Edward Thomas Sprague
High ideals have actuated Edward Thomas Sprague in the conduct of his business interests, making him today the leading shirt manufacturer of Cincinnati, his patronage being drawn from many of the best and most prominent citizens.
He was born in Danbury, Connecticut, May 26, 1842. His father Thomas Wildman Sprague, also a native of Danbury, was born in November 1814, and in 1848 became a resident of Dayton, Ohio. Even Dayton did not give him the opportunities he desired and, seeking a broader field of labor, he came to Cincinnati in September 1850. Here he opened a retail clothing, custom tailoring and furnishing goods store at 113 Main Street, becoming the pioneer fine clothing merchant of the west. In 1854 he removed to No. 10 East Fourth Street, between Main and Sycamore Streets, the adjoining store being occupied by John Shillito & Company, while the post office was at the northeast corner of Fourth and Sycamore Streets. In 1860 in order to meet the growing demand of his trade he removed to a building at the southeast corner of Fourth and Vine Streets, leasing the entire building, which had just been completed. There he remained until 1876 when he disposed of his business and connected himself with his son, Edward T. Sprague, in the establishment of a shirt business with which he was associated to the time of his death, making his home with his son in Avondale. He wedded Martha Bishop, of Danbury, Connecticut, a daughter of Nathaniel Bishop, who was a minister of the old Scotch Dominion Church, the only church of the denomination in the United States. Her mother was Mrs. Betsy Bishop. The great-grandfather of Mr. Sprague in the maternal line bore the name of Dobbs and it was in his honor the Dobbs Ferry in New York is named. He was a soldier of the Revolutionary War and Mr. Sprague has in his possession a copy of a letter, which was written to him by George Washington. The great-grandfather of Mr. Sprague on the paternal side was likewise one of those who fought for the independence of the nation. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Sprague were born two sons, the brother of our subject being William, who married Miss. Kate Raper, of Loveland, Ohio. Both are now deceased. Their two children are Mary and Martha Sprague.
In the public schools of Cincinnati Edward Thomas Sprague acquired his early education, which was supplemented by a course in Chickering Institute, from which he graduated with the class of 1858. Leaving school he went to New York city, where he was engaged in the wholesale cloth business, but in 1860 returned to Cincinnati and became associated with his father in the clothing business at Fourth and Vine Streets were they remained until 1876. Their store was so long located at that place that it was always designated as "Spragues’ Corner," and never by the name of the streets which there intersected. In 1875 he turned his attention to the custom shirt business, which he established in a small room on the second floor of his father’s building. Two years later he removed to the Johnson building, and when another two years had passed was located at No. 7 Wiggins block, at the southeast corner of Fifth and Vine Streets, where he is still in business.
He has gained a national reputation as a custom shirt maker and now has a very extensive patronage because of the character of his work and the satisfactory fit, which he positively guarantees. He is very popular and has made many friends and patrons through his courteous and gentlemanly manner. He has made a most close and thorough study of every detail of the business and feels that just as much care should be taken in the manufacture of a well fitting shirt as in the making of a suit of clothes. Style and workmanship are always elements in the output of his establishment and the business has grown along substantial lines to extensive proportions.
On the 14th of June 1864, Mr. Sprague was married to Miss. Annie Hathaway Wiswell, who was born on Race, between Third and Fourth Streets, in this city. She is a daughter of Eben Wiswell, a furniture merchant, and a niece of William Wiswell, a proprietor of the art store. Her mother, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Sikes, was a member of the Sikes family of Worcester, Massachusetts. Mr. and Mrs. Sprague are the parents of two children, a daughter and son: Mrs. Clara Pumphrey; and Thomas W., who died in 1885 at the age of five years. Mrs. Pumphrey has three children: Anna, Mary and Ned. The elder granddaughter, Anna Pumphrey, is highly talented in the art of flower painting and in arts and crafts work. The other granddaughter, Mary Pumpgrey, is very proficient in music.
Mr. Sprague is a member of the Unitarian Church and is a prominent Mason, having attained the Knight Templer degree of the York Rite and the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite. His political allegiance is given to the Republican Party. He and his brother served in the militia at the time of the Civil War, being numbered among the squirrel hunters who crossed the pontoon bridge at the foot of Vine Street, defending the city at the time of the Kirby Smith raid in Kentucky, and also participated in the campaign against Morgan in his attempted raid of Cincinnati. With his command he later went to Paducah to protect the fleet of steamers which had gone there to give assistance in the building of a pontoon bridge over the Ohio from the shores of Kentucky to Ohio.
In questions of citizenship Mr. Sprague has always been true and loyal, not only in the days of the Civil War but in times of peace as well, and his cooperation has ever been counted upon as a tangible factor in movements for the general good. Since losing his wife, whose death occurred on the 30th of January 1906, at which time they were residents of Clifton, Mr. Sprague has made his home at Hotel Simon. He is treasurer of the New England Society that holds an annual banquet in Cincinnati. A man of attractive social qualities, he has found much that is pleasurable in life because he has the temperament and nature that wins it. Moreover his geniality of is of a nature that sheds around him much of life’s sunshine and all who know him are glad to call him friend.
From Cincinnati, The Queen City, Volume III, by Rev. Charles Frederic Goss, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1912