William Whiting II

William Whiting
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 11th[1] district
In office
March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1889
Preceded by George D. Robinson
Succeeded by Rodney Wallace
3rd Mayor of the City of Holyoke, Massachusetts
In office
1878–1879
Preceded by Roswell P. Crafts[2]
Succeeded by William Ruddy[2]
2nd Treasurer of the City of Holyoke, Massachusetts
In office
1876–1877
Preceded by Charles W. Ranlet[2]
Succeeded by Charles W. Ranlet[2]
Massachusetts State Senate
In office
1873–1874
School Committee of the Town of Holyoke, Massachusetts
In office
1868[3] – 1868[3]
Personal details
Born May 24, 1841
Dudley, Massachusetts
Died January 9, 1911(1911-01-09) (aged 69)
Holyoke, Massachusetts
Resting place Forestdale Cemetery
Holyoke, Massachusetts
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Anna Fairfield Whiting[4]
Children William Fairfield Whiting, Samuel Raynor Whiting[5]
Residence Holyoke, Massachusetts
Alma mater Amherst College
Occupation Paper Maker
Signature

William Whiting (May 24, 1841 – January 9, 1911) was an American businessman and politician from Holyoke, Massachusetts. Whiting descended from an English family who first settled in Lynn, Massachusetts during 1636.[4]

Whiting was born in Dudley, Massachusetts, May 24, 1841. Whiting attended public schools and graduated from Amherst College.[4]

Whiting worked for the Holyoke Paper Company and the Hampden Paper Company. At the age of 17 Whiting started at the Holyoke Paper Company working first as a bookkeeper. After three years working as a clerk, Whiting became a salesman first working out of the company's main office and later working as a commercial traveling salesman.[6] Whiting organized the Whiting Paper Company in Holyoke, Massachusetts in 1865.[7] In 1865, Whiting built his first mill followed by another in 1872.[7] When the Whiting Paper Company was first formed. L.L. Brown of South Adams, Massachusetts was president and Whiting was agent and treasurer. Whiting later became president and his son, William Fairfield Whiting, became treasurer.[7] Whiting later organized the Collins Paper Company and built a paper mill in North Wilbraham, Massachusetts.[7]

In addition to his political and manufacturing careers, Whiting was a prominent philanthropist in Holyoke's history, and endowed the city with many of its secular institutions. In 1870 along with John and Edwin Chase, Whiting incorporated the Holyoke Public Library, serving as its first president.[8] During his mayoralty Whiting privately funded the construction of the Holyoke Opera House, a venue which once hosted a wide variety of renowned Vaudeville and musical acts, as well as early motion pictures. In 1893 he led the efforts to found the Holyoke Medical Center, then known as Holyoke City Hospital, as the first non-sectarian medical institution in the city.[9] Being a member of the Mount Tom Lodge of freemasons, his work in philanthropy was held in such regard that he would go on to have the city's second lodge named after him in 1909, an unusual honor as freemasons rarely name lodges after living persons. Following a period of declining membership and poor bookkeeping the William Whiting Lodge however had its charter suspended in 1997.[10]

Political career

Whiting was a member of the Massachusetts Senate in 1873; city treasurer of Holyoke in 1876 and 1877; and mayor of Holyoke in 1878 and 1879. While Holyoke's mayoral elections are officially nonpartisan, drawing support from the business community and Holyoke's residents at large, Whiting enjoyed backing of both major political parties during his mayoral election.[10] He would go on to serve as delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1876 and 1896; elected as a Republican to the Forty-eighth, Forty-ninth, and Fiftieth Congresses (March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1889).

After politics

One of several variations of Whiting Paper's acorn logo

Whiting was not a candidate for renomination in 1888. He was a commissioner to the Exposition Universelle in Paris, France, in 1900, and resumed his former manufacturing pursuits.

Whiting died in Holyoke on January 9, 1911 and was interred in Forestdale Cemetery in Holyoke.[4]

Family

William Whiting's son William F. Whiting was a close friend and adviser to President Calvin Coolidge.[4] Serving for a time as United States Secretary of Commerce.


Notes

  1. ↑ Poore, Ben: Perley (1884), Official Congressional Directory, Washington, D.C.: United States Congress, p. 42.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Copeland, p. 17
  3. 1 2 Copeland, p. 39
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Clark, p. 155
  5. ↑ Clark, pp. 155-156
  6. ↑ White, James Terry (1910), The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as Illustrated in the Lives of the Founders, Builders, and Defenders of the Republic, and of the Men and Women who are Doing the Work and Moulding the Thought of the Present Time. Supplement 1, New York, N.Y.: J.T. White and Co., p. 481.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Weeks, Lyman Horace (1916), A history of paper-manufacturing in the United States, 1690-1916, New York, N.Y.: The Lockwood Trade Journal Company, p. 247.
  8. ↑ "Holyoke". History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers. II. Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts; Press of J.B. Lippincott and Co. 1879. pp. 915–938. OCLC 866692568.
  9. ↑ "About Us". Holyoke Medical Center. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  10. 1 2 Brooks, Archibald (1950). Mount Tom Lodge A. F. & A. M. 100th Anniversary. Anker Printing Company. p. 10.

References

  • Clark, Rusty (2004), Holyoke, Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone, West Springfield, MA: Dog Pond Press, ISBN 0-9755362-6-5
  • Copeland, Alfred Minot (1902), "Our County and Its People" a History of Hampden County, Massachusetts v. 3, Boston, MA: The Century Memorial Pub. Co.
  • United States Congress. "William Whiting (id: W000418)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
  • William Whiting at Find a Grave
  • William Whiting at infoplease.com


Political offices
Preceded by
George D. Robinson		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 11th congressional district
March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1889		 Succeeded by
Rodney Wallace
Preceded by
Roswell P. Crafts		 Mayor of Holyoke
1878–1879		 Succeeded by
William Ruddy
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