Ninety years without slumbering (tick, tock, tick, tock), His life’s seconds numbering, (tick, tock, tick, tock), He was born into an abolitionist family in Middletown in 1832. As a toddler, his family moved to Illinois where his father(Alanson Work) helped 3,000 slaves escape to Canada through the Underground Railroad. Alanson was arrested and jailed for this, and after his sentence was over, he moved his family back to Middletown, CT. Henry Clay Work developed an interest in music and was soon having his songs published. He is best known for two songs; «Marching through Georgia»(1865) about General Sherman’s sacking of Atlanta, and«Grandfather’s Clock»(1875). You absolutely know that song — about a clock that«stopped short, never to go again, when the old man died.» That song sold close to a million copies. More amazing than that, is that the phrase«grandfather clock» was born out of that song! The monument consists of a bust of Work’s head and shoulders on a granite slab. There is a plaque on the granite, and a history marker in front of the monument.
