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3. Provenance 5. Inventory 6. Subjects |
Moss Manufacturing Company Westerly, R.I. and Stonington, Conn. Business records, 1873-1890 Size: 1.5 ft. Catalog number: MSS 6 sg 22 Processed by: Harold E. Kemble, Jr., August 1977 ©Rhode Island Historical Society Manuscripts Division |
Historical note:
The death in April 1873 of Rowse Babcock III dissolved the Westerly partnership of Babcock & Moss, known locally as builders of mills and hotels. One of their properties was a small steam mill estate located just across the Pawcatuck River in Stonington, Connecticut. The surviving partner, Jesse Lathrop Moss, and the Babcock estate, sold their respective interests in the estate to the Moss Manufacturing Company. This company had been incorporated in Connecticut by Nathan F. Moss, Jesse L. Moss, Jr. and John L. Dudley. The purchase was in part financed by the firm of W. F. & F. C. Sayles; William Francis Sayles was named to the board of directors and shares was issued to him and to his brother Frederic Clark Sayles. The mill's woolen machinery was sold and replaced by machines for the manufacture of cotton goods; production began in July 1874. Moss Manufacturing Company was reorganized in February 1874, and again in September when the Mosses resigned their offices and John Dudley retired altogether. New officers were elected: J. H. DeWolf became the president; Jesse Moss Jr. was made agent, and the office of treasurer went to William Maxwell Greene who was to enjoy a long career as a Sayles executive. To finance further expansion and improvement the company took a series of loans from W. F. & F. C. Sayles, giving as security mortgages on the estate to be paid off in cash and with stock shares. By 1878 a controlling majority of shares in Moss Manufacturing were held by W. F. & F. C. Sayles. The takeover was formally recognized in September 1888 when the state of Connecticut approved the company's request for the change of the corporate name to the "Crefeld Mills Corporation," which was owned and controlled entirely by W. F. & F. C. Sayles.
Bibliography:
Hoag, Wade & Co., History of Rhode Island. . ., 1878.
Rhode Island Historical Society. Manuscript Collections, Inventories of MSS 6, Sayles Finishing Plants, sub-groups 9 and 18.
Scope and content:
Collection includes: company record book, 1873-1888; stock transactions, 1874-1888; journals, 1873-1890; ledgers, 1873-1893; deeds, 1876-1882. Some of the records opened by Moss Manufacturing Company were simply continued after the change of name and ownership to Crefeld Mills Corp. All such records have been retained with the Moss company records.
Provenance:
Gift of Sayles Finishing Plants, 25 December 1971.
Processing note:
Inventory:
Company Record
Item 1. By-laws Apr 1873
Minutes of stockholders and of May 1873 - Aug 1888
directors
Certificate of organization May 1873
Application for Corporate Change Sep 1888
of Name
Inventory Sep 1874
(Filed as sub-group 9, item #1)
Stock
Item 1. Register (sales) Jul 1874 - Aug 1878
Item 2. Ledger (transfers) Nov 1875 - Oct 1888
Journals (Journal entries are posted from Providence to 6 Jun 1879; from Westerly to 28 Feb 1880; from Saylesville thereafter.)
Item 3. Journal A Jun 1873 - Mar 1878
Item 4. Journal B Apr 1878 - Nov 1882
Item 5. Journal C Dec 1882 - Sep 1886
Item 6. Journal D Oct 1886 - Mar 1893
Ledgers
Item 7. Ledger A Jun 1873 - Mar 1883
Item 8. Ledger B Apr 1888 - Jun 1893
Deeds
Item 9. Mortgage 24 Mar 1876
Mortgage 28 Aug 1876
Discharge 1 Nov 1882
Mortgage 1 Nov 1882
Item 9. Agreement 19 Mar 1879
Item 9. Receipts, Misc. Jul 1873 - Jan 1890
Item 9. Mortgage Bond 1 Nov 1882
Subjects:
Babcock & Moss.
Babcock, Rowse, 1803-1872.
Business records - Connecticut - Stonington.
Business records - Rhode Island - Westerly.
Business records - Rhode Island - Saylesville.
Cotton manufacture.
Crefeld Mills Corporation. Stonington Office.
De Wolf, J. H.
Dudley, John L.
Greene, William Maxwell.
Moss, Jesse Lathrop, 1805-1884.
Moss, Nathan F., 1838-1879.
Sayles Finishing Plants.
Sayles, Frederick Clark, 1835-1903.
Sayles William Francis, 1824-1894.
Textile industry - Connecticut - Stonington.
Textile industry - Rhode Island - Westerly.
Wool industry - Connecticut - Stonington.
Wool industry - Rhode Island - Westerly.
Woolen and worsted manufacture - Connecticut - Stonington.
Woolen and worsted manufacture - Rhode Island - Westerly.
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RIHS1822