Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut, Part 15

Author: H. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1899
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1795

USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut > Part 15

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

under fire, and retreated to the cover of the woods. Here we formed in two lines, firing and retreating alternately as the enemy charged upon us. The retreat had become a rout. Some of the wagons stuck in the mud. The horses were cut out and the wagons abandoned. The artillery was in rear of the wagons, and could not be drawn past them. It, too, was abandoned. One hundred and forty-one wagons and sixteen pieces of artillery went to swell the spoils of the enemy. This was the famous Chicago Battery, afterward re- captured from General Hood by our regiment at Nashville.

We were driven back upon the straggling infantry. Many of them were utterly exhausted in the broiling sun while hastening to the fight. They threw away their knap- sacks, their guns, everything that could impede them, for they knew that if captured the horrors of Andersonville awaited them. They ran with their tongues lolling out of their mouths. They caught hold of the stirrups of the cav- alrymen and of the tails of their horses to help them along. We were obliged to fire over their heads at their approach- ing captors. Some scattered from the line of march and were hunted down by the enemy's flankers, or, escaping, came straggling into Memphis a week afterward. It was nightfall before, in answer to repeated applications for assistance, we were relieved. The pursuit continued through all the next day. One thousand, six hundred and eighteen prisoners went to crowd the death-pen at Andersonville. Three hun- dren thousand rounds of small-arm cartridges, besides a large amount of other ordnance stores and provisions, fell into the enemy's hands. The march out occupied ten days; the return was made in a little more than two. Such was the inglorious result of this undertaking. Troops that never knew fear before, though tried in many a conflict, had been defeated, and fled panic-streiken and demoralized before one- half their number, simply because they had been improperly commanded. *

The veterans had come back from furlough during our absence, and greeted our return to camp. They brought lit- tle mementoes with pleasant messages from home that made us half forget for the time the disasters we had just suffered. Our anticipation of going home increased as our term of service diminished. A mother's kiss was awaiting us; a sis- ter, whose untiring devotion had nursed away our sickness, would meet us with outstretched arms; our brothers would make ready the fatted calf; our old neighbors and friends would join in giving us greeting. And that special friend, our hearts beat faster as we thought of her. What blissful anticipation! Comrades, I cannot paint the picture half bright enough, even with the dark back-ground of our recent catastrophe to give it the contrast.

After his term of enlistment had expired, Mr. Porter returned to Illinois, remaining there three or four years, during one of which he taught school. He then returned to the East, and located at Deerfield, Mass., and for four years took charge of the Meadow Mills-saw and grist mills; his next change was his removal to Bridge- port, and here for a year he had control of, and was partner in, the Slate Marble Mantel factory, of the Slate Marble Mantel Company; he then accepted a position as principal of one of the Bridgeport schools, and here for a quarter of a century he has led the youthful minds through the grammar grades.

On July 19, 1864, Mr. Porter was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. Keith, of Enfield, Mass., daughter of Danforth and Betsey (Hart) Keith, and to this worthy couple four children have been born: Herbert W., Mabel Anna, Grace Inez, and Edith May. Mr. Porter has for sev- eral years been identified with the Olivet Con-

gregational Church Society, in which for several years (during the time the church edifice, costing from $20,000 to $30,000, was being erected) he was treasurer of the society. Politically he is a stanch Republican, and for a short time served on the Bridgeport school board. He is now a trustee of the Fairfield County Teachers An- nuity Guild, a society for the pensioning of superannuated or disabled teachers; was one of the trustees of the Bridgeport Mutual Insurance Company, and was for several years its vice- president and the auditor of its accounts. As a member of Elias Howe, Jr., Post No. 3, G. A. R., he joins his old comrades, and with them en- deavors to perpetuate the memory of our soldier dead, and to extend the influence of that noble trio of the G. A. R .- " Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty." Mr. Porter's liberality and benevo- lence have drawn many friends to him, and he is greatly beloved by all who know him.

H ON. CHARLES A. WEED. This well- known resident of Stamford holds, in an enviable degree, the esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens, as is shown in his frequent election to positions of trust and responsibility. While he has served in numerous local offices he has also been chosen three times to represent his town in the State Legislature, and in every posi- tion he has discharged his duties with ability and fidelity.

Mr. Weed is a member of one of the old families of Fairfield county, and his grandfather, Abashia Weed, a native of Stamford, a soldier of the Revolutionary war, was a prosperous farm- er of that town throughout his active life, was selectman of the town, and with his wife, whose maiden name was Susannah Hoyt, was highly respected in the community. Ebenezer Weed, our subject's father, was born in North Stamford, and also followed farming as an occupation. He was not especially prominent in political life, but in a quiet way he took much interest in pub- lic questions, his allegiance being given to the Democratic party. He died in the year 1843. He married Miss Maria E. Andrews, a native of New York City, and had the following children: Charles A., Miles H. (deceased), Caroline E., Martin E. (a resident of Stamford) and Cornelia M.

Charles A. Weed was born in August, 1831, on the same farm which he now owns and occu- pies with his two sisters. He was educated in North Stamford, attending first the common schools, and later an academy conducted by James Betts. In early manhood he took charge of the home farm, and his able management of

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

the place has won for him an excellent reputa- tion as an agriculturist. Being an ardent Demo- crat, he began at an early age to manifest an in- terest in practical politics, and in 1856 he was elected to the Legislature which met in New Haven in May. In 1878 and 1879 he was again elected, and from 1857 to 1863 he held the office of deputy sheriff, while at various times he has served as assessor, selectman, registrar of voters and member of the board of relief. He was also United States deputy marshal in 1860, assisting in taking the census.

M ISS JULIA M. WAKEMAN. The first ancestor of the Wakeman family, which has long been prominent in this section, came to America in 1631 from England, and settled at Fairfield, Conn. Their descendants are now numerous, and while many are to be found in this county, others have located in different parts of the United States. Some of them have been in Fairfield, Conn., two hundred and fifty years, as recorded by Robert Wakeman, who has been some twenty-five years engaged in collecting the Genealogy of the Wakeman families, and items of interest that have been handed down from generation to generation. Seth Wakeman re- sided in Sherman, Conn., and perhaps elsewhere before settling there. He served in the Revo- lutionary war in 1776, and received a pension from the Government up to his death in 1835; after his decease the pension was awarded to his widow Mary (or Molly, as she was usually called) until she died in 1845. He married Miss Mary Stratton, of the same town, and had the following children: Joseph, born in 1784, mar- ried Sylvia Arnold; Rebecca, born in 1787, mar- ried Isaac Buckley; Walter, born in 1788, married Almira Winchell; Eunice, born in 1791, married Foster Crosby; Hull, our subject's fa- ther, is mentioned more fully below; Cynthia, born in 1796; Diamond, born in 1798, and Miles, born in 1802, never married; Harriet, born in 1804, married Orson Page; William, born in 1808, married Elizabeth Croocker; and Laura A., born in 1810, did not marry.

Hull Wakeman, the father of our subject, was born in 1793, in the town of Sherman, where he acquired a good practical education in the common schools of that day. He became a successful agriculturist, and was prominent in lo- cal affairs as a member of the Democratic party, being frequently elected to office in the town- ship. In the war of 1812 he was drafted, but did not serve, hiring a substitute in the person of Aaron Wakeman; son of Gideon Wakeman, who

did duty in his stead. Hull Wakeman's wife, whose maiden name was Rheuamah Banks, was born in 1793, a daughter of Nathan and Drucilla L. Banks, owners of a fine farm in the town of Sherman. Ten children were born of this union, of whom nine lived to mature age: (1) Levi, born in 1815, was a farmer and speculator in cattle. He married Miss Charlotte Crane, and had four children-Martha C., who married James Palmer; George, who married Miss Callie Vosberge; William A., and Thaddeus. (2) El- vira, born in 1817, married John Caldwell, and bas one son, William, who married Mary Hop- kins. (3) Miss Harriet, born in 1819, was reared and educated in the schools of the town of Sher- man, and has always resided at the old home- stead. (4) Caroline, born in 1822, died in 1887, unmarried. (5) Drucilla, born in 1824, married Stephen Joyce, and has had five sons - William H., who died unmarried, in 1876; John F., who married Miss Ida Way; Allen, who married Miss Emma Warner; Alonzo, who married Miss Frankie Marcy; and Robert, who died unmar- ried, in 1889. (6) Miles H., born in 1826, died in 1852. (7) Linus A., born in 1828, went to the South, and after being employed for some time as a cashier in various banks, located in Savannah, Ga., where he engaged in the bank- ing business. He married Miss Nellie Corkins, and died in 1895, leaving two children. Nellie A. and Charles H. (8) William S., born in 1831, has followed agriculture and mercantile business throughout his life; he resides in Nan- tucket, Mass. He married Miss Mary A. Hallett, and has had two children-F. Merwin, who was in the Civil war on the Union side until his en- listed time expired, when he was mustered out of the service; and Marion E., who died in 1878, in childhood; (9) Miss Julia M .; and (10) Miss Josephine R., born in 1836, died in 1892.

Miss Julia M. Wakeman was born in 1834, at the old homestead in the town of Sherman, and was educated in the schools of that locality. She possesses fine mental qualities, and has al- ways taken an interest in the progressive move- ments of the time, her ability and force of char- acter giving her much influence among her ac- quaintances and friends.

W ILLIAM SANFORD BEARDSLEY (de- ceased) was born February 12, 1808, in Redding Ridge, Fairfield Co., Conn., at the old home of his father and grandfather. He was seventh in the lineal descent from William Beard- sley, of Stratford (1639), in whose line the name of William is repeated six times. He was also sixth

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

in descent from Samuel Beardsley, one of the nine founders of the Stratford Ecclestiastical Society in 1694. In 1726 Samuel's son William and his wife Elizabeth were enrolled as Communi- cants of the old Episcopal Society of Stratford under the teachings of Dr. Samuel Johnson, and this line has continued in that faith until the present time.

In 1836, during the ministry of Dr. Gurdon S. Coit (for it was at that time the old stone church was built on the corner of Broad and Can- non streets), William S. Beardsley became a member of that Church. He received his educa- tion in the public schools of Redding and New- town, in what was known as the Dodgington District, attending school aud working on his father's farm until sixteen years of age. Though his opportunities for an education were limited to the meager school advantages of his day, as found in the country, yet he laid a foundation upon which he built a superstructure of informa- tion garnered from a keen observation of men and things, and almost a century of ripe experi- ence. He was emphatically a man of sound judgment and discretion. At the age of sixteen, as he says, he went to learn the carpenter's and joiner's trade with Hiram Parmley as journey- man carpenter for one year, and worked in Sau- gatuck (now known as Wesport). At the age of twenty-two he built the first Congregational church at Danbury.

In 1830, when in his twenty-third year, he came to Bridgeport and went to work on the building of a church where the South Congrega- tional church now stands. After this was com- pleted, with his brother, Aaron T. Beardsley, James Jennings and thirteen other carpenters, he combined and took a contract to build a bellows factory in Fairfield. For one year he had five in company with him, after which a co-partner- ship was formed with Aaron T. (his brother) and James Daskam, under the firm name of Beards- ley & Daskam, which business was continued for thirty-six years. The firm became master build- ers, and many of the principal buildings of Bridgeport, such as North church, the Baptist church (where the Court Exchange building now is), the present South church, Christ church, residence of Nathaniel Wheeler, Frederick Wood and others on Golden Hill, the court house on State street, the old "Sterling Hotel " and the "Stanley Hotel." the former post office (now the People's market), and many of the banks are specimens of their handicraft. Upon the disso- lution of this partnership his brother started in the lumber business, while he still continued to carry on the building business alone for many

years. Finally he retired from the carpenter business, as accumulation of property to rent and other business required his attention. In 1836 the two brothers built the house on Main street, in which they resided. The old building in the back yard was their first carpenter shop, and at a high tide the water of the harbor would come over the street nearly to the shop door. After- ward they purchased land on the corner of Broad street and South avenue, and put up a large building for their increasing business. Spring- ing from steady Puritan stock, the son of a New England farmer of a family of eleven children, he by his life exemplified the principles incul- cated by his parents in youth. By following a life of uprightness, strict integrity, sobriety and perseverance, he amassed a handsome compe- tence entirely free from speculation, a judicious investment of his earnings in real estate and mortgages.

On June 9, 1337, Mr. Beardsley was mar- ried in Monroe, this county, to Miss Nancy J. Nichols, who was born March 11, 1812, and died April 8, 1893. Two children blessed this union: Amelia J. (deceased), and William N., who is mentioned more fully farther on. The subject of this sketch was fond of religious work, was a teacher in the Sunday-school and a leading mem- ber of the former St. John's Episcopal Church at Bridgeport, formerly located on the present site of the new post office. He was afterward a member of Trinity Church. In his advanced age he attended regularly the South Congrega- tional Church, on account of its close proximity to his home, this being the last church that he ever built. He died January 14, 1899, at the advanced age of ninety years and eleven months, leaving behind the record of a well-spent life spanning nearly a century.

Jesse Beardsley, grandfather of our subject, was a well-known farmer of the town of Red- ding. He married Miss Ruth Lyon, and had eight children: Aaron, Levi, Jabez, Daniel, Jesse, William, Lois and Miriam.

William Beardsley, our subject's father, was born in Redding April 29, 1777, and in early manhood engaged in farming there, but finally settled upon a farm in Newtown, where he died February 11, 1858. His wife, Molly (Sanford), who was born August 20, 1774, died September 17, 1825, and he afterward married Mrs. Esther M. (Jackson) Taylor. By the first marriage he had ten children, their names and dates of birth being as follows: Lois, April 4, 1799; Lydia, November 21, 1800; Jesse, July 9, 1802; Polly Ann, May 19, 1804; Ruth, February 16, 1806; William Sanford, February 12, 1808; Aaron T.,

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August 8, 1809; Caroline, August 24, 1811; Anna, June 19, 1813; and Sarah M., July 7, 1819. By the second union there were two children: Eliza and Emily. All of the above are deceased except Sally M. and Eliza.

The late Aaron T. Beardsley, brother of Will- iam S., was educated in Redding and Newtown, and became a partner in our subject's late busi- ness in Bridgeport. He was a man of fine me- chanical abilities, and was much esteemed as a citizen. In the business he gave his attention particularly to the interior decoration of the building on which they were employed. The organ case so much admired in Christ Church was designed and built by him. He was often engaged as inspector on the erection of buildings, and was known for his insistance in having the work and material right, and according to speci- fications. For many years he was vestryman in Christ Church and Trinity Church at Bridge- port. He died in that city June 8, 1895. On June 1, 1832, he married Miss Mary Curtis, who was born June 7, 1811, and died October 14. 1861. She was the daughter ot Matthew and Polly (Lacey) Curtis, the former of whom was proprietor of the first paint store in Bridgeport. Five children were born to Aaron T. and Mary Beardsley: Marietta, who died April 16, 1897; Harriet, who married William H. Edwards, of Saginaw, Mich .; Miss Rebecca, who resides in Bridgeport; Georgiana, wife of John Beardsley, of Hartland, N. Y .; and Florence E., who mar- ried (first) Ora B. Warner, who died, and (second Stimpson Stacey, of Chicago, Illinois.

WILLIAM N. BEARDSLEY, the only son of the late William S. Beardsley, was born De- cember 19, 1845, in Bridgeport, Conn., and there received his education in the public schools and in Emory F. Strong's Military Academy, where, at the age of nineteen, he became as- sistant teacher, as well as instructor in book- keeping and penmanship, for at an early age his knowledge of bookkeeping had found him ready employment, so his services were often in de- mand outside of school hours. Desiring, how- ever, a thorough knowledge of business law, he finally decided to take up this study in the office of Judge Gould, and later finished with recita- tions with Lawyer Warner. His decided ability, however, as an inventor, and his inclination for mechanical and general business life, made the legal profession comparatively uninviting, and, an opportunity offering, he entered the employ of George Lovell, in the ornamenting department- ment of the Howe Sewing Machine Company, taking charge of the pay-roll, which, not keeping him fully employed, he also worked, learning the

ornamenting business. Later on he spent some five years in the steam, gas-fitting and plumbing business until 1874, when he was offered a posi- tion as paymaster of the Union Metallic Cartridge Company. This was at the outbreak of the Rus- sian and Turkish war, which soon necessitated the employment of more than one thousand hands, and gave him an opportunity to show his executive ability. Experiments in rifles and ammunition had long been his favorite recreation, so a position with this company seemed particu- larly attractive to him, and when four years later the president of the Union Metallic Cartridge Company organized a new business under the name of the Bridgeport Gun Implement Com- pany, he was chosen as secretary, but still continued in the employ of both companies until 1883, when the growth of this new business and changes made it necessary to devote his entire time to the new company as Bridgeport manager and treasurer. His early workshop training and varied factory experience now stood him in good hand, and his experiments in early years led to his assisting by the invention of many valuable articles protected by patents, which they have been extensively engaged in manufacturing, thus requiring his erecting a new and larger building onto the old factory property and giving employment to a largely increased force of hands. The death of his father in 1899, W. S. Beardsley, the subject of our sketch, makes it necessary to give his attention to the management of his father's affairs, and it is not without regret he now severs connection with the firm he has been identified with for nearly a quarter of a century.

On November 18, 1868, Mr. Beardsley mar- ried Miss Amanda E. Smith, daughter of Silas Smith, a descendant of one of the pioneer set- tlers of New Milford. They have one son, Leon William Smith Beardsley, now a student in Yale Law School. Mr. Beardsley and his wife are identified with St. Paul's Episcopal Church, East Bridgeport, Henry M. Sherman, pastor, under whose teaching Mr. Beardsley was a scholar in St. John's Episcopal Church Sabbath-school of which the present St. Paul's Church is a branch.

D AVID WELLS PLUMB (deceased). for- merly vice-president and a director of the Birmingham National Bank, was a son of Noah Plumb, of Trumbull, who was born May 3, 1782, and who, on November 22, 1804, married Thank- ful Beach, who was born November 16, 1783. After her death Mr. Plumb married, April 8, 1807,

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Uvania Wells, who was born November 15, 1784. Noah Plumb was a son of David Plumb, of Strat- ford, who married Mary Beach, December 29, 1776. David Plumb was born June 25, 1751, and Mary Beach was born March 11, 1758. He was a son of Noah Plumb, of Stratford, who was born in 1709, and who married (first) Abiah Platt, in 1738, and (second) Abigail Curtiss, November 23, 1761. Noah Plumb was a son of Joseph Plumb, of Milford, who was born in 1671, and who married Susannah Newton, who was born in 1673. Joseph Plumb was a son of John Plumb, of New London, who was born in 1634, and who married Elizabeth Green about 1662. John Plumb was a son of George Plumb, of Ta- worth, County of Essex, England.

David Wells Plumb, the subject of this sketch, was born in 1809. He was a man of intelligence and patriotism, interested in all of the mercantile life of Ansonia, Birmingham and Shelton. He was physically strong in all of his powers, and was of great will force. He never used a stimu- lant in his life, nor did he ever use tobacco in any form. He became president of the Star Pin Company, of the Silver Plate Cutlery Company, also of the Housatonic and Shelton Water Com- panies, and at his death he was president of the Library Association. The Plumb Library build- ing was erected after his death, in accordance with his often expressed wishes. It is one of the finest library buildings in the State, and is a worthy memorial of its projector. Mr. Plumb appreciated to the fullest extent the value of knowledge to the young, and of libraries as tend- ing most powerfully to extend the knowledge needed by all good citizens, and he was himself well informed as to the politics, history and geo- graphy of his country. He was an original and deep thinker and, while not a professor of relig- ion, yet had correct and liberal views on relig- ious subjects. In the truest sense of the phrase, he was a self-made man, was of exact method in his habits, and his entire life was regulated with the greatest care. His death occurred June 29, 1893, when he was in his eighty-fifth year. Upon his death the directors of the Birmingham National Bank adopted the following resolutions:

" Mr. David W. Plumb, for twenty-two years vice-president and director of this bank, died at his residence in Shelton, on the evening of the 29th of June last, at the age of eighty-four years and nine months. Upon us, his associates and fellow directors, falls the duty of placing upon record our appreciation of his work and worth. "His was a long and busy life, the earlier years of which were years of trial and struggle. His courage, his patience and perseverance, and,

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Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut, Part 15

Author: H. H. Beers & Co. Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1795

Author: H. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1899
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1795