A short distance below are the Valley Mills, a building about 110 by 30 feet, four floors, which has been standing idle for the last year or two. Mr. A. W. Greenslit was superintendent, and the mill was furnished for the manufacture of print cloths, having 174 looms and 6,800 spindles. This locality is known as Elliottville. A fall of some twenty-four feet is obtained here. A short distance below the last mentioned, we come to the Elliottville Mills of James P. Kendall, of which James Dixon is superintendent. It is a handsome stone building, about 40 by 75 feet, … Read more

S. D. Bosworth, born in Eastford, is a son of Allen and Sally (Hall) Bosworth, and grandson of Ebenezer Bosworth, a soldier in the revolutionary war, who married Elizabeth Fletcher. Ebenezer was a son of Benjamin who came from Rehoboth, Mass., and settled about one mile west of the church in Eastford. Mr. Bosworth represented the town in the legislature in 1865, and has held various town offices. He married Elizabeth Badger, and has three children. His only son, Henry A., married Margaret Buell, and is a farmer in Eastford. Clarissa, only daughter of Allen Bosworth, married Joseph Dorset, and … Read more

In 1727 the non-resident land owners in the colony land north of Killingly, together with Samuel Morris, made another earnest attempt to procure town privileges. Desiring “to have each one enjoy his purchase because it is inhabitants that do make a town, and a great part of the remaining land is rough and broken and but little more fit to be inhabited,” they felt that all interests demanded ” that a new town may be made there, so that we may know what town we are in.” But the forcible pleas and representations of Killingly’s foremost citizens-Joseph Leavens and Joseph … Read more

The town of Eastford, lying in the northwest part of Windham county, is about nine miles in length from north to south, and has an average width of about three miles. Its area would thus approximate twenty-seven square miles. It is a well watered town, the Natchaug river running through the length of it, and receiving within its bounds several tributaries, the largest of which are Bigelow river from the west and Bungee brook from the east. It has no railroad track within its borders. Farming and manufacturing are the chief occupations of the people. The town was formerly included … Read more

The pioneer cotton spinner of Willimantic was Perez O. Richmond, who came here from Rhode Island some time in the year 1822, and purchased the privilege at the lower end of the borough now known as Willimantic Linen Company’s Mill No. 2. On this site he built a mill of wood, about forty by sixty feet, one and a half stories high, put in machinery and commenced making cotton yarn. He also built a cheap row of tenements, six in number, just north of the mill, for his operatives. Mr. Richmond continued to run this mill until 1827, when it … Read more

Let us now turn for a moment to notice some of the individual members that were swelling. the body corporate. William and Joseph Hall, Joshua and John Allen, Nathaniel Bassett, Benjamin Armstrong, Samuel Gifford and Robert Smith were now settled at the Ponde; the Halls having come from Plymouth, Bassett from Yarmouth, and the others probably from Norwich. Joseph Dingley now occupied the allotment purchased by Captain Standish. William Backus exchanged his house and accommodations at the Hither-place for Ensign Crane’s grist mill. Crane sold the house and lot to Exercise Conant in 1695, and Conant conveyed it to John … Read more

The first regular settler in the northwest of Thompson was a man of much character and influence, Samuel Morris, son of Edward Morris, of Woodstock, who purchased fifteen hundred acres of the Dudley land on the Quinebaug in 1714. The ” old Connecticut Path,” long, the chief thoroughfare of travel between Boston and southern colonies, ran past his dwelling house and through a mile of his estate. One of his first achievements was to bridge the turbulent and troublesome Quinebaug, then greatly addicted to freshets. He also built two smaller bridges over tributaries, expended time and labor in clearing out … Read more

About the middle of the last century Ashford reached a condition of some prominence and activity. Many new settlers had gained a residence here. Ebenezer Byles, on becoming of age, settled on land which had been purchased by Josiah Byles in 1726, about a mile west of Ashford Green. William Knowlton purchased a farm of four hundred acres in the western part of Ashford. This was in after years divided between his sons Daniel and Thomas, who, after serving brilliantly in the French war, engaged with equal ardor in cultivating their land and discharging the ordinary civil and military duties … Read more

As the older men returned to Roxbury, and winter closed in around them, the little colony realized more fully its isolation and exposure. The nearest settlements on the north were Oxford and Worcester, and many miles of savage wilderness lay between them and the far-off towns, Providence, Norwich and Hartford. The future populous counties, Worcester and Windham, were as yet unsurveyed and almost unbroken, inhabited by wild beasts and more ferocious savages. Alone in this vast tract of wintry desolation, they took counsel together around the scattered hearthstones and laid plans for coming years. Scouts were kept up patrolling the … Read more

These new inhabitants of Pomfret were mostly men of character and property, and at once identified themselves with the growth of the town. Jehoshaphat Holmes was soon chosen town clerk, Samuel, Gridley served as clerk both for town and proprietors, Abiel heney was licensed as tavern keeper, Sharpe, Holbrook and other new inhabitants were appointed to various public services, and “Father Coy ” opened his house for public meetings. Efforts had long been made to secure better traveling communication with Providence, the most accessible market town for this section. The existing bridle path could not accommodate teams or vehicles. The … Read more