FROM THE HISTORIAN’S DESK, September 2004 – Carol Ganz.
Since the subject is receiving a good deal of attention, I thought it a good time to remind everyone how we happen to have this wonderful piece of property and its historic buildings. Gurdon Bill purchased the property now known as the Bill Parsonage around 1820. He was part of the fifth generation of Bills living in what is now Ledyard.
Philip Bill arrived from Massachusetts about 1668 with his wife and six young children and settled at Allyn’s Point. Youngest son Joshua was born here, and growing up he watched the area develop from almost a wilderness to a thriving community capable of supporting its own church. He served as selectman, surveyed many town roads, and was part of the committee that found the location for the meetinghouse in the exact center of the new North Groton Society.
The crossroads area was a hub of town activity in the early 1800’s, with nine houses and several businesses. The Episcopal Church, by then in Poquetanuck, had been in the area as it developed. When Joshua’s great-grandson Gurdon operated a mercantile business in the little store we now call the Way Station with partner Philip Gray, and purchased two small farms to establish his homestead there, he was not the first Bill to own the property. Gurdon bought out Gray’s interest, married Lucy Yerrington of Preston, and began to develop his property. His son Ledyard later wrote, “There was severe labor to be performed to make this home on the hillside blossom, yet it was cheerfully done and the now comparatively smooth fields, bounded on nearly all sides by its giant walls, attest somewhat of the character of the man.” The house, probably a cape, he remodeled and enlarged to what we know today. He added a second story, including a large room which was used for ten years as meeting hall for the Masonic Charity Lodge No. 68, organized in the house in 1825. This room was later the scene of the Bill Library trustee dinners.
Gurdon and Lucy raised a large family in the house. He was active in community affairs and represented Groton in the General Assembly in 1828. The committee to establish Ledyard as a town met in the house and son Ledyard, born about that time, was given the same name. The family placed a high value on education and public service and it is not surprising that the six sons who lived to adulthood all found ways to contribute to the world around them. Four served in state legislatures, three donated public libraries, two were bank presidents, one was also a railroad president. All were generous to both their childhood and adult hometowns.
Elisha Allyn recorded in his diary, September 12, 1856, “Attended the funeral of Gurdon Bill this afternoon – was buried in Masonic Order. Never saw anything of the kind before.”
The sons, already established in their own homes, sold the property to Benjamin F. Lewis, reserving the family cemetery.
Henry Bill gave the town a public library (books and bookcases) in 1867 and it was housed on our church balcony for many years. A few years later, he bought back his childhood home, had it renovated, provided new outbuildings, and presented it to the Ledyard Ecclesiastical Society for use as a parsonage. Among other restrictions, the deed specified that it was to always be used as the parsonage and also that the Bill Library trustees’ annual meeting be held there, the minister providing them a “good plain dinner.” When Henry’s brothers gave a building in 1893 to house the library, the trustees’ annual meeting moved to what is now the Historical Room of the Bill Library. At that time the dinner and program traditionally enjoyed by the trustees in the large meeting room at the parsonage, became a community-wide event held at the church and the public Bill Dinner became the main social event of the year in Ledyard.
The meeting room upstairs was years ago divided into several small rooms, and some areas have been updated, but many original details remain. Paired with the Way Station, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been described as the “best preserved early 19th-century store in the state,” the parsonage property is a truly fascinating historic site.