USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Bristol > Bristol, Connecticut : "in the olden time New Cambridge", which includes Forestville > Part 5
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
Occasional services were held in town from 1842 to 1858, by Ad- ventist preachers. In the latter year a church was organized, and in 1880 they bought the old Methodist church building, and began to employ a regular pastor.
The people of Bristol early began to develop the mechanical taste which has been so remarkable a feature of the town ever since. Even before the beginning of the clock business, small shops in various parts of the town were making goods for the towns-people, and to some extent for market.
A grist-mill, that necessary incident of a farming community, had been started by Deacon Hezekiah Rew before 1745, near the Barnes tavern. This was sold to Joseph Adkins, who built a saw-mill at the same place, and afterward sold them both to the Barnes family. Mr. Adkins also built a mill on what is now the Downs site.
A distillery, saw-mill, and grist-mill were also running in Polkville in the early part of this century on the Bartholomew site, but were probably started half a century later than the Barnes mill.
Tin-shops were especially numerous, both in Bristol and in North Forestville, and I suppose that the huge tin-carts were then our principal medium of export trade.
William and Thomas Mitchell early made cloths, it is said in a shop near Goose Corner. It seems very likely that this family owned the
THE OLD DOWNS' MILL, ON RIVERSIDE AVENUE.
OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE."
47
BIRDSEYE VIEW OF BRISTOL IN 1871.
C
7
48
BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
cotton factory at the north side, which was afterward used in the clock business by George Mitchell, and is now used by the Ingraham Company. Another cloth mill stood on the river, near the Barnes tavern. William Mitchell was one of the first makers of cloth in America.
An account-book is still in existence of the tannery business carried on by Jabez Roberts from 1761 to 1770, in a shop near Albert Warner's, and Zebulon Frisbie probably built, during this period, the old tannery building still standing, long unused, on West street.
Before the town's incorporation a partnership built a forge at the falls on the Terryville road, where scrap iron, and iron from the ore, was puddled and wrought for use. The original plan of this company was to extract and use the iron ore found at this locality, but, though abundant, it was found to be too brittle for use, and the experiment was finally abandoned.
Other small shops were early established, but, as the clock business developed, all the capital and skill of the town was drawn into that. The pioneer of clock making in Bristol, and indeed in this country, was Gideon Roberts, who lived in what is now the town house, on Fall Moun- tain, and began in a crude way before 1790 to make clocks. His clocks · were made entirely with hand tools at first, and peddled by him about
* 10-Continued.
(April 10th, 1797.)
Voted, that the Ono. eolation * of the enfection of the Small Pox may be Set up in Briftol under the enftruction of the Civil Authority and Selectmen of fd Town & During the pleafure of the fd Town -
* Inoculation.
(December 13th, 1802.)
Voted that the Inhabitants of this Town Make up their Nomanations for Town Officers in Each Society in Open School Society meeting anually for the futer -
[This seems to indicate that each society commonly presented its own "ticket " for town officers. ]
(May 2181, 1804.)
Voted that Colo Abraham Pettibone John Fuller Jeremiah Grifwold Jeffe Fuller Giles Humphrey and Job Mills be a Committee to Draw the Remains of the New. bridge socalled back to the place where it was Carried from by the late flood Either by a Spell or any other way as they think beft -
(May 24th, 1804.)
Voted that Blifs Hart Bryan Hooker Efqr and David Marks be a Commttee to .make a Draught of by Laws Refpecting Hogs Sheep Geefe turkies &c. going at Large and make Report to Sum Futer meeting -
(June 16th, 1806.)
Voted, that thofe who go to work on the County road next monday fhall have it difcounted on their tax provided that one fhould be laid for the purpofc of make- ing fd road -
Voted, the felect Men fhall provide liquor on fd day at the expenfe of the Town - .
: :
OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE.
FORMERLY THE NORTH SIDE TAVERN.
the country on horseback; after his sons grew up his business was in- creased, so that at one time in 1812 he had four hundred movements in process of manufacture. and his goods found a regular market. especially in the South. He became well off. is said to have owned the first chaise used here, and left a considerable property. During the latter part of his life he was known as a Quaker. and wore the garb of that society. Some of his clocks are still in existence in this neighborhood Like all other clocks of this early period. they were made to hang on the wall; and at a later date were put into the familiar tall cases
Joseph Ives began making clocks about 1811 at the Laporte Hub- bell site in East Bristol, and. soon after, he and his brothers started small shops. one on Peaceable street, one on the brook near the Noah Pomeroy site, and one near the Dunbar spring-shop site. In this latter he made a clumsy metal clock of his own invention. Dunbar and Merni- man were also located on the Pomeroy brook during this decade About 1813. Chauncey Boardman, in a little shop still to be seen near Ash- worth's factory in North Forestville, began making clocks of the primi- tive wall pattern.
The invention of the shelf clock, by Eli Terry of Plymouth, pros- trated the trade in the long clocks that were made here, and our makers all stopped business about 1.20. They soon adopted the new pattern. however, and during the score of years before the panic of 1837, the first Jerome factory, on the spoon-shop site. the Samuel Terry facture. farther east, south of the river. where the Bristol Brass and Clock Com- pany's dam now crosses it. the Eureka shop, built by a large partner- ship. the Bartholomew factory in Polkville, the Burwell shop, built by Charles Kirk, the old Baptist Church building, converted into a factory by Rollin and Irenus Atkins, the Ephraim Downs shop. on the "Bone and Ivory" site. and the George Mitchell factory, which origin- ally the West Britain meeting-house, then moved to Bristol før a bottin- mill. is now a part of the Ingraham case shop, were all occupied in the making of wooden thirty-hour clocks, or expensive brass eight-day clocks.
50
BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
In this Mitchell factory Mr. Elias Ingraham, the founder and head of the E. Ingraham Company, learned the clock trade.
These factories, with the older ones, and the three at Forestville, were making in 1836 nearly one hundred thousand brass and wooden clocks a year.
The completion of the Farmington canal in 1826, by greatly in- creasing the facilities for transportation, had been a great assistance to our local prosperity. Before this all goods had to be hauled to and from Hartford or New Haven in horse-teams. These facilities were further increased in 1850 by the opening of the railroad. The panic of 1837 generally prostrated business, but the invention of the small brass one-day clock by Mr. Chauncey Jerome revived it on a stronger basis than before. Mr. Jerome himself sent an agent to England, estab- lished a market there, enlarged his business, and in 1843 built two large factories, one on each side of Main street just below the bridge. Both these factories, and the Terry factory, the three largest in town, were burned in 1845, and Mr. Jerome moved his business to New Haven. But his cheap brass clocks had given an impetus to business which lasted until the great panic of 1857. Then almost every clock-maker in town failed, or suspended business. Since the revival of prosperity which
*
10-Continued.
EXTRACTS FROM THE NEW CAMBRIDGE SOCIETY RECORDS.
(October 14th, 1742 : - First society meeting.)
At a general Affembly holden at New hauen octob'r 14 1742 they granted us ye memorail of farmington firftt fofiaty liueing in the fouthweft part of fd fofiaty Begin- ing at the fecond third fourth fifth and fixth diuifions of land to begin at the fouth end of fd diuifion and to extend five miles North a liberty of Winter preuiledges to hire an othurdox minifter to preach amongft us fix mounths
it being Neffeary for us to Choofe futabel men to cary on our Neffeary Concerns
We haue at a fofiaty by legal Warning on the Eighth day of Nouember in the year 1742 Maid Choice of those offercers as foloweth
firft we uoited* maid Choice of Ebnezer Barns for our Moderater furthermore at the fame meeting they maid Choice of mofes Lyman to be their fofiaty Clark
At the fame. meeting they maid Choice of edward galord Neimaah manrofs and ebnezer hamblin to be their Commitee for their fofiaty concerns
At the fame meeting maid choice of Samuil gaylord a Collecter to Colect their minefter Rate
At the fame metting they maid choice of John hikox for our fofiaty Trefurer
At the fame Meeting they paft by Voite that we Will hire preaching as long as the Court has giuen us Liberty
At the fame Meeting we paft by Voite that we Would meet at John browns for the Winter feafon for the prefnt
At the fame Meeting We Voted that any two of the Comitee figning of the bills of Charge going in or Coming out fhall be fufifint
(January 28th, 174}.)
At the fame meeting Neamiah Manros Caleb Abernathy and famIl gaylord chofen School Commitee and to take care to git in the fchool mony
At the fame meeting it was Voted that our fofiaty meeting fhould for the futer be warnd by notifications fet up in writeing one at the tavern door one at daniel Roes fhoop and another at the door of the corn mill
voted.
51
OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE."
Somosed
WHITE R
ICE CRI
SODA WATER
MAIN STREET-LOOKING SOUTH-IN 1906.
followed, the business of our clock factories has gone, on, with no such crushing disaster as came in 1837 and again in 1857.
The Joseph Ives shop in Forestville, which has been mentioned, was afterwards occupied in making small wooden articles, and finally in making clock-parts by Elisha Manross. He built in 1845 the factory near the railroad, which was burned and replaced by the Welch and Spring movement-shop in 1870. Hendricks, Barnes and Company went into the old Ives shop, and made there the first marine clocks ever made. This location, after several changes, passed into the hands of Laporte Hubbell, who is still manufacturing in a new building on the same site. Soon after 1820, Chauncey Boardman and Joseph Wells built a factory in North Forestville, near the turnpike. This was one of the most important factories of that time.
Fifty years ago, besides the old houses on the turnpike, and a little settlement near the Boardman and Wells shop, there were only about a dozen houses in Forestville, and the neighborhood of the station and of the Welch Company's factories was still unbroken forest. In 1835, William Hills, J. C. Brown, Jared Goodrich, Lora Waters, and Chauncey Pomeroy built a factory, and began work where the Welch company is now located. Mr. Hills built a house on the south side of the river. and Eli Barnes on the north side, in the same year. The name Forest- ville, which has been already used by anticipation in this address, was then selected for the locality; so that this centennial year of the town is also the semi-centennial of the village of Forestville. Mr. Brown · bought out the rest of this firm, and in 1853 built what is still called the J. C. Brown shop. Upon his failure, this passed to Mr. Welch,
52
BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
and from him to the E. N. Welch Manufacturing Company, organized in 1864, now our largest clock-makers.
After the panic of 1837, there was a general feeling that our in- vestments had been too rigidly confined to one line of business, and the result has been the gradual establishment of hardware, woolen, and other factories, which now nearly or quite equal the clock business in importance. The Bristol Manufacturing Company, formed in 1837, the Bristol Brass and Clock Company, founded in 1850, and now doing, in its three factories, the largest business of any manufacturer in town, J. H. Sessions and Son, whose business was begun in 1869, and the Sessions Foundry Company, organized in 1878, N. L. Birge and Son, the Dunbar Brothers, Wallace Barnes, the Roots, Bartholomews, War- ners, and other smaller concerns, engaged in various kinds of manufac- ture, give our prosperity a far more solid basis than it could have in the growth of any single business. There are now about thirty factories in town, many of them of considerable size, making in the aggregate nearly or quite three million dollars' worth of goods annually, sending and receiving by the railroad over thirty-five thousand tons of freight, giving the direct means of support to two-thirds of the inhabitants, and creating a ready market for all the produce our farmers can raise.
* 10-Continued.
(March 14th, 1745.)
At the fame meeting it was Voted that Bills of Publick Credit of the old tener fhould pafs or be ftated at thurty two fhiling per ounce in filuer
At the fame meeting it was Voted that meafuyers fhould be taken in order to our being fet off for Training
(May 17th, 1745.)
At the fame meeting more then two thirds of the fofiaty declard be their Vote .they Would build a meeting houfe as foon as with Conueniancy may be
At the fame meeting Mofes lyman was Chofen our agent to Peition to the general Affembly for a commitee to ftate the place for the meeting house
(July 2d, 1747.)
At the fame' meeting it was uoted that we will giue mr fam1] newel for fettelment as followeth one hundred pound in half a year and one hundred pound more at the years end and one hundred pound the fecond year and two hundred pound the third year to be paid one half in mony of the old tener and the other half in prouifion pay if he will fettel with us in the gofpel mineftry
(January 16th, 1748.)
uoted that our Collectors fhall Collect the Rates of them thofe that call themfelues. of the Church of england amongft us and we will defend them
(December 4th, 1749.)
Voted that Thomas hart fhould haue his bill of Charges with Refpect to his Colecting the minifteral Rate of those that yt Call themfelues Churchman amongft us as it was laid before the fofiaty
53
OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE."
SOLDIERS' MONUMENT-ONE OF THE FIRST TO BE ERECTED IN THE NORTH
The civil war, and the part taken in that contest by this town, are too recent to need any detailed mention. To most of you that period is not a thing of history, but of memory. I will only say that of the early Connecticut regiments there were Bristol men in nearly every one, and during the first year of the war over one hundred enlisted. Company B of the Fifth, and C of the Fifteenth, contained little bodies of Bristol men, and companies K of the Sixteenth, and I of the Twenty- fifth, were principally made up from here.
Many of our soldiers fought through the entire war, and entered Richmond with Grant at the close: many died in battle, or by disease,
* 10-Continued.
(December 12th, 1750.)
Jofeph Benton det hez Rew was Chofen prifers to prife mr Newl wood at his house
¡ deacon.
omnen fall fit togather in the pews in the meeting houle
(December 3rd, 1753.)
Voted to ad to mr newels Rate on hundred pound mony of the old tener provided he will find himfelf with firewood
Voted to fend a pition to the general Affembly next may for the mony or the uefe of the mony norfolk is to be fold for to fuport of fchooling amongft us and other yong fofiatys if they will joyn with us
den ftephen Barns Benjamin hungerford and Capt galord was Chofen to dignity the meting houfe and Zebulon peck thomas hart and de dauid gaylord was Chofen feators to feat the meeting houfe
54
BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
and were buried in unknown graves; the large body who belonged to Company K of the Sixteenth had almost a harder experience than either for after two years' service they were captured at Plymouth, N. C., and sent to Andersonville prison; and there, or in other prisons, there died twenty-four of the original seventy-four who had gone out with the company.
The entire number of enlistments credited to this town's quota was three hundred and eighty-seven. Deducting re-enlistments and non-resident substitutes, the number of separate men, resident here, who entered the service cannot have been less than two hundred and fifty. Of these, fifty-four, over one-fifth, died in the service; sixteen of wounds in battle, twelve of disease, two at sea, and twenty-four of the unspeakable horrors of Andersonville, Florence, and Libby prisons.
When the war was nearly over, the grief of our citizens at these severe losses, and their respect for the memory of their slain townsmen, found expression in the building of our soldiers' monument, which was completed in 1865, one of the very first in the country.
Another notable monument, in the Forestville cemetery, is the tribute paid by Amherst students to their Professor, Newton S. Manross
* 10-Continued
(December 17th, 1753.)
Voted that the pews next the pulpit fhould be the firft in the dignification the firft feat and the 2 pews next the gret door the 2 the 2 feat and the 2 piler pews the third the corner pews the fourth the light pews the 5 the 2 pews under the ftars the 6
At A fofiaty meten holden on jeaneury ye 12 : in ye year 1767 at the meten hous hezekiah griddelye afq was chofen mooddrater thomas hart m' robbard cogfwell Afa upfon was chofn commitee to A juft the Acounts with the tax gather and Like wife to in spect & ajuft the acounts with the formor collectrs and commitey and fettel yu fofieatys acount with euery own
uoted to meet on ye faborth days at ten a cloock in ye morning and ye inter mithon is to be but own our from this time to ye fuft of march nex
the above meeten was befolued by a uoot *
at the above meete notted uneafesnefs with the committies doouings
(September 25th, 1769, in the matter of the second meeting-house.)
Voted to get the flore Bords and Roof Bords amoung our felves
Voted to get the singles amoung our felves
Voted that En : Samuel Adams fhall Cull and pafs his Judgment upon the fingles that are Brought for the Meeting houfe whether they are fit for fuch houfe
Voted to Give 4 pence hapeny pr foot for all the Hewed timber Great and Small for the above fa meeting houfe Delivered at the place where fa houfe is to be Built Good timber Hewed fit for fuch Building
* Vote.
(May 1711., 1770.)
Voted to Raife our Meeting houfe By a free-will offering " and was Chofen Lieu Jofiah Lewis Lieu Ebn : Barns Rachel Barns wid : Afahel Barns Ens Gerfhom tuttle Samuel Brockway Royce Lewis to keep publick entertainment in the time wee are Raifing our Meeting houle
55
OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE."
who enlisted with the Sixteenth, was elected the first Captain of Com- pany K, and fell at the head of his company, at the first meeting with the enemy.
In 1785, the grand list of the town was $83,309.27 In 1797, this had decreased to 61,715.38
And in 1806, still further to 54,446.52
A corresponding decrease in population took place during the same period. The division of the town in 1806 divided nearly in halves both property and population, and a loss even from that is shown by the census of 1820. Then, it will be remembered, began the especial develop- ment of the clock business, and from that time the town has steadily increased in population, and more rapidly in wealth. The increase reported by the census during the decade from 1870 to 1880, from 3,788 to 5,347, was over forty per cent., a gain equaled by very few Connecti- * 10-Continued.
(August 7th, 1770 )
Voted to Colour our new meeting houfe .
Voted to Colour the above f1 meeting houfe viz : the Body of fl houfe fpruce yellow and the Dores and windows of faid houfe white
Voted to Colour the Roof of our new meeting houfe Spanifh Brown
(December 3'4, 1770.)
Voted that the Meeting houfe Committy fhall give Co= 3=6 pr Gallon for the rum they had of the focity.
(December 6th, 1773.)
Voted that the Society fhall take the Land that was purchafed for a place of pr. rade fouth of the Meeting houfe and pay to thofe that Bought f' Land the fum of ten pounds two hillings And Set ful Land by for the Benefit of the Society of New Cambridge
The above (1 vote is Detected by Lieu'n' Jofiah Lewis Haac ball Abraham Berthold mew Eli Lewis David Newell tim Mix Jacob Bartholomew Royce Lewis Ben will on Jofiah Lewis Jnr abel Lewis Jofeph Row Seth Roberts Samuel Lewis
* Not an offering of money, but of labur
(March 1611, 1789 )
voted that all Town Meetings that Shall happen out of the anual Courfe of the year fhall be warned by the Selectmens Seting up Notifications on the Publick fign Pofts in få Town, and on the feveral Doors of the Tavernkeepers and griftmills in (3 Town of Briftol
July 4th, 1776.
American Independence Was Declared by the General Cungrets
56
BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
cut towns. Since 1880, we believe that this rate of growth has been fully maintained, and that the town has now more than six thousand inhabitants. This increase of population since 1870 has been accom- panied by a marked development of the town; the two banks have been organized, the two newspapers started, most of our important business buildings erected, many business and residence streets laid out, and the general appearance of the town strikingly changed.
The record which we look back upon today is not one glittering with brilliant deeds, nor made illustrious by great names. But our fathers, with the honest, rugged virtues, that made early New England an unique power in the world, have laid for us a good foundation. Industry, integrity, wise conservatism of thought, the reverent fear of God, are * 10-Continued.
(December 6th, 1779.)
Voted that the People be at their own Liberty to pay mr Newels Rate Either ut Silver or Continental money Viz if in Silver their Equal part of 65€ * and if in this Courancy their Equal part of 1300€
April 12 1780 Southington thefe may Certify all whom it may Concern that Jacob Lindfly of New Cambridge is a member of the Baptift Society in Southington & Contributes to the Neceffary Charges thereof & it is Defired he may not be Called upon Elfwhere which is acording to law as Witnefs my hand Stephen Gorton Elder
(April 15th, 1782.)
Voted that it is the Defire & requeft of this Parifh that the Gen' Afembly fhould apoint a Juftice of the Peace in the Parifh of N Cambridge a+ their Next Sefhons
* £65 in silver had some time before been agreed on as an equivalent for the £300 promised in " old tenor " bills.
(December 7th, 1778.)
Voted that the Societies Comittee be impowered to Deal out the Salt that belongs to this Parifh now in the hands of Dea" Manrofs to the widows of Souldiers & other needy Widows & fuch other Needy perfons as they fhall think beft
New Cambridge Decbr 1 1779
Altho the Society of New Cambridge as a Society have not rendered to me what was Juftly Due by Covenant Febry 12 78 & Feb'y 12 79 yet a Number have been Juft & Generous another Number have done Something Considerable a Considerable Number have done but a Small matter towards Juftice yet to prevent trouble in the prefent world I Do Give a free Difcharge to fd Society for what was Due to me for my\fervice at the two above named Periods & Refer them to the Laft tribuna ·where impartial Juftice will be Enquired after
Sam' Newell
37
OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE."
deeply implanted in the rocky soil of this hill. Let not this generation depart from these. Old-fashioned manners are disappearing; let not old-fashioned virtues also disappear. Let not the increase of our material prosperity produce, nor accompany, a decrease of intellectual or moral worth.
We cannot but wonder what will be the history read at our next Centennial Celebration, when the telegraph and telephone are crude curiosities for a loan exhibition, when the Great Rebellion is as remote to the thought as is the Revolution now, when perhaps our acts, and words, and names shall seem as quaint and antique as our fathers' seem now, when perhaps our thirty factories, and six thousand people, our churches, and schools, and institutions of every kind, shall be as petty and strange as the New Cambridge life is to us.
* 10-Continued.
(May 20th, 1782.)
At a Society meting of the inhabitants of the Parifh of N Cambridge Legally warned for the Purpofe of Nominating a man for a Juftice of the peace in fd parifh & holden at the meeting house on the 20th of may A D 1782
Voted that the method for Nominating a perfon for fd ofice fhall be by Each Giving in for the man that he would Nominate with his Name fairly written
The Nomination being brought in & Counted of as aforefd it apears that they were found in the following maner
Deacn Zebulon Peck
50
Lt Joseph Byington
22
Capt Nath Jones
.
2
Thomas Hart
I
Capt Afa upfon
.
I
Luke Gridley
I
James Lee
I
Benjamin Lindfly .
I
INDENTURE OF SLAVE GIRL.
This indentor witneffeth, that I the widow Abigail Deming of Farmington in the . County of Hartford & Colony of Conneticut in New England do Bind one Certain Negro Girl of nine years of age Named Silpah an apprentice to my son William Jearom of the Town & County affore-fd for and Duering the whole term of time of Sixteen years all of which fd term She the ad Silpah Shall faithfully Serve her Mafter & miftrefs in all their Lawfull Commands not abfenting from their bufinefs by night nor by Day their Secrets keep their Commands obey & behave in all points faithfully as a good Servant aught to do duering the whole term of fd time
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