Sign up to receive email notices of recent acquisitions.

Hart, J. C.; Roland Hitchcock, et al.

Historical Notes of Burlington [Connecticut.] Written by J.C. Hart in 1871, formerly a resident of Burlington now resides in Plainville He was Eighty years old February 3rd 1872.

Plainville, CT, 1871. 8vo (9.75”), marbled boards, more recent cloth spine. [viii], 161 pp. of manuscript. 32 pp. blank. Occasional ms. underlining of proper names, and a few pieces of paper with text pasted in the text, as well as one pasted newspaper clipping. Other contents noted hereafter.

An archive of materials bearing on the early history of Burlington, Connecticut, particularly interesting for its accounts of many citizens of whom little or nothing would otherwise be known.

At the center of this archive is the manuscript text Historical Notes of Burlington by one Mr. J. C. Hart (1792–1881) who worked as a teacher at a district school in nearby Plainville. This is a detailed account of the early history of the town, primarily focusing on individuals Hart knew or about whom he was able to learn something from various sources. The text opens with three preliminary pages indexing citizen’s names, followed by a brief general history of the town. Pages three to seventy-nine constitute a survey—following the roads of Burlington—of the town’s citizens, past and present, by house. Typical of these is the following:

At the foot of the hill east of Ponds lived old Master Lewis a boss[?] carpenter & a builder of cider mills, presses, &c He had one son by the name of Clark. With Mr. Lewis livd. Ethan Stillman a gunsmith by trade A seventh day Baptist from Rhode Island. I am told a son of his has been at the expense of having the fence round the seventh day Baptist Cemetery rebuilt. I am told his name is Orson Stillman. Next livd. Lieut. Hezekiah West. He was from Rhode Island a seventh day Baptist. He was a man much respected in community for his uprightness & fair dealing with his neighbors. He was killed while chopping in the woods by a falling limb.

The survey is followed by an account of the town’s ministers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, etc. Additional entries cover such subjects as religious communities and their meeting houses, bridges & roads, a cavern known as “Tory Den,” etc. A list near the end of the text records the individuals who fought in the “War of the Rebellion.”

The front free end-paper carries the following inscription, dated 1877, by former owner Roland Hitchcock: “Brother Peres—I employed Mr. Hart to write these recollections of Burlington; they are imperfect and incoherent; still, I have enjoyed reading them in moments of leisure—I send them to you, thinking they may interest you in like manner.” A related Hart manuscript of 128 pp. is held by the New England Historic Genealogical Society Library, described as a manuscript history of Burlington, Connecticut "as it was 65 or 70 [years] ago & later." The catalog description suggest that while there is overlap the two manuscripts are not identical.

CONDITION: Some wear to boards, one section of leaves detached, contents generally clean.

[with]

Alphabet of Historical Notes of Burlington [manuscript cover title]. Wrappers consisting of repurposed green ream wrapper of Pequot Mills East Hartford Mfg Co. 9 pp. of manuscript. An additional index to the Hart manuscript.

CONDITION: Good, some chipping at margins with partial losses to the text.

[with]

Hitchcock, Roland. Burlington. Two sheets, 23” x 7”. 2 printed pp., with ms. annotations and corrections. A rare historical sketch, evidently prepared for a speaking occasion. Not in OCLC. CONDITION: Old horizontal folds, one puncture, partial losses to two words, light toning.

[with]

Peck, Epaphroditus. Burlington, Connecticut. Historical Address delivered by Epaphroditus Peck at the Centennial Celebration on June 16, 1906 (Bristol C.T.: Bristol Press Publishing Co., 1906). 38 pp., with ms. annotations by one H. H. Gaylord.

CONDITION: Wrappers chipped, tape repair to rear wrapper, bottom margin of one leaf excised, but no loss to the text.

[with]

3 pp. of notes on genealogy of the Hitchcock family.

This archive was evidently compiled by attorney Roland Hitchcock (1824–?) of Burlington, who was admitted to the bar around 1844. Hitchcock practiced law in Winchester (or Winsted?) until being appointed as Judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut. He is the subject on one of the profiles in Hart’s history and seems to have made a few corrections to Hart’s account while the manuscript was in his possession.

REFERENCES: Kilbourn, Dwight. The Bench and Bar of Litchfield County, Connecticut, 1709–1909 (Litchfield, C.T., 1909).

Item #5920

Price: $1,250.00