History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

The first Mondays of May and Sei)tember were by statute training-days, and every able-bodied man of a certain age was required to appear for inspection and drill. At ten o'clock they assembled on tho " parade-ground," which wius an open field given to the town for this purpose. The commanding officer sent his eompliiiieiit.s to the minister, with a recpie.st that he would favor them with his presence, which he did, antl opened the exercises with prayer. Soon after they adjourned for dinner. There were two companies,^-onc uniformed, called the grenadiers, the other the militia. The music was fife and drum, and when, after wondrous evolutions, they marched down the ridge to the meeting-house hill, the martial ardor of the boys wius at boiling-point. The Thank.sgivings were much like those of the present day, exce|)t that the house of God was well filled and the Thanksgiving anthem fell upon en- chanted ears. The public exercises began with the reading of the (iovernor's iiroclamation. (It had bcea read two successive Sundays before.) It was an awe« NEW CANAAN. 439 inspiring doi-iuuent, especially as it eldsed witli the ominous injunction, "All servile labor ami vain rec- reation are on said day by law forliidden." After tlie service the reunited families gathered round tables loaded with a bewildering multiplicity of dishes, among which roast turkey and pumjikin-pie held their long-established pre-eminence. There, amid repre- sentatives of three or perhaps four generations, this family festival held high carnival. Long may it keej) its power to recall the sons and daughters of New > England to the old homesteads. j SLAVERY. Many of the early families were owners of slaves, and when the Emancipation Act was i)assed by the State, only those liorn after a certain date were ex- empted, leaving the others still under the ban of this hated bondage. THE AVniPPING-POST AND STOCKS. This evidence of civilization stood at the angle of the road, southeast of the Congregational church, and here the strong arm of the law administered the re- quisite number of lashes to the luckless wight who chanced to fall a victim to its degrading punisliment. EARLY MERCHANTS. One of the earliest merchants was 8anuiel 8t. John, in a building which stood near the Congregational church. Other early tradesmen were Nathan f^eeley, Husted i*t Hoyt, Nash & Hnyt, Raymond iS: Com- stock, etc. PHYSICIANS. Among tlie ]iioneer physicians were Daniel Ron- ton, Josejih Silliman, S. S. Noyes, and Lewis Rich- ly ards. The latter was in active practice about fifty years, and Dr. Noyes about sixty years, when he died at an advanced age. The present physicians are Theodore Roberts and W. G. Brownson (homir'op.ath- ists). INDUSTRIAL PURSUITS. "The occupations of the early inhabitants of New Canaan were purely agricultural, with artisans enough barely to supjily their own wants. The tailors and mantuamakers, and even shoemakers, were accus- tomed to circulate through the town semi-annually, making up the requisite wardrobes of the families. The farmers were exceedingly patient, hard-working ' men ; their farms reipiired clearing not only of trees and bushes, but of the numerous stones which in this diluvial soil almost covered the face of the earth. To dispose of these stones, they built walls inclosing small fields. They raised wheat (until the Hessian fly destroyed that crop), rye, corn, oats, and jjotatoes. Timothy or herd-grass was introduced at a compara- tively late period. Their hay consisted of the harsh, low meadow-grass and the natural grasses of the up- lands near their barns. The great problem with ' j them was, how to winter their stock. They supple- mented their tender sui)ply of hay with cornstalks and husks and oat-straw. Their stock in the spring were emaciated, and many of them died of " horn distem- per," which generally meant starvation. The old wooden plow was a rough, heavy, clumsy instrument, and I remember hearing discussions among the work- men on the probability of the introduction of an iron plow which was then in use in the West of that day, — that is, Central and Western New York. I rejoice in having lived to see the toils of the husbandman re- lieved by the steel plow, the tooth-harrow, the horso- rake, the mower and reaper, and other machines which iKjt only lighten labor, but make it moi'e etJi- eient. Nor will we forget the spinning-jennies, power-looms, and sewing-machines which relieve the women of the present day from that incessant hard labor which in the case of their grandmothers, to- gether with the inevitable care of the household, crushed their physical energies and suppressed every rising aspiration for intellectual and a'sthetic culture. Let the spinning-wheels, large and small, go to grace the elegant parlors of New York — and I would that they were gifted with speech I — to portray the scenes of unrepining toil enacted at their sides in days gone by ; and perhaps gentlemen might profit by a jilnw or Hail of the olden time in their offices." BOOT- AND SHOE-MANUFACTURING. But there came a time when the enterprise of New Canaan was turned in the direction of manufac- turing boots and shoes. The town was dotted over i with little shops and ranked among the foremost in that manufacture. " Niles' Register," giving an ac- count of the town in 1818, states that fifty thousand pairs of boots and shoes were annually sent out. The following are now engaged in this business: Benedict & Co., J. F. Bliss & Co., George Lockwood, .T. & T. W. Benedict, H. A. Pinney, W. G. Webb & Co. Bniediet d' Co. — This firm is a successor of Benedict, Hall ct Co., and has a reputation second to none in the country for the manufacture of a good quality of goods. J. ct- T. W. Benedid. — The business of which this firm are the lineal successors was commenced in about the year 1779 or 1780 by James Benedict, in a small way in a shoj) attached to his dwelling. There, with a nundjcr of apprentices, he made shoes for the New York market. In those days there were only about four ditferent styles made, whereas now it would be impossible for any one to find out the num- ber. James Benedict was in course of time succeeded by his son, Caleb Benedict, who in turn was followed by his sou, C. S. Benedict, who in turn was followed by his sons, the present firm of J. & T. W. Benedict. This is a representative institution of the town. Prominent among the obsolete concerns was that of Ebenezer Ayres, who was a large manufacturer in 1820, and was finally succeeded liy his son, Hebron L, 440 HISTORY OF rAIIlFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. Jarcd and Amos Ayres, brothers of Ebenezer, were also early manufacturers. CLOTHING MANUFACTURERS. JI. B. Rogers &■ Co. — This business was established about twenty years ago in a small way, in connection with a country store, by Comstnck, Kugcrs & Co., and was continued by that firm until within a few years, when it passed into the hands of the present firm. This is a large establishment, and justly merits its present success. George Lockwood commenced business in about 1840. Tlie firms of .1. F. Bliss & Co. (J. F. Bliss, Stephen Bishop, James Fairty), AVilliam G. Webb & Co., and H. A. Finney, although not among the old- est established in New Canaan, are mostly represent- atives of the shoe-manufacturing business. THE NEW CANAAN NURSERIES. The New Canaan Nurseries were established in 1848 by Stephen Hoyt, of New Canaan, and D. C. Scofield, of New York. In 1 .Sf)*;, StcjOicn Hoyt bought out I). C. Scofield. He then took his two sons, James and Edwin, into tlie business, and increased the busi- ness until over one hundred acres were covered with nursery stock. This nursery is, and has been for many years, the largest in New England, and, in fact, east of Syracuse, N. Y. The nursery has no specialties, but grows a general assortment of fruit, forest, and ornamental trees. The plantings for a few years past have been about one hun- dred thousand apple-trees, ten thousand to fifteen thousand cherry-trees, twenty thousand i>ear-trees, one hundred thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand peach-trees, one Imndrcd thousand, or over, currants, and strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc., in large quantities, while forest- and evergreen- trees have claimed a large i)lace. The nurserj' at present embraces three hundred and fifty acres, and is rapidly increasing. The senior i)artner, Stephen Hoyt, died in 1879, aged seventy-nine years, and the business has since been conducted by liis sons, James and Edwin. Tlieir sales extend over New England and many of the Southern and Western States. As stated above, this is a representative institution of its kind in the United States, and much credit is due its cnterjirising progenitors and those through whose industry and ijcrseverance it has secured its present enviable reputation. CHAPTER XLIir. NEW CANAAN (Continued). ECCLESIASTICAL AND EDUCATIONAL. Tlio Congregational Church — St. Stark's Epittcopal (liurcli — Tho Metli- odist £pUcol>al Cliurch — The Itaptiht Church — Tho Cniversaliat Church — Ronum Catholic — Methodist Protestant, Silver Mines — Mothoilist Kpisco|>al, Sc'lleck'B Comcn* — Early Kducational Regnlationu — Tho New Canaan Academy. THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. As the history of the parish was really a history of the Congregational Cliurch up to the time the parish was incorporated as a town, and as that history has been thoroughly detailed on previous pages, the church narrative will be continued from that time (1801). Upon tlie organization of the parish the society henceforth devoted itself solely to the care of the tem- poral affairs of the church. The pastors from Mr. Mitchell have been as follows : Rev. AVilliam Bonney, 1808-31; Rev. Theophilus Smith, 1831 until his death, in IS.'JS; Rev. Frederick G. Williams, lS54-.')9; Rev. Raljih Smitli, 18(iO-(i3; Rev. Benjamin L.Swan, 1864 -6G ; Rev. Joseph Greenloaf settled in 1871, and is the present incumbent of the pa.storal office. The present church edifice was erected during the ministry of Mr. Smith, and wiis dedicated in 1843.