Worcester county; a narrative history, Volume III, Part 60

Author: Nelson, John, 1866-1933
Publication date: 1934
Publisher: New York, American historical Society
Number of Pages: 700

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester county; a narrative history, Volume III > Part 60

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Mr. Chapman is also a director of the South- bridge National Bank. He has given his complete attention to his banking duties, and while ready to support worthy civic and community movements, he has never sought political favors or desired prominence in community affairs. He has felt that he could render his most important service to those about him in his capacity as a banker and has never been tempted to depart from this principle. Fraternally he is affiliated with Quinebaug Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons.

On October 13, 1875, Charles Albert Chapman married Frances Rowland, of Springfield, Massa- chusetts, who died on December 26, 1928. There is one daughter, Ruth, of this marriage, who re- sides with her father at Southbridge.

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SYDNEY RUSSELL MASON-An execu- tive of several important corporations in the Worcester County section, Sydney Russell Mason has been active in industrial life here during the past thirty years. His interests chiefly center in Whitinsville, where he makes his home.

Mr. Mason was born in Worcester, August 8, 1880, a son of J. Fred and Ida A. (Kanouse) Mason. His father, who was born in Worcester, was a manufacturer there for many years. The mother was born in New Jersey.

Sydney Russell Mason received his preliminary education in the public schools of Worcester, at- tended Classical High School and in 1899 was graduated from that institution. Afterwards he entered Harvard College, where he was a mem- ber of the class of 1903. At the conclusion of his college work, Mr. Mason began his active career with the Mason Brush Works, occupying the posi- tion of treasurer. He is now president of this company, which has become the Mason-Worcester Company and with which the Worcester Brush and Scraper Company was consolidated in 1929. The Mason-Worcester Company are manufacturers of mercantile brushes. Mr. Mason is thoroughly familiar with the business of the company and was active in its management for about ten years. In 1910 he became connected with the Whitin Machine Works, being subsequently elected its secretary. He is a director of the Whitin Ma- chine Works and the Mason-Worcester Company, vice-president and a director of the Whitinsville National Bank and a trustee of the Whitinsville Savings Bank. His services have been of rec- ognized value to those institutions and enterprises with which he is connected, and he enjoys the high- est standing in the business community here.

In addition to his business interests, Mr. Mason has taken an active part in civic and governmental affairs. He was formerly a member of the school committee and of the board of selectmen, is a mem- ber of the present sewer commission, president of the Whitinsville Hospital and treasurer of the George Marston Whitin Gymnasium. He has given generously of his time and effort in behalf of the community, whenever convinced that he could genuinely be of service. Mr. Mason is a member of the Worcester Club, the Tatnuck Country Club, the Harvard Club of Boston, the Whitinsville Golf Club, and the Kitansett Club of Marion, Massa- chusetts. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons, being a member of Granite Lodge at Whitinsville. Golf and tennis are his favorite recreations.

On October 6, 1909, Sydney Russell Mason mar- ried Elsa Whitin, daughter of G. Marston Whitin. They are the parents of one daughter, Priscilla, born November 6, 1913, now a junior at Smith College.

J. CARROLL BROWN-As a photographer widely known for the excellence of his work, J. Carroll Brown successfully operates one of Worces- ter's important studios. He is thoroughly trained in the profession of his choice and enjoys the highest standing.

Mr. Brown was born on October 2, 1884, in Orange, Massachusetts, a son of George and Ada Loretta (Harrington) Brown, both of whom were also born in this State. In 1890 the family removed to Worcester, and in the public schools and the

English High School of this city J. Carroll Brown received his education. He was always interested in photography and in 1904 began to study the subject professionally, working under recognized leaders in New York City, Boston and other cities. For a number of years he was employed by vari- ous commercial firms, including the Cramer Dry Plate Company of St. Louis, Missouri, which he represented in the entire New England territory as a demonstrator and in selling X-ray plates, color plates and other photographic materials. Subse- quently he was also connected with the Bachrach Corporation of Boston, serving as photographer ' and then as superintendent of the finishing depart- ment at their Newton plant, where he was in charge of about eighty workers. Seeking larger opportunities and a greater field for the exercise of his talents, Mr. Brown, in 1920, established his own studio in Worcester at the corner of Chatham and Main streets. Later he was located at No. 51 Pearl Street, and in January, 1932, removed to his present quarters at No. 19 Elm Street, where he has one of the most modern and completely equipped studios in New England. Mr. Brown was the first photographer in Worcester to introduce the color plate, and his admirable technical accom- plishments and fine artistry have made him one of the leading photographers in New England. His high standing was evidenced by his election as president of the Photographers Association of New England, also serving for three years as president of the Photographers Club of Worcester County. He has also served as representative of the New England Photographers Association in the Photo- graphers International Association. During the past twelve or thirteen years Mr. Brown has be- come a well-known figure in Worcester life and, in addition to his professional connections, served for five years on the board of directors of the Lions Club, of which he is an active member. He has also other local interests.

On October 30, 1920, J. Carroll Brown married Eleanor Lees of England. They maintain their residence in this city.

LEON A. CARON-The family of Caron, of which Leon A. Caron, insurance representative and selectman, is a member, is intimately asso- ciated with the business and official life of South- bridge. The Carons are of French descent. Joseph A. Caron, father of Leon A., was born in Canada, left his home place and settled in Massachusetts. He engaged in the manufacture of optical goods in Southbridge, becoming an associate and treasurer of the firm of Dupaul and Young, his brothers-in- law, maintaining this connection for thirty-five years. In Southbridge town government affairs he became a prominent leader, being elected to the board of selectmen for one term and serving on the board of health for several years. He died on January 18, 1925. His wife was Rosanna E. Boucher, born in Burlington, Vermont, to which State her family removed from its ancestral home in Canada. She claimed descent from the famous French General Jean Victor Marie Moreau, who at one time served under Napoleon Bonaparte, and after living in exile in the United States, went to Russia, joined the allied sovereigns opposing Napo- leon and was wounded at the battle of Dresden when talking with the Czar. He was buried in

Sydney R. Mason

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St. Petersburg (Leningrad). Rosanna E. Caron survived her husband at his death.

Leon A. Caron was born in Southbridge, March 19, 1894, passed through the public schools, grad- uating from the local high school in 1912. He pursued further study at Clark College, Worces- ter, for one year, and followed with one year at the University of Pittsburgh. Choosing a busi- ness career, he became assistant treasurer of the Dupaul and Young optical goods manufacturing firm, and although this business was disposed of in 1924, he continued with it until 1927. In Octo- ber of the latter year he formed an association with Albert McGrath and organized an insurance business under the style of the Caron and McGrath Insurance Company. In this establishment he still holds an interest.

In political alignment he is a Democrat. His entry into public life in Southbridge was made in 1931, when he was elected to the board of select- men. He was reëlected in March, 1932. Among his business connections are directorships in the Peoples National Bank and the Southbridge Co- operative Bank. His fraternal affiliations are with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Knights of Columbus and Cercle Canadien.

Mr. Caron married, August 2, 1921, Gertrude L. Rochester, of Brooklyn, New York, and their children are: I. William A., born January 25, 1928. 2. Robert R., born December 23, 1930. The Caron family home is No. 32 Everett Street, South- bridge.

BENJAMIN ELBRIDGE MARTIN-As principal of the Sever Street and Winslow Street schools in Worcester, Benjamin Elbridge Martin has for the past fifteen years been giving service of a quality which has commanded the highest esteem of students, parents, and officials.

John Elbridge Martin, father of Benjamin E. Martin, was born on the old Martin homestead at Rehoboth, Massachusetts, February 1, 1841, the son of Benjamin Martin, also of Rehoboth, and a direct descendant of that pioneer, John Martin, who came from Swansea, Wales, about 1663 and settled in Swansea, Massachusetts, where he fol- lowed his trade as a weaver and also engaged in farming. John Elbridge Martin married Mary Elizabeth Read, who was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1846 and died in April, 1882, and they lived on the farm in Swansea, Massachusetts, in the house which has been in the Martin family for two hundred years and which was bought in 1919 by Susan Martin Allien, a relative, and willed to the Colonial Dames as a perpetual memorial to the Martin family. Among the children, born in this old family homestead, was Benjamin Elbridge Martin.

Benjamin Elbridge Martin was born in the Mar- tin homestead at Swansea, Massachusetts, Janu- ary 28, 1871, and as a boy attended the public schools of Swansea. Later, he entered the high school at Barrington, Rhode Island, from which he was graduated in 1888. He continued to study in the so-called University Grammar School, which was in reality a preparatory school in Providence, Rhode Island, and then entered Brown University, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1894. Meantime, while purusing his studies in Brown University, he had been teaching in the University Grammar School. After completing

four years of teaching there, he entered the busi- ness world and for a time was engaged in the real estate business in Fall River, Massachusetts. After ten years of active business life, however, he decided to resist the "call of the school room" no longer, gave up his business activities, and secured a position as principal of a school at Lin- coln, Rhode Island. In 1905 he went to East Hampton, Connecticut, as principal of the Center School and the following year he was appointed principal of the high school and supervisor of the grade schools at Old Saybrook, Connecticut. In 1907 came promotion to the position of superin- tendent of schools, while continuing as principal of the high school there. Two years later Mr. Martin went to Fall River, Massachusetts, as a department teacher in the B. M. C. Durfee High School and after one year's experience in that ca- pacity he accepted the position of superintendent of schools at Chelmsford, having charge of a dis- trict comprising three towns. Here he remained for a period of five years and then, in 1915, came to Worcester as principal of the Belmont Street Grammar School. In 1919 he was transferred from the Belmont Street School to the responsible posi- tion of head of the Sever and Winslow Street schools. This group consists of three buildings, two housing grades from the Kindergarten to the sixth, inclusive, the other providing for seventh and eighth grades, and a department for specially apt pupils, requiring a general average of seventy- five per cent. for admission. Here Mr. Martin has labored most effectively for the past fifteen years, and the rewards of his labors are to be seen in the splendid organization of his group of schools, in the fine type of student sent on from his "special department," and the esteem in which he is held by his pupils, their parents, and the school offi- cials. An able student and scholar, a progressive educator, and a man of fine personal character, he exerts over his pupils an influence which is both stimulating and wholesome, and has his reward in the love and esteem of those whom he so ably serves.

Mr. Martin is past treasurer and now president of the Worcester Principals Club, and is a mem- ber of the Worcester Teachers Association, Na- tional Education Association, Elementary Prin- cipals Association, and Massachusetts Elementary Teachers Association. He is also a member of the National Geographic Society and the Public Edu- cation Association. Fraternally, he is identified with Siloam Lodge, No. 32, Free and Accepted Masons, of Old Saybrook, Connecticut. He is

also a member of several clubs, including the Economic Club. During his college years Mr. Martin was actively interested in athletics and at Brown University held the college record for the half-mile run. While a resident of Swansea he served as a trustee of the Public Library, was town moderator for several years, and held sev- eral other town offices. He also served as a dele- gate to State and county Republican conventions.

Benjamin Elbridge Martin married, August 30, 1905, Bertha Francis Chace, of Westport, Massa- chusetts, daughter of John Franklin C. and Sophia (Petty) Chace, and they became the parents of two children: I. Anna Chace Martin, born October 13, 1907, attended Brown University for two years and then married Elsworth S. Mason, a graduate of Boston University, now traffic manager for the

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Western Union in Worcester. They have one son, Elsworth S. Mason, Jr., born March 28, 1932. 2. Benjamin Elbridge, Jr., born January 9, 1909, graduated from South High School, Worcester, in 1926, finished one year of post-graduate work there, and then entered Rhode Island State College, from which he was graduated in 1931. He specialized in biology and was for a time entymologist for Washington County, Rhode Island. While in col- lege he was a member of the track team, played football and basketball, and was associate editor of the college paper. He was also a member of sev- eral Greek letter fraternities, of the DeMolay Club, and of the Biology Club.

DR. GEORGE COWLES BROWN-During the past fourteen years, Dr. George Cowles Brown has been engaged in the active practice of dentis- try at Worcester. He has specialized in orthodon- tia, an important branch of modern dentistry, and has built up in this city a large and successful practice.

Dr. Brown was born at Fremont, Nebraska, on August 13, 1893, a son of the Rev. George Mat- thew Brown, who was born in New York State, and of Jessie H. (Cowles) Brown, of Iowa. His father, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is now a resident of Stratford, Connect- icut. He has served in many important charges, including the Sands Street Church of Brooklyn, New York; the First Methodist Church of Bridge- port, Connecticut; and others; and has also been very active in Chautauqua work.

Dr. George Cowles Brown was educated in the public schools of Brooklyn, New York, and Bridge- port, Connecticut, completing his high school course in the latter city in 1913. Subsequently he entered the Dental School of the University of Pennsyl- vania, from which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1917. In the interval, he had worked for one year as a clerk in the County Court House in Bridgeport. Fol- lowing the taking of his degree in dentistry, Dr. Brown spent one year in the special study of orthodontia under the instruction of Dr. R. H. W. Strang, a physician and dentist of Bridgeport. He also spent one year, from August, 1918, to August, 1919, in the Dental Corps, United States Army. He was commissioned first lieutenant and was stationed at the Base Hospital, Camp Dix, where he was en- gaged in dental and oral surgery work.

Upon his discharge from the army in September, 1919, Dr. Brown came to Worcester and at that time began active practice in this city which he has since continued. He has built up a very fine clientele, having strictly limited his practice, to orthodontia, the science dealing with the preven- tion and correction of malocclusion of the teeth. Dr. Brown's professional standing is indicated by his election as a Fellow of the American Academy of Dental Science. He is also a member of the American Dental Association, the American So- ciety of Orthodontists, the New York Society of Orthodontists, the Massachusetts State Dental So- ciety, and the Worcester District Dental Society. He has been secretary of the latter organization since 1920.

Dr. Brown is also a member of the staff of Forsythe Dental Infirmary of Boston and of the Memorial Hospital in this city. In other fields, he is affiliated with the Delta Sigma Delta Fraternity,

is a member of the Worcester Club, the Worcester Country Club, the University Club, and the Rotary Club, and has been an active member of the Cham- ber of Commerce, the Safety Council and Devens Post, American Legion. He is a director of the Worcester Young Men's Christian Association and is much interested in its work, recognizing its use- fulness in the building of character and good citi- zenship. Mechanics are his recreation, and in the research and experiments which he has carried out in his leisure time, he has developed a humidi- fying unit on which he has received a patent. Dr. Brown and his wife are contributing members of Central Congregational Church in this city. His offices are situated at No. 332 Main Street.

On March 8, 1919, Dr. George Cowles Brown married Eleanor Havens of Bridgeport, Connect- icut. They are the parents of three children: I. Elizabeth, born August 17, 1921. 2. Curtis Havens, born July 19, 1924. 3. Ann Cowles, born June 3, 193I.

WILLIAM F. FULLAM-One might write of William F. Fullam as a retired contractor, lum- ber dealer, and banker of North Brookfield, if it were not for the fact that, although he has passed the three-quarter century mark as years go, he has remained one of the active business leaders of this community. He was born in North Brookfield in 1855 and has lived there all his life. After attend- ing the local schools he went to Leicester Academy and studied for two years before becoming asso- ciated with his father in business. The latter, a native of New Hampshire, had come to Worces- ter as a carpenter and in 1852 located in North Brookfield as a contractor. His son started to learn carpentering, but as the contracting vocation then included the cutting of timber and making it into lumber, William F. Fullam became a lum- berman.

For a number of years he ran sawmills until the chestnut blight began to take its toll of the chest- nut trees which normally provided an almost con- tinuous succession of marketable lumber, railroad ties and posts. Then the supplies of pine began to diminish and the sawmill business ceased to be of any great importance. A man of vision, how- ever, he has been the agent in the planting of more than 100,000 pine seedlings in the North Brook- field section, chiefly around the reservoir, during his régime as water commissioner, a period of thirty-four years. He has had the unusual pleas- ure of seeing trees planted under his direction grow into a sizeable forest with great promise for the future.

For the greater part of his career, Mr. Fullam has been a contractor and builder, and it is said that, with his father, practically one-third of the buildings of North Brookfield were constructed by him, including two of the town's factories. Real estate is another of his interests, and he has been an extensive owner of lands, lots, residences and tenements for many years. Mr. Fullam has served as selectman, as president of the North Brookfield Industrial Board, and for thirty-four years as water commissioner. He was instrumental in or- ganizing, was the first president of the North Brookfield National Bank and is now vice-pres- ident.

While a comparatively young man, Mr. Fullam married, December 31, 1878, Anna M. Kingsbury

William F Fullum

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and enjoyed the companionship and inspiration of his wife until recent years ; she died in 1931. There were sons : I. William Harry, now the head of the contracting business. 2. F. Arthur, who took over his father's lumber business and branched out in the garage business as well. 3. Charles, the youngest son, carries on the hardware trade started by the head of the family. William F. Fullam supposedly is taking a deserved rest after years of hard work, but at seventy-nine he has not yet retired to inactiv- ity, nor resigned his place among the leaders of the town he helped to develop.

RAY W. HEFFERNAN-As president of the H. H. Brown Shoe Company, Inc., formerly of North Brookfield, Worcester County, and now located at No. 69 Grand Street in the city of Worcester, Ray W. Heffernan occupies a place of leadership in the business world. To New Eng- land's boot and shoe industry he has liberally con- tributed of his time and efforts; and the benefits that have thereby accrued to the industry have been numerous and noteworthy.

Mr. Heffernan was born in Spencer, Worcester County, November 20, 1898, son of William J. and Margaret (Sweeney) Heffernan. After com- pleting his preliminary education, he studied at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he was graduated in 1919. Entering the employ of the Allen-Squire Company at Spencer, his birthplace, he remained with that concern until 1927, when he became associated with the H. H. Brown Shoe Company, Inc. At the outset of his connection with this company, he was made its president and he has since then served in this capacity.

No record of his career would be complete with- out an account of the Brown shoe business from its beginning and through its development until the time of Mr. Heffernan's election to the presidency. The business dates back to about 1880, though it was a partnership until 1883. It was founded, according to the scanty information still extant regarding those very first years, by H. H. Brown, who had been superintendent of a factory making shoes in Wellesley, Norfolk County. That factory is now used as a dormitory building of Wellesley College and is known as Elliot House. Subse- quently the business was removed to Natick, where it was continued for two or three years. In 1883 a partnership was definitely formed by Mr. Brown and Lyman Spalding and two men who were doing a shoe jobbing business in Boston under the style of Chipman and Calley. After a time, Messrs. Chipman and Calley withdrew from the enterprise. Herbert T. Maynard, of North Brookfield, then entered the partnership, serving as an employee, later making an investment in the business and becoming a full partner. Mr. Maynard and Mr. Spalding even- tually took over the interest of Mr. Brown, who withdrew because of ill health; and the business was continued as a partnership under the management of Mr. Maynard until, in 1910, it was incorporated. It was at that time that Mr. Richards and Charles C. Beebe, now of Wellesley, became interested in the company. They had previously been associated with the B. and R. Rubber Company, of North Brookfield. H. H. Brown always had the reputa- tion of having been an exceptionally good manager and shoe manufacturer, as had Mr. Maynard.

In 1910 Mr. Beebe became the dominant factor in the business, so continuing until November, 1927,

when Mr. Heffernan and Daniel J. Danahy, the present treasurer, took over the interests of the old stockholders and added new capital to the enter- prise. Mr. Heffernan had been, as already noted, with the Allen-Squire Company, of Spencer; and Mr. Danahy had been with the C. S. Emerson Company, of Derry, New Hampshire. When busi- ness was bad, in 1927, Mr. Beebe, former head of the concern, ordered its affairs liquidated. In No- vember of that year, the accounts receivable and inventory had been practically all converted into cash, and the company was ready to make distribu- tion to the preferred stockholders. It was then that Mr. Heffernan and Mr. Danahy, after three months of painstaking negotiations, succeeded in outlining a plan that was acceptable to the one hundred and twenty-five preferred stockholders and to the interests holding the common stock, headed by Mr. Beebe. On November 7, 1927, Mr. Hef- fernan and Mr. Danahy subscribed to additional preferred stock in a new corporation, the H. H. Brown Shoe Company, Inc., giving each preferred stockholder in the old company a share of preferred stock in the new organization for every one held. At the same time the common shareholders in the old company waived all rights, thus completely severing their identification with the business. Mr. Heffernan and Mr. Danahy subscribed to all the common stock of the new company, assuming full control. The only other director at the present time, aside from them, is William F. Fullam, vice- president of the North Brookfield Savings Bank and one of the town's most influential citizens for the last fifty years. In June, 1933, the company signed a long-term lease for nearly two-thirds of the space of the Royal Worcester Corset Com- pany's building at No. 67 Grand Street, Worcester, and occupied it, with all its employees, number- ing eight hundred and fifty. The new location is a model shoe factory, it having never before been occupied for this purpose. Details of the removal were worked out with the assistance of Theodore Ellis, chairman of the board of the Royal Worces- ter Corset Company. The capacity of the H. H. Brown Shoe Company, Inc., has been enlarged from the 1927 figure of 1,000 pairs daily to 9,000 pairs. The entire product of the company consists of men's and boys' heavy work shoes and high- top boots, half of the quantity being "Goodyear" welts and half nailed shoes. Two years ago the company originated a "Littleway" process of mak- ing work shoes, which came to be widely known and recognized. The Brown company also makes the work shoes trademarked "Gorilla."

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Worcester county; a narrative history, Volume III, Part 60

Author: Nelson, John, 1866-1933 Publication date: 1934 Publisher: New York, American historical Society Number of Pages: 700

Author: Nelson, John, 1866-1933
Publication date: 1934
Publisher: New York, American historical Society
Number of Pages: 700