History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

larged the business, and had a store, for sale of
products, in New York. Silvester Harnden, be-
ginning in 18;J3, did a large business in this line
for more than forty years. The number of estab-
lishments in 1837 was 8; in 1815, 10; in 1855,
13; in 1865, 10; in 1875, 7. Value of goods
in 1837,8 91,360; in 1815, §103,100 ; in 1855,
$205,000; in 1865,^^77,900; in 1875, $133,1.78.
Hands employed in 1837, 100 ; in 181o, 121 ; in
1855, 179; in 1865, 53; in 1875, 76.
The high price of hats during the War of 1812
prompted Nathan Weston to commence their manu-
facture. He made a waterproof stove-pipe hat,
covered with cotton plush ; but this soon fading,
he began to use silk plush, and it is claimed that
he thus became the inventor of the silk hat now
in use. The business was removed in 1819 from
Eeading to Charlestown.
The manufacture of clocks was commenced in
this town in 1832, by Jonathan Frost and Daniel
Pratt, Esq. The brass movements were introduced
about 1835. The business was continued here till
1858 or 1859.
Samuel Pierce began the manufacture of organ
pipes in 1847, and supplies a demand that extends
throughout the United States and Canada.
In 1857 Mr. Thomas Ajjpletou commenced the
making of church organs, and continued the busi-
ness here for seventeen years. He was the builder
of thirty-five organs for Boston churches, and
three times as many to be used in nearly every
principal city in the Union. His instruments were
noted for purity and sweetness of tone, and for
their perfect construction. One was used in the
Baldwin Place Church for thirty years without re-
pairs.
The manufacture of neckties began here by
Damon, Temple & Co. in 1866. The business
rapidly increased, and in 1869 about one hundred
and twenty-five hands were employed. The firm
are still doing an extensive business.
The total value of the manufactures of the
town, given in the census returns of 1875, was
$602,613. The total value of agricultural prod-
ucts was $89,102.
The present town of Eeading is bounded north
by North Reading, east by Lynnfield and Wakefield,
south by Stoneham, west by Wobuni and
Wilmington. It is located on the Boston and
Maine Railroad, twelve miles north of Boston. It
borders upon the Ipswich River, but has no im-
portant waters within its boundaries.
283
The town has a good record for the health and
longevity of its inhabitants. On the first of
January, 1858, there were living in the town
ninety-five persons who were seventy years old and
upwards. Six were above ninety, twenty-eight
between eighty and ninety, sixty-one between
seventy and eighty.
College Graduates if Reading. — The following
is a list of persons who have graduated from college
while belonging to this town —
:
Rev. Samuel Baclieller, graduated at Harvard
College in 1731, was settled as pastor in the West
Parish, in Haverhill, in 1735. In 1769 and 1770
he was representative from that town. He died in
March, 1796, in Royalston, Massachusetts. Chase,
in the Uhliiry «/ ILn-i-rhill, calls him a man of
superior talents and attainments.
Daniel Einersun, graduated at Harvard in 1739;
Joseph Swain, 1741; Aaron Putnam, 1752; Elias
Smith, 1753; Jacob Emerson, 1756; Samuel Dix,
1758; and Amos Sawyer, 1765.
Samuel S. Pool, graduated at Harvard College,
class of 1770. He took sides with the tories in
the War of the Revolution, and like many others of
that class when tiiey " wanted more room," he
removed to Nova Scotia, where he became a judge.
He lived on the place formerly owned by Deacon
Wakefield, in the easterly part of the town.
Rev. Jacob Burnap, D.D., son of Isaac, Harvard
College, class of 1770, was ordained first pastor of
the First Church in Merrimac, New Hampshire, Oc-
tober 14, 1772, " in which honorable position," says
his historian, " he remained till his death, December
6, 1821, a ])eriod of more than forty-nine years."
Martin Herrick, graduated at Harvard in 1772;
and Brown Emerson, 1778.
Jacob Herrick, 1777 ;
Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D. D., son of Samuel, Esq.,
Harvard, class of 1778, settled in Worcester, in
1785, where he died in 1839, aged eighty-four.
He was father of George Bancroft the historian,
and published several works. He shouldered his
musket as a volunteer at Lexington and Bunker
Hill. The Bible was his standard. He was cheer-
ful, active, and benevolent.
Rev. Edmund Foster, a graduate of Yale, 1778,
was ordained third pastor of the churcli in Little-
ton in 1781. He died in 1826. Early in tlie
War of the Revolution he was very active in the
cause of the people, and was one of the minutemen
that enlisted under the command of Dr. (af-
terwards Governor) John Brooks, who then resided
here.