Woodstock: An historical sketch

X

Woodstock has never been negligent in the cause of education. As soon as the settlement became an organized town, John Chandler, Jr., was appointed to instruct the children to write and cipher. As the town grew in population, it was divided into school districts. In 1739 was established the United English Library for the Propagation of Christianity and Useful Knowledge. Col. John Chandler was the moderator at the first meeting, and the Rev. Abel Stiles, John May, Benjamin Child, and Pennel Bowen, of Woodstock, and leading citizens of Pomfret and Killingly, assisted in the organization.100 It was Gen. Samuel McClellan and his sons John and James McClellan, the Rev. Eliphalet Lyman, William Bowen, Parker Comings, Nehemiah Child, Ebenezer Smith, William Potter, Hezekiah Bugbee, Benjamin Lyon, Ebenezer Skinner, and Amos Paine who established Woodstock Academy, at the beginning of the present century, and the influence of that honored institution has been deep and far-reaching. But who can measure the good done by Woodstock Academy, or by the different churches and other organizations of the town? Such institutions are our heritage, and our duty and privilege it is to improve their character and transmit them to future generations, with the memories and traditions of the town itself.

XI

Citizens of Woodstock, listen while I call the roll of some of the distinguished men who have lived or were born in the town. Of the first settlers was Col. John Chandler, probably the most distinguished citizen that Woodstock had during its first century, the man who made Woodstock known and respected throughout New England. His descendants include the Rev. Thomas Bradbury Chandler, D.D., Winthrop Chandler, the artist, the Hon. John Church Chandler, Judge John Winthrop Chandler, and others, who have been prominent in Woodstock and throughout the country. No one of the first settlers was more distinguished than Edward Morris, who died three years after the town was settled. His family was prominent in the history of old Roxbury, and all through the last century in Woodstock. Commodore Charles Morris, a native101 of Woodstock and well known in the War of 1812, and his son, Commodore George N. Morris, Commander in the Civil War of the United States sloop-of-war Cumberland in Hampton Roads, belong to the same family, as well as the Hon. J. F. Morris, of Hartford, whom I am sure we are glad to welcome as our presiding officer to-day. John Marcy, a first settler, was the ancestor of Hon. William Leonard Marcy, Governor of the State of New York, Secretary of War under President Polk and Secretary of State under President Pierce. Abiel Holmes,102 D.D., LL.D., author of “Annals of America,” and his father, Dr. David Holmes, a surgeon in the French and Revolutionary wars, were born in Woodstock, and were descended from John Holmes, a first settler. Abiel Holmes’ son, Oliver Wendell Holmes, though not born in Woodstock, will be remembered, I am sure, for the beautiful tribute he paid his ancestors in the poem he read in this very park in 1877. The name of Morse has always been identified with Woodstock. Deacon Jedediah Morse held about all the offices in town that he could lawfully hold, and was deacon of the First Church for forty-three years. His son, the Rev. Jedediah Morse, D.D., a graduate of Yale College and the father of American geography, was also born in Woodstock. His grandson was Prof. Samuel F. B. Morse, who was more widely known as the inventor of the electric telegraph. Another Woodstock boy was General William Eaton103 who ran away, from home at the age of sixteen to enter the Revolutionary War, and was distinguished during the first years of the century as the protector of American commerce in the Mediterranean. Amasa Walker, too, was born in Woodstock, the father of political economy in this country, or better still, the father of Gen. Francis A. Walker, the respected President of the School of Technology in Boston. Another honored name in Woodstock is that of Williams, including Samuel Williams, Sr., the Commissioner of Roxbury in the settlement of New Roxbury, the Rev. Stephen Williams, the first pastor of the church at West Parish, and Jared W. Williams, the Governor of Vermont and a native of this town. Governors, members of Congress, men distinguished in law, theology, and medicine, in trade and on the farm, have been born in Woodstock. The roll of honor could be multiplied; but in speaking of the distinguished men it would be impossible to forget the lessons taught, the struggles endured, and the sacrifices made by the mothers of Woodstock, who all through these two centuries have inspired their sons with feelings that have made them industrious, honored, and religious. Praise be, therefore, to the women of Woodstock! This town has the right to be proud of such noble sons and daughters, and we have the right to be proud that such a town as old Woodstock has nourished us and blessed us with such memories and influences.

XII

What has the town done to make us proud of it? It has exerted an influence for good upon the country wherever its inhabitants have settled. Such settlements have been many. During the early history of the plantation, Woodstock men assisted largely in the settlement of Ashford, Pomfret, Killingly, and other neighboring towns. As the surplus population increased, migrations were made to the wild regions of Vermont and New Hampshire. Later came the settlements made by Connecticut, in the provinces of New York and Pennsylvania, in which Woodstock families were almost without exception represented. At the close of the Revolution the wave of emigration extended still farther West, and some of the oldest families in Ohio trace their ancestry back to this very town. To-day Woodstock has its representatives in almost every State in the Union, and the material growth and prosperity of the country has been in full measure owing to the settlements made by men from towns in New England like Woodstock. The ideas inherited from Puritan ancestors and modified according to existing circumstances have made towns, cities, even States, in which the whole country to-day takes the warmest pride. The man who inherits New England traditions from towns like Woodstock is worth more to the country than an army of Anarchists and Socialists.

Woodstock is distinguished, too, for its “notable meetings,” inherited from the Woodstock in England, of which Judge Sewell speaks. The first “notable meeting” was when John Eliot preached to the Indians on Plaine Hill. The second “notable meeting” was when the first settlers drew their home lots in Wabbaquasset Hall. The third “notable meeting” was at the funeral of Col. John Chandler in 1743, attended by the leading men in the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The church meetings of the last century, the town meeting when Woodstock transferred its allegiance to Connecticut, meetings during the Revolution, the old “training days” on Woodstock Common, have been followed by no end of “notable meetings” during the present century. But the one “notable meeting” that those of us present here to-day have in mind, was when Ulysses S. Grant, General of the Army, Savior of the Country and President of the United States, visited the town in 1870.

But the chief glory of the town of Woodstock has been its love of local law. The source of the power of the continental nations of Europe may be traced back through the centuries to the village communities and Teutonic townships. In the mark, tithing, and parish of England the same principle of local self-government may be seen; and so our own nation’s greatness, through Anglo-Saxon inheritance, has its source, not in the State, city, or county, but in the little school districts, villages, and towns of New England. Woodstock has been like a miniature republic, and has always believed in the supremacy of local law. Its refusal to send its representative to the General Court at Boston unless it could tax its own property as it pleased, and the refusal, for political reasons, of its delegates at the State Convention in 1788 to vote for the ratification of the Constitution of the United States, are instances of the extreme independence of Woodstock. What it conscientiously believed, the town has never been slow to proclaim. Tenacious as Woodstock has always been of its privileges and its rights, its loyalty to the country, from the day the thirteen colonies became a nation, has never been questioned.

XIII

I have given scarce more than a sketch in outline of what the history of Woodstock has been during the two hundred years since that historic band of brave boys and sturdy men, of deft-handed girls and sober matrons, swarmed like bees from the Roxbury hive104 and settled on the Wabbaquasset hills. What Woodstock’s history shall be remains for you, men and women of Woodstock, to develop. The fathers have kept bright the honest traditions and stout independence, the industrious thrift and religious faith which their Puritan fathers brought to the new settlement. The sons of this generation can be trusted to preserve and transmit them to their descendants. You, men of Woodstock, have your duties in the family, on the farm, toward your schools, and to your churches. All that the fathers have done puts an added obligation upon you. The improvement and development of the town depend on the individual exertions of its citizens. If you are young, infuse some of your own enthusiasm and intelligence into its different organizations. If you are old, remember these institutions in a substantial way. Woodstock will be what you make it. Michel Angelo saw in the block the exquisite unsculptured statue. Many blows of the chisel were necessary to disclose the perfect ideal to the eyes of a wondering world. In thought, in plan, in ideal, this town has been almost a perfect organization; but only those whose high vision is willing to pierce through all encrusting imperfections shall be the artists whose toil and sacrifices shall make this dear, noble, historic town of Woodstock an honor to the State and a blessing to its citizens. It is said that old John Eliot, from the high pulpit in Roxbury, used to pray every Sabbath for the new settlers at Woodstock. The words of those prayers are not preserved, but may the spirit of them come down through the centuries to inspire the hearts of all who inherit the blood of the early settlers of this ancient town. God, our fathers’ God, bless old Woodstock!

1

Also spelt Roxberry, Roxborough, Rocksborough.

2

July 30, 1630.

3

Young’s “Chronicles of Massachusetts,” p. 396.

4

Winthrop’s “Journal,” by Savage, vol. i., p. 111.

5

“Ordained over the First Church, Nov. 5, 1632.” – Eliot’s tomb in Roxbury.

6

“Memorial History of Boston,” vol. i., p. 403.

7

Though the Williamses did not settle permanently in Woodstock till some years after the first settlement, the family was most prominent in Roxbury, and one of its representatives visited the grant officially in 1686.

8

Drake’s “Town of Roxbury” and “Memorial History of Boston,” vol. i., pp. 401-422.

9

De Forest’s “Indians of Connecticut,” and Palfrey’s “History of New England,” and Miss Ellen D. Larned’s “History of Windham County.”

10

Also “called the Wabbaquassett and Whetstone country; and sometimes the Mohegan conquered country, as Uncas had conquered and added it to his sachemdom.” Trumbull’s “History of Connecticut,” vol. i., 31.

11

September.

12

Winthrop’s “Journal,” by Savage, vol. i, 132. Palfrey’s “Hist. of New England,” vol. i., 369. The same year (Nov. 1633), “Samuel Hall and two other persons travelled westward into the country as far as this [Connecticut] river.” Holmes’ “Annals,” vol. i., 220.

13

Winthrop’s “Journal,” vol. i., 171.

14

Possibly some of the Dorchester emigrants, including Henry Wolcott, William Phelps, and others, may have passed a little south of this line. Dr. McClure’s MSS., in the possession of the Connecticut Historical Society: “In a conversation with the late aged and respectable Capt. Sabin of Pomfret, Ct., he related to me the following discovery, viz.: About forty years ago he felled a large and ancient yoke about the north line of Pomfret adjoining Woodstock. On cutting within some inches of the heart of the tree it was seen to have been cut and chipped with some short tool like an axe. Rightly judging that at the time when it must have been done the Indians so far inland were destitute and ignorant of the use of iron tools, he counted the number of the annual circular rings from the said marks to the bark of the tree, and found that there were as many rings as the years which had intervened from the migration of the Dorchester party to that time. Hence ‘the probability that they had journeyed along the north border of Pomfret, and as they traveled by a compass, the conjecture is corroborated by that course being nearly in a direct line from Boston to the place of their settlement on the Connecticut River.’” – Stiles’ “History of Ancient Windsor,” p. 26.

15

“Memorial Hist. of Boston,” vol. i., 263.

16

“Historical Collections of the Indians in New England. By Daniel Gookin, Gentleman, Printed from the original manuscript, 1792.” See “Collections Mass. Hist. Soc.,” vol. i., First Series, pp. 190-192.

17

Wabbaquasset, or Woodstock.

18

Dudley.

19

1674.

20

Black James was a distinguished Indian. He met Eliot again in Cambridge in June of 1681, where a meeting of the claimants of the Nipmuck country was held. The village and much of the land of the town of Dudley was known years after the settlement of Woodstock as “The Land of Black James and Company.” – Ammidown’s “Historical Collections,” vol. i., 406, 461.

21

Named after “Wabbaquasset Hall,” built in the spring or summer of 1686.

22

Palfrey’s “History of New England,” vol. iii., 159.

23

Mrs. L. H. Sigourney’s “Pocahontas.”

24

Feb. 10, 1682.

25

Ellis’ “History of Roxbury Town”: “When the people of Roxbury came to take up lands, they selected their locations amongst the praying Indians or where Indians had been converted to Christianity… This certainly is a sure indication of the steady adherence of his [John Eliot’s] fellow-townsmen and their belief in the actual benefits of his missionary labors.”

26

Oct. 6, 10, and 17.

27

Joseph Griggs, John Ruggles, and Edward Morris.

28

Dec. 5, 1683.

29

“Records of the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England,” vol. v., 426.

30

Oct. 27, 1684.

31

Jan. 28th.

32

“Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England,” vol. v., 468.

33

Committee appointed May 14, 1686, and reported to Roxbury June 12th.

34

Though the name of John Ruggles was on the list of “goers” and a house lot was drawn for him, he did not settle in Woodstock. The family of Ruggles is prominent among the first settlers in Pomfret.

35

This Jonathan Peake was the father of Jonathan Peake, Jr., born in 1663, who came to Woodstock in April of 1687.

36

Lot 43 was given to Clement Corbin soon after the drawing of home lots. The inscription of his rude gravestone reads: “Here lies buried the body of Clement Corbin, aged 70, deceast August ye 1st, 1696.”

37

The inscription on this small gravestone in the burying-ground on Woodstock Hill is read with difficulty and is as follows: “Here lies buried ye body of Lieu. Edward Morris, deceas’d September 14, 1689.”

38

At that time twenty-four years old.

39

MSS. of Deacon Jedediah Morse, in the possession of Henry T. Child, of Woodstock.

40

Windsor was first called Dorchester and Hartford was first called Newtown.

41

Born in England, son of Henry Sewell of Rowley, Mass., and grandson of Henry Sewell, mayor of Coventry, England. In 1684, he became an Assistant.

42

Memorial “History of Boston,” vol. i., 210, 540.

43

Hildreth’s “History of the United States,” vol. ii., 130. Trumbull’s “History of Connecticut,” vol. i., 401, 402. Palfrey’s “Hist. of New England,” vol. iv., 46. Holmes’ “Annals of America,” vol. i., 430, 431. Bancroft’s “Hist. of the U. S.,” vol. iii., 183.

44

“Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc.,” vol. v., Fifth Series, p. 315, foot-note. Palfrey’s “Hist, of N. E.,” vol. iv., 48, foot-note, and appendix. The other six members of the Committee were Simon Bradstreet (Governor), Sir William Phips (Governor, 1692-95), Maj. Gen. Wait Winthrop, Maj. Elisha Hutchinson, Col. Samuel Shrimpton, and Maj. John Richards.

45

Thomas Gilbert, D.D., of Oxford University, author of “Carmen Congratulatorum.” Judge Sewell visited him in England, and was shown by Dr. Gilbert the Bodleian Library, “a very magnificent Thing.” See Sewell papers: Fifth Series, Mass. Hist. Soc. Collection, vols, v., vi., vii. We may be allowed to suppose that Dr. Gilbert took Judge Sewell to Woodstock, only eight miles from Oxford University, where the latter perhaps was impressed for the first time with the name and historical associations of Woodstock.

46

Capt. Ruggles of Roxbury, who died Aug. 15, 1692, of whom Sewell says, in his Diary, Aug. 16th: “Capt. Ruggles also buried this day, died last night, but could not be kept.”

47

Proceedings of Mass. Hist. Soc. for Feb., 1873, p. 399.

48

Rev. Mr. Dwight, of Woodstock, dined with him Aug. 24, 1718, and made a prayer at his court Nov. 7, 1718. Also see Diary, Jan. 2, 1724: “Paid Mr. Josiah Dwight of Woodstock in full, of his demands for boarding Madam Usher there about six or seven weeks in the year 1718, £2-11.” John Acquittimaug, of Woodstock, an Indian, who lived to be one hundred and fourteen years old, was entertained by Judge Sewell in 1723. Boston News-Letter, Aug. 29, 1723. The wills of Woodstock people were proved before “the Honorable Samuel Sewell, Judge of Probate.” MSS. of Martin Paine of South Woodstock.

49

Paraclete Skinner, of Woodstock, who remembers the second meeting-house that was taken down in 1821, says that that structure never had a bell.

50

While in custody at Woodstock, Queen Elizabeth, according to the chronicler, Raphael Holinshed, wrote with a diamond on a pane of glass in her room these words:

51

Sir Walter Scott’s novel of “Woodstock.”

52

The last time that the name of New Roxbury, as applied to the name of the whole town, appears in the Proprietors’ Records of Woodstock is March 18, 1689. The first time the name of Woodstock appears is May 26, 1690: Woodstock Records.

53

1691.

54

March.

55

Town meeting November 27th and 28th.

56

Woodstock, at this time, was under the restrictions of frontier towns. It was called a “frontier town” in 1695. – Mass. Hist. Society Proceedings, 1871-1873, p. 395.

57

December 28th.

58

Lincoln’s “History of Worcester County.”

59

Sept. 7th.

60

Manuscript Records of Second Precinct of Woodstock, or Parish of New Roxbury, in the possession of G. Clinton Williams, of West Woodstock.

61

May 16th.

62

Petition to town Nov. 2, 1736.

63

July, 1737.

64

1739.

65

Oct. 2, 1741.

66

April, 1742.

67

Letter of Aug., 1742, to selectmen.

68

Nov. 18, 1742.

69

Sept. 14th.

70

In the school-house Sept. 27th.

71

Line dividing East and West Parishes approved by General Assembly of Connecticut in 1753, and name of New Roxbury approved in 1754.

72

The old First Church. See Records of First and Third Congregational Churches, and Miss Larned’s “History of Windham County.”

73

July 27th.

74

Class of 1733.

75

He was the son of John Stiles, who belonged to one of the oldest families of Windsor, and was the brother of Rev. Isaac Stiles, a graduate of Yale College in the class of 1722, and was uncle of Ezra Stiles, President of Yale College. President Stiles often visited Woodstock after his uncle had settled at Muddy Brook, now called East Woodstock.

76

Oct., 1761.

77

July 25th, at the age of 74.

78

Class of 1759.

79

Killingly.

80

Vote of First Church passed Dec. 8, 1766.

81

Letter dated Cambridge, March 24, 1776.

82

Class of 1776.

83

Hutchinson’s “History of Massachusetts,” vol. iii., 6-8; vol. ii., 363-396.

84

July 28, 1749.

85

Woodstock speaks of Massachusetts’ repeated claims in a memorial to Conn. Gen. Assembly, May 2, 1771.

86

Gen. Putnam was much interested in this project. A meeting to promote the idea was held at his house in Pomfret, Feb. 11, 1771. The State again refused the application for a new county, when Pomfret applied in 1786 for a new county, “with Pomfret for shire-town.”

87

Captain Johnson was the father of Nathaniel Johnson, and father-in-law of Lieutenant Henry Bowen, both first settlers of Woodstock.

88

“The Chandler Family,” by Dr. George Chandler.

89

England declared war against France March 31st.

90

Seven hundred men from Massachusetts, of which Woodstock was then a part, were impressed for this service.

91

Lieut. – Col. Thomas Chandler was the son of Col. John Chandler, and was Woodstock’s first representative to the General Assembly of Connecticut. Ante p. 44.

92

The forces were furnished by New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, and amounted to 4,070.

93

October 7th.

94

Fight at “Charlestown, No. 4,” New Hampshire, May 2, 1748, in which Peter Perrin and Aaron Lyon, of Woodstock, were killed.