USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Commemorative biographical record of New Haven county, Connecticut, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settled families, V. I, Pt 1 > Part 31
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On March 13, 1811, Mr. Dwight was married to Aurelia Darling, born Jan. 11, 1788, daughter of Joseph Darling, M. D., of New Haven, and Aurelia Mills. She died Sept. 17, 1813, and he married (second) Ang. 8, 1815, Susan Breed, born in Norwich, Dec. 17. 1785. daughter of John Mc- Laren Breed and Rebecca Walker.
The second Mrs. Dwight had a nature full of energy and enthusiasm, and of a greatly inspiring and educating influence upon her children. She felt herself, and made them feel, that a liberal ed- ucation was. next to personal religion, the greatest blessing of life, and she was ready at all times to go any where, or to do any thing that was need- ful to secure that most precious result. No dif- ficulties daunted her spirit, and as obstacles rose into view before her. her resolution rose at once also to meet and conquer them. With a remarkable
power of persuading others that her plans were ever wisest and best, she never allowed any who trusted in her leadership to see her foot falter or her eye quail in the presence of disappointment or defeat. While rejoicing as an earnest religious home educator in all signs of true intellectual and moral growth in her children, she was at the same time the delightful companion of their every-day experiences of pleasure. She died at her ancestral home in Norwich Aug. 29, 1851, and Mr. Dwight died at New Haven March 24, 1863. One child was born to the first marriage-Elizabeth Smith, born July 20, 1812, married Aug. 29, 1833, Ren- sselaer Havens, of New York, and died May 30. 1848, without issue. To the second marriage were born children as follows: (2) Aurelia, born July 31, 1816, married July 15, 1846, Rev. Richard Hooker and died in New Haven Jan. 25, 1874. leaving one son, Thomas, born Sept. 3, 1849, in Macon, Ga., was graduated at Yale in 1869, and resides in New Haven. On June 29, 1874, he mar- ried Sarah A. Bowles, daughter of the late Samuel Bowles, editor of the Springfield ( Mass.) Repub- lican, and they have had three children: Aurelia Dwight, who died Jan. 27, 1899, in her twenty- fourth year; Richard, who was graduated from Yale in 1899; and Thomas, of the class of 1903, Yale University. (3) Timothy, born June 20, 1820, at Norwich, died Aug. 11, 1822. (4) John Breed, born Dec. 8. 1821, in Norwich, was grad- uated front Yale in 1840. was a tutor there in 1843, and died Oct. 20, of that year. (5) and (6), James McLaren Breed and Timothy, respect- ively, sketches of whom follow.
(VIII) James McLaren Breed Dwight. son of James, born at Norwich, Conn., Aug. 11, 1825, was graduated from Yale in the class of 1846. He was a tutor in that institution from 1849 to 1853. and from 1854 to 1856 was a student of theology at Andover, Mass., and at New Haven, Conn. He was graduated from Columbia College Law School in 1861, and was identified with that institution as an instructor in law from 1861. to 1866, and also was engaged in the practice of the law in New York City. For a number of years following 1869 Mr. Dwight and wife were traveling abroad. Their place of residence had been changed to New Ha- ven, where the widow continues to reside. A writer speaking of Mr. Dwight said: "He has enjoyed to a remarkable degree the advantages of an uncommonly wide and versatile range of per- sonal culture, in various classical, educational. clerical. legal and artistic forms with the super- added benefits of travel."
On June 6. 1866, Mr. Dwight was married at Philadelphia to Cora Charlesina Tallmadge. daugh- ter of Major Charles B. Tallmadge. U. S. A., and Margaret Kennedy, and one child. James McLaren, was born to them May 4, 1872, in London. Eng- land. and died on the same date.
REV. TIMOTHY DWIGHT, D. D., LL. D., of New
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Haven, son of James, and who but recently has retired from the presidency of Yale University, was born Nov. 16, 1828, in Norwich, Conn. He was graduated from Yale College in 1849, and from 1851 to 1855 was a tutor in that institution. He studied theology at the New Haven Theological Seminary from 1850 to 1853, then spent two years (1856-58) in Germany at the Universities of Bonn and Berlin. He has since until his recent retire- ment been connected with, and taken an active in- terest in, the affairs of Yale University, and its financial growth has been largely due to his per- sonal efforts. Since 1858 he has been professor of Sacred Literature and N. T. Greek in Yale Theo- logical Seminary. He was for some years one of the editors of the New Englander, and in 1870-71 he published a series of articles in it on "The True Ideal of an American University," which was afterward issued separately, and attracted much at- tention. He has published a translation of Godet's "Commentary on John's Gospel." with additional notes, and has edited with additional notes several volumes of Meyer's "Comments on the New Testa- ment ;" he has also published a volume of ser- mons entitled "Thoughts of and for the Inner Life," also various articles on educational and other sub- jects. He was a member of the Committee for the Revision of the Bible from 1872 till its comple- tion in 1885. During the foregoing years, while earnestly devoted to his chosen and greatly loved work as an exegetical Biblical student, and greatly fond, as if by hereditary instinct, of guiding young- er minds into high courses of scholarly investiga- tion and discovery, he also preached frequently and with great acceptance in the college pulpit, as well as elsewhere in the city. In 1886 Prof. Dwight was chosen the successor of Noah Porter as presi- dent of Yale, and was formerly installed in the office July Ist, delivering an inaugural address which was published with an account of the cere- monies at his induction in pamphlet form (New Haven, 1886).
On Dec. 31, 1866, President Dwight was mar- ried to Jane Wakeman Skinner, daughter of Roger Sherman Skinner, of New Haven, and Mary Lock- wood De Forest, and their children are: Helen Rood and Winthrop Edwards, of whom the latter graduated at Yale University in 1893, and is now a lawyer in New York City.
A number of the sons of the first President Timothy Dwight were men of prominence in the communities in which they lived: Timothy, born in Stratford in 1778, was for forty years and more a merchant of New Haven, dying in 1844: Benja- min Woolsey, born in Northampton in 1780, was graduated from Yale in 1799, practiced medicine some years at Catskill, N. Y., then was a mer- chant in New York City, and later at Catskill, and died at Clinton, N. Y .. in 1850, a farmer : Sereno Edwards, born in 1786, in Greenfield Hill, was graduated from Yale in 1803, was a tutor there from 1806 to 1810, then a lawyer there, 1810 to
1816, entered the ministry and was chaplain of the U. S. Senate, 1816-17, engaged in literary work, was president of Hamilton College, Clinton. N. Y., 1833-35; William Theodore, born in 1795, in Greenfield Hill, was graduated from Yale in 1813, tutor there, 1817-19, studied law in Philadelphia, and practiced from 1821 to 1831, then entered the ministry and in 1832 was ordained pastor of the Third Congregational Church at Portland, Me., re- maining there until the year before his death in 1865, which occurred at Andover, Mass .; Henry, born in 1797, in New Haven, was graduated from Yale in 1815, studied theology at Andover, Mass., 1824-28, and became an author and lecturer, dying in New Haven in 1832.
MAJOR FREDERICK A. SPENCER, late a prominent citizen of Waterbury, was born in that city Nov. 7, 1833, and descended from an Englishi family that settled in America long prior to the Rev- olutionary war. His ancestry may be briefly traced as follows :
Gerard Spencer, a native of Bedfordshire, Eng- land, emigrated to America about 1633 and settled in Cambridge, Mass. He removed to Lynn, Mass., and in 1666 was one of the original settlers of the town of Haddam, Conn. His son, Samuel, who was born in Lynn, Mass., came with his father to Had- dam, where he married Hannah Willey Blachford. Isaac Spencer, son of Samuel, and grandson of the emigrant, married Mary Selden and had a family of children, among whom were two sons, Isaac and Joseph, the latter a general in the Continental army during the Revolution.
Isaac Spencer, son of Isaac and Mary (Selden) Spencer, and great-grandfather of Major Freder- ick A. Spencer, was a lay preacher of the Separat- ists, and a very devout man. His death occurred in Prospect, Conn., in 1787. To his marriage with Temperance Goodspeed, of Barnstable, Mass., were born eight children, of whom Selden, Elihu and Ansel served in the war of the Revolution.
Ansel Spencer, son of Isaac, and grandfather of the Major, was born in the town of Prospect, then a part of Waterbury, in 1763, lived in Naugatuck, and died in 1850. He enlisted in the Patriot army at the age of seventeen. In early life he had been in mercantile business with his brother, Elihu, but later became a farmer. He was religiously inclined. He married Loly Benham, of Waterbury, and they had the following children: Mary C., who married Deacon James Street ; Willard, father of the Major ; Ansel, who resided in Naugatuck, and died at the age of sixty-four years ; Henry W., who was deputy sheriff of New Haven county and removed from Naugatuck to Fulton county, N. Y., where he died when seventy-eight years old: James, who died un- married in Naugatuck, when he was about seventy- eight years of age: Shandy, who died single at twenty-seven ; and Catherine. deceased wife of Will- iam B. Lewis, of Naugatuck.
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Hon. Willard Spencer was born in Prospect, Conn., May 14, 1801. He was a gentleman who held the respect of the community in any and every position he held. For seventeen years he was first selectman. A lifelong friend says of him: "If I could pass out of the world as he did, respected by all and against whom naught could be said, I would feel that I had successfully lived and died." He came to Waterbury in 1826 and engaged in mercan- tile business. About 18 ?? he formed a partnership with Mark Leavenworth, B. F. Leavenworth and Greene Kendrick in the same line. About 1836 he became connected with Mark Leavenworth and C. S. Sperry in the manufacture of gilt buttons, and in 1839, with Dr. Ambrose Ives, in the sanie line of manufacture. In 1834 Willard Spencer repre- sented the town of Waterbury in the State Legisla- ture; from 1837 to 1839 he was town clerk, and for twenty years following 1851, with few excep- tions, was selectman and agent for the town; in 1846 he was judge of probate, in 1857 State sen- ator. He frequently declined the nomination of mayor, but was often elected alderman and council- man. He was a director of the Citizens' Bank, presi- dent of the Waterbury Savings Bank and president of the Bronson Library Board. As an executor, ap- praiser, administrator, guardian, referee, commis- sioner and attditor, and as an incumbent of such other appointive offices as require strict integrity and good business habits, no name from 1840 to 1880 is so frequently found in the records as his. Willard Spencer died May 2, 1890, at the age of eighty-nine years, less twelve days.
On June 27, 1830, Willard Spencer married Miss Marcia Burton, daughter of Joseph Burton, of Wat- erbury. She was born March 31, 1808, and died Feb. 28, 1887, the mother of the following children : (1) Susan is unmarried. (2) Frederick A. is the subject of this sketch. (3) Joseph B., for years a successful traveling salesman, was born March 27, 1836, educated in the schools of Waterbury, and was graduated as a civil engineer at West Point : he went thence to Kansas to practice his profession, but returned on account of ill health in 1858, when he entered the office of N. J. Welton, remaining there for several years, later serving for some time as city clerk, mayor and in various other responsi- ble positions. He died May 6, 1889. (4) William A. (5) Mary E.
Frederick A. Spencer was reared in Waterbury, attended the local schools and also Williston Semin- ary, at Easthampton, Mass. At the age of seven- tren years he entered one of the brass mills of Wat- erbury, in which he was employed seven years. He then went to Kansas and to Colorado, and on re- turning to the East again entered the mills and was superintendent for six years. At the breaking out of the Rebellion Mr. Spencer was commissioned lieu- tenant in the 2d Colorado Vol. Cav. and served throughout the entire struggle. He was wounded at the battle of Little Blue, Mo., Oct. 21, 1864, and
at the close of the war was honorably discharged and returned to his native city. His record shows him to have been a brave and efficient officer, and his interest in military affairs did not cease with his service in the army, for he played an influential part in the history of Connecticut militia. In 1876 he was appointed on the staff of Col. S. R. Smith. as paymaster of the 2d Regiment, Conn. N. G., and in March, 1877, he took command of Company A, 2d Regiment, Conn. N. G. and remained in command for five years, at which time he was promoted to the rank of major; he was brigade inspector of Rifle Practice of the Conn. N. G., which office he resigned in 1885, and at the time of his death was on the re- tired list, ranking as major.
After his return at the close of the Rebellion Major Spencer held many important positions. He was a director and vice-president of the Dime Sav- ings Bank, and was a member of the common coun- cil, and twice assessor of Waterbury ; was a mem- ber of the first board of police commissioners ; one of the engineers of the fire department ; member of the board of health ; member of the Finance commit- tee of the Center school district, and clerk of the probate court. By appointment of Gov. Morris he served as a member of the board of State Prison Directors, in which he was chairman of the commit- tee on Building and Repairs. He was also ap- pointed a director of the Connecticut Reformatory by Gov. Coffin and filled a number of minor offices not here enumerated.
As a Freemason Major Spencer stood very high. He was "made" in 1855. In 1870 he became a char- ter member of Continental Lodge, No. 76. In 1866 he became a Knight Templar, was elected Commander of the commandery in 1870 and again in 1892, 1893 and 1895. and was Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of the State in 1889. In 1894 he was elected Grand Inspector of the Grand Commandery for five years, and in 1899 was re-elected for another five years term. The Major was also a member of the Consistory. A. A. Scottish Rite, of Bridgeport, the Royal Order of Scotland, and was a thirty-third degree Mason- the highest attainable. Major Spencer was past commander of Wadhams Post, No. 49. G. A. R., of Waterbury, and held his membership un to the time of his death which occurred Dec. 8. 1901. He was also a member of the Military Order of the Loval Legion of the United States, the Waterbury Club, the Con- nectient Society of the Sons of the American Revo- lution, the Reform Club, of New York City. the Army and Navy Club, of New York City, and sev- eral other social and fraternal associations. . In poli- ties he was a Democrat, butt at the same time not a follower of William Jennings Bryan. He was un- married.
The Major's personal qualities made him friends in whatever position he was placed and his life was always synonymous with integrity and uprightness.
Some attention should now be given the Bur-
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ton family, from whom Major Spencer descended maternally, and which came from England in the Colonial days and settled at Stratford, Coan. Of this family, Capt. Joseph Burton served in the carly wars of the Colonies with the Indians and the French, and his son, Benjamin Burton, great-grand- father of Major Spencer, served as a private soldier in the war of the Revolution, and was a prisoner for some time in the hands of the "insolent foe," being confined on board one of the prison ships in New York harbor. After his release he served tin- der Gen. LaFayette in the capture of Yorktown. His death took place in 1811. Joseph Burton, son of Benjamin, came to Waterbury in his early years and married Susan Bronson, daughter of Deacon Stephen Bronson. Of their children, the mother of the Major, Marcia Burton, was the only one to grow to maturity. She was born in Waterbury. Joseph Burton was a prominent business man and extensively engaged in mercantile pursuits and ag- riculture.
AUSTIN BOWE (deceased). Among the highly respected citizens and prominent business men of Meriden, who have passed out of life but are still remembered, was Austin Bowe, the founder of the firm of A. Bowe & Son, manufacturers of fine light carriages and dealers in harness, blankets and robes, located on West Main street, in Meriden.
The Bowe ancestry extends far back among the oldest settlers in Middlesex county, Alexander Bowe, with his wife. Sarah. having come from England, and settled in Middletown, Conn., with the first settlers. There he died Nov. 6, 1678, his wife having passed away April 16. 1673.
Samuel Bowe, son of Alexander, was born Jan. 28, 1659, and married Mary Turner May 9, 1683. Alexander Bowe, son of Samuel, was born Jan. 20, 1701, and married Lydia Keney, of Glaston- bury, Conn., Sept. 21, 1720.
Peleg Bowe, son of Alexander, was born Sept. 21, 1727, and on Jan. 29, 1748, married Mary Woodward.
Isaac Bowe, son of Peleg. was born Feb. 6, 1753, and he died April 25, 1791. His wife was Elizabeth Lee, and from this worthy couple de- scended the Bowe family of Meriden.
Austin Bowe was a son of Albert Bowe and was but six years old when his father died. His early life was spent in Middletown, but his educa- tional opportunities were very limited. and as a farmer boy he worked for Amos Miller, in the meantime attending school during the winter sea- sons, remaining thus employed until he was eighteen years old. Then he began to learn the blacksmith trade with Mr. Crandell, in Middletown, working as a journeyman several years, and later came to Meriden. Here he soon found employment as a journeyman blacksmith and horse-shoer with Mr. Atkins, and remained in his employ for several years, but later returned to Middlefield and started in business for himself as a horse-shoer and general
blacksmith, finding so much encouragement that in. 1868 he decided to go into the business more ex- tensively. Meriden offered the best field, and here he formed a partnership with Walter J. Chalker. erected a shop on Stone street and entered upon carriage making, in connection with his other busi- ness, continuing this association for the following eight years, the firm name being Bowe & Chalker.
At this period Mr. Bowe decided to take his son, Wallace F., into business with him, and the new partnership was formed, and conducted under the firm name of A. Bowe & Son, which as years passed grew into one of the leading business in- terests of this city. The lines upon which this business have ever been conducted have ensured for it its continuance, although the honored founder passed out of life May 27, 1899, and was laid to rest in West cemetery.
Austin Bowe was a man well known and highly respected, industrious, honorable in the highest de- gree, and one who fulfilled every demand made upon him by life as a devoted husband and father, progressive and honest business man and thoroughly reliable citizen. In his early life he was a Dem- ocrat, and later embraced the principles of the Re- publican party, but never sought political favor, liv- ing a quiet. industrious life, and as closely as pos- sible following the Golden Rule.
Austin Bowe was married in Middletown, Conn., to Miss Hannah W. Chamberlain, born in Middle- town, a daughter of Collins R. Chamberlain, and to this union five children were born: Wallace F. is mentioned below. Charles, who is engaged in the soda water business, married Hulda V. Brown. Ed- ward A. is mentioned below. Albert died at the age of twenty-five years. One died at the age of four months. Mrs. Bowe still survives, resid- ing in her handsome home near the factory, and is well and most favorably known in Meriden for her many fine traits of character.
WALLACE F. BOWE, eldest son of the late Austin Bowe, a partner and the manager in the business of A. Bowe & Son, was born in Meriden Nov. 25. 1857, and attended school in the Corner district. For three years he was employed in the factory of Asaph Merriam in the painting department, but at the age of eighteen years went into his father's factory. On attaining his majority he became a partner, managing the business for many years prior to the death of his father, assuming responsibilities which had become heavy for the latter. His dis- cretion and good judgment have caused his con- tinnance in this branch of the business, in which he has been so eminently successful. Mr. Bowe is a man of original ideas, and is the inventor of the Bowe spoke extractor, which is in general use in some of the largest carriage manufactories in the. United States.
On Dec. 5. 1893. Wallace F. Bowe married Lucy I. Andrews, who was born in Wallingford, daughter of John B. Andrews, a well-known real- estate dealer in Meriden. Mr. Bowe has taken
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a prominent part in public affairs, is a Republican, and during 1899 served in the city council, on the Street and Police committees. Fraternally he is a member of Columbia Council, No. 543, Royal Ar- canum, of Meriden.
EDWARD AUSTIN BOWE, son of the late Austin Bowe, was born in Meriden Nov. 14, 1862, at the Carpenter homestead in East Main street. His par- ents moved to Middlefield when he was three years old, and returned to Meriden three years later, moving into the home which is still occupied by the mother. Until the age of fifteen years he at- tended the Corner school, and then as cash boy went into Arnold & Wightman's Boston dry-goods store, in the Y. M. C. A. building. Through his ability he was soon promoted to a clerkship, which he held three years until a better inducement was offered by A. S. Thomas. Later he took a year's trip through the South, and then entered the em- ploy of Ives, Upham & Rand, as salesman, leaving later to accept the position of agent to work up new routes for the Vienna Compressed Yeast Co., on the Naugatuck railroad, and then going to Phila- delphia to work up the business which had col- lapsed on account of the inability of his predeces- sors. In this line he was quite successful. Later he took a trip through Pennsylvania and New York, finally returning to Meriden, where he ac- cepted a position as bookkeeper with the firm of A. Bowe & Son, where he now has charge, and is building up an increasing business. Mr. Bowe be- longs to Silver City Lodge, A. O. U. W., and Court George R. Curtis, F. of A.
FRANK P. PFLEGHAR, a noted mechanic and manufacturer of hardware specialties at No. 74 Crown street, New Haven, was born in Wur- temberg, Germany, April 12, 1835, a son of Franz Pfleghar, a native of the same community.
Franz Pfleghar was a wheelwright, and came to the United States, locating at New Haven about 1860, where he died. His father was also a wheel- wright, but he never left his native Germany. The mother of our subject died in the old country, the mother of four children: Frank P., a successful business man in New Haven : Ferdinand and Bern- hard, also residents of New Haven; and Franzisca, who died young.
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Frank P. Pfleghar spent his school days in his native town, and began work when twelve years old. He came to New York when about nineteen years of age, and spent a year there working at cabinet making. In the old country he had worked with his father as a wheelwright and had a good knowledge of the use of tools. In 1855 he came to New Haven and secured employment in the Whitney Armory at Whitneyville, and for twelve years remained in the employ of that firm. At the expiration of that time, in company with William Shollhorn, he engaged in the machinist business tin- der the name of Pfleghar & Shollhorn. After four years Mr. Pfleghar withdrew from the firm, and in
company with McLagon & Stevens went into lock making under the name of the Union Lock Com- pany. At the end of two and a half years this com- pany was dissolved, and Mr. Pfleghar engaged in business for himself. devoting himself especially to the making of hardware specialties and tools, and in that line has developed a very flattering busi- ness, at No. 74 Crown street.
On Feb. 11, 1858, Mr. Pfleghar was married to Theckla Rutz, a native of Bavaria, and now de- ceased. She was the mother of six children, five of whom lived to maturity: Frank, who is en- gaged with his father in business ; Henry, who mar- ried Anna Cronan ; Theckla; Mary, who married George Vorschmidt, and has five children, Anna, Paulina, Louisa, Josephine and Eulalia ; and Liz- zie. Mr. Pfleghar is.a Democrat, and belongs to St. Boniface Benevolent Society, and aiso to two German Singing Societies. He is a member of the German Catholic Church, and is held in marked es- teem by those familiar with his industrious life and upright character.
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