Visit to WHB's House

 

L-R: Melanie, John, Hunter, Gin, Dale, AJ, Duncan, Adam, Chelsea, Larry, Bob,
Bret, Marcie, Kathy, Isabelle, Phoebe, David, Janet, Ben, Bill, and Lori

In August 2021, while the family was in Middlebury, Connecticut to attend Dave and Barbara Bristol's funeral services, we had the opportunity to visit Uncle Will's House on Upper Whittemore Road. The current owners had done an impressive job of restoring the house while preserving many of its historical features.

William and Elise sitting on veranda behind their home

Uncle Will's house was designed by Griggs & Hunt and was built by George H. Upham in 1913. At the time, Griggs & Hunt was Waterbury's leading architectural firm and was especially known for using the Second Renaissance Revival style.

As described in Modern Connecticut Homes and Homecrafts in 1921, the house was "one of the most attractive in central Connecticut. Designed in the general style of the Italian villa, its walls are built of hollow tile covered with stucco of a pleasing grayish tone, and the roof is of glazed Spanish style tile. Within the house the spacious hall, staircase and the several rooms are replete with examples of exquisite cabinet work and tasteful decorations. A unique feature of Professor Bristol's residence is the aviary, a room designed to house the owner's collection of rare and beautiful birds. Another interesting feature of this home is the fine pipe organ which is installed in the handsome hall."

Before trees grew up on the hillside, the rear of the house overlooked Lake Elise, which had been created by Uncle Will and named for his wife. Sadly, Elise would later die from tuberculosis in 1924.

Some photos from our visit are attached below (click to enlarge).

Fireplace and double staircase leading up from living room

Elise's aviary room

Second floor landing

Rear of house

Movie theatre in basement

Movie screen displaying old photo of house

The new owners had also created a theatre in the basement for watching their vast collection of old movies! Interestingly, although the swastika was used as a motif on historical features of the house, prior to the 1930s the symbol was commonly used as a sign of luck and prosperity.

Copies of the original architectural plans from 1913 are provided below.

Front of house plans

Rear of house plans

Second floor plans

Family Biographies - Introduction

 

The following posts consist of five family biographies from 1929, including those of Uncle Will and his four nephews: Sam, Howard, Carlton, and Franklin II. During that time, each of them held important roles within the Bristol Company.

The biographies were published in “Connecticut History Makers,” which consists of three leather-bound books highlighting the achievements of prominent Connecticut citizens at that time. Many of the featured gentlemen exhibit the fancy facial hair that was fashionable during that period! The books were apparently found while cleaning out my grandparent’s house in Middlebury, Connecticut.

The "Connecticut History Makers" books were published during the “Roaring Twenties,” at a time of great industrial progress and economic prosperity in the US and prior to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Recent innovations included the automobile, radio, telephone, and assembly line. The intent of the books was to provide biographies of “men who have contributed to the progress of the state” and the books note that “in this era of prime economic importance of manufacturing, Connecticut holds an outstanding leadership."

Rarely missing an opportunity to promote both his family and professional endeavors, Uncle Will may have written much of the five biographies himself, highlighting their many achievements and the success of the Bristol Company.

Family Biographies - William H. Bristol

 

With over three pages of text, "Professor Bristol's" biography may be the longest in the three-volume set. Because he had prepared this "autobiography" about one year before his death, it provides a relatively complete summary of both his career and what he considered his most important accomplishments. Like everything else about Uncle Will, it seems he had a very unique and distinguished signature! The write-up also includes a good account of family history going back to Henry Bristol in the 1600s, and of his ambitious development of "talking motion pictures" using the Bristolphone.

William H. Bristol

(July 5, 1859 – June 19, 1930)

Family Background and Early Life

Professor William Henry Bristol, inventor, educator, manufacturer, founder of the Bristol Company of Waterbury, Connecticut and one of its most substantial and progressive citizens, was born in Waterbury, July 5, 1859. He is a son of the late Benjamin H. Bristol and Pauline Phelps Bristol, both of whom were of English ancestry. The first American progenitor of the Bristol family was Henry Bristol who was one of the earlier of the New Haven Colony where he settled in 1656 and died in 1695. His son, Daniel Bristol (1671-1728). His son, Richard Bristol (1708-1791), was a native of Milford where his son, Nathan Bristol, was born in 1752. Inscribed on his tombstone in the old Milford cemetery is the information: 'died April 25, 1826, at the age of seventy-five years.' Nathan Bristol married Anna Lombard. He was a soldier in the Revolution. His son, Nehemiah Bristol married Lorania Down in 1798. He died May 30, 1832. Hiel Bristol, the second son of Nehemiah, was the grandfather of William H. Bristol. He migrated from Milford to Newtown and then to Salem (now Naugatuck) where he married Chastina Potter. He was born September 5, 1803 and died May 30, 1871.

Education and Early Career

William Henry Bristol studied in the public schools in Naugatuck until 1876, when he became a clerk in a general store in that town working there until 1880. He had, from early youth, evinced decided mechanical genius, and had a scientific mind which he was ambitious to develop into something that would ultimately be of benefit to mankind. With this object continually before him he studied and determined to attend some school of higher scientific training. As soon as his savings were sufficient to avail himself of the scientific course at Stevens Institute of Technology, he entered that institution at Hoboken, New Jersey, working his way through by his own earnings and completing his course there. During his junior year Professor Bristol organized the manual-instruction department in the Workingman's School in New York City, and taught there, while continuing his courses at the Stevens Institute. In 1884 he was graduated with degree of M.E., after which he kept up his classes at the Workingman's School for two years. This school was founded by, and sponsored by, Professor Felix Adler who was one of the pioneers in manual training and the arts, and the first to promote that work in New York. In 1886 he was appointed instructor in mathematics at Stevens Institute, and two years later assistant professor in that department. In 1899 he was given the title of Professor of Mathematics.

Inventions and Industrial Achievements

While pursuing his studies at Stevens, Professor Bristol gave considerable time and attention to inventing, perfecting and manufacturing a series of recording instruments adapted to making continuous records of pressure, temperature and electricity. He was a pioneer in the manufacture of recording instruments in America. Success came to him. During the many years he has devoted to this work, he has developed a complete line of recording instruments adapted to meet almost every industrial requirement, covering the most complete variety of ranges for the measurement of pressure, temperature, electricity, speed, time, etc. These recorders are instruments of precision and their construction is based on scientific principles and unequalled for their simplicity and reliability. His recording pressure gauges, recording voltmeters, wattmeters, ammeters, recording thermometers, pyrometers and patent steel belt-lacing are in universal use.

The Bristol Company and Professional Recognition

In 1899 Professor Bristol founded the Bristol Company at Platt's Bridge, Waterbury, for the purpose of manufacturing and marketing his inventions. He has been the dominant figure in the progress and development of the company and its executive head to the present time, covering a period of 40 years. At the Chicago Exposition in 1893 Professor Bristol was awarded a medal and a diploma for an exhibit of recording instruments. He was awarded the Edward Longstreet medal in 1894 at Philadelphia. At the Paris Exposition in 1900 he was awarded a silver medal. At the St. Louis Exposition in 1904 his recorders were awarded a gold medal, and Mr. Bristol has received many other medals from various expositions all over the world, also recognition of the excellence of his inventions including the John Scott Legacy Medal which was awarded him by the Franklin Institute at Philadelphia in 1890. He was also awarded a medal at the Sesqui-Centennial at Philadelphia in 1926.

Sound Recording Innovations

Professor Bristol also invented a system of thermo-electric pyrometers for the measurement of high temperature and numerous other instruments for automatically recording extremely delicate movements of an indicating arm where the least friction would cause inaccuracy in a record. Professor Bristol is a pioneer in the field of sound recording devices and has devoted the major part of his time for several years to bringing it to the state of perfection now attained. In 1915 he conceived the idea of recording simultaneously what is seen and heard, in permanent form, so that such records may be reproduced at any future time or place as if the characters were really present talking and acting. The method he chose to accomplish this was to record simultaneously the sound on a phonograph disc at the same time that the motion pictures of the persons and scenes of action were photographically recorded on a 'movie' film. By reproducing the sound record and the film simultaneously, and synchronously the sounds and actions are heard and re-enacted as in the original. This method combines the two arts of phonograph recording and motion picture photography without involving any radically different methods of recording the sound or necessitating any change in the picture film itself. This method is far in advance of any other thus far advanced and has decided advantages over any other process in the production of both the sound and the photographic record. The design and development of the apparatus necessary for making and reproducing talking motion pictures of this type covers several fields of engineering science, and no man in the engineering world is more fully equipped in experience, invention, genius and knowledge of this subject than is Professor Bristol, who has devoted so many years of his busy life to the practical development of sound recording devices. In the invention and production of the Bristolphone he has perfected an instrument which has synchronized the human voice and other sounds with the motion incidental in moving pictures. This work has absorbed his attention beyond that of any other invention of late years. To perfect it Professor Bristol has expended nearly a million dollars in the construction of a fully equipped motion picture laboratory and studio near his plant in Waterbury, also in research and experimental work incidental to the successful development of the ambitious and stupendous project he is so heartily interested in and to which he devotes his personal time and attention even to the minutest detail. The individual character developed in the Bristolphone is unique, inasmuch as it combines all the elements of successful production necessary and the numerous patents, basic and otherwise, as combined in the Bristolphone are sound and all covered and recognized. The Bristolphone is in successful operation in hundreds of the best moving picture houses at the present time. One feature of the Bristolphone which no other invention has, is the certainty of precision in synchronization, which is regulated by a device for that purpose, that will at once rectify, by retarding or advancing the sound record, any error in the production of the sound or lip movement of the actors.

Professional Memberships and Personal Life

Professor Bristol is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Society of Electro-Chemical Engineers, Society of Motion Picture Engineers and numerous others. He was first married to Miss J. Louise Wright in 1885 and she died three years later. June 28th, 1899, he was married to Elise H. Myers who was a granddaughter of General Michael Myers. She passed away August 5, 1924.

Kenilworth Street

Franklin III at Kenilworth Street

The above photo of my father (Franklin III) was taken on the sidewalk in front of his house at 25 Kenilworth Street in Waterbury, Connecticut. His pedal-car may have been designed after a Toledo Pierce Arrow.

Although the photo does not include any details, he may have received the roadster from Uncle Will for his third birthday in February 1928. Uncle Will had adopted Papa (Franklin II) and his brothers in 1905 after their father was killed by a train (see previous posts here and here). Therefore, Uncle Will may have considered my father his "grandson" (and therefore, my generation could probably consider ourselves his "great-grandchildren").

25 Kenilworth Street, from a current Google "Street View" image

My grandparents (Franklin II and Phyllis) had moved into the Kenilworth Street house in 1923 after they were married. At that time, Papa was 22 and Gam was 20. The house had been newly constructed and was located on a 0.14 acre parcel within a residential area of the city.

Franklin III ("Sonny") at Kenilworth Street in October 1927 (click to enlarge)

Although Waterbury has undergone a lot of changes during the past 90+ years (for better or worse), it seems that Kenilworth Street has remained largely unchanged. In comparing the three black-and-white photos above with the current Google image below, although the road is now paved, each of the houses and other features are almost identical!

Current view of Kenilworth Street to west

WHB and the Brooklyn Bridge

Adam on the Brooklyn Bridge, looking towards lower Manhattan

I recently had the opportunity to visit the Brooklyn Bridge in New York with my son Adam. We were able to cross over the bridge on a wooden walkway that extended over the busy traffic and East River far below. The bridgework and night-time views of the NYC skyline were amazing!

Our view of the New York skyline from the bridge

The experience brought to mind a letter that Uncle Will had written in 1880, which I had briefly described in a previous post. At that time, the bridge was considered to be one of the greatest engineering feats in the world. Construction of the bridge had begun in 1869 and would take 14 years to complete. The chief engineer on the project was a German immigrant named John Roebling. During the second year of construction, however, his foot was crushed and he died of tetanus. Afterwards, his 32-year old son, Washington Roebling, took over the project as chief engineer.

In November 1880, Uncle Will had written a letter home to his 15-year old sister Sarah, whom they had affectionately called Sadie. At that time, he was in his first semester as an engineering student at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ. From his dormitory room on the third floor, he was able to look across the Hudson River to NYC and may have been able to see the stone suspension towers of the bridge on the other side of Manhattan. On the third page of his letter (see below), Uncle Will describes contacting the chief engineer to ask permission to visit the bridge during construction.

He and his classmates were then able to cross over the footpath above the bridge and get a personal tour from another engineer on the project. He writes that:

"It is a grand thing to go up on those piers. They are over 250 feet above the river. The view of NY and the surroundings is magnificent. When on the walk out over the river it almost seems as if one was flying." and "Going across that bridge is the best treat that I have had since I have been here -- I only wish that Papa and Frank could go over it too."

Although separated by 139 years, Adam is also a young engineer. I mentioned to him that Uncle Will's brother Frank (Franklin Benjamin Bristol I) was his great-great grandfather, and Papa (Benjamin Hiel Bristol) was his great-great-great grandfather!

Uncle Will's experience on the bridge that day may have been particularly inspiring for him during his career. After graduating from Stevens in 1884, he would begin teaching there in 1886 and then become a professor of mathematics there in 1899, after starting the Bristol Company with Frank and his father in 1889. While at Stevens, he also patented some of his most successful inventions. The school still offers a William Henry Bristol Endowed Scholarship, which is "awarded to a deserving student with financial need."

Uncle Will's letter from November 1880, page 1 (click to enlarge)

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Mary's Little Lamb

This is an interesting document I found amongst my family history items.  Please note reference at the end to My Friend Flicka!  I remember that series from my childhood even to this day!

Probate Certificates, 1905

Howard's Probate Certificate

Carlton's Probate Certificate



Franklin II's Probate Certificate

 

These probate certificates are from July 1905 (click on images to enlarge). In June 1905, Uncle Will had assumed guardianship of three of Franklin I’s children after Franklin's death in November 1904. By that time, Howard was aged 17, Carlton was 14, and Franklin II was 4. The fourth brother, Sam, was aged 20 and therefore was not considered a minor. Although Uncle Will did not have any children of his own, this generous act probably brought the family closer together and must have fostered a great loyalty towards him.

 

Original Bristol Company Building

Like many successful companies (i.e., Apple, Google, and HP) it turns out that the Bristol Company was started in a garage! Here is a photo of the original carriage barn near Platt’s Bridge in Waterbury where Uncle Will and his brother Franklin I started the business in 1889. Uncle Will was also a professor at Stevens Institute of Technology at that time, while Franklin was probably working at Platt's Mills.

On the back of the photo is written “F.B. Bristol’s barn in which the Bristol Company was started.” According to an article in the Waterbury American from August 1934 (which I will attach in a future posting), before they could begin work, they had to move the horses and carriages to one corner of the building and mortgage the house to finance the necessary tools and equipment.

Two of Franklin I’s sons, Sam and Howard, can be seen standing in front of the building. Sam would later become secretary while Howard would become president.

The business reportedly remained at this location until 1892, when it was moved to its more permanent location with access to the railroad and more room for expansion.

Elise Bristol

                                                                                                                     
This is a picture of William Henry Bristol and his wife Elise Meyers Bristol.  Was this their wedding day?  Note the flowers in her hand.

This is an early picture of Elise Myers Bristol. D: 1924

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.

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.