Tales from the Field: A Life in the American Sumatra Tobacco Company
— A Southwick Time Machine Original Series | Tales from the Field
Robert J. McComb, a Suffield, Connecticut native who entered the tobacco business around 1912, returned home from Avon, Connecticut, in March 1916 to become assistant manager of the American Sumatra Tobacco Company’s Southwick Plantation.
Despite its name, the plantation straddled the Connecticut–Massachusetts border, occupying land in both West Suffield, Connecticut, and neighboring Southwick, Massachusetts. At its height, it encompassed roughly 300 acres, reflecting the enormous scale of Connecticut River Valley shade tobacco operations during the early twentieth century.
The American Sumatra Tobacco Company stood among the dominant forces in the shade-grown tobacco industry. Vast fields stretched beneath white cheesecloth tents produced the delicate wrapper leaf used for high-quality cigars. The company’s operations crossed town and state lines, with plantations, curing barns, labor camps, and warehouses spread throughout Western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut.
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| Workers hanging tobacco leaves for curing in a barn in Suffield, Connecticut, circa 1910. |
McComb eventually earned a reputation as an expert grower of shade tobacco.
That expertise nearly came to an abrupt end during the summer of 1918.
On July 20, 1918, McComb left Suffield to drive several girls employed at the plantation back home after their workday. Returning from Southwick later that evening, he noticed one of the company’s trucks pulled off along the roadside. It appeared the driver had stopped to make minor repairs.
McComb parked his automobile on the opposite side of the road and stepped out near the front of his vehicle. As he did, a Ford touring car attempted to pass between the two parked vehicles.
The touring car slammed into McComb, knocking him to the ground and running over him. The vehicle belonged to Frank Lambson of Southwick and was being driven by his son, Arthur Lambson.
Severely injured, McComb was carried into a nearby house while three doctors were urgently summoned to the scene. Physicians discovered he had suffered extensive injuries, including a broken left leg and five broken ribs.
After recovering, McComb returned to work.
Another serious automobile accident would later bring McComb back to the roadside. On November 27, 1929, a terrible crash in Windsor Locks left several people seriously injured. McComb and a deputy sheriff rushed the victims to the emergency aid room in Suffield.
Eventually, the prosperous Connecticut River Valley tobacco industry began to fade, and the American Sumatra Company ceased operations at its plantation in Southwick at the end of the 1932 season. In mid-November 1932, McComb relocated to Bloomfield, Connecticut, where he accepted a position at another American Sumatra Company plantation in the Weatogue section of Simsbury.
Although physically located in Simsbury, the operation was commonly known as the “Bloomfield Plantation” because its eastern fields extended across the town line into Bloomfield, much like the Southwick Plantation, which lay in West Suffield and extended into Southwick.
McComb was quite familiar with the Bloomfield plantation, having been the foreman there while living in Avon.
However, McComb’s time there would be brief.
On November 23, 1932, while working inside a storage barn on the plantation, McComb suddenly collapsed and died. He was only 48. A medical examiner later determined the cause of death to be a heart attack brought on by indigestion.
Robert McComb's funeral was held at the First Congregational Church of Suffield on November 26, 1932. At the time, it was said to be one of the largest attended services ever held in the church's long history.
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| First Congregational Church, Suffield, Connecticut |
Twenty years later, history would seem to repeat itself. While visiting an ice cream shop in Somers, Connecticut, on October 11, 1952, McComb’s son, Robert Jr., dropped dead of a heart attack before help could be summoned. He was 35.
— Part of the Southwick Time Machine's Tales from the Field series
Robert John McComb
October 29, 1884 — November 23, 1932
This article is based on original primary-source research, including official records, census data, company records, period newspapers, directories, and other historical materials. Additional sources include books, archival references, and historical resources related to tobacco, cigar manufacturing, Connecticut history, and the communities mentioned in this story.
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Edited Out/Author's Additional Research Notes
Some sources say McComb was born on October 29, 1887. Others say he was born in 1882. However, October 29, 1884, is correct.
Robert’s parents were born in Ireland.
At one time, the Southwick plantation only grew shade tobacco.
The world-famous Connecticut “Made in the Shade” wrappers are considered the best. Most Connecticut wrappers are made by growing Connecticut seed elsewhere due to labor and other costs.
A lot of former tobacco farmland has been sold to developers for residential housing developments, forever changing the landscape of the Connecticut River Valley.
McComb got married in December 1915. At the time, he was the foreman of the Simsbury plantation.
The McCombs moved around a bit. They lived in Westfield in 1917 and Windsor Locks in 1920.
McComb was of medium height and build. He had brown hair and blue eyes.
Robert’s siblings included: Elizabeth E., David S., Andre (“Andrew”), and Emily.
Robert Sr.'s wife died about a month after her 93rd birthday.
In March 1924, McComb was making plans for sterilizing tobacco hotbeds, an important agricultural process intended to protect tobacco seedlings from disease. Around the same time, the company had received sixty-five railroad cars of fertilizer intended for use at the Southwick plantation and at Hayden Station. Hayden Station was in Windsor, Connecticut.
In 1913, American Sumatra grew 150 acres of shade tobacco at the Southwick Plantation.
In 1930, American Sumatra lost a fortune after a bad storm wiped out most of its tobacco in Southwick and Westfield. The company also lost a curing barn around this time.
In 1933, American Sumatra did not plant any tobacco on its Southwick plantation.
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