told, at the same time, from the New York almshouse, and others from neighboring villages.
    "For these he established evening and Sunday schools, with competent teachers; and indulged his military taste by uniforming them at no light expense as a militia company, drilling them himself. . . . Colonel Humphreys did not forget the literary propensities that had mated him with Trumbull and Barlow in Yale College. He wrote a great deal for the benefit and amusement of the operatives; and the Christmas holidays were frequently celebrated with private theatricals where an original play, of which he was the author, would be performed by the most talented work-people, and he more than once took a prominent part in them."
    Humphreys was so taken with his military company of his apprentice boys, that he had an embroidered blue silk banner as their emblem. The flag showed the coat of arms of the State of Connecticut with merino sheep supporting the shield.

THE WOOLEN MILL IN SEYMOUR PROVIDES BASIS FOR INDUSTRIAL GROWTH IN OXFORD

    One of the many apprentice boys who settled in the area was Samuel Wire, who established a mill of his own. In November, 1814, he purchased from John W. Wooster a clothiers shop and fulling mill.
    According to William C. Sharpe in Oxford Sketches, Part II, "Captain Wire carried on the business there for about thirty years. The wool from sheep on the surrounding farms was brought to the mill to be carded and spun. Many paid for these two processes and then took the yarn home to knit into stockings and mittens, etc., or to be woven on hand looms. Much cloth was, however, manufactured at the mill, principally satinet, which was generally shipped to commission merchants in New York, but was also retailed to the people in the vicinity of the mill."
    Another apprentice who settled in Oxford was Isaac Rowe, who purchased the mill at Quaker Farms from the estate of Squire David Tomlinson.
    While these and other mills which followed added to the industrial development of the area, many of those who operated