Atkins Family Papers 1845-1950; bulk: 1870-1926 Guide to the Collection

Table of Contents Collection Summary Biographical Sketch Sources Collection Description Related Materials Acquisition Organization Detailed Description Preferred Citation Access Terms Materials Removed

Collection Summary

Biographical Sketch

In 1838, Elisha Atkins (EA) (1813-1888) of Boston, Mass. started a business with William Freeman to import molasses and sugar from Cuba. In 1843, the firm of Atkins and Freeman, located at 26 India Wharf, began trading with Cienfuegos, Cuba. This city's sugar business grew rapidly between 1840 and 1860 and became the most important sugar port in southern Cuba. EA continued to trade with Cuban sugar planters under the firm name E. Atkins & Co. after Freeman left the firm in 1849. This firm did business with other Caribbean islands, but its sugar business in Cuba became E. Atkins & Co.'s focus.

Elisha Atkins was married to Mary E. Freeman Atkins (1819-1897), with whom he had three surviving children: Edwin Farnsworth (1850-1926), Grace Evelyn (b. ca. 1852), and Helen (1857-1888). In January 1866 at the age of 16, Edwin F. Atkins (EFA) accompanied his father Elisha on a trip to Havana and Cienfuegos. Two years later, EFA began working with his father's company, and in 1874 he became a partner in E. Atkins & Co. Over the years, EFA was also involved in other business interests, including the Bay State Sugar Refinery, of which he was president from 1876 to 1888; Union Pacific Railroad, of which he was a director from 1888 to 1895; Aetna Mills and the Boston Wharf Co., for both of which he served as president until 1915; American Sugar Refining Co., of which he was chairman of the board until 1916; and Westinghouse Electric, of which he was a director and president (1915).

E. Atkins & Co.'s most frequent business correspondents in Cienfuegos were the Torriente Brothers. After the Ten Years' War in Cuba (1868-1878), Torriente Bros. had many sugar estates indebted to them, and the firm in turn was indebted to E. Atkins & Co. Torriente Bros. foreclosed on several estates, including the Soledad plantation in Cienfuegos owned by the Sarria family. After a series of negotiations, the Soledad estate was turned over to E. Atkins & Co. in 1883. EFA convinced EA to allow him to take on the Soledad estate and its sugar-manufacturing business. Although E. Atkins & Co., a sugar-trading company, did not seek to manufacture sugar, it entered this area of the business as an attempt to recover loaned funds. By 1887, Soledad was producing four thousand tons of sugar and was the primary focus of EFA's business. Although E. Atkins & Co. owned Soledad, the estate was EFA's personal interest, and he oversaw its operation throughout his life. He maintained private correspondence with the various managers of the estate: J. S. Murray, 1884-1893; J. N. S. Williams, 1893-1898; and L. F. Hughes beginning in 1898.

In 1892, Henry O. Havemeyer of the American Sugar Refining Co. and his cousin Charles Senff included EFA in a new sugar company, the Trinidad Sugar Co. in Trinidad, Cuba. EFA served as its president and through E. Atkins & Co. managed its affairs in Cuba. Trinidad was a private enterprise between Havemeyer, Senff, and EFA until 1912 when E. Atkins & Co. took full ownership of the estate.

Edwin F. Atkins married Katharine Wrisley (1860-1953) in 1882. They resided in Belmont, Mass. and had three children: Robert Wrisley (1889-1948), Edwin Farnsworth (1892-1923), and Helen (1894-1991). In 1910, Robert W. Atkins (RWA) joined E. Atkins & Co. Five years later he founded the Punta Alegre Sugar Co., with EFA as its president. Punta Alegre came to own many mills in Cuba. Together with E. Atkins & Co., the Atkinses came to operate many of the top sugar producing sugar mills in Cuba. They controlled the Baguanos, Tacajó Presidente, San Germán and Ermita mills in Oriente province; Caracas, Trinidad, and San Agustín mills in Santa Clara province, and Baraguá Florida, and Punta Alegre mills in Camagüey province.

RWA had other interests, including Belmont Associates and School Street Associates, both real estate firms; Merchant's National Bank of Boston; and Aetna Mills. His brother Edwin F. Atkins, Jr. was briefly involved with E. Atkins & Co. before his death in 1923 that resulted from a plane crash off of Key West, Fla. Edwin F. Atkins, Jr.'s two sons also perished in the crash.

In 1921, Frank C. Lowry and Eugene V. Thayer joined E. Atkins & Co. as junior officers. Upon EFA's death in 1926, Lowry and Thayer took over the firm and operated it under the name Lowry & Co.

Sources

The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) library holds the following books that are related to this collection:

Allen, Benjamin. A Story of the Growth of E. Atkins & Co. and the Sugar Industry in Cuba. N.p.: 1926.

Atkins, Edwin Farnsworth. Sixty Years in Cuba: Reminiscences of Edwin F. Atkins. Cambridge, Mass.: Privately printed at the Riverside Press, 1926.

Ayala, César J. American Sugar Kingdom: The Plantation Economy of the Spanish Caribbean, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999. p. 89-94.

Claflin, Helen Atkins. A New England Family. Belmont, Mass: c. 1956?.

Reed, William Howell. Reminiscences of Elisha Atkins. Cambridge, Mass.: University Press: J. Wilson and Son, 1890.

Collection Description

The Atkins family papers consist of 214 volumes of correspondence, journals, ledgers, cash books, and scrapbooks; and 41 boxes of correspondence, receipts and invoices, and diaries spanning the years 1845 to 1950. The bulk of the collection dates from the mid-1870s to 1926. The collection consists almost exclusively of the business papers of Elisha Atkins, Edwin F. Atkins, and Robert W. Atkins, as well as the records of E. Atkins & Co. The series in this collection were organized in keeping with the records' creation, in clear, separate series indicated by the titles printed on the volumes in the collection; this original order was maintained.

The two largest series are the Edwin F. Atkins papers and the E. Atkins & Co. records. The papers of Edwin F. Atkins consist of his personal business correspondence, materials relating to his damage claims to the Spanish government after the Spanish-American War, his personal financial records, and scrapbooks. These materials also touch upon EFA's other business activities, such as the Union Pacific Railroad and Westinghouse Electric; and his involvement in the American sugar industry, including his public statements about the sugar tariff and his testimonies to Congress on this matter. Also included in EFA's papers is an account book of his wife Katharine's personal investments and finances.

The E. Atkins & Co. records document the primarily Cuban business dealings of the company. These materials include correspondence, financial records, and the records of the Trinidad Sugar Company.

The bulk of the materials in this collection relate to the Soledad estate. Information about the day-to-day management and operation of the estate is found in Series IV. Soledad Sugar Co. Records, which consists of correspondence between EFA in Boston and J. S. Murray and L. F. Hughes, two managers of the Soledad estate. This series includes information about the acquisition of land neighboring the estate in which EFA was very active after the Spanish-American War to expand sugar production and for the estate railroad's right-of-way, as well as political and economic conditions on the island. Series II. Edwin F. Atkins Papers, also contains information pertaining to Soledad and more generally to EFA's business relations in Cienfuegos. Materials relating to the Soledad estate can also be found in Series III. E. Atkins & Co. Records; this series documents the more general aspects of the business of the estate, including the purchase and delivery of mill and railroad machinery and materials.

While the bulk of this collection consists of business records, it also includes the personal diaries of various members of the Atkins and Wrisley families. The diaries are found in Series VI. and document both daily life in Belmont, Mass. and travels in the United States and Europe. None of the diaries relate to Cuba.

Related Materials

The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) holds the following collections related to the Atkins family papers:

Atkins family photographs, ca. 1884-1958. Photo. Coll. 37. Finding aid available at: http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fap001.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Mrs. Helen Atkins Claflin, Belmont, Mass., Nov. 1967.

Organization of the Collection

Detailed Description of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Atkins family papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Access Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.

Photographs Removed from the Collection

Photographs from this collection have been removed to the Atkins family photographs, ca. 1884-1958. Photo. Coll.37.