Page:History of Gardner, Massachusetts (1860) - Glazier.djvu/137

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The principal business of this town for the first fifty years after its settlement, was farming. There were several coopers, but none that carried on an extensive business. About the year 1805, Mr. James M. Comee commenced on a small scale the manufacture of chairs. The only machinery used then in making chairs was an ordinary foot-lathe for turning some parts of the stock then used, the rest of the work was done entirely by hand. This may be considered the commencement of chair manufacturing in New England, as, before it was done solely in connection with cabinet work. Mr. Comee continued in this business a number of years without competition. But at length, as it proved to be lucrative, and in the way it was carried on at that time, requiring but little capital to commence with, it was taken up by one and another until it has now become the principal business of the town, and is carried on to some extent in the neighboring towns. Mr. Comee acquired a handsome estate, and was a man much respected by his townsmen; he lived one-fourth of a mile east of the center of the town, where Mrs. A. Gates now resides. The rise and progress of