The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the aboriginal period to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five. Volume II, Part 1

Author: Anderson, Joseph, 1836-1916 ed; Prichard, Sarah J. (Sarah Johnson), 1830-1909; Ward, Anna Lydia, 1850?-1933, joint ed
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: New Haven, The Price and Lee company
Number of Pages: 854


USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the aboriginal period to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five. Volume II > Part 1


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57



Gc 974.602 W29la v.2 1142416


GENEALOGY COLLECTION


ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01105 5636


Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015


https://archive.org/details/towncityofwaterb02ande_0


-


Fiche In Albert Rosenthal 1890


Frederick John Ningsbring.


T HE TOWN AND CITY OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, FROM THE ABORIGINAL PERIOD TO THE YEAR EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-FIVE.


EDITED BY JOSEPH ANDERSON, D. D. WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF ANNA L. WARD.


VOLUME II.


NEW HAVEN : THE PRICE & LEE COMPANY. 1896.


Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1896, BY THE PRICE & LEE COMPANY, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.


CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.


PAGE


CHAPTER


I. A BIRD'S EYE VIEW, . I By the Rev. Joseph Anderson, D. D.


II. THE BOROUGH AND WATERVILLE, . I3 By Dr. Anderson and the Hon. Frederick J. Kings- bury, LL. D.


III. WATERBURY AS A CITY, . 33 By the Hon. Stephen W. Kellogg, M. A.


IV. THE STORY OF THE GREEN, By Mr. Kingsbury. 1142416 53


V. STREETS, SIDEWALKS AND BRIDGES, 67 By Dr. Anderson and Nelson J. Welton.


VI. ORIGIN OF THE STREET NAMES, . 79


From data furnished chiefly by Messrs. Kingsbury and Welton. Introduction and summary by Dr. Anderson.


VII. THE WATER WORKS AND THE SEWERS, 92 By Nelson J. Welton.


VIII. FIRES AND THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, . III From data furnished by Chief Engineer S. C. Snagg, John L. Saxe and others.


IX. THE RECORD OF HEALTH AND GOOD ORDER, . I32 . By Dr. Anderson.


x. MEANS OF INTERCOMMUNICATION, . By Dr. Anderson. . 143


XI. COMMUNICATION WITH THE WORLD WITHOUT, . I53 By Dr. Anderson and others.


XII. BANKING AND INSURANCE, .


By Mr. Kingsbury (pp. 173-179), Anson F. Abbott, . I73


Dr. Anderson and others.


XIII. INDUSTRIES OF THE HOME LIFE, , . 19I By Mr. Kingsbury. The biographies by various writers. XIV. TAVERNS, HOTELS, OLD TIME LANDLORDS, 217 By Dr. Anderson. Biography of Captain Samuel Judd by Professor David G. Porter.


0


iv


CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.


CHAPTER


PAGE


233


XV. MERCHANTS, EARLY AND LATER, By Mr. Kingsbury. The later biographies by various writers.


XVI. BEGINNINGS OF THE BRASS INDUSTRY, 256


By Mr. Kingsbury. The biographies by various writers.


XVII. THE SCOVILL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, · 275 By Mr. Kingsbury and others.


XVIII. THE BENEDICT & BURNHAM MANUFACTURING CO., 296


The biographies by Dr. Anderson, Charles F. Chapin and others.


XIX. HOLMES, HOTCHKISS, BROWN & ELTON, . 319


By Dr. Anderson. Biographies by Professor Porter, President Franklin Carter, LL. D., and others.


XX. THE WATERBURY BRASS COMPANY, . 332


By various writers.


XXI. BROWN & BROTHERS; RANDOLPH & CLOWES, .


· 343 By various writers.


XXII. HOLMES, BOOTH & HAYDENS; THE PLUME & AT- WOOD MANUFACTURING CO., · By various writers.


352


XXIII. THE SMALLER BRASS COMPANIES, · 365 By Dr. Anderson and others.


XXIV. OTHER MANUFACTURING CORPORATIONS, . · 407 By Miss Mary De Forest Hotchkiss and others.


XXV. JOINT STOCK COMPANIES, PAST AND PRESENT, . · 430


Introduction, classification and most of the biographies by Dr. Anderson.


XXVI. THE RECORD OF INVENTORS AND THEIR PATENTS, 471 Introduction by Dr. Anderson.


XXVII. THE SCHOOL SOCIETY AND THE DISTRICT SCHOOLS, 488 By Dr. Anderson.


XXVIII. THE SCHOOLS OF THE CENTRE DISTRICT, . . 494 By Dr. Anderson and Miss Mary De Forest Hotchkiss. Biographies by various writers.


XXIX PRIVATE SCHOOLS SINCE 1800, . 517 By Mr. Kingsbury, Dr. Anderson, Mrs. Charles A. Jackson and others.


XXX. THE ROLL OF COLLEGE GRADUATES, . 542 Introduction and biographies by Dr. Anderson.


PORTRAITS IN THIS VOLUME.


ON STEEL.


Kingsbury, Frederick John (etching),


Frontispiece_


Atwood, Lewis John,


364


Beach, George Wells,


. 164


Benedict, Charles, .


. 306


Booth, John Camp, .


362


Bronson, Edward Leonard,


312 .


Brown, Dr. James, .


345


Brown, Philo,


344


Brown, Robert Kingsbury, .


213


Brown, William,


244


Buckingham, Scovill Merrill,


285


Burnham, Gordon Webster,


304


Carter, Franklin,


559


Carter, Preserve Wood,


330


Chambers, Henry Robert,


418


Chase, Augustus Sabin,


308


Clowes, George Hewlett,


350


Crosby, Minot Sherman,


514


Driggs, Theodore Ives,


369


Elton, James Samuel,


338


Elton, John Prince, .


328


Farrel, Almon,


412


Frisbie, Edward Laurens,


348


Goss, Chauncey Porter,


290


Griggs, Henry Charles,


390


Hall, Samuel William Southmayd (etching),


286


Hamilton, David Boughton,


384


Hayden, Festus,


266


Hayden, Hiram Washington,


355


Hitchcock, Rufus Edward,


398


Holmes, Israel,


321


Holmes, Israel (2d),


180


Hotchkiss, Julius,


48


Kendrick, Green,


267


Kingsbury, Charles Denison (etching),


240


Leavenworth, Mark,


263


Lewis, Edward Cuffin,


413


Maltby, Douglas Fowler,


462


Merriman, Charles Buckingham,


420


Mullings, John,


248


Platt, Alfred,


394


.


.


.


·


·


.


.


.


.


PAGE


vi


PORTRAITS.


PAGE


Platt, Clark Murray,


.


396


Platt, William Smith,


395


Porter, Thomas,


251


Rice, Archibald Elijah,


50


Russell, Francis Thayer,


524


Scott, Charles,


247


Scovill, William Henry,


281


Smith, Earl, .


376


Smith, John Edward,


389


Spencer, Willard,


24


Turner, Edward Thomas,


253


Upson, Daniel,


214


Wells, Alfred,


428


Welton, George Wales,


336


Welton, Hobart Victory,


. 459


Welton, Nelson James,


. 108


White, Leroy Sunderland, .


385


White, Luther Chapin,


. 425


MISCELLANEOUS.


PAGE


Benedict, Aaron,


299


Brown, Colonel James,


205


Buckingham, John, .


284


Half-century employees of the Scovill Manufacturing company (nine portraits), 468 Mayors of Waterbury, 1858 to 1896 (twenty-two portraits), 44,45


.


· 279


Scovill, James Mitchell Lamson,


Terry, Eli,


·


258


.


.


ILLUSTRATIONS IN THIS VOLUME.


ON STEEL (FACTORIES).


PAGE


Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing company,


296


Holmes, Booth & Haydens, ·


.


352


Plume & Atwood Manufacturing company (a),


360


Plume & Atwood Manufacturing company (b),


361


Randolph & Clowes,


349


Rogers & Brother,


382


Scovill Manufacturing company,


. 275


Waterbury Brass company,


. 332


Waterbury Watch company,


. 400


MISCELLANEOUS.


PAGE


Waterbury centre in 1837,


I6


Centre square and flag staff,


21


The Green (Centre square) in 1857,


. 25


The Naugatuck river (looking toward Waterville),


32


Southeast view of Waterbury, from the summit of the Abrigador, 1857,


36


City Hall, Bronson Library, and Scovill House, 1893,


41


Seal of the city,


52


The Green in 1851,


55


The Green in 1890,


65


A bit of old Exchange place,


68


Bank street in 1857,


7I


Bank street in March, 1888 (after the so-called blizzard),


73


Foot bridge across the Naugatuck (before 1840), .


78


Waterbury from the Abrigador, 1891,


89


Distributing reservoir,


96


Cooke street reservoir,


96


Prospect reservoir,


97


East Mountain reservoir,


97


Residence of N. J. Welton,


108


Mutual Hook and Ladder company, No. 1; Citizens' Engine company, No. 2,


I22


Waterbury and Meriden stage line advertisement,


155


The first time-table of the Naugatuck railroad, .


158


Naugatuck railroad station, built in 1867, 159


New York and New England railroad station, 16I


Meriden, Waterbury and Connecticut river railroad station, 1890,


163


Bank street in 1890; Waterbury National bank, .


I74


Citizens' National bank, 1890,


177


The Platt block; office of the Connecticut Indemnity association,


I86


Dr. Samuel Elton's gig (or "riding chair "),


199


Dr. Frederick Leavenworth's carriage,


199


.


.


.


.


-


.


The West Main street bridge, 77


.


·


viii


ILLUSTRATIONS.


PAGE


An elin on Holmes's meadow, ,


. 216


Burton's tavern, afterwards the " Mansion House,"


.


222


Advertising card; Brown's hotel, . 225


The Dime Savings bank; also the office of Holmes & Parsons, bankers, The residence of Charles D. Kingsbury, 1889,


24I


Buttons of sterling silver, made by Joseph Hopkins before 1760,


257 260


The first brass lamp,


Residence of the Hon. Green Kendrick,


.


268


The Prichard homestead, 1890,


27I .


The old Cooke homestead,


Hand-made brass lamp, 1820,


.


273 274 276


Lafayette button,


Factory of J. M. L. & Wm. H. Scovill, 1835,


277


The Scovill Manufacturing company, 1858,


278


Residence of H. W. Scovill; previously occupied by J. M. L. Scovill,


. Residence of F. J. Kingsbury,


Residence of C. P. Goss,


Button card, dedicated to Abel Porter,


The Harrison " Log Cabin " button,


The Benedict & Burnham factory in 1858,


298


Rose Hill cottage, residence of J. C. Welton, 1874,


308 309 3II


The East mill of the Waterbury Brass company, 1858, .


332 333


Brown & Brothers, 1858,


343 346 346


A doorway of 1760,


347


Holmes, Booth & Haydens in 1858,


353


Maplewild, the residence of H. W. Hayden,


356


Factories of the Waterbury Button company,


37I


Factories of the Waterbury Clock company; also the Clock-case shop, Pine Hill in 1881; factory of the Watch company,


40I


The Farrel homestead; occupied, 1895, by Dr. Walter H. Holmes,


413


Hotchkiss & Merriman Manufacturing company,


. 419


Residence of the family of C. B. Merriman,


. 420


Carvings in wood and stone, by H. V. Welton,


. 460


First High School building, -


496 .


Second High School building,


497


The Bank street school-house,


500


The second Academy, 518 .


. 519


An Academy programme of 1846, .


521


St. Margaret's school, 1895,


. 523


Convent of Notre Dame; its early home,


526


Convent of Nôtre Dame, 1892,


· 527


Hillside avenue school in 1889,


. 531


.


The West mill of the Waterbury Brass company, 1858,


Residence of Dr. James Brown,


Colonel James Brown's house,


.


.


.


The Academy as remodelled in 1841,


·


.


232


Advertisement of clocks,


·


.


265


.


28I 289 29I 297 297


Rose Hill in 1892, residence of A. S. Chase,


Rose Hill cottage in 1894,


378


CHAPTER I.


THREE SCORE YEARS TEN-FROM 1825 ONWARD-A BIRD'S EYE AND


VIEW-" THE HOMOGENEOUS BECOMING HETEROGENEOUS"-THE BOROUGH-CITY GOVERNMENT AND ITS DEPARTMENTS-INDUS- TRIAL DEVELOPMENT - A GREAT MANUFACTURING CENTRE -- SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES-LAW AND MEDICINE-PHILANTHROPY AND REFORM-LITERATURE, LIBRARIES, NEWSPAPERS-MUSIC AND OTHER ARTS-MILITARY HISTORY-FRATERNITIES.


P RESIDENT TIMOTHY DWIGHT, of Yale College, in the preface to his "Travels in New England and New York "- a work written between 1802 and 1805-apologizes for the lack of exciting incident in his pages in these words :


Adventures of all kinds must be very rare in a country perfectly quiet and orderly in its state of society. In a series of journeys sufficiently extensive to have carried me through two-thirds of the distance round the globe I have not met with one. Nearly every man whom I have seen was calmly pursuing the sober business of peaceful life, and the history of my excursion was literally confined to the breakfast, dinner and supper of the day.


This " sober business of peaceful life " he describes on a subsequent page. He says :


Every farmer labors on his own ground and for the benefit of himself and his family merely. This, if I am not deceived, is a novelty, and its influence is seen to be remarkably happy in the industry, sobriety, cheerfulness, personal independence and universal prosperity of the people at large. Great wealth is not often found, but poverty is almost unknown. A succession of New England villages, composed of neat houses surrounding neat school-houses and churches, adorned with gar- dens, meadows and orchards, and exhibiting the universally easy circumstances of the inhabitants, is, at least in my own opinion, one of the most delightful prospects which the world can afford.


Within twenty years after these words were penned a change had begun in the social and industrial life of New England which may well be designated "the great transition." A region occupied almost exclusively by an agricultural community became the seat of important and rapidly growing manufactures; a shifting of the pop- ulation took place, and additions were made to it from without. In other words, the inhabitants of the rural districts removed to a con- siderable extent from the hillsides to the river valleys and the cities, and the tide of immigration from the old world flowed in with increasing fullness. The transformation was of course most


2


HISTORY OF WATERBURY.


marked where the development of manufactures was greatest, and accordingly we trace these changes very readily in Waterbury and the Naugatuck valley. The immigration into Waterbury was at first chiefly from Ireland, with a sprinkling of English, Scotch and Ger- mans. The French Canadians and Swedes came afterward in con- siderable numbers, and some years later the Italians. At the present time (1894) the foreign population, with their children of the first generation, considerably outnumber the representatives of the earlier American stock.


In the evolution which has taken place, the change "from the homogeneous to the heterogenous " can be traced in various other directions besides those already indicated. At first, the organiza- tion of the community-in Waterbury as elsewhere-was simple. There were three chief functions, the town, the school and the church. The local government was shaped by an annual town meeting; the township was divided geographically into small school districts, and the churches at the centre numbered two. But in 1825 a borough was organized, which in 1853 gave way to a city government, while the town organization lived on (as it still does) exercising those primitive governmental functions which belonged to it from the first. Again, certain school districts lying around the centre were incorporated as a Centre district, with its board of education and its finance committee, while the outlying territory remained under the old school management; and as for the churches, their number was more than doubled, as well as the num- ber of denominations they represented.


In the city charter of 1853 various functions of municipal gov- ernment, such as the laying out and the care of streets, protection against fires and against disease, and the establishment of a police system, were assigned to the Court of Common Council. In the new charter, secured in 1871, these various functions were put in charge of boards of commissioners and conducted as distinct depart- ments, and from that time onward the history of the city (munici- pally considered) is a history of these several departments. The later charter provides for a department of streets and sewers, a fire department and a police department, but makes no mention of a health department or a water supply. The charter of 1853, how- ever, provided for a health committee, which since 1885 has devel- oped into a board of health; and as regards the board of water commissioners, it was created by the "act to provide for a supply of pure and wholesome water," passed by the legislature in 1867 .*


* See " The Charter with its Amendments," edition of 1868, pp. 39-47; also, "Charter and Ordinances," 1874


3


A BIRD'S EYE VIEW.


While this process of evolution was taking place in the govern- mental life of the community, other corporations were coming into existence, or, having been created elsewhere, were securing a place in Waterbury, to meet the various wants of the people. These, although independent of the city government, were as indispensable to the community as the government itself and its various depart- ments. These private corporations are of two kinds-those that are strictly local in their scope, and those that provide means of com- munication between Waterbury and the rest of the world. To the first class belong those corporations that have undertaken to furnish the city with artificial light (whether produced from gas or by electricity) and with a messenger service; to which may be added the telephone and the city railway companies (although these are now reaching out beyond city limits). The banks of the city, each of which has its history, are also included in it, and so are the insurance organizations doing business in Waterbury, especially those having their headquarters here. The cemetery associations belong also to this class,-their history being closely connected with that of the ancient burying-grounds of the town. In the other group-corporations that provide communication between Waterbury and the rest of the world-are the several rail- road, telegraph and express companies and the post office. How- ever difficult it may be, in some cases, to obtain the historical facts -as for example those relating to the telegraph and express com- panies-it is of course true that all such organizations have a history, and it is only by reference to their origin and rapid growth that the largeness of their work can be fully grasped, and the extent to which the community is dependent upon them appre- ciated.


While these modern forms of social activity were coming into existence, and corporations were being organized for their proper conduct, the industrial life of the community was rapidly develop- ing along the ancient lines, and at the same time branching out in entirely new directions. The process of differentiation is strik- ingly exhibited in the history of the trades connected with the " food supply " of the community,-when for example we compare the simple conditions of a previous generation in regard to food and drink with the elaborate and complex system of the present day. While the country village was being transformed into a busy manufacturing centre, the old-fashioned "country store " grew into an extensive collection of grocery stores, fruit stores, bakers' shops and drug stores. The meat supply and the milk supply passed through a similar development, while in place of the cider cask, the


4


HISTORY OF WATERBURY.


rum barrel and the old-time tavern came the modern hotel, the brewery, the soda-water fountain, the long array of saloons and the liquor traffic in its vast dimensions. The trades relating to the other necessaries of modern life underwent a like development. From the first, the carpenter and builder had of course a recognized place in the community; but how little the forefathers could have anticipated that multiplication of carpenters, masons, tinners, plasterers, painters, cabinet - makers, house- furnishers, which has actually taken place. From the first, fuel was one of the absolute necessities of life, but over against the wood-pile of 1825 we place the immense coal-trade of to-day and that consumption of fire-wood in our factories which involves the destruction from year to year of entire forests. The ice trade is of course a strictly modern industry, and the same may be said of the extensive business carried on through the various intelligence offices and laundries. One of the significant facts in our social life is the supersedure of native American "help" by servants secured from Irish, German and Swedish sources. We have accounts elsewhere of the simple customs of the fathers in the matter of dress-how the clothing of the household was made at home, of "home-spun," with the occa- sional aid of the itinerant tailor and shoemaker. Over against all this we must place to-day our two hundred dressmakers, and a long array of merchant tailors, clothiers and men's "outfitters." The blacksmith is perhaps not so conspicuous in the community now as he was a century ago, but carriage-making has meantime come into existence and grown to be an important industry. As for the sewing machine, although its manufacture is not at present con- ducted within Waterbury limits, its place in the industrial history of the town is well known.


From the modern point of view this sociological history of the community is by no means the least important. But the data from which details could be gathered are not on record, and the memory of the "oldest inhabitant" does not altogether avail. Like other communities, Waterbury has taken care of itself in a way so informal and matter-of-course that the process has attracted but little attention. You do not trace it in the town records; it has not been the work of corporations possessed of a documentary history; it is revealed only to a small extent in the newspapers of the period, while even in their business advertisements there is very little that is helpful. But in the meantime, Waterbury has been doing a work, not for itself but for the outside world, which has been phenomenally large, and of this the record is more com- plete. Since 1825 it has grown to be a notable manufacturing


5


A BIRD'S EYE VIEW.


centre-the chief seat of one of the great industries of America. It has been devoted to the manufacture of brass and the multitude of articles of which brass is a component part. In the history of modern Waterbury, the history of the brass trade is the most important division. Early in the century, there lived in the town a group of men who possessed more than the average of Yankee ingenuity, and who added to their inventive skill an unusual amount of enterprise, perseverance and business tact. These men were the fathers of the brass trade, the vital force of various new factories, the founders of industrial Waterbury. A monument over the grave of one of them bears the inscription, "Because I was the city is." This may not be true of any one man, but of this group of men such a declaration might with propriety be made. Their plodding industry, their patience, their struggles and victories, constitute a most interesting chapter in our earlier industrial history, and after the enactment of a general law for the organiza- tion of joint-stock companies (in 1837) we can see their influence propagating itself through new channels and extending into all parts of the world. The number of joint-stock companies organ- ized in Waterbury down to 1845, was eight; the number since then, 244. A hundred of these have been employed in the working of brass and other metals, and while many of them have ceased to exist, some have grown to be not only large in the volume of their business but far-reaching in their influence-possessors, in fact, of a noteworthy history. The history of the most prominent of these concerns can be given in considerable detail, and in close connec- tion with it stands the life-record of the men who have organized and controlled them. The industrial division of our work contains accordingly, in addition to the early history of Waterbury manu- factures and a complete list of joint-stock concerns, sketches of the leading manufactories of the town and biographies of their active managers. There is added a remarkable list of patents secured by Waterbury inventors, exhibiting to some extent the vast variety of articles manufactured in the place. In a natural connection with all this comes a comparatively recent development, the Waterbury Board of Trade; also the Waterbury Club, consisting of business men.


The development of our school system has been referred to. It passed through the same phases here, for the most part, as in other places in Connecticut. From the first, schools were established by the town; the district system was afterward adopted, and also a " school society " came into being. But in addition to the district schools existing in 1784, a school for the higher education of young


6


HISTORY OF WATERBURY.


persons was thought to be necessary, and it was opened under the favorite name of "academy." The "old academy" was succeeded in 1825 by the "new academy," and in 1850 that was practically merged in the high school. The incorporation of the Centre dis- trict in 1849, while it left an outside circle of rural districts man- aged in the old way, placed the schools of the city upon a somewhat different basis, and communicated to them a new impulse. The increase in the number of the city schools, although very great, has hardly kept pace with the increase of the population, so that patron- age for a large number of private schools has always been found. The chief of these are St. Margaret's school for girls (under the control of the Protestant Episcopal diocese of Connecticut), the school of the Convent of Notre Dame and the parochial schools belonging to the Roman Catholic church. Although Waterbury throughout its later history has been devoted so largely to manu- factures and trade, it cannot be accused of indifference to education or a disregard for the claims of the higher learning. Its position in the world of scholarship is well represented by the roll of graduates included in a subsequent chapter-a list, remarkably large, of the graduates of colleges and professional schools who have at one time or another lived in Waterbury. It ought to be added that Water- bury has done her part fairly well in the support of the lecture. sys- tem which has filled so large a place in our modern American life. In the days when the "lyceum " was at its height, the famous lec- turers were invited to the city, and in recent years also various courses of lectures, at private schools and elsewhere, have been gen- erously sustained.


In the evolution of ecclesiastical affairs, the course of events has been similar to that which can be traced in the other large towns of the state. From the beginning of the settlement until about 1740, only one church existed here, and only the one church was thought of. When the first representatives of the Church of England appeared upon the scene, they found that the "tables were turned"; they were the dissenters and Congregationalism was "the standing order." These two forms of church life, without any other, if we except a small congregation of "Separates" in Columbia society (now Prospect), existed side by side in the rela- tive positions just indicated, until nearly the beginning of the pres- ent century. After the Revolutionary war, Methodism began to make its voice heard in the land, and in 1790 Bishop Asbury visited Waterbury and preached in the "Separate " meeting-house. About the same time the principles of the Baptists began to find accept- ance in the town, and a Baptist church was organized in 1803. It




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.