Dexter
Edgar Converse, the founder of Converse College, was born in
Vermont in 1828, and died at his home in Spartanburg October
5th, 1899. His father was Orlin Converse, also a native
of the same State. His grandfather was Paine Converse, a
farmer of Massachusetts, and direct descendant of Edward
Converse, who came from England to America with Governor
Winthrop in 1630. His mother was Louisa Twitchell, a
native of Massachusetts, and daughter of Peter Twitchell.
She died in 1888. D. Edgar Converse, when but three
years old, was deprived by the death of his father's care, and
placed in the care of an uncle in Canada, where he was reared
and educated. This uncle was, like his father, a woolen
manufacturer, and it was from him that the subject of this
sketch received his first lessons in this line of business,
which he conducted to the end of his life with marvelous
success. In 1850, after reaching his years of maturity, he
went to Cohoes, N. Y., where he was employed in a cotton mill
for five years, and thus obtained a good knowledge of that
business in all its branches. In 1855 he came South,
and, after a brief connection with a cotton mill in
Lincolnton, N. C., he moved to the present county of
Spartanburg, and was employed in a cotton mill at Bivingsville,
now known as Glendale, of which he soon acquired a proprietary
interest, and at the time of his death owned a controlling
interest in the stock. At the beginning of the war he
enlisted as a private in Company 1, 13th Regiment, S.C.V. His
captain was D.R. Duncan. There was, however, such need
of accomplished manufacturers that the Confederate government
detailed him to return home and conduct the business of cotton
manufacturing, requiring of his company one-third of the
product of their mill, which was carried out in good
faith. After the close of the war the old factory
building at Bivingsville was removed and a fine new
establishment was built, the business of which grew steadily
as the ravages of war disappeared. The name of Bivingsville
was changed to Glendale, and Mr. Converse was made president
of the new mills. In 1880, in connection with business
associates, he purchased the water privilege and site of the
old South Carolina Iron Works on the Pacolet River,
Spartanburg county, and here three new mills have been
erected, known as Clifton Nos, 1, 2 and 3. The total capacity
of these, with Glendale Mills, at this writing ( 1899 ),
amounts to 3,768 looms and 118,072 spindles. Of the Clifton
Manufacturing Company Mr. Converse was president and business
manager from its organization to the time of his death.
He was a trustee of the South Carolina Institute for the deaf,
dumb and blind, at Cedar Spring, and, as already stated, the
founder of Converse College for the education of young women,
which will always rank among the foremost institutions of our
country and which has added imperishable honor to his name and
character.
