Connecticut Historical Collections

e annually from 2,000 to 2,500 tons of pig iron. The forges and puddling estub- ments annually produce Ironi 1,200 to 1,500 tuns of wrought iron, which is used anchors, car a.xletrees, musket boirds, and various other kinds of drafts. The isbury iron'ore is the brown hematite, and yields about 10 per cent of pig iron. It naiket as any other iron in >Sou(hu'fst iicir of the dmrclns in Siili^bunj Ciiiitr. Tliu above is a representation of the churches and some other build- ings, in that ))art ol" Sahsbury called " Salisbury Center." The Con- gregational church is seen on the right ; the next building eastward, with a small cupola, is the academy ; and still further to the east is seen the Episcopal chui-ch. The public house seen opposite was construct- ed upon the frame of the old meeting house. This place is 50 miles from Hartford, 53 from New Haven, 8 from Sharon, and 34 from Hud- son. Tlie [)rincipal part of the iron ore obtained in this town, is about 24^ miles s. \v. of this place. There are four churches, viz., 2 Meth- odist, 1 Congregational, and I E|)iscopal ; and five post offices, Salis- bury Center, Lime Kock, Furnace Village, Falls Village, and Chapin- ville. The people first met for public worship in a house near where the furnace now is, (in Furnace Village,) consisting of one room, only 20 feet by 15. This contained all the worshiping congregation in the town. After this, they met in the house of Mr. . Lee, the first settled minister in the town : here they continued to worship till a meet- ing house was erected, about the year 1718. The ])lace on which it stood was given by Col. Robert Walker lur a lueeliiig house, bniyiiig giound and gieeii, upon the con- S A L 1 S B U U Y. 1^9 ditioi) that tlie burying yard be inclosed with a decent fence, lnil'l, :i .; •■.;•[> (I, ..-y worshiped, there were two watchtowers made, and sentries pla.-iil m (!,■ in i i. ihe Sabbalh, to guard Irorn the Indians. So late in the .seillemeni oi ilio luwn us ihi.s, an alarm was made ol' an Indian invasion. On this alarm, this preparation ol delense was made. On liie same occasion, a tort was bnill on tlie wcsi side of the Furnace Pond, and another in ihe soiitheasi part ot'the town. There were two other lorls in Weatog, built, however, before this : these two were biiili in the form of block-house. One was the ducllin<; Jiouse of Mr. Duicher, one of the Jirsi settleis, built in 17^0, and ■was [lie first framed Jionse in the town. The tirst white person born in the town was llarlman Van Dozen. The first buried, by the Congregational meeting house, was Jehiel Moore. The first buiied on Town Hill was a Mr. Cory, who was killed at the raising of a house, as neatly as can be known, at (he same instant the town establish- ed that as a public burying ground. At the time of the first settlement in the town, there was then an Indian settlement at Weatog, consisting of seventy wigwams, all in a cluster. They were friendly and hospitable, especially to the whites, and encouraged their setllenieni. It is unknown how long they had made a stand at that place. Doubtless, in theii' most savage slate, they had encamped in ditierent places on the river, where they ccuild hunt and fish. Long before there was any settlement of white people in the t<Mvn, a Col. Whiimg, with his regiment, pursued a band of Indians as far as the northeast part of the town, and there, on the banks of the Housalonic, defeated them with a dieadful slaughier. They lay at their ease, sporting and fishing, on both sides of the river. He, biM^orning acquainted with their situation, came upon them unawares, killed some, and put the rest to flight. About seventy Indian graves are visible there to this day. In Ihe battle, hut one of the whites was killed. When Col. Whiting drew near the place of baitle, he commanded every man to throw away the priming in his gun, and to prime anew. All, except one, obeyed. He boldly declared himself willing to venture his life vvith the priming he then had. When they came ii|)on the Indians, he leveled at one, snapped, and his gun failed to go oJi". The Indian instantly clapped up his piece, and shot liim dead.* Tlie following singular occurrences are said to have taken place in this town, near the boundary between Connecticut and Massachusetts. The relation of these circumstances was obtained lioiii Mr. S. Sage and his family, who are still living on tlie spot, (June, 1836',) and could be corroborated by great numbers of people now living. " The.se occurrences commenced Nov.Blh, 1802, at a clothier's shop: A man and two boys were in the shop ; the boys had retired to rest, it being between' 10 and 11 o'clock at night. A bliick of wood was thrown through the wimlow ; after that, pieces ol hard inoiiar, tilhlie man and boys became alarmed, and went to the house lo call Mr. Sai,»e, who arose fri>in bed and went to the shop, and could hear the gla.ss break often, but euuld not discover from whence it came, notwithstanding the night was very light. He exerted himself to discover the cause without success. It continued conslanily till day light, and th(.-n ceased till the next evening at 8 o'clock, when it commenced again, and continued till midnight ; then ceased till the next evening at dusk, and coniinned till some time in the evening, and then ceased. The next day it commenced about aa hour before sun-down, and continued about an hour, and then it left the shop and be- gan at the dwelling hou.^e of Mr. Ezekiel Landon, 100 rods north, in the town of Shef- lield. It continued several hours, and ceased till the next morning : when the family were at breakfast it began again, and continued two or three hours, and ceased till evening, when it began again and continued several honrs, and ceased till the next muniing, when it began again and continued all the lorenoon, and ihcn ceased alio- getlier. The articles thrown into the shop were pieces of wood, charcoal, stone, but pi incipally pieces of hard mortar, such as eonld not be found in the neighborhood. Nothing but stones were thrown into the house of Mr. Landon, the first of which were thrown into the door. There were 38 panes of glass broke out of the shop, and 18 out of the dwelling houses: in two or three instances persons were hit by the things that were thrown. What was remarkable, ricithing could be seen coming till the glass broke, and whatever passed through, fell directly down on the window still, as if it had been put through with a person's fingers, and many pieces of mortar and coal were * Dr. Trumbull thinks thiere must have been some mistake about the name of the commanding officer in this expedition. He thinks it must have been Major Talcott •who pursued and defeated the Indians in this region in 1G76. Tliis however is uncer- tain. The account given by Mr. Grossman is the one which is followed above. 62 490 SHARON. thrown throuj^h ihe snrnc Lole in llie f,'las.s in succession. Many hundreds of people assembled to witness tlit- scene, ainoni;- \vhf)in were clergymen and other gentlemen, but none were able lo delect the source ol tlie misebief. "The more crcditUuis readily believed it to be wilcbcralt, but it was generally thought to be somesligbi ol hand, ef- I'ecieil by a conibinniion ot' individuals, as tlie windows: were broken on d-ilTerent sides of the buildings nearly ai ilie saiue lime." The following inscriptions were copied froni monuments in the yard in Salisbury center. In memory of the llev. Jonathan Lee, this stone, the fruit of conjugal alTection and filial graiiuide, is erected. He was born July -Ith, A.D. 1718; graduated at Yale Col- lege, 17-1'J; was a settled minister in this town -1:) years ; and ilied Oct. 8th, 17H8, in the 71st year of his;ige. To the faithful discharge of ihe pastoral office he united the ]iri- vate virtues of the husbanti, the parent and the lYiend, and expired in tlic bk--scd hope of that Gospel to which he had freely devoted his lite. My flesh shall slumber in the groinid Till the hist Trumpet's joyful soiniil. Then burst the chains in sweet siiijirise, And in niy Savior's image rise. ' ■. The man is gone ! Mr. Samuel Mooue, Ihe eminent Mathematician, died Feb. 20ih, 1810, JE. 75. His Life and Services'! !! t/icsi: the Monument, this nun lilc but the Tablet. Say llien, He liv'd to benefit JMankind. Sway'd not by Trilles, But by Science led, as Land-Sur- veyor. So like in all things, Like correct, M'his the best ini.i tie of the man. Uur Fathers lest I'loin their Toils. SHARON. The township of Sharon was surveyed by a committee, appointed by the Cieneral Assembly, in 1732. The committee were Edmund Lewis, Esrp Capt. Stephen Noble, and Mr. Wilham Gaylord. Tito sale of tlie township was ordered in October, 1737, and a committee, consisting of Samuel Eels, Esq. Joseph Whiting Esq. and Capt. Isaac Dickerman, was appointed to give deeds to the jiiuchasers. The opinion of ilie commiltee who laid otit the town, 6f the feasi- bility and character of the lands in this town, is expressed in the fol- lowing words. "In the second township, we find two pieces, which may contain 500 acres. There is laid out in it of county grants 400 acres, and a considerable quantity of rougii land, yet we find such a (|uantity of feasible land in it, and not so scattering as in the tnst town- ship, (Salisbury,) as will in our judgment accommodate a suilicienl number of inhabitants for a town." Settlements commenced in the year 1739. The fiist white man who lived in Sharon was one Daniel Jiickson. He was originally from New Milford, and probably came to this town by the way of the Oblong set- tlements in the state of New York. He jiurchased of the state about 400 acres of land, which lay in the southwestern part of the town, at a place now called Hitchcock's corner, and for which he obtained a patent. He stayed in town but a short time, and in February, 1739, sold his patent to Gnrritt JVinegar, a Dutchman, and himself removed to Great Barrington, Mass. Mr. Winogar built the first grist mill in Sharon. The road which the fuil settlers traveled when tliey came to Sharon, SHARON. 491