HUGH G. WILLIAMS. GRANVILLE, WASHINGTON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Although the production of roofing slate has for many years been one of the important industries of Vermont it is probable that but a small percentage of the people of this state have ever seen a slate trimmer at work. Realizing that the sight of an expert slate maker at his work would be both interesting and educational Fred W. Hayward has secured the sevices of Hugh Williams of Pawlet, for fair week.Mr. Williams arrived in this city last night with five tons of slate just as it was taken from his quarry. He will be situated in the farm machinery tent and will produce roofing slate from the rough stock, splitting and trimming the stock and turning out the finished product.
Rutland Daily Herald ~ September 7th, 1915.
HUGH G. WILLIAMS. GRANVILLE, WASHINGTON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
An immigrant youth in a strange land, with no relatives or friends who came to the United States for about a one years's stay, to visit the country with the expectation of returning to his homeland when that time was, but who never returned, except for a visit to his parents.His experience at the age of 18 years consisted of some knowledge obtained in the Wales slate quarries and when he arrived in West Pawlet and found many of his countrymen engaged in the quarrying and manufacturing of slate he decided to apply for a job - at least temporarily - and accept work a the rate of 10 cents per hour. He stayed on and made good as one of the leading slate manufacturers in the Vermont-New York slate belt for the past quarter of a century. He is now mayor of the village of Granville.
Hugh G. Williams' first wages totalled about $24 per month from the William H. Hughes company. Today he is the operator of eight slate quarries with an approximate record production of 432,000 squares of slate during a period of nearly 30 years and with a record of approximately three million dollars in wages having been paid out to slate workers in Granville and vicinity.
His life story reads like a novel. It commences with July 6th, 1881, when he was born in Talysarn, Carnarvonshire, North Wales. He is the son of George Trevor and Elizabeth Evans Williams. His mother's home in North Wales is known as Ty Hwnt i'r Afon. Her family is well known to many Welsh residents in the Granville vicinity who came here from Wales.
His father was not only a slate man but was also a dealer in livestock and interested in in farm real estate. There were three children in the family. A brother Dale Williams and a sister, Mrs. (Rev.) David James of Morristown, South Wales. The brother and sister of Hugh G. Williams are living in Wales. His father died in 1904 and his mother in 1921. His parents were never in the United States. He visited Wales in 1905, after his father's death and again made a trip to his home in 1920, one year before his mother died.
After receiving his early education in the grammar school in Wales, Hugh G. Williams left the seventh grade and engaged in the slate business in his home town, during which time he had an opportunity to learn the slate quarrying business. He left his slate quarry job to obtain employment with a tea and coffee establishment in Whitechapel Street, Liverpool, England. He was then 17 years of age. After one and a half years in Liverpool he returned to his home in Wales for a brief period and decided that it was time to see more of the world.
From Welsh residents in his home town, who had relatives in West Pawlet, he learned of the slate quarries in the Vermont-New York area. He made up his mind to visit the United States and inspect the slate quarries in West Pawlet. When he reached West Pawlet in 1899 he thought that one years stay would be sufficient and then he would return home.
"When I came to West Pawlet" said Mayor Williams "it was right after the Spanish-American war and employment was very scarce. I looked for employment for about three weeks and finally found a job with the W. H. Hughes company at 10 cents an hour.
"The quarries worked ten hours a day" continued Mayor Williams and as I worked full time I was lucky enough to receive the large sum of $24 per month. I worked in the tunnel in the slate quarry. There was ice in the tunnel all year round. When we were let down into the quarry we were lowered with boom derricks.
The derrick swung to a certain point then we were lowered about 100 feet and then the boom was swung over another distance and we were again lowered another 20 feet and swung over again and down again for about 100 feet. And all for ten cents an hour." said Mayor Williams.
I then got a job with Marsh Rising, the father of Sim Rising making slate and splitting, for 16 cents an hour. I worked for Rising for about one year and I then was employed by the Beecher Brothers at Warren Switch.
"That was my last job in the employ of others. I opened my own quarry below No.12 at Warren Switch." said Mayor Williams. "Of course I had no money with which to buy equipment and I harnessed a tree for a stick which was the first one of its kind in this vicinity. It served the purpose for a long time.
"You see, I was already on my own," continued "although I did not have much to do with but I managed to employ about seven or eight slate makers, I sold a half interest to S. F. Culbertson of Baltimore. Before Culbertson joined me I had Mark Whitney as a partner for a short time. Culbertson and I opened the old Tommy Griffiths quarry on the Tabor farm at Warren Switch and we worked it for about four years."
After his association with Culbertson, Mayor Williams resigned and was again on his own when he opened the quarry on the Whiting farm in April 1909. He was greatly handicapped by the heavy layer of clay which took him nine months to remove from the top before he reached slate rock. It was discouraging for a time, but he had faith that the Whiting quarry would eventually yield good slate rock and reward him for his efforts. There were two men working with him all this time hoping and anxiously anticipating "rock bottom."
Although his force consisted only of himself and his two assistants, Mayor Williams nevertheless required funds with which to operate even on such a small scale. The other two wanted pay and it was up to Mayor Williams to furnish it. Clay was not a good paying proposition. In fact it was worthless escept for the future that it held for him. But, in spite of these hardships Mayor Williams managed to raise sufficient funds to make up the monthly pay roll, of his helpers and also pay for the equipment and tools required in his initial diggings.
He was asked how he managed to procure funds "Well, I took out a patent" said Mayor Williams, "it was a patent on a slate cutter. I was fortunate to have had such a patent at a time when I needed funds most. I managed to pay my small force once a month and about each Friday before the pay roll was due I would go out and peddle one of my patent slate cutters. The patent slate cutter cost me about $25 to produce while I managed to seel each one for $100. I wouldn't have been able to finance myself during my early quarry experience if it wasn't for my patent slate cutters.
Mayor Williams has operated that quarry since and he has also opened the Hill quarry on the Stafford farm. He reopened the Eagle quarry, the No.1 Purple quarry and the old John G. Williams quarry besides several other smaller quarries.
From time to time during his business career in the slate industry, Mayor Hugh G. Williams has employed about 200 men at a time and during the year 1939 he had about 100 men on his pay roll. When times were better in the past his pay roll averageed as high as $1,000 weekly and his pay roll during the past year approximated $2,000 per week.
Mayor Williams owns about 1000 acres of land in the Granville vicinity and 480 acres of land in the state of Georgia. His holdings in Georgia consist of undeveloped slate and several different deposits of marble in gold black and white which he is planning to quarry in the near future, having recently returned from a visit to Georgia, where he made a preliminary survey of the possibilities there.
Remainder of biography illegible........
Granville Sentinel ~ July 11th, 1940.
HUGH G. WILLIAMS. GRANVILLE, WASHINGTON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Hugh G. Williams, 62, slate manufacturer, who has been in business in Granville, New York for 40 years, and Miss Jane C. Jones, 55, his office assistant, went on trial before a jury in the United States District court here yesterday afternoon on indictments charging them with aiding and abetting John E. Holmes, former cashier, in misapplying funds of the Poultney National bank which ceased to do business last March 9th after national bank examiners had discovered a shortage in the funds of the institution.The case is the fourth resulting from the bank closing, Richard J. Howland of Cleverdale, New York, George McDonough of Watervliet, New York and Henry A. Matot of Poultney, who were tried individually having already been found guilty of abetting Holmes.
Williams and Miss Jones are defended by Attorney Vernon J. Loveland of this city; District Attorney Joseph A. MaNamara and his assistant, Bernard J. Leddy, of Burlington, are prosecuting.
The specific charge is that Williams and Miss Jones drew checks on the bank and caused them to be issued when they did not have sufficient funds on deposit to meet them. Holmes yesterday pleaded guilty as the principal in the case, the government having set forth that he arranged so that the defendants received money on certain checks from the bank's funds although the amounts paid were not charged to any account and the chacks were not cancelled.
Four women and eight men are on the jury listening to the testimony : Sylvia Trammel, Manchester; William Alexander, Richard N. Bolster, George S. Gallagher, Mildred C. Foy, Ida Jerome, Rutland; James M. Hurley, Andrew L. Orzel, Rutland town; Dana E. Jones, Ira; Edward Monahan, Proctor; Grace M. White, Wallingford; Harold B. Webster, Whiting.
In his opening statement to the jury, District Attorney McNamara said that the government would attempt to prove that the Hugh G. Williams Slate company, of which Williams, the defendant, is head, had an account with the Poultney bank. There came a time when Williams needed money with which to meet a payroll and Holmes agreed to receive his check, see that he received the money and hold the check in the cashier's desk. This practice continued, the prosecutor said, and Williams made deposits from time to time, but the account remained overdrawn, sometimes in the amount of only a few hundred dollars and, at others, for as much as $7000 to $8000.
When the bank examiners discovered the shortage on February 8th, 1943, the overdraft totalled about $2600. McNamara said.
Although more than 100 Williams checks were found among more than 5000, written by various persons and concealed in Holmes' desk, only five were set up in the indictment, it was explained.
The evidence introduced at yeaterday's session, which did not start until 1:30 o'clock in the afternoon, was largely documentary and was submitted through two witnesses, Martin P. Kennedy, liquidator of the Poultney bank, appointed by the Federal Deposit Insurance corporation, and Harold W. Randall, national bank examiner, who went to the Poultney bank on February 8th, last.
Bank ledgers, journals, depositors' statements, deposit slips, notes, a lease, cash letters to the Poultney bank from the federal Reserve bank of Boston and other items were introduced by both prosecution and defence counsel and explained by witnesses.
It appeared that Williams did business with the Poultney bank as an individual, as the Hugh G. Williams Slate company and as the Granville Powder and Supply company. In one instance there was a promisory note signed by Jane Jones, sometimes referred to in the case as Jennie Jones.
Liquidator Kennedy told of the business practices of the Poultney bank and the nature of the entries made in various books which appeared in evidence. He told of receiving, when he took over the affairs of the bank, a group of checks drawn by the Williams Slate company which had not been paid by the bank as far as any cancellation showed.
On cross-examination by Attorney Loveland, witness testified that the bank carried a statement of overdrafts. A depositor, he stated, would not know how he stood with the bank unless banking officials told him. The liquidator had been informed that Williams had turned over a large number of his checks and other papers to the bank after the shortage was found, but he did nor have personal knowledge of this.
Bank Examiner Randall state that he learned of the shortage at the Poultney institution when he went there on February 8th, 1943, making his visit about a month earlier than normal because he was not satified as to statements made to him by bank officials concerning concerning certain notes when he made his previous examination in September, 1942.
He identified more than 100 Williams checks and 23 deposit slips as some that had benn found secreted in Cshier Holmes' desk.
Under cross-examination witnesses admitted that he found no shortage when he made his September examination of the bank although he later learned that there had been some shortage since early in 1937 or late in 1938.
Holmes told him, after he began his February investigation of the bank's affairs, that "all was not well with the bank," Randall declared. It was soon after this that his assistants discovered the overdrafts.
The amount discovered at that time was around $58,000. It is said to have developed later to be more than $60,000.
The court took a recess at 4:30 o'clock in the afternoon until 9:30 o'clock in the morning.
Rutland Daily Herald ~ November 30th, 1943.
HUGH G. WILLIAMS. GRANVILLE, WASHINGTON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Granville, New York, Slateman Denies Any Intent to Injure Poultney
National Through Overdrafts.
Hugh G. Williams, 62 year old Granville, New York, slate manufacturer, accused with his office manager Miss Jane C. Jones, 55, of abetting former Cashier John E. Holmes in misapplying more
than $2600 of the funds of the Poultney National bank, took the witness stand in his own defense in the United States District court here yesterday afternoon.He told the jury that he never had any intention to injure the bank, of which he was a depositor, and that he was surprised to learn just before the bank closed last March that he owed the institution a considerable amount of money through overdrafts on checks.
Vernon J. Loveland, attorney for the defendants, began the introduction of his evidence at 3:15 o'clock in the afternoon when District Attorney Joseph A. McNamara of Burlington announced that the government rested after nine prosecution witnesses had testified. Trial of the case opened Monday afternoon.
It was the general belief at the courthouse yesterday afternoon when a recess was taken until 9:30 o'clock this morning, that the case will not reach the jury until tomorrow. If present plans are followed, trial of the next Poultney bank case will start Monday afternoon, when Harold Maynard of Hartford, New York, will be the defendant. He also is accussed of aiding Holmes in misuse of the bank's funds. Attorney Asa S. Bloomer will defend him.
As the defense in the Williams-Jones case opened, AttorneyLoveland made a brief statement to the jury, explaining that the government had charged that his clients obtained money from the bank, through Holmes, in excess of deposits and that this was done with intention to damage the bank.
The defendants do not deny that their accounts were overdrawn at times, Attorney Loveland said, but they will attempt to show that, during the last year before the bank closed, they were unable to ascertain the status of their account through failure of the bank to furnish them with statements although the defendants did everything in their power to obtain such statements.
The overdrafts were considered in the nature of loans, the attorney contended, and the bank expected that they would be paid and Williams did pay them from time to time, carrying on his transactions with the bank in the manner in which he did at Holmes' suggestion.
The defense will seek further to prove that there was no intent to defraud on the defendants' part, Loveland said.
Denying that he ever knew or suspected that there was anything wrong at the bank and that he had absolute confidence in Holmes as a banker of integrity, Williams described his dealings with the bank which began in 1938, when he became a depositor, continuing up to a time, three or four weeks before the bank closed, when he was called before the directors and informed that his account was greatly overdrawn.
Williams told of a $6000 loan which he obtained from the bank, giving a chattel mortgage on his slate property as security as well as a lease of certain lands in Pawlet, which he owns. The mortgage, he testified, was to cover any indebtedness up to $20,000, including overdrafts, which might accrue.
It appeared that on several occassions Williams furnished the bank with a statement of his financial responsibility. The last one showed assets of between $400,000 and $500,000 and liabilites of $30,000 to $40,000. This holds good at present, he testified.
The slateman stated that Miss Jones is his office manager with power of attorney to sign checks. She keeps all the books of his business, the H. G. Williams Slate company, operating 12 quarries, and has the most modern of booking machinery, he testified.
The witness emphasized the fact that Miss Jones, as well as he himself, had tried repeatedly, without success, to obtain statements from the bank throughout 1942 in order to ascertain how Williams stood with the bank.
Reference was made to four checks, ranging in amounts from $7300 to $9800, given to Holmes - the defense claimed at his insistence - by Miss Jones in 1941 and 1942. These checks were payable to the # Williams Slate company and were drawn on a Glens Falls, New York, bank by the Granville Powder and supply company, owned by Miss Jones. They were signed by Miss Jones.
Williams testified that neither he nor Miss Jonesknew what these checks were for, Holmes had previously testified, however, that they were to be used in covering up shortages in the bank when the national examiners were expected. Holmes taking funds from the bank to make the checks good after the examiners had looked over the records.
Williams was on the witness stand when court adjourned for the day.
The prosecution summoned as witnesses yesterday Cary Carlton, Bernard R. DeCook and Marshall J. Bell, Federal Bureau of Investigation accountants, who were called to the Poultney after the shortages had been discovered. They testified as to methods used in conducting the bank and the fact that many checks presented by Williams, cashed by Holmes and not charged to any account, were found.
Another prosecution witness was John A. Koch, assistant cashier of the First National bank of Glens Falls, New York, where the Granville Powder and Supply company had an account. The four large checks drawn by Miss Jones and turned over to Holmes were payable through this bank.
Reference also was made to a $4200 note found at the bank which was signed by Jennie (Jane C.) Jones and dated May 6th, 1941. Miss Jones denied any knowledge of this note, government witnesses said, and declared that if her name appreared on it, the signature was a forgery.
Holmes who had been on the stand Tuesday, concluded his testimony yesterday morning. He previously had identified 20 Williams checks, totalling $22,000, as checks which he had cashed for Williams and not charged to any account.
It apperaed further that Williams had deposited at various times a total of $16,000 and Holmed had not credited the money to Williams' account.
Holmes already had pleaded guilty to misapplying funds of the bank and is awaiting sentence.
Rutland Daily Herald ~ December 2nd, 1943.
HUGH G. WILLIAMS. GRANVILLE, WASHINGTON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Local Man Sells Slate Property.
Hugh G. Williams, after 45 active years spent in the slate industry in Granville, has disposed of his slate and marble properties for a sum of $600,000 and will retire from business.Mr. Williams' holdings consisted of approximately eighteen slate quarries located in the townships of Pawlet, Wells, Granville and Poultney. Also a slate and marble quarry in Fairmont.
In addition to his personal business Mr. Williams found time to devote to the civic life of his community, having served as Mayor of the Village of Granville for twelve years.
The Sentinel joins the community in best wishes for many years of leisurely enjoyment.
Granville Sentinel ~ October 24th, 1946.
HUGH G. WILLIAMS. GRANVILLE, WASHINGTON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
GRANVILLE, NEW YORK. April 25th.Hugh G. Williams, 69, former mayor of Granville and long connected with the slate industry here, died tonight at Emma Lang Stevens hospital after a long illness.
Mr. Williams, born in Wales is survived by his wife, Ellen of Batavia; three daughters, Mrs. Marion Traux and Miss Helen Williams, also of Batavia, and Mrs. Marjorie Morgan of Matamoras, Pennsylvania; two sons, Hugh Jr. and Hayden, both of Granvillel and eight grandchildren.
The funeral will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at McHenry-Roberts Funeral home. Services will be conducted by the Rev. Samuel Kiester. Burial will be in Mettowee cemetery.
Friends may call at the funeral home from 2 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. tomorrow and Friday.
Rutland Daily Herald ~ April 26th, 1951.
HUGH G. WILLIAMS. GRANVILLE, WASHINGTON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Hugh G. Williams, Sr., age 69, former quarry operator, and mayor of Granville for several years, died at the Emma Laing Stevens Hospital after a long illness, about 6 o'clock Wednesday afternoon.The body was removed to the McHenry and Roberts Funeral Home where funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, with the Rev. Sam Keirter, pastor of the Baptist Church, in charge. Burial will be in Mettowee Valley Cemetery.
Survivors include his wife, Mrs. Ellen Williams of Batavia; three daughters, Mrs. Marion Truax of Batavia, Mrs. Marjorie Morgan of Matamoras, Pennsylvania and Miss Helen Williams of Batavia, New York; two sons, Hugh G. Jr. and Hayden Williams, both of Granville; also eight grandchildren.
Friends may call at the Funeral Home from 2 to 5 and 7 to 9 o'clock, Thursday and Friday.
Granville Sentinel ~ April 26th 1951.
HUGH G. WILLIAMS. GRANVILLE, WASHINGTON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
A thumb-nail biography of the late Hugh G. Williams.He came to the United States for a one year's stay ans never returned except for a visit to his parents. West Pawlet was his first stopping place when he came to this country. He was 18 years of age then. His first wages were 10 cents an hour in the slate quarries and averaged $24 monthly, from the William H. Hughes slate company. But when he became a slate operator he totalled more than $3 million dollars in wages over a period of years.
He was born in Caernarvonshire, North Wales, July 6th, 1881.
His first employment as a boy in Wales was in the slate quarries. He quit to find employment with a tea and coffee establishment in Liverpool.
He arrived in the United States in 1889. His first job in West Pawlet was in the dark quarry tunnel which was not accessible except by being lowered with boom derricks. His fellow workers in the tunnel included Pat Dundon and Hugh J. Roberts. His second job was with Marsh Rising who paid him 19 cents an hour as slate maker and splitter. His first quarry was the one below No. 12 at Warren Switch.
He had no funds with which to purchase a derrick and he harnessed a tree to serve the same purpose. He was now emplying eight slate workers. Mark Whitney was a partner with him in this quarry. Then he and S. F. Cuthbertson of Baltimore opened the old Tommy Griffith quarry at Warren Switch. After fout years he dissolved partnership with Cuthbertson and was again on his own. In April 1900 he opened the slate quarry on the Whiting farm on the Granville-Pawlet road. It took him nine months to remove the clay bed before he struck rock.
Lacking funds with which to meet his pay roll he patented a slate cutter. Whenever he needed funds he would sell a slate cutter for $100 which cost him $25 to make. When the year 1939 rolled around he had 100 men on his payroll. And at times he employed as many as 200 when slate orders warranted it. His weekly payroll averaged at times as much as $4,000. At the time of his death he owned 1,000 acres of land in the slate belt. During the business depression he was the only slate quarry operator who kept his quarries running without a shutdown.
When the business crash and banks closed his employees offered to work without compensation. But when the dark business clouds passed by, by 1936 he gave a banquet to his employees and paid them every cent of their past due wages. He was the only slate quarry operator in the history of Granville who championed the cause of the working man. And never during his entire slate career did he experience trouble with his employees. "I was working man once," he used to say. He was a noted athlete in his youth and a crack amateur bicycle racer.
He once told how he was nicknamed "Greenhorn". During the exciting sport of bicycling at the turn of the century when he defeated the best riders in this vicinity people marvelled at his speed and durability. "Who is that young fellow?" and the answer came back: "He is that greenhorn who just came over from Wales." He was a popular leader in the community which brought him to the office of mayor of Granville not by his own desire but by the choice of his many friends. On March 13th, 1911, he won a three-cornered mayoralty contest in which 1,450 village votes were cast. He obtained 781 votes and to his dying day he wondered where the record vote came from.
His popularity with the people, and his progressive and enthusiastic spirit for the betterment of Granville, kept him in the office of mayor for twelve consecutive years. He stepped aside to make the nomination of his successor preferring not to run again. He was an aviation enthusiast and a lover of riding horses.
He was the last of a group of slate quarry operators which brought Granville to the forefront as the center of the slate belt in this country. He made a fortune in the slate business but never rested on his laurels and reinvested it in new quarries; which didn't always prove profitable. We knew Hugh G. Williams personally well. He never refused a favor and would go out of his way to fight for someone in need. Disregarding the laws of men during the business depression when he was mayor he came in constant clash with the state authorities for not foreclosing on tax delinquencies. "Hang the law," he once said "there is a higher law than those the fellows make in Albany, which cannot be enforced thses hard times. Our people will pay their taxes when they can and there is no need to get excited about tax sales." His remarks were realized with the passing of this depression.
When he lost the sight of his only good eye his heart broke and with it his spirit. Granville has lost a valuable citizen who served his community unselfishly, not only while mayor of the village but all of the years when he employed so many workers in his quarries. He considered those who worked for him as his equals and practised true democracy all his life.
The passing of Hugh G. Williams closes another chapter in the history of the Welsh people who gave us so many citizens who became prominent in local business, educational and civic circles to make Granville the progressive community it is.