USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Sutton > History of the town of Sutton, Massachusetts, from 1704 to 1876, including Grafton until 1735, Millbury until 1813 and parts of Northbridge, Upton and Auburn > Part 41
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70
The three terms of the school, with the vacations, had - consumed the whole school year without reaching Manchaug, but it was the intention of the school board that the first term of the second year should be held at Manchaug, accord- ing to the vote of the town.
At the annual meeting of 1874 it was " Voted to maintain a high school, and the same be held at Sutton Center during the year."
Manchaug, for some small consideration, had very gener- ously waived her right to the next term of the high school before the vote was taken.
The vote of the town at this meeting was reassuring, and the second year of the high school, Walter A. Wheeler preceptor, began at Sutton Centre in a newly repaired and pleasant school-room, under more favorable auspices, that were fully justified, as is shown by the following report of the school committee, ending March 1875 :
" Whole number of scholars, summer, 25; fall, 27; win- ter, 32. In the higher branches, summer, 23 ; winter,. 27.
521
TOWN OF SUTTON.
" We take this opportunity to present thanks and congrat- ulations to the town for having two years ago inaugurated a high school, and if the success of the experiment for the first year was sufficiently satisfactory to procure a strong vote in favor of its continuance, much more does the experi- ment of the second year justify the town in liberally sus- taining and advancing the interests of the Sutton high school. We frankly, and in justice to the tutor, admit that our pres- ent success is largely owing to our good fortune in securing · the services of Mr. Wheeler, whose genius, sympathies and qualifications so abundantly prove that he has not mistaken his calling."
At the annual meeting of 1875, it was "Voted, on motion of I. B. Hartwell, that the high school be maintained at Sutton center the ensuing year."
The success of the school in the third year of its existence is apparent from the following extracts from the report of the school committee, James W. Stockwell chairman, for the year ending March 1876 :
"The high school, Walter A. Wheeler teacher, has had a year of continual prosperity. Started as it was in 1873, as an economic arrangement for obtaining the share of the State money which we had hitherto forfeited through non- fulfilment of law, it has proved not only our wisdom in establishing and maintaining it, but the wisdom of the State law which we had neglected.
"The average whole number of scholars for the three terms has been thirty-five.
"We have added to the number of branches of study taught, Ancient and Modern History, and English Litera- ture and Composition. A regular course of study has been prescribed, and five scholars, Mary E. Sibley, Sarah J. King, Frances J. W. Freeland, Sarah A. Waters and Charlotte E. Lackey, complete the course with the close of this term, and will receive the diploma from the committee that their scholarship richly merits.
" If it were possible to say more in praise of Mr. Wheeler, as a teacher, than was said by the school committee last year, we would gladly do so. We can only add that, besides his
66
522
SCHOOLS OF SUTTON.
rare faculty of imparting knowledge, and the love of it, he is, as a moral teacher of our youth, a fit exemplar of the duties and virtues" [inculcated by the founders of this Com- monwealth. ] Signed, JAMES W. STOCKWELL, M. E. CROSSMAN, C. L. THOMPSON, School Committee.
SUTTON, March 4, 1876.
It is but a tribute due to I. B. Hartwell, Esq., who kindly prepared the foregoing " historical sketch," to say that no one in town has labored more earnestly, both in a private and public capacity, to improve our common schools, to fos- ter the desire for a more generous course of study than they afford, and to furnish facilities for the gratification of such desire. He was chairman of the school committee during several years preceding the establishment of the high school, and at the time when the agitation attending the discussion of the matter was the greatest, and brought all the influence which his position commanded, to bear in support of the measure. His faith in the good sense of the people, and in their ultimately favorable action, never faltered. And when by an emphatic vote the measure he, with others, had so long advocated, was carried, and the high school became a fact, his efforts to gain it popularity and thus place it upon a sure basis, were as untiring as were those to secure its establishment. At the hold it has taken upon the public mind, and at the influence it is having in elevating the stand- ard of education in the town, no one rejoices more than he.
MAIN' STAKET.
LEDGE STREET.
0
0
LI
MAX HANG POND NO &
STUW STAŁET.
J
STEVENS STREET.
NU 3 MIU.
0
STEVENS STREET.
VINST
STREET.
0
0
STEVENS POND.
..... NM
0
I
1
D
THIRD
STRINT
KALK STREET.
.
CHANH CHASE
VILLAGE of MANCILAUG.
MAIN STREET
WHITIN S AVENUE.
0
NOIMUL
HISTORY OF SUTTON.
Part IV.
MANUFACTURES.
It is a well known fact that England, for a long period, discouraged manufacturing in her colonies. She thought by so doing to increase the demand for her own products, and make her dependencies more dependent. The policy was a short-sighted one, and in the end brought upon her disaster instead of profit.
Among the American colonies the manufacture of such articles as were needed for home use had, from their first settlement, been encouraged by the colonists, and iron works had been established in several places, and certain of the coarser kinds of woolen goods were also made. There were a few. paper mills, and many who had wrought at some trade before coming to this country, were engaged in a small way in the business with which they were familiar ; but so restric- tive were the laws of parliament with reference to the prod- ucts of American manufacture, that the industries of the people had mostly been employed in other pursuits.
When the measures of the mother country became too oppressive to be endured, and were set at defiance, first by a non-importation agreement among the merchants of the leading commercial cities, and later by open opposition, it was evident that something must be done, and promptly done, to stimulate home manufactures.
524
MANUFACTURES OF THE
The first provincial congress of Massachusetts, which met at Salem, October 5, 1774, took the matter in hand, and appealing to the patriotism of the people, strongly recom- mended the production of wool, the raising of flax and hemp, the making of nails, steel, tin-plate, fire-arms, saltpetre, gunpowder, paper, glass, buttons, salt, combs, cards, and the establishment of all such arts and manufactures as might be useful to the people .*
As early as 1768 the people of this town, in hearty sym- pathy with every movement designed to relieve the colonics from dependence upon England for necessary articles of wear and use, passed a resolution encouraging manufactures. t
Most earnestly did the people set themselves at work to provide for their necessities. Every house was a manufac- tory of cloth, every farmer a producer of wool and flax. As the carding was all done by hand, it was natural that the first manufacturing of the town should be the production of those articles most needed in making woolen and linen cloth. So we find
HAND CARDS
among the first, if not the first articles manufactured in Sut- ton. These were made by Jonathan Hale, who came from Newbury not far from 1747, his name appearing upon both the church and town records that year.
Deacon Leland describes the manufacturing process as fol- lows : the teeth were made by hand, several wires being placed in a bundle and the whole cut off with shears the desired length ; then taken and bent or doubled ten or twelve at a time over an iron guage by the thumb, which was cov- ered with a leather cot for the purpose. The wires were then taken one by one and crooked ; sometimes by the thumb and finger, and sometimes by a small machine which was of very simple construction. The leathers were lined and then pricked by a punch containing only two needles. This method of pricking continued until about 1765 or 1766,
* See " Journals of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts," pp. 63, '4, '5.
t See "Annals," p. 86.
525
TOWN OF SUTTON.
when a machine was introduced which did very rapid work. This machine had punches corresponding in number with the length of the card ; the bar in which they were placed had an upward and downward movement, so regulated that the puncture was made the instant the leather or leaf was fed up by an ingenious contrivance to the required point. The machine was the joint invention of Jonathan Hale, Elisha Goddard and Peregrine White.
Mr. Hale used to peddle his cards, carrying them, in large bags, on horseback. Mr. Hale removed to Coos, New Hampshire, in 1771, and the business of card making was carried on in town for two or three years by Joseph Rock- well, born in Middletown, Connecticut, who learned his trade of Mr. Hale.
Rockwell employed Simon Willard of Grafton, who with his brothers Ephraim and Benjamin, were clock-makers, to construct a machine for cutting and crooking the teeth at the same time. The wires were fed up by hand; the machine cut and crooked only.
Rockwell went from Sutton to Philadelphia, where he con- tinued his trade. He was succeeded in the card-making business by - Sibley, who made a great improvement in the machine for cutting and bending the teeth. Mr. Sibley continued the business until about 1795, from which time nothing farther was done in that line in town.
Mr. Sibley used to carry his cards about the country for sale, in a horse-cart. He said he believed Mr. Jonathan Hale, senior, was the first manufacturer of cards in this part of the country.
COMB MAKING
was introduced in town about 1780, by Simeon Carpenter, who came from Attleboro', and continued by him until 1815. Levi and Jonathan Fuller, who came from Attleboro' about the same time with Mr. Carpenter, were also comb-makers by trade, and carried on the business for many years. These combs were made from horn, bone, ivory, tin and lead. Deacon Leland remarks, "Mr. Carpenter says that there was a belief that red hair combed daily with a lead comb
·
526
MANUFACTURES OF THE
would become black ; and many people, male and female, have directed him to make them for the purpose of getting rid of a carrotty top."
Combs were also manufactured by one of the Chases, on the place now occupied by Andrew Boyce, in the Slocomb district.
SCYTHE, HOE AND AXE
making were also carried on at an early date-scythe mak- ing in particular. All these were at first beaten out by hand, afterward by the trip-hammers, operated in some cases by water-power and in some by horse-power.
There are several places in town which lay claim to the introduction of the first trip-hammer.
Mr. Oliver Hall says the first was put into operation by horse power by Mr. Nathan Putnam, who had a scythe shop near the house in which Mr. Hall now lives.
Mr. Putnam afterwards erected a building (the founda- tions of which may still be seen) on the stream emptying into Manchaug pond, just below the village of West Sutton, a little west of the road to Manchaug, in which he had a trip-hammer operated by water-power. He forged his scythes in this building and finished them in the shop near his house. Scythes, hoes and axes were made at West Sutton-hoes and axes by Elder Samuel Waters and his son-in-law, Amos Waters, and axes by Cornelius Putnam .*
Scythes and hoes were also made by Abel Chase and Nathaniel Whitmore and sons, on the place now owned by Lewis Griggs. Scythes were likewise made near the place where Estes Putnam now has a shingle mill ; at Marbleville by some of the members of the Marble family; at Man- chaug by Joseph and Cornelius Putnam and Colonel Reuben Waters; in the union district by Joel Lackey; at South Sutton, and in what is now Millbury, on the stream running from Crooked Pond, which will have more particular men- tion in connection with what will be said upon the early manufacturing along this stream.
* See "Homes of Sutton," pages 185, 186.
527
TOWN OF SUTTON.
That few towns in this State, as early as 1793, surpassed Sutton in manufacturing enterprise, is evident from the fact that at that time there were within the limits of the town, one paper mill, one oil mill, ten grist mills, six saw mills, seven trip-hammers, five scythe and axe shops, one hoe maker, six works for manufacturing potash, and several nail makers. *
The fine water privileges along the outlet of Crooked Pond (now Singletary Lake) were at an early date utilized for manufacturing purposes. The first privilege, where W. H. Wheeler's cotton mill stands, was occupied by the grist mill built by John Singletary, who bought the "mill-lot" of Ebenezer Dagget, t to whom it was given upon condition that he should "keep a grist mill for the use of the town." The grant of this lot carried with it the " privilege of the stream to the lower falls." The exact date of the building of this mill cannot be ascertained. Mr. John Singletary came to town about the year 1720, and undoubtedly bought the right of Mr. Dagget, and built the mill soon after. He and his son Amos, who succeeded him, owned the mill for many years. It had two run of stones, and the supply of water being unfailing, was, in very dry seasons, for a long time - the only mill in town where grinding was done. On the next privilege it is said there was a blacksmith shop, with a trip-hammer, in which scythes were made on a small scale, and perhaps other articles used on a farm. The next privi- lege, where the mill of M. A. Lapham now is, was occupied by the paper mill of Abijah Burbank. This was the first paper mill built in the county, and the fourth or fifth in Massachusetts. Its erection appears to have been suggested by a resolution passed in a convention of the committees of correspondence and delegates from the several towns of the county of Worcester.
The convention held its first session August 9, 1774, and adjourned from time to time, holding its last meeting May 31, 1775. At this meeting the resolution above mentioned was passed, and was as follows :
* See Whitney's History of Worcester County,
t See " Annals," pages 18 and 22.
528
MANUFACTURES OF THE
"Resolved, that the erection of a paper mill in this county would be of great public advantage ; and if any person or persons will undertake the erection of such a mill and the manufacture of paper, that it be recommended to the people of the county to encourage the undertaking by generous contributions and subscriptions."
In view of the interest displayed by the public, and the encouragement given, Mr. Burbank immediately set about building a paper mill, which was finished in the early part of the year 1776, and put in operation in June of that year.
November 13, 1777, the following advertisement appears in the Massachusetts Spy :
" THE PAPER MILL and of consequence the PRINTING OFFICE in the county must immediately stop unless the good people its inhabitants are more careful in preserving their RAGS. The advanced price of THREE PENCE per pound, for clean Linen or Cotton and Linen RAGS is now given by the PRINTER, which, together with the invaluable benefit the public must derive, from having a plentiful supply of PAPER, BOOKS, &c. he flatters himself cannot fail of the desired effect."
In May 1778 Mr. Burbank informs the public that " The Paper Manufactory at Sutton is now carried on to great per- fection. The good people of this county are desired to be careful in saving their rags, as by that means the Paper makers will be enabled to supply them plentifully, with as good paper as can be made in the State."
And again in June of the same year " Abijah Burbank, Hereby informs the public, that he has lately procured a workman who is a Complete Master of the art of Paper Making, and hopes for the future (provided the good people of this county will be careful to save their rags) to be able to supply them with as good Paper as any Paper Maker in the State, and at least as cheap. N. B. Two shillings per pound given for Calves Pates, at the Paper Mill in Sutton, or at the Printing Office in Worcester."
Advertisements for rags appear frequently in the Spy, for the nature of which see " Annals," page 112.
529
TOWN OF SUTTON.
This mill was, during most of the revolutionary war, the main dependence, and at times the sole dependence, for paper, of the printing office of Isaiah Thomas in Worcester. · Its capacity, according to Deacon Leland, was thirty reams per week, during eight months of the year. It was not kept in operation during the coldest weather.
Mr. Caleb Burbank, son of Abijah, was associated with his father, and succeeded him in the business of paper making, increasing somewhat the production, and greatly improving the quality.
Mr. Burbank kept a team employed distributing his paper in this State, Rhode Island and Connecticut. He was also a publisher of books, among which are a hymn book con- taining the psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs of Isaac Watts, and various school books.
Just below the paper mill was an
OIL MILL,
jointly owned by Jonathan Holman, Abijah Burbank, Jona- than Waters and Andrew Elliot. The building of this mill was begun in 1769, as appears by a charge in the memoran- dum book of Colonel Holman, in which he makes note of money due him for getting timber for the oil mill.
The same book contains several entries giving the number of gallons of oil sold to various persons, by which it is seen that quite an extensive business was done.
Just below this was a carding and fulling mill ; still further down the stream a powder mill, which seems to have been run but a few of the first years of the revolutionary war. We learn the disposition made of this mill by the following advertisement from the Massachusetts Spy, of date July 15, 1779 :
" We the Subscribers being a Committee appointed by the General Court, to make sale of the Powder Mill and appurtenances thereto belonging, in the town of Sutton, either by private sale or public vendue : Do hereby give . public notice to all persons inclined to purchase the same, that said Mill and appurtenances are to be sold at private sale, at any time between this and the last Wednesday of August next; and if not sold at that time by private sale,
67
530
MANUFACTURES OF THE
then to be sold at public vendue at the premises. The sale to begin at one o'clock in the afternoon on said day, if not sold before.
" Said Mill and appurtenances may be shown to any per- son inclining to purchase the same by Captain Abijah Bur- bank, living near the premises.
AMOS SINGLETARY, SETH WASHBURN, EDWARD DAVIS."
Next to the powder mill was a gun manufactory ; changed afterward into a manufactory of scythes, axes, saws, mill- irons, steel plates, etc., in which an extensive business for that day was done.
TANNING AND CURRYING
was also carried on by John Morse, Captain Joseph Griggs, and possibly others whose names have not been brought to our notice.
PRINTING
was done previously to 1813, by Sewall Goodrich, in a building which stood near the residence of Mr. Tyler Waters, in the part of the town which became Millbury the above date.
THE BOOT AND SHOE
business was also quite extensively carried on at the centre of the town, and something in the same line was done in several other places.
As early as 1837, according to statistics furnished for " Barker's Historical Collections," there were made 9,314 pairs of boots and 51,968 pairs of shoes, of the value of $55,656.
The business was started not far from 1835, and carried on by various parties, the principal of whom were Simon J. Woodbury, N. G. King, W. C. Chase and F. F. Sibley, B. L. and Henry C. Batcheller, B. F. and D. A. Tenney, Loren C. Howard and E. A. Dudley, afterward L. C. Howard alone.
In 1855 the business had increased to such a degree that it amounted to about one thousand dollars a day, but soon
531
TOWN OF SUTTON.
began to decline in consequence of the tendency to concen- trate in large places and in the hands of large capitalists. The small manufactories could not compete, and were forced to close their shops. Nothing in this line of manufacture is now done in town, only in the way of finishing, which is still continued by quite a number of persons.
There have also been shops in various parts of the town for carriage-making, for the manufacture of cabinet furni-
E. S. MARBLE'S SHUTTLE SHOPS.
ture, chairs, etc., but nothing very extensive has been done in either of these lines.
The places where manufacturing is at present carried on will now have particular mention.
MARBLEVILLE.
Joseph Hathaway began the manufacture of shuttles at this place. He sold to Mr. Ezra S. Marble, who carried on the same business until his death, making from five thousand
532
MANUFACTURES OF THE
to seven thousand dollars worth of shuttles per year. Since his death the business has been continued by his son, Ezra W. Marble, who suffered a heavy loss by the burning of the shop in 1874. He rebuilt in 1875 and resumed business in the spring of 1876. He has invented and patented an ingenious contrivance for holding the bobbin, which is attached to the spindle, making his shuttle one of the best, if not the best now in use.
WOODBURY VILLAGE.
Where the Woodbury factory now stands, there was, in the early settlement of the town a saw mill, built and owned by Deacon Percival Hall, then owned by his son Willis. Captain Josiah Hall built a new saw and grist mill there in 1797. The mill work was done by Captain Francis Putnam. Captain Hall sold to Captain David Dudley in 1813. Capt. Dudley, Charles Hale, Luther Woodbury and . Leonard Woodbury commenced manufacturing scythes there the same year, continuing the business two or three years, when they sold to Captain Asa Woodbury, who continued the same business a few years.
The old building was repaired, enlarged and changed into a woolen mill or factory, burnt in 1835, rebuilt soon after, and operated by him and Henry Boyden, under the name and firm of Woodbury and Boyden. It was afterwards operated by Woodbury alone.
It was burnt in 1855 and rebuilt in 1856. The new mill was first operated by Woodbury, Brown and Cooper, owned by Woodbury, and afterwards run by him alone. Stockwell and Prescott run the mill for him a while. Hall and Pres- cott hired the mill and run it for a year or so, making very nice jeans. After the death of Captain Woodbury it was sold at auction to Crawford and Fisher, and run from 1866 to 1871 by Crawford ; rented to Wright, Messenger and com- pany, who run it a while, I. R. Barber acting as agent. They underlet to John Ross. It was next hired by John C. Scott, who now runs the factory, making satinet. He lives in Millville. The agent or superintendent here is Winfield Scott. Captain Woodbury made a very superior article of Kentucky jeans for many years.
F. B. SMITH'S MILL.
535
TOWN OF SUTTON.
PLEASANT VALLEY.
A carding and fulling mill was built at this place by Thomas Harback about 1776. His son, Thomas, jr., built in 1822, near the site of the old fulling mill, a factory for the manufacture of broadcloth, and here, first in town, was cloth woven by powerlooms.
Farmers in the vicinity were astonished at the ease and rapidity with which wool could be worked into cloth by machinery, and when an offer was made to take their wool and work it on shares into better than home-made cloth, many availed themselves of the opportunity, and gradually wool-spinning by hand, except that of yarn for knitting, ceased. The factory was next owned by Mallalien, Roberts and Graham, then by the Goodale manufacturing company. They sold in 1836 to Freeman and Sibley. In 1837 the company was incorporated as the Sutton Woolen Mills' Com- pany, and the property was mortgaged to Francis Sibley. In 1841 the factory was burned, and Sibley took possession on his mortgage soon after. He sold to Stephen B. Hol- brook and Sumner F. Sutton in August 1845, who built in 1846 the main building of the present factory.
Partridge and Wakefield rented and operated it from 1846 to 1849, manufacturing print-cloths. They also built the small house and saw mill.
William Yearnshaw made bags there; Leander Lackey made bits, bit-stocks, etc.
William Nolan manufactured print-goods in 1850.
Holbrook made cotton flannel.
John M. Daniels and son made satinet warps from 1860 to 1864.
H. H. Chamberlain engaged in wool-cleansing and the man- ufacture of woolen warps and cotton yarn. Holbrook sold to James C. Southwick, and he to George C. Ripley of New York, he to E. B. Stoddard of Worcester, Stoddard to Hol- brook, and he to Smith, the present owner, September 1870.
Mr. Smith has made many improvements in the mill; built a picker-room of brick, fire-proof, forty feet by thirty feet, an engine-house, forty feet by fifteen feet, and put in a fine engine of thirty horse-power,
536
MANUFACTURES OF THE
The fall is twenty-seven feet, and could be connected with the privilege above, which is twenty-two feet, making forty- nine feet. The wheel is forty horse-power. The capacity of the mill for the manufacturing purposes to which it is now devoted, is one ton of shoddy or fifteen hundred pounds of flocks per day.
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.