Entrepreneur
The couple moved to Boston, where they bought a home on Chestnut Street on Beacon Hill and "entertained lavishly." But Humphrey bought a farm in Derby and managed to spend considerable time there. He also bought a factory in what is now Seymour, Connecticut that produced scythes and other iron tools. For a time, the community was called "Humphreysville."
Having seen poor conditions in mills in England, he was determined to avoid a similar situation in his Rimmons Falls plant in Seymour. He took in many boys from New York City at the mill, training, educating and clothing them. Humphreys established evening and Sunday schools for the boys and organized them into a uniformed military company which he drilled personally.
"It was largely through his efforts that the state inaugurated its efforts at factory inspection," according to Leo Molloy.
As a farmer, he was actively interested in agricultural improvements, and his farm became an experimental station. He helped found the Agriculture Society of Connecticut and became its first president.
Read more about this topic: David Humphreys (soldier)