Hezekiah Scovil, Sr.

June 13, 1811--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. and Hannah Burr are married in the First Congregational Church, Haddam, Connecticut.

July 1814--"RECEIVED this 21st day of July 1814, from Hezekiah Scovil the sum of _ _ _ _ Dollars and fifty three Cents, for direct tax upon the property of Hezekiah Scovil in the town of Haddam, in the sixth collection district in the state of Connecticut, under the act of congress passed the 2nd August, 1813, to lay and collect a direct tax within the United States." [transcribed from original collector's receipt in the possession of Charles E. Rounds, Jr. (2012)].

Nov. 8, 1815--The "Collector for the sixth collection district in the state of Connecticut" receives from Joseph Scovil the following: "The sum of one Dollars and fifty five Cents, for the direct tax of 1815, upon the property of Hezekiah Scovil in the town of Haddam."

April 15, 1817--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. charges Benanuel Bonfoey, Sr. $0.34 for setting two pairs of horseshoes.

Oct. 31, 1817--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. records in his ledger book: "Eli Whitney, Dr to 238 musket barrels." He charges Whitney $1.50 for "keeping a man and 2 oxen two days." Scovil receives from Whitney 350 skelps.

Dec. 4, 1817--Hezekiah Scovil Sr. receives from Eli Whitney 350 skelps.

Dec. 19, 1817--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. charges Sylvester Scovil $0.25 for mending a pan.

March 11, 1818--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. ships 500 musket barrels to Eli Whitney and receives from Whitney 600 skelps.

May 15, 1818--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. ships 300 musket barrels to Eli Whitney.

Jan. 12, 1819--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. ships 350 musket barrels to Eli Whitney and receives from Whitney 360 skelps.

Feb. 9, 1819--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. mends a lug and makes a pin for Sylvester Scovil, charging $0.73 for his efforts.

Feb. 25, 1819--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. ships 350 musket barrels to Eli Whitney and receives from Whitney 325 skelps.

March 24, 1819-Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. charges Joseph Scovil $0.08 for setting one horseshoe.

June 15, 1819--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. ships 350 musket barrels to Eli Whitney and received from Whitney 350 skelps.

Feb. 23, 1820--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. charges Sylvester Scovil $0.33 for making one gauge.

March 25, 1820--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. charges Joeseph Scovil $0.17 for sharpening a plowshare.

June 21, 1820--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. ships 300 musket barrels to Eli Whitney and receives from Whitney 350 skelps.

July 20, 1820 Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. charges Joseph Scovil $0.50 for a quart of rum.

Oct. 21, 1820--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. charges Joseph Scovil $0.75 for laying one ax.

Jan. 4, 1821--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. charges Sylvester Scovil $0.15 for 15 feet of boards.

May 27, 1821--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. ships to Eli Whitney 300 musket barrels and receives from Eli Whitney 350 skelps.

Sept. 1, 1821--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. charges Joseph Scovil $0.03 for sharpening a plowshare.

Dec. 19, 1822-Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. charges Sylvester Scovil $0.75 for laying one ax and charges Joseph Scovil $0.83 for laying one ax and grinding.

Jan. 3, 1823--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. charges Joseph Scovil $1.00 for shoeing one pair of oxen and charges Sylvester Scovil $0.83 for shoeing one pair of oxen.

Feb. 15, 1834--Friend Dickinson is renting the "Blacksmith Shop" from Hezekiah Scovil, Sr..

March 15, 1835—Hezekiah Scovil hires William P. Allison to perform “blacksmith work” at $1.25 per day. The contract contains the following provision: “I the said Scovil further agree with the said William P. Allison for the use of his part of the shop tools Triphammers Water-privilege and coal house and every thing that the said Allison owns in company with me the said Hezekiah Scovil for the sum of Twenty five Dollars for one year from the date of this agreement. And I the said Scovil agree to leave all the tools that I use in as good order at the end of the year as when received them.”

March 20, 1835--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. writes to his cousin, Timothy Scovil (1781-1871). The original hand-written contemporaneous copy of the letter is in the possession of Charles E. Rounds, Jr., 107 Mount Vernon Street, Boston, MA 02108 (2017). What follows are excerpts from the letter: “Higganum [Connecticut]—20 March 1835--Mr. Timothy Scovil Dear Cousin--Yours of this inst. I have just this day received—I understand from yours that you have sold 63 of the hoes. I trust you of course you will have 87 on hand. I should think if were sold 113 last year you might sell 87 this year as it has been irrevocably the case where we have sold hoes one year we have sold more the next. I do not feel disposed to reduce the price of the hoes as they have been set as low as we can afford them. I should like to have you take all the power you can to dispose of them this spring and shall satisfy you for your trouble. We sold about twenty five hundred hoes last year in our State [Connecticut] and all that we sent abroad we sold at six dollars fifty and where the cast steel hoes have been used and sold much cheaper than ours but none will not use them if ours can be had. I should like to furnish your section of the Country [New York] with the hoes if they will go at the price we have put them at. If they will not we can not send them… I am very sorry to hear the axes have not proved better as they were made of the first rate cast steel...I have been a calculating to come and see you this spring and want to very much but I have a call to go to the south and shall be obliged to leave home in about 2 weeks and will be uncertain about my coming to your place this spring however I think I shall be there in the course of this season. I give my special respect to your Father, Brother & Sisters and all inquiring friends.--I am yours with respect.--Your beloved Cousin, Hezekiah Scovil.”

Dec. 1, 1836--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr owns one third of the "Lower Shop" [Higganum, Connecticut]. Kennedy & Company owns two thirds. The "Upper Shop" is owned by Scovil and William P. Allison.

Dec. 8, 1836, Leonard Kennedy Sr., Leonard Kennedy, Jr., Dyer White and Samuel L. Kennedy files an equity action against Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. and William P. Allison in the Superior Court, Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut seeking to enjoin Scovil and Allison from diverting mill-pond water away from the plaintiffs' water-powered mill and into the flumes of the defendants' "mill or manufactory." On Feb. 8, 1838, Scovil and Allison are enjoined by the court from preventing the plaintiffs from drawing one half of the water from the mill-pond.

Sept. 1837 (first Tuesday)--Leonard Kennedy, Leonard Kennedy, Jr. and Dyer White, all of Hartford Connecticut, and Samuel L. Kennedy, of New York City, doing business under the name of Kennedy & Co., recover judgment of $80.89 for litigation costs against Hezekiah Scovil and William P. Allison, of Haddam, Connecticut, before the Sept. Court at Haddam, Connecticut. Writ of Execution, dated Oct. 1, 1837, follows. [Judgment was subsequently satisfied by the two defendants in the amount of $81.14, which sum includes cost of the writ ($00.25).]

Dec. 29, 1837 (Higganum, Connecticut)--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. pens a letter to his son, Daniel Scovil, who is residing in Alabama, informing him of the death of Whitney Scovil, Whitney being both Hezekiah's son and Daniel's brother. [There is evidence that son Whitney had been employed in his father's blacksmith shop at the time of Whitney's death]. Here is the letter:

"Dear and beloved Son, I have the painful announcement to make to you that Whitney is no more. He departed this life on Saturday the 23 inst. about 12 o’ clock. His care was disturbing beyond description, not only to him but [to] all that beheld him. About four weeks before his death he was attacked with a severe pain in his head which continued to increase and we being very anxious for his relief we sent to Hartford for a Dr. Fuller who was at the insane retreat who made Whitney a visit about 17 or 18 days before his death. Dr, Fuller said by his examination and a statement of the complaint, he was fully satisfied that it was a hip complaint and that the pain was transferred to his head which was very dangerous. He then made a large sore on each hip, sub-surface deep, for the purpose of making curing space to draw the pain from his head but without effect. This only added to his suffering. About 10 days before his death his mind became deranged and he very restive so that we could keep nothing on his sores, which remained very raw and painful, which you can better imagine than I can describe. This has left a little son about 7 weeks old and a wife who is very much disturbed by the event. It will be useless for me to presume to state all our feelings which are disturbing in the extreme. Capt. Tyler’s family have felt the event like ourselves. However shocking this event may be to you I hope it will have some good impressions on your feelings. The God that I worship is your God. I hope you will put your trust in him for he is perfectly just and good and I hope your life will be such as will be approved by him. We are not to mourn Whitney’s loss for I hope and trust he has gone to rest, but the loss of delightful company. Our most tender affections for you still remain and if possible have increased. We all want to see you very much. I much want you in in my business if it should remain good, which will not be known till some time in yon. I think [Philander?] Burr will leave me in the spring and who I can get to take his place I do not know. Ruel Knowls is here now a welding and is doing well. How long it will take I know not, however he was very glad to get into my employ. Store [?] that I hired [?] last summer has been doing very poorly. I have a good many possibilities in my business but I have got quite hardened in that. If there should be a chance for you to do as well in my business as you can do in any other I should like to know have you in it. Whitney had kept house about 10 weeks although I have no present time to give you of all the events that have passed within a few weeks. Elizabeth I think will leave the house where they lived soon and the house will be empty again. Ruel Knowls may wish to go into it. If so I think I shall let him in. I very much calculated on going to see you next season but there now seems to be a good many things to prevent it. We are all as well as we have been for some time. I think I shall write you again soon. I should like to have [you] write me immediately. We all send you our best respects. Give my respects to Mr. Walkley.

                                                        Your most Effect (sic). Parent. 

                                                        Hezekiah Scovil [Sr.]".

Aug. 27, 1840--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. gives written notice to Friend Dickinson: " Mr. Friend Dickinson Sir, You have for a long time used all the water of the pond at the lower shop and much to my injury--and I now hereby notify you being agent of Kenady [Kennedy?] & Co., and manager of the lower shop that I want all of the one half of the water at the upper shop and request you to shut the gates at the lower shop and also the gate at the head of the flume which lets the water into the conductor, which is very poor and makes a great waste of water which does no one any good and let the water rise in the pond to that I shall be able to run the wheels at the upper shop and have the use of half of the water which runs into the pond... Higganum, Aug. 27th, 1840... Respectfully Yours...Hezekiah Scovil." [Original letter-of-notice in possession of Charles Elder Rounds, Jr., 107 Mt. Vernon St., Boston, MA (2019)]. Postscript: D & H Scovil Company Mill No. 2 is located on the north side of Candlewood Hill Road and sits on the former site of Friend Dickinson's axe and chisel factory. Dickinson's heirs sold the mill to D & H Scovil in 1857, and they replaced it with the existing brick edifice. The factory was enlarged in 1860 and the new building was connected to the first by a 130' long wooden roofed bridge. In the 1930s the building was converted to a summer residence for Earl and Christine Benham, Broadway comedians. In 1964 the estate was sold to the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

1845--Hezekiah Scovil Sr., a Democrat, represents Haddam in the General Assembly of Connecticut.

1847--Hezekiah Scovil Sr., again represents Haddam in the General Assembly of Connecticut.

Oct. 9, 1849--Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. dies.

April 22, 1850--The following letter is sent under the signature(s) "D & H Scovil" to Messr.s Caufield & Robbins:"Gentlemen, Herewith please find a statement of your account with the Estate of H. Scovil, deceased, together with a check enclosed for the balance Four Hundred Twenty Seven 26/100 Dollars--if the account be satisfactory please send us a receipt in full of all claims against the estate. We ordered a ton of iron from you not long ago and are every day expecting to receive it--if it is not on the way please forward immediately and much oblige. Yours Respectfully, D & H Scovil." Note: Daniel Scovil and Hezekiah Scovil, Jr. were the decedent's sons.

1884--A saw mill occupies the site of the Hezekiah Scovil, Sr.'s gun barrel shop, on Candlewood Hill.

2012--"I know that house [Ref. photo of Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. House]. My dad and I fished around there often. I fell in the stream with all my heavy wool winter clothes on." Winifred Lucille (Porter) Rounds, 2nd great granddaughter of Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. recounting in 2012 her experiences in the 1920s fishing with her father, Philip Wells Porter, Sr. The current address of the Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. House is 650 Candlewood Hill Road, Higganum, Connecticut (2020). "This prominent 1810 Federal style brick residence is located at the intersection of Candlewood Hill, Little City and Foot Hill Roads [Higganum, Haddam, Connecticut".

May 25, 2015 (Memorial Day)--Charles E. Rounds, Jr. and Alicia Shiland Rounds are given a tour of 650 Candlewood Hill Road by its current occupants, Mr. and Mr. Joseph J. Nosal. Mr. Nosal, a nonagenarian, is called by the locals "Peachy." [the nickname of his brother, Frank, is "snowball"]. Mrs. Nosal's full name is Irene L. Nosal. Her maiden name is Priest. She inherited the residence [which was built in 1810] from her father. There is an outside entrance to the kitchen at the back of the residence. In the small back anteroom (mud room?), between the back door and the kitchen, is a sink. Above the sink is what appears to be a simple lead pipe an inch or so in diameter. Water is perpetually running out of the pipe into the sink. According to the Nosals the water is "overflow" from some "well" somewhere. They surmise that the water has been running perpetually into the sink "for over 100 years," possibly since the time of Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. himself. Gravity supplies the pressure. Just across Candlewood Hill Road was the shop in which Hezekiah Scovil, Sr. manufactured rifle barrels. Apparently the structure has only recently collapsed. The rubble has been cleared away. All that remains are some rusted iron machinery parts. However, across the road the fence in front of the residence is constructed of chain and rusting, probably unfinished, rifle barrels, the latter possibly discards from the shop. The Nosals claim to own the land on which the shop was located, as well as the pond that supplied the running water which powered the machinery.