A modern history of New Haven and eastern New Haven County, Vol. II, Part 64

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 64

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Charles H. Jackson began his education in Central City. Colorado, which was then a mining camp experiencing a boom, but after the death of his father accompanied his mother to Cheshire, Connecticut, where her people resided. He continued his education here and after completing the course offered in the common schools entered the high school. When sixteen years old he began clerking in a store at a wage of eighteen dollars a month. From the first he strove to make himself as valuable to his employer as possible and his ability and trustworthiness were rewarded by frequent promotions. He carefully saved his money and in 1910 purchased the business, which he has since successfully conducted. He has an unusually attractive line of dry goods, shoes, groceries, hardware, drugs, paints and automo- bile supplies and also owns the building in which the store is located. His success is the natural result of his desire to please his patrons, his well known reliability and his pro- gressive spirit, and his record is one well worthy of emulation.

In 1905 Mr. Jackson was married to Miss Helen Pierpont, of Cheshire, a daughter of Watson Pierpont, who for many years engaged in the butcher business in Waterbury and Cheshire and passed away in 1897.

Mr. Jackson belongs to L. A. Thomas Lodge. I. O. O. F., and his life exemplifies the spirit of fraternity upon which that organization is founded. At no time since beginning to make his own way in the world at the age of sixteen has he received outside aid, and the success which he has gained is proof of his sound judgment and business ability.

NATHAN B. WHITFIELD.

Nathan B. Whitfield, distributor in New Haven of the Overland cars and well known as a representative of the automobile business, was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, Septem- ber 23, 1876, a son of Bryan and Ellen (White) Whitfield. The father was born in North Carolina, where his ancestors had lived through many generations, but in 1895 he removed with his family to New Haven. When in his native state he was a well known planter and after removing to the north engaged in the carpentering and contracting business. He died in 1909, at the age of sixty-two years, and is still survived by his widow, who has now reached the age of seventy-one, making her home with her son Nathan. In their family were ten children: James, Thomas, Mrs. Fannie Foster, Richard, Lucy, Nathan, William, Annie, Louise and Mary. All are yet living with the exception of Lucy.

Nathan B. Whitfield attended school at Henderson, North Carolina, and when his text- books were put aside entered the wholesale tobacco business in that state, continuing actively in that line for five years. He was a youth of nineteen when in 1895 he came with his par- ents to New Haven, where he secured a position in a machine shop and here worked for a

NATHAN B. WHITFIELD

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short time. It was thus that he secured his first practical knowledge of machinery. He was interested in the business from the start and he has always directed his efforts along that line. He became interested in the bicycle business, in which he continued until 1902. In that year Mr. Whitfield became agent for the Ford car and sold the first car of that make that was ever delivered in New Haven. He continued handling the Ford until 1906, when he became agent for the Reo line and in 1909 took the Overland agency, conducting the two until 1911, but since then he has been distributor and agent of the Overland line ex- clusively. He started business in a small way with a net capital of but one hundred dollars, and something of the energy, enterprise and ability which he has applied to his in- terests is indicated in the fact that he now owns and conducts the largest Overland auto- mobile agency and service station in the state. His business has assumed extensive propor- tions and his life record is an indication of the fact that the road of opportunity is open to all of those who care to travel therein. He has one of the finest automobile showrooms, offices and buildings devoted to the business in the state and the largest service station east of New York city.

On the 15th of November, 1899, Mr. Whitfield was married in New Haven to Miss Flor- ence Holmes, a daughter of A. Wilson Holmes, of New Haven, now deceased. They have two children: Raymond Holmes, who was born July 28, 1901, and is attending high school; and Russell Gordon, horn June 5, 1903, who is also in high school.

Mr. Whitfield and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian church and they are well known socially. He belongs to the Automobile Club and to the Governor's Foot Guard and his interests are those of a progressive, public-spirited man. He stands as a splendid example of American manhood and chivalry.

WILLIAM B. HALL.

William B. Hall is owner of one of the leading furniture and household furnishing establishments of New Haven, a business which, however, was started in a most unassuming way but has developed from small proportions until it is today one of the most extensive and important interests of this line in the city, while the William B. Hall Furniture Company is considered one of the strongest, most progressive and most resourceful business firms of Connecticut. Mr. Hall is very popular with those who desire house furnishings, both by reason of his uniform courtesy to his patrons and his upright, honorable business methods. He is a man of admirable character and possesses, moreover, a jovial disposition-two qualities which work for success in the business world.

Mr. Hall was born in New York city, February 10, 1857, but was only three months old when his parents removed to Huntington, Long Island, where he was reared upon a farm. His father was Scudder Hall and his mother bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Nossissitter. They were natives of New York and of England respectively, the latter coming to America with her parents when but nine years of age, so that she was reared and educated in New York. After their removal to Huntington, Long Island, Mr. Hall engaged in general agri- cultural pursuits and for forty years was a successful farmer there, continuing in the business up to the time of his death in 1886. ' His wife survived him for a few years and passed away at the home of her son, William B., in New Haven. In their family were four children : Charles, who died at the age of twenty-nine years; Emma. who has departed this life; George, who died in 1914; and William B.

The last named, the youngest of the family, began his education in the schools of Hunt- ington but left high school before his graduation in order to go to work for the Setauket (Long Island) Rubber Company. He afterward became an employe of the Candee Rubber Company of New Haven, with which he remained from 1878 until 1886. In the latter year he received a small amount of money from the estate of his father and decided to invest this in business. He secured a small storeroom on Congress avenue, where he remained in business for two years, by which time his trade had outgrown its quarters and he was forced to secure a more commodious building, which he found on State street above Elm street. After two and one-half years this also proved inadequate, causing him to seek his present location. However. he first had but one storeroom. while today he occupies four

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large storerooms and two complete buildings, carrying all kinds of high-class furniture and house furnishings. His patronage is extensive. The business has reached very large pro- portions and the establishment is patronized by the best people of New Haven and the sur- rounding country. Mr. Hall has never taken in a partner but has ever conducted his inter- ests solely on his own account. He has applied himself most carefully to the work in hand, has studied the markets and the public taste and has sought to link the two in a manner that would result in the acquirement of a substantial business on his part.

In 1881 Mr. IFall was united in marriage to Miss Jennie T. Pardee, of New Haven, a daughter of Noyes and Harriet Pardee. She died in March, 1910, at Atlanta, Georgia, leaving three children. C. Stanley, who is a graduate of the New Haven schools and is in business with his father, married Miss Colie Hotchkiss and they have three children, Jeanette, Virginia and Mary. Mabel L. is the wife of W. H. Brooks, of New Haven, and they have one chikl, Barbara Brooks; and Perey W. is in business with his father. On the 2d of August, 1914, Mr. Hall wedded Miss Anna Basserman, a daughter of George and Emily Basserman, and they have one child, Billye. Mr. Hall's sons, C. Stanley and Percy W., have been identified with the business since leaving school and have been no small factors in the success of the business since that time.

Mr. and Mrs. Hall are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Hall is identified with several organizations which indicate the breadth of his interests and activi- ties. He belongs to the Furniture Men's Association, to the Chamber of Commerce, to the Racebrook Country Club, and to the Publicity Club. Ilis politieal endorsement is given to the republican party but he has no wish nor desire for office, preferring to concentrate his energies along other lines. As a leading business man of New Haven he stands high and an analyzation of his earcer shows that his record is the direct result of his individual effort. He has studied the demands of the trade thoroughly, knows the market and in the conduct of his affairs has ever recognized that satisfied patrons are the best advertisement.

DONALD ALLISON ADAMS.

Donald Allison Adams, who in the practice of law and in the business of insurance has wisely used the intellectual powers with which nature endowed him, has won distinetion in business law and as one of the instructors in Yale University. In fact, in many ways he has left the impress of his individuality and his ability upon the educational, professional and business life of New Haven. He was born at Windsor, Wisconsin, September 7, 1881, and is a son of the Rev. Allison Dwight and Sarah (Lawson) Adams. The father was born at Union Grove, Wisconsin, while the mother is a native of Oneida county, New York. Both are descended from early Connectieut families. The paternal grandfather, Henry Dwight Adams, was born at Litchfield, Connecticut, and the great-grandfather at Farming- ton, Connecticut.

Rev. Allison D. Adams was graduated from Beloit College at Beloit, Wisconsin, in 1871, and subsequently attended the Yale Divinity School, from which he was graduated in 1875. He then entered the ministry of the Congregational church and occupied various pulpits in Wisconsin and other states but returned to the east and is now living retired in Walling- ford, Connecticut. His wife, who was reared in Oneida eounty, New York, was a graduate of Rockford College at Rockford, Illinois, not far from Beloit, and there she met and married Rev. Adams. They have three children: Ellie F., residing with her parents at Wallingford; Genevieve P., the wife of Professor W. F. Lasby of the University of Minne- sota and a resident of Minneapolis; and Donald A., of this review.

The last named began his education in the public schools of Wisconsin and continned his studies in Carleton College at Northfield, Minnesota, in which he completed the academie course hy graduation with the class of 1903. In preparation for a professional career he entered Yale and completed his law course with the elass of 1908. He was a member of the Yale-Princeton debate team in May, 1906. He began practice in New York eity and won snceess as a practitioner in the courts there, but in 1911 he removed to New Haven and again had no difficulty in winning a large and distinctively representative clientage. His success in a business and professional way affords the best evidence of his capabilities. Ile

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has been called to the position of instructor in business law in the new graduate course in business administration in Shetfield Scientific School, which course was established in 1915, and through the intervening period has been a member of the faculty.

On the 19th of May, 1910, in New Haven, Mr. Adams was married to Miss Edith Marion Nichols, a daughter of Abel Johnson and Marion (Hotchkiss) Nichols, the former a well known banker of this county and both representatives of old Connecticut families. Mr. and Mrs. Adams have two children: Henry Sage, born September 9, 1914; and Eleanor, born May 16, 1916.

Mr. Adams is a member of the Automobile Club, of which he is the secretary, and he belongs to the Graduates Club, Phi Delta Phi, and Corby Court of Yale, and to the Center church, of which he is a deacon. He has also been an active factor in the political life of New Haven and few men are better informed concerning the issues and questions of the day. He is a member of the board of aldermen from the tenth ward and is treasurer of the Civic Federation of New Haven. In a word, he is studying closely those questions which have to do with the general interests of society in all economic, political and sociological relations and he keeps abreast with the best thinking men of the age.

JAMES R. DISBROW.

James R. Disbrow is the secretary and treasurer of the J. L. Disbrow Company of New Haven and is thus prominently identified with the commercial interests of this city, in which he has spent his entire life. Ile was born in 1872, a son of John Lewis and Mary (Russell) Disbrow. The family has been represented in Connecticut through several genera- tions. His great-grandparents were John and Priscilla (Mallory) Disbrow, the former a native of Saugatuck, Connecticut. Their son, John Lewis Disbrow, Sr., was born in Nor- walk, Connecticut, in 1816 and when a youth of fourteen began learning the hatter's trade, which he afterward followed in New Haven as a journeyman until 1835. He then began business on his own account and for a number of years was the only hat manufacturer who also conducted a store in New Haven. He carried on the business for thirty years or until death ended his labors in 1864. llis wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary R. Miller, was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, and her father was a sea captain in the West Indies trade but with his vessel and crew was lost at sea. His daughter afterward became the adopted child of Captain Shipman, of New Haven, and passed away in 1878, at the age of sixty-four years. She was long a devoted member of the Congregational church.

John Lewis Disbrow. son of John Lewis and Mary (Miller) Disbrow, was born in New Haven, March 28, 1839, and was indebted to the public school system for the educational opportunities which he enjoyed. Ile learned the hatter's trade under the direction of his father and continued in active connection with the business until his father's death save for the period of four years when he served as a railway mail elerk between New Haven and Bellows Falls, Vermont, under appointment of President Buchanan. In 1864 he succeeded to the business which his father had established and which he conducted successfully from that time until his own demise on the 17th of January, 1897. With the growth of his trade he established a second store and thus became an active factor in commercial interests in New Haven.

In all community affairs John Lewis Disbrow was deeply and helpfully interested. He was a member of the fire department for thirty-five years, acting as assistant chief under Mr. Ilendrieks, while for twenty-six years he was secretary and treasurer of the Firemen's Benevolent Association. His political allegiance was given to the democratic party and he was called upon to represent the third ward in the city council. He hekdl membership with the Congregational church and also in the Masonic fraternity-associations which indicated the nature of the rules which governed his conduct. On the 29th of June, 1859, he wedded Mary Russell, a native of New Haven and a daughter of Calvin Russell, who was a grandson of Samuel Russell, in whose house Yale University was incorporated. Calvin Russell learned the blacksmith's trade in New Haven and after following that pursuit for several years established a wholesale confectionery business, which he also carried on for a number of years. Subsequently he became a wholesale merchant in butter and cheese and made for

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himself a ereditable position in business circles, winning a large measure of success that enabled him to spend his last years in retirement from business connections. His daughter, Mrs. Disbrow, is a member of the Congregational church and is a lady of charitable spirit, extending a helping hand to many who need assistance. In the family of John Lewis and Mary (Russell) Disbrow were five children, three of whom survive: Mrs. Nellie Treat; Florence E., now Mrs. William Foskett, Jr .; and James R.

The last named enjoyed the advantages offered by the public schools of New Haven and received his business training under his father's direction. Thus three generations of the family have been connected with the hat trade in New Haven. The business has been incorporated under the style of the J. L. Disbrow Company, of which James R. is now the secretary and treasurer, and in this connection he directs the interests of the house and by his progressive business methods has greatly enlarged its trade relations.

Mr. Disbrow has an interesting military chapter in his life record, having been a member of the Naval Reserves and of the Governor's Foot Guard. He ranks high in Masonry, having attained tbe thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, and is a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. In the city in which his entire life has been passed he has a wide acquaintance and warm regard is entertained for him by all who know him.

JONATHAN NICHOLSON ROWE.

Jonathan Nicholson Rowe is president and treasurer of the Mortgage Investment Realty Company of New Haven, which was organized in 1912, and throughout the inter- vening period he has conducted a successful business in that field. He was born January 16, 1859, in the town of East Haven, which is now the fifteenth ward of New Haven, a son of Robert and Abby Ann Rowe. He acquired his education in the East Haven district schools and the New Haven public schools, supplemented by study in Cargill's Business College. When his textbooks were put aside he secured a situation as bookkeeper with the Gay Brothers Publishing Company and later occupied a clerical position with the New JIaven Steamboat Company of New Haven and New York. He continued with the latter corporation from 1875 until 1883, during which period he carefully saved his earnings until he felt justified in embarking in business on his own account. He then opened a small grocery store at the Four Corners in what was then East Haven, where he remained in business until 1892.

For a number of years Mr. Rowe figured very prominently in positions of public honor and trust. From the time that age conferred upon him the right of franchise he has voted with the democratic party and upon that ticket has been chosen a public official. He served as registrar of voters in the fifteenth ward from 1885 until 1890 and was appointed commissioner for the Tomlinson toll bridge by Senator A. Heaton Robertson in April, 1886, acting in that capacity until the bridge was purchased by the city and town. In 1890 he was elected as a seleetman of the town of New Haven and in June, 1893, he was appointed to the position of superintendent of letter carriers by Francis G. Beach, postmaster under President Cleveland, and occupied that position for six months, when he became assistant postmaster and served until 1897, when Mr. Beach's term expired. While he was filling the position of assistant postmaster he was appointed a member of the United States civil service examining board for the postoffice department and the custom house department. In 1897 he entered the real estate business, but in 1899 was again called to public office, being elected controller of the city of New Haven, in which position he remained from June, 1899, until January, 1912, having been elected for six successive terms, a fact which stands as indisputable evidence of his ability and fidelity. In 1912 he was made a member of the board of finance of New Haven and so continued until 1914. It was also in the former year that he organized the Mortgage Investment Realty Company and has since engaged in the real estate and mortgage business and the development of suburban property. He is president and treasurer of this company, which now has a large clientage, making its business a profitable one.

On the 26th of June, 1888, Mr. Rowe was married in New Haven to Miss Margary Matilda Kenty, and they now have four children: Margary Story, who is attending Con-

JONATHAN N. ROWE

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nectient College; Ralph Sterling, who was gradnated from Yale with the degree of Metal- lurgical Engineer; and on May 1, 1917, enlisted as sergeant in the officers reserve training corps and is in the aviation branch of service; Helen Madeline, also a student in Con- necticut College; and Roger Mayham, a student at Lafayette College.

THOMAS F. REILLY.

Thomas F. Reilly, attorney at law and justice of the peace in New Haven, has been a lifelong resident of the city in which he now resides. He was born May 18, 1892, a son of William J. Reilly, a native of Ireland, who on coming to America in 1867 took up his abode in New Haven, where he engaged in business along mechanical lines. He is a democrat and was active in political circles yet never sought nor desired office for himself. He is now living retired. His wife, who in her maidenhood was Catherine Reilly and therefore did not change her name at her marriage, was also born in Ireland and in 1870 came alone to the United States. She was married in New Haven, where she still resides. They became the parents of eight children, five sons and tbree daughters, all of whom are yet living: Matthew, residing in New Haven; Sister Admirabilis, who is principal of the commercial department of St. Joseph's Seminary at Hartford; Philip, a real estate dealer of New Haven; Julia G., who is with the New Haven Gas Company; Sister Camilla, in St. Agnes convent at Bridge- port; Thomas F .; William J., the organist in St. Joseph's church of Westville; and John J., a student in St. Thomas Seminary at Hartford, where he is preparing for the priesthood.

Thomas F. Reilly, after attending the Sacred Heart school of New Haven, continued his education in the high school and the Booth Preparatory School, from which he was gradu- ated in 1910. Later he entered the law department of Yale University, being numbered among its alumni of 1913. He has since engaged continuously and successfully in practice and has made for himself a creditable position at the bar. He earned his first money as a newsboy and he also worked in elerical lines in order to gain a sum sufficient to enable him to pursue his college course. The determination which he thus displayed has been a char- acteristic of his professional career and is leading to his steady advancement at the bar. He is also president of the Clara Moore Corset Company and is a toekholder of the Reliance Electric Company of New Haven. He is a member of St. Joseph's Catholic church and judge advocate of San Salvador Council of the Knights of Columbus. In politics he is an active democrat and his opinions earry weight in the local councils of his party. He is a member of the New Haven County Bar Association, is much interested in community affairs and is a helpful member of the Civic Federation, standing at all times for progressiveness in municipal interests.

J. EDWARD STROUSE.

Among the interests which have made New Haven an important manufacturing center is the Strouse Corset Company, of which J. Edward Stronse is the president. It is true that he entered upon a business already established, but since assuming control he has largely developed and extended his interests in this connection, maintaining his establishment in its equipment and in its product in keeping with the progressive spirit of the times.

Mr. Strouse was born in New Haven, July 22, 1872, a son of Isaac and Pauline (Rotlı- child) Strouse. The father was a native of Germany but when fourteen years of age came to the new world, where he embraced every opportunity that would enable him to earn an honest living. For a time he engaged in selling goods from a pack and thus he gained his start, which enabled him to advance to a point of wider interests and broader opportunities. He took up the manufacture of ladies' cloaks and suits and ultimately gave that up to turn his attention to the manufacture of corsets. He was the first man in America to enter that field and upon his pioneer efforts in that direction have been based all of the eorset mann- facturing interests of the country. After a time the Strouse-Adler Corset Company was organized and its plant located in New Haven. The business soon grew to extensive pro-

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A modern history of New Haven and eastern New Haven County, Vol. II, Part 64

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