WILLIAM HOMER ALBRITTON was born in Alabama on October 15, 1873.  He died on January 12, 1928 in Bradley County, Cleveland, Tennessee and is buried in Fort Hill Cemetery there. 

W. H. Albritton married Naomi Rymer, daughter of John Alison Rymer and Mary N. Guinn.

Their Children:

Hibbard Albritton

Hoyle Albritton

 

William Homer Albritton was the brother of my great-grandfather, John Thomas

Albritton.  His chance involvement with what was the turning point of this industrial giant is described in the article below.

My first thought after reading about him in this book was that without his participation, Magic Chef might not have become the household word it was known to be in future generations.

 

The following reference was taken from a book called  "The Spark of Enterprise" written by John Longwith in 1987.  The reference is intended only for the sake of family history and not for the sake of violating the copyright of the book as so stated in the registration notice by Magic Chef, Inc. now owned by the Whirlpool Corporation.

 

May it be noted that Asa William Albritton was an employee at the Dixie Stove Foundry that later became Brown Stove Works in Cleveland, Tennessee. This was before his move to work at Combustion Engineering in Chattanooga, TN.

 

From Page 18 of the Chapter "Plain Grit":

 

"The hard times tested Rymer's commitment to Dixie Foundry. Two of his directors, the O'Neal brothers, resigned from the company, and he found it impossible to replace them with anyone willing to buy a block of shares even at bargain prices.  J. B. Brown, brother of Oscar Brown, joined the board but put up only a token investment; Clara Rymer was pressed into service to fill the vacancy on the board.

Unofficially, Dixie was bankrupt early in 1920, when Rymer placed a late night telephone call to W. H. Albritton, the new owner of Cleveland Coal & Feed as well as a boyhood friend from Greasy Creek.  He would lose the foundry, Rymer told Albritton, unless he raised money immediately.  Rymer mentioned his most valuable remaining asset, the main building of Cleveland Coal & Feed.  He offered to sell it at a good price to Albritton and his partner, John L. Jones.  After further talk the next day, Rymer sold the building to the two businessmen. With the proceeds, he replenished Dixie's bank account, retrieving the company from ruin.  But it was a close call -- a fact that Rymer acknowledged decades later when he allowed that he "nearly went broke" before the worst was over."