USA > Connecticut > Windham County > Danielson > Sketches concerning Danielson, Conn > Part 5
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His successor was Rev. Thomas O. Rice. He was born in Ashby, Mass., August 19, 1815, and received his theological education at East Windsor, Conn. Having preached for the Westfield society for some time as a candidate for pastor he was accepted and installed January 1, 1846. -
The Psallenian Society (p. 61) and later oocasiona.
Kept by Isaac Day in the middle forties.
65
IN THE TIME OF THE OLD CHURCH
Back in the forties Westfield village had reached stage of growth where for years very little change took place. The passing through of the daily stage ceased with the opening of the railroad. Moreover the near by depot village served as a magnet to draw to itself the few trades and occupations that had previously existed in Westfield. At the very outsöt of the new village John Sparks changed his occupa- tion and established a bakers there on the site of the Wabbaquasset House. He was succeeded in the blacksmithing business by Dorrance Day. After Dr. Penuel Hutchin retired from practice, & certain Dr. Parkhurst come and had his office in Hutchins' store.
We shall now mention some who were residents of the village in the middle and late fortier, whing their places of abode in order from worth to mouth and on both sides the street separately. Fine mot bradr of long time résident families ; a few others were then but comparalively recent con ers. First, adjacent to the village on the east side of the road were Randall and John Davis, on farm properties; Benj. F. Chapman, Amos A Olney, Thos. Backus, I. T. Hutchins, David Bacon, George Bryant Hutchins and William Drowne. On the west side of the street were David Fisher, Horace Burroughs, James Howe, Dr. David Hall, Rev. Thos. O. Rica, William James, William Sprague, Dorrance Day, Philip Tanner, ard Capt Esmuel Rey- molds. This list does not include all the residencet along the village street since a few of those mentioned owned two houses each and rented the extra ones. Then a few others were occupied by women. There was an old tenement house next north of Chapman'e which sometime in the forties was occupied by a cer.
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taia widow Henry, who worked out among neighbors. She had a boy child whom she called "Budd." We have sometimes thought thatthis old tenement house, already aged in appearance in the forties, may have been the Malbone tavera mentioned as belonging to. the militia period of the war of 1812.
B. F. Chapman started in the meat business some- time in the forties, supplying the depot and the other tillagos with fresh meat. At first he lived at the. James Howe, earlier called the Cutter place, using the barn on the premises for a slaughter house. Some of the neighbors objected to this, so Chapman established a slaughter house in the fields not far east . of the street with a fenced lare leading up to it. He later sold the house and barn to James Howe and bought the Joseph Pickering place on the other side of the street and. somewhat farther north.
The rise of the depot village appears to have ended David Fisher's store-keeping business in Westfeld, but I. T. Hutchins transientc Lie store business to the depot section and moved down there the Backus' law office to start in the new location which was where the Windham County National . Bank now stands. B. F. Chapman also established. a. meat-market in. the basement of a building on the other corner with
The Howe premises are well shown in the Conant . plotare In the Public Library, also the slaughter house in the felds. The. house in the picture shown as fartherest north and on the west alde of the street was where David Fisher lived. South of this house the North street road is shown intersecting Main street : With thergenidence. of Horace Burroughs in the south corner, Next south comes the house and barn in question. The Pickering house that Chapman bought is shown fartherest north on the · st side of the street
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THE OLD CHUSCH
Varsel Simmons in the tenement above. Amos Olney was a chorister and probably a music teacher borides. George Bryant Hutchins was a brother of I. T. Hutchins and according to tradition, a man not pressed with business affairs. William Drowno was from Rhode Island, a nursery man in his voos- sion, presumably flowers and fruit-trees.
Next as to some residents on the west side of the way. Horace Burroughs appears to have continued to maintain his shop in Westfield; I)r. David Hell lived apposite the old church and kept a horse and chaise for his professional calls at a distance from home; Rev. Whitmore still owned the house he had lived in but it was now used for & ministerial residence and. was occupied by Rev. Thos. ,O. Rice. William James, remembered a. Esquire James, moved to Westfield from Pomfret in 1842 and tought the place that had been used a while for a temperance tavern. The next place on that side of the street had been occupied and probably built by George S. Truesdell, a carpen; ter and builder of that time. In the spring of 1847 William Sprague moved over from Scotland parish, Windham, and occupied the house so that his sons, Ponuel and Havilah could attend the then new West Killingly Academy. The. old Hutchins homestead, owned by I. T. Hutchins, was rented that year by Marcus Lyon in order to board academy students, Passing Sparks' lane and the blacksmith shop and house of Dorrance Day, the last Westfield residence on that side of the street before coming to the road that diverged to the depot village, was that of Philip Tanner, a militia man of the war of 1812. It WAP & gambrel roofed houss probably painted red.
The Westfeld Congregational Church stood upon site that the Conant picture indicates to have been' about midway between the lane leading to Chapman's slaughter house and Stearns street. The site, which was on the east side of the street, had been vacant nine years (except shrubbery on the premises) when the picture was made. The building fronted toward the west. Some church publications give us what Was probably a fairly accurate representation of the appearance of the old edifice with the horse sheds+" in the rear. The Aunt Judith writings tell us some- thing concerning the church near the close of Priest Whitmore's ministry and early in Rev. Rice's pas- torate :
"The program for Sunday was a morning service at the church, at about ten o'clock, then a Sunday school of which Lieut. Gov. Backus was superintendent for a long time; thea an afternoon meeting just like the morning service, a drive kome to dinner and often a drive to the Conference house in the evening.
"During the Sunday school the women divided themselves , between the homes of Priest Whitmore and Dr. 'David Hall, and the men gathered in groups in the horse sheds and talked of crops, the weather and latest news, for there was no weather bureau and few newspapers. Robert B. Thomas' Old Farm- ers' Almanack controlled the weather and great confidence was placed in its predictions."
From the farms between the rivers there were in attendance on the church quite a group of men and their families. We find mentioned Adam and Jacob Danielson, Nathan Fuller, Zadock Wilson, luther Day, Laban Fisher (a brother of David Fisher) and Eliexar Williams. The latter had six daughtera
M THE TIME OF THE OLD ONUICH
whom we are told marched into the church in stately tocession when attending the services.
We shall now enumerate the residences along the old Plainfield or stage road as marked on a chart of Danielsonville Borough which represents conditions as existing in 1855. The initials of the given names of property owners are usually marked on the chart instead of anything like full names. What is now Peckham's lane is marked High Street on the chart while the modern Broad street was originally named Bummer street. We shall take each side of the road separately and from north to south as heretofore and in this instance carry the enumeration as far as the old Kies tavern. There were then no street crossings along the way until Franklin street is reached, the spasifigi streets on either side being intersectione with the principal roadway.
-East side of the street .- Old House. - HIGH ST .- B. F. Chapman; S. L. Weld; Mrs. Young .- Lane to Chapman's slaughter house, the buildings marked "Slaughter H." om the chart. - Thos. Backus, house and tenement. - Old Congre® gational Church; Thos. Backus; I. T. Hutchins. - STEARNS ST .- I. T. Hutchins; Mrs. Taft; G. B. Hutchins; Wm. Drowne; Geo. Leavens; Wm. C. Bacon; Academy; C. S. Hawkins; H. L. Danielson; S. Rickard; O. Day .- FRANKLIN ST .- C. B. Adams.
West side of the street,-D. Fisher, two houses .- NORTH ST .- H. Burroughs; Jas. Howe; Dr. D. Hall; Rev. R. Whit- more; Wm. James; I. T. Hutchins; Wm. Sprague; I. V. Hutchins .- HUTCHINS ST .- D. Day. - WINTER ST .- P. Tanner .- Continuation of MAIN St .- S. Reynolds .- REY- NOLDS St .- F. James-ACADEMY St. - H. L. Danielson- COTTAGE St .- S. Titus; W. Titus; A. Arnold.
70 BXETONES JONOERMING DANIELSON
Only a few remarks need to be made in regard asmes and locations. The "old house" once occupied by the widow Henry, has no owner's name attached to it. The A. A. Olney house and Bacon shop. were tone- ments owned by Thos. Backus. whose residence next north of that of f. T. Hutchins. Four buildings are in Mr. Hutchins' name; these were his residence, the old school house, his former store (opposite the Stearus street intersection) and the old Hutchins house. . The school house and store had been altered to tenements. The Mrs. Taft of a house near Stearns street was a daughter of David Bacon. C. S. Hawkins lived in the residence that Hezekisb L. Danielson built in 1832 (p. 30). "The last four houses listed just before reaching Franklin street, belonged to the Christian Hill neighborhood. The Kies tavern wat then owned by C. B. Adams who does not figure in borough history. :
. In-1854; the year that the borotigh was organized,a a new Congregational Church was erected in a section of the borough between Westfield proper and the business area, ard on grourd dorated by Samuel Reynolds. When completed the : new church was dedicated June 22, 1855. - In July following the old church was taken down and its materiale in so far an still serviceable were used by H. L. Danielson and another person to build a shop for-mechanical work on the west side of Broad street and several rode south of the Academy. The site of the church remained vacant 17 years before it was utilized for a residence.
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CHAPTER W.
NIELSON'S EARLY SHOPS AND MILLS
T HIS chapter will mainly concern the early shops and mills of the Danielsonville of the last century ,and of a time when the industrial establishments of New England were both numerous and small. They „were the outgrowth of many men's efforts whose capi- ¡lol was limited, men who built shops and mille singly „or by combining such capital as they could command of their own with others of like means in stock com- : panies, as was commonly the care in building and ¡equipping the early cotton-mills. It was said before the Civil war that in busy New England not even a brook was permitted to run to the ses without con- tributing its power to some industry. Even Fall brook once turned two waterw brele in establishments ¡located about a mile apart, the lower one on the west side of the Plainfield road.
In connection with the account of the old Danieleon homestead on Maple street and its early vicinage, mention was made of the cotton factory that stood. across the way south of it. This was the first one of fourteen mills in existence and in operation in 1886 that had been erected in Killingly, with one other not ready to run which will be mentioned presently. A statement is made in the town recesee that in 1819 there were in the Westfield Society two cotton- mille and one store. One of these mills and the store were at the Danielson factory village if the place was then extensive enough to be called a factory villege.
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The other of those two unnamed mills itood 'upon the' site of a modern brick-built mill at Elmville. "To the timo of the Civil war this old yellow mill bore : aged aspect, In 1819 there was printed in Hartford a small book called Pease & Nile's Gazeteer of God porticut and Rhode Island: This work states that' there were then four cotton factories in Killingly of which three associations are specially mentioned, but one is ieft unidentified. This was the one mentioned above which Barber in 1886 called the Hutchin mill which wa's of the same type as the Danielson factory The Gazeteer goes on to say :
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"'One of these is called the Danielson Manufacturing Com-, pany; one the. Killingly Manufacturing Company, and one the Chestnut Hill Manufacturing Company. These establishments employ a large capital, and have developed a new and exten- sive field for enterprise and industry. We have not ascer tained the number of persons they emplay. At the Danielson Manufactory water looms. have been introduced, and in general the business is catried on upon the most approved principles, and very advantageoustý."
There were ultimately two Danielson mille in line with one another, but separated apart by two shede, anme.twenty feet.each in length that occupied the top of a terrace wall on a level with the street- in front. The west mill was built in-1809 by an association of stockholders.{p. 33} composed of such men se Gear James Danielson, Walter Paine 'and Israel Day - of Providence, William Rood, Ira and Stephen Draper of Attleborough, Ebenezer and Comfort Tiffany, Jobs Mason and Thaddeus Larred of Thompson, and Wil- liam Condall, senior and junior. The second or east
" .. . LY ONORG AND MILLS
mill is said to have been built by Thomas and Willard Danielson, but the date of its erection is seemingly lost, though possibly not beyond recovery. We are Inclined to place the building of this mill together with a row of tenement houses on Water street, be- tween 1820 and 1825. There were altogether some twenty stockholders comprising the company as exist. ing in the second decade of the century when their single mill was commonly called the "Danielson Fao- tory." A more detailed account of both mills, operated ós one establishment, will be given later as matters stood in the middle of last century.
Back in the thirties and forties of. last century there were more the pe and mille store the last quarter of a mile stretch of the Five Mile river than most residents of the borough in prasent times would sup- pose was at all likely to have been. the case. la present times there are caly two establishments that use the water of the stream jutt mentioned," but prior to 1850 there were eight establishments run by the Five Mile river and requiring four mill dams within the specified distance. The principal cf these establishments were the two Danielsci mills; thou across the river south from the westerly mill those stood another cotton factory apparently of the same size and type as either of the others, called the Whit-
A sluice carries the water of the Five Mile river from what was once the Whitmore mill pond, across Franklin street, dit- charging it into the Quinebaug above the dam and near the east end of the bridge. The point of discharge is close to the Intake of an underground passage that conducts water to the wheel of the grist-mill, If no water is passing through the elnice, grist-mill is operated wholly by Quinebaug river water,
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more.mill.,.At the mouth of the river .. and in the angie made by the Quinebaug. op. the west side and the Fiye Mile river north, there . stood. the Cundall woolen mill. The other four establishments . were saw-mill and three shops. The. shop or mill.located fatherest up stream was a cotton batting mill;, then cans what had once been John Chollar's axe .factory on the west bank of the river; and a . shop where. a stone built mill now stands near the Main street bridge, There were two other . water power estab .. lisbments in what constituted the Danielsonviile. of . the period mentioned, but they were run by the Quin- ebaug river. These were the Tiffany cotton-mill on the Brooklyn side and a grint mill on the site of the modern one, making ten privileges in all ...
With the exception of the westerly Danielson mill mocertain and precise dites for those establishments are now attainable; at least the publisher has never met with any statement in print in regard to the year in which any of them were built, except the first. It. will now be in order to make some remarks concerning each one of these establishments, reserving the two Danielson mills for the last of these descriptions. First in regard to the dams and mill ponds on both. rivers required to furnish the motive power for these old-time establishments. Theold Danielson mill dam stood where the present stone dam of the .Danielson. Cotton Company does now. Like the present dam, it. was stone built, but of a different form than the mod- ern dam .. It was what is called a step dam, built of rough flattish stones in the form of a long flight of steps stretched across the stream from one bank to ha other, eight feet high or thereabouts. Along the
75
BARGY OMOFS AND MILLE
top of such dams there was's line of timbers bolted to the uppar tier of stones .. Upon this and set edge- wise. were the "duah boards" eight or ten inches wide and held in place by largo pegs or iron fastenings. The stones of such dams were laid loose, that is, with- out.cement, but were rendered water tight by a filling in on the upper side with clay, sand and gravel up to the line of timbers above mentioned. The backwater of the old dam extended up stream to the vicinity of & stone arched railroad bridge, the mill pond not being as large as the present one.
Next below came a low "pour over" or cataract dam built of timbers and plank, the ends abutting on stone walls, as was usually the case with this type of dam .. Its location was what would now be close to the north side of the present Main street bridge. Its only use was to operate in the forties a trip-hammer ja a shop on the site of the stone tuilt mill at the west end of the bridge. The backwater or mill pond made by this dam extended back about to the cotton batting mill.
: The other two dams below the Main street bridge wore of a similar style of construction to the one last described. The Whitmore mill dam stood where the one that turns Five Mile river water to the Quinebang through a sluice way, stands now, and probably was of about the same height, The mill pond did not low back to within several reds of the abop or about to a fording place in the bed of the river below the shop.
The last one of these dams stood below the present stone arched bridge or about even with the southeast corner of the grist-mill. This dam was lower than any of the others. The pond it raised was a small
T. DETINEŁON
The three emall ponds below the Danielso mill dam each left two or three feet fall in the river that was not.utilised. The reason was the fear of . backwater in food time submerging the bottom parts of the wheel- pits and interfering with the free'revo- lutions of the great wooden wheels of those times, to that some allowance was made for free drainage.
The "old batting mill," as it was called in the late Afties and in Civil war time, had an aged appearance, enough so as to justify swy supposition one might. entertain that it might have been built in the second decade of that century. Possibly the mill was of later origin, belonging instead to the decade of the twenties. The building was of moderate size, a story and a half high, located near the southern termina. tion of the granite ledge close to the upper dam. Its front abutted on a roadway which is now a part of Water street. The form of the building was sugges- tive of a woolen carding- mill. In the forties and Sfties Orville M. Capron operated the mill for the manufacture of cotton batting.
The John Chollar axe factory was a moderate sized ane-story building located on the west bank of the river a few rods above the Main street bridge. The shop was in existence in 1836, the year Barber gath- ered bis data for Killingly (Connecticut Historical Collections, 1888), and was presumably built in the early thirties, Where shops and mills were built
When in the Public Library observe the Conant pioture of the borough, as it existed in 1864, and in reference to Reynold's three cornered plot that became.Davis Park. In the north apex a one-story building is shown. That was Capron's storage house for cotton waste. His residence wasthe house nearly west aorogs Main street from the storage building.
S AND MILLO
oa the sloping banks of streams, as in this case, not much excavation was required to coretract their stone-walled wheel-pits. This shop drew its water from the near by Danielson mill diteb, its wheel furnishing the motive power for one or two forging hammers and to turn largo grindstones. Chollar's residence was on Maple street, a house later owned by George Danielson. In the forties the axe factory est out of business, but was utilized for some time by Marcus and Onesimus Fyler for the manufacture of whetstones.
The next of these Five Mile river establishmente was the shop mentioned as being located on the site of the small stone-built mill. In its time it was for. .. general blacksmithing.including the shoeing of both horses and oxon. A gable end of the shop was close to Main street, but there was a door in the gable and steps for the convenience of the workmen, since the work room wss below the street level. In a part of this room toward the river . there was a small water. wheel, mentioned as used to operate a forging hammer. In those times blacksmiths, when not otherwise busy. took old worn out horse and ox shoes and welded them into bars out of which new shoes were made. Here the trip-hammer referred to saved manual labor. not but that it was also used for other welding work.
The Whitmore cotton-will was located, as already remarked, across the river southward from the west- orly Danielson mill, or just a few rode above the stone arched bridge. The north end of the mill abutted os the river close below the dam there. Usually mills of that size and type had their wheel-pits beneath them, but the Whitmore mill bad po rosi wheel-pie
nor needed any .; , The wheel was placed outside in an angle made by . wall upon . bich , the : north ; end of the mill rested and @ raised abatment at. that endsof: the dam., In this position, the wheel itself wan housed Over to protect it from weather conditions. Barber's sketch concerning the town of; Killingly names di cotton-mills on Five Mile river, and within the: limiti of the town .. Ho reckons the two Danielson mille aa: one establishment. He cites the number of spindles opprated in.each one of Killingly's fourteen cotton mills, the figures varying from 400 to 8,000. In his Collections.ho includesa partial view of the village.of that ting which he speaks of ss Danielaonville. .. The view point chosen for the picture is Main street on. the Brooklyn side some distance stove the Quinebaux store or about opposite the present overseers' house. Now. the picture shows. the ; Whitmore .mill, yet itis . not included in the list of mills co Five Mile river nor otherwise mentioned in the sketch. We are loft to the inference that in 1886 the building itself had. been completed or nearly to, but had not been gotten: Into running order, hence Barber could not state the. number of spindles the mill would finally copiair .. Later the mill was operated by Cyrus Whitmore and his nephew, Nelson. Whitmore.
Probably. belonging to the Whitmore privilege; was the village naw-mill.of that period. This; stood close to the mill pond, its weat end coming close to the: mill. At discharged ita wator after use into the drain. way undorthe wheel-house of:the Whitmore will and. from this Into the river:" The pine Icge brees blto try mill.were placed in front of It close to a passway that led from.Franklin street,up to Water street. The
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mill .was of the old-fashioned kind with vertical saw blade:set in a strong frame that moved up and down With as much as four feet stroke. The saw blade it- calf was some six inches wide and as much as six foot In length. Some of the logs were about two feet thick at the butt end and less at the other end. They were rolled upon a long movable frame and firmly clamped la place. The first four runs forward and back, were to "'aquare the log," the outcome of the turnings and reclamping being slabs and sawdust. Thereafter the squared log was cut into boards and dimension stud," usually inch boards, however. The saw cut into the logs only on the downward clip, the log-frame moving forward by a certain mechanical arrangement at quarter-inch joge coincident with each downward movement of the saw, some sixty clips per minute, made by the rapid revolutione of & spall undershot wheel, which had an iron crank on one end of its horisontal shaft, and a crank-bar reaching up to a connection with the lower part of the saw-frame, But the old-fashioned saw-mill required two wheels; the other was a vane-wheel with an uprightshaft. Its sole use was to run backward the log-frame as rapidly As was consistent with safety. The sawdust of such mille went into their wheel-pits and floated out into the streams while the undershots were in motion."
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