Brucemore, Inc.

HISTORY OF CEDAR RAPIDS PLANT
WILSON FOODS
The Cedar Rapids Wilson Foods plant traces its beginning to a Belfast,
Ireland meat packing plant called J & T Sinclair Co.
in 1832 by two brothers, John and Thomas Sinclair.
This plant was started
In addition to the meat
packing business, the Sinclair families were also involved in ocean shipping
and operated the largest fleet of sailing ves,sels in Ireland.
Both brothers had large families--John had 9 children (William, Elizabeth,
John M., Thomas M., Janey, S. Gibson, Robert Sims, Letitia, and Ada), and
Thomas had 5 children by his first wife, Sarah Circher (William, Elizabeth,
Thomas, John, and Mary) and 5 children by his second Wife, Elizabeth Edgar (Mary,
Emily, Sydney, Francis, and Helen).
These two families, as well as the
families involved through marriages, were important in the early history of the
Cedar Rapids plant.
The children of both brothers became involved with the business as soon
as they were old enough.
Willliam, the oldest son of John, opened a branch of
the meat company in Liverpool in the early 1850's.
John, the oldest of the two
senior Sinclair's, died at the early age of 47 years in 1856.
John's son, Thomas
M. at the age of 18 entered the business in 1859 and in February 1862 he went
to Liverpool to assist in the operation of the branchhouse managed by his older
brother, William.
The growth of livestock numbers in the United States created interest from
many European meat packing families, and early in 1862 one of Thomas's sons
(T. M. Sinclair's cousin) Thomas Jr., traveled to the United States to make preliminary investigations and arrangements for an expansion of the business.
In
the summer of 1862, plans were finalized to open a branch in the United States,
and on October 4, 1862 Thomas M. Sinclair sailed with 22 men from the Belfast
plant to start a plant in New York City.
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This plant was initially started on
-2-
Tenth Street and later moved to Sixteenth Street on the West Side of New York.
Thomas M. Sinclair was soon joined by his cousin, John Sinclair, in 1864.
The
plant that dressed hogs and cut and cured the cuts for export back to Ireland
prospered and apparently was successful; however, in 1866 the Belfast plant was
destroyed by a fire and this along with the "Panic of '66" and the famous "Black
Friday" created a financial crisis for the J & T Sinclair Co.
The financial disaster of 1866 made it necessary to make the New York business
independent of the parent company.
New financing was arranged·.·'With American
friends and the new company was named the John Sinclair & Company.
Fortunately,
the results of the new business for the next few years were very good and most of
the initial debt was repaid.
However, the American meat packing business was
moving westward and it was decided that a midwest USA plant should be established.
A former employee of the New York plant, David Blakely, had moved to Cedar
Rapids and encouraged the two cousins to consider Cedar Rapids as a site.
Thomas
M. Sinclair visited the midwest and apparently visited Duluth, Minneapolis, St. Paul,
Winona, and Dubuque before arriving in Cedar Rapids.
A very rapid decision was
made to establish in Cedar Rapids and a location was sought.
the winter slaughter season of
1871-~2,
In order to utilize
an ice house on the east side of the Cedar
River between Fourth and Fifth avenue, S. E. was rented.
The first winter's
operations were very crude and was not reported as being successful.
The records
indicate that 15,039 hogs were slaughtered.
In February 1812, 16 acres on which the present plant is located was purchased
and arrangements were made with the Northwestern Railroad to lay trackage into
the plant site.
During the summer, the first warehouse building was completed
and the slaughter house, .engine room, and office erected.
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THOMAS M. SINCLAIR
Born May 14, 1842 to John and Elziabeth (Pirie) Sinclair in Belfast, Ireland.
A large family--5 sons and 4 daughters.
Kingan (Meat packing reputation).
His younger sister, Janey, married Samuel
Thomas M. was married to Caroline C. Sautter,
(>.,{) JW. ~ l )
a native of
Virginia ~ 'IJ.870.
Caroline Sautter was the daughter of Robert, and
Philadelphia (Campbell) Sautter who were natives of Virginia and Ireland.
Her
father had been a merchant . in Philadelphia and New York and died in 1873.
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They
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had 6 children:
John Falconer
Born - 1871
Died- - - , - - - -
Robert Sautter
Born 10/9/72
Died
Elsie
Born- - - -
Died
Born
Died
Amy
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Fannie
Born____
Died- - - -
Agnes
Born
Died
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Apparently most of the family was born in Cedar Rapids between 1871 and 1880,
although John could have been born in New York or somewhere in the East.
They were
very strict Presbyterians and their children all attended church schools near
Philadelphia.
John and Robert attended William Penn Charter prep school in
Philadelphia, and Mrs. Sinclair apparently went with them and lived ther e while
school was in session.
The girls apparently attended Bryn Mawr eollege in Philadelphia
and the boys went to the University of Penn.
Thomas was accidently killed in a
f all down an e l eva tor shaft a t the Plant on Ma rch 24, 1881.
home which is now called Brucemore in 1885.
His wif e built the
Her brother, Charles Sautter, proably
was very instrumental in the planning of this house.
Mrs. Sinclair went to
Philadelphia most winters while the two oldest sons a ttende d Penn Charter prep s chool
and because of this some people thought their home was a summer home rather than a
year-round home.
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John Flaconer Sinclair (Jack) Born
Died- - - - - - -
Physician in Philadelphia and active in establishing a children's
hospital there.
First wife died after adopting a son.
second wife had a daughter who was adopted by John.
married to a dentist in Gross Point, Mich.
in the meat business.
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Remarried and
This daughter is
He never became interested
ROBERT SOUTTER SINCLAIR - Born Oct. 9, 1972 - Died 1937
Graduated from Penn Charter prep school in Philadelphia and the University of Penn
in 1884.
After graduation he spent a year traveling around the world before starting
work in the Sinclair Packing plant in 1895.
D. C. in January 1903.
He married Elizabeth Alexander from Washington,
She was a Mt. Holyoke College graduate of 1902.
They had four
children:
Mary Sinclair
Born 1903
Died
Thomas G.
Born 1905
Died
Elsie
Born 1907
Died- - - -
Carol
Born 1908
Died
Elizabeth Alexander Sinclair died soon after the birth of their last child, Carol, on
~-i;;
@-_!f__1901J from some type of fever.
He remaine d unmarried after her death and had
risen to upper management at the packing plant that was now in the hands of Sidney
E. Sinclair
a~sin
became the president.
of his father.
When Sidney died on August 17, 1917, Robert
He remarried in 1923 to a friend of his first wife.
graduated from Mt. Holyoke at the same time as his first wife.
She had
His new wife had two
children from a previous marriage (in 1982 these two children live in Bethesda, Md.
and Jackson, Mich.).
Robert was active in Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, Coe College and the Sinclair
Memorial Presbyterian Church.
They lived in several locations in Cedar Rapids, including
their last residence at 340 South Twenty-Seventh St. S. E.
In 1930 he resigned from his position as president of the T. M. Sinclair Co.
to become president of Kingan & Co. in Indianapolis.
The Kingan f amily was related to
the Sinclair's, as T. M. Sinclair's sister was married to
Kingan.
The Kingan
plant was having financial problems, and since Wilson' & Co. was now becoming more
involved with the management of the Cedar Rapids plant, Robert felt he could possibly
help the Kingan plant out of its problems.
J\4.0 IY
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1937 at the age of 65.
He remained with Kingan until his death 0.n
dIS CHILDREN (Robert Seutter Sinclair)
Mary Sinclair - (2224C Boston Court - Indianapolis, Indiana
No. 317-298-
~330).
Never married.
46208 - Telephone
Went to Johnson School in C. R. -
1 year of High School in Cedar Rapids and then to a private prep sdhool
(Ann Willard in N. Y. out East and then graduated from Mt. Holyoke College).
Thomas G. Sinclair (4231 37th St., Tacoma, Wash. (206-759-2006).
Went to
Jackson School in C. R., Hotchkiss Prep School in Conn., and then to Yale.
Worked as a trainee at the Cedar Rapids plant in 1928-29 and until his father
left in 1930.
The entire family moved to Indianapolis, and he worked at
Kingan's until 1954.
He had been transferred to Tacoma by the new owners
of Kingan (Hygrade) and due to some duplication in Management responsibility,
he left Hygrade.
He went back to Indiana to get his Masters degree in Education
at the University of Puget Sound where he retired in approximately 1980.
His wife died in about 1980.
Has two children, Robert with CIA in Washington,
D. C., and a daughter Harriet (Sinclair) Rajola in Spokane who has four children.
Elsie Sinclair Hart - Married to Victor Hart and now deceased--lived in Short Hills,
N. J.
Has two children:
Steve Hart
Susie Gallager - Madison, New Jersey
Carol - Venic4, Florida)
813-484-8869)
Married to Phillip Will Jr.
Graduated from Mt. Holyoke College in 1930
Her husband is an architect and they lived in Evanston, Illinois until retiring
to Florida.
They now spend winters in
Venic~1 Florida
and summers in Michigan.
They have two children:
Phillip S. Will, who is City Planning and Architect
at Hartford, Conn., and is involved in
restoration and is interested in Brucemore.
Elizabeth (Sinclair-Will) Wade who lives in Summit, N. Jersey.
Brucemore, Inc.
Elsie Sinclair Hodges - Born
- - - - - -Died
/'100
Married to Dr. Ned Hodges - a medical missionary.
They went to China and
both were killed in the Boxer Rebellion in Pao-Tin-Fu in 1900.
Amy Sinclair - Born_ ____.jj_1~&~Died 1921
Died in 1921 - apparently just before she was to be married.
Cause of
death was strep infection.
Fannie Woods - Born- - - - - -Died- - - - Married Dr. Andrew Henry Woods.
They became medical missionaries in China
and served in both Canton and Peking.
They had 5 children:
Tom
- Colorado Springs
Francis
- Married a surgeon now retired
Margaret
- Philadelphia - Retired. Married to Gordon Keith,
President of Wharton Business School.
Janet
- Married to a well-known geologist, Parke Dicky lives in Owasso, Okla.
Bob
Agnes Vincent - Born
Works at Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas
/fiO Died_ _~l_'if(,)..
Married Howell S. Vincent, a missionary who served in Siam and then
Peking where he taught in a University.
Went to Bryn Mawr College.
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