Biography: Edward Joslin

Modified on 2010/12/17 13:32 by Jeff Joslin Categorized as Biographies

''From __A History of the Town of Keene from 1732, when the Township was Granted by Massachusetts, to 1874, when it Became a City__ by S. G. Griffin, available online through the [http://keenepubliclibrary.org/library/griffin/|Keene Public Library]''

Edward Joslin, son of David and Rebecca (Richardson) Joslin of Stoddard, was born in Stoddard, April 15,1810, being the youngest of a family of fourteen children. He came to Keene in 1830 and went to live with the older Governor Dinsmoor, attending school where the Sentinel building now stands. In 1834, he associated himself with George Page and manufactured the first mortising machine made in this country (a foot-power machine) in a shop which stood on the lot now occupied by the Washington schoolhouse. In 1836 they took Thomas M. Edwards and Aaron Davis into partnership and moved to South Keene. About the same time J. A. Fay became a member of the firm. Messrs. Joslin and Fay bought out the other interests and the firm was Joslin & Fay. They brought out the first power mortising, tenoning and moulding machines ever made. About 1850 the firm erected the brick mill, 300x75 feet in size and two stories high, now occupied by the Fred P. Pierce Company. A Cincinnati branch was established about the same year, 1850, under the name of J. A. Fay & Co. The Fay Company united with a rival, the Egan company, soon after 1890, the corporate name being the J. A. Fay & Egan Co. The capital stock was fixed at two million dollars, and it became the largest maker of woodworking machinery in this country, if not in the world. Mr. Joslin retained a large interest in the business.

Mr. Joslin was also interested financially in the Beaver mills, the Keene Furniture Company, the Cheshire Chair Company, the Keene Steam Power Company, the C. B. Lancaster Shoe Company and other concerns. He was a director in the Keene National Bank from 1850 to the time of his death, and was its president for thirty years. For many years he was a trustee and vice president of the Keene Five Cents Savings bank. He was also one of the committee to build the Keene water works and for many years was one of the water commissioners.

In 1847, Mr. Joslin married Sarah Hale Thayer, daughter of John Thayer of Keene. His children were Charles E. (who died in 1898), Sarah E. (who married Chester L. Kingsbury and who died in 1901), and Isabella H., who married Frank Crandall, of Yonkers, N. Y. Mr. Joslin died Nov. 21, 1901, universally esteemed and respected.

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