USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the aboriginal period to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five, Volume I > Part 56
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105
He furnished to Dr. Bronson's History of Waterbury an inter- esting autobiography which fills pages 450 to 455.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE LIFE OF THE PEOPLE FROM 1783 TO 1825-THEIR MANNER OF DRESS AND THEIR CUSTOMS-THEIR HOLIDAYS AND HOW THEY OBSERVED THEM-THE WAY IN WHICH THEY LIGHTENED THEIR TOIL BY MAKING PLAY OF WORK-THEIR OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH- SOME DISTINCTIONS IN EARLY MORALS-THEIR AMUSEMENTS PURE AND SIMPLE-SOME OF THE PROMINENT CHARACTERISTICS OF THE "AGE OF HOMESPUN."
I N the chapter preceding this we have considered the principal events which belong to the period from 1783 to 1825, both national, state and local. We may now turn from the things which the people did and the things which happened to them, to the people themselves, the manner of their life, how they dressed, their interests, amusements and customs. As we all know in a general way, the inhabitants of Waterbury early in the century did not fret greatly about the fashions, although they looked to France for them in those days just as we do to-day. The men wore broad- brimmed hats, broad-tailed coats with huge pockets, long waistcoats, breeches and worsted socks. The socks, except those of the parson and the doctor, which were silk, were knit at home by the wives. The women had small pinched bonnets,* linen short-gowns for work, and dresses with the waist as abrupt as possible and the skirt very scant. Pretty girls, however, never looked prettier than they did in those days, with muslin "vandykes" over their shoulders. The house-mothers had small shawls worn in the same way. Their garb, uncouth as it may seem to us to-day, was suited to their needs, and, being home-made, endured "to the third and fourth genera- tion." Almost every woman possessed one good silk gown brought from over the sea, carefully laid away in lavender in her chest of drawers, to be looked at on stated occasions, smoothed with a lov- ing hand and put by again with a half-sigh for memory's dear sake. Portraits taken at this date, showing the styles abroad, give dresses
* In 1808, at the New England Methodist Conference in New London, the women had donned these " mode" bonnets as the proper head-gear for this solemn occasion. During the week before, the one mil- liner of the town had made seventeen of these, each one a little more " pinched " than the preceding; a minute model for them having been brought by a circuit preacher from Middletown in a snuff-box! The reader will remember how the elderly maiden in Longfellow's "Hyperion," having but a scant supply of ribbon, as she sat on the left side of the aisle, charged her milliner to " put the bow on the meetin'-house side of the bunnit."
52I
LIFE IN THE " AGE OF HOMESPUN."
much like the recent popular " princess" robe. One of these pic- tured ladies, in a toilet worn at Madam Washington's first reception, has on a huge brown hat flaring at the crown, with a heavy cord and tassel knotted round it above the brim. In 1811 a woman looked as if clothed in a long, scant, loose gown, corded at the waist with many frogs á la militaire down the front. The bonnet was as much like a coal-scuttle as anything to which we can compare it, with an amazing knot of feathers over the edge, the hair bunched above the eyes and curled down on the cheeks like "Crazy Jane." By 1815 the brim had spread, the crown in style like a two-quart measure rose with a mass of plumes on one side, and a military cape, much trimmed, covered the shoulders. Altogether madam looked like a female trooper. In 1820 the huge-brimmed hat came into vogue and feathers galore topped it off .* The waists were now "indi- cated," the sleeves being high on the shoulders and puffed to the wrist. A turnover collar, a knotted scarf and a heavy, brilliant long shawl with embossed borders were "all the go." The hair was parted in the middle and much be-crimped. By 1828 the milliners had changed the bonnet to a flaring hat, with huge puffs of hair on each side of the head and portentous bows wherever they could stick them. An over-dress, with huge sleeves, pointed cuffs, collars reaching out beyond the shoulders and opening over an embroidered skirt, made, strange to say, a very pretty costume. The military style of 1811 and 1815 had passed away with the war, and a really lady-like garb was coming in. Does one think that these changes affected Waterbury ? A writer speaking of New London, which was a maritime town with vessels constantly going and coming, and thus keeping constantly in touch with the outside world, says that in 1820 the women still clung to the funny little close bonnet fastened on with long pins, the plain linen cap with close border, and the short red cloak with the hood falling back. The men still wore enormous steel shoe-buckles and vast checkered pocket-hand- kerchiefs.t Would not the little inland towns pattern their style of dress after one which knew " what was what" in the great out- side world, because it was constantly "trading " with it?
We think of those days, and rightly, as simple days, when pomp and show and vanity of dress were but little esteemed as compared with the importance in which they are held to-day. But do we not exaggerate the simplicity of those earlier days ? At any rate, when the rank and fashion of the colonial time, and even of the time
* One, considered the height of perfection, worn by a young belle on her first visit to the capital, would have held in its crown two volumes of the Waterbury History.
+ Miss Calkins' History of New London.
522
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
following the inauguration of the Republic, appeared in their finest on some day of state, the effect was artistically brilliant much beyond any ordinary gathering of our own time. It must have aroused a spirit of pride in mere externals that savors very much of the same devotion to fashion which we moderns deplore. For example, Edmund Quincy, in his chapter on Commencement day contributed to the " Harvard Book," thus describes the scene:
The old meeting-house, which was admirably constructed to display an audi- ence, must have had a gorgeous effect in the days of gold lace and embroidered waistcoats and peach-bloom coats, of silver-hilted rapiers, of brocades, of the "wide circumference of hoops and the towering altitude of crape cushions." I recollect a venerable lady telling me how she sat up all night in an elbow chair the night before Commencement in 1753, for fear of disturbing the arrangement of her hair, which had to be dressed then or not at all, such was the demand for the ser- vices of the fashionable coiffeur of the time.
From this last little incident it is evident that the minor vanities held strong sway then in the feminine bosom, and it is not probable that they lost any of their seductive charm with the passing of the years.
But to return from a state occasion at New England's princi- pal capital to the ordinary life of humbler Waterbury. We have spoken of materials for clothing as being raised at home. An itin- erant weaver * dressed other people's cloth, put up his loom and tossed his shuttle, in nearly every household. He was followed by the tailor, who twice a year made up the various garments of the various families. It may be interesting to note in this connection the cost of these humble services. We have the bill of a tailor who followed his craft here in Waterbury, for the years 1818-20, for the board and other expenses of John Morse, son of Josiah Morse, who began boarding, so the bill states, with the man who presented it, December 17, 1818. The items are as follows:
1818.
Oct. 28.
To making pantelloons,
$ .33
To footing stockings, . .25
1819.
Jan. 14.
To making vest, .
.42
To silk and twist for vest,
.12
April 30. To cloth pantelloons and making the same,
2.50
* " To the Promoters of American Manufacture": William Russell, Stocking Weaver, "is positive that if furnished with good yarn-slack-twisted-he can turn out in his loom gloves and stockings preferable to the imported."-Litchfield Monitor of March 6, 1793.
James Sutton, one of the first Irishmen who came to Waterbury to live, was a weaver. In 1813 he worked for Austin Steele. Tommy Hood of the same trade fled to Waterbury, having got into trouble with the gov- ernment.
523
LIFE IN THE " AGE OF HOMESPUN."
June 8.
To four yards of cotton shirting, 33 cents per yard, 1.32
To making two cotton shirts, .60
To one yard and a half of striped linnen and making the same, . .75
Nov. 10. To two yards of woollen cloth, one dollar and 33 cents per yard, 2.66
To trimings and making pantelloons, .33
I820.
Jan. 12. To one pair of woollen stockings, . .50
May 5. To two yard and quarter of woollen cloth, 3.95
To making coat, 1.50
To 14 gilt buttons, .50
To silk twist and thread for coat, .20
To cloth for pantelloons and making, 1.50
June 8.
To two yards and half of linnen cloth, thread and making the same, 1.00
To four yards of cotton cloth, thread and making, 1.75
To triming and making vest, .33
$ 20.50
To board and schooling at ten shilling per week two years ending Sept. 17, 1820, 173.33
To boots and shoes found by Andrew Bryan, 10.00
Total, $203.83
To provide shoes for the household, every hide was saved and sent to the tanner, being returned in assorted leather. The ambulating son of Crispin arrived at set seasons with his lapstone and awls, and did not leave until every foot was shod. We have said that the woollen stockings were knit by "women-folk " at evening. Light was expensive in the remote days of which we write, and farmers and farmers' wives were too tired, even if they had the desire, to sit up very late. Generally, unless in case of illness or death, small towns like Waterbury were darkened ere daylight had fairly fled. As for knitting, however, experts could "set on," or "bind off," or "round a heel," by the sense of touch alone. The tallow "dips," which were the sole dependence for lighting, were expensive, although they were home-made. The smallest odds and ends were therefore preserved and burnt out on sharp points provided for the purpose, set on a spring in the handsome brass candlesticks which had a place in so many households, heirlooms from beyond the sea. Flax was raised and put through the various processes of rotting, hackling, dressing, and last of all, spinning. The little wheel was a familiar friend, and ladies of wealth and position did not scorn to produce the finer kinds of thread, though in large families the burden
524
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
of this work was generally borne by some itinerant spinner .* The women of those days also had the sensible habit of finding pleasure in work. The girls of the period were often accustomed to take their wheels with them when they went to pay a visit, and thus for a day or two, perhaps longer, hostess and guests would pass the hours of spinning in social chat.
Cotton, that is, raw cotton, was as yet a curiosity, and it was not known whether it grew on a plant or on an animal.t Every farmer (and Waterbury folk were principally agricultural at this time) pos- sessed a few sheep, and the wool from these was spun at home. Merinos had become a craze and fortunes were made and lost in a day. A ram was sold for $1000 and a ewe for $100. Col. Humphrey of Humphreysville (now Seymour) imported 300 in 1810. The Hon. N. B. Smith of Woodbury won a fine gold medal as a prize for a ram exhibited at one of the annual cattle fairs of that day at Brookline, Mass. These fairs would be counted remarkable even to-day. The cattle shown were often of the finest breeds and came from remote parts of the several states. Returning from the sheep to the spinning of their wool in the household, we find that the most ordinary sight, as one entered, was the dye-tub which stood in the deep chimney corner, well covered over. On cold winter nights it formed a most desirable, cosy seat, which was well appreciated by the young people. S. G. Goodrich tells us :
When the night had come and the rest of the family had gone to bed-they did not "retire " in those days-the dye-tub became the anxious seat } of some lover whose lady fair sat demurely in the opposite corner. Some of the " first families in Connecticut " can tell of such courtships.
As was natural, the houses of those days were as unpretentious as the manner of living. Once in a while we find a house which might be called a "mansion," and contained a ball room, but resi- dences of this class were conspicuous for their rarity. Perhaps as good a type as any of the better class of houses was that of Mr. John Nichols. Afterward remodelled it became the residence of the late
* John McCloud, the first Scotchman to locate in Waterbury, early in the century, was a flax-draper. It is pleasant to record the fact that she who did the spinning with such amazing skill in the New England cottage at the Centennial at Philadelphia in 1876, and also at the " Wayside Inn " at the World's Fair of 1893 in Chicago, is a resident of Waterbury. She was the cynosure of all eyes at both those great exhibitions. People who meet her to-day, when her spinning-wheel is not in sight, are surprised to find her anything but aged and snow-white of hair. With flying fingers and swift feet she makes the "big wheel " sing and whirl merrily. Those who have the good fortune to stand near her on such an occasion have the chance of beholding the very "poetry of motion " in the active person of Miss Mary L. Tower.
+ In 1894 we raised 67-100ths of the world's production of cotton for that year.
¿ No chaperone was required then or dreamed of, unless, perchance, the coming in of the " father" to wind up the clock might, as it creaked aggravatingly, be considered a suggestion of watchfulness over a pretty daughter. Within the dye-tub itself, associated with so many possibilities of romance, was the "blue" for the linsey-woolsey short-gowns, aprons and mixed stockings.
525
LIFE IN THE " AGE OF HOMESPUN."
Dr. James Brown and stood on the site selected for the new High school .* This house, it is said, as well as several other houses of the class, was copied from an old house in Farmington, built by an officer in Burgoyne's army who was quartered there after the sur- render.t There were few wealthy people in Waterbury at this period, although the story is probably apocryphal that but one man in the town could get his note discounted at the New Haven bank. Those were the days when $20,000 was looked upon as a fortune. Socially speaking, Farmingbury (now Wolcott), West Farms (now Middlebury), and Westbury (now Watertown), were probably in advance of Waterbury. They were conceded to have greater wealth. A curious evidence of this fact is found in the superiority of the Watertown stores, for it was generally customary, at least in the earlier part of our period, for people here to go to Watertown to do their shopping. It took very little, judging by our standard, to make one "well off." The family of the widow Tamar Hotch- kiss, living on East Mountain, is instanced. This family had money at interest-the widow having received a pension for her husband, who had been a soldier in the Revolution-owned the only cider mill in the neighborhood, and bought wheat flour by the barrel. The "general run" of people at this time were satisfied with rye flour and corn meal and an occasional ten pounds of wheat, bought for some special occasion, such as Thanksgiving. This illustrates, in a homely way, how little it then took to live in comparative luxury. Carriages of any sort were very rare in the early part of the nineteenth century. There was but one wheeled gig in Water- bury for a long time. Pleasure coaches were all imported. When Pierpont Edwards drove through the state in 1798 in a four-wheeled chariot, he attracted more attention than would a coaching party of New York "swells" in a very remote country village to-day. Most of the travel that was not on foot was on horseback, the
women, as a rule, using pillions and riding behind. A little later, the "riding-cloth " came in. This was a large piece of cloth attached to the back of the saddle. When in use it was spread out on the horse's back and the extra rider sat on it, facing the animal's tail. When not in use it was rolled up at the back of the saddle. Whole families went to church on horseback, "ride and tie," as it was called. The father and older children started ahead, the mother and the smaller ones following on the back of the family horse. When the latter overtook the pedestrians there was often an ex-
* See Vol. II, page 346.
+ There was a pretty one and a half story house with a veranda-something of an exception-with dormer windows, where the building of the Young Men's Christian association now stands, as noted by Mr. Kingsbury.
526
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
change, the mother taking her turn at walking. There were few social distinctions in those days, at least in this part of New Eng- land. In Massachusetts and in New York, as well as in New Hamp- shire, the lines were drawn more strictly. The minister was the most conspicuous social figure in the ordinary New England town. When he jogged by in decorous fashion on horseback, the children were expected to form in line and make their "obeisance." His pastoral calls were events, and his word was largely law in many of the more important affairs of the town. He often stayed in the one parish during his life and commanded general respect, mingled sometimes with more or less of awe. The descriptive phrase "a pope in his parish" is not without literal truth when applied to this period. The other two learned professions had a prestige then which they have almost entirely lost to-day. A man who repre- sented a college education stood for social superiority because of that fact-something which we no longer accord to mere learning. This is in its way a tribute to the place which "brains" held in the general esteem at that time. If one were to assign a social rank to the three professions, the minister must come first, the lawyer second, and the doctor third. All, as a rule, were more or less farmers, especially the minister, who eked out his narrow income by cultivating his land. It is stated that one country clergyman of this period, whose salary was only $500 a year, started suc- cessfully in the world a family of two sons and six daughters, giving each daughter $500 as a dowry when she married. This was accomplished by thrift, by prudent management of the farm, and by taking boys to board and fitting them for college. This case is typical of many other clergymen of this period. When the minister travelled, the houses of his brother ministers were always thrown hospitably open to him, and the drain on his resources was small. The doctor, nearer the end of the period under review, made his rounds in a two-wheeled sulky, a vehicle which had room for himself alone and for his supplies of medicine
Life was not then, any more than now, a ceaseless round of routine toil. There was the occasional break, looked forward to no doubt with anticipation, as the seasons brought around the great func- tions of the year. Such were, in homely phrase, butchering-time, candle-dipping day, soft-soap boiling, "sugaring-off," and other similar opportunities of fun and frolic. These were important events in every small town and every household. Small families would club together and share one "beef critter" among them .*
* The itinerant butchers would only do their work at certain phases of the moon. Otherwise the meat " would shrink in the pot."
527
LIFE IN THIE " AGE OF HOMESPUN."
Other families would each own a whole one, as their means per- mitted. The larger farmers who had outside "help" would often hang one to freeze solid "for fresh." It would remain so all winter. On occasion the axe was resorted to, literally to hack out a dinner or so. A second one would be "salted down." In midwinter the hogs were "prime " for slaughter, if there was a good body of clean dry snow * on the ground. On a certain day by early dawn the work was begun. By nightfall the bodies were hanging in the out- buildings to cool off. The next day they were cut up and salted, certain portions being set apart for the toothsome sausage, others for head-cheese, souse, ribs and roasts, and the tails for the young- sters to cook in the ashes. Such hams are not known nowadays ! They were rubbed three times, at intervals of two weeks, with a mixture of salt, sugar and spices in exact proportion, resting be- tween times in a large cask, the drippings that oozed from them being poured over them every day. When such ceremonies were to take place, huge fires were lighted early in the big out-kitchens. Heavy brass kettles were hung on the long-armed and many-hooked cranes,t and an immense boiler sent up volumes of steam, which froze on the rough-hewn beams, despite the roaring flames. On butchering day, ghostly carcasses hanging to the beams in their pink beauty were all that remained by nightfall to tell of the tragedy of the past twenty-four hours. All the year round, a huge open cask, raised above the ground, stood full to the brim of wood ashes, with several spouts at the base. The soft rains of heaven fell upon the ashes and formed the leach used in making the soap of our ancestors. In the soap-making season, this product of ashes and rain and clear brook water was poured into the big kettles to do its work. That work consisted in eating up to the smallest morsel the grease that had been saved and clarified throughout the previous year for this special purpose. The work having begun, you can see in the whirling mass that the grease is proving non- resistant. Over and over it turns. After a certain point is passed, it thickens into a marble-like brown mass. An expert stands by to watch it, for it is evident that the "soap is comin'." The skilled eye and the quick hand know what to do-to add more leach, to boil further, or at the proper moment to dash in cold water and give the mass a sudden chill. See how it feels this! It whirls and whirls, hesitates, gives one last long gasp, and the year's supply of soap has "come."
* Spareribs and certain other cuts were packed in snow in barrels, and set where they would keep frozen for weeks, a first-class " cold storage " being thus provided.
+ See Longfellow's "Hanging of the Crane."
528
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Candle-dipping day was an equally busy one in the late fall. A monster brass kettle received the tallow, which was put through two scaldings and skimmings. When strained, this was lifted off the fire and placed in two deep vessels one-third full of water. The wicks were prepared the evening before, men, women and children making merry over the work. They cut the wicking into lengths and twisted these sharply one way, then slid them, doubled, over the long, slender candle-rods, when they themselves twisted readily in the opposite direction. With the two rods between the fingers of each hand, the solemn process of dipping began. Down into the melted tallow and up into the air went the wicks. At first very little tallow adhered, but soon, dip following dip, one began to see that candles were forming. "Six to a pound " and long and thick! Before a great while others must be dipped. New workers took hold and gave the first a chance to rest their aching arms. When all this was over, long racks of rods hung heavily laden with candles between rails raised on bricks. The end had been reached and the supply of light, such as it was, had been produced for the ensuing year. The new " dips " were now ready for use.
When the days grew longer, and it "froze o' nights and thawed daytimes," they watched the maple trees as they began to drip from the point of every little twig. Then the elder spouts, which the boys had whittled out in the evenings by the blaze of the big fire, were taken out, examined and made ready. Every farmer had at least a few maple trees, and those of a certain age were tapped, sev- eral auger holes being bored, above and below, four or five feet from the ground. If the trees were of generous girth, a second line of holes was usually made at the base. Into these the elder spouts were inserted and pails were hung beneath them. In warmer days the pails filled fast. Every passer-by was privileged, even expected, to stop and take a drink. All day, until the evening chill checked the running, the men and boys of the farm carried in the flowing pails, and emptied them into barrels, where by nightfall there was usually a sufficient supply for boiling down. Then merry groups gathered in the big out-kitchens where, since mid-afternoon, fires had been roaring under the hugh brass kettles. These were no ordinary fires, for into them went the selected odds and ends of the wood-pile, seasoned for the purpose. There were moments of diver- sion from the work in hand. Potatoes and corn were roasted, apples toasted, and prophetic nuts* were placed on the andirons.
* The prophetic nuts were placed on the andirons in pairs and were anxiously watched. Some of these couples hopped apart, some burst apart, some would jump into the fire together. Rarely, one would pop out on to the bare floor, its mate following quickly after. This was considered an omen of future marriage.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.