History of Windham County, Connecticut, Part 75

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: New York, Preston
Number of Pages: 1506

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

menters in Rhode Island had succeeded after much labor and trouble in constructing machines for spinning cotton by water power. Ozias Wilkinson and his ingenious sons had established a factory in Pawtucket, in 1798, and then sought a wider field of enterprise. The Quinebaug Falls and valley was the site se- lected, and the Pomfret Manufacturing Company formed Janu- ary 1st, 1806. Its constituent members were Ozias Wilkinson, his sons, Abraham, Isaac, David, Daniel and Smith Wilkinson, his sons-in-law, Timothy Green and William Wilkinson, and James, Christopher and William Rhodes. James Rhodes, of Warwick, R. I., had previously purchased of John Harris a half interest of his share of the Cargill property. All this interest, with the remainder of the privilege and much other land in the vicinity both sides the river, were now secured by the Pomfret Manufacturing Company, and its charge and the care of build- ing the projected factory, and superintending the various works, entrusted to the youngest brother, Mr. Smith Wilkinson, who soon proved himself master of the situation.

The lonely vale, with its rocky hills and heavy forests, rang with the busy clatter of the numerous workmen. With happy forethought Mr. Wilkinson selected the Fourth of July for rais- ing the frame of the factory, when a great concourse of people from all the adjoining towns came, together to help about the work and satisfy their curiosity in regard to this novel enter- prise. The work of building and reconstruction went rapidly forward. The " solitary walk " laid out by Mr. Knight was less attractive to the young manager than a brisk ride to Killingly hill, where he found agreeable society in the hospitable home of Captain Sampson Howe. In a few months he married Miss Elizabeth Howe, and began housekeeping in a small house* east of the river. Machinery and all needful appurtenances were hauled up from Providence, and on April 1st, 1807, the first cotton factory in eastern Connecticut was set in motion-a four story wooden building, 100 by 32 feet in dimensions. Its busi- ness was to spin cotton yarn to be woven on hand looms into coarse cloth and bed-ticking. Its working force was a few child- ren picked up in the neighborhood, with a man in each room to help and oversee them. The boys and girls were delighted with the new employment, and thought the glittering machines "the prettiest things in the world." When a heavy snow storm *Site now occupied by Putnam Bank.

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

blocked the roads one morning the little girls put on men's boots and waded through the drifts in their eagerness to work. They were paid about seven shillings a week.

The children were not alone in rejoicing over the new indus- try. To the women who wove the cloth it was a boon beyond expression. It is hard to realize the scarcity of money in those days, especially in farming families, when produce was cheap, markets few, business openings rare and wages low. The priv- ilege of earning things for themselves was thus most joyfully welcomed by hundreds of active women. A store promptly opened by the company, offered all manner of useful and orna- mental articles in exchange for weaving. Women of every rank, the well-to-do as well as the poor, hastened to avail them- selves of this golden opportunity. The impulse given by the new mill was felt in many ways. Many workmen were needed for teaming, farming, mill tending, house building and other purposes. The grain mill was kept busily at work. A hand- some house opposite the mill was soon built by Mr. Wilkinson, for his own residence, and other houses for operatives and new residents.

So rapid was the increase of population that in 1812 Mr. Wil- kinson found it needful to build a school house for his village. A neat brick building was erected on a steep hill east of the river, which was also used on Sundays for a house of worship. Though himself a member of the Congregational church at Kill- ingly hill, and a regular attendant upon its service, Mr. Wilkin- son was on friendly terms with all other denominations, and most willingly accorded them the use of the school house. The Methodists held service every alternate Sabbath for some years, under the charge of the Thompson circuit preacher. On other Sundays the Baptists " held the fort," under Elders Grow, Crosby, Nichols, Ross or Cooper. Reverends Daniel Dow or Elisha At- kins or Eliphalet Lyman would often carry on "a five o'clock meeting " in the brick school house. So sober and substantial was the character of the Pomfret Factory residents that there were but two families in fifteen years which habitually refused church attendance. The singing, according to a trustworthy reporter, was as varied as the sect of the preachers. When the Methodists held service choristers like John M. Sabin and Augustus W. Perrin led such a volume of male and female voices .as would shake the rafters of the house and waken the soundest

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

sleeper. The Baptist singers were led by Artemas Bruce, es- pecially on funeral occasions, and the Congregationalists by Mr. Jedidiah Leavens, unless Mr. Dow preferred to set his own fa- vorite tunes-Windham, Mortality, Florida or Hebron. Sunday was Sunday indeed under 'Mr. Wilkinson's forcible administra- tion, and any deviation from its proper observance was promptly noted and punished, and even those audacious youngsters who presumed to play ball upon the day of the state fast had the law enforced against them and were made to pay legal fines.

During the war with Great Britain Pomfret factory flourished greatly, making one year a dividend of $36,000. By paying large prices they were able to secure sufficient supplies of cotton from Philadelphia, the large profit more than reimbursing the heavy outlay. Thus solidly established the company met the reverses that followed without embarrassment, and succeeded in introducing power looms and other new methods of labor without serious inconvenience. Continued improvements were made in the village and surrounding country. The factory farms were brought under good cultivation. Mr. Wilkinson took much pride in the great mowing lot near the Upper Falls, and in other parts of his farm. It is said that thirty-five hay-makers might sometimes be seen on a good hay day swinging their scythes in time with each other. Methodical in all things, Mr. Wilkinson once announced "that he had upon count a cock of hay for every day in the year-365." A village cow was taken from house to house every night and morning in summer that all the families might have a supply of new milk. Each tenant had a garden spot for raising his own vegetables, and laid up his own beef and pork for family consumption. Fresh meat was brought in occasionally by farmers as they slaughtered, and meat, milk and ice carts were all unknown in those primitive days.

Upon the request of Mr. Wilkinson, a road was laid by the selectmen of Thompson from the old road over Parks hill direct to the village in 1818. The town voted to accept the road as laid out and also voted, "That it is the sense of the town that the old road from Pomfret Factory, until it intersects the above reported road, be discontinued." Bundy's bridge was newly covered and a new road laid out to the Brick Factory. Sufficient travel passed through the village to support a respectable tavern under the old yew tree at the west end of Cargill's block. Mal-

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achi Green is remembered among its landlords. In 1823 a new stone building was erected, to be used for the manufacture of woolen goods. Its foundations were laid by Asa White, a vet- eran mill constructor, who had overseen the building of some of the first factories in New England, but who died while this was in progress. In 1826 Mr. Wilkinson became chief proprie- tor, as well as manager, associating with Mr. James Rhodes in place of the former company. The new stone mill was now used for cotton manufacturing and the old mill for woolen goods. More houses and workmen were demanded and business opera- tions extended. A new interest grew up at the upper privilege, with the building of a brick factory there by Mr. James Rhodes in 1830. Through the good offices of a former resident of this section, we are indebted for an unique Directory, giving a full report of the residents of the old Pomfret Factory between 1815- 1830, viz :-

"Smith Wilkinson-agent Pomfret Manufacturing company. Superintendents in their order-Augustus Howe, Thomas Dike, Gen. Reuben Whitman. Overseers of weaving shop-David Whitman, John N. Leavens. Machinists -- Eden Leavens, Asa White, James Cunningham, A. Blanchard, Alpheus Chaffee. Blacksmiths-John Phipps, William Phipps, Jonathan Clough. Overseers of carding and repairing-Arthur Tripp, P. Carpen- ter, Ira Graves, Almon Graves, Benjamin Morris, Jebediah Mor- ris, J. H. Morris, Jr., George Morris, Thomas Chapman, Lyman Lawrence, G. W. Eddy, William Andrews, Welcome Eddy, Benjamin Matthews, Charles Richmond, Joseph Cundall, Oba- diah Grinnell, J. Keach, Charles Chaffee, J. Dike, D. Harrington, S. Harrington, Jr. Manager of Picker Mill and general painter -David Hall. Mule spinners-Green Capron, William Johnson, Jonathan Perrin, George B. Carey, Martin Leach. Clothiers and fullers-A. Thompson, J. Basset. House carpenters-Sylvester Stanley, Joseph Heath, Samuel Truesdale, Jr., Asa Park. Blue. dyer-Jedidiah Leavens. Bleachers-Ephraim Congden, E. Chase, Jacob Mann. The clerks in the store were James Hop- kins, William Arnold, S. Davis Leavens, George Howe, Augus- tus Wilkinson, Henry Wilkinson, Daniel P. Dow, Horace Whit- taker, Edmond Wilkinson, William Warren, Sampson Howe. Clerks in the Domestic department were Lemuel H. Elliott, N. Aldrich, Jedidiah Leavens, Jr., A. W. Perrin. The keepers of the general boarding house were, in order, Stephen Stone, L.

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H. Elliott (afterward steward of Brown University), N. Aldrich, Willard Arnold, Asahel Elliott, Benjamin Warren, Eleazer Sa- bin. The grain miller was Frank Pearce ; the saw miller, Isaac Moore ; the butcher, J. H. Morris ; the cow-herder was Thomas Richmond : the freight-teamer to and from Providence was Jo- seph Stone, with a yoke of venerable oxen, Bug and Bright, and a younger yoke, beside Hezekiah Converse (a grand bass singer) was farm teamer for many years ; his successors were Harvey White and Reuben Hoar. There were 'captain farmers' also- Darius Starr, William Martin, Elliot Hammond. Others in the vicinity who plied the plow, scythe and hoe, while their sons and daughters worked in the mills, were Messrs. Bean, Harring- ton, Chaffee, Faulkner, Brown, Keach, Cary, Weld, Willard, Her- andean, Johnson, Kelley, Gallup, Maserve, Chamberlin. Among those who tried to keep them all with a good understanding (the shoe-makers) were S. Truesdale, A. Plummer, J. Harris, G. Glasco."

There were many families in the vicinity worthy of notice if space permitted. Noah Perrin, Sr., the Methodist class leader, had now succeeded to the ownership of the Perrin farm, and his numerous sons and daughters were much in demand for teaching school in the surrounding region, their united service amounting to some sixty-seven terms. Captain Joseph Buck, a mile east on the Providence road, was a much respected citizen, chorister at the West Thompson Methodist church, the model head of a most worthy and promising family. South on the Pomfret road another large and promising family was growing up in the household of Mr. Abel Dunn. Near them lived the Sawyers, one of the old Pomfret families, with the blind brother with such marvelous instinct and aptitudes. Their neighbors, the Gilberts, Halls and Garys, had all large families, growing up to be useful men and women in widely separated fields. An- other noted family in that neighborhood was that of Captain Alfred Holmes, whose children it is said were all well educated and gifted, their home the center of a "brilliant social circle." Captain Eleazer Keith, old Deacon Deamon, Mr. Darius Sea- mans, were well known residents upon the mountain road north- ward.

These various families, remote from the centers of the three towns in which they dwelt, were drawn in many ways to Pom- fret Factory and more or less identified with its interests. In

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

the social life of this pioneer " factory village " there was much that was pleasant and enjoyable. The owner and master was a life-time resident, dwelling among his own people, having a per- sonal interest in all their affairs. A bond of common interest and reciprocal regard united employers and employed as one great family-its central hearth the delightful home of Mr. Wil- kinson. Probably no house in the three converging towns en- tertained so much company. Its hospitable doors were always open, and rich and poor alike, county gentry and village opera- tive, received the same cordial welcome. The noble and lovely wife of Mr. Wilkinson was indeed the "mother of the village." In health and in sickness, in weal and woe, all were sure of the warmest sympathy and aid.

The Rhodesville enterprise began with the division of the Bundy privilege at the Upper Falls, which was surveyed and laid out in four divisions of about twenty acres each by Simon Davis, Esq., in 1827. These divisions were then apportioned by lot among the several owners, Abram and Isaac Wilkinson and James Rhodes drawing the two lower privileges, William and Smith Wilkinson the two upper privileges. At this date there were but two houses upon the estate, one on the east side of the river, occupied by Hezekiah Converse, the other on the west side, by the Glasko family. A new dam was soon built and the brick factory completed and ready for work in 1830; Stephen Erwin, of Rhode Island, manager. A row of tenement houses and store building were also constructed ; James Bugbee, store-keeper. The operatives were all American. In 1834, the mill narrowly escaped destruction by fire. In 1836, Mr. Nehemiah T. Adams was appointed resident agent and Mr. Leonard Thompson had charge of the store, and was in turn succeeded by Mr. Chauncey Hammett. In 1837, Rhodesville had become so populous that it was constituted school district No. 17, of Thompson, and a school. house was built by the company. In the spring of 1841, pros- perity was suddenly checked by the burning of the factory build- ing ; supposed to be the work of an incendiary. About a hun- dred persons were then employed by the establishment. The mill was rebuilt under the supervision of Mr. N. T. Adams. The death of Mr. James Rhodes the following year made further changes, and after temporary depression the village entered upon a career of greatly extended prosperity.

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

In 1835 a road was laid out from Simeon Allen's brick works on the Boston turnpike to the Quinebaug, over the Rhodesville bridge and on east through the South Neighborhood, intersect- ing the old Woodstock and Thompson turnpike near Sawyer's store, which greatly facilitated the transportation of cotton from Providence. Yet with all the shrewdness and enterprise of the two companies and their managers, the supply of cotton was lim- ited and business operations could not be largely extended. Keen eyes watched with eager interest the experiments in new meth- ods of transportation. Windham county manufacturers noted and encouraged the various schemes for accommodating their own valley, and were prominent among the stockholders of the Norwich & Worcester Railroad Company. The actual opening of the railroad in November, 1839, was joyfully welcomed by business men, though little foreseeing the revolution it would accomplish. The first depot master at the Pomfret Factory was Mr. John O. Fox, removing thither from West Thompson. Amasa Carpenter, from North Woodstock, occupied part of the building, carrying on with Mr. Fox a thriving business in grain and groceries.

Slowly at first business came to the valley. For a year or two there was little apparent movement, and then the tide turned from the hill towns. John O. Fox and Martin Leach were among the first to build dwelling houses on the east side of the street, near the depot. In 1844 a building for stores was erected by Mr. Asa Cutler in the same locality, and first occupied by Lewis K. Per- rin, assisted by his brother Charles. The land east of the depot was purchased from Mr. Tully Dorrance, whose wife, Mrs. Sally Dorrance, inherited in the Pomfret Manufacturing Company the right of her deceased father, James Rhodes. Mr. Dorrance there- fore owned much valuable land, and also carried on manufac- . turing in the first old mill built by Mr. Wilkinson. Other Rhode Island manufacturers were now on the field, looking up eligible privileges for prospective enterprises. Hosea Ballou, Allen & Nightingale, M. S. Morse & Co., won the prizes at Rhodesville and soon broke ground for three large factories. With the ad- vent of their masons and carpenters a boom set briskly in. Lafayette Waters, stone mason, who had the charge of much of the stone work in the three mills, bought land in the vicinity and sold out a number of building lots. Houses for dwellings and stores sprang up.in various quarters where eligible sites

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could be procured. Young men from the hill towns engaged in trade or professional work in the two villages.

The first physician on the ground was Doctor H. W. Hough, who removed his practice from Killingly hill to Pomfret Fac- tory in 1846, buying the first building lot sold by Mr. Smith Wilkinson, on which he soon erected his present residence. He was soon followed by Doctor Thomas Perry, who remained a few years. The first lawyer to open an office was Mr. Harri- son Johnson, of Killingly. One of the first merchants was Na- than Williams, of Pomfret, associated for a time with Ely, of Killingly. Manning & Plimpton soon followed on the east side of the river. Both these stores were largely patron- ized by residents of the hill towns, and business grew and multiplied in true Western style. Doctor Plimpton also en- gaged in medical practice. Doctor Benjamin Segur opened a drug shop opposite Perrin's store, near the railway crossing. Jeremiah Shumway's tailor shop stood next to Perrin's store, across an alley, and the first saloon, kept by Cyrus Thornton, occupied Perrin's basement. Three churches meanwhile were pushing their way along, striving for precedence and building lots.

The opening of the three great factories in Rhodesville in 1846-47 added some hundreds to the population and gave addi- tional impetus to the growth of the villages. Mr. Wilkinson, now advanced in years, foresaw the future importance of this business center, but did not care to engage in new enterprises. For some years he was much occupied in settling the affairs of the Pomfret Manufacturing Company, making division of its large assets among its few claimants. The general business of the company was now managed by Mr. Edmond Wilkinson, who was also deeply interested in the development of his native valley. Much land was now thrown into market and bought up by eager customers. Mr. Asa Cutler, a shrewd business man and successful manufacturer, was very prominent in this connec- tion, buying land and building many houses. In 1848 he asso- ciated with Thomas Dike, John O. Fox and Newton Clark in building a large brick block for stores, with a fine hall above for public purposes. Lafayette Waters had charge of building this block, using 220,000 bricks in its construction. "Quinebaug Hall" was soon followed by a fine new "Quinebaug House,"

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built by Mr. Abraham Perrin, the occupant of another pleasant " Perrin farm " on the road to Pomfret.

Several new roads were needed for the accommodation of builders and travelers. One of especial importance- the present Elm street-was laid out by Thompson selectmen in 1847, upon petition from Tully Dorrance and others, viz., " Beginning south side the present road at Rhodesville," thence partly by a bank wall to the southwest corner of the porch of the school house, thence to a corner of the wall east side North Meadow street, thence to a corner of a barnyard belonging to Smith Wilkinson, thence to a post in the corner of a fence, thence to a point where it intersected the Pomfret Factory road. This road brought many new building lots into market, and served as an important link in bringing the villages together. The last road laid out by the Thompson selectmen was the present School street, in 1854, beginning on the south side of the road leading to Thompson, near the new school house, thence on land of Edmond Wilkin- son, crossing a corner of Henry Thurber's lot, by land of Martin Leach and Asa Cutler, to the southeast corner of Doctor Henry Hough's lot, on the north side of the Killingly road. But it was found very difficult to procure all the accommodations needed in this rapid development. People were pouring in on every side; new stores and business operations were constantly set in motion, and demand kept pace with expansion.

With all this growth, and bustle and hurry, there was inev- itable clashing and jangling. Nothing could have been more complex and unmanageable than this cluster of villages, belong- ing to three distinct, independent towns, with no central author- ity to bring and hold them together, and legislate for their best in- terests. That so much order and harmony existed under such unfavorable circumstances was undoubtedly due in great meas- ure to the early character of the place as developed under the strong hand of Mr. Wilkinson. There was also something in the new spring and impulse, the pleasure of helping up-build a new and vigorous community, that brought the inhabitants into friendly and mutually helpful relations, working together as one man for the good of the whole section. As the inconvenience of the situation became more manifest, various projects of relief were suggested, such as separate voting places, borough privi- leges, etc., but nothing met the case till the formation of a new, independent town was suggested. Like many other popular

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movements, it seems to have started simultaneously from several sources, or if one man suggested this natural solution of a difficult problem, it was assimilated with such avidity that the name of the originator was swallowed up in universal acclama- tion. Mr. Edmond Wilkinson engaged in carrying out this project with great heartiness, giving freely money, time and influence.

A public meeting of those favoring a new town was promptly held, and an energetic committee appointed, through whose agency a petition was laid before the legislature in May, 1849, showing the difficulties of the situation, and praying that the villages known as Pomfret Depot, Wilkinsonville, Rhodesville, Ballouville and Morse's Village might be incorporated into a new town, made from portions of Thompson, Killingly, Pomfret and Woodstock, and designated as Quinebaug. Indignant represen- tations from the four towns therein named procured a prompt rejection of this presumptuous petition. Opposition but in- creased the zeal and determination of the new town agitators, and made them more united in effort. New inhabitants coming in caught the spirit of the contest, and joined with the older cit- izens in contending for sectional rights and independence. Few battles have been fought in which there was more harmony among the assailants. There were no traitors in the camp. Few if any old town sympathizers were to be found in the villages, but in the outlying country demanded by the new town there were many who objected strongly to any change in their munic- ipal relations, whose names swelled the mammoth memorials gathered by its opponents.

Leaving out Harrisville from the prospective town, in 1851 petition was renewed for parts of Thompson, Killingly and Pom- fret. Again they were beaten, though evidently gaining the ear of the general public. The old towns perceiving the fiery spirit that animated their youthful adversary, roused themselves to greater effort. Their strongest men, their sharpest lawyers were retained as committees and agents. An actor reports : "Each Legislature was besieged by the friends and opponents of the measure ; lobby members reaped a golden harvest ; much other business was seriously embarassed by this bitter and use- less strife ; party politics was invoked on both sides; to the democrats it was going to make a whig town and leave the old towns hopelessly whig, a result to be fearfully dreaded ; and to

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the whigs it would make a democratic town, and inevitably fix democracy as the ruling power in the old towns, and thus ruin the state and county ; to the miserly men the taxes would be in- creased enormously in both the old and the new towns."

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History of Windham County, Connecticut, Part 75

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: New York, Preston Number of Pages: 1506

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: New York, Preston
Number of Pages: 1506