Winter, 2002-03

Weatherstone Unveiled	April Conference: Current Issues in Land Use	New & Noteworthy
Great Attic Classic III		Sharon in War Time
Decorative Arts in the Library		Collections Connection
Family Iron Tour	The Journal of Susan Elizabeth Everitt	Open House - December 2002

 

Land Use Conference By John Quinn

The Sharon Historical Society will join with the Sharon Land Trust and Audubon Sharon in sponsoring a conference on contemporary land use and planning, to be held on April 26.

The half-day conference, funded in part by a grant from the Kawaler fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, will be held at the Sharon Center School, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with an optional lunch following the program.

Growing regional concern with resource management, environmental impact of development, planning and zoning make this upcoming program of particular interest to local, state and national agencies involved in future land use.

Featured speakers include Russ Handsman, Manager of Collections & Exhibits at the EcoTarium in Worchester, Massachusetts. Former Director of Research at the American Indian Archaeological Institute in Washington, Connecticut, Dr. Handsman will present a slide-illustrated talk entitled, Changes in the Land – Again.  The talk will connect the history of land use and landscapes in New England to recent work on ecosystem change.

C. James Gibbons, Land Use and Natural Resources Program Coordinator for the University of Connecticut’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources will present a two-part illustrated talk. Part I will examine the history of land use and land planning, beginning with the evolution of the land itself, and continuing through the Mayflower Compact to the Streetcar Suburb to Suburban sprawl. Part II will focus on an in-depth look at the components of effective land planning strategy, including the conservation commission inventory, the development of an open space plan, and the creation of an economic development plan.

A brochure on the conference will be sent out in March. Pre-registration deadline is April 22. Checks for the $15 registration fee may be made out to the Sharon Historical Society.

The Journal of Susan Elizabeth Everitt of Ellsworth, CT ... by Ed Kirby  

 In mid-nineteenth century Sharon, growth of farming, particularly of the dairy variety, rose rapidly in Ellsworth.  In addition some Ellsworth farmers “moonlighted” by producing and transporting charcoal to the blast furnaces in Sharon Valley and Cornwall Bridge.

In addition to farming on Ellsworth Mountain, the region displayed considerable industrial activity.  In mid-nineteenth century, the manufacturing concentration was from the hilltop watershed flowing east-southeast through Guinea Brook to the Housatonic River.  Between Ellsworth and South Ellsworth Peck’s Saw Mill produced finished lumber while nearby Loper’s Smithy produced horse shoes and tools.  Downstream a grist mill was in operation and a bit further A. Everitt’s Saw Mill functioned daily.  Yet, though Sharon Valley, Hitchcock’s Corner (Amenia Union), Cornwall Bridge and Ellsworth were hubs of activities, Susan Everitt writes not of them nor references them in her journal.

During the time of Susan Everitt’s writing of her religious convictions, churches in Sharon village included the present Congregational Church building, 1824, and the 1835 United Methodist Episcopal Church on Upper Main Street.  On South Main Street, stood the present Christ Episcopal Church built in 1809.  Those of the Baptist faith went to North Cornwall for services. Though masses were held sporadically in Falls Village, there were no Roman Catholic parishes in Sharon.

The seven entries from Susan Elizabeth Everitt’s journal that follow in handwriting font, with a few limited exceptions, are formatted very much as they were written during the period 1848-1850. 

One needs only to read the first entry to learn more about Susan Everitt, particularly her strong religious convictions, the general area in which she teaches and some thoughts concerning her profession.

April 6, 1848

My twenty-fourth birth day.  The Lord has graciously preserved me until this time, granting me innumerable blessings for which and their daily continuance of their endeavors to return to Him increasing thanks.  My school this season is on the Kent Mountain. There is no church their (sic) and people are rather loose and careless in the matter of religion.  Oh! May the Lord enable his unworthy disciple to be useful there; to do her duty to the rising generation that there may give up in his fear.  This will make the sixth summer of my teaching, besides a few months in winter it is a rather wearisome employment but by it I am enabled to have money at my command with which to aid the benevolent objects of the day.

The reference to Susan’s teaching on “Kent Mountain” and “no church there,” specifies her assignment was in the Skiff Mountain School District.  The two “mountain” districts in Ellsworth each had a church; Methodist Episcopal in District #2 and Congregational in District #1 (districts from Clark’s Map of 1853). Skiff Mountain District, #14 on Beer’s 1874 Map of Kent, had no churches and consisted mostly of mountain farmland.  Susan’s assignment at Skiff Mountain School has been documented through Marge McAvoy, Assistant Director of the S.H.S. and Director of the Kent Historical Society.  Marge has located evidence of payment to Susan Everitt for teaching duties at the school from the notes of the late Emily Hopson, long time Kent Town Historian. Miss Hopson’s notes verify that on December 4, 1847, for teaching at Skiff Mountain School, “Susan Everitt – (was) paid $38.50 for 22 weeks.”  This figure amounts to an average of $1.75 per week, a paltry amount even by 1847 standards.  While an amount impossible on which to live, teachers of the period generally received room and board from parents of students or relatives.  [Later, by the 1870s, teachers were paid about $20 per month, roughly $1.00 per teaching day and about the same as the $1.00 per day paid workers at the local blast furnaces.]

Sabbath May 7, 1848     

A lovely Sabbath morn … The trees are just putting forth there  (sic) verdure , and the earth is fast assuming her rich green covering; the little birds are warbling there (sic) notes of joy, and all nature seems vocal with the praise of Him who made us and, causes the seasons to go their annual sound for the benefit of all His creatures ----- O may our souls respond the theme and glow with gratitude too.  Our church is burned down  and we have been sometime without the regular ministry.  We expect this day to hear the  Reverend Mr. Osborne at the school house. I pray the Lord to bless it to our good –  Have this season received quite a number of books  from the Tract Society.  O may I be enabled to distribute where they may do most good  –  If I know my own heart my desire is to be useful, but I am sometimes almost at a loss to know what duty is upon some subjects.  I find my heart prone to sin, to think and speak evil and to run out after the vanities of a sinful world .  Oh, how much we need the constant care of an Almighty power to restrain us from those sins which would otherwise prove our ruin --  O Lord assist us to look to Thee in faith, totally realizing our entire dependance (sic).

The schoolhouse referenced above is the Ellsworth School, then located just a few hundred feet north of the Ellsworth Methodist Episcopal Church, east of Dunbar Road.  Currently standing adjacent to the Ellsworth Station of the Sharon Fire Department the former church building, serves as the Taghhannuck Grange #100.

While teacher assignments for the Ellsworth School District have yet to be documented, in her six or more years of teaching on the mountain, it is believed that Susan Everitt taught there between 1842 and 1846.

When the new Route 4 was constructed in this area (1933-1934), the school was moved from Dunbar Road to east of the new highway where it remains as a residence today.

Sabbath   June 18th, 1848.

A lovely morn, and I would desire to unite my heart, with nature’s silent voice in praising our great Creator - ;  I have been mercifully protected through the trials of another week, and am permitted to enjoy this day of another week, and am permitted, to enjoy this day.  I was present yesterday at the laying of the Meeting house corner stone.  A very appropriate Prayer and address by Rev Joel Osborne, after which several books and papers were deposited, among which were a large Bible, formerly owned by Mr. Joshua Lovell, put in by his daughter Mrs. Gernerm, and an old hymn book once owned by Grandma Everitt, said to have been made 130 years ago, put in by Uncle  E P Everitt – The corner stone was laid, and sealed, and the minister, builders. committee, men, women, children, passed round  in succession and touched the seal the scene was rather solemn than otherwise.  Some were affected to, tears , May the Lord bless it too our good and, unite our hearts  even as the corners are united and place his seal upon us ---  Expect to have the meeting in the grove to day; the weather is so warm .  The Lord meet with us and bless us,   Cousin Emily Daily who is on her way home from Illinois is here to spend a few days with us. 

As in the case of other early eighteenth century towns, the Congregational Church served as the legal, political and religious base of Sharon.  When, by 1800, the good people of Ellsworth found it difficult (particularly in winter) to travel the five to six miles to the Congregational Church in Sharon village, the Ellsworth Ecclesiastical Society was formed and the church organized.  The new Parish Line extended west-southwest from West Cornwall village to what is now Butter Road, then southwest to the point where Route 4 now passes the Audubon Center, south-southwest to present West Woods Road #1 then southwest again to the New York State border south of Amenia Union. 

The first Congregational Church on the mountain was built near the Ellsworth Cemetery.  The building was moved to South Ellsworth and, according to Sedgwick’s “History of Sharon,” a new meeting house replaced it in 1838.  This building was destroyed by fire in 1847.  Susan Everitt’s description of the laying of the cornerstone was for the building of the new meeting house that stood adjacent to the lot of the still later Congregational Church, currently a residence, in South Ellsworth.

I visit to New York  Oct 1848

I left home with a mind filled with anxious thoughts chiefly because I had no particular friends to visit except my brother, and he was not keeping house but boarding in a family I knew not the reception I should meet with among strangers.  I wish to go that I might see what I could and inform myself and also to present a donation to the Tract Society, which I had a little rather than carry than send, fearing that some of my friends might think I was doing more than I could afford; altho’ I did not think so; I did not however, feel so much anxiety about going, but that I could submit to what was best.  I submitted my heart and motives to my Heavenly Father, and prayed that he would overrule and direct and events were so made to accord with my plans that I felt it my privelege (sic) if not my duty to go – accordingly I set out in company with my cousen (sic) and his family who had friends to visit who were strangers to me, we took the cars at Cornwall Bridge and had a pleasant ride to Bridgeport where we spent the first night, taking tea, breakfast and dinner with an aunt and cousen (sic) who we expected were not in the city.  This was a pleasure to us all.  In the evening and morning we went to different stores and were very successful in making some trades and purchases for the society in Ells (Ellsworth) which we sent up in the cars, without having them to N. York with us.  We set sail about two in the afternoon, on board the  Niagara Capt. Brooks.  We had a very pleasant sail,  some of us were sick a little.  Was struck by admiration and gratitude of the pains taken on every hand for the convenince (sic) and comfort of passengers  --  Was pleased with the sight of several bibles.  Arrived at the Market St. landing nearly dark.  Carriages were plenty, and the drivers with a rush were presenting their cards, and soliciting people to take passage.  We at last engaged one to take us to an acquaintance  of my cousen (sic), who kept lodging rooms, but not finding him at home, we took a stage to the American hotel, where we spent the night, and as we ate a very hearty dinner and ate occasionally after it, etc…  We made a supper of the cake and cheese we had with us.  In the evening we went into Bowery Theatre a few steps from where we put up, was not pleased with what we saw there  ~ returned and went very much fatigued to bed.

The reference by Susan to taking “cars” is her description of traveling on the “Ousatonic” Railroad.  The railroad line had been completed from Bridgeport to Canaan in December 1841. The Cornwall Bridge station on the line had quickly become a major stop due to the activities at the Cornwall Bridge Iron Company (1833-1892).  Shortly before the time of Susan’s travel, in 1846 the strap and sill rail system of the Housatonic Railroad had been replaced with the I-shaped rail pattern. 

Though Susan Everitt sailed from Bridgeport to New York City, most travelers of the period changed trains in Bridgeport and traveled by rail into the city.

 In the ensuing pages, some very much faded, Susan describes her Saturday in New York, particularly her observations at the Art Union and meeting with her brother whom she had seen only seldom over the past years.  Then in reference to her brother:

Arrived at his boarding place I took a seat in the parlor while he went to speak for accomodations (sic) over the Sabbath (it was now Sat.).  They seemed readily and presently the “mistres” (sic) made her appearance and without the ceremony enquired (sic) if I were Mr. E’s sister, and altho’ she spoke kindly and spoke pleasantly she surveyed me from head to foot with a scrutiny to which I was unused, but as I happened at the time to be in very good spirits resolved to make the best of every thing, it did not disturb me.

In the remainder of the October 1848 entry, Susan E. Everitt went on to describe her Sabbath in New York where she attended religious services, later a long walk down Broadway with her brother and hearing the “beautiful” bell chimes of Trinity Church.  In the faded page that follows, there appears no mention of the return trip to the Cornwall Bridge Station.

June 29, 1850

Two months have passed away and my journal has been neglected.  Vegetation was very backward in the early part of spring, but has now come on and seems to be growing rapidly.  My health improves as warm weather advances.  Various have been the events of the present month and not the least important is the fact that I have assumed the responsible situation of wife.  Thurs. Eve June 13th  witnessed my marriage with John C. Lovell of Sharon.  A goodly number of our friends and neighbors were present on the occasion.  I know it is a solemn event but I do not realize it as I ought, O for grace from on high & wisdom to set a proper example not only before my companion , but all with whom I may be associated.  The Lord grant we may live together in his fear, may put our trust in him and live the Christian (let others do or say as they may) for Jesus sake.  We have a new Sabbath School Library and young and old seem engaged at present in enjoying the scriptures.  I hope it may continue and much good be accomplished in the name of our Redeemer. 

In this writer’s cursory review of Susan E. Everitt’s journal, this entry appears to contain the only reference to her husband John C. Lovell by name.  In the Sunday July 7th, 1850 entry, referenced as “My husband.”  Records identify him as John Chaffee Lovell, born in Sharon in 1824 to John B. Lovell and Clarissa  Chaffee. 

A farmer, John C. Lovell is listed in the Sharon Land Records as a Grantee for thirteen property purchases from 1862 to 1902.  The largest of the purchases, ninety acres, was in partnership with his brother and included land on both sides of the highway between Amenia Union and Sharon village.  Lovell also had purchases of eighty, seventy-five and seventy-five acres and other smaller sections.

Sunday July 7:1850

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous , but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.”

The weather is cool and pleasant.  The last week has been warm with some rain.  On Friday Eve we had then most severe storm of hail, rain, thunder and lightning that I ever witnessed; some damage was done to windows in our vicinity but we were mercifully preserved.  My parents went to New Haven on Thursday the fourth and did not return until Saturday.  My husband came up and we together called at Mr. Baldwin our minister and visited at Calvin Chaffees  (sic: Chaffee’s).  The Lord has been with me  the week past.  O may he be with me still and enable me to spend this holy day in his fear and with referance  (sic) to  his glory for my Redeemers (sic: Redeemer’s) sake. 

Sabbath Aug 12th  1850

A cool pleasant day.  Have attended meeting and the sacrament of the Lords (sic: Lord’s) supper – Rev. Mr. Rockwell administered.  Enjoyed myself very well but feel that I am very sinful.  Think some of going west perhaps to stay.  Feel that there are great responsibilities resting upon me.  O for your wisdom and humility from on high and all I need that I might faithfully discharge my duty to God, my fellow creatures and myself for my Redeemers (sic: Redeemer’s) sake.

The August 12th, 1850 entry in Susan’s journal was the last.  Her statements “feel that I am very sinful” … “Think some of going west perhaps to stay” …. “Feel that there are great responsibilities resting on me” appear to be deep sentiments of a troubled young woman.  For the reader of the journal, the story of Susan Elizabeth Everitt Lovell ends here one hundred fifty-three years ago.  But does the story really end?

 Though Susan E. Everitt Lovell is not listed in the Births-Marriages-Deaths records, her name was found in the Sharon Record of Burying Grounds under THE ELLSWORTH BURYING GROUND.  There on Page 90an entry indicates:

Lovell, Susan Elizabeth, wife of John C. Lovell and dau. of Gamaliel and Nancy Everitt, d at Grass Lake, Mich., Sept. 15, 1850, ae. 26.

Just five weeks from the last journal entry and only two and one-half months since her marriage to John Lovell, Susan is dead.  Now the words of her last entry, “very sinful” …. “going west” …. “great responsibilities,” become more poignant.

And what of John Chaffee Lovell?  Continuing his life in Ellsworth as a farmer, on October 6, 1880 at the age of fifty-six, he married forty-four year old Harriette Morey, the ceremony performed by William Wake.  John C. Lovell died at home in Ellsworth on May 14th, 1903 at the age of seventy-eight years, seven months and eleven days.  His wife Harriette survived him.

Sources Consulted

Extensive Collection of Books on Historic Decorative Arts and Architecture Donated to Society Library

The Society’s splendid new conference room/library has been the recipient of an extensive collection of books treating a broad range of subjects that will appeal to collectors and students of decorative arts and historic architecture and crafts.

Trustee Carter Smith has donated some 200 books, museum catalogs and monographs comprising the Sidney Adair Smith Collection – collected by his late mother.

Examples of works in the collection are:

AMERICAN FURNITURE:  Early American Furniture, (Kirk); Fine Pointes of Furniture, (Sack); American Chippendale Furniture, (Hummel); American Furniture of the Federal Period, (Montgomery); New England Furniture – the Colonial Period, (Jobe & Kaye).

CERAMICS:  Delftware, (Watson); Ming Porcelain, (Lion-Goldschmidt); Mason Porcelain and Ironstone 1796-1833, (Haggar & Adams); Dictionary of Marks: Pottery and Porcelain, (Kovel).

MISCELLANEOUS DECORATIVE ARTS:  Early American Antique Country Furnishings, (Newmann); American Decorative Arts, (Bishop and Coblentz); Paint Magic, (Innes); Rustic Furniture (Stephenson); Wallpaper in America, (Lynn); The Basket Collectors Book, (Lavason); Needlework, (Ca); American Bottles, (Tretchum); Lighting in America, (Cooke); Silver in America, (Ward).

RUGS AND FABRICS:  Upholstery, (Cooke); Sampbus, (Sobba); Oriental Rugs, (Herbert); Antique Oriental Rugs and Carpets, (Bamborough); America Underfoot, (Landreau); Fabrics for Historic Buildings, (Nylander); Americas Quilts and Coverlets, (Safford).

REFERENCE BOOKS:  A Directory of Antique Furniture, (Hinckley); An Illustrated Dictionary of Glass, (Newman); The Index of American Design, (Christensen); What Wood Is That?, (Edlin).

HISTORIC ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIORS:  The Domestic Architecture of Connecticut, (Kelly); The American Builder’s Companion, (Benjamin); Sourcebook of Architectural Ornament, (Brelin); Designing Houses: An Illustrated Guide, (Walker); The Decoration of Houses, (Wharton); Recreating the Historic House Interior, (Seale), Restoring Old Houses, (Hutchens).

Collections on the Move By Marge McAvoy

With the opening of our new, large, bright collections storage & work room it is time to begin to move the items in the SHS collection to their new home. The process will not be as simple as one might think. We have a rare opportunity at this point to ensure that every item begin moved is not only properly numbered and documented, but also free of mold, mildew, rust bugs and other contaminants. Each item will be inspected, treated if needed, photographed, documented and finally put in a specifically designated spot in the storage shelves. All the information gathered on the item will be entered into the collections database, thus enabling us to instantly locate any item in our collection. The move will be the final step in the Archives and Collections re-organization project begum in 2001 with the $10,000 grant from the Mary A. and John M. McCarthy Foundation, and is an exciting milestone for us.

A multi-step procedure has been developed for the move, designed in such a way that volunteers will be able to help us make more rapid progress. If you are interested in helping out, please let us know. This will be a fun opportunity to see the wide variety of fascinating objects we have in our collection. We’re ready to start soon, so give us a call!

Great Attic Classic III