J. A. Rigby
Sunday will be the birthday anniversary of J. A. Rigby, president of the J. A. Rigby Cigar company, who was born in Mansfield, May 1, 1860. Mr. Rigby's career is an admirable exemplification of what a combination of ambition, energy and perseverance can accomplish in the business world. As a young man he was employed for about six years in a local wholesale house, after which he began jobbing cigars in a small way, with headquarters in a room in the rear of his father's shoe store. At the start he was his own salesman and would go out on the road for the first four days of the week taking orders and would then come back home and pack up and ship the cigars for which he had taken orders. From this small beginning the big business of the J. A. Rigby Cigar company has grown, with its large force of salesmen and many brands of cigars which have won popularity all over the country, prominent among these being the William Penn. Mr. Rigby is also largely interested in a Philadelphia cigar factory, which recently erected an immense new building which is regarded as one of the finest and most sanitary cigar factories in the country.
From The Mansfield News, Saturday, April 30, 1910