April 1, 1914.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



367 



The Obituary Record. 



J. HOWAKD lORD. 



J HOWARD r'OKD. for many years president of the Meyer 

 , Riibl)cr Co., and a director in the United States Rubber 

 Co. ever since it was organized twenty years ago, diei! 

 suddenly of apoplexy on the evening of Marcli 2, at his winter 





J. HOWARU FOKL). 



home, the Plaza liotel, New Vori<. It will l.c recalled that thai 

 date was iminediaiely after the great snowstorm, when the streets 

 were badly drifted and walking extremely difficult, it is thouglit 

 that Mr. Ford overtaxed himself in going from his office to the 

 hotel. Tho previously his health seemed to be most excellent, 

 he was stricken soon after reaching the hotel and died before 

 his doctor arrived. 



Mr. Ford was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. December 

 10, 18,54, the son of John R. Ford, one of the pioneers in rubber 

 manufacture in this country, from whom he inherited large rub- 

 ber interests. He was educated at Phillips .-Xcademy, Andover, 

 Massachusetts: Williston Seminary, East Hampton, of the same 

 State, and at Princeton and Cornell, besides attending school for 

 some time on the Continent. 



He had many other interests besides those connected with the 

 rubber industry and was a trustee of the American Surety Co. 

 and a director of the New York Mutual Gas Light Co. He 

 devoted a great deal of money and much time to a model stock 

 farm which he owned at Stony Ford, Orange County, New York, 

 which was particularly famous for its fine horses. He lived on 

 this farm during the greater part of the summertime, passing 

 the winters at tlie Plaza Hotel. He was a member of many 

 clubs, including the Union, Union League, New York Yacht and 

 Riding Clubs, and was widely known in the financial and social 

 circles of New York. 



He was interested in educational matters and had served for 

 some years as trustee of Rutgers College, X'ew Pirunswick, and 

 was the donor of "Ford Dormitory." a handsome structure 

 which he built for the college at a cost of $120,000. 



The funeral services were held on the morning of March 6 at 

 the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, the officiating clergymen 

 being the pastor of that church, the Reverend J. H. Jowett, D.D., 

 and the Reverend Ellis Piishop, of Amherst. Massachusetts, a 

 cousin of ^fr. Ford. 



ALFKED HOPKINS. 



.\llrcd Hopkins, president and treasurer of the Boston Gore 

 & Web Manufacturing Co., passed away very suddenly, of heart 

 failure, at his home in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on February 27. 



Mr. Hopkins had been connected with the manufacture of 

 elastic goring and elastic webbing since 1862, and he was prob- 

 ably the pioneer manufacturer of these materials in this country. 

 He was born in Leicester, England, in 1841. but when 21 years 

 old came to this country and was largely instrumental in estab- 

 lishing the Goodyear Elastic Fabric Co., of Easthampton, Massa- 

 chusetts, the first company to make elastic fabric on this side of 

 the water. He became its superintendent and remained with this 

 company for four years, until 1866, when he took charge of the 

 new ])Iant of the .\merican Suspender Co., in Waterbury, Con- 

 necticut. He was associated with a number of different gore 

 manufacturing companies from that time until 1893, when he in- 

 corporated the Boston Gore & Web Manufacturing Co., of 

 Chelsea, of which he was president and treasurer from the date 

 of its incorporation until the time of his death. 



Mr. Hopkins was not only prominent in this |)articular branch 

 of tlie ridjber industry, but he was extremely active in the civic 

 life of the city of Chelsea. He was prominent in Masonic 

 circles and an active member of the First Congregational Church. 

 The services, which were held in that church March 2, were at- 

 tended by a very large number of the citizens of Chelsea and 

 neighboring towns. 



He is survived by Iiis wife, his son Edmund — who was asso- 



Alfred Hopkins. 



ciatecl with him in business — and l)y three daughters — one of 

 whom is the wife of the famous English novelist. E. Phillips 

 Oppenheim. 



A. C. BAKEB. 



.\. C. Baker, for a number of years manager of the London 

 olficc of the North British Rubber Co. and more recently general 

 manager of that company at Castle Mills, Edinburgh, died at 

 his home at Thaines Ditton, Surrey, on March 7. after an illness 

 of several months. 



Mr. Baker was 51 years of age and had been associated in 

 one capacity or another with the North British company for 

 m-mv vears. He suffered from nervous breakdown several 



