History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

" East Side. — ^The i)resent court-house was built in 182U-2-1. Its predecessor was a box-shaped aflair of two stories, with a little chunked cupola on its roof. The first Hoor was used for some time as a place of worship for the Univcrsalist-s and until they built the structure across the way that in later years became the church. of St. Peter'.s parish. In front of the old court-house stood the whipping-])ost and stocks, and both institutions passed away with the building. The stocks fell into disuse a long time before the whipping-post was abolished. Whii)pings were frequent in the early days of the century. The punishment was inflicted by justices' decisions as well as by court decrees, although much lighter in the former ca.scs. The whipping w;is generally done by the deputy sheritT. The late .Varon Seeley and Samuel "Wildman as deputy .sherills, and Levi Starr as con- stable, presided at the post. " The principal whipping-day wiis that which fol- i lowed the close of the court session. The victims ] were relieved of their upper clothes in the jail. Then a blanket was placed over their bodies, and they were marched across the street to the post. The prisoner's hands were tied about the ])ost above his liead, the blanket removed, and his suspenders let down. Then , the sheritl" took position with the whip, carefully mea-suring the distance so the lash would just lay across the back in the stroke and not lap around the side. The number of blows adjudged the culprit, varying from five to twenty-five, were then adniinis- ; tercd. Blood was rarely drawn by the lash, but the stroke made heavy marks. These were red on the backs of white persons, and white on the jiersons of negroes. The whipping over, the victim's suspenders were put u\), the l)lanket rejilaccd over his back, and he was taken back to jail. There were ca-scs where the hanils were not tied to the post, but simply clasped to it. The whiiipings were conducted in public, but were not largely attended, there being but few present t<i witness the ]ierformance, and tho.se being mostly young boys and idlers. "The last known ca.se of whi))ping in this section was in Brookfield. The victim was a Danbury man. There was a reunion in Brookfield of the veterans of the war of 1812-14, tad the attendance from neigh- boring towns was quite large. The village store, which sold New England rum as well as other groceries, wa^ doing an immense business. There were two open- ings in the counter above the money -drawer, — one for silver, and the other for bills. When the money was received it was i)Ut through these openings. The Danbury man (whose name it is not necessary to men- tion) lounged about on the counter, a most innocent- looking party. He had in his possession a bit of stick with tar on the end of it. When the merchant and his assistants ran to the door to look at the doings outside, he would ])usli the stick down into the open- ing for bills, and by the help of the adhesive tar would draw up one. At night the merchant discov- ered the loss. The Danbury man who had lounged on the counter was suspected. He was followed to Danbury, arrested, and the money with tar-mark< found in his possession. He was taken to Brookfield, confes-sed his crime, and was publicly and severely whipped. " West Side. — The present handsome jail-building was erected in 1872. Its predecessor was of stone, and was built in 1880. The building before that wa~ a frame structure with barreil windows, out of which a modern housebreaker wouUI have made his exit in less than no time. "There was no building between the jail and the present estate of the late Aaron Seeley. The ' saddle- fivctory' was not built until 183(j. At the time it wa- put up it was considerable of a building, and its bu^i- ness bade fair to be an extensive industry. It was | occupied by Elias S. Sanford and William B. Fry in the manufacture of saddles and harness. The firm had a store in New Orleans. The manufacture wm- carried on for about four years, when the failure oi the firm broke up the business. In 1840, or thei-i ab(mts, Stone & Wadhenis rented the front of tin building for a .store, and remained there three or four years. James S. Taylor and his brother Granville did business there after that, and wlien they left the building became a tenement. Several years ago the greater part of it was destroyed by fire. " The store on the Seeley estate stood where is now the residence. It was at one time occupied by .Vmos and Samuel Stcbbins. "Next to that was a tavern built of brick. It i" now the residence of Mrs. George Meeker. The tin ern was built by Maj. Whiting at the close of the last century. Henry S. Whiting, a son of the builder, kej)! the tavern until 1810, or thereabouts, when the late .\aron Seeley became its host, anil renuiined in charge some fimrteen years. The hotel was a i)"i>ular resort, and a stopping-place for the stages that ran from New York to Litchfield. In those days its capa- cious yard an<l stabling were the scene of much activ- ity. Henry Whiting went to Herkimer, N. Y., from Danbury, engaged there in the tavern business, and died there. There is none of the family in Dan- bury. " The house next to the tavern, and now known as DANP.l'RY, 201 the Bedient i)lai'o. w;is, until 1S30, occuiiied by two brothers, Darius nnd .hAin St;nr. " Till' next l)uil(liiiLi sIimkI wlnre James Dimin now lives. It was oeeuiiieil liy Nathaniel Wood, wlio was a shoemaker and liad a shop in his yard. "Just north of William H. Clark's residenee, and on his property, is a hriek dwcdling whieh was Iniilt by Fairehild AVildnian, who keiit a store thrre for many years, and it was also oeeupied by Warden Clark and Xelsou Crane tVir this purpose. In lS(;.'i it was converted into a dwelliiif;-. < )n its site stood a buildinir owned by Zaehariah (Iriswold, who oeeupied it about 1S20 for a suspender-mannfaetory. It was not a successful venture, althoui;h Mr. Criswohl did quite a business at one time. "The present resideiu'e of Mr. ("lark dates back fi'om the last century. At one time in tlie last decade of the eighteenth century a room in it was used as the office of the village [laper, and tlie building itself was the dwelling of one of the ]>roprietors. Mr. Clark i retains a door in which are the nails that held the various ju-ints which it was once customary to tack on tlu' printing-office door. For nniny years the place l)elonged to Hiram Barnes, the famous stage- man, and from it.s gates his four-in-hands have gal- lantly trotted, to the great delight of the village youth. "The house now occui)ied l)y Charles H. Hoyt was long the residenee of Everett Anie.s, grandfather of Mrs. Hoyt. At the be.sinning of the century it was occupied by Joshua Benedict, who was a saddle-man- ufacturer and made saddles in tlu^ building. I " His neighbor on the south, and in the house now occupied by Charles Bigelow, was Dr. Daniel M. Car- rington. Mr. Carrington liad an addition to his resi- dence in which he dispensed drugs, and which busi- ness gave him the title of 'Doctor.' Dr. Carrington was a prominent citi7-en, and was several times sent to the Legislature. "In the time of whieh we write Town Hill Avenue had but three houses. It was not an avenue then, but simply a lane, running around from Liberty Street, as it does now, and connecting with South Street. It was then commonly known as ' Xiggers' Lane,' although the hill itself bore its jiresent name. Why it was called Town Hill we do not know. Per- haps because there was no town on it, nor any likely to be. "One of the three houses was owned and occupied j by Agur Hoyt, father-in-law of the venerable Amos Morris. He lived on the east side of the street, wdiere | L W. Stillman's house now stands. I 'There was a low-browed house whicdi st<i(]d acros.s j the way. It was occupied by Aunt Liz Henry. Aunt , Liz was an aged maiden, of decrepit form, popuhirly supposed to be a witch, although no more direct evi- dence of this than mere surmise hatched from the brain of the super.stitious was ever laid at her dingy door. Her house stood where Lawrence Smith now 14 livi's. and a part of it is, we believe, incin-poratcd in his building. " Near to when' Turner Street now intersects Town Hill Aveiuie stood a building occupied by ;i negro named Peter Stoekliriclgc. It is renuirkable what a great matter a little tire kindleth. As near as we can get at it, the disagreeable name of the lane canu' from this single fandly of coloreil people. Peter was a piolifie man, and he had a large family ol' interesting children. He was commonly known among the Jieo- plc of that <lay as Peter Goathead. " There were no more buildings until the foot of Liberty Street was reached. There, where is now I'aihvay Avenue, stood the extensive tannery of Starr I'i: Saufjrd. Of both of these men we have already s|ioken. The business of the tanner, like that of the fuller, has ccpueentrated at jiromineut centri's since that day. Then tanneries and tulling-sh<ips were distributed throughout the land, Danbury having sev- eral of each. The Starr & Sanford tannery, with its vats and bark-buildings, extended almost to where is now the railway-track. "The only dwelling on Liberty Street then was oc- cupied by Mrs. Betsey Starr, widow of Col. Ebenezer Dibble Starr, wdio was a shoemaker. He died in ISIG. It stood where is now liurr Uockwcll's ]ilace. WKST STREKT. " Xort/i Side. — The first house was the dwelling of Elijah Cregory, where L. S. Benedict now lives. He was a blacksmith, and liad his shop in one corner of the yard. Mr. Gregory was a somewhat j>romineut man, and was sent to the Legislature. The house was a large frame building. It now stands on George Street, wdiere it has become a tciu'inent.