USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > A history of the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut > Part 23
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I. and L. Sherman constituted another company. Isaac and Levi Sherman were sons of Capt. Sterling Sher- man, whose home was in the house still standing at the northeast corner of Park and Fairfield avenues. They were apprentices to Smith and Wright, and finished up with Fair- child, Lyon and Co., after the removal of the former firm to Newark, which occurred March 20, 1821. They commenced the saddlery business in 1826, on the east side of Water street (up stairs), now number 400 Water street, and had a branch in Columbia, S. C. Silvanus Sterling went out to Columbia and assisted them in the early years of the business. Levi Sherman continued in the charge of the branch until about 1840, and they were very successful for many years.
Isaac Sherman, Jr., became embarrassed by some outside operations in 1837, and the factory here was given up. The health of Levi failed and the Columbia business was sold to Linus F. Hopson and - Sutphen. Hopson was a cousin of the Shermans, and served his apprenticeship in their factory in Bridgeport. Hopson and Sutphen manufactured some goods in Columbia, but purchased saddles largely of
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Harral, Calhoun and Co., in the busy years before the war. They still survive-one of the few old landmarks.
Levi Hawley, a Bridgeport boy, an apprentice of Smith and Wright, and Fairchild, Lyon and Co., finished up " his time" July 15, 1826, with a credit for overwork of $670, after deducting over $500 of cash drawn during his apprenticeship.
About 1830 he started business for himself in Columbia, S. C., which he successfully pursued in his quiet way until about 1860, when he retired to Asheville, N. C.
Chauncey Ward and Joshua Lord went to Savannah and opened a saddlery store in 1834. - Mr. Lord remained but one year. Mr. Ward continued about twelve years, and conducting a branch store in Tallahassee, Fla., in connection with Charles P. May, latter part of the time Charles Will's assistant. In 1845 the Tallahassee store was burned. This, with other losses, so crippled Mr. Ward that he sold his Savannah store to Wade, May and Company, and changed his business.
Wade, Crosby and Co., were another firm of saddlers. William Wade, Joseph F. Crosby, William H. May, were all apprentices of Fairchild, Lyon and Co., and Lyon, Wright and Co. They commenced manufacturing in Bridgeport under the above firm name in 1835. They were located on the second floor of J. Mott and Co's carriage building, front- ing State street. J. F. Crosby was the manager of the factory, with branches at Savannah and Columbus, Ga. William H. May was business manager at Savannah, and Hiram Middle- brook at Columbus. When I. and L. Sherman gave up busi- ness at what is now number 400 Water street, William H. Bissell, a well known harness maker, continued a local busi- ness in the premises. In 1842 Wade, Crosby and Co. moved their factory to this building, and Mr. Bissell took charge of their harness department, and held it a number of years.
In 1848 Eli Thompson joined the firm and they moved their factory to the brick building on the south side of the west approach to the Bridgeport bridge, and the firm name was Thompson, May and Co. in Bridgeport for seven or eight years, and was very successful. They opened a house in New
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York, with William Morrison (a Lyon, Wright and Co. ap- prentice), as business manager, under the firm name of Wade, Morrison and Co., and occupied stores successively on Maiden Lane, Pearl street, and number 35 Chambers street. William Morrison had previously been in the same business in Talla- hassee, Fla., succeeding Ward and May.
Most of the persons mentioned in connection with the saddlery business were practical mechanics, having learned the trade from beginning to end. In addition thereto the following names are extracted from the list of early appren- tices of Smith and Wright, and Fairchild, Lyon and Company, and their successors in Bridgeport, with brief notices of their business career, all illustrating the qualities of the young men of that period.
The figures at the left hand margin denote the year in which each attained the age of twenty-one years.6
1821. Edwin Van Antwerpt-A member of the Smith and Wright house in Au- gusta, Ga., and Newark, N. J.
1823. Barak T. Nichols-Ditto, and purchased the interest of E. Van Antwerpt, first in Augusta and afterwards in Newark and became the head of the firm there. 1821. Joshua Lord-Worked as a journeyman in Bridgeport, became a leading citizen, justice of peace, and county commissioner.
1822. Levi Wordin-Journeyman in Bridgeport ; was a citizen of large means, a director in the Bridgeport bank. Erected a fine house at northeast corner of Park avenue and State street.
1823. Nathaniel P. Crosby-Journeyman in Bridgeport ; very expert.
1823. William Wright, 2d-Journeyman in Bridgeport ; an intelligent, good citi- zen, and a valued member of the second Congregational church.
1824. Peter Vandervort-From a Dutch family in New York. Lived and died in Newark, N. J.
1824. Chauncey Ward-In saddlery business in Savannah, Ga., 1834-1846, with a branch in Tallahassee, Fla .; sold out to Wade, Crosby and Co. In clothing business in Macon, Ga., and Galena, Ill. In Bridgeport since 1850.
1827. Fitch Smith-Brother of Sheldon Smith ; native of Derby. He was con- nected with Smith and Wright's factory some years. Early and prominently connected with the development of Birmingham.
- Eliud Fairchild - Became a well known landlord, first at Westport. later at the Sterling hotel and the Stanley house in Bridgeport.
1829. Ezra Goodsell-Son of Joel, a veteran saddler. He was efficient and use- ful as foreman at Smith and Wright's and J. E. Condit's factories in Newark, and for a short time in Bridgeport.
" These names are taken from the original book opened by Fairchild, Lyon and Company, March 20, 1821, to which were transferred the account of such apprentices as they took from Smith and Wright, on the removal of that firm to Newark, N. J.
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1827. Sheldon Curtis-Journeyman in Bridgeport ; a good, reliable workman later a farmer in Trumbull.
Willys Lord-Brother of Joshua ; began study in preparation for college before he was " out of his time." Graduated at Williamstown, Mass. Pastor in New Hartford, Ct., Providence, R. I., Philadelphia, Fairfield, Ct., and Brooklyn, N. Y .; president of Theological Seminary, Chicago; Wooster College, Wooster, Ohio, until sight failed ; survives and preaches occasionally in the west.
1829. S. S. Jarvis-Has followed successively druggist, hardware and shoe busi- ness in Bridgeport.
1829. Philo A. Gregory-A journeyman saddler and foreman, and inspector in the factory of Lyon, Calhoun and Co., and their successors up to 1868. An excellent man and a good citizen.
1829. Charles B. Middlebrook-Clerk steamer Nimrod, wholesale grocer, trying justice on Staten Island, N. Y.
1835. Isaac O. Pettitt-Saddlery and harness business in New Milford and Bridgeport.
1836. Henry M. Smith-Journeyman in Bridgeport ; later an extensive manufact- urer in New Haven, Ct.
1838. David Jennings-Wholesale saddlery, Condict, Jennings and Co., Charles- ton, S. C.
I 839. Amos Higgins-Bridgeport ; farmer.
1839. Charles Waterbury-Superintendent Naugatuck Railroad.
1841. Benjamin Stevens-A leading workman with Smith and Co., Hartford, Ct
1841. Baltus M. Segee-In business in Philadelphia and vicinity.
1842. Edwin H. Wells-Journeyman and later manufacturer in Bridgeport.
1841. Chester Russell-Forty years a leading grocer and baker in Bridgeport.
1841. Charles Rockwell-Clerk on steamboat ; general freight agent of N. Y., N. H., and Consolidated Railroads.
William B. Swan-Saddlery and harness in Norwalk, Ct.
1840. Charles Wells-In Tallahassee, Fla., a time ; journeyman in Bridgeport ; teacher and leader of vocal music in choirs and in the public schools of Bridgeport.
1846. Frank H. Stevens-Restaurant keeper, Bridgeport.
S. F. Hurd and Company .- In 1850 a special firm was made for business in California, consisting of S. F. Hurd, Joseph F. Crosby, Eli Thompson, and Alexander Hamilton, in Bridgeport, and Thomas Ferris and Thomas Holman, in San Francisco, Cal. This arrangement continued but four or five years and was very successful, dividing at the close $200,000, the four Bridgeport parties taking one half the sum and Ferris and Holman the other half. On the retire- ment of Mr. Thompson the firm, with the branches, em- braced Joseph F. Crosby and Sylvester S. May, Bridgeport, William Morrison and S. Henry Hurd, New York, William
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H. May, Savannah, Ga., and Hiram Middlebrook, Columbus, Ga. Mr. Hurd purchased the school building on State street, now numbers 200, 202, and the manufacturing has since been done there, latterly by Robert D. Bissett and Edwin H. Wells, and said Wells and Wilson French, both the latter were former apprentices and journeymen in the old house of Lyon, Calhoun and Co. and their successors. The firm name in New York continued to be Morrison, Hurd and Co. to 1864, then Morrison, Miller and Co., and at this writ- ing is Miller, Morrison and Co.
The Wheeler and Wilson Manufacturing Com- pany' is one of the largest industries within the city of Bridgeport, and probably the most celebrated.
Between 1830 and 1850 several patents for sewing ma- chines were granted in England and the United States, but none of them fully covered the idea of a practical sewing machine. The first patent for such a machine was granted November 12, 1850, to Allen B. Wilson, of Pittsfield, Mass.
Allen B. Wilson was born in Willett, Cortland Co., N. Y., October IS, 1824. His father was a mill-wright and was killed by accident while putting in a water-wheel. He left a wife, one son and two daughters. The son, Allen B., was indentured, at eleven years of age, to a farmer, remaining only a year, but he continued to work on a farm until sixteen years of age, also improving much time in a blacksmith shop, learning the trade, when he was apprenticed to a cabinet maker in the town of Cincinnatus in the same county. This place he soon left, for cause, and obtained work as a black- smith, and continued at it until early in 1847, when he was at Adrian, Mich., as a journeyman, where he conceived the idea of a sewing machine, having never heard of one, and settled in his own mind the devices and adjustments to accomplish the object.
The earliest sewing machine of which there is record was that of Thomas Saint, patented in England in 1790, but it was not introduced into practical use. In 1830 Bartholomy
1 This sketch is taken largely from the "History of Manufactures of New England."
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Thimonnier patented in France a machine of which, in IS41, he had eighty at work in Paris, on army clothing. Like the loom of Jaquard and the spinning-jenny of Hargreaves, they were destroyed by a mob ; but in 1848 he had another set of machines at work in Paris, sewing and embroidering, but these were also destroyed, and their enterprising inventor gave up in despair. In IS41 Newton and Archbold secured a patent in England for a sewing machine differing but little from that of Saint, except in the needle's eye. Then, about IS32, Walter Hunt, of New York, made a sewing machine, but did not perfect it so as to bring it into use. In 1854, after the sewing machine with Hunt's own device, in the hands of Singer and others had become a success, he applied for a patent, with abundant proofs of his claim that he had used both the eye-pointed needle and the shuttle some years before.
Elias Howe, Jr., began his experiments in 1843. In May, 1843, he had a machine at work which was patented Septem- ber 10, 1846, but this machine, besides several defects, could sew only a straight seam.
John Bachelor, of Boston, Mass., patented, May 8, 1849, an improvement on previous machines, but liable, in part, to the same objections as others. Mr. Bachelor devised the first automatic, continuous feed, and, as involving this principle, the patent was renewed on its expiration in 1863, and again in 1870, by special act of Congress. Mr. Howe constructed four machines, but did not succeed in introducing them into actual use. The machine now bearing his name was not patented until 1857, some six years after Wheeler and Wilson had made their machine a success.
Mr. Allen B. Wilson devised his first machine, as has been said, in 1847. He became ill, and was not able to work at his trade until August, 1848, when he obtained employment at Pittsfield, Mass., and then resolved to develop the idea of a sewing machine. By November he had made full drawings of all the parts of the machine, according to his previous con- ceptions. The firm, Barnes and Goodrich, which he was then engaged with, dissolved in February, 1859, and Mr. Wilson remained with Amos Barnes, who continued the business, with the privilege of working evenings for himself in the
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shop. On the evening of the 3d of February, the first day of his engagement with Mr. Barnes, he began the construction of his first machine, which he completed about the first of April. With it he made dress waists and other articles requiring fine sewing, with straight or curved seams; and it was exhibited to several persons, who were pleased with its work.
The first problem for Mr. Wilson was, what kind of stitch to make, and the next, how to make it. The stitch needed the use of the least possible quantity of thread, and a non- liability of the seam to rip. He arrived at the same conclu- sion as Walter Hunt and Elias Howe, that both of these conditions could best be met by the lock-stitch, made by two threads crossing each other within the two layers of cloth, and presenting the same appearance on both sides of it. The chain-stitch would take one-half more thread, and should the thread break at any point, the whole seam might ravel out. Mr. Wilson believed that such a lock-stitch could be made if a loop could be formed by one thread on one side of the cloth, and another thread could be passed singly through it. Then, by some proper device for tension, the two threads could be drawn tight, so as to present the same appearance on both sides of the cloth. For this, enough of the looping thread must be pushed through the cloth to form a loop. It did not require much mechanical ingenuity to conceive of the needle, with an eye in the point at the end of some reciprocating mechanism, to push the needle nearly through the cloth, carrying the thread with it, and then to withdraw the needle, leaving enough of the thread behind to form the loop. Mr. Wilson's idea of the shuttle was an im- provement on that of Hunt or Howe, in that, as it was pointed at both ends, it would make a stitch in its motion both ways, so that to make the same number of stitches his shuttle would need to travel only half as fast. The next point was to devise a feed-motion so far automatic as to secure a uniform length ot stitch, which could not be effected by a mere guidance with the hand. It was also provided for crooked, or curved, as well as straight seams, and such seams that a sharp angle could be made, if necessary. Mr. Wilson's first device was
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Manufacturers in Bridgeport.
that known as the "two-motion feed," to distinguish it from his subsequent, more effective device, the " four motion feed." The two-motion feed consisted of a horizontal reciprocating, toothed surface, the inclination of the teeth being forward, always in contact with the material, and while the needle was in the material moving back to a new stroke. This feed proved usually effective, and thousands of machines having this device were sold. In this feed device Mr. Wilson solved the problem, not of making a machine which would sew after a certain fashion, but the first one which was fully adapted to the necessities of every household, and a saver of time and labor in many kinds of manufacturing.
In May, 1849, having removed to North Adams, Mass., he built a second machine on the same principle, but of better workmanship. He finally induced Joseph N. Chapin, of North Adams, to purchase one-half of the invention for two hundred dollars, and with this money he secured a pat- ent, November 12, 1850. While his application was pending, he received notice from parties owning an interest in a machine patented by John A. Bradshaw, of Lowell, Mass., November 28, 1848, that Bradshaw's patent covered the double pointed shuttle which he claimed in his application, and that they should oppose an issue of a patent to him. Two of these parties were A. P. Kline and Edward Lee, of New York. A compromise was made, by which Mr. Wilson conveyed to them one-half of the patent. Mr. Wilson was associated with Kline and Lee for about two months before the issue of the patent, arranging to go into the manufacture and sale of the machines; but becoming dissatisfied with this arrangement on the 25th of November he sold to Kline and Lee all his interest in the patent, except the right for New Jersey, and that to sew leather in Massachusetts, for $2,000. This sum, however, was never paid to him. Before the end of the year he was introduced to Nathaniel Wheeler, with whose name his own has been associated more than a quarter of a century, as identified with one of the most extensive industries of New England.
Nathaniel Wheeler was born in Watertown, Conn., September 7, 1820. His father was a carriage manufacturer,
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and the son learned the trade. He was at first employed chiefly in the ornamental parts of the work, and afterwards had the entire charge of the business, his father owning and conducting a farm. On attaining his majority Nathaniel took the business on his own account and conducted it about five years. At that time the manufacture of buttons and other articles of metallic ware had become an important industry in the adjoining town of Waterbury, and he decided to engage in it. Beginning with implements and tools involving only hand labor, he soon introduced machinery of various kinds. Among other articles, he made polished steel slides, for ladies. These had before been imported from Europe, and Mr. Wheeler was among the first in this country to engage in making them. The price was at first eight dollars per gross, but was finally reduced to twenty-five cents per gross, at which low price, by his improvements in machinery and methods, he was able to make a profit. Other articles of his manufacture were buckles and slides for hat bands. These were also made, in the same town, by Messrs. Warren and Woodruff. This firm was interested in the Warren and Newton Manufacturing Company, engaged in the neighbor- ing village of Oakville, in the manufacture of suspenders. Warren and Woodruff joined both their interests with that of Mr. - Wheeler in 1848, and a partnership was formed, under the name of Warren, Wheeler and Woodruff, and a new building was erected for the business, of which Mr. Wheeler taking the whole charge, it was soon placed on a footing of substantial success.
On one of his business trips to New York he heard of the Wilson sewing machine, which was then exhibited in a room in the old "Sun" building, 128 Fulton street. He examined it, saw its possibilities, and at once contracted with E. Lee and Company to make five hundred of the machines. He also engaged Mr. Wilson to go with him to Watertown to perfect the machine and superintend its manufacture.
Their relations with Lee and Company soon ceased, and within a short time Mr. Wilson substituted for the shuttle the rotary hook and bobbin, now so well known. He had made in New York a model of a machine with this new device, and
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had carried it with him to Watertown, and now showed it to Mr. Wheeler, who highly approved of it. Mr. Wilson now labored to perfect the new machine, with the substitution referred to, and secured the patent for it August 12, IS51. On the same date Isaac M. Singer received his first patent on the machine which has since been so formidable a competitor to the Wheeler and Wilson machine. The main features of Mr. Singer's machine were, that the needle was straight, moving vertically at the end of a stationary arm, and that the feed was by means of a roughened wheel, which, it was claimed, was an improvement on Wilson's two-motion feed, since it had no backward movement while in contact with the cloth. It had, however, the defect of touching the cloth only at a very small portion of its periphery. It was inferior to the later four-motion feed of Mr. Wilson. This wheel-feed of Singer was, moreover, an infringement on Wilson's patent of 1850. The principle of the automatic feed, covered by that patent, was the including between a roughened surface on the under side and a smooth surface on the upper side, so that the cloth would be held in place while the needle was carrying the thread through it, and, on the withdrawing the needle, would be pushed forward the length of a stitch, at the same time permitting the cloth to be turned in either direc- tion, to form a curve or angle in the seam.
Messrs. Warren, Wheeler, Woodruff and Wilson now formed a new copartnership, under the name of Wheeler, Wilson and Co., and began the new machines under the new patent. This patent was for the combination of a rotary hook, which extended or opened more widely the loop of the needle thread, with a reciprocating bobbin, which carried another thread through the loop so extended. To avoid litigation, Mr. Wilson contrived the stationary bobbin, which has since been the permanent feature of the Wheeler and Wilson sewing machine. This rotary hook was an entirely novel device.
Having begun the manufacture of the machine the next step was to introduce it to the public. Mr. Wheeler took one of the machines to O. F. Winchester, now at the head of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, then largely en-
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gaged in the manufacture of shirts at New Haven, Conn. Mr. Winchester refused even to try it ; but Mr. Wheeler had a shirt made wholly on the machine, Mr. Wilson's wife being the
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THE ORIGINAL WHEELER AND WILSON SEWING MACHINE AS CONSTRUCTED IN 1852.
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operator ; whereupon Mr. Winchester, struck by the beauty of the work, at once purchased the right in the machine for the county of New Haven. Mr. Wheeler then carried two of the machines to Troy, N. Y., and left them with J. Gardner, a leading shirt manufacturer there. After a trial of them for three weeks Mr. Gardner came to Watertown and purchased the one-half right to sell the machine in Rensselaer County, N. Y., for $3,000. Mr. Wheeler now devoted himself to the introduction of the machine, especially in New York, Boston and Philadelphia. Several hundred machines had been sold when, in October, 1853, the Wheeler and Wilson Manufactur- ing Company was organized. The business now had become so well established that various parties desired to obtain an interest in it, and a proposition was made to Messrs. Wheeler, Wilson and Co. that a joint stock company should be organ- ized, with a capital of $160,000, of which $100,000 was to be allowed for the patent, and $60,000 for the factory and machin- ery. The firm, meanwhile, engaged to sell stock to outside parties to the amount of $70,000, at par. The parties who subscribed for the stock gave their notes, which, however, they were not called on to pay, the dividends from the earn- ings of the company liquidating them as they became due.
Mr. Wilson at this time retired from active participation in the business, while in consideration of the value of his inventions, he received a regular salary, without personal service, and considerable sums of money on the renewal of his patents. He has resided at Waterbury since 1863, where he owns an estate of some twenty-five acres, with a commodi- ous residence. Among his out buildings is a shop well fur- nished with tools and machinery for working in wood and metals, affording him ample facilities for the gratification of his mechanical taste. Here he has perfected several inven- tions. On the 19th of December, 1854, he patented his four- motion feed, whereby the flat, toothed surface, being in con- tact with the cloth, is moved forward, carrying the cloth with it, then drops a little, so as not to touch the cloth, then moves backward, then rises up against the cloth, and is again ready for the first motion. This feed is at once simple and effective.
In 1865 Mr. Wilson erected a fine hotel, with a large public hall, at North Adams, Mass.
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The manufactory was continued at Watertown until 1856, when, owing to the increase of the business, the property of the Jerome Clock Company, at Bridgeport, was purchased. Additions to the old brick factory already on the premises, were made from time to time. A portion of these buildings, including the clock factory, was burned December 12, 1875, but was at once rebuilt.
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