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 II > Part 21
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a farm upon his eldest son, James. He died in the "great sick- ness " of 1749, after a residence here of sixteen years, leaving an estate of £2,540 to his seven children. (See Vol. I, Ap. p. 109.) In the somewhat remarkable inventory of his estate are found the complete working implements of the carpenter, cooper, joiner and weaver, a sword and belt, two guns with brass fences, a halberd or battle-axe, and a canoe (with which he probably crossed the river to his farm when the stream was not fordable). To his youngest son, David, although he was but a lad of twelve years, he left his house and home lot. His sons George and Isaac remained in Water- bury, but James, the eldest, removed to Derby before 1757.
DAVID PRICHARD.
David Prichard, born in Waterbury, April 7, 1737, was a carpen- ter and joiner, and for a considerable period was the only man taxed for that " faculty" in Waterbury. He frequently made re- pairs upon the meeting-house; he also sold household furniture, and he made coffins. In an account book, among his charges are :
Phineas Porter, detor for a coffin for the captain; Reuben Adams, for a small coffin; the estate of Mark Bronson, detor for making his coffin. August ye 20, A. D., 1797, the estate of Mr. Leavenworth detor for his coffin, 16 shillings.
Living at the South Meadow gate, he kept the key of the pound near by, and filled two or three minor offices in the town. He seems to have lived a quiet life, which was continued for more than a century. He died in the house in which he was born. His favorite son, David, died December 22, 1838. When informed of that event the aged man made no reply and never spoke again. The funeral of David Prichard, Sen., and David Prichard, Jr., took place at the same time, the one aged 101 years and eight months, the other sixty-three years.
DAVID PRICHARD, JR.
David Prichard, Jr., was born October 24, 1775. He began his active career as a cabinetmaker, doing work of a fine order, which he continued for forty years. He first built a cabinet shop on the Apothecaries' Hall ground, and later, one on Grand street. In 1797 he built the house on Grand street now owned and occupied by Dr. A. S. Blake. About 1820 he became the owner of the water power and building for many years known as the Green shop, on land near Canal and Meadow streets. There he made clock-cases. The "movements" were bought of Silas Hoadley of Plymouth and Norris North of Torrington. The clock bells and weights were
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cast in a building near by, and the movements were put together by him. The clocks were sent to market in Georgia and North and South Carolina, by Henry Grilley ; in Canada by Samuel Horton, of Wolcott ; in New York, by David Prichard's son, Julius Smith. In Canada, clocks were often exchanged for horses, and Samuel Hor- ton occasionally returned with twelve or fifteen. The writer is told, by one who remembers seeing them, that a line of horses just brought in by him, and tied to the fence along the south side of Grand street, extended from Bank street to Cottage place, and numbered twenty-two.
David Prichard was a man of Christian character, a member of the First church, whose pastors were always his personal friends. He was of gentle presence, given to hospitality, of great kindliness of heart, and greatly beloved by his friends and family. His sons William and Julius Smith removed to Medina county, O., about 1828. They have numerous descendants in Ohio, Michigan, Iowa and Washington. Smith Prichard died in Brunswick, O., leaving one son, Frank William, who died in Jefferson, Ia. David Prichard's youngest son, Samuel Holland, is still living.
ELIJAH HOTCHKISS.
Elijah Hotchkiss was a descendant by a double line (in the fifth generation on the father's side and the sixth on the mother's) from the earliest representative of the Hotchkiss name in America. This was Samuel Hotchkiss (or Hodgkins), a member of the New Haven colony in 1641, who in the following year received permis- sion of the Court to marry Elizabeth Cleverly-both of them being minors, but affirming that they had the consent of their parents in England. Their fourth son, Joshua, the great-grandfather of Elijah Hotchkiss, became a prominent man in the New Haven community, and the suburb afterwards called Westville long bore his name. Elijah Hotchkiss was born in Derby, November 16, 1766, but soon after coming of age he removed to Waterbury and began the manu- facture of hats, a business which he continued for many years, being the only hatter in town. In 1808 he married Polly Clark of Milford.
Not long afterwards, allured by inducements represented as offered by the governor of Cuba for the establishment of industries upon that island, he sailed thither with his elder brother, carry- ing a large outfit in his line of trade. The enterprise was prolific of adventure but disastrous from a business point of view. When the brothers reached Cuba, the authorities, for some alleged legal informality, seized their goods. It required months of strenuous
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effort to secure an order of release, and when they had secured it, it was only to find that the most valuable part of the property had been stolen and the rest ruined. On the return voyage they were shipwrecked on an uninhabitable island-one of the smaller Florida Keys-and with starvation facing them, attempted to escape upon a raft, but fortunately were rescued by a wrecker cruising among the inlets. Before they reached the mainland, they were overtaken by a British man-of-war, and the two brothers were impressed into service under pretence that they were subjects of King George. But they were men of too stout hearts and strong wills to submit quietly to tyranny, and notwithstanding the obstacles thrown in their way, they found means, when the vessel put into a West Indian port, so to represent their case that they were released. When Mr. Hotchkiss again reached Waterbury he found that no messages had been received, and that, except his young wife, most of his friends had believed him to be dead. With indomitable will he began business anew, and though the days of Waterbury's pros- perous manufactures had not yet come, he accumulated a modest competence and made himself a respected citizen.
He was a man of very decided opinions and had an earnestly religious nature, so that his influence was always felt, and for good. For many years he was an active member and a deacon in the First Congregational church. Sometimes, in early days, in the absence of a clergyman, he conducted the services, reading a published ser- mon. He loved the church of his choice, and his place was never vacant there, unless on account of sickness. His daily prayer for " this branch of thy Zion which thou hast established " is yet re- membered by his descendants. They also recall how eagerly and intelligently he followed all news touching the national welfare, up to the time of his death, showing a comprehension of the trend of affairs sometimes lacking in younger men. He lived to the age of ninety-two, and died May 4, 1858, in consequence of the fracture of a leg. A few lines from an obituary sketch, written by his son, may be quoted:
His last years were quiet-like a summer evening, with the setting sun throw- ing its rays upon the landscape. He passed away, owing no man anything but good will, at peace with all men and with his God. His last audible words were a prayer commending his spirit unto Him who gave it, and imploring a bene- diction upon his children and his children's children.
Deacon Hotchkiss was twice married, his first wife and the mother of his children having died in 1808. His second wife was Lucinda Warner, of Plymouth. His children were two sons, Clark Beers and Horace, and a daughter, Rebecca, who was married to
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Charles D. Kingsbury. Clark Beers Hotchkiss was born in Water- bury, March 17, 1796, but removed in early manhood to Auburn, N. Y., where he established himself in mercantile business.
(A sketch of the life of Horace Hotchkiss is given elsewhere. See also Vol. I, Ap. p. 71.)
COLONEL JAMES BROWN.
James Brown, son of Stephen and Eunice (Loomis) Brown, was born in Windsor, December 2, 1776. He learned of his father the
James Brown
trade of a blacksmith. At the age of twenty-one he removed to Canton, where he remained one year. He then came to Waterbury and engaged with Lieutenant Ard Welton in the manufacture of
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firearms in the Sawmill Plain district, at which trade he labored for the remainder of his life. Not long after coming to Waterbury, he connected himself with a military company, and in course of time became colonel of his regiment. He was an original partner in the third rolling mill erected in Waterbury, in 1830. He was a member of the First Congregational church, and was made a deacon in 1818. He also belonged to the Masonic order.
On June 22, 1801, he married Lavinia, daughter of Levi Welton, of Wolcott. (Biographical sketches of their four sons are given elsewhere in this volume.) He died July 24, 1848.
CAPTAIN ANSON SPERRY.
Anson Sperry was the son of Jacob Sperry, of Woodbridge, and a descendant of Richard Sperry, who lived on the outskirts of New Haven and is said to have been the friend and protector of the regicide judges, Goffe and Whalley, and to have furnished them with food while they were hidden in the " Judge's cave" on West Rock. Jacob Sperry's father lost his life in the French and Indian war. He was himself a soldier in the war of the revolution, and after the war a captain of militia. He died in 1834, leaving two sons and four daughters.
Anson, the fifth child, was born on Town Plot, March 28, 1786. He owned a cooper shop near the point of land between West Main street and the Waterville road, where he carried on an extensive business, making hogsheads for rum and molasses. His work- men, it is related by his son, were the fortunate (or unfortunate) possessors of a tin horn, some six or seven feet long, upon which they performed their music ere the day broke, so that the sleepy citizens were often aroused by its resounding echoes, long before the bells pealed forth from the Benedict and Scovill factories.
He was a captain in the old Light Infantry, and through a series of years held various responsible positions in the town and borough.
On April 23, 1810, he married Lois, daughter of John Upson, of Southington. They had nine children, the sixth of whom, Char- lotte Eliza, is the widow of Robert Lang, and the youngest is Ann Ophelia Sperry. (See further, Vol. I, Ap. p. 130.) Captain Sperry died August 3, 1862.
His fifth child was Charles Anson, who was born July 24, 1819. He spent thirty-one years of his life in Illinois, where he followed his father's trade. When the war for the Union broke out he promptly enlisted in defense of his country. On the march to Atlanta, under General Sherman, he received a wound in the foot,
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from which he never recovered. After the war, he removed to Kan- sas, and lived for a time on a ranch. In 1889 he returned to Con- necticut, and resided in New Haven until his death, which took place on June 3, 1893, as the result of blood poisoning, caused by the old wound in his foot. He was buried at Riverside cemetery.
EDWIN SPERRY.
The elder brother of Captain Anson Sperry was Marcus Sperry, who was born March 14, 1779, and died at the age of thirty-two, leaving two sons, Edwin and Hosmer. Edwin Sperry was born March 8, 1808, and passed most of his life in Waterbury. He learned the trade of a cooper from his uncle, Captain Anson Sperry, and had a cooper shop for many years at the upper end of the street which bears his name.
In 1837 he became a member (with his wife) of the First church, and continued connected with it until his death. He was sexton of the church for more than twenty-five years. He represented the second ward of the city, at one time, on the board of councilmen. On May 1, 1831, h married Mary, daughter of Samuel Miles, and had five children. (See Vol. I, Ap. p, 130.) He died in Bridgeport, April 5, 1893, and was buried at Riverside cemetery.
His eldest daughter, Charlotte, married David Abbott, and after her husband's death removed to Chicago. His second daughter, Sarah Rebecca, married W. C. Palmer; his third, Mrs. Catharine Seagres, resides in Bridgeport; his two sons, Samuel M. and Henry T. Sperry, have homes in Waterbury, and his son Andrew resides in North Attleboro, Mass.
GEORGE GILBERT.
George Gilbert, son of Samuel and Sally (Macomber) Gilbert, was born in New Haven, November 1, 1816. He was educated at John E. Lovell's Lancasterian school. When twenty-one years of age, he removed to Waterbury and became a prominent mason and contractor. He was for many years secretary and treasurer of the Union Brick company.
On July 4, 1839, Mr. Gilbert married Maria English. She died in March, 1863, having had the following children : (1) Nellie Maria, who was born June 14, 1841, was married to George L. Streeter, October 1, 1860, and died September 26, 1861; (2) Charles J., who was born June 24, 1843, and married Jennie Pratt, October 19, 1864; (3) Kate L., who was born July 7, 1854, and was married November 12, 1873, to John B. Mullings. Mr. Gilbert's second wife was Sarah E. Strong, who survives him. He died July 8, 1887.
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J. M. BURRALL.
John Milton Burrall, son of Charles and Lucy (Beach) Burrall, was born in Canaan, January 8, 1817. He was educated in the Canaan schools and at a Hartford academy. He learned in Hart- ford the cabinetmaker's trade, and remained there four years. He then went into business in Plymouth and continued there until October, 1849, when he formed a partnership with George Root of Waterbury, and opened a furniture store on East Main street, under the firm name of J. M. Burrall & Co. In 1852 Mr. Burrall erected the building No. 60 Bank street, where the furniture and under- taking business has since been carried on under the different firm names of Burrall & Root, J. M. Burrall & Son, and J. M. Burrall & Co.
Mr. Burrall, aside from his holding the distinction of being the oldest in business in this city, is also one of the oldest directors of the Waterbury National bank, having been connected with it over thirty-five years. He has also for the past ten years or more been a director of the Waterbury Savings bank, and has served on the Common Council and the Board of Relief.
Mr. Burrall married, July 8, 1841, Mary L. Coley. Their children are: Charles Homer, who died in Plymouth, October 1, 1842, Lucy Marion, who was born May 8, 1844, and died March 9, 1866; Edward Milton, born May 24, 1848, married, May 17, 1877, Mary E., daughter of John C. Booth; Charles William, born April 10, 1850, married, October 2, 1872, Cora R., daughter of George Pritchard. Mrs. Bur- rall died January 29, 1889, and on April 9, 1894, Mr. Burrall married Mrs. Mary J. Bunnell.
SAMUEL A. CASTLE.
Samuel Augustus Castle, son of Samuel and Hannah (Hotch- kiss) Castle, was born in Prospect, February 23, 1822. He came to Waterbury at the age of fifteen, and, with the exception of two years spent in Cheshire, remained here until thirty years of age. In 1845 and afterward, he carried on the business of harness and saddle making. In 1852, he removed to New York city, where he spent the rest of his life. He had extensive business interests in that city, and also remained connected with some of the leading manufactures of Waterbury. On May 7, 1846, he married Mary Ann, daughter of Elisha Steele. Their daughter, Elizabeth Steele, mother of Samuel Castle Kellogg, was born March 8, 1847, and died October 27, 1867. She married, October 3, 1865, Norman Gil- bert Kellogg, whose first wife, Rebecca Hinckley, was the mother of Lizzie Gilder Kellogg, who married Edward S. Hayden. Mr. Castle died April 8, 1887, and was buried in Riverside cemetery.
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ALLEN B. WILSON.
Allen Benjamin Wilson, son of Benjamin and Frances Wilson, was born at Willett, Cortlandt county, N. Y., October 24, 1824. His father was a millwright and was killed by an accident while put- ting a water wheel in place. He left a wife and three young chil- dren, two of them girls. Allen was indentured at eleven years of age as an apprentice to a neighboring farmer who was also a car- penter, with whom he remained about a year. From 1835 to 1840 he worked at farming, spending his leisure time, however, in a neighboring blacksmith's shop, where he forged various tools for his own use. At the age of fifteen he built a small workshop, in which he made and set up a lathe for turning wood. He there con- structed water wheels and sawmills which he set in operation at the falls of a mountain stream near by. He also invented apple- parers and other useful or amusing contrivances. At sixteen he was apprenticed to a distant relative, a cabinetmaker. One day, having been sent with a team to a neighboring town, an enforced delay of several hours gave him opportunity to drive to Aurora, eighteen miles distant, to examine a steamboat engine, the first he had ever seen. His employer finding fault with him for this, he packed up his effects and set out for a new field of labor. He obtained work, and continued at his trade until early in 1847.
It was at this time, while working as a journeyman at Adrian, Mich., that Mr. Wilson conceived the idea of a sewing machine- never having heard of one-and settled in his own mind the devices and adjustments necessary to accomplish the various pro- cesses. But he did not then do anything toward the completion of his design. He was unable to work at his trade for a time on account of ill health, and when he obtained employment again it was at Pittsfield, Mass. He there set about developing his idea of a sewing machine. By November, 1848, he had made drawings of all the parts according to his previous conceptions. On the evening of February 3, 1849, he began the construction of his first machine, and completed it by April 1. He was compelled by want of means to construct every part of it himself, and as he was not a practical machinist and had no suitable tools, his first machine was rude and imperfect. Dress waists were made with it, however, and other articles requiring fine sewing, and it was exhibited to several per- sons. The main question for the inventor was, what kind of a stitch to make and how to make it. It must be a stitch requiring the least possible quantity of thread and making a seam not liable to rip. He arrived at the conclusion that these conditions could
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best be met by a lock-stitch made of two threads crossing each other within the two layers of cloth and presenting the same appearance on both sides of it. It did not require much mechanical ingenuity to conceive of a needle with an eye in the point, at the end of some reciprocating mechanism, to push it nearly through the cloth, carrying the thread with it, and then to withdraw it, leaving enough of the thread behind to form the loop.
In May, 1849, having meantime removed to North Adams, Mr. Wilson built a second machine on the same principle as the first, but of better workmanship. He induced Joseph N. Chapin to purchase one-half of the invention for $200, and with this money he secured a patent, November 12, 1850. Between 1830 and 1850, several patents for sewing machines had been granted in England and in the United States, but no one of them fully covered a practical and useful sewing machine. The first patent for such a machine was this of Mr. Wilson's. Before the end of the year he was introduced to Nathaniel Wheeler, then of Water- town, with whose name his own has ever since been so closely associated.
On a visit to New York Mr. Wheeler heard of the Wilson sew- ing machine, which was then in a room in the old Sun building on Fulton street. He examined it, saw its possibilities, and at once made a contract with E. Lee & Co., to manufacture five hundred of the machines. He also engaged Mr. Wilson to go with him to Watertown to perfect the machine and to superintend its manufac- ture. Their relations with Lee & Co. soon ceased, and within a short time Mr. Wilson substituted for the shuttle the rotary hook and bobbin now so well known. He had made in New York a model of a machine with this new device and had carried it with him to Watertown, and now showed it to Mr. Wheeler, who highly approved of it. He went to work to perfect the new machine, with the substitution referred to, and secured the patent for it on August 12, 1851 .* A co-partnership was formed, consisting of Messrs. Wheeler, Wilson, Warren and Woodruff, under the name of Wheeler, Wilson & Co., and the manufacture of machines under the new patent was begun. To avoid litigation, Mr. Wilson contrived the stationary bobbin, which not only removed the appearance of infringement but was free from the objectionable features of the shuttle. The stationary bobbin was a feature of the first machine put upon the market by Mr. Wheeler, although the patent for it was not granted until June 15, 1852.
* On the same date Isaac M. Singer received his first patent on the machine which has since been so formidable a competitor of the Wheeler & Wilson machine.
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The manufacture of sewing machines having been begun, the next step was to introduce them to the public. Mr. Wheeler took one of them to O. F. Winchester, then largely engaged in the manu- facture of shirts at New Haven. Mr. Winchester refused at first even to try it, but Mr. Wheeler had a complete shirt made on the machine, Mrs. Wilson being the operator. Mr. Winchester was impressed by the beauty of the work, and at once purchased the right for New Haven county. Mr. Wheeler carried two of the machines to Troy, N. Y., and left them with J. Gardner, a leading shirt manufacturer there. After a three weeks' trial, Mr. Gardner came to Watertown, and purchased one-half of the right for Rens- selaer county for $3000. Mr. Wheeler devoted himself to the intro- duction of the machine, especially in New York, Boston and Phil- adelphia, and several hundreds were sold. The business by this time had become so well established that others desired to obtain an interest in it. A proposal was made to the manufacturers that a joint-stock company should be organized, with a capital of $160,- 000, and this arrangement was completed in October, 1853. The inventor withdrew from active participation in the business, but in consideration of the value of his inventions he received a regular salary and considerable sums of money on the renewal of his pat- ents. On December 19, 1854, he patented his four-motion feed, whereby the flat, toothed surface in contact with the cloth is moved forward, carrying the cloth with it, then drops a little so as not to touch the cloth, then moves backward, then rises up against the cloth, and is again ready for the first motion.
The manufactory was continued at Watertown until 1856, when, owing to the increase of the business, the property of the Jerome Clock company, at Bridgeport, was purchased.
Mr. Wilson became a resident of Waterbury in 1855. He bought twenty-five acres of land on Westside Hill, south of West Main street, and erected there a commodious and well-equipped dwelling- house. Here he resided, with his little family, until near the end of his life. After his death the place was purchased by the Water- bury Hospital association.
Mr. Wilson held letters patent for improvements in grain and grass harvesters, in hand cotton-pickers, and in photographic cam- eras, also for an apparatus for generating gas, besides his several patents in sewing machines. In 1865 he erected a fine hotel, together with a large public hall, at North Adams. The invest- ment, however, proved to be an unfortunate one.
He married, in 1850, Harriet Emeline Brooks, daughter of Elisha Brooks of Williamstown, Mass. They had two children: Annah
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Bennette, who was born in 1853 and died in 1881; and Harriet Ethel, who was born 1870, and was married in 1891 to Henry Mer- win of Woodmont.
Several years before his death, Mr. Wilson's health became seri- ously impaired. He died on April 21, 1888, at Woodmont, where his family was residing, and whither he had been taken about two weeks previously. He was buried at Riverside cemetery.
C. B. WEBSTER.
Chauncey B. Webster was born in Burlington, June 19, 1826. He received a common school education and also attended an academy at Harwinton. From his tenth year to his seventeenth he worked on a farm. He removed to Waterbury in 1843, and has since resided here, pursuing various occupations. For some time before his retirement from business, he was largely engaged in the coal trade.
In politics Mr. Webster is a zealous Democrat. He has served two years in the General Assembly, and has held numerous munici- pal positions. He was an alderman for ten years, a councilman for two years, and an assessor for eleven years. He has also been chairman of the finance committee of the Centre school district. He has for years been actively connected with the Masonic order, being a member of Harmony lodge and of Clark commandery. He is also a member of the Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Improved Order of Red Men. He has married twice, and has had children by both marriages.
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