A modern history of New Haven and eastern New Haven County, Vol. II, Part 31

Author: Hill, Everett Gleason, 1867- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 986

USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > A modern history of New Haven and eastern New Haven County, Vol. II > Part 31

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In June, 1892. Mr. Foskett was married to Miss Florence E. Disbrow, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Disbrow, and they have one child, Mildred, who was born in New Haven and is a graduate of the high school.

Mr. Foskett is a republican in his political views and keeps well informed on the ques- tions and issues of the day so that he is able to support his position by intelligent argument. He holds membership in Christ's church and is a thirty-second degree Mason. He also belongs to the Knight Templar Club, to the New Haven Yacht Club and the Union League. He has social qualities which render him very popular in the organizations with which he is identified and he has attained an enviable business standing by reason of his sterling worth, his indefatigable energy and his unfaltering enterprise.

JOSEPH L. GILMORE, M. D.

Dr. Joseph L. Gilmore, of West Haven, has built up a highly creditable practice in pediatries and is also serving as police commissioner and as probation officer for the town of Orange, his duties in that connection requiring much of his time and attention. He was born in Albany, New York, February 23, 1876, a son of Patrick and Maria (Gorman) Gilmore, natives of the city of Limerick, Ireland. Following their removal to the United States the father engaged in the manufacture of shoes in Albany, New York, and was a leader in industrial circles there. He was also prominent in republican councils and did much effective work in the advancement of the party's interests. although he held no offiee. His religious faith was that of the Catholic church.

Joseph L. Gilmore attended the public and high schools of Albany and also pursued his studies under private tutors. In 1900 he matriculated in Yale University and was graduated from the medical school in 1904. In order to gain practical experience in the treatment of mental diseases, in which he has always been keenly interested, he was for a considerable time on the staff of the State Hospital for the Insane at Middleton, Con- nectient. In 1906 he located for private practice in West Haven and has since specialized in children's diseases. He belongs to the City, New Haven County, and State Medical Societies and to the American Medical Association, and through the proceedings of these organiza- tions, as well as through independent study. he keeps in touch with the advance that is constantly being made in the medical profession. He is now a physician on the board of exemption for the federal draft of the United States selective army for the towns of Orange and Milford. He has won finaneial as well as professional success and owns stock in the Orange Bank & Trust Company.

Dr. Gilmore supports the republican party and is well known as an active and efficient

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political worker. However, he has not been influeneed in the slightest degree by party affiliations in the discharge of his important duties as police commissioner and probation officer for the town of Orange. His influence has been felt in the promotion of many move- ments looking toward the civic advancement of his village and town, and his usefulness in publie affairs has been due in large measure to his high ideals and the practical ability necessary in accomplishing desired ends. That he is popular socially is indicated by his membership in the Phoenix (lub and Theta Nu Epsilon, a college fraternity He holds membership in St. Lawrence church.

JION. CHARLES E. GRAHAM.

Hon. Charles E. Graham, whose life record refleets credit and honor upon the people who have honored him by choosing him for high official preferment. has, unlike many capable business men, felt that he owed something to his city and his state besides eon- formity to its laws and has rendered active service in shaping its legislation and promoting its publie affairs in other ways. At the same time he is connected with some of the most extensive commercial, industrial and financial interests of Connecticut, which demand the highest possible business effieieney, executive foree and administrative direction. Oliver Wendell Holmes once replied to the question, "Where should a boy's education begin," by answering, "Two Ilundred years before he was born." In other words he recognized the foree of ancestry in inherited tendeney as well as in inherited physical and mental strength.

The ancestry of the Graham family is an honorable and distinguished one. As early as 1150 the family was represented in Forfarshire, Perthshire, Stirlingshire and Dumfriesshire, Seotland. It is believed that the name was spelled originally Graeme and some of the representatives of the family have used the form of Grimes. The family possesses or possessed the dukedom, marquisate and earldom of Montrose; the marquisate of Graham and Buchanan; the earldoms of Avith Kineardine, Monteith and Strathearn; the viseouncies of Dundas, Dundee and Preston; the lordships of Aberutliven, Kilpoint, etc., and the barony of Esk, ete. It is believed that the family is of Norman origin and that the first ancestor in Great Britain erossed from Normandy with William the Conqueror.

The branch of the family to which Charles E. Graham belongs is descended from James Graham, marquis of Montrose, who was a distinguished royalist and fought on the side of Charles I in the first civil war of England. John Graham, great-grandfather of C. E. Graham, was a native of Scotland, where he conducted business as a planter, and he was also a soldier in the British army, in which he won a commission. His son and namesake was likewise of Scotch birth, although he became a loyal American by adoption, becoming the founder of the family in the new world. Reared in Scotland, he afterward spent several years in Dublin, Ireland, and then came to the United States, establishing his home in Albany, New York, where he died before the birth of his son James. He wedded Mary Ann Fair, a danghter of Sir John Fair, and they became the parents of five children. Both Mr. and Mrs. John Graham were members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Their son, James Graham, was born in Albany, New York, January 23, 1831, and at the age ot seventeen became an apprentice to the trade of brass founder, in which he rapidly gained expert knowledge. In 1852 he was offered the position of foreman in the Branford (Conn.) Loek Works and for nearly ten years occupied that responsible position, directing the labors of many men who were much his senior. In 1861 he established business on his own account by opening a foundry in New Haven and for thirty-nine years he was one of the prominent brass founders of this section of New England, conduetig his manufacturing interests most profitably. He had a large three story briek factory at No. 293 Worchester street, which was erected in 1874. There he employed a large force of workmen and con- dueted an extensive business that contributed much to the material development of the city. He has been spoken of as a man of unassailable probity, of sound business judgment and of genial temperament and as one who took an active part in the religious and political interests of his community. He was a devoted member of the Congregational ebureb and in politics was a republican, easting his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont in 1856. He was again and again ehosen to serve as a delegate to the state

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conventions of his party and in 1896 was a delegate to the republican national convention at St. Louis which nominated President MeKinley. He was in the same year on the Connecticut presidential electoral tieket and was selected to carry the vote of the state to the electoral college at Washington. He was called upon to fill many publie offiees, the duties of which he discharged in a manner that reflected eredit upon himself and his constituents. In 1870 he represented his distriet in the state legislature and was reelected in 1885 and again in 1886, while in 1887 he was chosen a member of the state senate, to which he was returned in 1889. While serving in the lower house he was thrice made chairman of the committee on railroads and filled the same important position for two terms in the senate. He was also chairman of the committee on military affairs, on fisheries and on license. He belonged to the Union League Club and to the Young Men's Republican Club of New Haven and was at one time a member of the Samosett Club. His activities along all these lines were in addition to most extensive and important business interests, for not only was he identified with brass manufacturing, but was also connected with many important business concerns having to do with the commercial, industrial and financial development of eity, county and state.

James Graham was twice married. He first wedded Maria Foote, of Branford. She passed away in 1893, leaving a son, while one other son of that marriage died in infaney. In 1899 James Graham married Estella M. Wagner, of Litchfield, and on the 19th of March, 1900, he passed away.

Charles E. Graham, the only surviving child of James Graham, was born in Branford. Connecticut, February 9, 1858, and in the Webster School of New Haven and Union school of West Haven pursued his education until 1872, when he was enrolled as a pupil in the Russell Military School, where he studied for four years. He became a student in the Williston Seminary at Easthampton, Massachusetts, in 1876. The following year he became actively identified with manufacturing interests by entering the employ of the firm of Graham & Corey, a business which had been established by his father in 1861, while in 1867 Mr. Corey was admitted to a partnership under the style of James Graham & Company. That association was maintained until 1880, when Mr. Corey withdrew and was succeeded by Charles E. Graham. Ambitions to follow in his father's footsteps, he thoroughly acquainted himself with the business in every phase and thus gained broad knowledge and experience which enabled him to take up the work of his father upon the latter's death. He is now the surviving partner of James Graham & Company and has managed the business with notable success, bringing to bear strong administrative powers and executive foree. Other extensive and important interests have also profited by his control, by his keen sagacity and by his powers of organization. He was one of the founders of the West Haven Manufacturing Company for the manufacture of hardware specialties and from the first he has been its president and treasurer. He was formerly the vice president of the Utah & Eastern Copper Company now merged into the Utah Southern Copper Company, is the president of the Wire Novelty Company, being one of the founders, and was treasurer of the Mayo Radiator Company, which he aided in organizing. He became a director of the Evening Leader Company, publishing the New Haven Leader, and he is also vice president of J. H. Bunnell & Company, manufacturers of telegraph instruments, of New York. He has also figured prominently in railway eireles. He is the treasurer of the Central Railway of Oregon and is a director of the Milford & Uxbridge Street Railway Company. He is likewise a director of the Peoples Bank & Trust Company of New Haven of which he was a charter member.

On the 19th of October, 1881, in New Haven, Mr. Graham was married to Miss Hattie Augusta Marsh, of West Haven, who was born in August, 1859, and is a daughter of Esteves E. Marsh, of West Haven. They have one child, Marguerite Marsh. born March 13. 1887.

Mr. Graham is one of the recognized leaders of the republican party in Connecticut. In 1897 he represented the town of Orange in the state legislature and was made a member of the committee on insurance. In 1903 he was state senator from the seventh district and was made chairman of the committee on claims, of the committee on executive nominations and on forfeited rights. He most carefully and earnestly considered the vital questions which came up for settlement and his support of any measure was an indication of his firm belief in its effieaey as a factor in good government or in upholding the best

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interests of the commonwealth. In the public affairs of the town of Orange he participates as a member on its important board of finance.

Mr. Graham frequently turns to yachting for pleasure and recreation and is well known among the yachtsmen on Long Island Sound. He is a Mason, belonging to Anawon Lodge. No. 115, F. & A. M., of West Haven; also to Franklin Chapter, R. A. M., of New Haven, to the Knight Templar Commandery and to the Scottish Rite Consistory. He also has membership in the Union League Club and in the Phoenix Club, while his religious faith is evidenced in his membership in the Congregational church. He is a member of the New Haven Colony Historical Society.

Whether working for business interests or public welfare, he has the ability of marshalling his forees so that the greatest strength acerues and the limits of possibility in the attainment of results are reached. While his ancestors figured on the pages of history in connection with many tragie and picturesque events, in a less spectacular but no less potent way Charles E. Graham is aiding in writing the history of New Haven and of Connecticut in its commercial, financial and political interests.

GEORGE P. CLINTON, Sc. D.

George P. Clinton, ranking high in scientific circles, is now botanist at the Connecticut agricultural experimental station in New Haven. He was born in Polo, Illinois, May 7, 1867, a son of John W. and Carrie Adelia (Perkins) Clinton, both of whom are natives of Delaware county, New York. In early life they removed westward to Illinois, where the father engaged in the newspaper business, conducting and editing a paper at Polo, Illinois, for forty years. He has also been actively engaged in preparing manuscript for a history of Ogle county. Through a very extended period he has been accumulating the data for this work and it is his ambition to some day have the manuscript published in book form and thus leave a monument to the memory of the early settlers and all who have actively par- ticipated in shaping the history of that section. In early life he had entered the educational field and successfully taught school for a number of years. He has been prominently identi- fied with important public interests in his home county and for many years has been a valued member of the Illinois State Historical Society. His wife is also living at the age of seventy five years and in 1912 they celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary.

Dr. George P. Clinton was the eldest son in a family of seven children. In his boyhood days he attended the public schools of Illinois and afterward entered the Illinois State University, where he completed a course in natural history by graduation with the class of 1890. He afterward became an instructor at the agricultural experimental station of the Illinois University and there remained for ten years. On the expiration of that period he entered Harvard University and won the degree of Doctor of Science in 1902. He afterward came to New Haven as the botanist for the Connecticut agricultural experimental station and here he has since remained, winning renown by reason of his scholarly attainments and seien- tific researches. His labors have been most effective in bringing about the control of various kinds of plant diseases. He has also been instructor of forestry in Yale University and botanist for the state board of agriculture. He is likewise secretary of the Connecticut Vege- table Growers Association and is a member of the American Association of Advancement of Seience, of which he was vice president of Seetion G in 1915. In 1912 he occupied the presidency of the American Phytopathological Society. Ile is a writer of note on agricultural and botanical subjects and belongs to the Botanical Society of America. the New England Botanical Club, the Connecticut Botanical Society, the Connecticut Pomological Society and other organizations of a similar nature. He is one of the best known botanists of the New England states. One of his activities was in cooperation with the government and with universities in finding a remedy for the coffee disease and for the destruction of the gypsy moth. He was sent by the United States government to Porto Rico in 1904 to study the coffee disease and went to Japan in 1909 as representative of Harvard University to find a fungus parasite for the control of the gypsy moth.

On the 9th of August, 1892, Dr. Clinton was married to Miss Anna Lightbody, of Pekin. Illinois. a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Lightbody, both now deceased. They have

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become parents of one son, Harry Lightbody, who was born in Urbana, Illinois, in 1893. The parents are members of the Congregational church and Dr. Clinton has acted as a trustee of that church. He was also president of the Edgewood Civic Association, a fact which is indicative of his keen interest in all matters which pertain to city upbuilding and to the promotion of the highest standards of citizenship. As the years have passed honors have been multiplied unto him because of his most valuable contribution to the world's work along scientific lines. He has contributed many most interesting articles to magazines and other publications upon botany and other scientific subjects, and he is recognized as the peer of the ablest of the scientists whose interest and activities center in New Haven.

FREDERICK LUTHER FORD.

Frederick Luther Ford, whose high professional standing is indicated in the fact that he is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, is now occupying the responsible position of city engineer in New Haven. He was born in North Branford, Connectieut, May 1, 1871, a son of George L. Ford, a native of North Branford and a descendant of one of the old Connectieut families of English lineage, founded in America during early colonial days. The father was for many years a successful agriculturist and is now living retired in New Haven. His political allegianee has ever been given to the republican party and he is one of its recognized leaders, having had marked influence over public thought and action. In 1893 he was made a member of the state legislature and in 1902 was a member of the constitutional convention, thus aiding in framing the organic law of the commonwealth. His opinions carry weight in party councils and his public- spirited devotion to the general good is above question. In civic matters, too, he has been quite prominent and has filled various local offices. He married Lois Dudley, a native of North Guilford and a descendant of an old Connecticut family whose line is also traced back to England. To this marriage were born four sons, three of whom are living: Frederick Luther, of this review; Robert N .; and George D. The last two are residents of New Haven.

Frederick L. Ford was edueated in the public schools of North Branford and Branford until he had mastered the elementary branches of learning. Later he entered the New Haven high school, from which he was graduated in 1890. He afterward entered Yale and on completing a course in the Sheffield Scientific School won his Bachelor of Philosophy degree with the elass of 1893. He started upon his business career in the office of Albert B. Hill, an engineer, with whom he remained until April, 1896. He was then appointed assistant city engineer at Hartford, Connecticut, where he remained until 1902, when he was elected city engineer and continued in that position for nine years or until 1911. During the last year of that period he was also superintendent of streets in Hartford and in his official capacity he helped construct the intercepting sewers and the sewer system there, a task that involved the expenditure of half a million dollars. He was also identified with other extensive and important eivil engineering projects, but his powers were adequate to the demands made upon them owing to his comprehensive preparation and his. broad scien- tific knowledge combined with much practical experience. In the years 1911 and 1912 he was connected with the firm of Ford, Buek & Sheldon. consulting engineers of Hartford. Mr. Ford was appointed city engineer of New Haven in April, 1912. He has since remained in that official position and in the discharge of his duties has won the highest endorsement of the public. He has been connected with many important projects in New Haven, including the improvement of the Irarbor front, also the New York, New Haven & Hart- ford railroad depot approaches and other enterprises which have given evidence of his superior skill in his chosen profession.

On the 15th of September, 1896, Mr. Ford was married in Washington, Connecticut, to Miss Georgia Winifred Newton, a native of Washington, Connecticut, and a daughter of Walter A. and Mary (Bradley) Newton, who belonged to one of the old families of that place. The Bradleys are an old family of Roxbury, Connecticut, and very prominent in public affairs there. Mr. and Mrs. Ford have become the parents of two children:

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Percy Newton, born in Hartford, January 13, 1898; and Ruth D., born in Hartford, May 13, 1904.

In his political views Mr. Ford is a republican. He was a member of the state arsenal and armory commission that built the state arsenal and armory in Hartford in 1908 and 1909. He is a very prominent Mason, holding membership in Wooster Lodge, No. 71, F. & A. M .; in Pythagoras Chapter, R. A. M., of Hartford; in Wolcott Council, R. & S. M., at ITartford; Washington Commandery, No. 1, K. T., at Hartford; and in Sphinx Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Hartford. He has also taken the Scottish Rite degrees and has become a member of the consistory at New Haven. He belongs to the Graduates Club and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce of New Haven. He is a past president of the Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers, having been its chief executive officer in 1902, and he belongs to the American Society of Civil Engineers. He has been made an honorary member of the Automobile Club of New Haven. He is a member of the Edgewood Civic Association of Westville and of the Center church of New Haven. Those who read between the lines will recognize his marked characteristics, his devotion to duty in every relation, his appreciation of the social amenities of life, his loyalty in citzenship, his interest in the welfare of the place of his residence and his deep interest in his chosen profession. Guided by laudable ambition he has steadily progressed along the line which he has chosen as his life work and his record is a credit to his alma mater and to his native state.

STUART ERNEST SKIFF, M. D.

For thirteen years Dr. Stuart Ernest Skiff has been actively engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in New Haven and, well qualified by thorough training for his pro- fession, he has made rapid advance through all the intervening years and is now occupying an enviable position in the front ranks of the medical fraternity in New Haven. He was born October 29, 1878, in Dundee, New York, and is a son of Plummer G. Skiff, who is also a native of the Empire state and a representative of one of its old families. Several generations remote his ancestors lived in Connecticut, the American branch of the family being founded by James Skiff, a Pilgrim. Members of the family later settled on Skiff Mountain in Kent, Connecticut. The great-grandfather of Dr. Skiff, however, lived in the Empire state. Plummer G. Skiff was a successful agriculturist throughout his active busi- ness life and is still occupying the old homestead at Dundee, New York. He married Vel- nette Bailey, a native of Dundee and a representative of one of the old families of the Empire state of English lineage. She, too, is living.

Dr. Skiff, the only child of this marriage, was educated in the public and high schools of Dundee and after leaving the high school continued his studies in Starkey Seminary at Lakemont, New York. His youthful days were spent upon the home farm, where he early became familiar with the best methods of tilling the soil and caring for the crops. He early took up the profession of teaching, which he followed in the district schools of his native connty for three years, and from his earnings he saved a sum sufficient to meet the expenses of his later educational training. He continued his studies in Palmer Institute, where he did preparatory work with the idea of taking up the study of medicine. He next entered Yale Medical College, in which he pursued a two years' course, and later he became a student in Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 1903 with the M. D. degree. He had thus through his own efforts qualified for a professional career and entered at once upon a work in which advancement must depend entirely upon individual merit and ability. Following his graduation he served as house physician and surgeon from June, 1903, until 1904 in Grace Hospital at New Haven and has remained a member of the staff, being at present attending surgeon. His hospital experi- ence has given him broad knowledge that has further qualified him for his professional career. In 1904 he opened an office at 159 Elm street, where he remained for three years. His office was at 1193 Chapel street for six years and then removed to his present address, 1194 Chapel street. Through all the period of his residence in New Haven he has made steady advancement in his profession, winning a creditable name and place as a suc- cessful general practitioner. He enjoys the confidence not only of the public but of his pro-

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A modern history of New Haven and eastern New Haven County, Vol. II, Part 31

Author: Hill, Everett Gleason, 1867- [from old catalog] Publication date: 1918 Publisher: New York, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 986

Author: Hill, Everett Gleason, 1867- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 986