USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Derby > The history of the old town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642-1880. With biographies and genealogies > Part 39
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HISTORY OF DERBY.
cant could exchange counties without paying specie tribute to the toll gatherer. A favorite resort for huckleberry trainings and state elections for " a colored governor," Warner's Tavern sometimes drew crowds of people, when sport and fun were the order of the day. These elections were always simple, unique and satisfactory, without ballot-box stuffing. Their purity was maintained on the viva voce principle. On one of these occa- sions the election and parade were very imposing. The gov- ernor elect delivered his message, written by a Birmingham democrat, setting forth briefly the virtue of "rosin the fiddle and the bow." The chief marshal of the day, a tall and stately figure, the father of our Ex-Haytian minister, E. D. Bassett, was mounted, with his corps of assistants armed with pistols, with no lack of "fuss and feathers," and horses gayly capari- soned. No victorious general on the field of battle was more proud of his situation than Grand Marshal Bassett on that day. To show off, and as evidence of his military tactics, he drew up in regular line his men and stated that he was about to issue an important order as a test of their saltpetre grit. "Now do as I do and show yourselves brave darkies-brave officers!" All assented to obey the word of command, which was given in a stentorian voice : "Attention ! All ready ! Advance ! Wheel ! Fire and fall off ! The chief marshal put spurs to his horse, wheeled, fired and fell to the ground, but his mounted comrades sat dumfounded in their saddles and saved their powder. This election ended as did many others in the mastery of rum, street fights and bloody noses, in which the colored gentlemen and the Irish were badly mixed.
How different now the elective franchise of the black man ! For him in these days there is no need of a mock for he has a real election for his governor, as he walks up to the ballot box and deposits his vote like a man in support of a govern- ment which owes him a true instead of a false protection. The sixth Birmingham school district was organized and officered in a little room at "Warner's Tavern." Only six composed the meeting, and those who survive little thought then they should live to see their early efforts result in building one of the finest public school-houses in the state.
Only eight men are in business here to-day who were in
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SHELDON SMITH.
usiness in Birmingham forty-three years ago, viz. : S. N. Sum- ters, E. N. Shelton, T. G. Birdseye, Edward Lewis, L. L. ouver, Lewis Hotchkiss, David Nathan and Dr. A. Beardsley. hese in one sense are now the old men, the fathers of the illage, while a younger and faster generation are crowding › fill their places. Birmingham in its infancy was poor, capital eing confined to a few of its pioneers.
SHELDON SMITH was a man of energy, foresight and perse- erance, and his name should be held in grateful remembrance y the people of Derby, his native town. Born March 16, 1791, is only education was in the district school-house which stood ear the little brook at the Narrows. At the early age of four- en, he was apprenticed to learn saddle and harness making with dward Peet, of Bridgeport. After serving his time seven years, e had deposited to his credit, from over work and good habits, ve hundred dollars; he believing with Dr. Johnson that without frugality none can become rich, and with it few would e poor." Having the confidence of Mr. Peet he was taken in s a partner, and with him as manager the business was carried n successfully for some years. He sold out his interest with a ledge not again to engage in the same business within the ate. Turning his attention to his native town, with a snug ttle fortune for those days, he had a lingering desire to gal- anize, if possible, the dead body of the old Derby bank, but e met with opposition, and unfortunately for Derby people le charter fell into the hands of Wall street brokers in New ork. Mr. Smith then with Mr. Wright in the spring of 1822 ommenced the saddle and harness making business in Newark ew Jersey, where the co-partnership was highly prosperous, nd accumulated wealth. While in Newark, Mr. Smith showed imself a public benefactor to the city. He introduced, and applied at his own expense the inhabitants of the place with ood water, a sanitary want much needed. This enterprise at rst was looked upon as visionary, and Mr. Smith was laughed : for the undertaking by capitalists, but when the blessings of ure water, by the citizens, were realized, he was importuned › sell out to an envious corporation, giving it control of so luable a public improvement, which he did without profit or ss to himself, satisfied to confer a lasting benefit on a place
45
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HISTORY OF DERBY.
in which he had been so much prospered. The citizens of Newark to-day owe the introduction of water into their city to the enterprise of Sheldon Smith. Disposing of his interests in Newark, he once more contemplated a return to his native town. From its commercial downfall, its active capital wasted, Derby had then been dormant for nearly a quarter of a century. His first project was to dam the Ousatonic and thus lay. the foundation of a manufacturing city in Derby, but meeting with John Lewis, he was persuaded to buy the old oil mills, rebuild the Naugatuck dam and construct the present Birmingham res- ervoir down to the old Point House property, thus utilizing the entire waters of the Naugatuck with a head and fall of fourteen feet. Whatever may be thought of the enterprise now, it was the common remark then, that it would involve the loss of more capital than would be expended to complete it. The first mill that Mr. Smith built in Birmingham was the grist-mill, long afterward occupied by his brother, Fitch Smith, but now owned and occupied by the Shelton Tack Company. Edward N. Shelton and his brother-in-law, Nathan C. Sanford from Wood- bury, in the spring of 1836, built the tack factory, and thus were among the first manufacturers in the village. These men were possessed of considerable means and proved valuable acquisi- tions to the place. Mr. Sanford, father of our ex-minister to Belgium, was a man of sterling integrity, highly influential and commanded universal respect. Among his last acts was a do- nation to the Episcopal church of St. James's parish at Birming- ham, of $500, which he never lived to see erected. He died deeply lamented, in June, 1841, and as a token of the esteem in which he was held by the village people, stores and workshops were closed on the day of his funeral. About the same time D. W. Plumb and Benjamin Beach built their woolen factory on Main street, and David Bassett his auger factory, now occu- pied by his son, Robert N. Bassett, for manufacturing purposes. Anson G. Phelps, a saddler by trade, but then an importer of tin, brass and copper in New York, was induced by Mr. Smith to start a mill for rolling copper in Birmingham, and he at once entered into arrangements to carry out this project. "The Big Copper Mill," as it was then called, was commenced early in 1836, Almon Farrell being the mill-wright and Peter Phelps the
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SMITH AND PHELPS.
agent. The mill was in full operation in the fall of 1836, and about simultaneously the mill of Plumb & Beach, and David Bassett's auger shop were put in motion. Mr. Anson G. Phelps, a wealthy and most enterprising man, now became deeply interested in Birmingham, and formed a joint partner- ship with Mr. Smith to push forward the manufacturing enter- prises of the place. The latter had built and completed the reservoir in 1834, the dyke afterwards, and influenced parties to locate in Birmingham at an outlay that could not be reim- bursed, and the firm of Smith & Phelps then gave permanency to the interests of Birmingham. In the fall of 1838 the Bir- mingham copper mills were burned and rebuilt the same autumn. Prior to this Mr. Smith, who had expended so much money in the early enterprises of Birmingham, became disheartened from reasons which had no foundation in justice. Mr. John Lewis, who had no capital, influenced Mr. Smith to purchase the old oil mills, and he (Lewis) was deputized by Mr. Smith to buy the Hawkins' Point and the Smith farm which formed the nucleus of such varied manufacturing interests as now abound in this vicinity. Mr. Smith took peculiar pride in starting the village of Birmingham, laying out and naming its streets, and was very generous to those who turned grateful attention to his self- sacrificing interests. He helped many who were poor to start in life. He expended money with great loss in the experiment of steam-boating to Birmingham wharf, and the building of the long dyke. Mr. Lewis in the first purchase claimed a pros- pective interest (one-third) in Mr. Smith's operations, but ignored the fact that expenditure for steam-boats and dykes was a part of the original bargain. This involved Mr. Smith, without just cause, in vexatious litigation with Lewis, and led him (Smith) to dissolve partnership with Anson G. Phelps. The firm of Smith and Phelps dividing their interests in real estate, the former sold his portion to his brother, Fitch Smith, and then returned to New York much to the regret of the citi- zens of Derby. He died at the former place, September 9, 1863, aged 72 years.
The copper mills were then carried on very prosperously by Anson G. Phelps, under the general management and superin- tendence of his nephew, Peter Phelps, employing about one
-
356
HISTORY OF DERBY.
hundred hands until their removal to Ansonia in 1854. Among the first operatives in these mills who are still living, were David and Isaac Nathan, (brothers,) Patrick Quinn, Thomas Mills, David Cole, Lewis, son of Major Powe and Thomas James of Seymour. For several years these mills greatly in- creased the wealth and population of the place. The old Jack- son saw and plaster mill at the foot of Main street was early supplanted by the planing shop of Lewis and Willis Hotchkiss, the first house builders of the village. Added to the above, may be mentioned as pioneers, merchants and manufacturers, Stephen N. Summers, Edward Lewis, Sheldon Canfield, Charles At- wood, Sheldon Bassett, Donald Judson, Julius Hotchkiss, Ly- man Smith, Lyman Osborne, Abram and William Hawkins (brothers), Sidney A. and his brother, Nelson H. Downs, Sul- livan and Sylvester M. Colburn, T. G. Birdseye and his brother Ephraim. These with others, not now in recollection, imparted a healthy and substantial business tone to Birmingham.
CHARLES ATWOOD was one of the few who ventured to estab- lish manufacturing in Birmingham, and a short account of his life will be interesting. Born in Hardwick, Mass., in 1801, his father, Zaccheus, moved to Salem, N. Y., in 1804. Charles re- mained with his father until he was nineteen, learning of him the trade of manufacturing woolen cloths, embracing all its dif- ferent processes. Under the pressure of necessity his educa- tion was very limited. He took most readily to Arithmetic, which in later years enabled him to carry out many plans in machinery with accuracy. With him there was no "cut and try " in his modes. So skillful was he in Arithmetic that he could solve many problems which are usually solved by Alge- bra, of which study he knew nothing.
At the age of nineteen Mr. Atwood went into the employ of Giles Tincker of North Adams, Mass., and during the two years he was there devised a most valuable invention, which distinguished his career, but from which he never realized a dollar. This was an invention in wool carding with all its de- tails, which was called the double doffer, saving immense labor.
Realizing no money from this grand invention, Mr. Atwood with chagrin saw others grow rich from its use, under patents of trifling improvement, besides claiming unjustly the original
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CHARLES ATWOOD.
invention, he being embarrassed for want of the money to establish his claims, and thus failed. After working at the Alba cotton mills in Troy, N. Y., he married Lydia Crosby. By nature an artist in mechanics, whose judgment about his in- ventions had great weight, he went to Walden, N. Y., where he remained two years as superintendent of the woolen mills ; thence to Middletown, Conn., introducing his double doffers into a woolen mill of that place, but he only obtained employ- ment from the proprietors, who used to great profit his inven- tion. Leaving the woolen mill he discovered a way of making steel pens, not knowing any modes in use at that time in Eu- rope. In a little shop at Middletown, his machinery was driven by one horse, and continuing the manufacture of pens a few years, he came to Birmingham, and carried on the same busi- ness in the large building now owned and occupied by Sum- mers & Lewis. This building he erected and it was long known as " Atwood's Factory." To the manufacture of pens he added his discovery of making German silverware, confining himself mostly to making spoons. In the manufacture of this article competition ran high, and was carried on largely by the adul- teration of German silver, but in this shoddy cheating Mr. Atwood would not join, and he only succeeded for a while against his competitors, by reducing the amount of labor by im- provements in machinery.
His next invention was the hook and eye machine, which made hooks and eyes more rapidly and beautifully than was ever done before from hard wire, being stronger ; and soon this invention took the lead in market, giving him great credit for its simplicity and ingenuity. To cheapen the price of sew- ing the hooks and eyes upon cards, after a long and almost hopeless struggle, in which his step-son, George Kellogg (father of the world renowned " prima-donna," Clara Louise Kellogg) was engaged, the discovery of a method was made almost sim- ultaneously by Atwood and Kellogg, but the invention was awarded to the former, who took out a patent and afterwards sold it to a Waterbury company for $20,000.
His next invention was a simple machine for making jack chains or scale chains, which he soon enlarged to the man- ufacture of the well chain. Considerable business was done by
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HISTORY OF DERBY.
this chain making, but the vital principle of the machine had been too much utilized before securing a patent, which, if ob- tained in due time would have been worth at least $200,000.
Among other inventions, he set himself about making a pin machine when a great many plans had been devised and most of which were in use, but the distinctive principle of what has been called the "Atwood machine " fully perfected by others, is still recognized and used among most of the pin manufact- uring establishments of the country.
With a very limited education, a broad, massive, methodical brain, Mr. Atwood was a natural inventor, and his many de- vices were looked upon by mechanics with great admiration. Of genial, social qualities, free hearted, honest in all his trans- actions he died at Birmingham, deeply regretted, of congestive fever in the fifty-third year of his age. Such a character de- serves to live in history.
ABRAM HAWKINS, a native of Derby, started the business of blacksmithing in 1836, in the old red shop which stood where the office of the Birmingham iron and steel works now stands. Young, and full of enterprise, the next year in connection with his brother, William Hawkins, he commenced the manufacture of carriage axles and springs, in one corner of Plumb & Beach's stone factory, which stood where the Shelton Company's brick block is now located, on Main street. Without capital, these brothers built in 1839 the little factory now owned by Sharon Bassett on Main street, which is still standing, a relic of the early days of the village. This factory proved to be the starting point of the iron and steel works, which have in the past contributed very much to the wealth and prosperity of the place. The Hawkins Brothers took into partnership Mr. Henry Atwater of New Haven, in 1845, and in 1847 built the Birmingham iron and steel works, under the firm of Atwater & Hawkins, forming a joint stock company, and then com- menced making iron and steel in connection with springs and axles. In 1850, William Hawkins retired from the concern, and the next year bought the stone factory built by Plumb and Beach, and under the name of the Hawkins Manufacturing Company carried on the same business until 1859. Business in- creasing, they then purchased the old copper mills property, and
tham Hawkins
THE M. E. CHURCH.
359
fitted it up with the addition of an iron foundry for making axle boxes and other castings. It is said this firm made more car- riage axles than any other in the whole country, up to 1865.
EFFFEED FEFFER
SENIOR ENG NY.
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CIIURCII.
After the company dissolved partnership, the real estate was sold to A. H. and C. B. Alling, and William Hawkins bought of Downs and Bassett his present factory, and began to make the patent Hawkins skate, patent wrench, and other hardware implements.
The first house of worship for the M. E. Church in Birming-
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HISTORY OF DERBY.
ham was erected in 1836, on the most beautiful and commanding site on the public green. It has since been much enlarged and beautified, and is well represented by the accompanying picture. The parsonage, also seen in the picture, occupies an equally at- tractive and beautiful location.
As early as 1787 the Rev. Cornelius Cook, a Methodist min- ister, preached in Ridgefield, Conn., and Ambrose Olmsted, jun., received a paper dated Nov. 16, 1787, certifying that he was " a constant attendant at public worship (as opportunity offers) with the people called Methodists."
At the first Methodist conference, held in New York city June, 1789, the Rev. Jesse Lee, from Virginia, was sent to the "Stamford Circuit " in New England. His first sermon was preached in Norwalk, on the highway, June 17, 1789. He formed a two weeks' circuit, embracing Stamford, Norwalk, Fairfield, Stratford, Milford, Redding, Danbury, Ridgefield, and other intermediate places, and the name was changed the next year to "Fairfield Circuit"." Two classes were formed by him this year : one in Stratfield, a parish of Stratford, and the other at Redding, and on the 28th of the next January (1790) the first class in Ridgefield was formed, it being the third in New England.
In February, 1790, Revs. Jacob Brush, George Roberts and Daniel Smith came from Maryland to labor under the direction of Mr. Lee in Connecticut. It is said that in the year 1791 Mr. Lee, while passing from Ridgefield to Milford, on reaching Derby "hired a bell-man to ring the people out ;" a number gathered, and he preached the first sermon ever preached by a Methodist in the town. This was at Up Town, and among the auditors on that occasion were Mr. John Coe and his wife, who after service invited Mr. Lee to come again and to hold the meeting at their house. This invitation he accepted, and one month from that time preached there, and thereafter Derby was one of the regular preaching places of the circuit, and in 1793 a society was organized.
In the autumn of this year the venerable Bishop Asbury, although ill in health, visited and held services in Derby, and
"Teller's History of Ridgefield, 132. Stevens's History of the M. E. Church, II, 417.
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METHODISM PROSPEROUS.
the place was connected with the "Middletown Circuit," and among the ministers appointed to this circuit from this time to 1800, were Daniel Ostrander, Evan Rogers, Joel Ketcham, Peter Choate and James Coleman. During the year 1800 con- siderable religious interest was manifested, and thirty persons united with the society. It was in this year that one of the preachers visited Derby Neck, and preached in the house of Mrs. Pope, which was crowded to its utmost capacity, the peo- ple being anxious "to hear these strange Methodists." The preacher, in the usual pioneer style, read a hymn, then led the singing, as was the custom, and preached a sermon, which was so well received that he was invited to preach in the school- house when he should come again. In two weeks from that time the preacher appeared and commenced " Methodist meet- ings " in the little red school-house on Derby Neck, which be- came the rendezvous of Derby Methodism for more than twenty years. There are persons still living who remember the pleas- ant scenes enjoyed there while listening to the eloquent words of such men as Nathan Bangs, Laban Clark, E. Washburn and Heman Bangs.
From 1820 to 1827 the work progressed steadily, although sometimes special religious interest was manifested, resulting in considerable additions to the membership. The preachers successively appointed to the circuit were Belden Smith, James Coleman, Laban Clark, J. Nixon, F. W. Sizer, Julius Field, S. D. Furgerson, W. Beach and E. Barnes.
In 1830 several families belonging to the society were resid- ing at the Narrows, among them I. J. Gilbert, and it was de- cided to hold Sabbath services in that neighborhood. Accord- ingly the old Masonic Hall was engaged for that purpose, and the services on the Neck discontinued.
In the spring of 1835 the Revs. Josiah Bowen and Oliver Sykes were appointed to the Derby circuit, and measures were immediately set in motion to build a church in Birmingham. Mr. Sheldon Smith donated the site (where the church now stands), the stone required for the foundation, and two hundred dollars towards the erection of the building. The following persons constituted the first board of trustees : Sheldon Smith, David Durand, Stephen Booth, Samuel Durand, Albert Hotch- 46
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HISTORY OF DERBY.
kiss, John E. Brush and I. J. Gilbert. On the 17th of August, 1837, the newly erected house was dedicated to the service of Almighty God, by the Rev. Professor Holdich of the Wesleyan University at Middletown ; which was the first house of wor- ship erected in Birmingham. The whole cost was $3,000, about half of the sum remaining as a debt.
After the opening of the church provision was made for ser- vices every Sunday ; the Rev. Thomas Ellis, a local preacher residing in Seymour, being engaged to fill the pulpit in the ab- sence of the circuit. preacher. The first preacher stationed in Birmingham, giving his whole time to this society, was the Rev. Orlando Starr, and the second, the Rev. J. B. Beach ; at which time the society numbered about seventy. A Sunday-school was organized before the dedication of the church.
In 1841 the Rev. N. Mead was appointed pastor, during whose labors about one hundred members were added to the society ; the debt was nearly paid ; a class was organized in Orange, and Methodism stood strong in the community.
In 1843 the Rev. J. B. Wakeley became the pastor, and is well remembered by the older citizens on account of a public discussion on Episcopacy with the Rev. Mr. Ashley of the Episcopal church.
Then followed in the pastorate of this society the Rev. C. C. Keys in 1844, and after him the Revs. J. D. Marshall, F. W. Smith, W. Gothard, and in 1849 Rev. J. M. Reid. The labors of Mr. Reid were particularly successful ; it being during his labors that a Methodist church was built in Ansonia. In 1851 and 2 the Rev. T. G. Osborn was the pastor, and during his labors the church was enlarged and beautified; more than one hundred were added to the membership, and the church was generally prosperous. The Rev. Charles Fletcher followed Mr. Osborn, and was noted for his pulpit ability. He was suc- ceeded by the Rev. G. A. Hubbell, also successful ; and he in 1857 and 8 by the Rev. F. Bottome, a man considerably cele- brated for pulpit ministrations. During his labors he gathered material and preached a historical sermon, from which many of the facts herein contained have been taken. The membership at this time numbered about two hundred and forty ; the trus- tees being S. N. Summers, E. D. Beebe, Levi C. Lewis, Agur
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PROGRESS IN BIRMINGHAM.
Curtiss, I. J. Gilbert, Nelson M. Beach and Gould Curtiss. The stewards were W. L. Boardman, G. Wheeler, E. D. Beebe, S. N. Summers, I. J. Gilbert, C. S. Jackson and Amos H. Alling. The class leaders were C. Curtiss, J. W. Osborne, George W. Cheeseman, J. Beecher and Amos H. Alling.
There was also at this time a flourishing Sunday-school under the superintendency of J. W. Osborne.
The pastors from 1859 to the present have been successively, Revs. R. H. Loomis, 1859 and 60; W. T. Hill, 1861 and 62 ; J. S. Inskip, 1863 ; J. W. Home, 1864 and 65 ; I. Simmons, 1866, 67 and 68; J. S. Breckenridge, 1869, 70 and 71 ; C. S. Williams, 1872 and 73 ; J. Pullman, 1874 and 75 ; Wm. McAlis- ter, 1876, 77 and 78; J. L. Peck, 1879. During the pastorate of Mr. Simmons the present parsonage was built.
PROGRESS IN BIRMINGHAM.
It should have been mentioned that the house now owned by Henry Whipple, and two others just above on Caroline street, were the first houses erected in Birmingham. This was in 1835, and Lewis Hotchkiss, his brother Willis and James Standish were the builders. These houses were built in an open field, the street then being only staked out by John Cloues, an Eng- lishman who was employed by Sheldon Smith as an engineer and land agent. Cloues laid out the principal streets, adorned them with young trees, gave the grades for locating houses, and had a general supervision over the interests of the place.
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