Page 8 - Bristol Magazine Spring 2025

and Clock Company was organized. Eli- mer term of 1862 at Amherst, he wrote
sha served as one of its directors. This a letter to his wife expressing his feel-
company served the area for 132 years ings, “You can better afford to have a
before it closed in 1982. country without a husband, than a hus-
band without a country”.
Like his father, Elisha held ex-
tensive tracts of land. He He assumed the captaincy
sold the land between of a newly formed Bristol
Stafford Avenue and the company. Three weeks
village center to the later in 1862, Compa-
town. Church Avenue ny K of the Sixteenth
was built to connect Connecticut Vol-
these two areas. unteer Regiment
entered camp in
Elisha Manross He had three sons, Hartford. Three
all serving with weeks into the
Elijah owned a shop on Frederick Street, the Union Forces training and having
where he was a proficient tinsmith. This during the Civil War. no battle drilling or
industry was the forerunner of the clock- This would omen simulated warfare,
making industry, providing the pathway the tragic death of the company was
for the successful development of clock his son, Newton. ordered to Washing-
production. The Manross family would ton D.C. and then to
make significant contributions to clock- Newton Spaulding Newton S. Manross the front at Antietam,
making within the United States. Manross, second son of Maryland. This must
Elisha and the fifth gener- have been a major blun-
Elisha Manross, of the fourth genera- ation of the Manross family, der on the part of those
tion of the family in the Forestville area, was born in 1825. Educated at responsible. Given muskets,
was willing to experiment with change local schools, he later attended Wil- Company K was rushed off to bat-
and introduced two new clockmaking liston Academy before graduating from tle engaging the well-trained army of
techniques. These changes rapidly ad- Yale University in 1850. He continued General Robert E. Lee. Under relentless
vanced this industry across the United his studies at the University of Gottin- firepower, they were no match for the
States and assisted in the growth of gen in Germany, receiving a Doctor of enemy. Captain Manross was struck by
Forestville. Around 1830, he became Philosophy PhD. a cannonball, almost immediately, and
the first clockmaker in the country to died two hours later.
successfully utilize brass mechanisms.
Wooden components were previously Captain Newton S. Manross is buried
used but were subjected to warping due in the Forestville Cemetery. His stone
to humidity and other weather condi- monument was jointly contributed by
tions. Brass mechanisms provided more his college classmates and bereaved
reliability and accuracy. He was also the members of his squad.
first to introduce jeweled mechanisms,
developed through the ingenuity of his
son, Newton. These provided smoother
workings and more accurate timing.

Professor Manross
Newton S. Manross Monument,
He returned home, as previously men- Forestville Cemetery
Bristol Brass & Clock Company tioned, and assisted his father with When the Grand Army of the Repub-
his clock making business. He married lic (GAR) was formed in the village, as
In 1850, sixteen clockmakers met to Charlotte Royce and had one daughter, a gathering place and organization for
discuss the building of a local facility to Lottie. In 1861, he became a Professor Union Veterans of the War Between the
produce the brass required for the clock of Chemistry and Botany at Amherst States, it was a fitting tribute that it was
industry. Previously, brass was secured College. named the Newton S. Manross Post No.
from the Waterbury and Naugatuck Val- 57.
ley area, which hampered production When the Civil War began, he became
due to the inconsistency of acquiring troubled by the thought of whether he The Bristol Historical Society has many
this essential material. The Bristol Brass should enter the war. During the sum- military artifacts on display that were

8 Bristol Magazine - Spring Issue 2025