The Cyclopædia of American biography.

PROUTY

PROUTY

PROUTY, Charles Newton, manufacturer, b. 6 October, 1842, on a farm in Spencer,
Massachusetts; d. there 16 January, 1916,
son of Isaac and Mary Anne (Newton)
Prouty. His mother was a daughter of Charles
Newton and Sophia (Browning) Newton.
His first American ancestor was Richard
Prouty, who came from Gloucestershire,
England, in 1667, and settled in Scituate, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts. "Captain"
Isaac Prouty, the father of the subject of this
biography, was in the fourth generation from
Richard Prouty. He was married twice and
had eleven children, Charles being the first
child of the second marriage. Their home was
on a farm located about four miles north of
the center of the town, in high and rugged
country, in a small community known as
North Spencer. This' community had its own
store and was far enough away from the
center of the town to have a life of its own.
As a boy Captain Prouty learned the shoemaker's trade. With his home and family established on this farm he naturally looked to his
early trade for occupation during the long
winter. The farmers in the neighborhood,
having time on their hands during the winter
season, were glad to find occupation assisting
him in the making o'f farmers' boots in the
little workship near his home. Isaac Prouty
soon had a real business established. He
bought leather in the Boston and New York
markets and hauled it a long five miles from
the railroad station to his, farm factory. Here
with the help of his neighbors it was made into boots which were packed and hauled back
again the same long five-mile trip to the railroad where they were shipped to markets in
Boston and New York. It was in this healthful atmosphere of the country that Charles
Newton Prouty spent a portion of his boyhood. He saw the work go on and drove often with the load of boots being taken to the
railroad for shipment. He remembered when
in the panic of 1851 his father, unable always
to receive payment for his goods in money,
took flour or merchandise which he in turn
distributed to pay his neighbors for their
work. The boot business which had become
more important than the ifarm work had developed to the point where in 1851 a fair sized
factory was built in the center of the town of
Spencer. The family then moved from the
farm to a new home in the town. His school
life which had been begun in the little red
brick school house still standing in North
Spencer was continued in the school of the
town until he was seventeen years of age,
when he spent a year in the varied duties of
clerk in a general store in Spencer in which
his father was a partner. Here the farmers
brought their butter, eggs and other farm
products and traded them for flour, coffee,
tea, cotton and woolen cloths. This experience with its long hours and many practical
lessons he always' regarded as of great value.
After this year came two years of study at
the Academy in Wilbraham, Massachusetts.
On his return he at once entered into the active work of the boot business, then well
established in Spencer under the firm name
of Isaac Prouty and Company. His vigor of

body, tireless energy and constant application
soon gave him a complete knowledge of the
routine work of the business and in January,
1864, when he was little more than twentyone years of age, he was admitted as an equal
partner in the firm with his father and his
two older brothers, Lewis and George. As a
workman and a foreman under his father he
had acquired a thorough insight into working
conditions, managing of men, gaining their
confidence and inspiring their loyalty. At
twenty-six he was made superintendent of the
factory where he had an opportunity to become acquainted with general business problems. His ambition and eager interest kept
him closely in touch with his oldest brother,
Lewis, who by this time was the active manager of the business. The sudden death of his
father and of his brother Lewis from pneumonia within a week of one another, early in
January, 1872, seemed a catastrophe and developed at once a critical situation. Charles,
then' only a young man of twenty-nine, realized that the management of the business
devolved upon him. He had had no experience outside the factory; no acquaintance with
the buying of leather or selling of the produce,
or with the financial management. He took up
these problems, however, with courage, and
his quick, resourceful mind enabled him to
meet the situations as they arose. The first
business year was happily a fortunate one.
The profits were larger than during any previouls year in the history of the business and
he at once made plans to enlarge the factory.
The first factory built in the town had already
been abandoned by his father and his brother
Lewis in favor of a larger and better situated
building. The new factory was equipped with
a boiler and steam engine. Up to this time
the work had been done entirely by hand and
foot power. The twenty years following firom
1872 were years of continuous growth and
prosperity. The larger problems of a growing
business arose and were met in a strong and
vigorous fashion. In 1886 the labor union
movement which for some time had been developing with its minor strikes and aggravations, made a culminating effort in a great
strike which closed the plant, the first time in
its history, for about two months. The strike
involved most of the boot manufacturers in
Worcester County and resulted in the devellopment of the free shop movement. In
this fight Mr. Prouty was one of the leaders
and during all his later life was a strong supporter of the free or open shop principle. In
spite of the pressure brought to bear at various times in, later years his company has continuously been maintained as an open shop.
As early as 1875 Mr. Prouty saw that boots
were likely to be replaced by shoes. He at once
began the manufacture of shoes and developed this new branch of the business rapidly
until it soon became the principal part of the
factory output. The increased business required further enlargements' of the factory,
and construction either of new buildings or
improvement of the old was almost continuous. The manufacture of the wood and paper
boxes required by the company came as a natural development of his far-sighted policy.

230