Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut, Part 1

Author: H. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1899
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1795

USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut > Part 1

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BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY CONNECTICUT

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COMMEMORATIVE

BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD

-OF-

FAIRFIELD COUNTY,

CONNECTICUT,

CONTAINING

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT AND REPRE- SENTATIVE CITIZENS, AND OF MANY OF THE EARLY SETTLED FAMILIES.

ILLUSTRATED. .

CHICAGO: J. H. BEERS & CO. 1899.

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Reprinted by - HIGGINSON BOOK COMPANY 148 Washington Street Post Office Box 778 Salem, Massachusetts 01970

Phone: 978/745-7170 Fax: 978/745-8025

A complete catalog of thousands of genealogy and local history reprints is available from Higginson Books. Please write or call to order, or for more information.

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PREFACE.

T HE importance of placing in book form biographical history of representative citi- zens-both for its immediate worth and for its value to coming generations-is ad- mitted by all thinking people; and within the past decade there has been a grow- ing interest in this commendable means of perpetuating biography and family genealogy.

That the public is entitled to the privileges afforded by a work of this nature needs no assertion at our hands; for one of our greatest Americans has said that the history of any country resolves itself into the biographies of its stout, earnest and representative citi- zens. This medium, then, serves more than a single purpose; while it perpetuates biogra- phy and family genealogy, it records history, much of which would be preserved in no other way.

In presenting the COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD to its patrons, the pub- lishers have to acknowledge, with gratitude, the encouragement and support their enter- prise has received, and the willing assistance rendered in enabling them to surmount the many unforeseen obstacles to be met with in the production of a work of this character. In nearly every instance the material composing the sketches was gathered from those im- mediately interested, and then submitted in type-written form for correction and revision The volume, which is one of generous amplitude, is placed in the hands of the public with the belief that it will be found a valuable addition to the library, as well as an invaluable contribution to the historical literature of the State of Connecticut.

THE PUBLISHERS.

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

HINEAS TAYLOR BAR- NUM, whose eventful life was closed at his home in Bridgeport, Conn., on April 7, 1891, was a lineal des- cendant in the sixth genera- tion from Thomas Barnum, who was one of the first eight settlers of the town of

Danbury, Conn., they purchasing the land from the Indians in 1684, and making their residence there in the spring of 1685.

Ephraim Barnum (2), grandson of Thomas (2), born in 1733, married, in 1753, Keziah Covell, by whom he had ten children. He married (sec- ond) in 1776, Mrs. Rachel Starr Beebe, daughter of Jonathan and Rachel (Taylor) Starr, and wid- ow of Jonathan Beebe, of Danbury. They had five children, among them being Philo, born in 1778, married Polly Fairchild. of Newtown, Conn., who died in 1808, leaving five chil- dren. He then married Irene Taylor, daughter of Phineas and Mollie (Sherwood) Taylor, of Bethel, and among the five children of this mar- riage was Phineas Taylor, born July 5, 1810, at Bethel, in Fairfield county.

The grandfather of our subject was a captain in the Revolutionary war. His father was a tailor, farmer and sometimes hotel keeper, and Phineas drove cows to pasture, weeded garden, ploughed fields, made hay, and, when possible, went to school. Later on he became clerk in a country store established by his father. The lat- ter dying in 1825, leaving the family in compari- tively indigent circumstances, young Phineas then started into the world, securing employment for a time with a mercantile firm at Grassy Plains, his remuneration being six dollars per month. In 1826 he went to the city of Brooklyn as clerk in the store of Oliver Taylor, and for a time in the following year he was in business in New York. In 1829 he had a fruit and confectionery store in his grandfather's carriage house in Bethel, and also had on hand "a lottery business," and was auctioneer in the book trade. In 1831, in

company with his uncle Alanson Taylor, he opened a country store in Bethel. Several months later the nephew bought out the uncle's interest, and also the same year, on October 19, he issued the first copy of the Herald of Freedom. Unfortunately he lacked the experience which in- duces caution, and was soon plunged into litiga- tion, being finally sentenced to pay on one suit a fine of $100, and be imprisoned in the jail for sixty days. He had a good room, lived well, and had continued visits from friends, edited his paper as usual, and received large accessions to the subscription lists. At the expiration of his im- prisonment he received an ovation, and after a sumptuous dinner, with toasts, speeches, and ode and oration, in a coach drawn by six horses, ac- companied by a band of music, forty horsemen, sixty carriages of citizens and the marshal of ora -. tion of the day, amid roar of cannon and cheers of a multitude, Mr. Barnum rode to his home in Bethel, where the band played "Home Sweet Home," and the procession then returned to Dan- bury. His editor's career was one of continual contest, but he persevered in the publication of the Herald of Freedom until the spring of 1835. He then removed to New York, and after being engaged as a drummer for several firms opened a private boarding house, at the same time pur- chasing an interest in a grocery store.

In 1835, Mr. Barnum began the business which has made his name a household word in all civilized nations. His start as a showman began by the purchase and exhibition of Joyce- Heth, a colored woman, said to have been the nurse of Gen. George Washington, and 161 years of age. His next venture was the exhibi- tion of "Signor Antonio " and a " Mr. Roberts." In 1836 he connected himself with Aaron Tur- ner's traveling circus, going south, in the follow- ing year he organized a new company and went west, reaching the Missouri river where he pur- chased a steamer and sailed down the river for New Orleans. There he traded the steamer for sugar and molasses, and returned north, arriving at New York June 4, 1838. In 1841 he bought

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the American Museum in that city, and com- menced a series of improvements by way of at- tractive exhibitions. He introduced the lecture room, a reform of the stage or theatre. He was constantly searching for and obtaining something new, amusing and wonderful, and all the exhibi- tions he made were instructive to the people, moral and elevating. His methods of bringing his institution constantly before the minds of the people, and the success thereby secured, first impressed the American mind with the advan- tages of advertising. In 1842 he secured Gen. Tom Thumb for exhibition; in 1844 he took him in company with his parents across the ocean. They went to London, and soon to the presence of the Queen at Buckingham Palace. From London the party went to Paris, where the Gen- eral received great attention. He was invited to the presence of the King and Queen and the royal family. For the first day's exhibition to the general public in Paris Mr. Barnum received 5, 500 francs. From Paris the party traveled through France and Belgium and back to Eng- land, where the profitable exhibition continued until the return to New York in 1847. The General's father on arriving from England with a handsome fortune, placed a portion of it at interest for the General, more for himself, and with thirty thousand dollars of it built a substan- tial dwelling on the corner of North avenue and Main street, Bridgeport.

After returning to America Mr. Barnum made a tour with his little General through the United States and Cuba. It was during this tour in 1847-48 that he had his beautiful dwelling built at Bridgeport, which he called " Iranistan," the word signifying "Oriental Villa " and on Novem- ber 14. 1848, nearly one thousand guests were present at an old-fashioned "house warming." It stood a little back from the northeast corner of the present Fairfield and Iranistan avenues, and some years after it accidently took fire and was consumed. This beautiful and very remark- able structure, built in oriental style, was the first great boom for the celebrity of Bridgeport. The picture of it went over the country in the illustrated newspapers, as "a thing of beauty," a marvel of wonder, and an honor to all Amer- ica.

The Jennie Lind enterprise was the next great undertaking of Mr. Barnum. It was conceived by him in October, 1849, the engagement made with the great singer January 9, 1850, by which $187, 500 was to be deposited by Mr. Barnum in advance of all proceedings, and which was done. Miss Lind arrived in New York September 1, 1850, and the first concert occurred September

1 1 following, the proceeds of which amounted to $17,864.05. Ninety-three concerts were given under Mr. Barnum's contract, terminating in May, 1851, the receipts for which amounted to $112,- 161.34. It was the greatest project of the kind ever introduced into America, unto that day, and probably to the present, unless it be " Barnum's Greatest Show on Earth," and was successfully, and even grandly, carried through. During this time the American Museum was running success- fully with Tom Thumb in attendance, besides many other entertainments added every year. About this time he fitted out his "Great Asiatic Caravan, Museum and Menagerie, " at an expense of upward of one hundred thousand dollars, and exhibited it for four years.

In 1851 Mr. Barnum purchased of William H. Noble, of Bridgeport, the undivided half of his late father's estate, consisting of fifty acres of land lying on the east side of the river, opposite the city of Bridgeport. They intended this as the nucleus of a new city, which they concluded could soon be built in consequence of many nat- ural advantages it possessed. In view of secur- ing this end, a clock company, in which Mr. Bar- num was a stockholder, was prevailed upon to transfer its establishment from the town of Litch- field to the new city. In addition to this it was proposed to transfer the entire business of the Jerome Clock Company of New Haven, to East Bridgeport, and for this purpose Mr. Barnum lent that company money and notes to the amount of $110,000, with the positive assurance that this would be the extent of the company's call on him; but by peculiar management on the part of the company they soon had Mr. Barnum involved to the amount of over half a million dollars. Then they failed, and after absorbing all of Mr. Barnum's fortune they paid but from twelve to fifteen per cent of the company's obligations, while, in the end, they never removed to East Bridgeport. Mr. Barnum's extrication of himself from this gulf of obligation, by paying such a per- centage on the whole as could not be met by the sale of all his property at the time, was a finan- cial feat of the highest genius, energy and honor.

Early in 1857 Mr. Barnum again went to Europe, taking with him Gen. Tom Thumb, and also little Cordelia Howard and her parents, and traveled through England, Germany and Hol- land, experiencing with the little folks a most cordial and enthusiastic greeting all the way. It was soon after his return from this European tour that the beautiful "Iranistan " was de- stroyed by fire. Early in 1858 Mr. Barnum re- turned to England, taking Tom Thumb, and with some help to manage the exhibition through

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Scotland and Wales, as well as elsewhere, he de- voted himself to the " lecture field," taking for his theme " The Art of Making Money", and by it he made money, hand over hand, and sent it home to apply on the clock enterprise. In 1859 he returned to the United States, and pushing on his museum found himself, in 1860, within twenty thousand dollars of extinguishing the last claim from the old clock business. This he pro- vided for, and resumed the full control of his old museum. In 1860 he built a new house in Bridgeport, on Fairfield avenue, about one hundred rods west of the site of "Iranistan," which was named "Lindencroft," in honor of Jenny Lind, and gave his attention anew to the building of his pet city, East Bridgeport. This had already made great progress. In 1856 the Wheeler & Wilson Sewing Machine Company had purchased the old clock shop, greatly enlarged it. and were employing something like a thousand hands. Churches. dwellings and other manu- factories, including that of the Howe Sewing Ma- chine Company, had been built, and the place had become quite a city. From 1860 to the time of his death, Mr. Barnum, although engaged with the New York Museum for years, and afterward with his great show, did not cease to give much attention and energetic effort to the building, prosperity and success of the city of Bridgeport.

In 1861 Mr. Barnum introduced into his Museum Commodore Nut, and in 1862 he se- cured another dwarf in the person of Lavinia Warren. In 1865 the American Museum in New York was burned with great loss, but Mr. Barnum at once built another, which was also burned with great loss in 1868. By these two catastrophes about a million dollars worth of Mr. Barnum's property in one dwelling and two Museums had been destroyed by fire. In 1867 he sold his home, "Lindencraft," and removed to the locality where he resided for years, com- mencing the erection of that residence in 1868. This he named " Waldemere," the word mean- ing "Woods-by-the-sea." When he purchased this land, it lay adjoining the west end of Sea- side Park, being a portion of an old farm, and extended from Atlantic street to the shore of the Sound. Believing as he did then that Seaside Park would . be a very great advantage to the people of the city, he gave seven acres lying in front of his residence to the city for enlargement of the park. In 1884 he gave thirty acres more, extending the park westward toward Black Rock Harbor.

In 1870 Mr. Barnum commenced preparation for a great show and enterprise, comprising a museum, menagerie, caravan, hippodrome and

circus, and to this show from that time on he devoted a great portion of his untiring energy. This he styled "The Greatest Show on Earth." This show opened for a few weeks in the spring every year in the large Madison Square Garden in New York, and during each summer it visited the principal cities in the United States and Canada, from Quebec and Montreal, on the East, to Omaha, Neb., on the West; exhibiting under immense tents, in one of which could be seated 20,000 persons. It consisted of a large menagerie of rare wild beasts, a museum of human phenomena, and living specimens of sav- age and strange tribes and nations, including, without regard to cost, everything rare and mar- velous which his wealth, energy and persever- ance, and experience as a public manager could gather. The " Ethnological Congress " of this show contained the greatest collection of differ- ent types of strange and savage tribes gathered from the remotest corners of the earth ever seen together. The great elephant, "Jumbo," pur- chased by Mr. Barnum from the Royal Zoological Gardens, London, being the largest land animal seen for centuries, and forty other African and Indian elephants, including two baby elephants- these and scores of other trained animals trans- ported on nearly a hundred railway cars belong- ing to Mr. Barnum, created an expense of $5,000 to $6,000 each day, and brought over a million dollars in a single season. In the latter years of his life Mr. Barnum took several experienced partners, the contract of co-partnership extend- ing for years, and arrangements were made for its continuance after that time by their succes- sors. The winter headquarters of the show, which still bears Mr. Barnum's name, is located at Bridgeport, and the buildings and grounds are annually inspected by thousands.

In 1875 Mr. Barnum was elected mayor of Bridgport, and as he always had the best in- terests at heart, it is needless to say that his ad- ministration was eminently successful. The im- provement in the Park City, during the past decade, can easily be traced back to the pioneer hand of this generous gentleman. He secured to the city the beautiful Mountain Grove Ceme- tery. He laid out many streets, and planted hundred of trees in Bridgeport proper, built blocks of houses, many of which he sold to me- chanics on the installment plan, thus providing a home for the thrifty with as little cost as would be the payment of rent. Bridgeport, with its many handsome gifts, notably the Barnum In- stitute of Science and History, from this generous and eminent man, will revere his name for gene- rations to come; and in all cities, towns and

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hamlets of this, or any country, the people will remember P. T. Barnum and his " Greatest Show on Earth," when all else is forgotten.

Mr. Barnum also gave to Tufts College, Mass., $100,000, with which was erected and stocked the Barnum Museum of Natural History. Poli- tically Mr. Barnum was a Democrat previous to the breaking out of the Civil war, but after that period up to the time of his death he was a Re- publican. In 1865 he was elected a representa- tive to the General Assembly of Connecticut, from the town of Fairfield, and from Bridgeport in 1877.

In 1876 Mr. Barnum wrote a book of fiction founded on fact, entitled "The Adventure of Lion Jack, or How Menageries are Made." which was dedicated to the boys of America. In 1881, Mr. Barnum presented to Bethel, his birthplace, a bronze fountain, which was made in Germany. From an impromptu speech made on the oc- casion the following is an extract: " My friends: Among all the varied scenes of an active and eventful life, crowded with strange incidents of struggle and excitement, of joy and sorrow, tak- ing me often through foreign lands and bringing me face to face with the king in his palace and the peasant in his turf-covered hut, I have in- variably cherished-with the most affectionate remembrance of the place of my birth-the old village meeting house, without steeple or bell, where in the square family pew I sweltered in summer and shivered through my Sunday-school lessons in winter, and the old school house, where the ferrule, the birchen rod and rattan did active duty, of which I deserved and received a liberal share."

On November 8, 1829, Mr. Barnum was married to Charity Hallett, a native of Bethel, who bore him children as follows: Caroline C., Helen M., Frances I., and Pauline T. The mother of these, who was born October 28, 1808, died November 19, 1873. On September 16, 1874. the father married Miss Nancy Fish, of Southport, Lancashire, England. In 1889 "Waldemere " was removed to make room for "Marina," the present residence of the family at Bridgeport.

H ON. SAMUEL SHERMAN, of Brookfield, is one of Fairfield county's ablest and most honored sons, and his life and character are well worthy of study, especially by the young, who may find a helpful suggestion in its stren- uous and well-directed effort after high ideals.

Mr. Sherman was born June 2, 1828, upon the old Sherman homestead in Brookfield (an

estate which has now been in the possession of the family for more than a century), and in his early years received only the educational oppor- tunities common to country youth of his day, his winters being devoted to study in the local schools, while the summer seasons were spent in farm work. His active mind was far from being satisfied with these advantages, and at the age of fourteen he determined to secure a liberal edu- cation. He learned the Greek alphabet in the hayfield, and carried in his pocket a Latin gram- mar to study at intervals of his labor. For two or three terms he pursued his studies in the select school in his native town, and then went to the Connecticut Academy at Cheshire, where he prepared for college. In 1846 he entered Trinity College, Hartford, and in July, 1850, he was graduated from that institution, ranking among the six highest in his class. Their at- tainments in scholarship and in the requirements of the curriculum were so equal in merit that their respective college honors had to be deter- mined by lot-an eventuality rarely known in college history-the valedictory and salutatory thus falling to his classmates, while Mr. Sher- man took the first oration, which was deemed third in rank, though each one of the remarka- ble six was entitled to compete for the highest honors. While in college he became identified with the Psi Upsilon fraternity. In the last year of his college life Mr. Sherman began the study of law, and after his graduation he entered the State and National Law School at Ballston Spa. N. Y., under Prof. Fowler, where he continued two terms, and after passing a rigid examination, on motion before the full Bench of the supreme court, sitting at the capitol in Albany in 1851, he was admitted to the Bar. Upon receiving his diploma he removed to New York, where he opened an office and commenced the practice of law. In 1852 he was called to Philadelphia on business, and thence went to Washington, where he became acquainted with the late Vice-Presi- dent King, then in ill health, and was invited to join him on his visit to Cuba, where Mr. King died. Mr. Sherman returned with his remains to Mobile, and they were interred at Selma, Ala. Soon afterward Mr. Sherman made a tour of the then slave-holding States, studying the workings of the institution in town and country. Returning to New York via Canada, in 1853, he resumed the practice of his profession in Wall street.

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Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut, Part 1

Author: H. H. Beers & Co. Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1795

Author: H. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1899
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1795