Harold Titcomb was called “One of Farmington’s

most noted citizens.”
By David Farady
Special to the Sun Journal

FARMINGTON – This Thanksgiving commemorates the 50th anniversary of the death of Farmington’s Harold Abbot Titcomb, an internationally celebrated engineer and local philanthropist.

Titcomb was renowned for his ability to evaluate a mine’s worth. His skill took him to six continents as a consultant.

He engaged people with his confidence and liveliness. He was known as “Uncle Hat” (from his initials H.A.T.) around town. Among his gifts to the community was the land to develop a skiing area, then known as the Titcomb Memorial Ski Slope, now Titcomb Mountain, in memory of son Jack, who died near the end of World War II, shot by a sniper.

Titcomb’s vivacity took him to all corners of the globe, and it was with that same energy that he embraced life when he came back to Farmington.

A majority of his life was spent traveling around the world as a consultant for various mining industries. However, he never lost touch with the community his great-grandfather Stephen Titcomb had settled more than a century earlier.

Born in 1874 in Brooklyn, N.Y., of John Abbot Titcomb and Virginia Chandler, Titcomb attended grammar school in Farmington but did not seem destined to settle in Maine. The majority of his education took place elsewhere, including Shurtleff College in Illinois and the Columbia School of Mines.

During his first business trip to London, Titcomb saw a painting called “The Two Sisters” in the Tate Gallery. Quite taken by the beauty of one of the sisters, he arranged to meet with and eventually married Ethel Brignall in July of 1908.

He worked out of London after he was married, and through his work he traveled to diverse places including Siberia, northern Rhodesia and Yugoslavia.

It was in Yugoslavia that he helped reopen a lead-zinc-silver mine that had not been operational since the 15th century. King Alexander of Yugoslavia presided over the opening ceremony and conferred the Order of St. Sava (grand officer) on Titcomb, who went on to serve as a consultant for the mine for 15 years.

Titcomb was a distinguished bowman in American and English archery circles. In 1943 he was elected president of the Royal Toxophilite Society of London. Already the only American elected into the society, he became the first American to be elected president.

The Maurice Thompson Medal of Honor, the highest American award that could be given to an archer, was conferred upon Titcomb in 1946.

After World War I, Titcomb and his family bought land in Farmington, choosing the house on the corner of Academy and High streets. The family split time between England and Maine until World War II, when they permanently settled in Farmington.

Titcomb was actively engaged in the community. He was a trustee and chairman of Finance Committee for Franklin Memorial Hospital and president of both the Cutler Memorial Library and the Bonney Woods Corp.

In his obituary, The Franklin County Journal labeled Titcomb, “One of Farmington’s most noted citizens.”

Copy the Story Link