Greenfield Massachusetts

Biography of George Henry Fletcher

GEORGE HENRY FLETCHER – The name of Fletcher has been known in the United States since 1630, and has been borne by many prominent citizens, the Fletchers having generally been leading people in the various communities where they have dwelt. Originally the name was written Fledger, and was the name of the trade of the makers of arrows, or as some authorities think, of the affixing the feather to the arrow, fledging it. In French the word Flechier has also the same meaning, and some have inferred a French extraction. The traditions, however, all concur in making the early ancestors … Read more

Biography of Gordon Rollin Joslyn

No name is more prominently and actively associated with the automobile mercantile industry in Western Massachusetts than that of Mr. Joslyn, who is the executive head of the Franklin County Dealers’ Exchange, and who within a very few years has expanded the garage and agency interests of which he has charge throughout a territory that is not bounded by the county. Mr. Joslyn performs the business in which he has made himself a leader thoroughly and well, and centralizing his forces as president of the Joslyn Motor Company at Greenfield, he has found therein the rewards of a lifelong career … Read more

Biography of George Edward Reed

GEORGE EDWARD REED – Laundry interests in Western Massachusetts have a most satisfactory representative in the Amherst Laundry Company, of which George Edward Reed is the president, and whose prominent place in Amherst industry he was the means of securing, through a far-sighted and successful endeavor to establish an up-to-date plant. Mr. Reed is an expert man in his calling; he has spent practically all his career in the one line of business; and he is highly regarded by his associates and by the general public. He is of Vermont parentage and ancestry, his grandfather, David Swan Reed, a farmer, … Read more

Biography of Horace A. Smead

HORACE A. SMEAD – The name of Smead is one of more than passing importance in the western part of Massachusetts, and indeed in this general part of the State it has long been prominent. Mr. Smead has been active in farming interests throughout his entire lifetime and now in the sunset of life he is enjoying well earned leisure. Jonathan Smead, great-great-grandfather of Mr. Smead, was born in 1735 and was a pioneer of Greenfield, locating in that community when the Indians were still frequent visitors to the white settlements. He was active in agricultural pursuits in the vicinity … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Allen, Charles

Allen, Charles, son of Sylvester and Harriet (Ripley) Allen, was born in Greenfield, Franklin county, April 17, 1827. He was graduated from Harvard in the class of 1847. He was admitted to the bar in 1850. He practiced law in Greenfield until 1862, and then moved to Boston. He was appointed by Governor John D. Long justice of the supreme judicial court, which position he now holds. Judge Allen was reporter of decisions of the supreme judicial court from 1861 to 1867. He was attorney general of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1867 to 1872. In 1880 he was appointed one … Read more

Addison Eli Todd of Elba MN

Addison Eli Todd7, (Eli6, Solomon5, James4, James3, Samuel2, Christopher1) born July 22, 1821, in Charlemont, Mass., died Sept. 14, 1878, married, March 22, 1860, Isabella Ball, who was born Feb. 13, 1833, in Greenfield, Mass., in which town they were married. Mr. Todd lived the first twenty-one years of his life in Charlemont, Mass., assisting his father with the work on the farm. Attaining his majority, he started for the west. Arriving in Michigan, he found employment in the saw mills of Lenawa County for several years. Returning to Massachusetts, he purchased a piece of timber land and began manufacturing … Read more

Biography of William John Liston

WILLIAM JOHN LISTON-Descended from Scottish ancestors, whose children took root in Ireland, and a number of whom emigrated to the United States, where they have played their part well in the building of a strong foundation of the republic, William John Liston, junior member of the firm of Cunningham (Patrick F.) & Liston, of Greenfield, himself has earned the tribute together with his partner, of being “an honest builder”-the firm itself being one of the most widely known in the mason builders’ and contracting line in the town of Greenfield and the district coming within the influence of the capital … Read more

Biography of Edgar Marvin Graves

EDGAR MARVIN GRAVES, born and reared in the town of Greenfield, is working his way to fame as a business man of this town. More often than otherwise the young man will leave his native hearth to seek his fortune in a larger town or city, when, if he had used his eyes he would have seen opportunity beckoning him at his very door. This was not the case with Edgar M. Graves, however, for he saw opportunities in his own town and made use of them until today he is recognized as the owner of a prosperous electrical business. … Read more

Biography of George Guy Ross

GEORGE GUY ROSS – To point with pride to the fact that the blood of King Charles I of Scotland on his paternal side, and of the royal Stuarts on his maternal side courses in his veins is the privilege and right of George G. Ross, well known and successful sporting goods dealer of Greenfield. But with equal pride does he point to the fact that of his more immediate forebears his father and grandfather were honest farmer folk, who were not ashamed to acknowledge that the earth yielded of her fruit to their labors whereby they were enabled to … Read more

Biography of William Edward Benson

WILLIAM EDWARD BENSON, who is at the head of a flourishing real estate and insurance business in Greenfield, is the descendant of a family originally settled in Vermont. His grandfather, John Ellis Benson, was born in 1809, in Brookline, Vermont, and died in 1892 in Brattleboro, Vermont. He lived in different places in Vermont and for a time lived in Quebec. He was engaged in the milling trade and before his death had settled in Brattleboro, Vermont, where he lived with his son George. William A. Benson, son of John E. Benson, was born May 14, 1842, in Windham, Vermont, … Read more

Biography of James Neild

JAMES NEILD – The Neild family came from the North of England. Thomas Neild, a native of Halifax, Yorkshire, England, a stone cutter by trade, now living in Jamestown, New York, was born on February 9, 1854, and came to America in 1882, locating first at Albion, New York, where he procured work in his trade. He later moved to HoVey, New York, and in 1893 came to Holyoke, Massachusetts, and entered the mill of the American Thread Company, working there for four years. After this he returned for a time to England, but later came back to America and … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Richard Frederick Fuller

RICHARD FREDERICK FULLER was the fourth son. He graduated at Harvard University, 1844, studied law in Greenfield, Mass., afterwards a year at the Harvard Law School, and, having completed his studies in the office of his uncle, Henry H. Fuller, Esq., in Boston, was admitted to the bar on examination in open court, December, 1846, at the age of twenty-two. He became, and continued for two years to be, the law partner of his uncle, and subsequently practiced law with success in Boston. Having been fitted for college, at the age of sixteen he entered a store in Boston, at … Read more

Alton S. Todd of Greenfield MA

Alton S. Todd7, (Solomon6, Solomon5, James4, James3, Samuel2, Christopher1) born Oct. 6, 1860, married, April 19, 1881, Ada A. Johnson. He is a conductor on the Boston & Maine railroad, and lives now (1919) in Greenfield, Mass. Child: *1627. Rena E., b. Dec. 12, 1882.

Biography of Patrick Francis Cunningham

PATRICK FRANCIS CUNNINGHAM-Son of a father whose worthy name he bears, and whom he has emulated in the trade of masonbuilder, Patrick F. Cunningham has come to be one of the most important of the contractor-builders in the Greenfield region. As senior member of the well-known firm of Cunningham & Liston (William J. Liston), he has, together with his partner, left the impress of skill and excellence of workmanship upon many public, quasi-public and private buildings in the capital town of Franklin County, and in towns within a radius of twenty-five miles of Greenfield. Mr. Cunningham’s firm has made an … Read more

Biography of John Wilson

JOHN WILSON-The family of Wilson, of Greenfield, is of Scotch Origin, Robert Wilson, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, having been the father of Mr. John Wilson, who is the founder and senior partner of the firm of John Wilson & Company, of Greenfield Robert Wilson was born in Glasgow in 1839, and died in New Cummock, Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1870, in the part of the country that Robert Burns, at the early age of thirty-one years, made famous the world over. He was general manager of the Bank Colliery at New Cummock, was a hard worker and had to apply … Read more

Leslie Root Todd McCarthy of Greenfield MA

MCCARTHY, Leslie Root Todd9, (John R.8, Iru S.7, Justus6, Asa5, Gershom4, Gershom3, Michael2, Christopher1) born Sept. 11, 1891, in Northampton, Mass., married in Oct. 1911, Frank McCarthy, of Amherst, Mass. In 1920 they were living in Greenfield, Mass., where they were employed at the Wiley and Russell tap and dye plant. Children: I. Shirley Elizabeth, b. Feb. 11, 1912. II. Thelma Olive, b. Feb. 17, 1913, d. Jan. 26, 1919 of Pneumonia which followed an attack of the influenza during the prevailing epidemic that winter.

Biography of Harry Lee Williams

HARRY LEE WILLIAMS – The family name of Williams is of great antiquity in England and Wales and is derived from the ancient personal name William. Like many other possessive names, it arose from the Welsh custom of adding to a man’s name the name of his father in the possessive form as William John’s, from which quickly came Jones, David Diehard’s, Thomas David’s (Davie’s, Davis) and kindred forms. Sir Robert Williams, ninth baronet of the house of Williams of Penrhyn, was a lineal descendant of Marchudd ap Cynan, Lord of Aberqeleu in Denbighshire, of one of the fifteen tribes … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Aiken, David Aiken

Aiken, David, son of Phinehas and Elisabeth (Patterson) Aiken, was born at Bedford, Hillsborough County, N. H., June 7, 1804. His early education was obtained in a common district school and at Pembroke Academy, under Mr. John Vose, and at Phillips Academy, Andover, under Mr. John Adams. He entered Dartmouth College, where he was graduated in 1830. He then studied law with Wells & Alvord at Greenfield, Mass., and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1833; was judge of the court of common pleas from 1856 to ’59. He has been the law partner of Henry Chapman, George Grennell, … Read more

Rena Mabel Todd Horton of Greenfield MA

HORTON, Rena Mabel Todd8, (Edward E.7, Eli6, Solomon5, James4, James3, Samuel2, Christopher1) born Aug. 15, 1870, married J. D. Horton. They lived in Greenfield, Mass. Child: I. Edwin.

Biography of Myron James Farr

MYRON JAMES FARR – The surname of Farr is believed by many to be identical with Farrar, and there is considerable reason for the supposition as persons of both names appear simultaneously in the different localities of New England. It is derived from a Latin word meaning iron and was probably used as a place name before it came into use as a family name. It was first known in England from Gualkeline (or Walkeline) de Ferraris, a Norman of distinction attached to William, Duke of Normandy, before the conquest of England in 1066. From him all of the name … Read more