svenor. He also succeeded to the entire management of the manufacturing property of the Masonville Company, of which Mr. William H. Mason then owned one-half, the other half being the property of his wife and her sister, Mrs. Eaton.
He thus entered upon his career as a cotton manufacturer, a career which he pursued to the end of his life, with rare judgment, with singular assiduity, and with brilliant success. His earlier enterprises of business, especially that connected with printing cloths, had been successful, and with the capital thus acquired he soon purchased all the shares of the Masonville Mills, except those belonging to Mrs. Grosvenor. These latter were, in 1868, bought by his two sons. An interest of one-sixteenth was also sold, in 1860, to Mr. Lucius Briggs, the resident manager of the mills, which he retained till 1883. The plant was soon greatly enlarged, old mills were brought together by new connections, new mills were erected, the water power more fully developed, and the productive capacity of the whole was greatly increased. In 1864 Doctor Grosvenor bought what was known as the “Fisherville Property,” and certain adjoining lands to the north of it, extending to Wilsonville, for the prospective advantages which they offered. In 1866 the Masonville Company changed its name to Grosvenor Dale Company, its village being from that time known as Grosvenor Dale, and the Fisherville Company took the name of North Grosvenor Dale Company, with a corresponding change in the name of its village. Two years later the two companies were united, and now bear the common name of Grosvenor Dale Company. New mills have been built and great changes have been made in the condition of both these properties. Additional water power has been acquired and steam power has been superadded. A large reservoir has been created, with dykes and embankments of great solidity and strength, and tenements have been constructed for the operatives employed by the company. The entire property now bearing its name extends over a tract of four miles in length in the valley of the French river, a branch of the Quinebaug. The original mills of which he became the owner in 1854 then contained 7,500 spindles and 180 looms. For the past three years they have had 88,176 spindles and 2,357 looms, the spindles having been reduced in number without diminution of product, in consequence of improvements in their make.
From his settlement in Providence in 1837, Doctor Grosvenor’s life had been almost constantly devoted to active business. The change from professional pursuits to the pursuits of trade is a critical event in the life of any man. With him it had led to almost uninterrupted success. He began his new occupation by giving constant attention to its daily demands, and by making himself master of the principles and methods by which it was to be conducted. In doing this his professional experience may not have been without its advantages. It had formed in him the habit of careful attention to the details involved in the work in which he was engaged, and had taught him to guard against surprises in the condition of markets and the movements of trade. It may thus have done its part to secure the success which he continued to have for the period of forty years almost without drawback or interruption.
His first period of leisure was taken in the year 1860, when, for the benefit of Mrs. Grosvenor’s health, he accompanied her with his elder children on a visit to Europe. The absence was greatly beneficial to them all, and would have been prolonged had it not been for the anxieties and sorrows occasioned by the civil war, which began in the following year. The daily tidings of battle and slaughter, and the spectacle of the two great sections of the republic at war with each other, were doubly distressing to loyal citizens away from their country. He came home early in 1862, as did so many others from every part of the world, to do whatever might be in his power in the service of the country, and especially to be as near as possible to the exciting and dist