USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. II > Part 43
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1 Dee. 14, 1795, a tax of two farthings on the pound was laid for support of schools.
2 Born 1780 ; was graduated at Yale in 1803. He was for ten years tutor in the Uni- versity of Georgia, and subsequently removed to Mobile, where he filled many offices of honor and was called the "Father of Mobile." He died at New Haven, Conn., in 1842. - Tim- low's Sketches.
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SOUTHINGTON.
Though now the power used in its factories is largely steam, that attraction which in the last century drew to Southington inventive and manufacturing talent was the readiness with which the water-power existing near the southern part of the town could be utilized. The first to be developed was at Atwater's mills, near the southern limit of Plantsville. About 1755 James Robert Hazard 6 Hazard erected a fulling-mill on the west side of the Quinnipiac at that point. This he deeded to his son Robert in 1764, who sold it to Captain Enos Atwater in 1771.1 Captain Atwater owned land on the east side of the river at that point before Enos atwater this date, and is believed to have previously erected a corn-mill there. On his death, in 1784, he had there two corn-mills and one bolting-mill. An old petition, dated in 1805, states that within a few years preceding there had been shipped from those mills to the town of Cheshire more than four hundred tons of meal and flour. The earliest commerce of the town was the shipment of large quantities of kiln-dried meal from those mills to the West Indies. These mills have been run continuously by Captain Enos Atwater and his descendants for five generations. In 1768 Nathan Lewis owned a saw-mill at Dickerman's Corners, in the lower part of Milldale ; and within about ten years from that date there were mills at Marion, Plantsville, and South End. Potash works were established at South End in 1785 by Samuel Curtiss. Grist-mills, saw-mills, oil- mills, and fulling-mills occupied all the principal sites of water-powers before the year 1800. Bricks of an excellent quality were made prior to 1769 in South End, about half a mile north of the present brick- yard. They were seven inches long, three and a half inches wide, and one and a half inches thick. One or two tanneries also existed prior to the year 1800. At first the bark was pounded with wooden beetles, and half-hogsheads were used for vats.
After this date (and notably during Jefferson's administration) a great impetus was given to various manufactures, and all settled at these mill-sites. Tin-faced buttons, wire-eyed buttons, wooden button- moulds, combs, spoons, clocks, bellows, andirons, brushes, and shoe- makers' lasts were the principal articles made. In 1795 the manufacture of tin-ware began. This gave rise to an industry which has brought the town some distinction and been the foundation of one of the largest firms in the State. Tin-ware was made by the use of what are called hand-tools. Edward M. Converse invented some machines which greatly reduced the labor required in many operations. Being without capital, he secured the assistance of Seth Peck, who began the manufacture of the machines in 1829. The business rapidly grew, and proved quite lucrative. Soon a competitor arose. Solomon Stow, who had been a clock-maker, commenced the manufacture of the machines, having associated with him his two sons, under the firm name of S. Stow & Sons. Before this, Seth Peck had died, and the original firm had changed to O. & N. Peck, and later to Peck. Smith, & Co. Wyllys Smith left the old firm and joined the new, which became S. Stow & Co.
1 The writer is indebted for much valuable information to manuscripts in the possession of the Atwater family.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
About this time Roswell A. Neal, of Bristol, joined the old firm and intro- duced the manufacture of steelyards. Possessed of quick perception, shrewd foresight, a marvellously retentive memory, and habits of un- tiring industry, he soon proved the ruling power in the business, which rapidly outgrew the capital of the partners, and was made a joint-stock company. The firm of S. Stow & Co. had likewise grown to a joint- stock company, and Orson W. Stow had invented many improvements in the style as well as modes of manufacture of machines, by which the smaller firm was able to compete successfully with the larger. At the same time a powerful competition in this line of goods had arisen in the Roys & Wilcox Company, of East Berlin. After a term of ruin- ous competition in prices, these three firms consolidated their interests under the firm of the Peck, Stow, & Wilcox Company, having its cen- tral location in Southington. Each had previously added to tinsmiths' machines and tools various articles of hardware, and the consolidated firm found itself in possession of a large business in 1871, at a time when business of this kind was on the eve of great prosperity. It has since been incorporated, has a capital of ยง1.500,000, annual sales of about $2,000,000, employs about one thousand hands, and has facto- ries in Southington, Plantsville, East Berlin, Kensington, and Birming- ham, in this State, and in Cleveland, Ohio.
Micah Rugg began the manufacture of carriage-bolts as a specialty in 1839, when one hundred bolts per day were all that one man could make. In 1840 he associated with himself Martin Barnes, and the two began that series of inventions which have made bolts of all kinds cheap and plentiful. The bolt-factories of Southington now turn out an average of more than one thousand bolts per day for every man and boy employed. Among those who have developed the business are Julius Bristol, Henry A. Miller, A. P. & E. H. Plant (afterward the Plants Manufacturing Company, which was at one time the largest maker of these goods in the Union), Norton Clark & Co., and Clark Brothers & Co., the latter now the oldest and largest firm of bolt- makers in the town.
The manufacture of cold-pressed nuts for carriage-bolts as a spe- cialty was taken up by J. B. Savage about 1846. He developed the business rapidly, until at length hot-pressed nuts were substituted by most of the bolt-makers, when he turned his attention to the manufac- ture of carriage hardware.
Coffee-mills were at one time an important part of the business of the Plants Brothers, who were pioneers in this line ; but these are now made by another firm.
Henry D. Smith was the first to introduce the manufacture of forged carriage hardware. He began about the year 1855, in company with Edward Twichell, to make a patent safety-shackle invented by him. To this, other forgings of the same class were gradually added. George F. Smith became a member of the firm in 1861. Edward Twichell died in 1863, and E. W. Twichell became a member of the firm in 1864 ; and the partnership has lately been still further increased by the accession of William S. Ward to the firm. It is now the largest firm in the United States which has forged carriage-irons as its entire business.
During the last twenty-five years many other branches have been
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added to the manufactures above named. Among these may be men- tioned bar-iron, wrought hinges, nuts, and washers, by the Etna Nut Company ; pocket cutlery, plated ware, curry-combs, and wood-screws, by the Southington Cutlery Company ; paper bags, shipping-tags, and brushes, by the Pultz & Walkley Company ; carriage hardware and ox- shoes, by the Atwater Manufacturing Company ; while smaller firms make buttons, bricks, piano and organ hardware, and carpet-tacks. The capital invested in manufactures is now more than $2,500,000, and the annual sales aggregate from $3,000,000 to $4,000,000.
The plains of Southington presented few attractions to the first farmers ; yet there were at that time many fertile spots near the mountains and on Wolf Hill, which, after the first settlement was made, were sought out and soon appropriated. It was found, too, that wheat could be grown on many of the plains ; and from 1722 to 1760 it was raised in quantities more than sufficient for home consumption. The soil of the plains was so sandy, however, that its fertility became soon exhausted, and rye and Indian corn were substituted for wheat. During the next forty years the culture of these two crops was quite profitable. One of the flouring-mills made a specialty of kiln-drying corn meal and exporting it from the port of New Haven to the West Indies. Up to the year 1819 a surplus of rye and corn was raised here and marketed in Middletown and New Haven. The worn-out wheat-lands still bore luxuriant rye, with which they were cropped till even that became an unprofitable crop ; since which many fields, which formerly yielded wheat, have lain waste, and are now given up to pines and white birches. Since the advance of manufactures, agricul- ture has correspondingly declined. The best farms are now those which skirt the mountains, and a few spots on Wolf Hill or near the rivers. Very little wheat is raised. The principal crops are rye, corn, potatoes, apples, and tobacco. The last-named product has greatly in- creased within the last twenty years, and is the only crop at present exported to any considerable extent.
The number of those who served in the wars previous to the Revo- lution cannot be ascertained. In Queen Anne's War -1702 to 1713- were a lieutenant and others. In the old French War, in 1750, quite a number served, nine of whom died in the service. In the expedition under Lord Albemarle against Havana, January, 1762, several from Southington enlisted. When the town was incorporated, in 1779, one of its first acts in town-meeting was to offer a bounty of thirty bushels of wheat, and an allowance of five bushels of wheat for each monthi's service, to each able-bodied man who would enlist for three years in the Continental army. Those who enlisted for five or six months were granted a bounty of five bushels of wheat and a like monthly allow- ance. At the first town-meeting, November 11,1 Jonathan Root and
1 At a meeting held at Farmington, June 15, 1774, to protest against the blockade of Boston, a committee was appointed to take in subscriptions for the relief of the town, and on the list are these names of residents in Southington Parish : Jonathan Root, Josiah Cowles, Daniel Lankton, Jonathan Andrews, Jonathan Woodruff, Aaron Day, Timothy Clark, Josiah Lewis, Hezekiah Gridley, Jr., Asa and Thomas Upson, Amos Barnes, Stephen Barnes, Jr., Aaron Harrison, who lived in the southwest part of the parish, now Wolcott, and Simeon Hart, who removed that year to the part of Farmington now called Bristol.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
Captain Josiah Cowles were chosen a committee "to Provide for the Famelies " of officers and soldiers in the field. The number who served in the Revolution was 99; in the War of 1812, 7 ; in the Mexi- can War, 2. In the War of the Rebellion 313 served, distributed as follows : First cavalry, 12; first artillery, 14; first light battery, 4; second artillery, 6 ; first infantry, 3; second, 6 ; fifth, 20; sixth, 12; seventh, 35 ; eighth, 17 ; ninth, 2; tenth, 9; eleventh, 2; twelfth, 27; thirteenth, 2; fourteenth, 16; fifteenth, 2; sixteenth, 1; eighteenth, 1; twentieth, 84; twenty-second, 16 ; twenty-third, 3; twenty-fifth, 2; twenty-ninth, 3 ; thirtieth, 2; Harland's Brigade Band, 4; U. S. Navy, 1; unassigned, 7.
The Rev. Levi Hart, D.D., son of Thomas Hart, was born April 10, 1738. He graduated at Yale College in 1760, and his religious experi- ence there led him to choose the ministry for a profession. He studied with the Rev. Dr. Bellamy, in Bethlehem, until May, 1761. He was licensed at Bolton, June 2, 1761, and returned at once to Bethlehem, where, in Dr. Bellamy's pulpit, he preached his first sermon. He was settled at Preston, February, 1762, and in that year married a daughter of Dr. Bellamy. She died in 1780, and in 1790 he married Mrs. Backus, of Norwich. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the College of New Jersey in 1800; was a member of the corporation of Dartmouth College from 1784 to 1788, and of that of Yale College from 1791 to 1807. He was prominent in forming the Connecticut Mission- ary Society, and made several journeys of a missionary nature during his life, preaching to the people in distant, sparsely settled regions. He was a very intimate friend of Dr. Bellamy and of Dr. Samuel Hopkins, of Newport, Rhode Island ; and he preached the latter's funeral sermon. He was active in support of Dr. Hopkins in the attack upon human slavery which he began about 1770. Dr. Hart died Oct. 27, 1808.
The Hon. Charles Carter Langdon, son of Giles and Sally (Carter) Langdon, was born Aug. 5, 1805. Naturally ambitious, he diligently improved the only advantages for education offered him in the com- mon schools. After teaching in Southington and elsewhere for several years, he accompanied his brother Levi to Marion, Alabama, and en- tered into partnership with him, and was connected with the firm until 1834, when he removed to Mobile. He gained a reputation as a writer of political articles, and in 1838 gave up business and purchased and assumed editorial control of the " Mobile Daily Advertiser," which he controlled for twenty years. Mr. Langdon was an ardent admirer and supporter of Henry Clay. He was active as a political debater, opposed with great vehemence and power the nullification measures adopted by South Carolina, and still later all disunion theories. He was a member of the Whig National Conventions of 1844, 1848, and 1852. In 1851 he was the Union candidate for Congress in the Mobile district, but was defeated by his Southern Rights opponent. He was a member of the Alabama legislature in the years 1839, 1840, 1856, and 1862, and was mayor of Mobile in the years 1848-1854. In 1854 he disposed of the " Advertiser," and established twenty-five miles from the city what is known as the Langdon Nurseries, also editing the agricultural department of the " Advertiser." In 1865 he was a member of the Alabama State Convention that met for reconstruction purposes. He
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was also elected to Congress, but, with other Southern members, was not admitted. His later years have been devoted to the development of the agricultural resources of the South.
The Hon. Romeo Lowrey, son of Daniel and Anna (Munson) Low- rey, was born at Redstone Hill (now Plainville), Oct. 3, 1793. As a boy in the district school he showed an unusual thirst for knowledge, and early Romeo Lowrey decided to enter college. At Yale, where he remained by practising the most rigid economy, and from which he was graduated with honor in 1818, he was popular with his classmates, one of whom said of him, "his word was as good as his oath." With an indebted- ness at graduation of over eight hundred dollars, he gladly accepted the position of tutor in a private family near Winchester, Virginia, receiving his board and a salary of four hundred dollars per year. After teaching a year he came North, studied law in the office of the Hon. Anson Sterling, of Sharon, was admitted to practice in 1820, and opened an office in Southington, where he remained till his death, Jan. 30, 1856. He was influential in the town, and a valued member of the Congregational Church. He took high rank at the Hartford County Bar. In both branches of the legislature he made a favorable impression, and on the Bench was sound and practical.
The Rev. Rollin H. Neale, D.D., son of Jeremiah and Anna (Fuller) Neale, was born Feb. 13, 1808. His family were Baptists, but as their church had become extinct, they attended the Congrega- tional Church, and young Neale excelled in the Sabbath school in memorizing verses. Every moment that could be stolen from work was given to reading, to the grief of his father, who feared he " would never amount to anything." When he was fourteen, the Rev. Mr. Ogden gave him gratuitous instruction in the classics and lent him books. Ile began teaching at an early age. At sixteen he was bap- tized, and received into the Baptist Church of Bristol, and exhibited such gifts in the prayer-meetings that he was advised to begin preach- ing, but was unwilling to do so until he had obtained a better educa- tion. The Rev. Luther Rice, financial agent of Columbian College, Washington, heard of him, and induced him to enter that institution. Soon after beginning his course of study, he was called to address assemblies of colored people, then to preach in neighboring churches, and thus, without a formal license, began his ministerial life at sixteen. The poverty he endured while in college was borne with great cheer- fulness. He remained until the college was closed for financial rea- sons, then preached for a time in the Washington Navy-yard, and in 1830 entered Newton Theological Seminary. He was settled for three years over the First Baptist Church of New Haven, and was then called to the First Baptist Church of Boston. Dr. Neale has for many years been ranked among the foremost preachers of the denomination.
Edward Robinson, D.D., LL.D., son of the Rev. William and Eliza- beth (Norton) Robinson, was born April 10, 1794. Naturally deli- cate, he was released from farm work, and devoted himself to reading and mechanical inventions with almost morbid persistency. He was generally at the head of his class, and was remembered by his school- mates as a painfully shy and ungainly boy. He was at one time under
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
the tuition of the Rev. Irael B. Woodward, of Wolcott. He taught school in Farmington and East Haven, and in 1812 entered Hamilton College, living in the family of his maternal uncle, Professor Norton. He was valedictorian of the class of 1816. In 1817 he studied law in the office of James Strong. In 1818 he became a tutor in the college, and was married, September 3, to Eliza, daughter of the Rev. Samuel and Jerusha (Bingham) Kirtland. On her death, July 5, 1819, he devoted himself to study, and published an edition of Homer. He was licensed to preach, Oct. 1, 1822, by the Hartford South Associa- tion. He was instructor in Hebrew at Andover, 1823-1826. In 1826 he went to Germany, spending four years in study. He married, Aug. 7, 1828, Therese Albertine Louise von Jakob, daughter of Pro- fessor von Jakob, of the University of Halle. He became professor and librarian at Andover in 1830, and in 1831 founded the " Biblical Repository." In 1834 he removed to Boston, and spent three years in preparing his works. In 1837 he accepted a professorship in Union Theological Seminary, New York. Several years were devoted to travel in the Holy Land, resulting in two volumes of " Biblical Researches." His eyesight failed in 1861, and on Jan. 27, 1863, he died.
Jesse Olney, son of Ezekiel and Lydia (Brown) Olney, was born in Union, Tolland County, Oct. 12, 1798, where his father had removed from Providence, Rhode Island, after the Revolution. He was descended from Thomas Olney, who came to America with Roger Williams and became treasurer of the Providence Plantation, and whose family intermarried with that of Roger Williams for three generations. Jesse Olney was an ambitious scholar, and made the most of the scanty advantages afforded in his childhood. Before he became of age he removed to Westmoreland, New York, and after a time entered the Whitesborough Institute, finishing its prescribed course of study. He taught for a time in Binghamton, New York, and in 1821 became prin- cipal of the Stone School, in Hartford, holding this position twelve years. In 1828 he published the first edition of his Geography and Atlas, which passed through ninety-five editions. A series of text-books in arithmetic, history, and reading followed ; and to perfect these he vis- ited Europe several times. His " National Preceptor " passed through thirty-five editions, his "History of the United States" through forty- three ; and his "Family Book of History " was equally popular. He removed to Southington in 1833. He labored faithfully to raise the standard of the common schools, aided with wise counsel and open purse young men who were seeking an education, and in all offices of publie and private trust he seeured public favor, and endeared himself to all who knew him by a sympathetic heart and a blameless moral character. He was ten times elected member of the legislature, and for two years was Comptroller of Public Accounts for the State. He was the founder and chief supporter of the Unitarian Church, and after he left the town it ceased to exist. Mr. Olney was married in 1829 to Elizabeth, daughter of Eli Barnes, of New Haven. He died at Stratford, July 31, 1872.
Edward Twichell, son of Joseph and Phebe (Atkins) Twichell, was born in Wolcott, Sept. 5, 1810. His early life was spent on a farm ; but at the age of sixteen he came to Southington, and apprenticed
R. A. Neal
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SOUTHINGTON.
himself to Timothy Higgins, a tanner. He afterward became a partner, and in later years was also connected with the manufacturing interests of H. D. Smith & Co. He united with the church in 1834, and in 1851 was elected deacon, receiving forty-six out of the fifty votes east. " His qualifications," said his pastor, Mr. Jones, " were sterling piety, soundness in faith and doctrine, good common sense, and a quiet, pleasant, unobtrusive manner." In church, Sunday school, and prayer- meeting he was ever at his post. Once, on communion Sunday, the snow had drifted badly; but with the elements of the sacrament in one hand and a shovel in the other, the faithful man opened his own path to the church, two miles distant. His loyalty to his convietions, his large-hearted generosity, his freedom from censoriousness and fault- finding, and his genial spirit will be long remembered in the town. He died April 16, 1863.
Other names, which should at least be mentioned in even so brief a sketeh as this, are : -
The Rev. Irenus Atkins, born 1792, who was from 1827 to 1839 pastor of the Baptist Church, and revived it from a very reduced condition.
Samuel Andrews, born 1695, first elerk of the Ecclesiastieal Society. He held - and his descendants of the
Sam ancorens for Reg
same name have sinee often held - the office of town clerk.
Captain Enos Atwater, born 1716, who was a large landholder, and established Atwater's mills.
Julius J. Barry
Dr. Julius Steele Barnes, born in Tolland, 1792, for fifty years resident physician of Southing- ton.
Timothy Clark, born 1732, town treasurer many years, and justice of the peace.
Cornelius Dunham, born 1740, first tavern-keeper in the town, and a large landholder.
Ichabod Culpepper Frisbie, who came from Branford in 1785, and was for a long while justice of the peace and selectman.
Rev. Elisha Cowles Jones, died in 1857, pastor of the Congrega- tional church for thirty-five years, of well-balanced mind, a elear thinker and shrewd observer; for many years acting school visitor, and a great power in the town outside of as well as within his own communion. An extended sketch of his life is given in Timlow's Historical Sketches.
Jared Lee, born 1712, justice of the peace and officer of the Congre- gational Church and Society.
Oliver Lewis, born 1793, deacon of the
Congregational Church for thirty-five years.
Oliver Lewis
Selah Lewis, born 1798, for a long time the chorister of the Con- gregational Church.
Roswell Moore, born 1761, justice of the peace and a man of leading influence in town affairs.
Dr. Mark Newell, born 1758, who came back to Southington in 1786, and was the leading physician until his death, in 1829.
Sylvester Norton, born 1784, judge of probate and leading business man, and presidential elector in 1828.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
Jonathan Root, born 1707, first selectman, and long prominent in town affairs.
Stephen Walkley, born 1782, county surveyor and judge of probate. For forty consecutive years, beginning in 1818, he held some office in the town, or in an ecclesiastical or school society, or probate district.
One of the leading citizens of Southington is Roswell A. Neal, born at New Hartford, Jan. 21, 1821, son of Elisha Neal and Naomi Frost. He worked at clock-making in his father's shop as a boy, and subse- quently until he became of age was on a farm, the last year in Forest- ville (Bristol). Then for two years he sold clocks in Maine and New Brunswick. Later he formed a partnership with M. W. Atkins in For- estville for manufacturing steelyards. This terminated in 1849, and he removed to Southington, where he engaged in business with the Peck, Smith, & Co., manufacturers of tinners' tools, etc. In their interest he travelled all over the country, selling almost their entire production. In 1861 he became president of the company, and has held the office ever since. He is now president of the Peck, Stow, & Wilcox, South- ington Cutlery, and Atna Nut Companies, of the Southington National Bank, and the Mallett Cattle Company of Texas, and is a director in other important concerns. He has been for many years chairman of the trustees of the Baptist Church and treasurer of the society. He represented Southington in the legislature in 1867, 1869, 1874, and 1881, and has held important town offices. The success of Southington manufacturing enterprises is largely due to his energy and executive ability.
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