CHAPTER XXIII.
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
when in accordance with the prevailing usage in New England, the inhabitants suspended all secular toil at the going down of the sun on Saturday,1 and began their Sabbath service with an evening prayer, a psalm and a season of solitary self-examination, it was with more gladness of heart than that which Burns ascribes to the "Cotter's" children on coming home, after the week's drudgery is over, to exchange salutations around the old hearth stone and receive anew the paternal bene
1 The Puritans did not all commence their Sabbath on Saturday evening. Mr. W. Perkins, in his "Cases of Conscience" published in 1806, argues strongly in favor of beginning the Christian Sabbath "in the morning and so to continue till the next morning, and not in the evening till the evening. [Book 11. ch. 16.] The views of Mr. Robinson, his theological pupil, are nowhere expressed, unless the subsequent usage of his church at Plymouth may be taken as such an expression; which is quite as likely to have been derived from John Cotton, whose opinion on all such points was well nigh supreme in the New England churches. This old custom of keeping, or pretending to keep Sabbath evening as part of holy time, which in many families was continued some ways into the present century, has nearly or quite ceased; not so much, it is hoped, from lax principles of Sabbath-keeping, as from an enlightened persuasion that, in the words of the old Puritan above cited, "the Sabbath is to begin where other ordinary days begin, according to the order and account of the church wherein we live."
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diction.1 On the Sabbath, with no more labor than was barely sufficient to supply food for themselves and their cattle, which had been provided as far as might be on the previous day ; with as few and noiseless steps as possible, both in-doors and out; with but little talking, and that in a subdued voice, they entered upon a round of private meditation, family devotion and public worship, which engaged their delighted and unflagging souls till the sun went down; an event which usually found them with catechism in hand, or repeating the sermons of the day.
For eighty or ninety years, not more than ten different tunes were used in public worship. Few congregations could sing more than the five tunes now known by the names of York, Hackney, Windsor, St. Marys and Martyrs, All who were present in the church were expected to unite in this part of worship. In 1731 the town had before them a petition of certain persons for the use of the meeting-house, that they might there meet and learn to sing. After some demur, the request was granted. Having learned to sing, the singers naturally wished to give the congregation the benefit of their new acquisitions. This disturbed some old habits, and a town meeting was convened to hear the complaints of those who could not endure "the singing in the new
1 " Wi' joy unfeign'd brothers and sisters meet, An' each for other's welfare kindly spiers: The social hours, swift-wing'd unnotic'd fleet; Each tells the uncos that he sees or hears; The parents, partial, eye their hopeful years; Anticipation forward points the view. The mother, wi' her needle an' her sheers, Gars auld cloes look amaist as weel's the new; The father mixes a' wi' admonition due." The Cotter's Saturday Night.
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way," as they termed it. The matter could not be settled; dispute arose, and the meeting adjourned. Another meeting was called, and after much debate the matter was compromised by voting,
"That this Society Desire and agree to Sing in ye public assembly on ye Saboth half ye time in ye new and half in ye old way for six Saboths; and after that wholly in ye new way."
The Bay Psalm. Book, prepared by New England divines, of whom three were Welde and Eliot of Rox-bury, and Mather of Dorchester, was issued from the press at Cambridge in 1640. It was the second book printed in British America, and went through seventy editions. This book was used throughout the colony. The following two stanzas are from the nineteenth Psalm, which is rendered by Addison, "The spacious firmament on high," &c.:
"The heavens do declare
The majesty of God;
Also, the firmament shows forth
His handiwork abroad.
Day speaks to day, knowledge
Night hath to night declared;
There neither speech nor language is,
Where their voice is not heard."
Instrumental music was absolutely proscribed; it was thought to be condemned by the text, "I will not hear the melody of thy viols" (Amos v. 23), and was disparagingly compared to Nebuchadnezzar's idolatrous concert of the "cornet, flute, dulcimer, sackbut, psaltery and all kinds of music."
Preaching with notes was very little practised. Mather says that Warham, of Dorchester, afterward of Windsor, was the first person who read sermons in New
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England.1 The approved length of a sermon was one hour, measured by an hour-glass which stood upon the pulpit. The reading of the Bible in public worship without exposition was generally disapproved. Children were baptized in the meeting-house, generally on the next Sunday after their birth; sometimes on the day of their birth if it took place on Sunday.
The New England preachers were of a character peculiarly adapted to the severe exigences of their day. They stood as iron men in an iron age. However rude in other social features, the early settlers, as they worked their way to the frontier, demanded the soothing influences of pastoral care; and the first institution reared in the forest was the pulpit, the next the school-house. Were Davenport and his compeers alive, were Street and Whittelsey, and Dana and Noyes, and multitudes of the early ministers of New England now alive, and among us, there are no ministers of religion now living, who, for learning, eloquence, character, or anything that adorns humanity, could pretend to be their superiors. The clergy of New England have as a body, been distinguished for a rare union of the speculative and the practical. In both points they have been so remarkable, that in observing the great development of either of these qualities by itself one would naturally suppose that there was no room for the other.
Marriages in olden times were celebrated by the governor, assistants or commissioners. Clergymen rarely performed the ceremony before 1700. The bridegroom who went to a neighboring town to be united with a partner whom he hoped to find a "help-meet for him," whether he was gentleman or yeoman, rode on
1 Magnalia, Book III. ch. XVIII.
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horseback, and carried her home on a pillion behind him. They had no wheeled carriages or wagons until the middle of the eighteenth century, and very few until the revolutionary war was closed. In 1789, according to Perkins, the first wagon was brought into Meriden. It was owned by Mr. Ezra Rice, and was of a very rude construction, being simply a square framed box placed on four wheels, drawn by two horses, with ropes for traces, and cords for the guiding or driving lines. Yet it was then thought to be a very elegant establishment. Previous to that time there had never been owned in the town but three two-wheeled carriages, being very rude, awkward chaise bodies or uncovered seats hung on two wheels in the manner of our modern chaise. A gentleman whose business led him at various times into every house in Meriden, states that in 1802, there was but one carpet in the whole town.
The houses at first were constructed of logs, with the ground, or in some cases if the soil was wet or the occupants were persons of taste and substance, with split logs, for a floor. They were "good and substantial dwellings, at least eighteen feet in length, and sixteen feet wide, and nine foot between joynts, with a good chimly," of stone and clay mortar, according to the requirements of the subscribed articles. In the course of time framed houses came into use. These frames were made of heavy oak timbers, some of them eighteen inches in diameter. The rafters were larger than the plates, sills and beams of our modern country houses, and supported split sticks called in the rude architectural language of the day, "ribs," that were laid across them at regular distances, and to which long rent shingles of cedar were fastened with tough wrought nails. The sides
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of the building were covered with oak clapboards rent from the tree and smoothed with a shaving-knife. Houses were palisaded in the following manner: a deep ditch was dug around the house; logs were then placed perpendicularly in the ditch all around it, leaving a space only for a gate. The logs were sharpened only at the top, placed close together, and extended eight, ten or twelve feet above the ground. The earth was then returned and beaten around the logs, till they stood firmly. This with a gate well secured, was a pretty good defence against a sudden attack.
Cider was the most common beverage of the country. Some beer was drank. They had no tea nor coffee, and at first very little sugar or molasses. Molasses was often distilled after importation. Broth, porridge, hasty-pudding, johnny-cake and samp, were articles of daily consumption. They had no potatoes, but beans and pumpkins in great abundance. A good cow was worth from twenty-five to thirty pounds, and a pair of bulls or oxen, forty pounds. The highest price for men's shoes was six shillings, for women's three shillings and eight pence. Pattens made of wood, with an iron ring on the sole to keep the feet from the moist ground, were sold for about fifteen shillings a pair.
In 1702 six shillings and eight pence was equal to an ounce of silver. In 1749, the period when bills of credit were abolished in Massachusetts, there being more than seven millions of dollars in paper in circulation, fifty shillings was judged only equal to an ounce of silver. In 1785 Connecticut granted exclusive permission to Samuel Bishop, Joseph Hopkins, James Hillhouse and John Goodrich, to establish a mint and coin money for the State. The grantees subsequently formed a copartnership
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with Pierrepont Edwards, Jonathan Ingersoll, Abel Buel and Elias Shipman for coining coppers. The amount inspected by the board appointed for that purpose, during the three years the mint was in operation, was 28,944 pounds of coined copper. One hundred and twenty pieces of the coin were turned out in a minute. There were twenty-nine varieties of the issue of 1785! twenty-seven of the issue of 1786; and one hundred and sixty-four of the issue of 1787.1 In Massachusetts, at one time, the scarcity of small coin was so great that a law was enacted, declaring that bullets should pass for farthings. Very naturally, therefore, it was common in contracts for work, salaries and taxes, to make a specific agreement that payments might be made in various kinds of produce, with the prices attached. From various old documents, I have extracted the following list of prices of various articles in Wallingford:
In 1673 corn was 3s. per bushel. In 1674 winter wheat was 5s. 6d.; summer wheat 5s.; peas 4s.; corn 3s. In 1679 winter wheat 5s.; summer wheat 4s. 6d.; peas 3s. 6d.; corn 2s. 6d.; pork 3 1-2d. per. 1b.; beef 2d. In 1710 wheat 5s.; rye 3s. 6d.; corn 2s. 6d. In 1755 wheat 4s.; rye 2s. 6d.; corn 2s. In 1770 wheat 6s. 8d.; rye 4s. 6d.; corn 3 s. 6d.; oats 2s. 2d; pork 3 1-2d. per 1b.; beef 3d.; butter 1s.; cheese 7d. In 1641 mechanics' wages were 1s. 8d. per day in Massachusetts.
The first stage in Connecticut ran through Meriden on the old colony road, in 1784. When the first stage went through Meriden on the Hartford and New Haven turnpike, it attracted crowds from the surrounding country, as did the first train of cars. As has been before stated, about 1662 a stone building was erected
1 It was supposed by some that the bust upon some of these coins was originally intended to represent George the Third.
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on the Belcher farm, and permission granted to Mr. Belcher to keep a tavern there forever. In 1673, in Wallingford, Lieut. Merriman was chosen
"To keep an ordaynary and promised to make trial for one year provided every planter resident, provide and laye in place wheare he apoynts 20 good sufficient rails for fence and 4 posts redy morticed by the middle of May next."
Amos Hall kept the great tavern in Wallingford, in the time of the Revolutionary war. He married Mary, daughter of Ephraim Johnson of Wallingford. After his death she married Colonel Isaac Lee, Oct. 9, 1783. She died Dec. 22, 1810, aged 73. Mr. Porter Cooke, who died in 1860, left the following document:
"I, Porter Cooke, saw General Washington in Wallingford at Jeremiah Carrington's tavern over night October 18 and 19, 1789. The General took a walk into the upper street as far as the Wells meeting-house and back, the citizens following him."
In 1790, and for sometime before, when the whole population of the town was not more than nine hundred, and as late as 1812, there were five if not eight taverns within the limits of Meriden. As these taverns always kept ardent spirits, and as the population of the town was small, and as the amount of travel then was much less than it is now, these facts would indicate a low state of morals. In 1647 the colony ordered that no person under twenty years of age should use any tobacco, without a certificate from a physician; and no others, although addicted to its use, unless they were ten miles from any house, and then not more than once a day. On the records we find this curious entry:
"It is ordered that there shall be one good hogshead of beer for the captain and minister."
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On the tenth day of April, 1775, a vote was passed instructing the representatives by Capt. Thaddeus Cooke and Deacon Samuel Beach, to ask the General Assembly to make Wallingford, with a part of Northford belonging to it, a probate district. Meriden was set off from the Wallingford probate district in 1838, the legislature of that year constituting the town of Meriden a probate district by that name. The first record was made July 19, 1836.1 It was customary in early times to enter on the town records the sale and transfer and description of personal property, and particularly animals of all kinds. The following are specimens of many thousands:
"Branded for John curtis a brown hors colt coming one year old with some white hairs in ye forehead & the left shoulder." "Exchanged by David cook Junr a bay hors two years old to John beecher, booth of Wallingford with a star in ye forehead, said cook gives beecher 30 pounds bute." "The beginning of Janewary, 1706, Sold to Samuell Roys to me, Joseph Whitin of harford, a bay hors about 5 year old sum whit one won of his foore feet 2 notchis, one the back sid of Left Ear brandid y one the left shoulder." "The 5 of March, 1709, for sayd hall, a Blackish culered mare colt, one yeare coming a few whit hars in the forhad a few whit bars Below the Eys sum whit Beetwene ye Nostrils Brandid y on the Left shoulder."
The following was the Town Clerk's oath:
"Whereas you A. B. are chosen and appoynted to be Town
1 The judges of the court have been, James S. Brooks, from 1836 to 1844; Benajah Andrews from 1844 to 1846; John Parker from 1846 to 1847; Benajah Andrews from 1847 to 1850; James S. Brooks from 1850 to 1851; Hiram Hall from 1851 to 1852; Orville H. Platt from 1852 to 1857; Hiram Foster from 1857 to 1860; George W. Smith from 1860 to 1867; Levi E. Coe since 1867.
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Clarke or Register of the town of Wallingford, you doe sweare by the great and dreadfull name of the everliving God, that you will faythfully and carefully execute the place and office of a Town Clarke according to your best skill, for the town of Wallingford, and make entery of all such grants, deeds of sale or mortgages of lands, as shall be compleated according to law, and all marriages, deaths, births and other writings as shall be brought to you and you desired to record; and that you will grant and deliver necessary coppyes when required of you and pay tendered for the same. So help you God, in our Lord Jesus."
In 1678 Mr. John Moss of Wallingford was "appoynted and impowered by this Court to joyne persons in marriage according to law, to administer oaths to persons upon necessary occasions, and to grant warrants and take testimonies." As in every new country, wild animals were numerous and troublesome. The town offered a bounty for killing them. As early as 1678, eight years after the town was settled, we find it voted that "2 shillings more be added to the bounty given for killing each wolf." As late as 1702, this reward for killing wolves was still continued, and in February, 1713, we find this vote:
"The town voatted yt they would alow five shillings to him that tracks a wolf or woolfs into a swamp, and then giv notise of ye same, and then raises a company of men so that ye wolf or woolfs be killed." "January 12, 1676, the Towne Refused to alow Tho. yale any thing of the young wolfe yt were in ye beley of ye woolfe he killed.1
1 In 1815 a wolf was killed in the southwestern part of Saybrook. Two bears were killed in Haddam in 1754 and 1767, and one in Bethany in 1796. Deer were in Middlesex county up to 1765. The last moose seen in that part of the State is believed to have been one killed in 1770 in Saybrook. Wild turkeys were found as late as 1790. A panther was shot in Windsor in 1767.
412 Our Puritan Fathers were men. We freely confess and lament that they fell into some grievous errors, which, however, were not so peculiarly theirs, as the common errors of the time. Witches were hung at that day in Old England as well as the New. James I, James II, Queen Elizabeth, Lord Bacon, Lord Coke, Sir Walter Raleigh and Lord Mansfield, all believed implicitly in witches. If the Puritan inhabitants of New England executed witches, so did the great and good Sir Matthew Hale; yet the annals of human judiciaries know no purer name. He sentenced more than one poor wretch to death for familiarity with the devil, long after our fathers had abandoned the superstition. A law was enacted in Connecticut, that "if any man or woman be a witch, that is, hath or consulteth with a familiar spirit, they shall be put to death." The records of the New Haven colony do not show that there ever was an execution within that jurisdiction, for that crime ; and I am inclined to think that the last trial for witchcraft in the State took place in Wallingford. Captain Daniel Clark, as "attorney in behalf of our Sovereign Lord the king," arraigned
"Winnifrett Denham Senr, and Winifrett Denham Junr, both of Wallingford for having familiarity with Sathan the Enemy of God and mankind, and by his aid doing many pre-ternaturall arts by misteriously hurting the bodies and Goods of Sundry persons, viz., of Jno. Moss Junr, Joseph Roys and Ebenezer Clark, with divers others to the Great Damage and Disturbance of the Public peace &c."
There was considerable excitement and much controversy over the trial, and the Denhams, father and son, were acquitted. The grand jury returned upon the bill of charges,"ignoramus."1 The records of the colony
1 A word formerly indorsed by a grand jury on a bill of indictment, in
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show strong presumptive evidence that the courts and the public sentiment of the colony were not favorable to such accusations; and while our fathers were hesitating and doubting if such a crime existed, England, Scotland, Germany and Massachusetts were sending hundreds of men and women to the gallows. Sir William Black-stone, as late as the period of the American Revolution, embodied the remark in his excellent Commentaries upon the laws of England, that "in general there has been suck a thing as witchcraft.1 In early times rum was largely consumed. A half-pint of it was given, as a matter of course, to every day laborer, more particularly in the summer season. In all families, rich or poor, it was offered to male visitors, as an essential point of hospitality or even good manners. Women took their schnapps, then named "Hopkins' Elixir," which was the most delicious and seductive means of getting tipsy that had been invented. Crying babies were silenced with hot toddy, then esteemed an infallible remedy for wind on the stomach. Every man imbibed his morning dram, and this was esteemed temperance. There is a story of a preacher who thus lectured his parish: "I say nothing, my beloved brethren against taking a little bitters before breakfast, especially if you are used to it. What I contend against is this dramming, dramming, dramming, at all hours of the day." Tavern haunting, especially in winter, when there was little to do, was common, even with respectable farmers. Balls at the tavern were frequented by the
cases in which, after hearing the evidence, they deemed the accusation groundless: equivalent to "not found."
1 B. IV. Cap. 4, §vi. See also Addison's Spectator, 117
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young; the children of ministers and deacons attended though the parents did not.
SABBATH-DAY HOUSES.
Until a period within the memory of persons now living, it was not the custom to warm houses of public worship. Indeed, some would have deemed it an innovation sadly ominous of degeneracy, if not of actual profanation, to make the house of God comfortable. Of course the hearers, in cold weather, must have sat in an atmosphere the very thought of which makes one shiver. Those who had traveled several miles to reach the place of public worship, as many of them did, entering the house half-frozen, literally found "cold comfort." The meeting house was warmed chiefly by the sun, for a chimney, stove or furnace was unknown. It is related of the Rev. Solomon Williams of Northampton, Mass., that he used to preach in a blue great coat, with a bandanna handkerchief about his neck, and woolen mittens on his hands. As prayer and sermons then were much longer than people at the present day will endure, the winter hearers of those days must have endured a species of martyrdom. It is said that sometimes preachers complained bitterly that their voices were drowned by the noise of persons stamping or knocking their feet together, in the attempt to get up a little warmth.
As a partial relief to such suffering, some persons built near the church, what are often mentioned in the old records as "Sabbath-day houses." These "Sabba-day " houses as they were called, were about sixteen feet square, with small windows on three sides, and a chimney, built of stone or perhaps part brick, on the outside, with a large fire-place attached. This room was furnished
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with rough seats; and here the short intermission between the services was spent in mutual greetings, inquiries after health, and perhaps comments on the morning sermon. It is a curious illustration of the tenacity with which old habits are cherished, that here as elsewhere, the proposal to make the house of God comfortable and healthful by means of stoves, was met with very decided opposition. Even in 1831, when the new house in Meriden was built, it was with great difficulty that the society could be induced to allow chimneys to be built, though they were to be erected gratuitously. I copy the following from a number of similar deeds:
"To all People to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting. Know ye, that I Jane Hubbard, of Meriden in New Haven County, for the consideration of thirteen Dollars received to my full satisfaction of Roswell Cowles of Said Town, County, aforesaid, Do give, grant, bargain, sell and confirm unto the said Roswell Cowles his Heirs and assigns forever a certain ould Sabbethday Hous formerly owned by William Johnson and the Heirs of Dec. Isaac Hubbard late of Meriden, Decesd, and Stood Southerly of Said Meriden Meeting hous on the West Side of the Road, Riming South from Said Meeting-house. August, 24, 1808."
This building stood near the residence of Hiram Bradley.
BEATING THE DRUM.
One of the early customs of the town was to beat a drum, or blow a conch shell when occasion required the calling of a public meeting. To this practice the poet alludes:
"New England's Sabbath day
Is heaven like, still, and pure.
Then Israel walks the way
Up to the temple's door:
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The time we tell,
When there to come
By beat of drum
Or sounding shell."
We find in the old records frequent mention of this curious custom. As early as 1673 is the following vote: "June 17, 1673, Sam'll Monson shall be alowed 40s. for maintaining and beating the Drum in good order for the yeare insuing." In 1675 it was voted, "that Jeremiah How, have 40s. alowed him for beating the drum, Sabbath days and other days."In 1676 £2 16s. were allowed "for beating the drum Sabbaths, lecture days, and for town meetings." Again it is voted, "for beating drum, sabbaths, lecture days, trainings, and keeping in repair, 20s." In 1694 the town voted three pounds to purchase a new drum. In 1696 the drum was beaten through the main street of Wallingford, from Daniel Mix's to Caleb Merriman's on Thursday night or Friday morning, proclaiming that a meeting of the town would be held on the next Tuesday at eight o'clock. This was considered a sufficient notice for such meetings. The house of Mr. Mix stood about where Mrs. Edgar At-water now lives, and Mr. Merriman's house where Mr. Peter Whittelsey now lives, so that the drummer had to go through nearly the whole settled portion of the village. With an increase of population more sound was needed, and of course a larger drum. We find therefore, a vote for the purchase of the instrument, with the order to sell the old one: "December 25, 1705. The town sould the little drum to Thomas Hall at an outcry of fifteen shilings and threepens to be paid this yeare." In December, 1713, it was voted that "ye towns Men shall take care that thare be sum sutable person agred
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with for betting the Drum upon ye Lords Days." We find this practice continued in 1714. It was probably kept up until a bell was purchased in 1727, when the town voted to build a belfry, and we may suppose that they then purchased a bell, and gave up the drum after it had done service about sixty years.
THE OLD ELM.
The old tree at the head of Colony street, Meriden, which was cut down on the 26th of August, 1868, was planted at the suggestion of Dr. Isaac Hough in the early part of November, 1834, by Mr. William J. Screen, who was living at Binghampton, N. Y., in 1868. He procured the tree, a white elm about seven inches in diameter, in the gap known as the Notch road. After he had dug the hole, the tree was trimmed by Dr. Hough, who, during his life, watched it with great care, and were he alive, it would no doubt be standing to-day. The planting was an affair of general interest, and was participated in by Major Cowles, Judge Brooks, Howell Merriman, Isaac I. Tibbals, Lewis S. Green, Henry C. Butler, and others. The tree was planted and grew, as the city grew and throve; and as its manufactories arose, so did the elm spread forth its branches and increase in beauty and in strength. Under its ample shade stump speakers have orated, lecturers have lectured, divines have held forth, and quacks have gulled the public and carried thousands of dollars from the town. When the peddlers of the future flock to the usual trysting place they will find it no more. Ichabod! their profit as well as its glory has departed.
No vandal would have dared to suggest the idea of applying the axe to the roots of the old tree, had not an accident precipitated such a consummation. On the
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9th of March, 1863, a terrific fire destroyed the whole block of buildings from the depot, including the depot itself, the post-office, and all buildings as far as the corner of Main street. Here the fire exhausted itself, but the heat was so intense that it destroyed one-half of the elm tree, damaged its foliage, burnt up its boughs and blackened one-half of its entire trunk. But it survived the shock, and as the buildings arose on the blackened ruins, so it put forth its green boughs and bright leaves, and the second spring from the conflagration saw it as luxuriant and beautiful as ever. Like the town it was progressive, and always a sign of hope to the dispirited and a triumph to the successful. But many of the eyes that saw the old tree planted, are now closed in death, and the tree itself having seen the city at its feet grow up strong and healthy, and likely to outrival any of its neighbors, could not close its existence at a better time.
In the year 1868 a large fissure was discovered on the east side of the trunk about ten feet from the ground. During the month of August a strong east wind increased the fissure so that every time the tree swayed it suggested uncomfortable reflections that it would fall, and the Street Commissioner, Mr. Boardman, after consultation with the proper authorities, decided it should be razed. Consequently the axe was applied to the roots by the commissioner in person. And after two and a half hours' hard work, ex-constable Pratt put on the finshing stroke, and as the gongs rang out the hour of noon, the old tree fell as the sun dies in the west.1
1 Obit, in Republican.
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MERIDEN NEWSPAPERS.
The first paper printed in Meriden was issued in September, 1844. It was edited by Mr. O. G. Wilson, and published by Wilson and Van Duzer, at "$1 50 per annum, in advance." It was called the Northern Literary Messenger, and was published in quarto form, five wide columns to a page, and was afterward enlarged to folio size. It was mainly devoted to miscellaneous reading, with but very little of a local nature. The paper was originally published at New Haven, but afterwards removed to this place. The office was in a building occupied by the Odd Fellows up town, which then stood on the site where Rebstock's saloon now stands. The building was burned down. Messrs. Wilson and Van Duzer published the Messenger about three years, when Van Duzer retired from the firm, and a new series of the paper was commenced in quarto form, devoted to literature and the arts, edited by an association of gentlemen, and published by Wilson and Bailey in the old Academy building up town, at $1 25 per annum. The office was composed of a lot of old material, and the paper lived about a year, when its funeral obsequies were performed. Mr. Wilson removed to Saybrook and there died.
In 1852 Mr. F. E. Hinman, who, five years previous had set up a job office, issued the prospectus of a proposed newspaper, of which the Hon. O. H. Platt was to be editor. It was called the Connecticut Organ, "A Family Journal and Business Newspaper, Devoted to the Interests of its Patrons." Mr. Hinman, after issuing the paper about a year, disposed of his right and title to Mr. James N. Phelps, of New Haven, when to its name was added that of New Britain Journal, and it became
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"A Family Paper, devoted to Temperance, Literature, Science, Mechanic Arts, Morals, Education, Agriculture, General Intelligence, Latest News, and containing a compound of all the intelligence proper to be inserted in a Family Journal." Its pages contained very few advertisements, and the amount of original matter required to be set each week, soon ate the concern out of house and home.
Mr. Phelps sold out to Mr. James Lewis, who published the Whig, which was the largest paper ever published in Meriden. The Whig ran for about three years. With Mr. Lewis were associated as editors Hon. O. H. Platt and George W. Rogers. In July, 1850, the Meriden Transcript was established by Lysander R. Webb and Co., and was continued until August, 1856. The Transcript was considered one of the best and most ably conducted papers in the State. It was published at one dollar and a half per year. Mr. Webb at last concluded to go west, and Mr. Platt, having in a measure tired of editorial duties, and desiring to devote his time and energies exclusively to the practice of his profession, the publication of the Transcript was relinquished.
In November, 1856, Robert Winton, a Canadian, who had formerly been connected with a newspaper, as editor, in North Adams; Mass., came to Meriden and being encouraged thereto, and pecuniarily aided by a few of our leading manufacturing firms, took possession of the printing establishment and issued the first number of the Meriden Chronicle. Mr. Winton published the Chronicle about two years and a half, when it was suspended.
About a year after this, a gentleman by the name of
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Stillman, from Midletown, established the Banner. He bought out Robert Winton for 1800 dollars, giving him his note. The Banner waved but a short time, and then died. The paper was published in the interest of the Democratic party. Mr. Stillman enlisted in the service of his country.
On the 29th of August, 1863, the Meriden Recorder, "A Paper for the Million, Independent in Everything, Neutral in Nothing; Devoted to Matters and Things in General, to the Pure, the Good, the True and the Beautiful, in Particular," was published by Messrs. Riggs "and Dorman "at their office in Smith's New Building, West Meriden, Conn." These gentlemen had purchased the material of Mr. Storer's office in New Haven. Mr. Riggs had served in the war, and commenced with a good list of soldier subscriptions. He also established a job printing office. The paper was enlarged with its twenty-seventh number, and has made several additions to its size since. Mr. Dorman's connection with the paper ceased with the close of the first volume.
On the 21st of March, 1867, the Meriden Weekly Visitor was started under the editorship of Mr. Marson Monroe Eaton, formerly of the Waterbury Chronicle and of the Hartford Post. On the first of January, its editor commenced the Daily Visitor, which, in a place no larger than Meriden, was a bold speculation. On the 9th of March, 1868, the Visitor was merged into the Daily and Weekly Republican; and edited by Messrs. Marcus Delavan and George Gibbons. The name of the Weekly was afterwards changed to the State Temperance Journal. In 1869 Mr. Luther G. Riggs commenced the publication of the Daily News, being a daily edition of the Meriden Recorder.