William Whiting II

Who was William Whiting II?

William Whiting was an American businessman and politician from Holyoke, Massachusetts. Whiting descended from an English family who first settled in Lynn, Massachusetts during 1636.

Whiting was born in Dudley, Massachusetts, May 24, 1841. Whiting attended public schools and graduated from Amherst College.

Whiting worked for the Holyoke Paper Company and the Hampden Paper Company. At the age of 17 Whiting started at the Holyoke Paper Company working first as a bookkeeper. After three years working as a clerk, Whiting became a salesman first working out of the company's main office and later working as a commercial traveling salesman. Whiting organized the Whiting Paper Company in Holyoke, Massachusetts in 1865. In 1865, Whiting built his first mill followed by another in 1872. When the Whiting Paper Company was first formed. L.L. Brown of South Adams, Massachusetts was president and Whiting was agent and treasurer. Whiting later became president and his son, William Fairfield Whiting, became treasurer.

Whiting later organized the Collins Paper Company and built a paper mill in North Wilbraham, Massachusetts.