Tileston & Hollingsworth Co.

Papermaking in Massachusetts began in 1730 when a mill went into operation on the Neponset River in Milton. By 1800, six paper mills had been established on the river. James Boies (1702-1798), a native of Ireland, entered the business in 1760, when he went to work for his father-in-law, Jeremiah Smith (1704-1790), who was another Irish immigrant. In 1765, Boies built a paper mill of his own on the Neponset in partnership with Richard Clark ( -1777). A few years later, he built another mill in partnership with his son-in-law, Hugh McLean (1724-1799), who had also been born in Ireland. The partnership between Boies and McLean lasted until 1790.

In 1798, Boies hired Mark Hollingsworth (1777-1855), who had been born in Delaware. Hollingsworth probably learned the papermaking trade as an apprentice at Thomas Gilpin's mill near Wilmington. In 1801, Hollingsworth formed a partnership with Edmund I. Tileston (1775-1834) of Dorchester, Mass. Together they operated a mill leased from Boies' son, Jeremiah Smith Boies (1762-1851). As the firm prospered, Tileston and Hollingsworth bought, leased, or built additional mills on the Neponset, and by 1843 they were a large concern, operating all of the paper mills on the river. Tileston and Hollingsworth Company was incorporated in 1889, and continued as a major manufacturer of paper well into the twentieth century.

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