Page:One of a thousand.djvu/184

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I/O DELANO. DELANO. At the age of sixteen, he entered business life as clerk in the house of Field, Fobes & Co., Philadelphia. His father's death, May 24, 1822, required his return home to assist in settling the large estate. In 1824 he succeeded his father in the manufactur- ing business, at the Dean Cotton Mills, East Taunton, and held the position, as agent, twelve years. He then held the management of the " Brick Mill " in con- nection with Crocker & Richmond. Was assignee with Governor Morton of Taun- ton Iron Company; was of the firm of Dean & Morse, manufacturers of machin- ery, a few years, and treasurer of the Dean Cotton & Machine Company twenty-five years. The profits in the first twenty years were five times the amount of capital. He was also treasurer of Taunton Locomotive Company a short time. He retired from business in 1873, with an ample competency, after a successful manufacturing and mer- cantile life of nearly fifty years. Mr. Dean was married in Taunton, Sep- tember 9, 1832, to Mary C, daughter of William Hodges. Mrs. Dean died in 1886, leaving no children. DELANO, GEORGE, son of James and Dorothy (Wing) Delano, was born in Roch- ester, Plymouth county, May 13, 182 1, and received his education in its common schools from the age of ten to fourteen years. On leaving school he became clerk in the store of Luce & Delano, in the part of Rochester now Marion, and at the end of six years took the business of his employers and carried it on in connection with ship- building until 1849-50, when he failed, and effected a compromise with his cred- itors. After a year spent in Virginia, " prospect- ing," he entered the employ of the Bigelow Carpet Company, at Clinton, as clerk and paymaster, until July, 1855, and in the fol- lowing month came to New Bedford and took the entire charge of the extensive oil manufacturing business of his brother-in- law, the late Charles H. Leonard, then re- siding in New York City. This responsible position he filled until Mr. Leonard's death in 1S68, when, in company with F. L. B. Mayhew and James A. Fussell, he contin- ued the business. On assuming control, Mr. Delano made many improvements fa- cilitating the manufacture and increasing the product — notably the introduction of steam in the processes of production. The reputation of the old firm was thoroughly maintained, and Mr. Delano came to be the acknowledged head of the oil manufac- turers of the State in exact, thorough, and scientific knowledge of all the processes in the production of oils. In 1877 Stephen C. L. Delano, a son of the senior partner, was admitted to the firm, and in 1883 Messrs. George Delano, Mayhew and Fussell retired, when Mr. Dela- no's sons, James and Stephen, having in their employ their youngest brother, Charles H. Leonard Delano, took entire charge and control of the business, under the firm name of George Delano's Sons. Mr. Delano was married November 20, 1845, in Rochester, to Abigail, daughter of George and Cynthia (Washburn) Leonard, of that town, and his children are the three sons previously named. In retiring from active business he dis- missed its cares and anxieties, and sought the rest which his health demanded. Long a sufferer from sciatica, he finds partial re- lief in his delightful home in Rochester, at his sea-side residence in Marion, and in winter excursions to the South. Of ample leisure, he yet has no idle hours ; ami though having no particular vocation, he is never without congenial employment, in the care and improvement of his real estate in Rochester and Marion, and in the dis- charge of his duties as a public-spirited citizen.