The Carriage Co.

A Long-Term Family Business

The Hussey carriage business in Tarboro was founded in 1867 Marcellus and Thadeus Hussey and was known as Hussey & Bro. The original shop was located behind Marcellus's retail store. The name of the business, its location and the partnership changed a number of times over the years.

The business of building and repairing carriages was dominated by local firms. Most towns of any size had a carriage business and there were hundreds of such firms in North Carolina during this time period. When the Hussey brothers went into business, there was already an existing carriage company owned by J.A. Williamson which had been in business since 1857.

Hussey & Bro. apparently meet with some success as they opened a new shop less than a year later. They further built their business when they formed a partnership with J.A. Williamson in 1868 named Hussey Bros. & Co. The new firm did business as "the Edgecombe Coach Manufactory" and in addition to adding J.A. Willianson, Jesse Hussey also joined.

In the "Schedule 4 - Products of Industry" that accompanied the 1870 Federal Census, Hussey Bros. and Co. had become the largest employer in Tarboro employing 17 men to whom, during the previous 12 months, they had paid in total the princely sum of $6,500. They represented that the partners had $8,000 invested in the business and that during the previous 12 months they had produced $22,000 worth of carriages and harness.

In 1873, for reasons unknown, J.A. Williamson again struck out on his own and reopened a competing company known as J.A. Williamson Carriage Manufacturer. The Hussey brothers moved to new quarters near Main Street.

In the "Schedule 3 - Manufactures" that was part of the 1880 Federal Census, the firm was now named M.L. Hussey and Bro. and was again Tarboro's largest employer. But in the financial climate of the time, business had fallen off. They now employed only 10 men and had paid them a total of $2,500 dollars in the preceding year. Their carriage and harness production had declined to $9,500, which was still over 3 times what any other Tarboro business had produced. J.A. Williamson Carriage Manufacturer was no longer in business.

The company changed names twice more. Around 1890 it became M.L. Hussey, Carriage Builder, presumably with the departure of Jessie and Thaddeus. Later it became The Enterprise Carriage Company and came under the management of Marcellus' son W.T. Hussey and Thaddius' son H.S. Hussey. They published a handsome catalog with illustrations of the many buggies and carriages they manufactured.

As automobiles replaced carriages the Hussey family business changed right along with the times. They switched to selling cars and sold Chevrolets, Oldsmobiles and Buicks. Eventually the Hussey family switched from selling cars to parts for those cars. By the 1980s auto parts business was serving a 16 county area and they are still at it today.