HAROLD BUTLER EWING, proprietor of a successful automobile repair business and sub-agent for the Hudson, Essex, and Dodge automobiles in Easthampton, Massachusetts, is well known and liked in Easthampton. His family is of Scotch-Irish extraction, the Ewings having come originally from Scotland into Northern Ireland in the time of Cromwell.
(I) John Ewing, the great-grandfather of Harold Butler Ewing, lived and died in Northern Ireland.
(II) Alexander Ewing, son of John Ewing, was born in Northern Ireland, April 23, 1822, and died in Easthampton, June 23, 1910, at the age of eighty-nine. He was a well educated man and a civil engineer in his native land. In 1848 he came to the United States and settled immediately in Easthampton, where he lived to the time of his death. For many years he worked at the Williston Mills in Easthampton, first as teamster and later as watchman, holding this last position over a long period. He bought a farm in the township of Northampton before the Civil War, and lived there, taking an active part in local affairs, particularly in the Methodist Church, where he was a member of the board of trustees and superintendent of the Sunday School. He married, in Ireland, Mary Ann Butler, born August 14, 1807, died September 4, 1885, and they had three children: John B., born in Ireland; Thomas; Alexander Mathew, of whom further.
(III) Alexander Mathew Ewing, son of Alexander and Mary Ann (Butler) Ewing, was born in Easthampton, Massachusetts, July 14, 5854, and died December 11, 1912. He was educated in the public schools, and all his life devoted himself to farming on the home place which his father occupied. For some twenty-three years he collected milk for the Easthampton Creamery Association. Mr. Ewing was a quiet, home-loving man, highly respected by his neighbors and by all who knew him. He married, in August, 1883, Esther Ann McCandless, born in North Ireland, daughter of John and Eliza (Baldrick) McCandless, whom she had accompanied to America in 1873; they had five children: 1. Margaret Louise, who married James A. Miller, of Montreal, Canada. 2. Harold Butler, of whom further. 3. John Wesley, a sketch of whom follows. 4. Raymond Alexander, born May 4, 5892; an artist doing illustrative work; during the World War he served in the Engineering Corps and took part in several of the most important engagements of the war, notably at St. Mihiel and the Argonne; in the latter he was wounded and spent six weeks in a Paris hospital in consequence; he was discharged with the rank of sergeant of the first class; he married, June 21, 1923, Louise Howe, of East Milton, Massachusetts, daughter of George B. and Helen (Hardy) Howe. 5. Stanley Mathew, born September 27, 5899; now employed with the Standard Oil Company; he married, August 20, 1917, Harriet Fisk, of Mount Vernon, New York, daughter of William Allen and Ann Laura (Matthews) Fisk, and they have two children: Robert Stanley, born June 53, 1918, and Ruth Janet, born March 3, 1923.
(IV) Harold Butler Ewing, son of Alexander M. and Esther A. (McCandless) Ewing, was born in the homestead at Northampton, Massachusetts, June 26, 1886, and educated in the public schools of Northampton. When he finished school he found employment in the bicycle and automobile business, and after gaining practical experience in this field went into the automobile business for himself in 1920, being agent for a number of makes of cars, maintaining a service station and doing an extensive automobile repairing business. He has met with marked success in this undertaking.
He married, March 30, 1908, Laura Chamberlain, of Oakdale, Massachusetts, daughter of Frank and Grace Chamberlain ; they have three children : Grace Esther, born August 10, 1909; Harold Butler, Jr., born February 5, 1911; Dorothy, born May 13, 1918.