History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 138

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1818

USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 138

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in attaining a fortune and a good name. He used his wealth for his own and others' good. He possessed one virtue which was pre-eminent, charity. He was truly benevolent and generous to a fault, and was a dispenser of charity all the days of his life. Many a poor plodder of earth will sadly miss his beneficence. He was unostentatious in his distributions to the poor and needy. Of these he kept no record on earth, but are they not recorded in the book of God's remem- brance ? His fellow-citizens, reposing confidence in his integrity and honesty, selected him for places of honor and trust. For nearly twenty years he was a director of a banking institution, and held many other offices. As a friend, he was constant and sin- cere; as an adviser, he was conscientious and true ; as a neighbor, kind and obliging. ... No business man has gone from earth leaving a purer record, a nobler work finished, a name more beloved, or a character more unblemished than he."

After Mr. Richardson's death his son Clarence con- tinued the business under the same name. In April, 1882, the factory was again burned, and the business was removed to the Whiting Manufacturing Com- pany's building, where the business is continued prosperously, awaiting the erection of a new factory.

WILLARD ROBINSON.

Willard Robinson was born in Attleborough, Mass., June 15, 1799. He and his father, Obed Robinson, were for years identified with the pioneer manufac- turing of Attleborough, and a personal history of the family seems not inappropriate in this connection.

Obed Robinson, one of the founders of the now extensive jewelry business of this town, was at first a blacksmith. On the outbreak of the American Rev- olution, however, he began the manufacture of gun- locks, under a sub-contract to furnish them for the Continental army. This did not prove remunerative, and at the close of the war he began to make kitchen clocks. He first established himself as a manufac- turer of jewelry at Attleborough in 1807, employing David Brown, a skilled workman in that art. From this he began to make gilt buttons, which business soon became very prosperous. His three sons, Otis, Richard, and Willard, learned of their father his trade, and Willard, the youngest, bringing to the business a natural aptitude for mechanics, entered his father's workshop, and manifested much skill and paid special attention to the manufacture of gilt buttons. In 1821 he started in this branch for him- self, and ultimately became very largely engaged in the button industry, and formed a partnership with his brother Richard, under the firm-name of R. & W. Robinson. Their operations were extended, and prosperity followed their earnest and skilled labors. Willard constructed new dies and introduced im- proved machinery, and having seen an "iris" button, he set to work to discover the method of producing

it. In this he succeeded, and its manufacture was added to the features of the enterprise. Mr. Robin- son gave the name of " opal button" to his new product. Richard Robinson died in 1838, and Wil- lard Robinson continued the business under the old firm-name for the five succeeding years. In 1843 the fashion of gilt and brass buttons passed away, except for military clothing, black buttons becoming the style. This deprived Mr. Robinson for a while of a market, and he was forced to suspend operations.

Before Mr. Robinson's failure, Mr. Hatch, a skilled mechanic in his service, had conceived the idea of a machine capable of doing all parts of the work on a trowsers-button, beginning with the tin in bulk and following step by step to completion, without alter- ation in the adjustment or automatic working. By the combined study and experiments of Mr. Hatch and Mr. Robinson, a machine was perfected and pat- ented. When the style of buttons changed, Mr. Robinson saw that this " Hatch pantaloon-button ma- chine" might come into profitable use, and, forming a partnership with Mr. Hatch, he entered into the manufacture of trowsers-buttons with it. During the civil war they filled many contracts with the United States government for these buttons, one great ad- vantage of which lies in the fact that they do not cut the threads by which they are attached to the gar- ment. On the death of Mr. Hatch, Mr. Robinson, purchasing his interest, conducted the business alone on a large scale until his death, Dec. 24, 1879. It is now carried on by his son Arthur. During his life Mr. Robinson received five medals from different ex- hibitions, testimonials of value to the merits of his goods.

He married, Oct. 25, 1825, Rebecca W., daughter of Edward and Amy Richards, who was born at Attleborough, March 31, 1805. Their children were Ellen R. (married John C. Douglass, of Leavenworth, Kan. She died Nov. 8, 1880, leaving two children, Willard R. and Harriet R.), Jarris W. (married J. Amelia Williams, of Pawtucket. She died Dec. 24, 1873, leaving four children, Gertrude A., Willard H., Edith J., and Ellen L.), Isabel E. (married Joseph Cushman, and has one child, Willard R.), Arthur B. (married Abby B. White, of Fall River, who died Oct. 2, 1867), AAdelaide R. (married M. B. Mackrith, and has one child, Fannie).

Mr. Robinson was not only a representative manu- facturer, he was more. He made his mark in every sphere with which he was connected. A public- spirited citizen, he did much to benefit and improve his town. The beautiful village of Robinsonville is largely indebted to him for its growth and prosperity, and had he been willing to sacrifice private interests for public positions, he could many times have occu- pied them, for he was often urged to accept them. A kind husband and father, it was in the home life that his nature blossomed in fullest perfection, al- though when he passed from life a large circle of

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friends sincerely mourned his loss. In political creed Whig and Republican, he stood with earnestness by the Union and the cause of humanity, and never deviated from the support of law, order, and justice. His widow survives him, and, like her lamented hus- band, occupies a high place in the hearts of the com- munity.

THE BLACKINTON FAMILY.

William Blackinton, son of Col. Willard and Clar- issa (Sweet) Blackinton, was born June 10, 1822, in Attleborough, Mass., where for several generations his ancestors have been prominent and honored citi- zens.

Pentecost Blackinton, the first of the name in At- tleborough, came from Marblehead about 1700. His wife's name was Mary. He had at least four children attaining maturity,-Pentecost2, Mary, Benjamin, born in Marblehead, Hepzibeth, born in Attleborough in December, 1702. He had two acres of ground, cot- tage, and orchard on Nine-Mile River in 1711. He was a man of push and decision, and served his day and generation well, dying Sept. 24, 1715. Pentecost 2 married Rebecca Figgett, and had eight children,- Pentecost3, born 1716; Rebecca, born 1717 ; George, born 1720; Anne, born 1722; Mary, born 1724; John, born 1727; Othniel, born 1729; Peter, born 1731. The father of Deacon William Blackinton, grand- father of the present William Blackinton, was Peter. He was a farmer, and was possessed of prudence, thrift, and economy, and was a good citizen, law- abiding and God-fearing, and died at a good old age. William Blackinton, born Nov. 2, 1758, was a manu- facturer of guns during the Revolution, in which he also was a soldier, and wounded in battle of White Plains. After the war he became interested in cot- ton-mills with his son William, first at North Attle- borough, next at Falls village. He was a farmer also, with quite an estate in Wrentham, on which he always resided. He was known to every one as Dea- con Blackinton. He married, Nov. 29, 1781, Eliza- beth Babcock, of Westerly, or Hopkinton, R. I., born Jan. 29, 1764. Their children attaining maturity were William, born Sept. 20, 1782; Virgil, born May 12, 1796, married Hannah, daughter of Obed Robin- son, and was connected with Willard and Richard Robinson in manufacturing buttons; Jason, born Aug. 24, 1798, a graduate of Brown University, who, . after receiving a legal education, passed most of his life as teacher in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee; and Willard. Deacon Blackinton died of the terrible disease, the "plague," about 1816. He left his sons about three thousand dollars each, a handsome prop- erty for those days.

COL. WILLARD BLACKINTON, born Oct. 26, 1800, after his father's sudden decease, remained with his brother William, a farmer, on the old homestead ; re- ceived the advantages of a common-school and aca- demic education ; had a mercantile taste, and early

commenced business for himself as a merchant in general country trade at Attleborough. Continuing this a few years, he began in 1827 the manufacture of power-loom shuttles. This soon became an extensive business, filling, as it did, a long-felt want, and fur- nished goods to parties not only throughout New England but all the way west to Ohio, and south to Georgia and Alabama. He married, in 1821, Clarissa, daughter of Amos and Sally Sweet, of an old and honorable family of Attleborough. They had six children,- William and Willard (twins), Clarissa E. (married N. C. Luther, and lives in Attleborongh), John, Charles A., Amos S.

Mr. Blackinton was not merely a manufacturer, he was more. During fifty years of his life he was one of Attleborough's most active and honored citizens in almost every line of enterprise, business activity, and public service, and few of her sons have ever been more successful or so fully executed public trusts. In early life he took great interest in militia matters. Of active and vigorous temperament, large, and physi- cally well proportioned, with a resonant, full voice, he presented a fine appearance, and held the position of adjutant and colonel of a regiment of troopers for years. The same qualities brought him into position as moderator of town meetings, and chairman of popular or political assemblages, and these places he was almost universally called on to fill. He held at various times every office in the gift of his fellow- townsmen, served with credit in both branches of the State Legislature, and never did malice breathe one word against his honor or integrity. In politics a Whig and Republican, he was ardent in support of his convictions, and probably no better evidence can be given of his personal popularity and the esteem in which he was held than to state the fact that when- ever there were doubts of the success of his party in an election he was the one to be given the nomina- tion, and never was he defeated. He was a valued member of the Masonic fraternity, was Master of Bristol Lodge in the dark days when the Morgan excitement spread anti-masonry like wild-fire across the country, causing an almost entire suspension of lodges; and when, after a long torpidity, his lodge was revived, he was again elected to the same position. In these days, when chicanery, malfeasance in office, embezzlements, breaches of trusts, and frauds are so prevalent, it is pleasant to write of such a man as he who kept himself free from any kind of stain on his integrity. Of great business capacity and pre-emi- nent ability, he was of a social nature, a perfect gen- tleman in his intercourse with others, a tender hus- band, a loving father, and none had a greater number or stronger friends than he.

He was postmaster at Attleborough for years, re- ceiving his first appointment in 1835, and was uni- versally popular. He was cautious in adopting new ideas, weighed all matters in the balance of a fine judgment, and after forming an opinion was very de-

Willard Blackviton

Multiam Blachuitori

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ATTLEBOROUGH.

cided, rarely finding any reason to alter it. He was liberal to suffering, and in support of religious and charitable objects, and both he and his wife were worthy members of the Second Congregational Church. He was often requested to advise in busi- ness affairs, and was a valuable counselor, and always in the interests of peace. He was successful as a financier, was a director and one of the chief origi- nators of the old Attleborough Bank, and one of the promoters of the First National Bank of Attle- borough, of which he was at once elected director and president. He died suddenly of heart-disease while sitting in a meeting of the board of directors at the bank, and acting as president, Jan. 1, 1877.

WILLIAM BLACKINTON had an academic education, and early engaged with his father in shuttle manu- facturing, which was carried on for ten years as W. Blackinton & Sons, the sons being William, John, and Willard. (Charles afterwards bought an interest, and now (1882), as sole proprietor, conducts the busi- ness under the original firm-name.) About 1834, William struck out for himself, and went into cot- ton manufacturing, and for three years continued this at Attleborough and Pawtucket. This was not remunerative, and in 1857 he commenced to make jewelry at Attleborough. His business was small until 1869, when he took up the making of plated chains, and originated a new line of these goods, which speedily proved popular, and was in great demand, increasing his business rapidly. From this small beginning, under Mr. Blackinton's personal superintendence, it has grown to be one of the largest and most profitable businesses in the town, with an office at No. 11 Maiden Lane, New York City. The specialties are chains and lockets. It was con- ducted by Mr. Blackinton alone until 1873, when his oldest son, William S., became a partner, and the firm was changed to W. & S. Blackinton. In 1881 his son Lewis became a partner. His two other sons are also engaged in the shop. They employ about one hundred and sixty-five operatives, and do a busi- ness of nearly four hundred thousand dollars. This has been built by the careful attention of Mr. Black- inton, and he has shown great business ability and sagacity in bringing it to its present high standing as a firm. He has worked himself, always saw that his goods were the best of their kind, personally super- intended each department, was always prompt to meet every engagement, was truthful and honest, and won the esteem of all with whom he dealt. This is the key to his success, and shows that honesty, skill properly applied, and personal industry and business integrity will always deserve and win success. He has been a man of one work, has never had time nor inclination to drift into politics or speculation, and stands to-day one of the most liberal and public- spirited citizens of his native town. In home life he is a loving and kind husband and father, and his home shows the evidences of refinement and taste.

Mr. Blackinton married Rebecca C., daughter of Josiah and Rowena (Tingley) Allen. Her mother was a Cushman, of the family of that name so promi- nent in the annals of Plymouth. She was born Oct. 3, 1825. Their children are William Sumner, Charles F., Harry C., Louis A., and Ada R.

Mr. Blackinton, true to his education, has never deviated from the political creed of his father, but has been a Whig and Republican through life. He has a polite address, a quick discernment of men and things, and stands high in the regards of the best element of society. He is now, with unimpaired faculties, in the mature prime of life, with many years of business life before him, and is of too active a nature to think of retiring and passing his time in idleness. Almost the only recreation he has taken was the trip to California, which he, in company with his family, enjoyed the past summer.

GEORGE PRICE.

George Price was born in North Attleborough, Nov. 14, 1806. He was the second son of Edward and Sarah (Daggett) Price. Edward Price was born in Birmingham, England, Nov. 19, 1776, came to America in 1794, and two years later married Sarah, daughter of Daniel and Margaret (Woodcock) Dag- gett. He was a skilled button manufacturer, and es- tablished at Robinsonville the first button factory in this country. He founded the business now carried on by D. Evans & Co., manufacturers of brass mili- tary buttons. He lived in different houses, but vari- ous circumstances point to the house that stood on the site of Wamsutta Block as the birthplace of his son George. He acquired a considerable property in real estate.

The early death of his father made the boyhood of George Price a laborious one. From the night when his father was suddenly stricken down, and he ran out, jacket in hand, after a physician, his life was one of care, activity, and responsibility. One year in the common school constituted his educational advan- tages. He carried on the farm in his early years, and found time as well to work at brass-founding.

He finally chose the jewelry business, which was then becoming a prominent industry, and served his apprenticeship with Draper, Tifft & Co. For a few years he carried on the manufacture of jewelry with Calvin Richards, under the firm-name of Richards & Price. In 1830 he built the shop which now stands opposite the homestead, a very large structure for those times, and the third jewelry factory erected in Attleborough. Here Mr. Price took as partner S. S. Daggett, and began the manufacture of fire-gilt jew- elry. He retired from the business in 1856, and de- voted himself to his farm, to which he had been add- ing acre after acre. From that time forth he was largely identified with town affairs.

He did not hold a town office until he was fifty years

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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

old. His career shows that twenty-five years after fifty is just as long as twenty-five years before, and that some men can employ both to equal advantage. In 1855 he was chairman of a committee appointed to consider the expediency of dividing the town. This committee reported the next spring in favor of such division, urging as a reason the fact that there were more than one thousand voters in town. Mr. Price could not see that the town was so populous as to be unwieldy, and the report did not receive his signature. From 1856 to 1860, Mr. Price served on the boards of selectmen, assessors, and overseers of the poor. From 1860 to 1863 he was town treasurer, to which office he was re-elected in 1869, and held until his death. During the winter of 1877-78, Mr. Price represented his district at the General Court.

From its start Mr. Price was one of the most earnest members and workers in the Attleborough Farmers' and Mechanics' Association. He was the first presi- dent, which office he held until January, 1877. He was among the first to move in the direction of secur- ing a hall and grounds where to hold annual fairs, and labored untiringly to secure for the association the most of its present accommodations. As earnest, also, was he ever in his endeavors to rid the associa- tion of its indebtedness, and much of his time and means were devoted to its welfare.

So far we have spoken of George Price only in his business and public life, but, as is ever the case, that life is the most real and important of which the pub- lic sees but little, and can know but little, the life each man lives in his own family. In October, 1829, Mr. Price married Martha Galusha Grant, of Swan- sea, Mass., with whom he passed more than fifty years of happy wedded life. Their children were Martha S. (who married Rev. J. D. Pierce), George G., Sarah A. (Mrs. S. N. Newcomb), William M., Corisande (Mrs. George A. Brock, deceased), Mary G. (de- ceased), Edward R. (cashier of Attleborough National Bank), Caroline T. (Mrs. Roswell Blackinton), and Alice M. Such are the salient facts of Mr. Price's family history, but how much a husband's and father's love has done to weave about each life influences, principles and aspirations that have served to elevate, comfort and control, they who stand in the deepest shadow of bereavement can best say.

If we were to select any traits of character for which Mr. Price was especially remarkable, it would be his activity, honesty, and fidelity to what he believed to be right. His mental activity was wonderful, and ceased only with his life. His honesty made him not less exacting with himself than with others. His ac- counts were always correct, his dealings always square. Crookedness in others he considered abso- lutely without excuse, and dishonesty of any kind he despised beyond measure. He was not hasty in his judgments, but a conclusion once reached by what seemed to him sufficient data was rarely abandoned. He was faithful to his convictions. This is illustrated | New England means plenty of hard work, which the

by his adherence to the doctrines of the old Whig party ; he voted the Republican ticket as the least objectionable alternative, but at heart he was a loyal Whig to the last. In religion Mr. Price upheld the fundamental principles of Christianity, yet took ex- ception to the partitions of sect, and never accepted the dogmas of any particular denomination.

He was a member of the Washington Rifle Com- pany, filling every grade from, and including, private to captain.

STEPHEN 0. STANLEY.

Sylvan Stanley, who spent a long time in searching for the genealogy of the Stanley family, says the first American Stanley, Matthew, came from England to Martha's Vineyard, from whence some of his family went to the Connecticut Colony, and one branch to Topsfield, Mass. This last produced the immediate line of ancestry of Stephen O. Stanley. "Thomas, Nathaniel, Joseph, Samuel, Jacob, and John came from Topsfield, Mass. The last three were brothers, and settled near the Falls (Falls village, Attlebor- ough). Thomas and Samuel were here in 1707." Jacob came about 1717, married Elizabeth Guild, and had children,-Jacob, Benjamin, Elizabeth, Deb- orah, Jonathan, Eliza, Solomon, Abigail, Rebecca, and one other. Benjamin married Abigail Spear, and had three children,-Jesse, Stephen, and Abigail. Stephen Stanley was born in Attleborough, was a cabinet-maker, carrying on farming also, and was agent for the Attleborough Falls Manufacturing Company for many years. He married Martha, daughter of Jonathan Stanley and Marthia Pond, and had three children,-Herman, Stephen O., and Marietta. He was an energetic and successful man, and lived to be old. His wife survived him several years.

Stephen Olney Stanley was born June 11, 1801, in Attleborough, in the house opposite No. 5 school- house, where his widow still (1883) resides. He was educated at common schools and academies, but early became clerk for his father in the company's store at Falls village, and continued in that occupation for some years, working during the summer at farm labor. He commenced housekeeping in the house where he was born, his parents living in the same house, and resided there all his days. He married, Sept. 28, 1830, Betsey S., daughter of Artemas and Betsey (Daggett) Stanley. She was born Nov. 24, 1808. Her father was born 1795, and represented Attleborough in the State Legislature in 1841-42. His father, Jonathan Stanley, son of Jacob Stanley, was deacon of the First Congregational Church of Attleborough. Mr. Stanley and his father closed their connection with the company, and Mr. Stanley devoted himself to farming, taking charge of, and finally securing the ownership of, his father's farm, and for the greater part of his life was in this avocation. Farming in

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George Price

Samuel Fisher

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sterile soil does not reward with much more than a bare subsistence, and this was the experience of Mr. Stanley. He was an honest, upright man, per- fectly "square" in all his dealings with mankind, and was said to be "too honest for his own good." He was an unassuming and useful member of so- ciety, reserved in demeanor, and enjoyed the esteem of all, and probably had not an enemy during his entire life. He attended divine service regularly, but was not a church member, as he did not consider himself good enough to belong. He died in 1875 or 1876. His children were Martha and Mary (twins), born Feb. 11, 1836 ; Stephen O. (died young), Abby (deceased), Stephen, born June 11, 1842; and Ben- jamin, born June 3, 1848. Martha married Edward C. Knapp, lives in Attleborough, on the old home- stead, and has six children ; Mary married Andrew J. Thomas, and died in 1863. Stephen lived at home until 1861, when he enlisted as musician in the Sev- enth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, and served fourteen months, when, with all other musicians, he was discharged. He returned to Attleborough, and after a few months' stay went to Taunton, then to Yonkers, N. Y., to work in an armory, next to Water- bury, Conn., where he learned the machinist's trade, and after following that about four years, went into a large brass factory there as tool-maker, and stayed until 1871, when he returned to Attleborough, and with his brother Benjamin and E. C. Knapp started the jewelry manufactory of Stanley Brothers & Co., now conducted by and known as Stanley Brothers. This has been the title since the purchase by them of Mr. Knapp's interest in 1875. Benjamin has always lived near the old home. He married Ella Briggs, and has three children. Stephen married Sylvia A. Stanley, and has two children.

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History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 138

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1818

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1818