April i, 1902.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



217 



DEATHS IN THE RUBBER TRADE. 



JOHN AUGUSTUS CHURCHILL. 



JOHN A. CHURCHILL, a former prominent dry goods 

 merchant of New York city, died on February 19, at the 

 Langham Hotel, in Fifth avenue, after an illness of about four 

 years duration. Mr. Churchill was intimately associated with 

 the rubber goods businessof the country, dealing largely in fab- 

 rics for mackintoshes and waterproof clo;h. He was born at 

 Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, in 1844, being the youngest of 

 a family of nine children. He came to New York city at the age 

 of twelve, and was for many years connected with the well 

 known firm of E. S. Jaffray & Co. In 1877 the firm of Smith, 

 Churchill & Scribner was formed, with Mr. Churchill as the 



active partner, to 

 do a general im- 

 port and domestic 

 business in linens. 

 This firm after- 

 ward became 

 Smith & Church- 

 ill, and still later 

 J. Gait Smith & 

 Co. Upon the 

 death of Mr. 

 Smith, a few years 

 ago, Mr. Churchill 

 retired from busi- 

 ness. 



In 1897 Mr. 

 Churchill was 

 stricken with a se- 

 vere illness. He 

 spent a winter in 

 Cairo, Egypt, and 

 returned to America, but as his health was still impaired, he 

 was obliged to again seek the milder climate of Egypt and 

 continental Europe. He returned home in August last, but 

 was still confined to the house and latterly to his bed. Mr. 

 Churchill left a widow, a son, and a daughter — George A. H. 

 Churchill, vice president of The Gloucester Manufacturing 

 Co., of New Jersey, and Mrs. Harold H. J. Baring, who resides 

 at High Beech, Loughton, Essex county, England. Mr. 

 Churchill had spent most of the past three summers with Mrs. 

 Baring in England. 



At the funeral the pallbearers were : L. C. Ivory, of the Chi- 

 cago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad. New York ; Hon. Lewis 

 D. Apsley, Hudson, Mass. ; George B. Hodgman, New York ; 

 James Kipp, New York [the three latter being members of the 

 rubber trade] ; Colonel James M. Moore, U. S. army, re- 

 tired ; James Boyd Wier, New York; Henry M. Harley, Glou- 

 cester, N. J .; and Henry M. Shoemaker, of the Cmcinnati, 

 Hamilton and Dayton railroad. New York. 



Mr. Churchill had a rare faculty for making friends among 

 the leaders in the trade that almost amounted to genius. 

 Personally he was an unusually fine looking man, of courtly 

 address, and one who bore evidence in every way of being a 

 finished man of the world. In all his business relations his at- 

 titude was that of a trusted friend, or an adviser to look after 

 the interests of his client in special lines, rather than one who 

 was a merchant marketing a specific product. He will long be 

 remembered as one whose visits were always welcome, and al- 

 though his illness kept him out of active business for a number 

 of years, he was by no means forgotten by the trade which knew 

 him best. 



JOHN A. CHURCHILL. 



lAMES DICK. 



James Dick, surviving partner of R. & J. Dick, of the 

 Greenhead rubber works, Glasgow, Scotland, died at his 

 home in that city on March 7. In 1846, the brothers Robert 

 and James Dick, being unemployed, bought a pound of Gutta- 

 percha shoe soles (then a new article in the trade) and a 3 

 shilling can of solution, with a card of instructions for soling 

 shoes. The same day, though not shoemakers, they heeled 

 and soled with the Gutta-percha three pairs of shoes, and did 

 it so well that they were led to open a shop for the sale of shoe 

 soles and other articles made by the Gutta-percha company. 

 Before the end of the year they started, en a small scale, mak- 

 ing leather shoes with Gutta-percha bottoms. They were 

 favored by the cheapness of Gutta-percha — at times not above 

 9(/ per pound — and were able to produce shoes at a cost of 4.? 

 ()d, which working people bought at 51 the pair, and in time 

 built up a large trade, extending to goods of better grades. 

 Their shoe trade has since continued, and a few years ago it 

 was stated that, for a quarter of a century, the output had 

 averaged 20,000 pairs per week, of boots and shoes for men 

 and women. The firm became prosperous, and in 1865 James 

 Dick purchased Cathkin Braes and presented the park to the 

 citizens of Glasgow, as a souvenir of his marriage with Miss 

 Macdonald. 



Subsequently Mr. Dick traveled extensively, retiring from 

 the business, which was carried on single-handed, for six years 

 by his brother Robert. It was the latter who was responsible 

 largely for the successful introduction of a patented Gutta- 

 percha, canvas, and Balata belting, which has come into such 

 wide use. Robert Dick died in August, 1891, leaving a personal 

 estate appraised at Glasgow at ^268,582 [=$1,342,910]. The 

 business reverted to James, who has stated that the question 

 confronted him whether he should return to business, or bring 

 the old firm to a close. Taking into consideration the large 

 number of persons more or less dependent upon the business, 

 he decided that it was his duty to take on the yoke once more, 

 and he remained in charge of the business until his death. 



At the celebration of the semi-centennial jubilee of the Dick 

 firm in 1898, the lord provost of Glasgow remarked that few 

 men having the wealth of James Dick were willing to devote 

 themselves so thoroughly as he had done for the benefit of the 

 community. He was never appealed to in vain for objects of 

 charity or public benefit, though he insisted that his name 

 should not be published as a donor to them. He had then 

 lately presented a public library and museum to Kilmarnock. 

 It was stated that between 800 and 900 employes were at work 

 in the Greenhead factory, and that _,^2,ooo,ooo in wages had 

 been disbursed during 50 years. At the jubilee the employes 

 presented to Mr. Dick an address in a gold casket, and to Mrs. 

 Dick a jeweled bracelet. 



Mr. Dick bequeathed a liberal sum for distribution among 

 his late employes, and ^100,000 to various Glasgow char- 

 ities. 



K. T. B. SPADER. 



Krosen Ten Broeck Spader died at New Brunswick, New 

 Jersey, on February 9. He was born near Readington, in that 

 state, October 18, 1822, and was graduated from Rutgers Col- 

 lege in 1845. He was engaged in teaching and connected with 

 various mercantile houses, until March, 1853, when he was 

 elected secretary of the New Brunswick Rubber Co., which 

 position he held until January 15, 1893 — or within a few weeks 

 of forty years — when he retired from active business life. This 

 was at the time that the factory came under control of the United 

 States Rubber Co. Mr. Spader was during this long period in 

 full.charge of the financial affairs of the company, enjoying the 



