History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 63

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 63

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Farmers' Club .- In the year 1878 the farmers of Uxbridge and Mendon formed a Farmers' Club, and gave annual exhibitions for about five years, when, the Worcester Southeast Agricultural Society, located at Milford, having surrendered its charter, the Farmers' Club was discontinued, and its members applied for, and received, a charter as an agricultural society, to be located at Uxbridge, under the name of the Blackstone Valley Agricultural Society.

The new society purchased extensive grounds, and erected cattle-sheds and pens, and built a track for the trial of farm and family carriage horses only, horse-racing for purses being expressly prohibited.

It has started out with the intention of being a farmers', and not a jockeys' society ; and thus far bas proved by its success the wisdom of its plans.

The fame of its fairs, and exhibitions of cattle, second to none in the State, calls to its annual exhi- bitions the best flocks and herds in the county, and so great is the demand for space that new sheds and pens must soon be erected. The fall exhibition is always exceptionally fine, and attracts great crowds of visitors. It is an institution of which the farmers of the Blackstone Valley may well be proud.

No other town, of the size and population of Uxbridge, had been more successful in bringing up a large number of active and energetic business men than this. Of those who have left behind them pleasant memories, I may name the following : John Capron, Daniel Day, Ananias Gifford, Jonathan Whipple, Samuel Read, Ephraim Spring, Alpheus

Bayliss, Frederick Taft, Eastman Taft, Jerry Wheel- ock, Amariah Chapin, Jonathan Gregory, Abiel Jaques, George Willard, Deacon Daniel Payne, Adolphns Spring, Daniel Carpenter, Cato Willard, Daniel Farnum, Peter White, Manley Scott, Bezaleel Taft, Joseph Thayer, Orsmus Taft, Willard Judson and numerous members of the families of Taft, Thayer, Seagrave, Spring, Wood, Farnum, Thomp- son, Williams, Wheelock, Sayles and others, whose names are household words. Uxbridge has also sent such men as Stephen C. Greene, Josiah, Royal and Amory Chapin, Jacob, Josiah, Edward and Geo. W. Seagrave, John, Paul, Peter, Moses and Welcome Farnum, Sylvanus Holbrook, Effingham L. Capron, Asa Newell, Joseph Carpenter, Daniel Day, Royal C. Taft (now Governor of Rhode Island), Caleb Farnum, David F. and Cyrus G. Wood, Geo. T. Murdock, Stephen and Jason Emerson, Newell Tyler, Daniel Seagrave, Dr. William Bayliss, Nicho- las Bayliss, Willard Preston, D.D. and a host of others whose names are preminent in the professional and commercial world, and who are proud to ac- knowledge themselves children of Uxbridge to the manor born.

There are larger and older towns in Worcester County than Uxbridge, but there are none more beautiful, healthy and delighful to live in than this.

With no debt, and light taxes, with pleasant, sociable neighbors and townspeople; with fine churches, excellent schools, no license and high morality, surely we may be pardoned for the pride we take in claiming a place in the front rank of Worcester County towns.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

MOSES TAFT.

Moses Taft, who is well known as having been, for more than half a century, largely engaged in the manufacture of woolens, was born in Uxbridge, Mass., January 26, 1812, near where Daniel Day, in 1810, built the first woolen-mill in this town.

His father, Luke Taft, the fifth in descent from Robert Taft, the Puritan ancestor, who came from England and settled in Mendon, Mass., about 1680, was born in Uxbridge June 3, 1783, and was brought up as, and followed the occupation of, a farmer till about 1816, when, probably attracted by the hum of the spindle and the thud of the loom of the near- by Day Mill, he was led to procure a jenny of twenty spindles and a hand-loom (there were no others at that time), which he set up in his house and began the manufacture of satinets.

This machinery in the house gave Moses, at an early age, an opportunity to observe some of the pro- cesses of manufacturing, and, at the age of seven

Moves Haft,

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years, was given his first work in the business,-that of winding bobbins for the weaver. This was the extent of his manufacturing experience till his father, in 1821, hired room and power in the Day Mill, when he was inducted into the mysteries of piecing rolls and tending carding-machines.

In 1824 his father bought a water-power on the West River, with land suitable for factory, dwellings and other necessary buildings, and built his dam and canal in the autumn of that year and his factory the next year. The factory was put into operation in the fall of 1825, with two sets of cards and twenty power- looms,-the goods made being satinets.

Moses was here employed in the various depart- ments suitable to his age, attending the usual short terms of the winter schools, with an occasional term in the academy in this town, till 1827, when he re- ceived the advantage of a term at the Friends' School, then a popular school, in Bolton, Mass., of which Thomas Fry was the instructor.

The few advantages the district schools afforded with those named above, together with the applica- tion made by him to obtain an education, and the practical advantages received in the business life he followed in his younger days, has enabled him to dis- charge, in an efficient and highly satisfactory manner, most important duties, as will be seen as the narrative proceeds.

On his return from Bolton he again took his place in the mill till the spring of 1829, when he took up the occupation of clerk in the store of John Capron & Sons. The business of that company having been closed up by failure, Moses returned to his home, and entered at once upon the business of manufacturing in his father's mill,-making himself expert in every department, from the ability to make a proper se- lection of stock for the goods that were to be made, to the putting up the finished goods for market.

At eighteen years of age he was competent to take full charge of the mill, after which time his father devoted his time principally to his farm and other business interests.

In 1837 Mr. Taft entered into partnership with his father and brother-in-law, Caleb T. Chapin, under the style of " The East River Manufacturing Com- pany."

From this time Luke Taft practically left the business of mannfacturing -simply holding his estate and giving his sons the advantage of his advice and credit.

If any manufacturer remembers as far back as 1837, it will be with almost a shudder, as it comes back to him, as to how he lived through that year of trial and failure on all sides of him, and yet contrived to pay one hundred per cent. on all his bills.

This company, though severely tried, as every one was in that year from the integrity of its mem- bers, never compromised any of its debts, but paid in full all claims against it.

In 1840 Luke Taft sold one-half of his mannfactor- ing real estate and power to J. Wheelock & Son, and retired entirely from the risks and cares incident to manufacturing,-his son, Moses, taking the other half of the property and machinery,-Mr. Caleb T. Chapin giving up his interest in the "East River Manufacturing Company," and taking the superin- tendency of a cotton-mill in Northbridge.

From this time (1840) till April, 1846, Moses Taft ran his half of the mill successfully. At this last period he sold his share of the estate and machinery to C. A. & S. M. Wheelock.

Soon after the sale to C. A. & S. M. Wheelock, he, in company with Mr. Samnel W. Scott, who had been in his employment several years, hired a mill in Bur- rillville, R. I., where the present Mohegan Mill stands, and engaged in the manufacture of satinets, under the style of Taft & Scott, which continued till the burning of the mill, in the winter of 1849-50, when the business of this firm was closed up and the firm dissolved.

In 1849 he entered into partnership with James W. Day, a grandson of Daniel Day, the pioneer woolen manufacturer of Uxbridge, under the style of Taft & Day, and hired the Capron Mill, in this town, and commenced there the manufacture of satinets.

After a few years' successful business in the Capron Mill, Deacon Wm. C. Capron became a partner, when the firm took the style of Taft, Day & Co., which was shortly changed to Taft & Capron by the withdrawal of Mr. Day from the company.

The firm of Taft & Capron continued till about 1862, when the business and unexpired lease of the mill was sold to Messrs. R. & J. Taft, and the firm of Taft & Capron was dissolved.

Before selling his interest in the factory built by his father to C. A. & S. M. Wheelock, Mr. Taft had conceived the idea of building a factory on the west side of the Blackstone River, above the dam of the "Uxbridge Woolen Company."

To do this it would be necessary to secure all the in- terest of the "Blackstone Canal Company," in water and canal together, with a release from each individual owner on the river of the right to divert the water and to procure all necessary land for the erection of fac- tory, tenements and other conveniences required for such an establishment.

Having obtained all the necessary titles and re- leases to the estate in 1852, he laid the foundation for the mill, which was built the following year, with tenements and other necessary buildings.

This mill, which was known for some thirty years as the "Central Woolen Mill," was leased first to Messrs. Southwick & Sayles, till 1859, then to Messrs. Bradford, Taft & Co., of Providence, R. I.

In 1865 Mr. Taft sold his " Central Mill " estate to Messrs. R. & J. Taft, who, in 1883, sold the property to the "Calumet Woolen Company," a corporation that now holds the estate.

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Since retiring from the "Capron Mill " Mr. Taft has been, and now is, interested in several woolen- mills, namely-the " Caryville Mill," in Bellingham, Mass., with seven sets of machinery ; the " Douglas Woolen Mill," in East Douglas, Mass., with five sets of machinery ; the " Chattanooga Mill," in Ashland, Mass., with five sets of machinery ; besides an inter- est in the " Putnam Woolen Company," in Putnam Conn., and the "Calumet Woolen Company," in this town.

Not alone as a manufacturer has Mr. Taft been known. Since 1865 he has been president of the " Blackstone National Bank of Uxbridge, Mass.," be- sides being a member of its board of directors for several years previous to that date. He has also been president of the " Uxbridge Savings Bank " from its organization, in 1870.

Nor has he been negligent of his duties as a citizen or failed to receive the confidence and honors in the gift of his fellow-townsmen, having been elected and served several years on the Board of Selectmen of the town and as chairman of the board. In 1845 he rep- resented the town in the General Court for that year. He has served " Uxbridge Lodge, No. 120, I. O. O. F.," some fifteen years as its treasurer.

In the parish of the " First Congregational Soci- ety " he has often been called upon to discharge the duties of various committees and to assist in matters of great importance.

In all the affairs of business life, in all the various duties of social life, as citizen, as neighbor, as friend, he has been conscientious, faithful and considerate' helping where help has been needed, and giving good advice where advice was the best thing to give.

When Moses Taft is withdrawn (may it be long be- fore it shall be ! ) from the business and duties of life, it may be truly said a man will be missed.

JERRY WHEELOCK.

Jerry Wheelock, born in Uxbridge, Mass., Septem- ber 19, 1784, was well known in this vicinity (Ux- bridge, Worcester County, Mass.) as an ingenious mechanic, both as a builder and operator of woolen machinery in the early days of woolen manufac- turing.

He was of the sixth generation from the original immigrant of the race, Ralph Wheelock, who was born in Shropshire, England, in 1600. He was edu- cated at Clare Hall, Cambridge, was a dissenting preacher, and came from England in 1637, when the tide of persecution ran higbest. After remaining in Watertown one year, he removed to Dedham at the time of its settlement, and was active in the forma- tion of the church there; was a freeman in 1639. He was the founder of Medfield, which was set off from Dedham in 1650, and received the first grant of a house-lot in that town.

Simeon Wheelock, the father of Jerry, was born in

174I in Mendon, Mass. The first we hear of Simeon is on a memorandum book kept by him as an orderly at " Crown Point, dated Aug. 4, 1760; then under the command of Christopher Harris, Colonel of the R. I. Regiment."

He came to Uxbridge probably in 1763, as he ap- pears in the registry November 28, 1763, as declaring intention of marriage with Miss Deborah Thayer, of Mendon.

He was a blacksmith by trade, and bought the land now owned by the heirs of Royal Jefferson and others, a little north of the " First Congregational So- ciety's Meeting-house," of John Harwood in 1768, and built the house now standing there, and where most of his children were born. His blacksmith- shop is said to have stood opposite his house, and about where the academy building now stands. He was town clerk of Uxbridge from 1773-77, and was also a soldier in the War of the Revolution.

He joined the government forces in suppressing the Shays' Rebellion, and died at Springfield in con- sequence of injuries received from a fall on the ice in descending Arsenal Hill, leaving a widow and eight children; Jerry, the youngest, being in the third year of his age.

The family was left in somewhat straitened circum- stances, and the more so from the fact that the father had sold his estate in the centre of the town, and bought a place some three miles away, which, after his death, was found to be mortgaged; and to save what bad already been paid, nearly as much more was paid by the widow.

At this time it is evident that Jerry, at the age of a little more than two years, was left to the care of a mother in straitened circumstances, with other chil- dren of tender age, who were likewise dependent on the same over-burdened care.

We, whose children find everywhere the best ap- pliances for obtaining an education, can scarcely con- ceive of a time when the best means for obtaining any education was to lie on the hearth before a fire of blazing pine-knots with such books as those times afforded; or, when attending the schools of that day for the short time they were kept, to be told " You must give up your seat to. You pay nothing for your schooling, and he pays."

After a discussion in a town-meeting on the subject of appropriating money for educational purposes, in which the writer took a part, his father said to him, and with more feeling than he ever saw him manifest on any other occasion: "Charles, I never want any child told as I have been-' You pay nothing for your schooling, therefore you must give your seat to , who pays.'"

His education, and it was good for the times, must have been principally obtained from his mother, who, from papers in my possession of her preparation, must have had a superior education for a woman of those times.

Jerry Wheelock

IM. When lock

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At a suitable age he learned the trade of a "Set workman," a trade now made entirely obsolete by the large factories that by power machines turn out hun- dreds of cedar pails and tubs daily.

He next took up the trade of turner, and made bobbins and spools for John Slater. Afterwards he took up the business of chair-making, which he fol- lowed for several years.

In 1810 Daniel Day built the first woolen-mill in this vicinity. The first machinery was put into the mill in 1811.

Jerry Wheelock having married the eldest daugh- ter of Mr. Day, became a member of the manufac- turing firm of Daniel Day & Co. Having natural taste for mechanics and tact in the management of machinery, after a few years he left the company and went into the employment of Artemas Dryden, Jr., of Holden, Mass., who was then, and for many years after, noted as a builder of woolen-carding machines, and was engaged, principally, in setting up and put- ting into operation machines of his make in various places ; and was setting up machinery in Falmouth, Mass., in 1814, during its bombardment by the British ship-of-war "Nimrod."

In 1814 the association-afterwards incorporated- known as the "Rivulet Manufacturing Company " was formed. Jerry Wheelock became a member of the association, and was the mechanical manager and superintendent of the mill till the spring of 1819, when he gave up the place and returned to his old home and immediately commenced the building of woolen machinery.

This business he continued till 1834. He was well known, not only in this immediate vicinity, but in parts of Connecticut, New Hampshire and the east- ern part of New York, as a thorough workman and as making great improvement in the machinery he built, both in its workmanship and in the ease and perfection of its operation.

In 1834 he abandoned the building of machin- ery and went into manufacturing in company with his sons, which he continued till 1846, when he retired from active business.

Strict integrity and the most perfect workman- ship possible with the means possessed for doing work, it is believed, are the characteristics that would be ascribed to him by those best acquainted with him.

Of the former, when advised by his sons that, considering the risks of business and his age, it was best for him to withdraw from business, after considering the matter with regard to reflections that might fall on him in case of failure of his successors, he said to the writer: "Charles, I am not going to shirk any responsibility or have it said I left the business to escape from it; and I want you to remember all my interest in this property must be considered as much at stake as if my name stood as a member of the firm."

Fortunately, by good luck or good management, no risk was incurred and no call was made upon his property to make good the failure of his successors.

Of his workmanship, the greatest fault ever found with it, was that the unimportant with him, was just as important as the most important in the eyes of others ; and at times many careless per- sons would consider time thus spent to be spent to a useless purpose.

Whether, in view of the great inclination to slight work without regard to consequences that may fol- low, this should be written down against him as a grievous fault is left for others to judge.

As a citizen he was honored by his townsmen with the various municipal offices of the town, the duties of which he discharged with the same faith- fulness as he did all other works.

As a neighbor he was trusted, respected and loved. As a husband and father he was not only beloved, but was deserving of all the love and honor they could give him.

He died October 10, 1861, after a distressing sick- ness of more than five years, lamented by all who knew him.

SILAS MANDEVILLE WHEELOCK.

Mr. Wheelock, well known as a manufacturer and business man for some fifty years, was born in Ux- bridge, Mass., November 11, 1817, at the time his father, Jerry Wheelock, was superintendent and mechanical agent of "The Rivulet Manufacturing Company." He has always been a resident of the town of his nativity, and never lived without the limits of the school district of his early boyhood.

He early manifested an ability for the management of affairs, and whatever work he was called upon to perform, he was always able to find playmates ready to assist him in his work while he did the planning and superintending; and it may safely be said, and, as his life will show, this faculty has never been lost.

His opportunity for obtaining an education was very limited. The district school of about ten weeks of a male teacher in winter, and about the same length of time of a female teacher in summer, to which was added three or four terms to a select school in this town, taught by young college graduates, among whom were Mr. E. Porter Dyer, afterward Congregational minister in Shrewsbury, in this county, and Mr. C. C. Jewett, afterward Prof. Jewett, librarian of "Smithsonian Institute" and of the " Boston Public Library."

Early in life, in his ninth year, he began work in a woolen-mill at almost the only work that children of that age could be employed,-piecing rolls.

From that time he has been constantly connected with woolen manufacturing in some form,-as work- man in its various hranches, as superintending in some of its departments, and as manager and financier of private companies and corporations, and in having

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charge of the woolen department in a commission house in Boston and New York.

In 1846 the business firm of C. A. & S. M. Wheelock was formed, the business being the manufacture of satinets, plaid linseys and tweeds. This business was continued till 1855, when, after making a very consid- erable enlargement of its factory aud putting in steam- power, it entered upon the manufacture of fancy cas- simeres, giving up its other manufactures. This busi- ness has been continued to the present time, now nearly forty-three years, during which time S. M. Wheelock has been the general business manager and financier.

In 1870 he bought the Harriss Woolen Company's property in Putnam, Conn., consisting of a factory, twelve sets of woolen machinery, water-power, one- fourth of the Quinnebaug River at this point, together with dwelling-houses and other property.

This purchase, in connection with business men, was organized under an act of incorporation by the Legislature of the State of Connecticut as "The Putnam Woolen Company." After an increase of the capital stock in 1880, a second factory with ma- chinery power, one-fourth of the Quinnebang houses and other property, was bought and added to the previous purchase. S. M. Wheelock was chosen treasurer of the company and business manager, which position he maintained till the fall of 1887. when other business occupied so much of his atten- tion as to make it expedient for him to resign the treasurership of this company.

In 1883 he purchased the Central Mill property in this town, consisting of factory, machinery, power, the whole of the Blackstone River at this point, houses and other property. A company of business men being formed and incorporated under the general corporation laws of Massachusetts as the " Calumet Woolen Company," took the property, and after making extensive repairs and changes and additions, began the manufacture of fancy cassimeres, S. M. Wheelock being the treasurer and principal manager of the company.

In 1886 he purchased the property known as the Uxbridge Woolen Factory, which included buildings, machinery, power, the whole of the Blackstone River at this point, dwelling-houses and other property. The Calumet Woolen Company, after an increase of its capital stock, took this property, and after making very great alterations and additions, have put it into operation as " The Hecla Mill."

Since this last purchase and putting into operation of the Hecla Mill, he has continued, as before, the management of the Calumet Mills, and also the Wacautuck Mills, by which name the mills of C. A. & S. M. Wheelock are known.

S. M. Wheelock has manifested but little ambition for political life, although he has discharged the duties of one of the Board of Selectmen of this town for some three or four years, and served on various committees appointed for temporary purposes.

In 1887 his friends thought his age and practical ability fitted him for the discharge of the duties ap- propriate to a member of the Massachusetts Legis- lature.

At a Republican convention held for the purpose of nominating a candidate to represent the Second Wor- cester Senatorial District in the then next General Court he received the nomination for that position, which was duly confirmed by his election in Novem- ber following to the Senate of Massachusetts by a majority that showed him and his immediate friends that it was not merely as a partisan he owed his elec- tion, but for his qualities as a man of practical ability.

He has this year-in accordance with the general rule of the political parties in relation to Senators- been again elected to the same position by a gratify- ing majority.

It is not as a politician on which the reputation of S. M. Wheelock is to stand, but as a thorough, prac- tical business man, for which he early in life mani- fested a striking ability ; for stern integrity iu busi- ness matters, worth more than millions obtained by fraud and chicanery. For more than fifty years of business life, during which time revulsions in business have been encountered that have swamped those ap- parently the most strongly prepared to endure the storm, he has been able to fulfill all his engagements, never paying less than one hundred per cent. But in doing this it has sometimes been felt as a hardship to be obliged to compete with those who, after settling their obligations for fifty per cent. or less, still con- tinued to meet him in the busine's mart.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 63

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