News

Wolcott Historical Society News - October 2025

By Florence Goodman

The original parish settlement in our town was named Farmingbury with half the land in Waterbury and the other half in Farmington. Bound Line Road served as the dividing line between these two towns. Farmingbury was truly the perfect name for this settlement since these early residents relied on farming to survive. The soil was rocky and impossible to plow, but that did not stop these farmers. They were able to grow corn, buckwheat, rye, oats, hay, potatoes, beans, flax and fruit. Besides growing crops, they were able to raise dairy cows, pigs, sheep, ducks and poultry to supplement their incomes and food pantries. Almost every farm had dairy cows to produce milk for the family and extra to sell for an income.

Over the years I have researched information on thirty-five farms found in our town, but I know there were many more. I recently received a message from a resident, Crystal Palomba who was looking for information on her great grandparents' farm that was located at 587 Bound Line Road. I remember the farm, but as a kid never thought much about what was there. I knew Crystal's mom and uncle as well as her cousins Steve and Stan Knapik. We ice skated on their pond on that property and went sliding past it as we flew down Bound Line Road in the winter. It amazes me when I think of the places in town that I took for granted and now wish I could go back and interview some of these early residents. This month I will share some history on the Knapik Farm which was still a working farm when I was growing up in the 1950s and 60s.

Anthony (Antoni) John Knapik was born in Konczyka,Malo Polska, Poland on July 16, 1889. He sailed on the SS Konigin Luise arriving in New York on September 21, 1912. He was welcomed by his brother and his family. He lived with them while working in a carpet mill as a mill hand in New York. Anthony's wife Jozefa (Josephine) Gundak Knapik was born in the same town in Poland on September 15, 1890. She arrived in the U.S. in 1913 through NY. Josephine and Anthony were married in 1916 in Waterbury, Connecticut.

Anthony and Josephine purchased a farm in Wolcott which included over seventy acres of land, a house and several barns. The 1930 census shows them living on the farm in Wolcott and lists his occupation as a farmer working on his own farm. It also lists two sons and two daughters living on the Wolcott farm. They were Joseph 14; Antoniona 11; Michael 8; and Gladys 6. The population in Wolcott in 1930 was 972 people. The Knapik farm property at that time was valued at $2500 and had land on Bound Line and Minor Roads. It also ran west toward where the Bowling Alley is today. In 1934 Wolcott Road stopped at Center Street and the State started purchasing land from farmers to extend Wolcott Road up the hill toward Bristol. On August 9, 1934, Anthony sold .68 acres of land to the State as part of that road project.

The large acreage of the farm allowed Anthony's family to have a vegetable garden and a variety of farm animals. They raised chickens for the eggs and had milking cows as well as work horses. They soon realized that there was more money in selling milk, which led to them purchasing more cows. Their work horses were used to pull the hay wagon and for plowing. Every family member worked the farm at some point in their lives, but especially during haying time. Hay was needed for the farm and to sell. Later, Anthony's son, Joseph, an iron worker by trade helped his father by building a steel wagon to replace the old horse-drawn wagon and an old jeep was used to replace the horse. On December 14, 1948, Anthony purchased 30 acres of land east of his house from Wilfred Warner which allowed Anthony to start cutting trees for the wood, which he sold for profit.

Anthony's daughter, Anthonina married Justin Raibikis and they had two children John and Judy. They built a house on the property south of the farmhouse on Minor Road. Antonina was Crystal's grandmother and Judy was Crystal's mother. There was also a pond below the house. Stanley (one of Joseph's sons) remembers that his uncle had a tractor that he made into a bulldozer to clear the land to make the pond that was fed by a stream that started somewhere up in the hills. Today this is part of Children's Village.

Anthony and Josephine's son, Joseph married Doris Fraser, and they had three children, Stephen, Stanley and Lori. Stephen and his wife Brenda and Lori (Nicoletti) and her husband David still live in Wolcott. Stanley married Carol Brasche and lived in Waterbury until her passing in 2006. Stanley now lives in Terryville.

Anthony passed away on February 25, 1963, and his wife, Josephine passed in 1965. They are buried in Edgewood Cemetery along with other family members. Prior to Anthony and Josephine's passing, Glady, who never married helped with their care as they aged and until their deaths. The farm as it once was no longer existed and slowly over the years the property was sold off in parcels.

When Stanley and his wife were starting out, his Aunt Gladys asked if he might want to purchase the farm, but he knew the work that the old farmhouse required and decided against it. In the late 1980s, Eldred (Butch) Mathieu purchased the house, barn and some of the land from Gladys. He remembers that the old barn held four horse stables and behind it was a ring where you could ride horses. In 1991 he took the barn down and replaced it with a large garage. He also pointed out an old foundation that he thought was the remains of an original house on the property before Anthony owned it.

As I walked the land with Butch, he reminisced about what the property looked like when he first moved there. I was happy to know that he too has enjoyed this wonderful old farm and some of the farmland. The fields and small streams that still run through the land hopefully allow nature lovers to enjoy them and maybe think about what this land once held.

(Information for this article was found in: Ancestry.com; an interview with Stanley Knapik, September 2025; photos from Stanley Knapik; telephone directories from 1961, 1964-65 and 1991; ancestry help from Deb DuDois; property street cards from the Assessor's office; help from two clerks in the Town Clerk's office; and editing by Jackie Bracco)