Ely, Joseph B. (Joseph Buell), 1881-1956

found: NUCMC data from Westfield Athenaeum for His Collection, 1899-1970s(Joseph Buell Ely, son of Henry Wilson and Sarah N. (Buell) Ely was born in Westfield on Feb. 22, 1881. He was the ninth generation of his family to live in this area. He attended Westfield schools and Williams College, from which he graduated in 1902. In 1905, he received his law degree from Harvard University and entered law practice with his father. On May 1, 1906, Joseph married Harriet Zelda Dyson, a Westfield native and graduate of Westfield Normal School and Mt. Holyoke College. They had a son Richard who also went to Harvard and practiced law. Ely was the 48th governor of Massachusetts, serving from 1931-1935. First elected in 1930, he ran as a "wet" candidate in favor of the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment and the Massachusetts Baby Volstead Act; stronger state control of power and light; a state Department of Commerce to benefit Massachusetts industries; a revision of the Massachusetts tax system; and home rule for Boston and other cities of the state. He defeated Republican incumbent Frank G. Allen to become the first Democrat to serve in the state's highest office since World War I; also found as J.B. Ely; wrote The American Dream, in 1944)