History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

for filling was still spun, and the cloth woven, in
families.
The preparation of the cotton for carding was at
that time slow and expensive, the cotton being
picked by hand at an expense of about four cents
a pound. This gave employment to a great many
people in the families in the vicinity. Mr. Bemis
subsequently invented a machine for this purpose,
which was denominated " tiie devil," which performed
the work in a much more expeditious and
satisfactory manner. It did not ditfer materially
from the cotton-pickers in use at the present day.
In 1808 or 1809 Mr. Bemis, with tiie aid" of
foreign weavers using hand-looms, began to manu-
facture somewiiat extensively sheeting, shirting,
bed-ticking, satinet, bagging for packing cotton at
the South, and cotton duck.
In the fall of 1812 Mr. Bemis commenced the
manufacture of illuminating gas from coal, under
the direction of an English expert, and the light-
ing of his factory by tlie same in 1812-13 is
said to have been the first attempt to illuminate
with coal-gas in the United States. Many persons
from a distance visited the factory to witness the
experiment. But the situation of the gas-factory
near Mr. Bemis' dwelling-liouse, and the many
leakages of the pipes, which were of tin, rendered
it objectionable, and after the second year the ex-
periment was discontinued. It is, however, a fact
worthy of record that carburetted iiydrogen gas
was used for illuminating purposes here two years
before it came into use in England.
For tlie first eigliteen or twenty years the opera-
tives in the various branches of business in this
locality >vere summoned to tlieir work by the blow-
ing of a tin horn. It is said that at that period
there was not a bell in Newton, "Waltham, or
Watertown. In process of time the horn fixed
its name upon tlie village, which for many years
bore the soubriquet of Tin Horn. It is said,
however, tliat this title is a coinage of later times,
no sucli name having been in use until subsequent
to the employment of the tin horn for the purpose
specified.
In 1821 Mr. Seth Bemis became sole owner of
the whole water-power, mills, etc., and soon afterwards
sold to the Boston IMannfacturing Company
twelve inches of the power; tliat is, he lowered
his dam one foot, receiving §12,000 for so doing.
He then re-conveyed to his brotlier Luke and four
or five others a joint interest in the establishment
247
Company, and during their corporate continuance
carried on principally the manufacture of satinets
and cotton duck until 1830, when this company
was dissolved.
On the dissolution of tiie Bemis Manufactur-
ing Company, Mr. Seth Bemis, in company with
Thomas Cordis, one of the old company, bought
out the entire property of said company, and
continued tlie same business until 1839, when
Thomas Cordis sold out his interest to Seth Be-
mis and his son, Seth Bemis, Jr. Tiiey used the
water-power on both sides, partly for the manu-
facture of cotton and wool, and partly for the
manufacture of dye-woods and drugs, until 1847.
They then sold out tlieir dye-wood business on the
Newton side to William Freeman, and Seth Be-
mis, Sr., again became sole owner of the factory
buildings and water-power on the Watertown side,
and so continued till his death in 1850.
On the settlement of his estate, in 1851, Seth
Bemis, son of the deceased, became sole proprietor
of the Watertown mills and property, and retained
tiie ownership till 1860, when he sold out to Wd-
liam Freeman & Co. Still later, William Freeman
& Co. sold to the Mhm Mill Company, by
whom tiie works were greatly enlarged, for the
purpose of manufacturing woollen fabrics by both
water and steam power.
From the original purchase in 1753 by David
Bemis, tiie property on the Watertown side of the
river has been in the Bemis family more or less
exclusively for more than a century and a quarter,
and on the Newton side for nearly a century.
A bridge across tiiis part of the river was first
built by the Messrs. Bemis, being private prop-
erty, between 1790 and 1796. For ten or twelve
years it was without a railing. In 1807 the Wa-
tertovvii end M'as swept away by a freshet, and a
foot-bridge was substituted for two or three years.
Still later a bridge suitable for teams was built
by subscription. In 1818 the Watertown end of
this bridge was again carried away. Tlie next
day two men attempted to cross in a boat to the
Newton side, above the dam. Tlie boat was up-
set, and they were carried over the dam, and one
of them was drowned. The other, after having
been several times drawn back into the vortex,
was thrown out on the Newton side and rescued.
California Street was laid out as a public highway
in 1816.
T/ie Congregational Church in the North Vil-
under the firm name of the Bemis Manufacturinii lage originated in a Sabbath-school gathered at