David L. Aldrich business records

David Law Aldrich (1822-1889) was a mill owner in Richmond, Rhode Island. He was born to David and Hope Aldrich in North Scituate, R.I. and was educated at Smithville Seminary. He leased the Godfrey Arnold cotton mill in Hopkinton, R.I. with his partner Barber Reynolds in 1851. The partnership was dissolved in 1857 and Aldrich expanded the business into the Hope Valley Manufacturing Co. which manufactured twine, carpet warps and yarn. Following Aldrich’s death in 1889, the mill was sold to Sabin A. Owen.

Additional business interests included a woolen mill in Plainville, R.I. which he erected in 1863 and sold in 1880, as well as the Moosup Mill in Woosup, Conn. and the mills at Arcadia. He was one of the projectors of the Richmond Band which merged with the First National Bank of Hopkinton. He was president of the Wood River Branch railroad.

Mr. Aldrich was married twice. First to Susan W. Sheldon of Cranston in 1846. They had three children including Joseph S., at the age of twenty-four; Laura, at the age of five; and David L., Jr., who died in his twenty-fourth year. After the death of Susan in 1870, he married Mary M. Carpenter, of Providence in 1872. They had two children, William S., and a daughter, Mary A..