A modern history of New Haven and eastern New Haven County, Vol. II, Part 35

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 35

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CARL W. BAILEY.

Carl W. Bailey is a young business man who has made for himself a creditable position in mercantile circles in Wallingford, where he is conducting a furniture and undertaking establishment.

He was born in Danielson, Connecticut, November 26, 1886, a son of Benjamin L. Bailey, a native of Biddeford, Maine, who for many years devoted his life to manufacturing and is now living retired in Wallingford. The Baileys are of an old Maine family, several genera- tions having been connected with manufacturing interests in the Pine Tree state. The great-great-grandfather, John Bailey, was born in Drury Lane, England, and was in command of Fort Sewall during the War of 1812. Following his death his wife was commissioned by President Madison as commandant of the fort-the only woman who ever served in that capacity. Benjamin L. Bailey, the father of Carl W. Bailey, was united in marriage to Miss Edith Williams, a direct descendant of Roger Williams.

In the public schools of Danielson, Carl W. Bailey acquired his education and later he attended the Barnes School of Anatomy, Sanitary Science and Embalming, from which he was graduated on the 30th of September, 1909. As a boy he entered the furniture and undertaking business of his grandfather, Samuel Williams, at Southbridge, Massachusetts. and in 1909 took charge of that business, which he conducted successfully until August, 1912, when he came to Wallingford and purchased the furniture and undertaking business of D. P. Griswold at No. 264 Center street. This is the oldest. business of the kind in Wallingford, having been established thirty-eight years ago. Since assuming charge Mr. Bailey has been able to retain the support of the old patrons and to win many new ones. His business methods are thoroughly progressive and reliable and his earnest efforts to please his patrons, combined with his honorable dealing and reasonable prices, have brought to him a very substantial measure of success.

On the 3d of November, 1910, Mr. Bailey was married in Southbridge, Massachusetts. to Miss Mabel L. Cook, a daughter of Fannie B. Cook, of Southbridge. Two children have been born of this marriage: Benjamin Cook Bailey, whose birth occurred November 4, 1912; and Carl W. Bailey, born June 30, 1915.

The family reside at No. 95 Parson street in Wallingford. Mr. and Mrs. Bailey are members of the Baptist church and the former is identified with Compass Lodge, No. 9. F. & A. M .; Lockwood Chapter, No. 48, R. A. M .; and also with Oronoco Tribe of Red Men. He belongs to the Wallingford Club and to the Young Men's Athletic Chib of Wallingford. His political allegiance is given to the republican party but he has never been an active

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worker in its ranks. He is a young man of genuine worth, courteous and obliging in business, social and genial by disposition, and he is regarded as a valued addition to the commercial circles of his adopted city.

HON. WILLIS MILLER COOK.

On the 3d of June, 1917, Hon. Willis Miller Cook retired from the position of judge of the town of Hamden after serving for ten consecutive years upon the bench through appoint- ment of the state legislature. His was a most creditable record characterized by the utmost fairness and impartiality in his decisions, his frequent reappointments indicating the public confidence reposed in him. As a business man he also ranked high and is regarded as one of the representative residents of Mount Carmel.

He was born at Mount Carmel, April 9, 1858, a son of Henry Francis and Maria (Miller) Cook. The father was born in Harwinton, Litchfield county, Connecticut, and afterward en- gaged in railroad work there and at Mount Carmel. Prior to the war he was married and with the outbreak of hostilities he enlisted in response to the country's call for troops, joining Company 1 of the Twentieth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, in 1862. He served until the close of the war, taking part in many hotly contested engagements, and afterward he re- turned to Mount Carmel, where he entered the employ of Frederick Ives & Company, axle manufacturers. At a later period he went to Philadelphia to again accept a position in connection with axle manufacturing but subsequently returned to Mount Carmel and once more entered the employ of the Ives Company, with which he remained until his death, pass- ing away in Mount Carmel on the 2d of February, 1895. His wife was born at Woodbridge, Connecticut, and died at Mount Carmel in November, 1872.

Judge Cook, of this review, acquired his education in the schools of his native town but when only ten years of age entered the employ of Frederick Ives & Company, with which cor- poration he remained for over forty years, serving as superintendent for more than twenty years. Changes occurred in the personnel of the firm, Frederick Ives & Company becoming the firm of Ives & Miller, while later the business was the property of Willis E. Miller and after his death the business was purchased by Judge Cook, who changed the name to the Mount Carmel Axle Works and continued active in the management and control thereof until 1907, when he sold the business to the New Haven Water Company. It was during the period of his ownership that he was appointed postmaster of Mount Carmel Center and maintained the postoffice in his factory. Upon the establishment of the rural route system the Mount Carmel Center postoffice was discontinued. In 1907 Mr. Cook was appointed town judge of the town of Hamden by the state legislature and was reappointed at biennial periods for five consecutive terms, holding the office until the 3d of June, 1917, and making a splendid record. He was indeed a popular judge and it was well known that neither fear nor favor could swerve him from a course which he believed to be right, his decisions at all times being strictly fair and impartial. He owned a half interest in the Mount Carmel Trap Rock Com- pany, but after three years' connection with that business sold out.

On the 12th of March, 1884, in Mount Carmel, Mr. Cook was united in marriage to Miss Nellie Morey, who was born in Hadley, Massachusetts, and pursued her education in Northampton, that state. In 1881 she came to Mount Carmel, where she has since lived. She is a daughter of Charles Heman and Marcia Ann (Ladd) Morey. Her father was born at Westhampton, Massachusetts, and long occupied a position in a paper manufactory. He enlisted in Company G of the Twenty-first Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry for service in the Civil war and died at the front, laying down his life on the altar of his country at Newport News, Virginia. His wife was born in Chester, Massachusetts, and passed away in Northampton. Mr. and Mrs. Cook became parents of two children, twins, but both died in infancy.

In his political views Judge Cook has always been a stalwart republican and in addition to the offices, already mentioned, that he has filled he has served as justice of the peace and as member of the school board. He is a prominent and well known figure in Masonic circles, belonging to Day Spring Lodge, No. 30. F. & A. M., of Centerville; Pulaski Chapter, R. A. M .; Crawford Council, R. & S. M .; New Haven Commandery, K. T., and also the Consistory. in

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which he has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite. He likewise has member- ship in L. A. Thomas Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Cheshire, Connecticut, and both he and his wife are connected with Alice Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star and with Unity Court, No. 3, Order of the Amaranth, and with the Rebekah degree of the Odd Fellows. Judge Cook is a member of the Cheshire Grange and was a member of Hamden Grange, of which at one time he was master. Both he and his wife are attendants of Mount Carmel Congregational church and in the community where they live they are held in the highest esteem, their personal worth winning for them the warm regard of the general public, while the ability of Judge Cook has placed him in prominent official and business connections.

ALEXANDER CATLIN TWINING, LL. D.

Dr. Alexander Catlin Twining, scientist, inventor, educator, civil engineer and astron- onfer, whose life, covering eighty-three years, was devoted to those interests which in large measure have been uplifting forces in the world's work, was born in New Haven, July 5, 1801, and was descended from one of the distinguished and prominent New England families whose ancestral history can be traced back to the days of William the Conqueror. The founder of the family in New England was William Twining, who came to America before 1641 and settled on Cape Cod in the Plymouth colony of Massachusetts, where the name is well known and honored.

Stephen Twining, the father of Professor Alexander C. Twining, was born in Tolland, Massachusetts, then known as Granville, September 28, 1767, and was a son of Thomas and Anna (Cole) Twining. He was graduated from Yale University with the class of 1795 and took up the practice of law in New Haven. He built a residence on Elm street, in which he ever afterward made his home. He served as steward and acting treasurer of Yale and was an active member of the First Church of Christ (Congregational) of New Haven, in which he filled the office of deacon from 1809 until 1832. At times he taught a Bible class of young men in the Sunday school. He died on the 18th of December of the latter year, at the age of sixty-five, and was laid to rest in New Haven cemetery, where his tombstone bears the inscription, "He feared God." On the 2d of October, 1800, he had married Almira Catlin, who was born in Litchfield, August 24, 1777, a daughter of Alexander and Abigail (Goodman) Catlin, of Litchfield. Mrs. Twining passed away in New Haven, May 30, 1846, and was laid to rest by the side of her husband in New Haven cemetery. She was a devoted wife and mother and a true Christian woman, holding membership in the First Church of Christ. By her marriage she had become the mother of six children: Alexander Cat- lin, whose name introduces this record; William, who died June 5, 1884; Mary Pierce, who passed away in March, 1879; Helen Almira, who became the wife of Seagrove W. Magill; Julia Webster, who died July 8, 1893; and Ann Loring, who became the wife of Professor James Hadley and the mother of Dr. Arthur Twining Hadley, president of Yale University.

Alexander Catlin Twining attended the Hopkins grammar school of New Haven, after which he entered Yale and was graduated as a member of the class of 1820, at which time he received his Master's degree. Among his classmates were President Woolsey and Rev. Leonard Bacon, D. D. He then entered Andover Theological Seminary to prepare for the ministry, but after a period abandoned this object and became a tutor at Yale, where he served from 1823 until 1825, and during that time gave some attention to the study of math- ematics and natural sciences. He afterward went to West Point, New York, where he pur- sned a private course in civil engineering, adopting the profession and following it for a number of years. He surveyed the site of what is now the New York, New Haven & Hart- ford Railroad between New York and New Haven, and although the company did not adopt his survey at the time, thinking the route too costly, and took up another which enabled them to build the line for a less figure, it is understood that the route that was surveyed by Professor Twining has of late years heen adopted by the railroad company and is now used. He followed his profession in New Haven until 1839, when he accepted the professor- ship of mathematics, civil engineering and astronomy in Middlebury College at Middlebury, Vermont, occupying that chair for a period of ten years. Returning to New Haven, he continued to follow his profession of civil engineering and was engaged in connection with

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the construction of several railways and canals for a number of years. He was a man of the strictest honesty, however, and had the greatest contempt for fraud and deception, and when work was demanded of him that did not mean the full measure of his high standard and ability, rather than do inferior work in that connection, he would no longer accept a position of that character and abandoned his profession. He gave the remainder of his days to the pursuits of scientific research, for which he was well qualified. He was thor- oughly learned in the higher mathematics and astronomy and was the author of numerous monographs and ahstruse problems, such as the doctrine of parallels and the origin of meteors. He is said to be the first to establish the cosmical theory of the latter. He gave much of his time and attention to the study of the heavenly bodies and found great pleasure and interest in this work. He was also an inventor of note and among his inventions was a machine for the manufacture of artificial iee in commercial quantities, in which connection he erected his first plant at Cleveland, Ohio. This proved a success and he received patents for his invention from England as well as from the United States, but for the want of large capital and the oncoming of the Civil war, which largely paralyzed trade, especially in con- nection with initial ventures, he did not find it possible to put his ice manufacturing plant in operation and later his patents were infringed upon. During one of the later years of his life he delivered lectures in the Yale Law School.

Dr. Twining was married at West Point, New York, March 2, 1829, to Harriet Amelia Kinsley, who was born at West Point, a daughter of Zebina and Anne (Duncan) Kinsley. Mrs. Twining, who was a lady of broad Christian charity, a devoted wife and mother and a sincere member of Center church, passed away in New Haven in 1871 and was laid to rest in Grove Street cemetery. The children of this marriage were seven in number. Kins- ley, who was graduated from Yale with the class of 1853, also attended the Yale Divinity School and the Andover Theological Seminary and was ordained to the ministry of the Congregational church, after which he engaged in preaching from 1859 until 1876. In 1878 he became a member of the editorial staff of the New York Independent and in 1898 he hecame literary editor of the Evangelist. Yale University conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity and Hamilton College the degree of Doctor of Letters. He passed away in 1901. Harriet Anne, the second of the family, died February 23, 1896. Theodore Woolsey and Sutherland Douglas were twins. The former was graduated from Yale College in 1858 and the law department of Yale in 1862 and was admitted to practice in Connecticut. He enlisted for service in the Civil war in a New York regiment and later was appointed pay- master in the United States navy. He died from yellow fever August 14, 1864, while on board the United States steamship Roebuck in Tampa bay, Florida. Sutherland Douglas Twining graduated from the Sheffield Scientific School in 1859 and from the medical de- partment of Yale in 1864 and served as surgeon in the United States army at Baltimore and at Alexandria, Virginia. He has continued in the practice of medicine throughout his active life and is now living retired at Buffalo, New York. The others of the family are: Julia, at home; Mary Almira, who became the wife of Rev. A. Delos Gridley, a Presbyterian clergyman, who died in 1876, while her death occurred in 1915; and Eliza Kinsley. The daughters, Julia and Eliza Kinsley Twining, reside at the family homestead on Prospeet street in New Haven. They are devoted members of the Center church and have always been active in church and charitable work. Miss Julia Twining was for thirty-six years treasurer of the New Haven branch of the Woman's Board of Missions, while Miss Eliza Kinsley Twining was for years recording secretary of the New Haven Orphan Asylum and is now a member of its board.

The death of Professor Alexander Catlin Twining occurred in New Haven, November 22, 1884, and he was laid to rest in Grove Street cemetery. He was long a devoted mem- ber of Center church, in which he served as deacon for many years. He lived a true Christian life, was a devoted Bible student and was most convincing in his arguments on religion. He was also opposed to slavery and was one of the signers of the petition con- cerning slavery sent from Connecticut to President Buchanan. He was active in the or- ganizing and financing of the band of colonists who went from New Haven to Kansas to oppose slavery in the '50s. He took up all those vital public questions with the same thoroughness that marked his research work along scientific lines. Middlebury College of Vermont conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts in 1839 and Yale conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws in 1865. His breadth of mind found an even balance in

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his broad humanitarian spirit and he ranked with nature's noblemen. At his passing the New York Independent commented upon his life in the following beautiful tribute: "The death of Professor A. C. Twining ends a long life of varied and brilliant achievements and which was even richer and more brilliant in richness and fruitfulness of Christian character. Professor Twining is known among astronomers as the author of the 'Cosmic Theory of Meteors.' As a civil engineer he was engaged as chief or controlling engineer of every line running out of New Haven and on the Northeast roads, through Vermont, on the Lake Shore, the Cleveland, Columbus, Pittsburgh, and various roads of Chicago, including the Rock Island and Old Milwaukee Line. As an inventor he pioneered to a successful result the industrial manufacture of artificial ice. For nine years he served as professor of mathematics and astronomy iu Middlebury College, and while then residing in Vermont was active in the tem- perance reform, into which he entered with much energy as chairman of the state temperance committee. In political matters he took a deep interest as one of the promoters of the original movement which issued in the foundation of the republican party. He was one of the projectors of the famous 'Conn' letter to President Buchanan. He was deeply interested in constitutional questions and reached the highest point in his lectures on the constitution of the United States in Yale Law School. In the discussion of questions of theology and philosophy he showed vigor and subtle ingenuity. To his friends he was always at home and upon them the beauty of his face and head, the winning courtesy of his manner and the simplicity of his Christian character made a lasting impression, while few that ever met him even casually failed to notice that to him it was given to invite and receive the spiritual confidence of others and to give them solid and permanent assistance."

HENRY HOTCHKISS TOWNSHEND.

Henry Hotchkiss Townshend, a Yale man of 1901, since which time he has continuously engaged in law practice in New Haven, his native city, was born September 30, 1874, his parents being Captain Charles H. and Mary A. (Hotchkiss) Townshend, his ancestry being traced haek to Thomas Townshend, of Lynn, Massachusetts, where he settled in 1638. His father was born at Raynham, in East Haven, now New Haven, November 26, 1833, and was a representative of the American branch of the family in the seventh generation. On the list of his ancestors appear the names of Thomas Townsend, or Townshend, Samuel Davies, Edmund Ranger, John Kneeland, Luke Ilitchcock, Henry Burt, Simon Lobdell, Robert Walker, Moses Wheeler, Stephen Butler, William Eustice, David Atwater, Thomas Sayers, William Bradley, Jolin Brocket, John Russell, Edward Granniss, John Wakefield, William Bassett, Oldham, Christopher Todd, Michael Middlebrook. Rev. Jolm Rayner, Anthony Thompson, Thomas Harrison. Thomas Powell, Richard Mansfield, Henry Glover, William Mulford, Jeremiah Conklyn, Lion Gardner, Rev. Abraham Pierson, Edward Petty, Captain John Gorham, Francis Bell, Richard Miles, Joseph Alsop, William Preston, William Punchard, Richard Waters. Francis Brown. Edwards, Rev. Peter Bulkley, Rev. John Jones, Isaac Bradley, Rev. Roger Prichard, Jacob Robinson, Mathias Hitchcock, Thomas Merrick, Rev. Daniel Brewer, Ralph Hemingway, John Hewes, John Cooper. Robert Talmage. Thomas Nash. Thomas Yale, Captain Nathaniel Turner. Thomas Morris. Governor James Bishop. Captain George Lamberton. William Tattle. Thoma- Morris, John Sanford. John Payne.

Captain Townshend attended private schools of New Haven and of Farmington, Con- nectieut, with a view of possibly entering Yale. When about fifteen years of age he made his first sea voyage on the Hyperion, owned by Timothy Dwight, of New Haven, sailing from New York, April 1, 1849, for Trinidad. West Indies, and returning home by way of St. Croix and St. Thomas to Baltimore. He later made another voyage to the West Indies and one to the Mediterranean, after which he shipped as an ordinary seaman on the Mar- garet Evans under Captain E. G. Tinker. At the end of the first voyage he was trans- ferred to the Southampton, also a ship of the New York and London Packet Line and then the largest and finest in the trade. In her he made several voyages as able seaman and during the last two voyages was third mate, being appointed to that position when not quite

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eighteen years of age. He studied navigation under Stiles French, of New Haven, for a few months and then went to New York, where he became third mate on the Helvetia, com- manded by Captain B. F. Marsh, of Whitlock's New York and Havre Union Line of Packet Ships. Later he made two voyages as her second mate. He afterward became first officer on the Germania of the same line. Early in 1857 Captain Townshend was made commander of the New York and Havre packet ship Bavaria, having thus in eight years been advanced through every intermediate grade from the lowest to the highest in the merchant service by the time that he had reached his twenty-third year. He made two voyages in command of the Bavaria and then returned to the Germania as captain. On her he made twelve voyages to Havre and one to James River, Virginia. On one of his voyages, which in all lasted two years, he twice narrowly escaped capture by Confederate privateers off the southern American coast. After the close of the Civil war and while still in command of the Germania he was invited to take command of the United States mail steamer Fulton of thirty-five hundred tons by unanimous vote of the board of directors, which command he accepted early in 1867. Some time later he was given command of the Ontario, a vessel of five thousand tons, belonging to the American Steamship Company. While in command dur- ing the Franco-Prussian war he took the Ontario to Havre by way of Cowes, England, sail- ing from New York under sealed orders, his ship laden with firearms, ammunition and equipments, of which the French government was sorely in need. The value of this cargo was two and a half million dollars. This achievement created great enthusiasm and delight in France, notably in Paris and Havre, where Captain Townshend was fêted and made the ob- jeet of unlimited courtesies and attention, while his name was proposed for the award of the decoration of the Legion of Honor. It was Captain Townshend who in 1858 carried a specimen of the oil from the well of the Seneca Oil Company at Titusville, Pennsylvania, to Paris for analysis and brought back the report of the French chemists, this being the occa- sion of the first export of American petroleum.

Captain Townshend was long interested in oyster culture. While in the Havre trade he personally investigated the experiments of De Costa and De Broca, the latter a commis- sioner to this country in 1859, sent by Napoleon Ill to examine our shell-fish culture. While here. the guest of the Messrs. Townshend, he suggested utilizing shells, tiles and twigs of trees for a stool for spat, when ripe, to adhere to, and he gave to Captain Town- shend engravings to prove the system was at that time in successful operation in France. Captain Townshend devoted much time and money to an experimental study of the subject and in a journal noted his method and result. That journal was largely transcribed in "A Report on the Oyster Industry of the United States," by Ernest Ingersol in the tenth census of the United States, section 10. The efforts of Captain Townshend were of the ut- most value as a pioneer in the oyster industry. He was also the promulgator of the idea of the cornice road along the cliffs of East Rock and the location of the Soldiers' and Sailors' monument at that place resulted from his advocacy of the site. He was also prominent in connection with the improvements of the harbor and resurvey of Block Island sound, Long Island sound and the East river to Hell Gate, where several dangerous reefs have been lo- cated, and one of these, lying in the fairway of ships bound to New Haven and long known to the local pilot, now bears his name. About 1870 he advanced the idea of a port of refuge off the lower quay at New Haven through building two breakwaters similar to those at Cherbourg, France, and Plymouth, England, and in 1879 this great national work was begun as the result of an act of the United States congress. Captain Townshend was a member of the harbor commission, was a director of the New Haven Colony Historical Society and the chamber of commerce and he had large local interests in banking, manufacturing and commerce at New Haven. His life was indeed of great worth to his fellowmen through the impetus which he gave to maritime interests.

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A modern history of New Haven and eastern New Haven County, Vol. II, Part 35

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