Dating Early American Publishing Houses

Dana Estes and Company: Boston MA, 1898 - 1914

Formed at the dissolution of the publishing firm Estes and Lauriat at 209 and 301 Washington St. Boston. Dana Estes and Company consisted of Dana Estes, Frederick R. Estes, Eugene Belcher, and Francis H. Little and retained the publishing segment, which was moved to 196 Summer Street (later 208 Summer Street). Charles E. Lauriat Jr retained the bookselling segment at the original address, with associates - investors incorporating as the Charles E. Lauriat Company: John C. Lane, President; Charles E. Lauriat Sr, Vice-President and GM; Isaac R. Webber, and Directors Dana Estes, George W. Morse, and J.W.F. Parsons.

Charles E. Lauriat Company: Boston MA, 1914 - ?

The staff and operation of Dana Estes and Company were retained almost in their entirety at the acquisition of the firm by L. C. Page & Co, 53 Beacon Street Boston, which absorbed the Estes operation into its firm, although the Estes subsidiary H. M. Caldwell Company was sold to Dodge Publishing Company of New York City in a separate but similarly-timed transaction.

C. F. Jewett Publishing Company: Boston MA, 1888 - 1891+

Clarence F. Jewett, a native of Claremont, NH was employed by James R. Osgood & Company at the time of its demise in 1888, and successfully acquired investments from publishers Estes and Lauriat to create a new firm. The initial $75,000 stock issue was illegally resold by Jewett in 1890 with buyers losing all investments when Jewett and his family disappeared. The firm, in 1891, sued Gen. Benjamin F. Butler over an autobiography contracted by Jewett, but published by a competing firm, A. M. Thayer & Co.

A. M. Thayer & Co.: Boston MA, circa 1891