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 22
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242
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
Stephen G. Bucknall.
243
LOCK MAKERS.
dollars to buy out competing concerns, notably W. & E. T. Fitch of New Haven, Crouch & Fitzgerald of New York, Gay- lord Lock Company, Gaylord, Mix & Company, Western Lock Company, Eccentric Lock Company, American Lock Company, Bridgeport Lock Company, Walsh of Newark, and others.
The company had its early financial trials, but owing to the integrity of its president, James Terry, was enabled to pull through, when other concerns were obliged to go out of business. This was true particularly in the years 1857 and 1858, when there was a panic following the failure of the Ohio Life and Trust Company, when the wheels of trade were completely blocked. This naturally gave Mr. Terry no little anxiety, but he had the confidence of the community and of the banks, and weathered the panic with very little loss to the company. The men were allowed to continue their work on short time, trusting to the future for their pay, and they were not disappointed, and the company were able in a few months to sell advantageously the goods that would not have been made except for the benefit of the laboring men. Mr. Terry's supervision extended to every detail of the business, and nothing escaped his eye. In his caution he attempted nothing that he could not reasonably anti- cipate the means of carrying out. In those early days business was done largely on credit, very few concerns having the capital to invest in uncertain speculations, or even to follow their legiti- mate business to its best results. Unlike many, he preferred to defer even desirable improvements till they could be undertaken with reasonable safety.
HON. J. C. LEWIS.
Hon. John Calhoun Lewis was born at Cornwall, Conn., in the year 1800. He was a grandson of Nehemiah Lewis, who served in the war of the Revolution, and who settled the town of Goshen, a direct descendant of Captain William Lewis, the first registrar in Farmington, who came from England with his father, William Lewis, in the ship Lion in 1632. John Calhoun Lewis was the eldest of a family of five brothers, all of whom became conspicuous citizens of the state. His father was for years postmaster at Cornwall, while John and Philo were each in turn postmaster at Terryville. One brother, Miles, was for twenty-three years a highly esteemed captain of the New Haven Steamboat Company, and another, Henry Gould, was nine times elected mayor of the city of New Haven. About 1835 John Calhoun removed from Cornwall to Terryville, and for a time was engaged in the dry goods business with his brother Philo. He afterwards became interested in the lock business, and was a member of the firm of Lewis, McKee & Co. Upon the death of Mr. Terry, in 1841, a new firm was formed, called the Lewis & Gaylord Company, and under their management the manufacture of cabinet locks in this country first became prominent. In 1849 occurred the death of Mr. Lewis. The surviving partner carried on the business until 1851, at which time the Lewis Lock Com- pany was formed, the stock being taken by Sereno Gaylord, the
244
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
John C. Lewis.
Sereno Gaylord.
245
LOCK MAKERS.
heirs of Mr. Lewis and a few others. Mr. Lewis was for years a trial justice, and as a citizen was always an earnest supporter of movements promising to be for the best interest of the com- munity. In politics he was a prominent abolitionist, and at the time of his death was a member of the legislature, occupying the position of speaker of the House of Representatives. He was an upright, conscientious man, firm in his convictions for right, and noticeable for his strong Christian principles. In fact, he would not have a man in his employ that did not attend his own church. He married, July 4, 1844, for his second wife, Mary Warner, relict of David C. Lord, a most estimable woman, who was known for her good works. She was a descendant of Captain John Warner, who fought in the Revolutionary war. For years Long Hill, from Thomaston to Plymouth Center, was known as the "Captain John Warner Hill." Mr. Lewis died in the prime of life, leaving a widow and children to mourn his loss.
" He lived esteemed, beloved and respected. He died regretted, honored and lamented."
The children who survive him by his first wife (Ann Hop- kins of Cornwall) are: Ellen Paige, who resides in Rockford, Ill., and John Calhoun of Austin, Tex., connected with the traffic management. By his second wife (Mary Warner), Mary A., wife of General George H. Ford of New Haven, Conn., and Thomas Clarkson, for many years a prominent merchant in New Haven, Conn., and for the past few years a resident of Chicago.
SERENO GAYLORD.
Sereno Gaylord, who removed to Chicopee, Mass., was born in South Hadley, Mass., in IS12. He came to Terryville in 1834, and was employed by Lewis, McKee & Co. Stephen G. Bucknall was at that time superintendent, but being unable to keep up with the progress of American ways, was superceded by Mr. Gaylord, who took charge and immediately adopted machinery to do what heretofore had been done by hand. This enabled the company to enter into active competition with foreign manufacturers and to hold the market against all odds. In 1841 Mr. Gaylord, with John C. Lewis, formed a company known as the Lewis & Gaylord Company, which bought out Lewis, Mc- Kee & Co. Eli Terry, president of the latter company, having died, it was necessary to sell to settle his estate. The new com- pany, however, did not buy the finished goods, but only the tools and machinery, and it was agreed that no locks should be made like those the old comcern had on hand until after they had been disposed of. The business of the new company was a success from the start, and it was carried on until Mr. Lewis' death, seven years later, when the Lewis Lock Company was formed, the stock being taken by the Lewis family and Mr. Gaylord, the surviving partner. This continued until the company was con- solidated with the James Terry Company, under the name of the
246
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
William E McKee.
Mother of William E. McKee.
247
LOCK MAKERS.
Eagle Lock Company. Mr. Gaylord in 1863 went to Chicopee, where he started the Gaylord Lock Company, which soon entered into active competition with the Eagle Lock Company in the manufacture of locks. Mr. Gaylord's company was such a suc- cess that overtures were made by the Eagle Lock Company to pool issues, which Mr. Gaylord finally consented to, and the two concerns were run under this agreement until the Chicopee shop was sold out. Mr. Gaylord was a representative from Plymouth in the legislature and was always interested in town affairs as long as he resided there.
WILLIAM E. M'KEE.
William E. McKee, who was a manufacturer of both clocks and locks in Terryville, was born in Bristol, January 2, 1806, and died in New Haven, July 26, 1875. He was interested in all of the early lock companies, and much of the former success of the Eagle Lock Company is due to his sagacity and experi- ence. His daughter, Emeline, married Joseph H. Adams, who was president of the Eagle Lock Company for three years. Mr. McKee could not have been greatly encouraged when he first ventured in the lock business, for it was far from smooth sailing for many years, but his faith never relaxed and he was finally rewarded by being able to dispose of his stock at an enormous advance and pocket the princely dividend of 185 per cent.
JAMES TERRY.
James Terry, son of Eli Terry, Jr., was born at Terry's Mills, one mile south of Thomaston, July 5, 1823. The death of his father in 1841 placed upon his young shoulders the cares and responsibilities of a large estate, he being then but eighteen years of age, and the extraordinary talents and force of character which he exhibited through his after business life were shown to a marked degree at this time.
In 1841 he commenced the manufacture of sewing silk, the factory being situated on the side hill southeast of the homestead and directly west of the Philip Ryan place. Previous to this the introduction of a new plant, the Perottet Mulberry, or Morus Multicaulis, from its great productiveness and rapid in- crease in numbers, had aroused public interest to a high degree and stimulated the development of silk culture and manufacture. He built his own machinery and commenced to wind and twist the fibre by power machinery. This was a new process and a difficult one, having for the first time been in operation in Con- necticut only two or three years previous, all methods in the old country being the hand process. He continued the silk busi- ness for three years, and then closed it up and purchased the lock business of Lewis, McKee & Co., which was at a very low ebb, and commenced the manufacture of locks under the title of James Terry & Co , his uncle, William E. McKee being asso- ciated with him in the business. This he continued until the
248
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
James Terry.
James Terry's Cottage.
249
LOCK MAKERS.
formation of the Eagle Lock Company, of which he was the chief promoter and its president, until his retirement from busi- ness life in 1866.
He was a man of the highest integrity of character, of great sagacity and practical knowledge of the business in all its branches and details. And the success of the lock business, which has proved to be one of the most remunerative industries in the country, is due pre-eminently to him.
Mr. Terry was twice married, first to Elizabeth Hollister of Glastonbury, by whom he had four children, James, Mary E., Clinton, and one who died in infancy, all of whom were born in Terryville. Mrs. Terry died in 1852, and he married for his second wife Valeria, daughter of William Treat, October 20, 1853. By this union three children were born, Lerria F., who died at the age of eleven years, Nellie, who married Dwight W. Hunter, and died in 1894, and an infant.
EDWARD L. GAYLORD.
In 1847 there came to Terryville from Bristol a young man who was full of enterprise and inventive genius. He went to work for James Terry & Co., and when asked how much pay he wanted he replied, "Oh give me what you have a mind to." Starting in at fifty cents per day, and never asking for an increase, his salary was voluntarily advanced until he received $5,000 per year. This young man was Edward L. Gaylord, now the only surviving member of the original stockholders of the Eagle Lock Company.
Mr. Gaylord was born in IS27. His parents were Ransom and Parmela Alcott Gaylord, well known residents of Bristol, his mother being a sister of A. Bronson Alcott, who, though well known in the literary world, perhaps is more readily re- called as the father of Louisa Alcott, both of whom are subjects of sketches elsewhere. Mr. Gaylord when four years old re- moved with his parents to central New York, riding from Albany to Schenectady on the first passenger railroad operated in this country. Here he learned cabinet making. At the age of nine- teen he returned and went to work at clock making for Kirk & Todd in Wolcott, in that section known as Woodtick. This was where the first marine movement was made; another original novelty being a musical clock playing seven tunes.
Dropping this Mr. Gaylord started in at the lock trade at Terryville. This he followed until IS50, when he was sent to Newark, N. J., by James Terry & Co. to make the iron frames for carpet bags from patterns and designs of his own. The de- velopment of the many railroads had made a large demand for traveling valises. This business was very successful, and the money coming to Terryville made the lock business of James Terry & Co. seem more prosperous than it actually was, especially as the carpet bag frame venture was kept very quiet. This had its bearing in another way. At this time Gaylord & Lewis were making cabinet locks, and James Terry & Co. trunk
250
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
E. L. Gaylord.
Joseph H. Adams.
251
LOCK MAKERS.
locks, but as the latter now started in making cabinet locks also, and were apparently making money, the former company made propositions to consolidate, and what is now the Eagle Lock Company was the subsequent outcome.
It was decided to accept a liberal offer for the Newark ven- ture, and Mr. Gaylord was brought back to take charge of what was then known as the lower lock shop. Then followed many new designs in locks and labor saving devices in their manufac- ture, the product of Mr. Gaylord's fertile brain, the most promi- nent being the device for squaring lockplates and machine for drilling keys, the latter turning out 12,000 keys a day and run- ning fifteen years without any repairs. During Mr. Gaylord's superintendency he took out some eighty patents, all of which were turned over to the Eagle Lock Company without compen- sation, and were practicable inventions.
In 1870 Messrs. James and F. W. Mix obtained a contract from the government for furnishing padlocks for the United States mail, and having been offered an opportunity to form a co- partnership with them for their manufacture, Mr. Gaylord accepted and a company under the firm name of Gaylord, Mix & Co. was formed to make the locks. The first lot was turned out in the old shop at Pequabuck, afterward burned, and as the busi- ness grew it was transferred to Bridgeport. New designs in cabinet locks were added and the firm received large orders from the leading sewing machine companies. This made the concern competitors of the Eeagle Lock Company, which opened nego- tiations and bought it out. Mr. Gaylord returned to Terryville and again became president and superintendent of the Lock Company. He resigned after one year's service, sold his inter- est (receiving, it is said, $8 for $1 par value), and since has re- sided in Bridgeport. He has not been inactive, as numerous in- ventions can testify, the latest being a cigar-holder which is designed to save what the ordinary holder cannot utilize.
Mr. Gaylord for several years owned the leading art store in Bridgeport, and becoming deeply interested in the study of art he spent considerable time in Europe making himself thorougly acquainted with it. He now spends his days chiefly in a little workshop in the rear of his residence which is fitted up with power and machinery, continuing in his old age the life of inven- tion that he has so long lived.
He recently put up a large building, which is now run as a hotel, being known as the "Gaillard," the spelling being changed to conform to the original name that " Gaylord " was derived from.
Mr. Gaylord in 1851 married Mary R. Minor of Terryville, to whom were born two children. Anna May, now Mrs. F. S. Stevens of Bridgeport, and Jesse D., who lives at home.
JOSEPH H. ADAMS.
From the store in Terryville, built by Eli Terry, have gone forth some of the brightest young men, men who were later in life destined to make their mark in the world. One graduate
252
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
Ansel Gaylord.
Deacon R. D. H. Allen.
253
LOCK MAKERS.
was a youth of seventeen who came to Terryville in 1850 from Litchfield. After a short apprenticeship in the store he was hired by Lewis & Gaylord to keep their books, and from this humble position he gradually arose from one position to another until he succeeded James Terry, when his health failed, as presi- dent of the Eagle Lock Company. This was Joseph H. Adams, born in Litchfield, August 19, 1833. He died suddenly at Cham- plain, Ill., May 17, 1870, while on a business trip-cut down in the very prime of life. He married Emeline, daughter of Wil- liam E. McKee. Mrs. Adams now resides in Brooklyn, and with her are her son and daughter.
The lock business had been so well managed by Mr. Terry that Mr. Adams by continuing the same policy during his admin- istration was enabled to pay dividends that amounted some years to seven times more than the face of the stock.
ANSEL GAYLORD.
Ansel Gaylord was born in South Hadley, Mass., Feb. 22, 1824. When sixteen years of age he was apprenticed to Henry Fuller, of Springfield, Mass., to learn the tailor's trade and re- mained with him until he came to Terryville in 1847, where he followed his trade for several years. Later he entered the em- ploy of the Eagle Lock Company, and was one of the first directors of the company. At the time of his death (October, 1860, ) he was in charge of the packing and shipping department. He was a brother of Sereno and Emerson Gaylord, of Chicopee Mass.
In 1853 he married Catharine Stoughton, daughter of deacon Andrew Stoughton, of Plymouth, by whom he had two children, Andrew S. who still resides in Terryville, and Katie A. who died in October, 1875, in her fifteenth year.
ROLLIN D. H. ALLEN.
Rollin D. H. Allen was born in Middlebury, Vt., January 10, 1821, and was graduated from the college in his native town. He taught school in the old academy in Cromwell, then known as Upper Middletown, and studied theology in Andover and New Haven. He entered the ministry of the Congregational Church, but on account of poor health was obliged to abandon his chosen profession. He then resumed the work of a teacher in New York state. His only sister married Rev. Merrill Rich- ardson, pastor of the Terryville Congregational Church, and Mr. Allen came to Terryville in 1850, and after teaching school for a time became bookkeeper and confidential secretary in the office of James Terry & Co. At the organization of the Eagle Lock Company in 1854, Mr. Allen was one of the incorporators and the first treasurer. In 1860, with Andrew Terry and O. D. Hunter, the foundry concern of Andrew Terry & Co. was formed and the financial management was intrusted to Mr. Allen, who was secretary and treasurer of this corporation for fifteen
254
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
Warren Goodwin.
James Mix.
255
LOCK MAKERS
years. In 1875 he again entered the Eagle Lock Company as president and financial manager, and remained a director of that concern until his death, leaving only two surviving members of the Eagle Lock Company's first board of directors.
He was also a director of the corporation of A. Terry & Co. and the Bristol National Bank, besides trustee of the Bristol Sav- ings Bank, and the estate of James Terry, and a large stock- holder in manufacturing enterprises in the state. The last six- teen years of his life he was not engaged in active business, but had given much attention to the development of a fine farm, of which his youngest son is the active manager. For more than forty years Mr. Allen had been a respected resident of the town which he represented in the legislatures of 1854 and 1878.
Mr. Allen gave generously, though quietly, to the poor and distressed, and was a true Christian gentleman. He was a great student and lover of nature, and after retiring from business in 1877 mainly led a student's life among his books.
Mr. Allen was married August 8, 1849, to Miss Mary Eliza- beth Bushnell of Cromwell, who survives him. He also leaves three children-George M. Allen of Beloit, Wis. ; Charles I. Allen and Mrs. Charles W. Wolcott, both the latter residing in Terryville. An older son, Henry, died in 1871.
He united by letter with the church in Terryville in 1851 and served as deacon for many years. In 1891 he took a letter to the Congregational Church in Bristol, of which he was a mem- ber at the time of his death, December 19, 1893.
WARREN GOODWIN.
Warren Goodwin was born in New Hartford, Conn., March 26, 1808. At ten years he was an orphan. He accompanied a family by the name of Steele to Ohio in the winter with an ox team. His early life was attended with privation and hardship.
When he was eighteen he returned to New Hartford, Conn., accomplishing the journey on foot at the rate of thirty miles per day. Remaining for a time in New Hartford he came to Terry- ville, entering the employ of Eli Terry, Jr. After a time he suffered loss through the failure of others, and in order to retrieve some portion of it he, in company with Mr. Brinsmade, went to Canada peddling clocks. About 1840 he bought out the trunk lock business of Bucknall, McKee & Co., carrying it on for a time in Terryville, then removing it to Cotton Hollow (West Torrington), where soon after he was burned out. Rebuilding again he admitted to partnership Edmund Wooding. His health failing he sold out the business to his partner, after which he was appointed postmaster, in the meantime engaging in the grocery business and farming. In 1850 he retured to Terryville, entering the employ of James Terry & Co. in the lock business, where he remained until his death, which occurred in March, 1860. He was one of the incorporators of the Eagle Lock Company. He was one of the original members of the church in Terryville, served as Sunday-school superintendent, and was an earnest
256
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
Elisha Mix.
James C. Mix.
257
LOCK MAKERS.
worker, always found at the prayer meeting, and deemed it a privilege to be there. He was married April 1, 1832, to Elvira Andrews McKee, by whom he had five children, Willard Terry, Ralph Cowles, Harriet McKee, Julia Elvira, and a daughter who died in infancy. Two survive him, Willard Terry and Julia Elvira (Mrs Ells). They are residents of Terryville.
WILLARD T. GOODWIN.
Willard Terry, the son of Warren and Elvira McKee Good- win, was born in Terryville, October 4, 1833. He attended school until he was seventeen, when he entered the employ of James Terry & Co. The two succeeding winters he spent at the village school ; the first under the instruction of R. D. H. Allen, and the second under N. C. Boardman. In 1854 James Terry & Co. and the Lewis & Gaylord Co. consolidated under the name of the Eagle Lock Company. Although receiving several invita- tions to positions of trust from other firms, Mr. Goodwin has remained with the lock company for forty-five years, with the exception of about one year spent at Colt's Armory during the war of the rebellion. In his long service, which is certainly worthy of note, he has, for upwards of thirty years, been super- intendent of the die and pattern department. For about this same period he has also had charge of the firm's yearly inventory.
Although his early education was not what could be called a liberal one, yet, as with many another New England boy, it has been enlarged and broadened by liberal reading, considera- ble travel and intelligent intercourse with "many men of many minds."
In 1853 he married Amelia Evans Fenn. They have had six children. Those living are Willard Emerson, manager of house furnishing department for A. J. Muzzy & Co., Bristol, Conn .; Ella Antoinette, wife of Edgar L. Pond, of the firm of A. Terry & Co .; E. Clayton, machinist for Eagle Lock Company, also justice of the peace and agent for the Humane Society, and Ralph Cowles, secretary of the Cambridge, Mass., Y. M. C. A.
In politics Mr. Goodwin has always been a Republican and belongs to the orders of Odd Fellows and American Mechanics. He is a member of the Terryville Congregational Church and was for twenty years its clerk.
JAMES MIX.
James Mix was born in West Hartford, Conn .. in 1793. He was the son of Elisha Mix and Amny (Webster) Mix. His father was a soldier for about five years in the Revolutionary army and a descendant of the early settlers of the colony of Hart- ford. In 1814 he married Miss Lucy Steele, also of West Hart- ford, a daughter of Allyn Steele, a lineal descendant of John Steele and Major William Bradford. Major Bradford was one of the four principal men who came over in the Mayflower, and for nearly thirty years was Governor of the Plymouth Colony.
25S
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTHI.
Frank W. Mix.
Willard T. Goodwin.
259
LOCK MAKERS.
John Steele was the leader (with Thomas Hooker) of the first Connecticut Colony and for twenty years Recorder of the Hart- ford and Farmington colonies.
Mr. Mix in his younger days learned the trade of cloth dress- ing and wool carding, and carried on business in Roxbury and in Watertown, Conn. He was also superintendent of a woolen factory in Humphreysville and Manchester until 1824, when he removed to Hartford and went into the mercantile business. He moved to Terryville, in the town of Plymouth, in 1832, and entered the employ of Deacon Burnham Terry, but in 1833 went to work for John C. Lewis and William E. McKee, then just commencing, in a small way, the manufacture of locks. He re- mained with them until the hard times of 1836, when he moved to New Britain, remaining there during the years 1836 and 1837, in the employ of Stanley & Woodruff, afterwards the firm of Russell & Erwin. In 1836 he again removed to Terryville and went to work for H. Welton & Co., clock manufacturers, making their dies and punches and doing their press work. He remained with them until about 1845, when H. Welton & Co. failed and he returned to the lock business in the employ of what was then Lewis & Gaylord, and continued with them and the Eagle Lock Co., as die and tool maker, until his death in 1859.
He held many important positions in the town and was con- sidered and known as an honest, upright man in all of his deal- ings with his fellow men; puritanical in his ideas, aristocratic by nature, and one who took a great deal of pride in his family and all that belonged to them. His life was one of continual hard work; raising a family of ten children, it was a hard struggle for him until he died, but he took good care of those children until they were able to care for themselves. His remains lie in the Terryville Cemetery. He belonged to the Masonic Fraternity and always urged his boys to join it when they were of a proper age. How well they followed his advise is shown by the fact that three out of the four boys, viz., Elisha, James and Frank years ago united with that organization.
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