USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > The story of Essex County, Volume III > Part 19
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Though much of his time has been cen- tered on business pursuits Mr. Curran has managed to enjoy the social life of his sur- roundings and he is a member of the Te- desco Country Club, the Andover Country Club, the Merrimac Valley Country Club, and the Exchange Club of Boston. Frater- nally he is widely known throughout this vicinity, being a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Knights of Columbus. In religion he ad- heres to the Roman Catholic faith and is a member of the Holy Name Society.
In November, 1878, Mr. Curran married Theresa Keating of Charlestown, Massa- chusetts. There were two children by this union, one that died in infancy, and Mary T., who is now the wife of Daniel J. Mur- phy, president of the Arlington Trust Com- pany, of Lawrence. Theresa (Keating) Cur- ran passed away in 1884. Mr. Curran mar- ried (second) January 26, 1888, Abigail F. Morrison of Dover, New Hampshire, and there were four children by this union: I. Joseph F., now with Stakolite, Incorporated. 2. Margaret. 3. Maurice J., Jr., now with White, Weld and Company, a brokerage house in Boston. 4. Lidwine, now the wife of Donald Falvey, treasurer of the Massa- chusetts Bonding and Insurance Company of Boston.
SUTTON'S MILLS, in North Andover, stands out in American industrial history for at least two reasons : I. It is the oldest continuous woolen industry in the United States; 2. Five generations of the Sutton family successively have been identified with these mills. The first record is unique, the other is unusual even in New England, where there are many notable records of businesses remaining in families through several generations. The site of Sutton's Mills, with its water power near the outlet of the Cochicawack River, or Brook, has been utilized for woolen productions since 1802, and came into the possession of Wil- liam Sutton, in 1826. Carding, spinning, weaving, fulling and finishing processes were used from the first. William Sutton, it may be noted, was the sixth descendant of Richard Sutton, "the weaver," first of his craft in Andover, Massachusetts, and, as shown in the conveyance of a "House- lott, Kort-Yard, and Dwelling-house," dated 1658, he was one of the first settlers of this part of the Massachusetts Colony. Richard
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Sutton removed from Andover prior to 1682, and after the town had taken action looking to the construction of a fulling mill. It is one of the many interesting coincidences in the annals of Sutton's Mills, that after a lapse of more than two and a half centuries, one of his descendants is engaged in an in- dustry which he might well have founded had he remained a resident. Incidentally, his "house-lott" was but half a mile from the mansion that the late General Eben Sut- ton erected more than two centuries later, and the "lott" was less than two miles from the site of the present mills.
Massachusetts, "the place where the me- chanic arts first took root in America," was settled by people who were potentially in- dustrial, the descendants and relatives of those who were to make Great Britain fore- most among the manufacturing nations. Natural and cultivated products of the land and sea were the immediate interests of these immigrants, but they early utilized mechanical aids, of a sort, to increase pro- duction. Fabrics were of primary impor- tance, and in a cold climate woolen clothing was a major need. Until late in the seven- teen hundreds, the bulk of the woolen goods manufactured were turned out as the origi- nal meaning of the word manufacture im- plies-made by hand. Cloths at first were made in the homes by the hand card, the spinning wheel and the clumsy wooden hand loom. At the best a skilled man might card the wool, leave the spinning and weaving to be done in the home and then to be returned to his fulling mill for finishing.
The textile industry on a large scale might well have been introduced relatively early in the Colonies, and expanded rapidly, had not the ancient "mercantile system" of the mother country, whereby British posses- sions were fostered only as sources of raw material, laid its repressive hand upon the Colonists. Not only were the people in Mas-
sachusetts prevented from manufacturing, in the modern sense of the word, but neither skilled workers nor machines of their models and drawings were allowed to leave Great Britain or to enter American ports. But the mind cannot be searched, and men like Ark- wright, Slater, the Scholfields, and others of their ilk, crossed the sea with models of tex- tile machinery in their heads, and these, when reproduced and improved by Yankee ingenuity, formed the foundation upon which the factory production of textiles was built. Arkwright introduced his labor-saving ma- chinery in England in about 1769; Slater came to our country in 1790 and the Schol- fields three years later. Hartford, Connec- ticut, and Watertown, Massachusetts, have rival claims to the starting of the first real woolen mill, and the date of the Hartford concern is definitely, 1788. In 1794 the first woolen mill operated by power was estab- lished in Byfield Parish, Newbury, Massa- chusetts. There were others of the last decade of the eighteenth century, but the census of 1800 recorded but three woolen factories in the United States, and their total annual capacity was rated at 15,000 yards.
John and Arthur Scholfield, of Saddle- worth, England, who arrived in Boston, Mas- sachusetts, in May, 1793, were the makers of the machinery in the Byfield Parish plant and they were proprietors of the Newbury- port Woolen Manufactory, of January 29, 1794. Associated with them was a younger brother, James, who on August 16, 1802, pur- chased a small plot of land in North An- dover. This area was located near the mouth of the Cochicawick River, which had been dammed for power in 1671 by Joseph Parker and Stephen Johnson. A mill privilege and a fulling mill went with the purchase. The price paid was $120, and Arthur Scholfield was a partner. A small building was erected to house a carding machine, the only device then possessed that was adapted to a water
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power drive. A large stone dwelling was also constructed ; a one-story building about forty feet by twelve contained the spinning jacks and looms, which were operated mainly by hand and foot power. The spinning and the weaving were done chiefly by the James Scholfield family, of whom a daughter Nancy had a notable reputation as the most rapid and expert weaver in that part of the coun- try. The fabric made was broadcloth, with all the processes of its manufacture centered in one place. In this fashion what some years later was called Sutton's Mills, was founded, now the oldest survivor of the early age of woolen manufactory in the United States.
Few industries have so many ups and downs as textiles, and many of the difficul- ties are of political origin. The woolen manu- factories of just before and after 1800, sel- dom paid. Nearly all mills from 1809 to 1815 were profitable. Once the War of 1812 was concluded and peace declared in 1815, England "dumped" textiles in the United States with the intent, probably, of ruining the budding manufacturers of our country. The enactment of a tariff in 1816 saved many industries and marked the beginning of the modern era in textiles. The Scholfield Mill was among the unsuccessful and was sold on April 27, 1812, to Paschal and Abel Abbott, the price paid for James Scholfield's half interest being $950. The Abbott brothers, on December 18, 1813, sold two-thirds of the property to Isaac Osgood and Abraham Marland, the former of North Andover, and Some family history is here in order. The American progenitor of the Sutton family of this review was the Richard already men- tioned as a pioneer of Andover in 1657, who was in Roxbury, Massachusetts, about 1673, and removed to Ipswich before 1695. His great-grandson, Richard, the third of the name, was a leather dresser and wool mer- chant who trained his son William Sutton in this trade and business. William moved to Danvers, South Peabody Parish, and in 1826 invested in Sutton's Mills. He was president of the Danvers Bank and a wealthy merchant. He put the mills on a sound basis ; power looms supplanted hand affairs. It is the tradition that he rode twenty miles to the mills daily until shortly before his death on February 26, 1832. Sutton's Mills passed to his sons, William and Eben. Wil- liam Sutton, the inheritor, born at South the latter a mill owner of Andover, South . Danvers, July 26, 1800, and for a half cen- tury the president of the Commercial (First National) Bank, of Danvers, sold his inter- est in the mill to his brother Eben, on May 17, 1836. Eben Sutton, born in South Dan- vers, September 11, 1803, operated the mills with great success to the time of his death on December II, 1864. The property then was inherited by the widow and the brother
Parish. In 1818-19 Samuel Ayer, of An- dover, became the owner of the mills and machinery, purchasing half of the Marland holdings on January 27, 1818, and the entire interest of Abel and Paschal Abbott on Au- gust 13, 1818. He completed his purchases on October 20, 1819, when he secured the remaining half interest from Mr. Osgood.
Samuel Ayer operated the mill until 1826. When securing the Samuel Osgood share, he mortgaged the property to the latter, who, on May 21, 1825, sold the equity of re- demption to William Sutton, of Danvers, Massachusetts. On February 15, 1826, Mr. Ayer sold the property to Ward Pool and William Sutton. When the latter named became sole owner is not known since no deed of conveyance by Ward Pool is on rec- ord. It is certain, however, that in 1826 William Sutton began to operate the mill and, as Sutton's Mills, this property has since been engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods.
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William. Eben Sutton, son of William, born December 31, 1835, took over the manage- ment. He is the General Sutton whose long régime from 1865 to 1890 stands out in the history of Sutton's Mills. He had been given a thorough training in finance, merchandis- ing and the wool business. He established the New York City firm of Sutton, Smith and Company, and was agent for the Sutton and other mills. He was also connected with the Massachusetts Militia, from the age of sixteen, resigning in 1881 with the rank of general of the 2d Brigade. Upon the death of General Eben Sutton on Janu- ary 4, 1890, at his splendid estate and home, "Hill Crest," North Andover, his three-fifths interest became the property of his sons, John H. and Eben, who sold it to James P. Cook. In October, 1889, the general had accepted his nephew, William Sutton, as a two-fifths partner. The mills passed to a corporation, chartered by the Maine Legis- lature on May 31, 1890, of which J. P. Cook was president, and William Sutton, treas- urer. The present company was incor- porated in 1905, and in 1933 its president was R. S. Russell; treasurer, G. H. Clough, and Harry Sutton, wool buyer and agent for woolens. Harry Sutton, a native of Pea- body, Massachusetts, was born June 19, 1870, the son of the above William and Lucy (Daniels) Sutton. On June 4, 1896, Mr. Sut- ton married Elinor Putnam Gardner, of Salem, and they are the parents of four chil- dren: I. Harry, Jr. 2. Gardner. 3. Elinor (Mrs. William DeFord, of Brookline, Massa- chusetts). 4. Anne Derby.
While the changes in the management of Sutton's Mills over so many generations have been outlined, there remains to be indi- cated the important changes in the mills themselves, a few of which have already been named. From 1826 to the 1860's the mills on the Cochicawack River were constantly being enlarged and new machinery and
equipment installed as invented. A three- story wooden building, 92x40 feet, was used for flannels until 1846. It was then replaced by a brick mill, 200x42 feet, and four stories high. It had a capacity of ten sets of cards. About a hundred years ago, the Berkshires and Vermont began to grow the finer Merino and Saxony wools, and the coarser wools of the seaboard were plentiful. Also, prior to the Civil War, the woolen industry tended to spread from Massachusetts, and the growth of the factory localization of the industry was in its beginning stages. The Civil War gave a great impetus to the manufacture of woolens and to their production in New England.
In 1867 the North Andover Mills was in- corporated by William and Eben Sutton, and Moses T. Stevens. The plant was located above Sutton's Mills. The capital stock of the company, which included both mills, was placed at a maximum of $600,000. As described by the C. F. Jewett and Company, "History of Essex County," published in 1879, the North Andover Mills comprised a three-story brick building, 150x50 feet; a picker house, 30x40 feet; a dye and boiler house, 50x25 feet ; one stone house, 70x40 feet ; a 40-horsepower engine and a 24-foot water wheel. The capacity of the mills was 25,000 yards of flannel a week and consumed 300,000 pounds of wool annually. There were 20 tenement houses. The Sutton's Mill had one brick mill, 165x46 feet ; one picker house, 40x60 feet ; one wooden mill building, 100x46 feet ; one dye house, 50x35 feet ; one brick storehouse, 50x50 feet ; one stone store- house, 60x40 feet ; and 40 tenement houses. The mills made 40,000 yards of flannel weekly, and used 450,000 pounds of wool annually. Both the North Andover and Sut- ton's mills were owned and operated by the heirs of Eben Sutton, with General Eben Sutton, manager.
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RAYMOND BENTON KINNEY -- As cashier of the Methuen National Bank, of Methuen, his birthplace, Raymond Benton Kinney has performed an important service to his community. He is also widely known in Lawrence, and has friends throughout Essex County and this region of New Eng- land.
Mr. Kinney was born on March 17, 1899, at Methuen, son of Arthur R. and Bertha L. (Nowell) Kinney, both natives of Law- rence. His father was for many years a grocer in Methuen, passing from this life in 1928. The mother is a resident of Essex County.
In the public schools of Methuen, Ray- mond Benton Kinney received his elemen- tary education, being graduated in 1916 from Methuen High School. He then be- came a student at Boston University Night School, studying law, accounting, and eco- nomics for three years at that institution. In the meantime, however, he was actively engaged in the beginning of his business career, having become a clerk with the Methuen National Bank in 1917. Through the various grades of banking service, he has since risen with this institution, to his present post of cashier. He was made as- sistant cashier in 1925, and cashier in 1931. His whole career has been definitely asso- ciated with this one bank, and his service to it has entitled him to the distinction and honor that are his in the financial circle in which he moves. He also served, from 1924 to 1933, as treasurer and clerk of the Methuen Cooperative Bank, resigning at length because of his increased duties with the Methuen National Bank.
Civic and social life have gained also from his contribution to local affairs, and he was invited to be a member and leader of numerous local enterprises. He served, at an early period, as treasurer and member
of the executive committee of the Methuen Club, and so continues today. He also be- longs to the Free and Accepted Masons, and is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men. In 1920 he was chosen to be presiding officer of his tribe, and was the youngest man ever to be given the distinc- tion of being presiding officer in this order. In addition to his other activities, he is treasurer of the Methuen branch of the Essex County Health Association. Every group with which he has been connected has, in some way, benefited from his labors in its behalf, and his warm enthusiasm and active interest in public affairs have been appreciated in his community and county.
Raymond Benton Kinney married, on September 3, 1927, Alice Mildred Wilson, of Methuen, and they became the parents of one daughter, Doris Bertha Kinney, who was born on June 13, 1928.
ALBION G. PEIRCE-In professional and financial life Albion G. Peirce has effec- tively served the county of Essex. Since January 9, 1934, he has been president of the Methuen National Bank, and, adding to his other activities his practice of law, he has come to be highly esteemed and re- spected by his fellow-citizens.
Mr. Peirce, who is widely known in Law- rence and Methuen, was born in Methuen on June 22, 1880, son of James and Ella L. (Gile) Peirce, both natives of the State of Maine. His father, a physician, practiced medicine for many years in Methuen, so continuing until his death in 1902.
In the public schools and high school of Methuen, Albion G. Peirce, of this review, received his formal education through his preliminary years, being graduated from high school in 1897. A year later he was graduated from Phillips Academy, and, thereupon, he became a student at Yale
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University, where he received the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1902. In 1905 he was graduated from the Boston University School of Law. A year earlier, in 1904, he had been admitted to the bar, and in the same year had begun his active practice. Starting his professional work in Lawrence, he built up a sizable clientele in this city, which he has effectively served by his pro- fessional ministrations.
He has also been called upon to serve in public capacities of importance. In 1905 he became a member of the Methuen school committee, so continuing until 1911. In 1916 he became a town moderator, in which position he still serves. From 1917 to 1919 he was a member of the Massachusetts constitutional convention. In 1917 he was appointed trial justice by Governor McCall, to serve in the town of Methuen, and in that office he continued, fulfilling his duties with dignity and impartiality until 1924, when he was named a special justice of the Dis- trict Court of Lawrence.
He is also a director of the Methuen Na- tional Bank, as well as its president, and is a leader in many fraternal groups in his community. He belongs to both the Free and Accepted Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is affiliated with the Merrimack Country Club and the Methuen Club.
Mr. Peirce is unmarried, and makes his home in the town of Methuen.
OLIN SEWALL PETTINGILL, M. D. -Long experience and a thorough founda- tion in his profession have qualified Dr. Olin Sewall Pettingill to occupy the office he now holds as superintendent of the Essex Sanatorium at Middleton, Massachusetts.
Dr. Pettingill was born on June 8, 1882, at Wayne, Maine, the son of Sewall and Emma F. (Bishop) Pettingill, both natives of Maine. His father, a farmer, held impor-
tant public offices in Kennebec County, Maine, serving as commissioner, selectman, and town treasurer for Wayne. He was also a superintendent of schools and a veteran of the Civil War, having served with Com- pany F, of the IIth Maine Infantry from 1862 until the close of the conflict in 1865. Dr. Pettingill attended the public schools of Wayne and entered Maine Wesleyan Sem- inary where he was graduated in 1903. Com- pleting his studies here he entered the Maine Medical School, graduating in 1908 with a degree of Doctor of Medicine. He then served as an interne in the Maine General Hospital at Portland, Maine, for one year when he began to practice privately in Liver- more Falls, Maine. He maintained his office there until 1910 and then accepted a position with the Stony Wold Sanatorium, Lake Kuchakua, New York, for women and chil- dren. He remained here one year and then became associated with the Massachusetts State Sanatorium at Rutland, as an assistant physician, a post he filled for two years. His next position was as assistant superin- tendent of the Rhode Island Sanatorium at Wallum Lake and he served also as super- intendent of the Western Maine Sanatorium in Hebron, Maine, where he remained for six years. When the Essex County Sana- torium was opened in 1921 he was appointed superintendent of this institution and has served in this capacity for thirteen years. The institution itself is one of the most mod- ern in the country and is located in one of the most beautiful sections of Essex County.
Though Dr. Pettingill's profession has forced him to move about a great deal he has found time to become actively interested in the social and civic life of his surround- ings. He is a York and Scottish Rite Ma- son and a Noble of Kora Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine at Lewiston, Maine. His professional mem- berships are the Massachusetts Medical So-
Olin S. Pergill
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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
ciety, the American Medical Association, and all the local medical associations and for a number of years, since its organization, has been president of the Essex County Health Association. He is also a member of the Danvers Historical Society and has been past president of both the Danvers Rotary Club and the Essex South Medical Society. He holds a membership in the Trudeau Medical Society and the American Sanato- rium Association.
Dr. Pettingill was married on December 12, 1906, to Marion Bradbury Groves, of Augusta, Maine. Mrs. Pettingill is a mem- ber of General Israel Putnam Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, of Danvers of which she is second vice-regent, and is a former president of the Danvers Women's Association. They are the parents of one son, Olin Sewall, Jr., who was grad- uated from Bowdoin College in 1930 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and from Cornell University with a degree of Doctor of Phi- losophy, in 1933. He is now assistant teach- ing fellow in the Department of Biology at Bowdoin. He married Eleanor Rice, of Mid- dleton, a graduate of Wheaton College, Bachelor of Arts, class of 1929. They live at No. 15, Columbia Street, Brunswick, Maine.
JOHN F. MURPHY-As president of the Curran and Joyce Company, Inc., man- ufacturers of beverages at Lawrence, John F. Murphy heads one of the best known concerns of its kind in the New England States. This enterprise was established in 1877 by Maurice Curran and John Joyce, who began the manufacture of soft drinks at No. 435 Common Street, Lawrence. An artesian well 408 feet deep was bored and from this source they obtained all the pure water used for their beverages. The busi- ness grew steadily and remained under the
direction of the two partners until 1914, when Mr. Curran retired. John Joyce died in 1917 and was succeeded as president of the company by Joseph Jackson, who served until his death in 1920. At that time John F. Murphy became executive head of the corporation.
The Curran and Joyce Company has al- ways continued at its original Lawrence location, where the plant occupies a four- story building, 110 by 93 feet. They em- ploy about forty-five people. The company also has a ginger ale factory in South Law- rence, with a total of 73,000 square feet of floor space, comprising one of the most modern plants of its kind in all New Eng- land. The wide reputation of their products is substantially based on the high standards of quality which they have always main- tained throughout more than half a century.
John F. Murphy, present president of the company, was born in Lawrence, Massa- chusetts, on September 16, 1883. He re- ceived his education in the public schools of the city, completing the high school course, and passed his entrance examina- tions for Harvard in 1901. He did not enter college, however, and soon afterwards be- gan his active career in the employ of Ford Brothers of Lawrence, with whom he re- mained for four years. He spent one year thereafter in the local post office but re- signed in 1906 to enter the employ of Cur- ran and Joyce. He has always continued this connection, rising steadily within the organization until he was elected president of the corporation in 1920, succeeding Joseph Jackson. Under his administration the fine traditions of the company have been fully maintained and its development con- tinued as justified by circumstances.
Mr. Murphy is a member of several local organizations, including the Merrimac Val- ley County Club and the Andover Country
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Club. He is affiliated fraternally with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Columbus, and is a member of the Catholic Church. The pres- sure of business has prevented him from being active in public life but he has always been interested in community affairs and given his support to civic movements.
On October 1, 1913, John F. Murphy mar- ried Elizabeth C. O'Leary of Lawrence. They reside at No. 131 Peters Street, North Andover.
H. BRADFORD LEWIS-Prominent in the industrial, civic, fraternal and social life of Lawrence, H. Bradford Lewis is worthily continuing the traditions of a fam- ily long resident in Massachusetts. He was born in Boston, on September 6, 1868, the son of E. Frank and Marian J. (Boyden) Lewis, natives of Massachusetts. E. Frank Lewis was well known as the pioneer of the wool scouring business, having started a plant for this purpose in 1870 at Walpole and removing in 1890 to Lawrence, where he erected a large factory for wool scouring and carbonizing. He actively conducted his business until his death in 1932, at ninety years of age. Civic and community affairs received much of his time and attention, his influence being willingly given to all worthy causes. He was a Mason and in this order held the thirty-second degree.
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