Newsletters

 

         *   *  HERE  IS  OUR  LATEST NEWSLETTER  *  *









 

                                          




 





 

 


 

 


 



 






 




 

 

“Gimme that ole time religion…It’s good enough for me!”
Traditional gospel song as sung by Woodie Guthrie
by Cora Grunwald, I C R C volunteer

The Rogerenes (also known as the Rogerene Quakers) were a religious sect founded in the 1670s by John Rogers (1648–1721) in New London, Connecticut.  The Rogerenes had no connection to the Society of Friends founded by George Fox. Instead, they were originally a splinter sect of the Rhode Island Seventh Day Baptists who opposed the established Puritan (Congregationalist) church. This religious group was active in the New London area for about 200 years.
The word “Puritan” means that followers had a pure soul and lived a good life. Sunday became a very special day for Puritans. Work was banned. Women caught doing unnecessary work on the Holy Day could be put in the stocks. Simply going for a Sunday walk (unless it was to church) could lead to a hefty fine. The Rogerenes were the first break in the Congregationalist unity of religious thought and worship in New London.  While they initially held to a Seventh Day (Saturday) Sabbath, over the years they began to regard each day as equally holy.
The Rogerene Movement began with John Rogers, a member of Mr. Simon Bradstreet’s Congregationalist church in New London. He was received into it soon after Mr. Bradstreet’s ordination by letter from the Church in Milford.  Mr. Bradstreet writes, on May 25th , 1675, that “John Rogers of N. London, aged about 28, not many months before he turned a proud Anabaptist,  was arraigned at Hartford upon tryall for his life. The testimony against him was his own wife.”   In October, 1676, the legislature granted his wife a divorce and the custody of his children.
James Rogers, the father of John, was a wealthy trader and baker, with extensive properties on both the west and east sides of the Thames River in New London. In the mid-1670s he and four of his five sons, including John, both of his daughters, and all their spouses became involved with the Seventh Day Baptists (Sabbatarians) of Newport.
After a short time, John withdrew from the Sabbatarians. The incident that caused the split happened in 1677 when two Sabbatarian elders heeded the request of New London authorities to not baptize a woman in Winthrop’s Cove and agreed to move the ceremony. Rogers refused to compromise, declared himself an elder, and performed the baptism.  By this time, Rogers had become a staunch opponent of the Congregational Church and launched his own career as a minister.
Until the early 1700s, the Congregational Church was the only denomination recognized by the Connecticut government and was supported by taxes.  Rogers and his followers believed that there should be no paid ministry—and certainly not one supported by taxes. Refusal to compromise became the governing principle of Rogers’s life. He collected a few followers and formed a new religious group. Some of their beliefs, which were considered scandalous by their Puritan neighbors, are familiar and accepted by us today.
Rogerenes believed in: adult baptism by immersion, faith healing, and appropriate worship on Sunday, meaning work need not be postponed for the entire day, They practiced silent worship and prayer, and  celebrated communion in the evening.  They refused to pay taxes to support the Congregational Church, and espoused separation of church and state.
In 1676, the fines and imprisonments for John Rogers and his sons for profanation of the Sabbath began. They and some of their followers were fined repeatedly at first 5 shillings but by June 1677, seven people were fined L5 each. In September, the court ordered that John Rogers be called to account every month and fined L5 each time. In 1695, Rogers was tried at Hartford for disrupting a Sunday meeting by entering the meeting house with a wheelbarrow. At another time, he placed his hand on his heart and stated: ‘This is the humane body of Christ.”  This time his sentence was to stand on a gallows with a noose around his neck for 15 minutes and pay a L5 fine. Further, he had to post bond of L50 to guarantee his future good behavior.
While the Rogerene movement began during the ministry of Bradstreet, its doctrines and practices became more sharply defined during the ministry of Rev.  Gurdon Saltonstall.  Saltonstall, as the Congregationalist minister in New London, was the most frequent target of the Rogerenes. Rogers and other members of the group were disruptive toward the established church. It appears that they were able to maintain a sympathetic following in town. 
When Saltonstall became governor in 1708, he had Rogers declared insane. As a result, the windows of the jail cell Rogers inhabited were blacked out with boards.  Rogers’ friends rioted and had the boards removed.  When another Rogerene was imprisoned for failing to keep the Sabbath, her supporters removed the doors from the New London jail to rescue her.
All this time, the Rogerenes continued baptizing people and being condemned by the church for it.   Rather than simply staying away from a meeting conducted by a paid minister, they would attend and disrupt the service. Diarist Joshua Hempstead mentions Rogerene activity many times in his 48-year-long diary. In September of 1719 he notes that “Jno Rogers & his crew made a disturbance in the midst of prayer time. They came into church with a Horse Cart and were Commited to prison that night.” Additionally, the Rogerenes would make certain the authorities knew they were working on the Sabbath by making it obvious. In August of 1712, Hempstead wrote, “Sund 24 Jno Bolles was Taken by ye Constable before meeting by david Richards’s in ye highway bringing Poles from Cedar Swamp on horses &c. was kept al night.” (In 1676, John Bolles was a survivor of a triple axe murder and grew up to be a leader in the Rogerene Community in Quaker Hill.)
In 1721, the Rogerenes occupied the New London Meeting House in protest over having been taxed to pay for it.  When John Rogers learned of a 1721 outbreak of Small Pox in Boston, he went to the city to visit the sick. When he returned to New London, he developed the disease and died.  The Rogerenes did not go away with the death of John Rogers. Saltonstall died in 1724, and, while the group continued their rebellious activities, the Rogerenes gradually became less of a problem to the church and the Connecticut government.
From 1700 to 1745, some of the Rogerenes left Connecticut and migrated to New Jersey settling in parts of present-day Morris County. One such group settled in what is now the Landing section of Roxbury Township, New Jersey near Mountain Pond in about 1700. A smaller group of Rogerenes settled on the eastern side of Schooley’s Mountain near present-day Hackettstown, New Jersey.
During the mid-18th century , what is now Quakertown in Ledyard was the home of John Waterhouse, a leader with the Rogerenes. Some of their  basic beliefs (especially in principles of religious freedom and separation of church and state) were still core elements of their faith.  A 1904 account of the Rogerene’s history notes that Quakertown believers in the early 1800s began to regard the “blending in” of New London Rogerenes with dismay and determined to bring up their children “in the faith” while “carefully avoiding contact with other denominations.”
By the middle of the 1800s the Rogerenes became firmly anti-war and anti-military. The Quakertown Rogerenes invited Quakers to join them in holding a Peace Convention near Mystic. In August of 1868, the first of an unbroken series of yearly Peace Meetings was held in an attractive grove on a hill by the Mystic River. The meetings were held until World War I, eventually growing to four-day events with an attendance of several thousand people.  Today, the Mystic hill that once hosted their anti-war meetings is a park called the Peace Sanctuary. It is open to the public.

Sources:  Steve Grant; Courant Staff Writer THE HARTFORD COURANT August 2002;  Jan Schenk Grosskopf, an adjunct professor of history at the University of Connecticut doctoral dissertation, “Limits of Religious Dissent in 17th Century Connecticut: The Rogerene Heresy.”  Patricia M. Schaefer;  //https://connecticuthistory.org/the-rogerenes-leave-their-mark-on-connecticut-society/;  http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/1674-connecticut-rogereneshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_Day_Baptists;  https://newporthistory.org/properties/7th-day-baptist-meeting-house/;  ICRC:   F104 N7 B6  The Early History of the First Church of Christ New London, CT by Rev. S. Leroy Blake, Published 1897 by the Day Publishing Company

 

 


 
 

 

 



 


 
 
 

 


 
 
 
 
Copyright © 2019 The Indian & Colonial Research Center, Inc., All rights reserved.
Membership application

Our mailing address is:
The Indian & Colonial Research Center, Inc.
39 Main Street
P.O. Box 525
Old Mystic, CT 06372

 


 

   
            
                                                  
        



 
   

Colonial Connecticut Trade and Trading Posts

By  Cora Grunwald   I C R C   volunteer
While very rewarding financially, trading in Colonial Connecticut was extremely competitive and often dangerous. The Dutch, the English, and the Natives competed for goods, tribute, and land; they were suspicious of each other, and frequently plotted one against the other. For several years, the Dutch tried to keep the wampum / fur trade from the English.
The first European traders in the Connecticut area were the Dutch. In 1614, Adrien Block explored the lands around Long Island and up the Connecticut River. The main purpose of his exploration was to establish fur trade with the Natives (in competition with the French in Quebec). From 1614 -1617, Cornelius Hendriksen sailed a small yacht along the Connecticut shore, looking for new countries, havens, bays and rivers and when he found these places, he marked them on a map. 

  
Coastal Trading   John Jacob Elkins was a coastal trader for the Dutch by 1614. He was known to the Pequots and spoke their language. In 1622, he imprisoned a Pequot sachem on his ship, and threatened to kill him if ransom wasn’t paid. The Pequots paid 140 fathoms of wampum, but it is unclear whether Elkins killed the Pequot or released him. This incident caused a period of “no confidence” in Elkins or any other Europeans; trade was suspended for several years along the entire Connecticut Coastline because the Natives believed they couldn’t trust any Europeans. John Oldham was an English coastal trader who arrived in Plymouth in 1623 on the ship “Ann.” He was not a Puritan. He defied Captain Standish and drew a knife on him, and was banished from Plymouth that same year. Next he
disrupted the fishing colony at Cape Ann and, in 1625, went back to Plymouth, only to be thrown in jail. He was again expelled, and, “attended by a gard of muskateers which he was to pass thro, and every one was ordered to give him a thump on the brich with the butt-end of his musket and then he was conveied to the waterside where a boat was ready to carry him away.”   By 1633, Oldham had traveled overland to trade for furs and corn with the coastal Natives for Massachusetts Bay. He brought back enthusiastic accounts and tangible proof of animal, vegetable, and mineral resources: beaver skins, wild hemp, and black lead. This report was influential in convincing others to leave Massachusetts Bay to trade and settle in Connecticut. Just 3 years later, John Oldham was found murdered on his small pinnace near Block Island.

Trading Posts

Hartford.  The first known trading post was at Kiviett’s Hook (now Dutch Point, Hartford) called the “House of Hope,” which Jacob Van Curler built in 1623 on the Connecticut River. He obtained the land by an agreement with the Pequots.  In 1633-34, Lt. William Holmes from Plymouth entered the Connecticut River and arrived on Windsor Island.  The frame of his trading house was hidden in his ship, the Arabelle. The trading house was built on the island and served as the English claim to the land. The location was north of the House of Hope, so the English blocked the Native trade with the Dutch, part by location and part by an agreement with the Pequots.
In 1648, the English made it lawful to seize vessels and goods of any nation interfering with the Native trade on Connecticut’s shore.  In 1653, Captain John Underhill seized the Dutch House of Hope “by virtue of the commission granted by Providence Plantation,” ending the Dutch claims for trade in Connecticut.
Real money was scarce in colonial times. Once a settlement became established, most people got what they needed by barter, sometimes trading at their “owne houses.” Colonists traded with Natives for venison and corn. Villages had market places where people could meet to trade extra farm produce, flax, wool, woven cloth, knit stockings or anything else they had extra to get something they needed. Common items used as money were rum, wampum, pork, venison, beef, corn, pieces of eight, and pine tree shillings.

Connecticut River.  Traders were given “monopolies” at their chosen trading post locations. In 1638, Connecticut Colony “ordered that none shall trade on this river (Connecticut) with the Indians for beaver but those who are hereafter named. For Agawam (Springfield), Mr. William Pyncheon and Mr. John Pyncheon; for Windsor, Mr. Ludlowe, Mr. Hull; for Hartford, Mr. Whiting, Tho. Stanton; for Wythersfield, George Hubbard and Richard Lawes;” anyone else would be fined. In 1640, Connecticut ordered that “Mr. Ed. Hopkins, Esqr. Now Governor shall have the benefitte and liberty of free trade at Waranoco and at any place about uppe the river and all others to be restrayned for the time of seven years and the land to be purchased for the Commonwealth.”
Major William Whiting, an original proprietor of Hartford and an exporter of grain, was one of the town’s wealthiest merchants.  Whiting’s Hartford trading company contained an inventory that included hoes, hatchets, shoes, nailes, pins, hats, gilded looking glasses, dram cups, bells, combs, and brass kettles; in return he secured beaver, wolf, bear, moose, raccoon, and deer skins as well as wampum and tobacco. Whiting served as a representative to the Connecticut General Court (1637), treasurer for the colony and assistant (1641-1647), a commissioner of the United Colonies, and judge of the Quarterly Sessions.

Stonington.  In 1650, Thomas Stanton petitioned the Colony of Connecticut for a trading post convenient to the Lantern Hill Pequots and the Eastern Niantics in what is now Stonington.  He was granted six acres for planting, the right to use additional land according to his needs, and a 3-year trading monopoly for his trading post “ at the wading place” on the Pawcatuck River. As early as 1636, he was an Algonquin interpreter for colonial affairs, and was officially appointed by the Connecticut colony in 1638.  In that capacity Stanton also served as an official messenger between government officials and the Natives in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Long Island. 
The son of Thomas Stanton and Ann Lord, Thomas Stanton, Jr., was born 1638 at the Hartford settlement, and subsequently married Sarah Denison, daughter of Capt. George Dension. When Thomas, Sr. was absent from home, Thomas, Jr. assumed the family’s trading post business and later became involved in the West Indies trade.

Norwich.  After several business failures as a traveling trader, Jonathan Brewster set up a trading post on the neck of land opposite Uncas’ fort at Shantok in 1650.  Brewster’s trading arrangement included 450 acres of land given to him by Uncas.  In return, Brewster “bound himself and his heirs to keep a house for trading goods with the Indians.” He did this without permission of the court but, even though they admonished him for being disorderly, they allowed him to continue in business. Doing business in this location was dangerous when different groups of Natives weren’t “getting along.” Brewster rescued Uncas from an attack by Ninigret in 1659 and, in retaliation, about 50 Pequots attacked Brewster’s house.
Robert Allyn opened a post a few miles south of Brewster, on the east shore of the Pequot River; his location is known today as Allyn’s Point. In 1661, Robert gave his son the trading post and opened a shipping company in Norwich.  Most of Allyn’s shipping trade was with the British West Indies: beef, pork, flour, bread, horses, cattle, sheep, swine, lumber were exchanged for rum, corn, flax, flaxseed, oats, sugar, molasses, and salt.  Goods (corn, beef, and horses) were shipped to Barbados and the Indies and sugar, molasses, rum, and slaves were brought back. Other provisions and necessities were sent to Newfoundland and the Grand Banks for salt fish.

New London. 
William Bartlett was a “lame man” who lived and traded in New London. Bartlett’s inventory included pipes, looking glasses, jugs, and nails for sale as well as Native-made mats and trays, whalebone and wampum stones. When Bartlett died, his estate went to his brother, Robert, who eventually willed everything in the estate for a free Latin School (the Robert Bartlett School) in Pequot (New London).

3-4




5

 
6

PREVIOUS  NEWSLETTERS

 

 
                    
Please respond promptly to the reservation form you will receive
in hard-copy mail.
We look forward to the pleasure of your company!

 

 

 

 

 

 


         

Annual Members’ Meeting Guest Speaker
Silvermoon Mars LaRose, Assistant Director of the Tomaquag Museum


        


 




4


Community Outreach



5


Community Outreach continued
Groton Library History Day

 

  
 
6


 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 


 Industry and the Arts – the Scholfields
By Carol Sommer, ICRC volunteer

 
            Last spring I went to a presentation about forgotten cemeteries in Waterford. One of the sites the speaker discussed is off Millers Pond Road in Quaker Hill where Thomas Scholfield had a textile mill and where some of his family are buried. Learning about the Scholfields’ remarkable story was fascinating because these multi-talented people were early pioneers in cloth manufacturing and in the arts.    
            During the Industrial Revolution, England rigorously guarded her textile secrets. Exporting documentation or blueprints of industrial designs was illegal. But ingenuity and knowledge are hard to control legislatively, so when John and Arthur Scholfield arrived in Boston in 1793, they brought with them strategically important British wool processing expertise. By 1794 they’d built their first wool carding machine, and just one year later they were supervisors at a woolen mill in Massachusetts.
          The brothers often traveled to Rhode Island and Connecticut on wool-buying trips, and on one of these expeditions John spotted a site on Oxoboxo Brook in Montville that looked like an ideal place to establish a mill. In 1798 John and Arthur moved to Montville, built their own factory, and started the first water-powered cloth manufacturing business in Connecticut. Later Arthur relocated to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where his company produced the first American-made broadcloth.  President James Madison wore a suit made of Arthur’s fabric to his inauguration. John went on to establish two more mills, a satinet mill in Quaker Hill, and a woolen mill on the Pawcatuck River.
          New London County textile mills contributed to this nation’s growth in ways that can’t be overstated. However societies don’t live by industry alone; the arts matter, too, and here again the Scholfield family played an important role.

          After a career in manufacturing, Arthur’s great-grandson, Edwin, opened a photography studio in Rhode Island and taught his young son, Everett, some of the tricks of this new technology. Everett was an apt student and went on to become Mystic’s premiere landscape and portrait photographer.  Everett worked between 1865 and 1913 in studios located at various times in Mystic, New London, Putnam, and Westerly. 
The Mystic Seaport Museum holds an extensive collection of his work, including charming scenes of Mystic in the 19th Century, and appealing images of his home (still standing on Clift Street) showing the formal Victorian mansion with cornfields, a cow, and people having fun on the front lawn. 

If you’d li
ke to know more about this dynamic family, the ICRC has several sources, including an excellent column by Carol Kimball *, in our scrapbook collection. Although most of Everett’s photographs are at the Mystic Seaport (the collection is viewable on their website), the ICRC has a portrait of Manuel Sebastian,**  a local man whose wife was an Eastern Pequot, taken by Everett’s firm, Scholfield & Tingley.  
Not many families leave such a rich and diverse legacy.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   *Object ID:Kim09–081

 **Object ID. Ms Se2 M0938F

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


page 1

Children’s Schoolbooks 1800s Style
     By Carol Sommer, I C R C volunteer

            I recently found an old school book stashed away among some family journals. “The Young Gentleman and Lady’s Monitor and English Teacher’s Assistant” was published in 1802 as a collection of essays chosen for their ability to “eradicate vulgar Prejudices and Rusticity of Manners; Improve the Understanding;  Rectify the Will; Purify the Passions; Direct the Minds of Youth to the Pursuit of proper Objects; and to facilitate their Reading, Writing, and Speaking the English language, with Elegance and Propriety.” The slender volume included short essays on such topics as Misspent Time how punished, Modesty, Discretion, Pride, Drunkenness, Gaming, Whisperers and Gigglers,and A Life of Virtue preferable to Life of Pleasure.               
The window this book provided on early American childhood education made me curious about the collection of antique school books held in the I C R C library. The very  first book there that I perused, “The Beauties of the children’s friend, being a selection of interesting pieces intended to promote a love of truth and virtue,” seemed to be cut from the same high-minded cloth as the Monitor.  
            The “Children’s Friend” was published in 1808, and is an assemblage of stories and dramatic skits written by French author, Armaud M. Berquin (1747-1791) for use in schools and homes. It’s intended to promote harmonious living between parents and children, where mothers and fathers are the always-to-be-obeyed wise protectors and children are the well-behaved sources of parental joy. Some of the chapter headings include:
                                                The Useful Disappointment
                                                Vanity Punished, a Drama
                                                Absolute Obedience to Parents
                                                The Reformed Sloven.
                                                The Children who would be their own masters
                                                The Forward Little Girl.
 
           

Wow! As you can tell, the stories are heavy on Important Lessons for Youth. For example, in the essay about children who would be their own masters, Mr. Orpin (orphan?), tells his children that if they want to make their own rules and decisions, they may give it a shot.  After things go predictably wrong, the father asks, “You will not be your own masters then, any longer?”  The chastened children respond, “No, no, Papa; we would rather be told by you what to do.”
            In the “Forward Little Girl,” when seven year-old Rosalind sees the error of her bold ways, she refuses toys and presents from her mother until she can earn them through better behavior. (I was just the type of little girl this story would have been aimed at, although, frankly, I would have been much less docile than poor little Rosalind.)

           Another children’s book in the I C R C collection that I enjoyed was “The Picnic Party” written in 1864 by Oliver Optic.  While delivering a homily, it also managed to be much less saccharine and sometimes downright funny. The plot involved a little girl, Josephine, from New York visiting a family in the country. The child was used to being waited on and was very bossy to her hosts’ children. Her playmates didn’t like her, but they tried to be polite until, after a long walk in the woods, Josephine insisted on being pulled home in a wagon instead of walking, The children refused to comply, and left their guest to find her own way back through the scary forest.  

         Josephine got safely back, but the adults weren’t at all sympathetic about her ordeal, and basically told her that she had it coming. They warned her that she’d always be unpopular as long as she was so selfishly demanding. It was a bracing conversation that made Josephine suitably contrite!
          

(One page at the front of the book shows that it was given to George P. Savage as a gift from his Sunday School superintendent for perfect attendance.  I wonder how old George was, and if he liked it.)
            It’s easy to smile at charming but preachy books like these, and to feel sympathy for the children who were their targets. (Where’s Roald Dahl when a kid needs him?!) However, besides constituting entertaining reads, old schoolbooks are another resource to help us understand the lives of our forebears and to know what it was like to walk in their shoes.

page 2-3



page 4

 

 

 

 

 

 



page 5

 

 

 

 

 

 


Check Out I C R C on the Web

www.indianandcolonial.org

     One of the excellent features of the I C R C website is the ease with which you can do research.
     For example, the search capability, activated from the homepage, brings up detailed results that you can use to decide whether an item meets your criteria before making a trip to the center to request to see it. Just remember to jot down the object ID of your selected items.

     Even if you don’t necessarily have something specific in mind, it’s fascinating to peruse the manuscript database’s list/description of some intriguing documents from long ago.
     Also under the database menu I found a list of 85 Tidings Magazine Indices and covers from
July 1983 – December 1999.  You can click on a magazine cover and up pops the issue’s index. Here’s an example from April 1989.  Looks like some fun topics. 

     
page 6

 

 

 

 

                                             Fall 2017

                                    Mission Statement

The mission of the Indian and Colonial Research Center is to preserve and make accessible to the public the collected works of Eva Butler, and the additional historical materials of the people of Old Mystic, Connecticut, and surrounding areas.


          Exhibition Celebrating Historic Homes of Old Mystic

                                   Curated by Marcus Maronn   I C R C  Volunteer

In keeping with our mission to make historical material about Old Mystic accessible to the public, a gallery of many photographs of historic Old Mystic homes is on view at the ICRC. This idea was the brainchild of volunteer, Marcus Maronn, who did the painstaking work of mounting the photographs and documenting information about the houses and the people who owned them. Many of the dwellings are still standing, but some no longer exist except, luckily for us, in charming photographs. Here are a few examples, but if you live nearby, do come in and enjoy the entire exhibit. You can also view the entire exhibit on the GALLERY page on this website
 

page 2

 

 

 

 

 

 


Time Capsule

 
Barbara Shinn was doing the hard work that moving entails, when she came across an old blueprint that she’d found years ago and had set aside. The document, surveying the proposed path of Route 184  is an important artifact that Barbara and her husband had discovered rolled up in a closet years ago when they were renovating the Chapman homestead situated on land depicted on the blueprint. Now as she wrestled with what to save and what to discard for her move, Barbara thought that the blueprint deserved a good home. She chose to give it to the ICRC – for which we are very grateful.
            Drawn in the 1930’s in preparation for the construction of Route 184, it provides a unique time capsule of a portion of Old Mystic in the mid-20th Century. In the snippet above (the actual blueprint is much bigger and has more detail) you can see a corn crib, pig pen, shed, barn, and some apple trees –  documenting a rural past that seems a long time ago, but isn’t. This blueprint has many stories to tell because it reflects a step in the progression from Indian pathways, to colonial roads that largely followed Native American byways, to paved roads and turnpikes, to today’s interstates.

page 3

 

 

 

 

 

 


 
     Volunteers

            This summer the ICRC was fortunate to have the help of Alison Knuijt, a Mystic resident who teaches history and social studies at Norwich Free Academy. Besides enjoying a vacation from school, Alison wanted to do something purposeful that would make a difference in the community.
            In addition to cheerfully assisting guests, Alison quickly learned Past Perfect, the I C R C inventory software. She immediately began documenting one of the many scrapbooks in I C R C ‘s library and was able to finish it before returning to the classroom. This project is important because it makes news articles of local interest that have been saved over the last fifty years into resources that are readily available to docents and the public.
Alison commented that her work at the I C R C dove-tailed beautifully with her academic interests and responsibilities, and that it was an enriching, enjoyable experience.
            There are many projects where your help would make a difference. And like Alison and so many others, you may find you get as much as you give when you volunteer. Please consider it! 

                   Call the I C R C on Tuesdays or Thursdays between 10 & 4
                         telephone  860 – 536 – 9771 or email us at ICRC06372@yahoo.com

 

In Memoriam

The I C R C was saddened to learn that George W. Hamell, Jr., 87, of Mystic, passed away August 26, 2017. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Theo, and his son, George Hamell, III.  We extend our prayers and sympathy to Mr. Hamell’s family. He was a long time and valued member of our organization.

page 4


 
Membership Renewal and Annual Luncheon Meeting
 

     It’s hard to believe it’s time once again to renew your I C R C  membership! Membership dues are the single largest source of income for the I C R C and are critically important for us to be able to maintain our wonderful research center. Please watch the mail for your I C R C Membership Renewals which will be due on or before November 1, 2017. You may combine your donations, membership renewal and annual meeting/dinner in one check made payable to I C R C.
     The I C R C Annual Membership Meeting and Luncheon will be held at the newly renovated Go Fish restaurant in Olde Mistick Village, 27 Coogan Blvd #22, Mystic, Ct., on Saturday November 4th, 
beginning at 11:30a.m.  

      Mr. Jon Kodama continues to provide a delicious meal as well as the use of Go Fish free of cost. I C R C solicits, receives and keeps all funds from the sale of seats at this event.

We thank Mr. Kodama for his generosity and community spirit!

 

     Krystal Rose, the manager of Digital and Primary Source Education at Mystic Seaport, will be our guest speaker, presenting the topic, “Touching, Smelling, Seeing and Hearing History: How Mystic Seaport Brings Historical Resources to Life for Students.” 
     She will discuss how
balancing preservation and access at historical institutions can be both challenging and rewarding. You’ll hear about the process of developing and sharing both digital and hands-on resources that utilize the collections of Mystic Seaport, yet keep those collections safe at the same time.  Many of these methods can be reproduced and tailored at other institutions.  Learn all about it and perhaps touch a bit of history yourself!

 

            Watch for your reservation form in the mail      We hope to see you there

page 5


 

                                                        Always something new on  

        Board of Directors member, Sharon Maynard, keeps the I C R C ’s Facebook presence fresh,  
                     informative, and fun. Here are some samples of her many enjoyable posts.
A link to a New England Historical Society article about summer White Housesin New England. Pictured is the Totoket Hotel in Branford.
 
Our Facebook page is linked to our website, www.indianandcolonial.org  
where you can find more information about the Center.

There you can also click on “Donate” to help our organization.
 

page 6


 

                                                     

 
Sharing I C R C  Treasures with the Community
           

           On September 14th, the Stonington Historical Society hosted a program at the La Grua Center featuring I C R C Board member, George Crouse.  In George’s presentation, “The History of the Mystic River in Maps (1620-1960),” he shared with the audience many maps from the I C R C ’s unique collection. Besides their charm and beauty, every map has a fascinating story to tell.
            If you missed this event, stop by our Research Center and take a look at some of these wonderful depictions of times gone by.

page 7


                                                                         Matching Gift Program

Thanks to a matching gift program made available by the Charter Oak Credit Union, its members have an opportunity to double the impact of their charitable giving. If you are a Charter Oak member, we hope you’ll consider taking advantage of this program to benefit the I C R C.
Below is an explanation taken directly from their website.
Visit https://charteroak.org/content/matching-gifts/for the complete information.
“We’ll match all qualified* charitable donations YOU make between Monday, August 14, 2017 and Wednesday, November 22, 2017.
We’re committed to giving back to charitable entities within our field of membership, as well as charities elsewhere that are meaningful to our members.
We hope our new program will inspire you to make a donation to your favorite 501(c)(3) charity, so they will in turn be able to further their meaningful mission to positively impact the world we live in. Donations must be at least $25 and will be matched in increments of $25 ($25, $50, $75, and $100, etc.); our credit union will match up to a maximum of $500 per member during these 100 days.
Here’s how it works for the member…

    1. Review the guidelines.

 

    1. Select a 501(c)(3) charity.

 

  1. Make a donation and complete the Matching Gifts Request form. Send the donation and the form to the charity.

CALL 860.446.8085 or 800.962.3237 or stop by any Charter Oak branch to find out more!”
 
 


     New Members!
 
Since our last newsletter, our membership roll has expanded to include
Alison Knuijt and Colleen McHugh. Welcome Friends!

page 8


 
 
Copyright © 2017 The Indian & Colonial Research Center, Inc., All rights reserved.
Membership application Our mailing address is:

The Indian & Colonial Research Center, Inc.

39 Main Street
P.O. Box 525

Old Mystic, CT 06372

Add us to your address book

 

*   Here are some recent newsletters   *

 
Welcome Summer!
View this email in your browser

Summer 2017

MISSION  STATEMENT

The Mission of The Indian and Colonial Research Center is to preserve and make accessible to the public, the collected works of Eva Butler and additional historical materials of the people of Old Mystic, Connecticut and surrounding areas


 

  “God Never Did Make a Better Berry”

`                                          – Roger Williams

                                            by Carol Sommer, I C R C volunteer
 
To me, strawberry season symbolizes the start of summer – shortcake of course, 4th of July picnics, and that light hearted feeling that proclaims, “Wow! It’s great to be alive!”  Minus the flag waving and fireworks, Native Americans must have felt the same way.
            In 1960 Eva Butler wrote about a strawberry festival at the Tantaquidgeon Museum in Uncasville. She noted that traditionally these celebrations marked a time of friendship, even among people who didn’t usually get along. It was a joyous, amicable celebration – at least until the berries ran out!
            In this article Butler told how Indians made johnnycake by bruising strawberries in a mortar and then incorporating them into cornmeal for a delicious treat. Early summer was also a time for dining on roasted pigeons that were plump and juicy from their own consumption of wild strawberries.
            As noted in this title, Roger Williams was very impressed with the quality and abundance of this native fruit. Sometimes, he observed, strawberries were so plentiful that “they would fill a good ship.”
            So be part of this venerable tradition. Enjoy summer’s berry bounty and remember the Americans who enjoyed it first.
 
Check out Mrs. Butler’s narrative in ICRC scrapbook number 11, page 44, “Tantaquidgeon Valley Indian Museum,” 6/24/1960.    

 

Open House

 On June 10th the I C R C participated in the Connecticut State Open House
  Day.  Board members and volunteers welcomed guests and gave tours of
  the facility, showing some of the treasures our collection has to offer.
                            
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 For Volunteers
by Carol Sommer

Speaking of volunteers, the I C R C has many interesting projects that will engage new volunteers while helping advance the goals of the organization.
For example, history lovers can come in and learn a bit about the collection and how it’s organized, and then serve as docents. An increase in the number of docents would greatly help and would potentially make it possible to have Saturday hours to reach a wider community.
Another activity that could use more helping hands is cataloguing the ICRC’s extensive scrapbook collection (over 100 albums) into Past Perfect, our inventory system. Visitors and researchers would then have easier access to the many newspaper clippings in these scrapbooks that chronicle over 40 years of local history. In the processing of doing this (and there are miles yet to go!), current volunteers have run across many charming articles that make the task a pleasure.
For someone who enjoys writing, there’s an opportunity to help with ICRC communiques, like this newsletter.  Some of the steps involved would include researching and composing articles, using Word, and learning a mail delivery software package that’s pretty intuitive.  
There’s lots more areas where your help would make a difference, Please consider it!
Call Tuesdays or Thursdays:  860 – 536 – 9771
 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

                                     

Since our last newsletter, our membership roll has expanded to include Bruce Greene, Patrick McKenna, Orin Robinson, and Karen Routledge! Welcome!


                                                          Surfing the ICRC Website 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                        By Carol Sommer, I C R C Volunteer
One of the cool features of the I C R C website is its site-search capability.  There is an amazing amount of information you can search on, and when you find what sounds like a promising book or document that you’d like to access, you can note its ID and request this very specific item, a real time saver for researchers. It’s quite an eye-opener how much is in the I C R C  collections, and how much has been catalogued and its existence made known to the public.
For example I’m starting to research the Beebe family and their experiences during the American Revolution, so I did a quick search to see what the I C R C might have. To my amazement my search came back with 180 references in I C R C documents to the Beebe family. Wow! Each item is described in sufficient detail that I think it will be easy to hone in on the material most relevant to my project.
Check it out when you’re looking for local history information. It’s a very useful feature that many museums do not offer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


                       
               

 

 
 
Copyright © 2017 The Indian & Colonial Research Center, Inc., All rights reserved.
Membership application Our mailing address is:

The Indian & Colonial Research Center, Inc.
39 Main Street
P.O. Box 525
Old Mystic, CT 06372

Add us to your address book

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
View this email in your browser
Spring 2017 Edition

MISSION  STATEMENT
The Mission of The Indian and Colonial Research Center is to preserve and make accessible to the public, the collected works of Eva Butler, and additional historical materials of the people of Old Mystic, Connecticut and surrounding areas

Dine and Donate

The Indian and Colonial Research Center invites you to join us for a unique Dine and Donate opportunity at two local restaurants:


     April 12, 2017 at the Breakwater Restaurant, 66 Water St, Stonington, CT.
  A N D    
     April 13, 2017 at the Steak Loft, Olde Mistick Village, 27 Coogan Blvd #24, Mystic, CT.

When you have lunch or dinner at the time and places above, J T Kodama Management Restaurants will donate 15% of the check’s total to the I C R C.  Just tell the wait staff that you
are there for the I C R C Dine and Donate. Oh, and please do bring a friend !
(Dine and Donate sales cannot be combined with other discounts or promotions)

Save The Date – Saturday, June 10, 2017    CONNECTICUT  OPEN  HOUSE  DAY
Each June, Connecticut sponsors a one day statewide event to showcase Connecticut’s
diverse world of history, art and tourism to Connecticut residents
 
Come visit the I C R C from 11 am to 3 pm on this day and explore our Historical Museum 
Board of Director members and volunteers will be on hand to meet and greet everyone

 

An April Surprise on Fishers Island
By Carol Sommer, I C R C volunteer


Sketch from “Wreck of the- Thelma-Phoebe”z

by  R. Shanklin

            I was searching Past Perfect, the I C R C ’s inventory system, for an article that would be timely for our spring newsletter. I guess I wanted tulips and daffodils, but instead I found one of Carol Kimball’s wonderful columns.* The topic is only tangentially relevant to the season, but it’s a dramatic story
            When Prohibition went into effect, the 18th Amendment wasn’t universally popular and a whole industry sprang up to circumvent its enforcement. So it isn’t surprising that in April 1923, an accident involving large quantities of alcohol impelled Fishers Island residents to exuberant action
            The Thelma-Phoebe, a British yacht owned by a wholesale liquor distributor, was transporting 2,400 cases of liquor from Nassau to Halifax. She wasn’t a rum-runner. Her captain, Harold Johnson, had no intention of unloading cargo at an American port, but some nasty weather overrode his plans
            For several days torrential rains and gale force winds had wreaked maritime havoc up and down the east coast.  Somewhere off Montauk Point, the storm disabled the Thelma-Phoebe, snapping her rudder and rendering her impossible to steer.  On April 30th, the helpless ship was blown 35 miles across Long Island Sound and crashed on Fishers Island near Chocomount Beach
            Tragically, the cook, Isaac Roberts, drowned trying to swim to shore; his body was found later and lies buried on Fishers Island. The rest of the 8-man crew made it to safety on a raft, and were housed for a time in the O’Leary Hotel on Green Street in New London
            John Allison was the first islander to spot some whiskey bottles that had washed ashore. Word spread quickly and residents came out in force to help clear the beach. (Sources put the tally at about 300 people from a population of 500).  Soon people were wading into the water to retrieve – and consume – this windfall. Things became so rowdy that Coast Guard patrolman Elias Miner, had to fire shots into the air to gain some semblance of crowd control
            Afterwards the owner of the Thelma-Phoebe hired the New London salvage company Richard C. Davidson, to search for the missing cargo. Davidson was only able to recover 869 cases out of the 2,400. The recovered spirits were stored in the Custom House while questions of jurisdiction – New York or Connecticut – were litigated
            So, here’s to spring and to the unexpected places you can travel when you start down one of history’s pathways
 
  * Come in and read Kimball’s article (and dozens of other equally enjoyable pieces) for yourself. This one is in I C R C scrapbook 3 – page 3
It was published in The Day in May, 1989

  A Unique Volunteer Experience
  Facebook Administrator

by Sharon I. Maynard, Board of Directors and Facebook Page Administrator

                                           

When I joined Facebook a few years ago, (about the same time that I began to serve on the ICRC Board), I was delighted to find many pages devoted to local historical societies, libraries, and old historic homes. I thought, what a great way to promote the I C R C – By becoming a Page Administrator for the I C R C we could send photos and updates about things happening at the I C R C and network with other organizations by sharing their pages of interest
It was a little work in the beginning. I had to learn the basic rules and settings, but along the way I learned how to promote our page and boost a posting. I found how to link the page to our I C R C website so that people could access our online collections and read more about our organization and its mission.
Now that everything is up and running, I only have to spend a half hour or so a week checking our messages and updating the I C R C page with photos and articles. Here are some interesting facts gleaned from our page
Most people are visiting the page during the evening hours, but we are receiving views as early as six a.m. with a small peak during the noon hour. (People in different time zones may skew that statistic.)
We currently have 892 “likes” or page members that receive information from our Facebook page in their news feed regularly. We reach even more people through members sharing our pages and by friends of friends viewing those member’s news feeds
Our Facebook membership is made up of people from around the globe. The United States provides the most members, followed by the U.K., the Netherlands and Canada. Other countries include Norway, Romania, Hungary, Greece, Chile, Argentina, India, Canada, France, and Germany. There is even one reader from Serbia
In our own country the states of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts make up most of the members for our page. Not surprisingly, a good number of our fans are from right here in Mystic and the surrounding towns, however, London, England also appears in the top ten list of towns with participants
We reach people of all ages.  Most of our page members are 45 + years of age,
although we have younger members as well

Now for the lesson I have learned from this experience

There are so many ways that you can volunteer for an organization. Anytime that you volunteer, be it a day or an hour, you make a big difference in the way an organization survives and grows.  By using a little imagination and thinking “outside the box” you too may think of some ways to contribute time and talent to the I C R C        We thank you once more for your support ! 

You can find the I C R C Facebook page at

https://www.facebook.com/IndianAndColonialResearchCenter/

 

 

  Welcome New Members

 
 I C R C extends a warm welcome to our newest members
Jane Bobruff, Kenneth Carr, Christine Murtha, Lee Morris,
Kitty McVitty  and  Howard Taylor

 

 

 

 

              Our speaker, James Quinn, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer

                  and Archaeology Program Manager for the Mohegan Tribe

 MEETING MINUTES OF
THE INDIAN & COLONIAL RESEARCH CENTER, Inc.
 I C R C  IS A QUALIFIED IRS 501c ENTITY
12 November 2016 – Annual Luncheon Meeting – Held at GO FISH

  • Meeting commenced at 11:35 a.m. Sharon Maynard welcomed everyone to the 49th ANNUAL MEETING of the Indian and Colonial Research Center.She noted that the first ANNUAL MEETING was held on November 28th, 1967, and that the ICRC was incorporated on December 9th, 1965.December 2016 will start the 51st year of the established ICRC.
  • She expressed the ICRC’s gratitude to Mr. Jon Kodama for hosting the ICRC again and for allowing all proceeds collected to go directly to the ICRC.The donation will be used to replenish ICRC’s operating budget. Kodoma’s staff was also thanked for their outstanding service. Volunteer Richard Guidebeck provided a slideshow tribute to Eva Butler. Guidebeck has been digitizing photos for the ICRC.
    • There was a moment of silence to remember and honor departed members and friends.

 

    • Current Board Members were introduced:Chris Rose (Board Director), Tobias Glaza (Board Director), Paul Grant-Costa (Board Director), Sharon Maynard (Board Director ), Robert Mohr (Board Director and Treasurer) and Allen Polhemus (Board Director), George Crouse (Board Director). Honorary Board Members: Joan Cohn, Joanne Fontanella, George and Theo Hamell, and Jack and Jane Pillar.

 

    • Chris Rose presented the ICRC Annual Report

 

    • A motion was made to accept the Annual Report and seconded. The Annual Report was accepted by unanimous vote by the membership.

 

  • Bob Mohr , Treasurer, presented the Annual Treasurer’s Report
  • A motion was made to accept the Annual Treasurer’s Report and seconded. The Annual Treasurer’s Report was accepted by unanimous vote by the membership.
  • ICRC Board Nominations:

      After thanking all Board Members (Active and Retired) for their faithful service and generous gifts of  time, resources and talents, there was a call for nominations to the Board. Allen Polhemus was   nominated for another term on the Board of Directors. The nomination was accepted and seconded. Polhemus was confirmed by a unanimous vote. Paul Grant-Costa was confirmed to serve for one more  year on the Board of Directors. It was noted that a Nominating Committee had not been formed this year.

A special thank you was given to all of our volunteers by Bob Mohr. Mohr mentioned each by name and offered a list of their accomplishments.

  • Maynard then explained to the Membership that the Board, by consensus, had decided to postpone the vote on the new by-laws scheduled for this meeting until further discussions have been completed. After further review of the document, the Board felt that the membership should have more time to review and that there were certain procedures that were not articulated that needed to be included in the final document.
  • The meeting then proceeded to this year’s program and speaker. James Quinn, -Mohegan Tribal Historic Preservation Officer; James Quinn is the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer and Archaeology Program Manager for the Mohegan Tribe. He has a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership from Quinnipiac University. Quinn has been involved in the Tribe’s archaeology program since 2001. Participating as an undergraduate student in the Tribe’s archaeological field school, Quinn returned to field school again in 2002 and interned the next three summers in the Tribe’s Archaeology Department. He began his full time work for the Mohegan Tribe as the Archaeological Field Supervisor in 2006. After becoming manager of the archaeology program in 2011, Quinn became the first Mohegan Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO) of the newly created office. Mr. Quinn spoke about the role of the MTHP Office and outlined the accomplishments of the Tribe’s Field School.
Meeting Adjournment:
A motion was made to adjourn the Annual Membership Meeting of the Indian and Colonial   Research Center and seconded. Motion was passed unanimously. A buffet luncheon was then served. A 50/50 raffle was held. Marcus Maronn was the winner and recipient. Maronn used his winnings to purchase tools for the ICRC.Respectfully submitted,   Sharon I. Maynard  Board of Directors

 

 
Preserving a Small Part of What Has Been
By Richard Guidebeck  –  I C R C Volunteer
 

    We cannot know how much to learn
    From those who never will return
    Until a flash of unforeseen
    Remembrances fall on what has been.
      (Edwin A. Robinson)

First, let me introduce myself, as I am sure not many know who I am or what I am doing at ICRC.  When I first became a volunteer at ICRC, the extensive collections and the need to find a project where I could be most useful while learning about the ICRC and its mission led me to catalog and preserve the slide collection.  This took several weeks with the help and advice of Bob, Marcus, Chris, and others.  I finally settled on digitizing the slide collections as many are quite old and in danger of being lost just through the ravages of time.  I had last been the archivist at the Leffingwell House Historic Museum, where starting about 8 years ago, I had been faced with a disaster – to reorganize water-damaged collections with copious mold.  Yes, they also had a flood but theirs was due to a broken city water main.
Back to ICRC and the slide collection: most of the slides are 35mm from various eras but some are 16mm film frame clips that have been cut from the original film.  Most of these are 1920’s, 1930’s and are of the Western Indians Tribes.

Archives  Round Tables  Series

By Sharon Maynard  – I C R C Board of Directors
One of the more interesting aspects of serving on the Board of Directors at ICRC is the many opportunities that come to us that help educate us on the work being done here at ICRC.
On December 6, 2016, I attended the Basics of Archival Acquisition and Appraisal Round table Workshop. This workshop is part of the Archives Round tables Series on Paper-Based Collections sponsored by the Connecticut State Historical Records Advisory Board and Conservation ConneCTion.
            In this half-day program, we learned the fundamentals of acquiring and appraising archival collections, techniques for identifying records necessary for documenting our communities and how good collection policies and procedures makes this work easier to do. Our presenter was Martha Lund Smalley, Archives Consultant.
            How do you decide what to accept from an archival donation?  Are you comfortable in appraising archival donations to determine if the contents will add long-lasting archival value to your collection? These and other subjects were explored. Questions from participants were answered and guidance was given as to where to find support and information for the challenges an organization may be facing.  challenges an organization may be facing.               
Lebanon Historical Society
 

 Additionally, it was a great opportunity to network with people from various historical societies and libraries across the state. Held at Lebanon Historical Society, 856 Trumbull Hwy, Lebanon, CT., a behind-the-scene tour of Lebanon Historical Society Archives was provided after the program.
                                                                                                                                                     


 Seeking Volunteers


Looking for an opportunity to support the local community, learn new things, and meet new people ?  Please consider volunteering at the  I C R C – It takes many hands to keep our organization vibrant and moving forward, and there are many ways volunteers can help. 
Give a call Tuesdays or Thursdays at 860-536-9771 between 10 & 4 to learn more

5

          

2016 Treasurer’s Report

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our fiscal year runs from November 1 through October 31. On October 31,2015 ICRC had $18,369.26 in our checking account and $1001.17 in our savings account for a total of $19,370.43. On October 31, 2016 the I C R C had $25,058.00 in our checking account and $1001.76 in our savings account for a total of $26,059.22
We had income during the year of $16,377.45 and expenses of $9,638.66 for a net gain of $6,688.79
Major expense during the year included:
  • Building maintenance which included insulating the attic, increasing the lighting in the exhibition and staff work rooms and exterior trim painting.
  • Heating oil
  • Property and liability insurance
  • Electrical, telephone and internet utilities
  • Computer related expenses
Major sources of income included:
  • Donations from Pfizer
  • One time donation from Virgil Huntley
  • Many individual donors
  • Military Whist (Women’s Club)
  • Rosetto Builders
  • Jon Kodama
A detailed report is on file at the I C R C
Respectfully Submitted,
Robert Mohr, Treasurer                       
6
                                       
Recording Secretary’s Annual Report – Year 2016
 

2016 has been a year of growth and change with attention to our commitment to the mission of the I C R C. To this end our continuing activities over the past year have included:
* Providing research services to the public two days a week
* Improving the search capabilities on our website
* Maintaining our Facebook presence
* Participating in local community activities to increase the public awareness of the ICRC: Old Mystic community picnic, CT Open House Day, Groton History Fair
* Updating our preservation of photos, videos and audio records to digital format
* Continuing our fundraising efforts to insure viability of the ICRC.
There are activities that occurred this past year that were focused on insuring the future of the ICRC as we grow and expand our collections and services.
* Planning and presenting an exhibit of maps from our collection on the cultural changes to the Mystic River Valley 1620 – 1960
* Upgrading center computers to Windows 10
* Working to develop consensus to update ICRC bylaws
* Installing track lighting in the middle room
* Installing insulation in the building attic
* Monitoring temperature and humidity in our storage areas to better control the collections environment.
In addition the following occurred:
* George Crouse was elected to the Board of Directors
* Volunteer Joan Roberts retired from being an active volunteer
* The use of CALL SLIPS was introduced to help determine patterns of use of our research material.
* Documentation of items to be stored
* Eva Butlers’ nomination to the CT Women’s Hall of fame was renewed
* Streamlined communication for the development of the Newsletter was approved
* The Traveling Archivist Program identified collection preservation and security as a concern.
* The combination to the old bank safe has been determined
* Paul Grant –Costa was elected to the Board
* Barbara Fontanella, recording secretary, resigned from the Board
* Jane Schoonover started work on scrapbook maintenance
* Nancy Mitchell and Carol Sommer entered scrapbook information in Past Perfect
* A de-accession committee was approved by the Board
* A By-Law committee was formed and met
* Director’s insurance was secured
* The ICRC continued its membership with the Mystic Chamber of Commerce at their increased rate
* Joyce Tessier and Sharon Carlee resigned as volunteer’s at ICRC
* The Arts & Economic Prosperity Study were provided their requested data
* Karen Mohr was authorized to explore grants to support a part-time staff member
* Robert Welt, retired history teacher, past ICRC Board member and Board President has begun as a volunteer and is exploring high school volunteers
* A fire safety inspection noted several minor deficiencies and a plan to address them was developed
* A digital projector has been acquired for Center programs
* Exterior painting of doors.
Discussion continues on the following:
* Thank you notes and other secretarial responsibilities
* Rearrangement of ICRC rooms and space considerations
* Document security
* By-Laws
* Ideas for displays
* List of grant worthy projects
* Quarterly lecture series
* Off-site storage of Center for less sought items
* Web site security
* Development of an ICRC tribute wall in the middle room
* Staffing issues and communication.
Respectfully submitted,
Chris Rose

Copyright © 2017 The Indian & Colonial Research Center, Inc., All rights reserved.
Membership application Our mailing address is:

The Indian & Colonial Research Center, Inc.

39 Main Street
P.O. Box 525

Old Mystic, CT 06372

Add us to your address book

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

Email Marketing Powered by MailChimp

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Historic Desk Comes Home


   Volunteer Nancy Mitchell admiring our desk           

     Thanks to the generosity of I C R C member, Elizabeth Gaynor, the I C R C is now the proud owner of a desk that was used by the ancestors of her late husband, Edwin Schoonover Gaynor, when our building was the Mystic National Bank !
     Mr. Gaynor’s mother, Helena Schoonover, grew up in Old Mystic in the Schoonover house which stood right next to the bank until the 1970s when it was torn down. Helena’s father, Alpheus and her grandfather, John, were both bankers
   John Schoonover came to Mystic from Stroudsburg, Pa. and married Desire Matilda Hewitt in 1851.  Desire was the daughter of Elias Hewitt (b. 1792, married to Polly Miner in 1817); Elias may have been a banker, too. Banking seems to have run in the family!
John was president of the Mystic National Bank in 1879 and served until the bank closed eight years later. John owned and was president of the two banks that served Old Mystic: the stone bank that was moved to the Seaport and is now the Counting House there; and the other bank that now houses the ICRC collection. John and Desire’s son, Alpheus, was also a banker at one or possibly both of the banks

     Mrs. Gaynor felt that it was very fitting for the desk to be preserved and appreciated in the setting where it served a vital community function all those years ago

The I C R C is very grateful for Elizabeth’s generous gift and for her commitment to conserving heirlooms whose stories might be forgotten  –  but shouldn’t be ! !

 

Sources: Elizabeth Gaynor’s family memories and “A History of Old Mystic 1600-1990” by Kathleen Greenhalgh, Impact image, 1999

Introducing I C R C ’s Newest Board Members

 The I C R C is delighted that Christopher Rose and George Crouse have agreed to join the Board of Directors. Chris and George jumped right in, contributing their talents and energies to important projects such as refining the organizational bylaws and digitizing fragile, priceless documents. Here are short bios of our newest leaders

George Crouse

  George grew up in Mystic and attended Stonington public schools. He graduated from Stonington High School and went on to Central Connecticut State University where he majored in Social Sciences and Education. On completing his Masters concentrating in geography, George taught as a lecturer in the Geography Department at CCSU
After college George and his wife, Ann, returned to live in Old Mystic. Both taught in the Stonington school system. Ann taught at West Vine Elementary School, while George taught at Stonington High where he developed and implemented a course on local history. His career at SHS spanned 37 years
George continues to coach the high school tennis team. His mentoring over the span of 42 years has enabled his girls’ teams to win numerous ECC championships, making them frequent contenders for state titles. In 2010 George was named the United States Tennis Association New England High School Coach of the Year.
George’s civic contributions include serving as Stonington Police Commissioner and as Stonington’s Second and First Selectman.
George says that he’s very excited to be a director at ICRC because it dovetails perfectly with his enthusiasm for local history

Chris Rose

  Chris grew up in Waterford and graduated from Waterford High in 1964. In 1966 he joined the Army and served as an Army photographer in Thailand and West Germany. After the Army he attended Mitchell College and finished his BFA in sculpture at UConn. Chris attended Columbia Teachers College and received a Master of Arts in Art education in 1974
Chris was recruited to teach at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf at the Gallaudet campus in Washington D.C. During his ten years at Gallaudet he earned his Masters of Fine Arts in ceramics from George Washington University. He and his wife, Rosemarie, and their two children returned to Stonington in 1984 and Chris was hired to teach art at the three Stonington Elementary schools. He also taught elementary art in Colchester, New London, Waterford, East Lyme and Montville. During this time he attended UConn again to earn his Education Supervision credentials.
Chris also served as the Associate Dean for Enrollment Management at the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts for four years. After retiring from public education, Chris managed The Gallery at the Light House, Groton for six years. Now completely retired, he has come to the I C R C where he is working to digitize documents and photos in our collection

 

And speaking of the ICRC Board, we’re delighted that Paul Grant-Costa has rejoined the Board’s leadership team after a hiatus during which he was deeply missed!


A warm welcome to our newest members
:

Thomas Brown, Deborah Donovan, Michael Gillen, Joanne Snyder

Welcome aboard

       New Fee Schedule Approved

The Board of Directors approved a new schedule of fees involved with research assistance at their March 21 meeting. This new schedule takes into consideration the developments in technology and establishes appropriate fees for accessing and copying of documents, photos and artifacts. We will publish this new schedule of fees on our web page and make patrons aware of these changes as they visit our Research Center


ICRC to Participate in Connecticut Open House Day

The Indian and Colonial Research Center will be a proud participant in the 12th annual Connecticut Open House Day on Saturday June 11, 2016. The one-day statewide event showcases the diversity of history, art, and tourism that our corner of New England offers.  The ICRC will be open from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with volunteers and ICRC Board members greeting visitors. Mark your calendars! Stop by and help welcome guests or re-familiarize yourself will all the special resources our center has to offer!


All the News That’s Fit to Print – and Preserve

By  Carol Sommer, I C R C volunteer

          After three years of volunteering at the ICRC, I haven’t even begun to comprehend all the priceless resources the center holds. Recently I wandered to the back of the library and took a look at the racks of scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings from The Day, the Mystic River Press, and other local papers. It was impressive.
I counted over 120 scrapbooks, but only had time to briefly scan four of them. Still it was wonderful to see the wide range of articles this tiny sample contained!
For example, I found a column by Carol Kimball about the circus coming to Mystic in 1897, complete with a picture of the circus parade crossing the Mystic Bridge as it looked before today’s bascule bridge had been installed. An article by Bill Peterson dated a picture of repair work to the bridge by a sign that read “Charlie Wang First Class Laundry.”  Mystic once had several Chinese laundries and Peterson’s knowledge of when they’d been in operation enabled him to date the photograph and the event.
Another column by Kimball told the story of school children who bought stock at 10 cents per share to underwrite the construction of a missionary ship to bring Christianity to Hawaii

Other articles that caught my attention included :

    • A first-hand account of the hell of World War I by a 100 year-old local veteran.

 

    • The opening of the Mashantucket Museum in 1998.

 

    • The quest for federal recognition by the Nehantics, a people declared extinct in the 1800’s.

 

    • Danish researchers finding a bracelet, decorated with Thor’s hammer, in Smiths Cove, raising speculation about Viking presence in the Niantic River area.

 

    • A Norwich book dealer finding a rare first edition of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”

 

    • The theft of valuable antique drinking vessels, circa 1777, stolen from the Shaw Mansion in New London but recovered when an alert citizen found them discarded in a garbage can.

 

    • Two landmarks, the New London Custom House and North Stonington’s Randall’s Ordinary, officially recognized by the Freedom Trail Foundation.

 

    • The 1997 Green Corn festival in Montville, complete with many photographs.

 

  • Robert Ballard, of oceanic exploration fame, partnering with the Pequots to search for artifacts off Long Island and New Jersey in 1996.

            This wasn’t even scratching the surface. I could have sat there reading and being entertained for weeks! In fact, I hope to do just that!
One person we have to thank for this treasure trove is Joan Roberts. Over the course of the last twelve years Joan has documented 39 existing scrapbooks that had not been indexed (many contain 100 pages with multiple newspaper clippings per page). Additionally she has kept an eye out for current newspaper articles of historical interest and clipped, pasted, and indexed those as well. Come and browse the scrapbooks and take a look at all the 3X5 index cards in the cabinet drawers. You’ll see what a labor of love this represents.

Joan Roberts preserving memories


Editor’s Note:  Readers are cautioned that by today’s standards, the use of some herbs as pharmaceuticals may be unsafe and possibly toxic. Use of any plants for medicinal purposes should be pre-approved by your doctor

The Indian and Colonial Research Center Library has scores of notebooks with information to suit almost any interest or occasion. At this time of year when winter-weary New Englander’s begin garden plans for the coming season, I thought it might be fun to take a look at some of the many herbs and flowers used in colonial times for food as well as for medicinal purposes. If you are buying seeds for spring and want your choices to reflect this heritage, listed below are a few varieties from which you might choose.

The list, with benefits expected by the colonists, includes:

    • Chamomile – used in baths, as it eases pain and as a tea for settling the stomach.

 

    • Lavender – can be used to “bathe the temples and forehead with its juices.” Also the smell of the herb helps “swoonings” (sic). Popular as a massage lotion or chopped up in sachets.

 

    • Liverwort – excellent for inflammation of the liver and yellow jaundice.

 

  • Mint – provokes hunger and is wholesome for the stomach.

  • Nettle juice – stops bleeding. “Boyle” (sic) in white wine to help a troublesome cough that the women call “chin-cough.”

  • Rosemary – helps stuffiness in the head, while it improves memory.

  • St. John’s Wort –  a good wound herb, given inwardly or applied topically.

  • Thyme – helps relieve coughs and shortness of breath.  

  • Dandelion – “one of our best greens for salads.” The leaves make an excellent pot herb.

  • Chickweed – “leaves or whole plant may be eaten raw, as a salad and cooked like spinach with spinach taste clearly duplicated. A handful of chickweed mixed with some mild mustard makes an acceptable emergency salad in almost any field trip.”

  Following are some “edible seeds” and berries:

  • Garden sunflower – a native plant which is of great importance as a stock and poultry food while it is also eaten by people. Plant is cultivated in Peru and internationally for the production of sun flower oil used as food, in soaps, and on leather.

  • Wild field strawberries – from wild plants. They are smaller than cultivated plants but much sweeter and more delicious.

  • Wintergreen, checker berry leaves – delicious in spring with fruits. Mixture of blueberries and wintergreen is marvelous. The wintergreen and berries are dry and palatable.

 These are only a few of the many herbs, seeds, and berries used in the colonies. Some may be found in natural food stores as ointments, lotions, oils, sachet choices and other assortments. A treat for the senses!

 

Reference: I C R C Notebook Plants for Ailments C NB#41 (pp. 98-113)

      

    Consider Volunteering at ICRC!

 

Have you considered volunteering a little of your time between 10:00 to 4:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays ? It would be an opportunity to become more familiar with our collections and to greet visitors to the center. Take it from members who already volunteer: it’s a great way to do something for the community, make new friends and contacts, and learn fascinating new things ! If you’re interested or would like more information contact us at

icrc06372@yahoo.com

 
 
 
 

Holiday Greeting

 

 
View this email in your browser
I C R C Mounts Historical Photograph Exhibit
Celebrating  “Commonalities”
     During the month of October, beautiful images from the I C R C collection will be on view in the Ames Room at the Mystic & Noank Library (40 Library Street, Mystic). Charming pictures representing people, places, and events of the past tell the story of our community and the people who lived here, contributing to what it –  and we -are today.
Please join us for a reception in the Ames Room from 7:00 to 8:30PM on Monday, October 5th, but if you can’t make the reception, stop by and check out the exhibit which will be in place until the end of the month!
                                                                   
On the Web
 
     Thanks to member and volunteer, Marcus Maronn, the I C R C has an informative narrative and map on the website, ‘This is Mystic!’  The site features events, restaurants, and places to visit, sort of a one-stop shopping for fun things to do locally.  It’s great to have more community visibility!
Check it out at Thisismystic.com

                                                                  
6th Annual History Fair
Hosted by the Groton Public Library

at 2 Newtown Road, Groton
Saturday September 26th from 1 – 4 PM
 
 The I C R C will have a table at the Fair along with other organizations representing local history including the Hempstead House, the New London County Historical Society, the DAR, the SAR, the Groton Historical Society, the Mystic River Historical Society, the Stonington Historical Society, the Denison Homestead, the Avery Association, the Friends of Fort Griswold and many others. History books and other memorabilia will be available for purchase. There will be door prizes and a colonial magician!! This free event is open to the public.

                                                                  
A Call for Volunteers !

We thank all members for their financial support.  Consider volunteering a little of your time during our open hours from 10:00 to 4:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  It would be an opportunity to get to know our collections better and to greet visitors to the center. If we could obtain interested volunteers we would consider opening on an occasional Saturday to attract those visitors that can not come during a weekday. If you are interested in volunteering or would like more information contact us at: icrc06372@yahoo.com

 

                                                                  


The Journey of the Jonny Cake
By  Jane Schoonover – I C R C Volunteer

             The original spelling of the word “jonny-cake” was “journey-cake,” and was so named because it could be prepared quickly and could be carried very easily by the Indians when they were making a long journey.
According to Thomas Hazard in his book, “The Jonny-cake papers of ‘Shepherd Tom,’” these delicious portable goodies were the “favorite food of the gods.”  Hazard notes that after the War of Independence the name journey-cakes morphed into the more familiar jonny-cakes.
Old fashioned journey-cakes were first made by the Narragansetts of Rhode Island.   The cakes had to be made on a red-oak journey-cake board, an essential implement of frontier cooking. According to an 1863 entry in “An American Glossary,”  journey-cakes consisted of corn meal, pounded in a wooden mortar   …The dough, when prepared, was spread upon a piece of shaved clapboard 3-4” wide-15-20” long, baked upon the hearth. When both sides were perfectly done it was called journey-cake or jonny-cake.
“An American Glossary” continues, “This article of food was used by the Indians of the interior on their long marches to and from their summer resorts on the Southern shores of the Atlantic being Narragansett and Newport.” Sometimes on treks between Rhode Island and Cape Cod, the Indians would stop to rest in New Bedford where they refreshed themselves with the journey cakes they were carrying. The area behind that city’s historical society is aptly named Johnny Cake Hill. (Here in Connecticut we have our own Johnny Cake Hill Road in Old Lyme!)
Faith Damon Davison, I C R C member and former archivist for the Mohegan Tribe, has graciously shared the following recipe. Give it a try !

                                                     

Recipe for Journey Cakes
Ingredients

2 cups of water
2 cups of corn meal
2 tsps. Salt
2 tbls. of butter (probably used animal grease)
½ cup dried fruit (cranberries, blueberries, cherries) or chopped nuts.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bring water to a boil in a saucepan. Stir in corn meal, salt, butter & berries or nuts. Place in the bottom of a greased 8” square pan and bake for 25 minutes. Cut into squares and serve. (Serves 6-8)

 

 Mark Your Calendars
for the Annual Membership Meeting
and Buffet Luncheon
November 14th from 11:30 – 2:30
at Go Fish in Olde Mistick Village
Exit 90 off I-95

We are extremely fortunate to have as guest speaker,
Dr. Brian D. Jones,
whose topic will be  “Five Things Everyone Should Know about the Native American Archaeology of Connecticut.” 

 

Dr. Jones began as Connecticut State Archaeologist in 2014. He has worked in the archaeology field for over 25 years. He received his undergraduate degree in Anthropology at Oberlin College in 1986. After living and traveling in Southeast Asia, he studied European prehistory at the University of Cologne, Germany; he returned to the U.S. in 1992 to complete his Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut at Storrs. Dr. Jones was engaged in various archaeological positions including a position as Tribal Archaeologist for the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, Senior Archaeologist for AHS, Inc. in Storrs, Associate Director of UMass Archaeological Services in Amherst, and has taught as an adjunct in the Anthropology Department at UConn since 2004. His primary research focus is the archaeology of northeastern Native American cultures. His dissertation explored human adaptation to the changing climate at the end of the last Ice Age.

Hope to See You There!

Go Fish Mystic County's Sea Food Restaurant

 

   Welcome New Members

        Happy to have you on board       

A warm welcome to our newest members
Bruce Carpenter, Craig Cipolla, Alice Foley, Neil Goodenough,
Chad Jones, Keli Levine, and John Russell  

 

Copyright © 2015 The Indian & Colonial Research Center, Inc., All rights reserved.
Membership applicationOur mailing address is:

The Indian & Colonial Research Center, Inc.

39 Main Street
P.O. Box 525

Old Mystic, CT 06372

Add us to your address book

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Indian & Colonial Research Center, Inc.

39 Main Street
P.O. Box 525

Old Mystic, CT 06372

Add us to your address book

unsubscribe from this listupdate subscription preferences

Caution: if you unsubscribe you will automatically be removed from our mailing list and will not receive future newsletters

 


 

October 2010

Christmas 2011 Greeting

January 2011

March 2011

September 2011



 

 

 

 

Colonial Connecticut Trade and Trading Posts
By Cora Grunwald ICRC volunteer
While very rewarding financially, trading in Colonial Connecticut was extremely competitive and often dangerous. The Dutch, the English, and the Natives competed for goods, tribute, and land; they were suspicious of each other, and frequently plotted one against the other. For several years, the Dutch tried to keep the wampum / fur trade from the English.
The first European traders in the Connecticut area were the Dutch. In 1614, Adrien Block explored the lands around Long Island and up the Connecticut River. The main purpose of his exploration was to establish fur trade with the Natives (in competition with the French in Quebec). From 1614 -1617, Cornelius Hendriksen sailed a small yacht along the Connecticut shore, looking for new countries, havens, bays and rivers and when he found these places, he marked them on a map. 

  
Coastal Trading   John Jacob Elkins was a coastal trader for the Dutch by 1614. He was known to the Pequots and spoke their language. In 1622, he imprisoned a Pequot sachem on his ship, and threatened to kill him if ransom wasn’t paid. The Pequots paid 140 fathoms of wampum, but it is unclear whether Elkins killed the Pequot or released him. This incident caused a period of “no confidence” in Elkins or any other Europeans; trade was suspended for several years along the entire Connecticut Coastline because the Natives believed they couldn’t trust any Europeans. John Oldham was an English coastal trader who arrived in Plymouth in 1623 on the ship “Ann.” He was not a Puritan. He defied Captain Standish and drew a knife on him, and was banished from Plymouth that same year. Next hedisrupted the fishing colony at Cape Ann and, in 1625, went back to Plymouth, only to be thrown in jail. He was again expelled, and, “attended by a gard of muskateers which he was to pass thro, and every one was ordered to give him a thump on the brich with the butt-end of his musket and then he was conveied to the waterside where a boat was ready to carry him away.”   By 1633, Oldham had traveled overland to trade for furs and corn with the coastal Natives for Massachusetts Bay. He brought back enthusiastic accounts and tangible proof of animal, vegetable, and mineral resources: beaver skins, wild hemp, and black lead. This report was influential in convincing others to leave Massachusetts Bay to trade and settle in Connecticut. Just 3 years later, John Oldham was found murdered on his small pinnace near Block Island.
Trading Posts Hartford.  The first known trading post was at Kiviett’s Hook (now Dutch Point, Hartford) called the “House of Hope,” which Jacob Van Curler built in 1623 on the Connecticut River. He obtained the land by an agreement with the Pequots.  In 1633-34, Lt. William Holmes from Plymouth entered the Connecticut River and arrived on Windsor Island.  The frame of his trading house was hidden in his ship, the Arabelle. The trading house was built on the island and served as the English claim to the land. The location was north of the House of Hope, so the English blocked the Native trade with the Dutch, part by location and part by an agreement with the Pequots.
In 1648, the English made it lawful to seize vessels and goods of any nation interfering with the Native trade on Connecticut’s shore.  In 1653, Captain John Underhill seized the Dutch House of Hope “by virtue of the commission granted by Providence Plantation,” ending the Dutch claims for trade in Connecticut.
Real money was scarce in colonial times. Once a settlement became established, most people got what they needed by barter, sometimes trading at their “owne houses.” Colonists traded with Natives for venison and corn. Villages had market places where people could meet to trade extra farm produce, flax, wool, woven cloth, knit stockings or anything else they had extra to get something they needed. Common items used as money were rum, wampum, pork, venison, beef, corn, pieces of eight, and pine tree shillings.
Connecticut River.  Traders were given “monopolies” at their chosen trading post locations. In 1638, Connecticut Colony “ordered that none shall trade on this river (Connecticut) with the Indians for beaver but those who are hereafter named. For Agawam (Springfield), Mr. William Pyncheon and Mr. John Pyncheon; for Windsor, Mr. Ludlowe, Mr. Hull; for Hartford, Mr. Whiting, Tho. Stanton; for Wythersfield, George Hubbard and Richard Lawes;” anyone else would be fined. In 1640, Connecticut ordered that “Mr. Ed. Hopkins, Esqr. Now Governor shall have the benefitte and liberty of free trade at Waranoco and at any place about uppe the river and all others to be restrayned for the time of seven years and the land to be purchased for the Commonwealth.”
Major William Whiting, an original proprietor of Hartford and an exporter of grain, was one of the town’s wealthiest merchants.  Whiting’s Hartford trading company contained an inventory that included hoes, hatchets, shoes, nailes, pins, hats, gilded looking glasses, dram cups, bells, combs, and brass kettles; in return he secured beaver, wolf, bear, moose, raccoon, and deer skins as well as wampum and tobacco. Whiting served as a representative to the Connecticut General Court (1637), treasurer for the colony and assistant (1641-1647), a commissioner of the United Colonies, and judge of the Quarterly Sessions.
Stonington.  In 1650, Thomas Stanton petitioned the Colony of Connecticut for a trading post convenient to the Lantern Hill Pequots and the Eastern Niantics in what is now Stonington.  He was granted six acres for planting, the right to use additional land according to his needs, and a 3-year trading monopoly for his trading post “ at the wading place” on the Pawcatuck River. As early as 1636, he was an Algonquin interpreter for colonial affairs, and was officially appointed by the Connecticut colony in 1638.  In that capacity Stanton also served as an official messenger between government officials and the Natives in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Long Island. 
The son of Thomas Stanton and Ann Lord, Thomas Stanton, Jr., was born 1638 at the Hartford settlement, and subsequently married Sarah Denison, daughter of Capt. George Dension. When Thomas, Sr. was absent from home, Thomas, Jr. assumed the family’s trading post business and later became involved in the West Indies trade.
Norwich.  After several business failures as a traveling trader, Jonathan Brewster set up a trading post on the neck of land opposite Uncas’ fort at Shantok in 1650.  Brewster’s trading arrangement included 450 acres of land given to him by Uncas.  In return, Brewster “bound himself and his heirs to keep a house for trading goods with the Indians.” He did this without permission of the court but, even though they admonished him for being disorderly, they allowed him to continue in business. Doing business in this location was dangerous when different groups of Natives weren’t “getting along.” Brewster rescued Uncas from an attack by Ninigret in 1659 and, in retaliation, about 50 Pequots attacked Brewster’s house.
Robert Allyn opened a post a few miles south of Brewster, on the east shore of the Pequot River; his location is known today as Allyn’s Point. In 1661, Robert gave his son the trading post and opened a shipping company in Norwich.  Most of Allyn’s shipping trade was with the British West Indies: beef, pork, flour, bread, horses, cattle, sheep, swine, lumber were exchanged for rum, corn, flax, flaxseed, oats, sugar, molasses, and salt.  Goods (corn, beef, and horses) were shipped to Barbados and the Indies and sugar, molasses, rum, and slaves were brought back. Other provisions and necessities were sent to Newfoundland and the Grand Banks for salt fish.
New London.  William Bartlett was a “lame man” who lived and traded in New London. Bartlett’s inventory included pipes, looking glasses, jugs, and nails for sale as well as Native-made mats and trays, whalebone and wampum stones. When Bartlett died, his estate went to his brother, Robert, who eventually willed everything in the estate for a fre
e Latin School (the Robert Bartlett School) in Pequot (New London).

3-4