USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Bristol > Bristol, Connecticut : "in the olden time New Cambridge", which includes Forestville > Part 31
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In 1835, Alden A. and E. G. Atkins, and Noah E. Welton, bought the Churchill sawmill, and built a shop for the making of clocks, princi- pally, also making spool stands, work-boxes, etc. Norman Allen after- ward took the place of N. E. Welton, and the firm name became Atkins & Allen. The business was conducted until about 1846, when the shop was sold to Smith & Goodrich, afterward passing into the hands of The Bristol Brass & Clock Co., through the J. C. Brown interest. After two fires, the present shop is known as the Burner Department of the Bristol Brass & Clock Co.
In 1833, J. C. Brown, W. G. Bartholomew, and William Hills, of Farmington, who were jointly engaged in the business of cabinet making in Bristol, bought the land where the Sessions Clock Co. is now located, on the south side of the river, and secured the privilege of building a dam, and of thus creating a water privilege, of the owners of the north side of the stream, erecting a factory for making clocks. There were some changes in the firm, previous to the erection of the shop, and a company, consisting of William Hills, Lora Waters, J. C. Brown, Chauncey Pomeroy and Jared Goodrich, known as The Forestville Manufacturing Co., commenced the manufacture of brass clocks in the spring of 1835. There was then no highway nearer than Pine Street, until Church Street was opened to and across the river, afterwards extended eastward to the factory, and southward to Pine Street. The business continued to increase until in 1845 their establishment was turning out more finished work than any other in town. About this time F. S. Otis built the shop called the Otis shop (recently removed), and made a fancy case inlaid with pearl. This being something new in the market, increased the sale of clocks, as every dealer was bound to have the latest styles. In 1853, the shops of J. C. Brown & Co. were consumed by fire, which in- volved so much loss that an assignment became necessary, not only of that company, but of others with which they were connected. Elisha N. Welch, being the largest creditor, purchased the entire plant, together with the Otis shop, The Forestville Hardware Manufacturing Co., erected in 1852, and the Elisha Manross factory, of the assignees, and combined the business under one management. In 1864 the E. N. Welch Manu- facturing Co. was organized. In 1868, the Welch, Spring & Co., firm was organized, which occupied a factory that stood on the site of the present electric power house of the Sessions Co., and also the factories recently occupied by the Codling Manufacturing Co. Since the Welch Company was organized, all the factory buildings except two, have been destroyed by fire, but have arisen some of them from their ashes, in larger and better proportions for the economical production of the different varieties of clocks produced by the Company. (This was written by Mr. Atkins prior to its acquisition by the Sessions Company.
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How, after the death of Mr. Welch, in 1887, the extensive plant went into the hands of a Receiver; was reorganized, with J. Hart Welch, at the head; and how, after his death, it was acquired by the Sessions Company, who have largely increased the plant and its output are matters of recent history, too well known to need definite mention.)
Elias Ingraham, the founder of The E. Ingraham Co., came to Bristol from Hartford, where he was working at his trade as a cabinet maker, in 1828, and entered into the employ of George Mitchell, in the old building long used by the Ingrahams as a case shop, on the site of the Turner Heater Co.'s plant. Mr. Mitchell was desirous of introduc- ing a new style of case equal to, or superior to, the bronze pillar, in- vented by Jerome. Mr. Ingraham designed a very handsome case, with carved columns, having lions' paws at the bases, and fret work at the tops. They proved to be excellent sellers. The movements were made by Ephraim Downs. The old factory referred to, was originally the Congregational Church of Burlington, and was used as a cotton mill after its removal to Bristol. After working for Mr. Mitchell for about two years, he commenced work for Chauncey and Lawson C. Ives, at what is known as the Eureka shop, continuing in their employ until 1836, when he contracted to make cases for Davis & Barbour, who were shipping cases and movements separately to the south, where they were put together, thus saving the payment of the heavy state licenses. In . 1843 the firm of Brewster & Ingraham was formed; Epaphroditus Peck, and after his death, Noah L. Brewster, representing the firm in England. In 1848, the firm was dissolved, and the firm became E. & A. Ingraham, by the admission of his brother Andrew into partnership. Their shop was burned in 1855, which stood on the site of the old movement shop, and the business was afterward continued by Mr. Ingraham in the old cotton mill, which was enlarged from time to time as more space was needed. About 1860, the old hardware shop, which stood on the corner of Meadow and North Main Streets, was purchased and moved to the site of the burned factory, and was made the movement department of the firm of The E. Ingraham Co., until the completion of their new and commodious movement factory. Edward Ingraham became a partner in his father's business in 1859, and the joint-stock company was formed in 1881, consisting of Mr. Ingraham, his son and grandsons, becoming one of the largest establishments for the manufacture of clocks in the country. Mr. Ingraham was born at Marlborough, in 1805, and died in 1885. His son Edward died in 1892.
In 1843, The Bristol Clock Co. was organized, with a small capital, for the purchasing and vending of clocks; consisting of Chauncey Jerome, Elisha Hotchkiss, Edward Fields, Elisha Manross, E. C. Brewster, Joseph A. Wells and Augustus S. Jerome. This company was organized, primarily, for foreign trade, reporting that in 1844, $1,935 worth of clocks had been shipped to China, and that their expenses had been $400. In 1852, The Brewster Manufacturing Co. was organized, for the purpose of making and vending clocks. It consisted of E. C. Brew- ster, Wm. Day, Augustine Norton and Noble Jerome. These firms were principally for the purpose of extending the sale of clocks of Ameri- can manufacture to other countries, the outgrowth of which has added largely to the success, financially, of the clock industry. At the first venture in this line, Mr. Jerome shipped a cargo of clocks to England, in charge of Epaphroditus Peck, accompanied by his son, Chauncey Jerome, Jr. This attempt was considered unwise by many, and failure was predicted. But the prices at which they were invoiced for entry at the custom house, though high enough to be very remunerative, excited the suspicion of the customs officials that they were being priced at too low a figure, and so they exercised their right to add ten per cent. to the invoice price, and seize the whole cargo. Another cargo was despatched as quickly as possible, and was also seized in the same way. After that the officials concluded to let the Yankees sell their own clocks, which they did, with the result that the foreign trade in clocks was thoroughly established, and a good deal of money has been brought
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into town thereby, especially at times when, without it, business would have been very dull if not dead.
The Bristol Clock Case Co. was organized in March, 1854, with a capital of $20,000. It consisted of thirty-five of the prominent busi- ness men of that time, as follows: J. C. Brown, Walter Williams, W. W. Carter, Eli Barnes, H. E. Merriman, George Merriman, Almon Lewis, Daniel Lardner, Henry Beckwith, W. McCracken, Erastus Foster, Ben- jamin Ray, H. M. Burnham, J. U. Doolittle, S. P. Burwell, Hopkins Stephens, Roswell Webster, Geo. Goodrich, J. T. Peck, Ashel Butler, D. P. Spear, Samuel Beckwith, Robert Beckwith, N. L. Birge, E. N. Sexton, Anson Beckwith, J. A. Sweetzer, E. C. Goodwin, Tracy Peck, S. P. Newell, H. K. Hotchkiss, Jr., Richard.Peck, A. P. Goodrich, Carlos Wel- ton, and W. D. McClenithan. Most of them were residents of the north village, and a number of them were clock-case makers as well. A large shop was built at the North Side, at Doolittle's Corner, near the rail- road, on land now owned by The Sessions Foundry Co., north of the road. The enterprise was soon abandoned, and the shop stood idle for a number of years. In 1861, it was taken down and put up in Forest- ville, taking the place of the old Alden Atkins clock shop, destroyed by fire, and was used for the manufacture of lamp burners, and also for the manufacture of mechanical and other toys of tin.
Other people have, at different times, been engaged in the manu- facture of clocks: Byington & Graham, located west of the Bartholomew shop, at Edgewood, made cases; Terry, Downs & Co., at the Ephraim Downs shop; Beach, Hubbell & Hendrick, at the Manross shop; Atkins & Porter, at the Merritt Atkins shop, Stafford; Barnes, Hendrick & Hubbell, at the old (original) Manross shop, afterward becoming the property of Laporte Hubbell, which firm made the first marine clocks, invented by Bainbridge Barnes; Solomon C. Spring, at the Codling & Co. factories, who made the same rolling-leaf pinion movement for clocks and regulators, as were made by the Atkins Clock Co., until the business was merged with the Welch company, and removed to Forest- ville; A. S. Platt & Co., where the Wallace Barnes plant is now located; Noah Pomeroy, at the H. C. Thompson shop, and others.
The early clock industry, in its development, necessitated the estab- lishment of numerous separate shops for the manufacture of parts which could not be economically made in one factory at that time; and the making of verges, pendulum rods and balls, wire bells, and later, of lock-work, for the striking mechanism, and pillars, ratchets and pinions, became important industries. W. H. Nettleton conducted the business of lock-work making for many years successfully, which afterward passed into the hands of George Jones, and, finally, was absorbed by the Ingraham company. Albert Warner made clock verges for many years, up to the time of his death in 1888. All these separate industries were gradually acquired by the large clock concerns, and the small 'manufac- turers went out of business, or took up other lines.
Col. E. L. Dunbar was a pioneer in the manufacture of clock springs of steel, purchasing of S. Burnham Terry the process of tempering coiled springs in 1847. About the same time John Pomeroy succeeded in tempering them by another process, and these inventions cheapened the cost of clock springs, which had formerly been imported from France at a cost of from one to three dollars each, so that the manufacture of cheap clocks became possible. The Dunbar spring business has been continued up to the present time, and is one of our substantial indus- tries, though the original business of clock-spring making has given place to the manufacture of springs for many other purposes.
Wallace Barnes commenced the manufacture of clock springs in 1857, on the site of the present factory, and the business has been con- ducted there continuously ever since. In 1858, in company with Col. E. L. Dunbar, under the firm name of Dunbar & Barnes, steel springs for hoop-skirts were extensively made there, the upper story of the shop being used for the braiding department, in which the flat steel
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springs were covered with cotton, starched and finished ready to be made up into crinoline. During the life of this firm the building then known as Crinoline Hall, afterward known as Town Hall, was built. At first the lower story was used as a wood shed for storing the pine wood used for tempering the springs, but was afterward closed in and occu- pied as a furniture warehouse and for other purposes. After the disso- lution of the firm of Dunbar & Barnes, the hoop-skirt business was conducted about two years by Benjamin & Doremus, of New York, wire braiders and finishers; and by John Fairbanks, who wove the tapes, and made up the wire and tapes into the finished skirts. The shop was burned in 1866, when the hoop-skirt business was discontinued. Since the death of Wallace Barnes, in 1893, the spring business has been increased to its present immense proportions through the able manage- ment of C. F. Barnes.
SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES.
This concludes Mr. Atkins' notes on the clock industry. From ·other sources we learn that among the early makers of clocks, in Bristol, John Rich made wood clocks in a shop which stood just back of the James Holt place. Levi Lewis, mentioned by Mr. Atkins, had a shop near the Chandler Norton house, on Cog. Hill, "Cog." being an abbreviation of Cogswell, a family once resident there. Lewis had, at one time, 1500 movements in the works, which fact created much excitement in the community, as well as doubts as to his sanity. Indeed, when, in 1805 Eli Terry, the founder of Terryville, and the father of the American clock industry, commenced to manufacture two hundred clocks a year, people thought him crazy and prophesied that he could not sell so many, as the country would be overstocked! In the fall of 1837, a year of financial disaster, and especially hard for the struggling clock manu- facturers, Chauncey Jerome was collecting what he could of debts and scattered clocks, throughout Virginia and South Carolina, when, one night, in his room in a hotel at Richmond, Virginia, he conceived the idea of making a cheap, one-day, brass clock. That idea, put into practical shape by his brother, Noble, who made the first one-day, brass movement, revolutionized the clock business, and put new life into the industry, and fortunes into the pockets of the men who followed Jerome in their manufacture. The old wood clocks, while good time- keepers, could not be shipped across the water, as the wheels would swell, and become worthless. But Jerome saw an opening for the. sale of the cheap, brass clocks in England, and determined to make the venture, with gratifying results. The introduction of the clocks in England, however, was attended with much difficulty, the dealers be- lieving them to be worthless because so cheap. One merchant went so far as to turn Mr. Jerome's agents out of doors for trying to induce him to have anything to do with the Yankee clocks. England made clocks for the world, and for these presumptuous Yankees to send their cheap toy clocks over there filled the English dealers with indignation. But finally, one merchant in London was persuaded to permit two of the clocks to be left in the store, saying that he did not believe they would run at all. The clocks were set running, and the next day when the agents called they found that they had been sold, and were told to leave four more. They were sold in a few hours, when the sale was increased to a dozen, and it was not long afterward that the same merchant bought two hundred at a time! Sylvester Root carried on the business of making wood clocks, in the Ephraim Downs shop, for about two years, 1842-4. It was a common saying at that time, that Root would go into the woods in the morning, cut down a tree and have it made up into clocks before night. That was intended as a compliment to his celerity, but how little the originator of the pleasantry realized what quantities of clocks would be turned out in Bristol in after years! Mr. Downs thought that three thousand clocks a year was a large output, and so it was in his day. From 1844 until 1851, the Downs shop re-
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mained idle, but in the latter year a company consisting of Ralph Terry, Elias Burwell, George and Franklin Downs, commenced the manu- facture of a brass marine clock, invented by Ralph Terry, and eight-day clocks designed by Ralph Terry, and Hiram Camp of New Haven, form- erly with Chauncey Jerome, when he was located at Bristol. After two years they bought out Mr. Burwell, when the firm name was changed from Terry, Downs, Burwell & Co., to Terry, Downs & Co. The busi- ness was discontinued in 1856. David Matthews, in company with Lyman Jewell and Samuel Botsford, made clock movements in a small shop east of the James Holt place, afterwards occupied by the Claytons. They made marine movements for the Litchfield Clock Co., until that concern failed; also for E. O. Goodwin, who cased them in a shop which he put up for the purpose on High Street. The Jewell & Matthews shop was originally fitted up as a turning shop by Andrew, a brother of Chauncey Jerome. It was afterward used by Lyman Jewell, for the manufacture of clock trimmings, daugerreotype case hooks, etc., pre- vious to the formation of the firm of Jewell, Matthews & Co. Besides clock movements, Jewell, Matthews & Co., made galvanic batteries, of several patterns, much used in those days in therapeutics. Matthews afterward was associated with Elmore Horton, in the manufacture of toy drums, from 1860 until 1862. The firm failed, and the later years of Mr. Matthews were spent in the employ of the E. Ingraham Co. Clock calendars were introduced in Bristol by Benjamin B. Lewis, who came here in 1859, with a calendar invented by a man named Skinner. Not succeeding in placing the contract for their manufacture, he commenced to make them himself, in the Manross shop. The calendar failed to sell well, and in 1862, Mr. Lewis contracted with Burwell & Carter, to manu- facture a calendar of his own invention, for five years. This calendar was a great success. He afterward entered the employ of Welch, Spring & Co., as foreman, which position he held for many years. Daniel J. Gale of Sheboygan Falls, Wis., brought an astronomical clock here, of his own invention, which Welch, Spring & Co. commenced to manufacture in 1871. But the clocks were not in demand, and the first five hundred made were never sold. Wm. A. Terry, also invented a calendar, which has no superior, and is absolutely perpetual. It was made by The Atkins Clock Co., and by George A. Jones, early in the seventies. It was previously made at Ansonia. The clock business was once con- ducted on Peaceable Street, in a small shop south of the brick house once owned by Edward M. Barnes, on the same side of the road. Deacon Charles G. Ives was the proprietor, who did a small business. He was succeeded by Orrin Hart, who bought out Deacon Ives, in 1820, and who continued the manufacture of clocks until John Bacon bought him out, in 1833. A shop was built on the opposite side of the road, where, in company with E. M. Barnes, cases were made, the movements being purchased of Chauncey Boardman.
After eight years the partnership was dissolved, and both made clocks separately for three or four years more. Then Mr. Bacon sold the shop to Mr. Barnes, who made candle- sticks, tin spoons, etc., up to the time of his death, in 1871. Neither of these shops is now standing. John Birge was associated, early, with Erastus and Harvey Case, in the manufacture of clocks, which were sold, for the most part, in the South. He was associated also with Ransom Mallory, a biographical sketch of whom appears elsewhere, under the firm name of Birge & Mallory. Joseph Ives, better known as "Uncle Joe Ives," and, probably, the greatest inventive genius in the clock line ever resident in Bristol, commenced manufacturing in the old Manross shop, near the Hubbell factory, in 1811. He was after- ward associated with his brothers, Ira, Amasa, Chauncey and Philo, as early as 1816, who made wood clocks near the Dana Beckwith place. Mr. Ives made a metal clock, in 1818, the wheels of cast brass, and the plates of iron. The clock required a case five feet long, and was made by a company in which Lot Newell, Thomas Barnes, and others were interested. The place where the manufacturing was done was in the shop which stood on the site of the. present Dunbar spring factory.
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He went to Brooklyn, N. Y., where he made clocks for a few years, be- came involved and was imprisoned for debt. John Birge relieved him and induced him to return to Bristol, taking him into partnership, and manufacturing the rolling pinion movement invented by Ives, the best clock ever made at that time. The shop stood near the late Codling Manufacturing Co.'s plant. The writer has seen one of these clocks which had run continuously for forty years, and had never been repaired, nor had it struck wrong during that time. Mr. Birge paid Ives $10,000 for the patent of this clock, and the partnership was dissolved. Ives going to Plainville, where his usual misfortunes overtook him, which was always the case whenever he undertook the manufacture of clocks alone.
About 1832 Lawson and Chauncey Ives built the "Eureka" shop, now the Homestead Bakery, making a movement invented by Mr. Ives. E. C. Brewster, also became interested, about 1860, in a new invention of Mr. Ives, called the "rolling pinion, rolling escapement" clock, intended to so diminish friction as to make oiling unnecessary. But the business was not successful. Many other improvements in the construction of clocks were made by Mr. Ives, who was too much absorbed in them to ever find time to secure a competency for himself. A co-operative concern called The Union Clock Company, from which . we have Union Hill, and Union Street, made clocks for a short time in the Waters shop, on the site of the Clayton Brothers' factory. They sold their clocks in New York at cut prices, but were soon put out of business by the other manufacturers combining against them.
Whigville, which was always so intimately connected with Bristol as almost to be considered a suburb, was also a clock-making village. The old red shop, known as the Jones shop, was built by Thomas Lowrey, of Red Stone Hill, for a cloth mill. His sons, David and Alfred, made clocks there, and were succeeded in the clock business by E. K. Jones and George Langdon. Edwin Bunnell erected what it now the Mills turning shop for a clock factory, also another shop farther north, on the corner. The large shop where the D. E. Peck Manufacturing Co. con- ducted a large turning business for many years, was built for a clock shop by Stever & Bryant, about 1845. They failed in a short time.
Among other manufacturers of clock trimmings and parts mention should be made of S. E. Root, who commenced to manufacture clock dials and sash, of metal, in 1846, in a small room in Chauncey Boerd- man's shop, later occupied by the Ingraham Company. In 1851, he entered into partnership with Edward Langdon, and occupied a portion of the spoon shop, later removing to the shop which stood on the site of the present Dunbar factory. In the fall of 1853, ground was broken for the large three-story factory which stood for half a century on the corner of Main and School Streets. In 1855 the firm of Langdon & Root was dissolved, Mr. Root conducting the business alone thereafter. In 1866, he commenced to manufacture marine and pendulum clocks, pur- chasing the Manross machinery. In 1859 he invented and patented the paper clock dial, for use in small and fancy front timepieces. After his death in 1896, the business was continued a few years by his son-in-law, E. E. Newell, and was then sold to the Fitzpatrick Brothers, who built a shop on the Terryville road, and removed the machinery there. The old Root factory was converted into tenements. Joel H. Root, a brother of the preceding, commenced to manufacture clock trimmings in 1850. For many years he occupied a room in his brother's shop, but, in 1868, put up a small shop on what has since been called Root's Island. Since his death in 1885, the business has been conducted by his son, Charles J. Root, whose life, together with that of his aged mother, his aunt, Miss Candace Roberts, and his sister, Miss Mary P. Root, was terminated by a horrible grade-crossing accident, at Ashley Falls, Mass., August 18, 1907. Mrs. Root and Miss Roberts were granddaughters of Gideon Roberts, the pioneer clock-maker.
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Company D, First Infantry, C. N. G.
BY FIRST LIEUTENANT R. K. LINSLEY, C. N. G., RETIRED.
LT. RAY K. LINSLEY, C. N. G (RETIRED).
T HE movement which resulted in the organization of the present "Co. D" started in the summer of 1899. In earlier days Bristol had been represented in the old' militia regiments, but for a long period there had been no part of the State Military located here. A company in the "Guard" had been talked of at times but it was not until 1899, when the disbanding of Company D in New Britain, left a vacancy in the First Regiment, that these movements took definite form.
A petition for the organization of the company was put in circulation in September, 1899, and quickly filled with more than enough names of would-be soldiers. The Hon. A. J. Muzzy at that time representing this district in the State Senate, took a very active part in the work by securing the approval of Governor Lounsbury and Adjutant-General Cole, and lending his own influence to the movement. General Schulze, then Colonel of the First Regiment gave the movement his most hearty approval and in due time an order was issued from the Adjutant-General's office, accepting the petition and organizing the signers into a military company to be located in Bristol, and known as Company D, First Regiment, Connecticut National Guard. Colonel Schulze was ordered to take the necessary steps to muster the company into service.
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