Cornwall Blacksmith, William Oliver,
Turns Out Hand-Wrought Iron Articles

FROM CORNWALL, ENG.

Horseshoeing Business Is No
More, But Artistic Products
Keep His Anvil Ringing

Born and brought up in Cornwall, England, Willliam Oliver, as a young man chose Cornwall, Conn., to be his permanent home. Whether it was because he felt that the sameness of the name would make him feel more at home in the new country, or some other reason, it was a happy selection, for in the nearly half a century he has lived in Cornwall he has won the admiration and respect of his neighbors, and also has demonstrated such skill at backsmithing that now, in his old age, there is greater demand for his hand-made products than he can supply.
Mr. Oliver not only has the admiration of his neighbors, but he also has the warm friendship of the summer residents of the beautiful old town. They turn to him for a bit of philosophy, a bit of solid advice. Never a seeker after public honors, he has nevertheless served Cornwall in the general assembly and some years ago was named as one of the trustees in charge of a fund for the relief of the poor.
Mr. Oliver's reputation for personal integrity has developed through his 45 years in the community. He still retains peculiarities of speech typical of the part of England from which he came. A slow, deliberate way of talking, coupled with an inspiring personality present in every statement, is part of his make-up. As a blacksmith, villagers found his the fairest price in town; every fee was litterally for "value received." When he ventured into politics his reputation increased. His pre-election promises were kept and his actions were far above suspicion. In his present business his reputation has stuck with him; he never breaks his word. Natives find in him a true friend who can see both sides of every question and who is never too busy to lend a hand, be the job fixing a plow or making a toy for a youngster. Children, of whom he is particularly fond, enjoy watchig him fashion articles from red-hot rods of iron, and the elders have likewise learned to respect him.
He was born not quite 69 years ago in Cornwall, England, on August 10, 1864. After an elementary schooling, he started working in the tin mines when he was but ten years old. He told how he would walk two miles to work in the early morning, labor for ten hours, walk another mile to night school, study for two hours, and return home late at night.
Later he worked in a gypsum mine on the historic ground of the battlefield of Hastings, where the Normans invaded England in 1066. After three years of this routine he, like other boys, was apprenticed to a particular trade. His father, another blacksmith, decided on his own profession for the boy and apprenticed him to a general blacksmithing shop where he stayed his time for five years. It was during that period that Gladstone's famous educational reforms were being put into effect. At first it looked as if young William Oliver would have to go back to school until he was 16, but being unusually large for his age and the new law still in the experimental stages, he was allowed to continue his apprenticeship.
Five years after he had served his time he moved to America. Friends over here had told him of Connecticut and its opportunities and that there were 25 jobs over here for one in England. In 1887 he landed in New York at Castle Gardens, the old immigration station where Battery Park is now located. He well remembers his first trip up Broadway, when he rode four miles on a horsecar to the old Central station. What impressed him at the time, as he compared New York with London, was the roughness of the streets and the general crudeness of the surroundings.
After a year's work at sharpening stone-cutting tools in Roxbury, he moved to Cornwall. It was this first job in the new world that inspired his present hobby, that of geology. He is an authority on local rocks and formations and his collection includes samples from throughout the state.
His business as a blacksmith in Cornwall soon reached large proportions. For some time he was in charge of the shoeing of 350 hourses regularly. At one time the local smith was called away, and since business was particularly rushing, Mr. Oliver set out to break the record for shoeing horses between Bridgeport and Pittsfield, Mass. For 10 and a half hours he worked, shoeing in that interval 21 horses, or averaging seven and a half minutes a shoe. He broke the old record by a margin of two horses.
In 1907-8 he was state representative and lived in Hartford during that time. He said that the city impressed him s being the most beautiful he had ever seen, either in America or England. Hartford's several parks he found particularly beautiful, and he would walk in them for hours on end.
With the popularity of the automobile his work fell off. It has been 20 years since he has shod a horse. For six years he kept away from his shop, attending solely to the duties of his small farm. Eventually however, he started making ornamental hand-wrought hardware, a type that has been popular for the last decade or so. The work was not new to him, since such work was a regular part of his job 50 years before as a apprentice.
His prowess at this type of work brought him a surplus of orders. His products, which have supplanted ordinary hardware in surrounding towns, have gone to 13 states, Wales and Germany. A representative of a New England hardware company, specializing in such work, recently approached him with an offer of a salary many times his present income. But he turned it down, saying that he preferred his shop and farm by the Housatonic to more profitable work in a large factory.
Mr. Oliver takes pride in his work. He contemptuously regards machine made duplicates. They are less expensive, he admits, but the beauty of hand made articles is lost. Numerous orders have kept him particularly busy of late, but he will not hurry nor slight one article for sake of another. Andirons are his most popular products, some of them taking as long as four or five days to execute.
For the most part he travels little. Last spring he was a welcomed visitor at the home of the president of a nearby college, but such visits are irregular. He prefers Cornwall and the country to more populated districts. Only once has he returned to England. In 1898, for four years, when his wife's health was at stake. he built a home and opened a shop in his original town, Cornwall, England. When his wife improved, however, he returned to the Cornwall in Connecticut some 3,000 miles away. That one he regards as his real home.

Family History Introduction

The Hart Family

The Oliver Family

The Rannenberg Family

The Swift Family

The Gaylord Family

The Bartholomew Family

The Rose Family

Mayflower Links

Genealogical Links

Last Updated: 2/17/98

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