Seth Read - History of The Read Estate at Uxbridge

History of The Read Estate At Uxbridge

The former "Colonel Seth Read estate and water works", built in 1767 and 1777, both at Uxbridge, were purchased in 1790, by John Capron, originally of Cumberland, Rhode Island and later from Grovsvenordale, CT. John Capron pioneered Capron Mills which had the first power looms for woolens, developed at the Mumford River falls, in downtown Uxbridge, where the estate is located. Capron Mills and its successors manufactured U.S. Military uniforms from before the Civil War Period to 1962 including the first U.S. Air force blues. Colonel John Capron's first wife was a descendent of the Read family in Uxbridge. Colonel Read's original home at Uxbridge, known later as a Capron house and later owned by Chase's, was razed in 1967 to make a parking lot for a local drug store. The local drug store, is now a liquor store, and is actually built in the same 1777 grist mill built by Seth Read. The grist mill and water works later served as Bay State Arms, a manufacturer of single shot rifles, in the 1880s. A photograph of this house can be found in the book entitled, "Uxbridge, Images of America", by B. Mae Edwards Wrona, published in 2000 and in Mary Buford's book about his life.