Before closing the history of the many trials and troubles which I have experienced during my life, I will here say that I have never found, in all my dealings with men for more than forty years, such an untruthful and dishonest a man as * * * of a certain town in Connecticut. In 1858, he induced me to come into his factory to carry on a little business. My situation was such, in consequence of the failure of the Jerome Manufacturing Company, that I could do nothing in my own name, as he knew. I had a little money that had been paid me for the use of my trademark in England, and I felt very anxious, as old as I was, to make a little money so that I could pay some small debts which my family had made a short time before the company failed. I had also two children who looked to me for some help. This man said to me, "you may have the use of my factory for 'so much,' and you may carry on the business for one year in my name for so 'much.' [Transcriber's note: closing quotes missing.] This was agreed to by both parties. In a few days he came to me and said that he had been talking with his nephew about having the business carried on in his name "& Co.;" * * * being the "Company" and he was to keep his nephew harmless, as he had nothing for the use of his name. The nephew came into the factory a short time after, and I asked him if he had agreed to what * * * had stated to me; he said that he had, and that I could go on with the business in the name of himself & Co.; he was quite sure that his uncle would keep him harmless. I went on with the business in this name from May to December, both of those men knowing all the while just as much about the business as I did, and they never said but that it was all right as we had agreed. I paid in my money from time to time as it was wanted. Late in the fall, I paid in at one time, one thousand nine hundred dollars, through a firm who owed me that amount, and who gave their notes to * * * on short time, which notes were paid. A short time after this, knowing that I had no more money to put into the business, he undoubtedly thought it time to do what he had intended to do at a suitable time from the beginning. One day when I was unwell and confined to the house, a man who had a claim against the company, called on * * * to make a settlement. Before this time he had made two payments on this same account, but he now told this man that there never had been such a company, and that he would never pay it—while at the same time, he had the same property which the man offered to take back but which he had refused to give up, and said that I had no right to use the name of —— & Co. This was after he had been using the name for me in drafts and notes, and all other business transactions, for more than eight months. He said that he would have me arrested for fraud and put in the State Prison. This treatment was rather hard towards a man who had never before been accused of dishonesty, and who had done business on a large scale with thousands of men for more than forty years. He at one time requested me to borrow a note for him from one of my friends, which I did, and which he paid promptly when due. He did this, as I now suppose, because the business was not in as good shape for him as it might be in another three months; so he wished me to get the favor renewed, which I did. When it became due, he denied that it was a borrowed note, declared that I was owing him, and had handed this note to him as one that was good and would be paid. One of his best friends has since told me that there was more honor among horse-thieves than this man had shown towards me. I put into the business between four and five thousand dollars, worked hard almost a year, and have received about five hundred dollars. * * * is trying to scare me by threatening to sue me for perjury; so that if he could make me fool enough to pay the debts of —— & Co., he would have just so much more to put into his own pocket. When he can get a grand jury to find a true bill against me for fraud or perjury, I will promise to go to Wethersfield and stay there the remainder of my life, without any further trial. After all that I have said, I think of him just as all his neighbors do; for they have told me that it was the common talk among them, when I first went into his factory, that he would in some way cheat me out of every dollar that I put into his hands. It would take just about as much evidence to prove that young crows would be black when their feathers are grown, as it would to satisfy the community that these statements are true, especially where he is known. For knavery, untruthfulness, and wickedness, I have never seen anything, in all my business experience of forty years, that will compare with this. He would not have taken such a course with me once, but he took advantage of my age and misfortunes to commit these frauds, thinking that I could not defend myself, and that he could defraud and crush me.
I had paid every dollar of my money into this business which I had at that time, and had nothing to live on through the winter. But John Woodruff in his kindness, raised money enough for me to live on through the winter, and the following spring I moved to New Haven.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE WOOSTER PLACE CHURCH.—GROWTH OF THE DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS IN NEW HAVEN.
In order to have my history complete I must give my reason for building the Wooster Place Church, as my motives have been misconstrued by many persons, I will make a short statement of what I know to be true. It is well known that with the exception of one, all the Congregational churches in New Haven, were located west of the centre of the city. The majority of the inhabitants lived in the eastern section. Meeting after meeting was called by the different churches to consider the importance of building a church in the eastern part. It was strongly advocated by the ministers and many others, that this part of the city was rapidly filling up, a great deal of manufacturing was carried on there, and the strangers who were constantly coming in would fall into other denominations. I heard their speeches advocating this course with great pleasure, as I lived in the eastern part of the city, had a long distance to go to attend church, and nearly all the workmen in my employ lived in the same section. The church which I have mentioned as the only one located east of the centre, was in a very prosperous condition. By the talent, popularity and piety of its minister, as his church and congregation believed, he had filled the church to overflowing. There were no slips to be bought in that church. We heard this minister say that he could spare thirty families from his congregation to build up a new church. In view of all the facts, I started a subscription paper, in as good faith as I ever did anything in my life, for the raising of funds to build an edifice. The subscription was headed by myself with five thousand dollars and many large sums were added to it. A number of wealthy men lived near the contemplated place of building the new church, who belonged to other churches. It was supposed, by what their ministers had said in public and in private, that they would use their influence in advancing this good work, and to have some of their members join in it; but for some reason they changed their minds. I heard that the minister of the church located in the eastern section (which I mentioned before,) had got up a subscription paper to raise ten or twelve thousand dollars to beautify the front of his church, raise a higher steeple, and make some other alterations that he thought important. I was told that he called on the men who lived in the locality where we proposed erecting the new church, with his subscription, and that they subscribed to carry out his plans. Some of those who had subscribed to build the new church, after he had made these calls, wrote me that they wished their names crossed off from my paper—Others came and told me the same thing, and wished their names erased. I began at this time to understand that there were influences working against our enterprise and that this way of building a church must be given up. I however, went forward myself, as is very well known, and built a church second to none in New England. I should have built one that would not have cost one half of the money, had I acted on my own judgement, but I was influenced by a few others differently. I paid more than twenty thousand dollars out of my own pocket into this church.
Public opinion in the community was, that if the several ministers had given their influence in favor of this matter, a church would have been built by subscription. They could very easily have influenced their friends in that part of the city to unite in this enterprise without detriment to their own congregation. Had this course been taken, it is evident that by this time it would have been a large and prosperous church.
A correspondent of the Independent in writing upon the growth of Congregationalism, in New Haven, had a great deal to say about the Wooster Place church—calling the man that built it, "a sagacious mechanic, who built it on speculation etc." Yet; added "if they had called a young man for its Pastor from New England, it might have succeeded after all."
It is well known that the Congregational denomination has made but very small advancement compared with others for the last twenty years. It is supposed that the inhabitants of New Haven have doubled in number during that time; but only one small Mission church has been added to the Congregational churches. Four Episcopal churches have been built, and filled with worshipers, many of whom formerly belonged to Congregational families. The Methodists have built two large churches, and more than trebled in number. The Baptists have more than doubled, and now own and occupy the Wooster Place church. And to have kept pace with the others, the Congregational denomination should now have as many as three more large churches.