USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Berlin > History of Berlin, Connecticut > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
By his will, drawn July 15, 1748, witnessed by John Root, John Root, Jr., and Eunice Root, Mr. Burnham divided his real estate equally between his three sons. He mentions his Spanish- Indian woman Maria, and provides that she shall have a com- fortable support during life, in sickness and in health, at the expense of all his children.
"Concerning my Mulatto Boy James," he says, "my will is that according to my wife's desire my daughter Abigail may have liberty to take him at the price he shall be valued at."
Of the nine children born to the Rev. William Burnham and his wife Hannah, Captain William, born April 5, 1705, mar- ried Ruth, daughter of the "rich Isaac Norton," sister of Tabatha, the "Stolen Bride." Their home was next west of his father's, which must have been the Cyrus Root place. It is supposed that he built that house. When he died, at the age of forty-one, his estate inventoried £8,426 10s. 11d., a large amount for his times.
In his will he mentions besides his wife, his only son, Elisha (aged nineteen years), and two daughters, Sarah (aged fifteen years) and Ruth, "the youngest."
Hannah, eldest daughter of Rev. William Burnham, born November 18, 1708, became the wife of Rev. Jeremiah Curtiss of Southington.
161
CHURCH HISTORY OF BERLIN
Abigail, born September 14, 1713, was the wife of Lieut. Robert Wells of Newington.
Josiah, born September 28, 1716, married another Ruth Norton, daughter of John Norton and Ann Thompson, his wife.
Mary, born September 7, 1721, was married to John Judd of New Britain. She was said to be very beautiful and highly accomplished.
Appleton, born April 28, 1724, married Mary Wolcott of Litchfield.
Lucy was married to Jacob Root of Hebron.
Some years since, George Dudley Seymour of New Haven, a patent office lawyer, a descendant of Abigail Burnham Wells, came to Berlin to visit and photograph the ancestral home and the graves in the old cemetery. The Burnham inscriptions there read as follows :
Sarah daughter of Rev. Wm. Burnham, died Nov. 23rd, 1726, aged 8 years.
Capt. Wm. Burnham, d. Mch 12, 1748-9,* aged 44 years.
Mrs. Hannah Burnham, wife of Rev. Wm. Burnham, died Mch 17, 1747-8,* aged 64.
Mrs. Ruth Burnham, wife of Mr. Josiah Burnham, d. June 28, 1762, aged 39.
Here lies interred the body of the Rev. William Burnham, Senior, first pastor of the Church of Christ in Kensington, who having served his generation according to the will of God, fell on sleep September the 23d, 1750, in the sixty-sixth year of his age and the thirty-eighth of his ministry.
Mrs Ruth Burnham, relict of Capt. Wm. Burnham, d. June 28, 1786, aged 76.
The Brandegee family had originally a private burying ground in their home yard. Jacob Brandegee of New York, a brother of Dr. Brandegee's father, did not like to see the graves so near the house, therefore he bought a piece of land east of the old south burying ground and east of the strip owned by Mrs. Zenas Richardson, and had the bodies removed to that place.
* Note the curious inscription. The last figure seems to be the correct one. Capt. Burnham, for instance, was born in 1705.
11
162
HISTORY OF BERLIN
In 1841 he deeded that tract of land to the Worthington Ecclesiastical Society, reserving forever a certain part for his own relatives.
In 1853 Colonel Bulkeley, Philip Norton, and Henry Sage, a committee appointed for the purpose, purchased of Mrs. Richardson, for thirty dollars, that intermediate strip owned by her. Thus the old and new parts were joined and a con- tinuous cemetery was made.
The oldest inscription discovered in the west part, first used, is that of Isaac Peck, who died October 2, 1748, aged forty-two years. In May, 1888, the grounds were extended on the south side by purchase from Walter S. Hart. On April 3, 1903, the cemetery formerly known as the South Cemetery was legally incorporated under the name of The Maple Cemetery (Inc.), Berlin, Conn., and the Worthington Ecclesiastical Society deeded to said association all its rights in the grounds. The amount of its capital stock is five thousand dollars, divided into two hundred shares of the par value of twenty-five dollars each. One share entitles the holder to one vote and to one lot. It was the intention at first to sell the shares at ten dollars each, but when the committee went before the court, they were told that they could not be incorporated unless they charged twenty- five dollars per share. Bryan H. Atwater is secretary and treasurer of the association.
There was a Zalmuna Atwood, whose wife, Sarah Mygatt, joined the Worthington Congregational Church in 1828. She died in 1835, aged sixty-four. Zalmuna died in 1836, aged sixty-four.
When Walter S. Hart built his house next south of the Maple Cemetery he tore down another old colonial house that stood close to the street, where the well in front of the Hart house may be seen.
Mrs. Harriet Hart Dickinson remembers that an Atwood family lived in that house. There were several children, and it is probable that Zalmuna was the name of their father. The children were capable and bright. Jamison, who was a car- penter, built the Universalist Church. Nelson, the grandfather
163
CHURCH HISTORY OF BERLIN
of Clarence Atwood, who was also a house builder, moved to New Haven about 1848. Millicent was the wife of Samuel Pattison and Sarah was the wife of Isaac Dobson.
In the forties the house was occupied by Jefferson Steele and his family.
Sally Atwood united with the Worthington Congregational Church early in life. The reason that her name does not appear in the catalogue of members is shown by the following account taken from an old record book:
In March, 1822, when she was nineteen years old, she asked for a letter of dismission and recommendation to the "Methodist Episcopal church of this place."
The reasons she set forth, six in number, for this step, cov- ered a closely written page of foolscap paper, which was read in church. She said she could not believe with this church in the doctrine of foreordination of eternal election or reprobation.
Reason 3d reads :
I cannot believe with this church that it is possible for men once regenerated and born again to backslide so as to fail of the grace of God.
In number six she says :
When these doctrines are preached, that preaching darkens my mind instead of giving me light, and I am constrained to believe it my duty to walk in the light instead of walking where that darkness of mysteriousness is thrown over my mind
(Signed) S ATWOOD
Deacon Daniel Galpin and John Goodrich were appointed a committee "to confer with said Sally Atwood and endeavor to enlighten her mind and convince her of her error."
The next Sunday the committee reported that they had attended to the duty assigned them and had labored "to con- vince her that the views she entertained of the doctrines of the gospel were erroneous and unscriptural," and that "as she
164
HISTORY OF BERLIN
was young she had better study them more carefully," but that "she still professes to have the same views, and to be conscien- tious in her belief formed upon a careful perusal of the bible and earnest prayer to God."
Imagine a girl of nineteen in this age going through such an ordeal !
Record states that "Sally Atwood joined the Methodist church the same Sabbath and is no longer a member of the 3d church of Worthington in Berlin" (the 2d Congregational church of Worthington at that time was called the 3d church).
Sally's troubles were not at end when in the fold of her chosen church.
She was a stylish young woman and liked pretty clothes. ' One Sunday she went to meeting with a new bonnet on her head and on the bonnet a bow of ribbon. Woe the day! Sally was disciplined for her audacity.
This story reminds me of another: A modest young lady came from East Berlin one Sunday to attend the Methodist church. She had inside of her cottage bonnet, each side of her face, a spray of delicate pink flowers. The preacher fastened his gaze upon her and spoke of the sin of "outward adorning" until he brought a color to her cheeks deeper than that of the flowers she wore.
In a manuscript copy of the list of members of the Worthing- ton Congregational Church, dated 1812, is this curious entry :
Edmond Boldero and Utica-ann his wife
Mr. Boldero was admited to pertake occationly being under the disopline of this church but not to vote being a piscopalin
In the same list of church members made in 1812 appears the name of John Tryon, with this note attached, "a piscopalin in principal but allowed to pertake occationly & to be under the watch of the church but not to vote."
It is said that men are especially interested in the religious experiences and the quarrels of their predecessors. A hint of both is given in a letter discovered by Miss Ruth Galpin, in an old record book.
165
CHURCH HISTORY OF BERLIN
This letter, which relates to a neighbor of Mr. Johns, was laid before the pastor at a meeting of the Worthington church, held December 11, 1807.
It reads as follows :
Revd Sir
Our obligations as Christians concerned for the honor of the Redeemer and the good of souls constrains us to perform a very pain- ful service by preferring a heavy charge against a member of our church
It appears from evidence altogether satisfactory that
has not only given himself up to the government of the most anti- christian passions but allowed himself without even the least provoca- tion to use language most dreadfully profane; he has dared impiously to utter the sacred name of the Divine being, calling on God to damn his fellow creatures, and particularly the pastor of the church of which we are members
Such language uttered by a person accustomed to converse with people of decent manners, is truly shameful as well as criminal; uttered by a professor of the Gospel, it shocks the mind; but when we consider that the accused is an aged man, language fails us when we would fully express the feelings of our hearts
He seems to have descended to the lowest step in the climax of depravity, when a sense of duty and Christian love induced us to converse with him either personally or by delegation concerning his unworthy conduct, so far was he from confessing his sin that he gave the most unequivocal proof of being a slave to the most unchristian temper
Aaron Porter Peat Galpin Amos Hosford Roger Riley Jedediah Sage Daniel Galpin Selah Savage Samuel Porter
Church's Committee
The accused person having refused to appear in vindication of himself but caused a scandalous paper to be exhibited which consider- ably aggravated the first offense and the charge against him having been proved by two respectable and credible witnesses in its full extent, he was unanimously excommunicated as guilty of impiety profanity and breach of covenant.
166
HISTORY OF BERLIN
In 1830 charges brought by William Savage against another member from whom the church withdrew, were
FIRST: that he had never attended communion since the day he joined the church and that he seldom attended public worship with the church.
SECOND: that he had violated the fourth commandment It was stated on this count that "he had been in the habit of wandering in the fields on the Lord's day-cracking butternuts and gathering walnuts."
THIRD: that he has been guilty of falsehood.
S. Durand and Dr. Gridley were appointed to labor with the accused. This committee reported at an adjourned meeting that the member "acknowledged his guilt in all the charges," "but had nothing to ask of the church but only that they would cast him out."
Under date of August, 1828, a record is found of a complaint .by Deacon Daniel Galpin against Nancy Norton, a member of the church, for "withdrawing from the watch and communion of the church in an irregular manner."
"It appears that the said Nancy Norton had joined herself to the communion of the Methodists and said in doing this she had acted from superior light which she had obtained as it respected the darkness of the gospel."
A committee of the church labored with her, but in vain. They reported: "She has acted conscientiously on what she has done, and she will not be reclaimed."
Over a hundred years ago Zadoc Sage lived on the east side of the road near Captain Sage's, and farther south, next beyond the brook, set well back on a hill, may still be seen the home of Deacon Amos Hosford, who died in 1822 in the eighty-fifth year of his age.
At a meeting of the church in the parish of Worthington, held August 4, 1803, the following resolutions were adopted :
Resolved That Amos Hosford, one of the Deacons of the Church having presented the Church with a complete Set of plated vessels
167
CHURCH HISTORY OF BERLIN
for the administration of the Lord's Supper to become forever the exclusive property of the Communicants as a body and their suc- cessors they do accept and determine to use it for the sole purpose designed by the Donor
Resolved That the existing members of the church return their cordial thanks to their kind Benefactor for his very liberal and hand- some present, which they consider as an evidence both of his Christian love to them and his concern for the divine honour
N. B. The just mentioned set of sacramental vessels consists of the following Articles, four flagons, three platters and six cups.
N. B. The tablecloths for sacramental service were also given and the trunk containing the whole furniture.
Moreover Amos Hosford said that it is his Will, the vessels may NEVER BE DIVIDED though there should be a division of the Church and Society hereafter.
'Test, EVAN JOHNS.
To give the foregoing Resolutions all the Authenticity and con- firmation of which they are capable so as that the property of the above named plated vessels may be fully and clearly vested in the undivided Body of communicants at Worthington and their suc- cessors forever, I hereto annex my name this fourth day of August one thousand eight hundred and three
AMOS HOSFORD.
At a town meeting held May 4, 1798, it was voted "that Amos Hosford and Gad Stanley Esq. be appointed agents to oppose the road from Hartford to New Haven in the place or places where the same has been laid in Berlin, by a Com- mittee appointed by the Gen'l Assembly."
Again, October 15, 1798, it was recorded that "Amos Hos- ford was appointed Agent, aforesaid, unless the expenses aris- ing on the same shall be defrayed by a company formed for that purpose, and such alterations shall be made in the places where the aforesaid road is laid as will better accommodate this town and the Public."
Besides being a man of affairs, Deacon Hosford was very religious. It was said that he observed the fast days appointed by the governor, strictly as a time of fasting, meditation, and prayer. He would go to meeting and then shut himself in his room, and was seen no more for the remainder of the day.
CHAPTER X.
The Early Industries of Berlin .*- The Houses of Berlin Street and Their Occupants.
When we study the early industries of Berlin, we find that it was distinctively a "Yankee" town, and on looking here for that "Yankee" ingenuity that made the six small states of New England the nucleus of the developed prosperity of the whole country, we are astonished at the way in which the sons and daughters of every household adopted some trade or profes- sion, which they practiced under the family roof or in a small shop within the dooryard. In the earlier days all manufactured goods were brought in slow sailing vessels from across the sea, mostly from England, and sold at high prices. Our forefathers' wants were few yet their dollars fewer, and with unbounded energy and ability they soon set to work to make what they had neither the means nor the desire to buy. No drones were allowed. Laziness was a disgrace and a crime. Each member of the community turned his hand to some art of practical
A considerable portion of this chapter is based on a paper, read by Mr. Frank L. Wilcox at the Old Home Day celebration in the Second Congregational Church, Berlin, Sept. 20, 1905, and may be said to be a revision and enlargement of his paper. The work of Mr. Wilcox is most noticeable in the beginning-his specialty was the industries of Berlin- and a number of pages were written by him. The material presented in this chapter constituted the beginning of the historical articles on Berlin, as they appeared in the Berlin News, and it is desirable that it should all be reproduced here for the sake of greater completeness. With the permission of Mr. Wilcox, therefore, his own contribution is reprinted along with Miss North's. The reasons for not making this part the first chapter in the book have been stated in the foreword. The introductory paragraphs on the early industries of Berlin, written by Mr. Wilcox, may be given here:
When a few years ago Miss Catharine M. North and I began a study of the good people who lived in the early homes of Berlin in Worthington Society, we were impressed with the fact that nearly every house had sheltered a master mechanic with his apprentices and journeymen, and
169
THE EARLY INDUSTRIES OF BERLIN
utility, first for domestic necessity or convenience, next for barter with his neighbor; then as money became more plenty to sell in his own and adjoining settlements.
In the course of time certain manufacturers, of superior executive ability, increased their forces until they were able to undersell less fortunate makers.
Journeymen could earn higher wages in a factory than at an independent bench and forsook their old masters.
It was no longer profitable for each family and community to make what they could buy cheaply in the stores.
The constantly increasing tendency was to concentrate trade in the larger towns, while leading men and skilled artisans banded themselves together in factory centers.
Finally, on the principle that "In union there is strength," by the inevitable "law of the survival of the fittest," and as the usual consequence of competition, ancient Berlin shared the fate of all small towns in New England. Her many and varied industries were slowly but surely closed.
One result of these changed conditions of which we have been speaking has been to destroy a type of our country life that seemed ideal. The head of the family-and there were families in those days-was like a patriarch, ruling his household with
there seemed no better way to interest this assembly of former residents of Berlin who have returned for Old Home Day, than to present to you the material gathered regarding the homes and activities of your ancestors and their neighbors.
For much valuable information received especial acknowledgements were due Miss Abby Pattison, Wm. A. Riley, Dea. Frederic North, James B. Carpenter, Wm. M. Fowler, Mrs. Caroline Porter Jones, Mrs. Leonard Hubbard, Erastus North and William Bulkeley. We would also render thanks at this time to all others who have so kindly assisted in bringing to memory the pictures of olden days in Berlin, long buried under the dust of modern strife.
While no trouble has been spared to make each statement accurate, authorities have in some cases disagreed, and should errors be discovered, the indulgence of this audience is asked by the writer who would be grateful for corrections, or for further items of interest relating to our subject. I have not undertaken to say anything regarding the parish of Kensington, for the reason that some resident of that part of the town would know his field better than I, and again a description of Kensington would make a delightful subject for some future Old Home day.
170
HISTORY OF BERLIN
dignity, reverenced by his children, his apprentices and his hired servants. One of Berlin's "Fore-elders," at whose table more than a score of persons were fed daily, was quoted as say- ing that "As God was to the human race, so was the relation of the father to his family." Alas! the tribe has gone never to return.
While we regret that so little of the former enterprise remained for the development of its native town, still we feel honored that its talents have been absorbed in the prosperity of adjoining places. In many cities now famous for sheet metal work we can trace the skill of the workmen back to the original industry in Berlin.
Our town had its full share of "wooden nutmeg" fame, for its enterprising manufacturers sent out by foot, by panniers on horseback, and by wagons, the goods made within its borders.
By water from Middletown and New Haven to the southern states was the route taken by our early "drummers." The great West was then awaiting its time of development.
The chief manufacturing enterprises of the town were in its tin shops, blacksmith and shoemakers' shops. The shoes were worn by the busy people and were shipped to distant markets.
The blacksmiths were manufacturing metal workers, who made by hand, with blows of the hammer upon the anvil, every thing of iron and steel that was used, from nails, hinges, and latches for their houses, and tuning forks with which to pitch · their psalm tunes, to shovels, hoes, scythes, and plows for the farm, while the tin manufacturers of Berlin commanded the trade of the country.
The author of "Dwight's Travels" tells us that after the war with Great Britain, in 1815, "10,000 boxes of tinned plate was manufactured into culinary vessels in the Town of Berlin, in one year." It was a grave question to know what to do with the scrap tin. Piles of it are even now, occasionally, turned up by the plow, and the road leading from the hotel west, and from Brandegee's hill towards East Berlin is filled with the waste pieces of tin so that a team driven swiftly over the roads to-day will bring forth a resonant silvery ring.
171
THE EARLY INDUSTRIES OF BERLIN
It is interesting to learn that Charles Parker desired to locate his plant here on the corner opposite the post office. Had he done so the great works of the Charles Parker company in Meri- den might have been in Berlin, and Berlin a city to-day instead of a country village surrounded by cities which had hardly a name when Berlin was well known and prosperous.
At another time the Meriden Britannia Company thought seriously of combining with the tin shop now operated by Mr. Damon, and locating here as one business enterprise. We hear other similar stories. Why so many local factories were closed and so few outside factories could establish a footing here it is difficult to say; but this we know that the original layout of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad passed along the west side of the "Golden Ridge," providing for a depot on the corner in Lower Lane near Mr. Arnold's. But the farmers were unwilling to sell their land and cut up their farms; while the residents of "The Street" fought the plan on account of the smoke, noise, and danger from fire, and to life and limb, so that the survey was changed and the road passed two miles to the west. The arguments that drove away the steam cars were undoubtedly used to repel manufacturing industries.
An idea of the way our forefathers transacted their business can be gained from the following, as given by one of our oldest residents :
When ships arrived at New Haven or Middletown, the mer- chandise for Berlin and towns beyond were loaded onto two-, four- or six-horse teams, as it was a common thing to see twenty or twenty-five of these heavily-loaded teams coming into Berlin like a long caravan. The night was generally spent at the taverns. The horses were stabled, but there was not room under the sheds for the wagons so they were left in the road and often lined the street on both sides for a quarter of a mile.
Many of us remember the dust-colored, canvas-topped, inno- cent looking wagons that quietly passed through Berlin in strings of a dozen or more, carrying gunpowder from Hazardville to the seaboard, and we also remember the town ordinance that
172
HISTORY OF BERLIN
they should not be left at the hotel or on the streets but should be stationed on the town hall green, under guard; also we can recall the words of command from our fathers, and the tender admonitions of our mothers, to keep away from the wagons. Under these circumstances how attractive the wagons were! Each mother's son answered for his own obedience.
In addition to Yankee ingenuity and enterprise the many streams with their water power have made New England the manufacturing center of this continent. Nearly all of the industries of Berlin that are in operation to-day are located on our streams, viz., the Mill river in Kensington, Belcher brook, west of Golden Ridge, Spruce brook, between Worthington street and East Berlin, and the Mattabessett in Beckley Quar- ter and in East Berlin. There were, however, formerly a great many factories and shops in Berlin without water privileges. The power was "horse-power" pure and simple. I offer this as a brief description of a horse-power that was in practical, daily operation in many places in Berlin one hundred years ago :
A large wheel of, say, thirty feet in diameter, lay flat upon the ground moving around a shaft in the center, that was made fast and stationary. A trough about four feet wide ran all around the rim of the wheel; a horse traveled in this trough,- walked or trotted. As he was tied to a post he could not leave the spot, but as he traveled he kept pushing the trough (and attached wheel) from under him. Now we have the wheel in motion, and to transmit power was only a question of mechanics. Generally the transmission was accomplished by friction. Thin iron plates were fastened under the trough; below the trough, and immediately below the horse, was located an iron pulley with shaft; the face of the pulley was the width of the iron plates, and was in contact with them. The weight of the horse in this trough made this contact close. As the wheel was moved by the horse, the friction turned the pulley; the pulley turned the shaft. To the shaft was fastened another pulley of the proper size, on which ran a belt which turned the machinery in the shops.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.