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Bell making in East Hampton began in 1807 with the arrival of William Barton. He had a specialized knowledge of brass metallurgy and a process for making a specialized product. He is credited with inventing a one-piece, sand-mould casting process for brass bells which remained the basic method used by the industry for the rest of the century. The bell industry grew rapidly and by the Civil War it was well established. Twenty-three men were listed in the 1860 census as bell manufacturers and they owned one-third of the taxable wealth of the town ... [ more ]

Buell's hotel is significant in Connecticut Irish history because many of its female employees were Irish. By the middle of the nineteenth century East Hampton's bell-making had become such a dominant economic force that East Hampton was known as Belltown. In 1860 half of the workforce was employed in bell factories and many of them were Irish immigrants. Most of the men worked in the factories, but many of the women formed a servant class which worked  ... [ more ]

In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, industrial competition was intense. With an overcrowded field, trade secrets were no longer shared with competitors, but jealously guarded (the first patents were taken out at this time); smaller undercapitalized firms went out of business. The factory built by Veazey and White on Summit Street in 1860 is the earliest brick mill remaining in the town of East Hampton. Hiram Veazey's career pattern was quite typical. The son of a farmer, he learned the bell trade in one of the early water-powered shops in the 1830s before ... [ more ]

In 1823, Boston's bishop sent the movement stirring. He made a visit to Hartford and said Mass. This was followed by Bishop Benedict Fenwick who had Rhode Island and Connecticut under his care. He assigned the task of visiting the small groups of Catholics in Connecticut to Fr. Robert D. Woodley. In 1829, Rev. Woodley visited New London, New Haven, and Middletown ... [ more ]

Captain Thomas Macdonough, Jr. (21 December 1783 – 10 November 1825) was an early-19th-century American naval officer noted for his roles in the first Barbary War and the War of 1812. He was the son of Thomas Macdonough, Sr. who lived near Middletown, Delaware. Macdonough's Great Grandfather, also named Thomas Macdonough, lived in Ireland in the Salmon Leap district not far from Dublin ... [ more ]