Twenty years ago today a ceremony to dedicate the Elderslie Preserve on Peck Hill Road took place on the sunny afternoon of September 21, 2002. The mayor of the Village of Elderslie in west central Scotland was the guest of honor and spoke to a small crowd of celebrants. After the ceremony, a bagpiper lead the assembled from ‘Rose Ridge’…
The FitzGerald Property
What can be said of the history of this beautiful parcel situated in the center of Woodbridge? The Town acquired the 131 acres, located at 100 Center Road, “after a vote of approval at a Special Town Meeting, held on January 29, 1973. This property was purchased for $655,000 by the Town through an Executor’s deed from The Connecticut Bank…
War Service Records
The Families of Ancient New Haven, by Donald Lines Jacobus, contains a thoughtful collection of service records that includes many of the men who were members of the Society of Amity in what is now the towns of Woodbridge and Bethany. Let’s take a look at one interesting example… Captain Benedict Arnold’s 2nd Company of the Governor’s Foot Guards on…
The Beecher Family in America… and Woodbridge
What do we know about the origins of the Beecher family in America, and how do the Beechers who lived in long ago days here in Woodbridge connect to the more famous members of this family? The noted Presbyterian minister and social reformer Lyman Beecher (born 1775 in New Haven, CT and died 1863 in Brooklyn, NY) is buried in…
Poisoned Drinking Water Traced to Woodbridge Lake: The Sixty Typhoid Cases of 1901
The quality of our public drinking water has long been of consequence in Woodbridge. What happens on the watershed land of our town has health impacts down stream. Indeed, in late winter and early spring of 1901, the Journal Courier newspaper carried an alarming headline on page one: THE SIXTY TYPHOID CASES …Up to five o’clock yesterday afternoon the recorded number…
A Civil War Story: Correspondence Between a Woodbridge Father & Son
Town Records of Woodbidge, Connecticut Civil War correspondence from the Ralph Chester Smith family papers (donated by Ann Electa Smith Cassidy) Letter to son Isaac Bradley from Jason Wyllis Bradley (the reply written in pencil on the same sheet of paper from son to J.W. Bradley ) Metropolitan Hotel Washington city December 25, 1862 I came here expecting to come…
History of town government in Woodbridge
The governance of the Town of Woodbridge from its inception is recounted in a “History of New Haven” published in 1892 as follows: “The first town meeting was held February 17th, 1784, when the following principal officers were chosen: Selectmen Captain Ezra Sperry, Jacob Hotchkiss, John Dibble, Esq., Captain Samuel Osborne; Clerk Amos Perkins; Collector Reuben Beecher; Listers Amos Thomas,…
A very Sperry visit to Woodbridge in the summer of 1895
Reading the book Bethany and Its Hills recently, I came across a retelling of another storied visit to Sperry lands in old Woodbridge. The tale is told beginning on page 21 of the book, which can be read online. This account was apparently taken from portions of a news article published in the New Haven Morning Journal and Courier newspaper of July 29th 1895, which is…
Enoch & friends… and their 999-year lease
What will the world look like in the year 3016? Can we even imagine it, as we gaze out our front door here in Woodbridge, take in the surrounding landscape and consider from our vantage point what our town looks like today? What about the year 2784? Is that any easier for us to imagine today? It will be the 28th…
Clover Hill Farm: the former John Beecher-Roger Sherman-James Hillhouse property
What do we know about the history of the land currently owned by the Town of Woodbridge and operated today as the Country Club of Woodbridge? An article in the New Haven Register back around the time of the Town’s purchase in 2009 tells a portion of the tale of the founding of the former “Woodbridge Country Club” in the 1940s:…
Sperry family in Woodbridge
Richard Sperry is said to have been the first European settler to live in what is now Woodbridge, arriving in New Haven in 1643 and farming the land here in Woodbridge possibly as early as 1648. According to page 181 of The Descendants of Thomas Dickerman: Richard Sperry was among the early settlers of New Haven, though not one of the original planters.…
Johnson family in Woodbridge
Clues to the origin of the Johnson clan in Connecticut can be found in Families of Ancient New Haven by Donald Lines Jacobus. On page 1029 he states: “Three Johnson brothers, said to have come from Hull, Yorkshire, England, settled early in New Haven, Connecticut; these were John, who removed to Rowley, Massachusetts and died in 1641 leaving issue; Robert (see Family…
Living tributes: Woodbridge trees planted in memoriam
There have been several beautiful living tributes planted in memory of Woodbridge residents over the years. Here are some of these memorial trees:
A Civil War Story: Correspondence from a Nephew to His Aunt in the wake of the Fall of Richmond
Town Records of Woodbidge, Connecticut Civil War correspondence from the Ralph Chester Smith family papers (donated by Ann Electa Smith Cassidy) Letter to Francis Castle Bradley (wife of soldier Isaac Bradley) from her nephew Dwight A. Sperry Jordan April 4, 1865 My dear Aunt Francis, I received your letter to night and hasten to answer it. I am very sorry…
A Civil War Story: Correspondence Between a Woodbridge Brother and Sister
Town Records of Woodbidge, Connecticut Civil War correspondence from the Ralph Chester Smith family papers (donated by Ann Electa Smith Cassidy) Letter from Isaac Bradley to his sister Althea Bradley Clark