Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut, Part 2

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

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In 1856 he brought an equity suit in Philadel- phia to set aside a decree of divorce which he maintained had been obtained by fraud and im- position practiced upon the court several years

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before in the noted case of Griswold vs. Griswold, in which the eminent criminal lawyer, David Paul Brown, was his associate, and Mr. Cuyler, afterward mayor of Philadelphia, his opponent; the libellant Griswold being a Doctor of Divinity and an author and writer who had contracted a subsequent marriage with a lady in Maine, and his client, the respondent, a wealthy Jewess of Charleston, S. C. The social position of the parties to the suit attracted wide attention, and the skillful management of the case by Mr. Sherman throughout the protracted trial laid the foundation of his subsequent professional suc- cess.

Notwithstanding his business cares, Mr. Sher- man has found time for work in literary and political lines. In 1869 he compiled and pub- lished at his own expense, from original and se- lected matter, a small volume of sacred poetry in the Spanish language, in metre, under the title of "Himnos y Canticos," which was adopted for use by the Spanish Church of Santiago, New York. More than ten years afterward selections taken from it were set to music and published, with other Spanish hymns, by the foreign department of the American Tract Society, under the same title, in a volume of two hundred and sixteen pages, for use in Mexico and South America, and for the forty millions of the Spanish-speak- ing branch of the human family in the Old and New World. Mr. Sherman refused to copy- right his first edition of the work, believing that if it had merit it should be free to all. At the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the U. S. A. held at Baltimore in 1871, the Bishops of Connecticut, New York and Cali- fornia were appointed a committee to revise and correct the Spanish version of the Book of Com- mon Prayer, and subsequently Mr. Sherman was appointed, with the Rev. Joaquin de Palma. rector of the Church of Santiago, N. Y., and Don Pablo Roura, of Cuba, in the order named, as acting sub-committee on said revision. In 1882 he published a work entitled "Travels in Cuba and the Republic of Santo Domingo," and in the same year he translated and published an address delivered by him in Spanish before the Dominican Congress during the celebration of the XXXIXth anniversary of the National Inde- pendence of that little Republic.

In 1873 Mr. Sherman was elected judge of the Probate Court by the combination of both parties of his district, which was then, as now, strongly Democratic, and though he declined a renomination his name was again brought for- ward for the office. He refused a nomination for senator of the old Eleventh district when S. P.

Glover, of Newtown, was elected in his place on the ticket, and he then stated in the Senatorial Convention, of which he was a member, that he desired to hold no office either in Church or State. In spite of this, however, the convention in 1874 nominated him for senator of the Eleventh, in his absence and without his consent, on a Friday preceding the following Monday's election, of which he had no knowledge until late on the following Saturday, thereby depriving him alike of the opportunity to withdraw in time to name his successor, or to devote any proper at- tention to the canvass; in consequence his com- petitor was elected. Mr. Sherman was a dele- gate to the Republican State Convention at New Haven in 1880, for the nomination of the Presi- dential electors, and to his well-remembered speech on offering an amendment to the resolu- tion proposing to bind the Connecticut dele- tion at Chicago to vote for particular parties therein named, he moved to add after the names mentioned in the resolution the words: "or any other man whom the National Convention at Chicago in their wisdom shall see fit to nomi- nate." His amendment was carried with loud cheers and applause, and it is believed that the consequent attitude taken by the Connecticut delegation largely contributed to the solution of the Presidential problem at Chicago.

In 1860 Mr. Sherman married a young Cuban lady, Dona Mercedes Montejo, daughter of a wealthy sugar planter. On the breaking out of the rebellion in Cuba, in 1868, her only brother, Col. Don Eduardo, fell at the head of his troops at the siege of Las Tunas, and shortly afterward her excellent and venerable father, after having emancipated all his slaves, if not in consequence thereof, was cruelly assassinated in cold blood by Spanish hirelings, and his widow and children and grandchildren, having three times narrowly escaped from houses fired in the night-time and burned to the ground, fled to the woods for shelter, and lived in the forests of Cuba for months to escape the fury of war. On learning of their sad condition Mr. Sherman promptly sent for them to take refuge with him in this country, they having been stripped of their property by confiscation, pillage and fire. Mrs. Montejo, with her daughter and son-in-law and six grandchildren, and two elderly female ser- vants, in response, came to Brookfield in April. 1871, where they remained over two years with him, the children attending school. Afterward, for the purpose of receiving better educational facilities, he removed the family to Danbury, where they remained five years; three of the elder children, however, were sent to school in

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New York City, and one of them is now a prac- ticing lawyer of high promise. About 1871, after twenty years of successful practice of his profession in New York City, Mr. Sherman re- tired to his native town, where he now resides, dividing his time between literary and profes- sional pursuits and the cultivation of his home- stead farm, which he has enlarged by purchase and has greatly improved. Living without os- tentation, and without boasting of either poverty or riches, Mr. Sherman is keenly alive to every public improvement, showing large-hearted lib- erality to every meritorious cause. All who know him intimately enjoy his cordial hospital- ity, and, in fact, no person, however lowly, is ever turned away hungry from his door. Of the strictest integrity, his word is his bond in all business transactions. Though of pronounced opinions on many subjects, he never pushes them unduly upon the attention of others, and in society he is always the genial gentleman " to the manner born."

The Sherman family is one of the oldest in the locality, our subject tracing his descent from Samuel Sherman, who, in 1634, came to Amer- ica from Dedham, County of Essex, England, accompanied by a brother John and a first cousin also named John. He located at Stratford, Conn., and the others settled in Watertown, Mass. On the ship on which Samuel Sherman made the voyage was another passenger, Miss Sarah Mitchell, whom he married after the ar- rival in the New World. Their children were Samuel, Theophilus, Matthew, Edmond, John, Nathaniel, Benjamin and David. The posterity of each is traced as follows:

I. Samuel, eldest son of Samuel, of Ded- ham, England, had a son Daniel, who had three sons, Ebenezer, Benoni and Samuel. (1) Eben- ezer had two sons, Ebenezer and Daniel, and the latter was the father of two children, Ebenezer and Philo. (2) Benoni had a son Zadok, who had three sons-Andrew (the father of Roswell, Harry and Charles), Zilotas and Zadok. (3) Samuel had two sons-Justin (the father of Jot- ham and Ezra), and Jotham, who had five sons -Lewis, Samuel, Rufus, Beers and Cyrus. Of these, Lewis had four sons-Justin, Philo, Syl- vester and Ornan. Samuel, our subject's grand- father, is mentioned more fully below. Rufus had three sons-William, Lewis (father of Philo), and Philo (father of Rufus). Beers had three sons-Charles, McPherson and Harry. Cyrus had two sons- Jotham and Cyrus Beers.

II. Theophilus, second son of Samuel of Dedham, had two children, Mary Crane and Comfort Nicholas.

III. Edmond, third son of Samuel, had two sons, Matthew and Bezaleel. ( 1 ) Matthew had two sons-David and Lemuel, and the former was the father of four sons-David, Seth, Matthew and Lemuel.

IV. John, fourth son of Samuel, who was born about 1657, had three sons, Samuel, John and Ichabod. ( 1 ) Samuel had three sons- Reuben, David and Samuel (father of John and Ichabod ); the second son, David, was the father of Matthew, Solomon David ( 1) ( who died in infancy ), Solomon David (2), Aaron, Bildad and Eldad ( twins ), and Gideon. (2) John had two sons, Daniel and Matthew ; Daniel was the father of Daniel, and Taylor ( born 1758, died 1818), who became the grandfather of Gen. William T. Sherman [ See pp. 10 and 11, Vol. 1. "Memoir of General Sherman"]. Taylor had three children, of whom the eldest, Charles R., who died in 1829, had four sons: Charles F., born in 1811, James, born in 1816, William T., born February 8, 1820, died February 1, 1891, and John, born in 1823, now ( 1897 ) National Secretary of State. Daniel, second son of Tay- lor, married and had a daughter Betsey, who married Judge Parker, of Mansfield, Ohio.

V. David, fifth son of Samuel of Dedham, had eight daughters.

VI. Matthew, sixth son of Samuel, had three sons, Jonathan, David and Jabez.

VII. Nathaniel, seventh son of Samuel, had three children, Sarah, Peramiah and Naomi.

VIII. Benjamin, eighth and youngest son of Samuel, born March 29, 1662, had seven sons: Job, Nathaniel, Enos, Benjamin, Samuel, Timothy and James. (1) Job had four sons: John ( father of Daniel, John, Ezra, Elijah and Jabe ); Joel ( father of Abel, George, Job and Timothy); Nathan ( father of Truman, Lyman, Philo and Joseph ); and Ephraim ( father of Amos and Peter). (2) Nathaniel had three sons, Nathaniel ( father of David, Nathaniel, Nathan, Silas and Everett ); Phineas ( father of Philo and Lewis ); and Nathan ( father of Wheeler and Nathan ). ( 3) Enos had two sons, Josiah and Samuel. ( 4) Benjamin had two sons, Timothy and James. ( 5 ) Samuel had three sons, Lemuel, Elijah and Isaac. (6) Timothy left no issue. (7) James had three sons, Adonijah, William, and Edmond.

Samuel Sherman, our subject's grandfather, was born at Newtown in 1760, and died at Brook- field in 1825. He married Betty Hawley, of Newtown, and soon after their marriage they set- tled upon their present homestead at Brookfield, where he followed agriculture, and was for many years engaged in manufacturing combs. He ac-

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cumulated a handsome fortune for that day, and did an extensive banking business among his neighbors. In all local affairs he took a prom- inent part, and he was one of the founders of St. Paul's Episcopal Church at Brookfield, in which he served for many years as senior warden. He had eight daughters, and two sons-Hawley, who was born in 1788, and died in 1869, and Abel, our subject's father.

Abel Sherman was born at the old homestead in 1798, and made his home there throughout his life, agricultural work occupying his attention. He was educated in the district school, also in a private school near his home, and as he was al- ways an attentive reader of the best literature he acquired a wide range of information, which, to- gether with his intelligence and sound judgment made his opinions of great value. He took an active part in religious work, holding the office of vestryman of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. On November 26, 1826, he was married in Brook- field to Miss Sarah Bradley, who was born April 19, 1799, a daughter of Ormond Bradley, and died June 27, 1877. He survived her but a few years, passing away in 1881. Of their five chil- dren, Eliza B., who was born September 14, 1826, died in 1890, unmarried. Samuel, our subject, was the second in order of birth. Susan, born June 5. 1830, married Joseph A. Banks, of Bridgeport. Miss Caroline, born in 1836, re- sides at Brookfield, Conn. Sarah Ann, their youngest daughter, died in 1844, when aged four years and five months.

H ON. DANIEL NASH MORGAN. Fairfield county has been the home of many families whose representatives have had a seat in the councils of the nation, and prominent among these we find the name of Morgan, honorably represented in this generation by Daniel Nash Morgan, former Treasurer of the United States, who was born in Newtown, Fairfield Co., Conn., August 18, 1844, the son of Ezra and Hannah (Nash) Morgan.

Ezra Morgan (the father of our subject), who for forty years or more was a merchant banker and farmer of the town of Newtown, Fairfield county, descended from one of the old families of Newtown, and one of the oldest in the State. Zedekiah Morgan, his grandfather, was a captain in the war of the Revolution, and an active and determined patriot. During the war cavalry horses were quartered on a portion of the place still known in Newtown as the Morgan farm.

Ezra Morgan, who was born in Newtown, died June 9, 1871, aged seventy years, and his

wife, Hannah (Nash), passed away April 15, 1883, aged sixty-seven. She was the daughter of Daniel Nash, who lived to the advanced age of ninety-five years. Ezra Morgan was one of the leading and influential citizens of Newtown; was a leading Democrat, and occupied a number of official positions of trust and responsibility. He represented the town in the Legislature in 1842, 1862 and 1868. For a long time he was president of the Hatters Bank of Bethel.

Daniel Nash Morgan received his early edu- cation in the common schools of Newtown, and later was a student in the Newtown Academy and Bethel Institute. He early exhibited a lik- ing for mercantile life, and at the age of sixteen entered his father's store, where, under his careful tuition, he mastered the rudiments of practical business. On attaining his majority he stepped before the public as sole proprietor of the store, and carried on the business with success for a year, when he became a partner of the firm of Morgan & Booth, in Newtown Center, for three years. In 1869 Mr. Morgan retired from this co-partnership and removed to Bridgeport, where for ten years or more he was one of the firm of Birdsey & Morgan, dealers in dry goods and car- pets, and also conducting a large dressmaking establishment. After a long and prosperous busi- ness career Mr. Birdsey retired and Mr. Morgan assumed the entire responsibility, carrying on the business for one year alone, until 1880, when he closed out and devoted all his time and energy to banking. During the year 1877 he was also con- nected with Morgan, Hopson & Co., wholesale grocers. Prior to this experience he took an ex- tended tour throughout Great Britain and the continent of Europe.

His ability as a man of resource and as a master of finance soon attracted the people of his adopted town, and as they recognized his strong character they called on him frequently . to fill the high positions within their gift. In politics he is a Democrat. He was elected a member of the common council of Bridgeport in 1873-74; is a member of the board of education now, which position he held in 1877-78; was mayor of the city 1880-84; was a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1883; was State Senator from the Fourteenth district in 1885 and 1886, and again in 1893, when he was elected by 1,755 majority, the largest ever given in the history of the town. For thirteen years he was parish clerk of Trinity Church, afterward junior and senior warden; for years has been president of the Bridgeport Hospital; was vice-president of the Consolidated Rolling Stock Company; was sinking fund commissioner

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of the city; was president of the City National Bank from 1879 to 1893; and is president of the Mechanics and Farmers Savings Bank, which now has assets of more than two million dollars. When appointed as Treasurer of the United States by President Cleveland, April 11, and con- firmed by the United States Senate April 15, 1893-a high tribute both to his ability as a financier and to his unswerving Democracy-the best wishes of the entire community followed him to his new home in Washington. This high office was filled in a manner that reflected great credit on the treasurer, and his fellow townsmen feel in him a pardonable pride.

In this connection it is with pleasure we add the following excerpt from a newspaper of the time: "Probably the largest financial transaction that ever took place in the world, and certainly the largest that ever took place in this country, was the transfer yesterday by D. N. Morgan, the retiring Treasurer of the United States, of $796, 925,439.173 to Ellis H. Roberts. the new treas- urer, who gives a receipt for that amount of money, bonds and other securities belonging to the Government of the United States, and of which the treasurer has custody. On July ist, 1897. the count of money in the United States Treasurer's office was begun, and was completed February 5, 1898, under the direction of a com- mittee, one of whom was selected by Mr. Mor- gan, another by Mr. Roberts, the incoming treas- erur, and the third by the Secretary of the Treasury, who represents the interests of the United States. The coin, currency, and bonds representing the seven hundred and ninety-six million dollars was counted, and the job lasted more than seven months. It was necessary to count of the one hundred and fifty-two million silver dollars piece by piece, more than one hun- dred million dollars; the subsidary coins, nickels . and cents were then, every one, counted. There was a shortage of $856 in the silver, which was supposedly stolen between 1886 and the time of this count by helpers who assisted in the count when changes of treasurer necessitated handling the dollars. Silver coin is put away in heavy canvas bags, 1000 in each, tied at the top with strings and sealed. When the porters were stor- ing it away in the vaults it was possible. if ad- roitly done, for them to substitute shot or lead of an equal weight of from one to ten dollars. when a bag burst or string became untied. The weight of the silver in the vaults is 5000 tons. One thief was detected two years ago. It was found that he had stolen $38. He was arrested and pleaded guilty, made a pathetic appeal for mercy, was fined $50 and given a short term in prison,

but now it appears his speculations must have been more extensive than any one suspected, or others were implicated with him. Mr. Morgan, of Bridgeport, Conn., the retiring treasurer, made the amount good at once, and Congress refunded the money to him in August, 1898." Among other positions he now holds, is that of treasurer of the Union Surety and Guaranty Company of No. 290 Broadway, New York City, and president of the American Exhibitors Agency Company, for the Paris Exposition of 1900. Office, No. 20 Broad street, New York City.

On June 10, 1868, Mr. Morgan was united by marriage with Miss Medora Huganen, daugh- ter of the late Capt. William A. Judson, a native of Huntington, Conn., where he was a prominent and influential man. Captain Judson was a grandson of Col. Agur Judson, who served dur- ing the Revolutionary war, and he represented his district as senator and representative in the Legislature, and also as a trying justice of the town, which office he held for over forty years. The happy home of our subject and his wife has been brightened by the advent of two interesting children-a daughter and a son -- named respect- ively, Mary Huntington Morgan and William Jud- son Morgan. Fraternally, Mr. Morgan is inter- ested in the Masonic order. and for two years was master of Corinthian Lodge, No. 104, of Bridgeport, is also a member of Hamilton Com- mandery, No. 5, Knights Templar, and an Odd Fellow. He and his wife take great pleasure in gathering their many friends about them, and they are much interested in public work that tends toward the bettering of the community. Wise in his decisions and tenacious of purpose, Mr. Morgan's success in any undertaking is well assured.

H ON. NATHANIEL WHEELER (de- , ceased). To those who knew the subject of this memoir words fall short of expressing the full measure of his noble manhood, and must necessarily fail to do justice to his power and in- fluence as a citizen which permeated so benefi- cently and effectively the varied lines of busi- ness, social, political, educational and religious activities of this section.

As a business man Mr. Wheeler was distin- guished for his organizing and administrative abilities, his energy, enterprise, foresight, good judgment and fair-dealing-qualities, which were recognized not only locally, but throughout the civilized world. All officers, clerical employes and workmen of the great corporation of which he was for so many years the head, for the wel-

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fare of everyone of whom he was deeply solicit- ous, were affected toward him with a feeling stronger than mere respect or admiration. Mr. Wheeler's life work was most intimately con- nected with the origin and development of the art of sewing by machinery, in which he achieved a world-wide reputation, and it may safely be as- serted here that credit for the progress made in that art, during his life, was due to Nathaniel Wheeler in a greater degree than to any other man. In recognition of his services in this de- partment of industry, he was decorated at the World's Exposition, Vienna (1873), with the Knight's Cross of the Imperial Order of Francis Josef, and at the " Exposition Universelle," Paris (1889), he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor of France. In public affairs he always had deeply at heart the best interests of his city, the state and of the nation, as he understood them, and to those interests he con- tributed no little thought, labor and money. He was a philanthropist of the best sort, unosten- tatious but beneficent to the last degree.

A multitude of the poor know how great was his bounty in dispensing charity, but he never adver- tised his good deeds. His natural but unosten- tatious dignity veiled an underlying geniality in companionship, which was revealed to his more intimate acquaintances, while all his purely so- cial qualities were surpassed by his steadfastness and devotion as a friend. The record of his life is without a stain, and the world is surely better for his having lived.

Mr. Wheeler belonged to a well-known pio- . neer family, being a descendant, in the seventh generation, from (I.) Moses Wheeler, who was born in 1589, and came to America with a com- pany from the County of Kent, England, probably in 1638. As early as 1641 he was in New Haven, where he received an allotment of land in 1643, and was settled in Stratford before 1648, the privilege of keeping a ferry across the Housatonic at that place being granted him by the General Court in that year. He died in Stratford in 1689, aged 100 years.

II. Moses Wheeler, son of Moses the pio- neer, was born July 5, 1651, and died January 30, 1724-25.

III. Samuel Wheeler, the next in line of de- scent to our subject, was born February 27, 1681-82, and died in 1721.

IV. Capt. James Wheeler, our subject's great-grandfather, was born in 1716, and died at his home in Derby, Conn., July 9, 1768.

V. Deacon James Wheeler, the grandfather of our subject, was born April 6, 1745, and died in Watertown, Conn., May 25, 1819.

VI. David Wheeler, our subject's father, who was a carriage manufacturer by occupation, was born September 6, 1789. By his first wife, Miss Phoebe De Forest, he had two children, Joseph and Mary, and by his second marriage, to Miss Sarah De Forest (a sister of his first wife), he had four children-Nathaniel, Jane, George and Belinda.

VII. The late Nathaniel Wheeler was born September 7. 1820, at Watertown, and as a lad in his fathers's shop he learned the carriage maker's trade, in which, while yet a minor, he acquired a high reputation for skill, ingenuity and good taste. Upon reaching his majority Nathan- iel took his father's carriage business, and for some five years conducted it successfully on his own account. Thereafter, he engaged in the manufacture of various small metallic articles and, substituting machinery for hand labor, very greatly reduced the cost of production, thus early displaying that practical ability which marked his subsequent career. For the better prosecu- tion of his business, he formed, in 1848, a co- partnership with Messrs. Warren & Woodruff, of the same town, under the firm name of " War- ren, Wheeler & Woodruff," a new new factory was built, and the entire management of the bus- iness was placed in the hands of Mr. Wheeler. who made it a thorough success from the start.

In December, 1850, Mr. Wheeler's attention was attracted to the earliest form of Allen B. Wilson's sewing machine, and with a keen fore- sight of possibilities he contracted, in behalf of his own firm, to manufacture a considerable num- ber of such machines. He engaged Mr. Wilson to superintend that branch of their manufacturing department, and soon after, arrangements were completed to make the manufacture of sewing machines a separate and distinct business. For this purpose a company was formed by Messrs. Warren, Wheeler, Wilson and Woodruff, under the style of "Wheeler, Wilson & Co .. " Mr. Wheeler having charge of the mercantile depart- ment, and Mr. Wilson of the mechanical. Mr. Wilson soon invented material improvements in his machine, which were to a very great extent organized and put into practical shape by Mr. Wheeler. The introduction of that machine, the original " Wheeler & Wilson," to the public, the placing of it in factories, and the demonstration of its adaptibility to use in families, was almost exclusively the work of Mr. Wheeler. In Octo- ber, 1853, "The Wheeler & Wilson Manufactur- ing Company" was organized under the general law of the State of Connecticut. Mr. Wheeler was made general manager of the company, and from 1855 to the time of his death, he held the office

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Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut, Part 2

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