Jefferson Glass Company in Steubenville, Ohio. This company was under the leadership of Harry Bastow, as president and general manager. Frank had become a valued design/decorating man, and when Bastow went to Coudersport, Pennsylvania three years later to establish the Bastow Glass Company he brought young Frank along with him. This new plant had a short life, however, being consumed by fire in 1904. Frank moved on to Wheeling, West Virginia and sought employment again with the Northwood Glass Company. This early history of Frank Fenton perhaps sheds some light on the similarities between early Fenton, Northwood and Jefferson Glass.
    The ambitious Frank decided that if he may as well work for himself as for an employer. Together with his older brother, John, they raised the initial seed money and founded the Fenton Art Glass Company in Martins Ferry, Ohio. The two brothers secured the additional funds needed to get the small company up and running through the sale of stock to a small group of private investors. Among them was J.C. Dent, who became the first president of the company.
    Initially, FAGCO only bought "blanks" from glass manufacturers for decorating. As many of

these manufacturers also decorated, they became threatened by the new decorating company. Only a year later these companies began to withhold sales of glass, so the decision was made to set up their own glass factory. The Fenton brothers turned to Harry Bastow, who had been an important figure in Frank's glass making/decorating career. A man of Bastow's experience would prove invaluable in designing, locating and building their new factory. Thus the move to Williamstown, West Virginia was made. At this time Dent turned over the presidency to John, while Frank assumed the post of general manager. Bastow and the Fentons bickered over money issues, and the job of completing the factory was turned over to Jacob Rosenthal.
    The new plant was ready for business by January 1907, and Rosenthal stayed on as its superintendent. Jacob Rosenthal was born in Pittsburgh in 1854. He had learned glass-making from the many factories in the region. During this time he developed a large number of exclusive formulas for glasses with unusual colors (the most famous were his "caramel slag" and the golden agate). In addition to his formulations and skill, Rosenthal was instrumental in bringing a skilled glass-making workforce to the relatively remote Williamstown. Jacob's son, Clarence Rosenthal, was put in charge of the mold shop; new designs were scratched in outline on blank molds by Frank Fenton, and then the mold shop