her home. Some of the leading citizens of the town took 
 part in the mob. We are all quick now to condemn the 
 bigotry of those old days. It is always the bigotry and 
 intolerance of the present that we need to guard against. 
 Windham has never been a strong temperance town. 
 From the days of Windham flip and West India wet goods, 
 when "Bacchus" sat aloft as the type of the tavern's hos- 
 pitalit)% down through the "Sodom" of early Willimantic, 
 the orgies at the Hebard tavern, the killing of Calvin 
 Robinson by a drunken driver, and the stabbing of the 
 Corcoran boy at Mrs. Daley's, the pages of our history 
 have been often blotted with the blood of the victims of 
 alcohol. All along the years I find record of the wreck of
 
 some of the brightest minds in the community, because of 
 the social popularity of drinking. The Washingtonian 
 movement swept the town like wild-fare, as it did else- 
 where, and wrought much good among individuals. The 
 brilliant but unfortunate George S. Catlin, led in another 
 temperance reform movement which profoundly stirred the 
 people but did not exert a lasting influence. The Maine 
 law had its day and for a time was very effective, but 
 people expected too much of the law, and too little of 
 themselves. Along in the '703 came the famous Good 
 Samaritan movement, and moral enthusiasm ran high for 
 a time with good effect. The great incentive force to in- 
 temperance in later days, has been the pernicious license 
 system, introduced to restrict the evil, but proving instead 
 a bulwark and a fostering influence. We are seeing a 
 new light in this reform, shining from out the new scien- 
 tific truths about alcohol. The intelligent man of to-day 
 who will permit himself to recognize this truth, refuses to 
 drink because he knows better than to cripple his physical 
 and mental powers. In the public schools we teach the 
 children these new truths, and in the family. But for 
 some reason we have persisted in keeping the authority 
 and influence of government against scientific truth and, 
 social aspiration. During the past year we of Windham 
 have made an attempt to place government in harmony 
 with what we know our best interest as a community de- 
 mands. Some ground has been gained, but a firmer effort 
 is needed. It is a mistake to license or tolerate public 
 vices in any form. 
 
 OLD WINDHAM OF TO-DA Y. 
 
 The coming of railways robbed Windham Green of the 
 last of her ancient glories the stage coach and the pros- 
 perous tavern. The town clerk's office and probate records 
 and the polling place were removed to Willimantic about 
 1862. The establishment of Willimantic Savings Insti- 
 tute in 1842 had brought into the field a formidable rival 
 to the old Windham Bank, which since its establishment
 
 83 
 
 in 1832, had been the financial centre of the town. It 
 was a novel thing for the people to have money. Common 
 trade theretofore had been mostly in barter. Windham 
 bank notes were a curiosity, and the $2 bills with their* 
 photographs of Col. Dyer and Col. Elderkin at either end, 
 and the picture of fighting frogs in the centre, were the 
 town's pride. 
 
 In 1854 the Windham Bank had been robbed of $7,000 
 in specie, and $15,000 in securities, the cashier, James 
 Parsons, being bound and gagged. The watch dog was 
 killed. Parsons quickly recovered himself and gave the 
 alarm. The robbers then took a hand car at what is now 
 Camp crossing, went to Norwich and hid in the woods on 
 the Preston side. They were captured on a steamer when 
 leaving Allyn's Point and most of the money was recovered. 
 The robbers were sent to Wethersfield. The affair 
 caused the biggest scare in Windham since the Frog fright. 
 
 In 1879, the old bank yielded to the popular pressure 
 and was removed to Willimantic, where to-day it takes 
 rank as a leading financial institution. Other banks have 
 been prganized in Willimantic, the Merchants' Loan and 
 Trust in 1870, the Dime Savings Bank in 1872, the First 
 National in 1878. 
 
 The Windham Centre of to-day remains a residence dis- 
 trict, with not a few of her honorable old families remain- 
 ing. In recent years she has caught a new life from the 
 receding tide of the congested cities, and to-day the Green 
 is growing in popularity as a summer resort, offering de- 
 lightful opportunities for health and recreation. Hand- 
 some new trees, set by forethoughtful citizens a score of 
 years ago, to succeed the ancient elms, have now grown 
 to handsome proportions. The crumbling relics of ancient 
 industries have been cleared away and modern Windham 
 Green has donned a dress becoming to her new destiny. 
 There is beginning a wholesome movement from the city 
 to the town. We are learning that this huddling of people 
 into cities is a mistake, and it is to be hoped that in the 
 near future the land may be more evenly populated and
 
 84 
 
 more intelligently used. In such a development, Old 
 Windham will share as well as the New. 
 
 LANDMARKS IN WILLIMANTIC. 
 
 There are at least five dwelling houses now standing in 
 Willimantic borough which date back into the century 
 preceding this. Two of them, the Hardin Fitch place at 
 the west end, the old Josiah Dean (now called Cranston's) 
 place at the east end on South Main street, are rivals for 
 the claim of the oldest house in town, and date back at 
 least two centuries. The other three are the Alfred 
 Youngs (now Charles Young) place at the corner of 
 South and Pleasant streets, the Waldo Gary (late John 
 Smith's) .place oh Ash street by the North Windham road, 
 and the Scott Smith place, corner of Brook and Main 
 streets. 
 
 There is a noteworthy absence of business houses that 
 have preserved their identity from the earliest days. 
 There is no firm name in the borough now that was here 
 in the beginning, except that of the Windham Manufac- 
 turing Company. Frank Wilson's drug store has been 
 at the same stand since started in 1828, but with chang- 
 ing names. Thomas R. Congdon is the man who has 
 been longest in business and is in actual trade to-day, 
 with the Carpenter Bros, of West Main street as close fol- 
 lowers. J. C. Bassett, John G. Keigwin, Turner and 
 Wilson have long records but they have retired. 
 
 The most striking figure of the older parts of the town 
 is the venerable Charles Smith of South Windham, a 
 pioneer in the great industry of Smith, Winchester and 
 Co., and now in his 8oth 3^ear. He is yet in active busi- 
 ness, and keeps in line with current events. He has been 
 a man of marvelous energy, indomitable will, unflinching 
 courage, sterling integrity and strong public spirit. His 
 heart was shown in the small-pox scourge of 1874, when 
 he fearlessly helped his suffering neighbors and saw that 
 Willimantic was protected. 
 
 The most interesting figure on Willimantic streets is
 
 85 
 
 General Lloyd E. Baldwin, now in his 82nd year. Born 
 in Norwich in 1810, he removed to Mansfield, and as a 
 boy he learned the builders trade in Willimantic, working 
 on the Windham Co.'s "new mill" in 1828 and '29. In 
 1831 he set up in business for himself in Willimantic, and 
 became the leading builder of early Willimantic. Among 
 the buildings put up by him were the old Franklin Hall. 
 Willimantic's first public building; also Joshua Lord's, 
 Dr. Witter's, Elisha Williams's and Col. William L. Jill- 
 son's residences; the Linen Co.'s No. 3 mill, the Smith - 
 ville Co.'s mill and three of their large dwelling houses, 
 and a large share of the dwelling houses that stood in 
 Willimantic in 1850. He also built churches at Daniel- 
 sonville, Bozrah, Westchester, West Granby, Haddam, 
 West Suffield, South Coventry and the old Broadway 
 church in Norwich, also the first railway stations at An- 
 dover, Bolton, Vernon and Manchester; the first district 
 school-house, center building of the present group. No 
 man had more to do with the building of early Williman- 
 tic. He was postmaster here in 1843, and took the re- 
 sponsibility of moving the office uptown. He was a prom- 
 inent figure in the old State Militia, and in politics in the 
 '405 and '505. He was colonel of the Fifth regiment and 
 at one time general of the Fifth brigade, comprising the 
 militia of Windham, Tolland and part of New London 
 counties. He was candidate for state comptroller for 
 three years, and member of the McClellan convention of 
 '64, and candidate for presidential elector on the Seymour 
 ticket of '68. He once served as escort for Andrew Jack- 
 son, marching across Norwich by his side, and he has re- 
 mained to this day a staunch Democrat of the Jacksonian 
 order, whom modern degeneracies cannot swerve from 
 the strong faith of the fathers. He retains remarkable 
 vigor and memory, and is daily seen on our streets, taking 
 a lively interest in affairs. 
 
 Ex-Postmaster John Brown, long known as the "Re- 
 publican War-horse," is another familiar figure. A ster- 
 ling old patriot, his stirring words were wont to rouse the
 
 86 
 
 highest enthusiasm at public gatherings. He was a 
 favorite moderator at town meetings for many years. For 
 thirty-one years he has been connected with the post 
 office, twelve years as Postmaster, and he still serves the 
 public there. 
 
 One of the most significant and valuable of modern 
 landmarks is the handsome iron fence that surrounds the 
 Willimantic cemetery, the loving gift of George H. Chase 
 of Stamford to the town that gave him birth, and in mem- 
 ory of his boyhood da) r s at the old Laban Chase home- 
 stead. The spirit that prompted such a substantial gift 
 was noble, and Windham owes him a lasting debt of grat- 
 itude. 
 
 I have discovered one instance of the continuance of the 
 same occupation from generation to generation, in the 
 same family, which is quite noteworthy and perhaps not 
 parelleled in the town. In the early '305 William Tew, a 
 venerable blacksmith, came from Rhode Island to Willi- 
 mantic and occupied the large white house now standing 
 on the southeast corner of Hooper's I^ane (Winter street.) 
 The old gentleman did not engage in blacksmithing here, 
 but his son William did. William's son John is now the 
 veteran blacksmith of the Willimantic of to-day, and 
 John's son James is following the same honorable trade 
 on Bank street. Robert Brown tells me that he has had 
 horses shod by three generations of Tews, and hale and 
 hearty at 70 he is waiting for a son of James to grow up 
 and give him a fourth generation's shoeing. But Jim's 
 only boy is thus far a girl, and Mr. Brown is getting a 
 little discouraged. I have learned, however, that there is 
 a woman in Worcester who shoes horses, and as women 
 have already entered 4000 different occupations, horse- 
 shoeing may become as popular as type- writing, so that 
 Mr. Brown must be patient and meanwhile Jim may be 
 blessed with a boy! 
 
 WILLIMANTIC NEWSPAPERS. 
 
 The Windham "Herald" flourishing in Old Windham 
 a century ago, fell into decline with the disintegration of
 
 87 
 
 the old town, and in 1820, Henry Webb began to publish 
 in Brooklyn "The Independent Observer and County Ad- 
 vertiser." It was a larger paper than "The Herald," and 
 was of course now published at the county seat. So "The 
 Herald" succumbed. Later the Saturday "Transcript" 
 of Killingly issued a Willimantic edition, and was finally 
 established at Willimantic by John Collins, who carried it 
 on until John Evans came here from Plattsburg, N. Y., 
 with his brothers Charles and Edward, and bought "The 
 Transcript," and established in its stead "The Public 
 Medium," copies of which are still in existence, the head- 
 line bearing pictures of early Willimantic. "The Public 
 Medium" was published every Saturday except when 
 there were 53 weeks in the year, but suspended every 53rd 
 week, we are told. 
 
 John Evans sold out to C. S. Simpson, a printer, who 
 changed the name to Willimantic "Journal." Simpson 
 did not succeed, however, and "The Journal" was sus- 
 pended for a short time in 1861. Finally Evans took it 
 back, and with William L. Weaver renewed its publica- 
 tion. Mr. Weaver built the paper to a high grade of 
 character and influence, and made it distinguished by the 
 historical and genealogical sketches which he published. 
 He put into pamphlet form a portion of his genealogical 
 researches and left many valuable documents which his 
 son, Thomas Snell Weaver, by strange and happy fate, 
 occupying to-day the same editorial chair, is making most 
 admirable use of, to great public advantage. On Mr. 
 Weaver's death in 1866, "The Journal" passed succes- 
 sively to Asa Curtis, Walt Pierson and W. J. Barber and 
 in 1871 the late Henry L,. Hall, son of Horace, and brother 
 of Judge John M. Hall, became the editor, and continued 
 for many years. His natural adaptation for the work was 
 unsurpassed. He was Willimantic born and bred, his 
 mind was keen, witty and appreciative, he was a natural 
 orator of marked power, and a genial soul withal, and his 
 career as editor of "The Journal," which he made one of 
 the best weekly papers in the state, will be long remem-
 
 bered. He died in 1887. Arthur I. Bill, who had entered 
 the office as printer's "devil," grew to be the chief busi- 
 ness life of the concern, and in 1884 The Hall & Bill Print- 
 ing Company started on a prosperous career, as chief 
 printers to the Linen Company and general jobbers. 
 Frank E. Beach became editor of "The Journal," but 
 bought the Southbridge "Journal," and then came 
 Thomas Snell Weaver, who needs no introduction to the 
 community. 
 
 The Willimantic weekly "Enterprise" was started in 
 1877, by N. W. Leavitt of Scotland with Fayette Saf- 
 ford as assistant. In 1879, John A. McDonald of Daniel- 
 sonville, who had been in their employ as a printer, joined 
 a partnership with Mr. Safford and, as McDonald & Saf- 
 ford, they have since conducted the Willimantic 
 "Chronicle," which has grown to be a permanent feature 
 of the town. 
 
 "The Connecticut Home," State Temperance news- 
 paper and advocate of the Prohibition party, was started 
 here in 1886 by Allen B. Lincoln ; was in 1890 removed 
 to Hartford and now by combination with the Worcester 
 "Times," has become "The New England Home." 
 
 Daily papers are numerous in Willimantic. W. C. 
 Crandall started the Willimantic daily "Record" in 1881, 
 but it was short lived. 
 
 The Willimantic daily "News" lived a few months in 
 1887 with J. H. Foster of Middletown as editor, and then 
 expired. F. H. Alford of the Middletown "Herald" be- 
 gan the publication of the Willimantic "Herald" in 1891, 
 and "The Chronicle" soon followed with a daily edition. 
 Both are now running, and are creditable local dailies, 
 but the field seems hardly large enough for two, if for one, 
 and the outcome is problematical. 
 
 NOTES OF INTEREST. 
 
 An index of the growth of land values in later Willi- 
 mantic may be seen in the fact that what was known as
 
 89 
 
 the Johnson Park property, including not only the square 
 between North, Meadow, Bank and Valley streets, but 
 the lot where A. G. Turner's silk mill now stands, and 
 the land under the row of tenements on the South side of 
 Meadow street, was all sold in 1863 for $1300. Recent 
 sales from the same property show the market value of the 
 same land to-day to be not less than $40,000. 
 
 The life of Dr. William Witter, first resident physician 
 of Willimantic, and who lived in what is still known as 
 the Witter house, on the east side of High street, corner 
 of Main, was shortened by accident. When crossing the 
 old bridge near the Stutely Sweet place in Coventry one 
 day, the doctor's horse shied at a big stone in the road, 
 and backed off into the river bed, gig, horse and man. 
 Dr. Witter was seriously injured about the back. 
 
 He sued the town of Coventry and got a verdict for 
 $1400. He always suffered from internal injuries after 
 that, and though before the accident he bade fair to ex- 
 ceed fourscore and ten, he died at 44. Dr. Witter was 
 called one of the best surgeons of his day east of the Con- 
 necticut River. When he first started here he charged 
 his patients twenty-five cents a visit. 
 
 The Windham Center of about 1790-1820 was a 
 great place for law students. Judge Hovey studied there. 
 Judge Swift wrote his famous "Digest" there. 
 
 During the War of 1812, Charles Taintor, general 
 tradesman at the Green, bought large quantities of provis- 
 ions for the government to supply the soldiers, and this 
 gave the Windham farmers quite a boom. 
 
 Warren Atwood bought the old Stanniford Inn, took it 
 down and used it in some of his buildings in Willimantic, 
 but I do not learn where. 
 
 William C. Cargell of Willimantic has in his possession 
 a pig-weed cane which was growing in the sod by the old 
 M. E. church where ground was broken for the Atwood 
 Block. It is a curiosity. 
 
 James Walden was the first Adams Express Agent here 
 in 1855 and used to carry most of the packages to the de-
 
 90 
 
 pot in his arms, or with a wheel-barrow. Now, teams are 
 run, six men are employed all the time, and the gross 
 receipts for the business average $125 a day. 
 
 One of the most active and energetic of Willimantic 
 pioneers was Daniel Sessions who lived about two miles 
 west of the village on the Coventry turnpike. Almost all 
 the brick used in the late '203 and early '305 were made 
 by him. 
 
 Young people will be interested to know that seventy- 
 five years ago it was necessary for the young men and 
 maidens who became engaged to have their bans pub- 
 lished from the pulpit before they could be united in the 
 holy estate of matrimony. It was generally done the Sun- 
 day before the great event. 
 
 Windham had some old slaves who were familiar figures 
 down to 1840 or later. "Old Prime Dyer" has been im- 
 mortalized with the frogs in Leavitt's operetta. There 
 were also his sister "Cindy," another veteran negress 
 called ''Case Knife," and "Old Cruse White," who used 
 to bleach hats and bonnets for the ladies. "Pete Smith" 
 was another familiar figure. There were a score or more 
 in town who remained here until death, employed in vari- 
 ous capacities chiefly as field hands or domestics. Slavery 
 was finally abolished in Connecticut in 1848. 
 
 A noteworthy attempt was made to start a shoe indus- 
 try at Windham Center about forty years ago. Captain 
 Justin Swift was President, and the capital subscribed 
 was $10,000. The old shop, still standing next below the 
 Parsons house, was built for the purpose, and about twen- 
 ty hands were employed. Shoes were made and shipped 
 to New York. Ten per cent dividends were soon declared 
 and all went swimmingly for a time, but hard times came, 
 extended credit was given to the New York commission 
 house which sold the goods, and ere long the company 
 awakened to the fact that most of its capital was in New 
 York. Negotiations followed and the settlement was 
 such that the industry was abandoned. 
 
 Windham has had three Congfessmen under the new
 
 91 
 
 constitution: John Baldwin, 1825-29, George S. Catlin, 
 '43-45 and Alfred A. Burnham, '59-63. Baldwin was a 
 Federalist of liberal tendencies ; Catlin a Democrat of 
 brilliant qualities who committed political suicide by vot- 
 ing for the admission of Texas ; and Burnham a loyal 
 Republican of war times, a gentleman of high moral 
 character and marked ability, who also served as lieuten- 
 ant-governor. 
 
 Henry Hall, brother of Horace, was first postmaster of 
 Willimantic, establishing the office here in 1827. As he 
 was clerk at the Windham Co.'s store, he located the 
 office at the Hebard tavern, in charge of a deputy. 
 George W. Hebard succeeded him and located the office 
 at the Jillson stone store, opposite what is now the spool 
 shop. Then came Col. Roswell Moulton who took it down 
 to a building near by Edward F. Casey 'spresent furniture 
 store. In 1843 Gen. L. E. Baldwin became postmaster, 
 and was audacious enough to locate the office uptown in 
 a small building opposite Niles Potter's hotel (now 
 Young's). Then came successively Joshua B. Lord in 
 the Hanover Block, William L,. Weaver at his store in 
 Franklin building, James H. Work in the Twin buildings, 
 Thomas Campbell in the Boon (now Card) block, then 
 William H. Hosmer in the same place. 
 
 In 1 86 1 James Walden was appointed and he held the 
 office for eight years, locating it in his block on Main 
 street, where now A. B. Williams 's dry goods store is. 
 John Brown followed for twelve years, then James Walden 
 another term, then Henry N. Wales, and the present in- 
 cumbent, Charles N. Daniels. The post office was re- 
 moved by Postmaster Daniels in 1890 to the new Loonier 
 block on North street, just back of the opera house. Mr. 
 Brown remains as clerk, and has served in the office con- 
 tinuously for thirty-one years. 
 
 In '49, when the California gold fever broke out, Wind- 
 ham furnished three men for the company that sailed from 
 New London : Allen Stoddard, William Webb and Mose- 
 ly Curtis.
 
 92 
 OUR PRESENT POPULATION. 
 
 A word about our present population will be timely. 
 Of the 10,000 in town (8,600 being in the borough) not 
 far from 2,300 are of Irish extraction, about 1,800 of French 
 Canadian extraction, and nearly all the remainder of Eng- 
 lish origin. There are about 300 Swedes and 50 colored 
 persons. Of the first named, only about 600 were born in 
 Ireland, the rest are native Americans. The Canadians 
 have not been as long among us, but they are a rapidly 
 growing people, and the proportion of foreign born among 
 them is fast decreasing. 
 
 Irishmen first appeared in Willimantic in considerable 
 numbers about 1840 to work for Jillson and Capen. They 
 were as much of a curiosity to our people, as we to them, 
 and at least as awkward as we should be in Ireland. Irish 
 blunders, coupled with native Irish wit, supplied the 
 almanacs with jokes for a generation. They came in 
 large numbers to help build the railroads, and then to 
 enter the mills. From the first they have come to stay, 
 practically an English speaking people, or at least with 
 no adherence to their nativa tongue, for I have yet to 
 learn of an Irish immigrant parent who has transmitted his 
 language to his American-born children. The Irish came 
 here, driven from oppression to freedom, to find a home, 
 and to become Americans. They have never shown any 
 tendency to return. They are intelligent and thrifty, as 
 modern Willimantic is showing. To-day their share of 
 the taxable grand list is over $300,000 ; they are building 
 many homes, and they are as much attached to this 
 country as any of its inhabitants. Thirty graves of sacred 
 memory in the Catholic cemetery testify to their loyalty 
 to the old flag in 1861. To show how rapidly they are 
 becoming indigenous to our soil, we have only to recall 
 that the census of 1860 showed 490 born in Ireland, while 
 to day with our population tripled, the Irish born scarcely 
 exceed 600. I saw a photograph group of young Irish- 
 Americans of Willimantic, a few days ago, and they 
 looked more American than Irish.
 
 93 
 
 With the Canadians it was different at the outset. They 
 came here about 1852 to work in the Smithville mills and 
 they had no purpose to stay, but thought to accumulate 
 wages and return to Canada. Their national ties were 
 much stronger than those of the Irish and they took care to 
 preserve their language and teach it to their children. But 
 the public schools and the American ideas are doing their 
 inevitable work. The Frenchmen, too, are learning to 
 love Willimantic, and in later years have been less and less 
 inclined to leave it. Their little self-owned homes are 
 scattered here and there, and the tax-list now rates their 
 taxable property at $60,000, almost entirely in little build- 
 ings which bespeak volumes of interest in the new and 
 with many of them native land. Irish immigration has 
 practically ceased, but Canadians are still coming. Both 
 classes multiply more rapidly than does the older native 
 stock. Together they make up to-day nearly half of our 
 population. They have as much right here as any one, 
 and they are as well disposed. We welcome them. The 
 historic ties of Ireland, France and America are peculiarly 
 kindred in the struggle for liberty. 
 
 THE FUTURE. 
 
 To-day we stand face to face with the Windham of the 
 future. What shall it be? It may be great. We have 
 within our borders the making of a large and prosperous 
 city of wholesome character. How can it be done? 
 
 The first thing we need is public spirit, a better realiza- 
 tion of the principle that the good of the least, is the good 
 of all. 
 
 We need more loyalty and confidence in our own town, 
 and in each other; less of this pulling and hauling by 
 rings and cliques for selfish ends, and more of united 
 action for the general welfare, which is always the best 
 welfare of each; less of that spirit which looks upon every 
 new industry as a rival, and chokes off every projected im- 
 provement which does not benefit "my property." We 
 need less of that financial short-sightedness that will stake
 
 94 
 
 its all on a Wall street margin or chase an imaginary ten- 
 per-cent dividend into a silverless Montana earth-pit, and 
 more of that practical common sense which knows that 
 earnings reinvested in our own town at four per cent will 
 promote a growth that in a few years will add another 
 four per cent, with the further advantage of knowing 
 where your property is! 
 
 We need better unity in education. It is time we abol- 
 ished the hap-hazard school-district system and adopted 
 an intelligent educational policy. The state offers us 
 superior advantages, and we should hasten to improve 
 them. And as for the public school, the one great fact 
 for us all to realize is, that whatever our origin or nation- 
 ality, one, two, three, or a dozen generations back, and 
 whatever our personal religious creed, the one hope for 
 an harmonious future is in a common education in a com- 
 mon school, and the development of our children into an 
 homogeneous people. This is true of Town, State and 
 Nation, and I am particularly pleased to add that, by in- 
 quiry, I find it to be the common sentiment of the more 
 intelligent representatives of the three nationalities of 
 which we are chiefly composed. 
 
 We need a better understanding and appreciation of 
 each other. The problem of the nation is represented in 
 Willimantic. We must look less to the accident or en- 
 vironment of birth and more to the character and spirit of 
 the man. We are here together to stay. Our interests are 
 common, not diverse, and we must seek to develop our 
 agreements, not our differences. 
 
 We need a keener sense of what the public welfare de- 
 mands, and courage to follow it. We need to recognize 
 that right principles are the product of experience, and 
 that right action has a positive, practical value as well as 
 an eternal moral obligation. 
 
 Loyalty to Windham, loyalty to each other, loyalty to 
 conscience, is the spirit in which we shall face the future, 
 and so through the third century of our beloved commu- 
 nity, may God speed the right !
 
 THE EPIC OF WINDHAM. 
 
 [BY THERON BROWN.] 
 
 One day of the days divine, 
 
 When the gods roamed everywhere, 
 The horse of the sacred Nine 
 
 Came down from his path in the air; 
 His lightning hoof fell first 
 
 On the slope of Helicon green, 
 And out of that footprint burst 
 
 The fountain of Hippocrene. 
 
 And ever since then the thought 
 
 Of the world the story has kept, 
 And scholar and sage have sought 
 
 The place where Pegasus stepped; 
 And the hole of the white hoof still 
 
 O'erflows with the magic spring 
 Where the poets drink their fill 
 
 And the daughters of music sing. 
 
 Will the fountain's flow ever cease? 
 
 Will the old tale ever die out? 
 Its part in the fame of Greece 
 
 Do any deny or doubt? 
 Do you call the dreamer a dolt 
 
 Whose fancy and faith indorse 
 The myth of Minerva's colt, 
 
 The Muses' family horse? 
 
 From the humblest ground that shows 
 
 The dent of the flying steed 
 Some slip of poetry grows, 
 
 Some flower of immortal seed. 
 Full many a hamlet's pride, 
 
 Full many a city's seal 
 Is the stamp where Pegasus tried 
 
 The weight of his wizard heel.
 
 96 
 
 One night, on the rising whiff 
 
 Of the wind of a new renown, 
 The wonderful hippogriff 
 
 Came sailing o'er Windham town. 
 Swift Hill just under his girth 
 
 Rose green, but he went beyond, 
 And his hind foot struck the earth 
 
 At the bottom of Follett's Pond. 
 
 The village woke at the whack. 
 
 Had they heard a cannon explode? 
 Ten to one on the stallion's back 
 
 That night Bellerophon rode. 
 For the noise that followed him roared 
 
 With a terrible warlike din 
 As if all Waterloo poured 
 
 From the hole that the horse broke in. 
 
 In the ballads early and late 
 
 Still echoes the hullaballoo 
 From seventeen fifty and eight 
 
 To eighteen ninety and two. 
 And the fame of that battle dark 
 
 Will sing over Windham Green 
 Till the last frog ceases to bark 
 
 In the mud of her Hippocrene. 
 
 The maps of glory make room 
 
 For the town with a tale to tell; 
 You are sure of a world-wide boom 
 
 Where the Muses open a well. 
 And to stir a song from its source 
 
 In the dirt of the prosy trades 
 One kick of the winged horse 
 
 Is better than forty spades. 
 
 The silent ballads of the tawny tribes 
 Will never sound again. No warrior scribes 
 Compiled on strip or scroll the tuneful spoil 
 Of the wild ancients of our homestead soil. 
 No word of savage minstrel points to-dav 
 To where their Tempes and Arcadias lay, 
 Nor lives one leaf or line of lettered lore, 
 By hand of feathered priest or sagamore, 
 To tell a rescued region's paler sons 
 The story of her earliest Marathons.
 
 97 
 
 Barbarian fate ! Those first New England men 
 
 Who plucked the eagles never made a pen. 
 
 Their gaudy helmets tossed the inkless quills ; 
 
 Their arrows strewed them on these heedless hills, 
 
 And left their speech, their thought, their life, their age, 
 
 A glimmering legend on an empty page. 
 
 But o'er their fields by peaceful white men plowed 
 
 Break the same wind and thunder from the cloud, 
 
 Fall the same dew, and rain, and snow, and sleet, 
 
 That wet, in strife or chase, their buskined feet, 
 
 In the same tones through summer, winter, spring, 
 
 The Willimantic and Shetucket sing, 
 
 The same sun shines, the stars unsleeping glow 
 
 Out of the dim colonial long ago, 
 
 While here and there some local memory frames 
 
 The forest music of the red men's names, 
 
 And curious fancy, half unriddling, reads 
 
 Their "totems" on our queer ancestral deeds. 
 
 Between the shadowy days of Nipmuck land 
 New-conquered by the fierce Mohegan's hand, 
 When Joshua Attawanhood, with his dog 
 Hunted on Brick-top, angled in Natchaug, 
 Or in his wigwam carved his powder horn 
 While Sowgonask, his Podunk squaw, hoed corn, 
 Between those days (whose echoes still ascend 
 From Millard's Meadow to Hop River Bend,) 
 And the first planting of a Christian home, 
 The ghosts of Andros and King Philip came 
 To tell how meanly, by their marplot aid, 
 This bi-centennial was ten years delayed. 
 But we forgive them. Their ungracious part 
 Assured and strengthened our historic start, 
 And gave us a "first-settler" to engage 
 The careless eyes that skip our title page. 
 
 Late in the seventeenth century's afternoon, 
 Unlike the moon-man, who "came down too soon," 
 Our Englishman from Norwich found his way 
 Up where these meadows in the sunshine lay, 
 And, forced to exile by some strange renown, 
 Became the Cecrops of a Yankee town. 
 
 Mysterious foreigner ! still silent waits 
 The story of van-courier John Gates. 
 A wandering star untraced by friends or foes,
 
 98 
 
 Men saw him set who knew not where he rose. 
 Romantic fancy, hovering where he died, 
 
 Ranked him "lieutenant," called him "regicide," 
 
 Marked him red-handed from the Cromwell wars, 
 
 Pious and pitiless, and at our doors 
 
 In fable now the British bull-dog snarls 
 
 For the stray Roundhead who helped kill King Charles. 
 
 Pious he was, and Puritan, possessed 
 
 Of worldly goods, a gentleman, a guest 
 
 Of Pilgrim Land, a friend of high and low, 
 
 A freeman and he owned a slave, black Joe ! 
 
 Enough that by the moral light he saw, 
 When liberty was only white men's law, 
 His human chattel was no swift reproof 
 To one whose soul had felt oppression's hoof, 
 Since Right, to even a Mayflower refugee, 
 Implied no negro's title to be free. 
 
 We trust the legend that John Gates was kind, 
 As kind of heart as liberal of mind, 
 And, after twice four years of upright deeds, 
 And generous thoughts for Windham's future needs, 
 When, praised for scattered blessings, he who gave 
 The town's first dwelling filled its earliest grave, 
 That the green threshold of his churchyard inn 
 Was watered by the tears of black Joe Binn. 
 
 Round that first farmstead, settling one by one, 
 New households gathered ; Windham was begun. 
 Along old "Nipmuck path" her street was laid, 
 And peace built mansions where barbarians played. 
 Survey, through Time's inverted glass again 
 That corporation of eleven men. 
 One less than Israel's chiefs,, the chosen few 
 Numbered in mid-May, sixteen-ninety-two, 
 At the same figure where, in hopeful doubt, 
 Th' apostles stood with Judas' name left out. 
 They had no use for Judas in their plan, 
 Those honest souls, united man to man. 
 Their law of living from one book they learned, 
 In all their seven houses altars burned. 
 They kept the Sabbath day, they never swore, 
 And, with the horseshoe hung o'er every door, 
 They balked the devil, and the Salem fad 
 That drove, that year, all Massachusetts mad.
 
 99 
 
 They thrived and if with one good-natured lift 
 "Luck in odd numbers" helped their infant thrift 
 Their earliest parson kept the fact in mind, 
 Who served the town, in good old Bradford kind, 
 With olive branches, frequent, fresh and green, 
 And never stopped until he raised thirteen! 
 And all that baker's dozen did so well 
 That to this day the Whitings "wear the bell." 
 
 'Twas with a saintly vision, sorrow-free 
 
 Our fathers faced th' uncertain yet-to-be. 
 
 They fed their herds and tilled their virgin farms, 
 
 They felled the forests with their sturdy arms, 
 
 They drove to Norwich wharf their brindled teams 
 
 With hay, and grain, and pine and hemlock beams, 
 
 And piles of cheese, and barrelled beef and pork, 
 
 And bales of home-knit stockings for New York, 
 
 They counted eggs, and measured meal and milk, 
 
 They weighed wool fleeces, while their wives made silk, 
 
 They shared their plenty in Thanksgiving joys, 
 
 They schooled and catechised their girls and boys, 
 
 They met at Goodman More's to sing and pray, 
 
 They praised their preacher's work with solid pay 
 
 The L/evite portion in their parted grounds, 
 
 Good corn, good wood, good meat and sterling pounds, 
 
 Nor ever dreamed, in simple faith secure, 
 
 That calm, idyllic life would not endure. 
 
 New neighbors came; apace the hamlet grew; 
 
 O'er vacant lots the building fever flew, 
 
 Till the swift orders fairly put to pain 
 
 Jonathan Jennings with his saw r and plane. 
 
 Soon rose the meeting-house, the church was born, 
 
 Soon rose the mills, for lumber and for corn. 
 
 No prophet then saw Windham stretch her neck 
 
 Up Willimantic to Naubeseteck 
 
 To read her fortune in the river-gorge 
 
 On the wild rocks by Daniel Badger's forge. 
 
 Nor when, next century, like Elijah's cloud, 
 
 John Cates's handful had become a crowd, 
 
 Could the grave fathers own without a pang 
 
 The noisier tune old "Southeast Quarter" sang. 
 
 The psalmist's "sparrow" fretted on its perch ; 
 
 Faith took new forms, each precinct had its church. 
 
 Austere dissensions vexed the gospel-fold, 
 
 Debate grew hot, and piety grew cold.
 
 100 
 
 Came mortal sickness next, and where it swept 
 
 In half the village homes some mother wept, 
 
 And strong men fell, and pastors on their knees 
 
 Said prayers for them, and died then thro' the trees 
 
 "A sound of going," like King David's sign 
 
 To meet the midnight foes of Palestine, 
 
 Stirred the unwilling souls that waited for 
 
 The threatened terrors of a border war. 
 
 'Twas in that weak, unsettled, sad, half-blind, 
 
 Foreboding, wishful, timorous state of mind 
 
 Our fathers heard another sound, whose fame, 
 
 In mirth immortal linked to Windham's name, 
 
 Has laughed to health more hypochondriacs 
 
 Than ever convalesced on Holmes or Saxe. 
 
 O'er half the globe the very nurseries learn 
 
 The swampy music of that droll nocturne. 
 
 In pamphlets, scrap books from collectors' shears, 
 
 In histories, cyclopedias, gazetteers, 
 
 Song-books and school-books where the English tongue 
 
 Is talked or read the tale is said or sung. 
 
 We tell it gladly, smiling with the rest 
 
 To think how far its fun the world has blessed, 
 
 And rail at Parson Peters in our pri.de 
 
 No more but O, how Parson Peters lied ! 
 
 In the periwig times of old Governor Fitch 
 
 Fifty-four, Fifty-eight, call it either or which 
 
 In seventeen-hundred-and-something-half-way, 
 
 At the close of a sweltering midsummer day, 
 
 By the East Wind ham grist mill, a mile out of town, 
 
 The flood-gate was up and the water was down ; 
 
 For the owner or miller Job, Peter or Sam, 
 
 Had drawn off the pond while he tinkered the dam ; 
 
 And the bull-frogs that peopled the mud-puddle gloom 
 
 Rubbed heads in the shallows and crowded for room. 
 
 Each croaker, beginning his first serenade, 
 
 Felt a haul and a hitch in the music he made, 
 
 And elbowed his fellows with croupy complaint, 
 
 Till the humor of all took the quarrelsome taint, 
 
 And missing the seat where he commonly sung, 
 
 Every Punch had a crack in his temper and lung. 
 
 "Cudderow, cudderow," grumbled little and great ; 
 
 "You plug," said old Pop-eye. "You plague," said his mate; 
 
 "Jug o' rum," thundered^Yellow throat; "Slum," echoed back, 
 
 The meanest and wartiest sneak in the pack. 
 
 The concert was broken ; they tried it in vain ;
 
 101 
 
 The low-water tangle was symphony's bane. 
 
 Once more, and once more they began it, but no ; 
 
 They could pitch the old notes, but the chime wouldn't go. 
 
 The hole in the milldani had narrowed their brink, 
 
 And stinted their song when it stinted their drink, 
 
 And the mischief had put the whole pond out of tune 
 
 On that moonless and starless old evening in June. 
 
 So it went, till at midnight the jangle of sound 
 Broke loose like a Bedlam shot out of the ground. 
 Had the demon of discord who fingered the dice 
 In the Homeric war of the frogs and the mice 
 Whispered ''rats" down the stream thro' the Windhamite fens 
 And fooled the bog-jumpers to fight their own friends ? 
 Was it witchcraft ? Be sure had it happened before 
 By summers and winters some three and three score, 
 'Twere the toss of a copper some crazy old dame 
 Would have died for the rumpus or shouldered the blame. 
 No, the romantic theory patented last 
 Brings never a broomstick a-whisk on the blast, 
 But calls all the gods of Parnassus to say 
 The colt of Minerva that night got away 
 And found that just here, at the critical time, 
 He had put "his foot in it," and started a rhyme, 
 And stirred up the angry batrachian Mars 
 To an uproar that frightened him back to the stars. 
 
 Go down on the old Scotland turnpike, and guess 
 The rage and the ramp of that web-footed mess 
 And the blatant alarm in our forefathers' ears 
 That could echo a hundred and thirty-eight years. 
 All the frogs in the fables ran never so mad 
 As the tribe in that basin that went to the bad 
 When the touch of a vagabond sprite set afire 
 Every cold-blooded liver that grew in the mire. 
 A thousand blind furies in bottle-green coats 
 Fell afoul with a howl and a clutching of throats, 
 And the battle waxed hot, and the swell of the storm 
 Swept in every reptile that croaked in the swarm, 
 Till the whole slimy kindred of Jack-in-the-pool 
 Were twisted and mixed like a mackerel school 
 In a slippery, squirming, unspeakable hash 
 Of lunatic frenzy to strangle and smash. 
 There was Blunderhead crushing poor Peep like an egg, 
 There was Drum-Billy butting young Grasshopper-leg, 
 There were Humpback and Cottonmouth, Shiney and Stripe, 
 Hee-haw, Wallow-swallow, Bim-bome, Little-pipe, 
 Thorough-bass, Ganderfoot, Wapperjaw, Doubledone,
 
 102 
 
 And Bulldoze, and Speckle, and Son-of-a-gun, 
 And Tom-in-the-cattails, and Crocodile-rib, 
 And giant Swamp-cabbage, and dwarf Yellow-bib, 
 And Longshank, and Polly-wog, White-eye, and Turk, 
 And Dog-face, and Loafer-that-watche's-the-work, 
 Peagreen, Silver-Dude, Monkey-nose, and Dull-thud, 
 And Bawler, and Sprawler, and Stick-in-the-mud, 
 And fat Beetle-dragon, and slim Hammer-tongue, 
 And Quack, and Fog-trumpet, and Chop, and Cow-lung, 
 Go-bang, Bellows-bag, Shovel-lip, Thunder-bug, 
 And Wheezer, and Sneezer, and Honker and Chug, 
 And Squatter, and Squealer, and Brag, and Bow-wow, 
 All mixed in the tussle, and booming the row. 
 
 They kicked, and they splashed, and they spattered and 
 
 swore, ' 
 
 They wrestled and tumbled all over the shore : 
 There were scrapings and scratchings without any claws, 
 There were biters that hadn't a tooth in their jaws, 
 There were chokings and pinchings nobody could see, 
 And death to the undermost wretch in the spree. 
 The mill-water smoked like a buffalo-drive, 
 The midnight, the darkness itself seemed alive. 
 The black hurly burly shot horrible sounds 
 Like the Wild Hunter's bugle and bellowing hounds, 
 Or the Walpurgis revel that suddenly starts 
 At the bidding of fiends in the glens of the Hartz; 
 And the trick of the air made them gather and go 
 To the westward, away from the valley below 
 So high that the miller-folk, seasoned to all 
 The dogs on the turnpike and cats on the wall, 
 Lay still while the frogs clamored hither and yon, 
 And let the uncouth bombilation go on, 
 Tho" it jarred every bedstead and window and door 
 As if a small earthquake rolled under the floor. 
 But the roar on the east wind, that went to the town, 
 No charm could break up and no reason sleep down. 
 It tore thro' the heart of the mid-summer calm, 
 And shook all the clouds over Joshua's farm. 
 Every bird on its roost felt the rush of the rout, 
 Every leaf on the dew-dabbled trees was a shout, 
 Every cubical inch of the shivering mist 
 Held an ounce of blue thunder that hit like a fist, 
 And, alas, for the house that was shingled too thin 
 When the dream-breaking din-devil knocked to come in! 
 
 The first human soul in the village awake 
 Was a poor rattled negro the minister's Jake
 
 103 
 
 Who ran thro' the streets at a hurricane pace 
 
 With a budget of tidings as black as his face, 
 
 And howled at the windows on Meeting-house Square, 
 
 "Dar's sumfin' a happenin' up in the air!" 
 
 What is it? The sleepers pick open their eyes; 
 
 Every hair of their heads is a creeping surprise. 
 
 The pillows are empty before the cock-crow: 
 
 It has come Windham's historic moment of woe! 
 
 In night-caps and slumber-gowns, barefoot and pale, 
 
 The people stand helpless, like weeds in a gale. 
 
 From the roar of the Babel which way will they fly? 
 
 They huddle, they shudder, they whisper, they cry, 
 
 With hearts that stop beating, and faces that blench 
 
 "Prepare for the Indians! Look out for the French! 
 
 There's a tomahawk dance, and a battle refrain! 
 
 The powows are out, over on Che wink Plain!" 
 
 They listen; the clamor grows heavy and grum 
 
 The tramp of an army! the throb of the drum! 
 
 Till the sound's very fury the notion destroys; 
 
 Would a foe that was "stealing a march" make a noise? 
 
 Some terror more solemn than war must be nigh: 
 
 'Twas the trump of the Judgment, the wreck of the sky! 
 
 Ah, sufferers smitten with sense of their blames! 
 Some fancied strange voices repeating their names. 
 Grave town-folk of local and civil repute, 
 Plain yeomen, sharp tradesmen, stood ghastly and mute, 
 And lawyers, and doctors, and deacons, appalled, 
 Wondered how came the summons, and why they were called; 
 And loudest of all in the frightful ado 
 Rang up "Col. Dyer!" and "Elderkin too!" 
 
 What said the stout Colonel now sleeps in his grave. 
 But the thought of poor Cuffee, his gray-headed slave, 
 When he caught the wild note of the ending of Time, 
 Came out like a victor-cry, quaintly sublime, 
 "I'm glad on't, I be! I'm glad on't, I be! 
 My hard work is ober dis niggah is free!" 
 There were wailings of children afraid of their lives, 
 There were shriekings and swoonings of mothers and wives 
 There were shakings of strong men, and pallors of dread, 
 And rash words, forgotten the hour they were said, 
 There was mounting in haste by the bravest ^they say 
 The horsemen were Elderkin, Dyer, and Gray), 
 And they rode with a watch, and they rode with a will 
 Straight out of the village and up Mullein Hill, 
 Then silently back, with a sting in their ears, 
 And a smile for the women and children in tears,
 
 104 
 
 And the sounds in the sky grew less awful and loud 
 When a curt explanation had scattered the crowd, 
 Till the hubbub and horror died where they were born, 
 And the scare of the midnight left shanie for the rnorn. 
 
 But the cry of poor Cuffee, wrung out of a breast 
 That never knew Liberty's blessing of rest, 
 As it spoke thro' the tumult of doom in the air 
 The pathos of triumph in spite of despair, 
 Still lives in the lore of that wonderful fright, 
 To challenge a world that denied him his right, 
 And tells of the patience its burden that bore 
 So long without hope it could dread nothing more. 
 Could the pity of heaven, that counted his tears, 
 Have lengthened and strengthed his life thirty years, 
 Till the Blue-law dominion turned white in the sun 
 That shone on her freedom when justice was done, 
 The simple old slave in his happy surprise 
 Would have known that God's angel, tho' slowly he flies, 
 May come to the help of His mourners, and say 
 Some great benedictions before the Last Day. 
 But he knew it when death on his ebony brow 
 Put his crown, and he knows it in jubilee now, 
 While Peace o'er his ashes, in blossoming turf, 
 Writes "king" on the ground where he toiled as a serf, 
 And her benison falls, like a leaf from a tree, 
 "His hard work is over, the bondman is free." 
 
 When the morning was bright and the water was still 
 
 The good Windham fathers went down to the mill, 
 
 Where, in white-bellied ruin turned up to the day, 
 
 The last that was left of the mystery lay. 
 
 'Twas a mystery still. Of the hundreds they found 
 
 On the battle-field slain not a frog had a wound ! 
 
 And whether they worried themselves out of breath 
 
 Or were strangled and bulldozed, and bellowed to death 
 
 Or squelched by the nightmare that rode in the fen, 
 
 Is as much of a riddle this moment as then ; 
 
 And the poets who rhyme the old story, and feign 
 
 A demigod's doing where none can explain, 
 
 May kill off the frogs with an epic or ode, 
 
 And leave the whole question to run in the road. 
 
 The sound of a harp built a city in Greece, 
 And Rome was once saved by the cackle of geese 
 Great London grew rich by a grasshopper's chat, 
 And her longest lord mayor was made by a cat.
 
 105 
 
 As we come in the prime of our own ninety-two 
 
 To the scene of last century's June bugaboo, 
 
 Our meed to its memory measures its claim, 
 
 To the worth of all trifles that bloom into fame. 
 
 We'll grudge not a whit of its folly and fun 
 
 To the legend that gave us our marvellous run, 
 
 But leaving our rivals, who banter our prize, 
 
 To the fate of the dealer who don't advertise, 
 
 Like the church or the party that wears on its breast 
 
 The nickname its enemies gave it in jest, 
 
 We'll nail to our lintels the bullfrog burgee 
 
 Of the Windham that was for the Windham to be. 
 
 Another century; and these pleasant fields, 
 
 Still rich with all the sweets that summer yields, 
 
 Asked of the streets, that made them no reply, 
 
 Where were the busy throngs that once passed by. 
 
 From Quinnebaug the cocks of Brooklyn crew, 
 
 "Keep the old court house and we'll keep the new." 
 
 And all the partridges of Pond-town beat 
 
 "Old Windham is no more the county seat." 
 
 The lonely mother took a last survey 
 
 O'er the broad freeholds she had given away, 
 
 Then saw, between her rivers narrowed down, 
 
 Her suburb more a city than a town, 
 
 And swift divining, as she viewed the scene, 
 
 The mammon mystery of her slighted Green, 
 
 Admired the thrifty paradox that planned 
 
 To swell her census while it shrank her land. 
 
 Enough that Fate's decree, and Plutus' will, 
 
 Emptied the farmhouse and o'erflowed the mill, 
 
 Her life was like the years that marked her walls, 
 
 Pure at the spring and wealthy at the Falls. 
 
 Old "Center," helpless in her lean extreme, 
 
 Must move, or die or radiate up the stream. 
 
 She chose the last, to please the civil whim 
 
 That stints the heart to feed the biggest limb. 
 
 Her churches knocked at Willimantic doors; 
 
 Her offices, fire companies, and stores 
 
 Went the same way; the taverns marched in rank, 
 
 And last of all went Windham County Bank. 
 
 (I pause to nurse a quaint remembrance here, 
 That bank and I were born the self-same year. 
 I mind its notes, between whose figures poked 
 Two frogs so lifelike that they almost croaked; 
 The original "greenbacks," of the native race,
 
 106 
 
 That long anticipated Salmon Chase, 
 They blossomed, like pond lilies from the mud, 
 Memento of a war that shed no blood, 
 And proof how frugal wit a joke can seize 
 And turn to shrewd account the sorest tease. 
 That bank held my first pittance in its tills; 
 I went through college on those bull-frog bills; 
 And when my next ancestral check comes in 
 I'll get the cash from my old fiscal twin.) 
 
 Home of my sires, on thy historic clock, 
 
 Since Captain Abbee out of Norwich dock 
 
 Sailed the sloop Windham, with its pennon slim, 
 
 Its golden-lettered streak, its snowy trim, 
 
 Its green frog figurehead and proudly bore 
 
 Thy modest commerce to Manhattan's shore, 
 
 Time's creeping hands have crossed the age of steam, 
 
 To where the lightnings of new noonday gleam, 
 
 And the town Windham, with her helm alee, 
 
 Swings into port, and rigs again for sea. 
 
 Fate, to this summit hour from long ago 
 
 Twice round the century -dial following slow, 
 
 Has left forever shining by the way 
 
 Some broken sunbeams of each faded day. 
 
 The light of old instruction will not fail 
 
 The church that gave a president to Yale; 
 
 Old patriotism haunts the place that bred 
 
 One of the Signers whom John Hancock led; 
 
 Old courage lives that burned in heroes' veins 
 
 Who, from this village, fought in four campaigns; 
 
 Old worth and wisdom in the garden wait 
 
 That raised a full-grown governor of the state; 
 
 The same old Word bears witness unimpeached, 
 
 Where stalwart Whiting and Devotion preached; 
 
 And if old basement thrift has climbed up stairs 
 
 God bless our wealth, and save our millionaires! 
 
 Our mother! backward to thy mornjng star 
 We scan the past that made us what we are. 
 Tell us, thy debtors, tell us, nurse of men, 
 What Windham-now can do for Windham-then. 
 Her ancient silence grows a vision seen 
 There stands a cenotaph on yonder Green 
 Its polished tablets rich with names and dates, 
 Its bust the ideal form of Founder Cates. 
 Recumbent round his shaft their living sons
 
 107 
 
 Count his ten colleagues in eternal bronze ; 
 Along the solid plinth, in cameo brown, 
 Brave scenes of civic story sketch the town, 
 While keen beholders, questioning below, 
 Spy the bent shapes of Cuffee'and poor Joe, 
 And in one small cartouche, obscurer still, 
 The carved fac simile of a frog bank bill. 
 
 Bucolic hamlet, if thy children say 
 Such monuments are money thrown away, 
 Bid them at least in sacred honor hold 
 The lingering remnants of thy life of old, 
 Preserve the pious hopes and pure desires 
 That fed and fanned her morning altar-fires, 
 And teach again thy first domestic lore 
 In modern homes where hearthstones glow no more. 
 
 To thee, fair Centre, pilgrims, fain to greet 
 Thy busy borough clamoring at thy feet, 
 Soon tiring of its bustle and its throng, 
 When earth is bright and summer days are long, 
 Escape, where nature never hears or feels 
 The humming spindles and the roaring wheels. 
 Thy scene of leafy calm and breezy space 
 To us will every year be "Hither Place" 
 Until thy vanished saints in dream pass by 
 And call us to the Yonder Place on high.
 
 AT HOME. 
 
 [BY JOSEPHINE M. ROBBINS.] 
 
 We come to-day with friendly hearts, 
 
 With cordial words and true, 
 
 To tender greetings from our town 
 
 To this old town and you. 
 
 We feel to-day as they may feel 
 
 Who to their own home band 
 
 Come back from other homes to clasp 
 
 Their dear ones by the hand. 
 
 We once were yours ! Our little town 
 
 Was once of yours a part, 
 
 And side by side we walked with you, 
 
 Thought flew from heart to heart. 
 
 When tyranny upon the throne 
 
 Sought to lay freedom low, 
 
 Our sires with yours went forth to meet 
 
 And fight a foreign foe. 
 
 At Bowling Green one helped to pull 
 
 King George's statue down, 
 
 At sad Long Island's brave retreat 
 
 One marched with Washington 
 
 Close at his side, so near a hand 
 
 Might almost touch his cloak. 
 
 All night he marched in solemn tread, 
 
 No word the silence broke. 
 
 All through New Jersey's sharp campaign 
 
 Our soldier's camp fire burned 
 
 With Arnold, Durkee, Knowlton, till 
 
 The tide of war was turned. 
 
 A valiant son of worthy sire, 
 
 Who at his country's beck, 
 
 Went forth with gallant Wolfe, to aid 
 
 In the taking of Quebec.
 
 109 
 
 Long years they've rested side by side 
 
 In the churchyard in the vale. 
 
 Three other names are there, brave hearts 
 
 Whose courage did not quail, 
 
 One starving on a war ship lay 
 
 Thro' months of weary pain, 
 
 Yet lived to see his friends and home 
 
 And little ones again. 
 
 In 1812 when British ships 
 
 As they had done before, 
 
 Threatened with faggot and with fire 
 
 The towns along the shore, 
 
 Our sires with yours went bravely forth 
 
 And quickly marching down 
 
 Saved, by their presence, from the torch, 
 
 The threatened harbor town. 
 
 When treason reared its hydra head 
 
 In freedom's darkest night, 
 
 Our men with yours went side by side, 
 
 To battle for the right. 
 
 God knoweth and man knows their deeds, 
 
 How bravely and how well 
 
 They bore the brunt of battle shock, 
 
 The pain of prison cell. 
 
 Our hopes, our joys, our interests 
 
 With yours are still the same, 
 
 If you do well we share with you 
 
 The glory and the fame. 
 
 We love to name when far from home, 
 
 Our country brave and true, 
 
 Old Windham County, dear to all, 
 
 Received its name from you. 
 
 Long as her rocky hills shall last, 
 
 Long as her rivers run, 
 
 The memory of her gallant deeds, 
 
 Her battles bravely won, 
 
 Shall dwell within her children's hearts, 
 
 Wherever they may roam, 
 
 And coming to Old Windham Green, 
 
 Be always coming home.
 
 THE FIRST SETTLER. 
 
 [BY JANE GAY FULLER.] 
 
 Two hundred years ago, they say, 
 A homeless exile came this way, 
 In search of some secure retreat 
 For weary head and weary feet. 
 From colony to colony 
 The man had wandered ; never free 
 From apprehension, and the dread 
 Of sovereign vengeance on his head ; 
 For what offence we cannot tell, 
 As he preserved the secret well. 
 
 'Tis said he was a regicide, 
 
 Whose hands in royal blood were dyed ; 
 
 It seems most probable, for then 
 
 The regicides were death-doomed men. 
 
 But little know we of this man, 
 
 Except he was a Puritan 
 
 Who rode with Cromwell side by side 
 
 And sang, "I/et God be glorified," 
 
 While hurling weapons at the foe ; 
 
 P v or honest men will fight you know 
 
 For church and creed so long ago ; 
 
 And toleration was not learned 
 
 While Quakers hung, and witches burned, 
 
 And good men thought to pleasure God 
 
 With whipping-post and scourging-rod. 
 
 In times like these our settler came, 
 And left behind him home and name ; 
 He called himself John Gates, but we 
 Have never learned his pedigree. 
 It matters not ; enough renown 
 To be the Father of our Town.
 
 Ill 
 
 He was not poor ; he had enough 
 Of worldly raiment, worldly stuff, 
 With gold and silver in his chest, 
 Brought from afar o'er land and wave 
 Nor was he Abolitionist, 
 For in the South he bought a slave, 
 
 A trusty servant, faithful friend, 
 Who loved his master to the end. 
 You all have heard of ''Guinea Joe," 
 Who would have been a settler, too, 
 If he had been a man, you know ! 
 
 The forest welcomed him ! The breeze 
 Brought back the tuneful melodies 
 His childhood loved beyond the seas ! 
 And blue-birds sang, and blossoms sprang 
 To cheer the lonely-hearted man, 
 Till others came ; then life began 
 Anew for the poor refugee 
 Unsought in his obscurity. 
 
 Two hundred years have passed away, 
 Years of progression and decay ; 
 Old names have vanished, old renown ; 
 But the first settler of our town 
 Will live in Windham history 
 While children learn their a-b-c, 
 And pious laymen and divine 
 Drinks from his cups the sacred wine. 
 
 We owe this man, for treasure lent 
 To church and school, a monument. 
 A debt of honor ! Townsmen say 
 "We'll guarantee that debt to-day ! "
 
 " THE TOWN OF SCOTLAND.' 
 
 [RESPONSE BY EDWIN BAKER GAGER.] 
 
 Mr. Chairman , Ladies and Gentlemen: 
 
 When I received the invitation of your secretary to re- 
 spond for the youngest of Old Windham's daughters, my 
 native town of Scotland, I could do nothing else than 
 comply. In form only was it a request. In spirit it was 
 imperative. And I was in the position of the old Puritan 
 believer in foreordination whom Dr. Twichell told of at 
 the last New England dinner in New York. A certain 
 thing had to be done by him which he much disliked to 
 do, and he said, "I wouldn't do it if I didn't believe it 
 had been foreordained from all eternity, and I've a good 
 mind not to anyhow." I thought of the beautiful valley 
 over beyond the eastern hills and the kindly spirit of the 
 friends over there who joined with your .secretary in ask- 
 ing me to answer for them, and here I am. 
 
 I have the youngest daughter of this venerable town to 
 answer for and in this I am fortunate. The youngest 
 daughter is always the favorite. If not exceeding large 
 in territory or population nor very heavily loaded down 
 with the material results which are the goal of this rush- 
 ing, busy age, yet she is very fair to look upon, she has 
 an indomitable spirit and is greatly beloved of her own ; 
 and in the turn of fickle Fortune's wheel we look for 
 something which shall lift her out of her present material 
 languishment and again adorn her with those jewels of 
 which she has been temporarily stripped by the chance of 
 industrial development.
 
 
 agentleman born In 
 nd&the first fefleller 
 in theTown of Wrndhain by his 
 
 the gave 
 
 generous egacy To fi 
 of CHRIST In V/incFhamln pl* 
 a generous Legacy InLand for 
 & another^ 
 
 Le ^ at ^ for ^ Support of y School, 
 In Said Town for Ever 5 lie died 
 
 :''mmmmzm& 
 
 GATES MEMORIAL TABLET AT WINDHAM CEMETERY.
 
 113 
 
 If our town does not to-day occupy the relatively high 
 position she held thirty or even a hundred years ago, if, 
 like Hecuba, she sits alone mourning for her children who 
 have gone, it is not because they are lost, but because she 
 has lavished her strength upon other communities. In 
 1860 her population was something like one thousand, 
 now it is less than five hundred. Would you find them? 
 Go to Providence, to Norwich, to Hartford; go far west to 
 Nebraska, where is an entire colony of Scotland people; 
 go to Willimantic, come right to Windham, where you 
 have chosen a Scotland boy for your secretary, and there 
 are the thriving, energetic people who would still have been 
 within our borders had it not been for the accident of rail- 
 way location and the absence of water-power; there is the 
 brawn and muscle and mental power which Scotland has 
 produced. 
 
 From the migration to Wyoming, way back in our his- 
 tory, even to the present, we have sent out a stream of 
 emigrants to other parts of this state and of the nation. 
 As a town, we have cast our bread upon the waters and 
 we hope and believe that after many days it will return, 
 as it has already begun to do in many of our country 
 towns, as it has begun to do, if I mistake not, here about 
 this very Windham Green. 
 
 These epochal celebrations are well worth noting care- 
 fully. For all of us, youngest as well as oldest, it is 
 "now or never." The "Elixir of Lite" is still to be 
 found, and one celebration like this is our limit. In this 
 rushing, restless busy age, our gaze is so fixed upon the 
 present and immediate future, that there is danger lest we 
 lose our bearings, that we become intoxicated by the mad 
 whirl of this era of steam and electricity. It is well, as 
 we have done to-day, to take in our history at a single 
 glance, to grasp it as a whole, to consider our small be- 
 ginnings and the long and often arduous struggle of two 
 hundred years through which "God hath brought us on 
 our way." Such a survey tends to sober us up, to show 
 us what a slow process this historical growth has been,
 
 114 
 
 and that we should not be too proud of the present, for 
 when the quadricentennial of this old town is held, we 
 with our celebration here to-day will seem quite as 
 phantasmal, quite as quaint and unreal, as the few settlers 
 who held the first meeting of this town in June, 1692, now 
 seem to us. It is a good time to study up our local his- 
 tory, to bring back the dwellers in the ancient cemeteries 
 of our towns and make the old times pass in panoramic 
 view before us. This work has been done for us in the 
 able sketches of Mr. Weaver and Mr. Lincoln. By them 
 these two hundred years now gone have been made very 
 real, and there is not one of us who has listened to these 
 historical sketches, but has felt his love for Old Windham 
 and for the parts of it which have set up for themselves 
 revivified and strengthened. 
 
 Speaking for the inhabitants of Scotland and for my- 
 self, we are proud of the honorable history of Windham. 
 We are proud too of the part we have played in the his- 
 tory of this town. We do not wonder that you. did not 
 wish us to go, or that you compelled us to serve seven, 
 yes a dozen times seven years, before we got our freedom, 
 and even then we went without a dowry. No, not quite 
 without, for our history for a hundred and fifty years, 
 though written with that of Windham, was after all our 
 own. And as I listen to Windham' s story and the part 
 our town has played in it, as I read of the Devotions and 
 Waldos, and Kingsleys, and Robinsons, and Carys, and 
 Palmers, and Basses, and Huntiiigtons, of the Webbs, 
 and Burnhams, and Tracy s, and Fullers, and many more 
 I might name, descendants of the Huguenot and Scotch 
 Presbyterian settlers, I thank the kind Providence which 
 led these men to follow the lead of the Scotchman, Isaac 
 Magoon, and pitch their tents in the charming valley 
 named from the most picturesque and charming portion of 
 the British Isles. 
 
 When we who have gone out from this old, new town 
 think on these things, surely we feel our hearts within us 
 burn, we think fondly of the memories of our early days
 
 115 
 
 spent upon its rugged hillsides and in its pleasant valleys, 
 we search to the ends of the earth to find the whereabouts 
 of our early companions, lovingly and reverently we 
 think of our kindred sleeping their last sleep in its bosom, 
 and for those who remain to guard the ancient firesides, 
 we say, God be with you. Make you keep the altar fires 
 of these old families burning, may you live to see our 
 town take a new lease of life, when it shall again become 
 what it was a century ago, an intellectual and a social 
 center for the communities round about.
 
 'THE YOUNGER GENERATION." 
 
 [RESPONSE BY AMOS LAWRENCE HATHEWAY.] 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
 
 In rising so late, and after so ample a literary feast as 
 we have had to-day, I am reminded of the story of the 
 after-dinner orator who responded to a toast very late in 
 the evening. "At this late hour," said he, in a voice full 
 of yearning, "after so full a measure of rhyme and reason 
 has been meted out to you, what can I say to you what 
 shall I talk about?" And the unexpected response came 
 promptly from a wearied patriot at the foot of the table 
 "Talk about a minute!" I can almost fancy that I hear 
 this same request coming up to me here now, and I cannot 
 but be brief. 
 
 Although I stand for the younger generation here to- 
 day, I am yet a lover of old times, old places, old faces 
 and old memories. Everything that has power to win the 
 abiding respect and obedience of men must have the 
 springs of its being deep in the past, and it seems to me a 
 most fortunate thing for us, the younger generation here 
 represented, that our lives run back to just such old towns 
 as this, with their accumulated wealth of sacred associa- 
 tions and clustering memories; and to-day as old Wind- 
 ham sits here like a Queen Mother, garlanded in all the 
 leafy loveliness of June, and calls her sons and daughters 
 about her to celebrate her natal day, I deem it a matter 
 of especial pride to be numbered among her children. 
 
 It is a great thing for a township or a nation to be able 
 to look back to a race of founders and a principle of insti-
 
 117 
 
 tution in which it may see the realized ideal of nobility. 
 Scholars have grown old and blind in striving to put their 
 hands on the very spots where bold men have spoken and 
 brave men have died; and commemorations such as this, 
 when the old traditions are revived, old friendships ce- 
 mented, and the noble lives of our heroic age held up in 
 loving remembrance, are faithful teachers of the lessons 
 of the past. They are the very poetry of history, and we 
 shall spend no day in all the year which we shall devote 
 to a higher or more satisfying purpose. 
 
 It has been to us a day of ennobling retrospect. We 
 have wiped the dust from the urns of the fathers and fol- 
 lowed their story step by step in the faithful narration of 
 the historians. We have stood beside those early plough- 
 men as they sowed the seed with prayerful tears; we have 
 traced their lines of glory through all the vicissitudes of 
 their wondrous pilgrimage to the season of their noble 
 harvest, and in the uplift and inspiration of their lives of 
 sacrifice and devotion to principle, we have risen to the 
 heights of the sublime faith of Tennyson until we 
 
 * "Doubt not through the ages 
 
 One increasing purpose runs, 
 And the thoughts of men are widened 
 With the process of the suns!" 
 
 But such a day must not be given up to congratulation 
 and happy retrospect alone. In our admiration of the 
 Past we must not forget the ever-living Present, and that 
 unhorizoned Future just beyond. 
 
 Are the traditions ended? Is our story done? Have 
 we heard it all? We are sometimes told so! Ever since 
 Oliver Goldsmith wrote his "Deserted Village" it has 
 seemed to be the fashion to read in the tender melancholy 
 of those lines to Fair Auburn the epitaph of the old New 
 England towns, and to-day in particular, the materialistic 
 and hustling spirit of the age, devoid of sentiment or finer 
 feeling, flaunts itself with brazen boldness and tells us 
 we are stranded on the hilltops and left behind, while the 
 great stream and tide of the world's progress rushes by!
 
 118 
 
 This, it seems to me, is the narrowest, and shallowest, 
 the most paltry and trifling and altogether unworthy ut- 
 terance of these latter days. Why, Sir, it took two hun- 
 dred years of training in the hard school of oppression in 
 the old world from Magna Charta down to Cromwell, 
 and on to that fateful night when the Mayflower led her 
 "star-guided furrow" out upon the waves of the "aston- 
 ished sea" to mould, and fashion, and temper the spirit 
 of the men who founded these old townships! They es- 
 tablished and vindicated here the principles of representa- 
 tive government and laid deep, and sure, and for all time, 
 the foundations of a mighty state, with no king but an 
 upright conscience, and upon whose bright banner was in- 
 scribed that new legend of promise that the seat of author- 
 ity should be in the breasts of freemen! 
 
 The world knows their story all by heart. Their work 
 was nobly conceived and grandly done, but we who in- 
 herit the fruits of their labors our work is but just begun! 
 
 The fathers have fought the wars, cleared the forests, 
 subdued the country and opened the wa)' to this day of 
 wonderful, surpassing prosperity. Ours are "the piping 
 times of peace," a day of great industrial activity. An 
 intensely materialistic spirit is rampant among us, the 
 whole country seems to have spontaneously organized it- 
 self into a great modern pilgrimage of ' 'Jason in search of 
 the golden fleece." Our nation has followed the westward 
 course of empire until it has laid hands on both oceans and 
 levied tribute there, and we are to-day the granary, the 
 workshop and the political hope of the world! Our accom- 
 plishments of material prosperity are stupendous and in- 
 spiring, but the inevitable responsibilities which go hand 
 in hand with such endowments should give us pause. We 
 should ask ourselves whether we are not tending to be- 
 come a nation of men of one idea, bounding our horizon 
 by the rim of the almighty dollar, whether we are not in 
 danger of thinking altogether too much of tariff and sil- 
 ver and cotton and spindles, and too little of the bright 
 ideals on which our national life is founded! There are
 
 119 
 
 feelings dearer than interest. There is a consummation 
 more devoutly to be wished than mere material gain! 
 
 We are to-day sixty millions of people occupying a 
 country capable of sustaining six hundred millions. By 
 far the larger portion of our people have no common an- 
 cestry in the Revolution or the early days. Colonists are 
 pouring in upon us from the states of the old world, bring- 
 ing with them the languages and customs and intuitions 
 of the Fatherland, and bringing with them their moss- 
 grown prejudices and their political diseases too. Once 
 here citizenship is easy altogether too easy, it seems to- 
 me, Mr. President and each raw immigrant speedily be- 
 comes part of the sovereign mind and will. In the new 
 states of the far West only one-fifth to one fourth of the 
 citizens are natives, and this great, swelling tide of new 
 citizenship must be taught to organize its communities on 
 the basis here first worked out, and to meet every question 
 of national import in the true American spirit! In the so- 
 lution of the pressing problems of our day, the sheet-anchor 
 of the Ship of State is the trained intelligence and clear- 
 eyed patriotism of those whose inheritance is here! The 
 South through her tears and in the new-born hope of a 
 better day looks to us to preserve the stately models of the 
 past; the mighty West sings with her teeming harvests be- 
 cause she knows that here, on these old hills, the securi- 
 ties of conservatism go hand in hand with the hope of 
 progress! 
 
 Such then is the high privilege, such the mission and 
 the happy duty of the old New England township in these 
 latter days though sketched but dimly. We are the near- 
 est of the children to the homes of the Fathers. To us it 
 is given to guard their sacred graves, to bear their hon- 
 ored names and to hold up to the emulation of the nation 
 their simple, steadfast lives! 
 
 The mission of these old towns can never be completely 
 fulfilled while we have a country which needs to be 
 taught their lessons of faith and constancy and devotion. 
 To us is given as a sacred trust the legacy of those sim-
 
 120 
 
 pie, sturdy days of "high thinking and plain living," to 
 us the treasuring churchyard, the old schoolhouse, the 
 old mill, to us all the sweet and tender influences of those 
 far-off days, to us the sober melody of the "church going 
 bell" and the "Cotter's Saturday night"! Is it not a 
 priceless inheritance? Let us guard it well ! For so, and 
 so only, shall we in any measure repay the debt which the 
 present generation owes to the Future. So shall conflicts 
 of material interests be blended in happy compromise, and 
 so, in the words of another, shall "the faith of the Fathers 
 and the kindled imagination of the Sons unite us in a 
 grand and noble ideal of the Great Republic."
 
 "HEARSAY." 
 
 [RESPONSE BY CHARLES SMITH ABBE.] 
 
 In attempting to gather for oratorical purposes the 
 minutes of a period embracing two centuries of this 
 town's history, one is impressed with the amount of dis- 
 connected material furnished by historical documents. 
 The preceding gentlemen have rendered a continuity of 
 thought so admirably that for me to ask you over the 
 ground again seems but to assume the role of plagiarist; 
 but there are links in the chain which need strengthening, 
 so I beg your attention for a little, fully aware of the 
 delicate ground I am treading. 
 
 Just one word before our retrospect. I feel it my 
 bounden duty to explain how I am here, if I can. 
 
 My first intimation of this bi-centennial was a card 
 mailed me, to a suburb of Windham (Boston) about the 
 23rd of May, by your honorable president, asking if I 
 would assist at the obsequies. I consented, as I had be- 
 fore painted and decorated towns, although not aware my 
 reputation was so national. 
 
 Almost immediately upon arrival, I saw there had been 
 an oversight my name was not on the card. President 
 Smith had received my letter of acceptance I could not 
 understand it. I must get into print somewhere. I made 
 known my desire to your president ; he would see what 
 could be done. A few hours later I was waited on by 
 several gentlemen of the honorary committee, and re- 
 quested to furnish them proof I was a descendant of 
 Old Windham, that being the open sesame to the card. 
 They had been into the cemetery and copied every name
 
 122 
 
 there, mine was not on the list. I insisted Abbe was 
 among the number, but to no avail. I appealed to them 
 as a body No ! I appealed to them as descendants 
 No ! ! I asked them to recognize me as one who had 
 made some name for the town away from home ; positively, 
 No ! ! ! I began to think the celebration would be a fail- 
 ure, when luckily I read Mr. William Wales's name. I 
 drew him aside and said, "Mr. Wales, you have known 
 me from the time of Moses ; can you honestly say my 
 name should not be on that list ? ' ' 
 
 "Charlie," said he, "I admit that you are one of us, 
 but I've heard say one of your ancestors stole a sheep 
 from the minister, took it the next morning to him. and 
 tried to pay his church tax with it, so of course I could 
 not consent to have such occurrences brought to light by 
 people discovering the name Abbe on the card, especially 
 among the honorary committee." 
 
 I then tried the reception committee, they knew the 
 story ; also the finance committee. I almost succeeded in 
 getting in there, but at the last moment Mr. H. Hatch 
 said he'd "rather give five dollars than have my name 
 with his' n." So I moved on. The programme commit- 
 tee Well, I had some choice I didn't care to be with 
 them. The collation committee I am sorry I ever saw. 
 The relic committee here is where I do get in, for surely 
 I can prove I am a relic. I saw the lady and gentlemen 
 relics, and said, "Allow me to enter your body, I am Mr. 
 Charles Abbe. I I ," "Yes, yes, that is all an old 
 story, by what proof do you support your desire to become 
 one of us?" I said, "Allow me to ask in return, how 
 does, well, say Mr. Guilford Smith, support his claim?" 
 They answered, "Why he is one of the best preserved 
 relics we have, being loaned us by the Smithsonian In- 
 stitute at Washington, D. C.," etc., etc., till finally I 
 gave up trying to prove I was even a relic. 
 
 So I enter your midst under my own head, "Amusement 
 Committee" entire, and call my subject "Hearsay," for 
 this reason: I gleaned my information from a gentleman
 
 123 
 
 whose name you are all familiar with, but whose personal 
 acquaintance extended to onl} r the four hundred of Wind- 
 ham's oldest families. I refer to Mr. John Gates. 
 
 My great, great, grandfather I omit two adjectives 
 for all my Grandpa Abbes were great, had a formal ac- 
 quaintance with John Gates, but I think no one was 
 chummy enough with Johnnie to swap stories as I did en 
 route here this morning. It came about this way : 
 
 I started at 2 a. m., knowing how limited would be ac- 
 commodations, but at the next similar celebration I shall 
 start even earlier, as there must have been some who 
 didn't go to bed at all ; for upon arrival I found every 
 seat taken, and [looking at watch] I've been standing all 
 this time. 
 
 To resume, as I crossed the New London Northern 
 tracks, I was accosted by a person 'of singular mien, pale 
 and haggard, dressed in Puritanical costume, high conical 
 wide-brimmed hat, long cloak, under which I discerned, 
 collar and cuffs, brown jacket, knee breeches, broad shoes, 
 with buckles, and who said, "Illustrious stranger, art 
 travelling far?" 
 
 "Less than a league, and would be pleased to have 
 company to yonder town." Before we crossed the Hart- 
 ford track he had said, "Bless me, how things change," 
 seven times, and then in a tone of perfect politeness he 
 continued in \vords and manner of a by-gone age, but 
 which for brevity and diction I will deliver modern. 
 
 "I am the original John Gates. I came here from Nor- 
 wich. I slept ]in my cave till an hour ago, when my col- 
 ored man, Joe Ginne, informed me it was time to be on 
 the move if I wished to get a seat." 
 
 "My reason also," I interrupted. 
 
 "Indeed," said he, "I am bound for the Hither Place, 
 I settled there in 1688." 
 
 Taking care to note that he had thoroughly finished, I 
 said, "I ani; k the original Charles Smith Abbe. I came 
 here from Boston. I slept in a brass bedstead 'till an 
 hour ago, whenjny ^electric clock told me I was to be on
 
 124 
 
 the move! I am bound for the Hither Place. You set- 
 tled it in 1688; well, Pm going to settle it to-day I" 
 
 We rode as far as the brick house with Mr. John Stani- 
 ford, when Mr. Gates suggested we were early enough to 
 walk, and that he would enliven the time with stories. I 
 consented also, and we alighted. 
 
 "Let us pause here until I recover my bearings," said 
 he. "Ah, yes, there is Lot No. i, owned by John Mason. 
 In 1730 this lot passed into the possession of the Abbe 
 family, and was the homestead of one of the most noted of 
 the families of old Windham." [I quote from Mr. Weav- 
 er's history for the benefit of the honorary committee, who 
 attempted to socially ostracise me.] "Lot No. 2 Hugh 
 Calkins owned. Jonathan Crane bought that. Lot No. 
 3, I bought of Daniel Mason. When I took it the land 
 was poor, but I labored early and late, and had the satis- 
 faction of getting a good yield. One year in particular, I 
 remember, I pulled up a single beet and bricked up the 
 hole for a well. Another summer I had Joe out all night 
 watching squashes the vines grew so fast they would 
 wear the squash all away dragging it over the ground." 
 
 "Pardon me," I interrupted "but do you remember, 
 Mr. Gates, whether in that translation of the Bible issued 
 during the reign of that most gracious sovereign King 
 James, any mention was made of the fate of Ananias?" 
 
 I think I have before remarked that Mr. Gates and I 
 were chummy, but at this point Mr. Cates's stories seemed 
 to be illustrating the saying, "Young men think the old 
 ones are fools, but the old men know the young ones are." 
 
 "The Rev. Samuel Whiting, Windham's first minis- 
 ter," Mr. Gates continued, "whose residence was near the 
 Green, once told me of a most amusing mistake he made 
 on the second day of his arrival in the Colony. The two 
 Mason families had met with a loss at the same time, but 
 of much difference in character. One had lost an old 
 family horse, the other the husband and father. Mr. 
 Whiting knew of the decease of the husband, but not of 
 the horse.
 
 125 
 
 "As he informed me, newly settled here, and over 
 anxious to perform his consoling duty, he called on the 
 family who had lost the horse, supposing all the while he 
 was with the bereaved ones. The lady of the house re- 
 ceived the new minister with great cordiality, highly 
 pleased with the honor of the first call; and encouraged 
 by his welcome, our reverend, after the usual formal sal- 
 utations, said: 
 
 ' ' 'Sister, my condolence is yours, you have certainly met 
 with a great loss, but I trust you will not be utterly cast 
 down.' 
 
 " 'Yes, indeed, I have; he was so faithful and trustwor- 
 thy, and if I do say it, there wasn't a better one in the 
 place.' 
 
 "'So I've heard, and so regular in his attendance at 
 church.' 
 
 " 'Yes, I drove him to church nearly every Sunday.' 
 
 " 'Drove him! I beg your pardon, I supposed he would 
 attend of his own accord, without being driven.' 
 
 " 'Well, of late years I never took the whip to him, for 
 he was not so lively as he used to be, in fact, no one could 
 ever call him fast.' 
 
 "Our minister could not laugh at this grim joke. He 
 started to say, 'Madam, I ' but she broke in with, 'It 
 wasn't often, but sometimes, old as he was, he got frisky, 
 and then I'd have to curb him.' 
 
 " 'I have heard him spoken of as the patient martyr.' 
 
 " 'Patient? Yes, but there were times when the colt 
 would crop out in him, and then I'd have to cut down 
 his feed, arid he would soon come to time.' 
 
 "'What a Xantippe I am dealing with,' thought our 
 reverend, but he only said, 'Madam, it is the way of all 
 that has life.' But our sister broke in with, 'But withal 
 he was so gentle and kind, his good qualities outweighed 
 his faults; I felt I must keep him for the good he had 
 done.' 
 
 " 'Keep him! Good he had done! ' 
 
 " 'Some of my friends advised me to get rid of him, for 
 he was considerable trouble and expense.'
 
 126 
 
 "Mr. Whiting was so nonplussed, he could only stutter, 
 'Death must have been a welcome release.' 
 
 " 'Oh, yes, of course, and it might have been a mercy 
 if he had died younger.-' 
 
 " 'What!' 
 
 "But the sister capped the climax when she said, 'Now 
 that he is gone I miss him; anything that has come into 
 our lives, a care, we miss, but I can find another, and 
 possibly one that will be of more service to me.' 
 
 "'More service to you! Madam, your depravity appalls 
 me! How you can sit there and speak so of one hardly 
 cold in his grave is past my comprehension. It seems 
 you need no consolation for the death of your husband.' 
 
 " 'Husband! Who said anything about my husband? 
 I've been talking about old Dobbin, a horse we've had 
 since we came to Windham.' 
 
 "Mutual explanations followed, and the madam and the 
 Reverend Mr. Whiting were fast friends for life." 
 
 "Mr. Gates, is there any truth to what you've been tell- 
 ing?" 
 
 "Well," and his eyes glistened with laughter, "I've 
 heard say." 
 
 "Mr. Gates," I said, "for a man of your years this walk 
 and the stories must be using you up. They are me. 
 And now that we have reached the Green, let me speak of 
 the Windham of modern times. The street intersecting 
 the one we came on, or as you know it 'Nipmuck Path', 
 is the old Stage coach thoroughfare from Boston to Hart- 
 ford. I said modern times, yes, for aside from the unlim- 
 ited power of electricity we have progressed from the 
 Indian's trail to the stage coach propelled by the horse, to 
 the locomotive by steam, 'till now, with this new power in 
 its infancy, when by a single strand of wire, we are able 
 to travel a mile a minute; and if we both attend the next 
 bi-cententennial, we shall probably be able to come here 
 by the air line. 
 
 "So in smaller, or shall I say, larger scope, we see the 
 advance of the town. 
 
 "Fifty years ago there were fourteen stores facing this
 
 127 
 
 Green; to-day all swallowed up in that modern idea, the 
 Syndicate, controlled in this instance by Mr. Chester 
 Woodworth ! 
 
 "The churches, in 1820 \Vindham had three, but their 
 work was so efficacious, their revivals so complete, their 
 action so harmonious, that to-day we have only one open 
 regularly, and it is expected by another Christmas, even 
 that will be closed, and we can then rely wholly upon the 
 Sunday papers. 
 
 "And now Mr. Cates," Ladies and Gentlemen, as I 
 seem to have lost Mr. Cates, we are congregated here 
 upon the Hub of Windham on this occasion. Our closing 
 thought is of this Hub, this old Green, this Windham 
 Green. If it could speak it could tell more stories than 
 Mr. John Cates. It might say, "I have seen the time of 
 the Indian, the Puritan, the reverend father, the bull-frog 
 fright, the excitement over the stamp act, Bunker Hill, 
 marching of the men to Boston, Parson White and his 
 daughter's gift, celebration of the independence of the col- 
 onies, Washington's death, events of the War of 1812, 
 War with Mexico, barbecues, Thanksgiving shooting 
 matches, where the participants left the field in a condi- 
 tion best expressed by that line of Longfellow's, "Oh lit- 
 tle feet I'm weary, thinking of your load"; the Bank rob- 
 bery, the call to arms in '61, Emancipation proclamation, 
 Lincoln's assassination, peace again, and now this, the 
 latest public occasion. 
 
 I spoke in the beginning of the links which needed 
 strengthening. I am one of those links, we are all links 
 in that chain, which at the end has the anchor, Windham. 
 We need such occasions as this to strengthen our love, 
 and bind our hearts together, and after we have had com- 
 munion together, what more fitting than that Windham, 
 Old Windham in her gray hairs, should have the last word; 
 
 "Listen! children all, sons and daughters of those gone 
 before; 
 
 I say to you as I said to them:
 
 128 
 
 "In youth I fostered you, in manhood I applauded you; 
 
 In age I say to you, grow old along with me; 
 The best is yet to be, 
 
 The last of life for which the first was made: 
 Our times are in His hands who saith, 'The whole I planned.' 
 
 Youth shows but half; trust God; see all, nor be afraid.' "
 
 WILLIMANTIC IN EIGHTEEN FIFTY. 
 
 [Compiled by Allen B. Lincoln for the Bi-Centennial but not read tor lack of 
 time, and now published by request of the Committee.] 
 
 I wish to give you a picture of Willimantic as it was 
 about the year 1850, at the height of its growth and 
 prosperity as a"Factory village," at the beginnings of the 
 days of the railroad, and showing the foundations on which 
 the present growth to extensive manufacturing, and the 
 beginnings of an educational center, has been reared. 
 Follow me with your mind on the Willimantic of to-day, 
 and you will get a comparative picture of great interest. 
 I do not lay claim to accuracy, but the picture is approxi- 
 mately correct, as to the chief features and families of the 
 town at that date. I am indebted chiefly to General 
 Ivloyd E. Baldwin for information. 
 
 At the west end, stood the Windham Company's mills 
 and store substantially as they are now, with the "Savings 
 Institute" in the second story of the store building; and 
 the six houses of the "Yellow row" beyond, and the 
 "White row" on Main street opposite. Just west of the 
 store on Main street stood Agent A. C. Tingley's resi- 
 dence, a pretentious mansion in those days, now the home 
 of Agent Thomas C. Chandler. North-east of "White 
 Row," and near the present site, stood the First district 
 school house. Away at the west end, as now, stood alone 
 in the wilderness the Hardin Fitch place, occupied then 
 as now by him, and one of the oldest houses, if not the 
 oldest, in town. Between the "White row" and the Har- 
 din Fitch place there were scattered a dozen or fifteen 
 houses, among which were the residences of Deacon D.
 
 130 
 
 Terry, occupied now as then by him; opposite him lived 
 William H. Cranston, in the house now occupied by his 
 grandson, Allen L. Cranston ; next east on the corner of 
 Hoooer's L,ane (now Winter street) lived Harry Boss; a 
 few rods east lived Warren Atwood, and nearly opposite 
 from him, in the house now the second east of Mansfield 
 avenue, lived Dr. Asahel Tarbox. 
 
 Over the river, at the west end of what is now Pleasant 
 street, was the principal residence district. Then 
 as now the first house east of ''Card Road," stood 
 the spacious white mansion of Stephen Hosmer, 
 afterwards the home of William H. Hosmer, his son, and 
 of James Martin, "the old sexton." At what is now the 
 northwest corner of Bridge and Pleasant streets, stood the 
 toll gate, which even in 1850 had fallen into "innocuous 
 desuetude," but whose old red toll-house has been torn 
 down within only a few years past, and its ruined 
 foundations are still to be seen. About opposite the toll- 
 house lived Thomas Jordan, brother of Lyman, in the 
 house now modernized and occupied by George Tif- 
 fany. Elisha Burnham lived where his son Abel now 
 lives, and Ralph Williams lived in the house now occu- 
 pied by Samuel G. Adams. Further down Pleasant 
 street was the James D. Hosmer residence, still occupied 
 by his daughter; then the home of Fred Campbell, now 
 occupied by Conductor Edward Stone; then the home of 
 General L,. E. Baldwin, now occupied by E. F. Reed. 
 Next came William Morrison's little brick house, also 
 still standing, and occupied to-day by James N. Bailey. 
 
 Down on the main road towards the bridge (Bridge 
 street) came the house built by George W. Manahan, oc- 
 cupied later by the Rev. Samuel G. Willard, and then by 
 Chauncey Turner, the present occupant ; then the old 
 "Eagle house," built by William Porter in 1833, and 
 afterwards occupied successively by Jefferson Campbell, 
 and his brother, Thomas Campbell, the latter dying 
 there ; and next north Miss Sarah Porter's place, 
 now occupied by William C. Cargell. The street
 
 131 
 
 has been much cut down, as plainly appears. On 
 what is now River street stood first on the south side the 
 Stephen Bromley place, and all the houses on that side 
 now occupied by the King family, Alonzo Green, Judge 
 Wheeler and George B. McCracken, and on the other 
 side of the street, as now, lived Ira Sweetland, and also 
 the late Deacon Luther Martin of the M. E. Church. 
 
 From the junction of River and Pleasant streets east 
 there was then no house until we reach that now occupied 
 by Lawyer John L. Hunter, then next east was Deacon 
 A. H. Fuller's home, now occupied by his widow and 
 after her bequeathed to become the Baptist parsonage; Ed- 
 win H. Hall lived next east in the house lately sold to E. 
 S. Page by George Lincoln ; opposite stood then as now 
 the Alfred Youngs place ; then no house to the east 
 until we reach what is now the "boarding house" on the 
 high knoll, and which in 1850 was the spacious residence 
 of Asa Jillson. Next east was the Joseph C. Bassett 
 place, then as now occupied by him; next east the home 
 of Josiah Dean, Jr.; then the old Hebard tavern, now a 
 tenement house ; nearly opposite was the residence of Col. 
 William Jillson, now occupied by his son, William C. 
 Jillson ; then diagonally southeast across the street, as 
 now, the Tiiigley house, and next ea'st the house of Law- 
 yer Joel R. Arnold, now occupied by Charles R. Utley. 
 Next on the north side came the house of Col. Roswell 
 Moulton, where now his son John H. Moulton lives. Next 
 east of him dwelt Ulysses Young then, and now his widow. 
 
 Nearly opposite, and next east of Judge John M. Hall's 
 present residence, and where now Superintendent John 
 Scott of the Linen Company lives, dwelt in 1850 Seth 
 Jillson, and later Allen B. Burleson. Then the turnpike 
 stretched away towards Old Windham, with the Anson 
 Young place, then a small red house (now supplanted by 
 a large double frame dwelling), and the Josiah Dean 
 (now Earl Cranston's) place, and the Deacon Eleazer 
 Bill place, in recent years known as the "Maple House," 
 between Willimantic's outskirts and Natchaug river on
 
 132 
 
 the Windham road; so it appears that this region has not 
 changed much since 1850. 
 
 Now let us return to the west end, and start with the 
 Smithville Company's mills, which were flourishing in 
 1850, with their stone row alongside the railway track, and 
 the white row on south side of Main street and the two 
 houses built by Deacon L,ee. On the corner of Main and 
 what is now Bridge street stood their supply store, in the 
 basement of the building, to-day unoccupied, but the main 
 portion of the building was then as now, a boarding or 
 tenement house. West of what is now Carpenter Bros. , in 
 "School House L,ane," dwelt Israel Robinson, next east 
 "Aunt Lucy Crane," and about on the present site of 
 Carpenters' store was the house of Robert Prentice ; then 
 came the house of Azariah Lathrop, with Laban Chase's 
 shoe store in the basement. 
 
 On the northwest corner of Main and High Streets dwelt 
 Laban Chase, in the house now there standing. On the 
 opposite corner of High street was the Elias Rathburn 
 place, later known as the home of Dr. William Witter, the 
 first long-resident physician of Willimantic. High street 
 was open at this time. Robert Hooper's house was the 
 first one built on that street and was then as now occupied 
 by him. Next south of him Wightman Williams lived, 
 in the house now owned and occupied by Edmund Crane. 
 Egbert Hall and later Samuel B. Ford and Courtland 
 Babcock lived successively in the house lately bought and 
 remodelled by Robert Truscott. James Sterry lived in 
 in the little house opposite Robert Hooper's, and George 
 P. Heap, afterwards husband of Mrs. Kellogg of Heap 
 will fame, built and occupied the house lately vacated by 
 Giles H. Alford, northeast corner of Valley and High 
 streets. 
 
 Returning now on Main street, next below the Rathburn 
 or Witter place on the site of the present Levi Frink block, 
 but in the cottage now standing rear of Frink 's block, 
 dwelt Nathan Fish, father of Angeline Fish, who lately 
 died at the age of eighty years or more. Next dwelt William
 
 133 
 
 F. Essex, in the house which stood on the site where 
 Farley's new building is now going up. Next was 
 the Nathan Hall place, a brick block now occupied for 
 stores beneath and tenements above, and which in 1850 
 was occupied for a short time by Parson Willard and 
 wife of the Congregational church. Then came the 
 Thomas Cunningham residence, that large white building 
 occupied in recent years by Archambeault's store beneath 
 and tenements above ; and next east of this, near what 
 is now the Walnut street corner, stood in 1850 Thomas 
 Cunningham's grog shop. There was then no Walnut 
 street, and all north of Main street in this section was 
 meadow and forest. 
 
 Then a few rods east again stood the first Dr. Witter 
 place, built for him in 1831, but in 1850 and until his death 
 in 1885 the home of Horace Hall, for many years a leading 
 citizen and father of his honor, Judge John M. Hall of 
 to-day. The house is now occupied by John M. Gray, the 
 bill poster. Next stood the little'Harrington house on the 
 site of Thomas Haran's new block. Then Niles Potter's 
 hotel, called then the Tremont house, now Young's hotel. 
 L,et us cross now to the south side, and just opposite 
 Potter's hotel was Stephen Kimbel's house, (now re- 
 placed by the new Kimbel block) and in the little one- 
 story addition to his house Stephen Kimbel sat for many 
 years as the village shoe-maker. The old building next 
 east now occupied as a saloon was then a store, and occu- 
 pied at times b}^ different parties, of whom John G. Keig- 
 win was one, he having begun the clothing business there. 
 Next east was the old Congregational Church, now re- 
 modelled into Meloney's block; then came George C. Elli- 
 ott's house and tailor shop and the famous little twin- 
 buildings, on the sites now occupied by the Arnold and 
 Chapman blocks respectively. Then the old Franklin 
 building, a large frame structure, the first public building 
 in Willimantic, built by Gen. Baldwin in 1847 and in 
 1850 occupied by William L,. Weaver's book-store, L,. & 
 H. Feldman's dry goods house (afterwards Alpaugh and
 
 134 
 
 Hooper's); and Lawyers Joel R. Arnold and Jairus H. 
 Carpenter had offices in the second story, while in the 
 third was a hall for public gatherings. East of the Frank- 
 lin building there was in 1850 nothing south of Main 
 street but an alder swamp (save the old brick depot of 
 dingy memory which stood about fifty feet south of the 
 present station) until you came to the "old stone row" 
 of tenement houses belonging to the Jillson mill, and 
 which then stood near the river shore a few rods south- 
 west of the present Main street railway crossing. There 
 was no broad Railroad street then only a lane to the de- 
 pot in tne swamp! 
 
 Returning to the Potter hotel (now Young's hotel), the 
 building next east, on the north side of the street, was a 
 little shop on the site of the present Hooker house, built 
 by Albert Sherman, "gentleman fashioner," as his sign 
 read, and afterwards occupied by General Baldwin with 
 the post office. Bank street was not thought of and all back 
 of it was swamp near by, and forest in the distance. Jairus 
 Littlefield's house stood where the Savings Institute now is; 
 then Mrs. Lavinia Loomis's house, where the United Bank 
 Building now is; then the house occupied now as then by 
 Melancthon Turner, and the late Isaac Wilson, with the 
 livery stable in the rear as now. The old William C. 
 Boon place, (now Dr. Card's Block) came next, and then, 
 on the site of the present opera house, stood the junior 
 Chester Tilden's little candy and fruit shop, right on the 
 corner of Main street and Tanner's lane, (now North 
 street); and high up on the bank, behind the little shop, 
 stood the senior (Rev.) Chester Tilden's dwelling house. 
 Tanner's lane led up a sharp hill and then down again to 
 the old slaughter house, which then stood where Johnson's 
 livery stable now is, and a part of which was afterwards 
 worked into the building of Warren Tanner's (now John- 
 son's) livery. Across the lane from Chester Tilden's 
 stood the dwelling house built by Samuel Barrows in 1828 
 and in 1850 owned by General Baldwin, afterwards bought 
 by Warren Tanner and gradually enlarged to the present
 
 135 
 
 Tanner Block. Then came Dr. Jason Safford's drug store 
 in a little building afterwards enlarged by L. J. Fuller and 
 Son to its present size, and where Frank Wilson and Com- 
 pany's Pharmacy, in direct line of succession, still dispen- 
 ses drugs as did Dr. Safford of old, and his predecessors 
 Messrs. Alfred Howes, John A. Perkins and Newton 
 Fitch, the last named of whom founded the store in 1828. 
 
 Next stood the original M. E. church, which about this 
 time was removed to Church street and became the old 
 Christian boarding house, lately supplanted by Johnsons' 
 new block now occupied by Perkins and Blish; and the 
 old church site on Main street was soon occupied by the 
 At wood Block built by Warren Atwood; and in 1850 the 
 new M. E. Church was built, on the present site on 
 Church street, thus giving the street its name. 
 
 Next east of the old church on Main street, stood the 
 building now known as the Brainard house, the main part 
 of which was built by Sheffield Lewis in 1848, and was in 
 1850 occupied by stores and for tenements, but was soon 
 afterwards bought by Henry Brainard and by him made 
 into a hotel bearing the present name. Next east of the 
 Lewis (now Brainard) building, the corner lot (present 
 site of the "Windham" hotel) was then vacant, and on 
 the site of the present Commercial Block stood the man- 
 sion of Joshua B. Lord; the house has since been removed 
 and is now standing on Turner street opposite James Wai- 
 den's residence. 
 
 I well remember that old Lord mansion. It stood well 
 back from the street, with portico and bay windows, mar- 
 vellous luxuries for those days, and in front was a lawn 
 varied by shrubbery and flower beds, while along the 
 street line was a handsome hedge, the whole making a 
 picture to my childish eyes which only the word "gran- 
 deur" could adequately convey. Here dwelt Marian Lord, 
 the sole heiress of her father's (Daniel Lord's) score or more 
 of thousands, and she died on what was to have been her 
 wedding day, at the age of eighteen, and they buried her 
 with her diamond ring on. Her father had died some
 
 136 
 
 time before, and her broken-hearted grandmother, Eunice 
 Richmond Kellogg, her nearest of kin, sought legal advice 
 to retain as a keepsake a fine old lace shawl which she 
 and Marian had worn together, but which other claimants 
 to the estate had taken, with all the rest of the property. 
 Mrs. Kellogg found that she was the rightful heir, not only 
 to the shawl keepsake, but to all of Marian's property, 
 and she thus came into possession of it. In after years she 
 married George P. Heap, the English tailor; and after his 
 death E. McCall Cushman became her advisor, counsellor 
 and friend, and she finally left to him the property, which 
 by the accidents of death had been diverted from the Lord 
 line that accumulated it, to entirely foreign channels. 
 Hence arose the famous Heap will case, or Richmond's 
 appeal from probate, so lately "settled out of court," 
 after two fruitless trials. 
 
 Next east of the Lord mansion stood the Baptist church, 
 on its present site. Then came the Hanover block, still 
 standing, and where in 1850 George W. Hanover and 
 Thomas Turner carried on the millinery and dry goods 
 business, and manufactured hoop-skirts. Later Mrs. 
 Hanover conducted the business, calling her place 
 the "Temple of Fashion;" hence the name of Temple 
 street. Then came the James Howes place, now remod- 
 eled into the double-verandahed dwelling house on the 
 corner of Union and Center streets. 
 
 At the junction of Main and Union streets, where now 
 stands the Cushman block, there stood about 1850 a small 
 shop. 
 
 About opposite the Hanover building on Union street 
 stood Dr. William K. Otis's little office building, where 
 patients sought him for many years; and the same build- 
 ing may be found standing to-day on the southwest corner 
 of Temple and Valley streets. Next beyond Dr. Otis's 
 office was a stretch of grass land to the old Fitch house, 
 to-day standing as the big and dingy white tenement 
 house opposite A. B. Adams's ; then came the Cushman 
 residence, now owned as a tenement by Durkee, Stiles &
 
 137 
 
 Co., but then the home of J. E. Cushinan, who has now 
 removed to California. 
 
 A few rods to the east of Mr. Cushman's stood the stone 
 mansion of William Jillson, standing to-day just north of 
 the Main street railroad crossing, and then called one of 
 the finest residences in town. Next east of the Howes 
 place on Union street was a stretch of meadow to the 
 house now occupied by Mrs. Vilatia Loonier and Dr. C.jH. 
 Colgrove, but about 1850 occupied by Capt. Roger Gurley 
 and Joseph Woodward. Then came the house now occu- 
 pied by Charles Bliven ; next the house occupied for 
 many years by Merrick Johnson, and still standing, but 
 now set back from the road. On the corner of Union and 
 Jackson streets was the store of Roderick Davison, later 
 the firm of Davison and (John H.) Moulton. 
 
 In all the region north of Main street, and between 
 High and Jackson streets, there stood in 1850, besides the 
 old slaughter house and the M. E. church already men- 
 tioned, only two houses; one that of Davis Weaver, 
 grandfather of Editor Thomas Snell Weaver, (it was 
 here that our "Journal" editor was born) and at this time 
 the house was occupied by Zelotes Chaff ee, and to-day is 
 the home of Frank S. Fowler at the corner of Maple 
 avenue and Bellevue street ; the other was the George Bull 
 place, so-called, the little white cottage still standing next 
 east of James McAvoy's residence. All the rest of this 
 great tract, now so thickly settled, was a swampy valley 
 with a brook running through it, (the brook still runs 
 but now into our sewers) and stretched away up the hill- 
 side into chestnut forests and wild fields. "Prospect street' ' 
 was not dreamed of and "Summit street" and "L,ewiston 
 avenue" and the rest, were unimaginable ! 
 
 On Jackson street, the first house, now standing, on the 
 east side, was the Jesse Wilson place. Abel Clark lived 
 in the first house on the west side, now owned by William 
 F. Gates. The house now so long owned by William H. 
 Osborn was built and then occupied by Sidney Brewster. 
 The house now standing next north of Montgomery hose
 
 138 
 
 house was the home of John Chipman, for many years 
 night watchman for the Jillsons. Across the street east 
 from what is now Grant's grain store stood the Douglas 
 Vaughn place, the same house still remaining. The site 
 of Grant's store was then a lawn studded with shade 
 trees and behind it stood the house of William Branch, 
 who afterwards went to Utah and became a Mormon 
 priest. This house became the home of Editor William 
 Iy. Weaver of "The Journal," and 011 the hill to the west 
 of it stood for many years a magnificent tall and wide- 
 spreading oak, the solace of his later years, but which the 
 advent of Loomer's lumberyard in 1865 destroyed, to the 
 great personal grief of Mr. Weaver. 
 
 On the site of the present Catholic church stood the 
 house of Capt. Calvin Davison, brother of Roderick, and 
 nearly opposite was the home of the venerable L,uke 
 Flynn, father of Willimantic's present superintendent of 
 streets, of the same name ; and the old Flynn house stands 
 to-day just off the Mansfield road near the little bridge 
 beyond Whittemore park watering-trough. Henry 
 Youngs lived where John Hickey now lives and William 
 Godfrey lived in James Murray's present house. Albert 
 Moulton lived where he does now, and Jackson, the color- 
 ed man from whom the street was named, and who was a 
 respected citizen here for many years, lived in the white 
 cottage which stood until lately on the site of John Kil- 
 lourey's present house, but is now moved to the rear of 
 the latter. Mr. Jackson at that time held the whole of the 
 Hewitt property (to-day so-called) , and which has lately 
 been opened and been developed into a residence district, 
 and it was of Mr. Jackson that Mr. Hewitt secured this 
 land. 
 
 There were no other houses north of the Hewitt and 
 Jackson property until you came to the old stone 
 house now at the cross roads of Ash and Jackson streets, 
 and which was then the Nathaniel Robinson place, and 
 later the Gordon place. To the west on the north side of 
 Chestnut-hill road stood the Calvin Robinson place, then
 
 139 
 
 a red house, but since painted white, and to-day known as 
 the Whittemore place, and on the south side, the I^uther 
 Robinson place, still to be seen as "the old red house." 
 No other houses were in this region in 1850. 
 
 Passing now down the south-east road (Ash street) from 
 Jackson street, we come first to the old Carey place oc- 
 cupied in 1850 by John Smith and now by his son James. 
 Next on the east side lived Joseph Rollinson in the 
 house now made over into the "Hawthorne" on the same 
 site. Next on the north side up Main street, on the north- 
 east corner of Main and what is now Brook street still 
 stands the house where Scott Smith, brother of John, 
 lived in 1850. Across the road and on the south side and 
 around the corner towards the mill is to-day the same row 
 of white tenement houses that Jillson and Capen owned in 
 1850, and farther to the south by the river was their mill, 
 now the I/inen Co.'s No. 3. The old Capen homestead, 
 first built and occupied by L,oren Carpenter, first warden 
 of the borough, stood where it does now, just east of Hen- 
 nesey's store, and was until he died in 1890, the home of 
 John H, Capen. The present site of the Ljnen Company's 
 "New Village" was then a stretch of hillside and valley 
 and swamp. 
 
 Now come back to Union street, where we left it at 
 Jackson. First on the north side below Jackson stood, as 
 now, the two-tenement house, then owned by Lucian 
 Clark, and next east was the residence of Maxon G. 
 Clark, now occupied by his widow and her daughter, Mrs. 
 J. C. Robinson. Next came the Ahab Wilkinson place, 
 occupied in 1850 by Mr. Wilkinson's aunts and the widow 
 of Dr. Kingsley, and now by the Chamberlain family. 
 Then came the house of Elisha Williams' the large house 
 now standing at the corner of Union and Milk streets; and 
 east across Milk street was the home of Ephraim Herrick, 
 the pioneer truckman, which is still standing. 
 
 Directly across Union street south from the Herrick 
 house still stands the house where lived in 1850 Addison 
 Safford, whose blacksmith shop was down across the lot
 
 140 
 
 to the southeast near the "old stone school house." Now 
 draw an air line from Addison Safford's house to Col. 
 William Jillson's (now William C. Jillson's) residence, 
 and follow beneath it until you go about half way to the 
 river, and you will stand about where, on a rocky knoll, 
 was the site of the famous "old stone school house," which 
 in 1850 was at the height of its fame. The road did not 
 run where it does now, but after coming north across the 
 river, forked at the river side, leading east along the bank 
 to Jillson & Capen's mill, and north-west gradually away 
 from the river up by William Jillson's stone house, about 
 as now. 
 
 To the east of the school house along the site of the 
 present No. 2 mill was the combination paper, grist and 
 saw mill successively owned by Clark & Gray, Smith & 
 Byrne and Col. George Spafford, but in 1850 owned by a 
 Mr. Campbell of New York and run by Page & Son. To 
 the inland about opposite the present office of the Linen 
 Company stood two or three dwelling houses. What is 
 now the Linen Company's spool shop at the foot of Jack- 
 son street was then the chief mill of A. & S. Jillson. 
 Just to the east by the river bank stood the old Duck mill 
 and next east of that but west of the site of the present No. 
 i mill, stood another three-story mill of the Jillsons, but 
 both it and the Duck mill have been removed. No. i was 
 not built until 1857 and then by the Linen Company. 
 Opposite the Jillson mill, now the spool shop was the 
 old stone store where the employees traded. Next east 
 was the store and dwelling of George Byrne. 
 
 Then came the old Universalist church elsewhere re- 
 ferred to ; then next east the building now at the north- 
 west corner of Main and Washington streets, occupied 
 above as a dwelling and in the basement by the general 
 store of Waterman C. and Lucian H. Clark. On the op- 
 posite corner of Washington street corner was Edward 
 Moulton's drug store. George Lathrop (now of Wind- 
 ham Centre) kept a general store in the building now oc- 
 cupied by Edward F. Casey's furniture house. The
 
 141 
 
 houses still standing along to the east were occupied as 
 dwellings, that next to L,athrop's then by Joanna Wilkin- 
 son, an elderly maiden lady, now by George Wheeler, the 
 prompter ; the next by Martin Harris then, now a 
 tenement house. 
 
 This section along Main street in front of the Jillson 
 mills and along by the foot of Washington street, was 
 known as "Exchange Place." On the south side of Ex- 
 change Place, towards the river, stood the old "hay 
 scales." The post-office had been removed by Gen. L. 
 E. Baldwin from Col. Roswell Moulton's store, which then 
 stood at the fork of the roads near the river, uptown to 
 the little store opposite Potter's hotel (now Young's,) and 
 the tendency of commercial growth was that way. 
 
 Such, practically, was the Willimantic of 1850.
 
 THE EXHIBITION OF RELICS. 
 
 [On the day of the Bi-Centennial Celebration, a display of Relics was made in the 
 old Windham Bank building . Following is a list of the articles exhibited, with the 
 names of the persons who loaned them set opposite.] 
 
 ARTICLES. LOANED BY 
 
 Carved Oak Chest, (date 1696) Mrs. Warren Elliott. 
 
 Wooden Canteen, " " 
 
 Iron Candlesticks, Jairus Smith. 
 
 Silhouettes of Mr. and Mrs. Jairus Smith, Sr., " 
 
 Alfred Avery Burnham, (portrait) Mrs. Ardelia Burnham Smith. 
 Washington's Courtship, Mrs. Andrew Frink. 
 
 Mr. Moses Abbe 
 Mrs. Talitha Waldo Abbe, 
 
 Coverlet, Mrs. Charles E. Spencer. 
 
 Coverlet, Mrs. Charles L,arrabee, Jr. 
 
 Indian Relics, Thomas C. Waterous 
 
 Watch Owned by the Rev. Charles L,arrabee, a Hugue- 
 not pastor, who escaped with a portion of his flock 
 from the south of France, during the massacre which 
 followed the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Oct. 
 16, 1685, and landed at Baltimore, Md. Thus it 
 has been in this country over two hundred years. 
 
 Charles Larrabee, Sr. 
 Coat of Arms, (L,arrabee) 
 Miss Julia Ripley, (portrait 1 Artist, Mr. George Cush- 
 
 tnan, Charles Larrabee, Sr. 
 
 Painting, Miss Ida Spafford. 
 
 Sampler, (by Mrs. Martha Perkins Johnson, (date 1773), " 
 Hand Fire Screen, 
 Capt. George A. Fisher's Swori. 
 Silver Spoons, (date 1790) 
 Coverlet, 
 
 Old Newspapers, one published in Norwich at the time 
 of Washington's death, and containing an account 
 of the funeral services,
 
 143 
 
 LOANED BY. 
 
 Suit of Clothes, sword and sash, worn by Captain Adam 
 Larrabee (then lieutenant) while he was engaged in 
 the attack at La Colle, Canada, under General Wil- 
 kinson, March 30, 1814. During this engagement, 
 he was shot through the lungs, the bullet hole being 
 visible in the coat and vest, Henry Larrabee. 
 
 One Volume Josephus, 
 
 One Volume Lectures on the Scriptures, (two hundred 
 
 years old), " " 
 
 United States Census, (date 1820) " " 
 
 Circular Arm Chair, 
 
 Silver Spoons, Mrs. Julia Frink Arnold. 
 
 Silver Knee Buckles, (one hundred years old), " " 
 
 Toasting Iron, 
 
 Two brown Satin dresses, (one hundred years old), 
 
 Mrs. Henry Page. 
 
 Two Tortoise Shell Combs, " 
 
 Two Calashes, (seventy five years old), " " 
 
 Half dozen sermons, preached by Parson White in 1760, " 
 
 Cards of Invitation to balls at the old Staniford Tavern, 
 
 Spinning Wheel. " " 
 
 Silk Embroidery, (framed by Miss Maria Stoddard), " ,, 
 
 Chair, with circular arms, (seventy-five years old, 
 
 Zaccheus Waldo and wife, Esther Stevens Waldo, (por- 
 trait), taken on one canvas, Mrs. Henry S. Walcott. 
 
 Mrs. Mary Abbe Taintor, (portrait), " " " 
 
 Samuel Huntington Perkins, " Miss Charlotte Elderkin Clark. 
 
 Nancy Perkins Converse, " 
 
 Tortoise Shell Comb, 
 
 John Staniford, (Portrait) George Challenger. 
 
 Duke of Marlboro. " 
 
 The Nativity, " 
 
 George Washington, " Mrs. Mary Lathrop Ramsdell. 
 
 John Lathrop, 
 
 Coat-of-arms, (Lathrop) 
 
 Bacchus, God of Wine, (Painting) Artist, George B. 
 
 Baldwin, Guilford Smith. 
 
 Chauncey F. Cleaveland, " Mrs. Helen Cleaveland. 
 
 Chester Hunt, M. D. Mrs. Delia Hunt Hebard. 
 
 George Washington, Mrs. Fanny Hawkins, 
 
 The Seasons, 
 
 Martha Washington, (copy of an oil painting at the 
 
 Capitol) Mrs. Delia Hunt Hebard. 
 
 View of Windham in 1815, Dr. Frank E. Guild.
 
 144 
 
 ARTICLES. LOANED BY. 
 
 View of Windham, (Oil; 1830 Dr. Henry Gray. 
 
 Zaccheus Waldo, (Portrait) Mrs. Sarah Bingham Lathrop. 
 
 Nancy Waldo Bingham, " 
 
 Goddess of Liberty " " " 
 
 (Artist of these three, Samuel L. Waldo, a pupil of 
 Benjamin West, London. ) 
 
 Samuel Gray. i Portrait) Dr. Henry Gray. 
 
 Charlotte Elderkin Gray, " " " 
 
 Rev. Ebenezer Devotion, (Photo) Mrs Francis Devotion Lathrop. 
 
 Martha Lathrop Devotion, " 
 
 Jonathan Devotion, (Portrait) " 
 
 Duke of Marlboro, 
 
 Duke of Cumberland, 
 
 Coat-of-arms, Devotion) 
 
 Judge Ebenezer Devotion, (Portrait; Gerald Waldo. 
 
 Mrs. Ebenezer Devotion and child, " " " 
 
 Devotion Brothers- three John Jonathan, Ebenezer, " 
 
 Deed, Jonah Palmer. 
 
 Deed, (1737) 
 
 Record of Deaths, (1751-1814) 
 
 Green's Register, (1796) 
 
 Copies of Windham "Herald" (ist issue) March 12, 1791 
 to 1814, 
 
 New Testament, Mrs. Francis Devotion Lathrop. 
 
 printed in London, in the reign of Elizabeth, in 
 1589 with two translations -the Rhemes and the 
 Church of England. 
 
 Letter from the church in Wenham to the church in 
 Windham ; in behalf of John Abbee and Hannah 
 Abbee, (his wife) and of Robert Hibbard and Mary 
 Hibbard, (his wife; recommending them to the 
 watch and care of the church in Windham. Joseph 
 Gerrish, Pastor. Dated Wenham, Oct. 29, 1700. 
 
 Abstract, Capt. William Young's Company for the 
 defence of New London in 1781. 
 
 Charter granted by His Majesty King Charles the Second. 
 
 Version of the Bible with illustrations (pen and ink) by 
 Ebenezer Gray. 
 
 Sermon, Joseph Lothrop. 1811. 
 
 Sermon, Cornelius Everest, 1816. 
 
 Digest of the Laws of the State of Connecticut. (2 Vols.) 
 by Zephaniah Swift, L. L. D. C. A. S. 1823. 
 
 Diploma, to Samuel Gray from Dartmouth College, 
 
 Diploma to Samuel Huntington Devotion from Yale College.
 
 145 
 
 LOANED BY. 
 
 Commission of Samuel Gray as Commissary General, 
 signed by John Hancock. 
 
 Commission of Abner Lathrop, signed by George Washington. 
 
 Sermons, by Rev. Samuel Whiting January i, 1693, and 1721. 
 
 Sermons, by Rev. Stephen White, April 14, 1760, April 3, 1764. 
 
 Petition of Windham and Chaplin, against removing the 
 Courts from Windham, 
 
 The Epistle of the Apostle St. James, Resolved, Ex- 
 pounded, and Preached upon by way of Doctrine and 
 Use. For the benefit and instruction of all Christian 
 people, and for the -help and direction of young 
 practisers in Theology; By John Mayer, Doctor of 
 Divinity. Printed at London 1629. 
 
 Mrs. Francis Devotion Lathrop. 
 
 Warwick Castle. Mrs. Harriett Gray Swift. 
 
 Edinboro' Castle, 
 
 Bed Curtain of white linen, spun, wove and embroidered 
 in colors by Miriam Webb Ripley, in 1736, 
 
 Eunice S. Ripley, 
 
 Silver Tankard, (1747) 
 
 Wedding Dress of white linen, spun, wove and embroid- 
 ered in colors by Mary Meyers in 1732, John Babcock. 
 
 Gun, George Lathrop, 
 
 Horse Pistol, 
 
 War Club, (Fejee) 
 
 An Old Musket, carried by one Durkee in the French 
 and Indian war, from 1754 to 1759; afterwards was 
 carried through the war of the Revolution by Tim- 
 othy Kingsley ; also carried by his son, Oramel 
 Kingsley at New London in the war of 1812. 
 
 Captain William Moulton, 
 (Grandson of Timothy Kingsley.) 
 
 Sword, (Revolution) Mrs. Mary Wyllys. 
 
 Sampler, (1742) 
 
 Reel and Flax, 
 
 Blue China from Staniford Tavern, 
 
 Chair of Rev, Samuel Whiting, (1700) 
 
 Congregational Church of Windham. 
 
 Chair of Zaccheus Waldo, Mrs. Sarah Bingham Lathrop, 
 
 Chair of Mrs. Sibyl Backus Lathrop, Mrs. Julia A. Swift. 
 
 Watch and Shoe Buckles of Judge Ebenezer Devotion, 
 
 Mrs. Francis Devotion Lathrop. 
 
 Looking Glass of Col. Eliphalet Dyer, Mrs. Delia Hunt Hebard. 
 
 Pewter Platters, Porringer and Flagon, Henry E. Staniford.
 
 146 
 
 ARTICLES. LOANED BV 
 
 Powder Horn, Henry E. Staniford 
 
 Punch Bowl and China from Staniford's Tavern " " 
 
 Fancy China Fruit Dishes on Stands, (1767) Mrs. Elisha Avery. 
 Punch Bowl, " " 
 
 Sugar Bowl, " " 
 
 A Small Case of Drawers and Writing Desk, (1772) " 
 An Iron Fife, imported from Germany and used at the 
 
 battle of Bunker Hill. Mrs. Elisha Avery, 
 
 (daughter of Solomon Loring. ) 
 A Tea Pot, in which Tea was made on the sly, at the 
 
 time of the Embargo, Mrs. A. D. Loring 
 
 A Child's Rocking Chair of solid oak boards (107 years 
 
 old) made by Zaccheus Waldo for his daughter Nancy 
 
 Waldo, Mrs. Sarah Bingham Lathrop. 
 
 Water color, Mrs. Charlotte Gray Lathrop. 
 
 Water color, Mrs. Hannah Gray Parsons. 
 
 The Widow, Mrs. Gertrude Storrs Bissell. 
 
 Writing Desk, (1620) Mr. Frink Hebard 
 
 China breakfast and tea set of Mary Gray (1812) 
 
 Mrs. Hariett Gray Swift. 
 China plate, subject "Landing of Lafayette in New 
 
 York" (August 1824.) Mrs. Charles E. Spencer. 
 
 China plate, Subject "The University of Transylvania." 
 Carved Image of Bacchus, A. E. Brooks. 
 
 Call Bell from the Staniford Tavern, 
 First Steam Railroad passenger Train in America on 
 
 the Mohawk and Hudson R. R. (1831) Copy of an 
 
 Oil Painting in the possession of the Connecticut 
 
 Historical Society, Hartford, (2 copies) 
 
 Mr. William Palmer and Mr. Jairus Smith. 
 
 Silk embroidery, by Mary Gra}\ Mrs. Harriett Gray Swift. 
 
 Silk embroidery, by Sally Allen, Arthur S. Winchester. 
 
 China Plate, Subject, "The University of Transylvania," 
 
 Mrs. Frances Devotion Lathrop.
 
 CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS. 
 
 [The long delay in securing the photographs from which the illustrations of this 
 volume are made, has afforded opportunity to note some slight errors in the printed 
 text, and to add a few facts of interest, as herewith given.] 
 
 Page 4, Among the honorary vice-presidents, the names of Storrs 
 Swift and Palmer Fenton belong to Mansfield, instead of Hampton. 
 
 Page n, line 17, read Capt. Morrison, instead of Robinson. 
 
 Page 14, line 7, read June 10, instead of May 10. 
 
 Page 15, line 15, read Dr. Guild, instead of Dr. Smith. 
 
 Page 16. It should be understood that the poem of Miss Robbins 
 was contributed to represent at the Bi-Centennial gathering the 
 town of Chaplin, which sprang from Windham. 
 
 Page 17. Rev. Theron Brown, author of the "Epic of Wind- 
 ham", is a brother, not a son of John A. Brown of Mt. Hope. Their 
 father was the late Eliphalet Brown. 
 
 Pages 18-19. T ne list of invited guests was copied from the Wil- 
 limantic "Journal", and no attempt made to secure a fuller list. 
 
 Page 46, line i, read 1825, instead of 1824; line 7, 1828 instead of 
 1827; Deacon Charles Lee built only two of the houses of the pres- 
 ent Smithville White row, Gen. L. E. Baldwin the others. 
 
 Page 50, hanging of Watkins Aug. 31, 1832, instead of 1829. 
 
 Page 51, line 2. Gen. Amos Fowler is not living, but died in 
 Windsor in 1876. It is his brother, Gen. Anson Fowler, who is 
 now living in Lebanon. 
 
 Page 58. The H. P. & F. R. R. reached Willimantic from Hart- 
 ford in 1849, and was opened to Providence in 1853. 
 
 Page 64, line 7, read Sumter instead of Richmond. 
 
 Page 65, read Jas. Haggerty enlisted at 14 (not 13) years, i mo. 
 ri days. 
 
 Page 78. William B.Swift, son of Grant Swift of Mansfield, 
 started a little one-story silk mill on the site of the present west 
 mill of the Holland Co., and the Hollands bought him out. Albert 
 Jacobs built the brick house occupied by J. H. Hollapd, now by the 
 Misses Brainard. 
 
 Pages 80-81. The Abolition disturbance occured in the spring of 
 1837, and the name of the leader of the mob was Charles Scoville, 
 instead of Schofield. It was Edwards (not Edward) Clark who 
 read the riot act.
 
 148 
 
 Page 83. Samuel Bingham was cashier of the Windham Bank 
 when it was robbed, James Parsons was teller and slept in the 
 building. 
 
 Page 84, read Charles Smith of Smith, Winchester & Co., in his 
 85th. year, instead of 8oth. 
 
 Page 87. The first newspaper published in Willimantic was the 
 Windham "Gazette", and Elisha Avery has copies of it now in his 
 possession. The "Public Medium" came later. At the Williman- 
 tic "Journal" office to-day may be seen the original woodcut of the 
 headline of the "Public Medium", which represented a view of the 
 Windham, Smithville and Jillson mills, and the river. 
 
 Page 89. The first physician of Willimantic was Dr. Mason. He 
 came in 1827, and his wife's mother Mrs. Lambert, built in 1828 
 a house on the site of the present Dime and National bank build- 
 ing. Dr. Mason remained only three or four years and Dr. Witter 
 was the first long-resident physican. 
 
 Page 138. The Jackson street lands were never owned by the col- 
 ored man, whose name was Lyman Jackson, though long occupied 
 by him and named from him. The late Eli Hewitt bought the 
 property of Edwin Eaton of Chaplin and his daughter, Miss Mary 
 A. Hewitt of South Windham now holds the deed. 
 
 THE COLLECTION OF RELICS. 
 
 At the time of the Bi-Centennial the press of Connecticut and 
 neighboring states made note of event in interesting reports. The 
 following appreciative comment of the Norwich correspondent of the 
 New York Sunday Tribune is worthy of preservation, especially 
 for its account of the very valuable collection of relics, whose 
 articles are of course still to be found scattered among the families 
 to whom they are credited in the list elsewhere printed in this 
 volume: 
 
 "Norwich, June ii, 1892 (Special tothe Tribune}. At the cele- 
 bration at Windham Green this week of the town of Old Windham's 
 2ooth birthday anniversary a collection of ancient relics and family 
 heirlooms was displayed in the Old Windham Bank that was never 
 equalled by a similar private exhibition in the history of Connecti- 
 cut. Two rooms in the building were lined with antique articles, 
 all of which belong to residents of the town and are invaluable. 
 Notable in the collection were immense full-length family por- 
 traits, 150 years old, whose canvas was time-stained and split in 
 half a dozen places. The central portrait was not less than six 
 feet tall. It depicted a lady of the old-fashioned type in the most 
 highly starched pose, and in her lap a babe only a trifle less wood- 
 en of posture. It is an interesting fact that the infant in the pic- 
 ture became the mother of a respected citizen of Old Windham, 
 who is still living at the age of ninety-two years. Another valu- 
 able heirloom was the continental uniform of Captain Larrabee, 
 torn by the bullets with which he was desperately wounded in an 
 Indian fight near Lake Charnplain, in New York. A great old 
 chest, exquisitely carved, that had not a nail mark in its frame, and 
 was black with age, bore on its front the date, indented with a 
 knife, 1696. There were a hundred other things almost equally 
 precious. The village of Windham is rich in history. Most of its 
 stately houses were built before the Revolution and are famous for 
 their historical or legendary associations. In the Staniford Tavern,
 
 149 
 
 which is now the private home of the Elderkin family, Washing- 
 ton was quartered on several of his visits to Eastern Connecticut. 
 The place was old when it sent troopers to join the Continental 
 Army, and the French contingent of Washington's Army came 
 there, led by gallant noblemen. The old sign of the Staniford Inn, 
 belonging to the time of the British regime, is still as good as new, 
 and swings above the door of the Old Windham Hotel, which is 
 almost as old as the Staniford Tavern. An equally interesting 
 relic is a wooden and highly-painted image of Bacchus, the prop- 
 erty of A. E. Brooks, of Hartford, that was mounted at the Stani- 
 ford Tavern. It was carved by prisoners of war, taken from the 
 British vessel Bomrig, in Long Island Sound, in the Revolution, 
 who were confined at the time in the Old Windham Jail. There is 
 only one other figure of the kind in the country." 
 
 NOTE. The statement that the Staniford Tavern is "now the private home of 
 the Elderkin family", is an error on the part of the "Tribune" correspondent. The 
 old Staniford Tavern was torn down, and the residence now occupied by Thomas 
 Ramsdell was built on the same site.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 [This index lays no claim to completeness of topics or symmetry of classifica 
 tion, but aims only to include, for convenience in reference, names and principal 
 topics. It is believed that every family name to be found in the book has been 
 indexed. A. B. L.] 
 
 Abbe, typical family, 28. 
 
 Chas. Smith, 17, 121, 122. 
 
 Elisha, 41. 
 
 George, 67. 
 
 house, 15. 
 
 Joshua, 53. 
 
 Abbee, Captain of the craft 
 "Windham," 106. 
 
 Richard, first County 
 Treasurer,- 30 ; opens 
 first hotel, 3i. 
 Abbeeites, 53. 
 Abimelech Sachem, 22. 
 Abolition Agitation, 80. 
 Academy at South Windham, 
 
 59- 
 Academy at Windham, 41. 
 
 Adams, A. B., 136. 
 
 Elizabeth, 24. 
 
 Joseph, 30. 
 
 Samuel G., 130. 
 Adams Express Agency, 89. 
 Adams Nickel Plating Co,, 75, 
 Adgate, Thomas, 21. 
 Air Line Railroad, 58. 
 Alcohol, .Victims of ,57, 81. 
 Alderman, Rev. A. P., 54. 
 
 Alford, F. H., 88. 
 G. H. ( 9, 132. 
 
 Alger, Gen., 65. 
 
 Allen, Amos Dennison, 61. 
 
 Edwin, 73,74. 
 
 Henry, 19. 
 
 Allen, typical family, 28. 
 Alpaugh & Hooper, 133. 
 American Wood Type Co., 75. 
 Amherst, L,ord,at Montreal, 35. 
 Amidon, Samuel E., 6. 
 Andrews, Rev. 51. 
 Andross, Sir Edmund, 21. 
 Anketell, Rev. John H,, 52. 
 Archambeault's store, 132. 
 Arnold, Joel R., 64, 131, 134. 
 
 Mrs. Julia, 9. 
 Ashley, Rev, R. K., 56. 
 Ashton, Thomas, 5, 12. 
 "At Home," poem, 108-9. 
 Atkinson, Edward, 77. 
 Atlanta Exposition, 77. 
 Attanwanhood, Joshua, son of 
 
 Uncas, 20, 22, 97. 
 Atwood Block, 54, 80. 
 
 Warren, 89, 130, 135. 
 Avery, Elisha, 148. 
 
 Henry W., 60. 
 Babcock, typical family, 28 
 Babcock, Courtland, 132.
 
 151 
 
 Bacchus, image 15, 43, 81. 
 Backus, typical family, 28. 
 
 Ebenezer, 32. 
 
 George H., 6. 
 
 John, 23. 
 
 William, 22, 23, 28. 
 
 William C., 6. 
 Badger, typical family, 28. 
 
 Daniel, 99. 
 
 Edmund, 67, 68. 
 Bailey, James N., 130. 
 Baker, Mrs. Chas., 9. 
 
 Chas. L-, 64. 
 
 Col. Rufuslv., 63. 
 Baldwin, Jerome B., 6, 65. 
 
 John, 91, 
 
 Gen. Lloyd E., 3. 5, 6, 8, 
 
 15,49,50,58,85,91,129, 
 
 130, 133, 134, 141, 147. 
 
 Baptist church, 51, 52, 54, 55, 
 
 57, 136- 
 
 Barber, W. J., 87. 
 Barlow, Elder J. L-, 57. 
 Barrows, Fred F., 60. 
 
 Samuel, 134. 
 
 Samuel Jr,, 49. 
 Barstow, Wm. P., 9. 
 Bartlett, Reuben S., i9. 
 Bass, typical family, 28; of 
 
 Scotland, 114. 
 Bassett, Joseph C., 4, 9, 84, 
 
 131- 
 Batrachian Battle, Windham's 
 
 great, 32 and fol. 
 Beach, Frank E., 88. 
 Beckwith, Willard, 15. 
 Beebe, Rev. E., 54. 
 Beede, Frank H,, 61. 
 Belair, Moses, 6. 
 Bell, Rev. Edward, 54. 
 Bennett, Origen, 4, 9. 
 
 Bennett, Perry, 61. 
 
 Dr. William A., 65. 
 Bently, Dr. Eleazer, 60. 
 
 Rev. E. D., 54. 
 Bibbins, typical family, 28. 
 Bi-Centeimial Anniversary, 3. 
 Bill, Arthur I., 6, 8, 88. 
 
 Eleazer, 131. 
 
 Rev. F. W., 54. 
 
 Horatio N., 5, 9. 
 Billings, typical family, 28. 
 Bingham, typical family, 28, 
 
 Jonathan, 29. 
 
 Miss Josie, 9. 
 
 Roger, 53, 
 
 Samuel, 148. 
 
 Waldo, 4, 5, 8. 
 Birchard, John, 21. 
 Bissell, Hezekiah, 75. 
 Blanchette, J. Octave, 6. 
 Blish Frank H. 6. 61; of Per- 
 kins & B., 135. 
 Bliven Chas. S., 4, 137. 
 
 Joseph B/, 4. 
 Bolles John, 65. 
 Boon block, 91. 
 Boon, William C., 49, 134. 
 Borough of Willimantic, 49. 
 Boss, Charles L., 6, 
 
 Eugene S., 3, 
 
 Harry, 4, 8, 130. 
 Boston Ht'f'd & Erie R. R., 59. 
 Bowen, Chas. D., 64. 
 
 Dr. Geo. Austin, 18. 
 Bowman, John, 5. 
 Bradford, Abel, 134. 
 
 Rev. E. B.,54. 
 
 Governor, 24. 
 Bradshaw, John T., 6. 
 Brady, Rev. Father H., 55. 
 Brainard, Henry, 59, 135.
 
 152 
 
 Brainard house, 135. 
 
 Misses, 78, 147. 
 Braley, Lester E., 64. 
 Branch, Wm., 128. 
 Brewster, Rev. Geo. W., 54. 
 
 Rev. Joseph, 52. 
 
 Sidney, 137. 
 Brick manufacture, 90. 
 Brigham, Walter D., 6. 
 Broderick, Dennis F., 6. 
 Bromley, Dr. Calvin, 60. 
 
 Rev. Henry, 54. 
 
 Stephen, 131. 
 Brooklyn, 44. 
 
 Brooks, Abel E., 6, 8, 15, 43, 149. 
 Brown, typical family, 28. 
 
 Elder Harry, 57. 
 
 Eliphalet, 147. 
 
 John, 4, 8, 85, 91. 
 
 John A., 17, 147. 
 
 Lucius and wife, 19. 
 
 Robert, 47, 86. 
 
 Theron, 17, 65, 147. 
 Buck, Edwin A., 5, 49. 
 
 Rev. Geo., 57. 
 Bugbee, J. Calhoun, 5. 
 Bull, George, 137. 
 Bunker Hill, 35, 36. 
 Burdick, Wm. L., 61. 
 Burleson, Allen B., 131. 
 Burlingham, Samuel L-, 5, 78. 
 Burnham, typical family of 
 Scotland, 114. 
 
 Abel R., 130. 
 
 Alfred A., 91. 
 
 Chester, 18. 
 
 Edward L., 4. 
 
 Edwin E., 3, 4, 9. 
 
 Elisha, 130. 
 
 Geo. W., 4, 6, 8, 57. 
 
 Henry, 9. 
 
 Marvin, 4, 8. 
 Burnside, Gen., 65. 
 
 Bushnell, Serg't Richard, 22. 
 Button, Linden T., 4. 
 Byrne, George, 140. 
 
 Smith and B., 140. 
 Cadwell, George A., 61. 
 Cady, Rev. Jonathan, 54. 
 Calkins, Hugh, 22, 124. 
 Cambridge, settlers from, 27. 
 Campbell, Miss Bertie 9, 
 
 of New York, 140. 
 
 Fred, 130. 
 
 Jefferson, 130. 
 
 Thomas, 91, 130. 
 Camp Ground M. E., 55. 
 Canada Parish, 27. 
 Canadian Immigration, 92-3. 
 Capen, Chas. A., 6, 8. 
 
 homestead, 139. 
 
 John H. 50, 139. 
 
 Jillson & Capen, 92. 
 Card block, 91. 
 
 David C., 6, 134. 
 Carding Machines, 45. 
 Carey, Eleazer, 30. 
 
 Henry, 4. 
 
 house, 139. 
 
 John F., 6. 
 
 typical family 28 ; of 
 Scotland, 114. 
 
 Samuel, 25. 
 
 Waldo, 84. 
 
 Cargell, William C., 4, 89, 130. 
 Carpenter Bros., 84, 132. 
 
 Chas. E.,6, 8. 
 
 James H., 134. 
 
 Loring, 49, 139. 
 
 Carroll, Charles, of Carroll- 
 ton, 13. 
 
 Rev. S. J., 55. 
 Carter, John, 67. 
 "Case Knife," Old Slave, 90. 
 Casey, Edward F., 6, 91, 140.
 
 153 
 
 Gates, John, 15, 17, 23, 97, 98. 
 Catholics n, 54, 56, 61, 92, 
 
 138. 
 Catlin, George S., 82, 91. 
 
 Chaffee, J. Dwight, 5. 
 O. S. & Son, 78. 
 Zelotes, 137. 
 
 Challenger, Geo., 5, 8, 9, 15. 
 Chamberlain family, 139. 
 
 Prof. L. P., 9. 
 
 Chandler, Thomas C., 5, 129. 
 Chaplin, 4, 9. 
 Chapman, Amos S., 9. 
 
 Horace M., 5. 
 Chappell, Herbert R., 6. 
 Charlestown, settlers from, 27. 
 Chase, George H., 7, 86. 
 
 L/aban, 86, 132. 
 Cheshire, 52. 
 Chipman, John, 137. 
 
 Martha, 60. 
 
 Church, Rev. A. J., 55. 
 Churches of Windham, 51 
 
 and fol. 
 
 "Cindy," old slave, 90. 
 Clap. Rev. Thos., 24, 25, 26. 
 Clark, Abel, 137. 
 
 Rev. Edgar F., 54. 
 
 Edwards, 81, 147. 
 
 Huber, 6. 
 
 John G., 61. 
 
 Lucian H., 139, 140. 
 
 Silas F., 4. 
 
 Maxon G., 139. 
 
 Gen. Waterman C., 140. 
 
 typical family, 28. 
 Clark & Gray, 45, 140. 
 Cleveland, typical family, 28. 
 
 Edward S., 4, 16. 
 
 President Grover, 52 
 
 Rev. R. F., 51. 
 
 Cogswell, J. R., 19. 
 
 Rev., 51. 
 
 Coker, Rev. M. G., 54. 
 Colgrove, Dr. C, H., 5, 137. 
 Collins, John, 87. 
 Colored population, 92. 
 Conant, Albert A., 4. 
 Congdon, Thomas R., 84, 
 Congregational church, 51, 52, 
 
 53, 81, 133- 
 Congressmen from Windham, 
 
 9i- 
 
 "Connecticut Home" news- 
 paper, 88. 
 
 Cook, Rev, Benajah, 54. 
 Cooley, John G.. 34. 
 Cooper, Rev. John, 54. 
 Corbin, David P., 61. 
 Corson, Rev. L. H., 52. 
 County seat removed, 44. 
 Crampton, Rev. Ralph S , 53. 
 Crandall, W. C., 88. 
 Crane, Edmund, 132. 
 
 Jonathan, 23, 28, 29, 30, 
 34, 124. 
 
 "Aunt Lucy" 132. 
 
 typical family, 28. 
 Cranston, Allen L., 130. 
 
 Earl, 131. 
 
 William H., 130. 
 
 place, 84. 
 Crimean War, 75. 
 Crofts, Rev. C. P., 53. 
 Crown Point, 34. 
 Cunningham, Thos., 49, 133. 
 Curtis, Asa, 87. 
 
 Rev. Wm. A., 52. 
 
 Moseley, 91. 
 Cushman block, 136. 
 
 E. McCall, 61, 136. 
 
 J. E., 136.
 
 154 
 
 Daniels, Charles N., 91, firm 
 
 of Grant & D., 68. 
 Dartmouth College, founded 
 by Windham man, 37. 
 David, Dr. Adelard D., 6, 12. 
 Davison, Capt. Calvin, 138. 
 
 Rev. G. K., 54- 
 
 Roderick, 4, 137, 138. 
 Day, Rev. Hiram, 52. 
 Dean, Josiah 84, 131. 
 
 Josiah, Jr., 131. 
 DeBruycker, Rev. Fl., 4, n, 
 
 12, 13, 56. 
 Denison, typical family, 28. 
 
 Capt. George, 22. 
 
 Nathan, 33. 
 
 Deshon, Rev. Giles N., 52. 
 Devotion, typical family, 28; 
 of Scotland, 114. 
 
 family Bible, 16. 
 Devotion, Rev. Ebenezer, 25. 
 
 Ebenezer, Jr., 32. 
 Dewitt, Henry, 41. 
 Dexter, Stephen, 49. 
 Dido, story of Hettie's cosset, 
 
 77- 
 
 Dime Savings Bank, 83. 
 Dimmock, typical family, 28. 
 Dimock, Rose. 66. 
 Dingley, typical family, 28. 
 Dinsmore, Rev. C. A., 54. 
 Dodge, "Uncle Amos," 41. 
 Dorchester, Rev. Daniel, 54. 
 Dow, Lorenzo, 53. 
 Dowling, Rev. Thos., 54. 
 
 Dunham hall, 56; D. and Ives 
 
 firm, 76. 
 Leonard R., 61. 
 
 Dunn, Daniel P., 6. 
 Durkee, Fort, 33. 
 
 Durkee, Capt. John, 33. 
 
 typical family, 28. 
 
 D., Stiles & Co., 136. 
 Dwight, Rev. Moseley, 54. 
 Dyer, typical family, 28. 
 
 Dr. Benjamin, 41. 
 
 Col. Eliphalet, 31, 33, 
 34, 36, 37, 41, 83, 103. 
 
 Mansion, 14, 15. 
 
 "Old Prime," slave, 70. 
 
 Thomas, 33. 
 Early Willimantic, 44. 
 Easter, Rev. A. Ogden, 52. 
 Eaton, Edwin, 148. 
 Eddy, Rev. Clayton, 52. 
 Edgarton, Henry L., 6. 
 Educational tables, 74. 
 Edwards, Rev. Harry, 52. 
 Elderkin, typical family, 28. 
 
 mansion of, 15. 
 
 Bela, 25. 
 
 Col. Jedediah, 31, 32, 36, 
 37, 41, 78, 83, 103. 
 
 E. & Wales firm, 36. 
 
 Joshua, Vine and John, 
 25- 
 
 Joshua, 15, 36. 
 
 Vine, 33. 
 
 Electric Light Co., 80. 
 Ellery, John, 25. 
 Elliott, Geo; C., 133. 
 English origin of population, 
 
 92, 
 
 "Enterprise" newspaper, 88. 
 Epic of Windham, The, 95. 
 Episcopal Society, 52, 56. 
 Essex, Win. F., 133. 
 Evans, John, Charles and 
 
 Edward, 87. 
 
 Rev. P. S., 54. 
 Everest, Rev. Cornelius B.,
 
 155 
 
 Exchange Place, 57, 141. 
 Faribault plan, 62. 
 Favroe, Arthur P., 4. 
 Feldman, L. and H., 133. 
 Fenn, Rev. W. A., 54. 
 Fenton, Capt. Chas, 65. 
 
 I. P., 9- 
 
 Palmer, 4. 
 
 First National Bank, 83. 
 First Settler, The, poem, no. 
 Fish, Angeline, 132. 
 
 Nathan, 132, 
 Fitch, Col. Ebenezer, 24. 
 
 Edwin S., 50. 
 
 Capt. Eleazer, 34, 35. 
 
 Governor, 100. 
 
 Hardin, 4, 9, 58, 84, 129. 
 
 Dr. Jabez, 59. 
 
 Rev. James, 21. 
 
 Major James, 21. 
 
 Capt. John, 34. 
 
 Joseph, 24. 
 
 Marcy, 33. 
 
 Dr. Newton, 49, 135. 
 
 tavern, 22. 
 
 typical family, 28. 
 Fitches, mention of, 22. 
 Fitzpatrick, Patrick, 6. 
 Fletcher, Rev. Daniel, 54. 
 Flint, typical family, 28. 
 
 Jairus, 32. 
 
 Lucius Y., 4. 
 Flynn, Luke 6, 138. 
 
 Luke, Jr., 138. 
 Follett's Pond, 96. 
 Follett, typical family, 28. 
 Ford, Samuel B., 132. 
 Foster, J. H., 88. 
 Foster & Post firm, 67. 
 Fourdrinier Brothers, Henry 
 
 and Lealy, 70. 
 Fourdrinier Machines, 67-70. 
 
 Fowler, Major Gen. Amos, 50, 
 147. 
 
 Amos T., 6. 
 
 Gen. Anson, 147. 
 
 Frank S., 137. 
 Fox, Chas. J., 3, 5, 6. 
 Franklin Hall, 55, 61, 85, 133. 
 Free, Rev. S. R., 53. 
 Freeman, Lucian, 4. 
 French Canadians, 5, 6, 92. 
 French and Indian War, 24. 
 French Mills, battle of, 63. 
 Frink, typical family, 28. 
 
 Andrew, 8. 
 
 Levi, 132. 
 
 L. G., 9. 
 
 Frogs, Story of Windharn, 32 
 and fol.; battle of,ioo. 
 Frost & Pickering firm, 67. 
 Fuller, Deacon A. H., 54, 131. 
 
 Jane Gay, 18, no. 
 
 L. J. and Son, 134. 
 
 Thomas Hart, 61. 
 
 typical family of Scot- 
 land, 114. 
 
 Fulsome, Israel and wife, 26. 
 Future, The, 93 and fol. 
 Gager, Edwin B., 17, 112. 
 
 John P., 4. 
 
 Lewis, 17. 
 
 William, 24. 
 Gallows Hill, 31. 
 Gardner, Rev., 54. 
 Gates, Rev. Alfred, 54. 
 
 Andrew F., 18. 
 
 William F., 137. 
 
 Ginne, Joe, 23. 
 
 Ginnings, Jonathan, 23. 
 
 Godfrey, William, 138. 
 
 Gold Fever, 91. 
 
 Good Samaritan Movement, 82.
 
 156 
 
 Gordon Place, 138. 
 Gould, Rev. John B., 54. 
 Governor's Foot Guards, 7. 
 Grant & Daniels firm, 68. 
 Gray, typical family, 28, 103. 
 
 Clark and G., 146. 
 
 Col. Ebenezer, 25, 37. 
 
 John H., 133. 
 Green, Alonzo B., 131. 
 
 Rev. Philetus, 54. 
 Greenslit, David A., 4, 9. 
 Gregory, Rev. Alva, 54. 
 Griggs, David A., 4. 
 
 John, 9. 
 
 Miss Nellie M., 16. 
 Grove Seminary, 59. 
 Guild, Dr. F. E., 9, 15, 147. 
 Gurley, Capt. Roger, 137, 
 Haggerty, James, 6, 65,147. 
 Hale, Nathan, drum corps, 15. 
 Hall, Edwin H., 35, 131. 
 
 E. H. Jr., 68. 
 
 E. H. and Son, 86. 
 
 Egbert, 132. 
 
 H. & Bill Printing Co., 
 88. 
 
 Henry, 50, 91. 
 
 Henry L. 87. 
 
 Horace, 61, 87, 91, 133. 
 
 Hon. John M., 3, 5, 6, 7, 
 8,87, 131, 133. 
 
 Nathan, 132. 
 Hallam, Rev. Dr., 56. 
 Hammond, Elisha G., 4, 8. 
 
 Lucius J., 5, 9, 14. 
 Hampton, 4, 9, 16, 27. 
 Hanlon, James E., 6. 
 Hanover Block, 91, 136. 
 
 Geo. W., 136. 
 Haran, Thos., 133. 
 Hartford, Providence & Fish- 
 kill R. R., 58, 147. 
 
 Harrington house, 133. 
 Harris, Martin, 59, 141. 
 Harrison, Wm. Henry, 63, 80. 
 Hartson, Albert, 4, 8. 
 
 Lester M., 6, 9. 
 Haskins, Rufus T., 5. 
 Hatch, Charles, 15. 
 
 Henry, 9, 122. 
 
 Mrs. Henry, 9. 
 
 Jonathan, 4, 8. 
 Hatheway, Amos L., 17, 116. 
 
 A. Morris, 17. 
 Hawkins, Wm. B., 50. 
 Hawthorne House, 139. 
 Hay Scales, 141. 
 Hayden, James, 3. 
 
 Whiting, 46, 57. 
 Heap, Geo. P. 132, 136. 
 "Hearsay," by C. S. Abbe, 
 
 121 and fol. 
 Hebard, Geo. W., 91. 
 
 Tavern, 50, 81, 91, 131. 
 
 typical family, 28. 
 Hendee, Richard, 23. 
 Henney, John, 65. 
 Henry, John J., 6. 
 "Herald," newspaper, 34, 40, 
 
 86, 87, 88. 
 
 Herrick, Ephraim, 54, 139. 
 Hettie,Story of Cosset Dido,77. 
 Hewitt Eli, 148. 
 
 Miss Mary A., 148. 
 
 Property, 138. 
 Hickey, John, 4, 138. 
 High School, 61. 
 Hill, Samuel L., 60. 
 Hills, T. Morton, 5. 
 Hine, Roderick W., 61. 
 "Hither Place," 23. 
 Holbrook, S. T., 19. 
 
 Wm. A., 61.
 
 157 
 
 Holden, Rev. C. W., 55. 
 
 Rev. F. A., 52. 
 Holland, Dr.J. G., 78. 
 
 J. H. & G., 78, 147. 
 Holland Manufacturing Co., 
 
 78. 
 
 Holman, Rev. Geo. W., 54. 
 Holmes, Elisha, 75. 
 
 E. Harlow, 5, 8, 9. 
 
 Mrs. Sarah, 9. 
 Holt, Geo. M., 9. 
 Hooker, S. Chauncey, 6. 
 
 House, 49, 53. 
 Hooper's Lane, 86. 
 Hooper, Alpaugh and H., 135. 
 
 Robert, 132. 
 
 Hopley, Rev. Samuel, 52. 
 Horbush, Rev. H , 54. 
 Horseshoe Bridge built, 43. 
 Horton, Rev. S. J., 15, 16, 52. 
 Hosmer, James D., 130. 
 
 Mountain, 48. 
 
 Stephen, 48, 49, 130. 
 
 Wm. H., 89, 91, 130. 
 Hovey, Rensalaer O., 50. 
 
 Judge, 89. 
 Howes, Alfred, 135. 
 
 James, 136. 
 
 blacksmith shop, 47. 
 Hoxie, Benjamin B. 4. 
 Hoyt, F. K., 9, 
 Hubbard, Amos H., 71. 
 Hudson, Henry, 71. 
 Huguenot Descendants, 114. 
 Hunter, John L,., 5, 131, 
 
 Huntington, Charles, 59. 
 Major Hezekiah, 36. 
 Joseph, 23, 30, 
 Nathaniel, Enoch, Jos. 
 
 and Jabez, 25. 
 Jabez, 30. 
 
 Huntington, Rufus, 48. 
 
 Samuel, 36-7, 40. 
 
 Simon, 21, 22. 
 
 Thomas, 30, 
 
 typical family, 28 ; of 
 
 Scotland, 114. 
 Hunt, typical family, 28. 
 Hyde, William, 21. 
 "Independent Observer and 
 County Advertiser," 
 newspaper, 87. 
 Indian charity school, 37. 
 Ingersoll, Jared, 35. 
 Ireland, Archbishop, 62. 
 Irish population, 92. 
 Iron ore, 28. 
 Iron Works, 28, 36. 
 Iron Works Bridge, 47. 
 Ives, Dunham & I., firm 76. 
 Jackson, Gen. Andrew, 85. 
 
 Lyman, 138,148 
 
 Street, 55, 56. 
 Jacobs, Ward W., 4. 
 Jefferson, Rev. H. B., 57. 
 Jennings, Jonathan, 99. 
 
 Joseph, 31. 
 
 Royal, 49. 
 
 typical family, 28. 
 Jewett, Charles, 9. 
 
 Mrs. Chester, 9. 
 Jillson, Asa, 49, 131. 
 
 Bros., (Wm., Asa and 
 
 Seth,) 45. 
 
 Mill, 75. 
 
 J. and Capen, 76, 92, 139, 
 140. 
 
 Capt. John S., 50. 
 
 Seth, 131. 
 
 William C., 3, 6, 131, 140. 
 
 Capt. William L., 50, 85. 
 
 William, 137. 
 
 Col. William, 131, 140.
 
 158 
 
 Johnson, Mrs. Ann H., 15. 
 
 Merrick, 137. 
 
 Sir William, 24. 
 
 Rev. William, 34. 
 Johnson's livery stable, 134, 
 
 new block, 135. 
 Jordan, Chas. B., 6, 60. 
 
 Lymaii, 48, 130. 
 
 Thomas, 130. 
 "Journal," Willimantic, 9, n, 
 
 14, 18, 87. 
 
 Judson, Rev. Philo, 53. 
 Keigwin, John G., 3, 5, 6, 84, 
 
 133- 
 
 Keith, Rev. O. F., 52. 
 Kellen, Rev. William, 54. 
 Kelley,Thos.J.,3, 5, 9. 
 Kellogg, Eunice Richmond, 
 
 132, 135- 
 
 Kelsey, Rev. W. S., 52. 
 Kennedy, typical family, 28. 
 Kenyon, Miss Emma, 9. 
 
 E, P., 9. 
 
 Killourey, John, 138. 
 Kimbel, Block, 133. 
 
 Stephen, 133. 
 King family, 131. 
 Kingsburys, typical family, 28. 
 Kingsley, Dr. 139. 
 
 Wm. 60. 
 
 typical family of Scot- 
 land, 114. 
 
 Knapp, Rev, Henry R., 54, 
 LaFayette, Gen. 12. 
 Lamnon, Wm. C., 19. 
 Land values, 49, 89. 
 La Palme, J. Godfrey, 4. 
 Larned, Miss Ellen D., 18. 
 Larrabee, Capt. Adam, 62, 63. 
 Charles, 4, 8, 19, 63. 
 Chas., Jr., 6, 8, 9. 
 
 Larrabee, Major Chas., 62,63. 
 
 Miss Emma, 9. 
 
 Henry, 3, 5, 8, 19, 43, 
 63- 
 
 Mrs. Henry, 9. 
 
 John 23. 
 
 Timothy, 42, 44, 63. 
 
 typical family, 28 
 
 William, 9. 
 Latham, Wm. H., 5. 
 Lathrop, Azariah, 132. 
 
 Charlotte, 15. 
 
 Dr., 64. 
 
 Elder Benjamin, 53. 
 
 George, 4, 5,8, 9, i4o. 
 
 H. Clinton, 6, 8, 9. 
 
 Jabez, 5, 61. 
 
 James P., 19. 
 
 Mrs Lee, 16. 
 
 typical family, 28. 
 Law students, 89. 
 Leader, Rev. Shadrach, 55. 
 Leavitt, Rev. D. P., 55. 
 
 N. W., 88. 
 
 Leavitt's operetta, 90. 
 Lebanon, 26, 27. 
 Lee, Deacon Chas., 46, 48, 52, 
 
 132, 147- 
 Leffingwell, Lieut. Thos., 21, 
 
 22. 
 
 Lemon, Rev. J. B., 54. 
 Leonard, Chas. E., 6. 
 
 Rev. S., 54. 
 
 Zephaniah, 25. 
 Lester, Hannah G., 63. 
 
 John F., 58. 
 Levingworth and Wells firm, 
 
 74- 
 Lewis, Prentiss, 9. 
 
 Sheffield, 135. 
 
 Lexington, 36. 
 Liberty meetings, 35.
 
 159 
 
 Lincoln, Allen, 17, 47. 
 
 Allen B., 3, 5,6, 9, 17, 
 39, and fol.. 88, 129, 
 
 Edgar S., 5, 59- 
 
 Frank M., 4, 5, 9. 
 
 George, 131, 
 
 John C. 6. 
 
 Lorin, 4, 9. 
 
 M, Eugene, 3, 5, 6. 
 
 Stowell, 68. 
 
 typical family, 28. 
 Linen Co., 75. 
 Little, Saxton B., 6r. 
 Littlefield, Jairus, 134. 
 Livesey, Rev. John, 64. 
 Locke, Wm. H., 54. 
 Lockman, DeWitt, 9. 
 Long, Francis S., 64. 
 Loonier, Silas, 3, 5, 91, 
 
 Vilatia, 137. 
 
 Loomer's lumber yard, 138. 
 Loomis, Andrew, 64. 
 
 Mrs. Eliza, 9. 
 
 Mrs. Lavinia, 134. 
 Lord, Daniel, 135. 
 
 Joshua B., 85, 91, 135. 
 
 Marian, 135. 
 Loring, A. D. 4, 9, 45. 
 
 Solomon, 45. 
 Lynch, Jas. T. 3, 5, 82. 
 Lyon, Gen. Nathaniel, 65. 
 
 Guards, 64. 
 
 Magoon, Isaac, 27, 114. 
 Manahan, Geo. W., 130. 
 Manning, typical family, 28 
 Mansfield, 4, 9, 24, 27, 28. 
 Martin, typical family, 28. 
 
 James, 130. 
 
 Deacon Luther, 131. 
 
 J. Griffin, 5, 8, 9. 
 Mason, Daniel, 21. 
 
 Capt. John, 20, 21, 22. 
 
 Mason, John, 124. 
 
 Samuel, 21, 22. 
 Masons, mention of, 22. 
 Massachusetts Bay, settlers 
 
 from, 27. 
 
 May, Rev. Geo., 5-1. 
 Mayflower, The, 24. 
 McAvoy, James A., 5. 137. 
 McBurney, Rev. S., 55. 
 McCabe, Rev. Bernard, 55, 
 McCracken, Geo. B., 131. 
 McDonald, John A., 6, 88. 
 McFarland, Bishop, 56. 
 McManus, Gen. Thomas, 13. 
 McReading, Rev. Chas. S., 54. 
 McQuade, Bishop, 56. 
 Melony, block, 53, 133. 
 
 George W., 5. 
 
 Norman, 4, 48. 
 Memorial building, 7, 8. 
 Merchants Loan & Trust Co., 
 
 83- 
 
 Merrick Bros., 6, 8. 
 Merrill, Chas. F., 61. 
 Merrow, Joseph B., 5. 
 Methodists, 54, 55, 80, 135. 
 Militia, state, 50. 
 Millard, typical family, 28. 
 
 Benjamin, 29. 
 Miller, Rev. George W., 55. 
 
 Samuel J., 64, 65. 
 Miner, Rev. Cyrus, 54. 
 Monast, Joseph E., 6. 
 Montgomery Hose Co., u. 
 Montreal, surrender of , 35. 
 Morrill, Principal A. B., 12. 
 Morris, Jonathan Flint, 18. 
 
 Morrison, Albert R., 5. 
 John H., 6.
 
 160 
 
 Morrison, Henry, 79. 
 
 W. G. & A. R. Machine 
 
 Co., 79. 
 Walter G., 79. 
 William, 130. 
 
 Morse, Rev. Charles H., 54. 
 
 Moulton, typical family, 28. 
 Albert R., 4, 138. 
 Everett H., 3, 5, 9. 
 George S., 40. 
 Harriet, 60. 
 Edward, 140. 
 Rev. Horace, 54. 
 John H-, 3, 5, 6, 58, 131, 
 
 137- 
 
 Col. Roswell, 91, 131. 
 William, 4. 
 
 Mullen, Rev. Daniel, 56. 
 Murdoch, typical family, 28. 
 
 Murray, Hugh C., 5. 
 
 James E., 3, 5, 6, 138. 
 
 Nason, George K., 6. 
 
 Natphaug school building, 60. 
 Silk Company, 78. 
 
 Nesbitt, George F., 73. 
 
 Nesbitt's wood type, 73. 
 
 New Boston, 67. 
 
 "New England Home" news- 
 paper, 9, 88. 
 
 New Haven, Middletown and 
 Willimantic R. R., 59. 
 
 New England Township, Its 
 History and Mission, 
 116 and fol. 
 
 New London Northern R. R., 
 58. 
 
 "News" Willimantic daily, 88. 
 
 Newspapers of Willimantic, 
 86 and fol. 
 
 Newton, settlers from, 27. 
 
 New Village, 76. 
 
 New York and New England 
 
 R- R., 59- 
 Ney, John M., 18. 
 Nichols, Rev. Abel, 52. 
 Nipmuck Path, 15. 
 
 Indians, 20. 
 
 Noble, Rev. Charles, 54. 
 Non-consumption ordinance, 
 
 35- 
 
 Normal Training school, 61. 
 North and South Windham, 
 
 67 and fol. 
 
 North Windham manufac- 
 tures, 67 and fol. 
 Oaks, The, 76. 
 Obwebetuck, 38. 
 Ohio Reservation, 34. 
 Oldest houses in town, 84. 
 Old stone school house, 58, 
 
 61, 139, 140. 
 
 Old Windham, 40 and fol. 
 Old Windham of to-day, 82 
 
 and fol. 
 
 Olmstead, John, 21, 22. 
 O'Reilly, Rev. Father Hugh 
 
 J-, 56. 
 
 Ormsby, typical' family, 28. 
 Osborn, Wm. H., 46, 137. 
 Otis, Dr. Wm. K., 136, 
 
 Page, E. S., 131. 
 
 Henry, 4, 8. 
 
 P. & Son, 140. 
 
 Palmer, typical family, 28 ; of 
 Scotland, 114. 
 
 Rev. A. P., 55. 
 
 Win. F., 49. 
 
 Parochial School, 56, 61. 
 Patriotic address issued, 35. 
 
 Peabody, G. B., 9. 
 Mrs. G. B., 9.
 
 161 
 
 Pearl, Patrick H., 4. 
 Peck, Pearl L,., 50. 
 Perkins, typical family, 28. 
 
 P. & Blish, 135. 
 
 Emeline L.. 19- 
 
 John A., 4, 8, 15, 135. 
 
 Miss Mary, 9. 
 Perry, Albert L-, 4, 8. 
 Peters, historian and parson, 
 
 32, loo. 
 Phelps, Aaron, 80. 
 
 James, 70. 
 
 P. & Spafford, firm, 71. 
 Philip, King, 21. 
 "Phoenix" newspaper, 34. 
 Pickering, Englishman, 67. 
 
 Joseph, 70. 
 Pierce, Timothy, 30. 
 Pierson, Walt, 87. 
 Pigeon Swamp, 69. 
 Pinney, Julius, 5. 
 Plains, The, 50. 
 Platt, Dennis, 53. 
 Plattsburg, 63. 
 Polling places, 46. 
 Pomeroy, Chas B., 6. 
 Pondes, The, 23. 
 Population, 41, 92. 
 Porter, Miss Sarah, 130. 
 Post, William, 130. 
 Post, John, 22. 
 
 Post, of Foster & Post firm, 67, 
 Potter, Niles, 91, 133. 
 
 William N., 6, 
 Potvin, Theodore, 5. 
 Powder Mills, 36. 
 Powell, Principal, 61. 
 Preliminary Efforts for, Bi-Cen- 
 
 tennial, 3. 
 
 Prentice, Robert, 132. 
 Presbyterian Church, 53. 
 
 Progressive Lyceum, 57. 
 
 Protestants, 61. 
 
 "Public Medium" newspaper, 
 
 87. 
 
 Purington, Rev. Wm,, 54. 
 Purinton, Geo. H , 5. 
 Putnam Phalanx, 7. 
 Quinn, Rev. Father J. J., 13. 
 Railroads, The, 57. 
 Raisley, Rev. J. E., 54. 
 Ramsdell, Rev. H., 54. 
 
 Thomas, 8, 43. 
 Ransom, Rev. Reuben, 54. 
 Rathbun, Elias, 132. 
 
 Julius G., 4, 18. 
 Reading Coal Co., 58. 
 "Record", daily newspaper, 
 
 88. 
 Reed, typical family, 28. 
 
 E. F,, 130. 
 
 Rev. George E., 55. 
 Reform Church and Society, 
 
 57- 
 
 Reforms, Windham in, 80. 
 Rehoboth, settlers from, 27. 
 Relics, Exhibition of, 142 and 
 
 following. 
 
 Remington, Homer E., 6. 
 Revolution, Windham in the, 
 
 35 and following. 
 Richardson, Leander, 60. 
 Richmond, Perez O., 45. 
 Rifle Company, 50. 
 Ripley, typical family, 28. 
 
 Brothers, 64. 
 
 Eleazer H., 64. 
 
 Hezekiah, 25. 
 
 Jeremiah, 23. 
 
 Joshua, 23, 30. 
 
 Joshua D., 30. 
 
 Nehemiah, 31.
 
 162 
 
 Risley, Oliver H.K., 5. 
 Robbery of Windham Bank 
 
 83- 
 Robbins, typical family, 28. 
 
 Miss Josephine M., 16, 
 
 108. 
 
 Robert, Louis, 70. 
 Robinson, typical family, 28; 
 
 of Scotland, 114. 
 
 Rev. A. 54. 
 
 Andrew, 53. 
 
 Calvin, 81, 139. 
 
 Israel, 4, 9, 132. 
 
 Mrs. J. C., 139. 
 
 Luther, 138. 
 
 Nathaniel, 138. 
 
 Orrin, 81. 
 
 Remus, 60. 
 
 "Aunt Rushy", 81 
 Rogers, Frederic, 6. 
 
 Rev. Geo. W., 54. 
 Rollinson, Joseph, 139. 
 Rood, Rufus, 8, 15. 
 Root, Thomas, 30. 
 Ross, James H., 6. 
 Rudd, typical family, 28. 
 Rust, Nathaniel, 30. 
 
 Safford, Addison, 139. 
 Fayette, 88. 
 Dr. Jason, 134. 
 
 Salem, settlers from, 27. 
 
 Saltonstall, mention of family, 
 24. 
 
 Sauuders, Rev. E. W-, 52. 
 
 Savings Institute, 82. 
 
 Sawyer, typical family, 28. 
 
 Scoville, Charles, 81. 
 
 Schools of Windham, 59 and 
 following. 
 
 Scotch Presbyterian descend- 
 ants, 114. 
 
 Scotland, 4, 9, 47, 112 and fol- 
 lowing. 
 Scott, John, 5, 131. 
 
 Gen.'Wihfield S,, 63. 
 Searing, Rev. R. C., 56. 
 Sectaries, 43, 51. 
 Select School for boys, 52. 
 Separatist agitation, 26, 42,51. 
 Sessions, Daniel, 90. 
 Shad fishing, 43. 
 Sharpe, Rev. Andrew, 5, 53. 
 Shaw, Betty, execution of, 31. 
 Sherman, Rev. Henry B., 52. 
 Shoe Industry, 90. 
 Silk Manufacture, 32. 
 Simons, typical family, 20. 
 Simpson, C. S., 87. 
 Six Nations, The, 33. 
 Skiff, typical family, 28. 
 Slaves in Windham, 90. 
 Slavery abolished in Conn. ,90. 
 Sliding Falls, 28. 
 Small Pox scourge, 84, 
 Smith, typical family, 28. 
 
 A. D. and J. Y., (Gov- 
 ernor), 46. 
 
 Benajah, 12, 65. 
 
 Charles, 4, 8, 71, 74, 84. 
 
 C. M., 19. 
 
 Captain David, 50. 
 
 Guilford, 3, 5, 8, 15, 16, 
 74, 122. 
 
 Mrs. Guilford, 9. 
 
 James, 4, 8. 
 
 John, 84, 139. 
 
 Joshua, 69. 
 
 "Pete" old slave, 90. 
 
 Scott, 84, 139. 
 
 William, 4, 15, 46, 59. 
 
 S., Winchester & Co ,69, 
 72, 74, 75, 84. 
 
 S. & Byrne, 140.
 
 Smithville Co., 46, 80. 
 Snell, typical family, 28. 
 
 Thomas, 29, 31. 
 Sodom, 81. 
 South Windham, 32, 52, 69 and 
 
 following. 
 
 South worth, typical family, 28. 
 Spafford, typical family, 28. 
 
 George, 5, 68, 69, 70, 71, 
 72, 140. 
 
 Henry, 4, 8. 
 
 Jesse, 49. 
 
 Spaulding, Asa, 25. 
 Spencer, typical family, 28. 
 
 Freeman D., 4, 8. 
 Spiritualists, 57. 
 Sprague, Gov., 65. 
 Stage coaches, 43. 
 St. Jean Baptist Society. 15. 
 St. Joseph's Roman Catholic 
 
 Parish, u, 
 Stamp Act, effect in Windham, 
 
 35- 
 Staniford, typical family, 28. 
 
 Colonel, 62. 
 
 Inn, 15, 43, 89. 
 Stanton, Robert, 9. 
 Starkweather, Ephraim, 25. 
 tXHenry C., 4, 19. 
 
 Nathan, 18. 
 
 Stearns, Rev. Geo. I., 17, 52. 
 Sterry, James, 132. 
 Stewart, Robert, 60. 
 Stiles, Geo. E., 6. 
 Stoddard, Allen, 91. 
 Stone, Edward, 130. 
 Storrs, Augustus, 4. 
 
 William, 58. 
 
 vStubbs, Rev. Alfred H., 52. 
 Sullivan, Jeremiah O', 4, 5, 8. 
 
 Sumner, Elliott B., 5. 
 
 Dr. E. G., 9. 
 
 Sumter, Fall of Fort, 64. 
 Susquehanna Company, 33. 
 Swan, Rev. Jabez, 5J. 
 Swedes, 92. 
 Sweeney, Wm. J., 6. 
 Sweet, Stutely, 89. 
 Sweetland, Ira, 131. 
 Swift, Grant, 59. 
 
 hill, 96. 
 
 Mrs. Julia, 9. 
 
 Justin, 46, 50, 68, 90. 
 
 Rowland, 18. 
 
 Storrs, 4. 
 
 Zephaniah, 19, 40, 43. 
 
 89. 
 Taintor, typical family, 28, 
 
 Chas., 67, 68, 89. 
 
 John, 67. 
 
 Henry E., 64. 
 
 Mrs. Mary D., 9. 
 
 T. Abbe & Badger, firm, 
 
 67. 
 
 Talcott, Hart, 18. 
 Tanner, Warren, 134. 
 Tarbox, Dr. Asahel, 120. 
 Taverns of Windham, 43. 
 Taylor, Geo. F., 5. 
 
 Gen. Zachary, 63. 
 Teaming industry, 59. 
 Temperance Question, 57, 81 
 
 and following. 
 Temple street, 136. 
 Temple of Fashion, 136. 
 Terry, D. F., 130. 
 Tew, James, 86. 
 
 John, 86. 
 
 William, 86. 
 
 Thompson, Rev. Frank, 52. 
 Throop, Benjamin and Will- 
 iam, 25. 
 
 Dyer, 25.
 
 164 
 
 Tiffany, George, 130. 
 
 Tighes, Jas,, 6. 
 
 Tilden, Rev. Chester, 54, 134. 
 
 Chester, Jr., 4, 9, 134. 
 
 Marshall, 5. 
 Tingley, A. C,, 129. 
 
 T. & Watson, firm, 46. 
 
 house, 131. 
 
 Tirrell, Rev. Eben, 55. 
 Todd, Rev. Charles, 52. 
 Toll-gate and house, 48, 130. 
 Townsend, Rev. P., 54. 
 Tracy, typical family, 28; of 
 Scotland, 114. 
 
 Lieut. Thos. 
 Training Days, 50. 
 "Transcript", newspaper, 87. 
 Tremont house, 133. 
 Trumbull, "Brother Jona- 
 than," 28, 36. 
 Truscott, Robert, 132. 
 'Turner, Alberts., 6. 
 
 Arthur G., 5, 79, 89. 
 
 Chauncey, 4, 130. 
 
 Melancthon, 134. 
 
 Thomas, 156. 
 
 T. & Wilson, 84. 
 Turnpike Company, 42. 
 
 Lines, 42. 
 
 Tyler, Rev. John, 51, 52. 
 Uncas, 20. 21. 
 Universalism, 17. 
 Universalist Church, 87, 140. 
 Utley, Chas. R., 6, 131. 
 
 John R., 4, 
 
 Vaughn, Douglass, 138. 
 Verplanck, F. A., 61. 
 Vincent, Rev. Hebron, 54. 
 
 Wagons, 42. 
 
 Walden, typical family, 28. 
 
 James, 3, 5,7, 89, 91, 135. 
 
 John L., 6. 
 
 Waldo, typical Scotland fam- 
 ily, 114. 
 Wales, typical family, 28. 
 
 Henry N., 91. 
 
 Nathan, 33. 
 
 Nathaniel, Jr., 36. 
 
 William, 4, 8, 122. 
 Walworth, Reuben H., 63, 
 Ward, Rev. K., 54. 
 Warner house, 60. 
 Warner, typical family, 28. 
 Washburn, Edgar S., 5. 
 Washington, Gen., 14, 28, 36, 
 
 Monument, 43. 
 
 Washingtonian movement, 82. 
 Waterman, Rev. Elijah, 51. 
 Watkins hanging, 50. 
 Weaver, Davis, 137. 
 
 Elisha, 49. 
 
 Thos. Snell, 9, 16, 20 and 
 following, 87, 88, 137. 
 
 William I/., i6,;2o, 60, 61, 
 
 87, 91, 133, 138. 
 
 Webb, typical family, 28 ; of 
 Scotland, n/|. 
 
 Arthur B., 19, 
 
 Frank F., 5, 8. 
 
 Mrs, Frank F., 9. 
 
 Henry, 87. 
 
 Joel. 36. 
 
 Joel W., 3, 5, 6. 
 
 old family place, 15. 
 
 Peter, 44. 
 
 William, 91. 
 Webster, Chas. F., 61. 
 
 Noah D.. 6. 
 Welch, typical family, 28. 
 
 John B., 61.
 
 165 
 
 Wells, Rev. L. H., 56. 
 
 of Levingsworth & W. 
 
 firm, 74. 
 
 Welsh, Daniel, 25. 
 West, Ebenezer, 30. 
 Wetherell, Daniel, 22, 
 Wheat, Pasdon A. C., 54. 
 Wheeler, Rev. E. S., 54- 
 
 George, 141. 
 
 John D., 61, 131. 
 
 Rev. L. W., 54. 
 Wheelock, Rev. Eleazer, D. 
 
 U-, 37- 
 White, typical family, 28. 
 
 "Old Cruse" slave, 90. 
 
 Rev. Moses, 80. 
 
 Parson, 33. 
 
 Rev. Stephen, 21, 51. 
 Whiting, typical family, 28, 99. 
 
 Elizabeth, 24. 
 
 John, 24. 
 
 Rev. John, 24. 
 
 Nathan, 35. 
 
 Rev. Samuel, 24, 30, 34, 
 124. 
 
 Samuel, Jr., 24, 34. 
 Whittemore Park, 138. 
 Wilkinson, Ahab, 139. 
 
 Gen. 63. 
 
 Joanna, 140-1. 
 Willard, Rev. S. G., 53, 130, 
 
 132. 
 Williams, A. B.. 91. 
 
 Arthur, 9. 
 
 Elisha, 85, 139. 
 
 Mrs. E. H., 19. 
 
 Ralph, 130. 
 
 Roger, 5. 
 
 Wightman, 49, 132. 
 Willimantuck , first settlement, 
 23- 
 
 In 1850, 139 and fol. 
 
 Willimantic Linen Co., 75. 
 
 Newspapers, 86 and fol. 
 Wilson, of Turner & W. firm, 
 84. 
 
 C. H., 9. 
 
 Frank M., 5, 84, 135. 
 
 Jesse, 137. 
 
 Isaac, 134. 
 Winchester, Arthur S., 5, 9,15. 
 
 E. Clinton, 3, 5. 
 
 Harvey, 72. 
 
 Windham, 4, 24, 29, 30, 44. 
 Windham Bank, 80, 83. 
 
 Bank Robbery, 83. 
 
 Churches, 51. 
 
 County "Herald," 62. 
 
 Green, 14, 28. 
 
 Manufacturing Co , 46, 
 
 59. 79. 84, 9i- 
 
 in Reforms, 80. 
 
 Schools, 59. 
 
 The Coasting Vessel, 41, 
 106. 
 
 in War, 62. 
 Windham's First Century, 20 
 
 and following. 
 Windham's Second Century, 
 
 39 and following. 
 Winslow, Rev. Horace, 4, 19, 
 
 50. 53- 
 
 Wiswall, Rev. F. M., 5. 
 Witter, Dr., 49, 85, 89, 132,133. 
 
 Wm. C., 4. 
 Wolcott, typical family, 28. 
 
 Roger, 31. 
 
 Wood, Lieut. Chas., 64. 
 Wood type, 72. 
 Woodward, Dr. Ashbel, 66. 
 
 Rev. John W., 52. 
 
 Joseph, 137. 
 
 P. H., 18, 66. 
 Woodworth, Chester, 9, 
 Wool, Gen., 65.
 
 166 
 
 Wooster, Gen., 24. 
 Work, James H., 91, 
 Worth, Rev. Wm. T,, 55. 
 Wyoming Valley, 33-4. 
 Yale College, 24, 25, 31, 53. 
 Yergason, E. S., 9. 
 York town, 35. 
 "Younger Generation", 
 and following. 
 
 116 
 
 Young, Alfred, 84, 131 
 Chas., 84. 
 Frank A., 61. 
 Fred S., 6. 
 Henry, 138. 
 Ulysses, 138. 
 
 Youngs hotel, 91, 133. 
 
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