Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. IV, Part 16

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 16

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He married Cora Berry, daughter of Scotto Berry, whose ancestor settled in Framingham, Massachusetts, among the early settlers. Their children: 1. Paul, born September 22, 1876, assist- ant treasurer of Paul Whitin Manufacturing Co. 2. Florence, born 1878, married Theophilus Par- sons, of Hempstead, Long Island; have two chil- dren : Theophilus, Jr. and Paul Whitin Parsons. 3. Marion Lovett, resides at home. 4. Marjorie Swift, resides at home. 5. Richard Courtney.

(VII) Albert H. Whitin, son of James Fletcher Whitin (6), was educated in the public schools of his native town. Mr. Whitin preferred the study of art and literature to business and has devoted much of his time to this purpose. He spends a large part of his time abroad. He is an Episco- palian in religion. He has never married.

(VII) James Earle Whitin, son of George Whitin (7), and grandson of James Fletcher Whitin (6), was born in North Uxbridge, Massachusetts, August 14. 1879. He attended the public schools of his native town and St. Mark's School at South- borough, Massachusetts. He graduated at Phil- lips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, and finished his education with a course at the Philadelphia Textile School. In 1900 he entered his grand- father's mill at North Uxbridge ( Rogerson Village) and started to learn the fundamental principles of cotton manufacturing. He passed from one depart- ment to another, mastering one by one the prob- lems of the work and the details of the business, and has recently been elected president and treas-

urer of the corporation. He belongs to the Winter Club and Auto Club of Worcester.

He married, June 6, 1905, in Worcester, Edge- worth P. Whittall, daughter of Matthew J. Whit- tall, the carpet manufacturer.

THE VILLAGE OF WHITINSVILLE. In that part of the town of Northbridge, Worcester county, Massachusetts, which lies not far from Uxbridge and Douglas, is the village of Whitins- ville, constituting in wealth and population the most important part of the town. It was about 1828 that the name was given by the postoffice department to the thriving settlement located at the falls of the Manchaug or Mumford river; being given in honor of the family which was then, as it has continued to be, the essential part of the economic, political and social life of the community. The founder of the family and of the industry which called the village into being was Colonel Paul Whitin, who was born in Roxbury, but came to Worcester county with his mother at an early age. His mother was a niece of David Draper, of Uxbridge, at whose home she presumably met her second husband. The story of the establishment of the Whitin indus- tries will be given under the sketches of Colonel Whitin, his sons and grandsons. The following sketch of the business and the village is from the October number of the "Engineering Magazine" for 1896.

"The history of the Whitin concern as here sketched, gives strong indications of the Whitin characteristics of fair dealing and consideration of the rights of others, which alone could make the long continued and amicable association of Colonel Paul Whitin and his sons, and their sons and their sons' sons, so that now the fourth generation of the family is in control of the great business which has grown up from small beginnings in the little iron works at the falls of Mumford river at the place commonly called Masconsapong. Except in its fierce and uncompromising disapproval of Medford rum and all allied beverages which make it impossible to alleviate a nineteenth-century normal thirst in Whitinsville of to-day by open purchase, the Whitin character is marked by a spirit of broad toleration in all directions-a full and generous interpreta- tion of the rights of others, no matter how inde- pendent their position, or how feeble their powers for the maintenance of those rights.

"The one other marked trait of the Whitin character is a love of beautiful surroundings, which found expression in the castellated architecture of the 1847 shops, the half-octagon eastern end of the "New Shop" of 1864, fine terracing and landscape effects produced on the south end of the hill, just across the road north of the shops and in full view of the shop windows on that side, and in the streets and public buildings of the town. The natural beauties of Whitinsville were very great, and they have been preserved and added to by irregular streets, ornamental stone retaining walls and bridges, and the preservation of trees, which our simian an- cestry makes us ever regard as symbols of home and rest, so that Whitinsville is everywhere pleas- ing to the eye of the beholder. * * *

"The Whitin concern owns a very large amount of land, and has about six hundred tenements. us- nally in the form of double dwellings rented to employees ; the rental varies from $3.50 per month

WORCESTER COUNTY

for a five-room tenement to $14 per month for an eight or ten room detached cottage. Their tenement district extends along the bank of the pond and rises on the foot of the hill. The location is beau- tiful, and in many cases the occupants maintain flower beds; in most cases, however, exterior adorn- ment is neglected. (An inspection of the mill houses in 1906 gives a contrary impression. Almost every house has its rambler rose and shrubs; some have been made very attractive, and the back yards with their vegetable plots and flower gardens are seen everywhere.) The pond and surrounding hills give a beautiful outlook. The air is pure and cool ; the water supply is a gravity system from two large springs of great purity, and belongs to the com- pany. It is the rule for workmen to marry, and children are abundant, healthy and happy.

"The nearest approach to a strike in the Whitin shops occurred when the ten-hour law was passed in Massachusetts. The workmen asked for the ten- hour day from the members of the Whitin family at that time in charge, and it was given them, with the information that the works would be fenced in, and provided with locked gates. The working hours had been nominally eleven; if a workman was five or ten minutes late it was not noticed, and, if a man wanted a piece of pie in the forenoon, he simply walked out of the shop to his house after it. The mail came to the little postoffice across the road from the works at five in the afternoon, and, of course, nothing was more reasonable than that a workman should go over to the office to see if he had any important letters. There were fish in the pond and fur and feathers on the hill about Whitinsville, and in the old days many of the hands took their guns to the shop with thein, and a flock of ducks in the pond, or even a musk rat swimming across, was the signal for a sporting expedition. The ten hour day with the locked gates made such a change in affairs that some of the old hands were broken-hearted and resigned their places, and the management obtained much better results from a day's labor than ever before. "The ten-hour day incident was the only one in the whole time of four generations of Whitin man- agement that caused any hands to leave the shop, and in this case there was not the remotest approach to a strike. The old hands who quit simply could not brook the idea of a locked gate. There has never been any formal recognition of the 'rights' of the workmen, and, in point of fact, the Whitin management is simply a despotism, with power to banish any objectionable person. Whitinsville has five or six thousand inhabitants-perhaps more. Statistics were unobtainable. The industries are : The Whitin Machine Works, Whitinsville Cotton Mill, controlled (at present 1906) hy Edward and Arthur F. Whitin, Whitinsville Spinning Ring Com- pany: Paul Whitin Manufacturing Company and Linwood Cotton Mill. All of these concerns are controlled by the Whitin family and its branches, and no workman not approved by the Whitin in- terests could remain in the place. There is no drink sold openly, or to the knowledge of the Whitins. Schools are excellent, $80,000 having been expended on school buildings recently (and a very beautiful and artistic high school building has just been completed, half the cost being paid by two members of the family) ; there is a free night school for adults, which has from eighty to one hundred pupils during the winter months. There are numer-

ous Protestant churches, and a large Roman Catlı- olic church.

"The Whitin Memorial Building, a gift from representatives of the family to the town, contains fine assembly rooms, a well-selected circulating library, a music room, and the needful rooms for the transaction of town business.

"The Whitinsville Savings Bank has a total of $633,000 deposits, mainly to the credit of the work- men employed in the various manufactories con- ducted by the Whitin family and its branches. The exact amount of deposits to the credit of the iron works hands could not be obtained, but it is a large sum. From 1835 to 1865 the iron works borrowed the savings of its workmen at six per cent com- pound interest, renewing its notes in April of each year with interest added. This arrangement was closed before the establishment of the savings bank, which pays four per cent on deposits.

"There is no theatre in the place, nor is there an objectionable resort. A few only of the machine works employees own their houses-perhaps one hundred and fifty all told. Churches, secret so- cieties, Masons, Odd Fellows. Knights of Pythias, the Order of Red Men, the Musical Society of Whitinsville and cycle clubs furnish the social dis- tractions. The labor at the machine works includes a considerable number of Armenians and some Turks; the Armenians recently demanded the dis- charge of the Turks, and when this was refused about forty of the Armenians left. This was purely a race inatter.

"The harmony existing between master and man at the Whitin Machine Works is due to the beauti- ful and healthful and comfort-giving environment. to the heredity of obedience and confidence trans- mitted from generation to generation of workers under one management, and the Whitin sense of justice and the employer's duty to protect the de- fenceless. The workmen are happily situated, their children are robust and their wives are contented. W'ages are low, but rents are low, and there is no car fare to pay or drinking places to rob the work- man's family of his earnings: and the work is such that a man must be wholly decrepit before he can- not produce a fair daily output. There are over a hundred workmen who have been more than twenty-five years in the shop. *

* It is quite the rule for sons to follow the fathers into the shops and some names appear on the pay rolls continuously from the first until now.

"The original fifty or sixty horse power of the falls of the Mumford river has heen increased by an extended reservoir system to four hundred horse power. This is supplemented by seven hundred horse power of steam. The floor acreage is almost continually being extended and the reputation of the Whitin cotton machinery is of the highest ; all of the work produced is as good as the shop knows how to make; improvements in design are constantly produced. and there is a disposition to increase their weight, and to substitute iron for wood in framing : and to replace the light old tools with heavier modern patterns. The shop is a credit to the country. because of its mechanical ability, and to humanity because of unremitting application of the wisdom of its managers to the betterment of the living conditions of its workmen."

JAMES FREEMAN DANA GARFIELD, son of Elisha and Bathsheba ( Egerton) Garfield, was

BUSIUN PUBLIC

James F. D. Sarfuld

WORCESTER COUNTY

born at Langdon, Sullivan county, New Hampshire, August 14, 1828, being the youngest of thirteen children who lived to the age of maturity.

His early boyhood was passed upon his father's farın, attending the district school a mile and a half distant, during terms of ten to twelve weeks each, winter and summer. For the sake of better school advantages, at the age of eleven years, he was per- mitted to leave his carly home to reside with an elder brother, then a prosperous merchant at Keese- ville, Essex county, New York. Here, from the age of twelve to fifteen, he attended the Keeseville Academy, working out of school hours and during vacations in the village store. At school he was awarded the highest prize for excellence in English exercises. He returned to New Hampshire when fifteen years old and worked for a year at Alstead, learning the printer's trade in the office of the Amer- ican Citizen. Leaving Alstead in April, 1846, hie went to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, where for the next three years he worked at his trade in the office of the Fitchburg Sentinel, attending school at inter- vals at the Fitchburg Academy, Lawrence Academy, Groton, and at Leicester Academy. From 1849 to 1852 he worked at printing in the office of Henry J. Howland, of Worcester, as foreman of the book printing department, at the same time having charge of the bookkeeping of the establishment.

In 1852 Mr. Garfield returned to Fitchburg, and bought the half interest of John Garfield in the Fitchburg ( weekly) Sentinel, of which John Garfield was himself the founder in 1838. The other half of the business was owned by Elisha Garfield, an older brother. The paper was published for eight years under this management, James F. D. Garfield being the editor, and also manager of the print- ing department. It should be said that the Sentinel has been the leading weekly and daily newspaper in Fitchburg, practically all the time since it was founded in 1838. It was owned and managed by the' Garfield family from its first issue, except during the forties, until I871. It is now a prosperous daily and weekly, with an extensive job printing depart- ment, the daily issue dating from 1873.

When Mr. Garfield retired from the newspaper in 1860 he sold his interest to the senior partner, Elisha Garfield, and after a residence of three or four years in Boston, Massachusetts, and Pawtucket, Rhode Island, working at his trade, he returned to Fitchburg and entered into partnership in April, 1864, with John P. Sabin in the retail coal business. At the end of the year Mr. Sabin left the firm and was succeeded by William O. Brown. In April, 1866, George N. Proctor bought Mr. Brown's inter- est, and the firm name became Garfield & Proctor. Their office was at 23 Water street, near the pres- ent location of the New Park block. From the first this firm took the lead in their line of traffic, and the coal business gradually grew to be an important factor in the commercial interests of the growing city of Fitchburg.

The completion of the Hoosac tunnel in 1875 opened a large area for the sale of coal at whole- sale, by all-rail shipment, and Garfield & Proctor were quick to avail themselves of its advantages. They received the first coal shipped through the tunnel, direct from the mines, by all-rail transpor- tation to eastern Massachusetts, and soon succeeded in building up a large wholesale trade on the tunnel line. In 1876 the firm secured extensive wharf ac- commodations at New Bedford, with facilities for

discharging and storing coal, whereby they were enabled to extend their business as shippers and wholesale dealers throughout southeastern Massa- chusetts.

The firm of Garfield & Proctor continued as a copartnership until 1888, when the business was in- corporated under the name of the Garfield & Proctor Coal Company, and the wholesale department of the business was soon afterward transferred from Fitch- burg to Boston, where it is still carried on; while the retail business was continued in Fitchburg un- til 1896, when it was sold to the Union Coal Com- pany, of which John Thompson became manager and George N. Proctor president. For thirty years the name of Garfield & Proctor had been a familiar one on the streets of Fitchburg, and the firm had held an honorable position among the business in- terests of the city. When the Garfield & Proctor Coal Company was incorporated in 1888 Mr. Gar- field became a director and served as its president till 1893, when declining further service as presi- dent, he was succeeded by George N. Proctor, who served in that capacity until 1906, when he disposed of his interest in the company, and Mr. Garfield again accepted the position of president. William E. Macurda has been treasurer of the company from its incorporation, and other directors have been W. M. W. Spring, who sold his interest in 1905, and Wendell F. Pray, who has also been with the com- pany from its incorporation.

Mr. Garfield has various other business interests. Ile has been a director in the Orswell ( cotton) Mill Company of Fitchburg from its incorporation in 1887, is also a director in the Nockage (cotton ) Mill Company of Fitchburg, and was for several years president of the Sawyer Tool Manufacturing Company of that city. He is a director and treas- urer of the Brown Bag Filling Machine Company, a corporation for the manufacture of an ingenious machine for the packeting of seeds. These machines are leased to the various seed companies throughout the country for use in packeting their seeds for mar- ket. By the use of this device the Brown Company have been able to secure important contracts with the United States department of agriculture for putting up seeds for the annual congressional seed distri- bution. AIr. Garfield is a director in the Safety Fund National Bank of Fitchburg, a position which he has held since ISSI. He was elected trustee of the Worcester North Savings Institution in 1888. and has served on the board of investment from that time. He was elected vice-president of the same institution in 1892, on the death of Hon. Harris C. Hartwell, and president in 1899, to succeed Hon. Amasa Norcross, since which time he has been at the head of the institution.

At the municipal election in 1881 Mr. Garfield was elected a member of the school board of Fitch- burg; was re-elected in 1884, and again in 1895, in each case for the term of three years, and has always taken a keen interest in educational affairs. He was alderman for ward four in 1886 and 1887, dur- ing the latter year being president of the board. He represented Fitchburg in the general court in 1887, his colleague being Joseph S. Wilson. He has been a Republican in politics from the formation of that party, having been previously allied with the old Whig party.

He is interested in history and genealogy and was one of the founders, and for ten years secretary of the Fitchburg Historical Society, and later vice-

WORCESTER COUNTY

president and librarian. He is the author of "Walker and Egerton Genealogy," first published in Chand- ler's History of Shirley (1883) "Journalism in Fitchburg." first published in Emerson's "Fitch- burg Past and Present" (1887), and of the following papers read before the Fitchburg Histor- ical Society and published in the "Proceedings" of that society, 1895: "Fitchburg's Response

to the Lexington Alarm." "Lunenburg and Leominster in the Revolution," "Ebenezer Bridge. Leader of the Fitchburg Minute Men," "Pioneer Printers of Fitchburg," and "Early Fire Service of Fitchburg." He also edited the first three volumes of the Fitchburg Historical Society's "Proceedings."

Mr. Garfield is a life member of the New Eng- laud Historic Genealogical Society, a corresponding member of the Worcester Society of Antiquity, a life member of the American Unitarian Association, and a member of the National Geographic Society. His religious connections have been with the First Parish ( Unitarian) Church of Fitchburg, in which society he has been active and helpful.

During his residence in Worcester, Mr. Garfield was a member of the military organization known as the Worcester City Guard, and after his return to Fitchburg in 1852, was for five years a member of the Fitchburg Fusiliers, serving as clerk of the company. He is well known in the Masonic organ- izations of Fitchburg, being an honorary member of both Charles W. Moore Lodge and Thomas Royal Arch Chapter, and an active member of Jerusalem Commandery, Knights Templar.

Mr. Garfield married, December 1, 1853, Emily Charlotte Newton, daughter of Captain Martin and Susan (Chamberlain) Newton, of Fitchburg. Cap- tain Newton was a pioneer in cotton manufacturing in Fitchburg, he having commenced spinning cotton yarn in 1810, and for two years later erected cotton factories in what is now Newton Place, where he made the first cotton cloth woven by machinery in the town. The buildings are still standing, though used for other purposes. Captain Newton was a son of Nathan and Polly (Nichols) Newton, of South- boro, Massachusetts, grandson of Nathan and Lydia ( Hager) Newton, great-grandson of Jonathan and Bethia (Rice) Newton. Jonathan was son of Moses and Joanna (Larkin) Newton, and grandson of Richard Newton, the emigrant, who settled in that part of Marlboro, which many years later (1726) became the town of Southboro.

Mrs. Garfield died January 27, 1903, at the age of seventy-one years, 'her married life lacking less than a year of reaching the golden anniversary. A woman of refinement and rare gentleness of char- acter, she was a devoted wife and mother. After a life crowned with usefulness the memory of her virtues and inany good qualities is treasured as a rich inheritance by surviving friends. The children of James F. D. and Emily C. Garfield were: Char- lotte Gertrude, born July 7. 1856, died October II, 1859. Emma Susie, born June 2, 1861, married, October 9, 1882, William Ashley Blodgett, son of Warren Kendall and Minerva ( Paddock) Blodgett, of Boston. They reside in Lincoln, Massachusetts, and have had three children: Emily Louise, born July 6, 1883: Margaret Paddock, born November 21. 1885: Helen Newton, born August 19, 1887, died March 28, 1880. Mary Louise, born October 1, 1863. Edmund Dana, born October 12, 1866. Theresa Newton, born February 18, 1879. The Garfield fan- ily are of undoubted Puritan ancestry.

(1) Edward Garfield, the emigrant ancestor of James Freeman Dana Garfield, of Fitchburg, was born in England about 1675. It has been difficult for genealogists to believe that the long career of this emigrant belongs to one and the same man, and in some cases he is given a hypothetical son by the same name. Edward Garfield was a proprietor of Watertown, Massachusetts, and was admitted a free- man May 6, 1635. His wife Rebecca, the mother of all his children, died April 16, 1061, aged about fifty-five years. lle married ( second) Joanna, widow of Thomas Buckminster. Edward Garfield died June 14, 1672, aged about ninety-seven years. His will was dated December 30, 1668, and proved August II, 1672. He hequeathed to his sons Samuel, Joseph, and Benjamin Garfield; daughters Rebecca Mixer and Abigail Garfield, grandchildren Sarah Parkhurst and Sarah and Ephraim Garfield, and to his wife. The children of Edward and Rebecca Garfield were: Samuel, married Susanna -, who died May 2, 1652: he married (second), September 28, 1652, Mary Benfield. He settled in Lancaster. and had descendants who settled in Shrewsbury and vicinity. Edward, born in England, a proprietor of Watertown, died before his father. Joseph, born in Watertown. September II, 1637, admitted a freeman April 18, 1690, died August 14, 1691 ; married Sarah Gale. Rebecca, born March 10, 1641, died March 16, 1683; married, January 10, 1662, Isaac Mixer, Jr. She died March 16, 1683. Benjamin, born 1643, admitted a freeman April 18, 1690; died November 28, 1717, aged seventy-four years. Abigail, born June 29, 1646, married about 1670, John Parkhurst, and died October 18, 1726. Edward Garfield was selectman in 1638. His son, Edward Garfield, proba- bly was selectman in 1655 and 1662. The son Ed- ward may, however, have died early, as there is no trace of his descendants or children.

(II) Benjamin Garfield, son of Edward Gar- field (I), was born in Watertown,. Massachusetts, 1643, and died there November 28, 1717. He repre- sented Watertown nine years in the general court between 1689 and 1717. He received numerous municipal appointments. He was a selectman in 1689 and 1692, and was prominent in the church as well as the town government, and was captain of the militia company of Watertown.

He married (first) Mehitable Hawkins, daugh- ter of Timothy Hawkins. She died December 9, 1675. He married (second), January 17, 1678, Eliza- beth Bridge, daughter of Matthew and Anna (Dan- forth) Bridge, and granddaughter of Deacon John Bridge, of Cambridge, who came from England with Hooker's company in 1633. John Bridge was one of the few that remained at Cambridge when Hooker removed to Hartford. A bronze statue to his mem- ory has been erected on Cambridge common. Cap- tain Benjamin Garfield died November 28, 1717. His widow, Elizabeth, married (second), October 25. 1720, Daniel Harrington, of Lexington. She was born August 17. 1659. The children of Benjamin and Mehitable ( Hawkins) Garfield were: Benja- min, born May 8, 1674. Benoni, born December 4, 1675, died July 25, 1725; married Abigail Stearns ; she died July 13, 1710. The children of Benjamin and Elizabethi (Bridge) Garfield were: Elizabeth, born June 30, 1670, died September 25, 1700. Thomas, born December 12, 1680, of Weston. Anna, horn June 2, 1683. married, 1703, Deacon Benjamin Brown, of Weston; had eleven children. She died September 13. 1737. Abigail, born July 13, 1685.

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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 16

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