Judge Edmond’s Words Inspire Town Hall Guests

By Kendra Bobowick

The message starts on the left.

Standing between new marble benches flanking the walkway leading to town hall are freshly etched words that read, “Newtown Tercentennial celebrates with the words of William Edmond.” Among the final touches to a memorial celebrating the town’s 300th anniversary in 2005 is the excerpt from the judge’s poetry.

With a glance to the right at four more benches standing at the corners of a small front lawn his words begin. From left to right on the two front benches: “History has a secondary utility,” then the phrase jumps to the right hand bench, “which by relieving our minds…” and to the left rear bench, “from the fatigue of…” and to the right again, “more serious occupation…” Here the reader must walk to stand behind the front two benches to the right and glance at the backs where the phrase finishes: “Invigorates and prepares us…” and finally to the right, “for fresh exertion.” The passage is marked with Judge William Edmond’s name at the end. The words appeared permanently on Saturday, June 28, as crews from Brown’s Monument Works out of Stepney, a historic district of Monroe, spent roughly four hours in the nearly 90-degree heat to get the job done.

What does it mean? “History has a secondary utility, which by relieving our minds from the fatigue, more serious occupation invigorates and prepares us for fresh exertion.” Is the verse asking us to think, daydream, imagine? Tercentennial Committee member and local artist Brigette Sorensen wrote in one e-mail, “We chose to borrow from one of Judge William Edmond’s poems which speaks gently and inspirationally to the people of his times, ours, and then tomorrow’s.”

His words could, in fact, apply to any time, any place, as they ask the reader to contemplate, and consider.

Historian and Tercentennial Committee member Dan Cruson credits local author Justin Scott with pinpointing the judge’s particular phrase. When Mr Scott heard the words aloud this week, he sighed, remembering the many pieces that had fit together for him.

“The joy of the tercentennial, the double joy — everyone involved felt a connection to the people who used to live here, like time was erased,” he said. More specifically, the quote itself was a reminder of the anniversary celebration. “Celebration is a time to stop and consider where you are in your life.”

What does it mean to celebrate an anniversary? “We stop. We say, ‘Where are we now?’ We reflect,” said Mr Scott. “I think that’s what [Judge Edmond] meant.” Like Ms Sorensen, who recognized that the words were “inspirational to the people of his times, ours, and then tomorrow’s,” Mr Scott offered a similar observation. He said, “It is neat that if someone said something 200 years ago and it resonates now. That’s pretty impressive.”

Ms Sorensen was largely responsible for the memorial’s design, which involved new marble benches, pavers in the walkway leading toward town hall’s front steps, improved shrubs and lawn to greet visitors as they stepped into the historic building’s lobby, and finally the engraved words. Ms Sorensen also hopes the memorial brings the judge’s words — long lost in family journals, and some closed inside history books — back to life.

Thanks to the Tercentennial Committee members, he now has everlasting recognition, and modern generations will remember him. Ms Sorensen sent an e-mail in December where she stated, “You would be surprised” at the answers people have as to where the town hall got its name. “When we ponder our existence here in Newtown, past and present, we were led to the past…”

And in that past Mr Cruson found a small notebook kept by Judge Edmond’s granddaughter Sarah Booth Hawley, who is the mother of benefactress Mary Elizabeth Hawley. In later years Mary Hawley bequeathed the town hall to Newtown, but died before it was finished in the early 1930s. She named the building after her great-grandfather.

With just one more paver waiting to go in place to decorate the stone heading up to town hall, the memorial — inscription completed — now invites residents to relax, read, think. Building Superintendent Clark Kathan is impressed with the amount of time that planners took to personally oversee the project. Without their efforts, for example, he said, “Thank God, or we would have no history at all, it’s important.”

Who Was Judge Edmond?

Based on information found in several of Mr Cruson’s brief biographies, a picture forms of an intelligent and innovative man. William Edmond was born on September 28, 1755 in South Britain, Southbury. His parents came from Ireland and had settled to farm Woodbury soil.

He graduated from Yale in 1777. He joined a military force to drive the British back to the coast, and was wounded. He was a reader — medicine, theology, law. He passed the bar exam and set up legal practice in Newtown in 1782. He became a representative in the State General Assembly, where he was elected repeatedly until he won election to the United States House of Representatives in 1797. During his time there he served with John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. In 1805 he earned appointment to sit on the Connecticut Superior Court. He spent his last 20 years devoted to reading and agriculture. He died in 1838 at age 83.

He died in the house he had built for his first wife. The house still stands on Main Street just north of the Cyrenius H. Booth Library.

Learn more about the judge in Mr Cruson’s booklet, Judge William Edmond, available through the Newtown Historical Society or at the Booth Library.