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
Bernice
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."