Questions derived from “It Happened in Our Town” edited by Paul G. Sanderson, Jr.
1. The Rev. Jonathan Edwards, a famous minister from Northampton, Mass., was a central figure in the First Great Awakening, a religious revival which swept through the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. Edwards preached one of his most famous sermons in Enfield. What did he do in Suffield?
a. He was an interim minister at Suffield’s Congregational Church when Rev. Ebenezer Devotion, the church’s second minister, died.
b. He stayed at the Rev. Ebenezer Gay’s house. Gay was the third minister of the Congregational Church.
c. He was on the selection committee which chose Rev. Gay to become minister in Suffield.
2. John Eliot from Windsor was one of three entrepreneurs of Suffield’s First Iron Works which was erected at the turn of Stony Brook on Boston Neck. The other entrepreneurs were John Pynchon who founded Suffield and Joseph Parsons of Northampton. John Eliot was the grandson of John Eliot of Roxbury, Mass. Who was the Roxbury John Eliot?
a. The son of George Eliot, a famous writer.
b. He founded Harvard University.
c. He was known as the Apostle of the Indians.
3. In the 1700s, many of Suffield’s well-known men were part owners in Suffield iron works including Luther Loomis, Shem Burbank, Samuel Hatheway and David Tod. Tod was the original owner of the large house built on the corner of South Main and South Street. The Tods moved from Suffield, eventually settling in Youngstown, Ohio. David Tod’s grandson, also David, became a governor of Ohio during the Civil War. But he was also
a. Related to Mary Todd Lincoln.
b. The person upon whom Sweeney Todd was based.
c. A leader in Ohio’s iron and steel industry.
4. The Connecticut Western Reserve was land mostly in Northeast Ohio. In the colonial charter granted by King Charles II of England, Connecticut was given land from “sea to sea” which overlapped with land granted in other colonial charters. After the Revolutionary War, in 1786, Connecticut and other states relinquished their western lands but Connecticut retained a large tract of land. Why?
a. Oliver Phelps who was Deputy Commissary of the Colonial Army in the Revolutionary War under George Washington, persuaded Washington that Connecticut had a right to the land.
b. It was a way to repay Connecticut for losses in the bloody Pennamite-Yankee War.
c. Because of a survey mistake, Congress did not realize that the land was not ceded by Connecticut.
5. What were the Firelands?
a. A term for fires that Native Americans intentionally started to restore land and control wildfires.
b. Ridges like the Metacomet Ridge which feature basalt rock, remnants of fiery lava flows.
c. Lands set aside for residents whose towns were burned by the British in the Revolutionary War.
6. Choose who were speculators in the Western Reserve from the following names.
a. Timothy Swan, a Suffield resident, hat maker and an important composer.
b. Pierpont Edwards, son of Jonathan Edwards and ancestor of Aaron Burr and J.P. Morgan.
c. Moses Cleaveland, lawyer and surveyor, who served in the Revolutionary War.
7. In the late 1700s, Seth Pease from Suffield was called a Mathematician. What would he be called today?
a. A treasurer
b. A surveyor
c. A tax assessor
8. Suffield has a namesake town called Suffield, Ohio. It was a part of the Connecticut Western Reserve and was settled by Suffield residents Benejah Kent and Royal Pease, brother of Seth Pease. What was the year that Suffield, Ohio was organized?
a. 1818
b. 1800
c. 1810
9. Ralph Waldo Emerson called one Suffield-born person “a poet of bran and pumpkins.” Who was he?
a. Oliver Phelps
b. Sylvester Graham
c. Timothy Swan
Answers:
1. All three answers are correct.
2. c. He was known as the Apostle of the Indians. He converted many Native Americans to Christianity, established schools for them and translated the Bible into the Algonquian language.
3. c. He was a leader in Ohio’s iron and steel industry. I don’t think he was related to Mary Todd Lincoln although Abraham Lincoln did ask him to be his Secretary of the Treasury. It is interesting to note that both David Tods participated in the iron industry.
4. b. It was a way to repay Connecticut for losses in the Pennamite-Yankee Wars. Connecticut and Pennsylvania had overlapping land claims which led to bloody battles during 1769-1784.
5. c. Lands set aside for Connecticut residents whose towns (Danbury, Ridgefield, New London, Fairfield, Greenwich, Groton, New Haven and Norwalk) were burned by the British in the Revolutionary War. This land was the western portion of the Connecticut Western Reserve which was not sold to Oliver Phelps. Few fire victims settled in the Firelands, also known as the Sufferers’ Lands. Most sold their claims to speculators.
6. All of them were speculators. The city of Cleveland was named for Moses Cleaveland.
7. b. A surveyor. Seth Pease was a chief surveyor of the Connecticut Western Reserve. A surveyor was also called an Astronomer and Surveyor.
8. a. 1818. The date is surprisingly late as Royal Pease arrived in 1802. Suffield was one of the first areas settled in the county.
9. b. Sylvester Graham was a dietary reformer. He advocated for whole wheat bread, hard mattresses, open windows, fresh fruits and vegetables, pure drinking water and cheerfulness at meals. He is also known for graham crackers although his were nothing like today’s graham cracker.