QUILT HISTORY STORIES
ELGIN, ILLINOIS
PAWTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND
Dexter Yarn Company Story
Book 4
Susan Wildemuth, Atkinson, IL
N. G. B. Dexter (Pen and Ink)
Courtesy Amy and Sandra Berger
History of Nathaniel G. B. Dexter
Roger Williams, founder of the Providence Colony (Rhode Island) asked Gregory Dexter, a London pastor and printer/stationer, to print Williams’ dictionary of Indian language in 1643. (2) Leaving his manuscript in Mr. Dexter’s capable hands, Williams returned immediately to the colonies and a transatlantic friendship began between the two gentlemen. Williams returned to England in 1644 with his colony’s charter and persuaded Mr. Dexter to sell his printing business in London and try his “fortunes in the New World.” (3) Reverend Gregory Dexter was the first generation of his family to come to America and was one of the first accomplished printers to come to the Providence Colony. He did not pursue that occupation in the New World. He chose instead to become an assistant pastor of the First Baptist Church at Providence under Reverend William Wickenden, and after the Reverend’s death, succeeded him to the pastorate of the same church on February 13, 1669. (4)
Nathaniel Gregory Balch Dexter, the great grandson (5th removed) of Reverend Gregory Dexter, was born June 25, 1788 in Grafton, Massachusetts, to Nathaniel Balch and Lucy (Willard) Dexter. (5) N. G. B. was educated by his parents and never attended a formal school. (6) Mr. Dexter moved to Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 1798 where he married Amey Jenckes, the daughter of Mr. Jerahmeel Jenckes, in November 1808. (7) Nathaniel and Amey’s first child, Jerahmeel J. was born in Smithfield, Rhode Island in 1809, but the children who followed: Lucy W. (1811), Nathaniel (1814), James Gregory (1817), Simon Willard (1820), Daniel Singer (1822), Amey (1825), and Samuel Slater (1827) were born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. (8)
After 1812, he was often respectfully referred to in the community of Pawtucket as “Captain Dexter.” (9) N. G. B. began his Pawtucket career as a counting room clerk at cotton manufacturers Almy, Brown, & Slater. A favorite of his boss, Samuel Slater, he was eventually promoted to superintendent of the mills. (10)
A member of the Universalist denomination, N. G. B. believed in giving back to the community and doing service work. (11) He opened one of the first Sunday Schools in America for the children who worked at Almy, Brown, & Slater, and according to ancestors records, did the same for the children who worked for him at Dexter Yarn Company. (12)
Known in later years as a pioneer in the knitting yarn business in America, Captain Dexter would leave Almy, Brown, & Slater and in 1820, establish his own company in Pawtucket, Rhode Island called Dexter Yarn Company. (13) He maintained an active role in his company until 1855, when he retired and turned his business over to his sons Simon Willard and Daniel Singer Dexter. (14) After his retirement N. G. B. Dexter continued to give back to the community that had made him a success, living a long productive life until his death in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on April 8, 1866. (15)
N. G. B. Dexter (Blue)
Courtesy Amy and Sandra Berger
