A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 26

Author: Lincoln, Allen B
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co.
Number of Pages: 930

USA > Connecticut > Windham County > A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I > Part 26

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As scholars they burned Lindley Murray in effigy and canonized Nathan Daboll, and usually graduated from the country school better prepared for the rough and tumble of every-day business than the average professor of athletics of the present day. Occasionally a bright boy aspired to become a schoolmaster, while another's ambition would lead him to enter a law office in town. Once in a while one would migrate to Providence and enter mercantile life, and another would establish a country store at some cross roads, where he would exchange ordinary family commodities, including a fair percentage of New England rum for farm products which, in turn, were marketed in town. The foundation of many an ample fortune has been formed in this manner.

Land was plenty, and to become a well-to-do, forehanded farmer was the ordinary boundary of masculine ambition, while to be able to card and spin and weave the family clothing, and to make butter and cheese and to bake and boil and' sew, and finally "marry well," as they termed it, to get a husband who was a "good provider," was about the height of girlish aspiration.

It was rather a dull, monotonous life. No click of telegraph, no interchange of hellos with the central; no nearby electrics, no morning or evening paper. Occasionally a religious paper, a few books, including "Pilgrim's Progress," "Baxter's Saints Rest," or "Call to the Unconverted," Doddridge's "Rise Vol. I-14

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and Progress," and "Watts' Hymns." Once a year appeared the Old Farmers' Almanac, with its wonderful anatomical plate in which the victim endures through all time the combined onslaught of the whole zodiacal menagerie.

The changes of the moon were carefully studied with reference to the best time to plant and sow and kill hogs. The long distance weather predictions, eclipses, conundrums and problems all came in for prolonged consideration and discussion.

There were husking bees, apple parings, quilting, sleigh rides, and an oc- casional trip to town.

Once in a while a peripatetic ministerial tramp would come in and hold meetings from house to house. The people all very religiously went up to the top of the hill each Sabbath to the old church and sat, without fire, in high- backed pews, and suffered and endured through two or three mortal hours of Firstly, Secondly, Thirdly, etc., while the young people goo-gooed and simpered and giggled much after the twentieth century style. An occasional church quarrel enlivened the community, furnishing a rich repast for worldly minded gossips and affording the elect an opportunity to attest their Puritan orthodoxy.

The old stage coach made tri-weekly trips from Providence to Hartford, along the old turnpike, stopping at the country taverns, which were sprinkled along at intervals of a few miles, and leaving little bits of city gossip and news from the outside world to be retailed with other things across the bar and to finally become the social stock in trade of the neighborhood. Thus, in a variety of ways, the half-starved social nature survived.

Meanwhile the yeast of progress was bubbling and getting in its work, and many an alert business man in New England had been bitten by the industrial microbe. Eli Whitney's cotton gin had revolutionized the cotton fields of the South and was opening unprecedented possibilities to New England manu- facturers, and to Chestnut Hill had penetrated the news of the birth of in- dustries along the banks of the Blackstone and elsewhere.

A mile or more northeasterly from where the village now stands was a beautiful land-locked lake, called by the aborigines Chaubaumaug. This lake had a rather slight water shed, being supplied mostly by springs in the bottom of that part of the lake just over the Rhode Island border. This lake is the source of the village stream known as the Whetstone Brook, so called because quarries of scythe stones had been found along its borders. A quarter of a mile or so below this lake the stream received a reinforcement of a brook, emanating from Bateman Pond, a dirty little mud hole, about a mile north- westerly from Chaubaumaug. This little pond was a pigmy compared with the lake, but, unlike that, had an extensive water shed and, at times in the year, furnished a large supply of water.

Below the confluence of these streams the water shed is extensive, and the result is a stream of no mean proportions and, properly utilized, capable of furnishing hundreds of horse-power. For the first mile its course was across a "flat" of almost dead level, and here it flowed quietly and sluggishly, first through a large cedar swamp of primeval growth, and afterward across a large, natural bog-meadow, upon the annual harvest of which the thrifty farmer win- tered his herd of calves and yearlings, which, in a bleak and ill-sheltered stock- yard, munched the stuff and froze and thawed and starved until, with staring coats and greedy eyes, they welcomed the springtime sun as the deliverer from that style of winter care which was the refinement of cruelty to animals.

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Rounding a promontory at the southeastern limit of where the village now stands, the stream, like a good little boy suddenly released from the leash of his mother's apron strings, starts on to a new career and, swiftly dashing down the rapids, makes within a mile or thereabouts a descent of nearly two hundred feet.

The story of the early utilization of this stream for industrial purposes is lost in a mingling of history and tradition. Sawmills and grain mills were the first thought of the early settlers, as supplying their most immediate wants. Early in the century Thomas Burgess built a rude dam at the outlet of the lake and erected a sawmill. Richard Bartlett built a saw and grain mill at a narrow gorge near the head of the rapids. Later on, and mingling with other industries, came the axe and hoe shop of Squire Tom Durfee, where the Peep Toad mill now stands. Here the 'squire made axes and hoes for the natives and quite a surplus which he sold in Providence. These hoes were heavy, rude and clumsy, sold without handles, having an "eye" for the insertion of a home- made handle, and would be considered a serious infliction at the present day.

A blacksmith shop, the bellows of which was run by water power, and a mill for the manufacture of shoe pegs have been among the industrial ventures, but the chief development of the water power of the Whetstone has been in connection with the cotton industry and dates from 1813.

It has been generally supposed that Judge Ebenezer Young built what has from time immemorial been known as the Young's mill, in 1815, but further research compels the conclusion that a small mill was built on this site in 1813 by Joseph Hawes of Providence, and run by him in conjunction with George Law and Andrew Angell of Killingly until sold to Young in 1815 or 1816.

The mill was built of stone from a nearby quarry, and was of small pro- portions, and stands near the most rapid descent of the rapids where, within about five hundred feet of lineal descent, there is a seventy-two feet fall, capable of developing many hundred horse power. Mr. Young did not utilize all this fall, indeed nearly or quite three-fourths of its possibilities have never been developed, and remain unused to the present time.

The location of this mill is romantic and by nature almost inaccessible. Here the stream comes tumbling and fretting, frothing and foaming over a solid rock bottom, and closely confined between the rock-bound sides of the narrow chasm. Just across this chasm to the south is the beautiful freak of nature known to many generations as the "Island." Originally the stream divided and flowed around each side of its base. It is a rock and fern covered mound, surmounted by a rare collection of New England trees. Tall beeches spread their smooth and symmetrical arms heavenward; lofty elms bend their graceful heads in devotional attitude; magnificent chestnuts revel in primeval glory ; gnarled oaks toss and sway their muscular arms; maples run their an- nual round of kaleidoscopic variegation, and birches in endless variety, elad in silvery garments, add a wealth of beauty, while hemlock and fir adorn the summit with a perennial and fadeless crown. Beautiful flowers and rare ferns cover the surface with a carpeting unrivaled in any oriental palace. Whether in the alabaster fern fringed whiteness of winter, or in the varied shades of summer greenness, or adorned by the multi-variegated hues of autumn, it fur- nishes a scene of which the artist's eye never wearies. At its base the waters of the rapids, after their wild rough and tumble, spread out in placid tran- quillity, mirroring all of nature's glories and adorning them with golden sun-

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light, cerulean skies and white flecked clouds, the whole furnishing a scene of beauty rarely rivaled and never excelled by pencil or brush.

The prosaic little mill was small, but it grew. Its body enlarged. An out- side weave room was built. Various wings were added. Finally the main building was 50 by 75 feet with five floors. Two wings adjoined, one 50 by 60 feet with four floors, and the other 45 by 60 and three stories high. The final capacity of the mill was 6,000 spindles and 100 looms. Through varied fortune the business was in the main a fairly prosperous one.

Judge Young built his residence here among his neighbors, which remains to this day, a fit and enduring monument to the owner's characteristic thor- oughness. In addition to his industrial venture he practiced law in town, having opened a law office in West Killingly (now Danielson), November 11, 1809. He became an ardent whig politician, was exceedingly popular, received judicial honors, represented his town in the General Assembly in the House in 1817, in the Senate in 1823, and again in the House in 1827 and 1828, in each of which two latter years he was elected speaker. He represented his district in Congress from 1829 to 1835. He died August 18, 1851, aged sixty- seven years.

After the death of the judge, his son, Ebenezer Young, Jr., took the mill and operated it until his death in 1871. He was remarkably successful and acquired an ample fortune.

Inseparable from any history of this mill is an allusion to "Super" John White, its veteran superintendent. His term of service was longer than that of any other superintendent in our mills, with the exception of those of Wel- come Bartlett and Albert W. Greenslit.

Mr. White was born in Burrillville, R. I., January 6, 1805. After his boy- hood and a few years on the farm, he learned the carpenters' trade, but after a few years went to Woonsocket and worked in the mills there. He worked for a number of years and arose to the position of overseer. He came here in 1847, and remained in charge of the Young's mill for twenty-five years. He was a man of rough exterior, but of kindly heart: a man intense and practical, rough hewn from the mass of New England humanity. He had no lazy bones, but was the soul of energy, and commanded all others to toe the mark of his practical ideals. His vocabulary often abounded with volleys of explosive adjectives, and diplomacy was not in his role. Yet, as he entertained a high regard for justice and fair dealing, and hated and despised sham, he stood high in the regard of his employees. He was an inveterate joker and story teller, and the reverberation of his laugh was something to be remembered. Un- like his chief he was a democrat, and continued to vote and hurrah for Jackson until the end of his days.

After the decline of the small cotton industries of New England, caused by competition with the larger ones, the Judge Young mill went through a variety of vicissitudes, sometimes as a yarn mill, and afterward as a shoddy mill. It was finally destroyed by fire December 16, 1902.

A number of years ago there was built, on a bed rock foundation, on a site just below the old mill, a six-story stone building, of excellent workman- ship, of rather small proportions as related to its height. It was never used and it has never been divulged for what purpose it was constructed. It took and retains the names of the tower, and is at present admirably adapted to the running of light machinery.

DANIELSON COTTON CO., DANIELSON

INTERNATIONAL COTTON MANUFACTURING CO., EAST KILLINGLY

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The property remains in the Young family and is now owned by Burnette C. Young, a grandson of the judge, who, with others associated with him, are contemplating the erection of a woolen mill to use 400 horse power, thus utiliz- ing nearly all the power of the fall.

Strictly reliable data seem to be unavailable, but evidently the era of the building of the little mills on the Whetstone was from 1825 to 1835. The second cotton mill was probably the Leffingwell mill, or, as it was afterward christened, the "Sacramento," built in 1828. It was built of wood, by Capt. Asa Alexander, and contained twenty-four looms. It was at first run by Lef- fingwell and Leavens.

This mill introduced to our community Maj. Calvin Leffingwell, one of the quaintest characters of the day. He was born in the adjoining Town of Pomfret, June 23, 1792. Just how he procured the title of major I have not been in- formed, but in those days of the great annual muster of the state militia, colonels, majors and captains were manufactured in Connecticut at a rate that made her an easy rival of Kentucky, where military titles are the rule and their absence an exception. The major was a rugged specimen of physical hu- manity and equally stalwart in his mental and moral makeup. In politics he was a whig every time, and in religion a Presbyterian always. He was square and truthful in all matters of business, but, upon occasion, could handle the truth with a carelessness that would have brought the color to the cheek of Baron Munchausen. Especially was this so when it became necessary to adorn a joke or point a sarcasm. Many of his stories are current here at the present time, and his jokes are often related by the older people in our village. He was a man of sturdy and well sustained opinion and, notwithstanding his intensely practical jokes and often biting sarcasm, he won a place in the hearts of our people and remained here for many years. He died in Danielson, Conn., September 27, 1873.

His partner, Jedediah Leavens, was a man of recognized worth and ability, was honored by his fellow citizens and represented the town in the Legislature of 1838. He afterward removed to Norwich, where he became a prime mover in the organization of the Whitestone Company, which did business for more than twenty-five years. His death occurred many years ago.

After operating the mill for many years, Leffingwell and Leavens were succeeded by Truesdell and Lippitt, sons-in-law of the old major. They also conducted a large and well equipped country store on the Hill. Mr. Truesdell was the industrial head of the firm and Mr. Lippitt conducted the mercantile department.

John B. Truesdell was of Quaker descent, a strong, genial, broad-minded, lovable man, of great force of character, and his influence was always power- fully felt on the right side of every public question. Subsequent to his con- nection with the Leffingwell mill he was for a time superintendent of the Robin- son mill. His death occurred in our village in 1863 at the age of forty-eight years.

Norris G. Lippitt was born in Thompson, Conn., September 28, 1816. He was a man of excellent talents and intellectual culture, and was of a strong literary cast of mind. He possessed one of the most carefully selected libraries in the state and was well read on all subjects. He was combative and argu- mentative, a fluent speaker and ready debater, and was a master of sarcasm and repartee. He was fun loving and fond of a joke, honest, upright and true

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as steel. He was exceedingly popular, and is often quoted. After leaving here he entered the ministry and became a very successful Methodist clergyman. He died in Norwich, Conn., February 4, 1887. His son, Costello Lippitt, who was here with him, and whom some of our people remember, is now treasurer of one of the largest savings institutions in our state, the Norwich Savings Society, of Norwich, Conn. After the Truesdell and Lippitt administration, the mill was sold to Westcott and Pray and run by them until it was destroyed by fire in the fall of 1855.

Some time between 1825 and 1835, perhaps about 1830, a small woolen mill was built a short distance above the Young's mill by John S. Harris. Harris ran the mill for a few years. It was also taken for a short time by two brothers named Randall, and in 1836 was sold to Reuben Bartlett and son Richard who continued until 1840, when the mill was burned and was never rebuilt. The pond which furnished power was exactly where the Ross Mill, otherwise known as the Chestnut Hill Mill, now stands.

Nearly at the same time of the building of this woolen mill, Capt. Asa Alexander built the wood mill which was afterward known as the Valley Mill, a half mile or more below the rapids. He sold the mill to Norman Kelley and afterward the mill was run by a company consisting of a man named Brown, from Rhode Island, James S. Arnold, a resident, and William A. Robinson of Providence. Finally Robinson became sole proprietor. At this time it con- tained but thirty looms, but was enlarged by Robinson from time to time until it ran seventy-two. Robinson retained ownership until, through age, it fell into disuse nearly twenty years ago.

Mr. Robinson was a Quaker and a fine old gentleman of the old school of business men, a merchant having houses in Providence and New Bedford, and selling oil and manufacturer's supplies. He was honest and truthful, "square as a brick," gentlemanly and conservative. He was a constant promoter of every effort for the welfare of town and community.

John B. Truesdell was superintendent of this mill until his death in 1863, and was succeeded by Albert W. Greenslit, of whom we shall say more later on.

The mill was removed in 1903 to make room for the Worcester and Con- necticut Eastern Railway, which skirts the stream throughout nearly its entire length.

Not far from 1830, but perhaps a little after that date, came the building of the Elliottville Mill. This mill was substantially built of stone, probably by Thomas Pray, and was, for a time, run by him and his brother-in-law, Emory Angell. Falling into financial difficulties they were rescued by Henry West- cott, who, with Pray, was destined thereafter to play an important part in the industrial development of our village.

Mr. Pray was born in this town in 1805, in what is known as the Kentuck region, bordering on the north of Lake Chaubaumaug. This tract had a sterile and rock bound soil, and in the struggles and deprivations of Pray's boyhood was developed a physique, a character, an energy and will that recognized no obstacles and knew no defeat. His son, Thonzan Pray, Jr., has long been known in industrial circles as an expert in mechanical engineering.

Henry Westcott, the associate of the elder Pray, was born in Gloucester. R. I., in 1801, and, early in childhood, moved to Killingly. He was a man of great financial ability and foresight, shrewd in the extreme, always scanning well the end from the beginning. The firm of Westcott & Pray was a fine com-

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bination and destined to work great industrial results. They both became pillars in our community. They acquired large tracts of land, built, bought, sold and operated mills, and finally retired from business here soon after the close of the Civil war. Both were strong men and stood high in the estimation of their fellow citizens. Both represented the town in the Legislature. Mr. Pray died in Providence, November 1, 1869, and Mr. Westcott in Danielson June 5, 1878.

After Pray and Emory Angell closed their connection with the Elliottville property it was operated by Nelson Eddy, a practical manufacturer, who came, I think, from Chepachet, R. I. Associated with him was Albert Elliott of Providence. This was the time that it took the name of Elliottville.

Afterwards a stock company, consisting of Lemuel Elliott, Albert T. Elliott and Welcome Bartlett, succeeded to the control of the property. This corpora- tion was known as the Elliottville Manufacturing Company. Mr. Bartlett was the active representative of the company here. He had previously been super- intendent for a number of years. He was born in Cumberland, R. I., near Woonsocket, December 8, 1815. In early life he worked in the various mills in Woonsocket, and came here in 1846. No one can recall Mr. Bartlett except with the most pleasant memories. He was in many respects a model. Earnest, faithful and diligent in business, he yet found time for the development and use of the higher faculties of the soul. Tenderly and as with a mother's care he ministered to the needs of his employees. One of these recently said to me, "He was as a father to us all." After a lingering illness and terrible suffering, the result, as was supposed, of lifting some heavy machinery, he passed away February 24, 1875.

After the formation of the company they continued to operate the mill for many years, and the property next below on the stream, which had originally been Squire Tom Durfee's axe and hoe shop, and afterwards a saw and grain mill, machine and blacksmith shop, was added and fitted up with cotton ma- chinery. This part of the property then became known as the Peep Toad Mill. For many years they continued to manufacture cloth, but afterward James P. Kendall came here from the South and began the manufacture of yarn. Later Willis Bartlett, son of the former superintendent, ran it as a yarn mill. The mill as run by Pray & Angell contained thirty looms, but this number was finally increased to more than one hundred. It is a building 40 by 75 feet with four boors, with a wing 40 by 50 feet, also with four floors. Its present owner is T. E. Hopkins of Danielson.

Soon after the building of the Elliottville mill, Capt. Asa Alexander, who besides carrying around a military title seems to have been a master-builder in the line of cotton mills, built another mill of wood, about midway between Elliottville and the Leffingwell mill. This mill had sixty looms and, for a time, was operated by William Starkweather, and afterward by Tenney & Cowles, of Boston, and was burned in 1847. It was rebuilt in 1850. In 1851 John L. Himes, who was born in Exeter, R. I., in 1812, and had received a practical education in the mills of Rhode Island, hired a hill in Apponaug, in that state, but, before starting, gave it up and moved the machinery intended for that mill to this place and set it up in the mill just built by Alexander. He started in with thirty-two looms. After a few years financial difficulties overtook him. Westcott and Pray came to his assistance, stocked the mill and continued it under the supervision of Himes until about 1860. Himes then became the owner

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again, and prospered finely for a time. He finally ran in debt in order to en- large the mill, at the flood tide of prosperity, when, the tide suddenly receding, left him stranded. This was much to the regret of the many friends of Mr. Himes, as he had been a hard working, industrious man, and, at one time, could have sold out and retired with an ample fortune.

During the Himes administration the property was kept in good condition and its capacity increased to 100 looms. In 1879 the mill was bought by Ed- ward H. Robinson of Providence, son of William A. Robinson of the Valley Mill. He operated the mill for a number of years, under the supervision of Albert W. Greenslit, adding steam power and making many improvements, and in the early '90s the mill was sold to Charles D. Chase, the present pro- prietor, and was by him fitted up as a woolen mill with first class machinery. It is now being run by Fred R. Smith, formerly of Worcester, Mass., and is doing a prosperous business, adding greatly to the prosperity of our village. Mr. Chase is superintendent. The mill is now a fine stone building, 50 by 160 feet, with a brick annex 30 by 40 feet.

In 1834 Reuben Bartlett became infected with the spirit of the times and erected a sawmill, near where is now the middle of the Chestnut Hill, or Ross mill pond. In company with him was his son, Waldo Bartlett, and at first they made carpet and stocking yarn. In 1837 they put in a dresser and made satinet warp. In 1840 they put in a pair of mules and twelve looms, and began the manufacture of cotton cloth. In 1842 they sold to Westcott and Pray, who put in four more looms and continued the business until 1846, when the privilege was merged with the one below where the little woolen mill had formerly stood Here, very near to the site of the woolen mill, Westcott & Pray erected the Chestnut Hill Mill, otherwise and more recently known as the Ross Mill. This mill is of stone and was originally 36 by 100 feet and four stories in height, but there have been subsequent additions of two wings, one of which is 37 by 49 feet, and the other 36 by 40 feet, and each two stories high. The mill was sold to John D. Burgess of Providence, December 28, 1849. The mill was operated by him until November 19, 1856, when it was sold to Mayhew, Miller and Co., of Baltimore, Md., and leased to Westcott and Pray, who ran it until 1859, when it was, taken by Mayhew Miller, a son of one of the proprietors, who, in com- pany with Frank King of Boston, continued the business for ten years. The property then again came into the hands of Thomas Pray, in 1869, just previous to his death, and was operated by his son, Thomas Pray, Jr., until 1874.

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A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 26

Author: Lincoln, Allen B Publication date: 1920 Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co. Number of Pages: 930

Author: Lincoln, Allen B
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co.
Number of Pages: 930