Background on Alfred A Parker
Alfred A. Parker was born in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, on Mar. 29, 1819, the son of a millwright and businessman. After completing his education in Fitzwilliam, his family migrated to Missouri where Parker took up work as a clerk and operated several small businesses. He established a dry-goods business in St. Louis during the 1850s that resulted in a steady living, however with the outbreak of the Civil War, he sent his family back to Massachusetts and joined the Missouri state militia, serving under the command of General Frank Blair.
With the end of the war, Parker rejoined his family and settled in Orange, Mass., where entered into a mercantile business with his brother-in-law, George Whipple. By 1871, he sold his interest in the business to set himself up in a stove and tinware shop in the center of town. A staunch Republican and Congregationalist, Parker had four children -- two sons who died in the 1880s while each was still in his twenties, and two daughters who survived him. Parker's wife, the former Frances Whipple of Athol, died in 1891, while Parker followed on Mar. 24, 1907.
Scope of collection
The four daybooks document the stove and tinware business in Orange and surrounding towns -- New Salem, Erving -- in the 1870s and 1880s. Aside from local residents, Parker's customers included several well-known Orange businesses, such as the Gold Medal Sewing Machine Co., the Orange Manufacturing Co., and the Rodney Hunt Machine Co. Parker also charged for labor, especially soldering, but it is not clear if he employed any workers in his business or did the work himself. The daybooks also contain miscellaneous information on the cost of stoves, pipe, kettles of various sorts, and roofing material, as well as information about shipping costs.
Administrative information
Search terms
Subjects
- Freight and freightage--Rates--Massachusetts--19th century
- Gold Medal Sewing Machine Company
- Kettles--Prices--Massachusetts--Orange--19th century
- Orange (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century
- Orange Manufacturing Company (Orange, Mass.)
- Parker, Alfred A.
- Pipe--Prices--Massachusetts--Orange--19th century
- Rodney Hunt Machine Company
- Roofing--Prices--Massachusetts--Orange--19th century
- Solder and soldering--Costs--19th century
- Stove industry and trade--Massachusetts--Orange--19th century
- Stoves--Prices--Massachusetts--Orange--19th century
- Tinsmithing--Massachusetts--Orange--19th century
Contributors
- Parker, Alfred A. [main entry]
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