Talk:Henry Babson

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Looks good to start. Maybe set the Phonograph company stuff and early life in a section of its own? And looks like plenty of horses, no need to add any! (evil grin) Ealdgyth | Talk 05:37, 7 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If we can find more biographical info, I agree. Also would be nice to add free images.

Could these online sources possibly be useful? For Henry Babson himself http://www.chapel-lane.net/arabians/babson_egyptians.htm For his Louis Sullivan-designed estate in Riverside IL http://www.organica.org/pe1251_1.jpg 76.193.188.67 (talk) 07:39, 17 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(Wonder if a US Gov't site like Library of Congress has a photo of Babson we can "legally swipe"? You do geneaology, you may know how to dig...) See Homer Davenport, which looks like it needs some work. Problem is, at present, there isn't quite enough material. But if you get more, like a better link to where he was born or when exactly he lived in Seward, Nebraska (where he apparently met Leon Douglass, a fellow who needs a wikipedia article of his own, by the way, Douglass was a pretty significant inventer of technologies used in phonographs and film), then we can break it out. Most of the non-horse stuff on Babson out in Google land was on another guy, Robert Babson. One of the better articles was the one on the milking machine! (grin) I'll check my Gladys Brown Edwards book to see if she has anything non-horse, but I rather doubt it. (FYI, like you have time on your hands, but discovering what a lot of breeders--or their spouses-- did in "real life" to earn the boatloads of bucks it took to import Arabians is a fascinating study. For several of them, particularly the "straight Egyptian" breeders, I only need two words: OIL MONEY.) Montanabw 06:13, 7 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Nothing in my copy of Edwards (I have the Third edition) says anything about Babson other than how it relates to his horses. Ealdgyth | Talk 20:53, 7 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Well, Henry was in Seward City, Seward County, Nebraska in 1880 with his father Gus Babson. That's from the 1880 Federal Census. According to the Social Security Death Index, he died in October of 1970 in Cook County, Illinois. They give his birthdate as December 1, 1875. If he's the same Henry Babson listed in the LDS's Ancestral File, that says his father was Augustus Babson and his mother was a Laura Margaret Davis. Definitely OR though! this is all from the www.familysearch.org site, btw. Ealdgyth | Talk 20:59, 7 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Here's links to the LOC's photographs... I THNK these are Babson's house. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?hh:7:./temp/~pp_Eq3A::@@@mdb=fsaall,app,brum,detr,swann,look,gottscho,pan,horyd,genthe,var,cai,cd,hh,yan,bbcards,lomax,ils,prok,brhc,nclc,matpc,iucpub,tgmi,lamb Ealdgyth | Talk 21:06, 7 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Cool, I'd bet "Gus" is short for "Augustus," probably the same person. People filled out those census forms in irregular ways sometimes. (A city directory has my mother's unusual first name written down about three different ways in different editions!) I'd say add the biographical info and cite it with footnotes to your materials mentioned. As for the photo, skim the wikipedia stuff on what is "legal" to upload, but usually stuff in the possession of the US Government is going to be OK unless some other copyright is noted. LC stuff is usually a pretty good bet. Give it a try. BTW, take a look at how I did the fair use tags on the Skowronek photos, which were taken after 1923 (probably). We might be able to use an old photo of Fadl that way. (Probably just Fadl, no sense in overkill, the older the photo, the easier it is to pass muster.) Now all we need is an image of the man himself. Montanabw 04:44, 8 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Looking good. Today was a 'bishops' day, so not much done on the horses. Going to be scarce for a while, but this one is looking good. I checked my articles file, and I only have one semi-fluff article on the Babson Farm, which is mostly about the farm in the mid 1990's. I do have an brief interview by Babson's daughter in a Khamsat from 1995, but it's pretty sparse also. I also have the Khamsat anthology that has some interesting articles - one a reprint of a report from Jack Humphrey to W. R. Brown about Egypt in 1932, another on W. R. Brown and Egyptian Breeding, and a third on the Blunts and Crabbet stud and the breeding program there. Ealdgyth | Talk 04:55, 9 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
No sense using the fluff, but if the others have substance, maybe add them in the external links section if online, and as "Further reading" section if in hardcopy. However, I would stick to the Babson stuff here. You might want to look at Crabbet Arabian Stud to see if you want to add references there or not.

Babson Brothers Company[edit]

In 1952 and 1953 I worked at Babson Brothers Company on the South Side of Chicago. I had taken a year off from College and got a job working in their office. Upon returning to College (Harvard) I chose to write my Senior Thesis in the Economics Department on The Mechanical Milkmaid: A History of the Milking Machine. Babson Brothers was very closely held and the woners kept the operating results a tight secret from the employees. I remember Mr. Babson himself would come into the office once a week, look at the day's orders for milking machines, and retreat to his office. I doubt if I spoke 10 words with him in the course of a year, but the office was small enough (perhaps 40 - 50 people altogether) that I did know all the other employees. Mr. Babson's son-in-law was the CEO, but day to day operations were run by George Mather, a crusty old veteran of World War I. I will never forget on November 11, 1952 Mr. Mather came out of his office at 10:59 am and in a loud voice told everyone to stand silently at attention at exactly 11:00 am [11/11/11:00]. Coincidentally, the National Sales Manager was Bob Mather, no relation despite the coincidence of the same last name71.63.67.25 17:01, 19 August 2007 (UTC)Alfred M. King (alfredking@erols.com)[reply]

Great story. I started this article because of Mr. Babson's influence on Arabian horse breeding, it's very difficult to find other information about his life...but horses cost money and it had to come from somewhere! Can you describe more of what the business was like, what they sold, etc..? (Besides, apparently, milking machines and record players??) Do you know anything about when the Babson Brothers Company began (trying to sort out the timeline on when Babson was a salesman for Victor and when he and his brothers started their own company. Any info much appreciated! Montanabw(talk) 03:26, 20 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Start new article for Babson Bros Company?[edit]

I have a hobby of trying to document the history of dairy technology, and I would like to see an article talking about the history of the Surge bucket milker and other past Surge products on Wikipedia.

From what I've been able to find at this external website, this probably should be done as subsections under the name of Babson Brothers Company:

Any history related to Westfalia/Surge after their merger, and the current "GEA Technologies" consolidation can be handled in separate articles, later.

A long-standing challenge for me has been to try and figure out where the "Step Saver" milk transfer cart fit into the picture. It looks like Surge may have originally patented it, but it was sold by several others such as apparently Zero Manufacturing, so I don't know yet who actually first invented it. I have heard the Bender Machine Works may have been involved but I've searched through every patent by Lloyd F. Bender and he doesn't appear to have patented it. The whole subject is shrouded in mystery.

I have another stub of an article I am slowly trying to flesh out, which I've renamed several times now, talking about the Step Saver cart and the Bender Washer/Releaser:

  • Bender Machine Works
  • Step-Saver (dairy farming) -- (former article name)
  • Bender Step-Saver and Washer/Releaser -- (former article name)

It appears Bender's historical dairy products should stand on their own, plus also mention its use with the cart from Surge (or whoever).

I have purchased several washer/releasers on eBay that I intend to set up and demonstrate on video for Wikipedia, and I'm hoping to find the cart with the hose rack and the cart hose dryer, so I can make some videos of how it all operated, also.

DMahalko (talk) 01:20, 14 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds like a fun project! Drop a line here when the Babson Bros article goes live! I don't think Henry had all that much to do with the milker. But sounds interesting! Montanabw(talk) 21:12, 14 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Babson horse breeding farm[edit]

Babson Homestead.

January 2014. The Babson homestead located in Grand Detour, Illinois, is currently for sale and can be located at the website realtor.com using the 60121 area code. The interior and exterior pictures of the original home could probably be used for the article with the listing agent's consent. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.182.246.178 (talk) 20:38, 20 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Article expansion[edit]

SOurces for future expansion:

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