Government/Town

Suffield Trivia

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  1. In 1832, Asa Butler, owner of the Eagle Mill in Suffield, bought a steam mill located on Cherry Street in New York with Henry, his son.  Both mills produced the same product, although the Suffield mill’s product was hand-made, the other was machine-made.  What was the product?
    1. Soap
    1. Iron
    1. Paper
  2. In the late 1690s, Edward Taylor, a significant American Puritan poet and minister of the Congregational church in Westfield, Massachusetts for over 50 years, was alarmed by Benjamin Ruggles, a minister of the First Congregational Church in Suffield.  What was Taylor’s concern?
    1. Ruggles allowed Maypole dancers to dance on the green in front of the church.
    1. Ruggles allowed communion to all adults who lived decent lives, not requiring them to be baptized first.
    1. Ruggles wanted church elders, and not just the minister to govern the church.
  3. The Connecticut Historical Society owns a letter written by Edward Fuller to Emily Norton on August 15, 1858.  It reports on plans in New York City to celebrate what occasion?
    1. The transmission of President Buchanan’s cable message to Queen Victoria across the Atlantic Ocean
    1. Pike’s Peak Gold Rush
    1. The Lincoln-Douglas debates
  4. The Hostess House, in reality the Masonic Lodge which was originally the Luther Loomis house, was an important part of the 250th Suffield celebration.  What was it?
    1. It hosted the Suffield Tobacco Ball
    1. It was a restaurant featuring food from the Suffield 250th Cookbook
    1. Its rooms were filled with heirlooms lent by Suffield families arranged to look like a home from long ago.
  5. Calvin W. Philleo was the son of Calvin Philleo, who briefly served as a Suffield Baptist minister and became the husband of Prudence Crandall, Calvin W. was an ardent member of the Free Soil Party, participating in discussions about it.  What was the platform of the Free Soil Party?
    1. They believed in free land grants given to settlers by the United States government to the western part of the country.
    1. They opposed the expansion of slavery in the western territories of the United States.
    1. They wanted universal male suffrage, equal educational opportunities, protection from debtor imprisonment and compulsory service in the militia, and shorter working hours.
  6. The Connecticut court case, Sheldon et al. v. the Second School Society, Suffield (1855) was a local tax revolt. Hezekiah Sheldon and 38 other petitioners were represented by Calvin W. Philleo.  What was the case about?
    1. Hezekiah wanted to recover money given to the tax collector to build a new school building when land from his father’s estate was sold.
    1. Hezekiah wanted the town to build a new school building.
    1. Hezekiah wanted to recover his school teacher wages which were not given to him when he was sick.
  7. The Reverend Daniel Waldo was the second minister of the Second Congregational Church, a successor to Sylvester Graham’s father.  He was ordained and installed in the church in 1792.  He had a long and eventful life, dying at 102.  During the Revolutionary War he was imprisoned in the fearsome Sugar-house prison.  In his 94th year, he…
    1. Baptized Eugene Debs, the union leader.
    1. Was chosen the chaplain of the United States House of Representatives.
    1. Trained camels in the experimental U.S. Army Camel Corps.
  8.   What is the word “fudgeon” as it relates to the Connecticut River Valley?
    1. A small fish found in the Connecticut River, used for bait
    1. Chewing tobacco
    1.  It was used to describe the dungeons at Old Newgate Prison which looked like fudge – dark and slippery.
  9. Which of the following concerning the Old Newgate Prison are true?
    1. There were 50 prison cells above ground at one point.
    1. For a time, the guardhouse was used as a private residence.
    1. The guardhouse was a dance hall during the 1920s and 1930s.
  10. The Charles H. Dexter, named after the founder of the paper mills in Windsor Locks, was the last steamboat to run on the Connecticut River above Hartford.  What year was its last on the river?
    1. 1865
    1. 1901
    1. 1881

ANSWERS

  1. c.  Paper. The New York mill developed into the Ivanhoe Manufacturing Company which produced fine quality paper which became so popular that the demand for it exceeded its supply.
  2. c.  Ruggles expressed Presbyterian views which allowed church elders, not just the minister, to govern the church.  Ruggles died of food poisoning at age 32 in 1708.  150 years after his death, a memorial in the shape of the old meetinghouse was placed over the plots of Ruggles and his wife in the cemetery behind the Church.  He is considered its first pastor, but Reverend John Younglove was actually the first.  Unfortunately, Younglove’s parishioners petitioned to have him cease preaching and he is not recorded in the church history as the first minister.
  3. a.  The transmission of President Buchanan’s cable message to Queen Victoria across the Atlantic Ocean.
  4. c.  Its room were filled with heirlooms lent by Suffield families.   Its description in the 250th Anniversary Celebration book was “An Old Fashion Home on an Old Fashion Street with Old Fashion Ladies as Hostesses.”
  5. b.  They opposed the expansion of slavery.
  6. a. Hezekiah wanted to recover money given to the tax collector.
  7. b.  Was chosen the chaplain of the United States House of Representatives.
  8. b.  Chewing tobacco,  During the late 18th century and early 19th century, the word was used for chewing tobacco in the Connecticut Valley. 
  9. All are correct.
  10.  c.  1881

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