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 26
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daughter of Groras Offert 30 and George Gilbert
NITOM & PLATT.
Nirom Blackman Platt, son of Alfred and Irene (Blackman) Platt, was born at Platt's Mills, September 1, 1818, and was the eldest of six brothers, He attended Amos Smith's school in New Haven, ami aitery kras bogame a merchant. He was a man of irre- proachable character, strong in his mom metions, and a devoted mem- ber of the Baptist church. He married Eliza Kirtland of Wood- of Charles IL Mose Heyme chilliun Frances Eugenim widow
Monpe Pliche, wife of Wilson N. Osborn, New Brunswick & Y TIM Kitlund, wife of Lewis Elmer Per- Lins, Naugatuck; Willard Wheeler, at present living to Callfornia; and three who die! in childhood. Mr. Platt died Ofthe f4. 1863. (See further, Vol. I, Ap. p. 103.)
HENRY MERRIMAN.
Henry Metribian, youngest son of William Henry and Sarah (Buckingham) Merriman was born at Watertown, March 25, 1820. He wh wilucated in part at the Waterbury academy, and, in 1835, first went into business as salesman for the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing company. He was afterwards connected with Hotchkiss & Merriman, with Benedict, Merriman & Co., and later with Edwin S. Hoyt in the real estate business. under the name of Hoyt & Merriman. He married, in 1869, Mrs. Mary Heminway; their children are Harry Marton and Merritt Heminway.
Mullinga
John
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MERCHANTS, EARLY AND LATER.
Mr. Merriman died January 16, 1888. The Waterbury Republican of that date spoke of him as follows: "Faithful in all the relations of life, uniformly kind, courteous to everybody, firm where firmness was required, generous as well as just-he has always been highly esteemed, and it can probably be said with perfect truth that he had not an enemy in the world."
ROBERT LANG.
Robert Lang, son of Walter and Christine (Craig) Lang, was born in Paisley, Scotland, April 7, 1821. He began a course of study in the University of Glasgow, but owing to his father's failing health was obliged to abandon it. For a time he represented his father's business-the manufacture of Paisley shawls-in the Lon- don markets, but soon after his father's death came to America (in 1844), and settled in Waterbury. He first found employment in the "Suspender factory;" then for a while in a similar business in Oak- ville. In 1846 he entered into partnership with Edward Robinson in the hat, cap and millinery business, and afterwards conducted it alone. He also, in an informal but efficient way, carried on an agency for the supply of household servants, for years before a regular "intelligence office" was opened in the city. In 1883 he retired from active business, and died August 22, 1887.
On February 9, 1851, Mr. Lang married Charlotte Eliza, daughter of Captain Anson Sperry, by whom he had nine children, three of whom have died. The others are Lottie Louisa, who on September I, 1874, was married to Charles H. Hart; Christine Ophelia; Emily Eliza; Walter Craig, who on June 26, 1889, married Katherine Spen- cer; Robert Augustus, and Charles Sperry.
L. S. BRONSON.
Lucien Stone Bronson* was a descendant of John Bronson, one of the pioneers in the settlement of Waterbury. He was born in Middlebury, April 20, 1821, and was the eldest of eleven children. His father was Garry Bronson and his mother a daughter of Nathaniel Richardson of Middlebury.
In his early manhood Mr. Bronson purchased the post line run- ning between Watertown and New Haven, and drove the " post" for many years. He afterwards entered the employ of General Merritt Heminway, the founder of the firm of M. Heminway & Sons of Watertown, and for several years travelled for the firm, selling their
* He assumed this middle name after he arrived at years of maturity, desiring the middle initial and appropriating an old family name.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
silk thread through New England and the state of New York. He next entered the store of Amos Gridley in Watertown, and con- tinued in that position until 1853, when he came to Waterbury and entered the grocery department of the establishment of Benedict & Merriman (which was then in the building where the store of E. T. Turner & Co. is now). After the dissolution of the firm of Benedict & Merriman, he established himself in the grocery business in the same place. In 1879 he erected the Bronson building on Bank street, and carried on his business there until his retirement in 1888. On February 26, 1850, he married Elizabeth N. Baldwin of Norfolk. Their children are: Emma, who is married to E. R. Jones of Oshkosh, Wis .; Arthur L., who is in business in Chicago, Il1 .; Nathaniel R., who married Helen A. Norton of Brooklyn, N. Y., and Nellie, besides a son who died in childhood. Mr. Bronson died October 30, 1892.
SAMUEL HOLMES.
Samuel Holmes, son of Samuel Judd and Lucina (Todd) Holmes, was born in Waterbury, November 30, 1824. When eleven years of age, he went to work in the button factory of Mark Leavenworth, and until his seventeenth year his time was spent partly at school and partly at work. He was afterwards connected with J. M. L. & W. H. Scovill, continuing with the firm after it became the Scovill Manufacturing company. From 1876 to 1891 he represented the Bridgeport Brass company at their office in New York. In 1867 he removed to Montclair, N. J., and since his retirement from the Bridgeport Brass company has been engaged in "developing" real estate, a large tract of which he owns in Montclair. He has at the same time been closely identified with the religious and benevo- lent interests of the town.
Mr. Holmes is a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for foreign missions. He has been also a member of the executive committee of the American Missionary associa- tion, and has for many years been connected with the American Education society as treasurer, secretary or vice-president. In September, 1871, at the installation of the Rev. E. G. Beckwith as pastor of the Second Congregational church, he made the "address to the people"-a fact which was commented upon in the news- papers as the first instance of a layman's taking part in a service of installation. In the summer of 1891 he represented the American Missionary association at the International Council of Congrega- tional churches in London, England.
Desiring to promote collegiate education, and having a special interest in the attendance of Waterbury boys at Yale University,
Engraved by J. F. wmp bell.ITY.
Thomas Porter
Thomas Portu
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MERCHANTS, EARLY AND LATER.
Mr. Holmes secured to that institution, some years ago, the sum of $5000, the income of which is applied toward paying the tuition of five Waterbury students annually, four in the academic and one in the scientific department. The selection of the beneficiaries is in the hands of the board of agents of the Bronson library. He gave also $25,000 to found a professorship of Hebrew in the Yale Divinity school.
On June 3, 1851, Mr. Holmes married Mary Howe Goodale, of Marlboro, Mass. Their children are: Ellen Warren, widow of the Rev. Frank A. Beckwith, son of the Rev. E. G. Beckwith, D. D .; Samuel Judd, who married S. Josephine Brantigam of Montclair ; Mary Goodale; David Goodale, who married E. Annie Bates of Watertown, Mass .; and George Day; besides a son, Arthur, who died in infancy.
WILLIAM BUSKIRK HOLMES, brother of the above, was born in Southington, July 25, 1831. He came with his parents to Water- bury on their return to their old home, was educated at the acad- emy, and became a merchant. He removed to New York city in 1850, where he married Mary H., daughter of Frederick Bull. Their children are William T., Edward H., Caroline S., and Henry L. In 1866 Mr. Holmes removed to Montclair, where he has since resided.
EDWARD R. LAMPSON.
Edward Rutledge Lampson, son of George and Betsy Lampson, was born in Stratford, April 18, 1828, and was educated in the dis- trict schools of that town. He came to Waterbury in 1849, estab- lished himself in business and became one of the prominent and successful hardware merchants of the city. A few years ago he retired from active business.
Mr. Lampson's first wife was Esther Strong, whom he married in June, 1851. In June, 1867, he married Charlotte Ann Bowers. He has had five children; three are now living. Caroline, the eldest, married Charles S. Lewis; the fourth, Esther, is the wife of Henry L. Rowland. Edward Rutledge, Jr., son of the second wife, is a medical student in New York city.
THOMAS PORTER.
Thomas Porter, son of Deacon Timothy Porter, was born in Waterbury, February 7, 1831. (See Vol. I, Ap. p. 107.) He was educated in the common schools and academy of Waterbury and the Staples academy in Easton. While attending school in winter, he worked on his father's farm, and in his brick-yard in summer.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
In the autumn of 1854, he went to New York and entered the employ of Arad W. Welton, who in a little store in Liberty street was selling the goods of the Cheshire Manufacturing company. He had scarcely mastered the details of the business when, through the defection of other and older employees, a large share in the management was devolved upon him, and he called to his assist- ance his brother Nathan, who was still living in Waterbury. Under the management of the two young men the business received a rapid development, being conducted under the firm name of A. W. Welton & Porters. After a few years Mr. Welton retired and another brother, Samuel M. Porter, entered the partnership. The firm name of Porter Brothers was thus assumed, which later, on the admission of some employees as partners, was expanded to Porter Brothers & Co. The mercantile house thus established has continued in uninterrupted prosperity to the present time. It passed safely through the great financial crises of 1857 and 1873, and has been the medium through which the products of Waterbury mills to the value of many millions of dollars have been placed on the market and sold.
In 1869 the Porter brothers purchased an extensive property in Montclair, N. J., and there established suburban residences within easy reach of their New York business. Thomas Porter took an active interest in the affairs of the place. He became president of its Village Improvement society, and was for twelve years chair- man of the Board of Education. In the latter capacity he did much to establish a school which has fitted scores of young men for col- lege, and taken a high rank among institutions of similar scope. He was also a member of the Washington Memorial association, a company of gentlemen who purchased the site of Washington's headquarters at Morristown, N. J., and erected the memorial in that place.
Owing to the death of one of the brothers and the failure in health of another, the cares of the extensive business of the firm rested mainly upon Thomas Porter as the most experienced mem- ber of it, and he was practically its responsible head for the last ten years of his life. At the time of his death he was also president of five or six important manufacturing concerns. As a business man Mr. Porter was prudent, far-sighted, courageous and energetic, and possessed a high sense of mercantile honor. Unswerving integrity and a determination to fulfill at any cost every honorable obligation were the ruling principles of his business career.
When about fourteen years of age Thomas Porter united with the Waterbury Baptist church, and was an active member and the
O. J. sTurner
111
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MERCHANTS, EARLY AND LATER.
superintendent of the Sunday school until his removal to New York. In that city he was a prominent member of the Madison avenue Baptist church, and on his removal to Montclair united with the Baptist church in Orange.
In 1863 he married Annie, daughter of M. M. Comstock of New London. A son, Thomas W., a graduate of Yale in the class of '87, has succeeded to the father's place in the firm of Porter Brothers & Co.
Mr. Porter died November 14, 1890.
EDWARD T. TURNER.
Edward T. Turner was born in Northfield, in 1835, and was edu- cated in the schools of his native town. His youth was spent upon the farm, in the factory and in the shoemaker's shop. At the age of twenty-four he went to Plainville as clerk in a store, and remained there four years. He then (in 1863) came to Waterbury and began his independent career as a merchant. In partnership with William Newton, a dry goods store was opened in the old Arcade building. After a few years Mr. Turner purchased his partner's interest in the business and removed to the Lathrop block on Bank street. The business steadily increasing, he purchased from Benedict & Burnham the building now occupied by the firm which still bears his name. In 1881 H. A. Skidmore was admitted as a partner in the concern, and remained in it until 1894. In May, 1890, Charles E. Turner, Mr. Turner's only son, was taken into the firm.
Mr. Turner was interested in various other enterprises, and did much to advance the welfare of the city. He was president of the Fourth National Bank, was treasurer of the Connecticut Electric company and a member of its board of directors. He was one of the corporators of the Waterbury Horse Railroad company and its treasurer. He was interested in real estate, and devoted consider- able attention to the development of the South Brooklyn section. He also had large interests in cattle-grazing in Colorado. He served the city as councilman and alderman and on various municipal boards. He was a vigorous and enthusiastic Republican, and in 1883 was elected to represent the Fifth district in the state Senate; he was chairman of the committee on banks, and did excellent service in this field. He took a deep interest in Masonry, was a member of Clark commandery and a trustee of the Masonic temple.
Mr. Turner married in 1856 Jane Hubbard of Morris, by whom he had two children: Charles E., who married Kate Elise Seymour, and Edith, married to George A. Alling of New Haven. Mr. Turner died December 2, 1891.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
H. H. PECK.
Henry H. Peck, son of Selden Peck, was born in Berlin in 1838. The first seventeen years of his life he passed on his father's farm. At the end of this time he entered the Meriden High school, and finished his early education at Kellogg's Institute. In 1857 he entered the dry goods store of D. & N. G. Miller. After remain- ing in their employ for three years, he removed to Waterbury, and with Charles Miller embarked in business for himself. Their first store was opened in Baldwin's block, under the firm name of Miller & Peck, and their stock at that time consisted of two cases of prints, and three pieces of dress goods. In 1861 they removed to Hotch- kiss block, where they remained until they took possession of the present quarters on South Main street. In 1887 Mr. Peck withdrew from active business, although his name is still associated with the concern. For a number of years he has been connected with the Dime Savings bank as a trustee, and has been its president since 1886. In the same year he represented Waterbury in the legisla- ture, and there served on a number of important committees. He was one of the founders of the Waterbury Board of Trade. He is also a charter member of Continental lodge of Free Masons. He has travelled extensively, and visited almost every quarter of the globe.
T. F. JUDSON.
Truman Franklin Judson, son of Deacon Truman H. and Sarah (Patterson) Judson of Woodbury, was born May 3, 1844. He first came to Waterbury in 1864, and entered the employ of Benedict, Merriman & Co. as a salesman. He afterwards occupied similar positions in the stores of Miller & Peck and E. T. Turner.
In 1870 he began business for himself in a store in Irving block, and a few years later removed to the Atwater building on South Main street, where he remained until the time of his death.
On August 18, 1886, he married Lucy Aurelia, daughter of Charles and Emily (Candee) Treadway. Mr. Judson died October II, 1893.
DEACON E. W. KEELER. -
Elizur Warner Keeler was born in Pawlings, N. Y., December 19, 1808.
In the year 1852 he removed to Waterbury, where he remained engaged as book-keeper for the Waterbury Lumber and Coal com- pany until his death. In early manhood he was a vigorous cham- pion of total abstinence, and also an abolitionist, although at that
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MERCHANTS, EARLY AND LATER.
day the espousal of these causes resulted sometimes in pecuniary loss and social proscription.
Immediately upon his arrival in Waterbury, Mr. Keeler con- nected himself with the Second Congregational church, which had then been organized but three months. In 1855 he was elected a deacon of that church, and served in that capacity nearly twenty- four years, his interest in its welfare, during that time, continuing strong and unwavering.
On May 14, 1834, Mr. Keeler married Sally Maria Wheeler, by whom he had one son, Homer Wheeler. On July 14, 1847, he mar- ried Clara Ann Benedict, by whom he had a daughter, Lucy Maria. On September 11, 1860, H. W. Keeler married Martha Maria Drake. They have had four children, a son who died in infancy, and three daughters, Anna Maria, wife of Frank Louis Wentworth; Cornelia Bronson; and Clara Emily, wife of Pierrie Charles Cowles.
Deacon E. W. Keeler died March 19, 1879.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE POOR SOIL OF WATERBURY-MEN LIVING BY THEIR WITS-THE EAR- LIEST INDUSTRIES-THE FIRST WOODEN CLOCKS-JAMES HARRISON AND OTHER CLOCK MAKERS- BUTTONS, OF BONE, OF PEWTER, OF BRASS-THE FIRST CLOTH- COVERED BUTTONS- THE METAL BUTTON THE GERM OF THE GREAT BRASS INDUSTRY -SHEET BRASS AND ITS NUMBERLESS PRODUCTS- SOME OF THE EARLY MANUFACTURERS.
W HY was Waterbury a manufacturing town? Generaliza- tions are dangerous and paradoxes are deceitful, but one is inclined to say, looking at all the facts, that Waterbury owes her prosperity to the poorness of her soil. Before the begin- ning of the present century, Watertown and Plymouth, which together certainly contained three-fourths of the best soil of the old town for agriculture, had been set off into separate towns. These grew rapidly, and although neither of them at any time equalled the old town in population, for some years, and so long as agriculture remained the prominent industry, they excelled it in prosperity and public influence. The people of the old town, with their poor soil, were driven to live by their wits. The place was derisively named "Pusleytown ;" the weed purslane (or "pusley "), which does not require a generous soil, being sup- posed to thrive here.
The New England people had a genius for manufacturing, and even before the Revolution many small industries were pursued with some success .* These industries, which at first were encour- aged by the mother country, became later a source of alarm to her, and stringent measures were resorted to in order to prevent the colonies from producing anything except what might be regarded as raw material for English labor. Flax, but not linen; wool, but not cloth; iron, but not hardware,-this was the English theory of colonial production, and the dictum that "the colonies should not make a hob-nail" has passed into history.
* Waterbury began the manufacture of barrel staves as early as 1707. See Vol. I, p. 277. John Allyn seems to have been the first worker in brass in the town. An interesting inventory of his goods, bearing date October 31, 1749, is given in Vol. I, p. 371.
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BEGINNING OF THE BRASS INDUSTRY.
Waterbury was early provided with the few simple appliances necessary for the people's wants. Grist mills, saw mills, fulling mills, tanneries, blacksmiths and wheelwrights came as they were needed; but nothing appears to have been done which could be called manufactur- 0 ing, beyond what was necessary for local needs. Probably Joseph Hopkins's silver- smith shop, established about 1753, was the first that looked for anything beyond a local market, and this did so only to a limited extent. Bronson (on page 559) mentions that Ard Welton made guns during or soon after the Revolution, first on Bucks Hill by hand, and after- ward on the Mad river at Sawmill Plain. Soon after the Revolution attention appears to have been turned to manufac- BUTTONS OF STERLING SILVER, MADE BY JOSEPH HOPKINS BEFORE 1760 .* tures more directly and persistently.
Jesse Hopkins, son of the judge, who had learned his father's trade of silversmith, undertook various enterprises. For a while he carried on the silversmith's business at the old place. He also made nails at Platt's Mills, and hammers, in connection with D. Abbott, on Eight Mile river. Jared Byington had a nail factory on Fulling Mill brook. On January 15, 1796, a patent was issued to him, said to be the second patent issued to a resident of Connec- ticut,t for "a machine for cutting nails," and another on Decem- ber 23, of the same year, for an improvement in heading nails. John Bigelow had a similar patent, and Byington and Bigelow very wisely combined their interests instead of fighting. Jesse Hop- kins worked under Byington's patent. Bigelow's interest was one- sixth, and John R. Leaveston and David Dickson are mentioned as also having an interest with Byington. Probably they were persons who had assisted him pecuniarily in developing his patent.}
* The buttons here pictured, belonging to J. H. Guernsey, are in as perfect condition as when sent out from Judge Hopkins's shop, 140 years ago. They are of horn covered with silver, with an eye of iron wire securely inserted. They have been in almost constant use ever since they were made, the father of their present owner having used them on twenty-seven different vests.
+ The first United States patent issued was to Stephen Hopkins, a great grandson of John Hopkins, the miller, of Waterbury. He was son of Samuel, and grandson of Samuel, of West Springfield, Mass. He was born June 1, 1764, and died at Peacham, Vt., January 13, 1827.
As showing what vivid imaginations our tax assessors had, and their views of the profits to be got out of inventions, the following extract from the records is interesting. It is the decision of the " listers" in reference to an abatement " at a meeting holden on the 18th day of January, 1798, at the house of Captain Samuel Judd " in Waterbury. "Jared Byington being assessed $100 as a nail machine maker, we by after evidence find that the reasons on which the assessment was laid were ill founded, and that the said Bying- ton, not having followed the business long enough to bring any of his work to perfection or profit, ought not in our opinion to bear an assessment, and do abate the whole of his assessment, being $100."
I7
258
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
About 1790 James Harrison began making wooden clocks in the lower room of the old academy, which stood on the southern side of the Green. His business was general joinery-the making of shoe heels, reels, flyers and spools for spinning wheels, window shades and chests of drawers. The first clock mentioned in his books was
Eli Jenny
charged to Major Morris, on January 1, 1791, the price being £3 12S. The Rev. Mark Leavenworth appears to have purchased the second one, and Captain Samuel Judd the third, for which he paid £4. Soon after the beginning of the present century Mr. Harrison constructed the first water-wheel for driving manufac- turing machinery in Waterbury. His shop, the dimensions of
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BEGINNING OF THE BRASS INDUSTRY.
which were seven feet by nine, stood on the east side of North Main street, near where Spencer avenue now is. The water for the wheel was brought in logs from Little brook above the junction of Cooke street. The lease of the land to Harrison from Stephen Bronson is dated April 15, 1802. Harrison soon gave up the business* and Colonel William Leavenworth removed the machinery to his mill-the site now occupied by the American Mills company -where he was already prosecuting various kinds of business, and where he manufactured clocks for several years.
The clock business was carried on for a while somewhat exten- sively by another firm, consisting of Noah Shepard,t who was a regular clock maker, and came from Southford, Edward Porter, a retired clergyman, and Levi Porter, probably a cabinet maker. They hired others to make their movements, and they fitted them up and finished them in Judge Hopkins's shop. Some of the move- ments were made by Eli Terry in Plymouth, who had begun business there in 1793. Mr. Terry, Seth Thomas and Silas Hoadley, as partners and separately, pursued the business there for many years with marked success.}
About this time (1800) Silas and Henry Grilley were making pewter buttons, casting them and finishing them on a lathe. These men introduced an important improvement-casting the button upon a wire eye. At the same time, or perhaps a little later, several persons were making wool-spinning wheels, flax-spinning wheels, wheel heads, chairs and various kinds of wooden ware.
About 1802, James M. Cook had a small shop, with water power, near the corner of East Main and Elm streets, on Great brook, where he made pewter buttons. It was afterward used by Mark
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