USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Granville > History of Granville, Massachusetts > Part 11
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.34
179 lbs. cart tire at 3 cts.
5.37
making a crank
1.65
1 set cart boxes
1.02
ironing wheelbarrow
.30
bands for cart hubs
.40
reaming bit
.67
ironing saw mill
13.00
laying post axe
.40
mending fanning mill
.20
108 rivets
.87
mending gun
.12
and putting them in
.20
latch and catch
.12
lengthening 45 bolts
1.35
mending hames
.20
making two arbors
1.00
mending pot
.42
Phelps took his pay sometimes in money and sometimes in trade. From one customer he had
103 bu. coal (charcoal) $5.66
4 bu. turnips at 20 cts. .80
one pound butter .15
one peck onions .13
7 pounds sugar .50
half pound tea .44
half pound saleratus .03
8 1/2 pounds beef .36
9 collars .90
Phelps credits this one with
3 bushels apples
.38
9 1/4 pounds pork .92
one bushel salt .60
two bushels buckwheat
1.20
108 lbs. beef
half bushel beans
.50
Another
414 cords wood
4.25
7 barrels cider at 75 cts. 5.25
6 lbs. 9 oz. veal
3.15
7 bushels oats
one cow
16.50
And this one
1812 gal. brandy at 40 cts. 7.40
four days work
43/4 lbs. mutton
.24
one sheep 1.88
141/4 lbs. wheat flour .57
231/2 bu. potatoes at
25 cts. 5.87
Then another
2 swine, price agreed 3.69
From another
old iron, price agreed $1.13
one barrel brandy, gauge 281/2 gals. reduce one one to 8 (price not given )
And another
lath, price agreed 1.00
600 ft. hemlock boards 3.90
Still another
12 chickens 1.50
Another
two bushels rye 1.67
21/2 bushels corn 2.00
barrel flour 5.25
.25
mending yoke
making 4 knives
2.00
113
GRANVILLE FROM 1810
Very likely the condition of barter existed to a much greater extent seventy-five years before the items above given.
The days of the country blacksmith are gone. Several factors are responsible, among them the change from an age of hand labor and simple domestic manufacture to an age of power driven ma- chinery and mass production, the invention of the internal combus- tion engine and the automobile.
Lest the recollection of these sturdy mechanics drift into the realm of legend, it may be well to set down such information as is at hand concerning those who followed that trade in Granville.
East Granville, now Granville Center, had of course its early blacksmith, but his name and the location of his shop are now forgotten. However, there was a shop on the north side of the Main Road at the foot of the hill just east of the Old Cemetery. When this shop was built and by whom, is not now known, but the following men worked at their trade there: Alexander McCray, David Kellogg, James Andrews, who lived diagonally across the road from the shop, Charles Barnes and John Regan. Mr. Regan was the last to occupy this shop which was destroyed many years ago.
There has recently come to light some data concerning a for- gotten Granville blacksmith in the form of an account book. There is nothing to identify the location of his shop or where he lived, but from the list of his customers it seems as though he was located somewhere east of the Great Valley because in his book there are names of sundry Spelmans, Barlows, Crockers and Winchells, all of whom lived in the eastern part of the Town. Homer Griswold apparently had learned his trade in Granby, Connecticut, his home town, and had come to Granville to practice his trade. The reason for this is simple. He had married Abigail Winchell, daughter of a worthy Granville citizen in 1819. He seems to have been impressed by Granville and the products of the town. On the fly leaf of this ancient book he wrote: "Homer Griswold's Account Book. Began work in the blacksmith business in Granville April 15, 1820." The first item in the book is this: "John Crocker dr. to new ax $1.50." That he carried on his trade successfully for many years appears from one of the last entries which sets forth that on October 12, 1853, he sold to Charles Smith his entire outfit including his "bellos,"
114
HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
anvil, vise, bench and tools. Whether or not Charles Smith was a blacksmith does not appear.
Middle Granville, now West Granville, had its shops and black- smiths. A shop which may have been the earliest one in that area, stood on the north side of the Main Road at the top of Ore Hill. When it was there and who plied his trade there have passed out of memory and no written record of it has been found, but unmis- takable evidence on the ground formerly was abundant. A later shop stood on the north side of the road in the valley where Mr. Reeves' woodworking mill now stands. The first one of whom the writer has any trace of practicing his trade was Dennis L. Munn. He must have been there about 1850, or before, because he went to Tolland April 9, 1851, where he purchased and occupied a shop a short distance west of the meeting house until his death about 1890. Afterwards the smithy in the valley was at one time in the hands of John Hallberg.
West Granville was also served by a shop, or shops, near the Hartland town line on the road from West Granville to Hartland Hollow. There were at least three blacksmiths who plied their trade in that section. These were Ed. Smith, Steve King and another named Stevens. The dates of their regimes are not ascertained.
However, the place where blacksmiths really flourished was at Jockey Corners, subsequently Granville Corners, and now Gran- ville. Here came Samuel Tillotson about 1808 and purchased the land now owned by Miss Clara E. Wilcox and built a shop at the south end of her garden, which stood for nearly one hundred years until it was discovered one night to be on fire. This fire was one of those curiously unaccountable fires which sometimes wipe out a picturesque portion of the landscape. After Tillotson the smithy was conducted by John Phelps from about 1830 onward. Then came Augustine Holcomb who was followed by his son Andrew. The next one at that shop was Alexander McCray and then came the late George L. Oysler, a very capable mechanic. After the fire which destroyed the old shop, Mr. Oysler built a shop on the south side of Water Street. This shop stood on the south side of the brook a very few rods west of the schoolhouse which was then on the land now owned by Randolph Peterson. This shop was later owned by
115
GRANVILLE FROM 1810
Lawrence Henry, who, however, was not a blacksmith. After some years this shop, too, was burned. Nothing daunted, Mr. Oysler proceeded to build a shop near the house where he lived and there carried on his work until his death in January 1939. He was the last actively to carry on his trade in Granville. This shop was torn down in 1941 by Herbert Peck, the then owner. At one time there was so much call for his services that he employed other blacksmiths to assist him. At one time he employed Frank Devenue, then later Edlo Bubiault and at another time Napoleon Marcotte. After work- ing for Mr. Oysler a few years, Mr. Marcotte decided to go into business for himself. He built a shop just south of the house where he lived and equipped it with all the necessary tools and appliances. Here he worked at his trade until the blacksmithing business ceased to be a factor in modern life. When his business went a-glimmering he was forced to earn his livelihood in other lines. As an accom- modation to his neighbors he sometimes used to do a small piece of smithy work for them. He was the last operator in town of a trade which has all but disappeared.
Another shop was maintained for a short time at the northwest corner of Water Street and Granby Road. It was built and occupied by Louis Poudre, a French-Canadian, in 1907. After a few months of existence this shop, like the others, went up in flames. Other blacksmiths beside Mr. Oysler practiced their trade in more than one location. Charles A. Barnes, who at one time occupied the shop west of Granville Center, later moved his business to South Lane near the place where Loomis Roberts lived. This location did not prove to be entirely satisfactory, so he moved again and opened a shop on the north side of the Main Road between the house where Roswell O. Rowley lived and the house where Stillman Humphrey lives. Here he conducted a large and successful business until Febru- ary 19, 1903, when fire destroyed the premises and the shop was never rebuilt.
It is difficult for us, with our present mental picture of Granville, to imagine the extent and variety of the industries carried on in the early days of the Town. Hayward's Gazetteer of Massachusetts, published in 1846, is the authority for the following statement. "Granville manufactured . . . chronometers, watches, gold and
116
HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
silverware, jewelry, ploughs, powder kegs, maple sugar and large quantities of butter and cheese." In 1854 there were nineteen saw mills in Granville, all in useable condition, and eleven cooper shops where kegs and barrels were made.
Theodore Goodwin manufactured hats in Middle Granville in the early years of the nineteenth century, in addition to keeping a tavern there. Also spectacles and leather pocket-books were made in Middle Granville in the building known as the "Spectacle Shop." This building stood on the south side of the County Road and was the first building west of the house formerly occupied by Mr. Nelson M. Frisbie .* It was demolished only a few years ago. Pocket-books were made also in East Granville. In 1837 the value of this product amounted to $6240.00.
Another industry of local importance, which has nearly passed out of existence, was the manufacture of wooden bowls, trenchers, and the like. One mill where that sort of wood working was done profitably and to considerable extent stood on Seymour Brook not far from the house once owned and occupied by Mrs. Lena Lemon.t It was called the "Dish Mill," and the short sharp grade in Water Street just below the Lemon house is even now called Dish Mill Hill. After the early days when wooden dishes were common and were used for all sorts of purposes, the handmade lathes in this old mill were devoted to the manufacture of hubs for the wheels of ox carts. This business was carried on by Alexander Seymour who had a shop nearby where he made ox carts of the style locally known as "scow carts." With the passing of the demand for these carts the old mill was neglected, then abandoned, and finally collapsed under the weight of its many years. The dam fell into a state of disrepair and began to leak. Then one time when high water came, it gave way, so that now the site can be located by the ruins, but that is the only vestige of a once prosperous business.
Another mill where wood turning was done stood on Valley Brook west of the William Spelman place, so-called. This mill in its latest days was operated by Bevil C. Dickinson.
There was a tin shop in East Granville, also a cobbler's shop where boots and shoes were made. In a letter written in Granville
* In 1953, vacant. + This house burned in 1952.
117
GRANVILLE FROM 1810
by Martin T. Gibbons to his sister, dated December 13, 1857, he says : "The Allens have pretty much closed the shoe business. They do not put out but very little work now. I do not know whether they will revive again when times become easier or not." The days of hand made boots and shoes for the general trade have long since been left behind.
Still another of the old hand made products which is so remote that it will soon be forgotten, is the manufacture of wooden hoops for barrels, once carried on in Granville. The best grade of these hoops was made from alder poles. The poles were cut when they were from one and a half to two inches in diameter. They were then split into quarters. Next the part of the wood nearest to the heart was cut away with a shave and shaving horse. The hoops were then small straight sticks with the bark one one side, which were tied up into bundles of fifty and sold to the makers of barrels, kegs, tubs and buckets.
One other item of hand work was the making of shingles. These were made with a few simple tools. After the tree was cut down and had been cut into blocks of the right length, each block was split into thin pieces with a frow and maul. After that each piece was tapered with a shave and shaving horse, and smoothed ready for use. Usually such shingles were made of hemlock, and it required a rather canny knowledge of trees to be able to know which trees could be split readily and which ones could not. This knowledge gave rise to the Yankee expression approving any display of keen insight, that he "knew what kind of trees would make shingles."
In bygone days gun powder was manufactured in Enfield, Con- necticut, and it was necessary, on grounds of safety, to have wooden containers in which to transport this dangerous substance, and the making of kegs for this use became an important industry. Whether or not Granville had a monopoly of the manufacture of powder kegs, it is certain that a great many such kegs were made in town. The staves and heads were of chestnut and the hoops of alder. Granville had an endless supply of both these trees right at hand. There were small mills on every stream and the necessary machinery was simple and primitive. Chestnut was a very stiff, dry, light wood, but it sometimes had been bored through and through by small
118
HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
worms about the size of the lead in a lead pencil. These little holes would let moisture into the keg and damage the powder, so to meet this difficulty small boys were employed to drive wooden shoe pegs into them. One peg would fill one hole so snugly that it could only with difficulty be extracted. These powder kegs were all taken to Enfield and sold at the powder mills there. For many years the keg makers in Granville could not find any feasible way to make the bungs for the kegs, and the Shakers in Enfield had a monopoly of the manufacture of this small but absolutely necessary part. Finally, Holcomb Brothers, who had a small water power and shop a short distance east of the present drum shop of the Noble and Cooley Co. went to Enfield and learned the process. Thereafter they made all the bungs for the Granville kegs. This worked nicely until the powder mills began to use metal containers made by machinery, as demanded by the United States government. Then another industry of the "made by hand" days went into the discard.
These are the names of a few of those who made powder kegs: Eleazer L. Brown, at the Center; Bevil C. Dickinson, in the lower part of the mill now owned by Howard B. Dickinson; Edward Hol- comb, whose shop was on Water Street; William Wells, who had a shop on the Wildcat Road; James and Harmon Cooley in North Lane. Powder kegs were also made in a shop which stood by the brook opposite the house formerly owned and occupied by Edmund Barlow. This shop was later moved away and is now a part of the house formerly owned and occupied by Mary Hunt.
Akin to the manufacture of powder kegs was the making of cider barrels. Oak for the staves grew plentifully in town and Rensaelaer Tryon made barrels in the shop of Simon N. Henry, "painter Henry" as he was called. Mr. Henry was a wheelwright and made wagons in his shop which was between the house now occupied by Stillman Humphrey and the house next east, now owned and occu- pied by Mrs. Julia S. Rowley. Also the late George L. Gaines was a wheelwright and made and painted wagons in the building now owned by Granville Grange No. 388.
The making of parquet floors was carried on in the latter part of the 1870's and the early part of the 1880's by Otis S. Dickinson. This was done in the mill now owned and operated by Howard B.
119
GRANVILLE FROM 1810
Dickinson. These floors had a wide sale, and some laid in Granville when the business was started are now in excellent condition and are just as beautiful as when laid. The wood used was rock maple, cherry and black walnut. The business was so successful that Mr. Dickinson moved to the black walnut country, where his success was notable. Black walnut trees are not native to Granville.
Quite an unexpected enterprise to be found in Granville was the manufacture of gloves. This business was carried on in a house located at the junction of Tillotson Brook and Dickinson Brook. This dwelling stood on land now owned by the City of Westfield as a part of its water shed, but has long since disappeared.
In the days of small manufactures and hand made products, Granville had two tanneries. One was in the west part of the town. It stood on the south side of the road not far from the former home of Nelson M. Frisbie where Pond Brook crosses the main road from Granville to Tolland. It was owned and operated by Lyman S. Marks and his output was chiefly sole leather. The other was located in the north part of the town on Russell River in the Stow School District, at a point just below the place where Sizer Brook empties into the River. This tannery was owned and operated by David Bates, and the largest part of his output was sold to Noble & Cooley for their use in the manufacture of drums, in the early days of that industry. Later Noble & Cooley maintained their own tannery.
It is a matter of interest that in 1859 or 1860, when times were very difficult and there were ten or more men for every job, there was much serious agitation in Town about establishing a factory for the manufacture of a very important garment of feminine wear, to wit :- hoop skirts. Ways and means were discussed, but the necessary money was not to be found, so the project went the way of many other hopes and plans. If it had not fallen through, Gran- ville might now be known as the Hoop Skirt Town, instead of the Drum Town. We are not always aware of what we escape.
In former days, when substantial amounts of grain were raised in Granville for the cattle which grazed on the hill pastures in summer, grist mills were quite common and there were several in town. One of the last, if not the last, was operated in Mr. Howard
120
HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
B. Dickinson's mill. This mill was built by Mr. Dickinson's grand- father, Bevil C. Dickinson about 1840, and is now the oldest water powered mill in town. It has been in continuous use by some member of the Dickinson family ever since it was built. In this mill was sawed the lumber for what was later known as the Dickinson fac- tory which was built in 1859 by Bevil C. Dickinson. It stood on the north side of the notch road a short distance westerly from the iron bridge over Dickinson Brook. The lumber for this factory was sawed by the first circular saw used in Granville for sawing logs. Mr. Dickinson was a progressive citizen and kept up with the times in which he lived. The water used for power in the factory was taken from Mr. Dickinson's mill pond and conducted in a canal to the flume in the new mill. Portions of the canal are now visible.
Very generally the timbers in these old saw mills were hewed by hand and in order to save as much labor as possible many of the timbers were much larger than actually needed. The timbers in the old mill known as the Edward Holcomb mill, which stood near the present Drum shop, were fourteen inches square and were gotten out by Alexander Seymour in South Lane and drawn over on wheels by oxen. At the time it was done it was not considered a great feat. It was all in the day's work. Meeting and surmounting such difficult tasks made the men of Granville the hardy, resourceful and independent citizens they were.
In connection with the Dickinson mill, excerpts from a letter written by Edward M. Dickinson, of Lanham, Maryland, a nephew of Otis Dickinson, about the mills at this location are of special interest because he has made a thorough study of the subject.
"I have had a personal knowledge of the mills at Granville for over 60 years and I have gathered all the facts I could find for my Family History. I haven't the history with me at this writing, but I think I remember all the facts.
Captain Richard bought the 300 acre farm in 1805. There had been a dam and a water power at the bridge* for a long time before that date. It was known as Barlow's Mills.
The dam was much higher once than when we were young and the pond much larger, covering a large part of the meadow south of the road. A great freshet carried away the top of the dam some-
* The Sodom Street bridge.
121
GRANVILLE FROM 1810
time I think after 1805 .* It probably also carried away the mill close to the dam on the north side of the road. You will remember the stone part of the dam with the "gate" at its bottom for control- ling the storage of water in the pond. I have not found any definite facts about the mill or mills there in 1805. I am quite sure that the mill north of the road contained a grist and flour mill and a saw mill which were needed in every community in those days and it was the principal water power in East Granville.
Captain Richard was a farmer and trader and a sort of a Squire, doing legal business for his neighbors. You have seen those two old leather bound books of Capt. Richard and his son Oliver who was the village blacksmith until he moved to Ohio in 1805, the same year Capt. Richard moved from Granville Hill down to the farm. His son Otis was coming of age and was interested in manufacturing. As Richard was 70 years old, it seems likely that Otis induced him to make this change. There are no mill accounts in Richard's part of the book. Otis used the back part of the book to keep his saw mill accounts beginning Jan. 1st, 1827. He also used his brother Oliver's book. If I knew the date of the big freshet it would help about telling the story of these mills. . .. There were some mills on the south side of the road at the bridge. The carding of wool and the dyeing and fulling of cloth was an important industry in those days of 'home spun.' When I was a boy there were two deep wooden vats in the farther cellar where the sheepnose apples were usually stored. I think they were all that was left of the cloth mills. I think Otis was in company with Lester Farnum in this business. For several years beginning in 1815 there were many accounts by Otis of this business. Judging by the many colors of dye used, cloth- ing was not so dull in those days.
It seems that the tract of about 6 acres was not a part the 300 acres Richard bought. I have forgotten the date, but Otis bought it from other parties about 1850. It contained the little house where he died in 1864 and which he willed to our father and where Uncle Lester used to live. The cloth business of Otis ended about 1830. Then for several years he ran a general store, as well as his saw mill. I think there was another mill and water power built just below the dam after the freshet, but am not sure. I do know that Ethan and Oliver were temperamentally too different to get along together and Oliver followed Horace Greeley's advice and went to Kansas in 1868 and the drum business became E. D. Dickinson's.
When Bevel turned over the business to his sons he was 56 years old and a very active man, and went back to the old mill. The
* Probably the big freshet of March, 1801.
122
HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
original saw mill was an up and down mill. This had been displaced by a circular saw mill before 1870 and the overshot water wheel was replaced by a turbine wheel in the 70's. The first circular saw mill was moved to the new mill and a more modern saw mill had been installed. Bevel still had the custom sawing business of the community and for several years he did a good business in getting out car timber for the R. R. car shops in Springfield. Timbers for the frame work for R. R. cars were made of oak. A large part of the Dickinson farm lay along the side and on the top of old Sodom Mountain and was covered with a growth of oak timber. The sled- ding of oak logs down the mountain to the mill by ox team made a good business in the winter, and spring freshets furnished good water power. It was an unusual kind of sawing to cut the timbers according to specifications, something like cutting for ship building. But Bevel's skill was equal to it and it was a good business for several years while the oak lasted. Drum sticks for toy drums were turned by hand and Bevel returned to his old trade* and for a good many years turned all of the sticks for the drum shop. t Bevel's son Otis was an architect and a skilled mechanic. He moved with his family into the second story where he lived for about 15 years after his return from Kansas. He was foreman in his brother's factory and installed the new machinery for the making of the woodenware articles about 1882. Before this he had invented a mosaic flooring which was developed and manufactured in the old mill. The first floor was laid in the new house of Lyman Roset at Granville Corners in 1876.ยง
Otis perfected this flooring about 1885 and it became a good business requiring some special machinery. Many fine floors were laid in New England and New York. The largest order was for making and laying 3000 (sq.) feet in one of Vermont's famous houses in North Bennington in 1889. Those floors were in perfect condition in 1929. All kinds of native hard woods and foreign woods were used. The supply of fine native timber in Granville was getting scarce and about 1890 he moved his business to Ohio .... "
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