Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. IV, Part 15

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 710

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. IV > Part 15

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was encouraged to build other machines in the same line. To accommodate the increasing business of the concern the Picker Hlouse was enlarged and new buildings erected. In 1847 "The New Shop." as it was called, was erected, three hundred and six by one hundred and two feet, two stories and base- ment, on the north side of the river. Among the machines built in the works were: cards, card grinders, doublers, railway heads, drawing frames, ring-frames, spoolers, warpers, dressers, looms, and in fact all the machinery used in the cotton mill, except roving machinery, mules and slashers. Need- less to say the firm kept in the front rank with new styles and improved patterns.

In 1860 John C. Whitin purchased the Holyoke Machine Works on his own account and retained them four years, giving much of his time to them. In 1864 the firm of P. Whitin & Sons was dis- solved and the business divided among the part- ners. In this division John C. Whitin took the manufacture of machinery, which in thirty years had grown from one picker a month in the old Picker House to many hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of a large variety of machinery in the large shop of 1847 and its additions. On coming into separate proprietorship Mr. Whitin erected a new shop parallel with the shop of 1847, north of it, four hundred and seventy-five feet long, seventy in width, three stories and basement. Then a large foundry was added to the plant and repeatedly en- larged. A blacksmith shop was built and in 1883 a large shop on the south side of the river, three hundred and eighty-six feet long, eighty-six feet in width, three stories high. From time to time further additions have been built until at present (1906) the concern has acres of floor space all connected and devoted to the various parts of the business, and gives employment to two thousand hands.

Mr. Whitin secured patents on the picker or lapper in 1833; on the union card in 1862. These proved useful to the manufacturers and brought considerable profit to the inventor. These inven- tions, however, were less important and valuable, than the various improvements in tools and imple- ments for the working of metals and the simplify- ing of existing methods. As long as he continued in active management of the shops he took the deepest interest in all improvement of tools and. methods of manufacture. The last to which he gave special attention was the machine for drilling spinning frame rails, which proved successful. He did not seek patents on these improvements of tools used in the shops. He felt that the gain in his own work was all the profit he should ask. In 1870 the business, which had been during the six years preceding owned by John C. Whitin, was in- corporated in a joint-stock company under the familiar name of "The Whitin Machine Works." The officers were: President, John C. Whitin; treasurer, Josiah Lasell; superintendent, Gustavus E. Taft. Mr. Lasell was Mr. Whitin's son-in-law and had been in his employ since 1860. (See sketch of Lasell family). In 1881 Mr. Taft became agent and Harvey Ellis superintendent. Mr. Whitin died April 22, 1882, and Mr. Lasell became president and treasurer. Januarv 1, 1886, his son-in-law, G. Marston Whitin, became treasurer. On the death of Mr. Lasell, March 15, 1886, his eldest son, Chester W. Lasell, became president, and on the death of Mr. Taft, June 24, 1888, his eldest son,

WORCESTER COUNTY

Cyrus A. Taft, succeeded him as agent. Ile was succeeded by Lawrence M. Keeler in 1906.

Mr. Whitin was a man of great energy and ca- pacity for hard work. He had to a remarkable de- gree an insight in mechanics that saved him much time in working out his ideas. He could plan a machine entirely in his mind before constructing it and he never made a pattern which was not used enough to pay for making-a fact true of very few inventors of machinery.

Mr. Whitin was interested in public affairs. He was a Republican in politics and was representa- tive to the general court. In 1876 he was elected a presidential elector from the state of Massachu- setts. He was a director of the Whitinsville Bank and president of the Whitinsville Savings Bank. He was a director of the Providence & Worcester Railroad Company. He joined the Congregational Church at Northbridge Centre, December 4, 1831, and he was one of the original members of the Congregational Church at Whitinsville, in which he was a deacon from 1834, at the beginning, until his death in 1882, though during his last years relieved from active service. Ile was superintendent of the Sunday school for twenty-five years. He was a constant attendant of the Sunday services and a liberal supporter of the church and its charities.

He married (first), May 30, 1831, Catharine I.I. Leland, of Sutton, Massachusetts. She as well as Mr. Whitin was a lineal descendant of John Dwight, the pioneer, of Dedham, her grandmother being Silence Dwight. Their only son reaching maturity was John Maltbie, born June 10. 1838, died Octo- ber 22, 1872; married Achsah F. Crane, and adopted Grace Maria Whitin, who was born October 15, 1863. He was employed in his father's business : his widow died December 15, 1895. Mr. Whitin's only daughter, Jeanie W., b. rn January 27, 1834. married, June 5. 1855, Josiah Lasell, a sketch of whose family is given elsewhere in this work. Mrs. Catharine Il. Whitin died January 31, 1873, and he married (second), January 20, 1875. Sarah Eliza- beth Pratt, of Hopkinton, Massachusetts .. Their only child, John C., died in infancy.

(VI) Charles Pinckney Whitin, son of Colonel Paul Whitin (5), was born August 6, 1809. His education was obtained in the public schools of his native town, Northbridge, Massachusetts, and at the Leicester Academy. . At the age of sixteen he taught school acceptably in the stone school house near Plummer's Corner. He began at an early age to work in his father's cotton mill and learn the business. He continued with his father and br thers until his twenty-first year, when he went to Willi- mantic, Connecticut, to fit up and take charge of a cotton mill. Ile was called home during his father's last illness, and after the remained at Whitinsville and became identified with the growth and prosperity of the village. Ile was admitted to partnership in the firm of P. Whitin & Sons, which had been former in 1826 and in which he had an interest from the first. Hle took charge of the cotton manufacturing of the firm and became an ex- pert. recognized throughout the trade as an author- ity. Ile superintended the erection of the Stone Mill in Whitinsville in 1845. the enlargement of the North Uxbridge Mill in 1847 and 1848 and the erection of the mill at Rockdale in 1856 and 1857. Hle took great interest in the improvement of the Mumford river, devising and building the reservoirs and dams, which have increased the steadiness and

reliability of the water power so much. Whenever his brother, John C., who had charge of the ma- chine shop, was absent his cares and responsibilities devolved upon him and he was virtually in charge from April, 1860, to January, 1864, while his brother was engaged in Holyoke.

The firm of P. Whitin & Sons was dissolved January 1, 1864, and Charles P. Whitin took the cotton mills at Whitinsville and East Douglas, Massachusetts. The stone mill with a capacity of seven thousand five hundred spindles was built in 1845 at Whitinsville. He enlarged the stone inill in 1865, to thirteen thousand six hundred spindles. Next year, 1866, his two sons, Edward and William H. Whitin, were associated with him in the business under the name of the Whitinsville Cotton Mill, and with his brother, James F. Whitin. he built the Linwood Mill of fifteen thousand spindles capacity under the firm name of Whitin Brothers. In ISSI he purchased the mill at Saunders- ville. Since his death the business has been car- ried on by his three sons, Edward, William H. and Arthur F. Whitin, who joined the firm in IS81. He was eminently practical, quick to discover the requirements of his business, of great executive ability and, though not of strong constitution and though his health was poor especially in his youth, he was a man of great industry and capacity for work. He was a man of common sense and good judgment. In his special department of cotton man- ufacture it may be doubted if he had a superior. He was careful but progressive, enterprising and far-seeing, uniformly prosperous.

He joined the Congregational Church at North- bridge Centre on his eleventh birthday, August 6, 1820, and for sixty-five years was an active member of the Congregationalist denomination. He was identified with the Congregational Church Whitinsville from the first in 1834 and did much for its prosperity by personal efforts and liberal contributions. He was generous in charity. He was especially fond of the children and was generally beloved by the young people who knew him. Ile was a Republican in politics and was selectman of Northbridge in 1852 and representative to the gen- eral court from his district in 1859. At the time of his death he was a director of the Douglas Axe Company and president of the Whitinsville Na- tional and Savings Banks. He died August 29, IS87.

He married. October 20. 1834, Sarah Jane Halli- day, who died December 31. 1891. Their children were: I. Ilelen L., born May 29. 1836, died at Whitinsville, May 9. 1885; married, November 30, 1863, George L. Gibbs. 2. Edward, see forward. 3. William Halliday, see forward. 4. Lewis Fred- eric, born January 20, 1844, died September 29, IGO4: graduate of Yale, 1864: assistant paymaster United States navy, 1864-65; dry goods commission merchant. New York city: left widow and two children : Louise and Gladys Morgan, (Mrs. Thomas E.) Peters. 5. Arthur Fletcher, see forward.

(VI) James Fletcher Whitin, son of Colonel Paul Whitin (5), was born in Northbridge, Massa- chusetts. December 21, ISI4. His education was re- ceived in the public schools there and at the acad- emies at Uxbridge, Leicester, Monson and Am- herst, Massachusetts. On the completion of his schooling he went into the counting room of P. Whitin & Sons and in a short time was placed in charge of that department, and remained until the

UBI .! ·

FREDERICK BEY H TON

WORCESTER COUNTY

firm was dissolved January 1, 1864, having been a member of the firm after 1847. In the partition of the business among the brothers he had the mill at North Uxbridge, known as the Uxbridge Cotton Mill, which the firm bought in 1849. In 1866 he and his brother, Charles P. Whitin, built the cotton mill at Linwood. He manufactured cotton with great success the remainder of his life. He was a stanch Republican in politics, and a man of high character and large influence. He died March 2, 1902.

He married, July 23, 1842, Patience Howard Saunders, of Grafton, Massachusetts. Their chil- dren : 1. George Milnor, born June 1, 1849, died at Whitinsville, January 24, 1883, superintendent cot- ton mills at North Uxbridge several years. He married, March, 1871, Julia F. Wesson and had Frederick Birney, born 1873; selectman of Ux- bridge, 1902, Mary Alice, married Charles H. Lar- kin, of Buffalo, December 19, 1899. Betsey, married, February 20, 1900, Matthew Percival Whittall, of Worcester. James Earle, see forward. 2. Albert Il., see forward.

(VII) William Halliday Whitin, son of Charles P. Whitin (6), was born in Whitinsville, September 5, 1841. His education was received in the schools of his native town, at Easthampton Academy, where he prepared for college, and at Yale College, which he entered in 1859. When he graduated in 1863 he chose his native town for his home and place of life work. Ile chose the business of his father, a cotton manufacturer. He studied the business carefully and thoroughly, especially the many de- tails essential to proper economy in production which is requisite to success in a business in which there is such sharp competition. He secured the esteem and confidence of his fellow manufacturers, as was manifest in their choice of him and his service as one of the board of of directors of the New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association. He was for twenty-five years superintendent of the Whitinsville Cotton Mills. At the time of his death he was agent of these mills, president of the Saunders Cotton Mills and interested in the cotton mill at Linwood. He was also a director of the Whitinsville National Bank and one of the trustees of the Whitinsville Savings Bank.

He was elected on the school committee of the town of Northbridge, of which Whitinsville forms a part, in 1864, and he remained on the committee until his death. He was always deeply interested in and zealous for the improvement and efficiency of the public schools and he spared no effort or ex- penditure to promote their welfare. He served the town also for several years as selectman and for four years was chairman of the board. As a friend to all in need and as a helper in every good work in the community, men learned to trust him and he never failed them.

His crowning excellence was in his earnest, con- sistent Christian life and work. While at East- hampton, he began his confessed Christian life and united with the church in Whitinsville, May 2, 1858, when but sixteen years old, and he retained his connection with this church, except during the four years of his college life, until the day of his death. From his childhood a member of the Sabbath school, he became a constant teacher in it as soon as he made his home in Whitinsville again, and he con- tinued a successful teacher until he was called in 1872 to the superintendency, which he retained to

the end of life. He had no desire for such leader- ship, but when it came to him by the unanimous call of the church he accepted it as a sacred charge from the Master as well as from the church, and to it he gave his best energies, his warmest affection, his untiring efforts, his earnest prayers and his con- sistent example. His great desire was to see its members coming into the Christian life and enrolling themselves among the confessed followers of the Master whom he loved and served. During all these years from 1872 he also served the church as deacon, having special interest in those coming into the church that they might do it intelligently. And yet he was tender and considerate of the feeble ones. He died June 4, 1893.

One who knew him well wrote in the Congre- gationalist of July 6, 1893: "His most distinguish- ing trait was his fidelity. In every trust secular or religious, a promise, whether specific or implied, was sacred, and if within his power it was kept. His religious promises were as binding as business contracts. Ile accepted all his being with its pow- ers and opportunities as a steward from the Lord, and sought to use them for His honor and for the good of his fellow men. The property that came under his control he held also and used as a stew- ard, giving from it discriminatingly, largely and gladly for the Lord's work in securing the good of men. He loved to give to worthy objects and he knew how to refuse and rebuke the unworthy.

"When failing strength compelled him to lay aside some of his care and labor, it was not the re- ligious but the secular that he first laid down. In- deed, he so held on to his religious work until physically unable to perform it, that friends, not of the immediate family, had no idea what serious inroads disease had been making on his strength. When it became manifest in February of this year that what had been gradually undermining his constitution was Bright's disease, resort was had to a milder climate. But only a temporary relief was obtained and he came home May 19, evidently not improved as had been hoped. After a brief struggle, he breathed out the mortal life peacefully June 4, on a Sabbath evening. We are assured it was promotion to which the Master called him, saying, 'Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

"Mr. Whitin's character was the normal devel- opment a godly ancestry. of a training in a home, where the law and the habit were a reverent fear of God and a loving interest in men and of a loyal acceptance on his own part of all the implications of such ancestry and training. From such ante- cedents we rightly expect a beautiful childhood. a filial sonship, a loving and useful manhood, as friend, citizen and Christian. Men of such character are a blessing while they are with us and a blessing in their continued influence and efficiency when they are transferred to higher service. They are the aim and the glory of our humanity. J. R. T."

(VII) Charles E. Whitin, son of Paul Whitin, Jr. (6), was born in Whitinsville, Massachusetts, September 13, 1828, died there February 8, 1890. He attended the public schools of his native town, also the academies at Uxbridge and Leicester. He began his business career as a hand in his father's red brick cotton mill. He learned the . methods and details of cotton manufacturing thoroughly. He was advanced to a position of responsibility in the

WORCESTER COUNTY

concern. When the firm of P. Whitin & Sons was dissolved Charles E. Whitin remained in the cotton manufacturing business. He became treasurer and agent of the Paul Whitin Manufacturing Company, of which his father, Paul Whitin, was president to the time of his death in 1884. Then Charles E. Whitin became president and he continued the progressive policy of his father, increasing both the business and the mill capacity. He lived at North Uxbridge from 1849 to 1864, when the change was made in the Whitin plants. He then took charge of the mill at Rockdale. After 1861 he resided in Whitinsville, first on Railroad avenue, later in his father's mansion south of the river, where his sister, Miss Annie Whitin, now resides.

Mr. Whitin devoted his whole life to cotton manufacturing with marked success. He was a man of exceptional capacity, gifted with the executive ability and common sense requisite to modern manufacturing. He built up the business until the mills under his management and control had a ca- pacity of twenty-five thousand spindles and required a floor area of a number of acres. In politics he was a very active and thoroughly consistent Re- publican. He held various local offices and served his district in the state senate in 1883 with con- spicuous ability. He was for many years selectman of the town of Northbridge and a leader in town affairs. He was a delegate to the Republican Na- tional Convention in 1872 from his congressional district.

He was a member of the local lodge of Free Masons. He was an active member and generous supporter of the Village Congregational Church. During the civil war he devoted himself and his means freely to the support of the Union, helping the enlistment of troops and leading and influencing his fellow citizens to do their duty to the end. Such financial and moral support as men like Mr. Whitin gave to the government in the civil war was the primary source of the strength and endur- ance of the American Republic in its hour of trial and distress. Men like Mr. Whitin strengthened the soldiers in the field as well as the president and others in authority at Washington.

He married Adeline C. Swift, who died Decem- ber 8, 1902, daughter of Oliver C. and Eliza (Jenkins) Swift. Their children: George Marston. see forward; Ilenry T., see forward; Eliza, Paul, died at the age of eleven years.

(VIII) Lewis Frederick Whitin, son of Charles Pinckney Whitin (6), was born in Whitinsville. January 20, 1844. He passed his boyhood and young manhood in the place of his birth, but the greater part of his life was lived in or near New York city. He attended the Whitinsville schools, and hten entered upon a college preparatory course of study at Williston Seminary, Easthampton, from which he graduated in 1860 as valedictorian of his class. He entered Yale College soon after, and graduated with high honors in the class of 1864, at the early age of twenty. On his twenty-first birthday, January 20, 1865, he was appointed acting assistant paymaster in the United States Navy. When his appointment to this position was under contemplation, the Yale professor to whom refer- ence was made, said Mr. Whitin was capable of filling any position to which he might be appointed. After about eleven months' service in thi sposition, he resigned his commission on November 19. 1865, and in August, 1865. he entered the firm of Collins,

Atwater & Whitin, dry goods commission merchants of New York city. The firm name was afterwards changed to Collins & Whitin, and when Mr. Whitin became the senior member of the firm in 1878, it was changed to Whitin & Collins, and remained so until failing health obliged Mr. Whitin to give up the cares of business in 1902. Untiring in in- dustry, progressive, and with great executive ability, his success was assured from the start, and under his leadership. Whitin & Collins enjoyed the highest credit and a large and constantly increasing patronage.

Mr. Whitin married Miss Lucy Morgan, April 16. 1872. He lived many years at West New Brigh- ton, Staten Island, but afterwards removed to New York city. He was a member of the University Club, also of the Merchants' Club, and at one time its president. He became a member of the Village Congregational Church in Whitinsville, September 4. 1850, and in February, 1867, he removed his re- lationship to the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, New York city. Mr. Whitin died Thurs- day evening, September 29, 1904, from Bright's disease, at the age of sixty years, eight months and nine days.

(VIII) George Marston Whitin, son of Charles E. Whitin (7). was born in Whitinsville, Massa- chusetts, September 1I, 1856. He attended the pub- lic schools of his native town and graduated from the Whitinsville high school in 1872. He studied at Williston Academy at East Hampton, Massa- chusetts. He then worked for three years in the cotton mills at Rockdale, New Bedford and other places with the purpose of getting a thorough knowledge of cotton manufacturing in every de- partment. from top to bottom. He obtained some skill in the various trades employed in the cotton mill and became a practical operative himself. He was then placed in charge of the Riverdale Cotton mill which he conducted for about three years. He came from the Riverdale mill to the Whitin Ma- chine Works at Whitinsville and was made assistant superintendent, and later. in 1885, he became assis- tant treasurer. When the president of the company, Josiah Lasell. his father-in-law, died in 1886, he was elected treasurer to succeed him, and during most of the time since then he has been the active manager of the works as well as director and treas- urer of the corporation. What the company has achieved in recent years and how it has developed the village in connection with the other Whitin enterprises is told in another place.

Mr. Whitin has had time for few interests out- side of the corporation of which he is treasurer. He is a Free Mason, a member of the Whitins- ville Lodge and of Worcester County Commandery, Knights Templar. In politics he is a Republican. He is a member of various manufacturers' clubs and associations, of the Union and Algonquin Clubs of Boston, of the Grafton Country Club. He is a member of the Village Congregational Church at Whitinsville.

He married, October 1, 1879, Catharine Whitin Lasell. born at Whitinsville, March 10, 1856. daugh- ter of Josiah and Jennie ( Whitin) Lasell (See sketch of Lasell family). She was educated in the public schools of Whitinsville, graduating from the high school in 1872 in the same class with Mr. Whitin. She took a two-year course at Bradford Academy and one year in a private school in Brook- lyn, New York. Their children: I. Elizabeth

POLICA

Paul Writing

WORCESTER COUNTY

Klock, born November 27, 1880, educated in the Spence School of New York city and at Smith College, where she was graduated in 1902; married June 1, 1905, Lawrence Murray Keeler, son of Julius and Julia Keeler, of San Francisco, Cali- fornia ; graduate of Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts : has been salesman for the Whitin Machine Works, appointed agent in 1906 to succeed Mr. Taft, who retired; they have one child, Mars- ton Whitin Kecler, born April 28, 1906. 2. Elsa, born Angust 7, 1884, educated in the Spence School. 3. Katharine Leland, born October 13, 1887, student in Smith College. 4. Lois Haven, born March 31, 1896, student at Spence School.

(VIII) Henry T. Whitin, son of Charles E. Whitin (7), was born at North Uxbridge, Massa- chusetts. He was educated in the public schools and at the Highland Military Academy at Worces- ter. He began as an apprentice in Whitin Machine Works and learned the various branches of the busi- ness. He then went into his father's mill at Rock- dale and learned the business of making cotton goods with the machinery he studied in the works. He became the superintendent of the mill and fin- ally treasurer of the Paul Whitin Manufacturing Company. He has been very active and successful in business. He is a member of the local lodge of Free Masons and of the Worcester County Com- mandery, Knights Templar. He is a member of the Tatnuck and Grafton Country Clubs. He is best known outside the textile business in the vicinity of Whitinsville and Rockdale for his connection with the Republican party. He is chairman of the Republican town committee of Northbridge and an active and earnest supporter of Republican poli- cies and candidates. He has served the town for many years as selectman and in other positions of trust and responsibility.

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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. IV, Part 15

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed Publication date: 1907 Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 710

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 710