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 III > Part 35
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York, New Jersey and Delaware with such enthusiasm that 150,000 drinking men are believed to have enlisted under it. This move- ment also declined, and out of it grew the Sons of Temperance, which was organized in New York, September 29, 1842, and a grand division for Connecticut was established May 10, 1844. This wave of feeling and of discussion which swept the country reached the Waterbury of fifty years ago. A subordinate division was organ- ized here soon after the establishment of the state division, taking up the work of the Waterbury Temperance society which had been ยท in existence since 1842. The Sons of Temperance have had in Waterbury periods of great activity and of reaction, and at the present there is a division of considerable strength in existence.
The history of temperance effort in Waterbury ever since has been characterized by these fluctuations of interest and power. It is a record of the ebb and flow of popular sentiment, of the rise and decline of societies, one organization following another as it left its work unfinished; of action and reaction, of advance and retreat before the forces of appetite and greed. It is told in the accounts of various organizations which follow, punctuated at intervals by periods of special interest and important results.
The early laws of Connecticut placed no restraint on drinking, but the sale of intoxicating liquor was controlled by licenses granted to keepers of public houses from which a considerable revenue was derived. In 1854 the prohibitory law, which had been tried in Maine for three years, was adopted in Connecticut. It remained in force until 1872 when it was repealed and local option was made the law. of the state. Since then temperance agitation has been along the lines of prohibition to the suppression largely of effort to control and mitigate the evils of legalized liquor traffic. The town records give but scant information of the struggle that went on, to be added to that gathered from the incomplete histories of the societies that carried it forward. There are several entries, however, which are interesting and valuable as historical glimpses. On January 29, 1842 (about the time of the starting of the first temperance society of which we have record), it was voted "that every legal voter in the town of Waterbury shall have the privilege of selling wines and spirituous liquors in any quantity that he may choose for the year ensuing; yeas 100, nays 53." On January 12, 1846, there is an entry of the action of "commissioners legally appointed heretofore in town meeting" (Joel Johnson, Sherman B. Warner and Anson G. Stocking), who " voted unanimous no license be given or granted " to any taverner to sell liquors. Apothecaries were to be licensed to sell for medicinal purposes only and were ordered to keep an
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account, verified by oath, of names of purchasers and amounts sold. On August 14, 1854 (the year of the adoption of the Maine law in Connecticut) the selectmen were empowered to draw not more than $500 from the town treasury "for the purpose of employing an agent and furnishing spirituous liquors to be sold in the town and in accordance with the provisions of the law passed by the May session of the legislature, 1854, entitled, 'An act for the suppression of intemperance.'" On September 7, 1872 (following the repeal of the prohibition law of the state), at a town meeting called especially to consider it, a motion to prohibit the selectmen from granting recommendations for licenses to sell intoxicating liquors was voted down.
In 1874 and 1875 the evil of intemperance again became a sub- ject of much thought and discourse in several of the churches, and especially in a prayer meeting held under the auspices of the Good Templars. In August and September, 1875, the Rev. C. S. Williams, then pastor of the Methodist church, delivered several strong dis- courses on "the liquor traffic as a producer of wealth," "the liquor traffic and the labor question," "the reign of rum in Waterbury," and kindred topics. He also enlisted the active cooperation of the Rev. James Lynch, pastor of the church of the Immaculate Concep- tion. Union temperance services in the Baptist and Methodist churches, mass meetings in the City hall and a Roman Catholic " mission " aroused general interest. Statistics were presented and published showing by the local police records an increase of fifty- three per cent (and by state prison statistics more than 100 per cent) in drunkenness and the crimes arising therefrom during the three years of license, 1872-75, as compared with the three preced- ing years under the prohibitory law, although feebly enforced.
On election day (October 4, 1875), the vote stood : for license, 805, for no license, 1432; majority for no license, 627. A week later a mass meeting was held in the City hall, at which strong resolu- tions looking to the enforcement of the law were enthusiastically adopted, and an organization was effected under the name of the Citizens' league of Waterbury. - Dr. G. L. Platt was chosen chair- man of the league and A. F. Abbott secretary, and an executive committee representing the various churches and business con- cerns of the city was appointed. The churches and the Waterbury American gave the movement hearty support, and a series of public meetings kept the interest alive. It was soon discovered, however, and announced in the American on October 30, that notwithstanding the "no license" vote two prominent liquor dealers had been licensed by the county commissioners upon the recommendation of
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the outgoing board of selectmen, shrewdly obtained before election day. As the league could find no way of annulling these licenses, the community was practically on the same footing as before. But efforts to enforce the law against the other dealers were continued; a detective was secretly employed and many prosecutions were brought. A great outcry was raised against the detective, he and his assistant were arrested on a charge of stealing, the Rev. C. S. Williams's life was threatened, and the detective was brutally assaulted and badly injured by " roughs " on a railroad train be- tween Waterbury and Naugatuck. There was great excitement, and long, bitter and not very satisfactory trials ensued.
The excitement, however, and the interest rapidly abated. The liquor dealers found means, as usual, to defeat legal action; the Citizens' league, hampered by a want of funds (notwithstanding the sums that had been subscribed) and by the lack of plucky men to make the contest successful, gradually ceased its efforts, and for many months "free liquor " was the rule. The Rev. Father Lynch was removed to another parish, his successor favored license, as did also many tax payers, and in October, 1876, the vote for license again prevailed.
In October and November, 1893, Thomas Edward Murphy, an earnest and eloquent temperance advocate, conducted a series of meetings during four weeks in the Auditorium, and several extra meetings in the churches. Great interest and enthusiasm were aroused in the community, and it was said that 10,000 persons signed the pledge. At the close of the campaign, organization was immediately effected to secure permanent results in temperance. The chief instrument to this end was the Waterbury Council for Temperance Work, which was composed of representatives from all the churches and from the various societies engaged in social reform work. Its efforts resulted in the organization of a stock company and the establishment in 1894 of the "Wayside Inn," a temperance restaurant and lodging house on Grand street. It is conducted on a purely business basis, but cheap rates and special provision for the wholesome entertainment of its patrons are designed to make it an attractive refuge for reformed men from the temptations of the saloon. The capital stock of the company is $3000 and its officers are : President, T. R. Hyde, Jr .; treasurer, N. W. Heater; secretary, J. V. Waring; directors, J. S. Gailey, W. H. Camp, the Rev. Joseph Anderson, D. D., the Rev. J. G. Daven- port, D. D., H. W. Scovill, S. W. Goodyear, E. O. Goss, C. P. Kellogg. Other agencies for temperance work growing out of the Murphy campaign are the Waterbury Temperance Reform league, which
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held meetings every Sunday afternoon for some months in the Jacques Opera house, and afterwards in the hall of the Friendly league, the St. Joseph's Total Abstinence society, the Young Men's Temperance union, the Murphy Temperance club, Yokefellows' club, Helping Hand societies and similar associations for the same object in both Protestant and Roman Catholic churches.
During the year ending June 30, 1894, the total number of full licenses issued was 208. Of these 160 were full liquor licenses, from which the sum of $61,390 was received; twenty-two beer licenses, yielding $3970, and twenty-six druggists' licenses, yielding $1260. The total amount received was $66,660. During the year following the cost of full licenses was reduced from $400 to $300.
SONS OF TEMPERANCE.
The first organization of this oldest of surviving American tem- perance societies was made in New York on September 29, 1842, at Teetotalers' hall, where the sixteen men present took this pledge : "I will neither make, buy, sell, nor use as a beverage, any spirit- uous or malt liquors, wine or cider." From that time until the present -- over fifty years-the society has held its ground, and over five million persons have taken its pledge. A charter for a grand division for the state of Connecticut was granted in April, 1844, and the grand division was organized on May 10 with five subordi- nate divisions. Waterbury was not one of these, but Mattatuck division was organized not long after. No records of this first division in Waterbury could be obtained from the grand division of the state, but occasional local references to it are found in 1846 and 1854. It performed its mission, well or ill, and died.
It was revived on October 17, 1859, as "Mattatuck division, No. 14," several of the charter members of the old division and many new members taking part in the initiation. The officers elected were as follows: Worthy patriarch, Isaac A. Mattoon; worthy associate, E. B. Gibbud; recording scribe, Anson F. Abbott; finan- cial scribe, Ralph S. Bronson; past worthy patriarch, George W. Cooke. The society flourished for over fifteen years and finally surrendered its charter on January 18, 1875.
It was revived again September 15, 1883, when "Mattatuck ivision, No. 23," was instituted, with the following officers: Wor- hy patriarch, W. C. Scott; worthy associate, Mrs. S. C. Gaylord; ecording scribe, O. C. Mix; financial scribe, Frank Osborne; treas- rer, S. C. Gaylord. This division surrendered its charter on anuary 5, 1888.
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"High Rock division, No. 9," was instituted January 25, 1892, with twenty-four members. The officers elected were as follows: Worthy patriarch, W. C. McKinley; worthy associate, Mary B. York; recording scribe, G. W. Watson; financial scribe, W. F. York; treasurer, H. J. Andrews. The present membership is ninety-two.
Howard union, No. 2, of the Daughters of Temperance, was inaugurated in 1845, and celebrated its first anniversary on October I, 1846.
THE BAND OF HOPE.
The Waterbury Band of Hope was organized October 1, 1858, under the leadership of A. F. Abbott, who obtained enrollments in the Sunday schools and later in the public schools,-teachers and parents cooperating with him. The pledge roll, which has been preserved, shows an enrollment during the three years of active effort of over 1100 names. Before organization took place Peter Sinclair of Scotland, the noted Band of Hope advocate, addressed a large gathering of young and old at the Second Congregational church. He was present also at the first anniversary of the band, August 1, 1859, on which occasion about a thousand youth marched in procession to Porter's grove, where anniversary exercises took place. The second anniversary was celebrated on September 29, 1860, in Hotchkiss hall and the exercises were followed by games and refreshments on the green. Among the youthful officers of the band who still remain in Waterbury, or are well known here, were Henry T. Bronson, Alexander E. Mintie, Elbridge G. Snow, Lewis E. Snow, George A. Stocking, L. Tudor Platt, Frederick B. Rice, Charles S. Sperry, Arthur O. Shepardson, Angelo C. Burritt, J. Richard Smith, Edward M. Burrall, H. I. Boughton, C. H. Field.
During the war for the Union the meetings of the Band of Hope were not maintained, but in 1868 a reorganization was effected under the auspices of the Waterbury Temperance Union, with A. F. Abbott still as leader. This new organization was active for about two years, and its pledge roll shows over 400 names. Meet- ings were held quarterly in the churches, usually on Sunday after- noon or evening, but the general interest aroused by the original organization was never again attained, and the responsibility for carrying on temperance work among the young was relegated to the several Sunday schools. Among the youthful officers of this second band were Joseph A. Bailey, Jr., Alvin D. Ayres, Charles Palmer, Frank Partree, Charles H. Adams, Harley Cowell, Edwin Hitchcock.
The present Waterbury Band of Hope has its home at St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal church. It was organized July 5, 1891. Its
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officers are John Eccles, superintendent; Mrs. William A. Holgate, assistant superintendent; Mary E. Eccles, secretary; Mrs. W. Wal- lace, treasurer. It has 350 enrolled members, holds bi-monthly meetings and is doing a good work.
Pioneer section, No. I, of the Cadets of Temperance, a short- lived adjunct of the Waterbury Band of Hope, was instituted November 22, 1860. The meetings were held in Gothic hall.
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC TOTAL ABSTINENCE AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY.
The organization of the Waterbury Roman Catholic Total Abstinence and Benevolent society was one of the gratifying results of a mission given early in 1860 by Paulist Fathers of New York city under the pastoral auspices of the Rev. Thomas F. Hen- dricken. The first officers were : President, Thomas Lynch ; vice president, Michael Carroll; secretary, Patrick Brett ; treasurer, the Rev. Thomas F. Hendricken. The society is the oldest in the state union, and perhaps the oldest in the national union. From its ranks came the City Brass band and the Sarsfield guards. On Feb- ruary 22, 1885, the society celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary, the committee in charge of the event being James Meagher, Wil- liam. Duncan, John Thompson and William Keenan. The secretary of the committee, Mr. Duncan, submitted a financial report of the society from its inception, from which the following figures are extracted :
Total disbursements, $18,473.12, divided as follows: Weekly sick benefits, $9325.93; funeral expenses, $987.25; death insurance, $2132.88; donations to church and charitable purposes, $377.43; maintaining brass band, $4493.78. Amount of money in the treasury in February , 1885, $1155.85.
The total number of names enrolled in twenty-five years is 1674; the largest number on the roll at any one time was 300. During hat period there were thirty-nine deaths. Many of the charter nembers are still living, faithful to the pledge, zealous in the cause of temperance and proud of the history of their society. The present officers are :
President, Henry R. Byrnes; vice-president, James Meagher; recording secre- try, John Thompson; corresponding secretary, William Duncan; financial secre- try, William C. Keenan; treasurer and chaplain, the Rev. Hugh Treanor; mar- 1al, James Eustace.
THE ORDER OF GOOD TEMPLARS.
The principles of the Independent Order of Good Templars have en called "the strictest orthodox temperance doctrine." There no benefit plan in its policy; total abstinence from all intoxi-
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cating liquors includes sweet cider and unfermented wine, and its pledge is for life. It believes in social influences through the bringing together of young people of both sexes in the lodges. A prominent divine once defended the order "on this ground, among others, that it promotes matrimony." The supreme head of the order, the Right Worthy Grand lodge, held its first annual session in 1855. In 1895 there were eighty-six grand lodges in the order, and there were lodges in 106 countries and territories. The grand lodge of Connecticut was organized at Hartford on March 21, 1865. In 1895 there were thirty-seven lodges in the state, with a member- ship of 1294.
Wide Awake lodge, No. 49, of the Independent Order of Good Templars, was instituted in Waterbury, September 27, 1866. It sur- rendered its charter in 1873.
Fraternity lodge, No. 145, was instituted March 1, 1871, with thirty-five charter members. The first officers were: Chief Templar, Nathan Merrill; vice templar, Ruth A. Clark; chaplain, Marshall Darling; secretary, Gordon B. Lawrence; financial secretary, E. L. Field; treasurer, Joseph Clark. The membership in 1895 was sixty, and the officers were as follows: Chief Templar, James Keith; vice templar, Fannie Mirfield; secretary, Lizzie Brownlee; financial sec- retary, Frederick Green; treasurer, Joseph De Bussey; chaplain, L. M. Upson; lodge deputy, E. L. Pond.
Unity lodge, No. 153, was instituted March 12, 1872, with twenty- four charter members. Its officers were: Chief Templar, William Games; vice templar, Catherine Green; secretary, Sarah G. Games; financial secretary, Alfred Games; past chief templar, Samuel Brown; lodge deputy, George Green. Its charter was revoked by the executive committee in 1875.
Olive Branch lodge, No. 233, was instituted April 2, 1885, with seventeen charter members. Its officers were: Chief Templar, C. C. Ringgold; vice templar, N. L. Jefferson; secretary, E. A. Wallace ; financial secretary, J. W. Lawes; lodge deputy, Theodore Thomp- son. The members of this lodge were "colored persons." Its char- ter was revoked in 1888.
Samaritan Degree temple, No. 18, was instituted November 15, 1866. Its officers were: D. T., J. R. Roberts; D. V. T., Miss Annic Lewis; D. S., George K. Holmes; D. T., Nathan Merrill. It ceased to exist.
THE WATERBURY TEMPERANCE UNION.
The Waterbury Temperance union was organized January 1868. A committee was formed from the different temperance soci eties to collect statistics, and in January, 1869, an enthusiastic meet
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ing was held. The Rev. R. G. Williams was elected president and H. F. Bassett secretary. The members of committees were A. F. Abbott, L. S. Davis, W. L. Elton, E. B. Gibbud, Charles Chittenden, I. A. Mattoon, F. W. Platt, A. V. R. Abbott, N. Merrill, Charles Warner, Leroy Upson.
THE WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION.
The most lasting and valuable result of the Citizens' league movement of 1875 was, apparently, the organization on January 14, 1876, of the Woman's Christian Temperance union of Waterbury. The secretary of the league, A. F. Abbott, seeing the need of exert- ing moral influences before legal force could be made effective, on his own responsibility invited some of the prominent women of the national organization to hold a series of meetings in Waterbury. They appointed a time, and with the cooperation of the pastors of several of the churches meetings were provided for. Special prayer meetings were held on January 12 and 13, during the day, and in the evening great gatherings were addressed in the First church and in the City hall. Mrs. Annie Wittenmyer, president of the National union, Mrs. Helen E. Brown of New York, and Mrs. Hart of Brooklyn, N. Y., were the chief speakers. The singing of Mrs. Annie Clark was also a notable feature of these meetings. She was a young woman who had been lifted up from degraded surround- ings and was invited by the other ladies to accompany them because of her power in song. She thrilled the audiences with the pathos of her singing, and near the close of the City hall meeting aston- shed the ladies with whom she came, and electrified the great audience, by an impromptu address based on her own sad experi- ences. It was one of the most effective bits of eloquence ever istened to in Waterbury. A religious revival followed in the Methodist Episcopal church. On March 30 a mass meeting was eld in City hall under the auspices of the local union, at which Irs. Clark again spoke and sang and local members took part. A membership of 106 was reported, and the organization of a temper- ice brotherhood of fifty reformed men was announced, and also a offee house project.
In April, 1876, a coffee house was opened on Bank street. Two joms were occupied at first, but at the end of a week two addi- onal rooms were rented, and Mrs. George Barnes took charge of e establishment. In 1880 the society gave up all claim to the ffee house, whereupon Mrs. Barnes assumed control in her own me and carried on the enterprise for some time.
The union has aimed to conduct its work on a religious basis; to rsuade mothers and housekeepers to banish wine and other
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alcoholic liquors from their tables and their cookery, to lift up the fallen, to give aid to families impoverished by drink, to instruct the young and to develop a sentiment that will eventually banish the drinking saloon.
The Waterbury Temperance Reform club was an adjunct of the Woman's Christian Temperance union.
THE JUVENILE TEMPERANCE UNION was organized June 23, 1876, under the auspices of the Woman's Christian Temperance union, with Mrs. A. I. Goodrich and Ellen J. Whiton as leaders. Officers were chosen from among the young people, and meetings were held once in two weeks. From 1876 to 1879 over 500 young per- sons joined the society. In 1879 Mrs. Goodrich resigned her office and Mrs. Amos M. Geer took her place, and Mrs. T. D. Bassett, Mrs. I. A. Spencer and Mrs. K. H. Simons assisted in the work. In 1880 it was thought best to convert the union into a temperance school, and Mary M. Abbott and Ellen J. Whiton took charge of it. There were 150 pupils in fifteen classes. The society was sus- pended, however, in June, 1882.
THE LOYAL LEGION was organized in January, 1885, with eighty- one children. A room was furnished on Abbott avenue, with Mrs. L. H. Schuyler and Mrs. Simons in charge, and Lillie Barnes as teacher of object lessons. After a short time, the special work among the young was discontinued.
THE YOUNG WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION of Water- bury was organized at a temperance meeting held in the Second Congregational church, April 8, 1890. It consisted of twenty-three active and four honorary members. The officers were: President, Mary Bangs; a vice-president from each church represented in the membership; secretary, Jennie M. Dudley; treasurer, Clara Barce. Since then the presidents have been, successively, Ida Rich, Edith Dickinson, Jennie M. Dudley, Hattie Munger and Emma Lewis. The present officers are: President, Emma Lewis; recording secre- tary, Clara Russell; corresponding secretary, Allie Pickett; treas- urer, Emily Curtiss.
THE UNION RESCUE MISSION, established in the spring of 1895. was in an important sense an outgrowth of the work of the Woman's Christian Temperance union. The Temperance union. had for some time been conducting evangelistic meetings at their rooms on South Main street, when Colonel H. H. Hadley, of St Bartholomew's Rescue mission in New York city, came to Water bury, by invitation, to present the claims of "rescue mission ' work before the Temperance Reform league. When the questior of starting a mission in Waterbury arose, the ladies of the Tem
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perance union pressed upon the attention of the churches the claims of their work, already inaugurated. As a result of several conferences a committee was organized consisting of the pastor and a delegate from each church desiring to participate in such work and an equal number of members of the Woman's Christian Temper- ance union. This committee, numbering at first twenty persons, organized by the election of officers and the adoption of a constitu- tion, and invited Henry B. Gibbud of Syracuse, N. Y.,-a Waterbury man who had become widely known in " rescue mission " work-to address the people of Waterbury upon the subject. The result was the establishment of the mission work upon a broader basis than previously and the opening of mission rooms on Grand street. The officers of the mission are: President, Aaron A. Benedict; vice- president, Mrs. F. F. Cook; secretary, the Rev. J. G. Davenport, D. D .; treasurer, A. C. Mintie. The board of managers consists of six pastors, lay delegates from six churches, and twelve members of the Woman's Christian Temperance union. The superintendent of the mission is Robert W. Wilson.
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