Gold, Frank Lyman

The following data is extracted from Biography and Genealogy of Western Massachusetts, 1639-1925.

FRANK LYMAN GOLD-A man of wide and varied activities, each of which he has carried on successfully after he had gained full knowledge of the field of business into which he was entering, the story of Frank Lyman Gold is full of interest.

(I) He belongs to a notable old New England family, whose founder was Joseph Gold, born in London, England, who came to America when he was nineteen years old. According to family records, he served for seven years in the Revolutionary War, lived for a time in Northbury, Connecticut, and died in Roxbury, Vermont, in 1829. He married, in Northbury, Patience Goodenough, who died in 1826. One of his children, Joseph, is of further mention.

(II) Joseph Gold, son of Joseph Gold, married, and his son, Miner, is of further mention.

(III) Miner Gold, son of Joseph Gold, was born in Pelham, Massachusetts, in 1802, and died in Belchertown in May, 1882. He was a scholar, teacher, and good business man, and taught mathematics at Amherst College, besides writing an arithmetic text used in New England schools. Miner Gold married Olivia Conkey, who died in 1878, and among their children was a son, Theodore, of further mention.

(IV) Theodore Gold, son of Miner and Olivia (Conkey) Gold, was born in Pelham, Massachusetts, in 1837, and died January 4, 1889. After his marriage he moved to Belchertown, Massachusetts, where he operated a saw mill, turning out shingles and lumber. In partnership with Mr. Knight, with the name of Knight & Gold, he carried on extensive lumber operations. The firm was highly respected, and Mr. Gold so good a business man that he became superintendent of highways. He was a very religious man, an active member of the Congregational Church, led the choir and was superintendent of the Sunday School. He married, February 6, 1868, Almira T. Cook, born in Pelham, Massachusetts, daughter of Nathaniel and Bethiah (Ward) Cook. One of their children was Frank Lyman, of further mention.

(V) Frank Lyman Gold, son of Theodore and Almira T. (Cook) Gold, was born in Belchertown, Massachusetts, June 4, 1884. He was educated in the town schools, including high school, for a time attended Mr. Harmon School for Boys in Northfield, Massachusetts, and after two years of work in a dry goods store at Amherst, in order to pay his way, attended the Massachusetts Agricultural College there in 1904-05. His first step in what was to prove so varied a business career was that of teaching. In Branford, Connecticut, he taught physics, chemistry, bookkeeping, shorthand, and typing for a term of four years. In Torrington, Connecticut, he next taught in the high school for two years, in the commercial department. His next endeavor was in Paterson, New Jersey, where for four and a half years he taught accounting and economics in the first school in the United States to touch on the latter subject. Meantime he was studying commercial accounting and financing at New York University. In 1917 he began to put his special training to practical use and joined the accounting section of the Ordnance Department of the United States Government, which work took him to France in February, 1818. Stationed at St. Nazarre until June, 1918, in that month he returned to this country and became associated with Stone & Webster at the Base Department. An opening in the Aircraft Bureau in New York next attracted him, where he was field man and senior cost accountant in the production department, the work of which took him to Philadelphia to settle contracts in 1919. His next enterprise was installing a cost accounting system for the Delaware Hard Fibre Company in Wilmington, Delaware. After a period of service with Wiegner & Rocky, public accountants, he established his own business under the name of The Accounting and Engineering Company, in Philadelphia, in 1920. Selling out in 1922, he became a contractor and built several fine residences in Philadelphia, where he owns much valuable real estate. In April, 1924, he returned to his native city of Belchertown, where he established an extensive automobile business, equipped with an especially fine garage. He handles the Chrysler, Lincoln and Ford cars for a wide area of Western Massachusetts, including much of Hampshire and Hampdon counties, where he keeps a number of salesmen on the road. The firm name is the Belchertown Motor Sales Company, Inc., and Mr. Gold is secretary and treasurer. Extensive lumber and wood lots furnish Mr. Gold further opportunity for business. He is the owner of a very fine residence. Mr. Gold belongs to Ridgely Lodge, No. 51, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Torrington, Connecticut. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Frank Lyman Gold married (first), May 17, 1914, Theresa Green, of Torrington, Connecticut, and their children were: Frank Herman and James Russell. He married (second) Ann (Tucker) Dorey, who had by a former marriage two children : Albert and Malcolm Dorey.

Source: Biography and Genealogy of Western Massachusetts, 1639-1925

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