New Britain herald., 1921-05-07
OLD LAND MARK ID
 BE REMOVED SOON
Moses Hills Residence Is 163
 Years Old-Many Rumors
CLUB ENTERTAINMENT HELD

1 Next Week - Benefit For Mt.
 Holyoke Endowment Fund Held Church Notices-Items.
 The we'll known old homestead of Moses Hills, now standing on the tract of land owned by the Plain vile ealty Company on East Broad street will be torn down soon and replaced by newer buildings. There Is an interesting story connected with the old Hil's residence and many traditions have been heard concern ing the building. A history of the building, which has been standing now for the past 163 years. has been compiled by. Harry A. Castle of the Trumbull Electric Manufacturing company. Mir. Castle has traced the history of this old land mark since its erection in the year 175S. The following is an outline of the story: r. In 1747, Moses Hills, the great great-great grandfather of Edwin H. Hills. bought his first piece of land on what was known as the Great Plains" As nearly as can be deter mined from the Pennington records MT. Hills came to live and built the house. at the northeast corner of what is now East Broad and East streets in 1759. This fact appears to be stustantiated by record of his purchase of three acres and 6S rods of land in that part of the town from William Porter for two pounds, II shillings and a sixpence, in De- cember 13, 175S. Between 1747 and 175S, Moses Hills acquired several tracts of land in the same locality. Mr ls4I and in the division of his estate, which is recorded March 26, 17s1, it is found that his sons, Azel, Channcy and Joseph, each received. one-third part of the dwelling and other items of real estate and personal property. Channcy Hills eventually acquired the interests of his brothers and by subsequent purchases accum ufated before his death in 1881, more than 1000 acres on the Great Plains" along the line of East street leaving the largest estate ever .probated in this vicinity up to that time amount ing to the sum of $24.503.67.
 ? In this house, the Hills, family of Plainville had it's beginning. There is an old tradition connected with the house to the effect that George Washington once stopped there dur II. There are no records to substantiate this: rumor. however. It is the old est house now standing in Plainville and has been a landmark for the past 1s0 years. .
 Successful Entertainment.
 The Plainville Athletic club held it's first entertainment and social time of the season at the Grange hall las, night. It proved to be the manner event of the year and the hall was filled to the capacity. An appropriate program, arranged for by Mrs. Clara Oakes Usher, was rendered which was one of the best ever presented in the hall. Mrs. Usher appeared on the program and rendered several vocai solos. The Hayes brothers and Will liam Cunningham also favored with several songs. Senator John Fl, Trum- bull gave the opening address and urged the support of the townspeople for the interests of the team. Sen- ator Trumbull gave an interesting ac- count of baseball from the start of the game and how it was played dur ing the olden times. He is an ardent baseball fan and urged the players to put out a top-notch team this sea son in order to "cop" the pennant of the league which they have entered. The organization realized more than s10O as their efforts on the affair of which will be donated towards the equipment of the players.
 Funeral Notices.
 The funeral of Mrs. Sarah Ara bella Coleman, who died at the Hart , ford hospital Thursday night follow ing an operation, was held this after noon at o clock from the Bailey Undertaking parlors on Broad street. Rev. James NJ. Tanner pastor of the Methodist church officiated. Burial was in the Riverside cemetery, Farm I ington.
 The funeral of Mrs. Charlotte Thor ell, of 1884 Broad street will be held tomorrow afternoon at o'clock from the home. Burial will be in the West cemetery.
 Miss Brown Speaks.
 Miss Greta Brown of the New Britain public library, gave an in teresting talk on Recent Books to an audience at the home of Mrs. Harry A. Castle of Canal street last night. The affair was held for the benefit of the Mt. Holyoke endow- ment fund. A fair proceed was req lized Plans are being made for hold ing another gathering of this nature.
 Baseball Games Tomorrow.
 The Aces baseball team will clash with the Federals of Hartford at Rockwelrs field tomorrow afternoon. The game will be called at o'clock. This is not a league game. This aft ernoon the Aces played the Enigmas