Putnam patriot., 1908-07-10
Our Eldest Offspring.
ADDRESS BY ELLEN D. LARNEp

ADDRESS BN ELLEN n. IARSED.
 (Ninaham couaty Historisn.l
 l am very happy to meet in this ap- propriate centre those who are eom- memorating the two hundredth ami. yersary of kitlingly,s existence as n Connecticut town. None can so ap- preciate the interest and significance of this occasion as We whose ancestors aided in its settlement, who have shared by hereditary descent in the struggles, tolls and hardships of that settlement. We can see and feel most wildly the contrast between handful of men meeting in some to us unknown part of this wilderness=land to organize town government, and the vast as-vtn- bty throngihg the busy mart of q pop nlous town in honor of that occasion. In Connecticut we are told the town is sovereign, but it k even more indiVid. ual than sovereign. It is most curious and interesting to note under what dii- ferent conditions each town sprang in to being. Of our Windham County towns preceding kiilingly, Woodstock was settled by n strong colony from Roxbury, Windham grew up almost as a suburb of Norwich, the Qninebaug Country, organized as Plainiield, was owned by leading men, Winthrop and Fitch, who had the strongest personal interest in promoting settlement, but the settlers Of the K mile strip of from | tier between the Quinebaug and Rhode l Island, had only their own hands and
 wits to aid them. Its northern pnri ] was consistently claimed aud held by I Massachusetts, the remaining portion covered by small land grants, whose l holders only interest ill their sale was i to find q ready market. But settler' came in spite of these drawbacks.
 First should place in character and
 pernanency that doughty Indian
 fighter, Peter Aspinwall with his three
 siepsons, the Leasens brothers, othel triplets followed as in all New Eng
 land settlements. Three Gady broth
 CTS. three Alien brothers, other stal warts with good scripture names l James Danielson in this valley, sam
 son Howe al the junction of the Quin
 ebang and French Rivers, Isaac and Jonathan Cutler east on the Assawaga
 Jacob spalding and John Hutehins on
 the Qwaneco Purchase, southward, 2 strong colony on Chestnut Hill, and l somewhere in between Simon Briani with seven marriageable daughters fol wives for the young planters. They had to grapple with natives and land grabbers. Joseph Leavens was bitten | by a rattiesnake, Deacon Bixby's wife shot by . drunken Indian, Mrs. spald 1 ing routed invading Indians by blow from shank bone, an exploit rivaiine that Of samson. But the settlers held on and fiourished. They broke up land and built houses. They laid out roads, one leading to the Providence market
 They set up sawmiIl, furnishing old CT Woodstock with Inmber. They | formed training company. They sent men out to fight with the Indians, and I pacified Indians at home, 90 that when Captain Joseph cady returned, he was
 thus greeted by an old sq 1aw, "Massa Cady, glad to see you. l so glad ] could drink whoIs quart Of rum,
 and perhaps the flow of rum and cider
 bad something to do with this paciiy. ing.
 And by I7i5 they were able io form a church, ssa Gospel candlestiek ia the 1 field Of the woods, with burning and shining light fixed in 1t, as Peter *
 pinwaIl put it,and ia fifteen years ihes
 were strong enough to spare 9j mals members to form fl second church in the North Parish Of kiilinglyr erected ! in l5Zs, and il is this Parish, embodied i in ITs5 as the town of Thonpson. tha 1 have the honor to represent today. l: am most happy b bring to ou