USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Derby > The history of the old town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642-1880. With biographies and genealogies > Part 49
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The Sunday-school in connection with this church can be traced as far back as the year 1828. The names of those who have served as superintendents, as far as ascertained are : Joel White, George F. De Forest, Andrew De Forest, Sharon Y. Beach, W. M. Tuttle, P. B. Buckingham, George E. Lester, Robert C. Bell, Theodore S. Ladd, Andrew Y. Beach and James Swan.
In less than two months after the church was organized, at a meeting when its first deacons were chosen (May 9, 1817), a librarian for the village church library was appointed, and an- other committee was appointed to select books.
This church has raised up for service in the great field of
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HISTORY OF DERBY.
Christian labor, one minister and one missionary. The minis- ter is the Rev. Ira Smith ; and the missionary, the Rev. H. A. De Forest of the class of 1832, Yale, who went to Syria, re- turned with the seeds of fatal disease, and soon ended his work on earth.
The Rev. Robert C. Bell, now the efficient pastor of the Con- gregational Church at Darien in this state, was for a time a member of this church, and comes here to the family home.
BUSINESS ENTERPRISES IN HUMPHREYSVILLE.
In May, 1822, the Humphreysville Manufacturing Company was re-organized with $50,000 capital, and the General Hum- phreys mill property purchased by it; John H. De Forest be- ing president, and J. Fisher Leaming, secretary.
Among the persons induced by General Humphreys to come to America was Thomas Gilyard, son of Edmund and Nancy Gilyard, born in Leeds, England, March 20, 1786, who came to New York in the " Commerce," in the summer of 1807, having had a very fine passage of forty-five days. He' immediately commenced work for General Humphreys's Company and con- tinued until March 28, 1810, in the manufacture of cloths, when he learned and engaged in the making of stockings, a new de- partment in the mills. Mr. Gilyard was an active man in the Methodist Church, and his descendants still reside in the com- munity. While General Humphreys was organizing his company of young operatives in the factory, and drilling them in soldierly tactics for their entertainment and elevation, Lady Humphreys, wife of the General, made an elegant silk flag, beautifully em- broidered by herself, for the company, and which is still pre- served, with its inscription, as follows :
" Humphreysville, Fam Nova Progenes, Perseverando Pacta Semper Servanda, MDCCCX."
This shows that the enterprise had attained to good working order and numbers at that date, 1810, and from that time until 1814 the village was lively and prosperous, a variety of manu- facturing enterprises being conducted in the village and its vicinity on Little river and Bladen's brook. After the date men- tioned the influx of foreign goods almost put an end to American manufacturing, and Humphreysville suffered with all other
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BUSINESS ENTERPRISES.
places, but upon the organization of the new company in 1822, it took a fresh start and made slow but steady progress until 1837, when political times severely affected the whole country, or a crisis in the country affected politics. The new company rebuilt the dam, widened the water-course to the mill, and con- structed the machinery into a cotton mill, by which name it was known many years. There was then one store in the val- ley and one on the hill near the Episcopal Church. Mr. De Forest lived at first in the Roth house, on the west side of Main street, opposite Pearl, until he built the house now occupied by Raymond French, Esq., in which he resided until his death.
The shop in the fork of the road near the M. E. Church was built in 1825 by Newel Johnson ; Isaac Kinney and Jesse Smith owning a portion of the building, which was used as a carpenter and cabinet shop.
In 1828 Samuel R. Hickox, a local preacher from Southbury, settled in the place and took charge of the grist-mill near the Falls. About this time Judson English came from Hotchkiss- town, now Westville, and bought the tannery on the prem- ises now owned by Arthur Rider, previously run by Mr. Benham ; the bark-mill being further south on the brook just below the railroad crossing. About ten years later Mr. English sold this property to George Kirtland and removed to Great Hill.
In 1830 Leverett Pritchard was living on the knoll opposite the saw-mill still standing near the upper end of Maple street ; having previous to this resided in the house in the rear of Doct. J. Kendall's.
Chester Jones, a paper-maker, built the north "Kirtland house" and kept a store in it. He afterward removed to Ohio, returning in a year or two, and was for several years superin- tendent of the Humphreysville Manufacturing Company's paper mill, residing in the house close by it. His wife was the daugh- ter of Dea. Bradford Steele. He afterwards removed to Erie, Penn., where he died. Ezekiel Gilbert, having kept store for a time at Squantuck, came to Humphreysville about this time and kept the tavern on Broad street nearly two years, when he built the store now occupied by H. W. Randall.
Such were the beginnings of the enterprises in the village of Humphreysville, a place that is now alive with machinery and
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HISTORY OF DERBY.
manufacturing ability and appliances, and is capable of becom- ing much greater than it now is by the development of its water-powers.
One hundred years of manufacturing enterprises have made great changes in the place, but not as many as have been made in Birmingham and Ansonia in fifty years.
THE COTTON MILL.
The Humphreysville Manufacturing Company, organized in 1810, produced first woolen cloths, then cotton goods, and in 1831 commenced making paper, first with four employes, but increased the number within a month to sixteen. In 1843 this paper-mill passed into the hands of Hodge & Company ; the firm consisting of G. L. Hodge, S. Y. Beach and Samuel Ro- selle ; and in 1845 William Buffum purchased the cotton mill and continued its proprietor a few months. In 1850 Sharon Y. Beach bought the claims of the other two proprietors in the paper-mill and removed it to Blue street, where it still re- mains.
Great have been the changes between that day and the present. The whole territory is filled with buildings and immense manu- facturing establishments, a full account of which may be found in Mr. Wm. C. Sharpe's " History of Seymour and Vicinity," a book which is of great value because of the many facts collected and recorded in it. Every family in the town should carefully preserve a copy of it.
In 1851 the capital stock of the Humphreysville Manufactur- ing Company was estimated at $300,000, and the estimate ap- proved by a committee of the Legislature. In 1859 the stock was reduced to $150,000 by the distribution of property to the stockholders.
The Eagle Manufacturing Company was organized June 27, 1850, with a stock of $50,000, for the manufacture of silk goods, wool and cotton; George Rice being the first president. In 1852 the stock was increased to $100,000 ; George F. De For- est, president. In 1855 George P. Shelton was president and Harrison Tomlinson, secretary.
In 1852 George P. Shelton, Raymond French, Philo Hol- brook, Henry S. Mygatt, Sheldon Kinney, George F. De For-
48 1
RIMMON FALLS.
est, Harrison Tomlinson, John W. Dwight, John Clark and Sylvester Smith were incorporated under the title of the Sey- mour Savings Bank.
The Union Mercantile Company was established in 1852 with a capital of $4,000. B. W. Smith was the first president, and John J. Rider the second. The store was in the build-
FALLS OF THE NAUGATUCK AT SEYMOUR, 1857.
ing on the north side of Broad street at the west end of the Naugatuck bridge.
The American Car Company was organized in the spring of 1852 with a stock of $150,000, which amount was increased be- fore the end of the year to $200,000. Five large shops, for the building of railroad cars, were erected, and a large business transacted until the business was removed West. President, J. H. Lyman ; directors, Timothy Dwight, J. W. Dwight, Ray- mond French and others. 61
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HISTORY OF DERBY.
The Upson Manufacturing Company was organized in 1852 by Hiram Upson, Horace A. Bradford and Lucius Tuttle, for the manufacture of augers, bits and the like instruments. The business was conducted where the Douglass Manufacturing Company's lower shop now stands at the mouth of Little river. The shop was built in 1837, by Timothy Dwight, son of Presi- dent Dwight, and by his heirs sold to H. A. Bradford, and by him to Charles Douglass in 1859.
The Humphreysville Copper Company was organized in 1847 with a capital stock of $40,000 ; J. W. Dwight, president ; Ray- mond French, Harrison Tomlinson, George Rice, Sheldon Kin- ney, directors. In 1852 the capital was increased to $200,000, the buildings greatly enlarged and the business increased. In addition to their works in Seymour they established a mill and wharf in East Haven. In 1854 the stock was increased to $390,000, but soon after the liabilities became great and compli-
cations ensued. In 1855 a new company was organized, the stock being placed at $750,000 with liberty to increase to $I,- 000,000. The persons named in the act of incorporation were : John W. Dwight, William Cornwall, George F. De Forest, Henry Bronson, Charles Durand, Sheldon Kinney, Samuel K. Satterlee, Geo. R. A. Ricketts, Henchman S. Soule.
The New Haven Copper Company was organized November 21, 1855, with a capital of $400,000 ; John W. Dwight, presi- dent ; Geo. R. A. Ricketts, secretary. After various changes the company was re-organized in 1872, the stock being owned by Lazarus Lissberger, president, Samuel Holmes, Thomas James, Franklin Farrell, and under this management it is one of the heaviest and most reliable industries of the town.
MILLS OF JAMES SWAN.
He is successor to the Douglass Manufacturing Company, es- tablished in 1856 ; manufacturer of augers, auger bits, gimlets, hollow augers, expanding bits, patent auger handles, boring ma- chines, chisels, gauges, drawing-knives, screw-drivers, reamers, etc.
In addition to the foregoing, the following are some of the present business enterprises of Seymour :
Humphreysville Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of
483
BUSINESS ENTERPRISES.
augers, auger bits, etc. . Proprietors, George H. Robinson, Da- vid R. Cook, Norman Sperry, Marcus Sperry.
H. B. Beecher, successor to French, Swift & Co., established in 1847 ; manufacturer of augers, auger bits, hollow augers, etc.
The Fowler Nail Company, manufacturers of vulcan horse- shoe nails. Carlos French, president ; Lewis H. Bristol, sec- retary,
United States Pin Company ; Henry I .. Hotchkiss, president ; Lewis Bristol, secretary ; Carlos French, treasurer.
Henry P. and E. Day, manufacturers of rubber pen-holders, propelling pencils, surgical appliances, etc.
SWAN'S MILLS.
Carlos French, manufacturer of car springs.
W. W. Smith, manufacturer of manilla paper.
Raymond French, manufacturer of plain and steel-plated ox- shoes.
Austin G. Day, manufacturer of sub-marine telegraph cable.
Garrett and Beach, manufacturers of German gimlet bits, cast steel reamers and screw-driver bits. Lewis L. Garrett and Samuel Beach.
The Seymour Record, a weekly newspaper, published every Thursday, at the Seymour Printing Office. William C. Sharpe, editor and publisher, and author of the "History of Seymour and Vicinity," a work from which has been taken a large part
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HISTORY OF DERBY.
of the account here given of the business enterprises of the place.
SOCIETIES IN SEYMOUR.
MORNING STAR LODGE, No. 47, of Free and Accepted Ma- sons, has reached the age of seventy-six years. It was contin- ued under a charter from the M. W. Stephen Titus Hosmer, Esq., Grand Master for Connecticut, bearing date October 18, 1804. The petitioners to whom the charter was granted were Adam Lum, Veren Dike, Silas Sperry, George W. Thomas, Benjamin Candee, Lewis Wakelee, E. C. Candee, Joel Fitch, Arnold Loveland, William Hurd, William Bronson, Daniel Candee, Abel Wheeler, Samuel Riggs, William Morris, Levi Can- dee, Nathan Davis, Charles Monson, Jessie Scott, Moses Candee, "Brethren of the Honorable Society of Masons residing in the town of Oxford."
Abel Wheeler is named in the charter as first master, Levi Candee as senior warden and William Morris as junior warden.
The lodge met in Masonic Hall, Oxford, until 1844, when owing to decreased numbers from removals and other causes, the sessions were suspended. It was reorganized May 14, 1851, with George B. Glendining as master, David J. McEwen senior warden, and Alfred French junior warden, and removed to Seymour. E. G. Storer was then grand secretary. Since then the lodge has prospered, its total membership having amounted to about 375.
MECHANIC'S LODGE, No. 73, I. O. O. F., was instituted May 27, 1851 ; the charter members being Horace A. Bradford, Martin Kelly, Daniel J. Putnam, Julius Bassett, John Hilton, H. P. Davis, John Scott, Charles Newton, John L. Hartson, W. W. White, John Davis, J. A. Stevens, W. J. Merrick.
HUMPHREY LODGE, No. 26, Knights of Pythias, was insti- tuted February 8, 1871, the charter members being S. H. Can- field, W. G. Mitchell, George Rogers, F. M. Lum, C. W. James, W. N. Storrs, S. C. Tucker, Charles French, M. R. Castle, F. H. Beecher, V. H. McEwen, George Smith, D. C. Castle.
UPSON POST, No. 40, Grand Army of the Republic, was or- ganized in 1873. William S. Cooper, post commander ; Joseph Ineson, adjutant. It was reorganized February 16, 1876.
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SOCIETIES.
THE FRIENDLY SONS OF ST. PATRICK is composed of mem- bers of Irish birth and their descendants without regard to re- ligion or politics. It was organized at Strapp's Hall, Novem- ber 2, 1872, by the following named persons : William Hayes, Dennis O'Callaghan, Matthias Bunyan, Francis McMorrow, Charles McCarthy, Michael Regan, Patrick Mahoney, Daniel Mahoney, William Mahoney, Jeremiah Driscol, John Coleman, John Bradley, Timothy O'Brien, Peter Sullivan, Edward Strapp, William Colbert.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.
ERBY bore a conspicuous and large proportioned part in the war of the Rebellion in 1861 to 1865, as she did also in the Revolution eighty-five years before. At the first call, after the old flag had been dishonored at Fort Sumter, four men from Derby volunteered, and were ac- cepted on the 22d of April, 1861, and joined the first Connecticut regiment, and fifteen days from that time seventy-eight others led by Ledyard Colburn, major, and Charles L. Russell, adjutant, were accepted in company D of the second Connecticut regi- ment. From that time onward to the close of the great conflict, Derby was fully, and honorably represented on the entire field, from the honorable position of colonel, through all grades and departments of the service; having sent forward, according to the official report of the Adjutant General of the State, 542 soldiers.
The following are the minutes made on the town records in regard to the aid rendered by the town in support of the nation in the great struggle :
" OCTOBER, 1861.
"Whereas : The money appropriated by the State of Connecticut for the support of the families of volunteer soldiers payable from the State Treasury into the town treasury is payable once in three months ; and whereas many families have not sufficient means wherewith to support themselves in the interval of payments, and whereas some families are unable to subsist on the sums appropriated by the State for their support, therefore,
" Resolved : That the treasurer of the town be and hereby is author- ized to advance and pay to such families from the treasury of the town of Derby, from time to time, such sums as shall be directed by the selectmen ; said sums being reimbursed from the money received from the State, so far as the same shall be adequate to each family.
" On motion passed.
" July 22, 1862. Resolved ; That the town of Derby will pay to each non-commissioned officer and private, who has or shall enlist and be
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THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.
accepted by the enlisting committee herein named, within the next twenty days into a military company now forming in the town of Derby, the sum of one hundred dollars, to be paid to such volunteer when he shall have been mustered into the service of the United States.
"Resolved : That the sum of eleven thousand dollars or so much thereof as shall be necessary, be and hereby is appropriated for the payment of the bounty provided in the foregoing resolution, and the necessary expenses of recruiting a company, and that the selectmen be and they hereby are authorized to draw their order on the treasurer in favor of Mr. Wm. B. Wooster, Thomas Wallace, jun., and Charles B. Alling, recruiting committee, for so much of said appropriation as shall be necessary to pay said bounties and the necessary expenses incurred in recruiting such company.
" At a meeting held Saturday, August 30, 1862, Resolved : That the town of Derby will pay to such non-commissioned officer and private, inhabitants of the town of Derby, who shall enlist in the company now forming under John Jackson, before the first day of September next, 1862, and who shall be accepted by and be mustered into the service of the United States, the same amount as was voted by this town, to be paid volunteers on the 22d day of July, 1862, it being the sum of one hundred dollars.
"Whereas : The quota of the town of Derby for volunteers for three years is not yet full, and whereas the State bounty of fifty dollars has ceased, and the advance bounty from the United States has also ceased, therefore,
"Resolved : That the selectmen be and they hereby are authorized to pay to each volunteer, not exceeding in number fifteen. who shall enlist as volunteers from Derby before the third day of September next, for three years or during the war, the sum of two hundred dollars, to be paid when the same shall be mustered into the service of the United States.
" On motion passed.
" October, 1862, on motion it was voted that all men that have been or may hereafter be drafted and serve the United States government for the term of nine months, be paid ten dollars per month, or at that rate while in the service.
" Voted : That the commissioned officers of Capt. Jackson's and Chaf- fee's companies be paid a bounty of $100 each.
" August 15, 1864, Resolved : That there be and is hereby appropri- ated from the treasury of the town of Derby, for the purpose of filling the quota of said town under the last call of the President of the United States for 500,000 men, a sum not exceeding the sum of $300, to each
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HISTORY OF DERBY.
person who shall volunteer into the military or naval service of the United States for the term of one or more years, or who has furnished, or shall furnish, an acceptable substitute for the same term and service, or who being drafted shall serve in person under said call, provided such volunteers, substitutes and drafted men shall go to make up the quota of Derby."
Two monuments have been erected to the memory of deceased soldiers ; one of granite, not yet surmounted by a statue, although otherwise very appropriate, in Birmingham public green; the other, also of granite surmounted by a very appropriate statue of a soldier, placed at the entrance of the Ansonia cemetery.
The annual celebration on Decoration Day, by processions, addresses and poems, is continued with much spirit and honor- able patriotism as a memorial of the deceased soldiers. From the many very eloquent and appropriate things said on such occasions space allows but one selection, taken from the record of the celebration at Birmingham in 1879,-a poem by J. W. Storrs, Esq .:
RETROSPECTION.
Men forge sometimes great destinies through fire's evil passion, As evermore the dripping sword hath led the world's progression ; The wrong, although a stubborn plant, may blossom with salvation, As from the strife to rivet chains came great emancipation.
1
Men differ little, after all, in nature's ills or graces : Our neighbor's deeds were doubtless ours, had fortune changed our places. Then while we speak with charity to-day,-for future action, 'Twere well, perhaps, that we indulge a moment's retrospection.
Some eighteen years ago and more, old Sumter's gun was booming, And up against the Southern sky, an hideous shape was looming ! Grim, half defined =- men knew it not ;- some thought it mere illusion ; While others saw within its depths but darkness and confusion.
Along the street men stood aghast at what might be impending, Or, nerving bravely, grasped the sword, their firm defiance sending To whatsoe'er the ill might be, which threatened thus unkindly ;- As, when the thunderbolt's affright, a serpent hisses blindly.
Dark grew the cloud; in muttered tone was heard the sullen thunder ; The lightning's flash, with burning shaft, rent many a heart asunder, While here and there, in craven fear, poor timid souls were quaking, And on their knees, at any price, for peace were loudly shrieking.
THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 489
And then rang out the stirring shout an hundred MEN are wanted ! The musket sprang to ready hands, as if it were enchanted. " Who dares the breach come follow me; " the gallant Russell shouted : And fife and snare upon the air gave proof at once, undoubted,
That in the veins of sixty-one, old seventy-six was flowing ; That in New England's gallant sons, her ancient fires were glowing. They turned their oxen loose afield,-like Putnam lion-hearted : Threw down the sledge, shut up the shop and for the war they started.
Strange enough that armed procession, winding through each village street ! Stranger still, the Sabbath drum-beat, giving time to eager feet ! Stopping not to question duty-hearing, they obeyed command ! Quite enough for them, that danger threatened their beloved land.
So they left, that solemn morning, and along the smiling vale, Came an hundred ringing voices homeward floating on the gale. Slow, the months of weary waiting dragged their bloody lengths along ; Years were added; still defiant, stood the cohorts of the wrong.
One by one, came back our heroes, glory clad, but in a pall ! One by one they left their ashes where palmetto shadows fall. Over them no flowers are wreathing-save by nature's loving grace ! Over them no storied marble marketh out their resting place !
Nay; but on the field of battle, or within the prison hell, Bleach their bones beneath the sunlight-spurned by plowmen-where they fell. In the fearful dungeons lying, tortured by inhuman crew, Marching, fighting, starving, dying ! this it cost to wear the blue !
Grudge we then the paltry pittance that upbuilds the grateful stone ? Leaving to the generations duties that should be our own? We that sat around our hearthstones, sheltered by the solid wall Which these heroes raised between us and the dreaded cannon ball ?
We that signed those "testimonials ?"1-even through those burning years, Coining yet the while our thousands that the nation sat in tears ? Debtors of the living, truly :- " thrice the debtors of the dead !" Shall we grudge fit recognition for the sacrifice they made ?
Then I turn me to the children; boy, I would commune with thee : Know you that the grasses cover men who died for you and me ;- Men who gave what untold treasure could not balance, could not buy :- Cherished life, to them, and precious-that the nation should not die !
I would urge you, nay, would charge you, as the father's place you fill, To forget not the upraising of some typal form to tell To the freemen of the ages, the great story-ever new, How was crushed the fiend, disunion, by the men that wore the blue.
1A published pamphlet, addressed to the soldiers.
62
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HISTORY OF DERBY.
I would charge you, oh my children, as returns this tender day, That you range through all the bowers, for the sweetest gems of May ; That in garlands you may wreathe them, in their robes of every hue, And with loving hands outspread them o'er the men that wore the blue.
Go you out among the woodlands, and along the fringing shores Of the brooklets in the meadows, and bring in the rustic flowers,- Tender-eyed and meek and lowly, fitting emblems of the true, To o'erthatch the narrow dwelling of the men that wore the blue.
You may find the sons of fortune, or the places where they lie, By the loudly worded marble that is pointing to the sky ; But unnoted in the corners, where the tangled grasses grow, You shall find the lowly couches of the men that wore the blue.
But they lie not there unheeded, though the busy world go by, For they sleep beneath the radiance of the great all-seeing eye ; And though men refuse them honor, on the records of the true Will be found the names forever of the men that wore the blue.
And I ask you, oh my children, that you guard the sacred boon, Which the present to the future, as a birthright, handeth down ; So that this, our Union temple, upon pillars strong and true, Shall remain for aye, the glory of the men that wore the blue. .
The most eloquent description of the men in the service dur- ing the war is the record made by the soldiers themselves, and reported at the Adjutant General's office for the state of Con- necticut, which is as follows :
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