​Labor Day, a holiday now synonymous with barbecues and relaxation, has a rich history that dates back to the late 19th century. Its origins trace back to the labor movement's fight for fair working conditions, hours, and wages. The Barnes Museum takes you on a journey to the early days of Labor Day, providing a glimpse into the struggles and triumphs that paved the way for the holiday we celebrate today. Thanks to the Central Labor Union's visionary plans, the inaugural Labor Day holiday occurred on September 5, 1882, in New York City. A mere year later, on September 5, 1883, the Central Labor Union once again brought the nation together to celebrate the principles of labor rights and workers' dignity.

​During these times, the Southington Cutlery Company became a focal point of labor tensions in this area. In July 1880, the company employees initiated a strike due to a decision by the directors to deduct 10% from their pay. This was a clear demonstration of workers' collective determination to protect their rights.

By 1882, the Southington Cutlery Company transitioned into making razors, experiencing a surge in production and busier times than ever. The company's dedication to evolving its products mirrored the evolving spirit of the labor movement.

The year 1886 marked both expansion and strife for the company. The company represented the epitome of labor's vitality, with over a hundred men employed in their knife department, including grinders and finishers. However, in November of that year, a hundred men from the knife department went on strike in response to another 10% wage reduction. This significant strike, organized by the Knights of Labor, showcased the unity and determination of the workers. The Knights of Labor was a prominent labor organization in the 1870s. By July 1886, Connecticut boasted nearly 12,000 Knights of Labor members spread across 118 local assemblies. Among them were women textile workers in the eastern Connecticut mills, adding a dimension of gender equality to the labor movement. The influence of the Knights even extended to the state's legislative arena, with 37 Knights of Labor members in the 1885-86 legislative session.

However, 1886 would be a turning point for the Knights of Labor in Connecticut. The Knights of Labor's national reputation took a hit when they were accused of being linked to the Haymarket Riot on May 4 in Chicago—an event marked by labor-related protests that turned violent, casting a shadow over the organization's standing. In Connecticut, the local assemblies encountered challenges in rallying support for members' strikes, such as those at the Derby Silver Co., the Southington Cutlery Co., and the P. & F. Corbin Co. in New Britain. Despite their efforts, these local assemblies leaned towards negotiation over confrontation with anti-union owners. This stance led to a decline in the Knights' membership in Connecticut from 12,000 to 5,622.

On November 23, 1886, some striking employees of the wood screw shop at the Southington Cutlery Company began to return to work, indicating a turning point in the labor conflict. The beginning of 1887 saw further tensions as the company considered repurposing the knife shop and paused knife production until wage disputes were settled.

On January 22, 1887, the strikers, led by the Knights of Labor, marched to the Southington cutlery knife shop and collected their tools, a symbolic gesture of their unity and resolve.

The strike continued for twelve weeks, eventually concluding in February 1887. While some strikers grew disheartened about achieving the desired pay increase, several men agreed to return to work as a collective entity, demonstrating the strength of solidarity. The company's declaration that certain leaders would not be able to return to work there underscored the lasting impact of this labor movement.

As we bask in the joy of Labor Day, let's not forget the resilience of those who came before us, the champions of workers' rights who navigated through challenging times to lay the foundation for the dignified workplace we enjoy today. The Southington Cutlery Company's labor struggles are a testament to the enduring spirit of unity we commemorate on this special day.

Written by Nadia D.

It has been said over the years that Valentine's Day is a "Hallmark Holiday" due to the myth that it was invented to sell greeting cards. However, Valentine's Day doesn't have commercial or even romantic origins. Everything from the roots to Valentine's Day's commercialization is a tale. We need to go back to the beginning as we unwind this tale.  
 
What are the origins of Valentine's Day?
The holiday was believed to be inspired by a pagan festival called Lupercalia that dates back as far back as the Roman Empire. The festival celebrated fertility on February 15th. It may seem romantic, but the festival was a bit morbid. A goat and a dog would be sacrificed in the same cave where the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus were believed to be born. The men would then run naked around the city, slapping women with the hides of these animals. This part of the ritual was said to promote fertility for a year. Then there was a matchmaking lottery system that would pair couples together for a year. 

​Regarding mass-producing Valentines, two conflicting yet intersecting stories originate in Grafton and Worcester, MA. Since there is little historical evidence about who mass-produced Valentine's Day Cards first, we can only guess based on each account. The ambiguity stems from the book "A History of Valentines" by Ruth Webb Lee. In her 1952 book, she solely credits Esther Howland as the person who first mass-produced Valentines. 

​Esther Howland was known as the "Mother of American Valentines." She was born in 1828 in Worcester, MA, to her parents, Southworth and Esther Howland. In 1847, she graduated from Mount Holyoke College and was an aspiring entrepreneur. She received a beautiful English Valentine during the same year and was instantly fascinated by it. She devised an idea to form a business to sell these types of Valentines in America. 
Her father owned an S.A. Howland & Sons store that sold books and stationery. Esther asked him for supplies such as thick paper, lace, illustrations, etc., to make a few prototype Valentine's Day cards. She created these three-dimensional cards using lace, embossed envelopes, and pictures to make a collage. Inside, she would paste a small piece of paper with a four-line verse as the message. She gave her brother about a dozen prototype Valentines and then convinced him to try to sell the Valentines during his business travels around Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire. She thought she would only get a total of between $100 and $200 orders. Her brother brought back $5,000 worth of orders to her surprise. 

​Her new business was an instant success, and she decided to expand. She took over the third floor of her home and started off hiring four ladies who recently graduated with her. She was said to pay her employees well above average. They started an assembly line to mass produce English-inspired Valentines. Each woman would have a specific section to work on and then pass it to the next lady to add another section. In the end, there was a complete Valentine which would be around 75 cents each. Some of her more intricate cards cost about $35 during that time. When Esther sold off her business in 1881, she made $100,000 per year. That equates to just under $3,000,000 today! 

​While Esther is almost solely credited with starting the first company that mass-produced Valentines, there is a different account. In 1809, Jotham Taft was born in Grafton, Ma. Like Southworth Howland, he also sold stationery. He and his wife vacationed in Germany in 1839 and brought back Valentine's cards. Taft started mass-producing Valentine's Day cards around 1840 through the New England Village Company. He is known as the "Father of American Valentines." 

​What is interesting is the fact that Esther and Jotham knew each other. Both of their families were friends and he may have been the one to mail her the English Valentine back in 1847. He is also believed to have been her mentor and taught her how to make Valentines. Jotham's son Edward went into business with Esther Howland in 1879. Together they formed the New England Valentine Company. 
Meanwhile, in Worcester, Sumner Whitney and his wife opened a stationery store in 1858 and sold their Valentine's Day cards. When Sumner died in 1861, his younger brothers Edward and George Whitney took over the business. They named it "Whitney Valentine Company. It is believed that George worked for Esther Howland, making Valentines before then. If it wasn't for their maker's stamps, Esther Howland and George Whitney's Valentine's cards would be indistinguishable. 

​Edward left Whitney Valentine Company in 1868. Now the sole owner, George continued a highly successful business and decided to expand. In 1881, he bought out 10 Valentine's card companies, including New England Valentine Company. He now sold Victorian Valentines and cards for holidays such as Christmas and New Year's. His Valentine's Day cards slowly evolved into what we see as modern-day greeting cards. Valentine's cards were now made using machinery rather than an assembly line. It was now more cost-effective to forgo the intricate 3-D effect of Victorian Valentines. Upon his death in 1915, his son Warren took over the company. Whitney's son, also named George," eventually took over until the company's demise during WWII. Unfortunately, with paper shortages and the rise of other greeting card businesses, Whitney Valentine Company could no longer sustain itself and liquidated. 

​The business of greeting cards is still thriving today, with aisles of cards displayed at the local grocery store. With today's technology, greeting cards can even be sent by email. The craft of mass-produced handmade greeting cards may no longer exist, but the sentiment is the same. These Valentine's day cards are a gift to let someone know you are thinking of them. 

By: Nadia Dillion, Outreach Coordinator & Preservationist at The Barnes Museum 

By: Nadia Dillon

The tradition of putting up and decorating Christmas trees dates back to the 16th century in Germany. Trees were originally decorated with lighted candles, fruit, and nuts. This slowly began to change in 1846 when a gentleman named Hans Griener began to make glass ornaments at a Glassworks Factory in Lauscha, Germany. He is a descendant of a gentleman also named Hans Griener who opened up the glassworks factory back in 1597. The original glass ornaments were shaped to look like fruits and nuts. The ornaments were made by using blown glass and putting it into a mold. The inside of the ornaments had mercury and tin in them to make them shine. When the dangers of mercury became known, sugar water, and silver replaced it. The outside of the ornament was painstakingly hand-painted and decorated ornately.  

Before the war, Max Eckhardt used to import Christmas ornaments to the US to sell them. Anticipating the imminent shortage of glass, Eckhardt created a company called Shiny Bright that would sell US-made glass ornaments. He, along with Bill Thompson who was a representative of Woolworth’s Department store, negotiated with Corning Glass Works in New York to mass produce the glass ornaments. Before making ornaments, Corning Glass Works manufactured lightbulbs. In 1939, Corning Glassworks began to experiment with making glass ornament “blanks” that used the same machines that made lightbulbs. The ornaments were made by pouring hot glass in molds on a conveyer belt. Puffs of air would then be blown into the glass to create its shape and hollow interior. When continuing along the conveyer belt, the ornaments would then get a silver coating inside to give them their signature shine.
Corning Glass Works ended up adding 500 jobs to the factory and producing over 40 million US-made glass ornament “blanks.” Shiny Brite would then go on to paint and decorate the ornaments and distribute them to stores all over the United States. In 1939, F.W. Woolworth ended up purchasing 200,000 glass ornaments to sell at their store. Many stores around the United States began to follow and Shiny Brite ornaments were now sold nationwide

Shiny Brite ornaments were simple and a stark deviation from the ornate German glass ornaments. Shiny Brite ornaments came in many colors including pink, blue, red, and green. A common design with the ornaments was thick stripes that would come in many colors. Due to the shortage of metal, some of the ornaments had cardboard tops. The ornaments were mostly round but there were some oblong shapes also. Due to the ban on silver nitrate, Corning Glass Works could no longer put a silver coating inside the ornaments. To make up for this, tinsel was added inside some of the glass ornaments to capture the shine.
Ornaments were either sold individually or in box sets. Each ornament was sold for as little as 10 cents which would be approximately between $1.50 to $2.00 today. The boxes carried sets of between 6 and 12 ornaments. Each box boasted that the ornaments were American-made. Many boxes even had a photo of Santa Clause shaking hands with Uncle Sam.

​Consumers grew to love Shiny Brite ornaments due to their simplicity, low cost, and being made in America. They could no longer justify importing the more ornate and expensive glass ornaments from Germany. Shiny Brite ornaments were still popular in the 50s and 60s and carry nostalgia for much of the baby boomer generation. By the 70s, the production of Shiny Brite ornaments stopped, and are now a collector’s item that we are very lucky to have on display this Holiday season.

Andrew Upson was born in Southington, Connecticut on May 18, 1825. He graduated from Yale College in 1849 (It became Yale University in 1887). On April 15, 1850, he married Elizabeth Gridley. The Upson family ran a successful farm in the Plantsville area in Southington. Elizabeth and Andrew had four children: Ida Maria, Francis Root, William Calkins, and Mary Brooks. On July 21, 1862, Upson enlisted as a 1st Lieutenant in Company E of the 20th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. He died on February 19, 1864, in Tracy City, Tennessee. While he was away from home, he wrote his family and friends often, accounting for daily life as a Union soldier and his unique perspective of daily happenings during the Civil War. 

​Historically, 1862 was the last year that Thanksgiving was celebrated on varying dates in the Northern states. To promote cultural unity between the North and South, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that the Thanksgiving of 1863 would be held on the last Thursday of every November. The Northern states celebrated their first federally recognized Thanksgiving in 1863, while the Southern states observed the federal holiday only in the years following the Civil War. 

The following year President Abraham Lincoln made a proclamation declaring the last Thursday in November be observed as Thanksgiving. Another attempt at unifying a mourning nation - whose losses at the battle of Gettysburg in July of 1863 had surpassed 50,000 lives.

"I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, …to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving... And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him …, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union."

With the war still carrying on, Captain Upson wrote a Thanksgiving blessing to his family once again. Reporting from Fort Harker near Stevenson, Alabama (pictured right) the Captain had been stationed there for some time and wrote home to his wife often. Fort Harker was vital during the campaign against the confederate General Braxton Bragg in Chattanooga Tennessee in July of 1863 and the small town of Stevenson also served as a refugee camp and hospital following the battle. Occupation of the rail town ensured that the Union had control of supply lines in southeastern Tennessee and northeastern Alabama. In other letters that we will not be sampling here today – Captain Upson described seeing the refugees and their small children. He describes seeing former enslaved African Americans eager to fight with the Union. Several of the sentiments he has developed from being around and in the camp are conveyed to his children in the letter below.  ​

Unfortunately, Captain Upson would not be so blessed as to make it to the next Thanksgiving Supper with his family. Less than two months after he wrote this letter he died after succumbing to two gunshot wounds sustained during an ambush by Confederate soldiers on Tracy, City Tennessee. Captain Upson was there with Company B of Connecticut’s 20th Regiment to defend the rail line in Tracy City. The captain had been by the train depot with ten of his men when the ambush occurred. He was shot and captured with his men and after four hours was released. During his time recovering in the days following the incident Captain Upson continued to write home to his family. Word of mouth and local reporting indicated the Captain was feeling better. Several days later he died and on February 29, 1864, his body returned to Southington for burial and is interred within Quinnipiac Cemetery. 

The Barnes Museum has the honor of housing the Captain Andrew Upson Civil War Letters and Diaries within the archival collection. The collection is open for scholarly research and select items belonging to Captain Upson remain on display. To learn more about him or his grand daughter Leila Upson Barnes's legacy contact us today! 

By: Nadia Dillon

In 1884, Frank R. Upson and William C. Upson opened the firm Upson Bros where they were partners. They opened Upson Brothers dry good store on 15 Center Street in Southington. Unfortunately there was also a fire that originated in the store on in January of 1885. Their entire stock was lost. The fire spread to the other stores in the building accumulating approximately $18,000 in losses. With inflation, today that number would equate to  around $612,000. The Upson Bro's alone had $7,000 in loses which would be around $238,000 today. One firefighter was injured.
Luckily the building still remained and the brothers were eventually able to replenish their stock. Frank used to go to New York city about once a month to buy new stock.  

​Millions of Irish immigrants came to America in the nineteenth century seeking reprieve from centuries of economic and political turmoil in their homeland. These immigrants grew their families and businesses while contributing and assimilating to a changing American industrial economy that was not always welcoming. Irish immigrants were amongst the first to come to America working as domestic servants, seeking financial success in factories, and building local businesses; many following the same settlement patterns that the Yankee settlers before them had taken. By 1840 there were more than seventy-eight thousand Irish immigrants in America and by 1850 this number rose to be more than ninety thousand. 
      Connecticut’s first Irish-supported newspaper the Catholic Press began production in 1829. It is here that we learn about one of Southington’s earliest Irish American residents: ​

Peter Dayle died August 7, 1829; the Catholic Press was used at the time to communicate deaths, arrivals, and post missing person descriptions to reunite families separated during their travels. Letting readers know that he passed was the best chance for someone to know how and where he passed away. In the archives of Connecticut’s church records, Peter’s death is noted as drowning, and next to his name he is referred to as a “foreigner”. While it is unclear how or why Peter found himself in Southington in 1829 – it is likely Peter and his family were fleeing persecution from the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Irish Catholics were persecuted during this time and young Peter would have only been thirteen years old. 
       ​Southington’s Irish American community is tied to The Barnes Museum in several ways. Living on the Amon Bradley homestead in the 1860 Census was an Irish woman named Hannah Deady (1827-1888), then age 35, and working as a servant in the household. In 1860 Amon Bradley was 48 and employed as a merchant with a personal estate value of $30,000. Also listed living on the homestead in 1860 were Amon’s wife Sylvia age 42, and their children Franklin age 17, Alice age 10, Emma age 2, and cousin Henry R. Bradley, a local attorney practicing in the town of Southington. Eldest daughter Alice writes in her diaries about Hannah and some of the duties she carried out during her time working on the homestead; these included preparing cider or jam with the family, cleaning rooms, and occasionally going to clean houses owned and rented out by Amon Bradley. 

​The article pictured names brothers William and John Deady as bearers at her funeral. A twenty-year-old William Deady arrived in America on May 27, 1850, on the ship Atlas at New York harbor. Traveling with him was his younger nineteen-year-old brother John Deady their older sister Hannah, then age twenty-three. William and John worked, lived, and raised their families in Southington throughout the 1860s, 1870s, and 1880s. John Deady was for a time highly respected as “baggage master at the Southington Depot”. William worked for Peck, Stow & Wilcox not too far from his home on Bristol Street where he and his wife Mary McCall raised their six children, their youngest son named John after his uncle John. 

Alice Bradley’s diaries reveal that throughout the 1860s, 1870s, and 1880s the family’s hiring preference for house labor assistance were Irish American women. Though the 1870 census does not list any servants as working in the household Alice’s diary mentions a girl named Maggie Daly coming to work with the family in 1871. On the 1880 Census, the Amon Bradley homestead (future home to The Barnes Museum) lists Sarah Deegan then age 17, as living and working for the household as a servant. Sarah Deegan was the daughter of Edward and Sarah Deegan, Irish natives that migrated to America in 1855 at the ages of 17 and 18 respectively. On the 1860 Census, the growing Deegan family is living in Southington with Edward working as a machinist. Ten years later in 1870, Edward and Sarah list five children living in the household and attending local schools. Edward’s occupation on the 1870 Census is molder, likely molding cutlery at the nearby Southington Cutlery Company. Unfortunately, this budding Irish American household was devastated in 1878 when Edward Deegan died leaving his widow and their five children to find work and thrive in their new homeland on their own. 
            This is why Edward’s youngest daughter Sarah is working at the Amon Bradley household in 1880 at the age of 17. Her mother also assisted with the Bradley house chores. In May of 1879, Alice wrote in her diary that “Mrs. Deegan cleaned my room today quite well”. Nearly all the Deegan children were employed and working in a Southington factory in 1880. Sarah’s older sister Catherine then age 22 lists her occupation as “packs hardware”; Mary age 19 lists her occupation as the same. Eldest son Thomas Deegan lists his occupation as “iron molder” and their two youngest boys James age 10 and William age 5 are thankfully unemployed and attending school. Alice Bradley noted that on January 7, 1880 “young Sarah Deegan came last night to live with us”. Alice appears to have been fond of Sarah and mentions here a few times throughout 1880 noting moments making cupcakes together and on Christmas, she wrote that she gave “Sarah Deegan a silk handkerchief.” 

​Throughout the mid to late 1800s many Irish American women in America performed domestic labor and housework to support themselves and raise their families in their new homeland. Especially during the first wave of migration following the 1840s this labor was often all that was available to “foreigners” as noted on Peter Dayle’s church record. Eventually by the turn of the century Irish American laborers were in high demand at local factories with records indicating a strong Irish American workforce at Peck, Stow & Wilcox, Southington Cutlery Company, and Atwater Manufacturing Company. As the Bradley family grew to eventually become the Bradley Barnes household that remains as The Barnes Museum today, Bradley Barnes did not hold his grandfather’s favoritism in hiring Irish American women as servants. Often the Census indicates these positions were held by German or Lithuanian American women. However, the impact that Hannah Deady and Sarah Deegan had during their time here remains in the records of the household that we continue to preserve today, and we celebrate them, their labor, and their strength on this St. Patrick’s Day. 

Dress is a sort of symbolical language. During a time when women were yet to have formal identities within society, and were sanctioned to the role of daughter, bridge, or mother – clothing was the ability to reflect your innermost self and the hard work (or lack thereof) it took to get the clothes on your back. For many years in America fashion has been an outwardly expression of worthiness; in a country increasingly becoming divided by status and wealth clothing presented one's status and place within society. 

The silhouette of 1860s fashion can be defined by the hoop skirt or caged crinoline. Whereas prior to the rise of crinoline woman had to layer heavy petticoats to achieve the full, wide skirted look they desired. The cage crinoline was worn over a chemise, drawers, and a corset. The size of skirts made waists look smaller so corsets were not as tightly fitted as they soon would come to be. A major allure to wearing crinoline was the supplemental effect it had on a woman’s body language. One had to gracefully swing the skirt around avoiding small tables with bric a brac and certain death, as mentioned below in The Brooklyn Daily in September of 1867. 

Pictured below is the cabinet card that inspired this post and the February 2022 programming Reframing Photography and Fashion in partnership with the Amistad Center for Art & Culture. This is a tintype introduced in America between 1856 and 1860. Easier to produce and more durable than glass daguerreotypes. During the Civil War period 1861-1865 sending tintypes became popular as soldiers wanted their portrait taken and mailed to their loved ones. They could also be colorized easily by being hand painted. We see this image has been lightly touched with paint. Light blush pink on her lips, gold on her left index finger, and gold at the brooch on the bow at her neck. Noting these embellishments with colorization indicate a certain level of wealth for the period. 

She also appears to be wearing a bangle bracelet on her right wrist at her side. It can’t be gold or it would be colorized. The sheen it gives off indicates it likely is an ebony wood bangle. Ebony Wood is dense hardwood that can be found in West Africa, India, and Sri Lanka. You've likely encountered it as the black keys on a piano. A fashion magazine from 1865 noted that “Light dresses of thin costly materials are to be seen more frequently than in former seasons.” The dress this young lady is wearing is a day dress which are characteristic of high necklines and long semi-fitted sleeves and are belted at the waist. Her skirt indicates the crinoline shape mentioned above and appears to be constructed of a wool gauze. 

The collection of letters at the Barnes Museum is unique. One of the most interesting segments of the collection involves missionary work and Benevolent Societies. There is a good deal of information about the family’s role in the community through their faithful worship and attendance at Southington’s First Congregational Church. There are several letters about the family’s involvement in these societies. One letter was to Bradley Barnes to attend a meeting at the family’s church (First Congregational Church) just down the road from the Barnes family home. This letter (circa 1910) is an invitation to help organize a new society for the improvement of others.
     In the 1830’s article entitle d Another View of What Southington Needs Most a benevolent spirit and attitude among Southington, CT citizens is described as the result of having a friendly attitude to each other and strangers. It says the citizens of Southington “should have feelings of bettering their condition and…to realize all of the advantages of the town – and that unity produces opportunity, prosperity, growth, strength, happiness, health, and an endless number of advantages.”1 It was believed that this public spirit of interest combined with compassion and encouragement, would help make the town of Southington a leader when it came to helping others and forming benevolent missions or societies.
     Benevolent societies were focused on social reform in 1800’s post-Civil War America through the means of Christianity. They were dedicated to various causes including the temperance movement, the prison system, educational reform, and labor laws. These societies wanted to put an end to corporal punishment in schools, and give teachers stronger training and better curriculum choices. They wanted to stop gambling, prostitution, and pushed for the establishment of Blue Laws  to stop non-religious activities on Sundays including working and shopping. Societies built orphanages, established childcare programs, and started career placement services for the poor.
     The benevolent societies were voluntary and often interdenominational. In practice, however, these societies were mainly established  and funded by Congregationalists, evangelical Episcopalians, and New School Presbyterians. These societies were organized with a board of directors that provided national leadership and various branches spread throughout the country. These chapters or branches saw to it that the goals of the society were carried out. Annual meetings were held by a Board of Directors.     
     The first benevolent society of Southington’s First Congregational Church was the Ladies Sewing Society, established in 1849, its goal was to promote benevolent relief and provide the necessities of life. This society was even more unique because men were allowed to join by paying annual dues of 25 cents. They were obviously a minority and never held offices in the society. The society began by making quilts and to help pay for new carpeting for the church. 2
     They packed missionary boxes when they met every two weeks at the homes of different members. On December 28, 1859, the society began meeting both afternoons and evenings in the upper room of the Academy building in the rear of the church. Later the group changed its name to the Congregational Sewing Society, and in 1885 a vote was held to change the name again to the Ladies Aid Society. In addition to quilting, the work now included making clothes for missions and hosting dinners. They started a fund to purchase an organ, lamps, and linens for the church. Carpentry work, painting and interior decorating were all paid for through the work of this society. A telephone was installed in 1890, as well as a water motor for $125.
     During World War I, the ladies helped the war effort by working with the Red Cross, sewing hems for soldiers and servicemen. This society eventually became known as the Women’s Association of the First Congregational Church. This organization consisted of four groups, each with a variety of interests and responsibilities that made great contributions to the Christian World Mission. 3 Missionaries from the church traveled to Hawaii and the Philippines. Stateside, the Women’s Association helped a poor family with food and clothing in Mississippi.
     Reverend Elisha Cowles Jones served the church from 1837 until 1872 and was its fifth pastor. He was involved in the spirited debate centered around the temperance movement. Several parishioners were both manufacturers of liquor and involved in selling it. Yet others believed in temperance or complete abstinence, including not wanting to use real wine for communion. The issue was decided by Reverend Jones in a powerful sermon that was both honest and logical.
    The Barnes family received many offers to help benevolent causes and events. Museum paperwork from the year of 1913 shows requests for either direct donations or information; and for direction in helping the poor and others on hard times. One of these charities was the Lord’s Day League of New England, whose objective was to maintain the observance of Sunday, as a day of civil rest and religious observance, not one of business and pleasure. It did this through printed instruction, through instruction from the pulpit, education in the moral code of the day, enforcement of the Sunday Laws, and securing better legislation for working people. 5   
     In the interest of Sabbath Reform, this organization promoted educational, legal, and legislative work to close theatres and sporting events in Massachusetts and New England. Work on roads, buildings, stores, factories, saloons, post offices, and gambling resorts ended. They helped to defeat more than one-hundred Sunday bills legalizing baseball and other public games or sports. 6
     Another document states that “one touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”7 This was The Citizens’ Relief Letter, and it concerned the flood of March 25, 1913, in Hamilton, Ohio. Requests were made to help rebuild the city, help people rebuild their businesses, restore their manufacturing plants, supply store merchants, and help put working people back to work.
      One of the most interesting letters was from The Charity Organization Society. This letter written in 1914, was regarding well-being of Mrs. Agatha Hayes who was employed by Barnes family as a general housekeeper during the summer of 1912. After her husband died in 1901, she and her only son, John James were on hard times. The letter requested information regarding relatives or family of Mrs. Hayes, inquired about her work ability and referenced her character. This letter was answered om January 16, 1914. One particularly humorous letter/poem asking for donations to build a recreational room for boys in the First Congregational Church basement. The poem reads:

​Allan Gridley Upson was born July 17, 1887. Allan was the son of Frank and Hattie Holcomb Upson, the grandson of Civil War Captain Andrew S. Upson (1825-1864), and brother to Leila Upson Barnes, wife of Bradley H. Barnes who she married in 1911. Allan attended local schools, the University of Maryland, and for a time worked at his father’s grocery store in downtown Southington. In 1911 local newspapers reported that Allan left the employment of his uncle at the grocery and began working as a traveling salesman for the New York-based gas engine company Fairbanks & Co.; not too long thereafter Allan left the industry altogether. Allan served in the United States Army from 1912-1929 training in Washington D.C. and Ft. Leavenworth, Texas. He was later stationed in Manila during the Philippine-American Conflict and in France during the first World War. 

On February 17, 1912, a 25-year-old Allan wrote to his brother-in-law Bradley Barnes from a municipal lodging house in Washington D.C. asking for a loan so he could afford a train ticket back home. In his first letter to Bradley on February 17th Allan writes: 
“I hate like the deuce to ask you for anything but I have traveled from Philly than to Charleston West Virginia looking for work and cannot find anything to do so would like to get home. I am absolutely down and out have not had a thing in the line of money for over two months and I am sick of riding freight trains from town to town. Especially up toward the north they are watching them pretty close and arresting everybody they possibly can get a hold of…” ​

While it is unclear what happened in the time spanning Allan’s letter to Bradley and his enlistment, records indicate that on August 9, 1912, Allan G. Upson enlisted with the U.S. Army in Washington D.C. Allan served as Private First Class of the Hospital Corps in the Philippines from 1912-15 and was assigned as an assistant dental surgeon. The photographs found in The Barnes Museum archives depict what Allan experienced during his time in the Philippines and are notable in recording a period in American history highly criticized by its contemporaries. Mark Twain wrote in the New York Herald on October 15, 1900: 
“I have read carefully the treaty of Paris, and I have seen that we do not intend to free, but to    subjugate the people of the Philippines. We have gone there to conquer, not to redeem. . .It should, it seems to me, be our pleasure and duty to make those people free, and let them deal with their own domestic questions in their own way. And so I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.” 

​America’s first overseas war was the Philippine-American War, an armed conflict between the First Philippine Republic and the United States that lasted from 1899 to 1902 and was the result of the culmination of the Spanish American War. The United States' interest in the Spanish American War was to assist Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines in gaining their freedom from Spanish colonial rule. The Spanish American War ended with the Treaty of Paris in December 1898. In the treaty, Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States for approximately twenty million dollars. Infuriated by the lack of independence promised to them the Philippines declared themselves independent in January 1899 and rejected recognizing the Treaty of Paris. 
 
This tension resulted in the first battle in a string of battles spanning two decades. The 1899 Battle of Manila began on February 4, 1899, and on June 2 the Philippine Republic officially declared war against the United States. Shortly thereafter the President of the Philippine Republic was captured, the United States declared victory on July 2, 1902. Theodore Roosevelt who had fought in Cuba during the Spanish American War assumed the presidency in 1901 and believed that the Philippines was not capable of self-governance. Roosevelt also believed that the Philippine Islands were an advantageous navy fueling station and an important outpost for the American military in Southeast Asia. 

Though the U.S. declared victory, the battles were far from being over. Groups of Philippine fighters continued to battle the U.S. forces occupying the Philippines. By the time Allan Upson arrived in the Philippines in 1912 troops there had been fighting for nearly a decade in what is described today as the Moro Rebellion. The Moro people lived in the southern Philippines and had been amongst the first to resist U.S. troops during the initial takeover of the Philippines in 1899. The conflict came to an end when the last military governor of the Philippines John J. Pershing declared disarmament of the Moro Province on June 15, 1913. Two years later to the date, Allan Upson traveled on the transport shop Thomas from Manila back home to the United States, docking in San Francisco. Below are photographs taken by Allan during his time serving in the Philippines. 

​Less than two years later at the age of 29, Allan filled out his draft enlistment card for the impending World Ward. He noted on his draft card three years of service he gave the U.S. Hospital Corps in the Philippines. At the time he was living at the Upson family homestead located at 101 North Main Street in Southington. His occupation listed as Bookkeeper at the Atwater Manufacturing Company, the same company his brother-in-law Bradley Barnes oversaw as Vice President. On June 22, 1917, Allan married Rosalyn Taylor (1888-1970) of Southington. Shortly thereafter in September 1917, Allan departed Southington for training at Camp Devens in the rural section of Worcester and Middlesex counties in Massachusetts. Allan G. Upson served with the 76th Infantry Division, 152nd Infantry Brigade in the 303rd Machine Gun Battalion. 

In June of 1917, the first American troops arrived in France through several major port cities in the country. The port of Brest became a crucial entry port for American forces with more than 700,000 men entering there to head to the front lines. Nearly one year after entering training at Camp Devens, on June 28, 1918, Allan departed from New York, NY on the ship Justicia for Brest, France. Much of his time there was spent relieving those on the front lines. Depictions from his time in France can be seen in photographs and manuscripts documenting his training and combat there. Approximately a year after his arrival, Allan departed France on June 29, 1919, and on July 5, 1919, he arrived in Hoboken, New Jersey. Below are photos taken during his time serving in France and detail what military life was like in France during WWI. 

​Though Allan’s military career had spanned several continents and extreme periods in U.S. military history, he remained active in the Army Reserves until 1929 when he was honorably discharged. Following his return, he continued working with the Atwater Manufacturing Company as an accountant. He and his wife Rosaline owned a home on Oakland Road in Southington and later spent their retirement at their summer residence in Miami, Florida. 
 
Allan passed in 1952 just months before his sister Leila Upson Barnes. Allan was 65 and passed away at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Newington, Connecticut. He was an active member of the Southington community and was involved with the Congregational Church, the American Legion, Friendship Lodge No. 33, A.F. & A.M, and Eureka Lodge No. 75 IOOF. To learn more about the life and legacy of the Upson family schedule your visit with The Barnes Museum today!