YOUR SILENT NEIGHBORS, Anson Case, Farmer   
by David K. Leff
Town Poet Laureate and Deputy Town Historian

A captain in the Civil War, Anson Case (1791-1876) owned a farm in the far north of town near the Barkhamsted line.  He had “long been one of the most energetic and thorough of our influential and prominent citizens,” the Hartford Courant reported when he died.  He farmed “with the most untiring industry” and “accumulated a handsome property.”  Few men, the paper observed, “were able to perform the amount of labor in a life-time that he performed.” 
  
Although public spirited, he was shy and only reluctantly served two terms on the board of selectmen, in 1849 and the early 1850s.  As a young man, the bashful Case went to the home of his future bride in order to be married.  He walked “across the lots so no one would see him,” according to Mrs. Jesse Case Thompson in a historical address she read at the Washington Hill church in 1934.  “Imagine his consternation on reaching the house, to see the road filled with teams [of horses] of many descriptions.  On the previous Sunday the bride’s father, Obed Case, arose in church and said ‘My darter [sic] Rachel is going to be married next Thursday and I want you all to come to the wedding.” 
  
Anson and Rachel Case were married in 1811.  The couple had a son and daughters. 
  
Devoted to church, Case and his wife donated cushions in 1874.  They were still in use 60 years later.  In Case’s will, he left $1,000 to the church and divided his property among his children and grandchildren. 
  
Although “always very robust and healthy,” according to the Courant, Case suffered a paralytic stroke two weeks before he died. 
  
Anson Case is buried in the North Canton Cemetery, North Canton. 
  
“Your Silent Neighbors” introduces readers to people out of Canton’s past.  Readers are encouraged to visit these gravesites and pay their respects to the people who have helped make our community what it is today.