USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > A modern history of New Haven and eastern New Haven County, Vol. II > Part 13
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On the paternal side he is descended from an old Mansfield, Connecticut, family of English lineage, while on the distaff side he traces the line back to Scotch ancestors who early settled in New England. His father was a Civil war veteran, serving as a non-com- missioned officer in a New York regiment until physically disabled by wounds which he sustained on the battlefield. He was then honorably discharged and returned to his native state.
An eminent American statesman has said that the most forceful men of the country are those who have back of them the New England ancestry and have received the training of the virile west. Such is the record of Lucius Seymour Storrs, who completed his education
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in the University of Nebraska, which in 1890 conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Science, and fourteen years later honored him with the Master of Arts degree. Through- out almost his entire life he has been actively connected with railway operation and manage- ment. He held technical positions with the Northern Pacific Railroad Company and for a time was connected with the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company. Since coming to New England he has been a prominent factor in railway and financial circles and he was president of the New England Investment & Security Company which held electric railways acquired by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Street Railway Company from 1907 until 1911. On the 1st of July, 1912, he was elected to the vice presidency of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and he is also president of the Connecticut Company and a director of the Union Trust Company of Springfield, Massachusetts.
On the 24tb of June, 1894, Mr. Storrs was united in marriage to Miss Mary L. Cooper, a daughter of Governor J. A. Cooper of Denver, Colorado. His religious faith is that of the Congregational church and he holds membership with the Sigma Psi, with the American Academy for the Advancement of Science and the American Institute of Mining Engineers. The wise utilization of his time and talents has led to the development of his powers which have, in the natural course of events, brought him to the position which he now occupies.
HON. FRANK J. RICE.
New Haven had, in the second decade of the twentieth century, a demonstration of the possibilities of citizenship which was at once pathetic and inspiring, an example of public service which was both thrilling and tragic. The city charter adopted in 1900 gave great opportunities to the mayor, and there were those who feared for the misuse of its powers. They were forced to admit, in the course of the unprecedented term of service of Frank J. Rice, that the charter's opportunities for a man of high ideals outweighed all other considerations. New Haven is a democratic city, but the office of mayor usually has gone to some man of well recognized prominence either in public affairs or in politics. When Frank J. Riee was named for the office in 1909 he was known merely as a popular president of the Young Men's Republican Club, a manager of some large central properties for a prominent real estate owner, a former member for several terms of the board of councilmen. Back of that he had been a trolley conduetor. He was highly trusted by those who did business with him, highly popular with those who knew him in politics or social affairs, but he was not, in the superior sense, a prominent citizen of New Haven. Many exacting citizens looked puzzled, and some of his political opponents looked pleased.
There was a confident effort to defeat him in 1909, but he won the election by a plurality of four hundred and two. Three months later he came to the chair of the mayor, a plain, simple, sincere citizen, with the desire to serve the city he loved uppermost in his mind. He made no promises except the comprehensive one to do his best. He did, however, outline a few of his plans. One of them was to give New Haven some better sidewalks, and that, though one of the less important of his achievements, is characteristic of his administration of city affairs. He found the sidewalks of New Haven of ancient and billowy brick, of cracked and crumbling asphalt, of unfinished gravel. In less than six years he had, against indifference, prejudice and selfish opposition, given New Haven more than two hundred miles of modern concrete sidewalk and accomplished this simply by keeping at it.
For almost seven years Frank J. Rice gave of his best to serve the city of New Haven. It should have been eight full years, but he wore out before the end of his time. In the truest. highest sense he spared not himself. He took his office and his opportunities seriously-too seriously, perhaps. He was careful and anxious about many things. He was never satisfied unless a problem was solved in the best possible way, unless the very best appointment was made, unless he could give his most intense attention to every subject. He responded to every call the people made upon him. He listened to every man's troubles and spent as much time with the humblest as with the most important citizen. He grew, perforce, into the hearts of the people. They reelected bim in 1911 by a plurality of two thousand and twenty-nine. He gave them another term of unselfish service. In 1913,
HON. FRANK J. RICE
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a definitely democratic year, he was again elected, by a plurality of one thousand two hundred and one. In 1915 the city broke all records by reelecting a mayor to a fourth term, and the mayor was Frank J. Rice, this time by a plurality of two thousand and thirteen.
By the time New Haven had really come to know and begun truly to appreciate Mayor Rice it lost him. How he served himself out, how he gave up his life to keep true to his ideals, is a tragedy that will long leave its impress on New Haven. Too late his friends found they had been asking too much of him. Too late his political crities hushed their clamor when they found they had worried his sensitive spirit to the breaking point. Midway In the first year of his fourth term he broke under the strain, and though for several months more he made a brave attempt to rally to the task, though he conducted some of the more important of his official duties, he came back no more to the desk in city hall, where he had so faithfully done the greatest of his life's work, and on January 18, 1917, his brave spirit rose to the land of his eternal ideals.
Sincerely New Haven bowed its head in sorrow. By tens of thousands his fellow citizens passed before his bier, or stood by the way as the sad procession wended its way to Woolsey llall, or thronged the city of the dead where earth received his ashes. The proudest of his fellow citizens were humbly glad to pay their best respects in the solemn service in Woolsey Hall. It was such a funeral as New Haven had not seen in many a decade, and its demonstration was true to the core.
It was five days later. in the course of an address before an association of Yale alumni in another state, that President Hadley went out of his way to pay to Mayor Rice what, taken in its setting, must be considered a remarkable tribute. lle was speaking on the ideals of public service which Yale teaches, and he had mentioned the union of New Haven and Yale in the great anniversary pageant of the previous fall, when he said:
"The mayor of New Haven did not participate in this celebration. He had done much to help in the early stages, but at the time when it came he was on his deathbed-dying in office after having honorably served the city for several terms. Ile was not a Yale man, but with each successive year of his office he understood Yale better and worked more actively with us. With the announcement of his death came a message from the city asking if the funeral might be held in Yale University. On Sunday last thirty thousand citizens of New Haven, of every nationality, lined the streets to see the body of the chief magistrate borne from the city hall to Woolsey Hall, and then to its last resting place. Thus was celebrated the last seene in the drama which commemorated the coming of Yale to New Haven. The pageant had a worthier epilogue than human hand could have written."
Such is the great and central chapter in the forty-eight years of Frank J. Rice. The rest is but the setting. He was born in North Adams, Massaelmsetts, February 5, 1869. of a family whose new world progenitors settled in Vermont about 1790. His father was Jesse H. Rice. Frank J. Rice came to Cheshire, Connecticut, when quite young and was educated in the schools of that town and New Haven. At eighteen he left his books for the grocery business in the town of Cheshire. After three years he was employed by the firm of H. P. Ives & Company and afterward became its superintendent. When he first came to New Haven he was a conductor for the New Haven Street Railway Company for five years. Then he entered the employ of Frank Benedict, and when elected mayor was manager of some important real estate interests.
He was married in Clinton, Connecticut. to Miss Charlotte A. Watrous, a native of Clinton, this state, daughter of Spencer and Clarissa (Dowd) Watrous, representatives of old colonial families. Two children were born of this marriage, Russell L., July 8, 1894, bas been since, as he was before his father's death, manager of the real estate business which the mayor established in anticipation of his retirement from public life. He was married September 12. 1916. to Miss Mildred Hall, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert IFall, of an old Danbury family. The younger son, Mancel W. Rice, was born in New Haven, March 17, 1897, and enlisted in the One Hundred and Second United States Infantry, formerly the Second Connectient Regiment.
Frank J. Rice belonged to many fraternal organizations, including the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Elks, the Red Men, the Heptasophs, the Eagles, the Woodmen of the World, the Knights of Pythias, the Aryan Grotto and the Haru Gari. He was also identified with the
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Young Men's Christian Association and the Sons of Veterans, and was an honorary member of the Second Company. Governor's Foot Guard. He was a member of the Chamber of Com- merce and the Connectient Association of Mayors, of the Connectieut Fish and Game Pro- tective Association. the New England Business Men's Association, the New Haven Real Estate Board and the New Haven Board of Fire Underwriters. He was a consistent mem- ber of the First Methodist Episcopal church, of which also he was a trustee, and a director and trustee of the National Savings Bank and a trustee of the New Haven Hospital Society.
EMORY J. WALKER, M. D.
Dr. Emory J. Walker, engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in New Haven, was born in Brooklyn, Michigan. November 2, 1844. His ancestry is traced back to a very early period in the settlement of New England, for in 1643 the name of "Widow Walker" appears on the list of those who gave in the value of their estates at Rehoboth, Massachusetts, for a pro rata division of the lands. She had formerly resided at Weymouth, in the Plymouth eolony, and under the leadership of Rev. Samuel Newman went with the company to Reho- both She had two sons: James, of Taunton: and Philip, of Rehoboth. The latter was a weaver and a deed was given by him at Rehoboth in 1653. He held various positions of public trust and at the time of King Philip's war he contributed twenty-six pounds to aid in the prosecution of the conflict with the Indians. He married Jane Butterworth and the oldest of their six children was Samuel Walker, who in 1681 married Martha Ide, who was born in 1654 and passed away in 1700. Samuel Walker was admitted a freeman in 1682 and in King Philip's war he rendered active service, first as lieutenant and afterward as captain. The fourth of his eight children was Peter Walker, who was born in 1689 and died in 1760. In 1712 he married Mary Styles, whose birth oceurred in 1691 and who passed away about 1732. They had twelve children, the ninth being Lieutenant Moses Walker, who enlisted at Rehoboth with minute men, following the "Lexington Alarm." and aided in the proseention of the war for independenee. On the 15th of March, 1753, he wedded Sarah Bowen, who was born January 2, 1735, and died March 3, 1768. The fifth and the youngest of their children was Ethel Walker, who was born August 29, 1767, and passed away September 22, 1844. In 1795 he married Susannah Carpenter. whose birth occurred in 1778 and who died in 1857. They were the grandparents of Dr. Emory J. Walker, whose father. Amos Walker, was the seventh of a family of ten children.
Amos Walker was born in Savoy, Massachusetts, March 6. 1811. and received his pro- fessional training in the medical department of Williams College, from which he was graduated in 1834. On the 27th of August of that year, in North Adams, Massachusetts, he wedded Mary Bliss, a daughter of Ephraim Bliss. She was born March 20, 1811. Almost immediately after their marriage they started westward, traveling with ox team and wagon to Michigan, establishing their home in Brooklyn. Dr. Walker there devoted his remaining days to the practice of medieine and he became one of the well known and prominent physicians of that locality. His death occurred in Owosso, Michigan, January 22, 1879. He had for several years survived his wife. who passed away February 2, 1866. They had a family of seven children: Mary Ellen. who was born in 1837 and died in 1869; Abel W., who was born April 5, 1839, and died in Pontiae, Michigan, November 29, 1865; Lawson Ethel. who was born in March, 1842. and died August 3, 1843; Emory Judson, of this review: George R., who was born November 2, 1848, and resides at Judsonia, Arkansas; Frank Bliss, born October 15, 1850; and Wealthy Evelyn, who was born August 9, 1854, and died on the 8th of September of that year.
In his youthful days Dr. Emory J. Walker was a pupil in the publie schools of Pontiac, Michigan, and afterward attended Kalamazoo College at Kalamazoo, that state. Whether inherited tendency, environment or natural predilection had most to do with his choiee of a career it is impossible perhaps to determine, but that the choice was wisely made has been proven by his subsequent sneeess. He pursued his early reading under the direction of his father and later entered Hahnemann Medieal College of Chicago, from which he was graduated with the elass of 1868. He then located for practice in Pontiae. Michigan, where he remained until 1875, when he came to New Haven and opened an office. He is today one
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of the older practicing physicians in years of continuous connection with the profession in New Haven and is most highly respected not only by the general public but by his pro- fessional colleagues and contemporaries as well. For forty-two years Dr. Walker has figure I in the professional circles of New Haven and has done splendid work for the benefit of his fellowmen. He was one of the organizers and founders of Grace Hospital, now one of the largest and best equipped institutions of the kind in the state. The first meeting of its board of directors was held in his office and plans were formulated resulting in the develop- ment of a most splendidly organized hospital, of which he has been a director and the secretary from the beginning and also a member of the hospital staff of practicing physicians and surgeons, being the obstetrician of the hospital since 1903. Throughout his entire professional career he has been actuated by a spirit of progress, keeping him in close touch with the most advanced thought and scientific research and investigation. In the per- formance of his professional duties he is most conscientious and his marked ability has ever kept him in a position of leadership in professional circles in Connecticut.
On the 23d of February, 1870, Dr. Walker was married to Miss Martha Pittman, of Pontiac, Michigan, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Pittman, of a well known and prominent family there. They are the parents of two sons and two daughters. Abel W., born in Pontiac, Michigan, is now with the C. S. Mersick Company of New Haven. He is married and has two children, Bradford S. and Harriet M. Charles P. Walker, born in Pontiac, is a leading merchant tailor of New Haven and is married and has four sons. Mary Evelyn is the wife of Professor J. Glover Eldredge, dean of the University of Idaho, at Lewiston, and they have four children, Robert, Frances, Grace and Hugh. Grace Elizabeth is the wife of Professor George E. Nichols, of the department of botany in Yale University, and they have three children, Marion. Grace Elizabeth and George Emory. Dr. and Mrs. Walker also lost one child, Emory Judson, who was born March 21, 1888, and died on the 10th of February, 1889.
Dr. Walker holds membership in Hiram Lodge, No. 1, F. & A. M., of New Haven, and has ever been a loyal exemplar of the teachings of the eraft. Along professional lines he has association with the County and State Homeopathic Medical Societies and the New Haven Clinical Society and his colleagues vie in doing him honor not only as the nestor of the medical profession in Connecticut, but as one who throughout the entire period of his professional practice has held to the highest standards, making his work of great worth to the district in which he lives. Dr. Walker is a member of Calvary Baptist church, taking an active part in its affairs serving in various official capacities and being identified with Bible school work in both, city and state, for many years. While he has never been active as a club man, he holds membership in the Automobile Club. His personal qualities and characteristics are such as have ever commanded for him the confidence, warm regard and lasting friendship of those with whom he has been brought in contact.
FRANK E. FOWLER.
Frank E. Fowler, president of the F. E. Fowler Company, one of the well known mercantile houses of New Haven, was born in Guilford, Connecticut, July 21, 1860. 1Ie is a son of Reuben L. and Sarah M. (Munson) Fowler, who were natives of Guilford and came of early New England families, the ancestral line being traced hack as far as 1639.
Frank E. Fowler was the sixth in order of birth in a family of eight children and after attending the public schools of Guilford he pursued a business course in New Haven. He then joined his father in the fish oil industry and after three years spent in that connection secured a clerical position with C. G. Kimberly, of whom he remained a trusted employe for thirteen years. On the expiration of that period he purchased a half interest in the business and following the death of Mr. Kimberly it was continued by his son Frank H. and Mr. Fowler for four years. The latter then purchased the interest of his partner and continued alone for several years. Gradually he developed his business to large proportions, and in January, 1909, the F. E. Fowler Company was incorporated. Mr. Fowler becoming president, the other members of the firm consisting of W. W. Buckingham, vice president: Frank H.
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Kimberly, secretary ; and Geo. C. Freeland, treasurer. The firm handles all kinds of wooden- ware, crockery, paper and twine.
In May, 1886, Mr. Fowler was married to Miss Martha Davis, of Guilford, Connecticut, a daughter of Edwin and Martha Davis.
The family attend the Congregational church, of which they are members, and Mr. Fowler is also a member of the Masonic fraternity. He has continuously worked to up- build his interests, and by his straightforward and honorable course has won the confidence of patrons and contemporaries alike.
MASSENA CLARK.
The death of Massena Clark on the 5th of June, 1890, marked the passing of one of New Haven's foremost citizens, whose long identification with her business interests had contributed materially to her progress and development. He was born May 28, 1811, in Delhi, New York, and was descended from a family that has figured in Connecticut's history from early colonial days. The grandfather of Massena Clark was Deacon Lazarus Clark, who in his time was one of the prominent men of Woodbridge, where his residence still stands, being one of the old historic places of the town. His son, Dr. Jeremiah Clark, familiarly known as Dr. "Jerry" Clark, was one of the old-time botanic physicians who followed his profession in New York for a considerable period and afterward practiced in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and in West Haven, Connecticut.
Massena Clark was but a boy when his father, Dr. Jeremiah Clark, removed to Stock- bridge, Massachusetts, in 1820. There he received instructions from the Rev. David Dudley Field, assisted by the famous Mark Hopkins as monitor. His preceptor's sons, Cyrus Field, the layer of the Atlantic eable, David Dudley Field, afterward an eminent lawyer, and Stephen Johnson Field, at one time a United States judge of the district of California, were among his classmates in the village school. In 1826 the parents removed to West Haven, Connecticut.
Massena Clark was first employed with Matthew G. Elliott, on Custom House Square, and then as chief salesman in the hardware store of Smith & Sherman, where he remained until 1837, when the widespread financial depression of that year caused the failure of the firm, which at the time was Mr. Clark's debtor to the sum of three thousand dollars. The firm offered him carriages and hardware for the amount, in payment of the debt, and Mr. ('lark accepted the offer and thus entered upon his first mercantile venture. Although lack- ing the price of the freight, he determined to take these goods to the south and arrived in Mobile, Alabama, with his stock. In that city he had a brother Lafayette, who was eashier in a bank. On arriving there, however, Mr. Clark learned that his brother had died a few days before of yellow fever. The banker, a Mr. Gindraw, on learning the identity of Mr. Clark, desired him to accept his brother's place as cashier of the bank, but he de- elined the offer, not having had banking experience. Like many southern bankers of that time, Mr. Gindraw owned a cotton yard and desired Mr. Clark to act as superintendent thereof, but the latter again modestly declined, pleading inexperience, until the southerner cut him short by saying: "You are a Yankee and a Yankee can make a success of anything he undertakes." Mr. Clark then took charge of the business and after three years, during which he managed Mr. Gindraw's affairs to the entire satisfaction of his employer and dis- posed of his own carriages to a good advantage, he decided to return to New Haven, where he arrived in 1840. One of his experiences in the south came through the sale of a carriage which a planter, who was richer in slaves than in money, wished to buy. In exchange for the carriage he offered a strong, fine looking, well built negro, valued at twelve hundred dollars. When the day of Mr. Clark's departure arrived the negro begged so piteously not to be sold that he was brought north by Mr. Clark and remained a faithful porter, becoming one of the fixtures of Mr. Clark's store on Custom House Square. In 1841 the Massena Clark block, on what was then Fleet but is now State street, was built and in this building he carried on business for many years, importing sugar, molasses, rum and other commodities, conducting his interests sucessfully until during the Civil war, when the government confis- cated his ships, which they used for the storage of flour and other provisions.
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Mr. Clark gradually acquired interests and holdings in other lines of business until in 1865, when he retired from the wholesale trade. His investments while varied, were princi- pally in real estate. The management, development and successful handling of real estate really represented his business activity during the last twenty-five years of his life. He built and owned at different times over three hundred houses in New Haven. He was probably the best judge in the city of realty values and undoubtedly the most successful man in that business during the period of his activity therein.
In 1840 Mr. Clark was married in New Haven to Miss Julia A. Chatterton of this city, a daughter of Samuel Chatterton, whose ancestors came from England with the early settlers of Connecticut. They had two sons, Edward Massena, who is referred to on another page of this volume; and Frank Pierce, who died in January, 1914.
Mr. Clark's early associations and native rugged force of character attached him to the democratie party, and in every movement which concerned the upbuilding of the city he was a recognized leader. The religious faith of Mr. and Mrs. Clark was that of the Episcopal church, and in the work of the church Mrs. Clark took a most active and helpful part. Mr. Clark had his pleasures and his recreations, among them being his fondness for a good horse. His death occurred six years before that of his wife, whose remains are interred by his side in Evergreen cemetery. Their life work was well done and the world is better for their having lived. Mr. Clark's magnificent home on Whitney avenue was one of New Haven's finest residences.
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