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Archive of letters, documents, and accounts, all relating to the Middlesex Turnpike Co.
Various places (principally Haddam & Saybrook, Conn.), various dates, from 1802 - 1826. (CONNECTICUT) Various sizes. Comprising 11 Autograph Letters to and from the Treasurer and Clerk of the Company Jonathan Warner; 6 Autograph Documents (Retained Copies) of Petitions and Depositions relating to the Turnpike; 8 Autograph Accounts and bills by Jonathan Warner; 2 Autograph Notebooks in the hand of Jonathan Warner regarding expenses and receipts at the tolls; and 2 autograph fragments (presumably in Warner's hand). Several pieces are stained and/or foxed, one letter with signature torn away, some small tears, but generally in very good, readable condition. ΒΆ A fascinating archive, illuminating the history of the formation and development of the Middlesex Turnpike Company, incorporated in 1802 to build, maintain, and collect tolls for a road running from Haddam to Saybrook. The principal founder, shareholder, and contractor of this enterprise was one Epaphroditus Champion, of Haddam, Conn., and included here are 5 fine long letters from Champion to his trusted agent and Treasurer, Jonathan Warner, of Saybrook, Conn. An early Champion letter is dated 22 Feby, 1803, discussing a forthcoming town meeting in Saybrook, and advising Warner as to the proper strategy in dealing with it. He closes with the information that the town of Haddam "had a very full meeting yesterday begun about ten o'clock & about three o'clock the vote whether they would make any further opposition to the road 93 in favor of further opposition and 94 against it -- then adjourned to sometime in March." Indeed, the archive indicates the Turnpike Co. had its share of opposition. The earliest document is a copy of a petition (28 Sept., 1802) from inhabitants of Haddam to the General Assembly of Connecticut, opposing the turnpike and the Turnpike Company on several grounds: that the road would be built at the expense of the towns involved, in order to benefit a few individuals; that the road was not even necessary; that the people of Haddam had not even been sounded out on the proposal; that the toll gates would be a nuisance to the township of Haddam. Interestingly, they complain of being heavily taxed to support the road, "especially as said town of Haddam is not wealthy it inhabitants being destined to get their bread literally by the sweat of their brow & as the first Society which comprises the greater part of said town is annually burthened by the salary of a colleague to assist their aged & infirm Pastor..." Apparently these pleas went unheeded, and the Turnpike was in operation by 1803. But signs of trouble continually crop up, as in the undated letter from one "S.H. Clarke" to Warner: "I am in a great hurry A Petition is out & around directed to the Commissioners & praying for immediate Repairs upon the Road...", and other letters refer to maintenance problems. One very amusing deposition by Warner himself before the County Court (dated Feb. 16, 1910), complains of the behavior of one Stephen Hosmer, who "came in [to a meeting with the Commissioners] and began to exclaim against said road and swore or said he could sware [sic] that said road was the worst that he had found in his travels to Northampton and that there was no Turnpike road in Connecticut so bad as Middlesex road and that it was wrong to have a [toll] gate between Middletown and Hartford for the road was not as good as it was before and many other hard things...When the Deponant [i.e., Warner] replyed that it was an improper time to exclame [sic] against the road for he well knew that the gentlemen were commissioners and that they were out inspecting the road and now about to give their order and requested him to take back what he had said. Mr. Hosmer answered the deponent and said he had spoken his mind and should take nothing back and then said if you give me any insult I will take my recompense out of your back or hide..." The Middlesex Turnpike Company seems to have thrived for at least twenty-five years, and one important ms. account sheet records an annual accounting of all money taken in at the tolls from 1804 (2231.51) through 1825 (2354.87); as well as additional receipts ( 1804 - 186.06; 1825 - 183.71); as well as dividends paid to shareholders (in 1804-05, 51 for $2197.59; in 1825, 87 for $1575.00)
Offered for US$ 2500.00 by: James Cummins Bookseller - Book number: 9671