CHRISTMAS IN
FITCHBURG

THE BREAD AND BUTTER FACTORY!

SENTINEL
ARTICLE

Abel Simonds
7th generation

He was naturally cheerful, kindly, wishing his neighbors well, and his face showed forth the pleasant feeling that ruled within. He was a good citizen, good neighbor and good friend.

More about our founder -

continued from 4 generations

His school days were brief. After he was ten he attended the district school for six weeks each winter until he was too old to continue. He worked at his trade at Fitchburg and Chelmsford until he was 30 yrs old.(Around 1832) He then purchased the Mill Privilege later occupied by the Buckey Moving Machine Co. in West Fitchburg. He built his first SCYTHE SHOP there. Before Deacon John T. Farwell and L.C. Sanborn moved to Iowa, they associated with Mr. Simonds, and for many years they carried on the business, not only in the original shop, but also on the location where the Hanna Mill owned by Crocker, Burbank and Co. now stands, and on still another mill on the site later occupied by Whiteman & Miles. In 1851 the firm dissolved partnership and Mr. Simonds continued until 1864 alone and in partnership with his son, Joseph F. Simonds. When he retired from business in the year last named he leased the shop to SIMONDS BROS., His successors in business. He was the founder of the Simonds Manufacturing Co., or rather of the concern from which the company grew. He died April 22, 1875, in Fitchburg, he was 71 years old.

Here is how the community described Abel...taken from the Fitchburg Sentinel:

"He was one of the oldest and most generally known and esteemed members of the community. There are comparatively few men of whom we can say that their history is so completely identified with that of the city as was his. We can most sincerely say that his death is the removal of a very familiar and prominent social landmark. Mr. Simonds was a man of quiet, sober, industrious habits. "

When a young boy he learned some lasting lessons in temperance while doing his duty and as an apprentice serving the regulation grog to the workmen daily. He was an earnest temperance leader. His apprenticeship taught him the lesson of industry also. He believed in work. From his youth to the end of his life he wished to be active. Idleness was a weariness to his flesh. He was a man of integrity. His ability was recognized by his fellow citizens who elected him often to fill important town offices. He was a trustee ofthe Fitchburg Savings Bank from the date of its organization. He was for more than thirty years a member of the Calvanistic Congregational Church. In an unobtrusive, thoughtful way he tried to exemplify the Christian rules of conduct, to deal justly, love mercy and to walk humbly before God. Like so many New England fathers he was quiet, earnest, firm and faithful. He strove to be just in all his dealings. He was naturally cheerful, kindly, wishing his neighbors well, and his face showed forth the pleasant feeling that ruled within. He was a good citizen, good neighbor and good friend.