SHILLABER, CHARLES PATTEN

Copyright 2011-2017 John N. Lupia

Fig. 1. Charles Patten Shillaber photograph circa 1900.

Charles Patten Shillaber (1853-1911), second son of four children of Jonas Green Shillaber (1821-1884), a wealthy trader in the shoe manufacturing industry, and his wife Caroline Matilda Patten (1825-1898) of the Shillaber family of Boston. The Shillaber family traces its roots to New England during the early Colonial period. He attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1872-1873. He traveled to Paris, France in November 1878. In 1884, he married Helen Starr Camerden (1857-), daughter of Frederick Camerden and Mary Cordelia Starr.  They had three children among whom was a son Charles P. Shillaber II (1886-), who in turn also had a son Charles P. Shillaber, III. They lived in South Framingham, Massachusetts. 
            In 1882, he served as the Treasurer of the League of American Wheelman, bicycling club, and the following year the Vice President. He was also a member of the South Framingham Gun Club and won second prize in 1904. He was also an angler and caught tarpon.

Fig. 2. Charles Patten Shillaber with his tarpon.

            Helen Shillaber was a member of the Society of Arts and Crafts of Boston, and was a noted lace maker. Being born into the Shillaber Shoe Company of Lynn, Massachusetts started by his grandfather Daniel H. Shillaber he served as the president of the company and also served as the president of the Boston Boot and Shoe Club in 1898.
            He was the director of the National City Bank of Lynn, Massachusetts from 1893 to 1901 when he resigned.
            In December 1905 he was elected one of the vice-presidents of the Middlesex South Agricultural Society         
            He used to correspond with Henry Chapman for coins and mailed in bids for auctions beginning in 1906. He joined the ANA in August 1908 and was vouched for by Herbert Ellis Morey (1848-1925), the illustrious coin dealer and Howland Wood (1877-1938) of both ANA and ANS fame.

Fig. 3. Charles P. Shillaber correspond with Henry Chapman postmarked South Framingham, Massachusetts, September 4, 1906 on postal stationery Thorp-Bartels No. 1949 cancelled by a duplex.

Fig. 4. Shillaber's bid sheet for the Henry Chapman coin auction sale of the late Robert Barkley Leeds (1828-1905), held November 27-28, 1906. This was mailed postmarked November 24, 1906, reaching the Henry Chapman two days before the sale. The four pencil check marks on the lots signify those he won and they were made by Ella B. Wright, who became Henry Chapman's secretary after the dissoultion of the partnership with his brother Samuel Hudson Chapman. Courtesy Lupia Numismatic Library, Special Collection, The Chapman Family Correspondence Archive.

He died of a heart attack on July 11, 1911.

Bibliography :

Boston Post, Friday, November 29, 1878, page 3
The Wheelman, Volume 1 (1882-1883) ; 155
Boston Post, Thursday, November 19, 1898, page 8
Annual report of the Society of Arts and Crafts of Boston (1901) : 44
Sporting Life, Aril 30 (1904) : 20
Semi-Centennial of the National City Bank of Lynn, Massachusetts (October 1, 1904) : 43
Boston Daily Globe, Tuesday, December 19, 1905, page 7
The Numismatist, August (1908) : 252



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