Oliver Chace
| Oliver Chace | |
|---|---|
Oliver Chace
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| Born |
August 24, 1769 Swansea, Massachusetts |
| Died | May 21, 1852 (aged 82) Tiverton, Rhode Island |
| Resting place | North Burial Ground, Providence, RI |
| Occupation | Industrialist |
| Known for | Early Textile Mill Owner |
| Children | Samuel Buffington Chace |
| Relatives |
Arnold Buffum Chace (Grandson), Malcolm Greene Chace (Great-Grandson) |
Oliver Chace (August 24, 1769 – May 21, 1852) was the founder of several New England textile manufacturing companies in the early 19th century, including the Valley Falls Company, the original antecedent of Berkshire Hathaway, currently one of the largest companies in the world.
Chace was born on August 24, 1769 in Swansea, Massachusetts to Jonathan Chace and Mary Earle, members of well known Yankee families in New England who had come from England in 1630 in the Puritan fleet with Governor John Winthrop. Chace and his family were Quakers (Society of Friends).
Oliver Chace married Susanna Buffington on September 15, 1796. They had seven children together. Oliver's two eldest sons, Harvey (born 1797) and Samuel Buffington (born 1800) would later follow their father into the textile business. Susanna Chace died on July 30, 1827. Oliver's second marriage was to Patience Robinson. They had no children.
As a young man, Chace worked as a carpenter for Samuel Slater, who established one of the first successful textile mill in the Americas at Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 1793. In 1806 Chace eventually started his own textile mill in Swansea, Massachusetts and then the Troy Cotton & Woolen Manufactory in 1813 in Fall River, Massachusetts and the Pocasset Manufacturing Company in 1821, also at Fall River. He later acquired and reorganized the Valley Falls Company in Valley Falls, Rhode Island in 1839.
The Valley Falls Company would eventually acquire the Albion Mills, Tar-Kiln Factory in Burrillville, Manville Mills in Rhode Island, and Moodus Cotton Factory in Connecticut.
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