USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > A modern history of New Haven and eastern New Haven County, Vol. II > Part 57
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relieved him of much of the routine work and he gradually acquired the knowledge, experi- ence and skill of a ship carpenter. It was on this voyage that a monstrous whale was sighted and Mr. Andersen, as one of the crew of the second mate's boat, gave chase. The mate threw the harpoon fairly into the monster which showed fight for some time but at length came to the surface where it floated motionless. The boat then pulled up slowly and silently through the water and when ahnost within an oar's length the mate grasped his second harpoon ready for another thrust. Just then the whale gave a last vindictive flap which caught the boat amidship and smashed it into a thousand pieces. Mr. Andersen and his mates were tossed into the air but landed with a splash and coming once more to the surface Mr. Andersen struck out for the remains of the boat and at length climbed on to the keel whence he was rescued. He left the ship at Talcahuana, Chile, and there became engaged in a fight aiding the men from American and British warships who were attacked by the natives, the battle raging for hours. It was after this that Mr. Andersen secured work on the railroad which was controlled by Englishmen who were glad to find anyone who could speak English. He was given charge of a gang of coolies and proved capable in his work, but desirons of returning to sea he shipped on the iron bark Kenton for Falmouth, England, as ship carpenter. On that voyage a severe storm was encountered when huge waves shook the ship from stem to stern but they at last safely reached Hull, England. In order to get back to New York Mr. Andersen shipped on the Vandalia and at length again reached this country. He afterward made several voyages and for a time was ship carpenter on the American ship, I. L. Scofield, bound for Calcutta, India. He afterward cruised in the far east and visited Java and Japan. He also went to Sydney, Australia, to Ceylon and India, and his mind is not only stored with many interesting reminiscences of many oriental lands and people, but he also has a most complete diary of his various voyages. For a time he was on ships bound for the West Indies and later went to Barcelona, Spain. He spent a considerable period on Mediterranean fruit steamers and not only visited many places of historical interest along the Italian coast but also visited Mount Etna and Portu- gal. He visited the east and at intervals for twelve years was in many places in China and Japan.
On the 19th of April, 1893, Mr. Andersen was united in marriage to Miss Elsie Marie Mortensen, a native of Kolding, Denmark. About this time he was with the Sargent Com- pany of New Haven, as a pattern maker and continued with them until 1896, when he en- gaged in business on his own account as a furniture repairer and upholsterer. He has since continued in that line and has won a very creditable measure of success. From 1902 until 1913 he was in business in Northampton, Massachusetts, but his present location is at No. 304 Elm street, New Haven, where he is building up a substantial and growing trade.
To Mr. and Mrs. Andersen have been born seven children, five of whom are living, all sons. The eldest, Frank George, is an electrician of New Haven. He married Ethel Morde- cai, and they have one child, Elsie Mary. The second son, Charles MI., also an electrician, married Georgiana Socia and has one daughter, Evaline. Edward L. is also an electrician, residing in New Haven. William Robert is associated with his father in business. Henry Clifford, the youngest of the family, is thirteen years old and weighs one hundred and eighty- six pounds.
Mr. and Mrs. Andersen hold membership in the Congregational church. Mr. Andersen is connected with the Broadway Business Men's Association. While his early experiences carried him into many lands he is loyal to his adopted country and is anxious in every way to further the upbuilding and progress of the community in which he resides.
LEWIS GARDINER RICHARDSON.
Lewis Gardiner Richardson, secretary and general manager of the New Haven Screw Company, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, September 3, 1878, and his parents, James W. and Nancy (Logan) Richardson, were also natives of this state, representing prominent families that through generations have been connected with New England. The father was of English descent and the mother of Scotch lineage, the former born in Coventry Con- necticut and the latter in Thompsonville, Connecticut. James W. Richardson became well
R& Richardson
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known as a carpenter and joiner and for many years was identified with the building interests of Hartford, where he passed away in 1896, at the age of sixty-five. His wife was reared and educated in Hartford and there their marriage was celebrated. She passed away in 1880.
Lewis G. Richardson, the youngest of their seven children, entered the schools of Hartford, where he passed through consecutive grades, and in his youth he manifested a tendency toward mechanics and read and studied greatly along that line, gaining knowledge which has been of the utmost value to him in later years. Following out his natural inclination toward mechanics, he took up a correspondence course to qualify him for work of that character and later secured employment in a small factory in Hartford devoted to the manufacture of brass and plumbing hardware. After completing his apprenticeship he resigned his position and went to New York city, where he entered the office of the Western Electric Manufacturing Company at the munificent salary of four dollars per week. He remained with the company, however, for three and one-half years and advancement within that period brought him a salary of fourteen dollars per week. He afterward entered the employ of the Manhattan Brass Company as foreman's clerk, spending a year there, and later he returned to Hartford, where he became shipping clerk for the Universal Screw Company, with which he mained until the business was sold out to the American Hardware Company, in the meantime being advanced from the humble position of shipping clerk to that of manager. After the transfer he continued with the American Hardware Company for a year. When the New Haven Machine Screw Company of New Haven went into receivership and Hon. Rollin S. Woodruff was appointed receiver in July, 1914, Mr. Richardson was selected to take charge of the plant and was made secretary and general manager of the company. In July, 1914, therefore, he came to New Haven to look after the interests of the business. The assets of the company were assumed by the new organization and at the end of two years Mr. Richardson had made a very creditable show- ing. He had disposed of some of the old machinery, rebuilt considerable, as well as installing new and improved machinery to replace it, and he added to the stock from time to time, building up a business of very satisfactory proportions. The New Haven Screw Company now employs between sixty and sixty-five expert workmen and has a large surplus stock of material on hand, with orders sufficient to keep the plant in constant operation for years to come. They manufacture nothing but the highest grade of goods in their line, consisting of safety steel set screws, special screws and screw machine products. Several automobile specialties companies have orders in for several million spark plugs, in addition to which they manufacture other lines and the nature, the growth and development of the business have been brought about through the efforts of Mr. Richardson, who combines excellent administrative and executive force with comprehensive knowledge of mechanical principles.
On the 2d of July, 1913, Mr. Richardson was married to Miss Bertba Prior, of Hart- ford, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Prior. In politics he is an independent republican but without desire or time for public office. He belongs to the Automobile Club and is not unappreciative of the social amenities of life, but his business has constantly made great demands upon his time and energies and through close application, determined purpose and laudable ambition he has advanced until he now ranks with the prominent and repre- sentative manufacturers of New Haven.
ARTHUR BERNARD O'KEEFE.
Arthur Bernard O'Keefe, a self-educated and self-made man, has come to rank with the capable lawyers of New Haven and has also been numbered among those who have aided in framing the laws of the state. He was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, May 18, 1883, a son of Michael and Margaret (Caldwell) O'Keefe. The father was a native of Ireland and came to the United States many years ago. He was married on this side of the Atlantic to Miss Margaret Caldwell, who was a representative of an old New Hampshire family. The parents of Arthur B. O'Keefe removed to Branford in his infancy, and he was educated in its public schools, while later he spent one year in the high school. He then had to put aside his text-
Vol. II-21
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books in order to provide for his own support and made his preliminary step in the business world upon learning the locksmith's trade, which he followed for six years. Realizing the value of an education and desirous of adding to his mental equipment, he then attended a preparatory school, being graduated from Booth's Preparatory School in 1905. He won his diploma and afterward entered the Yale Law School, from which he was graduated in 1908, receiving the LL. B. degree. In June of the same year he located for practice in New Haven, where he has since followed his profession. He is very careful in the preparation of his cases, is clear and logical in his reasoning and sound in his deductions and he has been con- nected with much important litigation heard in the courts of the district. He also served as prosecuting attorney in the town court of New Haven in 1914.
In St. Paul's Roman Catholic church at Worcester, Massachusetts, Mr. O'Keefe was mar- ried on the 2d of September, 1911, to Miss Marie Kerrigan and they have become the parents of three children, Arthur B., Jr., Hugh C. and Nancy.
The parents attend the St. Lawrence Roman Catholic church and Mr. O'Keefe is identified with the Knights of Columbus and the Knights of Columbus Club, also with the Knights of St. Patrick, the Elks, the Woodmen of the World and the Phoenix Club of West Haven. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party, of which he is a stalwart supporter, and he is a member of the democratic state central committee of the fourteenth senatorial dis- trict. In the year 1913 he was a member of the Connecticut state legislature and thus he has been connected with the work of framing as well as of interpreting the laws before the courts. He concentrates his efforts and attention upon his chosen profession, actuated by high ideals and by laudable ambition to attain success. Step by step he has advanced and his progression has brought him to a creditahle and enviable place among the able and grow- ing young lawyers of New Haven. His record should serve to inspire and encourage others, showing what may be accomplished when one has the will to dare and to do, for handicapped by lack of education, he overcame that difficulty as he has all others, and has now advanced far on the highroad to professional prominence.
FREDERICK WUTERICH.
Frederick Wuterich, who is engaged in the wholesale bottling business in Meriden, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, February 27, 1837, his parents being Jacob Frederick and Catherine (Kachele) Wuterich. The father passed away in 1852, while the death of the mother occurred in 1848. Their son Frederick acquired his education in the public schools of Germany and was in one school or another almost until the time when he crossed the Atlantic. In vacation periods he was in his father's factory, in which were made machines for weaving broadcloth and other high grade goods. He became very proficient in the work of the factory, acted as bookkeeper, also as paymaster and did other duties in connection with the conduct of the business.
It was in the year 1853 that Mr. Wuterich crossed the Atlantic to New York city, where he remained for three or four months. He then went to Glastonbury, Connecticut, where other families from the same locality in Germany had settled. He worked on a farm there for a year and on the 1st of April, 1854, he secured employment in the Sanford shop at Yalesville, where he continued until the panic of 1857. He then returned to Germany to settle up his father's estate but in the spring of 1858 again came to Meriden and took a trip west to Chicago. From that point he went to the Mississippi river and made his way up and down the river looking for work. He afterward returned to Meriden and was employed at various places through the next few years, being for a time with the Charles Parker Company and with the Sanford Company. In 1861 he endeavored to enlist for service in the Union army but was not accepted. He afterward spent some time in Pittsburgh and in Yonkers, New York, and then again came to Meriden and worked at Yalesville until 1885, when he bought a small bottling plant on West Main street. This he sold out after three or four years and purchased the Bixbee House, which he conducted for three years. He next repurchased the bottling works and in 1900 removed to his present location. He represents the Henry Rice Brewing Company of New York city. When he first started in business he did all of the work himself but now employs eight
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men and has two trucks and two wagons. He sells the output over the town and county and is doing a profitable business as a wholesale bottler and dealer.
On the 1st of January, 1860, Mr. Wuterich was united in marriage to Miss Frederica Handel, of Glastonbury, Connecticut, and they have five living children: Pauline, who is now the wife of Louis Schleyer, who is living at Norwich and by whom she has one child, Earl; Emma, who is the wife of Stanley Jarvis, of Meriden, and has one child, Irving; Philip A., who married Maud Jacobs, of Wallingford, and who has four children-Roswell, Ellsworth, Raymond and Geraldine; Josephine N., the wife of Alfred Hirschfeld, of Meriden, and the mother of a daughter. Helen; and Minnie L., the wife of E. J. Laundrie, of Provi- dence, Rhode Island, by whom she has one child, Prescott. The son, Philip Wuterich, has for twenty-seven years been connected with the Charles Parker Company. Mr. and Mrs. Wuterich also had five children who have passed away: Charles, Edward, William, Frederick and Marie.
Mr. Wuterich speaks and writes three languages-French, German and English. On coming to America, soon after landing in New York, he took out his first naturalization papers. He gives his political allegiance to the republican party and for six years he served on the school board. He is a member of the Episcopal church and since 1868 he has had membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He also belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and is a member of the Cosmopolitan Club, of the German Mutual Aid Society and of the Meriden Turn Verein. He has never had occasion to regret bis determination to come to the new world, and while pleasant memories of boyhood cluster around the home of his youth, he has always felt it his first duty to be loyal to his adopted land, under whose laws he has found protection and under whose flag he has enjoyed opportunities and liberties that could not have been secured had he remained on the soil of his native country.
EVAN LOUIS STETTNER.
Evan Louis Stettner, treasurer and manager of Hyman's, Incorporated, owning one of New Haven's leading department stores, has throughout his business career been identified with commercial interests, and his intelligently directed activities have brought him from a humble clerkship to his present position of responsibility. He was born in Easton, Pennsyl- vania, March 28, 1884, a son of Adolph Stettner, a native of Stettin, Germany, whence he came to America in 1864. He made his way to Richmond, Virginia, where he had an uncle living who was a prominent merchant of that place, and there Mr. Stettner was employed for a short time, this being his initial experience in mercantile circles. During the reeon- struction period he was engaged in the coastal trade with Mexico and South America. Covering the period of the early '70s he was connected with mercantile lines, handling dry goods and clothing in Pennsylvania and in Evansville, Indiana. In fact he extended his commercial operations until he was conducting a chain of stores covering a broad territory. In 1885 Mr. Stettner eame to New Haven, where he entered the merchant tailoring business, in which he was successfully engaged until 1905, when he became a member of the present firm operating under the name of Hyman's, Incorporated. Ile continued active in the business until 1912 and still retains his financial interest therein with the title of president, to which office he was elected on the incorporation. The first president of the company was Charles Miller, who was followed by Maurice Cohon, while Mr. Stettner became the third head of the house, succeeding to the office upon Mr. Cohon's death. In his business career he has displayed those characteristics which, for want of a better term, have been called commercial sense-a recognition of the public needs and demands and the sagacity in fore- seeing these demands so that he has been able to supply the trade. He possesses, moreover, marked executive ability, and his interests have been successfully promoted year after year until he now stands among the prosperous merchants and business men of his city. He married Sarah Phillips, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and of German descent. She passed away in 1891 at the age of thirty-eight years. She was the mother of five children, the fourth being Evan Louis Stettner of this review.
Brought to New Haven at an early age Evan Louis Stettner pursued his education in
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the publie schools, passing through consecutive grades to the high school, but at the age of fifteen years he put aside his textbooks and began to earn his own livelihood, being first employed by Sargent & Company in clerical work. He continued with that firm for eleven years, gradually working his way upward until he reached the position of assistant fore- man of one of the departments. In 1910 he resigned this position to enter the store in which his father was interested and of which he became secretary. Upon the death of Mr. Cohon, when his father assumed the presidency, Evan Louis Stettner became treasurer and manager. The firm employs on an average of twenty-one sales people, and they are the largest ready-to-wear clothiers in the state, handling men's, women's and children's clothing. The store is located at Nos. 18 to 22 Church street, and has a floor space of fifty by one hundred and twenty-five feet. The stock is carefully selected, meeting the various tastes of the public, and the business methods of the house are such as will bear the closest investigation and scrutiny.
Mr. Stettner was married in Bridgeport, Connectient, to Miss Jane Hill, a native of New Haven and a daughter of Leo and. Jennie (Cooper) Hill, of an old and prominent New Haven family. Mr. Stettner is a prominent figure in the musical eireles of the city and has been connected with various churches in that way, including St. Patrick's church and the Church of the Redeemer. His own religious belief is indicated by his membership in Mishkan Israel Temple. He belongs to the Adelphi Literary Society, and in his political views is an independent republican. Attractive social qualities have won for him popularity, and bis business enterprise and ambition have carried him into important commercial relations.
CHARLES KINGSBURY BILLINGS, JR.
Charles Kingsbury Billings, Jr., engaged in the investment brokerage business in New Haven, is widely and favorably known in financial circles of his section of the state. He was born November 21, 1885, in the city where he yet resides. His father, Charles Kings- bury Billings, Sr., was a native of New York and a representative of an old family of New York city, founded in America at an early period in the colonization of the new world. Charles K. Billings, Sr., took up the study of law and was admitted to the bar but has never engaged in practice. He is a Yale graduate, class of 1882. He wedded Mary Eliza- beth Alden, a native of New Haven and a daughter of Dexter Alden, who manufactured the first oleomargarine made in the United States and for many years was one of the foremost manufacturers of New Haven. She was a direct descendant in the eighth generation of John and Priscilla (Mullens) Alden of historic fame and she passed away May 17, 1904.
Charles K. Billings, Jr., is a representative of the descendants of John Alden in the ninth generation. He was the second in a family of seven children and after beginning his education in the Hopkins grammar school he attended the Holbrook Military Academy and afterward the Sheffield Scientific School. He also received instruction from private tutors and thus a liberal intellectual training well qualified him for the duties and responsibilities of the business world. He was twenty years of age when he became connected with C. W. Blakeslee & Son, contractors, in the capacity of clerk, thus making his initial step in the business world. He remained in that connection for two years and then entered the employ of the brokerage firm of the W. T. Field Company of New Haven, with whom he remained in a clerical capacity for two years and was then admitted to the firm. His connection with the business covered six years, at the end of which time he withdrew and entered the bond and brokerage business on his own account. He organized The Kingsbury Billings Company, Inc., with offices in the Colonial building in New Haven and he has made for himself an enviable position in financial circles, being thoroughly familiar with stocks, bonds and high grade investment securities. He displays keen sagacity and unfaltering enterprise and his business affairs have been wisely and successfully conducted.
On the 12th of October, 1910, Mr. Billings was married to Miss Katherine Lonise Murlless, a native of Rockville, Connecticut, and a daughter of Herbert Bond and Sarah (Childs) Murlless, the former a representative of an old Connecticut family and the latter of an old Massachusetts family. Mr. and Mrs. Billings have two children: Kingsbury
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Murlless, born in New Haven, May 20, 1914; and Marion, born in New Haven, February 29, 1916.
In politics Mr. Billings is a republican and keeps in touch with the questions of the day and the trend of modern thought but does not seek nor desire office. He is well known in social circles as a member of the New Haven Lawn and the New Haven Yacht clubs. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons and his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Center Congregational church. He is very democratic, yet a man of liberal culture and of high ideals and withal most progressive.
ABRAHAM HEBERGER.
Abraham Heberger, well known in real estate circles in New Haven, was born in New York city, May 28, 1855, a son of the late Herman Heberger, a native of Frankfort, Ger- many, who came to America in 1849 and settled in New York, where he resided until 1861. He then removed to New Haven, where he was successfully engaged in the clothing business for twenty-eight years, or until his death, which occurred May 30, 1889, when he was sixty- seven years of age.
Abraham Heberger was educated in the Webster school and in the old Hillhouse school of New Haven. From the age of fourteen years he has been continuously connected with the business life of the city, the major portion of that time, or until 1907, heing with the clothing trade. In that year he entered the real estate and mortgage loan business, in which he has since been continuously successful. He now has a large clientage and is thoroughly familiar with real estate values. He has negotiated many important realty transfers and his business has assumed gratifying proportions.
Mr. Heberger votes with the republican party but has never been ambitious to hold office. He has always concentrated his efforts and attention upon his business affairs, and it has been his close application and keen sagacity that have won for him his success. Starting out at the early age of fourteen years, he has since been dependent upon his own resources and is today conducting a profitable and extensive business as a real estate dealer.
WILLIAM R. JUDSON.
William R. Judson, a New Haven engraver, was born in Middletown, New York, Novem- ber 9, 1879, a son of William H. and Isabelle (Howbert) Judson, hoth of whom are natives of the Empire state. The father engaged in business as a contractor and builder and has re- mained in New York throughout his entire life, being now sixty-nine years of age, while his wife has reached the age of sixty-eight years. They are the parents of four children: Ne- hemiah, who is living in Waterbury; Mrs. Ada Nine, residing on Long Island; and Mrs. Gussie Horton, also on Long Island.
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