USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Municipal history of Essex County in Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 10
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On September 25, 1889, Eugene Malcolm Dolloff was united in marriage with Mary Elizabeth Grow, daughter of T. R. Grow, a physician at Rockport. To Dr. and Mrs. Dolloff have been born three chil- dren: Verna Hazel, who married Howard C. Rogers, an officer in the service of the merchant marine; Irving Holbrook, who served overseas during the World War, with Field Hospital, third division; Malcolm H. G., deceased.
GEORGE HENRY PLUMMER-With his life- long business interest allied with the shoe trade, George H. Plummer, of Lynn, Massachusetts, stands now as one of the successful men of this city.
Mr. Plummer was born in Lynn, July 20, 1851, and is a son of George H. and Susan E. (Harris) Plummer. His father was born in Salem. Receiv- ing his education in the schools of his native city, Mr. Plummer, while still a young man, entered the field in which he has made so marked a success, the manufacture of paper and wood boxes for the shoe trade. Beginning in a modest way, he has devel- oped a very extensive interest, and now has a large
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Eugene M. Dolloff
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plant, equipped with all the modern devices for turn- ing out the work in hand. In connection with this, his leading interest, Mr. Plummer is also a director of the Bartlett & Somers Company, one of the lead- ing concerns in the manufacture of shoes in Lynn. Mr. Plummer is also a director of the Manufactur- ers' Bank, of which institution he was one of the founders.
Mr. Plummer, in company with the late William Littlefield, built the Lynn Theatre. They also bought the Music Hall and were identified with amusement enterprises in these two houses for over twenty years. The Lynn Theatre has since been taken over by other parties and is now known as the Waldorf Theatre. Mr. Plummer and Mr. Little- field were also business partners in several success- ful enterprises, being associated with each other for a great many years. Mr. Plummer is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a member of the Oxford Club.
Mr. Plummer married Susan M. Moulton, daugh- ter of Frederick A. Moulton, a prominent Baptist minister. Mrs. Plummer is a leader in Lynn social circles. To Mr. and Mrs. Plummer a son was born, Henry E., who married Ethel Harmon, of Boston, and they are the parents of three daughters: Pris- cilla, Catharine, and Elizabeth. They all reside with their grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. G. H. Plummer. Henry E. Plummer is a thirty-second degree Mason.
GEORGE H. STACKPOLE - For forty-seven years at the head of one of the most prominent ice concerns in Lynn, Massachusetts, George H. Stack- pole has for an even longer period been a force for progress in the business and civic life of Lynn.
Mr. Stackpole was born in Dover, New Hamp- shire, September 7, 1843, and is a son of Timothy and Elizabeth G. (Hurd) Stackpole. Receiving a very limited education in the public schools, the boy entered the world of industry at the age of eight years. His first work was sewing shoes, at Emery Mills, Maine, where the family lived at the time. Remaining there for three or four years, they re- turned to Dover, then, in 1859, the family came to Lynn, the boy accompanying them, and he has since made his home in this city. It was as a young man of twenty that he enlisted in defense of the Union and served through the Civil War. Returning to Lynn after the cessation of hostilities, he continued as a shoe worker until 1872, when he started as a manufacturer of shoes. In 1874 he permanently re- tired from this field of endeavor and was one of seven men to start the old Lynn Ice Company, of which he has been president for the past twenty- five years. The North Shore Ice Company was or- ganized in 1913, Mr. Stackpole being its president from the start, and so continues, actively interested in the management of the company's affairs, al- though nearly seventy-eight years of age.
In the public life of the city Mr. Stackpole has long been prominent, and although never seeking public honors, was twice persuaded to accept office, once in the city government, where he served for a
period of three years, and as representative to the State Legislature for two years, 1900 and 1901. Mr. Stackpole has been a member of the Bay State Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, for fifty years. He is a member of Post No. 5, Grand Army of the Republic, one of the few left to recall the struggle between the North and South. He is also a member of the Park Club.
On December 7, 1865, Mr. Stackpole married Mary A. Harwood, daughter of David Harwood, and they are the parents of two children: Charles Vas- sar; and Mabel E., now the wife of Prescott New- hall.
STEPHENSON & OSBORNE Since 1911 this firm, manufacturers of women's cut soles, has been among Lynn's successful industries. It was found- ed in that year by William R. C. Stephenson and Jackson W. Osborne (see sketch following), both with many years of experience in the cut sole busi- ness.
William R. C. Stephenson, the senior member of the firm, Stephenson & Osborne, was born Septem- ber 12, 1868, at East Orange, New Jersey, son of Edward H. and Charlotte M. (Beers) Stephenson, and was educated in private schools at Orange. At the age of sixteen years he went to work as an office boy in New York City with leather mer- chants, and in 1898 came to Boston, removing thence to Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1902. From the latter year until 1911, the year in which the com- pany was formed, Mr. Stephenson was a salesman for leather merchants.
Mr. Stephenson married, November 13, 1910, Sarah E. Clough, of Lynn, daughter of Micajah and Har- riet (Kelley) Clough, and their children are: Sarah E., born September 18, 1911; and Eleanor B., born December 9, 1912. Mr. Stephenson's clubs are the Tedesco and the Algonquin, and he is also a mem- ber of the Chamber of Commerce.
JACKSON W. OSBORNE, junior member of the firm of Stephenson & Osborne, was born in Ro- chester, New York, April 20, 1882, son of Edward and Sarah Jane (Hicks) Osborne. He attended the public schools and at the age of fifteen years was employed in a leather store, where he continued for a year. In the fall of 1898 he came to Boston and was employed as a salesman for a merchant deal- ing in leather and cut-soles. After six years, Mr. Osborne became associated with a Lynn manufac- turer, where he remained until 1911, in which year the partnership with Mr. Stephenson (see preceding sketch) was formed and which has successfully con- tinued since that time.
Mr. Osborne is a member of Hiram Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; Menotomy, Royal Arch Chapter; the Winchester Country Club; the Nashua Country Club; the Middlesex Sportsmen's Associa- tion; and the Lynn Chamber of Commerce. With his family Mr. Osborne attends the Episcopal church of Arlington.
Mr. Osborne married, October 29, 1902, Jane L.
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Stentiford, daughter of Frederick H. and Mary (Wales) Stentiford, and their children are: Dolores, born November 28, 1903; and Elizabeth J., born No- vember 25, 1909.
THE HYGRADE LAMP COMPANY-Of the many industries which go to make up the present business supremacy of Salem, Massachusetts, one of the most rapidly growing concerns is the Hy- grade Lamp Company, manufacturers of incandes- cent lamps. The personnel of this company com- prises a group of men who have built. out of noth- ing the progressive industry which has become a significant factor in the prosperity of this city: Mr. E. J. Poor, president and sales manager; Mr. F. A. Poor, treasurer and general manager; Mr. W. E. Poor, assistant general manager, and Mr. J. H. Poor, director.
The beginnings of this industry were of the small- est and most unpromising. The capital amounted to three thousand five hundred dollars, obtained from the sale of a hay and grain business which Mr. Frank A. Poor had conducted for a few years theretofore, on the corner of Front and Central streets, in Salem. This money he invested, in 1901, in the original project, in Middleton, Massachu- setts, under the name of the Merritt Manufacturing Company, with Matthew Merritt as one of the owners of the company. The business of this com- pany was the refilling or renewing of carbon in- candescent electric lamps, and the processes used had been originated and developed by Mr. Merritt, the pioneer of this idea in Essex county. With the existing facilities the work handled amounted to only about five hundred lamps a day, and those of inferior quality. At this point most men would have dropped the idea, counting himself fortunate to have lost no more. Not so the man who has since vindicated his faith in himself and in the fu- ture. Mr. Poor bought Mr. Merritt's interests, re- moved the plant to Danvers, in this county, and changed the name to the Bay State Lamp Company. The location he secured was an old shoe factory on Hobart street.
Alone now, as head of the enterprise, with a working force of about fifteen individuals, Frank A. Poor carried along all the duties which now require twenty officers and department heads-from president to shipper. Struggling for footing in an indifferent market, with inferior equipment and inefficient processes, the young man, who had only recently reached majority, hung on. After months he ventured to allow himself a salary of ten dol- lars per week.
The gains were desperately slow. By 1904 the output had grown to about a thousand lamps a day, and the force had increased to twenty people, the financial limitations of the concern enforcing an annual shut-down of some months during the dull season. At this point Edward J. Poor, Mr. Poor's brother, who had just been graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, came in to help out. He relieved Mr. Poor of the rougher
work, such as unpacking and sorting burned-out lamps, and packing the finished product, then as winter came on, acting as fireman, and starting the old, erratic gasoline engine which furnished the power, when it could be persuaded to perform this function.
The years of struggle, which hold a certain grim humor in retrospect, eventually carried the gallant little enterprise to a secure foundation. Mr. Poor's efforts improved the product, and expansion be- came feasible, although a severe illness had kept his brother out of active participation in the busi- ness for a long time. Up to 1909 the business had been along repair or renewing lines exclusively, and Mr. Poor felt that the orignial production was a field which would give greater returns for effort, and in many ways be far better worth while.
Accordingly, in 1909, Mr. Poor began the manu- facture of new carbon lamps. To avoid the pos- sibility of mistaken inferences on the part of the public, a new name was chosen for the new ven- ture, and the Hygrade Incandescent Lamp Company was formed, with its trademark duly protected. Ex- pert help was added to the working force, and the factory enlarged, the floor space being nearly doubled. Mr. E. J. Poor's health, meanwhile, had permitted his return, and prosperity became an assured fact, even though still in a modest degree. Then Mr. Joseph H. Poor, who had retired, after thirty years in the leather business, dropped in upon his sons occasionally, finally joining them. Soon after, Mr. Walter E. Poor, another brother, having completed a course in Electrical Engineering, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, came into the company.
This, in a way, marked an era in the progress of the company. Walter E. Poor took charge of the manufacture of the tungsten lamps, which were now becoming a revolutionary factor in the elec- tric lighting world. His advocacy of limited pro- duction and superior quality was adopted as a permanent and inviolable policy, and the refilling of old lamps was discontinued. Walter E. Poor's activities along the line of development of the tungsten lamp placed the Hygrade name in its right- ful place on the market. From one point in New York City, on Times Square, nearly thirty-thousand Hygrade lamps were visible, in 1912, in electric signs. A little later the manufacture of carbon lamps was discontinued. The production had now reached 7,500 lamps per day, all tungsten, vacuum and gas-filled types. With the unsettled conditions in Europe and the impossibility of obtaining the tungsten filament wire, experts were added to the force, and this wire became a part of the regular product of the plant, and proved to be of a quality superior to any foreign make.
All these steps spelled progress. The sales force had become an organization in itself, and one com- posed of the best men in that line of endeavor. The constantly increasing demand for the Hygrade product necessitated more commodious and mod- ern quarters. In 1915 a site was chosen in Salem,
Plant of the HYGRADE LAMP CO Salem Mass
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BIOGRAPHICAL
and a factory built to plans especially adopted to the requirements of this concern, and on Friday night, of the 19th of February, 1916, the work of transfer was begun. This date was utilized on ac- count of the holiday on the following Monday. On Tuesday morning, at the usual starting hour, the Mount Department, the first moved, was in full operation, and its production for the day was the largest then on record. Another department was in full operation at noon, and thereafter, each day during that week a department was moved, in most cases the operators leaving their machines at night in Danvers, and finding them ready for operation in Salem the next morning. The actual production loss for the month of February in that year, was not more than one day's work.
In 1916 the Hygrade lamps were tendered a most flattering endorsement in being chosen for the entire lighting equipment of the new six mil- lion dollar buildings of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Boston. In 1917 it became neces- sary to secure more space, and a two-story brick storehouse was erected on land adjoining the plant. With even this addition the plant is rapidly becom- ing unequal to the demands of production, and more land has been purchased for future expansion.
During the War the Hygrade people gave their quota in men and money, to the great Cause of Humanity. Although the exigencies of the time caused more or less occasion for readjustment, every emergency has been met, and the production has not suffered materially in volume, nor has it suffered one whit in quality.
The company has grown to the production of twenty-five thousand lamps a day, with an ulti- mate capacity of about thirty-two thousand, and these number two hundred and fifty-two types. The process of manufacture is an interesting story in itself, which must, however, so far as this review is concerned, be relegated to the realm of the tech- nical, for it is of men and their achievements, that the biographer makes record.
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And the personal side of this story is its most interesting and significant side. Between the man- agement and their force of nearly four hundred employees, the most cordial relations exist. Every advantage which modern science has devised, is given to the employees. Their health, safety, com- fort and happiness are the constant care of the management. The buildings are constructed with the most modern system of ventilation and every possible provision for the comfort and safety of the workers. There is an Employees' Association having a membership of 94.4% of the employees, which pays a death benefit of $500.00, and a sick benefit of ten dollars weekly. This organization also provides many social and other diversions. A res- taurant is maintained, which is patronized by fully eighty per cent. of the employees, there is a com- modious hospital and rest room, in charge of a competent nurse, and the employees are encouraged to bring even the slightest injury or accident to the hospital for treatment.
Perhaps the greatest factor in cementing rela- tions between the workers and the employers is the handsome little magazine, called the "Hygrade Triangle," which is published once each month, for distribution among the employees and a few in- terested friends. The employees themselves con- stitute the editorial and reportorial force, and are contributors, and through this organ the manage- ment keep in touch with the live issues of the day in the production departments. Through it also the management solicits suggestions which will in any way advance the efficiency of the force, or add to their comfort.
In short, while the Hygrade Incandescent Lamp Company is one of the younger of the more impor- tant industries of Salem, it is exemplifying, in its daily progress, all those principles of organized efort and industrial progress which count so far toward civic. betterment, the safeguarding of the Commonwealth, and enduring National security.
WALTER GRAY PHIPPEN, M. D .- Broad- ly active in many branches of medical science, and one of the most successful physicians of the day in Essex county, Massachusetts, the history of Dr. Walter Gray Phippen, is of great interest to all, who give even passing attention to the progress of therapeutics.
Dr. Phippen was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on December 25, 1876, and is a son of Arthur H. and Mary E. (Chamberlin) Phippen. Mr. Phippen is a director of the Merchants' National Bank of this city, and prominent in financial affairs.
As a boy Dr. Phippen attended the public schools of Salem, and prepared for college at the Salem High School, from which he was graduated in 1900. Thereafter he entered Harvard Medical School, from which he was graduated in 1904, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Beginning his hos- pital experience at the Massachusetts General Hos- pital, in Boston, he acted as surgeon interne for two years. In 1906, after his marriage, the doctor went abroad, and spent one year in study at the Vienna Medical University. Returning to Salem, he entered upon the general practice of medicine in 1907. Since the beginning of his practice the doc- tor has been connected with the Salem Hospital, first on the out-patient staff, and later, since 1914, as visiting surgeon.
After the devastating fire which swept the city of Salem in 1914, Dr. Phippen was chairman of the sub-committee on health, an auxiliary branch of the Salem Board of Health. The work of this committee comprised the oversight of the great number of homeless families for whose accommoda- tion, hundreds of tents had been erected. Under these abnormal living conditions on such a large scale, the problem of keeping the people in health, and avoiding the possibility of epidemics, held the attention of the foremost physicians of the day in Salem, and their work in this connection, under Dr. Phippen's leadership, carried the city through this crucial period.
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In 1907 Dr. Phippen became interested in the anti- tubercular work in Salem, and he has since assisted greatly in this crusade. He is associated with the Medical Tubercular Dispensary and Camp at "The Willows," and is also a member of the executive committee of the Massachusetts Tubercular League, with which he has been connected for a number of years. He is visiting physician at the North Shore Baby Hospital, and is consulting surgeon of the Cable Memorial Hospital. He is a member of the American Medical Association; of the Massachu- setts Medical Society; and has been president of the Essex South District Medical Society. He is also a member of the Aesculapian Club, of Boston, one of the leading medical clubs of that city.
In his more personal interests, Dr. Phippen's tastes are clearly revealed. He is a fellow of the College of Surgery and the American Colonial So- ciety, is a member of the Union Club of Boston, and of the Salem Club, of which he is also ex- president. He is a member of the Salem Golf Club, and of the Laurentian Club, a Canadian hunting and fishing club. Besides the doctor's charming home in Salem, he has a country place at Oster- ville, Massachusetts, in the famous Barnstable county, which he has named "Wyndway."
In 1906 Dr. Walter Gray Phippen married Ethel Arnold Patch, daughter of Morris B. Patch and Emily (White) Patch, of Buffalo, New York. Their adopted son, Robert Jardaine Phippen, was born on August 31, 1916. Dr. Phippen is a member of the Tabernacle Society, and Mrs. Phippen is a member of Grace Church.
ROBERT WILLIS CAVERLY was born in Straf- ford, New Hampshire, on October 21, 1875, son of Seth W. and Asenath A. (Boody) Caverly of that place. Seth W. Caverly was a farmer in New Hampshire and later a builder in Massachusetts. He died in 1905, his wife surviving him for thir- teen years, her death coming in 1918. For many years prior to their death they had resided in Lynn, and their children, three boys and three girls, with the exception of Robert W., were mainly educated in New Hampshire schools, Robert W. passing through the Lynn Classical High School, graduating with the class of 1893. Thereafter, for nineteen years, he was identified with the grocery trade, dur- ing that time being connected with several firms of wholesale grocers. In 1912, Mr. Caverly organized the Caverly-Plummer Company. At the outset the company seemed to mainly deal in specialties of the preserved products branch of wholesale groceries, but the company in reality originated in the wish of Mr. Caverly to market a leavening powder which he had invented. In course of time this product, which was put on the market branded with an "R" enclosed in a circle, came into wide demand, and in time the volume of business done in circle R com- pound tartar made it clear that all other lines handled by the company should be eliminated, and all efforts concentrated on the manufacture of tar- tar. The company's business place at first was on
Union street, Lynn, but on June 1, 1919, larger quarters were taken at No. 16 Federal street, Lynn, which has since been the company's address.
Mr. Caverly has shown much interest in the public affairs of Lynn, and has manifested definite powers of initiative. He has been among the lead- ers in several public movements in Lynn during re- cent years, and he has become distinctly popular, especially among members of the local Rotary Club, of which he is president. In that organization of business men he ranks high, not necessarily because of his present official position, but probably be- cause he is recognized as a man of action, up-to-date and sound in matters of business. His personality also is genial and entertaining. He is also a mem- ber of the Oxford Club.
Mr. Caverly married, in 1904, Maude E. Nichols, daughter of John H. and Clara (Libby) Nichols, of Lynn. Mr. Nichols died in 1907, and his widow in 1918. Mr. and Mrs. Caverly have one child, a son, Donald B., who was born in 1907, and now is a high school junior.
WALTER EVERETT SYMONDS, whose death, April 4, 1906, deprived his native State, Massachu- setts, of one of its most prominent citizens, and a foremost figure in the industrial world, was a mem- ber of a family which from a very early date has been identified with the history of Essex county. The Symonds family originated in Hampshire, Eng- land, and the immigrant ancestor, John Symonds, was born there in 1616, and died in 1671, at Salem, Massachusetts. He sailed in 1635 in the "Peter Bonaventure," and two years later joined the Salem Church, being made a freeman the same year. By occupation he was a carpenter, and the Christian name of his wife was Elizabeth.
His descendant, Walter Everett Symonds, was born at Boston, August 13, 1844, son of Stillman and Olive G. (Lovell) Symonds, and until he was twelve years of age, he attended the Boston public schools. At that time his parents removed to Lynn, and there young Symonds attended the high school, and his first business position was in the dry goods store owned by Henry Carleton. From there he went to work for Benjamin Doak & Company, shoe manufacturers, in the capacity of bookkeeper, and so well did he perform his duties that in due course of time he was admitted to the firm, continuing until 1889, in which year the building was destroyed by fire.
In June of the following year Mr. Symonds was elected clerk and treasurer of the Institute for Sav- ings at Lynn, and he also held the office of vice- president of the Five-Cent Savings Bank. Other financial interests of Mr. Symonds included a direc- torship with the Security Deposit and Trust Com- pany and director of the Essex Trust Company. In 1891 he was elected a member of the Board of Aldermen, and served as clerk and inspector of Pre- cinct 1, Ward 4, and was also civil service examiner.
From 1882 to 1888 he was a trustee of the Lynn Library; was trustee of the Lynn Home for Aged
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BIOGRAPHICAL
Women; treasurer of the Lynn Hospital; for thirty- five years was treasurer of the First Universalist Church, and for a similar period was librarian of the Sunday school. He was a member of the Lynn Historical Society, and his clubs were the Chapin Club, the Park Club, and the Oxford Club, of which he was vice-president.
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