USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Hampden county, 1636-1936, Volume III > Part 43
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On June 2, 1917, at West Somerville, George William Ritter married Mabel C. Evans, who was born in Lexington, daugh- ter of Joseph Evans, a farmer there, and Caroline (Henty ) Evans, both now deceased. Mrs. Ritter is a graduate of Lexington High School and Burdett's Business Col- lege in Boston, and prior to her marriage was a secretary. She was a charter mem- ber of the Women's Club of Holyoke.
THEODORE RISLEY RAMAGE-The history of the paper industry in Holyoke could not be written adequately without repeated use of the name Ramage. James Ramage, one of the pioneers of the indus- try in this part of Massachusetts, was a native of Penicuik, Scotland, born July 15, 1835, and was educated in his own coun- try. As a boy he entered the employ of Curran Brothers, owners of the Valley Field Mills in Scotland, and was a thoroughly well trained and experienced paper man be- fore he came to America in 1865 and settled in Paterson, New Jersey. Failing to find
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there the business opening he sought, he removed to Holyoke, Massachusetts, and became associated with the Newton Paper Company, as superintendent and vice-pres- ident. In 1893 he purchased the Franklin Paper Company and continued to operate it without change of title. He also owned the James Ramage Paper Company at Mon- roe Bridge, was one of the organizers of the Chemical Paper Company, of Holyoke, and was associated with James H. and Moses Newton, of Holyoke. James Ram- age died December 9, 1902, in the city to whose progress he had contributed impor- tantly. He married Adalaide E. Risley, a native of Buckland, Connecticut, born Jan- uary 4, 1846, and died in Holyoke, April 18, 1929.
Theodore Risley Ramage, son of James and Adalaide E. (Risley) Ramage, was born March 15, 1884, in Holyoke. After attending the local schools he completed his formal education at the Nyack Military Academy, Nyack, New York. His initiation into a business career was in the shoe store · of Thomas S. Childs at Holyoke. After a year, however, he left that employment to work for a mining and development com- pany, in Springfield, remaining for about twelve months. He then turned his atten- tion to the industry in which his father, who had died six years earlier, had been identified throughout his life. His first con- nection with the paper business was as an office boy with the National Blank Book Company, of Holyoke. At the end of four years he was assistant bookkeeper, a post he resigned, in 1908, to become billing clerk for the Franklin Paper Company. During the following years he traveled for the firm and returned to the office as bookkeeper. In the more recent period he has been vice- president and secretary of the company, offices he fills efficiently.
Mr. Ramage is keenly interested in civic affairs. He is a Republican but has no aspiration for public office. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Springfield Lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons; Morning Star Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Spring- field Commandery, Knights Templar; and Melha Temple, Springfield, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is a member of the Connecticut Valley Con- sistory, an officer of the Commandery, and a thirty-second degree Mason, Scottish Rite. Mr. Ramage is a member and served for three years as president of the Washington Chapter of the Sons of the American Rev- olution, and is a member of the Springfield Kiwanis Club. His religious affiliations are with the Christ Church Cathedral (Epis- copal), of Springfield.
In Holyoke, on August 31, 1910, Theodore Risley Ramage married Elizabeth Louise Morrill, a native of Holton, Kansas, and daughter of the Rev. Henry H. Morrill, an Episcopal minister, now deceased, and Caro- line E. (Barrington) Morrill. The Rev. Henry H. Morrill was pastor of St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Holyoke, and built the new church on Appleton Street. He was a native of Durham, Maine, and died in Springfield, Massachusetts. His wife, born in Cambridge, resides with her daughter, Mrs. Ramage, in Springfield. Mrs. Ramage is a member of the Episcopal Church in Springfield, Eunice Day Chapter, Daugh- ters of the American Revolution, of Hol- yoke, Regent of Connecticut Valley Daugh- ters of the Union, 1861-65, and member and past president of the Hampton Club of Springfield.
Mr. and Mrs. Ramage are the parents of a daughter, Virginia, born August 1, 1919, now (1935) attending Classical High School in Springfield.
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JAMES JOSEPH JENNINGS-Almost to the end of the last century New England textile centers continued to depend upon England for machinery and the men to in- stall and run it. The Jennings family is a case in point. James Joseph Jennings, man- ager and treasurer of the Jennings Silk Com- pany, of Holyoke, is the son of John Jen- nings, a native of England, where he learned his trade and came to Massachusetts as a young man to install textile machinery and remained to keep them in production. He was superintendent of the Sanford Mill, Amsterdam, New York, and later moved to Lawrence, becoming overseer of the Arling- ton Mills there, and died in that city No- vember 18, 1901, at the age of fifty-one years. He married Elizabeth Day, of Irish birth, who lived until April 30, 1916.
James Joseph Jennings, son of John and Elizabeth (Day) Jennings, was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, February 24, 1878. After being graduated from the Lawrence High School, in 1899, he entered the Lowell Textile School, from which, in 1903, he was graduated. Thoroughly trained, technically, for the textile business, he came to Holyoke where he was employed as a designer by the Lyman Mills, makers of cotton goods. In 1912 he was superintendent of the weaving department of the Salmon Falls Manufac- turing Company's plant at Salmon Falls, New Hampshire, resigning two years later to go to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, as super- intendent of weaving in the Jenckes Manu- facturing Company, manufacturers of all kinds of cotton and silk goods. A year later he returned to the Lyman Mills, in Holyoke, as overseer of the cloth room, and later served as superintendent of the weaving de- partment, remaining until 1928 when the affairs of the company were liquidated.
Mr. Jennings, in 1928, organized the Jen- nings Silk Company, locating first at No. 32 Summer Street, and later at its present
place, No. 56 Canal Street. His experience had made him familiar with all phases of weaving in the textile industry. As has been indicated, he is, and has been, manager and treasurer of the company, and under his initiative and enterprise, the plant has grown in years of depression so that its prodution has increased three hundred per cent. The Jennings Silk Company manu- factures a wide variety of silk and rayon goods, which find their principal market in New York City. Mr. Jennings has always shown a keen and constructive interest in civic affairs and has been connected with many of the movements that have been pro- moted for the welfare and progress of Hol- yoke, and of his place of residence, Willi- mansett. He is a Republican, politically, and served as water commissioner of Chicopee, and was also a member of its board of alder- men. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, and he is a member of the Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, in Holyoke.
In Holyoke, November 28, 1905, James Joseph Jennings married Grace Scofield, .
born in Springfield, Vermont, daughter of Frank and Louise (Jacobs) Scofield, both of whom are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Jennings are the parents of a son and a daughter: 1. William E., born September 1, 1906, now a public accountant in Boston. 2. Louise Grace, a member of the Order of Sisters of Saint Joseph, Springfield.
GEORGE LOUIS STEELE, M. D .- In the good old days of ancient England, when surnames came into use, a man was often called for the characteristics he manifested, and so, long ago, a forefather of George Louis Steele, M. D., well-known medical specialist of Springfield, was called Steele in recognition of his firm, inflexible or endur- ing qualities. At the beginning of the Mas-
George L. Steele M.2
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sachusetts Bay Colony one John Steele came from Braintree, England, to Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1630, two years later re- moving to Cambridge. He went to help settle Hartford, Connecticut, in 1635, and a decade later was one of the founders of Farmington, Connecticut. A brother, George, was a "proprietor" of Cambridge, Massacht. setts, in 1632, and removed to Hartford in 1635 in company with his brother. These were the ancestors of Dr. Steele who has exhibited in his career many of the qualities which won for the ancient family its name.
(I) George and John Steele were proprie- tors of lands in Cambridge in 1632; George Steele was admitted a freeman May, 1634; was one of the company which settled Hart- ford in 1635-36; was one of the proprietors of undivided lands there in 1639; and a jury- man in 1643. His residence in Hartford was on the lane, now Washington Street, south- east of Trinity College, and here he died in 1663. He was the father of four children : Elizabeth, married Captain Thomas Watts, an officer in King Philip's War; a daughter born in 1640, married, and left a daughter, Martha; Richard, married, but died child- less ; James, of further mention.
(II) James Steele, the youngest child of George Steele, the founder, was a trooper in the war against the Pequots in 1657-58. In 1662 he was appointed by the General Court to lay out lands in Hommanasett, and in 1672, with others, to run the dividing line between Lyme and New London. That same year he was granted one hundred and fifty acres of land, and in 1675 was appointed commissary for Connecticut troops engaged in King Philip's War, his salary £50 per annum. His dwelling was on the old plan of Hartford, south of Little River. He mar- ried (first) Anna Bishop, daughter of John Bishop, of Guilford. He married (second) Bertha, widow of Samuel Stocking. Children
by first marriage: Sarah, married Samuel Boman, Jr .; Lieutenant James, of further mention ; John, married Melathiah, daughter of Mayor William Bradford, of Plymouth ; Mary, married a Mr. Hall; Elizabeth, died unmarried in 1723; Rachel, married (first) Edward Allym, (second) a Mr. Deming.
(III) Lieutenant James (2) Steele, son of James (I) Steele, was born about 1658, lived in Hartford, Connecticut, and was a well-to- do, influential man. He died in 1730, leav- ing an estate valued at £870. He married Sarah Barnard, who died in 1730, her estate valued at £744. Children : Mary ; Jonathan, born 1693, died January 6, 1753; married, May 6, 1715, Dorothy, daughter of Joseph M. and Sarah Maygatt, she born January 26, 1696, died November 8, 1775; Rev. Stephen, of further mention ; married, March 18, 1708, Sarah Goodwin, who died in 1712, aged thirty; Sarah, married a Mr. Judd; Elizabeth, married, July 27, 1815, Cyprian Watson.
(IV) Rev. Stephen Steele, son of Lieu- tenant James (2) Steele, was born in Hart- ford, Connecticut, in 1686, and died at Tol- land, Connecticut, December 4, 1759. He was a graduate of Yale College, class of 1718, and was the minister settled over the church at Tolland in 1720, with a salary of £75 per annum. He married, May 2, 1720, Ruth Porter, born November 10, 1701, died May 14, 1792, daughter of Colonel Samuel Porter, of Hadley, Massachusetts. A sister of his wife's married Rev. Solomon Wil- liams, and they were the ancestors of Wil- liam Williams, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Children : Ruth, died at the age of eighteen, unmar- ried ; Stephen, married Hannah Chapman ; Eleazer, married (first) Ann White, (sec- ond) Ruth Chapman, (third) Lois Fenton ; Elisha, the first lawyer in Tolland, married Sarah Wolcott; Sarah, married John Hunt-
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ington ; Mehitable; James, of further men- tion ; John, married Sarah Cobb ; and Aaron.
(V) Lieutenant James (3) Steele, son of Rev. Stephen and Ruth (Porter) Steele, was born February 6, 1737. He was a lieu- tenant in the Colonial War of 1753, lived in Tolland until 1774, then moved to Ellington, and after the Revolution to Brookfield, Ver- mont. He married (first), January 24, 1754, Abigail Huntington, who died January 6, 1769. He married (second), September 14, 1769, Dorothy Converse, who died March 10, 1773. He married (third). January 18, 1775, Abigail Makepeace, who died April 23, 1823. Lieutenant James Steele died April 5, 1812. He was the father of thirteen chil- dren, his first wife being the mother of seven children : Aaron, died in the Revolutionary Army while serving in New Jersey ; James, a Revolutionary soldier, married Jemima Wolcott; Zadoc, taken prisoner by the In- dians at the time Royalton, Vermont, was burned, October 17, 1780, taken to Canada, but made his escape, married Hannah Shurt- liff ; Andrew, of further mention ; Samuel, a Revolutionary soldier, married Sarah Shurt- liff; Abigail, died in childhood; Deborah, married Dr. Philip Lyon. By second mar- riage there were two children: John, died young ; John, died young. By his third wife there were four children : Abigail; Solomon, died unmarried; Eleazer, married Azuba Blodgett ; Jason, married Harriet Converse.
(VI) Andrew Steele, fourth child of Lieu- tenant James (3) Steele, and his first wife, Abigail (Huntington) Steele, was born De- cember 25, 1763, died in Brookfield, Ver- mont, February 18, 1811. He married, Au- gust 17, 1785, Elizabeth Lathrop, of Tolland, born in 1763, died September 16, 1837. They were the parents of eight children : Benoni, died young; Aaron, of further mention ; Polly, married Elisha Allis; Andrew, mar- ried Nancy Ann Starks; Danforth, married
Lydia Abel; Laura, married Charles Pres- ton; Elizabeth, married Zelotes Bigelow ; Lucy Gray, married Joseph Bean.
(VII) Aaron Steele, second son of Andrew and Elizabeth (Lathrop) Steele, was born in Randolph, Vermont, February 28, 1787, and resided at Chicopee Falls, Massachu- setts. He married (first), in 1817, Martha Gaylord, who died August 11, 1819. He married (second), in 1822, Sarah Leonard. Children of first marriage: A son who died in infancy ; Lemira, married Leban E. Lan- fair, and they were the parents of Arthur F. Lanfair, of West Springfield. Children of second marriage: Rodney Charles, of fur- ther mention; Pamelia Eliza, born in 1828; Sarah Adelia, married, in April, 1850, Ben- jamin B. H. Hill, of Derby, Connecticut ; Martha Guilford, married, in April, 1850, Lorenzo G. Gibson, of Hartford, Connecti- cut.
(VIII) Rodney Charles Steele, son of Aaron Steele. and his second wife, Sarah (Leonard) Steele, was born in 1825, and died in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1872. He learned the machinist's trade at Colt's Armory, Hartford, Connecticut, but early in life became a railroad employee, becoming a locomotive engineer and serving the Bos- ton and Albany Railroad for thirty-five years. His run in later years was between Springfield and Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and until within a short time of his death he was at the throttle of his engine, "The Modoc," that being the day of named and woodburning engines. There was but one engineer on the Boston and Albany system whose service exceeded that of Rodney C. Steele, and there was none whose record was more honorable. He was for many years an active member of the old Springfield Volun- teer Fire Department. He was a member of Hampden Lodge, Free and Accepted Ma- sons; Morning Star Chapter, Royal Arch
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Mason ;; Springfield Commandery, Knights Templar ; and in the Ancient Accepted Scot- tish Rite had attained the thirty-second de- gree. In politics he was a Republican, and in religious faith a member of the Memorial Church of Springfield.
Mr. Steele married, in 1845, Mary S. Baker, of Brattleboro, Vermont, born in 1829, died in 1910, surviving her husband thirty-eight years. Children : George, died in 1890; Frederick Carlos, of further men- tion ; Charles, residing on Belmont Avenue, Springfield, the only one now living ; Flor- ence, deceased, married Fred Cook; Mary, Ellen, and Emma, the three last-named dy- ing in infancy.
(IX) Frederick Carlos Steele, son of Rod- ney Charles and Mary S. (Baker) Steele, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, March 22, 1853, and died in Lyndonville, Vermont, in 1904. He was a painter and fresco artist, the last twenty-five years of his life being spent with the Boston and Maine Railroad, in charge of the paint shops in Springfield. He was also buyer of all materials used in his department. For many years his headquarters were in Springfield, but in 1900 he was transferred to Lyndon- ville, Vermont, to take charge of the com- pany paint shops there, there remaining un- til his death, four years later. He was a Republican in politics, a member of the Con- gregational Church, affiliated with Roswell Lee Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Springfield ; and with Hampden Lodge, In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows.
Mr. Steele married Eleanor Nelson, of Palmer, Massachusetts, born in 1854, died February 12, 1917, daughter of Lyman N. and Eleanor (Hogabloom) Nelson. They were the parents of five children: Harry Williams; Florence Eleanor, married Wil- liam Pike, of Pasadena, California; Fred-
erick Carlos; Lyman Nelson ; George Louis, M. D., whose sketch follows :
(X) He was born in Springfield, Massa- chusetts, February 24, 1891, son of Frederick Carlos and Eleanor (Nelson) Steele, the former for many years connected with the Boston and Maine Railroad. After attend- ing local schools of West Springfield, and Lyndonville, Vermont, he was graduated from the Lyndon Institute, in the Green Mountain State, and in 1914 was graduated from the University of Vermont, College of Medicine, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He became a member of the Phi Chi medical fraternity, at the university, and was moderately active in the varied col- lege life. After serving an interneship at the Springfield Hospital, in 1916, Dr. Steele began a general practice of medicine in Mit- tineague, Massachusetts. A student always, keeping in touch with the latest develop- ments of medicine and science, he gradually centered his attention upon internal medi- cine, and in 1923 moved into Springfield, where he has since specialized along this line. His work has brought him the approval of colleagues and large clientele, and its value has won honors from medical organi- zations.
Dr. Steele is a Fellow of the American Medical Society, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and he is a member of the Hampden County Medical Society, the Springfield Academy of Medicine, of which he is also the treasurer, and the Mas- sachusetts State Medical Association. Fra- ternally, he is affiliated with Elm Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Kingsway Chapter, Royal Arch Masons of West Springfield. During the World War he was a first lieutenant in the Medical Corps, United States Army. Among his clubs are the Rotary, Colony, Osler and the
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Physicians' clubs, all of Springfield. His religious faith is that of the Congregational Church.
At Longmeadow, Massachusetts, on No- vember 30, 1916, George Louis Steele, M. D., married Vera Gertrude Colburn, daugh- ter of Edwin J. and Gertrude (Ridley) Col- burn. Dr. and Mrs. Steele are the parents of two children : I. Vera Jean, born January 17, 1924. 2. James Colburn Steele, born August 27, 1930.
THE REV. MOSES RICHARDSON LOVELL-Widely esteemed as a clergy- man and an educator of note, the Rev. Moses Richardson Lovell is one of Holyoke's dis- tinguished citizens.
The Rev. Mr. Lovell was born November 29, 1895, at Millis, son of Edmund Francis and Hester (Jenckyn) Lovell, both natives of Millis. He studied at Boston University, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts at that institution. In 1917 he went to An- dover to attend the Harvard Theological School, where, in 1921, he took the degree of Bachelor of Sacred Theology. Through the World War period he served his coun- try in the United States Army, being sta- tioned at Camp Devens as a member of Company F of the 302d Infantry and hold- ing the rank of lieutenant. In 1918 and 1919 he was an instructor at the Officers' Training School, Camp Hancock, Augusta, Georgia.
When he completed his theological studies and was ready to begin the active profes- sional work of his career, in 1921, he be- came minister at the Community-University Church, Durham, New Hampshire, so serv- ing until 1926. In that year he accepted a call to Mount Pleasant Congregational Church, at Washington, District of Colum- bia, there remaining until 1931. From then until 1934 he was minister at the Second
Congregational Church, Waterbury, Con- necticut, and, in 1934, he came to Holyoke, here taking over the work of the Second Congregational Church.
Along with his other activities, the Rev. Mr. Lovell has performed valuable work in the civic branch of the life of the different communities where he has lived. In Wash- ington he organized the Life Adjustment Centre in 1928. Three years earlier he had been a member of the Sherwood-Eddy Eu- ropean Study Party. Politically he has fol- lowed an independent course, remaining aloof from partisan affiliations. He belongs to the Cosmos Club, of Washington, District of Columbia, and to the Free and Accepted Masons, in which order he was Grand Chap- lain of New Hampshire Masons in 1929. Adding lecturing and writing to his other activities, Mr. Lovell is author of a pam- phlet, "The Washington Life Adjustment Centre." In the summer session of 1934, at New York City, he was a lecturer at Union Theological Seminary.
The Rev. Moses Richardson Lovell mar- ried Mary Ball Blake, a native of Elmira, New York. They became the parents of the following children : 1. Mary Elizabeth, born September 28, 1921, at Dover New Hamp- shire. 2. Moses Richardson, Jr., born there February 8, 1923.
JOHN D. ZINK-Though a compara- tively young man, John D. Zink has enjoyed an outstanding career in the field of business and public service. Distinguished for his achievements in the United States Army during the World War, he left the service at the end of the conflict to become asso- ciated with the Massachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst, Massachusetts; later, he became general manager of the Eastern States Farmers' Exchange, and an executive of the Eastern States Milling Corporation in
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Buffalo, New York; and then became presi- dent of the Old Colony Envelope Company, a post he occupies today as well as being vice-president of the Strathmore Paper Company.
John D. Zink was born at Crestline, Ohio, July 30, 1893, the son of William H. and Anna F. (Bowden) Zink. His father now lives in retirement with his son; his mother passed away there in 1925. Mr. Zink re- ceived a general education in the public schools of his native State and after com- pleting his studies there entered the Penn- sylvania State College, from where he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in the class of 1916. When the United States entered the World War, he enlisted in the army, was dispatched to Fort Oglethorpe as an instructor at the third training camp, and was later transferred to Gettysburg, where he organized a tank com- pany. He was sent overseas, was stationed in England for training, and then went to France, where later he became a member of the Peace Commission. In 1919, at Fort Meade, he was honorably discharged from the service, with the rank of captain, and since that time has been commissioned a major in the United States Army Reserve Corps.
It was shortly after he returned to this country from service abroad that he became associated with the Massachusetts Agricul- tural College at Amherst, Massachusetts, as assistant director of extension work. He maintained this post until 1922, when he accepted the position of assistant general manager for the Eastern States Farmers' Exchange. The following year he was ap- pointed general manager of this body, suc- ceeding H. W. Selby. At the same time he was executive vice-president of the Eastern States Milling Corporation in Buffalo, New York. In 1930 he resigned to become presi-
dent of the Old Colony Envelope Company, an office he occupies today. He is also vice- president of the Strathmore Paper Company, having been appointed to that post in Feb- ruary, 1933.
In his social affiliations he is a member of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce and the Colony Club of this city. He fra- ternizes with the Masonic Order, and be- longs to various Consistory bodies within that organization. During his collegiate ca- reer he has been a member of Alpha Zeta, honorary agricultural fraternity, also Phi Kappa Phi Fraternity.
In 1918 Mr. Zink married Anne C. Perry, of Pennsylvania, and they are the parents of three sons: David P., Donald M., and John N.
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