TWO CENTURIES OF NEW MILFORD, CONNECTICUT
One thousand copies of this book have been printed from type and the
type distributed.
[Illustration: ROGER SHERMAN
From a painting by Ralph Earle, now in the possession of Mr. Charles
Atwood White of New Haven]
TWO CENTURIES OF NEW MILFORD CONNECTICUT
AN ACCOUNT OF THE BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE FOUNDING OF THE TOWN
HELD JUNE 15, 16, 17 AND 18, 1907, WITH A NUMBER OF HISTORICAL ARTICLES
AND REMINISCENCES
PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE HISTORICAL COMMITTEE BY VARIOUS
CITIZENS OF NEW MILFORD AND BY THE EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT OF THE GRAFTON
PRESS
[Illustration]
THE GRAFTON PRESS
PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT, 1907
BY THE GRAFTON PRESS
CONTENTS
PART I
THE PAST AND PRESENT
PAGE
INTRODUCTION. By MINOT S. GIDDINGS 3
The first settlers of New Milford. Zachariah Ferriss sued for
trespass. John Reed and his career. Organizing a township. Organizing
a church and calling a minister. The sturdy character of the Fathers.
Noted men. Roger Sherman. The splendid heritage of New Milford.
GLIMPSES OF OLD NEW MILFORD HISTORY. By CHARLOTTE BALDWIN BENNETT 8
The site of New Milford two hundred years ago. The character and
career of John Noble. The Boardman well. The first minister and
the first meetinghouse. The union of town and church. “Seating and
dignifying the meetinghouse.” People called to church by a drum.
The tithing-man. The Sabbath-day house. Importance of the minister.
The first Episcopal services. The Separatists. The Baptists. The
Methodists. The Quakers. The different church edifices. Church music.
The schools. The singing schools. The early wars. A romance of the
Revolution. Illustrious visitors. Social life after the war. Anecdote
of Parson Taylor. Transportation. Main street nearly a century ago.
Beautifying “The Green.” The village doctor. Slavery. The “Underground
Railroad.” The Civil War. The fire of 1902.
THE OWNERS OF NEW MILFORD. By GEN. HENRY STUART TURRILL 22
Proprietors to the amount of £1, 4s. Proprietors to the amount of 12s.
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO. (POEM). By SARAH SANFORD BLACK 24
THE TWO ABIGAILS. By GEN. HENRY STUART TURRILL 26
Caleb Terrill settles in New Milford. Major Turrill. Marriage of Caleb
Terrill and Abigail Bassett in Stratford. Caleb and Abigail visit
Caleb’s family at Milford. They mount the “Great River.” Halt at “the
Cove.” The home on Second Hill. The wonderful life of Abigail. The
career of Abigail Ufford.
NEW MILFORD IN THE WARS. By GEN. HENRY STUART TURRILL 31
Military inactivity of the first fifty years. The first company in New
Milford. Arduousness of the train-band service. The Second Company.
Tenth Company of Col. David Wooster’s Third Regiment of Connecticut
Levy. Other Companies. The Eleventh Company of the Fourth Regiment.
The Tenth Company of the Second Regiment. Captain Joseph Canfield’s
Company. The good understanding with the Indians. The most prominent
names in military affairs. The first company mentioned in connection
with the Revolution. Its history indefinite. Captain Isaac Bostwick’s
Company. The Nineteenth Regiment of Connecticut Line. Part played in
the movements about New York. At Spuyten Duyvil Creek. Tradition of a
sergeant’s guard under the command of David Buell. The capture of Fort
Washington. New Milford men made prisoners of war. Confined in a barn.
The Old Sugar House Prison. Prison hardships. Roger Blaisdell’s pork
barrel. The prison-ship _Dutton_. Arrival of the surviving prisoners
in New Milford. Captain Bostwick’s company about Philadelphia. The
Danbury alarm. Captain Daniel Pendleton’s company. The stay-at-homes.
The leading families in the Revolution. Engagements in which New
Milford men participated. New Milford soldiers refreshed by Deacon
Gaylord. New Milford men at Stony Point. The old age of David Buell.
Reunions of old soldiers at the home of John Turrill. The adventures
of Stephen Turrill.
THE COLONIAL WARS 45
New Milford men in the Colonial Wars as given in the Connecticut
Historical Society rolls.
THE REVOLUTION 49
Muster roll of a company said to have been raised in New Milford and
to have formed a part of Colonel Andrew Ward’s Regiment of Connecticut
Militia. Roll of Captain Isaac Bostwick’s company, Seventh Company,
Sixth Regiment, of Connecticut Line. Men who crossed the Delaware
with Captain Isaac Bostwick and were in the battles of Trenton and
Princeton. Officers and men from New Milford who served in the Sixth
Company of the Fourth Regiment of Connecticut Line. New Milford men
who served in Lieutenant-Colonel Josiah Starr’s Regiment, Connecticut
Line. New Milford men who were in Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Canfield’s
Regiment of Connecticut Militia at West Point in 1781. New Milford
men who served in Connecticut Regiment of Pioneers. New Milford men
who served in Col. Moses Hazen’s Regiment, Connecticut Militia. New
Milford men who served in the Fifth Troop, Shelden’s Dragoons. New
Milford men who served in Second Regiment, Connecticut Line. Company
of forty volunteers. New Milford men in Captain Charles Smith’s
company. General David Waterbury’s State Regiment. Lieutenant John
Phelps’s Troop of Horse. New Milford men in Sixth Company, Fourth
Regiment, Continental Line. New Milford Men in Captain Kimberley’s
Company, Second Regiment, Continental Line. New Milford men who served
under Lieutenant-Colonel Canfield in the Tryon invasion. New Milford
members of the Society of the Cincinnati.
THE WAR OF 1812 53
THE MEXICAN WAR 53
THE CIVIL WAR 54
List of men from New Milford who had service in the Civil War.
Recapitulation.
THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR 66
RECOLLECTIONS OF OLD NEW MILFORD HOMES.
By ALICE MERWIN BOSTWICK 67
The pre-Revolutionary houses. The great chimney. The good cooking of
the early days. The hard work. The quilting bee. The shoemaker. The
schoolmaster. Homeless wanderers. Indians from the Reservation. The
calls of the parson. Visiting. Sunday. Fast Day. Thanksgiving. The
long winters. Comparison of the life then and now.
UNCHARTERED INSTITUTIONS. BY FREDERIC KNAPP 75
The general “sitting-down” place. Levi Knapp’s store. Its influence.
Remarkable longevity of its habitués.
TRAINING DAYS IN THE ’FORTIES, AS TOLD BY AN OLD BOY. BY FREDERIC
KNAPP 78
Emerson’s appreciation of boys. Training day _the_ day of the year.
Off for a good time. On the parade-ground. At the tavern. The
evolutions of the train-band. The lessons taught.
REMARKABLE LONGEVITY OF NEW MILFORD CITIZENS. By MINOT S.
GIDDINGS 81
ACTIVITIES OF NEW MILFORD IN LATER YEARS 84
Original extent of New Milford. Well watered and fertilized. Beauty
of the landscape. Growth of the town. The production of milk and
butter. Account of the tobacco industry, by Vincent B. Sterling. The
hatting industry. The button industry. The furniture industry. The
manufacture of machinery. Paper making. Grist mills and saw mills. The
iron industry. Cloth making. Operations in wood and lumber. Quarrying
and burning lime rock. The electric light plant. The New Milford Power
Company. Pottery making. Account of the Bridgeport Wood Finishing
Company by George B. Calhoun. Education in New Milford. The early
schools. The Housatonic Institute. Adelphi Institute. The Center
School. The first kindergarten. The Ingleside School. The New Milford
churches. The Memorial Hall and Library. The New Milford newspapers.
The New Milford Brass Band. Roger Sherman Hall. The banks. The
Agricultural Society. The water supply. The fire department. The fires
of New Milford. The fire of 1902. Recovering from the fire of 1902.
Recent growth and improvements.
THE STORY OF NEW MILFORD TOLD IN CHRONOLOGICAL EPITOME. By RUSSELL B.
NOBLE AND MINOT S. GIDDINGS 98
RECORD OF THE PUBLIC SERVICES OF ROGER SHERMAN. By HON. EBENEZER J.
HILL 115