|
Early Glastonbury Industry
Glastonbury has a rich
history that was shaped
largely by its early
industries.
Glastonbury and the Sea
by
Richard Inman
Help us explore
Glastonbury's long and
successful relationship with
ships and the sea.
More than 270 vessels were
built here that plied the
Connecticut River, America's
Atlantic coast and routinely
called on ports in the West
Indies. An exquisite scale
model of the Exact, also
known as the Seattle
Mayflower, a locally built
schooner that sailed around
cape horn to the North West
Territory, is on display at
the Museum on the green. The
immigrants carried by the
Exact were instrumental in
the founding of Seattle,
Washington.
The Town provided captains
and crew as well as
financing for a host of
these ships, as well as many
built elsewhere along the
Connecticut River. Some of
the privateers that preyed
on British ships during the
American Revolution were
built in Glastonbury and
owned by Glastonbury
families who also provided
crew members as well as
financing.
In addition to shipbuilding
an anchor works once
operated here supplying
ground tackle to local as
well as other ships of the
time.
If you are interested in
learning more about
Glastonbury's proud nautical
heritage please contact Jim
at the Museum (633-6890) or
Dick Inman after March
(633-1685) as we are forming
a special interest group
which will focus on this
exciting part of our
history.
The Nestor
by
Lin Scarduzio
(Curator)
Roswell Hollister had a
great ability to command
capital. Not only was he an
influential man in
Glastonbury, he built ships
for Hartford merchants who
promoted everything
important in Hartford: trade
with the Indies, banks,
insurance companies, the
bridge across the
Connecticut River at
Hartford, and the toll
channel that paralleled the
river from Middletown to
Hartford. He employed three
sea captains, who operated
the ships built at his
shipyard until each was sold
to a new owner.
From 1785 until around 1823,
his shipyard at Log Landing
in South Glastonbury was one
of the largest industries in
the area, keeping shipsmiths
and anchor forges busy. He
is reputed to have built
"100 sail of ships" in
total. A launching of three
new ships in one day, which
was unprecedented and never
matched, brought thousands
of people to watch. There
was cider, rum, and other
refreshments for the
shipbuilders, their wives ,
and other celebrants.
Roswell's last ship, and
perhaps one of his finest
was the Nestor. The Nestor
was a brigantine: "a two
masted, square-rigged
vessel, differing from a
brig in that she does not
carry a square mainsail."
She was "copper sheathed,
broad of beam, and a thing
of beauty". Her spikes were
brass to prevent rusting.
The Nestor was expected to
be a great vessel.
The Nestor set sail on her
maiden voyage in 1823. At
her helm was Captain Caleb
Elizah Hollister, Roswell's
twenty-nine-year-old son. In
her hold were the
agricultural products that
Glastonbury and neighboring
towns produced. Around Cape
Horn she intended to sail,
planning to trade her cargo
along the way.
A small newspaper clipping
in the archives of the
historical Society reads,
"...May 19, lat. 34, 54,
long 71, fell with a wreck,
bottom up, which proved to
be the brig Nestor, of
Hartford---cut a hole
through her bottom, and got
out 7 bls. of damaged
flour----she had flour,
lard, sperm candles, butter,
&c. drifting about the
hold---was copper fastened,
and appeared to be a new
vessel..." She had sailed
only as far as Cape Hatteras.
All on board were lost. Only
a spike was to be saved from
the Nestor. It was retrieved
by Roswell Hollister's
son-in-law, Jedidiah Post
and returned to Glastonbury.
It is part of the Ship
Building Exhibit at the
Museum on the Green.
Roswell Hollister ceased
building ships. Timber had
become scarce and difficult
to get. The Town of
Glastonbury had passed
ordinances preventing its
waste. The hub of
shipbuilding moved down the
Connecticut to Haddam and
Saybrook.
The Aviator
Frank Herbert “Bert” Harriman
was born in 1868 in East Orland,
Maine. He was an avid reader
with a photographic memory and a
knack for mechanics. At 19
years old, he left Maine to find
work in the industrial town of
Brockton, Massachusetts. There,
he met a man who, recognizing
Harriman’s ability, secured a
position for him in Thomas
Edison’s laboratory in Menlo
Park, New Jersey.
In 1898, Harriman left Menlo Park to work at
Hartford Hospital with Dr. Ansel
Cook, a pioneer in the medical
use of X-rays. At this time,
Harriman developed an arc light,
and sold all of the rights to
his invention to the General
Electric Company for $10,000.
With the money, he started
Harriman Motors, a Hartford firm
that manufactured marine motors.
In 1907, Harriman moved his firm to 1123 Main
Street in South Glastonbury, a
building he bought from the
Taylor family, along with a
house for himself, his wife,
Bertha, and their daughter,
Gladys. The new location was
less expensive than comparable
space in Hartford and was paid
for, in part, by mortgaging the
property.
Harriman was fascinated by the work of the Wright
brothers, and by 1909, he had
built and flown his own “aero
plane.” The fuselage and
propellers were made in South
Glastonbury at Taylor’s sawmill
and cooperage. Doug Taylor, a
cabinet maker, carved the
propellers from laminated layers
of wood. Harriman experimented
with several fabrics for the
skin of the aircraft, including
rubberized Goodyear cloth and
silk which was doped and
varnished. Finally, he used
unbleached linen, woven 60-70
threads to the inch. It was
pulled taut over the frame and
then shellacked or varnished.
The skin was two layers of cloth
with wire reinforcement
between. It was finished with
coats of linseed oil giving it a
yellowish appearance.
In his foundry, Harriman cast bearings of brass
and bronze. His slogan was:
“Raw Material to Finished
Product in one factory.” When
Harriman’s planes would not fly
because of overheated bearings,
he tried coating them with
silver. According to legend,
Bertha canvassed the
neighborhood to purchase silver
for her husband’s bearings.
Harriman’s daughter, Gladys,
remembered the silver being
bought from a company on Elm
Street in Hartford. Years
later, Pratt & Whitney solved
its own overheating problems
with silver coated bearings.
Harriman’s first plane crashed in the meadows in
South Glastonbury and had to be
repaired there. By 1910,
Harriman was flying in the South
Windsor meadows. By 1915, he
flew in an air show in Minneola,
New York. He gave flying
lessons in the Glastonbury
meadows.
Around 1910, Harriman built the concrete and steel
building that still stands at
1123 Main Street. It was the
first factory built specifically
for the manufacture of airplanes
in Connecticut, and Harriman
Motors was the state’s first
commercial airplane
manufacturer. The wood frame
building where Harriman started
manufacturing in Glastonbury was
demolished in 1932.
Harriman, who had arrived in
Glastonbury in 1907, had started
building “aero planes” here in
1909. But it was not until 1914
that he had a four-ox team haul
his first seaplane, its wings
detached, to Log Landing for a
flight test. It crashed on the
breakwater near Red Hill, but
nonetheless, it drew favorable
attention to Harriman Motors.
That year a federal government inspector came to
look into the developing
hydroplane. It had a wingspan
of 32 feet, and Harriman claimed
it would lift 2,000 pounds which
included fuel, operator, a small
machine gun, and 1,000 rounds of
ammunition. It had two seats,
dual controls, and armor.
Harriman believed that he had a
commitment from the Navy for 20
of these seaplanes, but that
never materialized.
Besides aircraft, Harriman Motors had for sale
airplane engines--30, 50, and
100 horsepower models. It also
continued selling its original
product, marine engines.
Harriman increased the size of
both his plant and his workforce
in anticipation of selling the
Navy engines for torpedo boats.
Mr. Huen Chi from China came to observe the
factory and the hydroplane
experiments. He stayed in the
Harriman home. Prices and
specifications for the 100
horsepower aircraft engines were
requested by Russia and sent.
Mr. D. A. Thomas, a purchasing
agent from Europe, met with
Harriman to negotiate a $500,000
contract to purchase 125 planes
for England and 30 for France.
However, no firm orders ever
materialized.
The Harriman Motors logo included a winged gear
with the letters “H F” on it.
The “F” is for Mr. Fitzpatrick,
a company officer who lived with
the Harrimans for a time and may
have helped with product
design. His employment ended
when he was believed to have
stolen equipment worth $3,000
from Harriman Motors.
In addition to his work on marine and aircraft
engines, Harriman held a single
patent, granted in 1920, for a
fuel economizer for
automobiles. It was
manufactured in Essex,
Connecticut. For early aircraft
and aircraft engine
manufacturers, the most
significant patents were held by
the Wright brothers who were
demanding large licensing fees
from anyone attempting to sell
planes or plane engines for
profit.
Enlarging his plant and workforce overextended
Harriman. Claiming that
Harriman’s motors were useless,
Albert Oulette, a customer from
Sanford, Maine, sued him for
$1,000. There were other
lawsuits, including one for
$37.50 due on the company
typewriter. Heavily in debt,
Harriman reorganized his company
with Joe Pratt of Hartford.
Pratt was to manage the business, leaving Harriman
free to develop engines, but
capital remained scarce.
Harriman tried to convince the
superintendent of Cheshire
Correctional Institute to have
inmates produce planes as part
of a machinist’s training
program, but this did not
materialize. On May 13, 1921,
Harriman filed for bankruptcy in
Hartford Superior Court and left
Connecticut for Long Island.
There he sold some of his ideas
for manufacturing aircraft to a
company that put them into
profitable practice.
Before he left Glastonbury, Bert Harriman had
built and flown a bi-plane, a
tri-plane, and a hydroplane.
His were the first planes built
in Connecticut, making him, in
spite of his financial
difficulties, an acknowledged
aviation pioneer.
The Peach King
In 1866, John Howard “J. H.”
Hale and his brother, George,
planted their first strawberries
on a sandy hillside on the
family’s 200 year-old
Glastonbury farm. Using a push
cart borrowed from a neighbor,
which they later purchased for
one dollar, they had modest
success selling their berries.
When it became apparent that
more money was needed to buy the
plants and fertilizer necessary
to raise their income,
14-year-old J. H. took a job at
a neighboring farm milking cows
twice a day, 7 days a week, for
$12.50 per month.
J. H. also assisted in selling the milk door to
door from a milk wagon. In
season, vegetables from the
dairy farmer’s garden were also
sold from the milk wagon.
Except for buying a good suit of
clothes and his first
store-bought overcoat, J.H.
invested all of the money that
he earned in the business he and
his brother were building. When
the neighbors warned their
mother that the boys were
ruining her best planting ground
with their briar patch of
raspberry bushes, she was polite
but did not stop the boys from
planting more.
J. H. and George learned that fruits brought
larger profits than vegetables,
that healthy plants could be
sold for a profit, that a
catalogue with good pictures and
descriptions of the fruit plants
could sell more plants, and that
fruit packaged to please the eye
could bring a higher price than
the same fruit packaged less
carefully.
Growing peaches commercially had been abandoned in
New England because disease and
frost frequently killed the
trees before they reached
fruit-bearing age. J. H. and
George noticed a small grove of
their grandfather’s peaches
trees. These trees were over 70
years old. They produced fruit
and did not suffer from the
“yellows.” From these trees, J.
H. and George developed their
first orchard.
For seven years, the orchard produced nothing.
Revenues from berries carried
the farm. When a May freeze
killed the strawberry crop, a
church group comprised mostly of
tobacco growers that held the
$2,000 mortgage on the farm,
gave the Hales until October to
pay. By September, their new
peach orchard finally produced,
as the brothers hoped it would.
The crop brought $9,000.
By 1915, Hale Farms had grown from a borrowed
pushcart business to 2,000 acres
in Glastonbury and Seymour,
Connecticut, and 1,000 acres in
Georgia. They had over 350,000
peach trees under cultivation.
At harvest time, peaches were
shipped in railroad freight cars
each evening via a trolley spur
here in Glastonbury for delivery
before dawn in New York City.
Hale peaches were shipped all over the country,
and J. H. became a pioneer in
nationwide produce marketing.
He was the first to grade his
fruit so that a crate held the
same size peaches all the way to
the bottom. Not only are the
Hale variety of peaches still
available, but Hale peach trees
have been used to create some of
the hybrid fruit sold today.
Although J. H. never went beyond grade school, he
understood the value of
knowledge and education. He
helped found the Glastonbury
Grange and the Connecticut State
Grange. He also helped
establish the Storrs
Agricultural College, which we
know today as the University of
Connecticut.
The Father of the
Modern Poultry Industry
Frank Saglio arrived in Glastonbury from Italy in
about 1900. He took a job in
the J. H. Hale orchards and
worked his way up to foreman,
supervising other Italian
immigrants. By 1917, he had
earned enough money to buy his
own farm on John Tom Hill.
There, he raised vegetables and
fruit for market and, in two
discarded piano crates, chickens
for his family’s use.
As Frank’s sons reached an age where they could
assume some responsibility, each
was encouraged to develop a
farming specialty. His oldest
son took on vegetables. His
second son took on the fruits.
Frank’s farm came to be known as
Arbor Acres.
When Frank’s third son, Henry, reached the 8th
grade, the chickens were all
that was left, although as some
remember it, Henry chose
chickens because he did not like
working in the sun. Henry
earned an electrician’s license
and built the first real chicken
coup for the farm. The flock
grew. When the vegetables and
fruits went to market, eggs went
with them. To make his
operation more efficient, Henry
began trying to breed a white
bird, because black pinfeathers
were difficult to pluck from a
bird headed for the dinner
table.
Prior to World War II, broiler chickens were a
by-product of the egg industry.
Female chickens produce eggs.
Males do not, so they became the
broilers, also called “spring
chickens” because most of the
hatching occurred early in the
year. The war caused meat
shortages. Because chickens
reached eating size more quickly
than beef or pork, poultry
became a more important source
of food.
To stimulate production in the poultry industry,
the government and food
distributors held a competition
sponsored by A&P, then the
nation’s largest food
supermarket chain, to find “the
chicken of tomorrow.” State
and local officials urged Henry
to enter. Reluctantly, he
agreed. Arbor Acres was already
the largest cauliflower producer
in Connecticut.
In 1948, Henry Saglio’s Arbor Acre White Rocks
were judged second best chicken
in the nation, the highest rank
achieved by any purebred. When
the three-year competition was
held for the second time, the
same farmers, including Arbor
Acres, won again.
At that time, Henry hired as his own agent the man
who had done the marketing for
“the chicken of tomorrow”
competition. White chickens
were unpopular as food because
the color was associated with
Leghorns, a good egg producing
bird, but a poor eating hen.
Henry and his agent convinced
processors of the benefits of
the new white eating chickens,
and the processors began
demanding them. There was only
one source of good white eating
hens--Arbor Acres.
By 1950, Arbor Acres was marketing breeding hens
coast to coast, both as day-old
chicks and as fertile eggs to be
incubated by chicken farmers.
Because of the difficulty in
shipping fragile goods, branches
of Arbor Acres were established
across the United States. By
1958, Arbor Acres had gone
world-wide with its headquarters
still in Glastonbury. About
half of the
chickens being consumed around the world were from Arbor Acres
breeding stock.
Arbor Acres was one of the first firms to use
genetic engineering to develop
chickens that were meatier,
matured more quickly, and laid
more eggs. In 1977, Henry
Saglio was inducted into the
Poultry Hall of Fame.
The Pigskin
Tannery
In 1695, shortly after Glastonbury became an
independent town, Kasper Roser
left his home in what is now
Strasburg, France in search of
religious freedom. He moved
both his family and his tanning
business to Stuttgart, Germany.
Seven generations later, his
descendents were still known for
the high quality of the leather
they tanned.
Herman, the seventh son in that seventh
generation, saw no future for
himself in Stuttgart. There
were too many brothers ahead of
him, and traditionally, the
oldest inherited the family
business. A cousin, who had
been selling leather in England
and Scotland, found that
particularly the Scots thought
the best quality pigskin came
from America. After much
discussion, Herman’s father
allowed him to cross the ocean
to the land “overrun with
Indians and gun-toting
criminals.”
In 1883, Herman came to America. He had learned
every job in the family tannery,
from the most menial to the most
skilled, and had worked in other
tanneries across Europe. With
his solid experience, Herman had
no trouble finding work in an
American tannery, but he wanted
to open his own tanning
business. He looked for an
established tannery with good
sources of pure water, oak bark
for its tannin, and pigs.
In 1854, Isaac Broadhead and Edward Hubbard had
established a tannery in
Glastonbury. Hubbard had died
in 1872, and by 1886, Broadhead
was ready to sell the tannery.
It used water from nearby
Neipsic pools; oak trees grew
well on Glastonbury’s hillsides;
and Glastonbury was a farm town
with lots of pigs. Herman
bought the tannery in
Glastonbury.
When Herman Roser took over, the only machinery
used was a water-powered bark
grinder. As time passed, the
operation went from water power,
to steam, to electricity. New
machines were used. Herman’s
sons, John and Martin, joined
the business.The common practice
was to dump industrial wastes
into brooks or ponds. Because
tanning requires pure water, the
Roser tannery developed its own
research department. In 1942,
Roser’s Tannery received one of
the first awards from the
Connecticut Riverside Council
for water purification
research. By 1949, Rosers had
one of the most complete systems
for disposal of tannery wastes
in America with a capacity of
100,000 gallons per day.
Roser’s leather was used to make saddles for the
U.S. Cavalry, upholstery for
Pierce Arrow limousines, watch
bands, book bindings, and many
other items. In 1965, when
Rosers was sold to Allied Kid
Corporation, Herman Roser was
recognized as one of the
founders of modern pigskin
processing in the United States.
James
Killam, the Plane Maker
by Edward C.
Swift
Note: Mr. Swift, a
professional engineer, enjoys
woodworking and collecting
antiques. These interests led
him to study the Killam family,
particularly James Killam, who
was a successful Glastonbury
maker of wooden planes during
the early days of the Republic.
Wooden Planes
The first European settlers in
New England brought axes and
saws to use in constructing
their earliest buildings. They
also brought with them an
appreciation for artistic
elements, and some knew how to
create ornamental woodwork.
With an ample supply of wood in
New England, it was not long
before decorative elements were
being incorporated into
locally-made houses, furniture,
ships, and tools.
Wooden planes were a key tool
used in finishing woodwork. A
wooden plane can be thought of
as a specialized metal knife
mounted in an exact position in
a block or body. Today these
bodies are made of metal, but
until the mid-nineteenth
century, they were usually made
of wood.
With a plane that holds a
straight metal blade, a
craftsmen can create a smooth
finish by passing the tool over
a rough wooden surface with the
blade set to shave off thin
strips of the surface (wood
shavings). This leaves a
surface that is smoother and
more regular than a wood finish
created with a saw, broadax,
adz, or handheld knife.
A specially shaped plane with a
shaped blade (called a molding
plane) can be used to create a
particular shape for banisters,
moldings, or other decorated
surfaces. Different shaped
planes create different shaped
moldings and other ornamental
elements.
This is about the Killams of
South Glastonbury, particularly
the family members who were
expert makers of wooden planes.
Migration
Our story starts in Dennington,
Suffolk, England in 1637, when
Austin Killam, his wife Alice,
and their children sailed from
Yarmouth, England and to Salem,
Massachusetts. They were part
of a migration during the 1630s
organized by the Massachusetts
Bay Company. It moved over
20,000 Englishmen and women to
New England on the first of a
great series of convoys, this
one utilizing about 200 ships.
The leading settlers were
outstanding Puritans, like John
Winthrop. Although many were
seeking economic opportunities
and not focused only on
religion, this was considered
the Puritan migration.
The newly arrived Killam family
settled in Wenham,
Massachusetts. In time, their
three sons left Wenham seeking
their own land and
opportunities. One of the sons,
John Killam, and his wife Hannah
Pickford settled in Preston,
Connecticut. Their son, Samuel,
married Elizabeth Rose of
Preston and in time acquired the
Rose family farm land. Samuel,
while operating his farm, also
did some part-time carpentry
which may have included making
wooden planes, a trade that his
descendents are known to have
engaged in. Samuel had a son
and a grandson, each named
Samuel. The son and grandson
made wooden planes and sold them
to furniture makers and others
in and around New London County.
According to New London County
Furniture published by the Lyman
Allyn Museum, there were at
least 50 cabinetmakers in New
London, 40 in Norwich, and 12 in
Preston, at the time of the
American Revolution. Many of
the customers for furniture made
by these craftsmen probably
lived outside the immediate New
London area because, according
to a 1774 census, New London,
the region’s primary city, had
only 5,888 residents.
The American Revolution was hard
on New London. In the summer of
1781 the Minerva, an American
privateer out of New London,
captured the British ship,
Hanna, with its rich cargo,
including personal supplies for
the British officers stationed
in New York City. In
retaliation, at sunrise on
September 6, 1781, a British
force of about 800, led by
Benedict Arnold, a native of
Norwich, Connecticut, attacked
and laid ruin to New London.
Not only were large stockpiles
of goods and naval stores
destroyed, but 143 buildings
were burned, as were many ships
and all of the city’s wharfs.
It took years before New London
recovered as a thriving
commercial center. In the
meantime, the many cabinetmakers
and carpenters located along the
Thames River, who had depended
on New London as their
commercial hub, had to rely on
their farms for a living or
relocate. These included the 12
cabinetmakers in Preston,
Connecticut.
It was the original Samuel
Killam’s great grandson, Lyman,
who came with his sons, James
and Samuel, to South
Glastonbury. Early records not
only make it possible to trace
the family in both England and
colonial America, but they also
provide some insights into the
life of the family. For
instance, the will dated
November 14, 1754 of Captain
Samuel Killam, the second of the
Samuel Killams discussed here,
provides in part as follows:
“To wife Elizabeth Killam, one
third of the moveables and use
of all the real estate till
grandson Samuel Killam shall
arrive to the age of 21 years
and the use on one half of the
real estate during her lifetime.
“To son Samuel Killam, my
wearing apparel, my gun, one
half of my farming and
carpentering tools, to be
delivered to him when my
grandson Samuel Killam is 21,
which with what I have already
given, is his portion.
“To beloved grandson Samuel
Killam, my freehold estate on
which I now dwell it being a
tract of land given to me and my
wife Elizabeth by our honored
father Mr. Thomas Rose late of
Preston, deceased, and one half
of the farming and carpentering
tools when 21.”
In making this will, Captain
Samuel Killam could not foresee
that, because of a revolution,
his beloved grandsons would find
it necessary to leave the
property in Preston to seek
better opportunities elsewhere.
Life in Glastonbury
By 1816, James Killam, who had
come to South Glastonbury with
his father, Lyman, and brother,
Samuel, was prosperous enough to
purchase from Luther Goodrich
the home at what today is 202
Ferry Lane. It is known now as
the Goodrich-Killam House. This
house, which dates from about
1760, came with 1¾ acres of land
on what was then called the
Rocky Hill Ferry Highway. From
1826 to 1835, James Killam made
nine additional purchases of
adjacent land. As a result, his
home stood on a contiguous
42-acre tract.
According to Killam family
records, when James Killam
bought the house, he, his
brother, Samuel, and father,
Lyman, brought their wives and
all their worldly belongings by
boat from Preston, Connecticut
to settle in South Glastonbury.
Like most other rural New
England residents at that time,
James Killam farmed and engaged
in other businesses. In his
case the business was making
wooden planes and woodworking.
In 1866, his son James L. Killam
posted a $1,000 performance bond
with the towns of Glastonbury
and Rocky Hill obligating him to
construct and operate a steam
ferry for a ten-year period.
This was on the famous
Glastonbury-Rocky Hill ferry
run, which is still in operation
today and recognized as the
longest continually running
ferry service in the nation.
When the elder James Killam died
in 1878, records show that in
addition to his farm and other
real estate holdings, his estate
included a feldspar mine and a
shop with a wood turning lathe.
That lathe is said to have been
used to turn spokes for wagon
wheels. While there is no known
record that James Killam ran a
tavern, the Goodrich-Killam
House apparently once served
that purpose.
By engaging simultaneously in a
number of enterprises, James
Killam was a typical New
Englander. Inhabited by such
industrious people, it is no
wonder that New England, during
this period, became known for
the outstanding enterprise of
its inhabitants.
The peak period for the
manufacture of Killam wooden
planes in South Glastonbury was
from about 1800 to 1825.
Beginning in 1840, plane
manufacturing companies began to
replace family plane making
shops. The elder James Killam
passed away on May 24, 1878.
The shop where the family made
molding planes was destroyed by
the 1936 flood. However, much
of his property still exists in
South Glastonbury, including the
Hollister House, which the older
James Killam had purchased for
use by his relatives. It is the
oldest house still standing in
Glastonbury.
Killam Planes
Typical of early 19th century
craftsmen, James Killam and his
family operated a plane making
shop, creating planes required
by shipbuilders and housewrights
in the Glastonbury area. The
shop produced at least 21 plane
types in various sizes. For
good reasons, the plane size was
always stamped on the plane
body’s rear, while the maker’s
trademark was always embossed on
the plane’s front toe.
Carpenter tool chests of the
period were traditionally
organized with each molding
plane standing on its toe,
exposing its back so that the
carpenter could see the plane
size and its cutting
configuration. Once the correct
plane was located, it could be
lifted out of the chest without
disturbing the 50 or so other
planes all being stored there in
an organized way.
The fanciest of the Killam’s
five trademarks is shown below.
These marks served to identify
and advertise their products.
Planes made in the prolific
Killam shop included hollows and
rounds, complex molding planes,
tongue and groove planes, and
beading planes. To gain an
appreciation for the
capabilities of wooden planes,
visit the Welles-Shipman-Ward
House to observe its
architectural decorations that
were shaped by hand using wooden
planes. While there, you also
can see some of the planes
themselves and wood shaped using
those planes, all in an exhibit
on the top floor of the Eastbury
Barn.
The Killam plane business grew
rapidly with Glastonbury
shipbuilding and peaked during
the War of 1812. A few decades
later, it began to suffer from
competition associated with the
industrial revolution. In about
1840, plane making moved from
small shops to factories. By
about 1855, metal planes were
being patented by men like
Leonard Bailey whose company was
later acquired by the Stanley
Company.
Although the Killams who made
Killam planes and those who used
them are long gone, many of the
planes still exist.
Glastonbury’s Historical Society
has several on display on the
top floor of the Eastbury Barn
at the Welles-Shipman-Ward
property, 972 Main Street, South
Glastonbury. There is also an
extensive collection on display
at the Manchester Historical
Society Museum in Manchester,
Connecticut.
The standard text for
identifying the trademarks of
early plane makers is Pollak’s A
Guide to the Makers of American
Wooden Planes. It lists the
trademarks of James Killam and
other 19th century plane makers.
To estimate when a particular
plane was made, it is important
to know that the name
“Glastonbury,” which sometimes
appears on these planes, was
officially changed from
“Glastenbury” by a town vote in
1870. Trademarks also
incorporated the Masi Treaty
Shield of 1825. Its use was
discontinued in 1871.
The planes on exhibit at the
Manchester Historical Society
Museum are marked “S. Killum”
and were made by James Killam’s
brother, Samuel, in about 1840.
We know this because these
planes match the wedge profile
and length (nine and ½ inches)
of James Killam planes. From a
Killam family history, we know
that the name “S. Killum” for
Samuel Killam was used on the
planes made by the early Killams
in Preston. It was 1/8 of an
inch high by 13/32 of an inch
long. Later the Killams used
the “J. Killam” mark which was
5/32 of an inch high by 13/32 of
an inch long. Although these
planes have the older “S. Killam”
mark, we know by their size and
design that they were made later
by James’ brother, Samuel, using
an embossed mark passed down
from family members who had
lived in Preston.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Mr. Henry Killam of
South Glastonbury, who provided
insights about James Killam’s
shop and family properties.
Thanks also to the Megson family
for granting access to a helpful
Killam family genealogy.
The Early American Industry
Association (EAIA), Antique
Tools & Trades in Connecticut
(ATTIC), and the Society for the
Preservation and Study of
American Wooden Planes made it
possible to notify collectors of
the census conducted by the
author. Thanks to them and to
the following dedicated tool
collectors who responded: George
Armstead family, Bruce Bradley,
Rennie Carroll, William L.
Curtis, Andy A. D’Elia, Dick
Dickerson, Thomas Elliott, Eric
Gannicott, Bruce Hassan, Peter
Hathaway, Historical Society of
Glastonbury, Craig Jensen, Frank
D. Johnson, Daniel Korngiebel,
David Lemieux, Manchester
Historical Society, Peter and
Trish Manfredi, William Martin,
Don Nesslage, Carl Plassman,
Pierre Rubbens, Bud Steere
Auction, Sam Strauss, Jr.,
Charles Watson, and John M.
Whelan.
_______________________________________________________________________
|
