MAGLATreadway
ALLEN TOWNER TREADWAY 1867-1947
Junior Grand Warden, 1909
MEMORIAL
Right Worshipful Allen T. Treadway passed away at his home in Washington, D. C. on Sunday, February 16, 1947.
In Grand Lodge he had served as District Deputy Grand Master in 1905-1906, and as Junior Grand Warden in 1909, and in recognition of his service, the Henry Price Medal was bestowed upon him.
Our Brother was born in Stockbridge September 16, 1867, the son of William D. and Harriet (Heaton) Treadway. He attended the public schools of Stockbridge and graduated from Amherst College in the Class of 1886, from which he received the Degree of Doctor of Laws in 1934. He was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity.
He engaged in the hotel business with an uncle at Stockbridge and later became proprietor of the well-known Red Lion Inn and Heaton Hall there, both of which presently are operated by his son. He also managed several hotels in Florida and North Carolina.
In public life, he earned and won high esteem from all political parties because it was apparent that his endeavors were inspired with the sole purpose of protecting and promoting the welfare of his country. In Massachusetts, he was a member of the Legislature in 1904-1907, and the Senate in 1908-1911, serving the latter as its President for three years. He was elected to Congress in 1912, remaining in this office continuously until 1945, having refused to run for re-election in November, 1944, because of ill health. He was the ranking Republican member of the Ways and Means Committee and was on the Joint Committee on Taxation. It was he who launched the Congressional investigation of the Pennsylvania anthracite industry, resulting in government regulations to prevent the public from being gouged. He called for the impeachment of Henry A. Wallace as Secretary of Agriculture in 1936, after Wallace had termed a Supreme Court decision abolishing the AAA a "legalized steal," fought against Wallace's agricultural theories and ridiculed the Roosevelt Brain Trust.
On October 25, 1893, he married Sylvia E. Shares of New Haven, Connecticut, who died in 1943. He is survived by a son, Heaton I. Treadway, of Stockbridge.
He was raised a Master Mason October 20, 1892, in Occidental Lodge of Stockbridge, and served as its Worshipful Master in 1904. As previously stated, in Grand Lodge he served as District Deputy Grand Master and as Junior Grand Warden. He was exalted in Monument Chapter, R.A.M., of Great Barrington June 12, 1893; and was knighted in Berkshire Commandery of Pittsfield April 20; 1896. He became a member of Onota Lodge of Perfection, Pittsfield, December 7, 1906; Massasoit Council of Princes of Jerusalem, Springfield, January 3, 1907; Springfield Chapter of Rose Croix January 24, 1907, and Massachusetts Consistory, April 26, 1907. He later demitted from the Springfield bodies to become a Charter Member of the corresponding bodies of the Rite in Pittsfield. He was created a Sovereign Grand Inspector General, Honorary Member of the Supreme Council, 33°, for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, October 1, 1912; crowned an Active Member September 28, 1933, and became an Emeritus Member September 25, 1944,
He was a Trustee of the Lee Savings Bank, Lee, Massachusetts, and a Director of two insurance companies - the New England Fire and the Berkshire Life. He held membership in the Stockbridge Golf and Tennis Club, the Park Club of Pittsfield, and the Chevy Chase and Burning Tree Clubs of Washington, D. C.
Leland C. Talbot, who served as Brother Treadway's Secretary for ten years, has paid the following well-deserved tribute to his public life:
"His energy was unlimited, his zeal and patriotism unparalleled and his efforts to serve every man, woman and child in his district, without regard to race, creed, color or political affiliation, endeared him to the hearts of all who had occasion to contact him. It seemed to me that he literally burned himself out in his congressional work and for the past two years was unable to meet any further demands upon his mind or body. Massachusetts has lost one of its most prominent statesmen."
The funeral services were held at two-thirty o'clock in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Stockbridge, on Wednesday, February 19th, the Grand Lodge being represented by Right Worshipful Henry G. Pollard, as the personal representative of the Most Worshipful Grand Master.
"He walked through life and left his impress here;
He still lives on in ways we cannot know.
His love of life and living is not lost;
His spirit carries on in those he loved
And reaches out to touch humanity,
A heritage continuing through the years."
Fraternally submitted
Melvin M. Johnson
Frank E. Peirson
Harold L. Williams
Committee
