Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 18

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 824

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I > Part 18

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greatly fatigued, he went on business to Toronto, Ontario, returning home September 11th, and on the night of the following day (September 12th) was stricken with apoplexy and passed away. His death was deeply felt by the citizens of Worcester. That such a generous-hearted broad-minded, public- spirited man, with high aspirations, guided as he was by a noble purpose. should be so suddenly re- moved from his place of usefulness, brought a sharp pang of regret to the community, and called forth the most profound sympathy.

COES FAMILY. John Coes (1) was born in 1748, probably in Scotland. There is evidence that he came from a family of Scotch that lived near the southern boundary, and some of the same name · are living in Glasgow now. The name is distinct from the family of Coe in this country, at any rate. During the Revolution several soldiers by the name appear on the Massachusetts rolls. The name was apparently spelled Coas and Coose at times, and in- correctly. Samuel Coes, of Marblehead, was a soldier in the Revolution. Joshua Coes, of Bridge- water (spelled Coesse) and William Coas, of Cape Ann, were soldiers also. It is possible that William Coes (or Coose), of East Greenwich, Rhode Island, was a relative of the Worcester settler.

John Coes settled in Worcester before the Revo- lution. He was a farmer. His seven children were born here, and so far as is known all of the Coes in this country are descended from him and his wife Rebecca. He died in Worcester, June 24. 1827, aged seventy-nine years. His children were: I. Daniel, born December 10. 1776. 2. Simeon, born July 9, 1781, died March 3. 1833. He married Sabra, and their children were: William, married Lucy H. Green. April 30, 1835: Simeon Sibley, born May 22, ISII, died September 22, 1847; John Green, born July 24. 1814: Levi Charles, born July 15, 1819, mar- ried Charlotte MeFarland, November 1, 1846: Mary Augustus, born January 22, 1823, died July 8, 1838. 3. William, born Fehruary 19, 1786, died April 17, 1829. He married Jemima Chapin, September 14, 1800. Their children were: Nancy Chapin, born September 10, 1810; Leonard Chapin, born July 7, 1812: William Seth, born August 9. 1814: Rebecca Salome, born December 24, 1816, school teacher at Worcester: married James E. Budlong, of Provi- dence. December 15, 1843: William Seth Leonard. born May 29. 1820: Luther Draper, born October 13. 1822. 4. Sally, born January 23, 1787. married John Pratt, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, December

CON

JBLIC LIBRARY

Loving laes

WORCESTER COUNTY

29, 18II. 5. Mary, born November 28, 1791, died September 12, 1831. 6. Levi, born October 28, 1793, married Kezia. 7. Elijah, born May 19, 1795.

(II) Daniel Coes, son of John Coes (I), was born and brought up on his father's farm in what is now called New Worcester, December 19, 1776, and died January 26, 1838. He married, October 26. 18OS, Roxana, or Roxlany (as the records have it) Gates. (See Gates Family Sketch). Their chil- dren were: I. Sally, born February 22, 1810, died February 16, 1832: Loring, born April 22, 1812; Albert, born September 29, 1813, died February 13, 1837; Aury Gates ( name originally was Horatio Gates), born January 22, 1816.

(III) Aury Gates Coes, son of Daniel Coes (2), was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, January 22, 1816, and died December 2, 1875. He married Nancy Maynard, who was born in 1815, and died December I, 1842. He married Ann S. Cutting, May 29, 1845. He married (third) a Miss Gibson. He married (fourth) a Miss Winch. His children were: John Henry, born in Springfield, Massachusetts, Sep- tember 25, 1840; Frederick Lewis; Anna Rebecca, born March 25, 1847: Mary, bursar of Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Stella, died in Dresden, Bavaria, and body was lost at sea. The business career of the late Aury G. Coes is given with that of Loring Coes herewith.

Loring Coes, third in line from John, the founder, is the son of Daniel Coes, and was born in Worces- ter, Massachusetts, April 22, 1812. He has been for many years the nestor of Worcester manufac- turers, the most wonderful instance of mental and physical capacity in the history of Worcester, if not of the country. At the date of writing he is the active head of the business that he established in 1836, and at the age of ninety-four years is as alert and active as the majority of men are at sixty. Mr. Coes spent his boyhood on his father's farm in New Worcester, where he was born. He at- tended the district school in the winter months, but his education has been attained largely outside the schoolroom. He is a self-educated, as well as a self-made man. At the age of fourteen years he was apprenticed to Anson Braman, of Worcester, a carpenter, to learn his trade, and served with him three years. He then worked for Mr. Salmon Putnam until he was of age. Afterwards he worked for various manufacturers of Worcester, construct- ing the wooden parts of woolen machinery then in use. . He had a contract with Henry Goulding and employed six or eight men. Among others whom he and his brother worked for was the firm of Kimball & Fuller, makers of woolen machinery, and in 1836 they bought the business, forming the co-partnership of L. & A. G. Coes. Originally this business was carried on at the mill privilege owned by the Coes interests for so many years, but in 1835, just before the Coes took possession, it had been removed to Court mills, where L. & A. G. Coes continued in business until October, 1839, when the Court mills were destroyed by fire.

This disaster impaired their capital so muchi that they were unable to continue the business, and they went to Springfield to work for' Laurin Trask as pattern makers in his foundry. While there they invented a new and very convenient form of wrench. There were at that time two styles of wrenches in common use, one an English patent, the other known as the Merrisk or Springfield wrench. Both hands had to be used to adjust either of these kinds of wrenches The Coes wrench could be adjusted by the same hand using it, leaving the other hand of the workman free. In order to obtain a patent on the device they returned to

Worcester and sold the patterns of their spinning machinery, that had been saved from the fire, to Samuel Davis, a manufacturer of woolen machin- ery. With this money they secured a patent, is- sued to Loring Coes, April 16, 1841.

The firm of L. & A. G. Coes proceeded to manu- facture wrenches under the patent. They were as- sisted by the late Henry Miller, a hardware dealer and prominent citizen of Worcester. He fitted up a shop in the northwest end of Court mill with the necessary machinery and tools, of which he retained the ownership, and he sold for the firm all of the wrenches they made. Early in 1843 the firm had paid for its plant, was employing three machinists, and had a contract with Calvin Foster & Co. to handle their product. The next winter L. & A. G. Coes moved to the shop of Albert Curtis in New Worcester.

At the close of their contract with C. Foster & Co., April 1, 1848, they entered into a contract with Ruggles, Nourse & Mason to handle their product for the next five years. They bought for $5.500 tlie old woolen mill at New Worcester, in which they had worked in their youth. With the mill they got two houses and four acres of land, besides the water privilege. The famous Captain Daniel Gookin was its first owner, and from him the great-grandfather of Loring and Aury G. Coes purchased it, and built a saw mill at the upper privilege, where there had been previously a beaver dam. When they moved to New Worcester they were employing from twelve to fifteen men, and making from five hundred to six hundred wrenches a month. They repaired and raised the mill, and put in new machinery and a new water wheel. Their contract with Ruggles, Nourse & Mason expired April 1, 1853, and after that L. & A. G. Coes sold their own goods. They had made many improve- ments in the wrenches, and in the special ma- chines used in constructing them.

On July 21, 1853, with Levi Hardy, the firm purchased from Moses Conant his shop, machinery and business, that of the manufacture of shear blades and knives for hay cutting machines. The co-partnership continued until May 2, 1864, after which the business was conducted by the firm of L. & A. G. Coes, who bought the interests of Levi Hardy. In 1865 a dam was built half a mile above their mill privilege to form a reservoir, and next year a new shop was built at the reservoir, and de- voted exclusively to the manufacture of shear blades, hay cutting knives, and similar goods. In 1867 a new dam was built a hundred rods below the reservoir. The two brothers dissolved the part- nership and divided the business. Loring Coes had the upper privilege with the knife business; Aury G. Coes having the lower one with the wrench business. At that time the annual product had in- creased to ten thousand wrenches or more.

In 1871 Loring Coes began to manufacture wrenches also. the patents having expired. He erected the building at Coes Square for the pur- pose. At the outlet of the upper pond Loring Coes carried on an extensive business in the manu- facture of die stock for cutting sole leather and other purposes, as well as many kinds of blades. Aury G. Coes formed the firm. of A. G. Coes & Co. in partnership with his two sons, and con- tintied to carry on the very prosperous wrench busi- ness until his death in 1875. The sons continued under the same firm name until April 1, 1888, when the two Coes firms were consolidated under the name of Coes Wrench Co. The officers were: President. Loring Coes; treasurer, John H. Coes, and secretary, Frederick L. Coes. The factory was

WORCESTER COUNTY

then turning out about fifteen hundred wrenches a day. An important patent was issued to Loring Coes in ISSo, on the "Knife Handle" or scaled and riveted handle, also his invention, replacing the old round handle made of a single block. This model was very successful and was one of the causes that united the wrench business of the Coes family in one concern, as it is to-day. Improve- ments and inventions have followed, and improved models were adopted in 1895 and again in 1901 and 1903. A little more than a month before his ninetieth birthday, Loring Coes bought out the in- terests of his partners, John H. and Frederick L. Coes, sons of his former partner, Aury G. Coes, and assumed the sole ownership of the wrench busi- ness. In June, 1902, he consolidated with it the corporation of Loring Coes & Co., Incorporated, making the capital stock of the Coes Wrench Co. $150,000. The knife business is conducted as part of the corporation under the name of Loring Coes & Co., Incorporated, Department.

The knife business of the Coes family is hardly less famous than the wrench business. It has a reputation of producing steel goods of unsurpassed quality and merit. Mr. Coes has always followed as his maxim in business: "Make the best only,- Quality first, Price afterwards" and his reputation is literally world-wide. There is not a country in the world where the Coes Wrench is not in use. Even in the Levant there is a demand for this indispensable tool. Mr. Coes not only attends to his business in person, daily, but continues to make improvements and secure patents. The business has never been more prosperous than at present.

In 1903 a new factory was completed, fifty by one hundred and fifty feet, with an ell fifty hy fifty feet, and with new machinery and equipment the product of the company was doubled. The capacity of the knife shop within a few years has also been increased one hundred and fifty per cent. At the present time the Coes factories produce three hun- dred dozens of wrenches daily, about three thousand six hundred, and four and one-half tons of wrenches are completed every day the shop runs. The pay- roll includes one hundred and ninety hands, mostly machinists and mechanics of skill and experience. The Coes wrench shop is the largest wrench shop in the world.

Mr. Coes was representative in the general court in 1864 and 1865. He has served the city in both branches of the council, and was for more than thirty years a director of the City National Bank. He is a director of the Worcester Electric Light Company. For some years he has been the oldest living manufacturer engaged in the hardware trade. He is fond of fishing, and has for many years made a fishing trip to Maine during the season.

The present officers of the corporation are: President, Loring Coes ; vice-president and clerk, Frank Loring Coes; treasurer, Loring Coes; directors, Fred W. Blackmer and Frederick Searle. Mr. Blackmer is counsel for Mr. Coes. (See sketch elsewhere in this work). Mr. Searle is a native of St. Austel, Cornwall, England, and for fifteen years has been superintendent of the works. He is also the master mechanic. He worked in the copper mines in Vermont and machine shops in Fitch- burg, Massachusetts, before coming to Worcester.

Loring Coes married Harriet Newell Read, daughter of Russell Read. of Attlehoro, Massachin- setts, January 14. 1835. She died in 1902. Their children were: I. Francis Russell, born June 9, 1837. 2. Ellen Stanley. born October 1, 1839, married Melvin O. Whittier, who was born in Mercer, Maine, May 13. 1834, and came to work at the Coes shop

at the age of seventeen, worked up until he was superintendent of the manufacturing department in 1865, and became partner of Loring Coes, his father- in-law, when L. & A. G. Coes dissolved. Mr. Whittier sold out to Mr. Coes in 1887 and re- turned to Maine to live, where he died in 1905. His daughter, Mabel Ella Whittier, married George Churchill, and they have a daughter, Hildegarde Churchill. 3. Anna Read, born November 12, 1842, died May 13, 1845. 4. Chester E. B., lives with his father, never in business.

(IV) Frank Loring Russell Coes, son of Loring Coes (3), was born June 9, 1837, in Worcester, Massachusetts. He received his early education in the school of his native town. Later he at- tended Leicester Academy and Middleboro Academy. Early in life he showed an inclination for the mili- tary, and at the age of nineteen was a lieutenant in the city guards. When the civil war broke out he took an early opportunity to enlist in the Twenty- fifth Massachusetts Volunteers, and served with honor until nearly the close of the war, when by reason of disability he was compelled to return home. (For his business relations with the Coes firm and his father's business, see the sketch of Loring Coes preceding).

He married in 1867, Persis J. Putnam, daughter of Salmon Putnam. (See Putnam Family Sketch. ) The death of Mr. Coes in 1871, at the early age of thirty-four, was doubtless hastened, if not directly due to exposure in the army. He left one child, Frank Loring, born August 30, 1872.

(V) Frank Loring Coes, son of Frank Loring Russell Coes (4), was born in Worcester, Massa- chusetts, August 30, 1872. He attended the Wor- cester publie and high schools, and took a course at Worcester Academy. He also attended a private school at Northboro, Massachusetts. At the age of seventeen he went into the shops of the Coes Wrench Co. to learn the business. He worked in every department and learned the trade thoroughly. He was placed in charge of the knife factory in 1892. When Loring Coes bought out his partners in 1902, he was put in charge of the main office. He is a member of the Commonwealth Club, the Wor- cester Golf Club, and the Hardware Club of New York. In polities he is a Republican. On July 11. 1891, he married Cora Braman, daughter of Charles Braman, of Providence, Rhode Island. Her mother was Priscilla Braman, nee Wright, born in North- boro. Massachusetts. The children of Frank Loring Coes are: Loring, born September 17, 1892; Russell Read, born August 26, 1894.

EDWARD A. GOODNOW. In 1632, twelve years after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, three Goodnow brothers sailed from Eng- land to join the enterprise beyond the stormy At- lantic. They shared the hardships of those who laid the foundations of the Commonwealth of Massa- chusets. Among the three brothers who came to these shores was Thomas, who settled at Sudbury. (II) Thomas Goodnow, son of the English branch, married Jane -, and had a son named Samuel.

(III) Samuel Goodnow, son of Thomas (2), born February 28, 1646, married Mary by whom a son Samuel was born.

(IV) Samuel Goodnow, son of Samuel (3), born November 30, 1675, died about 1720, married Sarah Brigham, and they had a son Thomas.

(V) Thomas Goodnow, son of Samuel (4), born March IS, 1709, married Persia Rice, of Marl- boro, April 17, 1734, and they had a son Edward.

(VI) Edward Goodnow, son of Edward (5),

GOODNOW MEMORIAL LIBRARY, PRINCETON (Given by E. A. Goodnow, of Worcester )

WORCESTER COUNTY

born October 30, 1742; married Lois Rice, and they had a son Edward. .

Edward (6) removed from Sudbury to Prince- ton, Massachusetts, and in 1786 built the old Good- now homestead, still standing and owned by his grandson, William B. Goodnow, the brother of our subject proper.

(VII) Edward Goodnow, son of Edward (6), born December 1776, married Rebecca Beaman. He inherited his father's estate. Rebecca Beaman took her turn with other girls in going to Worcester, thirteen miles, to get the mail. She went on horse- back and the trail was through the woods, her only guide being the "blazed" trees. To Edward and Rebecca Goodnow were born six sons and two daughters; all were born in Princeton, and with one exception grew to manhood and womanhood. These children were : Erastus D., Edward A., Jonas B., Franklin, William B., Harriet E., Louis R. and Abel. The father died in 1852, and the mother in 1870, both in Princeton.

(VIII) Edward Augustus Goodnow, son of Edward and Rebecca ( Beaman) Goodnow, was born at the old homestead, Princeton, July 16, 1810. Al- though the New England boy of his time had much hard work to perform, yet the people believed in the valute of a good education. To this lot he of whom we write was no exception to that rule. His boy- hood days were spent for the most part on his father's farm. After attending the district school he attended three terms at Hadley Academy. With this schooling he went forth to meet and to do bat- tle with the practical side of life's career. In 1823. when he was thirteen years old, his parents opened an inn at their homestead, on the Connecticut and Boston road. So well was the house kept that it soon became famous. Teamsters and stock men were only too glad to reach its homelike rooms and sit around its bountiful tables. This inn was kept open twenty-seven years. Young Edward mingled with the travelers and inerchants who stopped there and here he first acquired his taste for mercantile pursuits. When twenty years of his life had passed, he left the scenes of farm life and began clerking in the store of his older brother, Erasmus Good- now, in Princeton. It was soon discovered that he had sought and found the calling for which he was especially adapted. So well did he succeed in his new role that at the end of two years service, he was admitted as a partner in the business. Quick to observe the trend and fashion of the times, this firm soon improved their golden opportunities and commenced the manufacture of palin-leaf hats, in connection with the general merchandise business, the junior partner performing much of the outside work. His early farm life fitted him well to care for such matters, including the teaming for the firm. For several seasons he might have been seen rising at two o'clock in the morning and driving to Boston, a distance of forty-five miles. There lie would sell such commodities as his load from his country home was made up of, and re- load with goods and supplies bought in exchange, to be used in the general store at home. Much of the time consumed by such long and frequent trips was made while others slept. But it was a good schoolmaster to him. Antagonism is the law of de- velopment, and hence these early hardships proved but stepping stones to a marked and prosperous career.

Like many other sensible and thoughtful young business men, Mr. Goodnow sought out a loving wife, in the person of Harriet Bagg, of Princeton. After five years of married life the angel of death called her from his side. Subsequently he married

her sister, Augusta, by whom one son was born, Ifenry Bagg Goodnow, who died in infancy. Af- fliction again settled down on the household of Mr. Goodnow and death claimed the second companion. Later he married Catherine B. Goodnow, who jour- neyed with him for a quarter of a century and who was an active member of the Congregational church for about twenty-five years, when she passed from earthly scenes.

In 1836, after four years of partnership, the business was expanded by admitting another member to the firm, with the view of manufacturing shoes. The new firm relations existed eleven years, when Mr. Goodnow realized that the domain of Prince- ton was limited as a trade center for the carrying out of his plans, so, after having been in trade in his native town fifteen years in all, he went to Shel- burne Falls in 1847, where he formed a partnership with the great cutlery establishment of Lamson, Goodnow & Company, but soon finding the damp air of Deerfield Valley did not agree with him, he removed to Eaton, central New York, remained there for a time, and finally returned to New Eng- land and located at Worcester, in 1852, when the city had but 18,000 people. Being familiar with the shoe business, Mr. Goodnow opened a retail shoe store, which he pursued for four years, and then changed to the wholesale trade in the same line of goods. To him belongs the honor of opening the first jobbing house in Worcester. Success crowned his efforts, and sales ran from one hundred thous- and to four hundred thousand dollars per annum. Integrity in his business methods was the key to his success. After a successful business of fourteen year in Worcester, Mr. Goodnow retired from active mercantile life.

Concerning the political belief of Mr. Goodnow it should be said that he was one of the stanch Abolitionists, when it meant something to advocate such a cause. He was one of eight persons to adopt the principles of the Free-soil party, and sub- scribe to the principles, "We inscribe on our banner, 'Free soil, free speech, and free men' and under it we will fight on, fight ever, until triumphant vic- tory shall reward our exertions." When gun number one sounded the alarm from Fort Sumter in 1861, he was not surprised. More than a dozen clerks from his own place of business, one after another, marched to the battlefield: all were aided by him, and one of the brave number was under full pay by him during the entire time of his military service, and his business place open for him upon his return from the Southland, when victory was for the Union. When Governor Andrew proposed to raise a col- ored regiment and equip it for the field, he gave five hundred dollars for its expenses, heading the subscription paper for that amount. When the war cloud was darkest and the finances of the coun- try were in peril. he subscribed liberally for the first bond issued. He thoughtfully erected mar- ble tablets to the memory of fifteen high school students who gave their young lives on the altar of their ' native land. As an object lesson to the youth of the city, he placed a bust of General Grant in the high school. Among other benefac- tions was a life sized oil portrait of President Gar- field, to be hung in the hall of the Mechanics' As- sociation. The following resolution was passed by the Association :

Resolved. That the Worcester County Mechanics' Association hereby tenders a note of thanks to Mr. Edward A, Goodoow for his public-spirited liberality in presenting to the association a full-length portrait of James A. Garfield, late president of tbe United States. Attest :

WILLIAM A. SMITH, Clerk.

WORCESTER COUNTY

A few years later he presented the same asso- ciation with a portrait of Henry Wilson.

Mr. Goodnow was never an office seeker, but did hold the position of trustce of the State Reform School, under appointment of Governor Andrew and by re-appointment by Governor Bullock, serving in all seven years. Upon retirement from business, he spent two years in leisure, but that was enough to convince him that man is happiest when employed, so he accepted the position of president of the First National Bank, tendered by a unanimous vote. llere Mr. Goodnow was not a figure-head, but the real head. All the paper passed through his hands. He took some risks that more timid men would not have dared to take. He secured large deposits by a liberal attitude toward patrons of the bank. When he took the office, the bank stock was quoted at one hundred and ten; but under his good manage- ment, the par value was doubled. So much was his business sagacity appreciated by the stock-hold- ers, that a set of complimentary resolutions passed. thanking him and giving him the credit for building up great banking business-second to none in the Commonwealth. While Mr. Goodnow was a busy affairs, he found pleasure in spending much of his means in way of magnificent gifts of a philan- thopic and truly charitable nature. Ile gave not to be seen of men, but where good could be accom- plished-where the condition of his fellow men could be bettered. The list of such generous acts is indeed too lengthy to insert in a work of this character but a few will here be noticed briefly. Beginning with his native town, Princeton, he gave a library building known as the "Goodnow Ale- morial Building," which consists of a library, read- ing-room, two school rooms, with desks for forty scholars each, together with an endowment of five thousand dollars. This is indeed a magnificent memorial, "a thing of beauty is a joy forever." To educational institutions, he has ever been more than generous. Among such instances may be named the Female Seminary at Mount Holyoke, in way of scholarship, parks and other matters, all amounting to twenty-five thousand dollars. He gave to the Iowa College at Grinnell ten thousand dollars to re- place buildings destroyed by a terrible cyclone. Sub- sequently he gave five thousand dollars for the erection of a cottage named the Mary Grinnell Mears, in honor of the wife of Rev. D. O. Mears, D. D. To the Wellesley College and the Moody School at Northfield he gave each five thousand dollars. His anti-slavery sentiments were expressed by the gift of five thousand dollars to Washburn College in Kansas, to found a John Brown professorship. The colored race has not been overlooked by the phil- anthropist, for he has repeatedly been a contributor toward the erection of buildings for the colored school at Hampton, Virginia, also at Oberlin, Ohio; Berea College, Kentucky, and Lincoln College, Penn- sylvania. Not content with the donating of his wealth on this side of the seas, he was the first man to erect a building on the continent of Africa for the education of women. Thus he commenced the laudable work of Christianity and civilization among the female portion of "Darkest Africa." This is in connection with the Huguenot Seminary, Wel- lington, Cape of Good Hope, Africa. The building known as Goodnow Hall was constructed after Mr. Goodnow's plans, and then shipped to Africa ready to be erected. The expense was over fifteen thous- and dollars.

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Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 18

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed Publication date: 1907 Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 824

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 824