Two Centuries of New Milford Connecticut: An Account of the Bi-Centennial Celebration of the Founding of the Town Held June 15, 16, 17, and 18, 1907, With a Number of Historical Articles and ReminiscencesVarious
History
Two Centuries of New Milford Connecticut: An Account of the Bi-Centennial Celebration of the Founding of the Town Held June 15, 16, 17, and 18, 1907, With a Number of Historical Articles and Reminiscences
Various
New Milford (Conn. : Town) -- History
The marriage of Caleb and Abigail, descended as they were from some of
the most important of the founder families (she, from the Baldwins,
Bryans, Bruens, and Schells, he, from the Fitches, Pratts and Uffords,
and both, from the Canfields, the Mallorys and the Cranes), was an event
of great importance in Stratford and Milford; and, when it was known
that Caleb was to take his bride to the new Plantation of the
Weantinaug, the interest in the affair was much deepened. The conditions
in those days were quite different from what they are at present. There
were no parlor cars, nor honking autos to whisk the blushing bride, amid
a shower of rice and old shoes, to the seclusion of the city hotel,
there to hide her nuptial joys among the unknown multitude. So Caleb and
Abigail were married in that pleasant Stratford home, she, surrounded by
the friends of her girlhood, who, if the records are to be believed,
were about the whole community, and he, supported by his three stalwart
brothers and troops of cousins. A few days were passed in all the
feasting and gayeties of the times, after which the young couple,
surrounded by a band of the Stratford friends, started on their wedding
journey. At the ferry across the “Great River,” they were bidden
farewell on the Stratford bank, only to be received on the Milford shore
by an equally enthusiastic band of Milford friends, and to be escorted
to Caleb’s home in Milford. This was the founder home of Roger, and
Caleb was the fourth generation to bring a bride to its shelter. His
bride was a namesake of an earlier Abigail, who, ninety-nine years
before, had come with her life mate to the then wilderness of Milford.
Now, this second Abigail, this tenderly reared girl of scarce eighteen
summers, was starting with her life mate, for another wilderness--the
New Milford.
After a short stay at the old Tyrrell home, the wedding journey was
resumed, up the “Great River” to the Weantinaug country. The “house
plenishing,” demanded by the customs of those days, had been furnished
by Josiah Bassett, and had been securely packed in a stout boat to be
rowed and poled up the river, this being, at that time, the only means
of conveying heavy articles to the settlements above. The various
animals necessary to farming, although scarce in the New plantations,
were plentiful in the older ones; and, since Daniel Terrell was a man of
“much substance,” as the records say, an abundant supply had been
assembled at the usual starting place for the journey up the river to
the “Cove,” just above Goodyear’s Island. On a bright September morning,
surrounded by brothers and sisters from both families, and a large
company of friends and relatives, the newly-married pair set forth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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