USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 199
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140 | Part 141 | Part 142 | Part 143 | Part 144 | Part 145 | Part 146 | Part 147 | Part 148 | Part 149 | Part 150 | Part 151 | Part 152 | Part 153 | Part 154 | Part 155 | Part 156 | Part 157 | Part 158 | Part 159 | Part 160 | Part 161 | Part 162 | Part 163 | Part 164 | Part 165 | Part 166 | Part 167 | Part 168 | Part 169 | Part 170 | Part 171 | Part 172 | Part 173 | Part 174 | Part 175 | Part 176 | Part 177 | Part 178 | Part 179 | Part 180 | Part 181 | Part 182 | Part 183 | Part 184 | Part 185 | Part 186 | Part 187 | Part 188 | Part 189 | Part 190 | Part 191 | Part 192 | Part 193 | Part 194 | Part 195 | Part 196 | Part 197 | Part 198 | Part 199 | Part 200 | Part 201 | Part 202 | Part 203 | Part 204 | Part 205 | Part 206 | Part 207 | Part 208 | Part 209 | Part 210 | Part 211 | Part 212 | Part 213 | Part 214 | Part 215 | Part 216 | Part 217 | Part 218 | Part 219 | Part 220 | Part 221
Crocker and Richmond, who were engaged in sev- eral large manufacturing enterprises, including Whit- tenton and Hopewell Mills, and the calico printing es- tablishment, purchased a large portion of the site of the Cobb Mills and privilege, and, after clearing away the old mills and appurtenances, erected in 1823 the Brick Mill for the manufacture of printing cloths for the new calico-works. This mill was for several years under the superintendence of Jesse Hartshorn, and the machine-shop in the basement was in charge of Elias Strange, now the senior mechanic in this vicin- ity.
Arrangements were matured by Crocker and Rich- mond, in 1823, with Boston capitalists, to organize a large company, and the Brick Mill property was merged in that, called the Taunton Manufacturing Company, and remained so incorporated until 1834, when a division was made, and the Brick Mill reverted to Mr. Richmond and his associate, Mr. Crocker. They continued the business of manufacturing cotton goods and machinery until the memorable panic and
reverses of 1837 compelled them, from severe losses, to suspend, with hundreds of other manufacturers.
After a few years of trusteeship and liquidation of the large estate of Crocker and Richmond, the latter repurchased the brick mill property and resumed busi- ness. From 1837 to 1843, Robert S. Dean had charge of the manufacturing of cotton, and Leach and Keith the machinery department. After they retired, the business was in charge of Mr. Dean and Lovett Morse, a capitalist, for a few years.
In 1845, Mr. Richmond built the new brick mill in rear of the old one for the manufacture of cotton, ging- hams, etc. Experiments were made with a new carpet loom, which, after a few years' trial, was transferred to Thompsonville, Conn., and proved a remunerative success. The old brick mill was burned in 1845, then in charge of his son Edward, with serious loss to Mr. Richmond, and rebuilt in 1846. Two years later the entire property passed out of Mr. Richmond's con- trol, and in 1849 he went to California, where he died December 19th of the same year.
In 1848 a new company was organized, with Nahum Stetson, president, and R. S. Dean, agent and treas- urer, with a capital of $100,000, called the Dean Cot- ton and Machine Company, for the manufacture of cotton cloth and machinery.
In 1876 a new company was organized, called the Taunton Cotton and Machine Company, with a capi- tal of $65,500; Nathan S. Williams, president ; F. B. Dean, managing agent and treasurer, which contin- ued several years. About four years ago another company was organized, called the Park Mill Com- pany, with the same officers, having control of the cotton manufacturing department only, the machine- shop still remaining under the former name. The new brick mill was leased a few years ago to L. A. Rounds, nail and tack manufacturer.
The Old Green Mill .- The first manufactory of cotton goods in Taunton was called the Green Mill, located near the present bridge at the junction of Hill and Weir Streets, on Mill River. The old, or " Lower Slitting Mill," stood at the side of the river, owned by Simeon Tisdale and others, who in 1797 sold their in- terest in the premises to Samuel Fales (for many years clerk of the courts and judge) and Samuel Leo- nard. In 1806, Silas Shepard, cotton manufacturer from Wrentham, purchased of Samuel Fales his share in the old mill and privilege, and upon the site, as- sociated with Samuel Leonard and Samuel Crocker, erected the Green Mill. Jesse Hartshorn and Thomas Bicknell, then expert manufacturers, assisted Mr. Shepard in the mill, where for ten or twelve years cotton yarn was made, partially colored, and put out in families where they had the hand-looms for weav- ing into checks, ginghams, and tickings, which fur- nished hundreds of women, wives and daughters of farmers and mechanics, employment, and this home- made cloth was durable for years' wear. During the war of 1812-15, and days of the embargo, there was
828
HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
great demand for these domestic goods. A few years later, in 1818, an addition was built to the mill, and Capt. Shepard introduced a power-loom (a crude ma- chine compared with the "Scotch loom," so called), af- terwards in use, which was succeeded by a still greater improvement in the modern, compact, iron framed loom, forty years ago or more in use. The manufac- turing business of this mill was not a profitable in- vestment, with the crude loom disadvantages, aside from the line of cotton yarn, and it was finally given up.
In 1824 the Green Mill was converted into an appendage of the new Print-Works, where machines with copper cylinders were introduced and used many years for printing calicoes of choice qualities. Delaines were also printed in this old mill by the Taunton Manufacturing Company and its successor, the Bristol Print-Works. After the discontinuance of the latter works in 1844, the old mill was remod- eled into a bleachery and an appendage to the Taun- ton Paper Manufactory by William A. Crocker and others. This enterprise was discontinued after a few years' experiment for the lack of that indispensable agent in making good paper, pure spring water. The old Green Mill came into the possession and control of the late Samuel Crocker, and it was finally taken down and the brick removed or utilized for other purposes, leaving its tall chimney a standing landmark of unsuccessful enterprises.
Dean Cotton-Mill .- In the easterly part of Taun- ton, on a stream called in ancient deeds " Littleworth Brook," which takes its rise from the springs in the vicinity of Elders' pond, in Lakeville, and runs through Barehole Neck, stood Cain's grist-mill over a century ago, owned partly by Joseph Dean, Sr., Caleb Turner, and Moses Cain, and had been a con- venience to the people in that vicinity many years. In 1784 the latter owner sold his share of the mill and privilege to Henry Strobridge, of Middleborough, for seventeen pounds and fifty-five shillings in sil- ver. A few years later, 1792, Mr. Strobridge conveyed the same portion to his grandson, Robert Dean, a merchant of Taunton, son of Joseph, Sr.
In May, 1812, a joint-stock company was organized, consisting of Robert Dean, Jesse Hartshorn, Joseph Dean, Jr., William Strobridge, and Caleb Turner, with a capital of $16,000, to build a mill at Barehole Neck, for manufacturing cotton yarn, to be called the Dean Cotton-Mill. During that season the little mill -fifty feet in length, two stories-was built, with ac- commodating dwellings, store, etc., under the direction of Mr. Hartshorn, the manufacturing agent and treas- urer of the company. This was the third cotton-mill built in Taunton. William Read and Cyrus Caswell became stockholders. The capital was increased to $25,000.
The yarn made there was taken out in packages by families in that region and woven into cloth by the domestic hand-loom, several of which were operated
in the mill. Mr. Hartshorn retired in 1818; he was succeeded by Benjamin Lincoln a year or two, and then by Harvey Hartshorn, brother of the former agent, the latter introducing the old-fashioned power- looms.
The senior proprietor, Robert Dean, died May 24, 1822. Robert S. Dean was the next agent for about eleven years, and the mill with its twenty power-looms made domestic goods. Charles R. Atwood and Charles H. Stephens followed in succession a few years in the agency of the Dean Mill, when it was closed as a cotton manufactory.
James Sproat and Eleazer Richmond purchased the factory in 1838, and converted it into a circular saw- ing and box-board and stave mill. Mr. Richmond succeeding the former in business over forty years until his death, Oet. 10, 1876; some twelve years of the time Nathan S. Williams was associated with him, until he retired in 1851 to the mill below. Charles R. Richmond succeeded his father in the box and keg manufacturing business to the present time. The location has been familiarly called Barchole a hundred years or more, but the tradition name is a mystery.
Littleworth Brook is a valuable stream, identified with the records of Littleworth farm, assigned by Capt. Miles Standish and John Brown, Plymouth commissioners, to Elizabeth Pool in 1640, and prob- ably received its name from her after some location near Shute, England, whence she emigrated. On the same stream below was Williams' mill (grandson of Richard1), and below that Turner King's saw-mill, now operated by his sons, Earl King & Co .; then Pool's dam, located where, tradition says, Elizabeth and her brother, William Pool, had a grist-mill over two hundred years ago. Littleworth stream thence passes down by King's Furnace, an old saw-mill near Robinson's bridge (which unites Raynham and Taun- ton), and is the third or fourth stream in size which flows into Taunton River in its serpentine course of some twenty miles to its confluence with Mill River.
King's Furnace .- The oldest hollow-ware manu- factory in this county was King's Furnace, situated about a mile from the present village of East Taun- ton. It was built by a joint-stock company in 1723-24, under a unique agreement, abridged as follows :
" Know all men by these presents, that it is agreed upon by John King, merchant, Ebenezer Robinson, yeoman, of Taunton, county of Bristol, in New Eng- land, Benjamin Hodges, carpenter, Elkanah Leonard (grandson of James1), bloomer, of Middleboro', Sam- uel Tubbs, of Pembroke, founder, and William Tubbs, of Plympton, founder, all of the county of Plymouth, to build a furnace upon a stream commonly called Littleworth Brook, in the township of Taunton.". Together, also, " to build a good and sufficient dam across said stream, convenient for said furnace;" and further agreed "to build a coal-house thirty feet
829
TAUNTON.
square upon the site of said brook, as convenient as it may be to set where the said furnace is built." Also agreed that "said Robinson, Hodges, Leonard, and Tubbs each to be owners of asth part, and said King owner of all the remaining part of said dam, furnace, and appurtenances ;" and the said owners " bind themselves each to the other to build and complete ye said furnace, dam, and all accoutrements thereunto belonging with all convenient speed, each to bear his proportional part," according to the terms of ownership. It is also "concluded by the owners, that when the premises are built and fully completed. that each of said owners, and their heirs, executors, administrators and assigns to have the income and profit of said furnace proportionally to his and their interest and part thereof, the charge of stock, work- men's wages, repairing of said furnace or any of the accoutrements being first paid." Also "agreed that ye said Jolin King, being ye owner of the land and ye said stream, doth for himself, heirs, executors, and administrators covenant, promise, and engage with ye rest of ye owners, their heirs, etc., that said furnace shall stand and remain for ye full term of twenty years, unless by mutual agreement to let it fall be- fore." The contract and covenant is signed and sealed by the above-named parties, "Feb. 25th, 1723, alias 24."
When the furnace and appurtenances were com- pleted they commenced making hollowware from the size of a "jobie kettle to a ten pail cauldron or more." The ore for the use was dug in the vicinity of the furnace at "Mine brook," and along the bogs of Taunton River. It required several hundred bushels of charcoal and about two weeks' time to heat up the furnace and stack before melting the iron; and when once started could not be conveniently stopped until the blast of five or six months was through, and dur- ing this time "the men knew no regular days, nights, or Sundays," all bunked alternately in a room in the furnace, the table was set and standing in the " cook house" day and night, and the cooks constantly on duty to serve the molders and men. The hollowware was sold in stores, peddled by teams throughout Bris- tol, Norfolk, and Plymouth Counties, and sent to Newport, Providence, and New York by sloops.
In later years the furnace was run by Capt. Josiah King (grandfather of Col. Nathan King, of Middle- borough, from whom we have the original 'contract), and Ebenezer Caswell, grand father of the late Samuel, Alexis, Alvaris, and Benjamin Caswell. In 1816 the furnace was rebuilt by Washburn & King (Gen. Crom- well Washburn, one of the prominent citizens of Taunton half a century and more ago, and Col. Na- than King, of Middleborough, father of our inform- ant), who employed a force of molders, etc., about thirty men, doing a large business. Their ware was mostly consigned to Caswell & James, merchants of New York, the sloops at Weir village taking charge thence and returning with cargoes.of the New Jersey
ore. While a portion of the ore for many later years was dug in the vicinity of East Taunton, in Free- town, along the meadows of Two-Mile River, and near the old anchor forge in Raynham, these combined, it is said, made the best metal ; James Leonard? sold and carted hundreds of loads of the " moine" from hi's farm, as did his ancestor, James1, in 1660-70, for the old forge from the same vicinity. Col. King died in 1828, and Gen. Washburn in 1839. The furnace descended to the heirs of the former, in whose interest the furnace was continued many years. It was re- tained in the King family over a hundred years, and the grist-mill and saw-mill about the same length of time; the latter was burned a dozen years ago. It ceased to be a blast furnace some sixty years ago on account of the large consumption and increased price of charcoal, and was altered to a enpola. It was last conducted as an iron-works by Col. Nathan King several years. The furnace was afterwards closed and purchased by Eleazer and Benjamin Richmond, who converted it into a circular sawing, box-board, and stave-mill, and run by them until 1851, when Nathan S. Williams became half proprietor until 1864. He then purchased the remainder of the mill and prop- erty and has continued the business, employing from twenty to thirty hands, to the present time in manu- facturing the above articles.
Taunton Manufacturing Company .- The Taun- ton Manufacturing Company was one of the large en- terprises on Mill River sixty years ago. It was organ- ized in January, 1823, with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars in real, and four hundred thousand dollars, in personal estate, and the incorporators were Samuel Crocker, Charles Richmond, Israel Thorndike, Edmund Dwight, Jolin MeLean, Harrison Gray Otis, William H. Eliot, William H. Prescott, Israel Thorn- dike, Jr., Samuel Henshaw, Harrison Gray Otis, Jr., with such other persons as may have associated, or may associate hereafter with them, " for the purpose of rolling copper and iron, and for the manufacturing .of cotton and wool, in Taunton." James K. Mills and Ezekiel B. Leonard were afterwards stockhold- ers. The stock was divided into six hundred shares. Samuel Crocker, Charles Richmond, and James W. Otis were chosen agents, and H. J. Otis, Jr., clerk, with a board of directors. Samuel Crocker was elected president and treasurer, and continued by re-election for ten years. William F. Otis, George West, Gilbert Walker, and H. B. Dearth served from time to time as clerks of the corporation and board of directors.
The real and personal estate of the Taunton Mann- facturing Company comprised the Whittenton cotton- mills, nail-works, dwelling-houses, privilege, and ap- purtenances, the Hopewell Mills property, dwellings, etc., the Brick Mill property, machine-shops, and dwellings, also the extensive Calico Printing Works, with all the land and appurtenances, covering a large area of land. During several years this company
ยท
830
HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
made encouraging dividends,-the first year twelve per cent., the second fifteen, and the third year twenty per cent.
In 1826 the directors voted to " make a fair experi- ment of the machines for manufacture of pins and wood-screws," and that it is expedient to discontinue the manufacture of nails, dispose of the tools, and lease the mills. In 1827 it was voted to remunerate Charles Richmond one thousand dollars for his valu- able services in England in behalf of the printing company ; also that the business be conducted under the firm-name of Crocker, Richmond & Co .; also to procure a practical superintendent of the print-works in England ; to cancel the order for the " pin-machines as impracticable ;" also to fill the rooms at Hopewell Mills (made vacant by the removal of the nail-machines to Whittenton and East Taunton) with cotton spindles and machinery.
The Calico Printing Works were started in 1823, by Crocker and Richmond, under the auspices of this company, by an importation of several hundred skilled and other workmen, chiefly from the printing establishments of England and Scotland,-men of all nations. The buildings were chiefly of brick, and structures were added from time to time as the in- creasing business demanded during the ten years' progress, until an area of about three acres was cov- ered on Court and Weir Streets, employing a large number of persons in the process of block and ma- chine-printing. Several of the buildings of Court Street were afterwards occupied by the Bay State Screw-Works, and are now owned by Anthony & Cushman, in their nail and tack business.
Although an auspicious commencement, this calico- printing department proved a dissatisfactory invest- ment. In 1833 the Taunton Manufacturing Company voted that it is expedient to bring the calico-printing business to a close as soon as practicable, and the directors were authorized to sell the water privilege, buildings, machinery, and land of the printing com- pany.
In 1834, Charles Richmond retired from the Taun- ton Manufacturing Company, taking as his share the Brick Mill property, machine-shops, dwellings, land, and appurtenances. In 1835, James K. Mills & Co., who had been associated in the company about ten years, retired, purchasing the entire Whittenton Mills estate as their share.
Meanwhile, a new company had been organized in 1833, under the name of the " Bristol Print Works," comprising Samuel Crocker, Harrison Gray Otis, Charles Richmond, Edmund Dwight, James K. Mills, Gorham Brooks, Samuel Eliot, Horatio Leonard, William A. Crocker, George A. Crocker, and Benja- min W. Chace as stockholders, which purchased the entire print works property of the Taunton Manu- facturing Company, for the purpose of manufactur- ing delaines and calicoes. Samuel Crocker was elected president ; H. B. Dearth, clerk ; and subse-
quently Gilbert Walker was clerk. Charles Porter was clerk and treasurer several years. The superin- tendents were John H. Grimshaw, Caleb Duxbury, James and Matthew Monarch. The business did not prove prosperous under the competition of the low tariff with foreign manufacturers, and the business was brought to a close in 1845.
The panic and financial crash of 1837, which pre- vailed in nearly all the manufacturing communities, brought disaster to the manufacturers of Taunton, and a large portion suspended, which was followed by a suspension for a while of the banks.
In 1840 the entire property of the Taunton Manu- facturing Company had been reduced, by exchanges and sales, to the franchise of the Hopewell Mills and appurtenances, and were owned by Harrison Gray Otis and others, of Boston, and were run a year or two in their interest. They disposed of the property to W. A. F. Sproat, who was elected clerk and treas- urer, and assumed the duties of agent and control of the mills for about a year, but under the pressure cf the prevailing panic and protracted disaster, he was compelled to surrender the property. In 1844, Cyrus Lothrop held a claim upon the mills and property, and at a meeting in the office of Samnel Breck, Amyntas Shaw and Parmenio C. Shaw, of Raynham, having become chief stockholders, the former was elected president and director, and the latter a direc- tor, and Samuel Breck clerk, when this last remnant of the "Taunton Manufacturing Company was legally transferred to Cyrus Lothrop, of Easton."
Mason Machine Works .- In the year 1845, Wil- liam Mason, whose biography is published in this work, erected the first buildings upon the present site of these works. He had for ten years previously been engaged in building machinery in various localities in this town,-in the machine-shop on School Street, and the Brick Mill machine-shop. There were no shops to be had large enough to supply the demand for his machinery ; he had acquired a reputation, and obtained valuable patents upon his self-acting cotton mule, which he thought would bring him a large busi- ness ; therefore he determined to prepare for it. He enlisted capital from friends who were engaged in manufacturing cotton goods, planned and built what was then the largest works for the manufacture of machinery exclusively in this country, and was soon doing a large and profitable business, under the firm- name of William Mason & Co.
This original plant was a most complete establishi- ment for those times, and of such great size as to ex- cite both wonder and doubt. It did not seem probable to many men that there would be sufficient demand for machinery to insure success in so great an enter- prise. The buildings consisted of a foundry one hun- dred feet long, fifty feet wide, a smithy one hundred feet long, thirty feet wide, and a machine-shop three hundred and fifteen feet long, forty-five feet wide, three stories high. These buildings were all of brick,
831
TAUNTON.
with slate roofs, substantial and handsome. They were equipped with the best tools, many of which were built from Mr. Mason's own designs in his shops.
From 1845 there was not much change in the estab- lishment, except an additional machine-shop, one hundred feet long and fifty-six feet wide, until 1852, when preparations were made for building locomo- tives in addition to cotton machinery. Then the foundry and smithy were enlarged to about double their original size, and extensive new buildings were erected, consisting of boiler-shop, machine-shops, locomotive-erecting shop, pattern-house, etc., all of brick, with a new stationary engine to furnish the power built on the premises.
The first locomotive was turned out in 1853, of en- tirely novel design, attracting much notice, and mark- ing an era in the history of the American locomotive. For some years Mr. Mason's new ideas and improve- ments were looked for with great interest and adopted by many builders. The result was that these works acquired as high a reputation for the excellence of their locomotives as they already had for their cotton machinery.
All went well until the financial crisis of 1857, when, through the failure of the Boston partners, Mr. Mason was so much involved and embarrassed as to be compelled to suspend business for a few months and see his large fortune taken from him. In the early part of 1858 a settlement was made by which Mr. Mason was released and enabled to start the busi- ness again in his own name.
In 1861, after the breaking out of the war, it was thought that all regular business would be dull ; therefore, to keep the works running, Mr. Mason ac- cepted a contract to furnish one hundred thousand Springfield rifled muskets for the United States Gov- ernment. This was an enormous undertaking, in- volving great labor and large outlays of money for tools and machines especially adapted to the work. The larger portion of these were designed and built by Mr. Mason, some of which were great improve- ments upon the machines in use at the United States armories, notably his rifling machines, of entirely new design.
After making these costly preparations, a change in the head of the War Department brought about a new order of things. Government contracts were can- celed or cut down indiscriminately all over the coun- try, and, among others, Mr. Mason's was reduced from one hundred thousand to thirty thousand guns. This action was unjust and disastrous. No redress or relief could be obtained from the government. But the preparations to fufill the original contract had gone so far and the outlays of money were so great that there was no alternative but to submit to the reduc- tion and make the thirty thousand muskets. This was done amid much perplexity, with great wear and tear of mind and body, and involving large pecuniary losses.
After the gun contract was disposed of the works were restored to their legitimate business of build- ing cotton machinery and locomotives, for which a great demand had sprung up. During the years succeeding the war the facilities of these shops and tools were tested to their utmost capacity, and found unequal to the demand. Consequently a radical change and great improvement was undertaken, the first step of which was the erection of a larger foun- dry. To do this, more land was purchased, one street closed up and a new one cut through, giving a lot of about ten and a half acres of land, standing by itself.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.