Archive:Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Volume III, Part 2
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Ellery Bicknell Crane, Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts: With a History of Worcester Society of Antiquity (The Lewis Publishing Company, 1907). Volume III.
From Google Books.
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(VII) Waldo Calvin Bryant . . . . At the age of fourteen he started to learn the machinist trade at the shops of Baxter D. Whitney, Winchendon, by working during his school vacations.
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(III) Samuel Grow, Jr., son of Samuel Grow (2), was born at Ipswich, Massachusetts, August 31, 1696. He was an early settler of Sutton, perhaps with his father. He sold land at Sutton, May 15, 1728-29, and removed to Westborough, where he was living in 1746 and where he died in 1764. His will made September 1, 1764, names wife Deborah and seems to show that his only surviving child at that date was his daughter, Mrs. Whitney. There were probably other children born at Sutton besides John, of whom later.
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John Lane . . . married Ruth Bowman . . . . Children of John and Ruth Lane were: . . . Ruth, born April 8, 1752, married, December 9, 1772, John Whitney, of Littleton; . . . . [NOTE: This was John Whiting, not Whitney.--RLW]
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Children of Hyman and Levina (Allen) Bent: . . . Frances Flora, born October 27, 1838, married Charles O. Whitney and they have: Frank Russell, Charles Winfred and Robert Seymore; they reside in Marlboro, New Hampshire.
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Samuel Gates, . . . married Caroline How. . . . . Children: . . . Solomon, born October 4, 1761; died January 21, 1847; married June 6, 1789, Esther Whitney, who was born December 10, 1769; died August 16, 1848; was a soldier in the Revolution.
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(VII) Frank Valentine Bartlett, son of William Ashley (6) and Rebecca (Valentine) Bartlett, was born at Northboro, Massachusetts, November 1, 1856. He was educated in the public schools o fhis native town. He worked in his father's box factory when a boy and learned the business. In 1875 he located in Westboro, where he has since lived. For several years he was employed in the box factory of Christopher Whitney, whose lumber yards and mills stood on the land now occupied by the plant of the American Bedstead Company. In 1877, he was promoted to the position of bookkeeper and in 1882 was with George L. Smith, another employee of Mr. Whitney, admitted to partnership with Mr. Whitney under the firm name of C. Whitney & Co. Though Mr. Whitney died in 1889, the business was continued under the same name until 1892, when Mr. Smith retired and the present title of Bartlett Box Lumber Co., Inc., was adopted. The firm has a well equipped plant, favorably located along side the tracks of the Boston & Albany Railroad, dealing in all kinds of lumber, besides manufacturing wooden and paper boxes and interior building finish or trim of all descriptions. Mr. Bartlett is president of the Electric Light and Power Company, trustee of the Westboro Savings Bank. In politics he is a Republican. He is a prominent Free Mason and Odd Fellow; member of Siloam Lodge of Free Masons of Westboro; Houghton Chapter, Royal Arch Masons of Marlboro; Hiram Council, Royal and Select Masters, of Worcester; Worcester Lodge of Perfection; Lawrence Chapter of Rose Croix, of Worcester; Worcester County Commandery, Knights Templar; Massachusetts Consistory, thirty-second degree Masons and Aleppo Temple, Mystic Shrine, of Boston. He has filled all the chairs in succession in Hockomocko Lodge, Odd Fellows, Westboro, and belonogs to the Wachusett Encampment of Worcester.
Mr. Bartlett lives on the Whitney homestead since the death of Mrs. Whitney's father and his former partner, Christopher Whitney. The charms of this country place, which is known as "Grasmere," have been told by William D. Howells, the novelist. Mrs. Bartlett lived there from early childhood until death. She was a woman of strong Christian spirit and did a great amount of work of a charitable nature. She was loved by all who knew her. She had traveled and read considerable and was most entertaining to converse with. The mansion is on a fifty acre farm, and the grounds are ornamented with trees and shrubs, most attractively arranged. The farm buildings, including the home of the superintendent, are models of their kind. Altogether, it may be said that "Grasmere" ranks among the finest and most artistic country homes of a county famous for such places.
Mr. Bartlett married, September 25, 1884, Abbie N. Whitney, daughter of Christopher Whitney (see sketch). She died 1906. Their children: Whitney, born 1886, a student at Harvard University; Nellie, born 1887; Dorothy, born 1897; Marion, born 1899.
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OLIVE E. (FAIRBANKS) TIFFANY. The following is the history of the Fairbanks family of Worcester county, Massachusetts, to which Mrs. Olive Elizabeth Tiffany is related.
Mrs. Tiffany's grandfather, Joseph Fairbanks, was born in Harvard, February 19, 1776, died February 6, 1826; he married Betsey, daughter of Deacon Israel and Hannah (Mead) Whitney, of Harvard, born May 24, 1782, died April 15, 1844. Their children were: Naham, Nary, Hannah, Joseph, Elizabeth, Josiah and Abigail.
Joseph, the subject's father, was born at Harvard, Massachusetts, February 5, 1810, and there attended school until hi was sixteen years of age, when he went to Bolton to learn the combmaking trade. He remained there four years and then followed that line of business at Ogdensburg, New York, where he had for his partner, Thomas Samson, to whom he finally sold his interest and returned to Bolton. Here he was in the employ of Silas Haynes, a combmaker, with whom he continued until 1829. Three years later, he, having married in the meantime, returned to work for Mr. Haynes, continuing until 1835. Moving to Northboro in 1839, he entered the employ of Messrs. Bush & Haynes, and remained in the business for thirty-seven years at Northboro. In 1856 he purchased the firm [sic: farm?--RLW] on which he lived. In 1872 his wife died, and four years later he retired from the comb business and followed farm life up to within a few years of his death. Mr. Fair-
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banks cast only one vote in forty years. Abstaining from voting was with Mr. Fairbanks a matter of conscientious religious scruple. The one vote he cast in the forty years was in the interest of the emancipation of the negro from slavery. He left others to make and execute the civil laws under which he lived. Politically he was a Republican, in church matters he was of the Baptist faith, and was a deacon in that church. He afterward became a Second Adventist in faith, and was deacon in that church.
He married Lydia Whitney Sawyer, of Harvard, who was born December 4, 1812. She was the daughter of Luther and Achsa (Burnham) Sawyer. The children born to Joseph Fairbanks and wife were: 1. Joshua Curtis, born at Bolton, Massachusetts, September 11, 1835, died June 8, 1839. 2. Lydia Maria, born in Bolton, Massachusetts, March 13, 1838. 3. Olive Elizabeth (subject), born at Northboro, Massachusetts, November 8, 1840, married Dr. Flavel B. Tiffany, of New York state. They had one son, Flavel B., Jr., born July 29, 1880, died aged fifteen months. Mrs. Tiffany is the author of "Floral Poems," "The Belle of Monterey," "Early Renaissance," "Souvenir of Norseland," etc. 4. Joseph Jones, born at Northboro, Massachusetts, January 31, 1843, who married Luvinia Stone, of Northboro, they having children as follows: Emma, married Arthur Morton, of Worcester; Hellen, married Harry Spencer, of Spencer; Joseph Dana and Arthur, all of whom now live at Worcester. 5. Mary A., born November 30, 1848, now of Northboro. Joseph Fairbanks (the father) second wife was Hanna K. (Whittaker) Fairbanks, formerly of Bolton. No children.
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WHITNEY FAMILY. John Whitney (1), the immigrant ancestor of the Whitneys of Winchendon, Massachusetts, was one of the best known of the pioneers in Watertown, Massachusetts. He was the son of Thomas Whitney, and grandson of Robert Whitney. The English pedigree of this family is given elsewhere in this work. He was born in England in 1589, and settled in Watertown, June, 1635. John Whitney was admitted a freeman March 3, 1635-36. He was appointed constable by the general court, June 1, 1641. He was selectman during the period 1638 to 1655, inclusive, and town clerk in 1655. He married in England Elinor -----, born in 1599, died in Watertown, May 11, 1659. He married (second), in Watertown, September 29, 1659, Judith Clement. She died before her husband. He died June 1, 1673.
Children of John and Elinor Whitney were: Mary, baptized in England, May 23, 1619, died young; John, see forward; Richard, born in England 1626, married Martha Coldam; Nathaniel, born in England, 1627; Thomas, born in England, 1629, married Mary Keetell; Jonathan, born in England, 1634, married Lydia Jones; Joshua, born in Watertown, July 12, 1640, died 1640; Benjamin, born in Watertown, June 6, 1643, married twice.
(II) John Whitney, second child of John Whitney (1), was born in England, 1620. He settled in Watertown and married, 1642, Ruth Reynolds, daughter of Robert Reynolds, of Watertown, Wethersfield, and Boston. He was admitted freeman May 26, 1647, aged twenty-three years. He was selectman from 1673 to 1680, inclusive. His homestead was a three-acre lot on the east side of Lexington street, the next lot south of the Phillips homestall. He was a soldier in King Philip's war under Captain Hugh Mason. He died October 12, 1692. Children of John and Ruth Whitney were: John, born September 17, 1643, married Elizabeth Harris; Ruth, April 15, 1645, married, June 20, 1664, John Shattuck; Nathaniel, see forward; Samuel, July 26, 1648, married Mary Bemis; Mary, April 29, 1650; Joseph, January 15, 1651, married Martha Beach; Sarah,
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March 17, 1653, married Daniel Harrington; Elizabeth, June 9, 1656, married Daniel Warren; Hannah, unmarried in 1693; Benjamin, June 28, 1660, married (first) Abigail Hagar.
(III) Nathaniel Whitney, third child of John Whitney (2), was born in Watertown, February 1, 1646. Hon. William Whitney Rice, who was a descendant of Nathaniel Whitney, wrote for the Whitney Genealogy an account of a visit to the old farm. The homestead of Nathaniel Whitney was in Weston, about a mile and a half from the centre village of Weston on the road to Lexington. On this farm was born William Whitney, grandson of Nathaniel, who with his sons settled in Winchendon in 1769. Nathaniel Whitney married, March 12, 1673, Sarah Hagar, born September 3, 1651, died May 7, 1746. He died January 7, 1732, in Weston. Their children: Nathaniel, born March 5, 1675, married Mercy Robinson; Sarah, February 12, 1678, married Jonathan Ball; William, May 6, 1683, see forward; Samuel, baptized July 17, 1687; Hannah, baptized March, 1688; Elizabeth, born December 15, 1692; Grace, born 1700, died March 23, 1719; Mercy.
(IV) William Whitney, third child of Nathaniel Whitney (3), was born in Weston, Massachusetts, May 6, 1683. He married, May 17, 1706, Martha Pierce, born December 24, 1681. He died January 24, 1720. He lived on the homestead at Weston. Children of William and Martha Whitney were: William, see forward; Judith, born November 15, 1708; Amity, October 6, 1712; Martha, April 4, 1716, married, Sudbury, February 26, 1734, Timothy Mossman, of Sudbury; Samuel, May 23, 1719, married Abigail Fletcher.
(V) William Whitney, son of William Whitney (4), was born at Weston, Massachusetts, January 11, 1707. He married in Sudbury, September 10, 1735, Hannah Harrington, who died April 30, 1740. He married (second), March 30, 1742, Mary (Chadwick) Pierce, born October 6, 1713, died February 23, 1756. He married (third), August 12, 1756, Margaret Spring. He married (fourth), June 14, 1763, Mrs. Sarah Davis, of Brookline. The children of William and Hannah Whitney were: William, see forward; Hannah, born February 16, 1737; Phinehas, April 23, 1740; Mary, baptized December 17, 1742, died young; Mary, born December 11, 1744, married Amos Fiske; Sarah, born September 56, 1736, married General Amasa Davis, of Boston; Nathaniel, born May 1, 1748, died October 19, 1751; Joel, December 22, 1749, died February, 1750; Susanna, born December 23, 1751, married Israel Mead; Abigail, born December 30, 1753, married Samuel Custis, of Marlboro, a physician.
(VI) William Whitney, son of William Whitney (5), was born in Weston, Massachusetts, April 10, 1736. He settled in Winchendon, Massachusetts, about 1774, and took a leading part in the affairs of the new town. During the revolutionary war he was chosen on a committee to hire men for the Continental army. He served on other important committees of the town. In 1786 he was on a committee to erect school houses. In 1791 he was on the committee to select the site for the new meeting house. His influence was very important during Shay's rebellion to support the government. He had one of the best farms in his section and owned some of the best stock. He is credited with having the best in town and with being the best judge of cattle. He died at Winchendon, July 11, 1817.
He married, June 14, 1762, Mary Mansfield, of Weston, who died December 14, 1815. Children of William and Mary Whitney were: William, born in 1765, married Anna Heywood. Phinehas, April 1, 1766, married Phebe Stearns and Bethiah Barrett. Mary, April 10, 1773, married, October 7, 1799, Benjamin Heywood, born July 10, 1773, died February 14, 1849; she died October 1, 1862; he was town treasurer many years; their sons, Levi, Benjamin F., Walter and William, were the founders of the great chair manufacturing industry which still bears their name in Gardner and other places. Joseph, May 20, 1775, married Hannah Perley. Amasa, see forward. Sarah, September 3, 1779, married, January 12, 1802, Smyrna Bancroft (See Sketch of Bancroft family of Gardner). Luke, May 21, 1783, married Cynthia Partridge.
(VII) Amasa Whitney, fifth child of William Whitney (6), was born in Winchendon, June 16, 1777. He received what schooling a farmer's boy usually had at that time. For some years he remained on the farm with his father. He then entered a clothier's shop, learned the trade of wool carder, and went into business for himself. The farmers brought their wool to his ship and had it prepared for the spinning wheel. Eventually he was able to buy a fulling mill and the privilege owned by Mr. Goodhue in Winchendon. Owing to a change in tariff rates the woolen industry became depressed, and after a number of prosperous years, the mill was shut down permanently and he returned to farming for the remainder of his life. Mr. Whitney was a prominent and influential citizen, and was one of three persons to lay the foundations of the prosperity of his native town. By his industry, frugality, foresight and enterprise the business of the town was largely increased. He served the town a number of years as selectman, assessor and town treasurer, also served in the militia. He was a strong Whig in politics. He attended the Congregational church, and was active in parish affairs.
He married, in Winchendon, December 9, 1802, Mary Goodridge, daughter of Daniel Goodridge, born March 20, 1779, died June 11, 1855. Mr. Whitney died Febrary 2, 1852, in Winchendon. Their children were: Webster, born October 6, 1803, see forward. Amasa, Jr., born April 24, 1806, married Mary Murdock, July 24, 1834; they had two children: George Murdock, Mary Elizabeth. Harriet, born January 27, 1811, married C. C. Pierce, of Royalston. William Lowe, born March 24, 1815, died July 13, 1832. Baxter Doddridge, see forward. Mary Goodridge, born August 2, 1819, married Colonel William Murdock, of Winchendon. John Milton, born December 18, 1823, died September 20, 1825.
(VIII) Webster Whitney, son of Amasa Whitney (7), was born at Winchendon, Massachusetts, October 6, 1803. He was educated in the public schools there, began work in his father's woolen mill and learned the business thoroughly. Later he entered the employ of Baxter D. Whitney, his brother, in his machine shop and acquired unusual skill as a mechanic. He was in charge of the general repairs and was unexcelled as a machinist. He was a man of winning personality and high character. He was given many places of trust and honor by his townsmen. He was elected town clerk first in 1832 and served until his death, a period of forty years. He was assessor of the town from 1836 to 1840, town treasurer 1834 to 1836 and selectman for ten years. He died April 19, 1872, at Winchendon.
He married, March 16, 1828, Eliza Parks Whitman, who died Mary 4, 1867. The children: Eliza Caroline, born June 16, 1830, married, February 27, 1848, William Beaman, born at Winchendon, September 16, 1818, and had children--William David,
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born July 17, 1851, married Mary Jane Hyde; John Webster, born September 18, 1855, married Alice C. Wood and died December 3, 1888; Edward Arthur, born July 18, 1857, died October 10, 1861; Charles Frederick, born December 8, 1859, married Margaret Atkinson; Caroline Eliza, born June 1, 1866. William W., born May 5, 1833, see forward. Lucy Ellen, born October 31, 1834, married Archus S. Kimball, deceased; she resides at Winchendon.
(IX) William Webster Whitney, son of Webster Whitney (8), was born at Winchendon, Massachusetts, May 5, 1833. He obtained his education in the common schools of his native town and at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts. At the age of eighteen he began an apprenticeship under Captain Ephraim Murdock, one of the successful pioneer manufacturers of woodenware, with whom he remained for nearly ten years. He then entered into partnership with his father-in-law, Elisha Murdock, who was a brother of his former employer. This concern, which began business under the name of Elisha Murdock & Company, made rapid advances in the methods of producing woodenware. In 1862 Mr. Murdock retired from the firm and in 1870 he died. When Mr. Murdock retired James A. Whitman, a cousin of the junior partner, entere the firm, the name of which was unchanged at that time, but shortly afterwards changed to E. Murdock & Co. This partnership continued until 1879, after which Mr. Whitney was alone in the business until 1884, when his only son, Elisha Murdock Whitney, was admitted to the firm, the name of which was not changed.
Mr. Whitney was a man of strict integrity and unusual business ability. He devoted his entire attention to the business, which under his management continued to be the largest woodenware manufactory in New England, and through his progressive tendencies the plant was constantly improved and the product increased. He was particularly free from selfish desires, and all movements instituted for the general good of the community received his hearty support. He was one of the projectors and promoters and for many years a director of the Ware River Railroad. He was trustee of the Winchendon Savings Bank. For twenty years was an active member of the Unitarian church and served on the executive committee. His father-in-law and partner was one of the pioneers of Unitarianism and liberal faith in Winchendon.
He married, January 22, 1857, Sophia Morse Murdock, born in Winchendon, Massachusetts, March 30, 1837, daughter of Elisha and Roanah (Morse) Murdock. . . . . The only child of William Webster and Sophia Whitney was: Elisha Murdock, see forward.
(X) Elisha Murdock Whitney, son of William Webster Whitney (9), was born at Winchendon, June 22, 1861. He acquired his education in the public schools of his native town and at the Adams Academy, Quincy, Massachusetts. At an early age he became familiar with the details of his father's business, and at the age of eighteen devoted his entire time to it. He became superintendent of the factor and his father's partner. The firm name remained as it was at the founding of the business, E. Murdock & Company. When his father died he became the sole proprietor of the business. The firm name was continued. The business has kept pace with the development of other industries. The latest machinery has been adopted and the product of the concern increased. At present the main products are: tubs, pails, and packages for lard, candy, fish, ice cream tubs, etc. The firm of E. Murdock & Company has always stood well in the financial world and is at present highly prosperous. In politics Mr. Whitney is a Republican and is influential in the organization. He is an active member of the Unitarian church and member of its parish committee. He comes of old Puritan stock and has special reason to respect his forefathers. By a peculiar coincidence his great-grandfathers, Amasa Whitney, Ephraim Murdock and Isaac Morse, all contemporaries and prominent business men, lie buried in adjoining lots in the Winchendon cemetery.
Mr. Whitney married, January 31, 1889, Mary Matilda Whitney, born in Winchendon, April 23, 1860, duaghter of Baxter D. and Sarah Jane (Whitney) Whitney. (See sketch of Baxter D. Whitney). Her father is one of the most prominent manufacturers of the vicinity. The children: William Webster, born September 27, 1891; Emily, November 21, 1894.
(VIII) Baxter Doddridge Whitney, fifth child of Amasa Whitney (7), was born in Winchendon, Massachusetts, June 28, 1817. His early education, received in Winchendon, where he attended the district schools in his youth, was supplemented aft-
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erward by terms in academies at Hancock, New Hampshire, and Fitchburg, Massachusetts. His attention was early turned to machinery, probably largely owing to his father owning a woolen mill in winchendon. In the repair shop of the mill he learned to use tools and acquired that mechanical skill that had much to do with his later success in life. When he was only ten years old he built a miniature saw mill, which was operated by a fall he made by damming up a small stream. Mr. Whitney's first business venture was the building of machinery for the manufacture of tubs and pails. He occupied a corner of his father's factory. In 1837 he built sixteen looms for weaving cashmere, and later built several steam jigs. Then in an old building that formerly stood at the rear of the present Whitney factory, he constructed a planing machine. Although not the first cylinder planing machine, it was certainly the first practical cylinder planer ever built, and it had many original devices invented by Mr. Whitney. The improvements that he introduced ensure the proper pressure and adjustment of the feed rolls, so that the clipping of the ends of the lumber planed--to this day a fruitful source of complaint with some styles of planers--was prevented. It was, of course, a crude machine compared with some that are being made at the present time in Mr. Whitney's concern, but it proved the foundation of the Whitney business in Winchendon. He was six weeks in building it. He sold it in 1846 to Murdock & Fairbank, of Winchendon, and it was a success. Some of the new devices used in that planer are still used on every planer built at the present time by the Whitney works. He found a ready market, not only for his planers, but he was called upon to make other machinery used in the various wood-working industries in Winchendon, Gardner, Fitchburg and the vicinity. He improved the old machinery and devised new. In 1857 he made his first scraping machine for paring box rims and, as with the planer, introduced some devices that are still in use. About that time the Whitney Shaper and the Whitney Gauge Lathe were designed. The civil war gave his business a great impetus. Although many of his old hands enlisted, he was obliged to fill their places and increase his facilities to build machinery for making the stocks for muskets and rifles.
In 1867 Mr. Whitney exhibited at the Paris Exposition a planing machine, a scraper, a gauge lather and several other machines. He received a silver medal and sold all his machines, which it seems were used by the purchasers as samples, and he found himself competing with copies of his own machines at the Vienna Exposition subsequently. The improvements he had made in the meantime secured for him the prize, however, in 1873, at Vienna for progress. The Whitney machines were awarded a bronze medal at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia. The Whitney machines have not been exhibited at any of the International Expositions since 1876.
Mr. Whitney began work on the dam where the present works are located March 3, 1845, and it was completed before the end of the year. The foundry was in operation in August, the water wheel in the shop started November 5, 1845, and on November 22d work began in earnest. The present buildings are very extensive. Mr. Whitney was progressive and enterprising in business. He supplied his men with the best tools and always tried to produce the best possible machines. Probably no man in the world has had a larger influence in the development of the wood working industry. The development of wood-working machinery in the past sixty years has followed along the lines he laid out, and his firm has taken a prominent part in the invention and construction of new wood working machinery. He has seen the growth of the business from small beginnings. As his distant cousin, Eli Whitney, with the cotton gin opened up new possibilities in manufacturing so Baxter D. Whitney's machines have promoted the development of the great wood working industries of the United States. His machines have been used in the production of lumber in all parts of the country, and every house that is built owes some tribute to his achievements in the mechanical arts.
For the past few years, owing to his age, Mr. Whitney has placed the active management of the concern in the hands of his son, William M. Whitney, who has been his partner for many years. Since May, 1900, he has withdrawn from active management, although he is usually at the works daily for a short time. He is a member of the First Unitarian Church of Winchendon, and has served as trustee and member of the executive committee. He is a Republican in politics, a Protectionist, and was a member of the state senate 1871-72. He is a member of the Home Market Club of Boston, and of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
He married, March 1, 1846, Sarah Jane Whitney, born July 14, 1827, daughter of Richard and Eunice (Cogswell) Whitney, of Winchendon. Their children are: Baxter Emerson, born March 13, 1853, resides in Winchendon; Mary Matilda, April 23, 1860, married Elisha M. Whitney, January 31, 1889, and they have two children: William Webster, born September 27, 1860. Emily, born November 21, 1894. William Milton, see forward. Emily Tyler, born July 6, 1868, died Octobwer 13, 1884.
(IX) William Milton Whitney, third child of Baxter Dodridge Whitney (8), was born in Winchendon, Massachusetts, March 27, 1863. He attended the public and high schools in his native town. In 1880 he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Boston. He graduated in 1884 with the degree of S. B. He made a specialty of mechanical engineering. From early manhood he has been associated with his father in business, and even when in school spent vacations in the shops. The active management of the business has been in his hands since 1900, and the growth and development of the plant in the past twenty years have been largely due to his efforts and ability. The works have been enlarged and plans are under consideration for still further increasing the capacity of the plant. No efforts have been spared on the part of Mr. Whitney or his father to make the factory a model plant in every respect. Among the more important of the present products of the works are: Single and double surface planing machines, wood scraping machines, barrel stave sawing machines, two spindle upright moulding or shaping machines, on back knife gauge lather. Mr. Whitney shares with his father the credit for the success of the firm. He is a Republican in politics and has been a delegate to various state conventions, though he has no time to accept public offices. He has been a director of the First National Bank of Winchendon. He is a member of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and of the Alumni Association of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He married, May 9, 1894, Ada Macleod, born September 24, 1862, daughter of Wilford and Eliza (Johnson) Macleod, of Sussex, New Brunswick.
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Children of William Milton and Ada (Macleod) Whitney are: Charlotte (twin), born April 25, 1895; Pauline (twin), born April 25, 1895; Richard Baxter, July 22, 1896.
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(IV) John Gates . . . married Violetta Rice . . .
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John and Violetta Gates had: . . .; Lydia, 1762, married Ebenezer Whitney; . . . .
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Gustave Molt . . . took charge of the dyeing department in the hosiery mill of Crane & Waters in Bramanville. He invented a patent indigo blue dye and began to manufacture it in Worcester, in the old Taintor Mill at South Worcester, in partnership with Jerome Marble. About 1880 Mr. Marble withdrew and the firm of Whitney & Molt was formed to carry on the business. Mr. Molt's partner was L. L. Whitney. Their shop was on the river at the privilege formerly used by H. H. Ward for a grist mill. The business prospered and the product became known and used throughout the industries of this country. Mr. Molt stood high as a chemist and manufacturer. He was a past master of the art of dyeing. . . . . He taught his business to his four sons, three of whom have continued his business in Millbury. . . . .
Augustus Carl Molt, son of Gustave Molt, . . . . He became in time the manager of the factory of the firm of Molt & Marlbe, and later of Whitney & Molt. . . . . He became a member of the firm of Molt brothers which succeeded the firm of Whitney & Molt after his father's death [23 Apr 1885].
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Herman J. Molt, son of Gustave Molt . . . was connected later with his father's firm, Whitney & Molt, and after his father's death went into partnership with his two brothers, Augustus C. and William, under the firm name of Molt Brothers, and has since been connected with that firm.
. . . .
Robert Ernest Molt, son of Gustave Molt . . . became a traveling salesman for his father's firm, Whitney & Molt, and sold the indigo made in the factory at Millbury to cotton and woolen mills all over the country. When the firm of Whitney & Molt was dissolved he became a salesman for the Boston Dyewood & Chemical Company. . . . .
Copyright © 2009, Robert L. Ward and the Whitney Research Group
