QUILT HISTORY STORIES
ELGIN, ILLINOIS
PAWTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND
Dexter Yarn Company Story
Book 4
Susan Wildemuth, Atkinson, IL
Dexter Yarn Company
Courtesy of Amy and Sandra Berger
History of Dexter Yarn Company – Pawtucket, Rhode Island
N. G. B. Dexter left his position with Almy, Brown, & Slater and established his own company in Pawtucket, Rhode Island called Dexter Yarn Company in 1820. (16) He started his new business on the site of the 1813 Wilkinson, Green, & Company building. It was in an area which, a hundred years before, belonged to Massachusetts, but after some heated debates between the two states became part of Rhode Island. (17)
Dexter Darning Cotton
Author’s Collection
When he started his company, Captain Dexter’s goal was to manufacture the best carded and combed yarns, mercerized, cottons, floss, knitting and specialties thread for the dry goods and notions trade in America. (18) One of his marketing tools was to publish instruction/pattern books, leaflets, and packets in various areas of needle arts such as knitting and crocheting, in order to create a need for his threads. Soon he would offer “come ins,” like free thread, with his patterns books to get people interested in his product, knowing once his customers tried his thread, he would have them hooked.
Empty Thread Spool/Holder- Side One
Author's Collection
Empty Thread Spool/Holder - Side Two
Author's Collection
Dexter Yarn Company was a family owned company for three generations:
Management Timeline for Dexter Yarn Company
N. G. B Dexter, Founder (1820-1855)
Simon Willard Dexter (Son of N. G. B.) (1855-1880)
Daniel Singer Dexter (Son of N. G. B.)
Samuel F. Dexter (Son of Samuel Willard) (1880-1900) **
**Business left the Dexter family. (19)
Simon Willard Dexter was born July 25, 1820, the 5th child of Nathaniel Gregory Balch and Amey (Jenckes) Dexter. (20) He received his education from the public school system in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. At the age of 15 he decided to learn the jeweler trade, and went to work at the shop of Joseph Martin of Providence, Rhode Island in 1835 and remained with him until 1841. (21) After leaving that position, he worked for several firms in Providence and Boston, “closing his career in this line of business in the employ of a Jonathan Sweet.” (22) Simon Dexter married his first wife Ann Eliza Bowen, the daughter of Samuel B. and Hannah Bowen of Attleboro, Massachusetts in 1842, and would have four children from this union: Amey Elza (1844 -1845), Emma Louise (1845), Samuel Francis (1847), and Amelia Jenckes (1849 -1849). (23)
In 1843 he formed a partnership with his brother-in-law Ferdinand S. Eddy, his younger sister Amey’s husband, under the name Dexter & Eddy. (24) The following year, 1844, he gave up the shoe business and went to work for his father at Dexter Yarn Company. (25) Initially Simon Willard went on the road as a sales agent, and “during his first trip to New York he received an order from John W. Henchman Company for 40,000 pounds of knitting yarn and an order from J.B. Spellman Company for 20,000 pounds, and would later sell 80,000 pounds to the same company.” (26)
N. G. B Dexter turned the operations of Dexter Yarn Company over to his two sons Simon Willard and Daniel Singer Dexter in 1855. (27) Even though he no longer ran the company, N. G. B. Dexter continued to go to the office every day, until his death from complications with pneumonia on April 8, 1866 just two months before his 79th birthday. (28)
N. G. B. Dexter
Courtesy of Amy and Sandra Berger
On March 30, 1869 Simon W. Dexter and Daniel S. Dexter registered a trademark with the United States Patent Office No. 3433. Their trademark (see the N. G. B. Dexter Pen and Ink drawing in the Founder section) was a portrait of their late father, Nathaniel G. B. Dexter, “together with such descriptive words as shall be appropriately designate the kind, quality, and colors of yarn.” They would use this distinctive trademark on the packaging for the different grades of knitting-cotton manufactured by the brothers as a way to honor their father, whose products had a reputation of excellence throughout the country. (29)
The two boys would successfully lead the company from revenue of $600,000 in 1876 to a million dollars annually in 1880, the same year it was incorporated. (30) It should be noted that very little is written about Daniel Singer Dexter’s contributions to the running of Dexter Yarn Company. The focus seems to be on his brother Simon Willard, which does not mean Daniel’s contributions were not significant, just not as well documented as his older brother’s.
Simon W. Dexter would become a widower in 1883, and at the age of 64 married his second wife Rose Maria Conley, the daughter of Thomas and Catharine (Rush) Conley the following year. (31) Shortly after DYC incorporated, Simon W. Dexter retired from the company and turned the business over to his son Samuel Francis Dexter.
Samuel Francis Dexter was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on September 3, 1847, the third and only male child to Simon Willard and Ann Eliza (Bowen) Dexter. (32) He attended public schools in Pawtucket, a boarding school at Wrentham, Massachusetts, and graduated from Bryant & Stratton Business College in Providence, Rhode Island. (33) Young S. F. Dexter married Anna Frances Wheaton on November 21, 1872. Anna was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the daughter of Dr. James L. and Anna M. (Jenckes) Wheaton. (34) They would have three children: Nathaniel Wheaton (1874), Fannie Wheaton (1875), and Anthony Hamilton (1881). (35) Samuel Francis went to work for his father Simon in the family business around 1880 and became the secretary and general manager at Dexter Yarn Company. (36)
The DYC would suffer from fire losses at various times over the years. The summer of 1883, tragedy struck the yarn company when “flames were discovered by a new-vendor in an unoccupied building known as the ‘old Arcade’ on the rear of East-avenue.” (37) The fire would destroy the Arcade building and the neighboring Dexter Yarn Company’s mill, office, storehouse, and a large wooden structure. (38) “The books and papers of the company and the private papers of H.H. Thomas, the President of DYC, were saved in the safe.” (39) All the machinery was damaged, and most of it rendered worthless. The mill was filled with finished yarn, and but little of value was saved. The loss was estimated at $100,000, but the company did rebuild. (40)
It was gutted by fire again on December 31, 1891. (41) Losses from this fire were close to $125,000 and they rebuilt again. (42) Amy Berger, a Dexter ancestor, noted in a November 24, 2006 interview with the author that the mill was originally four stories and was destroyed by fire on several occasions. A whole new front was built and many additions were added on over the years. (43)
Samuel F. Dexter would continue his duties as secretary and general manager of the yarn company until 1900, when he sold out his interest in the business and retired, marking the date when the company left the Dexter family. (44) N. G. B. Dexter’s grandson moved his family to Los Angeles, California where Samuel F. spent the reminder of his life enjoying his books, nature, ornithology, art, and hunting until he passed away on July 11, 1906. (45)
The years 1900-1927 would be prosperous years for the Dexter Yarn Company. But there is very little documented information about this time period until March 1, 1927, when Collingbourne Mills, Inc. of Elgin, Illinois purchased the company and Dexter Yarn Company ceased to be. (46)
Author's Collection
Dexter Yarn Company Acquisition by Collingbourne Mills, Inc.
Dexter Yarn Company was established in Pawtucket, Rhode Island in the early 1800s by the Captain N. G. B. Dexter. One of the pioneers in thread manufacturing, this company was known throughout the United States for their knitting and crochet threads. DYC remained a family owned business until it was sold by a Dexter to Collingbourne Mills, Inc. on March 1, 1927. (47) The business came with their accounts, merchandise, excellent reputation, machinery, and supplies. The name Dexter Yarn Company was retired, but the prestigious Dexter name would be utilized in association with thread and other products in various Elgin, Illinois art needlework companies for years to come.
Unlike the Berkshire and Becket Silk Company, which remained at its pre-purchase location in Becket, Massachusetts, the DYC plant in Pawtucket, Rhode Island was shut down and the inventory moved to Elgin. According to a 1927 newspaper article Mr. Collingbourne shares, “Within the next month or so we will bring a whole train-load of machinery and property of the eastern mill to Elgin. We plan to install the machinery in a portion of our local plant, reserved for that purpose. Of course we will have to increase our employee capacity considerably to handle the manufacture and sale of the Dexter Company line. We now employ approximately 700 persons in our local plant and will, in time, increase this number to keep pace with our expansion program.” (48)
On April 1, 1927, J. L. Brennan, who had worked in various supervisory capacities at the former Dexter Yarn Company for over 25 years, came to Elgin to work for Collingbourne Mills Inc. as an assistant treasurer and manager. (49) The Dexter name was placed on the packaging of former DYC thread products incorporated into the Collingbourne line and the manufacture of the high quality Dexter line of threads remained unbroken.
By March of 1927, the Dexter Yarn Company acquisition was complete and Collingbourne Mills, Inc. daily capacity had increased to: “44,000 skeins of artificial silk and embroidery threads, 100,000 spools of sewing thread, 86,000 spools of darning cotton, 70,000 balls of embroidery and darning cotton, and 72,000 skeins of embroidery cotton.” (50)
Dexter Yarn Company Ad
Author's Collection
Final Word from the Family
“My mother and I have both been artists all of our lives, and I have always been fascinated by old fabrics, linens, needlework items, and old crochet, ever since I was a little girl. Great Grandmother Sarah Marguerite (my mom’s grandma) was very proud of her Dexter heritage, and was an expert seamstress who made quilts, pillows, blankets, and cuddle toys for all her grandchildren.”
Amy and Sandra Berger
(Granddaughters 3rd and 4th removed)
Washington
Collection of Dexter Items
Courtesy of Amy and Sandra Berger
