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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01101 0870
GENEALOGY 974.4 W93S v.4
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THE STORY OF
Western Massachusetts
THE STORY OF Western Massachusetts
Author and Editor
PERSONAL AND FAMILY HISTORY
MENSE PETIT
QVIETEMR
PLACIDAM
LIBERTATE
ŠV
VOLUME IV
LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.
NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. 1949
1381489
W.Mass. IV-1
Be ackern
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STANTON JOHN McCROARY-In practice in his native Pittsfield since 1934, Dr. Stanton John Mc- Croary is known throughout Berkshire County for his achievements in osteopathic medicine.
Dr. McCroary was born in Pittsfield on January 19, 1906, the son of Frank and Catherine (Stanton) Mc- Croary. Both parents were born in Ireland and both settled in Adams in early youth. They were married at the Roman Catholic Church of St. Thomas Aquinas in that city. Frank McCroary is now janitor in the public school system of Pittsfield.
After obtaining his early education in the public schools of Pittsfield, and graduation from Pittsfield High School, Stanton J. McCroary prepared for his profession at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathy, from which he received his degree of Doctor of Osteo- pathy in 1933. From 1933 to 1934 he interned at the Osteopathic Hospital in Philadelphia and at the con- clusion of his internship was admitted to practice in Massachusetts. He has had his offices in Pittsfield ever since, with an ever-widening circle of patients.
A communicant of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Dr. McCroary is active in the Pittsfield Council, Knights of Columbus. He is also a member of Gamma Chapter, Theta Psi. For recreation, Dr. McCroary is interested in the breeding of racehorses. He now has two horses at Pittsfield and three in the home state of race horses, Kentucky.
Dr. McCroary has been married twice. He first married Dorothy A. Donnelly, daughter of Michael J. and Annie (Nealon) Donnelly. She died in 1940, three years after the marriage. He married second, Catherine M. Flynn, daughter of Michael and Cather- ine (Shea) Flynn of Hinsdale, in 1945. To the second marriage was born Sheila Marie McCroary in the House of Mercy Hospital, Pittsfield, on August 24, 1947.
BURTON ACKER-One of the leading business executives of Springfield, Burton Acker has long been prominent in the motorcycle industry of this city.
Mr. Acker was born June 19, 1910, at Springfield, son of Dorson Silas Acker. His father, a direct de- scendant of General Sherman, was a cigar manu- facturer, retail tire merchant, and proprietor of a self-service market.
Mr. Acker attended the public schools of Spring- field, and was graduated from the High School of Commerce.
After having finished his formal education, Bur- ton Acker became associated with Tifft Brothers, stockbrokers, as a secretary, and by 1935 had risen to the position of purchasing agent. In that year he re- signed his position with the brokerage firm, and joined the Indian Motorcycle Company as a member of their advertising department. One year later he became advertising manager, and continued in this post until 1945. Meanwhile, in 1943, in addition to his duties as advertising manager of the motorcycle company, he established the Springfield Motorcycle Sales Company, and two years later devoted his en- tire time to this enterprise, which deals in the re- tail distribution of motorcycles, bicycles, outboard engines, and other related equipment. In 1947 Mr. Acker resigned his position with Springfield Motor Sales Company to establish the Harley-Davidson
Motorcycle Agency at Main Street, West Spring- field, and to service to motorcycle trade in West Massachusetts for this very popular machine.
Mr. Acker is interested in many phases of his community existence, and holds memberships in the New England Motorcycle Dealers' Association, the Massachusetts Automobile Dealers' Association, the American Motorcycle Association, the Chamber of Commerce, the Advertising Club, the Springfield Yacht Club, and the Trail Blazers. In politics Mr. Acker is a Republican. His favorite hobby is flying, and for relaxation he enjoys fishing.
On January 27, 1938, Burton Acker married Dorothea R. Belden, daughter of Chauncey and Florence P. (Knapp) Belden. Her father, who died April 22, 1947, was a teller in the Springfield National Bank, and her mother is living at St. Petersburg, Florida. Mrs. Acker attended the public schools of Springfield, was graduated from the Central High School and St. Petersburg Junior College, St. Peters- burg, Florida. Burton and Dorothea R. (Belden) Acker became the parents of the following children: I. Burton E., Jr., who was born December 8, 1938. 2. Carol Lynn, who was born December 15, 1939.
O. DIXON MARSHALL-To a private and public practice of law at and for the town of Williamstown, O. Dixon Marshall has added a fine and diversified record of business and financial endeavor, civic serv- ice, interest in public welfare, church and social ac- tivity.
Mr. Marshall was born August 9, 1906, at Ballston Spa, New York, the son of the late Roscoe G. and Grace (Dixon) Marshall, who is now a resident of Adams. The father was a papermaker. Dixon Mar- shall was one of four children, the others being: Robert L. Marshall, Doctor of Osteopathy at Bruns- wick, Georgia; Roscoe W. Marshall, an architect at St. Simon's Island, Georgia; and Katherine L. (Marshall) Sherman, of Killarney, Florida. O. Dixon Marshall was graduated from Adams High School in 1922, and, in preparation for his career, then attended the Troy Conference Academy at Poultney, Vermont. He pursued a course in arts at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and was awarded the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1928. Having chosen law as his life work, he thereupon entered the Dickinson Law School. On November 4, 1931, he was admitted to practice before the Massachusetts State Bar and es- tablished himself as a general attorney in Williams- town, a practice he still maintains. He was admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, December 3, 1935, and to the United States District Court for the North- ern District of New York in March, 1948.
In addition to his private practice, Mr. Marshall has been since 1937, town counsel for the town of Ashford, and has served Williamstown in the same capacity for a number of years. He has also served two terms of three years each as a selectman for Williamstown and is currently a member of the Republican town committee. He is president of the Berkshire Frozen Food Lockers, Inc., of Williamstown, and a director of the Renton Baking Company, of North Adams. He serves the Williamstown National Bank as a di- rector and the Williamstown Savings Bank as trustee. He is also a trustee of the North Adams Hospital; a
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director of the Williamstown Boys' Club, and a mem- ber of the troop committee of the Boy Scouts of America.
Mr. Marshall is a member of the state and county bar associations. He is a past president of the Rotary Club and a member of the Williams College Faculty Club. He finds relaxation from these many and energy consuming activities in riding, tennis and golf and maintains memberships in the Riding Club, the Tennis Club and the Taconic Golf Club of Williams- town. His hobby, if it may be called that, is a farm, also in Williamstown. He is affiliated with and serves as a trustee of the Williamstown Methodist Church.
O. Dixon Marshall married, August 20, 1932, at North Adams, Jean A. Renton, daughter of Alex and Jane (Anderson) Renton. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall are the parents of a son. Malcolm James, born November 9, 1940.
WILLIAM BRADFORD WEST-For almost thirty years one of the outstanding business men of Pittsfield, William Bradford West has done much to further the progress of the paper machinery industry in this region of the commonwealth.
Mr. West was born October 23, 1897, at Pittsfield, son of Harry G. and Mary F. (Waite) West. The West family had been prominent in the life of New England for generations. Abel West, great-great- grandfather of Bradford West, was born in 1747, at Vernon, Connecticut. At the outbreak of the Revolu- tionary War, he volunteered for active service, but due to a physical handicap was persuaded by Governor Trumbull to return to his farm. There he raised food for the Revolutionary Army. Hearing that General Washington needed food at the front urgently, Abel West sold his farm, bought wagons, loaded them with food and provisions, and journeyed south to the aid of the Army. En route he heard the news of the war's end. The governor took the food off his hands, paying him in worthless continental money. Impoverished, he returned home to remain a poor man for the rest of his days, having given his all for the independence of his country. He married Hannah Chapman.
Their son, Abel West, II, great-grandfather of Bradford West, came to Pittsfield, in 1800, and became associated in business with Colonel Simon Larned. In 1817. he bought an eighty-acre farm, later was elected district school committeeman, a position to which he was re-elected many times, and, in 1842, was a representative for Pittsfield in the State Legisla- ture as a Whig. After serving his community during a lifetime of usefulness, he died in February, 1872. He married Matilda Thompson.
Their son, Gilbert West. grandfather of Bradford West, was a prominent resident of Pittsfield. For a number of years he served on the Board of the Fire Department, and for more than thirty years acted as librarian for the First Congregational Sunday school. He married Elizabeth Goodrich.
Harry G. West. son of Gilbert and Matilda (Thomp- son) West, and father of William Bradford West, was born in 1862. One of the leading citizens of Pittsfield, he was a former mayor of the city, and was a large property owner. He married Mary F. Waite, daughter of Dr. Lorenzo Waite, a prominent Pittsfield physi- cian, and they became the parents of the following
children: I. Gilbert Lorenzo. 2. Frances Elizabeth. 3. William Bradford, of further mention. Down through the years the West family has contributed toward the building and development of Pittsfield, and its members have played an important part in its civic, business, and professional life.
William Bradford West received his early training in the local schools and was graduated from Pittsfield High School. He obtained his college education at the University of Virginia.
During World War I Mr. West served as a second lieutenant in the United States Army.
In 1919, he became associated with the E. D. Jones and Sons Company, of Pittsfield. This concern was engaged in the manufacture of paper machinery. In a short time he rose to the position of assistant sales manager, the capacity in which he served the firm with efficiency until 1929. At this time he accepted the position of sales manager for the J. H. Horn and Sons Company, of Lawrence, and remained with this organization for the next three years. In 1932, he returned to Pittsfield, where he became president of the Bradford West Company, a firm which distributes paper machinery and equipment. Throughout the past fifteen years he has conducted this enterprise with marked success.
In addition to his other business interests, Mr. West is a director of the Pittsfield National Bank, and is associated with the Pittsfield Co-operative Bank in the same capacity.
Active in the social, civic, and fraternal aspects of his community life, Mr. West is treasurer of the Berkshire County Chapter of the Boy Scouts of America. He is a member of the Pittsfield Country Club. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Pittsfield Lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons and with Beta Theta Pi. In political preference he is a staunch Republican, and attends the Congregational Church in Pittsfield.
On September 6, 1924, at Pittsfield, William Brad- ford West married Ruth Osteyee, daughter of Frank E. Osteyee, and they became the parents of one son, Stephen K. West, who was born September 28, 1928, at Pittsfield; he was graduated from the Phillips Academy, at Andover, and is now attending Yale University at New Haven, Connecticut.
ALLEN GALPIN RICE, M.D .- A consulting sur- geon of Springfield Hospital, Dr. Allen Galpin Rice, was born in Springfield July 20, 1880, the son of John Lovell and Clara Elizabeth (Galpin) Rice. John Lovell Rice, who served as lieutenant colonel of the United States Army in the Civil War, was postmaster of Springfield from 1884 to 1888.
Allen Galpin Rice graduated from the Springfield grammar school in 1894 and from the Springfield High School in 1898. He then became a student at Harvard College, graduating in 1902, after which he studied medicine at the Harvard Medical School and in 1905 graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Dr. Rice is a past president of the Spring- field Academy of Medicine, and belongs to the Massa- chusetts Medical Society, the American Medical As- sociation, the American College of Surgeons, and the New England Surgical Society. He has been certi- fied by the American Board of Surgery. During World War I Dr. Rice served as a captain in the
Reload Lewis
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United States Army Medical Corps in 1917-18. He is a corporator of the Springfield Institution for Savings, and trustee of Springfield Hospital. He be- longs to The Club, the Century Club, the Long- meadow Country Club, the Connecticut Valley Har- vard Club, and the Harvard Club of Boston. Dr. Rice is a Republican and an Episcopalian.
On October 27, 1909 at Newton, Dr. Allen Galpin Rice married Mary Louise Merrihew, the daughter of Edward T. and Maria S. (Living) Merrihew. Dr. and Mrs. Rice have two children: Allen Merrihew Rice, born November 14, 1910; and Faith Chamber- lain Rice, born February 18, 1925. Allen M. and Olive G. Rice are the parents of two children: Susan Jane, born September 14, 1943; and Stephen Gring, born May 4, 1947.
DWIGHT E. JONES-Coming up from the ranks through every division of the company with which he began his career in his boyhood, Dwight E. Jones of Pittsfield is now vice president in charge of engineer- ing and manufacturing for the E. D. Jones and Sons Company of that city. The E. D. Jones and Sons Company are engaged in the manufacture of stock preparation equipment for paper mills, thus serving and profiting by one of the long established and most important industries characteristic of that part of the State.
Mr. Jones was born in the little village of Otis, Berkshire County, high in the Berkshire Hills and is the son of Harvey D. Jones and of the late Mrs. Caroline (Euerle) Jones. His father was a farmer, and the Jones family, an old one in those parts, has been engaged in that occupation for many generations. Harvey D. Jones was also connected with schools for nine years. He has also, for nine years, been a member of the board of selectmen of the Town of Otis.
Born on July 11, 1904, Dwight E. Jones attended grade school in his native Otis, from which he went to high school in Pittsfield, where he was graduated in 1923. Even while he was attending high school the young man began to work for the E. D. Jones Com- pany, and continued to do so during summer vaca- tions, while a student at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the city of Worcester. From this institu- tion he graduated with tht degree of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1928.
The young Dwight E. Jones' first employment with the E. D. Jones and Sons Company was in the capa- city of a blueprint boy. Following this he worked in the drafting room, and later became assistant shop superintendent. Promoted to the position of super- intendent, he subsequently became acting chief en- gineer and moved on to the position of engineer. It was in 1943 that Mr. Jones was made vice president of engineering and manufacturing, the position which he now fills.
In the summer of 1921 and again in the summer of 1922, Dwight E. Jones took civilian military train- ing at Camp Station, Fort Devens, at Ayer. He is affiliated with two honorary fraternities of the en- gineering profession, namely Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Psi. He is interested in civic work, especially in the Young Men's Christian Association, of which he is president of the Pittsfield branch and also a member of the board of directors. He also sits on the board of
directors of the Girl's League of Pittsfield. His presidency of the Pittsfield Young Men's Christian Association was for the term 1947-48. He was a director in 1946 and 1947, and in the latter year was re-elected to the board for a three-year term. Mr. Jones is also a twenty-five-year member of the Otis Grange in his native town, and belongs to the Y's Men's Club of Pittsfield. His religious affiliation is with the South Congregational Church of Pittsfield, in which he served as moderator from 1943 through 1946.
Mr. Jones' favorite recreation is fishing, and he also enjoys, in his leisure hours, the hobby of wood- working.
Dwight E. Jones has been twice married, his first wife having been the late Anita Osgood Jones, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Albro Osgood of Pittsfield. Mrs. Anita (Osgood) Jones died in 1933. Mr. Jones was married a second time in 1936 to Ethel Butterfield, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Butterfield.
Dwight E. and Anita (Osgood) Jones became the parents of a daughter, Emma, who was born at Pittsfield, on October 25, 1930. She is now a student at Pittsfield High School, where she is a member of the senior class. On July 11, 1938, a daughter, Dorothy Euerle, was born to Dwight E. Jones and his second wife, Ethel (Butterfield) Jones. She is now a student at the Dawes public school.
RICHMOND LEWIS-The able successor of an enterprising father, Richmond Lewis has for more than a quarter of a century been associated with, and for a number of years has successfully managed, the business of the Charles C. Lewis Company of Springfield, one of the best-known concerns serving, as well as being a part of, industrial Western Massa- chusetts.
The late Charles Cottrell Lewis, who was born on on March 18, 1859, and died on May 4, 1915, was a native of New London, Connecticut. He came to Western Massachusetts in 1886 and founded, in Springfield, the firm that bears his name. The Charles C. Lewis Company is engaged in the dis- tribution of steel and industrial supplies to manufac- turing plants located throughout Western Massa- chusetts and also in the States of Vermont and New Hampshire. Charles Cottrell Lewis was active in public life, serving on the common council and the board of aldermen. He married Irene Pratt, who was born on July 15, 1859 and died on August 4, 1942. To this couple the son they named Richmond was born at Springfield on March 19, 1901. After beginning his education in the public grade and high schools of his native city, he attended Andover, where he was in the class of 1918, and Western Mas- sachusetts' own college, Williams, at Williamstown. From the latter he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts upon graduating in 1922.
In that same year Richmond Lewis went to work for the Charles C. Lewis Company in a minor ca- pacity. Industrious and ambitious, he learned the business in all its phases and won promotion through the ranks. In 1925 he was made treasurer of the company, in 1926 vice president, and in 1929, presi- dent. The Charles C. Lewis Company, in the course of its successful operations, has expanded by the ad-
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dition of a branch plant at Hartford. Connecticut, and of a subsidiary, the Lewis Boiler and Iron Works. Mr. Lewis also is a director of the Union Trust Company. the Massachusetts Mutual Insurance Com- pany and the American Mutual Insurance Company of Boston.
An influential member of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Lewis is also a member of the Colony Club and of the Longmeadow Country Club in the nearby city of that name, where like so many of Springfield's business and professional leaders, he has his residence. He is affiliated with the Sigma Phi fra- ternity. Politically he belongs to the Republican party. His religious affiliation is with the South Congregational Church. His hobbies are golf and bird shooting.
At Holyoke, Massachusetts. on October 25. 1924, Richmond Lewis was married to Laura Dwight, a native of that city and a daughter of William G. and Minnie (Ryan) Dwight. Mrs. Lewis attended public school in her birth place, as well as Walnut Hill School in Boston and Vassar College at Pough- keepsie. New York, where she received the degree of Bachelor of Arts upon graduating with the class of 1921. Of this marriage there is one child, a son, Larry Dwight Lewis, who was born on June 8, 1920.
ADOLPH DOMINICK ZANCAN-Starting with four dollars as capital. Adolph D. Zancan, of Spring- field. has became joint owner of the second largest pattern manufacturing concern in New England. do- ing business over a radius of five hundred miles, and also is one of the owners of a large foundry. He founded both institutions.
Born in Teraviso, Italy. November 22. 1903, he was the son of Dominic Peter and Rose (Cannor) Zancan. His father was born in the same town. of Austrian ancestry. January 8. 1875. and died in Springfield October 18. 1946. Educated in the public schools of Teraviso. Dominic Zancan served a four-year ap- prenticeship as a stonecutter in France. after which he settled in Palmer. Massachusetts, about 1890. His sweetheart came from Italy to join him there. and they were married. His wife was born at Teraviso in 1883 and died in Springfield in 1932. They farmed near Dummerstown. Vermont. for sixteen years. In 1017. after moving to Springfield. they bought a farm at Glendale. Massachusetts, but because of his wife's illness, the farm was abandoned after three years and they returned to Springfield to spend the remainder of their lives. Dominic Peter Zancan was the son of Peter and Mary (Tuskitt) Zancan, who spent their lives in Italy, and a town in that country bears the family name. Rose (Cannor) Zancan was a descen- dant of Count Chiconi. who built the port of Trieste.
Adolph D. Zancan attended public schools at Dum- merstown. and after two years in the Springfield Tech- nical High School. he took a special course in en- gineering and mechanical drawing. He served ap- prenticeship as a pattern maker under Joseph Clark of Springfield. and over a period of fifteen years gained experience from various other firms. He be- gan the manufacture of patterns and models in 1938 and took in Orlando J. Circosta as co-partner. In 1045 he founded the Mill River Foundry. taking in as partners Mr. Circosta and Clayton Thompson.
The firmns are operated separately. The pattern shop employs sixty-five men and the foundry about forty.
Mr. Zancan is a Republican and is a member of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church at Springfield. He is affiliated with the Machine Tool Engineers Associa- tion, the Springfield Chamber of Commerce, the New England Jobbers and Manufacturers Association, and the Dante Club of Springfield. His favorite recrea- tion is gardening.
Mr. Zancan married on October 7, 1929, Fern Marie Moretti, of Springfield, daughter of Louis and Anna (DeSante) Moretti, natives of Italy. Mr. Mor- etti. a retail grocer, died in Springfield, where his wife still lives. Mr. and Mrs. Zancan have three children: I. Raymond Daniel, born November 6, 1930, is a student in Springfield High School. 2. Robert Donald, born May 1. 1931, also in high school. 3. Judith Susan, born August 6, 1939, is in grammar school.
HOWARD J. SEYFFER-One of the well known business executives of Pittsfield is Howard J. Seyffer who, as head of the Brookshire Company, is making a notable success as an automobile dealer and dis- tributor.
Mr. Seyffer was born January 9, 1918, at Brooklyn, New York, son of Charles J. and Louise M. (Hum- mel) Seyffer, the former with the Ford Motor Com- pany.
Howard Seyffer gained his early education in the local elementary schools of Floral Park, Long Island. Later he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he attended the Shaker Heights High School. After graduating from this secondary school, he returned to the eastern part of the country, where he entered Colgate Uni- versity. Mr. Seyffer completed the requirements for the Bachelor of Arts degree there, and was graduated in the class of 1940.
Upon completing his formal education, Mr. Seyffer moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where he became asso- ciated with the Ford Motor Company. After a period of time he was transferred to the firm's branch at Chester, Pennsylvania, and gave valuable service to the company until he was called into the United States Army, in July 1943. He saw duty as a sergeant in the anti-aircraft branch of the Coast Artillery and was active in the European Theater of Operations for seventeen months. In March 1946, after being honorably discharged from the service, Mr. Seyffer came to Pittsfield and purchased the Brookshire Com- pany. Ford dealers and wholesale parts distributors,. specializing in sales and service. Since then he has served as president of the concern, his leadership. ability. and expert management being a determining factor in the company's recent success.
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