Uxbridge Cotton Mills Records

Located in the Blackstone River Valley of south central Massachusetts, the Uxbridge Cotton Mills incorporated in 1841 and occupied the former Crown and Eagle Mills. In 1849, the Uxbridge was sold to P. Whitin & Sons at which time the mill had approximately 10,000 spindles, 225 looms, and produced both shirting and sheeting. Situated on the Mumford River, five miles below Whitinsville, the Uxbridge Cotton Mills was the first “outside” establishment purchased by P. Whitin & Sons.

A blacksmith by trade, Paul Whitin established P. Whitin & Sons in 1826 when he became sole owner of a cotton mill he had owned in partnership with his brothers-in-law. Paul Whitin continued to operate his smithy while two of his five sons, Paul Jr. and John C., became responsible for running the mill. Paul Jr. was in charge of marketing mill products and John C. was responsible for mill operations. After the death of Paul Sr., P. Whitin & Sons became a partnership with a one-quarter share belonging to Betsy Whitin (Paul’s widow) and the remaining three quarters divided among three sons: Paul Jr., John C., and Charles. Brother James F. would not become a partner until 1847 when he split his mother’s one-quarter share.

In August of 1833, P. Whitin & Sons became owners of the Northbridge Mill (Northbridge, Mass.); they acquired the Uxbridge Mills in 1849, and then the Riverdale and Rockdale Mills (both in Northbridge, Mass.) in 1856. With the purchase in 1859 of their sixth mill, the East Douglas Manufacturing Company, in Douglas, Mass., the Whitins became one of the leading mill families in the Blackstone Valley.

While the family’s mill concerns were expanding, the mill’s machine shop, run by John C., had become an entity in its own right. By 1849 P. Whitin & Sons was making a complete line of textile machinery from pickers to looms, with the exception of mules and roving frames.

Although the mills and the machine shop operated autonomously, the books of the enterprises were kept jointly and profits were shared. This arrangement terminated in 1864 when the P.Whitin & Sons’ assets were distributed to the company’s shareholders. Paul Jr. received the Rockdale and Riverdale Mills, which incorporated as Paul Whitin Manufacturing Company in 1870. John C. became sole owner of the Whitin Machine Works, which incorporated in 1868. Charles received the mill in Whitinsville and the mill at East Douglas. James F., with only a one-eighth interest in the partnership, received the Uxbridge Cotton Mill and the title to the water rights at Linwood (Northbridge, Mass.) near his Uxbridge properties.

In 1867, James F. and his brother Charles as the “Whitin Brothers” erected a cotton mill at Linwood; Charles and his sons ran the 15,000 spindle Linwood Mill while James conducted the management of the Uxbridge Mill.

The death of James F.’s son, George M. Whitin, in 1883 left him without an immediate successor. Upon his death in 1904 his grandsons Frederick and James E. Whitin inherited the Uxbridge mill. James E. bought out his brother’s interest and began managing the mill in 1907.

In 1918, James E. formed James Whitin, Inc. and incorporated a new integrated bookkeeping system. The new corporation not only owned and ran the Uxbridge Cotton Mill but it also maintained control of James Whitin’s other business properties including Grey Rock Farm.

In 1923, James closed the Uxbridge mill and sold off the machinery and his interest in the Linwood Mill. The corporation was officially dissolved in 1926 with all properties (including the James Whitin, Inc. mill buildings) transferred to his wife, the former Edgeworth Paget Whittall. Mrs. Whitin’s family business, Whittall Associates, owned a carpet manufactory in Worcester, Massachusetts. After the dissolution of his corporation, James devoted his time to managing both his personal business properties and the Worcester carpet factory.

History Note Although James Whitin, Inc. dissolved in 1926, the Whitins continued to keep their private business accounts in the same manner and in some cases in the same journals and ledgers as they had kept their corporate accounts. The records of the Uxbridge Cotton Mill, and the records of James Whitin, Inc. and the Personal and Business Papers of James and Mrs. Edgeworth Whitin, are the two main divisions of this collection. There is some overlap in the two sets of records from 1918-1926.

All of the businesses held by P. Whitin & Sons shared record keeping until its dissolution in 1864. There are a small number of records from P. Whitin & Sons, the Whitin Machine Works, the Linwood Mill/Whitin Brothers, the Douglas Manufacturing Company, and the Edgeworth Mill (Worcester, Mass.) in this collection.

Bibliography:

Navin, Thomas R. The Whitin Machine Works Since 1831: A Textile Machinery Company In An Industrial Village. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1950.