ELON GELUSHIA HIGGINS President      of the E.G. Higgins Wallpaper Company  The State of Massachusetts, USA

Source: Biographical review: containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Boston: Biographical Review Pub. Co., 1899 Anonymous

-transcribed by webmaster-

ELON GELUSHIA HIGGINS
President of the E.G. Higgins wallpaper company of Worcester, was born in Hardwick, Massachusetts, May 11th, 1825, His parents, Henry Fisk Higgins and Alla (Metcalf) Higgins were married November 1813. Mr. Higgins comes from sturdy old New England stock on both sides of the family. His fathers father, Jonathan Higgins, Who was a Revolutionary soldier, lived to be 94 years old. His father Henry Fisk Higgins, was a native of Hardwick, born July 20th 1779. An able and successful carpenter and builder, he was a good example of the industrious New England citizen. He died in Hardwick in 1860.
Mrs. Higgins was born in Royalston, this county, June 9th 1789. One of her ancestors, we are told, came over in the "Mayflower", and was a member of the Plymouth Colony. We know not his name.
Elon Gelushia Higgins ,the seventh born in a family of eleven children, was educated in the common schools of Hardwick, Enfield, and North Brookfield. His opportunities for study were limited, much of his time in boyhood were devoted to work on his fathers farm. When he was fourteen he went to work for a farmer in Ware, Massachusetts, and all of his earnings were paid to his father. When he was seventeen he received his time, and determined to support himself. At first he worked for a short time for a shoe manufacturer in North Brookfield, and he was then employed for about a year in a shoe factory in Worcester. In 1847 he took the initial step in his way to fortune, learning the paper hanger's trade. He worked at the trade for a number of years, and finally put in a small stock of paper for sale in his house on Williams Street, this city. As a workman he won a reputation for reliability and honesty; and he soon developed a good trade in the sale of paper. he finished a small store in the basement of his house, which he used for some time.
In 1869 , with his brother, F. W. Higgins, he stocked with wallpaper a small store on Pleasant Street, fifteen feet wide and thirty feet in depth. The store was in a low wooden building which was torn down many years ago to make room for the present Rogers building. The members of the firm acted as bookkeepers, and kept one clerk to aid in the sale of papers. In 1876 F. W. Higgins retired from the firm, and the subject of this sketch assumed control of the business. He moved from Pleasant Street to a store on Maple Street ,where now stands the New State Mutual Building, and in 1880, he removed thence to 284 Main Street. His trade continued to increase, and in 1893 the business passed into the hands of an incorporated stock company, styled the E.G. Higgins Company. The officers are: E.G. Higgins, President; Francis W. Higgins, Treasurer & Manager; and Maurice Rourke, Manager of the retail branch of the business. These three gentlemen constitute the board of directors. The firm now occupies two stores and the whole third floor of the handsome modern building , fifty six by one hundred and twenty feet, on Main Street, recently erected by John E. Day, the stores being Nos. 274 & 278 .
Forty eight persons, including traveling salesmen, accountants and heads of departments are employed. This house was the largest east of New York of the American Wallpaper Company , commonly referred to as the wallpaper trust. In 1896 the house received and shipped over one million rolls of wall paper, in which there were many foreign novelties imported especially by them. They control for central New England the product of three of the leading French manufacturers, four prominent English manufacturers and several wall paper manufacturers in Japan. Their sample books show reproductions of famous pieces of embroidered silk, preserved in the National Museum in Lyons, France. One of the most beautiful is a facsimile of a famous piece of gold embroidery wrought for the first Napoleon, now treasured in one of the repositories of the French government. Another is a reproduction of an old tapestry which hung on the wall of a French feudal castle. It is said that the owner of the castle was so pleased with the tapestry that he caused the designer to be deprived of his eyesight in order that he might not make a similar design for anyone else. One design of tapestry paper shown requires one hundred and eighteen impressions; and as each impression is allowed some time to dry, it takes eight weeks to complete the pattern. Mr. Higgins also carries in stock everything in the line of window shades and Venetian blinds and has the agency for the metallic window screens and Venetian blinds which are made in all kinds of wood in all shapes and sizes for house or piazza. He has accomplished a wonderful work during his business career, and is entitled to a leading place among the self made men of Massachusetts. He is an active man, and for his age is remarkably well preserved. He still visits his place of business daily, though the active management is entrusted to others. 
He was married in 1845 to Lucy Maria, daughter of Lawson Graves, of Hopkinton, Massachusetts. Lawson graves and his father were natives of Hopkinton. His wife, who was a Miss Polly Childs, was seventh in descent from William Childs, a early settler of Watertown Massachusetts. Mr. and Mrs. Higgins celebrated their golden wedding in 1895,and a beautiful poem was written for the occasion by Mrs. E. E. Miles. They have five children now living; namely: Francis Leland, born October 15, 1851; William Elliston, September 20, 1853; Ethel E. October 29, 1858; Edward Lawson, January 5,1863;and Arthur Clarence, May 29,1867. They have been bereft of four, as follows: Addie Maria ,born August 1,1847; Charles Albert , July 10, 1849 ; Frederick Othello , January 23,1856; and Albion Gelushia, July 1, 1860. Mr. Higgins�s surviving sons are all actively interested in the wall paper business. Mr. Higgins is a leader among the Second Adventists in Worcester, and has given liberally of his means to support their cause. He contributed generously to their new church in this city. He has held the faith for fifty five years , and entertained many of the most noted preachers and apostles of that belief at his house. A strong temperance advocate , he has never used liquor or tobacco , and he has never entered a theatre . He is an enthusiastic bible student, and is well versed in all parts of the holy writ.

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17 Jan 2007

Source: Worcester of Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-eight: Fifty Years a City -Published 1899
The E. G. Higgins Company stands at the head of all dealers in its line, not only in the city of Worcester, but it is the largest wholesale and retail wall-paper house in New England. The company's business is located at 274-278 Main street, occupying nearly the whole of that large building, the floor space measuring about half an acre. It also has a branch house in Boston. The business was started in a small way by E. G. & F. W. Higgins in 1869, and by honest dealing a permanent, reliable and ever-increasing trade was built up. For nearly thirty years this firm has enjoyed the confidence of the trading community. F. W. Higgins retired from the firm in 1876, and for four years Mr. E. G. Higgins continued the business. In 1880 Francis E. Higgins purchased a half interest in the business, and a jobbing department was added. The name was changed to E. G. Higgins & Company. In 1884 Mr. F. E. Higgins made an extensive trip abroad for the purpose of studying the development of the art of interior decorating, and upon his return he extended this feature of their business. The E. G. Higgins Company was incorporated in February, 1893, Mr. E. G. Higgins being elected president, and F. E. Higgins was chosen clerk and treasurer; he also became the manager of the business, and by his energy, push and thorough system the trade has more than trebled in the past six years. This company is now the leading firm of its kind in the New England states, and the large assortment and heavy stock carried by them make their store the most desirable place to purchase paper-hangings and interior dedorations. They have four salesmen on the road, and their wholesale trade extends to all parts of New England, eastern New York, Canada and the provinces. They import goods direct from England, France, Germany and Japan, besides handling all the best American papers. Francis Elon Higgins, whose portrait FRANCIS E. HIGGINS.

accompanies this sketch, is the oldest son of Elon G. and Lucy Maria Higgins. He was born in Worcester October 15, 1851, and educated in the public schools of his native city. After leaving school he was employed in the office of the Ames Plow Company until 1869, when he entered his father's store, and, as stated above, he has grown up with the business. Mr. Higgins has done some work in oil and water-color painting, and was a charter member and for seven years the treasurer of the Art Students' Club. He is a member of the Commonwealth Club, Builders' Exchange and the Worcester Board of Trade. He is also a member of Quinsigamond Lodge, F. & A. M. On the 1 2th of October, 1885, he was married to Miss Sarah C. Heald, and they have three children: Etha Hazel, Gladys and Francis Raymond. Their pleasant home is at 51 William street.


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