Oliver Chace (August 24, 1769 – May 21, 1852) was an American 18th and 19th-century businessman. He was the founder of several New England textile manufacturing companies in the early 19th century, including the Valley Falls Company, the original antecedent of Berkshire Hathaway, which as of 2019 is one of the largest and most valuable companies in the world.[1]
Early life
Chace was born on August 24, 1769, in Swansea, Massachusetts, to Jonathan Chace and Mary Earle, members of well known Yankee families in New England who had come from England in 1630 in the Puritan fleet with Governor John Winthrop. Chace and his family were Quakers (Society of Friends).[2]
The Valley Falls Company would eventually acquire the Albion Mills, Tar-Kiln Factory in Burrillville, Manville Mills in Rhode Island, and Moodus Cotton Factory in Connecticut.
He was the father-in-law of Elizabeth Buffum Chace, a noted 19th-century activist in the anti-slavery, women's rights, and prison reform movements.[4] Through her, he was the grandfather of the mathematician Arnold Buffum Chace and the author and activist Lillie Buffum Chace Wyman.
Chace died on May 21, 1852, and was buried in the Old Quaker Burial Ground in Providence on Olive Street.[5]
Chace's descendant Malcolm Chace, Jr. was chairman of Berkshire Hathaway when investor Warren Buffett began buying stock in 1962.[6] When Buffett took control of the company in 1965, Chace refused to sell his share and remained on the board of directors.[6]
Personal life
Chace married Susanna Buffington on September 15, 1796. They had seven children together.[7] Chace's two eldest sons, Harvey (born 1797) and Samuel Buffington (born 1800) would later follow their father into the textile business.[8] Susanna Chace died on July 30, 1827. Oliver's second marriage was to Patience Robinson. They had no children.
^Elizabeth Buffum Chace, 1806–1899: Her Life and Its Environment, Volume 1 By Lillie Buffum Chace Wyman, Arthur Crawford Wyman (W.B. Clarke Company, 1914), pg. 21
