- ALVIN B. CARPENTER, retired merchant and long one of the
most prominent promoters of the
- leading interests of Beloit, was born in Strafford, Orange
Co., Vt., July 17, 1812, a son of Willard and Polly (BACON) CARPENTER.
His father was born April 3, 1767, and died at Strafford, Nov.
14, 1854. His mother was born March 15, 1769, and died at Strafford
March 4, 1860. They were married at Woodstock, Conn., Feb. 23,
1791. Their children were as follows: Betsey, born 1791; Parker,
1794; Ephraim, 1796; Harvey, 1798; John, 1800; Mary and Willard,
Jr. (twins), 1803; Joseph, 1805; Samantha, 1807; Lucia and Lucius
(twins), 1810; and Alvin Bacon, 1812, the youngest of a family
of twelve. Mr. and Mrs. CARPENTER were among the earliest settlers
of Strafford, having emigrated thither from Connecticut at a
time when that now highly improved part of our country was a
vast, almost unbroken wilderness. The latter, who survived her
husband between five and six years, lived to see 118 of their
lineal descendants - twelve children, fifty-two grandchildren,
fifty-three great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.
All of these children were born and reared on the old CARPENTER
homestead, at Strafford. Some of them became farmers and farmers'
wives, and among those who sought other walks of life were Willard,
Jr., and Alvin B., who made enviable and widely acknowledged
reputations as merchants and business men of wide scope and great
success. Ephraim and John were also merchants at one period of
their lives, and Joseph with John E. DUTCHER, Mrs. Alvin B. CARPENTER's
brother, once traded in New York State.
- Willard and John CARPENTER established themselves in trade
in a small way at Troy, N.Y., in
- the early part of the present century, and while but a mere
boy, Alvin B. CARPENTER came out from Vermont and entered their
service. About 1831, Ephraim CARPENTER bought his brother John's
interest in the business, and Alvin began peddling goods for
them upon a sharing basis, though he was not a partner in the
firm of E. & W. CARPENTER, as it was styled. He became well-known
throughout the country, and, with the mercantile instinct developed
to an extent unusual in one so young, made several favorable
speculative purchases of stocks of goods which he disposed of
to such good advantage that in about six years he had made and
saved a profit of $10,500.
- In the fall of 1835, Mr. CARPENTER invested his capital in
goods and went to Evansville, Ind.,
- and opened a general store. About six months later the firm
of A. B. CARPENTER & Co., was formed, the partners in which
were Mr. CARPENTER and his brothers, the latter adding about
$40,000 to the capital invested in the business. In addition
to carrying on their extensive and growing mercantile business,
the firm invested largely in real estate in Evansville and Southern
Indiana, and though they found themselves hampered by the disadvantages
accruing from the panic of 1836-37, they weathered that memorable
financial storm and paid to every man every cent that was his
due. In the meantime Willard CARPENTER had purchased Ephraim's
interests in the West and sold the latter his Troy and other
Eastern business. In 1841, A. B. CARPENTER & Co., sold their
mercantile interests to STEWARD & AMORY and engaged quite
largely in real estate and milling operations, taking as part
pay for their goods the fine steam flouring-mill. Mr. Alvin B.
CARPENTER now went to New Orleans, La., and opened there a house
for the sale of their flour and large quantities of produce which
his fellow townsman in Evansville shipped to him to be handled
on commission, his brother managing the mill and the Evansville
end of the enterprise generally.
- The ill health of Mr. CARPENTER's son, James M., now a prominent
merchant of Beloit, then
- not yet two years old, necessitated the return of the family
to a more favorable climate, and after about ten months residence
there Mr. CARPENTER closed out the flour and commission business,
disposing of his stock in Boston, and again took up his residence
in Evansville, when, in company with Oliver LADD, he opened a
dry goods jobbing house which was so successfully managed that
in two years it yielded them a clear profit of more than $20,000.
- About 1845, Mr. CARPENTER went to Galena, Ill., and for about
six months was there engaged
- in the dry goods, boot and shoe and grocery trade. At the
end of this time sickness in his family again rendered a change
of climate advisable, and he took up his residence in Beloit,
but not at that time permanently, as events proved. He kept a
large general store in Beloit during the succeeding three years,
and in 1849, removed to Cambridge, Dane Co., Wis., where he bought
a town site and mill-site and erected a gristmill with which
he connected a sawmill. Selling out his interests there, in 1851,
he bought another town site, in Avon, Rock Co., Wis., where he
opened a general store, built up a water-power and purchased
3,000 acres of land. In 1852, he disposed of the water-power
and store and returned to Beloit, this time to make it his permanent
home, and soon afterward he traded his residence for the first
frame building erected in the town, then known as the DEARBORN
residence and bakery, in which he opened a general store. His
subsequent business operations may be thus sketched: One year
afterward he sold out his stock of goods to KEYES & WHITE,
and about 1854, started an exchange and banking business, which
he continued about three years, when he closed it out to again
join his brother in his mercantile enterprise in Evansville.
In 1859, he bought a stock of merchandise in Beloit of Warren
HOGDON, known as the Great Western Store, and in connection with
his son James M., and his son-in-law A. A. GREENE formed a partnership
under the firm name of A. B. CARPENTER & Son. Two years afterward,
the son, James M., bought out the business. Then, in 1865 in
partnership with his son and Mr. WHITE, under the firm name of
CARPENTER, WHITE & BAKER, Mr. CARPENTER opened a wholesale
dry goods house in Evansville, Ind., of which he was at the head
about a year and a half, until, 1866, he exchanged his interest
in it for a stock of clothing, with a Mr. CLEMENTS of Tennessee,
bringing the clothing to Beloit and opening up a store for its
sale. He also opened dry goods, boot and shoe, and grocery stores,
each in a separate place of business, but all side by side in
Union Hall Block. This business was conducted under the firm
name of CARPENTER & GREENE and continued until about February,
1869, when a fire occurred, with a loss to the firm of about
$15,000, and Mr. CARPENTER relinquished it, Mr. GREENE taking
the boot and shoe stock and continuing that trade in another
location. In July, 1870, Mr. CARPENTER engaged in the manufacture
of boots and shoes in connection with Cyrus LIBBY, E. H. CHAPMAN
and John FOSTER, under the firm name of LIBBY, FOSTER & Co.,
this being the first manufactory of the kind in Beloit. Three
years later he sold his interest in this enterprise to Mr. CHAPMAN
and since that time has engaged in real estate and building operations
on an extensive scale.
- As merchant, banker, real estate operator and man of affairs,
Mr. CARPENTER has always been
- one of Beloit's most enterprising and public spirited citizens.
An idea of the scope and extent of his transactions may be gained
from the fact that in the past thirty-five years he has expended
in improvements in Beloit over $200,000; for he is a conspicuous
representative of that class of men who have done so much to
develop the resources of the West, recognizing the fact that
the surest way to advance their own interests is by the advancement
of the general interest of the communities in which they live,
thus reaping the legitimate reward of well-doing. The best executive
ability, practical common sense and strict integrity of character
have been the distinguishing characteristics of his business
career. So unbounded was the confidence reposed in him, in the
great financial rise of the country, that, at a time when the
money market was especially stringent, Mr. CARPENTER was enabled
to use in Beloit $70,000 entrusted to him by an Eastern banking
institution on security that the loaners had never seen. The
enterprise and liberality of Mr. CARPENTER have done more toward
the upbuilding of Beloit than the individual efforts of any other
of its public spirited citizens, for he has ever been a willing
and liberal contributor to every measure calculated to in any
manner advance the public interests or insure the general welfare.
One of the most conspicuous monuments to Mr. CARPENTER's enterprise
is the Grand Hotel, which he erected in 1884, at a cost of $30,000.
It is the practical outgrowth of an idea he conceived of building
in such a manner that additions could be added from time to time,
as the growth of the city might demand, a hotel that should be
the pride of the city. He is the owner also of several well known
business properties and of quite a number of residences in different
parts of the town.
- Mr. CARPENTER married Almira L. DUTCHER, at Troy, N.Y., July
5, 1839, and they
- celebrated their golden wedding July 5, 1889. Nearly 1,000
invitations were issued and many were accepted, and the affair
was one of the most noteworthy social events in the history of
Beloit. Among the regrets received, all accompanied by kindest
wishes, were those of President and Mrs. Harrison, Senator Merrill,
of Vermont, and President W. B. Strong, of the Santa Fe Railroad,
and wife, of Boston, and others from nearly every State in the
Union. An appropriate address was made by Mr. J. B. DOW, presenting
to Mr. CARPENTER a valuable gold-headed cane from fifty ladies
of Beloit, and to Mrs. CARPENTER an elegant gold-mounted umbrella
from fifty of her husband's friends and business associates,
and Mrs. Norman DUTCHER read a fitting poem. One of the pleasantest
features, one so uncommon as to be worthy of comment, was the
presence at their golden wedding of all the children who had
been born to Mr. and Mrs. CARPENTER. These are - James M. CARPENTER,
Mrs. Hattie M. SEARING, Mrs. Annie B. LAWRENCE and Mrs. C. B.
SALMON, of Beloit; Mrs. Mary A. GREENE of Minneapolis, Minn.;
and Mrs. F. D. CALDWELL, of Evansville, Ind. Mrs. CARPENTER's
brother, Norman DUTCHER, who witnessed their wedding fifty years
before, was present, as was also John E. DUTCHER, another one
of her brothers. Mr. and Mrs. CARPENTER are blessed with eleven
grandchildren, all but one of whom were present.
- If Mr. CARPENTER has had success, he has one it. If he has
happiness and peace in his
- declining years, he deserves them. His life has been the
life of a good man who loves his fellow men, and all who have
come within its influence have been benefitted by it.
-
- Taken from "The Portrait and Biographical Album of
Rock County, Wis." (c)1889, pp. 956-959.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
|