USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928, Volume II > Part 45
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which was used to counteract the effects of poison gases. The name is simply "gas" spelled backward.
The Williams Brothers Manufacturing Company, on its pres- ent site, was purchased in 1846 by Frederick Curtis. Within a year or so a mill was built and the manufacture of table ware was begun. The business passed through several ownerships be- fore coming into possession of James B. Williams. In 1880 the present company was formed and since that time the factories have been devoted to the production of scale-tang cutlery and silver-plated and nickel-silver flat ware. During the World war they made thousands of pairs of two types of forceps for the Medical Department of the army. They also made shackle-bolts for use in connection with the anchors of war vessels, and toward the end of the war airplane control parts. This will illustrate how far the factories of our country departed from their usual lines in the emergency of war.
The Herman Roser & Son tannery is the successor of others of the same sort which were erected on or near the present factory site. Norman Hubbard had a tannery near this site probably in 1845. In 1854 Edward A. Hubbard formed a partnership with Isaac Broadhead under the name of Hubbard & Broadhead. This factory has always been devoted exclusively to the tanning of pig- skins. During the Civil war the product was largely used for saddles for Union cavalry. In 1871, at the death of Mr. Hubbard, Mr. Broadhead acquired the property and operated it until his retirement in 1886, in which year he sold it to Herman Roser, the founder of the present company. During the World war the com- pany produced about a half million square feet of pigskin ma- terial for army purposes. This is the largest concern in the coun- try tanning pigskin and produces about 20 per cent of the world output.
The Riverside Paper Company was incorporated in 1894 for the manufacture of binders' board and produces about 650 tons of board annually.
Further south on Roaring Brook from the J. B. Williams Com- pany flourished the business of James and Thomas Stevens, Jr., making chains and anchors in the shipping days. But the sound of their trip-hammers annoyed Zephaniah Hollister Smith, who
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occupied from 1790 till his death in 1836 the old Kimberly man- sion near where the brook crosses the "street," and much trouble resulted. He had been a minister and doctor but was best known as "squire." He was the father of the widely known "Smith sisters"-among the first advocates of woman suffrage. Their names were Abby Hadassah, Cynthia Secretia, Laurilla Alla- royla, Hancy Zephinah and Julia Evelina. All of them possessed exceptional talent. Their refusal to pay taxes because not allowed to vote caused vigorous warfare at home and in the courts, attracting attention throughout the land. Julia acquired a mas- tery of ancient languages and wrote a translation of the Bible which was published at her own expense. In 1879, at the age of eighty-six, she married Amos A. Parker of Fitz William, New Hampshire, whose age was eighty-eight. It was his third wife. He survived her, she dying in 1886, aged ninety-three. Mr. Parker published a book of poems in his eightieth year.
The Roaring Brook Paper Manufacturing Company was not far from the Halsey Buck homestead, maintained by Congress- man John R. Buck of Glastonbury and Hartford and now by his. son, John Halsey Buck of Hartford. The residence is on the New London turnpike and near Wassuc Green. Close by the house is a magnificent 300-years-old oak. There was once a firearms fac- tory further down the stream which flows through a wild defile at this point, and broken splinters show where a glass factory stood. Near where Roaring Brook makes a sharp descent into the Nayaug Valley is Cotton Hollow, as it has been known for over a hundred years-a wild and intensely picturesque dell which would excite the interest of any park-builder. It is here that some of the best known cotton factories were located, owned at various times by the Hartford Manufacturing Company (once conspicuous in Hartford affairs, as has been told), John H. Post, Green Brothers, the Glastonbury Manufacturing Company and by Abraham Becker of New York. One large mill of brick and then another of stone were built on the successive terraces in the ravine, and a Swiss-like settlement sprang up around them. In the days before the Revolution there was a powder mill here which terminated with an explosion in 1777 by which George Stocking, his sons, George, Hezekiah and Nathaniel, and Isaac
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Treat, and the following day Thomas Kimberly, great-grandson of Elizur Kimberly, met their death.
When England's short-sighted government began its legisla- tion after the long series of wars in which the colonies had given of their best, Glastonbury chose from among its wisest to act in declarations of indignation. The Lexington Alarm rang from the pulpit on Sunday and on Monday morning Capt. Elizur Hubbard assembled the militia company at his house and started for Cam- bridge. Nearly 200 men served in this state and in the Conti- nental Army and a number were in the navy. Thirteen died in service. Col. Elizur Talcott, Capt. Wait Goodrich (on the water), Capt. Samuel Welles and Capt. Samuel Welles, Jr., were from Glastonbury. In the War of 1812 several did duty at New Lon- don. Col. George Plummer was a brigade adjutant.
For the Civil war, in addition to answering all calls for aid, a total of 334 men on three-years basis went forth. Capt. Robert J. Welles, United States Infantry, Capts. Charles H. Talcott and William W. Abbey and Drs. Henry C. Bunce, Sabin Stocking and George A. Hurlburt were in the army. In the navy Samuel Welles was constructing engineer, R. Sommers an ensign, Charles M. Cooley, Henry P. Cooley and George F. Goodrich master's mates, and Horace Talcott paymaster. Men from here enlisted in the small force called for the Spanish war.
In the World war there was opportunity for all to colaborate, and they did. While the men who could not qualify because of age or under the severe physical test for the armies were forming earnest companies in the First Military District of the State Guard and were drilling faithfully to meet any emergency which might arise, others were joining the two regiments to be consoli- dated in New Haven or were off to training camps. The officers in the State Guard were Captains H. T. Clark, R. S. Williams and Lewis W. Ripley (who also went overseas in the Red Cross service) and Lieutenants Fred L. Brainard, Charles E. Good- rich, Arthur R. Goodrich, John L. Foley and William H. Car- rier, Jr.
For the men who went in the Civil war a monument was erected on the Green in 1913 by Mrs. Mercy Turner Barber, widow of Capt. Frederick M. Barber, a resident of Manchester,
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WORLD WAR MEMORIAL, GLASTONBURY Located on the Green, near the site of the original First Church
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who as commander of Company H, Sixteenth Regiment, Connec- ticut Volunteers, was mortally wounded at Antietam.
The men of the Word war were welcomed home on October 19, 1919, and to each a medal was presented by the town. Leon Goodale Post of the American Legion was named in honor of Charles Leon Goodale, always known as Leon, who had been the first to enlist from Glastonbury. He died March 19, 1919, from the effects of gas at Chateau Thierry. The roll of honor placed by the town on the property of St. James' Church was given to the post when the town provided quarters for it. In 1924 a new roll was cast in bronze and attached to a large granite boulder placed on the Green by the Legion Auxiliary which had been organized in 1922.
In 1893 the General Assembly passed an act providing that districts might be organized within the town for public improve- ments. Glastonbury now has seven of these districts. Although usually organized as fire districts, all the Glastonbury districts began to function as street lighting districts. The Glastonbury District was organized in 1912, the South Glastonbury District in 1913, the Naubuc in 1915, the Center and Addison districts in 1919, Hebron Avenue and Still Hill districts in 1920. In addi- tion to lighting and fire protection the Glastonbury District has laid sidewalks throughout its territory. These districts include the whole of Main Street from East Hartford to Portland. In addition to Main Street, the Naubuc District includes Naubuc Avenue and Pratt Street. Hebron Avenue District takes in Heb- ron Avenue, Fairlawn Park and parts of House Street and New London turnpike. The South Glastonbury district includes parts of Main Street and Hopewell Road, all of Water, High, Ferry Road and Pease Lane and a part of Tryon Street. The Addison Dis- trict takes in the whole of the Village of Addison.
The site of the town hall on the green was the subject of much controversy in the 1830s and the first building on that site, in 1840, was so simple as to suggest timidity, but the present one of brick is still doing faithful service.
Without reasonable doubt the first public-service enterprise to reach Glastonbury was a stage coach line. The first service of definite date was inaugurated in August, 1819. On the sec-
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ond of that month there appeared in the Connecticut Courant the following advertisement :
"The steam-boat Enterprise will start for Saybrook on Tuesday and Friday mornings at half past 7 o'clock, and re- turn on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Passengers can be landed at any place on the river at their pleasure.
"James Pitkin, Captain."
By 1824 other steamers began to ply on the river, and between 1840 and 1850 competition became very keen. Commodore Van- derbilt owned one of these boats. At one time the fare was re- duced to nothing, with a supper thrown in. What it cost the passenger to get back home is not told. At some time previous to 1883 a telegraph line was run through Glastonbury by G. B. W. Hubbell of Hartford. In that year telephone lines were installed. These lines were a part of the Hartford system. In 1904 the Glas- tonbury Exchange was established with 101 subscribers.
The first street-lighting system in town was installed by Ber- nard T. Williams, one of the most public-spirited citizens which Glastonbury has produced. The lights were large kerosene lan- terns hung on wires stretched across the street. There were twenty-four of these lights covering the district on Main Street between Salmon and Hubbard brooks (the present territory of the Glastonbury Fire District.) These lights were continued for only two or three years. In 1892 a trolley line was opened from Church Corner in East Hartford to the top of the hill north of Hubbard Brook. The line was extended to Roaring Brook in South Glastonbury in 1893. For some time passengers had to transfer at Church Corner to horse cars which ran over "Bridge Road" (now Connecticut Boulevard). In 1928 the South Glas- tonbury extension was abandoned because of changes in location made necessary by the new concrete road to Portland. The serv- ice was continued by busses.
The East Hartford Fire District which had built a reservoir on Salmon Brook near Keeney Street ran its water mains through Hebron Avenue and Main Street in 1892. The residents of Glas- tonbury were supplied with water on the same terms as those of East Hartford. The water company was organized in 1905. In 1921 the supply was greatly augmented by a reservoir built on Cold Brook in Glastonbury. A 16-inch main was run through Hopewell Road and Main Street, connecting with the original
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system at Hebron Avenue. This system affords ample fire pro- tection throughout the whole western part of the town.
Electric Light service was established by the East Haddam Electric Light Company in 1913. The gas mains of the Hartford Gas Company were extended from Hockanum to Glastonbury and service was begun in 1927.
The Glastonbury Chamber of Commerce, of which Harold B. Waldo is president, was organized in 1903 as the Glastonbury Business Men's Association. It is entering upon a period of very intense activity.
The Williams Memorial Building Association was organized in 1914 to manage the building which had been erected as a memo- rial to James B. and David W. Williams by their heirs. Mem- bership in the association is secured by the payment of an annual fee somewhat on the plan of a Young Men's Christian Association. The building is used in much the same way as is a Young Men's Christian Association building. When first built there were two bowling alleys in the basement. These were soon found to be in- adequate, so a large addition was made to the building to accom- modate additional alleys. The main auditorium is fitted up as a
gymnasium. This is used in the day time by the pupils of the High and Academy schools. At night it is used for basketball, moving pictures and for a meeting place for community organi- zations. The Community Club of South Glastonbury was or- ganized in 1923. The club purchased one of the older residences on Main Street and fitted it up as a club house.
The Woman's Club was organized in 1927 and has at present a membership of 125. A highly creditable work this year 1928 was the publication of an historical sketch of the town written by Florence Hollister Curtis. It betokens a purpose to keep alive old memories. The oldest fraternal organization is Columbia Lodge of Masons, meeting in its building erected on Main Street built in 1913. It was established in Stepney Parish in 1793. Daskam Lodge, chartered in 1859 and meeting for several years in the old Chapman tavern and then in Gates' hall, erected its own building on Main Street in 1844. Elm Lodge of Odd Fellows, established in Glastonbury in 1888, built its building in 1922. Good Will Grange, organized in 1891, holds its meetings in the same building.
The Glastonbury Bank and Trust Company, of which Louis
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W. Howe is president, was incorporated in 1919. It has a capital of $100,000 and its savings deposits amount to $1,200,000, its com- mercial deposits to $310,000. The population is about 7,000 and the grand list about $9,000,000. There are post offices at Addi- son, Glastonbury, East Glastonbury and South Glastonbury.
Men of the present generation linger in memory over the changes that have been taking place within their time. William S. Goslee (1832-1892) was a lawyer who was called upon to hold most of the offices in the town and yet found time to write about the changes since the founding. William Watson House, who died that same year, is remembered as a publisher and deputy in- ternal revenue tax collector. William Stuart Williams (1821- 1894) with his brother James B., was one of the founders of the soap industry. Also he was an officer in the Williams Brothers Manufacturing Company, making silverware at Naubuc. He was a director in the Plimpton Manufacturing Company of Hart- ford and a member of the Legislature. He was the father of George G. Williams of Hartford and the late Bernard T. Williams of Glastonbury. Addison L. Clark (1833-1896), president of the Glastenbury Knitting Company in the village of Addison, made the concern and that village what they were at his lamented death by qualities which endeared him and brought financial success. His residence was at Manchester Green.
Among the families prominent since earliest times is that of Dean. Amos Dean was one of the original cotton manufacturers in the state. His son Sidney was congressman in the trying times of 1856-60. His wife was a descendant of that John Hollister who played such an important part in settlement days. His son Frederick W., born in Glastonbury, served in the Legislature and was secretary of the Riverside Paper Company, senior member of F. W. Dean & Son, builders, and county commissioner, dying in 1898. Bertha M. Waters, daughter of Rev. G. F. Waters, who died in 1902 at the age of twenty-six, already had won fame as an artist. David W. Williams (1853-1909) was a member of the first class at the academy. After studying at Sheffield Scientific School he went with the J. B. Williams Company, and helped establish D. W. Williams & Company, the important "ivorine" branch. He succeeded his father as president in 1907. He mar-
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ried a daughter of Rev. S. G. W. Rankin; his second wife was a daughter of Judge Dwight Loomis of Rockville and Hartford. In the First Church he was one of the leaders. James S. Williams, president of Williams Brothers, and Samuel H. Williams, vice president of the J. B. Williams Company, were his brothers. The ivorine factories of 1878 were acquired by the J. B. Williams Com- pany when the two concerns combined. Tons of their soap were burned in a fire which destroyed the then three factories in 1890.
Senator Alembert O. Crosby (1848-1915) of East Glaston- bury carried forward the business of his father who had built the Eagle mill in 1840. He and his brother, Lincoln E., succeeded their father at the plant, added another mill and in 1888 formed the Crosby Manufacturing Company. Mr. Crosby served in both houses of the Legislature and was on the bridge commission. Samuel J. Stevens, Jr., (1844-1924) was a direct descendant of Rev. Timothy Stevens, first pastor of the First Congregational Church. He was a pioneer tobacco-grower, an original member of the Chamber of Commerce and always a leader in public en- terprises, especially in promoting farming.
Recent occurences of historic note in the industries are the retirement of Frank D. Glazier and James S. Williams. Mr. Glazier had been general manager and director of the Glazier Manufacturing Company since 1912, after business activity of half a century. He succeeded his father in 1889 as proprietor of the Hopewell mills, then known as Franklin Glazier & Son, wool manufacturers. The name became the name of today in 1909. Philip Glazier succeeded him in his position.
James S. Williams, who had been president of Williams Brothers since 1907 and for a number of years prior to that was its secretary and treasurer, received, at the time of resigning office, resolutions of deep regret from the directors, some of whom were retiring with him, namely George G. Williams, Sam- uel H. Williams, Henry K. W. Welch, Frank D. Glazier and Dr. Mark S. Bradley. George H. Pinney of Manchester took over the duties of president in addition to those he was discharging as treasurer. Otto H. Thieme, works-manager of the Underwood Computing Machine Company of Hartford, was chosen vice presi- dent succeeding George G. Williams, and Richard S. Williams, assistant secretary of the J. B. Williams Company, was chosen
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secretary to succeed Samuel H. Williams. All of these men have been and are active in building up the interests of Glastonbury.
ยง
MARLBOROUGH
What Hartford's airport is to this section of Connecticut such was the odd town of Marlborough, with its oxen, to the same gen- eral section in the days of the Indian and French wars. It was on the through line from Hartford to the seaport of New London, near the summit of the steep grade in both directions, and was itself a center for produce and lumber greatly in demand. The boast of Hartford today with its airplanes was no greater than the boast of Marlborough over having the strongest yokes of oxen in these regions. To give the finishing touch to Marlborough's supremacy Col. Elisha Buell, a gunsmith in his little shop near by, built a tavern about 1750, which has now again become famous as a fine colonial relic. Its name for hospitality was to be sounded through a century not only by the traders but by Monroe and Jackson, the nation's chief executives. The scenery was of the grandest, the refreshment most generous and gratifying. Colonel Buell's son Enos succeeded to the property and in his turn became first a captain of militia for the War of 1812 and, remain- ing in the service, a general. The house kept the name of Elisha Buell down through the years, even after it had been bought by Ezra Hall, had been passed down to his son Gustavus Ezra and then to his daughter Mary, of Hartford, the first woman lawyer in the state and the second in the United States. And by her desire at her death in 1928 it was entrusted to the Colonial Dames for perpetual care and for comfort of travelers who might wish a bit to eat while enjoying the surroundings. It had fallen from its high estate when the first Mr. Hall bought it after his own home had been burned. A room on its third floor had been used for restraining dangerous tories in the Revolutionary days and for marauders who in the second quarter of the nineteenth cen- tury rather over-ran the place till it became a disreputable moun- tain fastness. Its original character was restored by the Hall family, without its becoming a hostlery; simply everyone who
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came for the love of coming was welcome-and especially the city boys and girls to whom Miss Hall devoted her life, as told in the Hartford section of this history.
The origin of the town differs from that of any of the twenty- eight that have preceded it in these pages. In 1736 three settlers -from Glastonbury, Colchester and Hebron, of three distinct counties-came face to face in their lonely gropings through the wilderness to satisfy their wanderlust. Carrier, the Glastonbury man, already had a shack near the deep Marlboro lake, and the others, each unknown to his fellow, had been enjoying the fish from Dickenson Creek and Blackridge Brook, as they were to be called. Joining company, they acknowledged the universal law that they must attend church service every Sunday, and to offset that they applied to their respective churches for the "winter privileges" already familiar to the reader. By this time they numbered almost two score; in their petition they said their wives were "weakly" and that of children there were sixty in the neigh- borhood. They obtained sanction for local services but with pro- viso that they continue to pay rates to their home churches. From this they were released and an independent church granted after many years of petition. The society was formed in 1847, named Marlborough after the Massachusetts home of David Bigelow, the largest taxpayer, and Ezra Carter. They secured Rev. Elijah Mason, Yale graduate, in 1749, to preach for them in their little building which they were still to be some years in completing. A choice silver communion service, given by the wife of Rev. Tim- othy Woodbridge of Hartford, was sold and replaced by a plated set. Because of some trouble which the minister readily lived down in another parish, Mr. Mason had to leave. It was eleven years before another minister was installed, Rev. Benjamin Deming, three years out of Yale. But he did not suit and in three years David Huntington was called, sometime after which work on the meeting-house was resumed.
Coincidentally the Assembly was asked to create a new town; drawing from Colchester, Glastonbury and Hebron. Say nothing of the disarrangement of three county lines, the Assembly was not convinced of the advisability till after it was known that the meet- ing-house had been completed, in 1803; then the town was incor-
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porated with its area of 14,774 acres. The story is immortalized on the map. The next pastor called, David B. Ripley, remained twenty-three years, during which a fund of $3,000 was raised "for the support of preaching forever." The population in- creased from 704 to 832 in 1860, the peak, and a new church was built in 1842. Today the population is a little over 300 and the grand list about $229,000.
Discontented church people had gone over to Hebron in 1788 and formed an Episcopal church, but services were discontinued in 1820. Sylvester C. Dunham and Mr. and Mrs. Seth Dickinson joined the East Glastonbury Methodists in 1810 and by 1816 had secured enough members for a church at home. A chapel was provided in 1838 by the Union Manufacturing Company which had established two cotton mills here. A church was built in 1842, but membership fell away with the decrease in industry, as likewise was the case with the Baptists.
The first schoolhouse was built near the uncompleted church in 1760. Capt. David Miller left $1,800, the proceeds from which were to be given to the Center District forever. This was about the most munificent gift for that purpose in the colony, out- side of Hartford, up to that time.
In the early 1840s there were a woollen mill, a carding ma- chine, three grist mills, four saw mills, Colonel Buell's gunnery, and the mills of the Union Company which were burned during the suspension of business during the Civil war, together with nearby buildings. Inventors had developed, among whom were Joel Foote and Jonathan Kilburn whose epitaph reads:
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