Archive of the Correspondence of Charles H. Jones, Jr. and his fiancé, (later wife), Margaret M. French, as well letters of his father Charles H. Jones, founder of the Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co., of Whitman, Massachusetts, and Maine, 1925-1951

No Binding. Very Good. Archive of 316 letters, comprising 1,311 pp., with 28 pieces of ephemera, (including calling cards, used envelopes, and postcards), all dated between 1925 and 1951, with the bulk of material being 1925 to 1938. Of the 316 letters, 112 of them (545 pp.) were written by Margaret M. "Peg" French to her fiancé, and later husband Charles H. "Peter" Jones, Jr., and are dated 1925-1927. Charles writes 146 (598 pp.) of these 316 letters to his fiancée, later wife, Margaret. The remaining 58 letters (168 pp.) are by various correspondents and include Charles H. "Pete" Jones, Jr. writing letters to his mother-in-law Mrs. Henry C. French (6) and to his son Charles H. "Willie" Jones, III (2). Also in these remaining letters are 14 letters written by Margaret to her son Charles, and 17 letters written by Charles H. Jones, Sr. to his daughter-in-law Margaret and 3 letters to his grandson Charles H. "Willie" Jones, III. There are also 3 letters written by Leslie F. "Mym" Jones (the daughter of Charles H. "Pete" Jones, Jr.) to her brother Charles H. "Willie" Jones, III, and 13 miscellaneous letters that include 9 letters to Margaret, 1 letter to Charles H. "Pete" Jones, Jr., and 3 letters to Peg and Pete's daughter, Leslie F. "Mym" Jones. These miscellaneous letters are written by family and friends. The letters consist mainly of family and personal correspondence. Charles H. Jones Family History: Founding and Development of Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co. The Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co. was a successor to a few of Whitman, Massachusetts' early shoe factories. Among its predecessors were the Marcus S. Reed Factory, begun ca. 1865 in South Abington (later called Whitman). The Reed factory operated on another site as a small boot and shoe factory under various names. Another predecessor to Commonwealth Shoe was the Henry and Daniels factory, itself a successor to earlier South Abington shoe companies, and the previous owner of the earliest extant shoe factory building on the present Commonwealth Shoe and Leather site (ca. 1864). After Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co. acquired the west side of the present Marble Street complex, it became a Whitman landmark, and the sprawling complex eventually occupied property on both the east and west sides of Marble Street. Founded and incorporated in 1884, Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co. succeeded the Charles H. Jones Co., formed in 1882. Charles H. Jones (1855-1933) was a capitalist and philanthropist, who amassed a fortune engaging in many fields of business and industry including leather and shoe manufacturing, cattle breeding, dairy farming, and real estate development. Jones became president of Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co., a position he held until 1930. For most of its existence, Commonwealth Shoe was a family enterprise, run by three generations of the Jones family--Charles H. Jones, his sons Paul Jones and Charles H. "Pete" Jones Jr., and grandsons Paul Jones Jr. and Charles Jones III. The archive offered here centers around the correspondence of Charles H. "Pete" Jones, Jr. and his fiancée, later wife, Margaret Massy "Peg" French. Charles H. Jones, was the son of Harriet Sears and Isaac Jones, and descended from a family of Quakers, who had established themselves in Chatham on Cape Cod. Charles Henry Jones, was born in 1855 in Marshfield, Massachusetts, attended Boston public schools, and in 1872 graduated from Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. After graduation, the seventeen-year-old Jones went to work for the wholesale shoe firm Henry and Daniels as a travelling representative. In 1882 Charles H. Jones married Bessie Roberts (1861-1948) of Boston, and they had four children Paul Jones (1884-?), Elizabeth Jones (1900-1990), who married Frank J. McSherry, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Charles Henry "Pete" Jones, Jr. (1902-1999), and Harriet M. Jones (1904-1997), who married James Sinclair, of Weston, Massac