Nathaniel Mitkowski shares some great TH Witherby info
(most of it snipped). I have a few commets/observations:
> Two other "Witherby" trademarks are commonly observed (although it
> appears that at least 5 others do exist). The ">T.h. Witherby<"
> mark seems to be present on older tools and may have been produced by
> T.H. Witherby in Millbury, Massachusetts, see Brian Welch's research
> (http://www.geocities.com/sawnutz/index.htm). But it may also be
> Winsted's earliest mark, from 1882.
I'm almost definitely sure that these are Millbury-era, especially
since I keep finding them in the Millbury area!
> T.H. Witherby dies in 1880 (Brian even has his headstone online).
> Winsted Hoe Company becomes Winsted Edge Tool Works in 1882. This is
> supported by Jessup's move from the Hoe Company to the Tool Edge
> Works and the lack of a directory listing for the Hoe Company in
> 1889. The Annals of Winchester (John Boyd, 1873) indicates that the
> site of the Winsted Hoe Company was at the corner of Meadow and Lake
> streets, the 1889 directory location of Winsted Edge Tool Works. And
> finally Brian has a note about it on his website regarding a
> newspaper clipping confirming this, so the connection to Winsted Hoe
> Company is pretty solid.
Since I last updated my webpage, I have located a series of
fire insurance maps from the Sanborn Company, from as early as
1887 and as late as 1931 (which was the last year available for
these maps), all of which show their location at the corner of
Lake and Meadow:
1892:
http://www.wdynamic.com/galoots/4images/details.php?image_id=3018
(note that they were also using the former Beardsley Scythe Co. factory at
this time)
drawing of the factory in 1908:
http://www.wdynamic.com/galoots/4images/details.php?image_id=3019
layout of the factory in 1909:
http://www.wdynamic.com/galoots/4images/details.php?image_id=3020
1931:
http://www.wdynamic.com/galoots/4images/details.php?image_id=3021
> Personally, I do not think T.H. Witherby or Witherby Tool Co. was
> ever in Winsted.
>
> So why does Winsted Edge Tool use the Witherby trademark?
>
> Considering T.H.'s 1880 death and the 1882 WETW founding, it might be
> that T.H's son Calvin or some other Witherby sold the rights, a
> process or some equipment to Winsted Hoe Company and they started
> making chisels and drawknives. Apparently chisels were more
> profitable than hoes. I find this explanation unlikely, T.H.
> Witherby was making fences in 1860 (see Brian's site), he was making
> shears in 1870 (see the census) and in 1880 he wasn't doing anything
> and his son is a clerk.
As I state on my TH Witherby page, Trevor Robinson mentions
correspondence from a descendent of TH Witherby who claimed that
he sold the business in 1861.
http://www.frontier.iarc.uaf.edu/~cswingle/archive/get.phtml?message_id=45275
He stops appearing in directories in 1854, the same year his
second wife dies, so I speculated that that had something to do with it.
> Or maybe, George Jessup and company knew that Witherby was a
> respected name, no longer being manufactured (and was in fact dead),
> and thought they could increase market share and visibility allowing
> them to compete with other makers (like Buck) by using the Witherby
> name. This is where I would place my bets.
He won the Silver Medal for chisels and drawknives at the Fair of the
American Institute of the City of New York in 1850. The published
transactions stated the following:
"Mr. T. H. Witherby, Milbury, Mass., exhibited some of the
most highly finished chisels and drawing-knives we ever saw;
and we understand their reputation for quality fully sustains
their appearance."
The transactions also point out the fact that Witherby chisels
were avaiable through a distributer in New York:
T. H. Witherby, Milbury, Mass., Clark & Wilson, agents, 13 Cliff-street
So I would agree that when they bought the name, they were buying his
reputation more than anything else.
Would you rather buy a chisel marked TH Witherby
or Winsted Edge Tool Works (formerly Winsted Hoe Co.)? ;-)
> ---Some Primary Sources---
>
> The following information is located in the Price & Lee Directories
> for Winsted, Connecticut, from the corresponding years (every
> available directory is listed, there is a big gap from 1938 to 1953):
>
> 1889: Winsted Edge Tool Works, office Lake e Meadow, George Jessup
> Superintendent, Charles S. Jopp Treasurer and Agent
SNIP
> 1927: Winsted Edge Tool Works The J A Norton gen mgr office 32 Lake
> 1931: Winsted Edge Tool Works The J A Norton gen mgr office 32 Lake
> 1935: Winsted Edge Tool Works The J A Norton gen mgr office 32 Lake
> 1937: Winsted Edge Tool Works The office 32 Lake
> 1938: Winsted Edge Tool Works The J A Norton pres-tres-gen mgr
> office Robert E Maher sec office 32 Lake
> 1953: Winsted Edge Tool Works Alexander Gay v pres Robert E Maher
> treas gen mgr office 32 Lake
>
> No record in 1955, 1956, 1958 or 1960 directory.
> 1900,1908-1915 include a font section ad, only present in available 1915
copy.
Thanks for this later information. I had mostly focused on the early
years in my research. I had no idea that they was still a Winsted Edge
Tool
Company as late as 1953. It does make you wonder when they did stop
making
the chisels, though, especially with that long gap between 1938 and 1953.
I should also point out that it is pretty well established that companies
used old drawings from old catalogs, even when logos and products had
changed,
so it may be difficult to date a chisel based on what a logo looks like in
a
drawing in a catalog. I have a copy of a Buck Brothers catalog from 1865,
and they were still using those same drawings as late as 1890, many years
after the logo had changed in 1875!
Brian Welch
Worcester, MA
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|