Read Ebook: History of the American Clock Business for the Past Sixty Years and Life of Chauncey Jerome Barnum's Connection with the Yankee Clock Business by Jerome Chauncey

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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 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.

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, 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 ,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.

OPERATIONS OF FRANK MERRILLS--A SAD HISTORY.--BUSINESS TROUBLES, ETC.

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.

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 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 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.

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, 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 , 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.

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 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.

BARNUM'S CONNECTION WITH THE JEROME CLOCK CO.--CAUSES AND RESULTS OF ITS FAILURE.

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.

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 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 it eventually proved to be about seventy thousand; 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.

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 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 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 --but got not one dollar for the whole time. I was robbed of all the money which Mr. Stevens, 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, 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!

MORE MISPLACED CONFIDENCE--ANOTHER UNFORTUNATE PARTNERSHIP.

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.

THE WOOSTER PLACE CHURCH.--GROWTH OF THE DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS IN NEW HAVEN.

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.

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.

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