History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 26

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1572

USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 26

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The first president of the company was Alanson Warren, and the first secretary and treasurer George P. Woodruff, while among the original incorporators

and stockholders was George Mallory, then of Water- town, but for many years past a resident of this city. Mr. Wheeler was elected president of the company July 18, 1855.

In the spring of 1856, the business having greatly increased, it was decided to remove to East Bridge- port, where the works of the Jerome Clock Company had been purchased. Since that time its history has been identified with that of Bridgeport. The original clock-factory has been greatly enlarged and new buildings erected, so that the establishment is at present one of the most extensive and complete in the country.

At the present time the principal buildings consist of the main factory, for metal-working, assembling, testing, etc., occupying one complete square, 368 by 307 feet, under one roof; a wood-working factory, covering a second square, 526 by 219 feet; a foun- dry and needle-factory upon a third, 368 by 232 feet; the works altogether covering over seven acres of ground.

Only a few rooms and the more interesting opera- tions can be mentioned here. The main machinery- room is that in which the principal mechanical work is performed in the production of the metal parts of the sewing-machines. This fireproof room is L- shaped, 300 feet in length, 210 feet in width in one part and 100 feet in the other. Power is distributed from four main lines of shafting, which have not per- ceptibly deviated from correct adjustment since they were first placed in position, thirteen years ago. In this room are no less than 1003 separate machines for special mechanical operations, many of them seem- ingly possessed of such intelligence and skill as to direct and control their own movements, and only needing consciousness to rise to the plane of the skilled mechanic.

To show how far division of labor is carried, it may be mentioned that the well-known rotary hook under- goes one hundred and twenty-eight distinct operations, a glass-presser thirty-two, and a hemmer seventy.

The number of driving-belts which meet the view in this one room is, by actual count, 1676, of the total length of 39,510 feet, or but 90 feet less than 73 miles. This is exclusive of short feed-belts, etc., of which there are probably as many more.

Passing through a tunnel under the street, we reach the buildings in which are the foundry and the needle- factory. Of the former it need only be said that for convenience and perfection of all appointments it is not surpassed.

As the sewing-machine proper is useless without the needle, the latter is, of course, an article of prime importance. No department of these works is more interesting than the mechanical processes of convert- ing steel wire into perfectly finished needles. The distinct operations in the making of each needle now number thirty-three, having been recently reduced from fifty-two by improved machinery.

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WHEELER AND WILSON MANUFACTURING CO.

BRIDGEPORT. CONN

101

BRIDGEPORT.

The wood-working or cabinet department of this company is under a separate organization, styled the Sewing-Machine Cabinet Company. The main build- ings of this department are two in number, each 526 feet in length. Here is made all the furniture for the machines, from a plain table-top to the most elaborate and expensive full case or eabinet. The raw material, brought from Arkansas and elsewhere, is cut to dimen- sions in the company's saw-mill, and afterwards worked up into the desired forms. The excellent finish of the cabinet-work is obtained by the use of the wood-filling invented by Mr. Wheeler, and patented Jan. 18, 1876. The invention is said to be one of great value, not only for sewing-machine work, but for all kinds of wood- work where a superior finish is desired.

The present number of employees in all depart- ments of the factory is about 1200, and the aggregate sum paid out to employees of the company in the eity of Bridgeport up to the present time is not less than $14,000,000. Most of the workmen are of a su- perior class.

The following table, recently compiled for the United States Census Bureau, exhibits their nation- alities :

Number born in the United States .. Canada .. 4

802

Ireland

19'

Germany

101

England

3 Scotland

other European countries. 34

Total.

1192

The merits of the Wheeler & Wilson machine have beeu recognized at the different World's Fairs. Awards were made to the original machine at London, in 1862, and at Paris, in 1867, and to the improved No. 6 and No. 7, for sewing leather and heavy eloth, at Vienna in 1873, and at Philadelphia in 1876, while the only grand gold medal and grand prize diploma issued to sewing-machines at the Paris Exposition of 1878 was awarded to the Wheeler & Wilson sewing-machine as excelling for general use any of its eighty competitors.

As.already stated, the original capital of the eom- pany was $160,000, but an increase to $600,000 was authorized by the Legislature in 1864, and a further increase to $1,000,000 in 1866. At this amount it still nominally remains, though the assets are much larger, and the stock sells for several times its par value.

The present officers and representatives of the company are: Nathaniel Wheeler, President; Wil- liam H. Perry, Secretary and Treasurer; Frederick Hurd, President Sewing-Machine Cabinet Company ; Isaac Holden, General Correspondent and Superiu- tendent of Ageneies. The directors are N. Wheeler, William H. Perry, of Bridgeport ; S. M. Buckingham, James Elton, of Waterbury ; T. A. Warren, of New Haven; N. Shipman, of Hartford; C. B. Erwin, of New Britain.

Mr. Wheeler has now been president of this great manufacturing establishment for more than a quarter of a century. . He has represented Bridgeport in tlie

Legislature for several terms, and was one of the com- missioners for building the new State Capitol at Hart- ford. He has rendered valuable service to Bridgeport by the discharge of many public trusts, and is at the present time a director of the Public Library, of Moun- tain Grove Cemetery Association, and a member of the school board and many other institutions. He has always been a warm friend to the cause of education, and to his influence is largely due the decision of the town to erect a new high-school building upon Golden Hill, which will be a credit to the city.

The organization of the perfect system which pre- vails throughout these works requires excellent busi- ness talent, and reflects great eredit upon Mr. William H. Perry, who has been connected with the company almost since its organization. He was elected secre- tary Sept. 5, 1855, and seeretary and treasurer July 16, 1856, which office, with that of superintendent, he still holds. Mr. Perry has also rendered important services to Bridgeport for a number of years past as one of the board of park commissioners, and the city is much indebted to him for the present excellent coudition of the public pleasure-grounds.

BRIDGEPORT DURING THE REBELLION.

No adequate aeeount of the part taken by Bridge- port in the war of the Rebelliou ean be compressed into the limits of a sketch like the present. Only a few leading incidents can be given here, but perhaps upou the foundation now laid some future historian may build a better edifice.

The surrender of Fort Sumter was on Sunday, April 14, 1861. On Monday, the 15th, President Liueolu issued his proclamation calling for seventy- five thousand men. On the following day, Governor Buckingham called for one regiment of three months' volunteers, aud two days later for a second regiment. Thursday, April 18th, sixteeu ear-loads of Massachu- setts volunteers passed through Bridgeport en route for Baltimore, followed ou Friday morning by twenty car-loads more, and on Sunday by still another detach- ment. These troops were welcomed by a great crowd at the depot, and in firing a salute to them, April 19th, Leopold Schmidt, a member of the German rifle company of this eity, was killed, and a comrade of the same company was wounded,-the first Con- necticut soldiers to fall. The same day the banks voted to loau to the Governor the sum of one hundred thousand dollars.

Saturday evening, April 20th, there was a great war-meeting, presided over by Hon. D. H. Sterling, mayor of the eity. The "Star-Spangled Banner" was suug by the assembly, and great enthusiast prevailed. Some idea of the spirit of the meeting may be obtained from the resolutions which were introduced by Hon. Amos S. Treat. It was uuanimously voted that the photographs and the autograplis of every member of the companies now being raised should be preserved in the town arehives, that ten thousand dollars should

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

be raised for the families of the volunteers, and that when they left for the seat of war the whole popula- tion of the place should escort them to the depot. Of the ten thousand dollars voted, seven thousand were subscribed before the meeting closed.

To Capt. (afterwards Col.) Richard Fitzgibbons and to Capt. (afterwards Col.) John Speidel belongs the honor of being the first in the field. Their commands, subsequently designated as Company H, First Con- necticut Volunteers, and Rifle Company B, of the same regiment, escorted by the Wheeler & Wilson Band and a great procession, marched to the depot and took the cars on Tuesday, April 22d, followed, a few days later, by Company D, Third Regiment, under command of Capt. (afterwards Lieut .- Col.) Frederick H. Frye. Maj. Henry M. Hoyt, now the publisher of the Morning News, was first lieutenant of Capt. Fitzgibbons' company. Two hundred overcoats, two hundred shirts, and a beautiful flag were presented to the volunteers by the ladies of Bridgeport, who had toiled incessantly to make them since the proclama- tion was issued.

On Saturday, April 26th, a town-meeting was held, Joseph Thompson acting as moderator, at which it was voted that the town should borrow thirteen thou- sand dollars,-the sum of ten thousand dollars to be expended for the families of volunteers, and three thousand dollars in raising and equipping additional troops. Thanks were voted to the volunteers already enrolled, and to the patriotic women of the place. Hon. D. H. Sterling was authorized to negotiate the loan, and a committee of seven was chosen to dis- burse it.

After this there was a lull in the excitement until July 12th, when the news of the battle of Bull Run was received. Early in August, the time of the three months' volunteers having expired, they returned home, and were met with a hearty welcome.

August 24th a picnic of the returned volunteers was held in Hough's Grove. The same day a peace- meeting at Stepney was broken up by a party from Bridgeport, and in the evening the office of the Farmer newspaper was destroyed.

During the fall of 1861 seven companies, to serve for three years, were recruited wholly or in part in Bridgeport,-viz., Company D, First Connecticut Cavalry, Capt. L. N. Middlebrook; Company H, Sixth Connecticut Volunteers, Capt. Henry Biebel, and Company I of the same command, Capt. Thomas Boudren ; Company I, of the Seventh Connecticut Volunteers, Capt. Sylvester H. Gray; Company A, of the Eighth Connecticut Volunteers, Lieut. H. M. Hoyt; Companies D and I, of the Ninth Connecticut Volunteers, commanded by Capts. Thomas Coats and Elliott M. Curtis, respectively. Among the field- officers commissioned by the Governor during the same period were Maj. John Speidel, of the Sixth, Lieut .- Col. Richard Fitzgibbon and Maj. Frederick H. Frye, of the Ninth, Regiments.

Several Bridgeport firms also were busy at this time filling government orders for war-material. Gun- carriages and caissons were built by Frederick Wood & Co .; harnesses in great numbers were turned out by Calhoun, Lacey & Co .; while the Pacific Iron- works were busy in manufacturing steam-engines for the "Kanawha" and other gunboats.

The reverses of the Union army under Gen. Mc- Clellan in the early summer of 1862 only quickened the patriotic spirit of the loyal people of Bridgeport.

Thursday evening, July 19, 1862, a great war-meet- ing was held, which filled both Franklin and Wash- ington Halls. Mayor Sterling and Hon. Russell Tomlinson were the presiding officers, and among the speakers were Governor Buckingham, Hon. William D. Bishop, Elias Howe, Jr., the inventor of the sew- ing-machine, and others. Twenty thousand dollars was subscribed before the meeting closed, to be ex- pended in carrying on the war; and when Mr. Howe announced that he had himself volunteered as a pri- vate soldier, the enthusiasm was very great, and nu- merous young men came forward and signed the roll.

During the next few days enlisting went on rapidly, owing in good degree to the efforts of Private Howe, who went about the streets with drum and fife pick- ing up recruits for the Seventeenth, the new Fairfield County regiment. The ranks of the Seventeenth quickly filled up, and in August, 1862, it went into encampment at Camp Aiken, the present site of Sea- side Park. During its stay here Rev. A. R. Thompson, of the South Congregational Church, acted as chap- lain, and collections were taken up in the churches to provide the regiment with a chapel-tent and a library. August 29th a patriotic meeting was held on the green east of the court-house, attended by the Seventeenth in a body, and addressed by Messrs. Barnum, Bishop, Rev. Dr. Hewit, Father Lenihan, and others, and on Sunday, September 7th, divine service was conducted in the same place, and a sermon appropriate to the occasion was preached by Rev. J. M. Willey, rector of St. John's Church, who had served as chaplain with one of the three months' regiments.

Aug. 25, 1862, the Fourteenth Regiment, one thou- sand and fifteen strong, and containing a company from Bridgeport, marched through the streets of Hart- ford under command of Col. Dwight Morris, of this city, and embarked for the seat of war. Eight days later the Seventeenth, whose field-officers were Col. (afterward Gen.) William H. Noble and Lieut .- Col. Charles Walter, also left for Washington. It con- tained two full companies from Bridgeport,-D and G,-commanded by Capts. William H. Lacey and James E. Dunham. Most of the members of Com- pany K were also from this place.

The Second Connecticut Light Battery, Capt. John W. Sterling commander, was also recruited almost entirely from Bridgeport, and received marching orders for Washington, Oct. 15, 1862.

During the month of November three additional

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BRIDGEPORT.

companies recruited in Bridgeport, under the call for nine months' volunteers, left the State for service in the Department of the Gulf. These were : Company D, Twenty-third Connecticut Volunteers, Capt. C. W. Hall; Company I, Twenty-third Connecticut Volun- teers, Capt. William H. May; and Company K, Twenty-fourth Connecticut Volunteers, Licut. E. N. Goodwin. Lieut .- Col. C. W. Wordin was also com- missioncd as one of the field-officers of the Twenty- third Regiment.

On the 6th of October, 1862, occurred an event unprecedented in the annals of Bridgeport,-viz., a municipal election with but one ticket in the field. Hon. D. H. Sterling was re-elected mayor and a Common Council composed of members of both political parties was chosen without opposition, the whole number of votes cast being but three hundred and sixty-seven.

Mention ought to have been made sooner of the organized work of the loyal women of Bridgeport.

The Ladies' Relief Society was formed Aug. 1, 1861, and from that time forward until the close of the war met every Wednesday for work. Mrs. Woolsey G. Sterling was president until her removal from the city, when her place was filled by Mrs. Daniel Thatcher. The other officers of the society were Miss Lydia R. Ward secretary, and Miss Sarah Jane Hawley treasurer. The cash receipts of the society from its organization to its final meeting, in July, 1865, were $3814.36. Large quantities of supplies were also contributed, chiefly by Bridgeport, but also from fifteen other towns. The main work of the society was in preparing and forwarding hospital garments and stores, co-operating in this good work with the Sanitary Commission; but boxes of provi- sions, and packages of mittens, stockings, etc., werc also forwarded to most of the Connecticut regiments. The average attendance of ladies at the weekly gath- erings was about thirty, but over one hundred were sometimes present. The following extract from the final report of the secretary, Miss Lydia R. Ward, is worthy of special notice :

"Voted to place the balance remaining in the hands of the treasurer ($375.74) in trust for the benefit of the destitute children of soldiers, in the hope that as early as September a plan may be de- vised, which may be adopted by the citizens of Bridgeport, to found a home for tlicse and other des- titute children."

The first meeting of the Soldiers' Aid Society was held July 19, 1862, when the following officers were elected : Mrs. D. H. Sterling, President ; Mrs. Mon- son Hawley, Vice-President; Mrs. L. H. Norton, Secretary ; Mrs. William E. Seeley, Treasurer. The membership of this society was very large, and its work correspondingly important. During the first six months of its existence its cash receipts were over two thousand five hundred dollars (this amount having been raised by a paper circulated by Messrs. D. H.

Sterling and Henry R. Parrott), and twenty-two boxes had been sent to regiments. In December, 1863, it issued an appeal to the people of the State for fresh vegetables for the soldiers, which was liberally re- sponded to, and several thousand barrels and boxes were received and duly forwarded, Mr. Henry R. Parrott, at that time agent of the Adams Express Company, having charge of the shipment.

The League of Loyal Women of Bridgeport was another organization, begun in April, 1863. Mrs. S. S. Clapp was president and Miss E. B. Whiting sec- rotary, and one hundred and twenty-nine ladies signed the constitution, which- pledged them to wear the Union colors and to "give-the preference in trade to those known to be truly loyal."

In the summer of 1863 drafting was begun in Bridgeport to fill the quota of this and other places under the repeated calls of President Lincoln, the headquarters for the Fourth District being at the corner of Main and State Streets, over the Pequon- nock Bank. The draft had not progressed very far when it became so unpopular that it was suspended, and from that time forward to the end of the war recruits were obtained only through the substitute- broker. Enormous bounties were offercd, but, as a rule, the value of the recruit was about in inverse proportion to the amount of the bounty paid. Some few of the substitutes were honorable men and did good service, but the great majority were from the slums of New York City, and deserted upon the first opportunity. The whole history of the substitute business reflects but little credit upon the people of Connecticut, and it was putting a grievous insult upon the volunteers who were fighting the battles of the country at the front to send out such men for their comrades and companions, though it must be admitted that a great many never reached the front, but de- serted en route.

Upon the 10th of April, 1865, there was a grand illumination in Bridgeport in honor of the fall of Richmond and of Petersburg, and the surrender of Lee's army. Five days later news was received of President Lincoln's assassination. A meeting of citi- zens was immediately called, and a committee of thirty was appointed to make arrangements for public funcral exercises. The Common Council met, and passed appropriate resolutions. Mayor Morford issued his proclamation, and on Wednesday, April 19th, which was the appointed day, all business was sus- pended, places of amusement were closed, the bells of all the churches were tolled, and the citizens assen- bled in their respective places of public worship, which were draped in mourning, and participated in memorial services in honor of the martyred President.

One of the earliest of the three years' regiments to return was the Fourteenth, which had participated in all the leading engagements of the Army of the Po- tomac from Antietam to Appomatox, and, after wit- nessing the surrender of Lee's army and marching in

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

triumph through Richmond at the head of the Second Army Corps, had participated in the grand review at Washington. June 3, 1865, the surviving members of the command, numbering two hundred and thirty- four, reached Hartford, and a week later the small detachment from Bridgeport was received at the depot and marched to the Sterling House, where a col- lation and many kind words of welcome awaited them.

Friday afternoon, Aug. 4, 1865, a grand reception was given to Companies D, G, and K, of the Seven- teenth, whichi arrived from New Haven upon a special train provided by Elias Howe, Jr. Some five thou- sand people turned out to meet them; there was a procession through the principal streets; houses were gayly decorated with bunting, and at Franklin Hall there were stirring addresses and music by the glee club. Other companies and detachments were wel- comcd as they successively returned, though, coming later, their reception was not so demonstrative as was that of the companies belonging to the Seventeenth.

The number of soldiers enlisting from Bridgeport who are known to have been killed in battle, to have died of disease, or to have been starved to death in rebel prisons during the war is one hundred and sev- enty. Adding to this the number missing in action who were never after heard from, or who died from the effects of wounds received or from disease con- tracted in camp shortly after their return, the aggre- gate loss will doubtless exceed two hundred and fifty. Among them were such men as Lieut .- Col. Walter, of the Seventeenth, who was killed at Chan- cellorsville ; Maj. Wilson Hubbell, of the Sixty-second New York, who fell at Cold Harbor; and Frederick H. Thompson, who died while serving upon the steam- ship "New London."

Special mention ought to be made herc of eight young men,-the oldest can hardly have been more than twenty-one at enlistment,-all of them either schoolmates or members of the same literary soci- ety, the old Philomathean, whosc early death it is almost impossible to deplore, so bright an example of Christian patriotism have they left to all who come after them. These were Walter Fitch, adjutant of the Sixth Connecticut Volunteers, who received his death-wound in the night attack upon Fort Wagner, while standing upon the parapet cheering on his men ; Ord .- Sergt. Albion Brooks, of the Eighth Connec- ticut Volunteers, who did not live to enter the Chris- tian ministry, as he had purposed, but fell in the charge at Cold Harbor; First Lieut. Franklin Bart- lett, only seventeen years of age when he enlisted, who was killed at Hatcher's Run, near Petersburg ; Capt. William H. Hawley, of the Fourteenth Con- necticut Volunteers, well termed " a heroic Christian soldier," who, after passing almost unscathed through twenty-five engagements, received a bullet in the brain while defending the captured Weldon Railroad; Adjt. Henry Chatfield, of the Seventeenth Connecticut Vol- unteers, who, refusing to surrender, was shot down by

a party of guerrillas in Florida ; Corp. Henry T. Win- slow, member of a Massachusetts regiment, who fell a victim to the deadly malarial fever of the South ; and First Lieut. Richard Ross Crawford, of the Seventh U. S. Infantry, a Virginian by birth, and a Democrat by education, but who remained true to the Old Flag and fell bravely fighting in its defense at Gettysburg, as did also Corp. Alvah Wilcox, of the Seventeenth Connecticut Volunteers, who had some- times been Crawford's opponent in political debate, but who fought under the same banner and has his name inscribed upon the same monument.

SOLDIERS' MONUMENT.

Very soon after the close of the war it was decided by the ladies of the Soldiers' Aid Society that a mon- ument should be erected to perpetuate the memory of our deceased soldiers. The funds at their command were small, but they were carefully invested, and from time to time were increased by fairs, a promenade con- cert, and other entertainments, until they reached quite a respectable sum. The corner-stone was laid at Seaside Park, Aug. 29, 1866, with appropriate ccre- monics, the Governor and his staff, Maj .- Gen. Terry, and a large audience, made up of militia, firemen, veterans, civic societies, and citizens generally, being present.

At a town-meeting held June 10, 1873, the sum of eighteen thousand nine hundred dollars was voted by the town for the monument, and William H. Mallory, Henry A. House, and J. D. Alvord were appointed a committee to superintend its construction. The ladies of the Soldiers' Monument Association were also re- quested to co-operate in the work. The whole cost of the monument, including plans and specifications, was twenty-eight thousand nine hundred dollars, of which ten thousand dollars was contributed by the ladies' association.

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History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 26

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1572

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1572