The Press., 1913-11-05
servant and Addison D. Dimock

servant and Addison D. Dimock, Knowlton Read played the cello Origen Weston the second violin, Mr..
 Taylor the first violin and Samuel
 Dunton Merrick the flute or clarionett.
 In a recent issue of The Press you
 mentioned the illness of Mrs. Ange-
 line Cushman Edgerton which revived
 old memories of the earlier days. If
 I am correct, she was the widow of
 my early friend, Lucius Eldredge, a
 nephew of the late Royal O. Eldredge,
 and perhaps an adopted son, as he
 came into possession of the farm at
 the death of his uncle. E
 ''In the summer of 1850, when the
 temperance reform movement was at
 it's best, the people of Wilmington de-
 cided on a grand temperance for the
 Fourth of July and engaged Elder
 Jabez s. Swan to deliver the address
 of the day. A procession was formed
 in front of Dea. Asa Taylor's, where
 the new schoolhouse now stands, to march to the grove in MT. Eldredge's
 pasture, and Grandmother Pearl, or Aunt Hittie as she was familiarly
 called, then S5 years old, marched in
 the procession, with Mrs. Solyman
 Taylor and Mrs. Merrick on either side of her. It was at a time when
 the lo-co-fo-co party, as the demo-
 cratic party was then called, was on
 1N0f ci1 fence, and to illustrate the position Elder Swan said that when on his way that morning he had noticed a sign over a cabinet shop that read, "All kinds of twisting and turning done here, and that it exactly defined the position of the democratic party at that time on the temperance ques- tion. That was just at the opening passing of the Maine law in Connecti- cut.
 "The weekly coming of The Press, which is always a welcome visitor and the reading of the Wilmington column, always revives pleasant memories and traditions. Of the traditions suggested not long since was of the old Samuel Nye homestead, Holland side, and the old one-sto1y red farm house that stood on the corner across the road that came down from Holland, turning to the left as it passed the house, where the new strip of state road now makes a detour and grade that sets aside the long, hard hill. remember hearing our aunt Hannah, who lived with us, tell of the Nye house being struck by lightning one night which nearly de- stroyed the chimney, and that the only son of MT. and Mrs. Nye tipped back against the chimney, the old way so common, with his feet on the rung of the chair, and that he received no injury.
 "I think that Mr. and Mrs Nye had but three children, Horace, the son, and two daughters. The oldest daugh- ter married Uriah Brigham of North Coventry and the youngest married William Holman, who as remember him i'll my boyhood and early man. hood was thrifty, well-to-do farmer of the Jacksonian democrat mold, not | in politics, but attending closely to his farming, and the farm, lying on the sunny side of those Tol- land hills, made it possible for him to get his corn planted in the spring ! from one to three weeks earlier than those on the Wilmington side of the Willimantic river. Of MT. and Mrs. l Nye l have a very indistinct recollec- tion, as they died when I was but | lad, and the homestead passed into the possession of the daughter and her husband, who had cared for them in their last days.
 My fathers aunt, Hannah Mer- rick, being an aunt of Mrs. Holman and making her home with father, our relations with the Holmans was quite intimate, Aunt Hannah making frequent visits over there, and being a tailoress, frequently making clothes for the older boys, Merrick and Sam uel. In 1850 MT. Holman decided to build new house and engaged Emery P. Williams, who was then doing l in the building line, with several men in his employ, as car- penter. He had as apprentices his | nephew, Anson Williams, and as Jason E. Twiss and my self.
 An incident occurred during the building of that house that I recall There had been some re- action from the Washingtonian move ment of 1910 to 184S, the bars of