by Dale Potter-Clark
In walking through grocery stores I sometimes
wonder about the people on product labels. Chase & Sanborn recently caught
my interest because one of my ancestral lines is Sanborn. Any connection, I
wondered? A subsequent search revealed an interesting story about James Solomon
Sanborn.
James was an only
child, born in Wales, Maine in 1835. His grandfather, Moses, moved there from
Epping, NH about 1808. The next two generations spread their tentacles into Winthrop,
Monmouth, Leeds, Greene, Augusta, Lewiston and Poland. James childhood was spent on Sanborn Road in
East Monmouth where his father, Henry, and his maternal grandfather, Dr. Abial
Daly, homesteaded. James lived or owned property in several of the
aforementioned towns at some point, but a venture in Boston is where he made a
mark that endured – Chase & Sanborn.
By 1870 James was
living in Lewiston where he had started J.S. Sanborn, Co. selling spices, tea
and coffee. In 1872 he moved his wife, widowed mother and four children to the
Boston area. Caleb Chase had moved there from Harwich, MA and began a coffee
roasting business. Since James was a coffee seller it was only a matter of time
before they met. The two men partnered
to form Chase & Sanborn Coffee and
Tea Co. in 1874 and established headquarters in a five-story building on
Broad St. in Boston They were masters at marketing. Among their strategies was
the application of placards across the entire width of their building, between
every floor, touting the nature of their enterprise. Business flourished!
Until that time
individuals bought coffee beans from local grocers and hand ground them at home.
Chase & Sanborn ground and packaged them in sealed cans at their business
in Boston. Their product was the first to be sold as such and it became a
phenomenon in New England. They next hired salesmen throughout the U.S. and
Canada, making Chase & Sanborn the first ground coffee to be sold from
coast to coast. By 1893 their product had become so revered that Chase &
Sanborn was chosen to supply all the coffee for the Chicago World’s Fair - a
huge boon to their business!
Coffee was not James
Sanborn’s only interest. In the 1890s he bought Maine Farmer, a popular weekly newspaper in Augusta, ME. Founded in
Winthrop in 1842, it was moved to Augusta in 1844 where it remained until the
Portland Press Herald bought it in 1921. Sanborn owned Maine Farmer until his death in 1903. In that interim he authored, "A
Short History of the Ideal Gentlemen's' Road Horse Past and Present”, which
leads us to his other interest - horses!
After residing in Boston
for several years Sanborn yearned for country living. In 1886 he bought “Elmwood
Farm”, an estate on 250 acres in East Poland, ME. It became his summer residence
and the location for a stock farm from which he sold highbred horses. Building
clientele required salesmanship so once again he put his promotional skills to
work. Three miles from there was the
famous Poland Spring Hotel and one mile down the road was the Empire train station.
Incoming guests arrived by train in those days and they disembarked at Empire
Station. Sanborn used his influence and convinced
Maine Central Railroad to rename it the Elmwood Farm Station, giving his stock business
name significant visibility with minimal effort and no cost. Many of his horses
were sold to Poland Spring Hotel guests.
Within a year Sanborn added a 150x44 ft. two story
barn - said to be the biggest and best in New England. It held a creamery, ice house,
refrigerator, and a churn that could produce 40 lbs of butter at one time. The
full, well-lit cellar was divided into manure vaults, pigpens, horse stalls,
and space for vegetables. An 8 HP engine provided power for saws, churns,
cutting silage and pumping water. Another wing stored carriages and farm
implements. The second level held a workshop and sleeping quarters for the farm
help and groom. Only one of two 12x14x36ft silos was filled at first – an
indication the complex would be enlarged - and enlarged it was. Over the next
few years Sanborn expanded Elmwood Farm to include
500 acres, an apple orchard of 600 trees, a Colonial mansion; six large stock
barns; two farmhouses; two cottages; and blacksmith and carpentry shops. His farm
animals included registered Holstein cattle, sheep, swine and horses. Windmills
on the property provided the power that fed spring water to a tower large
enough to supply every building. Sanborn also added a quarter mile trotting
track and a 150x50 foot covered riding rink. These were used to train, exercise
and show his horses.
Sanborn sold registered French coach stallions and brood
mares. His prize was Gemare, a thoroughbred Arabian stallion that stood 16 hands high, and
weighed 1,250 pounds. Few living horses of the time held blood lines of so many
famous equines as Gemare. He was
imported from France and Sanborn purchased him for $4,000 ($100,000+ in today’s
dollars). From the time he bought Elmwood
Farm in 1886 until his death in 1903 Sanborn built a reputation for producing superior
road horses – some said the best in America. He sold hundreds of stallions,
brood mares, drivers and young stock to patrons from all over the U.S. and
Canada. Not to be outdone, his registered Holsteins also took prizes from the
Holstein-Friesian Association of America.
Unlike Chase &
Sanborn, there is no sign of Elmwood Farm today except for some foundation remnants.
Lifetime Poland resident Louise Roberts, 84, recalls the last days of Elmwood
Farm. “It changed hands many times after Sanborn owned it” she said. “A dance
hall was even there at one time before it finally burned and there is nothing
left there now.”
Oh yes, was he
related to me you ask? Yes, James Solomon Sanborn was my 5th cousin
5 times removed. Genealogy can be so much fun!
Dale Potter-Clark writes articles, monographs and
blogs about local history and old families. She recently co-authored the book
“Founders and Evolution of Summer Resorts and Kids’ Camps on Four Lakes in
Central Maine”.
An abbreviated version of this story appeared in several editions of newspapers in central and western Maine in February 2018.
