DIMOCK, Ira,
Silk Manufacturer.

Ira Dimock, a nonagenarian, who for forty years was one of the most responsible residents of Hartford, Connecticut, attained a prominent place among the leading silk manufacturers of the United States by his business ability and enterprise. He was a direct descendant of one of the oldest Colonial families of New England, tracing his descent on the paternal and maternal sides to England and Holland, respectively. The Dimock coat-of-arms is as follows:
Arm~Sable, two lions passant argent, crowned or.
Crest-A sword erect argent, hilt and pommel or.
Motto-Pro rege dimico (for the king I battle).

The progenitor in America of the Dimock family was Elder Thomas Dimock, a native of England, from whence he emigrated to this country, and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1635. He was selectman of that town in that year, and on May 25, 1636, was admitted a freeman. He removed to Hingham, where he was living in 1638, to Scituate in 1639, settling finally in Barnstable on Cape Cod, of which he was one of the grantees and founders in May, 1639. He was chosen ordaining elder of Mr. Lothrop's church in Barnstable, August 7, 1650. He was deputy to the General Court; freeman of the Plymouth Colony in 1639; magistrate in 1641 and 1644 was six times deputy during the years from 1639 to 1650, and was lieutenant and drill master in 1643. He married Ann Hammond, who survived him. He made a nuncupative will, which was proved June 4, 1658, leaving all his estate to his wife "for the children were her's as well as his." Their children were: Elizabeth, became the wife of Knyvet Sears; John (?); Timothy, baptized January 12, 1639, buried June 17, 1640; twin sons, buried March 18, I640-41; Mehitable, baptized April 18, 1642; and Shubael, of whom further.
Ensign and Deacon Shubael Dimock, son of Elder Thomas and Ann (Hammond) Dimock, was baptized in Barnstable, Massachusetts, September 15, 1644, and died at Mansfield, Connecticut, October 29, 1732. He was a prominent citizen of Yarmouth, on Cape Cod; served as selectman from Barnstable, and as ensign and deputy to the General Court in 1685-86 and 1689. He removed to what is now Mansfield, Connecticut, among the pioneers in 1693, and his house in Mansfield is still in good repair and occupied, according to recent report. The house in which he lived in Barnstable was the fortification house built by his father, which was taken down in 1800; it stood near the house now, or lately, owned by Isaac Davis, of Barnstable; was two stories high, twenty feet square, the first story of stone, the upper of wood. Mr. Dimock married, in April, 1663, Joanna Bursley, baptized in March, 1645-46, died in Mansfield, May 8, 1727, daughter of John Bursley. Children:

1. Captain Thomas Dimock, born in Barnstable, April, 1664, killed September 9, 1697, by Indians and French; married Desire Sturgis.

2. John, born June, 1666; removed to Falmouth; married Elizabeth Lombard.

3. Timothy, of whom further.

4. Shubael, Jr., born February, 1673; married (first) Bethia Chipman, and (second) Tabitha Lothrop.

5. Joseph, born September, 1675; married, May 12, 1699, Lydia Fuller.

6. Mehitable, born 1677.

7. Benjamin, born 1680; resided in Mansfield.

8. Joanna, born 1682; married Josiah Conant.

9. Thankful, born November, 1684; married Deacon Edmund Waldo.

Timothy Dimock, son of Ensign and Deacon Shubael and Joanna (Bursley) Dimock, was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, March, 1668, and died in 1733. He removed to Mansfield, Connecticut, and thence to Ashfield (Ashford?), same State. He married Abigail Doane, who died in 1718. Children: Timothy, born June 2, 1703; John, January 3, 1704-05; Shubael, of whom further; Daniel, January 28, 1709-10; Israel, December 22, 1712; Ebenezer, November 22, 1715.

Shubael (2) Dimock, son of Timothy and Abigail (Doane) Dimock, was born in May, 1707, and died June 26, 1788. He married, January 25, 1739, Esther Pierce, who died March 10, 1805, in her ninetieth year, daughter of Samuel Pierce.
Children: Jonathan, born December 13, 1739; Esther, January 4, 1743; Ephraim, March 2, 1744; Ichabod, March 13, 1746; Edward, June 5, 1748; Samuel, November 29, 1750; Eliphalet, March 12, 1753, died young; Abigail, March 12, 1755; Shubael, of whom further.

Shubael (3) Dimock, son of Shubael (2) and Esther (Pierce) Dimock, was born in Mansfield, Connecticut, October 4, 1757, and died March 8, 1828. He was a Revolutionary soldier, with the rank of sergeant in Captain Jonathan Birge Button's company, No.4, Colonel Savage's regiment, Third Battalion of General Wadsworth's brigade, raised to reinforce General Washington at New York. He served in Long Island and Harlem, and on the retreat, September 15, 1776, suffered some loss. He was in the battle of White Plains, and his time of service expired December 25, 1776. He is supposed to have been with the troops at Valley Forge. He was sergeant in Captain Brigham's company, Colonel John Chandler's regiment, the Eighth Connecticut Line, to March 5, 1778, and in the same company under Colonel Giles Russell until October 28, 1779 He was at the battle of Germantown, October 4, 1777, and then was assigned to Varnum's brigade, October 16, 1777, a detachment in defense of Fort Mifflin, Pennsylvania. Mr. Dimock married, January 23, 1789, Elizabeth Wright, born July 3', 1769, daughter of Eleazer and Anna (Marsh) Wright. Children: Ira, born December 31, 1789; Otis, of whom further; Wealthy, March 15, 1793; Betsey, January 29, 1795; Martial, February 1, 1798; Shubael, October 4, 1801; Orilla, December 8, 1803; Rufus M., December 14, 1812.

Otis Dimock, son of Shubael (3) and Elizabeth (Wright) Dimock, was born August 5, 1791. He married Wealthy Kinne, born August 5, 1790, daughter Nathan Kinne, and a direct descendant of Henry Kinne, who came from Holland to Salem, Massachusetts, in 1651 or earlier. Children: Martial, who married Jennie Campbell, and had several children; Edwin, who married Jennie Murphy; Olivia, who became the wife of Lucius Preston, and they were the parents of a son, Frank Preston; Lucius, born August 2, 1825; Ira, of whom further; Jane, who became the wife of Goodrich Holland, and they were the parents of a daughter, May.

Ira Dimock, son of Otis and Wealthy (Kinne) Dimock, was born in Tolland, Connecticut, January 15, 1827, and died in Hartford, Connecticut, May 10, 1917. The first eight years of his life were spent in Tolland, where he attended the district school, but the remainder of his education was obtained in the schools of South Willington, whither his parents removed, his father having taken official position in the spool cotton industry of that town. Ira Dimock enjoyed vigorous health in his youth, and when fifteen years of age resolved to close his school days., and "go out to seek his fortune," as he put it, in reviewing the main incidents of his life, at the request of the "Hartford Courant," in January, 1917, which publication desired to honor Mr. Dimock on the attainment of his ninetieth birthday. "I walked over to Rockville, which was in those days a small village, strung along both sides of the Hockanum, with woods reaching up to the tops of the hills. I went into the old Frank Mill, for which George Lee was agent. That was in 1842, and there I worked at tending carding machines, and got $6 a month, and board, which was one dollar more than any other boy got." When eighteen years of age, he was industriously employed at making knives, in the town of Bristol, and at that time almost succumbed to an attack of typhus fever, which he contracted, possibly, during his faithful nursing of his employer through a severe attack of the disease. Shortly after his recovery, Mr. Dimock went to Northampton, Massachusetts, where in partnership with his brother, Lucius Dimock, he ventured into independent business and operated a machine shop there for a number of years. One of their apprentices was George A. Fairfield, who was destined later to rise to prominent place in Hartford engineering circles, as the head of the Hartford Machine Screw Company, and to hold distinguished political and civic offices.
An important chapter in the life of Ira Dimock had its beginning in 1853, following a trip to New York City to attend the World's Fair, the first American attempt of its kind, and fashioned after a World's Fair held in the Crystal Palace, London, England, in 1851. Returning by boat to Norwich, Mr. Dimock met on the steamer Dwight Campbell, "and the two sat up most of the night discussing a suggestion that they buy out George and Albert Conant, who were running a silk mill in the old Windham county town of Mansfield, Connecticut." The following day they began negotiations with the Conant Brothers, and in a short period of time became owners of the mill. At the end of the first year of business by the new owners it was discovered that the mill had in that time been operated at a loss to themselves of $5,000, a serious situation, so much so that Mr. Campbell resolved to dispose of his interest without delay, which he did, Mr. Saunders, the bookkeeper at the mill, purchasing his interest. Mr. Dimock had confidence in the future of the silk business and applied himself determinedly to make his mill yield a satisfactory profit instead of a loss. Under the reconstructed company, many improvements were introduced, and at the end of the second year the balance sheet showed the firm to have made a profit of $8,000. Mr. Dimock proved himself to be a man of great strength of character, and two years later, during the financial panic of 1857, when so many of the leading manufacturing plants of the country became hopelessly involved, the Dimock-Saunders plant continued in operation and, when the financial stringency passed, went forward to increasing prosperity. In course of time, Mr. Dimock became interested in the Nonotuck Silk Company, and spent considerable of his time at the plants of that corporation in Northampton and Florence, Massachusetts, and for many years prior to his death was president of the company, serving in that responsible capacity for more than forty years, and the success of the company was mainly due to his able direction of its affairs. At most if the principal meetings of the silk associations of America, Mr. Dimock was an honored guest at the speakers' table, and his recommendations relating to the silk manufacturing industry were given their rightful place as emanating from the experience of a man of such long and notably successful connection with the industry.
Mr. Dimock took great pride in the fact that he was not only a natural mechanic, but also a skilled one, thoroughly understanding the working of machinery. Apparently this gift was inherited from his forebears, as not only Ira Dimock but his three brothers, Martial, Edwin and Lucius, were also of a natural mechanical turn, and were well and widely known inventors, possessing great skill and ingenuity. Mr. Dimock was also quick to see and appreciate mechanical genius in others, giving every man his due share of merit and praise. Mr. Dimock was the first man in this country to make spools by automatic machinery, inventing a machine for that purpose, in which a spool was made from the rough timber, sawed out, printed in two colors, and ready for use. Among his many inventions were machines which he used in his own plant, and which added greatly to the betterment of its output and to its economical management. Some years ago, in 1889, when he erected his house at 744 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, Connecticut, to which city he removed in 1877, he established a compressed plant in his barn, stating that he was going to provide his house with a suction cleaning device, this occurring years before the vacuum cleaner was heard of, which is in universal use at the present time.
Mr. Dimock wrote a number of articles on questions of national importance, and of late years particularly on the Mexican problem, his articles being clear and concise. He dispensed his charity intelligently, among the institutions benefiting by the provisions of his will being the Hartford Hospital, the Hartford Division of the Salvation Army, the Connecticut Temperance Association, and the Hartford Charities Organization.
Mr. Dimock married, November 9, 1872, Lenna Louise Demont. They were the parents of six children 1. Irving, who enlisted in the Federal forces during the Spanish-American War, and died while in active service. 2. Edith L., who became the wife of William J. Glackens, a well-known artist of New York. 3. Stanley K., at the present time (1917) secretary-treasurer of the Allen Manufacturing Company of Hartford, and chief administrator of his father's estate. 4. Arthur, died February 1, 1887. 5. Harold Edwin, married Ruth Bunner, daughter of the late H. C. Bunner, the writer. 6. Florence Irene, became the wife Charles Fitz Gerald, of Dublin and New York, a son of the late Dr. Charles Fitz Gerald, at one time president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Dublin, also court physician, and a leading well-known member of the medical fraternity in Europe. Mr. Dimock died April 30, 1917.

Immediately following the death of Dimock, the directors of the Nonotuc Silk Company adopted the following resolution:

Mr. Ira Dimock, one of the founders, and for more than forty years president of the company, died on the 10 th of May last. In his memory, the following resolution is offered to be entered in the records of this company and a copy of the same to be engrossed and sent to his family:
Whereas, in the Providence of God, Mr. Ira Dimock, our president for the past forty-one years, was removed by death, on the tenth day of May, 1917, whereby this company sustained a great loss.
Resolved, that we, the officers of the Nonotuck Silk Company, bear testimony to his long and faithful service. He was a man of great business experience, of untiring energy, a wise and safe counselor, a sympathetic and loyal friend. He enjoyed the confidence of all who knew him. His advice was freely sought and always prized by his associates. His sterling integrity ever stood for him as a "tower of strength" in the wide business world that knew him. His active life has been an inspiration to us, and to all fortunate enough to enjoy his acquaintance. Those who knew him best honored and loved him most.