A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume II, Part 36

Author: Lincoln, Allen B
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co.
Number of Pages: 960

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JULIUS DELORAINE CONANT.

In the upbuilding of any city there is usually some one line of business which becomes dominant and, as it were, constitutes a synonym for the name of the city. The word Willimantic at once suggests the silk trade, for the city has become a most im- portant center of manufacturing interests along that line, and identified therewith are many progressive business men watchful of opportunities pointing to success and alert to every chance that opens in the natural ramifications of trade.

In this connection Julius D. Conant is well known, being superintendent of the throwing department of the Holland Manufacturing Company of Willimantic, his native city. He was born October 28, 1869, a son of John A. and Marietta (French) Conant. The father retired from active life in 1907, after forty-one years' connection with the Holland silk mills. There are two sons in the family. the brother of J. D. Conant being John Winslow Conant, who has a small silk mill at Westerly, Rhode Island.

Julius D. Conant, whose name introduces this review, pursued his studies in early boyhood in the Natchaug school and was afterward graduated from the Willimantic high school with the class of 1887. In that year he became connected with the silk manufacturing interests of Windham county by securing a position as sweeper and errand boy in the finishing department of a silk mill. In the summer of 1888 he worked at the carpenter's trade and later spent a year in a machine shop, being in the employ of the Morrison Machine Company. In 1889 he returned to the Holland silk mills, with which he was connected until 1895. The following year he concentrated his efforts and attention upon the printing business for a number of months but later in the year again became connected with the Holland interests and has since been associated with the operation of the plant, having been made department superintendent in 1906. The plant is devoted to the manufacture of silk thread of all kinds. Mr. Conant is familiar with every phase of the business by reason of his long and varied experience.

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He has worked his way steadily upward, winning successive promotions as he has mastered the tasks assigned him, and today his place is one of large responsibility and importance.

Mr. Conant was united in marriage to Miss Edith M. Avery, who died in 1904. In 1905 he was again married, his second union being with Alenda M. Perkins, of Willi- mantic, a daughter of Orange S. and Mary L. (Daniels) Perkins. They have one child, Ruth Alenda.

Mr. Conant is a very prominent and active temperance worker and is now serving as chairman of the prohibition town committee and is a member of the state prohibition central committee. He has taken an active part in politics and does everything in his power to advance the interests of the party with which he is allied. He has long been an active factor in musical circles as a member of band and orchestra and in that way became interested in the union movement and has done much to further public interests. He is a public-spirited man, looking ever to the welfare of the many rather than to the advancement of the few, and his aid and cooperation are given to all well organized movements for the benefit of community, county or commonwealth. To know Mr. Conant is to respect and honor him and his circle of friends is almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintance.

EDWIN HARRISON HALL, JR.

Edwin Harrison Hall, Jr., is a man in whom the simplicity and beauty of his daily life, as seen in his home and family relations, has constituted an even balance to the splendid business ability which places him at the head of one of the foremost manufacturing enterprises not only of North Windham but of central Connecticut as well. At the present time he is living retired, having on the 29th of December, 1917, passed the seventieth milestone on life's journey.

He was born in 1847, a son of Edwin H. and Sophia (Prentice) Hall and a grand- son of Nathan and Philomela Hall. Nathan Hall was born in June, 1781, and passed away December 6, 1841, while his wife, whose birth occurred on the 30th of May, 1785, died on the 13th of April, 1838. In their family was Edwin H. Hall, Sr., who spent his entire life in the town of Windham save for a very brief period and passed away in Willimantic on the 12th of December, 1884, when sixty-three years of age, his birth having occurred in Mansfield, Connecticut, May 26, 1821. He was but a young boy when the family home was established in Willimantic, where he acquired a public school education, and in March, 1842, when in his twenty-first year, he wedded Sophia Prentice, a daughter of Major Henry Prentice, who figured prominently in connection with the state militia. She long survived her husband, passing away in April, 1899, at the age of eighty years. Soon after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Edwin H. Hall, Sr., became residents of Vernon but in less than a year returned to Willimantic, where he obtained a situation in the old Duck mill of Whiting Hayden, with whom he con- tinued until the factories of the Smithville Company was erected. He became identified with the new enterprise but eventually ill health caused him to retire from his position. A few months afterward he became one of the overseers of the Duck mill and in 1857 he accepted the position of overseer of the twisting room in the Linen Company's Mill No. 1, acting in that capacity for nine years. He was ambitious to engage in business on his own account, however, and while still with the Linen Company he bought land from his employers upon which he erected a residence, and then in the fall of 1865 he entered into partnership with Harry Wilson, of Wauregan, in the purchase of the retail grocery house of George W. Burnham. They conducted a profitable business for about two years and then Mr. Hall accepted the position of superintendent of the mill of Timothy Merrick at North Windham. After five years he purchased the business and admitted his son, Edwin H., to a partnership under the firm style of E. H. Hall & Son. From that time forward he engaged in the manufacture of cotton yarn, operating the mill with a ninety-one horse power water wheel and producing about three thousand pounds of yarn per week. The business steadily grew and developed, becoming one of the important manufacturing enterprises of the city, and with the successful conduct of the business the father, Edwin H. Hall, Sr., was con- tinuously connected until his retirement from active life. In politics he was a stalwart republican and on one occasion was defeated for the office of representative to the state legislature by but two votes. In 1879 he became a commissioner of Windham county and so continued until his health failed in January, 1884. During 1883 and 1884 he was committeeman from the first school district and for a long period was one of the trustees of the Willimantic Camp Meeting Association. For a long period he was a devoted and loyal member of the Methodist church.

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Edwin Harrison Hall, whose name introduces this record, was the eldest son in a family of five children and with the exception of a brief period of five years has spent his entire life in the district in which he was born and reared. He acquired a public school education in Willimantic and afterward attended the Bryant & Stratton Business College in Hartford in 1865. For two years he and his father were identified in the conduct of a profitable mercantile enterprise, but he preferred manufacturing and entered the employ of the Willimantic Linen Company, with which he was asso- ciated for several years. He afterward spent three years with Gardiner Hall Jr. & Company of South Willington and then entered the employ of the Merrick Thread Company, of Holyoke, Massachusetts. Two years later he embarked in business with his father in the manufacture of cotton yarn and the business was continuously and successfully conducted, with added improvements being introduced from time to time, until 1913, when the plant was destroyed by fire. Mr. Hall then retired from active business life and has since enjoyed a well earned rest, spending the winter months at his attractive home in Willimantic and the summer seasons at North Windham.

On the 29th of December, 1869, was celebrated the marriage of Edwin H. Hall and Miss Maria A. Ayers, a native of Coventry and a daughter of Wolcott H. and Lydia S. (Fargo) Ayers. Mr. and Mrs. Hall became parents of a son, F. Louis, who is the present factory inspector of Connecticut and lives in Willimantic. He married Queeny Greenslit, a daughter of Anderson J. Greenslit, of Hampton, and they have two children, Margery and Edwin H. (III). Mr. and Mrs. Hall have also reared an adopted daughter, Nettie L.

Mr. Hall was formerly identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church but he is generous in support of all denominations and contributes liberally to furthering all agencies for moral development and progress. He is a very prominent representative of the republican party, has served on the town central committee and on the 1st of October, 1915, he retired from the office of county commissioner which position he held for more than twenty-eight years. He had served on the board of commissioners at the time of the erection of the county home at Putnam and of the jail at Brooklyn. He is much interested in civic affairs and stands for all that has to do with the welfare and de- velopment of his community. Mere success, save in a few rare instances, has not, throughout the history of the world, been the cause of any man being remembered by his fellows and never has the mere accumulation of wealth won honor for the individual. The methods employed in the attainment of wealth, however, may awaken approval and admiration, for the world pays its tribute to him who through enterprise, unrelaxing effort and clear-sighted judgment makes advancement in the business world without infringing on the rights of others. Such has been the record of Mr. Hall, who throughout his entire career has never deviated from a course that he has believed to be right between himself and his fellowmen. He is a man of well balanced capacities and powers, and has occupied a central place on the stage of action almost from the time when his initial effort was made in the field of business. At the same time he has recognized and met his obligations and duties in other relations, and day by day has mastered the lessons of life until his post graduate work in the school of experience has placed him with the men of learning and ability.

WARREN WALDO AVERILL.

Warren Waldo Averill is proprietor of a grocery store at Pomfret Center and has also built up an extensive trade in the sale of Edison phonographs and Victrolas, being now president of the Averill-Warner Company, Inc., of Putnam, dealers in musical instruments. He is an energetic, wide-awake business man, alert and enterprising, and has been identified with various interests of public concern and importance.

He was reared and educated in Pomfret, attending the district schools and also the grammar school at Danielson, Connecticut, in which he pursued his studies until he reached the age of fifteen years. He afterward worked for his father in a livery stable at Pomfret Center until he attained his majority, when he was appointed to the position of postmaster at Pomfret Center, serving during President Cleveland's administration and from that time on through all intervening administrations, re- publican and democratic, until the 1st of March, 1917, covering a period of twenty-one years and six months. He became identified with commercial interests of the com- munity in April, 1896, when he established a grocery store at Pomfret Center, which he has since conducted, building up a business of large and substantial proportions and carrying an attractive line of staple and fancy groceries. He is also agent for the Edison phonograph and has devoted considerable time to the development of that

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branch of this business. In 1918 The Averill-Warner Company, Inc., was formed with an authorized capital of fifty thousand dollars and for the purpose of dealing in musical instruments, particularly of the Edison make, and Victrolas. The company's place of business is Putnam, Connecticut, and the officers are: W. W. Averill, president and treasurer; Edw. Burt, vice president; J. G. Goggin, secretary; and P. A. Warner, general manager. Because of the business ability and experience of its personnel a prosperous future may be presaged for the young corporation.

On the 29th of August, 1899, Mr. Averill was united in marriage to Miss Bertha Blanche Smithies, of Springfield, Massachusetts, in which city she was born, her parents being George W. and Angeline Amelia (Haskins) Smithies. Her father was a native of Amherst, Massachusetts, and engaged in the hotel business for many years at Springfield, Massachusetts, there remaining to the time of his demise. His widow is still a resident of Springfield. Mrs. Averill is very active in the work of the upkeep of the Day-Kimball Hospital at Putnam, Connecticut, and is a most earnest worker in the Hospital Guild, having had charge of securing the annual donations for the in- stitution. To Mr. and Mrs. Averill has been born one son, Kenneth Waldo, whose birth occurred in Pomfret, June 9, 1901.

Mr. and Mrs. Averill are members of the Congregational church and Mr. Averill belongs to Putnam Lodge, No. 47, A. F. & A. M., of South Woodstock; to Putnam Chapter, No. 41, R. A. M., of Putnam; and to Montgomery Council, No. 2, R. & S. M., of Danielson. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and for ten years he filled the position of clerk of the probate court at Pomfret. He is the secretary and treasurer of the Pomfret Thief Detecting Society, an office which he has filled for the past fifteen years. This society has now been in existence for one hundred and six years. Mr. Averill is also prominent in public affairs in other connections, being the president of the Pomfret Neighborhood Association, Incorporated. He as- sisted in its organization, became one of its charter members and has since served on its board of directors.

NEWTON LORNE GREIG.

Newton Lorne Greig, treasurer of the Assawaga Company at Dayville and thus prominently connected with manufacturing interests, was born in Chateauguay county, in the province of Quebec, Canada, on the 15th day of February, 1882, his parents being Robert and Jean (Ness) Greig. The father was also a native of that locailty and his wife was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and in young womanhood crossed the Atlantic to Canada, where she is still living.

Newton L. Greig, of this review, acquired his education in the city schools of his native town and also attended the Huntington Academy of Huntington, Quebec, and Burdette College of Boston, Massachusetts, from which he was graduated with the class of 1901. He first came to Windham county during vacation periods in his college days, spending those periods with a brother who owned a farm in the town of Hampton. In 1903 Mr. Greig entered the employ of the Assawaga Company as paymaster of the mills at Dayville, Connecticut, and through the intervening period has steadily worked his way upward. In 1910 he was appointed assistant superintendent of the mills and afterward became assistant treasurer of the company, while in 1914 he was elected to the position of treasurer of the mills. His connection with the business is one of Jarge responsibility and he is now bending his energies to administrative direction and executive control. Out of the struggle with small opportunities he has come into a field of broad and active influence and usefulness. Longfellow has said: "The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, without a thought of fame." Such has been the course of Mr. Greig, whose faithful performance of each day's duties has developed an efficiency resulting in promotion. His business balances up with the principles of truth and honor and he is today the strong center of the community in which he moves.

Mr. Greig was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Campbell Park, of Hanover, Connecticut, on the 25th of June, 1908. She was born at Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, a daughter of Angus and Elizabeth (Eadie) Park. They are both highly esteemed in the community where they reside and the hospitality of the best homes is freely ac corded them, while the good cheer of their own fireside is greatly enjoyed by their many friends. They are active and prominent members of the Congregational church, in which Mr. Greig is serving as chairman of the church committee.

Fraternally he is well known as a Mason, belonging to Faith Lodge, F. & A. M., of Charleston, Massachusetts; Warren Chapter, R. A. M .; and Montgomery Council. R. & S. M., the last two being in Danielson. He votes with the republican party, which he

NEWTON L. GREIG

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has supported since becoming a naturalized American citizen, and he is deeply inter- ested in all that pertains to the welfare and progress of his community. He has been chairman of the school board of the town of Killingly and the cause of education finds in him a stalwart champion, while other activities of genuine public worth receive from him equally stanch endorsement and support. In 1918 he was elected to represent his town in the state legislature and is now efficiently serving in that office.

LEWELLYN J. STORRS.

Lewellyn J. Storrs is president and treasurer of the Willimantic Lumber & Coal Company and as such is at the head of one of the important business enterprises of the city. In early manhood his attention was devoted to agricultural interests but since 1906 he has been identified with commercial activity in his present business connection and is actuated by a spirit of enterprise in the direction of his interests. He comes of a family honorable and distinguished, and his lines of life have been cast in harmony therewith.

He is a descendant in the eighth generation of Samuel Storrs, who was born in England in 1640, a son of Thomas and Mary Storrs, of Sutton-cum-Lound, Notting- hamshire, England. He was a young man of twenty-three years when in 1663 he severed the ties that bound him to his native country and braved the dangers of an ocean voyage to become a resident of the new world. He located in Barnstable, Massachusetts, and in 1666 married the daughter of Thomas Huckins, of that place. She passed away in 1683 and in 1685 he married a widow, Mrs. Hester Egard (or Agard). About 1698 he removed to Mansfield, Connecticut, becoming one of the original proprietors of the town, and there his death occurred in 1719. His son, Thomas Storrs, born in 1686, became a prominent and influential citizen, serving as town clerk, as justice of the peace from 1740 until 1748, and as a member of the general assembly from 1716 until 1748. He was married in Mansfield in 1718 and passed away in 1755, while his wife, Mrs. Mehitabel Storrs, survived him for twenty-one years. Their son, Thomas Storrs (II), was born in 1719 and was married in 1743 to Eunice Paddock, daughter of Robert Paddock, of Mansfield. His death occurred in 1802, while his wife passed away in 1795. The line of descent comes down through Heman Storrs, who was born in 1761 and married Alice Cummings, of Mansfield. He was for some time a manufacturer, of Eagleville, but afterward resumed farming in Mansfield, where he died November 10, 1846, having long survived his wife, who passed away October 13, 1813.

Their family included Ralph Storrs, who was born in Mansfield, April 14, 1786, and was both a silk grower and manufacturer. He also conducted an extensive butcher- ing business for many years. He voted with the democratic party and fraternally was a Mason .: On the 14th of January, 1810, he wedded Orilla Wright, of Mansfield, who died March 8, 1868, while his death occurred February 27, 1869. Their family included Edwin Storrs, who was born in Mansfield, March 16, 1817, and devoted his life to farming. At the time of his marriage he purchased a tract of land adjoining his father's home and thereon spent his remaining days. He was married September 26, 1838, to Laura Wright, a native of Ashford, Connecticut, who died in Mansfield at the age of sixty-eight, while the death of Edwin Storrs occurred February 16, 1870.

They were the parents of Judge Ralph Wright Storrs, who was born July 14, 1839, in Ashford, Connecticut, and spent his youth upon the home farm, acquiring a district school education, after which he worked at farm labor, by the month, for his father and for other farmers of the locality. On the 26th of November, 1861, he wedded Mary A. Gurley, who was born October 21, 1841, in Mansfield, a daughter of Ebenezer R. and Julia Ann (Gardiner) Gurley. Following his marriage Judge Storrs removed to the farm of his father-in-law and was engaged in its cultivation until September, 1863, when he enlisted for service in the Civil war, joining the "boys in blue" of Com- pany E, Twenty-second Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, under Colonel Burnham, his term of enlistment being for nine months. In the '70s Judge Storrs was prominently engaged in dealing in live stock. He afterward went west to Canada and later retraced his steps to New York, where he bought a large number of horses and cattle which he shipped to the east, selling the horses to the farmers and the cattle to butchers. He engaged in that business for a number of years or until dressed beef was shipped in. He was also prominent in community affairs, voting with the republican party and becoming a recognized leader in its ranks. He was town clerk for fourteen years, was judge of probate of Mansfield from 1882 until January 1, 1901, and was also town treasurer. In 1880 he represented his district in the state legislature and was made a member of the committee on agriculture. In 1902 he was a delegate to the con- stitutional convention and in various ways has left his impress upon the history of

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his state, standing at all times for progress, improvement and advancement. His wife died November 19, 1896. They had three children: Eckley R., Lewellyn J. and Marion.

The second son, Lewellyn J. Storrs, was born upon the farm and there spent the days of his boyhood, youth and early manhood. After mastering the branches of learning taught in the district schools he spent a year in the Natchaug high school at Willimantic and was there graduated with the class of 1886. He afterward returned to the home farm, where he carried on general agricultural pursuits, cultivating an excellent tract of land of two hundred acres. He won a place among the most sub- stantial, progressive and enterprising farmers of the county but in 1906 turned his attention to commercial pursuits, becoming identified with the Willimantic Lumber & Coal Company and thus taking over an old established business which was instituted in 1862. He became connected therewith in 1906, upon the incorporation of the business, and was chosen president and treasurer, with P. J. Twomey as the vice president and secretary. The plant covers a ground space one hundred and fifty by two hundred and three feet and has forty thousand, five hundred and sixty square feet of floor space in the buildings and bins. In 1906 the company had two teams and four employes. Today they have five one-horse wagons, one double team, one truck and they employ seventeen persons. They handle lumber, shingles, clapboards, mouldings and roofing paper, builders' and masons' supplies, such as lath, brick, lime, cement and adamant and wood pulp, fire clay, calcine plaster, flue lining, windows, doors, blinds, etc .; and their business has reached extensive and gratifying proportions. They have won a well deserved reputation for thorough reliability and enterprise, and their business methods will bear the closest investigation and scrutiny.

On the 22d of May, 1889, Mr. Storrs was married to Miss Louise Gardiner, who was born in Willington, October 13, 1869, a daughter of William and Louise (Church) Gardiner. They have become parents of two children: Wayne L., born June 9, 1891; and Bernice G., born October 4, 1895.

Mr. and Mrs. Storrs hold membership in the Baptist church and in politics he is a stalwart republican. Like his father, he has been called to various public offices. In 1891 he became a member of the board of selectmen and in 1893, after serving for one year as third member, he was elected second member of the board and in 1896 was chosen first selectman, which office he filled for four years. In November, 1900, he was chosen judge of probate, becoming his father's successor, and he has occupied that position from January, 1901, up to the present writing, being one of the youngest judges of the state. From March 22, 1902, until January 6, 1903, he acted as judge of probate of the Coventry district. In February, 1903, he became one of the trustees of the Connecticut Agricultural College. In 1905 he was a member of the state legislature, serving on the important committee on railroads; and in 1911, he again represented his district in the assembly, this time on the committee on appro- priations. He not only made himself felt in the committee room but with equal con- scientiousness took care of measures for his constituents on the floor of the house and, although placing the welfare of his district first, never lost sight of the larger interests of the state at large. He stands at all times for those things which have to do with public progress and improvement, which work for the uplift of the individual and the benefit of the community. He is fearless in defense of what he believes to be right and his position upon any vital question is never an equivocal one.

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A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume II, Part 36

Author: Lincoln, Allen B Publication date: 1920 Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co. Number of Pages: 960

Author: Lincoln, Allen B
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co.
Number of Pages: 960