Life in Seymour was faithfully recorded in the pages of the Seymour Record, the newspaper for much of the Naugatuck Valley.

Life revolved around work, family and church, and many of those activities were chronicled in the pages of the Record, which residents could subscribe to for a year for the price of $1.50. Seymour had only been incorporated as a town for 33 years by 1883, and was named after a former governor. It was a hub of industrial activity, with many finding employment as businesses such as New Haven Copper, the U.S. Pin Co., Fowler Nail Company and Kerite Telegraph Cable Works.

Entertainment was popular in the form of theater and music, with the Seymour Bans and the German Concordia Singing Society often featured at parties and events held by organizations such as the Sarsfield Social Club and the Seymour Social Club.

And even family visits were newsworthy, as evidenced by the short article in the Jan. 5 paper: "A Christmas party of twenty-five met at the house of DeForest Canfield on Monday, Dec. 25th, which included three generations."

Issues of interest found among the pages of that year's paper included women's suffrage, which the paper's editor, W.C. Sharpe, staunchly opposed.

"The great majority of sensible women do not ask for the suffrage," he wrote. "They instinctively recognized the fact that woman is out of her sphere meddling with politics. Woman's best influence is at home where the future citizen is reared."

Births and deaths were duly

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reported, and many deaths occurred at a young age, such as that of Mrs. Nellie Mooney, who died of consumption in February at age 26. Even illnesses were reported as news.

Criminals were regularly referred to as "tramps." The State Reform School was often the punishment of choice for young tramps accused of crimes.

The town also saw an influx of residents in 1883, which led to a housing shortage. The paper had advice that would prove that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

"Notwithstanding the large number of houses built last year, there is yet a scarcity of rents," the Record reported in March. "One family of five living in two rooms pay six dollars per month. It would seem as if the building of single dwellings would be a profitable investment."