Researching Edmund T. Church

[bjoy]

I own a Church M422a jacket and decided to do a little research.

Edmund Tweedy Church was born in 1864 Brooklyn. His parents were James (a Methodist minister) and Elizabeth. He was married in 1893 and had two children Marjorie and David Alden.

He left school in 1880 and got a job at "Tweedy & Co" which made hats. Later he became a traveling salesman for multiple "men's furnishing goods" companies.

In 1909, he started his own company and became president of "Church, Webb & Close, Inc" which was a men's neck wear manufacturer and wholesaler. In 1918, he and William Webb were granted patent 1,219,084 and started "Reinforced Cravat Corp" to exploit it.

George L. Close also has patent 1,284,240 for a type of aviator headgear granted in 1918 and assigned to "Church, Webb & Close, Inc".

At some point Edmund also became an officer in the "Panevello Co" which apparently made "golf hose". In 1924, he purchased this company, became its president, and renamed it "Edmund T. Church Inc".

His son David Alden Church graduated from Columbia University in 1922 and was by 1924 a vice-president of this company.

Edmund Church died in May, 1945, at the age of 81. At that time David was company president.

"Edmund T. Church Inc" company products continue to appear in magazine advertisements as late as 1956.

I have seen references to "Burjac Sportswear" as being a renamed "Edmund T. Church Inc", however if so (I found no documentation and the dates do not align) then it must have been only a subdivision of that company. The earliest mention of "Burjac Sportswear" as a company in a publication that I found was in 1951.

In 1958 David started "David A. Church Company Inc" and used trademarks such as "David Church", "Church Originals", and "Made by Church". Mentions of this company continue as late as 1976.

 

[Roughwear]

This is very interesting research on the Church family and their clothing buisnesses. Which sources did you use?

 

[bjoy]

Which sources did you use?

Mostly Google Books. Both father and son were somewhat prominent and so listed in "Who's Who" type publications. For instance:

http://books.google.com/books?id=lI...sult&ct=result&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAQ

http://books.google.com/books?id=aL...sult&ct=result&resnum=8&sqi=2&ved=0CEwQ6AEwBw

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/1219084.html

 

[deeb7]

I have seen references to "Burjac Sportswear" as being a renamed "Edmund T. Church Inc", however if so (I found no documentation and the dates do not align) then it must have been only a subdivision of that company. The earliest mention of "Burjac Sportswear" as a company in a publication that I found was in 1951.

John Chapman put it this way ...

Burjac's 55J14 is literally identical to Edmund Church's M-422A design, so I'm under the impression that there's a relationship between the two companies. Even the USN stencil is identical. The differences are the materials used (like the lining color), as the 55J14 matches other USN jackets of the post-WWII period. Both Edmund T. Church and Burjac jackets are spectacular in their quality.

 

[bjoy]

John Chapman put it this way ...

Burjac's 55J14 is literally identical to Edmund Church's M-422A design, so I'm under the impression that there's a relationship between the two companies. Even the USN stencil is identical. The differences are the materials used (like the lining color), as the 55J14 matches other USN jackets of the post-WWII period. Both Edmund T. Church and Burjac jackets are spectacular in their quality.

Both companies were based in NYC. Church in 1949 at "15 W. 47th St" and Burjac in 1958 at "260 W 39 St". According to Google Maps, that is 1.1 miles.

Perhaps Burjac hired some former employees of Church? Or subcontracted the work to them?

 

[bjoy]

Google Books has now revealed the full text of a book containing an Edmund Church biography copyrighted 1921. This was about 25 years before his death and a few years before the founding of "Edmund T. Church Co, Inc".

http://books.google.com/books?id=5T...AA#v=onepage&q="edmund tweedy church"&f=false

Here is that text:

CHURCH, Edmund Tweedy, manufacturer, was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., Apr. 8, 1864, son of James Henry and Elizabeth (Van Boskerck) Church; grandson of James Crandon and Susan Courtney (Kelso) Church; great-grandson of Gamaliel and Lydia (Alden) Church, and 9th in direct descent from John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden. James Henry Church, his father, a native of Poughkeepsie, was a merchant in New York city. Edmund Tweedy Church received his education in the schools of Fergusonville, N. Y., and later at Brooklyn grammar school from which he entered business in the hat firm of Tweedy & Co., in 1880. After a short prospecting trip to the West he came back to New York and in 1888 became a traveling salesman for J. S. Lowray & Co., men's furnishing goods, later James R. Keiser, Inc. For more than thirty years he has been allied with the men's neckwear trade in New York, with a reputation for making the best cravats produced in the country. He is' president of Church, Webb & Close, Inc., New York, manufacturers of cravats, a corporation formed in 1909, and he is also secretary, treasurer and director of the Reinforced Cravat Corporation, New York. Self reliance and tenacity in holding to his convictions are marked characteristics of our subject. This was exemplified when he declined to remain longer in the employ of others and launched out as a manufacturer against the advice of his most experienced business friends. His successful guidance of the policy of the firm has placed it in the front rank of all similar enterprises, the steady growth in volume of output making necessary the addition (1919) of another plant. He was for a time a member of Co. B, 23d regiment (Brooklyn), New York national guard. He holds membership in the Wykagyl Country Club, New Rochelle, and has his residence at New Rochelle. He finds his chief recreation in golf and motoring. Politically he is a Republican, and he is a communicant of the North Avenue Presbyterian church. He was married at Catskill, N. Y., May 17, 1893, to Sophronia Carolyn, daughter of David Macartney, a Methodist minister of Catskill; they have two children: Marjorie (1896), and David Alden Church (1899).

 

[bjoy]

I didn't notice it at first, but the book also has a photo.