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Identifier/Call Number
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MSA 895
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Description
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en
The collection contains catalogs and brochures published by the Roy Brothers, Inc., a manufacturer of croquet set located in East Barnet, Vermont. A few of the catalogs list the New York office and sales room at Riemann-Seabrey Company, Inc., 1107 Broadway (at 24th Street) in New York City. Unfortunately, most catalogs and other materials lack dates. The catalogs typically show individual croquet sets of various configurations, mostly in a black and white format, but a few are in full color. Also included in the collection are two rule books for the game of croquet, one published by Roy Brothers, the other by Wendell P. Roy. Other business items include pamphlets on butter stamps and cattle stanchions, as well as samples of company letterhead (Folder 2). There are several photos of the factory and the site on the Passumpsic River and two large photos from inside featuring workers (Folder 3). An undocumented timeline from around 1927 is included, as well as a poem written about some of the employees and their duties on the production line (Folder 4). A few photos of Ellen Paddleford Roy are included, along with a handwritten letter describing the flood damage in 1927 she wrote to her son (Folder 5).
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Biography, Administrative History and Provenance
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en
The Roy Brothers factory claimed at one time to be the largest croquet factory in the world. A newspaper article from the fire of 1925 said the factory employed fifty people and made 40,000 croquet sets the year before. John G. Roy and his brother Elmer Ellsworth Roy founded the Roy Brothers company in 1888 in Barnet, Vermont. The company dealt in many wood products, including butter boxes and stamps, cattle stanchions, finished lumber, and croquet sets of various sizes and configurations. In 1918, Elmer sold his portion of the company to Dan Fulford, and John's son, Wendell Roy, also joined the business, eventually leading the company. In 1925, a lightning strike set the facility on fire and the factory; outbuildings, blacksmith shop, stockpiles, and John Roy's home went up in flames. Only the dedication of the firemen and the heavy rains protected nearby properties from burning in the fire as well. During the Flood of '27, the company lost its dam and buildings along the Passumpsic River. The company replaced the dam and factory. Another fire in September 1938 destroyed the factory again. John Roy began the process to rebuild. He obtained a ten-year tax deferment from the town of Barnet, but he died a year later. The company never recovered. John G. Roy was born in 1859 in Barnet, the son of Alexander and Eliza Gates Roy. He married Ellen Paddleford, a schoolteacher, of Monroe, New Hampshire. The couple had a son, Wendell Paddleford Roy, born in 1908. Ellen outlived her husband and died in 1955. Wendell served in the Army during the Second World War and worked for Fairbanks Morse Weighing Company during the latter part of his life. He graduated from UVM in 1928 with a degree in electrical engineering. The company co-founder, Elmer Roy, began with the firm in 1888 but sold his shares in 1918. He lived until 1932.
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Extent
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.25 linear feet
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