In 1867, the Farmington Chronicle published a series of articles about the history of Wilton by local historian John H. Willard. Willard wrote of the ponds and streams, farming and milling. But even more interesting than these facts, were the occasional anecdotes he told about the lives of the early settlers.

Willard listened closely to the tales of the old-timers who remembered back to the very beginnings of settlement, and his newspaper articles were sprinkled with stories about some of the characters who first lived in the area around “Wilson’s Pond.”

The first marriage that took place in Wilton was between Samuel Nutting and Patty Kelsey, and Willard did not have much good to say about the pairing. “It would be pleasant to record that the parties, though poor at the time, by united intelligent industry became independent,” he notes with sarcasm.

Willard goes on to describe Nutting as a careless man who chopped down a few trees to build a “shanty,” thinking he was on Farmington property when he was really in the new town of Wilton. Samuel let it be known around the area that he wanted a wife, and he would consider any woman willing to live with him in his new wilderness home.

In answer to his offer, Patty visited Samuel at his shanty and quickly accepted. As Willard tells the story, she was not the brightest of mates. In fact, he describes her as “a grade above idiocy.”

However, Samuel evidently was not too picky, so the pair headed off through the woods to West Farmington, where Justice of the Peace Moses Starling performed a wedding ceremony while the barefoot bride chewed spruce gum.

“The consequences of this marriage were a large number of town paupers …, as might be expected they are now nearly extinct,” Willard reports. Another consequence, he says, is the “Wilton fashion of gum chewing.”

Another of Willard’s stories concerns Nehemiah Hunt, an ordained Methodist minister and Wilton’s first preacher. After arriving in Wilton, Hunt learned that life in the wilderness sometimes demanded flexibility.

One Sunday morning as Wilton settlers made their way to the meetinghouse, some of them spotted a bear. This aroused much alarm and fear for the local farm animals.

Many of the men abandoned their plans to go to church. Instead, they went home to get their hunting dogs and took off for the woods in search of the wild animal.

Elder Hunt proceeded with his service anyway, preaching to mostly the women and children. Soon he found that everyone was looking out the window instead of listening to him. Their attention was taken by the returning hunters proudly carrying the dead bear.

Church services were serious, even sacred, rituals and were rarely interrupted for anything. But the sight of the bear was more than anyone could ignore.

“Well,” said Elder Hunt, “let’s all go see the bear.” Once the poor beast had been inspected, and everyone’s curiosity satisfied, the people of Wilton entered their meetinghouse and completed their weekly church service.

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