206 



THE INDIA RUBBER "WORLD 



[March i, 1905. 



THE DEATH OF A. II. YEOMANS. 



ALMERON HART YEOMANS died suddenly of heart 

 failure at 4 o'clock, on the morning of February 22. near 

 Richmond. Virginia, while on a train, returning from a visit 

 which he had made to the South, in the company of his wife, 

 in what proved a vain efTort to benefit his health. Funeral ser- 

 vices were held at No. 39 Abbottsford road, Brookline, Mass- 

 achusetts, which 

 for years had been 

 their home, on 

 Sunday afternoon, 

 February 26. The 

 services were con- 

 ducted by the Rev. 

 Mr. Ryder, pastor 

 of the Universalist 

 Church in Maiden, 

 with which Mr. 

 Y e o m a n s had 

 formerly been as- 

 sociated. Accord- 

 ing to his written 

 request, found 

 after his death, his 

 body was cremat- 

 ed at the Forest 

 Hill Cemetery, 

 and his ashes sent 

 back to his old 



ALMERON HART YEOMANS. u„„» ;„ Dhir, 



home in unio. 



The subject of this sketch, and of the accompanying portrait, 

 had entered upon his seventieth year on February 5, though 

 nothing in his appearance or in his attention to affairs would 

 have suggested that he had finished the scriptural allotment 

 of "threescore years and ten." He was a native of the village 

 of Kinsman, in northeastern Ohio, whence he removed, in his 

 sixteenth year, to New York city, with a view to beginning a 

 business career with an uncle. Before very long, however, he 

 went to Michigan, where he taught school for a short time. 

 Later he went to New England, making his home with relatives 

 at Portland, Maine, and holding a position for several years as 

 purser on a steamer plying between Boston and St. John (New 

 Brunswick). During the civil war he was on one of the govern- 

 ment transport boats. He next became connected with the 

 Haywardville Rubber Co., located near Maiden, Massachusetts, 

 and occupying the " Red Mills," which had figured at an earlier 

 date in the life history of the Hon. Elisha S. Converse. Here 

 he acted in the general capacity, having supervision of all de- 

 partments of the business, until 1S72, when the company ceased 

 to exist. 



A story that is typical of Mr. Yeomans's manner of putting 

 things in an original and humorous way is told by one who was 

 intimate with him at that time. When the " Red Mills " prop- 

 erty was finally sold under the hammer, Mr. Yeomans was the 

 auctioneer, and he did his work well. After the last parcel had 

 been sold, he paused, and with a twinkle in his eye said : 



" That is all, gentlemen, with one exception — my services. I 

 am now free and my services are here put up at auction." Then 

 in an aside : " If some rubber man present does not employ me 

 I shall have to start a rubber factory of my own." Mr. Converse 

 who was present, said quietly : "Come and see me to-morrow." 

 The appointment was kept, and resulted not only in a close 

 business alliance but in a firm friendship which lasted so long 

 as both of the men were alive. The value of Mr. Yeomans's 



services was apparent from the first, but certain it is that, alter 

 a memorable fire at the Maiden factory of the Boston Rubber 

 Shoe Co., the prompt and judicious assistance given by Mr. 

 Yeomans in the way of finding building materials for a new 

 structure commended him to Mr. Converse even more favorably 

 than before. And this reference recalls the fact that on the 

 occasion of a later great fire in Boston, Mr. Yeomans was again 

 of eminent service, when he perceived the danger in lime and 

 assisted Mr. Converse to remove the company's books from the 

 doomed office to a place of safety. 



Mr. Yeomans acted at first as purchasing agent for all of the 

 supplies used by the Boston Rubber Shoe Co,, except crude 

 rubber, which was bought by Mr. Converse himself, but after a 

 few years this department was placed in his hands also. After 

 their incorporation with the United States Rubber Co. Mr. Yeo- 

 mans assumed a like position with the larger company, where 

 the purchases, which had previously been made by the execu- 

 tive committee, ran into millions of money every year. In 1904 

 he became general manager of the General Rubber Co. (New 

 York), which is practically the buying agency of the United 

 States company. 



For many years Mr. Yeomans was a neighbor of Mr. Con- 

 verse in Maiden, where he served as an alderman under the 

 first city government, Mr. Converse being mayor. Later he 

 resided in Brookline, Massachusetts, where he had a beautiful 

 home, of which he was very fond, and which he retained after 

 his transfer to New York compelled him to maintain a resi- 

 dence in that city. His ability was unquestioned ; his integ- 

 rity was unswerving; and his character and disposition in gen- 

 eral such as to win for him the personal esteem of all who were 

 brought within the sphere of his acquaintance. 

 PITT BARROWS. 



Pitt Barrows died at his home at Spring Hill, in the town 

 of Mansfield, Tolland county, Connecticut, on January 17. Mr. 

 Barrows was born in Mansfield, May 24, 1843; at the age of 

 20 years he became employed as a buyer of provisions for the 

 Union army with headquarters at Baltimore, Maryland ; after 

 the civil war he was interested for several years in the manu- 

 facture of turpentine at Newbern, North Carolina; he was 

 later associated with General B. F. Butler and General San- 

 born in the settlement of United States tax cases, as an expert 

 accountant, in which connection his work is said to have savtd 

 the government several millions of dollars. During the last 

 14 years of his life Mr. Barrows was selling agent of The Bloom- 

 ingdale Soft Rubber Works (Paterson, New Jersey), in which, 

 as in all his other business relations, he proved most efficient 

 and endeared himself to all with whom he came in contact. 

 Mr. Barrows was at onetime a resident of New York city, but 

 about 25 years ago he returned to Mansfield and thereafter 

 lived in the house built by his father. Mr. Barrows was a Dem- 

 ocrat in politics, and his popularity in his native town was 

 proved by his being the first Democratic town clerk ever elected 

 there. He at various times filled other town offices. While 

 not an enlisted man in the army during the civil war, Mr. Bar- 

 rows was called " Captain " by his intimates, and always re- 

 tained the friendships formed during the war. 



The funeral was held on January 20, in the Congregational 

 church at WiUimantic, Connecticut, the services being con- 

 ducted by the Rev. Thomas Edward Potterton, of the Church 

 of Our Father, Brooklyn, assisted by the Rev. Ashley D. Leav- 

 itt, pastor of the WiUimantic church. The remains were 

 placed in the receiving vault in the WiUimantic cemetery, to 

 be interred later in New York. Mr. Barrows was married 

 about 29 years ago to Miss Bessie Garland Van Duzer, of New 

 York city, who survives him. 



