Blacksmiths were once indispensable – Part 1

#Middlebury #ItHappenedInMiddlebury

By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD

Long before the automobile became the common mode of transportation, horses provided most of the daily power for getting around, and blacksmiths were located in virtually every town, indispensable to livelihood. Blacksmiths (men and women – from ancient times and including “Rosie the Riveter”) are experts in metalworking (the black comes from “black fire scale,” a layer of oxides formed on the surface of metals during heating – Wikipedia).

Middlebury blacksmiths in 1860 included Jerome B. Nichols (b. ca. 1823), who blacksmithed (my created past tense) and moved to Southington before 1870; Nelson Smith (a “Master Blacksmith,” b. ca. 1808) and his son Frederick (b. ca. 1840); and Dennis T. Wooster (b. ca. 1837).

By 1870, the blacksmiths in town were Elwin N. Bradley (b. ca. 1845); David Kimball (b. ca. 1837); and Perry Smith (b. ca. 1844). The 1880 U.S. Census for Middlebury lists Frederick Z. Smith (b. ca. 1840); Charles B. Smith (b. ca. 1848); and John Turley (b. ca. 1858) as the town’s blacksmiths.

The 1890 U.S. census was almost entirely destroyed by fire, so the next federal census where full information is available, 1900, showed blacksmiths William F. Dooley (b. ca. 1866) and George W. Stuart (b. ca. 1852).

John T. Basham, taken about 1898. Basham’s 1890s blacksmith shop stood where a three-bay garage on the far end of the Pies & Pints parking lot now stands. (Middlebury Historical Society photo)

In the 1900 and 1910 censuses, John T. Basham (1850-1921) listed his occupation as farmer even though he was an accomplished blacksmith. John’s blacksmith shop, which he purchased in the mid- 1890s, was on the south side of the Green where Westover School now stands. When the whole south side of the Green was bought to establish Westover School about 1907, his shop was moved behind the General Store at Judd Corner where the three-bay garage by Pies and Pints stands today.

The Basham Family’s odyssey is a tale of an immigrant family fulfilling the American dream. John, a son of William and Elizabeth (Few) Basham, was born at sea on his parents’ voyage to this country from England. On the 1900 and 1910 U.S. censuses, John listed his birthplace as the ocean.

John’s two brothers and three sisters were born in Bethany, Conn., where the family first settled while their father William worked on the William and Elizabeth Lounsbury farm there. By 1870, John was on his own, working on the farm of James and Sarah Tuttle in Middlebury, while his brother William was working on Henry and Charity Wheeler’s farm nearby. John’s sister Elizabeth (1863-1955) married Eldridge Hubert Nichols (1862-1941), who owned the Peck-Nichols property on Nichols Road in Middlebury.

Although he was a blacksmith, John prided himself as a small farmer. A Connecticut agricultural survey of 1918 showed he owned 32 acres of land off North Street used for hay, corn, potatoes, apples and peaches and some livestock, but had no farm machinery. John also served Middlebury as a selectman, justice of the peace, assessor and tax collector, in addition to serving our town in the Connecticut House of Representatives. The couple had no children.

Bob Rafford is the Middlebury Historical Society president and Middlebury’s municipal historian. To join or contact the society, visit MiddleburyHistoricalSociety.org or call Bob at 203-206-4717.