CHAPTER II.

The North Family; its Ancestors, Descendants, Industries, and Neighbors. Simeon North, the First Official Pistol Maker in the United States.

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In the year 1635, John North* at the age of twenty, sailed from London in the Susan and Ellen and landed at Boston.

* Since the death of Miss North, it has been established that John North was a descendant of Robert North, who is known to have lived in England in 1471; and since Catharine M. North is a direct descendant of John North of Colonial fame, we obtain an interesting genealogical line as follows:

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He came to Farmington, where land was entered to him in 1653. He was one of the eighty-four original proprietors among whom the unoccupied lands of the town were divided in 1672. His house-lot of three-quarters of an acre, purchased from John Steele, was near the north end of Farmington Street. It is now occupied by two houses, one recently owned by Sarah Shiels the other by Dorothy Palmer.

John North and his wife Hannah, daughter of Thomas Bird of Farmington, were members of the Farmington church. She joined in 1656. Of their six sons, Thomas, born 1649, was a soldier in the Indian wars and received a grant of land for his services. His son Thomas, born 1673, was one of the pioneer settlers in Great Swamp, where he owned much land, possibly a part of the grant made to his father.

By deed of date January 24, 1709, Thomas North, son of Thomas, conveyed to William Burnham two parcels of land, one of eighteen acres, and one of twenty-two acres, described as being in Great Swamp.

As shown by deed dated February 1, 1709, he sold land in Beech Swamp, Great Swamp, to Samuel Seamore, who had mar-ried his sister, Hannah North.

When the church in Christian Lane was formed, Thomas North was one of the "seven pillars," as the original members were called. He was described as a man of wealth and influ-ence, but strange to say we have failed to find his dwelling place. Records give it as Kensington or Farmington, but now we know that he lived near the Seymour stockade, and not far from the church. He married, December 1, 1698, Martha, daughter of Isaac Roys of Wallingford.

It is estimated that their posterity number one-eighth of the Norths of this country. Their eight children were Martha, Isaac, Thomas, James, Sarah, Samuel, Joseph and Hannah.

Thomas North, Jr., died March 2, 1725, when his youngest child was three years old. James, who was ten when his father died, was the ancestor of the New Britain Norths. Further reference will be made to Isaac and his descendants when we come to the old houses where they lived.

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Martha, eldest child of Thomas North, born June 30, 1700, was married August 6, 1719, to Daniel Beckley, grandson of Richard Beckley of Wethersfield, now Beckley Quarter. Their daughter, Martha, born October 27, 1720, was married August 4, 1742, to John Savage of Middletown, now East Berlin. Their daughter, Huldah, born March 25, 1752, became, in 1779, the second wife of Josiah Wilcox, and they reared a large family of children in the house occupied by the late Sherman Wilcox. Their descendants are scattered far and wide over this land.

Occasionally letters come from them seeking information relating to the genealogy of the family. Some want to know if they are eligible to the patriotic societies. Related to the Norths f Absurd! Never heard of such a thing! But here is the line back to Thomas and a soldier in the Indian wars, and we might as well take this occasion to say that there is sufficient evidence that Josiah Wilcox was a soldier in the War of the Revolution to satisfy the authorities at Washington.

Lois, another daughter of Daniel Beckley and his wife Martha North, was married November 15, 1753, to Pete Galpin. They had lived in an old house that stood on the site of the large house now owned by Luther S. Webster on Worthington Street, Berlin, and they had nine children, from whom not a soul remains to represent the family.

The mystery connected with an old well out in the lot, south, of the Gilbert place, has been solved by the discovery of a mortgage deed signed by hand of Thomas Gilbert, April 17, 1794, by which he gives, as security for a debt to Sylvester Wells, his home lot and house where he lives, described as bounded north by Hooker Gilbert, east on highway, south on burying ground and Asahel Root. Thomas Gilbert married Mary North, granddaughter of Thomas North, and it is possible that this was the original North homestead.

Simeon North was a son of Jedediah North, who lived at the north end of Berlin village. He married in 1786, at the age of twenty-one, Lucy Savage, daughter of Jonathan Savage and

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Elizabeth Ranney. We have seen that he bought, in 1795, one-ninth of a sawmill privilege, on Spruce Brook, and that, in 1796, he was living in the house he purchased of the heirs of David Sage.

By deed of date March 6, 1795, he bought from Eben and Isaac Dudley of Middletown, seventeen and one-half acres of land, with house and barn thereon, described as situated in Westfield; bounded east on the foot of the first ledge and Asahel Dudley's land, west on Capt. David Sage, and northerly on highway leading from Berlin to Middletown. The deed was executed before Amos Churchill, justice of the peace, and was witnessed by him and his wife, Lydia Churchill, who were the great-grandparents of the Misses Catharine and Sarah Churchill. Although the buildings conveyed by this deed were said to be in Westfield, they were on the top of the hill, on the south side, next east of Spruce Brook. Why the Norths did not occupy this place at once is not known. It was improved and a large addition was made to the house. Possibly the family took refuge at the Sage house while the plastering was left to dry. On February 15, 1797, Daniel Willcox of Sandersfield, Mass., deeded to Jacob Wilcox, for the price of £12 10s. the sawmill standing on Spruce Brook, which was set to him in the distribu tion of the estate of his father, Daniel Willcox, deceased.

At a town meeting held in Berlin September 5, 1797, it was voted:— On motion of Mr. Hosford that a eommitte to consist of Gen. Selah Hart, Amos Hosford Esq. and Col. Gad Stanley be appointed to repair as many of the bridges and abutments as were injured by the late flood, as they shall judge proper at the expense of the town. Voted—That this committee is empowered to agree with the owners of a mill on Spruce brook to rebuild the bridge lately removed therefrom in such manner as shall answer for a mill-dam and a bridge.

On June 3, 1805, Jacob Wilcox sold to Simeon North, for twenty-four dollars, the Mill site of forty-eight rods and three links "where sd Norths blacksmith shop now stands."

The children of Simeon North and Lucy Savage, his wife, were Reuben, born 1786; James, born 1788; Alvan, born 1790;

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Selah, born 1791; Elizabeth, born 1796; Lucetta, born 1799, Simeon, born 1802; Nancy, born 1804, all born in Berlin. Nancy died at the age of two years and three months, and the mother, Lucy, died February 24, 1811, in her forty-fifth year. They were laid in the burying ground east of the Roberts farm. A lease of that ground may be found on page 430 1/2, volume 13, of Berlin Land Records, at New Britain. It reads as follows:

Know all men by these presents that we John Roberts and Eleazer Roberts both of Berlin, . . . for the consideration of Ten Dollars received to our full satisfaction of Col. Simeon North of Middletown in the County of Middlesex, have leased and try these presents do lease unto the said Simeon North and to his Heirs forever, for the sole purpose of a Burying Ground, the following Lot of Land lying in said Berlin, containing about four rods of ground, bounded North on highway, East, South and West on our own Land, being the same Ground which is enclosed and limited by a fence, and has been occupied heretofore for a Buryingplace—to have and to occupy the premises unto him and said Lesse & his heirs forever for the purpose of a Burying Ground only reserving to ourselves our heirs and Assigns the right of cutting & carrying away the Grass which shall grow thereon, in such a manner as to do no Injury to the monuments or Enclosure of the Premises.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set out hands & Seals this 4th day of January A. D. 1818, DANIEL DUNBAB, Justice of the Peace. Daniel Dunbar, John Roberts seal Ephraim Crofoot Eleazer M. Roberts seal

This yard was used by all the neighborhood for many years. In the eighties the Norths were removed to Maple Cemetery. The Wards, Twitchells, and some others were removed also. The inscriptions on the stones which remain are as follows:

Benjamin Cheney, Died May 15th 1815 AE 90. Deborah Wife of Benjamin Cheney Died Nov. 3d, 1817 AE 80. (Both on one stone.) Allen Son of Benjamin Cheney d. in New York Mar. 17, 1815 aged 40. Infant son of Olcott and Maria Cheney. Mary E Daughter of Olcott and Maria Cheney aged 10 mos. Stephen Brewer died Sept 23rd 1825 aged 23.

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Harriet Deming died July 12th 1875 aged 79. James F. son of David and Elizabeth Stevenson d March 18th 1847, aged 7 yrs. James E. son of David and Elizabeth Stevenson died May lst, 1848, aged 11 mos. John Eoberts died June 19th 1837, aged 92 yrs. Sarah Merrils wife of John Eoberts, died May 25th 1830 aged 82 yrs. Mr. Samuel Guy died August 4, 1811 aged 34 yrs. 3 mos.

(Stephen Brewer worked for the Norths and boarded in their family. He died there of spotted fever, or "Berlin fever," as it was called. In the delirium of his sickness his screams were fearful to hear, and it required the strength of several men to hold him in bed.)

There were other burials here, but graves are unmarked. Lilies of the valley, planted on the North graves, have spread all over the yard and out into the adjoining field. The spring after the Bensons came to the Hulbert place they saw a man, with a big market basket on his arm, tramping all around in the grass, picking the flowers. When they ordered him away he said he came there every year, all the way from Hartford, to gather those lilies of the valley to sell, and he thought they were mighty mean to object.

The magazine, Outing, for January, 1902, contains an article by John Paul Bocock, entitled "Collectors and Collections of Pistols," in which he speaks of Mr. W. A. Hatch of South Columbia, N. Y., who, in his work as a collector of odd pieces of china in remote farm houses, occasionally happened upon curious old pistols. He goes on to say: "In this way he was enabled a few years ago to secure such a unique trophy as a pair of flint lock duelling pistols made in the United States by the first American pistol maker, S. North of New Berlin, Con-necticut, whose output since that day in 1813, when he got a contract from the United States Government for 500 horse pistols, has been dearly prized by all fanciers of American arms." In the same article Mr. Bocock shows a cut of four rare, early American horse pistols from his own collection, made, he says,

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by the first official American pistol maker, S. North.* They were flint locks, dated 1813, 1818, 1821 and 1828, subsequently, with other flint lock arms in the government armories, altered by act of Congress to percussion lock.

By chance, an account book, kept by Reuben, the eldest son of Simeon North, has been preserved, and the entries, which, began in 1808, throw much light on the business conducted in the factory at Spruce Brook.

In that year, 1808, many scythes were made and sold, mostly one at a time, to farmers in Berlin, Meriden, Middletown, Chatham, and Glastonbury. Occasionally there was a turn by barter, as on July 11, "to one scythe delivered to a Gentleman from Middletown Upper Houses to cancel a debt of $1.40 contracted for fish." The prices ran from seventy-five cents to $1.67, according to size and quality. The charge for a scythe four feet long was $1.50. One William H. Imlay, from whom the company purchased German steel at fifteen and one-half cents per pound—and blistered steel at sixteen cents, bought scythes by the wholesale. Twice ten and one-half dozen were delivered to him at $1.00 each. Sea coal was fifty cents a bushel and charcoal cost $7 per 100 bushels. Incidentally we learn that the workmen paid $1.25 a week for board and counted out all meals when absent. Washing was included.

A milliner's bill, entered July 16, 1809, "for making Betsey and Lucetta's Bunnets" was sixty-two cents.

A copy of a letter in the book, dated 1808, signed by Simeon North, shows that he had at that time agreed to make a quantity of pistols for the United States Government, and that he had procured bonds for the completion of the contract to be sent on to the Secretary of the Navy. Work on this contract began Wednesday, September 14, 1808, and in November of the following year Reuben credited himself

* Since these papers were written, there has appeared a full and authoritative treatment of Simeon North and his famous Spruce Brook industry. Cf. "Simeon North, First Official Pistol Maker of the United States," a memoir by S. N. D. North, LLD., and Ralph H. North (Concord, N. H. The Rumford Press, 1913). This is a valuable contribution to the history of firearms in the U. S. and contains many beautiful cuts.

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$432, for work he had done on 2,000 naval pistols. Special parts mentioned in his account were side pins, side hammers, sear hammers, hammer springs, sear springs, triggers, bridles, tumblers, cocks, and side straps or hooks.

In 1810-11 hammers were flying on the "second Job lot of 2,000 Naval Pistols," and the next year found the men busy on 2,000 horseman's pistols, and so we have evidence that at least 6,000 pistols were made in the Spruce Brook shop before the 1813 contract for 500 horse pistols referred to by John Paul Bocock.

When the War of 1812 came on, our government was unable to get arms fast enough to supply the troops. By a note in writing, for which Deacon Frederic North was given as author-ity, we learn that President Madison at this time visited the North factory in person and urged the company to increase their force.

As the water power there was already worked for all the machinery it could turn, a new factory was built by Simeon North at Staddle Hill, about a mile and a half southwest of Middletown center. Now, certain family historians have said that the son Reuben attempted to carry on the work in Berlin, but was unsuccessful. The truth was that the father who established the business, kept it, as was his right, in his own hands, and all finished arms bore his name, "S. North."

He removed to Middletown, but drove frequently out to Berlin where Reuben superintended the factory. Mrs. John North said he had the first carriage used in Berlin. It had a white top. In the old account book, names of twenty-eight men are found who came in 1813 to work for Reuben on the pistols. Of those names still remembered are Selah and Alvan North, Linas Hubbard, Abijah North, David North, Asahel and Jesse Root, Justus Buckley, John North, Ephraim Higby, and Selah Goodrich.

Most of the men lived with the North family and the price for board had now advanced to $1.50 per week. Butter was entered on the journal at ten cents per pound, and beef, "100 cwt. at 6 cts per lb." Wild pigeons made a fine stew, and they came

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in great flocks. Mr. Bulkeley says they were so thick on their ledge that his father used to bring down six or eight at one shot. Amos Kirby, who lived in what is now known as the Atwater place, peddled meat then. When he had a creature to kill he used first go around to see if he could get orders enough for the beef to save himself from loss.

Wages were low. Joseph Henderson "agreed to blow and strike awelding pistols at twelve dollars a month."

"Selah Goodrich came to work three months at six dollars per month and three months after at eight dollars per month."

This was in the days of apprentices. Many of the workmen after their trade was learned set up shops of their own.

In that year, 1813, besides the work on pistols, 2,000 spurs, 2,000 burrs for spurs, 2,000 back pieces for spurs and 2,000 straps for spurs were forged and turned in the Spruce Brook shop.

At the close of the war, Simeon North was commissioned by the State of Connecticut to make two pairs of gold mounted pistols to be presented as a testimonial for their services to Captain Isaac Hull of the Frigate Constitution and Commodore McDonough who captured, on Lake Champlain, the English squadron under Commodore Downie.

Mr. North had so much pride in the making of those pistols that he sent to England and brought over Peter Ashton a skilled artisan, who superintended the work.

Commodore McDonough's daughter, wife of Henry G. Hubbard of Middletown, had her father's pistols. After much thought as to their disposal she decided to give them to the Hartford Athenaeum and they were deposited there some twenty years ago. Who can tell us what became of Captain Hull's pistols ? Nathan Starr, whose sword factory was at Staddle Hill on the same stream as that of Simeon North, made for Captain Hull a beautifully engraved gold mounted sword, presented to him by the State with the pistols.

It would seem an easy matter, when so many pistols were made in Berlin before 1813, to pick one up in any old garret,

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but they have disappeared, and it is next to impossible to find one on sale in antique collections. Alfred M. North, great-great-grandson of Simeon, recently came across one of the early makes in Philadelphia. Money, however, would not buy it, as the pistol was carried in the War of 1812 by the great-grand-father of the owner.

Later on the Norths made at Middletown and Berlin many guns, rifles, carbines and muskets with bayonets to fit.

Deacon Frederick North was authority for the statement that in 1781, when his grandfather Simeon was sixteen years old, he shouldered his gun and marched to Saybrook to enlist in the War of the Revolution, but when he reached his destination negotiations for peace were pending and he was not mustered into the service. He was Lieutenant Colonel of the Connecticut Sixth Regiment 1811-13 and was always known afterward by his title.

It is said that Colonel North would never employ a man who was intemperate or immoral in anyway, and that no one ever worked for him who did not love him. His business with the government called him often to Washington and on his return he would go around the shop and shake hands with every man. Once while in Washington he attended a reception given by Dolly Madison and he was greatly impressed by her beauty and affability.

When Lafayette made his last visit to America, in 1824, he was taken to the Staddle Hill pistol factory, as one of the sights of Middletown. In preparation for the event the workmen had their machines brightly polished, and in clean white aprons all stood in silence, backs to their machines. Instantly, as Lafayette entered the doorway, the power was started and the men whirled about to their benches and went on with the din and clatter of their work.

Lucy Savage, the first wife of Simeon North, died February 24, 1811, aged 45 years. He married, second, in 1812, Lydia, daughter of Rev. Enoch Huntington of Middletown. When he brought Miss Huntington out to Berlin to see her prospective home he had added several rooms to this house, purchased in

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1796 from the Dudleys, and was about to build another addition, but she begged him not to do so. She said it would be work enough for one woman to keep the house broom clean as it was. Doubtless she was pleased when Mr. North bought, March 11, 1812, her father's place on the west side of High Street, in Middletown, where they spent the remainder of their lives.

There was only one house on the east side of High Street then, that of Nathan Starr. Mr. North owned land on that side which he sold with the proviso that during his life no building should be placed there to intercept his view of the Connecticut River, south as far as the Narrows.

The second wife died in 1840, and Colonel North died August 25, 1852, aged 87 years. Their graves are at Indian Hill Cemetery, Middletown.

The old Huntington house was removed and the site is now occupied by the residence of the President of Wesleyan University. A street called Willis Street has been cut through north of the house.

The pistol factory at Staddle Hill is now used by the Rock Fall Woolen Company.

The children of Simeon North and his first wife, Lucy Savage, daughter of Jonathan Savage and Elizabeth (Ranney) Savage, were Reuben, James, Alvan, Selah, Elizabeth, Lucetta, Simeon, and Nancy.

James, born September 16, 1788, was sent one day for grain to a gristmill in Westfield. He returned with the announcement that he had seen down there the prettiest girl he ever saw in all his life. It was a case of love at first sight. He waited until she was eighteen, and then, on October 24, 1810, he and Mary Dowd, daughter of Richard Dowd, were united in marriage. They "lighted their hearthfire and set up their family altar" in a part of the old Spruce Brook house, but afterward followed the father to Middletown. They purchased a large, pleasant house, built by Oliver Wetmore, out at Staddle Hill—a sightly place, where they lived to celebrate on October 24, 1860, the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding day.

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Fifteen children came to bless their home, thirteen of whom were living at the time of the golden wedding, and eleven were present on that occasion. James North died in 1865 and his wife, Mary, died in 1866. The names of their children were Henry, Lucy Ann, James, Mary, Norman, Harriet, Susan, Seth, Elizabeth, Richard (died in childhood), Frances, Richard, Luther, and Franklin. An infant son who lived only ten days made up the fifteen. The dates of their births ranged from October 11, 1811, to March 24, 1835. There were no twins. Lucy Ann was married to James L. Wright, and her sister Elizabeth was the wife of William S. Wright. Their husbands were brothers, both Congregational ministers.

Aunt Mary was a lovely woman all her days. Sometimes she was tired and discouraged with so many little ones clinging to her skirts, and then Uncle James would come around with the carriage and take her away for a long drive, until her nerves were rested again.

They kept open house and entertained many visitors. How did they ever manage to feed so large a family ? Well, for one thing they made apple pies without peeling the apples.

Alvan North married and had ten children. His son Ralph, born at Berlin, in 1814, studied law at Middletown and found his way to Natchez, where he became Judge and Chancellor of the 12th District of Mississippi. He died there in 1883. His daughter Florence was sent to Miss Porter's school in Farming-ton about the year 1854. After awhile she wrote home that she wished all the slaves could be freed.

Her mother then said that if Florence must live at the South it would be better to educate her there, and she was taken back to Natchez, where she was married.

The seed, however, sown at Farmington, had taken root and when the Rebellion broke she was loyal to the Union. Her husband was not permitted to continue his business, but she, by virtue of being a woman, contrived somehow to carry it on, and supported her family during those trying years.

Other children of Alvan North were Willis, Walter, Jane, Emily, Horace, Mary Ann, Alvan, and Dwight.

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Selah North, born at Berlin, November 29, 1791, was killed by lightning August 13, 1850, while standing in his own door-way at Stow, Ohio. He had thirteen children. The names of eleven were Nancy, Egbert, Julia, George, John, Philip, Charles, Sarah, Newel, Charlotte, and Betsey.

Simeon North, Jr., the youngest son of this family, born September 7, 1802, prepared for college partly in the old Berlin Academy. He graduated from Yale, with honors and as vale-dictorian, in 1825, and from New Haven Divinity School in 1828. A fellow student with the Rev. Joseph Whittlesey, he always spoke of him with respect and affection.

While acting as tutor in Yale two years, 1828-9, calls to settle in the ministry came to him from Fairfield and Greenwich in this state. In 1829 he accepted the chair of ancient languages at Hamilton College. After ten years service as professor he was elected fifth president of the college. This office he held until 1857. He married, in 1833, Frances Harriet Hubbard, daughter of Dr. Thomas Hubbard, Professor of Surgery in Yale. Their only child, a beautiful boy, born in 1842, died in 1851.

Dr. Simeon North died February 9, 1884. His connection with Hamilton as professor, president, and trustee covered a period of fifty-five years.

Elizabeth North, born October 5, 1796, died of consumption March 25, 1831. She always entertained the boys who visited at "Grandfather's," and they thought Aunt Betsey very nice. Her beautifully wrought needle work has been exhibited at the Berlin fair.

One evening as the family sat around the fireplace burning corn cobs, her father said he would give five dollars to any one who would light a candle from a cob; Betsey said she wanted that money; she knew what to do with it, she would buy for herself some winter flannels, and she persevered until the candle caught the flame.

Lucetta North, born April 7, 1799, was the sister "Martha." It was she who kept the wheels of housekeeping in order, and she had not so much time to make herself agreeable to the chil-dren as had Aunt Betsey. She remained at home unmarried

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and cared for her father in his old age. She died January 24, 1863, at the house of her brother James, in Staddle Hill.

Gloomy prophets predicted dire disaster for both churches. The First Church now numbers 827 and the South Church has enrolled on its catalogue 1,111 members.

Mr. Seward was installed over the church in West Hartford, January 14, 1845, and dismissed December 18, 1850. Other churches which he served were at Yonkers, N. Y., where he remained twenty-five years, and at Portland, Me.

Dr. and Mrs. Seward spent their declining years at South Norwalk, where they celebrated their golden wedding in 1886. Mrs. Seward died there April 1, 1896. Dr. Seward retained much of his youthful vigor and continued to preach occasionally up to his ninetieth year. He died in January, 1901.

Two children survive them, William F. Seward, editor of the Binghamton Republican, and Lydia E., wife of W. H. Gleason, whose son, Arthur Gleason, is managing editor of Country Life. Dr. Seward, in his address given at the golden wedding at Staddle Hill, said he feared that some branches of the family were deteriorating. For, he went on to say, "a few weeks ago I saw huge placards of a big show under the auspices of one Levi J. North, which seemed to be made up of ponies, circusdancers, banjos, and comic songs. Boys bearing the same honorable name were among the performers. I suppose the showman must be related to us, but I was careful not to inquire, I felt indignant

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that the venerable name of our 'Uncle Levi' should be thus dishonored. This is almost the first stain which I have seen on the family escutcheon." Now, curiously, a newspaper cutting without date falls from an envelope, and we read as follows:

Levi J. North, the famous old circus rider, died on Monday, at his Brooklyn home. He was born on Long Island in June 1814. As a boy he was so infatuated with a traveling circus that stopped in Brooklyn that he ran away and joined the company—becoming, before he was thirty, the most perfect horseback performer in the world—exhibiting himself before the crowned heads of Europe, as well as in all parts of his native country. Last Thursday he attended the funeral of his old time associate Frank Pastor (brother of Tony) and while standing at the open grave he turned to a little group of white haired veterans of the ring close to his elbow and said "Another one gone, boys. Who'll be the next?" On Tuesday night the same group gathered at Dent's chop house (a Brooklyn restaur-ant which North had been accustomed to visit) to arrange for their attendance at the funeral of North himself. He had fatally caught cold at Pastor's funeral.

Eeuben North, the eldest son of Simeon North, born Decem-ber 11, 1786, remained on the Berlin homestead. By deed of date March 30, 1814, his father, for the consideration of $5,600 conveyed to him his farm of sixty-six acres, with all buildings thereon. This did not include the shop, and the privilege was reserved of flowing for benefit of the factory, and digging stone from the quarry in the Pond Lot, so called. By the way, the stone for the foundations of the Worthington Academy was given by Eeuben North from that Pond Lot quarry, south of the bridge.

By a second deed, dated March 22, 1826, Simeon North con-veyed to his son Eeuben one acre of land "at a place called Spruce Brook," with the shop and other buildings thereon, together with all the mill privileges thereto belonging. The price paid was $300. This water power was used to run a sawmill before and after the time, in 1795, when Abraham Sage sold one-ninth of his right in the mill to Simeon North. The logs were pushed in on a tramway from the east side.

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Reuben North.

Alfred North.

Francis North.

Reuben North married, January 9, 1811, Lynda, daughter of Josiah and Huldah (Savage) Wilcox, who lived at what, in recent years, has been known as the Sherman Wilcox place. Their sons were Alfred, born October 3, 1811, and Samuel, born March 11, 1814. Lynda, the mother, died March 18, 1816, and an infant, Lynda Wilcox, the only daughter in this family, born March 17, too frail to survive, was laid in her mother's arms. Deacon Alfred North* was five years old at the time and he remembered that one of the neighbors lifted him up to look in the casket. He never forgot his mother and he fancied that his

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own daughter was like her. Referring to her name, one record gives it as Belinda and a grand-daughter had to endure Melinda, but she herself always signed it Lynda, and she marked her linen the same way.

Reuben North married, May 2, 1817, Huldah "Wilcox, a sister of his first wife. Their children were Reuben, Jr., born March 13, 1818; Edward, born March 9, 1820; Simeon, born February 10, 1822; Frederic, born March 14, 1824, and Josiah Wilcox, the seventh son, born February 10, 1827. Huldah was so much afraid that people might accuse her of being partial that she was better to Lynda's boys than to her own. Some of the neighbors did not like her as well as they did Lynda, who was kind to everybody. They thought Huldah rather high feeling. She said, "Samuel, if you can't go in the best society there is in Berlin, don't go in any." The workmen used to sit at evening around a huge fireplace in the kitchen, and the boys

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loved to steal out there to hear them tell their stories, but this was not allowed, they were called back and kept with their father and mother in the "middle room." The large circle of cousins delighted in visiting at Uncle Reuben's. They said Aunt Huldah always put her best foot foremost, and truly she did make an attractive home there. To her it was, as she said, the "Garden of Eden."

Besides the Middletown Sentinel, for secular news, and the Puritan and Recorder and Evangelical Magazine for Sunday reading, the Boston Cultivator, with its weekly budget of advice for better ways of managing farm work, brought also word of the latest improved fruits and flowers for the garden.

A large, square plat of ground, southeast from the house, was guarded from dogs, cats, and chickens by a close picket fence. Here stately sun flowers, flaunting princess feather, and great, red poppies elbowed corn and beans. Along the fence were currant bushes, and prickly gooseberries, and thorny raspber-ries, with beds of strawberries and asparagus. From the cor-ners tansy, motherwort, sage, catnip, and trailing hops, cut and dried for winter, eased many a pain. Aromatic fennel, dill, and caraway furnished meeting seed fresh from June to October, and dry from October to June again. Did you ever feel around, under the tufts of the pew cushions in the old church, with your little fingers for stray fennel seeds?

In the center of the garden was a great, spreading pear tree, that bore bushels of fruit, small, sour, puckery, and hard at the core; but the sauce! After the boys married their wives had to "do up" a large stone jar full of those pears every year.

In the southwest corner a tall tacamahac or balsam-poplar scattered sweet, sticky buds to be made into healing salve. Up the balsam climbed a scarlet trumpet creeper, grown from a root given to Huldah by her sister Hepsy when she lived at the Dr. Brandegee place. Mulberry and cherry trees rivaled the honeysuckle for the attention of the birds and gay flowers— bee-balm, marigolds, butter-and-eggs, four-o'clocks, flowering almond, dahlias, portulaca, flower-de-luce, 'stertions and every-thing that anybody else grew, were found in this garden.

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One winter's day Wallace, the hired man, who had never seen a dahlia root, brought all the tubers up from the cellar and boiled them for his dinner.

West of the house was the apple orchard. There was one tree called the "bitter sweet," m! m! drawn from the brick oven, at supper time, those apples were like nectar. Handy, at the foot of the cellar stairs, was a sleigh body, yellow striped with black, that might have come out of the ark, and almost as big, filled with apples for winter use, and every time the cellar door was opened up came a whiff of fragrance from those apples.

All along the fences were peach trees, pears, cherries, and plums. Peaches were so abundant that they were fed to the swine.

As the sun nears the western hills, let us follow the lane-way south of the house. First, on the left hand, are the bee hives. Go softly here, those bees are vicious; once they came out and stung an innocent child. She ran screaming back to the house to her grandmother, who sent Josiah down the hill to get some mud, from a puddle in the road, for a plaster. In the lane, on the west side, we take out a fence rail and step over into the field to test the watermelons.

On the other side we halt to see how the walnuts are coming on. Two famous, great trees stand here in the open meadow. The shells, from one, chock full of buttery meat, are so thin that the children crack them with their teeth.

Now, at the end, we let down the bars and call "Co, co." Soon, from distant, shady corners of the great pasture, come the cows, eager for milking time. There was no patent separator for the cream of this dairy, but if you had once tasted the butter that "came" in that old barrel churn, it would make your mouth water to-day to think of it. Dr. Gridley always wanted Mrs. Reuben North's butter as long as she had it to spare.

And the cheese,—for this, a big tub full of sweet milk was required, and so Mrs. North and Mrs. Normand Wilcox, across the way, took turns about and put their milkings together. In the long shed room, in the southeast corner, was the cheese press, and up in the southwest chamber, on shelves, row upon row of

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cheeses were placed to ripen—turned every day and rubbed with butter, until, sweet, mellow, and nutty, they would, to use Edward North's expression, almost set one longing to be mites. Sunday mornings the house was vocal with song. The father led the choir in church and the boys all helped. Alfred sang bass, and Samuel carried the tenor. Reuben played the violin; one he kept for that service, a sort of sacred fiddle, which he would never allow anyone to use for dancing tunes. Josiah played the flute so acceptably that the church gave him one with silver keys. He also studied the piano with the first Mrs. Joseph Whittlesey, and under her instruction he played the old church organ. The mother boasted that she fitted out twenty-one from her home, every Sunday for church.

The young people, who had to walk, struck into the woods west of the Ward place and followed a well-beaten path, across lots, that came out by Colonel Bulkeley's ledge. In summer time, to keep their nicely blacked shoes clean, they carried them, with their stockings, in their hands until they reached the village.

Reuben North was one of the first in town to take a stand for temperance, but when haying time came the men would not work without some liquid refreshment stronger than ginger and molasses stirred with water, and Alfred was sent up street with a jug for New England rum.

Reuben North, Jr., in his dairy under date February 27, 1838, writes: Attended a temperance meeting at the chapel. . . . Mr. Gary (principal of Academy) thought it was worse to drink cider than to drink brandy. Dr. Gridley thought we drank too much of every-thing. Mr.—(a clergyman) thought a man had a right to drink a little wine or cider at his own discretion.

An incident helps us to a date relating to the work in the old pistol factory. The Rev. James McDonald was settled here from April 1, 1835, to November 27, 1837. One day as he drove over the bridge by the shop he called out "Making guns to kill people with!" "No," replied Mr. North, with indigna-

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tion, "I am making guns to save life !" Possibly this remark of the minister's set the sons to thinking that the business was not a proper one for Christians. They seemed to be prejudiced against it, and not one of them, so far as is known, kept any memento of the place more belligerent than a pair of tongs or a tuning fork.

The size of the factory is unknown but it had two stories above the basement and was entered from the street. Work was discontinued there in the winter of 1842-3. As has been said, "It is strange how fast a building goes to decay when out of touch with humanity."

Twelve years or so later Deacon Alfred North went into the shop one day and, upstairs, a beam on which he stepped, broke and he fell to the lower story astride another beam, which for-tunately held and saved him from being dashed upon the rocks below. The factory was still standing in the winter of 1856-7 and George S. North, a grandson, went all over it. When his grandmother knew what the boy had done she was frightened and told him never to go in there again. Then he stood on the bridge and threw stones at the windows, and that hurt her feelings. Many tools and scraps of iron were lying all about at that time. Soon afterwards a flood came and carried off dam, shop and all. The pond was a favorite swimming place for boys, and in winter the young people of the village liked to go there to skate, for the reason that they could warm themselves by the shop fires.

Back in 1826 Reuben North had paid for his farm and was prosperous, when a friend, for whom he had given his name as security for a large amount, failed in business. Compelled to face the obligation he covered his property with mortgages, and from that time on, with broken health, it was a struggle to pay interest money and make ends meet. However, "he did the best he could for his boys." Edward and Josiah were educated at Hamilton College, and the others had what advantages were afforded by the district schools and the Worthington Academy. Reuben North died April 4, 1853, aged sixty-seven years. Huldah, his wife, remained on the homestead for awhile, but it

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was lonely for her there, and she went to live with a favorite niece, Mrs. Emily North McKay, in East Berlin, where she died September 11, 1865, aged seventy-six years. At her grave on the hill, Rev. Wilder Smith, who conducted the service, spoke these words:

In bringing this aged mother to this place, we have brought her past the home of her birth, past the home she entered as a bride, and from the home of her old age, and have laid her down in this, her last resting place, no more to be disturbed until the morning of the Resurrection.

Of the seven sons in this family Alfred, the eldest, died January 14, 1894, at the age of eighty-two years.

Samuel, social, cheerful and large hearted, died April 30, 1878, at the age of sixty-four years, in Middle Haddam where, for fourteen years, he was deacon of the Congregational church.

Reuben, who was a very religious young man, was a favorite with the young people for his musical ability and pleasant man-ners. He died of consumption November 22, 1844.

Edward North, now affectionately known as "Old Greek,"* united with the Second Congregational Church of Berlin in 1831, at the age of eleven years. He fitted for college partly under Ariel Parish at the Worthington Academy, and graduated from Hamilton, as valedictorian, in 1841. Two years later he was elected Professor of Ancient Languages in Hamilton, and when, in 1901, he resigned the chair of "Greek and Greek Literature," he had covered a term of fifty-seven years in the service of the college. He died at his home on College Hill, September 13, 1903, aged eighty-three years. His son, Dr. S. N. D. North, also a graduate of Hamilton, class of 1869, is well known as Director of the Census, and as head of the "North Tariff Com-mission," recently sent abroad by President Roosevelt for a conference with the German Tariff Commission.

Gladys North, a daughter of S. N. D. North, is a member of the "Olive Mead Quartette."

* Cf. "Old Greek: An Old Time Professor in an Old Fashioned College." By S. N. D. North. New York, 1905.

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Simeon North, the fifth son, died as the result of an accident, January 20, 1842, at the age of twenty years. He went one winter day upon Lamentation to help bring home some firewood. On the way down the mountain the sled slipped and overturned, so that he was caught and crushed under the weight of the load. Frederic North, once leader of the choir, and superintendent of the Sunday school, and many years deacon of the Second Congregational Church, in Berlin, died September 17, 1897, aged seventy-three years.

Josiah Wilcox North graduated from Hamilton College in 1848, and from Yale Divinity School in 1852. He went West as a Home Missionary and held pastorates at Geneseo and Como, I11. His health failed and he was abliged to abandon his profession. He died December 13, 1882, in the fifty-sixth year of his age.

Josiah was never punished when a child, for the reason that he never did anything that merited punishment. His mother said the only thing he was set about was that he would have a clean collar every day.

NOTE. An incident is here given to show Dr. Edward North's tact in dealing with his young men. One morning, as he entered his class room, he saw upon the black board, a very clever caricature of himself, drawn hy an artist student. He looked at it a moment, then turned and said "Young gentlemen, will you please rub that out; one is enough."

The question has been asked how, in the days when no sturdy handmaidens came from across the seas to knock at our doors, work was done in families like the Norths. In this particular household, homeless girls were sometimes taken, or bound until of age, and trained in all the mysteries of domestic science, until fitted to conduct homes of their own—and they were all married.

A document, written in 1812, shows that the selectmen of Berlin indentured to Eeuben North, a poor child, whose parents did not provide for her, under these conditions:

She was pledged to "obey all his lawful commands" and "to serve him faithfully until she arrive at the age of eighteen

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years." He in turn agreed to provide her with "sufficient meat, drink washing lodging Cloathing and Phisick," and at the end of the time "to give her two good suits of Cloaths one suitable for every day wear the other for Holy days."

It was a rule in old times for a girl to have a pillow case full of stockings in readiness for her marriage. Mrs. North told one of her young women that for every pair of stockings she would knit for herself, she would furnish the yarn and knit another pair to put with them. The girl replied, "My Bible tells me to take no thought for the morrow."

Sometimes it was a sister, or a cousin who lent a helping hand; one, the eldest of the family of eight daughters, came in her youth, and staid on year after year, honored as the mother's trusted assistant, until she was well past forty. Then a widower hailed from New York State, in search of a wife to care for himself; his four daughters—one bedridden; his three sons— one crazy, and his twenty cows. Some one expatiated to him upon the virtues of Aunt Patience and it was a sorry day for the "tribe of Reuben"—that August 5, 1833, when he carried her away as his bride. Her wages, carefully treasured for a rainy day, went to pay off a mortgage on the farm "out there," and her husband was grateful to be free from debt. She worked like a slave, but the family all loved her, and she did not die an "old maid."

She is recorded on earth as having "no children."

Widow Landers used to come from Middletown Upper Houses to nurse in time of sickness. She took snuff and used a colored handkerchief; and there was an "Aunt Mattie Savage" who came for long visits. She was harmlessly deranged,and at night she would place by the side of her bed a row of chairs. She said the "Bill Witches" came in the night and sat in them.

Young women who had learned the tailor's trade came by the week with patterns and shears and goose and made up clothing for the men and boys. One girl, who sometimes worked for a man tailor, laughed in her sleeve at an evening party, when she heard a young man say that he would never wear a coat made by a woman. She sewed every stitch of the coat he had on his back at the time.

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In the long, east shed-room of the North house was a remark-able washing machine, invented, 1808-10, by Reuben North. It was a cumbersome affair, with heavy pounders in a round bottom box. A pulley tackle passed outside to which, on Monday mornings, a horse was attached and made to do the great wash-ings. When the boys grew up they hated the sight of this machine and without regard to the feelings of their father, they managed to get it out to the barn. A duplicate of this washer was to be made for Benjamin Wilcox in 1810.

The large back extension of the old North house was torn away in the fifties, and the place has changed ownership several times. Of the garden not a vestige remains. The great shag-barks in the meadow, while still in vigor, fell victims to the steam sawmill in 1885. Trees grown from a handful of the thin shelled nuts, planted by Edward North on his grounds at Clinton, have been in bearing many years. Even the fireplace brasses and front door latch with the fine brass knocker disappeared. Strange to say this knocker has recently been found down in Guilford, Conn., and an effort has been made to obtain it for the collection of antiques to be exhibited at Jamestown.

The farm is now occupied by John Hanson and his family from Sweden.

By deed of December 10, 1807, Simeon North "for love and affection" conveyed to his son Reuben the place next east of his own dwelling house, described as "containing one rood of land . . . with the dwelling house thereon standing, that is now occupied by Simeon Strickland." "The above land and house is to be estimated at $150 toward said Reuben's portion." No pre-vious deed of this house can be found and the inference is that it was built by S. North to be used by tenants.

Leverett Moss occupied the place for a number of years. Afterward somebody lived there whose companions were fox-hounds and chicken thieves. One night in a drunken brawl he shot and nearly killed a man. For this crime he served a term in the state prison. Then Minot Piper, father of six boys,

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purchased the property and repaired the house. The premises are now owned by Wm. E. S. Turner.

Orrin C. Clark of East Berlin, a grandson of Simeon Strick-land, gives the following account of him:

Born in Glastonbury, March 25th, 1755, he enlisted in the Revolu-tionary war—marched from East Hartford—served six months as private under Captain Eowley, Colonel Waterbury and General Gates, and one year as private under Captain Miles and Colonel Canfield. He built galleys at Gainsborough, was in the battles of Ticonderoga and Skeinesborough and was discharged at Ticonderoga.

He returned to Glastonbury and later removed to Middletown. In 1834 he moved to the Ward house (next west of Spruce Brook), and died there June 25, 1836, at the age of eighty-one years and three months. After his death, his wife, Mary Strick-land, and her daughter, Ruth Strickland Clark, moved to the old King house, the second west of the Ward place. Mary-Strickland died there October 29, 1839, aged eighty-eight years and five months. She was buried beside her husband in the hill cemetery across the way.

Simeon Strickland was employed in the North pistol factory in 1811, as shown by credit given him for work. His name appears in the "Connecticut Men of the Revolution," as a pensioner in 1832.

Daniel Clark, the husband of Ruth Strickland Clark, died in Philadelphia, February 23, 1831, and she came back to Berlin with her children. In her old age she lived with her daughter, Mrs. Mary Ann Richardson. She died in the John Lee house, west of the village hotel, June 14, 1885, aged ninety-three years. Her grave is in Maple Cemetery.

Speaking of the loss of memory, Mrs. Clark said she never forgot when told that anyone was sick or in trouble. Born in 1792, at Glastonbury, she was quite young when the family came to Berlin. She remembered the first wife of Simeon North very well, and the little Lucy, whose short life of two years and three months ended in 1806. When Lucy was two years old her mother had a severe illness and she was taken over to stay with the Stricklands. Mrs. Clark said she was a "cute

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little thing" and they became very fond of her. When Mrs. North was recovering Lucy was taken back home and her mother cried because the baby clung to Mrs. Strickland and refused to go to her.

Housekeepers of the present day, whose tables are supplied all winter with fruits and vegetables, canned at home, or brought fresh from the South, can hardly realize the longing for green food that came over some of the old people before their garden sauce was ready for use.

Dandelion leaves, plantain, dock, mustard, shepherd's purse, and milkweed, boiled with a generous piece of salt pork, made an appetizing dinner, and besides all those herbs were "good for the blood." In the last winter of Mrs. Clark's life she told a neighbor that she prayed to live until spring so that she might have a dish of greens. With the first April showers the neigh-bor was seen out in her yard, a tin dipper in one hand and a knife in the other, stooping here and there. When asked what she was about, she replied "I am answering Grandma Clark's prayer."

A boy who was bound out ran away in the fall. In answer to the question why he had left his place he said, "They kept me on grass all summer and I was afraid they would feed me on hay all winter."

The house next east of that occupied, in 1807, by Simeon Strickland, is supposed to have been built by Elisha Cheney. It was occupied in 1830-32 by John North whose wife was Harriet Cheney. Their two younger daughters, Sarah and Elizabeth, were born there. The place came into the possession of Elishama Brandegee and was purchased by William Dyer, who, in 1855, sold it with two acres of land for $350, to Harriet Deming, who made a home for her sister, Mrs. Emily Wright, and for her brother, Lewis Deming. They were all short of stature, so that they were known as "The Lilliputians." Sim-ple, honest and industrious they managed to make a living. Mrs. Wright went out washing. She would never slight her work but would keep at her tubs from early morning until eight or nine o'clock at night and all for fifty cents

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a day. She carried her own sustenance in a tin pail and was never known to eat a mouthful at the tables of those for whom she labored. She had a perfect horror of the poorhouse and declared that she would never be taken there alive. One summer she lived with with her husband, Trout Wright, in Kensington, under a shanty of boards that they set up, with their stove outside. She said "I tell my husband that we are like the Saviour. We have no place to lay our heads." She always wore a short dress above her ankles and walked with a funny little dog trot. Sometimes the boys, to scare her, would fire off a gun, and she would drop in the road as if dead.

One morning when she came up to Mrs. William Riley's to work she was full of indignation, because as she climbed into the wagon and sat on the high seat, humped over to keep her balance, her feet dangling, some boys called out "toad on a harrer." She said, "I gave 'em as good as they sent, I told 'em they showed their broughtage up." The family came from Wethersfield and Mrs. Wright used to say that George Washington was a friend of her father's, and that he used to consult with him.

Dwight E. Bowers remembers that the sisters used to make an excellent salve, of which one of the ingredients was obtained from frogs, and boys were paid in salve for all the frogs they brought in. They suspected afterward that the sisters had an Epicurean taste for frogs' legs.

The house, besides its human occupants, was filled with cats and hens. Mrs. Wright said the chickens always came out to greet her on her return from work—first the rooster and then the hens, all in a row, followed.

Lewis, the brother, was very pious. He had little, twitching, black eyes. He said he had a wife when he was young, but she stepped on a rolling cob and fell and hurt herself so that she died. He was often seen in the fields collecting medicinal plants, which he sold to the herb doctors. He used to carry great bun-dles of them to Hartford, and he also supplied the saloons there with fresh peppermint for the making of mint juleps. He would come to the door and, in a faint, piping voice, explain that he could not speak loud because he had the liver complaint.

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Harriet died July 12, 1875, at the age of seventy-nine years, and was burried in the graveyeard on the hill. Lewis then had to go to the town house. He used to come up tp Dr. Brandegee to have his hair cut. The house was purchased by Alfred Lloyd Bowers and has been vacant for many years.