Dr. Thomas B. Welch
by Charles Welch

 

Thomas B. Welch, M.D.

Thomas B. Welch, M.D., the founder of the Welch Grape Juice Company of
Vineland, NJ, was born at Glastonbury, Somersetshire, England, December 3 l, 1825, his parents being Abraham and Mary Fussel Welch. His father, Abraham Welch, a merchant, emigrated to the U.S. in 1834.

Thomas received his early education in the public schools of Watertown, NY. He also pursued a course at the Gouverneur Wesleyan Seminary, where he was graduated; and at the age of nineteen he entered into the work of the gospel ministry in connection with the Wesleyan Methodist Church, located first at Poundridge, near New York City. His next charge was in Herkimer County, NY; and while there he was united in marriage with Miss Lucy Hult of Gouverneur, NY. He continued in the work of ministry until his voice failed him, and he was obliged to direct his attention to other pursuits.

Deciding to enter the medical profession, he matriculated at the New York Central Medical College, where, completing the regular course, he was graduated in his twenty-sixth year. He then immediately established himself at Penn Yan, NY, and continued in practice there for two years. But not being very strong physically and finding the requirements of his calling too large and exacting for his constitution, he having paid considerable attention to dentistry, concluded to follow that pursuit,

He went to Winona, Minnesota in 1856, locating there as one of the early dentists, before the State of Minnesota was admitted to the Union. He practiced at Winona for some years, and then moved to New York City. He resided there for one year, whence he came to Vineland, NJ in 1865, when it was a small village. His sister, Susan Welch Peak lived here. He followed his profession in Vineland until 1880 and enjoyed a very successful and lucrative practice through the entire time.

In 1869, Dr. Welch originated a method of preserving wine in an unfermented state, especially for church communion services. This was an entirely new idea, and it involved a departure from an old custom and the initiation of a new practice. Much time, patience, and money were required to introduce it into the churches but it had finally become the established wine of communion.

Before leaving his practice in dentistry, he had prepared this wine and
had introduced it on a small scale into the neighboring churches. The Welch grape juice was originally prepared and intended simply for local use; but gradually the demands for it became more than local, and the preparation of it necessarily assumed the form of a business. The industry grew slowly until 1890, since which the time Dr. Welch had devoted his exclusive attention to it, and it had assumed vast proportions. The demands have doubled every year, as it was extensively used by physicians in their practices, in fountains, and for social gatherings. Dr, Welch had built up a business that extended all over the country. In the year 1892-93, he erected a large, three-story, steel faced building, with a vault 75x52 feet in dimension which was used as a storehouse for products. In the year 1895-96 he also established a large plant at Watkins, NY.

For years many carloads of grapes had been received in Vineland from the Watkins vicinity. The Welch Grape Juice Company is today the principal manufacturing establishment of unfermented wine in this country, and that year it produced 80,000 gallons.

After Dr. Welch discontinued his practice in dentistry, he established in 1881, under the firm name of T.B. Welch and Son, a dental depot at 1413 Filbert St., Philadelphia. It was afterward incorporated as The Wilmington Dental Manufacturing Company, developing into one of the largest dental depots in the United States, with a capital of $600,000. Of this, his son Charles was for many years the manager.

Dr. T. B. Welch was also connected intimately with the depot, especially in the sale of his dental specialties and in the editorial department of the Items of Interest, now Welch's monthly. These things, with the grape juice manufacturing, made a busy man of him, though he was now more than 70 years of age. His magazine, which he at first published alone in Vineland, and of which he had always been the editor, was probably the most popular dental journal in the U.S.

Dr. Welch was married twice. His first wife, Lucy Hult Welch, became the mother of seven children.

Dr Welch was a very staunch and active temperance man. When he came to Vineland he founded no less than a dozen places where liquors could be bought, though the town was nominally a temperance stronghold. He instituted a fight against the traffic, organizing a league in which he acted as the prosecutor: and succeeded in forcing the liquor dealers from the field. He did like services in Millville and Bridgeton.
He went to Philadelphia and he was sworn in as a special policeman to bring lawless liquor sellers to justice; and he succeeded in bringing to justice more than (160) one hundred and sixty.

After forty years of happy married life his first wife died in April 1894.
He second marriage was with Miss Victoria C. Sherbume of Vineland on October
23, 1895. Thomas B. Welch died in 1903 and is buried at Siloam Cemetery in Vineland.

 

 

Son Charles E. Welch 1852-1926