History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 237

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 237

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Leather belting is manufactured by Charles L. Place and by E. F. Page & Co.

Roll covering is also carried on by F. W. McLana- than, who employs thirty men, and by Robert P. Burn- ham.

The car-shop of the Boston & Maine Railroad em- ploys one hundred and forty men in the manufacture of freight and passenger cars.

Lawrence has one brewery, owned and operated by Messrs. Stanley & Co., for the manufacture of ale,

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

porter and lager beer, and has a capacity of three hundred and fifty barrels per day.

Several cracker bakeries, the largest that of Kent & Bruce, sending out four thousand barrels of crackers per month.

The brush factory of John H. Stafford produces twenty gross of brushes per month.

A broom and basket factory is operated by Collins Brothers (T. F. and J. Il. Collins).

BEACH SOAP CO. (Lurandus Beach, proprietor) is one of the oldest establishments in Lawrence, furnish- ing employment to twenty men, manufacturing family and toilet soaps, also scouring and fulling soaps.' The monthly product amounting to twelve thousand dol- lars monthly. This business was originally established by Beach & Varney.

BRIGGS & ALLYN MANUFACTURING Co, manufac- ture doors, sashes, blinds, mouldings, frames and all descriptions of house finishings, also counters, tables, furniture, etc. The company is thoroughly provided with tools for the manufacture of every variety of wood-work, employing from forty to seventy men, and turns out monthly about seventy-five hundred dollars' worth of finished work.

LAWRENCE LUMBER Co .- The territory occupied by this company was originally owned and the mills operated by the Essex Company. After the company ceased building mills the property was sold to George W. Ela and others, and by them sold to others who organized a company for furnishing lumber and manu- facturing packing cases for the large mills. The monthly sales of the company are a million and a half feet of manufactured lumber and half a million feet made into packing cases. They employ ninety men- While owned by the Essex Company, William M. Kimball (afterward of Minneapolis) was the super- intendent. When the new company was organized Luther Ladd, who had had long experience with the Essex Company, became agent and treasurer. The present treasurer is Alfred A. Lamprey. The other lumber yards are those of Hezekiah Plummer (one of the earliest settlers in Lawrence), J. H. Prescott & Co., and Luther Ladd, wbo, since his retirement from the Lawrence Lumber Co., has established a yard of his own in South Lawrence.

The LAWRENCE FLOUR MILL, situated in Sonth Lawrence, was built by Davis & Taylor, and had ma- chinery for producing two thousand barrels of flour and one hundred thousand bushels of corn meal per month, and was operated for several years. Improved methods of manufacturing flour have rendered the old machinery useless. The mill has passed into the hands of Frank E. Chandler, of Medford, and is now fitted entirely for the production of corn meal, with Joseph Chandler as superintendent. One other grain mill (built in 18GS) is situated on the North Canal and is owned and operated by Henry K. Webster & Co., who conduct an extensive business.

The earliest grain and flour mill in Lawrence was

located near the mouth of Spicket River, built and owned by Messrs. Furness & Giles. This mill later passed into the hands of the Russell Paper Co., and Mr. Giles was subsequently foreman of Davis & Tay- lor's flour mill.

Besides the various dye-houses connected with the large mills, there are in Lawrence-Trees' Dye House, established by John Trees, Spicket River, Lawrence Street; The Essex Dye House, by William Stuart & Co., Spicket River, Vine Street; The Lawrence Dye Works, by L. Sjörström & Son and J. H. Melledge, South Canal.

Paper making is one of the most important branch - es of industry in Lawrence and has grown to large proportions, By Tewksbury's " History of Lawrence," published in 1878, it appears that "soon after the Essex Company's Machine Shop started, experiments were made in the building of paper machinery under the superintendence of John L. Seaverns ; a building was erected by the Essex Company in the machine shop yard, and the Charter Paper Company was organized, several directors of the Essex Company forming the Association. The company did not manufacture but printed and embossed papers. Will- iam B. Hurd was the local agent; the principal direction being in the hands of Samuel H. Gregory. The capital was fifty thousand dollars. The mill furnished fancy velvet, cloth, gold-leaf, bronze and silver-leaf papers-paper hangings from six and a quarter cents to seven dollars per roll, and bordering of every grade; the enterprise proved unprofitable and was abandoned." Several persons have at dif- ferent times operated paper mills for the manufacture of paper. Among them A. & A. Norton commenc- ing in 1853; Samuel S. Crocker, Salmon P. Wilder, Joseph L. Partridge, Daniel P. Crocker and others. Prior to all these and before the incorporation of the Essex Company the late Adolphus Durant operated a small mill for the manufacture of paper-the mill being located on the Spicket River.

THE MERRIMAC PAPER COMPANY, in South Law- rence, was organized in May, 1881, the incorporators being A. N. Mayo, Charles S. Mayo, of Springfield, and S. I. Stebbins, of Holyoke (deceased). The company employs two hundred hands and manufac- tures engine sized cap paper, book and envelope paper, producing about eleven tons daily. The monthly pay roll is four thousand dollars. Agent, Charles S. Mayo; Superintendent, W. G. Finlay ; Paymaster, G. E. Miller.

THE BACON PAPER COMPANY, founded by Jerome A. Bacon, is located on Marston Street, receiving water from the North Canal. Manufactures machine and super calendered flat cap and book paper. No. one newspaper and colored paper. Daily product about six tons. Jerome A. Ripley, Superintendent ; George S. Sberman, Paymaster.

THE MONROE FELT AND PAPER COMPANY .- This company is located in South Lawrence; was incor-

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porated 1881 with a capital of sixty thousand dollars. They manufacture ingrain wall-papers of their own invention, which have found an extensive sale; car- pet, manilla and roofing paper-turning out twelve tons daily. William T. McAlpine, Agent; Henry T. Hall, Treasurer and Paymaster.

At the present time, by far the largest paper mak- ing establishments are those of the Messrs. Russell.

William Russell, the oldest living paper maker in the United States, nearly thirty years ago was compelled by ill health to retire from active business : but he had laid the foundation of the paper manufacturing establishment, whose principal mills are at Lawrence, and which, under the ownship and management of his son, Hon. William A. Russell, has become one of the most extensive manufactories of the kind in the United States.

William Russell was the son of a farmer, and was born in Cabot, Vt., in 1805. He received his educa- tion in the district school of his native towu. When quite young he went to Wells River to learn the trade of paper manufacturing and served an appren- ticeship of seven years. He was then employed as a journeyman in Wells River and Franklin, N. H., until 1848, when he removed to Exeter, N. H., and engaged in business for himself, operating two mills until 1851. At this time, his son, William A. Rug- sell, having attained his majority, leased one of the mills, operating it on his own separate account. In 1853 they formed a copartnership, purchased grounds and power, and built a one-machine mill in Law- rence, removing thither their entire business. Short- ly after this Mr. Russell withdrew from active busi- ness and retired to a farm which he had purchased in North Andover, retaining however a small interest in the establishment which was thenceforth carried on by his son, William A. Russell. The elder Mr. Russell from early life was characterized by untiring industry and acquired a thorough knowledge of his chosen pursuit. Throughout his business career he was esteemed for integrity and uprightness in all his transactions.

After the retirement of his father, William A. Rus- sell purchased the mills of Curtis & Partridge on Marston Street, and subsequently the A. & A. Norton Mill and Hoyt Mill on Canal Street, and later on the Crocker Mill. These mills are all operated by the Russell Paper Company, a corporation organized in 1864. W. A. Russell, President and Treasurer, and George W. Russell, Superintendent. The company employs some three hundred hands and produce about twenty tons per day of book, news and blotting paper. Connected with the paper mills is a large plant for the production of chemical wood pulp both by the soda and sulphite processes.

HON. WILLIAM A. RUSSELL was born in Wells River, Vt., April 22, 1831. His education was regi- larly pursued in the public schools of that town, and at the Academy at Franklin, N. H., applying himself

assiduously to his studies and acquitting himself with credit. He occupied his vacation with labor in the paper-mills in Franklin.

Subsequently some time was spent at a private school in Lowell, Mass., where his education was com- pleted. In 1848 he commenced work in his father's mill, and remained there until 1852, when he attained his majority.

By diligence and marked forethought he at once established his reputation as a successful manufac- turer. Two years later the father and son formed a copartnership, and moved their works to Lawrence, Mass.

The senior Mr. Russell's health soon failed, and he was then compelled to retire from active life, leaving the entire business in the hands of his son.

After the retirement of his father from the business he found it necessary to enlarge his facilities for man- facture in order to meet the demand for his products. With this view he leased and put in operation two mills in Belfast, Me., and subsequently purchased another, in the same city.

During the ensuing five years the business was suc- cessful, and in 1861 he purchased a mill contiguous to his former one in Lawrence, from parties who had failed in business as manufacturers, and the same year received his brother, George W. Russell into partnership.

A year later two other mills in Lawrence had stopped for the same reason, and, though business was to some extent prostrated on account of the Civil War, Mr. Russell, looking to the future, availed him- self of the opportunity to purchase them. His confi- dence proved well founded, and after a short period the business received a fresh impetus and continued to increase each year in importance.

In 1869 he established a wood-pulp mill in Frank- lin Vt., with the view of supplying the manufactur- ers; but they, fearing the prejudice against paper manufactured from wood-fiber, shrank from the undertaking. Finding it impossible to sell the pulp, and believing that the prejudice could be overcome, the following year he bought what was known as the Fisher & Aiken mill, in Franklin, for the purpose of manufacturing the paper himself.

His expectations were fully realized, and the same year he purchased the Peabody & Daniel mill, the oldest in the country, and employed it for the same purpose, the manufacture of paper for printing, es- pecially of newspapers. In the same year, to secure better attention and more sure success for this depart- ment of the business, he organized the Winipiseogee Paper Company, of Franklin, being himself its treas- urer and principal owner. It now employs about 250 hands and produces about twenty-five tons of news paper per day.

The same year he extended his interest to Bellows Falls, building there, also, a wood-pulp mill. The water-power was held at that place by a " lock & canal

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Co." In the winter of 1870 the dam which had been built some eighty years previously, suffered serious in- jury, and Mr. Russell availed himself of the oportu- nity to secure a controlling interest in the entire water-power. Since that time he has been president of the company and let power to others.

In 1872 he built and put in operation a large paper- mill himself. In these various establishments in Ver- mont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and others in Maine, are employed an aggregate of upwards of 1400 hands, producing no less than eighty-five tons of paper per day ; book paper, printing paper, for news- papers, manilla and blotting paper.

Mr. Russell, during his residence in Lawrence, has been a very active and public-spirited citizen, was a member and very large contributor to the Eliot Church, and when the society united with the Cen- tral to form what is now Trinity Church, he pur- chased the building and conveyed it to the Young Men's Christiau Association.

In polities an earnest Republican. In 1868 was a member of the city government ; in 1869 represented the city in the Legislature. He was sent, in 1868, as one of the delegates from Massachusetts to the Na- tional Republican Convention at Cincinnati. In 1878 he was elected Representative of the Seventh District, to the Forty-sixth United States Congress. He was appointed a member of the committee on commerce, and became chairman of the sub-commit- tee to investigate the causes of the decline of Ameri- can commerce, with the view to investigate some plan to restore the same and bring about closer com- mereial relations and more extensive trade with other countries.

His report showed a thorough investigation of the subject. It set forth clearly the difficulties to be overcome, and through the presentation of these facts Massachusetts led off in removing one of the greatest obstacles to incorporated maritime investments by the change of the laws in relation to the taxation of property in ships.

He was renominated by acclamation and elected to the Forty-seventh Congress, and promoted to service on the Ways and Means Committee, a position which he was so well qualified to fill through his long and careful observation of and experience in the indus- trial interests of the country.

The tariff question being prominently before Con- gress, he gave to the house and country one of the most carefully prepared and exhaustive presentations of this subject that was submitted from the protective standpoint. Mr. Russell's interest in and close appli- vation to business have characterized his political life.

llis well established and well organized business he confided to others, giving his whole time and energies to new duties. Yielding to a very general de- mand of his constituents, he accepted a third nomina- tion which was made by acclamation, and he was

elected tothe Forty-eighth Congress. Though earnestly solicited by his constituents to accept a renomination to the Forty-ninth Congress, he felt compelled to de- cline, and upon the close of his three terms of Con- gressional life turned his attention to improving and enlarging the various paper-mills in which he is in- terested, necessitated by the increasing demand for their products, and to developing the water powers at Bellows Falls, Vt., and Franklin, N. H.

Another manufacture, operated by machinery simi- lar in character to that of paper mills, has been suc- cessfully conducted here, the manufacture of leather- board. Messrs. Clegg & Fisher, employing twenty men and producing monthly fifty tons. Seth F. Daw- son, employing about the same number of men and producing eighteen to twenty tons per week.

PUBLIC LIBRARY .- The history of the library dates, in one sense, from the beginning of the town of Lawrence.

The Franklin Library Association was chartered by the Legislature of Massachusetts April, 1847, and the following letter to Captain Charles H. Bigelow, its first president, gives in very concise terms not only the wishes and motives of the donor of the first val- uable gift to the library, but is also a key to the mo- tives which inspired its founders :

" BOSTON, July 5, 1847.

" MY DEAR SIR. - I was gratified to notice ao act passed by the last General Court incorporating the Franklin Library Association in the new Towo. Subsequently I have seen in the newspapers an account of its organization, and that you were elected President. I am happy in the knowledge that there exists among the people a just appreciation of the value and importance of early attention being given to schools, churches and public libraries. Itis no less the duty than the privilege of those who possess an influence in creating towns and cities, to lay their foun- dations deep and strong. Let the standard be high in religious, moral and intellectual culture, and there can be no well-grounded fears for the results.

" There will soon gather around you a large number of mechanics and others, who will desire to obtain a knowledge of the higher mechanical arts. You will probably receive into your large machine-shop (now un- der construction) a number of apprentices, who are to be trained to the use of tools. The more thorough the education you give them, the more skilfully the tools will be used when placed in their hands.

" If you possess a well-furnished library, containing books, drawings, etc., with the mechanical and scientific periodicals of the day, to which the whole body of those engaged in all the varieties of mechanics have access, you will, I nos quite certain, at an early day send forth into the community a class of well-educated machinists, whose labors and infin- ence will be felt throughout the country.

" I feel a deep interest in this question of educating men. who can take care of themselves and do something to develop the mental re- sources of the present and future generations, as well as to make con- tributions to the connnou stock of practical knowledge and national re- sources of this great Union.

" The supply of well-educated, scientific mechanics in our community is entirely inadequate to its wants.

" I wish to live long enough to see the experiment fairly tried, wheth- er this deficiency may not be remedied, and am therefore in favor of placing io the handsof those who are or may be residents in the new town, all the appliances to obtain such an object.

" In furtherance of the plau proposed by your society, I offer, through you, for the acceptance of the Franklio Library Association, the sum of one thousand dollars, which the government of the institution will please invest in such scientific and other works as will tend to create good mechanics, good Christians and good patriots,

" Accept the assurances with which I remain " Your friend, ABBOTT LAWRENCE. " To CAPT. CHAS. H. BIOELOW."

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LAWRENCE.

Eight years later, in 1855, Mr. Lawrence " rested from his labors," but he had not lost his interest in the new city to which so much of his attention had been given; nor did be forget his protegé, the Frank- lin Library, leaving by his will the generous sum of five thousand dollars for the purpose of increasing its value and utility.

Other gentlemen had made some valuable presents of books, but these gifts of money to be invested in books were, it is believed, the only ones received.

The expenses, rent, librarian's salary, etc., must, of course, be defraved from the income received from the sale of shares and from annual assessments. The price of shares was at first fixed at ten dollars each, the annual assessment at two dollars per annum. and the library was open to any person willing to uuite with the society and purchase a share. As the price of a share proved a bar to many, in 1850 the association amended the constitution, so that the use of the library might be granted to persons not members of the association, subject to the regula- tions thereof, on payment of an annual definite sum, not less than the annual assessment of members.

The membership and the number of readers still remaining comparatively small, and the association being still desirons of enlisting the public more fully, early in 1853 the value of the shares was reduced to five dollars and the assessment to one dollar per an- num. In 1857 a vote was passed, authorizing the government to open the library to any persons not members for the nominal sum of one dollar per vear.

Other efforts had been made, from time to time, by organizing courses of public lectures, by popular lec- turers, at low rates, for the purpose of attracting at- tention to the library and reading-room, with indiffer- ent success,-the association in some instances sus- taining pecuniary loss.

The library had increased to nearly four thousand volumes; the reading-room connected with it con- tained several of the newspapers of the time and many of the valuable scientific, mechanical and lit- erary periodicals; but the main object of the original founders was not attained.

The number of members and readers was still small, and the annual income only sufficient to pay the cur- rent expenses.

In 1867 it was thought advisable, for the purpose of extending the usefulness of the library, to offer the property to the city, under suitable conditions, for a free library. A proposition was made to the city government of 1868, but it was not accepted, a difference of opinion among the members of the gov- ernment at that time existing as to the expediency of the step.

Four years later aid came from an unexpected quarter. Hon. Daniel A. White, of Salem, placed certain property in Lawrence in the hands of trus- tees, the income from which should be appropriated to

maintaining a course of lectures, free "to the indus- trial classes" of Lawrence, and for the purposes of a library.

The income from that fund had furnished a course of lectures for several years, from the best talent of the land, and had reached a point where it was more than sufficient to defray this expense and could furnish a considerable sum annually for books.

In 1872 the Franklin Library Association appointed a committee consisting of George S. Merrill, John R. Rollins and John C. Dow to confer with the city gov- ernment, and also with the trustees of the White Fund, and this conference (the necessary authority to surrender their trust having been previously obtained from the Legislature) resulted in a renewed offer to transfer the property, consisting of over four thousand volumes and nearly three thousand dollars in money, to the city. The trustees of the White Fund proposed to contribute the first year the sum of one thousand dollars for the purchase of books, and to make an an- nual contribution thereafter. These propositions were accepted, aud an ordinance was passed, 1872, estab- lishing the Free Library of the city.

Soon after the transfer of the property the Agricul- tural Library, numbering one hundred and fifty-seven volumes, and owned by an association residing in Lawrence and Methuen, was also placed at the dis- posal of the city, and the circulating library of Messrs. Whitford & Rice, twenty-two hundred and fifty-seven volumes, was also purchased and trans- ferred.

At a meeting of the board of trustees, held August 29, 1872, Mr. William I. Fletcher, whose experience in the Boston Atheneum and in the Bronson Library, of Waterbury, Ct., rendered him peculiarly fitted for the position, was unanimously elected librarian.

Mr. Fletcher remained with the library, arranging it for public use, and preparing a catalogue, till 1874, when he resigned to accept a more favorable position in Hartford, Ct., and he was succeeded by Frederick H. Hedge, Jr., of Cambridge, the present librarian. The library now embraces twenty-five thousand five hundred volumes, or, including duplicates, twenty- eight thousand seven hundred volumes. Connected with the library is a reading-room, where may be found many of the leading newspapers, and a room for books of reference, where the people may freely study upon almost any subject which they desire to investi- gate.

The various boards of trustees have ever kept in mind the object of the founders, considering the lib- rary an educational institution "rather than a me- dium for the circulation of light literature."

The mayor and president of the Common Council, together with the trustees of the White Fund, are permanent members of the board.

The library now occupies the entire second floor of the Odd Fellows' building. It needs more space and greater security against fire.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Daniel Appleton White (LL.D., Harvard, 1837) was of the sixth generation in descent from William White, who emigrated from Norfolk, England, one of the leading men in the colony at Ipswich, and of the founders of the ancient town of Newbury. He re- moved to Haverhill in 1640. Judge White was born in 1776, in that part of Methuen (now Lawrence) edu- cated at Atkinson Academy and graduated from Har- vard College 1797. He returned to Cambridge in 1799, and pursued the study of law, remaining four years, during which time he was tutor in the college; finished his legal studies in Salem ; was admitted to the Essex bar in 1804; opened an office in Newbury- port, soon became successful in his profession and ad- vanced to honors ; was Senator in the Massachusetts Senate from 1810 to 1815 ; Presidential elector, 1816; was elected to Congress by an almost unanimous vote in 1814, but having been offered by Governor Strong the position of judge of Probate, he resigned and ac- cepted the more quiet path, which was more congen- ial to his taste and feelings ; this office he held for thirty-eight years, resigning in 1853. He died at Salem in 1861, having removed to that city in 1817. An excellent account of his life may be found in a memorial by Rev. Henry W. Foote, of Boston, pub- lished by the New England Historico-Genealogical. Society in their series of memorial biographies, who concludes his sketch in these words : "To those who, in the city which was his home for forty-four years, use the treasures of his library, or who, in the other city which eovers his native fields, shall receive the benefit of his noble foundation, the value of his gift would be enhanced if the memory of the giver, as he was, could be impressed indelibly upon it, and it would be his best gift if his character could be transmitted. He was a patriot of the lofty type of the founders of the Republic; a Christian in the deepest spirit of the New Testament ; a man ruled by justice, tempered with mercy, generous, high-minded, true, with a Puritan conscience and a heart of love, the faith of a disciple and the trusting soul, simple and pure as a little child."

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 237

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1 Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1538

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538