THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TOWN’S SETTLEMENT OBSERVED.

Richard Reggie Smith Research/Editor Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0

This transcription covers the first three columns of the article "Cheshire's Celebration" from The New Haven Morning Journal and Courier, dated July 5, 1894.

CHESHIRE'S CELEBRATION.

The Morning Ball Game, Wallingford 13, Cheshire 2—E. R. Brown’s Historical Address—Oration by Hon. H. E. Benton—Poem by Professor Paddock—The Afternoon Game, Cheshire 10, Meriden 8—A Gala Day for Cheshire.

Yesterday was a big day in the history of the town of Cheshire in more ways than one. It not only celebrated in a most fitting manner the ever-glorious Fourth, but chief of all was an anniversary celebration of the two hundredth settlement of the town. The occasion, although a retrospection, was yet a joyful one. A ball game in the morning and one in the afternoon, with a grand display of fireworks in the evening furnished amusement for all; an interesting historical and patriotic meeting at the town hall in the afternoon made food for thought and better than all the rest the Village Improvement society provided refreshment for the inner man both at dinner and supper time.

Town, as was often remarked during the day, Cheshire has much of which to be proud. A typical New England country village, nesting for two centuries among the hills it contains that picturesque hominess, that subdued quiet, an atmosphere of peace and loveliness, all of which make Cheshire and places like it choice spots in the land.

All the patriotic inhabitants of the village were early astir yesterday morning. The church bells were rung and anvils and cannon crackers awakened the echoes in the valley.

At 10:30 o’clock came the first event of the day’s celebration, namely the ball game between Wallingford and Cheshire on the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut grounds.

The teams were made up as follows: Wallingford—Sheehey p, Hayades c, Downey ss, Callahan 1f, Safford 1b, Morrissey rf, Downs 1b, Barry cf, and Hanlon 3b. Cheshire—E. Williams lf, Bristol 3b, D. Coleman p, J. Martin 2b, M. Coleman c, Kelsey ss, E. Martin 1f, J. Williams rf, G. Eagan cf. Martin was the umpire.

Quite a large crowd assembled to see the play, but the Cheshire boys away from the grounds somewhat crestfallen, as the game resulted in a score of 12 to 2 in favor of the visiting team.

Immediately after the game an elegant collation was served under the auspices of the Village Improvement society in the town hall, which was largely attended.

After dinner came the anniversary exercises. The first number was music by Walton’s orchestra, after which Mr. E. R. Brown read a most excellent and comprehensive history of the town from its earliest settlement, a part of which will be found below:

In entertaining with our own investigations the year 1694 is the 200th anniversary of the first permanent white settlement made in what is now Cheshire, which gives added interest to this occasion.

It is evident that as early as 1667 some of the inhabitants of New Haven had become acquainted with the country in and about Wallingford, and no doubt occasional journeys were made to the bounds of the town, but it was not until 1669 that the people of New Haven took a definite interest in this settlement. It appears that Abraham Doolittle and John Peck were on the ground in 1670 and John Moss and John Brockett in the autumn of 1661, which was evidently the cause of their being selected to manage the affairs of the new village. But it was not until the month of April, 1670, that the first permanent settlement in Wallingford was made. This place was named after the old English home of some of the planters. Stay the fertile valleys, where springs abounded, and the green, self-sustaining voice on the west side of the river, that gave promise of an abundance of pasturage and grass, invited a westward settlement. Roads were soon built and settlements made from Cook Hill and the fresh meadows westward to Mill river. The first settlers in what is now Cheshire evidently settled in the southeast part of the town westward from Cook Hill. As far as I am able to ascertain Deacon Joseph Ives and Captain John Hotchkiss were the first two settlers who built for themselves permanent homes in what is now Cheshire. To be sure, the Indians were companies of this region and had wigwams in the valley east and in the Turcia valley to the northward, from whom the original settlers purchased land. Little did these Indians think when they exchanged these lands for a few articles such as spoons, hatchets, axes, knives, scissors and English cloth that in a few years this force, band of settlers would increase to thousands, that the large and extensive forests which then abounded would so soon yield to the axe in the hands of this powerful community; that the bears, wolves, panthers and wildcats which then were occasionally visible in the new settlement would so soon disappear and that the small remnant of these unfortunate Indians would finally leave these hunting grounds and the graves of their fathers and wander away to other lands. Could these Indians have had a prophetic eye and could have foreseen all this they certainly would have preferred the destructive operations of the Pequots and Mohawks, with all their destructive tendencies, as nothing to the inroads made by the white settlers who were seemingly so kind and peaceable. The red man has gone. No monumental tablets perpetuate his memory. The smoke of their wigwams from our valley is seen no more. The war whoop and the war dance around their camp fires are no longer heard and seen. The bow and arrow, the tomahawk and other implements of Indian life, although occasionally ploughed in former days from the fields, are now kept as relics and are seldom visible around their former encampments.

Joseph Ives married Esther Benedict and evidently settled in the southeast part of the town in 1694. He was the first deacon of the Congregational church in 1724; he was elected in 1723, the year the church was formed. It is a remarkable fact that this property has been in the hands of Joseph Ives and his descendants from that time until the present, covering a period of 200 years.

John Hotchkiss married Mary Chatterton and evidently settled here the same year, in 1694. His son, Captain John Hotchkiss, fell a victim of the smallpox scourge that visited this new settlement in the year 1732. He was a useful member of the new parish. Descendants of this family are still residents of Cheshire, although it is not certain that they occupy ancestral settlements.

It has been generally understood that Deacon Timothy Tuttle was the first permanent settler in what is now Cheshire and that the first framed house was erected by him. He married Thankful Doolittle. That he was among the earliest settlers I am sure, but he was not married until the year 1706, at which time he was twenty-five years of age. I find no evidence that he settled here previous to the year 1706. Deacon Tuttle was a prominent official in the new parish, was the first moderator of the Society of New Cheshire was one of the building committee of the first church built in the parish in 1723, and was a member of the society’s committee for several years. The descendants of Deacon Tuttle were quite numerous in years past, but today in the vicinity of this ancestral home, not today not a single person by the name of Tuttle resides in this locality. A descendant, however, still resides on and is the owner of a portion of the Tuttle estate.

Thomas Brooks married Martha, a daughter of Joshua Hotchkiss, March 25, 1702, Justice John Atlee performing the ceremony. Nearly all of the Brooks families, of the different branches who have been residents of Cheshire, can trace their origin to this same Thomas Brooks. Three sons of the latter, Enos, Henry and Thomas, settled in different parts of our village and it is a noticeable fact and somewhat unusual that descendants of each of these different branches have since resided near the dwellings erected by their fathers and have cultivated the same ancestral acres.

John Hitchcock married Marlow Munson November 15, 1712, and evidently settled here about that time. He was a prominent official in the new settlement and took an active part in the organization of the first church, the first schools, the building of roads and other matters of interest in the early settlement. His whose name was Peter settled near his father. Valentine, Captain David and Amasa were among the sons of the latter. Peter Hitchcock, a son of Valentine, resided in South Cheshire. A Willow Tyler of New Haven in 1705. He purchased 182 acres of land.

It is evident that Thomas Brooks and his aged father, Henry Brooks, removed to Cheshire and became permanent settlers here in April, 1707. They were originally from Cheshire in England, and it is generally believed that they gave to the parish of New Cheshire its name. A vote of the First Ecclesiastical society of Cheshire as recorded in 1723 furnishes the evidence that at the houses of Thomas Brooks and Captain John Hotchkiss religious services were held for six months previous to the erection of the first house of worship. Thomas Brooks died of the smallpox in 1732, at which time this new settlement was visited by this epidemic, 121 persons being afflicted with the disease, out of which number seventeen died. The sympathies of the colonies were aroused by the sad account of this scourge, and at a meeting of the general assembly £50 was appropriated for the benefit of the sufferers at New Cheshire.

Ichabod Hitchcock enlisted in May, 1775, in the Ninth Company, First regiment; under General Wooster, whose first encampment was at Harlem, N. Y. In September this regiment took part in the operations along Lakes George and Champlain. Several others were induced by this most appropriate and aged minister to enlist in this patriotic cause.

Titus Ives was a soldier in this colonial struggle and was stationed at Harlem, N. Y., and along the coast of Long Island. He died at Harlem in the year 1777. The gun he used in the defense of the colonists is now in the hands of his descendants and is a relic worth possessing.

Thomas Bristol was present at the invasion of New Haven by General Tryon in July, 1779 and was severely wounded in the hip and was afterward a cripple for life. The British rushed upon him as he lay wounded, but his fellow-patriots rescued him from their grasp and thus his life was spared.

Gideon Bristol, the grandfather of the present prominent and active Business man, was also a soldier. He was born in 1755, enlisted in April, 1775, after the Lexington alarm or at the outbreak of the war. He afterwards enlisted in the First regiment, and in the Seventh Company of the Continental line, under the command of Captain Cook and later was transferred to Wadsworth’s brigade. He was in the revolutionary service six years. He was one of the ten well-knit Cheshire soldiers chosen by Washington to receive the arms of the British soldiers at Yorktown in 1781. He was a strong built man, brave and generous. He was also an ardent patriot and when the news of Washington’s army, also considered a patriotic soldier until victory was achieved. It is related that when the British invaded New Haven, Under General Tryon in July, 1779, that Colonel Street Hall of Wallingford, rode past this title and through valleys at a furious pace, swinging his painted hat and shouting "Turn Out! Turn Out! the British are in New Haven." The farmers left their scythes and left their grain on the hills, but they left everything hurriedly and rushed with all possible speed to their homes after their trusted muskets and then hurried to the City of Elms that they might assist in driving back the invaders. In what is now known as Copper Valley the women fled in fear to the old Parker house in its rudiment, thinking that there they would be safe and secure.

The patriots of the revolution did not wait for argument or for the town to make appropriations in their behalf, but as the poet has truly said:— "They left their plowshares in the mold, Their flocks and herds without a fold, The sickle in the unshorn grain, The corn half gathered on the plain, And mustered in their simple dress, For cause to right and for redress, To right those wrongs too great to bear, To perish, or else conquer there."

Some during the distressing fire in 1845 held on Cheshire street, July 4, when the old muster cry of Colonel Street Hall, "Turn out! Turn out!" reached his ears. He left his scythe in the field and hastened to New Haven, in company with others, to defend the city and drive back the enemy. He went forth in the morning, from home and loved ones, to be shot down the next day while bravely defending the patriot cause and the city of New Haven was taken back a lifeless corpse to that home, the threshold of which he left but the day previous in the vigor and strength of early manhood. During this same invasion of New Haven by General Tryon forty patriots went to the relief of the city. Among them was the Rev. Dr. Daggett, the president of Yale college, whose bravery on that occasion is familiar to you all. The enemy at this time evidently intended to burn the city. They broke into houses where ardent spirits abounded, and drinking quite freely they became so drunk that they failed to do all the mischief they had intended. According to tradition General Garth went into the belfry of the state house, and on looking around exclaimed, "Oh, this city is too beautiful to burn!" After the enemy left thousands of the militia and people from the country around came flocking into the city. Without any order, and taking advantage of the distracted condition of the city, some unprincipled persons among them committed plunder. Among the anecdotes told in connection with this event is that a citizen of New Haven was attending divine service a few months later, in the old church which stood directly in front of our soldiers' monument, and was surprised to find salt on the back of a worshiper.

Captain Jesse Hull served as a soldier in the war of the Revolution for six years, and was a brave and faithful defender of the colonies.

Ralph Lines enlisted first as a soldier in the Sixth regiment Colonial line. He was captured by the British and was a prisoner in New York in 1776, where he died after experiencing untold suffering and privation.

The British officials treated the captured Americans with great cruelty. They were confined in warehouses in New York and in foul vessels anchored in the bay. They were scantily fed and poorly clothed, and their sufferings intense, in consequence of which they were greatly emaciated in body, to the extent that they were said to resemble walking corpses. Such inhuman was the treatment of the American prisoners by the royal officials that more than 10,000 of them died in New York during the war, among whom was Ralph Lines, Cheshire’s patriot soldier.

Captain David Hitchcock enlisted in 1775 as a private. He was afterward promoted to ensign, then to lieutenant and then to captain of a company.

After some music by the orchestra Prof. J. B. Paddock read an original poem and was highly complimented by all who listened to it. A part of it is as follows:

Old Cheshire’s salt upon the hills, Up from her valleys, too, We hail the royalty today; We answer to the call.

The centuries meet and kindly greet The year that now is here, They lay their tributes at thy feet; Dear town of many a year.

From out the fast receding past, Familiar faces arise; Above the background of these hills Men of heroic size.

By land and sea their laurels put Into your wreath today, To crown with love another town, Forever and for aye.

The spirits of our pioneers, Those sturdy men of God, That hallowed all this holy ground The very earth they trod.

Ives and Brooks and Captain John, Who labored for our wealth; And Hall, their minister, who preached For fifty years or more.

And with us, now, on this note-day, The spirits from the past, To catch our words of loyalty For homes they once held dear.

The light of high and holy purpose, God-fearing men were they, Who lived the truth, dealt righteously, And clearly marked the way

For future generations To build a nation, broad And high and noble, Which, towering as toward God,

Should reach its hands of welcome To every land and sea, To keep it ever as now, The home of liberty.

We, children of the fathers, Inheritors of all Of all their blood-bought titles, The leaders of the past,

We hold with careless hand we The rights for which they fought, We lose while idly resting The boon their life's blood brought.

The same hand is over, The hand above us all, Of precious life and valor, Whatever may befall.

The stars and stripes above us, Triumphant over schism, Is worthier than our pride, 'Neath the bolt of an atheism.

What mean the poor man's mutterings? The hoarsings of his throat? Is it but a low and confused talk His hatred airs drift—

Of those who rule and govern, The law we've but to know Our rulers and leaders, Whose life's but an off-stories.

For the benefit of the people, Their welfare and of life, What means the loud a swift message? The knife that ends the strife?

Following the poem the Hon. Herbert E. Benton delivered a most enthusiastic patriotic address, which was greatly appreciated by all who listened to it. A letter of regret was read from Rev. Dr. Isaac W. Brooks of Brooklyn, expressing his regret that he could not be present at the exercises, and alluding most lovingly to the history of Cheshire. The meeting then closed with the singing of the Doxology; and the benediction was pronounced by Rev. W. Hexton.