USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Professional and industrial history of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 54
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Noah Curtis, the senior of the present firm, was born in Quincy, in 1839. He was the first of his family to go into business outside of Quincy, and relates with relish the fact that when his father proposed sending him to Boston with his brother to take charge of the Boston store, he overheard one of his uncles remonstrating with his father upon such a course as being exceedingly foolish and prophesying that the end would be disastrous to the boys and to the business. The result has hardly justified the prophecy. As a business man Mr. Curtis has been highly successful, and possesses the qualities essential to the man- agement of large and diversified interests. While closely watching the details of his business and intelligently directing its operations, he does not forget to cultivate his social side as well as his commercial faculties. He is naturally of a genial, social nature, and easily makes and holds his friends. His fiftieth birthday was celebrated by a reception at the Suffolk Club, one of Boston's oldest and most select clubs, of which he has long been a popular member. Mr. Curtis has always been promi- nently and actively identified with sports and out-of-door life. He is a member of several yacht clubs, was one of the organizers of the Men- key Island Sporting Club of North Carolina, and is one of the most act- ive members of the Castle Harmony Club of Harmony, Me., in the Moosehead Lake region. This is a fishing club, and its premises are said to be the best equipped of any in the country. He is also a mem- ber of several social clubs of Boston. Mr. Curtis lived in Quincy, his native town, until 1874, since which he has resided in Boston. He was married in 1862 to Miss M. Annie Bailey, of Scituate.
Walter B. Curtis, the junior partner of N. Curtis & Co., and only son of Noah Curtis, was born in Quincy, May 8, 1863, and is a graduate of Rice School, Boston. After leaving school he entered the employ of a
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well known retail shoe dealer of Boston. At the age of sixteen he be- came a partner with his father, and is now actively in charge of the sale department of the business. He has had a careful training in the busi- ness and can be safely trusted to perpetuate the good name and pros- perity of the house which his great-grandfather founded more than one hundred years ago.
GEORGE A. MANSFIELD.
GEORGE A. MANSFIELD was born in Warren, Mass., December 24, 1824. He was the son of Jacob Mansfield, a lawyer, and his mother was a daughter of Major General Cutler of Revolutionary fame. He was also a nephew of the late Chief Justice Pliny Merick and Judge Moir. A cousin of his sat on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States.
His father dying when he was quite young, the boys were forced to earn all they could, farming and doing odd chores. Suffering from an injured arm, at fourteen years of age, he started for Boston to get better surgical aid, and to satisfy his growing ambition. For some time he met with little success, but finally found an opening in a wholesale boot and shoe store on Blackstone street. Subsequently he bought out a similar concern on Faneuil Hall Square, and commenced business for himself. Like many other Boston merchants, he began at the foot of the ladder and climbed to the top by industry, uprightness and genuine ability. Steadily expanding and increasing his business, he found it advisable to take in as partners two young and active business men, Joseph B. Lincoln and E. E. Batchelder. The firm of Geo. A. Mans- field & Co. was then formed.
At the age of forty-five poor health drove him from his business, and he sold out to his partners, the business ever since having been con- tinned under the well known name of Batchelder & Lincoln.
Mr. Mansfield was married in 1853 to Ellen A. White, daughter of Josiah G. White, a wealthy and much beloved citizen of Methuen, Mass. He had five children, three sons and two daughters. Mr. Mansfield was a resident of Melrose, Mass., for over thirty years, and during this time was held in the highest esteem by his fellow citizens, who repeatedly charged him with important public trusts. He served the town as selectman, and was on the School Board when the present
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High School was built. He was one of the committee appointed by the town to superintend the building of the magnificent Town Hall.
He was the original mover in establishing the Melrose Savings Bank. He was the first treasurer, and held the position for several succeeding years.
Mr. Mansfield was a self-made man in every sense of the word. No one appreciated more thoroughly than he the real worth in man. He admired energy, pluck and honesty. One ambition influenced him, as he saw his family growing up about him, and that was that they should be educated and equipped for the work of life as thoroughly as he could make them; and it was his good fortune to live long enough to see this ambition fulfilled in a large way.
Among the originators of religious work Mr. Mansfield was promi- nent, and although for many years a member of the orthodox church at the Centre, he was for the few years preceding his death connected with the church at the Highlands. So long as his strength permitted, he attended the meetings constantly, and many felt indebted to him for his thoughtful and hopeful words. His mind was of a rather high order, and the spiritual side of Christianity found in him a sympathetic believer.
E. E. BATCHELDER.
EDWARD EVERETT BATCHELDER was born in Wenham, Mass., Oc- tober ?, 1835, and was a son of Captain Edmund and Lydia (Kimball) Batchelder. His early education was received in the schools of his native town, and completed at Atkinson. In 1855 he came to Boston and became a clerk in the boot and shoe store of James Perkins, with whom he remained until 1866, when he became associated in business with George A. Mansfield, of Faneuil Hall Square, with whom, in con- nection with Joseph B. Lincoln, was formed the partnership of George A. Mansfield & Co., which continued until 1869. He then, with Joseph B. Lincoln, formed the firm of Batchelder & Lincoln, with which he was identified until his death, and to his great industry, energy and excellent business capacity, the prominent position which this house early gained was largely due. He was not only a man of great exec- utive ability and keen business foresight, but possessed that rare qual- ity of make-up which inspires confidence and is inseparable from the
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highest personal success. Although he died in comparative early man- hood, he had already achieved notable business success which gave promise of a career of great usefulness. Although absorbed in busi- ness, he took a deep interest in city and national affairs. He was a Republican in political faith, and was a member of the Common Coun- cil for the years 1867, 1868 and 1869, serving on important committees, where his advice was much sought and prized. He early became a member of Revere Lodge of Masons, and was also a member of St. Andrew's Chapter.
About a year and a half preceding his death Mr. Batchelder's health began to fail, and he spent the summer of 1877 in Europe, hoping to restore it. On his return, finding himself unimproved, he went South in January, whence he returned home four days before his death, which occurred May 4, 1878. He was buried in the old cemetery of his native town, where his ancestors have been buried for nearly two hundred and fifty years. He died when seemingly his life's work had been but fairly begun, but the results of his labors were far reaching, and testify most strongly to the native ability and strong character of the man. No one had more loyal or devoted friends. He was social in nature, intelligent, warm-hearted and generous, incapable of meanness, and of the strictest integrity. In all the relations of life he was true to every duty, and his memory will be cherished by all who ever came within- the radius of his vigorous personality.
Mr. Batchelder was married in 1869 to Miss Hattie L., daughter of Mr. S. C. Whitcher, of Concord, N. H., who still survives her hus- band.
JOSEPH B. LINCOLN.
JOSEPH BATES LINCOLN, sole proprietor of the widely known shoe jobbing house of Batchelder & Lincoln, was born in North Cohasset, Mass., July 3, 1836, and is a son of Ephraim and Betsey (Bates) Lin- coln. His father was a farmer, and the youth of our subject was spent on a farm, his life during this period being similar in experience with that of the average New England farmer's sons. At the age of seven- teen he graduated at the Cohasset High School, and for three months thereafter attended Comer's Commercial College in Boston. In June, 1854, he came to Boston to seek his fortune. Here he began his busi-
Jos. B. Lunch
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ness career as a clerk in the retail boot and shoe store of D. F. Carle- ton. Later on he entered the employ of J. A. Esterbrook, who was engaged in a similar line of trade on Merchants' Row. In 1859, with George C. Richards, he succeeded Mr. Esterbrook, under the firm name of Richards & Lincoln. During the same year he was married to Miss Anne Preston, of Boston. About three years later Mr. Lincoln purchased his partner's interest and conducted the business alone until July, 1866, when, with George A. Mansfield, E. E. Batchelder and him- self as equal partners, was formed the shoe jobbing house of George A. Mansfield & Co. In 1869 Mr. Mansfield retired from the firm, when Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Batchelder became proprietors, under the firm name of Batchelder & Lincoln. Mr. Batchelder, whose sketch appears elsewhere, died in May, 1878, after which Mr. Lincoln purchased his deceased partner's interest, and from that time to the present has been sole proprietor, but has continued to retain the name of Batchelder & Lincoln, which to-day represents a house unexcelled in the extent of its business transactions by any concern in its line in the United States, and probably in the world. Indeed, the history of the progress of the shoe jobbing trade of this country shows no more substantial growth than that of Batchelder & Lincoln. Beginning with limited capital and against well organized and strong competition, a constantly increasing business has been done during every year of its existence, but it is dur- ing the years that Mr. Lincoln has been sole proprietor and manager that the most remarkable strides have been made, the extent of its business operations for 1892 reaching the large sum of over $4,500,000, a record unequaled by any similar business concern. Such an achieve- ment in any line of legitimate trade of necessity must be based on sound business principles, and represents not only vigorous and untir- ing personal efforts, but rare business judgment and sagacity.
It is a fact generally known, throughout the trade, at least, that there is probably no business of equal magnitude in New England that so thoroughly represents the work of one man as does this concern reflect the individual exertions of Mr. Lincoln. What it is to-day, he has made it. The methods which have largely been responsible for its success have originated and been carried through by him. One of the distinctive features of the house has been strict adherence to cer- tain conditions of trade, well known among shoe jobbers as the New England method, and several years ago only confined to the territory of New England. The West and other portions of the country for a
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long time refused to be governed by the conditions required in this part of the country. Many New England jobbers, induced by hopes of greater profits, but incurring thereby greater risks, were led to relax the rules here in force in catering to outside trade in the West and other parts of the country, which eventually, in many cases, brought about great losses, if not failures. Mr. Lincoln, however, preferred to do business according to sound business principles, such as prevailed in New England, and his house became what it has since continued to be, a distinctive New England house. Close adherence to this principle has resulted in building up a trade secure and firm, and which has constantly increased the confidence in which this house is held. To- day the methods for which he has unswervingly contended have been adopted throughout the country, and so firmly is he entrenched in his own field that at least two-thirds of his immense business comes from New England, although in every part of the United States his trade is constantly growing, this being especially true of New York, Pennsyl- vania, Ohio and Maryland.
Mr. Lincoln began his present line of business at 36 Faneuil Hall Square, his house being among the few jobbing concerns not destroyed in the great fire of 1872. The constantly increasing magnitude of the business after this memorable event demanded larger quarters, and in 1874 a removal was made to the present quarters, Nos. 94, 96 and 98 Federal street. Here six floors are occupied, and two floors of the ad- joining building, giving a floor space of 50,000 square feet, every por- tion of which is required for the carrying of their immense stock, averaging a value of $500,000, and for the transaction of business. These quarters during business hours are a very bee-hive of industry. The various departments are under the most rigid system, and the whole business, necessitating the employment of one hundred and thirty-eight persons, moves with clock-like regularity. So systematic are the arrangements, and such is the discipline maintained, that even in the extreme rush of business everything is done with regularity and precision, making comparatively easy the handling-as has been done in one day-of nine hundred cases and two hundred bundles. Mr. Lincoln, by his liberality of treatment, has surrounded himself with a corps of assistants not only especially reliable and of marked ability in their special departments, but who are in lively sympathy with the head of the house, and thoroughly devoted to his interests. Some of his most valued assistants have been for years in his employ. Mr.
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Lincoln is quick to perceive the strong points of those in his employ and in a substantial way to show a proper appreciation of their services. He knows how to handle a large force of employees, and by just and considerate treatment creates feelings of mutual interest and regard.
The personality of a man who during the last few years has devel- oped a business of such magnitude as Mr. Lincoln's, must be of a strong and vigorous type. It is needless to say that he has been a hard worker: such results as have crowned his efforts do not come by chance. He has the happy faculty of being popular without the sacri- fice of independence or the possession of pleasing but negative qual- ities. No man is more firm when, after due and careful deliberation, he determines upon a course of action, or is less apt to be influenced by doings of others. He maintains the most careful supervision over all the details of his business, few concerns of equal importance reflecting so thoroughly the purposes and plans of its chief. He is liberal in his treatment of customers, is eminently fair in all of his transactions with them, and retains their trade despite strong competition, and even under conditions which others believed would loosen his hold upon the trade, it on the contrary steadily increased year by year, a result surprising even to his friends. While strict in his requirements of those in his employ, he is so fair in his treatment of them that the strongest bond of sympathy and good-will exists between them. Na- turally a man of generous impulses, his sympathies are easily aroused and never appealed to without ready response, every year devoting large sums to charitable and philanthropic objects. He is social in nature, and finds his chief enjoyment in intercourse with congenial friends, among whom he is always a welcome guest.
Mainly through Mr. Lincoln's efforts was inaugurated in 1888 the Boot and Shoe Club, which has had a very successful career, and has had a highly beneficial effect upon the interest it represents. Mr. Lincoln is often referred to as the father of the club, and upon its organization was strongly urged to accept the position of president. He refused this honor, however, but accepted the position of first chairman of the executive committee, and has always borne an active part in the management of the club. He has been president of the Narragansett Boot and Shoe Club, and is now its vice-president. He is also one of the executive board of the New England Shoe and Leather Association, and was a member of the World's Fair Committee.
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Politically, Mr. Lincoln has always been a Democrat, but never sought or desired political position, the demands of his business being such as to preclude active participation in political affairs, even had he inclination in that direction. Two years ago, however, upon the urgent solicitation of his friends, he accepted the Democratic nomination for representative to the Legislature of Massachusetts in the Fourth Plym- outh District, a strongly Republican district, and, although defeated, received a most flattering vote. In 1892 he was again a candidate, and was elected, being the first Democrat ever elected in the district. Upon the organization of the House, he was placed on the Mercantile Committee, a very complimentary appointment for a new member, and the only position he desired or felt he could give the time to properly attend to. Outside of the time and attention his great business inter- ests demand, Mr. Lincoln has found but little opportunity to devote to other enterprises. Although often urged to go upon the directory of large enterprises, he has refused to do so, not wishing to accept a posi- tion for the mere honor it would bestow if he could not render the service it would demand. He has, however, been a director, since its organization, of the Dennison Land and Investment Company. He has been quite an extensive traveler, and, chiefly for needed recreation, has made four trips to Europe. Socially, Mr. Lincoln is very popular, and his character for integrity is above reproach.
ELISHA S. CONVERSE.
ELISHA SLADE CONVERSE was born in Needham, Mass., July 28, 1820, and is the youngest child of Elisha and Betsey (Wheaton) Converse. He is of the eighth generation removed from Deacon Ed- ward Convers, who, with his wife, came to America in 1630 and settled in Charlestown. This American progenitor of the family was a man of considerable influence, of great strength and energy of character, and a rigid Puritan. He figures largely in the colonial records of Charlestown and Woburn. In 1631 he established the first ferry be- tween Charlestown and Boston. As early as 1634 he was chosen select- man of Charlestown and annually re-elected until 1640. In the latter year, with a small company, he founded the town of Woburn, and was intimately connected with its early religious and material progress.
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He erected the first dwelling-house in Woburn and was one of the first Board of Selectmen, being annually elected until his death in 1663. A record of the descendants of Edward Convers has been carefully com- piled by William G. Hill, of Malden, and it forms an interesting ad- dition to the genealogical history of New England. The conspicuous traits of this family have been strong religious convictions, unflinching integrity, and clear-headed business sagacity.
Four years after the birth of our subject his parents removed to Woodstock, Conn., where he remained until he was twelve years of age, when he came to Boston, where for a short time he lived with an elder brother, James W. Converse, and attended the McLean School. He subsequently entered the employ of Aaron Butler, who was carrying on a general store business in dry goods and boots and shoes, attending school at the same time. He remained with Mr. Butler for nearly three years, when he returned to his parents in Woodstock, Conn., where he attended school and worked on a farm until he was seventeen. He then went to Thompson and engaged with Albert G. Whipple to learn the clothier's trade. Before he had served his time, at the age of nine- teen he became a partner with Mr. Whipple. They continued to con- duct the business together until Mr. Converse was twenty-two years of age, when he purchased Mr. Whipple's interest and continued the busi- ness on his own account. In September, 1844, he again removed to Boston and engaged in the wholesale shoe and leather business with Benjamin Poland under the firm name of Poland & Converse. In 1847 he removed his place of residence to Stoneham, Mass., at a point then known as " Red Mills," near where he and his partner had a branch business of grinding and preparing drugs, spices, dye-stuffs, etc. Two years later the partnership was dissolved and Mr. Converse formed a new copartnership with John Robson under the firm name of Converse & Robson. In 1850 Mr. Converse removed his residence to Malden, Mass., which has ever since been his home. The following year the Malden Bank was organized, when he became one of its directors. In 1856 he was elected president of this bank, to which office he has been annually re-elected to the present time. During the year 1853 he was elected treasurer of the Boston Rubber Shoe Company, and with this extensive corporation, elsewhere fully described in this volume, as its treasurer and general manager, he has been most actively and success- fully engaged ever since. Besides his important position in the man- agement of this great business, Mr. Converse is a director of the
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National Exchange Bank of Boston; president of the Rubber Manu- facturers' Mutual Insurance Company, and one of the trustees of the Boston Five Cents Savings Bank. He is also a trustee of Wellesley College. Early selecting Malden as his place of residence, Mr. Con- verse has ever since been a most prominent factor in its religious, social and material development. In 1848 and 1829 he represented Malden and Everett in the lower branch of the State Legislature, and in 1880 and 1881 he was elected as their representative in the Senate. In 1882, when Malden had been incorporated a city, Mr. Converse was elected, by an almost unanimous vote, as its first mayor, the honor being conferred upon him in recognition of his untiring efforts to in- crease the attractiveness and promote the prosperity of the town.
Mr. Converse was married, September 4, 1843, to Mary Diana Ed- mands. Four children have been born to them, Frank E., Mary Ida, Harry E., and Francis Eugene Converse. Their eldest son, Frank E., who died December 15, 1863, was at the time assistant cashier of the Malden Bank, and was murdered by E. W. Green, postmaster of Mal- den, Green's motive being robbery of the bank. In memory of this son, Mr. and Mrs. Converse built and presented to the city of Malden, in 1885, a large building of great architectural beauty and finish, to be known as the Converse Memorial, to be devoted to uses of a free public library and works of art. Their second son, Harry Elisha, fills an im- portant position in his father's business, where he is a valuable assistant.
At the age of twelve years Mr. Converse united with the Baptist church and ever since has been a consistent member of this denomina- tion, and for many years held the office of deacon in the Malden Bap- tist Church. Mr. Converse has long been a force for good in the community where most of the years of his life have been passed. His influence has always been on the side of progress and prosperity. Of unquestioned integrity and superior business qualifications great suc- cess has attended him in every direction. Generous and public spirited, he has been a useful citizen in promoting every cause which appealed to him as being worthy of support.
Mr. Converse is now seventy-two years of age, and has been actively engaged in business for more than fifty-three years.
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CHARLES NEWTON PROUTY.
CHARLES NEWTON PROUTY, born in Spencer, Mass., October 6, 1842, comes from a family for many years prominent in New England, and for nearly three quarters of a century identified with the boot and shoe industry. The first of the family in America was Richard Pronty, who lived in Scituate, Mass., in 1667, and from whom Charles N. is removed five generations. His father, Isaac Prouty, was born December 9, 1498, and was the founder of the great boot and shoe industry of Isaac Prouty & Co., with the later development of which the son has been so closely identified. It therefore seems appropriate, in order to impart a true idea of the growth and progress of this industrial enterprise, to give a brief sketch of its founder
Isaac Prouty began the occupation of making boots to order from measure in a small room in his own dwelling-house in North Spencer, in 1820. His work increased to such an extent that he found it neces- sary to employ help to meet the demands for his goods, and was soon forced to build a small one and a half story building in which he could extend his facilities for manufacturing. This building, together with a barn and other store houses, served his purpose until 1855. This year he purchased the homestead of Rev. Levi Packard in the center of the town and built a factory on the westerly part of the lot. In 1856 he moved his business into the new building and made the dwelling his residence. For those days such a factory was a large one, being thirty by sixty feet, with three stories and a basement. The system and man- agement was now thoroughly reorganized and a partnership formed with two of his sons, Lewis W. and George P., under the firm name of Isaac Prouty & Co. The machinery, which they now introduced, enabled them advantageously to do away with much hand labor. This was really the first aggressive step taken by Mr. Prouty, looking towards an extension of business, and the success which in the following six years attended the undertaking proved its wisdom. His aim was to build up and develop a large manufacturing enterprise, and in this effort he was heartily seconded by Lewis W., who, under his father's direction, had become superintendent and business manager.
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