Plainfield Connecticut History 1750-1799
The Separate movement in Plainfield drew away from the standing church
a number of followers, but the breach was not as wide, nor the opposition
between the two religious factions as bitter as it was in some towns. The
Separatists, who had built a church and were supporting the Gospel
themselves, in their own way, objected strongly to paying additional taxes
for the support of the standing minister, as the law required them to do.
At a town meeting, April 7th, 1760, it was voted to have two distinct
societies. A committee was appointed to present the case to the assembly
and ask the approval of that body. The assembly granted the request,
dividing the town into two societies, not by geographical lines but by
ecclesiastical preferences of the people, both societies occupying the
same territory, the First to have two-thirds and the Second one-third of
the ministerial rate of the town. The adjustment of ecclesiastical matters
by the town seemed to occupy so much attention about this period that but
little consideration was given to schools, roads and other public
improvements.
In 1756 certain French prisoners of war were billeted upon the town. These
were some of the neutral French inhabitants of Acadia, who had been torn
from their homes and native country after the conquest of Nova Scotia by
the English, and were now distributed among the towns of New England.
Forty-three of these unhappy Acadians were assigned to Windham county by
act of assembly, but Plainfield appears to have been the only town that
officially and publicly made provision for them. By such records loads of
wood were allowed to Frenchmen; money was paid for going to Norwich for
Frenchmen's beef, for doctoring the " Neutral French," and for keeping
Pierre Meron's co-,v. Thus we see that whatever their sufferings
elsewhere, in Plainfield they were not uncared for.
At the town meeting in 1765, Elisha Paine was moderator. The following
officers were elected: Isaac Coit, James Bradford, James Howe, Joseph
Eaton, Elisha Paine, selectmen; Major Ezekiel Pierce, town clerk; John
Pierce, Elisha Paine, Lieutenant John Douglas, Doctor Robinson, Azariah
Spalding, Jedidiah Spalding, Ebenezer Kingsbury, Stephen Warren, William
Cady, Timothy Parkhurst, highway surveyors; Reuben Shepard, David Shepard,
D. Perkins, Nathaniel Deane, Simeon Burgess, listers; Captains Eaton and
Coit, fence viewers; William Park and Azariah Spalding, leather sealers:
William Robinson and Joshua Dunlap, grand jurors; Samuel Hall, Joseph
Spalding, Philip Spalding and Simon Shepard, tithing men; Hezekiah
Spalding, sealer of weights and measures; Captain Cady, toiler and brander
of horses. The engrossing subject of this time was the adjusting of
ecclesiastical affairs. The majority of the town adhered to the Separate
church, while by law the two-thirds of ministerial rates belonged to the
First church. The remnant of the latter had not sufficient vitality to
supply their church with a minister. The Separate church was a respectable
and orderly body, differing little from the orthodox churches of the time
except in opposing the support of the ministry by taxation. An effort was
made in 1766 to unite the two societies. The town voted that the old town
meeting house should-be used, that being larger and more convenient for
the people to reach, and that Mr. Miller, the Separatist minister, should
preach in it. This arrangement was unsatisfactory to a few who clung to
the First church and distinctively opposed the Separatists, thus shutting
themselves out from the house of worship. But a conciliatory settlement of
difficulties was effected in 1769, by which the town was again united in
its worship in the old church, -certain orthodox forms being observed,
while the ministerial tax levy, which was so objectionable to the
Separatists, was forever abolished and church expenses met by voluntary
contributions.
In 1763 a project was set on foot for the improvement of the Quinebaug
river from Danielson's Falls to Norwich, by digging it out. It was
estimated that such improvement could be made for four hundred pounds, and
the assembly was petitioned for authority to operate a lottery in behalf
of the scheme, but the request was not granted, and so the improvement
scheme was abandoned. In the summer of 1768 a weekly stage-coach was run
over the road from Providence to Norwich through this town. A spacious
tavern house for the accommodation of travelers over this road was built
and opened in Plainfield village, by Captain Eaton, which became a very
noted and popular resort. Taverns were also kept in other parts of the
town by Thomas Stevens, Israel Underwood and others.
The old Eaton house or tavern has historic honors connected with it. At
different times it had Washington and Lafayette for its guests. It stands
on the thoroughfare mentioned and is now kept by David K. Douglas. On the
front stoop stands an antique chair, in which,_ tradition says, Lafayette
sat and wrote a letter. The editor of this History takes the liberty here
to quote from his own note book the following paragraph, verbatim et
literatim.
" On the front stoop of the old Douglass or Eaton house stands the
historic chair. I am writing these notes on the same arm on which it is
said Lafayette wrote a letter. It is an antiquated chair, the back and
side arms of which are formed of swelled rounds. On the right arm is an
oval board about 1 ft. wide and 2 ft. long, forming a very convenient
writing desk. The old house and all its surroundings are wonderfully
suggestive of the customs of a generation long since passed away. Massive
elms of a century's growth shade the airy lawn and green and street. The
swinging tavern sign of a former period still hangs out upon the highway."
In 1771 the town voted to provide a house for the poor and a proper
overseer. The few Indians at that time left in the town were properly
cared for by the town authorities or benevolent individuals. The provision
made by Mr. Joshua Whitney for his negro servants at his decease in 1761
shows the conscientious regard with which some good men of that day
fulfilled the responsibility of ownership. Not only did he make Sandy,
Caesar and Judith, with their children, absolutely free, but bequeathed to
each household six acres of land, stock and farming tools; gave to one his
" oldest little Bible," and to another several good books; enjoined Sandy
to take care of Bess, his wife, and give her a decent burial; and directed
Cæsar and Judith to see that their children were in no ways left to
perish."
The great exodus to the new countries took from Plainfield some valued
citizens. A number of respectable families joined the first emigrants to
Oblong and Nine Partners. Major Ezekiel Pierce and Captain Simon Spalding
were prominent among the bold men who took possession of Wyoming. Elisha
Paine, so active in professional and public affairs, removed in 1767 to
Lebanon, New Hampshire. The township of Sharon, Vermont, was purchased and
settled by a Plainfield colony. Isaac Marsh, Willard Shepard and others
went on in advance, selected land, built huts, sowed grass and prepared
for the main body of immigrants. William, son of Captain John Douglas,
though but a lad of sixteen, served valiantly in the French war, and after
the return of peace took command of a merchant ship sailing between New
Haven and the West Indies, making his residence in Northford. These losses
were in some degree made up by occasional new settlers. Timothy Lester, of
Shepard hill, and Isaac Knight, of Black hill, were among its
acquisitions. John Aplin, an Englishman, who had gained a handsome estate
by the practice of law in Providence, removed hither about 1766. John
Pierce succeeded to the position of town clerk for a few years, and was
succeeded by William Robinson in 1772.
During the trying revolutionary period, Plainfield maintained its
character for patriotism and constancy. In the summer of 1774 the town, by
its vote, expressed its willingness to contribute to the help of Boston,
then suffering in the common cause. A committee was appointed to receive
subscriptions for that purpose, which committee consisted of Captain
Joseph Eaton, James Bradford, Robert Kinsman, Andrew Backus, Abraham
Shepard, Ebenezer Robinson, Joshua Dunlap, Perry Clark and Curtis
Spalding. A committee of correspondence was also appointed, which was
composed of James Bradford, Isaac Coit, Major John Douglas, Doctor Elisha
Perkins and William Robinson. In 177 Plainfield approved of the methods
proposed by congress for resisting the oppressive acts of parliament, and
pledged a strict adherence to them. The town also voted, with but one
dissenting voice, " That we will not in future purchase for ourselves or
families any East India tea until the port of Boston is opened, and until
the unreasonable Acts of the British Parliament are repealed." In 1777
Plainfield encouraged enlistments by voting that the families of those who
should enlist for three years or during the war should be supplied with
the common necessaries of life at the price stated by the general
assembly, and also offered a bounty of $30 above that offered by the
state. During that year Captain Daniel Clark, of Plainfield, was killed in
battle at Saratoga, September 19th, and the town also lost its minister,
Reverend John Fuller, who died in the service as a chaplain in the army.
The women of this town were not to be left in the, shade of others in
their acts of devotion to the common cause. They engaged in making
thousands of cartridges with which to replenish the military stores at
their depot. The following list of men who were killed or died in the
service, from Plainfield, has been preserved:
Samuel Gary, Roxbury; Roswell Spaulding, Asa Chapman, 1775; William
Dunlap, 1776; John Kingsbury, New York-ward, 1777; Samuel Cole, Zerniah
Shurtleff, New York-ward, 1776; four negroes by sickness; William Farnham,
captivity; Captain Daniel Clark, Paul Adams, killed at Stillwater, Sept.
19, 1777; Asa Kingsbury's son, killed at Fort Mifflin, nigh Philadelphia:
Dr. Nathaniel Spalding, died at Halifax a prisoner, last of 1777; Dr.
Phinehas Parkhurst, surgeon of brig Resistance, died at Portland, May,
1775; Daniel Parish died at Newport a prisoner; Samuel Spalding at
Martinique after being wounded: Enos Tew, New York, captivity; Dr.
Ebenezer Robinson, Jr., at New York, prisoner, July, 1779."
After the revolution Plainfield resumed, with other towns, the business of
a community and time of peace. Agriculture and other industrial arts were
promoted and a degree of prosperity was soon acquired. The selectmen in
1801 were directed to provide a suitable and convenient house for the
reception of the poor. What provision was made we are not informed, but
later on, in 1832, the house formerly belonging to Amos Witter was
established for a work-house and house of correction. Military matters
excited some attention. In 1799 the town voted to exempt from certain
taxation all non-commissioned officers, musicians and privates who should
equip themselves as to arms, clothing and accoutrements, and do military
duty. Abel Andrus was at this time lieutenant colonel of the Twenty-first
Regiment; Shubael Hutchins, first major; Reverend Joel Benedict, chaplain;
Sessions Lester, quartermaster: George Middleton, paymaster; Doctor
Johnson, of Westminster, surgeon; Daniel Gordon, surgeon's mate; Frederick
Andrus, Aaron Crary, Samuel Douglas and Asa Burgess, captains of companies
in the light infantry; Thomas and Daniel Wheeler and John Gordon,
lieutenants and ensigns; Doctor Josiah Fuller, surgeon's mate of the
cavalry regiment.
The easy communication with Providence and Norwich, the stages now running
daily to and from, stimulated traffic and agricultural enterprise.
Captains Lester, Dunlap and others gave much attention to wool growing and
stock raising. Luther Smith, John and William Douglas and William Olmstead
engaged in trade. George Middleton opened a harness shop, making a
specialty of manufacturing pocket-books and portmanteaus of leather.
Doctor Daniel Gordon kept an apothecary's shop. Potash works, tanning and
hat manufacturing were carried on in the valleys east and south of the
village. A post office, the third office established in Windham county,
was opened here in 1797 by Captain Ebenezer Eaton, whose popular stage
tavern maintained its former reputation. Nathan Angell, of Providence,
purchased of Doctor Welles, in 1777, a fine farm on the Moosup, with large
mansion house, store house, cheese house, milk house, young orchard, and
various conveniences. Much other land was purchased by Mr. Angell, who ran
saw and grist mills and carried on extensive farming operations as well.
At a later period the town favored manufacturing industries by repealing
its former regulations for the protection of fishing interests in the
Quinebaug, thus allowing the water privileges to be utilized. It also took
into consideration the canal proposed from tide water to Worcester, and
gave expressions of confidence in its tendency to benefit the
agricultural, commercial and manufacturing interests of the town, and
requested its representatives to further the same.
Back to: Plainfield, Windham
County, Connecticut History Source: History of Windham County, Connecticut,
Bayles, Richard M.; New York: W.W. Preston, 1889 Back to: Windham County, Connecticut
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