Day 2 and things are going great! A good friend has requested an urn for her departed beloved cat's ashes... Thanks Jolene! It will be a pleasure to make up this special piece for you. Thanks Wednesday for passing this on! Thank you to all who have already shown their support for signing up as followers and offering their help.
In 1746, Capt. John Birge of Windsor CT, was the 3rd settler in the newly acquired community of Torringford, CT. Torringford was purchased in 1720 from the Weromaug, Weraroquom, Curlow, Nepatoo, Ahanjean, Mawehew, AwBund, Tawhooks, Paconopeet, Takahous, Worenough and Wossomaug Indians acording to a small booklet entiled, Torringford by Elizabeth Gaylord. There is little written about the Indians of our area. Ms Gaylord mentions a wigwam just south of the current Apple House gas station and convience store about 1/4 mile from this house. There is also mention of the Mohawks hunting on the land between the Naugatuck and Farmington rivers.
Capt John Birge had six children. One son died at age 17 as a result from war wounds in 1777. Two daughters married and moved nearby, little Isaac was born mute and died at age 26. Two sons were left. The family owned a good deal of property with other relatives and it is hard to tell which son stayed at his fathers house when Capt John died in 1776 at age 53 and which son built this one.
I believe it was Simeon, the younger surving son, who built the original house on this spot in 1785. Simeon had 10 children living here between 1784 and 1803 when daughters Experience died at age 17 along with her unnamed newborn sister. Seven children survied and grew up and moved away leaving the youngest little boy, Nathaniel to inherit the property in 1831.
It is fascinating to know the history of an old house. I walk up the stairs knowing all the names of those who have lived here. Currently, the number of feet total at least 34 pairs that tread on the stairs. The land was almost completely cleared of its' trees. The hugh primival forests were needed for houses with big 8-10" timbers not 2x6's. One upstairs floorboard is 23" wide in this house. And heating one of these old houses costs a fortune these days with no insulation and drafty windows, one can imagine the heating problems back then. The amount of firewood needed in pioneering fireplaces was estimated to be around 30 cords a winter. No modern airtight stoves or fiberglass insulation. Not to mention there were still areas of the house where your spit would freeze mid-air in December in spite of the 30 cords of wood.
The cleared land was needed for growing corn, grazing and hay for dairy and fields of flax. Cotton was not widely used here before 1830 and the start up of the cotton mills that wove cloth into affordable fabric. Women broke flax stalks, combed and spun it into thread and then wove it into linen cloth. Hence the miles of stonewalls. By 1871 approximately one-third of the 61,515 miles of fencing in Connecticut were stone. Stones "grow" here. I have three stones growing in my yard that really need to be moved. One year, I conned by brother into digging out a stone. With only 6 square inches showing, it turned out to be about 3 feet across and 8 inches deep. We kept digging, pried it out with pry bars and rolled it across the lawn on pipes till it sits in the garden.
 |
| Rock 1 hits the lawn mower blades |
 |
| Rock 2 hits the snow blower blades |
 |
| Rock 3 hits the bottom of my car |
More talk about stones tomorrow. Thank all of you... all 6 if you include me... that signed up as followers. Thanks to those who have posted this blog to their friends. I am working on the object. But now, with the suggestion of a friend, am thinking of making it a larger size.
-Reggie the potter.
No comments:
Post a Comment