USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > The story of Essex County, Volume IV > Part 33
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Erin F. Hill
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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
ERVIN FORREST HILL, who is en- gaged in the insurance and realty business in Lynn, has come to be one of the leaders in many activities of the city. He was born in Lynn, April 20, 1897, son of Alfred F. and Mary E. (Somes) Hill, and grandson of Alfred C. and Mary (Green) Hill. Al- fred C. Hill was a native of Saugus, who resided there to the time of his death, March 25, 1912, at the age of eighty-one years. He was for forty-nine years a leather manufac- turer in Lynn, but prior to this occupation had gone to California and was one of the first in the gold rush of 1849. His own success was saddened by the loss of two brothers in the cave-in of a mine. He was a Federal soldier during the Civil War and, after its close, entered the shoe industry when the business was at the beginning of its machinery development. Alfred C. Hill married Mary Green, of Stoneham, who died in Saugus, January 2, 1929. They were the parents of several children, one of whom was Alfred F. Hill, father of the subject of this review. He was for some years asso- ciated with his father in the leather busi- ness, but for the past thirty-four years has been connected with the Massachusetts State Police force. The great-grandfather of Ervin Forrest Hill was Joseph Hill, who was born in Lunenburg, Vermont. He was a tanner by trade and followed this busi- ness all his life. The great-great-grand- father, Joseph Hill, was a captain in the Revolution where he rendered gallant serv- ice, and was many times wounded. His sword, which is greatly prized, is now in the possession of Ervin F. Hill. On the maternal side, according to family records, the line of descent is from Rogers Williams, founder of Providence, Rhode Island. Mary E. (Somes) Hill, mother of Ervin F. Hill, was the daughter of James and Ellen M. (Foss) Somes, the former a native of New
Castle, Maine, who died in Los Angeles, California, in 1904. Mrs. Somes was born in Sandwich, New Hampshire, and died in Saugus, in July, 1892.
Ervin F. Hill was graduated from the Saugus Grammar School in 19II, and the Lynn English High School in 1915. He then entered Burdett Business College from which he was graduated in 1916. Before he could complete further studies the United States became involved in the World War, and although he was only twenty years of age, he enlisted at Boston, in August, 1917, for army service. For the following five months he was in training at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, and then was assigned to Camp Zachary Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky, where he remained for four months, pursu- ing the work and study required for rank as an officer. He was made a first lieu- tenant and returned to Camp Jackson, being assigned to the Artillery Corps, United States Army, where he remained until he was mustered out of the service in January, 1919. In 1921, Mr. Hill went in business for himself as a realtor and representative of several insurance companies, with offices in the Central National Bank Building, and here he has since continued his business activities.
Fraternally Mr. Hill is a member of Bethlehem Lodge, Free and Accepted Ma- sons; Sutton Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; Olivet Commandery, No. 36, Knights Tem- plar ; Aleppo Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Boston ; Lynn Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star; also Past Grand of Bay State Lodge, No. 40, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. When elected to this office he was the youngest Noble Grand ever to be elected in this State. He is also a member of the Ionic Club of Swampscott; charter member of the Lions Club; charter member of the
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Colonial Golf and Country Club ; member of the Lynn Chamber of Commerce, Lynn Young Men's Christian Association, and at- tends Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a Republican in politics.
In Marblehead, October 19, 1927, Ervin Forrest Hill married Helen E. Goodwin, a native of Chicago, Illinois, and daughter of Frank M. and Luella (Chapman) Goodwin, of Marblehead. Mrs. Hill is a graduate of Dean Academy, Franklin, Massachusetts, and Tilton Academy at Tilton, New Hamp- shire. She is a member of St. Michael's Episcopal Church, Marblehead, the Order of the Eastern Star, and Colonial Golf and Country Club. Mr. and Mrs. Hill are the parents of a daughter, Beverly Virginia Hill, born January 4, 1929.
EARLE W. GRAFFAM-In the eighteen years that Earle W. Graffam, president of Dole and Childs, Inc., funeral directors, has been identified with the life of Haverhill, he has risen to a place among its leaders in civic, business and social circles. He was born at Amesbury, Massachusetts, on Jan- uary 24, 1892, son of Herbert H. and Mae (Ross) Graffam, the former a native of Maine and a well-known manufacturer of surveyor's apparatus and machinery, who died in 1925. Mrs. Graffam was born in Nova Scotia, but lived the most of her life in New England, and died in 1929.
Earle W. Graffam received his education in the public schools of Plaistow, New Hampshire, later attending Sanborn Acad- emy at Kingston, New Hampshire, and the Downs Commercial School at Haverhill. For a brief period he was connected with the automobile trade and, in 1916, became associated with Dole and Childs. He re- ceived his technical training at the New England School of Anatomy and Sanitary Science in Boston. He was well started on
what was to be his career, when the United States entered the World War, and he en- listed in the army. Assigned to Company E, Ist Supply Train of the famous Ist Divi- sion, which went overseas in June, 1917, he took part in all the major battles of the war with his division. He received the rank of sergeant in the service and was with the Army of Occupation in Germany. His term of service covered a period of nineteen months, and he was awarded the Victory Medal with five battle clasps. Returning to civil life he picked up the threads of his career where they had been dropped many months earlier and became a member of the firm of Dole and Childs, and was active in the promotion of its business. On October 22, 1929, Mr. Graffam was made the pres- ident of the corporation, and in charge of its affairs. The business was established eighty-two years ago (1934) and has been under the present name since 1886. In 1924 the business was incorporated and it is noted in northeastern Massachusetts for its fine funeral home at No. 148 Main Street, where everything is provided for funeral ceremo- nies including an electrical organ, and whose whole equipment is of the most modern type.
Mr. Graffam is affiliated with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a member of the Pentucket Club, the Wilbur M. Comeau Post, American Legion, and the Chamber of Commerce.
In 1917, Earle W. Graffam married Mabel I. Riley, a native of Prince Edward Island, Canada, and they have a daughter, Virginia R., born on May 29, 1922.
LEANDER G. TAIT-Numbered among the business leaders of Haverhill is Leander G. Tait, former president of the Busfield Oil Company, and later vice-president of the National Service Company, with which the
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former company became affiliated. He was in a very real sense the architect of his own fortunes, and attained success by his own natural abilities and enterprise rather than by outside assistance. He is a native of Nova Scotia, Canada, born July 13, 1893, the son of William R. and Cora (Furlong) Tait, both Nova Scotians. The son was reared on his father's farm, and was left motherless at the age of eight years. He attended the local schools as opportunity permitted, and attended the McIntosh Busi- ness College.
As a young man Mr. Tait sought work and fortune in the United States, and en- gaged in various occupations. In Bradford, Pennsylvania, he was an employee of the Bradford Charcoal Company, but, like many in this part of Pennsylvania, became inter- ested in the petroleum industry. In 1916, before he had reached his majority, he be- came associated with John A. Busfield, of Haverhill. In 1926 the two combined forces to develop an oil business under the name of the Busfield Oil Company, of which Mr. Tait was president, and Mr. Busfield, treasurer and manager. The offices of the concern were established in Bradford, and Leander G. Tait, for the most part, was the man on the field devoting his best energies to the expansion of what started as a very small affair. Later, on October 15, 1929, the Busfield Oil Company became a sub- sidiary of the National Service Company, of which Mr. Tait was elected vice-presi- dent. This corporation is one of the largest distributors of petroleum products on the north Atlantic coastal section, with plants located in New York, Connecticut, Massa- chusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. The company's headquarters are in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Mr. Tait is treasurer and a director of the Burns Automobile Parts Company. Fra- ternally he is affiliated with the Merrimack
Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; Chap- ter, Council, Commandery, Knights Tem- plar, and Aleppo Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, all of the Masonic Order, and is a member also of the Knights of Pythias. His clubs are the Rotary and Agawam clubs, of Haverhill, and he is a member of the Congregational Church.
In 1917 Leander G. Tait married Florence A. Giles, of Nova Scotia, and they have a daughter, Shirley E., born on September 2, 1922.
EDWARD J. SKELLEY-Almost all of the business career of Edward J. Skelley, of Haverhill, has been connected with the automotive business, and has been uni- formly successful. He was born at Cam- bridge, Massachusetts, January 3, 1889, son of John W. and Eleanor L. (Phillips) Skel- ley, of Boston. For many years the elder Mr. Skelley was a member of the Boston Police Department, and died in 1907. Mrs. Skelley is' a resident of the Massachusetts metropolis.
After completing his education, Edward J. Skelley started on his business career. The automobile was then at the beginning of its remarkable rise as a mode of trans- portation, and he was attracted to what had only just lost its name, the horseless car- riage. In 1921 Mr. Skelley, in association with C. N. Murphy, purchased the Ford motor car agency, in Haverhill, from J. O. Ellison, and reorganized its affairs as the Skelley Motor Company, with himself as president and treasurer, posts which he has held since that time. Under his direction and leadership, the agency has made re- markable progress, having in 1934, a plant with 20,000 square feet of floor space, and employing from thirty to forty people. Not only are automobiles distributed in Haver- hill, but throughout a large adjacent terri-
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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
tory. The company has the reputation of selling more cars in relation to the popula- tion of the section served, than is equalled in most parts of New England.
Mr. Skelley is fraternally affiliated with the Benevolent. and Protective Order of Elks, and is a member of the Kiwanis Club and the Chamber of Commerce, both of Haverhill.
WILLIAM WATSON-An incidental but important feature of the recent years of wide and quick changes in business has been the expert liquidation of the affairs of industrial concerns, outmoded, or for any reason unable to continue along the lines they formerly traveled. William Watson, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, in association with his father, the late Frank E. Watson, has become prominent and successful in this unique activity.
His father who was born in Northwood, New Hampshire, March 16, 1855, son of William Watson, was at one time a drug store proprietor, and later started a real estate and insurance business at No. 73 Merrimack Street, Haverhill, in the first year of the present century.
In addition to operations in his special field which made him known throughout New England, he held the office of alder- man-at-large in the administration of Thomas E. Burnham, and was a thirty- second degree Mason. To the business established by Frank E. Watson came Wil- liam Watson shortly after completion of his education, and except for the period of the World War, he has since been engaged. The more recent years caused many casu- alties in the shoe industry, and the elder Mr. Watson began to devote a good share of his energies and skill to the liquidation of the companies that were no longer able to continue, and many that quit the indus- try when it ceased to be sufficiently profit-
able. Frank E. Watson died on November 18, 1931, and since which time William Watson has carried on. In addition to his responsibilities as a liquidator, he handles all types of insurance except life, and realty to a certain extent. In the new field of liquidation, he has shown unusual aptitude and skill. His services are widely sought by all parties concerned, a tribute to his integrity, ability and fair-mindedness.
William Watson was born on January 18, 1888, at Haverhill, son of Frank E. and Philenia W. (Sargent) Watson, of Merri- mac, Massachusetts. He attended the pub- lic schools and was graduated from the Lowell Textile Institute. When the United States entered the World War, he enlisted in the Army Air Service, and was assigned to five different fields before the end of the conflict. He was honorably discharged with the rank of second lieutenant, but now ranks as a captain in the Officers' Reserve Corps. Mr. Watson is secretary of the Haverhill Real Estate Exchange, and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and of other local organizations. Fraternally he is affili- ated with Saggahew Lodge, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and is a communicant of the North Congregational Church, of Haverhill.
In 1918 William Watson married Isabelle M. MacIver, of Massachusetts.
GEORGE W. LANGDON, JR .- Official activities in industrial life and in the army have given Colonel George W. Langdon, Jr., of Haverhill, positions of leadership in these respective spheres. He is vice-presi- dent of Bradds, Inc., one of the well-known and large concerns of Haverhill, and the commander of the 389th Regiment of Field Artillery, with a record of overseas service in the World War.
Born in Clinton, Worcester County, Oc- tober 12, 1888, George W. Langdon, Jr., is
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the son of George W. Langdon, a native of Maryland, and Sarah F. (Duncan) Lang- don, a native of Pennsylvania, who died in 1898. The former now living retired. From the public schools Mr. Langdon entered Brown University, where he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in the class of 1912. At Brown he was made a member of Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity.
From the university he joined the staff of the Massachusetts State Highway Depart- ment, maintaining this association until he was commissioned in the United States Army. He participated in the campaign at the Mexican Border in 1916, and when the United States became an associated nation of the Allies in the World War, he was a member of Battery A, 102d Field Artillery. With this outfit he went to France and was in active service until January 29, 1919, when he was honorably discharged, with the rank of captain. On his return to the United States, he was sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, as an instructor in artillery prac- tice, where he continued until finally re- leased from duty. Since that time he has been advanced to the rank of colonel com- manding the 389th Field Artillery.
On reëntering civil life, he became asso- ciated with the Bradley-Goodrich Shoe Company, and has since been with this con- cern and its successors until he now holds the office of vice-president of Bradds, Inc. He is a member of the Chamber of Com- merce of Haverhill, the Haverhill Historical Society and the Fortnightly Club of this city. His religious affiliation is with an Episcopal Church of Haverhill.
Colonel Langdon married, September 17, 1918, Marjorie E. Bradley, of Haverhill, daughter of Frank and Mary V. (Yeaw) Bradley, her father the well-known Haver- hill shoe manufacturer. They have a fam- ily of three children: 1. Mary B., born No- vember 2, 1919. 2. George W. III, born
February 5, 1924. 3. Nancy C., born No- vember 1, 1928. Mr. Langdon has his busi- ness address at 70 Washington Street, and the family its home at 170 Mill Street, Haverhill.
CHARLES D. JONES-Outstanding in the record of Marshal Charles D. Jones, commanding the Police Department of Haverhill, is the fact that during the time he has held the office there have been no serious disturbances from labor or other causes to mar the peace of the city. He and his subordinates and the public generally are gratified by this record. Chief Jones' father, David Jones, born in Nottingham, New Hampshire, and now deceased, was a veteran of the Civil War, having fought as a member of Company B, IIth Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers. After the war he followed farming until his death. He married Anna J. Giles, also of Notting- ham.
Charles D. Jones, son of David and Annie J. (Giles) Jones, was born in Nottingham, March 20, 1875, and received his education in the public schools of his native town. His first formal employment was in the shoemaker's trade, which he followed until he entered the service of the Eastern Mas- sachusetts Street Railway Company as a motorman. After several years of this line of work, he resigned in 1906 to enter upon his career as a police officer.
In that year he was given the grade of a patrolman in the Haverhill department, and he must have given satisfactory service, for in 1917 he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. On the retirement of Marshal Thomas H. Rollins, in 1927, Sergeant Jones became Marshal Jones. During his régime the department has witnessed many im- provements within it and as affecting the safety and convenience of the public. Signal stations and traffic lights have been in-
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stalled at important street intersections and on approaches to the city limits. An im- proved ambulance service is maintained and is ready to answer any and all calls by and for the local hospitals. Under his command Marshal Jones has a personnel consisting of one marshal, one deputy marshal, three captains, sixty-three men and one police- woman. As head of the guardians of the peace and safety of the city, he enjoys his work and has the loyal support of the force.
He is active in fraternal organizations, holding affiliation with Merrimack Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; Knights Tem- plar ; Aleppo Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; has attained the eighteenth degree of the Scottish Rite, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, including the Encampment, in which divi- sions he has passed through all the chairs. He is a member of the Chamber of Com- merce of Haverhill and of a number of small social clubs in the city.
Marshal Jones married, in 1902, Lizzie Ordway, and they have a daughter, Alice M., who married C. Hazen Stetson, and has a daughter, Virginia S. Marshal Jones has his office as head of the Police Department in Haverhill City Hall, and the family its home at No. 32 Byron Street.
PATRICK F. MALLOY-Since early boyhood Patrick F. Malloy, now (1934) treasurer and general manager of the Oxford Garage, has been identified with the city of Lynn. He is a native of Ireland, having been born there February 18, 1882, a son of Michael and Mary Ann (Connoly) Malloy, both natives of Ireland. His father lost his life by sunstroke at Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania, three weeks after he had arrived in this country. Mrs. Malloy, who died in Lynn, January 19, 1930, was the daughter of James Connoly, an Irish farmer and fish- erman.
With his widowed mother and his brother Thomas, Patrick F. Malloy came to the United States at the age of eight years. They settled in Lynn, Massachusetts, making their first home on Chestnut Street. He attended the Red Rock Street public school for six months, then the Baltimore Street school and, having reached the age of twelve, started out to make a livelihood. He earned his first dollar taking care of lawns, and then for three years was employed by the same man in a periodical store. He sold and delivered newspapers, also set up pins in the Oxford Club bowling alley, and later taking a position in the factory of the Frey Shoe Company, but still retaining his posi- tion at the Oxford Club.
In the spring of 1897, when he was fifteen years old, he entered the employ of C. D. Venini, in a fruit store at No. 139 Broad Street, and here he served as salesman, truck driver, taking care of two horses, and hauled goods from Boston. For this he received only three dollars a week over a period of two years. In the seven years of this con- nection his increasing usefulness was re- warded with an increased salary which at last reached twelve dollars a week. Despite small wages and the disadvantages under which Mr. Malloy worked, he managed to save some money and so win the respect of moneyed men to such an extent that in 1907 he purchased a business and operated it suc- cessfully for three years, or until his health broke under the strain of the long, hard labor.
In 1910 Mr. Malloy sold the business to John H. Anastos and went to Nova Scotia, Canada, to recover his health. He returned to Lynn the following year, but remained only four months, going back to Nova Scotia again, where he remained for another year. Once more himself, physically and mentally, he returned to Lynn and for a time was asso- ciated with the A. F. Foster store. After
Patrick. F. Malloy auch
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eight months he accepted a position with the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway, but within a few months became associated with Walter Lofmark, of Lynn, learning the mechanical side of the care and repair of automobiles. On July 3, 1913, Mr. Malloy became associated with the Oxford Garage Company, and with this firm he has been for twenty years. He has served in all kinds of capacities, learned the business in all its phases with the same indefatigable energy and determination that has marked all his colorful life. In 1924 he was made treasurer and general manager of the Oxford Com- pany, which positions he still holds. Since Mr. Malloy has been associated with this concern it has greatly increased its business. In 1917 it took over the agency of the Hud- son motor cars and by energetic business management in 1923 they had reached a place where they were the largest independ- ent individual dealers in these cars in the State of Massachusetts. On April 15, 1923, they removed to the present large quarters, which extend from Central Avenue to Wash- ington Street, and can accommodate nearly one hundred cars, this plant being devoted entirely to sales and service. About twenty men are employed and a complete line of parts is carried for the three lines handled, Hudson, Essex and Terraplane. Mr. Malloy is a member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, the Lynn Chamber of Commerce, and the Oxford Club. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus of Lynn, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of this city.
On November 3, 1907, Patrick F. Malloy married at Karsdale, Nova Scotia, Minnie G. Conners, a native of Karsdale, graduate of its schools and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. She is the daughter of Edwin R. and Mary (Anthony) Conners, of Karsdale.
CLIFTON G. ELLIS-The leather in- dustry has one of its most active and suc- cessful exponents in Clifton G. Ellis, presi- dent and treasurer of C. G. Ellis, Inc., widely known manufacturers of cut soles. Mr. Ellis comes of a family long identified with the shoe trade. His father, Hiram Dana Ellis, a native of this State, who died in 1909, was engaged in the shoe industry until he died. He married Mary E. Garland, born in this State also, and she died in the same year as her husband.
Clifton G. Ellis was born in Haverhill, July 21, 1883, was educated in the public schools, and at Bryant & Stratton's Business College. In December, 1909, he helped or- ganize the firm of. Ellis & Hussey and began the manufacture of cut soles. They had their first factory at No. 48 Wingate Street, where they started business on a small scale. The demand for their products increasing, they eventually became one of the largest firms in the manufacture of cut soles in Haverhill.
In 1925 Mr. Ellis purchased the interest of his partner, Mr. Hussey, and thereupon established the firm of C. G. Ellis, Inc., with Thomas L. Wood as president, and himself as vice-president and treasurer. This style and business have continued under this same board of trustees until 1933. A number of years ago it purchased the property at Nos. 8-16 Wingate , Street and occupied 12,000 square feet of floor space. An addition, con- taining 78,000 square feet, was built in 1919, making the total square feet 90,000. With the exception of 38,000 square feet, the Ellis corporation occupies the entire space. The remainder is sub-let. The maximum num- ber of employees in normal times is about fifty. The products of the plant are distrib- uted throughout the United States.
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