Wolcott History

Back in 1956-1957 I was a 3rd grader in Alcott Elementary School. Two of the subjects that year were history and writing (in cursive). We had studies in each of these during the week, had a test where we had to recount the history that we had learned and write an essay in cursive about it. Normally, one wouldn’t keep this kind of material, but I liked history even back then, so I filed all my graded essays in a folder, diligently numbering them in order. When we sold the house that I’ve lived in for 50 years, one of the boxes I saved was a bunch of [historical] material from my childhood, including these papers from nearly 70 years ago.

While my cursive writing skills have declined over the years, I still have that interest in history. So, rather than take pictures of them, which most people these days can’t read anyway, I thought I’d type up the contents so people can see what we were taught back then. [Note that I’ve made a few corrections of the grammar and spelling from the original. Also, as I have since learned, there are errors of fact in some of these.]

 

Indians in Farmingbury

The Indians came through Farmingbury on their way to New Haven. They used to camp overnight in some caves. Many of the roads that we have today are Indian trails of long ago.

Some of the roads were named after the Indians. One road is the Potuccos Ring Road. The story about this road is that an Indian caught a deer. He wanted to make sure that the deer could not escape. He made a ring of fire around the woods where the deer was caught. The Indian could not get out of this ring of fire, so he was burned to death.

 

John Alcock in the Wilderness

John Alcock came in 1731. He came from New Haven. His wife came with him. They settled near water in what is now known as Spindle Hill. John Alcock built a log cabin. He also chopped down some of the forest. John Alcock protected himself with a musket. When John Alcock came from New Haven he rode on horseback.

He bought a thousand acres of land and gave a hundred acres to each of his sons and daughters.

 

Finding the Sun

Long long ago in a wilderness near Waterbury no one lived until a man came from New Haven. This man was John Alcock. When the news of a new settlement spread to New Haven, other people came but they settled in the valley. Many people became sick of a disease called malaria. One day someone went out of the valley up into the hills. The air was clear in the hills. So the people moved up into the hills. When they settled, they wanted a village. The village was named Farmingbury because Farmington and Waterbury were on each side of the village.

 

The Village of Farmingbury

Some of the people got together and sent a petition to the General Assembly in Hartford. This was a petition for a new village. The General Assembly refused to grant permission for a new village. After sending three petitions the people were able to have their village. The people decided to call the village Farmingbury. Farmington which was on one side and Waterbury which was on the other side. When this new village was founded, the people were allowed to have a preacher and a school for five months a year.

 

Church in Farmingbury

On November 22, 1771, Mr. Josph Atkins of Farmingbury bought the people together for a meeting. They voted to build a meeting house. They decided to have the meeting house face south. It was to be fifty-eight feet long and forty-two feet wide.

Mr. Joseph Atkins gave two acres of land. The meeting house was built on his land. Mr. Abraham Wooster was the master carpenter of the building. His pay was 480 pounds.

Before the meeting house was built the people met in Mr. Atkin’s home for church. The church was very important in those days. Most of the laws were made by members of the church society.

After the meeting house was finished the people needed a minister. A Mr. Jackson was asked to be minister for four years at a salary of one hundred pounds. Mr. Jackson refused. Several ministers were asked. Mr. Alexander Gillett was chosen. His salary was to be three hundred seventy-five pounds.

 

The First Business in Farmingbury

The first business in Farmingbury was mills. The first mill was built up near the Center. This mill was a saw mill. They used the saw mill to saw wood for log cabins. There were other mills too, a clothing mill, grist mill, a carding mill, and a paper mill.

 

How Woodtick Was Named

One day a man was chopping down trees in Farmingbury. His name was Judah Frisbee. He took off his coat and put it on the stump of a fallen tree. When he went to put his coat on it was full of small bugs called woodticks. He named the section Woodtick.

 

How Spindle Hill was named

A long time ago in Farmingbury there was a mill on a hill. The mill was a spindle mill. Spindles were made because women had to make their own cloth. The spindles were used to wind the wool around. This is how Spindle Hill was named.

 

Voting for a Town

Many people came to live in Farmingbury. The people wanted their village to become a town. They asked the General Assembly. The men in the assembly voted. It was a tie vote. Lieutenant Governor Oliver Wolcott broke the tie vote by voting “Yes”. The people of Farmingbury named their town after Lieutenant Governor Oliver Wolcott. This happened in 1796.

 

Farming in Wolcott

One of the businesses in Wolcott was farming. The farmers made good living in farming even though it was hard to turn woodland into farmland. The farmers had to chop trees, take out stumps and stones. Then the land had to be plowed. But once this was done the land was good farming land.

The crops were planted and harvested. When they were sold then the farmer would get something for all of his work.

 

Schools in Wolcott

Before Wolcott became a town there were schools in Farmingbury. There was a school in the South District before the Revolutionary War, but just where and when it was built we do not know. Another school was built on th north side of Meridan Road and was used until 1855. A larger school was built and used until 1923. Then the school which is now Woodtick school.

 

School in Wolcott

Long ago the schools were not like the schools are today. There were no desks. The children had to sit on benches and work on a shelf that was built all around the side of the room. The little children became tired at times. The school master would let them turn around and rest their backs.

The teacher got very little pay. He took turns living at each child’s home.

There were six schools in Wolcott: Woodtick, South, Center, Spindle Hill, North and Northeast.

 

French Soldiers in Wolcott

The French soldiers marched up Southington Mountain. They became very thirsty. A man showed them where to get a drink of spring water. Soon it grew dark and the soldiers needed a place to spend the night. Mrs. Upson let some of them sleep in her house. Most of the soldiers had to sleep on the floor. In the morning Mrs. Upson gave them some breakfast. Then the soldiers marched on to fight the English.

 

The Wolcott Fair

The first Wolcott Fair was held in 1882. It was held on the Wolcott Green. The people had this fair to show what they grew and raised on their farms.

In 1884 the fair was held on Frank Munson’s farm. After two years it was held where Frisbie School is now. This land is known as The Old Fair Grounds. It covered thirty acres and cost $1,842.00. There have been no more fairs since the early 1940s.

The first president of the Wolcott Fair Association was Mr. Harmon Payne and the first secretary was Mr. John Todd.

 

History of the Mattatuck Fife and Drum Corps

This band was started in 1767. It was called the Colonial Regiment Band. The commander was Capt. Aaron Harrison. The name of the band was changed to the Farmingbury Band. Twenty-one years later the name was changed again. This time it was called The Wolcott Band. Today the band is known as the Mattatuck Fife and Drum Corps. Many Wolcott men have played in the band. The band has played at many important happenings.

 

How Wolcott Helped the United States Grow

A few years after Wolcott was changed from a village some of the people began to leave. They heard of Mr. Sutter’s discovery of gold in California.

These people took all of their things and went West. When they got out west many couldn’t find gold. Many would have been glad to come back to Wolcott but they did not have enough money. These people had to stay in the west. This helped our country to expand.

 

Thomas Judd

Thomas Judd came from the center of Waterbury in 1690 to what is now the South District of Wolcott. He stayed here for several years. His daughter Rachel came with her husband, Thomas Upson to live near her father.

Thomas Judd went back to Waterbury but his daughter and her husband stayed on. Some of the Upson’s descendants still live in the South District today.

 

Seth Thomas

Seth Thomas came to Wolcott to build a shop for his business of clock making. But the people were afraid to let Seth Thomas build this shop because he needed a railroad. The people thought that a train coming through would set the woods on fire. So Seth Thomas went to what is now Thomaston where he built a large clock shop. Wolcott might have been an important town if Seth Thomas had built his shop here.

 

Addin Lewis

Addin Lewis for whom Addin Lewis School was named was born in Wolcott on November 18, 1776. He was a merchant in Mobile, Alabama, and also mayor of that city.

He became quite wealthy and returned to New Haven where he died.

He left $8,500 to the town of Wolcott the interest to be used for the support of public schools. He left nearly $15,000 for an academy in Southington.

 

Amos Bronson Alcott

Amos Bronson Alcott was born on Spindle Hill on November 29, 1776. Amos’ father was a farmer and a merchant. He was a very kind man. Amos’ mother was a daughter of a captain. She was polite and meek.

Amos liked to read. He went to the Spindle Hill School until he was thirteen years old. He used to write on his mother’s kitchen floor. When he was fourteen he got his first job in a writing school. He also helped his father make clocks. These clocks he sold in Plymouth. Later he became a Yankee Peddler.

Amos liked to teach. He was a kind teacher. He tried to make the children happy in school.

When Amos was a Yankee Peddler he travelled in Connecticut and Massachusetts and later in the South. He used to visit on the plantations and read many of the books he found in these houses.

 

Ebenezer Wakelee

Ebenezer Wakelee was the second man to come to Wolcott. He came because his father had been given a grant of land by the king of England. The grant said that Ebenezer’s father owned some land in what is now Wolcott. Ebenezer’s father wanted Ebenezer to settle on this land.

Ebenezer married Miss Elizabeth Nichols and came to live on the Great Plains. He bought some cattle and put a rail fence around his land to keep his cattle from wandering away.