USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Plymouth > History of the town of Plymouth, Connecticut : with an account of the centennial celebration May 14 and 15, 1895 : also a sketch of Plymouth, Ohio, settled by local families > Part 20
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CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
incident-perhaps Dwight Terry will recall it, for he will surely be with you. He sat in the front single desk on the west side, near the chimney. One morning we were reading in the testament. He was wrestling with the word "jeopardy" ("Why stand ye in jeopardy every hour"). It was too big for him-j-e-(ge)-o-(geo)-p-a-r-(geopar)-d-y-when a square foot of plastering, loosened by the rain, fell upon his head.
I am reminded of a song which often comes to mind, "Twenty Years Ago." Only these things occurred near the middle of the century whose close you celebrate. How I would like to know the history of each of those, my companions. In Plymouth I studied Latin under Dr. Warren; thence I went to Williston Seminary; thence to Yale. In the dear old church in Plymouth I was ordained to go as chaplain to the army. In that old church I began the Christian life. And during the half century almost, I have tried to serve faithfully my day and genera- tion. I am aware that I do not rank among those who have become dis- tinguished. But I have not dishonored the home of my boyhood, nor its neighbor, the town of my birth. I should like to see a list of those present, and to know their present résidences, occupations, family con- nections, etc. I have a good wife, who would be an honor to even a Plymouth circle. Also two manly sons, of whom we are not ashamed.
As the years pass, and new forms and strange faces supplant the old, may they be full of a noble ambition to maintain and develop to a still higher degree the principles of Christian patriotism and true nobility.
" The hills of New England, how proudly they rise, In their wildness of grandeur, to blend with the skies; With their far azure outlines and tall ancient trees, New England, my country, I love thee for these."
Yours in tender memories, JOHN B. DOOLITTLE.
MAPLEWILD, WATERBURY, CONN .:
My dear Mr. Smith .- Very much do I regret my inability to attend the centennial celebration at Plymouth and Terryville to which you have kindly invited me. A wedding on the fifteenth, in which I am inter- ested, will prevent my acceptance. Had the date been other than it is Miss Hayden and I would have endeavored to attend.
May 8, 1895.
Yours truly, ANNA L. WARD.
Mrs. Fannie West Pogue regrets that she is unable to attend the centennial celebration of the incorporation of Plymouth, Connecticut, at Plymouth Center and at Terryville, May 14 and 15.
AVONDALE, CINCINNATI, MAY 6, 1895.
J. C. FENN, SEC'Y CENTENNIAL COMMITTEE.
Mrs. C. B. Gunn regrets that her health will not permit of her ac- cepting the invitation to be present at the centennial celebration of the town of Plymouth on May 14 and 15. Terryville was for many, many years a pleasant home and only tender memories remain of the town and its people. May it be a joyous celebration and reunion for all that are present.
HOPKINTON, MASS., MAY 18, 1895.
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
SEC'Y CENTENNIAL COMMITTEE, PLYMOUTH, CONN.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Holman regret their not being able to ac- cept the invitation to the centennial celebration of the town of Ply- mouth on May 14 and 15.
Mrs. Holman has very affectionate remembrances of Terryville as her girlhood's home, and later as teacher in the schools. To the sons and daughters present may the day be full of pleasant greetings and renewed friendships.
HOPKINTON, MASS., MAY 13, 1895.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
FOUNDERS OF THE CLOCK AND LOCK INDUSTRIES
IN AMERICA.
INTERESTING DETAILS OF THEIR LIVES.
Careers of Other People Who Made Plymouth
Their Home.
Eli Terry.
CHAPTER X.
CLOCK MAKERS.
Plymouth Made Famous by the Invention of Eli Terry, who was the Founder of the Clock Business of America-Other Prominent Makers, such as Seth Thomas, Silas Hoadley, Samuel Camp, and Chauncey Jerome, were all Natives of this Town.
E LI TERRY was born in South Windsor, Conn., April 13, 1772. His ancestor, Samuel Terry, came to ancient Spring- field, Mass., A. D. 1654. Samuel of the fourth generation after was born in the year 1750. He married Huldah Burnham. Their children were Eli, Samuel, Silas, Huldah, Lucy, Ann, Naoma, Horace, Clarissa and Joseph. Eli went to Northbury, then a part of Watertown, in 1793, to manufacture clocks. He was said to be an earnest, thoughtful young man and exceedingly temperate both in eating and drinking. Soon after he married Eunice Warner of that town. She was the daughter of James Warner and the granddaughter of John Warner and David Dutton. Their children were Anna, born December 22, 1786, Eli, born June 25, 1799, Henry, James, Silas Burnham, Sarah Warner, Huldah, George and Lucinda. Mrs. Terry died December 15, 1839. In November, 1840, he married widow Harriet Peck. Their children were Stephen, born in 1841, and Edwin, born in 1843. He first located in the southern part of the town. A few years after he sold out his business to Silas Hoadley and Seth Thomas and the place took the name of Hoadleyville. He then built a house with a shop in the rear on Plymouth Hill near the center. He built the two houses in Terryville just west of the church in 1838 and 1839, and moved into the one nearest the church where he remained until his death.
Mr. Terry learned the art of clock and watch making and the art of engraving on metal of Daniel Burnap, in the city of Hartford; he also received instruction from Thomas Harland, a noted clock and watch maker, a resident of Norwich, and a native of London. When he settled in Plymouth, he engaged in the business of repairing clocks and watches, engraving on metal, and selling spectacles, spectacles being the only goods he kept for sale. In his early residence here he did nothing at clock making worthy of mention, but in the year 1807 he
220
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
obtained a contract from a clock maker in the neighboring town of Waterbury for making four thousand thirty-hour wood clocks with seconds pendulum, the dial and hands included, at four dollars ($4) apiece. At this date the manufacturers of clocks in this country made the eight-day English brass clocks and thirty- hour wood clocks, both kinds of clocks having pendulums beat- ing seconds, or seconds pendulums, as they were called, with three exceptions. In that part of Plymouth, now Thomaston, there was a manufacturer of brass clocks, and also a manu- facturer of brass clocks at Salem Bridge, now Naugatuck. These clocks were the English brass clocks with sixty teeth in the escapement wheel instead of thirty, to adapt them to a half seconds pendulum, the cord passing upward and over a pulley on the inside of the top of the case and attached to the weight, the weight moving the whole length of the inside of the case. These were the substantial differences. The plates for the frames of these clocks and the blanks for the wheels and other parts were cast metal, and the pinions were of cast steel, the same as in the English clocks. The length of cases required for half seconds clocks bears about the same ratio to the length of the cases for clocks with seconds pendulums that the length of the pendulums bear to each other. These clocks were popularly called " shelf clocks," and were thus distinguished from clocks with seconds pendulums, the cases of which stood on the floor. At Roxbury, near Boston, a timepiece was made called Willard's timepiece. This timepiece consisted of the time train of the English brass clock, with the omission of one leaf in the pinion on the escapement wheel arbor, the escapement wheel having an additional number of teeth, and was thus adapted to a pendulum shorter than the seconds and longer than the half seconds pendu- lums. This brass timepiece and the half seconds brass clock before mentioned were excellent timepieces. Such was the state of the clock makers' art in our country so far as relates to clocks for general use in the year 1807. To complete the con- tract mentioned, Mr. Terry was allowed three years. During the time he conceived the idea of making a thirty-hour wood clock with half seconds pendulum for general use, which would be much less expensive than the half seconds clock of cast brass. His first effort in this direction was unsatisfactory, the clock was substantially the movement of the thirty-hour wood clock with a seconds pendulum, the escapement wheel having sixty teeth instead of thirty to adapt it to a short half seconds pendulum. The cord passed upward and over a pulley on the inside of the top of the case and down around a pulley attached to the weight and back to the top of the case, where it was fastened. The front plate of the frame was an open plate, and the clock had no dial, but the figures to indicate the time were painted on the glass in the sash of the case. This clock did not suit Mr. Terry's aspirations, though he made and sold several hundred of them, and other manufacturers made and sold more than he did.
In the year 1814, he perfected a thirty-hour wood clock, of a construction entirely new, both the time and striking trains hav-
221
CLOCK MAKERS.
ing a greater number of wheels, and the clock being so radically different that it was really a new manufacture. Aside from the ingenuity as shown in the general construction of this clock, there were two notable inventions : the one consisted in arranging the dial works between the plates of the frame, instead of between the front plate and the dial, and the other consisted in mounting the verge on a steel pin inserted in one end of a short arm, a screw passing through the other end and into the front plate. In wood clocks the pin was inserted in a button midway between the center and the periphery. By turning the button or arm, the verge was adjusted to the escapement wheel. In the manufacture of this newly constructed thirty-hour wood clock the numerous manufacturers of clocks at once engaged, and it became a very extensive industry, Mr. Terry making a very small fraction of the number made and sold. It superseded the half second clock made of cast brass, and that industry perished. This clock supplied the American market and export demand for clocks for a quarter of a century.
In the progress of the arts in our country, sheet metal began to be manufactured, and rolled brass became an article of com- merce. With a supply of this article in the market, sheet metal clocks began to be made. These sheet metal clocks with wire pinions were much less expensive than wood clocks, and super- seded the manufacture of wood clocks as the manufacture of wood clocks had superseded the manufacture of clocks of cast brass. The two inventions before mentioned were adapted to brass clocks, as well as to wood clocks and to sheet metal clocks, as well as to clocks made of cast metal, and one or both are found in nearly every clock made in our country, and also in clocks made in other countries. It is worthy of mention at this point that all of the several kinds of clocks before mentioned were made to gauges, or so that the parts were interchangeable. The making of parts of a machine so that one part may be changed for a like part in another machine was an American in- vention. To whom the credit of the invention belongs the writer regrets he is unable to state, but it was practiced in the clock makers' art as early as the year 1807. But Mr. Terry did not confine himself to making low-priced clocks for general use. He made brass clocks of fine quality, and sold them to watch makers for regulators, the price ranging from one to two hundred dollars, and also tower clocks. His tower clocks were novel, and consisted of three parts, a time part, a part to move the hands, and the striking part. By this construction the time part was not affected by the action of the wind and weather on the hands; the time part could also be placed in any part of the building desired, with a dial and handle attached and connected to the parts in the tower by a wire.
The tower clock which he made for the city of New Haven deserves special notice. The city at this time (1826) had no building suitable for a tower clock, and the clock was placed in Center Church on the "Green." This clock had the usual dial work, the hands connected with it showing mean time on a dial,
222
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
Che Cinitro potates of Anuria.
To all to whom thefe Letters Patent fhall'come :
WHEREAS w.a citizen of the Star of Connecticut, in the United States, Hath alleged that he has invented a new and ulful improvement in Clocks, Kindkeepers and Watches
which improvement has not ixen known or ufed before his application ; Ins marte furth that he docs verdy. believe that he is the true inventor or difcoveyse of the faid improvement .; has paid imo the Treafury of the United States, the form of thirty dollars, delivered a receipt for the fame, and prefented a petition to the Secretary of State, figuifying a defire of obtaining an exclusive property in the faid improvement, and praying that a patent may be granted for that purpofe : THESE ARE THEREFORE to grant, according to law, to the land his heirs, administrators, or affigns, for the ten of fourtech 2 day of the present Month of november, the full and exclulive right and liberty of making, conftructing, uling,' and vending to others to be ailed, the But frapmovement, a dekription whereof is given in the wurde of the faid ile Jerne
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I bia- emgled thpt Letters to be made Putera, and the Seal of fle United States to be berruns afive
Fixes wie my band, at the City ofthelatephew, this seventeenth day of Moguentire in the Fear of nor Land one thingand from hundred and nina schen, award of the Independence of the Uwant Some of America, the Jewerly Seconds.
John Adams
By the ptebbent.
Caf Philadelphia , To sit !
I DO HEREBY CERTIFY, That the foregoing Letters Patter, were delivered to me } "a the www know the day of Howember in the year of"our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninery ! we teav to be examined ; that I like examined the fame, and find them conformable to Inte, And Ido hereby return the fame to the Secretary of Kuste, withán fifteen days from the date afordaid, to wity Un tin secco focus the asy of November in the year afordsd.
.2
Copy of Patent Granted Eli Terry.
Being the first Patent issued on Timepieces in this country, and one of the earliest issued by the United States, in possession of his grandson, James Terry. It is on parchment and has the original signatures of the President, Secretary of State and Attorney-General.
223
CLOCK MAKERS.
and an extra train or dial works whereby the hands connected with it showed apparent time on an extra dial. This clock showing both mean and apparent time was not liked by the citizens, who were accustomed to apparent time, which was everywhere kept except in two or three of our principal cities, sun-dials being common and every house having its own mark. The extra dial work, dial and hands for showing apparent time were removed, and the man in charge was instructed by Mr. Terry to set the clock to mean time, for he was determined that the clock should show mean time, and he still owned it and could do as he pleased, the city not having accepted it, In a tower on one of the buildings of Yale College there was a public clock " with an apparatus attached to it, which produced a daily variation from true time equal to the variation of the sun," caus- ing the clock to show apparent time. These two public clocks not a block apart, one showing apparent time and the other mean time, occasioned a spirited controversy in the public press as to what was true time, or the proper time to be kept, in which there was a mixture of ridicule and learning. Those curious to read the controversy are referred to the files of the city papers of that day, to be found in the library of the institution mentioned. The communication signed "A Citizen of the United States" was written by Mr. Terry, and shows that he was master of the whole subject. At this day it seems strange that there should have been such a controversy, that learned men and others should have advocated the keeping of apparent time, and that in the year 1811, on a signal from the observatory of the College, a heavy gun on the public square was fired at noon to give the people the exact time to make their noon marks. Many resi- dents of the city and graduates of the College in all parts of our country well remember these two old public clocks, which for many years chimed out their discordant notes. Some confusion has arisen from the failure of writers on the art to distinguish between clocks of cast brass and sheet metal clocks. The mak- ing of clocks of cast brass, the making of sheet metal clocks, and the making of wood clocks, so far as the mechanical part is con- cerned, are three distinct arts-are three distinct industries. Eli Terry died in Plymouth, in the post village of Terryville, called after his oldest son, Eli Terry, Jr., February 24, 1852, falling short of the age of three score and ten, one month and eighteen days.
ELI TERRY, JR.
Eli Terry, Jr., was born in Plymouth, June 25, 1799. At an early age he commenced clock making with his father and after- ward said he owed his success in life to him. He married Samantha McKee, of Bristol, September 6, 1821. Their chil- dren were James, born July 5, 1823 ; Andrew, born December 19, 1824 ; Eunice, born October 28, 1827 ; Willis, born August 22. 1830; Willard, born March 22, 1832; Fallah, born November 5, 1833 ; Lucinda, born October 28, 1836; Eli, born September
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
Profile Portrait of Eli Terry.
Profile Portrait of Mrs. Eli Terry.
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CLOCK MAKERS.
8, 1840. They commenced housekeeping just below Plymouth Hollow (now Thomaston) where James and Andrew were born. In 1835 they moved to Terryville where Mr. Terry had com- menced building a house, also two shops for the manufacture of clocks. This place was selected because of the water privilege. The house is a little above and opposite what is called the upper shop in Terryville, and the shops occupied the same ground of the above named shop. The house he occupied while building stood near and was afterwards bought by Elizur Fenn, moved to the hill west, re-fitted and is still occupied by him. There is but one other house standing now in the village that was in existence when he went there, viz., the Andrew Fenn place.
The clock business was a success from the first, the market being mostly in the south, Mr. Terry sometimes going himself as far as southern Pennsylvania and Kentucky to sell them. This was before the day of railroads and Mrs. Merrill Richardson, his daughter, remembers seeing at one time several (she says eight or ten, but perhaps her childish eyes magnified the number) large two-horse covered wagons, standing in a row opposite the house, which were filled with clocks to be sent south. Twice she remembers men coming with slaves to buy clocks.
He was founder of the village of Terryville, and built many of its houses in its early days, and it was named for him. He was an active member of the church on Plymouth Hill till 1838, when the church was organized in Terryville. In this he was very much interested, and for its welfare had great anxiety. He assisted in building the church by generous contributions, and was very liberal in its support. He was a thorough business man and left a handsome property to his children. He died in 1841, at the age of forty-two years.
At the time when Mr. Terry founded his village, it was only a farming community, and he was under the necessity of providing houses for himself and his employes. He took great interest in the society he gathered around him and was a man of large influence for good. The methods of business were very different from those of the present day. It will be remembered that there were no railroads to the market, and goods were carted to the nearest water conveyances and thence shipped to the cities or distributed by peddlers to all parts of the country. Money was scarce, and a cash trade was the exception. Many clocks were exchanged for goods of every kind-everything that was needed in such a community-hence the necessity that the manufacturers keep a store of these goods for distribution. Sometimes, if shrewd, he made two profits, but perhaps quite as often the skillful manufacturer failed to be qualified for a mer- chant, and made a loss instead of a profit. The peddlers sold at high prices to parties who would buy and give their notes in payment, and these notes often proved worthless. The system of barter too, extended to the pay of the workingmen, and at the settlement at the end of the year for which each one was hired, he received a note for balance due.
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
Home of Eli Terry, Jr.
Eli Terry, 3d.
227
CLOCK MAKERS.
There were serious drawbacks to business of every kind at that time. On the other hand, there were some favorable cir- cumstances for Mr. Terry. The demand for clocks was larger, only limited by the means of the people who wanted them. They were almost an article of necessity, but the extreme high price at which they had necessarily been held in the market, forbade their use to those whose means were moderate, but by the introduction of machinery in place of hand labor, and especially by the invention of the shelf clock, which had been introduced by the elder Terry, in 1814, they were placed within the reach of a large class of people of more moderate means. Moreover, by this same reduction in cost, the manufacture was placed beyond the reach of competition, while protected by letters patent, it was too early to be affected by competitors at home.
The clock business was sold to Hiram Welton & Co., who continued it to 1845, when upon the failure of the company, caused in part by the failure of a party for whom they had underwritten, the business was closed out.
The factory, however, did not remain idle long for it was immediately utilized for the manufacture of locks. The build- ing, though abandoned for manufacturing purposes, is still standing, and has the old fashioned water wheel in it that was built by Mr. Terry to supersede hand power.
HENRY TERRY.
Henry Terry was the second son of Eli Terry, born in Ply- mouth, November 12, 1801. October 16, 1823, he married Emily Blakeslee, daughter of Ransom Blakeslee, of the same town, by whom he had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. A daughter, Julia, was married in 1856, to Rev. Charles Harding, with whom she went to Sholapoor, India, as a missionary, and died there, leaving three daughters, two of whom, Julia Harding and Mrs. Emily Mabon are living in New York City, and one, Mrs. Ruby E. Fairbank, is a missionary in India, near where her mother is buried. She has three children.
Mr. Terry's living children are Mrs. Adeline Terry Bartlett, of Ansonia, Conn., who had two sons, both of whom are dead ; Mrs. Anna Scoville Wilson, of Independence, Iowa, who has two daughters and one granddaughter; Henry K. Terry, born in 1839; married in 1859 to Kate Hoyt (who died in 1869), by whom he had three children, two daughters now living, Gertrude and Nelly. Gertrude married Albert W. Arnold and has four children. His present wife was Florentine B. Arnold (married in 1873), and they have three children, Henry K. Terry, Jr., born October 25, 1874, and two daughters, Pearl and Leslie. Henry K. Terry, Sr., is vice-president and general manager of The Powhatan Clay Mfg. Co., of Richmond, Va.
The youngest child of Mr. Terry is Dwight H. Terry, born in 1841, who married Martha J. Durand in 1862, and is a broker and dealer in investment securities at Bridgeport, Conn.
Henry Terry, the subject of this sketch, died at Waterbury,
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
Henry Terry.
Henry K. Terry.
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CLOCK MAKERS.
Conn., January 7, 1877, and The Waterbury American in an obituary notice, after stating from whom he descended and giving other facts which are included above, said substantially as follows :
" He had resided in Waterbury but a few years ; but he was so well known throughout this region, and occupied so promi- nent a position in his earlier life in a neighboring town, that his decease calls for more than a passing notice." It continues ; " From his boyhood, Mr Terry was familiar with clock making, acquiring his knowledge of the business under the tuition of his father. He would probably have devoted his life to it, as other members of the family have done, were it not for the rapid increase which took place about forty years ago in the number of manufacturers, the consequent competition, the great reduc- tion in the price of clocks, and the interminable credit it was then customary to give." In a review of Dr. Alcott's History of Clock Making, contributed to the columns of The American, June 10, 1853, Mr. Terry, referring to this epoch, says :
" The writer was one of this number, who had until then very little acquaintance with any other business, having been a witness to all the improvements in clocks and the machinery for making the same, from the time the shelf-clock was first intro- duced, in the year 1814, to the period in question, or the year 1836."
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