History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 84

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 84

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).

The Third Herring Brook furnishes power for two tack-shops. One, the northerly one, near Winslow's

bridge, is owned and run by Mr. Jamcs Tolman, where a small business is donc. The lower mill. called " Tiffany Factory," from having been once owned by Recompense Tiffany, is the property of one of Han- over's wealthiest citizens, Mr. Edmund Q. Sylvester, who manufactures tacks under the firmn-name of Samn- uel Salmond & Sons. This privilege is one of the oldest, having been established herc "as early as 1677, by Charles Stockbridge."

The box-board and grist-mill and box manufac- tory of Lot Phillips & Co., at West Hanover, is a large and flourishing business institution of the town. It is one of the results of the Hanover Branch Railroad, and the enterprise of its president, E. Y. Perry, Esq., who is a member of the partnership. Here are made about one hundred and fifty thousand boxes annually, which are sent all about the surround- ing country. About thirty-five men are employed, and the busy saws, run, as is all the mill's machinery, by a powerful steam-engine, cut up into boards about one million two hundred and fifty thousand feet of lumber annually, while the grist-mill grinds two hun- dred thousand bushels of grain for the firm. It is connected with Brockton and the rest of the world by the telephone line, which runs the whole length of the Hanover Branch Railroad. Truly this is an establishment of which Hanover may well be proud.

The various grist-mills which were formerly scat- tered through town have become practically useless by the changes which time brings. Our farmers rely for their grain on the supplies which the railway brings almost to their doors, and not on what their ancestral acres produce. It comes here now in bulk, and is ground by the large establishments, like that of Lot Phillips & Co., already described. There are mills on the Third Herring Brook at its head, at Jacob's mill, and at Gardner's, or, as it is now called, Church's mill. But their wheels are scldom asked to respond to the force of the descending water. Saw- mills are still heard on the wintry air, as the scream- ing pine logs yield to the whizzing force of the cireu- lar saw at Jacobs', Clapp's, Church's mills, on the Third Herring Brook, at Mann's, formerly Deacon John Brooks', mill, near Main Street, and at the West Hanover Mill, near the larger steam-mill already re- ferred to.

It is said that a mill formerly stood near Ellis Bridge, called Drink water Mill, from there having been no spirits used at its raising. But this rests en- tirely on tradition.

Hanover claims to have been the residence too of the first patentce, if not the inventor, of iron plows. Here they were certainly first manufactured by David

391

HISTORY OF HANOVER.

Prouty. His patent antedated all others, and he probably invented them. The old wooden mould- boards covered with strips and pieces of iron, like all established things, yielded with difficulty to innova- tions. Mr. Prouty's plow had the strongest tests to undergo before it became a success, and the rocky soil of the northern part of the town presented a test which it speaks well for the plow to say it stood well. The manufacturing of plows was, as the business in- creased, removed to Boston.

The greatest industry at present of the town is that of the manufacturing of boots and shoes. The census of 1875, now nine years old, gives the value of the total product of boots and shoes for that year as one hundred and forty-two thousand four hundred and eighty-eight dollars, an increase within the ten pre- ceding years of about fifty thousand dollars.

Other statistics might be given, but it would be unwise in a history to encroach upon the province of the gazetteer.

The ship-yards of Hanover alone remain to be men- tioned. The ship-builder's axe and the calker's maul have long ceased to awaken the echoes of the North River shore. The iron vessel has superseded the wooden one. Depleted forests and bad legislation have driven far from the town everything relating to ship-building except its memories. "The palmy days of ship-building in Hanover," says Barry, " were from 1800 to 1808. Then five or six yards were in active operation. and at least ten vessels were annually fitted for sea."

The Hanover Branch Railroad .- It is not sur- prising. in a population as enterprising as is and always has been that of Hanover, that they could not remain quiet as their neighbors progressed. Lying directly in the path of all intercolonial travel, for years they possessed better facilities for traveling and the transmission of the mails than did most of the surrounding towns. The road now known as Wash- ington Street, at and until the opening of the Old Colony Railroad, was the oldest and most traveled avenue between Boston and Plymouth. It had been the main course of travel between the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth Colonies ever since the country was settled, taking the place of an old Indian trail over which Governor Winthrop and Judge Sewall, as their official duties called them to Plymouth Colony, had often been guided.

When the Old Colony Railroad projected its first line from Boston to Plymouth, the surveyors, seeking a location for their new iron road, followed this old intercolonial thoroughfare. The railroad route was surveyed as far south as what is now called Queen

Anne's Corner, about two miles north of the northern limit of Hanover. Insufficient encouragement or greater pecuniary inducements elsewhere determined that the course of the railroad should lie farther west, and Hanover was passed by. Its citizens, however, about 1845, nothing daunted by the magnitude of such an enterprise, began to consider the feasibility of a railroad of its own, and there being then no general railroad law, as now, petitioned the next Legislature for a charter for the Hanover Branch Railroad. April 6, 1846, a charter was granted to John Cush- ing, George Curtis, John Sylvester, and their associ- ates. The railroad was to connect with the Old Col- ony at North Abington, and was to be located within one year. This time proving too short, April 23, 1847, the time for filing the location was extended one year and a half.

Several meetings of this new corporation were held, and Isaac M. Wilder was chosen clerk. The charter, however, expired by limitation without a rod of the road having been located. The project, however, was not dead, but sleeping. Just at this time a resident of Hanson, who had done much business and owned much property in Hanover, a man of almost indom- itable energy and perseverance, to whom the inhabit- ants of Hanover owe more of the substantial material improvement of the town than they are willing to admit, Edward Y. Perry, took hold of the work. He and his partner, Ezra Phillips, one of Hanover's wealthiest and most sterling citizens, who united a most mature judgment with great strength of purpose and of will, manufactured tacks at the mill on the Indian Head River at South Hanover. Both saw the great importance of the railroad to themselves, to the town and its industries, and went to work. En- listing the interest and aid of the old corporators and others, on the 20th of April, 1864, eighteen years after its first incorporation, they succeeded in getting from the Legislature a revival of the charter of the Hanover Branch Railroad. The new act gave them until May 1, 1866, in which to file the location of the road, and two years in which to organize. Now the hard work commenced. Mr. Perry led all in his zeal to raise, by subscription to its stock, the necessary funds to build the road. In several instances he even gave his own personal guaranty in writing that the road when built should pay a dividend of six per centum upon its stock, a promise which one man is said to have enforced when the dividend at one time amounted to but five per cent.

Yet in spite of these two years of hard work, and in spite of the substantial aid, both of interest and funds, which was given by the people of East Abing-

392

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

ton (now Rockland), through which the road was to run, the 19th of April, 1866, arrived and no organi- zation had been effected. It looked as if this new revival was to end in another baeksliding. Ezra Phillips decided its fate. His decision announced to his son, Calvin, " Calvin, I guess you had better go down and see Mr. Curtis and have a meeting called," saved the life of the Hanover Branch Railroad. A meeting was called to meet at the Hanover House, an organization was effected, one more grand effort was made, and the road was built.

At this meeting the following officers were elected : Directors, Edward Y. Perry, of Hanson; Jenkins Lane, of East Abington; George Curtis, of Hanover; Sumner Shaw, of East Abington ; George F. Hatch, of Marshfield ; Washington Reed, of East Abington ; Edmund Q. Sylvester, of Hanover. The directors then chose Edward Y. Perry president. Jenkins Lane treasurer, and Calvin T. Phillips, of Hanover, elerk. Of these directors, Jenkins Lane, George Curtis, George F. Hatch, and Washington Reed have de- ceased. The present board of directors consists of Edward Y. Perry, president, now of Hanover; Albert Culver, treasurer, of Roekland; Richmond J. Lane, of Rockland; Edmund Q. Sylvester, of Hanover; and L. C. Waterman, of Hanover; Calvin T. Phillips, clerk, of Hanover.

The total amount of capital subseribed for on which the road was built was about one hundred and twenty- three thousand dollars. Joseph Smith, of Stoughton, Mass., was employed as engineer, and under his direc- tion the road was surveyed and located, the grades established, and the road built. The contractors, J. B. Daeey & Co., completed the seven and two- thirds miles of road-bed in less than two years from commeneing work, and in July, 1868, but a few months over two years after the precarious existence of the corporation had been determined, the cars were running regularly over the completed road. To-day it has three engines, six passenger, and twenty-one freight-ears (three of the latter, however, being owned and run by the president), over three miles of steel rails (fifty pounds to the yard), and usually pays a semi-annual dividend of three per cent. upon its stoek.

Unlike every other branch of the Old Colony sys- tem, the Hanover Branch Railroad retains its iden- tity. Every other branch has finally yielded, and has been swallowed by the greater corporation. The Hanover Branch alone still runs its own cars and en- gines over its own road, and compels the Old Colony to pull its ears in and out of Boston at its own fair priees. This and the general success of the road is due in a very large mcasure to the great business

capacity and splendid organizing power of its presi- dent, who not only is president, but also superintend- ent, general ticket agent, general manager, and some- times, when short of hands, even conductor himself.

The course of the road . is generally as follows : Commencing at the Four Corners on Broadway, nearly opposite the residence of John Cudworth, and southwest from the carriage-manufacturing shop of Thomas Turner, it does not take the shortest route to its junetion with the Old Colony at North Abington, but eurves southward to pass the rubber-works (for- merly Curtis' forge) and South Hanover. After leav- ing the depot at the Corners, it runs south westerly along the easterly side of Broadway and Elm Street to the rubber-works, then follows westerly along the Indian Head River to " Projeet Dale," at the tack- works of L. C. Waterman & Sons, reaching here its greatest grade of from eighty-five to one hundred feet per mile. It then bends northerly to South Hanover, near the tack-works of E. Phillips & Sons, crossing Broadway, opposite the residence of Isaac G. Stetson, and Cross Street, a few rods north of the house of William S. Sherman. It then curves still more to the north, crosses Centre and Circuit Streets, and reaches the village of West Hanover, at the junction of Cireuit, Hanover, and Pleasant Streets, then de- flecting slightly, it runs between the new Hanover and old Circuit Strects, crossing the latter at its last junc- tion with the former, and finally leaves town at a point on the town line about sixty-five rods northwest of the late residence of Otis Ellis, deceased.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

EZRA PHILLIPS.

Ezra Phillips was born in Pembroke (now Hanson), Oet. 10, 1810, on the old homestead, near the present South Hanson Railroad Station. His father, Ezra, Sr., married, in 1809, Mehitable Allen, of East Bridgewater. Their first child was Ezra, the subject of this sketch. His mother died before he was two years old. He early developed the firmness and de- eision that was always so marked an element in his character, which was soon shown by his opposition to the use of alcoholic liquors and tobacco. At that time, when their use was so universal, and when they were moderately used in his own home, his taking this stand was remarkable, and showed the independ- ence that always characterized him.

Not having a taste for the farmer's life that had

Erro Hullik.

393

HISTORY OF HANOVER.

contented his ancestors, he left home when a lad and spent a short time in the employ of Lewis Keith, a grocer at East Bridgewater, and afterwards with Babcock & Cooledge, who kept a tavern and grocery on the Neck, on the single street that then connected Boston and Roxbury. at what is now the corner of Union Park and Washington Streets. His taste, however. was always for mechanical pursuits, and at about the age of eighteen he went to South Abing- ton to learn the trade of a tack-maker of Mr. James Soule. in the factory of Mr. Benjamin Hobart. Bc- fore his engagement with Mr. Soule was ended Mr. Hobart offered him a place in his factory in Hanson. Here he remained until Mr. Hobart sold this factory, in 1848. At different times during this period, when the tack business was dull, he engaged in the manufacture of shoe-pegs and of soap,-in the last- named certainly, getting the reputation of making the very best quality.

Nov. 27, 1834, he married Catherine H. Tilden, daughter of Dr. Calvin Tilden, of Hanson, and pur- chased the house near the factory that had been built and occupied by the Rev. George Barstow. This was his home for twenty years. They had four sons and a daughter, the daughter and one son dying in infancy. In 1848, Mr. Hobart sold the Hanson factory, and Mr. Phillips bought one-third of it and commenced the manufacture of tacks for himself.

In 1853, Mr. Phillips, Mr. E. Y. Perry, and Mr. Martin W. Stetson formed a partnership, under the name of E. Y. Perry & Co., for the purpose of carry- ing on the tack business, Mr. Perry having, like Mr. Phillips, previously been engaged in it in a small way .- Mr. Perry at Hanover and Mr. Phillips at Hanson. They purchased the privilege known as the Sylvester Forge at South Hanover. The financial panic of 1856 and 1857 soon overtaking them, and they having but small capital and a business. repu- tation to make, Mr. Stetson became discouraged and withdrew from the firm, but Messrs. Perry & Phillips, with that energy and pluck that were promi- nent characteristics of their lives, determined to go on and trust to good management and hard work for success. The firm was admirably adapted to the business. Mr. Perry was an exceptionally good financier and general manager, clear-headed, a cool and accurate calculator.

Mr. Phillips was equally good in his line,-the me- chanical department,-a good manager of workmen, and an excellent judge of the worth and merits of machinery. He not only thoroughly understood the working of every machine in the factory, but was capable of taking any machine they thien had, or

ever afterwards had, and running it so that he not only knew how all the work should be done, but could demonstrate that his theories were right by himself doing what he hired others to do. This practical knowledge was of great value to him in his oversight of the business. No piece of machinery was ever placed in their works that was not thoroughly un- derstood and run by Mr. Phillips before being passed over to the hands of an employé. The work pro- duced at the factory of E. Y. Perry & Co. soon be- came known as second to none in quality in their line of business, and their business grew rapidly. In- creased facilities were added, including a mill for rolling zinc plates, and theirs soon became one of the leading concerns in their line of trade.

Mr. Phillips continued in business with Mr. Perry until 1874, when by mutual consent the old firm was dissolved, and a new firm, under the name of E. Phillips & Sons, was formed, Mr. Phillips associating his two oldest sons with him in the business. The secret of Mr. Phillips' success was his thorough knowledge of his business, his large mechanical ability, and his unsurpassed judgment of values and methods. Secking to obtain the best results from mechanical operations was his study. Every exhi- bition of machinery attracted his attention, and it was a rare occurrence if he failed to gather some ideas that could be applied to some of the machinery at his own works. He was continually studying how to make steam or water do the work of hands. As a thorough practical mechanic he had few equals, and no man of his day had a better practical knowledge of all the different processes connected with the man- ufacture of tacks and tack machinery.

The following will serve as an illustration of his talent for anything pertaining to mechanics. A professional building-mover was employed by him to move a build- ing to a new location ; a soft, sandy spot intervened, and in this they got stuck and remained for several hours, try as they would they could not make fast their ma- chinery in the sand, and they had given up in despair. Mr. Phillips came along, took in the situation at a glance, and suggested a plan of proceeding, which they reluctantly proceeded to put in execution, pro- testing at the same time that it would be of " no use." The plan succeeded perfectly the first trial. He in- vented several useful appliances in tack machinery ; and had perhaps a more thorough knowledge of the minutia of the business in all that pertained to it than any other man. His recollection extended from the time when tacks were cut and headed by hand. During the latter part of his life he also carried on a saw-mill at Hanson where he first made tacks. In his

394

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

religious belief he was a Unitarian, and was a Frec- soiler and Republican in politics.

Since his death his two eldest sons continue the business without change of firm-name.

Mr. Phillips was strictly a business man, giving no attention to official honors or positions. The only town office he ever accepted was that of selectman of the town of Hanson, in 1853. He was one of the most highly-esteemed men of his day in the community where his life was spent; and all who knew him speak of his memory with reverent regard. He died at Hanover May 15, 1882.

E. Y. PERRY.

E. Y. Perry was born in that part of the town of Pembroke now Hanson, Mass., Nov. 4, 1812. The house in which he was born has been the home of his ancestors for many generations, and is now owned by him. It is situated a little more than a mile south- east of South Hanover, Mr. Perry's present residence. He is the son of Elijah and Chloe (Stetson) Perry, and grandson of Seth and Hannah Perry. Elijah was by trade an iron-moulder, but much of his time was spent in farming. He was in the war of 1812, and the exposure incident to campaign life sapped the fountains of his health, and eventually caused his death, two years later. Mrs. Perry had died when E. Y. was but six weeks old, and so upon the death of his father he was entirely orphaned at the tender age of two years. He was taken charge of by his paternal grandparents, both of whom lived to a great age, Mr. Perry being about ninety-five and Mrs. Perry ninety-nine ycars and nine months at time of death. The Perry ancestral stock belong to that class which, more than perhaps any other, have aided in making New England what it is,-the sturdy, honest yeomanry of the land. They were frugal, industrious, uncompromisingly honest, and noted for their stead- fast devotion to the colonial cause. Seth Perry was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and acquitted himself with credit.

E. Y. Perry remained with his grandparents during his minority, and worked as farmer's boy, tilling the ancestral acres. Upon attaining his majority his first venture in business for himself was as country mer- chant at Hanson, where he continued several years. In the conduct of his business affairs he was success- ful, but, like many others have done before him, he indorsed paper for others, and lost all he had accumu- lated, and, what was worse yet, after yielding up to his creditors all he possessed, he still owed several

thousand dollars, much of which he afterward paid from the earnings of subsequent years. Not despair- ing on account of his misfortunes, Mr. Perry began to cast about for some otlier method of earning a livelihood. With a judgment and foresight which has proved characteristic, he saw that the future of New England depended upon its manufactures, and that to brains, pluck, and energy a field was here opened for success. He resolved to enter the lists in what was then comparatively an infant industry. Accordingly, under the firm-name of Charles Dyer & Co., he, in company with Charles Dyer, engaged in the manufac- ture of tacks in the town of Hanover, at the place where the tack-factory of L. C. Waterman & Sons now stands. It may be mentioned as a remarkable fact that at the time these two gentlemen set up in business as manufacturers neither of them had a dol- lar in the world, and both had failed in business and were badly in debt. So much for Yankee grit and enterprise. They started by buying a hundred or two pounds of iron, working it up into tacks; and from the receipts of the sale of these they would replenish their stock, and thus, slowly, very slowly, they built up their business year by year, making all the time a little advancement, but at the end of fifteen years their progress had been so slow that the business was deemed too small for two partners, and they mutually agreed to dissolve, Mr. Perry purchasing the interest of Mr. Dyer, mostly on credit. He continued the business alone two or three years, when he purchased the property of the Hanover Forge Company, at South Hanover, and shortly afterwards associated with himself Mr. Ezra Phillips and Martin W. Stet- son, under the firm-name of E. Y. Perry & Co .; and while Mr. Perry gave his personal attention to the old factory, Messrs. Phillips and Stetson made the neces- sary changes in the newly-acquired works to adapt the factory to tack-making instead of anchor-forging. As soon as the arrangements were completed the machinery was transferred from the old to the new works, and the manufacturing conducted there en- tircly. After a short time Mr. Stetson withdrew. The association of Messrs. Perry and Phillips proved to be a happy combination of talents and qualities, and it may not be out of place here to record Mr. Perry's testimony as to the honor, integrity, and ability of his deceased partner, Mr. Phillips. He says, " After an intimate business and social relation- ship with Mr. Phillips for more than thirty years, I consider him one of the grandest and best inen I ever knew. Our association was the most harmoni- ous that could be imagined. The routine of business was robbed of its monotony and vexation by the tact,

E. y. Percy

395

HISTORY OF HANOVER.

geniality, pure methods, and manly way in which Mr. Phillips bore himself. It was simply pleasure to do business in connection with such a man." From the day of their association together their success was uni- form and rapid. They continued a period of thirty years, and became one of the largest and most influen- tial tack-manufacturing concerns in the country. The partnership was dissolved by the withdrawal of Mr. Perry, whose outside interests had become so great and demanded so much of his time as to make any other business duties burdensome. During the busi- ness connection of Messrs. Perry and Phillips they did not confine themselves exclusively to tack manufac- turing, but made many outside investments. About 1870 they established a steam-mill-grist, lumber, and box business-at West Hanover. About the same time they, in connection with others, started the coal and grain business in Rockland and Hanover. They also established a leather- and findings-store in Boston. under the firm.name of Phinney & Phillips. Upon the dissolution of copartnership all of these ontside interests fell into Mr. Perry's hands.

The mill at West Hanover is conducted under the firm-name of L. Phillips & Co., Mr. Lot Phillips being a partner. The grain business at Rockland is contin- ued under the name of Culver, Phillips & Co. The leather-store in Boston was finally discontinued in 1882. It had proved a very successful venture. In 1883, Mr. Perry, in company with William A. Van- nah and E. P. Sweeney, under the firm-name of Van- nah, Sweeney & Co., purchased the property known as Winslow's mills, at Waldoboro', Me., and estab- lished themselves in the lumber, bark, wood, grain, flour, hay, and grocery trade.

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.

History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 84

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