USA > Massachusetts > The story of western Massachusetts, Volume IV > Part 36
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PAUL EDWARD HODGDON-During the more than two decades that Paul Edward Hodgdon has been in business in Western Massachusetts he has been as- sociated with the paper industry, for the most part as president of the Deerfield Glassine Company, at Mon- roe Bridge, and the Keith Paper Company, of Tur- ners Falls. With civic activities in both communities and with those of Greenfield, he is co-operative, and he is a well-known clubman in several cities.
Born at Berlin, New Hampshire, on June 19, 1896, son of John Alfred and Matilda (Fernald) Hodgdon, Paul Edward Hodgdon was prepared for higher educa- tion in the Berlin High School, class of 1914. Matricu- lating at the University of Maine, Orono, he was a member of the class of 1919. His studies had been in- terrupted by military service during World War I, in Naval Aviation. At the university he had engaged in several extra-curricular activities, and was pledged to the Sigma Chi fraternity. His continued interest in his alma mater is indicated by his membership in the University of Maine Alumni Association.
After a number of years with the Eastern Manufac- turing Company, of Bangor, Paul Edward Hodgdon
resigned, in 1926, from its research department. Dur- ing 1926-27, he was control chemist with the Munising Paper Company, at Munising, Michigan, and from 1927-28 was pulpmill superintendent; became general superintendent in 1928, and was a paper and pulp mill consultant from 1929 to 1930. Since 1930, Mr. Hodg- don has been the president and treasurer of the Deer- field Glassine Company, of Monroe Bridge, and like- wise president and treasurer of the Keith Paper Com- pany, Turners Falls. His abilities as an executive have been tested in the depression years of the 1930S, and the more recent war years. His achievements in office have won him recognition in the paper industry in general and by associates and employees in the companies he heads.
Mr. Hodgdon is a director of the First National Bank of Greenfield and a trustee of the Franklin Sav- ings Institution of Greenfield. Fraternally, a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, he is affiliated with the Masonic order, and numbered among his clubs are the Lotos of New York City, the Greenfield, and the Greenfield Country. He is of the Congregational faith.
On April 18, 1940, at Richmond, Virginia, Paul Ed- ward Hodgdon married Jean Shepard Schouler, daugh- ter of Stuart Nash and Mabel (Gorry) Schouler.
KEITH PAPER COMPANY, located in Turners Falls, has passed the seventy-fifth anniversary of its service to the public, having been founded in the latter part of 1871 by John Keith, a man of high ideals whose aim and ambition was to build a mill to manufacture exclusively the highest quality of paper. Now, under the executive direction of Paul E. Hodgdon, it is continuing in this tradition, manu- facturing the finest in writing, bond, and ledger papers, papeteries, wedding papers and specialties.
When John Keith determined upon the founding of this company, he selected as the site for his mill the town of Turners Falls, as he found available there every desirable facility for paper manufacture, including the important factors of water power and transportation.
Mr. Keith was the first of six presidents of the company, and under his leadership, which continued from 1871 to 1886, the mill was erected and the long career of the Keith Paper Company well launched.
In 1886 Mr. Keith was succeeded in the office of
president by Alexander Hamilton Rice, whose proven leadership made him one of Massachusetts' most distinguished citizens, for he served as mayor of Boston and later as governor of Massachusetts.
Mr. Rice was succeeded by Mr. A. Pagenstecher. whose tenure as president extended from 1895 until 1926. Mr. Pagenstecher was one of the men who helped John Keith found the company in 1871, and was also a pioneer in the pulp and paper trade. Dur- ing his more than thirty years in the presidency, he became one of the best known figures throughout the papermaking world.
Mr. Jonathan Bulkley, who had served the firm for many years as vice president, became in 1926 its fourth president. He served until 1939.
The Keith Paper Company was next headed by Charles N. Stoddard, who assumed its direction on January 5, 1939. During the preceding year, when
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the company had undergone reorganization, Mr. Stod- dard had been elected a director and had proved ex- tremely helpful to the board. Unfortunately, his ten- ure was of but six months' duration, for his sudden death occurred on June 26, 1939. His passing was a regrettable loss to the company and to the com- munity.
Succeeding him in the presidency was the present chief executive, Paul E. Hodgdon who, during the reorganization of the company previously mentioned, had been appointed executive vice president and gen- eral manager.
During the succeeding terms of these men, the company had experienced continuous and well-de- served growth. Its expansion in a material way may be gauged by a consideration of the original equip- ment, and of the facilities since added. The original mill, under the guidance of its founder John Keith, was equipped with two paper machines. Its first products were placed on the market in 1872. Ad- vertised simply as "Keith's fine writings, bonds and ledgers," their quality and durability brought them immediate public acceptance. To take care of in- creasing demands attendant upon this popularity, the mill later installed two more paper machines.
Growth continued uninterruptedly, and during the years between 1915 and 1920, under the management of Albert R. Smith, the mill was completely electri- fied and modernized and a new power plant installed, thereby insuring for future years the quality and service aimed at by its founder.
Mr. Smith retired in 1937, after having served the company for fifty years, and having been director, treasurer and general manager for half of that period, since 1912.
In 1938 a refinancing plan included a manage- ment agreement with the Deerfield Glassine Com- pany, of Monroe Bridge. For the management, Deer- field Glassine Company was given an option on con- trolling interest. This option was exercised by them on October 21, 1944. From the time the Deerfield Glassine Company entered into the management agreement, Paul E. Hodgdon had been in charge of production and sales, and he now holds with both the Keith Paper Company and the Deerfield Glassine Company the positions of president, treasurer and general manager.
During the past eight years, increased production has resulted from a rehabilitation program which included rearrangement of old equipment and the purchase of much new equipment. These changes have resulted in greater rag capacity, stock prepara- tion equipment, a new air dryer, and other items. In the interest of better balanced production, several specialties have been developed, although the Keith Paper Company concentrates, as ever, on the higher quality rag content papers.
The company, due in large measure to these re- cent changes, has more than doubled the production of its mill, and still further improvements are sched- uled for the future.
HENRY BATES ELLIS-Associated with the lumber industry of Springfield, Henry Bates Ellis lias served well the people of this city. In a large
degree through his efforts, the local lumber business has grown and developed throughout the years, mak- ing many important contributions to the prosperity and well-being of the community.
Mr. Ellis was born May 29, 1883, at Enfield, Con- necticut, son of Henry H. and Mary (Bates) Ellis. His father, a native of Enfield, died at Bridgeport, Connecticut. Henry H. Ellis engaged in farming operations, politically was a Republican, and was a member of the Enfield Congregational Church. He married Mary Bates, daughter of a Dr. Bates, of the state of North Carolina, who was a surgeon in the Civil War. The first member of the Ellis family to settle in America was John Ellis, who came from England in 1639 and made his home at Dedham, Massachusetts.
Henry Bates Ellis received his education in the Springfield public schools. After having completed his formal education, he became associated with the Smith and Wesson Company in their offices, under D. B. Wesson. He remained with this firm for five years, gaining much valuable experience. From here he transferred his affiliation to the Rice and Lockwood Lumber Company, of Springfield, and for several years continued in this lumber business as a book- keeper. Then he became associated with the United Lumber Company as a member of their office staff. After remaining with this Springfield lumber com- pany for a number of years, he went to Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he spent the next ten years as sales manager for the A. W. Burritt Company.
On March 1, 1919, with E. G. Garrettson, Mr. Ellis founded the Garrettson-Ellis Lumber Company, of Springfield. Upon the death of Mr. Garrettson, Mr. Ellis became president of the firm, and W. P. Gunn, who had been associated with the company since its inception, was taken in by Mr. Ellis as a partner and became treasurer. The company, dealing in lum- ber as wholesalers, has been unusually successful under the guidance of Mr. Ellis. In 1930 it moved to its present location, and over the period of almost thirty years the concern has continued to grow and prosper until today it is one of the most successful enterprises of its type in Springfield, having gained a sterling reputation for service, quality, and depend- ability.
Mr. Ellis takes an active part in many phases of community life. He is a director of the Union Trust Company and a trustee of the Wesson Memorial Hospital. He is a member and a former director of the Canadian Lumbermen's Association. He holds memberships in the Chamber of Commerce, and the Longmeadow Country Club, of which he is a former president. He is active in the Colony Club, and for two years was chairman of the Men's Army in con- nection with the Community Chest drive. In religious faith, he is a Congregationalist, and attends the South Congregational Church. For exercise and recreation he enjoys golf, and every year spends some time fishing in Canada.
Henry Bates Ellis married (first) Ethel Phillips, a native of Hatfield, who died February 21, 1937. She was the daughter of Charles J. and Sarah (Keys) Phillips, of Conway. Her father was a farmer, and her mother is still living, a resident of West Spring- field. Henry Bates and Ethel ( Phillips) Ellis became the parents of the following children: I. Robert
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Phillips, who was born June 8, 1907, was educated at the Choate School and Wesleyan University, and is now engaged in the real estate business at Bridgeport; he married Louise Jenkins, of Bridgeport, and they became the parents of the following children: i. Jane. ii. Judy. iii. Mary. 2. Helen, who was educated in the Bridgeport schools and at the Miss Bennett School at Millbrook, New York, and was married to J. D. Bates, Jr., who served during World War II as a lieutenant colonel and is now engaged in the adver- tising business at Hartford, Connecticut; they became the parents of two children, Bruce Bates and Pamela Bates.
On March 9, 1938, Henry Bates Ellis married (second) Marion Hays, a native of Northampton, who was educated in the public schools of Northamp- ton and was graduated from the Springfield High School, is a member of the Springfield Garden Club and other ladies' organizations, and attends the South Congregational Church with Mr. Ellis.
MARION E. CAREY-Insurance is a business into which more women are entering year after year, but their numbers are still comparatively few. Marion E. Carey's prominence in the insurance field in Western Massachusetts is not, however, due to her being a woman, but to her thorough command of insurance theory and practice, and the skill and ability which have brought her a deserved success.
Miss Carey's choice of a business is perhaps the most natural one for her to have made, for her father, the late John M. Carey, was long engaged in insur- ance as well as real estate. John M. Carey, who was born on November 19, 1877, at East Bridgewater, and died on October 28, 1946, married Grace L. Knowles, born on June 17, 1855, and still living in Springfield. To this couple the daughter whom they named Marion E. was born, at Springfield, on Jan- uary 6, 1909. She was educated in the public schools and the High School of Commerce in Springfield, at Springfield Civil Service and Commercial Schools, and at the Massachusetts State College.
Miss Carey did not enter the insurance business at once, upon leaving school, but first engaged in the optical business. After one year of this, however, she evidently decided that insurance was her real vo- cation, and she became an employee of the Simons Agency in Springfield. She remained with the Simons Agency for four years, but in 1938 her father turned his business over to her. Successful from the first, and confident of her own abilities, in 1939 she further expanded the business by purchasing from the heirs the Lyman Agency. Since then Miss Carey has built up her business to one of the outstanding agencies in the Springfield area. She is a member of the Massa- chusetts Association of Insurance Agents and of the Springfield Board of Fire and Casualty Underwriters.
Miss Carey is also a participant in public affairs, and holds the office, also rarely held by women, of justice of the peace. She is also associated with the Department of Public Safety, being in charge of region two of the Women's Division. She is active in political life, a member of the Republican party, and past president of the Republican Business Wo- mens' Club. She belongs to the Alpha Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star and to the Lucy Webb Hayes Rebekah Lodge. Other memberships include
the Springfield Country Club and the East Forest Park Civic Association. In religion Miss Carey is a member of the First Church of Christ, Scientist. Her hobbies are oil painting and playing the accor- dian.
WALTER BERNHARD CLAYTON, president of Clayton Motor Sales, Inc., the up-and-coming Studebaker agency which he has operated in Holy- oke since 1932, and owner of the Clayton Sandy Beach, a summer resort in Westfield, was born in Holyoke on April 7, 1893, the son of Martin and Bridget (Coleman) Clayton. His father, who was born in 1865, was an iron molder and coremaker and a lifelong resident of Holyoke, where he died in 1947.
Walter Bernhard Clayton received his education in the Holyoke public schools. On leaving school in 1910, he entered the fruit and vegetable business, first as a retail dealer for three years, then for a year in the wholesale end, then again as a retailer. He operated his store until 1917, when his business career was interrupted by World War I. As a cor- poral in the Motor Transport Corps of the United States Army, he spent sixteen and a half months overseas, receiving his honorable discharge in Sep- tember, 1918. Returning to civilian life, he again spent two years as a fruit and vegetable dealer be- fore he broke away to enter the automobile business, specializing in used cars. After building up a clientele in this field, he secured the Marmon agency and continued to operate it until 1931. The following year he became a Studebaker dealer and has handled Studebaker cars ever since. He incor- porated his business in 1945 under the name of Clay- ton Motors, and at that time became president of the company. In addition to operating this business, Mr. Clayton owns the Sandy Beach in Westfield, which bears the Clayton name and claims some of his attention during the summer months. He takes an active interest in the affairs of the Massachusetts Automobile Dealers Association and the National Automobile Dealers Association, and is a communi- cant of the Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church. In politics he is an independent.
He was married in Holyoke, on January 5, 1932, to Alma Therouix, the daughter of George and Al- mazine Therouix. Mr. and Mrs. Clayton have three children: Carole, born in 1933, a student at Metcalf School; Walter, born in 1935, also a student at Metcalf; and Martin, born in 1937, a student at Kirt- lan School.
WILLIAM LEONARD PITCHER, prominent in in the manufacturing world and particularly in the rubber thread industry, is one of the leading citizens of Easthampton where his major interests are cen- tered. Mr. Pitcher is general manager of the East- hampton Rubber Thread Company, with which his father, Franklin Wayland Pitcher, was identified in the same capacities, having been chiefly responsible for the remarkable growth of the industry as now mod- ernized. William Leonard Pitcher also has large in- terests in and official connections with other impor- tant concerns and with financial institutions. His identification with the community progress of East-
Walter. B. Clayton
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hampton has ever been one of unselfish devotion to the town's public welfare and especially to the cause of education, he having been for a considerable period a member of the school board.
The Pitcher family of New England had as its immigrant ancestor, founder of the family in Ameri- ca, Andrew Pitcher, a native of England who settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1634, and was ad- mitted a freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on June 2, 1641. He and his wife Margaret were the parents of Samuel, of whom further, John, Jon- athan, and Nathaniel.
Samuel Pitcher, eldest son of Andrew and Mar- garet Pitcher, settled in Milton. He married, No- vember 30, 1671, Alice Craig, who died November 20, 1680, leaving two sons: Samuel and Jonathan, of whom further.
Jonathan Pitcher, son of Samuel and Alice (Craig) Pitcher, was born in Milton, December 10, 16 8, and had children, among whom was Jonathan (2), of further mention.
Jonathan (2) Pitcher, son of Jonathan (1) Pitcher, was born in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, Decem- ber 6, 1731, and settled in New Hampshire. He had a son, Jonathan (3) of whom further.
Jonathan (3) Pitcher, son of Jonathan (2) Pitcher, was born in Stoddard, New Hampshire, in 1771. From New Hampshire he removed to Belfast, Maine, where he was one of the first men of that region to manu- facture brick, and he followed that occupation until his death in 1846. He had four brothers, Calvin, Luther, Fisher and William. He married Elizabeth Stevenson and they had a son, Horatio Gates, of whom further.
Horatio Gates Pitcher, son of Jonathan (3) and Elizabeth (Stevenson) Pitcher, was grandfather of William Leonard Pitcher, subject of this sketch. He was born in Belfast, Maine, in 1807, and died in Bangor, Maine, in 1879. He was a farmer in his early years and later engaged in the grocery business in Bangor, where he was active until his death at the age of seventy-two years. He was reputed to be an honorable man, who led an upright life and was highly esteemed by his fellow citizens. He married Anna Leonard, born in 1809, died in 1897, daughter of Wil- liam and Experience (Walker) Leonard, of Knox, Maine. They had six children: I. Lewis, who died at the age of twelve years; 2. Franklin Wayland, of whom further; 3. William Leonard and 4. Anne Cor- nelia, twins, the former killed at the battle of Freder- icksburg, Virginia, December 13, 1862; 5. Horatio, who lived at Pitcher Township, Aurelia, Iowa; and 6. Florella, who died in infancy.
Franklin Wayland Pitcher, son of Horatio Gates and Anna (Leonard) Pitcher, was born in Dover, Maine, December 25, 1833 and eventually became one of the most prominent men engaged in the rubber thread and elastic fabric industry in this country. When he was a child, his parents removed to Bangor, where he was a pupil in the public schools, later a student at Maine Wesleyan Seminary, Kents Hill, Maine. He started in business life as a bookkeeper for a hardware house in Boston, with which he remained for one year. From Boston he removed to Winter- port, Maine where he was a bookkeeper for a lumber firm for three years. The following three years he was again in Boston, being employed as a clerk and he
next went to Cuba, where he was a representative of Maine lumber shipping firms for one year. On his return to Boston, he associated himself with a Mr. Flitner and founded a ship supply and commission house, under the firm name of Pitcher, Flitner and Company, which continued in business for five years and then dissolved. Mr. Franklin Wayland Pitcher next became the Boston representative of Newfound- land lumber interests and continued in the lumber business in Boston until 1875, when he went to Wis- consin and there launched into the lumber business for himself. He operated on a large scale, buying ex- tensive tracts of timberland and manufacturing the lumber in his own sawmills. Having continued in this business until 1882, he returned to Massachusetts and lived in Revere for a time. He now made his entrance into the rubber manufacturing industry, which was then just beginning to find itself in the industrial picture and to realize its possibilities. Mr. Pitcher was associated with the Boston Elastic Fabric Company. Later, when the Boston Elastic Company burned down it was reorganized as the Revere Rubber Com- pany, of which he was the first treasurer, afterward be- coming its president. Later the company was sold to the United States Rubber Company.
In 1891, Franklin Wayland Pitcher became identified with the rubber thread industry in Easthampton. This line of business, in connection with the elastic fabric enterprise, was founded by Samuel Williston in 1848- 49, when he began the manufacture of suspenders in his own house, carrying on the business in his own name until 1852, when it was taken over by a corpora- tion known as the Nashawannuck Manufacturing Company, of which Mr. Williston became president. The importance of this concern and its volume of business was largely increased by the purchase, in 1853, of the right to use Goodyear's patent vulcanized rubber in the manufacture of elastic fabrics. This com- pany was the first in the United States to introduce rubber thread into woven goods to make them elastic. In 1861, the Goodyear Elastic Fabrics Company was organized and began the manufacture of elastic cloth for use in shoes. This concern, four years later, dis- posed of its business to a corporation known as the Glendale Elastic Fabrics Company, which was or- ganized by Messrs. Knight and Sawyer in 1862, their operations starting in that part of Easthampton known as Glendale. Within a short time the company removed its plant and business to the center of the town, where it continues to manufacture woven and braided elastic goods in great quantities and variety. For some years the Nashawannuck Company manufactured its own rubber thread but eventually this branch of the busi- ness was turned over to the Easthampton Rubber Thread Company, organized in 1863, with H. G. Knight, as president, and Seth Warner, and afterwards E. Thomas Sawyer, as secretary and treasurer, being connected with the active management. This business enjoyed increasing prosperity, until it arrived at the point where it produced seven-eights of the rubber thread used in the United States.
Franklin Wayland Pitcher's entrance into the rub- ber thread industry was as treasurer of the Easthamp- ton Rubber Thread Company. He was subsequently made general manager of the company, which position he held until his death in 1923 at the age of eighty-nine years. Under his management, the concern enjoyed an
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even greater period of prosperity and its product was shipped to all parts of the country. He was also presi- dent of the Franklin Steel Company of Joliet, Illinois, of which his son Walter F. Pitcher is treasurer. The elder Mr. Pitcher was also a director of the Cotton and Woolen Insurance Company and the Rubber Factories Insurance Company; director and vice presi- dent of the Industrial Insurance Company and a trustee and a former president of the Easthampton Savings Bank. He was instrumental in the establish- ment of the present excellent water supply for East- hampton. In 1919, Mr. Pitcher purchased the Edwards home as a gift to the Helping Hand Society and the building was dedicated for that purpose on October 22, 1919. In Bangor, he erected the Children's Home, as a memorial to his wife, in accordance with her wishes expressed during her lifetime. Mr. Pitcher was affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons, having joined the order at Bangor and he was a companion of the Royal Arch Masons. He was an honorary mem- ber of the Pascommuck Club of Easthampton and at- tended the Congregational Church of that town.
Mr. Pitcher married (first) Sarah D. March, of Bangor, daughter of Leonard and Martha (Leighton) March. He married (second) Mary F. Stevens, of Pittston, Maine, daughter of Sanford and Catherine (Jewett) Stevens. Children, by the second marriage: I. Anna Louise, who died at the age of two years. 2. William Leonard, of whom further. 3. Walter Frank- lin, treasurer of the Franklin Steel Company, Joliet, Illinois, which concern also has a mill in Cambridge, Massachusetts and one in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. 4. Mary, who married, at Beaver Falls, New York, Harry S. Lewis, a paper manufacturer. They are the parents of two children, Mary and James Pitcher Lewis.
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