The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-05-13
PLYM0UTH'S CELEBRATION
PIONEER IN THE INDUSTRY or
 CLOCKS AND LOCKS.

Sent Out Many Notable Men-Early strug-
 gles of the "Northern People" of Water
 bury for Independence-Pu of an
 Interesting Souvenir--C Celebration Begins
 Tomorrow.
 In connection with this weeks cele-
 bration of the one flundredth anniver- sary of Plymouth the Journal Publish ing company of Meriden has issued @
 souvenir history for the occasion. It was compiled by Francis Atwater and IS handsome piece of work.
 Biographies of several Waterbury citizens are given. Tn placing this souvenir history of Plymouth before the public, Che author has endeavored to discard formality, dryness, and the usual stereotyped form of such works.
 The town of Plymouth though it has not kept pace with many of its neigh
 bors, and perhaps is not so widely known, nevertheless has an interesting history, and is the pioneer in the in- dustries of clocks and locks. It was here that Eli Terry developed his won derful inventions which made American clock making what 1t is to-day The names of Seth Thomas, Silas Hoadley, Chauncey Jerome and Hiram Camp, all former residents of Plymouth, have since become famous in this line. In- deed, in the past century the business has grown to vast proportions, and millions upon millions of clocks have gone forth from Connecticut alone.
 The making of cabinet and trunk locks was practically first started in America, in Terryville, and though when in it's infancy, on account of the supposed superiority of foreign goods and the refusal of established stores to handle them, it was nearly impossible to market the product, the prejudice was finally overcome and the lock busi- ness of the country was monopolized by the local company for years, over half a million of dollars having been spent to buy out competing firms. In fact the field was controlled until the Corbins of New Britain made competi- tion possible. Unlike the clock indus try, the business is still carried on where it was first established, and has been the mainstay of the old town.
 It should not be forgotten that in Terryville, John Cheney, one of the famous Cheney Brothers, gained prac- tical knowledge of the manufacture of silk, and that to James Terry, ST., should be given the credit of building America's original silk mill, which, though not a success, ultimately made the industry famous and lucrative.
 It would appear from the fact of the centennial of the town coming this year, that there were no settlers within its territory prior to 1795, but in the year 172S Henry Cook, with his family, setttled a farm on the west bank of the Naugatuck river not far from the Litchfield boundary. He was a great grandson of Henry Cook of Plymouth, Mass, who was in the Massachusetts colony prior to 1640. The territory cf the town was included in the grant from the Tunxis Indians, now recorded in Farmington, which allowed a party of white miners the right to work what was supposed to be a bad mine in what is now the town of Harwinton near Ply mouth The grant included land west from the Warrington river to the Nau- gatuck valley and embraced Matta- tuck, now Waterbury. John Suttiff came to the section shortly after Cook made his appearance, and appears to have been more prominent in the af- fairs of the new community, which was known as the northern part" of the "plantation at Mattatuck."
 The town will celebrate the centennial of it's corporation to-morrw evening and Wednesday, the initial exercises | for tomorrow evening having been ar- ranged for the First Congregational church in Plymouth, and the exercises | of Wednesday taking place in large | tent on Baldwin park in TerryvilIe. | Judge Augustus H. Fenn has written | an address which will be delivered by | Professor Ralph c. Hubbard, and the | program includes music by Colts band, l singing by large chorus and ten-min- ute speeches by prominent citizens and | by men who claim Plymouth as birth place.