USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Hartford > Colonial history of Hartford, Connecticut > Part 29
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The method of conducting local trade in colonial times, was largely by the exchange of produce for the wares of the shopkeeper, or the labor of the mechanic. As early as 1662, the town had a sealer of measures, and a sealer of weights was chosen in 1687. Old-fashioned steelyards were owned in nearly every home. All kinds of produce had a certain standard of value; and this varied very little during long periods. Ledgers, or account books, came to be kept in most families. Some of these have been preserved. At a convenient time, and often after a long interval, two parties would meet, compare their charges against each other, and the debtor would pay the balance in cash. This they called a "reckoning." In many instances, a record of the settlement was made on their books, and signed by both parties. Rev. Daniel Wadsworth, for instance, notes in his diary the fact and date of his reckoning with Robert Sloan, at his "shop," which was then on the north side of the square, where Captain Hezekiah Collyer afterwards lived. A certain shoemaker's ledger, covering the period from 1770 to 1784, shows that he was paid for shoes in walnuts, butter, sugar, salt, milk, wheat, rye, wood, various kinds of meat, cider and rum. Colonel Jeremiah Wads- worth discharged part of his debt with molasses; Colonel Wyllys by recording two deeds, and Dr. Solomon Smith by medical attendance. Rev. Nathan Strong turned in, on his account, beef and veal; and Josiah Clark six chairs.
Throughout the entire colonial period, trade was con- ducted, occasionally, on the decks of vessels, lying in the river or at the landing. The reasons are obvious. A Courant advertisement on December 29, 1766, announces the sale of codfish, ironware, powder and shot, on board the
1 State Archives: Revolution, V: 22.
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schooner Squirrel, Ephraim Bartlet, master. The next December, the same master advertised a sale on the sloop Industry. Perhaps, he was accustomed to winter at Hart- ford for this purpose. In 1770, Enoch Reed, on board the sloop Tender lying at Hartford Ferry, advertised to buy flaxseed with rock salt. He was probably gathering a cargo for Ireland. There, also, the same year John Updike, on board the Dolphin, bought wheat. The schooner Peggy sold English goods at the same place in 1785. Such traffic illustrates the methods of early traders in their ventures abroad. It tended, in Hartford, to concentrate trade at the landing. This the warehouse perpetuated. Such build- ings were used generally for grain, iron, flaxseed and bulky merchandise. After King Philip's War, there was a gradual separation between export or river trade, and local traffic among the inhabitants. Thus the storekeeper claimed the business of the earlier trader.
This advance was partly due to the development that had been going on, meanwhile, among the town's craftsmen. Nearly all the early settlers followed husbandry to some extent; but many of them worked at their trades. There was work for the carpenter, mason, blacksmith, shoemaker, tailor, tanner and glover. We know that these and other trades were represented among them. Their work was at first carried on in the home, or in a small building adjoin- ing, called a "shop." William Kelsey had a "working- shopp" on his lot in 1652.1 Peter Bassaker was a smith, and made nails by hand. Such were sometimes called "nailers." In 1646 he had a shop on the north side of Pearl Street. He profanely expressed a hope of meeting some of the members of the church in infernal regions; but he appears to have met them the next lecture day, as they passed him in the pillory.2 His shop went to his creditors. Nicholas Desborough was a carpenter or cabinet-maker, though he was afterwards accused of being a witch. His home was on North Main Street, near the tunnel. In 1660, he asked the town for liberty to build on the highway next his fence a shop sixteen feet square. His request was
1 Original Distribution, p. 449.
2 Ibid., pp. 311, 395; Conn. Col. Rec., I: 168, 169.
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granted. A committee was appointed in 1683, to assign Ebenezer Lewis a place to build a shop "for his trade of a smith." He also located near the tunnel. Doubtless, he used the smith's tools, which his grandfather William Lewis had secured from John Holloway and had willed to him.1 Such instances might be multiplied. Thus the shop where an artisan plied his trade, became a factor in the town's business life. Desirable locations were sought near the bridge, or along the banks of the riveret, and elsewhere. Such as built upon their own lots, often located in front of their houses, near the street. Sometimes their shops encroached upon the highway. As new houses came to be erected, especially on the square or Main Street, their builders yielded to the fashion, and, in their lower front rooms, many of the stores of later years were kept, as the records and advertisements prove. The rest of the house was occupied for household purposes. It was natural for these craftsmen to keep for sale those articles that their trade produced. Thus, the silversmith became the jeweller; the printer, the bookseller; and the tanner, the leather dealer. Instances are known where the produce such craftsmen received for their work led them, also, to become grocers. In this way, shopkeepers were multiplied. Nor was it long before others, who had no trade, seeing the oppor- tunity, established stores for the sale of such merchandise as they considered profitable. The more enterprising of these pushed out into the highway of traffic. In front of their shops they hung out the ancient swinging sign, with some symbol or name upon it. Thus, the town's main highways assumed a different appearance. The broad expanse of green, traversed by roadways and shaded by ancient trees, continued about the same; but along its sides, old farm-houses, which had defied innovations for many years, began to disappear. Newer houses, which were much better adapted for stores, were erected in their places. Quaint little shops were built in front of, or near those, that remained. As if to invite trade, their swinging signs bowed in the breezes to every passer-by; and the paths that led
1 Hartford Town Votes, I: 202; Original Distribution, p. 72; Manwaring's Hartford Probate Records, I: 331.
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to their doorways witnessed to their success. It was a picture not so different from some to be seen now in old English towns.
The reader would, perhaps, become better acquainted with this business life of Hartford, if he were conducted along its main highway, as it was about the close of the colonial period. In general, the land records give us the names and location of residents along this street, and glimpses of their shops. Some buildings were erected by permission upon another's land, for which no lease was recorded. There were old homesteads that had adjoining shops, which were rented, from time to time, to various parties. Much may be gathered concerning their shops from advertisements in The Connecticut Courant. We have, also, to assist us Barber's "Plan of Main Street" during the Revolution, made with the assistance of certain aged men of his day.1
Let us set out from Amos Hinsdale's tavern, near the corner of Wyllys Street, and make Buckingham Street our next station. Mr. Hinsdale was by trade a wheelwright, and worked some as such. He acquired this property in 1745, and lived there many years. In 1775, his neighbor next north was Captain Daniel Sheldon, who bought there in 1765. Beyond him, Ebenezer Crosby lived. Here, Consider Bowen had a shop later. He sold it in 1789, to Nathaniel S. Benton. Farther north, the property was undeveloped on the east side of the highway, then called the "Country Road." On the west side of the South Green, there was an open field. North of this, in 1774, William Adams, a shoemaker, had a small one-story shop. This was the southernmost lot of a tract owned by the Second Ecclesiastical Society. In 1636, about four acres here, extending north to the road from George Steele's to the South Meadow, were distributed to John Moody. His grandson, John Moody, sold the tract, in 1691, to the Second Church. It then had an "old houfe & Barns" upon it. The church committee, at the Society's desire, con- veyed it, in 1696, to Rev. Thomas Buckingham, from whose son, Joseph Buckingham Esq., by the deed of his
1 Barber's Connecticut Historical Collections, pp. 48, 49; The Hartford Times, March 21, 1912; Crossing the Connecticut, p. 16.
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mother, Mrs. Ann Burnham, it returned as a gift, in 1762, to the Second Society. In view of the Society's purpose to lease this property, Barnabas Hinsdale made a survey of its several lots in 1774, with sketches of the houses upon them.1 On the lot next north of Adams's shop, there was a large two-story house, with chimneys at either end. It was that "once proposed to be given" to Rev. William Patten, at his settlement in 1767, and was called the "parsonage house." 2 Here Mr. Patten resided some years. On the north, there was a vacant lot. In 1783, Jonathan and James Steele, Jr., located on the south half, and Asa Francis on the north half. The next house was leased, in 1777, to Dr. William Jepson. It was a small two-story tenement, prob- ably correctly represented in Hinsdale's sketch. Here he kept a shop for the sale of drugs and medicines, and practiced his profession until his death. His inventory furnishes a reliable list of his stock.3 This is a good illustration of an early drug store kept in the lower front room of a residence. On the north, there was a small gambrel-roof house, with a chimney at one end. This was the home of Barzillai Hud- son, a mason by trade, who secured a lease of it in 1774. At the same time, Ebenezer Watson, a printer, and the publisher of The Connecticut Courant, acquired the corner house, where the South Church now stands. Barber's plan indicates that this had been the home of "Parson Buckingham." Here, also, his son, Joseph Buckingham, Esq., had lived. According to the sketch, this was a two- story house of the usual pattern, with a large central chim- ney. Ebenezer Watson died September 16, 1777, and his widow, Hannah (Bunce) Watson, married February 11, 1779, her neighbor, Barzillai Hudson.4 The house in the
1 Dr. Parker's History of the Second Church, p. 126.
2 Ibid., p. 130; Hartford Land Records, 18: 353; 19: 518.
3 The list of Dr. Jepson's drugs and medicines contains 136 items. He had a large assortment of bottles of various kinds, mortars, ladles, boxes, ete. A set of instruments for amputating, another for trephining, a case of dissecting knives, a set of teeth instruments, a case of five lancets, seven catheters, a case of couching- needles and a syringe are mentioned. His medical library contained 52 volumes. The Doctor had a horse, harness, sulky and saddle. These items give a good representation of the physician and surgeon at the close of colonial times.
4 Ebenezer Watson, son of John and Bethia (Tyler) Watson, was born, May 1, 1744, in Bethlehem, Conn. He married, (1) Oct. 1, 1767, Elizabeth, daughter of
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rear was leased in 1774, to Elisha Burnham, a blacksmith. In 1825, this corner again returned to the Second Ecclesi- astical Society.1
Proceeding northward to the Little River, there was, on the east side, the homestead of Captain Aaron Bull, a prominent South-side man in his day. He was one of the seven or more residents on Main Street, who had followed the sea. Barber calls him "Sea Captain and Shoe maker." His house was lately razed, being the well-known "Joseph Whiting house." The lower east room was called, in 1793, a "shop." Here, or in another building on this lot, Epaphras Bull once made and sold copper ware. Next north, was the Freeman Gross homestead. There had been, and perhaps was in 1775, a shop between it and the Richard Burnham house, farther north. It was bought from Mr. Gross in 1737, by William Adams, "cabinet maker." He sold it, in 1739, to Isaac Tucker, who was of the same trade. In 1743, it passed to Michael Burnham. The brook, else- where mentioned, flowed underneath this shop. In front of the Burnham house there was a blacksmith shop. Mi- chael Burnham, the son of Richard, had asked the town's liberty, in 1732, to erect a shop at the west end of his father's house, one and a half feet upon the highway, and the width of the house. Richard Burnham was a blacksmith. In 1738, when the father conveyed his homestead to his son, he also gave him this "blacksmith shop" and his tools. This illustrates their custom, of erecting such shops in front of their homes. In 1753, William Hooker secured Michael Burnham's lot. Barber calls him "Old Will Hooker, Butcher and Blacksmith." His inventory in 1794, proves the statement. The butcher shop was on Arch Street.
Richard Seymour of Hartford. She died April 11, 1770. He married, (2) Aug. 1, 1771, Hannah, daughter of Aaron Bunce (John Watson of Hartford, by Thomas Watson, pp. 17, 24; Hartford Land Records, 14: 191; 21: 451). Barzillai Hudson son of William and Sarah (Fobes) Hudson, was born in 1741, in Bridgewater, Mass. He married, (1) Margaret, daughter of Zebulon Seymour of Hartford, a cousin of the first wife of Ebenezer Watson. These relations, doubtless, led to their occupa- tion of adjoining houses. Hannah Hudson died Sept. 27, 1807. Barzillai Hudson died Aug. 1, 1823 (Orcutt's Hist. of Torrington, p. 723; Mitchell's Hist. of Bridge- water, p. 201).
1 Hartford Land Records, 21: 451; 22: 83, 324; 43: 342.
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This homestead passed, in 1773, to Joseph Reed, who sold to Ezra Hyde the southern half, where the Thatcher house now stands. The northern half, on which Hooker's "old house" stood, was confiscated during the Revolutionary War, when Reed joined the enemy. In 1781, the State sold it to Enos Doolittle. North of this, Abraham Beach had bought, in 1762, from his stepfather, Dr. Jonathan Bull, one-half acre, and established there a grocery and dry-goods business. He offered this property for rent in 1765, with his "new dwelling-house," having a "fine store under the whole." The next year he sold, and William Hooker acquired it for a home in 1770, before selling his old home- stead. It passed to Dr. Daniel Butler in 1782. Mr. Beach became a well known Episcopal clergyman.1 He is said to have been the author of the prospectus of The Connecticut Courant in 1764. The homestead of Jonathan Bull was farther north, on the corner of Sheldon Street. On the west side of this section, Barber locates "Elisha Burnham's Blacksmith's shop," near Buckingham Street. Next north, was the Gideon Bunce homestead, so-called for several generations. Beyond this, Isaac Tucker bought land, in 1755. His shop had previously been in Cooper Lane, perhaps the one that formerly stood on the north- west corner of the Cone lot. His son Isaac acquired this property in 1769, and, until 1775, resided there, conducting a blacksmith shop. He was a soldier in the Revolution, and was killed in the battle of White Plains. The apparent excess of smiths may be accounted for by the demand for nails and other iron work, in later colonial times. Farther north, was the homestead of Rev. Elnathan Whitman, the lot extending to that of Thomas Seymour, Esq., where the school-house and horse sheds had stood in the highway. Next north, there was a shop, where Dr. Daniel Butler advertised to sell drugs in 1784. The following year, Colonel Miles Beach, silversmith, opened a shop there, at first with Isaac Sanford, and later with James Ward. His house was in the rear. Beyond the home of Samuel Howard, where Norman Butler in 1781 sold dry-goods, was Butler's Tavern, and then Elm Street, with its riverside shops and
1 Dexter's Yale Biographies, II: 446-449.
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tanneries. Such was Main Street on the south side, after one hundred and forty years - a country road in truth, with some ancient houses, none of which were highly orna- mental, and a half dozen scattered shops.
Going northward from the bridge to the square, we enter a busier section. On the east side, the corner lot had been sold by Mrs. Abigail Woodbridge, in 1750, to Timothy Shepard. She reserved an old house, which was succeeded by the home of Timothy and Josiah Shepard. In 1753, she sold the lot north of this to Ebenezer Balch, from whom it passed, in 1755, to James Caldwell, a sea captain. His house was partly devoted to trade, later. Charles Caldwell had a house here, which he sold in 1765 to William Gardiner. He removed his store from Exchange Corner to this house, and sold there English goods, china and glass- ware. At his death in 1766, from injuries received in the school-house explosion, this property passed to Benjamin Payne Esq., a lawyer. During the Revolutionary War, there was a store here, probably the one commonly called "the red store." Here, Kelliger and Tisdall, William Seymour and Daniel Jones and Co., were successively tenants. The north part of this lot was owned later by George Merrill, who in 1793 sold to Oliver Ellsworth, with his right in a twelve foot gangway, separating this from the home of Rev. Nathan Strong on the north. Beyond this, was the one-acre lot, which Mrs. Abigail Woodbridge sold in 1733 to Rev. Daniel Wadsworth. This had originally been a part of Elder William Goodwin's home lot, which extended south to the bank of the Little River.1 It was also called the "Way Lot." On its north end the Wads- worth homestead was located. It is now the site of the Wadsworth Athenaeum. North of this, on the Flagg property originally owned by John Steele, Deacon Ezra Corning, in 1766, acquired from Samuel Olcott and John Chenevard one-half acre, with a mansion-house. Here, for many years, he carried on an extensive trade as a shoe- maker. The owner next north was Stephen Meers, of whom Barber says, he had "various trades." He sold English goods and exchanged them for homespun woollens.
1 Original Distribution, pp. 23, 24, 513, 15, 60; Hartford Land Records, 1: 155.
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In 1772, he sold the southern part of his lot to John and Aaron Bradley, who came from Guilford. Aaron Bradley conducted here, in 1775, a shop for horseshoeing. In 1776, this property passed to William Ellery. It had then a dwelling-house upon it. North of Meers' store was the Flagg tavern. Just beyond it, was the store of Captain Thomas Hopkins, one of the best known in Revolutionary times. It encroached upon the highway. Here he sold English and India goods, sugar and spices. Barber calls him a "sea captain," as he also does John Chenevard, whose house was located on the north, where the Times Building now is. In 1769, Mrs. Margaret Chenevard sold wine, chocolate and snuff there. Next, on the north, was the homestead of John Butler, whose wife Susannah survived him. On the south part, which was leased to Hezekiah Merrill, Daniel and George Merrill erected, about 1773, a "Merchants Shop or Store," partly in the highway. It was twenty-two feet in breadth and forty feet in length, with its end toward the street. At this "new store," Dr. Hezekiah Merrill conducted the business of an apothecary and bookseller. He bought this property in 1775. The next year George Merrill succeeded him. His sign was the "Unicorn and Mortar." The unicorn was an ancient emblem of booksellers, and the mortar was considered appro- priate for the druggist. It is sometimes seen now. A few years later, Hezekiah Merrill acquired the north part of this homestead, "with an old Manfion" upon it. The house had disappeared, when he conveyed the lot in 1789 to Oliver Ellsworth, with one-half the gangway on the south. The present wooden building was erected by the grantee soon afterwards. On the corner where the Hartford Trust Company Building now stands, Allen McLean had a shop in 1765, and advertised tamarinds for sale. Later, Dr. Neil McLean claimed this property, and it was occupied by Amasa Jones, a storekeeper. It became the site of John Caldwell's store.
On the west side of Main Street, near the bridge, Captain John Skinner kept a shop for some years. His house was so near the highway that his piazza encroached upon it. Here, and elsewhere, he made sales at auction, sometimes,
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doubtless, at the sign-post, as his predecessors had.1 North of Wells Street, was the homestead of William Stanley, his house being located on the southern portion of the lot originally distributed to his ancestor, Sergeant Thomas Stanley. West of it were his outbuildings. He died in 1786, and his real estate eventually passed to the Second Ecclesiastical Society. In 1701, Nathaniel Stanley had conveyed three roods at the north end of the original tract, next to the burying-ground, to his son-in-law, Nathaniel Hooker. South of this Hooker lot, in a building on William Stanley's land, Thomas Green and Ebenezer Watson established the third home of The Connecticut Courant, the location being described as "near the Great Bridge." Green became interested with his brother Samuel in New Haven in the autumn of 1767, and removed thither the following spring, leaving the management of the Courant to his partner; but he retained his connection with the newspaper until 1771. In 1768, they probably bought a building here that had been used for shops, as portions of it were afterwards. It was a two-story building, with north and south entrances. The first floor of the north side, or more likely of another building connecting with it on the north, was occupied in 1772 by Enos Doolittle, who made, cleaned and repaired clocks and compasses. The building of Green and Watson was about opposite the southwest corner of the Morgan Memorial. They were the owners of it in 1777, when Ebenezer Watson died. His inventory included "Half the Shop Belonging to Green & Watson-£30." It also mentioned Watson's interest in "The Printing Room over Mr Doolittle's Shop-£30." As there were shops below, the Courant office occupied the second floor of both buildings.2 From the accounts of the
1 Conn. Col. Rec., III: 111; Mem. Hist. of Hartford County, I: 299.
2 Watson's inventory gives valuable information concerning an early printer's possessions. "At the Printing office: 1 Printing Press, £20-0-0; 11 Pair Printing Cafes @ 15/-8-5-0; 2 Large frame for Dº 20/, 7 Small D° 35/-2-15-0; Half the Shop Belonging to Green & Watson-30-0-0; The Printing Room over Mr. Doo- little's Shop - 30-0-0; Lye Trough 24/, Iron for Sign 10/-1-14-0; Large Iron Kittle 7/, Iron Pot 7/6-0-14-6; Iron Pounder 8/, Small Iron Kettle 2/-0-10-0; Blanks 3-10-0, Accompt Book 30/-5-0-0; Old Wrighting Desk 8/, Iron Skillet 1/6-0-9-6; 37 Ream Printing Paper @ 10/-18-10-0; Saw 2/, 6 Small Gallies 9/, 2 folio D° 6/-0-17-0; 1 Long D° 2/, Salmons Gazetter 4/- 0-6-0; 3 Chairs
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administrator, Barzillai Hudson, we learn that it had become necessary to remove these buildings, and they were sold, at a loss of £45 to the estate. This was probably soon after 1782. That year, Barzillai Hudson and Enos Doolittle acquired this portion of the Stanley lot, being one- third of an acre. There was then only a small building, recently erected for a barber shop, between the Stanley home and the printing-office. The purchasers divided this tract into four lots. The owners going north were, George Burnham, who sold in 1785 to Daniel Hinsdale, a former tenant of the printing-office; John Dodd, Barzillai Hudson, and Enos Doolittle. The old buildings on the last two lots were soon removed. Hudson then erected a new building, in which the Courant was published for many years. A conveyance of 1792 describes this lot as that, "whereon the printing office now occupied by Hudson and Goodwin" stands. Its frontage was nineteen feet, and its depth fifty feet. Probably the building was narrow, and stood with its gable toward the street. It was removed in recent times. North of a ten foot passway, Enos Doolittle also erected a new building upon his lot. There he lived and carried on his trade as a clock-maker. Specimens of his work have survived.1
7/, 4 Compofing Sticks 48/-2-15-0; Twine 4/, Bank 4/, old Slice & Handirons 2/6-0-10-6; All the old Printing Types Belonging to the office - 50-0-0; New Types Lately Imported from Philadelphia - 161-0-0." At Watson's house he had a "Map Lexington Battle." He also owned one half of a paper mill, with the house and land valued at £475, 16 s. Paper was early obtained at Christopher Leffingwell's mill in Norwich. The Courant was suspended for lack of it from Dec. 11, 1775 to Jan. 15, 1776. In the summer of 1775, Watson bought a mill site at "Five Miles," now Manchester, and, in company with Austin Ledyard, established a paper-mill. Here the Courant's paper was made. This mill was burned on the night of Jan. 27, 1778, it was thought by an incendiary. Widows Watson and Ledyard petitioned the General Assembly for help in rebuilding it, and were granted the privilege of a lottery. In 1779, it was again in operation. Elisha Babcock, later a Hartford printer, was, perhaps, running it. He acquired an interest, which he sold in 1780 to Barzillai Hudson and Daniel Butler, it being the mill set up by Watson and Ledyard. A Courant advertisement in 1782 indicates that there were then two paper-mills in Hartford, apparently under the same management. It is said that one was set up at Buckland in 1780, by Richard L. Jones. Hudson and Goodwin erected one at Burnside in 1789, where paper for the Courant was made many years. State Archives: Industry, II: 159, 160; Goodwin's Hist. of East Hartford, pp. 154-158; Mem. Hist. of Hartford County, II: 250-252; Hart- ford Land Records, 13: 300, 361; 14: 191, 215; Rec. State of Conn., I: 503, 5,49, II: 197, 198.
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