The Blount Lumber Company employed so many from this community for almost 100 years. We are looking for pictures and memories of your years working there. I am putting pictures of workers on facebook in hopes of getting them identified and a year the photo was taken.

To Aroma and Phoebe (Thomas) Blount were born six children, four boys and two girls. Aroma, originally from Berry, New York, was born in 1827 and moved with his family to Orwell where he engaged in dairy farming.

He was always interested in lumbering and the out-of-doors, which he instilled in his sons, especially George R. Blount. As a result, this interest led to the development of the Blount Lumber Company, providing Sandy Creek with a pioneering industry. George embarked on a successful career in wholesale lumbering after graduating from the Rochester Business Institute.

A pioneer in his field, he bought large timber tracts throughout the North Country and proceeded to produce flooring and other commodities. What started as a small rocker shop developed into a major industry in Lacona providing, during the war, materials for the United States Government.

His wife, Jessie M. Ackley, a sister of Nellie, was an ever-present help to her husband as a business associate, acting the first Vice President of the Blount Lumber Company. A teacher and ardent club woman, she raised five children: Mildred, Howard, Ruth, Floyd and Florence. After her husband’s untimely death in 1932 she moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, always returning summers to her beloved Sandy Pond.

Mildred, a Phi Beta Kappa and scholar, taught school locally and in Florida, where she later moved. She died in 1974.