On June 5, 1856, Samuel Colt married Elizabeth Hart Jarvis, the daughter of Reverend William Jarvis and Elizabeth Hart of Middletown. Colt chartered the steamboat Washington Irving to transport him and his friends down the Connecticut River to the Episcopal church in Middletown. The wedding party boarded the boat in front of the flag-bedecked armory to a rifle salute fired from the cupola. An immense crowd of spectators had gathered. Samuel Colt gave his bride a necklace and matching earrings created by friend Charles Tiffany of Tiffany & Company as a wedding gift. The 38.84-carat-weight necklace consisted of blue enamel links set with 20 mine-cut diamonds interspersed with smaller diamonds.
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