USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Torrington > History of Torrington, Connecticut, from its first settlement in 1737, with biographies and genealogies > Part 18
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When the building of the road was assured, application was made to the business men along the line of the road, to take stock in the road and thus aid in securing money to build it. This they de- clined for the reason, probably, that they had no faith in any returns from such investment, but offered a bonus, or to give to the company a sum of money instead of taking stock. Mr. Bishop named the sum of $100,000 but consented to take $75,000, which was raised and delivered to the company. In raising this sum, and rendering special aid in the construction and completion of the road, Mr. Philo Hurd,
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WOLCOTTVILLE
WOLCOTTVILLE DEPOT.
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who was the general agent in all this work, mentions the following men, as having been of great service to the road : At Winsted, John Boyd, Mr. Bearsley, M. and J. C. Camp, Wm. L. Gilbert, George Dudley.
At Burrville, Milo Burr. At Wolcottville, Geo. D. Wadhams, John Hungerford, F. N. Holley, and Wm. R. Slade. At Thomas- ton, Seth Thomas, gave $15,000 or more.' At Waterbury, Dea. Aaron Benedict, and his son Charles, M. & W. C. Scofield, Green Kendrick, John P. Elton, Brown brothers, William Phylo, Almon Terrell, Scofield Buckingham, Charles B. Merriman, Norton J. Buell, Israel Homes. At Naugatuck, Milo Lewis, William B. Lewis, J. Peck, William C. De Forest, Mr. Goodyear, Josiah Culver. At Seymour, Dwight French & Co., George F. De Forest, S. Y. Beach, Gen. Clark Wooster.
At Ansonia, Anson G. Phelps, Thomas Burlock. At Derby and Birmingham, John J. Howe, Edward N. Shelton, Henry At- water, Fitch Smith, Abraham Hawkins.
Two men are mentioned by Mr. Hurd as having been very influential throughout the valley, in behalf of the road ; George D. Wadhams of Wolcottville, and Israel Holmes then of Waterbury, but for some years also, of Wolcottville.
On the fifteenth of May 1849, the first fifteen miles of the road was ready for the transaction of business ; on the eleventh of June the road was open to Waterbury ; on the twenty-third of July it was opened to Plymouth, and on the twenty-fourth day of September 1849, the whole road was completed. Mr. Bishop the contractor having died in June, the completion was thereby delayed a few days.
The first time table was issued on the 14th of May 1849, and on the fourth of July 1849, a regular excursion train was run, and that time table mentions the following places, beginning at Inchliff's bridge and passing Waterville, Waterbury, Naugatuck, Pines Bridge, Humphreysville, Ansonia, Derby, Baldwin's Platform, Junc- tion, Bridgeport."
On the twenty-third of July, a time table was issued, the train starting at Plymouth.
On November 15, same year, a time table was issued, naming the following stations : Winsted, Rossiterville, Wolcottville, Harwinton,
" The amounts would have been given, but the books are not in possession of the com - pany but kept in New York.
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Plymouth, Waterville, Waterbury, Naugatuck, Humphreysville, Ansonia, and Derby.
No particular change from the first plan of the road was made, except at the south end where instead of crossing the Naugatuck river at Derby and going direct to Bridgeport, they ran down to the New York and New Haven road, and on that to Bridgeport, as at present.
The directors in their first report (1849) say : " The road com- mences at Winsted, in Litchfield county, about nine miles from the north line of the state, and terminates in the town of Milford, near the Housatonic river, about twelve miles from New Haven, and five from Bridgeport, at which point it intersects with the New York and New Haven rail road. It is fifty-five miles in length, and passes through the villages of Winsted, Wolcottville, Thomaston, Water- ville, the city of Waterbury, Union City, Naugatuck, Seymour, Ansonia, Derby and Birmingham, besides several other intermediate stations."
Wolcottville in 1836, contained about forty dwellings, and be- tween that time and 1850, there were, probably, not over ten more erected, as that was a period of very little growth. When the rail road was being constructed in 1848, the capital stock employed in Wolcottville in all manufacturing enterprises was about one hundred thousand dollars, and the annual sales of products amounted to about four hundred thousand dollars. The transportation of products, was estimated by Geo. D. Wadhams, John Hungerford and B. H. Morse, to be thirty-two thousand tons. In 1853, the directors, in their re- ports say : "Wolcottville is fifty-two miles distant from Bridge- port. At this place there have been erected during the past year thirty-five dwellings and ten manufacturing establishments and stores. The new manufacturing establishments are; a papier mache, a carriage, a hardware, a sawing and planing, a scythe, a woolen knitting, and a lock manufactory ; also a tannery. The increased value of real estate at this place is estimated by its citizens at seventy- five to one hundred per centum."
At the same time they say of Winsted ; "the additional manu- facturing capital invested here since opening the road is about $160,000, and over one hundred buildings have been erected during the same period."
Of Waterbury the same report says : "there have been erected at this place, during the last three years, from four hundred and fifty
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to five hundred dwellings, and the mercantile business of the place has nearly quadrupled, and real estate has advanced from four to five hundred per cent."
Besides this increase of business and the value of real estate in the village, the rail road has brought within the reach of every farmer in the town a market for all the milk he can produce. Some com- plaint is made as to prices realized from the milk, and from this cause some have given up the business, yet it is a significant fact that a number of the most enterprising, successful farmers in the town are selling their milk by the rail road.
While the country all along the line of the road has been greatly benefited, it is pleasing to know that the road, as a business enter- prise, has been a success, and in every way an honor to the country and the men who have conducted it. There has been no repudiation of bonds, nor of bills, nor damages from the first day to the present time. The president of the New York and New Haven rail road, not long since, pronounced it, " one of the best managed roads in the country." It must have been or it would have been a lame, one horse affair, instead of being one of the most prompt and energetic institutions in the state.
The extra expense in repairs on this road, above that of many others, absorbs annually a large per cent of the income. The road is built in a narrow valley, and the hills on either side much of the distance are very precipitous, and the water rushing down these steeps, often carries every thing before it. The clouds some times lower down below the tops of the adjacent hills and empty their waters as in a flood, and bridges and heavy masonry are carried away, as float- ing chips, as was the case in 1875, between Thomaston and Water- bury. And also on another occasion when the bridge was carried away at Pine brook, a little distance above Thomaston. On this oc- casion the workmen on the road above the bridge closed work at six o'clock and went down the road over the bridge to Thomaston. soon after a heavy shower came along above the bridge, and carried away a part of the abutment of the bridge, the bridge remaining in its place. When the up train came to Thomaston the workmen took a baggage or freight car, which when they came to the bridge went into the river and nine out of the sixteen men in the car were drowned. Great precaution is taken to have track walkers examine the road after showers, but in this case the shower was so confined to a short distance on the road and that between the stations, that no appre-
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hension was entertained, of any injury to the road. That shower was very unusual, as it fell within the distance of one mile on the road and in three or four hours, the flood of water was gone and the river assumed its natural low water mark. In consequence of this abruptness of these rocky hills, the scenery along the road is wild and picturesque. At High rock, especially, it is exceedingly wild and grand ; equalling in all respects, except height, that of many cele- brated places. At Wolcottville the valley widens a little and the rise of the hills both east and west is not steep but gradual and free from rocks, forming the most beautiful and convenient site for a city, of any location in the valley. It is but due credit to say, therefore, that the management of this road has been upon honor and with a careful eye to expenses as well as incomes.
The receipts of the road in 1849, were $52,292.04, a little more than half the amount of the interest on the capital stock for one year. In 1850, it was $145,261.59; in 1860, $241, 330.54; in 1870, $589,928.62 ; and in 1876, $501,604.86. At Wolcottville the re- ceipts of the first month were $250, but since that time have reached over $6,000, in a single month, but does not average this amount, nor half of it probably.
It is for the honor of Torrington, as well as every town on the line, that this road has been a success and is still enjoying the same distinguished honor; and it is also an honor, that this success has been attained and is maintained, only by great effort and the most skillful management on the part of the officers of the road.
The present officers : E. F. Bishop, son of the first president, is president ; Horace Nichols, secretary and treasurer ; George W. Beach, superintendent ; Samuel Wilmot, auditor.
Directors : W. D. Bishop, R. Tomlinson, and E. F. Bishop of Bridgeport ; J. G. Wetmore of Winsted; A. L. Dennis of Newark, N. J. ; Henry Bronson and J. B. Robertson of New Haven ; R. M. Bassett of Derby, and F. J. Kingsbury of Waterbury.
The company are completing the work of laying the new steel rail the whole length of the line.
If the road has been a successful enterprise it must have had com- petent and honorable men engaged in its business transactions in order to secure such an end, for if either of these conditions had been wanting the end could not, and would not have been realized.
It will be interesting, therefore, to look over briefly the business life of some of the leaders in this enterprise.
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ALFRED BISHOP.
ALFRED BISHOP, first president of the Naugatuck rail road, de- scended from Rev. John Bishop, minister in Stamford, and was the son of William and Susannah (Scofield) Bishop, and was born in Stamford December 21, 1798. At an early age he commenced his self reliant career as a teacher in the public schools. After teaching a short time he went into New Jersey, with the intention of spending his days in farming. While thus employed, he made personal experi- ments with his pick axe, shovel, and wheel barrow, from which he estimated the cost for removing various masses of earth to different distances. In this way he prepared himself for the great work of his life, as canal and rail road contractor. Among the public works on which he was engaged, and which constitute the best monument to his name, are the Morris canal in New Jersey, the great bridge over the Raritan, at New Brunswick ; the Housatonic, Berkshire, Washington and Saratoga, Naugatuck, and New York and New Haven rail roads.
He removed from New Jersey to Bridgeport, Ct., where he spent the remainder of his life. It is not claiming too much for him to say that Bridgeport owes much to his enterprise and public spirit. Mr. Bishop readily inspired confidence in his plans for public improve- ments, and at his call the largest sums were cheerfully supplied.
But in the midst of his extensive operations, and while forming plans for still greater works, he was suddenly arrested by his last illness. From the first he felt that it would prove fatal ; and now, still more than while in health, he displayed his remarkable talents in arranging and planning all the details of a complicated operation. In the midst of great physical suffering he detailed with minuteness the necessary steps for closing all his extensive business arrangements, laying out the work for his executors, as he would plan the details of an ordinary contract for a rail road. He then, in the same business like manner, distributed his large estate. One-quarter of it he dis- posed in gratuities, outside of his own family, partly to his more dis- tant relatives, partly to his personal friends who had been unfortunate, and partly to strictly benevolent uses.
Mr. Bishop married Mary, daughter of Ethan Ferris of Green- wich and had three sons, all born in New Jersey. William D. Bishop a graduate of Yale, and president of the New York and New
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Haven rail road; Edward F. Bishop a graduate of Trinity college, Hartford, lives in Bridgeport and is president of the Naugatuck rail road. Henry Bishop resides in Bridgeport.
PHILO HURD.
PHILO HURD was born in Brookfield, Ct., in 1795, and was the son of a farmer. He is a man of strong physical constitution and energy, which he has been heard to say, he gained " by inheritance, and by holding the plough among the rocks on the hills of Connecticut." He engaged in mercantile pursuits for a number of years, in New York city, in the state of Georgia, and in the city of Bridgeport. While conducting business in Bridgeport he was elected sheriff of the county, and before his time in this office had expired Mr. Alfred Bishop invited him to engage in making rail roads.
He commenced his rail road work on the Housatonic, in completing the road. He was afterward engaged nearly a year and a half on the New York and New Haven rail road, assisting Professor Twining in locating parts of that road, and in giving deeds and arranging the pre- liminaries to that road.
In the autumn of 1844, he came up the Naugatuck valley on an exploration tour, to inspect the localities, and inquire as to the feasi- bility of building a road in this valley. His report was so favorable that application was made for a charter, which was granted, and Mr. Hurd went through the entire valley with the engineers, as overseeing agent in locating the road and making the profile and survey. Then he went through again, surveyed and measured the land taken by the road, gave every deed, settled every claim, of man, widow, orphan or child, who owned any of the land, whether those persons resided on the road, in Michigan or in California. He has said that it seemed to him, that he " had slept, or taken a meal of victuals in nearly every house from Bridgeport to Winsted, and that in all this work he never had any serious difficulty with any person."
This last item is remarkable, and proves without a doubt that Mr. Hurd must have been a man of unusual good nature, and that he had a kindly way of doing business, and that he succeeded in showing that the road was for the benefit of every person on the line, as has been proved to be the fact, in the development of the enterprise, or he would have had serious trouble somewhere. Mr. Hurd speaks with decided emphasis of the assistance rendered him by Mr. George D.
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Wadhams of Wolcottville, as being equal to that of any man in the valley, except Israel Holmes, then of Waterbury.
In the construction of the road, Mr. Hurd bought all the material along the line, paid all the men employed, and saw every thing completed and delivered into the hands of the directors.
The one great thing that made the work comparatively easy was, " the people wanted the road." In 1853, the road had been so prosperous, and Mr. Hurd's work so acceptable that the company made him a present of $1,000.
By the time the Naugatuck road was finished Mr. Hurd had be- come thoroughly a rail road man and very naturally kept in the work. He went to Indiana and was engaged some time in finishing the rail road from Indianapolis to Peru. Scarcely was he through with that when he was invited to engage on the Hudson river road. Gov. Morgan was president of that road and Mr. Hurd was made vice president. In this office and work he continued some few years.
When Robert Schuyler failed and the Hudson river road became somewhat in trouble Mr. Hurd accepted the presidency of the Har- lem rail road, where he continued about three years.
At this time his health failed. He went to Florida and returned no better : went to St. Paul's, and returned no better. He then packed his trunk for a longer journey ; sailed for Europe, went to Nice, Italy, and there in a short time entirely recovered, and has never since had pulmonary difficulty.
After returning home he engaged a short time on the Delaware, Lackawana, and Western rail road, and, after this, with a few items in regard to other roads, ceased to be a rail road man.
He resides at Bridgeport, spending the winters at the south, and is still an energetic, cheerful, and agreeable gentleman.
HORACE NICHOLS.
HORACE NICHOLS was born in 1812, in the town of Fairfield, Conn., and was a clerk some years in Bridgeport. He became the treasurer of the Housatonic rail road in 1840, and has held that office since that time.
When the Naugatuck road was started he was elected secretary and treasurer, and has continued therein, a faithful, honorable but prompt and energetic officer until the present time. He is unosten- tatious, scarcely allowing a notice to be made of him in print ; con-
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stant in his attention to business, and therefore greatly successful, and merits and receives the esteem of all with whom he is associated.
GEORGE W. BEACH.
GEORGE W. BEACH was born in 1833, in Humphreysville, now Seymour, then in the town of Derby, Ct. His father Sharron Yale Beach was of the Wallingford branch of the New Haven family, and still resides at Seymour. Soon after the rail road was opened, or about 1850, George W., entered the service of the company in the capacity of clerk at the depot, and also filling any place or attending to any transactions on the road, to which he might be directed. In this position, having a natural tendency to observation, he readily became in a good degree, familiar with the work, and the men, and the methods of executing the work of the road. In 1851, he was placed as second clerk in the office at Waterbury, but was frequently sent to various places on the line of the road, and hence, has been agent at nearly every station on the road. This very naturally gave him an acquaintance with the people, and the interests centering at every station, and the requirements necessary to adapt the road to the work it had to do as a whole, and as related to each station.
In 1855, he was appointed agent at Naugatuck, in which position he continued until April 1857, when he was called to the conductor- ship of a morning and evening passenger train. While in this capacity he took charge of the general ticket agency, and thereby became more familiar with the general travel on the road, the running of the trains, and the efficiency of the men and the machinery of the road. In 1861, he was transferred as agent to Waterbury, the point of greatest business on the road.
In September 1868, Charles Waterbury, then superintendent of the road, died, and Mr. Beach was appointed, in the following November, to this position ; which office he has held to the present time, and in which position he has become extensively and favorably known to the people along the line of the road and throughout the state.
Mr. Beach is an unpretending, plain, business man, a good specimen of the last quarter of the nineteenth century. In his quiet way he will direct fifty men in repairing a break or a bridge on the road with the least noise, and have the work done and the trains running, in the shortest time possible, for such work.
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A peculiar qualification of Mr. Beach for the precise position he now occupies is that of fore-thought, and fore-sight. It would not do in such a position to say " I did not think about it." And then when one in such a position thinks he must see at once whether the think is practicable and also remunerative. Several occur- rences on this road have illustrated these statements within the last ten years.
He is a member of the first Congregational church of Waterbury, where he resides; is superintendent of the Sunday school of that church. He is well known as one of the state committee of the Y. M. C. A., and was one of the few delegates to the convention in New York, which organized the Christian Commission, for the relief of the soldiers during the late war. He represented the town of Waterbury in the legislature in 1870 and 1871.
ALFRED BEERS.
ALFRED BEERS, son of Jonathan Beers, was born at Canaan, Ct., Sept. 26, 1817, where he resided with his parents until about five years of age, when they removed to Lewisboro, Westchester county, N. Y. He continued, after the old style, to work with his father until he was twenty-one years of age, but during which time he had, by various methods and efforts learned the trade of boot and shoe maker.
At the age of twenty-three he married Mary E. daughter of Capt. Leander Bishop, of Rye, N. Y.
Mr. Beers resided a time in Shrewsbury, N. J., and removed thence to Bridgeport and commenced work as a conductor with the Naugatuck rail road company in March, 1851 ; in which position he has continued to the present time ; a term of over twenty-six years. During this time he has served under all the superintendents who have been employed on the road ; Philo Hurd, W. D. Bishop, Clapp Spooner, Charles Waterbury, and George W. Beach. The distance he has traveled while in this work has been about one million miles, or the same as forty times around the world ; and has conducted about two millions of passengers over the road in safety having never lost the life of a passenger, nor having one seriously injured. But in one respect he had the advantage of his brother, in the matter of safety, his train running in the middle of the day, and his brother's at morning and evening ; and the only serious ac- cidents which have occurred on the road were two, both on the up train, each in the evening, after a heavy shower of rain.
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Mr. Beers, having been so long connected with the road as con- ductor, has become the personal friend (and almost personal property) of every body from Long Island sound to the Old Bay state, and in traveling it is a matter of about as much satisfaction and sense of safety to the public, to see the old conductor, as it is to know there is a steam engine ahead of the train. Indeed his silver wedding in connection with the road ought to have been celebrated two years ago, and thereby given expression to the joyful fact that in regard to these " bans hitherto, no man hath put asunder."
Mr. Beers has six children ; three sons and three daughters.
His eldest son Leander J., is conductor on the Shore Line rail road, and runs from New Haven to New London ; his second son Charles W. is mail agent on the Housatonic rail road ; and his third son, Alfred B., is an attorney at law, and now judge of the city court of Bridgeport. He enlisted in the late war as a private, served three years; re-enlisted with the declared determination to do what he could to the very last to put down the rebellion. He came out of the contest unharmed, and with a captain's commission. Mr. Beers's daughters are married ; two residing in Bridgeport and one in Litchfield.
He has four grandsons, all of them doubtless if not on the rail road are traveling in the " way they should go."
Mr. Beers resides and is one of the vestrymen of St. Paul's church of East Bridgeport, and warden of the borough of West Stratford. He is also one of the assessors of the town of Stratford, and also grand juror.
AMOS S. BEERS.
AMOS S. BEERS was born in 1827, in South Salem, New York state, and was the son of Jonathan Beers, a farmer. He worked on his father's farm until seventeen years of age, when he went to New Canaan, where he served his time, three years, as a shoemaker. From this place, he went to New York city where he remained as clerk in a shoe store two years.
He engaged in the service of the Naugatuck road in 1854, as fire- man, remaining nine months and then left that service. In 1855, he was appointed conductor and has thus continued to the present time, a period of twenty-two years, and has thereby, as well as his older brother, become, if not a part of the incorporate body politic, a fixture, so important and so familiar to all the people, that his absence from his train, would require a definite explanation from high au --
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thorities to satisfy the inquiry of the public. He has at different times run his train years in succession without losing a trip.
He understands his business and attends to it, without fear or favor, and yet in the demeanor of a true gentleman as well as officer. At- tentive in an unusual degree to the sick and disabled who are com- pelled to travel, he is decided and thorough in securing perfect order and decorum on his train, at all times.
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