I remained with Mr. Cowles untill a little over two years I then returned home & spent the season
with my Father & worked in the Mill and in the fall My Father made an arangement with Mr. Andrew Mills of West Hartford Ct for me to board with him & do chores for my board & go to school
According to agreement I soon became a member of Mr. Mills Family & for several weeks I passed
through a regular course of that distressing deisease called Home sickness I suffered immensly I had never
before lived at any place whare I had not been free & social. But Mr Mills was a proud Auste[r]e man
& I had no conversation with him ownly in being asked & answering a question & for about 2 weeks
I did not eat drink or sleep but little but I soon began to go to school & because acquainted with my
school mates & my sickness left me & has never yet returned and at the close of the school I returned
home to my Fathers house in the spring of . But soon my Father Made a contract with Mr Horace Judd for me to go & work one year with him. He was our nearest neighbor at our homested in Northington
and one of my school mates his Father having died & left him in charge of a large Family of sisters
He being the ownly son. I commenced work with him but did not stay the year out during the for part
of winter I split my instep open with an ax which lamed me for abot nine months My Brother Thompson took my place and worked my time out also one year for himself. I remained at
home untill the spring of when I started from home on horseback to go some 10 miles to engage to work
for a man a year upon a farm but before I arived there my horse run away with me & flung me among
some Rocks & broke one of my legs twice in two & put out both Ancles in a shocking manner as recorded in
the Chapter of incidents. this confined me to the House near two months. the first time that I walked half a
mile I went to attend the funeral of two men one by the name of Bird who was murdered by a crazy man named Roe He
split open Birds Head with an ax and laid his brains bare & cut his throat from ear to ear, and the other mans name
was Bodwell a promising young man who was shot dedad the night after the murder by one of his companions under
the following circumstances word was given out to take Row either Dead or alive & about 500 men went out into
the Mountains Hills vallies & the whole country was guarded as the Murderer had hid himself up, they went out 3 or 4 in
company and Roe had a plad cloak on & Mr Bodwell put on the same kind of a cloak to go out to guard through
the night, his uncle strongly urged him not to wear the cloak as it might endanger his life. but He thinking
there would be no danger wore it & during the evening while approching another company a young man by the
name of Gager seeing a man by the name of Gager with a cloak on he thinking that it might be Roe
He hailed him with the countersign & recieved no answer He then leveled his gun & fired & shot Bodwell
dead he spoke a few moments & expired I saw the corpses of these men it was the first body which had ben
murdered that I had ever seen. Roe was finally taken & tryed acquitted upon the plea of insanity but
put into the insane assylum Gager was tryed for manslaughter, but forfeited & paid his bond rather than run the
risk of being found guilty. I remained at home with my Father untill at work in the mill I attended
school during the past winter being 18 years of age. In I went to live with widow Deming in
the east part of Northington, I staid with her and labored upon her farm for nine mionths I then returned
home to my Fathers House and assisted him in his mills. I remained with him untill at which
time I left home & went to live with My Fathers Sister Aunt Hellen Wheeler I took her Flouring Mill
and tended it upon shares in East Avon I never again returned to my Fathers House to live with him I
ownly called as a visitor I was always made welcome at my Fathers House by each member of it this was an
important period in my feelings to leave my Fathers roof to step forth upon the stage of life to act for myself
to be my own councellor & form my own caracter in the open broad world filled my mind with serious reflection
as I wanded my way from my Fathers Roof it created in my mind an anxiety which was more paneful than Joyous
I remained with Mr. Cowles untill a little over two years I then returned home & spent the season
with my Father & worked in the Mill and in the fall My Father made an arangement with Mr.
Andrew Mills of West Hartford Ct for me to board with him & do chores for my board & go to school
According to agreement I soon became a member of Mr. Mills Family & for several weeks I passed
through a regular course of that distressing disease called Home sickness I suffered immensly I had never
before lived at any place whare I had not been free & social. But Mr Mills was a proud Austere man
& I had no conversation with him ownly in being asked & answering a question & for about 2 weeks
I did not eat drink or sleep but little but I soon began to go to school & because acquainted with my
school mates & my sickness left me & has never yet returned and at the close of the school I returned
home to my Fathers house in the spring of . But soon my Father Made a contract with Mr
Horace Judd for me to go & work one year with him. He was our nearest neighbor at our homested in Northington
and one of my school mates his Father having died & left him in charge of a large Family of sisters
He being the ownly son. I commenced work with him but did not stay the year out during the for part
of winter I split my instep open with an ax which lamed me for abot nine months My Brother
Thompson took my place and worked my time out also one year for himself. I remained at
home untill the spring of when I started from home on horseback to go some 10 miles to engage to work
for a man a year upon a farm but before I arived there my horse run away with me & flung me among
some Rocks & broke one of my legs twice in two & put out both Ancles in a shocking manner as recorded in
the Chapter of incidents. this confined me to the House near two months. the first time that I walked half a
mile I went to attend the funeral of two men one by the name of Bird who was murdered by a crazy man named Roe He
split open Birds Head with an ax and laid his brains bare & cut his throat from ear to ear, and the other mans name
was Bodwell a promising young man who was shot dead the night after the murder by one of his companions under
the following circumstances word was given out to take Row either Dead or alive & about 500 men went out into
the Mountains Hills vallies & the whole country was guarded as the Murderer had hid himself up, they went out 3 or 4 in
company and Roe had a plad cloak on & Mr Bodwell put on the same kind of a cloak to go out to guard through
the night, his uncle strongly urged him not to wear the cloak as it might endanger his life. but He thinking
there would be no danger wore it & during the evening while approching another company a young man by the
name of Gager seeing a man with a cloak on he thinking that it might be Roe
He hailed him with the countersign & recieved no answer He then leveled his gun & fired & shot Bodwell
dead he spoke a few moments & expired I saw the corpses of these men it was the first body which had ben
murdered that I had ever seen. Roe was finally taken & tryed acquitted upon the plea of insanity but
put into the insane assylum Gager was tryed for manslaughter, but forfeited & paid his bond rather than run the
risk of being found guilty. I remained at home with my Father untill April 1826 at work in the mill I attended
school during the past winter being 18 years of age. In I went to live with widow Deming in
the east part of Northington, I staid with her and labored upon her farm for nine months I then returned
home to my Fathers House and assisted him in his mills. I remained with him untill at which
time I left home & went to live with My Fathers Sister Aunt Hellen Wheeler I took her Flouring Mill
and tended it upon shares in East Avon I never again returned to my Fathers House to live with him I
ownly called as a visitor I was always made welcome at my Fathers House by each member of it this was an
important period in my feelings to leave my Fathers roof to step forth upon the stage of life to act for myself
to be my own councellor & form my own caracter in the open broad world filled my mind with serious reflection
as I wanded my way from my Fathers Roof it created in my mind an anxiety which was more paneful than Joyous
