History O F Berlin

HISTORYF O BERLIN CONNECTICUT BY CATHARINE M . NORTH REARRANGED A ND EDITED WITH FOREWORD BY , ADOLPH B URNETT BENSON, Ph.D. INSTRUCTOR I N SHEFFIELD SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL OF YALE UNIVERSITY NEW H AVEN Thk T uttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company 1916 M»m/»pn C OLLEGE lMW»*y HEFROM T ANPRFW P RESTON PEABODY FUND Copyright, 1 918 BY Elizabeth. W North u TO THE M ANY DEAR BERLIN FRIENDS, WHO W ERE SO FAITHFUL IN THEIR FRIENDSHIP, SO W ARM, LOVING, AND TEUE IN THEIR AFFECTION, THIS B OOK IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR's SISTEB, ELIZABETH W . NORTH FOREWORD Catharine M elinda North, daughter of Deacon Alfred North and Mary Olive Wilcox, was born March 1, 1840, and, with the exception of one year in girlhood, spent her whole life in Berlin, Conn. She was educated in the Curtis School in Hartford, studied in the Boston Conservatory, and taught music for a long time in her home town. "Following the example of her father, whom she so greatly loved and reverenced, she lived his daily prayer, 'filling up each day with duty and usefulness.' " She interested herself in every good cause, and especially in the work of the Second Congregational Church of Berlin of which she was a member. In the Sunday school, both as pupil and teacher ; in the missionary work of the church ; and more par ticularly in the church music, her cooperation was of the utmost importance. At one time she assisted the choir with her truly cultivated and musical contralto voice, and then for years, she led, as organist, the worship of the church. During the declining years of her father, Miss North assisted him in his duties as town clerk, and after his death she gave up her music and continued as agent for the fire insurance companies which he had represented. Her historical work falls in the last quar ter of her life, and her notes seem to show that she was working on the history of East Berlin and Beckley Quarter, paying considerable attention to the Bowers family, when a stroke of apoplexy ended her work, July 8, 1914. Miss N orth was a director in the Berlin Library Association and a member of the Emma Hart Willard chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. While organist of the Berlin church, she turned over the remuneration she received to the Library Association to be used as a fund. One of her former pupils characterized her as a "truly educated" woman, "fond of study," and whose influence was to teach others. In her research work, she often sat up until the "dawn o' day," VI H ISTORY OF BERLIN pondering o n historical problems, and it is thought that this may have reduced her physical vitality enough to shorten her career. She possessed, also, a considerable knowledge of botany and had a "genuine love for a flower." An intimate friend has paid the following tribute to the memory of Catharine North : A l ong-time friend wishes to express her loving admiration of the character of Miss North, who recently entered into her heavenly rest. Her personality was strong, upright and most interesting; strong in the force of her mental gifts, and in her moral nature; upright in a most conscientious fidelity to all known duty; interesting because responsive to many interests. Her whole nature vibrated in many chords. Did one seek her for advice on any point, how quick she was with her helpfulness and spirit of service I Did one lead the talk to music, art, travel, history, genealogical research, or the deeper things of the spirit, how she brightened and enlarged the sub ject by her own original ways of looking at it! Who could ever tire of such a companion? When one thinks of the physical pain endured for several years past with the most heroic fortitude, one can but rejoice at the thought of the freed spirit reaching its highest development where all is light and love. We who were her friends are grateful for the companionship of these years, and are glad to believe what has been wisely said, that "Christians never meet for the last time." s.. o o. Berlin, J uly 16, 1914. The f ollowing chapters contain all of Miss North's work on the history of Berlin which is available for printing. Most of the notes, as is well known, appeared in the Berlin News, from November 9, 1905, to October 3, 1907, and many readers expressed the desire at the time that the articles might some day be printed in portable form. In the present volume two distinct papers have been added : one on "Daniel Wilcox, Pio neer Settler," which was read before a meeting of the D. A. R. of Berlin, and another on "The Dunbar Family," which was contributed by one of its members and was found among Miss North's correspondence. To my knowledge, neither one of these has ever appeared in print before. A few notes on Ser geant Beckley have been compiled by the editor from Miss North's papers and added to the first chapter. FOREWORD V ll A s trong revival of interest in the history of Berlin was pro duced in September, 1905, when residents of the town decided to celebrate an Old Home Day. On this occasion, all interested were invited to participate, either in body or mind, and a small number, who were already engaged in some historical work on Berlin, accelerated their efforts, brought their material into tangible form, and presented it at this celebration, which took place in the Second Congregational Church of Berlin on the twentieth of the month. At l east three letters and papers were read, either wholly or in part, on that memorable Wednesday evening: a letter by Mrs. Jane Porter Hart Dodd of Cincinnati, which gave some "delightful reminiscences of early Berlin"; a paper by Miss Alice Norton on "Memories of Berlin's Earlier Schools;" and one by the Hon. F. L. Wilcox on "A Glimpse into the Industrial Life of Some of the Early Families of Berlin." The first two of these were printed immediately in the Berlin News, on September 28th and November 2nd, respectively. A revised version of Mr. Wilcox's paper began to appear the following week, and formed the beginning of the series which Miss North continued and expanded until it had assumed its present pro portions (see note, page 168). For a time, Miss North and Mr. Wilcox worked together on the task of revision, but in all collaboration — to use Mr. Wilcox's own words — Miss North was the "real historian." All indebtedness to Mr. Wilcox, who kindly placed his own manuscript at the editor's disposal, is here gratefully acknowledged. Many facts and suggestions on Berlin's early industries may be traced to his paper. Miss N orth was the historian of the Committee on Prepara tions for Old Home Day. In an editorial in the Berlin News for September 28, 1905, we find this testimony: To M iss 0. M. North, the News, and all who were connected with the committee, are much indebted for her part of the work in com piling the great list of names, and in their arrangement for publica tion. She was the historian of the committee, and her extended and accurate knowledge of the history of Berlin was a great assistance. Vlll H ISTORY OF BERLIN An e xamination of Miss North's historical legacy, both pub lished and unpublished, reveals a contribution to the history of Berlin of no little importance. Above all, it shows true his torical sense ; that is, a conscientious research with an untiring effort to obtain historical truth. Any mistake in a published article (in the Berlin News) was always corrected and explained in a subsequent paper, and the last installment of the printed series, just before the publication of the Berlin News was discontinued, was devoted exclusively to corrections and additions. A study of Miss North's working tools or raw material discloses a surprisingly large variety and quantity of reliable sources. Records of interviews with the oldest residents in town; extracts from correspondence with former residents, who are no longer in Berlin ; innumerable newspaper clippings, describing more recent events; hand-made maps of sections of the town, as it existed a hundred years ago, giving roads, houses, and waterways ; and, finally, quotations from the official records of Farmington, Wethersfield, Hartford, Middletown, New Britain, and other places, connected in any way with the history of Berlin; all these are well represented among Catharine North's papers. Whenever necessary, of course, authorities outside of the state were consulted. A w ord about the literary method of the author. Her style was interesting, decidedly unique, and she frequently punctuated the more sober matters of fact with personal comments or his torical anecdotes. With respect to the mechanism of dealing with the historical material, there seems to have been no well- defined plan. As the author herself expresses it in the opening sentence of the paper on Daniel Wilcox, she took "the liberty of going backward, or forward or sideways at — pleasure." In so far as there was a definite plan, it was geographical. Miss North went from house to house, 'from street to street, giving the history of both present and former residents. It h as been one purpose of this compilation — and the wish of Miss North's friends — to preserve both the content and the style of the original. As far as possible, this has been done.

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