Calvin Carver Damon

The Damons were a mill-owning family in Concord, Massachusetts. Calvin Carver Damon was born in 1803 in Amherst, N.H. and died in 1854 in Concord, Massachusetts. In 1834 he bought a cotton mill in West Concord that had been established in 1808 by Ephraim Hartwell of New Ipswich, N.H. and John Brown of Concord. Hartwell and Brown had purchased the mill property from Ezra and Lot Conant, in whose family it had been since 1714. In 1831, Hartwell’s nephew, Ephraim Hartwell Bellows sold the mill to Elisha Parks and Thomas Lord, who sold it in 1833 to James Derby of Exeter, N.H., who sold it to Calvin Damon. Calvin Damon produced a cotton and wool flannel known as domet (domett) cloth. Edward Carver Damon, a son of Calvin and Rebecca Poor Farnum of Andover, was born in 1836 and died in 1901 in Concord. He took over management of the mill business upon his father’s death. Damon Mill under Edward’s direction made cloth for Union Army uniforms during the Civil War. A wooden building of 1808 burned in 1862 and was replaced by the brick building that still stands. Edward’s brother Benjamin was briefly a partner (1866). In 1864 his cousin Henry F. Smith bought one-third interest, which continued until 1876. Edward then formed a partnership (1876-1880) with Edward P. Almy. In 1889, Edward became treasurer of the business with his son Ralph as president and the mill property was mortgaged to the Middlesex Institution for Savings. Changes in and decline of the textile industry led to ultimate foreclosure on the mill in 1898. Edward and Anne Damon were leaders in the civic and social life of Westvale in particular and Concord in general. Edward, member of many boards and committees, was a selectman, water commissioner (1872-1900), and School Committee member. He was also president of the Concord National Bank, member of the Concord Farmers’ Club, Concord Saturday Club, Concord Antiquarian Society, Social Circle in Concord, and the Trinitarian Congregational Church. Anne was a member of the School Committee and a director of Concord Home for the Aged.