USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > A modern history of New Haven and eastern New Haven County, Vol. II > Part 59
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TIMOTHY F. O'CONNELL.
Timothy F. O'Connell, actively engaged in law practice in New Haven, was born in this city, July 5, 1888. His father, Timothy J. O'Connell, was a native of Ireland and on coming to America made his way direct to New Haven, where he followed mercantile lines, conduct- ing a successful business. During his later years he was quite active in republican politics and was a stanch supporter of many movements which contributed to civie progress and improvement. He died in 1893 and is survived by his widow, who in her maidenhood was Annie Maria Gunn, a native of New Haven and a daughter of John and Ann (Shannon) Gunn, who were of Irish extraction. Mrs. O'Connell had a family of three sons and a danghter, two of whom are living: Timothy F., of this review; and JJohn Irwin, who is a practicing physician and surgeon of New York eity. He was graduated from Yale and then entered upon his professional activities in the metropolis.
Timothy F. O'Connell was a pupil in the grammar and high schools of New Haven and afterward entered the real estate and insurance field, where he so directed his efforts that he won a substantial measure of success. It was with his earnings that he pursued a course in Yale, being desirous of becoming a member of the bar. He was graduated from the high school in 1905 and after devoting two years to the real estate busines entered Yale in 1907, completing his course in 1910, at which time the LL. B. degree was conferred upon him. On the 29th of February, 1912. he opened his office and entered upon the practice of law at No. 902 Chapel street. Here he has since remained and a liberal clientage is accorded him. He began his professional career well fitted for its responsibilities and duties, having acquired intimate knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence and he recognizes, moreover. the value of thorough preparation. Hle never enters the courts until well prepared to meet the attack of the opposition, while at the same time he is fortified in every point that bears upon his own cause. le is resourceful. quick in repartee,strong in argument and logical in his deduetions.
On the 15th of June, 1914, Mr. O'Connell was married in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York city to Miss Janet MacMillan, a native of New Haven county and a daughter of Archibald and Janet (Boyd) MacMillan. Two children have been born of this marriage Timothy F., Jr., and Janet Boyd, both natives of New Haven.
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Mr. O'Connell is a member of St. Mary's Roman Catholic church. His political en- dorsement is given to the democratic party and he is now filling the office of justice of the peace. His decisions are strictly fair and impartial, winning him golden opinions from all classes of people. Laudable ambition and natural ability have brought him to the front and step by step he has progressed in his profession until he now ocenpies a most creditable place for one of his years and experience.
BURTON AUGUR DAVIS.
Burton Augur Davis, actively engaged in brick manufacturing in New Haven, was born September 15, 1862, in a house on the Ilartford turnpike at Whitneyville in which his parents began their married life in 1842. He is a son of Edward and Betsey M. (Augur) Davis, both of whom were descended from Revolutionary stock, the father being related to the Lillibridge and Lyon families of Stafford and Woodstock. His grandfather, Lyman Lyon, marched from Woodstock at the Lexington alarm. Edward Davis was born in Stafford, Connecticut, June 30, 1818, and when a young man came to New Haven. He found employment with Aaron Skinner, who lived at the corner of Sachem and Prospect streets and was one of the prominent citizens of the place at the time. After a few years he went to Hamden and took the so-called Walter farm, now owned by Judge Webb. In 1842 he purchased a farm on the Hartford turnpike, where were born his six children ; James A., Maria B., William E., Carrie M., Burton A., and Myra L. This farm was occupied until 1867, when he bought another place in the same locality, to which he added from time to time until he had one of the finest farms in the county, now owned by the New Haven Country Club. Thereon he spent the remainder of his life winning the respect of the community by his upright life and exemplary habits. He was a selectman of Hamden and filled other positions of trust. He and his wife early became associated with the Whitneyville Congregational church and were among its stanch supporters until their deaths. Betsey M. Augur was the daughter of James and Almyra (Ford) Augur, and a descendant of Robert Augur, one of the earliest settlers of New Haven, who married Mary Gilbert, a daughter of Matthew Gilbert, deputy governor under Theophilus Eaton. Their line of descent is traced down from Robert Augur through John, Abraham, Hezekiah and James Augur. Her grandfather, Hezekiah Augur, was one of the original members of the Governor's Foot Guard and marched to Lexington with his company under Benedict Arnold. Through her grandmother, Lydia Atwater Augur, she was related to many of the old New Haven families.
Burton Augur Davis began his education in the old brick schoolhouse in Whitneyville and after attending a private school became associated with his father in the dairy business and when the New Haven Country Club leased his land for a golf course he became the club superintendent, having charge of the grounds until January, 1917, when he became identified with the brick business that had been established by his brothers, William E. and James A. Davis, in 1883. They were the organizers of the firm of W. E. Davis & Company and both have passed away. The company began business in Hamden near the New Haven line and was successful from the start. The business outgrew its quarters and the second brickyard was started nearby to meet the rapidly increasing demands for their trade. There the Davis brothers developed a large and profitable business which is now being conducted by their younger brother, Burton Augur Davis, and remains one of the profitable manufacturing enterprises of New Haven. He is also a director of the American Bank & Trust Company of New Haven.
On the 3d of February, 1885, in Whitneyville, Mr. Davis was married to Miss Martha Elizabeth Augur, a daughter of James Minott and Esther (Morrell) Augur. Her father was a merchant of New Haven, having a shoe store on Chapel street in the building now occupied by the Reglino Shoe Company. In 1864-5 he was a councilman of the city of New Haven. To Mr. and Mrs. Davis have been born two children, Marjorie Maud and Minott Augur. The latter was married November 14, 1917, to Ruth M. Seeley of New Haven.
Mr. Davis gives his political allegianee to the republican party and he is a member of
Edward Davis
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the Young Men's Republican Club. He served as assessor for the town of Hamden from 1903 until 1914 and was chairman of the school board in 1902. At one time he belonged to the Second Company of the Governor's Horse Guard, from which he received honorable discharge. He now has membership in the New Haven Country Club and he is also a member of the Whitneyville Congregational church, of which he has served as trustee and treasurer. IIe is interested in all those forces and movements working for the progress and upbuilding of the community in which he resides and is a progressive and public-spirited citizen. When he sold his farm to the Country Club he purchased a home at No. 1207 Whitney avenue, where he now resides. He has made extensive alterations on the house and has a very pleasant and attractive home.
EDWARD JOSEPH BRENNAN, D. D. S.
Dr. Edward J. Brennan, actively engaged in the practice of dentistry in New Haven since 1915, has his office at 202 Crown street and is making steady progress in the pro- fession which he has chosen as his life work. He was born in New Haven, August 14, 1890, and is a son of Joseph F. Brennan, who was a native of this city and a son of James and Julia (Crowley) Brennan, who were natives of Ireland and were among the early Irish settlers of New Haven. Joseph F. Brennan was a carpenter by trade and won a fair measure of success. The paternal grandfather was a Civil war veteran and served with a Connecticut company throughout the period of hostilities. The death of Joseph F. Brennan occurred in the summer of 1912, when he had reached the age of fifty years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Margaret Mahoney, is a native of Hartford, Connecticut, and a daughter of Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Wall) Mahoney, both of whom were natives of Ireland and were among the early Irish settlers of Hartford. The mother is still living and by her marriage she had a family of nine children, of whom Dr. Brennan was the fifth and a twin.
He was educated in St. Mary's parochial school and in St. Mary's Academy of New Haven before entering the St. Louis University Preparatory School, situated at Grand and Lindell avenues in St. Louis, Missouri. Ile afterward became a student in Georgetown University at Washington, D. C., where he pursued his professional course and won his D. D. S. degree in 1915. Not long after his graduation Dr. Brennan located for practice in New Haven, where he opened an office and has since followed his chosen profession. He is well qualified by thorough training for the duties which devolve upon him and is winning success because of his efficiency and skill in the care of the teeth. He is ever courteous and obliging in his relations to his patrons and the excellence of his work insures the con- tinuance of a liberal patronage. He is a member of the New Haven board of health on dental work for the public schools of the city. He belongs to the New Haven Dental Society and the Connecticut State Dental Society and also has membership with the American Dental Association. He is likewise a member of the Delta Sigma Delta, a college fraternity. His membership relations extend to the Maccabees and to Russell Council of the Knights of Columbus, and he is a faithful communicant of St. Mary's Roman Catholic church. He owes his education in part to his own efforts, or in other words, he earned part of the money necessary to meet the expenses of his tuition. Therefore it seems but fair that he is now meeting with such well deserved success, being at the head of a large and satisfactory practice.
GEORGE C. KIEFER.
George C. Kiefer, president and treasurer of the New Haven Shoe Company, was born May 23, 1882, in Baltimore, Maryland, a son of Mathias Kiefer, who is also a native of that state and is of French extraction, his ancestors having come from Alsace-Lorraine. Mathias Kiefer was through the period of his active life a successful agriculturist but is now living retired in Catonsville, Maryland. He married Margaret Morgan, a native of Connecticut and a representative of one of the old families of that state, of English lineage.
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Of their family of eight children George C. Kiefer was the fourth. After attending publie and high schools in Baltimore he became a student in the Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and later attended the University of Pennsylvania. On attaining his majority he started out in the business world independently, being first employed in the steel mills. He was apprenticed to the Tennessee Coal. Iron & Railroad Company of Birmingham, Alabama, becoming thoroughly proficient in that line and gaining a comprehen- sive knowledge of the processes of steel manufacture in all of the different grades. He became recognized as an expert and was made a salesman with the American Steel & Wire Company. Later he was advanced to the position of state representative of that company in Connecticut and so continued until April, 1915, when he resigned his position to enter mercantile circles, purchasing the business of the New Haven Shoe Company, which had been established in 1838 and is the oldest and largest individual shoe house of the city if not of the state. In this connection he controls a trade of gratifying proportions and to the conduct of the business brings the spirit of progressive enterprise and modern-day commercial methods. His activities are therefore farreaching and resultant and New Haven regards him as a valued addition to her business circles.
On the 12th of October, 1912, Mr. Kiefer was married in New Haven to Miss Hazel M. Nesbit, a native of this city and a daughter of R. H. and Katherine ( Fairchild) Nesbit, who belonged to one of the old Connecticut families. Mr. and Mrs. Kiefer have a daughter, Jean Nesbit, who was born September 10, 1914.
Politically Mr. Kiefer is a republican, giving stalwart support to the party yet never seeking office. He is well known and popular in club circles, holding membership in the Sachems Head Yacht, Quinnipiac, New Haven Country and New Haven Lawn Clubs, the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Men's Association and the Transportation Club of New York. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church. While Mr. Kiefer was accorded liberal educational privileges, he had no financial assistance at the outset of his business career and has worked his way upward through that efficiency which results in the thorough mastery of every task and the development of powers qualifying one to cope with still larger duties. He is a man of well balanced capacities, has the qualities of leadership and easily wins the cooperation of those who enter his employ because they recognize his fitness for leadership and the sense of justice which he manifests at all times.
WILLIAM S. BARNES, PH. B., M. D.
Dr. William S. Barnes, who since opening an office in New Haven in 1897, following the completion of his professional course at Yale, has built up a large and lucrative practice, demonstrates in his career the fact that ability will come to the front and that true worth will win recognition. He was born February 28, 1874, in the city which is still his home, his parents being Samuel and Mary Jane ( Thompson) Barnes, and the latter was a native of Branford, Connecticut. In early life the father removed to New Haven and became an active factor in political interests of the fifth ward. For a number of years he was called upon to represent his ward on the board of aldermen and at one time was president thereof. He also soon gained a position of leadership in business circles and established the City Market at New Haven, in connection with which he conducted a large meat trade for many years. His activities made him a valued resident of New Haven, to the welfare and progress of which he made substantial contribution. He here passed away in November. 1908, and is still survived by his widow. They had a family of three children: Fred K .. now a resident of Paterson, New Jersey; William S .; and Mrs. Arthur W. Bacon, of New Britain, Connecticut.
Dr. Barnes was at one time a student in the Russell Military Academy and afterward attended the public schools. In 1892 he was graduated from the high school of New Haven. He next entered the Sheffield Scientific School and was graduated with the class of 1895. He regarded this as a preliminary step toward preparation for a professional career, it having become his earnest desire to enter upon the practice of medicine and surgery. Accordingly he matriculated in the medical department of Yale and won his M. D. degree in 1897. He at once opened an office in his native city, where he has since built up a large
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and lucrative practice. In 1911 he took post-graduate work at Harvard and he has ever remained a close and discriminating student of the profession, keeping in touch with the latest and most valuable contributions to medical literature. He specializes in urology and in that field has gained much more than local prominence. He now has membership in the New Haven Medical Society and since 1906 has been elerk of the New Haven County Medical Society for ten years. He belongs also to the Connecticut State and American Medical Associations and the American Urological Association.
In June, 1901, in New Haven, Dr. Barnes wedded Miss Charity Blackman Hyde, a daughter of Captain and Mrs. William M. Hyde. Both Dr. and Mrs. Barnes represent old families of Connecticut well connected. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and is also connected with the Phi Sigma Kappa, a Yale fraternity, with the Knights of Pythias, the Red Men. the Modern Woodmen of America and the Union League Club. The fact that many of his stanchest friends are those who have known him from his boyhood to the present indicates that his has been an honorable and upright career and that his record is as an open book which all may read.
CHESTER A. BAILEY.
Chester A. Bailey, engaged in the real estate and insurance business in New Haven, was born on the 19th of June, 1858, in Bethany. New Haven county, a son of Selden and Susan (Dorman) Bailey. The father, also born in this state. was descended from one of the old Connecticut families, the ancestral line being traced back to Chatham Bailey, who was of English birth. Nathan Bailey, the grandfather, was a veteran of the War of 1812. Selden Bailey devoted his life to agricultural pursuits, which he successfully followed to the time of his death in 1860 when he was forty-eight years of age. His wife was a daughter of Daniel Dorman, also a member of an old English family founded in Connecticut during the early period of the colonization of this state. Mrs. Bailey passed away in 1892 at the age of seventy-four years.
Chester A. Bailey, the youngest in a family of nine children, was educated in the public schools of flamden and in early life began work in a sawmill, starting out to earn his own living when but fourteen years of age. In fact he was the support of the family and pro- vided a livelihood for his mother and two sisters. For nine years he engaged in sawmill work and with his savings during that period he purchased a small stock of groceries and opened a store in Waterbury. From the beginning the new enterprise prospered and was successfully continued for fourteen years. He then sold his business and removed to New Haven, where he also conducted a grocery store for five years. In 1905 he disposed of his store to turn his attention to the real estate and the insurance business, in which he has since continued, and in the intervening period he has negotiated many important transfers and has made for himself a prominent and creditable position in real estate circles of the city. He belongs to the real estate board of New Haven and to the Real Estate Association, being treasurer of the latter. Ile is also a member of the Chambers of Commerce of New Haven and of West Haven and is interested in the purposes of these organizations, cooperat- ing heartily in their plans and projects for the public good.
In 1884 in Waterbury, Connecticut, Mr. Bailey was married to Miss Katie Forbes, a native of Bolton, Connecticut, and a daughter of Horace and Maria Forbes, representatives of old Connecticut families. Mrs. Bailey passed away September 16, 1896, and Mr. Bailey has sinee wedded Harriet A. Kilborn, of Derby, Connecticut, a daughter of Hiram and Adelia Kilborn. Her father is now deceased, and Mrs. Kilhorn makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Bailey.
In his political views Mr. Bailey is an earnest republican and fraternally is connected with the Royal Arcanum and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is an active and earnest member of Christ church of West Haven and is now serving as one of its vestrymen and as treasurer of special funds. His has been an active, useful and well spent life. He early assumed heavy duties and responsibilities in connection with the support of the family and soon learned to make the best possible use of his time and opportunities. He learned. too, to discriminate readily between the essential and the non-essential in business affairs.
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With the passing years he has steadily progressed, each year finding him ahead of the posi- tion which he occupied at a similar period the previous year. Diligence and determination have ever characterized him, and his successful achievements should serve to inspire and encourage others who have to start out in life as he did-empty handed.
CLARK LYMAN SMEDLEY.
Clark Lyman Smedley, an alert and enterprising business man, is the president and treasurer of the Smedley Company and of the firm of Smedley Brothers & Company, engaged in the trucking, moving and storage business in New Haven. Connecticut claims him as a native son. He was born September 28, 1848, and is a son of William L. and Julia C. (Marsh) Smedley. The family was founded in America prior to the Revolutionary war, in which representatives of the name took part, the early family home being at Morris, where Clark L. Smedley was reared and educated. However, at an early age he began providing for his own support as an employe in his father's store, there remaining for seven or eight years. Parental authority did not make the task an easy one. He arose at four o'clock in the morning and worked hard all day, and his preliminary business training was thus most thorough. He afterward started through the country, buying and selling cattle and horses, leaving home when fifteen years of age.
In 1863 Mr. Smedley came to New Haven, where he began to speculate in merchandise, making his purchases in New York city and selling in New Haven. In 1865 he started in his present business on a small scale at the corner of Orchard street and Whalley avenue, having at that time seven or eight horses, and originally he and his brother William Walter and their father did all of the work. Something of the marvelous growth of their patronage is indicated in the fact that they now employ one hundred and twenty-five men and utilize two hundred horses and fifteen automobile trucks. The firm also utilizes about a dozen buildings in the conduct of the various lines of their business. The business has been thoroughly systematized and divided into four departments, the trucking, wagon, automobile and storage departments. They continue to deal in horses and ship as many as forty carloads annually. The business has now been in existence for fifty-three years and in their employ they have one or two who have been with the company for forty years. The father and brother of Clark Lyman Smedley have passed away, and he is at the head of the business as the president and treasurer of the Smedley Company, formed in 1894, and of Smedley Brothers & Company. The careful direction of his interests with sound judgment and reliable methods have made his business one of the foremost enter- prises of this character in southern Connecticut, and his efforts have been crowned with well deserved prosperity. His son, Harry S., is assistant treasurer of the company and manager of several departments of the business.
Mr. Smedley is an independent voter and exercises his right of franchise in support of the measures and movements which he deems of greatest worth to the public. He belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the New Haven lodge of Elks and of several social clubs, and he attends the Congregational church. For fifty-four years he has made his home in New Haven and throughout the entire period he has so directed his activities that he enjoys in full measure the confidence, goodwill and high regard of a circle of friends that is almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintance.
CHARLES O. BLAKE.
Charles O. Blake, one of the best known real estate men of New Haven, who in recent years has done much for the development of the eity, displays in his life record those quali- ties which should serve as an inspiration and encouragement to others, for he is in the truest and best sense of the word a self-made man and has been both the architect and builder of his own fortunes. He was horn at Norfolk, Virginia, February 26, 1868, and in his infancy was left an orphan, after which he was taken to the home of a relative who
CLARK L. SMEDLEY
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cared for him for a time. He was reared at Raleigh, North Carolina, and as soon as old enough entered school there, but the period of his educational training was of short duration. He had just enough schooling, however, to whet his appetite for more and he availed himself of every opportunity to add to his knowledge. He bought all of the books which his meager earnings would permit and studied at night. In the daytime he worked as a farm hand on a plantation in North Carolina and afterward decided to learn the blacksmith's trade.
Making his way northward to Connecticut, Mr. Blake took up his abode in New Britain and became an apprentiee with the firm of Russell & Erwin, manufacturing blacksmiths. He completed his apprenticeship when a youth of nineteen but continued to work at his trade in New Britain, remaining there in all for seven years. On the expiration of that period he came to New Haven and secured a position in the shops of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company. That he was capable and faithful is indicated in the fact that he there remained for a decade, at the end of which time he resigned to aceept a position with the Bigelow Manufacturing Company of New Haven. He also remained there for ten years, during which period he carefully saved his earnings until he felt the sum was sufficient to justify his starting out in the real estate business on his own account. He began operations on a small scale, purchasing and handling property as the opportunity presented. At length his real estate business had reached such proportions that he felt he should devote his entire time thereto and he decided to give up his position with the Bigelow Company, which, however, was very reluctant to accept his resignation, not earing to lose so valuable an employe. From the beginning his business has grown to large proportions and he is today one of the representative real estate men of his city. He has made judicious investments as opportunity has arisen and is today the owner of much valuable property in West Haven.
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