{{short description|Tin ware manufacturer from Wakefield, Massachusetts}} [[File:Burrage Yale painting, tin ware manufacturer, largest in Wakefield, Massachusetts, early 19th century.png|thumb|225px|Burrage Yale, Esquire, was among the largest tin ware manufacturers of Massachusetts]]
'''Burrage Yale''' (1781 – 1860) was an American tin ware manufacturer and justice of the peace from Wakefield, Massachusetts. He was the town treasurer and the largest employer in the town. He gave his name to Yale Avenue and Yale Fire Station. He was also the first postmaster recognized in Washington, D. C., and the cofounder of South Reading Academy, with abolitionist minister, Cyrus P. Grosvenor.
His son, Burrage Buchanan Yale, became one of the founders of Lamson, Goodnow & Yale., a major gun-making machine manufacturer for Abraham Lincoln's army during the American Civil War.
==Early life== [[File:Michigan Exchange Hotel, Detroit, demolished around 1891, Lyon family.jpg|thumb|Michigan Exchange Hotel, Detroit, property of Harvey P. Yale's relative, Capt. Lyon]]
Burrage Yale was born on March 27, 1781, in Meriden, Connecticut, the son of soldier Amerton Yale and Sarah Merriman, members of the Yale family.<ref name="GeneoM8">[https://archive.org/details/yalegenealogyhis00byuyale/page/202/mode/2up?q=Burrage Yale Genealogy and History of Wales], Rodney Horace Yale, Milburn & Scott Co., Beatrice, Nebraska, 1908, p. 153-154-203-204-298</ref><ref name="Yale Biofull1"/><ref name="Yale Biog22">[https://ia600302.us.archive.org/27/items/proceedingsof250eato/proceedingsof250eato.pdf Proceedings of the 250th Anniversary of the Ancient Town of Redding], Chester W. Eaton, Will Everett Eaton, Loring & Twombly Publishers, Reading, Massachusetts, 1896, p. 64</ref> His father was a member of the 6th Connecticut Regiment under Capt. Hough during the American War of Independence, and was at Tryon's raid in 1779.<ref name="GeneoM8"/> His grandfather, Nash Yale, was also a soldier of the Revolution.<ref name="GeneoM8"/><ref name="Yale Biofull1"/>
Yale was a cousin of abolitionist lawyer Barnabas Yale, inventor Linus Yale Sr. of the Yale Lock Company, and of Louisa D. Wilcox, family of millionaire Congressman Chester W. Chapin of Boston.<ref name="GeneoM8"/> Another cousin, lawyer Harvey P. Yale, was the son-in-law of Senator Truman H. Lyon, brother of Capt. Edward Lyon, proprietor of the Michigan Exchange Hotel in Detroit, Michigan.<ref>[https://findingaids.lib.umich.edu/catalog/umich-wcl-M-416lyo Lucius Lyon papers], 1770-1934 (majority within 1833-1851)</ref><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/145354046/?terms=%22TRUMAN%20H.%20LYON%22%20yale&match=1 Evening star], 01 Oct 1857, Thu ·Page 2</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/lyonmemorial00lyon/page/376/mode/2up?q=truman Lyon Memorial], Elizabeth Sidney Lyon, W. Graham Printing Co., Detroit, 1907, p. 376-377</ref><ref name="GeneoM8"/><ref>[https://peoplelegacy.com/mary_e__yale_lyon-336X4R Mary E. Yale Lyon grave], Fulton Street Cemetery, Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan</ref><ref>[https://digmichnews.cmich.edu/?a=is&oid=MacombMCM18820217-01&type=staticpdf&pdfaccesscode=PdG7QUTjvMFabdm2Z39Hhyg7LPGG81vY9C2pDv9FsIB68%3D&submitted=1&e=-------en-10--1--txt-txIN-lyon-------MacombMCM18820217%252D01--&g-recaptcha-response=03AFcWeA7tM5khfuqgjbCjhIpQX3HbFRmW3qqBVTJ3GdqCzKbiVRqY0_uCPX6HI3gLAJidbO7rGgUrUyu5hiHLhchtg0iHGgJRgzmA2FogAUhJE0q2D4vyrYGaG0Y-Opf1OqSkmTFUSRLFB6cyY61fgVPOeMJQR4gDF6Fa2tl2qh4_UQk6F0OYEyHMvWtS_MG2-hNA7o1vesfyC8aXOK1uLmulp9jTPLlKVZ4j6mGU4GJM-A7nskNDhtD8sjSs4y2ovCh5NMa6LH5vz0zY08wAIGKQSOCP636xo54s9S6flyCWimvAymcQVRUqQPQXLnQTKrvNLW1H9K3n7ZF-scZ7Eam-iwlcp556EpalJ45sWDgFpyccHDDa8w5oR8s1VPuP67saM-gYqmtL8ohk2JIm7jxweWGJ8fYZkSAS7gZhsJ80W1pxkWIk9FIy1tw-uHNMBd4AwPMl4FHZv0QAp1UNB3_Ty7DOATLMmOW3DCMiBt1H2djS1eEtGsj5A0O5hR-Sx9u1PWgPQQTplWskWlrCqwqTuxegUAaXM5oYozl7xWlTyIRm0qv3ooRM2hXQV8xH06aDb5PfyFWuGdJCnsaDZc5ddzdnioNxyhFuZa14HRfjU1ANVQMtrtOepNDzeJ6KJPFJ66zE4uiGfZvm_nakFdzEZt7UvNhdVN5V2uo20rAUggUYHZKIkWlzZVgyVC4SKQwea_wWjX3-gsNJPapjoF2xCHjvYTc8Kg Mount Clemens Monitor], 17 February 1882, p. 5</ref>
Other cousins included Capt. Josiah Yale from the Revolutionary War, and Col. Braddam Yale of the War of 1812.<ref name="GeneoM8"/> His nephew was Dr. Leroy Milton Yale Jr. of the New York Etching Club.<ref name="GeneoM8"/> He was distantly related to the Yales of the Britannia ware factories in Yalesville, Connecticut.<ref name="Yalesville2"/> Members of this branch included merchant William Yale, Gen. Edwin R. Yale and Senator Charles Dwight Yale, among others.<ref name="Yalesville2">[https://www.nederlandsetinvereniging.nl/wp-content/uploads/101-200/0142/0142_PCCA_bulletin_133_2006_Vol_13_nr_6.pdf The Yales of Meriden and Wallingford, CT], Andrew F. Turano and Robert G. Smith, The Pewter Collectors' Club of America, The Bulletin, Winter 2006, p. 10</ref>
==Biography== [[File:Letter of Burrage Yale to an employee in 1852, Wakefield, Massachusetts, was the town largest manufacturer.jpg|left|150px|thumb|Handwritten letter of Burrage Yale to an employee in 1852]] [[File:Thomas Emerson Shoe Factory, Wakefield, Massachusetts, was one of Burrage Yale's factories.jpg|thumb|225px|One of Burrage Yale's factories in Wakefield, Massachusetts, became the Thomas Emerson Shoe Factory]]
Yale started working at an early age, and arrived in Wakefield, Massachusetts, at the time named South Reading, in the early 1800s.<ref name="Yale Biofull1"/><ref name="Yale Biog22"/> He stayed at Col. Boardman's house when he arrived in town, a man who would become his future father-in-law.<ref name="Yale Biog22"/> He started in the tin ware industry as a tin peddler, and thereafter, as a manufacturer in a small shop that he established in 1802.<ref>[https://www.wakefield.ma.us/sites/g/files/vyhlif3986/f/file/file/preservation-plan-national-register-nomination.pdf Wakefield Properties; National Register of Historic Places], United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, p. 18-19</ref>
In 1808, Yale married teacher Sarah S. Boardman, daughter of Colonel Amos Boardman, and became a brother-in-law of sea captain Amos Boardman Jr. and Dr. Moses Long.<ref name="Yale Biofull1"/> Their only son, Burrage Buchanan Yale, would marry the daughter of Major Daniel Flint, son of Colonel Daniel Flint Sr., and become a merchant in New York.<ref name="Yale Biofull1"/> Buchanan married secondly Mary Macferran, sister of Lieutenant Colonel William K. Macferran of the 52nd Pennsylvania Infantry, part of General George Meade's regiment.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=uP08AAAAYAAJ&dq=%22william+k.+macferran%22+lieutenant+colonel&pg=PA173 History of George G. Meade Post No. One, Department of Pennsylvania], Joseph Ripley Chandler Ward, Philadelphia, 1889, p. 173</ref>
In 1812, at the incorporation of South Reading (Wakefield), Yale was elected as one of its officers, and was nominated on a committee to help the poor and settle other matters.<ref name="Yale Biofull1"/> He was on the building committee for the erection of the New Baptist meeting house, and also operated large retail and manufacturing factories in various wares.<ref name="Yalesville2"/> His pewter factories were operated by Mr. Richardson and Mr. Boardman.<ref name="Yalesville2"/><ref name="Yale Biofull1"/> He then became a wholesale dealer of tin plates, and a large commodity dealer during the War of 1812 with Britain.<ref name="Yale Biofull1"/>
Over time, he made a fortune in his line of business.<ref name="Yale Biofull1"/> He tried his way into politics, but ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.<ref name="Yale Biofull1"/> He became Wakefield's town treasurer and justice of the peace for number of years.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=szkuAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22burrage+yale%22+%22lamson%22&pg=PA127 Historical Address and Poem: Delivered at the Bi-centennial Celebration], Samuel N. Dickinson, Boston, May 29, 1844, p. 127</ref><ref name="Yale Biog22"/><ref name="Yale Biofull1"/> He was also town moderator.<ref name="Yale Enginf1">[https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth-oai:tm70qt29b Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department (Wakefield, Mass.)], and Jayne M. D'Onofrio. Burrage Yale. Wakefield, Mass.: Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department. n.d. Web. 29 Feb 2024, Show more : Notes</ref><ref name="Yale WakefieldB1"/> Starting in 1825, Yale opened a tavern named the Burrage Yale Inn, next to his factories in Wakefield, and on March 16, 1827, he became the first postmaster of South Reading, Massachusetts, and the first postmaster to be recognized in Washington, D. C.<ref>[https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth-oai:tm70qt29b Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department (Wakefield, Mass.), and Jayne M. D'Onofrio], Wakefield Post Office. Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department. n.d. Web. 29 Feb 2024, Show more : Notes section</ref><ref name="Yale Biog22"/> He kept the office for about 3 years until he let his brother, Eli. A. Yale, a partner in his ventures, take the office.<ref name="Yale Biog22"/>
[[File:Fruit peddlers with draft horses and covered wagon, St. Paul (4418715023).jpg|thumb|230px|Example of covered wagons used by hundreds of Yale's peddlers, selling tin ware products across New England]]
In 1828, Yale became one of the founders and founding trustees of South Reading Academy, which was affiliated with Newton Theological Institution, and obtained the approval by Governor Levi Lincoln Jr. and the Senate.<ref>[https://archives.lib.state.ma.us/server/api/core/bitstreams/0c31d967-6a7e-4db5-babd-1e2b479b59e4/content South Reading Academy], Acts and resolves passed by the General Court, June 12, 1828, p. 37-38</ref><ref name="Yale Biofull1"/> Other trustees included Reverend Lucius Bolles, abolitionist minister Cyrus Pitt Grosvenor, college president Rufus Babcock, Reverend Enoch W. Freeman, and a few others.<ref name="Yale Biofull1"/>
The school promoted access to higher education to South Reading citizens and taught courses in English and Classics. Over time, the school was discontinued and the land and building were sold to Yale and William Heath, who sold them back to the city in 1847.<ref name="Yale Biofull1"/> One of Yale's employees, Francis O. Dewey, became one of the largest glassware manufacturers in New England, and lived at Frank Palmer's house, the past supertintendent of the Boston Merchants Exchange.<ref name="Yale Biofull1"/>
Yale was the largest employer in Wakefield in the early 19th century, with most of his fortune coming from his tin ware factories.<ref name="Yale WakefieldB1">[https://books.google.com/books?id=dS_Qv_9DZ4EC&q=yale&pg=PA18 Images of America: Wakefield], Nancy Bertrand, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2000, p. 19-20-34-54</ref> The basis of his fortune came from the growth of Wakefield from a small village of about 800 individuals at its incorporation, to a thriving suburb of Boston with thousands of citizens.<ref name="Yale railroad1"/> The change came with the creation of the Boston and Maine Railroad, which linked the city to Greater Boston, and gave Yale access to a larger customer base, while manufacturing his products in a lower-cost area.<ref name="Yale railroad1">[https://books.google.com/books?id=xs-R7j3QrRIC&q=burrage+yale+railroad Wakefield Revisited], Nancy Bertrand, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2010, p. 7</ref>
Yale would hire about 100 peddlers, selling tin ware articles with covered wagons and horses throughout New England, and used his newly acquired wealth to build a large general store in the city, with family members working under him.<ref name="New England87">[https://books.google.com/books?id=XCe2V4SRkkMC&q=yale&pg=PA25 The Richardson Light Guard of Wakefield, Massachusetts], Barry M. Stentiford, McFarland & Company, Jefferson, North Carolina, 2013, p. 25</ref><ref name="Yale Biog22"/><ref name="Yale Biofull1"/> For his personal affairs, he travelled by horse, as he did not have much trust in railways at the time.<ref name="Yale Biog22"/> In addition to his 100 peddlers across New England, he had employees in his tavern and stores.<ref name="Yale WakefieldB1"/> Yale's businesses expanded over time, forcing him to build new facilities, and he eventually became one of the largest tin ware manufacturers in Massachusetts.<ref name="Yale Biofull1"/><ref name="Yale Biog22"/>
==Death and legacy== [[File:Lamson, Goodnow & Yale, Springfield model of 1864.jpg|thumb|Musket Springfield Model 1861 of Lamson, Goodnow & Yale (L.G & Y.), built in partnership with Samuel Colt]]
Yale gave his name to Wakefield's fire department, named the Yale Engine House, or the Yale Fire Station, which he erected, and his former estate became the Yale Avenue Historic District.<ref name="Yale boston2">[https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset?assetID=d0cb7679-d613-4e5d-8a1b-3bc9939b43b4 National Register of Historic places], United States Department of the Interior, May 23, 1989, Accessed February 29, 2024, p. 8-11-50-52-54</ref><ref name="Yale Enginf1"/><ref name="Yale Biog22"/> They acquired a William Jeffers hand-drawn tub, at a cost of about $1500 in 1852.<ref name="Yale Enginf1"/> It was named the Yale No. 1 in recognition of Yale's gift to the city, and the fire department was approved by the Massachusetts General Court to be the fire agency of Wakefield.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=WjQuAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22fred+b+carpenter%22+%22burrage+yale%22&pg=PP70 Wakefield Souvenier of the Celebration of the 250th Anniversary], Will Everett Eaton, Wakefield, Massachusetts, 1894</ref><ref name="New England87"/>
It would remain the only fire engine house in the city until the American Civil War.<ref name="New England87"/> Burrage Yale's Inn and the Yale Engine House are now both demolished.<ref>[https://www.wakefield.ma.us/sites/g/files/vyhlif3986/f/file/file/preservation-plan-historic-context.pdf Lost Wakefield], Wakefield Preservation Plan, Town of Wakefield, Massachusetts, Accessed February 28, 2024, p. 17-18</ref> Number of luxurious homes would be built on his former estate on Yale Avenue by Boston businessmen.<ref name="New England87"/><ref name="Yale boston2"/> The next largest manufacturer in town was Cyrus Wakefield, who gave his name to the city, and became an early investor in The Boston Globe.<ref>[https://www.wakefield.ma.us/history#:~:text=Wakefield's%20roots%20date%20back%20to,rattan%20industry%20giant%20Cyrus%20 Wakefield. History], The Town of Wakefield, Massachusetts, Government Websites, afayette St., Wakefield, MA, Accessed February 28, 2024</ref>
Yale died on September 5, 1860, at 79 years old.<ref name="Yale Biofull1"/><ref name="GeneoM8"/> One of his daughters, Sarah A. Yale, married Dartmouth's graduate, William Heath, pastor of South Reading Academy.<ref name="Yale Biofull1">[https://archive.org/details/genealogicalhist00eatoiala/page/346/mode/2up?q=burrage+yale Genealogical History of the Town of Reading, Massachusetts], Liley Eaton, Mudge & Son Printers, Boston, 1874, p. 214-251-252-346-347-348-395-396-411-421-423-557</ref> His two other daughters, Lucilia T. and Octavia A., married Reverend Nathan Monroe and Reverend George P. Smith.<ref name="Yale Biog22"/>
After the death of his first wife, Yale married Miss Richardson, and then, Mary Carter Coolidge, widow of Colonel Benjamin F. Baldwin, son of Colonel Loammi Baldwin, father of American civil engineering.<ref>[https://www.nps.gov/people/loammi-baldwin-jr.htm Loammi Baldwin Jr.], Boston National Historical Park, National Park Service, Accessed February 28, 2024</ref><ref name="Yale stegrand1"/> Baldwin's brothers were prominent engineers in Boston, involved with Harvard and the railroads, and were named Loammi Baldwin Jr., James F. Baldwin, George R. Baldwin and Cyrus Baldwin. Sarah's uncle was builder Elis Boardman of Elias Boardman House. Through Yale's third marriage with Mrs. Coolidge, he became the step-grandfather of Dr. Roswell Park, founder of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.<ref>[https://www.roswellpark.org/cancertalk/202104/who-was-dr-roswell-park Who was Dr. Roswell Park], Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, April 19, 2021, Accessed February 28, 2024</ref><ref name="Yale stegrand1">[https://archive.org/details/baldwingenealogy00bald/page/638/mode/2up?q=roswell+coolidge+yale+brewster The Baldwin Genealogy from 1500 to 1881], Charles Candee Baldwin, Leader Printing Co., Cleveland, Ohio, 1881, p. 639</ref>
Yale's only son, Burrage Buchanan Yale, co-founded with Ebenezer G. Lamson the gun manufacturer Lamson, Goodnow & Yale.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=slPSEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22burrage+b+yale%22+lamson&pg=PA314|title=American Military Shoulder Arms, Volume III: Flintlock Alterations and Muzzleloading Percussion Shoulder Arms 1840–1865|publisher=University of Mexico Press|author=George D. Moller|pages=314–315|year=2011|isbn=978-0-8263-5002-2 }}</ref><ref>"What the Citizen Should Know About Our Arms and Weapons : A Guide to Weapons from the 1940s", James E. Hicks, 1941, 256 pages.</ref><ref name="Windsor11"/> The company had a major impact on the American Civil War, and was behind most of the 2 million weapons manufactured to the Union Army of Abraham Lincoln, mainly through their conversions of industrial factories into gun-making manufacturers.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/660852448/?terms=%22lamson%2C%20goodnow%20%26%20Yale%22&match=1 The Vermont Tribune], 09 Mar 1923, Fri ·Page 4</ref><ref name="Windsor11">{{Cite web|url=https://vermonthistory.org/journal/79/VHS7902GunsForBillyYank.pdf|title=Guns for Billy Yank: The Armory in Windsor Meets the Challenge of Civil War|website=Vermonthistory.org/|author=Carrie Brown|year=2011|volume=79|pages=141–147–158–159}}</ref> They also obtained special government contracts from the Lincoln administration, manufacturing muskets under their own brand, such as the Springfield Model 1861, in partnership with Samuel Colt, and dealing with Lincoln's Secretaries of War, Simon Cameron and Edwin Stanton.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6stYAAAAcAAJ&q=yale&pg=RA3-PA165|title=Senate Documents, Volumes 170 to 171;Volume 176, United States Senate|year=1862}}</ref><ref name="Windsor11"/>
==Gallery== <gallery widths="180px" heights="180px"> Burrage Yale Mansion and Yale's tin ware shop, c. 1880s, between the church and old house on the left, Wakefield, Massachusetts.png|Burrage Yale Mansion and Yale's tin ware shop, c. 1880s Yale Avenue to Lafayette Street, Wakefield, Massachusetts, Joseph Payro painting in the 1850s, Burrage Yale shop on the left.png|Yale Avenue to Lafayette Street, Yale's shop on the left, 1850s Wakefield, Massachusetts, Franklin Pole painting in 1840, Center School House, Burrage Yale tin shop in the distance.png|Burrage Yale tin shop in the distance, 1840 Wakefield, Massachusetts, c. 1860, Congregational Church, Yale Engine House on the right, then the blacksmith shop far right.png|Yale Engine House on the right before the shop, c. 1860 Yale Engine House, center, Wakefield, Massachusetts, c. 1850.png|Yale Engine House, c. 1850 Yale No, 1 hand tub, Yale Engine House, c. 1871, Wakefield, Massachusetts.png|Yale No. 1, hand fire engine, c. 1871 </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yale, Burrage}} Category:1781 births Category:1860 deaths Burrage Category:People from Wakefield, Massachusetts Category:19th-century American philanthropists Category:19th-century American businesspeople Category:American businesspeople in manufacturing Category:American businesspeople in the metal industry Category:American businesspeople in retailing Category:Businesspeople from Massachusetts Category:Massachusetts postmasters Category:American justices of the peace