History of Windham County, Connecticut, Part 72

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: New York, Preston
Number of Pages: 1506

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quickness of perception and ceaseless energy speedily made themselves felt, and steady promotion was the result. At the expiration of the fourth year he was admitted to a partnership with the proviso, exacted by him, that the management of the business should rest exclusively with him. This relation was maintained until 1858, when Mr. Elliott purchased the remain- ing interest and continued the business as above. He had mean- while become a prominent figure in the field of rubber goods, where his sagacity and shrewdness as a buyer, and skill as a salesman, had made his presence felt in the market. In matters connected with finance he was also regarded as evincing excep- tional judgment and ability.

Mr. Elliott was appointed the agent in New York for three of the most important rubber boot and shoe companies in the United States, and added this responsibility to the business he had before conducted with marked success. In 1873 the firm of Wallace & Elliott was formed, embracing the large leather boot and shoe business of his brother-in-law, J. T. Whitehouse, and his own. To this firm his nephew, Mr. J. E. Jacobs, was admit- ted as a partner under the title of Wallace, Elliott & Co., and subsequently his son Clinton, thus establishing a house now ranking among the largest in the trade. They are extensive manufacturers of boots and shoes and the owners of several large factories in New England and elsewhere.

Mr. Elliott is in his political principles an earnest republican. He has had occasion to decline distinctive honors of a political character, preferring to be simply a worker while others enjoy the dignities of office. In his religious belief he is a Congrega- tionalist. Mr. Elliott, on the 2d of April, 1857, married Mary A., daughter of William Whitehouse, of New Hampshire, then re- siding in Brooklyn, New York. Their children are: Harry A. and Osborn, deceased; Augusta, Clinton and Dexter. Mr. El- liott, since his removal from Thompson, has resided in the city of Brooklyn, New York, returning to his former home, where he has a residence, to spend the summer months.

DOCTOR WILLIAM GROSVENOR, the subject of this biography, was a descendant in the fifth generation from the original pur- chaser of the Mashamoquet tract. He was the son of Doctor Rob- ert Grosvenor, and was born in Killingly, Conn., April 30th, 1810. He attended the best academies of his native state, and his father, needing his early assistance in the practice of his profession,

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sent him first to the Chemical Laboratory of Yale College, and afterward to Philadelphia, where, for three years, he had special advantages in connection with the hospitals of the city, and at- tended the lectures of the Jefferson Medical School, at which he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1830. He im- mediately became associated with his father in medical practice, and in this connection he continued for four years, when he moved to Providence, and there he spent the remainder of his life.

The event which occasioned this change of residence, and thus gave a new direction to the whole course of his life, was his mar_ riage to Miss Rosa Anne Mason, daughter of the Hon. James Brown Mason, of Providence. Her parents had died in her childhood, and Miss Mason was the ward of her uncle, Mr. Amasa Mason, of this city. Doctor Grosvenor came to Providence with the intention of continuing the practice of his profession, but finding himself in the midst of associations and interests con- nected with business, he soon abandoned his purpose, and en- gaged in business as a wholesale druggist, with Mr. Edward Chace, the copartnership bearing the name of Grosvenor & Chace. At the end of five years the copartnership was dissolved. He then embarked in the business of " stocking " calico printers with the cloth which they used, and in this business he continued till 1860. In 1848 he had been appointed to act in the place of Mr. Amasa Mason, who had become disabled by ill health, in the management of the mills at Masonville, in Thompson, Conn., and on the death of Mr. Mason in 1852 he was made the admin- istrator of his estate, of which one-fourth part became the prop- erty of Mrs. Grosvenor. He also succeeded to the entire man_ agement of the manufacturing property of the Masonville Com- pany, of which Mr. William H. Mason then owned one-half. the other half being the property of his wife and her sister, Mrs. Eaton.

He thus entered upon his career as a cotton manufacturer, a career which he pursued to the end of his life, with rare judg- ment, with singular assiduity, and with brilliant success. His earlier enterprises of business, especially that connected with printing cloths, had been successful, and with the capital thus acquired he soon purchased all the shares of the Masonville Mills, except those belonging to Mrs. Grosvenor. These latter were, in 1868, bought by his two sons. An interest of one-six- teenth was also sold, in 1860, to Mr. Lucius Briggs, the resident

In Goasvenon

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

manager of the mills, which he retained till 1883. The plant was soon greatly enlarged, old mills were brought together by new connections, new mills were erected, the water power more fully developed, and the productive capacity of the whole was greatly increased. In 1864 Doctor Grosvenor bought what was known as the "Fisherville Property," and certain adjoining lands to the north of it, extending to Wilsonville, for the pros- pective advantages which they offered. In 1866 the Masonville Company changed its name to Grosvenor Dale Company, its vil- lage being from that time known as Grosvenor Dale, and the Fisherville Company took the name of North Grosvenor Dale Company, with a corresponding change in the name of its village. Two years later the two companies were united, and now bear the common name of Grosvenor Dale Company. New mills have been built and great changes have been made in the con- dition of both these properties. Additional water power has been acquired and steam power has been superadded. A large reservoir has been created, with dykes and embankments of great solidity and strength, and tenements have been constructed for the operatives employed by the company. The entire prop- erty now bearing its name extends over a tract of four miles in length in the valley of the French river, a branch of the Quine- baug. The original mills of which he became the owner in 1854 then contained 7,500 spindles and 180 looms. For the past three years they have had 88,176 spindles and 2,357 looms, the spindles having been reduced in number without diminution of product, in consequence of improvements in their make.

From his settlement in Providence in 1837, Doctor Grosvenor's life had been almost constantly devoted to active business. The change from professional pursuits to the pursuits of trade is a critical event in the life of any man. With him it had led to almost uninterrupted success. He began his new occupation by giving constant attention to its daily demands, and by making himself master of the principles and methods by which it was to be conducted. In doing this his professional experience may not have been without its advantages. It had formed in him the habit of careful attention to the details involved in the work in which he was engaged, and had taught him to guard against surprises in the condition of markets and the movements of trade. It may thus have done its part to secure the success which

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he continued to have for the period of forty years almost without drawback or interruption.

His first period of leisure was taken in the year 1860, when, for the benefit of Mrs. Grosvenor's health, he accompanied her with his elder children on a visit to Europe. The absence was greatly beneficial to them all, and would have been prolonged had it not been for the anxieties and sorrows occasioned by the civil war, which began in the following year. The daily tidings of battle and slaughter, and the spectacle of the two great sec- tions of the republic at war with each other, were doubly dis- tressing to loyal citizens away from their country. He came home early in 1862, as did so many others from every part of the world, to do whatever might be in his power in the service of the country, and especially to be as near as possible to the ex- citing and distressing scenes which were then engrossing public attention.

On his return he immediately connected himself with the patriotic services which were already in progress in Rhode Is- land. In the following year he was chosen a senator from the town of North Providence, where he had resided since 1849, and he immediately engaged in all the movements that depended in any way on the action of the legislature. He was made a mem- ber of the legislative committee on finance, and his careful judg- ment and well-known determination as a citizen of large re- sources, made him an authority in the financial questions before that body. The whole energy and strength of the state were then enlisted in the service of the country. Taxes were levied in amounts beyond all precedent, and Rhode Island was ready to make every exertion and every sacrifice which the crisis might demand. In promoting all these movements the senator from North Providence was actively engaged during his period of service.

In 1866 he was again chosen to the senate. The war was now ended and the legislature of the state was occupied with new questions, the chief of which were how to maintain the public credit and pay the public debts, which had swollen to large pro- portions. In addition to these matters of finance were questions as to how the legislature could best provide for those who had been disabled in the war, and how it could best honor the mem- ories of those who had fallen in its battles. In the deliberations and discussions relating to these he took a very active part, and

M messenger

ARTOTYPE, E. BIERSTADT, N. Y.

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

did much in shaping the measures that were adopted. He was a member not only of the finance committee, but also of the joint committee of both houses appointed to select a suitable site for " a monument to the memory of the officers and men from Rhode Island, either in the army or the navy of the United States, who lost their lives in the service of the United States during the late rebellion," and to procure designs and estimates for the monument. It was through the agency of this committee that the "Soldiers' Monument" was erected, which now stands in Exchange Place in Providence.

As has been mentioned, he became a resident of North Provi- dence in 1849, having at that time built as the home of his family an attractive mansion, on a farm belonging to Mrs. Grosvenor, not far north of the city line and now contained within it. In 1872 he removed to the house which he had bought on Prospect street, in which he passed the remaining years of his life. Long before this date he had given up the immediate care of the large business of the Grosvenor Dale Company to his two sons, Mr. William Grosvenor, Jr., the managing agent in Providence, and Mr. James B. M. Grosvenor, the selling agent in New York. Soon after his early settlement in Providence he had become connected with the congregation of Grace Church. He was for several years a member of its vestry, and was also an active and most helpful member of the committee for the erection of its beautiful and costly house of worship on Westminster street. He was fond of society and dispensed a generous hospitality, and thus kept alive his interest in the new generations which were taking the place of that to which he belonged. His con- stitution was always robust, and at the age of seventy-eight years he retained his powers, both of body and mind, almost unim- paired. His death took place with very slight premonition, August 10th, 1888, at Maplewood, New Hampshire, whither he had gone for a brief season of summer recreation. It was occasioned by an acute and sudden affection of the heart and the lungs.

This sketch was prepared for the proceedings of the Rhode Island Historical Society, published in 1889.

FRANK M. MESSENGER .- Samuel Messenger, the grandfather of Frank M. Messenger, married Lavina Blake, of Wrentham, Massachusetts. Their children were five sons and five daugh- ters, of whom Silas was born in Stoddard, New Hampshire, and

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during his active life was both a farmer and a house carpenter in his native place. He married Arvilla, daughter of Isaac Cope- land, of the same town. Their children were: Mary, Alma, Ers- kine, Addison, Edson Winslow, Henry E., George B., Alice C., Frank M. and Helen A., of whom three are deceased-Addison, whose death occurred while a soldier in the late war; George B., who died in childhood, and Helen A., at the age of nine years.

Frank M. Messenger was born on the 3d of April, 1852, in Stoddard, New Hampshire, where, until the age of fourteen, he remained upon his father's farm, meanwhile attending the neighboring school for two terms each year. Removing with his parents to Munsonville, New Hampshire, he sought employ- ment in a chair factory, and there continued until the age of six- teen, meanwhile pursuing his studies during intervals of leisure. He next found employment in a cotton factory, and later spent a year as clerk in Norway, Maine. After a period of work in the chair factory a second time, he at nineteen accepted an engage- ment as card grinder in a cotton factory at Winchendon, Massa- chusetts, and was soon promoted to second overseer in the same department. Mr. Messenger next removed to Manchester, New Hampshire, in the employ of the Amoskeag Company, and on leaving the latter place returned to Munsonville in the capacity of overseer. He then located successively in Shirley, Waltham and Newton, all in Massachusetts, as overseer, and finally settled in Manchaug, in the same state, remaining four years, and re- ceiving promotion while there to the position of overseer of the carding and spinning departments. He at the expiration of this time returned to Shirley as superintendent of the Phoenix & Fre- donia Mills. Mr. Messenger, in November, 1884, accepted the position of superintendent of the Grosvenor Dale Mills, and in January, 1887, was made agent of all the mills owned by the Grosvenor Dale Company, which responsible position he now fills. These mills, under his successful management, have been enlarged, and the increase in their capacity may be fully esti- mated at twenty-five per cent. A more detailed description of the industry will be found elsewhere in this volume.

Mr. Messenger is in politics a staunch republican, and while actively interested in affairs connected with both state and county, has declined all tenders of office. He is one of the board of directors of the Thompson National Bank. He is connected with Fredonia Lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and

W.W.Preston & Co NY

Sw. I. Murdock

W.W Preston & CONY

Thurston Murdock

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

is a member of the Baptist church of Manchaug, Massachusetts, having been for three years superintendent of its Sunday school. Mr. Messenger was married February 3d, 1874, to Eliza J., daugh- ter of John and Sarah Smith, of Winchendon, Massachusetts, who died the following year. He was again married May 13th, 1879, to Mary A., daughter of John and Mary Young, of Newton, Massachusetts. Their children are Frank M., Mabel W. and Don E.

GEORGE TAFT MURDOCK .- Elisha Murdock, the grandfather of George Taft Murdock, was a prosperous farmer in the town of Uxbridge, Mass. His wife, a Miss Chapin, became the mother of several children, of whom Fuller Murdock, one of their sons, spent his life in Uxbridge, his native town. He married Esther, daughter of James Taft, of Uxbridge. The children of this union were: Philina, born in 1807; Abbie Eliza, in 1808; Moses Taft, in 1810; John, in 1812; Charles, in 1815; Caleb, in 1817; George Taft, March 18th, 1819; Harriet, in 1821; Chapin, in 1823, and Mary Ann, in 1825.

The fifth son of this number, George Taft Murdock, is a native of Uxbridge, where, after a period of early youth devoted to school, he at the age of twelve years began those habits of in- dustry which laid the foundation for future success. Entering a woolen factory he was assigned to the task of piecing rolls and thus acquired by his own exertion sufficient means to defray the expenses of his education at the academy at Uxbridge, and at Plymouth, N. H. At the age of twenty-four he embarked with a partner in mercantile ventures in his native town, and continued for six years to conduct a profitable business. Mr. Murdock then engaged in the manufacture of satinets at Mill- bury, Mass., and at Seaconnet Point, R. I., continuing four years in these respective localities. Removing to Worcester, Mass., in 1861, he established the firm of Curtis & Murdock, manufactur- ers of woolen goods. In 1865 he purchased the present mills at New Boston, meanwhile retaining his residence in Worcester until 1879, when the former place became his home. The prop- erty was at this time in a dilapidated condition, and the moral sentiment of the hamlet not such as to make New Boston a de- sirable abode. Mr. Murdock and his son, the junior partner of the firm, by their enterprise and determination speedily created a revolution in both respects. The mills were enlarged, new buildings of brick erected, and the community infused with a

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spirit of temperance and morality which greatly changed the character of the place. The mills give employment to nearly one hundred operatives who are engaged in the manufacture of cotton warp goods, sold through agents in New York and Bos- ton.

Mr. Murdock is in his political alliances a republican. He was in 1862 a member of the city council of Worcester, and in 1884 represented his town in the Connecticut house of representatives, being assigned to the committee on school fund. He is a strong advocate of the cause of temperance, and a supporter of the doc- trines of Christianity. Through his efforts and those of his son a large public hall was built in New Boston in which divine ser- vice is regularly held. Mr. Murdock was in 1845 married to Abbie A., daughter of Alvin Robinson, of Mansfield, Mass. Their children are a son, George Thurston, and a daughter, Liz- zie G., deceased wife of Horace E. Bigelow.

GEORGE THURSTON MURDOCK, the only son of George Taft and Abbie A. Murdock, who was born July 4th, 1846, in Uxbridge, Mass., at the age of twelve years removed with his parents to Millbury, and later to Worcester in the same state. His educa- tion was received at the Worcester and Wilbraham Academies, after which he entered the finishing room of the mills in the former place, and thus became familiar with the first principles of manufacturing. Coming later to New Boston, he filled the position of accountant until 1866, and then assumed the superin- tendence of the mills. Two years later he succeeded to the in- terest of a former partner, who had meanwhile retired. He ul- timately became an equal partner, and for many years during his father's residence in Worcester, assumed almost the entire oversight of the business, the details of which are still managed by him.

Mr. Murdock has been a co-worker with his father in his efforts to build up and improve the hamlet of New Boston, much of the active labor of which has been performed by him person- ally. He has been active in both town and county politics, and is at present one of the town committee. He represented his constituents in the state legislature in 1878, and served on the committees on manufactures and milage. Mr. Murdock was, on the 22d of June, 1869, married to Arrilla R., daughter of Charles D. Thayer, of New Boston. They have one daughter, Mabel Florence, born December 13th, 1876.

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FRANKLIN NICHOLS, one of the well-known business men and leading bankers in Connecticut, was born in Thompson, Conn., August 11th, 1805. His boyhood was passed in his native town, sharing the advantages of the schools of those days. At an early age he commenced business for himself, in the improve- ment of extensive farming lands inherited from his father, which honorable vocation he continued with an older brother until May, 1840, when he removed to Norwich and became a member of the firm of Nichols & Eddy, wholesale grocers. The firm subsequently changed to Nichols & Evans, and later to Nichols, Evans & Almy. In 1844 Mr. Nichols retired from the firm and engaged in the cotton business in company with the late Leonard Ballou. He, however, remained in this business but about two years, and then engaged in banking operations.

In the spring of 1833 he assisted in obtaining the charter for the Thompson Bank, which was organized in the fall of the same year with eleven directers, all of whom are deceased ex- cept himself. He has been prominently identified with the Thames Bank since 1846. He was chosen president in 1851, and has officiated in that capacity to the present time. He has out- lived all then associated with him in the board of directors. Mr. Nichols has been a trustee in the Norwich Savings Society since 1851 and its president since 1879. He is the only survivor of the forty trustees in the board at the time of his election. He was also one of the incorporators of the Thames Loan and Trust Company in 1869, and for several years its president. He was chosen a director in the Gas Company upon its organization, and is now the president and only surviving member of the original board of directors. He assisted in the organization of the Bank of Mutual Redemption in Boston, and in this institution also he is the only original member left in the board. Mr. Nichols was also a director in the Norwich & Worcester railroad.

October 17th, 1839, he united in marriage with Hannah T. Fairfield, a native of Pomfret, Conn., and the family consisted of one child, a son, Franklin Nichols, deceased.

BENJAMIN F. PHIPPS .- Deacon Jason Phipps was at an early day an extensive landholder and farmer in Thompson parish, as also a justice of the peace, who exercised his prerogative with an inflexible hand. His son Jason, a soldier of the revolution, mar- ried Mary Healy, of Dudley, Mass., whose children were : Peyton Randolph, Salem T., Jason, Polly, Hannah, Mary Ann, Rebecca

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and Persis. Mr. Phipps resided in Thompson, where he became the owner of much valuable land. His son, Captain Peyton Randolph, was born July 29th, 1789, in the same town, and spent his life as a farmer. He also bore an active part in the militia, of which he was captain, and served in the war of 1812, for which his widow drew a pension. He was on the 26th of May, 1814, married to Clarissa, daughter of Edward Davis, of Dudley, Mass. Their children are eleven in number, as follows: Clarissa D., Benjamin F., Edward D., Lucretia H., Abigail D., William R., Albigence W. (deceased), Lydia R., Zeruiah, Albigence W., and Samuel H. On the 25th of October, 1831, Mr. Phipps was again married to Harriet Davis, sister to his first wife. His death oc- curred February 2d, 1843.

Benjamin F. Phipps was born January 30th, 1816, on the home- stead farm which is his present residence. Here his whole life has been spent in the healthful pursuits connected with agricul- ture. His opportunities for education were confined to a brief period at the neighboring public school, and his time, until twenty-one, was given to his father, who in addition to his farm employments was engaged in teaming between that point and Providence. He was afterward for several years employed on the farm and elsewhere in the neighborhood, finally assuming the management of the property on behalf of the heirs, on the decease of his father.

Mr. Phipps by his industry and excellent care of the property thus afforded a home to the family, and finally purchased the farm. He has greatly improved the land, added new buildings from time to time, and made his home one of the most desirable in that portion of the town, his daily labor being connected with the farm and its productions. He has always been identified in politics with either the whig or republican party, and filled such local offices as selectman, assessor, surveyor, etc. He is often called upon to act as executor, trustee and appraiser, and to fill various offices of trust. He worships with the Union Congrega- tion, of New Boston, though in his faith a Universalist. Mr. Phipps on the 20th of March, 1849, married Mary L., daughter of Charles and Emily Childs, of Woodstock. Their children are two sons, Charles P. and George F., and a daughter, Mary E., who died in childhood. Charles P., who resides in Southbridge, Mass., married Sarah King of Thompson, and has one child, Maud Gladys.

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History of Windham County, Connecticut, Part 72

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: New York, Preston Number of Pages: 1506

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: New York, Preston
Number of Pages: 1506