Henry Coffin Nevins
Encyclopedia
Col. Henry Coffin Nevins (10 January 1843 – 25 June 1892) was a industrialist from an established New England family
in the city of Methuen, Massachusetts
.
, who was born in Salem, New Hampshire
on December 12, 1809, to John Nevins and Achsah Nevins née Swan. Henry Nevins' mother was Elizabeth 'Eliza' Coffin, the daughter of a wealthy merchant from the island
of Nantucket named Jared Coffin. David Sr., who built his personal wealth through importing and manufacturing
textiles, gained notoriety as the co-owner of Pemberton Mill
, the collapse of which in 1860 "is likely the worst industrial accident in Massachusetts history" and "one of the worst industrial calamities in American history".
Henry and elder brother David Nevins, Jr.
, took on ever-increasing responsibilities as their father aged. For a time Henry managed the City Exchange Banking Company, a Boston
-based bank
that was eventually merged with the Nevinses' other businesses. The "Methuen Duck Cloth" the Nevinses manufactured was world-renowned as a material for sail cloth and tents for the tropics.
After David Sr.'s death in 1881, the family's wealth was such that his widow
Eliza, his eldest son David C, Nevins, and his younger son Henry Coffin Nevins were able to erect the Nevins Memorial Library
in his honor. David, Sr., and Eliza are buried on the library grounds beneath a memorial "Angel of Life" sculptured by George Moretti in 1896.
Henry and David, Jr., expanded the manufacturing and importing businesses they had inherited
. They built textile mills and owned the India Bagging Company and Bengal Bagging Company in Salem, Massachusetts
, continued importing goods from Asia
, and helped give the city of Methuen "much of its
unique identity."
Henry Coffin Nevins married Julia Du Gay of Paris but they had no children. He was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery
beneath a limestone
monument
of cherub
s and palm
frond
s designed by Augustus St. Gaudens. At the cost of over fifty thousand dollars, his wife dedicated to her husband, in the nave
of the local Congregationalist Church, "The Resurrection", a stained glass window designed by John LaFarge
and "said to be (one of) his masterpieces."
He was remembered posthumously in a recollection of:
With few close relatives, his wife became a widow
philanthropist
much like her sister-in-law Harriet Nevins
. She left New England
and lived an international life, establishing homes in Paris
, at the Hotel Savoy in New York City
, and Washington, D.C.
, where she died.
Upon her death, "Mrs. Julie F.H. Nevins" willed funds for the construction of the Henry C. Nevins Home for Aged and Incurables
, an old age home established in 1906. Julia was living in New York City at the time of her death and the New York Times ran a story about her $1 million gift. The rest of her estate amounted to around $1.2 million and was inherited
by her sister Antoinette Lees (wife of Capt. George Cholmondeley
of the Grenadier Guards
) in London
, to her "faithful maid
" Margaret Young, Werner von Blomberg
's wife Eva, and others. According to one author, "The public spirit and generosity of the Nevins family seems to have no bounds in the town in which they made their home".
Mrs. Henry C. Nevins was buried with her husband in Cambridge, Massachusetts
. Her will included provisions for "rose
s, Easter lilies
, sweet pea
s, and pansies
" to be displayed on the couple's grave
on appropriate holidays.
Henry Coffin Nevins' surname
(as well as that of fellow "Methuen city fathers" Edward F. Searles and Charles H. Tenney
) appears in the name of the "Searles Tenney Nevins Historic District" established by the City of Methuen in 1992 to preserve the "distinctive architecture and rich character of one of Massachusetts’ most unique neighborhoods". According to the City of Methuen:
According to a description by the Essex National Heritage Area, the district:
Boston Brahmin
Boston Brahmins are wealthy Yankee families characterized by a highly discreet and inconspicuous life style. Based in and around Boston, they form an integral part of the historic core of the East Coast establishment...
in the city of Methuen, Massachusetts
Methuen, Massachusetts
Methuen is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 43,789 at the 2000 census.-History:Methuen was first settled in 1642 and was officially incorporated in 1726; it is named for the British diplomat Sir Paul Methuen. Methuen was originally part of Haverhill,...
.
Life
Nevins was the son of David Nevins, Sr.David Nevins, Sr.
David C. Nevins, Sr. was a wealthy New England industrialist. Born in Salem, New Hampshire, he owned the Pemberton Mill in nearby Lawrence, Massachusetts...
, who was born in Salem, New Hampshire
Salem, New Hampshire
Salem is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 28,776 at the 2010 census. Salem is a marketing and distributing center north of Boston, with a major amusement attraction, Canobie Lake Park, and a large shopping mall, the Mall at Rockingham Park.- History :The...
on December 12, 1809, to John Nevins and Achsah Nevins née Swan. Henry Nevins' mother was Elizabeth 'Eliza' Coffin, the daughter of a wealthy merchant from the island
The Islands (Massachusetts)
The Islands is the collective name for the set of large islands south of Cape Cod in the southeast corner of the U.S. state of Massachusetts: Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and the Elizabeth Islands, and a small number of minor islands...
of Nantucket named Jared Coffin. David Sr., who built his personal wealth through importing and manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
textiles, gained notoriety as the co-owner of Pemberton Mill
Pemberton Mill
The Pemberton Mill was a large factory in Lawrence, Massachusetts, which collapsed without warning on January 10, 1860 in what is likely "the worst industrial accident in Massachusetts history" and "one of the worst industrial calamities in American history"...
, the collapse of which in 1860 "is likely the worst industrial accident in Massachusetts history" and "one of the worst industrial calamities in American history".
Henry and elder brother David Nevins, Jr.
David Nevins, Jr.
David C. Nevins, Jr. was a wealthy Yankee merchant in the city of Methuen, Massachusetts during the industrial boom of the late 19th century.-Life:...
, took on ever-increasing responsibilities as their father aged. For a time Henry managed the City Exchange Banking Company, a Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
-based bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
that was eventually merged with the Nevinses' other businesses. The "Methuen Duck Cloth" the Nevinses manufactured was world-renowned as a material for sail cloth and tents for the tropics.
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
Eliza, his eldest son David C, Nevins, and his younger son Henry Coffin Nevins were able to erect the Nevins Memorial Library
Nevins Memorial Library
The Nevins Memorial Library at 305 Broadway in Methuen, Massachusetts was built in 1883 to honor David Nevins, Sr. as a memorial gift from his wife Eliza Nevins , his elder son David Nevins, Jr., and his younger son Henry Cotton Nevins...
in his honor. David, Sr., and Eliza are buried on the library grounds beneath a memorial "Angel of Life" sculptured by George Moretti in 1896.
Henry and David, Jr., expanded the manufacturing and importing businesses they had inherited
Inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies...
. They built textile mills and owned the India Bagging Company and Bengal Bagging Company in Salem, Massachusetts
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...
, continued importing goods from Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, and helped give the city of Methuen "much of its
unique identity."
Legacy
Mount Auburn Cemetery
Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded in 1831 as "America's first garden cemetery", or the first "rural cemetery", with classical monuments set in a rolling landscaped terrain...
beneath a limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
monument
Monument
A monument is a type of structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, or simply as an example of historic architecture...
of cherub
Cherub
A cherub is a type of spiritual being mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and cited later on in the Christian biblical canons, usually associated with the presence of God...
s and palm
Arecaceae
Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...
frond
Frond
The term frond refers to a large, divided leaf. In both common usage and botanical nomenclature, the leaves of ferns are referred to as fronds and some botanists restrict the term to this group...
s designed by Augustus St. Gaudens. At the cost of over fifty thousand dollars, his wife dedicated to her husband, in the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
of the local Congregationalist Church, "The Resurrection", a stained glass window designed by John LaFarge
John LaFarge
John La Farge was an American painter, muralist, stained glass window maker, decorator, and writer.-Biography:...
and "said to be (one of) his masterpieces."
He was remembered posthumously in a recollection of:
...a beautiful summer day in 1889...The marshal of the procession on that occasion was the late Henry C. Nevins, whose untimely death a few years later was deeply mourned by the entire community. He was superbly mounted, sat his horseHorseThe horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
finely, and was directly in front of the orator of the day, listening to every word with that attentive urbanity so characteristic of him.
With few close relatives, his wife became a widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
philanthropist
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
much like her sister-in-law Harriet Nevins
Harriet Nevins
Harriet Francoeur Nevins née Blackburn, , was an American philanthropist and animal rights activist born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Widow of David Nevins, Jr., she used her inheritance to leave a legacy to the people of the Bay State...
. She left New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
and lived an international life, establishing homes in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, at the Hotel Savoy in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, where she died.
Upon her death, "Mrs. Julie F.H. Nevins" willed funds for the construction of the Henry C. Nevins Home for Aged and Incurables
Henry C. Nevins Home for Aged and Incurables
Henry C. Nevins Home for Aged and Incurables was built in 1906 at 110 Broadway, Methuen, Massachusetts. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. It and the Nevins Memorial Library, located at 305 Broadway were built by for Henry C. Nevins and his family as a memorial to...
, an old age home established in 1906. Julia was living in New York City at the time of her death and the New York Times ran a story about her $1 million gift. The rest of her estate amounted to around $1.2 million and was inherited
Inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies...
by her sister Antoinette Lees (wife of Capt. George Cholmondeley
Cholmondeley
Cholmondeley can refer to:Places*Cholmondeley, Cheshire, a village in Cheshire*Cholmondeley CastlePeople*Alice Cholmondeley, a pseudonym used by Elizabeth von Arnim for her book Christine*David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley Cholmondeley can refer to:Places*Cholmondeley, Cheshire, a...
of the Grenadier Guards
Grenadier Guards
The Grenadier Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It is the most senior regiment of the Guards Division and, as such, is the most senior regiment of infantry. It is not, however, the most senior regiment of the Army, this position being attributed to the Life Guards...
) in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, to her "faithful maid
Maid
A maidservant or in current usage housemaid or maid is a female employed in domestic service.-Description:Once part of an elaborate hierarchy in great houses, today a single maid may be the only domestic worker that upper and even middle-income households can afford, as was historically the case...
" Margaret Young, Werner von Blomberg
Werner von Blomberg
Werner Eduard Fritz von Blomberg was a German Generalfeldmarschall, Minister of War and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces until January 1938.-Early life:...
's wife Eva, and others. According to one author, "The public spirit and generosity of the Nevins family seems to have no bounds in the town in which they made their home".
Mrs. Henry C. Nevins was buried with her husband in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. Her will included provisions for "rose
Rose
A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...
s, Easter lilies
Easter lily
An Easter lily may refer to a number of flowers connected with Easter:*Lilium longiflorum, scented lily, commonly called Easter lily in North America and other parts of the world, native to Japan...
, sweet pea
Sweet pea
Sweet pea is a flowering plant in the genus Lathyrus in the family Fabaceae , native to the eastern Mediterranean region from Sicily east to Crete....
s, and pansies
Pansy
The Pansy is a large group of hybrid plants cultivated as garden flowers. Pansies are derived from Viola species Viola tricolor hybridized with other viola species, these hybrids are referred to as Viola × wittrockiana or less commonly Viola tricolor hortensis...
" to be displayed on the couple's grave
Grave (burial)
A grave is a location where a dead body is buried. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as graveyards or cemeteries....
on appropriate holidays.
Henry Coffin Nevins' surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
(as well as that of fellow "Methuen city fathers" Edward F. Searles and Charles H. Tenney
Charles H. Tenney
Charles H. Tenney he was proprietor of C. H. Tenney & Co., established 1868 and would become one of the most successful commissioned merchant and hat dealers in the world; also a director of Bank of the Manhattan Company and life trustee of the Bowery Savings Bank.-Biography:Born Charles Henry,...
) appears in the name of the "Searles Tenney Nevins Historic District" established by the City of Methuen in 1992 to preserve the "distinctive architecture and rich character of one of Massachusetts’ most unique neighborhoods". According to the City of Methuen:
Today, the trio’s collective vision can be seen in millWatermillA watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...
s, housingHouseA house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
, schoolSchoolA school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s, mansionMansionA mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
s, churches, monumentMonumentA monument is a type of structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, or simply as an example of historic architecture...
s, playgroundPlaygroundA playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children be able to play there. It may be indoors but is typically outdoors...
s, the libraryLibraryIn a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
, and the architectural fantasies that resulted from their artistic rivalry. The historic district boundaries were established to include properties and buildings constructed or used by the Searles, Tenney and Nevins families and the people who worked for them.
According to a description by the Essex National Heritage Area, the district:
...reflects the major influences that shaped Methuen's architecture and economy. The Spicket RiverSpicket RiverThe Spicket River is a river located in New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the United States. It is a tributary of the Merrimack River, part of the Gulf of Maine watershed. It is sometimes spelled "Spickett"....
provided water power for the local industry housed in large brick mills along the river. Corresponding commercial growth resulted in Gaunt Square, which has been the commercial center of Methuen since the mid-19th century. In addition to economic forces, three individuals, David Nevins, Charles Tenney and Edward F. Searles, left an architectural legacy which defines the district's character today.