Silas Burton was born to Samuel and Martha Burton of Stratford in 1775, the oldest of eight children. The Burtons, of English descent, had lived in Stratford since the late 1600s. Samuel served in the Coast Guard during the American Revolution.

            Silas must have received an education during his boyhood, and probably served an apprenticeship to learn the weaver’s trade. The draft book begins with a series of diaper patterns, from simple to complex, which might have been copied during an apprenticeship, and then includes several coverlet patterns which he evidently copied from existing textiles in 1793 and 1794. The book ends with carpet figures, including two from his own home, with yarn calculations for 24 yards of different striped patterns.

The earliest entry in Burton’s account book dates from 1793—he charges William Clark 1 shilling 2 pence per yard for 22.5 yards of plain weave. In 1794 he doesn’t record any weaving, but he does make and sell a number of reeds.

In 1795 or 1796 he married Mary Patterson, from another established Stratford family, and their first son Rodney was born in 1797. Two more sons followed, Albert in 1804, and Hamilton, in 1810.

Silas Burton opened his school in 1798, and taught both boys and girls, at his home and at the Old North District School in Stratford. Some of the students boarded with his family, including his wife’s young sister, Maria Patterson.

In 1800 Silas and Mary became Methodists, and in 1801 he purchased a house. This structure still stands at 1185 Linden Avenue, between I-95 and the train tracks, although it is now a veterinary clinic and hospital. The weaving shed, long gone, stood 20 feet from the house, and according to the inventory, seems to have been outfitted with a stove, a pipe, and a desk, as well as two looms and other pieces of weaving and spinning equipment.

Luther Northrop of Milford, Connecticut, was apprenticed to Burton from 1815-1817. Their association continued, as the daybook accounts for 1820-1824 list a number of reeds sent to “Luther Northrop of Litchfield” for him to sell or return.

Burton’s weaving output seems to be prodigious, for a man who taught school and was involved in so many other activities. He provided weaving assistance to his neighbors, made and mended reeds, and wove table linens, plain cloth, carpets, and coverlets for almost every family in Stratford. Many families seem to have owned and used looms, and in 1824 there were five professional weavers in Stratford, Silas Burton, Gerry Dayton, Elias Wells, John Wells, and Joseph Wells.

Burton ran the town’s first lending library. He recorded deeds, assessments and polls, for the Town of Stratford and City of Bridgeport, and in 1824 was appointed Town Clerk. He kept hogs, and in 1819, a smokehouse was built on the second floor of his house, where he began smoking meats for his clients. His account book and daybook record cash transactions and complex bartering arrangements for food, clothing, and transportation.     

Burton did not record much personal information in these accounts. An exception is July 30, 1819, where he wrote “This day I am 44 Years Old.  Wove 24-1/4 Yards of Carpeting and prepar'd a Sett of Ribs for Reed by 3 Quarters past 4 o'clock P.M. An excessive hot Day-----”  Notable personal and national events, the births and marriages of his sons, the War of 1812, the visit of the Marquis de Lafayette to Stratford in 1824, are not mentioned.

            Silas Burton made out his will in early 1827, leaving his looms and weaving implements to his son Hamilton. Rodney and Albert had married and moved out of the house by this time. Silas died on April 21, 1827, the cause of death was listed as “consumption,” and he is buried in Union Cemetery in Stratford. 

 

Rebecca Arkenberg

Stratford, Connecticut, March 28, 2008