USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > A modern history of New Haven and eastern New Haven County, Vol. II > Part 39
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Dr. Stetson, the ninth in order of birth in a family of ten children, attended the district and village schools in his youthful days and afterward spent three terms as a pupil in au academy at Hampton, Connecticut. He then began to learn the gun maker's trade in Northampton, Massachusetts, taking up the work in December, 1861, and completing his apprenticeship in 1864. Through the following year he engaged in contract work for Eli Whitney in manufacturing guns and later he took up contract work with the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. He remained with that company for twelve years and gained expert knowledge not only of gun manufacture but of the use of firearms.
Deciding, however, to study medicine, he entered Yale with that end in view, being graduated from the medical department with the class of 1881. He opened an office in
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New Haven, where he entered upon a highly successful professional career that covered thirty-one years. He retired in 1912 to enjoy the fruits of his former toil and of his wise investments, for during the years of his active practice he had invested his earnings in New Haven real estate and now has valuable property, yielding him a most gratifying income. He still holds membership with the American Medical Association, the Con- necticut State Medical Society, the General Medical Association, the New Haven County and the New Haven Medical Societies and was one of the organizers of the Yale Medical Alumni Association. He belongs to the Yale Alumni Society, and the breadth and nature of his interests are further indicated in the fact that he has membership with the Wor- cester Lodge of Masons, with the Chamber of Commerce, with the New Haven Colony Historical Society, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Union League Club, the Race Brook Club, the Amateur Athletic Association and the Nonantum Fish and Gun Club.
In 1873 Dr. Stetson donated the prize given for the first military shoot ever held in the state of Connecticut and thus encouraged marksmanship in the military bodies of the state. Later the state adopted the rifle practice system for the army and today the gen- eral army rifle ranges are the outgrowth of the movement instituted by Dr. Stetson. He was appointed on the staff of Colonel Smith, of the Second Regiment, as inspector of arms in 1875 and was promoted to inspector of the brigade staff, continuing in that capac- ity from 1875 until 1881. The Doctor is an enthusiastic sportsman and hunter and there is hardly a district in the country in which game exists that he has not hunted over. Although he hunts game as a sport he does so in true sportsmanlike manner and believes in the conservation of game.
On the 1st of May, 1865, Dr. Stetson was married to Miss Carolina A. Burrett, of New Haven, a daughter of Daniel and Caroline (Mansfield) Burrett. They had but one child, who died in infancy, and Mrs. Stetson passed away at New Haven in 1909. Dr. Stetson now resides at the Union League Club.
In politics he is a republican and from 1867 until 1869 he served as city alderman. He is one of Connecticut's self-made men in the truest and best sense of the term. Start- ing out in life empty-handed, he was actuated by a spirit of laudable ambition and progress, stimulating him to the exercise of his best efforts in the attainment of success. Gradually and persistently he advanced and when he felt that the professional field could offer him still broader opportunities, he abandoned the line of his trade to enter upon the general practice of medicine. Thirty-one years of capable service were given to his fellowmen in that connection and today he is enjoying a rest which he has truly earned and richly deserves.
GEORGE P. SMITH. 1
George P. Smith, the president of the H. T. Smith Company, conducting an express business in Meriden, was born in East Meriden, Connecticut, July 4, 1859. The public schools afforded him his educational privileges and he began working for his father when a youth of fourteen years. From the age of sixteen years he concentrated his entire time and attention upon the business, which was then comparatively small. It was founded by Horace T. Smith, who removed from Plymouth, Vermont, to Meriden, in 1854 and five years later embarked in the express business on his own account. He originally had four horses and a barn, which was then located near the original shop of the Meriden Britannia Company. When the Britannia Company was reorganized and removed to its present loca- tion Mr. Smith established his business on Stone street and later went to Grove street. A year later he conducted business on State street and since 1876 the business has been carried on at the present location at the corner of Camp and State streets. Early in August, 1892, the harn was entirely destroyed by fire but was at once rebuilt on a larger scale. The death of Horace T. Smith occurred in 1897, since which time the business has been con- ducted by George P. Smith and C. H. Tredennick. In November, 1901, it was incorporated under the name of the H. T. Smith Express Company, with George P. Smith as the presi- dent and C. H. Tredennick as the secretary and treasurer. When George P. Smith became connected with his father's business there were about twenty horses and a dozen wagons,
GEORGE P. SMITH
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with perhaps fifteen employes. Something of the growth of the business is indicated in the fact that they now employ regularly fifty men and twenty extra men. They have fifty- five horses and forty horse-drawn vehicles. They also have two trucks of two and a half tons capacity each, also a three-ton truck, four two-ton trucks, one of one ton capacity and a Ford. The business has its own horseshoeing, repair, wagon manufacturing and paint shops, also a feed mixing and cleaning shop. The company makes and repairs everything but harness. The business has grown to very gratifying proportions and its steady develop- ment is attributable in large measure to the efforts and enterprise of George P. Smith.
On the 28th of January, 1891, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Helen Desmond and they have become parents of seven children: Horace T. and Carl D., who were assist- ing their father in the conduct of the business but are now in the United States navy; George L., who is attending the University of Pennsylvania; Adeline, a student at Lawton Hall in Milford, Connecticut; Stephen, who is employed in the' ticket office of the New York. New Haven & Hartford Railroad at Meriden; and Katherine and Jere, who are attending the public schools.
Mr. Smith is identified with several fraternities, being a Mason, an Elk and a Forester. His political endorsement is given to the republican party and he has been a member of the common council of Meriden for four years. He is now serving on the board of apportionment and is interested in all those activities and forces which work for the progress and up- building of city and commonwealth. His devotion to the general welfare is manifest in his capability in office. As a business man he has worked hard and his persistency of purpose, supplementing indefatigable energy, has constituted one of the salient features in his financial progress.
FREDERICK SETH NELSON.
Frederick Seth Nelson is known in business circles as the New Haven agent for the National Cash Register Company. In political circles, too, he has a wide acquaintance and wields considerable influence over political thought and action.
He was born in Guilford, Maine, in 1852, a son of A. J. and Annis (Dunning) Nelson. The Nelson family is one of the oldest in the United States. Two brothers, Thomas and Brewster Nelson came to America in 1631, landed at Essex, Massachusetts, and joined the Plymouth colony. Both are buried in the old cemetery at Plymouth. On the maternal side Mr. Nelson is also descended from one of the early families of New England, the Dunnings having settled at Brunswick, Maine.
A. J. Nelson was a son of Seth Nelson, was born in New Gloucester, Maine, and removed with his family to Brunswick, Maine, when his son Frederick was three or four years of age and in the public schools of that city the son pursued his education, while later he continued his studies in Brooklin, Maine, to which place the family removed. He was afterward a student in the public schools of China, Maine, and also attended the famous China Academy. His father was a minister and this necessitated the frequent removals of the family, so that Frederick S. Nelson was transferred from school to school. He continued his studies until he reached the age of eighteen years and thus be- came well qualified for life's practical duties and responsibilities. He was but eighteen years when, in China, Maine, he embarked in the furniture business on his own account. Later he opened a carriage and woodworking shop in Boston, where he continued for eight years. He then turned his attention to the heavy hardware and railway supply business, in which he continuously engaged until 1897, when he entered the employ of the National Cash Register Company as special representative. On the 1st of January, 1907, he was appointed agent in New Haven for the same company and has continuously acted as agent for this company, his service covering a longer period than that of any agent at one place in Connecticut.
Mr. Nelson has been married twice. His present wife was Elizabeth Parker Howard, of Springfield, Massachusetts. He has two children. Fred T., born of his first marriage, is now living at Beverly, Massachusetts. The second son, Vance H., is with his father in the agency of the National Cash Register Company. He married Margaret Dent and they have
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one child, Margaret. Vance H. Nelson is a member of the Second Regiment of the Gover- nor's Foot Guard.
AIr. Nelson attends the Methodist Episcopal church and the nature of his interests and activities is further indicated in the fact that he holds membership with the New Haven Yacht Club and with the Republican Club, yachting being his only recreation and of it he is an enthusiastic devotee. He made his initial step toward political activity by becoming president of the Civic Society of Morris Cove, which is the fifteenth ward of New Haven. The people there demanded improvements, notably good roads, and they wished to have the matter in charge of an alert, progressive business man and citizen who could accomplish re- sults. As head of this organization Mr. Nelson came in contact with city officials and poli- ticians. In 1915 bis friends asked him to stand for alderman and he consented. He was elected to the position that year and has since been a member of the board of aldermen, in which connection he has made an excellent record. He brings to the discharge of his duties business enterprise, alertness and marked devotion to the public good, and he has done splen- did work on the following committees: He is chairman of the committee on streets and squares; is chairman of the special committee on traffic, and is a member of the committee on sewers and sanitation, of the special committee on the coal situation, the special committee on the proposed public market, and others.
He is an independent republican, but in local matters the political party issue is not of paramount importance to him and he gives his aid and influence to the measures and men who best serve the public welfare. He has made an excellent record in his office as alderman and New Haven ha's profited by his service.
NATHAN W. HENDRYX.
One of the extensive and important manufacturing plants of New Haven, contributing much to the business development and commercial stability of the city, is that conducted under the name of the Andrew B. Hendryx Company, of which Nathan W. Hendryx is the president. He has been a lifelong resident of New Haven, born on the 14th of February, 1880. He supplemented his public school training by study in the New York Military Acad- emy and in St. Paul's School, together with a two years' course in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale. His business training was received under the direction of his father. The periods of vacation were devoted to factory work and he acquainted himself thoroughly with every department of the business, gaining an intimate knowledge of the work in principle and detail.
The company manufactures bird cages, fishing tackle, picture cord, etc., and its products are unrivalled anywhere in its special lines. They have a modern plant at No. 86 Audubon street. The business was established in 1874 at Ansonia, Connecticut, under the firm name of Hendryx & Bartholomew, the senior member being Andrew B. Hendryx, and through the intervening years has steadily grown and developed until the output is now very large. The plant includes eight spacious buildings, two of which are one story in height, two of two stories, three of four stories and one of five stories. The latest and best improved machinery has been installed for carrying on the manufacture and, in fact, every modern device and facility has been secured for promoting rapid and perfect production. The company employs two hundred and thirty skilled operatives in the manufacture of high grade brass bird eages, chain and fishing tackle, wire picture cord and moulding hooks. The cage making extends to complete standard lines of bird and animal cages, and brass is largely the raw material used.
Mr. Hendryx has remained president of the company since 1907 and Thomas B. Oliver is the treasurer. The business is thoroughly organized in its various departments. Something of the growth of the business is indicated in the fact that when the plant was established at New Haven there were but twenty-five employes. Today they have ten times that number, while the floor space has been increased from fifteen thousand square feet to one hundred thousand square feet. On the removal to New Haven in 1879, the name was changed to its present form and the business was incorporated on the 1st of October, 1889. The policy of the house in its treatment of employes is indicated by the fact that some of the men in their
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service have been with them for thirty-eight years. They are always fair and just, seeking to give an equitable return for services rendered.
Mr. Hendryx attends the Congregational church and he gives his political allegiance to the republican party. He is well known in chub circles, holding membership in the Quinnipiac, Union League, New Haven Country and New Haven Yacht Chibs.
JOSEPH DE CANTILLON.
Joseph De Cantillon is a man of energy and business insight and as the senior partner in the firm of Joseph De Cantillon & Son, distributors of Maxwell motor cars, has built up a business of gratifying proportions. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, May 22, 1876. a son of Samuel and Augusta De Cantillon, both of whom have passed away.
After receiving a public school education he went to work and for some time was em- ployed as an elevator boy. His residence in Meriden dates from 1892, in which year he be- came connected with the International Silver Company, with which world famous concern he remained until 1914. In that year he went into business on his own account, securing the agency for the Maxwell motor cars. He has since remained at the same location, No. 18 Pratt street, and his salesrooms are well appointed. He has the agency for Meriden, Walling- ford and Cheshire and now has out about one hundred and fifty cars. The business is con- ducted under the name of Joseph De Cantillon & Son and that it has been ably managed is indicated by the fact that the increase in trade has necessitated the employment of three men.
Mr. De Cantillon was married to Miss Florence G. Stanley, of Meriden, and they have four children: Lester, seventeen years old; Aline, thirteen years old; Doris, aged four: and Marian.
Mr. De Cantillon is a republican and is serving as a member of the city council, being a member of the claims committee. He belongs to the Woodmen of the World and in re- ligious faith as a Universalist. At the time of the Spanish-American war he put aside his personal interests and joined the army. He now holds membership in the United Spanish War Veterans and also with the Sons of Veterans, his father having fought in the Civil war. He has at all times been characterized by a commendable interest in the general welfare and he is generally recognized as a valuable citizen as well as a successful business man.
GEORGE MONROE GRISWOLD.
George Monroe Griswold, president of The George MI. Griswold Machine Company of New Haven, was born at South Glastonbury, Connecticut, April 10, 1848, his parents being Anson and Samantha (Tyron) Griswold, hoth deceased. The genealogy of the Griswold family can be traced back as far as 1200 A. D. in England and to a very early period in the colonization of the new world, for his ancestors participated in the French and Indian war and also in the Revolutionary war. One of the towns of Connecticut was named Griswoldville in honor of the family and it was there that Anson Griswold was born.
George M. Griswold acquired a district school education in his native town, where he pursued his studies to the age of twelve years. He afterward spent one year as an employe in a store owned by a cousin and then returned to the farm. Later he spent a winter season in school in Glastonbury. In 1862 he made his way to Meriden, Connecticut, where he learned the machinist's trade as an employe of the American Britannia Company. He spent three years in that connection and then came to New Haven, where he secured a position as tool maker with the Whitney Arms Company. He was afterward for about a year with the firm of Pratt & Whitney at Hartford. Connecticut, and while thus engaged made tools, gauges and machines for the Prussian government then engaged in the Franco-Prussian war. At that time the Prussians obtained the entire output from three armories at Hartford.
In 1873 Mr. Griswold again became a resident of New Haven, where he worked as a tool maker and machinist. In 1875 he started in business independently, opening a small shop. He
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at first had no employes, doing all of the work himself, and his work was mostly of an experi- mental character, notably on dental devices for Dr. E. S. Gaylord, who is still one of the prominent and distinguished dentists of New Haven. Mr. Griswold's first shop had only three hundred and fifty square feet of floor space, but gradually he secured larger quarters by removal and by building and today he has twenty-five thousand square feet of floor space and has an average of twenty-five employes, while during the busy season he has many more. Much of the output of the plant is sold in New Haven, yet he ships his goods to every country on the face of the globe.
In 1889 Mr. Griswold was united in marriage to Miss Edna P. Cooke, of Cheshire, Con- necticut, and they have one child, Lura E. S., who was educated in the New Haven schools and was graduated from Wellesley College with the class of 1912.
Mr. Griswold is a member of St. Paul's church. He belongs also to Trumbull Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and in these two connections are found the rules which govern his conduct in all of his relations with his fellowmen. He has been a member of the school board at Edgewood, Connecticut, for fifteen years and became chairman of the board in 1908. He belongs to the Chamber of Commerce of New Haven and is interested in all of its well defined plans and projects for the improvement and upbuilding of the city. He has ever been actuated by a spirit of advancement and society has no place in his makeup. He has displayed laudable ambition and step by step he has gone forward, his advancement being based upon efficiency and reliability.
HENRY WILLIAM IBELSHAUSER.
While the development of a city largely depends upon its commercial and industrial en- terprises, these two broad lines of business are not developed through the efforts of a few individuals but are the result of the united efforts of many. Each successful legitimate busi- ness undertaking adds to the whole, constituting a substantial part of the foundation upon which is builded modern day prosperity and progress. In mercantile circles of New Haven, Henry William Ibelshauser is well known, being the president. treasurer and general man- ager of The Pfleghar Hardware Specialty Company, doing business at Nos. 162-168 Win- chester avenue.
He was born in Hessen, Germany, Angust 11. 1862, a son of Henry and Katherine Ibels- hauser. His education was acquired in the public schools of his native land and in 1879. when a youth of seventeen years, he crossed the Atlantic to New York city. In October of the same year he arrived in New Haven and throughout the intervening period has been continuously identified with The Pfleghar Hardware Specialty Company. In order to more thoroughly qualify for an active business career he pursued a commercial course in a business college and has also studied in night schools. He has held almost every position with the company, starting in as shop boy, acting as timekeeper and learning the business from the ground np. His thoroughness and reliability made his services invaluable and in 1907 he was elected secretary of the company, continuing in that office until 1915, when he was chosen president, treasurer and general manager. When he assumed active control the company was employing from thirty to forty men. He infused new life into the undertaking by the adoption of most progressive business principles and methods and the company now employs from two hundred to two hundred and twenty-five men. A splendid local trade has been de- veloped, ninety per cent of the business being done in New Haven. They carry a very com- plete line of hardware specialties and their reliable methods and straightforward dealing have brought them success, and theirs is now one of the substantial houses of the city.
In 1884 Mr. Ibelshauser was united in marriage in New Haven to Miss Valeska Fechner, of this city, and they have two children. Rudolph H. A., who attended the public and high schools and was also liberally educated in music, holds a position in his father's factory. Emma V., the daughter, is the wife of Henry Bussman, of New Haven.
Mr. Ibelshauser is a director of the Broadway Bank & Trust Company. He is a member of the German Lutheran church and of the Foresters lodge, and for many years has been an active member of the German Aid Society. Since 1880 he has been an honored member of the Harugari singing society. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he is
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a member of the Young Men's Republican Club. He likewise belongs to the chamber of com- merce and is in hearty sympathy with its interests and purposes as it endeavors to extend the trade relations of the city and upbuild municipal interests, supporting the highest civic standards. Mr. Ibelshauser is to be congratulated upon what he has accomplished. Starting out in life empty-handed, he has steadily advanced along lines of legitimate endeavor to a place of prominence among the enterprising and progressive business men of New Haven. He makes his home at 163 Peck avenue, West Haven, where he built a handsome residence in 1915.
H. FREDERICK DAY.
H. Frederick Day, a well known figure in legal and in insurance circles of New Haven, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, May 10, 1888, a son of Frederick Ellsworth and Sidonie (Nenrice}) Day. He acquired a public school education in Hartford and afterward attended the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire and was graduated from the Hartford high school with the class of 1906. His law course was pursued in Yale and he was graduated from the legal department in 1911. He was afterward connected with the legal department of the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad at Minneapolis for a year and a half and subsequently spent a similar period in connection with the legal department of the Minne- apolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad Company. On the expiration of that period he went to New York and accepted the position of assistant attorney with the Hartford Acci- dent & Indemnity Company. In May, 1916, he removed to New Haven, where he was acting as attorney for the same company until June, 1917, when he resigned this position to practice for himself, having been admitted to the bar of Connecticut in 1911.
On the 20th of October, 1909, Mr. Day was united in marriage in Boston, Massachusetts, to Miss Doris H. Hosmer, originally from Providence, Rhode Island, but living in Brookline, Massachusetts, at the time of her marriage. They have become the parents of three chil- dren, Marion, John Marshall, born November 2, 1913, and Gwendolen.
Mr. Day is a member of Nu Sigma Nu and also belongs to the Masonic fraternity. He is a vestryman of Christ's Episcopal church of East Haven and thus takes active and help- ful interest in promoting the moral interests of the community with which he is now identi- fied. His political endorsement is given to the men and measures of the democratic party. In military circles he is well known, serving as second lieutenant of Company MI of the Home Guard of New Haven, having enlisted in 1917. Previously he had been a private of Company K of the First Connecticut Infantry and passed the examination that won him the commission of lieutenant. He is a young man thoroughly in earnest in all that he does, actuated by a patriotic devotion to the general good that prompts him to uphold the highest civic standards as well as support the policy of the country in days of war.
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