References for Millers Falls Biographies

References for Charles H. Amidon page

Unless otherwise stated, most of the information in this chapter can be found in the records of the United States Patent Office and the pages of the Greenfield, Mass., Gazette and Courier. ’

The reader should be advised that census records are inconsistent with regard to Charles H. Amidon’s birthplace.
Donald & Anne Wing. “The Workings of a Plane Factory.” The Mechanick’s Workbench. No. 10, August 1980, p. 3, 10-11.
United States Letters Patent No. 14,454.
Advertisement. Gazette and Courier. Greenfield, Mass., December 19, 1864.
Amidon’s chuck with the floating socket block was awarded United States Letters Patent No. 50,214; his eyebolt brace was issued no. 64,931.
Amidon’s four-gear wringer was awarded United States Letters Patent No. 64,932.
Amidon’s improved chuck was awarded United States Letters Patent No. 73,279.
The drill: United States Letters Patent No. 134,237. The pivoting wheel baby carriage: United States Letters Patent No. 134,623. The adjustable-top baby carriage: United States Letters Patent No. 161,086.
The Industries of Buffalo: a Resumé of the Mercantile and Manufacturing Progress of the Queen of the Lakes ... Buffalo: Elstner Publishing Company, 1887. p. 258; Buffalo City Directory for the Year 1873. Buffalo: Warren, Johnson & Co., 1873. p. 161.
The brace wrench: United States Letters Patent No. 193,632; the brace: United States Letters Patent No. 201,379.
The Industries of Buffalo. p. 112-113; Buffalo City Directory for the Year 1884. Buffalo: Buffalo Courier Co., 1884. p. 210.
Eighth Annual Report of the Factory Inspector of the State of New York. Albany: James B. Lyon, 1894. p. 636.
Frank Kosmerl. “Buffalo Bit Brace Makers.” Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, v. 45 no. 4, p. 101.

Charles H. Amidon page

References for Quimby S. Backus page

Quimby S. Backus page

William H. Jeffrey. Vermont: a Souvenir of its Government, 1902-1903. Montpelier, Vt: Watchman Co., 1902.
“Quimby S. Backus.” Genealogical and Family History of the State of Vermont: a Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. New York & Chicago: Lewis, 1903. p. 536-537.
“Home and Business Matters.” Vermont Chronicle. Bellows Falls, Vt., September 4, 1869. p. 4; Advertisement. Vermont Chronicle. Bellows Falls, Vt., February 5, 1870. p. 3.
Thanks to Kendall H. Bassett for providing information on the officers of the Backus Vise Company via the firm’s letterhead. Letter, Fred C. Hubbard to Messrs. Norris H. Bragg & Sons, May 27, 1871. Mr. Bassett also provided information on the acquisition of the Union Vise Company patents.
The bulk of the information about the Backus Vise Company, in its Millers Falls location, was located in the Gazette and Courier. Greenfield, Mass., 1870-Sept. 1873. The information was taken from small snippets scattered throughout widely divergent issues.
The wrench: United States Letters Patent No. 132,789; the angular bitstock: United States Letters Patent No. 132,790; the bit brace: United States Letters Patent No. 132,791.
Mr. Oldwrench, “An International Wrench?” Fine Tool Journal. V. 53, no. 4, spring 2004, p.16-18.
United States Letters Patent No. 48,763.
United States Patent Office. Official Gazette. April 13, 1880. p. 130-131.
United States Letters Patent No. 233,464; United States Letters Patents No. 234,517.
Benjamin F. Thurston. John E. Sinclair, et al. vs. Quimby S. Backus: Notes on the Closing Argument for the Defendant. Providence, R.I.: Angell, Hammett & Co., 1879.
United States Patent Office. Official Gazette. June 29, 1880. p. 205-206.
United States Letters Patent No. 216,776.
Advertisement. Carpentry and Building. August 1880.
The catalog consists of 32 consecutively numbered pages without a unifying title page or cover.
United States Letters Patent No. 275,011.
United States Letters Patent No. 233,504.
Information on the heating devices: “Miscellaneous Manufactures.” History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Chicago: Brown, Runk, 1892. p. 366; Notice that braces had been “unavailable for some time”: Wood Workers’ Tools: Being a Catalogue of Tools, Supplies, Machinery and Similar Goods ... Detroit: Charles A. Strelinger & Company, 1897. p. 891.
Mason A. Green. Nineteen-Two in Vermont: the Fight for Local Option, Ten Years After. Rutland, Vt.: Marble City Press, 1912. p. 49, 97, 179.
“The Backus Heater Company.” Merchant Plumber and Fitter. Feb. 10, 1913. p. 134.

Quimby S. Backus page

References for Levi J. Gunn page

Levi J. Gunn page

Donald and Anne Wing. “The Workings of a Plane Factory.” The Mechanick’s Workbench. Catalog No. 10, August 1980, p. 3, 10-11.
Other sources: Biographical Review: Sketches of the Leading Citizens of Franklin County, Massachusetts. Boston: Biographical Review Publishing Company, 1895. p. 285-286.
“Gunn Made Big Dream Come True.” In: A Century of Experience: Millers Falls Company. Greenfield, Mass.: Greenfield Record, Gazette and Courier, August 13, 1968.
Daniel P. Toomey and Thomas C. Quinn. Massachusetts of To-day: a Memorial of the State Historical and Biographical Issued for the World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago. Boston: Columbia Publishing Company, 1892. p. 583.

References for L. Garth Huxtable page

L. Garth Huxtable page

L. Garth Huxtable papers. Collection no. 8158, Box no. 5, unnumbered folder. American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming, Laramie.
The wondrous decline in the cost of the Model T is often reported and frequently used to illustrate the benefits of mass production. Arthur Pulos uses the example in his landmark design history. The American Design Ethic: a History of Industrial Design to 1940. MIT Press, 1988. p. 252-256.
Arthur J. Pulos. The American Design Ethic: a History of Industrial Design to 1940. MIT Press, 1988. p. 344.
United States Design Patent No. 140,810, April 10, 1945.
U. S. Industrial Design, 1949-1950. New York: Studio Publications, 1949. p. 130.
L. Garth Huxtable papers. Collection no. 8158, Box no. 5, unnumbered envelope marked “Patents.” American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming, Laramie.
Arthur J. Pulos. The American Design Adventure, 1940-1975. MIT Press, 1988. p. 344.

References for Henry L. Pratt page

Henry L. Pratt page

Pratt family: Biographical Review: Sketches of the Leading Citizens of Franklin County, Massachusetts. Boston: Biographical Review Publishing Company, 1895. p. 532-535.
The Wendell saw mill: “Supreme Court Decisions.” Gazette and Courier. Greenfield, Mass., Jan 14, 1867. (Pratt was sued.)
H.L. Pratt is listed as treasurer of the Detroit Chair Factory in the Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1867-8. Detroit: Chapman and Brother, 1867. p. 164.
Robert Shaplan. Free Love and Heavenly Sinners: the Story of the Great Henry Ward Beecher Scandal. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1954.
Pratt’s role in the Beecher-Tilton scandal: The New York Times, March 9, 15, 29, 31; May 11, 19, 1876; June 14, 26, 1878.
Allan D. Adie. “75 Years of Honest Endeavor.” Dyno-mite, December 1943, p. 19.
Obituaries: “Henry L. Pratt.” Brooklyn Daily Eagle. December 13, 1900, p. 6.
Proceedings at the Twenty-Second Annual Meeting and the Twenty-Second Annual Festival of the New England Society in the City of Brooklyn. Borough of Brooklyn, 1902, p. 12.
Greenfield Recorder. December 19, 1900; William S. Pelletreau. History of Long Island, Vol. 3, New York: Lewis Publishing Co., 1905, p. 258-262.

Henry L. Pratt page

References for Leonard C. Pratt page

Leonard C. Pratt page

1. Sources for Leonard Pratt information: “MF Co. Brought Shock-Proof Tools to U.S.” In: A Century of Experience: Millers Falls Company. Greenfield, Mass.: Greenfield Record, Gazette and Courier, August 13, 1968.
Leonard C. Pratt. Curriculum Vitae, ca. 1978. (courtesy of Robert L. Pratt)
Telephone interview with Robert L. Pratt, September 14, 2008.

References for William M. Pratt page

William M. Pratt page

1. Sources: Biographical Review: Sketches of the Leading Citizens of Franklin County, Massachusetts. Boston: Biographical Review Publishing Company, 1895. p. 61-62.
Kenneth Cope. “Sorting out the Goodell companies.” Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, v. 45 no. 4, p. 115.
Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of the State of Massachusetts. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1910. v. 3, p. 1549.
National Cyclopedia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as Illustrated in the Lives ... v. 41. Reprint ed. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms, 1967. p. 265-266.

References for Philip Rogers page

Philip Rogers page

1. Sources: “Our President.” Dyno-mite. November 1955, p. 12-14.
“Rogers Learned Business by First Hand Experience.” A Century of Experience: Millers Falls Company. Greenfield, Mass.: Greenfield Record, Gazette and Courier, August 13, 1968. unpaged.

References for Clemens B. Rose page

Clemens B. Rose page

Rose family: John H. Lockwood. Western Massachusetts: a History, 1636-1925. Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1926. Vol. 4, p. 756; also, Christine Rose. Descendents of Robert Rose of Wethersfield and Branford Connecticut. San Jose, Calif.: Rose Family Association, 1983. p. 293-294, 377.
On Hiram Wells: Christopher Clark and Kerry W. Buckley, eds. Letters from an American Utopia: the Stetson Family and the Northampton Association, 1843-1847. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2004. p. 190.
On the explosion: Charles A. Sheffeld, ed. The History of Florence, Massachusetts: Including a Complete Account of the Northampton Association of Education and Industry. Florence, Mass.: published by the editor, 1895. p. 109-110.
“Sunderland.” Gazette and Courier. Greenfield, Mass., February 1, 1864; February 22, 1864.
The fire: “Sunderland.” Gazette and Courier. Greenfield, Mass., April 15, 1867.
The brace patent: United States Letters Patent No. 63,944; the sweep handle United States Letters Patent No. 82,251.
Business details: “Greenfield Items.” Gazette and Courier. Greenfield, Mass., April 26, 1869; June 28, 1869; August 16, 1869.

References for Edward P. Stoughton page

Edward P. Stoughton page

Stoughton family: Encyclopedia of American Biography. New Series. v. 11. New York: American Historical Society, 1940. p. 597.
“Did you know --” Dyno-mite June 1961, p. 8.
C.M. Heath. “The History of Our New York Store.” Brace Bits. v. 1, no. 3, January 1921, p. 1-2.
Stoughton’s obituary: New York Times, October 4, 1939, p. 25, col. 5.