USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Seymour > Seymour and vicinity. Historical collections > Part 17
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CENTER SCHOOL, No. 6.
This was set off' from No. 5 in 1847. A "select school" had been kept by Mrs. Hodge in a building which stood near where the south end of the pin-shop now is. The building was taken for the district school and removed above the cotton factory, to where the wool-room of Kalmia Mills now is, then to where Second street terminates, above Maple street, and when the car- shops were built it was removed to its present location.
TEACHERS.
1852, Charles W. Sharpe. 1867, Miss Coltingham. 1869 to July, 1875, Jessie C. Perkins. Sept., 1875, to 1878, Maria M. Tucker.
ยท SECOND INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL. Established in September, 1878. Arthur L. Candee, teacher.
FIRST INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL.
TEACHERS. April, 1869, to April, 1870, Mary A. Swift. April to July, 1870, Cornelia A. Chatfield. Sept., 1870, to July, 1872, Il. A. Woodford. Sept., 1872, to July, 1873, E. J. Downs. Sept., 1873, to April, 1875, Sarah M. Riggs. April to Dec., 1875, Clara F. Abbott. Jan., 1876, to 1878, Emma S. Tomlinson.
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THE HIGH SCHOOL.
Humphreysville Academy, established in 1849, during its continuance, satisfied the demand for a school of higher grade, and perhaps for this reason the High School Association, incorporated in 1851, failed of its purpose. The Humphreysville Academy was very popular under the direction of Geo. B. Glendining, and deservedly so. He was an efficient instructor, and drew many pupils from neighboring towns as well as from distant cities. In 1853 he removed to a larger town towards New York and was succeeded by Fred- erick Durand, who taught two years in Union Hall. Mr. Gay, a graduate of Yale, came in August, 1855, but continued only a few months. The subject of a Union High School was agitated, but the meetings called to con- sider the subject were no avail until after the passage of a law authorizing the establishment of such a school by the town, independent of school societies and school districts. The school was permanently established in 1864. Martha J. Morris was employed as assistant from September, 1867, to De- cember, 1868. Since then no assistant has been employed in the High School, but the establishment of the two intermediate departments has prac- tically made a high school of three grades, and only a new and commodious school building is especially needed to place Seymour in the first rank as regards the facilities for common school education.
TEACHERS.
1864 to July, 1866, Miss Hermance. Sept., 1866, to July, 1867, Frederick Durand.
Sept., 1867, to Dec., 1868, Prof. A. F. Reynolds. Jan. to April, 1869, Martha J. Morris. April, 1869, to April, 1870, Celia A. Stanley. April to July, 1870, Miss S. A. Atwater. Sept., 1870, to July, 1871, Mrs. Lottie E. Bigelow. Sept., 1871, to July, 1872, Lucy S. Merwin. Sept. to Dec., 1872, Mary R. Deery. Jan., 1873, to July, 1874, Arthur Kilgore. Sept., 1874, to April, 1875, Frank H. Brewer. April, 1875, to July, 1878, William H. Warner. Sept., 1878, Rev. C. W. Sharpe.
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Great Hill M. E. Church.
HIS is one of the oldest Methodist societies in Connecticut and at one time ranked highest in strength and numbers in the Derby Circuit, which then included the towns of the Naugatuck Valley as far as Wa- terbury. Rev. Heman Bangs, who was presiding elder about sixty years ago, said Great Hill was his main stay, and Rev. Elijah Woolsey, cirenit preacher in 1814, in his book called "The Lights and Shadows of the Itinerancy," gives space to incidents of his experience on Great IIill. It had been an old Presbyterian parish, the church standing near the Davis place. Abner Smith was the pastor of the Presbyterian Society in 1814 and for many years preceding, but moved west soon after, and the pulpit was by general consent occupied by Methodist clergymen. From the time when Rev. Jesse Lee proclaimed the "Glad Tidings" through the valley of the Naugatuck, service was held here by his successors from time to time, and a prosperous church grew up. For a number of years, between 1810 and 1820, Cyrus Botsford was chorister and was considered an excellent music teacher. The choirs in those days were large and some humorous anecdotes are told of corrections made by Mr. B. when discordant notes were heard, when his words were more emphatic than appropriate to the place. Mr. B. was four times married and had seventeen children. Capt. Isaac Bassett and wife, grand parents of Capt. Elliott Bassett, were among the first Methodists on the Hill. The late Judson English was closely identified with the Great Hill church for half a century. The eccentric George L. Fuller, pastor in 1845 and 1846, is still remembered by many residents of the Hill. Fearless and untiring in his Master's service, he labored with great success and many were the anecdotes told of his labors. At one time in a revival meeting he preached from the parable of the swine, (Matt., viii: 30-32), and afterward passed around among the congregation urging them to repentance. A young man, T- W -- , replied to him very discourteously that there was no need of it, since, according to the sermon, all the devils were drowned. The eccentric clergyman knelt in prayer and remembered the young man as follows: "Oh Lord, we read in Thy blessed word that the swine rushed down into the sea and were drowned; but oh, Lord, one hog swam ashore, and here he is right before us. Drive the devil out of him and make a man of him," etc. It is said that if the logic was not convincing, the whole-souled earnestness of the preacher was, and apparently the prayer was answered. A man, at whose house a prayer-meeting was to be held one Saturday evening, sent an invita- tion to a neighbor, a stanneh Presbyterian, to attend. He sent back word that he wished to be excused as he "kept Saturday night," but he soon began to attend the meetings and continued to be a regular attendant for more than thirty years. Anson Gillette was the first class-leader. over sixty-five years ago. The present church edifice was built by subscription in 1853-4. Almost the only preaching on the hill for the forty years preceding had been by the Methodists, to whom the old Presbyterian church had been given up. The church was dedicated on Wednesday, October 25th, 1854. The subscriptions that day were $580, leaving a debt of only $300, which has since been paid. Though the society is smaller now by reason of the draught upon it by the flourishing manufacturing centers around, yet considerable improvements have been made in and about the church in the past few years, and the services of the sanctuary are weil sustained.
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SEYMOUR AND VICINITY.
PAPER MAKING IN SEYMOUR.
HE first to establish the manufacture of paper in this place was General Humphreys. He built the first paper mill in 1805, but soon sold it to Worrull & Hudson. At this time the paper was made by hand. An engine for preparing the pulp was in use, but from this it was dipped out into fine sieves, the size the sheet of paper was to be made, shaken about to paek the fiber, a felt or flannel laid on, and the paper tipped out on it. 125 sheets were so piled up, making, with the felts, a pile about 15 inches high. This was pressed in a screw press, then taken out of the felts and hung on poles to dry, then pressed in 14 ream bunches. The next day the sheets were "stripped" or separated and pressed in the dry press. Writing paper was laid sheet by sheet between press boards with occasional iron plates and pressed again. In 1816 Worrull & Hudson sold out to Ebenezer Fisher and Henry LeForge. In 1817 Samuel Roselle, afterwards a partner, came to the place and commenced work in the paper mill.
The mill was raised a story in 1825, and paper then first made altogether by machinery. The mill was sold to the Humphreysville Manufacturing Company January 27th, 1831. This company commenced the manufacture of paper in May, 1831, with but four employees-Chester Jones, Win. Bates, Jane Patchen and Lois Thompson, but during the month the number was increased to 16, and afterward to 18. The 16th of April, 1832, they com- menced running night and day. They were then making paper for the New Haven Palladium and other papers. Not only news but tissue and colored papers were produced. It is evident that the circulation of the papers was not very large from the fact that 500 pounds of paper was considered a good day's work at the time they were supplying several printing offices besides making other kinds of paper.
The establishment was taken by George L. Hodge, Sharon Y. Beach and Samuel Roselle August 17th, 1843, under the firm name of Hodge & Co., this partnership continuing two years.
In 1845 the Humphreysville Manufacturing Company, by their special agent, Timothy Dwight, sold the paper mill with a five years' lease of the water to Ezekiel Gilbert, Sharon Y. Beach and Samuel Roselle, who carried on the business five years under the firm name of Gilbert, Beach & Co. The water lease expired in 1850, and as the Humphreysville Manufacturing Com- pany declined all offers for a renewal, Mr. Beach bought out the other two partners, pulled down the mill, and put it up again in "Blueville," on Bladen's Brook, about a mile east of the old location, where it has since remained. Among the numerous publications for which Mr. B. has furnished more or less paper is Barber's History of Connecticut, New Haven Palladium, Regis- ter, Journal and Courier, the Waterbury American, and the Seymour Record.
In February and March of 1859 a large addition was built to the mill. In September of 1860 the wooden flume was taken out and an iron one put in. New machinery has been added from time to time, engines, boilers, cal- enders, &c., reservoirs built on the hill near by to insure a full supply of pure water, so much needed in the manufacture of paper, and other improvements inade, until Mr. B. has about $20,000 invested in the business, making a large mill, furnished with the most approved machinery and turning out large quantities of superior colored papers, that having been made a specialty of the mill for a number of years past.
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The first mill on the site of Smith's paper mill was built in 1831 under the direction of John Riggs for John S. Moshier. The machinery was de- signed and built by Cyrus Lee, millwright, in whose employ were Smith Botsford and Sheldon Hurd. Mr. Moshier purchased the land from the Capt. Merrick farm, once owned by Rev. Jesse Johnson, including the upper mill site, now occupied by the rubber mill. Newel Johnson purchased the latter and paid Moshier in work on the paper mill. Johnson built a small dam near the upper end of the present rubber mill dam, and built a small machine shop. The paper mill was completed and commenced running in the spring of 1832. William Bates was employed as superintendent and Samuel Bassett run the paper machine. John Bodge was also employed in the mill, and so continued until his death in 1868, a period of thirty-nine years. At this time the wages paid for work in paper mills varied from one dollar for sixteen hours' work to five shillings for twelve hours.
Early in 1833 the paper mill passed into the hands of John C. Wheeler, and in April was leased to Daniel White for three years at an annual rent of $600. Mr. White was then in the paper business at the Falls, and his lease of that mill had one year longer to run. Sylvester Smith, who had been in Mr. White's employ one year in the old mill, was now transferred to the superintendeney of the new mill. During the year the most of the paper made in the mill was of a fine quality, for books and periodicals. All paper was then sold on six and nine months' credit. For about four years this mill furnished the paper for reprinting Blackwood's Magazine and other foreign periodicals by T. Foster in New York.
Mr. White, being unsuccessful in business, gave up the mill in the spring of 1834, and his successor (John C. Wheeler) gave Sylvester Smith a one- quarter interest in the business, Wheeler furnishing the capital. Their part- nership lasted three years. But from 1834 the times were hard and the price of paper fell off almost one-fourth. Wheeler, who was also in company with Raymond French in the auger business, met with heavy losses in the hard times of 1837. The dam was carried away in April, 1837, but rebuilt before July, and Wheeler then rented the mill to Smith & Bassett for fifty dollars a month, to be paid in wrapping paper. This was the commencement of a partnership which lasted nineteen years. Feb. 10th, 1840, Smith & Bassett bought the mill of John C. Wheeler for $4,220, payable in wrapping paper- $200 every three months.
Straw was made into paper in this mill in 1837, and was the first paper made from straw in Connecticut. Money was very scarce and for several years barter was more common than cash ; paper and augers being extensively used as a circulating medium in this vicinity. In January, 1841, an addition of twenty feet was built on the south end of the mill. Other improvements were made in 1846, but on the 29th of January, 1847, the paper mill was entirely consumed by fire. The loss was about $9,000 and the insurance was $3,500. With improved times and better facilities for making paper, all seemed ready for increased profit when this fire occurred. On Saturday, March 13th, 1847, the frame of the new mill was raised, about 100 men being present. Daniel White had charge of the carpenter work and Smith Botsford superintended the mill work. On Saturday, July 17th, paper making was resumed.
In January, 1856, Mr. Bassett sold his half of the mill to Mr. Smith. During the time of their partnership a large proportion of the paper made in the mill was straw boards and button boards. When they commenced the price of straw delivered at the mill was $5 per ton. In the last twelve years
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of their partnership the mill was much used in grinding and cleaning rubber, which added much to the profit of the mill. But in 1855 this branch of the business was closed up. The paper business was then poor for several years. The panic of 1857 came and the prospects were gloomy. Then came the sound of war and the tramp of armies, and everything was uncertain. But in the spring of 1863 the paper business revived, and the sun of prosperity arose on the old paper works. Prices improved, orders increased and the dream of profits was upon the mill owner. But another unlucky Friday came and the paper mill was again burnt down, about noon of March 13th, 1863. The loss was about $10,000 and the insurance $5,000. Fourteen tons of old iron was sold from the ruins. In two weeks the timber for the new mill was on the ground. The main building was raised the last week in April. It was 46 by 70 feet, and three stories high. The machinery was all put on the lower floor, and two turbine wheels took the place of the large wooden ones. On the 4th of July the mill was so far completed that a festival was held in it for the benefit of sick and wounded soldiers. About five hundred people attended, and with the music and speaking it was a pleasant affair. About the 15th of Angust the mill was in running order.
A large bleach-house was added to the main building, and in the same year an ell was added to the east side, 60 by 27 feet, two stories high. Ashbel Storrs planned and superintended the building, and Smith Botsford was the master millwright. Perhaps it was the most complete mill for the work for which it was designed that had been built in the country up to that time. During the next two years the mill did a successful business.
In 1866 W. W. Smith took charge of the mill on a salary, and his father retired from the business. In 1867 an addition was made to the south end of the mill, a steam engine put in, and the manufacture of manilla paper commenced.
On Monday evening, January 11th, 1869, a fire broke out in the second story of the ell part of the mill, and in a short time the whole building was destroyed. The loss was about $30,000 and the insurance $14,000. Mr. Amasa Trowbridge perished in the flames. At the cry of fire he left his home and lost his hfe in the effort to save his neighbor's property. In three months another mill was running in part, and at the end of five months from the date of the fire it was completed. The cost of this mill was nearly double that which was built in 1863, so great had been the increase in the price of labor and material.
In May, 1870, the mill was sold to Mr. W. W. Smith. This year was remarkable for the long-continned drought. Nothing like it had ever been known. In the summer of 1871 the dam was carried away, and Capt. Smith, at great expense, brought the water down from Rimmon Pond in Naugatuck River, put in a wheel opposite the mill, and applied that power, underneath the highway, to his mill, the new power going into operation in the first week in November. But another black Friday came November 10th, and in the rainy afternoon the cruel fire made short work of the mill. There were ten policies of insurance of $2,000 each on the property, but the then recent dis- astrous fire in Chicago had so damaged several of the companies that a large part of the insurance was lost. The whole loss by this fire was estimated at $30,000. The mill was again rebuilt and has since been confined to the manufacture of a superior quality of manilla paper.
De Dorest and Hodge purchased the water privilege and buildings where the rubber works now are and changed it to a paper mill, running partly by steam, making fine calendered book paper. They soon sold out to Smith &
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Bassett, who continued the paper business, but added the grinding of rubber. They also ltired the mill at the mouth of Little River to grind rubber in, and even then were unable to do the work as fast as wanted. This mill at the mouth of Little River had been run as a paper mill by Lewis Bunce, and afterward by the Rimmon Paper Company. In 1854 Smith & Bassett sold the upper mill to Austin G. Day, and it has since been occupied by the Day Brothers in the rubber business exclusively.
SUFFERINGS OF REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS.
HE following extract from Ramsay's History of the Revolution, published in Trenton in 1811, gives a good representation of the sufferings of pat- riots of the Revolution who were captured by the British, among whom were Bradford Steele, Jabez Pritchard and others mentioned in this book in the account of the Revolutionary period.
The prisoners captured by Sir William Howe in 1776, amounted to many hundreds. The officers were admitted to parole, and had some waste houses assigned to them as quarters ; but the privates were shut up in the coldest season of the year, in churches, sugar houses, and such like large open buildings. The severity of the weather, and the rigor of their treatment, occasioned the death of many hundreds of these unfortunate mnen. The filth of the places of their confinement, in consequence of fluxes which prevailed among them, was both offensive and dangerous. Seven dead bodies have been seen in one building, at one time, and all lying in a situation shocking to humanity. The provisions served out to them were deficient in quantity, and of an unwholesome quality. These suffering prisoners were generally pressed to enter into the British service, but hundreds submitted to death, rather than procure a melioration of their circumstances by enlisting with the enemies of their country. After General Washington's successes at Trenton and Princeton, the American prisoners fared somewhat better. Those who survived were ordered to be sent out for exchange, but some of them fell down dead in the streets, while attempting to walk to the vessels, Others were so emaciated that their appearance was horrible. A speedy death closed the scene with many.
The American board of war, after conferring (December 1, 1777) with Mr. Boudinot, the commissary-general of prisoners, and examining evidences produced by him, reported among other things, " That there were 900 privates and 300 officers of the American army, prisoners in the city of New York, and about 500 privates and 50 officers prisoners in Philadelphia. That since the begin- ning of October, all these prisoners, both officers and privates, had been confined in prison ships or the Provost : That from the best evidence the subject could admit of, the general allowance of prisoners, at most, did not exceed four ounces of meat per day, and often so damaged as not to be eatable : That it had been a common practice with the British, on a prisoner's being tirst captured, to keep him three, four or five days, without a morsel of meat, and then to tempt him to enlist to save his life : That there were numerous instances of prisoners of war perishing in all the agonies of hunger."
About this time (Dec. 24, 1777) there was a meeting of merchants in London, for the purpose of raising a sum of money to relieve the distresses of American prisoners then in England. The sum subscribed for that purpose amounted in two months to 46121 15s. Thus while human nature was dishonored by the cruelties of some of the British in America, there was a landable display of the benevolenee of others of the same nation in Europe. The American sailors, when captured by the British, suffered more than even the soldiers which fell into their hands. The former were confined on board prison ships. They were there erouded together in such numbers, and their accommoda- tions were so wretched, that diseases broke out and swept them off in a manner that was sufficient to excite compassion in breasts of the least sensibility. It has been asserted, on as good evidence as the case will admit, that in the last six years of the war upwards of eleven thousand persons died on board the Jersey, one of these prison ships, which was stationed in East river near New-York. On many of these, the rites of sepulture were never or very imperfectly conferred. For some time after the war was ended, their bones lay whitening in the sun, on the shores of Long-Island.
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STREETS OF SEYMOUR.
BIRCH, from Washington avenue to Day street.
BROAD, from Main street to Derby avenne.
CEDAR, from River street, along foot of Castle Rock, to West street.
CHURCH, from West street, east, past Trinity church, to Mill street. CULVER, from First avenue to Grand street.
DAY, from North Main street to Pearl street.
DERBY AVENUE, from intersection of Broad and West streets, southward. ELM, from Pearl street to house of Edwin Smith.
FACTORY, from Main street to Kalmia Mills.
FIRST, from Factory street to Maple street. FIRST AVENUE, from Grand street to Culver street.
GRAND, from Washington avenue to Pearl street.
GROVE, from Derby avenue to Cedar street, past house of B. W. Smith. HIGH, from Pearl street, opposite M. E. Church, to Culver street.
HILL, from Main street, southward, formerly Rimmon turnpike.
HUMPHREY, from Pearl street to house of Isaac Losee.
JAMES, from Main street to Washington avenue.
MAIN, running north towards Pinesbridge and south towards Ansonia. MAPLE, from Main street to West street, near house of E. L. Hoadley. MILL, from River street, northwest, to West street. MONSON, from Grand street to Culver street.
NORTH, from Day street, north, to North Main street.
OAK, from Derby avenue to Cedar street, past house of Frederick Emery.
PEARL, from South Main street to Day street.
PINE, from Broad street to Derby avenue.
RAYMOND, from Factory street to foot of Third street.
RIMMON, from Maple street, north, over Rimmon Hill.
RIVER, from West street to Maple street.
ROSE, from Derby avenne to Cedar street, past house of S. C. Ford. SECOND, from Raymond street, north, to the river.
THIRD, from Maple street, south, to Raymoud street.
THIRD AVENUE, from Grand street, south, to Culver street. WALNUT, from Hill street, near house of S. C. Ford, to Pearl street. WASHINGTON AVENUE, (Promised Land,) from Hill street to Main street. WEST, from intersection of Broad street and Derby avenue, towards Oxford. VINE, from Derby avenue to Cedar street, south of house of C. W. Storrs.
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NOTES FROM DWIGHT'S TRAVELS.
PUBLISHED IN 1822.
From Derby the road crosses Naugatuc river ; and thence proceeds by the side of the Hooes- tennuc to the near neighbourhood of its fountains in New-Ashford. From Derby to Kent the course is nearly North-West; and throughout the whole distance to New-Milford is almost literally on the bank. The valley is every where narrow; and the prospect limited on both sides by hills of consid- erable height. A few of these are bold, masculine bluffs, with rude precipices, which may be called magnificent. Almost all of them present declivitics, too steep for convenient cultivation, covered with a soil too unpromising to tempt the labours of the husbandman. At times it is sandy ; at others rocky; and at others cold. Hence this region is more thinly populated than any other, of equal extent, within the limits of Connecticut. The houses, also, are few ; and most of them indifferent buildings. In the parish of South-Britain, eighteen miles from Derby, and twenty-six from New- Haven, there is a small exception to these remarks. The rest of the tract is solitary; and, with the aid of a road generally sandy and heavy, is far from inviting excursions of pleasure.
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