Monongalia mirror. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1855, 1853-05-28
From The Boston Journal.
THE YANKEE GLOCKMAKER,

For,y.Rve years ago, q plain-look'
ing man, of few words, but of grea!
mechanical ingenuity, bought an old
grist-mill in Plymouth,a at the southcas'
tern extremity of Litchfeld county, in
Connecticut, and converted it into a
wooden clock factory. The writer Of
this article, then mere boy, render
ed his feeble assistance in the work OF
rebuilding. Wooden clocks had in.
deed been made before this time by
i Lemuel Harrison, of Waterbury, and
Gideon Roberts. Of Bristol-a town
contiguous to Plymoutl-and perhaps
| in other parts of the country; but
only in very small numbers. 1t was
even said that the pats of some Of
the clocks first made by these gentle
men were actually cut out with pen
knife. In any event, they were made
very slowly, inserted in long cases,
reaching from the floor almost to tho
ceiling, and cost from twenty-five to
fifty dollars apiece.
The namo of the Plymouth advcn-
turer was Eli Terry. He was soon
able to manufacture clocks in his new
factory at the rate of several hundred
perhaps a thousand-a year. The
Stream" however. to keep it going
required many tributaries. All the
hills. for many miles round, at least in
some directions, were ransacked by
the inhabitants for hard wood of va
rious kinds, such as laurel, popularity
called ivy. hnx-wood. sugar maple,
&c., wherewilh to make the frame
work and piuions of the interior; the
fields were laid under contribution to
produce flax, whence the cords were
made by which tho weights were sus-
pended; and even the price of labor
on the farms was raised. because so
many young men were employed in
connection with the factory, and in
selling the clocks in the adjacent towns
when made. OF these last fndiqidu-
ais. yclcped clock pedlers, some Of
the more bold aud 'enterprising ven
tured abroad with their one-hnrse wa
gons fifty or hundred miles from
hnme, and sold their clocks at the a.
mazingly low price of twenty-five or
thirty dollarsl
The eibusitless rapidly increased, and
Mr.. Ferty was, ereiong, abletoman:
ufacture, not merely ono thousand
clocks q year, but several thousand
But his example awakened world Of
Yankee enterprise, which had hither-
to been sleeping. They could not be
content to let plain Eli Terry make
his thousands of dollars a year, while
they only made three dollars day;
and hence, one after another, in the
contiguous places above alluded to,
they found their way into the same
employment. The mania even spread
farther than Bristol and Waterbury,.
1T extended to Watertown, LitchGeld,
Harrinton, Southington and Meriden.
The clocks moreover, were peddled
all over the United States.
Mr.. Terry soon sold out his estab-
lishment to Seth Thomas and Silas
Hoadley, two entorprising young me-
clanics, who. after making such chan
ges and adopting such improvements
as enabled them to manufacture many
thousands of clocks year, separated
like Abraham and Lot, and each had
factory of his own. Mr.. Hoadley
remained on the old spot, where he
made clocks very many years. but
subsequently cutlery; while Mr..
Thomas, his partner, established him
self in what's called Plymoth Hollow.
The former is far from allluence, but
the latter has made himself and many
others rich. AS did Cain Of old,
though not in Gains spirit, he has
built quite a city. He not only con-
trives 10 manufacture clocks by ten
thousands, but cotton also, and, ! be.
licvc, other things. Perhaps he has
done more gond during aqnarter of
a century past than any other me-
chanic in all that region. Mr.. Terry
and his sons continued in the business
till the death ofthe father, which hap
pened only few years since. He
was more fortunate, in a pocuniary
point of view, than most pioneers,
though never so wealthy as some of
those who followed tho track he mar
ked out.
Thir.y-,wo years ago, Chauncey
Jerome, u young man of enterprise,
of the same town, Plymouth, enga-
gcd in the wooden.clock business. 1t
is said, in a New Haven paper, that
he, too, made, his first clock by the
hand; butsfor:the truth of this state
ment cannot youch, as the, business
had becn carried on at that time by
machinery about twelve years. In
any event, however; Mr.. Jerome, with
his condjutors, oil of whom ! person.
ally knew, was destined, as aclock-
maker. to eclipse all his predecessors.
1,Lo ,,.;., e',l.,ks had ;ndeed fall