January 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



265 



The Obituar}^ Record 



Colonel Harry E. Converse 



PRESIDENT OF THE BOSTON RUBBER SHOE CO. 



COLONEL Harry E. Converse, president of the Boston Rubber 

 Shoe Co., Maiden, Massachusetts, and for many years one 

 of the prominent figures in the American rubber trade, died 

 of heart failure at his country estate, "The Moorings," in Marion, 



Massachusetts, December 

 8, aged 57. He had been 

 in failing health for more 

 than a year. 



Colonel Converse was 

 born in Maiden in 1863, 

 the son of the late Elislia 

 Slade Converse, founder 

 of the Boston Rubber 

 Shoe Co., first mayor of 

 Maiden and popularly re- 

 garded as Maiden's "grand 

 old man." Following his 

 education in the public 

 schools and in the 

 Chauncy Hall School, of 

 Boston, he entered hts 

 father's employ as office 

 boy in 1882 and soon pro- 

 cured a lumper's job. 

 After two years he was 

 called into the office, where 

 he successively filled sev- 

 eral responsible positions. 

 being appointed assistant general manager in 1894 and general 

 manager the following year. On the death of his father he was 

 elected president and a director of the company. 



In 1899 Colonel Converse was made a director of the United 

 States Rubber Co., succeeding George A. Lewis, resigned, and 

 also became a director of the Bay State Rubber Co., Boston 

 Rubber Co., American Rubber Co., Revere J^ubber Co., Glen- 

 dale Elastic Fabric Co., and Rubber Manufacturers' Mutual In- 

 surance Co. 



He was also identified with numerous other business interests, 

 having been a director of the Cotton & Woolen Manufacturers' 

 Insurance Co. of New England, Industrial Mutual Insurance Co.. 

 Broadway Storage Co., East Boston Dry Dock Co., Metropolitan 

 Storage Warehouse Co., Touraine Confectionery Co., Glenark 

 Knitting Co., Export Lumber Co., and the First National Bank 

 of Maiden. He was trustee of the Maiden Hospital, Maiden 

 Savings Bank, the Soldiers Home in Chelsea and the estate of 

 Elisha Slade Converse. 



Prominent in public life as well, he served two years in tlie 

 Maiden city council, was for several years fire commissioner of 

 that city, a quartermaster in the state militia, and as a member 

 of the staff of Governor Wolcott, with the rank of colonel, went 

 to the front during the Spanish-American war. His public spirit 

 was further shown by building the Maiden Auditorium and its 

 annex in order to give that city high-class amusements. 



Yachting was his favorite diversion in leisure hours and he 

 became one of the most prominent yachtsmen in the East, being 

 a member of the New York, Larchmont, Eastern, Boston and 

 Beverly Yacht Clubs. At "The Moorings," his 6S-acre estate 

 overlooking Buzzards Bay, a place of much hospitality in past 

 years, a wireless telegraph system kept him in constant touch 

 with his several yachts when they were in surrounding waters. 

 Colonel Converse was a thirty-second degree Mason and a 

 member of numerous associations and clubs, including The Rub- 

 ber Association of America, Chamber of Commerce of the United 

 States of America, Boston Chamber of Commerce, Home Market 



Club, Real Estate Exchange of Boston, Boston Athletic Asso- 

 ciation, Brookline Country Qub, Boston Art Club, and the 

 .\Igonquin and Exchange Clubs of Boston. 



He is survived by his widow, Mary Caroline (Parker) Con- 

 verse; two sisters, Mrs. Costello C. Converse and Mrs. Lester 

 Leiand, both of Boston; three sons, Parker Converse, Roger 

 Wolcott Converse, and Elisha Edmands Converse of California; 

 and two daughters, Mrs. Margaret Butler of Chicago, and Mrs. 

 Mary E'ssick of Oregon. 



The funeral took place at the Converse homestead in Maiden. 

 Interment was in the family lot at Woodland Cemetery that city. 



Colonel Converse was a type of the 100 per cent American, a 

 worthy successor of his honored father, trusted and respected by 

 his business associates, beloved by all who knew him. His un- 

 timely death comes as a distinct shock to the rubber trade, by 

 which his passing will be generally mourned. 



FORMER DIRECTOR OF TOE UNITED STATES RUBBER CO. 



Commodore Elias Cornelius Benedict, banker, broker, rubber 

 planter and yachtsman, whose death, late in November, was briefly, 

 noted in the December issue of The India Rubber World, was 

 for some three score years one of the most picturesque outstand- 

 ing figures of the 

 American financial 

 world, and long 

 prominently identi- 

 fied with the rub- 

 ber industry. 



Born in Som- 

 ers, New Yorlq 

 January 24, 1834, 

 the son of the late 

 Rev. Henry Bene- 

 dict and Mary 

 Betis Lockwood 

 Benedict, he re- 

 ceived his educa- 

 tion in the schools 

 of Westport, Con- 

 necticut, and Buf- 

 falo, New York, 

 where he spent 

 part of his youth. 

 When 15 years old 

 he became clerk in 

 Commodore E. C. Benedict (|,p ^Vall street 



office of Corning & Co. In 1857 he succeeded to this business and 

 organized the firm of Benedict & Co., in 1863 becoming a member 

 of the New York Stock Exchange. In 1871, Roswell P. Flower, 

 later Governor of New York, joined Commodore Benedict and 

 the name of the firm was changed to Benedict, Flower & Co. 

 This continued for four years, when Commodore Benedict or- 

 ganized the present firm of E. C. Benedict & Co. 



He played an important part in the early financial life of New 

 York City, and with his brother organized the Gold Exchange 

 Bank, which grew out of the gold speculation of the 60's and 70's. 

 He specialized in gas slocks and was for some time president 

 of the Commercial Acetylene Co., vice-president of the Indian- 

 apolis Gas Co., president of the Greenwich Construction Co., and 

 for many years a director of the United States Rubber Co., and 

 its subsidiary the General Rubber Co., until he resigned in 1914. 

 Ever a hearty believer in outdoor sports for the business man, 

 his particular hobby was yachting. He owned several large steam 

 yachts at various times in which he cruised to all parts of the 

 world, and, as Commodore of the New York Yacht Club and 



