USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. II > Part 8
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1 Canton, originally West Simsbury, ineludes Canton Centre and Collinsville, and has a territory of about twenty-three square miles. Settled, 1737 ; made a parish, 1750 ; incorporated as the town of Canton, 1806. Changes of area have been : the early acquisition of a mile tier from New Hartford on the west, and the setting off in 1873 of about one eighth of the town, to Simsbury on the northeast. In 1758 there were 64 tax-payers ; in 1880 there were 2,299 inhabitants. Principal industries, the manufacture of edge tools at Collinsville, and agri- culture.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
Kingdom. Cherry Brook and Cherry Pond - the latter a considerable body of water a mile south of Canton village, extending into Avon - were named from an Indian called Cherry, who, it is said, acquired that name from his fondness for cherry-rum. He was finally horse- whipped and driven from the place, because when intoxicated he threatened to scalp Oliver Humphrey, keeper of the public-house, for refusing to sell him more rum. He lived on the bank of the brook. Indian relies are frequent in the town and Indian traditions abound. One is that Silas Case, of East Hill, received from a dying Indian in- struction in the nature of herbs and diseases that made him for years a famous healer of the sick.
"SATAN'S KINGDOM."
The first permanent white settler in West Simsbury was Richard Case, who in 1737 took possession of land on East Hill, granted to his father, Richard Case, of Weatogue (Simsbury). A part of this grant has remained ever since by direct inheritance in the possession of his descendants, and so has never been deeded.
The following historical sketches of the first settlers were prepared by the late Ephraim Mills, Esq., and they were published in Phelps's " History of Simsbury, Granby, and Canton," in 1845. They are now revised for this work.
Richard Case removed from the old parish to West Simsbury in 1737, and is supposed to have been the first settler, and to have erected the first dwelling- house. His son, Sylvanus, has ever been reputed to be the first English child born within the limits of West Simsbury. He had ten sons and two daughters. His descendants are numerous in Canton, Granby, and Barkhamsted.
There were four brothers of the Barber family, who removed from the old parish in 1738, - Samuel, Thomas, Jonathan, and John, - all of whom settled on lands contiguous to each other, within the limits of the old Centre school district in Canton. Dr. Samuel Barber had eleven sons and three daughters, all of whom lived to adult years. Some of his descendants are now living in this town.
Sergeant Thomas Barber had five sons and five daughters, all of whom lived to adult years. Some of his descendants now reside in the town.
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CANTON.
Jonathan Barber had two sons and one daughter. He died in early life (1745), at the siege and capture of Louisburg. None of his descendants reside in this town.
John Barber had five sons and one daughter. He died in 1797, aged seventy- seven years. His son Reuben died in 1825, and was the first person buried in the new cemetery in Canton Centre.
Deacon Abraham Case removed from the old parish to West Simsbury about 1740, and died in 1800, aged eighty years. He had two sons and five daugh- ters. He settled on the East Hill.
Amos Case, brother of Abraham, settled on the East Hill about 1740. He had five sons and four daughters, all of whom lived to adult years. He died in 1798, aged eighty-six.
Benjamin Dyer, a schoolmate of Dr. Franklin, came from Boston to West Simsbury about 1741. He had five sons and two daughters. He resided one mile northeasterly from Collinsville. The house built by him is said to be the oldest in town.
Samuel Humphrey came here about 1741. He settled in Canton village. He had three sons and three daughters, all of whom lived to marry and leave children.
Joseph Mills, aged thirty, married Hannah Adams, aged fifteen, and came here in 1742 or 1743, and settled in Canton Centre. He had ten sons and four daughters, all of whom he lived to see married and have children. He died in 1783, aged eighty-nine.
Ezra Wilcox came here about 1740, and settled on the west side of the Farmington River, opposite the mouth of Cherry Brook. He had five sons and four daughters.
Dudley Case was a brother of Daniel, Zaccheus, and Ezekiel. He came here in 1742, and built a public-house in Canton village, afterward long known as the Hosford House. He had seven children. He died in 1792.
Oliver Humphrey, Esq., came here about 1742, and settled in Canton village, and was the first magistrate in West Simsbury. He had eleven children, all of whom lived to adult years. He died in 1792.
Nathaniel Alford came here in 1742, and settled on the East Hill. He had one son and five daughters, all of whom were married and left children.
Lieutenant David Adams came here about 1743, and settled in North Canton. He had four sons and five daughters. He died in 1801.
Sergeant Daniel Case came here in 1743, and settled in Canton Centre. He had four sons and five daughters. He built the first grist-mill in the place. He died in 1801, aged eighty-one.
Captain Ezekiel Humphrey came here about 1744, and settled in Canton village. He had five sons and five daughters. He died in 1795.
Captain Josiah Case came here about 1743, and settled on the East Hill. He had two sons and four daughters. He died in 1789, aged seventy-one.
Isaac Messenger came here about 1743 or 1744, and settled in Canton Centre. He had ten sons and three daughters, all of whom were married and left children. He died in 1801, aged eighty-two.
Ensign Isaac Tuller came here in 1744 or 1745, and settled near Cherry Brook. He had three sons and eight daughters. He died in 1806, aged eighty-six.
Captain Zaccheus Case came here about 1749, and settled in Canton Centre. He had one son and six daughters, all of whom married and had children. He died in 1812.
Deacon Hosea Case came here about 1752, and settled on the East Hill. He had four sons and seven daughters. He died in 1793, aged sixty-two.
Captain John Foot came here in 1753, and settled in Canton Centre. He had two sons and four daughters, all of whom had children. He died in 1812, aged eighty-two.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
Captain John Brown came here from Windsor in 1756, and settled in Can- ton Centre. He had four sons and seven daughters, all of whom had children. He died in 1776 in the American army, at New York.
Solomon Humphrey came here about 1755, and settled near Canton village. He had three sons and two daughters, all of whom had children.
Among people born in Canton who have made their mark in the country are judges, college presidents, members of Congress, mayors of cities, lawyers, doctors, and clergymen, teachers, and successful men of business. The father and mother of the famous John Brown were natives of Canton.
Canton has never been lacking in patriotism. In the French and Indian War twenty soldiers went from there (West Simsbury), and only ten came back ; in the Revolution there were between seventy and eighty soldiers from the place ; in the War of 1812, about fifty ; and in the recent Civil War, two hundred and fifty-seven, - a large number of whom went never to return, or came home to die from injuries received in the service.
The people of West Simsbury began holding Sunday services in private houses about 1741. In September, 1746, at the house of Richard Case, they organized an ecclesiastical society ; and at the May session, 1750, the legislature created West Simsbury a distinct parish and the First Congregational Church was formed. Between 1747 and 1750 there was preaching by the Rev's Adonijah Bidwell and Timothy Pitkin. When the church was formed, the Rev. Evander Morrison was called, at a salary of £250, "old tenor," and thirty cords of wood, - the church to build him a house if he would furnish nails and glass. As the result of a quarrel he was dismissed in eleven months, and the house was not built. Succeeding pastors have been the Rev's Gideon Mills, 1759 to 1772, when he died; Seth Sage, 1774, to his dis- missal in 1778; Jeremiah Hallock, 1785, to his death, after forty-one years' pastorate, in 1826 ; Jairus Burt, 1826, to his death in 1857; and since then, the Rev's W. C. Fisk, Charles N. Lyman, A. Gardner, and David B. Hubbard. There was a secession from the church in 1778, led by the Rev. Mr. Sage. Meetings were held in private houses in the north part of the town for some years, and in 1783 a meeting-house was built on the Granby road, half a mile north of the present North Canton Methodist church. The organization was scattered at Mr. Sage's death. In 1783 another schism occurred, when the " Separat- ists " left the church ; and in 1785 these again separated, and the Bap- tist society was then established. Their first pastor was Elder Jared Mills. Their church was moved and rebuilt in 1839. A Methodist church was built in North Canton in 1871, and one in Collinsville in 1868; but this was closed in 1878. As early as 1751 there was a movement into the Episcopal church, but the withdrawing members joined the church in Scotland (Bloomfield). It was not until 1875 that a society was organized here. The Episcopal church was built in 1876. The Roman Catholic church in Collinsville was built in 1852.
Congregational service in Collinsville began in 1831, with preaching in Collins & Co's hall by the Rev. George Beecher, who died in Ohio
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CANTON.
from the effects of a gunshot. He was a son of Lyman Beecher. The church was organized in 1832 by the Rev's Dr. Joel Hawes, of Hart- ford, Allen Mc- Lean, of Sims- A.M. Prin smalle bury, Jairus
Burt, of Canton Centre, and H. N. Brinsmade, who had been preaching there since 1831. The Col- lins Company built the first
6.6. Yanarstalen
Congregational church in 1836. Among its pastors have been the Rev's Cornelius C. Van Ars- dalen, Frederick A. Barton, Charles Backus McLean, Alex- ander Hall, and E. E. Lamb.
The Cherry Brook meeting-house was built in 1763, and the present
Chas B. M Lean
A. B ar low
house of worship took its place in 1814.
Canton was incorporated by the legislature as a town in 1806, because of the inconvenience that its inhabitants suffered in having to go to Simsbury to vote. James Hum- phrey was town clerk until 1829; William H. Hallock succeeded him. In 1837 Hallock's house was burned, and all the town records destroyed.
As Collinsville grew in size, its inhabitants, like those of West Sims- bury at an earlier date, objected to going to Canton to vote. In 1860 the people of both villages agreed to hold their meetings alternately at one and the other place. In 1866 Collinsville was made a separate voting place for " electors' meetings," that is, general elections ; but the old New England town-meeting is still held alternately at Canton and at Collinsville.
As in all Connecticut towns, schools have formed from the beginning an important feature of life in Canton. Until 1796 the Ecclesiastical Society managed them, appointing the school committees yearly. Then the School Society was created, and appointed committees, inspectors, and even district committees. In 1839 the districts were allowed to choose their own committees, and in 1856 the general supervision of school matters was given to the town. The school question has been at the bottom of many of the most exciting controversies that the town has known, and the interest in it has been constant. The carly school- houses, with their huge fireplaces for burning four-foot wood, are yet remembered by some of their surviving scholars, who recall how, before matches were introduced, great endeavors were made to keep the coals alive over night; for if there were none there in the morning, some one must go to the nearest house for "fire." Not only in school-houses, but in all houses, the fire had to be kept burning, or else new fire must be got outside. The town of Canton appropriates about $5,000 a year for schools, including the allowance from the State. Careful of their schools, the people have always been orderly and law-abiding. There has never been a murder in the town, nor was there one in the parish before it became a town. Agriculture was the early occupation. Every farm had its flock of sheep, and every farm raised flax, and everybody wore and used woollen and linen that were made at home by the women of the household. The usual cereals were cultivated. There were many
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
apple orchards. Immense quantities of cider were made and everybody drank it. What was left was converted into cider-brandy, and this was sufficient to maintain a large number of distilleries, - at one time, about forty. The cider-brandy business was an important source of income to the farmers; but it has been practically discontinued, and the cul- tivation of tobacco takes its place. To the moralist, who mourns the spread of tobacco-culture, this fact is not insignificant. From cider- brandy to tobacco is certainly no descent in morals.
With the facilities that its ample water-power has furnished, Canton has always had manufactures of more or less importance, - at first
THE ORIGINAL COLLINS WORKS.
to meet the few wants of the local population, and later to supply the growing demands from outside; until now. with the vast development of the works at Collinsville, it has come to be one of the great manufac- turing centres of the State, whose products are known and used all over the world. The first forge for the manufacture of iron was started in 1774 by Colonel Talcott and Messrs. Forbes & Smith. It was just below the present covered bridge, near the house of Julius E. Case. This forge, and that set up in the south part of the town in 1792 by the brothers Captain Frederick and Colonel George Humphrey, were carried off by the flood of 1801. There have been grist-mills of Daniel Case, on Cherry Brook; of Ambrose Case, in the north part of the parish ; of Joseph Segur, near the present Collinsville covered bridge (he crossed daily to his mill by canoe) ; and of Orville Case, near the junction of Albany turnpike and Cherry Brook road. At one time there were seven saw-mills in Canton. The blacksmith's trade, of course, and wood-working and wagon-making were among the local industries. There was a flax-mill about sixty years ago on a stream south of the present residence of G. Woodford Mills. There have been several carding-mills in the town. Of the industries that have
GRANITE DAM, BUILT IN 1868.
POLISHING AND PACKING DEPARTMENT.
.. .
...
GENERAL VIEW OF THE COLLINS COMPANY'S WORKS AT COLLINSVILLE.
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CANTON.
disappeared, the most important were the manufacture of those two great forces, gunpowder and brandy, which have had so much influence upon society and human history. In 1825 there were not less than forty distilleries in Canton ; now, with double the population, there are less than half a dozen. The first powder-mills were built by Jared Mills and Edmund Fowler, on the Nepang stream, near its junction with the Farmington. Here the manufacture was carried on for sixty years, and not less than thirty people were killed in its successive explosions. In 1834 another powder-mill was built on Cherry Brook, near the North Canton cemetery, by Swett & Humphrey. This ran about twenty years. The whole business of powder-making was abandoned in the town about 1865.
The great body of the population of Canton is now gathered in Collinsville, about the extensive works of the Collins Company, which is practically the source and centre of all the activities of the place. The company directly or indirectly supports 2,500 of the inhabitants of the towns of Canton, Avon, and Burlington. Nearly all of Collinsville lies in the town of Canton, but the boundary lines of Avon and Burlington pass through its southern part.
The Collins axes, of which no less than fifteen million have been manufactured, are known and used all over the world. Before 1826 every axe was the hand-work of the common blacksmith. It was ham- mered out on the anvil and sold without an edge, so that half a day's grinding was needed to make it useful. This circumstance is the cause of the notion which still prevails on many farms, that an axe must be ground before use. The fact is, that no one can improve upon the edge which the skilled workman puts upon the finished tool. A blacksmith of Somers, in this State, named Morgan, whose axes had an excellent reputation, bought the steel for them from David Watkinson & Co., of Hartford. This attracted to axe-making the attention of David C. Collins, a nephew of Mr. Watkinson, and a clerk in his store, and he experimented in making some all ready for use, ground and polished, when sold. He soon determined to undertake the business, and formed the firm of Collins & Co., with his brother Samuel W. Collins and their cousin William Wells. This was in 1826. They bought the Humphrey grist-mill privilege, in the south part of Canton, on Farmington River. In December 1831 the post-office of Collinsville was established at what had been South Canton. Wages in the new factory, which were paid once a year, ranged from $12 to $16 a month, with board, and eight forged axes were a day's work. Now, one man with a helper forges from one hundred and fifty to two hundred.
In 1829 the use of Lehigh coal was introduced, these being the first edge-tool works in the world to use the fuel. In 1832 the factory was very much enlarged, and in that year Mr. E. K. Root, from Chicopee, Mass., was made the superintendent. He was a man of peculiar mechan- ical skill, and several of his many inventions, though made forty years ago or more, have never been supplanted or improved. One of these is the very essential machine for punching the heads of solid axe-polls. Mr. Root remained at Collinsville seventeen years. In 1834 Collins & Co. were succeeded by a corporation, the Collins Company, with a capital then of $150,000. Its capital has been increased by cash con-
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
tributions to $1,000,000, and it has paid a dividend every year of its existence since 1835. In 1867-1868 the company built a number of important works, including one of the most remarkable and finest dams in the country. It is three hundred feet long and eighteen feet high, and is made of massive blocks of native granite, fastened together and set into a groove cut in the solid rock-bed of the river bottom. The daily product of the works exceeds three thousand tools. . More than five hundred tons of steel and two thousand tons of iron, a large part of which is manufactured by the company, are every year made into tools there, and, in grinding an edge upon these, over six hundred tons of grindstones are worn to dust.
The success of the company is very largely due to the ability of the two remarkable brothers whose name it bears. Samuel Watkinson Collins and David C. Collins were the sons of Alexander Collins and Elizabeth Watkinson, of Middletown, where the father practised law. He died in 1815, and his widow and family moved to Hartford.
David C. Collins was born in 1805. Upon the removal to Hartford as a boy he was taken into the family and the store of his uncle, David Watkinson, in the iron busi- ness. His energy and keen business judgment are evi-
dent in the manner in which, when only twenty-one years old, he pro- jected the axe manufacture and organized the firm of Collins & Co. Both brothers devoted their lives to this company.
Samuel W. Collins was born in September, 1802, at Middletown. He went to live with Edward Watkinson, for whom he became clerk. Here he developed such capa- city for business, and so much Sam W.Collins executive ability, that before he was of age he was taken into partnership, the firm being Wat- kinson & Collins. In 1826 he became one of the new firm of Collins & Co., and from that time devoted his great energies to the axe business. Mr. Collins, as the resident manager and head of the com- pany for so many years, occupied a most important part in shaping its course, and also the affairs of the community. He was singularly correct in his estimates of men, an admirable judge of character, and quick to recognize talent and to encourage it. In all his intercourse with his employés he commanded their respect and secured their affec- tion. He was always interested in their welfare, and was such an earnest opponent of strong drink, that he bought out at least two hotels and one drug-store to stop their liquor-selling, and paid one man to sign a promise never to live within ten miles of the town. In all the deeds under which he sold land to employés or others he inserted a clause prohibiting the manufacture or sale of liquor there, under penalty of forfeiture of the land. Mr. Collins died in 1871, in the beautiful home which he had built upon the west side of Farmington River. He had the satisfaction of seeing the work which he began in so small a way reach its great dimensions, and of having the name of Collins known round the world, and recognized as a synonym for honest work.
David B. Hale Levi Case,
VII. EAST GRANBY.
BY CHARLES HORACE CLARKE.
E AST GRANBY was incorporated in 1858, out of Granby and Windsor Locks. Granby was set off from Simsbury in 1786, and Windsor Locks from Windsor in 1854. The individual history of East Granby is chiefly that of the Turkey Hills Parish Society, which was the Northeast Society of Simsbury. This society was created in 1736, and in 1737 a part of the Northwest Society of Windsor was added to it; this part was taken from Windsor Locks and incorporated into East Granby when the town was established.
As early as 1793 an effort was made to have East Granby set off as a separate town, because Granby at that time reconsidered the vote under which the town-meeting was held once in three years at Turkey Hills. The limits then asked for the proposed town were practically those which were at last fixed upon.
The town embraces about eighteen square miles ; being four and a half miles cast and west, and averaging four miles north and south. Its population in 1860 was 833; in 1870, 853; in 1880, 754; showing a decrease in the last decade of more than twelve per cent. This decrease was due almost wholly to the decline in value of agri- cultural products, especially tobacco, which followed the close of the War of the Rebellion, and the extended culture of that product in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin. A more economical production was necessary, and there was consequently a limited employment of farm laborers. The Talcott range of mountains divides the town from north to south into nearly equal parts. That west of the mountain is rolling and somewhat hilly ; that east of the mountain slopes gradually down to a plain, and is of peculiar natural beauty.
As early as 1710 iron was manufactured at a mill on Stony Brook, in the extreme northeast part of the town, close by the Suffield line, and this is believed to have been the first manufacture of iron from ore procured in the colony. About 1728 a furnace called the " new works" was set up a mile farther south, on land now owned by Oliver M. Holcomb. The ore was from surface stone gathered in that part of Windsor which still retains the name of Ore Marsh. The manufac- ture of wire-cards began about 1820, on the Farmington River, and other industries followed. In 1846 the Cowles Manufacturing Company made spoons, and it is claimed was the first to make a practical success of electric plating. Its works gave the name of Spoonville to the site, and that remains, although spoon-making ceased there about thirty years ago.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
The town is free from debt, and an average annual tax of seven mills has been sufficient to support all public burdens during the last ten years. The town has two ecclesiastical societies, - the Congrega- tional, having its church edifice in the Centre, just at the foot of the eastern slope of the mountain ; and the Methodist Episcopal church, situated about a mile north of the old Newgate prison, on the west side of the mountain. The former was established in October, 1736, after a long and bitter controversy extending through many years. The final result was the division of Simsbury into four parish societies, of which Turkey Hills was one, - each to have independent ecclesiastical privi- leges. June 16, 1737, the parish of Turkey Hills voted to build a church, and applied to the legislature for a committee to locate its po- sition. John Edwards, James Church, and Joseph Talcott, Jr., having been appointed such committee, selected the site for the church at an " oak staddle," on land of Samuel Clark, upon the west side of the north and south highway, some ten rods south of the present dwelling- house of Charles P. Clarke, and about the same distance north of the intersecting highway leading eastward. Out of the bitter church con- troversy referred to there grew a topographical map of ancient Sims- bury. 1 This map shows that about 1730 there were living in the parish twenty-eight families, - twenty-three east and five west of the moun- tain. In 1709 there were but two families, -those of John Griffin and Joshua Holcomb, - both of whom lived near the Falls.
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