History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. II, Part 155

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 896

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Tyler Blanchard, Joseph R. Warriner, Daniel Hovey, Franklin G. Calkins, Herbert IF. Calkins, Gurnsey Clough; George Phillips, Michael Donihue, 2dl Mass. Art.

llarland B. Moody, George E. Wood, Isaac Toohey, 2d Mass. II. Art.

Harrison Pierce, James Wallace, Alanson Wallace, Solomon Pierce, Warren Pierce, Erastus Newport, 54th Mass.

Henry Root, George Root, Edward Root, Patrick Riley, 2Ist Mass. George II. Moody, 13th Mass. H. Art. Wm. O. Smith, 25th Mass.

Wm. J. Skidmore, Ioth Mass.

Alonzo Allen, 15th Mass.

John McGown, Munroe M. Poole, Ezra Ferry, 18th Mass. Charles H1. Underwood, William Day, Alvin A. Gage, 27th Mass. John Black, Cornelius Sandford, Henry W. Barber, Ioth Conn. James F. Alberty, 5th N. Y. Cav.

flomer A. Sinith, surgeon's steward, " Wyandotte," Navy.

Valuable assistance bas been rendered in the compilation of this bistory by Alvin A. Gage, Iliram Newton, Jos. L. Rey- nolds, Austin Newell, Dr. G. E. Fuller, by the several pastors of the town, and by other citizens.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

CHARLES H. MERRICK.

The Merrick name is traceable to Cydovail, judge of Powys Court, in Wales, about A. D. 1200. The third son of Cydovail, named Meuric, was a captain in the guard of Henry VIII. of England. Meuric gave the family surname to his descend- ants, who now generally appear under the name of Merrick, or Miriek, in England and America.

In several branches of the Merrick family the tradition is

$ Sce biography of Charles II. Merrick in this work.

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HISTORY OF HAMPDEN COUNTY.

handed down that three Merrick brothers were the first to in- troduce the name into this country; but the fact is well authenticated that Thomas Merrick, a descendant of Menric, and ancestor of the subject of this biography, was born in 1620, and is believed to have come from Wales to America in 1630. 11e settled at Springfield, Mass., in 1638, and married Sarah, daughter of Howland Stebbins, of Springfield. July 14, 1639.

Gideon Merrick, of the fifth generation in lineal descent from Thomas Merrick, was horn at Monson, Mass., Jan. 17, 1775, on a farm lying easterly from and adjoining the lands now occupied by the Monson State Primary School. 1le married Margaret White, of Monson, in September, 1797 ; but her married life was short, and she died July 2, 1798. For his second wife Gideon Merrick married Beulah, daughter of Jesse and Elizabeth Stebbins, of Monson, Dee. 12, 1802. April 16, 1807, he purchased, and in May following occupied, the farm where the State Primary School is now located. Himself and wife were hopeful subjects of the revival which visited the town in 1819, and united with the Congregational Church in June of that year.

Mr. Merrick sold his farm property at Monson to the State, Sept. 17, 1852, and removed to Amherst, Mass., to take up his residence with a son, where he died March 19, 1856. He was buried at Monson. Beulah, his wife, died at Amherst, Dec. 14, 1864, and was buried in the family ground with her hus- band.

James L. Merrick, eldest son of Gideon and Beulah Merrick, was born at Monson, Dec. 11, 1803. He continued on the farm with his parents until nearly twenty-one years of age, and contributed essentially to the family prosperity. Himself and two brothers united with the Congregational Church in Mon- son in October, 1825. He graduated at Amherst College in 1830, and in 1833 at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of Columbia, S. C. April 15, 1834, Mr. Merrick was ordained in the ministry at the Second Presbyterian Church of Colum- bia, and from that time to 1845 he was a missionary to Persia. On the 11th of March, 1839, at Tabreez, Persia, he was united in marriage with Emma, daughter of Nathaniel and Maria Taylor, of Portsmouth, England. In the year 1845, Mr. Mer- rick returned with his wife to America, and Jan. 30, 1849, he was installed pastor of the Congregational Church of South Amherst, Mass. His wife died at Amherst, Dec. 14, 1858, and was buried at Monson. After a pastorate of fifteen years Mr. Merrick's connection with the Amberst church was dissolved at his own request. He died at Amherst, June 18, 1866, and was buried by the side of his wife in the family grounds at Monson.

Samuel O. Merrick, second son of Gideon and Beulah Mer- rick, was born at Monson, Dec. 11, 1808. In early life he de- veloped a taste for agricultural pursuits, and devoted his life to that calling. He remained on the home-farm until 1852, when it was sold to the State of Massachusetts. He subse- quently purchased and occupied a farm in Chicopee, where he now resides. May 3, 1836, he married Maria S., daughter of Sybil Abbe, of South Hadley, Mass. She died at Chicopee, May 28, 1878, at the age of sixty-four years, and was interred in the family grounds at Monson.

Etta, daughter of Samuel O. and Maria S. Merrick, was horn at Monson, April 28. 1838, and married Rev. William 11. Daniels, of Franklin, Mass .. Sept. 11, 1861. Emma, daugh- ter of Rev. William H. and Etta Daniels, was born March 6, 1863, at St. Johns, New Brunswick.

Charles H. Merrick, the youngest son of Gideon and Beulah Merrick, and the subject of this sketch, was born at Monson, April 11, 1812. He passed his early life on his father's farm, meantime securing an education and storing his mind with valuable information. He was employed in school-teaching several winter terms, and the opportunity of pursuing a col- legiate course was offered him. But neither the pursuit of

agriculture nor the attainment of a high academic education offered special attractions to Mr. Merrick. Mechanical studies and pursuits were the principal objects of his de-ire -. In the summer of 1836 he engaged as a self-taught master-weaver in a woolen-mill, at Wales, Mass., where he put the weaving department of a two-set mill into successful operation.

Oct. 12, 1836, Mr. Merrick married Mary A., daughter of Charles and Sarah S. MeMaster, of Monson. He continued in the Wales mill until it was burned in the following winter. Soon after, he was employed at Rockville, Conn., where he took charge of the weaving department in the mill there, known as the " Old Rock." He invented and applied to his looms a self-acting temple, which was the first used in that section. He also arranged and applied a combination of pul- leys for operating a six-harness web, where the shades had been held in place by heavy iron rods. In April, 1838, the mill was closed from the pressure of hard times, and Mr. Merrick's connection with the Rock Company closed, with no promise of speedy re-employment.

Mr. Merrick then entertained the plan of attempting the manufacture of palm-leaf hoods, which were heing secretly made in Rockville, the tools and process of manufacture being kept from the public.

Soon after, determining to return to Monson in search of employment, he had occasion to pass through Somers, Conn., where palm-leaf was prepared for braiding. He there pur- chased eight pounds of weaving and two of braiding-leaf, and proceeded on to Monson. Locating temporarily at North Monson, he at once commeneed to construct a loom, without patterns or designs, for the weaving of palm-leaf sheets. These were soon made and put in successful operation. 1m- mediately following the production of sheets came the neces- sity for shapes to make and blocks to finish the hood>. These he also originated, and with them made the first palm-leaf hood ever manufactured in Massachusetts. Mr. Merrick thus inaugurated a new business enterprise in Monson, employing but one person, and he inexperienced in any part of the work to be done.

The business, gradually developing, early demonstrated the necessity of combined effort, and the need of more men and means. This led to the formation of the firm of Merrick & Fay, in the summer of 1838, the new partner in the under- taking being Rufus F. Fay, a sketch of whose life appears elsewhere in this work.

By the use of the combined means and advantages of the new firm, a great advance was made in the production and sale of the hoods. Late in the autumn of 1838, after repeated solicitation, they were induced to sell their manufacturing interest to Messrs. Lyon & Norcross, merchants at Monson, central village, with the understanding that they should manufacture hoods for them at a stipulated price. Merrick & Fay then removed their headquarters from North Monson to the central village, and engaged in manufacturing by con- tract for the purchasing firm a part of the two following years.

Sept. 8, 1841, the first purchase of real estate was made by the firm, consisting of a tract of land on Main Street, in Monson, with a two-story building thereon, 36 by 25, which was arranged for the manufacture of ladies' hats and bonnets from foreign and domestic straw-braids. At this period of the straw business but little was known of the process of making braid-goods, and the firm found it desirable to arrange with a party of skill and experience in the trade, to allow them, for the sum of two hundred dollars, to gather up in the latter's factory such additional information regarding the manufacture of straw goods as they could obtain by examina- tion and observation. By the aid of information thus ob- tained, and the practical knowledge the firm had already acquired in the manufacture of palm-leaf goods, they readily supplied themselves with the necessary tools and fixtures for

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HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

the successful sewing and finishing of braid goods. The supe- riority of their finishing tools was so marked that the party who first instructed them in the process of making straw- braids at once ordered duplicates of the machines for their own use, at a cost of four hundred dollars.

The firm thus commenced the manufacture of straw-braid goods in a very small way, in 1841. But they, from time to time, increased their annual productions as their goods became more generally known to the trade. At this time all braid- sewing and finishing was done by hand, and the firm put out their braids to a large number of families in Monson, and, with colonies formed in surrounding towns, the number of sewers was increased to ten or twelve hundred. In the working of straw-braids for nearly twenty years the firm had constantly aimed to make the choicest goods, so that the de- mand became so extensive that they were compelled to enlarge their facilities. Accordingly, in the summer of 1856, a new and larger factory was erected by them, and occupied the fol- lowing winter.

In November, 1858, the firm of Merrick & Fay was reor- ganized, and Henry Hodges, of Foxboro', and J. T. D. Iler- sey, of East Bridgewater, Mass., were admitted as equal part- ners in the business. Hodges and Hersey were at this time engaged in the straw-goods trade in New York. The new firm, as then organized, has since been known as Merrick, Fay & Co. at the manufactory in Monson, and llodges, Iler- sey & Co. at the salesroom in New York.

The firm at once made arrangements to largely increase their production, embracing all classes and varieties of ladies' straw goods, and continued in the then only known system of hand manufacture until 1861. In that year the first power press was invented and applied in the complete finishing of a hat or bonnet at one operation, in a metal die the exact size and shape of the article to be produced, perfecting and dupli- cating each piece in every successive operation. Many im- provements have been made in hat-pressing machines since the invention of 1861, the first being operated by hand, and deriving their power in the application of the screw and cam principle, while the later inventions give a machine capable of applying a pressure of one thousand pounds to each square inch of the goods. The power is furnished by hydraulic action, and is easily directed and applied to any desired pressure, with the capacity of rapidly repeating its operation.

In 1863 a complete revolution in the method of sewing straw-braids began to take form and effect from the invention and use of the Bosworth braid-sewing machine, which devel- oped the process of producing the perfect form of hand-stitch by a power-machine, with a great increase in production and in nicety of execution, so that machine-sewed braids secured largely-advanced prices over hand-sewed goods. As a neces- sary result of the use of the sewing-machines, the number of hand-sewers was greatly diminished, while the production of hats and bonnets was rapidly increased. This opportunity for new business induced the firm in 1863 to build a large addition to their factory, for the purpose of introducing the manufacture of men's and boys' hats, which were successfully produced in that year. The two classes of goods have since been manufac- tured together.

While the company's introduction of sewing- and finishing- machines enabled them to produce more than ten times the number of goods they could by band-work in each case, yet the statement is true that for the past twenty-five or thirty years one-third of the families of Monson have been furnished employment by the firm, and secured a proportionate share of the large monthly payments of the company. Besides these, many persons from places near and remote are employed. It has been the practice of the company to employ the best class of help, and men and women of character, social standing, and moral worth are to be found in their various departments of labor. The business has assumed bigh rank among the man-

ufactures of the country. Beginning in a room fifteen feet square, in 1838, the works now occupy a flooring of fifty thou- sand square feet, and each department is crowded to its utmost capacity.

Amid the cares of business, Mr. Merrick has found time to devote some of his energies to matters relating to the material welfare of his native place. He was chosen a director of Monson National Bank in 1855 and in 1862. 1Te is also a trustee of Monson Academy ; and at the organization of the Monson Savings Institution, in 1872, he was chosen its presi- dent, and still occupies that position.

Charles Merrick, son of Charles H. and Mary A. Merrick, was born at Monson, April 17, 1853. Since finishing his edu- cation he has been engaged in the interests of the firm with which his father is connected, with a view of continuing in the business. June 19, 1878, he married Mary A., daughter of B. A. and Eunice M. Day, of Monson.

RUFUS F. FAY.

The name of Fay is of ancient origin, and can be traced baek many hundred years. It is first met with in France, in the persons of Sir Gonderneur du Fay, Great Baron of Nor- mandy, and Gen. Victor Fay, one of the generals of Napoleon the First, and the father of sons distinguished as ambassadors and authors. Rodolph Fay married the daughter of Gen. Lafayette, and with his wife shared the captivity of the father in the prison of Olmutz, Prussia. M. du Fay held several important posts of honor during the reign of Louis XI., and discovered vitreous and resinous electricity. Miss Leontine Fay was a distinguished French actress, and married a gen- tleman of great wealth. Another Fay, an astronomer, dis- covered Fay's comet in 1844. The name occurs in England as early as the year 1173, and is probably traceable to Radul de Fay, a distinguished nobleman during the reign of Henry I1. The name also occurred in Ireland at an early day, under the form of Fake.

The Fays were not among the first settlers of New Eng- land, but they are believed to have sprung mostly from one common ancestor. David Fay appears first as a settler at Sudbury, Mass., at an early day. Ile was from Wayhill, England, and is supposed to have served as a soldier under Cromwell. Ile returned to England soon after 1660, leaving behind him an only son, John, who was born in England in the year 1648. John came to America on board the " Speed- well," June 27, 1656, became one of the first settlers of Marl- boro', Mass., and bore a gallant part in the trials and dangers that attended the first settlements at that place. Ile died Dec. 5, 1690, aged forty-two.

Rufus F. Fay is in the seventh generation after the original David Fay, the descent having passed through John, Samuel, Ebenezer, Jude, his grandfather, and Rufus F., his father. Jude Fay was born in the year 1748. He married Sally Fair- banks, and settled in Monson at an early date. llis daughter Betsey married Joel Norcross, and was a lady of rare excel- lence of character, and her death, in 1829, clicited the strongest sentiment of regret from the public prints of that day.

Rufus F. Fay, father of our subject, was born Aug. 18, 1786, in Brimfield, Mass. HIe located in the north part of Monson, near the line of the town of Palmer, and there owned a large farm, now occupied by his son, Eli N. Fay. In the year 1809 he was united in marriage to Rachel Taft, by whom nine children were born to him. He died March 31, 1865.

Of the children of Rufus F. Fay, his son, Rufus F., was the third, having been born at Monson, on the old farm, Feb. 9, 1814. Ile passed his early life upon the farm, enjoying in the winter season the benefits of such education as the common schools of his day afforded. After attaining the age of twenty-

Joseph L. Reynolds

DM. Ellis

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HISTORY OF HAMPDEN COUNTY.

one, he entered the woolen-factory of the Rockville Manufac- turing Company, at Rockville, Conn., for the purpose of learning the business of woolen-manufacture. After remain- ing at Rockville three years he returned to Monson, and, in partnership with Charles II. Merrick, engaged in the manufac- ture of straw goods, mainly palm-leaf hats, making the first Shaker hoods made in Massachusetts. This was the original establishment of the firm of Merrick & Fay, now old and well- known manufacturers of straw goods. The business connec- tion of these gentlemen has continued uninterruptedly since. The firm have extended their manufacture to the higher grades of straw goods, and do the largest business of any manufacturers in Monson.

While occupying prominent business standing in the com- munity, Mr. Fay has always declined to accept any of the public offices that fall in his way, preferring to devote his en- tire time and attention to the conduet and development of his business, and firmly believing that weakness is the natural result of divided duties. He is a member of the Congrega- tional Church of Monson, having united with it in 1828.

On the 1st of April, 1835, Mr. Fay was united in marriage with Margaret, daughter of Charles McMaster, of Monson. She died in 1850, leaving no children. In November, 1852, he married Sarah MeMaster, sister of his first wife, by whom he has had three children,-Charles, who died in infancy ; Rufus, aged nineteen ; and Frederick, aged seventeen. The sous are engaged in business with their father.

JOSEPH LANGFORD REYNOLDS.

The Reynolds family is of ancient and honorable origin, and has been represented in this country for many years. John Reynolds, the great-grandfather of our subject, lived at an early day at North Kingston, Washington Co., R. 1. But whether he was born in this country, or emigrated from England, is not certainly known. John, his son, and grand- father of Joseph L., passed the greater part of his life at the same place, and died at the age of eighty-four. He lost his sight in the later years of his life, and was known as " Blind John," to distinguish him from several others of the same name who lived in that locality.

Eldridge Reynolds, father of Joseph L., was born at North Kingston, on the old farm that has been owned by the family for the past two hundred years. He had seven children,- John, Henry, Joseph L., Sarah, Martha L., Mary G., Shef- field C.

.Joseph L. was born on the old farm at North Kingston, on the last day and the last hour of the year 1796. He passed his life, up to the age of fourteen, at North Kingston, attend- ing school at the village of Wickford, R. I. In the year 181I he went to Portsmouth, R. I., and engaged in farming, but returned home the following year. At the age of sixteen he went to Coventry, R. I., to learn the trade of machine- making. He served an apprenticeship of three years there with Hinds, Arnold & Co. Upon the expiration of his time he went to Bozrah, Conn., and engaged in the manufacture of brass andirons. He remained there but a short time, and went out in search of employment. He finally took service with Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton-gin, at Whit- neyville, Conn., and engaged in the manufacture of muskets for the government. He remained there about three years, and then returned to Rhode Island and engaged in machinery- making at Pawtucket. At the expiration of about a year he went to Brimfield, Mass., and there first engaged in the manu- facture of cotton sheeting, having special charge of the newly invented power-looms. This was about the year 1820.

In September, 1821, he went to Monson, Mass., and associ- ated himself with the Hampden Cotton-Manufacturing Com- pany. Ile first became general overseer for the company, and

afterward acted as agent for twenty-five years. During that time Mr. Reynolds greatly increased the value of the manu- facturing enterprises of that company, erected an additional mill, and added other improvements. In 1850 the company, as some mark of appreciation of the long and valuable services of Mr. Reynolds, presented him a handsome solid silver pitcher, bearing the inscription,

" Presented to Joseph L. Reynolds, Esq., by the Hampden Manufacturing Com- pany, as a token of their sense of the skill, ability, and integrity evinced by him in the management of their affairs for a quarter of a century .- 1850."

During this time Mr. Reynolds was largely interested as an owner in the enterprises of the company. He afterward re- signed the agency of the Hampden Manufacturing Company, and, though still acting as treasurer of that company, en- gaged in manufacturing on his own account, and erected two mills at South Monson,-a steam-mill, which was destroyed by fire about June, 1858, and not afterward rebuilt, and a mill that stood upon the present site of the Rockland mill.

The Hampden Company finally dissolved, and Mr. Rey- nolds engaged in running his own enterprise, having rebuilt the Rockland mill, and purchased of the Hampden Company, June 5, 1869, the " old cotton-mill." These mills he still owns, the business being managed by his sons, R. M. Rey- nolds and Theodore Reynolds. The manufactures are cassi- meres and doeskins. Mr. Reynolds, having reached the age of eighty-two, is not now engaged in active business, though his mills are run in his name.

July 13, 1824, he married Sylvia, daughter of William Smith, of Brimfield, Mass. She died Aug. 9, 1836, leaving four children. He married his present wife March 8, 1837. She was Oriel, a daughter of Rice Munn, of Monson, the family having been among the very first settlers of the town. They have had three children, of whom one died in infancy. Rice M. Reynolds, born Dee. 18, 1838, and Theodore, born Oet. 31, 1843, are now engaged in the manufacturing business at Monson.

Mr. Reynolds has confined himself almost exclusively to the management of his business enterprises, public office having no attractions for him. In the year 1854 he filled the office of State Senator with great acceptance. He has filled various town offices, and was a justice of the peace for a long term of years.

In his church affiliations he is a Congregationalist, and with his wife is connected with that denomination in the town.

Through a long, active, and laborious life Mr. Reynolds has discharged the various duties that devolved upon him with singular fidelity, integrity, and success, and his career is a fitting example to the young of what earnest and systematic devotion to business interests, combined with integrity of ehar- acter, can accomplish.

He has long been an active member of the Masonie frater- nity, and was the first Master of Thomas Lodge, of Palmer. He was previously Master of that lodge, early in its history, when it existed at Monson. He was also the first Master of Dayspring Lodge, now at Monson, in the year 1863.

He has added much to the embellishment of the town of Monson, and now occupies a handsome and commodious resi- dence in South Monson, which he erected in 1863.

DWIGHT WARREN ELLIS.

Dwight Warren Ellis was born in Dana, Mass., Dee. 22, 1824. While a boy he lived in Ware, Mass., and Rockville, Stafford, and Coventry, Conn., working in mills, and attend- ing school, winters. Ile attended one term at Monson Aead- emy. Commencing the woolen business when a boy, he learned it thoroughly, from " sorting" and flycing the wool to " finish- ing" the manufactured cloth. His commencement of business for himself, which was in association with others, was in 1849. He purchased a small interest with the Shaws, of Wales,

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HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

Mass., and remained with them four years. This business venture was not successful, its control being in other hands.

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History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. II, Part 155

Author: L.H. Everts & Co Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts Number of Pages: 896

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 896