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 28
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Mr. Kendrick was a leading member of the Whig party, serving it to the extent of his ability in all its relations to the town, the state and the nation. To one knowing Mr. Kendrick intimately, his relations to his party, and his power to serve it, were seen to be among the most gratifying results of his life. He was called to represent the town eight times, and his district three times, in the legislature; was honored with the office of lieutenant-governor of the state in 1851, and subsequently in an election by the legislature came within one vote of being elected governor. He was speaker of the General Assembly in 1854 and 1856. In 1856 he was the can- didate of his party in the legislature for United States senator, and was defeated by Lafayette S. Foster by only two votes. Subse- quently, after the death of President Lincoln, Mr. Foster became vice president; so that two votes in the Connecticut legislature
RESIDENCE OF MISS MARTHA KENDRICK, SOUTH SIDE OF CENTRE SQUARE. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN BEFORE MR. KENDRICK'S DEATH.
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BEGINNING OF THE BRASS INDUSTRY.
would have changed the vice-presidency. Mr. Kendrick was loyal to the Whig party as long as it existed, and then stood aside, acting with the Democratic party so far as he acted at all. Ever loyal to his conception of duty and his convictions of right, he followed them without regard to party lines. By nature manly and just, he outgrew party bondage and in his later years sought to conciliate and harmonize the differing elements of strife, always preferring principle to party. Born at the South, he deeply regretted the necessity of war, but was loyal to the section of his adoption.
Mr. Kendrick took an active interest in everything that con- cerned the prosperity of Waterbury and the education of its peo- ple. He was chairman of the Board of Education for many years and at the time of his death, and also president of the Board of Agents of the Bronson library. He was active in his support of the First Congregational church. His convictions of religious truth were profound, but he was not a church member, for he could not adopt a creed as a whole unless he was willing to accept it in detail. Here, if anywhere, he believed, was the place for frankness and honesty; if he could not enter the church without mental reserva- tions, he would not enter at all. Yet his interest in the church was deep and permanent, and in all that concerned its material pros- perity he served it faithfully. He was chairman of the society's building committee in 1840, and again of the building committee of the present church, in 1874 and 1875, to the erection of which he subscribed $10,000. Mr. Kendrick thought deeply and constantly on religious subjects, and was not only serious but reverential.
Amid the cares of a busy life he was always ready to lead in all movements to improve and beautify the town. The beautiful Centre square owes to him and to the Messrs. Scovill and others its trans- formation from the condition of an unpromising bog to what it now is.
Few events in the history of Waterbury have excited a deeper interest in the community than the opening of Riverside cemetery. Mr. Kendrick was one of the pioneers in this movement and devoted himself to the complete organization of the plan. He was chairman of the board of trustees and delivered the address at the dedication of the cemetery .*
* The address, with an account of the dedicatory services, was published in a pamphlet entitled, "The Riverside Cemetery, at Waterbury, Conn., its Articles of Association . . . with the Dedication Address, &c. Waterbury, 1853." It is reproduced in full (occupying pp. 23 to 42) in the handsome " Book of the Riverside Cemetery " published by the board of trustees of the Association in 1889. At the dedication of the Hall Memorial chapel at the cemetery, in June, 1885, the writer of this note referred to Mr. Kendrick as "the kindly old man, the loyal friend, who, when the cemetery was opened, fulfilled a service similar to that which I am now fulfilling, and whose remains we laid away nearly twelve years ago in the spot of his own choosing on yonder hillside" (p. 61) .- J. A.
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IIISTORY OF WATERBURY.
The construction of the Naugatuck railroad found in him an active promoter. Its projection and speedy completion were largely due to his untiring energy and cooperation. He was a director of the railroad company from its final organization until his death.
Mr. Kendrick was an orator of exceptional power. Had he devoted himself to public life he would have been a leader in any legislative body. He was not only a pioneer in laying foundations for the prosperity of his adopted town, but he realized the neces- sities of its future, and endeavored with his utmost ability to intro- duce amidst the elements of its growth the thorough education of the masses, that every one might enjoy the privilege of honorable and intellectual citizenship.
Mr. Kendrick died, after an illness of a few hours' duration, on August 26, 1873. His wife had passed away on May 6, 1870. Their children are John, who married Marion Marr, and had two sons, John and Greene, and died May 27, 1877; Katharine, who married Frederick G. Wheeler and has several sons and daughters; and Martha, unmarried, who continues to occupy her father's home on Centre square .*
E. E. PRICHARD.
Elizur Edwin Prichard, born in 1804, was the third son of David Prichard, Jr., and his wife Anna Hitchcock, who was a lineal descend- ant of Henry Cook of Salem, Massachusetts Bay, in 1639, of Nathaniel Merriman, William Ives and Matthias Hitchcock, three of the foun- ders of New Haven, and of the William Lewis of Farmington who with Samuel Steele received in 1657 from the Indians of that town "the tract of land called Mateticoke."
He reached manhood at the period when Waterbury first felt the impetus toward general manufacturing. His earliest independ- ent venture seems to have been about 1826, in making iron and brass castings (Beaufort iron being used, at $45 per ton). In 1829 he was making gilt buttons, and in 1833 umbrella, parasol and cane trimmings of fine quality, occasionally of gold. In the earlier days he frequently carried the goods to market in an ordinary travelling trunk. Buttons were made in Waterbury at that time that were sold at $75 a gross, but not, I think, by him. This was, perhaps, the most profitable of his enterprises, especially during the panic of 1837, when his name on a promissory note was of great service to his townsmen. It is not easy to picture to men who began a business career after 1850 the difficulties that were involved in the carrying
* A discourse commemorative of Mr. Kendrick's life and public services was delivered at the First church by the Rev. Joseph Anderson, on Sunday, September 21, 1873. It was published in full in the Waterbury American of September 24.
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BEGINNING OF THE BRASS INDUSTRY.
on of business before the days of railroads, expresses and local banks. On one occasion, when going to Boston, Mr. Prichard, to accommodate the New Haven County bank, took $30,000 with him to a Boston bank. He was followed by two suspicious characters, and was compelled to watch over the money all night-after which experience he declined its possible repetition.
He continued the manufacture of metal buttons in considerable variety, including the Henry Clay, Log Cabin, and "sporting " but- tons. In 1840 he built the house now occupied by his daughters at the corner of Bank and Grand streets. In 1843 he was making cloth buttons, as there is a diploma which was awarded him in that
THE PRICHARD HOMESTEAD ; 1890.
year by the American Institute for "superior specimens of silk buttons." At one time he was associated with Samuel J. Holmes in button making, in a building on the north side of Union street, where horse-power was utilized. He was engaged for a number of years in Norwalk in making door-knobs, etc., and at New Haven, with his brother Dr. David Prichard, in the business, instituted here, out of which grew the American Suspender company. In 1852 he retired from active business, and gave much attention to Charles Island, a piece of property in which he found great interest and enjoyment.
In the last few years of his life he met with severe reverses which he encountered with the same spirit of hopefulness that
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
characterized his earlier career. In 1855 his interests in the Wolcottville Knitting company compelled him to take up and conduct that business, which he continued to do as long as he lived. He was of tireless activity, always expecting a happy issue in every enterprise, and abundant in his efforts toward the desired end. He, it is believed, never turned away a sup- pliant for aid from his door, or from his credit, even when he knew it would be to his loss, and probably no man in Water- bury of his time suffered more from the use of his name, than did he. His kindness of heart was his overpowering weak- ness. He never held an office; he was in no way conspicuous in the community, but he illustrated strongly in his practice certain of the traditions of the past-the reverence due to "ministers," by never permitting a word to be said in his house reflecting in any manner, even the slightest, upon the life or practice of any pastor of the First church, of which he was a member, or of any other church; the old-time devotion of children to parents, by never omitting when in town, under any circumstances, his nightly visit to his mother; a survival of the "feeling " against the Church of England, by taking especial pride (which is to be regretted) in saying that he "had never seen the inside of the new Episcopal church in Waterbury."
Mr. Prichard married, March 11, 1827, Betsey J. Cooper, who was a lineal. descendant of John Cooper, one of the founders of New Haven. He died on Thanksgiving day, November 29, 1860. His widow died May 29, 1887. (For his family, see Vol. I, Ap. p. 109 ; also pages 201 to 203 of this volume.)
NATHAN AND G. W. COOKE.
Nathan Cooke, son of Joseph and Anna (Bronson) Cooke, was born in Waterbury, January 8, 1804. He was one of six children, and was born and lived for many years in a house on the southeast corner of Cooke and Grove streets. At the age of sixteen he began travelling in the South, setting up clocks for Mark Leavenworth. These were carried in sections, which were put in place in the houses where they were sold. Later he worked at clockmaking in Plymouth for Eli Terry, and afterwards was in the carriage busi- ness at Reynolds Bridge. About 1837 he was in the employ of Henry Terry, who was then a manufacturer of woollen goods at Terry's Bridge, Thomaston. In 1842 he returned to Waterbury, and entered the employ of Brown & Elton, who were then manu- facturing the first "solid head" pins ever made in Waterbury. In 1847 he bought the paper box business of his brother Edward B.
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BEGINNING OF THE BRASS INDUSTRY.
Cooke (for many years editor of the American). Later he engaged in the silver plating business, with his brother George.
Mr. Cooke was a prominent musician and was one of the first presidents of the Waterbury Mendelssohn society, which was for many years the only musical association in Waterbury. He occa- sionally ventured into the field of musical composition and in one instance wrote both the words and music of a song (to be sung at the forty-eighth anniversary of the famous Harrison and Tyler campaign of 1840). He played the double-bass instrument in the choir of the First church, before the days of church organs.
THE OLD COOKE HOMESTEAD.
On May 31, 1826, he married Clarissa Electa, daughter of Rus- sell Reynolds of Plymouth. Their son, Walter Hart (named for the Rev. Luther Hart of Plymouth) was born September 30, 1835. He came to Waterbury in 1843, received his education here, and since reaching manhood has been connected with various mercantile and manufacturing concerns, generally as a bookkeeper. On September 27, 1862, he married Jennie, daughter of John McClintock. Their children are Clara Whiting, wife of Frederick William Chesson, and Frederick Scovill.
18
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Mr. Cooke died October 26, 1892, in his eighty-ninth year, and his widow passed away on the following day, aged eighty-five.
GEORGE WILLIAM COOKE, son of Joseph and Anna (Bronson) Cooke, was born February 28, 1811. He graduated from Yale in the class of 1837. From 1840 to 1845 he resided in Chicopee, Mass. While under an engagement with the Ames Manufacturing com- pany, of that place (makers of swords and sword mountings), he successfully deposited gold and silver upon steel by the galvanic process. He was the first man in this country to do so, and return- ing to Waterbury, was the first to introduce the art here. In 1864, and for five years afterward, he resided in Torrington. In 1869, in connection with I. A. Mattoon and O. A. Robbins, he established here a weekly newspaper called the Valley Index, which was fairly successful during his connection with it. After that, he was in the employ of the Scovill Manufacturing company for a number of years.
On September 26, 1837, Mr. Cooke married Emily Catharine, daughter of Thomas Johnson of Middletown. She died October 11, 1864. Their children are Gertrude Elizabeth; Francis Bronson, who died in infancy; and Ella Scovill, who married Francis B. Field, November 22, 1870, and died December 12, 1885, leaving two daughters. Mr. Cooke died August 29, 1892.
HAND-MADE BRASS LAMP, 1820.
WORKS OF THE SCOVILL MANUFACTURING CO. WATERBURY CONK.
PETER HALL & ( NO
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.....
CHAPTER XVII.
ABEL PORTER & CO. IN 1802-BRASS ROLLED AT BRADLEYVILLE- LEAVENWORTH, HAYDEN & SCOVILL IN 18II-IMPROVED PRODUCT -THE LAFAYETTE BUTTON OF 1824-J. M. L. & W. H. SCOVILL IN 1827 - AN EXPANDING BUSINESS- SCOVILLS & BUCKINGHAM; SCOVILLS & CO. - DAGUERREOTYPE PLATES, CAMERAS, ETC. - A JOINT-STOCK ORGANIZATION IN 1850-ADDITIONS TWENTY YEARS LATER-FIRE IN 1881; ENLARGEMENTS OF 1882-SPECIAL CHARTER -THE SCOVILL & ADAMS COMPANY-STEADY GROWTH OF THE BUSI- NESS-THE SCOVILL BROTHERS AND OTHER OFFICERS-EMPLOYEES OF LONG STANDING.
T HE Scovill Manufacturing company dates from 1802, when Abel Porter, Daniel Clark, Silas Grilley and Levi Porter, under the firm-name of Abel Porter & Co., began the manu- facture of metal buttons. Their factory was in a building on the east side of South Main street, opposite where Meadow street now is .* It is said that eighteen months were spent in getting started. The members of the firm were all men of very limited means, and a delay like this, with expenses accumulating, must have taxed their credit, energy and courage to the utmost limit. Probably not one of the number had any thorough practical knowledge of the business; but their undertaking and their perseverance in it laid the foundation of the extensive brass and copper industries of Waterbury. They employed nine persons, and doubtless labored also with their own hands, which made thirteen workmen in all. Their copper they obtained by the purchase of worn out stills and sugar boilers, old kettles, copper sheathing and the like. This they cast in ingots, adding the necessary spelter. The ingots were roughly rolled into sheets at an iron mill in Bradleyville (in Litch- field), and were afterward finished in Waterbury on rolls two inches in diameter, driven by horse power. t
* In the view of Waterbury given on page 16 of this volume, reproduced from Barber's "Historical Collections of Connecticut," this building is conspicuous in the foreground; but at the time the sketch was made it had been converted into a dwelling house.
+ That at one time the casting also was done at Bradleyville may be inferred from an incident related by J. M. L. Scovill. After he came into the business he was taking an old copper boiler to Bradleyville, and, as the boiler took up the whole sled, he got inside of it to drive. Just at the top of a hill, somewhere on the road, the boiler rolled off the sled and went down the hill, with him in it. He kept his head inside, however, and got along pretty well.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
In 1806 Levi Porter sold out his interest in the concern. On September 21, 1808, the firm purchased of Lemuel Harrison the old mill site and some adjoining property, where they had apparently carried on a portion of their work for some little time previous. They also took into the partnership David Hayden. He came from Attleborough, Mass., where something had already been done in the button business, and doubtless brought with him some knowl- edge and experience. (See pages 261, 264.) In August, 1809, Silas Grilley sold out to his partners, and on September 19, 1811, the whole business passed into the hands of Dr. Frederick Leaven- worth, David Hayden and J. M. L. Scovill, and the firm name became Leavenworth, Hayden & Scovill.
About 1820 the quality of their product was considerably improved and the economy of production increased, by the employ- ment of James Croft, an Englishman, who had been thoroughly trained in the business, and was soon able to add other skilled workmen. They manufactured a very creditable article, and were sufficiently successful to induce others to engage in the business .*
When the Marquis de Lafayette visited this country, in 1824, the firm presented him with a full set of but- tons of solid gold, as a sample of American industry and a token of their respect for the man and their appreciation of his services to their country (which was not yet fifty years old). They hoped that Lafay- LAFAYETTE BUTTON, MADE BY LEAVEN- WORTH, HAYDEN & SCOVILL. ette would visit Waterbury, and that the presenta- tion might take place here, and had some encourage- ment to that effect, but it was found impracticable and the presentation took place in New York. The die, which was cut at the United States mint, is still preserved, and in 1876, at the time of our Centennial exhibition, the company caused several sets of buttons to be struck from it and presented to the members of the French Commission. +
On April 4, 1827, Leavenworth and Hayden sold out their share in the concern. William H. Scovill purchased a half interest, for which he paid about $10,000, and the firm became J. M. L. & W. H.
* Israel Coe, in a communication to the Waterbury Independent of May 16, 1881, said: "The firm was confined almost entirely to the manufacture of plain coat and vest buttons. I remember seeing, in 1822 or 1823, an article in a New Haven paper speaking in high praise of the firm of Leavenworth, Hayden & Scovill, and remarking on the fact, as being worthy of note, that they made twenty gross of gilt buttons a day; and even at that, there was a net profit at the price they sold them."
+ In addition to the sixteen gold buttons presented to General Lafayette, three others were made for the firm, one for each of the partners. One of these is now (1894) in the possession of Elisha Leavenworth, son of the senior member of the firm .- It may be worth while, in this connection, to recall the fact that the brass buttons which decorate the scalp-locks attached to the Indian war-club pictured on page 25 of Volume I, bear he stamp of Scovills & Co. They must have found their way to the Indians of the west, through the hands of traders, a good many years ago.
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THIE SCOVILL MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
Scovill. William H. Scovill took charge of the manufacturing and financial department, and his brother attended to the market, They were admirably adapted to work together and the business soon began to expand. In 1830 their button factory proper (not the rolling mill) was en- tirely destroyed by fire. In what seemed then an incredibly short time it was rebuilt, the business FACTORY OF J. M. L. & W. H. SCOVILL, 1835. going on with increased energy. Meantime they had enlarged and improved their rolling mill (the Bradleyville days had long since passed), and they soon added to their business the furnishing of sheet metal in various forms. In 1839 they enlarged their works, and increased their water power by taking in the fall of the next privilege above on the stream.
In 1840, in connection with their brother-in-law John Bucking- ham, they established at Oakville the manufacture of brass butts and some other articles of brass ware. This business was con- ducted under the firm-name of Scovills & Buckingham. They also received as partners in the button business their nephews Scovill M. Buckingham and Abram Ives, and this department was con- ducted under the name of Scovills & Co .. Mr. Ives did not remain long with them, but the firm-name of Scovills & Co. was used for the button trade until 1850.
In 1842 the firm began the manufacture of plated metal for daguerreotype plates, Daguerre's invention having been recently introduced. In this their success was very great; they produced a lighter and handsomer plate than that of the English makers and fully equal to the best made by the French. In its early days the daguerreotype business was largely a metal business, and "mats," " preservers " and " cases" were soon added to the list of manufac- tures in this department. They also manufactured and imported cameras and other material connected with daguerreotyping, and when the daguerreotype was superseded by the ambrotype, and afterward by the photograph, they kept pace with it in its various changes.
In 1850 all branches of the business were consolidated into one joint stock organization, under the name of the Scovill Manufac- turing company, with a capital of $200,000 (which has since been increased to $400,000), the stock being taken by the Messrs. Scovill,
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
their partners and a few others who had long been in their employ. A steam engine of 125 horse power was added to their plant. About 1870 (1868-1872) the plant was again largely increased, additional water-power being taken on, another engine added, and a new button factory built. This was nearly destroyed by fire, Febru- ary 13, 1881. The damage as estimated by the insur- THE SCOVILL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, 1858. ance agents was $148,633, the greater part of which was covered by insurance. This was immediately rebuilt and somewhat enlarged. In 1881 a special charter was obtained. In 1882 further extensive additions were made both to plant and power.
In 1889 the photographic business, which was no longer a metal business to any great extent, was made a separate corporation under the name of the Scovill & Adams company, with a capital of $200,- 000. This company has a store and a factory in New York and a factory in New Haven, and employs about 150 hands.
The gradual but steady growth of the business of the Scovill Manufacturing company may be inferred from the record of the number of employees at different periods, and the amount of power used, estimated in terms of " horse power." In 1850 the number of hands employed was 190; the horse power, 80. Ten years later the number of hands was about the same, 193, but the horse power had increased to 200. In 1870 the horse power was still 200, but the number of employees had increased to 338. In 1880 the number of employees was 399, and the horse power 340; but during the twelve years following the increase was far more rapid than at any pre- vious period, for in 1892 the company employed 1200 hands and used 1400 horse power.
The company is noted for the length of time during which it retains the services of individual employees. For a good many years it has had men on its list-and some women-whose periods of service have ranged from thirty to fifty years, and in a few cases even beyond that limit.
THE SCOVILL BROTHERS.
JAMES MITCHELL LAMSON SCOVILL * (usually called by the last of his given names) was the eldest son of James Scovil, Esq., and
* Mr. Scovill appears to have been the first of his family hereabouts to add the second "1" to the name. In early life he used but one, and none of the family used two, although the name is occasionally found with a second "1" on the record.
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THE SCOVILL MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
Alathea Lamson, daughter of Mitchell Lamson of Woodbury. He was born in Waterbury, September 4, 1789, and died May 16, 1857. He was one of the most energetic and successful of the pioneers of manufacturing here. At the age of seventeen he entered the store of his father as a clerk, having doubtless already gained some
Acovill
experience. At nineteen he was in business for himself, and on September 19, 1811, at the age of twenty-two, he became one of the firm of Leavenworth, Hayden & Scovill, at the time when they purchased the gilt button business of Abel Porter & Co.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Mr. Scovill was a man of fine physique, and indomitable energy and perseverance. He had a retentive memory, a ready address, a hearty manner united with a certain dignity of bearing, that begat confidence and made a favorable impression. His place was in the market, and for many years in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston his was a familiar figure. He was quick and generous in his sympathies, easily moved by the sight of suffering, or by accounts of it, quick to the rescue when aid was possible, and equally indignant at the cause of it when that cause was to be reached. It was not long before his death that he left his horse standing in the middle of the road to lay his whip over the shoul- ders of a man in a field near by, who appeared to be treating a boy with uncalled-for severity, although it was the man's own son. He was, as this would indicate, somewhat impetuous in his nature, but his impulses were so clearly on the right side and his courage so undaunted that his impetuosity seldom, perhaps never, led him into serious trouble .*
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