When I stepped into forge at the Saugus Iron Works in Saugus, Massachusetts, I got the same feeling as I did when I toured The Fairbanks House, the oldest frame house in North America. The Saugus Iron Works is The National Park Service’s replication of Hammersmith, the first successful integrated ironworks in this country. A five-hundred pound hammer stands where the original hammer was found at excavation and where it purified and molded iron from 1648 through the 1650’s. Jonas Fairbanks worked at the forge in 1651 and 1652 on the very spot where I stood during the recent tour. This propelled my research into the Fairbanks Family’s participation in the further development of this country.

Hammersmith or Saugus Iron Works, historically in Lynn Massachusetts, now known as Saugus, Massachusetts, was, at that time, technologically ranked among the top ironworks in the world. It brought a spirit of industry, enterprise, and independence to those who worked there and to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It also changed patterns of thought and ways of living in New England. (Hartley, page 18-20).

If you can’t visit the Saugus Iron Works it in person, tour it here, Saugus Iron Works. You can participate in the video tour of the forge where Jonas Fairbanks was employed in one of the most significant industries of its time, a predecessor of today’s steel manufacturing.

Factors That Influenced Jonas Fairbanks Interest in

Hammersmith Iron Works

Jonas Fairbanks was about nine-years-old when Jonathan and Grace Fairbanks emigrated with their six children from England in 1633, Fairbanks of Northern England. By the time Jonas was twenty-five, 1649, all of the other children in the family were married, even though two were younger. In 1651 and 1652, Jonas was employed at Hammersmith, as evidenced by the payroll of the Hammersmith Iron Works known now as the Ironworks Papers held at Baker Library at Harvard Business School today.

With some conjecture, Jonas’s involvement at the Saugus Iron Works may be traced back to the town of Dedham, Massachusetts, where his family settled in 1637.

Jonas’s introduction to minerals and mining may have come from a man in Dedham, Abraham Shaw. Shaw received the first grant to explore for and mine coal and/or iron in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in November 1637. Abraham had coal mines in England located in West Yorkshire, in the same parish from which the Fairbanks family emigrated, Fairbanks and Prescott: Their Friends and Neighbors who came to New World in the Seventeenth Century.

Jonas learned about woodworking from his father, Jonathan, who made spinning wheels to help support his family. Jonas probably spent much time with his father on cold winter days building spinning wheels in the room above the kitchen, known as the hall chamber. The skills he learned from his father may have been valuable at Hammersmith, The Fairbanks House.

Jonas was probably influenced by a friend of the family, John Prescott. He was a blacksmith. who like the Fairbanks family emigrated from Sowerby, England. He was in Watertown for five years before opening Nashaway (Lancaster, Massachusetts). Jonas would have known Prescott both in England and in the New World. His interest in working with iron could have stemmed from this relationship, John and Mary Prescott in Northern England.

Jonas was influenced by others of Dedham. Robert Crossman was an apprentice to Joseph Kingsbury, a mechanic and carpenter of Dedham. Crossman probably came to the town around 1639 and was only two years older than Jonas, Geni:Robert Crossman. No doubt, Jonas and Robert knew each other well in the small town. Dedham had only thirty families in 1637, and only forty-two men paid taxed in 1641 (Smith, page 20). Jonas and Robert Crossman were both employed at Saugus at the same time.

Dedham needed a grist mill from the beginning, the women had to grind their grain by hand mills or a the men had to take it to Watertown to a grist mill there. After an early failed attempt by Abraham Shaw to build a grist mill in Dedham, none of the townsmen had stepped up to fulfill the need by 1639.

The Charles and Neponset Rivers, the two major rivers at Dedham, didn’t have enough current to support a grist mill powered by water. Before a successful grist mill could be erected, a proper water source had to be provided. In January 1638/39, the town planned to dig a canal, called the “Ditch” between the Charles River and East Brook that fed the Neponset River. All the men in town were expected to help dig the ditch. Jonas was fifteen and expected to fill the work requirements in the town. The increased gradient between the two bodies of water created enough water flow to power a water wheel.

The selectmen of Dedham requested John Elderkin, a builder of grist mills from Lynn, MBC, to erect a grist mill on the “Ditch,” now known as Mother Brook.

By the time the first water flowed through the canal, on July 14, 1641, Jonas was seventeen. Perhaps, Jonas’s skills in woodworking and wheel making, learned from his father, and Robert Crossman’s skills in carpentry and mechanics, learned from Kingsbury, were useful to John Elderkin in building the waterwheel and grist mill. By 1643, Elderkin had returned to Lynn to build grist mills. Eight years later, both Jonas and Crossman were working at Hammersmith which had eleven waterwheels to power production of iron, The Fairbanks Role in Creating the Ditch or Mother Brook at Dedham, Massachusetts.

It isn’t clear what Jonas did in the years before going to Hammersmith. Perhaps he helped his older brother, George, in his cooper—barrel making— business. George was granted the use of timber from the town commons for his business in 1649. (DTR, page 124). The same year, Jonas, age 25, had enough assets that he was required to pay Country Rates or taxes (DTR, page 160).

Working with George, Jonas would have gained more experience in working with wood and in the use of iron. About the time Jonas left Dedham to work at Hammersmith (Saugus Iron Works) in the spring of 1651, George contracted with James Fales, as an apprentice. This lends supports to the assumption that Jonas was helping his brother, Indentured Servants, Apprentices, and Others Who Were Part of the Fairbanks Family.

Mineral and mining fever was spreading across the Massachusetts Bay Colony. People made excursions to Hammersmith to tour the dirty, noisy plant because of its novelty and status as a public service (Hartley, page 3). By 1647, Dedham was experiencing the same contagion. The selectmen were enacting legislation to encourage mining in their town (DTR, page 119-120). In 1649, three different groups of Dedham men came before the selectmen to inform them that they found metals in the vicinity. In June, the last of the three groups, Robert Crossman and Anthony Fisher gave notice of starting a mine (DTR, page 159).

Factors That May Have Taken Jonas Fairbanks to Hammersmith

John Winthrop Jr. started the first iron works in Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1645, just twelve miles east southeast of Dedham. The clerk of the ironworks at Braintree was William Osborne. The close proximity and these two men may have peaked Jonas’s interest in iron works.

In 1650, William Osborne, became the interim manager of the new Hammersmith Iron Works in Lynn (now Saugus, Massachusetts). The Braintree works had been closed down, except for the forge. Osborne managed the Hammersmith operations between the fall of 1650 and, probably, until the spring of 1651 when a new manager, John Griffin was ready to take over.

Robert Crossman, Jonas’s friend, completed his apprenticeship with Joseph Kingsbury as a mechanic and carpenter about 1642. This is indicated by his acceptance as a member of the town, being granted land in the town and eventually buying land for a house in 1644 (DTR, Pages 93, 108). Robert Crossman is on the payroll of Hammersmith the same time Jonas was working there.

We do not know when Robert Crossman or Jonas Fairbanks actually went to Hammersmith. Men were working there beginning in 1647 and they were producing iron bars by 1648 (Hartley, page 126,127) .

In 1651, it appears that Robert Crossman preceded Jonas Fairbanks to Hammersmith. In that year, the cost of the diet for Robert Crossman was paid by John Diven, the potter at the furnace. The workmen’s diet were noted as five shillings a week. Robert Crossman’s total diet was two pounds (Iron Works Papers, Page 140). Based on his diet, it shows he worked for eight weeks when Diven paid for his meals.

Later, William Osborne was reimbursed for eighteen weeks diet for Crossman. On the same page, Mr. Osborne was reimbursed for seventeen weeks of diet for Jonas Fairbanks. Further down on the same page, Osborne again paid for Robert Crossman‘s diet from the 19th of July until the 24th of December, and Jonas’s diet from the 4th of October to the 24th of December (Iron Works Papers, Page 143). Crossman was at the ironworks longer than Jonas. Perhaps he encouraged Jonas to come to help at the iron works.

Lodging for Jonas Fairbanks and Robert Crossman

A company town was formed next to the ironworks. Most of the skilled ironworkers lived in thatch roofed houses with their families in the village also called Hammersmith. Some support personnel lived with these ironworkers. Other workers, like the Scottish, lived in communal buildings.

The town was nearly self-sufficient. Families had their own gardens near their houses. Some of the workmen’s sole employment was to provide for the community, farming, caring for the animals, the gardens, hay, etc.

Since Crossman’s diet was first paid by John Diven, perhaps he lived with Diven during that period. Later, Jonas Fairbanks, Robert Crossman, and Jonathan Coventry, clerk, received room and board at the residence of William Osborne, the interim manager. His house was one mile from Hammersmith (Harley, page 143-145).

Jonas Fairbank’s Status at Hammersmith

E. N. Hartley, who wrote Iron Works on the Saugus, described Jonas and Crossman’s work as more skilled than the average worker, but probably not specialized in the making of iron.

They both earned similar wages to the clerk, Jonathan Coventry, who lived with them at William Osborne’s house.

 Both Jonas and Robert Crossman’s food allowances were entered on the Iron Work Papers with the servants at the same rate as others at five shillings a week. However, Jonas and Crossman earned more than the servants to the extent that E.N. Hartley considered them hired servants, rather than a bond servants (Hartley, page 197).

 Harley, considered that these two men, as hired servants, were contracted to work and were paid a wage plus food, housing and transportation.

Bond servants, most of the other workers, received food, clothing, shoes, medicines, tobacco and liquor, but no wages until they completed their indenture. Then they were paid according to their positions and piece work if they remained as employees.

Jonas Working in the Forge

Ten men worked in the forge. Four were specialized in making iron: two worked the fineries, one, the chafery, and one, the hammer. Jonas and Robert were considered skilled or specialized, not in producing iron, but in helping in the process. Four more were considered forge helpers and were unskilled or learning as they worked. Everyone in the forge was expected to help at all positions.

The labor at the forge was hard, heavy, noisy, dirty, and dangerous. It began when the fifty-two inch long, 290 pound pig irons were carted from the furnace to the forge. From there, the pig iron was heaved into a finery hearth and melted again. When cooled enough, a semi-molten glob was dragged out of the hearth and across iron plates on the floor to be hammered and sledged by hand, sending sparks flying as impurities shot through the air. Then the mass of soft iron was lugged onto the anvil for the 500 pound trip hammer to pummel out more impurities and shape the mass into a piece of iron that looked like an elongated dumbbell, the first shape of bar iron.

The hammer maintained a cadence, descending four times every eighth of a second, to shape the bar iron. The hammer workers were paid twice as much as others due to the dangers of the huge hammer.

The chafery preformed the last process in the forge. It finished the shaping of the iron bar to remove the last knob on the end of the bar and prepared it for sale or further processing in the rolling and slitting building. Forge workers also operated the rolling and slitting operations.

The company carpenter was Francis Perry. Perhaps Jonas and Crossman, who apprenticed in Dedham in construction and mechanics, had skills that helped in both carpentry and maintenance at the ironworks, especially with the waterwheels. There were seven waterwheels at the ironworks to power the furnace, forge and rolling and slitting operations and three more for the blacksmith and grist mill. The working parts of the tree trunk sized shaft for the hammer and huge billows needed constant attention.

Even the most specialized men in the forge were known to cut wood, dig gabro or flux, help the colliers, etc. Even, the interim manager and Jonas and Robert’s host, William Osborne, was paid for carrying pig iron from the furnace to the forge and for carting lumber and other supplies. Jonas and Crossman probably gained experience in the whole process by helping in all areas.

Eight boatmen brought raw ore up the Saugus to the ironworks in shallops, flat bottom boats, during high tide. On the return to Boston and down the coast, they took loads of finished product to be sold and iron to be processed at the forge in Braintree.

Like the boatmen, depending on the tide to navigate the Saugus River, the ironworks depended on the seasons and the weather to carry on its works. Hammersmith operated only while the water ran strong enough to power the waterwheels. Therefore production continued only about thirty weeks during the year. The operations probably began about June, when the water thawed enough to run the waterwheels, and ended sometime in December, when the water again froze.

The men at the furnace worked around the clock. The furnace, a twenty-one foot high stack was fed ore, charcoal, and flux to melt away impurities in the iron. Standing only yards away from the forge, it belched fire twenty-four hours a day. The sky around Hammersmith at night was nearly as light as daytime. The men at the forge worked a ten hour shift. The buildings were dark. However, the fires of the forges and chafery put off plenty of light and heat to work.

In 1651, Robert Crossman was paid for twelve months work (Iron Work Papers, Page 52). Like other full time workers, he assuredly did repairs, cut wood, and preformed other tasks during the winter months until the waterwheels ran again.

Jonas was a part time employee. He worked twenty-six weeks of the potential thirty in operating time in 1651 and received £16 s6 (Iron Works Papers, page 94). It appears they both worked until December 24th in 1651. (The Iron Works Papers, page 143). In 1652, Jonas worked thirty weeks and was paid for 7 months and 2 weeks of work, £20 s5. (Iron Work Papers, page 133)

It is likely that Jonas rode a horse to and from the ironworks from Dedham at the beginning and end of his work seasons. He either walked or rode the one mile between William Osborne’s house and the ironworks daily. At the time he was paid for seven months and two weeks work, he was also paid for expenses and saddle mending sundry times at £1 s2 (Iron Works Papers, page 94).

The two years that Jonas and Robert worked at Hammersmith are believed to be the industry’s most productive. After that mortgaging, bankruptcy, and law suits plagued the facility and its management.

There are no other mentions of Jonas or Crossman on the Iron Work Papers after 1652. In the summer 1652, Hammersmith’s local credit slumped and the ironworks was being mortgaged (Hartley, page 159). Osborne left the ironworks for Boston in December 1652. In later years, the ironworks became bankrupt and didn’t pay its employees over periods of time.

Jonas Fairbanks, Other Employees, and Essex County Court

Jonas worked with a wide variety of men during his employment at Hammersmith. In December 1650, the winter before Jonas’s presence at the works, sixty-two Scottish prisoners of war arrived at the ironworks as bonded servants (Hartley, page 200). They were taken captive at the Dunbar Battle of Scotland, treated badly in England, and suffered a late winter voyage to New England. Many were sick when they arrived. They brought with them their own language and culture to the workplace and became valued employees at the ironworks before their indenture was completed.

Harley called the iron workers in general, “hard-drinking and stubbornly independent” (Harley, page 10). Some of the iron workers and their families probably didn’t subscribe to the Puritan religion as did the people of the town such as: Lynn, Dedham, and most of the MBC.

The employees of the ironworks are found frequently in the records of the Essex County Quarterly Court as early as 1647. Some were summoned for rarely attending church, once or twice a year. Many of the offenses were for swearing, cursing, and assault. Most times, the infractions were associated with “drunkenness.”

There were reports of violence such as “breaking heads.” One such event happened between forge workers. There were accusations of family violence from verbal insults to wife beating and child abuse. Some of the wives were charged with verbal and physical violence against husbands, in-laws, and others. There were even threats of infidelity.

Only one Essex County Court case involved Jonas Fairbanks. He was charge with wearing great boots before he had achieved a wealth of £200. This charge was based upon a Sumptuary Law passed in October of 1651 (Hartley 203-206). This will be the topic of the next blog.

Not all the men nor attributes of the ironworks were negative. The metal industry espoused hard work, as the Puritan culture did. It also encouraged enterprise and independence. Like E.N. Hartley said, “the iron works changed the thoughts and ways of living within the colony.”

Next Up

Sumptuary Laws, Great Boots, and Charges Against Jonas Fairbanks
How much was he fined or was he acquitted?

Resources

Hammersmith (Saugus Iron Works)

Hartley, E. N. Ironworks on the Saugus, University of Oklahoma Press, 1990.

Notes: Saugus Iron Works Tour, NPS, Saugus Iron Works, Massachusetts, August 2019.Iron Works Papers: 1651-1652. Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School.

Geni: Braintree Iron Works (1643-1736)

Revolutionary War Journal: Iron Forge in Colonial America by Harry Schenawolf

The ESTABLISHMENT of the IRON INDUSTRY in AMERICA (for “Pre-American Ancestry of Our Leonard Ironwork” )

Shurtleff, Nathaniel B., ed, Records o the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay (Boston, 14 vols. in 6, 1853-54)

Hamilton, Duane. History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent

Dedham Town Records

Hill, Don Gleason. The Early records of the town of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1636-1659. 1892. https://archive.org/details/earlyrecordsofto03hill/page/n5/mode/2up

Smith, Frank. A History of Dedham, Massachusetts. The Transcript Press, Inc., Dedham, Mass. 1936. https://archive.org/details/historyofdedhamm00smit

Scottish Prisoner of War

http://scottishprisonersofwar.com/2014/02/15/unity-list-updated/

https://www.geni.com/projects/Scots-Prisoners-and-their-Relocation-to-the-Colonies-1650-1654/3465

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/clanmackaysocietyusainc/scots-for-sale-the-fate-of-the-scottish-prisoners--t660.html