Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 93

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 93

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FLAVIUS J. CHAFFEE, one of the rep- resentative business men and citizens of Mid- dletown, Middlesex county, has had a long and honorable connection with the mercantile inter- ests of his native city. His career has been such as to perpetuate the high standing of the name as established by his father.

Mr. Chaffee was born October 30, 1829, on the north side of Court street, a short dis- tance east of Main, son of Reuben and Martha W. (Bound) Chaffee, a sketch of whom ap- pears elsewhere, Mr. Chaffee being their youngest child. His schooling was received entirely at Middletown institutions. He at- tended first in a building near the South Green, and remembers Miss Hannah Hall and Miss Julia Nichols among his first teachers. ' When older he was taught by Mr. Garfield and Mr. Lathrop, both famous teachers of the early days in Middletown, and he was a student in the first high school there. At the age of six- teen he left school and went into his father's store, where he was already quite familiar with the routine of business, as he had worked there for several years, during vacations and inter- vals of school labor. After the death of his father he was in partnership with his two brothers, and then with E. B., and the firm of Chaffee Brothers still continues, though Fla- vius J. retired from it in 1890; when he was succeeded by his son, L. B. Chaffee.

Flavius J. Chaffee and Ellen Amelia Hull were married in Durham, Conn., September 14, 1851. She was born in Middletown, No- vember 9, 1830, daughter of John and Me- lantha (Penfield) Hull, the former of whom was a shoemaker. Mr. and Mrs. Hull had two children: Ellen Amelia, Mrs. Chaffee, and Elizabeth Rosalie, who married Jerome H. Johnson, and died March 26, 1884, at An- sonia, Conn. John Hull died in Middletown, December 18, 1885, and was buried at Dur- ham, Conn. He was born in New London, July 27, 1802, and his wife was born in Port- land July 25, 1811, daughter of Samuel and Jemima (Hurlbert ) Penfield. Her father was a blacksmith. Mrs. Melantha Hull died April 13, 1833, and was buried in Durham.

To Flavius J. and Ellen A. Chaffee came the following children: Ivonette Louise, born June 19, 1854, died September 22, 1859. Clifford Hull, born September 3, 1860, is secretary and treasurer of the New York

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Air Brake Company ; at fifteen he attended the Connecticut Literary Institute at Suffield, after which he went to New York, where he has since resided. Louis B., born August 9, 1862, was married September 24, 1890, to Miss Anna Griswold, of Portland, daughter of Gil- bert Griswold; Louis B. succeeded his father in the grocery business, and is still engaged in that line. The mother of this family died January 13, 1890, and was buried in Indian Hill cemetery.

Mr. Chaffee cast his first Presidential vote for Franklin Pierce, and has been a Republi- can since 1856. In religion he is an Episcopa- lian and was for years a vestryman in that church. Mr. Chaffee was an incorporator of the Farmers' & Mechanics' Savings Bank of Middletown, and is at present one of its trus-

tees. Since 1862, or from the death of his mother, he has lived in his present home, which was the old homestead of his father, and he has a summer cottage at Crescent Beach, Conn. Mr. Chaffee has traveled to some ex- tent over the United States, and in 1900 vis- ited the West Indies though he has kept close :o business. He is a pleasant and courteous gentleman and has a multitude of friends. When a young man he was quite well known is an organist, and was engaged in that ca- pacity by the North and South Congregation- il Churches, and the Universalist Church. He was Sabbath-school teacher in the Univer- salist Church at one time. Mr. Chaffee's natural musical ability was far beyond the or- linary, but his business interfered with its roper cultivation, for he has been distinctive- y a business man, and most creditable re- ults have attended his care and devotion. Mr. Chaffee was for years the foreman of the Fire Engine Company, No. I.

THOMAS J. CLARK. William Clark, he American ancestor of this gentleman, ap- ears early at Hartford, where he was an or- ginal proprietor in 1639. He was one of the wenty-eight men, who, in the summer of 1662. ettled in what was then known as "the lands of hirty-mile island," subsequently named Had- am. He and a few others settled on land ocated back of the town meadows, beginning at he eastern point of Walkley Hill, and extend- ig down to the graveyard. He died July 22, 681. His sons were : ( 1) Daniel, who married

and had sons, William, Joseph, Daniel and John. (2) Thomas, who married and had sons, Thomas, Jonathan, David and Israel.

From the foregoing sources came the Clarks of Haddam. Few of the family remain, but these well represent the old stock, being all honest and enterprising men, modest and unassuming in manner.

Robert Clark, the great-grandfather of Thomas J., resided in that part of the town of Haddam, on the east side of the river, called Haddam; Neck. His children were: Bena- jah, Matthew and Walter. By occupation he was a farmer, and lived and died where his descendant, Alexander Clark, now resides.

Matthew Clark, grandfather of Thomas J., was born in Haddam Neck, where he passed his entire life, was a farmer by occupation and an active business man. He married Hannah Ransom, a native of Hadlyme, Conn., and both are buried in Rock Landing cemetery, in the town of Haddam. Mr. Clark was a Democrat in politics. To himself and wife were born: ( I) Philena married Harris Cook, a contractor and quarryman at Haddam. Their children were Lavinia, Louisa ( who lives at Haddam Neck), Cynthia and William (who is a resi- dent of Haddam). Mrs. Philena Cook is de- ceased. (2) George W. was the father of Thomas J. (3) Amanda married Amasa Ack- ley, of East Haddam, who at the time of their marriage was a dry-goods merchant. They had two daughters, both now deceased. (4) Betsey Ann married Henry M. Brainerd, of Haddam, where she resides. They had sev- eral children, of whom Henry. Charles, Nellie, and another are living. (5) Gilbert M. ( de- ceased) married December 10, 1842, Sarah Ann Selden, daughter of Capt. Thomas Selden, of Chatham, who served in the war of 1812. at the time of the invasion of the Connecticut coast by the British. To Gilbert M. and his wife were born four children-Emerson, an educated man, and a teacher in the public schools : Adelbert, a well known and success- ful teacher in the public schools of New York ; Josephine and Fannie Maria, who were also school teachers in New Jersey, and elsewhere. The mother is living in Haddam at the age of eiglity-three.

George W. Clark was born in Haddam Neck, January 13, 1805, and died August 11, 1845. In Chathan he married Cynthia Sel- den, a sister of Gilbert M. Clark's wife. The

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father owned considerable quarry property on Haddam Neck, and was a large contractor for government and city work, at New York, Newport, etc., furnishing Connecticut river stone, known as Haddam stone. Being am- bitious, and an energetic worker, he de- voted his entire time to his business, and was very successful, although he died at the comparatively early age of forty, on Au- gust II, 1845. His political affiliations were with the Democratic party, in which he was an enthusiastic worker.

To Mr. and Mrs. Clark were born: (1) Thomas Jefferson is our subject. (2) George Marshall is mentioned more fully below. (3) Henry Lee married Miriam Ursula, daughter of Epaphroditus Brainerd, of Had- dam Neck, and they had two children-Coit C. (now deceased), who married Ella Man- warring, of Waterford, Conn .; and Cora C., who married Harry Brown, of Chatham, and resides at Haddam Neck. (4) Mary married L. Oscar Brown, of Portland, Conn., where he is chief engineer of the Portland quarries. The mother of this family married, for her second husband, Linus Parmalee, a lawyer of Middle Haddam. She died in June, 1880.

Thomas J. Clark, eldest son of George W. and Cynthia (Selden) Clark, was born in Had- dam September 21, 1831, and there grew up and received a common-school training. At the age of fifteen he began life for himself, and as his father was dead he and his brother, George M., were the main support of the fam- ily. In the spring after his father's death Mr. Clark left home and learned the stonecutting trade, and later he made a trip to Apalachicola, Fla., where he soon found employment as as- sistant to the engineer of a factory for the com- pression of cotton for foreign shipments, learn- ing the business of engineer, and within a short time was earning good wages in that line. For two or three years he spent his winters in sim- ilar work in the South, his summers in the North, working there at his trade of stone- mason. For several years after this he en- gaged in the construction of important works at various places, among which may be men- tioned the Asylum street depot, at Hartford, erected in 1848. Mr. Clark subsequently en- tered into partnership with his brother, George M., taking large contracts for the erection of bridges, mill works, factories, etc., the stone

and mason work in which were entirely unde: his management and supervision. With his brother he was engaged in the erection of the Russell Manufacturing Company's buildings at Higganum, and soon after entered into the large business of which he is the vice-presi- dent. Mr. Clark is and has been an import- ant factor in the development of the commercia. interests of the town. As vice-president of the Cutaway Harrow Company, he commands the respect of its many employes and the esteem of his business associates.

In 1855 Mr. Clark married Elizabeth Quick, who was born in Canaan, Susquehanna Co., Pa., daughter of Franklin Quick, of Masthope, Pa., and a descendant of the Thomas Quick, who was noted as a trapper, hunter and Indian figliter of the Delaware Val- ley, and was one of the daring pioneers of his day. He spent his entire life on the then fron- tier of our country. The Indians having, in one of their numerous forays, killed his father, young Thomas swore vengeance on the Red- men, and for many a year his long rifle did its deadly work among his savage foes. The fol- lowing incident is related of this frontiersman: While engaged in splitting a log, and with a partly drawn wedge, he was quietly surrounded by a party of Indians, who were anxious to capture him alive. He saw no chance for de- fense or escape and reluctantly consented to surrender to his savage captors. Being famil- iar with the Indian language, he said "I give up," but told the Indians they must help him split his log, which they agreed to do, the party dividing part on one side of the log and part on the other ; then, putting their fingers in the half- opened log, they pulled against each other, to oblige their captive, and for the moment to amuse themselves. Suddenly the quick-witted old hunter knocked the wedge out, and the Indians were trapped, and he at once des- patched them, sending them to the "Happy Hunting Ground" of their forefathers and to join the many he had already sent. It is fur- ther stated that Thomas died with the small- pox, and the Indians, digging up the body, con- tracted the disease, from which many died. Thus, whether living or dead, the veteran pio- neer had his revenge.

Mrs. Elizabeth Clark died July 13, 1873, in Haddam Neck, and lies in the Higganum cemetery. She was the mother of the follow-

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ing named children : (I) Arthur Franklin was educated in the public schools at Haddam, and the high school at Middletown, from which he graduated. After leaving school he trav- eled extensively in behalf of the interests of the Cutaway Harrow Company, of Higganum, and on account of his perseverance and pleas- ing personality became very successful. He is now foreman of and a director in the company. He was married to May Brainerd, of Vassar, Mich., daughter of Edwin Erastus Brainerd. (2) Effie Elizabeth was educated in the public schools and at Rev. Mr. Smith's academy, from which she was graduated. Later she

taught in the public schools of Haddam and Durham, Conn. She married Charles H. Beaver, of New York City, who has charge of the silk department of the Koch & Co., im- porters and wholesale dry-goods dealers, New York. They have one child, Verna. (3) Elwyn Thomas, formerly foreman of machine shop and director in the Cutaway Harrow Company, is mentioned farther on. (4) Ada Selden was educated in the public schools of Haddam, and is now a successful modiste in New York City.

Mr. Clark's second marriage, on November 1, 1874, was to Sophia Madeline Warner, a laughter of Albert O. and Mary B. (Bogard) Warner. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have one daugh- er, Nina Gertrude, born February 2, 1877, vho was educated in the Haddam public chools, and in the private school of the Misses Patten; one of the sisters was formerly in- tructor in mathematics in Rev. B. A. Smith's chool, and is one of the ablest teachers in that ine in the country.

Owing to ill health Mr. Clark has been ob- iged, for several years past, to give up much f his work, although he spends considerable ime in the factory. Several times he has been lected selectman, and for many years has erved as a school director. He has never ought political honors, and has taken no part 1 public affairs, but his silent influence has een felt in almost every department of life in re town.

ALBERT O. WARNER, father of Mrs. "homas J. Clark, was a native of Chester, onn., and removed with his parents when he as ten years of age to Dundaff, Pa. He was le eldest in a family of thirteen children. ater the father removed to Montrose, Pa.,

where the son, Albert O., married Mary B. Bogard, daughter of John Bogard. They had two children, Frank A. and Sophia M., Mrs. Clark. The former, now a resident of Bing- hamton, N. Y., married Alice, daughter of Charles Foster. Albert O. Warner was a con- tractor and builder in Montrose for many years, and died in his ninety-second year. Po- litically he was a Whig and later a Republican, was a noted Abolitionist in his day, and be- friended and aided many a fugitive from slav- ery. During the great Civil war he was a warm friend of the Union cause, and the men who wore the Union blue, giving time and money to aid the work of the Government in the suppression of the Rebellion. Mr. Warner was a man of sunny disposition, social in his nature, looking on the bright side of life, and had a wide circle of friends. He was possessed of a wonderful memory, and had a fund of interesting incidents gathered during a long and busy life. He was a man of high prin- ciple, upright in all his dealings, and a typical New Englander of the old school. His re- ligious connection was with the Baptist Church.

ELWYN T. CLARK, one of the best known men in Higganum, is a native of that district of Haddam, born October 14, 1866, son of Thomas J. and Elizabeth (Quick) Clark. He was educated in the common schools of the town and at Smith's Seminary, which occupied the place in Middletown now devoted to the young women students of Wesleyan Univer- sity. After graduating, in 1882, he entered the employ of the Cutaway Harrow Company of Higganum, of which his father, Thomas J. Clark, was vice-president. He learned the trade of toolmaker there, and when the firm was re-organized, in 1898, he was admitted as one of the junior members, becoming a di- rector and holding the position of foreman of the mechanical department, which he retained 1111til Angust, 1901, when he assimned the du- ties of comty commissioner, to which office he had been appointed by Gov. McLean; he was elected treasurer of the board. He is one of the youngest men ever chosen as county comunis- sioner in Middlesex county.

Mr. Clark is a fine musician and his highly cultivated voice and splendid singing give the greatest pleasure to all who hear him. When he was but seventeen years old he was chosen

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a measure the character that brought these brothers such an enviable standing with un- bounded success. Our subject has been an em- ployer for over half a century, the number on his payroll usually running into the hundreds.

For about ten years Mr. Clark carried on shipbuilding in summer and house carpenter- ing in winter, working from Bangor to New Orleans. When he started on his first trip he had but $14 in his pocket, but during the win- ter he was able to send $200 in gold to his mother, in the spring adding to this $250. In whatever he undertook he was successful. In a letter written about this time he sounds the keynote of his success: "What I will to do I can do." In the fall of 1859 Mr. Clark engaged with a Meriden cutlery firm as a jour- neyman carpenter, at $1.75 per day, but within a couple of days the head man, Aaron Collins, discovered his ability, and at the next meeting Mr. Clark was made foreman of all the outside men at a salary of $10 per day. Always con- sidering his family, Mr. Clark soon obtained employment for his elder brother and the two were engaged for seven years with the Meriden company.

Meanwhile Mr. Clark had turned his at- tention to the improvement of agricultural im- plements, and in the fall of 1867 he and his brother commenced the erection of a factory at Higganum. On its completion they went into the manufacture of mowing machines, for which George Mt Clark had invented a new mechanical movement. However, after con- tinuing the manufacture of these for a few months, they discovered that they were infring- ing on other patents, and rather than pay the extravagant royalty they abandoned this line of business and commenced the manufacture of other agricultural implements. At the be- ginning of their operations a stock company was formed, of which George M. Clark was president, and his brother, Thomas J., vice- president. George M. Clark invented and patented a number of improvenrents on agri- cultural implements, all of which were utilized by the company. To perfect them it has been necessary to test them in the field, and in order to do this Mr. Clark has traveled over some 600,000 miles over this continent.

Mr. Clark frequently took contracts for work outside of his manufacturing interests. In 1871, while engaged in the construction of

a dam, the derrick fell, killing one man, and seriously injuring Mr. Clark. During his en- suing long illness Mr. Clark invented a wire rope clamp, which he soon afterward patented, the first and only device used for this purpose, effectually preventing the slipping of the rope; it has doubtless been the means of saving many lives. Tons of these clamps were used in the building of the New York tunnel, and by the well known engineer, John A. Roebling, of New York, who gave them his warmest ap- proval. On account of the success of this patent, another firm commenced manufactur- ing a device, infringing upon Mr. Clark's patent. Instead of prosecuting them, he paid a visit to the offenders, explained that he had thought out the invention almost upon his deathbed, and offered to let them dispose of the goods they had already manufactured, mak- ing no charge for the injury he had sustained. This is only one of the instances that may be mentioned indicating the sympathetic and gen- erous nature of the man. All of his workmen find in him, a sympathetic friend, whose purse- is always open to alleviate difficulties into. which they have fallen. As an evidence of his- farsightedness and good judgment, it is said of him that, although he has often taken con- tracts for work of which he had no personal knowledge, he never made a mistake in his- calculations, or lost a dollar on a job.

On August 26, 1860, Mr. Clark was mar- ried to Clementine Isabel, daughter of Edwin B. Bonfoey, of Haddam, and they have had. four children: (1) Estelle Eugenia, born. September 17, 1864, married Clement S. Hub- bard, of Middletown, and has had three chil- dren-Frances Estelle ( deceased). George Marshall and Clement Samuel. (2) Harriet Cynthia, born January 3. 1869. died Febru- ary 25, 1873. (3) Clementine Dolly and (4) Isabel, twins, were born August 26, 1871. Isabel died June 25. 1872. Clementine Dolly married Elmer S. Hubbard, son of Samuci Hubbard, of Middletown, Conn., and they have one child. Beverly Raymond. Mrs. Clark has accompanied her husband on many of his journeys, and he attributes much of his suc- cess to her wise counsel and powers of obser- vation.

Mr. and Mrs. Clark are both attendants of the Congregational Church at Higganum, which he helped to raise when he was a mere

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boy, and has helped support the church ever since. His mother was a member of this church.

Mr. Clark is one of the Old Guard Republi- cans of this State. In 1856 we find him in Hartford as one of the organizers of the Re- publican party, and ever since he has earnestly contended for the faith of the party he helped to bring into existence. He has, although a busy manufacturer, with large interests in- volved, taken a commendably active part in politics, and is the leader of the leader of the Republican party in his section. For many years he represented his town and district in the House and Senate, his Senatorial district being the Twenty-first. He has been the chair- man of important committees, of which may be mentioned : Incorporation committee, three terms ; New Towns and Probate Districts, two terms: Appropriations, three terms; Conting- ent Expenses, five terms ; and was an active and important member of the Insurance com- mittce. Throughout his service as a legislator Mr. Clark endeavored to work in the interests of his constituents, without being in the slight- est degree a respecter of persons, and hundreds of instances might be cited where he has worked for the poor and friendless, to the det- riment, if anything, of his own interests, es- pecially in a financial way. But he preserved his honor in his political career, as he has in every other relation of life. In 1885 he intro- duced fourteen bills to reform the methods of the fire insurance companies doing business in the State, and during the contest was on the stand seventeen days, standing up against hundreds of millions. The fight was to insist upon insurance companies paying the full amount for which the property was insured.

For the last forty-six years Mr. Clark has been one of the town committee. He has en- deared himself to his fellow townsmen, and al- though the town of Haddam is Democratic, and while twenty years ago the town gave a Democratic majority of 175, and prior to that 280, yet Mr. Clark was elected to the Legisla- ture by a majority of 73. He was appointed a delegate from the town of Haddam to the Constitutional Convention held in Hartford in January, 1902, and was one of the ablest mem- bers of that body, taking a prominent part in its proceedings, by debate and otherwise, hav- ing prepared and published prior to the as- sembling of the convention a pamphlet in

which he fully set forth his views of what, in his opinion, a correctly revised State consti- tution should be. His official work has been faithfully performed, constituting a most creditable public career. Naturally his ac- quaintance throughout the State is very large, and he has, deservedly, many warm personal friends at home and abroad.

Mr. Clark is an earnest and faithful patron of all objects of benevolence. He is a Free- mason, having been a member of Columbia Lodge, F. & A. M., of East Haddam; a char- ter member of Granite Lodge, of Haddam; a member of Burning Bush Chapter, R. A. M., of Essex ; and of Cyrene Commandery, of Mid- dletown. One act of benevolence that is not generally known, although worthy of the high- est commendation, is the conveyance by Mr. Clark to his two brothers, without considera- tion, of his share of the Clark homestead. In this beautiful home the members of the family reside, surrounded by every comfort that money can provide. The original farm com- prising the homestead contained thirty-nine acres, not more than five of which could be tilled, the rest being a granite ledge. There was fine Connecticut river bottom land adjoin- ing, and in the rear, and to the original tract the brothers kept adding until the farm con- tained over 400 acres. The old house was re- moved and two new ones were erected, as well as barn space for seventy-five cattle, and hay space for 200 tons or more. Mr. Clark says, with pardonable pride, "This is my farm rec- ord; and the rest is on the other side of the Connecticut river, where my sixteen-acre grass field is." This is the old Bonfoey homestead, where he resides, and which he has greatly im- proved and added to, removing over 16,000 tons of rock. From the land thus cleared over 100 tons of hay, two crops, are annually procured, whereas on the entire seventy-five acres of the other farm not over sixteen tons of hay were cut. As a writer and specialist in the raising of grass, Mr. Clark is one of the scientific agricultural experts in the county at this time. Mr. Clark's life and deeds speak more eloquently than words of his untiring kindness, his open-hearted benevolence, and his patriotic citizenship.

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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 93

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