Shelby County AlArchives Biographies.....Aldrich, William Farrington March 11, 1853 - October 30, 1925
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Carolyn Golowka alabamagengal@gmail.com July 11, 2008, 11:14 am

Author: "Memorial Record of Alabama", volume 2, published by Brant & Fuller in Madison, WI (1893), pages 890-891

William F. Aldrich, the president of the Montevallo Coal & Transportation 
company, was born in Palmyra, Wayne county, N. Y., March 11, 1853.  His father, 
William F. Aldrich, Sr., was a prominent lawyer and financier.  His mother, 
Louisa (Klapp) Aldrich, was of literary tastes, and a descendant of Gen. 
Barker, a Revolutionary hero.  William F. Aldrich, Sr., left Wayne county when 
his son was twelve years old, and with his family settled in New York city.  He 
obtained the charter for and was promoter and secretary of the Union Trust 
company, afterward was appointed bank examiner, and also was made the receiver 
of a savings bank, giving a bond for a million of dollars as his security.  He 
was well and favorably known in moneyed circles in New York.  He died in 
[November 14] 1878. William, the son, was educated at the public schools in New 
York, and finished at the Warren Military academy in Poughkeepsie, taking a 
special course in mathematics and civil engineering.  In 1871 he begun work 
with the Essex public road board of Newark, N. J., and assisted in improving 
the roads and boulevards in that section.  In 1874 he came to Alabama and began 
mining coal with his brother, Truman H. Aldrich.  The mines, located about 
three miles west of Montevallo, are now known as Aldrich – named after the 
brothers.  He has continued at the mines ever since, and has built up a 
prosperous town and has one of the best mines in the country, both for the 
quality of the coal, the appliances used, and for safe and skillful 
management.  He is known as a “bright” Mason, having been connected with 
that “ancient honorable order” ever since he became of age, and is a Knight 
Templar and a thirty-second degree Scottish rite Mason.  He married in 1889 
Josephine Cables, of Rochester, N. Y., a lady of great ability as a writer, and 
in every way qualified to adorn the highest station.  Their beautiful 
home, “Rajah Lodge,” is considered by many the finest residence in the state.  
Mr. Aldrich has never taken an active part in politics nor in religious 
matters – being a close student, he could see that all systems contained both 
truth and error, and that the highest moral development was based on the 
practice of the golden rule.  He and his wife are active in reform work, going 
hand in hand to prisons and wherever their chosen work leads them.  The cry of 
the weary, the sick, and the unfortunate never goes by them unheeded.  They are 
the friends and advisers of all their employees and all who come within their 
influence, and, with the poet, we may add, “None knew them but to love them.”

Additional Comments:
Information in brackets [ ] added by submitter.

Photo part of the Birmingham Library Digital Collections found at:
http://bplonline.cdmhost.com/

Found at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress:
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=A000087

"ALDRICH, William Farrington, (brother of Truman Heminway Aldrich and great, 
great grandfather of William J. Edwards), a Representative from Alabama; born 
in Palmyra, Wayne County, N.Y., March 11, 1853; attended the public schools of 
his native city; moved with his father to New York City in 1865; attended 
several schools, and was graduated from Warren’s Military Academy in 
Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1873; moved to Alabama in 1874; engaged in mining and 
manufacturing; built up the town that bears his name; successfully contested as 
a Republican the election of Gaston A. Robbins to the Fifty-fourth Congress and 
served from March 13, 1896, to March 3, 1897; successfully contested the 
election of Thomas S. Plowman to the Fifty-fifth Congress and served from 
February 9, 1898, to March 3, 1899; again successfully contested the election 
of Gaston A. Robbins to the Fifty-sixth Congress and served from March 8, 1900, 
to March 3, 1901; declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1900; editor, 
owner, and publisher of the Birmingham (Ala.) Times; delegate to the Republican 
National Convention at Chicago in 1904; engaged in the development of mineral 
lands until his death in Birmingham, Ala., October 30, 1925; the remains were 
cremated and deposited in the family vault in Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, 
D.C."

Per the 1900 US Census, District of Columbia, Washington City, page 207A, lines 
11-15:
Aldrich, William F., born Mar 1853 in New York, married 12 years, a member of 
Congress
Aldrich, Josephine C., wife, born June 1843 in New York, married 12 years, 
mother of 3 children with 2 surviving
Aldrich, William F., Jr., son, born March 1889 in New York
Pratt, Lillian G., born June 1876 in New York, [step] daughter, married 3 
years, mother of 1 child who survives
Pratt, Josephine, [step] granddaughter, born Aug 1897 in Alabama

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