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A. Tolman and Company : Original Billhead - A. Tolman and Company, Worcester, Massachusetts

Original billhead on blue paper with printed text and handwriting in black ink. Datelined October 16, 1856 in Worcester, MA. 8" x 4 1/2." Billhead is very clean and intact. Paper has a few horizontal and vertical fold lines and a wrinkle on the left. A Fine copy. The handwritten portions include the name of the buyer, the item(s) purchased, and the price of the item(s). Four items were purchased including "Steel axles," "Shaft Shackles," and glass. The printed text reads, "To A. Tolman & Co., [Dr.?], Carriage Builders & Repairers, and Dealers in Carriage and Harness Makers' Materials, Leather, Lace, Fringes, Springs, Axles, Varnish, &c., Exchange Street, near the City Hotel." Albert Tolman (1808-1891) was a carriage manufacturer. He and Samuel Hunstable founded Tolman & Hunstable in 1833. However, Hunstable passed away a few years later and Tolman & Hunstable closed under that name in 1837. That same year, A. Tolman & Company was formed when Tolman began to work with George Russell. Both Tolman and Russell were politicians and well-known figures in Worcester. According to some of his biographies, Tolman was also an abolitionist and a supporter of the anti-slavery movement, one of the engineers of the Underground Railroad, and a treasurer and disbursing agent of a relief fund that helped widows and families of Union soldiers during the Civil War. Tolman's name also figures in theories about the invention of the rickshaw. Although the consensus appears to confirm Izumi Yosuke, Suzuki Tokujiro, and Takayama Yosuke as the actual inventors, other theories consider Tolman, Jonathan Scobie, and James Birch as candidates. In one theory, Tolman was asked by a missionary to build a carriage to be pulled by a person. He eventually complied but was reluctant to do so feeling it would add burden to slaves and the working class. There are similar stories, one in which Tolman refused the U.S. government's request for ambulances and other vehicles during the Mexican-American War because he felt the war was unrighteous. Tolman & Russell continued until 1879 when it was renamed H. J. & J. E. Russell. The buyer, P. Whitin & Sons, was a cotton manufacturing company in Northbridge, Massachusetts. Paul Whitin (1767-1831) was a pioneering businessman and blacksmith who helped establish the Northbridge Cotton Manufacturing Company in 1809. The Whitinsville village of Northbridge is named after him. Paul and his relatives founded another cotton manufacturing company in 1815 called Whitin & Fletchers. Paul gained sole ownership of Whitin & Fletchers in 1826, and together with his sons Paul, Jr. and John, renamed the company P. Whitin & Sons. After the passing of their father in 1831, Paul, Jr. and John bought the Northbridge Manufacturing Company. Paul's two other younger sons, Charles and James, would later join P. Whitin & Sons. In 1864, the four brothers dissolved P. Whitin & Sons and sold the company store to their cousin, Paul Whitin Dudley, which was renamed P. W. Dudley & Company. Paul, Jr., John, Charles, and James went on to form their own companies. P. Whitin & Sons had also manufactured cotton machinery. James had invented a cotton picker machine that outperformed previous models. This invention helped propel his business, Whitin Machine Works (WMW), into prominence as one of the world's largest textile machinery companies. WMW, or "The Shop" as known to locals, was a mainstay in Whitinsville until 1966 when it was sold to White Consolidated Industries (WCI; formerly White Sewing Machine Company). In 1986, WCI was acquired by Electrolux, which operates to this day as a leading appliance manufacturer.. Ephemera. Book Condition: Collectible-Fine. Binding: No Binding

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