History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 189

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 189

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Joseph L. Partridge followed as principal from August, 1839, to November, 1845. In his time the number of pupils reached one hundred and seventy - five, which is believed to be the largest in its history. He was born in Hatfield in 1804 and graduated from Williams in 1828. He has been on the board of trustees for fourteen years, and, residing in Brooklyn, N. Y., is still, at the age of eighty-four, a regular at- tendant upon its meetings and an active and valuable member.

Josiah Clark, Jr., born in Leicester in 1814 and graduated from Yale in 1823, was principal from January, 1846, to Jannary, 1849, when he became principal of Williston Seminary. The academy at this time held high rank as a fitting-school. "I am sure," says Hon. W. W. Rice of Mr. Clark, in his centennial address, "that he might have been the great master, but Leicester let him go." "He was an accomplished scholar, courteous in manner, but decided in principle, with a clear head, a large heart and a beautiful spirit."

The English department was also conducted with marked ability for ten years, from 1834, by Luther Haven. Burritt A. Smith was principal from July, 1849, to August, 1852.

From August, 1852, to June, 1860, Alvan Hyde Washburn was principal. He was a man of high character, excellent scholarship and refined taste. He afterward became an Episcopal clergyman. He was killed in the fearful railroad accident at Ashtabula, Ohio, December 29, 1876, not a vestige remaining to mark his identity.

After the large increase of funds in 1852, extensive alterations and improvements were made in the building, at a cost of about forty-two hundred dollars. The main building above the school-rooms was con- verted into a large and attractive audience-room, and named Smith Hall.

In this hall are hung portraits of benefactors and trustees of the institution. The re-dedication took place October 26, 1853. Hon. Thomas Kinnicutt spoke for the trustees, and Mr. Washburn, the prin- cipal, delivered an address upon "Old and New Methods," which was published.

The town in 1856 organized a high school under

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the requirements of the State law, and other schools of the same nature were multiplied in the vicinity. As the number of pupils in the academy became reduced, the school was closed at the end of the summer term of 1860, and remained suspended till January, 1862, when it was re-opened, with ten pu- pils, under William B. Phillips, a graduate of Brown University in 1856. In April the term opened with forty pupils, and H. G. Merriam was engaged as teacher in the English department.

Mr. Phillips left at the end of the year, and John Avery had charge of the school one term. He was born in Conway, and graduated from Amherst in 1861. He was an eminent linguist, Oriental scholar and author, and afterward was professor in Iowa Col- lege and Bowdoin College.

Henry G. Merriam, after teaching in the English department a year, was made principal in May, 1863, and resigned June, 1865. He was graduated from Brown University in 1857. In 1862 the boys of the school were organized into a military company, and afterward into a battalion. Mr. Merriam, a thor- ough disciplinarian and teacher, conducted the school with ability and energy, and under his ad- ministration the numbers increased to about one hundred, and all the rooms for students were crowded. It was in the time of the war, and the military training met a popular need. Company, battalion and skirmish drill became important feat- ures in the daily exercise of the pupils and promi- nent attractions in the public examinations. The effect of this training appeared in the erect bearing and grace of the "Leicester Cadets." They were received with favor when they appeared in Worces- ter on parade and drill. The government, on rec- ommendation of the academy, readily gave commis- sions to a number of young men, and they went immediately into active service. In 1863 a proposi- tion to make the school a State military academy was taken into consideration; and on the 2d day of August a State Commission visited the school, and expressed much gratification with the proficiency of the military training. The Hon. Edward Everett was chairman of the commission, and addressed the pupils in his peculiarly felicitous and eloquent manner.

George W. Waite, of the class of 1861 at Amherst, was principal from August, 1865, to April, 1867, and Wm. C. Peckham, class of 1867, Amherst, from June, 1867, to June, 1868. Darius P. Sackett, a graduate of Yale 1866, was principal preceptor from August, 1868, to March, 1871. His administration raised the school to a high rank in discipline, scholarship and general character, not far surpassed in the previous history of theacademy. Heis now principal of the Sackett School, in Oakland, Cal. Charles A. Wetmore succeeded him, in March, 1871. He was born in Norwich, N. Y., November 8, 1843, and graduated from Hamilton College in 1869. He was an enthusiastic and inspir-

ing teacher, entirely devoted to his work, although a great sufferer from asthma the last year of his lite. In the summer of 1874 he went to Jefferson, N. H., for his health, where he died suddenly July 6th. James O. Averill, of the class of 1870, at Amherst, was principal one year, from August, 1874, and D. Newton Putney, three years, from August, 1875.

In 1867 the meeting-house of the First Church was purchased and removed to its present position, in the rear of the academy. The upper part was con- verted into rooms for students and the lower into a gymnasium.

In the summer of 1878 the school was again sus- pended, in order that the funds might accumulate sufficiently to warrant extensive repairs and better provisions for its work. These improvements were made at a cost of six thousand one hundred dollars. The school-rooms were finished in ash; the labora- tory was reconstructed and fitted for practical u-e for students in chemistry and zoology ; and a new, con- venient and attractive hall was finished in the east wing for cabinets and the department of physics. It is named " Murdock Hall," in honor of Mr. Joseph Murdock, at whose expense the work was done, and who has furnished it with a telescope, sets of globes, charts and other facilities and adornments. He has also refinished the gymnasium,

In 1887 Dr. Pliny Earle presented to the academy his valuable cabinet of shells and minerals, collected in connection with his extensive travels in various parts of the earth. It contains probably over twelve thousand specimens, many of them rare and beauti- ful. He also provided an appropriate case, and en- dowed the cabinet with a fund of one thousand dol- lars.

In 1888 Mr. J. Bradford Sargent, of Leicester, fitted a room in the tower of the gymnasium as a weather station, and furnished it at large expense with a set of meteorological instruments, which for delicacy and beauty are supposed not to he equaled.

In the fall of 1882 the academy was reopened with Mr. Caleb A. Page, a native of Burlington, Me., a graduate of Bowdoin College, in 1870, as principal. He still retains the position. The school is organized in three departments: The classical and scientific four years' courses, and the three years' business course. The number of pupils has been about eighty. Since the reorganization many members have been prepared for different col- leges, and for normal and technical schools; while others have gone from the business department into eligible mechanical and mercantile situations.

The centennial anniversary of the academy was celebrated September 4, 1884. A large number of the former members of the institution assembled in the morning at the academy building-among them Edmund J. Mills, of Sutton, a pupil in 1803, and then in the ninety-fifth year of his age. An address of welcome was given by Rev. A. H. Coolidge, the

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president of the board of trustees. An historical address was given by Hon. W. W. Rice, and a poem by Rev. Thomas Hill, D.D. The company, to the number of seven hundred, then took dinner in a Yale tent on the Common. Rev. A. Huntington Clapp, D.D., presided in a very felicitous manner. Among the addresses were those of Lieutenant-Governor Oliver Ames, A. L. Partridge, Esq., Dr. Thomas Hill, Prof. F. A. March, Judge Asa French, John E. Russell, Esq , Colonel Homer B. Sprague, Rev. M. B. Angier, Rev. A. C. Dennison, Rev. J. L. Jenkins, Judge C. C. Esty, Mr. Wm. B. Earle and Rev. Sammel May. Dr. Pliny Earle read a short original poem, as did also Captain J. Waldo Denny and Rev. A. C. Denni- son. The occasion was one of rare interest and pleasure. In the evening there was a delightful reunion in the academy. An association of the Alumni of Leicester Academy was organized, of which Hon. Oliver Ames, now Governor of Massachusetts, was president. The association has since then held an annual reunion at the Leicester Hotel, in June.

The academy has numbered among its trustees such men as Hon. Thomas Gill, Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts ; Colonel Rufus Putnam, one of the founders of the North West Territory ; Hon. Levi Lin- coln, Attorney-General, United States ; Rev. Thaddeus Maccarty, pastor of the old South Church, Worces- ter ; Hon. Dwight Foster, United States Senator; Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D., pastor of the Second Congregational Church, Worcester; Hon. Nathaniel Paine, Hon. Aaron Tufts, Hon. Daniel Waldo, Samuel M. Burnside, Esq., Hon. Levi Lincoln, Governor of Massachusetts; Hon. Abijah Bigelow, Hon. Stephen Salisbury, Hon. Samuel Mixter, Ichabod Washburn, Rev. Seth Sweetser, D.D., Hon. George F. Hoar, United States Senator; Hon. A. D. Foster, Rev. Horatio Bardwell, Judge Henry Chapin, Rev. Samuel May, and many other prominent men of Leicester, together with former teachers and pupils of the academy elsewhere mentioned. Many of the teachers of the academy afterward became distin- guished in other positions. Among these are Rev. John Pierce, D.D., for fifty-two years pastor of the church in Brookline; Theodore Dehon, D.D., Bishop of South Carolina; Dr. James Jackson, for many years at the head of the medical profession in Boston ; Dr. John Dixwell and Dr. George Shattuck, also eminent physicians in Boston ; Hon. Timothy Fuller, father of Margaret Fuller, Representative in Congress ; Rev. John N. Putnam, the learned Professor of Greek in Dartmouth College; Prof. Francis A. March, of Lafayette College, Pennsylvania ; William M. Poole, the eminent librarian, author of "Poole's Index " and " Index of Periodicals"; Hon. W. W. Rice, for ten years member of the national House of Repre- sentatives.

Only a few of the many pupils of the academy who have become distinguished can be mentioned : Hon. Samuel C. Crafts, Representative and Senator in Con-

gress and Governor of Vermont; Eli Whitney, in- ventor of the cotton-gin ; Hon. William L. Marcy, Secretary of State, United States; Hon. Wm. Upham, United States Senator from Vermont; Rev. Gardi- ner Spring, D.D., New York ; Hon. John Davis, United States Senator and Governor of Massachusetts ; Hon. Ebenezer Lane, Chief Justice of Ohio; Colonel Thomas Aspinwall, United States consul at London; Hon. David Henshaw, Secretary of the Navy ; Rev. George Allen ; Hon. Charles Allen, Representative in Con- gress and judge; Dr. Levi Hedge, professor in Har- vard College; Hon. Emery Washburn, Governor of Massachusetts ; Rev. Thomas Hill, D.D., president of Harvard University from 1862-68 ; Hon. Pliny Mer- rick and Hon. Benjamin F. Thomas, judges of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts ; Rev. A. H. Clapp D.D., Judge Asa D. French, Hon. Oliver Ames, Governor of Massachusetts.

CHAPTER XCII. LEICESTER-(Continued.)

BUSINESS.

Card Business-Woolen Manufacture-Boot and Shoe Business-Tanning and Currying Business-Leicester National and Savings Banks-Miscel- laneous Industries.

CARD BUSINESS .- Leicester for many years con- tinued to be a purely agricultural community, the people dependent for a living upon the products of their farms. In the latter part of the last century the industry was introduced which became the distinctive business of the town, and for a long time the principal source of its prosperity and wealth.

In this enterprise Mr. Edmond Snow was the pio- neer. He began the manufacture of hand-cards in 1885.

Pliny Earle commenced the same business in 1786. In 1789 we find him receiving an order for card cloth- ing from Almy & Brown, of Providence, R. I., and with it a reference to the fact that he had already cov- ered carding machines in Worcester.

Soon after this Samnel Slater came to this country, and the next year, under the auspices of Almy & Brown, began the manufacture of cotton goods by machinery moved by water-power; and Mr. Earle supplied him with the cards by which the cotton was prepared, which was first spun in this way in the United States. Hitherto, cards had been made in "plain " form, but the filleting for Mr. Slater was set diagonally or " twilled." The sheets were of calf-skin. The holes were pricked by hand, with two needles fas- tened into a handle. The teeth were cut and bent by machinery and set by hand. The statement that one hundred thousand holes were thus pricked probably falls below the fact. About the year 1797 Mr. Earle

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invented a machine for pricking "twilled" cards, for which, in 1803, he secured a patent. It was based upon a principle previously unrecognized in American card machinery, and was not only involved in all subsequent pricking-machines, but is continued in Mr. Whitte- more's machine for pricking and setting-that wonder- ful mechanism the credit for inventing which is so largely due to Eleazer Smith, and of which John Randolph, speaking on the extension of its patent, said, " Yes, I would renew it to all eternity, for it is the only machine which has a soul." In 1791 Mr. Earle associated with himself his brothers Jonah and Silas, in the firm of Pliny Earle & Brothers. They were probably for some years the largest manufac- turers of card-clothing in the country. From their factory at Mulberry Grove, hand-cards were taken by horse-teams even to Charleston, S. C. They manu- factured machines for carding both cotton and wool, and also had wool-carding mills in several towns in Worcester County and Rhode Island, for the conve- nience of the farmers. Pliny Earle died in 1832, and the business was conducted in his name till 1849 by his son, William B. Earle, who had had charge of it from the year 1819. He devoted much of his skill to the improvement of the card-setting machine, and as an expert in that machinery is said to have had no superior. In 1837 he received of the Massa- chusetts Charitable Society in Boston, a silver medal for one of his machines.

Silas Earle withdrew from the firm and carried on the business independently, at the Marshall house, on Marshall Street, from abont 1806 till the time of his death, in 1842. His machines were bought by Timothy K. Earle, who then commenced the business, but soon removed to Worcester.

Daniel Denny in 1792 made hand-cards on Denny Hill.

Woodcock & Knight .- Winthrop Earle began the machine-card business in 1812, in a building in the rear of Col. Thomas Denny's factory, which stood east of the Leicester Hotel. He died in 1807, and John Woodcock continued the business in connection with the widow until her marriage to Alpheus Smith, 1808, when Mr. Smith assumed her share. Mr. Woodcock invented the machine for splitting leather to a uniform thickness.

In 1811 the factory was moved west of the hotel, and the next year was enlarged by Mr. Woodcock. In 1812 James Smith joined the company, which took the name of Woodcock & Smith. Mr. Wood- cock retired in 1813, and the next year John A. and Rufus Smith took his place, forming the firm of James & John A. Smith & Co. Rufus Smith died in 1818. In 1825, October 18th, John Woodcock, Hiram Knight and Emory Drewry became partners. In 1827 and 1828 they built the Brick Factory. Mr. Drewry left the firm in 1829, and continued to manu- facture cards on Pleasant Street, a mile from the vil- lage. In 1836 they added to their business the manu-

facture of card-clothing in Philadelphia, with George W. Morse as a partner, and continued it for about ten years, as the firm of James Smith & Co., while carry- ing on business in Leicester as Smith, Woodcock & Knight. They removed to the Central Factory, north of the Church, in 1846. In 1848 T. E. Woodcock and Dexter Knight, sons of the senior members, were admitted to the firm, which took the title of Wood- cock, Knight & Co.

In 1867 the fathers disposed of their interests to their sons (T. E. Woodcock, Dexter, George M. and James J. Knight). They dissolved in 1881 and sold the building and machinery to the Card-Clothing Association. The factory was much enlarged and improved in 1866.

Capt. Isaac Southgate and Col. Henry Sargent, both of them enterprising and public-spirited citizens of Leicester, began the manufacture of machine-cards in 1810, as the firm of Southgate & Sargent, in Colonel Thos. Denny's house. Col. Sargent withdrew in 1812 and was in the same business till his death in 1829, his brother (Col. Jos. D.) being with him from 1814 to 1819. Capt. Southgate, in 1826, associated with himself Joshua Lamb, Dwight Bisco, Joseph A. Denny and John Stone, as the firm of Isaac Southgate & Co., manufacturing machine-cards in the building west of the hotel. Mr. Stone died in 1827, Mr. Lamb retired in 1831 and Capt. Southgate in 1843, when the name was changed to Bisco & Denny. In 1828 they built the Central Factory and in 1845 the present factory of Bisco & Denny. In 1857 Charles A. Denny and George Bisco joined the firm. Jos. A. Denny died in 1875 and Deacon Bisco in 1882, when John W. Bisco joined the firm. In 1857 a branch establishment was opened at Manchester, N. H.

Colonel Joseph D. Sargent first made hand-cards at his home, on the road from Cherry Valley to Auburn, beyond Denny Hill. After separating from his brother in 1819, he continued to manufacture hand- cards at the Brick Factory till his death, in 1849, but sold the other part of the business to Lamb & White, in 1836. Silas Jones, Nathan Ainsworth and William Boggs were at different times his partners.

Josiah Q. Lamb and Alonzo White manufactured ma- chine-cards in Sargent's brick factory from 1836 to 1846, when Mr. Lamb retired and Mr. White continued the business at the same place until his death, in 1850. Christopher C. Denny became associated with Mr. White in 1846, in the firm of White & Denny. In 1868 Mr. Denny disposed of his interest to H. Ar- thur White, and the firm of White & Son continued business till 1888, when, H. A. White having pur- chased the interest of the father, the concern was consolidated with the " Decker & Bonitz Card Cloth- ing Company," incorporated under the laws of Massa- chusetts, which also carries on an extensive business in Philadelphia. Mr. White assumed the manage- ment of the Leicester branch. This corporation pur- chased the Central Factory, which they enlarged and

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renovated, and added new buildings for the accommo- dation of their new power-plant, and the grinding of cards under patents owned by the corporation, and for additional facilities for their increasing business.

The firm of J. & J. Murdock had its origin in 1840, in that of Southgate & Murdock, composed of Sam- uel Southgate, Jr., and Joshua Murdock, Jr. Mr. Southgate retired in 1844, and Mr. Murdock con- tinued the business alone until 1848, when his brother Joseph joined him, and the firm-name of J. & J. Murdock was adopted, which is still used. In 1858, John N. Murdock came into the firm. In March, 1883, Joshua died, and, in the following June, Julius O. Murdock was admitted, forming the present com- pany. For the first eight years the business was small. When the present firm was organized the company had only thirteen machines.

In 1857 they bought the business of Baylies Up- ham, thus adding twenty machines to their plant that year. Previous to 1864 the motive-power was horses in a circular tread-mill. In that year steam was substituted for the primitive horse-power. At the present time they have one hundred and thirty-seven machines, capable of producing more than one hun- dred thousand feet of cards yearly, and their machine card business is the largest in town. The business has from the first been carried on at the same site. J. & J. Murdock's factory was enlarged in 1856 by the addition of sixty-six feet, and, in 1866, it was further enlarged by what is now the main building, thirty-five by one hundred and fifty feet. In 1868 a new branch of the business was added, and machin- ery put in for currying and finishing the leather for cards, eighteen thousand sides yearly being finished and used for this purpose, in addition to a considera- ble quantity of cloth.

In the early part of the year 1888 a dynamo was put in and the works lighted by electricity.

After leaving the firm of James & John A. Smith & Co. in 1830, John A. Smith began the manufacture of card-clothing on the site of the present Wire Mill. In 1844 he was succeeded by the firm of Southgate & Smith, consisting of Samuel Southgate, Jr., and John S. Smith. In 1859 Horace Waite, who had been making hand-cards on the first floor of Waite's factory while Southgate & Smith were using the upper floor, succeeded Mr. Southgate, and the firm became Smith & Waite. Mr. Smith retired in 1867, and the firm of E. C. & L. M. Waite & Co. was organized. Mr. Horace Waite died in 1871, Lucius M. retired in 1874, and the business has since been continued by Edward C. Waite.

Josephus Woodcock, Benjamin Conklin and Austin Conklin, as the firm of Conklin, Woodcock & Co., began the machine-card business on Pleasant Street in 1828 ; dissolved in 1830, when Mr. Woodcock, with his brother Lucius, formed the firm of J. & L. Wood- cock. Danforth Rice was with them from 1831 to 1836, and William P. White from 1848 till his death,

in 1881. Charles H. then took the interest of his father, Josephus Woodcock ; Henry Bisco joined the company, and the business was continued in the name of L. Woodcock & Co. until 1888, when it was given up, and the machinery sold to the Card Clothing Association. Mr. Lucius Woodcock died in 1887.

Baylies Upham manufactured machine-cards from 1825 till 1857, when he sold to J. & J. Murdoch. From 1825 till 1833 Samuel Hurd was in company with him, and from 1849 to 1855 Irving Sprague.

After leaving Mr. Upham, Mr. Hurd united with James Trask in the manufacture of machine and hand-cards, on the Trask place, on Mount Pleasant. Mr. Trask died in 1848, and Mr. Hurd removed to the rear of White & Denny's factory. In 1862 he sold to L. S. Watson, but continued to make cards till 1866 on commission. William F. Holman manufactured hand-cards from 1867 to 1873.

Claramon Hunt made cards on a foundation of wood from 1868 to 1874 in White & Denny's factory, and then sold to L. S. Watson & Co.

In 1842 John H. & William Whittemore began the manufacture of card-clothing in the building west of the Friends' burying-ground, which William Earle was at the same time using for making card-machines. In 1845 they received their brother James. John H. was killed on the Western Railroad in 1851, and the firm assumed the name of W. & J. Whittemore. James died in 1882. William F., his son, joined the company in 1874. After making cards about a year at Mannville, the Whittemores removed to the Centre Village, and occupied, for a few years, the building on Market Street in which is now Wheeler's meat- market. They then built their factory, which was much enlarged in 1883.

Cheney Hatch, first on Pleasant Street, then on Main Street, made cards from 1823 to 1836, when he sold to Alden Bisco, who soon sold to Henry A. Denny, who, in 1849, took into partnership his sons -Joseph Waldo and William S.,-as the firm of Henry A. Denny & Sons. In 1854 they sold to White & Denny.

Henry A. Denny commenced making hand-cards in 1823, with Emory Drury, as the firm of Drury & Denny, on Pleasant Street, about a mile south of Main Street, where Samuel D. Watson had before carried on the same business two or three years. They dissolved, and he continued alone, on the corner of Main and Mechanic Streets. Afterward he was associated with Reuben Merriam, until 1836, when he purchased the factory hitherto used by Mr. Hatch.

Col. Thomas Denny, with William Earle, made hand-cards on Denny Hill. In 1802 he began the manufacture of cards, hand and machine, on the corner of Main and Market Streets, which he con- ducted on an extensive scale till his death, in 1814. He had in the same building the post-office and a store.

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Jonathan Earle manufactured cards on Mount Pleasant from 1804 to 1813.

Alpheus Smith built a brick factory, afterward the house of H. G. Henshaw, where he manufactured card clothing from 1813 to 1823, and was succeeded by his brother Horace.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 189

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1576

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576