USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Professional and industrial history of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 56
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The two junior partners in the house of Winch Brothers, although their partnership interest has been of comparatively recent date, had been for several years in the employ of the firm. George Fred Winch, the son-in-law of Joseph R. Winch, entered into the service of the house in 1847. He had formerly been very successfully engaged in the grocery business, conducting at the time he relinquished the business to become connected with Winch Brothers, four stores in Boston. He is naturally a progressive, energetic man, and he soon became a valti- able assistant in the business. Under his supervision many important changes have been made, in 1889 perfecting the present admirable ar- rangement of the stores, whereby the handling of their immense busi- ness has been greatly facilitated.
John H. Gibbs, the fourth of the quartette of partners, also entered the employ of the house in 1877, and by his ability and close applica- tion to business has since risen by degrees to his present position. He is thoroughly familiar with every department of the business, and a man of excellent business qualifications.
GENERAL ABIJAH THOMPSON.
Nor many men have lived in Woburn more favorably known and respected in the world of honorable and successful enterprise than the man whose once familiar name is at the head of this sketch. Descended from the emigrant James Thompson, who, in 1630, came in Win- throp's choice company to the new world and settled, first in Charles- town, and, in 1642, became one of the first settlers and magistrates in the newly incorporated town of Woburn, General Abijah Thompson could trace his line of descent back through six generations of men, all of whom lived and died in that part of the town now known as North Woburn. His father was Major Abijah Thompson, in whose large home, formerly a public-house, but now owned and occupied by the heirs of the late Oliver Fisher, the subject of this sketch was born, May 20, 1793. In 1800 Major Abijah Thompson built a house a few rods north of the old homestead. In this new house, now owned and occu- pied by Henry Thompson, he reared his young family and had his home until his death in 1820. Besides his business as a mechanic he kept in a part of his house a country store. But though highly respect-
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able and comfortable in circumstances he could afford to give his sons only the very limited opportunities, common at the time, for educational culture. The wide world was before them as they grew to manhood, and they had to find their way through it. At the very early age of seventeen Abijah, the eldest of the children, embarked, without ex- perience and wholly unaided from without, upon the tumultuous, and to him unknown, sea of business life. In a loose paper, discovered after his death, was found, in his own handwriting, the following con- densed account of what followed this first step in his career: "In 1810 I left home at the age of seventeen to become an apprentice in the business of tanning and currying leather, and served four years. At the age of twenty-one I commenced business for myself, buying leather in the rough and dressing it with my own hands in Medford. I began with two dollars capital, selling in small lots, from one to six sides, to shoemakers from adjoining towns, for one year. I then left and built a small tannery with sixteen vats in the west part of Woburn, grinding my bark with a horse and stone, and tanning what few hides I could find among the farmers, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty a year.
"I had two apprentices. Buying leather from the tanneries in the county, and dressing it, I then took my horse and went to Reading, Stoneham, Malden and adjoining towns, where I sold to shoemakers from four to five sides each about every other week. At the same time I picked up the hides among the farmers as they killed their animals in the fall of the year. Thus I increased my business, as capital increased, for about ten years. I then bought a tract of fifteen acres of land, with a small water privilege, near the center of the town. It was a very rough place, but I commenced clearing it up, built a dam, and erecting a building, put down twenty vats, enlarging by degrees my business as I gained in capital, and each year putting down more vats. In 1835, finding my water power not sufficient for the business, I put in steam power and other machinery, and, in 1836, I took in Stephen Dow as a partner."
This short account involves details which a stranger to the business would not even suspect. From these small beginnings General Thomp- son's business went on increasing in its extent and importance until he was one of the largest and most successful manufacturers of leather in the United States; and by all who knew him he was ever regarded as no less honorable than he was successful, and when, in 1866, he retired
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from active participation in the business, though tanning and finishing leather at the rate of fifty thousand sides per annum, and having a large leather store in Boston, not one unpleasant word and not one suspicious look had ever occasioned a jar between him and his partner, or between him and any man with whom he was concerned. No suspicion of trick, or unworthy resort to any species of sham, ever rested upon him for a single day. He well knew what "the day of small things" meant; and he had his trials, sometimes numerous and severe, but whatever else he sacrificed, he never sacrificed a principle nor had a principle for sale.
Immense as his business finally became, and great as the burden of care and responsibility resting upon him, no man was ever further re- moved from bluster or noisy pretense than General Thompson. With wonderful equanimity, he always seemed calm, self-contained and un- pretending. His speech never betrayed a loss of balance or self-respect. Seeing and deploring the evils of intemperance and low and profane talk around him, he, for years, made it a law of his establishment that no intoxicating liquors and no profane language should be used by men in his employ. Those who were addicted to either and unwilling to abandon the bad habits need not apply for employment. Yet the law was made and enforced so wisely and so kindly that there was never any "strike " and never any serious difficulty. To some of his work- men the measure was the means of permanent reformation and very manifest benefit.
Though General Thompson was one of those men who never sought and apparently never desired office, offices from all quarters sought him. He had an inherited fondness for military life and early joined a company of artillery in Lexington. From the office of sergeant in 1824 he rose, in 1826, to that of captain, in 1828 to that of major, and in 1835 to that of brigadier-general-the last mentioned commission being given by Governor Armstrong and the two former by Governor Lincoln. In the town he served for several years on the Board of Selectmen. He was for many years president of the Woburn Bank; one of the original directors of Faneuil Hall Bank of Boston ; a director of a bank in Charlestown, and for many years one of the active managers of the Middlesex Insurance Company in Concord.
General Thompson was unquestionably one of the most public-spirited men ever resident in Woburn. No great and important enterprise failed to enlist his sympathy and aid. He was among the first, if not
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the first, to move in the effort to secure the Woburn Branch Railroad, the Woburn Gas Company, and the bank of which he was long the presi- dent. In his relations to the parish and church of his choice, he was also ever ready to help on every good work. And always regretting his own early lack of educational advantages, he evinced a like interest in the schools, and especially the academy of his native town, of which he was a trustee and the treasurer, and to which he left, in his will, a considerable sum of money, as he did also to the First Congregational Church, of which from his carly manhood he had been a member. Of his large fortune, accumulated by his own honest industry and enter- prise, it is pleasant to know that a large number of worthy objects re- ceived a share.
In his domestic relations General Thompson was peculiarly happy. On the 29th of April, 1814, when he was not quite twenty-one years of age, he married Celinde, daughter of Captain William and Arethusa (Munroe) Fox, of Woburn. The mutual experiences of joy and sorrow, of adversity and prosperity, continued through more than fifty years of married life, proved that she was one of the best of wives and mothers, and he one of the best of husbands and fathers. Of their "golden wedding," observed April 29, 1864, the local papers gave a deeply in- teresting account. After various appropriate exercises, including music, addresses from Rev. Jonathan Edwards, a former pastor of the family, and Rev. Dr. J. C. Bodwell, the pastor at the time of the festival -- the latter read a poem suited to the occasion and subsequently published.
General Thompson survived his wife nearly two years, she dying September 11, 1866, and he June 7, 1868.
They had four children: 1, Celinde, born February 13, 1816, married Stephen Dow, May 24, 1836, and had seven children; 2, Abijah, born June 13, 1818, died September 11, 1826; 3, Julia Ann, born September 16, 1827, married J. B. Doyle, June 1, 1854, and died in 1867, had two children ; 4, Abijah Franklin, born September 17, 1829; married Mary E. Wyman, May 15, 1851, and died August 5, 1861, leaving one child, Arthur Abijah, now of Brooklyn, N. Y.
Of the business firm of which General Thompson was the founder, it is proper to add that it is still in existence, but since 1871 has been car- ried on under the firm name of Stephen Dow & Co., and is still vigor- ously prosecuting its appropriate enterprise, its later history being de- tailed in the biographical notice of Stephen Dow, published elsewhere in this volume.
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TYLER BATCHELLER.
THE subject of this sketch, Tyler Batcheller, may be truly called the founder of the now large and flourishing village of North Brookfield, Mass.
He was born in the town of Sutton, December 20, 1793, and came from there to North Brookfield, with his father and family, in April, 1802; the town, however, being called at that time the North Parish or "Second Precinct in Brookfield."
At an early age, probably in his fifteenth year, he went to Grafton and learned the trade of shoemaking with Nathan Johnson. At the close of his apprenticeship there he returned to North Brookfield, and was employed in the establishment of Oliver Ward, who, in 1810, had commenced in the town the manufacture of "sale shoes," the first and only manufactory of the kind in the State west of Grafton.
In 1819 he commenced business on his own account. At first his en- tire business consisted only of the shoes he could make with his own hands. Soon, however, he took into his service one or two appren- tices and his brother Ezra, who had already learned the trade of Mr. Ward.
The first shoes he made were chiefly of a low-priced quality, specially adapted to the Southern trade. These he packed in empty flour barrels and consigned to Enoch Train, who in those days ran a line of sail- ing packets between Boston and Havana. On these small consignments a large profit was realized.
In 1824, having previously taken into his service several additional employees, he built a small two-story shop, which is now a part of the immense structure known far and wide as the " Big Shop," into which, January 1, 1825, he removed his business, and at the same date took into partnership his brother Ezra, continuing the business, now some- what enlarged, under the firm name of T. & E. Batcheller.
From this time forward the two brothers were associated as partners; through all the changes in the business, and in giving a history of it, their names cannot be dissociated. Tyler, the senior, attended to the purchase of stock and to all other business abroad; while Ezra was the efficient and popular superintendent, giving direction to all matters per- taining to the manufactory.
Harmonious in all their business relations, as well as in all measures devised for the public weal, the act of one was the act of both, and in
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most matters their names were usually coupled, and they were familiarly spoken of as " The Deacon and Ezra."
They then added to their business the manufacture of "Batcheller's Retail Brogan," an article adapted to the New England trade; their main business, however, being the making of goods for the Southern and Western States.
January 1, 1830, by the admission of Freeman Walker, the firm name was changed to " T. & E. Batcheller & Walker." The factory was then enlarged to three times its original size.
In 1831 they introduced the manufacture of russet brogans specially for the trade of the Southern States-the first that were made in Mas- sachusetts. They soon became a leading article in the shoe trade, and continued to be so for many years.
Mr. Walker retired from the firm in 1834, which resumed its former style of "T. & E. Batcheller." A large part of the work at this time was put out and done by workmen in their small shops in North Brook- field, and the towns in the vicinity, in some instances the stock being carried a distance of twenty to thirty miles.
On June 10, 1852, Charles Adams, jr., Alfred H. Batcheller, William C. King and Hervey J. Batcheller were admitted to the firm, and its style changed to T. & E. Batcheller & Co. All of these partners, with the exception of A. H. Batcheller, retired within a few years. Mean- while a store had been opened in Boston for the sale of the goods, and Tyler Batcheller had removed his residence to that city the latter part of 1848.
In April, 1861, the Southern rebellion broke out, and the business of the firm being very largely in the Southern States, and their losses proportionately heavy, a suspension was inevitable. An arrangement was soon made, however, and they were enabled to pay their indebted- ness, principal and interest; but Tyler Batcheller, the founder and efficient senior partner of the firm from its beginning, did not live to see that fortunate consummation; after a brief confinement to his house and bed, and without any clearly defined disease, he died October 8, 1862, nearly sixty-nine years of age, apparently of mere exhaustion of the vital powers, accelerated by care and anxiety. Thus ended a life distinguished for industry, energy, perseverance, integrity and use- fulness.
He united with the First Congregational Church in North Brookfield June 8, 1817. In the spring of 1818 he assisted in organizing and
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superintended the first Sabbath-school in town. September 15, 1820, he was elected a deacon, at the age of twenty-seven, and continued in that office until he removed his residence to Boston.
He was married April 6, 1819, to Miss Nancy Jenks, who died in 1828, leaving three daughters and one son. October 8, 1829, he mar- ried Miss Abigail Jones Lane, who died in Boston, March 10, 1877.
After his removal to Boston, Deacon Batcheller and his wife united with Park Street Church, November, 1850, and in September, 1857, he was elected a deacon of that church, of which he remained an active and devoted officer to the close of his life.
Mr. Batcheller was an original member of the Boston Board of Trade; was chosen a member of its Committee of Arbitration, and served on other important committees.
Ezra Batcheller, the junior member of the original firm, was, equally with his brother, an efficient and essential factor in the growth and prosperity of the manufacturing establishment and of the town. He was a large-hearted, public-spirited man, of earnest piety, and his memory is fragrant of good deeds and an honorable and useful life; he died in 1870, aged sixty-nine years.
Alfred H. Batcheller, the son of Ezra Batcheller, was admitted to the firm in 1852, and after the death of Tyler Batcheller, took his place as manager of the Boston part of the business, which included all that was done outside the factory in North Brookfield, his father continuing in charge of the latter, as he had always donc.
In 1866 George E. Batcheller became a member of the firm, and continued to be so until his death, in November, 1876, aged thirty- eight years.
Alfred H. Batcheller remained for some years alone in the business until, in 1882, he admitted to the firm his son, Francis Batcheller.
In 1889 the firm of E. & A. H. Batcheller & Company became the E. & A. H. Batcheller Company.
Alfred H. Batcheller died in December, 1891, aged sixty-one years.
JAMES W. CONVERSE.
JAMES W. CONVERSE was born in Thompson, Conn., January 11, 1808, and is a descendant in the eighth generation of Edward Convers, who
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came to America from England in 1630. This progenitor of the family in America was a man of strong personality, and figures largely in the colonial history of New England. He first settled in Charlestown, where he established the first ferry between that point and Boston, and from 1634 until his removal to Woburn, in 1640, was one of the selectmen of Charlestown. He was one of the founders of Woburn, where he built the first dwelling-house, and took a prominent part in its religions and material advancement. At the time of the organiza- tion of the town government, he was chosen a selectman, and continued to serve in that capacity until his death, in 1663. He was a man of intense religious conviction, of restless energy, and a rigid Puritan.
Our subject is the first child of Elisha and Betsey (Wheaton) Con- verse. When he was six years old his parents removed from Thompson to Woodstock, Conn., and two years later to Dover, Mass., and thence to Needham. In 1821, while yet but a lad of thirteen years, he left his home to begin life's battles for himself, and at this early age was commenced a career which from that period to the present has been in every sense worthy of emulation. He came to Boston and obtained employment with his uncles, Joseph and Benjamin Converse. In 1828 his uncles assisted him to commence business in the Boylston Market. Four years later, on January 1, 1832, he formed a copartnership with William Hardwick, under the firm name of Hardwick & Converse, in the boot, shoe and leather business, at the corner of Milk and Broad streets. On January 1, 1833, he became associated as partner with Isaac Field, in the hide and leather business, under the firm name of Field & Converse. In 1838 Mr. Field retired from the firm, and his brother, John Field, took his place. The firm of Field & Converse be- came one of the leading concerns of its kind in New England, and en- joyed an extended trade not only in this but in foreign lands. During all the panics which occurred throughout its long existence, its credit was never shaken. On January 1, 1870, Mr. Converse retired from this firm and also from the business. Since that time Mr. Converse has been very busy looking after his railroad, banking, real estate and other interests. He was one of the organizers of the Old Mechanics' Bank of Boston in 1836, and was elected one of its first board of direc- tors, and continued to act in that capacity for fifty years. In 1847 he was elected president of the bank, and continued in the same office for a number of years. He has also been president of the Boston Rubber Shoe Company for several years. This company has large factories at
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Malden and Melrose, and the extent of its annual output is the largest of any similar concern in the world.
Mr. Converse has been an active force in religious work, not only in his immediate home but in many parts of the country. In October, 1821, he united with the Charles Street Baptist Church of Boston. He was one of the original members of the Federal Street Baptist Church, which was organized in 1827. In 1845, when he removed his residence to Jamaica Plain, he united with the Baptist Church at that place. For some years he was a member of the Tremont Temple Baptist Church, later uniting with the Shawmut Avenue Baptist Church, which is now known as the First Baptist Church of Boston. For more than fifty years Mr. Converse has served in various churches as deacon, being first elected in 1837, by the Federal Street Church. During all these years he has been an earnest church worker, and many churches, not only in the vicinity of his home, but in various parts of the country, have cause to remember him with gratitude.
Mr. Converse was married in Boston on September 5, 1833, to Eme- line, daughter of Nathan and Nabby (Shepard) Coolidge. They have had three children: James W. Converse, jr., born January 9, 1844; Costello Coolidge Converse, born September 22, 1848; and Emma Maria Converse, born March 28, 1851. Their eldest son, James W. Converse, jr., served with distinguished credit during the war of the Rebellion. He was a man of excellent business ability, and had achieved a high degree of success at the time of his death, after a short illness, in May, 1876. Costello C. Converse is already distinguished for business and financial abilities, and is associated with his father and other gentlemen in enterprises of far-reaching importance. Mr. Con- verse's daughter was married in 1877 to Isaac W. Chick, of Boston.
The Rev. William Howe, D. D., for many years so well known in Boston through his earnest Christian work, in a very interesting ac- count of his personal connection with Mr. Converse, bears the follow- ing testimony to the striking traits of his character: " His Christian character, early formed, and supplemented by correct business prin- ciples and enterprise, has led to a prosperous life and ultimate affluence. He has been content to patiently work his way to the goal. Without aspirations for civil, political or religious distinction, he has frequently been called to occupy positions of honor, trust and great responsibility, which he has ever filled to the satisfaction of his friends and great credit to himself. His influence, like the silent, unseen forces of
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nature, has been wide-spread, beneficent, and rich in results; like an unseen hand, lifting the weak and fainting, and helping the perplexed in business erises over the dark chasm which seemed ready to engulf them. United with this private sympathy and aid are his charities, known only to himself and his Lord, and his public gifts, widely known and appreciated. He has been connected with several churches, and all have largely shared in his generous aid and support. Several church edifices have arisen wholly or in part by his munificence.
During nearly threescore years of commercial life, with all its pressing cares, perplexing responsibilities, and unforeseen disasters, I have not heard even a whisper of suspicion against his honor or integrity. In a life so long and useful, it is obvious that the service of God gives keen enjoyment and value to living."
JOHN S. FOGG.
JOHN S. FoGG, well known as a boot and shoe manufacturer, and also as a prominent banker in Boston, was born in Meredith, N. H., April 16, 1817. He was the son of Josiah and Mary (Roberts) Fogg. His ancestors came originally from the south of England, where large es- tates are now held by Sir Charles Fogg. Younger brothers of this fam- ily came to America about the middle of the seventeenth century, and were among the early settlers of Exeter, N. H. Their progeny went westward, and were pioneers in the settlement of the territory about Meredith. Mr. Fogg's parents removed to Stanstead, Canada, when he was a year and a half old. They were poor, and the only opportunities afforded him for an education were the very limited advantages of the public schools. The winters in that climate being long and severe, prevented a regular attendance during the winter months, and in summers the necessities of the family compelled him to be placed at labor as soon as he was old enough for his services to be of any value. The death of his mother when he was only nine years old added to the disadvantages under which he was placed, and this was followed, when in his fourteenth year, by the death of his father, leaving a family of five children, of whom John S. was the elder. The children were now compelled to separate and find homes in different families. Mr. Fogg remained in Canada until his nineteenth year, when he came to Mere-
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dith, his native place, and attended school that and the following win- ter, working on a farm the intermediate summer.
On the first day of April, 1836, he started by stage-coach alone for the city of Boston to seck his fortune. At Lowell he saw his first railroad train, boarded it, and that (Monday) afternoon he stepped from the cars in the city of Boston, with scant means in his pocket, with not an ac- quaintance in the entire city, with no definite plan or object in view save that he was determined to do something to earn a living and if pos- sible to win his way to fortune. He procured cheap lodgings and board, and proceeded during the following week to cast about for something to do. In this he was unsuccessful, and the following Saturday found him penniless and sadly discouraged. On the afternoon of that day, while standing at a place called the "loafer's stand,"1 near the place where he boarded, ruminating as to what should be his next move, he was approached by Martin S. Stetson, of Stetson & Blake, East Abing- ton, boot and shoe manufacturers, and offered a job " treeing " shoes. He continued with them a few months, until the business became slack, when he accepted a like position with Daniel Blanchard. Here he worked very hard for a year, when this firm likewise failed, and Mr. Fogg lost more than half his wages. In the mean time Stetson man- aged to get under way again, and Mr. Fogg returned to his employ, where he continued until 1840 treeing and crimping boots. In April of this year he began business for himself as a boot and shoe crimper at South Weymouth, Mass. About the first of the year 1841 he bought stock and made a few cases of best quality boots, brought them to Bos- ton and sold them to retailers. With the funds thus acquired he re- plenished his stock, paid his hands, and thus embarked in the boot and shoe manufacturing business. He soon built up quite a trade, and in 1842 he built his first factory at Columbian Square, South Weymouth. In 1856 he built a large factory at the same place. This was the first large factory in that town; was heated by steam, and was looked upon by Mr. Fogg's more conservative neighbors as rather a risky and ex- travagant venture. After having met with some losses, through fail- ures among his customers, he confined himself exclusively to the sup- plying of the wholesale houses. His first deal with a wholesale house was with Alexander Strong, one of Boston's leading dealers. Mr.
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