A small burial ground dating back to the late 18th century lies hidden behind a private home on Bloomingdale Road in Waterford. Hidden behind a low stone wall lie eight gravestones dating from 1769 to 1889. Although this graveyard is referred to as the “Scholfield Cemetery,” no Scholfields are buried there.

The eight burials in the yard include members of the Strickland family who lived in the house for many years. This leads me to assume that there is a connection between the Strickland family and the two remarkable Scholfield brothers who established the first woolen mills in the country here in Waterford.

When the Scholfield brothers from England arrived in Boston around 1792, they brought with them knowledge that soon revolutionized our country’s textile industry. At that time, the English Industrial Revolution had brought great wealth to their land, and the government spent great effort to prevent its industrial technology secrets from leaving the country. Due to the English laws at the time, no one with manufacturing knowledge was allowed to leave the country. Somehow the two brothers, John and Arthur, managed to slip out of their country with their families and with secret knowledge of their newly developed technology.

Within several years after their arrival, using only their memories, they created the first wool-carding machine in this country, quickly replacing the slow task of carding wool with hand-held wire brushes.

The brothers moved to Charlestown, Mass., and spent several months making preparations and constructing machinery for the manufacturing of woolen cloth. After meeting with wealthy investors who agreed to build a factory in Byfield, Massachusetts, the brothers immediately moved the machinery there and put it into operation. The brothers operated the business which grew prosperous for its investors. Soon other similar mills were developed and New England’s manufacturing industry began to blossom!

After about five years, during one of his excursions in Connecticut to purchase wool, John Scholfield, found a valuable water privilege at the mouth of the Oxoboxo river in what is today Montville located less than a mile from a small town center on Route 163. In 1798, he and Arthur moved there and developed the first water-powered cloth manufacturing business in Connecticut on what is now called Scholfield Pond. This was the first woolen factory put into operation in Connecticut.

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The 1799 editions of Connecticut Gazette featured an advertisement for the Scholfields, announcing their newly located business:

“The subscriber respectfully informs the public that they are now carrying on the business of Carding, Spinning and Weaving Woolen, about one mile from Haughton’s Tavern in Montville, on the road to New-London; they hope to give satisfaction to those who may employ them. Persons may have their wool carded into rolls, spun into yarn, or wove into cloth, as shall best suit them. The subscribers return thanks for past favors, and hope to merit the approbation of all who may in future employ them. — The smallest favors will be gratefully acknowledged by the public’s most obedient humble servants.”

John continued the business until 1806, when he sold the factory to John and Nathan Comstock, leaving his sons, James and Thomas Scholfield to continue the operation until the termination of their lease.

John Scholfield established another mill on what is called Miller’s Pond in Waterford in 1814. This mill and the one in Montville were the two first woolen factories put into operation in the United States.

The brothers are credited with the invention of the American carding machine and made a significant contribution to the industrial revolution in the United States by revolutionizing the way our country manufactured woolen cloth. Historian Robert Bachman credits Waterford with playing “a modest pioneer role in the birth of the American Industrial Revolution that heralded the beginning of the end to the homespun era.” John remained in Montville until his death (at the age of 98). He is buried at Comstock Cemetery in Uncasville.

Around 1820 a romance blossomed between John’s daughter, Hannah (b. 1798), and Elias Strickland (1797–1881), son of a farmer who lived in a house nearby on Bloomingdale Road. Elias’ family had resided in New London since the early days of the settlement.

His great-great grandfather, Peter Strickland and his son, Thomas, from England arrived in New London 1650–60. He was among the earliest arrivals to the fledgling settlement on the banks of the Thames River. Like others who arrived early, he was granted land and quickly set to work to build a home and community in a vast unfamiliar land. He married Elizabeth Comstock, probably the daughter of William and Elizabeth, recent arrivals from Hartford. Thomas married Ziporah Billings, who was born in Stonington.

His grandson Peter, his namesake, born in 1718, married Sarah Williams. They were parents of 11 children. Their son, James (1769–1845), and his wife, Lucy Avery Strickland (1776–1863) probably built the house on the Bloomingdale Road property. They were both buried in the rear yard of the house. Their son, also named James Strickland (1814–1889) served in the Revolutionary War in Salem’s Company A. Both James and his wife, Amanda (1804–1867), were buried in the Bloomingdale Road plot.

The earliest burials in the graveyard next to the house tell a sad story of the short and sorrowful life of the young married daughter of Lucy and James Strickland’s daughter, Francis. She and her husband, Samuel, endured the death of two very young children, Samuel and Thomas, within a year. The sorrow of the family must have been overwhelming when the young mother herself died shortly afterwards. She was laid to rest next to her children. Her husband joined her and the children. later. It must have been some comfort to the family to have them buried on their own property close by to the family.

Over the years numerous generations of Stricklands lived and died in southeastern Connecticut. Among them, a Charles and James Strickland operated a grocery business on upper State Street (called Buttonwood Corner) in New London, sometime in the 18th or 19th century.