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THE .EARLY SCHOOLS OF 
 NAUGATUCK , 
 
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 A Brief History of Our Schools, Teachers, Text 
 Books, Etc., from 1730 to 1850 
 
 •N/WS^/S/S/S/S/S/V**^ 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 Compiled by 
 
 LLIAM^WA 
 
 Naugatuck, Conn. 
 
 WILLIAM X WARD 
 
COPYRIGHTED 
 
 1906 
 
 BY THK PERRY PRESS 
 
 The Perry Press, Naugatuck, Conn. 
 
Introductory Note. 
 
 The writer believes that the history of the ancient 
 schools of Naugatuck helps to make up a part of the 
 history of the town, and that a description of the old 
 schools and schoolhouses of the olden time, together 
 with a brief description of the old books used in those 
 days would be interesting, especially to those who, in 
 recalling the scenes of their childhood days, become, as 
 it were, young again. The dates of teaching mentioned 
 are given to the best of my ability and, with very few 
 exceptions, will be found correct. 
 
 After my own collection of school books was ex- 
 hausted, I have been greatly aided by the list of books 
 and contents, as compiled by Clifton Johnson. I also 
 am much indebted to the following persons for informa- 
 tion concerning the old schools, etc.: The late Mrs. 
 James S. Lewis, Mrs. Hart C. Hubbell. Mr. John M. 
 Sweeney, the late Mr. Homer Twitchell, Mrs. Asahel 
 H. Lewis, Mr. Samuel Piatt. Mr. Miner S. Baldwin. Mrs. 
 Maria Hitchcock, Mrs. Frances A. Piatt, Mr. Newell A. 
 Smith, Mr. Thomas Scott, the late Mrs. Fannie M. 
 Saunders, Mr. Lucius M. Baldwin, Mrs. Fannie B. Yale, 
 Miss Eliza Spencer, Miss Harriet Spencer, the late Miss 
 Esther Spencer, Mr. Robert W. Hill, Mr. James E. 
 
 Sweeney, and others. 
 
 William Ward. 
 
 Naugatuck, Conn. 
 
Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A Brief Mention of the Laws Relating to the Public Schools 7 
 
 Something about the Early Schools of Naugatuck . . . . 9 
 
 Judd's Meadow School District .. .. n 
 
 Center School District 
 
 Middle School District 17 
 
 22 
 Lewistown School District 
 
 The District Later Called Pond Hill District 29 
 
 Pond Hill District 32 
 
 Partridgetown School District 40 
 
 42 
 Southwest School District 
 
 Millville School District 
 
 54 
 City School District 
 
 CO 
 
 Straitsville School District 
 
 fiO 
 
 The Old Schoolhouses 
 
 fi2 
 School Books 
 
 76 
 Union Center School District 
 
 81 
 Private or Select Schools 
 
 83 
 Tabitha Castle and her School . . 
 
 97 
 The Country School 
 
List of Illustrations. 
 
 First High School in Union Center School District Frontispiece 
 
 Center District Schoolhouse opp 14 
 
 Middle District Schoolhouse ,, 19 
 
 Lewistown District Schoolhouse .. .. .. .. ,, 27 
 
 Pond Hill District Schoolhouse ,, 32 
 
 Straitsville District Schoolhouse ,, 58 
 
A Brief Mention of the Laws Re 
 lating to the Public Schools 
 
 Also Something About the Early Schools of Naug- 
 atuck, from 1730 to 1850 
 
 It is not the intention of the writer to give the laws 
 relating to the public schools, but to mention in a gen- 
 eral way the action of the Colony. State, Towns and So- 
 cieties concerning the public schools. If any desire 
 further information I would refer them to the Annual 
 Report of the Board of Education for the year 1876. 
 
 At a Town meeting held in New Haven Feb. 25, 
 1642, a vote was passed as follows: 
 
 "Itt is ordered that a free school shall be sett up 
 "in this town, and ourpastar, Mr. Davenport, togeth- 
 er with the magistrates shall consider what yearly 
 "allowance is meet to be given to itt out of the com- 
 "mon stock of the town, and also whatt rules and or- 
 " ders ar meet to be observed in and about the same." 
 
 Other laws were passed in 1645, and 1650, relating 
 to the schools. To show how largely the religious idea 
 
8 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 entered into the management of the public schools at 
 that time, I copy in part from the code of laws passed 
 by the New Haven Colony in 1655: 
 
 "Children and Approntices as they capable, may 
 " through Gods blessing- attain at least so much as to 
 "be able duly to read the Scriptures, and other good 
 "and profitable printed books in the English tongue, 
 "being their language, and in some compatent meas- 
 ure to understand the main grounds and principles 
 " of Christian Religion necssary to salvation." 
 
 Laws were passed in the years 1672, 1677 and in 
 1690; also in 1700,1712, 1717, 1766 and 1797, etc. I find 
 a summary of the laws relating to schools in the Con- 
 necticut Report of the Schools, 1876. It is well con- 
 densed and I copy as follows; 
 
 "Towns alone established, provided for, and reg- 
 "ulated schools till 1712; parishes or societies then 
 . "regulated, but only as sub-division, or virtually school 
 "districts in the towns; in 1750, Towns and societies 
 " were made practically equal in conducting school af- 
 " fairs; in 1798 the school societies superseded towns 
 " and took charge of schools in their stead; and in 1856 
 " the societies were abolished and the towns restored 
 " to their original place in the school system. School 
 "districts practically existed in the larger towns as 
 "early as 1725, but were not recognized by law till 
 "1766; they had no semblance of corporate existence 
 "till 1794, and were not fully endowed as bodies cor- 
 porate till 1839." 
 
EARLY SCHOOLS OF 
 • NAUGATUCK 
 
 It is apparent the town of Waterbury had the power 
 to establish a school district in the southern part of the 
 town in the year of 1730. This district would be under 
 the control of the town until the organization of the 
 Salem Society, which occurred in May, 1773. After- 
 wards Salem Society managed the schools in its limits. 
 
 After 1773 the schools were controlled for years by 
 the society. The society established a number of school 
 districts and had full control of the same until about 
 1794. Salem Society in 1773 chose Mr. Isaac Judd, Mr. 
 Israel Terrel and Mr. Asahel Porter as School Commit- 
 tee. For collector, Mr. Thomas Porter, Jr. 
 
 Voted in Feb., 1774, that the east side of the river 
 be one district, and the west side another district. But 
 this was not done, as the same year they divided the 
 territory on the east side and formed a new district. 
 New districts were laid out in 1774, 1777, 1778 and in 
 1779 At a society's meeting held in December, 1780, 
 it was voted that each district should take its own 
 method to control its own schooling. But the society 
 
10 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 for a number of years elected the district committees 
 and collectors. 
 
 In December, 1794, Salem Society chose Jared By 
 ington for treasurer for the school moneys and to collect 
 all public money and to pay it over to each school dis- 
 trict. The last district committee chosen by the socie- 
 ty, that I have any account of, were Uri Scott, Chaun- 
 cey Judd, Roswell Caulkins, Abraham Tinker, Walter 
 Judd, Amos Hotchkiss and Cyrus Norton, apparently 
 for seven districts. I think that Salem Society did not 
 exercise control over the several districts after 1794, al- 
 though they may have chosen a treasurer to receive the 
 public money for several years. 
 
JudcTs Meadow School District 
 
 In the year of 1730. the town of Waterbury passed 
 the following: 
 
 11 December 14, 1730. It was agreed by vote that 
 "at Judd's Meadow acording- to their families they 
 "shall have their school money acording to their 
 "lists." 
 
 In December, 1749, the first society of Waterbury 
 was divided into four school districts, to wit.: Town 
 Plot (Town Center), Buck's Hill, Judd's Meadow, and 
 Breakneck, each, provided 15 scholars were furnished, 
 to have its proportion of schooling and school money. 
 
 It appears that there was the following list of fam- 
 ilies residing at Judd's Meadow on December 14, 1730: 
 
 " Serg. Joseph Lewis, Samuel Scott,Jobn Andruss, 
 "Joseph Lewis, Jr., Edmond Scott, Jr., John Barns. 
 "Samuel Barns, Jobn Johnson, James Brown, Eben- 
 " ezer Hickox, Samuel Warner, Sen., and Samuel War- 
 " ner, Jr. December 12, 1737, It was voted that the 
 " school for the year ensuing- shall be keept six weeks 
 "att Judd's Meadow, that said school shall maintain 
 "seven scholars at school." 
 
 There was a schoolhouse erected in the Judd's 
 Meadow school district, but at what time is unknown. 
 The first mention of it is in a warning for the first meet- 
 ing of the Salem Society, by Samuel Lewis, Esq.. who 
 was authorized by the Assembly to call the first meeting 
 at the schoolhouse on the first Monday of June, 1773. 
 
12 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 This schoolhouse was the only one standing in 1773, so 
 far as those now living can determine. Other school- 
 houses were mentioned after the year 1773, but no one 
 can tell when they were built. The Judd's Meadow 
 school district comprised a great part of the territory 
 now in the limits of Naugatuck. The legal existence of 
 this district was from 1749, (although a school was main- 
 tained in 1730) until the Salem Society commenced to 
 divide this territory into smaller districts, which was 
 during the year 1774. It would seem to us a long jour- 
 ney for the far away scholars to go to the schoolhouse, 
 but such were the hardships that the children of the 
 plucky people that settled our town had to endure. 
 
 This schoolhouse stood at the southeast corner of 
 what is now May and High streets, on the hill east of, 
 and overlooking, the village. This schoolhouse re- 
 mained on the hill and was used for a schoolhouse by 
 the new district, called the Center school district, until 
 the year 1811 or '12. 
 
 I am fortunate in finding among some old papers a 
 memorandum of money paid to teachers who may be 
 supposed to have taught in the old schoolhouse on the 
 hill, before, the Center School District was formed. 
 What surprises me is that they changed teachers so 
 often, paying a new teacher about every month It is 
 said in the history of Waterbury that the teachers went 
 around from one district to another to teach. 
 
 "February the 1 — 1771, paid Ame Constant for 
 "keeping school £0 — 11 — 0. March 14, 1771, paid 
 ' • Olive Upson for keepin school £0 — 13 — 0. April ye 
 "24 — 1771, paid to Temperance Spencer for keeping 
 "school £0 — 13 — 9." 
 
judd's meadow school district. 13 
 
 Then again May 10 — 1771, paid Daniel Warner for 
 keeping school £0 — 15 — 9. Then comes the name of 
 Esther Cook in 1772. eight shillings, and she also re- 
 ceived November 1 — 1771, one pound for the same ser- 
 vice. Samuel Lewis. Esq., and others were the School 
 Committee in the Judd's Meadow School District. 
 
Center School District 
 
 At a meeting of the Ecclesiastical Society of Salem 
 held December 1st. 1777: 
 
 " Sett off a District for schooling on the East side 
 "of the River, beginning- at Nathan Porter's malt 
 ''house," (near what is now the junction of South 
 Main and High streets), "to extend North as far as 
 "the road — and include all the inhabitants from 
 "the River a quarter of a mile East of New Haven 
 " road" (now High street), 'and to extend near Mr. 
 " Jude Hoadley's house." 
 
 This was the beginning of what was later called the 
 Center School District. The boundaries were changed 
 from time to time until they were the same as known 
 about 60 years ago. At one time a portion of the terri- 
 tory on the west side of the river was included in the 
 Center District. At the time it was named the Center 
 District, the business of Salem was nearly all conducted 
 on the east side of the river, hence the name. It ap- 
 pears that Salem Society appointed the district commit- 
 tees after the districts were laid out, for on December 
 2d, 1793, Jared Byington was appointed school commit- 
 tee and collector for the district (later called the Cen- 
 ter District). December 1st, 17J1, the society voted that 
 Jared Byington be the treasurer for the school money, 
 to collect all the public money for schooling, and pay it 
 over to each school district. The first schoolhouse men- 
 tioned in any records as standing in the limits of Nau- 
 gatuck, was the schoolhouse mentioned in the warning 
 

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CENTER SCHOOL DISTRICT. Id 
 
 sent out by Samuel Lewis, Esq., to the householders 
 living within the lines of the society of Salem. I copy 
 in part: 
 
 11 Pereuant to the act passed, incorporating the 
 " Salem Ecclesiastical Society, Samuel Lewis, Esq., 
 "Sent out Citations to Site all Householders living 
 14 within the Limits of the society of Salem, to meet 
 "at the Schoolhouse on the first Monday of June, 1773, 
 " which Sitation was Duly Served and returned, and 
 "the Society met acording to the Warning, upon the 
 "first Monday of June, 1773," etc. 
 
 So it appears that our early settlers were mindful 
 of the importance of educating their children, for they 
 had provided a schoolhouse more than nine years before 
 they erected their place for woi ship When this school- 
 house was built is unknown. It was probably the first 
 schoolhouse built in Judd's Meadow School District. 
 This schoolhouse stood at the southeast corner of what 
 is now called May and Hill streets on the hill east, and 
 overlooking the village. This schoolhouse was proba- 
 bly used for religious purposes until the society built 
 their church, which was in the year of 1782. This 
 schoolhouse remained on the hill until about the year 
 1811 or '12. It was about that time moved down to the 
 east bank of the Naugatuck river, and was used by Mr. 
 Daved Stevens for a wood house. It is with much re- 
 gret that the writer is compelled to say that he is una- 
 ble to give one single name of a teacher who taught the 
 children in this old schoolhouse since 1773. Unfortu- 
 nately all the records relating to the old schoolhouse 
 are lost. The second schoolhouse in the Center District 
 is believed to have been built about 1811 or '12. It is 
 referred to in a deed of land adjoining, dated October 
 
16 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 25th, 1815. It was erected a little northerly of the old 
 cemetery (now Oak street), where it remained until 
 about the year 1849, when it was demolished. From 
 that time until the Center District joined in the consol- 
 idation of the Union Center School District, the Center 
 District school was kept in a building not far away from 
 the former site. In the year 1851 the Center School 
 District was one of the five districts that consolidated 
 under the name of the Union Center School District, 
 For further information about the consolidation, refer- 
 ence is made to the records of the Union Center School 
 District. 
 
 The writer has been able to obtain some of the 
 names of the teachers who cared for the children, and 
 labored faithfully to mould and improve their minds. 
 I cannot give their names in the order and time of their 
 teaching. The following persons taught in the Oak 
 street schoolhouse: Miss Lockey Spencer, (daughter 
 of Calvin Spencer) taught before 1825. Miss Mary 
 Spencer (daughter of Ansel) a teacher, about 1832. Rev. 
 Mr. Butts. Miss Frances Clark, about 1837. Mr. Peck, 
 Miss Radford, from Seymour, who taught about 1842. 
 Miss Nancy Bunnell, from Branford, Conn. ; Miss Eliza 
 Grilley (daughter of Silas); Miss Agusta Hine (daughter 
 of Richard), a teacher about 1845; Mr. A. L. Bennett, 
 Miss Wooster from Middlebury. Miss Caroline Hoadley, 
 and others. 
 
 The Center School District was one of the five dis- 
 tricts that consolidated in the year 1851 under the name 
 of Union Center School District, and still remains in 
 that district. 
 
Middle School District 
 
 The first mention of the Middle District is the fol- 
 lowing, found in the Salem Society records: 
 
 "December, 1778. At a Societies meeting, Made 
 " a new District for schooling, beginning at Mr. 
 "Nathan Porter's malt house" (now the junction of 
 South Main and High streets) "and running to the 
 " Southeast corner of a District that Capt. Hotchkiss 
 " belong to, Wallingford line, thense to extend South 
 " and to include the whole of the Society, round to the 
 " River and up to the first mentioned corner." 
 
 This territory would all be in the limits of Salem 
 Society, but the southerly part of the said district would 
 at that time be in the towns of Milford and Derby. It 
 was voted at the same meeting that Mr. Amos Osborn be 
 chosen district committee. This district must have been 
 divided, for in December, 1794, Mr. Joseph Porter was 
 annexed to the South district. In the absence of the rec- 
 ords on this point, the date and manner of the division 
 of this territory into districts is in doubt. 
 
 A schoolhouse is mentioned in the Waterbury land 
 records as standing near the Straits turnpike. In July, 
 1804, it is described as standing south of turnpike and 
 west of Beacon Hill brook, a little west of Waterbury 
 line. When this schoolhouse was built is unknown to 
 those now living. It may have been one of the old 
 
18 KARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 schoolhouses used in the Judd's Meadow District, or 
 possibly built soon after the district mentioned above 
 was formed, in the year 1778. I have the name of only 
 one person that was a teacher in this old schoolhouse 
 while it stood upon the hill. Mr. Enoch Newton informs 
 me that his father, Mr. John Newton, taught school there 
 before 1810. After 1810, this schoolhouse was moved 
 down the Straits turnpike to the junction of the old 
 County road, then on said County road about 20 rods 
 from the turnpike to a point on the southerly side of the 
 old road and nearly opposite the first house of Abraham 
 Hotchkiss, where it was used for school purposes until 
 about the year 1825, when it was demolished. The 
 name of some of the teachers who, more than three- 
 quarters of a century ago, had the care of the moral and 
 intellectual training of the children at that time in the 
 old schoolhouse standing near the old County road, 
 were: Mr. Mark Hotchkiss (son of Abraham), Mr. John 
 Newton, Miss Lockey Spencer (daughter of Calvin), 
 Miss Rachael Hotchkiss (daughter of Abraham), Mr. 
 Jared Ford (son of Elias) and Miss Amanda Hine (daugh- 
 ter of Asa). It is said that Miss Amanda Hine was the 
 last teacher in this old schoolhouse. 
 
 The next schoolhouse in the Middle District, ac- 
 cording to a statement made by the late Mr. Harlow New 
 ton, and affirmed by Mr. Enoch Newton, now living in 
 1906, was built on the opposite side of the turnpike from 
 the present schoolhouse, and on the land then belong- 
 ing to Mr. John Newton, at southeast corner of the lane 
 leading to the house of said Newton. This schoolhouse 
 was built about 1825 or '6, and was moved a few years 
 
MIDDLE SCHOOL DISTRICT. 19 
 
 later to a point nearly opposite the house now (1906) oc- 
 cupied by Mr. Walter Osborn, where it remained until 
 the year 1852, when it was sold to a Mr. Wooding and 
 removed to Straitsville. and afterwards used for other 
 purposes. 
 
 I have been fortunate in obtaining a number of the 
 names of the teachers who taught in the second school- 
 house in the Middle District. They were Mr. Henry 
 Spencer (son of Ansel). Mr. Wakeley Warner, from Wa- 
 terbury, Miss Eliza Ford (daughter of Elias), who taught 
 in the year 1839; Mr. Harris B. Munson, of Middlebury. 
 teacher in 1844, county judge about 1850; Miss Delia 
 Cowell, from Waterbury, who taught in the winter of 
 1845; Miss Sarah Thomas, in summer of 1845; and Miss 
 Martha M. Beecher, who taught a number of terms. 
 The present schoolhouse was built about 1852. I can 
 only find the records of the Middle District as far back 
 as 1872. The old records were destroyed in part by fire 
 in the destruction of the Mathew Baldwin house, and 
 later when the house of M. S. Baldwin was destroyed. 
 Among the many teachers in the present schoolhouse. 
 Miss Martha M. Beecher appears to have broken the 
 record as far as time is concerned, she having taught 
 about ten terms in the two last schoolhouses. This 
 would seem to prove that she was an excellent teacher. 
 While the existing records do not go back beyond 1872 
 I find some memoranda. It appears that the follow 
 ing persons were engaged in teaching: Miss Kate 
 Woodward, from Bethany, for the term ending December. 
 1867, and March, 1868; Miss Ella Warner, term ending 
 July 24, 1868; Miss Alice J. Tolles, term ending De 
 
20 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 cember, 1868; Miss Eva Benham, terms ending July, 
 1869 and December 24, 1869; Miss Elizabeth L. Bald- 
 win, terms ending March and December, 1870; and Miss 
 Emmie E. Ward, sometime during the year of 1872. 
 
 The roll of honor for the term beginning Septem- 
 ber 16, 1867, Katie E. Woodward teacher: 
 
 No. Name. Age. 
 
 1. Ida M. Baldwin 11 
 
 2. George Frank 10 
 
 3. Clarisse L. Frank 10 
 
 4. Jessie Butterfield 10 
 
 5. Frederick N. Candee 9 
 
 6. Eldridge Candee 7 
 
 7. Elliott Candee 7 
 
 8. Kate Conran 9 
 
 9. Edward Conran 7 
 
 10. Mary Beach 11 
 
 11. Licie Brown Hill 12 
 
 12. John Horan 11 
 
 13. James Horan 6 
 
 14. Charles W. Hoadley 12 
 
 15. Caroline A. Hoadley 5 
 
 16. George H.Lent 10 
 
 17. John Wright 8 
 
 18. Sarah Hine 6 
 
 19. Emma Mary Osborn 9 
 
 20. Edward Wilmot 6 
 
 21. Nelson Baldwin 9 
 
 22. Merilda V. Butterfield 5 
 
 23. Albert A. Warner 13 
 
 24. Arthur L. Peck 10 
 
 25. Jennie S. Morse 5 
 
 26. George Morse 
 
 27. Elmer Butterfield 6 
 
 28. Owen Hasan JO 
 
 29. Mary A. Cronan 11 
 
MIDDLE SCHOOL DISTRICT. 21 
 
 30. Horace E. Baldwin 7 
 
 31. Esther E. Hotchkiss 15 
 
 32. David C. Lent 13 
 
 33. Mary J. Horan 13 
 
 34. Edward A. Hotchkiss 13 
 
 35. Fannie Martin 10 
 
 36. Miller Sanford 8 
 
 37. Robert G. Merrills 13 
 
 38. Lonesia B. Wilmot 5 
 
 21 boys and 17 girls. 
 
 From September 16th to December 6th, 1867. 
 
 Katie E. Woodward, Teacher. 
 
 At a meeting of Salem Society held December 1st. 
 1794, Cyrus Norton was appointed school committee for 
 the Middle District, also collector. It appears that in 
 the year 1845, Dyer Hotchkiss was district committee. 
 Samuel C. Osborn served as school committee for many 
 years. From later records we find that in 1872. Walter 
 Osborn was elected committee. Miner S. Baldwin clerk, 
 and Charles Benham treasurer. The following persons 
 were elected committee in the years set opposite their 
 names: Isaac B. Tolles in 1873 and 1877; George 
 Twitchell in 1874 and '5; Augustus Peck in 1876; M. S. 
 Baldwin in 1878; Joseph Schofield in 1879 and '80; Wal- 
 ter Osborn in 1881; Elton E. Hotchkiss in 1882 and E. 
 A. Hotchkiss in 1883. Miner S. Baldwin served as 
 clerk from 1872 to 1881 inclusive, with one exception. 
 Isaac B. Tolles being elected in August, 1878. E. A. 
 Hotchkiss was elected clerk in August, 1882, and Rufus 
 E. Hine in 1883. M. S. Baldwin was again elected clerk 
 in August, 1884, which office he has held continuously 
 up to the present time, 1906. 
 
Lewistown School District 
 
 The first mention of the Lewistown District is found 
 in the records of Salem Society: 
 
 11 At a Societies meeting held on the first Thurs- 
 day of January, 1779. At the same meeting made a 
 " District for Schooling on the West side of the River, 
 41 Beginning at the great Bridge Running Northerly 
 "Round in the road to Mr. Abraham Adames, from 
 "thense to the Bridge at Toantic Brook, Leaving 
 11 those on the West side of the Road to Chose which 
 "District to belong to, from said Bridge to Mr. Eli 
 11 Adames, including his house; from thense South to 
 11 the Society Line, from thense to the River, and up 
 " the River to the Bridge, the first mentioned corner." 
 
 At a Society's meeting held in February, 1794, it 
 was voted that Mr. Jonah Woodruff and Mr. John Smith 
 be set to the South or Lewis district for schooling. The 
 first schoolhouse was built soon after 1779, possibly be- 
 fore, (as there was one or more schoolhouses in the 
 Judd's Meadow District.) The first schoolhouse in the 
 Lewistown District stood on the southwest side of the 
 old road from Joseph Lewis' home lot, to Daniel Wil- 
 liams' house (now Millville, this road is now Scott 
 street), and about midway between Arch street and An- 
 drew avenue. This schoolhouse was used for school 
 purposes until about the year 1823, when Mr. Josiah Cul- 
 ver took it in part payment for building a new «chool- 
 
LEWISTOWN SCHOOL DISTRICT. 23 
 
 house. The old house was taken down and set up at 
 the mouth of Beacon Hill brook, where the building was 
 used in the making of buttons, mouse traps and other 
 articles. 
 
 The names of the teachers that had care of the chil- 
 dren in those days, more than one hundred years ago, 
 are unknown to those now living. The writer has been 
 fortunate in obtaining the names of some of those that 
 were teachers, one of them, who taught over one hundred 
 years ago and some of later date. The first teacher that 
 I can mention was Miss Tabitha or Tabby Castle of Water- 
 bury. The following, found among some family papers, 
 
 explains itself: 
 
 ^ Salem, Nov. 28, 1804. 
 
 Received of Mr. Culpeper Hoadley for teaching 
 the summer school in Lewis district, the sum of $30 
 dollars in full amount. tabby Castle. 
 
 (Further information about Miss Castle may be found 
 in the history of Tabby Castle and her school.) Miss 
 Castle taught in the summer term, 24 weeks, for $1.25 
 per week. The winter school covered 15 weeks, com- 
 pensation $1.62* per week. Samuel Scott was allowed 
 for boarding Miss Castle 10 weeks in winter $7.50. 
 
 After Miss Castle, came Miss Polly Brocket (daugh- 
 ter of Giles), who taught in the summer of 1807. Miss 
 Lockey Spencer (daughter of Calvin), a teacher about 
 the year 1812. Miss Flora Beckley (daughter of Dr. 
 Beckley) was a teacher about the year 1815. Miss 
 Nancy Hull (daughter of Dr. Nimrod) ,Miss Polly Mal- 
 lery, Capt. Ira Hotchkiss of Watertown, Conn , and Mr. 
 Jared Ford (son of Ellas). It is said that Mr. Jared 
 
24 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 Ford was the last teacher in the old schoolhouse. I 
 have the names of several teachers who have been re- 
 ported as teachers in the old schoolhouse, but there is 
 some doubt, so I will place them as teaching in the new- 
 er or second schoolhouse. The next, or second, school - 
 house is mentioned in a layout of land in January, 1823, 
 as already built. It stood at the junction of what is now 
 called Scott and Arch streets, and was used for school 
 purposes until consolidation into the Union Center 
 School District, which occurred in the year 1851. As 
 the Lewistown District continued with the Union Center 
 District, the schoolhouse was no longer used as such, 
 but was afterward used as a tenement house, until the 
 spring of 1897, when it was demolished. This school - 
 house in the Lewistown District was first remembered 
 by the writer in the year 1830, for it was his lot to at- 
 tend school in this schoolhouse during all of his school 
 life, with the exception of a short time. 
 
 I am much pleased to be able to give so good a pict- 
 ure of the old Lewistown schoolhouse. I am under 
 great obligations to Mr. James E. Sweeney for the use 
 of the picture that he had the though tfulness to obtain 
 before the building was destroyed. The addition is 
 shown in the illustration given. Before 1835 or '36 the 
 schoolhouse consisted of only one room. The interior 
 of this house was a little better than some of the older 
 schoolhouses that I remember. Like the others it had 
 at first only one room, but it was more modern in that 
 we did not have the old slab seats, with the four sticks 
 for supports. The seats for the little children were 
 made of good hard oak boards, with backs of the same 
 
LXWISTOWN SCHOOL DISTRICT. 26 
 
 material. But it must have been very hard for the 
 smaller children to sit so long without touching their 
 feet to the floor; no wonder that they were restless and 
 uneasy. The larger scholars faced the teacher part of 
 the time, but before ciphering or writing they swung 
 their feet and legs over their seats, then sitting with 
 faces toward the wall. This table or shelf extended 
 on three sides of the room. As I first remember this 
 schoolhouse it was only about eight years old. But it 
 was at that time well ornamented with nautical craft, 
 from a sloop to a seventy-four gun ship, besides the 
 horses, carts, birds, etc. , which covered the boys' side 
 of the schoolroom. 
 
 While carving and wood engraving were not taught 
 in the public schools at that time, still the boys took to 
 it. To use an old expression of those days, k 4 it cum 
 nat'al." 
 
 When the larger scholars faced the teacher, they 
 had the privilege of leaning their backs against the 
 edge of a real oak board; although the edge of the board 
 was rounded a little, still it was a thing to be felt, and 
 one could rest his back against it until he could rest 
 no more. 
 
 The second schoolhouse was heated by a stove, one 
 of the Franklin kind, open in front. Later they used a 
 large box stove. 
 
 One of the men teachers had a habit of confiscating 
 all the playthings from the boys and throwing them into 
 the stove. The boys observed this; so at one time three 
 
26 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 of the larger boys provided themselves each with a 
 block of wood about the same size, and had them handy 
 for the teacher to see. His eagle eye soon discovered 
 them, and he seized at once the harmless looking play- 
 things and promptly thrust them into the stove. In a 
 short time there was a tremendous explosion. The 
 whole school was in an uroar. During the screaming of 
 the little scholars, the Oh's of the girls and the chuckle 
 of the larger boys, the ashes had mostly settled. But 
 the face of the teacher was a puzzle. He had seized 
 three blocks, one from each boy, but there was but one 
 explosion. Which one? He said nothing, but restored 
 order as soon as possible, but it broke his habit. After- 
 wards he put the playthings into his desk for future 
 disposal: so it was a good thing for the order and good 
 appearance of the school, and it was also a good thing 
 for the stove. 
 
 The ability to master all the studies varied among 
 the scholars; some excelled in arithmetic, others in ge- 
 ography, some in history or grammar, with many good 
 in spelling. But this was a hard study for a few to 
 master; some of the boys could not get onto it; a few of 
 the boys were generally near the foot of the class. 
 Some doubted if they ever had a clear conception of 
 how things looked at the head of the spelling class, for 
 they never got there. But I suppose the boys in the 
 Lewistown District were about the same in their deport- 
 ment as the boys in the other districts. I don't dare to 
 take the risk in saying that they were any better. Not- 
 withstanding their mischief and pranks the Lewistown 
 District turned out a goodly number of men and women. 
 
LEWISTOWN SCHOOL DISTRICT. 27 
 
 who were respected and worthy citizens. The school- 
 house (built in the year 1823) some years later was pro- 
 vided with an additional room in which to hang the 
 wrappings belonging to the scholars. A little wood was 
 stored in one side, while the familiar water pail, with 
 its tin dipper, always stood handy near the door. 
 
 Some of the teachers in the second schoolhouse 
 were Mr. Jared Ford (son of Elias). Mr. Ford, it was 
 said, was the first teacher in the new or second school - 
 house. Miss Eliza Wheeler, Miss Alma Terrell, Miss 
 Mary Ann Hotchkiss (daughter of Mark), Miss Clarissa 
 Benham, Miss Eliza French. In the winter of 1830-31 
 Joel White from Oxford, Conn., taught; MissTirza Buck- 
 ingham from Oxford; Miss Mary Ann Thomas from 
 Bethany, who taught about the 3'ear 1832. Miss Mary 
 C. Spencer (daughter of Ansel) taught during the years 
 of 1833 and '34. An excellent teacher. Miss Eunice Hill, 
 (daughter of Samuel, a noted teacher), taught in about 
 the year 1836. Miss Salina Pool. Miss Maria G. Hunt- 
 ington. Mr. Gustavus Spencer (son of Calvin) Miss 
 Paulina Beecher, 1839-40; Mr. George Merriman 
 from Waterbury, Mr. Ira Hotchkiss from Watertown, 
 and his son Augustus for a short time: Mr. Peter Fair- 
 child from Newtown, my last teacher in the winter of 
 1842-43; a Mr. Rodgers in 1844; Miss Nancy Bunnell, Miss 
 Harriet Coe, Miss Nancy Thomas from Bethany. Miss 
 Lucy Thayer. Miss Eineline Steel from Washington, 
 Conn., Miss Sarah Smith, Miss Pangman, Mr. Strong, 
 and others. 
 
 In December, 1794, Mr. Roswell Caulkins was ap- 
 pointed by the Salem Society as a district committee for 
 
28 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 Lewistown. The school records of Lewistown District 
 are all lost and the writer is unable to give the name of 
 the last committee. From memoranda found I can 
 say that in the year 1804, Culpeper Hoadley was district 
 committee; in 1845, Selden Lewis, William Hoadley, 
 and later Charles Spencer and others. 
 
The District Later Called Pond 
 Hill District 
 
 u At a Societies meeting held Dec, 1790. At same 
 ' meeting formed a District for schooling, as follows: 
 ' Beginning at the bounds north of Ickabod Terrells. 
 • then southerly to Ickabod Terrells, then tolsarel Cal- 
 " kins, and from then3e to Jonah Frisbes, leaving said 
 ;; Calkins and Frisbe to their choise where to go. Then 
 ;t takin said road (now Wooster street) to Gorges Hol- 
 ;; low, where the road crosses, then North in said road 
 ; ' to the Bounds of the first Society, including the in- 
 11 habitants on said road, and from thense to the first 
 
 This layout would commence at the first Society 
 line in the George's Hollow road, running southerly by 
 Russell's Pond to Ickabod Terrell's house, thence west- 
 erly over Hopkins Hill, taking in the house of Israel 
 Calkins (later owned by Burr Johnson), thence to the 
 house of Jonah Prisbie (on what is now Wooster street), 
 continuing easterly on said street to the road running 
 northerly, thence northerly in- road to bounds, thence 
 easterly on first Society bounds to first corner. We 
 can suppose that from this layout there were afterwards 
 additions and alterations, making the present Pond Hill 
 
 District. 
 
 The first schoolhouse mentioned in this territory is 
 
30 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 in an entry on the Waterbury land records, concerning 
 the boundaries of land, in 1794. The starting point is 
 described as at a point near the place where a schoolhouse 
 formerly stood, which I am informed was on the upper 
 corner, and on the right hand side as you leave the Pond 
 Hill road to go down to the Burr Johnson place. Only 
 one of the old people now living thinks it was destroyed 
 by fire. All the others think that it was standing until 
 the new schoolhouse was built, and that some of the old 
 timbers were used in the new house. Probably the 
 schoolhouse was rebuilt soon after 1794, and remained 
 there until about the year 1822. The mention of a 
 schoolhouse on what might be called Pond Hill, was in 
 a deed of land bearing the date 1804. This deed located 
 a schoolhouse near the Elias Ford place, now occupied 
 (1906) by William Hopkins. The above mentioned 
 schoolhouse disappeared soon after 1804, but I cannot 
 learn anything more about it. 
 
 I find a number of old persons who well remember 
 hearing their parents describe a schoolhouse once stand- 
 ing on a point of land nearly opposite the house now 
 (1906) owned by Mr. Hulstrunk. The schoolhouse re- 
 ferred to above was standing there as late as 1825, but 
 was not at that time used for school purposes. Some 
 now living think that as the schoolhouse once standing 
 near the Elias Ford place disappeared about 1804, that 
 it may have been set up near the Hulstrunk place. The 
 writer can learn but little about this schoolhouse. 
 
 Those that taught in this house and the scholars 
 that attended school there appear to be unknown to 
 those now living. 
 
POND HILL SCHOOL DISTRICT. 31 
 
 At the time that the present Pond Hill schoolhouse 
 was built the district was called the Union or United 
 District, and the children residing in Union City attend- 
 ed school at the house now called the Pond Hill school - 
 house until about 1831, when the City schoolhouse was 
 built. 
 
Pond Hill District 
 
 The present Pond Hill schoolhouse was built in the 
 year 1822, as appears from the following vote: 
 
 " October 31, 1822. A regular school meeting was 
 "held at the house of Thaddaus Hotchkiss. Voted 
 "that Thaddaus Hotchkiss be elected the committy of 
 "the Union District. The meeting appointed Elias 
 " Ford, Moderator, pro tern, Agustus Beebe, Clerk, and 
 " Elias Ford, Treasur. Voted that a tax or rate be 
 "laid on the taxable inhabitants of said district of 
 "eight cents on the dollar, on list of 1821, for the pur- 
 pose of defraying the expense of building a school- 
 " house, made payable the first day of December, 1822. 
 "Voted that Wm. H. Hine be a committy to finish 
 ' ' said schoolhouse. Voted that Elias Ford, John Hop- 
 " kins and Thaddaus Hotchkiss be a committy to in- 
 spect the different bills presented by said District, 
 "and also to make such abatements on taxes as they 
 " should think proper. Voted that Orrin Hotchkiss 
 "be a collector of taxes for the district for the year 
 " ensuing. Voted that Mr. Clark purchase a book to 
 "keep the records of this district school meetings. 
 " Adjourned till the third Monday in November, 1822, 
 "then to be convened at Thaddaus Hotchkiss at 8 
 " o'clock p. m. Attest, 
 
 "Agustus Beebe, Clerk." 
 
 At at school meeting held November 28, 1822, the 
 
POND HILL SCHOOL DISTRICT. 33 
 
 following committee were appointed to report By-Laws 
 and Rules for the school : Elias Ford, Josiah Terrell 
 and Thaddeus Hotchkiss. The meeting adjourned to 
 meet at the schoolhouse on the 6th of December, 1822, 
 at 7 o'clock. This would show that the schoolhouse 
 was finished about this time. 
 
 At a school meeting held December 6, 1822, the 
 committee appointed to prepare rules and by-laws to 
 govern the school in the United or Pond Hill District, 
 fully realizing the great importance of having signed 
 and definite Rules and By-Laws to properly govern the 
 various interests of the district and to protect its prop- 
 erty, reported the following: 
 
 "THE RULES AND BY-LAWS OF THE UNITED DIS- 
 TRICT IN SALEM SOCIETY. 
 
 " Article 1. The schoolhouse in said district be 
 " appropriated solely to the use of the school in said 
 "district and for holding- school meetings in said dis- 
 " trict, and for no other purpose except by the consent 
 " of a committee apointed for that purpose. 
 
 " Article 2. If any harm is done to the house by 
 " any of the schollars attending- the school it shall be 
 " the duty of the teacher to inquire into and Ascertain 
 " by whom it was done, and give notice to Parent, guar- 
 "dian or master of said schollars, whos duty it shall be 
 " to repair sd damage done by sd schollar, and if sd 
 "damages is not repaired by the Parent, guardian or 
 ••master of sd schollar within six. days after notice, 
 " the committee of sd district shall repair sd house 
 "and bring a bill for the same against the Parent, 
 " guardian or master of the schollar by whom damage 
 "is done. 
 
 "Article 3. The teacher shall have liberty to 
 "make good and wholeome rules for the g-overment 
 
34 EARLY SCHOOLS OP NAUGATUCK. 
 
 •"of the school for the time they teach, and if any 
 "schollar shall not comply with sd rules the teacher 
 "shall inform the committee, that sd schollar may be 
 "dealt with as the law directs. 
 
 "Article 4. It shall be the duty of teacher 
 "for the time being to prohibit all scribling or any 
 "impropriety of conduct in said schoolhouse, and to 
 "prohibit the schollars from entering the fields of any 
 "of the neighbors while at school without liberty from 
 " the teacher. 
 
 " Article 5. The key of sd house shall at all 
 "times be kept by the school committee except in 
 " time of holding school in sd house, then the key shall 
 "be kept by the teacher, and at the close of the school 
 " given up to the committee. " 
 
 According to Article 1, it was voted at a school 
 meeting held December 15, 18^9, to appoint a committee 
 consisting of Jared Ford, Elias Ford and Win. H. Hine 
 to agree on what conditions any religious people may 
 hold meetings in Union District schoolhouse. 
 
 It is said religious meetings were held from time to 
 time in the schoolhouse and that a number of young 
 men who attended those meetings often joined in the 
 singing with loud voices and that their voices were not 
 always in good harmony or tune, and their improper 
 conduct caused much comment. Such proceedings may 
 account for the following vote at a school meeting held 
 April 10, 1841: 
 
 " Voted that no meetings be held at the school- 
 " house the year ensuing, except school meetings." 
 
 In October, 1823, they voted to have a man to keep 
 th« school. Voted to pay not to exceed 10 dollars per 
 
POND HILL SCHOOL DISTRICT. 35 
 
 month. In December, 1829, voted that eight shillings 
 be the price per week for boarding the school teacher 
 for this winter and one dollar be the price per week 
 next summer for a woman teacher's board. In April. 
 1830, decided to have a woman teacher four months. 
 Then in November, 1834. they voted to have a woman 
 teacher three months this winter; voted to pay $1.25 for 
 teacher's board this winter and $1 for next summer. 
 The 10th of April, 1841, they decided that the teacher 
 board around, according to the number of scholars sent. 
 In November, 1841, the price of the teacher's board had 
 risen to $1.50 per week. In the winter of 1843 they em- 
 ployed a man teacher for three months. In 1844 the 
 committee allowed $1.50 for a man teacher per week and 
 only $1.25 for a female teacher. In 1849 they hired a 
 man teacher for three months, not to pay over $16.00 
 per month. 
 
 It appears that the schoolhouse was heated by a 
 stove, for we find this vote on the records November 8. 
 1822: 
 
 '• Voted that the sum of oak wood be two dollars 
 ' ' per cord chopped fine tor the stove. ' ' 
 
 In November, 1841, the price of oak wood had ad- 
 vanced to $4.00 per cord and the school committee paid 
 $5.00 for walnut wood per cord, fitted for the stove. In 
 November, 1844, voted that the price of wood for use of 
 school for ensuing year be $3. 75 per cord for oak and 
 $4.75 for walnut, said wood to be marketable and fitted 
 to the stove. 
 
 It appears that the people living in those days knew 
 some of the points about wood, for they put in the word 
 
36 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAU&ATUCK. 
 
 marketable in their vote. In the year 1849 the commit- 
 tee were to pay $4.00 for oak wood and $5.00 for walnut, 
 said wood to be (mark the language) marketable, and 
 fitted for the stove. 
 
 It appears that for a number of years (just how long 
 it is somewhat difficult now to determine) the children 
 residing in what is now Union City attended school in 
 what is now Pond Hill schoolhouse. It was called in 
 the records as the Union, and sometimes the United 
 school district. At a meeting held February 16, 1830: 
 
 " Voted to petition Salem society to be divided in- 
 " to two districts.' * 
 
 The vote stood 12 to 20. I cannot find in the Salem 
 Society records that the society took up this matter, and 
 it is presumed that they did nothing about it, as at that 
 time the districts were left generally to manage their 
 own affairs; but the separation took place as shown by 
 the following vote, taken December 2, 1830: 
 
 " Voted that the district committee be authorized 
 " to collect whatever money is due from the new dis- 
 " trict which they have not paid over." 
 
 The question of making repairs soon became an im- 
 portant matter and one would think that the district 
 committee were somewhat slow in carrying out the 
 votes passed relating to that matter. About the year 
 1842 the demands for repairs on the schoolhouse were 
 voted. Then in October, 1846: 
 
 " Voted that the committee make suitable repairs 
 11 on the schoolhouse." 
 
POND HILL SCHOOL DISTRICT. 37 
 
 On October 26, 1847, another demand for repairs on 
 the same schoolhouse. The next year, viz. 1848, voted 
 suitable repairs again. At a meeting held October, 
 1850, still clamorous for repairs. About this time the 
 Pond Hll district consolidated and I presume the repair 
 question was adjusted. 
 
 The Pond Hill district was no exception to the oth- 
 er districts, for the lock would get out of order (perhaps 
 the boys knew); so at a meeting held April, 1841, it was 
 voted that the committee furnish lock and key. 
 
 Of the many school committees for the district No. 
 3 (now Pond Hill district), were the following: Thad- 
 deus Hotchkiss in the year 1822; at a meeting held De- 
 cember 6, 1822, Augustus Beebe, Julius Porter and Hez- 
 ekiah Hine were elected district committee. In 1829 
 William H. Hine. Julius Porter and Marshal Sanford 
 served as district committee. The following persons 
 also served as district committee: John Hopkins in the 
 years 1841 and 1847, Truman Hopkins in 1842, Samuel 
 Hopkins in 1843, William H. Hine in 1844, Burr John- 
 son in 1845, Horace Smith in 1846, Lucius Baldwin in 
 1848, Chauncey Wedge in 1849. Henry Patterson in 1850 
 and John Bird in the year 1852. 
 
 The popular man for clerk appears to have been 
 Mr. Burr Johnson, for he was elected clerk in 1823. I 
 have seen no record from October 20, 1823, until De- 
 cember 15. 1829. Mr. Johnson may have been clerk 
 during this time. Mr. Johnson served as clerk contin- 
 uously from 1841 to 1852 inclusive, and perhaps longer. 
 
 The district treasurers were Elias Ford, who served 
 in the years of 1822 and 1823, Linas Stevens in 1829, 
 
38 EARLY SCHOOLS OP NAUGATUCK. 
 
 William H. Hine in 1841, '42 and '43; John Hopkins filled 
 that office in the year 1844, Samuel Hopkins in the year 
 1845. Burr Johnson was elected both clerk and treas- 
 urer in October, 1846, and Samuel Hopkins again dur- 
 ing the years of 1847, '48 '49 and 1850; Lewis Russell 
 was elected in December. 1852; Orrin Hotchkiss was 
 elected collector in October, 1822. Some of his succes- 
 sors were John Hopkins, Truman Hopkins, Samuel 
 Hopkins, Chauncey Wedge and John Bird. 
 
 Some of the teachers who taught in the Pond Hill 
 schoolhouse now standing (1906) were: Miss Minerva 
 Grilley (daughter of Silas) who taught about the year 
 1828; Miss Angeline Porter, who taught aboutl829. (she 
 afterward removed West); Miss Esther Candee, about 
 the year 1832; Miss Ann Hickox (daughter of Austin), 
 taught perhaps in 1833; Miss Mary Vidocia Hotchkiss, 
 about the year 1836; Miss Mary Mills, about 1837; Miss 
 Eunice Hill (daughter of Samuel and Polly Hill) ; Miss 
 Eliza Grilley (daughter of Silas), Miss Martha Beecher, 
 Miss Eliza Ann Benham, Miss Eliza Tillou (daughter of 
 John), Mr. Sturdevant, Mr. Eithel Holmes, Mr. Robert 
 Hine (son of Harlow), Miss Augusta Hine, 1846 (daugh- 
 ter of Richard), Misses Marion and Martha Hotchkiss 
 (daughters of Oscar), Mr. Clark, Mr. Tuttle from Beth- 
 any, and John Bird. 
 
 Many of those teachers named are well remembered 
 by those now living. Without any individual mention, 
 it is believed that all worked faithfully for the good of 
 their scholars, and did themselves honor by their efforts 
 to improve the young people committed to their care. 
 
 The Pond Hill School district, in the year 1851, en- 
 
POND HILL SCHOOL DISTRICT. 
 
 tered into the consolidation, forming the Union Center 
 School district, but they withdrew in the year 1867, and 
 since that date have been legally independent. 
 
Partridgetown School District 
 
 I have seen no layout of Partridgetown district. It 
 appears to have been the territory lying northerly from 
 the Lewistown district. It is first mentioned in the 
 Salem Society records at a meeting held on February 
 10. 1794. 
 
 "Voted that Mr. Jonah Woodruff and Mr. John 
 "Smith be set to the South or Lewis district for 
 "schooling'. Voted that Samuel Porter be chosen 
 "school committee and collector for the Partridge- 
 "town district." 
 
 The first mention of a schoolhouse in Partridgetown 
 is found in Waterbury highway records February 6, 
 1778, when the town paid Reuben Williams for land 
 taken for a highway near the schoolhouse. I under- 
 stand that this schoolhouse referred to may be the house 
 that once stood at or near the Bennett Beebe place (the 
 junction of King street). Later another schoolhouse 
 was erected on the northerly side of the road leading 
 by the house where one John Frink now (1904) lives. 
 Said schoolhouse was located between 60 and 75 rods 
 westerly of said house, and at a point on the northerly 
 side of this road, there being a well of water in the lot 
 northerly of the schoolhouse place. A school was main- 
 tained here until about the year 1838, when the old 
 schoolhouse was moved near the house of Mr. Bezaleel 
 
PARTRIDGETOWN SCHOOL DISTRICT. 41 
 
 Scott, and was used by him for many years for other 
 than school purposes. 
 
 Some of the teachers in the second schoolhouse 
 were: Mr. William Curtis of Middlebury, Mr. Emory 
 Mann, Miss Amanda Stevens, Mr. Samuel Hopkins, 
 about 1836, and others. Sometime after 1838 a new 
 schoolhouse was built, I am informed, by money raised 
 by subscription. The new and last schoolhouse built in 
 the district of Partridgetown was located near the junc- 
 tion of two roads, one leading by the house formerly 
 known as the Atwater place, the other leading down 
 past the house of Charles O. Wedge. The above house 
 was used for school purposes until Partridgetown dis- 
 trict was consolidated in 1851 with the Lewistown, Union 
 City, Center and Pond Hill districts, under the name of 
 the Union Center School district. The last schoolhouse 
 was sold to one Andrew Brennan, and moved by Thomas 
 Scott on a sled about the year 1862 or '63, and was placed 
 on a cellar at what is now known as the junction of 
 Bridge and Coal streets, and is occupied as a dwelling 
 house. Afterwards Union City and Pond Hill withdrew 
 from the consolidation, but Partridgetown and Lewis- 
 town remained with the Center. At the time of the 
 consolidation John Nichols and John A. Smith, the lat- 
 ter living in the house known as the Frick house and 
 the former living in the Sykes house, were annexed to 
 the Millville district. Some of the teachers who taught 
 in the last house in Partridgetown were: Miss Nancy 
 Beardsley (daughter of Wm. D.), who taught before 
 1849, Miss Lucy Thayer and others. 
 
Southwest School District 
 
 The following extract from Colonial records, Octo- 
 ber, 1774, gives the first information concerning the or- 
 ganization of the Southwest School District: 
 
 "Upon the memorial of Enos Gunn, Ebenezer 
 ' Scott, Sarah Gunn, Jobamah Gunn, Abel Gunn, 
 1 David Wooster, John Weed. Noah Cande, Ebenezer 
 'Osborn, Thomas Osborn and Nathaniel Gunn, pray- 
 ' ing for the privilege of a school district, beginning 
 'at a stake called Twelve Mile Stake, in the line be- 
 k tween Derby and Waterbury, then running north- 
 ' wardly to the sawmill place near Daniel Williams', 
 ' then to the northeast corner of Jobamah Gunn's 
 ' farm, from thence northwestwardly to a bridge near 
 1 where Mishaduck Brook runs out of the meadow, 
 'then west to Woodbury line, then southward to the 
 ' southwest corner of Waterbury, then to first corner. 
 
 "Resolved by this assembly, That the inhabitants 
 ' living- within the said prescribed limits and bounds, 
 ' except Abraham Lewis and Daniel Osborn, shall be 
 'and they are hereby constituted a school district, 
 ' with all the privileges and emoluments usually be- 
 ' longing to school districts in this Colony; and said 
 ' Abraham Lewis and Daniel Osborn have liberty to 
 ' belong to said district or not, at their election. And 
 'said inhabitants are hereby authorized and empow- 
 'ered to lay taxes by the major vote of the inhabit- 
 ' ants legally met. for the purpose of raising monies to 
 ' maintain a school in said district, and to appoint offi- 
 ' cer9 to collect the same, which shall be under the 
 
SOUTHWEST SCHOOL DISTRICT. 43 
 
 "same regulations that officers are who are appointed 
 "by societies in this Colony." 
 
 Although the schoolhouse in the Southwest district 
 was located a little over the line and in the town of Mid- 
 dlebury, after that town was incorporated, yet a large 
 number of its scholars resided in what is now Naugatuck, 
 thus making it in one sense a Naugatuck school. I have 
 the good fortune to find a record of the school meetings 
 in this district from December, 1776, to and including Oc- 
 tober, 1817. The records of the school meetings, com- 
 pared with those of a later date, seem strange and in- 
 teresting. The record of the first meeting is as follows: 
 
 " Decemberthe 4, A. D.,1776. At a school meeting 
 "Enos Gunn was chosen school comitity, at the same 
 " meeting Abel Gunn was chosen collector." 
 
 In 1782 I find the following: 
 
 " Waterbury, November the 25 Day, A. D., 1782, in 
 " the Soweft Deftrict, then opened the school Meating 
 " and ajourned untill the first Tuefday off December, 
 "and then opened the Meating acording to ajourn- 
 "ment And Ebenezer Scott chofen moderator and 
 " Benjamin Welton chofen dark and Jobamah Gunn 
 "was chofen school committe, and at the same met- 
 "ing Ebenezer Scott chofen School committee and 
 "Simeon Beebe was chofen collector and voted to ceap 
 "thre months winter school and Voted to Pole by the 
 "month and the meting Difmift." 
 
 At a later meeting, held April, 1799, they voted to 
 sell the old schoolhouse. They met on April 11- and 
 made the following record: 
 
 "The 11th April, 179», then Sold the old »ehool- 
 
44 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 "houfeat pubblic Vandue to Mr. Amos Johnfon for 
 ' ' the conf ideration of Six Dollars payable on Demand. ' ' 
 
 After Middlebury was made a town, they changed 
 the record. At a meeting held the following February 
 we find the following record: 
 
 " Middlebury February 24th A. D. 1808, in Gun- 
 "town District. At a school meeting- warned and 
 "opened acording- to law, Mr. Noah Scovil chosen 
 "Moderator, and Mr. Daniel Wooster Clerk P. Tern, 
 "etc. Voted to tax the inhabitance of this district, 
 "that sent to the winter school A. D. 1807, three Cents 
 "per day on the polls of the schollars to defray theex- 
 "pense of said school. Also Voted as above two Cents 
 "eight mills per day upon the poll to defray the ex- 
 "pense of the summer school A. D. 1807, etc. Voted 
 "that Mr. Miles Loveland be empowered to lay tax. 
 "Voted to dissolve this meeting. 
 
 "Daniel Wooster, Clerk, Pro Tern." 
 
 The first schoolhouse is believed to have been erect- 
 soon after the Southwest district was incorporated in 
 1774. The first and second schoolhouses were built in 
 the limits of the town of Waterbury; but when the town 
 of Middlebury was incorporated, 1807, its line was es- 
 tablished a little east of the schoolhouse. The first 
 house was probably a small building, for in a motion to 
 build mention is made of a house 20x16 feet, which was 
 probably the size of the old one. The first schoolhouse 
 soon wanted repairs, for in 1791 they voted to repair the 
 chimney. The same year they voted to build a shool- 
 house, that it should be 20x16 feet on the ground, and 
 appointed Silas Lewis, Samuel Gunn and Amos Scott, 
 Jun. , to take care of the building of said house. But 
 
SOUTHWEST SCHOOL DISTRICT. 45 
 
 the schoolhouse was not built and it appears that they 
 held their meetings at a private house, and in 1793 they 
 voted to keep a school in Samuel Gunn's store. There 
 had been trouble about the location of the new house, 
 some of the committee being opposed to the old location. 
 But at meeting held in December, 1798, they appointed 
 a new building committne, viz., Thomas Osborn, Jun., 
 Amos Johnson and Daniel Wooster, to take care of the 
 business of building said house. (It is noticed that the 
 name of Gunn does not appear.) The house was to be 
 set near the old site and the schoolhouse was to be 30x18 
 feet. Now things began to move, for the next April 
 they sold the old schoolhouse. The 3d of March, 1800, 
 at a meeting held at the schoolhouse, voted, etc. I have 
 found persons now living who attended school in the 
 house referred to above. I am informed that it had at 
 each end a large fireplace. This schoolhouse was locat- 
 ed on the very spot where now stands the horse shed 
 owned by Mr. Henry Bradley. But like all the school - 
 houses it needed repairs, for at a meeting held October, 
 1814, they voted repairs, such as the fireplace, setting 
 new glass, fixing the clapboards, plastering, etc., not 
 forgetting the lock. Mr. Isaac Twitchell was appointed 
 a committee to furnish a lock and place it on the outside. 
 None of the boys meddled with the lock while Mr. 
 Twitchell was about. In order to pacify Mr. Gunn for 
 locating the schoolhouse near his land, they passed on 
 the 11th of April, 1799, the following: 
 
 "Voted and mutially agreed to keep them chil- 
 "dren out of Enos Gunn's Lotts, so that shant re- 
 ceive any Damage by the schoolhouse being Set ad- 
 
46 EARLY SCHOOLS OP NAUGATUCK. 
 
 "joining Said Gunn's Land, and if they Doos said Gunn 
 "any Damage the Children that Does it their parents 
 "or Guarideans shall pay all Damages that Shall Rise 
 "by the school house being Set adjoining Said Gunn's 
 "Land to his full Satisfaction, and the meeting Dif- 
 "mist." 
 
 The winter term of schooling was from three to four 
 months, and the summer term from four to five months. 
 
 They fixed the price of wood from time to time. In 
 1793 they paid $1 per cord, in 1802 ten shillings, in 1805 
 they paid the same price, but it must be good sound 
 wood, and measured by the schoolmaster. In 1806 they 
 paid only eighl shillings, then up to ten shillings and 
 ten pence; up it went to $1.50, and in 1811 it had reached 
 the price of 11.67 per cord. All the wood must be cut 
 out fit for the fire. The price of board for a man teach- 
 er was $1.25 per week, and for a woman teacher was $1 
 for the same time. In February. 1808, the school com- 
 mittee passed the following: 
 
 " Voted that the committee hire a woman teacher 
 "for a price not exceding one dollar per week, and 
 "upon conditions that if the District is dissatisfied, she 
 "shall leave the school upon request at any time, also 
 "if she is uneasy she shall have the liberty to go at 
 "her pleasure." 
 
 The pay for a man teacher was $1.25 per week. At 
 a meeting held in November. 1792: 
 
 "Voted to give the Committee Difcrefsiouary or- 
 "der to hire a Mafter and Dame, and thbe meeting 
 "Difolvd." 
 
 I have been able to learn the names of a few of the 
 teachers who taught in the Southwest District school. 
 
SOUTHWEST SCHOOL DISTRICT. 47 
 
 TheywereMr. Isaac Judd, Jr., about 1794, MrlraBlakes- 
 lee, soon after 1806, Mr. Leverett Candee, about the 
 year 1813, Miss Eliza Smith (sister of Elisha), perhaps in 
 1828, Miss Mary Spencer (daughter of Aansel), Miss 
 Maria Bronson from Middlebury, Miss Abigail Hunting- 
 ton, and Miss Eliza Leavenworth, who it is said was the 
 last teacher in the Gunntown school. I give some of 
 the names of those persons who served as district com- 
 mittee between 1776 and 1818, as it shows who the lead- 
 ing men were that lived in the district at that time. 
 
 In 1776 Enos Gunn was elected school committee; 
 his successor was Jobamah Gunn in 1777, 1781, 1792 and 
 1810; Ebenezer Scott in 1779 and 1780; Thomas Osborn 
 in 1783 and 1797; Ebenezer Osborn in 1784: Daniel Finch 
 in 1786 and 1787; Silas Lewis in 1787; Samuel Harris in 
 1789; Samuel Gunn in 1791; Timothy Scovill, Jr., in 1793; 
 John Scott in 1796; Abel Gunn in 1800; Moses Johnson 
 in 1801; Isaac Twitchell in 1803; Isaac Briggs in 1804; 
 Samuel Twitchell in 1805; Noah Scovill in 1806; Miles 
 Loveland in 1807; Samuel Bartis in 1808; Iraa Nichols 
 in 1809; Thomas Leavenworth in 1811; Isaac Gunn in 
 1812; Arnold Loveland in 1813; Noah Candee in 1814; 
 Truman Davis elected committe, collector and treasurer 
 in 1815; Silas Gunn in 1816, and Joseph N. Wardin 1817. 
 Ebenezer Scott is the first clerk mentioned, elected in 
 1778 and 1779, in the record that I have, which begins 
 in 1776. Benj. Welton served as clerk four years; Giles 
 Lewis in 1786; Samuel Gunn 1787 and 1793; Simeon 
 Beebe for two years; Noah Scovill for three years; James 
 D. Wooster in 1802, '03, '04 and '05, also 1807, '08 and 
 '10; Larmon Townson in 1806; Ira K. Smith in 1809; Ar- 
 
48 EARLY SCHOOLS OP NAUGATUCK. 
 
 nold Loveland, who filled that office for three years; 
 Theophilus Baldwin in 1813 and '14, and Lyman Riggs in 
 1816 and '17, the last I have in the record. The record does 
 not mention a treasurer before 1799; Daniel Wooster was 
 elected for that year and served several terms; Noah 
 Scovill served as treasurer for several years. The per- 
 sons named as serving as district committee, at least 
 some of them, also were collectors from time to time. 
 I find one new name, that is John Sutton, who was elect- 
 ed collector in 1808. At the district meeting held Octo- 
 ber, 1817, they concentrated all the offices by electing 
 Joseph N. Ward committee, collector and treasurer. It 
 is the first time that his name appears, and they honored 
 him with all the offices. In 1808 the district elected 
 what they called an inspecting committee. I suppose 
 that they visited the school. In the year 1808 the dis- 
 trict appointed the Rev. Chauncey Prindle, Arnold 
 Loveland and Theophilus Baldwin as inspecting com- 
 mittee. 
 
 The Southwest School District was dissolved, as 
 appears by the following : 
 
 "May session, 1836. 
 
 "Resolved that the southwest school district in 
 "Waterbury be dissolved and disannuled, and that the 
 "inhabitants residing within the town of Waterbury 
 "and within the limits of said district be, and they are 
 " hereby, annexed to the second school society in Wa- 
 " terbury, and the inhabitants of the town of Middle- 
 "bury residing within the local limits of said school 
 "district be, and they are hereby, annexed to the 
 " school society in Middlebury, and the inhabitants of 
 " the town of Oxford residing within the local limits 
 
SOUTHWEST SCHOOL DISTRICT. 49 
 
 "of said school district be. and they are hereby, an- 
 "nexed to the school society in Oxford." 
 
 The organization of the Millville School District 
 soon followed, as that district had erected a schoolhouse 
 as early as 1838. 
 
Millville School District. 
 
 When the Southwest School District was dissolved 
 by the General Assembly in May, 1836, it was then or- 
 dered that the inhabitants in the limits of said district 
 belonging to Waterbury be, and hereby are, annexed to 
 the second school society in Waterbury. As the second 
 school society was in the bounds of Salem, so it came 
 under the same government as the other districts in 
 Salem society. I suppose that a portion of the inhabit- 
 ants of Partridgetown and those formerly living in the 
 Southwest District, met and formed a new district, and 
 named it Millville District. I have seen no record to 
 that effect, but the way it was mentioned above would 
 seem probable. 
 
 We may suppose that they would soon erect a 
 schoolhouse. Probably the first schoolhouse in Mill- 
 ville District was erected as soon as 1838, as Mrs. Hart 
 C. Hubbell informs me that she attended school there in 
 the new schoolhouse in the year mentioned above. 
 
 The first schoolhouse stood at the junction of the 
 road leading by the house of the late Mr. Comfort Hub- 
 bell, and the road leading past the house formerly known 
 as the Charles Osborn house in Millville, and at the 
 southeast corner. 
 
 On the 2d of November, 1865, Clara Smith, Theo- 
 dore A.Smith, Samuel Piatt and Eliza J. Smith conveyed 
 to the Millville School District forty-six rods of land to 
 
MILLVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT. 51 
 
 be used for school purposes. Upon the above mentioned 
 land the second schoolhouse in Millville was built. Prob- 
 ably before August in 1866, for in the month of August 
 of that year the district sold to the Naugatuck Wheel 
 Company the first schoolhouse, with the land on which 
 it stood. This o'd schoolhouse is now standing on its 
 original site, being now (1906) the upper part of a dwell- 
 ing house. About the year 1894 the second schoolhouse 
 had to go, and make room for a more modern and larger 
 one, which is now (1906) in use. The second school - 
 house was moved across the street and placed a little 
 west of the first; and there they stand to-day, changed 
 somewhat, but the same old frames. Truly th ;y have 
 outlived their usefulness as schoolhouses, but in their 
 old age they are not separated. I doubt if there is an- 
 other school district in New England that has saved all 
 of their old schoolhouses. 
 
 It is said that Truman Davis was the first district 
 committee. In 1845 Henry Hull was school committee. 
 I can only give the names of some of the teachers, who 
 had the privilege to care for the education of the young 
 people of Millville. Among those worthy persons were 
 the following (although probably not in their proper 
 order): Mr. Sylvester Hine in 1838 or '39; Miss Sarah 
 Bronson (daughter of Horace); Miss Elizabeth Wooster 
 (sister of Eben) ; Miss Sarah Meloy. before 1845; Miss 
 Julia Cables, from Oxford; Mr. Luther Piatt, from Mid- 
 dlebury; Miss Frances Clark (daughter of Nathan); Miss 
 Nancy Beardsley (daughter of Win. D.) before 1850; 
 Miss Sarah Tuttle (daughter of Daniel); Mr. W. S. Skil- 
 ton, from Watertown; Miss Louisa Piatt; Mr. Nelson J. 
 
52 EARLY SCHOOLS OP NAUGATUCK. 
 
 Wei ton, 1850 and 1851; Miss Curtiss. George B. Bris- 
 tol, M. D., now residing in Waterbury, writes that he 
 taught school in Millville School District in the winter 
 term of 1857 and '58. He says the school at that time 
 consisted of 20 girls and 18 boys.. Mr. Robert Hine 
 (son of Harlow); Miss Pangoman; Miss Esther Gunn; 
 Mr. H. Wales Lines (son of Henry); Mr. William Hine 
 (son of Harlow); Miss Esther Wooster (daughter of 
 Jesse); Miss Grace Wooster (daughter of Jesse); Miss 
 Julia Tomlinson; Miss Emily Smith (daughter of Hor- 
 ace); Miss Harriet Scott (daughter of Isaac); Miss Kate 
 Woodward (daughter of Dr. Woodward); Miss May Brad- 
 ley; Miss Sarah Piatt (sister of Samuel); Mr. Charles 
 Riggs, from Oxford; Mr. Melville Wood; Mr. Nelson 
 Wood; Miss Lucy Perkins; Mr. Henry C. Baldwin (son 
 of Lucius); Miss Augusta Tuller (daughter of Nelson). 
 By the kindness of Mr. Newell A. Smith I am permitted 
 to copy the following: 
 
 ROLL, OF SCHOLARS ATTENDING THE MILLVILLE DIS- 
 TRICT SCHOOL, NAUGATUCK, IN THE WIN- 
 TER OF 1850-51. 
 
 Females. Males. 
 
 Emeline Osborn, Horace N. Williams, 
 
 Ellen Osborn, Henry H. Smith, 
 
 Eliza R. Smith, Edwin Beers, 
 
 Ellen Nichols, Edward Nichols, 
 
 Emily Nichols, Charles H. Hine, 
 
 Eliza L. Osborn, Hubert Beers, 
 
 *Melissa A. Bradley, William H. Williams, 
 
 Louisa A. Smith, Anson T. Sperry, 
 
 Jennett A. Smith, Edwin J. Hull, 
 
 Betsey, J. Smith, John Slater, 
 
MILLVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT. 
 
 Catherine E. Wooster, 
 Julia E. Williams, 
 Cordelia A. Gunn, 
 Celestia A. Whittlesey, 
 Mary J. Riggs, 
 Sarah J. Hull, 
 Ann E. Davis, 
 Edna M. Osborn, 
 *Cornelia Marks, 
 Frances Gunn, 
 Adelaid A. Chadwick, 
 *Emeline A. Smith, 
 Agusta A. Hull, 
 Anna M. White, 
 Emergene Hull, 
 Ellen E. Riggs, 
 Jane M. Nichols, 
 Harriet Nichols, 
 Rebecca Williams, 
 Elizabeth Smith, 
 Maria M. Chadwick, 
 Sarah Duffa, 
 Elizabeth Duffa. 
 
 Term of five months. 
 
 George Nichols, 
 Ephraim Wooster, 
 Milo Osborn, 
 ♦Thomas J. Tvvitchell, 
 Franklin S. Nichols, 
 *Noyes G. Bradley, 
 Edward P. Smith, 
 James White, 
 Sherman E. Williams, 
 John L. Nichols, 
 Nelson R. Nichols, 
 George Riggs, 
 Patrick Chadwick, 
 Charles W. Hubbell, 
 Philander W. Smith, 
 Frederick Nichols, 
 Edwin D. Hull. 
 
 Males 27 
 
 Females 33 
 
 Total 60 
 
 *Out of district. 
 
 NELSON J. WELTON, Instructor. 
 
City School District 
 
 The boundaries of the City School District were not 
 very clearly defined by the records of Salem Society. 
 The City District appears to be that portion of Salem 
 Society lying northerly and westerly of the school dis- 
 tricts laid out in the years of 1777 and 1790, viz. : The 
 Center and the first Pond Hill Districts; also that part 
 west of the river and east of Partridge town. I have not 
 been able to find any record of the City District lines, of 
 any date before 1830. The schoolhouse mentioned in 
 the town records in 1794 was probably used by the chil- 
 dren then residing in the territory later called the City. 
 This schoolhouse was located on the upper corner of the 
 road leading to the Burr Johnson place, at the junction 
 of the Deep Hollow road, now called Pond Hill road. 
 The record in Waterbury says that: 
 
 "The parties who were establishing a line, divid- 
 ing the land, started at a heap of stones near the 
 "highway, and near to whare a schoolhouse formerly 
 "stood," etc. 
 
 This word " formerly " has puzzled me somewhat. 
 I usually stand by the record, but in this case all the in- 
 formation that I can obtain from old people now living, 
 goes to prove that the old schoolhouse stood on the cor- 
 ner until about the time that the present schoolhouse 
 
CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT. 55 
 
 was built on Pond Hill, which was in the year 1822. 
 This would give the people in what is now Union City 
 a schoolhouse from 1794 to 1822. I informed a friend 
 of my trouble about the history of this schoolhouse. He 
 said that there was one way to harmonize the record 
 with the tradition that the schoolhouse was destroyed 
 by fire and all the other traditions. Suppose that this 
 schoolhouse was destroyed by fire before 1794 and re- 
 built soon after that year, and was used until about the 
 year 1822, and then a part of it used in the new building. 
 This is an ingenious supposition, and it may all have 
 happened. But I have not the evidence to prove it, and 
 I lack the information to successfully contradict it. 
 
 Persons now living remember that children living 
 at the City attended school at the present Pond Hill 
 schoolhouse from 1826 to about 1830. The Pond Hill 
 records mention the name of Union or United District. 
 Probably children living at the City attended school at 
 Pond Hill after that schoolhouse was built in 1822 until 
 about the year 1830, when the new City District was 
 formed. The schoolhouse in the City District was prob- 
 ably built about 1830 or '31. The City school records do 
 not go back to that date. The tradition is that Mr. 
 Amasa Goodyear (father of the noted Charles Goodyear) 
 donated the land for the schoolhouse to the City District. 
 I cannot find a deed of same, but as Mr. Goodyear had 
 purchased the land on which the house was afterwards 
 built of the heirs of Thomas Porter in the year of 1828, 
 he (Goodyear) could have given the land to the district, 
 which he probably did. In the transfers to the bank by 
 Goodyear the title comes in question, so William De 
 t 
 
56 EARLY SCHOOLS OP NAUGATUCK. 
 
 Forest and Henry Hine deeded in March, 1846, the land 
 on which the schoolhouse stood to Eben C. and Phile- 
 mon Tuttle, and in May, 1856, Eben 0. Tuttle delivered 
 a warrantee deed to the City School District, No. 5. This 
 schoolhouse was moved a short distance, and a story 
 put on above in the year 1856, and since 1856 an addi- 
 tion was made. It is still standing and has been used 
 as a tenement since the new and commodious school- 
 house was erected. 
 
 Among the many worthy and devoted persons who 
 have served in this schoolhouse as teachers are the fol- 
 lowing, probably not in the order that they taught: 
 
 Miss Salina Pool, who taught about the year 1839; 
 Miss Eliza Ford (daughter of Elias) a teacher about the 
 year 1840; Miss Sarah Kellogg (sister of Steven W.); 
 Miss Eliza and Juliet Tillou (daughters of John); Miss 
 Martha Hotchkiss (daughter of Oscar) ; Miss Martha M. 
 Beecher, several terms; Miss Mary Smith; Miss Mary 
 
 A. Wilcox, from Litchfield. Conn. , widow of the late Mr. 
 
 B. B. Tattle; she commenced teaching in the fall of 1856, 
 ending in the spring of 1 858, three seasons, teaching the 
 larger scholars. Miss Emily Upson, from New Britain, 
 taught the smaller scholars on the lower floor at the 
 same time and for the same number of terms; Miss Ade- 
 line Thayer; Mr. Hubert Johnson (son of Burr); Mr. 
 William Hine (son of Harlow) who taught about the year 
 1872; Mr. Seabury Scott (son of Rev. Joseph); Miss Dut- 
 ton; Mary L. Munson. 
 
 I am informed that the City School District records 
 do not go back many years, so I cannot give the names 
 of the committees that served. I find that George L. 
 
CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT. 57 
 
 Smith was district committee in the year of 1845, and 
 that Asahel H. Smith acted as district committee in the 
 years of 1856 and '57. 
 
 The City School District was one of the five school 
 districts that consolidated under the name of Union Cen- 
 ter School District in the year of 1851. They soon de- 
 cided that they preferred to manage their own district 
 affairs, but did not legally withdraw until June, 1867; 
 they still continue to manage their own affairs. 
 
Straitsville School District. 
 
 The Straitsville District was set off from the Middle 
 District in the year 1825 or '26. The record of this di- 
 vision cannot be found; it is supposed to have been de- 
 stroyed by fire in the destruction of the Marshall Bald- 
 win house. The Straitsville schoolhouse was of two 
 stories; the same house is now standing. The first 
 teacher was Miss Miranda Hine (daughter of Asa Hine). 
 The first graded school in the present limits of Nauga- 
 tuck was kept in the Straitsville schoolhouse. Dr. 
 Booth taught in the higher department and Sarah Per- 
 kins (daughter of Abner Perkins of Bethany) in the 
 lower. This was an excellent school and scholars at- 
 tended from the nearby districts. Stiles Peck of Beth- 
 any taught school in the winter; he manufactured whips 
 of all kinds in the summer at a factory in the neighbor- 
 hood, and kept the school in winter. It is said that he 
 almays maintained good obedience and order, having 
 always saved from the factory plenty of material for 
 that purpose. 
 
 Some of the other teachers were Miss Rachel Hotch- 
 kiss (daughter of Abraham); Miss Lorana Sherman 
 (daughter of James) taught a number of terms; Miss 
 Hulda Perkins of Bethany (daughter of Abner);] Miss 
 
X 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 W 
 
 o 
 
STRAITSVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT. 59 
 
 Siretta Tuttle, also from Bethany; Miss Carrington; 
 William Hine; Emmie Ward, and others. 
 
 Some of the school committee were Miles Horton 
 and Philander Hine. 
 
 A large part of the territory included in S traits ville 
 School District was formerly in the limits of the town 
 of Bethany; this part of the district was added to the 
 town of Naugatuck in the year of 1844. 
 
The Old Schoolhouses. 
 
 The schoolhouses of the olden time were of differ- 
 ent dimensions, according to the supposed wants of the 
 several districts. Some of the schoolhouses in the out- 
 lying districts were probably not more than 16x20 feet 
 in size. In the Southwest District, at a school meeting 
 held in November, 1791, it was voted to build a school- 
 house 16x20 feet. This was probably the size of the old 
 one. But seven years later they voted to build a school- 
 house 18x30 feet. Many schoolhouses built after 1820 
 were of the size mentioned above. The schoolhouse 
 built in Lewistown District, about the year 1823, was 
 18x30 feet. The house erected at Pond Hill, about the 
 year 1823, which is now standing (1906) was 18x26 feet. 
 Another schoolhouse built in 1852, now standing, is 
 20x24 feet. The smaller schoolhouses had two windows 
 on the side, and probably two on the end opposite the 
 door. The larger schoolhouses had three windows on 
 the side. The one in which the writer attended school, 
 about 1830, was built about 1823; it had three windows 
 on the south side and four on the north. This school- 
 house was first a plain, oblong house, but after 1834 an 
 entry was added, having besides the door, one window. 
 The structure was generally (a one- story building) 
 roughly clapboarded, and more likely paint was lacking, 
 both outside and in. Sometimes the chimney was built 
 in the center, and often at the end. I have met some 
 old people that remember a schoolhouse with a chimney 
 
THE OLD SCHOOLHOUSES. 61 
 
 in each end, each chimney having a large fireplace. The 
 school room was lathed and plastered. Against the 
 wall on three sides of the room was built a continuous 
 shelf about three feet from the floor; long backless 
 benches accompanied it, on which the oldest scholars 
 sat, facing the wall; when they wrote or ciphered they 
 rested their books and slates on it. While they were 
 studying they faced the center of the school room and 
 leaned their backs against the edge of the shelf, trying 
 to feel comfortable. The small children were seated 
 within the three- sided square formed by those of the 
 larger scholars, and on seats made from slabs, the 
 rounded part down. The slabs had each four supports, 
 consisting of straddling wooden legs set into auger holes. 
 The backless benches they occupied were generally 
 far too high for them, leaving their feet dangling in mid 
 air. It was hard for them; no wonder they spent most 
 of the time ''busy" keeping still. Just inside, next the 
 entrance, was the master's desk or table, usually a table 
 in the early days, but later a desk, contrived by the car- 
 penter, set on a slight platform. Besides serving the 
 purpose of a desk, it was a repository for confiscated 
 tops, balls, pen-knives, marbles, jewsharps, whistles, etc. 
 
 It is believed that the schoolhouses built in what 
 is now Naugatuck before 1800 all had large fireplaces. 
 Those later, generally were heated by a Franklin, and 
 still later by a box stove. 
 
 I don't think that we, in Connecticut, ever had in our 
 schoolhouses a whipping post, as was the case in the 
 town of Sunderland, Mass., they having a post set in 
 the floor, about five feet high. 
 
School Books. 
 
 It is difficult to say what school books were used by 
 the scholars at Judd's Meadow in the year of 1730. It 
 would seem from the information now at hand that the 
 New England Primer, published by Benjamin Harris of 
 Boston, about 1690, must have been about the only 
 school book used in Waterbury at that time, 1730. Ev- 
 ery home possessed copies, and they were for sale at all 
 the town and village book shops. For a hundred years 
 this book, more than any other, was the school book of 
 the American dissenters. All of the old editions are now 
 very rare. A copy antedating 1800 would probably 
 bring from five to eight dollars. It is said that this 
 primer was used in the schools of Boston as late as 1806, 
 probably in some parts of New England several years 
 later. There were several editions of the primer. The 
 Evangelical Primer of 1810 was recommended by Noah 
 Webster, Jedediah Morse and the president of Yale col- 
 lege as a valuable book for families and schools. The 
 law passed by the colony in the year 1700 required that: 
 
 "Every Town within this colony, having the num- 
 11 ber of seventy Householders shall provide a sufficient 
 11 School Master to teach Children and Youth to read 
 "and write," etc. 
 
 In Massachusetts only reading and writing were re- 
 quired in the elementary schools until the law of 1779, 
 
SCHOOL BOOKS. 63 
 
 which said there must also be arithmetic, the English 
 language, orthography and decent behavior. Probably 
 arithmetic was taught before 1731 in Judd's Meadow. 
 
 As the law required every county to maintain a Latin 
 school, of course those schools taught arithmetic, so the 
 graduates could teach arithmetic in the public schools. 
 Arithmetic must be taught. The schoolmaster had, of 
 the books imported from England, Hodder's, Dilworth's 
 and probably other English arithmetics. In the year 
 1788 one Nicholas Pike of Newburyport, Mass., pub- 
 lished a new arithmetic; it gained a wide acceptance. 
 Among the many items in the contents, I mention only 
 A Perpetual Almanac, and the proportions and tonnage 
 of Noah's Ark. Only a few of the boys and girls ci- 
 phered beyond division, with a short excursion into vul- 
 gar fractions. Those who penetrated into the Rule of 
 Three won distinction among their mates; and to cipher 
 through "Old Pike," was to be accounted a prodigy; or 
 to use an expression common in those early days, was 
 a "great arithmeticker. " Then came an Introduction to 
 Arithmetic, by Erastus Root of Norwich, Conn. , in 1 796. 
 Queerly enough it omitted fractions; not because "I 
 think useless, but because they are not absolutely nec- 
 essary." A book that rivaled "Old Pike" in populari- 
 ty was the arithmetic by Daniel Adams, published in 
 1801. Another arithmetic by Nathan Daboll, called 
 Daboll's Schoolmaster's Assistant, was very popular. 
 This arithmetic, revised and published in 1837, was the 
 only arithmetic that the writer ever had, and was, as I 
 remember, the only arithmetic in the Lewistown Dis- 
 trict school from about 1838 to 1843, and perhaps later. 
 
64 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 When it was first introduced into the public schools in 
 what is now Naugatuck, I am unable to say. But it was 
 recommended by Noah Webster as early as 1799, and 
 probably found its way to the schools in this section soon 
 after that date. Warren Colburn published in 1821 an 
 arithmetic called Colburn's Intellectual Arithmetic. This 
 was a popular arithmetic, and in the next half century 
 more than two million copies were sold. I believe the 
 first arithmetic that used pictures as an aid to beginners 
 was Barnard's, published at Hartford in 1830. The 
 arithmetic by Roswell C. Smith in 1830; also Thomp- 
 son's Elementary, Emerson's, Underbill's, Greenleaf s 
 and others. 
 
 WRITING. 
 
 Probably the schoolmasters who taught in what is 
 now Naugatuck, as far back as 1731, made a copy for 
 the children, taken from the New England Primer. It 
 was customary to select a word or sentence, as ' ' Happi- 
 ness," "Contentment is a Virtue." 
 
 The paper ordinarily bought for school purposes 
 was rough and dark. Its cost and the scarcity of money 
 led the scholars to use it sparingly. It is said that the 
 children in some cases ciphered on birch bark. In prep- 
 aration for writing the children ruled the paper them- 
 selves with a lead plummet, for there were no lead pen- 
 cils; they did not come into use until after 1830. Even 
 slates were not common until about the year 1820. 
 
 It is said that the handwriting of the colonial chil- 
 dren, judging from those specimens preserved, was 
 equal, if not better, than the writing of a later date. 
 
SCHOOL BOOKS. 65 
 
 Directions to beginners in writing from an old book 
 says that: 
 
 ''Necessary implements are a penknife, quills, 
 "paper, good and free ink, likewife a flat Ruler for 
 " sureneff; and a round one for difpatch; with a leden 
 ' ' Plummet or Pencil to rule Lines; Also Gum Sandrich 
 "Powder with a little Cotton dipped therein, which 
 "rub gently over the Paper to make it bear Ink the 
 "better." 
 
 Occasionally a master had narrow slips of engraved 
 copies that he could distribute among the writers. The 
 first of these copies put forth in this country was pub- 
 lished by the celebrated Boston schoolmaster, Caleb 
 Bingham, in 1796. Huntington's American Penman in 
 1824 gave directions for writing-pupils. Notwithstand- 
 ing the lack of books and opportunities for writing, the 
 young people of those days, especially the girls, man- 
 aged to write as good a hand, if not better, than the 
 young people of a later date. I have seen several let- 
 ters written about one hundred years ago. and I must 
 say that the writing shows that it was done with more 
 care than most of the writing of the present day. As 
 early as 1795 to 1844, perhaps later, most of the larger 
 girls made a sampler, which was expected to be a house- 
 hold treasure ever after. The samplers varied in size, 
 the smaller ones being about 7x9 inches, others 10x12 
 and some 15 inches square. The sampler was of coarse 
 linen, or possibly silk, on which it was the custom to 
 stitch the alphabet in capitals and small letters, the digits, 
 a verse of sentiment, and the worker's name, age, and 
 place of abode. There were also decorations, borders, 
 
66 EARLY SCHOOLS OP NAUGATUCK. 
 
 trees and flowers, animals and people — all resplendent 
 in many colored silks or worsteds. 
 
 FLY LEAF SCRIBBLING. 
 
 Children have always been prone to scribbling. A 
 fair surface of paper, no matter where found, was a 
 temptation and the fingers, at times, must be employed, 
 either in writing or whittling. The first thing the youth- 
 ful owner of a book was likely to do, was to mark it with 
 his name. He might put his signature on the front fly 
 leaf, or write it on the last one, or almost anywhere else 
 in the book. In a geography of 1802 is written: 
 
 " If this book should chance to roam, 
 " Box its ears and send it home." 
 
 Or again: 
 
 11 Steal not this book, for if you do, 
 " Tom Harris will be after you. 
 " Steal not this book for fear of strife, 
 " The owner carries a big jacknife." 
 
 The following sends the reader on a wild goose chase : 
 
 11 If my name you wish to see, 
 "Look on page 103." 
 
 Turn to that page and you find: 
 
 " If my name you cannot find, 
 "Turn to page 109." 
 
 Again you turn to pages bidden: 
 
 " If my name you cannot find, 
 "Shut up the book and never mind." 
 
SCHOOL BOOKS. 67 
 
 I copy one more: 
 
 "If there should be another flood, 
 
 11 Then to this book I'd fly. 
 44 If all the earth should be submerged, 
 
 "This book would still be dry." 
 
 Besides the scroll work — The Diminished Scroll, A 
 Spanish S, etc. 
 
 SPELLING BOOKS. 
 
 As far back as 1730, when Judd's Meadow School Dis- 
 trict was first established, there probably was no special 
 spelling book. It was expected that what the children 
 read out of such books as the Psalter, Testament, or The 
 New England Primer would meet this want. The schol- 
 ars, as they read in the different classes, were expected 
 to spell the words. For a long time spelling books were 
 lacking, and did not become common much before 1750. 
 Dilworth's Speller was used before the Revolution, also 
 Fenning's Speller, which appeared in 1755. Besides 
 44 Tables of Words," there was a chronology of remark- 
 able events. I copy in part: 
 
 " Eleven days of successive snow, A. D. 1674. 
 
 44 A very great comet, 1680. 
 
 44 A terrible high wind Nov, 26th, 1703. 
 
 44 The surprising Meteor and signs in the air,1719." 
 
 I suppose the above occurred in England. But I 
 doubt if the children at Judd's Meadow had many spell- 
 ing books besides the Psalter, Primer, Testament and 
 the Bible, before Noah Webster published his first spell- 
 ing book in the year of 1783. One of the first effects of 
 
68 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 the publication of Webster's spelling book was to make 
 spelling a craze. Spelling had been but little taught, 
 but now it created much interest, and the scholar who 
 could ' ' spell down the whole school " ranked second only 
 to him who surpassed the rest in arithmetic. Many of 
 us well remember the quarter and nine-pence. Each 
 prize coin was drilled and hung on a string, and the 
 winners in the afternoon spelling lessons marched 
 proudly with the coins suspended from their necks, often 
 to be surrendered the next day to a successful rival. A 
 record was kept and at the end of the term the child 
 who had carried the coin home the greatest number of 
 times was given full possession. The spelling matches 
 were also a common recreation of the winter evenings, 
 and from time to time neighboring districts sent their 
 best spellers to contend for honors in friendly combat. 
 To these evening contests came not only the scholars, 
 but the older brothers and sisters and the rest of the 
 community. Later there was published a spelling book 
 by Caleb Bingham; but in the territory of Naugatuck 
 the writer believes that Noah Webster held the field 
 until about 1850. One of the fables in Webster's book, 
 that impressed the children, and no child ever forgot it, 
 was the story of "The Boy that Stole Apples." Caleb 
 Alexander's spelling book in 1799; Perry's edition in 1803 
 and 1818; The Columbian Primer in 1802 and 1827; Jones' 
 in 1823; Parsons' in 1836, and others. But the best ev- 
 idence that Noah Webster's Spelling Book was the pop- 
 ular book, is to mention the fact that over 24 millions 
 of copies were published. I should not omit Watts' 
 Complete Spelling Book, used in colonial days. 
 
SCHOOL BOOKS. 69 
 
 GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 I doubt if the children in Judd's Meadow District 
 ever had a gegoraphy, for those books were rare before 
 1784, and before that time the Judd's Meadow District 
 was merged into other districts. Jedediah Morse first 
 published a geography in the year 1784. There is now no 
 means of ascertaining whether geography was used in 
 the public schools in Naugatuck before about 1800. 
 Peter Parley writes that he attended school in Ridge- 
 field, Conn., in the year 1799, and that there was not at 
 that time a geography, a grammar, or a history of any 
 kind in the school. The old notion was that the teach- 
 ing of geography was taking the scholars' attention 
 away from ciphering. But geography was afterwards 
 recognized and Morse's Geography was introduced into 
 the public schools soon after 1800. The earliest rival 
 of Morse's was a small volume by Nathaniel Dwight 
 published in Hartford in 1795; The Monitor's Instructor 
 published in 1804; another by Benjamin Davis, pub 
 lished in 1813; Cummings' Geography in 1814; Adams 
 in 1818; then there was Worcester's, published in 1829 
 Peter Parley's in 1829, and another edition in 1839; geog 
 raphy by Olney in 1831; then came Woodbridge's in 1833 
 Goodrich was in the field in 1845; then Mitchell's fol 
 lowed in 1850. and several others. In Dwight's Geogra 
 phy the principal cities were located by giving their 
 distance from London, thus: 
 
 "Petersburg, the capital of Russia, is 1140 miles 
 " Northeaft from London. Pekin, the capital of China, 
 "ftands eight thoufand and fixty-two miles foutheaft- 
 "erly of London," etc. 
 
70 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 11 Q. What curiofities are there in France? 
 
 " A. A fountain near Grenoble emits a flame which 
 "will burn paper, straw, etc., but will not burn gun- 
 4 'powder. Within about eight leagues of the fame 
 " place is an inaccetfable mountain in the form of a pyr- 
 4 'amid reverfed. 
 
 "Q. Give a concife defcription of the Giages and 
 " Annians. 
 
 "A. The firft inhabit a part of the Congo coaft; 
 " the latter live in the Macaco. They are cannibals. 
 " They kill and eat their first born children, and their 
 " friends who die are eaten by their relations. In 
 " Macaco there is a market in which human flefh is 
 "fold, although other meat exifts in plenty. They 
 "efteem it a luxury, and it is said one hundred prif- 
 " oners or f laves are daily killed for the king's table." 
 
 Cummings' geography, printed in 1814, says: 
 
 "The Alleghany mountains are in some places im- 
 " mense masses of rock piled one above another till 
 " they reach the height of more than 10,000 feet above 
 "a level with the ocean." 
 
 Lewis and Clark had already crossed the continent, 
 and we find mention of the " Stoney Mountains." It 
 was a number of years before the name "Rocky" was 
 substituted for "Stoney." In Adams', published in 
 1818, we find: 
 
 ' The White Mountains are the highest, not only 
 "in New Hampshire, but in the United States." 
 
 The following from Adams' geography says: 
 
 "The people of Norway retain their strength so 
 "long that a Norwegian is not supposed incapable of 
 
SCHOOL BOOKS. 71 
 
 "labour till he is upwards of 100 years old. The in- 
 habitants in some of the interior parts, it is said, 
 " live till weary of life." 
 
 Peter Parley's geography, a thin, square little 
 book, with its pictures and stories, had an immense cir- 
 culation, and no boy of its time will ever forget it. 
 
 GRAMMARS. 
 
 I have not seen a list of English grammars used in 
 colonial days. The American Grammar, by Robert 
 Boss, published in 1782, I have seen in an old advertise- 
 ment. It may have been used in the public schools be- 
 fore Caleb Bingham issued his Short and Easy Intro- 
 duction to English Grammar, published in 1799, its 
 only predecessor of importance being Part II. of 
 Webster's Grammatical Institute. But Lindley Mur- 
 ray published in 1795 his grammar, which took and held 
 the field for many years, almost to the exclusion of ev- 
 ery other work dealing with the subject. I have at hand 
 an advertisement of school books in 1802, and I find 
 mentioned only one grammar, Murray's, with several of 
 his other books: English Reader, Grammar Abridged, 
 etc., Dilworth's and Webster's Spelling Books. In the 
 lists are School Testaments, Watts' Hymns, Young's 
 Night Thoughts, Pike's Arrithmetic, Sewell's History, 
 Morse's Geography, iEsop Fables, Paradise Lost, Blos- 
 soms of Morality, and many other books. 
 
 There is a tradition that a friend of Murray's once 
 said to him: 
 
 " Of all the contrivances invented for puzzling the 
 " brain of the young, your grammar is the worst." 
 6 
 
72 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 And this is quite believable. The study of gram- 
 mar had been introduced into many of the public schools 
 by 1810, yet few teachers explained its intricacies. It 
 is said that about 1795, in a Pennsylvania school, that 
 some scholars, after a short experience with the new 
 study, organized for relief, and each scholar appeared 
 to the master with a report that: 
 
 " Daddy seys I needn't larn grammar. It's no use." 
 
 The most attractive edition of Murray's grammar 
 was one adapted to the present mode of instruction, by 
 Enoch Pond, Worcester, 1835, a thin little volume, with 
 many small engravings illustrating parts of speech. 
 Then came The Little Grammarian. It was of English 
 origin, but was republished in New York in 1829. This 
 book made the leading rules of syntax more clear by a 
 series of instructive and amusing tales. 
 
 Another book allied to grammar was Frost's Easy 
 Exercises in Composition in 1839, and Roswell Smith's 
 Grammar, and other grammars. 
 
 The writer does not intend to state exactly what 
 grammars were used in the Naugatuck schools, but to 
 give the names of some of the books in print in those 
 days. 
 
 HISTORIES. 
 
 History was not taken up in the schools until the 
 nineteenth century was well begun. The writer does 
 not know what histories were first used in the public 
 schools in Naugatuck. There were in 1802, Sewell's, 
 Gordon's, and other histories. Probably some of the 
 American histories were first used. Rev. C. A. Good- 
 
SCHOOL BOOKS. 73 
 
 rich published his history in 1822. This surpassed all 
 rivals in popularity. Within a dozen years 150 thousand 
 copies had been sold. Several universal histories were 
 published. Butler's, one of the first to be brought out, 
 included, according to the title page, "History, Sacred 
 and Profane, from the Creation of the World to the Year 
 1818." Of the other histories there were Taylor's, 
 Olney's and Peter Parley's, the last running up into 
 hundreds of editions. 
 
 PRIMARY READERS. 
 
 Readers of any sort for beginners were very few 
 previous to 1825. The Franklin Primer, published in 
 1802 was intended as a substitute for the primer. It 
 contained a variety of tables, moral lessons, etc., with a 
 history of the world. The next book of this class was 
 The Child's Instructor, published in Philadelphia in 
 1808. Then comes the Child's Instructor and Moral 
 Primer in 1822; Leave tt's Easy Lessons in Reading, pub- 
 lished in 1823, followed by his supplement in 1830. 
 
 Then the Clinton Primer, published in Boston the 
 same year, followed by The Child's Guide in 1833. 
 Then we have Pierpont's, The Young Reader, and Lov- 
 ell's Young People's Second Book, in 1836, following the 
 plan of The Child's Guide in the use of italics, but the 
 book was noted for its superior pictures. There were 
 other readers, but I think Lovell's Reader was used in 
 the Naugatuck schools later than 1850. 
 
74 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 ADVANCED READERS. 
 
 The first reader produced on this side of the Atlantic 
 was by Noah Webster, soon after the Revolution, as the 
 Third Part of his Grammatical Institute, Previously the 
 spelling book and New England Primer were the only 
 text books containing exercises in reading. About 1790 
 Webster published another reader, called The Little 
 Reader's Assistant. One of the most popular of the 
 early readers was Caleb Bingham's, The American Pre- 
 ceptor, Boston, 1794. Another book of Bingham's, pub- 
 lished about 1806, called the Columbian Orator. Noth- 
 ing in this book was of tener heard from the school plat- 
 form than, ''You'd scarce expect one of my age," etc. 
 But the most thoroughly illustrated of any of the earlier 
 readers was a book published in Philadelphia in 1799, 
 called The Columbian Reading Book, or Historical Pre- 
 ceptor, " Collection of Authentic Histories, Anecdotes, 
 etc." From over 160 short lessons I have only space for 
 
 one: 
 
 "A white man meeting- an Indian asked him, 
 11 whose Indian are you? To which the copper-faced 
 11 genius replied: I am God Almighty's Indian, whose 
 11 Indian are you?" 
 
 Scott's and Lindley Murray's were the only ones by 
 English compilers to be widely circulated in this coun- 
 try. The information imparted was sometimes pecu- 
 liar and would hardly pass at the present day. For in- 
 stance: 
 
 11 What is said about the Cataract of Niagara?" 
 
SCHOOL BOOKS. 75 
 
 After describing the amazing fall of water of 150 
 feet perpendicular, etc., says: 
 
 "It will be readily supposed that such a cataract 
 "entirely destroys the navigation of the stream; and 
 "yet some Indians in their canoes, it is said, have 
 "ventured down it in safety." 
 
 Then we have the Common Reader, by T. Strong 
 of Greenfield, Mass., in 1818; The National Reader, by 
 Pierpont, in 1827; The General Class Book, published 
 in 1828; National Preceptor, by J. Olney, in 1831. I 
 have the sixth edition, published in 1839. This shows 
 that this reading book had considerable popularity. 
 There were plenty of readers to choose from. The last 
 one that I will mention is Adams', The Monitorial Read- 
 er, published in 1839. I cannot resist the temptation to 
 copy at least one of the four verses found in Adams' 
 Reader, entitled: 
 
 "THE POT OF BAKED BEANS. 
 
 "The pot of baked beans! with what pleasure I saw it, 
 "Well season'd, well pork'd by some rosy fac'd dame, 
 
 " And when from the glowing- hot oven she'd draw it, 
 "Well crisp'd and well brown'd to the table it came; 
 " O, give me my country, the land of my teens, 
 " Of the dark Indian pudding, and pot of bak'd beans." 
 
Union Center School District. 
 
 It is not the intention of the writer to give a histo- 
 ry of the Union Center School District, though it is 
 earnestly desired that some one in the future should 
 write out a complete history of this district. 
 
 As the lost records of the Union Center School Dis- 
 trict have not yet been found, and as it seems desirable 
 that the able article contributed by the Hon. Stephen 
 W. Kellogg, concerning the early formation of the 
 school in the Union Center District should not be lost, 
 the writer, with the kind permission of Mrs. John B. 
 Yale (who perhaps has the only copy), has thought it 
 best to preserve the information therein contained for 
 future use: 
 
 AN INTERESTING LETTER FROM THE 
 PEN OF GEN. S. W. KELLOGG. 
 
 STRUGGLE OVER CONSOLIDATING THE FIVE DISTRICTS IN THE 
 
 TOWN OF NAUGATUCK IN ORDER TO HAVE A GRADED 
 
 SCHOOL— ASSISTANCE OF HENRY BARNARD. 
 
 To the Editor of the American: 
 
 The recent death of the Hon. Henry Barnard, at Hartford, has 
 recalled a former intimacy I had with him in common school work 
 50 years ago. I was a young lawyer in Naugatuck, having opened 
 my first office there. The first year of my residence, I was put on 
 
UNION CENTER SCHOOL DISTRICT. ! 77 
 
 the board of school visitors and made an acting school visitor. 
 Business was not very pressing in my office, so I had plenty of time 
 to discharge the duties, and I endeavored to do so faithfully. The 
 law required an acting school visitor to visit all the schools of the 
 town twice at least during each session, and the visits were usu- 
 ally made soon after the commencement and near the close of the 
 session, for the purpose of seeing what improvements were made. 
 The compensation, as provided by law then, was $1 a day for act- 
 ual time spent; so if I only spent one-half day in school, all that I 
 could get for my compensation was 50 cents. I found the schools 
 in a terrible condition. Some of the schoolhouses were not fit for 
 an ordinary stable, and children in every one of the schools, schol- 
 ars of all ages, sat together, ranging from 4 to 20 years of age. I 
 once taught a common school in the winter in western Massachu- 
 setts, where the oldest scholar was 24 years old and the youngest 
 3, and that was the only kind of school that they had in the town 
 of Naugatuck when I went there. There were eight school dis- 
 tricts, and none of them were large enough or rich enough to 
 build a decent schoolhouse. 
 
 On looking the matter over and talking with some of the lead- 
 ing men of Naugatuck at that time, who are all dead and gone now, 
 we were determined that something should be done to improve the 
 school system in Naugatuck. I opened a correspondence with Hon. 
 Henry Barnard, who had recently been appointed superintendent 
 of common schools of the state under the laws of 1849, and who bad 
 spent 10 years or more in Rhode Island in building up an improved 
 common school system, the chief feature of which was graded 
 schools, so called; and Connecticut, which was 10 years or more 
 behind Rhode Island and Massachusetts at that time in the mat- 
 ter of schools, had just awoke to the necessity of doing something 
 here. Massachusetts, under the head of Horace Mann, and Rhode 
 Island, under the head of Henry Barnard, had far outstripped 
 Connecticut in the improvement of common schools. Prior to the 
 appointment of Henry Barnard as superintendent of schools, the 
 old school fund commissioner by law was the superintendent of 
 common schools in Connecticut; and he paid about as much atten- 
 tion to it as a man having all the work he could do besides could 
 
78 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 give. After some correspondence with Mr. Barnard, he arranged 
 to come to Naugatuck and look the ground over with me. He 
 spent a day with me there, and he said the only remedy was to 
 consolidate several of the school districts, and make a graded 
 school. Waterbury had already established the graded school in 
 the Center District, but a great portion of the people of Naugatuck 
 thought the time had not come for any such innovation, and the 
 project was bitterly opposed. There was more excitement over it 
 for a year or more than over any political question that I ever ex- 
 perienced, for it was kept up month after month during the whole 
 time. I was repeatedly threatened with being driven out of town 
 if I persisted in working for the change of the old school districts; 
 but I had no idea of being beaten after I had once taken hold of 
 the matter, and we kept agitating the question until we finally 
 succeeded, after 10 meetings or more, in getting a vote of the 
 school society of Naugatuck to consolidate five out of the eight 
 districts of the town. These districts were then called the Center, 
 Lewistown, Partridgetown, City and Hill districts, and they were 
 formed into one district, called the First school district, now called 
 Union Center district, I believe; and to the people who now think 
 that a schoolhouse cannot be built for less than $50,000 or $60,000, 
 it may be interesting to know that 50 years ago an expense of 
 $4,000 for making a graded schoolhouse and the repair of other 
 houses was all that was thought necessary in Naugatuck. Four 
 thousand dollars was all that was raised for the purchase of a site 
 and building a new schoolhouse for the older grade of scholars; 
 and the district felt the burden of raising that sum as too great to 
 begin with. So I drew a resolution, in accordance with instruc- 
 tions of the district committee, which I got passed by the Legis- 
 lature in 1852, authorizing the First school district of Naugatuck 
 to borrow a sum of money not exceeding $2,500 at a rate of interest 
 not exceeding 7 per cent, as it was difficult to get the money at a 
 legal rate of interest. I never had a harder fight in any law case 
 than I did during the years 1850 and 1851 in bringing about a con- 
 solidation of the five districts; and the excitement over the ques- 
 tion seems a little ridiculous at this distance of time. 
 
 Another instance of the economy of those days is the fact that 
 
UNION CENTER SCHOOL DISTRICT. ?9 
 
 the state superintendent of common schools was obliged by law to 
 travel all over the state in the interest of common schools, and 
 hold conventions of teachers, and all that he was allowed for his 
 services was $3 a day. Henry Barnard was a rising young lawyer 
 in Hartford back in the thirties, a prominent member of the Leg- 
 islature, I believe, and bid fair to be one of the first lawyers of the 
 state; yet he gave up all his prospects of life in that direction to 
 devote his life to the improvement of common schools. He spent 
 10 years or more of that work in Rhode Island before he took the 
 place of state superintendent in Connecticut under the law of 1849. 
 His whole life was given to the cause of education, and in his late 
 years, being poor, his friends voluntarily raised a sum of money to 
 insure him the comforts of life in his last days. 
 
 The school buildings of Naugatuck are a very different affair 
 now from the humble beginning of 50 years ago; and the town of 
 Naugatuck is indebted to the public spirit and generosity of J .H. 
 Whittemore more than to all others for the schoolhouse that 
 stands near the churches in the Center district. 
 
 Naugatuck has excellent schools now, as I understand; prob- 
 ably as good as those of Waterbury or most of the other large 
 places in this state. A new parochial school buildmg has been re- 
 cently erected, which is a very fine building, and will probably add 
 much to the facilities of education in Naugatuck. The chidren of 
 this day little realize the great contrast between the advantages 
 for education that they enjoy, and those of their fathers and moth- 
 ers, 40 or 50 years ago. 
 
 One of the most important improvements in education in re- 
 cent years has been the physical instruction of the chi dren A 
 mental education is worth very little for a child's happiness and 
 Tccess in future years, unless a good sound head and body go with 
 t "^ S a»« Uore W-a sound mind in a sound b d 
 -is a maxim as old as the latin classics. Young children need 
 tWs iXctiOB in schools much more than the extra outside 
 thine-s that are now taught them. 
 
 ft was passing strange to some of us that a board of education 
 recently!! majority of whom were doctors, should drop a course 
 of physical instruction in onr schools here, after having the ben- 
 
80 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 efit of it for two or three years. They dropped a teacher, too, who 
 was singularly well qualified for the position, without notice, or 
 without giving her an opportunity to resign. As one of our best 
 teachers said to me, her bloom of health and her physical energy 
 was such, that it was an inspiration to the children the moment 
 she entered the schoolroom. Economy in our schools had better 
 have been exercised in some other direction, than in dispensing 
 with the physical instruction of children, which is all important 
 in their education. We all take pride in the improvement of our 
 public schools, but there is a tendency to extravagance and loose- 
 ness of appropriation in this direction which will bear watching. 
 The board of education in Hartford, within a few days, recommend- 
 ed an appropriation of $40,000 for free school books, etc., if the 
 papers inform us correctly. That was a little too much for the 
 city government, and the matter was referred to the city attorney. 
 What the result is I have not seen. 
 
 The great hope and safeguard for the future of this country is 
 in our public schools, and the best means of improving the condi- 
 tion and advancing the civilization of the new possessions that 
 have recently come to this country and also of Cuba, will be found 
 in their public education. We have had the interesting spectacle 
 of 1,200 Cuban teachers coming to us this summer and devoting the 
 summer months to work in the best methods of teaching, under 
 the walls of Harvard university. It is one of the most encourag- 
 ing signs of the desire of those people for a better education, that 
 this year has given us. The public education of the children in 
 Cuba, and in all our new possessions, will advance the cause of civ- 
 ilization there more rapidly than all other means combined. 
 
 S. W. KELLOGG. 
 
Private or Select Schools. 
 
 It is desirable that some mention be made of the 
 private or select schools that existed in the early days 
 in what is now Naugatuck. The first private or select 
 school that the writer has any knowledge of, was the 
 school commenced by the Rev. Amos Pettengill a few 
 years before his death (which occurred in August, 1830). 
 This school was continued until about the year 1837, by 
 his daughter, Mary Ann Pettengill, and her brother 
 Benjamin. They taught in the upper story in the house 
 then called the Pettengill house, located on High street. 
 This house is still standing. 
 
 Mention should be made of the Naugatuck Female 
 Seminary, as it was called in their prospectus. This 
 was a young ladies' boarding school (probably one of the 
 two or three then existing in New Haven county). This 
 school was managed by Miss Margaret Marshall and 
 Miss Elizabeth Crafts from Troy, N. Y. Their school, 
 as stated, was to commence on the first Monday of Octo- 
 ber, 1839, at the house of Mrs. Fanny Fowler, Church 
 
 Stre Another select school, taught by Mr. Gustavus 
 Spencer, winter of 1835 and '36, at the house of Daniel 
 Beecher. He was a very competent teacher, and was a 
 graduate of Yale. 
 
 During the winter of 1842 and '43 Mr. Joseph Sal- 
 keld, a graduate of William and Mary's college, Virginia, 
 
82 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 taught a select school in the house of Mrs. Fanny Fow- 
 ler on Church street. The writer well remembers the 
 winter of 1842 and '43, as at that time the larger boys 
 had a debating society in good working order. We 
 often met in the old red schoolhouse near the ceme- 
 tery, and debated many of the great questions that 
 were then interesting the people. We had substan- 
 tial help from the school on Church street. One of the 
 scholars from that school was quite prominent in our 
 meetings, and was later well known in this valley as 
 Judge Harris B. Munson. The excitement of the earn- 
 est and lively debates, together with the spicy and hu- 
 morous reports of the meeting by one who signed him- 
 self Snodgrass, will long be remembered by those who 
 participated in those pleasures of bygone days. 
 
 A Mr. Freeman, friend of the Rev. Chauncey G. 
 Lee, taught several terms, about the year 1840, in the 
 upper part of the building used by William DeForest & 
 Co. as a finishing shop. 
 
 I am informed that about the year 1848 or '49 Miss 
 Lucy Thayer taught a private school for several terms 
 in a building then standing on the east side of Water 
 street. This building was afterwards known as the old 
 lockup. The writer is also informed that Miss Lucia H. 
 Andrews taught in the same building a few years later 
 a private or select school. Miss Andrews is now (1906) 
 the widow of the late Hon. Stephen W. Kellogg. 
 
 Also a number of other private schools, one of them 
 in the old gate house on the east side of Church street. 
 
 Other private schools have been maintained in 
 Naugatuck from time to time since 1850. 
 
Tabitha Castle and her School of 
 a Hundred Years Ago. 
 
 The writer believes that a history of Tabby (or 
 Tabitha) Castle's school will be a history in part of one 
 section of the town of Naugatuck: 
 
 In searching back for the history of the schools of 
 the olden time, we find a few of the names of the school 
 teachers who cared for the early education of some of 
 our fathers and mothers, or our grandfathers and 
 grandmothers. 
 
 One hundred years ago a little schoolhouse was 
 standing on the hill in Lewistown district, surrounded 
 on three sides by a heavy growth of timber called Scott's 
 woods. This schoolhouse was located on a hill (now 
 Scott street), and in a pleasant place above the valley. 
 One standing in 1804 at its front and looking into the 
 valley and towards the hills beyond, could have counted 
 five or six farm houses in sight, they being only a 
 part of the farm houses within the district lines. The 
 whole number of farm houses in view not exceeding 
 eleven or twelve. 
 
 The schoolhouse mentioned above was probably 
 built soon after the Lewistown district was organized, 
 which was in the year of 1779. No records of this 
 school district can be found ; all excepting a few 
 
84 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 scattered papers are lost, It was in this small unpre- 
 tending building during, the summer of 1804, that the 
 care, government and education of the young people of 
 Lewistown district were placed under the care and dis- 
 cipline of Miss Tabitha Castle, who by her gentle in- 
 fluence, united with a firm and reasonable government, 
 controlled and guided her scholars so as to promote 
 their education and fit them later to become good and 
 useful citizens. 
 
 Tabitha Castle was born in Waterbury, March 19, 
 1772. She was the third child of the ten children born 
 to Phineas and Mary Dickerman Castle. Her father, 
 Capt. Phineas, was a captain in the French and Indian 
 war and also served in the Revolution. His daughters, 
 Polly M. and Tabitha, were noted school teachers. The 
 former taught in Cheshire, now Prospect, and Tabitha 
 who taught in Middlebury and Waterbury, now Nauga- 
 tuck. 
 
 If we allowed our minds to wander back one hun- 
 dred years ago, we might imagine Miss Tabitha Castle 
 teaching in the old schoolhouse among her scholars, 
 consisting of thirty boys and twenty-five girls. It is 
 somewhat difficult to describe the exact routine of a 
 school one hundred years ago, but we can imagine Miss 
 Castle commencing with reading from the Testament 
 by the first class, next prayers, then writing, with its 
 preparation of pens and copies, not omitting the thaw- 
 ing and watering of ink. Then perhaps the smaller 
 children were called out to repeat a few easy sentences 
 from their primer or spelling books. About half past 
 ten the welcome words, "You may go out," were said. 
 
TABITHA CASTLE'S SCHOOL. 85 
 
 The recess was short, but the scholars made the most 
 of it. Then the sharp rap of the ferule on the door post 
 would bring them back. Work was resumed, and the 
 rest of the session was spent in a general spelling and 
 other exercises. The afternoon probably began with 
 reading by the first class, and then the other classes re- 
 cited in turn until recess. The final hour was devoted 
 to spelling once more, with minor instructions in abbre- 
 viation, currencies, weights, etc. 
 
 One familiar to many of her scholars as they ap- 
 peared to the writer some forty years later, can imagine 
 Miss Castle as she called upon one at a time, little Nan- 
 cy Calkins or Josiah Culver, and the little Scott boys, 
 Elias and Lewis, twin brothers, and others; and point- 
 ing perhaps with her pen-knife to the letters of the al- 
 phabet, saying, ' ' What's that?" Peter Parley says that 
 he achieved the alphabet all in one summer. I presume 
 that Miss Castle's small scholars did at well. The sec- 
 ond class was composed of nine boys and nine girls, and 
 Miss Castle gave her best efforts in improving the minds 
 of the three Hoadleys, Lucian Spencer, also the Culver 
 boys, not forgetting William DeForest and others. The 
 nine' girls had to be looked after. The two Warner 
 girls, the Spencer, Scott, Beckley and Caulkins girls, 
 not forgetting the youngest, Laura Terrell. Their 
 studies were probably confined to reading, writing and 
 spelling, but it must have required the best efforts of 
 Miss Castle to keep these sixteen boys of her first class 
 in line and order, for nine of them were over twelve 
 years of age. The writer knew nearly all of them in their 
 after years, and have no doubt that her example and 
 
86 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 influence were most beneficial. The fifteen girls of her 
 first class, so far as I can learn, all proved to the com- 
 munities where they afterward lived, that their moral, 
 mental and religious education had not been in vain. 
 
 In the olden time, that is, one hundred years ago, 
 it is probable that in the district schools in Connecticut, 
 especially in the small towns, only Webster, s spelling 
 book, called the American Spelling Book, was used. 
 About 1790 Webster published a book called The Little 
 Reader's Assistant. This, and the old New England 
 Primer, new edition of 1791, was probably used in Miss 
 Castle's school. Writing must be taught, but the most 
 important of all was arithmetic. Daball's appears to 
 have been mostly used in Connecticut at that time. I 
 doubt if Murray's grammar, published in 1795, or Morse's 
 geography, although published in 1784, and a new edi- 
 tion in 1800, were used in the district schools in 1804 in 
 what is now Naugatuck. 
 
 It is said that Harvard college first required a knowl- 
 edge of geography as a condition for entering that uni- 
 versity in 1815. 
 
 For her faithful service Miss Castle received, as ap- 
 pears by the following: 
 
 Salem, Nov. 28, 1804. 
 " Received of Mr. Culpepper Hoadley for teaching 
 "summer school in Lewis district the sum of $30 in full 
 "amount. 
 
 Tabby Castle." 
 
 The summer term in 1804 consisted of twenty-four 
 weeks, compensation $1.25 per week. The winter school 
 covered fifteen weeks, at $1.62-£ per week. 
 
TABITHA CASTLE'S SCHOOL. 87 
 
 Samuel Scott, in the winter time, was allowed for 
 boarding Miss Castle ten weeks seven and 50-100 ($7.50) 
 dollars. It is interesting to those who remember the 
 families that were living at that time to recall the names 
 of the families that Miss Castle boarded with. I copy 
 from the record that she left. It appears that she 
 boarded around in the summer the entire six months, 
 but there were a few families living in the remote parts 
 of the district that were not honored by the presence of 
 Miss Castle, viz.: Mr. Chester Hoadley, Mr. Philo 
 Hoadley, Mr. Asahel Lewis and others. From the rec- 
 ord it appears that some of the convenient places for the 
 teacher to board, were in the following named families: 
 
 Deacon Calvin Spenter 2 weeks and 4 days. 
 
 Mr. Albin Terrell 2 " " 1 day. 
 
 Mr.EzraLewis 2 " " 4 days. 
 
 Mr.AsaScott 2 " " 1 day. 
 
 Mr. Jonah Woodruff 2 " " 1 day. 
 
 Mr. Culpepper Hoadley 2 
 
 Mr. Stephen Warner 2 " " 3 days. 
 
 and others; but in the cold and dreary winter a less num- 
 ber of families were favored with the presence of Miss 
 Castle. In the winter of 1803 and '04 those favored 
 were: Esq. Lewis, six days; Mr. Ezra Lewis, five days; 
 Mr. Culpepper Hoadley, four days; Mr. Enoch Scott, 
 four days; Mr. Jonah Woodruff, four days; Mr. Samuel 
 S. Lewis, three days; Mr. Calvin Spencer, Mr. Amos 
 Culver and Albin Terrell, each one day. 
 
 But Mr. Chester Hoadley, who lived upon the moun- 
 tain, must be honored by the presence of the school 
 teacher, so Miss Castle boarded in his family four days, 
 even in winter time. 
 
 7 
 
88 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 It was convenient in winter to board with Mr. Sam- 
 uel Scott and in bad weather, so Miss Castle boarded in 
 his family for ten weeks, for which he was paid 75 cents 
 per week. 
 
 The writer after much work has endeavored to make 
 out a roll of honor as nearly correct as possible. If the 
 roll of honor had been made out in 1804, as was the cus- 
 tom in later years, it would be as follows: 
 
 THE ROLL OP HONOR FOR THE TERM BEGINNING MAY 
 16, 1804. — TABBY CASTLE, TEACHER. 
 
 Name 
 
 Age 
 
 Name 
 
 Age 
 
 1 Gordon Lewis Beckley, 
 
 16 
 
 29 Fanny Porter, 
 
 16 
 
 2 Flora " 
 
 13 
 
 30 Thomas Spencer, 
 
 16 
 
 3 Leva " 
 
 9 
 
 31 Harris " 
 
 13 
 
 4 Lucy Calkins, 
 
 15 
 
 32 Lockey " 
 
 11 
 
 5 Marcia " 
 
 13 
 
 33 Lucian " 
 
 9 
 
 6 Julia 
 
 10 
 
 34 Esther " 
 
 7 
 
 7 Chloe " 
 
 8 
 
 35 Ransom Scott, 
 
 12 
 
 8 Nancy " 
 
 5 
 
 36 Lucy " 
 
 11 
 
 9 Clarissa Culver, 
 
 13 
 
 37 Julia " 
 
 9 
 
 10 Susan " 
 
 10 
 
 38 David S. " 
 
 7 
 
 11 Ransom " 
 
 7 
 
 39 Harvey " 
 
 14 
 
 12 Josiah " 
 
 5 
 
 40 Betsy " 
 
 12 
 
 13 Curtis " 
 
 7 
 
 41 Ruth " 
 
 10 
 
 14 Wm DeForest, 
 
 7 
 
 42 Elias " 
 
 5 
 
 15 Hial Hoadley, 
 
 13 
 
 43 Lewis " 
 
 5 
 
 16 Harvey " 
 
 13 
 
 44 Clara Smith, 
 
 14 
 
 17 Reuben " 
 
 10 
 
 45 Comfort " 
 
 12 
 
 18 Lewis M. " 
 
 7 
 
 46 John " 
 
 10 
 
 19 David S. " 
 
 5 
 
 47 Celista Terrell, 
 
 10 
 
 20 Samuel " 
 
 14 
 
 48 Hasard " 
 
 8 
 
 21 Leonard " 
 
 12 
 
 49 Laura " 
 
 6 
 
 22 Larmon " 
 
 9 
 
 50 Baldwin Warner, 
 
 11 
 
 23 Alvin " 
 
 6 
 
 51 Sally " 
 
 9 
 
 24 Milo Lewis, 
 
 15 
 
 52 Clarissa " 
 
 6 
 
 25 Selden " 
 
 13 
 
 53 Jonah Woodruff, 
 
 16 
 
 26 Eunice " 
 
 8 
 
 54 Mabel " 
 
 10 
 
 27 Lanson " 
 
 16 
 
 55 Abiah " 
 
 8 
 
 28 Larmon " 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 30 boys and 25 girls. . 
 
TABITHA CASTLE'S SCHOOL. 89 
 
 Of the thirty boys that attended Miss Castle's 
 school, thirteen lived and died within the limits of Nau- 
 gatuck. 
 
 The average duration of their lives was over 61 years. 
 
 All of the thirteen afterwards married, with the ex- 
 ception of Lanson Lewis; he died a young man at the 
 age of 25 years. 
 
 Many lived to be over 70 years of age, and one, Mr. 
 Josiah Culver, reached the advanced age of nearly 90 
 
 years. 
 
 Of the thirteen boys, seven became farmers, besides 
 the two that were merchants and farmers. Two others 
 engaged in manufacturing and farming. 
 
 Two of her scholars afterward followed the occupa- 
 tion of house carpenters. 
 
 Four of Miss Castle's boy scholars died in the state 
 of Ohio, three in the state of New York and one of them 
 in the state of Illinois; one in South America; one in 
 New Orleans, La. ; two in Oxford, Conn., and one in each 
 of the following named towns: Bethany, Derby, Sey- 
 mour, and New Haven, Conn; place of death unknown, 1. 
 
 One of Miss Castle's scholars who resided in Nau- 
 gatuck the greater part of his life, and died in New 
 Haven, Conn., deserves mention. I refer to Mr. Wm. 
 C DeForest. He, in early life, engaged in the manu- 
 facture of woolen cloth. He was at one time in partner- 
 ship with one Leverett Candee. 
 
 Their factory was located on what is now Rubber 
 Avenue, and on the ground now occupied by the Good- 
 year Metallic Rubber Shoe Co. In the year of 1825 Mr. 
 DeForest purchased of Jesse Wooster the old grist mill, 
 
90 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 built by Samuel Scott, which stood near the south end 
 of Church street. Mr. DeForest formed a partnership 
 with Henry Hine, the name of the firm being Wm. De- 
 Forest & Co. The company enlarged the old mill, be- 
 sides building a new factory near it. This company 
 carried on an extensive business, and were prominent 
 as manufacturers of satinet cloth, having at one time 
 three cloth mills in operation, one at Naugatuck, one in 
 Waterbury, and another at Quaker's Farms in the town 
 of Oxford. 
 
 Mr. DeForest possessed a kind disposition and his 
 generous acts of charity, his earnest efforts to improve 
 the town, and his successful work to sustain the Episco- 
 pal church, will long be remembered. It may be of in- 
 terest to the people of Naugatuck, who are so much in- 
 terested in the rubber over- shoe industry, to know that 
 the first rubber over- shoe was lasted in the office of Wm. 
 DeForest & Co. Probably in the year of 1842, I regret 
 that I cannot give the exact date, four or more persons 
 met Mr. Charles Goodyear, the inventor, at the woolen 
 factory office of the Wm. DeForest Co. Besides Mr. 
 Goodyear and his daughter, Miss Ellen Goodyear, there 
 were present Mr. Wm. DeForest, Mr. Milo Lewis, Mr. 
 Samuel J. Lewis, and Mr. Wm. H. Elliott, of New Ha- 
 ven, Conn. Mr. Goodyear had provided the materials 
 and lasts for the purpose of vulcanizing a rubber over- 
 shoe on a last. The success of this experiment unboubt- 
 edly led up to the establishment of Naugatuck's great- 
 est industry. Mr. DeForest died in New Haven June 
 10, 1879, aged over 82 years. 
 
 Mr. Milo Lewis was also prominent as a manufact- 
 
TABITHAiCASTLE'S SCHOOL. 91 
 
 urer in Naugatuck. His factory was located in Cotton 
 Hollow. Mr. Lewis carried on the manufacture of cot- 
 ton warp for a number of years, and employed a large 
 number of hands. 
 
 Only one of Miss Castle's scholars received a college 
 education, Mr. Lucian Spencer, who was a graduate of 
 Schenectady college in the year of 1823. He studied 
 medicine with Dr. Cornwall of Cheshire, Conn., and 
 commenced practice in Salem in the year of 1829. He 
 became a doctor of great popularity. He practiced in 
 Bethany, Naugatuck and vicinity for a number of years. 
 He married Harriet Thomas of Bethany, where he re- 
 moved, and died on February 22, 1844. The news of his 
 sudden death, in trying to save his two boys from a 
 burning house (all perished), caused grief and sorrow 
 all through this part of the Naugatuck valley, where he 
 was well known. 
 
 One of the number of Miss Castle's scholars that 
 moved to New Connecticut, now Ohio, was David Sim- 
 mons Hoadley, the eldest son of Philo and Esther Hine 
 Hoadley, who moved with their two children to Berlin, 
 Delaware County, Ohio, about the year 1807. David S. 
 Hoadley witnessed the erection of the fort or block-house 
 at Berlin, Ohio, and was one of the number who nightly 
 sought protection within its walls against expected In- 
 dians during the war of 1812. This building was his 
 schoolhouse and place of worship. Here he finished his 
 education that he commenced in Miss Castle's school in 
 Naugatuck, Conn. 
 
 He encountered the incidents and privations of a 
 pioneer's life. 
 
92 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 His discipline fitted him for the hard and active 
 work, settling up a new country, and founding a new 
 state. 
 
 He united in marriage with Esther Nettleton, in 
 March, 1825, and was blessed with six children, who per- 
 formed their parts in the settlement and growth of Del- 
 aware County. 
 
 Mr. Hoadley united with the Berlin Baptist church 
 in 1829. He was deacon of the church more than forty 
 years. He was one of its sweet singers, and led in the 
 sacred songs for nearly fifty years. 
 
 He died April 23, 1880, aged over 80 years. He 
 passed away mourned by all, and retaining the love and 
 respect of all that knew him. He was one of the best 
 representatives that went from Connecticut to settle and 
 create the great state of Ohio. 
 
 Of the twenty-five girls that attended Miss Castle's 
 school in the Lewistown district, seven died in Nauga- 
 tuck. 
 
 The average duration of their lives was over 53 
 years. The eldest of her girl scholars, who died in Nau - 
 gatuck, was Clarissa Warner, who married Mr. Giles 
 Hotchkiss, and died aged 75 years. The first death of 
 all her scholars was Miss Clarissa Culver, who was taken 
 from those that loved her at the age of 17 years. 
 
 All of Miss Castle's school girls that died in Nauga- 
 tuck, married, except Miss Culver. It is believed that 
 ten of the girls that attended her school moved to new 
 Connecticut, now Ohio. Mr. Roswell Calkins held the 
 
TABITHA CASTLE'S SCHOOL. Q3 
 
 record, for he took five of Miss Castle's girl scholars 
 with him to New Connecticut. 
 
 The writer does not know that all of the ten died in 
 the state of Ohio. I have evidence that six of the ten 
 married and believe that the other four were married 
 and all contributed to the increase of the population of 
 the new state. 
 
 Thus Tabitha Castle's influence as a school teacher 
 was extended beyond the bounds of Connecticut, and 
 the people in many of the towns in Ohio are proud in 
 saying that their ancestors came from Connecticut. 
 
 Two others settled in the West, one in Michigan and 
 the other in Illinois. One other married here, and moved 
 to the state of New York. 
 
 Five died in other towns in Connecticut, viz: Two 
 in Waterbury, two in the town of Oxford, and one in 
 Norwich, Conn. 
 
 It is believed that all the girls of Miss Castle's school 
 afterwards married, excepting Miss Culver, who died at 
 the early age of 17. 
 
 One of her scholars was permitted to reach an un- 
 usual age; I refer to Miss Eunice Lewis, who married 
 William Mitchell of Southbury in 1814. 
 
 They afterwards moved to Michigan. Mrs. Mitch- 
 ell was living in Jackson, Michigan, in February, 1891, 
 having passed her 95th birthday. 
 
 One of Miss Castle's scholars, Miss Fanny Porter, 
 married Abraham Fowler, a lieutenant in the United 
 States Army. This was considered quite an honor in 
 those days. 
 
94 EARLY SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK. 
 
 Three, perhaps more, of Miss Tabitha Castle's 
 scholars became school teachers. 
 
 One of her boy scholars, Mr. Harris Spencer, taught 
 school in New Jersey, and perhaps elsewhere. Miss 
 Leva Beckley taught school in the same old schoolhouse 
 about the year 1812. But Deacon Calvin Spencer had 
 a daughter, Miss Lockey Spencer, who was one of Miss 
 Tabitha Castle's scholars. In about six years after Miss 
 Castle had vacated the school in Lewistown district, 
 Miss Lockey Spencer was teaching school in the same 
 old schoolhouse. She became a very popular teacher. 
 Besides teaching in Lewistown district, she taught in 
 three other school districts in the town of Waterbury, 
 also in the towns of Middlebury, Bethany and Prospect. 
 
 But this could not always last, for one of Miss Cas- 
 tle's scholars, Mr. Selden Lewis, won her for his wife. 
 
 While he gained a very intelligent and lovely wife, 
 Waterbury and the neighboring towns lost a first-class 
 school teacher. 
 
 And it so happened that after the old schoolhouse 
 was taken down the land came back to Mr. Lewis, so 
 that in their happy married life they enjoyed together 
 the possession of the very land on which the old school- 
 house stood. 
 
 Miss Tabitha Castle, in 1805, married Mr. Stephen 
 Barrett, and settled in Berlin, Conn. They had one 
 child, Rhoda, who married Milo Hotchkiss. 
 
 Miss Tabitha Castle joined the Prospect church in 
 January, 1799. 
 
 Stephen Barrett died in the year of 1813. His widow 
 
TABITHA CASTLE'S SCHOOL. 95 
 
 married 2d, Mr. Frederick Hotchkiss of Prospect, Conn. 
 Mrs. Tabitha Hotchkiss died in the winter of 1851, in 
 Berlin, Conn., and was buried beside her first husband 
 in the Kensington East burying ground, which is in the 
 town of Berlin, Conn. 
 
 I am greatly indebted to Mr. Prank W. Eaton, su- 
 perintendent of schools, who has kindly furnished me 
 with the number of children between the ages of 4 and 
 16, residing (1904) in the territory comprising the Lewis- 
 town School District of 1804. The increase for the one 
 hundred years is 1143 children of school age; a little 
 over 2078 per cent. 
 
The Country School. 
 
 In sweet October's short'ning days 
 When comes the purple, smoky haze 
 Of many an Indian summer morn, 
 When through the rustling blades of corn 
 The winsome winds of autumn play — 
 No trace of winter, cold and gray- 
 Then fancy takes a backward flight, 
 Forgotten pleasures come to light, 
 The fun and frolic, rigid rule, 
 Of childhood's joy— the country school ! 
 
 The course of study was not high, 
 But small boys oft were made to sigh, 
 With eyes upon the dog-eared book, 
 Not daring otherwheres to look; 
 "The rule of three" they pondered o er, 
 And sadlv mused on Webster's lore; 
 McGuffey's Readers were the joy 
 Of every story-loving boy— 
 The teacher at his desk and stool 
 Was czar and sultan in the school I 
 
 But minds oppress'd would soon rebound, 
 When came the call of " fox and hound; 
 And ' ' townball "had its devotees, 
 Who scorned all games that proffered ease; 
 With laughing eye and rosy cheek 
 The girls would play at "hide and seek. 
 Wheri "books" were called with tinkling bell 
 A thirsty crowd stood round the well, 
 Waiting their parch-ed lips to cool 
 Before the grind of country school ! 
 
 Where are the boys who played with me 
 In long gone days of "used to be.' 
 Ah, some are sleeping, calm and still, 
 Near Salem church— under the hill ! 
 And some are living, brave and strong, 
 To lift their voice against all wrong, 
 And in the pulpit or the pew 
 Uphold the good, stand by the true- 
 Thank God for all-the kindly rule. 
 And lessons learned in country school ! 
 Ana ^ cheat,**, in St. Louis Globe- Democrat. 
 
University of 
 Connecticut 
 
 Libraries