There are times in my life when I think back to my earliest years, those elusive memories that we sometimes call our very first. I recall a woman that was very kind and gentle and most understanding. She would embrace and comfort me and make every attempt to occupy my time so that I was perceived as well behaved by the other adults in the room. She placed me in the center of the room with a tin full of colorful buttons. This lovely memory that I still find most comforting to this very day was my paternal grandmother, her name was Mary Emily Gallant Spain, known affectionately to this very day simply as Nana.
My dear Nana passed away on a cold winter day many decades ago, I was quite young and experienced my first taste of mourning, even though I was too young to be aware. As a result of her passing I especially cherish my memories with her and find some comfort from items that I associate with my time spent with Nana.
Her seamstress skills were well known in Concord and when she passed, I was given a simple button from her sewing tin. I was also given a note that she wrote on a piece of paper with a pencil. The content of the note is not intriguing, but her beautiful flowing words written in old fashioned script attracts my attention. This simple note, written in pencil on a plain piece of paper has no monetary value, but the wealth of sentimental value is immeasurable. I have gazed at her gently flowing words time and again over the past five decades, a slightly torn and yellowed paper with sharp words etched in lead pencil.
Though I do not have the pencil my Nana wrote her letter with, I do have a dear story about the lead pencil that relates strongly to our past here in Concord. A story about beginnings and famous people, a story about never quitting and improving upon your success.
Before we visit with our ancestors and recall the pencil factory located in Concord it is important to look back to the origin of this simple instrument that we have all held firmly in either our right or our left hand for many years. I find it interesting to learn that a lead pencil is not actually lead.
Yes, there is no metallic lead in a lead pencil.
A lead pencil simply contains graphite and is correctly referred to as a mineral that has three names: graphite, plumbago and black-lead. Lead pencils have not been around for many years, their popularity growing during the nineteenth century with a graphite source found in a mine in England. This mine was the Barrowdale Mine and provided a source of graphite that could actually be harvested and saw cut for use in the common pencil. With limited resources the graphite source was examined by both inventors and investors over the years with the French man named Conte experimenting with making the graphite a powder abd mixing it with a binding agent. Years passed and a gentleman named Faber in Germany took the challenge and worked on graphite improvements to make pencils. Faber improved upon both graphite mixing and the manufacturing of pencils and arrived in America in the year 1861, opening a pencil factory. Soon the American Lead Pencil Factory followed in 1864 and Eagle Pencil Company opened in 1868. The Dixon Pencil Factory opened in 1872 selling their very first pencils the same year.
The process for pencil manufacturing is common with removing the grit from the graphite with a washing process until perfect. Clay is used as a binding material and processed in much the same manner. By mixing the processed graphite and clay the end result is found, and referred to incorrectly simply as lead. The more graphite a pencil has the less clay, the softer the pencil. The more clay and less graphite the harder the pencil. Soft leads are made with a larger circumference for better tensile strength.
Before Mr. Faber arrived from Germany and started producing pencils there was a little factory located in Massachusetts. A little girl whose name has been lost to the pages of history can actually lay claim to the very first pencil factory in America. She lived in Danvers, Massachusetts and obtained some pieces of the sawn graphite from the Barrowdale Mine in England. She took a hammer or rock and powdered the graphite and then mixed it with ordinary gum. She then cut a twig off an alder tree, removed the pulp from the center and stuffed the hollow core with gum and graphite. Somewhat crude in nature, but certainly the first pencil known and locally documented in America.
With the story about the little girl in Danvers and her creative method of making a pencil some interest was created locally. A gentleman named Joseph W. Wade located the young Danvers girl and entered into an agreement, locally manufacturing a number of pencils. Soon after Mr. Wade started making pencils, we find a gentleman in Concord, New Hampshire by the name of Mr. Monroe engaged in the manufacturing of pencils. His pencils grew in quality in the Concord manufacturing plant and he brought in a partner that holds a special place in history to this very day, a literary man named Henry D. Thoreau. Together Monroe and Thoreau manufactured their pencils right her in Concord for a period of time. With the passing months Monroe and Thoreau parted ways, with Thoreau finding his true calling as an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher.
With Henry David Thoreau leaving Mr. Monroe for greener pastures, another business partner was sought by Mr. Monroe. His next pencil manufacturing partner was a gentleman named Mr. Wood. It soon became apparent that Mr. Wood was a brilliant man who perfected pencil manufacturing methods here in Concord while inventing new machines to improve the quality and quantity of pencils being produced in Concord, New Hampshire.
The small note from Nana, very likely written with a pencil manufactured right here in Concord, New Hampshire, is unwavering. The mixture of graphite and clay superior, holding her beautiful flowing words bright and crisp for this loving grandson to enjoy for many a year to come.