Page 33 - Copshaholm Curriculum Book_2015

Oliver Family History 7

Joseph again threaded nuts in the summer of 1866 and returned to Notre Dame
in September. The company credited Notre Dame’s account for $125.57 tuition that
year. Joseph later spent one semester at Ashbury College (now DePauw University),
and then took a short business course at South Bend Business College. That
completed his formal education.

George Milburn hired 16 year-old Joseph as a bookkeeper for the plow factory on
July 1, 1867 and sent him home to lunch. After lunch Milburn opened to Joseph the first
set of double entry books the company ever had. Milburn was a critical teacher, but
Joseph was a good pupil. He kept the job for more than 66 years.

James tried to instill in his son his own love for the foundry but Joseph preferred
to view the factory from across an office desk. He was an organizer and financial
wizard. Fortunately, the talents of father, the inventor and builder, and son, the
marketer and financier, paralleled each other to make a winning combination.
Shortly after Joseph took over the books he realized the company’s bookkeeping
methods were haphazard at best. He began a campaign to collect outstanding debts
and drastically changed billing procedures. In 1869 his annual salary was raised to
$1,000 and by 1871 he owned 180 shares of the company stock. He eventually
became company treasurer before he was 18 and a director before he was 21. In 1878
James took his wife and daughter, Josephine, to Scotland, England and Ireland on a
business-pleasure trip. Meanwhile, Joseph went east to investigate malleable iron
production and later played a major role in establishing the Oliver Malleable
Manufacturing facilities in South Bend.

July 22, 1868, the Oliver company was incorporated as “South Bend Iron Works”
for a period of 50 years. The firm was capitalized for $100,000 (2,000 shares at $50).
This actually was the beginning of the company that was to become the world’s largest
plow producer. George Milburn resigned from the Oliver firm in 1870 to devote all his
resources to his wagon-building business in Mishawaka. This left the Olivers in a
troublesome financial situation. However, the great Chicago fire of 1871 proved to be a
blessing in disguise for the Olivers. James knew that cast iron columns supported most
of Chicago’s large buildings. Before the smoke cleared, Joseph was in Chicago
purchasing the columns as junk. These were shipped to South Bend to be recast into
sewing machine parts for Singer Sewing Machine Company. The profits realized not
only offset Oliver’s financial difficulties, but also provided the company with funds for
needed expansion. In addition to buildings already owned, the company erected on the
West Race a brick foundry, 40 by 132 feet, a 24-by 155-foot warehouse and machine
and wood shops. A 72-inch water turbine was purchased to provide additional
electricity.

James continued his experiments with the plow and in 1872 was issued an
important patent to modify parts in a manner that permitted the plow to stand the stress
of striking hidden roots or stones. He also changed the coulter’s position and attached
an adjustable plow wheel. These two innovations became standard features of the
wood-beam Oliver Chilled Plow. By the close of 1872, five hundred tons of Chicago
iron remained on hand. The Olivers were using it at the rate of 14 tons per day. It was
a year of prosperity.