Harriet Wadsworth

Female

August 24, 1819

1916

Litchfield, CT

Danbury, CT
Litchfield, CT

Charles J. Kilbourn (June 25, 1844)

Harriet Wadsworth Kilbourn was born August 24, 1819 to James and Sally Cooke Wadsworth of Litchfield. Around the age of eleven Harriet began studying at the Litchfield Female Academy in her hometown, and continued to attended the school through 1832. In 1835 she moved to Danbury, Connecticut with her parents for about seven years before returning to Litchfield in 1844 when she marred Charles S. Kilbourn.

Litchfield Enquirer. April 13, 1916

"MRS. KILBOURN DEAD. Litchfield's Oldest Inhabitant Passes Away at the Age of Ninety-Six Years and Nearly Eight Months.

Mrs. Harriet D. Kilbourn, the oldest resident of Litchfield, died at her home on North street, at eleven o'clock on Tuesday morning. The funeral will be held from the house on Thursday at 2.30 o'clock, the Rev. Dr. Goodwin officiating. Internment will be in the plot in East cemetery. The honorary bearers will be George M. Woodruff, C.W. Hinsdale, Dr. C.N. Warner, A.E. Fuller, F.M. Coe and Wm. T. Marsh.

Mrs. Harriet D. Kilbourn was born on West street, Litchfield, August 24th, 1819. Her father was James C. Wadsworth, of the famous Connecticut family of that name, and her mother, Sally Cooke of Danbury. Her ...grandfather was Col. Cooke of Danbury, a Revolutionary fighter, very closer to Washington, who had entertained "The Father of his Country," Lafayette, Rochambeau and many other noted men of that time, at his home in Danbury.

When she was only a few months old Mrs. Kilbourn's parents moved from West street to the house where she died and that has been her home ever since, excepting about seven years when she lived in Danbury. The house was originally the store of Col. Benjamin Tallmadge and here, while he was Postmaster, was the Post office, but the Colonel altered it into a dwelling house. Mrs. Kilbourn well remembered that celebrated Revolutionary hero, the friend of Washington and the man who was given the custody the unfortunate Andre. She also attended his funeral and said the text of the sermon was the first verse of the twentieth Psalm: "Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men."

In her childhood Mrs. Kilbourn attended Miss Pierce's famous school for girls and well remembered Miss Sally Pierce, though not in the room where she taught. Later she was under the instruction of Dr. Brace, before he went to Hartford. It was about this time that the terrible cholera scourge of 1832 held New York in its grip and it was mighty interesting to listen to Mrs. Kilbourn's description of the fear of the girls in the school and how cucumbers particularly were "taboo" all through this region.

In 1835, Mrs. Kilbourn went with her parent to Danbury to live, but remained there only about seven years, when she returned to Litchfield and was married June 25th, 1844, to Charles J. Kilbourn, who died a little less than nine years later.

Mrs. Kilbourn had a remarkably sweet voice, and was in great demand as a singer for concerts in all this vicinity. She was a member of the late Hon. Robbins Battell's celebrated "Litchfield County Choral Union" and for years sang in the choir of the Congregational church here, of which she was a member for over 63 years, having first united with the Congregational church in Danbury in 1842.

One of the many things of special local interest, that Mrs. Kilbourn well remembered is the old "meeting house," in which Lyman Beecher preached and which stood a few rods south of the United States Hotel, and saw the steeple fall when it was torn down. Litchfield's celebrated merchant, Julius Deming, grandfather of Clarence Deming, was a familiar figure to her and she knew well the sad story of Charlie Byington, which was printed in the Enquirer about seven years ago. In fact she was a walking and talking history of Litchfield, Connecticut and the United States, for the last eighty-five years and you could learn more of real interest concerning this town and country from her than from any book ever written. She talked most entertainingly; was always glad to see her friends and her writing was like copper plate.

It is a singular fact that Mrs. Kilbourn was the eldest of seven children and the last one left. The first thing she remembered was running away, so as to see her long curls fly in the wind and then being tied up to the door latch as a punishment.

Mrs. Kilbourn had traveled in all sorts of public conveyances from the old fashioned stage coach to the modern automobile.

Until the last few years, when rheumatism has interfered with her getting out, Mrs. Kilbourn was most active in social and religious life of our town. She was always the "friend in need" and though she was the last of her generation in Litchfield her heart was as warm, her brain as keen and her faculties as alert as ever. She was indeed a wonderful woman and one whom it was a rare treat to have had the privilege of knowing."
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1830-1832

Emily Noyes Vanderpoel interviewed Harriet Wadsworth about her time at the Female Academy (Vanderpoel, Emily Noyes. Chronicles of A Pioneer School From 1792 to 1833. Cambridge, MA: The University Press, 1903).

"Catalogue of the Litchfield Academy ... 1830" (Litchfield Historical Society - Litchfield Female Academy collection).

1831 Litchfield Female Academy Winter Session Catalogue (Vanderpoel, Emily Noyes. Chronicles of A Pioneer School From 1792 to 1833. Cambridge, MA: The University Press, 1903).

1831 Litchfield Female Academy Summer Session Catalogue (Vanderpoel, Emily Noyes. Chronicles of A Pioneer School From 1792 to 1833. Cambridge, MA: The University Press, 1903).

1832 Litchfield Female Academy Winter Session Catalogue (Vanderpoel, ...Emily Noyes. Chronicles of A Pioneer School From 1792 to 1833. Cambridge, MA: The University Press, 1903).

1832 Litchfield Female Academy Summer Session Catalogue (Vanderpoel, Emily Noyes. Chronicles of A Pioneer School From 1792 to 1833. Cambridge, MA: The University Press, 1903).

Obituary. Litchfield Enquirer. 13 April 1916.

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