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{{Short description|American businessman}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Oliver Chace
| image = Oliver_Chace.jpg
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1769|8|24}}
| birth_place = [[Swansea, Massachusetts]], [[British America]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1852|5|21|1769|8|24}}
| death_place = [[Tiverton, Rhode Island]], U.S.
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| occupation = [[Businessman]]
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| spouse = {{unbulleted list|{{marriage|Susanna Buffington|September 15, 1796|July 30, 1827|end=died}}|Patience Robinson}}
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| children = 7
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| relatives = {{unbulleted list|[[Arnold Buffum Chace]] (grandson)|[[Lillie Buffum Chace Wyman]] (granddaughter)|[[Malcolm Greene Chace]] (great-grandson)}}
}}

'''Oliver Chace''' (August 24, 1769 – May 21, 1852) was an American 18th and 19th-century businessman. He was the founder of several [[New England]] textile manufacturing companies in the early 19th century, including the [[Valley Falls Company]], the original antecedent of [[Berkshire Hathaway]], which as of 2019 is one of the largest and most valuable companies in the world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://fortune.com/2018/05/21/fortune-500-most-valuable-companies-2018/|title = Here Are the Fortune 500's Most Valuable Companies}}</ref>

==Early life==
Chace was born on August 24, 1769, in [[Swansea, Massachusetts]], to Jonathan Chace and Mary Earle, members of well known [[Yankee]] families in [[New England]] who had come from England in 1630 in the [[Puritan]] fleet with Governor [[John Winthrop]]. Chace and his family were [[Quakers]] (Society of Friends).<ref>Elizabeth Buffum Chace, 1806–1899: Her Life and Its Environment, Volume 1 By Lillie Buffum Chace Wyman, Arthur Crawford Wyman (W.B. Clarke Company, 1914), pg. 21</ref>

==Career==
As a young man, Chace worked as a carpenter for [[Samuel Slater]], who established one of the first successful [[textile mill]]s in the Americas at [[Pawtucket, Rhode Island]], in 1793. In 1806, Chace eventually started his own textile mill in [[Swansea, Massachusetts]], and then the [[Troy Cotton & Woolen Manufactory]] in 1813 in [[Fall River, Massachusetts]], and the [[Pocasset Manufacturing Company]] in 1821, also at [[Fall River, Massachusetts|Fall River]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dsgMAAAAYAAJ&q=history+of+fall+river&pg=PA11 A Centennial History of Fall River]</ref> He later acquired and reorganized the [[Valley Falls Company]] in [[Valley Falls, Rhode Island]], in 1839.

The [[Valley Falls Company]] would eventually acquire the Albion Mills, Tar-Kiln Factory in Burrillville, Manville Mills in [[Rhode Island]], and Moodus Cotton Factory in [[Connecticut]].

Chace's sons and nephews would also be involved in the textile industry of [[Fall River, Massachusetts]], and [[Valley Falls, Rhode Island]], as well as other locations in the area.

He was the father-in-law of [[Elizabeth Buffum Chace]], a noted 19th-century activist in the anti-slavery, women's rights, and prison reform movements.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=TIF5ACdkeHQC&dq=oliver+chace+valley+falls&pg=PA43 Elizabeth Buffum Chace and Lillie Chace Wyman: A Century of Abolitionist]</ref> Through her, he was the grandfather of the mathematician [[Arnold Buffum Chace]] and the author and activist [[Lillie Buffum Chace Wyman]].

Chace died on May 21, 1852, and was buried in the Old [[Quaker]] Burial Ground in Providence on Olive Street.<ref>[http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mcmanigle/22832.htm Oliver Chace Family Tree]</ref>

==Legacy==
In 1929, the Valley Falls Company, and others, would combine with the Berkshire Manufacturing Company of [[Adams, Massachusetts]], to become [[Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates]]. In 1955, Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates would merge with [[Hathaway Mills|Hathaway Manufacturing Company]] of [[New Bedford, Massachusetts]], to become [[Berkshire Hathaway]].

Chace's descendant Malcolm Chace, Jr. was chairman of Berkshire Hathaway when investor [[Warren Buffett]] began buying stock in 1962.<ref name=Setton>{{cite journal|last1=Setton|first1=Dolly|title=The Berkshire Bunch|date=October 12, 1998|url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/1998/1012/6208110a.html|access-date=August 19, 2015}}</ref> When Buffett took control of the company in 1965, Chace refused to sell his share and remained on the board of directors.<ref name=Setton />

==Personal life==
Chace married Susanna Buffington on September 15, 1796. They had seven children together.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=uauYBOCKCS0C&dq=oliver%20chace&pg=PA378 History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, J. W. Lewis & Co., 1883]</ref> Chace's two eldest sons, Harvey (born 1797) and Samuel Buffington (born 1800) would later follow their father into the textile business.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=NegUAAAAYAAJ&dq=oliver%20chace&pg=PA2157 New England families, genealogical and memorial, Lewis historical publishing company, 1915]</ref> Susanna Chace died on July 30, 1827. Oliver's second marriage was to Patience Robinson. They had no children.

==See also==
*[[Oliver Chace's Thread Mill]]
*[[Valley Falls Company]]
*[[History of Fall River, Massachusetts]]
*[[Elizabeth Buffum Chace]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.projo.com/business/johnkostrzewa/projo_20060709_jk0709.13efc99.html John Kostrzew, "Rich and richer: Berkshire, Buffett and R.I.'s Chace family," ''Providence Journal,'' 7/10/2006]
*[http://www.rootsweb.com/~rigenweb/article195.html Chace Family]
*[http://www.woonsocket.org/valleyfalls.html History of Valley Falls]
*[http://homepage.mac.com/joepowers/mill/olchace.html Information on Oliver Chace, with portrait]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chace, Oliver}}
[[Category:1769 births]]
[[Category:1852 deaths]]
[[Category:American chief executives of manufacturing companies]]
[[Category:American textile industry businesspeople]]
[[Category:American financiers]]
[[Category:American philanthropists]]
[[Category:American Quakers]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:People from Fall River, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:People from Somerset, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Berkshire Hathaway people]]
[[Category:People from Swansea, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:American company founders]]
[[Category:Manufacturing company founders]]

Oliver Chace - Revision history

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