March i, 1902.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER \A^ORLD 



189 



DEATHS IN THE RUBBER TRADE. 



JOHN C. EVANS. 



ON February 5 John C. Evans, president of the Milltown 

 India Rubber Co., died at his home in Milltown, N. J., 

 of congestion of the brain, after a very brief illness, in his forty- 

 seventh year. He 

 died in his native 

 town, in which he 

 had become a cen- 

 tral figure and its 

 most prominent 

 citizen, besides 

 being widely 

 known and liked 

 in the rubber 

 trade, with which 

 he had been con- 

 nected all his life. 

 The father of 

 the deceased, John 

 Evans, was born in 

 1S27, and is on 

 record as having 

 been in the em- 

 ployment of Ford 

 & Co., India-rubber manufacturers, at Milltown, as early as 1846. 

 He probably was connected with that factory from its estab- 

 lishment, in 1845. In time the Meyer Rubber Co. was estab- 

 lished at Milltown by Christopher Meyer, who became the 

 most prominent figure in the rubber industry, and later the 

 business of Ford & Co. was merged with it. John Evans, 

 whose sister Mr. Meyer had married, became the superintend- 

 ent of the Meyer factory in 1855, succeeding L. L. Hyatt — who 

 still lives, in London — and remained in that position until his 

 death, in the early eighties. John C. Evans began his educa- 

 tion in the Milltown public schools and attended the Rutgers 

 preparatory school at New Brunswick and the Pennington and 

 Hackettstown academies. On October 19, 1874, he entered 

 the Meyer factory, where he remained until after the death of 

 his father, when he succeeded to the position of superintend- 

 ent, retaining the same until May i, 1899. Mr. Evans has 

 stated to The India Rubber World that during the ten 

 years preceding the death of Christopher Meyer, the president 

 of the company, in i888, their profits averaged at least $150,- 

 000 a year, on a capital of $200,000. The Meyer factory was 

 acquired by the United States Rubber Co., and finally closed, 

 its product being combined with that of the New Jersey Rub- 

 ber Shoe Co., at New Brunswick. 



The village of Milltown being thus deprived of its leading 

 industry, and the population being composed largely of trained 

 rubber workers who owned their homes, and were not disposed 

 either to engage in another industry or leave Milltown, Mr. 

 Evans led a movement to establish a new rubber shoe factory 

 there. Through his efforts the Milltown India Rubber Co., 

 with $200,000 capital, was organized, and a well equipped fac- 

 tory erected, which was formally opened August 27, 1900, with 

 Mr. Evans as president and general manager. The leading 

 business men of the village became stockholders, as also did 

 some of the employes, the idea being in a measure to make the 

 company a cooperative affair. 



Mr. Evans was a director of the National Bank of New Jer- 

 sey, vice president of the New Brunswick Savings Institution, 

 director of the Milltown Building and Loan Association, presi- 

 dent of the Milltown board of education, and a trustee of the 



Methodist Episcopal church at Milltown. He was elected 

 mayor of Milltown when that borough was first organized and 

 served until early in 1901, when he declined a renomination. 

 He was a member of the Union Club, of New Brunswick. 



On October 22, 1885, Mr. Evans was married to Miss Mary 

 Austin, of New Haven, Connecticut, who survives, with five 

 children— John, Marie, Herbert, Austin, and Gladys. The cel- 

 ebration of the fifteenth anniversary of their wedding, in 1900, 

 was largely attended by their friends, from near and far. Mr. 

 Evans leaves a brother, Alfred Evans, of Indianapolis, Indiana, 

 and four sisters, who live in Milltown and New Brunswick. 



WILLIAM H. SALISBURY. 



The veteran rubber man, William H. Salisbury, died in Chi- 

 cago, on February 19, at the ripe age of 85 years. He was born 

 in Springfield, Vermont, August 17, 1817, and was the oldest son 



of General Moses 

 B.Salisbury. His 

 parents were na- 

 tives of Rhode Isl- 

 and, and when the 

 son had reached 

 the age of two 

 years, they re- 

 turned to their na- 

 tive state, where 

 his youth and 

 early manhood 

 was passed. At a 

 very early age he 

 manifested a 

 marked taste for 

 mechanical pur- 

 suits. When 

 twelve years old 

 he built a top 

 buggy which was really the forerunner of an exceedingly popu- 

 lar type of vehicle, for in those days the only covered carriages 

 were the old fashioned one horse chaise — all four wheelers be- 

 ing open vehicles. This was only one of many ingenious me- 

 chanical triumphs that he scored. At the age of fourteen, 

 while attending the village school, he drew plans for a church 

 which was about to be built, and which, being discovered by 

 the schoolmaster, were shown to the building committee and 

 adopted as better than the architectural plans which they were 

 considering. When he was sixteen years old his father sent 

 him to Connecticut at the head of a force of mechanics to 

 put a woolen mill in running order. Here he conceived the 

 idea of substituting the main driving belts for upright shaft- 

 ing and bevel gears. At this he was successful, and it is a 

 matter of history that this was the first mill operated in this 

 way in the United States, and probably in the world. Dur- 

 ing the next four years he was busy in building and equipping 

 woolen mills, in which business he was in practical partnership 

 with his father. During that time he invented many machines 

 and devised many plans for woolen machinery. 



In 1837, or when Mr. Salisbury was twenty years of age, 

 the woolen business being depressed, he gave that up and as- 

 sociated himself with William G. Angel, of Providence, and 

 put up a plant for the manufacture of wood screws, in which 

 business he became very successful. In 1849 he went into the 

 business of contracting and building in Providence. While 

 there he became acquainted with a wealthy resident of Au- 

 gusta, Georgia, who persuaded him to go to the latter city un- 

 der a three years' contract, where he erected many fine build- 



