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At one time New Haven, Connecticut was the
center of the
nation’s carriage industry, with over 30 firms involved in the
manufacture of
both light and heavy vehicles. James Brewster, and his descendants
remain
well-known today as do A.T. Demarest, Henry Hooker and the New Haven
Carriage
Co. to a lesser extent.
Although many of the remaining 30 New Haven
firms didn’t
survive the transition from carriage to automobile, several of them had
some
success supplying wooden sub-assemblies, bodies-in-the-white and fully
trimmed
and upholstered coachwork to the region’s motor car manufacturers. The
names of
the distinguished-yet forgotten second-tier builders include M.
Armstrong, Dann
Bros., D.W. Baldwin, A. Ochsner & Sons, Seabrook & Smith and
our subject Samuel K. Page.
Page was a well-known
manufacturer of heavy carriages, and during its last few years in
business was listed in the
various automotive trade directories as manufacturers of both wood and
metal automobile
bodies.
Samuel Kelsey Page was born on January 23,
1837 in Newburyport,
Essex County, Massachusetts to Capt. Thomas Caldwell (a master mariner,
b. May
27, 1812 to John & Ruth Page) Page and Amelia A. Kelsey (b.1815 in
Killingworth,
Conn.) At that time the term master mariner and ship captain were
interchangeable. His parents were married on March 23, 1836 in
Killingworth, Conn, his
mother’s
hometown and he had one sister, Anna W. (b. 1845-d. Jan. 25, 1853)
Page, and the entire family was listed in the 1850 US Census as
residents of Newburyport.
His father died in Porto Cabello,
Venezuela in
1853 and his remains were eventually brought back home and interred in
Oak Hill Cemetery, Newburyport on
March 18,
1854. The remaining members of the Page family moved to Connecticut and
the 1860 US Census lists Samuel K. Page in New
Haven, his
occupation, carriage trimmer. For the next three decades his mother
worked at the New Haven Orphan Asylum as an assistant matron.
In 1861 Samuel married Mary J. ???? (b. 1852
in
Conn.) and the union was blessed with the brith of five children:
Clifford Irving (b. March 19, 1863-d.July 9, 1873), Anna M. (m. Monson
-b.1839, d.????);
Mary (b. Sept. 23, 1867-d.Sept. 25, 1867); Thomas Caldwell (b. Sept.
22, 1868 –
d. Feb. 16, 1869) and Ernest Mallory (b. Aug 10, 1872 – d. May 4, 1873)
Page.
Shortly after an 1864 fire destroyed the
plant of Henry Hale & Co., Page joined the firm as head of its
trimming department and the October 1891 issue of the Hub announced to
the trade that Page had bought out his former partner and employer:
“Mr. Henry Hale, whose portrait adorns this
page of THE HUB,
has the proud distinction of being one of the few, very few, carriage
builders,
who upon reaching a time in life when the burdens of business become
irksome,
has acquired a sufficient competency to enable him to spend the
remaining years
allotted him in the quiet of his home, freed from the vexation and
annoyances
of an active business life. With more than the usual measure of health,
he
retained an active interest in the business he built up until his
retirement a
few months since, having reached the advanced age of seventy-eight
years last
April, and having been in business nearly one-half a century.
“Mr. Hale's first connection with the
carriage business
dates back to the year 1840, when he hired out to his brother, Warren
E. Hale,
as a blacksmith's helper for the magnificent compensation of $18.00 a
year and his
board. After a few months he was made manager. In the fall of 1846 he,
with F.
P. McMahon, established the house of Hale & McMahon. Mr. McMahon
was a body
maker, and the firm hired a blacksmith, Mr. Hale taking the place of
helper.
The new firm prospered, and after helping six months, Mr. Hale gave up
work at
the forge and his time thereafter was fully employed in attending to
the
business. Mr. McMahon, having the gold fever, sold out to S. E.
Waterbury, January
1st, 1850, and the firm name was changed to Hale & Waterbury. In
1860 Mr.
Hale bought out Mr. Waterbury's interest and the firm name was again
changed to
Henry Hale & Co. In 1864 the factory was burned, and the only
insurance was
$5,000 on the old building. But the loss did not discourage the firm,
and in
six months they had erected a new factory at the cost of
$20,000. Samuel
K. Page, the successor to the firm of Henry Hale & Co. has been
with the
house twenty-seven years and on assuming the management has the
satisfaction of
continuing a successful business - one that passed through periods of
depression which carried many down without a loss of credit, and always
retaining a reputation for building good work. It has always been Mr.
Hale's
boast that he was never compelled to look for customers abroad, having
always
been able to sell his products in New Haven. Personally Mr. Hale is a
man of
strong convictions, and, having full faith in himself, he never swerved
from
what he believed to be his true course. At the first meeting of the
Carriage
Builders' National Association he took a pronounced stand in favor of
an
organization, and his speeches on that occasion convinced those who
heard him
that he was a sincere, practical man, who possessed as well a vein of
humor
which served to interest as well as impress his hearers. Among business
men he
has always maintained a high standard for honor and integrity, and in
withdrawing from active business he takes with him the kindly wishes of
his
co-workers. May he live long to enjoy the fruits of his labors is THE
HUB'S
sincere wish.
“The business thus established and built up
passes into the
hands of Samuel K. Page, who became a partner with Mr. Hale
in 1864.
He having for so long a time been actively connected with it, and for
several
years past been the active business manager, there is no question as to
the
business being continued in the same manner as for years past. About
sixty men
are employed. The specialty of the firm is fine work in all branches;
largely
that of coaches and family carriages.”
The Page works were mentioned in the October
1897 edition of the Hub,
October 1897:
“On the death of Mr. Hale in 1892
Mr. Page,
who had been a partner with Mr. Hale for several years, became sole
owner of
the plant and the firm name was changed accordingly. This house is one
of a few
in New Haven that never did a Southern trade, but confined itself to
the local
and Northern city trade, making a specialty of a finer grade of
vehicles than
could be handled by the general trade. Mr. Page now confines his
product to
carriages suited to the best city buyers, almost entirely of the
heavier grades
of pleasure and driving vehicles.”
The April 1904 issue of Carriage Monthly
included a biography of the firm's foreman of construction and
draftsman, Ernest Cramer:
“Ernest Cramer, (born 1857, Germany) foreman
of construction
and draftsman for Samuel K. Page, New Haven, Connecticut, was born in
Germany
in 1857. He learned the trade of wood worker, and found employment, in
many
shops in Germany. He came to America in 1882, with many years of
thorough and
practical experience to his credit. He found employment readily, and in
order
to familiarize himself with carriage building methods went from shop to
shop in
the various cities of the country, East and West.
“He did this more to broaden his education
and familiarize
himself with American methods than for mere employment. After having
made a
pretty thorough tour of the country in this way, he located permanently
in New
Haven, Connecticut, in 1888, and worked in the best shops of that city.
In 1898
he entered the establishment of S. K. Page and took charge of the wood
and
blacksmith shops, which position he has held ever since.”
Although the names of Page's auto body
customers remained undiscovered, the January 1, 1907 issue of Cycle and
Automobile Trade Journal incldued a pictured of Locomobile equipped
with an elegant limousine body:
“‘Page’ Motor Car Body
“Samuel K. Page Body Co., 60-66 Franklin
street, New Haven,
Conn., are one of the oldest carriage manufacturers in the country,
having been
established since 1847. They lately took up the manufactured of motor
car
bodies with marked success. They build motor car bodies to order,
embodying the
special ideas of their customers. They only need the measurement of the
chassis
and can build any type of body desired, trim and finish it in their own
factory,
all work being done by skilled workmen. Their long experience in
carriage
building has enabled them to build motor car bodies to please the most
exacting. Our illustration is of a limousine recently turned out by
this concern.”
In 1909 Page acquired the services of Fred
A. Holcomb, a talented
body engineer formerly associated with the New Haven Carriage Works.
Holcomb was
born in 1873, in New Haven, Conn., to George F. Holcomb and
Ellen
(Beach) Holcomb. After graduating from Hillhouse High School he
attended
the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, graduating in 1896.
Since his
graduation Holcomb was engaged in the manufacture of automobile bodies,
for the
first twelve years with the New Haven Carriage Company, and
in 1909
as general manager of the Samuel K. Page works.
The firm was listed in the 1914 New Haven
Directory under
‘carriages’ and ‘automobile
parts’ (tops & bodies).
Samuel Kelsey Page died on July 21, 1917 at
the age of 80
and the firm withdrew from business soonafter.
© 2013
Mark Theobald for Coachbuilt.com
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