William Pattison Grave Site

1160 Worthington Ridge • Berlin, CT • Hartford County

Historical Significance

About 1740, a young Scots-Irishman named Edward Pattison emigrated from County Tyrone to Connecticut, arriving, according to family tradition, with just 16 cents in his pocket. In what is today the town of Berlin, Pattison established the first tinsmith shop in the American colonies.He cut tin imported from England and beat it into shapes with wooden mallets on wooden patterns.

Photo: View west showing entrance to Maple Cemetery. (Tod Bryant)

Then, he became the prototype of the famed Yankee peddler: "After carefully cleaning his wares so they glittered, he would load up two large baskets, sling them from his shoulders and, traveling on foot, canvass his neighbors ... When the immediate neighborhood was saturated, (he) traveled on horseback so as to extend his territory"

Sources

Hogan, Neil, "First American tinsmith and Yankee peddler," The Shanachie, v.23, no. 3, 2012.


Additional Information

Date(s):  1787


Accessibility:
Exterior visible from public road.


Top ] [ Back ]