USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1800 to the year 1876 > Part 47
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as competent management as the town then afforded. Messrs. Pomeroy and Campbell had the general conduct of its affairs ; Ebenezer Center, a merchant, and Samuel D. Colt, who had for some years been successfully engaged in the sheep and wool trade, were entrusted with the purchase of raw material ; Arthur Schol- field had charge of the picking, carding, spinning and weaving ; and Richard Lowe, an Englishman and a new-comer, was engaged to carry on the fulling, dyeing and finishing.
Mr. Buel, the clerk and treasurer, was appointed general agent, in addition to his other duties, at a salary of one thousand dol- lars for all ; and he was voted three hundred dollars for his serv- ices in his former capacity for the first year of the corporation. The goods to be made were fine broadcloths.
But general business-talent does not always avail to secure immediate success in special enterprises; and it did not in this instance ; especially in the face of the altered circumstances which American manufacturers soon encountered. The American por- tion of the managers of the factory, with perhaps the excep- tion of Mr. S. D. Colt, in his special department, had small knowl- edge of the details of the woolen-manufacture. Some of them afterwards became eminent in the business; but in 1814, they were, however apt, mere apprentices in their art. Of the two Englishmen, Scholfield was thoroughly trained in his art, so far as it had advanced when he left England; but his business- habits were not of the best, and the era was one of continual improvement in woolen-machinery.
The other, Lowe, proved to be a rascal. It was, moreover, at an inopportune moment, that in the spring of 1815, after the influx of foreign goods had commenced, the new factory went into operation. The proprietors, however, commenced hopefully although economically, as may be inferred by the votes of the directors, in December, 1814, to authorize Lowe to purchase a dye kettle, which had been used at the mitten-factory ; and, in January, 1815, to take the set of cards which had been purchased by Isaac Scholfield some time before, and pay him for them, with interest, in April. The weaving was done on hand-looms, and most of the machinery was probably of the Scholfield manufacture.1
1Looms, in all the early factories, were run by hand. A power. loom was projected in 1809, but failed to work. Another was patented in 1812, but did not come into general use. In 1815, F. C. Lowell invented a loom, which,
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Not many months after the factory went into operation, it was found that a considerable quantity of cloths which had been put in Lowe's hands, for finishing, had not been returned. More than a reasonable time was allowed him to produce them; and then, when Mr. Buel, whose suspicions had been long aroused, de- manded the key of the finishing-room, which Lowe, on pretense of concealing the mysteries of his art, had kept locked, he was refused with defiant insolence. The door was thereupon broken open, and Mr. Buel's suspicions were more than verified. The cloths were found cut and slashed, so that every piece was ruined. It was apparent that the injury was wanton and malicious; and the only explanation which suggested itself at the time, was that Lowe was bribed by foreign manufacturers, who hoped to dis- courage American competition. This theory accorded with the temper of the day, and was accepted even by the federal propri- etors of the mill ; but we do not learn that it was sustained by any corroborating circumstances.
Lowe was, of course, discharged; and Mr. Thaddeus Clapp of Easthampton, became general superintendent and manager of all the departments of the mill.
Mr. Clapp was bred to the clothier's trade in his native town, and afterwards perfected himself, so far as was then possible in America, in all the details of the woolen-manufacture, in the fac- tories at Middletown, Conn., and Germantown, Pa. He was the first American-born citizen of Pittsfield, who, by his native tal- ent, thorough knowledge of his art, and general business-qualities, was competent to manage a woolen-factory. Indeed, he was the first of any nationality who was so qualified; for Scholfield, in many particulars, fell far short of that mark.
'The Pittsfield Woolen and Cotton Company had thus secured an honest and capable management of its mill; but they had still the most disheartening difficulties to encounter. If British man- ufacturers had indeed instigated the rascality of Lowe, they had no longer necessity for such low devices. The return of peace had
used in a Waltham factory, enabled the proprietors to make a profit of twenty- five per cent., "although it cost three hundred dollars." But, in the same year, William Gilmore smuggled from Glasgow a Scotch loom, from whose pattern, he made a machine better than Lowell's, which he could profitably sell at seventy dollars. Between 1815 and 1823, a large number of improve- ments in looms were patented.
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put it in their power to overwhelm the infant-manufactures, by means of heavy consignments of goods to be sold at auction, and upon the most liberal credit to merchants. This was even avowed and advocated as a part of the national policy of Great Britain ; as when Henry Brougham-afterwards the celebrated Lord Chan- cellor -- declared in 1815, in parliament, " It is even worth while to incur loss upon the first exportations, in order by the glut to stifle in the cradle these rising manufactures of the United States, which the war has forced into existence, contrary to the natural course of things."
The patriotic manufacturers of Berkshire county, in common with their brethren throughout the Union, held opinions regard- ing the natural course of things widely different from those of the philosophic Mr. Brougham ; but, in carrying them into prac- tice, they struggled against fearful odds. The sacrifices which the wealthy manufacturers of Great Britain were called upon to make, could be charged to the ordinary account of profit and loss, without entailing much personal suffering. With the American manufacturer it was often absolute financial ruin. Very shortly, it is true, the resumption of specie-payments in England, by its disturbance of financial bases, somewhat reduced this inequality ; but it, at the same time, increased the necessity of sacrifice, and threw more goods upon an impoverished and already glutted mar- ket. The resumption of specie-payments in the United States, also created a similar disturbance of values here. A large number of the banks, which in the heated days of speculation, had sprung up in unhealthy luxuriance, failed. All branches of industry and business suffered together. The tariff of 1816, although it was accepted by the manufacturers as a step in advance, fell altogether short of what the times demanded, and did not help matters much. The constant improvements in machinery also, although they contributed much to the advance of manufactures generally, operated to the disadvantage of the earlier mills, which were compelled to adopt them, discarding their old machines, or be outrivaled by younger factories.
We have already described the distress of the Housatonic com- pany under these circumstances. The greater capital of the corporators of the Pittsfield company, and their superior business- capacity, gave them the advantage in contending with the obsta- cles of the times ; but it was probably the fine water-power which
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prevented final failure, and enabled those of the stockholders who from time to time became discouraged, to sell their shares at a not much greater depreciation in value than most property underwent at this time. And even this would not have availed, had not Lemuel Pomeroy been willing to invest in it the profits of his more lucrative business.
In July, 1817, the company found it necessary to levy an assess- ment of five per cent. on each share, to pay its debts; and the question arose whether operations should be suspended entirely, or the property leased, " if a taker could be found." Finally, it was leased at public auction, from September 1, 1817, to June 1, 1819, Lemuel Pomeroy taking it at thirty-seven dollars per month.
In this year, 1817, Messrs. Center and Buel having sold out their shares and removed to Hudson, N. Y., Thomas Gold was elected president of the company, and Samuel D. Colt clerk and treasurer.
In March, 1819, the proprietors voted to make a second lease to Mr. Pomeroy for five years, from the first of June, 1819, unless the company should wish to take the works into their own hands at the end of four years; in which case, they should give six months' notice to the occupants. It was provided that the first year's rent should be paid by the erection of a house of that value ; and, for the remainder of the time, one half in cash, and the other in salable goods at their market-value. If, in the opinion of Messrs. R. and N. Merriam, and Arthur Scholfield, repairs on the carding-machines should be needed to make good work, they were to be made at the equal joint expense of the proprietors and the lessee.
Mr. Pomeroy associated with himself in the business, his dis- tant relative, Josiah Pomeroy, who resided on the premises, and had the immediate charge of its affairs and the store connected with it; the firm-name being Josiah Pomeroy & Co. In April, 1824, before the expiration of this lease, the proprietors voted to extend it three years, with the privilege to each party of terminat- ing it at one year's notice.
During the five-years' lease, some improvements, valuable for the times, were made upon the property, probably including the bridges, although the proprietors specified simply, " buildings and repairs," for which, in their settlement with the lessee, they
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allowed one thousand one hundred and fourteen dollars, together with five hundred and sixteen dollars for a dye-house, to be deducted from future rents. From the remainder of the rents already accrued, a dividend was declared of sixteen dollars and fifty-eight cents per share.1
Instead of a dye-house, a brick finishing-mill, two stories high, eighty feet long and forty wide, was, in the year 1825, erected on the east side of the river, opposite the main factory.
In 1827, Messrs. Lemuel and Josiah Pomeroy having, by grad- ual purchases, consolidated in their hands, in about equal propor- tions, all the shares in the corporation, the corporate-form of con- ducting its affairs was abandoned, and the business was carried on by them as co-partners until 1839.
During the existence of the corporation, in addition to the original subscribers, the following gentlemen held shares by transfer: Alpheus Smith of Leicester, Josiah Bissell & Son, Josiah Pomeroy and Thaddeus Clapp.
The Messrs. Pomeroy continued the manufacture with vigor and liberality, keeping fully abreast with the constant improvements in all branches of their art. They shared largely in the general prosperity which followed the tariffs of 1824 and 1828, and con- tinued under that of 1832.
Through purchases of adjacent lands, either by one partner or the other, they extended their real-estate for nearly a mile in length, along both banks of the river, south of West street; most of which still remains the property of Lemuel Pomeroy's heirs. Among these purchases were the Luce mill and water-power, with one acre of land, purchased in 1830 by Josiah Pomeroy for five thousand dollars, and the old Pittsfield factory with an acre of land, north of West street, purchased in 1830 by Lemuel Pomeroy for eight hundred dollars.
In 1839, Lemuel Pomeroy purchased the interest of his part- ner in the concern, including the Luce mill and other real-estate, and took into partnership his sons, Theodore, Robert, and Edward, under the firm-name of Lemuel Pomeroy & Sons.2
1A portion, at least, of this dividend was paid in cash, being the first in the history of the company distinctly so declared ; although in April, 1819, it was voted " to receive the balance of the rent due from Josiah Pomeroy & Co., and divide it to each proprietor's share."
2Josialı Pomeroy, before this sale, had purchased the water-privilege on
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The new firm continued unchanged until the death of the · senior partner in 1849, and became widely noted for its business- energy, successful enterprise, and the excellence of its goods. Shortly after the purchase of the Luce mill, about the year 1842, it was converted into a satinet-mill, for which, being a large, brick building, two stories high, it afforded considerable facilities. But, the experiment proving successful, the new firm, in 1852, erected of wood, a large mill of the same class ; one hundred feet long by fifty wide, three stories high, besides an attic. The old Luce mill was changed to a dwelling-house in 1852.
Since the death of the founder of the firm, his sons, under the firm-name of L. Pomeroy's Sons, have sedulously conducted the business on the principles and in conformity with the practice of their father; the eldest, Mr. Theodore Pomeroy, being the man- aging partner, and residing near the mills, where he has erected an elegant villa, upon a beautiful site, which was part of the orig- inal purchase of 1814.
Near the close of his life, Mr. Lemuel Pomeroy was accustomed to say that all liis experience as a woolen-manufacturer had been a hand-to-hand conflict with obstacles now of one kind, and then of another ; and that, for results, he would be glad to exchange all his profits for two per cent. upon his outlay. And those who have read our story thus far, will easily believe that to be a woolen- · manufacturer in Berkshire, in the earlier years of this century . required a most steadfast and almost heroic courage. Neverthe- less, Mr. Pomeroy was the most prosperous business-man of his day in Pittsfield ; and, looking to the interest of his heirs, no act of his life more strikingly displayed his wonderful foresight and sagacity, than his purchase and persevering retention of what are now the Pomeroy Woolen Mills, and the lands attached to them. Looking to long results, there was, perhaps, never a wiser invest- ment made in the town. His action in all this business fully accords with the character which we have elsewhere ascribed to him.
A peculiarity in the management of the Pomeroy mills-which they share with that of other old Pittsfield factories-is the long retention of faithful employés. Not to multiply instances, Solo-
Shaker brook, since occupied by the Osceola woolen-mill, and established a grist-mill, which he continued until his death, in 1851, with success, the with- drawal of the Luce mill from that use having prepared the way for it.
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mon Wilson, the present superintendent, has been employed in various capacities since 1825, with the exception of five years. Joel Moulthrop, a spinner, for forty years ; Henry Dunbar, James Denny and Thomas Rice, finishers, for forty years; Wesley Housen, a fuller, for thirty-five years.
The old brick-factory, when in full operation, now runs seven sets of machinery, employs one hundred and fifty hands, and manufactures weekly, an average of four thousand yards of all- wool and union broadcloth. The satinet-mill runs seven sets of machinery ; employs one hundred hands, and makes, weekly, three thousand yards of satinet, and fifteen hundred yards of six-quarter union cloths and fancy cassimeres. Both mills are furnished with steam-power, are heated by steam, and lighted by gas. Their water-supply has also been greatly increased and regulated by the conversion of Lakes Onota and Pontoosue into reservoirs. Altogether the mills and their accessories afford a fine contrast to their beginning in 1815.
The Pittsfield and Berkshire manufacturers did not content themselves with laboring perseveringly under the depressing cir- cumstances in which they were placed at the close of the war of 1812. In alliance with the more energetic class in all the man- ufacturing districts of the country, they combated those circum- stances themselves. Within a few months after the influx of foreign goods began, a meeting of the proprietors and manufac- turers of Pittsfield, in November, 1815, directed its president and . secretary-Thomas Gold and Jonathan Allen-"to invite the principal persons concerned in the woolen and cotton establish- ments of the county, to meet at Pittsfield, for the purpose of con- sulting on such measures as the condition of the country rendered necessary, to preserve these establishments, and enable them to progress successfully ; and especially to prefer petitions to the next congress of the United States for such aids as it may be in its power to grant."
The meeting thus called was fully attended ; and a memorial to congress was adopted, in which was detailed the progress already made by the county in manufactures, the causes of their present embarrassment, their hope for the future, and the general nature of the relief which was desired from congress. They did not rest here ; but, from that time on, conventions, meetings, and other concerted action of the friends of manufactures in Berkshire were
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constant. True to its original purpose, the Agricultural Society was foremost in these measures. In October, 1817, on motion of Judge William Walker of Lenox, it expressed its belief that excessive importations were the prime cause of the financial dis- tress of the country ; and resolved that, as soon as the convenience of each member would permit, they would clothe themselves and families in domestic manufactures ; that they would, by advice as well as by example, contribute as far as was in their power, to their exclusive use ; and that in future, none of the premiums of the society should be awarded to any person not clothed in Amer- ican fabrics. This was an old method of promoting the desired end, but it was not very efficacious ; and, in November, the exec- utive committee of the society called a meeting, at Coben's coffee- house in Pittsfield, of all who felt any attachment to these great interests of the country (domestic manufactures), to devise ways and means to promote them. The meeting was held, Thomas Gold being chairman, and John B. Root secretary. A series of resolutions was passed, expressing the sense of the meeting, "that, in the present condition of other nations and their manu- factures, and the means of conducting them, through long experi- ence and accumulation of capital, and their legislative provisions for protecting and encouraging them, manufactures in the United States can never be established, or be made to flourish, without adequate protection and encouragement from government ; " "that . every portion of the United States is deeply interested in the establishment and prosperity of manufactures ; inasmuch as the greatest pursuit and employment of the people consists in their agriculture, from which source are drawn the raw material and means of conducting manufactures ; that the public good requires of government to restrain, by duties, the importation of all arti- cles which may be produced at home, and to manufacture as much as possible of the raw material of the country." There were a few minor propositions of a similar tenor; and a petition was adopted, in which the memorialists say that they have already stated to congress the extent of the stake which the inhabitants of Berkshire have in woolen, cotton, and other manufacturing establishments. The officers of the meeting were instructed to forward a copy of the proceedings and the memorial to Hon. Henry Shaw, the Berkshire representative, to be used as occasion might require.
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Four years afterwards, in 1821, the Agricultural Society deter- mined, in its own name, to petition congress in behalf of Ameri- can manufactures; and appointed, as a committee to draw up its memorial, William C. Jarvis, William Walker, Lemuel Pomeroy, S. D. Colt, and S. M. McKay. A committee more fully competent for the task, it would, at that time, have been difficult to select from any community. It would have been impossible in Berk- shire. Its chairman was distinguished as a political thinker and writer. All the members were men of thought and intelligence, and most of them were familiar with the practical details of the subject entrusted to them. The memorial which they prepared filled six double columns of the Sun, and was compact with logic and fact.
We need not chronicle all the numerous meetings in which the citizens of the county assembled to take action in regard to the desired protection of American manufactures. The strongest and best men in the county took part in them, and their action contributed its part to the passage of the tariff of 1824. Chief among their leaders was Henry Shaw of Lanesboro, who rep- resented the district in congress from 1817 to 1821. In brilliant talent and intellectual power, Mr. Shaw was surpassed by few men of his day, although opinions, sometimes erratic, always inde- pendent and boldly expressed, unfitted him for success as a poli- tician, and impaired his influence with the masses. Truth to say, democrat though he called himself, Henry Shaw was an aristo- crat by nature and by breeding; and could never bring him- self to adopt the arts of the demagogue. He went to congress, however, thoroughly imbued with the enthusiasm for American manufactures which then specially characterized Berkshire dem- ocrats ; although, in Pittsfield, the leading federalists were even then beginning to rival their zeal in that respect. In Washing- ton, he became warmly attached to Henry Clay, already among the foremost leaders of the democratic party, and the acknowledged champion of home-industries. The Berkshire representative was heartily welcomed by Mr. Clay, who at once recognized his great qualities, and an intimate friendship sprang up between the two statesmen which was only terminated by death.
It was perhaps owing to this association, that Mr. Shaw gave the vote in favor of the Missouri compromise, which forever destroyed for him all hope of high political preferment in Massa-
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chusetts : although the cast of his own mind was likely enough to lead him independently to the same course. At least he defended it in the columns of the Sun, with great ability.
But, however that may have been, Mr. Shaw's associations in congress inspired in him a still more ardent and confident advo- cacy of manufactures than he had before indulged in, as was man- ifested by his part in the meetings held for their promotion in Berkshire, and in his personal conversation.
In May, 1824, congress passed the famous tariff advocated by Mr. Clay, as the foundation of his "American system ;" and as soon as the success of this measure was assured, Mr. Shaw showed his confidence in its effects by persuading many of his neighbors to turn their farms almost exclusively into sheep-pastures, setting them an example by converting his own broad acres to the same use,1 and by embarking a considerable portion of his own capital in a factory since widely known as the Pontoosuc; being so styled by its founders from the Indian name of the territory of Pitts- field ; not because they were unaware of the true spelling, but to simplify the word for business-purposes, just as another company at a later day preferred Taconic to Taghconic, and the Messrs. Barker dropped their middle initials from their firm-name. The Pontoosuc Woolen Manufacturing Company, by which this mill was erected, consisted of Henry Shaw of Lanesboro, David Campbell, Thaddeus Clapp, and George W. Campbell, of Pitts- field. It was formed in 1825, but not incorporated until 1826, nor formally organized until 1827, when the following officers were chosen : Henry Shaw, president ; David Campbell, Jr., general agent; Thaddeus Clapp, superintendent; George W. Campbell, clerk and treasurer.
Of Messrs. Shaw and Clapp sufficient sketches have been given. David Campbell, Jr., was born in Pittsfield in 1782, being the son of Capt. David Campbell, whose business-talents he fully
1 Berkshire did not prove as well adapted to sheep-culture as the more enthusiastic expected, and those who made it their sole dependence had cause to regret it. In seasons of marked depression of manufactures they bestowed their objurgations freely upon Mr. Shaw. Gradually, under the increasing competition of the more favored regions of the West, the raising of sheep has become a comparatively insignificant item with the Berkshire farmer. It could hardly be called a failure, however, in the first half of the century, and certainly the supply of wool which it afforded was an invaluable aid to the early manufacturers of Pittsfield.
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inherited. Engaged in most of the commercial and manufactur- ing enterprises of the town during his active life, he always held a prominent place on their boards of control, as well as in those of the Agricultural Society. The confidence of his associates in his knowledge, sound judgment and integrity was unbounded, and his contemporaries paint him as shrewd, reticent, a close scru- tinizer of men and things, strict in his dealings, but with a warm heart and kindly manner for those who dealt frankly and fairly with him. Previous to his connection with the Pontoosuc mill he was engaged at one time in mercantile business with James Buel. He had also been successful in distilling the oil of pepper- mint, a drug then in great demand for exportation. He con- tracted for entire fields of that herb in Lanesboro and Pittsfield ; but he foresaw the glut in the market and withdrew from the speculation in season to escape loss. At another time he was engaged in the manufacture of linseed oil at Luce's mill in Pitts- field, and at a mill in Hinsdale. He died June 30, 1835:
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