History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 181

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1706

USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 181

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It has been said " that there was no branch of iron manufacture that did not at some period become the object of his pursuit, nor was there any obstacle too formidable for his perseverance to surmount." He es- tablished the first trip-hammer in this part of America. His manufacture of scythes and axes became famous, and led the way for similar works in neighboring States. For years he was known as the only manufacturer of edge-tools in a territory of many miles' extent.

As early as about the year 1748, he was employed by the authorities of the Province of Massachusetts Bay to make for them five hundred muskets.

The narrow policy of the British government served but to spur him on to still greater exertions for the prosperity of his adopted country. After the Revo- lutionary war broke out, he went vigorously into the manufacture of cannon, and abundantly aided the patriot cause ; his method of casting cannon solid, and then boring them out, being, as it appears, the first work of the kind applied in America.

The war with the mother-country being ended, Mr. Orr's attention was again turned to the arts of peace. By his endeavors, machines-the first of the kind in America-for carding, spinning, and roping cotton were built as early as 1786; the General Court of Massachusetts readily furnishing means for the en- couragement of such skillful efforts.

He advocated the production of flaxseed for cx- portation (though on the part of some much opposition was manifested), and was the inventor of a valuable machine for cleansing the sced, quantities of which he exported to Scotland, and a source of profitable foreign trade was thus opened.

Mr. Orr was a man of exalted character, of firm religious principles. Kind and sympathetic in spirit, he was held in great respect by his fellow-citizens. He died Dec. 6, 1798, aged eighty-one years.

Some time prior to the Revolution, David Keith, who had worked with Hugh Orr in his iron manufac- tures, aided by his younger brother, George Keith, built a rolling- and slitting-mill on Matfield River, be- low the Orr Works. Success attended this manufac- tory., David Keith died in 1812, and his sons, Levi and Zenas, carried on the business. The tall, narrow wheel of the mill in its later days, revolving on the outside of the building, was looked upon by the writer with much interest. The mill was burned in 1829.

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

Samuel Rogers, son of Thomas and Penelope (Hatch) Rogers, was born in Marshfield, Mass., July 16, 1766. At an early age he manifested much mechanical ingenuity. When but fourteen years of age he made a clock of wood and brass. He served his time as an apprentice to John Bailey, clock maker, at Hanover. His apprenticeship being ended, and having made all the tools needed for his business, he came to East Bridgewater in 1788, and began work in a shop near where the " brick store" now stands. Soon after beginning business for himself, it occurred to him to try making a nail-machine. He studied the matter so thoroughly that he, at length, wrought out a machine which would cut and head a nail at one operation. This has been supposed to be the first machine of the kind in America, and possibly in the world.

When the nail-factory in Plymouth was established (about the year 1806) the machines were all made by Mr. Rogers. About 1802 he made two silver watches complete in every respect, with the exception of main- springs ; one of them is still preserved in the Rogers family. They are supposed to be the first watches made in America.

The tack-machine, called the " double cutter," was invented by Mr. Rogers. All tools ever used by him after starting in business were of his own making. Few, perhaps, have been his equals in inventions of which they could execute all the work up to his time. He died July 17, 1838, aged seventy-two.

In 1835, a new firm began operating under the name of the Keith Iron Company. They built a large dam above where the old rolling and slitting-mill had stood, and, with considerable increase of water- power, erected a new rolling-mill. This establishment is now prospering under the firm-name of the East Bridgewater Iron Company, Rogers and Sheldon, proprietors.

In 1822, Samuel Keen and Charles Mitchell built on Matfield River, a little distance above Elmwood Bridge, a mill, in which for many years Samuel Keen, Jr., has manufactured shoe machinery, the different kinds of which have been his own invention.

In 1844 and 1845, brass pins were, to a consider- able extent, manufactured there, but it was found difficult to compete with large establishments of the kind in other parts of the country, and the business was abandoned.

In 1829, on Beaver Brook, Capt. Abram Wash- burn, of Bridgewater, by digging a canal some fifty rods long, and turning the stream through a valley, was enabled to construct a dam with twenty feet fall of water. The valuable water-power thus gained has

been turned to good account in the sawing of logs into boards and shingles, in box-making, carriage-work, the manufacture of doors, sashes, blinds, and tacks. Charles H. Goss, who deceased in 1883, manufac- tured boxes there for many years.

Feb. 10, 1814, Jacob Dyer, Daniel Perry, Jonathan Stetson, Oakes Tirrell, Isaac Tirrell, Jr., William Vinton, Abisha Stetson, Benjamin Bates, David P. Reynolds, Elcazer Keith, and Allen Whitman were incorporated as the Matfield Manufacturing Company, for the purpose of manufacturing cotton and woolen goods, the location near the site of the Orr Works, with the same water-power. The cost of the building and equipments was twenty-eight thousand dollars. This factory was destroyed by fire in 1830.

About 1724, the saw-mill at Latham's dam, the first in East Bridgewater, was removed some distance from its old location, and set up near where Satucket bridge now is. A grist-mill was soon after erected on the same dam, and the mills were owned for many years by Deaeon Thomas Whitman, who deceased in 1788, and was succeeded by his son, Lieut. Peter Whitman, who died in 1801. The mills were subse- quently owned by Arthur Harris, Benjamin Harris, Nahum Mitchell, Barzillai Allen, and others. In 1814 a new company was formed, a factory was built, and nail machines were set up in 1815. The owners in 1816 were Silvanus Lazell, Nahum Mitchell, Al- pheus Allen, and John M. Goodwin. The manufae- ture of nails was carried on for ten years. In 1827, another building was erccted in addition to the others, in which Zebina Keit manufactured tacks for many years, and was succeeded in the same department by his sons, Zebina, Jr., and Samuel, who earried for- ward the business successfully till the destruction of the mills by fire, in 1872.

In 1827, a new company having purchased the Satueket works, the nailing business was given up, and the manufacture of cotton goods took its place.

In 1828, Nathaniel Wheeler, Wallace Rust, and Allen Whitman were incorporated as "The East Bridgewater Manufacturing Company," for the pur- pose of manufacturing eotton goods. Capt. Seth Allen, Samuel Rogers, Deacon Samuel Keen, and Le Baron were added to the members of this corporation. In 1843 a new company bought tho privilege and began the manufacture of cotton-gins. They were Eleazer Carver, Caleb S. Hunt, Franklin Dexter, Caleb Reed, John Reed, and Sampson Recd. This establishment, the Carver Cotton-Gin Com- pany, has been and is doing a very successful busi- ness, a hundred hands being at times employed in the manufacture of their excellent cotton-gins, which are

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HISTORY OF EAST BRIDGEWATER.

highly prized by the cotton producers. Many other important kinds of machines are constructed there.

Many years ago. in the northerly part of Beaver, on Beaver Brook, Ziba Bisbee, a skillful artisan, made date prior to that of the shovel manufactory in Eas- ton. Mr. Bisbee removed to the Western country.

We have spoken of a part of the manufactories located on water-privileges in East Bridgewater. The catalogue may be too long for further details. Among other iron manufacturers. Gen. Silvanus Lazell de- serves to be mentioned. Before cut nails were in general use he employed a great number of men in various neighborhoods in the manufacture of wrought nails, the little nail-shops being then very numerous. He was thus enabled to produce eighty tons of nails in a year. It was said that at one time he had in this department the whole control of the Boston market.

Other iron manufactures have been located here, which did well for a time, but whose continuance was brief. Locomotive engines were built in 1851. The chain-works of Fearing, Rodman & Swift began op- erations in 1870. About twenty-five hands were employed, and from fifteen to twenty tons of chain per week were wrought; but though a prosperous business was done here, the establishment, after the lapse of a few years, was removed to Boston.

From fifty to sixty years ago, and many years since. tack- and nail-making were carried on here to a great extent. In 1829 there were thirteen water- privileges in operation, in many of which tacks or nails. if not both, were made. At present the num- ber of nailmakers employed there is about forty- seven.

The iron foundry of Joshua Dean has been in op- eration for several years at the steam works near the railroad station in the Centre Village. Thirty-two hands are employed, and much valuable work is done there.

Melville Otis was the son of Dr. Josiah and Su- sanna (Orr) Otis; born in East Bridgewater in 1778. Mr. Otis devoted his life to the perfecting of machinery for the manufacture of nails.

The lives of inventors are in themselves lessons. Some one has said that " those who have labored iu the department of mechanical invention may truly be termed the martyrs of civilization." Artless, honest, unselfish, he persevered through obstacles, and prob- ably much more credit is due to him than may have ever been acknowledged, or even known to the pub- lic. He is known to have more than once so ingen- uously related the particulars of his inventions in

machinery that an artful listener would go away having obtained possession of a new idea and turn it to his own benefit.

Mr. Otis' earliest patented invention was in com- valuable cast-steel shovels and hoes. This was at a . pany with Samuel Rogers a machine for rolling iron

and cutting nails, Dec. 7, 1813. Other patents awarded him were for-Dec. 17, 1817-manufacture of nails ; March 20, 1834, nails made at one opera- tion ; Dec. 3, 1850, nail plater, feeder, and turner.

He is said to have first applied the toggle-joint to a tack-machine.

At one period manufacturing companies had in- vested a large amount of capital in nail-machines, when a machine was brought forward which made nails with a flat gripe. This invention would have led to the abandonment of the various machines which had been in use up to that time, but Mr. Otis invented a " spring nipper," as it is called, by which the nails of the flat gripe could be made on the old machines as well as on any, and they (the old machines) are mostly in use now.

At the time of his death, Dec. 30, 1852, Mr. Otis was engaged in inventing a feeder by which one person eould tend two or three machines at the same time, and had it, as he thought, nearly completed, when death " laid an injunction upon his labors," and no one, as far as we are aware, has carried forward his project. On the morning of his decease he had just left the house of his son, and seated himself in a neighbor's wagon with a piece of machinery in his hand in order to go to his place of business, when his countenance was suddenly seen to change. He was carried into the house and died almost instantly, at the age of seventy-four.

Eleazer Carver, son of Dr. Eleazer and Sarah (Keith) Carver, was born in the South Parish of Bridgewater, April 9, 1785, and died in East Bridge- water, April 6, 1866. Possessing an inventive genius, and having acquired the trade of a millwright, he very carly went to Ohio. Continuing there a short time only, he proceeded to Natchez, where, in repair- ing sugar-inills, cotton-gins and presses, his services were highly appreciated. Here began his improve- ments in the cotton-gin, a manufactory of which he commenced at Natchez in 1807. To the manufacture and improvement of the gin he devoted the remain- der of his active life in Natchez, in Bridgewater, and in East Bridgewater.

The cotton-gin, a machine for removing seeds from cotton, was invented by Eli Whitney, a native of Westboro', Mass., in 1793. The production of cotton in the United States that year did not exceed ten thousand bales. In 1859 the product was over five

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

millions of bales, or one million tons. The cotton- gin has wrought wonders in aid of the growth of the great Southern staple.

What James Watt was to the stcain-engine Eleazer Carver may, perhaps, be truly said to have been to the cotton-gin. If neither of them was actually the inventor, surely each of them was a great improver. In 1838, Mr. Carver obtained a patent for his im- provements on the gin, which was a new grate so con- structed as entirely to prevent the cotton from clog- ging. Again, Aug. 12, 1840, he secured a patent for " a machine for cutting the teeth of circular saws," said to have been a very valuable improvement. An- other patent, bcaring the same date, was for " a ma- chine for filing or smoothing the teeth of saws." In 1843 he, in company with Caleb S. Hunt, Franklin Dexter, Caleb Reed, John Reed, and Sampson Reed, bought the establishment of the East Bridgewater Manufacturing Company (the Whitman Mills), and began the manufacture of cotton-gins in East Bridge- water.

In 1845, Mr. Carver secured another patent for an important improvement, which was a cylinder brush having fans on its ends in connection with the cotton- gin. This contrivance was such an addition to the power of the gin as " greatly to enhance the value and price of the cotton ginned on it." In 1853 the gov- ernment of India awarded a prize of two thousand five hundred rupees and a gold medal to this company for their excellent machines for cleansing cotton from the seed.

As the infirmities of age came upon him, Mr. Carver expressed a strong desire to spend the remnant of his days within sight of the manufactory which had borne witness to so many fruits of his industry and skill. Accordingly, in 1865, he erccted a small addi- tion to the house of his niece, Mrs. Joseph Warren Bennett (the house formerly occupied by the late Deacon William Harris) from one window of which the mill privilege was in view. Here he quietly awaited his departure. On Thursday, April 5, 1866, the day of the annual fast in Massachusetts, he sent for Mr. Charles Jordan, one of his skilled workmen, and asked him how soon a new and peculiar roller-gin would be ready. "In one week," was the reply. " I can live but a little longer, but do wish very much to see its operation," said the vencrable man. His wish was not granted, for he died the next day. Had he survived till the following Monday, he would have completed his eighty-first year. Thus died one of whom those who knew him well bore testimony that he was an honest man. He possessed a genial tempera- ment, and took pleasure in aiding the advancement

of young men. An example worthy, indced, of imitation.

Ezra Kingman, Esq., son of Capt. Ezra and Su- sanna (Whitman) Kingman, was born in East Bridge- water, July 20, 1789, was prepared for Harvard Uni- versity, but did not complete the course of study there. He read law with Hon. William Baylies, of West Bridgewater, and for a while practiced law in Livermore, Maine, but the profession not being con- genial to his taste, he relinquished it, and, returning to his native town, engaged in trade with his father.

Hc married, Dec. 13, 1812, Frances, daughter of Col. Edward and Abigail Howard, of West Bridge- water, and had twelve children, viz .: Frances, Fred- erick, Elizabeth, Susan, Ezra, Edward, Hannah, John, George, Susan, James, and Nathan. He was a man of unflinching integrity, and possessed a large share of native sense. He was an exquisite player on the flute, and greatly aided the church music of his na- tive parish.

He taught the centre school of East Bridgewater sev- eral years, and thoroughly performed the duties of that office. His government was firm, and many can tes- tify to the benefits of his instructions. His own large family were carefully trained to become useful mem- bers of society. He represented East Bridgewater in the General Court six years.

He was town clerk and clerk of the First Parish, both which offices he held at the time of his decease. He died suddenly, of heart disease, while riding in the cars from South Abington to East Bridgewater, Feb. 13, 1852, aged sixty-two.

Shoe Manufactures .- For many years, among the different departments of business in East Bridge- water, shoemaking has occupied an important place. The tanning of leather, it appears, was in successful operation here at a very carly date. In the south- west part of the town is the village of Elmwood. Until 1872 it was named Joppa. The latter appella- tion arose from the circumstance that a tannery was located there, the operation of which perhaps began as early as 1700 or earlier, on the estate of Ensign Edward Mitchell, who died in Joppa in 1717, aged seventy-one ycars. Tradition says that the first tau- ner in Joppa was named Simon. Whether that was his actual name is uncertain. Gain Robinson, who settled in East Bridgewater about 1726, the ancestor of most of the Robinsons in the Bridgewaters and vicinity, and his son-in-law, Christopher Erskine (sometimes written Askins), were employed in this tannery. Sub- sequently, Col. Edward Mitchell, son of Ensign Ed- ward, carried on the business, and after him his sons. In later times Charles Mitchell, a grandson of Col.

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HISTORY OF EAST BRIDGEWATER.

Edward. continued the business of tanning leather till about 1835, when it was given up. Some years after the tannery was started in Joppa, Josiah Whitman, living on Whitman Street, not far from Joppa, an eu- terprising, well-educated young man, was extensively engaged in the manufacture of shoes. He died in 1754. This was probably the earliest attempt in East Bridgewater to manufacture shoes more extensively than in the ancient and ordinary mode of furnishing custom-work.

About 1819, Cushing Mitchell made a few sale shoes in Joppa.

In 1822, Charles Mitchell and Jonah Edson tried the experiment of making sale shoes. That year Seth Bryant made a shipment of about threc thou- sand pairs of shoes to New York. This is said to have been the largest shipment which had ever been made in that part of the country. In 1825, Mr. Bryant, in company with his brother-in-law, Warren Keen, began to manufacture shoes in the Joppa currying-shop. The next year they transferred the business to the "Brick Store" in the Centre Vil- lage.

The first building constructed in East Bridgewater for the manufacture of shoes on a large scale was erected in Joppa in 1829 by Cushing Mitchell and Seth Bryant. For several years they carried on their business in this establishment on the south west corner of Bedford and West Streets. In later years Mr. Bryant conducted the business alone. In the Rebel- lion he supplied the Union army with abont three hundred thousand pairs of shoes.

Solomon Ager went from South Weymouth and settled in Joppa in December, 1829. In 1830 he began the manufacture of shoes. He had about five hundred workmen (shoemakers) and three hun- dred women fitting shoes. At one time he made a thousand pairs of shoes per day for six weeks. The average amount of his manufactures was large for the times. He paid out seventy-five thousand dollars per year and fifteen hundred dollars per week.

For many years Ezra and Edward Kingman exten- sively manufactured shoes in what is now called Elm- wood. They had an excellent establishment, and "the goods made by this concern were favorably known throughout the trade." Samuel Shaw and son began the manufacture in Elmwood in 1853, employing some fifty hands and having a full supply of machinery. The senior partner died in 1874, and the business is still conducted by the junior member of the firm.

Robert C. and Simeon C. Keith for many years have manufactured shoes at their establishment in

Satucket, employing thirty hands, and send the prod- ucts of their enterprise to Southern markets.

Isaac N. Keith has been a shoe manufacturer for several years in Elmwood, in the same building pre- viously occupied by Seth Bryant.

Hon. James S. Allen had a manufactory of shoes for a long time near his residence in Matfield village, but the attractions of Brockton held out so strong inducements that a few years ago his business opera- tions were all transferred to that young and thriving city.

CHAPTER VI.

East Bridgewater Bank-Savings-Bank-Masonic-Temper- ance.

East Bridgewater Bank .- On the 8th of March, 1828, the following act was passed :

" Ax ACT to incorporate the President, Directors, and Company of the East Bridgewater Bank.

"SECT. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That Isaac Whitman, Levi Keith, Nahum Mitchell, Ephraim Hyde, Aaron Hobart, John E. Howard, Nathan La- zell, Jr., and Nathaniel Cross, with their associates, successors, and assigns, shall be, and are hereby created a corporation by the name of the President, Directors, and Company of the East Bridgewater Bank."

The corporators for some reason did not organize under the charter thus obtained, and after the lapse of eight years another charter was secured by a new company as follows :

" AN ACT to establish the East Bridgewater Bank.

" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows :

" SECTION 1. Wallace Rust, Zenas Keith, Jr., John A. Whit- comb, their associates and successors, are hereby created a cor- poration by the name of the President, Directors, and Company of the East Bridgewater Bank, to be established in East Bridgewater, and shall so continue till the first day of October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, and said corporation shall be entitled to all the powers and privileges contained in the thirty-sixth chapter of the Revised Statutes, passed the fourth of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.

" April 1, 1836."

The new company, with Hon. Nahum Mitchell president, and John M. Goodwin cashier, went into operation immediately. A house of a size sufficient to accommodate the bank and the family of the cashier was soon erected in the village, and the insti- tution started on an apparently prosperous course ; but Eastern land speculation was then ncar its height, the allurements of which seemed to blind the eyes of many business men. So large loans were made

868

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

from the funds of the bank, without adequate secur- ity, that its resources were crippled, and after a few years the institution was compelled to close its doors. The banking house still remains, and is the residence of Ezra S. Whitmarsh, Esq.

Savings-Bank .- The East Bridgewater Savings- Bank was incorporated March 8, 1870. The incor- porators named in the act were Kimball E. Sheldon, Henry Ilobart, Isaac N. Nutter, and Moses Bates. The organization of the bank was completed March 20, 1871, by the election of the following officers : President, Henry Hobart ; Vice-President, Kimball E. Sheldon ; Secretary, John E. Waterman ; Treas- urer, Isaac N. Nutter ; Trustees, Jacob Bates, Eliab Latham, Ezra Kingman, Robert C. Keith, James H. Mitchell, Isaac N. Nutter, James S. Allen, Charles H. Goss, Franklin Edson, Samuel Shaw, Jr., Moses Bates, Aaron Hobart, John W. Kennan, George M. Keith, Samuel Keith, Merritt Jenkins, Frederick S. Strong, Willard Johnson, of East Bridgewater ; Horatio L. Washburn, of West Bridgewater ; Hosea Kingman, Isaac Kingman, of Bridgewater ; William L. Reed, of South Abington ; Benjamiu W. Harris, of Boston; Martin Bosworth, of Halifax. The board of trustees, consisting at first of twenty-four, was subsequently reduced to eighteen ; board of investors, James S. Allen, Jacob Bates, Samuel Keith, John W. Kennan, and Hosea Kingman.

The bank was opened for business June 1, 1871, and at the close of that month had on deposit five hundred and ninety-six dollars.

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 181

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1706

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1706