William was an industrious man who started his career as a machinist in the Singer Manufacturing Company's New York factory in 1853. He later married Vouletti Theresa Singer one of Isaac Merritt Singer's many daughters. His father, Samuel Proctor, was a cabinet maker in Tennessee and Derby, CT. His mother was Maria Fash. William's parents and several siblings are buried in the Colonial Cemetery also known as the Old Derby Uptown Burying Ground near New Haven CT.

William worked for Singer for decades helping to create a world wide enterprise. Eventually Singer left the United States to live in England and turned over the full operations of the company to George Ross McKenzie as President and William as Vice President. The two men became good friends and together they explored the mid Delaware region in the late 1860s. The two apparently recognized Sullivan County as an ideal location to build their summer estates, each only a few miles from the river in the town of Lumberland.

Access was by horse and carriage and roads were gravel or rutted dirt. What made the land so attractive was the proximity to New York City via the Erie Railroad to Port Jervis, NY or Shohola, PA. Still, it was an all day trip when William and George built their country homes. William's home was an English Tudor named Loch Ada, built overlooking the tranquil lake he named after his daughter, Ada Olive. His Loch Ada mansion was designed by H. J. Hardenburg, who had designed the Waldorf-Astoria, the Plaza Hotel, and the Hotel Manhattan.

Vouletti Theresa Singer

January 4, 1840 - - December 14, 1913

Vouletti's mother was Mary Ann Sponsler and her father was Isaac Singer. William Fash Proctor and his wife Vouletti were married April 22, 1862 in Derby, CT where William's family resided. They had three children: William Ross, Charles Edward, and Ada Olive. The Ross middle name was to honor his good friend George Ross MacKenzie. This name has now been carried forward several generations.

William Henry Singer

October 2, 1835 - September 4, 1909

William Henry Singer was born in Pittsburg, the son of George and Elizabeth Singer who had moved there from Greensburg, PA. His father was one of the most prominent furniture dealers in the Pittsburg area. His mother, Elizabeth Fleigher was a descendant of one of the oldest families in the state.

He was educated in the public schools and was a diligent student but was too eager to start a career to attend college. He first obtained a position as an apprentice with the steel firm Schoenger & Co. In 1858 he became a dominant partner in the firm of Singer, Nimick & Co. along with his older brother John and the Nimick brothers Alexander and William. His other brother George was treasurer. He was responsible for several technical developments, continuing a company tradition of innovation in cast-crucible-steel manufacturing. He was an inventor of many labor saving processes in the manufacture of steel and was the author of a number of professional publications relating to the process.

In 1879 when crucible-steel was determined to be inferior to the Bessemer process steel, he organized another company in order to raise capital to build a Bessemer plant. This company was named the Pittsburgh Bessemer Steel Co. and he became its President. In 1883 it was absorbed by Andrew Carnegie and William accepted his payment in Carnegie Brothers Co. stock and became a director in the company.

He died in an automobile accident while visiting his daughter and son in law at Watch Hill, RI. The automobile in which he was a passenger was driven off the road into a ditch by an unpredictable horse and farm wagon. William was the only casualty of the incident

William Ross Proctor

April 5, 1863 - February 6, 1930

William Ross Proctor grew up in New York City where he attended the public schools. He graduated from the Scool of Mines of Columbia University in 1884 with a degree in architecture. He took up the practise of architecture in Pittsburgh, PA, but after the death of his father, he retired from the profession to take charge of his father's estate.

While living in Pittsburg he meet Elizabeth Singer to whom he was married June 9, 1886. The wedding took place in the grand home of William Henry and Hester Laird Singer.

Later he became a special partner in the New York Stock Exchange firm of Barbour & Co. In 1915 he became a special partner in the firm Abbott, Hoppin & Co.

He held memberships in over thirty clubs and societies, among which were the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Architectural League of New York, the Union League Club, the Society of Colonial Wars in the United States and the New England Genealogical Society. He was Vice President of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society where he was instrumental in overseeing the construction of their new building in 1929.

Vouletti Theresa Proctor

October 26, 1891 - November 26, 1976