New Britain herald., 1925-07-15
June, 17S5.
Interesting Comparisons Made

Interesting Comparisons Made
 "Of the three parishes Worthing- ton was slightly the largest and richest, having in 1900, 1,0Q3 people to New Britain's 946 and Kensing- tons 764, Professor Camp in his his tory of New Britain. gives us inter ealing comparisons of the three par ishes. New Britain owned l5 per cent more working oxen than et- ther of her neighbors, but Worthing- ton had l6 per cent and kensington 32 per cent more dairy animals than New Britain, and in luxures New Britain was still farther behind Worthington, the latter boosting 6 top carriages and 1S open carriages, while kensnEton had five top car riages, three open carriages and on- phaeton. to New Britain's four open carriages and two top carriages But as the story goes, what they lacked in numbers they made up in splendor, being painted a gorgeous scarlet and blue.
 Three Gold Watches
 "Kensingt on, he it known, led not only in dairy cattle but in the proud possession of three gold watches and II silver watches. to Worthington's e4 silver and but one gold watch and New Erltain's II silver watches md no gold watches. Balancing up, however, lt seems that Worthington came out ahead in size and import ance and for this reason the federal government chose that parish In 1799 to he the location of the post office of the town, meaning the post office, Berlin, which name has grad ually taken the place of he old parish name of Worthington for that section of the town.
 "Worthington and Kensington rs- mained largely a farming communi- tv with a few mills and blacksmith shops and later on the brick yards, American Paper Goods factory and the Berlin Construction company, while New Britain developed Into a hardware manufacturing city, hav- ing it's beginning in the early iron works, or blacksmith shops. with which the section abounded. i Change In Nationalities
 "Ur to the middle of the 18th cen- 1 tury the citizens of New Britain, i Worthington and kensington were practically all descendants of the early Protestant English settlers, 1 but as New Britain industries grew, stream of foreign Workmen flow ed in. first Irish. then Germans, and later. Poles, Italians, Danes, Swedes, 1 in fact nearly every nationality. spreading out from expanding New | Britain into all the outlying dis tricts and throughout the town of | Berlin, The influx of foreigners has steadily increased, especially during | the last 10 or 5 years.
 "The brick business in Berlin has drawn many Italians and lately some negroes for summer work, the farms of the township are being taken over hy Poles. SWedes and other ma tionalities. Alarmingly few of the descendants of the original settlers remain although Harts, Rockers, Moores and a handful of other de- scendants of our early forefathers are still 10 be found dwelling in the old homesteads and it is 10 be hoped that the noble history Of the town will be remembered and handed down as precious heritage to all who settle with Us, both American
 and foreign born.
 1 Famous Men and Women
 Mrs. Crane delivered an interest ing talk on Famous Men and
 Women of Berlin; Revolutionary
 Period" Among those whom she discussed were Sergeant Richard
 Becklev, the first settler in Berlin, who settled in the Beckley Quarter Itn 1880; Jonathan Gilbert, deputy |collectnr of customs and marshal for the colony, who, at one time owned Imore than 3 thousand acres of land i'm the heart of the town: Richard Seymour V ho started the settlement;
 Samuel North. the first official pistol maker in the United States, whose
 works are sought by collectors Of
 firearms and who was known in the
 United States and Europe for the ou3litv of his productions; Benjamin IChenev, pioneer clock manufacturer whose products were also known far
 and wide and who carved all the cogs by hand out of wood; Selah Hart who served hrayely through out the revolution as general, and last, but not least, Emma Hart 1 Willard, pioneer in the struggle for higher education for women,
 The description of the life story of
 Mrs Willard proved extremely tn' tteresting Mrs Crane told of her