Sterling Connecticut Civil Government History
Sterling entered upon its new duties with the usual spirit and energy.
Its population was about nine hundred. Though much of its soil was poor,
and its shape inconvenient, it had some peculiar advantages. It had fine
water privileges, an excellent stone quarry, a great post road running
through its center, and sterling men of good Scotch stock to administer
public affairs.
The lack of a suitable place for holding town meetings was an annoyance
and mortification to the leading men of the town, publishing to the world
their lamentable destitution of that most essential accommodation-a public
meeting, house. Congregationalists in the south part of the town were
included in the North society of Voluntown, and now engaged in building a
new meeting house upon the boundary line between the townships; those in
the North or Bethesda society united with the South church of Killingly.
The Baptists in the west part of the town were connected with the church
in Plainfield; the east side Baptists joined in worship and church
fellowship with their Rhode Island neighbors. As no religious society was
ready to lead, its public-spirited citizens hastened to supply the
deficiency by erecting a house of worship upon their own expense and
responsibility. Sterling hill, as it is now called, was virtually the head
and heart of the town, the center of business, the residence of the most
influential citizens, and the members of the Sterling Hill Meeting House
Association could not think of erecting the projected edifice in any other
locality.
The subscribers to the building of the Sterling hill meeting house were as
follows: Francis Smith, Levi Kinney, David Gallup, Joshua Frink, Isaac
Gallup, William Gallup, George Madison, Charles Winsor, Nathan Burlingame,
Philip Potter, Archibald, Lemuel, James and John Dorrance, Stephen Olney,
Pierce Smith, Robert and Thomas Dixon, Joshua Webb, Benjamin Tuckerman,
Reuben Thayer, David Field, Caleb Cushing, Andrew Knox, Titus Bailey,
Joseph Wylie, Reuben Parke, Moses Gibson, Azael Montgomery, Dixon Hall,
Archibald Gordon, Thomas Gordon, William Vaughan, Captain Gaston, Andrew
and Samuel Douglas, Thomas and Samuel Cole, John Kenyon, Sr. and Jr.,
George Hopkins, Asa Whitford, Benjamin Bennet.
The subscribers, through a committee, obtained a deed from the heirs of
Samuel Dorrance for a building lot on the east side of the Great Lane, now
called the Green, 11 for the purpose of setting a meeting house and that
only, and the convenience of a green." The meeting house was soon
completed and in the autumn of 1797 the town meeting occupied it instead
of the house of Robert Dixon, which had previously been used for that
purpose. Other public meetings were held in it, and occasional religious
services, but no regular worship was maintained for several years. In this
way matters stood till about the year 1812, when the Baptists, having
grown stronger, were able to maintain stated worship, and. its occupancy
was given up to them.
About 1818 a post office was established here, with Benjamin Tuckerman
postmaster, which position he held for many years. The public library,
which had been promised for the honor of naming the town but failed in its
fulfilment, had been established years before, and was maintained at that
time. Pierce Smith succeeded Asa Montgomery as town clerk. John Wylie,
Thomas Backus, Dyer Ames, Richard Burlingame, Dixon Hall. Jeremiah Young,
John Gallup and Calvin Hibbard served as justices. Other town offices were
filled by Lemuel Dorrance, Obadiah Brown, Asa Whitford, Jonah Young,
Archibald Dorrance, John Hill, John and Azel Cole, Elias Frink, Amos
Perkins, Joseph Gallup, John Keigwin and Artemas Baker. Half of the town
meetings were held in the house of Azel Cole, and at a later date at the
house of William Fairman, "on the new road near the American Cotton
Factory."
From its location and surroundings the territory of Sterling is not
subject to such violent disturbances by flood of swelling streams as some
of its neighbor towns. Being smaller in territory, and its shape rather
favorable thereto, it has been spared the burdens of road making and
bridge building, which have been to some towns a serious drawback in their
early experience.
After organization as a town, one of their first duties was to examine the
circumstances of that stage road " that leads from Plainfield to
Providence by Captain Robert Dixon's." The Turnpike Society, then recently
constituted, was about to lay out a large sum of money in alterations and
improvements, and the selectmen of Sterling were cited to do their part. "
Taking into consideration the circumstances and liabilities of the town,
and the consequences that might follow any failure or neglect," they
proceeded to notify the inhabitants and make the proposed alterations,
viz., from Archibald Dorrance's fence through Kenyon's field and so on to
old post road; also, another piece near the burying-ground and Captain
Colgrove's. A bridge was built over Moosup river near Smith's Mill-Lemuel
Dorrance, John Gaston and John Douglas, committee. A turnpike gate was
erected near the western line of the town. To facilitate its fishing
interest, it was ordered that obstructions should be removed from the
river.
Back to: Sterling, 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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