USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Hampden county, 1636-1936, Volume III > Part 27
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In addition to his business and profes- sional connections, Mr. Vautrain has been active in several other Holyoke organiza- tions. He is a member of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church, is affiliated with Holyoke Lodge, No. 902, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is a member of the Kiwanis Club, the Garden Club, and the Speakers Club of Holyoke, and is now sec- retary of publicity and a director of the Bet- ter Housing Committee. He is also a mem- ber of the Young Men's Christian Associa-
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tion and treasurer of the Springfield Aqua- rium Society of Springfield. He is an inde- pendent voter in politics and finds his prin- cipal diversion in golf, flowers, and garden- ing, and in his collection of tropical fish.
On August 3, 1915, Charles Edward Vau- train married Mary Alice Christan, who was born at Turners Falls, Massachusetts, and educated at Sacred Heart High School in Springfield and Thompson's Business College in Holyoke. She is a member of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church of this city and the Professional and Business Women's Club.
Mr. and Mrs. Vautrain have four chil- dren: I. Robert C., born July 11, 1916. 2. C. Edward, born October 1, 1917. 3. Stanley M., born August 11, 1923. 4. Philip A., born November 10, 1925.
GEORGE DEMING WHITMORE-As a member of the Holyoke law firm of Green, Bennett, and Lyon, George Deming Whit- more continues the connection which has occupied him throughout his legal career. He has been a member of the local bar dur- ing the past twelve years and is a well- known figure in the professional life of the city.
Mr. Whitmore was born at Holyoke on August 27, 1892, a son of James B. and Car- rie (Deming) Whitmore and a descendant of old Massachusetts families. His grand- father, Charles Whitmore, was a farmer of Sunderland, Massachusetts, and his father was born in that place. He became a dry goods merchant in later life and was en- gaged in business at Holyoke, where he died in 1920. James B. Whitmore was also a veteran of the Civil War, in which he served with the Union armies as a member of the 52d Massachusetts Infantry and subse- quently of the artillery. He was a member of the Second Baptist Church at Holyoke,
and for a number of years was its treasurer. Carrie (Deming) Whitmore, his wife, was a daughter of the Rev. D. P. Deming, a min- ister of the Baptist Church who was born and died at Cornish, New Hampshire, and of Abby (Hardy) Deming, born in Lowell, died in Holyoke.
George Deming Whitmore received his preliminary education in the public schools of Holyoke, where he completed the high school course in 1910. In 1915 he was grad- uated from Amherst College with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Following the entry of the United States into the World War he enlisted at New York City on September 26, 1917, and was sent to Camp Oglethorpe, Georgia, for training. In May, 1918, he went overseas with Evacuation Hospital Unit No. 4, remaining until April, 1919. He was with the Army of Occupation at Coblenz, Ger- many, after the Armistice, and on his re- turn to the United States received his hon- orable discharge at Camp Upton, Long Island, with the rank of corporal. Mr. Whit- more then, in 1919, began the study of law in the office of Green and Bennett at Hol- yoke, and in 1923 was admitted to the Mas- sachusetts bar. Since that time he has been associated with the firm of Green, Bennett, and Lyon in this city, and in 1929 became a member of the firm. He has also been ad- mitted to practice before the United States District Court, and is a member of the Hol- yoke, Hampden County, and Massachusetts Bar associations. In the latter organization he has been appointed a member of the com- mittee which is cooperating with the Emer- gency Relief Association.
During his practice in Holyoke, Mr. Whit- more has firmly established his professional reputation in the conduct of the cases en- trusted to his care, and has appeared for a number of important interests. In addition to his legal affairs, however, he has been
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active in other phases of the city's life and is a member of the Lions Club, the Holyoke Canoe Club, the Young Men's Christian As- sociation, the American Legion and the Sec- ond Baptist Church, where he has served as deacon and is superintendent of the church school. He is affiliated with the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity and the honorary scholastic society, Phi Beta Kappa.
On September 15, 1922, in Troy, New York, George Deming Whitmore married Ruth Carr, daughter of John and Martha (Sturges) Carr. Her father is an engineer in Troy. Mrs. Whitmore is a graduate of Troy High School and Mt. Holyoke College (1916, A. B.), and prior to her marriage taught school at Troy and Highland, New York. She is a member of the Second Bap- tist Church of Holyoke and the Holyoke Women's Club.
Mr. and Mrs. Whitmore have three chil- ·dren : Mary Ruth, born September, 1924; Martha Jean, born December, 1925; and Stephen Carr, born October, 1931.
THOMAS ABNER BRAY-Among the prominent merchants and manufacturers of the city of Holyoke is Thomas Abner Bray, who for over a decade has conducted the T. A. Bray Awning Company in this com- munity, enjoying a richly merited success for his efforts. Born and reared in this city, he has been intimately associated with its social, civic, and business affairs throughout his life, and today is affiliated with many of the leading organizations of this vicinity. He has been keenly interested in politics and at one time served as a member of the board of aldermen. He is universally respected and esteemed by a host of friends and asso- ciates, who value his friendship and recog- nize his abilities.
Mr. Bray was born in Holyoke, March 12, 1877, son of Thomas and Temperance Ann
(Bray) Bray, the former a native of Eng- land, the latter of New York State. His father, who came as a small boy to this country with his parents, engaged in farm- ing during his active career. Mr. Bray re- ceived a general education in the public schools of his native community, and after completing his studies here attended the Childs Business College, of this city. Upon finishing his scholastic training he returned to the family farm, and until he was eighteen years of age assisted his father. At this time he secured a position as sales representative in the Kagwin and Ball meat market on High Street and continued with this estab- lishment for three years. He was then named treasurer of the Putnam and Ball Land Com- pany, and after serving this concern for five years, bought out Mr. Burgin's interest in the sporting goods firm of Ross and Burgin. This store, which dealt in sporting goods, toys, and awnings, and which was located at No. 352 High Street, then became known as Ross and Bray and operated under that style for eight years. At the expiration of this period Mr. Bray was elected superin- tendent of parks in Holyoke and dissolved the aforementioned partnership to take over this public office, which he filled for six years. He then entered the Fisk Rubber Company, and later became associated with Sinclair The Florist, with whom he was connected until March, 1922, when he en- tered the awning business under his own name at No. 5 Thorpe Avenue in this city. He conducted his business at this site for twelve years, and then, in 1934, removed to his present location at No. 845 Hampden Street. This company manufactures all . types of awnings and does an extensive busi- ness in canvas goods, metal weather-strip- ping, screens, and Venetian blinds.
Throughout his life here Mr. Bray has been prominent in social and civic affairs.
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He is a member of the Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, the Holyoke Kiwanis Club, and the Mount Tom Golf Club. He is also a member and past councilor of the United Commercial Travelers and fraternizes with the William Whiting Lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons. In his religious convic- tions he worships at the First Baptist Church in this city, an institution he has served in various official capacities. Politi- cally Mr. Bray is a member of the Republi- can party and through his activities with this organization has been chosen on several occasions to occupy important and respon- sible public posts, among them that of alder- man, an office he occupied for two years. He enjoys sports of all types and is particularly fond of golf, a hobby he indulges during his leisure.
On October 19, 1906, in Peterboro, New Hampshire, Mr. Bray married Polly Ker- shaw, a native of England and the daughter of James Henry and Sarah (Dawson) Ker- shaw. She came from Bradford, England, to this country with her parents and settled with them in Peterboro; there her father was superintendent of the Charedon Mills, while he lived in West Boylston, later mov- ing to Peterboro, New Hampshire. Mrs. Bray was educated in the public schools of West Boylston, Massachusetts, and at Mount Holyoke College. She is a member of the First Baptist Church of Holyoke, the Women's Club in this community, the Women's Guild and the Order of the East- ern Star. Mr. and Mrs. Bray are the parents of three children: I. Rebecca, graduate of Holyoke High School and the Framingham Normal School; now teaching in the public schools of Chicopee. 2. Barbara, graduate of Holyoke High School; now residing with her parents. 3. A. Dawson, graduate of Holyoke High School, also Suffield Acad- emy in Connecticut, and the Bordentown
Military Academy in New Jersey. At pres- ent he is associated with his father in the awning business, being in charge of con- struction.
WILLIAM L. RICKETTS-For three- score years the members of the Ricketts family were actively associated with the woolen industry in Monson, beginning with the entry of William J. Ricketts into the firm of D. W. Ellis as an office employee and end- ing in 1933 with the retirement of his sons, William L. and Charles L. Ricketts, from the business which had occupied them throughout practically all their active ca- reer. Both are residents of Monson and continue the traditions of prominence long associated here with the family name.
This branch of the family was established in America by the Rev. John Ricketts and his wife, Ann, who came from England and lived successively in various Massachusetts towns, where the former, a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, devoted him- self to his pastoral duties. Their son, Wil- liam J. Ricketts, was born at Staverton, near Bath, England, in 1838, and was still in early childhood when the family came to the United States. For a number of years he resided with his parents at Wales, Massa- chusetts, attending the local public schools. Later, he was a student at Wilbraham Acad- emy, and about 1870 removed to Monson, where he began his active career as a clerk in one of the town stores. In 1873 he entered the employ of D. W. Ellis, later D. W. Ellis and Son, as clerk and bookkeeper, and in subsequent years assumed larger and larger responsibilities with the company until he became a partner in 1888. Later this organi- zation acquired the Reynolds No. 2 Mill at Monson, which was operated under the name of Ellis, Ricketts & Company. Mr. Ricketts' death occurred in 1900. He mar-
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ried Mary E. Parker, of Wales, Massachu- setts, a descendant of one of the old families of that town, and born in 1841, and died in 1918, and they became the parents of several children.
William L. Ricketts, eldest of their sons, leading citizen of Monson for many years and now president of the Monson Savings Bank, was born in Wales on September 13, 1868. He was two years old when his par- ents settled in Monson and his preliminary education was received in the public schools of this community. Later he entered Tufts College, where he was graduated in the class of 1890. For one year thereafter, he taught school at Mendon, but at the end of that time decided upon a business career and be- came associated with D. W. Ellis and Son at Monson. Working through the various de- partments, he acquired a thorough knowl- edge of all details of the wool manufactur- ing business, and after the death of his father in 1900, assumed charge of the family interests in the firm of Ellis, Ricketts & Company. In 1909 Mr. Ricketts, with his brother, Charles L. Ricketts, and Mr. Shaw, organized the Ricketts and Shaw mills, suc- ceeding Ellis, Ricketts & Company. This enterprise was operated successfully as a partnership until 1924, when Mr. Shaw with- drew, and the two remaining partners then continued under the same name until 1933, when they disposed of their holdings. The plant has since been dismantled. During the period of its operation, more than a hun- dred workers found employment here in the production of high-grade kerseys and broad- cloths, which were well known in the textile markets.
In spite of the pressure of his manufac- turing interests, William L. Ricketts has always been active in every movement con- tributing to the welfare of his community and has given generously of his time and
means in promoting their success. He served for three years as an assessor of the town and for fifteen years was a member of the town school committee. Over a long period, he has been associated with the man- agement of the Monson Savings Bank, serv- ing earlier as a trustee and vice-president, and in 1934 assuming the presidency of this strong financial institution. Mr. Ricketts has also been a director of the Monson Na- tional Bank for many years and is promi- nent in the Monson Library Association, of which he is now president and a trustee. Fraternally, he is affiliated with Day Spring Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and in this order is a member of many higher bodies, including Hampden Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Springfield Commandery, Knights Templar; and Melha Temple, An- cient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
On June 17, 1898, Mr. Ricketts married, at Eldorado, Ohio, Grace Blackford, daugh- ter of the Rev. John H. and Julia A. (Kess- ler ) Blackford. Her brother, the Rev. Harry Blackford, was for a number of years pastor of the Universalist Church at Monson, of which Mr. and Mrs. Ricketts are members. Mr. Ricketts has served as clerk of the par- ish and Mrs. Ricketts has been a leading fig- ure in women's activities not only in the church but in the community as well. Both have devoted their unfailing efforts to the betterment of the town and its people and have justly won the high regard in which they are held by all who know them.
CHARLES L. RICKETTS, youngest liv- ing son of William J. and Mary E. (Parker) Ricketts, was born in Monson September 18, 1873. He attended the public schools and Monson Academy, later matriculating at Tufts College from which he was graduated in 1895 with the degree of Bachelor of Philos-
Burlingham Ale
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ophy. He began his business career in the employ of James Talcott, a commission merchant in New York, where he remained for about two years. Mr. Ricketts left there to become connected with the E. E. Hilliard Company of Manchester, Connecticut, woolen manufacturers, and here obtained his first knowledge of the woolen manufactur- ing industry. His ability earned him suc- cessive promotions, finally advancing to the position of assistant superintendent.
In December, 1909, after thirteen years with the E. E. Hilliard Company, he re- turned to Monson to become associated with his brother, William L., and a Mr. Shaw, to form the Ricketts and Shaw Mills, which firm was the successor to the Ellis-Ricketts Company, of which his father was one of the founders and his brother, William L. Ricketts, was a member. Mr. Shaw retired from the firm in 1924 and the Ricketts broth- ers continued the business under the firm name of Ricketts and Shaw until 1933 when the property was sold, since which time Mr. Ricketts has not been in active business.
On June 7, 1898, Charles L. Ricketts was united in marriage to Lena Babbitt, of Mon- son, daughter of Annis and Clara V. (Fuller) Babbitt, and their children are: Constance, born at Manchester, Connecticut, November 10, 1901, and John P., born at Monson, August 30, 19II, who attended Monson Academy and was graduated from Tufts College in 1933. He was graduated from the Howard Graduate School of Busi- ness Administration in 1935 and is now as- sociated with the firm of Price Waterhouse and Company, New York City.
Mr. Ricketts is a trustee of the Monson Savings Bank and a member of the board of investments of this strong financial institu- tion. He has served several terms on the board of selectmen and was for six years a member of the original highway commission
of Monson. Fraternally he is a member of Day Spring Lodge, Free and Accepted Ma- sons; Hampden Chapter, Royal Arch Ma- sons; Springfield Commandery, Knights Templar, and Melha Temple, Ancient Ara- bic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He also holds membership in the Quabog Coun- try Club and attends the Universalist Church.
BURLINGHAM SCHURR-When the Museum of Natural History and Art of the Holyoke Public Library was opened to the public in 1927, it represented the culmina- tion of years of zealous effort on the part of Burlingham Schurr, distinguished American naturalist. He was the creator of this insti- tution, and its remarkable growth during the intervening years has been made possi- ble through his effective leadership and guidance.
Mr. Schurr was born at Chatham, New York, August 24, 1884, son of Theodore A. and Alice Lucinda (Burlingham) Schurr. The father was born May 8, 1832, in Stutt- gart, Germany, and died September II, 1905, in Baltimore, Maryland, although long a res- ident of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Alice Lucinda (Burlingham) Schurr was born June 6, 1842, at Pittsfield, and died August 31, 1916, at this place. Theodore August Schurr was a noted naturalist and pioneer agitator for the abolition of the use of birds for millinery purposes. He was the author of the first bird chart to be produced in color, illustrating the Code of Nomenclature of Birds as adopted by the American Ornithol- ogists' Union. As a collector of specimens for scientific purposes he was celebrated, and he possessed the largest collection of mounted birds, animals, reptiles, and insects ever obtained by a single individual. A major portion of this collection, displayed in glass cases, was exhibited from the early
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'nineties to 1905, free to the public in many cities about the country through the good will of large department stores. Wherever the collection was exhibited, newspapers gave splendid accounts of the exhibits, as well as to express opinion of the good that Naturalist Schurr was doing by his lectures in enlightening people on the true habits of wild life and the importance of protecting the things in nature. Burlingham Schurr's mother was educated under private instruc- tors and at the select Maplewood Seminary at Pittsfield. She was a gentle, refined, and cultured person, loved by everybody who knew her. Her beautiful Christian charac- ter, and her council and advice, has proved a powerful influence in the life of the natur- alist in his endeavor to carry on under the motto of his mother, "Live a life that will make life better because God grants the privilege of so living." The christening of Naturalist Schurr affixed upon him the name of Edward, and the middle name Burling- ham. The ancestral English blood in his mother's veins was the factor in naming him Edward-"a tribute intended to the prince who was to be King Edward VII," as the naturalist expresses it, "because such a won- derful, adorable, sweet, darling youngster as I was, should cause Royalty itself to feel highly honored under the circumstances." To Naturalist Schurr his mother was the Queen of Queens among women, and long ago he elected it was the Queen of his heart that should reign in name and principle in his life, and without any affixed degree or title live his way as Burlingham Schurr, naturalist.
Burlingham Schurr received his early edu- cation in the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, pub- lic schools and in the Berkshire School (pri- vate), supplemented with more advanced studies under private tutorship and exten- sive lessons in natural science under the
critical direction of his father. In company with his father he toured the most of the United States visiting the leading museums of natural history, and these visitations to museums were the basis for extensive studies of birds, animals, and other studies in natural science. In 1903 he completed the mounting and arrangement in glass cases of a fairly extensive collection of birds and animals, and launched on a lecture tour from his home in Pittsfield visiting many places chiefly in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. On request of the late William How- ard Brett, librarian of the Cleveland Public Library, Naturalist Schurr placed his collec- tion of mounted specimens on exhibition in the Cleveland Library, where it attracted wide attention from teachers and students of nature to the value of such museum exhibits in creating general interest in birds and na- ture. After giving a number of nature talks in the library and at schools, Mr. Schurr left Cleveland but his collection remained on dis- play in the library.
Some time later, and while lecturing in Newark, New Jersey, Albert J. Hahne, pres- ident of the department store firm of Hahne and Company, a lover of nature and a friend of Mr. Schurr's father, arranged with the young naturalist to place on display in New- ark a museum of birds, animals, reptiles, in- sects, and other specimens that would prove of real educational worth to teachers, school children, and lovers of nature. The collec- tion on display in the Cleveland Library was taken to Newark, and many choice and rare specimens were added before the mu- seum was placed on public view. The Hahne and Company store gave considerable floor space to the requirements of the museum which was visited by thousands of persons. Mr. Schurr was not only in constant attend- ance to explain the exhibits and to give talks, but he visited schools and other edu-
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cational institutions in his endeavor to awaken more general interest in nature sub- jects.
The general feeling prior to this time was that Newark was too close to New York to have a museum of any consequence of its own, but the throngs which were attracted by the museum displays caused many to realize to what good purpose a real, educa- tional museum could be put to in Newark. As time went on, Naturalist Schurr contin- ued to sow the seeds of interest in nature study. He lectured in all the public schools that had auditoriums, and in some schools he addressed the assembled pupils in class- rooms. He spoke before private schools and other organizations in the city, and fre- quently addressed institutions in the sur- roundings of Newark. For some time he wrote nature stories for the "Newark Sun- day Call" and he also conducted a nature department for the "Newark Daily Adver- tiser." The "Newark News" secured his services to investigate the methods of mos- quito control in the Jersey meadows and to write his findings for that paper. He like- wise investigated the methods employed by the shade tree commission in Newark in waging war on the tussock moth and he wrote a series of lengthy articles on the sub- ject for the "News." In these and many other ways Mr. Schurr did much to create and upbuild interest in various branches of nature study, and to do, in a sense, pioneer service in museum extension work in New- ark.
Returning to his boyhood home in Pitts- field, in 1913, he made it a base for lecture tours in New York, Connecticut and Massa- chusetts. While in Pittsfield he prepared and mounted many specimens for the Berk- shire Museum, and he arranged many groupings and displays in the bird and ani- mal rooms. He took large groups of boys
and girls from Pittsfield and other towns in the Berkshires on field trips to study na- ture. He contributed nature writings in the "Berkshire Evening Eagle," the "Pittsfield Journal," the "Sunday Call," and some of his writings appeared in the "Springfield Republican." He was well known as the "Naturalist of the Berkshires." From Pitts- field he went to New Britain, Connecticut, where he built up and opened to the public the New Britain Institute Museum. The position as curator of the Institute Museum he resigned after serving two years in order to devote more time to lecturing and writ- ing.
In 1923 he became curator of the Worces- ter Natural History Museum where he con- siderably improved the rearrangement and reconstruction of the exhibits and displays. In his connection with this institution, which was organized in 1929, he restored many specimens of birds collected by the late Charles A. Reed and Edward Howe Forbush, two outstanding ornithologists. The names of other famous naturalists and ornithologists such as Audubon, Wilson, Coues, Agassiz, Brewster, Allen, Sage, Fuertes, as well as many additional scien- tists who contributed years of labor and re- search in extension of studies in ornithology and zoology, are linked with rare specimens that Naturalist Schurr has worked upon in his many years of service in museum work.
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