Milton, a village in Litchfield, was settled in the mid-eighteenth century. David Welch arrived in Milton from New Milford in 1753 and established a puddling furnace for refining the pig iron brought from Salisbury. The furnace was on Shear Shop Road, located behind the saltbox house, at Potash and Milton Roads, which Welch built in 1756. Welch, who also bought and sold the iron ore mined in northwestern Connecticut, later constructed an addition, for use as a store, on the eastern end of his house. Welch did business with Ethan Allen, the Revolutionary War hero, and later served as a major in the War himself. Welch moved into another house in Milton in 1784, where he died in 1815. His original house was later owned by William Bissell, from 1860 to 1902. Bissell was a farmer, house painter and captain in the Civil War. The house was also used for many years as a parish house by the neighboring Trinity Episcopal Church. There is a pdf document available with additional pictures of the house’s exterior and interior.
