Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 19

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : Beers
Number of Pages: 1502

USA > Connecticut > Middlesex County > Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families > Part 19

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Wallace& Bacon

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

the knowledge reached to the remotest con- fines of its activity. His home was on Main street, near the present air line tunnel, and in the days before the tunnel, or the Catholic church in the neighborhood, he used to employ men to harvest his hay in the meadows north of Little River. No dinner bell was necessary to announce the noon-day repast, for this won- derful voice sent the news over the fields, and was lost beyond the farthest harvester. He was known to every man, woman and child in the town, his popularity being emphasized by cer- tain peculiarities of dress and manner. He

used to wear ten-cent pieces on his vest for but- tons, and he was an habitual tobacco chewer, but one chew never exceeded its predecessor in dimensions, but was invariably of very small size. His favorite greeting was, "What do you design to-day?" He owned one of the few cider mills in the vicinity and it was located where the street railway barns now stand, and many a youngster, now a grandsire, used to suck cider through straws at this old mill. The will power which molded events to his liking, and controlled the majority with whom he came in contact, seemed to with equal tenacity influence his physical well being, for at the time of his death, March 5, 1856, at the age of ninety years, he retained his mental vigor and aggressiveness.

Jefferson Bacon, the father of Wallace K., was born at the old homestead on North Main street. He learned the trade of shoemaking it Westfield, and was fairly well satisfied with hat town until his employer put him to work on the farm, at which he rebelled, and came back to Middletown. When a young man he vent to Norfolk, Va., and secured additional knowledge of shoe-making under the instruc- ion of a Frenchman, and this combined train- ig made him one of the skilled artisans of his ay. He came back to Connecticut on a sail- ig vessel, plying between Norfolk and New laven, his available assets at that time being counterfeit fifty cent piece given him for ood money. He walked to Middletown and ecame a journeyman at his trade at several laces, Durham being one of his principal opping points. He was married August 17, $29, to Sarah Waterbury at Darien, Conn., ho was born January 21, 1806, and died in !iddletown, April 26, 1834. She was the other of Isaac W., who was born October ), 1830, and died July 26, 1873. Isaac W.

Bacon learned the tinner's trade in Middle- town, but eventually went west to Portage, Wis., where he became a merchant. He mar- ried Eunice Kellum, who bore him two chil- 'dren, that lived to adult age: Lucy, who be- came Mrs. Peter Barchman; and Wilbur W. Jefferson Bacon was married a second time, July) 9, 1837, Jerusha S. Caswell becoming his wife. She was born May 28, 1813, in South Glastonbury, the daughter of John and Sally (Dickinson) Caswell, and became the mother of the following children: Albert C., a shoe merchant, born July 3, 1838, died in Middletown, in June, 1877; Sarah Mariah, born February 23, 1840, died in 1846; Margaret E., born December

16, IS1I, died February 18. 1857; Wilbur G., born October 21, 1843, a popular

and promising young man died October

21, 1863. after a week's illness; Wallace K .; and Clara C., born January 28, 1850, fell into a pail of hot water and was scalded to death when four years old. The father died December 19, 1877, and the mother July 5, 1889. Jefferson Bacon came back to Middle- town in the early 'thirties, and had a small shop at No. 39 Sumner street, where he made shoes for the New York trade. During the first years of his location here it was a hard strug- gle, but eventually success and prosperity came his way. With the increase in demand for his goods he moved to a better shop on Main street, but he had unsatisfactory experiences with two partners, and worked alone until his boys could come in and help him. In 1860 he removed to the location where he was at the time of his death. When his son, Albert, be- came associated with him, the firm was known as J. Bacon & Son : and from then on the busi- ness rapidly increased. He was a Democrat and an Odd Fellow. His wife was a member of the Congregational Church, but he was a Universalist, and helped build that church in Middletown. He left an ample competence, and was always regarded as one of the substan- tial citizens of the town.

Wallace K. Bacon was reared in Middle- town, where his schooling was entirely re- ceived in the public and private schools. His first schooling was in a building that stood near the corner of Broad and William streets. He later attended several private schools, includ- ing the one conducted by Miss Martha Gilbert. at the corner of Broad and Church streets : also

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

that of Miss Winifred Johnson on the corner of Main and William streets; and the cele- brated school of Daniel H. Chase. In the fall of 1863 he entered the machine shop of Charles Parker, at Meriden, to learn the trade of a ma- chinist. He displayed unusual adaptability at this line of work and no doubt if he had been allowed to continue, the future success of his life would have been along such lines rather than those along which it has been achieved. His brother's illness necessitated his return home to Middletown and very materially changed his future. He entered his father's store, at $10 per month, with board and clothes, but he was careful and saving, and the next year had $15 a month and clothed himself. Nevertheless, almost from the first he had an account with the Farm- ers & Mechanics Savings Bank. He worked for his father until 1867, and then be- came a partner with him as the junior member of the firm of J. Bacon & Son. His business application was so great that for two years he was not out of town over night. This close attention seriously affected his health. He was obliged to give up business, and selling out his interest to S. M. Bacon in 1870. our subject went to Wisconsin, where he spent about five months, completely restoring his health. He returned to Middletown and bought back the interest of S. M. Bacon, from which time the firm again became J. Bacon & Son, and contin- ued until the father's death, in 1877, when W. K. Bacon succeeded the former firm. Again the close attention to business was responsible for impaired health, and in order to relieve him- self of a part of the care and responsibility he took in as a partner James K. Guy, April I, 1879, the firm being Bacon & Guy, which has continued ever since. At about that time the insurance companies represented by this firm in Middletown were the Williamsburg City and The Agricultural, but with the push and en- ergy of these two young men, the business grew so rapidly that in 1887, the shoe business was disposed of to David Hale, since which time the firm has devoted its energies to insurance entirely ; with the growth of the business the best and strongest companies were represented, until at the present writing the firm's business as insurance brokers is by far the largest in Middletown, and their list of agencies presents a most formidable array, comprising as it does the leading companies of the world. It in-

cludes the four largest American companies- the Aetna, Home, Continental and German American -- whose combined actual cash assets are over fifty million dollars, with a net sur- plus of over twenty-three million dollars. The firm of Bacon & Guy is a prominent one among local fire insurance agents of Connecticut.

On October 27, 1880, at Riverside, Conn., Mr. Bacon was married to Miss Alice J. Rad- cliffe, a native of England, born in Greenfield, Yorkshire, October 24, 1849 ; she is the daugh- ter of James and Mary ( Byron) Radcliffe, and was brought to this country a babe in arms. Her father was a weaver of fine woolen cloth, and stood high in his trade. She had one sis- ter and two brothers, of whom, Walter \V. is a prominent manufacturer at Shelton. Mr. and Mrs. Bacon had one child, Edward Rad- cliffe, who died in infancy. Mr. Bacon is a Democrat, and has been a member of the city council four years, and alderman two years. In 1889 he was elected to the State Legislature, and was clerk of the Railroad committee, his vote at that time being the most important one in the Legislature. He is a popular and highly respected member of the Masonic order, and is deeply versed in its mystic lore. He is fra- ternally associated with the St. Johns Lodge No. 2, F. & A. M., Washington Chapter, and Cyrene commandery, and has served as prelate in the latter for sixteen years. In 1897 he was presented with a most handsome token, a gold Past-Master's jewel, in appreciation of his long and faithful service in that commandery. He was a charter member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias, and served three years as its first chancellor commander. He and his

wife belong to the Universalist Church. of which Mr. Bacon has been a most substantial supporter. His interest in the welfare and sup- port of this church has been marked by a con- dition of its financial affairs that certainly was a thorough test of his genuine Christian spirit, but through it all he responded not only once but many times in that manner, which is un- mistakable evidence of his sincerity. He has served the society in various capacities where his business judgment has been of great value. He was for some years chairman of the So- ciety committee, and he is at present treasurer of the society. He is a director in the Middle- sex County National Bank, and a trustee of the Middletown Savings Bank. In business and financial circles he is regarded as a safe, shrewd

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

business man of strict integrity and thoroughly reliable. His home on Washington street is known as one of the very pleasant residences in Middletown, and was erected by him in 1890.

In 1897 Mr. and Mrs. Bacon went to Eu- rope, sailing July 3d on the Anchor Line steam- er. "City of Rome," for Glasgow, and made an extended trip through the British Islands. Mrs. Bacon visited the home of her parents, while her husband traveled through the Rhine country and visited Paris, and eventually ound his way to the ancestral home of his amily at Stretton Parish, England. Mr. and Mrs. Bacon came back to their own country n September of the same year (1897). Mr. Bacon is a man of leading characteristics, and t is his good fortune not only to have recog- ized, but to have created opportunities.

JOHN O. COUCH, of Middletown, Mid- lesex Co., Conn., was born in Meriden, this State, July 9, 1827. He is a descendant of Si- ion Couch, one of two brothers who came rom Devonshire, England, in 1644. They and meir families became the most wealthy and in- uential families in Fairfield, to which place ley went after landing at New Haven. The reat-great-grandfather of John Couch was Dr. ohn Couch, of Branford, Conn., who in 171I married Elizabeth Plant, daughter of John and [annah Plant, ancestors of the multi-million- re Plant, owner of the Plant system of rail- ads and steamboats South.

Capt. John Couch, the only son of Dr. John ouch, was born in 1725, and married Azubah ndrews, of Wallingford. She was a descend- it of William Andrews, who came from ampworth, England. in 1635, and built the st meeting-house in New Haven, in 1644. e married Anna Gibbard, daughter of Will- in Gibbard, Colonial secretary of Connecticut 1657, and their two sons, Samuel and Na- an, were the original proprietors of Walling- rd. Capt. John Couch led the first company t of Connecticut at the Lexington Alarm, is afterward captain in a brigade under ashington, and was at the defense of Fort ashington. At its fall he was taken pris- er, was afterward exchanged, and was cap- n in a regiment stationed on the border of : Colony for its defense. He was chairman the committee that set off the town of Meri- 1 from Wallingford. The branch of the ite organization of the Sons of the American

Revolution was named "The Captain John Couch Branch" in his honor. He was a man of high and forceful character, and the owner of much landed estate. He died in 1806. His daughter Sarah married Judge Collins, a noted judge in New York State. His only son, John Couch, built the first church and first hotel in Meriden. He married Anna Rice (the Rices were prominent families in Meriden ), and there were born to them seven children : James, Bery, Horace, John, Anna, Polly and Ira.

John Couch, the father of John O., was born in Meriden in 1796. In after years he was captain of the Meriden militia, following the military precedents of the family-Samuel Couch was captain in 1695 : John Couch captain in 1774-77; Thomas Couch was with Mont- gomery at the siege of Quebec; and Darius Nash Couch was major general in the war of the Rebellion. The subject proper of this sketch went to New Haven to enlist during the Civil war. John Couch was a merchant in 1820, and in 1825 began the manufacture of tinware, and he had in his employ some fifty hands when he died, in 1828. In 1826 he mar- ried Mary Johnson, of Middlefield, and there were born to them two children: John O. and Mary. Her father was a teacher, and his fa- ther was Dr. Asa Johnson, of Farmington. The Johnsons have a long line of professional men -ministers and doctors. A nephew of Mrs. Couch's father was the most eloquent preacher in New York City in 1836, and, together with Dr. Cox and Patton, was a force in the new school of Presbyterians. Mr. Couch's new de- parture in the manufacture of tinware entailed expense, and the mismanagement of the es- tate left but little for the widow. With her two children she removed to Middletown and purchased a home on Washington Green, so called. She was a woman of fine executive ability and rare judgment, and brought up her children with Christian faithfulness. She sup- ported them with her needle until they were able to care for themselves. Mary led an exemplary life and kept a daily diary of her spiritual im- pressions.

The regular school days of Joli O. Couch ended when he was eleven years of age, except for three winters, which he spent, as well as the intervening summers, on a farm, for eight ironths a year receiving three dollars a month. He began to earn his living when nine years old. building fires and waiting on table for neigh-

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

bors, and gave all his wages to aid his mother until he was twenty-one, after which he sup- plied her every want. At fifteen, at the request of his Sunday-school teacher, he began to learn the tailor's trade, clerking in the store evenings -a life too confined for an irrepressible boy. His factory life began in 1842, and continued forty years. When sixteen, at the request of Buckland & Clark, manufacturers of ivory combs, he entered their employ, and made im- provements to facilitate the work. A better po- sition was offered to him by the Savage & North Company, manufacturers of firearms for our Government, which he accepted, working thuis two years. He then took a contract for the Ashton & Johnson Company, manufactur- ers of cavalry pistols for the Government, with whom he worked nine years, after which he took a contract for the firm of Robbins & Lawrence, at Windsor, Vt., to make parts of rifles for the English Government, and moved his family thither at once. Soon afterward the company failed, and he lost all of his previous accumulations. Returning to Middlefield he perfected and made models for an invention of the son-in-law of Major Thornton, head of the Ordnance Department at Washington. Models were sent to Springfield, Harper's Ferry and Washington, and some were retained by the inventor, who soon after died; he willed and had sent to our subject a complete file of the Scientific American for many years previous. Mr. Couch then went to New York and in- spected guns for the Government. Mr. Sav- age, for whom he had worked some years pre- viously, offered to loan him a thousand dollars, without security, to go into business, and would obtain for him an inspector's berth in Spring- field, at a salary of $1,500, both of which prop- ositions he declined, not wishing to be stereo- typed, and preferring to "paddle his own ca- noe.'

Mr. Couch cast his first vote in 1848, and was one of ten out of eleven hundred who voted for the abolition of slavery, and he is now the only one living of the ten, some of the others being Jesse G. Baldwin, William Ly- man, David Lyman, Marvin Thomas, Chaun- cey Whitmore, Alfred Southmayd and Ira Gardner. He lived to see the principles in- volved put into practice when God guided the hand of Abraham Lincoln in writing the Eman- cipation Proclamation.

Mr. Couch invented and patented a pistol

to shoot six balls at one discharge, and began the manufacture thereof. He also invented and patented a candle holder, built japan works, did his own japanning, and made many thousand holders, until the use of kerosene oil snuffed out the candlelight. He made 2,000 patented skates for New York parties, and pistols for other firms. In 1859 he made the first wringer for the Metropolitan Wringer Company. Taking the contract, he hired room and power, furnished machinery at its incep- tion, and manufactured the iron parts for wringers, furnishing material for and doing the galvanizing, making tools for the entire plant and patterns for the foundry for twenty years, averaging 400 a day ; for fifteen of these twenty years he did not have three consecutive days of recreation. He gave encouragement and advice to his workmen, interesting him- self in their welfare, and some of them now hold high positions with manufacturing firms; in the State. Mr. Couch says he did not hear any of his workmen utter an oath in his pres- ence in twenty years that he employed help. Kindness and charity were his guiding princi- ples,.and he found them the universal panacea for the discontent and unrest of labor.

In 1888 Mr. Couch represented the town in the Legislature, and during his service in that body showed himself independent to a de- gree that proved his integrity unassailable. It may in some measure explain how Mr. Couch rose to such eminence when we state that from an early age he made a practice of improving his time outside of working hours. He studied, took lessons on the organ, bought easel, paints and brush and took lessons in drawing.

As an outside issue Mr. Couch became in- terested in thoroughbred Jersey cattle, and made the first monthly record of butter in this country, seventy-one pounds in thirty-one days. He joined the American Jersey Cattle Club. National and State, was considered an expert judge, and acted as such in many States of the Union. He was judge at the largest gather- ing of Jerseys ever held in any country, at Madison Square Garden, New York, built up the two largest herds in the world, and has sold some $150,000 worth or more, ninety-five per cent. sold and paid for before the purchas- ers saw the purchase. Among his patrons have been Theodore Havemeyer, Henry O. Hav- emeyer (of sugar fame) ex-Secretary of the Navy William C. Whitney, Mr. Bounce (pres-

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

ident of the Singer Sewing Machine Com- pany), Mr. Moulton (of the Corbin Banking Company), Mr. Riker (importer of drugs), Mr. Sibley (wholesale dry goods merchant at Rochester, Paris and Berlin), and many. other noted men ; carloads of cattle have been sent to Costa Rica, Colorado and other points.

Mr. Couch married Caroline L. Coe, daugh- ter of William and Lucina (Cook) Coe, and there were born to them five children : Minna, Jessalyn, Isadell, William and Emily. Minna Couch was educated at private school in Cheshire and at the Seminary at Waterbury ; she died at the age of twenty-two. William Couch, an invalid through life died at thirty. Jessalyn Couch attended the Seminary in North Granville, N. Y., and afterward graduated from the Art Department of Yale College; she married Frank H. Taylor, a graduate of Ober- lin and of the Theological Department of Yale, whose mother was a force in the organization of Oberlin, in the wilderness of Ohio, and of the crusade against intemperance. Mr. Taylor was pastor of the Congregational Church at Guilford several years, removed to Seattle. Wash., where he was pastor of the First Church, and lost his life by accident in 1884. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor had two boys, Harlan and Rainford. The widow returned with her chil- Iren to her father's home, where she has since remained. Harlan entered Yale in the class of 1899, and Rainford entered Dartmouth, class of 1901. Isadell Couch was at school in New Britain and afterward graduated from Bradford Academy, Mass., and from the School of Oratory, Philadelphia, Pa., and the School of Expression, Boston; she has taught it Baltimore, Indianapolis, Worcester and Al- any. Emily also graduated at Bradford Academy; she married James R. Viets, who became connected with the Thompson Houston Electrical Company at its organization, in .ynn1; it was afterward merged into the Gen- ral Electrical Company, and he has hield re- ponsible position in said company ever since. lis mother was sister of the first minister to he Sandwich Islands; his four brothers are merchants in Boston; his sister is the wife of 'ev. Mr. Makepeace, pastor of the First Church t Springfield ; his father is cousin to Mr. Eno, f "Fifth Avenue Hotel" fante, and a relative f the Dodges of New York, and of Senator 'helps, of New Jersey.

Mr. Couch lived fifty years in Middlefield,

to which place, in 1860, at the urgent request of himself and wife, his mother came to live with them, and the wife and mother were on most happy terms, the wife caring for the mother with the utmost fidelity until she died, in 1874, age seventy-two years.

Mr. Couch was active in public improve- ments. He was instrumental in forming a cemetery association, of which he became presi- dent, and the interest of money in the bank is sufficient to care for the ground in the fu- ture. He was forty years on the school board, superintendent of the Sunday-school many years, chairman of the school committee ten years, and obtained the best teachers available. He has been an earnest advocate of temperance and has lectured on that subject. He gave an address before the State Agricultural Society at its yearly meeting at Hartford, subject, the Jersey. He gave an address before the John Couch Branch, Sons of the American Revolu- tion, at Meriden. In 1899 he removed to Mid- dletown, the home of his early childhood, and is enthusiastic over the beautiful city. He at once planned improvements on Washington Green for a park, and made a lay-out which has been approved by the leading citizens. He is a Republican in politics and in religion a member of the Congregational Church, as were his parents, sister and all his family and grand- sons-he has but two. He has gained a com- petence, and attributes his success to a moth- er's inspiration. These facts were drawn out reluctantly, and he declares he has done noth- ing worthy of record. Mr. Couch has the un- qualified respect of the community in which he lives. He is a well preserved man of seventy- five and within the year ( 1902) occurs the gol- den anniversary of his wedding.

HON. CHARLES R. LEWIS, a native and lifelong resident of Middletown. Middle- sex county, who at one time served as mayor of the city, was born July 24: 1831, and died September 21, 1895. He was the son of Josephi ard Mary ( Strong ) Lewis.

For nearly a third of a century Mr. Lewis was in the employ of the Middletown Plate Company, and was foreman of the tool de- partment. He was a skillful and careful work- 11ian, and proved himself invaluable to the company which employed him. During the Civil war he was employed by the Powder Company in the manufacture of rifles. Mr.

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Lewis was frequently honored with political preferment by his townspeople, always as the candidate of the Republican party. He served the city several years as councilman and al- derman, and the town as selectman, was elected mayor in 1888, and served with credit to him- self and satisfaction to his constituents. For a number of years he was a member of the local board of education. In the fall of 1894 he was elected representative from the town to the State Legislature, being the colleague of Judge Elmer, and made a fine record in the General Assembly. Mr. Lewis was president of the Middletown Building & Loan Associa- tion, one of the most successful concerns of the kind ever started in the city or vicinity. He was one of the incorporators and first direc- tors of the Electric Light Company. He was a prominent Odd Fellow, being a member and past grand of Central Lodge, No. 12, I. O. O. F. Mr. Lewis was often referred to as the workingman's candidate. He was without af- fectation one of the people, and beloved by all who knew him. His remains rest in the Farin Hill cemetery.

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Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 19

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Chicago : Beers Number of Pages: 1502

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : Beers
Number of Pages: 1502