The Portland daily press., 1895-08-10
OBITUARY..
Henry Homer Hay.

form until within fortnight He was
confined to his bed, bnt week,
and within that time the end was
not ! unexpected Henry Homer Hay
was the son of DR.. Charles Hay, who
practiced medicine in Cape Elizabeth
during the war of 1912, afterwards re-
| moving to Waterford where Mr.. Hay was
| born October Goth 1820 the youngest OF
| twelve children of whom his brother
George s., of this city is the sole survivor.
| His family moved to Portland in 1925
After attending the public schools, Mr.
| Hay became a clerk for a short time in
| grain store, but at seventeen ye ars OF age
he entered the drug, paint and dye stuff
establishment of Masters & Co., subse-
quently L. r. Hayes & Co., located at
No. 230 Middle street. In 1S41 he entered
into business with the late Robert
Dresser under the firm name Of H. II.
Hay & Co., to carry on the wholesale
paint and drug business in three story
brick building, No. 377 Fore street,
burned in the fire of 1866 When twenty
one years old he made his first trip to
4
Tavern at nine O'Clock on December
evening and riding all night in the mail
coach to Portsmouth, from there taking
the train to Boston the next morning.
| In that early time, if a man wished to
| get little paint for his own use in an
odd job, he could not buy it all prepared
at the druggists. They sold only the
"dry culors'' House painters bought
these chormes, etc., and took them to the
mill to be ground as farmer would take
his corn. The mill was operated by hand
and belonged to the father of Leander
and Charles Fobes of the present firm of
Burgess, Fobes & Co., dealers in paints
comm unity was ground up with the oil,
and a man who desired small quantity
would go to the mill and get potful Of
paint and brush. The pot was weighed
then, and also on its return and charge
made on the difference in weight. There
we're some other small paint mills owned
| by carriage painters. Also the large
variety of fancy goods now handled by
apothecaries was unknown in those days
Perfumeries, and hair and tooth brushes
could not then be bought in any of the
stores, to be sure but those articles and
| cosmetics, etc., were the only fancy goods
sold. Indeed, the variety in all features
of the druggists stock has increased a
| thousand fold. Then box of herbs, put
up in quarter packages, and consigned
| to Mr.. Hay by the Shakers, containing
| only about fifty different Species was all
required ordinarily Of home productions.
| Now all vegetation, of whatever nature,
in some form, is demanded by the trade,
from the commonest tree of the forest to
| the lowly clover Of the field Fluid ex-
| tracts were unthought of and unknown.
The same was true of many other prepar-
ations in the form. Of pills, granules
| tablets, etc.
| In those days there was no divorce be-
tween the wholesale and the retail busi-
| fitness. A young man entered as clerk
and filed out prescriptions just as clerk
deals out goods in any other business.
| The great variety of the stock in
modern drug store was not known then.
Mr.. Hay handles now as many proprietary
medicines as he did different articles in
his first store, half century ago. There
were only about twenty proprietary
medicines then and only half dozen of
those had any sale.
Two years after forming his partner
| ship with Mr.. Dresser he sold out to his
partner and purchased W. W. Jincoln's
stock and fixtures at mum Der IA Market
(now Monument) square. In 1856 he re-
moved to the present store formed by the
| junction of Free and Middle streets that
escaped in the great fire of '66 although
the buildings in the opposite sides of both
streets were swept away. The escape was
| undoubtedly due to the presence of a
spring in the cellar from which forty men
| brought the water in buckets and al
though the signs were burned off the
| walls, the building and it's contents were
saved.
Here Mr.. Hay remained until the time
of his decease, having taken his sons
Charles and Edwin into partnership.
Mr.. Hay was twice married, his first wife
DoIuS cooopIlAct ustuSutSF OI Une late
Calvin Gilman. by whom he had one
child, Mrs. Horatio Y. Cook of South
Portland. His second wife, who survives
him was Eleanor Sea vey, daughter of the
late Marian Seavey. The six children by
the marriage are all living. Rev. Henry
Clinton and William B., in Providence,
R. l., Mrs. William H. Flint in Ridge
field, Conn, Charles M, Eleanor S., and
Edward A., in this city.
Mr. Hay was one of the earliest in this
city to accept the doctrine of the New
Church, and his life was in strict accord
with its teachings He was a man of
modest and quiet demeanor, simply
honest and direct in sincerity of
character He was very fond of his home
and family, and invariably interested in
the welfare Of the sick or distressed.
He was one of the Oldest Odd Fellows
in the city, having joined Ligonia lodge
in December, 1S43. He was also a mem
ber of the Eastern Star Encampment
and Atlantic lodge of Masons. the Natural