USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Berlin > History of Berlin > Part 15
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Perhaps I cannot better note the early importance of Berlin than to say that Edward Augustus Kendall, Esq., devotes thir-
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THE EARLY INDUSTRIES OF BERLIN
teen pages to it in his book of "Travels through the Northern Parts of the United States, in the Years 1807 and 1808," and then, to quote the closing paragraph of his chapter on Berlin :
Berlin has become a place of some notoriety, partly on account of a tin manufactory which has been established here. Its founder was one Patterson, a native of Ireland; and though it soon fell into many hands, it was long confined to Berlin. At present, however, the number of its tin manufacturers is increasing, many having scattered themselves through the towns below, and others having emigrated to the southward. One of those in Berlin employs sixty hands during the summer season. In the winter he removes to Philadelphia for the extension of his trade. The mode in which the wares are disposed of is that of peddling and barter. They are carried inside and outside of small wagons, of a peculiar and uniform con- struction, on journeys of great length, and are to be met with in all directions. From Philadelphia they cross the Allegheny moun- tains, and are probably seen on the Mississippi. They go into Canada and vend their wares in Montreal and Quebec.
Dr. Dwight, in his "Travels," after commenting upon the methods used by Berlin manufacturers in disposing of their products, says :
They went with their wares to every part of the United States.
I have seen them in 1797 on the peninsula of Cape Cod, and in the neighborhood of Lake Erie, distant from each other more than six hundred miles.
They make their way to Detroit, four hundred miles further-to Canada and Kentucky, and if I mistake not to New Orleans and St Louis.
Some idea of the industries of Berlin street, East Berlin, and Beckley Quarter may be obtained from the following table, which comprises only such as are mentioned in this paper and the list is not yet complete :
Academies 2
Ball-rooms
4
Bandbox factories
Blacksmiths 9
Blind trimmings
1
Book binderies 2
Brooms
2
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HISTORY OF BERLIN
Cabinet making
4
Carpenter shops
2
Carpets and rugs
1
Carding mill
1
Chair scating
1
Cider mills
6
Cider brandy distilleries
3
Clock factories
2
Clock and compass jewels
1
Cotton factory
1
Cooper
1
Combs
1
Carriages and wagons
9
Corrugated shingles
1
Drug stores
3
Dry goods
3
Foot stoves
2
Fur goods
1
General merchandise
4
German silver spoons
1
Grist mills
4
Groceries
3
Guns
1
Hat factory
1
Hoe, rake and chisel factory
1
Horse market
1
Iron bridges and buildings
1
Japanning
1
Law offices
2
Milliner and dressmaker shops
3
Mulberry groves, silk worms
2
Nails, cut
1
Ox yokes and wooden pumps
1
Peat factory
1
Percussion caps
1
Pistols
1
Plaster mill
1
Saddler and harness shops
3
Saloons
3
Saw mills
1
Schools-private
3
Screws
1
Scythes
2
Shoemakers
12
175
THE EARLY INDUSTRIES OF BERLIN
Slaughters 3
Spectacles and jewelry
1
Stone and marble cutting 4
Stamped copper and tin warc
1
Stove factory
1
Taverns and saloons
9
Tailors
3
Tin shops
12
Tinners' tools
6
Town pumps
2
Whipping post
1
Tan-bark mills
2
Tanneries
6
Thread, cotton and silk factory
2
Undertaker
1
Watch and compass jewels
1
Wood turning
2
Yarn
1
The memory of nearly all of us goes back to the time when the grocery and apothecary store, on the northwest corner of Main street and Berlin station road, was kept by Deacon Alfred North, and where from 1844 to 1886 he was consulted by the town, not only in his capacity of town clerk and treasurer, but as the trusted counselor and good friend of all.
For many years previous to 1844 this stand was occupied by Josiah Edwards, Jr., who was assisted by one and another of his five sons, whose names were Lewis, Edward B., Alfred, Henry, and Elisha.
At this store could be found groceries, dress goods-calico, merino, and silk-violin strings, jew's-harps, jewelry, crockery, drugs and medicines, and a little of almost everything needed for family use those days. Here also seventy years ago "The Hartford Courant" was left for distribution in the neighbor- hood.
It was said that the father of Mr. Edwards, who lived in the south part of the town, gave him $6,000 with which to start in business, and that the whole amount was lost through the ras-
176
HISTORY OF BERLIN
cality of his partner. The stairway and north part of the store were added at a later date, and were finished off for a tenement.
The large double house north of the store, now owned by Luther S. Webster, was built in 1828, for two sons of Mr. Edwards-Edward B. and Henry, both of whom were engaged to be married.
One day Henry drove to Hartford for a load of lumber to be used in the new house. On his way home, coming down a steep hill, he was thrown from the wagon in such a way that the wheels passed over his body, and he was killed. He had been an active member of the Second Congregational Sunday School and was remembered as a remarkably fine young man.
The Edwards homestead, which formerly stood near the north side of the store, was moved, about 1862, north of the large house, and is now occupied by Miss Harriet L. Edwards, daughter of Edward B. Edwards.
West of the Edwards house, at a distance of about 150 feet, was a large carriage factory. The business, which was started by Josiah Edwards, was continued by his son, Edward B., who had an extensive trade in the south, especially in Augusta, Ga., and in Wilmington, N. C. The factory was burned in 1844, was rebuilt, and is now the main part of Mr. Damon's tin shop. Lewis Edwards, who learned the trade of book-binding, built the house next north of the old church, now owned by James W. Woodruff, and had a shop in his south yard.
One Sunday noon a workman went into the bindery to wash and dress. On going out he left a cigar stump on a pile of papers which caught fire, and destroyed the building.
An old letter, relating the circumstance, states that when the fire broke out, Priest Goodrich was preaching his afternoon sermon. He saw the flames and "with his knee buckles on," came down the pulpit stairs, with both hands upraised, and exclaimed : "The church is on fire !" The bindery was rebuilt, but soon after-about 1834-Mr. Edwards moved to Norwich, Conn., where, with his brother Elisha, he carried on the busi- ness for many years. The new shop built by Lewis Edwards was moved onto Hart street and made into a dwelling house for Leonard Pattison.
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THE EARLY INDUSTRIES OF BERLIN
In the highway, south of the Edwards store, where the hay scales are now, was once the Town whipping post. The last man whipped there was Charles Stocker, a colored man, who lived on Caesar's Hill, and whose father gave the name to the hill. The crime was petty theft. Mr. William A. Riley remembered seeing him whipped, and he said "How he did holler."
There is a legend that Charles Stocker's feet were so large that he always had to hang them outside of the wagon when he rode, because there was not room enough for them within. This is the man who pumped the organ in the old meeting house for so many years, and received for his services one pair of shoes each year. That both facts are recorded goes to show that the church was very liberal in its appreciation of organ blowing.
In early times this end of the town was known as "Boston Corners." In 1796 Benjamin Galpin was licensed to keep a tavern on the southwest corner, which was then the regular stopping place for post-riders. After the Hartford and New Haven turnpike was completed in 1800, the Boston and New York stages changed horses at this same tavern.
In 1813 Jesse Hart, a cabinet maker, who lived in the brick house on Willard street now owned by Mr. LeClair, purchased the tavern at Boston corners and became its landlord. Mr. Hart was appointed postmaster and the office was kept in his house not only for all of this town but for surrounding places. Until 1825 New Britain people came to Berlin for their letters, weekly newspapers, and express parcels.
Where the hotel shed now stands there was a store, when the place was sold to Mr. Hart. The next year, his son George, who was a sheriff, placed overhead in that store for safe keep- ing, a lot of household goods that had been attached for debt. At night a fire broke out. A fresh coat of paint had just been put on the building and the flames ran over it like wild-fire. In the morning nothing remained of the store, barns or tavern, but ashes. George Hart, who was the first husband of Mrs. Col. Bulkeley, and the father of Mrs. Harriet Dickinson, died in 1825, at the age of thirty. It was said that he caught his
12
178
HISTORY OF BERLIN
death cold going out at midnight to wait for the mail. Jesse Hart rebuilt, but died in 1827 and was succeeded by his son-in- law, Norris Wilcox, who afterwards went to New Haven, where he was appointed United States Marshal and collector of that port.
In 1839 a Portuguese slave trader touched at Cuba and dis- posed of a cargo of negroes. The planter who bought them wished to take them to a distant port, and forced them, while still in irons, onto another vessel. The blacks under their chief, whose name was Cinque, mutinied and killed all but one of the crew, whose life was saved in order that he might manage the vessel, and he was ordered to steer for Africa. In the daytime he directed his course due east, but when night came and the negroes slept, he turned about and headed for the United States.
In the course of a few months they brought up on the coast of Long Island, and Deputy Norris Wilcox, in whose charge they were placed, locked them in the New Haven jail to await the action of United States courts. They were considered a great curiosity, and people flocked to the sight, as to a circus. Colonel Bulkeley and his wife went down from Berlin to see them. The colonel gave a silver quarter to Cinque, who showed his gratitude by turning a double somersault backwards.
After two or three years of controversy it was decided to take the entire company back to Africa, but meanwhile some benevolent individuals wished to Christianize the heathen brought to their doors, and a car load of them was brought by Norris Wilcox to Berlin station, whence they were taken in sleighs to Farmington. Mr. William Bulkeley remembers, as a child, going to the old depot to see these Africans.
When the Black Prince and his company, who had been placed under bonds for mutiny, reached Farmington, they were housed in barracks that were built for them, near the cemetery.
After a spasm of terror at the thought of having a lot of savages-and for aught they knew, cannibals-at large in their midst, the good people of Farmington, judging from old
179
THE EARLY INDUSTRIES OF BERLIN
accounts, gave their dark-skinned visitors the freedom of the town.
So kind and faithful did they prove, that mothers trusted them with the care of their little children. Grabbo, Phillie, Fuli, Famie, and Foone, are some of the names remembered by those who knew them. While confined in jail at New Haven, some Divinity School students had labored hard, and with some suc- cess, to teach them to read and write.
Again at Farmington, they were sent to school in a room over the present post office. In the village cemetery may be seen a simple marble stone with this inscription :
FOONE
A native African who was drowned while bathing in the center Basin Aug 1841. He was one of the Company of Slaves, under Cinque, on board the Schooner Amisted, who asserted their rights and took possession of the vessel, after having put the Captain, Mate, and others to death, sparing their masters Ruez and Montez.
Miss Porter's laundry was afterwards built over the Center Basin. It was thought that Foone committed suicide, as he was very homesick, and the day before had said, "Foone going to see his mother."
The late John T. Norton, whose home is now owned by Mr. Newton Barney, had befriended the negroes, and his son, Charles L. Norton, who remembered the incident, relates that as the family sat on the porch at evening, a dark figure strode up the path, went straight to his father, and said in broken accents, "We-want-you-Grabbo he daid," and sped away, the big tears rolling down his cheeks.
In 1842, the thirty-six survivors were taken back to Mendi, on the west coast of Africa, near Liberia. Teachers and funds were provided and thus the Mendi mission was formed.
In 1834, Roswell C. Hart followed Norris Wilcox as land- lord of the Berlin hotel.
In 1842, James B. Whaples purchased the property, and with the help of his efficient wife, and daughters, made it a very
180
HISTORY OF BERLIN
popular place of resort, especially in winter, for sleighing parties.
The writer has often heard old residents of Southington, New Britain, and Meriden laugh as they recalled the suppers, dances, and good times they had enjoyed at Blinn Whaples' tavern, in Berlin, when they were young. A large sign swung, creaking in the breeze, from a crane extending over the street, from the ridgepole of the horse shed; and below the sign was a well, with a large wooden pump, and a long horse trough. This place was the hay market for the surrounding country, and here also were brought horses for sale and exchange.
The great barns and sheds bear silent witness to the traffic in horses and other business that was carried on at this corner. One large barn that stood on the west side has been torn down.
At the time of the Revolution, one stage left Hartford each Monday morning for Boston, and one for New York. They reached their destination Wednesday night and started to return next morning, arriving at Hartford Saturday evening.
In 1802 a daily stage left Boston at 10 A. M., which reached Hartford at evening of the following day, and noon of the next day it was in New York.
Passengers had to be ready at the regular stopping places along the line, at whatever hour of the day or night the stage might be due. Hartford people had to take it at three o'clock in the morning.
When the time between New York and Philadelphia was reduced from three to two days, the coaches were called "Flying machines."
At the close of the Revolutionary War, the treaty of peace with Great Britain was signed at Versailles, January 20, 1783. The news reached Berlin and Hartford March 23, nine weeks later, by way of Philadelphia. After 1831 there were two stages each way and the horses were changed at Berlin. When nearing the town, the driver of the stage sounded his bugle as
181
THE EARLY INDUSTRIES OF BERLIN
a warning to the landlord not to keep his hungry passengers waiting for dinner. As the coach, crowded inside with travelers, its top piled high with trunks, drawn by four horses, rolled through the village, everybody in the houses ran to the windows, and it is said that the wife of Dr. Hand used to stand in her front doorway and make courtesies to the passengers.
The property next south of the hotel was owned by Joseph Booth, who built the front part of the house in 1800. The large ell was added later. In the corner of the lot, on the north side of the house, Mr. Booth had a shop for making hats. These hats were made of wool or skins. The boys of the neighborhood earned many an honest dollar by catching mink and muskrats and selling the skins to Mr. Booth, to be worked up into hats. The old gentleman was very deaf and always carried an ear trumpet. He was a good trader and invariably understood the price at about half that mentioned by the boys, and then would never settle on any basis except according to hearing.
Just north of Mr. Booth's hat factory was a small building occupied by Alfred Wood for the manufacture of spectacles and jewelry.
In 1844 Deacon Alfred North leased and joined the hat and spectacle factories and started business in them as a country merchant. A few months later he moved to the old store on the corner previously mentioned and these buildings were used for making cigars.
On August 1, 1800, George Hubbard, who built the house now the home of the Misses Churchill, deeded for the considera- tion of $82.50 a piece of land to "The Worthington Academy Company" and their heirs, bounded as follows: "West on country road, north on Daniel Galpin's land, easterly and southerly on land of George Hubbard Grantor." The deed was made to Amos Horsford, Roger Riley, Giles Curtis, Samuel Porter, Jesse Peck, Joseph Galpin, and their associates-"the Academy Company," who proceeded to build on this ground opposite the tavern, Berlin's first academy.
182
HISTORY OF BERLIN
For some reason, the project was not sustained, and the property was sold to James Guernsey, who had a harness and saddler's shop on the premises. The south upper floor, which was still used for private schools, singing schools, and other public meetings, was known as Guernsey's Hall. George Dun- ham and Caroline Guernsey are names recalled of teachers who had private schools in this hall. About 1831, Mr. Guernsey sold out to Lysis Lamb, who added to the north side of the house a large shop, where he made tin ware, and gave employ- ment to a number of men.
Mr. Lamb was succeeded by James B. Carpenter, who remodeled the house. The shop was moved up on the hill north of the Lyman Nott place and is now the main part of George Austin's dwelling house.
Following south, the next place was owned for many years by Dr. Horatio Gridley, who was a skillful physician. Dr. Gridley's next door neighbor on the south was Daniel Dunbar, Esq., who practised law in Berlin from 1804 to 1841. His office stood in the north front corner of the yard.
The Dunbar place, now owned by Mrs. Harriet Hopkins, was occupied in 1848 by one McCartney, who enlarged the office for a grocery store and liquor saloon. The town at this time was tremendously excited over the temperance campaign, and the influence of this saloon was considered particularly bad. The wholesale liquor dealers of Hartford sympathized with their patrons and urged them on to deeds of violence. It was then no uncommon sight to see drunken men reeling on the streets, and women who ventured from home after dark, with- out protection, were subject to insult. One officer, who had attempted to do his duty, found his cow poisoned, and another good citizen after attending an evening meeting discovered that his harness had been cut into small pieces. Acts of villainy far exceeding these will be described later.
The addition built by McCartney was moved onto Willard street by John Graham, who used it as a wood-turning shop, operated by a wheel in the cellar run by horse power. Later it was made into a dwelling house and is still used as a residence.
THE OLD WORTHINGTON ACADEMY IN 1916 (Built in 1833)
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THE EARLY INDUSTRIES OF BERLIN
Squire Dunbar's office, after his death in 1841, was put to various uses, before it was taken for McCartney's barroom. Colonel Bulkeley made it his office when he was town clerk, and the Millerites held their meetings there while they were preparing to ascend the skies. At last it was moved and attached to the rear of Mrs. Hopkins' house, where it still remains.
A new generation having arisen since the first academy was abandoned, a second joint stock company was formed under the name of "The Worthington Academical Company." The first annual meeting of the company was called at six o'clock, Febru- ary 7, 1831, at "Woodbridge's Hotell," and officers were appointed as follows :
Daniel Dunbar, Esq., president. Josiah Edwards, secretary. Horatio Gridley, treasurer.
DIRECTORS.
Elishama Brandegee, jr., Daniel Dunbar, Horatio Gridley, Josiah Edwards, Allen Beckley, William Savage, Joseph Booth, jr., James Guernsey, Reuben North.
Their constitution read in part as follows :
Art. 7th. When the sum of 700 dollars shall be raised, the Directors are authorized to purchase of Mrs. Almira Barnes & her children a convenient plot of ground, on the corner of their lot, a little south of the dwelling House of Jacob Booth, and forthwith to erect a Building thereon for an Academy, the lower room to be occupied for an academy school & the Upper Room for Religious Conferences, Lectures & Singing schools & for Public Exhibitions of the Academy, also for Society meetings, school society meetings, & a Library room when necessary.
Art. Sth. And provided the Presbyterian Church in Worthington will subscribe the sum of 125 dollars to be applied toward finishing the Upper Room, arching it and finishing the stairways, said room shall be subject to their use and control so long as they continue to keep it in repair.
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IIISTORY OF BERLIN
The land was purchased from the widow of Blakeslee Barnes for $250.00. Three hundred and eleven shares of stock were taken by residents of the town at $5.00 per share, and the work of building was started at once.
In 1835, the school had become so popular that to accommo- date its pupils, numbering between one and two hundred, the entire building was required, and the Academy Company bought out the rights of the Ecclesiastical Society, who built a chapel directly across the street. This chapel, a one-story unpainted building, was also used for singing schools and lectures.
Next south of the chapel was a fine old colonial house, known as the Joseph Galpin place. It was noted for the beauty of its front entrance, with a double door, the frame ornamented by carvings.
In 1856, the Rev. Asahel C. Washburn, who came here from Suffield, tore down the Galpin house to make room for his modern home. At the same time he bought the chapel with the land on which it stood and moved the building back and attached it to his barns.
In the rear of his barns, Mr. Washburn ran a steam grist- mill and a large sign over the street entrance announced the business carried on. The place was sold to Deacon Increase Clapp, who moved to California in 1876. Shortly before this time the house, while occupied by a tenant, was burned.
The large house next south of the Joseph Galpin place, which is now owned by Marcus E. Jacobs, was built by Blakeslee Barnes, who carried on business as a tinner in a shop situated in his yard. Mr. Barnes died in 1823 and after some years Captain Norman Peck purchased the property. The shop was moved down onto the triangle made by the division of the roads on the way to the station from Berlin street, and was called Captain Peck's farmhouse. About this time Captain Peck was in need of a man to work on his place. He went to New York and returned with an Irishman-the only one
(The clock was presented to the church by Catherine M. North in memory of her father THE SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF BERLIN
1
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185
THE EARLY INDUSTRIES OF BERLIN
employed at that time in Berlin. Mrs. Emily Galpin Bacon, now eighty-eight years old, born in the house opposite the acad- emy, remembers that when she was a child she used to see a Patrick McGuire at work on that same Captain Peck place when it was occupied by the Barnes family. Patrick had a daughter, who grew up to be a stylish young woman. She had a talent for drawing, which she taught in classes in Hartford.
Deacon Alfred North remembered when there was only one Irishman in the whole town and he lived in New Britain.
One day a son of Erin, who had taken up his abode in Berlin, presented himself before the registrars to be made a voter. In order to show that he could read, he carried his prayerbook and, as he was reading along glibly, the town clerk, whose suspicion was aroused, stepped back of him and saw that the book was upside down.
Hyram Mygatt, who was an ornamental carriage painter, married Anna Booth, daughter of Joseph Booth. They lived in a large, pleasant house directly opposite the new Congrega- tional church. Mr. Mygatt had a shop at the back of the premises where tin was japanned and baked. When Mr. Mygatt died, in 1831, James Guernsey came to this place from the north end of the village. The harness shop built by Mr. Guernsey in the old academy yard was quite a traveler. It was moved west of the hotel, then to the northeast corner of the yard where the new Congregational church now stands, then across south of the Mygatt house, where it was used by Mr. Guernsey for the making and repair of harnesses and saddles until he gave up business when it was taken down to Hart street and made into a dwelling house. Finally, one Fourth of July, some boys celebrating set it on fire and it was destroyed.
Helen Guernsey had a shop in her father's house for millinery and dressmaking.
James Guernsey, Jr., the only son of Mr. Guernsey, went to California with a number of his acquaintances, in search of gold, and there went through the experience common to those days. When the time came for him to return, instead of going around the Horn, he crossed the Isthmus, in the sum-
186
HISTORY OF BERLIN
mer of 1852, caught the Panama fever, and died in one week after reaching home. The event caused much excitement in the neighborhood and one man ran through the street crying at the top of his voice, "James Guernsey is dead, James Guernsey is dead." He was heard plainly as far as Colonel Bulkeley's.
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