USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester county; a narrative history, Volume III > Part 70
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Harrison Greenwood married, July 15, 1885, at Hubbardston, Massachusetts, Alice M. Priest, who was born in Delaware. Their children are: 1. Howard P., married Jessie Stevens, and their chil- dren are Willard and Barbara. He was associated with his father in business. He died in 1918 at the age of thirty-six years. 2. Grace, married Lester H. Carter, of Gardner, and has children, Howard and Constance. The Harrison Greenwood family residence is at No. 36 Kendall Street, and his business address is at 33 Pleasant Street, Gardner.
CHARLES METCALF ALLEN-In the field of hydraulic engineering, no name in the United States is more authoritative than that of Professor Charles Metcalf Allen, who has been identified with Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Barris Greenwood.
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since 1894 and under whose leadership the Alden Hydraulic Laboratory at Holden, a laboratory of the institute, has become one of the best known in the country.
Charles Metcalf Allen was born in Walpole, Massachusetts, December 12, 1871, son of Melzar Waterman and Martha (Metcalf) Allen and a descendant of Lewis Allen, one of the pioneer set- tlers of Watertown Farms (now called Weston), Massachusetts, who is believed to have come to this country from Wales, is first on record at Watertown Farms in 1665, and who died there, January 24, 1708. Lewis Allen married (first) Sarah Ives; (second) Mrs. Mary (Sherman) Freeman. The line descends through Abel, fourth child of the first marriage, who was born Sep- tember 16, 1669, at Watertown Farms, spent his life there, and died in 1756; he married (first) Sarah, who died September 18, 1736, mother of ten children; (second), in 1738, Elizabeth Shep- herd. Robert Allen, oldest child of Abel and Sarah Allen, was born January 21, 1694, and died in what is now Walpole, October 13, 1778; he bought, in 1772, eighty-seven acres of land on the Neponset River (in what is now Walpole), later lived on a farm near Walpole, willed to his second wife by her father, Daniel Fisher ; he married (first), January 4, 1727, Elizabeth Fales, and they had three daughters; (second), April 20, 1738, Ruth Fisher, who was born in Dedham, Massa- chusetts, June 10, 1706, and died in Walpole, No- vember 3, 1770, daughter of Daniel and Esther Fisher, and they had six children. Joshua Allen, second child and oldest son of Robert and Ruth (Fisher) Allen, born in Walpole, January 28, 1742, died there September 30, 1841, was a farmer and carpenter and spent all his life in Walpole. On April 19, 1775, he marched to Cambridge on the Lexington alarm and served in the Revolution in 1776; he married, December II, 1766, Patience Ide, who died in Walpole, May 16, 1821, aged seventy-three; they had five children, all born in Walpole: Ruth, Daniel, Sarah, Jacob, and Samuel. Of these, Daniel Allen, born February 9, 1770, died in Walpole, January 16, 1855, was a farmer and market man. Among his children was Lemuel Allen, born in Walpole in 1801, who married, Sep- tember 8, 1831, Adeline Fisher, and among their children was Melzar Waterman Allen.
Melzar Waterman Allen was born in Walpole, December 7, 1840, attended the local public schools and then learned the carpenter's trade. Later, he engaged in business as a contractor and builder in Walpole, where he spent his entire life. During the Civil War he served in the 23d Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He married Martha Metcalf, a native of Maine, daughter of Joseph and Chloe Fales (Adams) Metcalf; the latter a native of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, and a member of the well-known Adams family of that section, lived to be more than a hundred years old. Melzar Waterman and Martha (Met- calf) Allen had six children, all born in Walpole: I. John Stetson, who carried on his father's con- tracting business. 2. Bernard Melzar, who is a professor in Cheshire Academy, in Connecticut. 3. Charles Metcalf, of further mention. 4. Philip Ray, who is president of the Bird Company, of Walpole; a director of the Boston and Maine Railroad; and a member of the Federal Reserve Board. 5. Frederic Winthrop, who is identified
with the Lee, Higginson Company, of New York City. 6. Emily Rebecca, who married the Rev. John I. Keedy, of Keedysville, Maryland.
Charles Metcalf Allen attended the public schools of Walpole and then entered the mechanical engi- neering department of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, from which he was graduated in 1894, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science. Later, in 1899, he received the degree of Master of Sci- ence and, in 1929, in recognition of his outstanding achievements in the engineering field, he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Engi- neering. After graduation in 1894 he continued his studies at the institute, taking post-graduate courses for one year and assisting the instructor in the mechanical laboratory. In 1895 he assisted in the mechanical and engineering laboratories, and took up experimental work, of which he was later placed in charge, serving as assistant professor of experi- mental engineering from 1902 to 1906 and as professor of the same from 1906 to 1909, when he was made professor of hydraulic engineering. Meantime, the development of water power and electric transmission had caused the institute to give increasing attention to hydraulic engineering. and Professor Allen had been teaching hydraulics. The experimental work had been steadily grow- ing, and better facilities were needed for its devel- opment. Through the influence of Professor George I. Alden, head of the department of me- chanical engineering, Stephen Salisbury, who had already been a generous benefactor of the institute, donated to the institute a parcel of land located at Chaffinsville, Holden, which, because of its slope and its water supply, was ideal for the type of work that the department of hydraulic engineer- ing wished to do. This and the small building erected upon it formed the beginning of the Alden Hydraulic Laboratory. To this laboratory the experimental hydraulic work of the institute was transferred. The excellence of the experimental tests made there attracted much attention and Professor Allen was called to various parts of the country to test wheels already in use and to test others for installment. The commercial work brought to the institute kept pace with Professor Allen's increasing reputation, and as he became recognized as one of the outstanding authorities in the field of hydraulic engineering, the experimental work of the Alden Hydraulic Laboratory soon outgrew its original small quarters. Funds were provided for all sorts of hydraulic work, and the combination of location, equipment, abundant water power, and the ability and reputation of Professor Allen eventually made the Alden Hydraulic Labo- ratory one of the best known and most useful in the country.
One of the most interesting developments of the work there is the model testing done for engineer- ing corporations. Exact, small scale models of power plant, dam, wheel, pit, spillway, etc., are made and water is sent through so that careful check may be made as to efficiency of design and economy of construction. For example : The Stone and Webster Corporation took the contract for the Rock Island hydraulic development, the power site of which is located on the Columbia River, about thirteen miles below Wenatchee, Washington, where the river is divided into two channels by Rock Island. Here two dams across both chan- nels of the river are being built. A complete
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description of the situation and of the proposed construction was given to the Alden Hydraulic Laboratory by the corporation. Near the labora- tory a complete model of the Columbia River, about a mile long and a half-mile wide, in the vicinity of Rock Island was made in a ratio of I to 100, and a complete set of models of dams, spillways, power house sections, fish ladders, etc. were made at the laboratory and installed. Then experiments were made to determine such ques- tions as the amount of water flowing by each side of the island and the drop of the river from one end to the other, the type of apron best suited to those special conditions. Coffer dams were built and installed to determine the proper height of coffer dams for flood conditions in that particular situation.
During the year 1930, the Alden Hydraulic Laboratory made tests for nine of the twenty-six most important hydraulic projects listed in the January number of "Power" having a total of about 2,200,000 horsepower. The total installed capacity of the nine projects on which model tests were made at the laboratory was about 1,100,000, or about fifty per cent. of the rated capacity of the twenty-six installments. In all its model test- ing the aim of the laboratory is to determine effi- ciency of design and economy of construction.
Improvements and additions are constantly being made. In 1929, a new basement excavated to give more room for model dam tests was scarcely finished, when the Stone and Webster Engineering Corporation wanted a five-foot-plate-glass flume for various tests, especially tests on the spillway models of the Osage development in Missouri. During the summer a 30-foot tile drain pipe was put in from the weighing tank discharge to a point 100 feet downstream, where five-foot con- crete channels parallel the river for some distance. In the same year the Alden Fund Trustees gave the laboratory $25,000 for improvements and new equipment. Two dwelling houses and a 130-acre parcel of land lying next to that already owned were purchased, and the institute now owns 250 acres of land and flowage rights on three ponds having a total pond area of about 250 acres more, practically owning the river from headwaters to the Metropolitan Water Works' territory.
Through all this growth Professor Allen has been a controlling and inspiring factor. The motto chosen for the laboratory, "When you are through changing, you are through," has been well exem- plified in the work of Dr. Allen, and, with all his professional responsibilities, he has found time to invent five devices including current meter rating stations, a water wheel flow recorder, and a salt velocity method of water measurement. He is also the author of numerous articles on hydraulics, including : "Testing of Water Wheels After In- stallation," "Draft Tube Tests," "Turbine Flow Recorder," "Efficiency of Gear Drives," and "The Salt Velocity Method of Water Measurement." He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Worcester Engineering Society, the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Educa- tion, the American Association for the Advance- ment of Science, the American Society of Mechani- cal Engineers, of which he is now a vice-president, the Boston Society of Civil Engineers, of which he is a past president. His recreation is farming, and he is a member of the Engineers Club of
Boston. Politically, he is a Republican, and his religious affiliation is with the Congregational Church.
Charles Metcalf Allen married, in Worcester, in 1907, Eva May Taylor, of Worcester, daughter of Lucian A. Taylor, a well-known civil engineer, who had his offices in Boston and was at one time water commissioner of Worcester, and of Jeanette (Arnold) Taylor. Mr. and Mrs. Allen have three children, all born in Worcester: I. Virginia, born April 29, 1911, graduated from Worcester High School and took a secretarial course in the Kath- arine Gibbs School of Boston. 2. Lucian Taylor, born January 21, 1915, is a student in Deerfield Academy. 3. Jeanette, born December 1I, 1917, is attending Worcester High School.
GRAHAM BLANDY-As resident manager of the Worcester division of the Charles A. Estey Paper Company, Graham Blandy is in charge of an important branch of one of the largest corpora- tions of its kind in New England. He has devoted the greater part of his active career to the paper industry and is well qualified to fill the position which he holds.
Mr. Blandy was born at Bennington, Vermont, on November 9, 1891, a son of Isaac C. and Charlotte (Bullions) Blandy. For many years his father was engaged as a paper manufacturer in Bennington, Vermont, and was also active in public affairs in that State. As a prominent Democrat he was nominated by his party for the office of United States Congressman. Subsequently he was a dele- gate to the Democratic National Convention, held in Denver in 1908, which nominated Bryan for the Presidency.
When Graham Blandy was five years old, he removed with his parents to Greenwich, New York. He received his preliminary education in the public schools of that place and at a boarding school in Hoosac, New York. Subsequently he entered Williams College. In 1912 he began his active career in the employ of the Dennison Man- ufacturing Company at Framingham, Massachu- setts. After thirteen months .he resigned to be- come connected with the St. Croix Paper Com- pany at Woodland, Maine, remaining for a period of eight months. At the end of that time he joined the organization of the American Writing Paper Company at Holyoke, Massachusetts, but after seven months returned to New York, where he became associated with his father in business. From then until 1917 he continued with his father and with the American Wood Board Company at Schuylerville, New York.
When the United States entered the World War, Mr. Blandy enlisted for active service. He went overseas with the American Expeditionary Forces and was stationed at the Base Hospital in Ports- mouth, England, until after the signing of the Armistice. He received his honorable discharge from the service in March, 1919 and returned to his father's business. In June, 1920, he came to Worcester, entering the employ of the Charles Estey Paper Company, with which he has since been connected. In 1921 he was elected secretary. In 1928 this company was merged with the Carter, Rice and Company Corporation and at that time Mr. Blandy was appointed resident manager of the Worcester division. They are distributors of all kinds of paper and twine, occupying a preeminent
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position in their field in New England. Mr. Blandy is a director of the Carter, Rice and Company Corporation and of the American Wood Board Company. He is widely experienced in the indus- try, with which he has been connected for more than twenty years, and has made a very success- ful record.
At Worcester, Mr. Blandy is a member of the University Club and has been active in various phases of the city's social life. He is also a mem- ber of the Williams Alumni Association of Worces- ter County and the Quinsigamond Boat Club and is affiliated fraternally with Ashlar Lodge, No. 584, Free and Accepted Masons, at Greenwich, New York.
On June 27, 1917, Mr. Blandy married Leonice Brockway Morse, of Bath, Maine. They are the parents of three children: I. Leonice Charlotte, born November 23, 1918. 2. Barbara, born Decem- ber 18, 1919. 3. Graham, III, born October 6, 1924. The family residence is at No. 21 Westland Street, Worcester.
CHARLES FREDERICK KOPPEL-The hotel business has been raised to a profession by Charles F. Koppel, proprietor of the Brookfield Inn at Brookfield, one of the best conducted hos- telries in the State. With wide experience gained in working in or managing hotels in six countries, he arrived in Brookfield some twenty years ago, and has since entrenched himself in the favor of the public.
Born in Bingen-on-the-Rhine, Germany, October 27, 1874, Charles Frederick Koppel is the son of Hermann and Katharine Koppel, the former a wine producer in his native land. At the age of fourteen he completed his education, which had been received in schools of Germany and England. In the same year he engaged himself as an apprentice to learn the hotel business at the Rheinischer Hof and, after finishing his bound term, he worked in hotels in Scotland, England, Switzerland, France, Italy and Egypt. He finally located at Blackpool, Eng- land, where he was installed as manager of the Palatine Hotel, in which he eventually came to own a considerable quantity of stock. At Black- pool, a resort popular in winter as well as in sum- mer, he remained twenty years, and but for the coming on of the World War he might still be there. But Mr. Koppel was a German-born British subject, and the feeling against all persons of Teutonic blood or sympathies having begun to run high in Great Britain, he decided to leave England.
In 1914 he arrived in America and went to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he was manager of the Cooley Hotel for about a year. In 1915 he came to Brookfield, purchased the Brookfield Inn, and of this hostelry he has since been the owner and manager. In 1926 he purchased the old Howes mansion and remodeled it into what is known as the Annex of the Inn, keeping both houses open in the summer. He has developed the establish- ment into one of the most popular hotels in New England. It is all modernly equipped and fur- nished, the rooms and appointments being the equal in quality of those to be had in the best city hotels. The cuisine and menu are also the best that the market and a skilled staff can provide. Added to this is the excellent personal management which is given by Mr. Koppel. Many persons of note have
been guests at the Brookfield, among them former President Calvin Coolidge and Mrs. Coolidge, who stopped there on several occasions; Henry Ford, of automobile industry fame; Harvey J. Firestone, the tire king; William Burroughs, the naturalist ; Thomas A. Edison, the Wizard of Menlo Park; and Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his party, when the former was stumping the State in his campaign for President in the fall of 1932. Others who might be classed among the celebrities have been entertained at the inn, and with the rest would add their word of pleasure for having come under the manager's magic spell as a host without a peer. Mr. Koppel is a member of the Massachusetts Hotelmen's Association, New England Hotelmen's Association, and American Hotel Keepers' Associa- tion, and enjoys his affiliation with these bodies.
Active in the civic affairs of the community, in which he has always manifested a keen interest since taking residence in the town, Mr. Koppel has been instrumental in the development and upkeep of good roads here. He served as a member of the board of selectmen for three years and is a mem- ber of the Republican Town Committee. His fraternal alliances include Hayden Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Worcester; Boston Consis- tory of the Scottish Rite; Melha Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Springfield; and Worcester Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a member of the Lions Club of Worcester and of the Unitarian Church, Brookfield.
Mr. Koppel married, November II, 1908, Lydia Brooks, of Derby, England. She is a member of the Congregational Church at Brookfield, and both she and her husband have a large following of friends in the town.
CAPTAIN STARR SEDGWICK EATON -Among the many able and talented young men who, during the late World War gave "the last full measure of devotion," surrendering their lives in action after winning well-earned citations for bravery, is Captain Starr Sedgwick Eaton, captain of Company I, 23d Infantry, who was killed in action in the clearing of the St. Mihiel salient and is buried at Thiaucourt, France.
Captain Starr Sedgwick Eaton was born in Mil- waukee, Wisconsin, on Easter Sunday, April 2, 1893, and was killed in action September 14, 1918, son of the Rev. Ephraim L. Eaton, a Methodist minister who was also a lecturer and a writer on many subjects, including astronomy, and of Louise (Bates) Eaton. On the paternal side Captain Eaton was a descendant of Francis Eaton of the "Mayflower." As a boy he attended the public schools in the various places in which his father was located as a minister of the Methodist Church, including Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Evanston, Illinois, and later he entered the University of Wisconsin for a two-year course in agriculture. After graduating from the two-year course he re- mained in the university for another year, taking several academic courses. Meantime, during his university years, he had become interested in mili- tary affairs, had been made a cadet lieutenant in 1914 and had served as cadet captain in 1915 and 1916. In May, 1915, he enlisted in the National Guard of Wisconsin, was rapidly advanced from private to corporal, then to sergeant, and went to
Wor .- 18
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the Mexican Border in June, 1916, remaining there at Camp Wilson, Texas, until November, 1916, dur- ing which entire time he took care of the duties of company clerk in addition to his responsibilities as sergeant. Meantime, in 1915, he had qualified as an expert rifleman, had become a member of the State championship indoor rifle team in 1916, and had won the medal offered to the best drilled private in a "drill down" competition in January, 1916. He was expert with both pistol and revolver and was one of the few who could shoot expertly with either hand. He had now become deeply interested in military affairs and was working and studying for a commission in the regular service. He success- fully passed the examinations and in March, 1917, received his commission as second lieutenant in the Regular Army. He was sent at once to Fort Leavenworth for three months of intensive train- ing, was assigned to the 23d Infantry, then at Syracuse, New York, and was soon promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. In September, 1917, he was transferred to the 49th United States Infan- try and ordered to Camp Merritt, Cresskill, New Jersey. The old 23d Regiment, United States Infantry, was already in France. Lieutenant Eaton was promoted to the rank of captain, transferred back to the 23d Regiment, and ordered to report for duty in France at once. On May 1, 1918, he left Camp Merritt in command of four hundred "casuals" or replacements for the 23d Regiment which he was to join in France. He joined his regiment at Verdun and was immediately placed in command of Company L.
During his brief time at the front Captain Eaton was awarded both the American Distinguished Service Cross and the French Croix de Guerre. For the first the citation is as follows:
For extraordinary heroism in action near Chateau Thierry, France, July 1, 1918, Captain Eaton dis- played notable coolness and courage during the at- tack by his company, winning a brilliant success and capturing a large number of prisoners and a quantity of enemy munitions. After obtaining his objective he personally led a small detachment against a hostile machine gun and silenced it, cap- turing in person the machine gunners and destroy- ing the nest.
Accompanying the Croix de Guerre, awarded Captain Eaton by the French Government, is the following citation :
July 18, 1918, during the attack of Vaux Castille and Vierzy, he distinguished himself by his bravery, by maintaniing liaison with the French division on his right. He then voluntarily rejoined the bat- talion which had advanced and occupied a position which was greatly exposed.
Captain Eaton was killed in action September 14, 1918, in the clearing of the St. Mihiel salient and was buried at Thiaucourt. Thus passed, in noble service to his country and in devotion to a high ideal, one of the many young lives which have been freely offered in the cause of freedom and justice.
In addition to his absorbing interest in military affairs, Captain Eaton was interested in welfare and uplift work. He joined the North Avenue Methodist Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on his twelfth birthday, and later became a charter mem- ber of the Wesley Foundation Methodist Church at Madison, Wisconsin, which church has erected a memorial room for him.
Captain Starr Sedgwick Eaton married, in Old South Church, Worcester, April 14, 1918, Louise
Katherine Sprague, who was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, daughter of Gorham S. and Almeda Belle (Eldridge) Sprague. Through her grand- father, Caleb Sprague, Mrs. Eaton traces descent from the old family of that name in Hingham, Massachusetts; through her father's mother, born Gorham, she comes from the old family of that name on Cape Cod. She is also a descendant of John Howland and John Tilley of the "Mayflower." Mrs. Eaton attended the public schools of Pitts- burgh, later was graduated from Clinton High School at Clinton, Massachusetts, and then entered the Leland Powers School of the Spoken Word, at Boston, from which she was graduated. Her chief interest is in speech and the drama, and she is doing a splendid work in that field. She has a studio for voice and expression, is public reader and interpreter of plays, gives courses in the Young Women's Christian Association, lectures at the State College on voice, drama, and acting, serves as dramatic coach for numerous organizations, and for several years has served as minister of reli- gious drama at Old South Church, Worcester. Mrs. Eaton is a life member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a life member of the Worcester Women's Club, and an active member of the American Legion Auxiliary. She makes her home at No. 100 June Street, and has her studio at No. 544 Day Building.
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