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1851-1870
Wawecus Hill Gold, Silver & Nickel Mining Co.
In the 1850’s several Norwich residents were convinced that gold and other precious metals had been found in the northwestern part of Norwich. A start-up company the “Wawecus Hill Gold, Silver & Nickel Mining Company”, sold mining rights. The company was first formed in 1851 and was organized with a capital of $500,000. ($20,550,000 in 2024 dollars). Reverend Jesse Fillmore of Providence, RI was its President and largest shareholder.
The company was based upon the supposition that rocks in the area contained gold, silver, and nickel. A 100 year mineral lease for a land area of approximately 100 acres was obtained.
Jesse Fillmore 1795-1878
Jesse Fillmore was born in Franklin, Connecticut on July 9, 1826 to Amaziah & Hannah Fillmore. Jesse and Millard Fillmore, the 13th President of the United States, were cousins. Jesse’s great-great grandfather, John, was also Millard’s great-grandfather. Millard’s grandfather, Lieutenant Nathaniel Fillmore (b1739-d 1814) was a farmer who was born, and lived in Franklin. Ct. throughout his youth. However, in search of greener pastures, he bought a farm and moved to Bennington, Vermont. Jesse’s side of the Fillmore family remained in Franklin. However, Jesse moved to Providence, RI around the age of 11.
In 1859 former President Fillmore marched in Norwich’s 200th Jubilee Procession as an honored guest. Jesse Fillmore’s Wawecus Hill Gold, Silver, and Nickel Mining Company was in operation in Norwich at the time. It is likely that Millard, Jesse, and Jesse’s uncle Reverend Comfort Day Fillmore visited with one another and discussed the Company during the former President’s visit.
The idea that the area contained valuable minerals was first suggested by George M. Roberts, a young man whose interest was first aroused to the idea, by what seemed to him, as the smell of sulfur when rocks in the area were broken apart. Subsequently, Reuben Safford, an agent of the company, spent a considerable time on the premises in search of fortune. He made repeated digging and exploring efforts in the bed of rock where the minerals were supposed to be situated.
The October 12, 1860 Norwich Evening Courier article shown here gives notice of the first shareholder meeting of the Wawecus Hill Gold, Silver and Nickel Mining Company.
It is interesting to note that the meeting took place in Augustus Hyde’s home. Augustus Hyde was married to Lafayette Foster’s sister.
The Norwich Weekly Courier (12/19/1861) article shown on the left provides an update to the George M. Roberts vs. Hiel Fillmore court case. Hiel Fillmore was Jesse Fillmore’s younger brother who lived in Franklin. It is believed that Hiel ran the day-to-day operations of the company because his brother, the company’s President lived in Providence, RI.
It was established that the company had not paid George M. Roberts (a large share holder) a promised fifty-cent per share assessment, and had not paid any dividends.
Another important question discussed in the case was the value of the stock of the Wawecus Hill Gold, Silver and Nickel Mining Company. Some professors assessed the value of the ore found at the site to be between $4 and $4,000 per ton. Other professors stated there wasn’t even a particle of gold.
The article notes that several people testified to the value of the rock found on Wawecus Hill to be valued between $4 and $4,000 per ton. However, two professors from Yale College also testified there was not a particle of gold there. Some miners from California testified they had “washed gold from their boards.”
The Wawecus Hill Gold, Silver, & Mining Company January 16, 1868 Company Report is shown below. It identifies 37 investors owning a total of 20,000 shares of stock. There were 7 investors who held more than 1000 shares. 1000 shares would equate to a value of approximately $783,000 in today’s dollars. The report lists the par value as $25 per share, and the market value is listed as “unknown.”
It is interesting to note that more than half of all the shares were owned by direct members of Reverend Jesse Fillmore.
Evaluation of Company Shareholders
Rev. Jesse Fillmore (5794 shares): President of company & Methodist Rev. who lived in Providence
Miss Hiel Fillmore (800 shares) Jesse’s younger sister.
Joseph B. Jennings (3553 shares) Jesse’s brother-in-law (married to Almira). A druggist who lived on Bean Hill (along with Reverend Hiel Fillmore (Jesse’s brother) and Reverend Comfort D. Fillmore (Jesse’s uncle)
Almira Jennings (800 shares) Jesse’s sister & Joseph B. Jennings’ wife.
William Hurst Wilson (120 shares): Jesse’s brother-in-law. Mary Ann Wilson’s older brother.
Thomas Wilson (10 shares): Jesse’s brother-in-law. Mary Ann Wilson’s younger brother
Reverend James Wilson (10 shares): Jesse’s father-in-law. Mary Ann Wilson’s father
Reuben Safford (1514 shares): He mined the property
George M. Roberts (1413 shares): A miner and stone cutter. He lived on Wawecus Hill for several years.
Catherine Roberts (150 shares): George’s wife
Amy Roberts (100 shares)
Mary E. Roberts (100 shares): George’s daughter, a seamstress
Edwin Rose (6 shares): He was the company secretary
Augustus Hyde (12 shares): Lafayette Foster’s brother-in-law
The 18xx newspaper announcement shown on the left states that five pounds of ore was assayed (i.e. mined) and yielded $1,300 per ton (1,000,000 in 2024 $).
The 1869 article shown in the middle-left states that “some rich ore was taken out this year.”
These two articles are the only known evidence that the Company actually produced gold, silver, or nickel.
The article shown on the bottom-left shows that the company was purchased by A.R. Bingham of Norwich. It is believed that he was Andrew R. Bingham, a Norwich-based grocer and blacksmith.
It is a verifiable fact that the brook that runs through the area still bears the name proudly, “Goldmine Brook.”
Acknowledgements
“History of Norwich, Connecticut: From Its Possession From the Indians, to the Year 1866”, page 624, by Frances Manwaring Caulkins
Connecticut Historical Society
Marshall County Republican, Vol. 14, Number 2, (11/18/1869), page 1, column 6
Norwich Weekly Courier, (12/19/1861)
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “Wawecus” in the SEARCH box.
1859-1861 Greenman and True Manufacturing Company
Greenman & True Manufacturing Company produced the lockstitch sewing machine at the Central Wharf in Norwich, Connecticut from 1859 to 1861. Cyrus B. True was the sewing machine expert and Jared F. Greenman was his financial partner. The design of the machine shown above was based on S. H. Roper’s patent of 1857. When it was exhibited at the Ninth Exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association in September 1860, it received a bronze medal.
*Click the photo to see the machine in action
It was said that: ”The machine had obvious merit: it was strong, well made—a good family machine.”
Unfortunately, the best market for the machine lay in the South, and the outbreak of the Civil War made collections impossible. This greatly retarded business and finally drove the firm into bankruptcy in 1861. In all, it is doubtful that more than one thousand machines were produced in the three years of manufacture.
Several years later, in 1876, after Cyrus B. True left Norwich, he was awarded two patents for improvements to sewing machines (Patent Numbers 184,560 and 186,441).
reenman & True Manufacturing Company produced the lockstitch sewing machine at the Central Wharf in Norwich, Connecticut from 1859 to 1861. Cyrus B. True was the sewing machine expert and Jared F. Greenman was his financial partner. The design of the machine shown above was based on S. H. Roper’s patent of 1857. When it was exhibited at the Ninth Exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association in September 1860, it received a bronze medal.
Acknowledgements
YouTube.com
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “Greenman” in the SEARCH box.
1879- 1995 Reid & Hughes Department Store
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Reid & Hughes catered to the needs of local residents for 116 years. The last survivor of the downtown department stores in Norwich, the canny founders, Scotsman Adam Reid and Englishman George F. Hughes, and their successors found just the right combination of business acumen, advertising, adaptation of new technology, and community spirit, to flourish.
In the early 1800s, dry goods stores carried cloth, sewing needles, thread, and some ready-made clothing, as well as household linens. Primarily selling textile products and related goods, dry goods merchants were found in every sizeable community. By the mid-1800s, in larger American cities such as New York and Philadelphia, a new retail store, the department store, sprang up. Reid & Hughes, like many other department stores, evolved from a dry goods store in the 1880s and 1890s.
The text of this article is an extract from Dale Plummer’s “Reid & Hughes: A Norwich Landmark.” A full copy of the original article is shown on the left.
Acknowledgements
“Bill Stanley’s Only Yesterday,” (1994), page 147
“Reid & Hughes: A Norwich Landmark,” (02/28/2019), by Dale Plummer
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “Hughes” in the SEARCH box.