Background
Auten, James Ernest was born on July 8, 1883 in Berlin Township, Knox County, Ohio, United States. Son of William A. and Ida (Steele) Auten.
Auten, James Ernest was born on July 8, 1883 in Berlin Township, Knox County, Ohio, United States. Son of William A. and Ida (Steele) Auten.
Public schools and mechanic engineering course International Corresponding School.
Employe Goodrich Rubber Company, Akron, O., 1898. Bookkeeper and cashier J. Parker Alexander Brick Company, Akron, 1901-1903. Draftsman Sterling Boiler Company, 1903-1904.
Developing and designing pumping and elcc. machinery in engineering departments, successively with Wellman, Seaver Morgan Company, and White Motor Company, Cleveland, Ohio H. H. Bridgewater Machine Company, Akron, O. Sandusky Foundry Machine Company, Rice Barton & Fails Company, Worcester, Massachusetts, Barber Coleman Company, Rockford, Illinois, Western Electric Company, Chicago, 1908-1909.
Master mechanic Indiana Harbor (Indiana) Works, American Steel Foundries, 1909-1911.
Engineer of construction Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, Akron, 1911-1914. Charge of designing new plant, later assistant to president Cadillac Motor Carolina Company, 1914-1918.
Assistant to president Sampson Tractor Company, 1918-1920. With Lafayette Motor Company, later general manager Nash Motor Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1920-1933.
Associate with Universal Winding Company, Providence, Rhode Island, 1933-1936.
President and director General Asphalt Company (now Barber Asphalt Corporation), 1936-1941. Also during period 1936-1941, inclusive, was managing director Trinidad Lake Asphalt Operating Limited company. Deputy chairman and director Trinidad Lake Petroleum Limited company, Petroleum Development Limited company, Trinidad Lake Asphalt Limited company, Trinidad Lake Asphalt (Overseas), Limited., and president and director Uinta Ry Company (Mack, Colorado).
With West Palm Beach, Washington, District of Columbia, 1942-1945.
Clubs: Racquet (Philadelphia). Mason. Pioneer designer, constructor and operator American built commercial electric steel melting furnace.
Married Bertha J. Harre, December 17, 1908 (died July 1936). Married second, Mary J. Dillon, November 21, 1942. Children: Hudson West., Richard L., James William, Mary Steele.