USA > New Jersey > Passaic County > Paterson > History of Paterson and its environs (the silk city); historical- genealogical - biographical > Part 43
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Of all the industries in Paterson, silk has always been predominant ; there have been times, when there was an unusual demand for the product of the iron manufacturing establishments, when the total wages paid there ex- ceeded the total wages paid in silk mills, but those months were never very numerous and frequently there were years when furnaces were cold and lathes idle. But Paterson could always depend on silk; no matter whether prosperity abounded or people complained of "hard times," there was always more or less demand for silk.
John Ryle was born at Bollington, near Macclesfield, England, October 22, 1817. He first handled silk as a bobbin boy when he was five years of age and from that time to the day of his death, November 6, 1887, he was interested in the silk industry. He learned the manipulation of the fibre in
342
PATERSON AND ITS ENVIRONS
all its branches and at twenty-two years of age was the superintendent in the mill of his two brothers, Reuben and William, in Macclesfield. In 1839 he sailed for this country and obtained the position of superintendent in a small silk mill owned by Samuel Whitmarsh, in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he became acquainted with George W. Murray, who had been inter- ested in silk manufacture in England before coming to this country. While in that position Mr. Ryle received an offer from his two brothers in Maccles- field to handle the product of their mill in this country and for this purpose opened a store on Maiden lane and William street, New York. Mr. Murray induced him to abandon the business of importer in order to join him in the manufacture of silk in this country. Mr. Ryle visited Paterson, where he became acquainted with Christopher Colt, who had experimented at making silk thread for about three months in the old Gun Mill, but had abandoned the project. The result of Mr. Ryle's visit to Paterson was that Mr. Mur- ray purchased the Gun Mill, equipped it with silk machinery and placed Mr. Ryle in charge. Mr. Ryle was the first in this country to put silk on a spool, the successful experiment being due to a conference between him and Elias Howe, the inventor of the Howe sewing machine. This enabled Mr. Howe to overcome one of the chief difficulties he had in perfecting his sewing machine, a way to feed the silk thread to the needle. Mr. Ryle's machine twist was the first of its kind that could be successfully used on a sewing machine. This was the beginning of the spool silk industry in this country. Three years after the purchase of the mill, Mr. Ryle was taken into partner- ship and the firm of Murray & Ryle did a flourishing business in the manu- facture of sewing silk and twist until the year 1846, when Mr. Ryle pur- chased Mr. Murray's interest and continued the business alone. In 1855 he erected a new mill, which he named the Murray mill, after his former patron. It was on Mill street, opposite Ward, 73x200 feet in area and two stories high. He added other mill properties to this and accumulated a fortune, but lost about $400,000 by a fire in 1869. He immediately erected the mill now known as the Murray mill, adopting a plan of construction since followed by other silk manufacturers; the buildings of brick, one story high, lighted only from the roof by skylights with a northern exposure, the different rooms separated by solid brick partitions and many of the floors laid with blue- stone flagging. It was one of the few establishments where all the processes of silk manufacture, including dyeing, were carried on under one roof. Mr. Ryle died while on a visit to his native home; his remains were brought to Paterson for interment.
Catholina Lambert was born in Keighley, Yorkshire, England, March 28, 1834. When he was nine years of age his parents removed to Derbyshire, where, after attending school for eleven months, he was set to work in the cotton mill of Walter Evans & Company, at eighteen pence a week. He fre- quently told in after years of his visit to the residence of the senior member of the house and there seeing what he believed to be the finest furniture man could make. This furniture almost became an object of veneration to him and so attached did he become to it that, many years afterwards on a visit
343
INDUSTRIES
to his former home, he bought it all and it is now a part of the furniture in his residence in Paterson. Mr. Lambert came to this country as a young man and, after having been employed in a clerical capacity for some time in Boston, found employment with the silk manufacturing firm of Tilt & Dexter, composed of Benjamin B. Tilt and Anson Dexter. When Mr. Tilt retired, Mr. Lambert and Charles Barton entered the firm and business was continued under name of Dexter, Lambert & Company ; in 1861 Anson Dex- ter retired and his son, George R. Dexter, and William Nelson Lambert, brother of Catholina Lambert, were admitted. W. N. Lambert died in 1869 and George R. Dexter retired in 1875. Henry B. Wilson was admitted in 1878 and Charles Barton retired in 1880. In 1885 Walter S. Lambert, W. F. Suydam and Charles N. Sterrett entered the firm; Mr. Sterrett, who had been prominent for many years not only as a manufacturer but in the politi- cal field, died February 10, 1915, about a year after the liquidation of the firm.
The firm first occupied as a factory a two-story frame building 100x40 feet, located on Coventry street, Boston. The machinery first used by them consisted of looms for weaving fringes and gimpes, and a small plant of throwing machinery, capable of producing twenty-five pounds of sewings per day. They were at that time engaged in manufacturing upholstery, mili- tary, parasol, millinery, hatters', furriers', cloak and dress trimmings, and were in fact what was called in those days a trimming house. They, or rather their predecessor, attempted ribbon weaving in 1849, but it was not a success financially, for the greater part of the ribbons made, not being sold, were purchased by Dexter, Lambert & Company at the time of their organi- zation. This, it is said, was probably the first attempt at ribbon weaving in the country. The increasing business of Dexter, Lambert & Company obliged them to provide added facilities for manufacturing, to meet which they in 1856 commenced the erection of a three-story brick mill 160x50 feet in Len- nox street, Boston. In 1858 the firm had met with sufficient encouragement to justify them in sending Mr. Barton to England to purchase additional looms for ribbon weaving and other machinery and this plant was placed in the new mill, just erected.
Attracted by Paterson and its surroundings, Mr. Lambert decided to make it his place of residence, and in 1861 with this view he purchased a country residence at South Paterson.
A desire to have the manufactory nearer to New York and under his personal supervision induced Mr. Lambert in 1866 to purchase a mill site on the east side of Straight street and thereon erect the Dexter mill, a three- story brick building, 220x50 feet, with detached buildings for engine and dye houses. The removal of the firm's machinery to Paterson was followed by the gradual withdrawal of their stock and closing up of outside stores and the concentration of their merchandizing in New York. In 1877 the business was enlarged by the purchase of A. Soleliac & Son's plant of ribbon looms and throwing machinery. These were kept at work in the Dale mill, their original location, until July, 1879. The spring of 1879 witnessed another
344
PATERSON AND ITS ENVIRONS
addition through the purchase of the Sterrett, Ryle & Murphy plant of rib- bon looms. December, 1878, found Mr. Lambert engaged in making prepa- rations for the erection of the third, and up to that date, the largest mill, having purchased from the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures a block of land containing about two acres on the west side of Straight street, bounded by the Erie railway, Clay, Straight and Taylor streets. He pro- ceeded to erect thereon a structure 100x75 feet, two stories, with pressed brick front.
The lack of sufficient machinery to throw enough silk for the require- ments of the firm's business obliged Mr. Lambert to take measures to supply the deficiency. After a careful consideration of the subject he decided on a new departure, which was to secure a site and erect a mill in some locality where he could obtain ample water power and secure absence of competition for operatives ; a place where the advantages of a large industry and the money which it circulated would be appreciated. Hawley, Pennsylvania, was selected as possessing the advantages sought for, and here Mr. Lambert purchased a tract of land lying along the Wallenpaupack river, a stream which divides Wayne and Pike counties, and which at this point is a series of falls and cascades. On the Wayne county side of the river, upon the rocks at the head of the falls, Mr. Lambert, early in 1880, proceeded to erect his fourth and largest silk mill. The mill is in shape an elongated parallelo- gram, broken by a square projection in the front centre; its dimensions are 380x44 feet, the centre projection being 80x80 feet. The firm subsequently, in 1887, also erected another mill of considerable proportions in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.
In 1892 Mr. Lambert erected for himself as a residence what has always been considered one of the show places in Paterson. It occupies a part of Garret mountain, and in architecture, with its extensive colonnade, resembles that of the days of yore. One of the main objects of its erection was to find a place for the establishment of an art gallery. Mr. Lambert was engaged many years in collecting works of the old masters and many specimens of the work of modern schools, and when the large halls in his residence were filled he had an art gallery second to few in this country.
In all his dealings with his partners, Mr. Lambert always retained per- sonal ownership of all the mills and most of the machinery, leasing these at an annual rental to the firm in which he retained a controlling interest. In 1914 the firm found itself in financial difficulties and Mr. Lambert de- termined to liquidate. For this purpose he placed his property in the hands of trustees. The first to go was the collection of pictures ; art connoisseurs will long remember this event, for it attracted buyers from all over the world. Then went the big Hawley mill, which brought $280,000 more than his books showed Mr. Lambert had paid for the site, buildings and equipment of ma- chinery. There was no need of going further, for there were funds in abun- dance to pay all claims. Mr. Lambert subsequently sold the smaller of his two Paterson mills, but the rest of his property holdings he still retains. He has retired from the active work required by manufacturing. The mill at
345
INDUSTRIES
Honesdale is owned by the Lambert Silk Manufacturing Company, of which Mr. Lambert's stepson, Major Harry Lambert Bibby, mustered out from service in the European war, is the principal stockholder.
William Strange, the third of the triumvirate to which so much of the success of the Paterson silk industry is to be attributed, was also a native of England, where he was born in 1838. During the days of the rebellion the firm of Strange & Brother, E. B. and Albert B., the latter the father of Wil- liam, were engaged as silk importers in New York City. One of the most serious difficulties they encountered was to obtain the exact shade of ribbons demanded by fashion from time to time; these could be obtained only by sending orders to England and the filling of these orders and bringing the goods to this side of the Atlantic consumed too much time. In order to sur- mount this difficulty the firm started a small silk mill in Williamsburgh, with no idea of making money directly out of the manufacturing.
The enactment of the high tariff during the last years of the war and the consequent high rate of exchange induced the firm to seriously consider the question of manufacturing silk on an extensive scale. In 1868 the firm removed its machinery to Paterson and silk manufacturing was begun here under the firm name of William Strange & Company, Mr. E. B. Strange having devoted himself exclusively to importing and Mr. A. B. Strange hav- ing turned the business of manufacturing over to his son, although still re- taining an interest in the industry. The firm had found considerable diffi- culty in obtaining tram and organzine, and for the purpose of being independ- ent of all other similar establishments imported a quantity of silk throwing machinery from England. This together with the looms removed from Wil- liamsburgh was placed in the Greppo mill on Slater street and Dale avenue ; the mill was subsequently enlarged, but the additions did not keep pace with the demand for the product of the establishment and in 1874 the firm pur- chased the mill of the American Velvet Company on Essex and Madison streets. The prosperity of the silk industry induced the firm to materially increase the size of the mill; building after building was added and then joined together until in 1878 the firm had a mill extending for two hundred feet on each of three streets, having a depth of forty-five feet on Essex street, forty-five feet on Beech, forty feet on Madison street, and fifty feet on the north, the whole establishment being in the shape of a hollow square. In 1883 another addition was erected to the mill in the shape of a wing on Beech street ; this addition is two hundred feet front on Beech street, forty- eight feet deep, three stories high and built of brick in conformity with the rest of the establishment. In 1887 the firm was incorporated under the name of the William Strange Silk Company.
Mr. Strange erected for himself on Broadway what was considered at the time one of the handsomest residences in Paterson and took an active part in life in Paterson. He was a member of the first board of Park Com- missioners of Paterson and for many years president of the Board of Trade. He took a lively interest in everything that pertained to the interests of the city. Having entrusted his interests in Paterson to efficient subordinates
346
PATERSON AND ITS ENVIRONS
he removed his residence to New York City, where for a number of years he was active as the president of the Silk Association of America. He died there January 20, 1899. After his death his estate gradually disposed of the silk machinery owned by the William Strange Company, but retained owner- ship of the mill property.
Hamil & Booth began manufacturing silk in June, 1855, on the top floor of the Beaver mill, about twenty hands being employed. The firm was com- posed of Robert Hamil and James Booth. The product was fringe-silk, and soon the demand for it induced the firm to look for more commodious quar- ters which they found in the second floor of the Star mill. In 1858 they leased the second floor of the Murray mill and had about a hundred and fifty hands in their employ. Here they remained for four years when they pur- chased a silk mill on Ward street, near Railroad avenue; the mill was equipped with machinery, but most of this was removed, it not being of the most approved pattern. The mill was one hundred and thirty feet by forty- five, built of brick, two and a half stories high. The firm continued throw- ing silk until 1868, when they purchased a number of looms and began weav- ing. In the meantime they had increased the depth of their mill by twenty feet. In 1870 they erected a frame building, twenty-five by one hundred feet, two stories high. In 1873 the floor space was increased by an addition, thirty-five by forty-five feet, three stories high. In 1874 they began the erec- tion of another addition of brick, three stories, forty-five by seventy-five feet. In 1890 the capacity of the mill was further increased by the extension of the building through to Railroad avenue; the addition is of brick, three stories high and one hundred and eighty feet long. In the meantime the firm had acquired another valuable mill property on the corner of Market and Mill streets, fifty-seven by one hundred and ninety feet ; this property was bought in 1872 and had previously been used as a cotton mill. Mr. Hamil died Sep- tember II, 1880; his partner survived him fourteen years, after which the affairs of the firm were liquidated.
Benjamin B. Tilt, who was engaged in manufacturing silk in Boston as carly as 1835, as has been noted above in the sketch of Dexter, Lambert & Company, came to Paterson in 1860 and occupied a portion of the Phoenix mill and afterwards additional rooms in the Beaver mill and the old Wat- son mill. In 1861 he took his son Albert into partnership and the business soon changed from making sewing silks to making dress goods. In 1865 the firm, having obtained control of a majority of the shares, became the owners of the Phoenix Manufacturing Company. The company was among the first to adopt power looms and to this they added the making of their own looms. In 1880 the company established the Adelaide silk mill at Allentown and in 1885 doubled the capacity of that mill. In 1888 they established the Tilt mill at Allentown, Pennsylvania. Mr. B. B. Tilt died October 11, 1879, his son, May 1, 1901, and the business is at present carried on by the third generation of Tilts.
Charles R. Pelgram, a native of Germany, was for some years a super- intendent in the employ of the William Strange Company. In 1873 he formed
JOSEPH WADSWORTH
THE NEW TOS PUBLIC L :?. ...
L
347
INDUSTRIES
the Pelgram & Meyer Silk Manufacturing Company, for two years occupying floor space in the Industry mill. In 1875 they purchased an old mill on Temple and Matlock streets and there erected the spacious mill still occupied by the firm. Another mill was erected in Boonton, New Jersey, in 1881, and in the same year the firm added velvets and plushes to their output. The manufacture of velvet has never been carried on in Paterson on a large scale. The most pretentious effort in that direction was made by Samuel Holt in 1869, when he erected the mill subsequently purchased by the William Strange Company. After a precarious existence the mill was closed in 1869, most of the looms and other machinery being placed in storage. Mr. Pel- gram died November 16, 1887.
Henry Doherty and Joseph Wadsworth were both born in Macclesfield, the centre of silk manufacturing in England, Mr. Doherty on February 6, 1850, Mr. Wadsworth on March 10, 1849. They came to Paterson within six months of each other and worked in various silk mills until 1879, when they rented a room in Market street, where their equipment consisted of one loom. On January 1, 1880, they removed to the Arkwright mill on Beech street, occupying only a portion of the floor space. As their business in- creased they multiplied the number of their looms until within a short time they had the whole floor covered. In 1882 they purchased the mill and three years afterwards materially enlarged it until they had a mill 211x50, four stories high. For a number of years the firm manufactured more grenadines than all the other firms in Paterson put together. Mr. Doherty subsequently withdrew from the firm and erected the present mill of the Henry Doherty Silk Company on Main street, near the southern limits of the city, one of the largest silk mills in the country. Mr. Doherty died February 1, 1915, and was succeeded by his son. Mr. Wadsworth still remains with the firm of Doherty & Wadsworth.
Dyeing is generally considered a separate branch of the silk industry, few establishments combining this with the preceding processes. This gave rise to numerous dyeing establishments in various parts of the city and fre- quently bitter competition between them. For many years the Weidmann Dye Works were the most extensive in the city and still constitute the larg- est single concern. Mr. Weidmann was a native of Zurich, Switzerland, where he was born March 22, 1845. His family had been engaged in silk dyeing for several generations. Being a younger son, he came to this country and was engaged in dyeing establishments until he started the works which still bear his name, although they were sold to a company of French capital- ists several years before his death, the latter occurring July 4, 1911. All the other dye works in the city were united some years ago in the corporation known as the National Silk Dyeing Company ; Robert Gaede broke away from this corporation and is again dyeing silk on his own account.
Following this appears a table prepared in 1891 in connection with the celebration of the founding of Paterson. It shows accurately the state of the industry at that time. The preparation of such a table at the pres- ent day would entail almost as much labor as the taking of a census, for
348
PATERSON AND ITS ENVIRONS
a great change has taken place in the silk manufacturing industry since that time. In former years, and to some extent still at present, the manufactured silk passed into the hands of commission merchants, who sell to the whole- sale and retail trade and almost invariably make advances to the manufac- turer. Of late years the number of small silk manufacturers has increased enormously. The manufacturers of looms generally extend long credits and consequently little capital is required to purchase a single loom. Raw silk is almost always sold on a promise to pay in the future. Thousands of silk weavers, especially recent immigrants, have taken advantage of this state of affairs. The method of procedure is simple: A weaver buys a loom on the instalment plan and has it set up in his home ; he and his wife work alternate shifts, but the loom is idle very few hours, frequently very few minutes, in the twenty-four hour day ; when a piece of silk has been woven, the weaver takes it to New York by train or trolley and sells it direct to the retailer ; he can afford to sell at a lower figure than can the manufacturer who has rent, taxes, overhead charges and labor unions to deal with; it does not take long before the loom is paid for. It is seldom that the weaver does not find a ready market for his product, but should this happen, he can pawn the silk in Paterson, where brokers are ever ready to make advances on such security. Should the weaver receive an order from a retailer for several hundred yards of silk to be delivered in one consignment at a certain time, he can make the silk piece by piece and pawn it piece by piece.
RECAPITULATION.
Employ- ees.
Looms.
Male.
Female.
Broad
Goods.
Ribbon.
Braiding
Machines.
Spindles.
Capital
Invested.
Annual
Wages.
R. & H. Adams.
200
400
200
80
10,000
$200,000
$150,000
*George Addy
4
I2
60
5,000
4,000
American Queen Silk Co.
IO
20
50
15,000
15,600
Anderson Brothers
40
20
60
50,000
22,000
Thomas Armitt
4
5
325
2,500
3,000
Ashley & Bailey
500
300
600
10,000
1,000,000
375,000
Augusta Silk Works
50
50
45
30,000
60,000
William Ball
15
40
IO
30,000
27,000
Bamford Bros.
400
500
345
40,000
900,000
450,000
P. & I. Bannigan
62
63
40
24
10,000
150,000
52,000
*Nathan Barnert
Barnes Manufacturing Co.
50
50
750
3,500
150,000
50,000
Barnett, Holden & Co.
I
34
150
15,000
10,000
David Beckett
6
IO
6
10,000
9,500
James Bell
Thomas W. Bentley & Co.
7
20
30
20,000
15,500
Brilliant Silk Manufacturing Co.
15
I5
50
12,000
13,000
*George Broomhead
25,000
Henry L. Butler
17
28
2,500
20,000
12,000
*J. T. Baer.
50
50,000
75,000
40,000
*Robert Blackburn
30,000
40,000
American Braid Co.
349
INDUSTRIES
Employ- ees.
Looms.
Male.
Female.
Broad
Goods.
Ribbon.
Braiding
Spindles.
Capital
Invested.
Annual
Wages.
Butler Silk Manufacturing Co ...
25
25
20
Andre Cardinal
100
100
126
2,000
40,000
53,000
Cardinal & Becker
45
40
65
40,000
42,000
Peter Caspers
65
IO
17
I3
40,000
32,000
Castle Silk Co.
25
30
23
35,000
36,000
Allen Chesters
4
2
12
4,000
2,500
Clay & Groocock
100
100
83
100,000
85,000
Arthur Cliff
8
8
IO
500
20,000
8,500
Cole & Nightingale
8
2,000
5,000
7,200
*Cooke Locomotive Works.
I 50,000
80
50,000
50,000
George Cox
2
8
I20
15,000|
3,500
B. Edmund David
30
20
40
50,000
30,000
Dery Silk Manufacturing Co.
35
25
48
12,000
40,000
Dexter, Lambert & Co.
300
400
400
150
500,000
300,000
C. Dey & Co.
21
10,000
8
450
1,500
2,600
John Dodds
25
25
20
25,000
29,000
Doherty & Wadsworth.
200
150
47
500,000
180,000
Henry Eastwood
12
4
IO
6,000
10,600
Empire Silk Works
75
175
175
100,000
97,700
Enterprise Silk Co.
25
50|
60
20,000
32,000
Equitable Silk Manufacturing Co.
12
23
27
20,000
15,000
Equity Silk Co.
40
60
97
1,100
54,000
37,000
Fairhurst & Co ..
22
23
36
15,000
22,000
Fogle, Kane & Wilkinson.
15
35
40
15,000
35,000
John R. Frame.
20
IO
5.5
15,000
15,600
Frank & Dugan
85
85
60
80,000
81.000
Jacob Frisch
45
50
40,000
20,000
Frost & Van Riper.
30
60
7,500
35,000
30,000
George W. Fulton & Co
50|
75
35,000|
40,000
A. Giannetti
20
20
5,000
23,000
7,500
Golden Rod Silk Co.
50
20
60
50,000
34,000
*Grant Locomotive Works
25
50
100
2,000
25,000
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