I found this post card sent to Alice Osborn from HHB from Stevens in 1906!  They were still courting at this time and were married in 1912.  This picture was taken during their courtship.  It is interesting that on their month long honeymoon to Europe that they then embarked on the Lusitania for their sea voyage home which would be Platts Mills, Naugatuck, Conn.

I found this beautiful tribute to WHB published by The National Cyclopedia of American Biography.  Below the picture is the first page.  There are 8 pages altogether giving a biography beginning with his birth in Waterbury, Conn July 5, 1859 and ending with his death "Mr. Bristol died, without issue, in New Haven, Connecticut, June 18, 1930."  There is no date of publication that I can find but I would imagine it was published somewhere around 1930.

Howard H. Bristol's Boucher boat model built about 1900

In 1904, Franklin B. Bristol (1860-1904) was killed on the railroad track at the Bristol Company while crossing on a Sunday morning to get a newspaper.  Upon his death William Henry Bristol was appointed guardian of his four children:Samuel R. Bristol(1885-1956), Howard H. Bristol(1888-1951), Carlton W. Bristol(1891-1977), Franklin B. Bristol(1901-      ).

 My Father told me many years ago that WHB made sure all boys had model boat kits and model airplane kits.  This one has been passed down to me from my Grandfather(HHBSr.) and my Father(FEB).  Isn't it beautiful?

There are many interesting things that I am able to remember and post here thanks to Bob setting up this blog.  Hopefully these interesting facts will be of interest to our family.

The letters Bob has found from WHB are truly amazing!

William H. Bristol Letters from Stevens, 1880-1881

I am attaching five letters (see links below) from William H. Bristol to his family during his first year as a student at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. Here is a photo of the first one:

October 7, 1880

http://www.scribd.com/doc/160808246/WHB-Letter-Oct-7-1880

In this letter to his sister Sadie (their nickname for Sarah), Uncle Will describes his experiences as a freshman at Stevens. He mentions that his father is planning to visit. He encloses his class schedule in the mechanical engineering program and a page with the layout of his building which is across the Hudson River from NYC.

November 21, 1880

http://www.scribd.com/doc/160808774/WHB-Letter-Nov-21-1880

In this letter to Sadie, he indicates that he has been excelling at his studies and has been preparing detailed drawings of the technical parts of a steam engine. He also describes meeting an engineer for the Brooklyn Bridge construction project and taking an extensive tour. The Brooklyn Bridge was probably one of the most important engineering projects of that time.

January 23, 1881

http://www.scribd.com/doc/160808925/WHB-Letter-Jan-23-1881

In this letter to his mother back in Naugatuck, he reassures her that he is taking care of himself. He has started to make telephones using materials from the school for a cost of less than 2 dollars. The telephone had been patented four years prior and was considered a novel invention at that time.

February 24, 1880 (1881)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/160809043/WHB-Letter-Feb-24-1881

In this letter to his father, Uncle Will indicates that he has started a prestigious job at the school doing engineering drawings for 25 hours per week for five dollars. Although he has concerns about violating the patent, he is intending to complete his telephone-making project even if “just for curiosities.”

May 29, 1980 (1881)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/160809413/WHB-Letter-May-29-1881

In this letter to Sadie, Uncle Will describes a very ambitious day spent in NYC while his friend Ed Smith (from back home?) was visiting. They took the Hudson River Tunnel to Manhattan where they rode the “elevated railroad,” visited both the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, crossed Central Park, attempted to meet the chief engineer to get another tour of the Brooklyn Bridge, he bought a new hat, Ed bought a new suit, they had dinner downtown, they saw the comic opera "Billie Taylor" at the Standard Theater, and then finally travelled back to Stevens.

He also mentions an opportunity to work during the summer for 2 dollars per day, apparently for a professor. This opportunity may have helped him get a position teaching there himself beginning in 1886, two years after graduating, and then eventually becoming a professor of mathematics there while working at the Bristol Company.

Of note, because "Billie Taylor" reportedly did not premiere until October 1880 in London and then in February 1881 in New York at the Standard Theater, this letter was probably from May 1881 rather than 1880. Also, based on his October 1880 letter, he apparently did not start school there until the fall of 1880.

William H. Bristol's Childhood Diary, 1876

I am attaching a copy of William H. Bristol’s leather-bound diary from 1876 (see link below), along with some photographs. Uncle Will kept this “centennial diary” when he was 17 years old and was living in Naugatuck. I only made copies of the pages in the diary that had entries.

 

Diary:  http://www.scribd.com/doc/159022574/WHB-Diary-1876

 

Some random observations:

a.  He probably received this diary as a Christmas present, as “December 25, 1875” is written inside the front cover.
 

b.  He practices writing his signature in several places using his quill pen.

c.  He uses some colored decals on many of the pages which he apparently purchased for 25 cents on January 10.

d.  The pages with the first four days of the year have unfortunately been ripped out, and some of the following pages appear to have been ripped during that process.

e.  As you would expect for someone his age, he seems to gradually lose interest in keeping notes as the year goes on.

f.  He and his cousin go to "Barnum’s Circus" on May 11.

g.  He does not include an entry on his 18th birthday, July 5.

h.  On September 10, he travels to New York and keeps careful track of his expenses.

i.  During the summer months, he and his brother Frank (FB the first) work for “Platt Bros. and Co.” and “Bristol Bros. and Co.” which may have been a precursor to the Bristol Company (?) which started around 1889.

Franklin II Letter from the Gunnery, 1918

I am attaching a letter (see link below) from my grandfather, Franklin Bristol II, to his older brother Howard in October 1918. At that time, he was 17 years old and was attending boarding school at the Gunnery in Washington, Connecticut.
 

Letter:  FB II Letter, Gunnery, Oct 1918

Interestingly, the letter mentions the great concern at that time for influenza. This pandemic reportedly killed about 50 to 100 million people worldwide between 1918 and 1920. The virus mostly affected young adults and ended up killing far more people than were killed by World War I (about 17 million).

I am also posting a photo (one of my favorites) that is labeled "Franklin B Bristol." This photo appears to have been taken a little earlier, perhaps when Papa was around 15 (?). It is difficult to tell where it was taken but the road slopes downward and there appears to be an automobile behind him. Perhaps the photo was taken near their home in Platts Mills in Waterbury.

 

 

Photos of Franklin III and Nancy, circa 1932

Here are some great photos of my father (Franklin Bristol III) and his sister Nancy.  Because they look to be about 8 and 6 years old (?) the photos were probably taken around 1933. The photos have been hanging up in the cottage at Lake Quassapaug and appear to still be mounted in their original frame from Clyne’s Gift Shop in Waterbury.
 

  

Franklin II Letters from Fort Terry, 1916

For the first entry, I am attaching three letters written by my grandfather, Franklin B. Bristol II, to his older brother Howard in July 1916.  During this time, he was 15 years old and was attending army camp at Fort Terry.  The full letters can be viewed by clicking on the links below.

 

 

FB II Letter, July 9, 1916

 

FB II Letter, July 13, 1916

FB II Letter, July 15, 1916

 

I recall Papa telling me about this experience many years later, when he was in his 80s.  He said that the camp was located on Long Island, New York and had been used to train boys that were too young to participate in World War I.  He gave me the impression that it had been a positive experience for him and he had actually gotten to meet Teddy Roosevelt.  Although the letters unfortunately do not mention this event, I was able to find it described (July 25) in the attached New York Times article.

Roosevelt at Fort Terry Article, 1916

I also found a great booklet about this military training camp online.  The camp was run for five weeks beginning on July 6, 1916 and was for boys aged 15 through 18.  Fort Terry was located on Plum Island which is just east of Long Island.  Although the program was considered very successful and was therefore going to be continued the following year, the US entered the war the next spring, in April 1917, so it was probably discontinued.  Then, because the war ended in November 1918, when Papa was only 17 years old, he was probably too young to have been drafted.

 Fort Terry Booklet, 1916

Welcome!

Dear Extended Bristol Family,

While recently cleaning out some family storage spaces, we discovered a lot of historical documents going back several generations.  In order to organize these many records in one place and keep them from getting lost, I decided to set up this blog.  By doing so, I hope to generate discussions about the items so we can learn more about the family history and others’ personal experiences.

For the purposes of this blog, this particular family lineage is assumed to start in the late 1800s in Waterbury (Platts Mills), Connecticut with Benjamin H. Bristol and two of his sons, William H. Bristol and Franklin B. Bristol the first.

Please pass along the web address to others who may be interested and who may also be able to contribute.  I look forward to hearing from you!