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 9

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1040

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 9

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Soon after this, in 1873. Mr. Ames died, and in order to best protect his varied interests his estate was declared insolvent, which rendered Mr. Brad- ley's position extremely embarrassing, for Mr. Ames had negotiated about $200,000 of Mr. Bradley's notes and endorsements for his own accommoda- tion. $80,000 of this paper had come into the pos- session of Oliver Ames & Sons. At the expiration of thirty days, on the hour and minute. Mr. Brad- ley went into Mr. Ames' office and laid down a cashier's check for the full amount of the notes. with interest added at the legal rate.

Through the able management of Mr. Ames' executors (his sons, Oliver and Oakes A. Ames) his estate was not only rendered solvent, but paid to his heirs several millions of dollars besides, so that all this accommodation paper was afterward paid by his executors, to whom Mr. Bradley also paid $100,000 for Mr. Ames' interest in his business. Thus the close business relations which existed so long and pleasantly between Mr. Ames and Mr. Bradley resulted in mutual benefits and justified their unbounded confidence in each other.

One of Mr. Bradley's greatest characteristics and most serviceable factors in his business qualifica- · tions was his phenomenal resource in times of emer- gency. One of his associates in business used to .i his dav in New Haven. The panic of 1873 ruined say that he seemed almost to court emergencies in in order to gain the satisfaction of extricating him- self successfully from them.

In 1872 the business, which had been conducted in the name of William L. Bradley, was transferred . to the Bradley Fertilizer Co. Later branch offices

were established at Rochester, N. Y., Cleveland' Ohio, Baltimore, Md., and Augusta, Ga. Of this company Mr. Bradley became president and sole manager. He also became largely interested in other fertilizer works at Carteret, N. J., Cleveland, Ohio, Baltimore, Md., and Charleston, S. C. He operated extensive phosphate mines in South Caro- lina and Florida, and was an owner of real estate in nearly every Atlantic coast State from Maine to Florida.

During the latter years of his life Mr. Bradley gave up the active management of his business to his sons, and devoted much of his time to his chosen occupation, farming and landscape gardening, at his beautiful country seat at Hingham, Mass., where he died after a short illness, Dec. 15, 1804, at the age of sixty-eight.

In 1848 Mr. Bradley was married to Frances Martina Coe, daughter of Calvin and Harrict (Rice) Coe, of Meriden, Conn. Two sons, Peter B. and Robert S., and one daughter,. Abby A., sur- vived him ..

GEORGE W. GOODSELL. whose death oc- curred at his home No. 6 High Street, New Haven, on Jan. 28, 1887, was one of the city's conspicuous business men of fifty years ago, and he descended from one among the old Colonial families of the vicinity.

Mr. Goodsell was born in 1819, in Foxon, son of Jacob and Sophia ( Pierpont) Goodsell, she a de- scendant of the old prominent Pierpont family of New Haven. Mr. Goodsell began his business car- eer as a clerk for the late Elias Pierpont, who kept a grocery on the corner of Olive and Grand streets. Later on, associated with his brother. Willis J. Goodsell, he engaged in business for himself, estab- lishing a grocery on the corner of State and Crown streets. George WV. also operated stores on Custom House Square and on Long Wharf, where he erect- ed a fine granite building forty years ago. More recently he was in business on State, near George. street. Up to early in the seventies Mr. Goodsell did an extensive business and greatly prospered in it, becoming wealthy. In his earlier career he was engaged largely in the importing business, owning his own vessels. Hc imported largely Turk Island salt. He invested extensively in real estate, build- ing a number of houses and developing tracts of land between New Haven and Westville. He im- proved what is known as the Whitney and Dr. Knight places. He built and owned a cottage at Savin Rock. He was a man of great business ca- pacity and one of the prominent business men of him, his financial losses being heavy. and by that event his floating indebtedness was upwards of $300,000. This burden he carried bravely. met his obligations as fast as possible, and three years later lic had reduced this enormous debt to $2.500. Oi his New Haven creditors, none of those unsecured

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by notes lost a dollar, and all the notes he was un- able to pay, amounting to very little, were forgiven him. A man of honor and integrity, and of great fortitude, he continued in business, and during the later years of his life was moderately successful. Mr. Goodsell was a man of quiet taste and life, diligent and honorable in business, and an upright member of society. His religious connections were with the College Street Church, a valuable member.

Mr. Goodsell was married to Abigail Andrew Nettleton, of Milford, and of their family of five children, all survived the father, namely: Frances A., who married Aug. 24, 1864, James Gardner Clark, now a prominent lawyer and conveyancer in New Haven, their elegant home being at West Hav- en; Mrs. Albert J. Milbank, of New York City; Mrs. Charles G. Keys, who died in 1894; G. Willis- ton and Edward L. Goodsell, the two latter of New York City, where they are engaged in an importing business.

Many of the Goodsells of New Haven county came from the early Branford family. Thomas Goodsell appears in Branford in 1667, then a youth. He married June 4, 1684, Sarah, daughter of Sam- uel Hemmingway, of New Haven, and their chil- dren were: Samuel, born Feb. 28, 1685; Mary, born Dec. 28, 1686; Sarah, born Sept. 14, 1689; Lydia, born May 3, 1692; Deborah, born Dec. 29, 1694; Abigail, born Oct. 4, 1697 (died young), Abigail (2), born Feb. 28, 1699; Thomas, born in January, 1702; and John, born Dec. 21, 1705.

Of the three sons of Thomas Goodsell, Samuel married Mary Frisbe and to them came children as follows : Samuel, born Oct. 30, 1710; Jonathan, born June 22, 1712; Isaac, born March 14, 1715; Isabel, born Sept. 9, 1717; Mary, born Dec. 17, 1719; Jacob, born July 22, 1722; and Dan, born June 16, 1724.

Thomas Goodsell (2), son of the first Thomas, married Oct. 6, 1731, Martha Davenport, and to them came Sarah, who married Jeremiah Wolcott.

HON. NEHEMIAH D. SPERRY, member of Congress from the Second District of Connecticut, former Secretary of that State, and for twenty- eight years the efficient postmaster at New Haven, is a descendant of sturdy New England ancestry. He was born July 10, 1827, in the town of Wood- bridge, New Haven county, a son of Enoch and Mary Atlanta (Sperry) Sperry, and is in the line of direct descent from that Richard Sperry who takes a place in history as the courageous friend and defender of the regicides.

The name of Sperry is familiar to those ac- quainted with the history of New Haven and vicin- ity, for from almost the very-dawn of the Colonial period to the present, members of the family have been conspicuous characters in the locality's social and business life. It is the purpose of this article. however, to treat briefly of the lineage and family only of the late Enoch Sperry,-of Woodbridge, sev-

eral of whose sons became prominent in the city of New Haven and elsewhere. We refer to Hon. Lucien Wells Sperry, Stiles Denison Sperry, Hon. Nehemiah Day Sperry and Enoch Knight Sperry, two of whom are now deceased.

In the town of Woodbridge there is a fertile tract of land in the valley to the westward of West Rock, near the "Judge's Cave," so-called because it was for a time the hiding place for the regicides Gens. Goffe and Whalley, and Col. Dixwell, who tled to America after the restoration. This tract early took the name of Sperry's farms-the home of Richard Sperry, a farmer who, though not one of the original planters of New Haven, was an early settler, his name being of record in the town as early as Jan. 4. 1643. This Richard Sperry was the last friend and protector of the regicides, Goffe and Whalley, at a time when their pursuers from England were trying to ferret them out of their hiding places. There is a family tradition that he came to New Haven as agent for the Earl of Warwick. The tenure of Sperry's Farms has continued for up- ward of 250 years, in the persons of his descend- ants. From Richard Sperry, of Sperry's Farms, are descended the sons of the late Enoch Sperry, who are in the sixth generation, their lineage being through Nathaniel, Nathaniel (2), Simeon. and Enoch Sperry.

(II) Nathaniel Sperry, son of Richard, born Aug. 13, 1656, married Oct. 2, 1683, Sarah Dicker- man, who was born July 25, 1663, daughter of Abra- ham and Mary (Cooker) Dickerman, and grand- daughter of Thomas Dickerman, of Dorchester, 1636.

(III) Nathaniel Sperry (2), son of Nathaniel. born March 8, 1695, married Dec. 25, 1719, Sarah Wilmot, born Feb. 26, 1695-96, daughter of John Wilmot. Mr. Sperry died Sept. 8, 1751.

(IV) Simeon Sperry, son of Nathaniel (2), born March 16, 1738-39, married Patience Smith. Mr. Sperry lived and died in Woodbridge, his birtli- place, though at the time of his birth the territory was the town of New Haven. By occupation he was a small manufacturer and farmer. He held some minor town offices. He was a man of retiring disposition, but he had great decision of character and undoubted integrity, and he enjoyed the confi -. dence of all who knew him.

(V) Enoch Sperry, son of Simeon, born in 1,87. married Mary Atlanta Sperry, daughter of Asa and Eunice ( Johnson) Sp rry. Mr. Sperry was born in Woodbridge and lived on the mill site at the upper end of Sperry's Farms, where were located the grist- niill and carding machine. Like his father he, too, was a small manufacturer and farmer and held a few town offices. He possessed a natural mathematical mind and would solve the most difficult problems in his own way without the rules of ordinary arithme- tic. His home life was beautiful. He always had family devotion and was a sincere Christian. a man of the highest integrity and one who would go

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

further than most men to assist those in distress or need. He was greatly interested in matters of the day and would discuss political and religious ques- tions with great freedom and intelligence. Outside of business his chief delight was in church affairs. He was a member of the Congregational Church and often moderator of their meetings and he was frequently chosen to settle disputes both in and out of the church, his decisions being seldom questioned. · To the union of Enoch arid Mary Atlanta Sperry were born children as follows:

(1) HON. LUCIEN WELLS SPERRY, born March 8, 1820, in Woodbridge, married Harriet A. Sperry, daughter of Enos Sperry, of Westville. She died about 1888, and Mr. Sperry in 1890. They left one daughter, Mrs. Eugene S. Miller. At the age of seventeen years Lucien W. Sperry went to New Haven to learn the carpenter's trade. As the years passed he improved his educational opportunities to such an extent that he was enabled to teach school. In 1845, associated with his brother, Stiles D. Sperry, he began a mercantile career and for twenty years or more the brothers were located in business in Westville, Woodbridge. New Haven and Hartford. In 1855 Lucien bought a tract of land on Mill river, just east of the railroad, and with Chauncey Sperry, son of the late Enos Sperry, en- gaged in the coal and wood business. continuing same until 1863. In his later years he was con- nected with several local banks and was a director in railroads in which the town and city had interest. In the middle 'sixties he began a political career in which for many years he was most popular, prom- inent and successful, holding almost every office in the gift of the people. His political affiliations were with the Democratic party. In 1864 he was elected first selectman and held that office until 1868, when he declined re-nomination. In 1866 he was elected mayor of New Haven and was re-elected in 1867 and again in 1868, receiving the largest majority ever given a candidate up to that time. In 1869 and 1870 he represented the Fourth District in the State Senate. From boyhood Mr. Sperry was identified with the militia of the State. When twenty he was chosen captain of a company formed in his native town and during the following year was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Second Regiment, of which later he became colonel. He was captain and after- ward major of the Second Company, Governor's Horse Guards.

(2) STILES DENISON SPERRY. born Oct. 15. 1822, married Anna E. Briggs, of Providence, R. I. He was a prominent merchant in New Haven and later served as treasurer of the State Savings Bank at Hartford. holding that position at the time of his death. He served two terms as representative in the State Legislature from Hartford. He was a promi- nent and influential Mason and held high offices in that fraternity.

(3) HON. NEHEMIAHI D. SPERRY is mentioned below.

(4) JOSEPH HART SPERRY was killed in 1846 by being thrown from a horse. '

(5) LAURA ANN SPERRY, born Oct. 20, 1835, married Andrew J. Randell and resided in Brook- lyn, N. Y. She died Jan. 25, 1879. In early life she was a school teacher.

(6) HON. ENOCH KNIGHT SPERRY, born in Woodbridge, married Nov. 10, 1863, Sarah Amanda Treat, who was born July 29, 1844, daughter of Jonah Newton and Mary Amanda (Gould ) Treat, and a descendant in the ninth generation from Rich- ard Treat, who came to New England as early as 1639 and was an early settler of Wethersfield, Conn. Mrs. Sperry's line of descent from Richard is through Gov. Robert, Robert (2), Robert (3). Rob- ert (4), Jonathan, Joseph and Jonah Newton Treat, the latter a mason and builder, of New Haven. Enoch K. Sperry for a number of years was the efficient accountant and bookkeeper of the City Bank of New Haven, and has been engaged in mercantile pursuits in that city. He was appointed United States Consul to the Barbadoes, by President Lin- coln, and served several years with honor and dis- tinction. Later in life he had charge of the Treat estate. His wife died April 8, 1877. Their only daughter. Edith Amanda Sperry, was born Jan. 8, 1873.

Nehemiah D. Sperry, whose name introduces this article, attended the schools of his native town and for two years was at the private school of Prof. Amos Smith, of New Haven. Early becoming in- dependent and self-reliant, while yet in his 'teens he taught school in several places, receiving the largest salary at that time ever paid a country school teacher in this State. Saving his money he was presently able-in 1848-to go into business in New Haven, becoming the junior member of the firm of Smith & Sperry, one of the most successful busi- ness concerns of the city. Being industrious and energetic and possessing business judgment and marked ability, he was soon rated among the best business men of the city. His activities were directed along the lines of public improvements. He orig- inated a company for constructing and operating a liorse railroad between New Haven and Fair Ha- ven and Westville, and as its president managed its affairs for ten years with energy and discre- tion. By his personal efforts during this period he secured a charter for the first horse railroad in the State of Connecticut. For some years Mr. Sperry was a director in several corporations, such as the New Haven & Derby Railroad and the New England Hudson Suspension Bridge Co .. and he has always co-operated and assisted in all kinds of public enterprises. No man has taken a greater interest in the progress of the city than Mr. Sperry. and it is probable that no other man in New Haven has more friends than the present Con- - gressman.

A strong supporter of the American system of public schools Mr. Sperry, in 1878, vigorously at-

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

. tacked the action of the New Haven Board of Edu- cation in ordering the discontinuance of the reading of the Bible in the public schools and succeeded in carrying every ward in the city in favor of the restoration of the Bible in the schools, his logic and fervor, his appeal to the traditions of New England arousing a public sentiment that soon compelled the revocation of the order. Mr. - Sperry is a stanch Republican and has been influential in the councils of the party for many years. In early life he was a Whig, and on the first organization of the party became a Re- publican. For a time he served in the ranks of the American party, but at the convention of that party. in Philadelphia, when it incorporated a pro-slavery plank in its platform, he unceremoniously bolted. This decided stand for principle made him very popular at home and in 1855 he was nominated for governor of the State. Not having reached the Constitutional age for the place he was nominated and elected Secretary of State that year, and was re-elected. In 1856 he attended the National Con- vention of the American party at Philadelphia, which placed in nomination ex-President Fillmore. Here again he vigorously opposed the resolutions on slavery and declined to support the nominees of the party. That year he attended the first National Convention of the Republican party and gave his warm support to its nominees and principles. He was made chairman of the Republican State Com- mittee, a position he held during the trying period prior to the Civil war and during its continuance. In the State campaign of 1860 he did much to secure. the election of Gov. Buckingham and the following year was named as postmaster of New Haven by President Lincoln. In 1864 Mr. Sperry was a mem- ber of the National Convention held at Baltimore which renominated President Lincoln. At that time he was chosen secretary of the National Committee and was made one of the committee of seven whose function was to conduct the campaign of that year. Of this committee of seven he was secretary and one of the most active members. In 1868 he pre- sided at the State convention which nominated the electors who voted for Gen. Grant and since that time his continued activity in National affairs has earned for him a reputation that extends over the entire country. Early in 1889,'during the first ad- ministration of President Cleveland, Mr. Sperry was retired from the post office at New Haven, but he was re-appointed by President Harrison. The New Haven post office is the most important in the State and an important one in the country. The post- master-general, upon retiring, mentioned in his re- port four post offices in the country as leading all the others in general merit. The New Haven post office was one of the four and the attorney-general stated that its business management was "Washing- ton Monument High." In 1895 Mr. Sperry re- signed his office and his fellow citizens without re- .

gard to party gave him a complimentary banquet, the largest ever given in the State of Connecticut. It took place at the Hyperion theater.

Mr. Sperry has variously served his fellow citi- zens in official positions. He has been selectman of the town of New Haven and alderman of the city. In 1888 he was a delegate to the convention that nominated Benjamin Harrison for the presi- dency and served on the committee on Platform. As a public speaker and debater Mr. Sperry pos- sesses great power to move and influence his audi- tors. He is a strong Protectionist and in the cele- brated debate before the State Grange in 1887 he was one of two orators selected by the National Pro- tection League to answer for that school. The ad- vocates for free trade selected Daniel A. Wells. Prof. Sumner and J. B. Sargent, but only the latter ap- peared. In the absence of his colleague, Prof. Dens- low, of New York, Mr. Sperry was likewise left un- supported. The result was a pronounced and ad- mitted victory for Mr. Sperry. Before the General Assembly he presented the subject of protection in what was termed the most masterly and scholarly address ever heard on the subject. In 1888 he de- bated the Mills Bill before a large assembly in con- troversy with one of the ablest representatives of that school in the State, and the result was still more creditable. An article which he wrote on the "Ad- vantage of Protection" and which appeared in the Christian Secretary, of Hartford, aroused such wide- spread attention that more than 400,000 copies were published. It was afterward put in pamphlet form and still more widely circulated. At the National Postal Convention held at Alexandria Bay, Thou- sand Islands, N. Y., Mr. Sperry was the orator of the occasion and his address was listened to with admiration and delight.

In 1866 Mr. Sperry was the nominee of his party for Congress from the New Haven District, an honor which, for private reasons, he felt impelled to decline. In 1894 he was again the nominee of his party for Congress, was elected by a good majority, and is to-day one of the active, experienced and in- fluential members of that body. no member of which perhaps has a more satisfied and contented constit- uency behind him than has Mr. Sperry. He is now serving his fourth term.

As a business man Mr. Sperry has been re- markably successful and is still a member of the well-known house of Sperry & Treat. contractors and builders, of New Haven. n. Popular in social life he has been president of the Quinnipiac Club for many years, is a member of the I. O. O. F., and has been a Mason for nearly fifty years ; he has at- tained the thirty-third degree.

Mr. Sperry was married in 1847 to Miss Eliza H., a daughter of Willis and Catherine Sperry, of Woodbridge. She died in 1873 and in 1875 he mar- ried Miss Minnie B. Newton, a native of Lockport. ; N. Y., and a daughter of Erastus and Caroline New-

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

ton, of that place. They have one. daughter, Caesara A., who is the widow of Ephraim I. Frothinghan, and has one child, Newton Sperry Frothingham.

HON. CHARLES BUCKINGHAM MERRI- MAN, for many years a prominent citizen and one of the leading merchants of Waterbury, was born in Watertown, Conn., Oct. 9, 1809, and died March 15, 1889.

Mr. Merriman descended from one of the old New England families and from Revolutionary stock. He was in the seventh generation from Capt. Nathaniel Merriman, who was one of the first set- tlers of Wallingford, Conn., in 1670, the line of descent being through Caleb, Eliasaph, Amasa, Charles and William H.

(II) Caleb Merriman, son of Capt. Nathaniel Merriman, born in 1665, married Mary Preston.

(III) Eliasaph Merriman, son of Caleb Merri- man, born in 1695, married in 1719, Abigail Hall.

(IV) Amasa Merriman, son of Eliasaph Merri- man, born about 1730, married Sarah (surname not known ). .

(V) Charles Merriman, son of Amasa Merri- man, born Aug. 20, 1762, married May 16, 1784, Anna, daughter of David Punderson of New Haven. Charles Merriman enlisted in the Continental army as a drummer in 1776, became drum-major, and served throughout the war. He settled in Water- town, where he commenced the business of a tailor, which, owing to ill health, he relinquished. After having "ridden post" from New Haven to Suffield, Conn., four years, and made a voyage to the West Indies, he began mercantile pursuits in Watertown, in which he continued until 1829. He died Aug. 26, 1829, leaving ten children.

(VI) William H. Merriman, son of Charles Merriman, born Sept. 26, 1788, married Jan. 8, 1809, Sarah, a daughter of David and Chloe ( Merrill ) Buckingham, born Feb. 16, 1790. William H. Merriman settled in Watertown; was an enterpris- ing merchant; removed to Waterbury and there died. 'His wife died July 20, 1870. Their children were: Charles B., Sarah A., Joseph P., David and Henry.

Charles Buckingham Merriman was educated in the village school, and at Leonard Daggett's school in New Haven. In his early life he was engaged in the mercantile business with his father in the north part of the town of Woodbury, Conn. Fifty years prior to his death he came to Waterbury, and went into business with Ezra Stiles on the corner of Centre Square and Leavenworth streets. In 1843 and after several business changes, lie became asso- ciated with Julius Hotchkiss in a similar business and in the manufacture of suspenders. Their busi- ness in 1857 was consolidated with that of Warren & Newtown (Alanson Warren and Isaac E. New- town) who had a suspender factory in Oakville, and became the American Suspender Co., the fac- tory being located in Oakville. Later the mercall-

tile business was dropped, which assumed the firm name of Merriman & Co., and still later Benedict & Merriman.

Mr. Merriman's public services covered a long and interesting period in Waterbury's history. He was a member of the first court of common council in 1853, and was called to the same position again in 1858-59. In 1866 he was elected alderman from his ward, and in 1869 was the successful candidate on the Republican ticket for the position of mayor. On May 23, 1870, he was one of the committee that drafted the city charter. He was president of the Waterbury Gas Light Co., and for many years was a director of the Citizens National Bank. He was a prominent member of the St. John's Episcopal Church. "Mr. Merriman was noted for equanimity of temper and kindness of heart, and was an en- thusiastic supporter of every enterprise that con- tributed to the well being and upbuilding of Water- bury."

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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 9

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1040

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1040