Converse is a name I continually run across in my research on the West Side of Grand Rapids. A friend asked me to research this name in my next post, so. . . .
We will go back to the beginning of Grand Rapids. The 1836-1837 survey, by Noah Brookfield, of a portion of the west side of the Grand River, showing sections 25 and 26, with the Baptist Mission and the Catholic Mission further south is from the Bureau of Land Management. The Baptist Mission School was just south of what is now Bridge Street and the Catholic Mission south of Fulton Street approximately where Straight Street Park is now. (Section 26 was where Lieutanant John W Gunnison bought the SE quarter for a proposed cranberry farm--detailed in the previous post.) The road at the bottom, starting at the Baptist Meeting House and curving to the southwest, is the current Butterworth Avenue. The red line through the centers of Sections 25 and 26 is the current Fulton Avenue.
In 1883, streets and lots have been platted out and it looked like this. Tremont (Bowery) Street and Shawmut Avenue were named for Baptist churches Converse attended in Boston.
Here are the southern pieces.
Shortly before the Civil War, James W. Converse, a capitalist of Boston, came to Grand Rapids seeking investments. The prospects were so pleasing and satisfactory that he purchased a large tract on the west side of Grand River, south of Bridge Street, and proceeded by degrees to develop it. A plat was drafted and placed on record and the lots offered for sale were disposed of quite readily. Mr. Converse reserved an entire block in the
expectation that it would be needed by Kent County as a site for a court house and a jail. Buildings to be devoted to business purposes, and a bridge over the river at Pearl Street, were erected. And the gypsum mills and a large tract of land adjoining, were purchased and developed by Mr. Converse. In partnership with a man named Littlefield, a shipyard was erected and put into operation on Grand River, near Eastmanville. A number of small craft were built and placed in service on the Great Lakes, but this enterprise proved to be unprofitable, so Mr. Converse abandoned it. He also financed railroads that were constructed between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, and Grand Rapids and White Cloud. Mr. Converse was also a Columbus of the furniture industry—as several factories, including that of the Phoenix Furniture Company, were established as the result of the financial aid he supplied. Fifty years ago Alexander Graham Bell perfected an instrument designed to transmit the tones of the human voice. It was called the telephone. Mr. Converse and Mr. Bell were friends, and when the latter sought financial assistance to put his invention into service, Mr. Converse invested a considerable sum. A pair of hand 'phones used to receive and transmit messages, were forwarded to Grand Rapids to be tested on a line of wire that connected the gypsum mills with the office of the Grand Rapids Plaster Company, owned by Mr. Converse, in the city. This and other tests first helped to prove the value of the telephone."
I
n 1850 James W Converse, a Deacon in the Federal Street Baptist Church of Boston, and a bank president, was called to Grand Rapids to straighten out the ownership rights of the Baptist Mission.
"Mr. Converse first visited Grand Rapids June 3, 1850, to save to the
American Baptist Missionary Union its rights in the property that had been
the Baptist Indian Mission reserve on the west side of the river, south
of Bridge street. In that he succeeded, and afterward purchased the property;
which in 1856 he caused to be platted, and which is known as the Converse
Addition. In a large portion of it he caused the streets to be graded,
to the great advantage of the purchasers of his lots, as well as enhancement
of their value."
From Chapter 38 of Albert Baxter's History of the City of Grand Rapids, New York and Grand Rapids: Munsell & Company, Publishers, 1891.
You can read the entire biography on the Michigan GenWeb site by following this link.
A short bio from the New England Historic and Genealogical Society:
JAMES WHEATON CONVERSE
James Wheaton Converse, a Life Member, elected in 1870, was born in Thompson, Connecticut, January 11, 1808, and died in Swampscott, Massachusetts, August 26, 1894.
When he was six years old he removed with his parents to Woodstock, Connecticut, and two years later, to Dover, Massachusetts, and from there to Needham. At the age of thirteen he came to Boston, where his uncles Joseph and Benjamin Converse gave him employment, and seven years later assisted him to begin business for himself in the Boylston Market. In 1832 he entered into partnership with William Hardwick in the boot, shoe, and leather business. In 1833 he joined Isaac Field in conducting a hide and leather business under the firm name of Field and Converse. Five years later Isaac Field retired, and his brother John Field took his place. In 1870 Mr Converse retired from the business to give attention to his growing railroad, banking, real estate, and other interests. He was a director of the Mechanics Bank of Boston from its organization in 1836, and its president from 1847 to 1886. In 1870 he was appointed receiver of the old Hartford and Erie Railroad, and piloted that corporation through a perilous time. He was president of the Boston Rubber Shoe Company, of the Colorado Smelting Company, and of the Boston Land Company. He had large investments at the West, especially in and around Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was liberal in his gifts to the needy and to educational and benevolent institutions.
He married in 1833, Emeline, daughter of Nathan Coolidge of Boston. She died a few years before her husband. They had three children: James W, Jr, died in 1876; Costello Coolidge, and Emma Maria Converse.
James Wheaton Converse married Emeline Coolidge on 5 September, 1833 in Boston, Massachusetts. The 1860 census shows the family listed with 3 children, James Wheaton, Jr, age 16, Costello, age 11, and Emma M, age 9. Though he never lived in Grand Rapids, James Converse was very involved in business dealings here. When he visited in 1850 he took note of the gypsum deposits in the land he had purchased from the Baptist Mission and went into business with William Hovey to manufacture plaster. He put up most of the money to build the Pearl Street Bridge in 1858. He helped construct the first railroad from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids, and on to Newaygo. He was President of the Phoenix Furniture Company, and President and owner of the Converse Manufacturing Company in Newaygo. He also furnished the funds to build the Second Baptist Church on the corner of California and Gold Streets.
He was given two telephones by his friend Alexander Graham Bell and brought them to Grand Rapids to set up the first telephone line in the city, from his office on Monroe Street to the plaster mine across the river, on 30 October 1877.
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In 1884 James and Emeline built a new house at 347 Beacon Street in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. The house is still standing. This link is to a chronological article about the house.
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James, James, Jr and Emeline are buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. If you are interested in the genealogy of the Converse family, here is a link to a book by William Gilbert Hill. The biography of James W Converse starts on page 161.
The following is from the book, "The City of Grand Rapids, Manufacturing Advantages, Commercial Importance", 1889, page 116, by Robert H Baker.
(The second map above shows where this factory was located. Look for the number "5" block.)
Here is another Converse business, from the same book, page 158.
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Son, James Wheaton, Jr, was made a Sergeant in the 24th MA Infantry at age 17, and had a notable career fighting under General Ambrose E Burnside. He was later promoted to 2nd Lieutenant.
After the war Converse left the United States on an extended tour of Europe and Asia, including a journey to the Holy Land. Upon his return, he went to work for his father, who had since expanded his leather goods business into a growing manufacturing empire. In 1871, he married Harriet “Hattie” Crickmay. They settled in Grand Rapids, Mich., where Converse furthered his father’s extensive business enterprises.
Converse died suddenly five years later, at the age of 32. Doctors attributed his death to “congestion” of the brain, which may indicate a stroke or cerebral hemorrhage. His wife and two daughters survived him.
James, Jr and Harriet lived at 117 Mt Vernon, in the Converse Addition.
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Costello Coolidge Converse also came to Grand Rapids to help manage his father's businesses. Among others, there was a clothespin factory on the West Side, which was rolled into the Converse Manufacturing Company, along with factories in Newaygo. He also helped with the Grand Rapids Plaster Company.
The following is from
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Emma Marie Converse married Carpet Dealer Isaac William Chick on 31 October 1877 in Boston, Massachusetts.
They both look a little annoyed in their photographs. They had three children by 1884, and Emma died in 1907. Isaac died in 1929. Photos from Mills Family Tree on Ancestry, by JamesMills54.
Both Costello's and Isaac's names show up on the document relating to the Converse Addition, above.
