Morning journal and courier., 1889-06-28
NORTH HAVEN ANNALS.

Haven. It was sometimes the case that tenn
 porary inte1ment was made near the home o
 the deceased until convenient time came
 for the removal of the body to the place o1 common sepulture. It is curious psycho-
 logical fact that the human race under all
 conditions elects to be buried in groups.
 The author of 'tNantucke. Scraps" says l "A graveyard is an index to book just oui l of reach" This is not altogether true, fol | some of these cold volumes we may open and
 read, while others are locked close as are the stony lips of the winged heads they bear. The latter may in some cases have the advan- tage in that they convey no false impression, for 1t is not always true that the former maintain rigid adherence to truth. Doubt less among the most surprised persons at the resurrection will be some who may catch 6 passing glance of the remarkable advertise. ment so long standing above them.
 Although the settler was hardy and vigor- ous, yet he could not bar sickness altogether from his door. The upturning of the dank soil, the increasing decay of vegetable mat-
 ter, the necessary exposure to heat and cold, inadequate clothing, long hours of labor, and all the incidents attendant upon life in new country, brought it's train of disease. Physi- clans were few. In New Haven was Dr. Ma
 thaniel Wade (and possibly another) and in Wallingford Dr. Benjamin Hull. On these two men for medical attendance the settler relied. Dr. Wade was licensed in 1889. His permit from the government will serve as a sample of the relations sustained between 1t
 and men of his calling in that day: - "Upon the petition of Mir. Nathaniel Wade that
 this court would grant him liberty to practice phis-
 certificate of the sayd Wade his good abilities and
 resso yeensse and grant hm bert9 to praeee aae
 Rl11ssfck and Chrurgery in this Colony and desire
 'ne Diessing or God may accompany his endeayors, 2,
 HrI Ir
 dies used were feS and simple, but they made up in qaantity what was lacking in .9aaIty. Blood letting was often resorted to
 as a pansces for all ills. Sweating and purR-
 ings were frequent, and nature was relied on for the rest.
 The funeral customs of that day differed essentially in many respects from those of in cities, but it may be questioned if anything in sincerity and respect has been gained by
 the change. People were not so plenty then
 that one could quietly drop away from 8
 community and leave no gap. The sick in
 the neighborhood were anxiously inquired
 after; if their farm work suffered,
 "spell' was given them and their
 crops attended to; if they needed "watch-
 CTS" offers were freely made, and by
 persons at long distances; and if in spite of
 of all this care and solicitude, the dread sum-
 mons came, as it often did, it was the cus-
 tom in some communities for the men to sus-
 pend active work for a few hours, and if the
 for the remainder of the day. If death eo- cured during the day the church bell was struck at sunset three times if male, twice if a female and once if a child. If the same event happened in the night, similar notice was given at sunrise; later in the morning the bell was tolled, the strokes being timed and corresponding with the age of the de- naaGaH rvir ,rvlo &ba
 bell was tolled night or day at the earliest
 moment after dissolution.
 Funerals were the occasion of large assem-
 blages. No condition of crops, no hurry of
 business, no stress of weather, nothing was allowed to prevent attendance at the fuReral There was no levity, no unconcern on such occasions. Every person, unless very re- cent comer, was known to every other per. son in the community, though miles perhaps their dwellings. The society and the town meetings, the lecture and the church services, and more than all the con- stant struggle on the border land of toll, sac rifce, privstion and danger, and dsnyings knit brotherhood that ease and wealth never knew. The funeral service varied at the wish of the family or the dis cretion of the minister. Singing was rarely, if ever, heard on such an occasion. Sermons were common on the fol- lowing Sabbath, having special refer ence to such an event. Every one expected to attend the procession 10 the | sburying ground" There was no hearse; l until abont 1780, cofins were brought from New Haven. There was no professional un- dertaker te arrange matters; the family gen. ernlly designated some one to "take charge" | The body was carried on bier by four men, Gnd if very heavy and long distance was to | De travelled, the "bearers" were relieved by | others on the way. When wagons came into | lse about 1900, the bier was occasionally | carried on them. It was an oak frame about | tight feet long and three feet wide painted | black; 1t rested on posts eighteen to twenty nches from the ground; the ends of the out idle frame or bars were smoothsd down for
 handles and by these 1t was either carried at ! rms length or raised to mems shoulders black cloth known as @ pail was spread | yer it and it's burden. In the "Propr1etors' secords" of New Haven occurs this entry:
 MT. Jonathan Atwater having freely offered to ye ! owne Cloath to se seryisable at funerals, ye aid Cioath to be kept at ye house of Ensign Isaac ickerman, and when upon any occasion feched gain. |
 In some committees it was the custom to I cave the bier standing on the grave last | nade, until next needed. but in this parish in he latter years of its existence 1t was kept D the lower room of the tower of the old Congregational church. Miss Cauekins in
 er history of New London says it's service | 7as continued down to the period of the Rev lution, but it was far beyond this date in ! ortions of New Haven county at least, before ! was abolished, for many now living vivid- | ? recall it's use even in their own family l nes. As late as 1920 Mir. Joel Todd, grand- ather of F. Hayden Todd, was carried from is home on one, and there may have been ven later occasions, yet about this time it 'as superseded by the hearse of MT. Freder- Barnes. The parish of North Guilford 1 ontlnued the old custom thirty or forty ! ears beyond the latter date, indeed, accord lg to the testimony of a worthy delegate at ae recent settlement of minister in that 1ral retreat, he discovered the veritable and enerable old relic itself carefully stored ! way in the horsesheds there apparently as pod as new.
 Burials were made in the presence of the 'sembled multitude. There was no exterior .se for the coffin snd as a rule no handles to
 but coarse ropes. It was made commonly whitewood stained a dull red, sometimes 1 ade of cherry, and in rare instances mahog- 1y entered into it's construction. In some aces 1t was customary when the bearers had sposited their burden alongside the open I rave for the children of the deceased (if any | Id capable) to step forward and lower their aren't into the last resting place; a bundle ( straw was then spread on the narrow 1 ouse and all stood by until the grave was He'd A custom prevailed in Massachusetts at ! le time of the formation of this parish which I ay have gained some foothold in this State. his was the presentation at funerals, of oyes, rings, scarfs, etc., to those present. T 1721 the legislature of Massachusetts sssed a law forbidding such practices, and ollister cites the instance of the donation
 one thousand pairs of gloves at tue funer-
 of the wife of Gov. Belcher of that State 2
 1736. It is unlikely any such extrava- s nee ever prevailed in Connecticut. IT Returning now to the cemetery, though !, i'd out in 1720, the oldest stone is dated 23 [see reference first paperl. This stone c ay or may not have marked the first burial, It be that as it may, here was to halt for ' hundred and sixty years the 'innumerable T ravan." The founding of cities or the liv- E and the beginning of cities of the dead is | e sum of the supreme effort of man. That the average rate of mortality was low !
 the parish, judging by attainable evidence 1 ( } may believe. There died in 1723 one, I C 24 none, 1725 five. Of this latter number E IS Jonathan Futile, settler and bridge I lilder, Simon Futile the whilom "dissent- S D @, and Nathaniel Thorp the drummer. s
 1726, five again, chief among whom was ! E "a. Samuel Ives, the colleague of David J ale. In this year died also December 20, J