Nason, Leonard

Leonard Nason was born on October 9th of 1793 in Mendon, Massachusetts, to Willoughby Nason and Mary (Bardens) Nason. He grew up there in Mendon, and on March 15th of 1818 he married Miss Rebecca Briggs at that town. He was noted there on the 1820 census, but in 1826 he relocated to the banks of the Branch River near Burrillville, Rhode Island, where he erected a dam, a water power, and a small facility for the manufacturing of axes, scythes, hoes, and other tools. The works were quite profitable, growing in size and staffing, and by 1849 Leonard was appointed Postmaster of the rapidly growing town of Nasonville, made up mainly of workers in the factories and mills he had created and assisted in incorporating.   1850 saw the Nasonville factory for manufacturing of edge tools making a reported 1000 axes a day, as well as other tools. That same year, John U. Hubbard and Wiliam Paris Blake were noted as employees at Nason’s works. The two would return to Waterville, Maine, by 1854 and would eventually, after the American Civil War had ended, form the Hubbard and Blake Manufacturing Company,    Advertising for Nason’s axes is noted in media as early as 1830, and by 1856 was noted as far away as New Zealand. Manufacturing of axes continued there in Nasonville until May 5th of 1871, when the works burned down. As Leonard Nason had died on April 3rd of the previous year, leadership and ownership goals shifted and the works were not rebuilt.