USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Municipal history of Essex County in Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 44
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Roger Randall, second son of John Fletcher Ran- dall, was born July 18, 1901. He was a corporal of the United States Marine Corps, was cited for brav- ery and decorated by the government. The citation recites that Randall was stationed in Haiti when.an outlaw bandit had caused so much trouble that a squad of marines were sent after him. Randall joined the detachment and later found the body of the sergeant of the squad hanging to a tree, his body riddled with bullets. Randall hurried back to the fort, secured reinforcements ,and drove back the bandit band that had killed the sergeant.
The grandfather of these children, and father of John Fletcher Randall, of Marblehead, was also John Fletcher Randall who followed the sea from boy- hood until death. He was cook of a Grand Banks fishing vessel at thirteen, but later went into the merchant service, winning all promotions until at the age of twenty-four he trod his own quarterdeck as master of the bark "Florence," of Boston. Four years later he died on shipboard and was buried at sea, being then just twenty-eight. Captain Randall married Sarah Ann Bassett, who survived him.
RALPH BYRON ELLIS-Striking out for him- self at an early age, and choosing his own field of endeavor, Ralph B. Ellis, of Lynn, Massachusetts, has attained marked success, and is now a leader in the printing business and allied interests, as presi- dent of the well known concern, G. H. & A. L. Nichols, Incorporated. Mr. Ellis is a son of Albert H. and Nellie S. (Cummings) Ellis, for many years residents of Haverhill, in this county, where the elder Mr Ellis is engaged in the manufacture of heels, as a member of the firm of G. H. & A. H. Ellis.
Ralph Byron Ellis was born in Groveland, Mas- sachusetts, April 15, 1883. His early education was received in the public schools of Lynn, and after
attending Boston University for a time, he entered Columbia University, in New York City, from which he was graduated in the class of 1908. Meanwhile, from his early youth, Mr. Ellis had financed his own education, working at whatever employment could be adopted to the requirements of his study periods. Shortly after his graduation from college, Mr. Ellis became active as a newspaper reporter, and was connected with a morning daily in New Haven, Connecticut. At the same time he was employed in a book bindery in the same city, and while there, mastered the business, which knowledge has been of great value to him in recent years. Returning to the city of Lynn in 1910, Mr. Ellis established him- self independently in the printing business here, under the name of The Minerva Press. About four years later he merged his interests with those of / L. Nichols, the then surviving member of the long- established firm of G. H. & A. L. Nichols, Inc., and the present important business is the outgrowth of this amalgamation. Somewhat later, the subsidiary firms of the R. B. Ellis Company, wholesale dealers in paper, and the Lynn Book Bindery, the activities of which are evident in its name, were formed, Mr. Ellis being president and manager of all three com- panies. Since the death of Mr. Nichols, Mr. Ellis has handled the sole management of these inter- ests, Mrs. Nichols attending to the office details. They employ only the most skilled assistants, and keep abreast of the times in every way, being equip- ped with the most modern appliances, and their in- terests are progressing very satisfactorily.
Mr. Ellis keeps in touch with the forward move- ment of the times in public life, supporting the Re- publican party, but has never sought nor accepted public honors. He was for two years a member of Company B, 15th Regiment, National Guard of Mas- sachusetts. His college fraternity is the Beta Theta Pi; he is a member of the Kiwanis Club, of Lynn; and is affiliated with the Congregational church.
WILLIAM ANDREW KNIPE, who holds a prominent place among the leading shoe manufac- turers in the United States, and has perhaps had longer connection with the industry than has any other of the principal manufacturers, was born in England in 1846, but for fifty-four years has been connected with the shoe industry of Massachusetts. For the greater part of that time he has been a substantial manufacturer, and for several decades has found almost constant employment for some hundreds of workmen and women at the Knipe plant at Ward Hill, Massachusetts.
William A. Knipe was born in Ducklington, Eng- land, on May 16, 1846, son of William and Jane (Hall) Knipe. His parents were of English birth, but he was only in his first year when his father, a contractor, died. However, the family was not un- provided for, and William A. grew to manhood without handicap in physique or education because of his orphaned state. His mother lived until he was almost middle-aged, until 1888, and when his schooldays were over, he was taken into his uncle's woolen mills at Rochester, New Hampshire. He re-
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mained with his uncle, John Hall, until he was thir- teen years of age, when he came to Haverhill, Mas- sachusetts. There he entered the employ of George Roberts, a shoe manufacturer, of Haverhill. He also gained experience in other local factories, after which he went into business for himself, opening a contract shop in Haverhill, and conducting it until 1882, when the historic Haverhill fire gutted his shop with other more important parts of the city. Soon afterwards, however, he formed business partnership with his brother Mark, and under the trading name of Knipe Brothers, they began to manufacture shoes in the Tilton block, on Washington street, Haver- hill. In 1891, however, the brothers decided to re- move their entire plant to Ward Hill, Massachu- setts, and there the plant has ever since been lo- cated, still trading as Knipe Brothers, though the company is now a corporate one, with William A. Knipe, president. The volume of production has in- creased with the years, and latterly has been capable of turning out 2,500 pairs of shoes a day, an out- put which represents the work of between three hundred and three hundred and fifty hands. The factory has a floor space of 45,000 square feet, and two of the sons of Mr. Knipe, William Leon and Roy D., take active part in its management, being also directors.
William A. Knipe undoubtedly knows the shoe industry very thoroughly. He has had practical experience in almost all its branches, and is gener- ally considered to be one of the best authorities on shoe manufacturing in Massachusetts, if not in America. Many of the ideas now in general prac- tice in the trade were originated by him, it is said, and he has proved himself to be one of the ablest men in the industry.
Mr. Knipe has always maintained close interest in Haverhill, and his benefactions are wide spread and well known throughout that section of Massachu- setts. He is vice-president and director of the Morris Plan Bank of Haverhill, and a consistent helpful member of the Ward Hill Congregational Church. He is a member of the Pentucket Club, of Haverhill.
Mr. Knipe married, in 1867, Ada Penley, of Nor- way, Maine, daughter of Charles and Hannah (Crockett) Penley, the former a Maine farmer, who died in 1883. Mr. and Mrs. Knipe have five chil- dren: Mark A., Arthur H., Roy D., William Leon, and Ada Victoria.
During the World War, when business executives were enlisted into national service to co-operate in the supreme national effort, William Leon Knipe was called to Washington, and there for about six months served the government in the purchasing department of the executive board
GEORGE B. MEEK-The Meek ovens are known all over the United States, and at one time consid- erable numbers were exported to foreign countries. While there are now other factories in which the Meek ovens are manufactured, one of the factories being in Westport, Connecticut, and another in Kansas City, Missouri, it was originally a New-
buryport, Massachusetts, industry, established there in 1910 by George B. Meek, the originator or in- ventor of the oven.
George B. Meek was born in Scotland on February 20, 1856, and did not come to the United States until he was thirty-two years old. He crossed the Atlan- tic Ocean from Scotland in 1888, and for the next twenty-five years remained in New York City, for the greater part of the time responsibly employed by Crandall & Pelty, sheet metal workers there. He was connected with that company from 1889 until 1910, latterly as foreman, but in 1910 he came to Newburyport, Massachusetts, his purpose being to enter into the manufacture of the patented oven which became known, and eventually well known, by his name. His first plant in Newburyport was sit- uated on Water street, and there he resolutely but cautiously began to make the Meek oven. As time went on, and the oven became known, the demand increased, and ultimately his original plant was found to be much too small to meet the demand, and a larger plant was laid out on Market Square, or rather just off that square, in Newburyport, an- other factory was established at Westport, Connecti- cut, and another for the western trade at Kansas City, Missouri. The eastern business is conducted by the Meek Oven Company, Inc., of which Mr. Meek is president, and the Kansas City trade is handled by a local company, known as the Meek Oven Company. The success that has come to Mr. Meek by reason of the excellence of the oven he invented is gratifying, and no doubt well deserved; the oven must be a good one, otherwise it would not meet with such pronounced success. At present the company cannot cope with more than the demand in this country, but at one time it did a considerable export business. Unfortunately Mr. Meek's parents did not live to see the success of their son. Both were born in Scotland, his father, George Meek, who was a bellhanger, dying in 1898, and his mother, Jane (Beveridge) Meek, in 1898. They were the parents of twelve children, seven of whom were sons, among them George B.
George B. Meek was married in Scotland seven years before coming to this country, his wife being Jane Russell. To them have been born six children: David, Jane, Alexander, Katherine, Henrietta and George. Mr. and Mrs. Meek are members of the Presbyterian church, and have made many sincere friends since they came into Massachusetts.
BENJAMIN F. ARRINGTON, journalist, was. born in Leominster, Massachusetts, July 6, 1856, re- moving with his parents to Lynn in 1859, and learn- ed the printer's trade in the office of the Lynn "Semi-Weekly Reporter," beginning in his sixteenth year, and became foreman before attaining his ma- jority. Self-taught in phonography (Isaac Pitman. system) during reportorial work, he finally qualified as a verbatim reporter. This led to an invitation in the 80's to join the staff of a shorthand bureau in Boston, for court and special stenographic work. The lure of newspaperdom, however, prevailed. When the Lynn "Daily Bee" was started, with the
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"Reporter" as the weekly edition, he was for two years its business manager, contributing mean- while to the news and editorial columns. He was then called to the Salem "Evening News" as editor- in chief, and here labored under happy auspices for more than thirty-seven years, broken only by a year's absence in Springfield, Massachusetts, 88 editor and general manager of a local daily, of which he was one of the promoters. Feeling the need of a respite, he resigned on the 29th of May, 1920, being at the time of retirement the senior editor in point of service in Essex county. His more important work since then has been in connection with this "History of Essex County," and of which the publishers express grateful acknowledgement.
He is a student of French, and has "Englished" a number of short stories and sketches, in addition to special writing for a few outside publications. Travels in this country and in Canada were follow- ed by two extensive voyages to Europe, on each occasion opportunity being afforded for a passing glimpse of life in the Azores, at Gibraltar, Funchal, Madeira ,and Algiers. For many years a Free Mason, he is particularly interested in Blue Lodge Masonry, and is a past master and honorary mem- ber respectively of Mount Carmel and Damascus Lodges of Lynn, being a charter member and the first master of the last-named, was secretary for Mount Carmel Lodge for eight years, and at present is rounding out his fourteenth year of like service in Damascus Lodge. He is married, and, with his wife, is a member of the Unitarian church of Lynn, in which he has served as parish clerk, and in 1915 was elected to the board of trustees, of which he is now (1921) chairman.
GEORGE D. MORSE-As the head of the Morse Blacking Company, of Peabody, George D. Morse has long contributed to the progress of the leather industry through the manufacture of leather finishes in black and all colors used in the trade. The busi- ness was founded by George D. Morse thirty-five years ago, when the shoe industry, as it is repre- sented in Essex county today, was scarcely dreamed of. Thus the growth of the business and the mar- velous development of the shoe industry have been co-incidental. The firm, which through all its his- tory has kept pace with the movement of the times, manufactures black and all colors for the finishing of leather of various kinds, and has be- come the largest leather finish house in this section. In connection with their extensive domestic trade, a large export business is handled. The factory, which is located on Willis street, Peabody, is equipped with the most modern facilities for the work done. The firm has for some years been a partnership, and still so continues. The members of the firm are George D. Morse and his sons, J. Ellison Morse, and George D. Morse, Jr. All are active in. the daily progress of the business, and all are members of the Peabody Chamber of Commerce.
George D. Morse was born in Chelsea, Massachu- setts, October 17, 1850, son of James and Susan
(Pitman) Morse, of ancient Chelsea families. He was educated in the public schools, and upon the completion of his studies he learned the trade of printer, and later opened a job printing shop in Boston, which he conducted until 1888. In that year he formed his connection with manufacturing by placing upon the market "Crow Blacking" made by the Crow Blacking Company, Canton, Massachu- setts. Five years later Mr. Morse sold his interest in the company to his partner, and in 1893 returned to Boston, formed a partnership with James S. Bent, and as Morse & Bent, continued in the same line of business until 1897, when Mr. Morse with- drew and with his son, J. Ellison Morse, organized the Morse Blacking Company, and put upon the mar- ket the Victor lines of blacking finishes and season- ings for leather. The company are manufacturers of these Victor products, and since 1910 has been located at Peabody, Massachusetts, the place of business prior to that year being in Boston. Mr. Morse, the elder, continues active in the business, and devotes a great deal of his time to the dis- covery of new shades and colorings, novelty being the life of the business. In 1917-1918 he represent- ed the town of Danvers in the Massachusetts Gen- eral Court. George D. Morse is a member of the Masonic order, affiliated with lodge, chapter, com- mandery and shrine, and is a member of the Colonial Club, of Salem, and the Unitarian church, of Dan- vers.
George D. Morse married Jennie A. Woods, and they are the parents of four children: Lillian A .; J. Ellison, of whom further; Sarah, married C. B. Wetherbee; George D., Jr., of whom further.
J. Ellison Morse was born in Worcester, Massa- chusetts, November 26, 1875, but in 1886 the family moved to Canton, Massachusetts, where the lad completed his education with graduation from high school. In 1894 he entered the employ of Morse & Bent, in Boston, and in 1897 became his father's partner in the Morse Blacking Company, and re- mained in Boston until 1910, when the business was removed to its present location in Peabody. J. El- lison Morse is familiar with every part of the busi- ness with which he has been connected since boy- hood, and is rated an expert in the trade. Mr. Morse is affiliated with lodge, chapter, and Winslow Lewis Commandery, Knights Templar; is a Noble of Al- leppo Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and holds the thirty-second degree in Massachusetts Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scot- tish Rite. He married, in 1904, Elizabeth Farley of Portland, Maine, and they are the parents of five children: J. Ellison Jr., C. Farley, Elsie F., George D. (3), and a child who died young.
George D. Morse, Jr., was born in Canton, Mag- sachusetts, August 19, 1892. He was educated in the public schools of Brookline, Massachusetts, spending three years in high school. For six years after leaving school he was engaged in commercial life in Boston, then entered the employ of his father in the Morse Blacking Company, becoming a member of the company in 1917. Like his brother and father, he gives himself entirely to the business,
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each in his own department supreme. During the war with Germany, 1917-1918, George D. Morse en- listed in the 13th Regiment, United States Marines, serving from June, 1918, until honorably discharged ten months later. He is a member of Amity Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons. Mr. Morse married, March 26, 1921, Ruth Durland Harris, of Swamp- scott, Massachusetts, daughter of V. Harris.
EBEN FRANCIS MARTIN-Prominent in the principal industry of Essex county, the manufacture of shoes, Eben Francis Martin, of Lynn, Massachu- setts, is bearing a progressive part in the prosperity of the section. Mr. Martin was born in Swamp- scott, Massachusetts, November 20, 1875, a son of John F. and Mary S. (Stoneborn) Martin, both life- long residents of Marblehead. John F. Martin was engaged in the shoe business here.
Securing his education in the public schools of Marblehead, the young man early entered the shoe manufacturing business, in the employ of V. K. and A. H. Jones Company, of Lynn, remaining, how- ever, for only a short time. He was ambitious for the future, and went into the business for himself, in a partnership, under the name of Martin & Shribman, of Marblehead. After a few years he sold his interest in the business to Mr. Shribman, andeestablished a small factory independently, under the name of the Martin Shoe Company. He was most successful in this enterprise, and has developed the business into a large and prosperous concern, which is now one of the leading factories of Marble- head. He manufactures exclusively a fine grade of the Goodyear Welt Shoe.
In 1905, Mr. Martin married Jennie M. Camp- bell, of Salem, Massachusetts, daughter of Robert and Annie (McInnes) Campbell. Mr. Campbell was engaged in the business of horseshoeing. Mrs. Campbell was born in Scotland, and came to the United States when a child, locating in Salem, where she has since lived. The family are members of the Congregational church of Marblehead.
ELMER AUSTIN COWDREY-From the begin- ning of his active career, Mr. Cowdrey has been connected with the investment business, his connec- tion with the house of Harris, Forbes & Company, Inc., of Boston, covering the entire period of his business life, he being the present cashier. He is a descendant of William Cowdrey, born in England, who came to New England in 1630, settled at Lynn, Massachusetts, where he became prominent in town and church. He died in Reading, Massachusetts, November 10, 1687. He had sons by his first wife: Joanna, Nathaniel and Matthias, they the ancestors of the Cowdrey, Cowdery, Coudrai families of early New England ancestry.
The name Cowdrey or Cowdery is derived from the French and means "hazel tree" or "hazel grove." The name is spelled in many ways, Cowdrey, Cow- dery and Cowdray the English forms. The ancient seat of the family, still known as Cowdrey Castle, although not owned in the family, is situated at Mid- hurst, Sussex, England, about fifty miles from Lon-
don. The castle, surrounded by six hundred acres of beautiful grounds, was very beautiful and im- posing until its interior was destroyed by fire. That estate was held in the family as early as 1304, when it was owned by Thomas de Cowdray.
Elmer A. Cowdrey was born in Peabody, Massa- chusetts, August 19, .1878, son of William Austin and Eliza Frances Cowdrey, his father a leather chemist. He obtained his education in high school at Johnstown, New York, Troy Conference Acad- emy at Poultney, Vermont, finishing with gradua- tion from high school at Norwood, Massachusetts. In June, 1898, he entered the employ of what was at that time N. W. Harris & Company, bond dealers, of Boston, and has continued with that house dur- ing the twenty-four years which has since elapsed. Mr. Cowdrey is a Republican in politics, a member of Jordan Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Peabody, Massachusetts, Boston Masonic Club, Swampscott Masonic Club, the City Club of Bos- ton, and the Peabody Club, Inc.
Mr. Cowdrey married, in Peabody, Massachusetts, June 6, 1898, Lila Bell Thomas, daughter of Horatio Barrows and Lizzie (Jacobs) Thomas, and grand- daughter of the late Josiah B. Thomas. Three "children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cowdrey: Howard Thomas, born December 22, 1899; Dorothy Frances, born July 29, 1903; Marjorie Shaw, twin with Dorothy Frances.
ISRAEL JAMES CLARKE, M. D .- At the age of twenty-three, Israel J. Clarke, who for the past decade has been medical supervisor of Haverhill Sanatorium, received his M. D. from the University of New York, and, following in the footsteps of his honored father, began the practice of medicine. That was in 1883, and during the nearly forty years which have since intervened he has been continu- ously engaged in medical practice. He is a son of Dr. Albert Warren and Philinda (Gage) Clarke, his parents at the time of the birth of their son being residents of Woburn, Massachusetts. Dr. Albert W. Clarke was practicing in Woburn at the outbreak of the war between the North and South, in 1861, and served during that struggle as surgeon of the Thirty- fifth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.
Israel J. Clarke was born in Woburn, Massachu- setts, May 22, 1860. He began his education in the public schools and passed all grades, finishing with graduation from the high school at Brockton, Mas- sachusetts, class of 1878. Choosing the profession followed by his father, the young man entered the medical department of the University of New York whence he was graduated, receiving the degree M. D. with the class of 1883. He engaged in profes- sional work in his native New England as a general private practitioner, and, in 1912 became medical supervisor of Haverhill Sanatorium, a post he yet ably fills (1922), conducting at the same time an important general practice. He is a member of Merrimack Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, and of the Pentucket Club of the same city, and is an attendant of the North Congregational Church.
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Dr. Clarke married, in Boston, Massachusetts, May 22, 1889, Nellie E. Pearson, daughter of John A. and Helen M. Pearson. Mrs. Clarke died in 1915, leaving a son, Clifton Albert Clarke, born June 9, 1890.
MATTHEW ALOYSIUS CREGG-The firm of Cregg & Cregg, which has existed in Lawrence, Massachusetts, for the past decade (1912-22), is composed of Matthew A. and Hugh A. Cregg, sons of Edward and Rose A. (McAllister) Cregg. The firm are well known lawyers of the Essex county bar, the senior member of the firm admitted at the October term of 1899. Their offices are in the Bay State building, Lawrence, and there a lucrative law business is conducted. Edward and Rose A. (Mc- Allister) Cregg are the parents of ten children: James A .; John A .; Matthew A .; Edward F., who died in 1917; Hannah; Dr. Francis A. Cregg; May E .; Hugh A .; Rose; and Dr. Herbert A. Cregg.
Matthew A. Cregg was born in Lawrence, March 10, 1876. He obtained his preparatory education in the Lawrence public schools. He continued his edu- cation in Dartmouth College, and in the Boston University Law School, there completing his studies with the class of 1899. He was admitted to the Essex county bar as soon as legally competent, and began practice in Lawrence, where the more than two decades which have since elapsed still find him. In 1912, he admitted his younger brother, Hugh A. Cregg, to a partnership, and as Cregg & Cregg they have since practiced.
Matthew A. Cregg during the World War period, 1917-18, was secretary of the Lawrence District Draft Board, No. 3, and aided in other ways in the patriotic activities of that period. He is a mem- ber of the Essex and Massachusetts Bar associa- tions, is a Democrat in politics, and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In re- ligion he is a Roman Catholic.
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