Background
Samuel Leonard Crocker was born in Taunton in 1804 into a prominent family.
United States representative politician
Samuel Leonard Crocker was born in Taunton in 1804 into a prominent family.
Crocker graduated from Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, in 1822.
Throughout his life, he engaged in various manufacturing and civic interests in his hometown of Taunton and throughout Massachusetts. Located along the Wading River in Norton, Massachusetts, the company was incorporated in 1831 with a working capital of $200,000. The business soon prospered and expanded.
The company obtained a lucrative contract to furnish the United States. Government with $50,000 in copper coins annually.
In 1845, a second location was built at Weir Village, and much of the machinery from Norton relocated to the new site. Established at the site of Horatio Leonard & Company, which was originally built in 1823, the Old Colony Iron Works became the largest producer of nails in New England by the mid-1870s.
Crocker was also president of the Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company from 1862 until his death in 1883. He was also involved with several railroads throughout his career.
In 1835, he was part of the creation of the Taunton Branch Railroad, which provided the first rail connection between Taunton and the outside world (Boston and Providence).
In 1863, Crocker was among the incorporators of the Dighton and Somerset Railroad, which later became part of the Old Colony Railroad. He also served as a director of the Old Colony Railroad in his later years. He was elected as a Whig to the Thirty-third Congress (March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855).
Crocker was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1854 to the Thirty-fourth Congress.
He was also president of the local Humane Society. Crocker died in Boston, Massachusetts on February 10, 1883.
He was interred in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Taunton, Massachusetts.
Crocker served as a member of the Massachusetts Governor"s Council in 1849. In his later life, Crocker was a member of the Old Colony Historical Society, and a trustee of the Taunton Lunatic Hospital.
