USA > Connecticut > A history of Connecticut > Part 22
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With establishments equipped with the best machinery, and capable of turning out a finished carriage every hour, it is not strange that Connecticut carriages, bearing the name of New Haven, are almost as well known in every part of the world as Connecticut clocks. The names of the ener- getic and able men who have built up this great industry are too numerous for us to mention with that honor which they deserve.
As far back as 1732 the business of making hats was car- ried on in New England to such an extent that the hatters of London complained of interference with their trade. This article of dress was fashioned with considerable skill and care in colonial times. The fur of the beaver was more abundant than now, and was used more lavishly. A hatter, like the shoemaker and blacksmith, was a personage who throve in every village. Methods of manufacturing were primitive ; and in 1780, the earliest date of the business in Danbury, we learn that one journeyman and three appren- tices turned off three hats per day.
As late as 1845, hats were made by hand; but since that time, the introduction of machinery has wrought an entire revolution in this industry. The thriving city of Danbury,
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and the neighboring village of Bethel, are almost wholly given up to this trade. Single establishments are capable of producing a million dollars' worth of hats every year.
The " age of homespun," when the whir of the spinning- wheel and the click of the hand-loom were heard in almost every house, long since passed away. After the Revolu- tion a woollen manufactory was established at Hartford, which received aid from the General Assembly. President Washington, at the opening of Congress in 1790, wore a suit of broadcloth made in this factory. When David Humphreys of Derby was minister to Spain, he sent home, in 1802, a flock of Merino sheep. This improved quality of wool encouraged manufacture. A mill was built at Humphreysville (now Seymour), where the cloth was made for the suit which President Madison wore at his inaugura- tion in 1809. There are now more than one hundred establishments, scattered over the State, where wool is manufactured into every conceivable article of domestic and household use. The annual product of these mills is over eighteen millions of dollars. The manufacture of cotton goods is nearly equal in value to that of wool. It was from Yale College that Eli Whitney went to teach in Georgia in 1792, and while there his Yankee skill invented the cotton- gin. His discovery made a revolution in the use of cotton ; but, like Fitch, he failed to reap the benefit that was honestly his due. Among those who have amassed large wealth in our Commonwealth, in the manufacturing of cotton goods, the name of John F. Slater of Norwich is worthy of special mention. One of the closing acts of his life was to set apart a fund amounting to over one million of dollars, the interest of which is annually appropriated to the education of the colored people of the South.
The name of Horace Wells deserves an honored place among the benefactors of humanity. Before he became a resident of Hartford, in 1836, he was interested in the dis-
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covery of an anæsthetic to be used in dentistry to prevent pain. The employment of nitrous-oxide gas was suggested to his mind, and he used it successfully in alleviating suffer- ing. Late in 1844 he communicated the results of his ex- periments to prominent dentists in Boston. This knowledge was used to his disadvantage, but the credit of his remark- able discoveries cannot be taken from him.
In 1814 a boy was born at Hartford whose restless dis- position caused much trouble to parents and teachers. At ten years of age he was working in a factory ; and at fourteen he ran away from home, and shipped before the mast on a vessel bound to India. It was on this long voyage that Samuel Colt, with the aid of his jack-knife, constructed the first model of the revolver that has since made his name famous in every part of the world. On his return home, he learned some of the secrets of chemistry from the manager of his father's bleaching and dyeing estab- lishment, and then started out on a SAMUEL COLT. lecturing-tour over the United States and Canada. The special novelty of his course of in- struction was the administration of "laughing-gas ; " and with the money made in this two-years' trip, he was enabled to continue his experiments with his revolving fire-arm. In 1835 he visited Europe, and secured patents for his inven- tion. The same year a company was formed for manufac- turing the revolvers ; but the result was discouraging, and in 1842 the concern became insolvent. For five years no re- volvers were made; but at that time the war with Mexico broke out, and General Taylor sent for a supply. The Gov- ernment ordered one thousand from Colt, who had to con- struct a new model, for a pistol of the company's make could
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not be found. This order was filled at the little armory at Whitneyville, where, years before, Eli Whitney, with the en- couragement of Oliver Wolcott, then secretary of the treas- ury, had manufactured arms for the United States.
Having filled this commission, other orders followed ; and Colt soon removed his works to Hartford. In 1852 he laid the foundations of the great factory in which millions of revolvers have since been made. Besides this vast estab- lishment, the armory of the Winchester Arms Company, at- New Haven, has a world-wide reputation.
Midway between Hartford and New Haven, the city of Meriden has, within a few years, become the centre of great and diversified manufacturing interests. So rapid has been the growth of these industries, that many of those who were identified with these humble beginnings are still living. The manufacture of electro-plated goods has attained immense proportions. The factories of the Meriden Britannia Com- pany are not only the largest in the United States, but in the world.1
A few miles west of Meriden we come to the busy and growing city of Waterbury. For twenty years after the opening of this century, the town of Waterbury decreased in population, until the outlook was very discouraging. A few humble dwellings were scattered on the hillsides over- looking the marsh and frog-pond that have since been trans- formed into the pleasant public square that lies in the heart of the city. About 1820 a new impetus was given to the production of gilt buttons, the making of which had been carried on for several years, in a small way. Since that time the place has become famous as the centre of great manufacturing interests, especially in the line of articles in which brass and copper are used. One firm has in operation machines which turn out eight millions of pins per day. The ingenuity and skill of Connecticut artisans are shown in the fact that more industries are secured by patent than in any other State.
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According to the United-States census of 1880, the value of manufactured products of India-rubber was over twenty- five millions of dollars. The discovery that made an almost worthless substance capable of such value and use, was made in 1838 by Charles Goodyear. The story of his life is deeply interesting. Born at New Haven in the opening year of the present century, he had reached his majority when he went into business, as an iron-manufacturer, with his father, at Philadelphia. Misfortune overtook him in this trade, and his attention was attracted to the manu- facture and use of India-rubber. Owing to the adhesiveness and de- composition of the goods made of the gum-elastic, the business, thus far, had proved a failure.
In the face of difficulties that brought keen suffering, both to hin- self and his family, Goodyear persisted in continuing experiments that for a long time ended in disappointment. A part of these weary years, in which CHARLES GOODYEAR. men looked upon him as a foolish and crazed man, was spent in the town of Naugatuck, not far from the village that since those days has sprung up around a large rubber-manu- factory, that bears the great inventor's name.
The change wrought in the India-rubber gum by sul- phurous gas, and a high degree of heat, was discovered by Goodyear in the town of Woburn, Mass., in the winter of 1838-1839. The year that followed this discovery, that has proved the source of so much blessing to the world, was one of the saddest in the inventor's life. Great losses had been sustained in the manufacture of the gum, and for a long time he could find no one willing to listen to his plans. Patiently perfecting the new product, he discovered
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so many uses to which it could be applied, that it finally required sixty patents to secure his inventions. It would be pleasant if, after these years of toil and suffering, we could speak of days of prosperity and abundant reward. This was not permitted. His rights were invaded by others, and expensive lawsuits left but little pecuniary reward for the long years of toil and privation. It was eight years after the death of Charles Goodyear (1860), and four years after the expiration of his patent, that the validity of his title to the merits and benefits of his great discovery was confirmed by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. Others have reaped a harvest of wealth from the field where he sowed in weariness and suffering, and gathered little ; but the pages of history will continue to give him the place of honor due a benefactor of mankind.
The rugged and picturesque valley of the Naugatuck, from Winsted to Bridgeport, is an illustration of the growth of the manufacturing interests of the State in the past fifty years. Growing villages and cities fill the valley, where a few lonely farmhouses once stood ; and the products of their diversified industries are sent into every part of the world. The same is true in the eastern part of the State, where the streams that had little value, in the eyes of the colonial fathers, now furnish the motive-power of great factories that give em- ployment to thousands of people.
At the close of the Revolution, there were ten or twelve houses on the site where the city of Bridgeport is now built. In 1790 there were but one hundred and ten inhabitants ; 1830 found a population of nearly eighteen hundred; and since that time the increase has been constant and rapid. The terminus of the Naugatuck and Housatonic Railroads, with an easy communication with New York, both by water and land, Bridgeport has advantages that have already made it a great manufacturing centre. We can only mention the branch of industry by which it is most widely known.
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Elias Howe, jun., invented the first practical sewing-ma- chine in 1845 ; and five years afterwards Allen B. Wilson of Pittsfield, Mass., received a patent for two improvements on another style of machine. His invention interested capital- ists in Waterbury and Watertown, and the manufacture of the machines was commenced in a small way at the latter place. As the business increased, it was removed to Bridge- port. Salisbury iron, known as charcoal-iron, is unsurpassed in quality, especially for car-wheels. The mines in the north- western part of the State were worked as early as 1730; and during the Revolution they furnished the iron for cannon, chains, gun-barrels, and other munitions of war. Mines that are adjacent to coal-beds have the advantage in produc- tion ; but Connecticut, in 1880, produced thirty-eight thou- sand tons of iron.
A volume would be needed to make even a brief men- tion of the various manufacturing interests of Connecti- cut. Their annual product of over two hundred millions of dollars in value gives some idea of their extent. We have referred to inventions and discoveries that have given the Commonwealth an enviable reputation for mechanical skill and ingenuity. In other directions the sagacity and untiring efforts of her leaders in industrial enterprises have been crowned with success. In the competition of the markets of the world, the goods from her factories find a ready sale. The armies of Europe are furnished with her fire-arms. Eng- land buys her clocks and sewing-machines. France cannot furnish the homes of America with better sewing-silk than the mills of Connecticut.2 Australia and the East prefer cutlery, axes, and carriages of her Yankee make; and the product of her wool and cotton factories go to every part of the world. The Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876 gave ample proof of the ingenuity of her inventors and the skill of her artisans. Her exhibits were unsurpassed by any other State in the Union, " in their variety, their per-
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fection, and their durability." Hartford has become noted through the development and success of the fire and life in- surance companies that have been organized and conducted by her citizens. The history of these companies is, to a great extent, the history of the insurance interests of the United States.
The growth of her villages and cities is an indication of the material prosperity that has attended the development of the industries of the people of Connecticut. One hun- dred years ago, New Haven, Hartford, and Norwich were scarcely more than over-grown villages ; and many of the most beautiful cities and towns of our Commonwealth have reached their present position of importance within the life- time of men now living. The future is to tell how large shall be the measure of blessing that will attend this pros- perity. The fathers and founders of the State endured hard- ship, but found peace and happiness in a good conscience, and the development of character marked by morality, and devotion to noble aims. Only in this path of integrity and righteousness can be found the way of life and enduring blessing. Will the children of this later generation walk therein ?
1 TIN. WARE was first manufactured in Berlin about 1770. This and kindred industries developed the Connecticut " Yankee pedler."
2 SILK-CULTURE was undertaken in the State not far from 1732. President Stiles of Yale College in 1758 wrote
articles in behalf of the silk-industry, and at Commencements wore gowns made of Connecticut silk. Dr. Aspin- wall of Mansfield began, in 1758, the enterprise from which originated the great silk-works of the Cheney Brothers at Manchester.
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CHAPTER XLVII.
CONNECTICUT IN LITERATURE.
THE literature in the homes of the people during colonial times, and long after the Revolution, consisted generally of the Bible, and a few books of a devotional or theological character. With little leisure at their command, they thought more than they read. Their interest in spiritual truth was deep and intense, and the themes brought to their attention by the able and scholarly pastors of their churches were pondered and dis- cussed with keen attention and pro- found sympathy.
The leaders of the strong and thoughtful men and women who first settled in Connecticut had many of them received the advantages of a JONATHAN EDWARDS. liberal education ; and the views they held regarding civil and religious matters, soon formed a body of literature which in its words and spirit became the fountain-head of those principles of liberty that, united with Bible truth, developed the best type of Puritan character. The literature of those early days was limited, but potent in its sturdy discipline of mind, and inspiration of Christian ideals of manhood and womanhood. Among those nurtured under these influences, the name of Jonathan Edwards stands pre-eminent in the world of letters. As a metaphysician, he
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has been called " the greatest of the sons of men," and "in power of subtle reasoning unmatched." This is the testi- mony of English and Scotch philosophers.
Joseph Bellamy, a native of Connecticut, and pastor of the Congregational church in Bethlehem for a period of fifty years (1740-1790), was distinguished as a theological writer. Dr. Bellamy, in his life and work, represents a type of intellectual service that originated and developed the devotional literature demanded by the thoughtful minds and pious hearts of those who found their highest satisfaction in religious exercises.
About the time of the breaking out of the Revolution, there was a stirring of thought and literary activity that revealed a change in the intellectual life of the people. The song-birds of those days of patriotic fervor were over-ambi- tious and crude in their style ; but they were the heralds of American literature, and as such deserve special considera- tion. Trumbull,1 Dwight, Humphreys,2 and Barlow 3 were fellow-students at Yale, and all, with one exception, natives of Connecticut. After the Revolution, Hartford became the residence of Barlow ; and, in connection with Dr. Lemuel Hopkins and his old college friends, he prepared a series of papers called "The Anarchiad," which favored a strong federal constitution. The work, in the fields of literature, of this company of brilliant young men, who became known as " the Hartford wits," was performed at intervals in con- nection with absorbing duties, but it made a deep impression in their day. Since their time, Mrs. Lydia Sigourney,4 James G. Percival,5 John Pierpont,6 Fitz-Greene Halleck,7 S. G. Goodrich,8 and others among the natives of Connecticut, have won poetic laurels. Among the few who devoted themselves entirely to literary pursuits in the early part of this century, was the distinguished lexicographer, Noah Webster. Born at West Hartford, and a graduate of Yale, most of his life was spent in his native State. If power be measured by
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influence, few names in the educational history of the country stand as high as that of Dr. Webster. It was not his mis- sion so much to aid in creating literature, as to open the doors of its treasure-house.
The home of Lyman Beecher, the gifted minister of Litchfield from 1810 to 1826, was the birth- place of Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose fame as a writer is as world- wide as that of her brother, Henry Ward Beecher,9 in the field of oratory. Whatever may be the final verdict of posterity regard- NOAH WEBSTER. ing the genius of Mrs. Stowe, she will be known as having written one of the most wonderful books of the nineteenth century. "Uncle Tom's Cabin," next to the "Pilgrim's Progress," has probably been trans- lated into more languages, and been more widely read, than any other uninspired volume.
Working in an entirely different field, Horace Bushnell,10 through the activities of his powerful and original mind, exerted an influ- ence in the realm of theological and spiritual thought, that has not been surpassed by any other single mind in this century. Dr. Bushnell was a prose-poet with a style as unique and vigorous as that of Carlyle or Emerson.
In recent years, Mrs. Rose Terry HORACE BUSHNELL. Cooke has gained a recognized posi- tion as one of the best writers of short stories in the country ; and Charles Dudley Warner, as a genial and thoughtful essayist, stands among the first of the present generation of literary men. The intellectual life of Yale
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University is constantly making notable contributions to the literature of theology, science, philosophy, and history. The names of Dana, Whitney, Porter, Fisher, Harris, and others are known and honored on both sides of the Atlantic.
1 JOHN TRUMBULL was born in Watertown, April 24, 1750. After grad- uating at Yale, where he filled the posi- tion of tutor for a time, he was admitted to the bar of Connecticut. He removed soon after to Boston, and continued his studies in the office of John Adams. A year or two before the breaking out of the Revolution, he returned to New Haven; and in 1775 he wrote the first part of his famous poem, M'Fingal. " M'Fingal is a burlesque poem, directed against the enemies of American liberty, and holding up to particular scorn and contempt the Tories, and the British of- ficers, naval, military, and civil, in Amer- ica." In 1801 Trumbull was appointed judge of the superior court of Connecti- cut, which office he held until 1819. He died at the home of his daughter, in De- troit, in 1831.
2 DAVID HUMPHREYS, born July, 1752, was a native of Derby. He took an active part in the war of the Revolution. In 1778 he was aid to General Putnam, with the rank of major. Two years after this, he was appointed aid to General Washington, in which position he continued during the war, having the rank of colonel. After acting as secre- tary to Thomas Jefferson for two years, while the latter was minister to France, he returned to Connecticut in 1786. It was at this time that he assisted in the publication of the Anarchiad. At the request of Washington, he spent some time at Mount Vernon, and, among other literary work, wrote a Life of Gen- eral Putnam. In 1790 he received an ap- pointment to the court of Portugal, and afterwards to the court of Spain. Upon his return to this country, in 1802, he in- terested himself in manufacturing and
agricultural interests. He died in New Haven, Feb. 21, 1818.
3 JOEL BARLOW was born in 1755, at Redding. He gained considerable repu- tation as a poet while in college. After graduating, he was appointed chaplain in the army, which place he filled until the close of the war, when he settled at Hart- ford, and began the practice of law. It was at this time (1787) that he published his best poem, the Vision of Columbus, and conducted a weekly newspaper calledt he American Mercury. In 1788 he went to Europe as the agent of a land- company; but, finding it to be a swin- dling concern, he severed his connection with it, and returned to this country. After serving abroad in various public capacities, and gaining considerable wealth in commercial enterprises, he again settled in this country, and inter- ested himself in politics, and in planning the foundations of a national university. He published a new edition of his great poem in 1808, under the title Columbiad. In 1811 he was appointed minister to France, with the object of negotiating a commercial treaty. It was necessary for him to have a personal interview with Napoleon; and he set out to meet the emperor, who was then at Wilna. He was taken ill on the way, and died at a Polish village near Cracow, Dec. 22, 1812. His recent biographer, Charles Burr Todd, says of Barlow, " His verse first gave American poetry a standing abroad. His prose-writing contributed largely to the triumph of Republicanism in 1800. He was the first American cosmopolite, and twice made use of his position to avert from his country a threatened for- eign war. He was the godfather of the steamboat and canal, and sponsor with
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Jefferson of our present magnificent system of internal improvements; while, had he been permitted to carry out his grand idea of a national university, it is safe to say that American art, letters, science, and mechanics would now be on a much more advanced and satisfac- tory footing.
4 LYDIA SIGOURNEY, whose maiden name was Huntley, was born at Nor- wich, in 1791. For several years she was a teacher. Her first published work, a volume of poems, was issued in 1815. She was married to Mr. Charles Sigour- ney, a merchant of Hartford, in 1819. Among her published volumes is a de- scriptive poem on the Traits of the Abo- rigines of America, Pocahontas and other Poems, Lays of the Heart, etc. Mrs. Sigourney wrote several instructive books for the young, and was a constant contributor to magazines and other peri- odicals. She died at Hartford, June 10, 1865.
5 JAMES G. PERCIVAL was born in Berlin, Sept. 15, 1795. After graduating at Yale College, he studied medicine. He was appointed professor of chem- istry at West Point in 1824, and in 1827 assisted Noah Webster in revising his dictionary. In 1835 he aided Professor Shepard in making a geological survey of Connecticut, a report of which he pub. lished in 1842. He was appointed State geologist of Wisconsin in 1854, and held this position at the time of his death. Although his acquirements as a scientist were great, he will be chiefly remem- bered as a poet and literary man. His first volume of poems, containing Prome- theus and several lyric pieces, was pub- lished in 1821. Clio, a collection of prose and verse, came from the press in 1822. The Mind, Dream of a Day and other Poems, was published in 1843. Percival was an eccentric man, of shy, retiring disposition. Although in straitened cir- cumstances, he collected a rare library of some ten thousand volumes. He died in 1856. "Few men possessed higher poetical qualities than Percival. His
learning was comprehensive and thor- ough. He had a rich imagination, a re- markable command of language, and wrote with a facility rarely equalled."
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