Commemorative biographical record of Hartford County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Pt 1, Part 90

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1336

USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Commemorative biographical record of Hartford County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Pt 1 > Part 90

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From an article on this family prepared by Hon. Grant Goodrich, of Chicago, Ill., it appears that it had an existence in Great Britain long prior to the Norman Conquest, as the ruins of Goodrich Castle, which stands on a commanding eminence near the southeastern extremity of Herefordshire, clearly indicated Saxon construction as to its "keep," the surrounding works being Norman. It is also shown by Doomsday Book ( 1066) that land- holders bearing the name of Goodrich were numer- ous in the county alluded to.

Elizur S. Goodrich, the subject proper of this sketch, was born in Wethersfield, Conn., Dec. 28, 1834, a son of Elizur and Jerusha (Stillman) Good- rich, natives of the same town. The parents have

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passed away, and the tombstones that mark their last resting place show that the father died Feb. 10, 1854. at the age of fifty-six years, and that the mother died Jan. 2, 1835, aged thirty-one.

Elizur S. Goodrich received his elementary edu- cation in the public schools of his native town, and this was supplemented by further study at Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Mass. While yet a boy he entered the office of the chief engineer of the Hartford, Providence & Fishkill railroad, a portion of the road being at the time in the course of construction. He served this company in various capacities ten or more years, and left it only when offered charge of the Hartford & Wethersfield horse railway. now the Hartford Street Railway, which was placed in operation in 1863. In 1864 he was made president of the company, and through the "long fight" in which he was the victor he was the direct manager of the company's affairs. With the growth of the business of the road the duties of the president became more arduous, and Mr. Good- rich is to-day at the head of a system which is con- sidered by railroad authorities as possibly the best in the country, horses having been discarded and electricity substituted as the motive power in 1894. At this date the company had two lines only; it now covers the principal streets, connects with a number of the adjoining towns, has about eighty miles of road, runs from 150 to 200 cars, and em- ploys about 450 men.

Mr. Goodrich is also at the head of the Hart- ford & New York Transportation Co., which runs a line of steamers between the two cities, and carries all the freight conveyed by water. Of this com- pany he became president in 1885, when it was practically bankrupt, and with wonderful foresight and business tact has placed it on a solid, paying basis, having discarded the old out-of-date boats and built others of modern construction, equal if not superior to any that run on Long Island Sound. Among the old boats disposed of was the once favorite "Hartford," which was disposed of to the Government during an emergency, and replaced by the modern, unexcelled steamer of the same name. The probability is that much of Mr. Good- rich's practical business ability is hereditary, as his father was a civil engineer, surveyed the roads, and otherwise assisted in the construction of the steam railroad lines in the early days in Connecti- cut, and inculcated habits of methodical thought into the mind of his only son, the subject of this sketch.

Hon. Elizur S. Goodrich has affiliated with the Republican party ever since its formation, and has exerted much influence in its councils, besides aiding in its success at the polls. Although he has never sought a favor from the party, the party has more than once sought his services. In 1895 he repre- sented the town of Wethersfield in the General Assembly, and in that body served on the committee on Incorporations and on the Judiciary committee.

In 1897 he was elected senator from the Second district, and during that session was chairman of the committee on Cities and Boroughs; and so ably and admirably did he execute the functions of his high office that he was re-elected to the same body at the termination of his term, in 1899. Mr. Goodrich stands very high as a Mason. He was "made" in St. John's Lodge, but later became a charter member of Lafayette Lodge, and is also a member of the chapter and council, and of Wash- ington Commandery.

On Oct. 19, 1859, Elizur S. Goodrich was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. Hanmer, and this union has been graced with two children, James R. and Mabel E. James R. is filling the position of purchasing agent for the street railway company, and is a gentleman of fine executive ability ; he married Miss Elizabeth Judd, of Holyoke, Mass., and to them have been born two children, James S. and William J. The daughter, Mabel E., is married to George H. Gilman, a lawyer of promi- nence in Hartford.

Senator Goodrich is a true American, of the self-made type, and is the embodiment of industry, energy and ability, through which alone he has risen to his present high standing in the business, political and social world. He has always kept his home in Wethersfield, although for years he has maintained a residence in Ifartford, which he oc- cupies part of each year, and at either home there is always extended, during its occupancy, a gener- ous and refined hospitality to a large circle of warm and sincere friends of the family.

RUFUS ALBERT SANFORD was born in Bristol Sept. 9, 1841, son of David A. and Lois Susannah (Norton) Sanford, mention of whom is made elsewhere.

Our subject was but three years old when taken by his parents to Wolcott, where he attended school until seventeen years old. He then commenced learning the carpenter's trade at Plymouth, with Oliver Bailey, stayed there six or eight months, went thence to Meriden, and within ten months finished learning under Jones & Hull. In the spring of 1865 he came to Bristol and worked about six months for Case and Hall, contractors, when this firm dissolved, and Mr. Sanford continued in the employ of Elber Case six months longer. Mr. Sanford now began doing contract work for himself, was most successful, erected a large num- ber of fine dwellings in the borough, and continued in the business until 1883, but during three years of this time worked as a journeyman for David W. Hall. In 1883 he went to the Dunbar Brothers, as their carpenter, and is still in their employ, and while there has added to his mechanical knowledge, learning the machinist's trade.

Mr. Sanford is eminent as a Mason, having at- tained the thirty-second degree, and is a member of Sphinx Temple, Mystic Shrine, of Hartford. IIis

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wife was a member of one of the auxiliary lodges, but resigned on account of ill health. Mr. Sanford is also a member of Pequabuck Lodge, I. O. O. F., in which he was formerly treasurer ; is a member of Ethan Lodge, No. 9, K. of P .; and was formerly a member of the American Mechanics and of the Im- proved Order of Red Men.

Rufus A. Sanford was joined in wedlock June 20. 1866, to Sarah Jane Nettleton, who was born Oct. 28, 1841, a daughter of Garry and Mary ( Bron- son) Nettleton, of Bristol, and passed away June 23, 1900. Two children came to bless this union, but both were most untimely called away: Fred- erick George, born July 31, 1867, died Dec. 14, 1880 ; and Anar Eliza, born Dec. 17, 1885, died the same day. Mrs. Sanford was a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which they attended regularly a number of years, being most highly es- teemed by the congregation, as well as by all their neighbors. Mr. Sanford is a Republican in politics, but, although very popular, has led too busy a life to spare any time in intermeddling with party af- fairs or in office seeking.

CHARLES C. GOODRICH, manager of the Hartford & New York Transportation Co., Hart- ford, is an example of a man who early chose some branch of business, and by sticking to it and ex- hibiting diligence and ability therein has risen to prominence and success. For thirty years Mr. Goodrich has been engaged in marine commerce, and for twenty years since its organization has been manager of the above named company, which under his oversight has developed into an important and successful industry, transporting passengers and freight by water between New York and all points on the Connecticut river intermediate be- tween New York and Hartford. Mr. Goodrich has given his whole time, strength and interest to this business, and the story of his life is the history of the company he has helped to create.

Mr. Goodrich was born July 30, 1845. in Weth- ersfield, Conn., son of Joshua and Mary A. (Wells) Goodrich, also natives of Wethersfield. They were farming people, and lived lives such as' to com- mend them to the community, by whom they were held in esteem and respect. Mr. Goodrich died when aged sixty years, and Mrs. Goodrich passed away aged sixty-eight.

Our subject was educated in the South grammar school, Hartford, and in Williston Academy, East- hampton, Mass., and began his business career as a seed grower in Portland, Conn. He next went to New York, where, associated with his brother, F. W. Goodrich, for six years, he was engaged in freighting, and during that period was called upon to supervise the freighting business of M. R. Brazos, on Long Island Sound, Mr. Brazos being at that time one of the prominent vessel owners of the East. This circumstance finally led to our sub- ject's going to Hartford, he having during such

connection gone thither, on the death of Mr. Brazos, to close up some of his business affairs. Later Mr. Goodrich reorganized the old company with which Mr. Brazos had been connected with some fifteen boats, and out of the reorganization finally came, through the manipulation of our subject, the Hart- ford & New York Transportation Co., the present officers of which are: Hon. E. S. Goodrich, presi- dent ; Charles C. Goodrich, manager ; and E. B. Williams, superintendent. The first few years of the company's existence were attended with disas- ter, heavy losses occurring by the destruction of a number of boats, but through wise and judicious management the company was held together and its business placed on a paying basis. In 1896 the company added to their fleet the twin-screw steel propeller "Hartford," of modern build, and in 1898 another boat, the "Middletown," built on the same principle. One year later, during the Spanish- American war, the first of these was sold to the United States Government for a hospital ship; and to take the place of it the company built another

boat, a fac-simile of the "Middletown," both of which ply regularly over the line traveled by the company. These boats are especially adapted for navigation in shoal water, and have a light draft. Their tonnage is about fifteen hundred each, with stateroom and berth capacity for about four hun- dred passengers; these quarters are comfortably fitted up, are kept scrupulously clean and inviting, and in a thoroughly sanitary condition. This line of boats is one of the best plying the waters of the Sound. During the summer months these boats are crowded to their fullest capacity.

Our subject has been connected with this com- pany twenty-six years, and aside from his official position as general manager he is a director of the company ; and of all of its force of officers and en- ployes he is the oldest in point of service. During all these years Mr. Goodrich has labored faithfully and ably toward the upbuilding and advancement of the company's interests, and to his credit it can be said that his efforts have not been in vain. The business of the company has constantly grown; in 1880 it purchased the ship yard and marine rail- way formerly belonging to M. Q. Darton, at Dutch Point, and since then it has built many barges and tugs, some fifteen in all. The company now has thirty tugs, barges and steamboats, comprising a fleet valued at $600,000, and in addition possesses real estate to the amount of $200,000, which in- cludes docks, ways, etc., at Hartford, Middletowr and elsewhere. Our subject gives his personal at. tention to nearly every detail connected with the business of this large fleet of the company, and it is needless to say that his adaptation to his charge together with his long years of service and experi- ence in this line, make him a most valuable ad- junct to the company in the way of an able and judicious manager. He has business interests else. where, among them at Middletown, where his

Charles &Goodrich

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brother Frederick W., is vice-president of the Mid- dletown Coal Company, one of the most successful corporations in its line of business in the State ; of this company our subject is a director and also manager.

In 1875 Charles C. Goodrich was married to Beulah, daughter of Calvin Murray, a shipbuilder of Guilford, Conn., in which town the daughter was born, being one of four children, three of whom survive. To our subject and his wife has come one child, Raymond M., who is now engaged with his father in same line of business.

EUGENE B. WILLIAMS, the efficient super- intendent of the Hartford & New York Transpor- tation Co., the main offices of which are at Hart- ford, and with two exceptions the oldest in point of time of the company's many employes, his service covering a period of nearly a quarter of a century, has descended on both sides from an early New England ancestry.

Born Jan. 5, 1858, in Haddam, Conn., Mr. Williams is a son of Capt. Ezra II. Williams, and grandson of Elijah Williams, who was born in Colchester, this State, and who by trade and occu- pation through life was a blacksmith. Elijah Williams married Mehetabel Dickinson, a native of Haddam, which place for years has been the home of the family, the ancestry of which in New England is traced back to Nathaniel Dickinson, one of the first settlers of Wethersfield, Conn., in 1637. To their marriage were born eight children, two of whom, Capt. W. S. Williams, of Hartford, and Mrs. Nancy Hayden, of Haddam, survive. Both grandparents were identified with the M. E. Church ; he died about 1838, she in 1863.

Capt. Ezra H. Williams was born Nov. 9, 1827, in Haddam, where he passed his boyhood up to twelve years of age, receiving the rudiments of an education in the public schools of the town. At that early age he started out in life for himself, as a sailor on a coasting vessel, and by his force of character and ambition forged his way through the successive steps to that of master or captain of a vessel. He was engaged in the coasting trade on the sound and ocean, sailing sometimes from Hart- ford as far south as Charleston, S. C., up to 1866. In 1872 a barge line was formed, and of it Capt. Williams became president, a position he held until 1877, the line then being merged into the Hartford Transportation Co. Of this company he was made president, and held the office from that time on until his death. Capt. Williams was one of the incorporators of the Dredging Co., and its president. This company was for many years a good paying concern. As a seafaring man he stood high, and was popular in the sound and ocean trade. He was careful and judicious, a man of honor and integrity, which, together with his tact and thorough knowledge of men and the trade, inspired confi- dence. His long experience and practical knowl-

edge of seafaring life and business made him a master of it. He had loaded and unloaded and handled all kinds and sizes of water craft, from the old sailing vessel to the most modern steamship. At one time he had under his management some twenty-five vessels. His acquaintance with sea- faring men and the business extended from Maine to Florida, and he enjoyed among them a deserved popularity. In point of service he was one of the oldest men engaged in the coast trade, and did much . to originate and develop the line of steamboats of the Hartford Transportation Co., which has since been so successfully operated. Probably no other one man did more to advance the interest of that company during the years that he was connected with it than Capt. Williams. The Captain was a member of the Masonic fraternity.

On Jan. 16, 1854, Capt. Williams was married to Mary Dickinson, born in Haddam, daughter of Capt. Nehemiah and Julia (Sabin) Dickinson, and to the marriage were born: Eugene B., Grace E., and Julia S., all residing with the mother. Capt. Dickinson (also a descendant of Nathaniel Dickin- son, the pioneer ), was engaged in the coasting trade, and was at one time the master of a vessel engaged in the West India trade. He died in 1841, when comparatively a young man. Mrs. Julia (Sabin) Dickinson, who was a native of Colchester, lived to be eighty-four. Of the nine children born to her- self and husband only three are now living, Mrs. Williams being the youngest ; the others are: Julia ( Mrs. Capt. David C. Russell, of Haddam) and Eveline ( Mrs. Austin S. Clark, also of Haddam ). Eight of the nine lived to mature age; two died in 1900, one at the age of eighty-six, and the other at eighty-five.

Eugene B. Williams, the subject proper of this sketch, passed his early boyhood in his native town and attended its schools, complet ng his education in the public schools of Hartford, to which city he was taken at the early age of nine years. At nine- teen he began a seafaring life under the direction of his father, with whom he was associated in the latter's varied experiences on the river, sound and ocean, and under his watchful eye was thoroughly experienced in the service and well-equipped for the duties which his present position has brought upon him. He passed through all of the grades from ani ordinary sailor to engineer, and served on both sailing and steam boats. . He became familiar with all branches of the coasting business, which is of great advantage to him in his present position. Leaving the water in 1887, after a decade of service with the present company, our subject came ashore, and was acting superintendent up to 1892, in which year he was made superintendent of the company, an office for which he was most admirably quali- fied, and the duties of which he has most efficiently and satisfactorily performed. The magnitude of the company's business may be judged from the sketches of its manager and president, appearing

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elsewhere. Our subject is an affable, genial fellow, sociable and popular. He is a member of Charter Oak Lodge, No. 2, I. O. O. F., at Hartford. His political affiliations are with the Republican party.

AMOS WHITNEY, president of the Pratt & Whitney Co., Hartford, is justly ranked as foremost among the representative, self-made men of the community, and the city is greatly indebted to him for his share in building up in its midst a gigantic industrial establishment, which has made a name and reputation for Hartford in nearly every civi- lized land on the globe, and which is so closely identified with the material prosperity of the city. His personality has been a most potent one here for fifty years-a half century-and his identity through all these years with this great plant, the welfare of which in turn has been so materially connected with that of the community, places him in the front rank of the city's prominent men.

Mr. Whitney was born Oct. 8, 1832, at Bidde- ford, Maine, son of Aaron and Rebecca ( Perkins) Whitney, whose ancestors were among the early and prominent settlers of New England. John Whitney, the emigrant ancestor of this branch of the Whitney family, was born in 1589, and resided from 1619 to January, 1623-24, at Isleworth-on- the-Thames. His wife, Elinor, with children ac- companied him to America in 1635. They settled in Watertown, in the Massachusetts Colony, soon after their arrival. Mr. Whitney was an important man in the community, and held various public offices. He died in 1673. From this emigrant ancestor Amos Whitney, of the Pratt & Whitney Co., Hartford, is a descendant in the eighth gener- ation, the line of his descent being through Jona- than, Jonathan (2), Daniel, Lieut. Levi, Aaron and Aaron (2).

(II) Jonathan Whitney, son of John, the emi- grant, born in England in 1634, married in 1656, in Watertown, Lydia, daughter of Lewis Jones. He was admitted as an inhabitant in Sherborn in 1679, and there died in 1702.

(III) Jonathan Whitney (2), son of Jonathan, born in 1658, married Sarah Hapgood. He lived in Sherborn, Watertown, and Concord, where he died in 1735. He served in King Philip's war.

(IV) Daniel Whitney, son of Jonathan (2), born in 1710, in Sudbury, married in 1739 Thank- ful, daughter of Elnathan and Mercy (Rice) Allen, of Sudbury. He resided' in Shrewsbury, Massa- chusetts.

(V) Lieut. Levi Whitney, son of Daniel, born in 1739, married (first), in 1764, Rebecca Clark. During the war of the Revolution Mr. Whitney was an officer in the commissary department, with rank of lieutenant. He possesed much mechanical ingenuity, and was a manufacturer of agricultural tools. He resided in Townsend and Shrewsbury, Mass. He died in 1809.

(VI) Aaron Whitney, son of Lieut. Levi, born in 1772 in Townsend, Mass., married (first) in 1797 Phebe Dunklee, who was born in 1778, and died in 1800. Mr. Whitney was a blacksmith by trade, and in 1812 was the postmaster at Amherst Mass. His shop was burned in 1815, and in 1819 he removed to Calais, Maine. For some years he was a prominent citizen of Amherst. He died ir 1845.

(VII) Aaron Whitney (2), son of Aaron, anc the father of Amos Whitney, of Hartford, was borr Dec. 15, 1801, in Amherst. He was married at Biddeford, Maine, to Rebecca Perkins, who was born in March, 1809, and they resided at Bidde- ford, Maine, and other points, and finally at Hart. ford, Conn. He was a machinist by trade and occu- pation, and died in January, 1866. His family consisted of six children, three sons and three daugli- ters.

The rudiments of his education the subject of this sketch acquired in the village schools in Bidde- ford and Saccarappa, Maine, and Exeter, N. H., hi: parents removing when Amos was eight years o: age to Saccarappa, and four years later to Exeter where he saw the last of the school room two year: later, at which period the family had taken up & home at Lawrence, Mass. Here he was apprenticed before he was fourteen, to the machinist's trade with the Essex Machine Co., and thoroughly mas tered the trade. The shop in which he worked wa! a very large one for those days, devoted to the mak. ing of cotton machinery, locomotives and machinists tools. His apprenticeship of three years and one year as a journeyman were served on the latter work. At the end of the fourth year he followed his father to Colt's pistol factory at Hartford, Conn. where both father and son were working as machin ists in September, 1850. It may be noted her‹ that among the Whitneys for generations there had been many skilled mechanics. Aaron Whitney was an expert locksmith and machinist, and no doub the son, our subject, inherited from him his taste in a mechanical line and also the father's pro- nounced skill. Eli Whitney, of cotton-gin fame as well as of firearms note, was a descendant of the same remote ancestor as is Amos.

In 1852 Francis A. Pratt, now of the Pratt & Whitney Co., came to Hartford to take a position in the pistol factory of Col. Colt, where he was em. ployed until 1854, when he accepted the position of superintendent of the Phoenix Iron Works, and about this time or a little previously young Whit ney went to the same works, which were then con- ducted by Levi Lincoln and his two sons. These two young machinists-Pratt and Whitney-were closely associated as superintendent and contractor at the Phoenix Iron Works, and although remain ing with the firm until 1864, in the summer of 1860 rented a room on Potter street, and begar doing some work on their own account in manu-

Jones Whitney

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facturing a little machine called a "spooler," for the Willimantic Linen Co., who owned the device for winding thread-the Conant patent. This was the beginning of the great Pratt & Whitney Co. of to-day. The following February from their start these gentlemen were burned out, but a month later saw them again settled for business in what was then the Woods building, in the rear of the Times office, where they continued to spread through one room after another till all the available space was outgrown by the expansion of the business. In 1862 Messrs. Pratt & Whitney took into partner- ship Monroe Stannard, of New Britain, each con- tributing $1,200, and the association has since re- mained unbroken. One of the chief products of the early firm was a milling machine, designed by Mr. Pratt. Since then there have been nearly 7,000 of these machines made by the company, distributed to all parts of the world. The design of the ma- chine is substantially the same to-day as that of nearly forty years ago. Mr. 'Stannard, on coming into the firm, assumed charge of the running of the shop, but the business so increased that Messrs. Pratt & Whitney found it necessary to give up their positions in the Phoenix Iron Works and devote their whole time to their own business. In 1865 the firm erected the first building on the present site, which was ready for occupancy the following March. From time to time others have been added, till the plant now occupies about five and one-half acres of floor room, equipped throughout with the most approved appliances for protection against fire, for the comfort of the employes, and for the convenient and eco- nomical dispatch of work. The property lies on both sides of the Park river, with the tracks of the Consolidated and of the New England railways on the northern bordet, about one-fourth of a mile from the passenger station.

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Commemorative biographical record of Hartford County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Pt 1, Part 90

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1336

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1336