H. Franklin Douglass, president of the Troy Sunshade Company, is one of the citizens of this thriving community who has firmly established his status as a sound and reliable business man of worth and judgment. He was born at Geneva, N. Y., a son of William and Mary Caroline (Felthousen) Douglass, and as a youth was taken by his parents to Seneca Falls, N. Y., where he was given the advantages of a public school education. There also he learned the art of telegraphy and subsequently followed that vocation at Cleveland, where he had as neighbors the Rockefeller brothers, John D. and William, at that time engaged in the grain business in the Forest City. Coming to Troy some years ago, Mr. Douglass embarked in the coal business, and, after having been identified with a number of enterprises, all of which benefited through his wise judgment and business acumen, he associated himself with August G. Stouder and others in the formation of the Troy Carriage Sunshade Company, of which concern he has since been president. Not only through the development of this enterprise, but through his connection with other business concerns and with civic affairs, Mr. Douglass has been a material factor in the upbuilding and development of Troy, and no public enterprise is considered complete that does not have his name on its list of supporters. A complete history of the Troy Carriage Sunshade Company will be found in the industrial section of this work. He is married and has one daughter, the wife of Bond Houser, of this city. Mr. Douglass was married in 1911 to Lillian Thurber, a daughter of Wm. F. and Florence (Turk) Thurber, of Addison, N. Y. There were two children in this family: W. H. and Mrs. Douglass.