"AS THE SMALLEST WAVE MUST GO ON TILL IT CROSSES THE OCEAN,
SO THE INFLUENCE OF EVERY ANCESTOR MUST GO ON TO THE END OF THE GENERATIONS OF LIFE.
EACH OF US MUST FEEL IN A DEGREE THE STRENGTH OR WEAKNESS OF EACH ONE OF THEM."
- DAVID STARR JORDAN.
The Puritans in England had, for a long period, contended for a simpler form of worship than that of the established church. The reign of Elizabeth was one of persecution, and that of James I one of struggle for the recognition of freedom of worship. The period was a stormy one, both in political and religious affairs, and the contest for church reformation and freedom of conscience soon broadened into one for liberty of state as well.
James, supported by the authority of the church, assumed prerogatives which had never been granted to him by the people; levied duties without the consent of Parliament, and actually suppressed that bulwark of English liberty for seven years. Prepared by the conflicts during the reign of Elizabeth and their disappointments during that of James, the Separatists realized that they must seek in other lands that freedom which they were denied in their own, arid the great Puritan emigration began in this reign - the first settlement being made in New England, at Plymouth, in 1620.
While many came to America in the darkest hours of the struggle, [1] more remained in England to continue it, and their efforts resulted in the overthrow of Charles I and the establishment of the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth, it is true, indelibly impressed itself upon the political and religious life of England, but from the seed sown by the handful of persecuted Pilgrims to an unknown shore, there has developed a mighty nation, which bids fair to tower above all other nations, and whose freedom of thought and action has never been rivaled in the history of the world.
Arriving in New England, the settlers, the greater part of whom were farmers, became owners of land in the plantations and, being men of frugality and industry, were soon able to support themselves in comparative comfort; for, thrown upon their own resources, they developed early that spirit of self-reliance which has been the mainstay of the Republic.
The territory was divided into towns [2] and the inhabitants in their town meetings managed their local affairs, subject to such limitations as were imposed by the General Court. "The fathers of New England evidently intended," says Sylvester Judd, "that every industrious man should have the means of obtaining a competent share of the comforts of life; and for this end, land was distributed to all, and the cultivators were also proprietors of the soil. [3] A distribution of land was a distribution of power. This was a wide departure from the system of Europe, where the land was owned by a few, and working men were poor, dependent and despised".
Churches [4] were at once organized and provision made for the support of their ministers, who controlled both the public and private life of New England in pre- revolutionary days. It is to their credit, however, that while they preached to their flocks the harsh doctrines of Calvin and inveighed against "intollerable pride in clothes and hair," they at the same time did not lose sight of the necessity of their education, for as one of them said, "unless school and college flourish, church and state cannot live." Recognizing that schools came next in importance to the church, or rather as essential to its continuance and prosperity, our forbears early established free schools that were supported by a tax on every man's property.
In 1633 Rev. Thomas Hooker, with two hundred other passengers, arrived in Boston and settled in Newtowne. Mr. Hooker was a famous minister of Chelmsford, Essex County, England, eleven miles from Braintree, who had been silenced for non-conformity, and had fled into Holland to escape persecution. His preaching had attracted people from different parts of Essex, and they desired, if accommodations could be secured, to emigrate to the New World and secure him as their pastor.
The conditions by which they were surrounded in Newtowne were not agreeable to this party of emigrants, who, in 1634, petitioned the General Court for permission to remove to Connecticut, giving as their reasons the want of accommodation for their cattle, because the towns were set so near together, the fruitfulness of Connecticut and the danger that it might be occupied by the Dutch.
Political reasons perhaps also had their effect. In Massachusetts, only male adults, members of some church, could be admitted as freemen in the colony and be entitled to vote at its town meetings.
Mr. Hooker was opposed to a religious test as a condition for the suffrage, and wrote to Gov. Winthrop that "in all matters which concern the common good, a general council, chosen by all, to transact businesses which concern all, I conceive most suitable to rule, and most safe for relief of the whole".
Thus we find enunciated by this New England Puritan principles of self-government which were proclaimed nearly a century and a half later by the Declaration of Independence, and, in our own time, again tersely stated by Abraham Lincoln: "That government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth".
In June 1636, the Hooker party started for Connecticut and arrived at and settled what is now Hartford, after a two weeks' journey through the wilderness, full of danger and hardships. In 1639 the freemen of the different towns, which had been planted in Connecticut, met in Hartford, and adopted what is said to be "the earliest example of a written constitution, constituting a government and defining its powers."
Mr. Hooker and many of his party were Essex people, [5] some of them near neighbors of the Kelloggs of Braintree, who were undoubtedly of good Puritan stock, and in describing their characteristics and surroundings we shall arrive at a fair understanding of the early Kelloggs and their environment.
The three Kellogg brothers, Joseph, Daniel and Samuel, whose descendants in the New World this work is intended to trace, like their relative, Nathaniel, made their first appearance in America in the settlements of Connecticut and Massachusetts, but we have no record of their sailing from England. They were attracted perhaps by the stories of the New World which they had heard from their friends in New England, and from explorers of the new continent, who sent back enthusiastic accounts of the richness of both its land and sea. [6]
Large tracts of land were granted to the first settlers in new places, "that this wilderness may be populated and the majne ends of our coming into these parts may be promoted," and the longing to own land (a desire which could not be gratified in England) may have been an inducement for them to join in the settlement of the towns where they lived and died. Wherever they settled they not only retained their original grants, but bought other land, and the records prove that they were able to provide liberally for their children.
From their homes in the Connecticut Valley the descendants of Joseph and Samuel began their migration to that West where so many are now found. Until 1733, Westfield had been the most western town in Massachusetts. In that year Sheffield was incorporated and the first road to the west was from Westfield, following the Indian path over the hills to Lower Housatannick, as it was then called. Soon after this time we find among the leading men of that town the name of Kellogg. Here they were met by their cousins from Connecticut, who had followed the valley of the Housatonic and Farmington rivers, after having first tried an eastern migration to Brookfield. Soon after the revolution a new West was found, and the tide of emigration from New England was directed to this new territory.
Some of the Kelloggs took their way over the mountains and through the valleys to the Hudson, and then by the shores of Lake Champlain to Canada; others followed the Mohawk to the fertile fields of Central New York; and still others to the wilderness of Saratoga County. Here again there was a meeting with some of the descendants of Daniel of Norwalk, and together they have continued their westward march, until now there is not a state or territory in the West, even to and beyond the Pacific, which has not had Kelloggs among its earliest citizens. There are a few Kelloggs in Vermont, still fewer in New Hampshire, and a smaller number in Maine.
Among the descendants of these three brothers may be found men and women prominent in every station of life. Farming is now, as it always has been, the main occupation of the family; but the instinct to migrate has characterized the descendants of Joseph and Samuel to a greater extent than those of Daniel, more of whom remained near the homes of their forefathers. But, while we find that descendants of Daniel have more generally embraced the professions, yet there are many descendants of Joseph and Samuel who have attained eminence in all the professions, and not a few of all the branches have made their mark in the business world.
Farmington was settled in 1640 by some of the inhabitants of Hartford, and incorporated in 1645. As it was the birthplace of the first Kellogg born in New England, the following description of the manner of living of its early settlers is of especial interest to the Kellogg family.
"This town, Farmington, as its name imports, was at first, and indeed till a late period, wholly agricultural. Labor in the field was almost the only employment. Industry and economy have characterized the inhabitants; labor has been held in reputation; none, however elevated by office or profession, have considered themselves above it. Magistrates and ministers, when their appropriate business would permit, have labored in the field. Indeed our magistrates have always been farmers; have been as laborious on their farms as others, and have derived their support from labor, as much, almost, as the meanest citizen. They have been content to eat their bread in the sweat of their brow; and it was honor enough to be esteemed the first among equals. But very little of the labor on farms has been performed by slaves; and if a farmer had a slave, he constantly labored with him, and taught him the habits of industry by his own example as well as by his authority. Labor having been thus reputable among all classes of citizens, industry has been almost universal; and very few through idleness have become chargeable to the public. The master of the household has gone before his sons and domestics into the field in their daily labor, and if too remote, as usually happened, to return at noon, they dined together on their plain fare, under the covert of some thick shade, where on the green grass they might enjoy the luxury of the free air, with more sincere delight than the greatest modern epicure at a civic feast. While the men have been thus employed in the field, in raising the materials for food and clothing, the women have been no less industrious in the domestic circle, in rearing the tender branches of the family, and in dressing food for the table. The careful matron has been accustomed to 'seek wool and flax work willingly with her hands; she layeth her hands to the spindle and her hands hold the distaff.' On Monday they have been employed in perfect dishabille, in washing their linen in their houses, and when this is done, at about the middle of the afternoon, they assume their neatest appearance, and are the perfect contrast of what they were in the morning, prepared to visit or to receive company. The brothers of the family returning from their daily labors, toward evening, covered with sweat and dust, and finding their sisters neatly dressed, and enjoying the cool shade, are led sometimes almost to repine at their happy lot; but these feelings are corrected when they reflect that their sisters are employed more hours in the day, and that their labor when compared with their strength is, many times, more severe than their own. It is true, however, that the young daughters, who have much to expect from their appearance, find means to shift off no small proportion of the drudgery of the family on the fond mother; who submits the more readily, because she feels that there are reasons for it, that have their weight; that she herself in youth has had the same indulgence, and that they must submit to the like service in their turn.
"Our ancestors here, of both sexes, have, till of late, clad themselves in simple apparel, suited to their moderate circumstances and agricultural state. The men have been content with two suits of clothes, called the every-day clothes and the Sabbath-day clothes. The former were usually of two sorts, those for labor and those for common society. Those for labor in the summer were a check home?spun linen shirt, a pair of plain tow-cloth trousers, and a vest generally much worn, formerly with, but more modernly without, sleeves; or simply a brown tow-cloth frock and trousers, and sometimes a pair of old shoes tied with leather strings, and a felt hat, or old beaver hat stiffened and worn white with age. For the winter season they wore a check blue and white woolen shirt, a pair of buckskin breeches, a pair of white, or, if of the best kind, deep blue home-made woolen stockings, and a pair of double-soled cowhide shoes, blacked on the flesh side, tied with leather strings; and, to secure the feet and legs against snow, a pair of leggings, which, for the most part, were a pair of worn-out stockings with the bottom and toe of the foot cut off, drawn over the stocking and shoe, and tied fast to the heel and over the vamp of the shoe; or if of the best kind, they were knit on purpose of white yarn, and they answered for boots on all occasions; an old plain cloth vest with sleeves, lined with a cloth called drugget; an old plain cloth great-coat, commonly brown, wrapped around the body, and tied with a list or belt; or as a substitute for them, a buckskin leather waistcoat and a leather apron of tanned sheepskin fastened round the waist, and the top of it supported with a loop about the neck, and a hat as above, or a woolen cap drawn over the ears.
"For ordinary society in summer they were clad in a check linen homespun shirt and trousers, or linen breeches, white homespun linen stockings, and cowhide single soled shoes, a vest with sleeves usually of brown plain cloth, a handkerchief around the neck, a check cap and a hat in part worn.
"In winter they were clad as above described for winter, excepting that they assumed, if they had it, a better great coat, a neckcloth, and a hat that might be considered as second best. Their Sabbath-day suit for winter was like that last mentioned, excepting that their stockings were commonly deep blue, their leather breeches were clean and of a buff color, they added a straight-bodied plain coat and a white Holland cap, and sometimes a wig with a clean beaver hat. For the summer, it was a check Holland shirt, brown linen breeches and stockings, single-soled cowhide shoes with buckles, a plain cloth and sometimes a broadcloth and velvet vest, without sleeves; the shirtsleeves tied above the elbows with arm-strings of ferreting of various colors, a white Holland cap or wig, and beaver hat; and on Thanksgiving days and other high occasions a white Holland shirt and cambric neckcloth.
"The women have been, till within about thirty years past, clothed altogether in the same style, with a moderate allowance for the taste of the sex. A minute description will not be attempted; a few particulars will characterize the whole. They wore homemade drugget, crape, plain cloth, and camblet gowns in the winter, and the exterior of their underdress was a garment lined and quilted extending from the waist to the feet. Their shoes were high-heeled, made of tanned calfskin, and in some instances of cloth. In the summer they wore striped linen and calico gowns, cloth shoes, and linen underdress; and every young lady when she had attained her stature was furnished with a silk gown and skirt if her parents were able, or she could purchase them by dint of labor. Their headdress has always occupied a great share of their attention while in youth; it has always been varying and every mode seems, in its day, the most becoming. Within the period just mentioned, the elderly women have worn check Holland aprons to meeting on the Sabbath, and those in early life and of the best fashion were accustomed to wear them in their formal visits.
"The same simplicity has been conspicuous in their diet, their houses and their furniture. Equipage they had none; pleasure carriages and sleighs were unknown. In attending the public worship or in short excursions, a man usually rode with a woman behind him, mounted on a pillion; and even to this day this practice is not wholly laid aside.
"The people of this town, as farmers, have had some advantages above most of their neighbors, but they have had their disadvantages; among which their compact settlement is one. Two things induced this mode of settlement: Fear of the Indians and a wish to place themselves in a situation convenient to improve the meadows. The inhabitants have their home-lots in the town plot; their lots, as usually happens, in various parts of the meadows, distant from a quarter of a mile to nearly three miles; and their pastures for their cattle and horses in perhaps an opposite direction, and as far or farther distant."
(Hon. John Treadwell, Gov. of Connecticut, 1809-11, Memorial History of Hartford, Vol. II, pp. 183-4.)