A BIOGRAPHY OF LAWRENCE E. ALLEY, SR. Submitted by Lawrence E. Alley, III. Larry's Website

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1 A BIOGRAPHY OF LAWRENCE E. ALLEY, SR. Submitted by Lawrence E. Alley, III. Larry's Website Lawrence Everett Alley, Sr. son of Everett Bell Alley and Millicent Ann Napier, was born on 16 April 1882 in Ashland, Boyd Co., KY, died on 31 March 1952 in St. Marys, Pleasants Co., WV at age 69, and was buried in IOOF Cemetery, St. Marys, WV. My father, Lawrence Alley, Jr., told me much of what is written here about his father, and several details were added from research done by myself and by my cousin, Frank Sellers, II, son of Kramer and Naomi Alley Sellers. At Jamestown colony English settlers constructed a furnace in 1607 and in 1608 produced glass, the first industry in America. Alley Agate Co. and Previous Business Ventures Lawrence E. Alley, Sr. was 18 or 19 (ca. 1900) when he went to work for Fostoria Glass in Moundsville, West Virginia. The 13 year old company had moved there in 1891 from Fostoria, Ohio when the gas well ran dry. He started as a carry-in boy. The boy, who started with him the same day, became the president of the company. Our family s assumption that it was a Dalzell is not correct. William A. B. Dalzell was president His son William F. was only 9 in He was a manager in 1920 and followed as president in Years later Lawrence amazed the salesmen there when he was able to buy glassware at less than wholesale cost because he knew the president. Lawrence and Bertha Weekley were married in In My father said he went to Huntington Glass in Huntington, West Virginia now Pilgrim Glass. (I checked this report of Lawrence, Jr. Tri State Glass Manufacturing Company is the one that became Pilgrim Glass. Huntington Glass had moved to Marietta, Ohio and burned in 1903.) This may be where he learned to cut glass. Next he did cutting on quality glassware at Fenton Art Glass Co., in Williamstown, West Virginia. He had saved a barrel full of his glassware. It was stored under the porch of his house, and someone stole it. Thus the family has very little of this early glassware that he made and cut. Lawrence than started his own business at Kingwood, West Virginia. It was a complete glass factory and cutting shop. It did not prosper fast enough to satisfy the investors and it was closed. He went back to Williamstown for a year and then to the St. Marys, Western Glass Company as a cutter. They were incorporated in 1916 for $50,000, made glassware and specialties and had 12 employees. His WWI draft registration card dated 12 September 1918 lists him as a Glass blower at the Western Glass Co. in St. Marys. In 1920 he was a glass blower in Moundsville. Lawrence also worked in Cumberland, Maryland for a while. Next, in 1922, he was general manager of Picquet Glass in Shinnston, West Virginia. After designing a sandblasting machine for glass, in the latter part of 1925, he started a sandblasting and cutting shop of his own. He then moved and merged with the Salem Glass Company. The company had financial problems before the merger and closed soon afterwards. After some other jobs he worked at Akro Agate Company. Then he and others started Ravenswood Glass and Novelty in Ravenswood, West Virginia. Alley made marbles at Ravenswood for a short time just before he left it in 1929 and started the Lawrence Glass Novelty Company, with a partner, Dewey Hibbs. It was located in the old button factory next door to the Wissmach Glass Company at Paden City. They leased property in Sistersville 16 October 1930 and moved there. In 1931 Berry Pink joined the company.

2 The company's marble-making machines were designed by Lawrence and were built in the Skagg Machine shop in Sistersville. These machines produced 165 marbles per minute, a quantity not achieved by other machines of that time. There were legal problems and he sold out to the broker in Next he started a plant at Parkersburg, West Virginia. "Henri Arthur (Art) Fisher, Lawrence E. Alley and Press Lindsey founded The Vitro Agate Company on April 19, 1932 at Vienna, West Virginia. In the late 1930s, Fisher and Lindsey bought out Alley, and later Art Fisher bought out Lindsey. The original marble-making machines used by Vitro were designed and built by Mr. Fisher. (This statement is in doubt since Lawrence had already designed very good machines.) In, May 1945, the company moved to a larger building in Parkersburg." (From "History of the Vitro Agate Factory in Parkersburg, West Virginia") Finally in 1932, he started the Alley Agate Company at Pennsboro, West Virginia in an inadequate building and moved about 1936 to St. Marys. Bob Duncan tells us that at one point in Pennsboro the power company was unable to supply them with enough electrical power, so Lawrence put in a gas generator to meet his power needs. Because of his varied experiences Lawrence was knowledgeable of many aspects of the glass business and shared his knowledge with others in the business who needed help in their endeavors. These years of the Great Depression were not easy times to start a business. B. J. Hazelbaker, who worker for the company in Pennsboro, tells us there were times Mr. Alley had cardboard in his shoes to cover the holes in the soles. In St. Marys he purchased the building formerly used by Gilligan Glass Company, which was currently being used by a local grower to pack apples. Interestingly, Frank Sellers, II, who is the grandson of both Lawrence Alley, Sr. and the older Frank Sellers, in the process of researching his grandfather s glass businesses, found that his other grandfather was one of the signers on the St. Marys mortgage. This was a little over a year before his father and mother married. By January of 1937 he was established in St. Marys. He owned this business until he retired in Lawrence, Jr. started working for him in 1935 in Pennsboro. The St. Marys plant was a partnership between them. In 1947 the company name was changed to Alley Glass and Manufacturing Company. This reflected the wider product line of more than marbles. Maybe it was just a joke, but the reason my dad (L. E. Alley, Jr.) told me was that they got tired of people thinking their name was Mr. Alley Agate. They made 750,000 marbles a day in June 1937 with four machines running full time and in July they expected to ship five railroad carloads. The next year they were making 2 million a day. In January 1939 Alley Agate was described in the local paper as the largest marble manufacturer in the world. During the peak of the marble demand in the 1940s they were running at full capacity of 2.6 million marbles a day. During one 6 month period they shipped 14 million Chinese checker marbles. Their primary customer for marbles and Chiquita toy dishes was the Jack Pressman toy company. The Chinese checkers game was very big at that time, and a large percentage of the marbles went into the games. My cousin, Frank Sellers, talked with a woman who had been Mr. Alley s secretary in the early years in Pennsboro. She was an old lady by then. She would open the mail and only give Mr. Alley the important pieces. In the mail one day was a letter from Jack Pressman, whom they did not know. She almost threw it out, but decided it might be important and passed it on to Mr. Alley. Pressman became their primary customer with many millions of marbles going into his Chinese checkers. Besides marbles, their products were toy dishes, small glass animals and electrical insulators. In July 1949 the company was sold to Marble King. Berry Pink (previously mentioned) and Sellers Pettier founded Marble King in Pink was a successful businessman and loved to interact with children. The marbles sold under the Marble King header in the 30's and early 40's were actually manufactured by Peltier Glass. By the late 1940's, Pink was selling more marbles than Peltier could produce. They joined forces and formed another manufacturing facility in

3 which Pink held the majority of shares. Berry Pink traveled throughout the country hosting marble tournaments and giving away several marbles at each stop. He became known as "The Marble King". That's how the company got its name when it was founded in December Marble King was originally located in St. Marys, West Virginia. In January of 1958 a fire destroyed the factory. Roger Howdyshell, who managed the Marble King facility, moved the company to Paden City where it still remains today. Howdyshell led Marble King to the forefront when he manufactured the first American made Cat's Eye marbles. (from Marble King web site) Lawrence Alley, Sr. was actually responsible for bringing the method of making the cat s eye to this country. He sent some of his people to Japan to buy a Cat s eye machine. They could not come to an agreement over the price of the machine. But, in the process of negotiations they learned how to make the cat s eye. But, the marble plant was sold before the cat s eye went into production. In 1950 or 1951 the U.S. government asked Mr. Alley to go to Japan to help set up marble factories to aid in their economic recovery. He declined due to failing health. In the fall of 1948, for health reasons, Lawrence, Jr. and his family moved to a warmer climate in Clearwater, Florida where he purchased a hardware store, the Harbison Supply Company. Later the name was changed to Clearwater Hardware Company. Information on Lawrence s WWII Draft Card: 5 ft 9 in, 270 lbs. light complexion, blue eyes, bald (Brown hair - WWI Card) Last finger, right hand off at second joint. This was a surprise to find out. I (Lawrence, III) was 13 when he died and never noticed the end of his finger was missing. He worked in Glassware & Marbles Manufacturing all his life; founded Alley Agate Co. in St. Marys, WV. He resided at Huntington, WV, 1326 Washington Ave. in He was employed as a Glass Blower at The Western Glass Co. in 1918 in St. Marys, Pleasants Co., WV. 1 He resided at Moundsville, WV, 901 Third Street in the 1920 census. He worked as a Glass Blower (Listed in census) in He resided in Shinston, WV in 1922; listed on his father s death certificate. He resided at 62 Terrace Ave.(a 2 family house) in 1930 in Salem, Harrison Co., WV. 2 He was a glass worker. He resided at 708 4th St., St. Marys, Pleasant Co., WV after moving to St. Marys. Lawrence married Bertha Lydia Weekley on 1 June 1904 in Moundsville, Marshall Co., WV. 3 Married by: Rev. J. B. Smith Children from this marriage were: i. Evelyn May Alley was born on 1 May 1905 in Moundsville, Marshall Co., WV, died on 29 October 1905 in Moundsville, Marshall Co., WV, 4 and was buried in Mount Rose Cemetery, Lot 3, Section N, Moundsville, Marshall Co., WV. ii. Eleanor Geneva Alley was born on 23 February 1907 in Moundsville, Marshall Co., WV and died on 10 June 1992 in Martin Co., FL at age 85. Eleanor married Adrian Jack Belt on 18 August 1928 in Salem, Harrison Co., WV. 5 iii. Naomi Elaine Alley was born on 8 June 1910 in Moundsville, Marshall Co., WV, 6 died on 13 July 1993 in Parkersburg, Wood Co., WV 6 at age 83, and was buried in IOOF Cemetery, St. Marys, WV. Naomi married Hubert Kramer Sellers on 16 April 1938 in St. Marys, Pleasants Co., WV.

4 2 iv. Lawrence Everett Alley, Jr. Lawrence married Mary Grace Wrick on 5 October 1937 in Smithburg, Doddridge Co., WV. Alley Agate Co. and Quaker State Oil & St. Marys in background. Photo by Lawrence E. Alley, Jr. Quaker State Oil with Alley Agate Co. in foreground, after 1939.

5 Alley Agate Co. Marble Machine, about Photo by Lawrence E. Alley, Jr. Salesman's Sample Case of Alley Agate Marbles, about 1940.