USA > Connecticut > New London County > Stonington > History of the town of Stonington, county of New London, Connecticut, from its first settlement in 1649 to 1900 with a genealogical register of stonington families > Part 14
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William Williams, living near Mystic, became largely inter- ested in commerce. His son William commanded one of his vessels, and died at sea in 1770. His wife died at home a few days after, leaving two children, William, the late Maj. Gen.
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COMMERCE.
William Williams, and Eunice, first the wife of Rufus Wheeler, and after his death the wife of the Hon. Coddington Billings, and mother of his sons, Noyes and William, and daughter, Mrs. Eunice Farnsworth, of Norwich, Connecticut. Deacon Joseph Denison was also interested in commerce, and later the Haley family participated. The Revolutionary war almost annihilated commerce. After its close it slowly recovered, but before it had assumed its former proportions the embargo acts of Congress and the complications with European powers prostrated it again.
Then came the last war with England, with a close blockade of our harbor, crippling our commerce. After the close of the war commerce again revived, and has been prosecuted with great success in almost every department of trade. Fishing and the whaling business very early attracted the attention of our people. In 1647 the General Court enacted this: "If Mr. Whiting, with any others, shall make trial and prosecute a design for the taking of whale within these liberties, and if upon trial within the term of two years they shall like to go on, no others shall be suffered to interrupt them for the term of seven years." Whether Mr. Whiting engaged in the business or not does not appear. As early as 1701, and for several years thereafter, whales were taken and brought on shore at Wadawanuck, the oil tried out and sold in Boston and the West Indies. After the close of the Revolution a law was passed exempting all vessel property engaged in the fish and whaling business from taxation. Also the polls of the men employed four months on board a fishing or whaling vessel was exempted from taxation.
After 1790 the exemption of the vessel property was repealed, but the exempting of poll-tax was continued. Under the pat- ronage of the State, whaling was carried on principally at and from New London, but nothing of the kind was done here until some time after the close of the last war with England. On and after 1830 several prominent business men in Stonington gave their attention to the whaling business, viz., Capt. Charles P. Williams, Charles Mallory, John F. Trumbull, Francis Pendle- ton, Joseph E. Smith and Moses Pendleton, aided by a most intelligent and able set of captains and subordinates, successfully prosecuted the business, and for several years it was the most lucrative business of the town. The following is a list of the vessels employed in whaling :
132
HISTORY OF STONINGTON.
Vessels.
Tonnage.
Owners and Agents. Charles P. Williams
America
464
Bolton, bark.
.220
Charles Phelps
.362
Caledonia.
.446
Corvo.
349
Calumet
300
Eugene
297
Fellowes
268
George
251
66
66
Herald
241
Thomas Williams
340
United States.
244
Mary and Susan
.392
Autumn
220
Betsey Williams
400
Cavalier.
295
Rebecca Groves, brig
128
Beaver
427
Prudent
398
S. H. Waterman, bark
480
Uxor, brig
100
Francis, brig
Acasto.
330
Henrietta, schooner
139
Colossus, schooner 85
96
66
66
Penguin.
82
Sovereign
. 95
Byron, bark.
178
Cabinet.
.305
Cynosure. 230
Tiger 311
Pheletus, bark
278
Richard Henry, bark
.137
Tybee
299
Sophia and Eliza
206
Sarah E. Spear, bark.
150
Flying Cloud, schooner 100
Toka 145
Aeronaut, ship 265
Bingham, ship. 375
Blackstone, ship 280
Leander, ship. 213
Romulus, ship 365
Vermont, ship 292
66
Coriolanus, ship 268
66
Pacific, schooner
66
John F. Trumbull.
66
Charles Mallory.
66
66
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COMMERCE.
Tonnage. Owners and Agents.
Eleanor, ship
301
Charles Mallory.
Leander, ship.
213
Robinhood, ship
.395
Prescott, ship.
341
Vermont, ship.
292
66
Bolina
200
Tampeco, brig.
225
66
Uxor, brig
180
Wilmington, schooner
100
Lyon, schooner 150
Cornelia, schooner
150
Frank, schooner.
.200
Mercury, schooner
305
Pendleton & Trumbull, and Jos. E. Smith & Co.
Newburyport, schooner 341
Autumn, schooner
181
Boston, schooner
200
Cincinnati, schooner
457
Warsaw, schooner
.332
Pendleton & Trumbull. Elisha Faxon, Jr. 66
F. Pendleton & Co., and Stanton & Pendleton. Pendleton & Stanton.
In July, 1819, the brig "Hersilia" sailed from Stonington on an exploring and sealing voyage under command of Capt. James P. Sheffield, William A. Fanning supercargo, and Nathaniel B. Palmer mate, for Cape Horn and the South Shetlands and the Antarctic Circle, made a splendid voyage and returned safely to Stonington. The next season a fleet of vessels consisting of the brig "Frederick," Capt. Benjamin Pendleton, the senior com- mander ; the brig "Hersilia," Capt. James P. Sheffield ; schooners "Express," Capt. E. Williams; "Free Gift," Capt. F. Dunbar; and sloop "Hero," Capt. N. B. Palmer, was fitted out at Ston- ington, Conn., on a voyage to the South Shetlands. They reached a place known as Yankee Harbor, Deception Island, during the season of 1820 and '21, where, from the lookout of an elevated station on a very clear day, the discovery of a volcano in operation was made.
To examine the newly discovered land Capt. N. B. Palmer was dispatched in his sloop "Hero" for that purpose. He found it to be an extensive mountainous country, sterile and dismal, loaded with snow and ice, though it was in the midsummer of that hemisphere, and a landing was difficult. On his way back he got becalmed in a fog between the South Shetlands and the newly discovered continent, but nearest the former ; when the fog
Vessels.
66
134
HISTORY OF STONINGTON.
began to clear away, Capt. Palmer was surprised to find his little bark between a frigate and a sloop-of-war, and instantly ran up the United States flag.
The frigate and sloop-of-war then set the Russian colors, and sent a boat to the "Hero," and when alongside the lieutenant presented an invitation from his commander for Capt. Palmer to go on board, which he accepted, and found that their ship was on a voyage of discovery around the world, sent out by the Emperor Alexander of Russia After an interesting interview, followed by an invitation from Capt. Palmer to the Russian admiral to visit Yankee Harbor, where the American fleet lay, where he might procure water and refreshments, which he de- clined, complimenting Capt. Palmer on the fine appearance of his vessel, adding that he thought he had discovered some new land, but now here we are in the presence of an American vessel. But his astonishment was yet more increased when Capt. Palmer informed him that away in the dim distance might be seen an immense extent of land. Capt. Palmer, while on board the frigate, was treated in the most friendly manner, and the com- modore was so forcibly struck with the circumstances of the case that he named the coast far away to the south Palmer's land, and by this name it was recorded on the Russian and English charts and maps. The Stonington fleet returned richly laden in fur, and went back again the next season to the same latitude. Capt. Palmer, in the sloop "James Monroe," a vessel of eighty tons or more, traced his new-discovered land, finding the shore barred by fast ice firmly attached to the shore; after coasting eastward he returned to the fleet, and with them to Stonington, richly laden with furs. Soon after Capt. Palmer was joined by his younger brother, Alexander S. Palmer, who ac- companied him on several voyages, and both became distin- guished navigators. Capt. Nathaniel Palmer rose to a high position among the importers of New York, and gained their confidence to an unlimited extent, superintending the construc- tion of their ships for the European and China trade, notably the "Great Republic." He was known and respected not only in this country but in Europe.
The sealing business, so successfully begun by Capt. Fanning, Capt. Palmer, Charles T. Stanton, and others, did not prove to be
135
COMMERCE.
as profitable as the whaling business. The following is an in- complete list of the vessels employed by Stonington and Mystic men in the sealing business :
Brig Frederick. Capt. Benjamin Pendleton.
Hersilia.
P. Sheffield.
Bogartar
66 E. Fanning.
Sarah.
66
Schooner Free Gift Charles P. Williams. 66 66
Express.
Brig Enterprise
Stiles Stanton and Joseph E. Smith.
Schooner Eveline
Joshua Pendleton.
Courier
Edward Phelps.
Carolina.
Edward Phelps.
Summerset, elph. oil
Pendleton & Faxon.
Thomas Hunt. Joseph N. Hancox. 66
Express
Charles Shearer
Brig Henry Trowbridge
Joseph Cottrell, Agent.
Schooner Montgomery Plutarch.
66
J. C. Smith and Stanton Sheffield owned and successfully operated a marine railway at Stonington Borough for several years, and finally sold it to the railroad company for terminal facilities.
MILLS AND MANUFACTURING.
The first mill for any purpose erected in the town of Stoning- ton was built in 1662, under the following stipulations, viz. :
"Articles of Agreement between us whose names are here underwritten as followeth this 10th day of December, 1661. We, Thomas Stanton senior, Sam- uel Chesebrough, Nathaniel Chesebrough, Elihu Palmer, Nehemiah Palmer, . Elisha Chesebrough, Thomas Miner, Sen., & Clement Miner, do bind ourselves each to the other in a bond of twenty pounds to build a grist mill at We-que- te-quock upon the river that runs by Goodman Chesebrough's between this and Michaelmas next, each man to be at equal charges, either in good pay or work, & each man to have equal shares in the Mill & benefits thereof, when it is built, and no man to sell his share to any other person, if any of those will give as much for it as another will; & hereto we set our hands inter- changeably this 10th of December, 1661.
"THOMAS STANTON,
"SAMUEL CHESEBROUGH,
"NATH'L CHESEBROUGH,
"ELIHU PALMER,
NEH. PALMER,
ELISHA CHESEBROUGH,
CLEMENT MINER,
THOMAS MINER."
This agreement was followed by another between the proprie- tors of the land to be used in building and was as follows :
"We, William Chesebrough & Elihu Palmer, do hereby engage for our- selves & our relations, that whatever land is taken up for the Dam of the Mill before mentioned, or for any trench work, or that the water in drain- ing overflows or for the setting of the Mill & Mill house shall go free without cost or pay to the undertakers of ye work as witness our hands this 10th day of Dec. 1661 & this land is to remain to the mill & undertakers as long as the mill continues in use; if it be defective and not sold, to return to the above mentioned William Chesebrough & Elihu Palmer, as witness our hands. "WILLIAM CHESEBROUGH,
"ELIHU PALMER.
"Witness: THOMAS MINER."
This mill has been kept up and in operation ever since, and is now the property of Mr. John F. Chesebrough. Farther up stream Mr. Chauncey Johnson, a few years ago, built another grist-mill, on lands purchased of Capt. Charles P. Williams. The second grist-mill was on the Pawcatuck River, and was built before 1666.
137"
MILLS AND MANUFACTURING.
During the early settlement of the town the wives and daugh- ters of the planters spun and wove all of their linen and woolen- cloth, and at first and along dressed the woolen goods by hand fulling-mills, coloring the same to suit their fancy in the old- fashioned dye-tubs.
The first movement to establish fulling-mills in town for the" dressing of woolen cloth came up for consideration in town- meeting in 1674, when favorable action was taken upon a letter addressed to the towns of New London, Norwich, and Ston- ington, by Roger Playsted, of Rhode Island, which, with the answer of the town, is as follows, viz .:
"This may certify, the towns or the inhabitants of the township of New" London, Stonington and Norwich that in answer to ye request of John Lamb, concerning building of a fulling mill at or about the head of the River, for ye milling of the cloth that shall be made in those towns. Now if those towns shall please to engage certainly that they will bring all the cloth they shall have occasion to have milled to this mill mentioned, without suffering others to be built within those townships, or sending their cloth unto other places, so long as this mill can answer, or in case this cannot, that one may be erected in some other convenient place allowed and freely granted with what accommodation is requisite for the carrying along of such a design by any of the aforesaid towns from time to time and at all times need shall require.
"Now this may certainly inform you that if God shall spare my life and afford me strength to go on with this design, that I will build a substantial fulling mill with fixtures to dry your cloth which shall be under one yard and half in breadth, unto what size of thickness yourselves shall direct, you paying me for doing, three pence for each yard, so milled and dried, in money or pay equivalent, brought home to the said mill or some other convenient place not withholding my pay above six months after the work is done, and it be concluded on in some short time, I doubt not but in eighteen months after the mill may be finished and ready to go, and if after this is done, any shall desire to have their cloth sheared and dried, I shall join my son to. that work provided those that have it so done shall pay what in reason such work is worth, and to conclude if what above said be granted, I to the performance of what is written have subscribed my hand this 18th of June 1674.
"Stonington."
"ROGER PLAYSTED.
"Stonington answer to Mr. Playsted's petition, that they are freely willing that Mr. Playsted should go on about erecting a fulling mill in these parts and to manifest their liking of the petitions made by the said Playsted unto them and their acceptance of the same; this was agreed upon and manifested by a vote at a public town meeting and ordered to be recorded by the selectmen, &c.
"December 29, 1674."
138
HISTORY OF STONINGTON.
The towns of New London and Norwich did not accept of his proposition, so the whole matter failed.
John Shaw built the first fulling-mill in town on Stony Brook, west of the present residence of Mr. and Mrs. Burnside Coon, and on land owned by them. The date of its erection is not certainly known. The location of the dam and the margin of the pond can now be traced. It is more than a hundred years since it went out of use.
"Weave-shops" were introduced and in use as early as fulling- mills. The one manufactured the cloth and the other dressed it. The wool was carded and spun by hand; the flax was pulled, rotted, broke, swingled, hetcheled, spun, wove, and bleached by hand. Later on these "weave-shops" became a sort of manufacturing establishment for the production of first-class goods. As early as 1760 the basement of the dwelling-house of Richard Wheeler was used by him for a weave-shop. He was also engaged in tanning leather, using vats made of chest- nut logs, dug out and imbedded in the ground near Stony Brook. Apprentices for this trade were regularly indentured and served for a given time, and then set up business for them- selves.
A mill for the manufacture of potash, saltpetre, and powder, before and during the Revolutionary war, stood near Stony Brook, on land now owned by Nelson H. Wheeler, occupied by Arthur G. Wheeler, owned and operated by the Shaws. During the Revolutionary war the blockade of our seacoast by the British was so close and effective that sugar and molasses became so scarce that it was well-nigh impossible to get any for use. So a sugar-mill was erected on lands of Deacon Joseph Denison and operated by horse-power, in which sweet-corn stalks were ground up and the juice pressed out and boiled down for molasses and sugar.
Before the Revolution a grist-mill was erected on Stony Brook, and known for a time as the Fellows' Mill. Afterwards it became the property of Dr. William Lord, who held it until he left town, when it was purchased by the late Capt. Charles H. Smith, who erected a new dam, increasing the area of the pondage, and built a new mill below the old one, with a powerful water-fall, which made it one of the best grist-mills in the State. After the death of Capt. Smith the property was sold to Frank
139
MILLS AND MANUFACTURING.
Sylvia, who in turn sold it to the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad Company for a reservoir.
Mechanics and artisans are important persons in any com- munity, more especially in a new settlement, where a large share of the capital is used in new buildings. Carpenters, masons, and blacksmiths are indispensable in a new settlement. William Chesebrough, our first planter, was a blacksmith and gunsmith, but did not follow either branch of his trade after he came here to reside. James Babcock, of Westerly, was a black- smith, and continued the business as long as he lived. John Frink was our first carpenter, and resided on Taugwonk. In 1673 there were blacksmiths in New London and Westerly, but none in Stonington. At a town-meeting in 1671, two twelve- acre lots were given to Jeremie Burch, if he would come here and do the town's smithery, which, however, he declined. Whereupon the town ordered the lots given to him to be at- tached and restored to the town, which was done July 24, 1674. The town did not procure a blacksmith for a year or more, nor until James Dean of Taunton, Plymouth Colony, came here and entered into an arrangement with the town, which was adopted at a town-meeting as follows :
"At a public town meeting Legally warned and held on February the 28th, 1676.
"For encouragement of James Dean in order to his settlement in our town, Sundry inhabitants do engage themselves to pay unto the said Dean a certain sum, which, for and in consideration the said Dean promiseth to repay all such persons in smithery work as each person shall have occasion for, and that these presents shall reciprocally be binding each to the other.
"The first, Mr. Stanton Sen. promiseth five pounds, Mr. Amos Richardson & his son Stephen five pounds, Nehemiah Palmer twenty shillings, Nathaniel Chesebrough twenty shillings, Thomas Stanton Jun, twenty shillings, Ephraim Miner twenty shillings, Joseph Miner twenty shillings, Goodman Reynolds and his son Thomas four shillings, Thomas Bell twenty shillings, Henry Stephens twenty shillings, Edmund Fanning twenty shillings, Joshua Holmes twenty shillings, Ezekial Main twenty shillings, Samuel Minor twenty shillings, Adam Gallup twenty shillings, Mr. James Noyes ten shillings, Goodman Searles twenty shillings.
"The sum above mentioned is to be payed to James Dean at some place in Stonington where he may or shall dwell, in either pork, butter or wheat at or before the last of November next ensuing after the date hereof; the species mentioned are to be paid at price currant.
"The same day was granted to James Dean twenty-four acres of upland which was formerly reserved by the town for the accommodation of a smith,
140
HISTORY OF STONINGTON.
which grant is to him and his heirs or assigns, provided he doth the towns iron work for and during the full term of three years, but if the said Dean shall decease in our town within the term, then the said grant shall properly appertain to the heirs of the said Dean without molestation by or from the town, and this grant obligeth no further, but that for the future each person payeth honestly for what work they have done."
"At a Town meeting legally warned, Sept. 6, 1677, it was voted for the smith's encouragement, Mr. Richardson promiseth to cart the thatch to cover his house, and to allow him ten days work more.
"Adam Gallup, Thomas Edwards, and Thomas Fanning promiseth to cut the thatch for his house.
"Lieutenant Mason and Gershom Palmer each of them one day's work in carting.
"Mr. Wheeler promiseth him two hundred of laths.
"At the same day James Dean had granted him one hundred acres of land where he can find it upon the commons, provided it intrench not upon any former grant i. e .: all former grants being first satisfied.
"The selectmen vide."
"At a legal town meeting held June 1st, 1682, it was passed by vote that James Dean hath performed his condition made with the town.
"February the 26th, 1676."
The two twenty-four acre lots, or double lots, as they were sometimes called, set apart and designed for the use of a black- smith, were situated a little way easterly of the quarry ledge at Quiambaug.
Here Mr. James Dean erected his home and shop, and com- menced business in 1676. Subsequently he received other grants of land, and became a prominent man in the affairs of the town. He continued to reside in Stonington until 1698, when he and several other of the planters of Stonington went up and joined the new settlement of Plainfield, Conn., and was chosen town clerk there in 1699.
His son, James Dean, Jr., remained and built what in our early days was known as the "Old Dean House," at Dean's Mills, about the year 1700, which was destroyed by fire in 1848. James Dean, Jr., did not confine himself to blacksmithing, but learned the business of fulling and dressing woolen cloth, and for that purpose erected a fulling-mill on Mistuxet Brook, after- wards known as Dean's Brook, about one-third of the way from the old post road down to the Dean's Mills. There he contin- ued both branches of business until his son, John Dean, reached
141
MILLS AND MANUFACTURING.
manhood, when he and his father built a new dam and erected another fulling-mill near his dwelling-house, where the dam now crosses the brook. After this arrangement was effected they de- voted their time and attention to cloth-dressing until 1807, when the fulling-mill was enlarged into a factory building, with a grist-mill, new machinery for cloth-dressing, wool-carding, and for the manufacture of cotton and woolen goods were obtained. These were introduced by Mr. James Dean, the son of John Dean, with whom he had been engaged in business from his early manhood. Mr. James Dean continued in business until 1830, when he retired. The property was subsequently pur- chased by Capt. Charles H. Smith, who improved the premises by raising the dam, increasing the pondage, and deepening the raceway, and leasing it to parties for cloth-dressing, wool- carding, and for manufacturing purposes generally.
Samuel Gallup built a saw-mill and dam and mill-house, about 1765. The site of this saw-mill is now overflowed by the pond of the Mystic Valley Water Power Company. Farther up this brook and west of the residence of Uriah D. Harvey, Mr. Amos Denison built a saw-mill more than one hundred years ago, which for a while commanded a good share of business, but after his death, ran down and was discontinued. Still farther up the stream the late Samuel Wheeler erected a saw-mill in 1845, which was run successfully for several years, and after his death became the property of his son, Samuel P. Wheeler, who kept it in use while he lived, but after his death it ran down, and has since been abandoned. Previous to the year 1800 a grist-mill was erected on Mystic Brook, above the village of Mystic, which from its location and its water-power was considered very val- uable property.
In 1814 the General Assembly of this State incorporated the Mystic Manufacturing Company "for the purpose of manufac- turing cloths and other fabrics of cotton and of wool, and of cotton and wool together; and of brass, iron, and wood into tools, engines, and machines for mechanical uses; and also of grain into flour and meal in the most advantageous manner," with a capital stock not to exceed two hundred thousand dollars. This company organized immediately and commenced business, leasing the grist-mill property above the village, and the erection of two factories at the north end of the village, which were
142
HISTORY OF STONINGTON.
successfully managed and finally purchased by the late Hon. John Hyde. The south factory has been destroyed by fire. The north one is still standing, though abandoned.
In 1850 another Mystic Manufacturing Company was organ- ized as a joint-stock corporation "for the manufacture of cotton or woolen goods, or both," with the late Henry Harding, Esq., as president. Capital stock, fifteen thousand dollars. The company built the factory at the south end of the village, which, with steam-power and apparatus, was transferred to A. B. Taylor in 1864, who ran it successfully for about ten years. Afterwards it became the property of the Groton Savings Bank, which sold it to the Messrs. Rawitser & Bros.
The firm of George Greenman and Co. built a factory in 1849, at Greenmanville, which was owned and operated as corporate property under the management of Messrs. Crandall & Barber for seven years, since which the factory has been enlarged and run by various parties down to 1873, when it was purchased by W. F. Prosser and George W. Greenman, and they, in company with George Greenman & Co. run it until it was sold by them and others interested therein to James H. Bidwell and Dwight Loomis March 5, 1888. During the late Rebellion a large amount of capital was invested in an establishment for the manu- facture of machinery, and located at Pistol Point in the village of Mystic, Stonington side. After the close of the war it was changed so as to manufacture cotton and woolen goods. After several changes as to ownership and management it was de- stroyed by fire in 1875. Hitherto a planing-mill, in connection with a sash and blind business, was established at Mystic, Ston- ington side, but after several business changes and structural alterations and introduction of new machinery, it is now known and operated as the Lantern Hill Silex Works.
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