P.O Box 317, 195 Water Street, Naugatuck, Connecticut 06770
203-729-9039

 

AMASA'S Buttons
BY ANN SIMONS

Amasa Goodyear was a man of worth and substance in the community of New Haven, he owned a narrow neck of land known as Oyster Point, and engaged in the West Indian Trade. Such varied interests as inventor, manufacturer, merchant and small farmer contributed to the livelihood of the family while his son Charles and his siblings were young. Amasa manufactured buttons as well as many other products. There were farm implements, scythes, hayforks, spoons, lamps, and clocks. The inventive genius of Amasa fashioned in 1802 the first closed lamp for burning oil and in 1810 he introduced the spring steel hayfork. He is credited also with manufacturing the first pearl buttons in America and his metal buttons adorned U. S. Uniforms in the War of 1812. (Notes from Charles Goodyear, a biography by P.M. Barker).

By the time Charles Goodyear was 7 years old Amasa had a factory at Fulling Mill Brook in Salem Bridge and had relocated his family here from New Haven. As Charles grew up in Naugatuck he worked along side his father in the various family enterprises. When Charles was seized with a fascination for rubber, Amasa supported him in every way that he could, even producing rubber buttons once Charles unlocked the secret to vulcanization of rubber.

Taken from the February 2003 issue of the NHS Newsletter