Unknown

Family 1: Anna SCHIFANI 

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|--Unknown 
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James E ABER

Father: James D ABER
Mother: Emma CLAWSON 

                 _Robert J ABER ________
 _James D ABER _|
|               |_Hannah Marie HOFFMAN _
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|--James E ABER 
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|                _______________________
|_Emma CLAWSON _|
                |_______________________
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Joseph BROWN

Family 1: Roby BURLINGAME 

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|--Joseph BROWN 
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Washington BURNHAM

Family 1: Martha Malvina HURLBUTT 

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|--Washington BURNHAM 
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Charles Henry HULBURD

Father: Hiram HULBURD
Mother: Amelia H. CULVER

Family 1: Anna Richmond BELKNAP
  1.  Ethel HULBURD
  2. +DeForest HULBURD 
                     _Ebenezer HULBURD _
 _Hiram HULBURD ____|
|                   |_Lucy TILDEN ______
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|--Charles Henry HULBURD 
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|                    _Zoraster CULVER __
|_Amelia H. CULVER _|
                    |_Sarah HAYWARD ____
INDEX

Notes

A.B. Oberlin Coll., 1871; LL.B., New York U., 1873. President Elgin Natii onal Watch Co. 1898 -; director Corn Exchange National Bank, Union Specia l Machine Co., Hulburd, Warren & Chandler. Resided in Chicago. (Who's Who )

Charles H. Hulburd, an attorney and partner in a commodity brokerage, be came the third president of the Elgin National Watch Company during the h eight of the labor unrest of 1898. He frequently left the Chicago offic e to spend time at the plant conversing with employees, and a paternalis m aimed at fostering a more contented Father Time's family developed unde r his leadership. "There is no friction now between the operatives and th e present management," the union's president soon conceded. "A large majo rity of the employees believe the company is trying to do the right thin g by them."2

Beginning on January 1, 1900, piecework wages were increased ten to twen ty-five percent, and a few months later, extra pay for overtime and holid ay work was allowed. On May 1, 1901, the daily stint at the workbenches w as reduced to nine hours-7 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. weekdays, and I t o 4 p.m. on Saturdays -without a reduction in pay. President Hulburd stat ed his belief that in the long run men can produce as much or more in rea sonably short hours than they can under the stress of a long working day .

Despite the reduction in hours, in 1901 the Elgin National Watch Compan y manufactured and sold more than 600,000 movements of the 1,875,769 prod uced by all thirteen watchmaking firms in the United States. The best pre vious year was 1891, when the factory had made about a half-million. Th e capital stock was increased to five million dollars by a twenty-five pe rcent stock dividend in 1903, and the denomination of shares was change d from one thousand to one hundred dollars.

Reminded by the gutting of a supply building in July 1901 that the old f actory was highly flammable, the company broke ground in 1902 for the wes t wing of a new fireproof plant. This wing, containing eighty-eight thous and square feet of floor space, was completed in the winter of 1903-04. T he demolition of the old front building began in the spring of 1906. It w as 569 feet 1ong and contained 116,000 feet of floor space. The construct ion below the roof line and under the crest of the tower imitated medieva l machicolation, and the ends of the front building resembled massive tur rets. A power plant was completed in the summer of 1906.

A clock tower dominated the new front. It was 144 feet tall, with a 53-f oot flag pole topping it off. The Seth Thomas clock in the tower began ti cking on August 12, 1905. It was the first self-winding tower clock eve r put in operation, had a gravity escapement, and was regulated by a pend ulum rod fourteen feet long, on the end of which was a ball weighing thre e hundred thirty pounds. The visible part of the four dials, which were a utomatically lighted, was more than fourteen feet across. The three-foo t tall numerals could be distinguished more than half a mile away. The we ight of the clock and equipment was twenty tons. The bell of the clock st ruck only the opening and closing hours of the factory, not the hours o f the day. It rang seventy-eight times at 6 a.m., thirty-seven times at 6 :50, and once at 7; then once at noon, thirty-seven times at 12:50, and t hen once again at 1; and finally once at the 5 p.m. closing time. The sam e number of blows were repeated on interior gongs, scattered throughout t he buildings.

The new plant was well-ventilated and contained elevators, a carrier sys tem and automatic telephones. The work rooms were long, high ceilinged, a nd narrow, allowing an abundance of natural light to come through score s of windows. The panes overlooking the river were frosted to avoid distr action, and the emphasis upon concentration remained. "You cannot get a p ermit to go through the factory except as an exceptional favor," a Califo rnian wrote in 1904, "for the efficiency of labor is figured to such a fi ne point here that it is estimated that a turning of the head by each o f the operatives and the interruption incident to noticing the passing o f a visitor detracts in all departments from the effective force of the e mployees nearly three hundred dollars."3 The greater part of employee wag es was based on piecework. To encourage productivity increases, a syste m of suggestion awards was begun in 1914.

The production lead Elgin had opened over Waltham in the early '80's di d not continue. Before the end of 1905 Waltham had completed its thirteen -millionth time piece, and Elgin had made eleven million. Prior to the ge neral business downturn in the spring of 1907, Waltham was employing 4,30 0 and turning out 3,200 movements daily. Elgin's force was 3,200 with a d aily output of about 2,700. Elgin's operation was the more profitable. An nual dividends of eight dollars per share continued to be paid the owner s from 1903 through 1917.

During the years 1906 and 1907, charges arose in the political arena an d press that a watch trust was selling movements abroad for less than the y sold them at home, that its members were selling watches of the same gr ade at the same prices through collusion, and that they were using undu e influence to force railroad employees to buy their watches. Aided b y a high tariff, Elgin and Waltham were said to issue identical lists o f "recognized" jobbers. It was claimed that they would not sell to anyon e whose name did not appear on their lists. The favored jobbers, in turn , had to sell the movements and cases at a specified price to retailers . An unlisted jobber had to pay the retail price.

"The Elgin watch and the Waltham movement sell for the same money, and t hey are of the same grade," stated Thomas J. Juzek, a local dealer, afte r the two firms announced the same price increases one week in 1909.4 I n the view of Watch Company President Hulburd, that was "perfectly natura l. The cost of labor and material is practically the same in Massachusett s and Illinois."5

"The Elgin National Watch Company is not a party to any watch trust," as serted Hulburd. "Neither the company itself or its officers, directly o r indirectly, hold any stock in any other watch company in the world, no r is its stock held by or for any other watch company."6 In this stric t definition of the word "trust," Hulburd was correct, and the Departmen t of Justice did not consider the evidence strong enough to warrant an in dictment. Both firms admitted fixing the retail prices of their movements , a practice upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1912. The manufacturer s claimed they had to protect their output from being cheapened by ruinou s price-slashing.

Price competition by other domestic manufacturers was unlikely, becaus e the two giants controlled the vast bulk of labor-saving machinery use d in the production process. Foreign competitors were handicapped by th e Dingley Tariff of 1897, which levied a duty of twenty-five percent ad v alorem on movements. This was in addition to a specific duty on a slidin g scale that increased with the number of jewels. The tax on a seventeen- jewel watch was one dollar and a quarter; on a watch with more than seven teen jewels, it was three dollars.

After the Panic of '07, employees had more free time than they may hav e desired. For more than eight months in 1908, the work week was reduce d to four days to forestall extensive discharges. There were also "readju stments" in wages. A Saturday afternoon holiday and a year-end layoff bec ame customary. Unable to prevent these cutbacks, the union became moribun d. Local 6961 had already been weakened in 1903, when the company hired i ts president as a "missionary" to tour the road for a year or longer, an d promptly sent him on his first assignment to California.

The plant did not return to full time until the fall of 1913, and then o nly briefly. Some blamed the relative stagnation of the industry on the p opularity of cheap, non-jeweled clock watches; others found the cause i n the new fad of buying automobiles which left few dollars for watches . A more cogent reason may have been the slow obsolescence of fine jewele d movements, which could be passed from one generation to the next. Prope rly maintained, they just didn't wear out, and the company highlighted th eir durability in a series of 1914 advertisements.

Early watches were thick in width and large in diameter, with closed o r hunting cases. In the 1880's, open-face watches became the fashion. B y the turn of the century, the style had turned to slender widths and sma ll diameters. A man's twelve-size (one and 17/30 inches) designed for a t hin casing made its appearance late in 1897, becoming very popular. Mor e than four and a quarter million movements of this model were subsequent ly manufactured. A 10/0-size-about the diameter of a nickel- was introduc ed for ladies in 1902. The first model used as a ladies' wristwatch wa s a 5/0-size movement produced in 1910. Reducing the size required screw s so small that up to 82,000 weighed only a pound.

To compete with the increasing Swiss imports, a low-priced seven-jewel o pen-face watch was issued in 1912. Complete with case, it sold for only $ 5.50. Prices continued to be determined by the finish-gilded or nickel; t he temper of the materials; the tolerances to which moving parts were fin ished; the number of jewels and the accuracy of their setting; and the ad justments for temperature and position.

The Elgin National Watch Company was among the first American industria l employers to offer what are now termed fringe benefits. The National Ho use provided food and lodging at cost. Various departmental sick benefi t plans had been consolidated in 1888 into one Mutual Aid Association fo r the whole Plant, with the company contributing fifty percent of the cos t. A company infirmary was opened in 1907, although employees were docke d for time spent using its services. Vacations up to two weeks at employe e expense were allowed. Hot and cold water, soap and towels were availabl e in the washrooms. The firm was cited by the National Civic Federation i n 1909 as a model institution for working conditions.

Veteran employees no longer able to work became eligible for company-pai d pensions of one dollar per day in 1911, a sum that exceeded the minimu m starting wage of sixty cents per day for inexperienced women applicants . In 1913, a mortuary fund was established to provide a death benefit. Th e company accepted the terms of the state Workmen's Compensation Act as s oon as it became effective.

These programs did much to ease the distress caused by an outbreak of ty phoid fever among employees in August 1916. Rumors spread that the city' s water supply was the cause. Moving quickly, Dr. Alban L. Mann, the cit y physician, traced the sources of contamination to a watch factory artes ian well supplying drinking water to employees. A leaking valve had allow ed seepage from the river water system used in the factory's industrial o perations. Mann worked long hours to reduce the secondary case potential : those receiving gernis from the ill who had been infected from the orig inal source. He received high praise from representatives of the state Bo ard of Health for his handling of the problem before state specialists ar rived to assist. Workmen's compensation claims totaled about ninety thous and dollars for the twenty-two deaths, and more than two hundred illnesse s resulting from the epidemic. It was the largest settlement up to that t ime under the provisions of the Illinois legislation. In addition, larg e amounts were drawn from the Mutual Aid Association and Mortuary Fund. T hese paid five hundred dollars for each death, and men received one dolla r and women sixty cents for each day of sickness.

A four-day week was again in effect from October 1, 1914 through the en d of 1915, and there were long "vacations" in the summers of 1914 and 191 5. It was during this dull period that the company contracted to produc e the Van Sicklen automobile speedometer. The agreement was the result o f an increased demand that Van Sicklen's plant in Aurora couldn't handl e and a family connection between executives of the two firms. George E . Hunter, superintendent of the watch factory, was the father-inlaw of No rton H. Van Sicklen Jr., son of the "speedmeter" manufacturer. The arrang ement was a natural one and mutually profitable. The components of the sp eedometer, a precision instrument, required many of the manufacturing ski lls utilized in making watches. The tools and equipment were owned by Va n Sicklen, and the production space and labor force were supplied by th e watch firm. About 130 of the Aurora employees came up to Elgin with th e equipment. More than three-fourths of the workers were women, many of w hom found lodging in the National House. Within three weeks of the transf er in July 1915, production reached two hundred meters daily.

The Van Sicklen speedometer was preferred by many manufacturers of the h igher-priced cars. All Stutz automobiles for 1916, for example, were equi pped with the Elgin-made product. It calibrated an air current and transl ated the result into miles per hour. Its advantages were said to be legib ility; accuracy; freedom from fluctuation regardless of speed, road condi tions or climatic changes; and indestructibility.

When the war in Europe cut off the flow of imported watches, the compan y was again working at capacity. The six-day week was restored in 1916, a nd by the end of the year, reserve stocks were practically exhausted. Th e eight-hour day was inaugurated on July 1, 1917. "Of course everyone wi n have to work a little faster," cautioned President Hulburd when announc ing the new policy, "and every minute will have to be fully utilized in o rder that there may be no reduction in the product."7 [S445]

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Annie Marie PAULSON

Family 1: Arthur Linden SHERMAN
  1.  Lavina C. SHERMAN
  2.  Anna C. SHERMAN
  3.  William W. SHERMAN
  4.  Hulda I. SHERMAN
  5.  Arthur Linden SHERMAN
  6.  George SHERMAN 
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|--Annie Marie PAULSON 
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Florence Ann RUNYON

Family 1: David Duane HOAG
  1.  Duane Aaron HOAG
  2.  Davina Ann HOAG
  3.  Daniel HOAG
  4.  David Adam HOAG 
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|--Florence Ann RUNYON 
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Julia SLEEPER

Father: Benjamin SLEEPER
Mother: Clarissa HURLBUT 

                     _______________
 _Benjamin SLEEPER _|
|                   |_______________
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|--Julia SLEEPER 
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|                    _Amos HURLBUT _
|_Clarissa HURLBUT _|
                    |_Esther GEER __
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William WINDHAM

Family 1:
  1. +Frances WINDHAM 
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|--William WINDHAM 
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