Connecticut Historical Collections

Dr. Lemuel Hopkins, a jihysician and poet, was born In this town June 19tli, 1750. " His father was a farmer in easy circumstances, and while he reared all his children to the labor of the field, took caru to bestow upon them a good education. Dr. Hopkins is said to have been determined to the study of physic when young, by observing the gradual decline of some of his connexions, who were sinking under a consumption. This inclination to medical pursuits was strengthened by the circumstance of an hereditary predisposition to the same disorder which existed in the family. His education, it seems, had not been classical, and having resolved upon the medical profession, he applied himself to Latin and other preliuiinary studies, and after proper qualifi- cation, placed himself under the care of a physician in Wallingford. He began regular practice in Litchfield, about the year 177G, and was for a short time in the American army as a volunteer. About 178'1, be removed to Hartford. Here he [)assed the rest of his life, devoted to the labors of a physician and man of letters. He fell a victim, we are told, to the exercise of an improper remedy in his own case, occa- sioned by his dread of a pulmonary complaint. He died on the Mtli of April, 180L "Dr. Hopkins was a physician of great skill and reputation. His nuMuuiy was so retentive, that he would quote every writer he had read, whether medical or literary, witli the same readiness that a clergyman quotes the Bible. In his labors for scientific purposes, he was indefati- gable. The IMedical Society of Connecticut is indebted to him as one of its founders. In his person, he was tall, lean, stooping and long- limbed, with large features and light eyes, and this uncouth appearance, added to a great eccentricity of manner, rendered him at first sight a very striking spectacle. "f In his literary character he was eminent among the distinguished writers of the place where the most of his life was spent. Trumbull, Barlow, Huiuphreys, Dwiglit, and others, were his associates, and the first two, with Hopkins, wrote the Anarchiad. He also bad a hand in The Echo, The Political Greenhouse, and many satirical poems of that description, in wliich he had for his associates, Richard Alsop, Theodore Dwight, and a number of others. Besides these, there are a few short pieces which were written by him exclusively ; among which is his Epitaph on a patient killed by a cancer quack. * Alien's Amoricau Biographical Diciionaiy. t Keltell's American Poetry. 26S o r^ c o T T . ON A PATIENT RTLLED DY A CANCER QUACK. Here Vies a fool flat on his back, The victim of a cancer nimck ; Wlio lust tiis money uixl his lile, Ily plaster, caustic, and by knife. The case was this— a innii)le rose, Kontlifastalitlleof his nose; Which daily redden'd and t;rew bigger. As too much drinkint' gave it vigor; A score of gnssijis soon ensure Full threescore diU'erent mudis of cure; Jllit vet the full f( d pimple still Delled all iietlic(.aled skill; When iortuiii- jfd liini to peruse A liandbill in the weekly news ; ^;isn'd by six fools of dillerenl sorts, All cured of cancers made of warts ; Who recommend with due submission, This cancer-monper us ma^'ician ; Fear vving'd Ids tlij,'ht to find tlie quack, And prove hii cancer-cnring knack ; llutoii bis way he found another,— A siroml advertising brother : Ihiiasiiiuch like hiin us an owl Is unlike every handsome fowl : Whos,' lame had raised him i.s broad a fog. And <d the two the greater hog; Who used a still more magic plaster. That swi'at forsooth, and cured the faster. This doctor view'd wilh iiiociney eyes Andsrowl'd-up face, tie- piiiiplr's size ; 'I'hi n i-hn.-lrird 11 ill .'^..IriNii an.-wer, And . rird, "lliiK plinph's naiiie is cancer, My sweating plasters never fail: I've sweated hundreds out with ease, Wilh roots aa long as maple trees ; And never fail'd in all my trials— liehold these samples here in vinls! Preserved to show my wondrous merits, .lust as my liver is— in spirits. For twenty joes the cure is done—" The bargain struck, the plaster on, Which gnaw'd the cancer at its leisure, And pain'd his face above all measure. But still the pimple spread the faster. And BwclI'd like toad that meets disaster. Thus foii'd the doctor gravely swore, It was a right-rose cancer sore ; Then stuck his probe beneath the beard, And show'd him where the leaves appeared ; And raised the jialient's drooping spirits, Ity praising up llie plaster's merits. Quoth he, "the roots now scarcely stick— 1 'II fetch her out like crab or tick ; And make it rendezvous, next trial, With six more plagues in my old vial." Then purged him pale with jalap drastic. And next applied the infernal causlic. Dut yet, this semblance bright of hell ?<crved but III maki; the pall. 'lit yell ; And, gnawing on with llery jiace, Devuiir'd one broadside of his face — "Cnurage, 'lis done," the docl.ircri.-d, And (piick ihe incision knife iijijilied : 'Dial u Mb ihii I.: nils made iiicli a hole. Out llew tin: patient's tortured soul I Oo, read, is, gentle, eke and simple, If you hai e wari, or corn, or pimple ; 'I'o ipia.k inlullibl.; ajiply ; Here's r.Kjm enough lor you to lie. Ilis skill triumphant still prevails, For death's u cure that never fails. WOLCOTT. WoLCOTT is a small elevated township, situated in the northern ex- tremity of the county, bounded n. by Plymouth and Brisftl, e. by Stxithiii^lun, s. by Cheshire and Waterbiiry, and w. by Wateibury niul I My month. It averaj^es about six miles in length, and has an ave- rai^e breadth of about three miles. "The township is hilly and moun- tainous, and is situated in the vicinity of the commencement of the granitic district, which extends through the western section of the state, and comprises a considerable portion of Tjitchfield County. About li miles N. E. of the meeting house, there is a hill, which is the most ele- vated land in this part of the state ; Long Island sound, the mountain east of Somers, and some part of the state of Ma-ssachusetts, can be seen from this spot. The soil is a hard, coarse, gravelly loam, and rather sterile : the lands however afibrd tolerable grazing, but are rough and stony. There are two houses of worship, 1 for Congregationalists, and 1 for Episcopalians. The number of inhabitants in IS 10 was 952; in 1330, it was reduced to 843. VVolcott was incorporated as a town in 1796. It was formed from a part of the original town of Farmington and a part of Waterhury. It was from this circumstance that the place was formerly callcfl Farming- bury. The first clergyman was the Rev. Alexander Gillei: he was succeodod by the Rev. Israel R. Woodward. INIr. Woodward, though WOODBniDGK. 2G9 somewhat eccentric in some part of his conduct, was a person of supe- rior intelhgence and esteemed by his parishioners. A thanksgiving sermon of his is recollected, ^in which he compares the state of Connec- ticut to the land of Canaan. In one respect, he mentioned, there was a striking similarity ; the land of Canaan was rocky, this was very much the case with Connecticut, at least with that part of it in which Wolcott was situated. WOODBRIDGE. WooDimiDGE was incorporated as a town in 1784. It was original- ly a parish by the name of Amity, which was formed from the towns of INew Haven and Milford. It is bounded n. by Bethany, e. by Hamden, s. by New Haven and Orange, and w. by Derby. Its ave- rage length is about five miles, and its breadth about four. The soil is a hard gravelly loam, and affords good grazing; and large cpiantities of butter are made in this town for the New Haven market. The princi- pal stream is the West river, which runs on the west side of the West Bock, a range of mountains on the eastern border of this town. Tho central part of the town is about six miles fiom'New Haven. Amity was constituted a parish in 1731). The town was named from the Rev. Benjamin Woodbridge, the fust clergyman, who was ordained here in 1742. The house in which he lived is still standing, and is about 100 rods southeast from tho Congregational church, now occupied by the widow and children of lAlr. Daniel T. Smith. ]\Ir. Woodbridge presented the town with a copy of Whitby's Commentary on the New Testenient, in gratitude for the honor done him in naming the town. It is said that Mrs. Woodbridge, his wife, was the firsl^person who in- troduced the use of tea into the place. This town has a fund of about five ihousaml dollars, given by IMr. Stephen Sanford, who it aj)pcars was a firm friend to the American cause during the Revolulion. His will reads thus ; " I also give to the society of Amity, in the town of New Haven, for the sup|)ort of a Presbyterian or Congregational minister, in said society, he being a friend to this, and the United States of Ame- rica, after my wife's estate tln.'rein shall be ended," he. The regicides, ColFe and Whalley, bad a number of places of 'con- cealment in the limits of this town, the most noted of which is called the Lodge or Hatchet Jlarbor, about seven miles from New Haven, It was situated (says Dr. Siiles, in his history of the .ludges) at a sprint in a valley. " A little northward of it was an eminence, called the Fort to this day, from whence there was an extensive and commanding pros- pect, and a full view of New Haven harbor to the southeast, seven miles off. From this they could see the vessels passing in and out of the harbor. When they came to this abode is uncertain ; — it was in the summer, and they left it and removed to Milford, August, IGGl, after having resided in and about New Haven for near half a year, from the 7th of INIarch to the 19th of August, 16G1." " On a tract about a mile square, and lying four miles northwest of Sperry's [farm,] there y V 270 WOODURIDGE. are four hills or eminences, between which are valleys and intercurrent brooks On the northern declivity of one of these hills, issues a small