Treasurers Come and Treasurers Go

[Roger Whitney]

   In all corporations, senior officers come and go.  In the Monson’s case it seemed that they just kept rotating through the various key positions. Effective July 31, 1905, J.S. Whiting resigned as Treasurer and General Manager (GM) of the Monson.  Lets look at some of the events which preceded this…..
   Back in 1882 one of the original officers of the railroad then just forming was Harvey A. Whiting of Wilton NH.  He was fortunate and influential enough to have locomotive No. 2 named after him, however he wasn’t mentioned in the original corporate paper work.  But later he was listed as President. 
        G.S. Cushing one of the original board members was Treasurer and  GM for at least first few years, and was lucky enough to have locomotive No.1 named after him.  That was in the days when locomotives had names not numbers. He was succeeded by George Matthews as GM and John Kimbal as Treasurer, both original board members.
         In 1904 board member George Kimball was elected Vice President.
However in 1904 a J.S Whiting became Treasurer and General Manager.  Was J.S. a son or brother to HA Whiting?
On June 13, 1905, JS Whiting asked Morrill for an inventory “for the sale of the railroad.” Morrill stated they had 32 tons of coal and 43 cords of wood on hand (one of the Hinckleys was probably still burning wood).  They “had nothing else in any quantity in hand.”
   By July 24, 1905 Morrill stated that he was advised by George Barnard, board member, to “not make any announcements of the new officers ……until after the first meeting of the executive committee which occurs on August 5th.”  Was the railroad “sold” then?  Why the hush hush?  The slate company officially acquired the majority stock in 1908 so what happened in those three years between 1905 and 1908?
   J.S. Whiting must have had a falling out with the board as two days later on July 26, Mr. Morrill states in a letter to J.S. Whiting that “It is with feeling of regret that I am obliged to close my business correspondence with you.  Our relations have always been pleasant and I am sorry that you have severed your connection with the railroad company.”  Whiting was well liked, but obviously someone didn’t like him.
   A new treasurer for the Monson in the person of Charles J. Wier of Lowell Mass was either elected or appointed.
   Tracking the corporate officer history for the Monson is pretty problematic, as there is some conflicting evidence of who did what and when. I’ll do some more digging!

[Cliff Olson]

Roger, I have information from Dick Marshall showing that Monson Maine Slate Co. was issued 453 shares of Monson Railroad Co. stock on July 1, 1905.  These shares were previously owned in varying amounts by several Whitings: George, Isaac, H. A., Henry, G. O and    J. S.  J. S. Whiting's 93 shares had been issued only 12 days earlier (June 19, 1905) and appear to have been owned previously by Cyrus Latham (36), G. A. Mathews (1), George S. Cushing (42) and F. B. Shedd (14).  Together with at least 210 shares that MMSC previously owned or controlled, the 453 former Whiting shares gave MMSC total or nearly total ownership of MRR, which had a total of 700 original shares. The July 1, 1905 certificate for the 453 shares was signed by Charles J. Wier in the capacity of both treasurer and president of the railroad.

On June 20, 1944, the same 453 shares of Monson stock were reissued to Francis G. Marshall, Dick's father, who then became majority owner of the Monson until it was dissolved in 1975.

[Glenn Poole]

Roger, your discussion reminded me that trying to determine who may have been in Monson or related to one another may be assisted by the work I did a couple of years ago.  I transcribed the Monson Census records from 1850 to 1930 with all the associated data - occupations, etc.

[Roger Whitney]

Thanks for your input Glen!   Any chance your work is available?  I had several relatives who lived in Monson at one time or another.....