William Foster Nye (May 20, 1824 – August 12, 1910) was an American businessman and founder of a lubricating oil business in New Bedford, Massachusetts which is still in existence today and known as Nye Lubricants.

Life and career

Nye was born in the village of Pocasset (at the time considered part of the town of

Sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

), one of the eight children of Syrena ''née'' Dimmock and Ebenezer Nye. His family was descended from Benjamin Nye who had emigrated from England in 1635 and settled in Massachusetts where he eventually built and operated a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

near Sandwich.Nye, George Hyatt and Best, Frank E. (1907)
''A Genealogy of the Nye Family''
pp. 27–29; 423. Nye Family of America Association s.n. (1912)
''Representative Men and Old Families of Southeastern Massachusetts''
Vol. 2, pp. 1103–1104; 1107–1108. J.H. Beers & Co. At the age of 16 Nye was apprenticed to Prince Weeks, a master builder in

New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...

. On finishing his apprenticeship, he worked for a pipe organ-building company in Boston and then spent three years in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

as a carpenter for the Frederic Tudor Ice Company. On his return to Massachusetts he married Mary Keith on May 20, 1851. Nye then sailed to California, crossing the Isthmus of Panama on foot, and arriving in San Francisco shortly after the Fire of 1851 which had destroyed much of the city. He worked in the re-building of the city for several years, helping to construct some of San Francisco's first brick buildings. Nye Oils advertisement, 1894 (greyscaled)

Nye Oils advertisement, 1894 (greyscaled)

In 1855, Nye returned to New Bedford and set up an oil and kerosene business which he operated until the outbreak of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

when he joined the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

as a sutler to the Massachusetts Artillery and the 4th Massachusetts Cavalry. He was with the advance guard of the cavalry when it entered Richmond, Virginia in 1865 and set up a trading post there in one of the city's remaining brick buildings. For a time he was the sole tradesman operating in Richmond. After his regiment was mustered out in November 1865 Nye returned to New Bedford and began developing the lubricant oil business for which he became principally known. Nye's oil business, originally run out of small rented premises in Fairhaven, focused primarily on highly refined lubricant oils for watches, clocks, typewriters, sewing machines, and bicycles. In the late 1860s he acquired an entire catch of 2,200

pilot whales Pilot whales are cetaceans belonging to the genus ''Globicephala''. The two extant species are the long-finned pilot whale (''G. melas'') and the short-finned pilot whale (''G. macrorhynchus''). The two are not readily distinguishable at sea, ...

which would supply the raw material for his lubricating oils for several years. He expanded the business in 1877 with the purchase of a large brick building on Fish Island which became its principal refinery. By 1888, his company had become one of the world's largest suppliers of refined lubricant oils. In 1896 Nye absorbed Ezra Kelley's oil company, his main rival. He remained actively involved in the business until shortly before his death in 1910 at the age of 86. Nye's son, Joseph Keith Nye (1858–1923) worked extensively with his father, patented several inventions for the improvement of the refining process, and took over the company after his father's death. After Joseph's death in 1923, the business was acquired by his associate Anderson W. Kelley. It was subsequently acquired by the Mock family in 1956 and still operates today under the name Nye Lubricants.Dimock, Gioia (2017)
''Whaling in Massachusetts''
pp. 47–53 (electronic edition). Arcadia Publishing. Mulderink, Earl F. (2012)
''New Bedford's Civil War''
p. 191. Fordham University Press. Harris, Charles A. (1947)
''Old-Time Fairhaven''
p. 203. Reynolds Printing A keen believer in

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and Mind-body dualism, dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (w ...

, Nye had been one of the founders and most active promoters of the Onset Bay Grove Association. Their summer retreat, Onset Bay Grove, built by the association in the late 1870s, claimed to be the "largest community of spiritualism yet formed in the fifty years history of its teachings." In his later years Nye said of his beliefs:

That I am a spiritualist must be to those I leave behind me the touch that withers my memory or the ever living archway about which they can entwine earth's fragrant flowers and through which they may in gladness follow me to the evergreen shore.

Nye is buried with his wife Mary in Riverside Cemetery in Fairhaven.Barboza, Robert (25 May 2017)
"Cemetery tour highlights notables in Fairhaven history"
''The Advocate''. Retrieved 7 February 2018.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nye, William Foster 1824 births 1910 deaths American manufacturing businesspeople Businesspeople from Massachusetts People from Sandwich, Massachusetts 19th-century American businesspeople Tribologists