USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. I > Part 75
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Naturally the Congregational as the exponent of the original State religion stands first. The " Congregationalist " has been already spoken of. The " Religious Herald," still of Hartford, is now one of the oldest papers of this sect. It was established in 1841 by D. B. Moseley, a printer who had been foreman in the "Courant" composing-room. Mr. Moseley is still the editor and publisher of the " Religious Herald." The paper was preceded by the "Connecticut Observer," published from 1825 to 1841 by Hudson & Skinner, edited by the Rev. Horace Hooker; and before that there was the "Connecticut Evangelical Magazine," established in 1800 by Hudson & Goodwin of the " Courant," and pub- lished several years. The "Christian Sentinel" was published from 1845 to 1847, by the firm of Brown & Parsons, for the East Windsor Theological Seminary.
The " Christian Secretary," an influential Baptist paper, was estab- lished in 1822. Its editors have been Elisha Cushman, Sr., Gurdon Robbins, Philemon Canfield, Normand Burr, Elisha Cushman, Jr., and S. Dryden Phelps. Dr. Phelps has been editor and proprietor since 1876.
The " Catholic Press" was established in Hartford in 1835, but was removed to Philadelphia. The " Connecticut Catholic," established in 1875, has a large circulation through the State. It is edited by J. E. Scanlan and published by J. F. Scanlan.
Between 1846 and 1855 the Second Advent belief was represented by at least three papers, -the " Bible Advocate," the "Second Advent Watchman," and the " Lover of Zion."
It will be seen from this brief review that the Hartford press has always been active and vigorous, and that many famous names are connected with its history. It should not be forgotten that outside journals are also related to Hartford. Noah Webster in 1793, in New York, established the " Minerva," out of which grew the " Commercial
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
Advertiser ; " and his cousin Charles R. Webster, who went from Hart- ford to Albany in 1783, was called "the father of printing " there. He established the " Albany Gazette" and the "Albany Daily Advertiser," and with his twin brother George, and their nephews, the Skinners, built up a large business. The "Springfield Republican " was founded by Mr. Bowles, from the "Hartford Times ; " Robert Bonner, of the "New York Ledger," was a compositor in the "Courant" office; the " Churchman" and the "Congregationalist" were Hartford papers ; Prentice made the "Louisville Journal," now the "Courier-Journal ;" and there are other instances that might be cited.
With the exception of one or two almanacs, dated 1765, having a Hartford imprint, although probably printed in Boston for the Hart- ford market, the first publication here after the " Connecticut Courant " was a controversial pamphlet entitled " An Explanation of the Say- brook Platform," which, though anonymous, is known to be by Gov- ernor Thomas Fitch. The publishing business, however, had little importance until it was taken up by Hudson & Goodwin. Begin- ning with their work, it went on to a very large development ; at one time the city was a great centre for the publication of school text-books, and later for subscription books of various sorts. It was in Hartford that the Webster and Gallaudet & Hooker spelling-books, Peter Par- ley's works and Goodrich's histories, Olney's, Smith's, and Woodbridge's geographies, the works on natural science and mathematics by Com- stock and Davies, and other widely known text-books were published ; and many of the best known names in Hartford are associated with this business.
George Goodwin, of the firm of Hudson & Goodwin, was born in 1757, and entered the office of the "Courant " in 1766. He conducted the paper while the "Widow Watson " was its proprietor ; and subse- quently he became the partner of her husband, Barzillai Hudson, in the firm of Hudson & Goodwin, which was succeeded by George Goodwin & Sons. Mr. Goodwin lived to be eighty-seven years old. During his long life he was one of the most respected citizens of Hartford, and the names of both partners, now numerously represented in the city, have always been honorably conspicuous. The firm brought out Webster's spelling-book and an edition of the Bible among their publications.
In 1820 Samuel G. Goodrich (Peter Parley) published an edition of Trumbull's poems, which was practically a subscription book, being printed after a guaranty subscription had been made. It was illus- trated by Elkanah Tisdale, who was the engraver of the Graphic Com- pany, which was in its day a very important concern, engraving bills even for banks in Canada, besides those in many of the States. The firm of Danforth, Wright, & Co., which later became the American Bank-note Company, was the lineal descendant of this company.
The subscription publishing business of the latter-day sort traces directly to Silas Andrus, who was at one time a prominent figure in the city, and built the " Melodeon building," on Main Street. Andrus published an edition of the once famous " Adventures of Captain Riley."1
1 The brig "Commerce," in which Riley was wrecked on the Barbary coast, was owned in Hartford.
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He began business in the brick house on the west side of Trumbull Street, just above Church Street, but subsequently built on Kinsley Street, east of the corner of Main Street. He took into partnership James Walker Judd, and they took in Homer Franklin, so that the firm was successively Andrus & Judd, and Andrus, Judd, & Franklin. This firm failed in October, 1839, and its property was sold out among many different concerns. Andrus published many standard works, not copyrighted; such as Rollin's histories, and Josephus, and also many editions of the Bible, from a folio down to 24mo. To facilitate auction sales he bound some of his publications in covers entirely of gilt.
David F. Robinson, who began in the employment of Silas Andrus, established himself in the same business in 1824, and his house grew to large importance, especially in the publication of school books and the sale of books by subscription. Mr. Robinson was at an early date associated under the firm of D. F. Robinson & Co.1 with Bissell B. Bar- ber, who was a bookbinder. They published together, among other books, a "History of the United States," by S. G. Goodrich. Mr. Robinson, who came to Hartford as a boy, acquired a handsome prop- erty in his business, and took a leading position in the city's affairs. He was from 1839 to 1853 the president of the Hartford Bank. He took H. Z. Pratt into partnership, and the firm was Robinson & Pratt. They published and sold by subscription the Cottage Bible, edited by Dr. William Patton, which had an immense sale. They also published Olney's school books, geography, atlas, etc., and Comstock's, including his chemistry, philosophy, and others equally well known. The business grew to such proportions that the concern removed to New York, where the firm was successively Robinson, Pratt, & Co., and Pratt, Woodford, & Co., which included O. P. Woodford and E. P. Farmer and T. K. Brace, Jr. A. S. Barnes, now at the head of the large publishing house in New York, was in the employment of Mr. Robinson. Professor Charles Davies, editor of the Legendre and other text-books, was living in Hartford in 1836, in the house on Prospect Street now the headquarters of the Travelers Insurance Company. The publication of his works was put into Mr. Barnes's hands, and from that beginning the present publishing house grew up.
In Hartford, Robinson & Pratt let their business gradually drift into that of book-selling, and their store on the site of the present Hills's block, on Main Street, was to Hartford what the Corner Bookstore was to Boston. They sold out to Daniel Burgess, who, under the name of D. Burgess & Co., took Gordis Spalding into partnership, and they pub- lished Smith's geography and grammar, etc. Finally they separated, Mr. Burgess taking the publication business and moving to Asylum Street. Mr. Spalding took Amariah Storrs into partnership, and in 1841 this firm and Mr. Burgess failed, and were succeeded by John Paine, of New York. Brown & Parsons,2 who had a large bookstore on State Street, bought out the Spalding & Storrs store, and for a time maintained two. Subsequently they took the south corner of Main and Asylum streets, and for many years that was the centre of the Hartford book-trade. In 1852 Mr. Parsons retired, and Mr. Brown
1 D. F. Robinson & Co. published Mrs. Stowe's first volume, "The Mayflower and other Sketches."
2 Flavius A. Brown, long time City Treasurer, and Edward W. Parsons.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
conducted the business until 1858, when he took into partnership W. H. Gross, in the firm of Brown & Gross, which still stands. Mr. Gross had, since 1850, been with William J. Hamersley.
Mr. Hamersley's publishing and book business dated baek to the old house of O. D. Cooke, subsequently O. D. Cooke & Sons. This was one of the earliest Hartford houses to bring out valuable and stan- dard works. It was followed by H. & F. J. Huntington, and F. J. Huntington & Co., who published many school books. Among the Huntington books were the Burritt's "Geography of the Heavens" and Atlas, and Goodrich's "Geography for Beginners." They went to New York, and Hamersley & Belknap took their Hartford place, and for some years maintained their bookstore on Main Street, where George P. Bissell & Co.'s banking-house now stands. Mr. Belknap retired in 1849, and then William James Hamersley published many famous school books, including Swift's "Natural Philosophy," Rob- bins's "Outlines of History," the "Practical Spelling-book" of Gal- laudet & Hooker, Woodbridge's Geography, Sophoeles' Greek books, and others. Mr. Hamersley began the publication of Niles's "Civil Officer," which is still continued by Brown & Gross, who at Mr. Hamersley's death took many of the works that he had published. Ile brought out the first edition of Dr. Bushnell's " God in Christ " and " Christ in Theology," De Forest's "History of the Indians of Conneeti- cut," Mrs. Sigourney's " Whispers to a Bride," Stuart's " Life of Nathan Hale," and other works. Brown & Gross also publish the " Connecticut Register," begun by Green in 1789.
The most remarkable development of the subscription business traces back to the work of Lucius Stebbins, who at first colored maps by a process of his own devising, for Smith's and Olney's geographies, published by Mr. Robinson. As the school-book business moved to New York he began publishing historical and descriptive works, illustrated with colored wood-engravings, and sold by travelling agents ; H. H. Brownell wrote several of these. They included histories of the Old World, and the New World and the Indians, etc. Stebbins adopted the name of the American Publishing Company, and in 1859 sold this business to the firm of Hurlbut & Kellogg, who kept the name of the American Publishing Company ; but no such company actually existed until April, 1865, when it was organized by William N. Matson, Henry French, J. B. Burr, E. G. Hastings, Thomas Belknap, Sidney Drake, and J. G. Parsons.
This company has had wonderful success, under the management, first of Elisha Bliss, Jr. and, since his death in 1880, of his son, F. E. Bliss. It published A. D. Richardson's " Beyond the Mississippi," of which 160,000 copies were sold ; Headley's " Great Rebellion," of which 250,000 were sold ; Mark Twain's " Innocents Abroad," which sold in immense numbers, and other of his carly works. The company has sold not less than 2,000,000 books, and is the most widely known of all such houses. Its list of books includes those of many famous authors.
Hurlbut & Kellogg were succeeded by Hurlbut & Williams (A. M. Hurlbut & Walter S. Williams), who published and sold by subserip- tion the " Nurse and Spy," just at the height of the war excitement, and cleared over $80,000 the first year. They subsequently with others
PRINTERS
THE CASE, LOCKWOOD, & BRAINARD COMPANY'S PRINTING-HOUSE. CORNER OF PEARL AND TRUMBULL STREETS.
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THE PRESS.
organized the Hartford Publishing Company, which had Professor Stowe's "History of the Bible" in its list. This company eventually ran out. Not less than eight subscription concerns grew up out of the establishment started by Mr. Stebbins, and there are a number of well- known concerns in the business now, including, beside the American Publishing Company, O. D. Case & Co., who published Greeley's " His- tory of the Civil War ; " S. S. Scranton & Co .; J. B. Burr & Co .; A. D. Worthington ; J. B. Betts ; E. Gateley & Co., etc.
The largest printing-house in the State, and one of the largest in the United States, is that of the Case, Lockwood, & Brainard Company. It has more than fifty presses and employs an average of about two hundred persons. It has no special work, but covers the whole field of printing, binding, book-making, etc. This house is the outgrowth of the firm of Case, Tiffany, & Co., which was formed in 1836 by Newton Case, E. D. Tiffany, and A. D. Waters. There were various changes in the firm, but the name remained the same until 1857, when, on the retire- ment of E. D. Tiffany and A. G. Cooley, the name became Case, Lockwood, & Co. In 1874 the company already named was incorpo- rated. James Lockwood had been taken into partnership in 1853 and Leverett Brainard in 1858. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary was first, and for fifteen years, printed by Case, Tiffany, & Co. The same house has printed a great many of the books sold by local subscription publishing-houses. In 1840 it bought the plates of the Cottage Bible, already mentioned, which had for many years a great sale. Its present large building, on the corner of Pearl and Trumbull streets, was occu- pied in April, 1867, and is one of the large industrial establishments of the city.
There are several other firms in the printing and binding busi- ness ; and although a large part of the book-making interest drifted long since to New York City, the printing-press is still active in many ways here.
ChaStopkins black
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
SECTION XIV.
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION.
BY THE HON. HENRY BARNARD, LL.D. (Condensed by the Author.)
THE FIRST SCHOOLS. - THE DISTRICT SYSTEM. - REMINISCENCES. - THE GRAMMAR AND HIGH SCHOOLS. - FEMALE EDUCATION.
THE first law of Connecticut on the subject of children and schools did little more than declare the motive, and make obligatory the prac- tice which had grown up out of the character of the founders of the River Towns, and the circumstances in which they were placed. They did not come here as isolated individuals, drawn together from widely separated homes, entertaining broad differences of opinion on all mat- ters of civil and religious concernment, and kept together by the neces- sity of self-defence in the eager prosecution of some temporary but profitable adventure. They came after God had set them in families ; and they brought with them the best pledges of good behavior, in the relations which father and mother, husband and wife, parents and chil- dren, neighbors and friends, establish. They came with a foregone conclusion of permanence, and with all the elements of the social state combined in vigorous activity, - every man expecting to find or make occupation in the way in which he had been trained. They came with earnest religious convictions, made more carnest by the trials of perse- cution ; and the enjoyment of these convictions was a leading motive in their emigration hither. The fundamental articles of their religious creed, that the Bible was the only authoritative expression of the Divine Will, and that every man was able to judge for himself in its interpre- tation, made schools necessary to bring all persons " to a knowledge of the Scriptures," and an understanding " of the main grounds and prin- ciples of the Christian religion necessary to salvation." The constitu- tion of civil government, which they adopted from the outset, which declared all civil officers elective, and gave to every inhabitant who would take the oath of allegiance the right to vote and to be voted for, and which practically converted political society into a partnership in which each member had the right to bind the whole firm, made univer- sal education identical with self-preservation. But aside from these considerations, the natural and acknowledged leaders in this enterprise - the men who, by their religious character, wealth, social position, and previous experience in conducting large business operations commanded public confidence in church and commonwealth - were educated men, as highly and thoroughly educated as the best endowed grammar schools in England could educate them at that period ; and not a few of them had enjoyed the advantages of the great universities, and several had
Henry Barnard
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SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION.
themselves been practical teachers. Such men, with families, could not live anywhere without schools, and they did not live long so in Hartford ; and it is to their eternal credit that the school which they set up for their own children was open and enjoyed by families less intelligent.
The first permanent settlement of Hartford was made by the religious friends and congregation of Rev. Thomas Hooker, in 1636; and in 1637 John Higginson, before he became chaplain of the fort at Saybrook, was a resident and " schoolmaster " at Hartford ; and Win- throp mentions " one Mr. Collins, a young scholar who came from Bar- badoes, and had been a preacher, who was established at Hartford to teach a school, in 1640." These masters taught before the first formal vote of the town, so far as the records now show, in April, 1643; and the engagement with Mr. Andrews was, not to set up a school, but "to teach the children in the school," as an institution already in existence.
In 1665, after the extension of the Constitution of 1638 and the Charter of 1662 over the settlements of New Haven, there existed within a quarter of a century from the first permanent settlement of Hartford, in 1636, practices and requisitions of public instruction as follows : -
First. - The industrial element and training. Children and appren- tices were brought up by their parents and guardians to habits of chore- doing and mutual help in the family, and in the work of the farm and of the shop. This grew in part out of the practical absence of servants as a class, which made mutual help absolutely necessary ; and partly out of an early statute relating to children, which imposed on parents and guardians the duty of bringing them up " to some honest employment in husbandry or trade, profitable to themselves and to the common- wealth." Here was the industrial element, or technical instruction in its most natural, universal, and economical conditions; and to these home-practices may we still look for its further development, in prefer- ence to school-shop, or other formal instruction in the use of tools.
Second. - Early religious instruction. The practice of family devo- tion and catechetical instruction of children, inherited by the first settlers from pious ancestors, although following different methods in primers and manuals of piety, and enforced in church and secular organizations by pains and penalties on every family, excluded the " barbarism " of a single child " without a knowledge of some orthodox catechism, and without being taught the Commandments and capital laws."
Third. - Universal elementary instruction. Every town of at least fifty householders was obliged " to appoint one within the town to teach the children to read and write, whose wages were to be paid either by parents or masters of such children, or by the inhabitants in general," as might be ordered by the town ; and for neglect, such town must pay a penalty. The work of teaching the alphabet and rudimentary reading was done by school-ma'ms.
Fourth. - Preparatory college instruction. In advance of the Code of 1650, even within the first year of settlement, the town had a "mas- ter able to instruct such children as were sent to him, so far as they may be fitted for the university ;" and a school of this grade has always existed in Hartford, the town never having been called on "to pay five pounds to the next such school " for any one year's negleet.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
Fifth. - College education, or preparation for professional and public life. "To provide that learning may not be buried with the fathers in church and commonwealth," it was ordered that contributions shall be taken up for the maintenance of poor scholars at Cambridge, and parents with means " having promising children " sent them to college. Sixth. - Supply of educated ministers. The study and pulpit of the teacher of the First Church of Hartford was from the start a " school of the Prophets," and that church with its ministers may be regarded as the first Theological Seminary in Connecticut.
Seventh. - Special instruction. "To secure suitable knowledge and practical skill in the treatment of diseases," the General Court inter- posed very early to license several "educated men to practise physic and surgery," and voted an " annual salary of fifteen pounds so long as they devote their time and attention to the sick and suffering mem- bers of the colony;" and to protect the patients from overcharges, either for travel or drugs, a moderate fee bill was established. The older practitioners were " entreated to impart their knowledge and skill to young candidates."
Eighth .- The River Towns were supplied from the start with men of good legal ability and experience, and Hartford was never without hun- gry young men
" Hanging round courts of law in search of human prey,"
and was never poorly off for men of mark and learning to shape legis- lation and administer justice in the high office of magistracy.
Ninth. - Race instruction. "To convey the law and knowledge of God and His word to the Indians and natives among us," it is ordered in the Code of 1650 " that one of the teaching elders shall every year go among the neighboring Indians and make known to them the Coun- sels of the Lord;" and to aid them in the work, an allowance is made by the General Court for interpreters.
Such was the system and agencies of public instruction in actual operation in the town of Hartford in 1665.
With this general statement of the origin and progress of schools and education in Connecticut from 1636 to 1665, when the provisions of the Code of 1650 relating to schools and children were extended over all the towns, we will now glance briefly at the development of public instruction in Hartford.
From the time the town came into possession of the Hopkins bequest in 1666, and other benefactions and bequests for a Latin School, and especially after the requirements of the Act of 1772 by which six hun- dred acres of land were appropriated "to each of the four County towns for the benefit of a Grammar School, and for no other end or use whatever," the school begun in 1636-sometimes called in the town votes relating to it a Latin School, a Grammar School, or a Free School - was maintained with more or less efficiency down to 1798. There was much wrangling over the employment of a master, the accommodations of the children, and the management of funds, and many efforts were made to get better and larger accommodations and more efficient man- agement ; but a master " able to instruct youths so far as they may be fitted for college " was continuously employed, and the school so taught
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SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION.
was the main reliance of the town (exclusive of the East and West Divisions first set off as ecclesiastical societies with school privileges, and afterward incorporated as towns, as was also the Wintonbury neighborhood or parish) for school instruction, except that given to little children and girls in women-schools, of which there were at no time less than two. With all the disadvantages of "over-crowding," and many recitations, or "saying lessons," this employing a grammar master did keep alive the study of Latin and Greek, and a succes- sion of college men in Hartford, till the Grammar School was elimi- nated from the town, society, and district system about 1770, and was finally assigned to trustees incorporated for its special manage- ment in 1798.
The school, or " schul," of the town until 1762 was managed by a committee charged with "the prudentials of the schools" and with " power to place and displace the master," in the absence of any direct action of the town. About 1760 the school building, which had stood for seventy years in Main Street (then one hundred feet wide), directly in front of what is now known as the Russ House, and just south of Linden Place, had become too small for the boys of a community of two thousand people, which was the population of the town in 1760. Directly south of the school-house in Main Street were "horse sheds," which had been erected by permission of the town to shelter the horses whose owners came from beyond Rocky Hill to attend divine service of the Second Church in the meeting-house which stood nearly opposite the sheds on the cast side of Main Street until 1754-1757.
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