My Genealogy Hound

FRED MERWIN SMITH, President of the Griffith, Axtell & Cady Company of Holyoke, Mass., was born at South Hadley, September 19, 1862. He is a son of the late Hiram Smith and Harriet S. (Coney) Smith. His father was born at South Hadley, July 24, 1824, and his mother at Ware, Mass., October 2, 1826. Hiram Smith was a business man and Postmaster at South Hadley Falls for a long period, he having held the post-office for thirty years. He died there in 1890, his widow, who still survives at the age of sixty-nine years, having been the mother of four children, two of whom, Hattie and Dwight, died in infancy. The remaining two are Fred M. and J. Belle, wife of Elwyn D. Newcomb, of South Hadley.

Fred M. Smith received his early education in the public schools of South Hadley and at the Williston Seminary in Easthampton, and, after finishing his studies there in 1880, entered Amherst College, where he was graduated in the class of 1884. Immediately upon completing his collegiate course he entered the office of the Springfield Union, while Joseph S. Shipley was editor of that newspaper; and, after being engaged in journalism for two years, he became Assistant Treasurer of the Valley Paper Company of Holyoke, where he continued for a period of three years. He then became Treasurer of the Griffith, Axtell & Cady Company of Holyoke, which position he held until May 1, 1895, when he retired from the active management of the company, but is now its President. This company conduct a very large business in fine printing, engraving, and embossing, and maintain a constant force of about thirty skilled workmen, who are kept busy filling their many extensive orders, which come from all parts of the world, the company’s reputation for this particular branch of industry having reached far beyond the boundaries of the United States. He is also a Director of the Holyoke Paper Company of Holyoke.

Mr. Smith is an active Republican in politics, and is at the present time Treasurer of the town of South Hadley, having now for five years held that office, in which he succeeded his father. He has served upon both the School Committee and Water Board for six years, and has been chairman of the Republican Town Committee for the last five years, it being a notable fact that the town of South Hadley introduced the Australian system of conducting caucuses a year previous to its having been adopted by the State. He is Past Master of Mount Holyoke Lodge, A. F. & A. M., also a member of Mount Holyoke Chapter and Council, Springfield Commandery, and of Aleppo Temple, Mystic Shrine, at Boston.

On April 28, 1892, he wedded Miss Evelyn H. Bardwell, of Shelburne, Mass., who was born July 19, 1861, and is the daughter of Orsamus O. and Helen (Packer) Bardwell, both of her parents being now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have one child living; namely, Winthrop Hiram, born June 30, 1893, their second-born, Rachel Evelyn, whose birth occurred September 17, 1894, having died January 16, 1895. They reside at 54 North Main Street, South Hadley Falls, and are members of the Congregational church of that town.