The history of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, V. IV, Part 62

Author: Bicknell, Thomas Williams, 1834-1925. cn
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: New York, The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 978

USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > The history of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, V. IV > Part 62

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Frances, born April 25, 1895, a graduate of Bryant & Stratton's Business College of Providence, and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion. 2. Alice May, born March 25, 1900. 3. Bernice Emily, born June 20, 1906. Stephen Henry Clemence died October 4, 1916.

J. O. DRAPER COMPANY, Incorporated -After his experiences as a "forty niner" which furnished the "sinews of war," James Otis Draper returned to his native New England about 1855 and in Fox- boro began the manufacture of soap. A few years later, 1858, he established the same business in Bed- ford, Mass., having his brother-in-law, Abner At- wood, of Pawtucket, R. I., as his partner. In 1860, Draper & Atwood came to Pawtucket, and inaugu- rated the business which from 1867-1904, was con- ducted under the name J. O. Draper & Co., the firm, and since 1904, as the J. O. Draper Company, Incor- porated, manufacturers of olive oil; English fig soaps for washing wool, woolen, worsted and silk goods; white chipped soap for finishing plants, printworks, steam laundries, etc .; palm oil, bleaching, fulling and scouring soaps; soap powders for all factory uses; also a complete line of family soaps and crude glycerine.

When James O. Draper and Abner Atwood estab- lished their plant in Pawtucket, they at once obtained a foothold, and in 1867 had expanded to an extent that a third partner, Augustus Crowell, was admitted, the firm name then changing to Draper, Atwood & Co. A few months later Mr. Draper purchased his part- ners' interest, and for a few years conducted the busi- ness alone. In 1871 he admitted his nephew, Arthur W. Stanley, to a partnership, the firm name then for the first time assuming the name of the founder as a distinctive title, J. O. Draper & Co., which it still bears, but slightly changed. Twenty years later the founder died, October 14, 1891, but the partner, Arthur W. Stanley, J. O. Draper's son, George B. Draper, and Frank W. Mason, men who had stood with him and made success easier, were qualified and willing to step into the leadership in the various depart- ments, and there was no change in the business man- agement. Incorporation followed in 1904, and the officers then elected to manage the J. O. Draper Company, Incorporated, are still filling the same posi- tions: Arthur W. Stanley, president, treasurer; George B. Draper, secretary, manager; G. Bradford Draper, superintendent; Frank W. Mason, sales agent.

James O. Draper, the founder, was a son of Eben- ezer and Beulah (Bradford) Draper, of Attleboro, Mass., and a descendant of James Draper of York- shire, England, who died in Roxbury, Mass., in 1694. James O. Draper was born in Attleboro, June 29, 1818, and died in Pawtucket, R. I., October 14, 1891. He attended school and helped in the work of the home farm until he was sixteen years of age, then began learning the shoemaker's trade at Abington. After four years there he and his brother-in-law, J. H. Stanley (father of Arthur W. Stanley, of previous mention), went to Mobile, Ala., there engaged in the produce business for a time, but later returned to

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HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND

Massachusetts, working at his trade in Wrentham, until 1849, when he joined a company of "gold seek- ers," and in the ship "Areatus" sailed around Cape Horn, and six months later arrived in California. He returned to Massachusetts the next year but in 1852, again sought fortune in the placer mines of California, was successful in his search, and in 1855, returned to Attleboro, paid all claims against him, and had suffi- cient capital remaining to finance the business with which his name has ever since been connected, and which he personally managed until his death. He married, November 18, 1840, Mary G. Carpenter, born November 18, 1817, at Wrentham, Mass., died in Central Falls, R. I., April 10, 1866.

This brief review of the founder and of the business he developed to such a degree of profitable produc- tiveness reveals a man of energy, courage, initiative, not afraid to trust his own judgment, nor to lead when that judgment dictated. Success attended the enterprise from the first, a three-story building (still the main structure), 60 x 90 feet, was erected in 1869; and not long afterward another three-story building, 60 x 80 feet, was added. The works are well equipped with the best in modern machinery and appliances, the annual output running into the millions of pounds. The products are known everywhere for their excel- lence, present customers of the house having in some instances been purchasers from the first founding of the company. During a life of nearly sixty years neither the firm nor corporation has missed meeting a weekly payroll.

Supplementing this account, it may be of interest to give briefly some of the conditions affecting this busi- ness, during the war of the Central and Allied Powers, from 1914 to November 11, 1918, when the armistice was signed.

The soap business conducted by J. O. Draper Co. was affected by the scarcity of materials as well as excessive demands for textile soaps.

Fats and oils increased to three or four times their normal prices. The alkalis used for saponification were very much higher in cost. Potash, which was sold at four cents per pound, commanded one dollar per pound during the war. To make a more impres- sive illustration on the potash situation, let us point out that before the war one drum of caustic potash, containing seven hundred pounds, cost twenty-eight dollars, and after 1914 the same drum of seven hun- dred pounds sold for seven hundred dollars.

The principal source of potash was in Germany. Naturally with the cost of soap making materials mul- tiplied four or five times their pre-war prices, the selling price of soaps was very much increased. If it were not for the glycerine, a by-product in the manufacture of soap, the prices for soap would have been much higher.

The glycerine that is recovered is known as soap lye glycerine and is sold on a basis of eighty per cent. glycerine. This reached a value of fifty cents per pound, nearly all being converted into explosives.

Quickly following the armistice, soap lye glycerine was sold for ten cents per pound and tallow and other fats have declined to thirteen and one-half cents at

this time, January 21, 1919, after having reache, twenty-one cents in November, 1918.

Olive and palm oils for soap making were embas goed, and olive stocks on our side of the Atlant !! sold as high as four and one-half dollars per gallon.

Palm oil, which comes from Africa, was not brough in and stocks on hand were sold as high as forty-fiv cents per pound.

GEORGE BRADFORD DRAPER-A worth son of an honored father, George B. Draper, bring to the duties of secretary and manager of the J. C. Draper Company the same energy and ability whic characterized the founder, and in this youngest sol the advocates of heredity may find proof of thei contention "Blood will tell." George B., the young; est son of James O. Draper, was born in Bedford Mass., December 29, 1859. He was educated in th public schools of Pawtucket, R. I., and after complet ing his studies served an apprenticeship at the wool engraver's trade, his instructor being John C. Thomp son of Providence, R. I. He remained with Mr Thompson four years, then in his twenty-first yea. opened a wood engraving plant of his own, continuing until photo engraving and other mechanical processe: drove the wood engraver out of business. His shop on Westminster street was well patronized, his ten. ancy there covering a period of about four years. Ir 1882, he entered the employ of his father, then head o:' the firm, J. O. Draper Company, and under his fath. er's instruction and direction imbibed the principle: upon which the Draper business was founded anc conducted. He proved an apt student, his talent for business needing but the opportunity to prove its strength and value. In 1885, he was appointed super-| intendent of the J. O. Draper Company plant, and ir that capacity served most efficiently for nineteer. years, 1885-1904. The incorporation of the business! as J. O. Draper Company in 1904, brought Mr. Draper prominently into the official force as director, secre- tary and general manager. His connection with the business has been continuous since 1882, and now covers a period of thirty-six years. He is a member of the Pawtucket Business Men's Club; Union Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; Pawtucket Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Pawtucket Council, Royal and Select Masters; and Enterprise Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In politics he is a Repub- lican.

Mr. Draper married, November 30, 1882, Sarah M. Phinney, daughter of Squire Z. and Sarah Niles (Gray) Phinney of Pawtucket. Mr. and Mrs. Draper are the parents of two sons: George Bradford (2), of further mention; and Fred. Z., born in Pawtucket, March 21, 1886, educated in the grade and high schools of the city, studied with the intention of becoming an optician, but decided in favor of an out-of-door life, and located upon the Draper homestead farm at North Attleboro.

G. BRADFORD DRAPER-Of the third genera- tion to hold official relation with the J. O. Draper Company, Incorporated, and the second to fill the

W. Stanley

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BIOGRAPHICAL

office of superintendent, G. Bradford Draper brought to his task inherited ability, plus the advantages of an advanced education and special training. That he ably fills a post which called forth the best efforts of his predecessors is again proof that heredity is an influ- ence which cannot lightly be dealt with. G. Bradford Draper, son of George B. and Sarah M. (Draper), was born in Pawtucket, R. I., October 29, 1884. After completing grade and high school study he pursued courses at Brown University, specializing in chemis- try, as preparation for the business career he was destined to follow. He was inducted into the intri- cacies of the business of the J. O. Draper Company, under the direction of his father, as the latter had been by his father, and became one of the men under whose leadership the company prospered and waxed great.

In January, 1913, he was elected superintendent of J. O. Draper Company, Incorporated, his present office, he also being a member of the board of direc- tors.

Mr. Draper married, December 31, 1906, Ethel S. Koerner, daughter of Hugo Koerner, of Providence, R. I. They were the parents of two daughters, Doro- thy K. and Gretchen S. Mr. Draper is a member of the Pawtucket Business Men's Association, and the American Chemical Society. In politics he is a Re- publican.

ARTHUR W. STANLEY, of Pawtucket, presi- dent and treasurer of the J. O. Draper Company, Incorporated, is one of the city's most progressive and successful business men, and as a citizen enjoys the respect and esteem of the entire community. Mr. Stanley represents the ninth generation of his family in America, many of whom have been distinguished in the public affairs of New England from its earliest settlement. His mother was a lineal descendant of Governor William Bradford, of the Massachusetts Colony, and his maternal grandfather (Draper) was a captive in the prison ship "Jersey," carrying to his grave the scars on his wrists caused by the chafing | of the chains.

The Stanley family is one of long and honorable standing in the town of Attleboro, Mass., where it has been a numerous one, and many of its members have been prominent there and elsewhere. They descend from Matthew Stanley, whom Daggett places early at Martha's Vineyard. He was of Lynn, Mass., in 1646, where it is recorded of him in the Massachu- setts Historical Collections: "Matthew Stanley was fined five pounds, two shillings, six pence costs, for winning the affections of John Tarbox his daughter without the parents' consent. The latter were allowed six shillings for their attendance in court for three days." Some of the descendants of this Matthew Stanley settled in Topsfield, Mass., and of this branch came the Attleboro family.

Samuel Stanley, son of Matthew Stanley, born in 1656, was of Topsfield. He married Jemima and their children were: Samuel, Jacob, Abigail, Joseph, Sarah, Matthew, Mary, and John. The sons settled near the Falls in Attleboro, Mass., Samuel

removing there as early as 1707. From these have descended a large number of families residing in Eastern Massachusetts, and in later generations in New Hampshire and Maine.

Samuel (2) Stanley, son of Samuel (1) Stanley, born October 24, 1678, married, May 2, 1706, Mary Kenney, and their children were: Abigail, David, Elizabeth, Hannah, Jacob, Jonathan, Matthew, Ruth and Samuel.

Solomon Stanley, the great-grandfather of Arthur W. Stanley, was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, his widow receiving the pension for his services.

John Stanley, son of Solomon Stanley, was born February 22, 1771, in Attleboro, Mass., and died there October 9, 1862. In early life he was engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods at Attleboro Falls, but through unfortunate circumstances met with financial reverses, and about 1820 went to the State of Maine, where he engaged in farming. Later, however, he returned to Attleboro, where the remainder of his life was spent. He possessed a good tenor voice and was very fond of music, and in March, 1859, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years, he sang a solo, "The Pil- grim's Farewell," playing his own accompaniment on his violin, at a concert given in the old town church at Attleboro; the church was crowded to its utmost capacity. On September 26, 1797, John Stanley was married to Juliet Marsh, born January 30, 1776, in Foxboro, Mass., who died in Attleboro Falls, Febru- ary 23, 1863. To this union were born children, as follows: Jacob Perry, born May 10, 1798; Emily, Dec. 3, 1799; Nabby, Jan. 25, 1802; Seneca Marsh, Feb. 15, 1804: Albert Fisk, April 28, 1806; Selim Au- gustus, July 14, 1809; John Herbert, Dec. 10, 1811; Juliet, Feb. 5, 1815: George Washington, July 8, 1817; Osmyn Alcides, Feb. 18, 1822, and Delia Mel- vinia, Aug. 5, 1824.

John Herbert Stanley, son of John Stanley, was born December 10, 1811, in Attleboro, Mass., where his death occurred March 15, 1894. As a young man he made a whaling voyage of three years and two months' duration, visiting the Desolation and Friendly islands, and returning from the voyage as second mate of the ship. He was offered the position of first mate if he would agree to make another trip, but he declined the offer, and returning to his native town purchased, February 20, 1840, a farm upon which he built a house and was engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1849. In that year he went around the Horn in the ship "Areatus" to California, where he spent three years in gold mining, after which he returned to his native town. Between the years 1849 and 1857 Mr. Stanley made three trips to California, and at the time of his death there were but four States in the Union that he had not visited. In 1857 Mr. Stanley, with his eld- est son, Linnaeus H., took up a quarter section of land in the State of Kansas, upon which they engaged in farming, but Mr. Stanley's health began to fail, and he again returned to Attleboro. In the spring of 1859 he went to Irvington-on-the-Hudson, where he leased for six years the farm known as "The Old Brown Jug," then owned by J. L. Ellis, and which was pur- chased in 1863 by the late Charles L. Tiffany, of New

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HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND

York. At the expiration of his lease in 1865, Mr. Stanley returned to Attleboro, and there purchased the Samuel Cushman farm, where the remainder of his life was spent. Mr. Stanley was an able and prac- tical man of business, and was very industrious. He possessed a genial nature, and was very fond of a joke. In political faith he was a Republican, but never cared for nor sought public office. He was a devout mem- ber of the First Congregational Church of South Attleboro, Mass., which he joined in 1857, and of which he was a class leader for many years.

On August 29, 1837, Mr. Stanley was united in mar- riage to Cornelia Draper, daughter of Ebenezer and Beulah (Bradford) Draper, of Attleboro, Mass., the ceremony taking place in the old Draper homestead, where the family have lived for over one hundred and fifty years, and at which on every Thanksgiving Day a dinner is given for members of the family, when as many as forty-five persons will be seated at the table. Mrs. Stanley passed away October 27, 1901, aged eighty-six years, the mother of the following children: Delia Maria, born in 1838, married F. H. Brown, of Maine, and they reside in Pawtucket; Linnaeus H., who died Aug. 3, 1899, in Providence, married Pauline Baguelin; Emeline, who married Edwin F. Kent, of Attleboro, Mass., and died in Providence, R. I .; and Arthur Willis, of further mention. In 1887 the parents celebrated their golden wedding anniversary at their home in Attleboro, and were the recipients of many presents and congratulations in honor of the event.

Arthur Willis Stanley, son of John Herbert Stan- ley, was born September 30, 1847, in Attleboro, Mass., and received his education in the public schools of his native town, and at Irvington-on-the-Hudson, N. Y., whither his parents removed in 1859. He attended the Stebbins Academy, at Irvington, which he left at the age of seventeen years, and the next year he spent on the farm with his father. In 1865 his parents removed to Attleboro, Mass., where he spent two years more at farming with his father. On February 14, 1867, he came to Pawtucket, where his uncle, James O. Draper, was a prominent business man. Here he entered the employ of Draper & Atwood, soap manufacturers, of which Mr. Draper became two years later the sole proprietor. Two years later, in 1871, Messrs. Draper and Stanley, the uncle and nephew, formed a partnership under the firm name of J. O. Draper & Company, and the business has been carried on up to the present time in the same loca- tion, Nos. 171-173 Front street, corner of Clay, where there are manufactured the celebrated "olive oil" and "English fig" soaps, used in washing wool, worsted and silk goods, palm oil and scouring soaps for fac- tory uses, and toilet soaps in the finer grades. In March, 1905, the business was incorporated as the J. O. Draper Company, with these officers: Arthur W. Stanley, president and treasurer, and George B. Draper, secretary and general manager.

Since the death of his uncle, J. O. Draper, Mr. Stanley, who then became general manager, has devoted himself heart and soul to the upbuilding of the business, and has made a notable success as an executive and financial manager. The growth and

development of the corporation have in a large meas ure been due to his broad vision and devotion. A. appreciation of his faithful service and an indicatio of the esteem in which he was held was shown by th presentation to him by the stockholders, directors, an officials of a valuable and beautiful diamond scarf pi on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his con nection with the company. The end of this half century of service finds him still energetic and able bearing his seventy years with ease and serenity and with a forward-facing enthusiasm and confidenc which marks the buoyancy and youthfulness of hi temperament. Mr. Stanley is vice-president of th Providence County Savings Bank of Pawtucket, an is also a director of the Pawtucket & Central Fall Associated Charities.

In his political views Mr. Stanley is a Republicar and he served Pawtucket as a member of the Counc. in 1882 and 1883. He is a member of the Congrega tional Society of Central Falls, and a member of th First Congregational Church of North Attleboro Mass. He is a member of the Young Men's Chris tian Association, in which he has taken an active par having been chairman of the site committee, and director of the association for many years. He is member of the Pawtucket Business Men's Association and is a charter member of the Ancient Order ( United Workmen. He has also served as a truste and executor of several estates.

Mr. Stanley married, September 17, 1873, Eunic Shepard May, daughter of Henry F. and Elizabet (Cushman) May, of Attleboro, Mass., where she wa born September 29, 1849, a descendant of the Ma family, of old Colonial New England stock. The are the parents of the following children: I. Hent Willis, born Sept. 18, 1875, in Pawtucket; attende the public schools of his native city, after which } was graduated with honors from Dean Academy, ar spent one year at Brown University, and then studie in Paris and London, and is now a resident of Lo !! don, where he is successfully engaged as a teacher voice production; he married Ellen Kuhler, and the are the parents of four children. 2. Maybelle Cusl man, living at home. 3. John Lawrence, decease 4. Joseph Allerton, deceased. 5. Elizabeth, the wi of Kenneth B. Hastings, of Newtonville, Mass., ar they have one child. 6. Arthur Lincoln, an emplo: of the J. O. Draper Company; married Ruth Dodge, of Pawtucket, and they are the parents of or daughter. Mrs. Stanley and her daughters are mer bers of the Daughters of the American Revolutio Miss Stanley being entitled to membership throug seven different lines of ancestry.

Mr. Stanley has crossed the Atlantic ocean sever times and has traveled extensively in his own cou try. Genial and affable, he has hosts of friends business, and in political and social circles, and he numbered among the most representative men Pawtucket.

GENERAL WILLIAM AMES-This review de: principally with the careers of Samuel Ames, for ni; years chief justice of the Supreme Court of Rhoe

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Island, and with his son, William Ames, brevet- brigadier-general of volunteers, manufacturer, and citizen of eminence, both native sons of Providence and lifelong residents. The Ames family was orig- nally of Bruton, in Somersetshire, England, the line being traced to John Ames (Amyas), who was buried in 1560. The family bore arms which indicate noble connection :

Arms-Argent on a bend sable three roses of the field. Crest-A white rose. Motto-Fama candida rosa dulcior.

John Ames, of Bruton, married Margery Crome, and their eldest son, John, married Cyprian Brown. They were the parents of two sons, William and John, both of whom left their ancestral home, came to New England, and both founded families. Descendants of William Ames, born October 6, 1605, who came in 1638, and of John Ames, born December 10, 1610, came in 1640, settling respectively in Braintree and Bridge- water, Mass., are to be found in all walks of life, and in almost every section of the Union, indeed the history of the Ames family forms a most interesting chapter in the industrial, commercial, professional and military annals of the United States.

Most prominent among the earlier descendants was Fisher Ames, the friend of Washington, orator, writer, statesman and member of Congress, a man held in such high esteem as patriot and orator that he was chosen by the State of Massachusetts to deliver a eulogy upon General Washington at the time of his death. Captain John Ames laid the foundation of the fortunes of his branch of the family by establishing, in Bridgewater, the shovel manufactory that made the name a familiar one all over the country. His son Oliver inherited the business and was, in time, suc- ceeded by his sons, Oliver and Oakes, both of whom were intimately connected with the building of the Union Pacific Railroad. Another Oliver Ames became governor of Massachusetts, and the list might be extended indefinitely down to the present.

From this distinguished family sprang Judge Sam- uel Ames, father of General William Ames, and son of Samuel and Anne (Checkley) Ames, his mother a member of an ancient Puritan family of English ances- try, the name formerly Chichele. Judge Samuel Ames was born in Providence, R. I., September 6, 1806, and died in the city of his birth, December 20, 1865. He was educated in Providence schools, Phillips (Andover) Academy, and Brown University, a member of the latter institution's graduating class of 1823, he being then barely seventeen years of age, harking back to the performance of his distinguished ancestor, Fisher Ames, who was graduated with the same brilliancy at the age of sixteen. After graduation he began the study of law in the office of S. W. Bridgman, and for one year attended the lectures delivered by Judge Gould at the law school in Litchfield, Conn. In 1826 he was admitted to the Rhode Island bar, and began the practice of law in Providence. He soon became known as an able advocate, and his fluency and earn- estness of style gained for him a wide reputation as a popular orator. He was a most effective political

speaker, and in the exciting times of 1842 and 1843 his was a conspicuous and frequently heard voice. In 1842 he was appointed quartermaster-general of the State, served in the City Council, and for several years was a member of the General Assembly. He was staunch and firm on the side of law and order, and his influence was most marked and beneficial during the entire period of disturbance and upheaval in Rhode Island. In 1844 and 1845 he was elected speaker of the Assembly, and his law practice grew wide and far-reaching, extending into the federal courts, and winning for him both honors and emolument.

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The history of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, V. IV, Part 62

Author: Bicknell, Thomas Williams, 1834-1925. cn Publication date: 1920 Publisher: New York, The American Historical Society Number of Pages: 978

Author: Bicknell, Thomas Williams, 1834-1925. cn
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: New York, The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 978