Mar 30, 2023 - Sale 2631

Sale 2631 - Lot 138

Price Realized: $ 500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750
(BUSINESS.) Catalog and credit reports for a small Black-owned woodworking factory in eastern Connecticut. "Illustrated Catalogue and Price List of the Torrey Bros. Co.," 10 pages. 8vo, 7 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches, original printed wrappers; horizontal folds, minimal wear, two customer names written inside front wrapper. Central Village, CT, undated. With two typed carbon reports on Dun & Bradstreet letterhead, 11 x 8 1/2 inches and 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches. Central Village, CT, 1942 and undated

Additional Details

The Torrey Bros. Co. was a small manufacturing business in Central Village, in rural eastern Connecticut. Founded as a white-owned family business in 1867, they produced several niche woodworking products for a national customer base, most notably polo and hockey sticks; and stable gear such as yokes, whiffletrees, and sweat scrapers. The company was sold out of the Torrey family in 1934, and the new absentee owners named a long-time employee named Edward Ernest Green (1895-1960) as vice president and day-to-day manager. When the company was formally dissolved in 1941, Green leased the small factory building and continued operation of Torrey Bros. under its old name.

Green was an African-American man, raised in Connecticut. Census records state that his mother's family had been in Connecticut for generations, while his father was born in Virginia and was in turn the son of an African-born man. Offered here is an undated catalogue issued by Torrey Bros.; it is unclear whether it dates from Green's time as manager or owner. Inserted within are a pair of Dun & Bradstreet credit reports on the company dated 8 December 1942. The longer report explains that "Green, a negro, is American born, and has been identified with this business since early youth. . . . Green's capital in this business is represented by principally raw and finished material worth about $1,000 and a small bank account. . . . Green succeeded to an old established business and since taking it over has done moderately well. He has had long experience, is looked upon as conservative, and has not tried to take on more business than he can handle. . . . Indications point to a satisfactory financial condition for this small business, and the management is capable." Green apparently continued running the company at least through 1950, when he was listed in the census as a woodworker and carpenter in Central Village.