A Souvenir of the Conant Memorial Church: Its Inception, Construction, and Dedication; With Illustrations (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from A Souvenir of the Conant Memorial Church: It...)
Excerpt from A Souvenir of the Conant Memorial Church: Its Inception, Construction, and Dedication; With Illustrations
When this book was commenced I had no thought beyond making a small souvenir of the dedication of the Conant Memorial Church; but as I worked at the compilation, the history of the church in Dudley seemed as interesting to me as the record of my ancestors; and as building the church and trying to provide for the preach ing of the Gospel was practically a part of the town's business in the time of those early settlers, it is not easy to say much about them and have their work not well understood. I judged also that the historical sermon of Rev. Mr. Francis would be acceptable, even if seasoned slightly with the religious dogmas of that day, inasmuch as it gives a great deal of the early history of the locality in a very clear and concise manner. In the history of the first church, I have made copies from the old records of the town as the best form in which to preserve it.
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Hezekiah Conant was an American inventor and manufacturer. He was a founder of the Conant Thread Company.
Background
Hezekiah Conant was the son of Hervey and Dolly (Healy) Conant and was born on July 28, 1827 on his father’s farm in Dudley, Massachusetts, United States. He was descended from Roger Conant who came to America in 1623, founded Salem, Massachusetts, and was the first governor of that colony.
Career
Up to the age of seventeen Conant’s life was divided between school and farm work. He left his home in 1844, went to Worcester, Massachusetts, and entered a newspaper office where in the course of the succeeding two years he learned the printer’s trade. Finding this not entirely to his liking, Conant next entered a machine-shop in Worcester and in two years learned the machinist’s trade. He had saved a little money during this time and with his savings reentered his former school, Nichols Academy, for a year’s additional study. He then returned to the machine-shop and devoted his evenings to the study of mechanical engineering, acquiring by the time he was twenty-five a local reputation as a professional mechanical expert.
On August 24, 1852, he took out his first patent, a pair of “lasting pinchers” for the use of shoemakers. Following this he became a journeyman machinist, working in shops in Boston and Worcester, and finally, about 1855, in Hartford, where he entered the Colt Firearm manufactory. Here he assisted Christian Sharp, the rifle inventor, and devised an improvement in projectile molds. The following year Conant invented and patented the “gas check” for breech-loading firearms which was immediately adopted by the United States and British governments. That same year, too, he devised a machine for Samuel Slater & Sons for sewing the selvage on doeskins.
In 1857 Conant became interested in thread manufacture, devising and patenting in 1859-1860 one machine for dressing sewing-thread and another automatic machine for winding thread on spools. Within two months after securing these patents, about February 1, 1860, he succeeded in selling a half-interest to the Willimantic Linen Company in Willimantic, Connecticut, which concern engaged him as its mechanical expert. Here he remained nine years, in the course of which time he instituted many improvements in the plant of his company and went abroad to study thread-manufacturing methods, especially in England and Scotland.
In 1868 he removed to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and organized the Conant Thread Company. Less than a year later he succeeded in effecting a combination with the leading thread manufacturers of Europe, the J. & P. Coats Company of Paisley, Scotland, by which that firm became a partner in his Pawtucket enterprise. With the additional capital thus made available, Conant’s plant was immediately enlarged to manufacture the Coats thread, and between 1870 and 1881 five additional mill buildings were erected. Until 1893 the establishment was known as the Conant Thread Company, but thereafter it was operated as one of the branches of the J. & P. Coats Company, Ltd.
At the time of Conant’s death the works covered forty acres, employed 2, 400 persons, and represented a capital investment of close to $5, 000, 000. While much of the machinery in the plant was of English manufacture, Conant devised many improvements, some of which he patented. He was largely interested in a variety of Rhode Island enterprises, being a prominent director of industries allied to his as well as of banks.
(Excerpt from A Souvenir of the Conant Memorial Church: It...)
Connections
Conant was married three times: first, on October 4, 1853, to Sarah Williams Learned; second, in November 1859, to Harriet Knight Learned, to whom were born a son and daughter; and third, on December 6, 1865, to Mary Eaton Knight.