Rural Economy in New England 283 



Returning to the mainland, we find that between Providence and 

 New York almost every town dabbled somewhat in commerce, send- 

 ing out ten or a dozen small vessels more or less regularly to engage 

 in carrying food supplies and firewood to the West Indies, New York 

 and the Southern states. Some carried on small manufactures and 

 others built a few ships each year. Stonington, Conn., furnishes 

 a typical example. It owned 1,100 tons of shipping, including ten 

 or fifteen fishing vessels, three regular packet-sloops running to and 

 from New York, and one sealing ship. Perhaps a third of its 3,000 

 inhabitants lived in a village of 120 houses clustered about the 

 wharves. Such a community would demand little in the way of food 

 products which could not be supplied within its own limits.^ 



There are only three towns of this group. New Haven, New Lon- 

 don and Norwich, all in Connecticut, which deserve especial atten- 

 tion. Concerning the first of these considerable detailed information 

 is to be found in the Statistical Account of the City of New Haven 

 by Timothy D wight, at that time president of Yale College. ^ The 

 principal interest of its 7,000 inhabitants was foreign and domestic 

 commerce. This was carried on by a fleet of about 80 vessels, three- 

 fourths of which were in the former branch. Some twenty of these 

 were comparatively large ships, carrying crews of forty men and 

 boys. They made extended voyages to the seal-fisheries of the 

 Pacific Ocean, bringing back surprising profits to their owners.^ 

 The exports of this port averaged $560,000 a year for the years 

 1801-1809, and the imports $390,000 during the same period. Be- 

 sides this there was some business done in the re-export of foreign 

 commodities, amounting on the average to $56,000 a year.'* Some 

 manufacturing was done for export as well as for the local market. In 

 1806 the principal wares of this sort sent out were candles, 120,000 

 lbs. ; leather, 20,000 lbs. ; and nails, hats and shoes in smaller quantities. 



Enough material is accessible to furnish a complete and detailed 



^ These facts are taken from Pease and Niles, Gazetteer. Other towns along 

 the Connecticut coast, described there, had interests similar to those of this town 

 but, in general, on a smaller scale. They were Groton, Lyme, Saybrook, Killing- 

 worth, Guilford, Stratford, Fairfield, Norwalk, Stamford, and Greenwich. 



2 Published by the Connecticut Academy of the Arts and Sciences. Vol. I., 

 No. 1, New Haven. 1811. 



3 For a description of this business see Trowbridge, Thomas Rutherford. An- 

 cient Maritime Interests of New Haven. In The New England States. (W. T. 

 Davis, ed.) 4 vols. Boston. 1897. Vol. I., pp. 780-788. 



*■ Dwight quotes these figures from a report of the Secretary of the Treasury. 

 Travels, I. 158. 



