J. Wiley Edmands

{{short description|American politician}} {{more footnotes needed|date=July 2014}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = John Wiley Edmands | image = J. Wiley Edmands (Massachusetts Congressman).jpg | state = [[Massachusetts]] | district = [[Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district|3rd]] | term_start = March 4, 1853 | term_end = March 3, 1855 | preceded = [[James H. Duncan]] | succeeded = [[William S. Damrell]] | birth_date = March 1, 1809 | birth_place = [[Boston, Massachusetts]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1877|01|31|1809|03|1}} | death_place = [[Newton, Massachusetts]] | party = [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]], [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] | spouse = | relations = | children = | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }}

'''John Wiley Edmands''' (March 1, 1809 – January 31, 1877) was a member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] from [[Massachusetts]].

Edmands was born in [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]] on March 1, 1809. He completed preparatory studies, and graduated from [[English High School of Boston]]. He became interested in [[wool]]en mills in [[Dedham, Massachusetts|Dedham]] and the Pacific Mills Company in [[Lawrence, Massachusetts|Lawrence]].

Edmands was elected as a [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] to the [[33rd United States Congress|Thirty-third Congress]] (March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855). He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1854, and returned to Pacific Mills and served as its treasurer. Edmands was a presidential elector on the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] ticket in 1868.

He died in [[Newton, Massachusetts|Newton]] on January 31, 1877. His interment was in [[Mount Auburn Cemetery]] in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]].

==Mill owner== ===Maverick Woolen Mills=== Following [[Benjamin Bussey]]'s 1842 death, his woolen mill on [[Mother Brook]] was sold in November 1843 to Edmands, who was then one of the partners in the company that served as the mill's selling agent, Amos & Abbot Lawrence.{{sfn|Neiswander|2024|p=66}} The land was purchased for $30,000 while the machinery, the stock, and materials were sold for more than $45,000.{{sfn|Neiswander|2024|p=66}} In 1850, he sold half of the company, which he renamed [[Mother Brook#Maverick Woolen Mills|Maverick Woolen Mill]], to [[Gardner Colby]].{{sfn|Neiswander|2024|p=66}}

===Merchants Woolen Company=== In 1863, Colby and Edmands took in new partners, including Charles L. Harding, to form the [[Merchant Woolen Company]].{{sfn|Neiswander|2024|p=77}} The new company purchased the Maverick Woolen Mills and eventually all of the other mills on Mother Brook.{{sfn|Neiswander|2024|p=77}} By the 1870s, the Merchant's Woolen Company had monopolized all of the water in Mother Brook.{{sfn|Neiswander|2024|p=4}} In 1870, they were the largest taxpayer in [[Dedham, Massachusetts]]{{sfn|Tritsch|1986|p=13}} and, when the New York Times wrote about them in 1887, it described the company as "one of the largest [industrial operations] in the state."{{sfn|Neiswander|2024|p=3}}

==References== <references></references>

==Works cited== *{{cite book | title = Mother Brook and the Mills of East Dedham | last = Neiswander | first = Judith | publisher = Damianos Publishing | year = 2024 | isbn = 978-1-941573-66-2}} *{{cite book| title = Building Dedham| first = Electa Kane| last=Tritsch| publisher = Dedham Historical Society| year = 1986}}

==External links== * {{CongBio|E000050}} *{{Find a Grave|7500263}}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state=Massachusetts | district=3 | before=[[James H. Duncan]] | after= [[William S. Damrell]] | years=March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855 }} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edmands, J. Wiley}} [[Category:1809 births]] [[Category:1877 deaths]] [[Category:Politicians from Boston]] [[Category:Massachusetts Republicans]] [[Category:Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery]] [[Category:Whig Party United States representatives from Massachusetts]] [[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]] [[Category:19th-century United States representatives]]