Litchfield enquirer., 1867-05-23
MT. F. M. Sanford announces Grand Exhibition for Friday of this week. See
FIFTY YEARS IN SHARON.
NUMBER TWO.

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 l FIFTY YEARS IN SHARON. | NUMBER Two
 1 Fifty years ago. the office of Justice of the Peace was one of great dignity and influence. When once appointed, the tenant of the office was pretty to hold it. till unabled from age and in frmity to discharge it's duties. The time for which it could be held was not then7 as now limited to the age of 70 years, but many cid men, far ad- vanced toward four-score years, were then in en- tire duty as magistrates. Those who were Jus tices in Sharon in 1877, Daniel St. John, Cal win Gay, Samuel E. Everitt, Oliver Kellogg, Cyrus Swan, Ansel Sterling, Samuel Rockwell, and Sam uel R. Gager, Esqrs. Tine senior Justice in each town was, ex offcio, the presiding officer at all meetings of the Civil Authority, and at the Free mems meetinss. Of the gentlemen above named, Samuel E. Everitt Esq. is the only survivor, and of him spoke in our last number.
 1 Daniel St. John, Esq. native, and during his residence ill Sharon, an nhabitant of the par ish of Ellsworth. He was gentleman of polish ed manners and good education, and fre- quentiy representative of the town in the Legis- lature. He removed to Hartford in 1918, and af- ter keeping boarding house for two or three years, commenced keeping public house in the upper part of Main Street. and gave the name to the St. John Hotel which 1t yet retains. He was much employed a Surveyor after he removed to Hartford, and published Map of the City, which was much admired for it's accurate and minute de- lineations. He died in Hartford at the age of 84 years.
 i Calvin Gay, Esq. was native of Sharon, and t1.o T,l,. Gay, who, for twenty years from the first settle ment of Litchfeld, was an inhabitant of that town. When Harris was killed by the Indians in 172O, this Mr. Gay went express to Hartford in the night for help, and he used to speak of the hazard he run in passing through part of Pennington, where the Indians numerous. He removed to Sharon in 1749, and died at the age of e4 The following quaint eptalh marks the common rest ing place of himself and his wife:
 'Here man and wife, secure from strife, Lie slumbering side by side;
 Tho deaths cold hand dissolved the band. It could not them divide.
 This tomb shall burst and yield its trust This pair shall live again,
 In purer love to soar above,
 Where joys immortal reign"
 The grandson, Calvin Gay, Esq, who was ma 1 gistrate fifty years ago, man of very grave digniied department, careful and considerate in his conversation, very true and constant in his friendships, and very persistent for the right. His memory of any important event of the revou- tionary war was perfect, and he young sol dier in the army during the last year of that war He possesseda a happy talent, not only for correct narrative, but for nfusing into his statements 1 something of the spirit of the times Of which he l spoke The writer walking with him near the meeting house, not many years before his death, when he suddenly stopped and said, "1 was standing not five feet from this spot, when first heard that Independence was declared" Will , jam Gale" said he, "a half brother of Governor Smith, who was light horseman in the Continen- tai Army, came round the turn in the road yonder (pointing south) on his horse at full speed, and swinging his cap, he proclaimed aloud. " Iadepe,a- dence is declared '' and the old mans countenance lighted up with unwonted fervor as he recalled the 1 exciting scene. He served as Justice of the l Peace for fourteen years, when he removed by the party which had then lately come into power, and the town showed it's estimate of the act of re- noval by sending Mir. Gay to the Legislature for two successive years. He died at the advanced age of elghty-four years.
 neSSTS SNdL dliu SteilhS5 NcIS plaSlASiAle io" yers, and their duties as Justices principally confined to such ministerial acts as their office bu- siness rendered necessary. They both took an in- terest in the affairs of the town, and their advice was sought in all legal contr r)versies in which the town was engaged. Mr. Swan was for a time a Judge of the County Court, but he resigned that position in 1919. and returned to the Bar He died in 1885, at the age of 65. Mr. Sterling lived to the age of Fl.
 l Oliver Kellogg, Esq, was a native of Sheffield. Mass, and lived at Hitchcocks Corner, his house standing within two rods of the State of New York He was clothier by trade, and carried on that business at the Corner for many years. He had great personal popularity, and was member of the Legislature at the Spring sessions for four teen successive years His business required his presence at home in the fall He had great force and fearlessness of character, denouncing un- sparingly what he deemed to be wrong, and this peculiarity seemed to give him great weight and influence in town affairs. He was large and un- wieldy in his person. and went abroad very little during the last year of his life. He died of drop sy, at the age of 70.
 Dr. Samuel Rockwell was native of East Wind sor, but the family removed to Co,ebrook in the early settlement of that town He was an older member of the family of that name which has long held high position in Winchester and Cole brook. He was learned physician, and an inti- mate and confidential friend of the late Dr. Shel- den of Litchfed with whose method of medical practice he fully accorded. He did great deal oi thinking, and but little talking. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1915, and held the office for nearly fifteen years. AS magistrate, he en- ioyed the full confidence of the public, and retain ed the place during all the mutations of parties, till he reached the age of 70 years His character as Christian and citizen above reproach, and he died greatly lamented, at the age of 77. The late Hon. William Rockwell of Brooklyn, N. l., who died while holding seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of that State, was his youngest son.
 Dr. Samuel R. Gager, who was the Junior Jus tics in Sharon fifty years ago, was descendant o1 John Gager, an early pilgrim settler in Massachu- setts, of whom Governor Dudley says, He was a right gody man. and skiltul chirurgeon." Dr.