Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 2.djvu/135

 INDUSTRIES IN HOPKINTON.

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��ly compete with the cheaper labor of

Europe. In some instances remnants of

the old mulberry orchards can be to this

dav seen.

The following parties are taxed for

mill property the present year:— Eli A. Boutw 11, Charles F. Clough, Benjamin C. Clongh, Timothy Colby, Henry H. Crowell, Carr & Wheeler, AVadsworth Davis, Amos Frye, Jr., Kempton & Mor- rill, Nathaniel V. Stevens, Samuel Spof- ford, Nahum M. Whittier.

TRADE.

Trade is essenti tl to civilization. An incipient community has its quota of tradesmen. Soon after the first occupa- tion of the township of Hopkinton. stores, or domestic trading posts, for the accommodation of the public, began to spring up. Reliable data of the earliest conditions of trade in this town are very meagre. In 1791, the following persons were taxed for stock in trade and money at interest:— Capt. Joshua Bailey. Capt. Chase, Daniel Herrick, Samuel Harris, Capt. Stephen Harriman, Theophilis Stanley and Benjamin Wiggin. It is rea- sonable to believe that only a part of these were engaged in actual traffic in merchandise. Some may have been small manufacturers. Theophilis Stan- ley and Benjamin Wiggin were tavern- ers, though Wiggin also kept a store, while Stanley worked a tannery.

There was a combination of circum- stances tending, in the earlier times, to make Hopkinton a comparatively thriv- ing trading post. Besides the natural wants of the local population, an incen- tive was afforded in the fact that for many years Hopkinton was a shire town of old Hillsborough County; the town also occupied a prominent position on the northern frontier of New Hampshire settlements. In consequence of these circumstances, the local business inter- ests advanced rapidly for a number of years. In 1800 the following persons were taxed for stock in trade : — Joshua Bailey, Esq., Samuel Darling, Reuben French, Ebenezer Lerned, Isaac Long, Nathaniel Procter, Theophilis Stanley, Silas Thayer, Samuel G. Town, Town & Ballard, and David Young. Of these

��Isaac Long was a book-binder and sel- ler; David Young a cabinet-maker. There were others whose business we cannot describe, unless they were com- mon traders. In 1810 there were Abram Brown, Thomas W. Colby, Reuben French, Ebenezer Lerned, Isaac Proc- tor, Theophilis Stanley. Stephen Sibley, Joseph Town, and Thomas Williams; in 1820, Buswell & Way, Calvin Campbell, Thomas W. Colby, Timothy Darling, George Dean, Thomas Kast, Isaac Long, Jr., Ira Morrison, Stephen Sibley, Jo- seph B. Town, and Thomas Williams.

For a time it was thought that Hop- kinton might become the permanent cap- ital of the State. The year 1805 decided in favor of Concord. It may be said that here was the beginning of a tide of events that ultimately took away the business ascendancy of this town, which rapidly declined in thrift in the latter part of the first half of the present cen- tury. In the clays of greatest prosperity Hopkinton village was the center of a large wholesale trade. Town & Ballard were wholesale and retail merchants, occupying the building now used by Kimball & Co. The whole lower floor of this building was in use by this firm, and numerous clerks found busy em- ployment, while strong teams from the upper country resorted here for the pro- ducts of trade and barter. During this period the stores of Thomas W. Colby, Lerned & Sibley, and Thomas Williams were notable places of business. Colby's store occupied the corner now used by Gage & Knowlton ; Lerned & Sibley, the building now occupied by Miss Lydia Story ; Thomas Williams, a building standing between John S. Kimball's and the Congregational meeting house. At this time, besides other stores, were the usual attendant establishments repre- senting the multiple business wants of a complex community.

In the earlier times trade was not so closely confined to the villages as now. One of the outposts of business was on the Concord road, near the present resi- dence of Mr. William Long. Nathaniel Proctor was a trader at this point, as may have been others. Different parties

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