July, 1907 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



a lonely spot on the mountain, between two rocks, and his 

 friend, Adam Stewart, as the chief cremator. The civil au- 

 thorities, however, interposed and insisted upon giving him 

 what they deemed a Christian burial. 



Farmington has always had its aristocracy. Its men have 

 been representative both in literary and ecclesiastical circles, 

 as well as in the social and political life of the State. She 

 gave to us the distinguished Governor Treadwell, the emi- 

 nent patriot, scholar and Christian, and of whom an account 

 of his public services must be a history of the common school 

 system of Connecticut, of the rise of foreign missions and 

 of much of the political history of the State in the days of 

 the Revolution; the Rev. Noah Porter, D.D., whose pas- 

 torate of the First Church of Christ continued for sixty years; 



who served under the personal orders of General Washing- 

 ton and who yielded his life to the cause of independence; 

 the Hon. Timothy Pitkin, Moderator of the General Asso- 

 ciation, Trustee of Dartmouth College and Fellow of Yale 

 College; and Deacon Edmond Hooker, who kept the "Old 

 Red College," which not only counted among its students 

 young men of the town, but Southern young gentlemen, who 

 came to Farmington to be fitted for college. 



The largest and most prominent family, from its earliest 

 settlers to the present time, is the Cowles family, whose rep- 

 resentatives have been leading figures in all of its forms of 

 society, for they have always been the wealthiest and most 

 influential people of the place. Colonel George Cowles, 

 who subsequently became a brigadier and then a major gen- 



r 



The Moit Stately Mansion in Farmington Has an Imposing Facade of 



the Rev. Noah Porter, D.D., LL.D., his son, who became 

 President of Yale University, and whose fame is known 

 wherever education and civilization extend; and Miss Sarah 

 Porter, who established, in 1844, a school which subse- 

 quently became the most celebrated school for girls in Amer- 

 ica. Much as Miss Porter loved her school and devoted her 

 life to its welfare, she was none the less identified with the 

 village of Farmington and co-operative and foremost in all 

 its plans for improvement. She loved the village and, in 

 testimony of her love for it, she gave the only park which 

 Farmington now possesses. Miss Porter died in her eighty- 

 seventh year, on February 17, 1900, and a testimony of the 

 love and esteem with which she was held by her former 

 pupils is best expressed in the beautiful parish house which 

 they built in her honor, nearly opposite the house in which 

 she lived. Farmington also gave us Colonel Fisher Gay, 



Roman Character, and is the Residence of James Lewis Cowles, Esq. 



eral, received the highest honor to be conferred by the militia 

 of the State of Connecticut. His celebrated white horse, 

 which he always kept ready to muster into service, testifies to 

 the military character of the man. 



While General Cowles was a shining light in the military 

 life of the State, there were others of the Cowles family 

 whose lavish entertainments and courteous hospitality won 

 for them the love, esteem and acimiration of all the people 

 of the community. They had fine estates and stables, and 

 with grand suppers and dinners maintained the dignity of 

 their social reign. 



General Cowles' house, which was the most dignified and 

 stately mansion in Farmington, was frequently the scene of 

 much gaiety, while its subsequent owner, James Cowles, the 

 wealthiest man of his time, maintained with equal splendor 

 the ohl house of his predecessor. James Lewis Cowles, 



