Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. IV, Part 65

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 65

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In 1823 Alvah Crocker came from Franklin to Fitchburg for the purpose of starting on his own ac- count in the manufacture of paper. He worked there in a paper mill for a couple of years. Then he built his first paper mill at Fitchburg, in what is now known as Crockerville, in 1826, and started in busi- ness on a modest scale. He was severely handi- capped from the first, as he began with borrowed capital. In 1827-28 he suffered from disastrous freshets which injured his mill. At the same time he found himself obliged to introduce machinery in place of the old methods of hand labor in making paper. He was still further embarrassed by the prejudice among the truly good of the Puritan town of Fitchburg who feared that an increased popula- tion might vitiate the morals and lower the high standards of virtue in the town. The leading citi- zens were short-sighted and narrow. They had no sympathy for him and no wish to see him succeed in his struggle to establish a permanent industry in the town.

At first he had been selling his goods to the com- mission houses in Boston. In the midst of his diffi- culties he began to sell direct to the consumers, shipping his goods by the truck-load to Boston. He had an uphill task with a debt of $26,000 to pay, $12,000 on the original investment, $4.000 to com- mission merchants and $10,000 for new machinery. He weathered the disastrous years of panic in the thirties with difficulty, but he pushed ahead, paid his debts and laid the foundations of his great business and large fortune. He was insolvent for years and few men would have had the grit to continue. He

made success out of failure. He built more paper mills and enlarged his business. He became inter- ested in railroad construction and foresaw the in- portance of the railroad in manufacturing towns.

Mr. Crocker identified his private interests with the welfare of Fitchburg, thoroughly realizing that whatever would increase the population and the re- sources of the town would benefit each citizen. In 1833 Fitchburg entered upon a career of prosperity. It had an academy, a newspaper, three churches, sev- eral mills and factories and best of all a few enter- prising citizens. Mr. Crocker was employed by the town in 1834 to build a road farther up the Nashua valley, but he found the land owners blocking the enterprise and asking exorbitant prices for the necessary land. He concluded that it was wiser to buy the whole farms than the strip for the road and he himself bought all the land as far as the town of Westminster line, then gave to Fitchburg the land needed for the street. Thus he not only set an example of civic virtue, but he acquired the property on which the foundations of his fortune were laid, for all the mills of Crocker, Burbank & Co. were located in this valley later. About this time the first machine shop and foundry was located in Fitchburg, and the future of the town as a manu- facturing centre depended more and more on the building of railroads to connect it with other cen- tres of population.

Mr. Crocker was sent to the general court in 1835 as representative. He lost no opportunity to arouse interest in his scheme for a railroad con- necting Fitchburg and Boston. He told the people of Fitchburg and vicinity in so many words: "Northern Massachusetts must have steam connec- tion with tide water or pale away into utter insig- nificance." He made at his own expense two surveys of routes, both of which have since been built upon. In 1836 he returned to the legislature. He helped to carry through the vote of a million dollars to com- plete the Western Railroad, now the section of the Boston Albany between Worcester and Albany. He was compelled by business adversity to let the rail- road project rest for a time, but when prosperity returned he was re-elected to the general court and set about with renewed energy to get the railroad built. His original idea had been to connect with the Boston & Lowell at Lowell, but in 1842 he ad- vocated boldly an independent route direct between Fitchburg and Boston. He succeeded in getting a charter against the influence of the cities of Lowell and Worcester, and amid sneers and opposition on all sides. He was denounced as a humbug and im- postor, but he sold the stock, built the road, and March 5, 1845, rode into the town of Fitchburg on the first locomotive. He was the first president of the railroad, but in June, 1846, he resigned to accept the presidency of the Vermont & Massachusetts Railroad, where his energy and resourcefulness were needed. When the railroad was completed under great difficulties, owing to lack of funds, he resigned, but his interest in railroad projects did not flag.

The construction of the Fitchburg road had greatly benefited Mr. Crocker as well as the town. He became highly prosperous. The road itself has always been profitable. His judgment was seldom questioned after his triumph with the Fitchburg railroad. The stone depot was erected on land owned by Mr. Crocker in what was called the Old City. From 1847 to 1850 he was interested in vari-

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ous railroad enterprises, especially in the railroad from Troy to Boston and in the Hoosae Tunnel project. The success of the daring project to bore the hills of western Massachusetts to make a path for the locomotives is due more to his interest and energy than to that of any other one influence. He used his personal efforts every way to educate the publie to the use and value of railroads. In 1847-48 he found it wise to go on the lecture platform to convince the conservative classes of New England of the necessity of railroad construction. He leet- ured in New York and Vermont Hundreds of times on this subject. He was instrumental in getting the commonwealth to assist in the tunnel and in financing the railroad. It is pleasant to know that the Hoosac tunnel was all and more than he had predicted in the way of a public benefit; it is also well to note that the transaction was profitable to the commonwealth as an investment.

Mr. Crocker had prospered in business except for a disastrous fire in 1842 from 1837 to 1849. 11e had built more paper mills, owned a chair factory and machine shop and had extensive interests in the town. November 9, 18449, the largest fire ever suf- fered in Fitchburg destroyed the chair factory and machine shop among other buildings, and Mr. Crocker had to devote all his energies to repairing the damage to his business and recoup his losses. He left public life and railroad business for a time. In 1850 he entered partnership with Gardner S. Bur- bank, nephew of General Leonard Burbank, for whom Mr. Crocker had worked in the first paper mill of Fitchburg back in 1823. At that time the capacity of the paper mill of Mr. Crocker was one thousand five hundred pounds a day. Charles T. Crocker, son of Alvah Crocker, was admitted to the firm in 1855, and George F. Fay and Samuel E. Crocker in 1863. Mr. Burbank retired from the firm in 1866 and in 1874 Alvah Crocker died. The business was carried on by the surviving members under the same name until 1879, when two new mem- bers were admitted, George H. Crocker, son of Sam- uel E. Crocker, and Alvah Crocker, son of Charles T. Crocker. (For later changes in the firm see sketch of Charles T. Crocker.) From 1872 until recently the offices of the firm were in the building form- erly owned by the Fitelburg National Bank.

The possessions of Crocker, Burbank & Com- pany at the time of Alvah Crocker's death are thus described by Eben Bailey in his sketch of Fitchburg in 1879:

"The Snow Mill or Upper Mill was built in 1830 by Samuel S. Crocker. Benjamin Snow, Jr., bought it in 1847 and he and his partner, Samuel Whitney, sold it in 1862 to Crocker, Burbank & Co. The Cascade Mill was built about 1847. It was owned in that year by Samuel A. Wheeler, George Brown and Joel Davis. It was afterwards bought by Frank- lin Wyman, E. B. Tileston and Jonathan Ware, who sold it to Crocker, Burbank & Co. in 1863. The Upton Mill on the road to William Woodbury's was built in 1851 by Edwin Upton and Alvah Crocker and came into the possession of Crocker, Burbank & Co. in 1859. The Lyon Mill was built in 1853 by M. G. & B. F. Lyon and bought of Moses G. Lyon in 1869 by Crocker, Burbank & Co. The Whitney Mill in Rockville was built by Whit- ney & Bogart in 1847. It was afterward owned by Crocker, Burbank & Co., then by Samuel Whitney and later by William Baldwin, Jr., who sold it in 1868 to Crocker, Burbank & Co. The Stone Mill

below the Snow and Cascade Mills was built in 1854. One half of it was owned for some time by Samuel A. Wheeler and Joel Ames, and the other half by Alvalı Crocker. Crocker, Burbank & Co. came into possession of one half in 1864 and Alvah Crocker sold the remaining half to Crocker, Burbank & Co. in 1871." The Snow Mill was destroyed by fire October 15, 1884, at a loss of $35,000.

The leading ambition of Mr. Crocker's life in his later years was the development of a great manu- facturing centre at Turner's Falls. He wished to see the magnificent water power fully utilized and a city rivaling Lowell and Holyoke built at Turner's Falls on the Connecticut. His ambition is bound to be gratified in time, although he did not live to carry out all the projects he had in mind. While searching for a more direct route between Greenfield and Miller's Falls than that followed by the Vermont & Massachusetts Railroad at that time, he had ob- served the possibilities in the location and water power of Turner's Falls and set about the task of building a great manufacturing city there. This great project occupied the largest share of his at- tention the remainder of his life. In company with other capitalists whom he invited to join him he organized the Turner's Falls Company in 1866 and bought the property and franchises of an old organ- ization known as "The Proprietors of the Upper Loeks and Canals of the Connecticut River, in the County of Hampshire." The new company also pur- chased large plots of land in the town of Montague on the river front near the falls. A dam having a fall of thirty feet and a capacity of 30,000 horse power was next built. From then until the day of his death Mr. Crocker worked hard for the pros- perity of the new town, spending large sums of money in promoting its interests and sparing no ef- fort to enlist the aid and interest of other capital- ists and manufacturers. Incomplete as was his work there Turner's Falls owes its existence as a town to him. He was interested in the famous Keith Paper Mill there, one of the largest mills for making fine paper in the country. He was inter- ested in the Montague Mills there and was instru- mental in indueing the removal of the John Russell Cutlery Works from Greenfield to Turner's Falls. He organized and was president of the First Na- tional Bank of Turner's Falls, now the Crocker Na- tional. He was also instrumental in organizing the savings bank, which has been named for him- the Crocker Institution for Savings. Charles T. Crocker succeeded his father as director of the na- tinal bank and trustee of the savings bank.

Mr. Crocker did not lose his interest and confi- dence in Fitchburg. While developing his great pro- ject at Turner's Falls his interests in Fitchburg were larger than ever. He was one of the ineor- porators of the Rollstone National Bank of Fitch- burg in 1849, director the remainder of his life, and president since 1870, when the first president, Gen- eral Wood resigned. In politics Mr. Crocker was Republican after that party was organized. He served the state not only as representative as already indicated in IS35-36-42-43, but in the state senate in 1862, and as commissioner for the construction of the Hoosac tunnel under Hoosae Mountain. lIe was from his first residence in Fitchburg active in town affairs. His first office was hog reeve in 1830. He was in 1831 a tithingman, one of the last to hold this ancient office. It may be said that he was in constant service from 1832 to the day of his death

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on important special committees for the town and city. He was elected a fireward from 1835 until the fire department was organized in 1851, when he was elected one of the engineers. His connection with the fire department continued for a number of years and his interest in it never ceased. Few men re- ceived more setbacks from destructive fires than he. Mr. Crocker served the town in 1838 and for many years afterward as moderator, an honor paid in Mas- sachusetts towns to the leading citizen. He was on the school committee in 1839 and 1840. He was in the militia company in 1843.

Mr. Crocker was chosen in 1872 to fill the unex- pired term in Congress of William B. Washburn, when he was elected governor of the Commonwealth. He took his seat January 2, 1872. He was re-elected to the forty-third congress, receiving 14,919 votes against 4,588 for his Democratic opponent, but died suddenly before his second term began, December 20, 1874. The funeral was held in Christ Church, Fitchburg, in charge of Rev. Henry L. Jones, of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, a former pastor. In the House of Representatives, February 23, 1875, Congressman Henry L. Dawes, of Massachusetts, said of Mr. Crocker: "The implicit confidence of his fellow citizens in his spotless integrity as well as his sound judgment and unusual foresight, called him most frequently to positions of very delicate trust and great responsibility which he held from earliest manhood to the day of his death.

"Mr. Crocker was in politics a Whig, later a Republican. Bringing to the discharge of every po- litical duty growing out of those relations the same enthusiasm and zeal which characterized his every undertaking he was, nevertheless, no partisan and always followed his convictions rather than his party. He came to Congress late in life and was not per- mitted to remain long enough in his work here to leave that personal and permanent impression upon the administrative policy or legislation of the country which experience often brings to others. But he was not idle here. Indeed, he could not be idle any- where. In the committee room, as well as upon the floor of the house and always in consultation, his practical knowledge and wise counsel were in- valuable while his genial disposition and flow of conversation made him a general favorite. It was truthfully said of him that he went directly at a thing in congress as he would in his own business affairs and in an earnest and homely way they were little accustomed to witness.

"Mr. Crocker was a remarkable man in all the variety of pursuits of life into which his tireless spirit and iron will led him to embark. A larger measure of success and a more wide-spread influ- ence and abiding impression were attendant upon his career in life than mark the path of most of his contemporaries. The tendency of his whole life was for good. He was a generous giver and especi- ally delighted in aiding young men of limited means."

On the same occasion General Benjamin F. But- Jer, then a congressman from Massachusetts, said : "An ardent and patriotic friend of the Union, on the beaking out of the war, Mr. Crocker took the most active and intense interest in all measures for the suppression of the rebellion. Too far advanced in years to take part in arms, lie exerted himself to send forward troops and while the war was raging, he made a voyage to England and .spent very con- siderable time in impressing on the manufacturers of England the condition of our country and the

necessity that there should be a community of in- terest and thought and mutual fellowship between the two countries that represented the industries of the people. When the war was over, not unmindful of those who had gone to the front at his solicita- tion to battle for the country and laid down their lives in its service on the battle field, he exerted himself with accustomed power and vigor, con- tributing largely of his own means to provide that the fallen heroes of his city should have one of the most elaborate and costly of the many monuments erected to the memory of those who fell in battle in that war. Fortunately he lived long enough to see it completed, having made the address at its dedication a few months before his decease."

The tribute of the Fitchburg Sentinel was as fol- lows: "The death of Hon. Alvah Crocker is very sensibly felt throughout this commonwealth. No man who has led the active business life he has can be suddenly taken away without producing a shock. Mr. Crocker has been an indomitable work- er, as many an enterprise whose successful carrying on all now concede to have been the chief cause of Fitchburg's prosperity and whose inception and completion were due to him more than to any other, attest. We doubt if an instance can be found in Massachusetts where one man has contributed more toward putting a village or town on the road to prosperity. He has left his work behind him. The amount of his contributions to the material devel- opment of our city can hardly be overestimated. It may be said that in benefiting others he has not failed to take care of himself. But he had the faculty of seeing at a glance that, while certain public im- provements and the institution of new industries inure to the benefit of the community at large, those who recognize the fact and promptly act in accord with the new order of things, were the most cer- tain to reap the harvest. It was this business sagac- ity, accompanied by untiring energy that enabled the deceased to become a millionaire. By helping the general public he helped himself. He opened the fountains of prosperity and while inviting oth- ers to embark on the stream he had helped to set in motion, he did not fail to embark himself."

Mr. Crocker was married three times. He mar- ried (first), August 14, 1829, Abigail Fox, daughter of Jonathan and Sybil Fox, of Jaffrey, New Hamp- shire. She died at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Au- gust 21, 1848, aged thirty-seven years, two months, twelve days, leaving five children, four of whom were daughters. He married (second), April 9, 1851, Lucy A. Fay, who died at Fitchburg, January 29, 1872. He married (third), October 20, 1872, Minerva Cushing, born November, 1824, and is at present living at the homestead on Main street, Fitchburg. The children of Alvah and Abigail ( Fox) Crocker were: Harriet Newell, born in Fitchburg, December 14, 1830, married, June 2, 1858, William B. Lyon, son of Moses and Mary C. ( Wood ) Lyon, of Gardner; Charles T., of whom later; Mary Eloise, born 1837, married, January 28, 1858, William Roscoe Lyon, born 1836, son of William P. Lyon, a stationer at Haverstraw, New York; Mar- garette B., born November 15. 1841, died at Fitch- burg, August 29, 1851; Louisa T., born February 8, 1847, died December 13, 1853.

(IV) Phineas A. Crocker, son of Samuel Crocker (3), was born at Leominster, Massachu- setts, October 21, 1804. He married Elvira K. Far- well, daughter of George and Milly Farwell, Au- gust 21, 1828, at Lunenburg, Massachusetts. He

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was a town officer of Fitchburg in 1829. He died June 8, 1860. She died January 25, 1894, aged seven- ty-six years, four months, 25 days.

(IV) Chandler Crocker, third child of Deacon Samuel Crocker (3), was born at Leominster, Mas- sachusetts, November 3, 1806. He was the first secretary of the First Baptist Church of Fitchburg, in 1833, and resigned February 6, 1836. He mar- ried (first) Mahaleth Searle, of Fitchburg, June 26, 1834, at Fitchburg. He married (second) Caroline Rockwood, of Groton, September 29. 1847. The children of Chandler and Mahalatlı ( Searle) Crocker were: Mahala Abigail, born October 9, 1835; Mary Ann, April 6, 1838; Frances Jane, April 20, 1841. (IV) Veramus Emmons Crocker, fifth child of Deacon Samuel Crocker (3), was born in Leom- inster, Massachusetts, February 7, 1812. He mar- ried Hannah F. Putman, March 30, 1833. at Leom- inster. Both died at Fitchburg in 1839. Their chil- dren were: Samuel Emmons, of whom later; Julia M., married George Whitney and resides at Leom- inster, Massachusetts. Abel Thurston was appointed their guardian November 6, 1838.

(IV) Samuel Somerby Crocker, son of Deacon Samuel Crocker (3), was born at Leominster, Mas- sachusetts, October 30, 1813. He was the sixth of seven sons and was born on the old homestead in North Leominster. He began to work in the paper mill and helped support the family at the age of ten years. At the age of sixteen he entered the em- ploy of his brother, Alvah Crocker, who had in 1826 built a paper mill in what is now called Crock- erville in West Fitchburg. After two years he de- cided to learn the carpenter trade and served an apprenticeship with Justin Stearns. He followed his trade for a time, working usually as a mill- wright, however. In 1839 he bought the water power of what is at present the upper mill of Crocker, Burbank & Co. The mill at this point has been burned and rebuilt since then. Mr. Crocker carried on the manufacture of paper at this mill successfully for a number of years. In 1853 he sold the mill to Benjamin Snow, Jr., and removed to Lawrence, Massachusetts. He built the first paper mill at that city. He carried it on successfully for twelve years when he returned to Leominster, where in 1865 he built the Crocker Woolen Mill and added a flourishing industry to the business of the town. He built a brick four-set woolen mill, and with Solon Perry and Frank T. Crocker, be- gan the manufacture of woolen goods. This privil- ege had been used since 1850 for the manufacture of horn buttons, combs, etc., by Carter, Patch & Cowdrey. After a few years he gave up the woolen business and in partnership with his son, Daniel Crocker, under the name of the Crocker Manufac- turing Company, most of the stock of which was owned in the Crocker family, began the manufacture of paper at Holyoke, Massachusetts. Samuel S. Crocker was president and Daniel Crocker treasurer and clerk of the corporation. At the death of Dan- iel in February. 1887, his youngest son, Clifton Alvah Crocker, succeeded to the position of treas- urer. He was interested in various other business enterprises with his brother, Alvah Crocker.

He was when young a member of the Calvin- istic Congregational Church. He was one of the constituent members of the Baptist Church of Fitch- burg. He was later deacon of the First Baptist Church of Lawrence and of the Second Baptist

Church of Lawrence also. He was deacon of the Central Baptist Church of Leominster, where he lived many years. Altogether he was teacher or superintendent in the Sunday schools, to which he belonged for a period of seventy years, during most of that time.

He married, August 7, 1837, at Leominster, Martha E. Putnam. Their children were: Daniel Putnam, married, April 17. 1862, Caroline E. Litch- field, daughter of James D. and Elizabeth ( Thurs- ton) Litchfield; Daniel was associated in business with his father; he died at Holyoke, Massachusetts, February, 1887; Frederick, of whom later; Clifton Alvah, of whom later; Frank Thomas, born at Leominster, July 4, 1844: John H. born at Leomin- ster, May 11, 1848, died there August 24, 1849; Sam- uel S., Jr., born at Leominster, January 15, 1850, died there October 17, 1851; Martha Elizabeth, born at Leominster, January 28, 1851.

(IV) William P. Crocker, seventh child of Deacon Samuel Crocker (3), was born at Leomins- ter, Massachusetts, November 25, 1817. He mar- ried in Lunenburg, Massachusetts, November 25, 1841. Mary A. Holman, daughter of Ira and Eliza ( Marshall) Holman. He was associated in business for many years with his brother Alvah. He died at Montague (Turner's Falls), Massachusetts, June 30, 1892. His wife died January 25, 1901, aged seven- ty-seven years, eleven months, eight days. Both are buried at Leominster.

(V) Charles T. Crocker, only son of Hon. Alvah Crocker (4), was born in Fitchburg, Massa- chusetts, March 2, 1833. He was educated in the public schools of his native town and when a young man entered his father's paper mill and learned the business thoroughly. At the death of his father he became the head of the firm of Crocker, Burbank & Co., and succeeded him in many other positions of trust and responsibility. The greatest success of the firm in the paper manufacturing has been during the past thirty years. In the past few years Mr. Crocker has retired from the more active duties of business. He is a director and vice-president of the Crocker National Bank at Turner's Falls, Massachusetts.

He married (first). October 14. 1857, Helen E. Tufts, daughter of William Tufts, at Charlestown, Massachusetts. She died in Fitchburg, June 21, 1877. He married ( second), June 1. 18SI, Helen T. Bartow, daughter of Samuel Bartow, of Brooklyn, New York. Children of Charles T. and Helen E. (Tufts) Croker were: Alvah Tufts, born Au- gust 25, 1858, of whom later; Emma Louise, born August 2, 1860, married Rev. C. Smith, and have four children : Kendall K., Harold C., Reginald H., and Cecil Smith; William Tufts, born September 9, 1862, clergyman, resides in Brooklyn, New York; Kendall Fox, born October 144, 1863, of whom later ; Charles T., Jr., born November 10, 1866, of whom later ; Helen, born October 21, 1869, died September 14, 1870; Paul, born September 21, 1872, unmarried. The children of Charles T. and Helen T. (Bartow) Crocker were: Edith B., born 1885; Bartow C., born 1886.

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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 65

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