Middletown

“ The town of Wallkill continued to grow steadily, without any change in territorial boundaries, until 1848, when the village of Middletown was incorporated within its limits, but, outside of certain local matters, such as schools, streets, police, and a few other minor matters, the village continued to form a part of the town until the erection of the city of Middletown, in 1889. All the town officers were elected to represent the village and town in all things, excepting the purely local matters, applicable especially to the village. ”

“ With its location, financial ability, numerous business enterprises, its many social, benevolent, charitable and religious associations and institutions, its splendid school system, and with the enterprise, energy and business ability of its citizens, the Middletown of to-day is only a beginning of the greater Middletown which will occupy this central part of Orange County in the years to come. ”

“ Not many people are going to develop a sense of poignant concern over such presentations. To a certain extent Middletown did catch the popular imagination, but the contrast developed here was between what the American observably was through the eyes of detached social scientists and his picture of himself, with its compound of self-esteem, aspiration, and social mythology. ”

“ The lower Connecticut flows through a region of farms, enriched by copious dressings of 159 manures made from the fish caught in the stream, and it passes picturesque shores and pleasant villages in the domain of Haddam, an extensive tract which the Indians originally sold to Hartford people for thirty coats.
Middletown, the "Forest City," at a great bend in the lower river, has many mills making pumps, tapes, plated wares, webbing and sewing-machines, its shaded streets leading up the hill-slopes, bordering the water, that have in them valuable quarries of rich brown Portland stone. ”

“ Middletown has about forty-seven regularly organized charitable, benevolent, fraternal and social organizations and clubs, exclusive of labor-organizations, societies and organizations connected with its railroads. ”

“ Shipbuilding and commerce became the principal sources of wealth. In the middle of the nineteenth century Middletown was one of the leading cities of Connecticut, and as late as 1886 it was a port of entry ”

“ He not only built up the community directly by the erection of public buildings, but he was always on the lookout to offer prompt and powerful inducements to manufacturing coneerns to settle in Middletown. ”

“ Middletown is ten miles below Weathersfield, and [Pg 139] beautifully situated upon the Connecticut, between two small rivers one mile asunder, which is the length of the town and grand street. Here is an elegant church, with steeple, bell, clock, and organ; and a large meeting without a steeple. The people are polite, and not much troubled with that fanatic zeal which pervades the rest of the colony. The township is ten miles square, and forms four parishes, one episcopalian. ”

“ Middletown, a city of Middlesex county, Connecticut, on the west bank of the Connecticut river, and thirty-four miles from its mouth, is a pleasant place, and has considerable trade and manufactures. In 1816, it owned a larger shipping than any other town in the state. In the neighborhood is a lead mine, which was wrought during the war. A college, under the name of the Wesleyan University, was opened in this city in 1831. Population, seven thousand two hundred and ten. ”

“ We have passed through Newtown and Middletown, both of which were nearly deserted, and those left are bitter secessionists. We have been chasing the enemy, which accounts for our marching so hard; its rear guard left Newtown as we entered it. We camped for dinner here and to wait for stragglers to catch up.
An amusing thing occurred here. Three young officers, Lieutenants D. G. Hill, G. P. Welch and myself, went to the only hotel to get dinner, but found the front door locked and the blinds all drawn. ”

“ Of the latter there are nine, and of the labor organizations, twenty.
A fine State armory is located here, which is the headquarters of the First Battalion, First Regiment, N. G. N. Y., A. E. Mclntyre, Major, commanding. This armory is also the home of Company I (24th Separate Company) , First Regiment, N. G. N. Y., of which Abraham L. Decker is captain.
There are two Grand Army Posts in Middletown, viz: General Lyon Post, No. 266; Captain William A. Jackson Post, No. 301.
Middletown has a very efficient Business Men's Association, which was incorporated November 20, 1902. ”

“ The actual incorporation of the village did not occur until April 7, 1848, when the preliminary proceedings in regard to the incorporation were approved by Judge D. W. Bates. The first president of the village was Stacey Beakes, and associated with him as trustees were Coe Dill, William Hoyt, Israel Hoyt, Israel O. Beattie and Daniel C. Dusenberry. John B. Friend was clerk. Of the above named trustees, Daniel C. Dusenberry is still living (1908) .
The growth of Middletown has always been gradual, and it has never been what might be called a "boom town." In 1807 the population was forty-five ”

“ The name of “Middleton is said to be retained from lord Middleton,” who is steward of the Peveril Court, which has now no jurisdiction in Nottingham, it being a town-county. The origin of these matters, however, is of little consequence in an account of the “General;” they are only referred to as preparatory to the observation, that he is a conspicuous personage in the ceremonial of the day.
On “Middleton Monday” all the school-boys in the town expect a holyday; it is the juvenile Saturnalia; and though the “General” is great on all occasions, he is especially so on “Middleton Monday;” ”

“ Out of the grave came all the dead Puritan ancestors of Mr. Middleton, a long procession back to Massachusetts Bay. The elders of Salem who had ordained that a man should not smoke within five miles of a house, the lawgivers who had prescribed the small number, brief length, and sad color of ribbons a woman might wear and who forbade a man to kiss his wife on Sunday, all these righteous and uncomfortable folk stirred in Mr. Middleton’s blood and obsessed him. ”

“ While man makes sewers and artillery,
Grim bayonets, and howitzers and shell,
The battle-squadron surging through the tides,
Ten thousand hecatombs of reeking red
And all the vile magnificence of War.
Jesse E. Middleton is the only son of the Rev. E, Middleton of the Canadian Methodist Church, and was born in Wellington County, Ontario, Canada, on November 3, 1872. His father is of English birth, but his mother, Margaret Agar, is a native Canadian. His home education, which was very thorough, was supplemented by High School training. ”

“ Middleton summed the attributes of the cellar on quitting it. "North side and South. No musty damp. A pure air. Everything requisite. One might lie down one's self and keep sweet here."
Of all our venerable British of the two Isles professing a suckling attachment to an ancient port-wine, lawyer, doctor, squire, rosy admiral, city merchant, the classic scholar is he whose blood is most nuptial to the webbed bottle. The reason must be, that he is full of the old poets. He has their spirit to sing with, and the best that Time has done on earth to feed it. ”

“ Middleton looked inquiringly at him and he said, "Pardon me for laughing; I was thinking of the important business which calls Bob to New York."
"Nothing bad, I hope," said Mr. Middleton.
"Nothing worse than going for a wife," answered Raymond. "He is not suited with Kentucky girls, but must needs plod back to New York."
"If appearances do not deceive, you, at least, seem likely to be suited by a Kentuckian," replied Mr. Middleton, at the same time turning his black eyes on Mrs. Carrington with something of a quizzical expression. ”

“ Like most Wealthy South Carolinians of the 18th century, Arthur Middleton was educated in England—at Hackney, at Westminster School, and at St John’s College, Cambridge. He then returned to South Carolina, but soon afterwards went back to England to live, and travelled on the Continent. In 1773 he again returned to South Carolina, and in the controversies between the colonists and the home government became a leader of the Whigs. ”

“ Middleton had been taught in the Methodist Sunday School in Janesville, Wisconsin, but disliking to dispute with one so engaging as the handsome Moslem, and having read in a book of etiquette that it was very ill mannered to indulge in theological controversy and, moreover, being conscious of the presence of the blackamore with the glittering scimetar, he began to make his excuses for an immediate departure. But the Moslem would not hear to this.
“Mesrour will bear your garments to Mr. Cohen. From your visage, I judge you to be a person I wish to know. ”

“ While our battalion was at Flushing the Officers frequently visited the town of Middleburgh, the capital of the Island, and pleasantly situated in its centre. It is a clean and very beautiful place, surrounded by gardens and richly improved pleasure grounds, among which are interspersed many handsome buildings and cottages, laid out with a degree of taste and neatness, seldom to be found beyond the boundaries of England. With regard to the town it is perfection itself, free from every nuisance; the houses are well built, the streets wide and regularly paved. ”

“ May 10th, Monday.—This is the present aspect of the story: Middleton is the descendant of a family long settled in the United States; his ancestor having emigrated to New England with the Pilgrims; or, perhaps, at a still earlier date, to Virginia with Raleigh's colonists. There had been a family dissension,—a bitter hostility between two brothers in England; on account, probably, of a love affair, the two both being attached to the same lady. ”

“ The artifacts from the Middleton Place privy present a unique opportunity to observe one aspect of this plantation’s past. This collection of ceramics, bottles, and other items constitute the refuse discarded by the occupants of Middleton Place following the Civil War. It reflects their needs and tastes and represents an unconscious record of activities a century ago. Artifacts in the collection include items from an earlier time as well as things purchased throughout the last half of the nineteenth century. ”

“ The speaker could not be seen from the place where Middleton stood, nor would the comrades around him have betrayed him. But Middleton looked in the direction of the voice, and his figure seemed to swell. Phil, who was standing near, thought he saw his eyes flicker with light.
"My lads," said Middleton, and his voice was full and thrilling, "we do not retreat all the way to the Rio Grande, nor do we hide on the way. We do not retreat at all. We march forward, southward, through the mountains to meet the enemy." ”

“ When the men were sufficiently under the influence of the liquor, Middleton, who had explained his plan in advance to all whom he felt he could trust, gave the signal for the flight. One by one the captives left the house in which they were confined and proceeded to a point on the shore where a boat from the Darling was waiting to take them off. Middleton was too well known to make it safe for him to proceed openly through the streets. ”

“ Middleton, perturbed by a nameless disquiet, was about to rush forth into the tempest and seek other shelter, when a door burst open and, outlined against a glare of light, stood a gigantic man who said in a deep, low voice that seemed to pervade every corner of the room and cause the air to shake in slow vibrations, “Salaam aleikoom!” ”

“ On their return his parents settled at Cheltenham, where his father practised as an architect, and where Middleton himself was educated, first at the juvenile proprietary school, and afterwards at Cheltenham College. In 1865 he was matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford. Middleton, though far from being an eccentric recluse, or of as weakly a constitution as his appearance seemed to denote, displayed from his youth an acutely nervous and fastidious temperament, liable to strong emotions and to deep depression. ”

“ Middleton then and there resolved to follow, reflecting upon the impeccable sources from which it emanated.
“All the servants seem to be gone. My family is abroad and the household force has been cut down, and I have given everybody leave to go out to-night, all but one maid, and she seems to have gone, too,” said Mr. Crecelius, leading Mr. Middleton into a spacious salon and seating him near where great portières of a funereal purple moved uneasily in the superheated atmosphere of the house. ”

“ It is a typical second-class village inn, not overly clean. It appears more of an alehouse than hotel, for a crowd of villagers and farmers is tippling at the bar.
Directly across the river from Leyburn is Middleham, the old-time capital of Wensleydale and one of the quaintest and least modernized towns it was our good fortune to see. The drab-colored buildings straggle up the hill upon whose crest sits Middleham Castle, grim, vast and wholly ruinous. And after wandering through the maze of shattered walls and tottering towers, it seemed to us that here was the very ideal of ruined castles. ”

“ Looking to the future, we cannot doubt that the Middlesborough district is destined to have no rival in any part of the world, for even now its works compete in magnitude with those of our old iron fields. ”

“ Perhaps the cabinet may be in Middleton's sleeping-chamber, and he examines it by himself, before going to bed; and finds out a secret which will perplex him how to deal with it.
May 14th, Friday.—We have spoken several times already of a young girl, who was seen at this period about the little antiquated village of Smithells; a girl in manners and in aspect unlike those of the cottages amid which she dwelt. Middleton had now so often met her, and in solitary places, that an acquaintance had inevitably established itself between them. ”