A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume II, Part 47

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

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Chaplin Band. In young manhood he played the violin and furnished musical en- tertainment for various fraternal festivals and other social gatherings and fiddled for many a country dance, his violin playing making him well known throughout the county. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Baptist church and its teachings have guided him in all of life's relations, making him a man whom to know is to esteem and honor.

NELSON A. DANIELS.

Nelson A. Daniels, who since 1899 has been connected with the Jordan Hardware Company of Willimantic, his native city, was born on the 7th of April, 1879, a son of Judge Charles N. and Susan (Little) Daniels, who are mentioned at length elsewhere in this work. At the usual age he became a pupil in the public schools, to which he is indebted for the educational opportunities which he enjoyed and which qualified him for life's practical and responsible duties. He was a young man of twenty years when he entered the employ of the Jordan Hardware Company, with which he has since been associated, and he is one of the most faithful and capable representatives of that old established commercial institution of Willimantic. Faithfulness to duty has ever been one of his marked characteristics and no "higher testimonial of his fidelity and of his efficiency could be given than the fact that he has remained with the one company for almost two decades.

In 1906 Mr. Daniels was united in marriage to Miss Abbie L. Lewis, a daughter of Wayland W. and Imogene (Taylor) Lewis, the former a prominent farmer and a representative of a well known old family. Mr. and Mrs. Daniels have one child, Lewis Charles.

In politics Mr. Daniels is a well known supporter of republican principles and has been an active party worker, serving as a member of the town central committee. He has been very prominent as a member of the volunteer fire department for several years and was foreman of Hilltop Company, No. 3, for five years. He also served on the board of engineers and he is a member of the board of trade and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. In these varied associations are indicated the nature of his interests and the extent of his activities, which have made him a substantial and valued resident of his native city.

HON. FREDERICK A. JACOBS.

A man has every reason to be proud of a distinguished and honorable ancestry and yet he must be judged by his own activities and his fidelity to the principles which govern strict and unswerving integrity and progressiveness in business and in citi- zenship. Judged by this standard, Frederick A. Jacobs deserves mention among the leading residents of Danielson and of Windham county. He has been prominently connected with both steam and electric railway interests and with electric light projects and is now the secretary and treasurer of the E. H. Jacobs Manufacturing Company of Danielson, controlling one of the important plants for the manufacture of loom supplies for cotton, silk and wool mills in all New England. Early in life he awak- ened to a realization of the eternal principle that industry wins and industry has been the beacon light of his life. He soon understood, too, that thrift of time will repay in after life with a usury of profit beyond the most sanguine dreams and that waste of time will make the individual dwindle alike in intellectual and moral stature beyond the darkest reckoning. Time is the chief asset most young men have to start life with, and the use a young man makes of his time determines as a rule his success in life. There have been few idle hours in the career of Frederick A. Jacobs, for when not engaged with important business interests he has aided largely in the development of Connecticut's welfare through the prompt and faithful discharge of duties in public office.

Danielson is proud to number him among her native sons. His birth occurred October 15, 1854, in the city in which he still makes his home, and his ancestral record is one of long and close connection with New England. In this connection a con- temporary biographer has written: "Evidences of record point to Nicholas Jacobs, who in 1633 migrated from Hingham, England, to New England, and settled at Hing- ham, Massachusetts, as the ancestor of the Mansfield, Connecticut, family of the same name. In 1707 and 1708 Daniel Jacobs, son of John and grandson of Nicholas, of Hingham, was one of several who purchased large tracts of land in Ashford and

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Eastford, Connecticut; and, later on, Nathaniel Jacobs, a son of Joseph and grandson of Nicholas, of Hingham, settled first in Woodstock and soon after in Thompson, Con- necticut, purchasing a tract of land upon which he and his five sons settled and which became known as the Jacobs District. From the foregoing and other pointers it is concluded that Dr. Joseph Jacobs, the first of record in Mansfield, Connecticut, was a grandson of Nicholas Jacobs, the emigrant settler."

Dr. Joseph Jacobs was the first physician of Mansfield. He married Sarah Storrs, who was born in 1670, and they became parents of a son, Samuel Jacobs, who was married February 11, 1737, to Desire Daughty, or Douty, of Windham. Their son, Benjamin Jacobs, was born April 30, 1738, and on the 14th of January, 1761, wedded Elizabeth Balcam. Of this marriage was born Benjamin Jacobs, whose birth occurred August 19, 1765, and who on the 28th of June, 1796, married Delight Dunham. There were five children of that marriage and after the death of his first wife Benjamin Jacobs wedded Lucinda Meacham and they had nine children. Benjamin Jacobs was a plowmaker and followed various mechanical pursuits. He died in Smithfield, Rhode Island, when about seventy-five years of age, and his second wife died in Danielson, April 5, 1858. Their son, Oliver Phelps Jacobs, was born in Mansfield, Connecticut, April 25, 1822, and when a young man left home and went to Buffalo, New York, where he engaged in clerking. After his marriage he returned to Daniel- son, Connecticut, and was employed in various ways for a time, while later he con- centrated his attention upon the insurance and real estate business. Subsequently he bought out the hardware establishment of J. P. Chamberlin & Company and in com- pany with his son, Edward H., organized the firm of E. H. Jacobs & Company, in which connection he carried on business until his death, which occurred April 8, 1883. He voted the republican ticket and served in several local offices. He was also prominent in Masonry, attaining the Knight Templar degree of the York Rite, and he belonged to St. Alban's Episcopal church at Danielson, in which he was serving as vestryman at the time of his death. On the 22d of November, 1843, in Buffalo, New York, he mar- ried Charlotte Henrietta Hill, who was born at Bahia, Brazil, September 23, 1824, a daughter of Henry and Lucy Monson (Russell) Hill. Her father, after serving as consul to Cuba, was later sent by his government to Rio de Janeiro and became inter- ested in a large coffee plantation in Brazil, but ill health obliged him to return to the United States and he died in Buffalo, New York. As stated, his daughter, Charlotte Henrietta, became the wife of Oliver P. Jacobs and to them were born five children, the third in order of birth being Frederick A., whose name introduces this review.

After acquiring a common school education in his native town Frederick A. Jacobs, at the age of eighteen years, secured a position as clerk in the store of J. P. Chamberlin & Company and continued in the establishment after the business was purchased by E. H. & O. P. Jacobs. The hardware trade was extended to include a line of mill supplies, and after the hardware business was sold to William O. and O. P. Jacobs, Frederick A. Jacobs and his brother, Edward H., continued in the mill supply business under the firm name of E. H. Jacobs & Company. Their patronage steadily increased and soon demanded enlarged quarters. Several times since then addi- tions have been made to the plant, which is now one of the extensive productive industries of the city. The business was incorporated in 1890 under the style of the E. H. Jacobs Manufacturing Company, with E. H. Jacobs as the president, W. I. Bullard as vice president and Frederick A. Jacobs as secretary and treasurer. The business has had a wonderful growth and now employs between seventy-five and one hundred operatives in the factory. They engage in the manufacture of loom supplies for cotton, silk and wool mills and their output is shipped all over the country. The business was established in 1869 on the site now occupied by the Windham County National Bank on Main street in Danielson, but the growth of their patronage necessi- tated a removal in order to secure larger quarters. Mr. Jacobs has also figured promi- nently in financial circles. He was formerly president of the Windham County Sav- ings Bank up to the time it was consolidated with the Brooklyn Savings Bank, and of the latter institution he is now a director. He has also been vice president of the Danielson Trust Company since its organization. This by no means, however, covers the scope of his activities, for Mr. Jacobs was a prime mover back of the organization of the People's Tramway Company and the building of the electric railway line between Putnam and Danielson, thus bringing about the establishment of a public utility which has been of the greatest possible benefit to the people of northeastern Connecticut and southern Massachusetts. He was elected the first president of the company and also served as president of the Danielson & Norwich Electric Railway Company and of the Thompson Tramway Company. In 1902, when these three organizations were merged, becoming known as the Worcester & Connecticut Eastern Railway Company, Mr. Jacobs was chosen president of the new corporation. He was also interested in the organization of the Killingly Electric Light & Power Company, of which he became

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the first president, and so continued to serve till the business was taken over by the People's Light & Power Company.

On the 3d of May, 1882, Mr. Jacobs was united in marriage to Miss Clara E. Barber, a daughter of Walter Barber, who was then superintendent of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company of New Haven and later became connected with the Thomp- son, Houston Company of Lynn, Massachusetts. To Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs were born five children. Walter Frederick, born October 9, 1883, was a student in St. John's Academy at Manlius, New York, and afterward became a midshipman at the Annapolis Naval Academy in Maryland, from which he was graduated with the class of 1906. He is now a lieutenant commander of the United States navy. He married Miss Winnie Dunlop, of Meridian, Mississippi, on the 14th of April, 1909, and to them have been born three children: Mary Dunlop and Winifred Dunlop, both born in Danielson; and Walter Frederick, who was born at Saranac Lake, New York. Charlotte Clare, born September 28, 1885, died May 12, 1889. Alice Maxfield born March 20, 1887, is the wife of the Rev. Roy B. Chamberlain, who was graduated from Wesley College at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, with the class of 1909 and became a Presbyterian minister at Saranac Lake, New York, but is now serving as a Y. M. C. A. secretary in France. They have two children: Roy B., who was born at Saranac Lake, New York; and Martha Cecil, born at Danielson. The next member of the family of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick A. Jacobs is Marjorie Joy, who was born January 4, 1890, and is the wife of Percy E. Wallar, a graduate of Princeton University and now a resident farmer of Skaneateles, New York, by whom she has two children, Joy and Barbara Earle. Laura Goodwin, the youngest of the family, was born June 16, 1893.

Mr. Jacobs is well known in Masonic circles, belonging to Moriah Lodge, No. 15, A. F. & A. M .; Warren Chapter, No. 12, R. A. M .; and Montgomery Council, No. 2, R. & S. M. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Congregational church. He served as treasurer of the Westfield church for ten years and in 1892 was elected a deacon, which position he filled until 1901, when he resigned. He be- longs to the Quinebaug Country Club, of which he has served as president, and to the Bohemian Club. He has been a director of the Danielson Free Library and of the People's Library Association. He was president of the Riverview Association for many years beginning with its organization in August, 1886, and he was chosen the first president of the Danielson Board of Trade, which was organized January 1, 1887. He also became the secretary of the Village Improvement Society and thus continued until the society passed out of existence. His political endorsement has ever been stanchly given to the republican party and in 1895 he was its candidate for represen- tative to the state legislature from Killingly. Winning the election, he served as chairman of the committee on new towns and probate districts and as a member of the committee on military affairs. In 1897 he was reelected to the legislature and served as house chairman of the federal relations committee. In 1903 public suffrage put him in the office of state senator and he was made chairman of the committee on military affairs of the upper house. He also served as a member of the committee on senate appointments. His activity in the general assembly of Connecticut was of great benefit to the commonwealth, as he ever stood for progress and improvement in connection with public interests. None questioned the integrity of his motives, none doubted his capability and many followed his leadership. He has long ranked with the most prominent and influential residents of Danielson, not only by reason of his marked business ability and connection with commercial and manufacturing interests, but also by reason of the active and helpful part which he has taken in all that pertains to the upbuilding of the county along intellectual, social, political and moral lines.

AUGUSTE BLANCHETTE.

One of the attractive commercial establishments of Putnam is the Blanchette Company furniture store owned and conducted by Auguste Blanchette, who has car- ried on business here since 1916. He was born in L'Avenir, Canada, December 12, 1880, and acquired his education in the schools of that country. At the age of nine- teen years he crossed the border into the United States and settled first at Lowell, Massachusetts, where he resided for ten years. He there worked in the Merrimac mills for three years, after which he embarked in business on his own account, open- ing a furniture store on Aiken street. Since that time he has been identified with the furniture trade and about 1911 he removed to Putnam, Connecticut, establishing a furniture store on Main street under the name of A. & J. Blanchette. With this under- taking he was connected for three years and then sold out. On the expiration of that

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period he removed to Willimantic, Connecticut, where he was proprietor of a furni- ture store for about three years and then again came to Putnam, where he has con- ducted business as the Blanchette Furniture Company, since 1916, having an attractive furniture store on Main street. He likewise conducts the A. Blanchette & Company furniture store at Lowell, Massachusetts, and is accounted one of the progressive and enterprising merchants of New England. He studies the needs and desires of the public and he carries a large and attractive line of furniture in both establishments, so that he is winning a liberal patronage. His business methods are such as neither seek nor require disguise and his reliability and enterprise have been the foundation of his growing success.

On the 30th of April, 1907, in Lowell, Massachusetts, Mr. Blanchette was married to Miss Florida Blanchette, a native of Canada and a daughter of Etienne Blanchette. Their religious faith is indicated in the fact that they are communicants of St. Mary's Catholic church and Mr. Blanchette belongs also to Union St. John Baptist Society. Fraternally he is connected with the Foresters and with the Eagles, while in politics he is an earnest republican. He does not seek office nor is he ever neglectful of the duties of citizenship. Opportunity has ever been to him the call to action and his progressiveness has brought him into important business relations.

REV. CLARENCE HOWARD BARBER.

Honored and respected by all, no man occupies a more enviable position in public regard than Rev. Clarence Howard Barber, of Danielson. He was born in Canton, Hart- ford county, Connecticut, on the 6th of February, 1853, and his life through all the intervening years has been a contributing factor to the advancement of high moral standards and moral influence.

His paternal grandparents were Alson and Hannah (Humphrey) Barber, the lat- ter a sister of President Heman Humphrey of Amherst College. Alson Barber was born in Burlington, Connecticut, and with his parents in early boyhood removed to Canton, where his remaining days were passed. The Barber family was established in the new world by four brothers of the name who came from England and settled in various sections of Connecticut, one establishing his home at West Simsbury, and from him is descended the branch of the family to which Rev. Clarence H. Barber belongs. His great-grandfather was Reuben Barber, who was born at West Simsbury and who removed to Canton subsequent to his marriage. He became one of the first settlers of the latter place and there continued to reside until called to his final rest, his burial being the first in the cemetery at Canton Center. He was the father of Alson Barber, who in turn was the father of Gaylord Barber, whose birth occurred in Canton, Connecticut, where he acquired his education and was reared to farm life. He took up that occupation as a life work and afterward removed to the town of Barkhamsted, in Litchfield county, Connecticut, in 1855. He concentrated his efforts and attention upon farming in that locality until 1868, when he returned to his old home in Canton and there spent his remaining days. He was superintendent of Sunday schools at Canton Center and at Barkhamsted and served as deacon in the church in Barkhamsted. His life was actuated by the highest Christian principles and motives, and reflected credit upon an untarnished name, for the Barbers have ever stood for those interests which are morst worth while, giving their aid and support to all worthy objects for the material, intellectual, social and moral progress of the communities in which they have lived. Gaylord Barber was one of a family of twelve children born to Mr. and Mrs. Alson Barber, who traveled life's journey together as man and wife for sixty-two years, and all of these children were liv- ing at the time of the mother's death. Gaylord Barber was united in marriage to Miss Catharine Hayden, who was born at Barkhamsted, Connecticut, and passed away in Canton, this state. Her parents were Sidney and Martha (Rexford) Hayden, who were representatives of one of the old families of New England.

Rev. Barber acquired his education in the schools of Barkhamsted to the age of fourteen years, after which he became a student in the district schools of Canton and later spent two years as a pupil in the high school of Collinsville, Connecticut. He next matriculated in the Connecticut Literary Institute at Suffield, where he pursued a three years' course and was graduated with the class of 1873 and thus, having completed his preparatory course, he entered Amherst College in the same year and mastered the four years' classical course, winning the Bachelor of Arts degree upon graduation with the class of 1877. Determining to devote his life to the holy calling of the ministry, he entered the Hartford Theological Seminary and was graduated in 1880. While in college he won prizes in debating and athletics. He was actuated by the determination to attain the highest degree of efficiency possible in each line to which he directed his

REV. CLARENCE H. BARBER

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efforts and attention. When his theological course was completed he was ordained to the ministry and was installed as pastor of the Congregational church in Torringford, Connecticut, in June, 1880. He there remained until the fall of 1886, when he resigned to accept a call to the pastorate of the Congregational church in Manchester, Connecti- cut, where he continued for eighteen and a half years or until 1905, when he was made pastor of the Westfield Congregational church at Danielson. His labors there con- tinued for eleven years and under his guidance the church made substantial advance- ment. The gift of oratory with which nature endowed him and which he developed in his college days proved one of the strong elements in his success. An eloquent and earnest speaker, his utterances never failed to impress his hearers and carried convic- tion to the minds of his auditors, resulting in more earnest effort on their part to "live the beautiful life of the spirit." At length his health failed him under the stress of his work in Danielson and he retired from the ministry but continues to make his home in Danielson, where he enjoys the warmest regard of those among whom he has so long labored. He made his church a strong and effective influence for good in the district and held before his people high ideals which have found fruition in character building.

On the 29th of September, 1880, Rev. Barber was united in marriage to Miss Mary Lucretia Johnson, who was born in Morris, Connecticut, a daughter of Almon Lewis and Sarah Lucretia (Beach) Johnson. Her father was born in Litchfield county, Connecti- cut, where he followed the occupation of farming in early manhood but afterward removed to Guilford, Connecticut, where his remaining days were passed. His wife was born in Cornwall, Connecticut, and now makes her home with Rev. and Mrs. Barber. The latter attended the Connecticut Literary Institute and it was during her student days there that she formed the acquaintance of Rev. Barber. She afterward taught school in East Windsor and at Windsor Locks, Connecticut, to the time of her marriage. They have become the parents of three children and also have an adopted daughter, who is the child of Rev. Barber's sister. She is Edith Spees Barber, who was born at Weeping Water, Nebraska, February 2, 1880, and is now the wife of the Rev. George B. Hawkes, pastor of the Congregational church at Middlefield, Connecti- cut. She has three children: Winfield Barber, Catharine Hazel and Ruth Everett. The children born to Rev. and Mrs. Barber are as follows. Edward Johnson, born in Tor- ringford, Connecticut, December 27, 1883, is a graduate of the South Manchester high school and of Yale University of the class of 1905, where he was one of the Phi Beta Kappa men of his class. He became an instructor in the Peekskill Military Academy at Peekskill, New York, and is now sales manager of the chemical department of the Bar- rett Company of New York. He married on June 18, 1913, Lillian P. Royer, of Ardmore, Pennsylvania, and they have one child, Elizabeth, who was born February 26, 1916. Laurence Luther, the second son, was born in Manchester, Connecticut, December 21, 1887, was graduated from the South Manchester high school and completed a course at Yale with the class of 1910. He then entered the Hartford Theological Seminary, from which he was graduated in 1913, and he is now pastor of the Congregational church at Greens Farms, Connecticut. He wedded Laura W. Bidwell, of South Manchester, on the 1st of October, 1913, and they have one son, L. L. Barber, Jr., born April 19, 1916. Harold Hayden, the third son, born in Manchester, November 14, 1891, pursued his high school course at Killingly, Connecticut, and completed his Yale course with the class of 1914. He has won prizes in Greek, while his brother Laurence took prizes in Latin during his student days. Harold H. Barber, after leaving Yale, entered the Hartford Theological Seminary, from which he was graduated in 1917, and he won the Jacobus scholarship while a student there. He is now taking post-graduate work in the Hartford Theological Seminary, preparing for foreign missionary work, and has already been accepted by the American Board for work in Mexico.

Rev. Barber votes with the republican party and has been a stanch advocate of its principles since reaching adult age. He was elected in 1885 to represent Torringford in the state legislature and was made a member of the committee on education. He served as chaplain in the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1900 and the following session became chaplain of the senate. He has always been deeply interested in the vital questions and issues of the day and keeps well informed on those subjects which are matters of general import. The cause of education has found in him a most stalwart champion and he has served as a valued member of the school board of Torringford, and for ten years was a member of the school board of Killingly. For more than a decade he was president of the Connecticut Temperance Union, being elected annually to that office until he resigned on account of ill health in 1916. He was also president of the Christian Endeavor State Union for the years 1895 and 1896, was secretary for a number of years of the Connecticut Congregational Club and of the Windham County Ministerial Union and was a member of the Connecticut Missionary Society and a trustee of the funds for ministers of the Congregational church.

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A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume II, Part 47

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