- 10 December 98 
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10 December 98- 10 December 98 -
10 December 98|
and Author of A NARRATIVE -of the- LIFE AND ADVENTURES -of- VENTURE A NATIVE OF AFRICA, But Resident Above Sixty Years in the United States of America RELATED BY HIMSELF Originally Printed in 1798 VENTURE'S Story is presented here with commentary from many sources - both print and "web" Compiled by R.E. Langdon |
EXTRACTS FROM: Yankee Township and Postscripts to Yankee Township, Carl F. Price ... c 1975, by The East Hampton Bicentenial Committee
Rick's Note: Carl Fowler Price (1881 - 1947) was an avid historian and authority on the folklore of East Hampton, Connecticut. Yankee Township - published in 1941, was one of many published works - most dealing with Methodism, Hymnology, and Wesleyan University in Middletown. He Graduated from Wesleyan in 1902 and it was while a student there he first made his acquaintance with East Hampton. He was organist at the Congregational Church in East Hampton (then Chatham). He remained a summer resident for more than 40 years and was engaged in the insurance brokerage business in New York City. The publication of Yankee Township, a collection of 12 "traditions" / 210 pages plus a bibliography of other published works concerning East Hampton, was made possible thru the efforts of "The Citizens' Welfare Club" of East Hampton and profits from the sale of the book dedicated to that organization.
Postscripts to Yankee Township is a collection of selected (?) articles published by Mr. Price (and unnamed others ?) in the "East Hampton News" subsequent to the printing of Yankee Township and contains a few "corrections" as well as many additional short "traditions" associated with East Hampton and this "transpontine region" - 63 postscripts / 335 pages plus an (unattributed) obit "Carl Fowler Price, Yankee Township Author Dies Monday". I assume this obit must have been from "The East Hampton News", because I remember somewhere reading that his New York obit did not mention that he was the author of Yankee Township.
It appears that these postscripts may be presented, more or less, in order as they appeared in the "News", and may have been a regular feature - extending at least to near the time of his death in 1947. Postscript 57 - "From'The Rocks' Eastward" - concerning petitions to divide the area of Middletown East of the Connecticut River into a separate Township, on p 309 says "... for in 1748 the East Hampton Congregational Church was organized, whose bi-centennial is to be celebrated next year." This would date this postscript in 1947. These Postscripts to Yankee Township were published in book form in 1975 by the East Hampton Bicentennial Committee. Postscript 60 - "Village Panic" was apparently not written by Mr. Price as it contains this passage -
... "Thus, as the forest-coverd areas east of "the Rocks" gradually came to be settled, the centrifugal forces that first wrested the whole region away from Middletown's authority, and from time to time divided it into three parishes and two separate townships, were slow in operation, but were finally triumphant."
"The marvel is that they did not proceed further, and divide East Hampton and Middle Haddam into two separate townships, as has sometimes been proposed; or, better still somehow contrive to wrest Haddam Neck from the Town of Haddam and attach it to what is now the Town of East Hampton, to which it is more closely related geographically, postally, historically, etc. Today Haddam is the only instance in the whole course of the Connecticut River, where the river divides a township."
"East Hampton might well declare war against Haddam for the recovery of Haddam Neck irredenta, or at least purchase one of those new-fangled atomic bombs and threaten Haddam into agreeing to cede the peninsula to East Hampton" ...
These thoughts are continued in postscript 63 "Metamorphosis in Nomenclature" ---
... "Before any settlers had located here, this region was considered a part of Middletown. The early Connecticut River towns were established astride the river, which was a more practicable highway for travel than muddy roads. Today, with the development of new townships, the river now separates the townships from each other in all cases, (as Glastonbury - East of the river was separated from Wethersfield - west of the river) except Haddam which by an anomaly still retains the transpontine area of Haddam Neck."
"Thus it came to pass that the Town of Chatham was created in 1767 out of the parishes of East Middletown, East Hampton and only the northern portion of Middle Haddam (which formerly included Haddam Neck). For 148 years it enjoyed the good old name of Chatham until the year 1915." (When by a vote of 126 to 42 a resolution was adopted to change the town name from Chatham to East Hampton.)
This reminds me of a somewhat similar case of a town feud here in Alabama, about 50 miles Northwest of Birmingham on US Hwy 78 where the people of the Town of Guin fought over the phonetic pronounciation of the town name which resulted into a split and establishment of the Town of Guin (to the North) and the Town of Gu Win (to the South).
.
YANKEE TOWNSHIP
CONTENTS
2. The Legend of the Lake .................. 13
3. The last of the Wangunks ................ 23
4. The Black Fox of Salmon River ........... 33
5. An African Yankee ....................... 43 *
7. Harry Rockwell's Story .................. 87
8. The Deserted Village ................... 105
9. The Town in Seven Wars ................. 129
10. Cobalt ................................ 151
11. Matchitmoodus Noises .................. 167
12. The Bells of East Hampton ............. 183
... Bibliography .......................... 211
Postscripts to YANKEE TOWNSHIP
CONTENTS
Certain postscripts, or portions thereof, relating to slavery in Connecticut or more specifically - to Venture Smith which are reproduced here are linked here with the associated postscript. - REL
2. Mary Fuller Percival .................................. 6
3. Methodist Centennial .................................. 9
4. The Brainerds ........................................ 14
5. Joel West Smith ...................................... 21
6. How to Harness Your Wife with a Rope ................. 24
7. Reminders of the Town's Sea History .................. 27
8. Loyal to the King .................................... 31
9. Blaming the Doctor ................................... 37
10. The First Doctor in Town ............................ 40
11. A Poet at Knowles Landing ........................... 44
12. Slaves in Connecticut ............................... 49*
* (Reproduced here - in full)
13. Harry Rockwell's Diary Recovered .................... 54
14. A Civil War Mystery ................................. 58
15. The "Lawrence" Burns at Sea ......................... 64
16. More About Matthew Graves ........................... 70
17. Honoring the Town's Heros ........................... 74
18. Moodus Noises ....................................... 80
19. The Town in Current Literature ...................... 85
20. A Middle Haddam Captain Meets the Pirates ........... 92
21. The Story of Cinque ................................. 99
22. East Hampton in the Klondike ....................... 103
23. East Hampton in Africa ............................. 108
24. School Life in Middle Haddam ....................... 115
25. Drums along the Pocotopaug ..........................121
26. To East Hampton via New Orleans .................... 129
27. I Went to the Animal Fair .......................... 135
28. A Doctor in War and Peace .......................... 141
29. From Middle Haddam to Brazil ....................... 147
30. Take a Trolley Car Ride to Moodus .................. 154
31. A Steamship Upside Down in East Hampton Center ..... 164
32. Smallpox Scare ..................................... 169
33. The Sword of the Duke .............................. 175
34. Bulls on Miller Hill ............................... 181
35. Company H .......................................... 188
36. The Hero of Drewery's Bluff ........................ 196
37. Wrecked on a Desert Isle ........................... 202
38. The Swordfish Latch ................................ 208
39. Native Art Impulses ................................ 215
40. Silas Crockett ..................................... 223
41. Good Deeds ......................................... 228
42. Memories of Grandma Child .......................... 234
43. Village Improvement ................................ 237
44. Town Humor ......................................... 246
45. Olla Podrida ....................................... 250
46. Jeremy's River ..................................... 256
47. Colonel West ....................................... 258
48. Long Crossing ...................................... 263
49. Sidewalks of East Hampton .......................... 271
50. Holdfast Gaines .................................... 274*
* (Extract Re. VENTURE Smith - reproduced here)
51. More Town Humor .................................... 279
52. Alexander Graham Bell .............................. 284
53. Joe Barton ......................................... 289
54. Attack on East Hampton Feared ...................... 294 *
* (This has nothing to do with either slavery or Venture Smith but I found a portion of it very interesting as it relates to fears of Japanese attack - against the Pratt & Whitney plant in East Hartford, where dad was working at the time.)
55. The Wangunk Indians ................................ 298
56. Here and There ..................................... 302
57. From "The Rocks" Eastward .......................... 306
58. Collecting Bells ................................... 312
59. Slavery in Chatham ................................. 315 *
* (Reproduced here - in full)
60. Village Panic ...................................... 318
61. Early Funeral Customs in Town ...................... 322
62. History of Lake View Cemetery ...................... 326
63. Metamorphosis in Nomenclature ...................... 329
... Carl Fowler Price Dies ............................. 336
VENTURES STORY (Index Page - 10 Links)
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