Volume 23 Issue 4 Fall 2019
Although a major part of Isaac Ensign’s business was shoeing horses and oxen, his customers probably never called him a farrier. He and the others in town in the same trade were designated in the early tax records only as “blacksmiths.” However, the variety of products he made and his use of several metals other than iron, would qualify him today to also be called a brazier or brownsmith, a locksmith, and a gunsmith.
Volume 23 Issue 3 Summer 2019
When Isaac Ensign began his blacksmith business in Simsbury in 1770, he was a bachelor just shy of twenty-three years old. The town enticed him here with the offer of the “Blacksmith Lott” in the center of town just north of the “Burying Yard.” He had undoubtedly learned his trade from his older brothers Moses and Samuel, who were both blacksmiths.
Volume 23 Issue 1 Spring 2017
In 1911 the Joseph Toy Curtiss family moved from the Weatogue district to the center of Simsbury. The next couple of years must have been difficult ones. The father, Joseph Toy Curtiss Sr., died in 1912 in a car crash, and the family moved several times before settling down. Still, Joseph Toy Curtiss Jr. seemed to remember these year fondly.
Volume 22 Issue 4 Winter 2016-2017
In 1970, Simsbury observed its three-hundredth birthday with a series of parades, plays, speeches and concerts. The schools held special assemblies commemorating the past and men sprouted long whiskers as they competed in a beard-growing contest. It was a town-wide affair spanning many months, and it seemed nearly everyone had a role to play.
Tuesday & Thursday: 11:00am–5:00pm
2nd & 4th Saturday: 10:00am–2:00pm
