USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Farmington > History of New Britain, with sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Connecticut. 1640-1889 > Part 22
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Berlin > History of New Britain, with sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Connecticut. 1640-1889 > Part 22
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > New Britain > History of New Britain, with sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Connecticut. 1640-1889 > Part 22
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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 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
Upon the discontinuance of " The True Citizen " in 1866, J. N. Oviatt became proprietor of the printing office, and, in April of that year, issued the first number of the " New Britain Record," a paper considerably larger than the " True Citizen," but of the same general character, and published at the same price. It was continued by Mr. Oviatt until 1868, when Samuel Baker became a partner in the office, the firm becoming Oviatt & Baker. The " Record " was published by this firm until January 1, 1880, when Mr. Baker bought Mr. Oviatt's interest and became sole proprietor until March, 1881, when the proprietorship was assumed by his son, Fran- cis W. Baker, by whom the paper continued to be issued, until his death in 1887. The publication was continued by his widow, Mrs. M. P. Baker, until March, 1888, when the office and business were purchased by James G. Bacon and James L. Doyle, who formed a partnership under the firm name of Bacon & Doyle, by whom the paper was afterwards published.
The "New Britain Observer" was established March, 1876, and was published the first year by R. J. Vance and J. O. Stivers. The latter retired in 1877, and the publica- tion was continued by R. J. Vance, and then by R. J. Vance & Co. This paper was devoted to local news and general intelligence, and especially to such information as would tend to the advancement of the interests of the town and city. It was published weekly at two dollars a year. After the elec- tion of the editor and chief proprietor, Hon. R. J. Vance, as representative to Congress from the First district, this paper was consolidated with the "New Britain Herald."
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LIBRARIES AND NEWSPAPERS.
The "New Britain Herald" was started by the Adkins Brothers, April 3,.1880. In September of that year the Adkins Printing Company, a joint stock company, was organ- ized, which assumed the responsibility of the paper and con- tinued its publication until 1881. It was then sold to C. E. Woodruff, and was published first by him and then by the Woodruff Publishing Company. Mr. Woodruff bought the "New Britain Times," furnishing the subscribers of that paper with the "Herald." In January, 1882, he added a semi-weekly edition, which was continued until Dec. 2, 1882, when the " Evening Herald " was started, which took the place of the semi-weekly. From that time the daily and weekly have been issued regularly.
In September, 1887, the " Herald," with the type, presses, machinery, and furnishings of the office, was sold to Frank L. Blanchard of New York. Soon after it was consolidated with the "Observer," a new "Herald Publishing Company" being organized, consisting of Frank L. Blanchard, Robert J. Vance, and James Cochrane, the two latter having been connected with the " Observer." The new company took possession of the " Herald" office October 1, 1887. The publication office was continued in the "Herald " building, Church Street, for a few months, but as more room was needed, additions were made to the Stanley Building, and the publication office was removed to that building in January, 1888.
The "New Britain Times " was first published in April, 1880, by Cornelius Maloney and Cornelius Loughery, as a weekly, and during the presidential campaign of 1880 a daily edition was issued. In February, 1881, the "Times " was sold to C. E. Woodruff, at that time proprietor of the "New Britain Herald."
The "Independent " is a weekly journal, devoted to the discussion of questions relating to the moral, social, and political welfare of the people, representing especially the interests of labor. It was started in April, 1888, by Thomas
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H. Kehoe and Thomas Crosby, and is published every Satur- day by the firm of Kehoe & Crosby, T. H. Kehoe, editor.
The "Circle," a weekly paper, containing the local news of New Britain and surrounding towns, was established Nov. 24, 1886. It is published every Thursday afternoon by F. S. Sneath, proprietor.
The "New Britain News," a weekly paper, having the same name as one published in New Britain before the civil war, was first issued Dec. 12, 1888. It is democratic in politics, and is published by James W. Ringrose, editor and proprietor.
The " Monthly Bulletin" of the Young Men's Christian Association, started in 1887, gives a monthly summary of the work of the association, with news items pertaining to association work, and has a wide circulation among mem- bers of the · association.
The " Star," a small amateur paper, begun in 1887, is edited and published by A. J. Osgood.
In Kensington, the "Church Record," started in 1885, and published by the Congregational Church in Kensington, has not only given the news of the parish, but has included many items of general interest to its subscribers. It has especially given full accounts of the meetings of the Young People's Societies of Christian Endeavor, and general church and Sunday-school intelligence.
The " Sunday Democrat " was issued for some weeks by Cornelius Loughery.
Some of the churches issue quarterly sheets, which are records and announcements of church work, rather than newspapers. The New York and Hartford daily and weekly papers have a large circulation in New Britain, and if to these are added the numerous magazines and other periodi- cals taken, there is evidence that New Britain is a reading community.
CHAPTER XIV.
INDUSTRIES.
A S has already been noticed, the fertile meadows of the Tunxis valley invited the attention of the early settlers of Farmington. In like manner, the pioneers who came over the hills to Horse Plain, Stanley Quarter, Great Swamp, and the valley of the Mattabesett and its branches, seem to have been attracted by the supposed fertility of the soil and the opportunity presented in these localities for the success- ful prosecution of agriculture. The land was taken by allot- ments, cleared and arranged into farms, with proper propor- tion of upland and meadow for supporting the stock and pro- ducing the crops necessary for supplying the wants of the people. The Tunxis meadows realized the expectations of the proprietors, the farms of Farmington were profitably worked, the village street was gradually extended, and the number of houses increased, until there were nearly as many in the village in 1700 as now.
Mills for the manufacture of flour and meal, and saw-mills for the preparation of lumber, were established quite early. Spinning and weaving were usually carried on in the family, but a shop for dyeing and fulling cloth was in operation soon after the grist-mill and saw-mill. The mills and small shops furnished lumber, nails, and facilities for building ; better houses were erected, indications of thrift were seen, and the population was increased until Farmington had become the most populous town in Hartford County, if not in the colony, before the revolutionary war.
The business interests of the place had, also, in the same time, exhibited remarkable progress for an inland town. From a small agricultural village it had grown to be a town of considerable commerce, carrying on profitable trade with
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the new towns springing up on the west and northwest. From Main Street, roads diverged to the north, the west, and the southwest, over which produce was brought from the western part of Hartford County and from Litchfield County, and exchanged for such goods as were needed in the newer towns. The produce was then exported and sold at a good profit by the merchants, and thus an active mercantile trade was developed, which brought considerable wealth to Farm- ington. Some of the merchants had large stores, with branches in neighboring towns. The principal stores dis- posed of goods at wholesale. At one time three West India' vessels were owned in Farmington, and one ship, at least, was employed to bring goods from China, so that "East India " and " West India goods " were imported direct in original packages, bearing the names of the merchants of this place .* Governor John Treadwell, speaking of this trade in a sketch prepared in 1802, says that "a greater capital is employed than in any other inland town in the State."
About 1775 the manufacture of saltpeter was conducted by John Treadwell and Martin Bull for a short time, and about the same time, or a few years later, guns for the army were made at Unionville. After the revolutionary war, and in the prosperous times of commerce in Farmington, there were a few manufactories established. In 1802 and 1803 fifteen thousand yards of linen, twenty-five hundred hats, and fifteen tons of potash were produced ; and at four or more tanneries, a considerable quantity of leather. The gun factory was then still in operation, turning out about four hundred muskets annually, and five shops were engaged in the manufacture of tin ware. The shops and mills were not all within the limits of the present parish of Farmington, for this village has never been extensively engaged in manu- facturing. Of late years more attention has been given to
* Dr. Porter's discourse at the one hundredth anniversary of the erection of the Congregational church, Farmington.
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agriculture, the rearing of fine domestic animals, and the support of the school which has made the place noted.
The earlier settlements in Berlin and New Britain were made with reference to the adaptation of the land for agri- cultural purposes, and the facility with which the products of the forests could be secured and taken to market. Thus the line of farms extending from Stanley Quarter on the eastern-side of the New Britain parish to Great Swamp, and across the natural meadows to West Street, Worthington, or down the valley of the Mattabesett to Beckley Quarter and East Berlin ; and on the western side of the town from Farm- ington by Horse Plain, the sources of the Quinnipiac to Hart Quarter, and thence through Kensington by the foot of the Blue Hills to Meriden, included the finest farming land in the town. A portion of this land was best adapted to grass, and making butter and cheese and raising stock seem to have been the chief pursuits, while in other parts of the town attention was directed more exclusively to tilled crops.
At the beginning of the present century New Britain had fifteen per cent. more working oxen than either of the other parishes ; but, at the same time, when the comparison is made in the number of cows and young cattle in each parish, Worthington.had sixteen and Kensington thirty-two per cent. more than New Britain.
While the raising of the various grains, the cultivation of fruit, the rearing of live stock, and the making of butter and cheese seem to have received the most attention, flax and flax-seed were produced, and beef and pork, lumber, pipe staves, heads and hoops were exported and bartered for sugar, salt, and other necessaries. There were valuable orchards in some parts of the town, and in the early part of this century a great quantity of cider was made annually, some of which was drank, and the surplus sold or converted into cider brandy. In 1820 there were one hundred and eighty-seven distilleries in Hartford County, an increase of eighty-one in a single year. At that time there were twelve
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distilleries in Berlin, including New Britain, and twenty-two in Farmington.
Mills for sawing lumber and grinding grain were estab- lished quite early in Berlin. The Mattabesett and its branches supplied the principal water-power, but there were a few mills on smaller streams. A small number of black- smiths' shops existed at the same time, generally rough, unpainted buildings, being little more than sheds. The simpler tools were made and repaired, and such iron work as was necessary in the construction of buildings was fashioned in these shops, and in some was started the germ of the . manufacturing industries which afterwards became so im- portant.
The thirty or forty early proprietors of the soil of New Britain, so far as allotted, were engaged chiefly in clearing the land and producing the crops most important for the community. A few persons were employed in the prepara- tion of builders' lumber, shooks and hoops, for export. These articles and the surplus of agricultural products were sent to Boston, New York, or the West Indies, and exchanged for sugar, molasses, cloth, and such other articles as were needed and could not be produced at home. Flax and wool were converted into cloth by the use of hand spinning-wheels and looms, and made into clothing for domestic use. Nearly every farmer was able to repair his own buildings, make his fences, keep the farm tools in order, and, if necessary, cut and prepare timber for new buildings.
The shops and mills first established were designed to meet the local needs of a small farming community. The first blacksmith's shop in the northern part of the parish was owned and occupied by Thomas Richards. It was on the Stanley Quarter road at the corner south of the first school-house in that district, and it became distinguished for the prominent men who learned their trade in it. John Richards, a son of Thomas, succeeded his father at this shop, and in 1776 bought the Josiah Lee house and farm on East Street, and soon after erected a blacksmith's shop near, which
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was occupied first by himself and afterwards by John and Elijah Hinsdale. A few rods south of this shop Ladwick Hotchkiss had a blacksmith's shop on the east side of East Street, and at the extreme south end of the street, near its junction with Christian Lane, was the shop of Adonijah Lewis. These shops were all occupied before the revolu- tionary war. A few years later James North and John Judd had each a blacksmith's shop on West Main Street; the for- mer soon removed his shop to the west side of Main Street opposite his house.
There were also several shoemakers within the New Britain Society, when it was organized, or soon after. In Stanley Quarter, the principal shop was on the east side of the road in connection with Timothy Stanley's tannery. Thomas Hart, a son of Deacon Elijah, worked at shoes at his farm house on West Main Street, and there were a few others who worked in the fields the greater part of the year, , but had a shoemaker's bench in a room in the house, where they could work during the winter months.
Some of the other trades had representatives in the New Britain parish quite early. Elisha Booth, a son of Robert Booth of the Great Swamp parish, was a carpenter, living at the homestead of his father at the south end of East Street. Thomas Lusk, 2d, worked at the carpenter's trade in New Britain soon after the organization of the society. Cabinet- making was often combined with carpenter's work, so that the same persons were able to build a house or construct a bureau, table, or other article of furniture. John Woods, an Englishman, was a skillful clothier in the western part of the parish. A fulling mill on Pond River was known as the "old fulling mill " before 1754. The principal mills in the parish, at the time the society was incorporated in 1754, were Stanley's mill in Stanley Quarter ; Smith's or Churchill's mills, a short distance east, in the bounds of Wethersfield ; Judd's saw-mill, near the site of the first meeting-house, and. Hart's grist-mill on Kensington Street. Andrews' saw-mill on the Plainville road, was built in 1757, and Hotchkiss'
-
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mill on Pond River near Horse Plain, a few years later. The latter was built by Ladwick and Lemuel Hotchkiss near the " old fulling mill," and was afterwards owned by Janna Churchill, Col. Gad Stanley, and others. Near this saw-mill Lemuel Hotchkiss had a blacksmith's shop, in which, besides doing the iron work for the mill and ordinary blacksmith's work, he made wrought nails, spikes, window springs, etc.
At the other blacksmiths' shops, farmers' tools were made and repaired ; at some of them, axes, hoes, shovels, tongs, chains, and other tools were constructed which gave their makers a reputation in other parishes, for good work. Thus at the shops of Richards, Hotchkiss, Lewis, North, and others, was commenced the manufacture of simple articles of hard- ware before the revolutionary war, all the work being by hand .*
At the saw-mills, lumber was prepared for sale in ad- joining parishes, and at Hart's grist-mill, and possibly at other mills in New Britain, corn was ground and the meal kiln-dried and prepared for the West India market. At the cider-mills cider was made, some of which was converted into cider brandy at the distilleries. Corn meal, cattle, horses, cider, and cider brandy, and hoops and shooks were all arti- cles of export. The meal and hoops and shooks, or staves, were carted to New Haven, and thence shipped .to the West Indies. Hartford, Rocky Hill, and Middletown. were also shipping points for the produce of this parish, as well as for other parts of the town. The few rude tools and articles for domestic use made by hand, and the productions of the farms and forests at that time constituted the products of
* The following list of articles copied from the account book of James North from entries made in 1778-1780, illustrates the variety of things made in his blacksmith's shop. The charges were to "Benj. Heart," "Elijah Heart," James Booth, Lot Stanley, Joseph Mather, Levi Judd, Dr. Smalley, etc., and were for making "augurs, brads, bridle bits, bails, chest locks, compasses, cranks, chisels, crow bars, boxes, bush scythes, grips, hoes, hooks, hinges, knives, keys, pitchforks, shaves, spikes, shovel and tongs, ramrods, spades, staples, steel landside, sleigh irons, wedges," etc. Under repairs were "gun- locks, carts, various tools, sleighs," etc., showing a great variety of work done in a blacksmith's shop.
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INDUSTRIES.
New Britain. While Berlin and New Britain were still in- cluded in Farmington, or previous to 1785, the people traded largely in Farmington Street, and the products of the farms and mills were exchanged for foreign goods from the Farm- ington stores.
The French and Indian war and the war of the revolu- tion somewhat interrupted the quiet uniformity of experience in this new society. Several men of the parish served in one or the other of these wars, and the community was called upon to furnish its quota of supplies. The revolutionary war in particular, though taking a number of business men from the society, created an increased demand for grain, flour, meal, cattle and horses, and stimulated production. Connecticut was at that time largely an agricultural colony, and able to contribute of its products both for Massachusetts and New York. New Britain and Kensington shared in this trade. The revolutionary war also increased the price of European goods, and finally cut off the importation of Eng- lish manufactures.
The value of the industries of these parishes when com- pared with those of a single manufacturing city now seems small; but at that time, when compared with the business of other places in the Connecticut Colony, or in other colo- nies, was considerable. In Farmington, were wholesale stores in which the trade of neighboring parishes was con- ducted, and later, there was at least one wholesale store and a number of retail stores in Berlin, chiefly on Worthington Street.
When New Britain was incorporated as a society, Farm- ington, of which it was a part, was the third town in popu- lation in Hartford County, and twenty years later, it had become the first town in the county, with an increasing trade and foreign commerce.
The first distinctive effort to establish a manufacturing industry separate from the few and limited products of the mills and blacksmith's shops, was in the manufacture of tin- ware. This effort was successfully made before the first
18
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division of the Kensington Society took place. About 1740, William and Edward Paterson and their sister, Anna, came to this country from the County Tyrone, Ireland. The brothers, William and Edward, began in a small way to import sheet-iron and tin sheets, and to manufacture the latter into tinware, the first made in this country. This manufacture appears to have been begun on West Street, Kensington, later in the Worthington parish, but it was carried on quite early on East Street, in New Britain.
At the time the manufacture of tinware was begun by the Patersons, vessels and wares of tin were a luxury, and were either sold direct from the shop, or were peddled from baskets carried about the country. As the value of the articles became known, others engaged in the business, and the wares were soon scattered over New England and New York, and later, over the Southern States. The business as it increased, led to the employment of hand-carts, then of one- horse wagons, and finally of vehicles drawn by two and four horses, by which the goods were distributed to all the settled portions of the country, the Southern States especially fur- nishing a good market.
At the shop of the Patersons in Kensington, other young men learned the business, and other shops were established for the manufacture of a variety of goods in tin. Shubael Paterson, a son of Edward, succeeded his father in the business on West Street, and others in the family were engaged in this manufacture. A few years later, Blakesley Barnes had a tin shop further north near where the alms- house was kept in 1888. He had as many as six appren- tices at one time in his shop. There were at different periods a number of other shops in Berlin, in which the manufacture of tinware was conducted. John Dunham and Jolin Goodrich had opened shops nearer the center of Worth- ington parish. John Hubbard, Benjamin Wilcox, and R. Wilcox had similar shops further east, and there were other shops in Berlin, and also in the New Britain society. In Beckley Quarter, Elias Beckley had a shop for making tin-
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ware tools, and Jedediah North, Edward North, and some others had shops for a like purpose in other parts of the town.
During the war of the revolution, the manufacture of tin- ware was suspended, as the tin plates could not be imported, but on the establishment of communication with Europe, it was resumed, and for several years rapidly increased in extent. It was again interrupted by the war of 1812, but on the return of peace, assumed larger proportions than ever before, so that it was said that "ten thousand boxes of tin plates were manufactured into culinary vessels in the town of Berlin in one year."
The capital employed was not large, but from some of the shops, from twenty to thirty persons were employed at a time in selling the wares. There were in 1815-1819, five -. principal factories in the town, with some smaller shops. From a portion of the shops the men took their tools to the. south in the winter, manufacturing and selling goods in that section, returning to the north in the spring to resume work in the shops at home.
It is somewhat uncertain whether William Paterson ever made tinware in the New Britain parish. He was a resident of the parish for several years after the manufacture was commenced in Berlin, and while in New Britain owned the Rhodes' place on East Street, and had a shop near his house. He removed from New Britain about 1760. Three of the sons of Adonijalı Lewis, who lived at the south end of East Street near the Berlin line, having learned the tinner's trade, established shops in the New Britain parish. The business was at first conducted on East Street by Seth Lewis before 1800. A few years later, his brother Erastus Lewis had his tin shop on the west side of Main Street, near where George Hart's house now stands (1889): Another brother, Isaac Lewis, about the same time, established the tin business in Stanley Quarter.
Thomas Lee, who for a time sold goods for Paterson, and was his agent in Baltimore in 1796-1798, soon afterwards
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manufactured tin himself in a shop on West Main Street, New Britain, near the site of Hicks' Block. There were a few other persons engaged in this business, which was then very profitable.
At the same time that the manufacture of tinware was being conducted, influences were operating which afterwards led to the establishment of other branches of manufacture, and changed New Britain from an agricultural to a manu- facturing place. In the blacksmiths' shops, while consid- erable skill had already been shown in making such tools and utensils as were needed in the farm and mill work of the place, in a few instances, hand bells, cow bells, harness and shoe buckles, and other simple articles were made. One of the most noted of these shops after the revolutionary war, was that of James North on Main Street. An intelligent and enterprising mechanic himself, early taught to depend upon his own resources, and with a large family of children, he sought to secure for them the means of successful living, and at the same time to benefit the parish where he had made his home, by introducing a greater variety of occupa- tions. He saw from the profits derived from the hand-work in his own blacksmith's shop, possibilities of developed indus- tries which might benefit his neighbors as well. He was popular in the community and had little difficulty in enlisting some others in the project.
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