A modern history of New Haven and eastern New Haven County, Vol. II, Part 91

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 91

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On the 11th of September, 1900, in New Haven, Mr. Lincoln was united in marriage to Miss Luetta Edith Fenner, a daughter of Edward and Esther (Knight) Fenner. Her great-grandfather served in the Revolutionary war and the same spirit of patriotic loyalty was manifest by her father in his active service in the Civil war. To Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln has been born a son, Gaylord Fenner, who is now five years of age.

Fraternally Mr. Lincoln is connected with Olive Branch Lodge, No. 84. F. & A. M. and he is well known in elub eireles and in other connections. He is the secretary of the Kiwanis Club of New Haven, has membership in the Edgewood Club, is connected with the Sons of Veterans and is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce of New Haven. He is likewise the secretary and treasurer of the Donald G. Mitchell Library and the Beecher Park Memorial, Inc. He is interested in all that pertains to welfare and progress along any line that is of benefit to the individual or to the community. For two years he was auditor of the West- ville school district and at one time was secretary of the Edgewood Civic Association. These connections show the breadth of his interests and the nature of his activities. For two years he has been a member of the Second Company of the Governor's Foot Guard of New Haven. He has long been an active and devoted member of the Calvary Baptist church and served on its board of deacons. He takes a most helpful interest in all lines of church work and is the secretary of the New Haven Baptist Union. He has never made the attainment of wealth the chief objective of his life but has at all times recognized his duties and obligations in relation to his fellowmen and in matters of citizenship, and his entire career, has been actuated by most high and honorable principles.

HARLEY M. HODGES.

Among the leading business men of New Haven is mimbered Harley M. Hodges, a member of the well known firm of H. M. Hodges & Brother, wholesale and retail dealers in wall paper, painters' supplies and pictures. He was born in Gloucestershire. England, on the 24th of January, 1874, a son of William Henry and Sarah (Drew) Hodges, in whose family were seven children, two sons and five daughters. The parents never came to the new world but spent their entire lives in England, where the father was manager of a large iron foundry and was a very successful manufacturer. He died in 1886 at the age of fifty- six years and the mother passed away in 1882 at the age of thirty-six.

Harley M. Hodges is the fourth ehild in the family and the first twelve years of his life were spent in his native land, where he received private instruction. In 1886 he came to the United States and was a student in a public school at Westfield, Massachusetts, for a time. Ife also studied under a special tutor after coming to New Haven and thus acquired a good practical education. The business with which he is now connected was established by Brazos & Hulse in 1868 at No. 5 Broadway, and is the only complete decorative establishi- ment of its kind in the eity. It is the only concern in New Haven in the wholesale and retail paint, wall paper and picture business, and the company, now known as H. M. Hodges & Brother, supply the painters and decorators of New Haven with everything needed in their business. Since 1895 Harley M. Hodges has been connected with the enterprise, which from a small beginning has been developed into an extensive business.

Mr. Hodges was married in West Haven, May 10, 1899, to Miss Alice Elizabeth Smith, a daughter of S. Brace and Jennie B. Smith. who represent a well known and prominent

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family of that place. MIr. and Mrs. Hodges have one child, Lois Elizabeth, who was born in 1900 and graduated from the West Haven high school in 1917, and is now attending Smith College.

Mr. and Mrs. Hodges are prominent members of the Congregational church of West Haven and he has served as trustee of the church and superintendent of the Sunday school. He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity and is connected with the Automobile Club and the Chamber of Commerce. For seven and a half years he was a member of the Governor's Foot Guard and then resigned. In business he has worked his way upward entirely through his own efforts, having started out for himself with the determination to succeed. Ilis pleasant, conrteons manner in dealing with strangers and customers has won him an enviable place in the business world and made him a host of warm friends.

JAMES J. WALSH (II).

James J. Walsh (Il) is the owner of a profitable and growing business condneted under the name of the Meriden Dairy Company. Ile was born in Meriden, August 20, 1885, a son of John and Catherine (Murphy) Walsh, the latter deceased. In their family were the fol- lowing named: David, Thomas and William, all of whom are with the national army; James J .; Theresa; and Catherine. James J. Walsh also has the following half-brothers and sister : John T. Daley, who is deceased; P. II. Daley; and Mrs. P. F. MeMann. The last two are residents of Meriden.

James J. Walsh acquired a publie school education in Meriden and for two years was employed by the International Silver Company, for whom he worked as a machinist. He was afterward with the Charles Parker Company in the gun department, working as a ma- cbinist there for nine years, possessing much practical knowledge and ability along that line. He then started in the dairy business and soon consolidated his interests with those of the firm of Messick & Luby, who owned the business conducted under the name of the Meriden Dairy Company. This company was established in 1907. Mr. Walsh is now owner of the plant and the business. He has five employes and utilizes one thousand quarts of milk per day in meeting the demands of his trade. The supply is bought from farmers and dairymen in this county and he handles nothing but milk and cream. He has his own power machinery for separating and clarifying and his plant is most sanitary in all of its appointments and arrangements. Ile bought and installed the latest machinery when he purchased the prop- erty four years ago, in 1913.

Mr. Walsh belongs to St. Joseph's Roman Catholic church. He is also identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Young Men's T. A. B. Society and the Cath- olie Order of Foresters. He is an independent voter, preferring to hold himself free of party ties in order to support men and measures that he believes will most efficiently pro- mote the best interests of eity and commonwealth. In his business he has made steady progress as the result of persistent energy intelligently directed.

CASSIUS W. KELLY.

Cassius W. Kelly, consulting eity engineer of New Haven, has reached a high professional position by individual merit and determination. He was born in Pleasantville, Pennsyl- vania, May 10, 1848. His grandfather, William Kelly, came from Londonderry, Ireland, when a young man, made his way to Pennsylvania and took up a farm at Titusville known as Kelly Hill. Previous to that time he had engaged in teaching. His son, John Kelly, was born in Pennsylvania and became a harnessmaker, following that pursuit in early life, while later he engaged in the oil business. His death occurred in Titusville when he had reached the age of eighty-two years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Sigler and was a daughter of Cornelius Sigler, of a Pennsylvania Dutch family, has also passed away.

Cassius W. Kelly acquired his education in the public schools of Pleasantville and began

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A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN

preparation for college in Erie Academy. He afterward entered Yale, from which he was graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1870. For one year he taught in the Rus- sell Military School in New Haven and then pursued a course in engineering as a graduate student in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale, where he completed his course in 1872, winning the Bachelor of Philosophy degree. In June of that year he entered the office of the city engineer and in Jamary, 1893, became city engineer, which position he continued to fill for about twenty years, or until the elose of 1912, when he was made consulting engineer and is now acting in that capacity.

Mr. Kelly was obliged to work his way through college. He entered Yale in 1869 and after one year dropped out and taught school for a year and then resumed his studies with the class of 1870. During his junior year he secured leave of absence and taught for three or four months and during his senior year he, with his friend, Walter Logan, condueted the College Book Store. Obstacles and difficulties, however, have never been allowed to bar his path and persistent energy has enabled him to work his way upward, while the utiliza - tion of his native talents has brought him to the front in his chosen profession.

In New Haven on the 2d of October, 1876, MIr. Kelly was united in marriage to Miss Frances E. Hart, a daughter of William Hart, of this city, and they have become parents of four children, of whom two are living, Miriam F. and Elsie W., the latter the wife of Grey W. Curtiss, of New Haven.

In his political views Mr. Kelly is a republican where national questions and issues are involved, but at local elections easts an independent ballot. He belongs to the Dwight Plaee Congregational church, in the work of which he takes an active and helpful interest, serving now as deacon of the church and as clerk. He holds membership in the Connecticut Society of Engineers and in the American Society of Civil Engineers.

CAPTAIN HENRY J. DONNELLY.

Captain Henry J. Donnelly, whose title indicates his connection with the detective department and the bureau of investigation of New llaven. was born in Troy, New York, January 4, 1861, a son of the late Henry Donnelly, who was a native of Ireland and came to America about 1850. le settled in New York, where he followed the contracting and building business, winning very substantial suceess there. Ile died in 1888 at the age of fifty-two years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Maria Colton, was also a native of Ireland and came to this country with her husband. She passed away in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1892 at the age of fifty years. There were nine children born of their marriage, of whom three are yet living: Henry J .; Hugh F., a resident of New York city; and Mary, the wife of John H. Phillips, of New Haven.

After attending the public schools of Bridgeport, Captain Donnelly became a student in the Yale Business College of New Haven, from which he was graduated with the class of 1881. He at once became connected with the grocery trade in New Haven in the employ of others and was thus engaged until 1888, when he engaged in the grocery business on his own account as a partner of his brother llugh. That association was maintained until 1891, when Captain Donnelly was appointed a member of the police force as a supernumerary. On the 19th of January of that year he was made patrolman and was given a permanent place on the force on the 19th of January, 1892. He continued on the regular force until 1896 and in recognition of meritorious service was advanced to the secret service depart- ment on the 15th of April. 1897. In 1899 he was made a detective sergeant and filled that position until appointed captain on the 5th of February, 1913. ]le has since continuously and acceptably served in that position and the rigorous way in which he ferrets ont crime and apprehends the criminals has done much in promoting law and order in this eity. He belongs to the State Police Association and also to the Police Mutual Aid Society.

In New Haven, Captain Donnelly was married to Miss Elizabeth Kiulan, a native of this eity and a daughter of Bernard K. and Ann (MeGinnis) Kiulan, both of whom are deceased. Both the Kiulan and McGinnis families have long been represented in New Haven, where the father was a well known contractor. Captain and Mrs. Donnelly have become the parents of nine children, seven of whom are living: Harry L., who is super-

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intendent with the Sharfenburg-Robinson Company at Pawtucket, Rhode Island; Albert L., who is assistant engineer for the Connectieut Company of New Haven, a street railway company; Gertrude, at home; Walter J., who was advertising man with the New Haven Register but is now a lieutenant in the United States Army Aviation Corps; Madeline A., a high school pupil of New Haven; and Lewis A. and Urban M., both in the city. Agnes died in childhood, and Robert A. died at the promising age of seventeen and a half years, as the result of an automobile accident. He was a bright and likable lad and was attending high school at the time of his untimely demise, which was a great blow to his parents. The father of Captain Donnelly also died of an accident, stepping on a nail which penetrated his foot and caused lockjaw.

Captain Donnelly and his family are communicants of St. Mary's at Hill House, which is in charge of the Dominican Fathers, and he belongs to the Knights of Columbus, in which he has taken the fourth degree. Captain Donnelly is respected by all law-abiding citizens and there are many who have reason to appreciate his kindly spirit toward them when his duty has led to their arrest. His capability in connection with the police service is indieated in the fact that before he was advanced to a captaincy he had thirty-five times received honorable mention for meritorious conduct, holding the record in this respect. He also passed one hundred per cent at the eivil service examination and is known far and wide as a most efficient and fearless officer. He has always made it a rule to temper justice with charity and sympathy and in many hundreds of cases of first offenders he has advised nonprosecution, so that many of these were saved humiliation and were given another chance to keep out of the criminal class. He is broad in his views, exemplifying in his life a Christian spirit. and at all times he has been a close student and observer of human nature. Ile has sympathy for the weaknesses and frailties of the human race and is ever ready to put forth a helping hand to assist his fellowmen in leading a better life. His own career is an illustration of what may be accomplished through individual effort, ambition and determination. In his boyhood he sold newspapers and did every other possible thing in order to gain a start in life, attending business collge at night to qual- ify him for opportunities that might come his way. From the age of twelve he has de- pended entirely upon his own labors and he has made for himself an enviable position.

IRVING M. GUILFORD.

Irving M. Guilford. secretary of the Ball & Socket Manufacturing Company of Cheshire, is still a young man, but has already made for himself a prominent place in industrial circles. He was born at Cheshire, August 22, 1881, a son of Irving T. and Emma J. (Morse) Guilford, natives respectively of Cheshire and of Litchfieldl. The father passed away in October, 1881, when only twenty-six years of age, but he had already proved his ability as an employe of the Cheshire Manufacturing Company. The mother survives and makes her home with our subject.

The paternal grandfather, Ralph II. Guilford, was born in Massachusetts in 1820, a son of Mieah Guilford, and in early manhood removed to Waterbury, Connecticut, whence he came to Cheshire in 1850. He had previously worked in a button factory and on arriv- ing in this place aided in establishing the Cheshire Manufacturing Company and for years held the position of die sinker. Later he became secretary and superintendent of the factory and was filling those offices at the time of his death. Ile was a strong temperance worker and a prominent member of the Episcopal church. He married Martha A. Tolles, of Plymouth, Connecticut, in 1851 and they became the parents of five children, of whom Irving T. Guilford was the second in order of birth. Another member of the family who was connected with the Cheshire Manufacturing Company was Timothy Guilford. brother of Ralph H. Guilford, who became identified with that concern in 1859. He was fore- man of the cloth button department and introduced many improved methods and invented tools used in the manufacture of buttons. In 1862 he raised a company for service in the Union army, which was assigned to the Twentieth Connecticut Regiment and took part in a number of important engagements, including those at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. He remained- at the front until 1864 and was then honorably discharged.

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Irving MI. Guilford was a member of the first class graduated from the Cheshire high school and continued his studies in the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut, being grad- uated therefrom in 1899. While a student in that institution he became a member of the Phi Epsilon society. When eighteen years old he entered the employ of the Ball & Socket Manufacturing Company and was shipping clerk for three years. After working there for four years he decided to take a technical course and thus prepare himself for a more important position. Accordingly he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology, from which he was graduated in 1908 with the degree of Bachelor of Science, in mechanical engineering. During the year 1908-1909 he was connected with the Win- chester Arms Company but in 1909 again joined the Ball & Socket Manufacturing Com- pany, of which he was made secretary in 1915. He is also a director and a stockholder in this concern and has been largely instrumental in the development of the company's business. He gives especial attention to the manufacturing, purchasing and engineering departments and his thorough technical knowledge of machinery and processes of man- ufacture, combined with his excellent business sense, have made him an ideal officer. He is constantly seeking to devise means by which greater etlicieney may be seeured and has planned the greater part of the improvements made in the factory during a num- ber of years. He is also connected with a number of other industries and has had much to do with the development of this locality as a manufacturing center.

Mr. Guilford was married in 1911 to Miss Emma Fitch, of Boston, a daughter of Robert G. and Emma (Emmons) Fitch. Her father was connected in an editorial capacity with a number of large New England papers, including the Boston Transeript, and was also prominent in eivie affairs. To Mr. and Mrs. Guilford have been born three children: Irving Fitch, whose birth occurred October 12, 1912; Burton Morse, born May 23, 1914; and Phillip Makepeace, born May 10, 1916.

Mr. Guilford assisted in organizing the fire department in 1912 and acted as its treasurer for two years, while in 1914 he was made chief, holding that position for three years, during which period the auto fire truck was planned and purchased. Hle belongs to the Civic Club and has also given his support to other agencies working in one way or another for the good of the community. He helped in organizing the first Cheshire company of Battalion A of the Connecticut Home Guard of Cheshire, of which he is first lieutenant. He was one of the military eensus takers in 1917 and was appointed recruit- ing officer for Cheshire for the formation of the Home Guard Company. Mr Guilford is likewise the secretary of the Cheshire Public Library Association and a member of its executive committee. He belongs to St. Peter's Episcopal church, of which he is a vestry- man, and the teachings of Christianity have guided him in all the relations of life. The high esteem in which he is generally held is fully merited and his personal friends are many.

ALBERT MCCLELLAN MATHIEWSON.

Albert Mcclellan Mathewson. attorney at law, New Haven, was born in Woodstock. Connecticut. October 19. 1860, a son of William Williams and Harriet Angusta (Warner) Mathew-on. and is descended from many of the oldest New England families. Five of his ancestors were among the one hundred and one passengers on the Mayflower, among them Governor William Bradford and John and Priscilla Alden. Mr. Mathewson is also descended from Governor Jonathan Trumbull, from William Williams, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and from General Samuel MeClellan of Revolutionary war fame. William Williams Mathewson, father of Albert Mcclellan Mathewson, was born in Brooklyn, Connecticut, and followed the occupation of farming in Woodstock. He married Harriet A. Warner of New Berlin. New York, in which locality she was born and reared. Il's death occurred in 1901. when he had reached the age of seventy-three years. while his wife survived until 1915 and was also seventy-three years of age at the time of her demise. In their family were a son and a daughter. the latter being Mrs. Ellen Trumbull Haskell, of Wakefield, Nebraska.

After completing a course of study in the famous Woodstock Academy. A. Mcclellan

ALBERT MCCLELLAN MATHEWSON

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Mathewson devoted two years to the mastery of the principles of jurisprudence under Charles E. Searles, of Putnam, Connecticut, and then entered Yale, from which he was graduated in 1884, while in 1891 the Master of Law degree was conferred upon him. Ile first located for practice at Putnam, where he remained for four years, on the expiration of which period he came to New Haven, where he has sinee remained an active member of the bar. For six and one-half years he served as judge of the city court and in that connection his opinions were always strictly fair and impartial, being based upon the law and the equity in the case. On his retirement from the bench he resumed the private practice of law and is today one of the able representatives of the New Haven bar.

Judge Mathewson was united in marriage June 13, 1888, to Mrs. Mary E. (Board) Foster, the widow of William L. Foster. Judge Mathewson is a member of Center church, and his life has ever been guided by the highest principles. In politics he is a republican and has been called to several public offices, serving as a member of the city council of New Haven and also as clerk of the Connectieut shell fish commission for ten years. He is president of the local council of the Boy Seouts and also president of the Boys Club of New Haven. He belongs to the Young Men's Republican Club, to the Country Club and to the Graduates Club and is identified with several of the societies which have been established upon a historie basis. He was the first president of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence and he belongs to the Sons of the American Revolution and to the Mayflower descendants.

GUSTAVE HECKLINGER.

After residing in various cities in Europe. Gustave Heeklinger crossed the Atlantic and spent some time in Canada. He then came to New Haven, where he arrived on the 28th of April, 1909, and during the intervening period he has been actively engaged in the bakery business in this section of the state. He is now senior partner in the firm of Hecklinger & Frank, proprietors of the Vienna Bakery, one of the leading establishments of the kind in New Haven. He was born July 16, 1884, in Breisach, Germany, a son of William Heck- linger, who was also a native of that place and a successful farmer, who spent his entire life in Germany. He passed away March 22, 1899, at the age of forty-five years. In early manhood he wedded Catherine Buchler, who was also born in Breisach and is still occupying the old homestead there. By her marriage she became the mother of eight children, seven of whom are yet living.

Gustave Heeklinger was the fifth in order of birth in that family. He obtained a publie school education and also attended the trade schools of his native city and spent his early life upon the home farm. When a youth of fourteen years, however, he started out in life on his own account and was apprenticed to learn the baker's and confectioner's trade. This he followed as a journeyman in Switzerland for two years and during the sneeeeding year was in Paris, France. He then went to London, England, where he remained for three years, and during these periods he was employed at his trade in leading bakery establishments. At length he determined to come to the new world and crossed the Atlantic to Canada, settling in Toronto, where he remained for three years. He then came to New Haven, arriving April 28, 1909. He immediately seeured employment with Charles Minery, of Fairhaven, with whom he continued for a year. His next employment was with Michael Hessler. who was the founder of the Hessler Bakery, the predecessor of the Hecklinger establishment. Mr. Hessler was one of the most prominent and successful bakers of New Haven and had one of the oldest establishments in his line. He began business in 1882 and snceessfully condueted his bakery until April, 1916, when he retired. He was succeeded by Hecklinger & Frank, who are proprietors of the Vienna Bakery, located at No. 898 State street. in New Haven. The business is conducted under a partnership arrangement by Mr. Hecklinger and Philip Frank, who purchased the business on the retirement of Michael Hessler. The Vienna Bakery is today the fifth in point of size in New Haven and ranks with the best in its equipment and in the conditions which prevail in the shop. The plant has an output of sixty barrels of flour per week and thirteen people are employed in its

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A modern history of New Haven and eastern New Haven County, Vol. II, Part 91

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