Upriver History: Somers began as 'East Enfield' and was a Massachusetts town until 1749
Massachusetts incorporated the town in 1734 and named it for Lord John Somers of England.
SOMERS - The town of Somers started out as a settlement called "East Enfield," begun about 1706 by Benjamin Jones, according to the Town of Somers' history page.
Other settlers followed in 1713, the town says, among them Edward Kibbe, James Pease, Timothy Roote and John McGregory.
In 1734 the General Court of Massachusetts incorporated the community as a town and named it for Lord John Somers of England. In 1749, Somers separated from Massachusetts and was annexed to Connecticut.
Farming has always defined the town, according to the page, from potatoes and tobacco to dairy. The Four-Town Fair was organized in 1838 as a contest to see which of ten school districts had the most oxen. And Little Sorrel, the favorite horse of Civil War Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson, was born at the Collins Farm on Prink Street, the road now called Springfield Road.
Industry came in smaller doses: grist- and sawmills, bonnet making and, from 1839, the Billings Satinette Mill on the Scantic River. Rockwell Keeney bought that mill in 1879 for woolen production, and as the Somersville Manufacturing Company it became the town's main industry.
Source: Town of Somers, About Somers.
How this story was made: AI tools helped research and draft this story, working from the sources cited and linked above. It was fact-checked against those sources, and our editor, Joshua Allen, reviewed and approved it before publication. See an error? Email upriverdaily@gmail.com.