History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 17

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 17

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This company employs no agents, the business be- ing done wholly at the home office under the supervi- sion of the directors.

In preparing this article I am indebted for aid to J. K. Fellows, Esq., a former president of the com- pany.

Traders and Mechanics' Fire Insurance Company .- This company was incorporated in 1848, and com- menced business in June of that year, as a mutual company. In 1854 a charter was granted the com- pany to add to the mutual department a stock depart- ment, with a capital of $50,000, which was, in 1870, increased to $100,000. Business was transaeted by

both these departments until 1881, when the stock department was dissolved and the stock and surplus divided among the stockholders. The number of shares in 1861 was 500.

The presidents of this company have been : Thomas Hopkinson, elected in 1848; Sewall G. Mack, 1850; Joshua Converse, 1855; C. B. Coburn, 1860; Levi Sprague, the present incumbent, 1874; James H. Rand acted temporarily as president in 1855, and again in 1857.

The secretaries have been : James Dinsmoor, 1848 ; Edward F. Sherman, 1855; Orrin F. Osgood, 1872; E. M. Tuck, the present incumbent, 1874.

The original directors were : Thomas Hopkinson, Thomas Nesmith, A. C. Wheelock, Joshua Converse, E. F. Watson, James H. Rand, Peter Powers, Henry Read, Sewall G. Mack, Benjamin Weaver, Nathaniel Critchett.

At the great fire in Boston, in 1872, the company suffered a loss of $230,000, which it has paid in full, and it is now in a very prosperous condition.

From the Massachusetts Fire Insurance Report, Dec. 3, 1888, we take the following: Gross assets, $565,207 ; gross liabilities, $197,428; surplus, $367,- 778; gross cash income for 1888, $143,206.

Amount at risk in 1889, $26,370,195; cash assets, $565,450. Dividend on five-year policies, 70 per cent.

The directors in 1889 are: Levi Sprague, C. C. Hutchinson, Jacob Rogers, Charles H. Coburn, George F. Richardson, W. F. Salmon, S. T. Lancaster, John F. Kimball, D. S. Richardson, Henry C. Howe.

The place of business of this company was at first on or near the site of the present Appleton Bank Block ; but in 1852 it was removed to the corner of Central and Middle Streets.

The Howard Fire Insurance Company was organized in September, 1848. Its first directers were: Oliver M. Whipple, William Fiske, Joel Adams, Emory Washburn, Joshua Merrill, David Dana, Stephen Cushing, Elijah M. Read, Samuel Burbank, Sidney Spalding, A. W. Buttrick, Thomas Hopkinson, Dan- iel S. Richardson ; president, Oliver M. Whipple ; secretary, Frederick Parker.

Its capital was $50,000, which was in a short time increased to $100,000, and subsequently to $200,000.

Mr. Whipple, the first president, held the office until 1851 or 1852, and was then succeeded by Dr. Nathan Allen, who, in 1862, was succeeded by Joshua W. Daniels. Ephraim Brown became president and treasurer in 1865, and remained in office to the close of the existence of the company, in 1872.

The first secretary and treasurer, Mr. Parker, held his office until 1852, when he was succeeded by Joshua W. Daniels. Mr. Daniels became both pres- ident and treasurer in 1862. He resigned in 1865. Ephraim Brown became secretary in 1862, and was succeeded in 1864 by Henry B. White, who in turn was, in 1867, succeeded by Sewall A. Faunce, who

LOWELL.

remained secretary until the close of the company's existence in 1872. In 1864 the principal business office of the company was removed from Lowell to Boston.

Notwithstanding the loss of $19,000 iu July, 1866, by the great Portland fire, the company prospered. It had paid a dividend in 1865 of 20 per cent. and from 1868 to 1872 the annual dividends were 10 per cent. At the time of the great Boston fire, in 1872, the company was in a prosperous condition. Its amount at risk was $10,000,000, and its surplus $175,- 000, about seren-eighths as large as its capital. In that fire the loss was $840,000, which swept off all its assets, and it ceased to exist.

CHAPTER VII.

LOWELL-( Continued).

MANUFACTURES.

THERE are two reasons why the history of the man- ufactures of Lowell should be brief: first, like all things else in the city, they have had a comparatively brief existence ; and second, the great manufactures of Lowell are so much alike, that the history of one is, in many cases, but a repetition of that of another.

In recording the early history of the city we have already mentioned the small manufacturing enter- prises which were existing in East Chelmsford in the early years of the present century. There were the saw-mill and grist-mill of Nathan Tyler, near Paw- tucket Falls, not far from the site of the Lowell Hos- pital ; the woolen-mills of Thomas Hurd, near the site of the Middlesex Mills, in which twenty hands were employed : the glass factory at Middlesex Vil- lage ; the powder-mills of O. M. Whipple, near the Concord River ; the mills of Moses Hale, started in 1801, on River Meadow Brook; and various other such small manufactories, as in those early days were found, especially near a water-fall.

It should be remarked that the fulling-mills which existed in those early days throughout the country had for their design the finishing of the cloth which was made by hand in the homes of the people.

The early manufactures of East Chelmsford were mostly of woolen goods, although, in 1813, Phineas Whiting and Josiah Fletcher. with a capital of $3000, had erected a modest wooden building near the site of the Middlesex Mills, for the manufacture of cotton. But after about five years the mill was sold to Thomas Hurd, who began in it the manufacture of woolen goods and satinet. It was then a serious question whether America could compete with England in the manu- facture of cotton. In favor of England were cheaper labor, greater capital, superior skill and established

reputation. In favor of America were cheaper cot- ton, more abuudant water-power aud the superior en- terprise of a people in the vigor of youth.

Francis Cabot Lowell seems to have been the first to inspire in the minds of enterprising Amcricaus the full conviction of the feasibility of this competition. As already stated, on a previous page, the power-loom, improved by the skill of Mr. Lowell, had, in 1814, been introduced into the cotton manufactory of the town of Waltham. The success of the experiment in Walt- ham, on the Charles River, led to the construction of the mills at Lowell, ou the Merrimack River, whose abundant waters and splendid falls seemed to promise a power which was almost inexhaustible.

In giving a brief history of the great cotton manu- factories of the city of Lowell, I propose to avoid minute statistical items, and to present to the reader only a general accountof these great enterprises, with an occasional notice of the prominent men who have gained a distinguished name, both as successful man- ufacturers and as citizens of Lowell.

1. THE ELEVEN GREAT MANUFACTURING CORPO- RATIONS.

THE MERRIMACK MANUFACTURING COMPANY, whose history, interwoven, as it is, with the early history of the city, has already been partially given, was incorporated in 1822 with a capital of $600,000. The capital has been four times increased, and is now $2,500,000.

Its treasurers have been Kirk Boott (appointed 1822), Francis C. Lowell (1837), Eben Chadwick (1839), Francis B. Crowninshield (1854), Arthur T. Lyman (1877), Augustus Lowell (1877), Charles H. Dalton (1877), Howard Stockton (1889).

The superintendents of the mills have been Ezra Worthen (1823), Paul Moody (1824), Warren Colburn (1825), John Clark (1833), Emory Washburn (1848), Edward L. Lebreton (1849), Isaac Hinckley (1849), John C. Palfrey (1865), Joseph S. Ludlam (1874).

Of the first four of these superintendents, mention has already been made in another part of this work.

Emory Washburn was called to his office in the Merrimack Mills, from his practice as attorney-at- law in Worcester. On leaving his position in Lowell, after a service of a few months, he returned to his practice of law in Worcester, and became a judge and Governor of the State.

Edward L. Lebreton had been a practicing lawyer in Newburyport, and had official connection with Suffolk Bank, Boston. He died in Lowell only a few months after his appointment as agent,

Isaac Hinckley, before coming to Lowell, was su- perintendent of the Worcester and Providence Rail- road. After a service of sixteen years in the Merri- mack Mills, he resigned to take the office of president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad.

ITISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

John C. Palfrey was appointed superintendent of the Merrimack Mills after serving as engineer in the United States Army. He was in office from the close of the war in 1865, until 1874, when he resigned to take the position of treasurer of the Manchester Mills, in Manchester, N. H. He still holds the lat- ter oflicc.

Joseph S. Ludlam, before coming to the Merrimack Mills, was engaged in inining operations in the State of Michigan.

The superintendents of the Print-Works have been Kirk Boott (1822), Allan Pollock (1823), John D. Prince (1826), Henry Burrows (1855), James Duck- worth (1878), Robert Leatham (1882), Joseph Lea- tham (1885), John J. Hart (1887).

The superintendents of the Print-Works in Lowell have generally been selected in England for their technical knowledge of calieo-printing.

Mention elsewhere in this work is made of Kirk Boott and John D. Prince.

Allan Pollock, before his appointment as superin- tendent, was a maker of mathematical instruments in Boston.

Henry Burrows was, before coming to Lowell, an expert calico-printer in England.

James Duckworth was a calico-printer in the Mer- rimack Mills before his appointment as superinten- dent.

Robert and Joseph Leatham, father and son, werc English experts in the calico-printing.

John J. Hart also was invited from England to the position of superintendent, as an expert in the art of calico-printing.

Directors for 1889: Seth Bemis, president; Geo. B. Chase, Arthur T. Lyman, C. Wm. Loring, Charles H. Dalton, Augustus Lowell, Charles P. Bowditch.

Agent : Joseph S. Ludlam.

Preparatory to the beginning of the manufacture of cotton goods by the Merrimack Company and the Hamilton Company (which soon followed the Merri- mack), 500 men were employed in building a dam across the Merrimack at Pawtucket Falls, in enlarg- ing the Pawtucket Canal, and in constructing lateral canals for conducting water-power from the Paw- tucket Canal to the mills. These improvements cost $120,000.

On September 1, 1823, the first mill having been completed, the water was let into the canal (construct- ed for the special purpose of bringing water from the Pawtucket Canal to the mills of the Merrimack Company), and the wheels started. The first clothi was made in November, 1823, and on January 3, 1824, took place the first shipment of goods.

The policy of this company has always been most liberal. It has rendered valuable pecuniary aid to churches of different denominations, to sehools, and various institutions designed to promote the re- ligious, moral and intellectual interest of the com- munity. Its boarding-houses, designed for its opera-

tives, have always been models of neatness and order, and its long brick block of tenements on Dutton Street is a building which, for taste and elegance, compares well with thic dwellings of private citizens of wealth. Hon. Thomas H. Benton, the distinguished United States Senator from Missouri, on visiting the boarding-houses, probably those of this company, declared that the operatives "live in large, stately houses, and that one finds in them the same kind of furniture as you will find in a Congressman's house in Washington,"

On Jan. 7, 1827, five years after the first mill was crected, it was destroyed by fire.

The number of mills has increased to six. There are also "immense store-houses, boarding-houses, and stables; and small buildings without number."

The management of the Merrimack Mills, almost throughout their history, has been conducted with consummate ability.

The stock of the company has ruled high in the market, and the dividends have been large. How- ever, the course pursued by the Merrimack and most of the other mills of Lowell during the war of 1861 affords a very conspicuous exception. On this subject Mr. Cowley nses the following language in his History of Lowell :"

" During the late war the Merrimack Company showed great lack of 'sagacity and foresight,' in stopping their mills, in dismissing their operatives, in discontinuing the purchase of cotton, and in sell- ing their fabrics at a slight advance on their peace- prices, and at less than the actual cost of similar fab- rics at the time of sale. Instead of boldly running, as companies elsewhere did, they took counsel of their fears and their spacious mills stood on the bank,

' As idle as a painted ship upon a painted sea.'

" The blunders of this company were naturally copied by others. . . . The other cotton companies actually sold out their cotton, and several of them made abortive experiments in other branches of manufac- tures, by which they made losses, direct and indirect, exceeding the amount of their entire capital. It is but fair to add that most of these abortive experi- ments were made in opposition to the judgment of the local agents."

Most unfortunately, at the very time when a bold venture would have been rewarded with millions of dollars, it was confidently assumed and declared that the true policy was one of " masterly inactivity."

The average of the annual dividends paid by this company for the first forty-five years was about 13 per cent., but for the last twelve years, about 7 per cent.

The company manufactured 11,000,000 yards of cotton clothi in 1839, 14,000,000 in 1849, 19,000,000 in 1859, 22,000,000 in 1869, 42,000,000 in 1879, and 52,- 000,000 in 1889.

In 1889 the number of yards dycd and printed was 48,000,000.

ET Stuart Boston

Ferdinand Roaliff

LOWELL.

The following are some of the most important sta- tistics for 1889. Number of mills, 5; number of turbine-wheels, 6; number of steam-engines, 97, equal to 6000 horse-power.

Number of spindles, 156,480; number of looms, 4607; number of male operatives, 1000; number of female operatives, 2000; number of yards made per week, 1,000,000.

THE HAMILTON MANUFACTURING COMPANY Was incorporated Jan. 26, 1825, for the manufacture of cotton goods, with a capital of $600,000. Its capital has been four times increased and is now $1,800,000. Its treasurers, with date of appointment, have been Wm. Appleton (1825), Ebenezer Appleton (1830), Geo. W. Lyman (1833), Thomas G. Cary (1839), Wm. B. Bacon (1859), Arthur T. Lyman (1860), Arthur L. Devens (1863), Eben Bacon (1867), Samuel Batchelder (1869), Geo. R. Chap- man (1870), James A. Dupee (1870), James Long. ley (1886), Charles B. Amory (1886).

Agents : Samuel Batchelder (1825), John Avery (1831), O. H. Moulton (1864).

John Avery, after serving as a supercargo of a merchant vessel for some time, went to Waltham, Mass., as paymaster in one of the mills in that town. From Waltham he came to Lowell to the position of agent of the Appleton Mills, where he served three years, after which he was for thirty-three years (from 1831 to 1864) agent of the Hamilton Mills.

Oliver H. Moulton, after serving as overseer in the Pemberton Mills, in Lawrence, and as superintendent of the Amoskeag Mills, in Manchester, N. H., was appointed agent of the Hamilton Mills in 1864.

The superintendents of the Print Works have been Wm. Spencer (1828), Wm. Hunter (1862), Wm. Harley (1866), Thomas Walsh, assistant (1876).

Wm. Spencer came from England to take, in 1828, the superintendence of the Hamilton Print Works. He held the position for thirty-four years. . He had previously superintended print works in Ireland. While in Lowell he took great interest in agriculture and was president of the Middlesex North Agri- cultural Society and of the Horticultural Society. Hc was a man of noble public spirit and liberal senti- ments. Kindred tastes made him a friend of Hon. Daniel Webster.

Wm. Hunter came from England to Lowell to be the overseer of the color shop of the Hamilton Print Works. Subsequently he became, for four years, superintendent of these works.

Wm. Harley, from Scotland, after serving as calico printer in Southbridge, came to Lowell to serve for ten years as superintendent of the Hamilton Print Works. Thomas Walsh, of English birth, from being an overseer in the printing-room, became superintend- ent of the Print Works in 1867.

Directors for 1889: James Longley, Thomas Wig- glesworth, C. H. Parker, Henry S. Grew, E. I. Browne, James H. Sawyer, Charles B. Amory, C. W. Jones.

The plant occupies seven and one-half acres of land. The motive-power consists of ten turbine- wheels and forty-one engines of 2600 horse-power. Like the Merrimack Mills, the Hamilton Mills have two departments : (1) The manufacture of cotton cloth ; (2) The printing of calicocs.

The number of yards of cotton cloth manufactured by this corporation in 1839 was five million yards ; 1849, about nine millions ; 1859, eleven millions ; 1869, eleven millions ; 1879, eighteen millions ; 1889, thirty-seven millions.

In 1889 the number of yards dyed and printed was thirty-four millions.

In 1889 the number of mills, 6 ; looms, 3035 ; male operatives, 800; female operatives, 1300; yards of cloth made per week, 730,000.

The operations of this company began about four years subsequent to those of the Merrimack Com- pany.

Besides the mills for manufacturing and printing goods, this company has erected very extensive storc- houses, boarding-houses and other buildings de- manded by its extended and extending manufacturing operations.

The goods manufactured include flannels, ticks, prints, stripes, drills and shirtings.

The curtailment of the manufacture of cotton goods by this company during the War of 1861, and the substitution of the manufacture of woolen goods dur- ing that period, proved disastrous. The wool and the machinery for its manufacture were purchased at war prices, and the woolen clothi sold at the greatly re- duced prices which followed the war. It has cost the company a long struggle to recover its loss. For the last twelve years the average of the annual dividends paid by this company has been less than four per cent.

FERDINAND RODLIFF .- Ferdinand Rodliff, su- perintendent of the cotton department, was born February 6, 1806, in Seckonk, Massachusetts. His parents came to America before the War of In- dependence, his father being of German, and his mother of English descent. At that time cotton man- ufacture had just begun in this country, and a mill was built at Seekonk, near the place of his birth. Children were then put to work in the mills at an early age, the small boys and girls being employed in tending breakers. At the early age of seven years Mr. Rodliff was put to work in the Central Mill in Seekonk, his wages being fifty cents per week, while the hours of labor were from five o'clock in the morn- ing to seven o'clock in the evening, with a half-hour for breakfast and three-quarters of an hour for dinner. His opportunities for attending school were very meagre, the schools being kept only a month or two in tlie winter and the same time in the summer. He continued at work in the Central Mill at Seekonk and in attending school until he was seventeen years of age, when he received the appointment of overseer of

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

spinning. When we consider that he was then scarcely more than a boy, the appointment was a high testimonial of his character and worth.

When twenty years of age he was appointed general overseer of all the departments of the Messinger Mill in Canton, Massachusetts.

On June 28, 1827, when twenty-one years of age, le came to Lowell, and entered the employment of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company, as second hand in the dressing department. Iu the autumn of the same year he was appointed as overseer. After a service of twenty-five years as overseer in different departments he was appointed assistant superinten- dent, the superintendent at that time being John Avery, Esq. By this change he was brought into contact with not only the manufacturing, but the mechanical part of the work of the mill. The position of assistant superintendent he has now held for more than thirty-seven years.

Thirteen years ago, in 1877, when Mr. Rodliff had completed a service of fifty years with the Hamilton Manufacturing Company, he entertained serious thoughts of resigning his position on account of his advanced age, being then seventy-one years old. Whatever feeling of delicacy he may have felt on account of his age, the Directors of the Corporation completely dispelled by a remarkable testimony of their appreciation of the value of his services.

Ou the 27th day of June, 1877, upon the comple- tion of Mr. Rodliff's fiftieth year of continuous ser- vice, the Directors of the Hamilton Company met at Lowell, and he was called before them and presented by the treasurer, Mr. Dupee, with a gold watch and chain and a United States bond of $1000, together with the following note :

" BOSTON, June 27th, 1877.

"Dear sir : To-morrow will complete the fiftieth year of services render- ed by you to the Hamilton Manufacturing Company.

"As a testimonial of their appreciation of your faithfulness, integrity and self-denial, and your zealous and hearty co-operation with all the officers of the Company, the Directors ask your acceptance of a gold watch and a United States bond for one thousand dollars.

" With our best wishes for your health and happiness we have the pleasure to subscribe ourselves,

"Very cordially your friends,

(Signed) "JAMES LONGLEY,

" THOMAS WIGGLESWORTH,

" CHAS. HENRY PARKER,

" HENRY SAYLES,

" HENRY S. GREW,

" JAMES ELLISON, " JAMES A. DUPEE.

" To Ferdinand Rodliff, Esq."

Since the presentation of this generous testimonial Mr. Rodliff has for nearly thirteen years held his posi- tion, performing with great punctuality and fidelity, the duties appertaining to it, and receiving from his superiors, his peers and his friends frequent testimon- ials of the honor and affection in which they hold him.

Upon the occasion of his eightieth birthday, Feb- ruary 6, 1886, he received the following letter from the Directors of the Company :

" BOSTON, February 6th, 1886.

" Dear Sir: The Directors of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company present their earnest congratulations on this your eightieth birthday. We beg to assure you of their high appreciation of your services in the employment of this Corporation, nearly fifty-nine years, and to accept their best wishes for the longer continuance of your remarkable health and vigor of body and mind.

" Cordially your friends,

(Signed) " JAMES LONGLEY, " THOMAS WIGOLESWORTH,

" CHAS. HENRY PARKER,

" HENRY S. GREW,

"EDWARD I. BROWNE, " J. HERBERT SAWYER, " JAMES A. DUPEE.

"To Ferdinand Rodliff, Esq."

Mr. Rodliff has now served in manufacturing com- panies continuously for nearly seventy-seven years. It would be difficult to find another man in America who has done the same. Now, in his eighty-fifth year, he goes to his daily duties with elastic step, affording, by the soundness of his body, head and heart, an admirable illustration of complete manhood. He enjoys the pleasant memories of a well-spent life-

"And that which should accompany old age,

As honor. love, obedience, troops of friends."

THE APPLETON COMPANY was incorporated in 1828, with a capital of $600,000, which has not since been increased. Its mills are situated between the Hamilton and Pawtucket Canals and west of the Hamilton Mills.

The treasurers of this company have been as fol- lows : Wm. Appleton (appointed in 1828), Patrick T. Jackson (1829), Geo. W. Lyman (1832), Thomas G. Cary (1841), Wm. B. Bacon (1859), Arthur T. Lyman (1861), Arthur L. Devens (1863), John A. Burnham (1867), Geo. Motley (1867), James A. Du- pee (1874), Louis Robeson (1886).

The superintendents have been John Avery (1828), Geo. Motley (1831), J. H. Sawyer (1867), Daniel Wright (1881), Wm. H. McDavitt (1887).

Mr. Avery is noticed under the history of the Ham- ilton Mills. Geo. Motley, from the office of clerk in the counting-room of the Hamilton Mills, was, in 1831, appointed superintendent of the Appleton Mills, and filled the office with great ability and fidel- ity for thirty-six years.

J. H. Sawyer, before his appointment as superin- tendent of the Appleton Mills, in 1867, was superin- tendent of the Otis Mills in Ware, Mass. He held the office in Lowell fourteen years, aud is now treas- urer of mills in Chicopee, Mass.

Daniel Wright, from the position of assistant of Mr. Sawyer, became, on the retirement of Mr. Sawyer, superintendent of the Appleton Mills in 1881.

Wm. H. McDavitt, having held the office of super- intendent of the Globe Mills, in Woonsocket, R. I., was appointed superintendent of the Appleton Mills in 1887.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 17

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1226

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226