Josiah Kendall Proctor

History of Proctor-Silex, 1788 to 1972

By Arthur L. Redstone

PART I - JAMES SMITH CO. - 1788-1883

Eventually, management had to realize the urgency of reversing this decline. Then in 1878, the burning of their factory (well insured) supplied funds for a brand new plant at 4th St. below Race St. To infuse modern plant management into the organization, the board selected as superintendent, a handsome twenty-nine year old New Englander, Josiah Proctor. This very well groomed young man, luxuriously sideburned, had already made a name for himself as an effective supervisor with the knack of developing new machinery that worked. His activity dominates this story for the next twenty-five years.

The sea captain Peter Proctor, had retired to a firm in Chelmsford where his grandson Josiah was born in 1848 during the Polk administration. The death of his father when Josiah was but nine, restricted his formal education to the three "R's," but with constant reading and a disciplined mind, he developed excellent powers of expression. His entire personality and dress stamped him at once as a New England gentleman. Josiah indentured himself at thirteen to C.G. Sargent of nearby Granville, Mass. A year later he joined up as a drummer boy in Battery K of the 2nd mass, heavy artillery. On his return to Sargent, he quickly acquired a foremanship at only 20. His fourteen dollar per week salary, while quite good, did not satisfy his ambition, so in 1870 he struck out for Philadelphia. There he formed a partnership with Charles Lindsay to operate a speciality machine shop at 13th and Vine Sts. Josiah used this location, he developed his new deburring machine, and also the first American garnett, neither of which did he have enough capital to produce and market.

Civil War service recorded at Carlisle, MA 1863 - 65

Married 1873 in Groton, MA

• NOTE: President of the Philadelhia Texile Machine Company and after 1921 Proctor and Schwartz, Inc, Partner was Charles William Schwartz, Jr. who died around the same time.
• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: May 29 2022, 15:14:33 UTC
• Immigration: 1910 - Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
• Immigration: 1913 - Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
• Residence: 1855 - Chelmsford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States
• Residence: 1870 - Westford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States
• Residence: 1900 - Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
• Residence: 1910 - Cheltenham, Montgomery, Pennsylvania, United States
• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: May 29 2022, 15:15:46 UTC
• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: May 29 2022, 15:42:50 UTC
• Reference: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/6187309/person/-13...
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jun 1 2022, 15:36:55 UTC