The History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 -- 188O.
by Samuel Orcutt and Ambrose Beardsley

Published: Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass., 1880.

Part 6

During the dark days of the Revolution, Derby, in common with many other towns of the colony, suffered from the red coats of King George. Some weeks prior to the burning of Danbury, when the gallant Brigadier General David Wooster was mortally wounded, the tory Governor of New York, General Tryon, with his two thousand men, learned that valuable military stores were secreted in Derby, which was then a seaport town in advance of New Haven, carrying on a brisk trade with the West Indies. The stores consisting mostly of pork, were packed in the old building located on the Ousatonic, on land now owned and occupied by Messrs. A. H. and C. B. Ailing, a few rods east of the rear of L. L. Lomer's brick block recently erected on Main street in Birmingham. In architectural beauty and finish this structure would contrast oddly with the custom houses of to-day. The lower story, its wall, three feet thick, was built of rough stone, exteriorly resembling a coarse stone wall; the upper story was of heavy wood work, roofed over with rent clapboards, many of our older citizens, including the writer, well remember its antique appearance, though demolished fifty years ago.

General Tryon, whose barbarous footprints polluted the soil of Connecticut among its first invaders, sent a detachment to New Haven to annoy the people of Derby, and as this old tory was ever bent on plunder, but when this could not be accomplished, he delighted in applying the torch of destruction to houses, churches, barns and other buildings, scattering in wild confusion defenseless women and children into narrow lanes and public streets, he determined to visit Derby. When his

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forces arrived at New Haven, Capt. John Tomlinson, who then lived at Derby Neck, in the old mansion now owned by Truman Piper, happened to be in that city, and, mistrusting the object of their mission, quickly mounted his horse, and spurred him on in hot haste over the hills until he reached the peaceful hamlet of Derby Narrows, when he shouted at the top of his voice "The British are in New Haven; look out for your pork, look out for your pork!"

Now this Captain Tomlinson was a reliable man, a convert to the Whitefield doctrine, and it is said he did more praying and exhorting than half the town. He labored for the good of his fellow men. He lived to be ninety years old. In his last sickness a neighbor was called in to watch with him who was not particufarly a religious man; and who had on a short coat, but he was soon relieved of his expected night's work. When he entered the sick chamber Mr. Tomlinson greeted him with the salutation, "Be gone, thou enemy of all righteousness, the Devil never looked worse than when in a short coat."

When Tomlinson brought the news to Derby Narrows concerning the British, the day was far spent and the shades of evening were closing thick and fast, but in those times Yankee Doodle, ever on the alert, ready to fight for country and fireside, was equal to the emergency. Alarmed at the near approach of the enemy, men, women, and even boys sallied out, and soon the work of removal to a place of safety commenced. Among others, a tall, slender lad aged sixteen years, named Isaac Smith, whose son in his old age still resides on the shores of the Ousatonic, was singled out to assist in taking care of the military stores. His father, by the same name, was then an officer in the militia company from Derby stationed at Danbury, and we may here mention that the old slave, Quash, father of Governor Roswell Quash [colored] who died about two years ago, was his body guard. Young Smith full of patriotic fire, yoked his father's oxen, hitched them to his cart, and soon the work of hauling the pork fjom the old building was in lively operation. Load after load was conveyed up the lonely cart and cow paths, zigzag here and there among the shrub oaks, guided only by the glittering stars, and dumped into the famous hollow about a quarter of a mile below the almshouse on the right of

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the main road as you now go to Seymour in West Ansonia. This hollow was dense with low shrub oaks, furnishing a capital hiding place. Yet some have attempted to establish the hollow a little to the east of the one named, but this is of little consequence since each is in close proximity to the other.

It is said that the British appeared on the east hill near the old Col. Jackson place, but the tory sentinels of the town, few in number, from some cause failed to connect with their allies, and thus General Tryon was cheated out of his coveted game. It has been believed by some that the hiding of pork in Derby from the tories in the Revolution was more of romance than reality, but reliable testimony obtained through patient researches establishes its authenticity beyond a question. Pork Hollow should live in our memories.

More than a hundred years have rolled away; the shrub oaks are gone, and the farmers ploughshare has made smooth and even the rough places in this deep, deep hollow, yet the passer by as he lingers around this revolutionary spot, may drink in admiration for the noble efforts of our rude forefathers, who helped to lay deep and broad the foundations of the government under which we now live. Here the selfish patriots of to-day may learn that neither inglorious love of money, nor the rewards of ambition, were the incentives to defeat, in his madness, General Tryon, that remorseless and implacable foe to the interests of the American Colonists.

The committees appointed, and the objects for which they were appointed, constitute a large proportion of the town records of the Revolution. If the town treasurer's book for that time could be found, the amount of work and expense would more fully appear, but diligent search does not secure so valuable a prize, although the book with accounts beginning just after the war is well preserved; when one is starved to death of what value then is abundance of food?

1779. Committee to procure soldiers' clothing, etc.:

Benjamin Bassett,
Isaac Smith,
Capt. Timothy Baldwin,
Joseph Chatfield,
Amos Bassett,
Joseph Wheeler,
Capt. Bradford Steele,
James Pritchard,
Samuel Hull,
Capt. Daniel Holbrook,

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Agar Tomlinson,
Capt. John Tomlinson,
Eli Hawkins,
Abiel Fairchild, jun.,
Robert Wheeler,
Jonathan Lumm, jun.,
Samuel Bassett,
Moses Wheeler,
Noah Tomlinson,
John Coe,
Nathan Buckingham,
Isaac Beecher,
Abraham Bassett,
Capt. John Riggs,
Joseph Russell.

Early in March, 1780, another committee, unnamed before, appears, as inspectors of provisions:

Capt. John Tomlinson,
Capt. Daniel Holbrook,
Reuben Baldwin,
Capt. Bradford Steele,
Capt. Nathan Pierson,
Lieut. Joseph Riggs,
Josiah Smith,
Terrell Whitmore,
Gideon Johnson,
Capt. Henry Whitney,
Lieut. Abraham Smith,
Agar Tomlinson,
Lieut. John Basset,
Webb Tomlinson,
Abiel Fairchild, jun.,
Samuel Bassett,
Capt. Daniel Chatfield,
Capt. John Riggs,
Lieut. Levi Hotchkiss,
Ithiel Perkins,
David Tomlinson.

Ye smoking ruins, marks of hostile ire,
Ye ashes warm, which drink the tears that flow,
Ye desolated plain, my voice inspire.
And give soft music to the song of woe.

How pleasant, Fairfield, on th' enraptur'd sight
Rose thy tall spires, and op'd thy social halls!
How oft my bosom beat with pure delight.
At yonder spot where stand the darken'd walls!

But there the voice of mirth resounds no more,
A silent sadness through the streets prevails:
The distant main alone is heard to roar,
And hollow chimneys hum with sullen gales --

Save where scorch'd elms th' untimely foliage shed.
Which, rustling, hovers round the faded green --
Save where, at twilight, mourners frequent tread,
'Mid recent graves o'er desolation's scene.

"Feb. 25, 1782. Voted, that the town be classified into seven classes to raise seven men to be state sjuards for the post of Horse Neck, and that Eliphalet Hotchkiss, Esq., be appointed to classify the town for the purpose of raising the seven guards."

No words are necessary, even if they could add any force to the impression made by this long record of struggle, sacrifice, suffering and mighty effort to obtain justice, righteousness and freedom. The record itself, viewed in all its parts and with all the attendant circumstances, is simplv amazing and bewildering.

A somewhat erroneous impression has been accepted by public writers in regard to the position of the members of the Episcopal churches in Connecticut towards the Revolution and those who supported it. It is maintained that a large proportion of the communicants of that church were loyalists or tories through the war, and that there were no tories except Episcopalians. Both of these suppositions are quite erroneous. There were many tories who had no particular sympathy with the Episcopal church There were numbers of Episcopalians who were strong patriots, and supported valiantly the American cause. The following language is recorded in regard to Derby people:

"The Rev. Mr. Mansfield of Derby, the guileless pastor, who thought he must do his duty to his country in every emergency, undertook, as soon as "the sparks of civil dissension appeared,' to inculcate upon them, both from the pulpit and in private conversation, a peaceful submission to the King and to the parent state; and so successful were his efforts and his influence, that out of one hundred and thirty families which attended divine service in his two churches, he reported (December 29, 1775,) one hundred and ten to be 'firm, steadfast friends of the govern-

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ment,' having no sympathy with the popular measures, and detesting the 'unnatural rebellon.' Five or six persons, professors of the Church of England, plunged themselves into it, guided, as he thought, by the influence of Captain John Holbrook, who for many years past had entertained a disgust against him and his brethren of the church, and seemed to have meditated revenge, merely because they did not gratify some private views he had about the place on which to build the Oxford church." [Beardsley's History of the Church in Conn., p. 308.]

This Captain John Holbrook was the one who with his wife gave the land for the site of the first Episcopal church and graveyard, who left that church at the opening of the war and united with the old church and stood among the foremost supporters of his country. It was an imputation of a very small spirit to suppose that Capt. Holbrook would leave all he had done for the Episcopal church, under such pretenses, to gratify "some private views" about the location of Oxford church.

In December, 1774, the whole town was loyal as is indicated by their vote, as seen on page 168, and in December, 1775, many people besides Episcopalians were still unwilling to entertain the thought of a full separation politically from the old country, but when the Declaration of Independence was passed and the question became one of loyalty to England or America, there was a great change in favor of their native homes. This was true not only in Derby, but elsewhere. Captain Holbrook left the church and all he had done for it, but many others remained in the church and at the same time supported the Revolution. It would have been morally impossible for the whole town of Derby, then including Oxford, to have sustained the war as she did if one hundred families had remained loyal to the king; and it would have been very difficult if half that number of important iamilies had so continued.

William Clark's family were Episcopalians, but his son Sheldon, a merchant, was a prominent man on committees for the support of the war.

Samuel Hull, junior, was the son of one of the first Episcopal families, but he sustained the war by being on the committees.

When the list of those who took the oath of loyalty in 1777-8

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is examined closely, it will be seen to contain so large a proportion of the men of the town as to make the idea of one hundred remaining tories quite ridiculous. Dr. Mansfield's son Nathan was among the first to record his name in that honorable list. That list received seventy names at the first meeting, December, 1777, an "open Freeman's meeting." In the next April, ninety-nine more were added, and the war was not half through at that time.

In 1766, vifhen the whole town was laid into school districts, the number of families was reported to be 256, which number may have been increased twenty families, to the year 1775. This would give the Episcopalians in 1775, [according to Doctor Mansfield] one hundred and ten families, and the Congregationalists one hundred and sixty-six, or only fifty-six over half of the families in town who gave their support cheerfully to the American cause. That such was the state of the matter during the Revolution is opposed by all tradition and all records. When the true feeling of the English government toward the colonies became manifest in 1777, it is not probable that in the whole town of Derby including as it did, the parish of Oxford, there were over thirty families that definitely assumed the tory platform. It is quite certain that quite a number of the most influential Episcopal families were true patriots to their native country.

At first (1774) the whole town was loyal to the king, and entertained no thought but reconciliation; in December, 1775, a large majority were strongly in favor of supporting the war; in 1777, a little over one year after the Declaration of Independence, only a fraction -- not to exceed one-eighth was found in the tory ranks.

It is true also, that in other places the Episcopalians, in large proportion supported the war. We are told [Beaidsley's Hist, of the Church, 310.] that "as early as 1774, not a man in Stratford was ready to dissent from revolutionary measures, and from the movements in various places, expressive of sympathy for those who suffered from the oppressive acts of the British government. Undoubtedly, the influence of Johnson, the patriot and statesman, [son of the first

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Episcopal pastor] was felt in shaping the popular sentiment of his native town, and in guiding the course of churchmen there to a quiet, inoffensive neutrality." [If none "dissented from revolutionary movements," it was scarcely an "inoffensive neutrality."]

As to the church at Hartford it is said: "A permit was granted James's Church at Hartford, to send to Providence by water three hundred bushels of wheat to be ground for the army at Boston, which was done with great doubt of its expediency, lest it might fall into the hands of the British. Aug. 24, 1775." [Hinman's Hist, of Conn, in the Revolution.]

In the years 1776 and 1777, there were other special permits to this church, for the execution of like efforts in the support of the war.

It should be remembered also, that at the time of the Revolution it was supposed by Episcopalians as well as others, that as the king was the head of the Church of England, that church could have no existence except where the king held political reign, and hence that, if the colonies should become independent of the king, the Episcopal church could not maintain its existence here, from the very nature of the relations of the church to the government. If it had been supposed that the church of England could have existed as it now does in America, without the king at the head, there is but little doubt but that the support of the war by the Episcopalians would have been more general and earnest than it was. Under this view they challenge our respect and honor, for all that a true Christian hath will he lose, if need be, for his church.

It is more evident that this was the belief of many in the Episcopal church, from the fact that at the close of the war quite many removed from the jurisdiction of the United States into British dominions, not only to live under that government but to enjoy the services of that church. Mordecai Marks, with some others, removed to St. Johns, New Brunswick, althouo-h all ties of kindred feeling were confined to Derby.

The following anecdote is furnished by Doct. A. Beardsley from most authentic sources:

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During our Revolutionary struggle the commerce of Derby, in rather a clandestine manner furnished aid and comfort to the enemy. While the British were stationed on Long Island, Capt. [He was a sea captain, but lieutenant in the army.] Joseph Hull, eldest brother of General William Hull, though true to the interests of the American Colonies tried a dangerous experiment by acting as a sort of spy and at the same time extorting money from the British.

He had command of some boats on the river and the sound. Poultry, fish, and especially salt shad caught in the Ousatonic were tempting to the palates of His Majesty's subjects. Hull with a gang of picked men in the night season left Derby in a small boat laden with chickens, turkeys, salt shad, and the like, and sailed for the nearest point on Long Island where lay encamped a detachment of the British army. The experiment proved a success and gave encouragement for future trials. On his second adventure Hull became intimate with a British officer, who invited him to play a game of cards. He accepted the invitation and being an adept in that line, after playing until morning, the officer found himself pretty well drained of "the one thing needful." A little exasperated over his loss, he accused Hull of cheating. He denied the charge, when after some warm words the officer challenged Hull to fight a duel, Whereupon Hull said "I am your man." "Choose your weapons," replied the officer. "Kings arms and two balls." "State your distance," said the officer. "Eight paces -- face to face -- then at the word fire." The officer was dumfounded, and seeing the Yankee pluck in the flashing eye of Derby's hero, replied, "Well I guess we won't fight."

In "Lambert's History of Milford" the following is found [Lambert, 135.]:

"A company of twelve cowboys was captured in 1780, on an island in the Ousatonic, against Turkey Hill." This was Twomile Island, and was coming very near Derby. The cow boys were men, who received their name in Westchester county, from their stealing and driving off cows and cattle and selling them to the British, while in occupation of New York. They, or persons of this description, were feared on Long Island as well as in Westchester and Connecticut.

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It is a matter of particular honor to Derby that in the great event which was virtually the closing of the Revolutionary war, General David Humphreys had a conspicuous part. In the battle of Yorktown, which was concluded by the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, General Humphreys particularly distinguished himself, and, "As a mark of the approbation of General Washington, Colonel Humphreys was dispatched to Congress with copies of the returns of prisoners, artillery, arms, ordnance, etc, which had been surrendered, and twenty-five stands of colors."' General Washington in his letter to the President of Congress, says. "These returns and colors have been committed to the care of Colonel Humphreys, one of my aids-de-camp, whom, for his attention, fidelity and good services. I beg leave to recommend to Congress and to your excellency."

The above engraving represents Colonel Humphreys delivering the standards surrendered under the capitulation of Yorktown, at Congress Hall, in Philadelphia, Nov. 3, 1761. It is

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from a painting in the Trumbull Gallery in New Haven, which was executed under Colonel Humphreys's direction, in Spain by a Spanish artist.

Thus closed the war of the Revolution. No event in the history of the world has had the effect of liberation of thought and hence of action, on the mind of the whole world as the American Revolution, and next to that event, for the same effect, was the sustaining the authority of the National Government in the late rebellion. The list of Revolutionary soldiers, so far as obtained will be found in the appendix to this volume.

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"Again, considering the great expense this town has been at in building and supporting two large bridges across the Nauga-

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tuck river, and said bridges now want to be rebuilt; also a highway from Woodbury to Derby by the Ousatonic river, all which as computed will amount to five hundred pounds; this in addition to other burdens lying on said town in supporting highways and other public burdens, the town feel themselves very unable to bear, therefore voted, that Capt. Thomas Clark and Capt. Daniel Holbrook be appointed and directed to petition the General Assembly for liberty to set up a lottery for the sum of five hundred pounds, for the purpose of building said bridges and making said highways; said lottery to be at the risk of said town."

At an adjourned meeting two months later, they appointed the managers of the lottery, which the Assembly had granted, which consisted of the following persons: Mr. Samuel Hull, Capt. Daniel Holbrook, Mr. David De Forest, Mr. John Humphrey and Lieut. Joseph Riggs. These persons were put under oath and required to give sufficient bonds to secure the money which might be placed in their hands. They also directed that after a certain time all tickets unsold should be called in and deposited in the hands of the selectmen before drawing the tickets that might have been purchased. On the first day of March, 1784, they voted to draw the lottery tickets on the 21st day of April next; but two days before that time arrived the town was called together, and they voted to postpone the drawing in consequence of so few tickets having been sold; and then petitioned the General Assembly to extend the time allowed for the drawing.

In February, 1783, as soon as the privilege of the lottery was granted, the town appointed Ashbel Loveland "to oversee and build a bridge over Naugatuck river below the falls," and Mr. Samuel Hull to build a bridge over Naugatuck river "where the old bridge now stands, called the lower bridge, and Capt. Zechariah Hawkins to oversee and make a new highway from Woodbury to Derby by the Ousatonic river." In the next March the town's committee were directed to lay out a highway through Wesquantuck or Rock House hill purchase, by the Great river, and make returns of their doings."They seem to have no doubt but that the lottery would bring the money and proceeded in that faith, and it is probable that the work was all

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done sometime before the lottery reported its net proceeds. All that is recorded of the results is that in February, 1785, they voted that the managers be directed to draw the lottery; and at the same time voted that the "selectmen be enabled when the lottery is drawn, to tax the town to raise money to secure the managers and pay the necessary expenses that shall arise thereon." After this there are no more lotteries talked of in the town records. From all the records say, it seems probable that some considerable number of tickets were sold, possibly to half the amount desired, out of which the costs must be taken, and the result would not warrant another trial. And there has not been a time since then when so great need of foreign aid existed, or when the town has been driven to such extremities to raise money for necessary repairs and expenses. At the present day a large majority of the better classes of community judge all lotteries, great and small, to be immoral, dishonest, and that they ought to be discountenanced by all true Christians.

An old book is still preserved having been made for the purpose of keeping the account in building one of these bridges, for the payment of which the lottery was granted. It explains itself.

"An account book kept by Ashbel Loveland who was appointed a manager or a committee by the town of Derby to build a bridge across Naugatuck river, near Rimmon Falls, containing the costs which said town of Derby has been at to build said bridge.

"Posted alphabetically. The bridge cost £144 11s. 9d."

This book shows eighty-eight tickets bought by thirty-three persons at twelve shillings a ticket, and most of them paid for by work done on the bridge and material furnished.

The work began in March, 1783.

                      tickets.   |                       tickets.
Joel Chatfield,          3       |    Levi Hotchkiss,       3
John Crawford,           2       |    Moses Hotchkiss,      3
James Baldwin,             1-3   |    Joel Hine,            5
Abiel Canfield,          1       |    Amos Hine,            2 1-3
Daniel Davis,            2       |    Hiel Hine,            2
Ebenezer Dayton,         3       |    Gideon Johnson, jun., 1
Enoch French,            6       |    Asahel Johnson,       2
Isaac Foot,              1       |    Hezekiah Johnson,     3

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                      tickets.   |                       tickets.
Levi Johnson,            1       |    David Parsons,        1
Joseph Johnson, jun.,    4       |    Polycarp Smith,         1-3
Gideon Johnson, sen.,    1       |    Samuel Smith,         1
Ebenezer Keeney,         1       |    Benjamin Twitchell,   2
William Keeney,          2       |    Benjamin Tomlinson,   6 1-2
Ashbel Loveland, tickets         |    Ebenezer Warner,        1-3
sold,                   17       |    Hezekiah Wooden,      3
Peter Nostrand,          2       |    John Wooster,         2
Elisha Pritchard.        1       |    Turrel Whittemore,    2

After the Revolution the school districts were re-arranged, and for some years much attention was devoted to education; first, to meet the requirements of the new laws made in regard thereto, and also, a spirit of emulation and ambition in regard to education seems to have come upon the whole people as the consequence of freedom, and they moved harmoniously to the inspiration. In 1785, a proposition to build a new school-house at the then village of Derby (Old Town) resulted in the end in an academy. Apparently, a number of persons agreed to unite in certain proportions to furnish the money to build a new school-house at this place, the lower story of which should be used for the common school, and the upper story for a higher branch of education. The building was put up in the winter or early spring of 1786, and finished that summer. When the building was completed, the items of cost were collected and the amount divided according to the agreement. By an agreeable fortune the paper containing this account is preserved, but bears no date.

One bill is preserved and shows something of the material used and the cost of such items at that time.

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March 1786, School House Company, Dr. to Joseph Riggs jun £   s.  d.
   To one load of timber,                                 0   3   6
   To studs and plank for turret rafters,                 0   9   6
   To two days getting window frame timbers,              0   8   0
   To timber for the window frames,                       0  12   0
   To carting three load of window frame timber,          0  10   0
   To one day carting sand and slacking lime,             0   3   6
   To 3,800 brick delivered at the school house
   a 3 per C,                                             5  14   0
Jan., 1787. To cash paid Mr. Hull, 6s.,                   0   6   0
   To 1,000 feet of white oak floorboards delivered at the
   school-house from Oxford, a 6s. pr. C.,                3   0   0
June 9, 1789, To 512 feet of boards a 5s.,                1   5   6
   To 900 feet of white wood clapboard from Isaac Wooster,
   a 6s. pr. C.,                                          2  14   0
   To 3,000 shingles, a 18s,                              2  14   0
                                                          ---------
                                                         18   0   6
Joseph Riggs, jun."

Although some of the items of this bill are of a later date, yet it is probable the house was completed in 1786, and thereafter for a time the upper part was devoted to accademic studies, but after some years the whole building was devoted to such studies and called the academy.

The further account of the academy and the academy bell is very graphically given by Doct. A. Beardsley:

The old oblong house with its two chimneys now standing midway between Merritt Clark's and Patrick McEnerney's was long known and somewhat celebrated as the Derby Academy, located on elevated ground, commanding a fine view, the building was an imposing structure when first built. Within its walls many an aspiring youth, then experiencing that the root of learning was bitter while its fruit was sweet, studied Sallust and Virgil, conquered his Greek, and fitted for venerable Yale. The people of the town evinced a lively interest in the institution, for to them it was a pride and boast. Among other features showing the good will of the people towards the academy was the supplying it with a bell purchased jointly by the Episcopalian and Presbyterian churches, then located in Up Town, and for a long time it was the only bell in Derby which on the Sabbath day rang out its merry notes, calling the pious to the house of prayer. Those who were to join in the long supplication of the

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Pilgrims' faith or the solemnity of the Church, alike pressed their footsteps, hastened by the academy bell.

The academy fell into financial embarrassment and was discontinued, but its bell, like Noah's dove was given to unrest, for in process of time it became a bone of contention and finally fell a victim of dishonor among its friends.

We must not forget to mention, that old Todd was its ringer, and on the advent of a death or a funeral he was always on hand. On one occasion he came near ringing the bell for his own departure. The bell was so constructed as to require the going into the belfry to ring it. One morning he ascended the belfry to toll the bell, and shpping his foot-hold, tumbled out on the roof and fell a distance of thirty-five or forty feet, but, fortunately he was caught in a peach tree standing close to the academy and escaped serious injury. A few years after this he slept over night in the old town house, and from a loft fell a distance only of seven feet, and was instantly killed.

Being poor he now and then obtained a little loose change for his services at the bell. One night at high twelve he was asked by a man ripe for fun at the old tavern at the Narrows, if he was the Derby bell ringer. "I am," said he; "got a job?" "Yes," was the reply. "My name is Gillett, from Hell Lane (now Seymour) and I want to get out of the town. My horse travels best with music. If you will ring the bell till I get over the line I will give you this silver dollar." "Agreed," said the bell-ringer, and he was soon tugging at the bell, when Gillett mounted his horse and galloped away. The neighborhood, quiet as a graveyard, was startled from its midnight slumbers, and among others, Samuel Hull rushed out in his night-clothes, hurried up to the academy and brawled out, "You crazy man, what are you doing with that bell this time of night?" Old Todd answered from the belfry, "I am ringing a man out of Derby into Hell Lane, on contract."

From long and constant use this bell became cracked, the academy boys palsied its tongue, and for a time its music was silent upon the hill. It had the misfortune of having many owners, and they one by one lost interest in its care and keeping. It was said the Presbyterians owned the largest share, but it was difficult to divide the stock, and so some of the wise

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heads down in the Narrows attempted to make a corner, and if possible to steal the bell from the Up Towners. A plan was concocted and the program arranged. A few boys, and some of older growth, on a certain night, armed with some good old Jamaica, ventured up to the academy, ascended the belfry and rolled off the bell. For safe keeping and to elude the search of the aggrieved, they lowered it into a secret place about the premises, there to remain until the excitement and noise over its loss should die away. Every one of these nocturnal thieves was sworn to keep the secret and some have done so even to this very day. Next morning, the honest people of Up Town found out that the old academy bell was missing, and soon the whole neighborhood was in uproar, and filled with indignation. Detectives from all parts were sent out to seek diligently for the lost treasure. Day after day and week after week, the inquiry was anxious as to the stolen metal, but all was a mystery. . . After a while, in the dead of night, some who participated in the first movement went up and hauled from its hiding place the bell, put it upon a stone drag and conveyed it to the Narrows, where they dumped it into a certain cellar near what was then called Swift's Corner. A roguish boy who held the candle on the occasion started the story some days afterwards, that he "guessed Capt. Kinney knew where the bell was, but before search could be made it was buried out of sight. The boy was closely examined and cross-examined, which led to the belief that he had not far deviated from the truth. Suspicion at once rested upon one young Downs as the ring-leader, who has long since in good faith been gathered to his fathers. Downs was even approached by the sheriff with a view to intimidation, but one Mr. Harvey, the shrewdest man of the neighborhood, publicly declared that he had plenty of money and would defend the accused to the last dollar. "A halt between two opinions" delayed matters for a while, but believing they were on the right track, the Up Towners now threatened the Narrows people in a body with a lawsuit, if the stolen property was not forthwith returned and the matter settled up. Much was said upon both sides, men and women entering into the discussion. Capt. Thomas Vose, who was a sort of moral regulator in the town and who had a holy horror of wrong doing, argued that as the bell was owned

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by two religious bodies and others outside of the church, it was sacred property, and to use his own words he "fancied that state's prison would follow conviction of the guilty parties," and entreated and begged for the peace of the town, that the bell might be returned and no questions asked, for he was "afraid the affair would make more noise in the future than it had done in the past."

But the missing bell could not be found, while the Up Town people wondered and grew sorely vexed. During the painful suspense, a similar bell was landed one evening at the Derby dock opposite Col. R. Gates's store, which stood near the present Naugatuck depot. This bell was designed for the back country and it was in charge of Col. Gates. A splendid opportunity now offered itself to get up "a good sell" on the Up Towners. The keeper of this bell, brim full of fun, sanctioned any proceeding, provided the "up country bell was returned safe and sound on his wharf next morning." So the lovers of sport made all due preparation. The right men were selected and this bell in the stillness of night was hauled up near the academy and quietly hung in a tree with a long rope attached stretching over a stone wall where a boy was stationed and ordered to ring it at a certain signal, when its ding dong awoke the sleepers who exclaimed in ecstacies, "Oh! our bell has come back -- our bell has come back!" a victory surely had now been gained. Peace for a moment breathed upon the troubled waters, and the perversity of human nature was ready to make full atonement for offenses committed. The advice of Capt. Vose had been heeded. Some rushed out to examine the premises, but alas! all was silent and nothing to be seen. They returned to their homes in wonder, when again the bell sounded. They were now doubly sure and went to their repose, fully satisfied, but in the morning no bell was to be found for it had quietly been returned to the Derby dock where it belonged. A warm dispute now arose among the people, whether a bell really had been heard or not on the night in question, many declaring it was all an empty dream of the Up Towners. Some were positive, others very doubtful, no one could satisfactorily unfold the mystery; but finally, honest Capt. Tucker, who had heard much music on the battle fields of the Revolution and who

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believed in ghosts and witches settled the question, for he declared that he "heard it a mile in the distance and if there was no bell, he believed that there was either some witchcraft about it or the spirit of old Todd had returned, and it was high time that Derby people were honest and without trifling in matters so serious."

After a long silence the bell, undiscovered, was returned to the arches of the old academy and Mr. Coe, who settled up its fallen fortunes, turned it over to the Up Town school district where it rested for years without creating further dissensions. Good nature had scarcely outlived the moss of ill feeling, however, when the once olive branch of peace again stirred up the passions of men, for as it was the first bell of the town, in time it became the first church bell in Birmingham. Laying idle without notoriety, a well meaning church member very adroitly obtained possession of it without valuable consideration and it was soon rigged, new tongued and hung in the steeple of the Methodist church, by Lewis Hotchkiss, in the then infant village of Birmingham; when its first notes were heard Up Town its sound was familiar to old Capt. Curtis, who vehemently exclaimed, "There goes our old academy bell! another trick on us! They'll steal in Birmingham as bad as they used to in the Narrows."

Capt. Curtis full of indignation set himself about ferreting out the offenders, declaring the bell should come back as he was still one of its owners, and the Methodists, unwilling to be sacrilegious or provoke any discord in the town, forthwith returned it and its sound was again silent.

About this time in the good providence of God the members of St. James's parish voted unanimously to change the location of their church edifice from Up Town to Birmingham. This contemplated an entire and final change in the full services of the church. After a hard struggle the new edifice was completed and consecrated in 1842, and then the church bell, organ, etc., were at once removed to Birmingham. Very naturally this created much warm and ill feeling among the good people Up Town, for nothing sublunary did they love and cherish with more veneration than this their mother church. Long had they lived and flourished under the very droppings of the old sanctu-

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ary. Honest differences of opinion, however, led to a swift decision and the disaffected resolved on separate services simultaneously in the old parish. Without a church they could occupy, the little district school-house was selected for religious services, a belfry forthwith erected upon its roof, and again the old academy bell was brought out from its obscurity and once more devoted to a sacred purpose. The first Sunday morning that the deep mellow tones of the Episcopal bell in Birmingham sounded the old academy bell responded up the valley, and soon the pious and devoted, in hope and trust, with the spirit of forgiveness and charity, were assembling in their respective abodes of worship. Thus among its last services did this instrument of varied musical discords, ring out the nucleus of a new church organization which now flourishes with great harmony in Ansonia.

Once again this pet of the town fell into disuse, and a few years ago the school district committee sold it to the Birmingham Iron P'oundry for old metal. If its tongue had been gifted with speech what "a tale could it unfold." In its ancient vicissitudes it is said the old men planned while the boys executed. Its early friends have mostly gone to their rest, while its history with all its lessons in human nature still lives in the recollections of the past.

The academy of which much might be said was built in 1786, and was made a sort of joint stock corporation. Through the long years of its existence it was favored with only seven different teachers, viz.: --- Kerkson, --- Whittlesey, Dr. Pearl Crafts, Shelden Curtis, Josiah Holbrook, Truman Coe and John D. Smith. Whittlesey distinguished himself for his novel mode of punishment. When a boy disobeyed the rules of the academy he punished him by sandwiching him between two colored scholars seated on a bench in one corner of the school room. This mode of discipline worked well until Whittlesey lost one of his best pupils from New York, rather high toned, when the practice was abandoned. Trueman Coe for many years was a most acceptable teacher and established the reputation of the school as a successful classical academy. Many young men were here fitted for college, and the institution was a credit to the town, but it fell into disrepute from a want of sufficient

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patronage and was finally merged into the district school and the old academy building passed into other hands for private use.

The following account of this institution was furnished by one of its pupils, and is taken from a published memoir of Mr. Josiah Holbrook:

"You ask me what I remember about the academy of Messrs. Josiah Holbrook and Truman Coe. It was established in the town of Derby, in this state, in the spring of the year 1824, and was, I believe, discontinued after one or two years. The prospectus published in the newspapers of that day gives an outline of the course of study and the plan of operations. It is as follows:

"'The exercises designed are the study of the Latin, Greek, French and English languages, Rhetoric, Elocution, Geography and History; the mathematics, as Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Plane and Spherical Trigonometry, Mensuration and Fluxions; Natural Philosophy in its various branches; Astronomy, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Botany and Zoology. No eftorts will be spared to render these sciences practical and fitted to common life. With that view, particular attention will be given to Composition, Declamation with extempore debates, the uses of the higher branches of Mathematics in common business, Practical Surveying, the application of Natural Philosophy to various kinds of machinery and agricultural instruments; testing the principles of chemical science in mixing and preparing soils, farming manures, making cider, beer, spirit and various other articles of agriculture and domestic economy, agricultural, geological and botanical excursions into various parts of the country, examining and analyzing soils, and practical agriculture.

"'One prominent object of the school is to qualify teachers. The most approved methods of instruction will be introduced, and lectures will be given on most of the Physical Sciences, attended with demonstrations and illustrations sufficiently plain and familiar to admit of their being introduced into common education. Courses on Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Mineralogy and Botany will commence at the opening of the seminary. Ladies will be admitted to the lectures, and there will

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be a department connected with the institution where females can pursue any branch of education they may desire.'

"The number of scholars of both sexes during the summer of 1824, was perhaps fifty or sixty; among whom were five boys from New Haven, about as many from New York, and some from other places, near and remote. The school was certainly an attractive and pleasant one, and those who were so disposed made good progress in useful learning. Several of the boys were intrusted with surveying and leveling instruments, and used them frequently and successfully. Mr. Coe gave special attention to the mathematical studies, and Mr. Holbrook gave lectures and instruction in natural history and allied subjects. The boys rambled extensively over the hills of that region, did some work in hoeing and digging potatoes and in making hay, and once made a pedestrian excursion for minerals to Lane's mine in Monroe.

"The working of the school was harmonious; a spirit of study generally prevailing among the pupils, and the supply of outdoor exercise and sports was ample."

If Mr. Josiah Holbrook could step into one of the agricultural colleges or universities of the present day he would find his little seminary grown to robust manhood, but not quite to perfection.

It is customary at the present day to represent the people as having become more dishonest, unreliable and unworthy to be trusted than the people were one hundred years ago. It is represented that public officers make all the expense they can and waste the property of the people. It is represented that public expenses were so small in old times that the people could lay up money and become independent. Two selections of illustrations will show the error of these statements, and also that officers of old sometimes made larger bills than were ever paid.

When there were comparatively few fences and vast tracts of land over which cattle, horses and sheep roamed or would roam if once strayed, it frequently occurred that a strayed horse or other animal was found and put into the pound. After a certain time they were advertised, and if no owner appeared to prove property, they were sold at public auction. The following shows how such proceedings frequently resulted:

"Derby, Dec. 12, 1794. A bill of expenses on one colt taken

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and impounded by Henry Wooster of said Derby, and the said colt was put into my care as one of the constables of said town on the 23d day of August, 1794, and the said colt was sold at the sign-post in said Derby town at public vendue, on the 12th day of September, for the payment of expenses and damages as follows, by me, Joseph Riggs, constable of Derby.

                                                £.  s. d.
Aug. 29, 1794. To advertising and pasturing,    0   4  11
To looking for pasture and driving the colt,    0   4   0
To paying pasturing bill,                       0   6   0
To do. for damage and expense to Henrv Wooster, 1  19   6
To attendance and expense on vendue,            0   8   6
To poundage and baiting,                        0   0  11
To recording, cash paid town clerk,             0   1   6
                                                ---------
                                                3   5   4
Credit. By sale of the colt,                    3  11   0
                                                ---------
There remains expenses and damages not paid,    0  14   4

About the same time four sheep were taken up, advertised and sold, and "there remained five shillings not paid, or the sheep sold for five shillings less than the charges brought against them. In only one case observed did the receipts surpass the expenses connected with the sale, and therefore the times and the people have not so materially degenerated within one hundred years, in respect to such transaction. These are but small items in themselves, but are just what occurred over and over during more than one hundred years.

The first mercantile enterprise started at Derby Narrows failed in six years, and an assignment was made to New York and Stratford creditors. We know not the cause of this failure, but know that the events of those times were very much like the present, with the exception that ghosts and witches were believed in and feared, but this can scarcely be said of the present age. The reason, we apprehend, is because so many ghosts have been found to be mundane animals rather than of a higher or lower sphere, that knowledge banishes fear. This was the case in a story related by Doctor A. Beardsley, which is far too good to be lost, and hence is here recorded.

Many are the stories, true or false, which our mothers and grandmothers used to tell the children, to excite their curiosity

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and increase their bump of veneration, now and then loading the memory with some moral and useful lesson. If any, with old Dr. Johnson are inclined to "listen with incredulity to the whispers of fancy, or pursue with eagerness the phantoms" of witchcraft demonology, ghosts, hobgoblins or modern spirit rappings, we commend to their perusal the following adventure, which is not only founded on fact, but in the language of the novelist, actually and circumstantially true.

Though of no political reminiscence, our story dates back nearly to our national epoch ot 1776. An inhabitant wearied with a day's journey, was returning from one of our northern villages up the valley, at midnight, by an unfrequented route to his home not a thousand miles from Derby. His path though "straight and narrow," carried him across a secluded burial ground, which he could not in the darkness of a starless night very well avoid. Perhaps some, in the degeneracy of these modern times, may be surprised at the courage which would prefer a shorter walk through a grave-yard, to a longer and more circuitous one in another direction, especially in the night season. But such was the resolution of our traveler, and he entered boldly, "at high twelve" and without mental reservation, the dwelling-place of the ancient dead. He paused; but, solitary and alone, his line of safety impelled him forward. He had scarcely passed the silent enclosure when, as is usual on such occasions, he saw a figure in white moving slowly and conspicuously at some distance. Unused to pray, our trembling hero raised his eyes toward heaven, but before he had time to recover from the shock of his vision, he was suddenly raised from the ground by some invisible agency, carried a few rods and as unceremoniously deposited again on terra firma. The figure in white in his Jim Crow movements, brought to his imagination a thousand frightful and solemn fancies of the sleeping dead.

Can the legends of witchcraft furnish anything more terrific or a situation more dreadful } Many a heart which at Lexington and Bunker Hill, at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, stood unmoved in front of the hottest battle, and quailed not when the dead and the dying lay thick around them, would have trembled and begged for mercy in that dark and trying hour, for it was not a dream but a reality.

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But we hasten to the denouement that relieved our travelin.cj "Hervey in his meditations among the tombs." A black colt sent forth a shrill cry a few moments after depositing his unwelcome and involuntary rider who had unconsciously stepped astride him, and was answered by his white mother at the other end of the graveyard.

From that hour until the day of his death, our adventurer would never believe in the ghost and fairy stories so common among the good people ofx)lden times.

The leading men of Derby, including ministers of the gospel, held slaves and thought it no sin, while Connecticut was a slave state, but from an early day they were required by law to learn their slaves to read. The slave trade was carried on in Derby both for shipping purposes as well as the home market. Nicholas Moss, it is said, bought and sold, and now and then sent a slave to the West Indies He was engaged in this business as shown by the following bill of sale:

"Know all men by these presents, that I, William Cogswell of New Milford in Litchfield county, do sell and convey unto Nicholas Moss of Derby in New Haven county, one certain negro girl named Dorcas, about eighteen years of age, which girl I sell to the said Nicholas Moss during her natural life, and I have good right to sell the same, and do bind myself and my heirs to warrant her to him and his heirs, for forty-five pounds lawful money, from all other claims and demands whatever.

"In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 29th day of July, Anno Domini, 1773.
In presence of us,
Daniel Moss,
Ephraim Keeney.      William Cogswell."

Slaves were owned in Derby nominally as la'te as 1840, they not having accepted their freedom, their owners being obliged to maintain them in their old age. Bennet Lumm, Esq., and Joseph H. Riggs, both of Derby, were the last to care for slaves in this town.

"NEW HAVEN COUNTY, February 7, 1791.

"Personally appeared Mr. Agar Tomlinson and made oath that he has in his possession a negro boy named Peter, belonging to the heir of David Tomlinson, deceased, aged five years and three months wanting one day.

"Entered per John Humphreys, town clerk.

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"Before me, John Humphreys, justice of the peace.

"On April 21, 1791, Mr. Daniel Wooster made oath that he was possessed of a mulatto boy called Peter, aged one year and four months and two days.

"On March 22, 1792, Capt. Timothy Baldwin made oath that he was possessed of a negro girl aged four years, eight months wanting tive days.

"In December, 1792, Mr. Agar Tomlinson made oath to the possession of a negro boy named Timothy, aged one year and twenty-five days.

"On April 20, 1795. Mr. Agar Tomlinson made oath that he was possessed of a negro girl named Olive, aged eight months the first day of May, 1795.

"April 4, 1797. Personally appeared before me Mrs. Anna Humphreys and made solemn oath that she is possessed of a negro girl named Twinet, aged one year and nine months wanting seven days.

"Before me, John Humphreys, justice of the peace."

The tract of land including Great Hill was purchased of the Indians in 1670, and was bounded "with Potatoke river on the west side, and with a little brook and the English purchase on the south side (extending south nearly to the old Bassett place), and with a brook that runs from Naugatuck river to a brook called Four-mile brook, the which Four-mile brook is the bounds northerly, and Naugatuck river is the east bounds of the above said tract of land." This purchase was made by Alexander Bryan of Milford, to whom the Indian deed was given, the consideration being seventeen pounds, and it was by him, for the same consideration, turned over to John Brinsmade, sen., Henry Tomlinson and Joseph Hawley, all of Stratford, on the third of December, 1670. This purchase was included with another on the south side of it in the difficulty which arose, and was placed in litigation between Mr. Joseph Hawley and the town of Derby, and which was finally settled by a committee from the General Court, ten or eleven years later. It was a part of this land that Sergt. Robert Bassett of Stratford bought of Mr. Hawley and gave to his son Samuel Bassett, the first settler of this name in Derby, in 1716, soon after which

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this Samuel Bassett settled on this land, making his residence at the foot of Great Hill.

Soon after 1700, lots began to be laid on Great Hill, and the work continued some years before all who had a right to land in that purchase were accommodated. In 1711, quite a number of lots were surveyed and assigned to different parties of the former settlers. On pages 156 and 157 of this book are recorded the names of those who held rights to this land.

This locality is well named Great Hill, being nearly the highest elevation in the town, and extending from north to south on the Woodbury road about three miles, and from east to west about two miles. From it most charming views may be had in every direction, especially on Long Island Sound.

Several old houses remain, indicating quite satisfactorily the antiquity of their existence, but others are in good repair, and present the comfort, quietude and success of a farmer's home.

In 1775, Timothy Russell and others, inhabitants of Derby, some of them residing in Oxford society, petitioned the General Court to release them from paying ministerial taxes to either of those societies in order that they might support preaching and church services among themselves. This memorial was granted, and the limits of the district so exempt confined between Five-mile brook, the Great river, down to the old Bassett place and the Naugatuck river.

In the records of this society the first entry made reads thus: "A book of records of the votes of the inhabitants included in a memorial, part in Derby and part in Oxford, for winter preaching. Nov. 29, 1775." They then appointed Benjamin Tomlinson moderator of the meeting, and Joseph Canfield, Joseph Tomlinson and Noah Tomlinson, the society's committee, John Bassett collector of the one and a half penny rate, and Samuel Russell clerk of the society.

The first meetings of the society and for religious services were held in the school-house, standing then on the site of the present one. This arrangement for winter preaching continued four years, when they sent a memorial to the Assembly to be made a distinct society.

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In May, 1779, "Upon another memorial of John Holbrook and others, inhabitants of the south-westerly part of the township of Derby, praying this Assembly to grant and enact that that part of Derby laying within the following bounds, viz.: beginning at the southerly corner of Benjamin Bassett's land by the Great river, running thence a straight line to the mouth of Hasekey meadow brook, where it empties into Naugatuck river, thence up said river to the Great new bridge, thence running north-westerly as the county road runs, to the easterly corner of David Wooster's meadow, thence running to Abner Johnson's dwelling house leaving the same on the north side of said line, from thence to the Five-mile brook, where it crosses Woodbury road leading to Derby, thence down said brook to the Great river, and from thence down said river to the first mentioned boundary, be constituted and made an ecclesiastical society by the name of the Great Hill society, with all the privileges, immunities and advantages that other ecclesiastical societies by law have and enjoy.

"Resolved by the Assembly, That all the inhabitants dwelling in that part of the township of Derby, lying within the above described lines and boundaries, be, and the same are hereby constituted and made an ecclesiastical society by the name of the Great Hill society, with all the privileges, immunities and advantages that all other ecclesiastical societies by law have and enjoy."

After this the first record made by the society, they denominate, "The first society meeting of the third society in Derby, Sept. 20, 1779." After a few years they learned to use their legal name, Great Hill society.

In the above memorial we are introduced to an old acquaintance, Capt. John Holbrook, the same that with his wife, Abigail, gave the land for the site and burying ground for the first Episcopal church of Derby, and who left that church to sustain the Revolution.

It is said he built the Great Hill meeting-house himself, that is, mostly at his own expense. He is said to have been quite wealthy, owning a thousand acres of land, a saw mill and much persona] property. He was elected the first deacon of the Great Hill Congregational church, and was to all appear-

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ance a grand, noble, generous man, seconded always by that noble woman whose name joined with his in the deed to the Episcopal church.

In April, 1781, they voted not to hire any more preaching for the present except one Sabbath. The next February they voted to "adjourn said meeting to the second Monday in March, 1782, to be holden at the meeting-house." Hence, probably that house was built in the summer of 1781. It stood about half a mile north of Priest Smith's house, which is the gambrel-roofed house on the hill, still standing.

"November, 1783, they voted to hire preaching every other Sabbath until the first of May next.

"Voted, Mr. Abraham Canfield, Nehemiah Candee, Daniel Canfield, Benjamin Bassett, Joseph Bassett, Isaac Bassett, choristers of said Society

"Voted, Capt. John Holbrook, Benjamin Bassett, Jonathan Lumm, jun., to appoint a burying place in the Society." Four weeks later they voted to have "a burying place east of John Holbrook, jun.'s land," part of it being of the highway, and a part belonged to Capt. John Holbrook. John Holbrook, jun., Enoch Smith and Benjamin English, were appointed to dio- the graves for the society."

The choristers thus appointed began a system of vocal cultivation that made the place celebrated in this respect for many years, the fame of which is still spoken of with great delight, although the singers are all passed on to the new life.

December 3, 1782, they voted to hire Mr. Birdsey to preach until the first of the next May, which is the first minister's name mentioned in the records.

They continued thus to hire preaching for certain specified terms of a few weeks or a few months, until Dec. 28, 1786, when they voted that the society committee should confer with Mr. Abner Smith to preach four Sabbaths from the first of January, 1787.

On the 21st of Dec, 1787, they voted to give Mr. Abner Smith a call, with a settlement of one hundred pounds, a salary of seventy pounds, and his fire-wood.

Mr. Smith's letter of acceptance of this call, dated March 8, 1787, is still preserved, and is a most beautifullv written letter.

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The penmanship is elegant, and the whole production is very honorable to him. That he was a man of no pretentiousness is very apparent, but a man sincere, intelligent and devoted. He was ordained and settled soon after, but no records of the services, nor of any doings of the church, or marriages, deaths, and baptisms, have been seen, nor is it known that there are any records of these events.

In the first starting of raising rates, or taxes, for the support of the gospel, they say the rates are to be paid in silver, or gold, or Connecticut money, which is a record very seldom seen.

About 1790, a law was passed that those desiring to be released from paying rates to the minister, should present a writing that he belonged to some other denomination, and that thereupon he should be exempt.

"Derby, August 24, 1801. This may certify that Richard Holbrook, of Derby, has this day subscribed his name to the clerk's book belonging to the Episcopal Union society, and considers himself holden to pay taxes to said society.
Test, Samuel Sanford, clerk.

The above certificate received by me, Jonathan Lumm, 4th, clerk of this book."

Rev. Abner Smith, not long after his settlement, bought land, or the society did for him, and he built a good sized gambrel-roofed house on the most picturesque location on Great Hill. The house is still standing, and is said to be about ninety years old. In this house Mr. Smith and family resided until 1829, when he sold this farm and removed west.

After his removal the old meeting-house was converted into a school-house, although meetings were held in it occasionally some years later, both by Congregationalists and Methodists.

After a time it was taken down, very much to the grief of some of the old members of this church. The communion set is still preserved in the care of Mrs. Thomas C. Holbrook, of Great Hill.

It is said that this is one of the oldest Methodist churches in Connecticut, and that from the time the Rev. Jesse Lee

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preached in the valley of the Naugatuck, services were held here by his successors.

The first minister sent into the New England states by a Methodist conference, was the Rev. Jesse Lee in 1789. In 1790, the appointments for New England were: Jesse Lee, presiding elder, John Bloodgood at Fairfield, John Lee at New Haven, Nathaniel B. Mills at Hartford, Jesse Lee and Daniel Smith at Boston. [Stevens's Hist, of Methodism, IL 417, 418.]

If then Methodism began on Great hill, as said, it must have been about the year 1790, but no written dates have been seen confirmatory of this tradition.

Previous to the organization of the Congregational society for winter preaching at this place, the Rev. Dr. Mansfield of Derby had held services some years in Great hill schoolhouse once a month, and the same at Oxford and Quaker's Farm. The Congregationalists held their services in the same school-house six or seven years, until their meeting-house was completed in the autumn of 1781. When, therefore, the Methodists began preaching here, they probably held their services in the school-house, and continued so to do until regular services were given up in the meeting-house after Rev. Abner Smith became feeble in health or after he removed west in 1829 or 1830. After this, by common consent, the Methodists occupied the meeting-house until' they dedicated their present church on Wednesday, October 25, 1854. The Great hill society became one of the strongest points on the Derby circuit, which at first extended up the Naugatuck valley as far as Waterbury. The Rev. Elijah Woolsey, circuit preacher here in 1714, gives in his book called "The Lights and Shadows of the Itinerancy," space to incidents of his experience on Great hill, and the Rev. Heman Bangs, who was presiding elder about 1820, said Great hill was his main support.

After the close of the ministerial labors of Rev. Mr. Smith, Congregational services grew more and more infrequent, and the Methodist people occupied the old meeting-house until they built their new one.

Several ministers and laymen are spoken of in connection with this society as specially serviceable to the church. The

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Rev. George C. Fuller, pastor in 1825-6, is remembered for his eccentricities, earnest and successful labors. Cyrus Botsford, the music teacher, was chorister many years from about 1810. Capt. Isaac Bassett and wife, grand parents of Capt. Elliot Bassett, are said to have been among the first Methodists in this place. The late Judson English was closely identified with this church during half a century. [Three or four of these items are taken from the Hist. of Seymour.] The "History of Seymour" [Wm. C. Sharp, 1879.] tells us that Anson Gillett was the first class leader over sixty-five years ago. If it is intended to indicate by this that the first class leader was appointed sixty-five years ago, it must be a mistake, since preaching began here by Jesse Lee, or his successors, about twenty-four years before that time, and a regular preaching service held by the Methodists of that day twenty-four years without a class and a class leader, is an unheard of thing. Methodists were not of that kind in those days, nor do we know of any such in these latter days. It is said in the same book that "Almost the only preaching on the hill for forty years preceding 1854, had been by the Methodists." [Hist. of Seymour, 119.] The Rev. Abner Smith was here and services were kept up most of the time until about 1829. and after that Congregational ministers have preached in the place frequently, and are cordially invited and frequently accept the invitation to preach in the present Methodist church.

The era commonly assigned for the first appearance of smallpox is A. D. 569; it seems then to have begun in Arabia, and the raising of the siege of Mecca by an Abyssinian army is attributed to the ravages made by the small-pox among the troops. Razes, an Arabian physician who practiced at Bagdad about the beginning of the tenth century, is the first medical author whose writings have come down to us who treats expressly of the disease; he however quotes several of his predecessors, one of whom is believed to have flourished about the year of the Hegira, A. D. 622. Inoculation was introduced into civilized Europe from Constantinople through the sense and

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courage of Lady Mary Wartly Montagu, but since the discovery of vaccination by Dr. Jenner has been discontinued.

Vaccination (Latin, vacca, a cow), inoculation for cow-pox as a protection against small-pox was first practiced by Dr. Jenner, an English physician, in 1796.

Inoculation for small-pox and for cow-pox are very different things as to the disease but the same in preventing small-pox, the latter, however, being a much milder disease and far less dangerous. It was the former of these that was first introduced into this town.

The following petition was presented in town meeting January 7, 1793, "To the inhabitants of Derby in town meeting assembled, sirs: we the subscribers of said Derby, physicians, beg liberty of said town that we may have liberty to set up the inoculation of the small-pox in said town as there are many of the inhabitants that are now going into other towns for said purpose, and the younger people are much exposed to have it the natural way if not inoculated. . .
Edward Crafts,
Samuel Sanford,
Liberty Kimberly.

"December, 1793, Voted that John Humphreys, Esq., Capt. Joseph Riggs, Mr. Samuel Hull, Col. Daniel Holbrook, be a committee to inspect the inoculation of the small-pox, and make further rules and regulations respecting the small-pox as they shall judge necessary for the inhabitants, and to put a stop to the inoculation if they judge best."

No report of this committee has been observed, but a fair conclusion is that the physicians were allowed under very careful restrictions to make some experiments, which proved successful so that the following risk was ventured four years later.

"December 11, 1797. Liberty is hereby granted to twenty-six persons and no more to receive the small-pox, viz.: Isaac Smith, Elizabeth Smith, Clark Smith, Edward Smith, Joseph Smith, Elizabeth Smith, jun., Susan Smith, Milly Keeney, Sheldon Keeney, Betsey Keeney, Sally Keeney, Isaac Keeney, Linda Keeney, Medad Keeney, Abijah Canfield, Charity Canfield, Sarah Canfield, William Canfield, Joseph Hawkins, Joseph

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Hawkins, jun., Enos Smith, jun., Joseph Durand, Samuel P. Sanford, Mamerry Sanford, provided they receive it by the evening of the twelfth instant, and give bonds that they receive it at the dwelling house of Mr. Benjamin Davis in Derby and not depart said house until liberty obtained from the authority and selectmen, and that the physicians who inoculate shall also give bonds not to spread the small-pox, and that the bonds be made payable to the selectmen, and that the selectmen and civil authority or their committee shall set limits to said house and have the superintendency of the physician and patients; and that those who receive the small-pox shall pay all expenses and save the town harmless."

This last clause is the only surprising one in this whole record; for if anything like the benefit hoped for should result, the town could well afford to pay all expenses and send nurses if needed, to take the care of the patients while ill. There is no excuse for the penuriousness of public bodies in regard to health, while lavish with money on improvements and ornamentation.

The strictness of the town in the conditions imposed on the physicians and the patients in this matter, may provoke a smile at the present stage of medical knowledge, but at that time it was the only reasonable course to be followed. Such had been the terrible scourge of the small-pox, that every possible precaution was demanded of physicians and all public authorities, and any other course than that pursued would have been justly chargeable with the heaviest penalties if adverse results had befallen the practice, and it was then as at the present day, no pestilence equaled in frightfulness, the small-pox.

In December, 1798, a petition signed by thirty-three persons was presented, requesting the town to give liberty to Doctors Sanford and Crafts, to practice inoculation, assuring the town that they were capable in that practice.

The petition was granted, and each physician was required to inoculate in a separate hospital under the restrictions of the authority and selectmen.

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In the famous deer hunt, which occurred in the western part of this town about seventy-five years ago, while there were no dukes, major-generals nor Spotted Tails such as we read of in the Great West at the present day, joined in the chase, yet there was real fun. A little south of the community known as Quaker Farms, was Wooster's park, an inclosure of between one and two hundred acres, safely surrounded by a high railfence. Within this inclosure Jacob Wooster had gathered a large number of valuable deer, and it was a state law at that time, that if any one should kill a deer from this park he should pay a fine not less than eight dollars. During a storm in January, the wind blew down the fence, and the largest deer escaped and wended his way towards the Ousatonic, near Zoar bridge. A posse of men sallied out and made at him several shots, but unharmed at this firing he darted down the river as far as the Red House where he encountered young Leavenworth, familiarly called Uncle Ned. Some eight or ten men under his lead hotly pursued the panting venison and encountered him on a spot near Alling's factory, in Birmingham. "Now," said our young hunter "stand back, boys, and I will fetch him the first fire." After due and careful preparations, he fired but the deer was still master of the situation. There was a great freshet in the rivers, and the meadows far up were covered with water, and tightly packed over with broken ice. Eluding his pursuers, the deer in triumph cut around the point near where the pin factory now stands, crossed over the meadows on the ice, and landed on Parsons Island, nearly opposite the residence of Mr. B. B. Beach. By this time, the quiet denizens east of the Naugatuck became interested in the chase, and soon the whole neighborhood was in a blaze of excitement. Young Johnson, long known as Uncle Andrew, had just entered double blessedness, but forgetting his loving bride, seized his "king's arms," and hastened to the field of conflict. His fire only wounded the affrighted animal in the hind leg, and before he had time to reload Leverett Hotchkiss, the second white male child born in the Narrows, came up, leveled his gun at the deer and shot him dead. The captors then hauled

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their booty up to the old blacksmith shop near by and commenced the work of dissection. Before they were through Uncle Ned with his companions arrived, and claimed that as he had fairly bagged the game, he was justly entitled to a share of the venison. A warm dispute arose. Hotchkiss having made the dead shot wanted the whole, but he finally awarded to young Johnson the hide and one hind quarter, but Uncle Ned, less lucky than Alexis, could not get so much as the tail as a trophy for his day's pursuit. Chagrined at this treatment, he stirred up a lawsuit against the parties for violating the majesty of the Connecticut laws. Finding that the deer was from Wooster's park, Uncle Andrew, fearing the law, entered a complaint against Hotchkiss, although he had himself lugged off the hide and one quarter of the deer. The case was tried before Justice Humphreys. After a two days' trial in which the Blackstones of the town exhausted all their wits, the court found a true verdict against Hotchkiss and fined him eight dollars and costs.

The affair created quite a sensation, which lasted a long time, for at a town meeting subsequently held for the purpose, the people sympathizing with the defendant, voted to relieve him by paying from the treasury, at least the costs of the prosecution. So much for that hunt. B.

The long red house now standing at Leavenworth Landing, on the west side of the Ousatonic lake, is among our Derby recollections. It was once a favorite stopping place between the two counties, when the place was lively with ship-building, and thousands flocked thither on a day when a vessel was to be launched. After the Leavenworth bridge, which spanned the river a few rods above, became rickety and unsafe for travel, a public ferry was kept up opposite this red house. A blunt, sensible, burly Yankee, familiar in his old age by the name of Uncle Ed., ofificiated as ferry-man. On one occasion he was aroused from his midnight slumbers by a signal to ferry over a friend from the opposite side. The river was high, the night dark and rainy, and the wind blowing a gale. With great effort, Uncle Ed. reached the Derby shore, when his tallow candle

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went out, leaving him in bad humor, and he exclaimed, "Who are you, out this time of night, when honest men should be abed and asleep? It is enough to make a minister swear to turn out for a friend such a time as this!" The traveler said not a word, but carefully placed himself, horse and wagon on board, when he was told,. "Now take hold of this rope and pull with all your might, or we shall all go down stream," accompanying his orders with language not polite nor very decorous. The order was rigorously obeyed, while the ferry-man continued his strain of epithets, clothed not in the choicest English. Safely over. Uncle Ed. demanded an extra ninepence if his friend refused to give his name. "Why," said the stranger, "the man toward whom you have been using such abusive language, is your reverend minister from Huntington Center." "Oh! yes, parson, I've heard you preach many times, but I guess I won't take back anything I've said."