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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:40:34 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:40:34 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12694-0.txt b/12694-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7c59d5d --- /dev/null +++ b/12694-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2733 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12694 *** + +HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN CLOCK BUSINESS FOR THE PAST SIXTY YEARS, +AND +LIFE OF CHAUNCEY JEROME + +WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. + +Barnum's Connection with the Yankee Clock Business + +1860. + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Litho of E.B. & E.C. Kellogg, Hartford, Conn. +Signature of Chauncey Jerome] + + + +PREFACE. + + +The manufacture of Clocks has become one of the most important branches +of American industry. Its productions are of immense value and form an +important article of export to foreign countries. It has grown from +almost nothing to its present dimensions within the last thirty years, +and is confined to one of the smallest States in the Union. Sixty years +ago, a few men with clumsy tools supplied the demand; at the present +time, with systematized labor and complicated machinery, it gives +employment to thousands of men, occupying some of the largest factories +of New England. Previous to the year 1838, most clock movements were +made of wood; since that time they have been constructed of metal, which +is not only better and more durable but even cheaper to manufacture. + +Many years of my own life have been inseparably connected with and +devoted to the American clock business, and the most important changes +in it have taken place within my remembrance and actual experience. Its +whole history is familiar to me, and I cannot write my life without +having much to say about "Yankee clocks." Neither can there be a history +of that business written without alluding to myself. A few weeks since +I entered my sixty-seventh year, and reviewing the past, many trying +experiences are brought fresh into my mind. For more than forty-five +years I have been actively engaged in the manufacture of clocks, and +constantly studying and contriving new methods of manufacturing for the +benefit of myself and fellow-men, and although through the +instrumentality of others, I have been unfortunate in the loss of my +good name and an independent competency, which I had honorably and +honestly acquired by these long years of patient toil and industry, it +is a satisfaction to me now to know that I have been the means of doing +some good in the world. + +On the following pages in my simple language, and in a bungling manner, +I have told the story of my life. I am no author, but claim a title +which I consider nobler, that of a "Mechanic." Being possessed of a +remarkable memory, I am able to give a minute account and even the date +of every important transaction of my whole life, and distinctly remember +events which took place when I was but a child, three and a half years +old, and how I celebrated my fourth birthday. I could relate many +instances of my boyhood and later day experiences if my health, and +strength would permit. It has been no part of my plan to boast, +exaggerate, or misrepresent anything, but to give "plain facts." + +A history of the great business of Clock making has never been written. +I am the oldest man living who has had much to do with it, and am best +able to give its history. To-day my name is seen on millions of these +useful articles in every part of the civilized globe, the result of +early ambition and untiring perseverance. It was in fact the "pride of +my life." Time-keepers have been known for centuries in the old world; +but I will not dwell on that. It is enough for the American people to +know that their country supplies the whole world with its most useful +time-keepers, (as well as many other productions,) and that no other +country can compete with ours in their manufacture. + +It has been a long and laborious undertaking for me in my old age to +write such a work as this; but the hope that it might be useful and +instructive to many of my young friends has animated me to go on; and in +presenting it to the public it is with the hope that it will meet with +some favor, and that I shall derive some pecuniary benefit therefrom. + +NEW HAVEN, August 15th, 1860. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I.--MY EARLY HISTORY.--Birthplace; nail making; death of my +Father; leaving home; work on a farm; hard times; the great eclipse; +bound out as a carpenter; carry tools thirty miles; work on clock dials; +what I heard at a training; trip to New Jersey in 1812; first visit to +New York; what I saw there; cross the North River in a scow; case making +in New Jersey; hard fare; return home; first appearance in New Haven; at +home again; a great traveller; experiences in the last war; go to New +London to fight the British in 1813; incidents; soldiering at New Haven +in 1814; married; hard times again; cottton [sic] cloth $1 per yard; the +cold summer of 1816; a hard job; work at clocks. + +CHAPTER II.--EARLY HISTORY OF YANKEE CLOCK MAKING.--Mr. Eli Terry the +father of wood clocks in Connecticut; clocks in 1800; wheels made with +saw and jack-knife; first clocks by machinery; clocks for pork; men in +the business previous to 1810; [ ] a new invention; the Pillar +Scroll Top Case; peddling clocks on horseback; the Bronze Looking Glass +Clock. + +CHAPTER III.--PERSONAL HISTORY CONTINUED.--1816 to 1825; work with Mr. +Terry; commence business; work alone; large sale to a Southerner; a heap +of money; peddle clocks in Wethersfield; walk twenty-five miles in the +snow; increase business; buy mahogany in the plank; saw veneers with a +hand saw; trade cases for movements; move to Bristol; bad luck; lose +large sum of money; first cases by machinery in Bristol; make clocks in +Mass.; good luck; death of my little daughter; form a company; invent +Bronze Looking Glass Clock. + +CHAPTER IV.--PROGRESS OF CLOCK MAKING.--Revival of business; Bronze +Looking Glass Clock favorite; clocks at the South; $115 for a clock; +rapid increase of the business; new church at Bristol--Rev. David L. +Parmelee; hard times of 1837; panic in business; no more clocks will be +made; wooden clocks and wooden nutmegs; opposition to Yankee pedlars in +the South; make clocks in Virginia and South Carolina; my trip to the +South; discouragements; "I won't give up;" invent one day Brass clock; +better times ahead; go further South; return home; produce the new +clock; its success. + +CHAPTER V.--BRASS CLOCKS--CLOCKS IN ENGLAND.--The new clock a favorite; +I carry on the business alone; good times; profits in 1841; wood clock +makers half crazy; competition; prices reduced; can Yankee clocks be +introduced into England; I send out a cargo; ridiculed by other clock +makers; prejudice of English people against American manufacturers; how +they were introduced; seized by custom house officers; a good joke; +incidents; the Terry family. + +CHAPTER VI.--THE CAREER OF A FAST YOUNG MAN.--Incidents; Frank Merrills; +a smart young man; I sell him clocks; his bogus operations; a sad +history; great losses; human nature; my experience; incident of my +boyhood; Samuel J. Mills, the Missionary; anecdotes. + +CHAPTER VII.--REMOVAL TO NEW HAVEN--FIRE--TROUBLE.--Make cages at New +Haven; factories at Bristol destroyed by fire; great loss; sickness; +heavy trouble; human nature; move whole business to New Haven; John +Woodruff; great competition; clocks in New York; swindlers; law-suit; +ill-feeling of other clock makers. + +CHAPTER VIII.--THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING--THE JEROME MANUFACTURING +COMPANY.--Benefit of manufacturing by system; a clock case for eight +cents; a clock for seventy-five cents; thirty years ago and to-day; more +human nature; how the Brass clock is made; cost of a clock; the +facilities of the Jerome Manufacturing Company; a joint stock company; +how it was managed; interesting statements; its failure. + +CHAPTER IX.--MEN NOW IN THE BUSINESS.--The New Haven Clock Co.: Hon. +Jas. E. English, H.M. Welch, John Woodruff, Hiram Camp, Philip Pond, +Charles L. Griswold, L.F. Root. Benedict & Burnham Company of Waterbury: +Arad W. Welton. Seth Thomas & Co. Wm. L. Gilbert. E.N. Welch. Beach & +Hubbell. Ireneus Atkins. + +CHAPTER X.--BARNUM'S CONNECTION IN THE CLOCK BUSINESS.--Barnum and the +Jerome Manufacturing Co.; Terry & Barnum; interesting statements; causes +of the failure; the results. + +CHAPTER XI.--EFFECTS OF THE FAILURE ON MYSELF.--My prospects; leave New +Haven; move to Waterbury; a frightful accident; a practical story. + +CHAPTER XII.--ANOTHER UNFORTUNATE PARTNERSHIP.--More misplaced +confidence; a dishonest man threatening to imprison me for fraud; every +dollar gone; kindness of John Woodruff, etc. + +CHAPTER XIII.--THE WOOSTER PLACE CHURCH.--Reasons for building it, and +how it was built; growth of different denominations, etc. + +CHAPTER XIV.--NEW HAVEN AS A BUSINESS PLACE.--growth, extensive +manufactories, facilities for manufacturing, population, wealth, etc. + +APPENDIX.--General directions for keeping clocks in order, etc. + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +EARLY DAYS.--LEAVING HOME.--BOUND OUT.--FARMING.--CARPENTER.--SOLDIER.-- +CLOCK MAKING. + +I was born in the town of Canaan, Litchfield County, in the State of +Connecticut, on the 10th day of June, 1793. My parents were poor but +respectable and industrious. My father was a blacksmith and wrought-nail +maker by trade, and the father of six children--four sons and two +daughters. I was the fourth child. + +In January, 1797, he moved from Canaan to the town of Plymouth, in the +same County, and in the following spring built a blacksmith shop, which +was large enough for three or four men to work at the nail making +business, besides carrying on the blacksmithing. At that time all the +nails used in the country were hammered by hand out of iron rods, which +practice has almost entirely been done away by the introduction of cut +nails. + +My advantages for education were very poor. When large enough to handle +a hoe, or a bundle of rye, I was kept at work on the farm. The only +opportunity I had for attending school was in the winter season, and +then only about three months in the year, and at a very poor school. +When I was nine years old, my father took me into the shop to work, +where I soon learned to make nails, and worked with him in this way +until his death, which occurred on the fifth of October, 1804. For two +or three days before he died, he suffered the most excruciating pains +from the disease known as the black colic. The day of his death was a +sad one to me, for I knew that I should lose my happy home, and be +obliged to leave it to seek work for my support. There being no +manufacturing of any account in the country, the poor boys were obliged +to let themselves to the farmers, and it was extremely difficult to find +a place to live where they would treat a poor boy like a human being. +Never shall I forget the Monday morning that I took my little bundle of +clothes, and with a bursting heart bid my poor mother good bye. + +I knew that the rest of the family had got to leave soon, and I perhaps +never to see any of them again. Being but a boy and naturally very +sympathizing, it really seemed as if my heart would break to think of +leaving my dear old home for good, but stern necessity compelled me, and +I was forced to obey. + +The first year after leaving home I was at work on a farm, and almost +every day when alone in the fields would burst into tears--not because I +had to work, but because my father was dead whom I loved, and our happy +family separated and broken up never to live together again. In my new +place I was kept at work very hard, and at the age of fourteen did +almost the work of a man. It was a very lonely place where we lived, and +nothing to interest a child of my age. The people I lived with seemed to +me as very old, though they were probably not more than thirty-six years +of age, and felt no particular interest in me, more than to keep me +constantly at work, early and late, in all kinds of weather, of which I +never complained. I have many times worked all day in the woods, +chopping down trees, with my shoes filled with snow; never had a pair of +boots till I was more than twenty years old. Once in two weeks I was +allowed to go to church, which opportunity I always improved. + +I liked to attend church, for I could see so many folks, and the habit +which I then acquired has never to this day left me, and my love for it +dates back to this time in my youth, though the attractions now are +different. + +I shall never forget how frightened I was at the great eclipse which +took place on the 16th of June, 1806, and which so terrified the good +people in every part of the land. They were more ignorant about such +operations of the sun fifty-four years ago than at the present time. I +had heard something about eclipses but had not the faintest idea what it +could be. I was hoeing corn that day in a by-place three miles from +town, and thought it certainly was the day of judgment. I watched the +sun steadily disappearing with a trembling heart, and not till it again +appeared bright and shining as before, did I regain my breath and +courage sufficient to whistle. + +The winter before I was fifteen years old, I went to live with a house +carpenter to learn the trade, and was bound to him by my guardian till I +was twenty-one years old, and was to have my board and clothes for my +services. I learned the business very readily, and during the last three +years of my apprenticeship could do the work of a man. + +It was a very pleasant family that I lived with while learning my trade. +In the year 1809 my "boss" took a job in Torringford, and I went with +him. After being absent several months from home, I felt very anxious to +see my poor mother who lived about two miles from Plymouth. She lived +alone--with the exception of my youngest brother about nine years old. I +made up my mind that I would go down and see her one night. In this way +I could satisfy my boss by not losing any time. It was about twenty +miles, and I only sixteen years old. I was really sorry after I had +started, but was not the boy to back out. It took me till nearly morning +to get there, tramping through the woods half of the way; every noise I +heard I thought was a bear or something that would kill me, and the +frightful notes of the whippoorwill made my hair stand on end. The dogs +were after me at every house I passed. I have never forgotten that +night. The boys of to-day do not see such times as I did. + +The next year, 1810, my boss took a job in Ellsworth Society, Litchfield +County. I footed it to and from that place several times in the course +of the year, with a load of joiners' tools on my back. What would a boy +17 years old now think to travel thirty miles in a hot summer's day, +with a heavy load of joiners' tools on his back? But that was about the +only way that we could get around in those days. At that time there were +not half a dozen one-horse wagons in the whole town. At that place I +attended the church of Rev. Daniel Parker, father of Hon. Amasa J. +Parker, of Albany, who was then a little boy four or five years old. I +often saw him at meeting with his mother. He is a first cousin of F.S. & +J. Parker of this city, two highly respectable men engaged in the paper +business. + +In the fall of 1811, I made a bargain with the man that I was bound to, +that if he would give me four months in the winter of each year when the +business was dull, I would clothe myself. I therefore went to Waterbury, +and hired myself to Lewis Stebbins, (a singing master of that place,) to +work at making the dials for the old fashioned long clock. This kind of +business gave me great satisfaction, for I always had a desire to work +at clocks. In 1807, when I was fourteen years old, I proposed to my +guardian to get me a place with Mr. Eli Terry, of Plymouth, to work at +them. Mr. Terry was at that time making more clocks than any other man +in the country, about two hundred in a year, which was thought to be a +great number. + +My guardian, a good old man, told me that there was so many clocks then +making, that the country would soon be filled with them, and the +business would be good for nothing in two or three years. This opinion +of that wise man made me feel very sad. I well remember, when I was +about twelve years old, what I heard some old gentleman say, at a +training, (all of the good folks in those days were as sure to go to +training as to attend church,) they were talking about Mr. Terry; the +foolish man they said, had begun to make two hundred clocks; one said, +he never would live long enough to finish them; another remarked, that +if he did he never would, nor could possibly sell so many, and ridiculed +the very idea. + +I was a little fellow, but heard and swallowed every word those wise men +said, but I did not relish it at all, for I meant some day to make +clocks myself, if I lived. + +What would those good old men have thought when they were laughing at +and ridiculing Mr. Terry, if they had known that the little urchin who +was so eagerly listening to their conversation would live to make _Two +Hundred Thousand_ metal clocks in one year, and _many millions_ +in his life. They have probably been dead for years, that little boy is +now an old man, and during his life has seen these great changes. The +clock business has grown to be one of the largest in the country, and +almost every kind of American manufactures have improved in much the +same ratio, and I cannot now believe that there will ever be in the same +space of future time so many improvements and inventions as those of the +past half century--one of the most important in the history of the +world. Everyday things with us now would have appeared to our +forefathers as incredible. But returning to my story--having got myself +tolerably well posted about clocks at Waterbury, I hired myself to two +men to go into the state of New Jersey, to make the old fashioned seven +foot standing clock-case. Messrs. Hotchkiss and Pierpont, of Plymouth, +had been selling that kind of a clock without the cases, in the northern +part of that State, for about twenty dollars, apiece. The purchasers, +had complained to them however, that there was no one in that region +that could make the case for them, which prevented many others from +buying. These two men whom I went with, told them that they would get +some one to go out from Connecticut, to make the case, and thought they +could be made for about eighteen or twenty dollars apiece, which would +then make the whole clock cost about forty dollars--not so very costly +after all; for a clock was then considered the most useful of anything +that could be had in a family, for what it cost. I entered into an +agreement with these men at once, and a few days after, we three started +on the 14th Dec., 1812, in an old lumber wagon, with provisions for the +journey, to the far off Jersey. This same trip can now be made in a few +hours. We were _many_ days. We passed through Watertown, and other +villages, and stopped the first night at Bethel. This is the very place +where P.T. Barnum was born, and at about this time, of whom I shall +speak more particularly hereafter. The next morning we started again on +our journey, and not many hours after, arrived in Norwalk, then quite a +small village, situated on Long Island Sound; at this place I saw the +salt water for the first time in my life, also a small row-boat, and +began to feel that I was a great traveler indeed. The following night we +stopped at Stamford, which was, as I viewed it, a great place; here I +saw a few sloops on the Sound, which I thought was the greatest sight +that I had ever seen. This was years before a steamboat had ever passed +through the Sound. The next morning we started again for New York, and +as we passed along I was more and more astonished at the wonderful +things that I saw, and began to think that the world was very extensive. +We did not arrive at the city until night, but there being a full moon +every thing appeared as pleasant, as in the day-time. We passed down +through the Bowery, which was then like a country village, then through +Chatham street to Pearl street, and stopped for the night at a house +kept by old Mr. Titus. I arose early the next morning and hurried into +the street to see how a city looked by day-light. I stood on the corner +of Chatham and Pearl for more than an hour, and I must confess that if I +was ever astonished in my life, it was at that time. I could not +understand why so many people, of every age, description and dress, were +hurrying so in every direction. I asked a man what was going on, and +what all this excitement meant, but he passed right along without +noticing me, which I thought was very uncivil, and I formed a very poor +opinion of those city folks. I ate nothing that morning, for I thought I +could be in better business for a while at least. I wandered about +gazing at the many new sights, and went out as far as the Park; at that +time the workmen were finishing the interior of the City Hall. I was +greatly puzzled to know how the winding stone stairs could be fixed +without any seeming support and yet be perfectly safe. After viewing +many sights, all of which were exceedingly interesting to me, I returned +to the house where my companions were. They told me that they had just +heard that the ship Macedonian, which was taken a few days before from +the British by one of our ships, had just been brought into the harbor +and lay off down by Burling Slip, or in that region. We went down to see +her, and went on board. I was surprised and frightened to see brains and +blood scattered about on the deck in every direction. This prize was +taken by the gallant Decatur, but a short distance from New York. +Hastening back from this sickening scene, we resumed our journey. My two +companions had been telling me that we should have to cross the North +River in a boat, and I did not understand how a boat could be made to +carry our team and be perfectly safe, but when we arrived there, I was +much surprised to see other teams that were to cross over with us, and a +number of people. At that time an old scow crossed from New York City to +the Jersey shore, once in about two hours. What a great change has taken +place in the last forty-seven years; now large steam ferry boats are +crossing and recrossing, making the trip in a few minutes. It was the +first time that I had ever crossed a stream, except on a bridge, and I +feared that we might upset and all be drowned, but no accident happened +to us; we landed in safety, and went on our way rejoicing towards +Elizabethtown. At that place I saw a regiment of soldiers from Kentucky, +who were on their way to the northern frontier to fight the British. +They were a rough set of fellows, and looked as though they could do a +great deal of fighting. It will be remembered that this was the time of +the last war with England. We passed on through Elizabethtown and +Morristown to Dutch Valley, where we stopped for the night. We remained +at this place a few days, looking about for a cabinet shop, or a +suitable place to make the clock cases. Not succeeding, we went a mile +further north, to a place called Schooler's Mountain; here we found a +building that suited us. It was then the day before Christmas. The +people of that region, we found, kept that day more strictly than the +Sabbath, and as we were not ready to go to work, we passed Christmas day +indoors feeling very lonely indeed. The next day we began operations. A +young man from the lower part of New Jersey worked with me all winter. +We boarded ourselves in the same building that we worked in, I doing all +of the house-work and cooking, none of which was very fine or fancy, our +principal food being pork, potatoes and bread, using our work-bench for +a table. Hard work gave us good appetite. + +We would work on an average about fifteen hours a day, the house-work +not occupying much of our time. I was then only nineteen years old, and +it hardly seems possible that the boys of the present day could pass +through such trials and hardships, and live. We worked in this way all +winter. When the job was finished, I took my little budget of clothes +and started for home. I traveled the first day as far as Elizabethtown, +and stopped there all night, but found no conveyance from there to New +York. I was told that if I would go down to the Point, I might in the +course of the day, get a passage in a sailing vessel to the city. I went +down early in the morning and, after waiting till noon, found a chance +to go with two men in a small sail boat. I was greatly alarmed at the +strange motions of the boat which I thought would upset, and felt +greatly relieved when I was again on terra firma. + +I wandered about the streets of New York all that afternoon, bought a +quantity of bread and cheese, and engaged a passage on the Packet Sloop +Eliza, for New Haven, of her Captain Zebulon Bradley. I slept on board +of her that night at the dock, the next day we set sail for New Haven, +about ten o'clock in the forenoon, with a fair wind, and arrived at the +long wharf in (that city) about eight o'clock the same day. I stopped at +John Howe's Hotel, at the head of the wharf. This was the first time +that I was ever in this beautiful city, and I little thought then that I +ever should live there, working at my favorite business, with three +hundred men in my employ, or that I should ever be its Mayor.--Times +change. + +Very early the next morning, after looking about a little, I started +with my bundle of clothes in one hand, and my bread and cheese in the +other, to find the Waterbury turnpike, and after dodging about for a +long time, succeeded in finding it, and passed on up through Waterbury +to Plymouth, walking the whole distance, and arrived home about three +o'clock in the afternoon. This was my first trip abroad, and I really +felt that I was a great traveler, one who had seen much of the world! +What a great change has taken place in so short space of time. + +Soon after I returned from my western trip, there began to be a great +excitement throughout the land, about the war. It was proposed by the +Governor of Connecticut, John Cotton Smith, of Sharon, to raise one or +two regiments of State troops to defend it in case of invasion. One +Company of one hundred men, was raised in the towns of Waterbury, +Watertown, Middlebury, Plymouth and Bethlem, and John Buckingham chosen +Captain, who is now living in Waterbury; the other commissioned officers +of the company, were Jas. M.L. Scovill, of Waterbury, and Joseph H. +Bellamy, of Bethlem. The company being composed of young men, and I +being about the right age, had of course to be one of them. + +Early in the Summer of 1813, the British fleet run two of our ships of +war up the Thames River, near New London. Their ships being so large +could not enter, but lay at its mouth. Their presence so near greatly +alarmed the citizens of that city, and in fact, all of the people in the +eastern part of the State. Our regiment was ordered to be ready to start +for New London by the first of August. The Plymouth company was called +together on Sunday, which was the first of August, and exercised on the +Green in front of the church, in the fore part of the day. This unusual +occurrence of a military display on the Sabbath greatly alarmed the good +people of the congregation, but it really was a case of necessity, we +were preparing to defend our homes from a foreign foe. + +In the afternoon we attended church in a body, wearing our uniforms, to +the wonder and astonishment of boys, but terrible to the old people. On +Monday morning we started on a march to Hartford, sleeping that night in +a barn, in the eastern part of Farmington, and reaching Hartford the +next day, where we joined the other companies, and all started for New +London. The first night we slept in a barn in East Hartford, and the +second one in an old church in Marlboro. I remember lying on the seat of +a pew, with my knapsack under my head. We arrived at New London on +Saturday, marching the whole distance in the first week in August, and a +hotter time I have never experienced since. We were dressed in heavy +woolen clothes, carrying heavy guns and knapsacks, and wearing large +leather caps. It was indeed a tedious job. We were whole days traveling +what can now be done in less than as many hours, and were completely +used up when we arrived there, which would not appear strange. We were +immediately stationed on the high ground, back from the river, about +half way between the city and the light-house, in plain view of the +enemy's ships. They would frequently, when there was a favorable wind, +hoist their sails and beat about in the harbor, making a splendid +appearance, and practising a good deal with their heavy guns on a small +American sloop, which they had taken and anchored a long distance off. +The bounding of the cannon balls on the water was an interesting sight +to me. The first night after our arrival, I was put on guard near the +Light-house, and in plain sight of the ships. I was much afraid that the +sharp shooters from their barges would take me for a target and be smart +enough to hit me; and a heavy shower with thunder and lightning passing +over us during the night, did not alleviate my distress. I was but a +boy, only twenty years old, and would naturally be timid in such a +situation, but I passed the night without being killed; it seems that +was not the way that I was to die. + +I soon became sick and disgusted with a soldier's life; it seemed to be +too lazy and low-lived to suit me, and, as near as I could judge, the +inhabitants thought us all a low set of fellows. I never have had a +desire to live or be anywhere without I could be considered at least as +good as the average, which failing I have now as strong as ever. We not +having any battles to fight, had no opportunities of showing our +bravery, and after guarding the city for forty-five days, were +discharged; over which we made a great rejoicing, and returned home by +the way of New Haven, which was my second visit to this city. The North +and Centre Churches were then building, also, the house now standing at +the North-east corner of the Green, owned then by David DeForest; +stopping here over night, we pased [sic] on home to Plymouth. I had not +slept on a bed since I left home, and would have as soon taken the barn +floor as a good bed. This ended my first campaign. + +After this I went to work at my trade, the Joiners business. I was still +an apprentice; would not be twenty-one till the next June. + +The War was not yet over, and in October, 1814, our Regiment was ordered +by Governor Smith to New Haven, to guard the city. Col. Sanford, (father +of Elihu and Harvey Sanford of this city,) commanded us. On arriving, we +were stationed at the old slaughter-house, in the Eastern part of the +city, at the end of Green street. All the land East of Academy street +was then in farmers' lots, and planted with corn, rye and potatoes now +covered with large manufactories and fine dwellings. I little thought +then, that I should have the largest Clock-factory in the world, within +a stone's throw of my sleeping-place, as has since proved. Nothing of +much importance took place during our campaign at New Haven. The British +did not land or molest us. We built a large fort on the high grounds, on +the East Haven side, which commanded the Harbor, the ruins of which can +now be seen from the city. A good deal of fault was found by the +officers and men with the provisions, which were very poor. When this +campaign closed I was through with my military glory, and returned to my +home, sick and disgusted with a soldier's life. I hope our country will +not be disgraced with another war. + +All of the old people will remember what a great rejoicing there was +through the whole country, when peace was declared in February, 1815. I +was married about that time to Salome Smith, daughter of Capt. +Theophilus Smith, one of the last of the Puritanical families there was +in the town; she made one of the best of wives and mothers. She died on +the 6th of March, 1854. We lived together 39 years. A short time after +we were married, I moved to the town of Farmington, and hired a house of +Mr. Chauncey Deming to live in, and went to work for Capt. Selah Porter, +for twenty dollars per month. We built a house for Maj. Timothy Cowles, +which was then the best one in Farmington. I was not worth at this time +fifty dollars in the world. + +1815, the year after the war, was, probably the hardest one there has +been for the last hundred years, for a young man to begin for himself. + +Pork was sold for thirteen dollars per hundred, Flour at thirteen +dollars per barrel; Molasses was sold for seventy-five cents per gallon, +and brown Sugar at thirty-four cents per pound. I remember buying some +cotton cloth for a common shirt, for which I paid one dollar a yard, no +better than can now be bought for ten cents. I mention these things to +let the young men know what a great change has taken place, and what my +prospects were at that time. Not liking this place, I moved back to +Plymouth. I did not have money enough to pay my rent, which however, was +not due until the next May, but Mr. Deming, who by the way, was one of +the richest men in the State, was determined that I should not go till I +had paid him. I promised him that he should have the money when it was +due, if my life was spared, and he finally consented to let me go. When +it came due I walked to Farmington, fifteen miles, paid him and walked +back the same day, feeling relieved and happy. I obtained the job of +finishing the inside of a dwelling house, which gave me great +encouragement. The times were awful hard and but little business done at +anything. It would almost frighten a man to see a five dollar bill, they +were so very scarce. My work was about two miles from where I lived. My +wife was confined about this time with her first babe. I would rise +every morning two hours before day-light and prepare my breakfast, and +taking my dinner in a little pail, bid my good wife good-by for the day, +and start for my work, not returning till night. About this time the +Congregational Society employed a celebrated music teacher to conduct +the church singing, and I having always had a desire to sing sacred +music, joined his choir and would walk a long distance to attend the +singing schools at night after working hard all day. I was chosen +chorister after a few weeks, which encouraged me very much in the way of +singing, and was afterwards employed as a teacher to some extent, and +for a long time led the singing there and at Bristol where I afterwards +lived. The next summer was the cold one of 1816, which none of the old +people will ever forget, and which many of the young have heard a great +deal about. There was ice and snow in every month in the year. I well +remember on the seventh of June, while on my way to work, about a mile +from home, dressed throughout with thick woolen clothes and an overcoat +on, my hands got so cold that I was obliged to lay down my tools and put +on a pair of mittens which I had in my pocket. It snowed about an hour +that day. On the tenth of June, my wife brought in some clothes that had +been spread on the ground the night before, which were frozen stiff as +in winter. On the fourth of July, I saw several men pitching quoits in +the middle of the day with thick overcoats on, and the sun shining +bright at the same time. A body could not feel very patriotic in such +weather. I often saw men when hoeing corn, stop at the end of a row and +get in the sun by a fence to warm themselves. Not half enough corn +ripened that year to furnish seed for the next. I worked at my trade, +and had the job of finishing the inside of a three-story house, having +twenty-seven doors and a white oak matched floor to make, and did the +whole for eighty-five dollars. The same work could not now be done as I +did it for less than five hundred dollars. Such times as these were +indeed hard for poor young men. We did not have many carpets or costly +furniture and servants; but as winter approached times seemed to grow +harder and harder. No work could be had. I was in debt for my little +house and lot which I had bought only a short time before, near the +center of Plymouth, and had a payment to make on it the next spring. I +proposed going south to the city of Baltimore, to obtain work, and had +already made preparations to go and leave my young family for the +winter, at which I could not help feeling very sad, when I accidentally +heard that Mr. Eli Terry was about to fit up his factory (which was +built the year before,) for making his new Patent Shelf Clock. I thought +perhaps I could get a job with him, and started immediately to see Mr. +Terry, and closed a bargain with him at once. I never shall forget the +great good feeling that this bargain gave me. It was a pleasant kind of +business for me, and then I knew I could see my family once a week or +oftener if necessary. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +PROGRESS OF CLOCK MAKING.--IMPROVEMENTS BY ELI TERRY AND OTHERS.--SHELF +CLOCK. + +At the beginning of this book I have said that I would give to the +public a history of the AMERICAN CLOCK BUSINESS. I am now the oldest man +living that has had much to do with the manufacturing of clocks, and +can, I believe, give a more correct account than any other person. This +great business has grown almost from nothing during my remembrance. +Nearly all of the clocks used in this country are made or have been made +in the small State of Connecticut, and a heavy trade in them is carried +on in foreign countries. The business or manufacture of them has become +so systematized of late that it has brought the prices exceedingly low, +and it has long been the astonishment of the whole world how they could +be made so cheap and yet be good. A gentleman called at my factory a few +years ago, when I was carrying on the business, who said he lived in +London, and had seen my clocks in that city, and declared that he was +perfectly astonished at the price of them, and had often remarked that +if he ever came to this country he would visit the factory and see for +himself. After I had showed him all the different processes it required +to complete a clock, he expressed himself in the strongest terms--he +told me he had traveled a great deal in Europe, and had taken a great +interest in all kinds of manufactures, but had never seen anything equal +to this, and did not believe that there was anything made in the known +world that made as much show, and at the same time was as cheap and +useful as the brass clock which I was then manufacturing. + + * * * * * + +The man above all others in his day for the wood clock was Eli Terry. He +was born in East Windsor, Conn., in April, 1772, and made a few old +fashioned hang-up clocks in his native place before he was twenty-one +years of age. He was a young man of great ingenuity and good native +talent. He moved to the town of Plymouth, Litchfield county, in 1793, +and commenced making a few of the same kind, working alone for several +years. About the year 1800, he might have had a boy or one or two young +men to help him. They would begin one or two dozen at a time, using no +machinery, but cutting the wheels and teeth with a saw and jack-knife. +Mr. Terry would make two or three trips a year to the New Country, as it +was then called, just across the North River, taking with him three or +four clocks, which he would sell for about twenty-five dollars apiece. +This was for the movement only. In 1807 he bought an old mill in the +southern part of the town, and fitted it up to make his clocks by +machinery. About this time a number of men in Waterbury associated +themselves together, and made a large contract with him, they furnishing +the stock, and he making the movements. With this contract and what he +made and sold to other parties, he accumulated quite a little fortune +for those times. The first five hundred clocks ever made by machinery in +the country were started at one time by Mr. Terry at this old mill in +1808, a larger number than had ever been begun at one time in the world. +Previous to this time the wheels and teeth had been cut out by hand; +first marked out with square and compasses, and then sawed with a fine +saw, a very slow and tedious process. Capt. Riley Blakeslee, of this +city, lived with Mr. Terry at that time, and worked on this lot of +clocks, cutting the teeth. Talking with Capt. Blakeslee a few days +since, he related an incident which happened when he was a boy, sixty +years ago, and lived on a farm in Litchfield. One day Mr. Terry came to +the house where he lived to sell a clock. The man with whom young +Blakeslee lived, left him to plow in the field and went to the house to +make a bargain for it, which he did, paying Mr. Terry in salt pork, a +part of which he carried home in his saddle-bags where he had carried +the clock. He was at that time very poor, but twenty-five years after +was worth $200,000, all of which he made in the clock business. + +Mr. Terry sold out his business to Seth Thomas and Silas Hoadley, two of +his leading workmen, in 1810. This establishment was the leading one for +several years, but other ones springing up in the vicinity, the +competition became so great that the prices were reduced from ten to +five dollars apiece for the bare movement. Daniel Clark, Zenas Cook and +Wm. Porter, started clock-making at Waterbury, and carried it on largely +for several years, but finally failed and went out of the business. + +Col. Wm. Leavenworth, of the same place, was in the business in 1810, +but failed, and moved to Albany, N.Y. A man by the name of Mark +Leavenworth made clocks for a long time, and in the latter part of his +life manufactured the Patent Shelf Clock. + +Two brothers, James and Lemuel Harrison, made a few before the year +1800, using no machinery, making their wheels with a saw and knife. +Sixty years ago, a man by the name of Gideon Roberts got up a few in the +old way: he was an excellent mechanic and made a good article. He would +finish three or four at a time and take them to New York State to sell. +I have seen him many times, when I was a small boy, pass my father's +house on horseback with a clock in each side of his saddle-bags, and a +third lashed on behind the saddle with the dials in plain sight. They +were then a great curiosity to me. Mr. Roberts had to give up this kind +of business; he could not compete with machinery. John Rich of Bristol +was in the business; also Levi Lewis, but gave it up in a few years. An +Ives family in Bristol were quite conspicuous as clock-makers. They were +good mechanics. One of them, Joseph Ives, has done a great deal towards +improving the eight day brass clock, which I shall speak about +hereafter. + +Chauncey Boardman, of Bristol, Riley Whiting, of Winsted, and Asa +Hopkins, of Northfield, were all engaged in the manufacture of the old +fashioned hang-up clock. Butler Dunbar, an old schoolmate of mine, and +father of Col. Edward Dunbar, of Bristol, was engaged with Dr. Titus +Merriman in the same business. They all gave up the business after a few +years. + +Mr. Eli Terry (in the year 1814,) invented a beautiful shelf clock made +of wood, which completely revolutionized the whole business. The making +of the old fashioned hang-up wood clock, about which I have been +speaking, passed out of existence. This patent article Mr. Terry +introduced, was called the Pillar Scroll Top Case. The pillars were +about twenty-one inches long, three-quarters of an inch at the base, and +three-eights at the top--resting on a square base, and the top finished +by a handsome cap. It had a large dial eleven inches square, and tablet +below the dial seven by eleven inches. This style of clock was liked +very much and was made in large quantities, and for several years. Mr. +Terry sold a right to manufacture them to Seth Thomas, for one thousand +dollars, which was thought to be a great sum. At first, Terry and Thomas +made each about six thousand clocks per year, but afterwards increased +to ten or twelve thousand. They were sold for fifteen dollars apiece +when first manufactured. I think that these two men cleared about one +hundred thousand dollars apiece, up to the year 1825. Mr. Thomas had +made a good deal of money on the old fashioned style, for he made a good +article, and had but little competition, and controlled most of the +trade. + +In 1818, Joseph Ives invented a metal clock, making the plates of iron +and the wheels of brass. The movement was very large, and required a +case about five feet long. This style was made for two or three years, +but not in large quantities. + +In the year 1825, the writer invented a new case, somewhat larger than +the Scroll Top, which was called the Bronze Looking-Glass Clock. This +was the richest looking and best clock that had ever been made, for the +price. They could be got up for one dollar less than the Scroll Top, yet +sold for two dollars more. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +PERSONAL HISTORY CONTINUED.--COMMENCING BUSINESS.--SALE TO A +SOUTHERNER.--REMOVAL TO BRISTOL.--FIRST SERIOUS LOSS. + +I must now go back and give a history of myself, from the winter of +1816, to this time (1825.) As I said before, I went to work for Mr. +Terry, making the Patent Shelf Clock in the winter of 1816. Mr. Thomas +had been making them for about two years, doing nearly all of the labor +on the case by hand. Mr. Terry in the mean time being a great mechanic +had made many improvements in the way of making the cases. Under his +directions I worked a long time at putting up machinery and benches. We +had a circular saw, the first one in the town, and which was considered +a great curiosity. In the course of the winter he drew another plan of +the Pillar Scroll Top Case with great improvements over the one which +Thomas was then making. I made the first one of the new style that was +ever produced in that factory, which became so celebrated for making the +patent case for more than ten years after. + +When my time was out in the spring, I bought some parts of clocks, +mahogany, veneers, etc., and commenced in a small shop, business for +myself. I made the case, and bought the movements, dials and glass, +finishing a few at a time. I found a ready sale for them. I went on in +this small way for a few years, feeling greatly animated with my +prosperity, occasionally making a payment on my little house. I heard +one day of a man in Bristol, who did business in South Carolina, who +wanted to buy a few clocks to take to that market with him. I started at +once over to see him, and soon made a bargain with him to deliver twelve +wood clocks at twelve dollars apiece. I returned home greatly encouraged +by the large order, and went right to work on them. I had them finished +and boxed ready for shipping in a short time. I had agreed to deliver +them on a certain day and was to receive $144 in cash. I hired an old +horse and lumber wagon of one of my neighbors, loaded the boxes and took +an early start for Bristol. I was thinking all the way there of the +large sum that I was to receive, and was fearful that something might +happen to disappoint me. I arrived at Bristol early in the forenoon and +hurried to the house of my customer, and told him I had brought the the +clocks as agreed. He said nothing but went into another room with his +son. I thought surely that something was wrong and that I should not get +the wished-for money, but after a while the old gentleman came back and +sat down by the table. "Here," he says, "is your money, and a heap of +it, too." It did look to me like a large sum, and took us a long time to +count it. This was more than forty years ago, and money was very scarce. +I took it with a trembling hand, and securing it safely in my pocket, +started immediately for home. This was a larger sum than I had ever had +at one time, and I was much alarmed for fear that I should be robbed of +my treasure before I got home. I thought perhaps it might be known that +I was to receive a large sum for clocks, and that some robbers might be +watching in a lonely part of the road and take it from me, but not +meeting any, I arrived safely home, feeling greatly encouraged and +happy. I told my wife that I would make another payment on our house, +which I did with a great deal of satisfaction. After this I was so +anxious to get along with my work that I did not so much as go out into +the street for a week at a time. I would not go out of the gate from the +time I returned from church one Sunday till the next. I loved to work as +well as I did to eat. I remember once, when at school, of chopping a +whole load of wood, for a great lazy boy, for one penny, and I used to +chop all the wood I could get from the families in the neighborhood, +moonlight nights, for very small sums. The winter after I made this +large sale, I took about one dozen of the Pillar Scroll Top Clocks, and +went to the town of Wethersfield to sell them. I hired a man to carry me +over there with a lumber wagon, who returned home. I would take one of +these clocks under each arm and go from house to house and offer them +for sale. The people seemed to be well pleased with them, and I sold +them for eighteen dollars apiece. This was good luck for me. I sold my +last one on Saturday afternoon. There had been a fall of snow the night +before of about eight or ten inches which ended in a rain, and made very +bad walking. Here I was, twenty-five miles from home, my wife was +expecting me, and I felt that I could not stay over Sunday. I was +anxious to tell my family of my good luck that we might rejoice +together. I started to walk the whole distance, but it proved to be the +hardest physical undertaking that I ever experienced. It was bedtime +when I reached Farmington, only one-third the distance, wallowing in +snow porridge all the way. I did not reach home till near Sunday +morning, more dead than alive. I did not go to church that day, which +made many wonder what had become of me, for I was always expected to be +in the singers' seat on Sunday. I did not recover from the effects of +that night-journey for a long time. Soon after this occurrence, I began +to increase my little business, and and employed my old joiner "boss" +and one of his apprentices; bought my mahogany in the plank and sawed my +own vaneers [sic] with a hand-saw. I engaged a man with a one horse +wagon to go to New York after a load of mahogany, and went with him to +select it. The roads were very muddy, and we were obliged to walk the +whole distance home by the side of the wagon. I worked along in this +small way until the year 1821, when I sold my house and lot, which I had +almost worshipped, to Mr. Terry; it was worth six hundred dollars. He +paid me one hundred wood clock movements, with the dials, tablets, glass +and weights. I went over to Bristol to see a man by the name of George +Mitchell, who owned a large two story house, with a barn and seventeen +acres of good land in the southern part of the town, which he said he +would sell and take his pay in clocks. I asked him how many of the Terry +Patent Clocks he would sell it for; he said two hundred and fourteen. I +told him I would give it, and closed the bargain at once. I finished up +the hundred parts which I had got from Mr. Terry, exchanged cases with +him for more, obtained some credit, and in this way made out the +quantity for Mitchell. + +The next summer I lost seven hundred and forty dollars by Moses Galpin +of Bethlem. Five or six others with myself trusted this man Galpin with +a large quantity of clocks, and he took them to Louisiana to sell in the +fall of 1821. In the course of the winter he was taken sick and died +there. One of his pedlars came home the next spring without one dollar +in money; the creditors were called together to see what had better be +done. The note that he had given me the fall before was due in July, and +I as much expected it as I did the sun to rise and set. Here was trouble +indeed; it was a great sum of money to lose, and what to do I didn't +know. The creditors had several meetings and finally concluded to send +out a man to look after the property that was scattered through the +state. He could not go without money. We thought if we furnished him +with means to go and finish up the business, we should certainly get +enough to pay the original debt. It was agreed that we should raise a +certain sum, and that each one should pay in proportion to the amount of +his claim. My part was one hundred dollars, and it was a hard job for me +to raise so large a sum after my great loss. When it came fall and time +for him to start, I managed in some way to have it ready. This man's +name was Isaac Turner, about fifty years old, and said to be very +respectable. He started out and traveled all over the state, but found +every thing in the worst kind of shape. The men to whom Galpin had sold +would not pay when they heard that he was dead. Mr. Turner was gone from +home ten months, but instead of his returning with money for us, we were +obliged to pay money that he had borrowed to get home with, besides his +expenses for the ten months that he was gone. This was harder for me +than any of the others, and was indeed a bitter pill. As it was my first +heavy loss I could not help feeling very bad. + +In the winter and spring of 1822, I built a small shop in Bristol, for +making the cases only, as all of the others made the movements. The +first circular saw ever used there was put up by myself in 1822, and +this was the commencement of making cases by machinery in that town, +which has since been so renowned for its clock productions. I went on +making cases in a small way for a year or two, sometimes putting in a +few movements and selling them, but not making much money. The clocks of +Terry and Thomas sold first rate, and it was quite difficult to buy any +of the movements, as no others were making the Patent Clock at that +time. I was determined to have some movements to case, and went to +Chauncey Boardman, who had formerly made the old fashioned hang-up +movements, and told him I wanted him to make me two hundred of his kind +with such alterations as I should suggest. He said he would make them +for me. I had them altered and made so as to take a case about four feet +long, which I made out of pine, richly stained and varnished. This made +a good clock for time and suited farmers first rate. + +In the spring of 1824, I went into company with two men by the name of +Peck, from Bristol. We took two hundred of these movements and a few +tools in two one horse wagons and started East, intending to stop in the +vicinity of Boston. We stopped at a place about fifteen miles from there +called East Randolph; after looking about a little, we concluded to +start our business there and hired a joiners' shop of John Adams, a +cousin of J.Q. Adams. We then went to Boston and bought a load of +lumber, and commenced operations. I was the case-maker of our concern, +and 'pitched into' the pine lumber in good earnest. I began four cases +at a time and worked like putting out fire on them. My partners were +waiting for some to be finished so that they could go out and sell. In +two or three days I had got them finished and they started with them, +and I began four more. In a day or two they returned home having sold +them at sixteen dollars _each_. This good fortune animated me very +much. I worked about fourteen or fifteen hours per day, and could make +about four cases and put in the glass, movements and dials. We worked on +in this way until we had finished up the two hundred, and sold them at +an average of sixteen dollars apiece. We had done well and returned home +with joyful hearts in the latter part of June. On arriving home I found +my little daughter about five years old quite sick. In a week after she +died. I deeply felt the loss of my little daughter, and every 7th of +July it comes fresh into my mind. + +In the fall of 1824, I formed a company with my brother, Noble Jerome, +and Elijah Darrow, for the manufacturing of clocks, and began making a +movement that required a case about six or eight inches longer than the +Terry Patent. We did very well at this for a year or two, during which +time I invented the Bronze Looking Glass Clock, which soon +revolutionized the whole business. As I have said before, it could be +made for one dollar less and sold for two dollars more than the Patent +Case; they were very showy and a little longer. With the introduction of +this clock in the year 1825, closed the second chapter of the history of +the Yankee Clock business. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +THE BRONZE LOOKING GLASS CLOCK.--CHURCH AT BRISTOL.--PANIC OF 1837.-- +CLOCKS AT THE SOUTH.--THE ONE DAY BRASS CLOCK. + +With the introduction of the Bronze Looking-Glass Clock, the business +seemed to revive in all the neighboring towns, but more especially in +Plymouth and Bristol. Both Mr. Terry and Mr. Thomas, did and said much +in disparagement of my new invention, and tried to discourage the +pedlars from buying of me, but they did as men do now-a-days, buy where +they can do the best and make the most money. This new clock was liked +very much in the southern market. I have heard of some of these being +sold in Mississippi and Lousianna [sic] as high as one hundred and one +hundred and fifteen dollars, and a great many at ninety dollars, which +was a good advance on the first cost. Mr. Thomas gave out that he would +not make them any how, he did not want to follow Jerome, but did finally +come to it, making only a few at first, but running them down in the +mean time and praising his old case. He finally gave up making the +Scroll Top and made my new kind altogether. + +Samuel Terry, a brother of Eli, came to Bristol about this time, and +commenced making this kind of clock. + +Several others began to make them--Geo. Mitchell and his brother in-law +Rollin Atkins went into it, also Riley Whiting of Winsted. The business +increased very rapidly between 1827 and 1837. During these ten years +Jeromes and Barrow made more than any other company. The two towns of +Plymouth and Bristol grew and improved very rapidly; many new houses +were built, and every thing looked prosperous. + +In 1831, a new church was built in Bristol, and, it is said, through the +introduction of this Bronze Looking Glass Clock. Jeromes and Barrow paid +one-third of the cost of its erection. The writer obtained every dollar +of the subscription. The Hon. Tracy Peck and myself first started this +project, which ended in building this fine church which was finished and +dedicated in August, 1832. The Rev. David Lewis Parmelee preached the +dedication sermon, and was the settled minister there. I was greatly +interested in his preaching for ten years. He has for the last nineteen +years preached at South Farms now the town of Morris. This Mr. Parmelee +was a merchant till he was thirty years old, and was then converted in +some mysterious manner, as St. Paul was, and left his business to preach +the gospel. He proved to be one of the soundest preachers in the land, +and I have no doubt but he will be one of the bright and shining lights +in heaven. Oh! what happy days I saw during those ten years, little +dreaming of the great troubles that were before me, or that I should +experience in after life, which are now resting so heavily upon me, many +times seeming greater than I can bear. But such is life. + +About this time, also, Chauncey and Lawson C. Ives, two highly +respectable men, built a factory in Bristol for the purpose of making an +eight day brass clock. This clock was invented by Joseph Ives, a brother +of Chauncey, and sold for about twenty dollars. The manufacture of these +was carried on very successfully for a few years by them, but in 1836, +their business was closed up, they having made about one hundred +thousand dollars. Soon after this, in 1837, came the great panic and +break down of business which extended all over the country. Clock makers +and almost every one else stopped business. I should mention that +another company made the eight day brass clock previous to 1837, Erastus +and Harvey Case and John Birge. Their clocks were retailed mostly in the +southern market. They made perhaps four thousand a year. The Ives Co., +made about two thousand, but both went out of business in 1837, and it +was thought that clock making was about done with in Conn. + +The third chapter, as I have divided it, was now closing up. Wood clocks +were good for time, but it was a slow job to properly make them, and +difficult to procure wood just right for wheels and plates, and it took +a whole year to season it. No factory had made over _Ten_ thousand +in a year; they were always classed with wooden nutmegs and wooden +cucumber seeds, and could not be introduced into other countries to any +advantage. But this was not the only trouble; being on water long as +they would have to be, would swell the wood of the wheels and ruin the +clock. Here then we had the eight day brass clock costing about twenty +dollars; the idea had always been that a brass clock must be an eight +day, and all one day should be of wood, and the plan of a brass one day +had never been thought of. + +In 1835, the southern people were greatly opposed to the Yankee pedlars +coming into their states, especially the clock pedlars, and the licences +were raised so high by their Legislatures that it amounted to almost a +prohibition. Their laws were that any goods made in their own States +could be sold without licence. Therefore clocks to be profitable must be +made in those states. Chauncey and Noble Jerome started a factory in +Richmond Va., making the cases and parts at Bristol, Connecticut, and +packing them with the dials, glass &c. We shipped them to Richmond and +took along workmen to put them together. The people were highly pleased +with the idea of having clocks all made in their State. The old planters +would tell the pedlars they meant to go to Richmond and see the +wonderful machinery there must be to produce such articles and would no +doubt have thought the tools we had there were sufficient to make a +clock. We carried on this kind of business for two or three years and +did very well at it, though it was unpleasant. Every one knew it was all +a humbug trying to stop the pedlars from coming to their State. We +removed from Richmond to Hamburg, S.C., and manufactured in the same +way. This was in 1835 and '36. + +There was another company doing the same kind of business at Augusta, +Geo., by the name Case, Dyer, Wadsworth & Co., and Seth Thomas was +making the cases and movements for them. The hard times came down on us +and we really thought that clocks would no longer be made. Our firm +thought we could make them if any body could, but like the others felt +discouraged and disgusted with the whole business as it was then. I am +sure that I had lost, from 1821 to this time, more than one hundred +thousand _dollars_, and felt very much discouraged in consequence. +Our company had a good deal of unsettled business in Virginia and South +Carolina, and I started in the fall of 1837 for those places. Arriving +at Richmond, I had a strong notion of going into the marl business. I +had been down into Kent county, the summer before, where I saw great +mountains of this white marl composed of shells of clams and oysters +white as chalk. I had sent one vessel load of this to New Haven the year +before. At Richmond I was looking after our old accounts, settling up, +collecting notes and picking up some scattered clocks. + +One night I took one of these clocks into my room and placing it on the +table, left a light burning near it and went to bed. While thinking over +my business troubles and disappointments, I could not help feeling very +much depressed. I said to myself I will not give up yet, I know more +about the clock business than anything else. That minute I was looking +at the wood clock on the table and it came into my mind instantly that +there could be a cheap one day brass clock that would take the place of +the wood clock. I at once began to figure on it; the case would cost no +more, the dials, glass, and weights and other fixtures would be the +same, and the size could be reduced. I lay awake nearly all night +thinking this new thing over. I knew there was a fortune in it. Many a +sensible man has since told me that if I could have secured the sole +right for making them for ten years, I could easily have made a million +of dollars. The more I looked at this new plan, the better it appeared. +My business took me to South Carolina before I could return home. I had +now enough to think of day and night; this one day brass clock was +constantly on my mind; I was drawing plans and contriving how they could +be made best. I traveled most of the way from Richmond by stage. +Arriving at Augusta, Geo., I called on the Connecticut men who were +finishing wood clocks for that market, and told Mr. Dyer the head man, +that I had got up, or could get up something when I got home that would +run out all the wood clocks in the country, Thomas's and all; he laughed +at me quite heartily. I told him that was all right, and asked him to +come to Bristol when he went home and I would show him something that +would astonish him. He promised that he would, and during the next +summer when he called at my place, I showed him a shelf full of them +running, which he acknowledged to be the best he had ever seen. + +I arrived home from the south the 28th of January, and told my brother +who was a first-rate clock maker what I had been thinking about since I +had been gone. He was much pleased with my plan, thought it a first rate +idea, and said he would go right to work and get up the movement, which +he perfected in a short time so that it was the best clock that had ever +been made in this or any other country. There have been more of this +same kind manufactured than of any other in the United States. What I +originated that night on my bed in Richmond, has given work to thousands +of men yearly for more than twenty years, built up the largest +manufactories in New England, and put more than a million of dollars +into the pockets of the brass makers,--"but there is not one of them +that remembers _Joseph_." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +SUCCESS OF THE NEW INVENTION.--INTRODUCTION OF CLOCKS IN ENGLAND.--TERRY +FAMILY, ETC. + +We went on very prosperously making the new clock, and it was admired +by every body. In the year 1839, some of my neighbors and a few of my +leading workmen had a great desire to get into the same kind of +business. We knew competition amongst Yankees was almost sure to kill +business and proposed to have them come in with us and have a share of +the profits. An arrangement to this effect was made and we went on in +this way until the fall of 1840. I found they were much annoyance and +bother to me, and so bought them all out, but had to give them one +hundred per cent. for the use of their money. Some of them had not paid +in anything, but I had to pay them the same profits I did the rest, to +get rid of them. One man had put in three thousand dollars for which I +paid him six thousand. I also bought out my brother Noble Jerome, who +had been in company with me for a long time, and carried on the whole +business alone, which seemed to be rapidly improving. + +I made in 1841, thirty-five thousand dollars clear profits. Men would +come and deposit money with me before their orders were finished. This +successful state of things set all of the wood clock makers half crazy, +and they went into it one after another as fast as they could, and of +course run down the price very fast--"Yankee-like." I had been thinking +for two or three years of introducing my clocks into England, and had +availed myself of every opportunity to get posted on that subject; when +I met Englishmen in New York and other places, I would try to find out +by them what the prospects would be for selling Yankee clocks in their +country. I ascertained that there were no cheap metal clocks used or +known there, the only cheap timepiece they had was a Dutch hang-up wood +clock. + +In 1842, I determined to make the venture of sending a consignment of +brass clocks to Old England. I made a bargain with Epaphroditus Peck, a +very talented young man of Bristol, a son of Hon. Tracy Peck, to take +them out, and sent my son--Chauncey Jerome, Jr. with him. All of the +first cargo consisted of the O.G. one day brass clocks. As soon as it +was known by the neighboring clock-makers, they laughed at me, and +ridiculed the idea of sending clocks to England where labor was so +cheap. They said that they never would interfere with Jerome in that +visionary project, but no sooner had I got them well introduced, after +spending thousands of dollars to effect it, than they had all forgotten +what they said about my folly, and one after another sent over the same +goods to compete with me and run down the price. As I have said before, +wood clocks could never have been exported to Europe from this country, +for many reasons. They would have been laughed at, and looked upon with +suspicion as coming from the wooden nutmeg country, and classed as the +same. They could not endure a long voyage across the water without +swelling the parts and rendering them useless as time-keepers; +experience had taught us this, as many wood clocks on a passage to the +southern market, had been rendered unfit for use for this very reason. +Metal clocks can be sent any where without injury. Millions have been +sent to Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, Palestine, and in fact, +to every part of the world; and millions of dollars brought into this +country by this means, and I think it not unfair to claim the honor of +inventing and introducing this low-price time-piece which has given +employment to so many of our countrymen, and has also, been so useful to +the world at large. No family is so poor but that they can have a +time-piece which is both useful and ornamental. They can be found in +every civilized portion of the globe. Meeting a sea captain one day, he +told me that on landing at the lonely island of St. Helena, the first +thing that he noticed on entering a house, was my name on the face of a +brass clock. Many years ago a missionary (Mr. Ruggles,) at the Sandwich +Islands, told me that he had one of my clocks in his house, the first +one that had ever been on the islands. Travelers have mentioned seeing +them in the city of Jerusalem, in many parts of Egypt, and in fact, +every where, which accounts could not but be interesting and gratifying +to me. + +It was a long and tedious undertaking to introduce my first cargo in +England. Mr. Peck and my son wrote me a great many times the first year, +that they never could be sold there, the prejudice against American +manufactures was so great that they would not buy them. Although very +much discouraged, I kept writing them to 'stick to it.' They were once +turned out of a store in London and threatened if they offered their +"Yankee clocks" again to the English people "who made clocks for the +world;" "they were good for nothing or they could not be offered so +cheap." They were finally introduced in this way; the young men +persuaded a merchant to take two into his store for sale. He reluctantly +gave his consent, saying he did not believe they would run at all; they +set the two running and left the price of them. On calling the next day +to see how they were getting along, and what the London merchant thought +of them, they were surprised to find them both gone. On asking what had +become of them, they were told that two men came in and liked their +looks and bought them. The merchant said he did not think any one would +ever buy them, but told them they might bring in four more; "I will see" +he says, "if I can sell any _more_ of your Yankee clocks." They +carried them in and calling the next day, found them all gone. The +merchant then told them to bring in a dozen. These went off in a short +time, and not long after, this same merchant bought two hundred at once, +and other merchants began to think they could make some money on these +Yankee clocks and the business began to improve very rapidly. There are +always men enough who are ready to enter into a business after it is +started and looks favorable. A pleasing incident occurred soon after we +first started. The Revenue laws of England are (or were, at that time) +that the owner of property passing through the Custom-house shall put +such a price on his goods as he pleases, knowing that the government +officers have a right to take the property by adding ten per cent. to +the invoiced price. + +I had always told my young men over there to put a fair price on the +clocks, which they did; but the officers thought they put them +altogether too low, so they made up their minds that they would take a +lot, and seized one ship-load, thinking we would put the prices of the +next cargo at higher rates. They paid the cash for this cargo, which +made a good sale for us. A few days after, another invoice arrived which +our folks entered at the same prices as before; but they were again +taken by the officers paying us cash and ten per cent. in addition, +which was very satisfactory to us. On the arrival of the third lot, they +began to think they had better let the Yankees sell their own goods and +passed them through unmolested, and came to the conclusion that we could +make clocks much better and cheaper than their own people. Their +performance has been considered a first-rate joke to say the least. +There will, in all probability, be millions of clocks sold in that +country, and we are the people who will furnish all Europe with all +their common cheap ones as time lasts. + +All of the spring and eight day clocks have grown out of the one day +weight clock. There can now be as good an eight day clock bought for +three or four dollars, as could be had for eighteen or twenty dollars +before I got up the one day clock. Mr. Peck, who went to England with my +son, died in London on the 20th, September, 1857; my son died in this +country in July, 1853: so they have gone the way of all the earth, and I +shall have to follow them soon. They were instrumental in laying the +foundation of a large and prosperous business which is now being +successfully carried on. The duties on clocks to England have been +recently removed, which will result to the advantage of persons now in +the business. The many difficulties which we had to battle and contend +with are all overcome. When I invented this one day brass clock, I for +the first time put on the zinc dial which is now universally used, and +is a great improvement on the wood dial, both in appearance and in cost. +This simple idea has been of immense value to all clock-makers. + +In the year 1821, when I moved to Bristol, no one was making clocks in +that town; the business had all passed away from there and was carried +on in Plymouth. The little shop I had put up had no machinery in it at +that time. I soon began to make so many cases that I wanted some better +way to get my veneers than to saw them by hand. I found a small building +on a stream some distance from my shop which I secured, with the +privilege of putting a circular saw in the upper part, but which I could +not use till night--the power being wanted for the other machinery +during the day. I have worked there a great many nights till twelve +o'clock and even two in the morning, sawing veneers for my men to use +the next day. I sawed my hand nearly off one night when alone at this +old mill, and was so faint by the loss of blood that I could hardly +reach home. I always worked hard myself and managed in the most +economical manner possible. In 1825, we built a small factory on the +stream below the shop where I sawed my veneers two or three years +before, but there was no road to it or bridge across the stream. I had +crossed it for years on a pole, running the risk many times when the +water was high, of being drowned, but it seems I was not to die in that +way, but to live to help others and make a slave of myself for them. In +1826, we petitioned the town to lay out a road by our factory and build +a bridge, which was seriously objected to. We finally told them that if +they would lay out the road, we would build the bridge and pay for one +half of the land for the road, which, after a great deal of trouble, was +agreed to, and proved to be of great benefit to the town. Our business +was growing very rapidly and a number of houses were built up along the +new road and about our factory. I should here mention that Mr. Eli +Terry, Jr., when I had got the Bronze Looking-Glass Clock well a going, +moved from Plymouth Hollow two miles east of Plymouth Centre, (now the +village of Terryville,) where he built another factory and went into +business. His father retiring about this time, he took all of his old +customers. He was a good business man and made money very fast. He was +taken sick and died when about forty years old, leaving an estate of +about $75,000. His brother, Silas B. Terry, is now living, a Christian +gentleman, as well as a scientific clock-maker, but he has not succeeded +so well as his brother in making money. Henry Terry of Plymouth, who is +another son of Mr. Eli Terry, was engaged in the clock business thirty +years ago, but left it for the woolen business. I think that he is sorry +that he did not continue making clocks. He is a man of great +intelligence and understands the principles of a right tariff as well as +any man in Connecticut. His father was a great man, a natural +philosopher, and almost an Eli Whitney in mechanical ingenuity. If he +had turned his mind towards a military profession, he would have made +another General Scott, or towards politics, another Jefferson; or, if he +had not happened to have gone to the town of Plymouth, I do not believe +there would ever have been a clock made there. He was the great +originator of wood clock-making by machinery in Connecticut. I like to +see every man have his due. Thomas and many others who have made their +fortunes out of his ingenuity, were very willing to talk against him, +for they must, of course, act out human nature. Seth Thomas was in many +respects a first-rate man. He never made any improvements in +manufacturing; his great success was in money making. He always minded +his own business, was very industrious, persevering, honest, his word +was as good as his note, and he always determined to make a good article +and please his customers. He had several sons who are said to be smart +business men. + +I knew Mrs. Thomas well when I was a boy, fourteen years old. She is one +of the best of women, and is now the widow of one of the richest men in +the state. The families of Terry and Thomas are extensively known, +throughout the United States. Mr. Thomas died two years ago at the age +of seventy-five. He was born in West Haven, about four miles from New +Haven, and learned the joiners' trade in Wolcott, and worked in that +region and in Plymouth five or six years, building houses and barns. I +waited on him when he built a barn in Plymouth, carrying boards and +shingles. He soon after went into the clock business in which he +remained during life. Mr. Terry died in 1853, at the advanced age of +eighty-one. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +OPERATIONS OF FRANK MERRILLS--A SAD HISTORY.--BUSINESS TROUBLES, ETC. + +In the fall, of the year 1840, a young man by the name of Franklin +Merrills was introduced to me as one the smartest and likeliest business +men in the whole country. It was said that he could trade in horses, +cattle, sheep, wool, flour, or any thing else, and make money. He +belonged to one of the first families in Litchfield county. I thought by +his appearance and recommendations that he would be a good customer for +me and I sold him a thousand dollars worth of clocks to begin with. He +gave me his four months' note which was promptly paid when due. He hired +three pedlars and went with them into Dutchess county New York, where +they sold the clocks very fast. The one-day O.G. brass clock was a new +thing to them, first-rate for time, and they readily went off for +fifteen and twenty dollars apiece. I sold them to him for six dollars +apiece, and it appeared, at this rate, that he could make a fortune in a +few years. His credit became established for any amount, and he soon +began to want clocks about twice as fast as at first. A man by the name +of Bates transported them for him in a large two-horse wagon from my +place to Washington Hollow, about twelve miles east of Poughkeepsie. Mr. +Bates lived in the same neighborhood where Frank was brought up in New +Hartford, Conn. Every week or two he would go out with a load. Things +moved on in this seemingly prosperous way for some time. One day I +accidentally heard that parties in New York with whom I had never dealt, +were selling my clocks at very reduced prices, and I began to mistrust +that Frank had been selling to them at less than cost. On seeing him, he +told me I was greatly mistaken and smoothed down the matter so that it +appeared satisfactory to me. He had at this time got into debt about +eighteen thousand dollars. One day he went to Hartford and bought seven +thousand dollars worth of cotton cloth from a shrewd house in that city, +telling them a very fine story that he had a vessel which would sail for +South America the next day, and that the cloth must go down immediately +on the boat. He told them who his father was, and promised to bring his +endorsement in a few days, which was satisfactory to them, and they let +him have the goods. But the paper did not come. One of the firm went to +New York and there found some of the goods in an Auction store, and a +part of them sold. He got out a writ and arrested Frank. His father was +sent for, and settled this matter satisfactorily. I thought I would go +up to New Hartford and see Capt. Merrills about Frank's affairs--he told +me all about them, and said he had been looking over Frank's business +very thoroughly, and found that a large amount was owing him and that +Frank had shown him on his book invoices of a large amount of goods that +he had shipped to South America, besides several large accounts and +notes--one of eight thousand dollars. He told me that he thought after +paying me and others whom he owed, there would be as much as twenty +thousand dollars left. This was very satisfactory to me, though I knew +nothing about the cotton cloth speculation at that time. If I had, it +would have saved me a great deal of trouble. This was in February, 1844. +There was a note of his lying over, unpaid, in the Exchange Bank in +Hartford, of two thousand dollars. I had moved a few weeks before this +to New Haven. In the latter part of February, I went down to New York to +see if he could let me have the two thousand to take up the note; he +said he could in a day or two. I told him I would stay till Saturday. On +that day he was not able to pay me, but would certainly get it Monday, +and urged me to stay over, which I did. He took me into a large +establishment with him, and, as I have since had reason to believe, +talked with parties who were interested with him, about consigning to +them a large quantity of tallow, beeswax and wool which he owned in the +West. He told me that he had some trouble with his business, and that +all he wanted was a little help; he said he had a great deal of property +in New York State, and that if he could raise some money, he could make +a very profitable speculation on a lot of wool which he knew about. He +told me that if I would give him my notes and acceptances to a certain +amount, he would secure me with the obligations of Henry Martin, one of +the best farmers there was in Dutchess county. He also gave the names of +several merchants in New York who were acquainted with the rich farmers. +I called on them and all spoke very highly of him. I thought, there +could be no great risk in doing it, for my confidence in Frank was very +great. I thought, of course, this would insure my claim of eighteen +thousand dollars, but it eventually proved to be a deep-laid plot to +swindle me. Frank had no notes or accounts that were of any value; they +were all bogus and got up to deceive his poor old father and others. He +had no property shipped to South America. It was all found out, when too +late, that he had ruined himself by gambling and bad company, often +losing a thousand dollars in one night. He was arrested, taken before +the Grand Jury of New York, committed to jail for swindling, and died in +a few months after. He ruined his father, who was a very cautious man, +ruined three rich farmers of Dutchess county, and came very near ruining +me. It was a sad history and mortifying to a great many. I was advised +by my counsel, Seth P. Staples of New York, to contest the whole thing +in law. I had five or six suits on my hands at one time, and it was nine +years before I was clear from them. What he owed me for clocks, and what +I had to pay on notes and acceptances and the expenses of law, amounted +to more than _Forty Thousand Dollars_. Nine years of wakeful nights +of trouble, grief and mortification, for this profligate young man! +There never was a man more honest than I was in my intentions to help +him in his troubles, and I am quite sure no man got so badly swindled. +Every clock maker in the state would have been glad to have sold to him +as I did. This young man was well brought up, but bad company ruined him +and others with him. This life seems to be full of trials. In latter +years I have remembered what an old man often told me when a boy. +"Chauncey," he says, "don't you know there are a thousand troubles and +difficulties?" I told him I did not know there were; "well," he says, +"you will find out if you live long enough." I have lived long enough to +see ten thousand troubles, and have found out that the saying of the old +man is true. I have narrated but a small part of my business troubless +[sic] in this brief history. One of the most trying things to me now, is +to see how I am looked upon by the community since I lost my property. I +never was any better when I owned it than I am now, and never behaved +any better. But how different is the feeling towards you, when your +neighbors can make nothing more out of you, politically or pecuniarily. +It makes no difference what, or how much you have done for them +heretofore, you are passed by without notice now. It is all money and +business, business and money which make the man now-a-days; success is +every thing, and it makes very little difference how, or what means he +uses to obtain it. How many we see every day that have ten times as much +property as they will ever want, who will do any thing but steal to add +to their estate, for somebody to fight about when they are dead. I see +men every day sixty and seventy years old, building up and pulling down, +and preparing, as one might reasonably suppose, to live here forever. +Where will they be in a few years? I often think of this. My experience +has been great,--I have seen many a man go up and then go down, and many +persons who, but a few years ago, were surrounded with honors and +wealth, have passed away. The saying of the wise man is true--all is +"vanity of vanities" here below. It is now a time of great action in the +world but not much reflection. + +An incident of my boy-hood has just come into my mind. When an +apprentice boy, I was at work with my "boss" on a house in Torringford, +very near the residence of Rev. Mr. Mills, the father of Samuel J. Mills +the missionary. This was in 1809, fifty-one years ago. This young man +was preparing to go out on his missionary voyage. How wickedly we are +taught when we are young! I thought he was a mean, lazy fellow. He was +riding out every day, as I now suppose, to add to his strength. An old +maid lived in the house where I did who perfectly hated him, calling him +a good-for-nothing fellow. I, of course, supposed that she knew all +about him and that it was so. I am a friend to the missionary cause and +have been so a great many years. How many times that wrong impression +which I got from that old maid has passed through my mind, and how sorry +I have always been for that prejudice. The father of Samuel J. Mills was +a very eccentric man and anecdotes of him have been repeatedly told. I +attended his church the summer I was in Torringford. He was the +strangest man I ever saw, and would say so many laughable things in his +sermon that it was next to impossible for me to keep from laughing out +loud. His congregation was composed mostly of farmers, and in hot +weather they appeared to be very sleepy. The boys would sometimes play +and make a good deal of noise, and one Sunday he stopped in the middle +of his sermon and looking around in the gallery, said in a loud voice, +"boys, if you don't stop your noise and play, you will certainly wake +your parents that are asleep below!" I think by this time the good +people were all awake; it amused me very much and I have often seen the +story printed. Many a time when I think of Mr. Mills, an anecdote of him +comes into my mind, and I presume that a great many have heard of the +same. He was once traveling through the town of Litchfield where there +was at that time a famous law school. Two or three of the students were +walking a little way out of town, when who should they see coming along +the road but old Mr. Mills. They supposing him to be some old "codger," +thought they would have a little fun with him. When they met him one of +them asked him "if he had heard the news?" "No," he says, "what is it?" +"The devil is dead." "Is he?" says Mr. Mills, "I am sorry for you--poor +fatherless children, what will become of you?" I understand that they +let him pass without further conversation. He was a good man and looked +very old to me, as he always wore a large white wig. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +REMOVAL TO NEW HAVEN.--FACTORY AT BRISTOL DESTROYED BY FIRE.--OTHER +TROUBLES, ETC. + +In the winter of 1844, I moved to the city of New Haven with the +expectation of making my cases there. I had fitted up two large +factories in Bristol for making brass movements only the year before, +and had spared no pains to have them just right. My factory in New Haven +was fitted up expressly for making the cases and boxing the finished +clocks; the movements were packed, one hundred in a box, and sent to New +Haven where they were cased and shipped. Business moved on very +prosperously for about one year. On the 23d of April 1845, about the +middle of the afternoon one of my factories in Bristol took fire, as it +was supposed by some boys playing with matches at the back side of the +building, which set fire to some shavings under the floor. It seemed +impossible to put it out and it proved to be the most disastrous fire +that ever occurred in a country town. There were seven or eight +buildings destroyed, together with all the machinery for making clocks, +which was very costly and extensive. There were somewhere between fifty +and seventy-five thousand brass movements in the works, a large number +of them finished, and worth one dollar apiece. The loss was about fifty +thousand dollars and the insurance only ten thousand. This was another +dark day for me. I had been very sick all winter with the Typhus fever, +and from Christmas to April had not been able to go to Bristol. On the +same night of the fire, a man came to tell me of the great loss. I was +in another part of the house when he arrived with the message, but my +wife did not think it prudent to inform me then, but in the latter part +of the night she introduced a conversation that was calculated to +prepare my mind for the sad news, and in a cautious manner informed me. +I was at that time in the midst of my troubles with Frank Merrills, had +been sick for a long time, and at one time was not expected to recover. +I was not then able to attend to business and felt much depressed on +that account. It was hard indeed to grapple with so much in one year, +but I tried to make the best of it and to feel that these trials, +troubles and disappointments sent upon us in this world, are blessings +in disguise. Oh! if we could really feel this to be so in all of our +troubles, it would be well for us in this world and better in the next. +I never have seen the real total depravity of the human heart show +itself more plainly or clearly than it did when my factories were +destroyed by fire. An envious feeling had always been exhibited by +others in the same business towards me, and those who had made the most +out of my improvements and had injured my reputation by making an +inferior article, were the very ones who rejoiced the most then. Not a +single man of them ever did or could look me in the face and say that I +had ever injured him. This feeling towards me was all because I was in +their way and my clocks at that time were preferred before any others. +They really thought I never could start again, and many said that Jerome +would never make any more clocks. I learned this maxim long ago, that +when a man injures another unreasonably, to act out human nature he has +got to keep on misrepresenting and abusing him to make himself appear +right in the sight of the world. Soon after the fire in Bristol I had +gained my strength sufficiently to go ahead again, and commenced to make +additions to my case factory in New Haven (to make the movements,) and +by the last of June was ready to commence operations on the brass +movements. I then brought my men from Bristol--the movement makers--and +a noble set of men as ever came into New Haven at one time. Look at John +Woodruff; he was a young man then of nineteen. When he first came to +work for me at the age of fifteen, I believed that he was destined to be +a leading man. He is now in Congress (elected for the second time,) +honest, kind, gentlemanly, and respected in Congress and out of +Congress. Look at him, young men, and pattern after him, you can see in +his case what honesty, industry and perseverance will accomplish. + +There was great competition in the business for several years after I +moved to New Haven, and a great many poor clocks made. The business of +selling greatly increased in New York, and within three or four years +after I introduced the one day brass clock, several companies in Bristol +and Plymouth commenced making them. Most of them manufactured an +inferior article of movement, but found sale for great numbers of them +to parties that were casing clocks in New York. This way of managing +proved to be a great damage to the Connecticut clock makers. The New +York men would buy the very poorest movements and put them into cheap +O.G. cases and undersell us. Merchants from the country, about this +time, began to buy clocks with their other goods. They had heard about +Jerome's clocks which had been retailed about the country, and that they +were good time-keepers, and would enquire for my clocks. These New York +men would say that they were agents for Jerome and that they would have +a plenty in a few days, and make a sale to these merchants of Jerome +clocks. They would then go to the Printers and have a lot of labels +struck off and put into their cheap clocks, and palm them off as mine. +This fraud was carried on for several years. I finally sued some of +these blackleg parties, Samuels & Dunn, and Sperry & Shaw, and found out +to my satisfaction that they had used more than two hundred thousand of +my labels. They had probably sent about one hundred thousand to Europe. +I sued Samuels & Dunn for twenty thousand dollars and when it came to +trial I proved it on them clearly. I should have got for damages fifteen +thousand dollars, had it not been for one of the jury. One was for +giving me twenty thousand, another Eighteen, and the others down to +seven thousand five hundred. This one man whom I speak of, was opposed +to giving me anything, but to settle it, went as high as two thousand +three hundred. The jury thought that I had a great deal of trouble with +this case and rather than have it go to another court, had to come to +this man's terms. The foreman told me afterwards that he had no doubt +but this man was bought. New York is a hard place to have a law suit in. +This cheat had been carried on for years, both in this country and in +Europe,--using my labels and selling poor articles, and in this way +robbing me of my reputation by the basest means. After this Sperry, who +was in company with Shaw, had been dead a short time, a statement was +published in the New York papers that this Henry Sperry was a wonderful +man, and that he was the first man who went to England with Yankee +clocks. After I had sent over my two men and had got my clocks well +introduced, and had them there more than a year, Sperry & Shaw, hearing +that we were doing well and selling a good many, thought they would take +a trip to Europe, and took along perhaps fifty boxes of clocks. I have +since heard that their conduct was very bad while there, and this is all +they did towards introducing clocks. There is no one who can claim any +credit of introducing American clocks into that country excepting +myself. After I had opened a store in New York, we did, in a measure, +stop these men from using my labels. + +I have said that when I got up this one day brass clock in 1838, that +the fourth chapter in the Yankee clock business had commenced. Perhaps +Seth Thomas hated as bad as any one did to change his whole business of +clock making for the second time, and adopt the same thing that I had +introduced. He never invented any thing new, and would now probably have +been making the same old hang-up wood clocks of fifty years ago, had it +not been for others and their improvements. He was highly incensed at me +because I was the means of his having to change. He hired a man to go +around to my customers and offer his clocks at fifty and seventy-five +cents less than I was selling. A man by the name of J.C. Brown carried +on the business in Bristol a long time, and made a good many fine +clocks, but finally gave up the business. Elisha Monross, Smith & +Goodrich, Brewster & Ingraham were all in the same business, but have +given it up, and the clock making of Connecticut is now mostly done in +five large factories in different parts of the State, about which I +shall speak hereafter. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN CHEAP TIME-KEEPERS. +--THE PROCESS OF CLOCK MAKING.-- + +It would be no doubt interesting to a great many to know what +improvements have been made in manufacturing clocks during the past +twenty years. I recollect I paid for work on the O.G. case one dollar +and seventy-five cents; for the same work in 1855, I paid twenty cents, +and many other things in the same proportion. The last thing that I +invented, which has proved to be of great usefulness, was the one day +timepiece that can be sold for seventy-five cents, and a fair profit at +that. I remember well when I was about to give up the job, of asking the +man who made the cases for the factory what he would make this case for. +He said he could not do it for less than eight cents, I told him I knew +he could make them for five cents, and do well, but he honestly thought +he could not. He was to make two thousand per month--twenty-four +thousand a year. After getting the work well systematized, I told him if +he could not make them at that price, I would make it up to him at the +end of the year. When the time was up, he told me that it was the best +part of his job, and that he would make them the next year for four +cents; it will be well understood that this was for the work alone, the +stock being furnished. + +When I got up this new time-keeper, as usual all the clock-makers were +down on me again; Jerome was going to ruin the business, and this cheap +thing would take the place of larger ones. I told them there were ten +thousand places where this cheap time-piece would be useful, and where a +costly striking one would never be used. There is a variety of places +where they are as useful as if they struck the hour, and there are now +more of the striking clocks wanted than there were when I got up this +one day time-piece. When I first began to make clocks, thousands would +say that they could not afford to have a clock in their house and they +must get along without, or with a watch. This cheap timepiece is worth +as much as a watch that would cost a hundred dollars, for all practical +purposes, as far as the time of day or night is concerned. Since I began +to make clocks, the price has gradually been going down. Suppose the +cheap time-keeper had been invented thirty years ago, when folks felt as +though they could not have a clock because it cost so much, but must get +along with a watch which cost ten or fifteen dollars, what would the +good people have thought if they could have had a clock for one dollar, +or even less? This cheap clock is much better adapted to the many log +cabins and cheap dwellings in our country than a watch of any kind, and +it is not half so costly or difficult to keep in order. I can think of +nothing ever invented that has been so useful to so many. We do not +fully appreciate the value of such things. I have often thought, that if +all the time-pieces were taken out of the country at once, and every +factory stopped making them, the whole community would be brought to see +the incalculable value that this Yankee clock making is to them. + +The little octagon marine case which is seen almost every where, was +originated and first made by me. I think it is the cheapest and best +looking thing of the kind in the market, and all the work on the case of +that clock costs but eight cents. All of the large hang-up octagons and +time-pieces were made at our factory two or three years before any other +parties made them at all. As usual, after finding that it was a good +thing and took well, many others began to make them. I will say here a +little more about human nature and what I have seen and experienced. +during the last forty-five years. Let an ingenious, thinking man invent +something that looks favorable for making money, and one after another +will be stealing into the same business, when they know their conduct is +very mean towards the originator who may be one of the best men in the +community; still, nine out of ten of those who are infringing on his +improvement will begin to hate and abuse him. I have seen this +disposition carried out all my life-time. Forty-five years ago, Mr. Eli +Terry was the great man in the wood clock business. As I have said +before, he got up the Patent Wood Shelf Clock and sold a right to make +it to Seth Thomas for one thousand dollars. After two or three years, +Mr. Terry made further improvements and got them patented. Mr. Thomas +then thought as he had paid a thousand dollars, he would use these +improvements; so he went on making the new patent. Mr. Terry sued him +and the case was in litigation for several years. The whole Thomas +family, the workmen and neighbors, felt envious towards Mr. Terry, and I +think they have never got entirely over it. There was a general +prejudice and hatred towards Mr. Terry amongst all the clock-makers at +that time, and for nothing only because they knew they were infringing +on his rights; and to act out human nature, they must slander and try to +put him down. This principle is carried out very extensively in this +world, so that if a man wants to live and have nothing said against him, +he must look out for, and help no one but himself. If he succeeds in +making money, it matters but little in what way he obtains it, whether +by gambling or any other unlawful means; while on the other hand, if he +has been doing good all his life, and by some mishap is reduced to +poverty in his old age, he is despised and treated with contempt by a +majority of the community. + +It may not be uninteresting to a great many to know how the brass clocks +at the present day are made. It has been a wonder to the world for a +long time, how they could possibly be sold so cheap and yet answer so +good a purpose. And, indeed, they could not, if every part of their +manufacture was not systematized in the most perfect manner and +conducted on a large scale. I will describe the manner in which the O-G. +case is made, (the style has been made a long time, and in larger +numbers than any other,) which will give some idea with what facility +the whole thing is put through. Common merchantable pine lumber is used +for the body of the case. The first workman draws a board of the stuff +on a frame and by a movable circular saw cuts it in proper lengths for +the sides and top. The knotty portions of it are sawed in lengths +suitable for boxing the clocks when finished, and but little need be +wasted. The good pieces are then taken to another saw and split up in +proper widths, which are then passed through the planeing machine. Then +another workman puts them through the O-G. cutter which forms the shape +of the front of the case. The next process is the glueing on of the +veneers--the workman spreads the glue on one piece at a time and then +puts on the veneer of rosewood or mahogany. A dozen of these pieces are +placed together in hand-screws till the glue is properly hardened. The +O-G. shapes of these pieces fit into each other when they are screwed +together. When the glue is sufficiently dry, the next thing is to make +the veneer smooth and fit for varnishing. We have what is called a sand +paper wheel, made of pine plank, its edge formed in an O-G. shape, and +sand-paper glued to it. When this wheel is revolving rapidly, the pieces +are passed over it and in this way smoothed very fast. They are then +ready to varnish, and it usually takes about ten days to put on the +several coats of varnish, and polish them ready for mitering, which +completes the pieces ready for glueing in shape of the case. The sides +of the case are made much cheaper. I used to have the stuff for ten +thousand of these cases in the works at one time. With these great +facilities, the labor costs less than twenty cents apiece for this kind +of case, and with the stock, they cost less than fifty cents. A cabinet +maker could not make one for less than five dollars. This proves and +shows what can be done by system. The dials are cut out of large sheets +of zinc, the holes punched by machinery, and then put into the paint +room, where they are painted by a short and easy process. The letters +and figures are then printed on. I had a private room for this purpose, +and a man who could print twelve or fifteen hundred in a day. The whole +dial cost me less than five cents. The tablets were printed in the same +manner, the colors put on afterwards by girls, and the whole work on +these beautiful tablets cost less than one and a half cents: the cost of +glass and work was about four cents. Every body knows that all of these +parts must be made very cheap or an O-G. clock could not be sold for one +dollar and a half, or two dollars. The weights cost about thirteen cents +per clock, the cost of boxing them about ten cents, and the first cost +of the movements of a one-day brass clock is less than fifty cents. I +will here say a little about the process of making the wheels. It will +no doubt, astonish a great many to know how rapidly they can be made. I +will venture to say, that I can pick out three men who will take the +brass in the sheet, press out and level under the drop, there cut the +teeth, and make all of the wheels to five hundred clocks in one day; +there are from eight to ten of these wheels in every clock, and in an +eight-day clock more. This will look to some like a great story, but is +one of the wonders of the clock business. If some of the parts of a +clock were not made for almost nothing, they could not be sold so cheap +when finished. + +The facilities which the Jerome Manufacturing Company had over every +other concern of the kind in the country, and their customers in this +and foreign countries, are worth to the present company more than one +hundred thousand dollars. Their method of making dials, tablets and +brass doors was a saving of more than ten thousand dollars per year over +any other company doing the same amount of business; and I know that the +present company would not give up the customers of the Jerome +Manufacturing Company for ten thousand dollars per year: they could not +afford to do it. The workmen who came with me from Bristol, were an +uncommonly energetic and ingenious set of men. Many years they had large +and profitable jobs in the different branches, which encouraged them to +invent and get up improvements for doing the work fast, and in a great +many things they far surpass the workmen in similar establishments--all +of which have resulted to the benefit of the present manufacturing +company of New Haven. + +In the year 1850, I was induced by a proposition from the Benedict & +Burnham Co., of Waterbury, to enter into a joint-stock company at my +place in New Haven, under the name of the Jerome Manufacturing Co. They +were to put in thirty-five thousand dollars, and I was to furnish the +same amount of capital. We did so, and went on very prosperously for a +year or two, making a great many clocks, and selling about one hundred +and fifty thousand dollars worth per year in England, at a profit of +twenty thousand dollars. They were very thorough in looking into the +affairs of the company, which was all right of course, but did not suit +all of the interested parties. My son was Secretary and financial +manager of the company. He seemed to have a desire to keep things to +himself a little too much, which also did not suit many of the +interested parties. My son told me he thought we had better buy the +company out, and said that we could do so without difficulty, and he +thought it would be a great advantage to us. Some were willing to sell, +and others were not. Mr. Burnham made an offer what he would sell for, +which the secretary accepted, others of the stock-holders made similar +propositions and the bargain closed, we paying them the capital they had +advanced and twenty-one per cent. profits, and buying, in the mean time, +seventy-five thousand dollars worth of brass--the profits on which were +not less than twenty thousand dollars, which they had the cash for in +the course of the year. About this time a man by the name of Lyman +Squires bought stock in the company, and took a great interest in the +business. A wealthy brother of his bought, I think, ten thousand dollars +worth of stock. The stock was increased in this way to two hundred +thousand dollars. The financial affairs were managed by the Secretary, +Mr. Squires, and a man by the name of Bissell. They made a great many +additions to the factory which I thought quite unnecessary, enlarging +the buildings, putting in a new engine and a great deal of costly +machinery. They laughed at me because I found fault with these things +and called me an old fogy. I was not pleased with the management at all +times, and although I had retired from active busines [Transcriber's +note: sic], I felt a deep interest in the affairs of the company, and +owned a large amount of the stock. The Secretary thought I was always +looking on the dark side and prophesying evil, because I frequently +remonstrated with him on the many extravagancies which were constantly +being added to the establishment. I frequently told him that if the +company should fail, I should have to bear the whole blame, because my +name was known all over the world. He always told me in the strongest +terms that I need give myself no uneasiness about that, as the company +was worth a great deal of money. Things went on in this way till the +year 1855, and while I was absent from the State, P.T. Barnum was +admitted as a member of our company. Within six months from that time, +the Jerome Manufacturing Company failed, the causes of which, and the +results, I have clearly and truthfully narrated in another part of this +book. The causes were not fully understood by me at that time. I have +found them out since, and deem it an act of justice to myself to make +them public. I was hopelessly ruined by this failure. The company had +used my name as endorser to a large amount, many times larger than I had +any idea of. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +THE NEW HAVEN CLOCK COMPANY, AND OTHER CLOCK MANUFACTURERS IN +CONNECTICUT. + +I will here give a brief account of the firms carrying on this +important business in Connecticut. The New Haven Clock Company, which +succeeded the Jerome Manufacturing Company, are now making more clocks +than any three other makers in the state. As I speak of the different +manufactories, I will give the outlines and standing of the men +connected with them. As their goods go all over the world, it is natural +and pleasant for men who are dealing in their goods to know what kind of +men they are at home, and what the community think of them. The New +Haven company is a joint-stock company. The head man in this concern, is +the Hon. James English, who is second to no business man in the State-- +high minded, clear sighted, and very popular with all who deal with him. +He was, when a boy, remarkable for industry, prudence and good behavior. +He was an apprentice at the house-joiner trade, but soon got into other +business which gave him a greater chance to develope and become more +useful to himself and the community. He began in life without a dollar, +but is now said to be worth three hundred thousand dollars. His age at +this time is about forty-eight. He is a Democrat in politics; has been +elected to many important offices, and has been the first select man of +New Haven for many years; he has been elected State Senator for three +years in succession, and all of these offices he has filled with +ability. In the spring of 1860, he was nominated as candidate for +Lieutenant Governor on a ticket with Col. Thomas H. Seymour of Hartford, +for Governor, which made the most popular Democratic ticket that has +ever been run in the State. Had it not been for the great anti-slavery +feeling there was at this canvass, Mr. English would have been +triumphantly elected. Many of the opposing party would been glad to have +seen him elected, and would have voted for him, had it not been for the +influence they thought it would have on the Presidential election. We +heard many Republicans say this in New Haven, and many did vote that +ticket. + +H.M. Welch, who has for a long time been connected with Mr. English in +business, is largely interested in this clock company. He gives most of +his attention to other kinds of manufacturing, in which Messrs. English +and Welch, are very extensively engaged. Mr. Welch is one of the most +intelligent, upright, and kind hearted business men in the whole State, +and is admired as such by all who know him. He is also a Democrat in +politics, very popular in his party, and is well qualified for any +offices. He would make a good candidate for Governor or member of +Congress. He is about forty-six years old, worth perhaps, two hundred +thousand dollars; he has held many important offices, has been a +Representative to the State Legislature for many years, and State +Senator a number of times. He has recently been elected Mayor of the +city, and has filled all of these offices with much talent. + +John Woodruff, a member of Congress, elected for the second time from +this district, is the next largest owner in this great brass clock +business. He commenced to work at clocks with me when a boy only fifteen +years old. He was a very uncommon boy, and is now an uncommon man, very +popular among his fellow workmen, popular with Democrats, popular with +Republicans, popular every where, and can be elected to Congress when +there is five hundred majority against his party in his district. + +Hiram Camp who is the next largest stock-holder in this clock company, +is forty-nine years old. He commenced making clocks with me at the age +of seventeen, and is now President of the company. He is a Republican in +politics, and has been chosen Representative from New Haven to the +Legislature of the State. At this time he is Chief Engineer of the Fire +Department, is very popular with his workmen, and highly respected by +the whole community in which he lives. Many others who hold prominent +positions in this great business in New Haven, first came here with me +when I moved from Bristol. I should mention Philip Pond, an excellent +man who left the business two or three years since, on account of his +health, but who is now connected in the wholesale grocery business of +the firm of Pond, Greenwood & Lester, in this city. Also Charles L. +Griswold, now a bit and augur maker in the town of Chester, who began to +work for me twenty years ago, when a boy. He was once a poor boy, but +now is a talented and superior man. He has been a member of the +Legislature, and has held many offices of trust. + +L.F. Root, now a leading man in New Haven, came to work with me when +quite young, nearly twenty years ago. He also has held many offices of +trust, and filled them with great ability. I could mention many others, +but cannot in this brief work speak of them as their merits deserve. It +gives me pleasure to know that the business of the Jerome Manufacturing +Company has fallen into such good hands. + +The Benedict and Burnham Company, now making clocks in the city of +Waterbury, under the name of the Waterbury Clock Company, is composed of +a large number of the first citizens of that place. In politics nearly +all of them are Republicans. The oldest man of the company is Deacon +Aaron Benedict, now about seventy-five years old--a real "old Puritan, +Christian gentleman." He has been Representative and State Senator many +times--Mr. Burnham of New York, another member of this company, is well +known to almost every body as one of the richest men in [Transcriber's +note: probable missing word 'the' here] whole country. My brother, Noble +Jerome, who is an excellent mechanic and as good a brass clock maker as +can be found, is now making the movements for this company, and Edward +Church, a first rate man and an excellent workman, is making their +cases. He worked with me seventeen years at case making, and can do a +good job. I cannot pass without speaking about another man of this +company, Arad W. Welton Esq. He was one of my soldier companions in +Capt. John Buckingham's company, which went to fight the British in +1813, at New London, and in 1814 at New Haven. He stood very near me in +the ranks. I shall never forget what pluck and courage he showed one +night when the news was brought into camp that the enemy were landing +from their ships. Our whole regiment was mustered in fifteen minutes, +and on the way to pitch battle with the British and defend our shores. +This Mr. Welton, who is now an old man, as stout and large as Gen. Cass, +and looking something like him, was then a young man nineteen years old, +and without exception the funniest and drollest fellow that I ever saw. +He kept us all laughing while we were going down to fight that awful +battle, which, however, proved to be bloodless. This incident occurred +at New London, and I have often thought of it in latter days. Mr. Welton +Is said to be a great business man, and the company with which he is +connected is doing a good business. + +The next clock company which I shall speak of, is that of Seth Thomas & +Co., of Plymouth Hollow, Connecticut. As I have mentioned before, the +senior Thomas is not living. The business is carried on by a company, +the members of which are all Republicans in politics and respectable +men. Fifty years ago this spring, Heman Clark built the factory which +Seth Thomas, two or three years afterwards, bought, and in which he +carried on business until his death, about two years since. It was never +Mr. Thomas' practice to get up any thing new. He never would change his +patterns or mode of manufacturing, until he was driven to it to keep his +customers. At the time when I invented the one-day brass clock in 1838, +he said much against it, that it was not half so good as a wood clock, +and that he never would take up any thing again that Jerome had adopted; +but he was compelled to, in a year or two, to keep his customers. He +sent his foreman over to Bristol, where I was then carrying on business, +to get patterns of movements and cases and take all the advantage he +could of my experience, labors, and improvements which I had been +studying upon so long. I allowed my foreman to spend more than two days +with his, giving him all the knowledge and insight he could of the +business, knowing what his object was. A friend asked me why I was doing +this, and said that if I should send my man to Thomas' factory he would +be kicked out immediately. I told him I knew that perfectly well, but +that if Mr. Thomas set out to get into the business, he certainly would +find out, and that the course I was taking was wisest and more friendly. +I have thought since how quickly such kind treatment as I showed towards +his man can be forgotten; yes; this company have all forgotten the +service that I rendered them twenty years ago, and as I have said +before, would probably have been making the old wood clock to this day, +had it not been for other parties. There always has been a great deal of +jealousy among the Yankee clock-makers, and they all seemed to hate the +one who took the lead. The next establishment of which I shall speak, is +that of William L. Gilbert, of Winsted, Connecticut. He is said to be +miserly in feeling, and is quite rich; not very enterprising, but has +made a great deal of money by availing himself of the improvements of +others. + +The next one in the business to whom I shall allude is E.N. Welch, of +Bristol, Connecticut. He is about fifty years of age, and has been in +many kinds of business. He was deeply interested in the failure of J.C. +Brown a few years ago, and succeeded him in the clock business. He is a +leading man in the Baptist church, and has a great tact for making +money; but he says that all he wants of money is to do good with it. He +is a Democrat in politics, and never wants an office from his party. + +These five companies which I have named, make nearly all of the clocks +manufactured in Connecticut; though movements are made by three other +companies. Beach and Hubbell of Bristol, are largely engaged in +manufacturing the movements of brass marine clocks. Also two brothers by +the name of Manross, in Bristol, are engaged in the same business. Noah +Pomeroy of Bristol, is also engaged in making pendulum movements for +other parties. I should, however, mention Ireneus Atkins, of Bristol, +who is making a first-rate thirty-day brass clock, and I am told there +is no better one for time in the country. The movement for this kind of +clock was invented by Joseph Ives, who has spent most of his time for +the last twenty-five years in improving on springs and escapements for +clocks, and who has done a great deal for the advancement of this +business. Mr. Atkins, who is making this thirty-day time-piece, is an +excellent man to deal with. The five large companies which I have named, +manufacture about a half a million clocks per annum; the New Haven +company about two hundred thousand; and the others about three hundred +thousand between them. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +BARNUM'S CONNECTION WITH THE JEROME CLOCK CO.--CAUSES AND RESULTS OF ITS +FAILURE. + +The connection of Barnum with the Jerome Manufacturing Company of New +Haven, and the failure of the Company have been the subject of much +speculation to the whole world, and has never been clearly understood. +Barnum claimed that he was cheated and swindled by this company, robbed +of his property and name, and reduced to poverty. But before giving any +statements, I call attention to the following article taken from the New +York Daily _Tribune_, of March 24th, 1860: + + THE GREAT SHOWMAN.--P.T. Barnum, "the great American showman," as he + loves to hear himself called, who furnishes more amusement for a + quarter of a dollar than any other man in America, is, we are happy to + announce, himself again. He has disposed of the last of those + villainous clock notes, re-established his credit up on a cash basis, + and once more comes forward to cater for the public amusement at the + American museum. To day, between the acts of the play, Mr. Barnum will + appear upon his own stage, in his own costly character of the Yankee + Clockmaker, for which he qualified himself, with the most reckless + disregard of expense, and will "give a brief history of his adventures + as a clockmaker, showing how the clock ran down, and how it was wound + up; shadowing forth in the same the future of the museum." Of course, + Barnum's benefit will be a bumper. Next week the Museum will be closed + for renovation and repairs, and the week after it will reopen under + the popular P.T.B., once more. + +I will now give the true statement of facts and particulars of his +connection with the Jerome Manufacturing Company--which, however, was +not his first experience in clock-making. Some time before this, he was +interested in a Company located in the town of Litchfield, Connecticut, +and, I believe, owned about ten thousand dollars worth of stock. They +made a very poor article which was called a marine clock, if I am +rightly informed. That Company failed, and Barnum took the stock as +security for endorsing and furnishing them with cash. I do not suppose +the whole of the effects were worth transporting to Bridgeport, although +estimated by him at a large amount. About this time Theodore Terry's +clock factory, at Ansonia, was destroyed by fire. A large portion of the +stock was saved, though in a damaged condition, much of which was worth +nothing--the tools and machinery being but little better than so much +old iron. Terry knowing that Barnum was largely interested in real +estate in East Bridgeport, and anxious to have it improved, thought he +could make a good arrangement with him for building a factory there for +the manufacture of clocks, and did so. Terry had a large quantity of old +clocks in a store in New York--many of them old-fashioned and +unsaleable, and thousands of these were not worth fifty cents apiece. +Terry and Barnum now proposed forming a joint-stock company, putting in +their old rubbish as stock, and estimating it, most likely, at four +times its value in cash. They built a factory in East Bridgeport, and +made preparations for manufacturing. Terry knew ten times as much about +the business as Barnum did, and knowing, also, that the old stock was +comparatively worthless, held back while Barnum was urging him to push +ahead with the manufacturing. Terry made a great bluster, saying that he +was going to hire men and do a great business, while, unknown to Barnum, +he was trying to sell the stock he held in the company. They finally +cooked up a plan to sell their New York store and the Bridgeport factory +and machinery, if they could, to the Jerome Manufacturing Company, +taking stock in that company for pay, and--the Jerome Company stock +being issued to the owners of the Terry & Barnum stock--thus merge the +two companies into one. This transaction was made and closed without my +knowledge, (I being at the time from the State,) though the "old man" +has had to bear all the blame. As I afterwards found out, Barnum told my +son, the Secretary of the Company, that Terry & Barnum owed about twenty +thousand dollars: this was the amount Terry had drawn for on the New +York store. They made a written agreement with the Jerome Manufacturing +Company, to this effect;--that our Company should assume the liabilities +of their old Company, which were stated at twenty thousand dollars, and +Barnum was to endorse to any extent for the Jerome Company. It +afterwards proved that the entire debts of Terry & Barnum amounted to +about seventy-two thousand dollars, which the Jerome Company were +obliged to assume. The great difference in the real and supposed amount +of their indebtedness and the unsaleable property turned in as stock +were enough to ruin any company. It is a positive fact that the stock of +the Jerome Company was not worth half as much, three months after Barnum +came into the concern as it was before that time. Some of the +stock-holders did not like to have Terry own stock, and Barnum to +satisfy them, bought him out, paying him twelve thousand dollars in +cash--he in the end, making a grand thing out his Ansonia remains. It is +well known that the Jerome Manufacturing Company failed in the fall of +1855, to the wonder and astonishment of myself and of every body else. +The true causes of this great failure never have been made public. I +myself did not know them at that time, but have found them out from time +to time since, and I now propose to make them public, as it has been the +general impression almost every where that Barnum and myself were +associated in defrauding the community. _I wish to have it understood +that I never saw P.T. Barnum_, while he was connected with the +Company of which I was a member, have never seen him but once since, and +that was in February after the failure. About this time law suits were +being brought against him, and as some supposed, by his friends. He was +called upon, or offered himself as a witness, and I believe testified +that he was worth nothing. The natural effect of this testimony was to +depreciate the paper which his name was on. At the time when I saw him, +he told me that the Museum was his just as much as it ever was, and that +he received the profits, which had never been less than twenty-five +thousand and were sometimes thirty thousand dollars per annum; and yet, +he was publicly stating that he was worth nothing! He also, as I +supposed, held securities of the Jerome Manufacturing Company, to a +large amount, (as I suppose about one hundred thousand dollars,) for I +know that such papers had been in his hands. There were many persons who +were interested in the revival of the business, who were in some way +flattered into the belief that Barnum would re-purchase the whole clock +establishment and put them back into the business again. Several men +were sent by some one to examine the property and estimate its value, +and those persons who were anxious for a restoration of the business +were in some way led to believe that Barnum intended to re-commence the +business of clock-making. For myself, I do not suppose that Barnum ever +seriously contemplated any such thing; but the belief that he did, made +some men quiet who might otherwise have been active and troublesome. + +The manner in which this matter has been represented would reflect +dishonesty upon the Secretary, which would be untrue. No one who knows +him will, or can accuse him of dishonesty. I love truth, honesty and +religion; I do not mean, however, the religion that Barnum believes in: +(I believe that the wicked are punished in another world.) I ask the +reader to look at my situation in my old age. I think as much of a good +name, as to purity of character and honesty at heart, as any man living; +and very often reading in the New York papers of speeches that Barnum +has made, alluding to his being defrauded by the Jerome Manufacturing +Company, I wish the world to know the whole facts in the case, and what +my position was in the Company which bore my name. After many years-- +years of very active business life--I had retired from active duty in +the Company, although I took a deep interest in every thing connected +with it, and also a great pride, as it was a business that I had built +up and had been many years in perfecting. The manufacturing had been +systematized in the most perfect manner and every thing looked +prosperous to me. I owned stock as others did, but did not know of its +financial standing, and was always informed that it was all right, and +that I should be perfectly safe in endorsing. I wish to have it +understood that I did not sign my name to any of this paper, it being +done by the Secretary himself, that therefore I could not know of the +amounts that were raised in that way, that I did not find out till after +the failure, and then the large amounts overwhelmed me with surprise. + +It will be remembered that Barnum made two or three trips to Europe to +provide in some way for the support of his "poor and destitute" family, +which as he claimed, had been robbed and ruined by the Connecticut +clock-makers. At one time he was stopped on a pier in New York, just as +he was starting for Europe, by a suit brought against him. Thus the news +went abroad that poor Barnum was hunted and troubled on every side with +these clock notes. It was reported that he was quite sick in England and +could not live, and, at another time, that being much depressed and +discouraged on account of his many troubles, he had taken to drinking +very hard, and in all probability would live but a short time; while at +the same time, he was lecturing on temperance to the English people, and +was in fact a total-abstinence man. These stories were extensively +circulated; the value of his paper was depreciated in the market, and +was, in several instances bought for a small sum. + +Since writing the foregoing with regard to his coming into the Company, +and, as he states, being ruined by it, I have ascertained to my own +satisfaction, that our connection with him was the means of ruining the +Company. A few days since I was talking with a man who has been more +familiar than myself with the whole transaction, and he told me it was +his opinion that if we had never seen Barnum we should still have been +making clocks in that factory. It was a great mystery to me, and to +every body else, how the Company could run down so rapidly during the +last year. I think I have found out, and these are my reasons. Instead +of having an amount of twenty thousand dollars to cancel of the Terry & +Barnum debts and accounts (which the Secretary foolishly agreed to do.) +it eventually proved to be about seventy thousand; (this I have found +out since the failure.) This great loss the Secretary kept to himself, +and it involved the Company so deeply that he became almost desperate; +for knowing by this time that he had been greatly embarrassed, he was +determined to raise money in any way that he could, honestly, and get +out of the difficulty if possible. He had, as he thought, got to keep +this an entire secret, because if known it would ruin the credit of the +Company. When these extra drafts and notes of Terry & Barnum were added +to the debts of the Company, he was obliged to resort to various +expedients to raise money to pay them. This led him to the exchange of +notes on a large scale, which proved to be a great loss, as many of the +parties were irresponsible. There was a loss of thirty thousand dollars +by one man, and I am sure that there must have been more than fifty +thousand dollars lost in this way. He was also obliged to issue short +drafts and notes and raise money on them at fearful rates. The Terry & +Barnum stock which was taken in at par, was not worth twenty-five per +cent, which had a tendency to reduce the value of the stock of our +Company, though I have recently heard that the Secretary bought stock at +par for the Jerome Company of some former owners in the Terry & Barnum +Company, in Bridgeport, only a short time before the failure. To show +the confidence the Secretary had in the standing of the Company, he +recommended one of his own brothers, not more than one month before the +Company failed, to buy five thousand dollars worth of the stock, which +he did. It was owned by a Bridgeport man and he paid par value for it in +good gold and silver watches at cash prices. All of these transactions +were made without my knowledge, and I have found them out by piece-meal +ever since. I do fully believe that if the Secretary had been worth half +a million of dollars, he would have sacrificed every dollar, rather than +have had the Company failed under his management as it did. + +It has been publicly stated that Mr. Barnum endorsed largely on blank +notes and drafts and that he was thus rendered responsible to a far +greater extent than he was aware of; such, however, was not the case. + +The troubles that have grown out of the failure of this great business, +have left me poor and broken down in spirit, constitution and health. I +was never designed by Providence to eat the bread of dependence, for it +is like poison to me, and will surely kill me in a short time. I have +now lost more than forty pounds of flesh, though my ambition has not yet +died within me. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +EFFECTS OF THE FAILURE ON MYSELF--REMOVAL TO WATERBURY AND ANSONIA-- +UNFORTUNATE BUSINESS CONNECTIONS. + +After saying so much as I have about my misfortunes in life, I must say +a few words about what has happened and what I have been through with +during the last four years. + +When the Jerome Manufacturing Company failed, every dollar that I had +saved out of a long life of toil and labor was not enough to support my +family for one year. It was hard indeed for a man sixty-three years old, +and my heart sickened at the prospect ahead. Perhaps there never was a +man that wanted more than I did to be in business and be somebody by the +side of my neighbors. There never was a man more grieved than I was when +I had to give up those splendid factories with the great facilities they +had over all others in the world for the manufacture of clocks both good +and cheap, all of which had been effected through my untiring efforts. +No one but myself can know what my feelings were when I was compelled, +through no fault of my own, to leave that splendid clustre [sic] of +buildings with all its machinery, and its thousands of good customers +all over this country and Europe, and in fact the whole world, which in +itself was a fortune. And then to leave that beautiful mansion at the +head of the New Haven bay, which I had almost worshipped. I say to leave +all these things for others, with that spirit and pride that still +remained within me, and at my time of life, was almost too much for +flesh and blood to bear. What could have been the feelings of my family, +and my large circle of friends and acquaintances, to see creditors and +officers coming to our house every day with their pockets full of +attachments and piles of them on the table every night. If any one can +ever begin to know my feelings at this time, they must have passed +through the same experience. Yet mortified and abused as I was, I had to +put up with it. Thank God, I have never been the means of such trouble +for others. I had to move to Waterbury in my old age, and there commence +again to try to get a living. I moved in the fall of 1856, and as bad +luck would have it, rented a house not two rods from a large church with +a very large steeple attached to it, which had been built but a short +time before. In one of the most terrific hurricanes and snow storms that +I ever knew in my life, at four o'clock in the morning of January 19th, +1857, this large steeple fell on the top of our house which was a three +story brick building. It broke through the roof and smashed in all the +upper tier of rooms, the bricks and mortar falling to the lower floor. +We were in the second story, and some of the bricks came into our room, +breaking the glass and furniture, and the heaviest part of the whole lay +directly on our house. It was the opinion of all who saw the ruins that +we did not stand one chance in ten thousand of not being killed in a +moment. I heard many a man say he would not take the chances that we had +for all the money in the State. One man in the other part of the house +was so frightened that he was crazy for a long time. Timbers in this +steeple, ten inches square, broke in two directly over my bed and their +weight was tremendous. I now began to think that my troubles were coming +in a different form; but it seems I was not to die in that way. The +business took a different shape in the spring, and I moved (another task +of moving!) to Ansonia. Here I lived two years, but very unfortunately +happened to get in with the worst men that could be found on the line of +Rail-road between Winsted and Bridgeport. In another part of this book I +have spoken of them; I do not now wish to think of them, for it makes me +sick to see their names on paper. I had worked hard ever since I left +New Haven--one year at Waterbury, and two at this place (Ansonia,)--but +got not one dollar for the whole time. I was robbed of all the money +which Mr. Stevens, (my son-in-law,) had paid me for the use of my trade- +mark in England, for the years 1857-'58. This advantage was taken of me, +because I could collect nothing in my own name. + +I should consider my history incomplete, unless I went back for many +years to speak of the treatment which I received from a certain man. I +shall not mention his name, and my object in relating these +circumstances, is to illustrate a principle there is in man, and to +caution the young men to be careful when they get to be older and are +carrying on business, not to do too much for one individual. If you do, +in nine cases out of ten, he will hate and injure you in the end. This +has been my experience. Many years ago, I hired two men from a +neighboring town to work for me. It was about the time that I invented +the Bronze Looking-Glass Clock, which was, at that time, decidedly the +best kind made. After a while these two men contrived a plan to get up a +company, go into another town, and manufacture the same kind of clock. +This company was formed about six months before I found it out, and much +of their time was spent in making small tools and clock-parts to take +with them. This was done when they were at work for me on wages. They +induced as many of my men as they could to go with them, and took some +of them into company. When they had finished some clocks, they went +round to my customers and under-sold me to get the trade. This is the +first chapter. When I invented the thirty-hour brass clock in 1838, one +of these men had returned to Bristol again, and was out of business; but +he had some money which he had made out of my former improvements. I had +lost a great deal of money in the great panic of 1837. After I had +started a little in making this new clock, he proposed to put in some +money and become interested with me, and as I was in want of funds to +carry on the business, I told him that if he would put in three thousand +dollars, he should have a share of the profits. I went on with him one +year, but got sick of it and bought him out. I had to pay six thousand +dollars to get rid of him. He took this money, went to a neighboring +town, bought an old wood clock factory, fitted it up for making the same +clock that I had just got well introduced, and induced several of my +workmen to go with him, some of whom he took in company with him. As +soon as I had the clock business well a going in England, he sent over +two men to sell the same patterns. He has kept this up ever since, and +has made a great deal of money. + +After the failure of the Jerome Manufacturing Company, as I have already +stated, I went to Waterbury to assist the Benedict & Burnham Company. +After I had been there six or eight months, and had got the case-making +well started, (my brother, Noble Jerome, had got the movements in the +works the year before.) this same man I have been speaking about, came +to me and made me a first-rate offer to go with him into a town a short +distance from Waterbury, and make clocks there. I accepted his offer, +but should not have done so, had it not been for the depressed condition +to which I had been brought by previous events. I accordingly moved to +the town where he had hired a factory. He was carrying on the business +at the same time in his old factory, and came to this new place about +twice a week. My work was in the third story, and it was very hard for +an old man to go up and down a dozen times a day. About this time I +obtained a patent on a new clock case, and as I was to be interested in +the business, I let the Company make several thousand of them. We could +make forty cents more on each clock than we could on an O-G. clock. As I +was favorably known throughout the world as a clockmaker, this Company +wanted to use my label as the clocks would sell better in some parts of +the country than with his label. They were put upon many thousands. Soon +after we commenced, I told him I would make out a writing of our bargain +because life was uncertain. He said that was all right, and that he +would attend to it soon. As he always seemed to be in a hurry when he +came, I wrote one and sent it to him, so that he might look it over at +his leisure and be ready to sign it when he came down again. The next +time I saw him, I asked him if the writing was not as we agreed; he said +he supposed it was, but that he had no time to look it over and sign it +then, but would do so when he had time. I paid into the business about +one thousand nine hundred dollars in small sums, as it was wanted from +time to time, and worked at this man for eight months to get a writing +from him, but he always had an excuse. He had agreed to give the +case-maker a share of the profits if he would make the cases at a +certain price, but put him off in the same way. We both became satisfied +that he did not mean to do as he had agreed, and I therefore left him. +The money which I had paid in was what I had received for the use of my +name in England. I had the privilege of paying it in as it was wanted, +working eight months, keeping the accounts which I did evenings, and +giving this man a home at my house whenever he was in town. All of this +which I had done, he refused to give me one dollar for, and it was with +great difficulty that I got my money back. I had to put it into another +man's hands, as his property, to recover it. This man, probably, had two +objects in view when he went to Waterbury to flatter me away. He did not +want me to be there with my name on the movements and cases, and +therefore he made me a first-rate offer. I had been broken up in all my +business, and felt very anxious to be doing something again. I was a +little afraid when he made the offer, but knew that he had made a great +deal of money out of my improvements and was very wealthy, and I did +think he would be true to me, knowing as he did my circumstances. Look +at this miser, with not a child in the world, and no one on earth that +he cares one straw about, and yet so grasping! Oh! what will the poor +creature do in eternity! + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +MORE MISPLACED CONFIDENCE--ANOTHER UNFORTUNATE PARTNERSHIP. + +Before closing the history of the many trials and troubles which I have +experienced during my life, I will here say that I have never found, in +all my dealings with men for more than forty years, such an untruthful +and dishonest a man as ---- of a certain town in Connecticut. In 1858, +he induced me to come into his factory to carry on a little business. My +situation was such, in consequence of the failure of the Jerome +Manufacturing Company, that I could do nothing in my own name, as he +knew. I had a little money that had been paid me for the use of my +trademark in England, and I felt very anxious, as old as I was, to make +a little money so that I could pay some small debts which my family had +made a short time before the company failed. I had also two children who +looked to me for some help. This man said to me, "you may have the use +of my factory for 'so much,' and you may carry on the business for one +year in my name for so 'much.'" This was agreed to by both parties. In +a few days he came to me and said that he had been talking with his +nephew about having the business carried on in his name "& Co.;" ---- +being the "Company" and he was to keep his nephew harmless, as he had +nothing for the use of his name. The nephew came into the factory a +short time after, and I asked him if he had agreed to what ---- had +stated to me; he said that he had, and that I could go on with the +business in the name of himself & Co.; he was quite sure that his uncle +would keep him harmless. I went on with the business in this name from +May to December, both of those men knowing all the while just as much +about the business as I did, and they never said but that it was all +right as we had agreed. I paid in my money from time to time as it was +wanted. Late in the fall, I paid in at one time, one thousand nine +hundred dollars, through a firm who owed me that amount, and who gave +their notes to ---- on short time, which notes were paid. A short time +after this, knowing that I had no more money to put into the business, +he undoubtedly thought it time to do what he had intended to do at a +suitable time from the beginning. One day when I was unwell and +confined to the house, a man who had a claim against the company, +called on ---- to make a settlement. Before this time he had made +two payments on this same account, but he now told this man that there +never had been such a company, and that he would never pay it--while +at the same time, he had the same property which the man offered to +take back but which he had refused to give up, and said that I had no +right to use the name of ---- & Co. This was after he had been using the +name for me in drafts and notes, and all other business transactions, +for more than eight months. He said that he would have me arrested for +fraud and put in the State Prison. This treatment was rather hard +towards a man who had never before been accused of dishonesty, and who +had done business on a large scale with thousands of men for more than +forty years. He at one time requested me to borrow a note for him from +one of my friends, which I did, and which he paid promptly when due. He +did this, as I now suppose, because the business was not in as good +shape for him as it might be in another three months; so he wished me to +get the favor renewed, which I did. When it became due, he denied that +it was a borrowed note, declared that I was owing him, and had handed +this note to him as one that was good and would be paid. One of his best +friends has since told me that there was more honor among horse-thieves +than this man had shown towards me. I put into the business between four +and five thousand dollars, worked hard almost a year, and have received +about five hundred dollars. ---- is trying to scare me by threatening to +sue me for perjury; so that if he could make me fool enough to pay the +debts of ---- & Co., he would have just so much more to put into his own +pocket. When he can get a grand jury to find a true bill against me for +fraud or perjury, I will promise to go to Wethersfield and stay there +the remainder of my life, without any further trial. After all that I +have said, I think of him just as all his neighbors do; for they have +told me that it was the common talk among them, when I first went into +his factory, that he would in some way cheat me out of every dollar that +I put into his hands. It would take just about as much evidence to prove +that young crows would be black when their feathers are grown, as it +would to satisfy the community that these statements are true, +especially where he is known. For knavery, untruthfulness, and +wickedness, I have never seen anything, in all my business experience of +forty years, that will compare with this. He would not have taken such a +course with me once, but he took advantage of my age and misfortunes to +commit these frauds, thinking that I could not defend myself, and that +he could defraud and crush me. + +I had paid every dollar of my money into this business which I had at +that time, and had nothing to live on through the winter. But John +Woodruff in his kindness, raised money enough for me to live on through +the winter, and the following spring I moved to New Haven. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +THE WOOSTER PLACE CHURCH.--GROWTH OF THE DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS IN NEW +HAVEN. + +In order to have my history complete I must give my reason for building +the Wooster Place Church, as my motives have been misconstrued by many +persons, I will make a short statement of what I know to be true. It is +well known that with the exception of one, all the Congregational +churches in New Haven, were located west of the centre of the city. The +majority of the inhabitants lived in the eastern section. Meeting after +meeting was called by the different churches to consider the importance +of building a church in the eastern part. It was strongly advocated by +the ministers and many others, that this part of the city was rapidly +filling up, a great deal of manufacturing was carried on there, and the +strangers who were constantly coming in would fall into other +denominations. I heard their speeches advocating this course with great +pleasure, as I lived in the eastern part of the city, had a long +distance to go to attend church, and nearly all the workmen in my employ +lived in the same section. The church which I have mentioned as the only +one located east of the centre, was in a very prosperous condition. By +the talent, popularity and piety of its minister, as his church and +congregation believed, he had filled the church to overflowing. There +were no slips to be bought in that church. We heard this minister say +that he could spare thirty families from his congregation to build up a +new church. In view of all the facts, I started a subscription paper, in +as good faith as I ever did anything in my life, for the raising of +funds to build an edifice. The subscription was headed by myself with +five thousand dollars and many large sums were added to it. A number of +wealthy men lived near the contemplated place of building the new +church, who belonged to other churches. It was supposed, by what their +ministers had said in public and in private, that they would use their +influence in advancing this good work, and to have some of their members +join in it; but for some reason they changed their minds. I heard that +the minister of the church located in the eastern section (which I +mentioned before,) had got up a subscription paper to raise ten or +twelve thousand dollars to beautify the front of his church, raise a +higher steeple, and make some other alterations that he thought +important. I was told that he called on the men who lived in the +locality where we proposed erecting the new church, with his +subscription, and that they subscribed to carry out his plans. Some of +those who had subscribed to build the new church, after he had made +these calls, wrote me that they wished their names crossed off from my +paper--Others came and told me the same thing, and wished their names +erased. I began at this time to understand that there were influences +working against our enterprise and that this way of building a church +must be given up. I however, went forward myself, as is very well known, +and built a church second to none in New England. I should have built +one that would not have cost one half of the money, had I acted on my +own judgement, but I was influenced by a few others differently. I paid +more than twenty thousand dollars out of my own pocket into this church. + +Public opinion in the community was, that if the several ministers had +given their influence in favor of this matter, a church would have been +built by subscription. They could very easily have influenced their +friends in that part of the city to unite in this enterprise without +detriment to their own congregation. Had this course been taken, it is +evident that by this time it would have been a large and prosperous +church. + +A correspondent of the Independent in writing upon the growth of +Congregationalism, in New Haven, had a great deal to say about the +Wooster Place church--calling the man that built it, "a sagacious +mechanic, who built it on speculation etc." Yet; added "if they had +called a young man for its Pastor from New England, it might have +succeeded after all." + +It is well known that the Congregational denomination has made but very +small advancement compared with others for the last twenty years. It is +supposed that the inhabitants of New Haven have doubled in number during +that time; but only one small Mission church has been added to the +Congregational churches. Four Episcopal churches have been built, and +filled with worshipers, many of whom formerly belonged to Congregational +families. The Methodists have built two large churches, and more than +trebled in number. The Baptists have more than doubled, and now own and +occupy the Wooster Place church. And to have kept pace with the others, +the Congregational denomination should now have as many as three more +large churches. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +NEW HAVEN AS A BUSINESS PLACE--GROWTH--EXTENSIVE MANUFACTORIES, ETC. + +For many years I have extensively advertised throughout every part of +the civilized world, and in the most conspicuous places, such a city as +New Haven Connecticut, U.S.A., and its name is hourly brought to notice +wherever American clocks are used, and I know of no more conspicuous or +prominent place than the dial of a clock for this purpose. More of these +clocks have been manufactured in this city for the past sixteen years +than any other one place in this country, and the company now +manufacturing, turn out seven hundred daily. + +I now propose to give a brief description of New Haven and its +inhabitants in the words of a business man who loves the town. New +Haven, is to-day a city of more than forty thousand inhabitants, +remarkable as the New Englanders generally are for their ingenuity, +industry, shrewd practical good sense, and their large aggregate wealth; +and with forty thousand such people it is not strange that New Haven is +now growing like a city in the west. It was settled in 1638, and +incorporated as a city in 1784. Its population in 1830, was less than +eleven thousand, and in 1840, but little more than fourteen thousand, +its increase from 1840 to 1850, was about eight thousand, and from 1850 +to 1860, the population has nearly doubled. The assessed value of +property in 1830, amounted to about two and a half millions. The amount +at the present time is estimated at over twenty seven millions. New +Haven is situated at the head of a fine bay, four miles from Long Island +Sound, and seventy-six miles from New York, on the direct line of +Rail-road, and great thoroughfare between that city and Boston, and can +be reached in three hours by Rail-road and about five by water from New +York. New Haven has long been known as the city of Elms, and it far +surpasses any other city in America in the number and beauty of these +noble elm trees which shade and adorn its streets and public squares. It +is a place of large manufacturing interests, the persevering genius and +enterprise of its people having made New Haven in a variety of ways, +prominent in industrial pursuits. Mr. Whitney, the inventor of the +Cotton Gin, Mr. Goodyear of india rubber notoriety, and many other great +and good men who by their ingenuity and perseverance have added millions +to the wealth of mankind, were citizens of New Haven. Nearly every kind +of manufactured article known in the market, can here be found and +bought direct from the manufactory--such as carriages and all kind of +carriage goods, firearms, shirts, locks, furniture, clothing, shoes, +hardware, iron castings, daguerrotype-cases, machinery, plated goods, +&c., &c. + +The manufacture of carriages is here carried on, on a grand scale, and +its yearly productions are probably larger than of any other city in the +Union. There are more than sixty establishments in full operation at the +present time, many of them of great extent and completeness, and turn +out work justly celebrated for its beauty and substantial value wherever +they are known. I live in the immediate vicinity of the largest carriage +manufactury in the world, which turns out a finished carriage every +hour; much of the work being done by machinery and systematized in much +the same manner as the clock-making. American carriages are fast +following American clocks to foreign countries, to the West Indies, +Australia and the Sandwich Islands, Mexico and South America, and I +believe the day is not far distant when they will be exported to Europe +in large quantities, and the present prospect seems far more favorable +for them than it did for me when I introduced my first cargo of clocks +into England. + +When I first saw this city in 1812, its population was less than five +thousand, and it looked to me like a country town. I wandered about the +streets early one morning with a bundle of clothes and some bread and +cheese in my hands little dreaming that I should live to see so great a +change, or that it ever would be my home. I remember seeing the loads of +wood and chips for family use lying in front of the houses, and acres of +land then in cornfields and valued at a small sum, are now covered with +fine buildings and stores and factories in about the heart of the city. + +When I moved my case making business to New Haven, the project was +ridiculed by other clock-makers, of going to a city to manufacture by +steam power, and yet it seems to have been the commencement of +manufacturers in the country, coming to New Haven to carry on their +business. Numbers came to me to get my opinion and learn the advantages +it had over manufacturing in the country, which I always informed them +in a heavy business was very great, the item of transportation alone +over-balancing the difference between water and steam power. The +facilities for procuring stock and of shipping, being also an important +item. Not one of the good citizens will deny that this great business of +clock-making which I first brought to New Haven has been of immense +advantage and of great importance to the city. Through its agency +millions of money has been brought here, adding materially to the +general prosperity and wealth, besides bringing it into notice wherever +its productions are sent. I have been told that there is nothing in the +eastern world that attracts the attention of the inhabitants like a +Yankee clock. It has this moment come into my mind of several years ago +giving a dozen brass clocks to a missionary at Jerusalem; they were +shipped from London to Alexandria in Egypt, from there to Joppa, and +thence about forty miles on the backs of Camels to Jerusalem, where they +arrived safe to the great joy of the missionary and others interested, +and attracted a great deal of attention and admiration. I also sent my +clocks to China, and two men to introduce them more than twenty years +ago. + +I will here say what I truly believe as to the future of this business; +there is no place on the earth where it can be started and compete with +New Haven, there are no other factories where they can possibly be made +so cheap. I have heard men ask the question, "why can't clocks be made +in Europe on such a scale, where labor is so cheap?" If a company could +in any part of the old world get their labor ten years for nothing, I do +not believe they could compete with the Yankees in this business. They +can be made in New Haven and sent into any part of the world for more +than a hundred years to come for less than one half of what they could +be made for in any part of the old world. I was many years in +systematizing this business, and these things I know to be facts, though +it might appear as strong language. No man has ever lived that has given +so much time and attention to this subject as myself. For more than +fifty years, by day and by night, clocks have been uppermost in my mind. +The ticking of a clock is music to me, and although many of my +experiences as a business man have been trying and bitter, I have the +satisfaction of knowing that I have lived the life of an honest man, and +have been of some use to my fellow men. + + + +APPENDIX. + +GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR KEEPING CLOCKS IN ORDER. + +Pendulum clocks are the oldest style, and are more generally introduced +than any other kind. I will give a few simple suggestions essential for +keeping this clock in good order as a time-keeper. In the first place, a +clock must be plumb (that is level;) and what I mean by plumb, is not +treing up the case to a level, but it is to put the case in a position +so that the beats or sounds of the wheel-teeth striking the verge are +equal. It is not necessary to go by the sound, if the face is taken off +so that you can see the verge. You can then notice and see whether the +verge holds on to the teeth at each end the same length of time; or (in +other words) whether the vibrations are equal as they should be. Clocks +are often condemned because they stop, or because they do not keep good +time, while these points and others are not in beat, the vibrations are +not regular; hence it will not divide the time equally, and it is called +a poor time-keeper, when the difficulty may be that it is not properly +set up. A clock which will run when it is much out of beat, is a very +good one, and it must run very easily, because it has a great +disadvantage to overcome, viz: a greater distance from a perpendicular +line one way than the other in order that the verge may escape the +teeth. A clock may be set up in perfect beat, but the shelf is liable to +settle or warp, and get out of beat so gradually, that it might not be +remarked by one not suspecting it, unless special notice was taken of +it. This matter should be looked to when the clock stops. + +I have explained the mode of setting up a clock with reference to +putting it in beat, etc. Another essential point to be attended to is +that the rod should hang in the centre or very near the centre of the +loop in the crutch wire which is connected with the verge, and for this +reason, if it rubs the front or back end of the loop, the friction will +cause it to stop. To prevent this, set the clock case so that it will +lean back a little or forward, as it requires. It sometimes happens that +the dial (if it is made of zinc) gets bent in, and the loop of the +crutch wire rubs as it passes back and forth. This should be attended +to. It should be noticed also, whether the crutch wire gets misplaced so +that it rubs any kind of a dial; the least impediment here will stop a +clock. The centre of the dial should next be noticed. It sometimes +happens that the warping moves it from its place, so that the sockets of +the pointers rub, and many times it is the cause of the clock's +stopping; this can be remedied by pareing out the centre on the side +required. + +Soft verges are no uncommon cause of clocks stopping, and those who +travel to repair clocks generally overlook this trouble. A clock with a +soft verge will run but a short time, because the teeth will dent into +the face of the verge and cause a roughness that will certainly stop it. +The way to ascertain this, is to try a file on the end of the verge; if +you can file it it is soft; they are intended to be so hard that a file +will not cut them. They can be hardened without taking off the brass +ears or crutch wires, if you are careful in heating them; but the +roughness on the faces caused by the teeth must be taken out in +finishing. They must be polished nicely, and the polish lines should run +parallel with the verge: this may not seem to some necessary, but if the +polished lines run crosswise you can hear it rub distinctly and it would +cause it to stop. + +It is very common to hear a clock make a creaking noise, and this leads +inexperienced persons to think it has become dry inside. This is not so, +and you will always find it to be caused by the loop of the crutch wire +where it touches the rod; apply a little oil and it will cure it. + +Some think that a clock must be cleaned and oiled often, but if the +foregoing directions are carefully pursued it is not necessary. I could +show the reader several thirty-four hour brass clocks of my first and +second years' manufacture (about twenty-two years since) which have been +taken apart and cleaned but once--perhaps some of them twice. I have +been told that they run as well as they did the first year. Now these +are the directions which I should lay down for you to save your money, +and your clocks from untimely wearing out. If you see any signs of their +stopping--such as a faint beat, or if on a very cold night they stop, +take the dial off, and the verge from the pin, wipe the pin that the +verge hangs on, the hole in the ears of the verge, and the pieces that +act on the wheel; also the loop of the verge wire where it connects with +the rod, and the rod itself where the loop acts. Previous to taking off +the verge, oil all the pivots in front; let the clock be wound up about +half way, then take off the verge, and let it run down as rapidly as it +will, in order to work out the gummy oil: then wipe off the black oil +that has worked out and it is not necessary to add any more to the +pivots. Then oil the parts as above described connected with the verge +and be very sparing of the oil, for too little is better than too much. +I never use any but watch oil. You may think that the other oils are +good because you have tried them; but I venture to say that all the good +they effected was temporary and after a short time the clock was more +gummed up than it was before. Watch oil is made from the porpoise' jaw, +and I have not seen anything to equal it. You may say why not oil the +back pivots? They do not need it as often as the front ones, because +they are not so much exposed, and hence, they do not catch the dust +which passes through the sash and through the key holes that causes the +pivots to be gummy and gritty. The front pivot holes wear largest first. +A few pennys' worth of oil will last many years. + +It is necessary to occasionally oil the pulleys on the top of the case +which the cord passes over. If this is not done the hole becomes +irregular, and a part of the power is lost to the clock. Common oil will +answer for them. With regard to balance-wheel clocks, it is more +difficult to explain the mode of repairing, to the inexperienced. With +reference to oiling, use none but watch oil. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12694 *** diff --git a/12694-h/12694-h.htm b/12694-h/12694-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..46d7797 --- /dev/null +++ b/12694-h/12694-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2859 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of History of the American Clock Business for the Past Sixty Years, and Life of Chauncey Jerome, by Chauncey Jerome</title> + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify; + margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 0%; + font-size: 80%; padding-top: 0.5em; + padding-bottom: 0.5em;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + hr.full { width: 100%; } + a:link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:#ff0000} + pre {font-size: 8pt;} + + + .figcenter {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em;} + .figcenter img {border: none;} + .figcenter p {margin: 0; text-indent: 1em;} + .figcenter {margin: auto;} + + div.chapter {padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 4em;} + div.ff {padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 2em;} + + .argument {text-align: center; font-weight: normal; + margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;} + + .heading {padding-bottom: 0.5em;} + + --> + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12694 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, History of the American Clock Business for +the Past Sixty Years, and Life of Chauncey Jerome, by Chauncey Jerome</h1> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr class="full" /> +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/frontispiece.png" width="592" height="944" alt="Illustration: Litho of E.B and E.C. Kellogg, Hartford, Conn. Signature of Chauncey Jerome" /> +</div> +<div class="chapter"> +<h1><font size="+2">HISTORY</font></h1> +<h1><font size="+2"> <font size="-1">OF THE</font></font></h1> +<h1> <font size="+3">American Clock Business</font></h1> +<h1> <font size="+1">FOR THE PAST SIXTY YEARS,</font></h1> +<h1> <font size="-1">AND</font></h1> +<h1> <font size="+2">Life of</font> CHAUNCEY JEROME,</h1> +<h1> <b><font size="+2">WRITTEN BY HIMSELF</font></b><font size="+2">.</font></h1> + +<hr /> +<h2><font size="+1">BARNUM'S CONNECTION</font></h2> +<h2> <font size="-1">WITH THE</font></h2> +<h2> <font size="+1">YANKEE CLOCK BUSINESS.</font></h2> +<hr /> + +<h3>New Haven: 1860</h3> + +<hr /> +</div> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> +</div> + +<p>The manufacture of Clocks has become one of the most important branches +of American industry. Its productions are of immense value and form an +important article of export to foreign countries. It has grown from +almost nothing to its present dimensions within the last thirty years, +and is confined to one of the smallest States in the Union. Sixty years +ago, a few men with clumsy tools supplied the demand; at the present +time, with systematized labor and complicated machinery, it gives +employment to thousands of men, occupying some of the largest factories +of New England. Previous to the year 1838, most clock movements were +made of wood; since that time they have been constructed of metal, which +is not only better and more durable but even cheaper to manufacture.</p> + +<p>Many years of my own life have been inseparably connected with and +devoted to the American clock business, and the most important changes +in it have taken place within my remembrance and actual experience. Its +whole history is familiar to me, and I cannot write my life without +having much to say about "Yankee clocks." Neither can there be a history +of that business written without alluding to myself. A few weeks since +I entered my sixty-seventh year, and reviewing the past, many trying +experiences are brought fresh into my mind. For more than forty-five +years I have been actively engaged in the manufacture of clocks, and +constantly studying and contriving new methods of manufacturing for the +benefit of myself and fellow-men, and although through the +instrumentality of others, I have been unfortunate in the loss of my +good name and an independent competency, which I had honorably and +honestly acquired by these long years of patient toil and industry, it +is a satisfaction to me now to know that I have been the means of doing +some good in the world.</p> + +<p>On the following pages in my simple language, and in a bungling manner, +I have told the story of my life. I am no author, but claim a title +which I consider nobler, that of a "Mechanic." Being possessed of a +remarkable memory, I am able to give a minute account and even the date +of every important transaction of my whole life, and distinctly remember +events which took place when I was but a child, three and a half years +old, and how I celebrated my fourth birthday. I could relate many +instances of my boyhood and later day experiences if my health, and +strength would permit. It has been no part of my plan to boast, +exaggerate, or misrepresent anything, but to give "plain facts."</p> + +<p>A history of the great business of Clock making has never been written. +I am the oldest man living who has had much to do with it, and am best +able to give its history. To-day my name is seen on millions of these +useful articles in every part of the civilized globe, the result of +early ambition and untiring perseverance. It was in fact the "pride of +my life." Time-keepers have been known for centuries in the old world; +but I will not dwell on that. It is enough for the American people to +know that their country supplies the whole world with its most useful +time-keepers, (as well as many other productions,) and that no other +country can compete with ours in their manufacture.</p> + +<p>It has been a long and laborious undertaking for me in my old age to +write such a work as this; but the hope that it might be useful and +instructive to many of my young friends has animated me to go on; and in +presenting it to the public it is with the hope that it will meet with +some favor, and that I shall derive some pecuniary benefit therefrom.</p> + +<p>NEW HAVEN, August 15th, 1860.</p> +</div> + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +</div> + +<p><a href="#chap1">CHAPTER I</a>.—MY EARLY HISTORY.—Birthplace; nail + making; death of my Father; leaving home; work on a farm; hard times; the great + eclipse; bound out as a carpenter; carry tools thirty miles; work on clock dials; + what I heard at a training; trip to New Jersey in 1812; first visit to New York; + what I saw there; cross the North River in a scow; case making in New Jersey; + hard fare; return home; first appearance in New Haven; at home again; a great + traveller; experiences in the last war; go to New London to fight the British + in 1813; incidents; soldiering at New Haven in 1814; married; hard times again; + cottton [<i>sic.</i>] cloth $1 per yard; the cold summer of 1816; + a hard job; work at clocks.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap2">CHAPTER II</a>.—EARLY HISTORY OF YANKEE CLOCK MAKING.—Mr. + Eli Terry the father of wood clocks in Connecticut; clocks in 1800; wheels made + with saw and jack-knife; first clocks by machinery; clocks for pork; men in + the business previous to 1810; [  ] a new invention; the Pillar Scroll Top Case; + peddling clocks on horseback; the Bronze Looking Glass Clock.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap3">CHAPTER III.</a>—PERSONAL HISTORY CONTINUED.—1816 + to 1825; work with Mr. Terry; commence business; work alone; large sale to a + Southerner; a heap of money; peddle clocks in Wethersfield; walk twenty-five + miles in the snow; increase business; buy mahogany in the plank; saw veneers + with a hand saw; trade cases for movements; move to Bristol; bad luck; lose + large sum of money; first cases by machinery in Bristol; make clocks in Mass.; + good luck; death of my little daughter; form a company; invent Bronze Looking + Glass Clock.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap4">CHAPTER IV</a>.—PROGRESS OF CLOCK MAKING.—Revival + of business; Bronze Looking Glass Clock favorite; clocks at the South; $115 + for a clock; rapid increase of the business; new church at Bristol—Rev. + David L. Parmelee; hard times of 1837; panic in business; no more clocks will + be made; wooden clocks and wooden nutmegs; opposition to Yankee pedlars in the + South; make clocks in Virginia and South Carolina; my trip to the South; discouragements; + "I won't give up;" invent one day Brass clock; better times ahead; go further + South; return home; produce the new clock; its success.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap5">CHAPTER V</a>.—BRASS CLOCKS—CLOCKS IN ENGLAND.—The + new clock a favorite; I carry on the business alone; good times; profits in + 1841; wood clock makers half crazy; competition; prices reduced; can Yankee + clocks be introduced into England; I send out a cargo; ridiculed by other clock + makers; prejudice of English people against American manufacturers; how they + were introduced; seized by custom house officers; a good joke; incidents; the + Terry family.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap6">CHAPTER VI</a>.—THE CAREER OF A FAST YOUNG MAN.—Incidents; + Frank Merrills; a smart young man; I sell him clocks; his bogus operations; + a sad history; great losses; human nature; my experience; incident of my boyhood; + Samuel J. Mills, the Missionary; anecdotes.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap7">CHAPTER VII</a>.—REMOVAL TO NEW HAVEN—FIRE—TROUBLE.—Make + cages at New Haven; factories at Bristol destroyed by fire; great loss; sickness; + heavy trouble; human nature; move whole business to New Haven; John Woodruff; + great competition; clocks in New York; swindlers; law-suit; ill-feeling of other + clock makers.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap8">CHAPTER VIII</a>.—THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING—THE + JEROME MANUFACTURING COMPANY.—Benefit of manufacturing by system; a clock + case for eight cents; a clock for seventy-five cents; thirty years ago and to-day; + more human nature; how the Brass clock is made; cost of a clock; the facilities + of the Jerome Manufacturing Company; a joint stock company; how it was managed; + interesting statements; its failure.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap9">CHAPTER IX.</a>—MEN NOW IN THE BUSINESS.—The New + Haven Clock Co.: Hon. Jas. E. English, H.M. Welch, John Woodruff, Hiram Camp, + Philip Pond, Charles L. Griswold, L.F. Root. Benedict & Burnham Company + of Waterbury: Arad W. Welton. Seth Thomas & Co. Wm. L. Gilbert. E.N. Welch. + Beach & Hubbell. Ireneus Atkins.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X</a>.—BARNUM'S CONNECTION IN THE CLOCK BUSINESS.—Barnum + and the Jerome Manufacturing Co.; Terry & Barnum; interesting statements; + causes of the failure; the results.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI</a>.—EFFECTS OF THE FAILURE ON MYSELF.—My + prospects; leave New Haven; move to Waterbury; a frightful accident; a practical + story.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII.</a>—ANOTHER UNFORTUNATE PARTNERSHIP.—More + misplaced confidence; a dishonest man threatening to imprison me for fraud; + every dollar gone; kindness of John Woodruff, etc.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII</a>.—THE WOOSTER PLACE CHURCH.—Reasons + for building it, and how it was built; growth of different denominations, etc.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV</a>.—NEW HAVEN AS A BUSINESS PLACE.—growth, + extensive manufactories, facilities for manufacturing, population, wealth, etc.</p> + +<p><a href="#appx">APPENDIX</a>.—General directions for keeping clocks in + order, etc.</p> +</div> + + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<hr /> +<h2>AMERICAN CLOCK MAKING.</h2> +<h2>LIFE OF CHAUNCEY JEROME.</h2> +<hr /> +</div> + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap1"></a> CHAPTER I.</h3> + +<h4 class="argument">EARLY DAYS.—LEAVING HOME.—BOUND OUT.—FARMING.—CARPENTER.—SOLDIER.—CLOCK MAKING.</h4> +</div> + + +<p>I was born in the town of Canaan, Litchfield County, in the State of +Connecticut, on the 10th day of June, 1793. My parents were poor but +respectable and industrious. My father was a blacksmith and wrought-nail +maker by trade, and the father of six children—four sons and two +daughters. I was the fourth child.</p> + +<p>In January, 1797, he moved from Canaan to the town of Plymouth, in the +same County, and in the following spring built a blacksmith shop, which +was large enough for three or four men to work at the nail making +business, besides carrying on the blacksmithing. At that time all the +nails used in the country were hammered by hand out of iron rods, which +practice has almost entirely been done away by the introduction of cut +nails.</p> + +<p>My advantages for education were very poor. When large enough to handle +a hoe, or a bundle of rye, I was kept at work on the farm. The only +opportunity I had for attending school was in the winter season, and +then only about three months in the year, and at a very poor school. +When I was nine years old, my father took me into the shop to work, +where I soon learned to make nails, and worked with him in this way +until his death, which occurred on the fifth of October, 1804. For two +or three days before he died, he suffered the most excruciating pains +from the disease known as the black colic. The day of his death was a +sad one to me, for I knew that I should lose my happy home, and be +obliged to leave it to seek work for my support. There being no +manufacturing of any account in the country, the poor boys were obliged +to let themselves to the farmers, and it was extremely difficult to find +a place to live where they would treat a poor boy like a human being. +Never shall I forget the Monday morning that I took my little bundle of +clothes, and with a bursting heart bid my poor mother good bye.</p> + +<p>I knew that the rest of the family had got to leave soon, and I perhaps +never to see any of them again. Being but a boy and naturally very +sympathizing, it really seemed as if my heart would break to think of +leaving my dear old home for good, but stern necessity compelled me, and +I was forced to obey.</p> + +<p>The first year after leaving home I was at work on a farm, and almost +every day when alone in the fields would burst into tears—not because I +had to work, but because my father was dead whom I loved, and our happy +family separated and broken up never to live together again. In my new +place I was kept at work very hard, and at the age of fourteen did +almost the work of a man. It was a very lonely place where we lived, and +nothing to interest a child of my age. The people I lived with seemed to +me as very old, though they were probably not more than thirty-six years +of age, and felt no particular interest in me, more than to keep me +constantly at work, early and late, in all kinds of weather, of which I +never complained. I have many times worked all day in the woods, +chopping down trees, with my shoes filled with snow; never had a pair of +boots till I was more than twenty years old. Once in two weeks I was +allowed to go to church, which opportunity I always improved.</p> + +<p>I liked to attend church, for I could see so many folks, and the habit +which I then acquired has never to this day left me, and my love for it +dates back to this time in my youth, though the attractions now are +different.</p> + +<p>I shall never forget how frightened I was at the great eclipse which +took place on the 16th of June, 1806, and which so terrified the good +people in every part of the land. They were more ignorant about such +operations of the sun fifty-four years ago than at the present time. I +had heard something about eclipses but had not the faintest idea what it +could be. I was hoeing corn that day in a by-place three miles from +town, and thought it certainly was the day of judgment. I watched the +sun steadily disappearing with a trembling heart, and not till it again +appeared bright and shining as before, did I regain my breath and +courage sufficient to whistle.</p> + +<p>The winter before I was fifteen years old, I went to live with a house +carpenter to learn the trade, and was bound to him by my guardian till I +was twenty-one years old, and was to have my board and clothes for my +services. I learned the business very readily, and during the last three +years of my apprenticeship could do the work of a man.</p> + +<p>It was a very pleasant family that I lived with while learning my trade. +In the year 1809 my "boss" took a job in Torringford, and I went with +him. After being absent several months from home, I felt very anxious to +see my poor mother who lived about two miles from Plymouth. She lived +alone—with the exception of my youngest brother about nine years old. I +made up my mind that I would go down and see her one night. In this way +I could satisfy my boss by not losing any time. It was about twenty +miles, and I only sixteen years old. I was really sorry after I had +started, but was not the boy to back out. It took me till nearly morning +to get there, tramping through the woods half of the way; every noise I +heard I thought was a bear or something that would kill me, and the +frightful notes of the whippoorwill made my hair stand on end. The dogs +were after me at every house I passed. I have never forgotten that +night. The boys of to-day do not see such times as I did.</p> + +<p>The next year, 1810, my boss took a job in Ellsworth Society, Litchfield +County. I footed it to and from that place several times in the course +of the year, with a load of joiners' tools on my back. What would a boy +17 years old now think to travel thirty miles in a hot summer's day, +with a heavy load of joiners' tools on his back? But that was about the +only way that we could get around in those days. At that time there were +not half a dozen one-horse wagons in the whole town. At that place I +attended the church of Rev. Daniel Parker, father of Hon. Amasa J. +Parker, of Albany, who was then a little boy four or five years old. I +often saw him at meeting with his mother. He is a first cousin of F.S. & +J. Parker of this city, two highly respectable men engaged in the paper +business.</p> + +<p>In the fall of 1811, I made a bargain with the man that I was bound to, +that if he would give me four months in the winter of each year when the +business was dull, I would clothe myself. I therefore went to Waterbury, +and hired myself to Lewis Stebbins, (a singing master of that place,) to +work at making the dials for the old fashioned long clock. This kind of +business gave me great satisfaction, for I always had a desire to work +at clocks. In 1807, when I was fourteen years old, I proposed to my +guardian to get me a place with Mr. Eli Terry, of Plymouth, to work at +them. Mr. Terry was at that time making more clocks than any other man +in the country, about two hundred in a year, which was thought to be a +great number.</p> + +<p>My guardian, a good old man, told me that there was so many clocks then +making, that the country would soon be filled with them, and the +business would be good for nothing in two or three years. This opinion +of that wise man made me feel very sad. I well remember, when I was +about twelve years old, what I heard some old gentleman say, at a +training, (all of the good folks in those days were as sure to go to +training as to attend church,) they were talking about Mr. Terry; the +foolish man they said, had begun to make two hundred clocks; one said, +he never would live long enough to finish them; another remarked, that +if he did he never would, nor could possibly sell so many, and ridiculed +the very idea.</p> + +<p>I was a little fellow, but heard and swallowed every word those wise men +said, but I did not relish it at all, for I meant some day to make +clocks myself, if I lived.</p> + +<p>What would those good old men have thought when they were laughing at +and ridiculing Mr. Terry, if they had known that the little urchin who +was so eagerly listening to their conversation would live to make <i>Two +Hundred Thousand</i> metal clocks in one year, and <i>many millions</i> +in his life. They have probably been dead for years, that little boy is +now an old man, and during his life has seen these great changes. The +clock business has grown to be one of the largest in the country, and +almost every kind of American manufactures have improved in much the +same ratio, and I cannot now believe that there will ever be in the same +space of future time so many improvements and inventions as those of the +past half century—one of the most important in the history of the +world. Everyday things with us now would have appeared to our +forefathers as incredible. But returning to my story—having got myself +tolerably well posted about clocks at Waterbury, I hired myself to two +men to go into the state of New Jersey, to make the old fashioned seven +foot standing clock-case. Messrs. Hotchkiss and Pierpont, of Plymouth, +had been selling that kind of a clock without the cases, in the northern +part of that State, for about twenty dollars, apiece. The purchasers, +had complained to them however, that there was no one in that region +that could make the case for them, which prevented many others from +buying. These two men whom I went with, told them that they would get +some one to go out from Connecticut, to make the case, and thought they +could be made for about eighteen or twenty dollars apiece, which would +then make the whole clock cost about forty dollars—not so very costly +after all; for a clock was then considered the most useful of anything +that could be had in a family, for what it cost. I entered into an +agreement with these men at once, and a few days after, we three started +on the 14th Dec., 1812, in an old lumber wagon, with provisions for the +journey, to the far off Jersey. This same trip can now be made in a few +hours. We were <i>many</i> days. We passed through Watertown, and other +villages, and stopped the first night at Bethel. This is the very place +where P.T. Barnum was born, and at about this time, of whom I shall +speak more particularly hereafter. The next morning we started again on +our journey, and not many hours after, arrived in Norwalk, then quite a +small village, situated on Long Island Sound; at this place I saw the +salt water for the first time in my life, also a small row-boat, and +began to feel that I was a great traveler indeed. The following night we +stopped at Stamford, which was, as I viewed it, a great place; here I +saw a few sloops on the Sound, which I thought was the greatest sight +that I had ever seen. This was years before a steamboat had ever passed +through the Sound. The next morning we started again for New York, and +as we passed along I was more and more astonished at the wonderful +things that I saw, and began to think that the world was very extensive. +We did not arrive at the city until night, but there being a full moon +every thing appeared as pleasant, as in the day-time. We passed down +through the Bowery, which was then like a country village, then through +Chatham street to Pearl street, and stopped for the night at a house +kept by old Mr. Titus. I arose early the next morning and hurried into +the street to see how a city looked by day-light. I stood on the corner +of Chatham and Pearl for more than an hour, and I must confess that if I +was ever astonished in my life, it was at that time. I could not +understand why so many people, of every age, description and dress, were +hurrying so in every direction. I asked a man what was going on, and +what all this excitement meant, but he passed right along without +noticing me, which I thought was very uncivil, and I formed a very poor +opinion of those city folks. I ate nothing that morning, for I thought I +could be in better business for a while at least. I wandered about +gazing at the many new sights, and went out as far as the Park; at that +time the workmen were finishing the interior of the City Hall. I was +greatly puzzled to know how the winding stone stairs could be fixed +without any seeming support and yet be perfectly safe. After viewing +many sights, all of which were exceedingly interesting to me, I returned +to the house where my companions were. They told me that they had just +heard that the ship Macedonian, which was taken a few days before from +the British by one of our ships, had just been brought into the harbor +and lay off down by Burling Slip, or in that region. We went down to see +her, and went on board. I was surprised and frightened to see brains and +blood scattered about on the deck in every direction. This prize was +taken by the gallant Decatur, but a short distance from New York. +Hastening back from this sickening scene, we resumed our journey. My two +companions had been telling me that we should have to cross the North +River in a boat, and I did not understand how a boat could be made to +carry our team and be perfectly safe, but when we arrived there, I was +much surprised to see other teams that were to cross over with us, and a +number of people. At that time an old scow crossed from New York City to +the Jersey shore, once in about two hours. What a great change has taken +place in the last forty-seven years; now large steam ferry boats are +crossing and recrossing, making the trip in a few minutes. It was the +first time that I had ever crossed a stream, except on a bridge, and I +feared that we might upset and all be drowned, but no accident happened +to us; we landed in safety, and went on our way rejoicing towards +Elizabethtown. At that place I saw a regiment of soldiers from Kentucky, +who were on their way to the northern frontier to fight the British. +They were a rough set of fellows, and looked as though they could do a +great deal of fighting. It will be remembered that this was the time of +the last war with England. We passed on through Elizabethtown and +Morristown to Dutch Valley, where we stopped for the night. We remained +at this place a few days, looking about for a cabinet shop, or a +suitable place to make the clock cases. Not succeeding, we went a mile +further north, to a place called Schooler's Mountain; here we found a +building that suited us. It was then the day before Christmas. The +people of that region, we found, kept that day more strictly than the +Sabbath, and as we were not ready to go to work, we passed Christmas day +indoors feeling very lonely indeed. The next day we began operations. A +young man from the lower part of New Jersey worked with me all winter. +We boarded ourselves in the same building that we worked in, I doing all +of the house-work and cooking, none of which was very fine or fancy, our +principal food being pork, potatoes and bread, using our work-bench for +a table. Hard work gave us good appetite.</p> + +<p>We would work on an average about fifteen hours a day, the house-work +not occupying much of our time. I was then only nineteen years old, and +it hardly seems possible that the boys of the present day could pass +through such trials and hardships, and live. We worked in this way all +winter. When the job was finished, I took my little budget of clothes +and started for home. I traveled the first day as far as Elizabethtown, +and stopped there all night, but found no conveyance from there to New +York. I was told that if I would go down to the Point, I might in the +course of the day, get a passage in a sailing vessel to the city. I went +down early in the morning and, after waiting till noon, found a chance +to go with two men in a small sail boat. I was greatly alarmed at the +strange motions of the boat which I thought would upset, and felt +greatly relieved when I was again on terra firma.</p> + +<p>I wandered about the streets of New York all that afternoon, bought a +quantity of bread and cheese, and engaged a passage on the Packet Sloop +Eliza, for New Haven, of her Captain Zebulon Bradley. I slept on board +of her that night at the dock, the next day we set sail for New Haven, +about ten o'clock in the forenoon, with a fair wind, and arrived at the +long wharf in (that city) about eight o'clock the same day. I stopped at +John Howe's Hotel, at the head of the wharf. This was the first time +that I was ever in this beautiful city, and I little thought then that I +ever should live there, working at my favorite business, with three +hundred men in my employ, or that I should ever be its Mayor.—Times +change.</p> + +<p>Very early the next morning, after looking about a little, I started +with my bundle of clothes in one hand, and my bread and cheese in the +other, to find the Waterbury turnpike, and after dodging about for a +long time, succeeded in finding it, and passed on up through Waterbury +to Plymouth, walking the whole distance, and arrived home about three +o'clock in the afternoon. This was my first trip abroad, and I really +felt that I was a great traveler, one who had seen much of the world! +What a great change has taken place in so short space of time.</p> + +<p>Soon after I returned from my western trip, there began to be a great +excitement throughout the land, about the war. It was proposed by the +Governor of Connecticut, John Cotton Smith, of Sharon, to raise one or +two regiments of State troops to defend it in case of invasion. One +Company of one hundred men, was raised in the towns of Waterbury, +Watertown, Middlebury, Plymouth and Bethlem, and John Buckingham chosen +Captain, who is now living in Waterbury; the other commissioned officers +of the company, were Jas. M.L. Scovill, of Waterbury, and Joseph H. +Bellamy, of Bethlem. The company being composed of young men, and I +being about the right age, had of course to be one of them.</p> + +<p>Early in the Summer of 1813, the British fleet run two of our ships of +war up the Thames River, near New London. Their ships being so large +could not enter, but lay at its mouth. Their presence so near greatly +alarmed the citizens of that city, and in fact, all of the people in the +eastern part of the State. Our regiment was ordered to be ready to start +for New London by the first of August. The Plymouth company was called +together on Sunday, which was the first of August, and exercised on the +Green in front of the church, in the fore part of the day. This unusual +occurrence of a military display on the Sabbath greatly alarmed the good +people of the congregation, but it really was a case of necessity, we +were preparing to defend our homes from a foreign foe.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon we attended church in a body, wearing our uniforms, to +the wonder and astonishment of boys, but terrible to the old people. On +Monday morning we started on a march to Hartford, sleeping that night in +a barn, in the eastern part of Farmington, and reaching Hartford the +next day, where we joined the other companies, and all started for New +London. The first night we slept in a barn in East Hartford, and the +second one in an old church in Marlboro. I remember lying on the seat of +a pew, with my knapsack under my head. We arrived at New London on +Saturday, marching the whole distance in the first week in August, and a +hotter time I have never experienced since. We were dressed in heavy +woolen clothes, carrying heavy guns and knapsacks, and wearing large +leather caps. It was indeed a tedious job. We were whole days traveling +what can now be done in less than as many hours, and were completely +used up when we arrived there, which would not appear strange. We were +immediately stationed on the high ground, back from the river, about +half way between the city and the light-house, in plain view of the +enemy's ships. They would frequently, when there was a favorable wind, +hoist their sails and beat about in the harbor, making a splendid +appearance, and practising a good deal with their heavy guns on a small +American sloop, which they had taken and anchored a long distance off. +The bounding of the cannon balls on the water was an interesting sight +to me. The first night after our arrival, I was put on guard near the +Light-house, and in plain sight of the ships. I was much afraid that the +sharp shooters from their barges would take me for a target and be smart +enough to hit me; and a heavy shower with thunder and lightning passing +over us during the night, did not alleviate my distress. I was but a +boy, only twenty years old, and would naturally be timid in such a +situation, but I passed the night without being killed; it seems that +was not the way that I was to die.</p> + +<p>I soon became sick and disgusted with a soldier's life; it seemed to be +too lazy and low-lived to suit me, and, as near as I could judge, the +inhabitants thought us all a low set of fellows. I never have had a +desire to live or be anywhere without I could be considered at least as +good as the average, which failing I have now as strong as ever. We not +having any battles to fight, had no opportunities of showing our +bravery, and after guarding the city for forty-five days, were +discharged; over which we made a great rejoicing, and returned home by +the way of New Haven, which was my second visit to this city. The North +and Centre Churches were then building, also, the house now standing at +the North-east corner of the Green, owned then by David DeForest; +stopping here over night, we pased [<i>sic.</i>] on home to +Plymouth. I had not slept on a bed since I left home, and would have as +soon taken the barn floor as a good bed. This ended my first campaign.</p> + +<p>After this I went to work at my trade, the Joiners business. I was still +an apprentice; would not be twenty-one till the next June.</p> + +<p>The War was not yet over, and in October, 1814, our Regiment was ordered +by Governor Smith to New Haven, to guard the city. Col. Sanford, (father +of Elihu and Harvey Sanford of this city,) commanded us. On arriving, we +were stationed at the old slaughter-house, in the Eastern part of the +city, at the end of Green street. All the land East of Academy street +was then in farmers' lots, and planted with corn, rye and potatoes now +covered with large manufactories and fine dwellings. I little thought +then, that I should have the largest Clock-factory in the world, within +a stone's throw of my sleeping-place, as has since proved. Nothing of +much importance took place during our campaign at New Haven. The British +did not land or molest us. We built a large fort on the high grounds, on +the East Haven side, which commanded the Harbor, the ruins of which can +now be seen from the city. A good deal of fault was found by the +officers and men with the provisions, which were very poor. When this +campaign closed I was through with my military glory, and returned to my +home, sick and disgusted with a soldier's life. I hope our country will +not be disgraced with another war.</p> + +<p>All of the old people will remember what a great rejoicing there was +through the whole country, when peace was declared in February, 1815. I +was married about that time to Salome Smith, daughter of Capt. +Theophilus Smith, one of the last of the Puritanical families there was +in the town; she made one of the best of wives and mothers. She died on +the 6th of March, 1854. We lived together 39 years. A short time after +we were married, I moved to the town of Farmington, and hired a house of +Mr. Chauncey Deming to live in, and went to work for Capt. Selah Porter, +for twenty dollars per month. We built a house for Maj. Timothy Cowles, +which was then the best one in Farmington. I was not worth at this time +fifty dollars in the world.</p> + +<p>1815, the year after the war, was, probably the hardest one there has +been for the last hundred years, for a young man to begin for himself.</p> + +<p>Pork was sold for thirteen dollars per hundred, Flour at thirteen +dollars per barrel; Molasses was sold for seventy-five cents per gallon, +and brown Sugar at thirty-four cents per pound. I remember buying some +cotton cloth for a common shirt, for which I paid one dollar a yard, no +better than can now be bought for ten cents. I mention these things to +let the young men know what a great change has taken place, and what my +prospects were at that time. Not liking this place, I moved back to +Plymouth. I did not have money enough to pay my rent, which however, was +not due until the next May, but Mr. Deming, who by the way, was one of +the richest men in the State, was determined that I should not go till I +had paid him. I promised him that he should have the money when it was +due, if my life was spared, and he finally consented to let me go. When +it came due I walked to Farmington, fifteen miles, paid him and walked +back the same day, feeling relieved and happy. I obtained the job of +finishing the inside of a dwelling house, which gave me great +encouragement. The times were awful hard and but little business done at +anything. It would almost frighten a man to see a five dollar bill, they +were so very scarce. My work was about two miles from where I lived. My +wife was confined about this time with her first babe. I would rise +every morning two hours before day-light and prepare my breakfast, and +taking my dinner in a little pail, bid my good wife good-by for the day, +and start for my work, not returning till night. About this time the +Congregational Society employed a celebrated music teacher to conduct +the church singing, and I having always had a desire to sing sacred +music, joined his choir and would walk a long distance to attend the +singing schools at night after working hard all day. I was chosen +chorister after a few weeks, which encouraged me very much in the way of +singing, and was afterwards employed as a teacher to some extent, and +for a long time led the singing there and at Bristol where I afterwards +lived. The next summer was the cold one of 1816, which none of the old +people will ever forget, and which many of the young have heard a great +deal about. There was ice and snow in every month in the year. I well +remember on the seventh of June, while on my way to work, about a mile +from home, dressed throughout with thick woolen clothes and an overcoat +on, my hands got so cold that I was obliged to lay down my tools and put +on a pair of mittens which I had in my pocket. It snowed about an hour +that day. On the tenth of June, my wife brought in some clothes that had +been spread on the ground the night before, which were frozen stiff as +in winter. On the fourth of July, I saw several men pitching quoits in +the middle of the day with thick overcoats on, and the sun shining +bright at the same time. A body could not feel very patriotic in such +weather. I often saw men when hoeing corn, stop at the end of a row and +get in the sun by a fence to warm themselves. Not half enough corn +ripened that year to furnish seed for the next. I worked at my trade, +and had the job of finishing the inside of a three-story house, having +twenty-seven doors and a white oak matched floor to make, and did the +whole for eighty-five dollars. The same work could not now be done as I +did it for less than five hundred dollars. Such times as these were +indeed hard for poor young men. We did not have many carpets or costly +furniture and servants; but as winter approached times seemed to grow +harder and harder. No work could be had. I was in debt for my little +house and lot which I had bought only a short time before, near the +center of Plymouth, and had a payment to make on it the next spring. I +proposed going south to the city of Baltimore, to obtain work, and had +already made preparations to go and leave my young family for the +winter, at which I could not help feeling very sad, when I accidentally +heard that Mr. Eli Terry was about to fit up his factory (which was +built the year before,) for making his new Patent Shelf Clock. I thought +perhaps I could get a job with him, and started immediately to see Mr. +Terry, and closed a bargain with him at once. I never shall forget the +great good feeling that this bargain gave me. It was a pleasant kind of +business for me, and then I knew I could see my family once a week or +oftener if necessary.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap2"></a> CHAPTER II.</h3> +<h4 class="argument">PROGRESS OF CLOCK MAKING.—IMPROVEMENTS BY ELI TERRY AND OTHERS.—SHELF +CLOCK.</h4> +</div> + +<p>At the beginning of this book I have said that I would give to the public a + history of the AMERICAN CLOCK BUSINESS. I am now the oldest man living that + has had much to do with the manufacturing of clocks, and can, I believe, give + a more correct account than any other person. This great business has grown + almost from nothing during my remembrance. Nearly all of the clocks used in + this country are made or have been made in the small State of Connecticut, and + a heavy trade in them is carried on in foreign countries. The business or manufacture + of them has become so systematized of late that it has brought the prices exceedingly + low, and it has long been the astonishment of the whole world how they could + be made so cheap and yet be good. A gentleman called at my factory a few years + ago, when I was carrying on the business, who said he lived in London, and had + seen my clocks in that city, and declared that he was perfectly astonished at + the price of them, and had often remarked that if he ever came to this country + he would visit the factory and see for himself. After I had showed him all the + different processes it required to complete a clock, he expressed himself in + the strongest terms—he told me he had traveled a great deal in Europe, + and had taken a great interest in all kinds of manufactures, but had never seen + anything equal to this, and did not believe that there was anything made in + the known world that made as much show, and at the same time was as cheap and + useful as the brass clock which I was then manufacturing.</p> + +<hr /> +<p>The man above all others in his day for the wood clock was Eli Terry. He +was born in East Windsor, Conn., in April, 1772, and made a few old +fashioned hang-up clocks in his native place before he was twenty-one +years of age. He was a young man of great ingenuity and good native +talent. He moved to the town of Plymouth, Litchfield county, in 1793, +and commenced making a few of the same kind, working alone for several +years. About the year 1800, he might have had a boy or one or two young +men to help him. They would begin one or two dozen at a time, using no +machinery, but cutting the wheels and teeth with a saw and jack-knife. +Mr. Terry would make two or three trips a year to the New Country, as it +was then called, just across the North River, taking with him three or +four clocks, which he would sell for about twenty-five dollars apiece. +This was for the movement only. In 1807 he bought an old mill in the +southern part of the town, and fitted it up to make his clocks by +machinery. About this time a number of men in Waterbury associated +themselves together, and made a large contract with him, they furnishing +the stock, and he making the movements. With this contract and what he +made and sold to other parties, he accumulated quite a little fortune +for those times. The first five hundred clocks ever made by machinery in +the country were started at one time by Mr. Terry at this old mill in +1808, a larger number than had ever been begun at one time in the world. +Previous to this time the wheels and teeth had been cut out by hand; +first marked out with square and compasses, and then sawed with a fine +saw, a very slow and tedious process. Capt. Riley Blakeslee, of this +city, lived with Mr. Terry at that time, and worked on this lot of +clocks, cutting the teeth. Talking with Capt. Blakeslee a few days +since, he related an incident which happened when he was a boy, sixty +years ago, and lived on a farm in Litchfield. One day Mr. Terry came to +the house where he lived to sell a clock. The man with whom young +Blakeslee lived, left him to plow in the field and went to the house to +make a bargain for it, which he did, paying Mr. Terry in salt pork, a +part of which he carried home in his saddle-bags where he had carried +the clock. He was at that time very poor, but twenty-five years after +was worth $200,000, all of which he made in the clock business.</p> + +<p>Mr. Terry sold out his business to Seth Thomas and Silas Hoadley, two of +his leading workmen, in 1810. This establishment was the leading one for +several years, but other ones springing up in the vicinity, the +competition became so great that the prices were reduced from ten to +five dollars apiece for the bare movement. Daniel Clark, Zenas Cook and +Wm. Porter, started clock-making at Waterbury, and carried it on largely +for several years, but finally failed and went out of the business.</p> + +<p>Col. Wm. Leavenworth, of the same place, was in the business in 1810, +but failed, and moved to Albany, N.Y. A man by the name of Mark +Leavenworth made clocks for a long time, and in the latter part of his +life manufactured the Patent Shelf Clock.</p> + +<p>Two brothers, James and Lemuel Harrison, made a few before the year +1800, using no machinery, making their wheels with a saw and knife. +Sixty years ago, a man by the name of Gideon Roberts got up a few in the +old way: he was an excellent mechanic and made a good article. He would +finish three or four at a time and take them to New York State to sell. +I have seen him many times, when I was a small boy, pass my father's +house on horseback with a clock in each side of his saddle-bags, and a +third lashed on behind the saddle with the dials in plain sight. They +were then a great curiosity to me. Mr. Roberts had to give up this kind +of business; he could not compete with machinery. John Rich of Bristol +was in the business; also Levi Lewis, but gave it up in a few years. An +Ives family in Bristol were quite conspicuous as clock-makers. They were +good mechanics. One of them, Joseph Ives, has done a great deal towards +improving the eight day brass clock, which I shall speak about +hereafter.</p> + +<p>Chauncey Boardman, of Bristol, Riley Whiting, of Winsted, and Asa +Hopkins, of Northfield, were all engaged in the manufacture of the old +fashioned hang-up clock. Butler Dunbar, an old schoolmate of mine, and +father of Col. Edward Dunbar, of Bristol, was engaged with Dr. Titus +Merriman in the same business. They all gave up the business after a few +years.</p> + +<p>Mr. Eli Terry (in the year 1814,) invented a beautiful shelf clock made +of wood, which completely revolutionized the whole business. The making +of the old fashioned hang-up wood clock, about which I have been +speaking, passed out of existence. This patent article Mr. Terry +introduced, was called the Pillar Scroll Top Case. The pillars were +about twenty-one inches long, three-quarters of an inch at the base, and +three-eights at the top—resting on a square base, and the top finished +by a handsome cap. It had a large dial eleven inches square, and tablet +below the dial seven by eleven inches. This style of clock was liked +very much and was made in large quantities, and for several years. Mr. +Terry sold a right to manufacture them to Seth Thomas, for one thousand +dollars, which was thought to be a great sum. At first, Terry and Thomas +made each about six thousand clocks per year, but afterwards increased +to ten or twelve thousand. They were sold for fifteen dollars apiece +when first manufactured. I think that these two men cleared about one +hundred thousand dollars apiece, up to the year 1825. Mr. Thomas had +made a good deal of money on the old fashioned style, for he made a good +article, and had but little competition, and controlled most of the +trade.</p> + +<p>In 1818, Joseph Ives invented a metal clock, making the plates of iron +and the wheels of brass. The movement was very large, and required a +case about five feet long. This style was made for two or three years, +but not in large quantities.</p> + +<p>In the year 1825, the writer invented a new case, somewhat larger than +the Scroll Top, which was called the Bronze Looking-Glass Clock. This +was the richest looking and best clock that had ever been made, for the +price. They could be got up for one dollar less than the Scroll Top, yet +sold for two dollars more.</p> +</div> + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap3"></a>CHAPTER III.</h3> +<h4 class="argument">PERSONAL HISTORY CONTINUED.—COMMENCING BUSINESS.—SALE TO A +SOUTHERNER.—REMOVAL TO BRISTOL.—FIRST SERIOUS LOSS.</h4> +</div> + + +<p>I must now go back and give a history of myself, from the winter of +1816, to this time (1825.) As I said before, I went to work for Mr. +Terry, making the Patent Shelf Clock in the winter of 1816. Mr. Thomas +had been making them for about two years, doing nearly all of the labor +on the case by hand. Mr. Terry in the mean time being a great mechanic +had made many improvements in the way of making the cases. Under his +directions I worked a long time at putting up machinery and benches. We +had a circular saw, the first one in the town, and which was considered +a great curiosity. In the course of the winter he drew another plan of +the Pillar Scroll Top Case with great improvements over the one which +Thomas was then making. I made the first one of the new style that was +ever produced in that factory, which became so celebrated for making the +patent case for more than ten years after.</p> + +<p>When my time was out in the spring, I bought some parts of clocks, +mahogany, veneers, etc., and commenced in a small shop, business for +myself. I made the case, and bought the movements, dials and glass, +finishing a few at a time. I found a ready sale for them. I went on in +this small way for a few years, feeling greatly animated with my +prosperity, occasionally making a payment on my little house. I heard +one day of a man in Bristol, who did business in South Carolina, who +wanted to buy a few clocks to take to that market with him. I started at +once over to see him, and soon made a bargain with him to deliver twelve +wood clocks at twelve dollars apiece. I returned home greatly encouraged +by the large order, and went right to work on them. I had them finished +and boxed ready for shipping in a short time. I had agreed to deliver +them on a certain day and was to receive $144 in cash. I hired an old +horse and lumber wagon of one of my neighbors, loaded the boxes and took +an early start for Bristol. I was thinking all the way there of the +large sum that I was to receive, and was fearful that something might +happen to disappoint me. I arrived at Bristol early in the forenoon and +hurried to the house of my customer, and told him I had brought the the +clocks as agreed. He said nothing but went into another room with his +son. I thought surely that something was wrong and that I should not get +the wished-for money, but after a while the old gentleman came back and +sat down by the table. "Here," he says, "is your money, and a heap of +it, too." It did look to me like a large sum, and took us a long time to +count it. This was more than forty years ago, and money was very scarce. +I took it with a trembling hand, and securing it safely in my pocket, +started immediately for home. This was a larger sum than I had ever had +at one time, and I was much alarmed for fear that I should be robbed of +my treasure before I got home. I thought perhaps it might be known that +I was to receive a large sum for clocks, and that some robbers might be +watching in a lonely part of the road and take it from me, but not +meeting any, I arrived safely home, feeling greatly encouraged and +happy. I told my wife that I would make another payment on our house, +which I did with a great deal of satisfaction. After this I was so +anxious to get along with my work that I did not so much as go out into +the street for a week at a time. I would not go out of the gate from the +time I returned from church one Sunday till the next. I loved to work as +well as I did to eat. I remember once, when at school, of chopping a +whole load of wood, for a great lazy boy, for one penny, and I used to +chop all the wood I could get from the families in the neighborhood, +moonlight nights, for very small sums. The winter after I made this +large sale, I took about one dozen of the Pillar Scroll Top Clocks, and +went to the town of Wethersfield to sell them. I hired a man to carry me +over there with a lumber wagon, who returned home. I would take one of +these clocks under each arm and go from house to house and offer them +for sale. The people seemed to be well pleased with them, and I sold +them for eighteen dollars apiece. This was good luck for me. I sold my +last one on Saturday afternoon. There had been a fall of snow the night +before of about eight or ten inches which ended in a rain, and made very +bad walking. Here I was, twenty-five miles from home, my wife was +expecting me, and I felt that I could not stay over Sunday. I was +anxious to tell my family of my good luck that we might rejoice +together. I started to walk the whole distance, but it proved to be the +hardest physical undertaking that I ever experienced. It was bedtime +when I reached Farmington, only one-third the distance, wallowing in +snow porridge all the way. I did not reach home till near Sunday +morning, more dead than alive. I did not go to church that day, which +made many wonder what had become of me, for I was always expected to be +in the singers' seat on Sunday. I did not recover from the effects of +that night-journey for a long time. Soon after this occurrence, I began +to increase my little business, and and employed my old joiner "boss" +and one of his apprentices; bought my mahogany in the plank and sawed my +own vaneers [<i>sic.</i>] with a hand-saw. I engaged a man +with a one horse wagon to go to New York after a load of mahogany, and +went with him to select it. The roads were very muddy, and we were +obliged to walk the whole distance home by the side of the wagon. I +worked along in this small way until the year 1821, when I sold my house +and lot, which I had almost worshipped, to Mr. Terry; it was worth six +hundred dollars. He paid me one hundred wood clock movements, with the +dials, tablets, glass and weights. I went over to Bristol to see a man +by the name of George Mitchell, who owned a large two story house, with +a barn and seventeen acres of good land in the southern part of the +town, which he said he would sell and take his pay in clocks. I asked +him how many of the Terry Patent Clocks he would sell it for; he said +two hundred and fourteen. I told him I would give it, and closed the +bargain at once. I finished up the hundred parts which I had got from +Mr. Terry, exchanged cases with him for more, obtained some credit, and +in this way made out the quantity for Mitchell.</p> + +<p>The next summer I lost seven hundred and forty dollars by Moses Galpin +of Bethlem. Five or six others with myself trusted this man Galpin with +a large quantity of clocks, and he took them to Louisiana to sell in the +fall of 1821. In the course of the winter he was taken sick and died +there. One of his pedlars came home the next spring without one dollar +in money; the creditors were called together to see what had better be +done. The note that he had given me the fall before was due in July, and +I as much expected it as I did the sun to rise and set. Here was trouble +indeed; it was a great sum of money to lose, and what to do I didn't +know. The creditors had several meetings and finally concluded to send +out a man to look after the property that was scattered through the +state. He could not go without money. We thought if we furnished him +with means to go and finish up the business, we should certainly get +enough to pay the original debt. It was agreed that we should raise a +certain sum, and that each one should pay in proportion to the amount of +his claim. My part was one hundred dollars, and it was a hard job for me +to raise so large a sum after my great loss. When it came fall and time +for him to start, I managed in some way to have it ready. This man's +name was Isaac Turner, about fifty years old, and said to be very +respectable. He started out and traveled all over the state, but found +every thing in the worst kind of shape. The men to whom Galpin had sold +would not pay when they heard that he was dead. Mr. Turner was gone from +home ten months, but instead of his returning with money for us, we were +obliged to pay money that he had borrowed to get home with, besides his +expenses for the ten months that he was gone. This was harder for me +than any of the others, and was indeed a bitter pill. As it was my first +heavy loss I could not help feeling very bad.</p> + +<p>In the winter and spring of 1822, I built a small shop in Bristol, for +making the cases only, as all of the others made the movements. The +first circular saw ever used there was put up by myself in 1822, and +this was the commencement of making cases by machinery in that town, +which has since been so renowned for its clock productions. I went on +making cases in a small way for a year or two, sometimes putting in a +few movements and selling them, but not making much money. The clocks of +Terry and Thomas sold first rate, and it was quite difficult to buy any +of the movements, as no others were making the Patent Clock at that +time. I was determined to have some movements to case, and went to +Chauncey Boardman, who had formerly made the old fashioned hang-up +movements, and told him I wanted him to make me two hundred of his kind +with such alterations as I should suggest. He said he would make them +for me. I had them altered and made so as to take a case about four feet +long, which I made out of pine, richly stained and varnished. This made +a good clock for time and suited farmers first rate.</p> + +<p>In the spring of 1824, I went into company with two men by the name of +Peck, from Bristol. We took two hundred of these movements and a few +tools in two one horse wagons and started East, intending to stop in the +vicinity of Boston. We stopped at a place about fifteen miles from there +called East Randolph; after looking about a little, we concluded to +start our business there and hired a joiners' shop of John Adams, a +cousin of J.Q. Adams. We then went to Boston and bought a load of +lumber, and commenced operations. I was the case-maker of our concern, +and 'pitched into' the pine lumber in good earnest. I began four cases +at a time and worked like putting out fire on them. My partners were +waiting for some to be finished so that they could go out and sell. In +two or three days I had got them finished and they started with them, +and I began four more. In a day or two they returned home having sold +them at sixteen dollars <i>each</i>. This good fortune animated me very +much. I worked about fourteen or fifteen hours per day, and could make +about four cases and put in the glass, movements and dials. We worked on +in this way until we had finished up the two hundred, and sold them at +an average of sixteen dollars apiece. We had done well and returned home +with joyful hearts in the latter part of June. On arriving home I found +my little daughter about five years old quite sick. In a week after she +died. I deeply felt the loss of my little daughter, and every 7th of +July it comes fresh into my mind.</p> + +<p>In the fall of 1824, I formed a company with my brother, Noble Jerome, +and Elijah Darrow, for the manufacturing of clocks, and began making a +movement that required a case about six or eight inches longer than the +Terry Patent. We did very well at this for a year or two, during which +time I invented the Bronze Looking Glass Clock, which soon +revolutionized the whole business. As I have said before, it could be +made for one dollar less and sold for two dollars more than the Patent +Case; they were very showy and a little longer. With the introduction of +this clock in the year 1825, closed the second chapter of the history of +the Yankee Clock business.</p> +</div> + + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap4"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">THE BRONZE LOOKING GLASS CLOCK.—CHURCH AT BRISTOL.—PANIC OF 1837.— +CLOCKS AT THE SOUTH.—THE ONE DAY BRASS CLOCK.</h4> +</div> + +<p>With the introduction of the Bronze Looking-Glass Clock, the business +seemed to revive in all the neighboring towns, but more especially in +Plymouth and Bristol. Both Mr. Terry and Mr. Thomas, did and said much +in disparagement of my new invention, and tried to discourage the +pedlars from buying of me, but they did as men do now-a-days, buy where +they can do the best and make the most money. This new clock was liked +very much in the southern market. I have heard of some of these being +sold in Mississippi and Lousianna [<i>sic.</i>] as high as +one hundred and one hundred and fifteen dollars, and a great many at +ninety dollars, which was a good advance on the first cost. Mr. Thomas +gave out that he would not make them any how, he did not want to follow +Jerome, but did finally come to it, making only a few at first, but +running them down in the mean time and praising his old case. He finally +gave up making the Scroll Top and made my new kind altogether.</p> + +<p>Samuel Terry, a brother of Eli, came to Bristol about this time, and +commenced making this kind of clock.</p> + +<p>Several others began to make them—Geo. Mitchell and his brother in-law +Rollin Atkins went into it, also Riley Whiting of Winsted. The business +increased very rapidly between 1827 and 1837. During these ten years +Jeromes and Barrow made more than any other company. The two towns of +Plymouth and Bristol grew and improved very rapidly; many new houses +were built, and every thing looked prosperous.</p> + +<p>In 1831, a new church was built in Bristol, and, it is said, through the +introduction of this Bronze Looking Glass Clock. Jeromes and Barrow paid +one-third of the cost of its erection. The writer obtained every dollar +of the subscription. The Hon. Tracy Peck and myself first started this +project, which ended in building this fine church which was finished and +dedicated in August, 1832. The Rev. David Lewis Parmelee preached the +dedication sermon, and was the settled minister there. I was greatly +interested in his preaching for ten years. He has for the last nineteen +years preached at South Farms now the town of Morris. This Mr. Parmelee +was a merchant till he was thirty years old, and was then converted in +some mysterious manner, as St. Paul was, and left his business to preach +the gospel. He proved to be one of the soundest preachers in the land, +and I have no doubt but he will be one of the bright and shining lights +in heaven. Oh! what happy days I saw during those ten years, little +dreaming of the great troubles that were before me, or that I should +experience in after life, which are now resting so heavily upon me, many +times seeming greater than I can bear. But such is life.</p> + +<p>About this time, also, Chauncey and Lawson C. Ives, two highly +respectable men, built a factory in Bristol for the purpose of making an +eight day brass clock. This clock was invented by Joseph Ives, a brother +of Chauncey, and sold for about twenty dollars. The manufacture of these +was carried on very successfully for a few years by them, but in 1836, +their business was closed up, they having made about one hundred +thousand dollars. Soon after this, in 1837, came the great panic and +break down of business which extended all over the country. Clock makers +and almost every one else stopped business. I should mention that +another company made the eight day brass clock previous to 1837, Erastus +and Harvey Case and John Birge. Their clocks were retailed mostly in the +southern market. They made perhaps four thousand a year. The Ives Co., +made about two thousand, but both went out of business in 1837, and it +was thought that clock making was about done with in Conn.</p> + +<p>The third chapter, as I have divided it, was now closing up. Wood clocks +were good for time, but it was a slow job to properly make them, and +difficult to procure wood just right for wheels and plates, and it took +a whole year to season it. No factory had made over <i>Ten</i> thousand +in a year; they were always classed with wooden nutmegs and wooden +cucumber seeds, and could not be introduced into other countries to any +advantage. But this was not the only trouble; being on water long as +they would have to be, would swell the wood of the wheels and ruin the +clock. Here then we had the eight day brass clock costing about twenty +dollars; the idea had always been that a brass clock must be an eight +day, and all one day should be of wood, and the plan of a brass one day +had never been thought of.</p> + +<p>In 1835, the southern people were greatly opposed to the Yankee pedlars +coming into their states, especially the clock pedlars, and the licences +were raised so high by their Legislatures that it amounted to almost a +prohibition. Their laws were that any goods made in their own States +could be sold without licence. Therefore clocks to be profitable must be +made in those states. Chauncey and Noble Jerome started a factory in +Richmond Va., making the cases and parts at Bristol, Connecticut, and +packing them with the dials, glass &c. We shipped them to Richmond and +took along workmen to put them together. The people were highly pleased +with the idea of having clocks all made in their State. The old planters +would tell the pedlars they meant to go to Richmond and see the +wonderful machinery there must be to produce such articles and would no +doubt have thought the tools we had there were sufficient to make a +clock. We carried on this kind of business for two or three years and +did very well at it, though it was unpleasant. Every one knew it was all +a humbug trying to stop the pedlars from coming to their State. We +removed from Richmond to Hamburg, S.C., and manufactured in the same +way. This was in 1835 and '36.</p> + +<p>There was another company doing the same kind of business at Augusta, +Geo., by the name Case, Dyer, Wadsworth & Co., and Seth Thomas was +making the cases and movements for them. The hard times came down on us +and we really thought that clocks would no longer be made. Our firm +thought we could make them if any body could, but like the others felt +discouraged and disgusted with the whole business as it was then. I am +sure that I had lost, from 1821 to this time, more than one hundred +thousand <i>dollars</i>, and felt very much discouraged in consequence. +Our company had a good deal of unsettled business in Virginia and South +Carolina, and I started in the fall of 1837 for those places. Arriving +at Richmond, I had a strong notion of going into the marl business. I +had been down into Kent county, the summer before, where I saw great +mountains of this white marl composed of shells of clams and oysters +white as chalk. I had sent one vessel load of this to New Haven the year +before. At Richmond I was looking after our old accounts, settling up, +collecting notes and picking up some scattered clocks.</p> + +<p>One night I took one of these clocks into my room and placing it on the +table, left a light burning near it and went to bed. While thinking over +my business troubles and disappointments, I could not help feeling very +much depressed. I said to myself I will not give up yet, I know more +about the clock business than anything else. That minute I was looking +at the wood clock on the table and it came into my mind instantly that +there could be a cheap one day brass clock that would take the place of +the wood clock. I at once began to figure on it; the case would cost no +more, the dials, glass, and weights and other fixtures would be the +same, and the size could be reduced. I lay awake nearly all night +thinking this new thing over. I knew there was a fortune in it. Many a +sensible man has since told me that if I could have secured the sole +right for making them for ten years, I could easily have made a million +of dollars. The more I looked at this new plan, the better it appeared. +My business took me to South Carolina before I could return home. I had +now enough to think of day and night; this one day brass clock was +constantly on my mind; I was drawing plans and contriving how they could +be made best. I traveled most of the way from Richmond by stage. +Arriving at Augusta, Geo., I called on the Connecticut men who were +finishing wood clocks for that market, and told Mr. Dyer the head man, +that I had got up, or could get up something when I got home that would +run out all the wood clocks in the country, Thomas's and all; he laughed +at me quite heartily. I told him that was all right, and asked him to +come to Bristol when he went home and I would show him something that +would astonish him. He promised that he would, and during the next +summer when he called at my place, I showed him a shelf full of them +running, which he acknowledged to be the best he had ever seen.</p> + +<p>I arrived home from the south the 28th of January, and told my brother +who was a first-rate clock maker what I had been thinking about since I +had been gone. He was much pleased with my plan, thought it a first rate +idea, and said he would go right to work and get up the movement, which +he perfected in a short time so that it was the best clock that had ever +been made in this or any other country. There have been more of this +same kind manufactured than of any other in the United States. What I +originated that night on my bed in Richmond, has given work to thousands +of men yearly for more than twenty years, built up the largest +manufactories in New England, and put more than a million of dollars +into the pockets of the brass makers,—"but there is not one of them +that remembers <i>Joseph</i>."</p> +</div> + + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap5"></a>CHAPTER V.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">SUCCESS OF THE NEW INVENTION.—INTRODUCTION OF CLOCKS IN ENGLAND.—TERRY +FAMILY, ETC.</h4> +</div> + +<p>We went on very prosperously making the new clock, and it was admired +by every body. In the year 1839, some of my neighbors and a few of my +leading workmen had a great desire to get into the same kind of +business. We knew competition amongst Yankees was almost sure to kill +business and proposed to have them come in with us and have a share of +the profits. An arrangement to this effect was made and we went on in +this way until the fall of 1840. I found they were much annoyance and +bother to me, and so bought them all out, but had to give them one +hundred per cent. for the use of their money. Some of them had not paid +in anything, but I had to pay them the same profits I did the rest, to +get rid of them. One man had put in three thousand dollars for which I +paid him six thousand. I also bought out my brother Noble Jerome, who +had been in company with me for a long time, and carried on the whole +business alone, which seemed to be rapidly improving.</p> + +<p>I made in 1841, thirty-five thousand dollars clear profits. Men would +come and deposit money with me before their orders were finished. This +successful state of things set all of the wood clock makers half crazy, +and they went into it one after another as fast as they could, and of +course run down the price very fast—"Yankee-like." I had been thinking +for two or three years of introducing my clocks into England, and had +availed myself of every opportunity to get posted on that subject; when +I met Englishmen in New York and other places, I would try to find out +by them what the prospects would be for selling Yankee clocks in their +country. I ascertained that there were no cheap metal clocks used or +known there, the only cheap timepiece they had was a Dutch hang-up wood +clock.</p> + +<p>In 1842, I determined to make the venture of sending a consignment of +brass clocks to Old England. I made a bargain with Epaphroditus Peck, a +very talented young man of Bristol, a son of Hon. Tracy Peck, to take +them out, and sent my son—Chauncey Jerome, Jr. with him. All of the +first cargo consisted of the O.G. one day brass clocks. As soon as it +was known by the neighboring clock-makers, they laughed at me, and +ridiculed the idea of sending clocks to England where labor was so +cheap. They said that they never would interfere with Jerome in that +visionary project, but no sooner had I got them well introduced, after +spending thousands of dollars to effect it, than they had all forgotten +what they said about my folly, and one after another sent over the same +goods to compete with me and run down the price. As I have said before, +wood clocks could never have been exported to Europe from this country, +for many reasons. They would have been laughed at, and looked upon with +suspicion as coming from the wooden nutmeg country, and classed as the +same. They could not endure a long voyage across the water without +swelling the parts and rendering them useless as time-keepers; +experience had taught us this, as many wood clocks on a passage to the +southern market, had been rendered unfit for use for this very reason. +Metal clocks can be sent any where without injury. Millions have been +sent to Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, Palestine, and in fact, +to every part of the world; and millions of dollars brought into this +country by this means, and I think it not unfair to claim the honor of +inventing and introducing this low-price time-piece which has given +employment to so many of our countrymen, and has also, been so useful to +the world at large. No family is so poor but that they can have a +time-piece which is both useful and ornamental. They can be found in +every civilized portion of the globe. Meeting a sea captain one day, he +told me that on landing at the lonely island of St. Helena, the first +thing that he noticed on entering a house, was my name on the face of a +brass clock. Many years ago a missionary (Mr. Ruggles,) at the Sandwich +Islands, told me that he had one of my clocks in his house, the first +one that had ever been on the islands. Travelers have mentioned seeing +them in the city of Jerusalem, in many parts of Egypt, and in fact, +every where, which accounts could not but be interesting and gratifying +to me.</p> + +<p>It was a long and tedious undertaking to introduce my first cargo in +England. Mr. Peck and my son wrote me a great many times the first year, +that they never could be sold there, the prejudice against American +manufactures was so great that they would not buy them. Although very +much discouraged, I kept writing them to 'stick to it.' They were once +turned out of a store in London and threatened if they offered their +"Yankee clocks" again to the English people "who made clocks for the +world;" "they were good for nothing or they could not be offered so +cheap." They were finally introduced in this way; the young men +persuaded a merchant to take two into his store for sale. He reluctantly +gave his consent, saying he did not believe they would run at all; they +set the two running and left the price of them. On calling the next day +to see how they were getting along, and what the London merchant thought +of them, they were surprised to find them both gone. On asking what had +become of them, they were told that two men came in and liked their +looks and bought them. The merchant said he did not think any one would +ever buy them, but told them they might bring in four more; "I will see" +he says, "if I can sell any <i>more</i> of your Yankee clocks." They +carried them in and calling the next day, found them all gone. The +merchant then told them to bring in a dozen. These went off in a short +time, and not long after, this same merchant bought two hundred at once, +and other merchants began to think they could make some money on these +Yankee clocks and the business began to improve very rapidly. There are +always men enough who are ready to enter into a business after it is +started and looks favorable. A pleasing incident occurred soon after we +first started. The Revenue laws of England are (or were, at that time) +that the owner of property passing through the Custom-house shall put +such a price on his goods as he pleases, knowing that the government +officers have a right to take the property by adding ten per cent. to +the invoiced price.</p> + +<p>I had always told my young men over there to put a fair price on the +clocks, which they did; but the officers thought they put them +altogether too low, so they made up their minds that they would take a +lot, and seized one ship-load, thinking we would put the prices of the +next cargo at higher rates. They paid the cash for this cargo, which +made a good sale for us. A few days after, another invoice arrived which +our folks entered at the same prices as before; but they were again +taken by the officers paying us cash and ten per cent. in addition, +which was very satisfactory to us. On the arrival of the third lot, they +began to think they had better let the Yankees sell their own goods and +passed them through unmolested, and came to the conclusion that we could +make clocks much better and cheaper than their own people. Their +performance has been considered a first-rate joke to say the least. +There will, in all probability, be millions of clocks sold in that +country, and we are the people who will furnish all Europe with all +their common cheap ones as time lasts.</p> + +<p>All of the spring and eight day clocks have grown out of the one day +weight clock. There can now be as good an eight day clock bought for +three or four dollars, as could be had for eighteen or twenty dollars +before I got up the one day clock. Mr. Peck, who went to England with my +son, died in London on the 20th, September, 1857; my son died in this +country in July, 1853: so they have gone the way of all the earth, and I +shall have to follow them soon. They were instrumental in laying the +foundation of a large and prosperous business which is now being +successfully carried on. The duties on clocks to England have been +recently removed, which will result to the advantage of persons now in +the business. The many difficulties which we had to battle and contend +with are all overcome. When I invented this one day brass clock, I for +the first time put on the zinc dial which is now universally used, and +is a great improvement on the wood dial, both in appearance and in cost. +This simple idea has been of immense value to all clock-makers.</p> + +<p>In the year 1821, when I moved to Bristol, no one was making clocks in +that town; the business had all passed away from there and was carried +on in Plymouth. The little shop I had put up had no machinery in it at +that time. I soon began to make so many cases that I wanted some better +way to get my veneers than to saw them by hand. I found a small building +on a stream some distance from my shop which I secured, with the +privilege of putting a circular saw in the upper part, but which I could +not use till night—the power being wanted for the other machinery +during the day. I have worked there a great many nights till twelve +o'clock and even two in the morning, sawing veneers for my men to use +the next day. I sawed my hand nearly off one night when alone at this +old mill, and was so faint by the loss of blood that I could hardly +reach home. I always worked hard myself and managed in the most +economical manner possible. In 1825, we built a small factory on the +stream below the shop where I sawed my veneers two or three years +before, but there was no road to it or bridge across the stream. I had +crossed it for years on a pole, running the risk many times when the +water was high, of being drowned, but it seems I was not to die in that +way, but to live to help others and make a slave of myself for them. In +1826, we petitioned the town to lay out a road by our factory and build +a bridge, which was seriously objected to. We finally told them that if +they would lay out the road, we would build the bridge and pay for one +half of the land for the road, which, after a great deal of trouble, was +agreed to, and proved to be of great benefit to the town. Our business +was growing very rapidly and a number of houses were built up along the +new road and about our factory. I should here mention that Mr. Eli +Terry, Jr., when I had got the Bronze Looking-Glass Clock well a going, +moved from Plymouth Hollow two miles east of Plymouth Centre, (now the +village of Terryville,) where he built another factory and went into +business. His father retiring about this time, he took all of his old +customers. He was a good business man and made money very fast. He was +taken sick and died when about forty years old, leaving an estate of +about $75,000. His brother, Silas B. Terry, is now living, a Christian +gentleman, as well as a scientific clock-maker, but he has not succeeded +so well as his brother in making money. Henry Terry of Plymouth, who is +another son of Mr. Eli Terry, was engaged in the clock business thirty +years ago, but left it for the woolen business. I think that he is sorry +that he did not continue making clocks. He is a man of great +intelligence and understands the principles of a right tariff as well as +any man in Connecticut. His father was a great man, a natural +philosopher, and almost an Eli Whitney in mechanical ingenuity. If he +had turned his mind towards a military profession, he would have made +another General Scott, or towards politics, another Jefferson; or, if he +had not happened to have gone to the town of Plymouth, I do not believe +there would ever have been a clock made there. He was the great +originator of wood clock-making by machinery in Connecticut. I like to +see every man have his due. Thomas and many others who have made their +fortunes out of his ingenuity, were very willing to talk against him, +for they must, of course, act out human nature. Seth Thomas was in many +respects a first-rate man. He never made any improvements in +manufacturing; his great success was in money making. He always minded +his own business, was very industrious, persevering, honest, his word +was as good as his note, and he always determined to make a good article +and please his customers. He had several sons who are said to be smart +business men.</p> + +<p>I knew Mrs. Thomas well when I was a boy, fourteen years old. She is one +of the best of women, and is now the widow of one of the richest men in +the state. The families of Terry and Thomas are extensively known, +throughout the United States. Mr. Thomas died two years ago at the age +of seventy-five. He was born in West Haven, about four miles from New +Haven, and learned the joiners' trade in Wolcott, and worked in that +region and in Plymouth five or six years, building houses and barns. I +waited on him when he built a barn in Plymouth, carrying boards and +shingles. He soon after went into the clock business in which he +remained during life. Mr. Terry died in 1853, at the advanced age of +eighty-one.</p> +</div> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap6"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">OPERATIONS OF FRANK MERRILLS—A SAD HISTORY.—BUSINESS TROUBLES, ETC.</h4> +</div> + +<p>In the fall, of the year 1840, a young man by the name of Franklin +Merrills was introduced to me as one the smartest and likeliest business +men in the whole country. It was said that he could trade in horses, +cattle, sheep, wool, flour, or any thing else, and make money. He +belonged to one of the first families in Litchfield county. I thought by +his appearance and recommendations that he would be a good customer for +me and I sold him a thousand dollars worth of clocks to begin with. He +gave me his four months' note which was promptly paid when due. He hired +three pedlars and went with them into Dutchess county New York, where +they sold the clocks very fast. The one-day O.G. brass clock was a new +thing to them, first-rate for time, and they readily went off for +fifteen and twenty dollars apiece. I sold them to him for six dollars +apiece, and it appeared, at this rate, that he could make a fortune in a +few years. His credit became established for any amount, and he soon +began to want clocks about twice as fast as at first. A man by the name +of Bates transported them for him in a large two-horse wagon from my +place to Washington Hollow, about twelve miles east of Poughkeepsie. Mr. +Bates lived in the same neighborhood where Frank was brought up in New +Hartford, Conn. Every week or two he would go out with a load. Things +moved on in this seemingly prosperous way for some time. One day I +accidentally heard that parties in New York with whom I had never dealt, +were selling my clocks at very reduced prices, and I began to mistrust +that Frank had been selling to them at less than cost. On seeing him, he +told me I was greatly mistaken and smoothed down the matter so that it +appeared satisfactory to me. He had at this time got into debt about +eighteen thousand dollars. One day he went to Hartford and bought seven +thousand dollars worth of cotton cloth from a shrewd house in that city, +telling them a very fine story that he had a vessel which would sail for +South America the next day, and that the cloth must go down immediately +on the boat. He told them who his father was, and promised to bring his +endorsement in a few days, which was satisfactory to them, and they let +him have the goods. But the paper did not come. One of the firm went to +New York and there found some of the goods in an Auction store, and a +part of them sold. He got out a writ and arrested Frank. His father was +sent for, and settled this matter satisfactorily. I thought I would go +up to New Hartford and see Capt. Merrills about Frank's affairs—he told +me all about them, and said he had been looking over Frank's business +very thoroughly, and found that a large amount was owing him and that +Frank had shown him on his book invoices of a large amount of goods that +he had shipped to South America, besides several large accounts and +notes—one of eight thousand dollars. He told me that he thought after +paying me and others whom he owed, there would be as much as twenty +thousand dollars left. This was very satisfactory to me, though I knew +nothing about the cotton cloth speculation at that time. If I had, it +would have saved me a great deal of trouble. This was in February, 1844. +There was a note of his lying over, unpaid, in the Exchange Bank in +Hartford, of two thousand dollars. I had moved a few weeks before this +to New Haven. In the latter part of February, I went down to New York to +see if he could let me have the two thousand to take up the note; he +said he could in a day or two. I told him I would stay till Saturday. On +that day he was not able to pay me, but would certainly get it Monday, +and urged me to stay over, which I did. He took me into a large +establishment with him, and, as I have since had reason to believe, +talked with parties who were interested with him, about consigning to +them a large quantity of tallow, beeswax and wool which he owned in the +West. He told me that he had some trouble with his business, and that +all he wanted was a little help; he said he had a great deal of property +in New York State, and that if he could raise some money, he could make +a very profitable speculation on a lot of wool which he knew about. He +told me that if I would give him my notes and acceptances to a certain +amount, he would secure me with the obligations of Henry Martin, one of +the best farmers there was in Dutchess county. He also gave the names of +several merchants in New York who were acquainted with the rich farmers. +I called on them and all spoke very highly of him. I thought, there +could be no great risk in doing it, for my confidence in Frank was very +great. I thought, of course, this would insure my claim of eighteen +thousand dollars, but it eventually proved to be a deep-laid plot to +swindle me. Frank had no notes or accounts that were of any value; they +were all bogus and got up to deceive his poor old father and others. He +had no property shipped to South America. It was all found out, when too +late, that he had ruined himself by gambling and bad company, often +losing a thousand dollars in one night. He was arrested, taken before +the Grand Jury of New York, committed to jail for swindling, and died in +a few months after. He ruined his father, who was a very cautious man, +ruined three rich farmers of Dutchess county, and came very near ruining +me. It was a sad history and mortifying to a great many. I was advised +by my counsel, Seth P. Staples of New York, to contest the whole thing +in law. I had five or six suits on my hands at one time, and it was nine +years before I was clear from them. What he owed me for clocks, and what +I had to pay on notes and acceptances and the expenses of law, amounted +to more than <i>Forty Thousand Dollars</i>. Nine years of wakeful nights +of trouble, grief and mortification, for this profligate young man! +There never was a man more honest than I was in my intentions to help +him in his troubles, and I am quite sure no man got so badly swindled. +Every clock maker in the state would have been glad to have sold to him +as I did. This young man was well brought up, but bad company ruined him +and others with him. This life seems to be full of trials. In latter +years I have remembered what an old man often told me when a boy. +"Chauncey," he says, "don't you know there are a thousand troubles and +difficulties?" I told him I did not know there were; "well," he says, +"you will find out if you live long enough." I have lived long enough to +see ten thousand troubles, and have found out that the saying of the old +man is true. I have narrated but a small part of my business troubless +[<i>sic.</i>] in this brief history. One of the most trying +things to me now, is to see how I am looked upon by the community since +I lost my property. I never was any better when I owned it than I am +now, and never behaved any better. But how different is the feeling +towards you, when your neighbors can make nothing more out of you, +politically or pecuniarily. It makes no difference what, or how much you +have done for them heretofore, you are passed by without notice now. It +is all money and business, business and money which make the man +now-a-days; success is every thing, and it makes very little difference +how, or what means he uses to obtain it. How many we see every day that +have ten times as much property as they will ever want, who will do any +thing but steal to add to their estate, for somebody to fight about when +they are dead. I see men every day sixty and seventy years old, building +up and pulling down, and preparing, as one might reasonably suppose, to +live here forever. Where will they be in a few years? I often think of +this. My experience has been great,—I have seen many a man go up and +then go down, and many persons who, but a few years ago, were surrounded +with honors and wealth, have passed away. The saying of the wise man is +true—all is "vanity of vanities" here below. It is now a time of great +action in the world but not much reflection.</p> + +<p>An incident of my boy-hood has just come into my mind. When an +apprentice boy, I was at work with my "boss" on a house in Torringford, +very near the residence of Rev. Mr. Mills, the father of Samuel J. Mills +the missionary. This was in 1809, fifty-one years ago. This young man +was preparing to go out on his missionary voyage. How wickedly we are +taught when we are young! I thought he was a mean, lazy fellow. He was +riding out every day, as I now suppose, to add to his strength. An old +maid lived in the house where I did who perfectly hated him, calling him +a good-for-nothing fellow. I, of course, supposed that she knew all +about him and that it was so. I am a friend to the missionary cause and +have been so a great many years. How many times that wrong impression +which I got from that old maid has passed through my mind, and how sorry +I have always been for that prejudice. The father of Samuel J. Mills was +a very eccentric man and anecdotes of him have been repeatedly told. I +attended his church the summer I was in Torringford. He was the +strangest man I ever saw, and would say so many laughable things in his +sermon that it was next to impossible for me to keep from laughing out +loud. His congregation was composed mostly of farmers, and in hot +weather they appeared to be very sleepy. The boys would sometimes play +and make a good deal of noise, and one Sunday he stopped in the middle +of his sermon and looking around in the gallery, said in a loud voice, +"boys, if you don't stop your noise and play, you will certainly wake +your parents that are asleep below!" I think by this time the good +people were all awake; it amused me very much and I have often seen the +story printed. Many a time when I think of Mr. Mills, an anecdote of him +comes into my mind, and I presume that a great many have heard of the +same. He was once traveling through the town of Litchfield where there +was at that time a famous law school. Two or three of the students were +walking a little way out of town, when who should they see coming along +the road but old Mr. Mills. They supposing him to be some old "codger," +thought they would have a little fun with him. When they met him one of +them asked him "if he had heard the news?" "No," he says, "what is it?" +"The devil is dead." "Is he?" says Mr. Mills, "I am sorry for you—poor +fatherless children, what will become of you?" I understand that they +let him pass without further conversation. He was a good man and looked +very old to me, as he always wore a large white wig.</p> +</div> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap7"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">REMOVAL TO NEW HAVEN.—FACTORY AT BRISTOL DESTROYED BY FIRE.—OTHER +TROUBLES, ETC.</h4> +</div> + +<p>In the winter of 1844, I moved to the city of New Haven with the +expectation of making my cases there. I had fitted up two large +factories in Bristol for making brass movements only the year before, +and had spared no pains to have them just right. My factory in New Haven +was fitted up expressly for making the cases and boxing the finished +clocks; the movements were packed, one hundred in a box, and sent to New +Haven where they were cased and shipped. Business moved on very +prosperously for about one year. On the 23d of April 1845, about the +middle of the afternoon one of my factories in Bristol took fire, as it +was supposed by some boys playing with matches at the back side of the +building, which set fire to some shavings under the floor. It seemed +impossible to put it out and it proved to be the most disastrous fire +that ever occurred in a country town. There were seven or eight +buildings destroyed, together with all the machinery for making clocks, +which was very costly and extensive. There were somewhere between fifty +and seventy-five thousand brass movements in the works, a large number +of them finished, and worth one dollar apiece. The loss was about fifty +thousand dollars and the insurance only ten thousand. This was another +dark day for me. I had been very sick all winter with the Typhus fever, +and from Christmas to April had not been able to go to Bristol. On the +same night of the fire, a man came to tell me of the great loss. I was +in another part of the house when he arrived with the message, but my +wife did not think it prudent to inform me then, but in the latter part +of the night she introduced a conversation that was calculated to +prepare my mind for the sad news, and in a cautious manner informed me. +I was at that time in the midst of my troubles with Frank Merrills, had +been sick for a long time, and at one time was not expected to recover. +I was not then able to attend to business and felt much depressed on +that account. It was hard indeed to grapple with so much in one year, +but I tried to make the best of it and to feel that these trials, +troubles and disappointments sent upon us in this world, are blessings +in disguise. Oh! if we could really feel this to be so in all of our +troubles, it would be well for us in this world and better in the next. +I never have seen the real total depravity of the human heart show +itself more plainly or clearly than it did when my factories were +destroyed by fire. An envious feeling had always been exhibited by +others in the same business towards me, and those who had made the most +out of my improvements and had injured my reputation by making an +inferior article, were the very ones who rejoiced the most then. Not a +single man of them ever did or could look me in the face and say that I +had ever injured him. This feeling towards me was all because I was in +their way and my clocks at that time were preferred before any others. +They really thought I never could start again, and many said that Jerome +would never make any more clocks. I learned this maxim long ago, that +when a man injures another unreasonably, to act out human nature he has +got to keep on misrepresenting and abusing him to make himself appear +right in the sight of the world. Soon after the fire in Bristol I had +gained my strength sufficiently to go ahead again, and commenced to make +additions to my case factory in New Haven (to make the movements,) and +by the last of June was ready to commence operations on the brass +movements. I then brought my men from Bristol—the movement makers—and +a noble set of men as ever came into New Haven at one time. Look at John +Woodruff; he was a young man then of nineteen. When he first came to +work for me at the age of fifteen, I believed that he was destined to be +a leading man. He is now in Congress (elected for the second time,) +honest, kind, gentlemanly, and respected in Congress and out of +Congress. Look at him, young men, and pattern after him, you can see in +his case what honesty, industry and perseverance will accomplish.</p> + +<p>There was great competition in the business for several years after I +moved to New Haven, and a great many poor clocks made. The business of +selling greatly increased in New York, and within three or four years +after I introduced the one day brass clock, several companies in Bristol +and Plymouth commenced making them. Most of them manufactured an +inferior article of movement, but found sale for great numbers of them +to parties that were casing clocks in New York. This way of managing +proved to be a great damage to the Connecticut clock makers. The New +York men would buy the very poorest movements and put them into cheap +O.G. cases and undersell us. Merchants from the country, about this +time, began to buy clocks with their other goods. They had heard about +Jerome's clocks which had been retailed about the country, and that they +were good time-keepers, and would enquire for my clocks. These New York +men would say that they were agents for Jerome and that they would have +a plenty in a few days, and make a sale to these merchants of Jerome +clocks. They would then go to the Printers and have a lot of labels +struck off and put into their cheap clocks, and palm them off as mine. +This fraud was carried on for several years. I finally sued some of +these blackleg parties, Samuels & Dunn, and Sperry & Shaw, and found out +to my satisfaction that they had used more than two hundred thousand of +my labels. They had probably sent about one hundred thousand to Europe. +I sued Samuels & Dunn for twenty thousand dollars and when it came to +trial I proved it on them clearly. I should have got for damages fifteen +thousand dollars, had it not been for one of the jury. One was for +giving me twenty thousand, another Eighteen, and the others down to +seven thousand five hundred. This one man whom I speak of, was opposed +to giving me anything, but to settle it, went as high as two thousand +three hundred. The jury thought that I had a great deal of trouble with +this case and rather than have it go to another court, had to come to +this man's terms. The foreman told me afterwards that he had no doubt +but this man was bought. New York is a hard place to have a law suit in. +This cheat had been carried on for years, both in this country and in +Europe,—using my labels and selling poor articles, and in this way +robbing me of my reputation by the basest means. After this Sperry, who +was in company with Shaw, had been dead a short time, a statement was +published in the New York papers that this Henry Sperry was a wonderful +man, and that he was the first man who went to England with Yankee +clocks. After I had sent over my two men and had got my clocks well +introduced, and had them there more than a year, Sperry & Shaw, hearing +that we were doing well and selling a good many, thought they would take +a trip to Europe, and took along perhaps fifty boxes of clocks. I have +since heard that their conduct was very bad while there, and this is all +they did towards introducing clocks. There is no one who can claim any +credit of introducing American clocks into that country excepting +myself. After I had opened a store in New York, we did, in a measure, +stop these men from using my labels.</p> + +<p>I have said that when I got up this one day brass clock in 1838, that +the fourth chapter in the Yankee clock business had commenced. Perhaps +Seth Thomas hated as bad as any one did to change his whole business of +clock making for the second time, and adopt the same thing that I had +introduced. He never invented any thing new, and would now probably have +been making the same old hang-up wood clocks of fifty years ago, had it +not been for others and their improvements. He was highly incensed at me +because I was the means of his having to change. He hired a man to go +around to my customers and offer his clocks at fifty and seventy-five +cents less than I was selling. A man by the name of J.C. Brown carried +on the business in Bristol a long time, and made a good many fine +clocks, but finally gave up the business. Elisha Monross, Smith & +Goodrich, Brewster & Ingraham were all in the same business, but have +given it up, and the clock making of Connecticut is now mostly done in +five large factories in different parts of the State, about which I +shall speak hereafter.</p> +</div> + + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap8"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN CHEAP TIME-KEEPERS. +—THE PROCESS OF CLOCK MAKING.—</h4> +</div> + +<p>It would be no doubt interesting to a great many to know what +improvements have been made in manufacturing clocks during the past +twenty years. I recollect I paid for work on the O.G. case one dollar +and seventy-five cents; for the same work in 1855, I paid twenty cents, +and many other things in the same proportion. The last thing that I +invented, which has proved to be of great usefulness, was the one day +timepiece that can be sold for seventy-five cents, and a fair profit at +that. I remember well when I was about to give up the job, of asking the +man who made the cases for the factory what he would make this case for. +He said he could not do it for less than eight cents, I told him I knew +he could make them for five cents, and do well, but he honestly thought +he could not. He was to make two thousand per month—twenty-four +thousand a year. After getting the work well systematized, I told him if +he could not make them at that price, I would make it up to him at the +end of the year. When the time was up, he told me that it was the best +part of his job, and that he would make them the next year for four +cents; it will be well understood that this was for the work alone, the +stock being furnished.</p> + +<p>When I got up this new time-keeper, as usual all the clock-makers were +down on me again; Jerome was going to ruin the business, and this cheap +thing would take the place of larger ones. I told them there were ten +thousand places where this cheap time-piece would be useful, and where a +costly striking one would never be used. There is a variety of places +where they are as useful as if they struck the hour, and there are now +more of the striking clocks wanted than there were when I got up this +one day time-piece. When I first began to make clocks, thousands would +say that they could not afford to have a clock in their house and they +must get along without, or with a watch. This cheap timepiece is worth +as much as a watch that would cost a hundred dollars, for all practical +purposes, as far as the time of day or night is concerned. Since I began +to make clocks, the price has gradually been going down. Suppose the +cheap time-keeper had been invented thirty years ago, when folks felt as +though they could not have a clock because it cost so much, but must get +along with a watch which cost ten or fifteen dollars, what would the +good people have thought if they could have had a clock for one dollar, +or even less? This cheap clock is much better adapted to the many log +cabins and cheap dwellings in our country than a watch of any kind, and +it is not half so costly or difficult to keep in order. I can think of +nothing ever invented that has been so useful to so many. We do not +fully appreciate the value of such things. I have often thought, that if +all the time-pieces were taken out of the country at once, and every +factory stopped making them, the whole community would be brought to see +the incalculable value that this Yankee clock making is to them.</p> + +<p>The little octagon marine case which is seen almost every where, was +originated and first made by me. I think it is the cheapest and best +looking thing of the kind in the market, and all the work on the case of +that clock costs but eight cents. All of the large hang-up octagons and +time-pieces were made at our factory two or three years before any other +parties made them at all. As usual, after finding that it was a good +thing and took well, many others began to make them. I will say here a +little more about human nature and what I have seen and experienced. +during the last forty-five years. Let an ingenious, thinking man invent +something that looks favorable for making money, and one after another +will be stealing into the same business, when they know their conduct is +very mean towards the originator who may be one of the best men in the +community; still, nine out of ten of those who are infringing on his +improvement will begin to hate and abuse him. I have seen this +disposition carried out all my life-time. Forty-five years ago, Mr. Eli +Terry was the great man in the wood clock business. As I have said +before, he got up the Patent Wood Shelf Clock and sold a right to make +it to Seth Thomas for one thousand dollars. After two or three years, +Mr. Terry made further improvements and got them patented. Mr. Thomas +then thought as he had paid a thousand dollars, he would use these +improvements; so he went on making the new patent. Mr. Terry sued him +and the case was in litigation for several years. The whole Thomas +family, the workmen and neighbors, felt envious towards Mr. Terry, and I +think they have never got entirely over it. There was a general +prejudice and hatred towards Mr. Terry amongst all the clock-makers at +that time, and for nothing only because they knew they were infringing +on his rights; and to act out human nature, they must slander and try to +put him down. This principle is carried out very extensively in this +world, so that if a man wants to live and have nothing said against him, +he must look out for, and help no one but himself. If he succeeds in +making money, it matters but little in what way he obtains it, whether +by gambling or any other unlawful means; while on the other hand, if he +has been doing good all his life, and by some mishap is reduced to +poverty in his old age, he is despised and treated with contempt by a +majority of the community.</p> + +<p>It may not be uninteresting to a great many to know how the brass clocks +at the present day are made. It has been a wonder to the world for a +long time, how they could possibly be sold so cheap and yet answer so +good a purpose. And, indeed, they could not, if every part of their +manufacture was not systematized in the most perfect manner and +conducted on a large scale. I will describe the manner in which the O-G. +case is made, (the style has been made a long time, and in larger +numbers than any other,) which will give some idea with what facility +the whole thing is put through. Common merchantable pine lumber is used +for the body of the case. The first workman draws a board of the stuff +on a frame and by a movable circular saw cuts it in proper lengths for +the sides and top. The knotty portions of it are sawed in lengths +suitable for boxing the clocks when finished, and but little need be +wasted. The good pieces are then taken to another saw and split up in +proper widths, which are then passed through the planeing machine. Then +another workman puts them through the O-G. cutter which forms the shape +of the front of the case. The next process is the glueing on of the +veneers—the workman spreads the glue on one piece at a time and then +puts on the veneer of rosewood or mahogany. A dozen of these pieces are +placed together in hand-screws till the glue is properly hardened. The +O-G. shapes of these pieces fit into each other when they are screwed +together. When the glue is sufficiently dry, the next thing is to make +the veneer smooth and fit for varnishing. We have what is called a sand +paper wheel, made of pine plank, its edge formed in an O-G. shape, and +sand-paper glued to it. When this wheel is revolving rapidly, the pieces +are passed over it and in this way smoothed very fast. They are then +ready to varnish, and it usually takes about ten days to put on the +several coats of varnish, and polish them ready for mitering, which +completes the pieces ready for glueing in shape of the case. The sides +of the case are made much cheaper. I used to have the stuff for ten +thousand of these cases in the works at one time. With these great +facilities, the labor costs less than twenty cents apiece for this kind +of case, and with the stock, they cost less than fifty cents. A cabinet +maker could not make one for less than five dollars. This proves and +shows what can be done by system. The dials are cut out of large sheets +of zinc, the holes punched by machinery, and then put into the paint +room, where they are painted by a short and easy process. The letters +and figures are then printed on. I had a private room for this purpose, +and a man who could print twelve or fifteen hundred in a day. The whole +dial cost me less than five cents. The tablets were printed in the same +manner, the colors put on afterwards by girls, and the whole work on +these beautiful tablets cost less than one and a half cents: the cost of +glass and work was about four cents. Every body knows that all of these +parts must be made very cheap or an O-G. clock could not be sold for one +dollar and a half, or two dollars. The weights cost about thirteen cents +per clock, the cost of boxing them about ten cents, and the first cost +of the movements of a one-day brass clock is less than fifty cents. I +will here say a little about the process of making the wheels. It will +no doubt, astonish a great many to know how rapidly they can be made. I +will venture to say, that I can pick out three men who will take the +brass in the sheet, press out and level under the drop, there cut the +teeth, and make all of the wheels to five hundred clocks in one day; +there are from eight to ten of these wheels in every clock, and in an +eight-day clock more. This will look to some like a great story, but is +one of the wonders of the clock business. If some of the parts of a +clock were not made for almost nothing, they could not be sold so cheap +when finished.</p> + +<p>The facilities which the Jerome Manufacturing Company had over every +other concern of the kind in the country, and their customers in this +and foreign countries, are worth to the present company more than one +hundred thousand dollars. Their method of making dials, tablets and +brass doors was a saving of more than ten thousand dollars per year over +any other company doing the same amount of business; and I know that the +present company would not give up the customers of the Jerome +Manufacturing Company for ten thousand dollars per year: they could not +afford to do it. The workmen who came with me from Bristol, were an +uncommonly energetic and ingenious set of men. Many years they had large +and profitable jobs in the different branches, which encouraged them to +invent and get up improvements for doing the work fast, and in a great +many things they far surpass the workmen in similar establishments—all +of which have resulted to the benefit of the present manufacturing +company of New Haven.</p> + +<p>In the year 1850, I was induced by a proposition from the Benedict & +Burnham Co., of Waterbury, to enter into a joint-stock company at my +place in New Haven, under the name of the Jerome Manufacturing Co. They +were to put in thirty-five thousand dollars, and I was to furnish the +same amount of capital. We did so, and went on very prosperously for a +year or two, making a great many clocks, and selling about one hundred +and fifty thousand dollars worth per year in England, at a profit of +twenty thousand dollars. They were very thorough in looking into the +affairs of the company, which was all right of course, but did not suit +all of the interested parties. My son was Secretary and financial +manager of the company. He seemed to have a desire to keep things to +himself a little too much, which also did not suit many of the +interested parties. My son told me he thought we had better buy the +company out, and said that we could do so without difficulty, and he +thought it would be a great advantage to us. Some were willing to sell, +and others were not. Mr. Burnham made an offer what he would sell for, +which the secretary accepted, others of the stock-holders made similar +propositions and the bargain closed, we paying them the capital they had +advanced and twenty-one per cent. profits, and buying, in the mean time, +seventy-five thousand dollars worth of brass—the profits on which were +not less than twenty thousand dollars, which they had the cash for in +the course of the year. About this time a man by the name of Lyman +Squires bought stock in the company, and took a great interest in the +business. A wealthy brother of his bought, I think, ten thousand dollars +worth of stock. The stock was increased in this way to two hundred +thousand dollars. The financial affairs were managed by the Secretary, +Mr. Squires, and a man by the name of Bissell. They made a great many +additions to the factory which I thought quite unnecessary, enlarging +the buildings, putting in a new engine and a great deal of costly +machinery. They laughed at me because I found fault with these things +and called me an old fogy. I was not pleased with the management at all +times, and although I had retired from active busines [Transcriber's +note: sic], I felt a deep interest in the affairs of the company, and +owned a large amount of the stock. The Secretary thought I was always +looking on the dark side and prophesying evil, because I frequently +remonstrated with him on the many extravagancies which were constantly +being added to the establishment. I frequently told him that if the +company should fail, I should have to bear the whole blame, because my +name was known all over the world. He always told me in the strongest +terms that I need give myself no uneasiness about that, as the company +was worth a great deal of money. Things went on in this way till the +year 1855, and while I was absent from the State, P.T. Barnum was +admitted as a member of our company. Within six months from that time, +the Jerome Manufacturing Company failed, the causes of which, and the +results, I have clearly and truthfully narrated in another part of this +book. The causes were not fully understood by me at that time. I have +found them out since, and deem it an act of justice to myself to make +them public. I was hopelessly ruined by this failure. The company had +used my name as endorser to a large amount, many times larger than I had +any idea of.</p> +</div> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3 class="argument"><a name="chap9"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h3> + + +<h4>THE NEW HAVEN CLOCK COMPANY, AND OTHER CLOCK MANUFACTURERS IN +CONNECTICUT.</h4> +</div> + +<p>I will here give a brief account of the firms carrying on this +important business in Connecticut. The New Haven Clock Company, which +succeeded the Jerome Manufacturing Company, are now making more clocks +than any three other makers in the state. As I speak of the different +manufactories, I will give the outlines and standing of the men +connected with them. As their goods go all over the world, it is natural +and pleasant for men who are dealing in their goods to know what kind of +men they are at home, and what the community think of them. The New +Haven company is a joint-stock company. The head man in this concern, is +the Hon. James English, who is second to no business man in the State— +high minded, clear sighted, and very popular with all who deal with him. +He was, when a boy, remarkable for industry, prudence and good behavior. +He was an apprentice at the house-joiner trade, but soon got into other +business which gave him a greater chance to develope and become more +useful to himself and the community. He began in life without a dollar, +but is now said to be worth three hundred thousand dollars. His age at +this time is about forty-eight. He is a Democrat in politics; has been +elected to many important offices, and has been the first select man of +New Haven for many years; he has been elected State Senator for three +years in succession, and all of these offices he has filled with +ability. In the spring of 1860, he was nominated as candidate for +Lieutenant Governor on a ticket with Col. Thomas H. Seymour of Hartford, +for Governor, which made the most popular Democratic ticket that has +ever been run in the State. Had it not been for the great anti-slavery +feeling there was at this canvass, Mr. English would have been +triumphantly elected. Many of the opposing party would been glad to have +seen him elected, and would have voted for him, had it not been for the +influence they thought it would have on the Presidential election. We +heard many Republicans say this in New Haven, and many did vote that +ticket.</p> + +<p>H.M. Welch, who has for a long time been connected with Mr. English in +business, is largely interested in this clock company. He gives most of +his attention to other kinds of manufacturing, in which Messrs. English +and Welch, are very extensively engaged. Mr. Welch is one of the most +intelligent, upright, and kind hearted business men in the whole State, +and is admired as such by all who know him. He is also a Democrat in +politics, very popular in his party, and is well qualified for any +offices. He would make a good candidate for Governor or member of +Congress. He is about forty-six years old, worth perhaps, two hundred +thousand dollars; he has held many important offices, has been a +Representative to the State Legislature for many years, and State +Senator a number of times. He has recently been elected Mayor of the +city, and has filled all of these offices with much talent.</p> + +<p>John Woodruff, a member of Congress, elected for the second time from +this district, is the next largest owner in this great brass clock +business. He commenced to work at clocks with me when a boy only fifteen +years old. He was a very uncommon boy, and is now an uncommon man, very +popular among his fellow workmen, popular with Democrats, popular with +Republicans, popular every where, and can be elected to Congress when +there is five hundred majority against his party in his district.</p> + +<p>Hiram Camp who is the next largest stock-holder in this clock company, +is forty-nine years old. He commenced making clocks with me at the age +of seventeen, and is now President of the company. He is a Republican in +politics, and has been chosen Representative from New Haven to the +Legislature of the State. At this time he is Chief Engineer of the Fire +Department, is very popular with his workmen, and highly respected by +the whole community in which he lives. Many others who hold prominent +positions in this great business in New Haven, first came here with me +when I moved from Bristol. I should mention Philip Pond, an excellent +man who left the business two or three years since, on account of his +health, but who is now connected in the wholesale grocery business of +the firm of Pond, Greenwood & Lester, in this city. Also Charles L. +Griswold, now a bit and augur maker in the town of Chester, who began to +work for me twenty years ago, when a boy. He was once a poor boy, but +now is a talented and superior man. He has been a member of the +Legislature, and has held many offices of trust.</p> + +<p>L.F. Root, now a leading man in New Haven, came to work with me when +quite young, nearly twenty years ago. He also has held many offices of +trust, and filled them with great ability. I could mention many others, +but cannot in this brief work speak of them as their merits deserve. It +gives me pleasure to know that the business of the Jerome Manufacturing +Company has fallen into such good hands.</p> + +<p>The Benedict and Burnham Company, now making clocks in the city of +Waterbury, under the name of the Waterbury Clock Company, is composed of +a large number of the first citizens of that place. In politics nearly +all of them are Republicans. The oldest man of the company is Deacon +Aaron Benedict, now about seventy-five years old—a real "old Puritan, +Christian gentleman." He has been Representative and State Senator many +times—Mr. Burnham of New York, another member of this company, is well +known to almost every body as one of the richest men in [Transcriber's +note: probable missing word 'the' here] whole country. My brother, Noble +Jerome, who is an excellent mechanic and as good a brass clock maker as +can be found, is now making the movements for this company, and Edward +Church, a first rate man and an excellent workman, is making their +cases. He worked with me seventeen years at case making, and can do a +good job. I cannot pass without speaking about another man of this +company, Arad W. Welton Esq. He was one of my soldier companions in +Capt. John Buckingham's company, which went to fight the British in +1813, at New London, and in 1814 at New Haven. He stood very near me in +the ranks. I shall never forget what pluck and courage he showed one +night when the news was brought into camp that the enemy were landing +from their ships. Our whole regiment was mustered in fifteen minutes, +and on the way to pitch battle with the British and defend our shores. +This Mr. Welton, who is now an old man, as stout and large as Gen. Cass, +and looking something like him, was then a young man nineteen years old, +and without exception the funniest and drollest fellow that I ever saw. +He kept us all laughing while we were going down to fight that awful +battle, which, however, proved to be bloodless. This incident occurred +at New London, and I have often thought of it in latter days. Mr. Welton +Is said to be a great business man, and the company with which he is +connected is doing a good business.</p> + +<p>The next clock company which I shall speak of, is that of Seth Thomas & +Co., of Plymouth Hollow, Connecticut. As I have mentioned before, the +senior Thomas is not living. The business is carried on by a company, +the members of which are all Republicans in politics and respectable +men. Fifty years ago this spring, Heman Clark built the factory which +Seth Thomas, two or three years afterwards, bought, and in which he +carried on business until his death, about two years since. It was never +Mr. Thomas' practice to get up any thing new. He never would change his +patterns or mode of manufacturing, until he was driven to it to keep his +customers. At the time when I invented the one-day brass clock in 1838, +he said much against it, that it was not half so good as a wood clock, +and that he never would take up any thing again that Jerome had adopted; +but he was compelled to, in a year or two, to keep his customers. He +sent his foreman over to Bristol, where I was then carrying on business, +to get patterns of movements and cases and take all the advantage he +could of my experience, labors, and improvements which I had been +studying upon so long. I allowed my foreman to spend more than two days +with his, giving him all the knowledge and insight he could of the +business, knowing what his object was. A friend asked me why I was doing +this, and said that if I should send my man to Thomas' factory he would +be kicked out immediately. I told him I knew that perfectly well, but +that if Mr. Thomas set out to get into the business, he certainly would +find out, and that the course I was taking was wisest and more friendly. +I have thought since how quickly such kind treatment as I showed towards +his man can be forgotten; yes; this company have all forgotten the +service that I rendered them twenty years ago, and as I have said +before, would probably have been making the old wood clock to this day, +had it not been for other parties. There always has been a great deal of +jealousy among the Yankee clock-makers, and they all seemed to hate the +one who took the lead. The next establishment of which I shall speak, is +that of William L. Gilbert, of Winsted, Connecticut. He is said to be +miserly in feeling, and is quite rich; not very enterprising, but has +made a great deal of money by availing himself of the improvements of +others.</p> + +<p>The next one in the business to whom I shall allude is E.N. Welch, of +Bristol, Connecticut. He is about fifty years of age, and has been in +many kinds of business. He was deeply interested in the failure of J.C. +Brown a few years ago, and succeeded him in the clock business. He is a +leading man in the Baptist church, and has a great tact for making +money; but he says that all he wants of money is to do good with it. He +is a Democrat in politics, and never wants an office from his party.</p> + +<p>These five companies which I have named, make nearly all of the clocks +manufactured in Connecticut; though movements are made by three other +companies. Beach and Hubbell of Bristol, are largely engaged in +manufacturing the movements of brass marine clocks. Also two brothers by +the name of Manross, in Bristol, are engaged in the same business. Noah +Pomeroy of Bristol, is also engaged in making pendulum movements for +other parties. I should, however, mention Ireneus Atkins, of Bristol, +who is making a first-rate thirty-day brass clock, and I am told there +is no better one for time in the country. The movement for this kind of +clock was invented by Joseph Ives, who has spent most of his time for +the last twenty-five years in improving on springs and escapements for +clocks, and who has done a great deal for the advancement of this +business. Mr. Atkins, who is making this thirty-day time-piece, is an +excellent man to deal with. The five large companies which I have named, +manufacture about a half a million clocks per annum; the New Haven +company about two hundred thousand; and the others about three hundred +thousand between them.</p> +</div> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap10"></a>CHAPTER X.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">BARNUM'S CONNECTION WITH THE JEROME CLOCK CO.—CAUSES AND RESULTS OF ITS +FAILURE.</h4> +</div> + +<p>The connection of Barnum with the Jerome Manufacturing Company of New +Haven, and the failure of the Company have been the subject of much +speculation to the whole world, and has never been clearly understood. +Barnum claimed that he was cheated and swindled by this company, robbed +of his property and name, and reduced to poverty. But before giving any +statements, I call attention to the following article taken from the New +York Daily <i>Tribune</i>, of March 24th, 1860:</p> + +<blockquote> +THE GREAT SHOWMAN.—P.T. Barnum, "the great American showman," as he +loves to hear himself called, who furnishes more amusement for a quarter +of a dollar than any other man in America, is, we are happy to announce, +himself again. He has disposed of the last of those villainous clock +notes, re-established his credit up on a cash basis, and once more comes +forward to cater for the public amusement at the American museum. To +day, between the acts of the play, Mr. Barnum will appear upon his own +stage, in his own costly character of the Yankee Clockmaker, for which +he qualified himself, with the most reckless disregard of expense, and +will "give a brief history of his adventures as a clockmaker, showing +how the clock ran down, and how it was wound up; shadowing forth in the +same the future of the museum." Of course, Barnum's benefit will be a +bumper. Next week the Museum will be closed for renovation and repairs, +and the week after it will reopen under the popular P.T.B., once more. +</blockquote> + +<p>I will now give the true statement of facts and particulars of his +connection with the Jerome Manufacturing Company—which, however, was +not his first experience in clock-making. Some time before this, he was +interested in a Company located in the town of Litchfield, Connecticut, +and, I believe, owned about ten thousand dollars worth of stock. They +made a very poor article which was called a marine clock, if I am +rightly informed. That Company failed, and Barnum took the stock as +security for endorsing and furnishing them with cash. I do not suppose +the whole of the effects were worth transporting to Bridgeport, although +estimated by him at a large amount. About this time Theodore Terry's +clock factory, at Ansonia, was destroyed by fire. A large portion of the +stock was saved, though in a damaged condition, much of which was worth +nothing—the tools and machinery being but little better than so much +old iron. Terry knowing that Barnum was largely interested in real +estate in East Bridgeport, and anxious to have it improved, thought he +could make a good arrangement with him for building a factory there for +the manufacture of clocks, and did so. Terry had a large quantity of old +clocks in a store in New York—many of them old-fashioned and +unsaleable, and thousands of these were not worth fifty cents apiece. +Terry and Barnum now proposed forming a joint-stock company, putting in +their old rubbish as stock, and estimating it, most likely, at four +times its value in cash. They built a factory in East Bridgeport, and +made preparations for manufacturing. Terry knew ten times as much about +the business as Barnum did, and knowing, also, that the old stock was +comparatively worthless, held back while Barnum was urging him to push +ahead with the manufacturing. Terry made a great bluster, saying that he +was going to hire men and do a great business, while, unknown to Barnum, +he was trying to sell the stock he held in the company. They finally +cooked up a plan to sell their New York store and the Bridgeport factory +and machinery, if they could, to the Jerome Manufacturing Company, +taking stock in that company for pay, and—the Jerome Company stock +being issued to the owners of the Terry & Barnum stock—thus merge the +two companies into one. This transaction was made and closed without my +knowledge, (I being at the time from the State,) though the "old man" +has had to bear all the blame. As I afterwards found out, Barnum told my +son, the Secretary of the Company, that Terry & Barnum owed about twenty +thousand dollars: this was the amount Terry had drawn for on the New +York store. They made a written agreement with the Jerome Manufacturing +Company, to this effect;—that our Company should assume the liabilities +of their old Company, which were stated at twenty thousand dollars, and +Barnum was to endorse to any extent for the Jerome Company. It +afterwards proved that the entire debts of Terry & Barnum amounted to +about seventy-two thousand dollars, which the Jerome Company were +obliged to assume. The great difference in the real and supposed amount +of their indebtedness and the unsaleable property turned in as stock +were enough to ruin any company. It is a positive fact that the stock of +the Jerome Company was not worth half as much, three months after Barnum +came into the concern as it was before that time. Some of the +stock-holders did not like to have Terry own stock, and Barnum to +satisfy them, bought him out, paying him twelve thousand dollars in +cash—he in the end, making a grand thing out his Ansonia remains. It is +well known that the Jerome Manufacturing Company failed in the fall of +1855, to the wonder and astonishment of myself and of every body else. +The true causes of this great failure never have been made public. I +myself did not know them at that time, but have found them out from time +to time since, and I now propose to make them public, as it has been the +general impression almost every where that Barnum and myself were +associated in defrauding the community. <i>I wish to have it understood +that I never saw P.T. Barnum</i>, while he was connected with the +Company of which I was a member, have never seen him but once since, and +that was in February after the failure. About this time law suits were +being brought against him, and as some supposed, by his friends. He was +called upon, or offered himself as a witness, and I believe testified +that he was worth nothing. The natural effect of this testimony was to +depreciate the paper which his name was on. At the time when I saw him, +he told me that the Museum was his just as much as it ever was, and that +he received the profits, which had never been less than twenty-five +thousand and were sometimes thirty thousand dollars per annum; and yet, +he was publicly stating that he was worth nothing! He also, as I +supposed, held securities of the Jerome Manufacturing Company, to a +large amount, (as I suppose about one hundred thousand dollars,) for I +know that such papers had been in his hands. There were many persons who +were interested in the revival of the business, who were in some way +flattered into the belief that Barnum would re-purchase the whole clock +establishment and put them back into the business again. Several men +were sent by some one to examine the property and estimate its value, +and those persons who were anxious for a restoration of the business +were in some way led to believe that Barnum intended to re-commence the +business of clock-making. For myself, I do not suppose that Barnum ever +seriously contemplated any such thing; but the belief that he did, made +some men quiet who might otherwise have been active and troublesome.</p> + +<p>The manner in which this matter has been represented would reflect +dishonesty upon the Secretary, which would be untrue. No one who knows +him will, or can accuse him of dishonesty. I love truth, honesty and +religion; I do not mean, however, the religion that Barnum believes in: +(I believe that the wicked are punished in another world.) I ask the +reader to look at my situation in my old age. I think as much of a good +name, as to purity of character and honesty at heart, as any man living; +and very often reading in the New York papers of speeches that Barnum +has made, alluding to his being defrauded by the Jerome Manufacturing +Company, I wish the world to know the whole facts in the case, and what +my position was in the Company which bore my name. After many years— +years of very active business life—I had retired from active duty in +the Company, although I took a deep interest in every thing connected +with it, and also a great pride, as it was a business that I had built +up and had been many years in perfecting. The manufacturing had been +systematized in the most perfect manner and every thing looked +prosperous to me. I owned stock as others did, but did not know of its +financial standing, and was always informed that it was all right, and +that I should be perfectly safe in endorsing. I wish to have it +understood that I did not sign my name to any of this paper, it being +done by the Secretary himself, that therefore I could not know of the +amounts that were raised in that way, that I did not find out till after +the failure, and then the large amounts overwhelmed me with surprise.</p> + +<p>It will be remembered that Barnum made two or three trips to Europe to +provide in some way for the support of his "poor and destitute" family, +which as he claimed, had been robbed and ruined by the Connecticut +clock-makers. At one time he was stopped on a pier in New York, just as +he was starting for Europe, by a suit brought against him. Thus the news +went abroad that poor Barnum was hunted and troubled on every side with +these clock notes. It was reported that he was quite sick in England and +could not live, and, at another time, that being much depressed and +discouraged on account of his many troubles, he had taken to drinking +very hard, and in all probability would live but a short time; while at +the same time, he was lecturing on temperance to the English people, and +was in fact a total-abstinence man. These stories were extensively +circulated; the value of his paper was depreciated in the market, and +was, in several instances bought for a small sum.</p> + +<p>Since writing the foregoing with regard to his coming into the Company, +and, as he states, being ruined by it, I have ascertained to my own +satisfaction, that our connection with him was the means of ruining the +Company. A few days since I was talking with a man who has been more +familiar than myself with the whole transaction, and he told me it was +his opinion that if we had never seen Barnum we should still have been +making clocks in that factory. It was a great mystery to me, and to +every body else, how the Company could run down so rapidly during the +last year. I think I have found out, and these are my reasons. Instead +of having an amount of twenty thousand dollars to cancel of the Terry & +Barnum debts and accounts (which the Secretary foolishly agreed to do.) +it eventually proved to be about seventy thousand; (this I have found +out since the failure.) This great loss the Secretary kept to himself, +and it involved the Company so deeply that he became almost desperate; +for knowing by this time that he had been greatly embarrassed, he was +determined to raise money in any way that he could, honestly, and get +out of the difficulty if possible. He had, as he thought, got to keep +this an entire secret, because if known it would ruin the credit of the +Company. When these extra drafts and notes of Terry & Barnum were added +to the debts of the Company, he was obliged to resort to various +expedients to raise money to pay them. This led him to the exchange of +notes on a large scale, which proved to be a great loss, as many of the +parties were irresponsible. There was a loss of thirty thousand dollars +by one man, and I am sure that there must have been more than fifty +thousand dollars lost in this way. He was also obliged to issue short +drafts and notes and raise money on them at fearful rates. The Terry & +Barnum stock which was taken in at par, was not worth twenty-five per +cent, which had a tendency to reduce the value of the stock of our +Company, though I have recently heard that the Secretary bought stock at +par for the Jerome Company of some former owners in the Terry & Barnum +Company, in Bridgeport, only a short time before the failure. To show +the confidence the Secretary had in the standing of the Company, he +recommended one of his own brothers, not more than one month before the +Company failed, to buy five thousand dollars worth of the stock, which +he did. It was owned by a Bridgeport man and he paid par value for it in +good gold and silver watches at cash prices. All of these transactions +were made without my knowledge, and I have found them out by piece-meal +ever since. I do fully believe that if the Secretary had been worth half +a million of dollars, he would have sacrificed every dollar, rather than +have had the Company failed under his management as it did.</p> + +<p>It has been publicly stated that Mr. Barnum endorsed largely on blank +notes and drafts and that he was thus rendered responsible to a far +greater extent than he was aware of; such, however, was not the case.</p> + +<p>The troubles that have grown out of the failure of this great business, +have left me poor and broken down in spirit, constitution and health. I +was never designed by Providence to eat the bread of dependence, for it +is like poison to me, and will surely kill me in a short time. I have +now lost more than forty pounds of flesh, though my ambition has not yet +died within me.</p> +</div> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap11"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">EFFECTS OF THE FAILURE ON MYSELF—REMOVAL TO WATERBURY AND ANSONIA—UNFORTUNATE BUSINESS CONNECTIONS.</h4> +</div> + +<p>After saying so much as I have about my misfortunes in life, I must say +a few words about what has happened and what I have been through with +during the last four years.</p> + +<p>When the Jerome Manufacturing Company failed, every dollar that I had +saved out of a long life of toil and labor was not enough to support my +family for one year. It was hard indeed for a man sixty-three years old, +and my heart sickened at the prospect ahead. Perhaps there never was a +man that wanted more than I did to be in business and be somebody by the +side of my neighbors. There never was a man more grieved than I was when +I had to give up those splendid factories with the great facilities they +had over all others in the world for the manufacture of clocks both good +and cheap, all of which had been effected through my untiring efforts. +No one but myself can know what my feelings were when I was compelled, +through no fault of my own, to leave that splendid clustre +[<i>sic.</i>] of buildings with all its machinery, and its +thousands of good customers all over this country and Europe, and in +fact the whole world, which in itself was a fortune. And then to leave +that beautiful mansion at the head of the New Haven bay, which I had +almost worshipped. I say to leave all these things for others, with that +spirit and pride that still remained within me, and at my time of life, +was almost too much for flesh and blood to bear. What could have been +the feelings of my family, and my large circle of friends and +acquaintances, to see creditors and officers coming to our house every +day with their pockets full of attachments and piles of them on the +table every night. If any one can ever begin to know my feelings at this +time, they must have passed through the same experience. Yet mortified +and abused as I was, I had to put up with it. Thank God, I have never +been the means of such trouble for others. I had to move to Waterbury in +my old age, and there commence again to try to get a living. I moved in +the fall of 1856, and as bad luck would have it, rented a house not two +rods from a large church with a very large steeple attached to it, which +had been built but a short time before. In one of the most terrific +hurricanes and snow storms that I ever knew in my life, at four o'clock +in the morning of January 19th, 1857, this large steeple fell on the top +of our house which was a three story brick building. It broke through +the roof and smashed in all the upper tier of rooms, the bricks and +mortar falling to the lower floor. We were in the second story, and some +of the bricks came into our room, breaking the glass and furniture, and +the heaviest part of the whole lay directly on our house. It was the +opinion of all who saw the ruins that we did not stand one chance in ten +thousand of not being killed in a moment. I heard many a man say he +would not take the chances that we had for all the money in the State. +One man in the other part of the house was so frightened that he was +crazy for a long time. Timbers in this steeple, ten inches square, broke +in two directly over my bed and their weight was tremendous. I now began +to think that my troubles were coming in a different form; but it seems +I was not to die in that way. The business took a different shape in the +spring, and I moved (another task of moving!) to Ansonia. Here I lived +two years, but very unfortunately happened to get in with the worst men +that could be found on the line of Rail-road between Winsted and +Bridgeport. In another part of this book I have spoken of them; I do not +now wish to think of them, for it makes me sick to see their names on +paper. I had worked hard ever since I left New Haven—one year at +Waterbury, and two at this place (Ansonia,)—but got not one dollar for +the whole time. I was robbed of all the money which Mr. Stevens, (my +son-in-law,) had paid me for the use of my trade-mark in England, for +the years 1857-'58. This advantage was taken of me, because I could +collect nothing in my own name.</p> + +<p>I should consider my history incomplete, unless I went back for many +years to speak of the treatment which I received from a certain man. I +shall not mention his name, and my object in relating these +circumstances, is to illustrate a principle there is in man, and to +caution the young men to be careful when they get to be older and are +carrying on business, not to do too much for one individual. If you do, +in nine cases out of ten, he will hate and injure you in the end. This +has been my experience. Many years ago, I hired two men from a +neighboring town to work for me. It was about the time that I invented +the Bronze Looking-Glass Clock, which was, at that time, decidedly the +best kind made. After a while these two men contrived a plan to get up a +company, go into another town, and manufacture the same kind of clock. +This company was formed about six months before I found it out, and much +of their time was spent in making small tools and clock-parts to take +with them. This was done when they were at work for me on wages. They +induced as many of my men as they could to go with them, and took some +of them into company. When they had finished some clocks, they went +round to my customers and under-sold me to get the trade. This is the +first chapter. When I invented the thirty-hour brass clock in 1838, one +of these men had returned to Bristol again, and was out of business; but +he had some money which he had made out of my former improvements. I had +lost a great deal of money in the great panic of 1837. After I had +started a little in making this new clock, he proposed to put in some +money and become interested with me, and as I was in want of funds to +carry on the business, I told him that if he would put in three thousand +dollars, he should have a share of the profits. I went on with him one +year, but got sick of it and bought him out. I had to pay six thousand +dollars to get rid of him. He took this money, went to a neighboring +town, bought an old wood clock factory, fitted it up for making the same +clock that I had just got well introduced, and induced several of my +workmen to go with him, some of whom he took in company with him. As +soon as I had the clock business well a going in England, he sent over +two men to sell the same patterns. He has kept this up ever since, and +has made a great deal of money.</p> + +<p>After the failure of the Jerome Manufacturing Company, as I have already +stated, I went to Waterbury to assist the Benedict & Burnham Company. +After I had been there six or eight months, and had got the case-making +well started, (my brother, Noble Jerome, had got the movements in the +works the year before.) this same man I have been speaking about, came +to me and made me a first-rate offer to go with him into a town a short +distance from Waterbury, and make clocks there. I accepted his offer, +but should not have done so, had it not been for the depressed condition +to which I had been brought by previous events. I accordingly moved to +the town where he had hired a factory. He was carrying on the business +at the same time in his old factory, and came to this new place about +twice a week. My work was in the third story, and it was very hard for +an old man to go up and down a dozen times a day. About this time I +obtained a patent on a new clock case, and as I was to be interested in +the business, I let the Company make several thousand of them. We could +make forty cents more on each clock than we could on an O-G. clock. As I +was favorably known throughout the world as a clockmaker, this Company +wanted to use my label as the clocks would sell better in some parts of +the country than with his label. They were put upon many thousands. Soon +after we commenced, I told him I would make out a writing of our bargain +because life was uncertain. He said that was all right, and that he +would attend to it soon. As he always seemed to be in a hurry when he +came, I wrote one and sent it to him, so that he might look it over at +his leisure and be ready to sign it when he came down again. The next +time I saw him, I asked him if the writing was not as we agreed; he said +he supposed it was, but that he had no time to look it over and sign it +then, but would do so when he had time. I paid into the business about +one thousand nine hundred dollars in small sums, as it was wanted from +time to time, and worked at this man for eight months to get a writing +from him, but he always had an excuse. He had agreed to give the +case-maker a share of the profits if he would make the cases at a +certain price, but put him off in the same way. We both became satisfied +that he did not mean to do as he had agreed, and I therefore left him. +The money which I had paid in was what I had received for the use of my +name in England. I had the privilege of paying it in as it was wanted, +working eight months, keeping the accounts which I did evenings, and +giving this man a home at my house whenever he was in town. All of this +which I had done, he refused to give me one dollar for, and it was with +great difficulty that I got my money back. I had to put it into another +man's hands, as his property, to recover it. This man, probably, had two +objects in view when he went to Waterbury to flatter me away. He did not +want me to be there with my name on the movements and cases, and +therefore he made me a first-rate offer. I had been broken up in all my +business, and felt very anxious to be doing something again. I was a +little afraid when he made the offer, but knew that he had made a great +deal of money out of my improvements and was very wealthy, and I did +think he would be true to me, knowing as he did my circumstances. Look +at this miser, with not a child in the world, and no one on earth that +he cares one straw about, and yet so grasping! Oh! what will the poor +creature do in eternity!</p> +</div> + + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap12"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">MORE MISPLACED CONFIDENCE—ANOTHER UNFORTUNATE PARTNERSHIP.</h4> +</div> + +<p>Before closing the history of the many trials and troubles which I have +experienced during my life, I will here say that I have never found, in +all my dealings with men for more than forty years, such an untruthful +and dishonest a man as * * * of a certain town in Connecticut. In 1858, +he induced me to come into his factory to carry on a little business. My +situation was such, in consequence of the failure of the Jerome +Manufacturing Company, that I could do nothing in my own name, as he +knew. I had a little money that had been paid me for the use of my +trademark in England, and I felt very anxious, as old as I was, to make +a little money so that I could pay some small debts which my family had +made a short time before the company failed. I had also two children who +looked to me for some help. This man said to me, "you may have the use +of my factory for 'so much,' and you may carry on the business for one +year in my name for so 'much.' [Transcriber's note: closing quotes +missing.] This was agreed to by both parties. In a few days he came to +me and said that he had been talking with his nephew about having the +business carried on in his name "& Co.;" * * * being the "Company" and he +was to keep his nephew harmless, as he had nothing for the use of his +name. The nephew came into the factory a short time after, and I asked +him if he had agreed to what * * * had stated to me; he said that he had, +and that I could go on with the business in the name of himself & Co.; +he was quite sure that his uncle would keep him harmless. I went on with +the business in this name from May to December, both of those men +knowing all the while just as much about the business as I did, and they +never said but that it was all right as we had agreed. I paid in my +money from time to time as it was wanted. Late in the fall, I paid in at +one time, one thousand nine hundred dollars, through a firm who owed me +that amount, and who gave their notes to * * * on short time, which notes +were paid. A short time after this, knowing that I had no more money to +put into the business, he undoubtedly thought it time to do what he had +intended to do at a suitable time from the beginning. One day when I was +unwell and confined to the house, a man who had a claim against the +company, called on * * * to make a settlement. Before this time he had +made two payments on this same account, but he now told this man that +there never had been such a company, and that he would never pay it—while at the same time, he had the same property which the man offered +to take back but which he had refused to give up, and said that I had no +right to use the name of ―― & Co. This was after he had been using the +name for me in drafts and notes, and all other business transactions, +for more than eight months. He said that he would have me arrested for +fraud and put in the State Prison. This treatment was rather hard +towards a man who had never before been accused of dishonesty, and who +had done business on a large scale with thousands of men for more than +forty years. He at one time requested me to borrow a note for him from +one of my friends, which I did, and which he paid promptly when due. He +did this, as I now suppose, because the business was not in as good +shape for him as it might be in another three months; so he wished me to +get the favor renewed, which I did. When it became due, he denied that +it was a borrowed note, declared that I was owing him, and had handed +this note to him as one that was good and would be paid. One of his best +friends has since told me that there was more honor among horse-thieves +than this man had shown towards me. I put into the business between four +and five thousand dollars, worked hard almost a year, and have received +about five hundred dollars. * * * is trying to scare me by threatening to +sue me for perjury; so that if he could make me fool enough to pay the +debts of ―― & Co., he would have just so much more to put into his own +pocket. When he can get a grand jury to find a true bill against me for +fraud or perjury, I will promise to go to Wethersfield and stay there +the remainder of my life, without any further trial. After all that I +have said, I think of him just as all his neighbors do; for they have +told me that it was the common talk among them, when I first went into +his factory, that he would in some way cheat me out of every dollar that +I put into his hands. It would take just about as much evidence to prove +that young crows would be black when their feathers are grown, as it +would to satisfy the community that these statements are true, +especially where he is known. For knavery, untruthfulness, and +wickedness, I have never seen anything, in all my business experience of +forty years, that will compare with this. He would not have taken such a +course with me once, but he took advantage of my age and misfortunes to +commit these frauds, thinking that I could not defend myself, and that +he could defraud and crush me.</p> + +<p>I had paid every dollar of my money into this business which I had at +that time, and had nothing to live on through the winter. But John +Woodruff in his kindness, raised money enough for me to live on through +the winter, and the following spring I moved to New Haven.</p> +</div> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap13"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">THE WOOSTER PLACE CHURCH.—GROWTH OF THE DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS IN NEW +HAVEN.</h4> +</div> + +<p>In order to have my history complete I must give my reason for building +the Wooster Place Church, as my motives have been misconstrued by many +persons, I will make a short statement of what I know to be true. It is +well known that with the exception of one, all the Congregational +churches in New Haven, were located west of the centre of the city. The +majority of the inhabitants lived in the eastern section. Meeting after +meeting was called by the different churches to consider the importance +of building a church in the eastern part. It was strongly advocated by +the ministers and many others, that this part of the city was rapidly +filling up, a great deal of manufacturing was carried on there, and the +strangers who were constantly coming in would fall into other +denominations. I heard their speeches advocating this course with great +pleasure, as I lived in the eastern part of the city, had a long +distance to go to attend church, and nearly all the workmen in my employ +lived in the same section. The church which I have mentioned as the only +one located east of the centre, was in a very prosperous condition. By +the talent, popularity and piety of its minister, as his church and +congregation believed, he had filled the church to overflowing. There +were no slips to be bought in that church. We heard this minister say +that he could spare thirty families from his congregation to build up a +new church. In view of all the facts, I started a subscription paper, in +as good faith as I ever did anything in my life, for the raising of +funds to build an edifice. The subscription was headed by myself with +five thousand dollars and many large sums were added to it. A number of +wealthy men lived near the contemplated place of building the new +church, who belonged to other churches. It was supposed, by what their +ministers had said in public and in private, that they would use their +influence in advancing this good work, and to have some of their members +join in it; but for some reason they changed their minds. I heard that +the minister of the church located in the eastern section (which I +mentioned before,) had got up a subscription paper to raise ten or +twelve thousand dollars to beautify the front of his church, raise a +higher steeple, and make some other alterations that he thought +important. I was told that he called on the men who lived in the +locality where we proposed erecting the new church, with his +subscription, and that they subscribed to carry out his plans. Some of +those who had subscribed to build the new church, after he had made +these calls, wrote me that they wished their names crossed off from my +paper—Others came and told me the same thing, and wished their names +erased. I began at this time to understand that there were influences +working against our enterprise and that this way of building a church +must be given up. I however, went forward myself, as is very well known, +and built a church second to none in New England. I should have built +one that would not have cost one half of the money, had I acted on my +own judgement, but I was influenced by a few others differently. I paid +more than twenty thousand dollars out of my own pocket into this church.</p> + +<p>Public opinion in the community was, that if the several ministers had +given their influence in favor of this matter, a church would have been +built by subscription. They could very easily have influenced their +friends in that part of the city to unite in this enterprise without +detriment to their own congregation. Had this course been taken, it is +evident that by this time it would have been a large and prosperous +church.</p> + +<p>A correspondent of the Independent in writing upon the growth of +Congregationalism, in New Haven, had a great deal to say about the +Wooster Place church—calling the man that built it, "a sagacious +mechanic, who built it on speculation etc." Yet; added "if they had +called a young man for its Pastor from New England, it might have +succeeded after all."</p> + +<p>It is well known that the Congregational denomination has made but very +small advancement compared with others for the last twenty years. It is +supposed that the inhabitants of New Haven have doubled in number during +that time; but only one small Mission church has been added to the +Congregational churches. Four Episcopal churches have been built, and +filled with worshipers, many of whom formerly belonged to Congregational +families. The Methodists have built two large churches, and more than +trebled in number. The Baptists have more than doubled, and now own and +occupy the Wooster Place church. And to have kept pace with the others, +the Congregational denomination should now have as many as three more +large churches.</p> +</div> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap14"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">NEW HAVEN AS A BUSINESS PLACE—GROWTH—EXTENSIVE MANUFACTORIES, ETC.</h4> +</div> + +<p>For many years I have extensively advertised throughout every part of +the civilized world, and in the most conspicuous places, such a city as +New Haven Connecticut, U.S.A., and its name is hourly brought to notice +wherever American clocks are used, and I know of no more conspicuous or +prominent place than the dial of a clock for this purpose. More of these +clocks have been manufactured in this city for the past sixteen years +than any other one place in this country, and the company now +manufacturing, turn out seven hundred daily.</p> + +<p>I now propose to give a brief description of New Haven and its +inhabitants in the words of a business man who loves the town. New +Haven, is to-day a city of more than forty thousand inhabitants, +remarkable as the New Englanders generally are for their ingenuity, +industry, shrewd practical good sense, and their large aggregate wealth; +and with forty thousand such people it is not strange that New Haven is +now growing like a city in the west. It was settled in 1638, and +incorporated as a city in 1784. Its population in 1830, was less than +eleven thousand, and in 1840, but little more than fourteen thousand, +its increase from 1840 to 1850, was about eight thousand, and from 1850 +to 1860, the population has nearly doubled. The assessed value of +property in 1830, amounted to about two and a half millions. The amount +at the present time is estimated at over twenty seven millions. New +Haven is situated at the head of a fine bay, four miles from Long Island +Sound, and seventy-six miles from New York, on the direct line of +Rail-road, and great thoroughfare between that city and Boston, and can +be reached in three hours by Rail-road and about five by water from New +York. New Haven has long been known as the city of Elms, and it far +surpasses any other city in America in the number and beauty of these +noble elm trees which shade and adorn its streets and public squares. It +is a place of large manufacturing interests, the persevering genius and +enterprise of its people having made New Haven in a variety of ways, +prominent in industrial pursuits. Mr. Whitney, the inventor of the +Cotton Gin, Mr. Goodyear of india rubber notoriety, and many other great +and good men who by their ingenuity and perseverance have added millions +to the wealth of mankind, were citizens of New Haven. Nearly every kind +of manufactured article known in the market, can here be found and +bought direct from the manufactory—such as carriages and all kind of +carriage goods, firearms, shirts, locks, furniture, clothing, shoes, +hardware, iron castings, daguerrotype-cases, machinery, plated goods, +&c., &c.</p> + +<p>The manufacture of carriages is here carried on, on a grand scale, and +its yearly productions are probably larger than of any other city in the +Union. There are more than sixty establishments in full operation at the +present time, many of them of great extent and completeness, and turn +out work justly celebrated for its beauty and substantial value wherever +they are known. I live in the immediate vicinity of the largest carriage +manufactury in the world, which turns out a finished carriage every +hour; much of the work being done by machinery and systematized in much +the same manner as the clock-making. American carriages are fast +following American clocks to foreign countries, to the West Indies, +Australia and the Sandwich Islands, Mexico and South America, and I +believe the day is not far distant when they will be exported to Europe +in large quantities, and the present prospect seems far more favorable +for them than it did for me when I introduced my first cargo of clocks +into England.</p> + +<p>When I first saw this city in 1812, its population was less than five +thousand, and it looked to me like a country town. I wandered about the +streets early one morning with a bundle of clothes and some bread and +cheese in my hands little dreaming that I should live to see so great a +change, or that it ever would be my home. I remember seeing the loads of +wood and chips for family use lying in front of the houses, and acres of +land then in cornfields and valued at a small sum, are now covered with +fine buildings and stores and factories in about the heart of the city.</p> + +<p>When I moved my case making business to New Haven, the project was +ridiculed by other clock-makers, of going to a city to manufacture by +steam power, and yet it seems to have been the commencement of +manufacturers in the country, coming to New Haven to carry on their +business. Numbers came to me to get my opinion and learn the advantages +it had over manufacturing in the country, which I always informed them +in a heavy business was very great, the item of transportation alone +over-balancing the difference between water and steam power. The +facilities for procuring stock and of shipping, being also an important +item. Not one of the good citizens will deny that this great business of +clock-making which I first brought to New Haven has been of immense +advantage and of great importance to the city. Through its agency +millions of money has been brought here, adding materially to the +general prosperity and wealth, besides bringing it into notice wherever +its productions are sent. I have been told that there is nothing in the +eastern world that attracts the attention of the inhabitants like a +Yankee clock. It has this moment come into my mind of several years ago +giving a dozen brass clocks to a missionary at Jerusalem; they were +shipped from London to Alexandria in Egypt, from there to Joppa, and +thence about forty miles on the backs of Camels to Jerusalem, where they +arrived safe to the great joy of the missionary and others interested, +and attracted a great deal of attention and admiration. I also sent my +clocks to China, and two men to introduce them more than twenty years +ago.</p> + +<p>I will here say what I truly believe as to the future of this business; +there is no place on the earth where it can be started and compete with +New Haven, there are no other factories where they can possibly be made +so cheap. I have heard men ask the question, "why can't clocks be made +in Europe on such a scale, where labor is so cheap?" If a company could +in any part of the old world get their labor ten years for nothing, I do +not believe they could compete with the Yankees in this business. They +can be made in New Haven and sent into any part of the world for more +than a hundred years to come for less than one half of what they could +be made for in any part of the old world. I was many years in +systematizing this business, and these things I know to be facts, though +it might appear as strong language. No man has ever lived that has given +so much time and attention to this subject as myself. For more than +fifty years, by day and by night, clocks have been uppermost in my mind. +The ticking of a clock is music to me, and although many of my +experiences as a business man have been trying and bitter, I have the +satisfaction of knowing that I have lived the life of an honest man, and +have been of some use to my fellow men.</p> +</div> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="appx"></a>APPENDIX.</h3> + +<h4 class="argument">GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR KEEPING CLOCKS IN ORDER.</h4> +</div> + +<p>Pendulum clocks are the oldest style, and are more generally introduced +than any other kind. I will give a few simple suggestions essential for +keeping this clock in good order as a time-keeper. In the first place, a +clock must be plumb (that is level;) and what I mean by plumb, is not +treing up the case to a level, but it is to put the case in a position +so that the beats or sounds of the wheel-teeth striking the verge are +equal. It is not necessary to go by the sound, if the face is taken off +so that you can see the verge. You can then notice and see whether the +verge holds on to the teeth at each end the same length of time; or (in +other words) whether the vibrations are equal as they should be. Clocks +are often condemned because they stop, or because they do not keep good +time, while these points and others are not in beat, the vibrations are +not regular; hence it will not divide the time equally, and it is called +a poor time-keeper, when the difficulty may be that it is not properly +set up. A clock which will run when it is much out of beat, is a very +good one, and it must run very easily, because it has a great +disadvantage to overcome, viz: a greater distance from a perpendicular +line one way than the other in order that the verge may escape the +teeth. A clock may be set up in perfect beat, but the shelf is liable to +settle or warp, and get out of beat so gradually, that it might not be +remarked by one not suspecting it, unless special notice was taken of +it. This matter should be looked to when the clock stops.</p> + +<p>I have explained the mode of setting up a clock with reference to +putting it in beat, etc. Another essential point to be attended to is +that the rod should hang in the centre or very near the centre of the +loop in the crutch wire which is connected with the verge, and for this +reason, if it rubs the front or back end of the loop, the friction will +cause it to stop. To prevent this, set the clock case so that it will +lean back a little or forward, as it requires. It sometimes happens that +the dial (if it is made of zinc) gets bent in, and the loop of the +crutch wire rubs as it passes back and forth. This should be attended +to. It should be noticed also, whether the crutch wire gets misplaced so +that it rubs any kind of a dial; the least impediment here will stop a +clock. The centre of the dial should next be noticed. It sometimes +happens that the warping moves it from its place, so that the sockets of +the pointers rub, and many times it is the cause of the clock's +stopping; this can be remedied by pareing out the centre on the side +required.</p> + +<p>Soft verges are no uncommon cause of clocks stopping, and those who +travel to repair clocks generally overlook this trouble. A clock with a +soft verge will run but a short time, because the teeth will dent into +the face of the verge and cause a roughness that will certainly stop it. +The way to ascertain this, is to try a file on the end of the verge; if +you can file it it is soft; they are intended to be so hard that a file +will not cut them. They can be hardened without taking off the brass +ears or crutch wires, if you are careful in heating them; but the +roughness on the faces caused by the teeth must be taken out in +finishing. They must be polished nicely, and the polish lines should run +parallel with the verge: this may not seem to some necessary, but if the +polished lines run crosswise you can hear it rub distinctly and it would +cause it to stop.</p> + +<p>It is very common to hear a clock make a creaking noise, and this leads +inexperienced persons to think it has become dry inside. This is not so, +and you will always find it to be caused by the loop of the crutch wire +where it touches the rod; apply a little oil and it will cure it.</p> + +<p>Some think that a clock must be cleaned and oiled often, but if the +foregoing directions are carefully pursued it is not necessary. I could +show the reader several thirty-four hour brass clocks of my first and +second years' manufacture (about twenty-two years since) which have been +taken apart and cleaned but once—perhaps some of them twice. I have +been told that they run as well as they did the first year. Now these +are the directions which I should lay down for you to save your money, +and your clocks from untimely wearing out. If you see any signs of their +stopping—such as a faint beat, or if on a very cold night they stop, +take the dial off, and the verge from the pin, wipe the pin that the +verge hangs on, the hole in the ears of the verge, and the pieces that +act on the wheel; also the loop of the verge wire where it connects with +the rod, and the rod itself where the loop acts. Previous to taking off +the verge, oil all the pivots in front; let the clock be wound up about +half way, then take off the verge, and let it run down as rapidly as it +will, in order to work out the gummy oil: then wipe off the black oil +that has worked out and it is not necessary to add any more to the +pivots. Then oil the parts as above described connected with the verge +and be very sparing of the oil, for too little is better than too much. +I never use any but watch oil. You may think that the other oils are +good because you have tried them; but I venture to say that all the good +they effected was temporary and after a short time the clock was more +gummed up than it was before. Watch oil is made from the porpoise' jaw, +and I have not seen anything to equal it. You may say why not oil the +back pivots? They do not need it as often as the front ones, because +they are not so much exposed, and hence, they do not catch the dust +which passes through the sash and through the key holes that causes the +pivots to be gummy and gritty. The front pivot holes wear largest first. +A few pennys' worth of oil will last many years.</p> + +<p>It is necessary to occasionally oil the pulleys on the top of the case +which the cord passes over. If this is not done the hole becomes +irregular, and a part of the power is lost to the clock. Common oil will +answer for them. With regard to balance-wheel clocks, it is more +difficult to explain the mode of repairing, to the inexperienced. With +reference to oiling, use none but watch oil.</p> +</div> +<hr class="full" /> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12694 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/12694-h/images/frontispiece.png b/12694-h/images/frontispiece.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec755bf --- /dev/null +++ b/12694-h/images/frontispiece.png diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: History of the American Clock Business for the Past Sixty Years, and Life of Chauncey Jerome</p> +<p>Author: Chauncey Jerome</p> +<p>Release Date: June 23, 2004 [eBook #12694]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: iso-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN CLOCK BUSINESS FOR THE PAST SIXTY YEARS, AND LIFE OF CHAUNCEY JEROME***</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<h3>E-text prepared by Robert Shimmin and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h3> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr class="full" /> +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/frontispiece.png" width="592" height="944" alt="Illustration: Litho of E.B and E.C. Kellogg, Hartford, Conn. Signature of Chauncey Jerome" /> +</div> +<div class="chapter"> +<h1><font size="+2">HISTORY</font></h1> +<h1><font size="+2"> <font size="-1">OF THE</font></font></h1> +<h1> <font size="+3">American Clock Business</font></h1> +<h1> <font size="+1">FOR THE PAST SIXTY YEARS,</font></h1> +<h1> <font size="-1">AND</font></h1> +<h1> <font size="+2">Life of</font> CHAUNCEY JEROME,</h1> +<h1> <b><font size="+2">WRITTEN BY HIMSELF</font></b><font size="+2">.</font></h1> + +<hr /> +<h2><font size="+1">BARNUM'S CONNECTION</font></h2> +<h2> <font size="-1">WITH THE</font></h2> +<h2> <font size="+1">YANKEE CLOCK BUSINESS.</font></h2> +<hr /> + +<h3>New Haven: 1860</h3> + +<hr /> +</div> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> +</div> + +<p>The manufacture of Clocks has become one of the most important branches +of American industry. Its productions are of immense value and form an +important article of export to foreign countries. It has grown from +almost nothing to its present dimensions within the last thirty years, +and is confined to one of the smallest States in the Union. Sixty years +ago, a few men with clumsy tools supplied the demand; at the present +time, with systematized labor and complicated machinery, it gives +employment to thousands of men, occupying some of the largest factories +of New England. Previous to the year 1838, most clock movements were +made of wood; since that time they have been constructed of metal, which +is not only better and more durable but even cheaper to manufacture.</p> + +<p>Many years of my own life have been inseparably connected with and +devoted to the American clock business, and the most important changes +in it have taken place within my remembrance and actual experience. Its +whole history is familiar to me, and I cannot write my life without +having much to say about "Yankee clocks." Neither can there be a history +of that business written without alluding to myself. A few weeks since +I entered my sixty-seventh year, and reviewing the past, many trying +experiences are brought fresh into my mind. For more than forty-five +years I have been actively engaged in the manufacture of clocks, and +constantly studying and contriving new methods of manufacturing for the +benefit of myself and fellow-men, and although through the +instrumentality of others, I have been unfortunate in the loss of my +good name and an independent competency, which I had honorably and +honestly acquired by these long years of patient toil and industry, it +is a satisfaction to me now to know that I have been the means of doing +some good in the world.</p> + +<p>On the following pages in my simple language, and in a bungling manner, +I have told the story of my life. I am no author, but claim a title +which I consider nobler, that of a "Mechanic." Being possessed of a +remarkable memory, I am able to give a minute account and even the date +of every important transaction of my whole life, and distinctly remember +events which took place when I was but a child, three and a half years +old, and how I celebrated my fourth birthday. I could relate many +instances of my boyhood and later day experiences if my health, and +strength would permit. It has been no part of my plan to boast, +exaggerate, or misrepresent anything, but to give "plain facts."</p> + +<p>A history of the great business of Clock making has never been written. +I am the oldest man living who has had much to do with it, and am best +able to give its history. To-day my name is seen on millions of these +useful articles in every part of the civilized globe, the result of +early ambition and untiring perseverance. It was in fact the "pride of +my life." Time-keepers have been known for centuries in the old world; +but I will not dwell on that. It is enough for the American people to +know that their country supplies the whole world with its most useful +time-keepers, (as well as many other productions,) and that no other +country can compete with ours in their manufacture.</p> + +<p>It has been a long and laborious undertaking for me in my old age to +write such a work as this; but the hope that it might be useful and +instructive to many of my young friends has animated me to go on; and in +presenting it to the public it is with the hope that it will meet with +some favor, and that I shall derive some pecuniary benefit therefrom.</p> + +<p>NEW HAVEN, August 15th, 1860.</p> +</div> + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +</div> + +<p><a href="#chap1">CHAPTER I</a>.—MY EARLY HISTORY.—Birthplace; nail + making; death of my Father; leaving home; work on a farm; hard times; the great + eclipse; bound out as a carpenter; carry tools thirty miles; work on clock dials; + what I heard at a training; trip to New Jersey in 1812; first visit to New York; + what I saw there; cross the North River in a scow; case making in New Jersey; + hard fare; return home; first appearance in New Haven; at home again; a great + traveller; experiences in the last war; go to New London to fight the British + in 1813; incidents; soldiering at New Haven in 1814; married; hard times again; + cottton [<i>sic.</i>] cloth $1 per yard; the cold summer of 1816; + a hard job; work at clocks.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap2">CHAPTER II</a>.—EARLY HISTORY OF YANKEE CLOCK MAKING.—Mr. + Eli Terry the father of wood clocks in Connecticut; clocks in 1800; wheels made + with saw and jack-knife; first clocks by machinery; clocks for pork; men in + the business previous to 1810; [  ] a new invention; the Pillar Scroll Top Case; + peddling clocks on horseback; the Bronze Looking Glass Clock.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap3">CHAPTER III.</a>—PERSONAL HISTORY CONTINUED.—1816 + to 1825; work with Mr. Terry; commence business; work alone; large sale to a + Southerner; a heap of money; peddle clocks in Wethersfield; walk twenty-five + miles in the snow; increase business; buy mahogany in the plank; saw veneers + with a hand saw; trade cases for movements; move to Bristol; bad luck; lose + large sum of money; first cases by machinery in Bristol; make clocks in Mass.; + good luck; death of my little daughter; form a company; invent Bronze Looking + Glass Clock.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap4">CHAPTER IV</a>.—PROGRESS OF CLOCK MAKING.—Revival + of business; Bronze Looking Glass Clock favorite; clocks at the South; $115 + for a clock; rapid increase of the business; new church at Bristol—Rev. + David L. Parmelee; hard times of 1837; panic in business; no more clocks will + be made; wooden clocks and wooden nutmegs; opposition to Yankee pedlars in the + South; make clocks in Virginia and South Carolina; my trip to the South; discouragements; + "I won't give up;" invent one day Brass clock; better times ahead; go further + South; return home; produce the new clock; its success.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap5">CHAPTER V</a>.—BRASS CLOCKS—CLOCKS IN ENGLAND.—The + new clock a favorite; I carry on the business alone; good times; profits in + 1841; wood clock makers half crazy; competition; prices reduced; can Yankee + clocks be introduced into England; I send out a cargo; ridiculed by other clock + makers; prejudice of English people against American manufacturers; how they + were introduced; seized by custom house officers; a good joke; incidents; the + Terry family.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap6">CHAPTER VI</a>.—THE CAREER OF A FAST YOUNG MAN.—Incidents; + Frank Merrills; a smart young man; I sell him clocks; his bogus operations; + a sad history; great losses; human nature; my experience; incident of my boyhood; + Samuel J. Mills, the Missionary; anecdotes.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap7">CHAPTER VII</a>.—REMOVAL TO NEW HAVEN—FIRE—TROUBLE.—Make + cages at New Haven; factories at Bristol destroyed by fire; great loss; sickness; + heavy trouble; human nature; move whole business to New Haven; John Woodruff; + great competition; clocks in New York; swindlers; law-suit; ill-feeling of other + clock makers.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap8">CHAPTER VIII</a>.—THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING—THE + JEROME MANUFACTURING COMPANY.—Benefit of manufacturing by system; a clock + case for eight cents; a clock for seventy-five cents; thirty years ago and to-day; + more human nature; how the Brass clock is made; cost of a clock; the facilities + of the Jerome Manufacturing Company; a joint stock company; how it was managed; + interesting statements; its failure.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap9">CHAPTER IX.</a>—MEN NOW IN THE BUSINESS.—The New + Haven Clock Co.: Hon. Jas. E. English, H.M. Welch, John Woodruff, Hiram Camp, + Philip Pond, Charles L. Griswold, L.F. Root. Benedict & Burnham Company + of Waterbury: Arad W. Welton. Seth Thomas & Co. Wm. L. Gilbert. E.N. Welch. + Beach & Hubbell. Ireneus Atkins.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X</a>.—BARNUM'S CONNECTION IN THE CLOCK BUSINESS.—Barnum + and the Jerome Manufacturing Co.; Terry & Barnum; interesting statements; + causes of the failure; the results.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI</a>.—EFFECTS OF THE FAILURE ON MYSELF.—My + prospects; leave New Haven; move to Waterbury; a frightful accident; a practical + story.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII.</a>—ANOTHER UNFORTUNATE PARTNERSHIP.—More + misplaced confidence; a dishonest man threatening to imprison me for fraud; + every dollar gone; kindness of John Woodruff, etc.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII</a>.—THE WOOSTER PLACE CHURCH.—Reasons + for building it, and how it was built; growth of different denominations, etc.</p> + +<p><a href="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV</a>.—NEW HAVEN AS A BUSINESS PLACE.—growth, + extensive manufactories, facilities for manufacturing, population, wealth, etc.</p> + +<p><a href="#appx">APPENDIX</a>.—General directions for keeping clocks in + order, etc.</p> +</div> + + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<hr /> +<h2>AMERICAN CLOCK MAKING.</h2> +<h2>LIFE OF CHAUNCEY JEROME.</h2> +<hr /> +</div> + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap1"></a> CHAPTER I.</h3> + +<h4 class="argument">EARLY DAYS.—LEAVING HOME.—BOUND OUT.—FARMING.—CARPENTER.—SOLDIER.—CLOCK MAKING.</h4> +</div> + + +<p>I was born in the town of Canaan, Litchfield County, in the State of +Connecticut, on the 10th day of June, 1793. My parents were poor but +respectable and industrious. My father was a blacksmith and wrought-nail +maker by trade, and the father of six children—four sons and two +daughters. I was the fourth child.</p> + +<p>In January, 1797, he moved from Canaan to the town of Plymouth, in the +same County, and in the following spring built a blacksmith shop, which +was large enough for three or four men to work at the nail making +business, besides carrying on the blacksmithing. At that time all the +nails used in the country were hammered by hand out of iron rods, which +practice has almost entirely been done away by the introduction of cut +nails.</p> + +<p>My advantages for education were very poor. When large enough to handle +a hoe, or a bundle of rye, I was kept at work on the farm. The only +opportunity I had for attending school was in the winter season, and +then only about three months in the year, and at a very poor school. +When I was nine years old, my father took me into the shop to work, +where I soon learned to make nails, and worked with him in this way +until his death, which occurred on the fifth of October, 1804. For two +or three days before he died, he suffered the most excruciating pains +from the disease known as the black colic. The day of his death was a +sad one to me, for I knew that I should lose my happy home, and be +obliged to leave it to seek work for my support. There being no +manufacturing of any account in the country, the poor boys were obliged +to let themselves to the farmers, and it was extremely difficult to find +a place to live where they would treat a poor boy like a human being. +Never shall I forget the Monday morning that I took my little bundle of +clothes, and with a bursting heart bid my poor mother good bye.</p> + +<p>I knew that the rest of the family had got to leave soon, and I perhaps +never to see any of them again. Being but a boy and naturally very +sympathizing, it really seemed as if my heart would break to think of +leaving my dear old home for good, but stern necessity compelled me, and +I was forced to obey.</p> + +<p>The first year after leaving home I was at work on a farm, and almost +every day when alone in the fields would burst into tears—not because I +had to work, but because my father was dead whom I loved, and our happy +family separated and broken up never to live together again. In my new +place I was kept at work very hard, and at the age of fourteen did +almost the work of a man. It was a very lonely place where we lived, and +nothing to interest a child of my age. The people I lived with seemed to +me as very old, though they were probably not more than thirty-six years +of age, and felt no particular interest in me, more than to keep me +constantly at work, early and late, in all kinds of weather, of which I +never complained. I have many times worked all day in the woods, +chopping down trees, with my shoes filled with snow; never had a pair of +boots till I was more than twenty years old. Once in two weeks I was +allowed to go to church, which opportunity I always improved.</p> + +<p>I liked to attend church, for I could see so many folks, and the habit +which I then acquired has never to this day left me, and my love for it +dates back to this time in my youth, though the attractions now are +different.</p> + +<p>I shall never forget how frightened I was at the great eclipse which +took place on the 16th of June, 1806, and which so terrified the good +people in every part of the land. They were more ignorant about such +operations of the sun fifty-four years ago than at the present time. I +had heard something about eclipses but had not the faintest idea what it +could be. I was hoeing corn that day in a by-place three miles from +town, and thought it certainly was the day of judgment. I watched the +sun steadily disappearing with a trembling heart, and not till it again +appeared bright and shining as before, did I regain my breath and +courage sufficient to whistle.</p> + +<p>The winter before I was fifteen years old, I went to live with a house +carpenter to learn the trade, and was bound to him by my guardian till I +was twenty-one years old, and was to have my board and clothes for my +services. I learned the business very readily, and during the last three +years of my apprenticeship could do the work of a man.</p> + +<p>It was a very pleasant family that I lived with while learning my trade. +In the year 1809 my "boss" took a job in Torringford, and I went with +him. After being absent several months from home, I felt very anxious to +see my poor mother who lived about two miles from Plymouth. She lived +alone—with the exception of my youngest brother about nine years old. I +made up my mind that I would go down and see her one night. In this way +I could satisfy my boss by not losing any time. It was about twenty +miles, and I only sixteen years old. I was really sorry after I had +started, but was not the boy to back out. It took me till nearly morning +to get there, tramping through the woods half of the way; every noise I +heard I thought was a bear or something that would kill me, and the +frightful notes of the whippoorwill made my hair stand on end. The dogs +were after me at every house I passed. I have never forgotten that +night. The boys of to-day do not see such times as I did.</p> + +<p>The next year, 1810, my boss took a job in Ellsworth Society, Litchfield +County. I footed it to and from that place several times in the course +of the year, with a load of joiners' tools on my back. What would a boy +17 years old now think to travel thirty miles in a hot summer's day, +with a heavy load of joiners' tools on his back? But that was about the +only way that we could get around in those days. At that time there were +not half a dozen one-horse wagons in the whole town. At that place I +attended the church of Rev. Daniel Parker, father of Hon. Amasa J. +Parker, of Albany, who was then a little boy four or five years old. I +often saw him at meeting with his mother. He is a first cousin of F.S. & +J. Parker of this city, two highly respectable men engaged in the paper +business.</p> + +<p>In the fall of 1811, I made a bargain with the man that I was bound to, +that if he would give me four months in the winter of each year when the +business was dull, I would clothe myself. I therefore went to Waterbury, +and hired myself to Lewis Stebbins, (a singing master of that place,) to +work at making the dials for the old fashioned long clock. This kind of +business gave me great satisfaction, for I always had a desire to work +at clocks. In 1807, when I was fourteen years old, I proposed to my +guardian to get me a place with Mr. Eli Terry, of Plymouth, to work at +them. Mr. Terry was at that time making more clocks than any other man +in the country, about two hundred in a year, which was thought to be a +great number.</p> + +<p>My guardian, a good old man, told me that there was so many clocks then +making, that the country would soon be filled with them, and the +business would be good for nothing in two or three years. This opinion +of that wise man made me feel very sad. I well remember, when I was +about twelve years old, what I heard some old gentleman say, at a +training, (all of the good folks in those days were as sure to go to +training as to attend church,) they were talking about Mr. Terry; the +foolish man they said, had begun to make two hundred clocks; one said, +he never would live long enough to finish them; another remarked, that +if he did he never would, nor could possibly sell so many, and ridiculed +the very idea.</p> + +<p>I was a little fellow, but heard and swallowed every word those wise men +said, but I did not relish it at all, for I meant some day to make +clocks myself, if I lived.</p> + +<p>What would those good old men have thought when they were laughing at +and ridiculing Mr. Terry, if they had known that the little urchin who +was so eagerly listening to their conversation would live to make <i>Two +Hundred Thousand</i> metal clocks in one year, and <i>many millions</i> +in his life. They have probably been dead for years, that little boy is +now an old man, and during his life has seen these great changes. The +clock business has grown to be one of the largest in the country, and +almost every kind of American manufactures have improved in much the +same ratio, and I cannot now believe that there will ever be in the same +space of future time so many improvements and inventions as those of the +past half century—one of the most important in the history of the +world. Everyday things with us now would have appeared to our +forefathers as incredible. But returning to my story—having got myself +tolerably well posted about clocks at Waterbury, I hired myself to two +men to go into the state of New Jersey, to make the old fashioned seven +foot standing clock-case. Messrs. Hotchkiss and Pierpont, of Plymouth, +had been selling that kind of a clock without the cases, in the northern +part of that State, for about twenty dollars, apiece. The purchasers, +had complained to them however, that there was no one in that region +that could make the case for them, which prevented many others from +buying. These two men whom I went with, told them that they would get +some one to go out from Connecticut, to make the case, and thought they +could be made for about eighteen or twenty dollars apiece, which would +then make the whole clock cost about forty dollars—not so very costly +after all; for a clock was then considered the most useful of anything +that could be had in a family, for what it cost. I entered into an +agreement with these men at once, and a few days after, we three started +on the 14th Dec., 1812, in an old lumber wagon, with provisions for the +journey, to the far off Jersey. This same trip can now be made in a few +hours. We were <i>many</i> days. We passed through Watertown, and other +villages, and stopped the first night at Bethel. This is the very place +where P.T. Barnum was born, and at about this time, of whom I shall +speak more particularly hereafter. The next morning we started again on +our journey, and not many hours after, arrived in Norwalk, then quite a +small village, situated on Long Island Sound; at this place I saw the +salt water for the first time in my life, also a small row-boat, and +began to feel that I was a great traveler indeed. The following night we +stopped at Stamford, which was, as I viewed it, a great place; here I +saw a few sloops on the Sound, which I thought was the greatest sight +that I had ever seen. This was years before a steamboat had ever passed +through the Sound. The next morning we started again for New York, and +as we passed along I was more and more astonished at the wonderful +things that I saw, and began to think that the world was very extensive. +We did not arrive at the city until night, but there being a full moon +every thing appeared as pleasant, as in the day-time. We passed down +through the Bowery, which was then like a country village, then through +Chatham street to Pearl street, and stopped for the night at a house +kept by old Mr. Titus. I arose early the next morning and hurried into +the street to see how a city looked by day-light. I stood on the corner +of Chatham and Pearl for more than an hour, and I must confess that if I +was ever astonished in my life, it was at that time. I could not +understand why so many people, of every age, description and dress, were +hurrying so in every direction. I asked a man what was going on, and +what all this excitement meant, but he passed right along without +noticing me, which I thought was very uncivil, and I formed a very poor +opinion of those city folks. I ate nothing that morning, for I thought I +could be in better business for a while at least. I wandered about +gazing at the many new sights, and went out as far as the Park; at that +time the workmen were finishing the interior of the City Hall. I was +greatly puzzled to know how the winding stone stairs could be fixed +without any seeming support and yet be perfectly safe. After viewing +many sights, all of which were exceedingly interesting to me, I returned +to the house where my companions were. They told me that they had just +heard that the ship Macedonian, which was taken a few days before from +the British by one of our ships, had just been brought into the harbor +and lay off down by Burling Slip, or in that region. We went down to see +her, and went on board. I was surprised and frightened to see brains and +blood scattered about on the deck in every direction. This prize was +taken by the gallant Decatur, but a short distance from New York. +Hastening back from this sickening scene, we resumed our journey. My two +companions had been telling me that we should have to cross the North +River in a boat, and I did not understand how a boat could be made to +carry our team and be perfectly safe, but when we arrived there, I was +much surprised to see other teams that were to cross over with us, and a +number of people. At that time an old scow crossed from New York City to +the Jersey shore, once in about two hours. What a great change has taken +place in the last forty-seven years; now large steam ferry boats are +crossing and recrossing, making the trip in a few minutes. It was the +first time that I had ever crossed a stream, except on a bridge, and I +feared that we might upset and all be drowned, but no accident happened +to us; we landed in safety, and went on our way rejoicing towards +Elizabethtown. At that place I saw a regiment of soldiers from Kentucky, +who were on their way to the northern frontier to fight the British. +They were a rough set of fellows, and looked as though they could do a +great deal of fighting. It will be remembered that this was the time of +the last war with England. We passed on through Elizabethtown and +Morristown to Dutch Valley, where we stopped for the night. We remained +at this place a few days, looking about for a cabinet shop, or a +suitable place to make the clock cases. Not succeeding, we went a mile +further north, to a place called Schooler's Mountain; here we found a +building that suited us. It was then the day before Christmas. The +people of that region, we found, kept that day more strictly than the +Sabbath, and as we were not ready to go to work, we passed Christmas day +indoors feeling very lonely indeed. The next day we began operations. A +young man from the lower part of New Jersey worked with me all winter. +We boarded ourselves in the same building that we worked in, I doing all +of the house-work and cooking, none of which was very fine or fancy, our +principal food being pork, potatoes and bread, using our work-bench for +a table. Hard work gave us good appetite.</p> + +<p>We would work on an average about fifteen hours a day, the house-work +not occupying much of our time. I was then only nineteen years old, and +it hardly seems possible that the boys of the present day could pass +through such trials and hardships, and live. We worked in this way all +winter. When the job was finished, I took my little budget of clothes +and started for home. I traveled the first day as far as Elizabethtown, +and stopped there all night, but found no conveyance from there to New +York. I was told that if I would go down to the Point, I might in the +course of the day, get a passage in a sailing vessel to the city. I went +down early in the morning and, after waiting till noon, found a chance +to go with two men in a small sail boat. I was greatly alarmed at the +strange motions of the boat which I thought would upset, and felt +greatly relieved when I was again on terra firma.</p> + +<p>I wandered about the streets of New York all that afternoon, bought a +quantity of bread and cheese, and engaged a passage on the Packet Sloop +Eliza, for New Haven, of her Captain Zebulon Bradley. I slept on board +of her that night at the dock, the next day we set sail for New Haven, +about ten o'clock in the forenoon, with a fair wind, and arrived at the +long wharf in (that city) about eight o'clock the same day. I stopped at +John Howe's Hotel, at the head of the wharf. This was the first time +that I was ever in this beautiful city, and I little thought then that I +ever should live there, working at my favorite business, with three +hundred men in my employ, or that I should ever be its Mayor.—Times +change.</p> + +<p>Very early the next morning, after looking about a little, I started +with my bundle of clothes in one hand, and my bread and cheese in the +other, to find the Waterbury turnpike, and after dodging about for a +long time, succeeded in finding it, and passed on up through Waterbury +to Plymouth, walking the whole distance, and arrived home about three +o'clock in the afternoon. This was my first trip abroad, and I really +felt that I was a great traveler, one who had seen much of the world! +What a great change has taken place in so short space of time.</p> + +<p>Soon after I returned from my western trip, there began to be a great +excitement throughout the land, about the war. It was proposed by the +Governor of Connecticut, John Cotton Smith, of Sharon, to raise one or +two regiments of State troops to defend it in case of invasion. One +Company of one hundred men, was raised in the towns of Waterbury, +Watertown, Middlebury, Plymouth and Bethlem, and John Buckingham chosen +Captain, who is now living in Waterbury; the other commissioned officers +of the company, were Jas. M.L. Scovill, of Waterbury, and Joseph H. +Bellamy, of Bethlem. The company being composed of young men, and I +being about the right age, had of course to be one of them.</p> + +<p>Early in the Summer of 1813, the British fleet run two of our ships of +war up the Thames River, near New London. Their ships being so large +could not enter, but lay at its mouth. Their presence so near greatly +alarmed the citizens of that city, and in fact, all of the people in the +eastern part of the State. Our regiment was ordered to be ready to start +for New London by the first of August. The Plymouth company was called +together on Sunday, which was the first of August, and exercised on the +Green in front of the church, in the fore part of the day. This unusual +occurrence of a military display on the Sabbath greatly alarmed the good +people of the congregation, but it really was a case of necessity, we +were preparing to defend our homes from a foreign foe.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon we attended church in a body, wearing our uniforms, to +the wonder and astonishment of boys, but terrible to the old people. On +Monday morning we started on a march to Hartford, sleeping that night in +a barn, in the eastern part of Farmington, and reaching Hartford the +next day, where we joined the other companies, and all started for New +London. The first night we slept in a barn in East Hartford, and the +second one in an old church in Marlboro. I remember lying on the seat of +a pew, with my knapsack under my head. We arrived at New London on +Saturday, marching the whole distance in the first week in August, and a +hotter time I have never experienced since. We were dressed in heavy +woolen clothes, carrying heavy guns and knapsacks, and wearing large +leather caps. It was indeed a tedious job. We were whole days traveling +what can now be done in less than as many hours, and were completely +used up when we arrived there, which would not appear strange. We were +immediately stationed on the high ground, back from the river, about +half way between the city and the light-house, in plain view of the +enemy's ships. They would frequently, when there was a favorable wind, +hoist their sails and beat about in the harbor, making a splendid +appearance, and practising a good deal with their heavy guns on a small +American sloop, which they had taken and anchored a long distance off. +The bounding of the cannon balls on the water was an interesting sight +to me. The first night after our arrival, I was put on guard near the +Light-house, and in plain sight of the ships. I was much afraid that the +sharp shooters from their barges would take me for a target and be smart +enough to hit me; and a heavy shower with thunder and lightning passing +over us during the night, did not alleviate my distress. I was but a +boy, only twenty years old, and would naturally be timid in such a +situation, but I passed the night without being killed; it seems that +was not the way that I was to die.</p> + +<p>I soon became sick and disgusted with a soldier's life; it seemed to be +too lazy and low-lived to suit me, and, as near as I could judge, the +inhabitants thought us all a low set of fellows. I never have had a +desire to live or be anywhere without I could be considered at least as +good as the average, which failing I have now as strong as ever. We not +having any battles to fight, had no opportunities of showing our +bravery, and after guarding the city for forty-five days, were +discharged; over which we made a great rejoicing, and returned home by +the way of New Haven, which was my second visit to this city. The North +and Centre Churches were then building, also, the house now standing at +the North-east corner of the Green, owned then by David DeForest; +stopping here over night, we pased [<i>sic.</i>] on home to +Plymouth. I had not slept on a bed since I left home, and would have as +soon taken the barn floor as a good bed. This ended my first campaign.</p> + +<p>After this I went to work at my trade, the Joiners business. I was still +an apprentice; would not be twenty-one till the next June.</p> + +<p>The War was not yet over, and in October, 1814, our Regiment was ordered +by Governor Smith to New Haven, to guard the city. Col. Sanford, (father +of Elihu and Harvey Sanford of this city,) commanded us. On arriving, we +were stationed at the old slaughter-house, in the Eastern part of the +city, at the end of Green street. All the land East of Academy street +was then in farmers' lots, and planted with corn, rye and potatoes now +covered with large manufactories and fine dwellings. I little thought +then, that I should have the largest Clock-factory in the world, within +a stone's throw of my sleeping-place, as has since proved. Nothing of +much importance took place during our campaign at New Haven. The British +did not land or molest us. We built a large fort on the high grounds, on +the East Haven side, which commanded the Harbor, the ruins of which can +now be seen from the city. A good deal of fault was found by the +officers and men with the provisions, which were very poor. When this +campaign closed I was through with my military glory, and returned to my +home, sick and disgusted with a soldier's life. I hope our country will +not be disgraced with another war.</p> + +<p>All of the old people will remember what a great rejoicing there was +through the whole country, when peace was declared in February, 1815. I +was married about that time to Salome Smith, daughter of Capt. +Theophilus Smith, one of the last of the Puritanical families there was +in the town; she made one of the best of wives and mothers. She died on +the 6th of March, 1854. We lived together 39 years. A short time after +we were married, I moved to the town of Farmington, and hired a house of +Mr. Chauncey Deming to live in, and went to work for Capt. Selah Porter, +for twenty dollars per month. We built a house for Maj. Timothy Cowles, +which was then the best one in Farmington. I was not worth at this time +fifty dollars in the world.</p> + +<p>1815, the year after the war, was, probably the hardest one there has +been for the last hundred years, for a young man to begin for himself.</p> + +<p>Pork was sold for thirteen dollars per hundred, Flour at thirteen +dollars per barrel; Molasses was sold for seventy-five cents per gallon, +and brown Sugar at thirty-four cents per pound. I remember buying some +cotton cloth for a common shirt, for which I paid one dollar a yard, no +better than can now be bought for ten cents. I mention these things to +let the young men know what a great change has taken place, and what my +prospects were at that time. Not liking this place, I moved back to +Plymouth. I did not have money enough to pay my rent, which however, was +not due until the next May, but Mr. Deming, who by the way, was one of +the richest men in the State, was determined that I should not go till I +had paid him. I promised him that he should have the money when it was +due, if my life was spared, and he finally consented to let me go. When +it came due I walked to Farmington, fifteen miles, paid him and walked +back the same day, feeling relieved and happy. I obtained the job of +finishing the inside of a dwelling house, which gave me great +encouragement. The times were awful hard and but little business done at +anything. It would almost frighten a man to see a five dollar bill, they +were so very scarce. My work was about two miles from where I lived. My +wife was confined about this time with her first babe. I would rise +every morning two hours before day-light and prepare my breakfast, and +taking my dinner in a little pail, bid my good wife good-by for the day, +and start for my work, not returning till night. About this time the +Congregational Society employed a celebrated music teacher to conduct +the church singing, and I having always had a desire to sing sacred +music, joined his choir and would walk a long distance to attend the +singing schools at night after working hard all day. I was chosen +chorister after a few weeks, which encouraged me very much in the way of +singing, and was afterwards employed as a teacher to some extent, and +for a long time led the singing there and at Bristol where I afterwards +lived. The next summer was the cold one of 1816, which none of the old +people will ever forget, and which many of the young have heard a great +deal about. There was ice and snow in every month in the year. I well +remember on the seventh of June, while on my way to work, about a mile +from home, dressed throughout with thick woolen clothes and an overcoat +on, my hands got so cold that I was obliged to lay down my tools and put +on a pair of mittens which I had in my pocket. It snowed about an hour +that day. On the tenth of June, my wife brought in some clothes that had +been spread on the ground the night before, which were frozen stiff as +in winter. On the fourth of July, I saw several men pitching quoits in +the middle of the day with thick overcoats on, and the sun shining +bright at the same time. A body could not feel very patriotic in such +weather. I often saw men when hoeing corn, stop at the end of a row and +get in the sun by a fence to warm themselves. Not half enough corn +ripened that year to furnish seed for the next. I worked at my trade, +and had the job of finishing the inside of a three-story house, having +twenty-seven doors and a white oak matched floor to make, and did the +whole for eighty-five dollars. The same work could not now be done as I +did it for less than five hundred dollars. Such times as these were +indeed hard for poor young men. We did not have many carpets or costly +furniture and servants; but as winter approached times seemed to grow +harder and harder. No work could be had. I was in debt for my little +house and lot which I had bought only a short time before, near the +center of Plymouth, and had a payment to make on it the next spring. I +proposed going south to the city of Baltimore, to obtain work, and had +already made preparations to go and leave my young family for the +winter, at which I could not help feeling very sad, when I accidentally +heard that Mr. Eli Terry was about to fit up his factory (which was +built the year before,) for making his new Patent Shelf Clock. I thought +perhaps I could get a job with him, and started immediately to see Mr. +Terry, and closed a bargain with him at once. I never shall forget the +great good feeling that this bargain gave me. It was a pleasant kind of +business for me, and then I knew I could see my family once a week or +oftener if necessary.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap2"></a> CHAPTER II.</h3> +<h4 class="argument">PROGRESS OF CLOCK MAKING.—IMPROVEMENTS BY ELI TERRY AND OTHERS.—SHELF +CLOCK.</h4> +</div> + +<p>At the beginning of this book I have said that I would give to the public a + history of the AMERICAN CLOCK BUSINESS. I am now the oldest man living that + has had much to do with the manufacturing of clocks, and can, I believe, give + a more correct account than any other person. This great business has grown + almost from nothing during my remembrance. Nearly all of the clocks used in + this country are made or have been made in the small State of Connecticut, and + a heavy trade in them is carried on in foreign countries. The business or manufacture + of them has become so systematized of late that it has brought the prices exceedingly + low, and it has long been the astonishment of the whole world how they could + be made so cheap and yet be good. A gentleman called at my factory a few years + ago, when I was carrying on the business, who said he lived in London, and had + seen my clocks in that city, and declared that he was perfectly astonished at + the price of them, and had often remarked that if he ever came to this country + he would visit the factory and see for himself. After I had showed him all the + different processes it required to complete a clock, he expressed himself in + the strongest terms—he told me he had traveled a great deal in Europe, + and had taken a great interest in all kinds of manufactures, but had never seen + anything equal to this, and did not believe that there was anything made in + the known world that made as much show, and at the same time was as cheap and + useful as the brass clock which I was then manufacturing.</p> + +<hr /> +<p>The man above all others in his day for the wood clock was Eli Terry. He +was born in East Windsor, Conn., in April, 1772, and made a few old +fashioned hang-up clocks in his native place before he was twenty-one +years of age. He was a young man of great ingenuity and good native +talent. He moved to the town of Plymouth, Litchfield county, in 1793, +and commenced making a few of the same kind, working alone for several +years. About the year 1800, he might have had a boy or one or two young +men to help him. They would begin one or two dozen at a time, using no +machinery, but cutting the wheels and teeth with a saw and jack-knife. +Mr. Terry would make two or three trips a year to the New Country, as it +was then called, just across the North River, taking with him three or +four clocks, which he would sell for about twenty-five dollars apiece. +This was for the movement only. In 1807 he bought an old mill in the +southern part of the town, and fitted it up to make his clocks by +machinery. About this time a number of men in Waterbury associated +themselves together, and made a large contract with him, they furnishing +the stock, and he making the movements. With this contract and what he +made and sold to other parties, he accumulated quite a little fortune +for those times. The first five hundred clocks ever made by machinery in +the country were started at one time by Mr. Terry at this old mill in +1808, a larger number than had ever been begun at one time in the world. +Previous to this time the wheels and teeth had been cut out by hand; +first marked out with square and compasses, and then sawed with a fine +saw, a very slow and tedious process. Capt. Riley Blakeslee, of this +city, lived with Mr. Terry at that time, and worked on this lot of +clocks, cutting the teeth. Talking with Capt. Blakeslee a few days +since, he related an incident which happened when he was a boy, sixty +years ago, and lived on a farm in Litchfield. One day Mr. Terry came to +the house where he lived to sell a clock. The man with whom young +Blakeslee lived, left him to plow in the field and went to the house to +make a bargain for it, which he did, paying Mr. Terry in salt pork, a +part of which he carried home in his saddle-bags where he had carried +the clock. He was at that time very poor, but twenty-five years after +was worth $200,000, all of which he made in the clock business.</p> + +<p>Mr. Terry sold out his business to Seth Thomas and Silas Hoadley, two of +his leading workmen, in 1810. This establishment was the leading one for +several years, but other ones springing up in the vicinity, the +competition became so great that the prices were reduced from ten to +five dollars apiece for the bare movement. Daniel Clark, Zenas Cook and +Wm. Porter, started clock-making at Waterbury, and carried it on largely +for several years, but finally failed and went out of the business.</p> + +<p>Col. Wm. Leavenworth, of the same place, was in the business in 1810, +but failed, and moved to Albany, N.Y. A man by the name of Mark +Leavenworth made clocks for a long time, and in the latter part of his +life manufactured the Patent Shelf Clock.</p> + +<p>Two brothers, James and Lemuel Harrison, made a few before the year +1800, using no machinery, making their wheels with a saw and knife. +Sixty years ago, a man by the name of Gideon Roberts got up a few in the +old way: he was an excellent mechanic and made a good article. He would +finish three or four at a time and take them to New York State to sell. +I have seen him many times, when I was a small boy, pass my father's +house on horseback with a clock in each side of his saddle-bags, and a +third lashed on behind the saddle with the dials in plain sight. They +were then a great curiosity to me. Mr. Roberts had to give up this kind +of business; he could not compete with machinery. John Rich of Bristol +was in the business; also Levi Lewis, but gave it up in a few years. An +Ives family in Bristol were quite conspicuous as clock-makers. They were +good mechanics. One of them, Joseph Ives, has done a great deal towards +improving the eight day brass clock, which I shall speak about +hereafter.</p> + +<p>Chauncey Boardman, of Bristol, Riley Whiting, of Winsted, and Asa +Hopkins, of Northfield, were all engaged in the manufacture of the old +fashioned hang-up clock. Butler Dunbar, an old schoolmate of mine, and +father of Col. Edward Dunbar, of Bristol, was engaged with Dr. Titus +Merriman in the same business. They all gave up the business after a few +years.</p> + +<p>Mr. Eli Terry (in the year 1814,) invented a beautiful shelf clock made +of wood, which completely revolutionized the whole business. The making +of the old fashioned hang-up wood clock, about which I have been +speaking, passed out of existence. This patent article Mr. Terry +introduced, was called the Pillar Scroll Top Case. The pillars were +about twenty-one inches long, three-quarters of an inch at the base, and +three-eights at the top—resting on a square base, and the top finished +by a handsome cap. It had a large dial eleven inches square, and tablet +below the dial seven by eleven inches. This style of clock was liked +very much and was made in large quantities, and for several years. Mr. +Terry sold a right to manufacture them to Seth Thomas, for one thousand +dollars, which was thought to be a great sum. At first, Terry and Thomas +made each about six thousand clocks per year, but afterwards increased +to ten or twelve thousand. They were sold for fifteen dollars apiece +when first manufactured. I think that these two men cleared about one +hundred thousand dollars apiece, up to the year 1825. Mr. Thomas had +made a good deal of money on the old fashioned style, for he made a good +article, and had but little competition, and controlled most of the +trade.</p> + +<p>In 1818, Joseph Ives invented a metal clock, making the plates of iron +and the wheels of brass. The movement was very large, and required a +case about five feet long. This style was made for two or three years, +but not in large quantities.</p> + +<p>In the year 1825, the writer invented a new case, somewhat larger than +the Scroll Top, which was called the Bronze Looking-Glass Clock. This +was the richest looking and best clock that had ever been made, for the +price. They could be got up for one dollar less than the Scroll Top, yet +sold for two dollars more.</p> +</div> + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap3"></a>CHAPTER III.</h3> +<h4 class="argument">PERSONAL HISTORY CONTINUED.—COMMENCING BUSINESS.—SALE TO A +SOUTHERNER.—REMOVAL TO BRISTOL.—FIRST SERIOUS LOSS.</h4> +</div> + + +<p>I must now go back and give a history of myself, from the winter of +1816, to this time (1825.) As I said before, I went to work for Mr. +Terry, making the Patent Shelf Clock in the winter of 1816. Mr. Thomas +had been making them for about two years, doing nearly all of the labor +on the case by hand. Mr. Terry in the mean time being a great mechanic +had made many improvements in the way of making the cases. Under his +directions I worked a long time at putting up machinery and benches. We +had a circular saw, the first one in the town, and which was considered +a great curiosity. In the course of the winter he drew another plan of +the Pillar Scroll Top Case with great improvements over the one which +Thomas was then making. I made the first one of the new style that was +ever produced in that factory, which became so celebrated for making the +patent case for more than ten years after.</p> + +<p>When my time was out in the spring, I bought some parts of clocks, +mahogany, veneers, etc., and commenced in a small shop, business for +myself. I made the case, and bought the movements, dials and glass, +finishing a few at a time. I found a ready sale for them. I went on in +this small way for a few years, feeling greatly animated with my +prosperity, occasionally making a payment on my little house. I heard +one day of a man in Bristol, who did business in South Carolina, who +wanted to buy a few clocks to take to that market with him. I started at +once over to see him, and soon made a bargain with him to deliver twelve +wood clocks at twelve dollars apiece. I returned home greatly encouraged +by the large order, and went right to work on them. I had them finished +and boxed ready for shipping in a short time. I had agreed to deliver +them on a certain day and was to receive $144 in cash. I hired an old +horse and lumber wagon of one of my neighbors, loaded the boxes and took +an early start for Bristol. I was thinking all the way there of the +large sum that I was to receive, and was fearful that something might +happen to disappoint me. I arrived at Bristol early in the forenoon and +hurried to the house of my customer, and told him I had brought the the +clocks as agreed. He said nothing but went into another room with his +son. I thought surely that something was wrong and that I should not get +the wished-for money, but after a while the old gentleman came back and +sat down by the table. "Here," he says, "is your money, and a heap of +it, too." It did look to me like a large sum, and took us a long time to +count it. This was more than forty years ago, and money was very scarce. +I took it with a trembling hand, and securing it safely in my pocket, +started immediately for home. This was a larger sum than I had ever had +at one time, and I was much alarmed for fear that I should be robbed of +my treasure before I got home. I thought perhaps it might be known that +I was to receive a large sum for clocks, and that some robbers might be +watching in a lonely part of the road and take it from me, but not +meeting any, I arrived safely home, feeling greatly encouraged and +happy. I told my wife that I would make another payment on our house, +which I did with a great deal of satisfaction. After this I was so +anxious to get along with my work that I did not so much as go out into +the street for a week at a time. I would not go out of the gate from the +time I returned from church one Sunday till the next. I loved to work as +well as I did to eat. I remember once, when at school, of chopping a +whole load of wood, for a great lazy boy, for one penny, and I used to +chop all the wood I could get from the families in the neighborhood, +moonlight nights, for very small sums. The winter after I made this +large sale, I took about one dozen of the Pillar Scroll Top Clocks, and +went to the town of Wethersfield to sell them. I hired a man to carry me +over there with a lumber wagon, who returned home. I would take one of +these clocks under each arm and go from house to house and offer them +for sale. The people seemed to be well pleased with them, and I sold +them for eighteen dollars apiece. This was good luck for me. I sold my +last one on Saturday afternoon. There had been a fall of snow the night +before of about eight or ten inches which ended in a rain, and made very +bad walking. Here I was, twenty-five miles from home, my wife was +expecting me, and I felt that I could not stay over Sunday. I was +anxious to tell my family of my good luck that we might rejoice +together. I started to walk the whole distance, but it proved to be the +hardest physical undertaking that I ever experienced. It was bedtime +when I reached Farmington, only one-third the distance, wallowing in +snow porridge all the way. I did not reach home till near Sunday +morning, more dead than alive. I did not go to church that day, which +made many wonder what had become of me, for I was always expected to be +in the singers' seat on Sunday. I did not recover from the effects of +that night-journey for a long time. Soon after this occurrence, I began +to increase my little business, and and employed my old joiner "boss" +and one of his apprentices; bought my mahogany in the plank and sawed my +own vaneers [<i>sic.</i>] with a hand-saw. I engaged a man +with a one horse wagon to go to New York after a load of mahogany, and +went with him to select it. The roads were very muddy, and we were +obliged to walk the whole distance home by the side of the wagon. I +worked along in this small way until the year 1821, when I sold my house +and lot, which I had almost worshipped, to Mr. Terry; it was worth six +hundred dollars. He paid me one hundred wood clock movements, with the +dials, tablets, glass and weights. I went over to Bristol to see a man +by the name of George Mitchell, who owned a large two story house, with +a barn and seventeen acres of good land in the southern part of the +town, which he said he would sell and take his pay in clocks. I asked +him how many of the Terry Patent Clocks he would sell it for; he said +two hundred and fourteen. I told him I would give it, and closed the +bargain at once. I finished up the hundred parts which I had got from +Mr. Terry, exchanged cases with him for more, obtained some credit, and +in this way made out the quantity for Mitchell.</p> + +<p>The next summer I lost seven hundred and forty dollars by Moses Galpin +of Bethlem. Five or six others with myself trusted this man Galpin with +a large quantity of clocks, and he took them to Louisiana to sell in the +fall of 1821. In the course of the winter he was taken sick and died +there. One of his pedlars came home the next spring without one dollar +in money; the creditors were called together to see what had better be +done. The note that he had given me the fall before was due in July, and +I as much expected it as I did the sun to rise and set. Here was trouble +indeed; it was a great sum of money to lose, and what to do I didn't +know. The creditors had several meetings and finally concluded to send +out a man to look after the property that was scattered through the +state. He could not go without money. We thought if we furnished him +with means to go and finish up the business, we should certainly get +enough to pay the original debt. It was agreed that we should raise a +certain sum, and that each one should pay in proportion to the amount of +his claim. My part was one hundred dollars, and it was a hard job for me +to raise so large a sum after my great loss. When it came fall and time +for him to start, I managed in some way to have it ready. This man's +name was Isaac Turner, about fifty years old, and said to be very +respectable. He started out and traveled all over the state, but found +every thing in the worst kind of shape. The men to whom Galpin had sold +would not pay when they heard that he was dead. Mr. Turner was gone from +home ten months, but instead of his returning with money for us, we were +obliged to pay money that he had borrowed to get home with, besides his +expenses for the ten months that he was gone. This was harder for me +than any of the others, and was indeed a bitter pill. As it was my first +heavy loss I could not help feeling very bad.</p> + +<p>In the winter and spring of 1822, I built a small shop in Bristol, for +making the cases only, as all of the others made the movements. The +first circular saw ever used there was put up by myself in 1822, and +this was the commencement of making cases by machinery in that town, +which has since been so renowned for its clock productions. I went on +making cases in a small way for a year or two, sometimes putting in a +few movements and selling them, but not making much money. The clocks of +Terry and Thomas sold first rate, and it was quite difficult to buy any +of the movements, as no others were making the Patent Clock at that +time. I was determined to have some movements to case, and went to +Chauncey Boardman, who had formerly made the old fashioned hang-up +movements, and told him I wanted him to make me two hundred of his kind +with such alterations as I should suggest. He said he would make them +for me. I had them altered and made so as to take a case about four feet +long, which I made out of pine, richly stained and varnished. This made +a good clock for time and suited farmers first rate.</p> + +<p>In the spring of 1824, I went into company with two men by the name of +Peck, from Bristol. We took two hundred of these movements and a few +tools in two one horse wagons and started East, intending to stop in the +vicinity of Boston. We stopped at a place about fifteen miles from there +called East Randolph; after looking about a little, we concluded to +start our business there and hired a joiners' shop of John Adams, a +cousin of J.Q. Adams. We then went to Boston and bought a load of +lumber, and commenced operations. I was the case-maker of our concern, +and 'pitched into' the pine lumber in good earnest. I began four cases +at a time and worked like putting out fire on them. My partners were +waiting for some to be finished so that they could go out and sell. In +two or three days I had got them finished and they started with them, +and I began four more. In a day or two they returned home having sold +them at sixteen dollars <i>each</i>. This good fortune animated me very +much. I worked about fourteen or fifteen hours per day, and could make +about four cases and put in the glass, movements and dials. We worked on +in this way until we had finished up the two hundred, and sold them at +an average of sixteen dollars apiece. We had done well and returned home +with joyful hearts in the latter part of June. On arriving home I found +my little daughter about five years old quite sick. In a week after she +died. I deeply felt the loss of my little daughter, and every 7th of +July it comes fresh into my mind.</p> + +<p>In the fall of 1824, I formed a company with my brother, Noble Jerome, +and Elijah Darrow, for the manufacturing of clocks, and began making a +movement that required a case about six or eight inches longer than the +Terry Patent. We did very well at this for a year or two, during which +time I invented the Bronze Looking Glass Clock, which soon +revolutionized the whole business. As I have said before, it could be +made for one dollar less and sold for two dollars more than the Patent +Case; they were very showy and a little longer. With the introduction of +this clock in the year 1825, closed the second chapter of the history of +the Yankee Clock business.</p> +</div> + + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap4"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">THE BRONZE LOOKING GLASS CLOCK.—CHURCH AT BRISTOL.—PANIC OF 1837.— +CLOCKS AT THE SOUTH.—THE ONE DAY BRASS CLOCK.</h4> +</div> + +<p>With the introduction of the Bronze Looking-Glass Clock, the business +seemed to revive in all the neighboring towns, but more especially in +Plymouth and Bristol. Both Mr. Terry and Mr. Thomas, did and said much +in disparagement of my new invention, and tried to discourage the +pedlars from buying of me, but they did as men do now-a-days, buy where +they can do the best and make the most money. This new clock was liked +very much in the southern market. I have heard of some of these being +sold in Mississippi and Lousianna [<i>sic.</i>] as high as +one hundred and one hundred and fifteen dollars, and a great many at +ninety dollars, which was a good advance on the first cost. Mr. Thomas +gave out that he would not make them any how, he did not want to follow +Jerome, but did finally come to it, making only a few at first, but +running them down in the mean time and praising his old case. He finally +gave up making the Scroll Top and made my new kind altogether.</p> + +<p>Samuel Terry, a brother of Eli, came to Bristol about this time, and +commenced making this kind of clock.</p> + +<p>Several others began to make them—Geo. Mitchell and his brother in-law +Rollin Atkins went into it, also Riley Whiting of Winsted. The business +increased very rapidly between 1827 and 1837. During these ten years +Jeromes and Barrow made more than any other company. The two towns of +Plymouth and Bristol grew and improved very rapidly; many new houses +were built, and every thing looked prosperous.</p> + +<p>In 1831, a new church was built in Bristol, and, it is said, through the +introduction of this Bronze Looking Glass Clock. Jeromes and Barrow paid +one-third of the cost of its erection. The writer obtained every dollar +of the subscription. The Hon. Tracy Peck and myself first started this +project, which ended in building this fine church which was finished and +dedicated in August, 1832. The Rev. David Lewis Parmelee preached the +dedication sermon, and was the settled minister there. I was greatly +interested in his preaching for ten years. He has for the last nineteen +years preached at South Farms now the town of Morris. This Mr. Parmelee +was a merchant till he was thirty years old, and was then converted in +some mysterious manner, as St. Paul was, and left his business to preach +the gospel. He proved to be one of the soundest preachers in the land, +and I have no doubt but he will be one of the bright and shining lights +in heaven. Oh! what happy days I saw during those ten years, little +dreaming of the great troubles that were before me, or that I should +experience in after life, which are now resting so heavily upon me, many +times seeming greater than I can bear. But such is life.</p> + +<p>About this time, also, Chauncey and Lawson C. Ives, two highly +respectable men, built a factory in Bristol for the purpose of making an +eight day brass clock. This clock was invented by Joseph Ives, a brother +of Chauncey, and sold for about twenty dollars. The manufacture of these +was carried on very successfully for a few years by them, but in 1836, +their business was closed up, they having made about one hundred +thousand dollars. Soon after this, in 1837, came the great panic and +break down of business which extended all over the country. Clock makers +and almost every one else stopped business. I should mention that +another company made the eight day brass clock previous to 1837, Erastus +and Harvey Case and John Birge. Their clocks were retailed mostly in the +southern market. They made perhaps four thousand a year. The Ives Co., +made about two thousand, but both went out of business in 1837, and it +was thought that clock making was about done with in Conn.</p> + +<p>The third chapter, as I have divided it, was now closing up. Wood clocks +were good for time, but it was a slow job to properly make them, and +difficult to procure wood just right for wheels and plates, and it took +a whole year to season it. No factory had made over <i>Ten</i> thousand +in a year; they were always classed with wooden nutmegs and wooden +cucumber seeds, and could not be introduced into other countries to any +advantage. But this was not the only trouble; being on water long as +they would have to be, would swell the wood of the wheels and ruin the +clock. Here then we had the eight day brass clock costing about twenty +dollars; the idea had always been that a brass clock must be an eight +day, and all one day should be of wood, and the plan of a brass one day +had never been thought of.</p> + +<p>In 1835, the southern people were greatly opposed to the Yankee pedlars +coming into their states, especially the clock pedlars, and the licences +were raised so high by their Legislatures that it amounted to almost a +prohibition. Their laws were that any goods made in their own States +could be sold without licence. Therefore clocks to be profitable must be +made in those states. Chauncey and Noble Jerome started a factory in +Richmond Va., making the cases and parts at Bristol, Connecticut, and +packing them with the dials, glass &c. We shipped them to Richmond and +took along workmen to put them together. The people were highly pleased +with the idea of having clocks all made in their State. The old planters +would tell the pedlars they meant to go to Richmond and see the +wonderful machinery there must be to produce such articles and would no +doubt have thought the tools we had there were sufficient to make a +clock. We carried on this kind of business for two or three years and +did very well at it, though it was unpleasant. Every one knew it was all +a humbug trying to stop the pedlars from coming to their State. We +removed from Richmond to Hamburg, S.C., and manufactured in the same +way. This was in 1835 and '36.</p> + +<p>There was another company doing the same kind of business at Augusta, +Geo., by the name Case, Dyer, Wadsworth & Co., and Seth Thomas was +making the cases and movements for them. The hard times came down on us +and we really thought that clocks would no longer be made. Our firm +thought we could make them if any body could, but like the others felt +discouraged and disgusted with the whole business as it was then. I am +sure that I had lost, from 1821 to this time, more than one hundred +thousand <i>dollars</i>, and felt very much discouraged in consequence. +Our company had a good deal of unsettled business in Virginia and South +Carolina, and I started in the fall of 1837 for those places. Arriving +at Richmond, I had a strong notion of going into the marl business. I +had been down into Kent county, the summer before, where I saw great +mountains of this white marl composed of shells of clams and oysters +white as chalk. I had sent one vessel load of this to New Haven the year +before. At Richmond I was looking after our old accounts, settling up, +collecting notes and picking up some scattered clocks.</p> + +<p>One night I took one of these clocks into my room and placing it on the +table, left a light burning near it and went to bed. While thinking over +my business troubles and disappointments, I could not help feeling very +much depressed. I said to myself I will not give up yet, I know more +about the clock business than anything else. That minute I was looking +at the wood clock on the table and it came into my mind instantly that +there could be a cheap one day brass clock that would take the place of +the wood clock. I at once began to figure on it; the case would cost no +more, the dials, glass, and weights and other fixtures would be the +same, and the size could be reduced. I lay awake nearly all night +thinking this new thing over. I knew there was a fortune in it. Many a +sensible man has since told me that if I could have secured the sole +right for making them for ten years, I could easily have made a million +of dollars. The more I looked at this new plan, the better it appeared. +My business took me to South Carolina before I could return home. I had +now enough to think of day and night; this one day brass clock was +constantly on my mind; I was drawing plans and contriving how they could +be made best. I traveled most of the way from Richmond by stage. +Arriving at Augusta, Geo., I called on the Connecticut men who were +finishing wood clocks for that market, and told Mr. Dyer the head man, +that I had got up, or could get up something when I got home that would +run out all the wood clocks in the country, Thomas's and all; he laughed +at me quite heartily. I told him that was all right, and asked him to +come to Bristol when he went home and I would show him something that +would astonish him. He promised that he would, and during the next +summer when he called at my place, I showed him a shelf full of them +running, which he acknowledged to be the best he had ever seen.</p> + +<p>I arrived home from the south the 28th of January, and told my brother +who was a first-rate clock maker what I had been thinking about since I +had been gone. He was much pleased with my plan, thought it a first rate +idea, and said he would go right to work and get up the movement, which +he perfected in a short time so that it was the best clock that had ever +been made in this or any other country. There have been more of this +same kind manufactured than of any other in the United States. What I +originated that night on my bed in Richmond, has given work to thousands +of men yearly for more than twenty years, built up the largest +manufactories in New England, and put more than a million of dollars +into the pockets of the brass makers,—"but there is not one of them +that remembers <i>Joseph</i>."</p> +</div> + + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap5"></a>CHAPTER V.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">SUCCESS OF THE NEW INVENTION.—INTRODUCTION OF CLOCKS IN ENGLAND.—TERRY +FAMILY, ETC.</h4> +</div> + +<p>We went on very prosperously making the new clock, and it was admired +by every body. In the year 1839, some of my neighbors and a few of my +leading workmen had a great desire to get into the same kind of +business. We knew competition amongst Yankees was almost sure to kill +business and proposed to have them come in with us and have a share of +the profits. An arrangement to this effect was made and we went on in +this way until the fall of 1840. I found they were much annoyance and +bother to me, and so bought them all out, but had to give them one +hundred per cent. for the use of their money. Some of them had not paid +in anything, but I had to pay them the same profits I did the rest, to +get rid of them. One man had put in three thousand dollars for which I +paid him six thousand. I also bought out my brother Noble Jerome, who +had been in company with me for a long time, and carried on the whole +business alone, which seemed to be rapidly improving.</p> + +<p>I made in 1841, thirty-five thousand dollars clear profits. Men would +come and deposit money with me before their orders were finished. This +successful state of things set all of the wood clock makers half crazy, +and they went into it one after another as fast as they could, and of +course run down the price very fast—"Yankee-like." I had been thinking +for two or three years of introducing my clocks into England, and had +availed myself of every opportunity to get posted on that subject; when +I met Englishmen in New York and other places, I would try to find out +by them what the prospects would be for selling Yankee clocks in their +country. I ascertained that there were no cheap metal clocks used or +known there, the only cheap timepiece they had was a Dutch hang-up wood +clock.</p> + +<p>In 1842, I determined to make the venture of sending a consignment of +brass clocks to Old England. I made a bargain with Epaphroditus Peck, a +very talented young man of Bristol, a son of Hon. Tracy Peck, to take +them out, and sent my son—Chauncey Jerome, Jr. with him. All of the +first cargo consisted of the O.G. one day brass clocks. As soon as it +was known by the neighboring clock-makers, they laughed at me, and +ridiculed the idea of sending clocks to England where labor was so +cheap. They said that they never would interfere with Jerome in that +visionary project, but no sooner had I got them well introduced, after +spending thousands of dollars to effect it, than they had all forgotten +what they said about my folly, and one after another sent over the same +goods to compete with me and run down the price. As I have said before, +wood clocks could never have been exported to Europe from this country, +for many reasons. They would have been laughed at, and looked upon with +suspicion as coming from the wooden nutmeg country, and classed as the +same. They could not endure a long voyage across the water without +swelling the parts and rendering them useless as time-keepers; +experience had taught us this, as many wood clocks on a passage to the +southern market, had been rendered unfit for use for this very reason. +Metal clocks can be sent any where without injury. Millions have been +sent to Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, Palestine, and in fact, +to every part of the world; and millions of dollars brought into this +country by this means, and I think it not unfair to claim the honor of +inventing and introducing this low-price time-piece which has given +employment to so many of our countrymen, and has also, been so useful to +the world at large. No family is so poor but that they can have a +time-piece which is both useful and ornamental. They can be found in +every civilized portion of the globe. Meeting a sea captain one day, he +told me that on landing at the lonely island of St. Helena, the first +thing that he noticed on entering a house, was my name on the face of a +brass clock. Many years ago a missionary (Mr. Ruggles,) at the Sandwich +Islands, told me that he had one of my clocks in his house, the first +one that had ever been on the islands. Travelers have mentioned seeing +them in the city of Jerusalem, in many parts of Egypt, and in fact, +every where, which accounts could not but be interesting and gratifying +to me.</p> + +<p>It was a long and tedious undertaking to introduce my first cargo in +England. Mr. Peck and my son wrote me a great many times the first year, +that they never could be sold there, the prejudice against American +manufactures was so great that they would not buy them. Although very +much discouraged, I kept writing them to 'stick to it.' They were once +turned out of a store in London and threatened if they offered their +"Yankee clocks" again to the English people "who made clocks for the +world;" "they were good for nothing or they could not be offered so +cheap." They were finally introduced in this way; the young men +persuaded a merchant to take two into his store for sale. He reluctantly +gave his consent, saying he did not believe they would run at all; they +set the two running and left the price of them. On calling the next day +to see how they were getting along, and what the London merchant thought +of them, they were surprised to find them both gone. On asking what had +become of them, they were told that two men came in and liked their +looks and bought them. The merchant said he did not think any one would +ever buy them, but told them they might bring in four more; "I will see" +he says, "if I can sell any <i>more</i> of your Yankee clocks." They +carried them in and calling the next day, found them all gone. The +merchant then told them to bring in a dozen. These went off in a short +time, and not long after, this same merchant bought two hundred at once, +and other merchants began to think they could make some money on these +Yankee clocks and the business began to improve very rapidly. There are +always men enough who are ready to enter into a business after it is +started and looks favorable. A pleasing incident occurred soon after we +first started. The Revenue laws of England are (or were, at that time) +that the owner of property passing through the Custom-house shall put +such a price on his goods as he pleases, knowing that the government +officers have a right to take the property by adding ten per cent. to +the invoiced price.</p> + +<p>I had always told my young men over there to put a fair price on the +clocks, which they did; but the officers thought they put them +altogether too low, so they made up their minds that they would take a +lot, and seized one ship-load, thinking we would put the prices of the +next cargo at higher rates. They paid the cash for this cargo, which +made a good sale for us. A few days after, another invoice arrived which +our folks entered at the same prices as before; but they were again +taken by the officers paying us cash and ten per cent. in addition, +which was very satisfactory to us. On the arrival of the third lot, they +began to think they had better let the Yankees sell their own goods and +passed them through unmolested, and came to the conclusion that we could +make clocks much better and cheaper than their own people. Their +performance has been considered a first-rate joke to say the least. +There will, in all probability, be millions of clocks sold in that +country, and we are the people who will furnish all Europe with all +their common cheap ones as time lasts.</p> + +<p>All of the spring and eight day clocks have grown out of the one day +weight clock. There can now be as good an eight day clock bought for +three or four dollars, as could be had for eighteen or twenty dollars +before I got up the one day clock. Mr. Peck, who went to England with my +son, died in London on the 20th, September, 1857; my son died in this +country in July, 1853: so they have gone the way of all the earth, and I +shall have to follow them soon. They were instrumental in laying the +foundation of a large and prosperous business which is now being +successfully carried on. The duties on clocks to England have been +recently removed, which will result to the advantage of persons now in +the business. The many difficulties which we had to battle and contend +with are all overcome. When I invented this one day brass clock, I for +the first time put on the zinc dial which is now universally used, and +is a great improvement on the wood dial, both in appearance and in cost. +This simple idea has been of immense value to all clock-makers.</p> + +<p>In the year 1821, when I moved to Bristol, no one was making clocks in +that town; the business had all passed away from there and was carried +on in Plymouth. The little shop I had put up had no machinery in it at +that time. I soon began to make so many cases that I wanted some better +way to get my veneers than to saw them by hand. I found a small building +on a stream some distance from my shop which I secured, with the +privilege of putting a circular saw in the upper part, but which I could +not use till night—the power being wanted for the other machinery +during the day. I have worked there a great many nights till twelve +o'clock and even two in the morning, sawing veneers for my men to use +the next day. I sawed my hand nearly off one night when alone at this +old mill, and was so faint by the loss of blood that I could hardly +reach home. I always worked hard myself and managed in the most +economical manner possible. In 1825, we built a small factory on the +stream below the shop where I sawed my veneers two or three years +before, but there was no road to it or bridge across the stream. I had +crossed it for years on a pole, running the risk many times when the +water was high, of being drowned, but it seems I was not to die in that +way, but to live to help others and make a slave of myself for them. In +1826, we petitioned the town to lay out a road by our factory and build +a bridge, which was seriously objected to. We finally told them that if +they would lay out the road, we would build the bridge and pay for one +half of the land for the road, which, after a great deal of trouble, was +agreed to, and proved to be of great benefit to the town. Our business +was growing very rapidly and a number of houses were built up along the +new road and about our factory. I should here mention that Mr. Eli +Terry, Jr., when I had got the Bronze Looking-Glass Clock well a going, +moved from Plymouth Hollow two miles east of Plymouth Centre, (now the +village of Terryville,) where he built another factory and went into +business. His father retiring about this time, he took all of his old +customers. He was a good business man and made money very fast. He was +taken sick and died when about forty years old, leaving an estate of +about $75,000. His brother, Silas B. Terry, is now living, a Christian +gentleman, as well as a scientific clock-maker, but he has not succeeded +so well as his brother in making money. Henry Terry of Plymouth, who is +another son of Mr. Eli Terry, was engaged in the clock business thirty +years ago, but left it for the woolen business. I think that he is sorry +that he did not continue making clocks. He is a man of great +intelligence and understands the principles of a right tariff as well as +any man in Connecticut. His father was a great man, a natural +philosopher, and almost an Eli Whitney in mechanical ingenuity. If he +had turned his mind towards a military profession, he would have made +another General Scott, or towards politics, another Jefferson; or, if he +had not happened to have gone to the town of Plymouth, I do not believe +there would ever have been a clock made there. He was the great +originator of wood clock-making by machinery in Connecticut. I like to +see every man have his due. Thomas and many others who have made their +fortunes out of his ingenuity, were very willing to talk against him, +for they must, of course, act out human nature. Seth Thomas was in many +respects a first-rate man. He never made any improvements in +manufacturing; his great success was in money making. He always minded +his own business, was very industrious, persevering, honest, his word +was as good as his note, and he always determined to make a good article +and please his customers. He had several sons who are said to be smart +business men.</p> + +<p>I knew Mrs. Thomas well when I was a boy, fourteen years old. She is one +of the best of women, and is now the widow of one of the richest men in +the state. The families of Terry and Thomas are extensively known, +throughout the United States. Mr. Thomas died two years ago at the age +of seventy-five. He was born in West Haven, about four miles from New +Haven, and learned the joiners' trade in Wolcott, and worked in that +region and in Plymouth five or six years, building houses and barns. I +waited on him when he built a barn in Plymouth, carrying boards and +shingles. He soon after went into the clock business in which he +remained during life. Mr. Terry died in 1853, at the advanced age of +eighty-one.</p> +</div> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap6"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">OPERATIONS OF FRANK MERRILLS—A SAD HISTORY.—BUSINESS TROUBLES, ETC.</h4> +</div> + +<p>In the fall, of the year 1840, a young man by the name of Franklin +Merrills was introduced to me as one the smartest and likeliest business +men in the whole country. It was said that he could trade in horses, +cattle, sheep, wool, flour, or any thing else, and make money. He +belonged to one of the first families in Litchfield county. I thought by +his appearance and recommendations that he would be a good customer for +me and I sold him a thousand dollars worth of clocks to begin with. He +gave me his four months' note which was promptly paid when due. He hired +three pedlars and went with them into Dutchess county New York, where +they sold the clocks very fast. The one-day O.G. brass clock was a new +thing to them, first-rate for time, and they readily went off for +fifteen and twenty dollars apiece. I sold them to him for six dollars +apiece, and it appeared, at this rate, that he could make a fortune in a +few years. His credit became established for any amount, and he soon +began to want clocks about twice as fast as at first. A man by the name +of Bates transported them for him in a large two-horse wagon from my +place to Washington Hollow, about twelve miles east of Poughkeepsie. Mr. +Bates lived in the same neighborhood where Frank was brought up in New +Hartford, Conn. Every week or two he would go out with a load. Things +moved on in this seemingly prosperous way for some time. One day I +accidentally heard that parties in New York with whom I had never dealt, +were selling my clocks at very reduced prices, and I began to mistrust +that Frank had been selling to them at less than cost. On seeing him, he +told me I was greatly mistaken and smoothed down the matter so that it +appeared satisfactory to me. He had at this time got into debt about +eighteen thousand dollars. One day he went to Hartford and bought seven +thousand dollars worth of cotton cloth from a shrewd house in that city, +telling them a very fine story that he had a vessel which would sail for +South America the next day, and that the cloth must go down immediately +on the boat. He told them who his father was, and promised to bring his +endorsement in a few days, which was satisfactory to them, and they let +him have the goods. But the paper did not come. One of the firm went to +New York and there found some of the goods in an Auction store, and a +part of them sold. He got out a writ and arrested Frank. His father was +sent for, and settled this matter satisfactorily. I thought I would go +up to New Hartford and see Capt. Merrills about Frank's affairs—he told +me all about them, and said he had been looking over Frank's business +very thoroughly, and found that a large amount was owing him and that +Frank had shown him on his book invoices of a large amount of goods that +he had shipped to South America, besides several large accounts and +notes—one of eight thousand dollars. He told me that he thought after +paying me and others whom he owed, there would be as much as twenty +thousand dollars left. This was very satisfactory to me, though I knew +nothing about the cotton cloth speculation at that time. If I had, it +would have saved me a great deal of trouble. This was in February, 1844. +There was a note of his lying over, unpaid, in the Exchange Bank in +Hartford, of two thousand dollars. I had moved a few weeks before this +to New Haven. In the latter part of February, I went down to New York to +see if he could let me have the two thousand to take up the note; he +said he could in a day or two. I told him I would stay till Saturday. On +that day he was not able to pay me, but would certainly get it Monday, +and urged me to stay over, which I did. He took me into a large +establishment with him, and, as I have since had reason to believe, +talked with parties who were interested with him, about consigning to +them a large quantity of tallow, beeswax and wool which he owned in the +West. He told me that he had some trouble with his business, and that +all he wanted was a little help; he said he had a great deal of property +in New York State, and that if he could raise some money, he could make +a very profitable speculation on a lot of wool which he knew about. He +told me that if I would give him my notes and acceptances to a certain +amount, he would secure me with the obligations of Henry Martin, one of +the best farmers there was in Dutchess county. He also gave the names of +several merchants in New York who were acquainted with the rich farmers. +I called on them and all spoke very highly of him. I thought, there +could be no great risk in doing it, for my confidence in Frank was very +great. I thought, of course, this would insure my claim of eighteen +thousand dollars, but it eventually proved to be a deep-laid plot to +swindle me. Frank had no notes or accounts that were of any value; they +were all bogus and got up to deceive his poor old father and others. He +had no property shipped to South America. It was all found out, when too +late, that he had ruined himself by gambling and bad company, often +losing a thousand dollars in one night. He was arrested, taken before +the Grand Jury of New York, committed to jail for swindling, and died in +a few months after. He ruined his father, who was a very cautious man, +ruined three rich farmers of Dutchess county, and came very near ruining +me. It was a sad history and mortifying to a great many. I was advised +by my counsel, Seth P. Staples of New York, to contest the whole thing +in law. I had five or six suits on my hands at one time, and it was nine +years before I was clear from them. What he owed me for clocks, and what +I had to pay on notes and acceptances and the expenses of law, amounted +to more than <i>Forty Thousand Dollars</i>. Nine years of wakeful nights +of trouble, grief and mortification, for this profligate young man! +There never was a man more honest than I was in my intentions to help +him in his troubles, and I am quite sure no man got so badly swindled. +Every clock maker in the state would have been glad to have sold to him +as I did. This young man was well brought up, but bad company ruined him +and others with him. This life seems to be full of trials. In latter +years I have remembered what an old man often told me when a boy. +"Chauncey," he says, "don't you know there are a thousand troubles and +difficulties?" I told him I did not know there were; "well," he says, +"you will find out if you live long enough." I have lived long enough to +see ten thousand troubles, and have found out that the saying of the old +man is true. I have narrated but a small part of my business troubless +[<i>sic.</i>] in this brief history. One of the most trying +things to me now, is to see how I am looked upon by the community since +I lost my property. I never was any better when I owned it than I am +now, and never behaved any better. But how different is the feeling +towards you, when your neighbors can make nothing more out of you, +politically or pecuniarily. It makes no difference what, or how much you +have done for them heretofore, you are passed by without notice now. It +is all money and business, business and money which make the man +now-a-days; success is every thing, and it makes very little difference +how, or what means he uses to obtain it. How many we see every day that +have ten times as much property as they will ever want, who will do any +thing but steal to add to their estate, for somebody to fight about when +they are dead. I see men every day sixty and seventy years old, building +up and pulling down, and preparing, as one might reasonably suppose, to +live here forever. Where will they be in a few years? I often think of +this. My experience has been great,—I have seen many a man go up and +then go down, and many persons who, but a few years ago, were surrounded +with honors and wealth, have passed away. The saying of the wise man is +true—all is "vanity of vanities" here below. It is now a time of great +action in the world but not much reflection.</p> + +<p>An incident of my boy-hood has just come into my mind. When an +apprentice boy, I was at work with my "boss" on a house in Torringford, +very near the residence of Rev. Mr. Mills, the father of Samuel J. Mills +the missionary. This was in 1809, fifty-one years ago. This young man +was preparing to go out on his missionary voyage. How wickedly we are +taught when we are young! I thought he was a mean, lazy fellow. He was +riding out every day, as I now suppose, to add to his strength. An old +maid lived in the house where I did who perfectly hated him, calling him +a good-for-nothing fellow. I, of course, supposed that she knew all +about him and that it was so. I am a friend to the missionary cause and +have been so a great many years. How many times that wrong impression +which I got from that old maid has passed through my mind, and how sorry +I have always been for that prejudice. The father of Samuel J. Mills was +a very eccentric man and anecdotes of him have been repeatedly told. I +attended his church the summer I was in Torringford. He was the +strangest man I ever saw, and would say so many laughable things in his +sermon that it was next to impossible for me to keep from laughing out +loud. His congregation was composed mostly of farmers, and in hot +weather they appeared to be very sleepy. The boys would sometimes play +and make a good deal of noise, and one Sunday he stopped in the middle +of his sermon and looking around in the gallery, said in a loud voice, +"boys, if you don't stop your noise and play, you will certainly wake +your parents that are asleep below!" I think by this time the good +people were all awake; it amused me very much and I have often seen the +story printed. Many a time when I think of Mr. Mills, an anecdote of him +comes into my mind, and I presume that a great many have heard of the +same. He was once traveling through the town of Litchfield where there +was at that time a famous law school. Two or three of the students were +walking a little way out of town, when who should they see coming along +the road but old Mr. Mills. They supposing him to be some old "codger," +thought they would have a little fun with him. When they met him one of +them asked him "if he had heard the news?" "No," he says, "what is it?" +"The devil is dead." "Is he?" says Mr. Mills, "I am sorry for you—poor +fatherless children, what will become of you?" I understand that they +let him pass without further conversation. He was a good man and looked +very old to me, as he always wore a large white wig.</p> +</div> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap7"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">REMOVAL TO NEW HAVEN.—FACTORY AT BRISTOL DESTROYED BY FIRE.—OTHER +TROUBLES, ETC.</h4> +</div> + +<p>In the winter of 1844, I moved to the city of New Haven with the +expectation of making my cases there. I had fitted up two large +factories in Bristol for making brass movements only the year before, +and had spared no pains to have them just right. My factory in New Haven +was fitted up expressly for making the cases and boxing the finished +clocks; the movements were packed, one hundred in a box, and sent to New +Haven where they were cased and shipped. Business moved on very +prosperously for about one year. On the 23d of April 1845, about the +middle of the afternoon one of my factories in Bristol took fire, as it +was supposed by some boys playing with matches at the back side of the +building, which set fire to some shavings under the floor. It seemed +impossible to put it out and it proved to be the most disastrous fire +that ever occurred in a country town. There were seven or eight +buildings destroyed, together with all the machinery for making clocks, +which was very costly and extensive. There were somewhere between fifty +and seventy-five thousand brass movements in the works, a large number +of them finished, and worth one dollar apiece. The loss was about fifty +thousand dollars and the insurance only ten thousand. This was another +dark day for me. I had been very sick all winter with the Typhus fever, +and from Christmas to April had not been able to go to Bristol. On the +same night of the fire, a man came to tell me of the great loss. I was +in another part of the house when he arrived with the message, but my +wife did not think it prudent to inform me then, but in the latter part +of the night she introduced a conversation that was calculated to +prepare my mind for the sad news, and in a cautious manner informed me. +I was at that time in the midst of my troubles with Frank Merrills, had +been sick for a long time, and at one time was not expected to recover. +I was not then able to attend to business and felt much depressed on +that account. It was hard indeed to grapple with so much in one year, +but I tried to make the best of it and to feel that these trials, +troubles and disappointments sent upon us in this world, are blessings +in disguise. Oh! if we could really feel this to be so in all of our +troubles, it would be well for us in this world and better in the next. +I never have seen the real total depravity of the human heart show +itself more plainly or clearly than it did when my factories were +destroyed by fire. An envious feeling had always been exhibited by +others in the same business towards me, and those who had made the most +out of my improvements and had injured my reputation by making an +inferior article, were the very ones who rejoiced the most then. Not a +single man of them ever did or could look me in the face and say that I +had ever injured him. This feeling towards me was all because I was in +their way and my clocks at that time were preferred before any others. +They really thought I never could start again, and many said that Jerome +would never make any more clocks. I learned this maxim long ago, that +when a man injures another unreasonably, to act out human nature he has +got to keep on misrepresenting and abusing him to make himself appear +right in the sight of the world. Soon after the fire in Bristol I had +gained my strength sufficiently to go ahead again, and commenced to make +additions to my case factory in New Haven (to make the movements,) and +by the last of June was ready to commence operations on the brass +movements. I then brought my men from Bristol—the movement makers—and +a noble set of men as ever came into New Haven at one time. Look at John +Woodruff; he was a young man then of nineteen. When he first came to +work for me at the age of fifteen, I believed that he was destined to be +a leading man. He is now in Congress (elected for the second time,) +honest, kind, gentlemanly, and respected in Congress and out of +Congress. Look at him, young men, and pattern after him, you can see in +his case what honesty, industry and perseverance will accomplish.</p> + +<p>There was great competition in the business for several years after I +moved to New Haven, and a great many poor clocks made. The business of +selling greatly increased in New York, and within three or four years +after I introduced the one day brass clock, several companies in Bristol +and Plymouth commenced making them. Most of them manufactured an +inferior article of movement, but found sale for great numbers of them +to parties that were casing clocks in New York. This way of managing +proved to be a great damage to the Connecticut clock makers. The New +York men would buy the very poorest movements and put them into cheap +O.G. cases and undersell us. Merchants from the country, about this +time, began to buy clocks with their other goods. They had heard about +Jerome's clocks which had been retailed about the country, and that they +were good time-keepers, and would enquire for my clocks. These New York +men would say that they were agents for Jerome and that they would have +a plenty in a few days, and make a sale to these merchants of Jerome +clocks. They would then go to the Printers and have a lot of labels +struck off and put into their cheap clocks, and palm them off as mine. +This fraud was carried on for several years. I finally sued some of +these blackleg parties, Samuels & Dunn, and Sperry & Shaw, and found out +to my satisfaction that they had used more than two hundred thousand of +my labels. They had probably sent about one hundred thousand to Europe. +I sued Samuels & Dunn for twenty thousand dollars and when it came to +trial I proved it on them clearly. I should have got for damages fifteen +thousand dollars, had it not been for one of the jury. One was for +giving me twenty thousand, another Eighteen, and the others down to +seven thousand five hundred. This one man whom I speak of, was opposed +to giving me anything, but to settle it, went as high as two thousand +three hundred. The jury thought that I had a great deal of trouble with +this case and rather than have it go to another court, had to come to +this man's terms. The foreman told me afterwards that he had no doubt +but this man was bought. New York is a hard place to have a law suit in. +This cheat had been carried on for years, both in this country and in +Europe,—using my labels and selling poor articles, and in this way +robbing me of my reputation by the basest means. After this Sperry, who +was in company with Shaw, had been dead a short time, a statement was +published in the New York papers that this Henry Sperry was a wonderful +man, and that he was the first man who went to England with Yankee +clocks. After I had sent over my two men and had got my clocks well +introduced, and had them there more than a year, Sperry & Shaw, hearing +that we were doing well and selling a good many, thought they would take +a trip to Europe, and took along perhaps fifty boxes of clocks. I have +since heard that their conduct was very bad while there, and this is all +they did towards introducing clocks. There is no one who can claim any +credit of introducing American clocks into that country excepting +myself. After I had opened a store in New York, we did, in a measure, +stop these men from using my labels.</p> + +<p>I have said that when I got up this one day brass clock in 1838, that +the fourth chapter in the Yankee clock business had commenced. Perhaps +Seth Thomas hated as bad as any one did to change his whole business of +clock making for the second time, and adopt the same thing that I had +introduced. He never invented any thing new, and would now probably have +been making the same old hang-up wood clocks of fifty years ago, had it +not been for others and their improvements. He was highly incensed at me +because I was the means of his having to change. He hired a man to go +around to my customers and offer his clocks at fifty and seventy-five +cents less than I was selling. A man by the name of J.C. Brown carried +on the business in Bristol a long time, and made a good many fine +clocks, but finally gave up the business. Elisha Monross, Smith & +Goodrich, Brewster & Ingraham were all in the same business, but have +given it up, and the clock making of Connecticut is now mostly done in +five large factories in different parts of the State, about which I +shall speak hereafter.</p> +</div> + + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap8"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN CHEAP TIME-KEEPERS. +—THE PROCESS OF CLOCK MAKING.—</h4> +</div> + +<p>It would be no doubt interesting to a great many to know what +improvements have been made in manufacturing clocks during the past +twenty years. I recollect I paid for work on the O.G. case one dollar +and seventy-five cents; for the same work in 1855, I paid twenty cents, +and many other things in the same proportion. The last thing that I +invented, which has proved to be of great usefulness, was the one day +timepiece that can be sold for seventy-five cents, and a fair profit at +that. I remember well when I was about to give up the job, of asking the +man who made the cases for the factory what he would make this case for. +He said he could not do it for less than eight cents, I told him I knew +he could make them for five cents, and do well, but he honestly thought +he could not. He was to make two thousand per month—twenty-four +thousand a year. After getting the work well systematized, I told him if +he could not make them at that price, I would make it up to him at the +end of the year. When the time was up, he told me that it was the best +part of his job, and that he would make them the next year for four +cents; it will be well understood that this was for the work alone, the +stock being furnished.</p> + +<p>When I got up this new time-keeper, as usual all the clock-makers were +down on me again; Jerome was going to ruin the business, and this cheap +thing would take the place of larger ones. I told them there were ten +thousand places where this cheap time-piece would be useful, and where a +costly striking one would never be used. There is a variety of places +where they are as useful as if they struck the hour, and there are now +more of the striking clocks wanted than there were when I got up this +one day time-piece. When I first began to make clocks, thousands would +say that they could not afford to have a clock in their house and they +must get along without, or with a watch. This cheap timepiece is worth +as much as a watch that would cost a hundred dollars, for all practical +purposes, as far as the time of day or night is concerned. Since I began +to make clocks, the price has gradually been going down. Suppose the +cheap time-keeper had been invented thirty years ago, when folks felt as +though they could not have a clock because it cost so much, but must get +along with a watch which cost ten or fifteen dollars, what would the +good people have thought if they could have had a clock for one dollar, +or even less? This cheap clock is much better adapted to the many log +cabins and cheap dwellings in our country than a watch of any kind, and +it is not half so costly or difficult to keep in order. I can think of +nothing ever invented that has been so useful to so many. We do not +fully appreciate the value of such things. I have often thought, that if +all the time-pieces were taken out of the country at once, and every +factory stopped making them, the whole community would be brought to see +the incalculable value that this Yankee clock making is to them.</p> + +<p>The little octagon marine case which is seen almost every where, was +originated and first made by me. I think it is the cheapest and best +looking thing of the kind in the market, and all the work on the case of +that clock costs but eight cents. All of the large hang-up octagons and +time-pieces were made at our factory two or three years before any other +parties made them at all. As usual, after finding that it was a good +thing and took well, many others began to make them. I will say here a +little more about human nature and what I have seen and experienced. +during the last forty-five years. Let an ingenious, thinking man invent +something that looks favorable for making money, and one after another +will be stealing into the same business, when they know their conduct is +very mean towards the originator who may be one of the best men in the +community; still, nine out of ten of those who are infringing on his +improvement will begin to hate and abuse him. I have seen this +disposition carried out all my life-time. Forty-five years ago, Mr. Eli +Terry was the great man in the wood clock business. As I have said +before, he got up the Patent Wood Shelf Clock and sold a right to make +it to Seth Thomas for one thousand dollars. After two or three years, +Mr. Terry made further improvements and got them patented. Mr. Thomas +then thought as he had paid a thousand dollars, he would use these +improvements; so he went on making the new patent. Mr. Terry sued him +and the case was in litigation for several years. The whole Thomas +family, the workmen and neighbors, felt envious towards Mr. Terry, and I +think they have never got entirely over it. There was a general +prejudice and hatred towards Mr. Terry amongst all the clock-makers at +that time, and for nothing only because they knew they were infringing +on his rights; and to act out human nature, they must slander and try to +put him down. This principle is carried out very extensively in this +world, so that if a man wants to live and have nothing said against him, +he must look out for, and help no one but himself. If he succeeds in +making money, it matters but little in what way he obtains it, whether +by gambling or any other unlawful means; while on the other hand, if he +has been doing good all his life, and by some mishap is reduced to +poverty in his old age, he is despised and treated with contempt by a +majority of the community.</p> + +<p>It may not be uninteresting to a great many to know how the brass clocks +at the present day are made. It has been a wonder to the world for a +long time, how they could possibly be sold so cheap and yet answer so +good a purpose. And, indeed, they could not, if every part of their +manufacture was not systematized in the most perfect manner and +conducted on a large scale. I will describe the manner in which the O-G. +case is made, (the style has been made a long time, and in larger +numbers than any other,) which will give some idea with what facility +the whole thing is put through. Common merchantable pine lumber is used +for the body of the case. The first workman draws a board of the stuff +on a frame and by a movable circular saw cuts it in proper lengths for +the sides and top. The knotty portions of it are sawed in lengths +suitable for boxing the clocks when finished, and but little need be +wasted. The good pieces are then taken to another saw and split up in +proper widths, which are then passed through the planeing machine. Then +another workman puts them through the O-G. cutter which forms the shape +of the front of the case. The next process is the glueing on of the +veneers—the workman spreads the glue on one piece at a time and then +puts on the veneer of rosewood or mahogany. A dozen of these pieces are +placed together in hand-screws till the glue is properly hardened. The +O-G. shapes of these pieces fit into each other when they are screwed +together. When the glue is sufficiently dry, the next thing is to make +the veneer smooth and fit for varnishing. We have what is called a sand +paper wheel, made of pine plank, its edge formed in an O-G. shape, and +sand-paper glued to it. When this wheel is revolving rapidly, the pieces +are passed over it and in this way smoothed very fast. They are then +ready to varnish, and it usually takes about ten days to put on the +several coats of varnish, and polish them ready for mitering, which +completes the pieces ready for glueing in shape of the case. The sides +of the case are made much cheaper. I used to have the stuff for ten +thousand of these cases in the works at one time. With these great +facilities, the labor costs less than twenty cents apiece for this kind +of case, and with the stock, they cost less than fifty cents. A cabinet +maker could not make one for less than five dollars. This proves and +shows what can be done by system. The dials are cut out of large sheets +of zinc, the holes punched by machinery, and then put into the paint +room, where they are painted by a short and easy process. The letters +and figures are then printed on. I had a private room for this purpose, +and a man who could print twelve or fifteen hundred in a day. The whole +dial cost me less than five cents. The tablets were printed in the same +manner, the colors put on afterwards by girls, and the whole work on +these beautiful tablets cost less than one and a half cents: the cost of +glass and work was about four cents. Every body knows that all of these +parts must be made very cheap or an O-G. clock could not be sold for one +dollar and a half, or two dollars. The weights cost about thirteen cents +per clock, the cost of boxing them about ten cents, and the first cost +of the movements of a one-day brass clock is less than fifty cents. I +will here say a little about the process of making the wheels. It will +no doubt, astonish a great many to know how rapidly they can be made. I +will venture to say, that I can pick out three men who will take the +brass in the sheet, press out and level under the drop, there cut the +teeth, and make all of the wheels to five hundred clocks in one day; +there are from eight to ten of these wheels in every clock, and in an +eight-day clock more. This will look to some like a great story, but is +one of the wonders of the clock business. If some of the parts of a +clock were not made for almost nothing, they could not be sold so cheap +when finished.</p> + +<p>The facilities which the Jerome Manufacturing Company had over every +other concern of the kind in the country, and their customers in this +and foreign countries, are worth to the present company more than one +hundred thousand dollars. Their method of making dials, tablets and +brass doors was a saving of more than ten thousand dollars per year over +any other company doing the same amount of business; and I know that the +present company would not give up the customers of the Jerome +Manufacturing Company for ten thousand dollars per year: they could not +afford to do it. The workmen who came with me from Bristol, were an +uncommonly energetic and ingenious set of men. Many years they had large +and profitable jobs in the different branches, which encouraged them to +invent and get up improvements for doing the work fast, and in a great +many things they far surpass the workmen in similar establishments—all +of which have resulted to the benefit of the present manufacturing +company of New Haven.</p> + +<p>In the year 1850, I was induced by a proposition from the Benedict & +Burnham Co., of Waterbury, to enter into a joint-stock company at my +place in New Haven, under the name of the Jerome Manufacturing Co. They +were to put in thirty-five thousand dollars, and I was to furnish the +same amount of capital. We did so, and went on very prosperously for a +year or two, making a great many clocks, and selling about one hundred +and fifty thousand dollars worth per year in England, at a profit of +twenty thousand dollars. They were very thorough in looking into the +affairs of the company, which was all right of course, but did not suit +all of the interested parties. My son was Secretary and financial +manager of the company. He seemed to have a desire to keep things to +himself a little too much, which also did not suit many of the +interested parties. My son told me he thought we had better buy the +company out, and said that we could do so without difficulty, and he +thought it would be a great advantage to us. Some were willing to sell, +and others were not. Mr. Burnham made an offer what he would sell for, +which the secretary accepted, others of the stock-holders made similar +propositions and the bargain closed, we paying them the capital they had +advanced and twenty-one per cent. profits, and buying, in the mean time, +seventy-five thousand dollars worth of brass—the profits on which were +not less than twenty thousand dollars, which they had the cash for in +the course of the year. About this time a man by the name of Lyman +Squires bought stock in the company, and took a great interest in the +business. A wealthy brother of his bought, I think, ten thousand dollars +worth of stock. The stock was increased in this way to two hundred +thousand dollars. The financial affairs were managed by the Secretary, +Mr. Squires, and a man by the name of Bissell. They made a great many +additions to the factory which I thought quite unnecessary, enlarging +the buildings, putting in a new engine and a great deal of costly +machinery. They laughed at me because I found fault with these things +and called me an old fogy. I was not pleased with the management at all +times, and although I had retired from active busines [Transcriber's +note: sic], I felt a deep interest in the affairs of the company, and +owned a large amount of the stock. The Secretary thought I was always +looking on the dark side and prophesying evil, because I frequently +remonstrated with him on the many extravagancies which were constantly +being added to the establishment. I frequently told him that if the +company should fail, I should have to bear the whole blame, because my +name was known all over the world. He always told me in the strongest +terms that I need give myself no uneasiness about that, as the company +was worth a great deal of money. Things went on in this way till the +year 1855, and while I was absent from the State, P.T. Barnum was +admitted as a member of our company. Within six months from that time, +the Jerome Manufacturing Company failed, the causes of which, and the +results, I have clearly and truthfully narrated in another part of this +book. The causes were not fully understood by me at that time. I have +found them out since, and deem it an act of justice to myself to make +them public. I was hopelessly ruined by this failure. The company had +used my name as endorser to a large amount, many times larger than I had +any idea of.</p> +</div> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3 class="argument"><a name="chap9"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h3> + + +<h4>THE NEW HAVEN CLOCK COMPANY, AND OTHER CLOCK MANUFACTURERS IN +CONNECTICUT.</h4> +</div> + +<p>I will here give a brief account of the firms carrying on this +important business in Connecticut. The New Haven Clock Company, which +succeeded the Jerome Manufacturing Company, are now making more clocks +than any three other makers in the state. As I speak of the different +manufactories, I will give the outlines and standing of the men +connected with them. As their goods go all over the world, it is natural +and pleasant for men who are dealing in their goods to know what kind of +men they are at home, and what the community think of them. The New +Haven company is a joint-stock company. The head man in this concern, is +the Hon. James English, who is second to no business man in the State— +high minded, clear sighted, and very popular with all who deal with him. +He was, when a boy, remarkable for industry, prudence and good behavior. +He was an apprentice at the house-joiner trade, but soon got into other +business which gave him a greater chance to develope and become more +useful to himself and the community. He began in life without a dollar, +but is now said to be worth three hundred thousand dollars. His age at +this time is about forty-eight. He is a Democrat in politics; has been +elected to many important offices, and has been the first select man of +New Haven for many years; he has been elected State Senator for three +years in succession, and all of these offices he has filled with +ability. In the spring of 1860, he was nominated as candidate for +Lieutenant Governor on a ticket with Col. Thomas H. Seymour of Hartford, +for Governor, which made the most popular Democratic ticket that has +ever been run in the State. Had it not been for the great anti-slavery +feeling there was at this canvass, Mr. English would have been +triumphantly elected. Many of the opposing party would been glad to have +seen him elected, and would have voted for him, had it not been for the +influence they thought it would have on the Presidential election. We +heard many Republicans say this in New Haven, and many did vote that +ticket.</p> + +<p>H.M. Welch, who has for a long time been connected with Mr. English in +business, is largely interested in this clock company. He gives most of +his attention to other kinds of manufacturing, in which Messrs. English +and Welch, are very extensively engaged. Mr. Welch is one of the most +intelligent, upright, and kind hearted business men in the whole State, +and is admired as such by all who know him. He is also a Democrat in +politics, very popular in his party, and is well qualified for any +offices. He would make a good candidate for Governor or member of +Congress. He is about forty-six years old, worth perhaps, two hundred +thousand dollars; he has held many important offices, has been a +Representative to the State Legislature for many years, and State +Senator a number of times. He has recently been elected Mayor of the +city, and has filled all of these offices with much talent.</p> + +<p>John Woodruff, a member of Congress, elected for the second time from +this district, is the next largest owner in this great brass clock +business. He commenced to work at clocks with me when a boy only fifteen +years old. He was a very uncommon boy, and is now an uncommon man, very +popular among his fellow workmen, popular with Democrats, popular with +Republicans, popular every where, and can be elected to Congress when +there is five hundred majority against his party in his district.</p> + +<p>Hiram Camp who is the next largest stock-holder in this clock company, +is forty-nine years old. He commenced making clocks with me at the age +of seventeen, and is now President of the company. He is a Republican in +politics, and has been chosen Representative from New Haven to the +Legislature of the State. At this time he is Chief Engineer of the Fire +Department, is very popular with his workmen, and highly respected by +the whole community in which he lives. Many others who hold prominent +positions in this great business in New Haven, first came here with me +when I moved from Bristol. I should mention Philip Pond, an excellent +man who left the business two or three years since, on account of his +health, but who is now connected in the wholesale grocery business of +the firm of Pond, Greenwood & Lester, in this city. Also Charles L. +Griswold, now a bit and augur maker in the town of Chester, who began to +work for me twenty years ago, when a boy. He was once a poor boy, but +now is a talented and superior man. He has been a member of the +Legislature, and has held many offices of trust.</p> + +<p>L.F. Root, now a leading man in New Haven, came to work with me when +quite young, nearly twenty years ago. He also has held many offices of +trust, and filled them with great ability. I could mention many others, +but cannot in this brief work speak of them as their merits deserve. It +gives me pleasure to know that the business of the Jerome Manufacturing +Company has fallen into such good hands.</p> + +<p>The Benedict and Burnham Company, now making clocks in the city of +Waterbury, under the name of the Waterbury Clock Company, is composed of +a large number of the first citizens of that place. In politics nearly +all of them are Republicans. The oldest man of the company is Deacon +Aaron Benedict, now about seventy-five years old—a real "old Puritan, +Christian gentleman." He has been Representative and State Senator many +times—Mr. Burnham of New York, another member of this company, is well +known to almost every body as one of the richest men in [Transcriber's +note: probable missing word 'the' here] whole country. My brother, Noble +Jerome, who is an excellent mechanic and as good a brass clock maker as +can be found, is now making the movements for this company, and Edward +Church, a first rate man and an excellent workman, is making their +cases. He worked with me seventeen years at case making, and can do a +good job. I cannot pass without speaking about another man of this +company, Arad W. Welton Esq. He was one of my soldier companions in +Capt. John Buckingham's company, which went to fight the British in +1813, at New London, and in 1814 at New Haven. He stood very near me in +the ranks. I shall never forget what pluck and courage he showed one +night when the news was brought into camp that the enemy were landing +from their ships. Our whole regiment was mustered in fifteen minutes, +and on the way to pitch battle with the British and defend our shores. +This Mr. Welton, who is now an old man, as stout and large as Gen. Cass, +and looking something like him, was then a young man nineteen years old, +and without exception the funniest and drollest fellow that I ever saw. +He kept us all laughing while we were going down to fight that awful +battle, which, however, proved to be bloodless. This incident occurred +at New London, and I have often thought of it in latter days. Mr. Welton +Is said to be a great business man, and the company with which he is +connected is doing a good business.</p> + +<p>The next clock company which I shall speak of, is that of Seth Thomas & +Co., of Plymouth Hollow, Connecticut. As I have mentioned before, the +senior Thomas is not living. The business is carried on by a company, +the members of which are all Republicans in politics and respectable +men. Fifty years ago this spring, Heman Clark built the factory which +Seth Thomas, two or three years afterwards, bought, and in which he +carried on business until his death, about two years since. It was never +Mr. Thomas' practice to get up any thing new. He never would change his +patterns or mode of manufacturing, until he was driven to it to keep his +customers. At the time when I invented the one-day brass clock in 1838, +he said much against it, that it was not half so good as a wood clock, +and that he never would take up any thing again that Jerome had adopted; +but he was compelled to, in a year or two, to keep his customers. He +sent his foreman over to Bristol, where I was then carrying on business, +to get patterns of movements and cases and take all the advantage he +could of my experience, labors, and improvements which I had been +studying upon so long. I allowed my foreman to spend more than two days +with his, giving him all the knowledge and insight he could of the +business, knowing what his object was. A friend asked me why I was doing +this, and said that if I should send my man to Thomas' factory he would +be kicked out immediately. I told him I knew that perfectly well, but +that if Mr. Thomas set out to get into the business, he certainly would +find out, and that the course I was taking was wisest and more friendly. +I have thought since how quickly such kind treatment as I showed towards +his man can be forgotten; yes; this company have all forgotten the +service that I rendered them twenty years ago, and as I have said +before, would probably have been making the old wood clock to this day, +had it not been for other parties. There always has been a great deal of +jealousy among the Yankee clock-makers, and they all seemed to hate the +one who took the lead. The next establishment of which I shall speak, is +that of William L. Gilbert, of Winsted, Connecticut. He is said to be +miserly in feeling, and is quite rich; not very enterprising, but has +made a great deal of money by availing himself of the improvements of +others.</p> + +<p>The next one in the business to whom I shall allude is E.N. Welch, of +Bristol, Connecticut. He is about fifty years of age, and has been in +many kinds of business. He was deeply interested in the failure of J.C. +Brown a few years ago, and succeeded him in the clock business. He is a +leading man in the Baptist church, and has a great tact for making +money; but he says that all he wants of money is to do good with it. He +is a Democrat in politics, and never wants an office from his party.</p> + +<p>These five companies which I have named, make nearly all of the clocks +manufactured in Connecticut; though movements are made by three other +companies. Beach and Hubbell of Bristol, are largely engaged in +manufacturing the movements of brass marine clocks. Also two brothers by +the name of Manross, in Bristol, are engaged in the same business. Noah +Pomeroy of Bristol, is also engaged in making pendulum movements for +other parties. I should, however, mention Ireneus Atkins, of Bristol, +who is making a first-rate thirty-day brass clock, and I am told there +is no better one for time in the country. The movement for this kind of +clock was invented by Joseph Ives, who has spent most of his time for +the last twenty-five years in improving on springs and escapements for +clocks, and who has done a great deal for the advancement of this +business. Mr. Atkins, who is making this thirty-day time-piece, is an +excellent man to deal with. The five large companies which I have named, +manufacture about a half a million clocks per annum; the New Haven +company about two hundred thousand; and the others about three hundred +thousand between them.</p> +</div> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap10"></a>CHAPTER X.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">BARNUM'S CONNECTION WITH THE JEROME CLOCK CO.—CAUSES AND RESULTS OF ITS +FAILURE.</h4> +</div> + +<p>The connection of Barnum with the Jerome Manufacturing Company of New +Haven, and the failure of the Company have been the subject of much +speculation to the whole world, and has never been clearly understood. +Barnum claimed that he was cheated and swindled by this company, robbed +of his property and name, and reduced to poverty. But before giving any +statements, I call attention to the following article taken from the New +York Daily <i>Tribune</i>, of March 24th, 1860:</p> + +<blockquote> +THE GREAT SHOWMAN.—P.T. Barnum, "the great American showman," as he +loves to hear himself called, who furnishes more amusement for a quarter +of a dollar than any other man in America, is, we are happy to announce, +himself again. He has disposed of the last of those villainous clock +notes, re-established his credit up on a cash basis, and once more comes +forward to cater for the public amusement at the American museum. To +day, between the acts of the play, Mr. Barnum will appear upon his own +stage, in his own costly character of the Yankee Clockmaker, for which +he qualified himself, with the most reckless disregard of expense, and +will "give a brief history of his adventures as a clockmaker, showing +how the clock ran down, and how it was wound up; shadowing forth in the +same the future of the museum." Of course, Barnum's benefit will be a +bumper. Next week the Museum will be closed for renovation and repairs, +and the week after it will reopen under the popular P.T.B., once more. +</blockquote> + +<p>I will now give the true statement of facts and particulars of his +connection with the Jerome Manufacturing Company—which, however, was +not his first experience in clock-making. Some time before this, he was +interested in a Company located in the town of Litchfield, Connecticut, +and, I believe, owned about ten thousand dollars worth of stock. They +made a very poor article which was called a marine clock, if I am +rightly informed. That Company failed, and Barnum took the stock as +security for endorsing and furnishing them with cash. I do not suppose +the whole of the effects were worth transporting to Bridgeport, although +estimated by him at a large amount. About this time Theodore Terry's +clock factory, at Ansonia, was destroyed by fire. A large portion of the +stock was saved, though in a damaged condition, much of which was worth +nothing—the tools and machinery being but little better than so much +old iron. Terry knowing that Barnum was largely interested in real +estate in East Bridgeport, and anxious to have it improved, thought he +could make a good arrangement with him for building a factory there for +the manufacture of clocks, and did so. Terry had a large quantity of old +clocks in a store in New York—many of them old-fashioned and +unsaleable, and thousands of these were not worth fifty cents apiece. +Terry and Barnum now proposed forming a joint-stock company, putting in +their old rubbish as stock, and estimating it, most likely, at four +times its value in cash. They built a factory in East Bridgeport, and +made preparations for manufacturing. Terry knew ten times as much about +the business as Barnum did, and knowing, also, that the old stock was +comparatively worthless, held back while Barnum was urging him to push +ahead with the manufacturing. Terry made a great bluster, saying that he +was going to hire men and do a great business, while, unknown to Barnum, +he was trying to sell the stock he held in the company. They finally +cooked up a plan to sell their New York store and the Bridgeport factory +and machinery, if they could, to the Jerome Manufacturing Company, +taking stock in that company for pay, and—the Jerome Company stock +being issued to the owners of the Terry & Barnum stock—thus merge the +two companies into one. This transaction was made and closed without my +knowledge, (I being at the time from the State,) though the "old man" +has had to bear all the blame. As I afterwards found out, Barnum told my +son, the Secretary of the Company, that Terry & Barnum owed about twenty +thousand dollars: this was the amount Terry had drawn for on the New +York store. They made a written agreement with the Jerome Manufacturing +Company, to this effect;—that our Company should assume the liabilities +of their old Company, which were stated at twenty thousand dollars, and +Barnum was to endorse to any extent for the Jerome Company. It +afterwards proved that the entire debts of Terry & Barnum amounted to +about seventy-two thousand dollars, which the Jerome Company were +obliged to assume. The great difference in the real and supposed amount +of their indebtedness and the unsaleable property turned in as stock +were enough to ruin any company. It is a positive fact that the stock of +the Jerome Company was not worth half as much, three months after Barnum +came into the concern as it was before that time. Some of the +stock-holders did not like to have Terry own stock, and Barnum to +satisfy them, bought him out, paying him twelve thousand dollars in +cash—he in the end, making a grand thing out his Ansonia remains. It is +well known that the Jerome Manufacturing Company failed in the fall of +1855, to the wonder and astonishment of myself and of every body else. +The true causes of this great failure never have been made public. I +myself did not know them at that time, but have found them out from time +to time since, and I now propose to make them public, as it has been the +general impression almost every where that Barnum and myself were +associated in defrauding the community. <i>I wish to have it understood +that I never saw P.T. Barnum</i>, while he was connected with the +Company of which I was a member, have never seen him but once since, and +that was in February after the failure. About this time law suits were +being brought against him, and as some supposed, by his friends. He was +called upon, or offered himself as a witness, and I believe testified +that he was worth nothing. The natural effect of this testimony was to +depreciate the paper which his name was on. At the time when I saw him, +he told me that the Museum was his just as much as it ever was, and that +he received the profits, which had never been less than twenty-five +thousand and were sometimes thirty thousand dollars per annum; and yet, +he was publicly stating that he was worth nothing! He also, as I +supposed, held securities of the Jerome Manufacturing Company, to a +large amount, (as I suppose about one hundred thousand dollars,) for I +know that such papers had been in his hands. There were many persons who +were interested in the revival of the business, who were in some way +flattered into the belief that Barnum would re-purchase the whole clock +establishment and put them back into the business again. Several men +were sent by some one to examine the property and estimate its value, +and those persons who were anxious for a restoration of the business +were in some way led to believe that Barnum intended to re-commence the +business of clock-making. For myself, I do not suppose that Barnum ever +seriously contemplated any such thing; but the belief that he did, made +some men quiet who might otherwise have been active and troublesome.</p> + +<p>The manner in which this matter has been represented would reflect +dishonesty upon the Secretary, which would be untrue. No one who knows +him will, or can accuse him of dishonesty. I love truth, honesty and +religion; I do not mean, however, the religion that Barnum believes in: +(I believe that the wicked are punished in another world.) I ask the +reader to look at my situation in my old age. I think as much of a good +name, as to purity of character and honesty at heart, as any man living; +and very often reading in the New York papers of speeches that Barnum +has made, alluding to his being defrauded by the Jerome Manufacturing +Company, I wish the world to know the whole facts in the case, and what +my position was in the Company which bore my name. After many years— +years of very active business life—I had retired from active duty in +the Company, although I took a deep interest in every thing connected +with it, and also a great pride, as it was a business that I had built +up and had been many years in perfecting. The manufacturing had been +systematized in the most perfect manner and every thing looked +prosperous to me. I owned stock as others did, but did not know of its +financial standing, and was always informed that it was all right, and +that I should be perfectly safe in endorsing. I wish to have it +understood that I did not sign my name to any of this paper, it being +done by the Secretary himself, that therefore I could not know of the +amounts that were raised in that way, that I did not find out till after +the failure, and then the large amounts overwhelmed me with surprise.</p> + +<p>It will be remembered that Barnum made two or three trips to Europe to +provide in some way for the support of his "poor and destitute" family, +which as he claimed, had been robbed and ruined by the Connecticut +clock-makers. At one time he was stopped on a pier in New York, just as +he was starting for Europe, by a suit brought against him. Thus the news +went abroad that poor Barnum was hunted and troubled on every side with +these clock notes. It was reported that he was quite sick in England and +could not live, and, at another time, that being much depressed and +discouraged on account of his many troubles, he had taken to drinking +very hard, and in all probability would live but a short time; while at +the same time, he was lecturing on temperance to the English people, and +was in fact a total-abstinence man. These stories were extensively +circulated; the value of his paper was depreciated in the market, and +was, in several instances bought for a small sum.</p> + +<p>Since writing the foregoing with regard to his coming into the Company, +and, as he states, being ruined by it, I have ascertained to my own +satisfaction, that our connection with him was the means of ruining the +Company. A few days since I was talking with a man who has been more +familiar than myself with the whole transaction, and he told me it was +his opinion that if we had never seen Barnum we should still have been +making clocks in that factory. It was a great mystery to me, and to +every body else, how the Company could run down so rapidly during the +last year. I think I have found out, and these are my reasons. Instead +of having an amount of twenty thousand dollars to cancel of the Terry & +Barnum debts and accounts (which the Secretary foolishly agreed to do.) +it eventually proved to be about seventy thousand; (this I have found +out since the failure.) This great loss the Secretary kept to himself, +and it involved the Company so deeply that he became almost desperate; +for knowing by this time that he had been greatly embarrassed, he was +determined to raise money in any way that he could, honestly, and get +out of the difficulty if possible. He had, as he thought, got to keep +this an entire secret, because if known it would ruin the credit of the +Company. When these extra drafts and notes of Terry & Barnum were added +to the debts of the Company, he was obliged to resort to various +expedients to raise money to pay them. This led him to the exchange of +notes on a large scale, which proved to be a great loss, as many of the +parties were irresponsible. There was a loss of thirty thousand dollars +by one man, and I am sure that there must have been more than fifty +thousand dollars lost in this way. He was also obliged to issue short +drafts and notes and raise money on them at fearful rates. The Terry & +Barnum stock which was taken in at par, was not worth twenty-five per +cent, which had a tendency to reduce the value of the stock of our +Company, though I have recently heard that the Secretary bought stock at +par for the Jerome Company of some former owners in the Terry & Barnum +Company, in Bridgeport, only a short time before the failure. To show +the confidence the Secretary had in the standing of the Company, he +recommended one of his own brothers, not more than one month before the +Company failed, to buy five thousand dollars worth of the stock, which +he did. It was owned by a Bridgeport man and he paid par value for it in +good gold and silver watches at cash prices. All of these transactions +were made without my knowledge, and I have found them out by piece-meal +ever since. I do fully believe that if the Secretary had been worth half +a million of dollars, he would have sacrificed every dollar, rather than +have had the Company failed under his management as it did.</p> + +<p>It has been publicly stated that Mr. Barnum endorsed largely on blank +notes and drafts and that he was thus rendered responsible to a far +greater extent than he was aware of; such, however, was not the case.</p> + +<p>The troubles that have grown out of the failure of this great business, +have left me poor and broken down in spirit, constitution and health. I +was never designed by Providence to eat the bread of dependence, for it +is like poison to me, and will surely kill me in a short time. I have +now lost more than forty pounds of flesh, though my ambition has not yet +died within me.</p> +</div> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap11"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">EFFECTS OF THE FAILURE ON MYSELF—REMOVAL TO WATERBURY AND ANSONIA—UNFORTUNATE BUSINESS CONNECTIONS.</h4> +</div> + +<p>After saying so much as I have about my misfortunes in life, I must say +a few words about what has happened and what I have been through with +during the last four years.</p> + +<p>When the Jerome Manufacturing Company failed, every dollar that I had +saved out of a long life of toil and labor was not enough to support my +family for one year. It was hard indeed for a man sixty-three years old, +and my heart sickened at the prospect ahead. Perhaps there never was a +man that wanted more than I did to be in business and be somebody by the +side of my neighbors. There never was a man more grieved than I was when +I had to give up those splendid factories with the great facilities they +had over all others in the world for the manufacture of clocks both good +and cheap, all of which had been effected through my untiring efforts. +No one but myself can know what my feelings were when I was compelled, +through no fault of my own, to leave that splendid clustre +[<i>sic.</i>] of buildings with all its machinery, and its +thousands of good customers all over this country and Europe, and in +fact the whole world, which in itself was a fortune. And then to leave +that beautiful mansion at the head of the New Haven bay, which I had +almost worshipped. I say to leave all these things for others, with that +spirit and pride that still remained within me, and at my time of life, +was almost too much for flesh and blood to bear. What could have been +the feelings of my family, and my large circle of friends and +acquaintances, to see creditors and officers coming to our house every +day with their pockets full of attachments and piles of them on the +table every night. If any one can ever begin to know my feelings at this +time, they must have passed through the same experience. Yet mortified +and abused as I was, I had to put up with it. Thank God, I have never +been the means of such trouble for others. I had to move to Waterbury in +my old age, and there commence again to try to get a living. I moved in +the fall of 1856, and as bad luck would have it, rented a house not two +rods from a large church with a very large steeple attached to it, which +had been built but a short time before. In one of the most terrific +hurricanes and snow storms that I ever knew in my life, at four o'clock +in the morning of January 19th, 1857, this large steeple fell on the top +of our house which was a three story brick building. It broke through +the roof and smashed in all the upper tier of rooms, the bricks and +mortar falling to the lower floor. We were in the second story, and some +of the bricks came into our room, breaking the glass and furniture, and +the heaviest part of the whole lay directly on our house. It was the +opinion of all who saw the ruins that we did not stand one chance in ten +thousand of not being killed in a moment. I heard many a man say he +would not take the chances that we had for all the money in the State. +One man in the other part of the house was so frightened that he was +crazy for a long time. Timbers in this steeple, ten inches square, broke +in two directly over my bed and their weight was tremendous. I now began +to think that my troubles were coming in a different form; but it seems +I was not to die in that way. The business took a different shape in the +spring, and I moved (another task of moving!) to Ansonia. Here I lived +two years, but very unfortunately happened to get in with the worst men +that could be found on the line of Rail-road between Winsted and +Bridgeport. In another part of this book I have spoken of them; I do not +now wish to think of them, for it makes me sick to see their names on +paper. I had worked hard ever since I left New Haven—one year at +Waterbury, and two at this place (Ansonia,)—but got not one dollar for +the whole time. I was robbed of all the money which Mr. Stevens, (my +son-in-law,) had paid me for the use of my trade-mark in England, for +the years 1857-'58. This advantage was taken of me, because I could +collect nothing in my own name.</p> + +<p>I should consider my history incomplete, unless I went back for many +years to speak of the treatment which I received from a certain man. I +shall not mention his name, and my object in relating these +circumstances, is to illustrate a principle there is in man, and to +caution the young men to be careful when they get to be older and are +carrying on business, not to do too much for one individual. If you do, +in nine cases out of ten, he will hate and injure you in the end. This +has been my experience. Many years ago, I hired two men from a +neighboring town to work for me. It was about the time that I invented +the Bronze Looking-Glass Clock, which was, at that time, decidedly the +best kind made. After a while these two men contrived a plan to get up a +company, go into another town, and manufacture the same kind of clock. +This company was formed about six months before I found it out, and much +of their time was spent in making small tools and clock-parts to take +with them. This was done when they were at work for me on wages. They +induced as many of my men as they could to go with them, and took some +of them into company. When they had finished some clocks, they went +round to my customers and under-sold me to get the trade. This is the +first chapter. When I invented the thirty-hour brass clock in 1838, one +of these men had returned to Bristol again, and was out of business; but +he had some money which he had made out of my former improvements. I had +lost a great deal of money in the great panic of 1837. After I had +started a little in making this new clock, he proposed to put in some +money and become interested with me, and as I was in want of funds to +carry on the business, I told him that if he would put in three thousand +dollars, he should have a share of the profits. I went on with him one +year, but got sick of it and bought him out. I had to pay six thousand +dollars to get rid of him. He took this money, went to a neighboring +town, bought an old wood clock factory, fitted it up for making the same +clock that I had just got well introduced, and induced several of my +workmen to go with him, some of whom he took in company with him. As +soon as I had the clock business well a going in England, he sent over +two men to sell the same patterns. He has kept this up ever since, and +has made a great deal of money.</p> + +<p>After the failure of the Jerome Manufacturing Company, as I have already +stated, I went to Waterbury to assist the Benedict & Burnham Company. +After I had been there six or eight months, and had got the case-making +well started, (my brother, Noble Jerome, had got the movements in the +works the year before.) this same man I have been speaking about, came +to me and made me a first-rate offer to go with him into a town a short +distance from Waterbury, and make clocks there. I accepted his offer, +but should not have done so, had it not been for the depressed condition +to which I had been brought by previous events. I accordingly moved to +the town where he had hired a factory. He was carrying on the business +at the same time in his old factory, and came to this new place about +twice a week. My work was in the third story, and it was very hard for +an old man to go up and down a dozen times a day. About this time I +obtained a patent on a new clock case, and as I was to be interested in +the business, I let the Company make several thousand of them. We could +make forty cents more on each clock than we could on an O-G. clock. As I +was favorably known throughout the world as a clockmaker, this Company +wanted to use my label as the clocks would sell better in some parts of +the country than with his label. They were put upon many thousands. Soon +after we commenced, I told him I would make out a writing of our bargain +because life was uncertain. He said that was all right, and that he +would attend to it soon. As he always seemed to be in a hurry when he +came, I wrote one and sent it to him, so that he might look it over at +his leisure and be ready to sign it when he came down again. The next +time I saw him, I asked him if the writing was not as we agreed; he said +he supposed it was, but that he had no time to look it over and sign it +then, but would do so when he had time. I paid into the business about +one thousand nine hundred dollars in small sums, as it was wanted from +time to time, and worked at this man for eight months to get a writing +from him, but he always had an excuse. He had agreed to give the +case-maker a share of the profits if he would make the cases at a +certain price, but put him off in the same way. We both became satisfied +that he did not mean to do as he had agreed, and I therefore left him. +The money which I had paid in was what I had received for the use of my +name in England. I had the privilege of paying it in as it was wanted, +working eight months, keeping the accounts which I did evenings, and +giving this man a home at my house whenever he was in town. All of this +which I had done, he refused to give me one dollar for, and it was with +great difficulty that I got my money back. I had to put it into another +man's hands, as his property, to recover it. This man, probably, had two +objects in view when he went to Waterbury to flatter me away. He did not +want me to be there with my name on the movements and cases, and +therefore he made me a first-rate offer. I had been broken up in all my +business, and felt very anxious to be doing something again. I was a +little afraid when he made the offer, but knew that he had made a great +deal of money out of my improvements and was very wealthy, and I did +think he would be true to me, knowing as he did my circumstances. Look +at this miser, with not a child in the world, and no one on earth that +he cares one straw about, and yet so grasping! Oh! what will the poor +creature do in eternity!</p> +</div> + + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap12"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">MORE MISPLACED CONFIDENCE—ANOTHER UNFORTUNATE PARTNERSHIP.</h4> +</div> + +<p>Before closing the history of the many trials and troubles which I have +experienced during my life, I will here say that I have never found, in +all my dealings with men for more than forty years, such an untruthful +and dishonest a man as * * * of a certain town in Connecticut. In 1858, +he induced me to come into his factory to carry on a little business. My +situation was such, in consequence of the failure of the Jerome +Manufacturing Company, that I could do nothing in my own name, as he +knew. I had a little money that had been paid me for the use of my +trademark in England, and I felt very anxious, as old as I was, to make +a little money so that I could pay some small debts which my family had +made a short time before the company failed. I had also two children who +looked to me for some help. This man said to me, "you may have the use +of my factory for 'so much,' and you may carry on the business for one +year in my name for so 'much.' [Transcriber's note: closing quotes +missing.] This was agreed to by both parties. In a few days he came to +me and said that he had been talking with his nephew about having the +business carried on in his name "& Co.;" * * * being the "Company" and he +was to keep his nephew harmless, as he had nothing for the use of his +name. The nephew came into the factory a short time after, and I asked +him if he had agreed to what * * * had stated to me; he said that he had, +and that I could go on with the business in the name of himself & Co.; +he was quite sure that his uncle would keep him harmless. I went on with +the business in this name from May to December, both of those men +knowing all the while just as much about the business as I did, and they +never said but that it was all right as we had agreed. I paid in my +money from time to time as it was wanted. Late in the fall, I paid in at +one time, one thousand nine hundred dollars, through a firm who owed me +that amount, and who gave their notes to * * * on short time, which notes +were paid. A short time after this, knowing that I had no more money to +put into the business, he undoubtedly thought it time to do what he had +intended to do at a suitable time from the beginning. One day when I was +unwell and confined to the house, a man who had a claim against the +company, called on * * * to make a settlement. Before this time he had +made two payments on this same account, but he now told this man that +there never had been such a company, and that he would never pay it—while at the same time, he had the same property which the man offered +to take back but which he had refused to give up, and said that I had no +right to use the name of ―― & Co. This was after he had been using the +name for me in drafts and notes, and all other business transactions, +for more than eight months. He said that he would have me arrested for +fraud and put in the State Prison. This treatment was rather hard +towards a man who had never before been accused of dishonesty, and who +had done business on a large scale with thousands of men for more than +forty years. He at one time requested me to borrow a note for him from +one of my friends, which I did, and which he paid promptly when due. He +did this, as I now suppose, because the business was not in as good +shape for him as it might be in another three months; so he wished me to +get the favor renewed, which I did. When it became due, he denied that +it was a borrowed note, declared that I was owing him, and had handed +this note to him as one that was good and would be paid. One of his best +friends has since told me that there was more honor among horse-thieves +than this man had shown towards me. I put into the business between four +and five thousand dollars, worked hard almost a year, and have received +about five hundred dollars. * * * is trying to scare me by threatening to +sue me for perjury; so that if he could make me fool enough to pay the +debts of ―― & Co., he would have just so much more to put into his own +pocket. When he can get a grand jury to find a true bill against me for +fraud or perjury, I will promise to go to Wethersfield and stay there +the remainder of my life, without any further trial. After all that I +have said, I think of him just as all his neighbors do; for they have +told me that it was the common talk among them, when I first went into +his factory, that he would in some way cheat me out of every dollar that +I put into his hands. It would take just about as much evidence to prove +that young crows would be black when their feathers are grown, as it +would to satisfy the community that these statements are true, +especially where he is known. For knavery, untruthfulness, and +wickedness, I have never seen anything, in all my business experience of +forty years, that will compare with this. He would not have taken such a +course with me once, but he took advantage of my age and misfortunes to +commit these frauds, thinking that I could not defend myself, and that +he could defraud and crush me.</p> + +<p>I had paid every dollar of my money into this business which I had at +that time, and had nothing to live on through the winter. But John +Woodruff in his kindness, raised money enough for me to live on through +the winter, and the following spring I moved to New Haven.</p> +</div> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap13"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">THE WOOSTER PLACE CHURCH.—GROWTH OF THE DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS IN NEW +HAVEN.</h4> +</div> + +<p>In order to have my history complete I must give my reason for building +the Wooster Place Church, as my motives have been misconstrued by many +persons, I will make a short statement of what I know to be true. It is +well known that with the exception of one, all the Congregational +churches in New Haven, were located west of the centre of the city. The +majority of the inhabitants lived in the eastern section. Meeting after +meeting was called by the different churches to consider the importance +of building a church in the eastern part. It was strongly advocated by +the ministers and many others, that this part of the city was rapidly +filling up, a great deal of manufacturing was carried on there, and the +strangers who were constantly coming in would fall into other +denominations. I heard their speeches advocating this course with great +pleasure, as I lived in the eastern part of the city, had a long +distance to go to attend church, and nearly all the workmen in my employ +lived in the same section. The church which I have mentioned as the only +one located east of the centre, was in a very prosperous condition. By +the talent, popularity and piety of its minister, as his church and +congregation believed, he had filled the church to overflowing. There +were no slips to be bought in that church. We heard this minister say +that he could spare thirty families from his congregation to build up a +new church. In view of all the facts, I started a subscription paper, in +as good faith as I ever did anything in my life, for the raising of +funds to build an edifice. The subscription was headed by myself with +five thousand dollars and many large sums were added to it. A number of +wealthy men lived near the contemplated place of building the new +church, who belonged to other churches. It was supposed, by what their +ministers had said in public and in private, that they would use their +influence in advancing this good work, and to have some of their members +join in it; but for some reason they changed their minds. I heard that +the minister of the church located in the eastern section (which I +mentioned before,) had got up a subscription paper to raise ten or +twelve thousand dollars to beautify the front of his church, raise a +higher steeple, and make some other alterations that he thought +important. I was told that he called on the men who lived in the +locality where we proposed erecting the new church, with his +subscription, and that they subscribed to carry out his plans. Some of +those who had subscribed to build the new church, after he had made +these calls, wrote me that they wished their names crossed off from my +paper—Others came and told me the same thing, and wished their names +erased. I began at this time to understand that there were influences +working against our enterprise and that this way of building a church +must be given up. I however, went forward myself, as is very well known, +and built a church second to none in New England. I should have built +one that would not have cost one half of the money, had I acted on my +own judgement, but I was influenced by a few others differently. I paid +more than twenty thousand dollars out of my own pocket into this church.</p> + +<p>Public opinion in the community was, that if the several ministers had +given their influence in favor of this matter, a church would have been +built by subscription. They could very easily have influenced their +friends in that part of the city to unite in this enterprise without +detriment to their own congregation. Had this course been taken, it is +evident that by this time it would have been a large and prosperous +church.</p> + +<p>A correspondent of the Independent in writing upon the growth of +Congregationalism, in New Haven, had a great deal to say about the +Wooster Place church—calling the man that built it, "a sagacious +mechanic, who built it on speculation etc." Yet; added "if they had +called a young man for its Pastor from New England, it might have +succeeded after all."</p> + +<p>It is well known that the Congregational denomination has made but very +small advancement compared with others for the last twenty years. It is +supposed that the inhabitants of New Haven have doubled in number during +that time; but only one small Mission church has been added to the +Congregational churches. Four Episcopal churches have been built, and +filled with worshipers, many of whom formerly belonged to Congregational +families. The Methodists have built two large churches, and more than +trebled in number. The Baptists have more than doubled, and now own and +occupy the Wooster Place church. And to have kept pace with the others, +the Congregational denomination should now have as many as three more +large churches.</p> +</div> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="chap14"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h3> + + +<h4 class="argument">NEW HAVEN AS A BUSINESS PLACE—GROWTH—EXTENSIVE MANUFACTORIES, ETC.</h4> +</div> + +<p>For many years I have extensively advertised throughout every part of +the civilized world, and in the most conspicuous places, such a city as +New Haven Connecticut, U.S.A., and its name is hourly brought to notice +wherever American clocks are used, and I know of no more conspicuous or +prominent place than the dial of a clock for this purpose. More of these +clocks have been manufactured in this city for the past sixteen years +than any other one place in this country, and the company now +manufacturing, turn out seven hundred daily.</p> + +<p>I now propose to give a brief description of New Haven and its +inhabitants in the words of a business man who loves the town. New +Haven, is to-day a city of more than forty thousand inhabitants, +remarkable as the New Englanders generally are for their ingenuity, +industry, shrewd practical good sense, and their large aggregate wealth; +and with forty thousand such people it is not strange that New Haven is +now growing like a city in the west. It was settled in 1638, and +incorporated as a city in 1784. Its population in 1830, was less than +eleven thousand, and in 1840, but little more than fourteen thousand, +its increase from 1840 to 1850, was about eight thousand, and from 1850 +to 1860, the population has nearly doubled. The assessed value of +property in 1830, amounted to about two and a half millions. The amount +at the present time is estimated at over twenty seven millions. New +Haven is situated at the head of a fine bay, four miles from Long Island +Sound, and seventy-six miles from New York, on the direct line of +Rail-road, and great thoroughfare between that city and Boston, and can +be reached in three hours by Rail-road and about five by water from New +York. New Haven has long been known as the city of Elms, and it far +surpasses any other city in America in the number and beauty of these +noble elm trees which shade and adorn its streets and public squares. It +is a place of large manufacturing interests, the persevering genius and +enterprise of its people having made New Haven in a variety of ways, +prominent in industrial pursuits. Mr. Whitney, the inventor of the +Cotton Gin, Mr. Goodyear of india rubber notoriety, and many other great +and good men who by their ingenuity and perseverance have added millions +to the wealth of mankind, were citizens of New Haven. Nearly every kind +of manufactured article known in the market, can here be found and +bought direct from the manufactory—such as carriages and all kind of +carriage goods, firearms, shirts, locks, furniture, clothing, shoes, +hardware, iron castings, daguerrotype-cases, machinery, plated goods, +&c., &c.</p> + +<p>The manufacture of carriages is here carried on, on a grand scale, and +its yearly productions are probably larger than of any other city in the +Union. There are more than sixty establishments in full operation at the +present time, many of them of great extent and completeness, and turn +out work justly celebrated for its beauty and substantial value wherever +they are known. I live in the immediate vicinity of the largest carriage +manufactury in the world, which turns out a finished carriage every +hour; much of the work being done by machinery and systematized in much +the same manner as the clock-making. American carriages are fast +following American clocks to foreign countries, to the West Indies, +Australia and the Sandwich Islands, Mexico and South America, and I +believe the day is not far distant when they will be exported to Europe +in large quantities, and the present prospect seems far more favorable +for them than it did for me when I introduced my first cargo of clocks +into England.</p> + +<p>When I first saw this city in 1812, its population was less than five +thousand, and it looked to me like a country town. I wandered about the +streets early one morning with a bundle of clothes and some bread and +cheese in my hands little dreaming that I should live to see so great a +change, or that it ever would be my home. I remember seeing the loads of +wood and chips for family use lying in front of the houses, and acres of +land then in cornfields and valued at a small sum, are now covered with +fine buildings and stores and factories in about the heart of the city.</p> + +<p>When I moved my case making business to New Haven, the project was +ridiculed by other clock-makers, of going to a city to manufacture by +steam power, and yet it seems to have been the commencement of +manufacturers in the country, coming to New Haven to carry on their +business. Numbers came to me to get my opinion and learn the advantages +it had over manufacturing in the country, which I always informed them +in a heavy business was very great, the item of transportation alone +over-balancing the difference between water and steam power. The +facilities for procuring stock and of shipping, being also an important +item. Not one of the good citizens will deny that this great business of +clock-making which I first brought to New Haven has been of immense +advantage and of great importance to the city. Through its agency +millions of money has been brought here, adding materially to the +general prosperity and wealth, besides bringing it into notice wherever +its productions are sent. I have been told that there is nothing in the +eastern world that attracts the attention of the inhabitants like a +Yankee clock. It has this moment come into my mind of several years ago +giving a dozen brass clocks to a missionary at Jerusalem; they were +shipped from London to Alexandria in Egypt, from there to Joppa, and +thence about forty miles on the backs of Camels to Jerusalem, where they +arrived safe to the great joy of the missionary and others interested, +and attracted a great deal of attention and admiration. I also sent my +clocks to China, and two men to introduce them more than twenty years +ago.</p> + +<p>I will here say what I truly believe as to the future of this business; +there is no place on the earth where it can be started and compete with +New Haven, there are no other factories where they can possibly be made +so cheap. I have heard men ask the question, "why can't clocks be made +in Europe on such a scale, where labor is so cheap?" If a company could +in any part of the old world get their labor ten years for nothing, I do +not believe they could compete with the Yankees in this business. They +can be made in New Haven and sent into any part of the world for more +than a hundred years to come for less than one half of what they could +be made for in any part of the old world. I was many years in +systematizing this business, and these things I know to be facts, though +it might appear as strong language. No man has ever lived that has given +so much time and attention to this subject as myself. For more than +fifty years, by day and by night, clocks have been uppermost in my mind. +The ticking of a clock is music to me, and although many of my +experiences as a business man have been trying and bitter, I have the +satisfaction of knowing that I have lived the life of an honest man, and +have been of some use to my fellow men.</p> +</div> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="heading"> +<h3><a name="appx"></a>APPENDIX.</h3> + +<h4 class="argument">GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR KEEPING CLOCKS IN ORDER.</h4> +</div> + +<p>Pendulum clocks are the oldest style, and are more generally introduced +than any other kind. I will give a few simple suggestions essential for +keeping this clock in good order as a time-keeper. In the first place, a +clock must be plumb (that is level;) and what I mean by plumb, is not +treing up the case to a level, but it is to put the case in a position +so that the beats or sounds of the wheel-teeth striking the verge are +equal. It is not necessary to go by the sound, if the face is taken off +so that you can see the verge. You can then notice and see whether the +verge holds on to the teeth at each end the same length of time; or (in +other words) whether the vibrations are equal as they should be. Clocks +are often condemned because they stop, or because they do not keep good +time, while these points and others are not in beat, the vibrations are +not regular; hence it will not divide the time equally, and it is called +a poor time-keeper, when the difficulty may be that it is not properly +set up. A clock which will run when it is much out of beat, is a very +good one, and it must run very easily, because it has a great +disadvantage to overcome, viz: a greater distance from a perpendicular +line one way than the other in order that the verge may escape the +teeth. A clock may be set up in perfect beat, but the shelf is liable to +settle or warp, and get out of beat so gradually, that it might not be +remarked by one not suspecting it, unless special notice was taken of +it. This matter should be looked to when the clock stops.</p> + +<p>I have explained the mode of setting up a clock with reference to +putting it in beat, etc. Another essential point to be attended to is +that the rod should hang in the centre or very near the centre of the +loop in the crutch wire which is connected with the verge, and for this +reason, if it rubs the front or back end of the loop, the friction will +cause it to stop. To prevent this, set the clock case so that it will +lean back a little or forward, as it requires. It sometimes happens that +the dial (if it is made of zinc) gets bent in, and the loop of the +crutch wire rubs as it passes back and forth. This should be attended +to. It should be noticed also, whether the crutch wire gets misplaced so +that it rubs any kind of a dial; the least impediment here will stop a +clock. The centre of the dial should next be noticed. It sometimes +happens that the warping moves it from its place, so that the sockets of +the pointers rub, and many times it is the cause of the clock's +stopping; this can be remedied by pareing out the centre on the side +required.</p> + +<p>Soft verges are no uncommon cause of clocks stopping, and those who +travel to repair clocks generally overlook this trouble. A clock with a +soft verge will run but a short time, because the teeth will dent into +the face of the verge and cause a roughness that will certainly stop it. +The way to ascertain this, is to try a file on the end of the verge; if +you can file it it is soft; they are intended to be so hard that a file +will not cut them. They can be hardened without taking off the brass +ears or crutch wires, if you are careful in heating them; but the +roughness on the faces caused by the teeth must be taken out in +finishing. They must be polished nicely, and the polish lines should run +parallel with the verge: this may not seem to some necessary, but if the +polished lines run crosswise you can hear it rub distinctly and it would +cause it to stop.</p> + +<p>It is very common to hear a clock make a creaking noise, and this leads +inexperienced persons to think it has become dry inside. This is not so, +and you will always find it to be caused by the loop of the crutch wire +where it touches the rod; apply a little oil and it will cure it.</p> + +<p>Some think that a clock must be cleaned and oiled often, but if the +foregoing directions are carefully pursued it is not necessary. I could +show the reader several thirty-four hour brass clocks of my first and +second years' manufacture (about twenty-two years since) which have been +taken apart and cleaned but once—perhaps some of them twice. I have +been told that they run as well as they did the first year. Now these +are the directions which I should lay down for you to save your money, +and your clocks from untimely wearing out. If you see any signs of their +stopping—such as a faint beat, or if on a very cold night they stop, +take the dial off, and the verge from the pin, wipe the pin that the +verge hangs on, the hole in the ears of the verge, and the pieces that +act on the wheel; also the loop of the verge wire where it connects with +the rod, and the rod itself where the loop acts. Previous to taking off +the verge, oil all the pivots in front; let the clock be wound up about +half way, then take off the verge, and let it run down as rapidly as it +will, in order to work out the gummy oil: then wipe off the black oil +that has worked out and it is not necessary to add any more to the +pivots. Then oil the parts as above described connected with the verge +and be very sparing of the oil, for too little is better than too much. +I never use any but watch oil. You may think that the other oils are +good because you have tried them; but I venture to say that all the good +they effected was temporary and after a short time the clock was more +gummed up than it was before. Watch oil is made from the porpoise' jaw, +and I have not seen anything to equal it. You may say why not oil the +back pivots? They do not need it as often as the front ones, because +they are not so much exposed, and hence, they do not catch the dust +which passes through the sash and through the key holes that causes the +pivots to be gummy and gritty. The front pivot holes wear largest first. +A few pennys' worth of oil will last many years.</p> + +<p>It is necessary to occasionally oil the pulleys on the top of the case +which the cord passes over. If this is not done the hole becomes +irregular, and a part of the power is lost to the clock. Common oil will +answer for them. With regard to balance-wheel clocks, it is more +difficult to explain the mode of repairing, to the inexperienced. With +reference to oiling, use none but watch oil.</p> +</div> +<hr class="full" /> + +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN CLOCK BUSINESS FOR THE PAST SIXTY YEARS, AND LIFE OF CHAUNCEY JEROME***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 12694-h.txt or 12694-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/6/9/12694">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/6/9/12694</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL">https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/old/12694-h/images/frontispiece.png b/old/12694-h/images/frontispiece.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec755bf --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12694-h/images/frontispiece.png diff --git a/old/12694.txt b/old/12694.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..af8a961 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12694.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3127 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, History of the American Clock Business for +the Past Sixty Years, and Life of Chauncey Jerome, by Chauncey Jerome + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: History of the American Clock Business for the Past Sixty Years, +and Life of Chauncey Jerome + +Author: Chauncey Jerome + +Release Date: June 23, 2004 [eBook #12694] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN CLOCK +BUSINESS FOR THE PAST SIXTY YEARS, AND LIFE OF CHAUNCEY JEROME*** + + +E-text prepared by Robert Shimmin and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN CLOCK BUSINESS FOR THE PAST SIXTY YEARS, +AND +LIFE OF CHAUNCEY JEROME + +WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. + +Barnum's Connection with the Yankee Clock Business + +1860. + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Litho of E.B. & E.C. Kellogg, Hartford, Conn. +Signature of Chauncey Jerome] + + + +PREFACE. + + +The manufacture of Clocks has become one of the most important branches +of American industry. Its productions are of immense value and form an +important article of export to foreign countries. It has grown from +almost nothing to its present dimensions within the last thirty years, +and is confined to one of the smallest States in the Union. Sixty years +ago, a few men with clumsy tools supplied the demand; at the present +time, with systematized labor and complicated machinery, it gives +employment to thousands of men, occupying some of the largest factories +of New England. Previous to the year 1838, most clock movements were +made of wood; since that time they have been constructed of metal, which +is not only better and more durable but even cheaper to manufacture. + +Many years of my own life have been inseparably connected with and +devoted to the American clock business, and the most important changes +in it have taken place within my remembrance and actual experience. Its +whole history is familiar to me, and I cannot write my life without +having much to say about "Yankee clocks." Neither can there be a history +of that business written without alluding to myself. A few weeks since +I entered my sixty-seventh year, and reviewing the past, many trying +experiences are brought fresh into my mind. For more than forty-five +years I have been actively engaged in the manufacture of clocks, and +constantly studying and contriving new methods of manufacturing for the +benefit of myself and fellow-men, and although through the +instrumentality of others, I have been unfortunate in the loss of my +good name and an independent competency, which I had honorably and +honestly acquired by these long years of patient toil and industry, it +is a satisfaction to me now to know that I have been the means of doing +some good in the world. + +On the following pages in my simple language, and in a bungling manner, +I have told the story of my life. I am no author, but claim a title +which I consider nobler, that of a "Mechanic." Being possessed of a +remarkable memory, I am able to give a minute account and even the date +of every important transaction of my whole life, and distinctly remember +events which took place when I was but a child, three and a half years +old, and how I celebrated my fourth birthday. I could relate many +instances of my boyhood and later day experiences if my health, and +strength would permit. It has been no part of my plan to boast, +exaggerate, or misrepresent anything, but to give "plain facts." + +A history of the great business of Clock making has never been written. +I am the oldest man living who has had much to do with it, and am best +able to give its history. To-day my name is seen on millions of these +useful articles in every part of the civilized globe, the result of +early ambition and untiring perseverance. It was in fact the "pride of +my life." Time-keepers have been known for centuries in the old world; +but I will not dwell on that. It is enough for the American people to +know that their country supplies the whole world with its most useful +time-keepers, (as well as many other productions,) and that no other +country can compete with ours in their manufacture. + +It has been a long and laborious undertaking for me in my old age to +write such a work as this; but the hope that it might be useful and +instructive to many of my young friends has animated me to go on; and in +presenting it to the public it is with the hope that it will meet with +some favor, and that I shall derive some pecuniary benefit therefrom. + +NEW HAVEN, August 15th, 1860. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I.--MY EARLY HISTORY.--Birthplace; nail making; death of my +Father; leaving home; work on a farm; hard times; the great eclipse; +bound out as a carpenter; carry tools thirty miles; work on clock dials; +what I heard at a training; trip to New Jersey in 1812; first visit to +New York; what I saw there; cross the North River in a scow; case making +in New Jersey; hard fare; return home; first appearance in New Haven; at +home again; a great traveller; experiences in the last war; go to New +London to fight the British in 1813; incidents; soldiering at New Haven +in 1814; married; hard times again; cottton [sic] cloth $1 per yard; the +cold summer of 1816; a hard job; work at clocks. + +CHAPTER II.--EARLY HISTORY OF YANKEE CLOCK MAKING.--Mr. Eli Terry the +father of wood clocks in Connecticut; clocks in 1800; wheels made with +saw and jack-knife; first clocks by machinery; clocks for pork; men in +the business previous to 1810; [ ] a new invention; the Pillar +Scroll Top Case; peddling clocks on horseback; the Bronze Looking Glass +Clock. + +CHAPTER III.--PERSONAL HISTORY CONTINUED.--1816 to 1825; work with Mr. +Terry; commence business; work alone; large sale to a Southerner; a heap +of money; peddle clocks in Wethersfield; walk twenty-five miles in the +snow; increase business; buy mahogany in the plank; saw veneers with a +hand saw; trade cases for movements; move to Bristol; bad luck; lose +large sum of money; first cases by machinery in Bristol; make clocks in +Mass.; good luck; death of my little daughter; form a company; invent +Bronze Looking Glass Clock. + +CHAPTER IV.--PROGRESS OF CLOCK MAKING.--Revival of business; Bronze +Looking Glass Clock favorite; clocks at the South; $115 for a clock; +rapid increase of the business; new church at Bristol--Rev. David L. +Parmelee; hard times of 1837; panic in business; no more clocks will be +made; wooden clocks and wooden nutmegs; opposition to Yankee pedlars in +the South; make clocks in Virginia and South Carolina; my trip to the +South; discouragements; "I won't give up;" invent one day Brass clock; +better times ahead; go further South; return home; produce the new +clock; its success. + +CHAPTER V.--BRASS CLOCKS--CLOCKS IN ENGLAND.--The new clock a favorite; +I carry on the business alone; good times; profits in 1841; wood clock +makers half crazy; competition; prices reduced; can Yankee clocks be +introduced into England; I send out a cargo; ridiculed by other clock +makers; prejudice of English people against American manufacturers; how +they were introduced; seized by custom house officers; a good joke; +incidents; the Terry family. + +CHAPTER VI.--THE CAREER OF A FAST YOUNG MAN.--Incidents; Frank Merrills; +a smart young man; I sell him clocks; his bogus operations; a sad +history; great losses; human nature; my experience; incident of my +boyhood; Samuel J. Mills, the Missionary; anecdotes. + +CHAPTER VII.--REMOVAL TO NEW HAVEN--FIRE--TROUBLE.--Make cages at New +Haven; factories at Bristol destroyed by fire; great loss; sickness; +heavy trouble; human nature; move whole business to New Haven; John +Woodruff; great competition; clocks in New York; swindlers; law-suit; +ill-feeling of other clock makers. + +CHAPTER VIII.--THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING--THE JEROME MANUFACTURING +COMPANY.--Benefit of manufacturing by system; a clock case for eight +cents; a clock for seventy-five cents; thirty years ago and to-day; more +human nature; how the Brass clock is made; cost of a clock; the +facilities of the Jerome Manufacturing Company; a joint stock company; +how it was managed; interesting statements; its failure. + +CHAPTER IX.--MEN NOW IN THE BUSINESS.--The New Haven Clock Co.: Hon. +Jas. E. English, H.M. Welch, John Woodruff, Hiram Camp, Philip Pond, +Charles L. Griswold, L.F. Root. Benedict & Burnham Company of Waterbury: +Arad W. Welton. Seth Thomas & Co. Wm. L. Gilbert. E.N. Welch. Beach & +Hubbell. Ireneus Atkins. + +CHAPTER X.--BARNUM'S CONNECTION IN THE CLOCK BUSINESS.--Barnum and the +Jerome Manufacturing Co.; Terry & Barnum; interesting statements; causes +of the failure; the results. + +CHAPTER XI.--EFFECTS OF THE FAILURE ON MYSELF.--My prospects; leave New +Haven; move to Waterbury; a frightful accident; a practical story. + +CHAPTER XII.--ANOTHER UNFORTUNATE PARTNERSHIP.--More misplaced +confidence; a dishonest man threatening to imprison me for fraud; every +dollar gone; kindness of John Woodruff, etc. + +CHAPTER XIII.--THE WOOSTER PLACE CHURCH.--Reasons for building it, and +how it was built; growth of different denominations, etc. + +CHAPTER XIV.--NEW HAVEN AS A BUSINESS PLACE.--growth, extensive +manufactories, facilities for manufacturing, population, wealth, etc. + +APPENDIX.--General directions for keeping clocks in order, etc. + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +EARLY DAYS.--LEAVING HOME.--BOUND OUT.--FARMING.--CARPENTER.--SOLDIER.-- +CLOCK MAKING. + +I was born in the town of Canaan, Litchfield County, in the State of +Connecticut, on the 10th day of June, 1793. My parents were poor but +respectable and industrious. My father was a blacksmith and wrought-nail +maker by trade, and the father of six children--four sons and two +daughters. I was the fourth child. + +In January, 1797, he moved from Canaan to the town of Plymouth, in the +same County, and in the following spring built a blacksmith shop, which +was large enough for three or four men to work at the nail making +business, besides carrying on the blacksmithing. At that time all the +nails used in the country were hammered by hand out of iron rods, which +practice has almost entirely been done away by the introduction of cut +nails. + +My advantages for education were very poor. When large enough to handle +a hoe, or a bundle of rye, I was kept at work on the farm. The only +opportunity I had for attending school was in the winter season, and +then only about three months in the year, and at a very poor school. +When I was nine years old, my father took me into the shop to work, +where I soon learned to make nails, and worked with him in this way +until his death, which occurred on the fifth of October, 1804. For two +or three days before he died, he suffered the most excruciating pains +from the disease known as the black colic. The day of his death was a +sad one to me, for I knew that I should lose my happy home, and be +obliged to leave it to seek work for my support. There being no +manufacturing of any account in the country, the poor boys were obliged +to let themselves to the farmers, and it was extremely difficult to find +a place to live where they would treat a poor boy like a human being. +Never shall I forget the Monday morning that I took my little bundle of +clothes, and with a bursting heart bid my poor mother good bye. + +I knew that the rest of the family had got to leave soon, and I perhaps +never to see any of them again. Being but a boy and naturally very +sympathizing, it really seemed as if my heart would break to think of +leaving my dear old home for good, but stern necessity compelled me, and +I was forced to obey. + +The first year after leaving home I was at work on a farm, and almost +every day when alone in the fields would burst into tears--not because I +had to work, but because my father was dead whom I loved, and our happy +family separated and broken up never to live together again. In my new +place I was kept at work very hard, and at the age of fourteen did +almost the work of a man. It was a very lonely place where we lived, and +nothing to interest a child of my age. The people I lived with seemed to +me as very old, though they were probably not more than thirty-six years +of age, and felt no particular interest in me, more than to keep me +constantly at work, early and late, in all kinds of weather, of which I +never complained. I have many times worked all day in the woods, +chopping down trees, with my shoes filled with snow; never had a pair of +boots till I was more than twenty years old. Once in two weeks I was +allowed to go to church, which opportunity I always improved. + +I liked to attend church, for I could see so many folks, and the habit +which I then acquired has never to this day left me, and my love for it +dates back to this time in my youth, though the attractions now are +different. + +I shall never forget how frightened I was at the great eclipse which +took place on the 16th of June, 1806, and which so terrified the good +people in every part of the land. They were more ignorant about such +operations of the sun fifty-four years ago than at the present time. I +had heard something about eclipses but had not the faintest idea what it +could be. I was hoeing corn that day in a by-place three miles from +town, and thought it certainly was the day of judgment. I watched the +sun steadily disappearing with a trembling heart, and not till it again +appeared bright and shining as before, did I regain my breath and +courage sufficient to whistle. + +The winter before I was fifteen years old, I went to live with a house +carpenter to learn the trade, and was bound to him by my guardian till I +was twenty-one years old, and was to have my board and clothes for my +services. I learned the business very readily, and during the last three +years of my apprenticeship could do the work of a man. + +It was a very pleasant family that I lived with while learning my trade. +In the year 1809 my "boss" took a job in Torringford, and I went with +him. After being absent several months from home, I felt very anxious to +see my poor mother who lived about two miles from Plymouth. She lived +alone--with the exception of my youngest brother about nine years old. I +made up my mind that I would go down and see her one night. In this way +I could satisfy my boss by not losing any time. It was about twenty +miles, and I only sixteen years old. I was really sorry after I had +started, but was not the boy to back out. It took me till nearly morning +to get there, tramping through the woods half of the way; every noise I +heard I thought was a bear or something that would kill me, and the +frightful notes of the whippoorwill made my hair stand on end. The dogs +were after me at every house I passed. I have never forgotten that +night. The boys of to-day do not see such times as I did. + +The next year, 1810, my boss took a job in Ellsworth Society, Litchfield +County. I footed it to and from that place several times in the course +of the year, with a load of joiners' tools on my back. What would a boy +17 years old now think to travel thirty miles in a hot summer's day, +with a heavy load of joiners' tools on his back? But that was about the +only way that we could get around in those days. At that time there were +not half a dozen one-horse wagons in the whole town. At that place I +attended the church of Rev. Daniel Parker, father of Hon. Amasa J. +Parker, of Albany, who was then a little boy four or five years old. I +often saw him at meeting with his mother. He is a first cousin of F.S. & +J. Parker of this city, two highly respectable men engaged in the paper +business. + +In the fall of 1811, I made a bargain with the man that I was bound to, +that if he would give me four months in the winter of each year when the +business was dull, I would clothe myself. I therefore went to Waterbury, +and hired myself to Lewis Stebbins, (a singing master of that place,) to +work at making the dials for the old fashioned long clock. This kind of +business gave me great satisfaction, for I always had a desire to work +at clocks. In 1807, when I was fourteen years old, I proposed to my +guardian to get me a place with Mr. Eli Terry, of Plymouth, to work at +them. Mr. Terry was at that time making more clocks than any other man +in the country, about two hundred in a year, which was thought to be a +great number. + +My guardian, a good old man, told me that there was so many clocks then +making, that the country would soon be filled with them, and the +business would be good for nothing in two or three years. This opinion +of that wise man made me feel very sad. I well remember, when I was +about twelve years old, what I heard some old gentleman say, at a +training, (all of the good folks in those days were as sure to go to +training as to attend church,) they were talking about Mr. Terry; the +foolish man they said, had begun to make two hundred clocks; one said, +he never would live long enough to finish them; another remarked, that +if he did he never would, nor could possibly sell so many, and ridiculed +the very idea. + +I was a little fellow, but heard and swallowed every word those wise men +said, but I did not relish it at all, for I meant some day to make +clocks myself, if I lived. + +What would those good old men have thought when they were laughing at +and ridiculing Mr. Terry, if they had known that the little urchin who +was so eagerly listening to their conversation would live to make _Two +Hundred Thousand_ metal clocks in one year, and _many millions_ +in his life. They have probably been dead for years, that little boy is +now an old man, and during his life has seen these great changes. The +clock business has grown to be one of the largest in the country, and +almost every kind of American manufactures have improved in much the +same ratio, and I cannot now believe that there will ever be in the same +space of future time so many improvements and inventions as those of the +past half century--one of the most important in the history of the +world. Everyday things with us now would have appeared to our +forefathers as incredible. But returning to my story--having got myself +tolerably well posted about clocks at Waterbury, I hired myself to two +men to go into the state of New Jersey, to make the old fashioned seven +foot standing clock-case. Messrs. Hotchkiss and Pierpont, of Plymouth, +had been selling that kind of a clock without the cases, in the northern +part of that State, for about twenty dollars, apiece. The purchasers, +had complained to them however, that there was no one in that region +that could make the case for them, which prevented many others from +buying. These two men whom I went with, told them that they would get +some one to go out from Connecticut, to make the case, and thought they +could be made for about eighteen or twenty dollars apiece, which would +then make the whole clock cost about forty dollars--not so very costly +after all; for a clock was then considered the most useful of anything +that could be had in a family, for what it cost. I entered into an +agreement with these men at once, and a few days after, we three started +on the 14th Dec., 1812, in an old lumber wagon, with provisions for the +journey, to the far off Jersey. This same trip can now be made in a few +hours. We were _many_ days. We passed through Watertown, and other +villages, and stopped the first night at Bethel. This is the very place +where P.T. Barnum was born, and at about this time, of whom I shall +speak more particularly hereafter. The next morning we started again on +our journey, and not many hours after, arrived in Norwalk, then quite a +small village, situated on Long Island Sound; at this place I saw the +salt water for the first time in my life, also a small row-boat, and +began to feel that I was a great traveler indeed. The following night we +stopped at Stamford, which was, as I viewed it, a great place; here I +saw a few sloops on the Sound, which I thought was the greatest sight +that I had ever seen. This was years before a steamboat had ever passed +through the Sound. The next morning we started again for New York, and +as we passed along I was more and more astonished at the wonderful +things that I saw, and began to think that the world was very extensive. +We did not arrive at the city until night, but there being a full moon +every thing appeared as pleasant, as in the day-time. We passed down +through the Bowery, which was then like a country village, then through +Chatham street to Pearl street, and stopped for the night at a house +kept by old Mr. Titus. I arose early the next morning and hurried into +the street to see how a city looked by day-light. I stood on the corner +of Chatham and Pearl for more than an hour, and I must confess that if I +was ever astonished in my life, it was at that time. I could not +understand why so many people, of every age, description and dress, were +hurrying so in every direction. I asked a man what was going on, and +what all this excitement meant, but he passed right along without +noticing me, which I thought was very uncivil, and I formed a very poor +opinion of those city folks. I ate nothing that morning, for I thought I +could be in better business for a while at least. I wandered about +gazing at the many new sights, and went out as far as the Park; at that +time the workmen were finishing the interior of the City Hall. I was +greatly puzzled to know how the winding stone stairs could be fixed +without any seeming support and yet be perfectly safe. After viewing +many sights, all of which were exceedingly interesting to me, I returned +to the house where my companions were. They told me that they had just +heard that the ship Macedonian, which was taken a few days before from +the British by one of our ships, had just been brought into the harbor +and lay off down by Burling Slip, or in that region. We went down to see +her, and went on board. I was surprised and frightened to see brains and +blood scattered about on the deck in every direction. This prize was +taken by the gallant Decatur, but a short distance from New York. +Hastening back from this sickening scene, we resumed our journey. My two +companions had been telling me that we should have to cross the North +River in a boat, and I did not understand how a boat could be made to +carry our team and be perfectly safe, but when we arrived there, I was +much surprised to see other teams that were to cross over with us, and a +number of people. At that time an old scow crossed from New York City to +the Jersey shore, once in about two hours. What a great change has taken +place in the last forty-seven years; now large steam ferry boats are +crossing and recrossing, making the trip in a few minutes. It was the +first time that I had ever crossed a stream, except on a bridge, and I +feared that we might upset and all be drowned, but no accident happened +to us; we landed in safety, and went on our way rejoicing towards +Elizabethtown. At that place I saw a regiment of soldiers from Kentucky, +who were on their way to the northern frontier to fight the British. +They were a rough set of fellows, and looked as though they could do a +great deal of fighting. It will be remembered that this was the time of +the last war with England. We passed on through Elizabethtown and +Morristown to Dutch Valley, where we stopped for the night. We remained +at this place a few days, looking about for a cabinet shop, or a +suitable place to make the clock cases. Not succeeding, we went a mile +further north, to a place called Schooler's Mountain; here we found a +building that suited us. It was then the day before Christmas. The +people of that region, we found, kept that day more strictly than the +Sabbath, and as we were not ready to go to work, we passed Christmas day +indoors feeling very lonely indeed. The next day we began operations. A +young man from the lower part of New Jersey worked with me all winter. +We boarded ourselves in the same building that we worked in, I doing all +of the house-work and cooking, none of which was very fine or fancy, our +principal food being pork, potatoes and bread, using our work-bench for +a table. Hard work gave us good appetite. + +We would work on an average about fifteen hours a day, the house-work +not occupying much of our time. I was then only nineteen years old, and +it hardly seems possible that the boys of the present day could pass +through such trials and hardships, and live. We worked in this way all +winter. When the job was finished, I took my little budget of clothes +and started for home. I traveled the first day as far as Elizabethtown, +and stopped there all night, but found no conveyance from there to New +York. I was told that if I would go down to the Point, I might in the +course of the day, get a passage in a sailing vessel to the city. I went +down early in the morning and, after waiting till noon, found a chance +to go with two men in a small sail boat. I was greatly alarmed at the +strange motions of the boat which I thought would upset, and felt +greatly relieved when I was again on terra firma. + +I wandered about the streets of New York all that afternoon, bought a +quantity of bread and cheese, and engaged a passage on the Packet Sloop +Eliza, for New Haven, of her Captain Zebulon Bradley. I slept on board +of her that night at the dock, the next day we set sail for New Haven, +about ten o'clock in the forenoon, with a fair wind, and arrived at the +long wharf in (that city) about eight o'clock the same day. I stopped at +John Howe's Hotel, at the head of the wharf. This was the first time +that I was ever in this beautiful city, and I little thought then that I +ever should live there, working at my favorite business, with three +hundred men in my employ, or that I should ever be its Mayor.--Times +change. + +Very early the next morning, after looking about a little, I started +with my bundle of clothes in one hand, and my bread and cheese in the +other, to find the Waterbury turnpike, and after dodging about for a +long time, succeeded in finding it, and passed on up through Waterbury +to Plymouth, walking the whole distance, and arrived home about three +o'clock in the afternoon. This was my first trip abroad, and I really +felt that I was a great traveler, one who had seen much of the world! +What a great change has taken place in so short space of time. + +Soon after I returned from my western trip, there began to be a great +excitement throughout the land, about the war. It was proposed by the +Governor of Connecticut, John Cotton Smith, of Sharon, to raise one or +two regiments of State troops to defend it in case of invasion. One +Company of one hundred men, was raised in the towns of Waterbury, +Watertown, Middlebury, Plymouth and Bethlem, and John Buckingham chosen +Captain, who is now living in Waterbury; the other commissioned officers +of the company, were Jas. M.L. Scovill, of Waterbury, and Joseph H. +Bellamy, of Bethlem. The company being composed of young men, and I +being about the right age, had of course to be one of them. + +Early in the Summer of 1813, the British fleet run two of our ships of +war up the Thames River, near New London. Their ships being so large +could not enter, but lay at its mouth. Their presence so near greatly +alarmed the citizens of that city, and in fact, all of the people in the +eastern part of the State. Our regiment was ordered to be ready to start +for New London by the first of August. The Plymouth company was called +together on Sunday, which was the first of August, and exercised on the +Green in front of the church, in the fore part of the day. This unusual +occurrence of a military display on the Sabbath greatly alarmed the good +people of the congregation, but it really was a case of necessity, we +were preparing to defend our homes from a foreign foe. + +In the afternoon we attended church in a body, wearing our uniforms, to +the wonder and astonishment of boys, but terrible to the old people. On +Monday morning we started on a march to Hartford, sleeping that night in +a barn, in the eastern part of Farmington, and reaching Hartford the +next day, where we joined the other companies, and all started for New +London. The first night we slept in a barn in East Hartford, and the +second one in an old church in Marlboro. I remember lying on the seat of +a pew, with my knapsack under my head. We arrived at New London on +Saturday, marching the whole distance in the first week in August, and a +hotter time I have never experienced since. We were dressed in heavy +woolen clothes, carrying heavy guns and knapsacks, and wearing large +leather caps. It was indeed a tedious job. We were whole days traveling +what can now be done in less than as many hours, and were completely +used up when we arrived there, which would not appear strange. We were +immediately stationed on the high ground, back from the river, about +half way between the city and the light-house, in plain view of the +enemy's ships. They would frequently, when there was a favorable wind, +hoist their sails and beat about in the harbor, making a splendid +appearance, and practising a good deal with their heavy guns on a small +American sloop, which they had taken and anchored a long distance off. +The bounding of the cannon balls on the water was an interesting sight +to me. The first night after our arrival, I was put on guard near the +Light-house, and in plain sight of the ships. I was much afraid that the +sharp shooters from their barges would take me for a target and be smart +enough to hit me; and a heavy shower with thunder and lightning passing +over us during the night, did not alleviate my distress. I was but a +boy, only twenty years old, and would naturally be timid in such a +situation, but I passed the night without being killed; it seems that +was not the way that I was to die. + +I soon became sick and disgusted with a soldier's life; it seemed to be +too lazy and low-lived to suit me, and, as near as I could judge, the +inhabitants thought us all a low set of fellows. I never have had a +desire to live or be anywhere without I could be considered at least as +good as the average, which failing I have now as strong as ever. We not +having any battles to fight, had no opportunities of showing our +bravery, and after guarding the city for forty-five days, were +discharged; over which we made a great rejoicing, and returned home by +the way of New Haven, which was my second visit to this city. The North +and Centre Churches were then building, also, the house now standing at +the North-east corner of the Green, owned then by David DeForest; +stopping here over night, we pased [sic] on home to Plymouth. I had not +slept on a bed since I left home, and would have as soon taken the barn +floor as a good bed. This ended my first campaign. + +After this I went to work at my trade, the Joiners business. I was still +an apprentice; would not be twenty-one till the next June. + +The War was not yet over, and in October, 1814, our Regiment was ordered +by Governor Smith to New Haven, to guard the city. Col. Sanford, (father +of Elihu and Harvey Sanford of this city,) commanded us. On arriving, we +were stationed at the old slaughter-house, in the Eastern part of the +city, at the end of Green street. All the land East of Academy street +was then in farmers' lots, and planted with corn, rye and potatoes now +covered with large manufactories and fine dwellings. I little thought +then, that I should have the largest Clock-factory in the world, within +a stone's throw of my sleeping-place, as has since proved. Nothing of +much importance took place during our campaign at New Haven. The British +did not land or molest us. We built a large fort on the high grounds, on +the East Haven side, which commanded the Harbor, the ruins of which can +now be seen from the city. A good deal of fault was found by the +officers and men with the provisions, which were very poor. When this +campaign closed I was through with my military glory, and returned to my +home, sick and disgusted with a soldier's life. I hope our country will +not be disgraced with another war. + +All of the old people will remember what a great rejoicing there was +through the whole country, when peace was declared in February, 1815. I +was married about that time to Salome Smith, daughter of Capt. +Theophilus Smith, one of the last of the Puritanical families there was +in the town; she made one of the best of wives and mothers. She died on +the 6th of March, 1854. We lived together 39 years. A short time after +we were married, I moved to the town of Farmington, and hired a house of +Mr. Chauncey Deming to live in, and went to work for Capt. Selah Porter, +for twenty dollars per month. We built a house for Maj. Timothy Cowles, +which was then the best one in Farmington. I was not worth at this time +fifty dollars in the world. + +1815, the year after the war, was, probably the hardest one there has +been for the last hundred years, for a young man to begin for himself. + +Pork was sold for thirteen dollars per hundred, Flour at thirteen +dollars per barrel; Molasses was sold for seventy-five cents per gallon, +and brown Sugar at thirty-four cents per pound. I remember buying some +cotton cloth for a common shirt, for which I paid one dollar a yard, no +better than can now be bought for ten cents. I mention these things to +let the young men know what a great change has taken place, and what my +prospects were at that time. Not liking this place, I moved back to +Plymouth. I did not have money enough to pay my rent, which however, was +not due until the next May, but Mr. Deming, who by the way, was one of +the richest men in the State, was determined that I should not go till I +had paid him. I promised him that he should have the money when it was +due, if my life was spared, and he finally consented to let me go. When +it came due I walked to Farmington, fifteen miles, paid him and walked +back the same day, feeling relieved and happy. I obtained the job of +finishing the inside of a dwelling house, which gave me great +encouragement. The times were awful hard and but little business done at +anything. It would almost frighten a man to see a five dollar bill, they +were so very scarce. My work was about two miles from where I lived. My +wife was confined about this time with her first babe. I would rise +every morning two hours before day-light and prepare my breakfast, and +taking my dinner in a little pail, bid my good wife good-by for the day, +and start for my work, not returning till night. About this time the +Congregational Society employed a celebrated music teacher to conduct +the church singing, and I having always had a desire to sing sacred +music, joined his choir and would walk a long distance to attend the +singing schools at night after working hard all day. I was chosen +chorister after a few weeks, which encouraged me very much in the way of +singing, and was afterwards employed as a teacher to some extent, and +for a long time led the singing there and at Bristol where I afterwards +lived. The next summer was the cold one of 1816, which none of the old +people will ever forget, and which many of the young have heard a great +deal about. There was ice and snow in every month in the year. I well +remember on the seventh of June, while on my way to work, about a mile +from home, dressed throughout with thick woolen clothes and an overcoat +on, my hands got so cold that I was obliged to lay down my tools and put +on a pair of mittens which I had in my pocket. It snowed about an hour +that day. On the tenth of June, my wife brought in some clothes that had +been spread on the ground the night before, which were frozen stiff as +in winter. On the fourth of July, I saw several men pitching quoits in +the middle of the day with thick overcoats on, and the sun shining +bright at the same time. A body could not feel very patriotic in such +weather. I often saw men when hoeing corn, stop at the end of a row and +get in the sun by a fence to warm themselves. Not half enough corn +ripened that year to furnish seed for the next. I worked at my trade, +and had the job of finishing the inside of a three-story house, having +twenty-seven doors and a white oak matched floor to make, and did the +whole for eighty-five dollars. The same work could not now be done as I +did it for less than five hundred dollars. Such times as these were +indeed hard for poor young men. We did not have many carpets or costly +furniture and servants; but as winter approached times seemed to grow +harder and harder. No work could be had. I was in debt for my little +house and lot which I had bought only a short time before, near the +center of Plymouth, and had a payment to make on it the next spring. I +proposed going south to the city of Baltimore, to obtain work, and had +already made preparations to go and leave my young family for the +winter, at which I could not help feeling very sad, when I accidentally +heard that Mr. Eli Terry was about to fit up his factory (which was +built the year before,) for making his new Patent Shelf Clock. I thought +perhaps I could get a job with him, and started immediately to see Mr. +Terry, and closed a bargain with him at once. I never shall forget the +great good feeling that this bargain gave me. It was a pleasant kind of +business for me, and then I knew I could see my family once a week or +oftener if necessary. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +PROGRESS OF CLOCK MAKING.--IMPROVEMENTS BY ELI TERRY AND OTHERS.--SHELF +CLOCK. + +At the beginning of this book I have said that I would give to the +public a history of the AMERICAN CLOCK BUSINESS. I am now the oldest man +living that has had much to do with the manufacturing of clocks, and +can, I believe, give a more correct account than any other person. This +great business has grown almost from nothing during my remembrance. +Nearly all of the clocks used in this country are made or have been made +in the small State of Connecticut, and a heavy trade in them is carried +on in foreign countries. The business or manufacture of them has become +so systematized of late that it has brought the prices exceedingly low, +and it has long been the astonishment of the whole world how they could +be made so cheap and yet be good. A gentleman called at my factory a few +years ago, when I was carrying on the business, who said he lived in +London, and had seen my clocks in that city, and declared that he was +perfectly astonished at the price of them, and had often remarked that +if he ever came to this country he would visit the factory and see for +himself. After I had showed him all the different processes it required +to complete a clock, he expressed himself in the strongest terms--he +told me he had traveled a great deal in Europe, and had taken a great +interest in all kinds of manufactures, but had never seen anything equal +to this, and did not believe that there was anything made in the known +world that made as much show, and at the same time was as cheap and +useful as the brass clock which I was then manufacturing. + + * * * * * + +The man above all others in his day for the wood clock was Eli Terry. He +was born in East Windsor, Conn., in April, 1772, and made a few old +fashioned hang-up clocks in his native place before he was twenty-one +years of age. He was a young man of great ingenuity and good native +talent. He moved to the town of Plymouth, Litchfield county, in 1793, +and commenced making a few of the same kind, working alone for several +years. About the year 1800, he might have had a boy or one or two young +men to help him. They would begin one or two dozen at a time, using no +machinery, but cutting the wheels and teeth with a saw and jack-knife. +Mr. Terry would make two or three trips a year to the New Country, as it +was then called, just across the North River, taking with him three or +four clocks, which he would sell for about twenty-five dollars apiece. +This was for the movement only. In 1807 he bought an old mill in the +southern part of the town, and fitted it up to make his clocks by +machinery. About this time a number of men in Waterbury associated +themselves together, and made a large contract with him, they furnishing +the stock, and he making the movements. With this contract and what he +made and sold to other parties, he accumulated quite a little fortune +for those times. The first five hundred clocks ever made by machinery in +the country were started at one time by Mr. Terry at this old mill in +1808, a larger number than had ever been begun at one time in the world. +Previous to this time the wheels and teeth had been cut out by hand; +first marked out with square and compasses, and then sawed with a fine +saw, a very slow and tedious process. Capt. Riley Blakeslee, of this +city, lived with Mr. Terry at that time, and worked on this lot of +clocks, cutting the teeth. Talking with Capt. Blakeslee a few days +since, he related an incident which happened when he was a boy, sixty +years ago, and lived on a farm in Litchfield. One day Mr. Terry came to +the house where he lived to sell a clock. The man with whom young +Blakeslee lived, left him to plow in the field and went to the house to +make a bargain for it, which he did, paying Mr. Terry in salt pork, a +part of which he carried home in his saddle-bags where he had carried +the clock. He was at that time very poor, but twenty-five years after +was worth $200,000, all of which he made in the clock business. + +Mr. Terry sold out his business to Seth Thomas and Silas Hoadley, two of +his leading workmen, in 1810. This establishment was the leading one for +several years, but other ones springing up in the vicinity, the +competition became so great that the prices were reduced from ten to +five dollars apiece for the bare movement. Daniel Clark, Zenas Cook and +Wm. Porter, started clock-making at Waterbury, and carried it on largely +for several years, but finally failed and went out of the business. + +Col. Wm. Leavenworth, of the same place, was in the business in 1810, +but failed, and moved to Albany, N.Y. A man by the name of Mark +Leavenworth made clocks for a long time, and in the latter part of his +life manufactured the Patent Shelf Clock. + +Two brothers, James and Lemuel Harrison, made a few before the year +1800, using no machinery, making their wheels with a saw and knife. +Sixty years ago, a man by the name of Gideon Roberts got up a few in the +old way: he was an excellent mechanic and made a good article. He would +finish three or four at a time and take them to New York State to sell. +I have seen him many times, when I was a small boy, pass my father's +house on horseback with a clock in each side of his saddle-bags, and a +third lashed on behind the saddle with the dials in plain sight. They +were then a great curiosity to me. Mr. Roberts had to give up this kind +of business; he could not compete with machinery. John Rich of Bristol +was in the business; also Levi Lewis, but gave it up in a few years. An +Ives family in Bristol were quite conspicuous as clock-makers. They were +good mechanics. One of them, Joseph Ives, has done a great deal towards +improving the eight day brass clock, which I shall speak about +hereafter. + +Chauncey Boardman, of Bristol, Riley Whiting, of Winsted, and Asa +Hopkins, of Northfield, were all engaged in the manufacture of the old +fashioned hang-up clock. Butler Dunbar, an old schoolmate of mine, and +father of Col. Edward Dunbar, of Bristol, was engaged with Dr. Titus +Merriman in the same business. They all gave up the business after a few +years. + +Mr. Eli Terry (in the year 1814,) invented a beautiful shelf clock made +of wood, which completely revolutionized the whole business. The making +of the old fashioned hang-up wood clock, about which I have been +speaking, passed out of existence. This patent article Mr. Terry +introduced, was called the Pillar Scroll Top Case. The pillars were +about twenty-one inches long, three-quarters of an inch at the base, and +three-eights at the top--resting on a square base, and the top finished +by a handsome cap. It had a large dial eleven inches square, and tablet +below the dial seven by eleven inches. This style of clock was liked +very much and was made in large quantities, and for several years. Mr. +Terry sold a right to manufacture them to Seth Thomas, for one thousand +dollars, which was thought to be a great sum. At first, Terry and Thomas +made each about six thousand clocks per year, but afterwards increased +to ten or twelve thousand. They were sold for fifteen dollars apiece +when first manufactured. I think that these two men cleared about one +hundred thousand dollars apiece, up to the year 1825. Mr. Thomas had +made a good deal of money on the old fashioned style, for he made a good +article, and had but little competition, and controlled most of the +trade. + +In 1818, Joseph Ives invented a metal clock, making the plates of iron +and the wheels of brass. The movement was very large, and required a +case about five feet long. This style was made for two or three years, +but not in large quantities. + +In the year 1825, the writer invented a new case, somewhat larger than +the Scroll Top, which was called the Bronze Looking-Glass Clock. This +was the richest looking and best clock that had ever been made, for the +price. They could be got up for one dollar less than the Scroll Top, yet +sold for two dollars more. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +PERSONAL HISTORY CONTINUED.--COMMENCING BUSINESS.--SALE TO A +SOUTHERNER.--REMOVAL TO BRISTOL.--FIRST SERIOUS LOSS. + +I must now go back and give a history of myself, from the winter of +1816, to this time (1825.) As I said before, I went to work for Mr. +Terry, making the Patent Shelf Clock in the winter of 1816. Mr. Thomas +had been making them for about two years, doing nearly all of the labor +on the case by hand. Mr. Terry in the mean time being a great mechanic +had made many improvements in the way of making the cases. Under his +directions I worked a long time at putting up machinery and benches. We +had a circular saw, the first one in the town, and which was considered +a great curiosity. In the course of the winter he drew another plan of +the Pillar Scroll Top Case with great improvements over the one which +Thomas was then making. I made the first one of the new style that was +ever produced in that factory, which became so celebrated for making the +patent case for more than ten years after. + +When my time was out in the spring, I bought some parts of clocks, +mahogany, veneers, etc., and commenced in a small shop, business for +myself. I made the case, and bought the movements, dials and glass, +finishing a few at a time. I found a ready sale for them. I went on in +this small way for a few years, feeling greatly animated with my +prosperity, occasionally making a payment on my little house. I heard +one day of a man in Bristol, who did business in South Carolina, who +wanted to buy a few clocks to take to that market with him. I started at +once over to see him, and soon made a bargain with him to deliver twelve +wood clocks at twelve dollars apiece. I returned home greatly encouraged +by the large order, and went right to work on them. I had them finished +and boxed ready for shipping in a short time. I had agreed to deliver +them on a certain day and was to receive $144 in cash. I hired an old +horse and lumber wagon of one of my neighbors, loaded the boxes and took +an early start for Bristol. I was thinking all the way there of the +large sum that I was to receive, and was fearful that something might +happen to disappoint me. I arrived at Bristol early in the forenoon and +hurried to the house of my customer, and told him I had brought the the +clocks as agreed. He said nothing but went into another room with his +son. I thought surely that something was wrong and that I should not get +the wished-for money, but after a while the old gentleman came back and +sat down by the table. "Here," he says, "is your money, and a heap of +it, too." It did look to me like a large sum, and took us a long time to +count it. This was more than forty years ago, and money was very scarce. +I took it with a trembling hand, and securing it safely in my pocket, +started immediately for home. This was a larger sum than I had ever had +at one time, and I was much alarmed for fear that I should be robbed of +my treasure before I got home. I thought perhaps it might be known that +I was to receive a large sum for clocks, and that some robbers might be +watching in a lonely part of the road and take it from me, but not +meeting any, I arrived safely home, feeling greatly encouraged and +happy. I told my wife that I would make another payment on our house, +which I did with a great deal of satisfaction. After this I was so +anxious to get along with my work that I did not so much as go out into +the street for a week at a time. I would not go out of the gate from the +time I returned from church one Sunday till the next. I loved to work as +well as I did to eat. I remember once, when at school, of chopping a +whole load of wood, for a great lazy boy, for one penny, and I used to +chop all the wood I could get from the families in the neighborhood, +moonlight nights, for very small sums. The winter after I made this +large sale, I took about one dozen of the Pillar Scroll Top Clocks, and +went to the town of Wethersfield to sell them. I hired a man to carry me +over there with a lumber wagon, who returned home. I would take one of +these clocks under each arm and go from house to house and offer them +for sale. The people seemed to be well pleased with them, and I sold +them for eighteen dollars apiece. This was good luck for me. I sold my +last one on Saturday afternoon. There had been a fall of snow the night +before of about eight or ten inches which ended in a rain, and made very +bad walking. Here I was, twenty-five miles from home, my wife was +expecting me, and I felt that I could not stay over Sunday. I was +anxious to tell my family of my good luck that we might rejoice +together. I started to walk the whole distance, but it proved to be the +hardest physical undertaking that I ever experienced. It was bedtime +when I reached Farmington, only one-third the distance, wallowing in +snow porridge all the way. I did not reach home till near Sunday +morning, more dead than alive. I did not go to church that day, which +made many wonder what had become of me, for I was always expected to be +in the singers' seat on Sunday. I did not recover from the effects of +that night-journey for a long time. Soon after this occurrence, I began +to increase my little business, and and employed my old joiner "boss" +and one of his apprentices; bought my mahogany in the plank and sawed my +own vaneers [sic] with a hand-saw. I engaged a man with a one horse +wagon to go to New York after a load of mahogany, and went with him to +select it. The roads were very muddy, and we were obliged to walk the +whole distance home by the side of the wagon. I worked along in this +small way until the year 1821, when I sold my house and lot, which I had +almost worshipped, to Mr. Terry; it was worth six hundred dollars. He +paid me one hundred wood clock movements, with the dials, tablets, glass +and weights. I went over to Bristol to see a man by the name of George +Mitchell, who owned a large two story house, with a barn and seventeen +acres of good land in the southern part of the town, which he said he +would sell and take his pay in clocks. I asked him how many of the Terry +Patent Clocks he would sell it for; he said two hundred and fourteen. I +told him I would give it, and closed the bargain at once. I finished up +the hundred parts which I had got from Mr. Terry, exchanged cases with +him for more, obtained some credit, and in this way made out the +quantity for Mitchell. + +The next summer I lost seven hundred and forty dollars by Moses Galpin +of Bethlem. Five or six others with myself trusted this man Galpin with +a large quantity of clocks, and he took them to Louisiana to sell in the +fall of 1821. In the course of the winter he was taken sick and died +there. One of his pedlars came home the next spring without one dollar +in money; the creditors were called together to see what had better be +done. The note that he had given me the fall before was due in July, and +I as much expected it as I did the sun to rise and set. Here was trouble +indeed; it was a great sum of money to lose, and what to do I didn't +know. The creditors had several meetings and finally concluded to send +out a man to look after the property that was scattered through the +state. He could not go without money. We thought if we furnished him +with means to go and finish up the business, we should certainly get +enough to pay the original debt. It was agreed that we should raise a +certain sum, and that each one should pay in proportion to the amount of +his claim. My part was one hundred dollars, and it was a hard job for me +to raise so large a sum after my great loss. When it came fall and time +for him to start, I managed in some way to have it ready. This man's +name was Isaac Turner, about fifty years old, and said to be very +respectable. He started out and traveled all over the state, but found +every thing in the worst kind of shape. The men to whom Galpin had sold +would not pay when they heard that he was dead. Mr. Turner was gone from +home ten months, but instead of his returning with money for us, we were +obliged to pay money that he had borrowed to get home with, besides his +expenses for the ten months that he was gone. This was harder for me +than any of the others, and was indeed a bitter pill. As it was my first +heavy loss I could not help feeling very bad. + +In the winter and spring of 1822, I built a small shop in Bristol, for +making the cases only, as all of the others made the movements. The +first circular saw ever used there was put up by myself in 1822, and +this was the commencement of making cases by machinery in that town, +which has since been so renowned for its clock productions. I went on +making cases in a small way for a year or two, sometimes putting in a +few movements and selling them, but not making much money. The clocks of +Terry and Thomas sold first rate, and it was quite difficult to buy any +of the movements, as no others were making the Patent Clock at that +time. I was determined to have some movements to case, and went to +Chauncey Boardman, who had formerly made the old fashioned hang-up +movements, and told him I wanted him to make me two hundred of his kind +with such alterations as I should suggest. He said he would make them +for me. I had them altered and made so as to take a case about four feet +long, which I made out of pine, richly stained and varnished. This made +a good clock for time and suited farmers first rate. + +In the spring of 1824, I went into company with two men by the name of +Peck, from Bristol. We took two hundred of these movements and a few +tools in two one horse wagons and started East, intending to stop in the +vicinity of Boston. We stopped at a place about fifteen miles from there +called East Randolph; after looking about a little, we concluded to +start our business there and hired a joiners' shop of John Adams, a +cousin of J.Q. Adams. We then went to Boston and bought a load of +lumber, and commenced operations. I was the case-maker of our concern, +and 'pitched into' the pine lumber in good earnest. I began four cases +at a time and worked like putting out fire on them. My partners were +waiting for some to be finished so that they could go out and sell. In +two or three days I had got them finished and they started with them, +and I began four more. In a day or two they returned home having sold +them at sixteen dollars _each_. This good fortune animated me very +much. I worked about fourteen or fifteen hours per day, and could make +about four cases and put in the glass, movements and dials. We worked on +in this way until we had finished up the two hundred, and sold them at +an average of sixteen dollars apiece. We had done well and returned home +with joyful hearts in the latter part of June. On arriving home I found +my little daughter about five years old quite sick. In a week after she +died. I deeply felt the loss of my little daughter, and every 7th of +July it comes fresh into my mind. + +In the fall of 1824, I formed a company with my brother, Noble Jerome, +and Elijah Darrow, for the manufacturing of clocks, and began making a +movement that required a case about six or eight inches longer than the +Terry Patent. We did very well at this for a year or two, during which +time I invented the Bronze Looking Glass Clock, which soon +revolutionized the whole business. As I have said before, it could be +made for one dollar less and sold for two dollars more than the Patent +Case; they were very showy and a little longer. With the introduction of +this clock in the year 1825, closed the second chapter of the history of +the Yankee Clock business. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +THE BRONZE LOOKING GLASS CLOCK.--CHURCH AT BRISTOL.--PANIC OF 1837.-- +CLOCKS AT THE SOUTH.--THE ONE DAY BRASS CLOCK. + +With the introduction of the Bronze Looking-Glass Clock, the business +seemed to revive in all the neighboring towns, but more especially in +Plymouth and Bristol. Both Mr. Terry and Mr. Thomas, did and said much +in disparagement of my new invention, and tried to discourage the +pedlars from buying of me, but they did as men do now-a-days, buy where +they can do the best and make the most money. This new clock was liked +very much in the southern market. I have heard of some of these being +sold in Mississippi and Lousianna [sic] as high as one hundred and one +hundred and fifteen dollars, and a great many at ninety dollars, which +was a good advance on the first cost. Mr. Thomas gave out that he would +not make them any how, he did not want to follow Jerome, but did finally +come to it, making only a few at first, but running them down in the +mean time and praising his old case. He finally gave up making the +Scroll Top and made my new kind altogether. + +Samuel Terry, a brother of Eli, came to Bristol about this time, and +commenced making this kind of clock. + +Several others began to make them--Geo. Mitchell and his brother in-law +Rollin Atkins went into it, also Riley Whiting of Winsted. The business +increased very rapidly between 1827 and 1837. During these ten years +Jeromes and Barrow made more than any other company. The two towns of +Plymouth and Bristol grew and improved very rapidly; many new houses +were built, and every thing looked prosperous. + +In 1831, a new church was built in Bristol, and, it is said, through the +introduction of this Bronze Looking Glass Clock. Jeromes and Barrow paid +one-third of the cost of its erection. The writer obtained every dollar +of the subscription. The Hon. Tracy Peck and myself first started this +project, which ended in building this fine church which was finished and +dedicated in August, 1832. The Rev. David Lewis Parmelee preached the +dedication sermon, and was the settled minister there. I was greatly +interested in his preaching for ten years. He has for the last nineteen +years preached at South Farms now the town of Morris. This Mr. Parmelee +was a merchant till he was thirty years old, and was then converted in +some mysterious manner, as St. Paul was, and left his business to preach +the gospel. He proved to be one of the soundest preachers in the land, +and I have no doubt but he will be one of the bright and shining lights +in heaven. Oh! what happy days I saw during those ten years, little +dreaming of the great troubles that were before me, or that I should +experience in after life, which are now resting so heavily upon me, many +times seeming greater than I can bear. But such is life. + +About this time, also, Chauncey and Lawson C. Ives, two highly +respectable men, built a factory in Bristol for the purpose of making an +eight day brass clock. This clock was invented by Joseph Ives, a brother +of Chauncey, and sold for about twenty dollars. The manufacture of these +was carried on very successfully for a few years by them, but in 1836, +their business was closed up, they having made about one hundred +thousand dollars. Soon after this, in 1837, came the great panic and +break down of business which extended all over the country. Clock makers +and almost every one else stopped business. I should mention that +another company made the eight day brass clock previous to 1837, Erastus +and Harvey Case and John Birge. Their clocks were retailed mostly in the +southern market. They made perhaps four thousand a year. The Ives Co., +made about two thousand, but both went out of business in 1837, and it +was thought that clock making was about done with in Conn. + +The third chapter, as I have divided it, was now closing up. Wood clocks +were good for time, but it was a slow job to properly make them, and +difficult to procure wood just right for wheels and plates, and it took +a whole year to season it. No factory had made over _Ten_ thousand +in a year; they were always classed with wooden nutmegs and wooden +cucumber seeds, and could not be introduced into other countries to any +advantage. But this was not the only trouble; being on water long as +they would have to be, would swell the wood of the wheels and ruin the +clock. Here then we had the eight day brass clock costing about twenty +dollars; the idea had always been that a brass clock must be an eight +day, and all one day should be of wood, and the plan of a brass one day +had never been thought of. + +In 1835, the southern people were greatly opposed to the Yankee pedlars +coming into their states, especially the clock pedlars, and the licences +were raised so high by their Legislatures that it amounted to almost a +prohibition. Their laws were that any goods made in their own States +could be sold without licence. Therefore clocks to be profitable must be +made in those states. Chauncey and Noble Jerome started a factory in +Richmond Va., making the cases and parts at Bristol, Connecticut, and +packing them with the dials, glass &c. We shipped them to Richmond and +took along workmen to put them together. The people were highly pleased +with the idea of having clocks all made in their State. The old planters +would tell the pedlars they meant to go to Richmond and see the +wonderful machinery there must be to produce such articles and would no +doubt have thought the tools we had there were sufficient to make a +clock. We carried on this kind of business for two or three years and +did very well at it, though it was unpleasant. Every one knew it was all +a humbug trying to stop the pedlars from coming to their State. We +removed from Richmond to Hamburg, S.C., and manufactured in the same +way. This was in 1835 and '36. + +There was another company doing the same kind of business at Augusta, +Geo., by the name Case, Dyer, Wadsworth & Co., and Seth Thomas was +making the cases and movements for them. The hard times came down on us +and we really thought that clocks would no longer be made. Our firm +thought we could make them if any body could, but like the others felt +discouraged and disgusted with the whole business as it was then. I am +sure that I had lost, from 1821 to this time, more than one hundred +thousand _dollars_, and felt very much discouraged in consequence. +Our company had a good deal of unsettled business in Virginia and South +Carolina, and I started in the fall of 1837 for those places. Arriving +at Richmond, I had a strong notion of going into the marl business. I +had been down into Kent county, the summer before, where I saw great +mountains of this white marl composed of shells of clams and oysters +white as chalk. I had sent one vessel load of this to New Haven the year +before. At Richmond I was looking after our old accounts, settling up, +collecting notes and picking up some scattered clocks. + +One night I took one of these clocks into my room and placing it on the +table, left a light burning near it and went to bed. While thinking over +my business troubles and disappointments, I could not help feeling very +much depressed. I said to myself I will not give up yet, I know more +about the clock business than anything else. That minute I was looking +at the wood clock on the table and it came into my mind instantly that +there could be a cheap one day brass clock that would take the place of +the wood clock. I at once began to figure on it; the case would cost no +more, the dials, glass, and weights and other fixtures would be the +same, and the size could be reduced. I lay awake nearly all night +thinking this new thing over. I knew there was a fortune in it. Many a +sensible man has since told me that if I could have secured the sole +right for making them for ten years, I could easily have made a million +of dollars. The more I looked at this new plan, the better it appeared. +My business took me to South Carolina before I could return home. I had +now enough to think of day and night; this one day brass clock was +constantly on my mind; I was drawing plans and contriving how they could +be made best. I traveled most of the way from Richmond by stage. +Arriving at Augusta, Geo., I called on the Connecticut men who were +finishing wood clocks for that market, and told Mr. Dyer the head man, +that I had got up, or could get up something when I got home that would +run out all the wood clocks in the country, Thomas's and all; he laughed +at me quite heartily. I told him that was all right, and asked him to +come to Bristol when he went home and I would show him something that +would astonish him. He promised that he would, and during the next +summer when he called at my place, I showed him a shelf full of them +running, which he acknowledged to be the best he had ever seen. + +I arrived home from the south the 28th of January, and told my brother +who was a first-rate clock maker what I had been thinking about since I +had been gone. He was much pleased with my plan, thought it a first rate +idea, and said he would go right to work and get up the movement, which +he perfected in a short time so that it was the best clock that had ever +been made in this or any other country. There have been more of this +same kind manufactured than of any other in the United States. What I +originated that night on my bed in Richmond, has given work to thousands +of men yearly for more than twenty years, built up the largest +manufactories in New England, and put more than a million of dollars +into the pockets of the brass makers,--"but there is not one of them +that remembers _Joseph_." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +SUCCESS OF THE NEW INVENTION.--INTRODUCTION OF CLOCKS IN ENGLAND.--TERRY +FAMILY, ETC. + +We went on very prosperously making the new clock, and it was admired +by every body. In the year 1839, some of my neighbors and a few of my +leading workmen had a great desire to get into the same kind of +business. We knew competition amongst Yankees was almost sure to kill +business and proposed to have them come in with us and have a share of +the profits. An arrangement to this effect was made and we went on in +this way until the fall of 1840. I found they were much annoyance and +bother to me, and so bought them all out, but had to give them one +hundred per cent. for the use of their money. Some of them had not paid +in anything, but I had to pay them the same profits I did the rest, to +get rid of them. One man had put in three thousand dollars for which I +paid him six thousand. I also bought out my brother Noble Jerome, who +had been in company with me for a long time, and carried on the whole +business alone, which seemed to be rapidly improving. + +I made in 1841, thirty-five thousand dollars clear profits. Men would +come and deposit money with me before their orders were finished. This +successful state of things set all of the wood clock makers half crazy, +and they went into it one after another as fast as they could, and of +course run down the price very fast--"Yankee-like." I had been thinking +for two or three years of introducing my clocks into England, and had +availed myself of every opportunity to get posted on that subject; when +I met Englishmen in New York and other places, I would try to find out +by them what the prospects would be for selling Yankee clocks in their +country. I ascertained that there were no cheap metal clocks used or +known there, the only cheap timepiece they had was a Dutch hang-up wood +clock. + +In 1842, I determined to make the venture of sending a consignment of +brass clocks to Old England. I made a bargain with Epaphroditus Peck, a +very talented young man of Bristol, a son of Hon. Tracy Peck, to take +them out, and sent my son--Chauncey Jerome, Jr. with him. All of the +first cargo consisted of the O.G. one day brass clocks. As soon as it +was known by the neighboring clock-makers, they laughed at me, and +ridiculed the idea of sending clocks to England where labor was so +cheap. They said that they never would interfere with Jerome in that +visionary project, but no sooner had I got them well introduced, after +spending thousands of dollars to effect it, than they had all forgotten +what they said about my folly, and one after another sent over the same +goods to compete with me and run down the price. As I have said before, +wood clocks could never have been exported to Europe from this country, +for many reasons. They would have been laughed at, and looked upon with +suspicion as coming from the wooden nutmeg country, and classed as the +same. They could not endure a long voyage across the water without +swelling the parts and rendering them useless as time-keepers; +experience had taught us this, as many wood clocks on a passage to the +southern market, had been rendered unfit for use for this very reason. +Metal clocks can be sent any where without injury. Millions have been +sent to Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, Palestine, and in fact, +to every part of the world; and millions of dollars brought into this +country by this means, and I think it not unfair to claim the honor of +inventing and introducing this low-price time-piece which has given +employment to so many of our countrymen, and has also, been so useful to +the world at large. No family is so poor but that they can have a +time-piece which is both useful and ornamental. They can be found in +every civilized portion of the globe. Meeting a sea captain one day, he +told me that on landing at the lonely island of St. Helena, the first +thing that he noticed on entering a house, was my name on the face of a +brass clock. Many years ago a missionary (Mr. Ruggles,) at the Sandwich +Islands, told me that he had one of my clocks in his house, the first +one that had ever been on the islands. Travelers have mentioned seeing +them in the city of Jerusalem, in many parts of Egypt, and in fact, +every where, which accounts could not but be interesting and gratifying +to me. + +It was a long and tedious undertaking to introduce my first cargo in +England. Mr. Peck and my son wrote me a great many times the first year, +that they never could be sold there, the prejudice against American +manufactures was so great that they would not buy them. Although very +much discouraged, I kept writing them to 'stick to it.' They were once +turned out of a store in London and threatened if they offered their +"Yankee clocks" again to the English people "who made clocks for the +world;" "they were good for nothing or they could not be offered so +cheap." They were finally introduced in this way; the young men +persuaded a merchant to take two into his store for sale. He reluctantly +gave his consent, saying he did not believe they would run at all; they +set the two running and left the price of them. On calling the next day +to see how they were getting along, and what the London merchant thought +of them, they were surprised to find them both gone. On asking what had +become of them, they were told that two men came in and liked their +looks and bought them. The merchant said he did not think any one would +ever buy them, but told them they might bring in four more; "I will see" +he says, "if I can sell any _more_ of your Yankee clocks." They +carried them in and calling the next day, found them all gone. The +merchant then told them to bring in a dozen. These went off in a short +time, and not long after, this same merchant bought two hundred at once, +and other merchants began to think they could make some money on these +Yankee clocks and the business began to improve very rapidly. There are +always men enough who are ready to enter into a business after it is +started and looks favorable. A pleasing incident occurred soon after we +first started. The Revenue laws of England are (or were, at that time) +that the owner of property passing through the Custom-house shall put +such a price on his goods as he pleases, knowing that the government +officers have a right to take the property by adding ten per cent. to +the invoiced price. + +I had always told my young men over there to put a fair price on the +clocks, which they did; but the officers thought they put them +altogether too low, so they made up their minds that they would take a +lot, and seized one ship-load, thinking we would put the prices of the +next cargo at higher rates. They paid the cash for this cargo, which +made a good sale for us. A few days after, another invoice arrived which +our folks entered at the same prices as before; but they were again +taken by the officers paying us cash and ten per cent. in addition, +which was very satisfactory to us. On the arrival of the third lot, they +began to think they had better let the Yankees sell their own goods and +passed them through unmolested, and came to the conclusion that we could +make clocks much better and cheaper than their own people. Their +performance has been considered a first-rate joke to say the least. +There will, in all probability, be millions of clocks sold in that +country, and we are the people who will furnish all Europe with all +their common cheap ones as time lasts. + +All of the spring and eight day clocks have grown out of the one day +weight clock. There can now be as good an eight day clock bought for +three or four dollars, as could be had for eighteen or twenty dollars +before I got up the one day clock. Mr. Peck, who went to England with my +son, died in London on the 20th, September, 1857; my son died in this +country in July, 1853: so they have gone the way of all the earth, and I +shall have to follow them soon. They were instrumental in laying the +foundation of a large and prosperous business which is now being +successfully carried on. The duties on clocks to England have been +recently removed, which will result to the advantage of persons now in +the business. The many difficulties which we had to battle and contend +with are all overcome. When I invented this one day brass clock, I for +the first time put on the zinc dial which is now universally used, and +is a great improvement on the wood dial, both in appearance and in cost. +This simple idea has been of immense value to all clock-makers. + +In the year 1821, when I moved to Bristol, no one was making clocks in +that town; the business had all passed away from there and was carried +on in Plymouth. The little shop I had put up had no machinery in it at +that time. I soon began to make so many cases that I wanted some better +way to get my veneers than to saw them by hand. I found a small building +on a stream some distance from my shop which I secured, with the +privilege of putting a circular saw in the upper part, but which I could +not use till night--the power being wanted for the other machinery +during the day. I have worked there a great many nights till twelve +o'clock and even two in the morning, sawing veneers for my men to use +the next day. I sawed my hand nearly off one night when alone at this +old mill, and was so faint by the loss of blood that I could hardly +reach home. I always worked hard myself and managed in the most +economical manner possible. In 1825, we built a small factory on the +stream below the shop where I sawed my veneers two or three years +before, but there was no road to it or bridge across the stream. I had +crossed it for years on a pole, running the risk many times when the +water was high, of being drowned, but it seems I was not to die in that +way, but to live to help others and make a slave of myself for them. In +1826, we petitioned the town to lay out a road by our factory and build +a bridge, which was seriously objected to. We finally told them that if +they would lay out the road, we would build the bridge and pay for one +half of the land for the road, which, after a great deal of trouble, was +agreed to, and proved to be of great benefit to the town. Our business +was growing very rapidly and a number of houses were built up along the +new road and about our factory. I should here mention that Mr. Eli +Terry, Jr., when I had got the Bronze Looking-Glass Clock well a going, +moved from Plymouth Hollow two miles east of Plymouth Centre, (now the +village of Terryville,) where he built another factory and went into +business. His father retiring about this time, he took all of his old +customers. He was a good business man and made money very fast. He was +taken sick and died when about forty years old, leaving an estate of +about $75,000. His brother, Silas B. Terry, is now living, a Christian +gentleman, as well as a scientific clock-maker, but he has not succeeded +so well as his brother in making money. Henry Terry of Plymouth, who is +another son of Mr. Eli Terry, was engaged in the clock business thirty +years ago, but left it for the woolen business. I think that he is sorry +that he did not continue making clocks. He is a man of great +intelligence and understands the principles of a right tariff as well as +any man in Connecticut. His father was a great man, a natural +philosopher, and almost an Eli Whitney in mechanical ingenuity. If he +had turned his mind towards a military profession, he would have made +another General Scott, or towards politics, another Jefferson; or, if he +had not happened to have gone to the town of Plymouth, I do not believe +there would ever have been a clock made there. He was the great +originator of wood clock-making by machinery in Connecticut. I like to +see every man have his due. Thomas and many others who have made their +fortunes out of his ingenuity, were very willing to talk against him, +for they must, of course, act out human nature. Seth Thomas was in many +respects a first-rate man. He never made any improvements in +manufacturing; his great success was in money making. He always minded +his own business, was very industrious, persevering, honest, his word +was as good as his note, and he always determined to make a good article +and please his customers. He had several sons who are said to be smart +business men. + +I knew Mrs. Thomas well when I was a boy, fourteen years old. She is one +of the best of women, and is now the widow of one of the richest men in +the state. The families of Terry and Thomas are extensively known, +throughout the United States. Mr. Thomas died two years ago at the age +of seventy-five. He was born in West Haven, about four miles from New +Haven, and learned the joiners' trade in Wolcott, and worked in that +region and in Plymouth five or six years, building houses and barns. I +waited on him when he built a barn in Plymouth, carrying boards and +shingles. He soon after went into the clock business in which he +remained during life. Mr. Terry died in 1853, at the advanced age of +eighty-one. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +OPERATIONS OF FRANK MERRILLS--A SAD HISTORY.--BUSINESS TROUBLES, ETC. + +In the fall, of the year 1840, a young man by the name of Franklin +Merrills was introduced to me as one the smartest and likeliest business +men in the whole country. It was said that he could trade in horses, +cattle, sheep, wool, flour, or any thing else, and make money. He +belonged to one of the first families in Litchfield county. I thought by +his appearance and recommendations that he would be a good customer for +me and I sold him a thousand dollars worth of clocks to begin with. He +gave me his four months' note which was promptly paid when due. He hired +three pedlars and went with them into Dutchess county New York, where +they sold the clocks very fast. The one-day O.G. brass clock was a new +thing to them, first-rate for time, and they readily went off for +fifteen and twenty dollars apiece. I sold them to him for six dollars +apiece, and it appeared, at this rate, that he could make a fortune in a +few years. His credit became established for any amount, and he soon +began to want clocks about twice as fast as at first. A man by the name +of Bates transported them for him in a large two-horse wagon from my +place to Washington Hollow, about twelve miles east of Poughkeepsie. Mr. +Bates lived in the same neighborhood where Frank was brought up in New +Hartford, Conn. Every week or two he would go out with a load. Things +moved on in this seemingly prosperous way for some time. One day I +accidentally heard that parties in New York with whom I had never dealt, +were selling my clocks at very reduced prices, and I began to mistrust +that Frank had been selling to them at less than cost. On seeing him, he +told me I was greatly mistaken and smoothed down the matter so that it +appeared satisfactory to me. He had at this time got into debt about +eighteen thousand dollars. One day he went to Hartford and bought seven +thousand dollars worth of cotton cloth from a shrewd house in that city, +telling them a very fine story that he had a vessel which would sail for +South America the next day, and that the cloth must go down immediately +on the boat. He told them who his father was, and promised to bring his +endorsement in a few days, which was satisfactory to them, and they let +him have the goods. But the paper did not come. One of the firm went to +New York and there found some of the goods in an Auction store, and a +part of them sold. He got out a writ and arrested Frank. His father was +sent for, and settled this matter satisfactorily. I thought I would go +up to New Hartford and see Capt. Merrills about Frank's affairs--he told +me all about them, and said he had been looking over Frank's business +very thoroughly, and found that a large amount was owing him and that +Frank had shown him on his book invoices of a large amount of goods that +he had shipped to South America, besides several large accounts and +notes--one of eight thousand dollars. He told me that he thought after +paying me and others whom he owed, there would be as much as twenty +thousand dollars left. This was very satisfactory to me, though I knew +nothing about the cotton cloth speculation at that time. If I had, it +would have saved me a great deal of trouble. This was in February, 1844. +There was a note of his lying over, unpaid, in the Exchange Bank in +Hartford, of two thousand dollars. I had moved a few weeks before this +to New Haven. In the latter part of February, I went down to New York to +see if he could let me have the two thousand to take up the note; he +said he could in a day or two. I told him I would stay till Saturday. On +that day he was not able to pay me, but would certainly get it Monday, +and urged me to stay over, which I did. He took me into a large +establishment with him, and, as I have since had reason to believe, +talked with parties who were interested with him, about consigning to +them a large quantity of tallow, beeswax and wool which he owned in the +West. He told me that he had some trouble with his business, and that +all he wanted was a little help; he said he had a great deal of property +in New York State, and that if he could raise some money, he could make +a very profitable speculation on a lot of wool which he knew about. He +told me that if I would give him my notes and acceptances to a certain +amount, he would secure me with the obligations of Henry Martin, one of +the best farmers there was in Dutchess county. He also gave the names of +several merchants in New York who were acquainted with the rich farmers. +I called on them and all spoke very highly of him. I thought, there +could be no great risk in doing it, for my confidence in Frank was very +great. I thought, of course, this would insure my claim of eighteen +thousand dollars, but it eventually proved to be a deep-laid plot to +swindle me. Frank had no notes or accounts that were of any value; they +were all bogus and got up to deceive his poor old father and others. He +had no property shipped to South America. It was all found out, when too +late, that he had ruined himself by gambling and bad company, often +losing a thousand dollars in one night. He was arrested, taken before +the Grand Jury of New York, committed to jail for swindling, and died in +a few months after. He ruined his father, who was a very cautious man, +ruined three rich farmers of Dutchess county, and came very near ruining +me. It was a sad history and mortifying to a great many. I was advised +by my counsel, Seth P. Staples of New York, to contest the whole thing +in law. I had five or six suits on my hands at one time, and it was nine +years before I was clear from them. What he owed me for clocks, and what +I had to pay on notes and acceptances and the expenses of law, amounted +to more than _Forty Thousand Dollars_. Nine years of wakeful nights +of trouble, grief and mortification, for this profligate young man! +There never was a man more honest than I was in my intentions to help +him in his troubles, and I am quite sure no man got so badly swindled. +Every clock maker in the state would have been glad to have sold to him +as I did. This young man was well brought up, but bad company ruined him +and others with him. This life seems to be full of trials. In latter +years I have remembered what an old man often told me when a boy. +"Chauncey," he says, "don't you know there are a thousand troubles and +difficulties?" I told him I did not know there were; "well," he says, +"you will find out if you live long enough." I have lived long enough to +see ten thousand troubles, and have found out that the saying of the old +man is true. I have narrated but a small part of my business troubless +[sic] in this brief history. One of the most trying things to me now, is +to see how I am looked upon by the community since I lost my property. I +never was any better when I owned it than I am now, and never behaved +any better. But how different is the feeling towards you, when your +neighbors can make nothing more out of you, politically or pecuniarily. +It makes no difference what, or how much you have done for them +heretofore, you are passed by without notice now. It is all money and +business, business and money which make the man now-a-days; success is +every thing, and it makes very little difference how, or what means he +uses to obtain it. How many we see every day that have ten times as much +property as they will ever want, who will do any thing but steal to add +to their estate, for somebody to fight about when they are dead. I see +men every day sixty and seventy years old, building up and pulling down, +and preparing, as one might reasonably suppose, to live here forever. +Where will they be in a few years? I often think of this. My experience +has been great,--I have seen many a man go up and then go down, and many +persons who, but a few years ago, were surrounded with honors and +wealth, have passed away. The saying of the wise man is true--all is +"vanity of vanities" here below. It is now a time of great action in the +world but not much reflection. + +An incident of my boy-hood has just come into my mind. When an +apprentice boy, I was at work with my "boss" on a house in Torringford, +very near the residence of Rev. Mr. Mills, the father of Samuel J. Mills +the missionary. This was in 1809, fifty-one years ago. This young man +was preparing to go out on his missionary voyage. How wickedly we are +taught when we are young! I thought he was a mean, lazy fellow. He was +riding out every day, as I now suppose, to add to his strength. An old +maid lived in the house where I did who perfectly hated him, calling him +a good-for-nothing fellow. I, of course, supposed that she knew all +about him and that it was so. I am a friend to the missionary cause and +have been so a great many years. How many times that wrong impression +which I got from that old maid has passed through my mind, and how sorry +I have always been for that prejudice. The father of Samuel J. Mills was +a very eccentric man and anecdotes of him have been repeatedly told. I +attended his church the summer I was in Torringford. He was the +strangest man I ever saw, and would say so many laughable things in his +sermon that it was next to impossible for me to keep from laughing out +loud. His congregation was composed mostly of farmers, and in hot +weather they appeared to be very sleepy. The boys would sometimes play +and make a good deal of noise, and one Sunday he stopped in the middle +of his sermon and looking around in the gallery, said in a loud voice, +"boys, if you don't stop your noise and play, you will certainly wake +your parents that are asleep below!" I think by this time the good +people were all awake; it amused me very much and I have often seen the +story printed. Many a time when I think of Mr. Mills, an anecdote of him +comes into my mind, and I presume that a great many have heard of the +same. He was once traveling through the town of Litchfield where there +was at that time a famous law school. Two or three of the students were +walking a little way out of town, when who should they see coming along +the road but old Mr. Mills. They supposing him to be some old "codger," +thought they would have a little fun with him. When they met him one of +them asked him "if he had heard the news?" "No," he says, "what is it?" +"The devil is dead." "Is he?" says Mr. Mills, "I am sorry for you--poor +fatherless children, what will become of you?" I understand that they +let him pass without further conversation. He was a good man and looked +very old to me, as he always wore a large white wig. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +REMOVAL TO NEW HAVEN.--FACTORY AT BRISTOL DESTROYED BY FIRE.--OTHER +TROUBLES, ETC. + +In the winter of 1844, I moved to the city of New Haven with the +expectation of making my cases there. I had fitted up two large +factories in Bristol for making brass movements only the year before, +and had spared no pains to have them just right. My factory in New Haven +was fitted up expressly for making the cases and boxing the finished +clocks; the movements were packed, one hundred in a box, and sent to New +Haven where they were cased and shipped. Business moved on very +prosperously for about one year. On the 23d of April 1845, about the +middle of the afternoon one of my factories in Bristol took fire, as it +was supposed by some boys playing with matches at the back side of the +building, which set fire to some shavings under the floor. It seemed +impossible to put it out and it proved to be the most disastrous fire +that ever occurred in a country town. There were seven or eight +buildings destroyed, together with all the machinery for making clocks, +which was very costly and extensive. There were somewhere between fifty +and seventy-five thousand brass movements in the works, a large number +of them finished, and worth one dollar apiece. The loss was about fifty +thousand dollars and the insurance only ten thousand. This was another +dark day for me. I had been very sick all winter with the Typhus fever, +and from Christmas to April had not been able to go to Bristol. On the +same night of the fire, a man came to tell me of the great loss. I was +in another part of the house when he arrived with the message, but my +wife did not think it prudent to inform me then, but in the latter part +of the night she introduced a conversation that was calculated to +prepare my mind for the sad news, and in a cautious manner informed me. +I was at that time in the midst of my troubles with Frank Merrills, had +been sick for a long time, and at one time was not expected to recover. +I was not then able to attend to business and felt much depressed on +that account. It was hard indeed to grapple with so much in one year, +but I tried to make the best of it and to feel that these trials, +troubles and disappointments sent upon us in this world, are blessings +in disguise. Oh! if we could really feel this to be so in all of our +troubles, it would be well for us in this world and better in the next. +I never have seen the real total depravity of the human heart show +itself more plainly or clearly than it did when my factories were +destroyed by fire. An envious feeling had always been exhibited by +others in the same business towards me, and those who had made the most +out of my improvements and had injured my reputation by making an +inferior article, were the very ones who rejoiced the most then. Not a +single man of them ever did or could look me in the face and say that I +had ever injured him. This feeling towards me was all because I was in +their way and my clocks at that time were preferred before any others. +They really thought I never could start again, and many said that Jerome +would never make any more clocks. I learned this maxim long ago, that +when a man injures another unreasonably, to act out human nature he has +got to keep on misrepresenting and abusing him to make himself appear +right in the sight of the world. Soon after the fire in Bristol I had +gained my strength sufficiently to go ahead again, and commenced to make +additions to my case factory in New Haven (to make the movements,) and +by the last of June was ready to commence operations on the brass +movements. I then brought my men from Bristol--the movement makers--and +a noble set of men as ever came into New Haven at one time. Look at John +Woodruff; he was a young man then of nineteen. When he first came to +work for me at the age of fifteen, I believed that he was destined to be +a leading man. He is now in Congress (elected for the second time,) +honest, kind, gentlemanly, and respected in Congress and out of +Congress. Look at him, young men, and pattern after him, you can see in +his case what honesty, industry and perseverance will accomplish. + +There was great competition in the business for several years after I +moved to New Haven, and a great many poor clocks made. The business of +selling greatly increased in New York, and within three or four years +after I introduced the one day brass clock, several companies in Bristol +and Plymouth commenced making them. Most of them manufactured an +inferior article of movement, but found sale for great numbers of them +to parties that were casing clocks in New York. This way of managing +proved to be a great damage to the Connecticut clock makers. The New +York men would buy the very poorest movements and put them into cheap +O.G. cases and undersell us. Merchants from the country, about this +time, began to buy clocks with their other goods. They had heard about +Jerome's clocks which had been retailed about the country, and that they +were good time-keepers, and would enquire for my clocks. These New York +men would say that they were agents for Jerome and that they would have +a plenty in a few days, and make a sale to these merchants of Jerome +clocks. They would then go to the Printers and have a lot of labels +struck off and put into their cheap clocks, and palm them off as mine. +This fraud was carried on for several years. I finally sued some of +these blackleg parties, Samuels & Dunn, and Sperry & Shaw, and found out +to my satisfaction that they had used more than two hundred thousand of +my labels. They had probably sent about one hundred thousand to Europe. +I sued Samuels & Dunn for twenty thousand dollars and when it came to +trial I proved it on them clearly. I should have got for damages fifteen +thousand dollars, had it not been for one of the jury. One was for +giving me twenty thousand, another Eighteen, and the others down to +seven thousand five hundred. This one man whom I speak of, was opposed +to giving me anything, but to settle it, went as high as two thousand +three hundred. The jury thought that I had a great deal of trouble with +this case and rather than have it go to another court, had to come to +this man's terms. The foreman told me afterwards that he had no doubt +but this man was bought. New York is a hard place to have a law suit in. +This cheat had been carried on for years, both in this country and in +Europe,--using my labels and selling poor articles, and in this way +robbing me of my reputation by the basest means. After this Sperry, who +was in company with Shaw, had been dead a short time, a statement was +published in the New York papers that this Henry Sperry was a wonderful +man, and that he was the first man who went to England with Yankee +clocks. After I had sent over my two men and had got my clocks well +introduced, and had them there more than a year, Sperry & Shaw, hearing +that we were doing well and selling a good many, thought they would take +a trip to Europe, and took along perhaps fifty boxes of clocks. I have +since heard that their conduct was very bad while there, and this is all +they did towards introducing clocks. There is no one who can claim any +credit of introducing American clocks into that country excepting +myself. After I had opened a store in New York, we did, in a measure, +stop these men from using my labels. + +I have said that when I got up this one day brass clock in 1838, that +the fourth chapter in the Yankee clock business had commenced. Perhaps +Seth Thomas hated as bad as any one did to change his whole business of +clock making for the second time, and adopt the same thing that I had +introduced. He never invented any thing new, and would now probably have +been making the same old hang-up wood clocks of fifty years ago, had it +not been for others and their improvements. He was highly incensed at me +because I was the means of his having to change. He hired a man to go +around to my customers and offer his clocks at fifty and seventy-five +cents less than I was selling. A man by the name of J.C. Brown carried +on the business in Bristol a long time, and made a good many fine +clocks, but finally gave up the business. Elisha Monross, Smith & +Goodrich, Brewster & Ingraham were all in the same business, but have +given it up, and the clock making of Connecticut is now mostly done in +five large factories in different parts of the State, about which I +shall speak hereafter. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN CHEAP TIME-KEEPERS. +--THE PROCESS OF CLOCK MAKING.-- + +It would be no doubt interesting to a great many to know what +improvements have been made in manufacturing clocks during the past +twenty years. I recollect I paid for work on the O.G. case one dollar +and seventy-five cents; for the same work in 1855, I paid twenty cents, +and many other things in the same proportion. The last thing that I +invented, which has proved to be of great usefulness, was the one day +timepiece that can be sold for seventy-five cents, and a fair profit at +that. I remember well when I was about to give up the job, of asking the +man who made the cases for the factory what he would make this case for. +He said he could not do it for less than eight cents, I told him I knew +he could make them for five cents, and do well, but he honestly thought +he could not. He was to make two thousand per month--twenty-four +thousand a year. After getting the work well systematized, I told him if +he could not make them at that price, I would make it up to him at the +end of the year. When the time was up, he told me that it was the best +part of his job, and that he would make them the next year for four +cents; it will be well understood that this was for the work alone, the +stock being furnished. + +When I got up this new time-keeper, as usual all the clock-makers were +down on me again; Jerome was going to ruin the business, and this cheap +thing would take the place of larger ones. I told them there were ten +thousand places where this cheap time-piece would be useful, and where a +costly striking one would never be used. There is a variety of places +where they are as useful as if they struck the hour, and there are now +more of the striking clocks wanted than there were when I got up this +one day time-piece. When I first began to make clocks, thousands would +say that they could not afford to have a clock in their house and they +must get along without, or with a watch. This cheap timepiece is worth +as much as a watch that would cost a hundred dollars, for all practical +purposes, as far as the time of day or night is concerned. Since I began +to make clocks, the price has gradually been going down. Suppose the +cheap time-keeper had been invented thirty years ago, when folks felt as +though they could not have a clock because it cost so much, but must get +along with a watch which cost ten or fifteen dollars, what would the +good people have thought if they could have had a clock for one dollar, +or even less? This cheap clock is much better adapted to the many log +cabins and cheap dwellings in our country than a watch of any kind, and +it is not half so costly or difficult to keep in order. I can think of +nothing ever invented that has been so useful to so many. We do not +fully appreciate the value of such things. I have often thought, that if +all the time-pieces were taken out of the country at once, and every +factory stopped making them, the whole community would be brought to see +the incalculable value that this Yankee clock making is to them. + +The little octagon marine case which is seen almost every where, was +originated and first made by me. I think it is the cheapest and best +looking thing of the kind in the market, and all the work on the case of +that clock costs but eight cents. All of the large hang-up octagons and +time-pieces were made at our factory two or three years before any other +parties made them at all. As usual, after finding that it was a good +thing and took well, many others began to make them. I will say here a +little more about human nature and what I have seen and experienced. +during the last forty-five years. Let an ingenious, thinking man invent +something that looks favorable for making money, and one after another +will be stealing into the same business, when they know their conduct is +very mean towards the originator who may be one of the best men in the +community; still, nine out of ten of those who are infringing on his +improvement will begin to hate and abuse him. I have seen this +disposition carried out all my life-time. Forty-five years ago, Mr. Eli +Terry was the great man in the wood clock business. As I have said +before, he got up the Patent Wood Shelf Clock and sold a right to make +it to Seth Thomas for one thousand dollars. After two or three years, +Mr. Terry made further improvements and got them patented. Mr. Thomas +then thought as he had paid a thousand dollars, he would use these +improvements; so he went on making the new patent. Mr. Terry sued him +and the case was in litigation for several years. The whole Thomas +family, the workmen and neighbors, felt envious towards Mr. Terry, and I +think they have never got entirely over it. There was a general +prejudice and hatred towards Mr. Terry amongst all the clock-makers at +that time, and for nothing only because they knew they were infringing +on his rights; and to act out human nature, they must slander and try to +put him down. This principle is carried out very extensively in this +world, so that if a man wants to live and have nothing said against him, +he must look out for, and help no one but himself. If he succeeds in +making money, it matters but little in what way he obtains it, whether +by gambling or any other unlawful means; while on the other hand, if he +has been doing good all his life, and by some mishap is reduced to +poverty in his old age, he is despised and treated with contempt by a +majority of the community. + +It may not be uninteresting to a great many to know how the brass clocks +at the present day are made. It has been a wonder to the world for a +long time, how they could possibly be sold so cheap and yet answer so +good a purpose. And, indeed, they could not, if every part of their +manufacture was not systematized in the most perfect manner and +conducted on a large scale. I will describe the manner in which the O-G. +case is made, (the style has been made a long time, and in larger +numbers than any other,) which will give some idea with what facility +the whole thing is put through. Common merchantable pine lumber is used +for the body of the case. The first workman draws a board of the stuff +on a frame and by a movable circular saw cuts it in proper lengths for +the sides and top. The knotty portions of it are sawed in lengths +suitable for boxing the clocks when finished, and but little need be +wasted. The good pieces are then taken to another saw and split up in +proper widths, which are then passed through the planeing machine. Then +another workman puts them through the O-G. cutter which forms the shape +of the front of the case. The next process is the glueing on of the +veneers--the workman spreads the glue on one piece at a time and then +puts on the veneer of rosewood or mahogany. A dozen of these pieces are +placed together in hand-screws till the glue is properly hardened. The +O-G. shapes of these pieces fit into each other when they are screwed +together. When the glue is sufficiently dry, the next thing is to make +the veneer smooth and fit for varnishing. We have what is called a sand +paper wheel, made of pine plank, its edge formed in an O-G. shape, and +sand-paper glued to it. When this wheel is revolving rapidly, the pieces +are passed over it and in this way smoothed very fast. They are then +ready to varnish, and it usually takes about ten days to put on the +several coats of varnish, and polish them ready for mitering, which +completes the pieces ready for glueing in shape of the case. The sides +of the case are made much cheaper. I used to have the stuff for ten +thousand of these cases in the works at one time. With these great +facilities, the labor costs less than twenty cents apiece for this kind +of case, and with the stock, they cost less than fifty cents. A cabinet +maker could not make one for less than five dollars. This proves and +shows what can be done by system. The dials are cut out of large sheets +of zinc, the holes punched by machinery, and then put into the paint +room, where they are painted by a short and easy process. The letters +and figures are then printed on. I had a private room for this purpose, +and a man who could print twelve or fifteen hundred in a day. The whole +dial cost me less than five cents. The tablets were printed in the same +manner, the colors put on afterwards by girls, and the whole work on +these beautiful tablets cost less than one and a half cents: the cost of +glass and work was about four cents. Every body knows that all of these +parts must be made very cheap or an O-G. clock could not be sold for one +dollar and a half, or two dollars. The weights cost about thirteen cents +per clock, the cost of boxing them about ten cents, and the first cost +of the movements of a one-day brass clock is less than fifty cents. I +will here say a little about the process of making the wheels. It will +no doubt, astonish a great many to know how rapidly they can be made. I +will venture to say, that I can pick out three men who will take the +brass in the sheet, press out and level under the drop, there cut the +teeth, and make all of the wheels to five hundred clocks in one day; +there are from eight to ten of these wheels in every clock, and in an +eight-day clock more. This will look to some like a great story, but is +one of the wonders of the clock business. If some of the parts of a +clock were not made for almost nothing, they could not be sold so cheap +when finished. + +The facilities which the Jerome Manufacturing Company had over every +other concern of the kind in the country, and their customers in this +and foreign countries, are worth to the present company more than one +hundred thousand dollars. Their method of making dials, tablets and +brass doors was a saving of more than ten thousand dollars per year over +any other company doing the same amount of business; and I know that the +present company would not give up the customers of the Jerome +Manufacturing Company for ten thousand dollars per year: they could not +afford to do it. The workmen who came with me from Bristol, were an +uncommonly energetic and ingenious set of men. Many years they had large +and profitable jobs in the different branches, which encouraged them to +invent and get up improvements for doing the work fast, and in a great +many things they far surpass the workmen in similar establishments--all +of which have resulted to the benefit of the present manufacturing +company of New Haven. + +In the year 1850, I was induced by a proposition from the Benedict & +Burnham Co., of Waterbury, to enter into a joint-stock company at my +place in New Haven, under the name of the Jerome Manufacturing Co. They +were to put in thirty-five thousand dollars, and I was to furnish the +same amount of capital. We did so, and went on very prosperously for a +year or two, making a great many clocks, and selling about one hundred +and fifty thousand dollars worth per year in England, at a profit of +twenty thousand dollars. They were very thorough in looking into the +affairs of the company, which was all right of course, but did not suit +all of the interested parties. My son was Secretary and financial +manager of the company. He seemed to have a desire to keep things to +himself a little too much, which also did not suit many of the +interested parties. My son told me he thought we had better buy the +company out, and said that we could do so without difficulty, and he +thought it would be a great advantage to us. Some were willing to sell, +and others were not. Mr. Burnham made an offer what he would sell for, +which the secretary accepted, others of the stock-holders made similar +propositions and the bargain closed, we paying them the capital they had +advanced and twenty-one per cent. profits, and buying, in the mean time, +seventy-five thousand dollars worth of brass--the profits on which were +not less than twenty thousand dollars, which they had the cash for in +the course of the year. About this time a man by the name of Lyman +Squires bought stock in the company, and took a great interest in the +business. A wealthy brother of his bought, I think, ten thousand dollars +worth of stock. The stock was increased in this way to two hundred +thousand dollars. The financial affairs were managed by the Secretary, +Mr. Squires, and a man by the name of Bissell. They made a great many +additions to the factory which I thought quite unnecessary, enlarging +the buildings, putting in a new engine and a great deal of costly +machinery. They laughed at me because I found fault with these things +and called me an old fogy. I was not pleased with the management at all +times, and although I had retired from active busines [Transcriber's +note: sic], I felt a deep interest in the affairs of the company, and +owned a large amount of the stock. The Secretary thought I was always +looking on the dark side and prophesying evil, because I frequently +remonstrated with him on the many extravagancies which were constantly +being added to the establishment. I frequently told him that if the +company should fail, I should have to bear the whole blame, because my +name was known all over the world. He always told me in the strongest +terms that I need give myself no uneasiness about that, as the company +was worth a great deal of money. Things went on in this way till the +year 1855, and while I was absent from the State, P.T. Barnum was +admitted as a member of our company. Within six months from that time, +the Jerome Manufacturing Company failed, the causes of which, and the +results, I have clearly and truthfully narrated in another part of this +book. The causes were not fully understood by me at that time. I have +found them out since, and deem it an act of justice to myself to make +them public. I was hopelessly ruined by this failure. The company had +used my name as endorser to a large amount, many times larger than I had +any idea of. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +THE NEW HAVEN CLOCK COMPANY, AND OTHER CLOCK MANUFACTURERS IN +CONNECTICUT. + +I will here give a brief account of the firms carrying on this +important business in Connecticut. The New Haven Clock Company, which +succeeded the Jerome Manufacturing Company, are now making more clocks +than any three other makers in the state. As I speak of the different +manufactories, I will give the outlines and standing of the men +connected with them. As their goods go all over the world, it is natural +and pleasant for men who are dealing in their goods to know what kind of +men they are at home, and what the community think of them. The New +Haven company is a joint-stock company. The head man in this concern, is +the Hon. James English, who is second to no business man in the State-- +high minded, clear sighted, and very popular with all who deal with him. +He was, when a boy, remarkable for industry, prudence and good behavior. +He was an apprentice at the house-joiner trade, but soon got into other +business which gave him a greater chance to develope and become more +useful to himself and the community. He began in life without a dollar, +but is now said to be worth three hundred thousand dollars. His age at +this time is about forty-eight. He is a Democrat in politics; has been +elected to many important offices, and has been the first select man of +New Haven for many years; he has been elected State Senator for three +years in succession, and all of these offices he has filled with +ability. In the spring of 1860, he was nominated as candidate for +Lieutenant Governor on a ticket with Col. Thomas H. Seymour of Hartford, +for Governor, which made the most popular Democratic ticket that has +ever been run in the State. Had it not been for the great anti-slavery +feeling there was at this canvass, Mr. English would have been +triumphantly elected. Many of the opposing party would been glad to have +seen him elected, and would have voted for him, had it not been for the +influence they thought it would have on the Presidential election. We +heard many Republicans say this in New Haven, and many did vote that +ticket. + +H.M. Welch, who has for a long time been connected with Mr. English in +business, is largely interested in this clock company. He gives most of +his attention to other kinds of manufacturing, in which Messrs. English +and Welch, are very extensively engaged. Mr. Welch is one of the most +intelligent, upright, and kind hearted business men in the whole State, +and is admired as such by all who know him. He is also a Democrat in +politics, very popular in his party, and is well qualified for any +offices. He would make a good candidate for Governor or member of +Congress. He is about forty-six years old, worth perhaps, two hundred +thousand dollars; he has held many important offices, has been a +Representative to the State Legislature for many years, and State +Senator a number of times. He has recently been elected Mayor of the +city, and has filled all of these offices with much talent. + +John Woodruff, a member of Congress, elected for the second time from +this district, is the next largest owner in this great brass clock +business. He commenced to work at clocks with me when a boy only fifteen +years old. He was a very uncommon boy, and is now an uncommon man, very +popular among his fellow workmen, popular with Democrats, popular with +Republicans, popular every where, and can be elected to Congress when +there is five hundred majority against his party in his district. + +Hiram Camp who is the next largest stock-holder in this clock company, +is forty-nine years old. He commenced making clocks with me at the age +of seventeen, and is now President of the company. He is a Republican in +politics, and has been chosen Representative from New Haven to the +Legislature of the State. At this time he is Chief Engineer of the Fire +Department, is very popular with his workmen, and highly respected by +the whole community in which he lives. Many others who hold prominent +positions in this great business in New Haven, first came here with me +when I moved from Bristol. I should mention Philip Pond, an excellent +man who left the business two or three years since, on account of his +health, but who is now connected in the wholesale grocery business of +the firm of Pond, Greenwood & Lester, in this city. Also Charles L. +Griswold, now a bit and augur maker in the town of Chester, who began to +work for me twenty years ago, when a boy. He was once a poor boy, but +now is a talented and superior man. He has been a member of the +Legislature, and has held many offices of trust. + +L.F. Root, now a leading man in New Haven, came to work with me when +quite young, nearly twenty years ago. He also has held many offices of +trust, and filled them with great ability. I could mention many others, +but cannot in this brief work speak of them as their merits deserve. It +gives me pleasure to know that the business of the Jerome Manufacturing +Company has fallen into such good hands. + +The Benedict and Burnham Company, now making clocks in the city of +Waterbury, under the name of the Waterbury Clock Company, is composed of +a large number of the first citizens of that place. In politics nearly +all of them are Republicans. The oldest man of the company is Deacon +Aaron Benedict, now about seventy-five years old--a real "old Puritan, +Christian gentleman." He has been Representative and State Senator many +times--Mr. Burnham of New York, another member of this company, is well +known to almost every body as one of the richest men in [Transcriber's +note: probable missing word 'the' here] whole country. My brother, Noble +Jerome, who is an excellent mechanic and as good a brass clock maker as +can be found, is now making the movements for this company, and Edward +Church, a first rate man and an excellent workman, is making their +cases. He worked with me seventeen years at case making, and can do a +good job. I cannot pass without speaking about another man of this +company, Arad W. Welton Esq. He was one of my soldier companions in +Capt. John Buckingham's company, which went to fight the British in +1813, at New London, and in 1814 at New Haven. He stood very near me in +the ranks. I shall never forget what pluck and courage he showed one +night when the news was brought into camp that the enemy were landing +from their ships. Our whole regiment was mustered in fifteen minutes, +and on the way to pitch battle with the British and defend our shores. +This Mr. Welton, who is now an old man, as stout and large as Gen. Cass, +and looking something like him, was then a young man nineteen years old, +and without exception the funniest and drollest fellow that I ever saw. +He kept us all laughing while we were going down to fight that awful +battle, which, however, proved to be bloodless. This incident occurred +at New London, and I have often thought of it in latter days. Mr. Welton +Is said to be a great business man, and the company with which he is +connected is doing a good business. + +The next clock company which I shall speak of, is that of Seth Thomas & +Co., of Plymouth Hollow, Connecticut. As I have mentioned before, the +senior Thomas is not living. The business is carried on by a company, +the members of which are all Republicans in politics and respectable +men. Fifty years ago this spring, Heman Clark built the factory which +Seth Thomas, two or three years afterwards, bought, and in which he +carried on business until his death, about two years since. It was never +Mr. Thomas' practice to get up any thing new. He never would change his +patterns or mode of manufacturing, until he was driven to it to keep his +customers. At the time when I invented the one-day brass clock in 1838, +he said much against it, that it was not half so good as a wood clock, +and that he never would take up any thing again that Jerome had adopted; +but he was compelled to, in a year or two, to keep his customers. He +sent his foreman over to Bristol, where I was then carrying on business, +to get patterns of movements and cases and take all the advantage he +could of my experience, labors, and improvements which I had been +studying upon so long. I allowed my foreman to spend more than two days +with his, giving him all the knowledge and insight he could of the +business, knowing what his object was. A friend asked me why I was doing +this, and said that if I should send my man to Thomas' factory he would +be kicked out immediately. I told him I knew that perfectly well, but +that if Mr. Thomas set out to get into the business, he certainly would +find out, and that the course I was taking was wisest and more friendly. +I have thought since how quickly such kind treatment as I showed towards +his man can be forgotten; yes; this company have all forgotten the +service that I rendered them twenty years ago, and as I have said +before, would probably have been making the old wood clock to this day, +had it not been for other parties. There always has been a great deal of +jealousy among the Yankee clock-makers, and they all seemed to hate the +one who took the lead. The next establishment of which I shall speak, is +that of William L. Gilbert, of Winsted, Connecticut. He is said to be +miserly in feeling, and is quite rich; not very enterprising, but has +made a great deal of money by availing himself of the improvements of +others. + +The next one in the business to whom I shall allude is E.N. Welch, of +Bristol, Connecticut. He is about fifty years of age, and has been in +many kinds of business. He was deeply interested in the failure of J.C. +Brown a few years ago, and succeeded him in the clock business. He is a +leading man in the Baptist church, and has a great tact for making +money; but he says that all he wants of money is to do good with it. He +is a Democrat in politics, and never wants an office from his party. + +These five companies which I have named, make nearly all of the clocks +manufactured in Connecticut; though movements are made by three other +companies. Beach and Hubbell of Bristol, are largely engaged in +manufacturing the movements of brass marine clocks. Also two brothers by +the name of Manross, in Bristol, are engaged in the same business. Noah +Pomeroy of Bristol, is also engaged in making pendulum movements for +other parties. I should, however, mention Ireneus Atkins, of Bristol, +who is making a first-rate thirty-day brass clock, and I am told there +is no better one for time in the country. The movement for this kind of +clock was invented by Joseph Ives, who has spent most of his time for +the last twenty-five years in improving on springs and escapements for +clocks, and who has done a great deal for the advancement of this +business. Mr. Atkins, who is making this thirty-day time-piece, is an +excellent man to deal with. The five large companies which I have named, +manufacture about a half a million clocks per annum; the New Haven +company about two hundred thousand; and the others about three hundred +thousand between them. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +BARNUM'S CONNECTION WITH THE JEROME CLOCK CO.--CAUSES AND RESULTS OF ITS +FAILURE. + +The connection of Barnum with the Jerome Manufacturing Company of New +Haven, and the failure of the Company have been the subject of much +speculation to the whole world, and has never been clearly understood. +Barnum claimed that he was cheated and swindled by this company, robbed +of his property and name, and reduced to poverty. But before giving any +statements, I call attention to the following article taken from the New +York Daily _Tribune_, of March 24th, 1860: + + THE GREAT SHOWMAN.--P.T. Barnum, "the great American showman," as he + loves to hear himself called, who furnishes more amusement for a + quarter of a dollar than any other man in America, is, we are happy to + announce, himself again. He has disposed of the last of those + villainous clock notes, re-established his credit up on a cash basis, + and once more comes forward to cater for the public amusement at the + American museum. To day, between the acts of the play, Mr. Barnum will + appear upon his own stage, in his own costly character of the Yankee + Clockmaker, for which he qualified himself, with the most reckless + disregard of expense, and will "give a brief history of his adventures + as a clockmaker, showing how the clock ran down, and how it was wound + up; shadowing forth in the same the future of the museum." Of course, + Barnum's benefit will be a bumper. Next week the Museum will be closed + for renovation and repairs, and the week after it will reopen under + the popular P.T.B., once more. + +I will now give the true statement of facts and particulars of his +connection with the Jerome Manufacturing Company--which, however, was +not his first experience in clock-making. Some time before this, he was +interested in a Company located in the town of Litchfield, Connecticut, +and, I believe, owned about ten thousand dollars worth of stock. They +made a very poor article which was called a marine clock, if I am +rightly informed. That Company failed, and Barnum took the stock as +security for endorsing and furnishing them with cash. I do not suppose +the whole of the effects were worth transporting to Bridgeport, although +estimated by him at a large amount. About this time Theodore Terry's +clock factory, at Ansonia, was destroyed by fire. A large portion of the +stock was saved, though in a damaged condition, much of which was worth +nothing--the tools and machinery being but little better than so much +old iron. Terry knowing that Barnum was largely interested in real +estate in East Bridgeport, and anxious to have it improved, thought he +could make a good arrangement with him for building a factory there for +the manufacture of clocks, and did so. Terry had a large quantity of old +clocks in a store in New York--many of them old-fashioned and +unsaleable, and thousands of these were not worth fifty cents apiece. +Terry and Barnum now proposed forming a joint-stock company, putting in +their old rubbish as stock, and estimating it, most likely, at four +times its value in cash. They built a factory in East Bridgeport, and +made preparations for manufacturing. Terry knew ten times as much about +the business as Barnum did, and knowing, also, that the old stock was +comparatively worthless, held back while Barnum was urging him to push +ahead with the manufacturing. Terry made a great bluster, saying that he +was going to hire men and do a great business, while, unknown to Barnum, +he was trying to sell the stock he held in the company. They finally +cooked up a plan to sell their New York store and the Bridgeport factory +and machinery, if they could, to the Jerome Manufacturing Company, +taking stock in that company for pay, and--the Jerome Company stock +being issued to the owners of the Terry & Barnum stock--thus merge the +two companies into one. This transaction was made and closed without my +knowledge, (I being at the time from the State,) though the "old man" +has had to bear all the blame. As I afterwards found out, Barnum told my +son, the Secretary of the Company, that Terry & Barnum owed about twenty +thousand dollars: this was the amount Terry had drawn for on the New +York store. They made a written agreement with the Jerome Manufacturing +Company, to this effect;--that our Company should assume the liabilities +of their old Company, which were stated at twenty thousand dollars, and +Barnum was to endorse to any extent for the Jerome Company. It +afterwards proved that the entire debts of Terry & Barnum amounted to +about seventy-two thousand dollars, which the Jerome Company were +obliged to assume. The great difference in the real and supposed amount +of their indebtedness and the unsaleable property turned in as stock +were enough to ruin any company. It is a positive fact that the stock of +the Jerome Company was not worth half as much, three months after Barnum +came into the concern as it was before that time. Some of the +stock-holders did not like to have Terry own stock, and Barnum to +satisfy them, bought him out, paying him twelve thousand dollars in +cash--he in the end, making a grand thing out his Ansonia remains. It is +well known that the Jerome Manufacturing Company failed in the fall of +1855, to the wonder and astonishment of myself and of every body else. +The true causes of this great failure never have been made public. I +myself did not know them at that time, but have found them out from time +to time since, and I now propose to make them public, as it has been the +general impression almost every where that Barnum and myself were +associated in defrauding the community. _I wish to have it understood +that I never saw P.T. Barnum_, while he was connected with the +Company of which I was a member, have never seen him but once since, and +that was in February after the failure. About this time law suits were +being brought against him, and as some supposed, by his friends. He was +called upon, or offered himself as a witness, and I believe testified +that he was worth nothing. The natural effect of this testimony was to +depreciate the paper which his name was on. At the time when I saw him, +he told me that the Museum was his just as much as it ever was, and that +he received the profits, which had never been less than twenty-five +thousand and were sometimes thirty thousand dollars per annum; and yet, +he was publicly stating that he was worth nothing! He also, as I +supposed, held securities of the Jerome Manufacturing Company, to a +large amount, (as I suppose about one hundred thousand dollars,) for I +know that such papers had been in his hands. There were many persons who +were interested in the revival of the business, who were in some way +flattered into the belief that Barnum would re-purchase the whole clock +establishment and put them back into the business again. Several men +were sent by some one to examine the property and estimate its value, +and those persons who were anxious for a restoration of the business +were in some way led to believe that Barnum intended to re-commence the +business of clock-making. For myself, I do not suppose that Barnum ever +seriously contemplated any such thing; but the belief that he did, made +some men quiet who might otherwise have been active and troublesome. + +The manner in which this matter has been represented would reflect +dishonesty upon the Secretary, which would be untrue. No one who knows +him will, or can accuse him of dishonesty. I love truth, honesty and +religion; I do not mean, however, the religion that Barnum believes in: +(I believe that the wicked are punished in another world.) I ask the +reader to look at my situation in my old age. I think as much of a good +name, as to purity of character and honesty at heart, as any man living; +and very often reading in the New York papers of speeches that Barnum +has made, alluding to his being defrauded by the Jerome Manufacturing +Company, I wish the world to know the whole facts in the case, and what +my position was in the Company which bore my name. After many years-- +years of very active business life--I had retired from active duty in +the Company, although I took a deep interest in every thing connected +with it, and also a great pride, as it was a business that I had built +up and had been many years in perfecting. The manufacturing had been +systematized in the most perfect manner and every thing looked +prosperous to me. I owned stock as others did, but did not know of its +financial standing, and was always informed that it was all right, and +that I should be perfectly safe in endorsing. I wish to have it +understood that I did not sign my name to any of this paper, it being +done by the Secretary himself, that therefore I could not know of the +amounts that were raised in that way, that I did not find out till after +the failure, and then the large amounts overwhelmed me with surprise. + +It will be remembered that Barnum made two or three trips to Europe to +provide in some way for the support of his "poor and destitute" family, +which as he claimed, had been robbed and ruined by the Connecticut +clock-makers. At one time he was stopped on a pier in New York, just as +he was starting for Europe, by a suit brought against him. Thus the news +went abroad that poor Barnum was hunted and troubled on every side with +these clock notes. It was reported that he was quite sick in England and +could not live, and, at another time, that being much depressed and +discouraged on account of his many troubles, he had taken to drinking +very hard, and in all probability would live but a short time; while at +the same time, he was lecturing on temperance to the English people, and +was in fact a total-abstinence man. These stories were extensively +circulated; the value of his paper was depreciated in the market, and +was, in several instances bought for a small sum. + +Since writing the foregoing with regard to his coming into the Company, +and, as he states, being ruined by it, I have ascertained to my own +satisfaction, that our connection with him was the means of ruining the +Company. A few days since I was talking with a man who has been more +familiar than myself with the whole transaction, and he told me it was +his opinion that if we had never seen Barnum we should still have been +making clocks in that factory. It was a great mystery to me, and to +every body else, how the Company could run down so rapidly during the +last year. I think I have found out, and these are my reasons. Instead +of having an amount of twenty thousand dollars to cancel of the Terry & +Barnum debts and accounts (which the Secretary foolishly agreed to do.) +it eventually proved to be about seventy thousand; (this I have found +out since the failure.) This great loss the Secretary kept to himself, +and it involved the Company so deeply that he became almost desperate; +for knowing by this time that he had been greatly embarrassed, he was +determined to raise money in any way that he could, honestly, and get +out of the difficulty if possible. He had, as he thought, got to keep +this an entire secret, because if known it would ruin the credit of the +Company. When these extra drafts and notes of Terry & Barnum were added +to the debts of the Company, he was obliged to resort to various +expedients to raise money to pay them. This led him to the exchange of +notes on a large scale, which proved to be a great loss, as many of the +parties were irresponsible. There was a loss of thirty thousand dollars +by one man, and I am sure that there must have been more than fifty +thousand dollars lost in this way. He was also obliged to issue short +drafts and notes and raise money on them at fearful rates. The Terry & +Barnum stock which was taken in at par, was not worth twenty-five per +cent, which had a tendency to reduce the value of the stock of our +Company, though I have recently heard that the Secretary bought stock at +par for the Jerome Company of some former owners in the Terry & Barnum +Company, in Bridgeport, only a short time before the failure. To show +the confidence the Secretary had in the standing of the Company, he +recommended one of his own brothers, not more than one month before the +Company failed, to buy five thousand dollars worth of the stock, which +he did. It was owned by a Bridgeport man and he paid par value for it in +good gold and silver watches at cash prices. All of these transactions +were made without my knowledge, and I have found them out by piece-meal +ever since. I do fully believe that if the Secretary had been worth half +a million of dollars, he would have sacrificed every dollar, rather than +have had the Company failed under his management as it did. + +It has been publicly stated that Mr. Barnum endorsed largely on blank +notes and drafts and that he was thus rendered responsible to a far +greater extent than he was aware of; such, however, was not the case. + +The troubles that have grown out of the failure of this great business, +have left me poor and broken down in spirit, constitution and health. I +was never designed by Providence to eat the bread of dependence, for it +is like poison to me, and will surely kill me in a short time. I have +now lost more than forty pounds of flesh, though my ambition has not yet +died within me. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +EFFECTS OF THE FAILURE ON MYSELF--REMOVAL TO WATERBURY AND ANSONIA-- +UNFORTUNATE BUSINESS CONNECTIONS. + +After saying so much as I have about my misfortunes in life, I must say +a few words about what has happened and what I have been through with +during the last four years. + +When the Jerome Manufacturing Company failed, every dollar that I had +saved out of a long life of toil and labor was not enough to support my +family for one year. It was hard indeed for a man sixty-three years old, +and my heart sickened at the prospect ahead. Perhaps there never was a +man that wanted more than I did to be in business and be somebody by the +side of my neighbors. There never was a man more grieved than I was when +I had to give up those splendid factories with the great facilities they +had over all others in the world for the manufacture of clocks both good +and cheap, all of which had been effected through my untiring efforts. +No one but myself can know what my feelings were when I was compelled, +through no fault of my own, to leave that splendid clustre [sic] of +buildings with all its machinery, and its thousands of good customers +all over this country and Europe, and in fact the whole world, which in +itself was a fortune. And then to leave that beautiful mansion at the +head of the New Haven bay, which I had almost worshipped. I say to leave +all these things for others, with that spirit and pride that still +remained within me, and at my time of life, was almost too much for +flesh and blood to bear. What could have been the feelings of my family, +and my large circle of friends and acquaintances, to see creditors and +officers coming to our house every day with their pockets full of +attachments and piles of them on the table every night. If any one can +ever begin to know my feelings at this time, they must have passed +through the same experience. Yet mortified and abused as I was, I had to +put up with it. Thank God, I have never been the means of such trouble +for others. I had to move to Waterbury in my old age, and there commence +again to try to get a living. I moved in the fall of 1856, and as bad +luck would have it, rented a house not two rods from a large church with +a very large steeple attached to it, which had been built but a short +time before. In one of the most terrific hurricanes and snow storms that +I ever knew in my life, at four o'clock in the morning of January 19th, +1857, this large steeple fell on the top of our house which was a three +story brick building. It broke through the roof and smashed in all the +upper tier of rooms, the bricks and mortar falling to the lower floor. +We were in the second story, and some of the bricks came into our room, +breaking the glass and furniture, and the heaviest part of the whole lay +directly on our house. It was the opinion of all who saw the ruins that +we did not stand one chance in ten thousand of not being killed in a +moment. I heard many a man say he would not take the chances that we had +for all the money in the State. One man in the other part of the house +was so frightened that he was crazy for a long time. Timbers in this +steeple, ten inches square, broke in two directly over my bed and their +weight was tremendous. I now began to think that my troubles were coming +in a different form; but it seems I was not to die in that way. The +business took a different shape in the spring, and I moved (another task +of moving!) to Ansonia. Here I lived two years, but very unfortunately +happened to get in with the worst men that could be found on the line of +Rail-road between Winsted and Bridgeport. In another part of this book I +have spoken of them; I do not now wish to think of them, for it makes me +sick to see their names on paper. I had worked hard ever since I left +New Haven--one year at Waterbury, and two at this place (Ansonia,)--but +got not one dollar for the whole time. I was robbed of all the money +which Mr. Stevens, (my son-in-law,) had paid me for the use of my trade- +mark in England, for the years 1857-'58. This advantage was taken of me, +because I could collect nothing in my own name. + +I should consider my history incomplete, unless I went back for many +years to speak of the treatment which I received from a certain man. I +shall not mention his name, and my object in relating these +circumstances, is to illustrate a principle there is in man, and to +caution the young men to be careful when they get to be older and are +carrying on business, not to do too much for one individual. If you do, +in nine cases out of ten, he will hate and injure you in the end. This +has been my experience. Many years ago, I hired two men from a +neighboring town to work for me. It was about the time that I invented +the Bronze Looking-Glass Clock, which was, at that time, decidedly the +best kind made. After a while these two men contrived a plan to get up a +company, go into another town, and manufacture the same kind of clock. +This company was formed about six months before I found it out, and much +of their time was spent in making small tools and clock-parts to take +with them. This was done when they were at work for me on wages. They +induced as many of my men as they could to go with them, and took some +of them into company. When they had finished some clocks, they went +round to my customers and under-sold me to get the trade. This is the +first chapter. When I invented the thirty-hour brass clock in 1838, one +of these men had returned to Bristol again, and was out of business; but +he had some money which he had made out of my former improvements. I had +lost a great deal of money in the great panic of 1837. After I had +started a little in making this new clock, he proposed to put in some +money and become interested with me, and as I was in want of funds to +carry on the business, I told him that if he would put in three thousand +dollars, he should have a share of the profits. I went on with him one +year, but got sick of it and bought him out. I had to pay six thousand +dollars to get rid of him. He took this money, went to a neighboring +town, bought an old wood clock factory, fitted it up for making the same +clock that I had just got well introduced, and induced several of my +workmen to go with him, some of whom he took in company with him. As +soon as I had the clock business well a going in England, he sent over +two men to sell the same patterns. He has kept this up ever since, and +has made a great deal of money. + +After the failure of the Jerome Manufacturing Company, as I have already +stated, I went to Waterbury to assist the Benedict & Burnham Company. +After I had been there six or eight months, and had got the case-making +well started, (my brother, Noble Jerome, had got the movements in the +works the year before.) this same man I have been speaking about, came +to me and made me a first-rate offer to go with him into a town a short +distance from Waterbury, and make clocks there. I accepted his offer, +but should not have done so, had it not been for the depressed condition +to which I had been brought by previous events. I accordingly moved to +the town where he had hired a factory. He was carrying on the business +at the same time in his old factory, and came to this new place about +twice a week. My work was in the third story, and it was very hard for +an old man to go up and down a dozen times a day. About this time I +obtained a patent on a new clock case, and as I was to be interested in +the business, I let the Company make several thousand of them. We could +make forty cents more on each clock than we could on an O-G. clock. As I +was favorably known throughout the world as a clockmaker, this Company +wanted to use my label as the clocks would sell better in some parts of +the country than with his label. They were put upon many thousands. Soon +after we commenced, I told him I would make out a writing of our bargain +because life was uncertain. He said that was all right, and that he +would attend to it soon. As he always seemed to be in a hurry when he +came, I wrote one and sent it to him, so that he might look it over at +his leisure and be ready to sign it when he came down again. The next +time I saw him, I asked him if the writing was not as we agreed; he said +he supposed it was, but that he had no time to look it over and sign it +then, but would do so when he had time. I paid into the business about +one thousand nine hundred dollars in small sums, as it was wanted from +time to time, and worked at this man for eight months to get a writing +from him, but he always had an excuse. He had agreed to give the +case-maker a share of the profits if he would make the cases at a +certain price, but put him off in the same way. We both became satisfied +that he did not mean to do as he had agreed, and I therefore left him. +The money which I had paid in was what I had received for the use of my +name in England. I had the privilege of paying it in as it was wanted, +working eight months, keeping the accounts which I did evenings, and +giving this man a home at my house whenever he was in town. All of this +which I had done, he refused to give me one dollar for, and it was with +great difficulty that I got my money back. I had to put it into another +man's hands, as his property, to recover it. This man, probably, had two +objects in view when he went to Waterbury to flatter me away. He did not +want me to be there with my name on the movements and cases, and +therefore he made me a first-rate offer. I had been broken up in all my +business, and felt very anxious to be doing something again. I was a +little afraid when he made the offer, but knew that he had made a great +deal of money out of my improvements and was very wealthy, and I did +think he would be true to me, knowing as he did my circumstances. Look +at this miser, with not a child in the world, and no one on earth that +he cares one straw about, and yet so grasping! Oh! what will the poor +creature do in eternity! + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +MORE MISPLACED CONFIDENCE--ANOTHER UNFORTUNATE PARTNERSHIP. + +Before closing the history of the many trials and troubles which I have +experienced during my life, I will here say that I have never found, in +all my dealings with men for more than forty years, such an untruthful +and dishonest a man as ---- of a certain town in Connecticut. In 1858, +he induced me to come into his factory to carry on a little business. My +situation was such, in consequence of the failure of the Jerome +Manufacturing Company, that I could do nothing in my own name, as he +knew. I had a little money that had been paid me for the use of my +trademark in England, and I felt very anxious, as old as I was, to make +a little money so that I could pay some small debts which my family had +made a short time before the company failed. I had also two children who +looked to me for some help. This man said to me, "you may have the use +of my factory for 'so much,' and you may carry on the business for one +year in my name for so 'much.'" This was agreed to by both parties. In +a few days he came to me and said that he had been talking with his +nephew about having the business carried on in his name "& Co.;" ---- +being the "Company" and he was to keep his nephew harmless, as he had +nothing for the use of his name. The nephew came into the factory a +short time after, and I asked him if he had agreed to what ---- had +stated to me; he said that he had, and that I could go on with the +business in the name of himself & Co.; he was quite sure that his uncle +would keep him harmless. I went on with the business in this name from +May to December, both of those men knowing all the while just as much +about the business as I did, and they never said but that it was all +right as we had agreed. I paid in my money from time to time as it was +wanted. Late in the fall, I paid in at one time, one thousand nine +hundred dollars, through a firm who owed me that amount, and who gave +their notes to ---- on short time, which notes were paid. A short time +after this, knowing that I had no more money to put into the business, +he undoubtedly thought it time to do what he had intended to do at a +suitable time from the beginning. One day when I was unwell and +confined to the house, a man who had a claim against the company, +called on ---- to make a settlement. Before this time he had made +two payments on this same account, but he now told this man that there +never had been such a company, and that he would never pay it--while +at the same time, he had the same property which the man offered to +take back but which he had refused to give up, and said that I had no +right to use the name of ---- & Co. This was after he had been using the +name for me in drafts and notes, and all other business transactions, +for more than eight months. He said that he would have me arrested for +fraud and put in the State Prison. This treatment was rather hard +towards a man who had never before been accused of dishonesty, and who +had done business on a large scale with thousands of men for more than +forty years. He at one time requested me to borrow a note for him from +one of my friends, which I did, and which he paid promptly when due. He +did this, as I now suppose, because the business was not in as good +shape for him as it might be in another three months; so he wished me to +get the favor renewed, which I did. When it became due, he denied that +it was a borrowed note, declared that I was owing him, and had handed +this note to him as one that was good and would be paid. One of his best +friends has since told me that there was more honor among horse-thieves +than this man had shown towards me. I put into the business between four +and five thousand dollars, worked hard almost a year, and have received +about five hundred dollars. ---- is trying to scare me by threatening to +sue me for perjury; so that if he could make me fool enough to pay the +debts of ---- & Co., he would have just so much more to put into his own +pocket. When he can get a grand jury to find a true bill against me for +fraud or perjury, I will promise to go to Wethersfield and stay there +the remainder of my life, without any further trial. After all that I +have said, I think of him just as all his neighbors do; for they have +told me that it was the common talk among them, when I first went into +his factory, that he would in some way cheat me out of every dollar that +I put into his hands. It would take just about as much evidence to prove +that young crows would be black when their feathers are grown, as it +would to satisfy the community that these statements are true, +especially where he is known. For knavery, untruthfulness, and +wickedness, I have never seen anything, in all my business experience of +forty years, that will compare with this. He would not have taken such a +course with me once, but he took advantage of my age and misfortunes to +commit these frauds, thinking that I could not defend myself, and that +he could defraud and crush me. + +I had paid every dollar of my money into this business which I had at +that time, and had nothing to live on through the winter. But John +Woodruff in his kindness, raised money enough for me to live on through +the winter, and the following spring I moved to New Haven. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +THE WOOSTER PLACE CHURCH.--GROWTH OF THE DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS IN NEW +HAVEN. + +In order to have my history complete I must give my reason for building +the Wooster Place Church, as my motives have been misconstrued by many +persons, I will make a short statement of what I know to be true. It is +well known that with the exception of one, all the Congregational +churches in New Haven, were located west of the centre of the city. The +majority of the inhabitants lived in the eastern section. Meeting after +meeting was called by the different churches to consider the importance +of building a church in the eastern part. It was strongly advocated by +the ministers and many others, that this part of the city was rapidly +filling up, a great deal of manufacturing was carried on there, and the +strangers who were constantly coming in would fall into other +denominations. I heard their speeches advocating this course with great +pleasure, as I lived in the eastern part of the city, had a long +distance to go to attend church, and nearly all the workmen in my employ +lived in the same section. The church which I have mentioned as the only +one located east of the centre, was in a very prosperous condition. By +the talent, popularity and piety of its minister, as his church and +congregation believed, he had filled the church to overflowing. There +were no slips to be bought in that church. We heard this minister say +that he could spare thirty families from his congregation to build up a +new church. In view of all the facts, I started a subscription paper, in +as good faith as I ever did anything in my life, for the raising of +funds to build an edifice. The subscription was headed by myself with +five thousand dollars and many large sums were added to it. A number of +wealthy men lived near the contemplated place of building the new +church, who belonged to other churches. It was supposed, by what their +ministers had said in public and in private, that they would use their +influence in advancing this good work, and to have some of their members +join in it; but for some reason they changed their minds. I heard that +the minister of the church located in the eastern section (which I +mentioned before,) had got up a subscription paper to raise ten or +twelve thousand dollars to beautify the front of his church, raise a +higher steeple, and make some other alterations that he thought +important. I was told that he called on the men who lived in the +locality where we proposed erecting the new church, with his +subscription, and that they subscribed to carry out his plans. Some of +those who had subscribed to build the new church, after he had made +these calls, wrote me that they wished their names crossed off from my +paper--Others came and told me the same thing, and wished their names +erased. I began at this time to understand that there were influences +working against our enterprise and that this way of building a church +must be given up. I however, went forward myself, as is very well known, +and built a church second to none in New England. I should have built +one that would not have cost one half of the money, had I acted on my +own judgement, but I was influenced by a few others differently. I paid +more than twenty thousand dollars out of my own pocket into this church. + +Public opinion in the community was, that if the several ministers had +given their influence in favor of this matter, a church would have been +built by subscription. They could very easily have influenced their +friends in that part of the city to unite in this enterprise without +detriment to their own congregation. Had this course been taken, it is +evident that by this time it would have been a large and prosperous +church. + +A correspondent of the Independent in writing upon the growth of +Congregationalism, in New Haven, had a great deal to say about the +Wooster Place church--calling the man that built it, "a sagacious +mechanic, who built it on speculation etc." Yet; added "if they had +called a young man for its Pastor from New England, it might have +succeeded after all." + +It is well known that the Congregational denomination has made but very +small advancement compared with others for the last twenty years. It is +supposed that the inhabitants of New Haven have doubled in number during +that time; but only one small Mission church has been added to the +Congregational churches. Four Episcopal churches have been built, and +filled with worshipers, many of whom formerly belonged to Congregational +families. The Methodists have built two large churches, and more than +trebled in number. The Baptists have more than doubled, and now own and +occupy the Wooster Place church. And to have kept pace with the others, +the Congregational denomination should now have as many as three more +large churches. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +NEW HAVEN AS A BUSINESS PLACE--GROWTH--EXTENSIVE MANUFACTORIES, ETC. + +For many years I have extensively advertised throughout every part of +the civilized world, and in the most conspicuous places, such a city as +New Haven Connecticut, U.S.A., and its name is hourly brought to notice +wherever American clocks are used, and I know of no more conspicuous or +prominent place than the dial of a clock for this purpose. More of these +clocks have been manufactured in this city for the past sixteen years +than any other one place in this country, and the company now +manufacturing, turn out seven hundred daily. + +I now propose to give a brief description of New Haven and its +inhabitants in the words of a business man who loves the town. New +Haven, is to-day a city of more than forty thousand inhabitants, +remarkable as the New Englanders generally are for their ingenuity, +industry, shrewd practical good sense, and their large aggregate wealth; +and with forty thousand such people it is not strange that New Haven is +now growing like a city in the west. It was settled in 1638, and +incorporated as a city in 1784. Its population in 1830, was less than +eleven thousand, and in 1840, but little more than fourteen thousand, +its increase from 1840 to 1850, was about eight thousand, and from 1850 +to 1860, the population has nearly doubled. The assessed value of +property in 1830, amounted to about two and a half millions. The amount +at the present time is estimated at over twenty seven millions. New +Haven is situated at the head of a fine bay, four miles from Long Island +Sound, and seventy-six miles from New York, on the direct line of +Rail-road, and great thoroughfare between that city and Boston, and can +be reached in three hours by Rail-road and about five by water from New +York. New Haven has long been known as the city of Elms, and it far +surpasses any other city in America in the number and beauty of these +noble elm trees which shade and adorn its streets and public squares. It +is a place of large manufacturing interests, the persevering genius and +enterprise of its people having made New Haven in a variety of ways, +prominent in industrial pursuits. Mr. Whitney, the inventor of the +Cotton Gin, Mr. Goodyear of india rubber notoriety, and many other great +and good men who by their ingenuity and perseverance have added millions +to the wealth of mankind, were citizens of New Haven. Nearly every kind +of manufactured article known in the market, can here be found and +bought direct from the manufactory--such as carriages and all kind of +carriage goods, firearms, shirts, locks, furniture, clothing, shoes, +hardware, iron castings, daguerrotype-cases, machinery, plated goods, +&c., &c. + +The manufacture of carriages is here carried on, on a grand scale, and +its yearly productions are probably larger than of any other city in the +Union. There are more than sixty establishments in full operation at the +present time, many of them of great extent and completeness, and turn +out work justly celebrated for its beauty and substantial value wherever +they are known. I live in the immediate vicinity of the largest carriage +manufactury in the world, which turns out a finished carriage every +hour; much of the work being done by machinery and systematized in much +the same manner as the clock-making. American carriages are fast +following American clocks to foreign countries, to the West Indies, +Australia and the Sandwich Islands, Mexico and South America, and I +believe the day is not far distant when they will be exported to Europe +in large quantities, and the present prospect seems far more favorable +for them than it did for me when I introduced my first cargo of clocks +into England. + +When I first saw this city in 1812, its population was less than five +thousand, and it looked to me like a country town. I wandered about the +streets early one morning with a bundle of clothes and some bread and +cheese in my hands little dreaming that I should live to see so great a +change, or that it ever would be my home. I remember seeing the loads of +wood and chips for family use lying in front of the houses, and acres of +land then in cornfields and valued at a small sum, are now covered with +fine buildings and stores and factories in about the heart of the city. + +When I moved my case making business to New Haven, the project was +ridiculed by other clock-makers, of going to a city to manufacture by +steam power, and yet it seems to have been the commencement of +manufacturers in the country, coming to New Haven to carry on their +business. Numbers came to me to get my opinion and learn the advantages +it had over manufacturing in the country, which I always informed them +in a heavy business was very great, the item of transportation alone +over-balancing the difference between water and steam power. The +facilities for procuring stock and of shipping, being also an important +item. Not one of the good citizens will deny that this great business of +clock-making which I first brought to New Haven has been of immense +advantage and of great importance to the city. Through its agency +millions of money has been brought here, adding materially to the +general prosperity and wealth, besides bringing it into notice wherever +its productions are sent. I have been told that there is nothing in the +eastern world that attracts the attention of the inhabitants like a +Yankee clock. It has this moment come into my mind of several years ago +giving a dozen brass clocks to a missionary at Jerusalem; they were +shipped from London to Alexandria in Egypt, from there to Joppa, and +thence about forty miles on the backs of Camels to Jerusalem, where they +arrived safe to the great joy of the missionary and others interested, +and attracted a great deal of attention and admiration. I also sent my +clocks to China, and two men to introduce them more than twenty years +ago. + +I will here say what I truly believe as to the future of this business; +there is no place on the earth where it can be started and compete with +New Haven, there are no other factories where they can possibly be made +so cheap. I have heard men ask the question, "why can't clocks be made +in Europe on such a scale, where labor is so cheap?" If a company could +in any part of the old world get their labor ten years for nothing, I do +not believe they could compete with the Yankees in this business. They +can be made in New Haven and sent into any part of the world for more +than a hundred years to come for less than one half of what they could +be made for in any part of the old world. I was many years in +systematizing this business, and these things I know to be facts, though +it might appear as strong language. No man has ever lived that has given +so much time and attention to this subject as myself. For more than +fifty years, by day and by night, clocks have been uppermost in my mind. +The ticking of a clock is music to me, and although many of my +experiences as a business man have been trying and bitter, I have the +satisfaction of knowing that I have lived the life of an honest man, and +have been of some use to my fellow men. + + + +APPENDIX. + +GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR KEEPING CLOCKS IN ORDER. + +Pendulum clocks are the oldest style, and are more generally introduced +than any other kind. I will give a few simple suggestions essential for +keeping this clock in good order as a time-keeper. In the first place, a +clock must be plumb (that is level;) and what I mean by plumb, is not +treing up the case to a level, but it is to put the case in a position +so that the beats or sounds of the wheel-teeth striking the verge are +equal. It is not necessary to go by the sound, if the face is taken off +so that you can see the verge. You can then notice and see whether the +verge holds on to the teeth at each end the same length of time; or (in +other words) whether the vibrations are equal as they should be. Clocks +are often condemned because they stop, or because they do not keep good +time, while these points and others are not in beat, the vibrations are +not regular; hence it will not divide the time equally, and it is called +a poor time-keeper, when the difficulty may be that it is not properly +set up. A clock which will run when it is much out of beat, is a very +good one, and it must run very easily, because it has a great +disadvantage to overcome, viz: a greater distance from a perpendicular +line one way than the other in order that the verge may escape the +teeth. A clock may be set up in perfect beat, but the shelf is liable to +settle or warp, and get out of beat so gradually, that it might not be +remarked by one not suspecting it, unless special notice was taken of +it. This matter should be looked to when the clock stops. + +I have explained the mode of setting up a clock with reference to +putting it in beat, etc. Another essential point to be attended to is +that the rod should hang in the centre or very near the centre of the +loop in the crutch wire which is connected with the verge, and for this +reason, if it rubs the front or back end of the loop, the friction will +cause it to stop. To prevent this, set the clock case so that it will +lean back a little or forward, as it requires. It sometimes happens that +the dial (if it is made of zinc) gets bent in, and the loop of the +crutch wire rubs as it passes back and forth. This should be attended +to. It should be noticed also, whether the crutch wire gets misplaced so +that it rubs any kind of a dial; the least impediment here will stop a +clock. The centre of the dial should next be noticed. It sometimes +happens that the warping moves it from its place, so that the sockets of +the pointers rub, and many times it is the cause of the clock's +stopping; this can be remedied by pareing out the centre on the side +required. + +Soft verges are no uncommon cause of clocks stopping, and those who +travel to repair clocks generally overlook this trouble. A clock with a +soft verge will run but a short time, because the teeth will dent into +the face of the verge and cause a roughness that will certainly stop it. +The way to ascertain this, is to try a file on the end of the verge; if +you can file it it is soft; they are intended to be so hard that a file +will not cut them. They can be hardened without taking off the brass +ears or crutch wires, if you are careful in heating them; but the +roughness on the faces caused by the teeth must be taken out in +finishing. They must be polished nicely, and the polish lines should run +parallel with the verge: this may not seem to some necessary, but if the +polished lines run crosswise you can hear it rub distinctly and it would +cause it to stop. + +It is very common to hear a clock make a creaking noise, and this leads +inexperienced persons to think it has become dry inside. This is not so, +and you will always find it to be caused by the loop of the crutch wire +where it touches the rod; apply a little oil and it will cure it. + +Some think that a clock must be cleaned and oiled often, but if the +foregoing directions are carefully pursued it is not necessary. I could +show the reader several thirty-four hour brass clocks of my first and +second years' manufacture (about twenty-two years since) which have been +taken apart and cleaned but once--perhaps some of them twice. I have +been told that they run as well as they did the first year. Now these +are the directions which I should lay down for you to save your money, +and your clocks from untimely wearing out. If you see any signs of their +stopping--such as a faint beat, or if on a very cold night they stop, +take the dial off, and the verge from the pin, wipe the pin that the +verge hangs on, the hole in the ears of the verge, and the pieces that +act on the wheel; also the loop of the verge wire where it connects with +the rod, and the rod itself where the loop acts. Previous to taking off +the verge, oil all the pivots in front; let the clock be wound up about +half way, then take off the verge, and let it run down as rapidly as it +will, in order to work out the gummy oil: then wipe off the black oil +that has worked out and it is not necessary to add any more to the +pivots. Then oil the parts as above described connected with the verge +and be very sparing of the oil, for too little is better than too much. +I never use any but watch oil. You may think that the other oils are +good because you have tried them; but I venture to say that all the good +they effected was temporary and after a short time the clock was more +gummed up than it was before. Watch oil is made from the porpoise' jaw, +and I have not seen anything to equal it. You may say why not oil the +back pivots? They do not need it as often as the front ones, because +they are not so much exposed, and hence, they do not catch the dust +which passes through the sash and through the key holes that causes the +pivots to be gummy and gritty. The front pivot holes wear largest first. +A few pennys' worth of oil will last many years. + +It is necessary to occasionally oil the pulleys on the top of the case +which the cord passes over. If this is not done the hole becomes +irregular, and a part of the power is lost to the clock. Common oil will +answer for them. With regard to balance-wheel clocks, it is more +difficult to explain the mode of repairing, to the inexperienced. With +reference to oiling, use none but watch oil. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN CLOCK +BUSINESS FOR THE PAST SIXTY YEARS, AND LIFE OF CHAUNCEY JEROME*** + + +******* This file should be named 12694.txt or 12694.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/6/9/12694 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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