local investors

photo by Holsinger, courtesy of the Elizabeth Valentine Meade Collection. Robert Poore Valentine (lt), Henry Clay Marchant (rt)

While the new sources of capital drained profits from the community, it can be seen that the old local group of investors continued to hold the reins. An examination of the company records shows that John L. Cochran, Eugene Davis, William Hotopp, Louis T. Hanckel, Judge White, Moses Kaufman, John C. Patterson, and Robert Poore Valentine were most active among this group. Cochran, a judge, was secretary-treasurer for many years. In 1894 Hanckel succeeded him and served until his death in 1914. Hotopp, "the quiet, earnest worker," followed Furbush as vice-president but he died only two years later.

Time gradually wore away the old membership. "The impetuous, hearty" Kaufman died in 1898, while the aged Patterson retired in 1906. Seven years later White passed away. By the eve of the World War, the men who had founded the mill and steered it over its stormy years were gone. The greatest loss of all came with the death of Henry Marchant on October 10, 1910.--Harry Poindexter