Frye's
Measure Mill Founder
Daniel Cragin 1837-1922
 
|
MEASURES
Measures were made in five sizes,
the smallest being one quart, then two quart, four quart, single
peck, and one-half bushel. In 1885, Daniel Cragin sold full sets
or "nests"; iron bound, varnished, plain, or unsealed
(rough).
Farmers, fishermen, and storekeepers
needed a standard unit of measure to conduct their business, trade,
and barter. Mechanical scales were scarce, expensive, and not available
for common use. By the 1800's, with a swelling population, a growing
industrialization, and a prospering agriculture, a huge market existed
for Cragin's dry measures. However, the commercial demand for dry
measures diminished when the national standard of measurement switched
over to weights. |
| Daniel Cragin's
Great-Grandfather, John Cragin, or Cragon (Chraggon) was Scot by birth.
At the age of 16, he was forced to join the Scottish army supporting
Charles II against Cromwell. At the battle of Dunbar in 1652, he was
taken prisoner, sold into servitude, and as a penalty for his political
offenses was sent to America in the ship "John and Sarah."
The local legend "says"
that on the voyage, John Cragin was stricken with smallpox, and
he was about to be thrown overboard but was spared by the intercession
of a young English woman, Sarah Dawes, whom he afterward married.
They settled in Woburn, Massachusetts, and later generations made
thier way to southern New Hampshire.
In 1858, Daniel Cragin "attained his
majority" (a colloquialism meaning he became twenty-one years
of age) and rented a room in the Putnam Bobbin Factory. He began
his "enterprising" by manufacturing knife trays and toys
on a cash capital of ten dollars. Within two years, Cragin's company
was profitable, and he purchased a small building on the site. In
the autumn of 1878, Cragin began to manufacture dry measures which
soon became the mainstay of his business. |
