Smith Ely
Smith Ely was born May 22nd, 1800 in Livingston, Essex County, New Jersey. He was the son of Moses Ely and the brother of Eugene Ely's father Moses Jr.. His Uncle Peter Cook was George Cook's father.
Smith's father had a very successful leather business that extended all the way to Boston. But, Smith was into woodworking and making chairs was his specialty.
Smith moved to New York City in 1823 and bought property at 36 Broad Street and 32 New Street. Over the next 11 years he had three different partners (Edwards, Nuttman and Smith). He made what’s believed to be the first Colonial Revival piece—a cane-backed chair. He would sell his undecorated chairs to other manufacturers who then decorated and sold them. Smith Ely also had a contract with the Connecticut State Prison in Wethersfield to assemble his unfinished chairs for him. His chairs today are very collectible.
How Smith came to be acquainted with Caleb is unknown. But, they were close enough to associate with his family because in 1830 he married Caleb's sister Abigail. He even had the marriage performed in Concord, New Hampshire, where she had been living with her widowed mother.
Also during this time he had studied to become a lawyer and became a partner with Caleb Bartlett's brother Richard in his law practice in New York City. But, the law didn't interest him as much as his chair making.
Also during this time he had studied to become a lawyer and became a partner with Caleb Bartlett's brother Richard in his law practice in New York City. But, the law didn't interest him as much as his chair making.
By 1834 Smith purchased 71 Fulton. It contained a factory and a home. He now went into business with his brother-in-law Caleb, making playing cards with him. The property was listed as a Commission Paper Warehouse and Playing Card, Glass and Paper manufactory.
In 1836 Smith moved into a bigger and fancier home. Hatter and real estate businessman Elisha Bloomer had just built two 25 foot wide side by side homes at 712-714 Broadway. They went for $30,000 each--about $850,000 today. He included restrictive covenants into the deeds, demanding "whereas the two houses are built in such style and manner as to present an entire front of great beauty and elegance, and the marring and defacing or alteration of either might depreciate the value of the other," neither could be altered without the consent of the "neighboring owner.” (Bloomer's daughter would marry George Cook in 1847)
Smith purchased number 714. It was also just a short walk to his church where P. T. Barnum and Horace Greeley also attended.
Smith purchased number 714. It was also just a short walk to his church where P. T. Barnum and Horace Greeley also attended.
712-714 Broadway
In 1841 his building at 32 New Street (the Baldwin & Cook Chair Factory) caught fire and his stock suffered major damage but was insured. The Fire Department suspected arson.
The next year Smith was going bankrupt. He was greatly overextended. His bankruptcy listed the following properties he had to sell;
71 Beekman House and land
71 Fulton House and land
36 Broad Street House and land
Newark, New Jersey 7 lots and a number of small pieces of acreage
Hamburg, Erie Co., New York 41 acres
Livingston, Essex Co., New Jersey Unstated amount of acreage
Bledsoe Co., Tennessee 4,000 acres
Pike Co., Illinois 160 acres
Alton, Madison Co., Illinois 150 acres
Belvidere, Warren Co., New Jersey 290 acres
Henrico Co., Virginia 300 acres (Hall’s Plantation) and 350 acres (Leaper’s Plantation)
Richmond, Virginia 244 ½ acres and 6 acres of Mrs. Child’s Plantation 300 acres of the Eight Share Tract
He also had many outstanding notes;
Baldwin & Cook $10,546
Abbot & Ely $4,724
Henry Exall $7,570
Attorney Fees $1,500
Judgements Owed $8,000
84 Misc.Notes $9,000
Elisha Bloomer $10,000
Other Accounts $12,000
(A total of around $3 million today)
He was also to give up stock in a riverboat, his shares in the Brattleboro Typographical Company and his half Interest in Ely & Bartlett. Plus, he owed the State Prison of Connecticut $22,000 ($900,000 today) based on a note for Fulton Street.
Smith then became a commercial merchant at 79 Fulton with his nephew Eugene Ely and his son. They mainly dealt in paper.
Smith started rebuilding his life. Then in 1854 he sued George Cook about something to do with his bankruptcy and was due some money. It ruined George. (See the George Cook page)
Soon Ely was doing well enough he had a place in New Brighton, New Jersey, and then Staten Island. He was also producing rattan chairs. Smith was now called Smith & Company. In 1863 he was buying stock in the Vermont Copper Mining Company and within two years he became the President of the company. Smith then owned 67,000 0f the 100,000 company shares. The mine was making $300,000 a year or over $7 million today.
Ely poured his fortune into the mine and was rewarded during the 1870s, when production and prices, and therefore profits, soared. The company expanded its smelting plant, which soon stretched to 700 feet in length and contained 24 furnaces. Sections of the mine were extended to a depth of 1,000 feet. By 1874 he owned 333,000 shares at $5 a share or $45 million today.
The Vermont Copper Mining Company (Vershire, Vermont)
In 1876 Smith made a mistake. He brought in his grandson, the awkwardly named Ely Ely-Goddard. (Shown on the left)
Ely-Goddard’s actions and appearance did nothing to win him friends among the hard-laboring miners. Among the dozens of common workers’ houses and the massive smelter at the center of town, he chose to build a large, elegant mansion, which he named Elysium.
Ely sported a wide mustache waxed to pointed perfection, and favored fancy parties, ornate uniforms (he had gotten himself appointed colonel in the state militia) and handsome horses and coaches. He was also, it was whispered and later alleged in court, involved with a married woman.
What qualified Ely-Goddard to run a copper mine was unclear. Probably nothing. But he was willing to do almost anything to gain his grandfather’s favor. He was even willing to change his name. Born Ely Goddard, he apparently decided that having his grandfather’s surname as his first name wasn’t enough, so he also appended it with a hyphen to his last.
Ely-Goddard went a step further in 1879, after he had managed to get himself elected to the Legislature. He successfully orchestrated a petition, asking the Legislature to change the town’s name from Vershire to Ely. In 1882 as a measure of the failing fortunes of the mine, and the Ely family, the townspeople successfully petitioned to have the name changed back to Vershire. The company was in a downward spiral. The mine was producing less copper, which due to falling prices netted diminished returns. Unable to meet payroll, mine operators started firing workers.
Mine executives decided to invest $50,000 ($1 million today) in new equipment in the belief that richer ore could be found at greater depths. The company fell $200,000 in debt.
Given the financial and personal turmoil surrounding the company, it is plausible that the company couldn’t make payroll in July 1883. But the miners, who saw the luxury of Ely- Goddard’s lifestyle, found the claim hard to swallow.
The labor strife, since dubbed the “Ely War,” erupted in July 1883 after the company posted a notice that the mine would close unless the laborers took a pay cut. Company officials said they could only pay the laborers’ back wages if furnace workers agreed to smelt the supply of copper ore on hand.
The roughly 300 workers still employed at the mine demanded their back wages be paid immediately. Some threatened to ransack the town, even dynamite company property, if they weren’t paid. On a Sunday night, company officials spirited away important papers for safekeeping. On Monday, the workers took action. When the company store opened that morning, 150 men, women and children stormed in and emptied the place. Since they hadn’t been paid, workers and their families had run low on essentials. Then a mob descended on Ely-Goddard’s mansion. He wasn’t home, but his assistant, Charley McCarthy, persuaded the crowd to leave the house unharmed.
Next, the mob marched on nearby West Fairlee, where the elderly Smith Ely was staying. Ely’s friend, Civil War General Stephen Thomas, met them at the door, pistol in hand. The crowd backed off, but soon returned. This time, McCarthy, who had since arrived on the scene, persuaded the miners to form a committee and meet with Ely, who was sick in bed.
One newspaper reported that Ely said he understood the miners’ plight. “This mine belongs to the working man,” he was quoted as saying. He pinned the blame for their troubles on his mining engineer Cazin. “I own the house in which Cazin lives and you may take and unroof it as far as I am concerned.”
The company treasurer telegraphed executives, informing them of the situation. The sheriff and a posse traveled to Vershire, but retreated under a torrent of jeers. The company lawyer, and former governor, Roswell Farnham wrote to Gov. John Barstow, requesting the militia be called out.
As militia members prepared to enter the town, many feared that bloodshed was inevitable. At about 7 a.m., troops crested a hill and looked down into the heart of Vershire. They saw no one. As they walked into the apparently sleepy town, they noticed people peeking from windows. Soon men, women and children began to wander out of their homes to meet them. The miners offered no resistance. Twelve men identified as the leaders were arrested and taken off to jail in Chelsea. They would be released two days later by the state’s attorney.
Seeing that the crazed mob they had been called upon to contain was actually a group of hungry miners and their families, the militia members took pity. They began passing out their rations to the crowd. Several hours later, with the town peaceful, the militia departed without firing a shot.
The next year on Saturday, July 28th, in his 85th year Smith Ely died suddenly of heart failure while dressing for dinner.
By 1888, like the miners themselves, the Ely mine was on its last legs. Company officials succumbed to the inevitable and declared bankruptcy. The miners never did receive their back wages.