Litchfield enquirer., 1876-09-21
HarWinton

nest day that we had had for week. "
 The people began to assemble about lO o'clock, a. m., and continued to pour in till p. m. and occasional stragglers some-
 what later. The older folks passed the
 time in chatting gaily,- renewing old &C.,
 quaintances and making new ones, while
 the younger ones amused themselves with flirting, base ball, croquet, and little
 courting on the sly. Five tables whose
 united length amounted to some two hun
 dred feet were set out under the heavily
 laden apple trees, north of MT. Barber's
 house, and were spread with all manner
 of good things: fruit of ali kinds, with
 every variety of cake, buildings and pies,
 from chicken to pumpkin with such sub-
 stantial food as biscuit, bread and butter and succotash for those who wished; and an unlimited supply of tea coffee and mel
 ons for the thirsty. The crowd repaired
 to the table about 3, p. m. Rev. MT. Fer ! guerson, of Torringford, was requested to invoke the Divine blessing; then all were
 seated who could and the rest turned
 walters. Each one got outside of all he
 could, and tried to induce his neighbor to
 eat two meals at once; then second party attacked the tables, but were .vanquished, and had to leave half the collation. un- touched.
 During the meal it was proposed to sound the political sentiments of those present by taking a vote for the next president, which was accordingly done, with the result of 1O2 votes for Hayes, for Tilden, and one for Peter Cooper. We hope. however, that if Sammy sees this re- port he wont be discouraged, ,as this crowd were "all of one piece" and ''of one heart and one mind" We estimated that fully three hundred were present, but Mir. Cy- rus l.. Barber recorded the names to the number of 234, nearly all of whom were decendants of three Wilson brothers: John, who settled in Harwinton; and Noah and Amos who settled in Torringford; and two Barber brothers, Asahel and Reub en, who settled in Harwinton, and were con- nected with the decendants by marriage. | Seven states were represented, viz:-Ct., Mass, New York, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, and Alabama. Delegates from fifteen 1 Conn. towns were present. The oldest | person was Capt. Enos Frisbie of Harwin- ton, and the youngest was the infant daughter of::Edgar H. Chipman of Water bury, aged 3 months. The last genera tion was not very largely represented, re- minding one of the quotation that "rais- | ing children is left to the Irish now-a- days" and we concluded that it will not | be so difficult to follow the branches of | the Barber and Wilson genealogical tree | in the future, as it has been in the past. | However, MT. Edward Barber, who was present, and who was former resident | of Harwinton, is doing his best to propo- gate the name; for, in addition to his oth- CT numerous offspring, he is now raising three fine boys-triplets,-w are now about two years old. Two of the Barbers who were present last year have been re- moved by death: Mr. Benham Barber, of Wolcottville; and MT. Orrin. Barber, of Harwinton.
 After dinner, speeches were in order. Our pastor-Rev. Geo. Curtiss, opened with a short and spicy speech, and was followed by Mir Augustus Adams of Ohio, then Mir. John Scoville. of Wolcott- vile made powerful and earnest speech. Then MT. Norman A. Wilson took the stand, and gave historical sketch of the Wilson and Barber families of Harwin- ton, showing their connection by marri- age.
 J. W. Barber, the author of the Con- necticut, Massachusetts, and other State | Historical Collections, being called on, responded by saying that he had never addressed public assembly, but would say that he was descendant of Thomas Barber, one of the first settlers of Wind sor, the oldest town in Connecticut, and was himself born in Windsor, Feb. 2d, r79s:
 '"Thomas Barber, our immediate ances- tor. came believe, from Bedfordshire. or the adjoining county of Huntington, about 40 miles north of London. From statements heard when this part of Eng land was visited in 1853, one of our name was an officer in the Parliamentary army | under Cromwell, the Lord Protector"
 ID -k1 AoI | loL k was brought up as a farmers boy and | knows how to drive plough with two yoke of oxen and horse; knows how to plant l and hoe corn; dig potatoes; rake hay; milk COWS; pull flax; reap with sickle, Sc. 1 He however preferred to make pictures by | pen and ink in book form, and spent 1 much of his time in making drawings. | At the age of fourteen. he was put under the instruction of MT. Reed, historical engrayer.. This business, with that of book making, has occupied the greater portion of his life.
 At the close of the public services MT. B. exhibited number of curiosities in his line, the first being, as far as he can recollect, the first book he eyer made. l It is g. by 3 inches, having 12 pages, containing pen and ink drawings. one rep resenting David and Goliah, several of Bonaparte's battles. Lord Neison's vic- tory, etc., being done at the age of ten years. Another was the first engraving he ever made-a wood cut, representing bell The last was kind of record book. commenced in 1911 and continued up to the present time, and by it he can tell where he was and what business he was engaged in, every day since 1911 to the present time, period of sixty five years.
 After Mir. Barber left the stand, Mir. Clarence s. Andrews favored us with