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 2 > Part 5
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Dr. Skiff was educated in the tenets of the old school of medicine, but after a thorough comparison of the two schools, he deliberately selected Home- opathy as his life work. At Philadelphia he was under the instruction of such men as Mutter, Pan- coast, Meigs and Dunglison. Dr. Skiff was one of the earliest homeopathic physicians in New Haven, preceded only by a cousin, Dr. Charles H. Skiff. His experiences through forty years of constant and busy practice have been many and varied. One who knows whereof he writes, says of Dr. Skiff: "He combines skill in the healing art with prompt judgment, admirable foresight, inexhausti- ble good temper, and an independent attitude towards all schools of practice. Few possess in such an eminent degree the personal magnetism, which immediately attracts and retains the confi- dence of the invalid, that gentleness and prompt- ness which lingers so gracefully in the memory of the patient; and, more than all else that charity, which the doctor is called upon above all men to so frequently exercise towards his fellows in the humble walks of life. All bear testimony, who know him, that Dr. Skiff possesses all these quali- ties and many others which are important factors in the success of the true physician."
Dr. Skiff was one of the founders of the State Homeopathic Society. He was an incorporator of Grace Hospital, of which he is now a director and the consulting physician; this is one of the most successful hospitals in New England. Dr. Skiff has been a frequent contributor to various medical journals, and he has taken an active interest in the Humane Society, and other worthy enterprises.
On June 20, 1874, Dr. Skiff was married to Emma McGregor Ely, of Brooklyn, N. Y., who is a descendant of a prominent New England family. She is the great-granddaughter of the Rev. David Ely, D. D., of Lyme, Conn., and a descendant of Richard Ely, who was an early settler in America. She is also the granddaughter of the Rev. Thomas Runderson, one of the seven pillars of the First Church of Christ in New Haven, and its deacon from 1689 to 1730. This marriage was blessed with the birth of one daughter, Pauline, born in May, 1880
DR. AUGUSTUS BEEKMAN SMITH, one of the best known and highly respected citizens of New Haven, comes from a family distinguished for probity and learning. Dr. Smith was born in White Plains, N. Y., Oct. 15, 1826. a son of Rev. John Mott and Amanda (Day) Smith.
The paternal grandfather, Joseph Smith, was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., Feb. 11. 1765. By trade this estimable gentleman was a cork cutter, and was very successful in his work. Taking a great inter- est in the Methodist Church, of which he was a lifelong member, he became class leader and local preacher, and was always a faithful worker in re- ligious undertakings. By his first marriage, which
was with Miss Honeywell, he had eight children, as follows: Elizabeth, who married J. D. Myers ; Jolin Mott ; Peter, who married Catherine Fisher; Will- iam, who married Eliza Saunders; Joseph B., who married Ann Steele; Deborah, who married Amos Smith ; and two who died in infancy. For his sec- ond wife he married Mrs. Mary Poillion, who, by her first marriage, was the mother of six children : Cornelius, George, Ann E., Ellen, Carnes and Ade- line. In the John St. Methodist Church. New York, the first one built in America, with which he was directly connected, the memory of this good man is cherished as a type of upright manhood and true Christian living.
Rev. John Mott Smith, the father of Dr. Smith, was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., Oct. 10, 1795, and died Dec. 27, 1832, in Middletown, Conn. For two vears he was one of the professors in the Wesleyan University, and in 1816 was graduated at Colun- bia College with the degree of A. B., afterward re- ceiving that of M. A. The following year, 1817, he took up the study of medicine, and later joined the New York Conference, being assigned to the Jamaica Circuit. In 1818 Rev. Smith was assigned to the Suffolk Circuit ; in 1819-20 the Stanford Cir- cuit ; in 1820-31 was principal of the Wesleyan Seminary, situated in New York City until 1826, when it was transferred to White Plains, N. Y .; from 1831 to 1832, he was professor of Latin, Greek and literature at the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn .: and also acting professor of Natural Science. While in full possession of his faculties and remarkable powers, he passed away in this city one of the greatest educators of his time.
On Nov. 19, 1820, Rev. Smith was married to Miss Amanda Day, of Norwalk, Conn., a daughter of Absalom and Betsey Day, and to this marriage were born: William F., born Nov. 19, 1821 ; John M., Jr., born Nov. 13, 1824; Augustus. B., our sub- ject ; Amanda Day, born July 21, 1829; Eliza Mead, born July 1, 1832. Of these children, Eliza Mead died Aug. 29, 1832: John Mott, Jr., Aug. 10, 1895 : and Wm. F., who was a clergyman of the Methodist Church, and member of the New York East Con- ference, located 1882, died Oct. 29, 1883: and Amanda D. married H. W. Monson, of Middlebury, Conn. At the time of his death John Mott Jr. was a large property owner in the Sandwich Islands, possessing several fine plantations .. Amanda, the wife of John Mott, afterward the wife of Charles Peck, of steamboat fame, died Oct. 5, 1853.
Dr. Augustus B. Smith enjoyed unusual advan- tages in his youth for acquiring knowledge, his parents recognizing the importance of giving to their children, a good education. After six years residence at White Plains. N. Y., with his parents he removed to Middletown, where he remained two years, and then went to live with his grandfather at South Norwalk, Conn., remaining six years, dur- ing which time he attended public and high schools, and then entered the Daniel H. Chase preparatory school, Middletown. After two years in that well-
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known institution he went to Troy, N. Y. At this latter city, the young man, being ambitious, earned his own living, and in 1845, came to New Haven and began business for himself as an instrument maker. During all this time, his natural inclinations seemed to be in the direction of dentistry, and after seven years of faithful study with Dr. Samuel Mallett, Dr. Smith began the practice of his profession Feb. 17, 1860, and built up a very successful practice, continuing it until 1901, when he retired.
On April 12, 1849, Dr. Smith married Emily Bartlett, a native of Bridgeport, Conn., born Sept. 19, 1831, and died Jan. 11, 1890, a daughter of Rev. Horace Bartlett, a Methodist minister. To this marriage two children were born: Henrietta J., who married Rev. J. O. Monson; Heman Bangs, who married Lilly Carrington Norton, Oct. 28, 1880, and died July 15, 1891. On March 24, 1897, Dr. Smith married Esther Emeline Braman, born in Pleasantville, N. Y., a daughter of Henry Romer, a native of Westchester county, N. Y. Henry Romer married Levinia Banks, also of Westchester. The father of Henry Romer, Jacob Romer, traced his ancestry back to the same common ancestors as the Romers of Kingston, N. Y. (who came from Switzerland), one of whom Jacob Romer, was of the party that captured Major Andre. Dr. Smith has now in his possession the Van Courtland table that Gen. Washington dined on, on several occasions, above the town where Major Andre was arrested.
In politics, Dr. Smith was originally a Whig, and is now a Republican ; socially he is connected with the I. O. O. F., Quinnipiac Lodge of New Haven, and following in the footsteps of his honored father and grandfather, is a consistent member of the Trinity Methodist Church. During the many years Dr. Smith has made his home in New Haven, he has proven himself a man of whom the com- munity may well be proud, and both he and his charming wife number many friends among those with whom they are associated.
ANDREW WOODWARD DE FOREST, late president of the New Haven Gas Light Co., and of The De Forest & Hotchkiss Co., lumber dealers on Water street, New Haven, was one of those up- right citizens, whom all good men delight to honor. He passed away at his home, No. 351 Orange street, Nov. 29, 1900, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. He was born in Watertown, Conn., Jan. 24, 1817, son of John Hancock and Dotha (Woodward) De Forest.
John Hancock De Forest was born in Hunting- ton, Conn., April 10, 1776, and was a prominent and successful shipping merchant in Watertown. He owned no vessels himself but hired them to ship the pork, beef and grain of the neighboring far- mers to New York by way of Derby, the Housa- tonic River and Long Island Sound. There were ventures across the ocean in which he was the super- cargo, and various New England productions were
carried to the West Indias, France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco. In 1818, yielding to the advice of his brother, David Curtis De Forest, he settled in New York as a broker and commission merchant. His sales and shipments of merchandise to the West Indies, to South America and to Europe were many and large. At that time a disastrous business de- pression affected Europe and all of the civilized regions of the American continent. In 1821, weary with struggling against the persistent panic, he gave up his New York brokerage and commission busi- ness, having lost about one-tenth of his capital, and with his family returned to Connecticut and settled in Humphreysville (now Seymour). This was a little village named in honor of Col. David Humph- reys, who had established large mills there. At his death, work in the mill ceased, and the buildings remained unoccupied until in 1822, when they were purchased by John H. De Forest and Messrs. Waln & Leaming, of Philadelphia. A new company was organized, under the name of the Humphreysville Manufacturing Co., of which John H. De Forest was president, and J. Fischer Leaming, secretary. Although Mr. De Forest knew nothing of manufac- turing, he nevertheless made a success of his ven- ture. The new company immediately started the paper mill, gristmill and sawmill, while they altered the woolen mill into a mill for cotton sheetings, and so the company became one of the minor founders of cotton manufacture in the United States. Mr. De Forest continued in the manufacturing business until his death, which occurred Feb. 12, 1839. Dur- ing his residence in Humphreysville, Mr. De Forest was repeatedly elected to the State Legislature, and was for years the principal trying justice of the dis- trict. Mrs. Dotha (Woodward) De Forest was the youngest daughter of Elijah Woodward, of Watertown, Conn., who marched with one of the first Connecticut companies to the rescue of Bos- ton at the Lexington alarm. She was married to John Hancock De Forest, Dec. 5, 1811.
It may not be uninteresting to note that David Curtis De Forest, uncle of Andrew W. De Forest, once lived in New Haven, as a prosperous retired merchant. He built for his residence, which was then called "the elegant De Forest mansion," the house standing on the corner of Church and Elm streets, now owned and occupied by ex-Mayor Jos- eph B. Sargent. Mr. De Forest had lived in South America much of his life and had amassed a for- tune. He was greatly interested in the struggles of the Buenos Ayreans, Chilians and Bolivians for independence, particularly of the Buenos Avreans, and was elected First Consul to the United States from the new government of Buenos Ayres. Mrs. De Forest (who was Miss Julia Wooster ) was a granddaughter of a cousin of General David Woos- ter, and was said to be a most beautiful woman. Two excellent portraits of Mr. De Forest and his beautiful wife, painted by Morse, hang in the Yale Art Gallery. About 1822, his duty done to Buenos
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Ayres, Mr. De Forest resigned his consul-general- ship. Somewhat later he journeyed to Montreal to put his eldest daughter in a French school there, and thus was absent from home when his "elegant mansion" received its most illustrious visitor, Gen- eral Lafayette, who was in New Haven four hours on Aug. 21, 1824. Says the Columbia Register of that date :
The hero had a reception at the court house, then a breakfast with Gov. Wolcott and all the authorities, after that three hundred ladies with their children stormed the hotel and were presented to the courtly old nobleman. At twelve he reviewed the troops on the Green. After that he paid his respectsto various widows and daughters of slain Rev- olutionary heroes; next, to the house of David C. DeForest, Esquire, late Consul-General fron Buenos Ayres, and the provinces of the Rio de la Plata. Mr. DeForest being absent, he was received at the door by Mrs. DeForest with her accustomed politeness. Here he remained several min- utes and partook of some refreshment. From the portico in front of this splendid mansion he surveyed the beautiful Green, full of people, with the long line of troops, the build- ings around, and the fine foliage or the trees. A lively sen- sibility at once appeared. He was struck with the beauty of the scene. " Such another prospect can hardly be presented in America." After taking leave of his handsome hostess, " Mr. Street's elegant barouch " bore him through the double line of hurrahing students to the college, there to be received by the President and faculty, after which he visited the burying ground and the graves of Humphreys and other old comrades, and then fifteen guns roared him out of town with their worshiping farewell.
David C. De Forest's life in New Haven was conducted on a generous scale, spending and giving away much. His money had come to him easily and he parted with it freely. It was his custom every February to send $50.00 to the almshouse in order that the inmates might celebrate Washington's birth- day by having a good dinner and a glass of wine each. He divided $15,000 among his relatives ; and he offered his mother $5,000 more, but as she re- fused it, he presented the check to Yale College for the benefit of the library. The magnitude of the gift hurt the vanity of one of the elder trustees, a locally illustrious gentleman who had just donated $1,000 for the same purpose, consequently Secretary Goodrich and Treasurer Hillhouse called on Mr. De Forest and requested him to withhold his check until the aforesaid dignitary could be reconciled to it. A year later, fearful of losing the money, they called again and suggested that it should be given in another way. "Gentlemen," said Mr. DeForest, "the trustees returned my check when I offered it. Now they want it for a purpose which fails to in- terest me. I will give it; but I will not give it out- right to the college. I will give it for the benefit of my own flesh and blood." Thereupon he proposed that the money should be held at interest until it amounted to $26,000, when the income should be devoted to four scholarships for De Forests. and an annual gold medal, worth $1oo, for superiority in English Composition and Declamation. The proposition was accepted, and the check paid over Sept. 12, 1823. A vigorous opposition was offered by the aforementioned local grandee and one of his
personal friends among the professors, but was voted down. The De Forest scholarships ( now three in number ) have done good, and the De Forest medal is one of the chief prizes of the Academic course of Yale. David Curtis De Forest died at his home, corner of Church and Elm streets, Feb. 22, 1825. His remains lie buried in Grove street cemetery.
As a boy Andrew Woodward De Forest at- tended the common schools in Humphreysville, and the Goshen ( Conn.) Academy, a school which was then famous, and which in its time has graduated many men of note. At about eighteen years of age young De Forest went to New York as a clerk in the large silk importing house of De Forest & Downes, the senior member of the firm being a rela- tive of his. He expected to make this his life work. but a severe rheumatic sickness at the age of twenty- three compelled him to abandon his plans, and to. return to his home in Humphreysville. While liv- ing in New York he had become interested in mili- tary affairs, and was captain of a company which he used to drill in Washington Square. In 1847 Mr. De Forest came to New Haven to reside and estab- lish a lumber business on Custom House Square with Albert Steele as a partner, the firm being known as Steele & De Forest. The partner- ship formed continued until 1852, when Mr. Steele retired, and Justus S. Hotchkiss became a partner in the business, the firm name be- ing changed to De Forest & Hotchkiss. Twen- ty-one years later (1873) the De Forest & Hotchkiss Co. was incorporated, and seven years. later (1880) Mr. Hotchkiss retired. From this date until his death, Mr. De Forest was only the nominal president of the company, the business. being carried on and managed by his two sons, Charles S. De Forest and Eugene De Forest. In previous years, in connection with his New Haven lumber business, Mr. De Forest at one time owned and operated a lumber mill in Canada. Heavy freshets worked such disaster to his property that he finally abandoned it and sold the mill.
During his fifty-three years' residence in New Haven he attained by large ability, untiring patience and quiet persistence a distinguished place in the business affairs of the city, and won for himself the sincere respect of his fellow citizens. His ability as a sound and wise counsellor and able administrator of important business affairs was recognized and called into service. At the organization of the Tradesmen's Bank in 1854, he was elected one of its directors, a position which he held for forty-six years (until his death), and in 1896 he was elected vice-president. In 1863 he was elected by the peo- ple a member of the Board of Education to fill a two years unexpired term of a member who had died. He was re-elected in 1865 for the full term of three years, and was president of the Board in the years 1864-1865, and 1866-1867. It was during his first term that the study of music was introduced into
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the public schools of New Haven. At this time also the question of a public high school, which had been considered and discussed by the voters and tax- payers of the city for many years, was revived with great earnestness. Public meetings were held to discuss the question, at which Mr. De Forest pre- sided, and the outcome of this agitation was the starting of a public high school in the old Palladium building on Orange street. In October, 1871, the cornerstone of the present high school building, on the corner of Orange and Wall streets, was laid, and the building completed in 1873. Mr. De Forest was one of the oldest directors in the New Haven Gas Light Co., having been elected in 1880. He succeeded to its presidency on the death of Danicl Trowbridge in 1894, previous to which he had for several years been vice-president. He was also president of the Tontine Co. In all the varied ex- periences of his long and useful life, he showed by his wisdom, his kindness, his tact, his reliability and his integrity, that he was a man of true worth and solid character. His life from its beginning to its close was unimpeachable. When a young man he united with the Congregational Church in Humph- reysville. On coming to New Haven he identified himself with the old College Street Church, and at once entered heartily and enthusiastically into the work of the church. For a long time he was a deacon of the church and a teacher in its Sunday- school. Deacon De Forest was with the College Street Church about twenty years, when he took a letter to the North (now United) Church on ac- count of its being more convenient for his wife. For many years he was a member of the New Haven Congregational Club. He was in all ways a worthy Christian citizen, abounding without ostentation in good works, and devoted to his church, his family and his friends.
On Oct. 30, 1844, Andrew W. De Forest mar- ried in Fairfield, Conn., Lucretia Sturges Bennet. daughter of Thaddeus Wakeman and Deborah Lewis (Sturges) Bennet, of Southport, Conn. Five children were born of this union, of whom three sons survive: Edward Linson, of Springfield. Mass .; Charles Sturges, president and secretary of the De Forest & Hotchkiss Co .; Eugene, vice-presi- dent and treasurer of the De Forest & Hotchkiss Co .; Mary Woodward, who became the wife of .
S. Duncan Leverich, and died at her home in New York, March 31, 1897; and Lucretia Hotchkiss, who died in New Haven, March 19, 1886. Edward Lin- son De Forest married Louise Hawley, and has one daughter, Edith M. Charles Sturges De Forest wedded Lilian Ives, and has one child, Antoinette. Mary Woodward (De Forest) Leverich left a daughter, May D., now the wife of Major Ira A. Shaler, of New York City. Eugene married Minnie B. Richards, of Boston, Mass. A brother, Rev. Henry Alfred De Forest, M. D., a graduate of Yale College, class of 1832, and missionary to Syria, died at Rochester, N. Y., Nov. 24, 1858. A second
brother, George Frederick De Forest, a graduate of Yale College, and in 1852 president of the Eagle Manufacturing Co., of Seymour. capital $100,000, died in Freeport, Ill .. Sept. 16, 1883. One brother survives, Major John W. De Forest. of this city, a novelist, who was captain of the 12th Conn. V. I. in the Civil War, and was breveted Major of United States Volunteers.
BENJAMIN R. ENGLISH is one of the well- known men of New Haven, and is a son of Henry English, a son of James English, who in his time held many prominent positions.
James English followed the cabinet making busi- ness in company with Sherman Blair. He was the father of nine children: Benjamin; John; James E .; George D .: Charles L .: Henry; Nancy, the widow of William B. Pardee. resides in New Haven: Elizabeth married Philo Babbit, and has a son, Edgar, now engaged in business in New Haven; and Caroline married Fred Bronson, of Waterbury.
Henry English acquired his education in New Haven. After leaving school, he went into the car- riage business with a Mr. Kimberry, under the firm name of Kimberry & English, and later, in company with his brother, James E., engaged in lumber deal- ing. He died at the early age of thirty. He mar- ried Grace E. Fowler, daughter of Timothy Fowler, and one child, Benjamin R., was born of this union. Mrs. Grace (Fowler) English died Feb. 19, 1889, at the age of seventy-two years. The Fowler fam- ily is an old and important one in the history of Connecticut, their first American ancestor being as- sociated with Governor Davenport, and at one time the first magistrate of the Colony. Timothy Fowler was the father of nine children, of whom one daugh- ter married Gov. English ; all are deceased except a son, William H. Timothy Fowler died at the age of eighty-two, and his wife at the age of fifty-four. Both were members of the Episcopal Church.
Benjamin R. English was born Feb. 26, 1842, and acquired his education in the public schools of New Haven, and in the military school of Gen. Rus- sell, at that time one of the noted educational insti- tutions in New England. His business career be- gan as an errand boy in a dry-goods store, where he remained two years, and then for. four years he worked in the clock factory. In 1861 he engaged in the lumber business in company with John P. Tut- tle, with whom he continued for sixteen years, when he entered the real estate business in which he has been very successful, and which he continues to the present time.
In 1866, Mr. English was united in marriage with Teresa H. Farren, one of the three children born to John S. and Polly ( Pardee) Farren, the former an oyster dealer in Baltimore, and the latter a native of New Haven, who died when over seven- ty years of age. The other two children in the family of John S. Farren are Ellen, wife of O. E.
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Maltby ; and Burdette, who now lives in Baltimore. Mr. and Mrs. English have had three children: (1) James E., who married Gertrude Worth, of Brook- lyn, N. Y., and is the father of twins, Worth and Grace Atherton; he is in business with his father. (2) Benjamin F., who is connected with Peck Brothers. (3) A daughter, Grace L., died Dec. 5, 1895, aged eighteen years. Politically Mr. English is a Democrat, and has held a number of offices in the gift of the people. In 1884 he was elected selectman, and became president of the board. He was on the fire board five years, and was postmaster from 1884 until 1889. At the present time he is a director of the Free Public Library, a position he has held since 1894. He was secretary of the New Haven school district in which position he served for six years. For ten years he has been a com- missioner of the Sinking Fund, and is one of the trustees of the town deposit fund. In financial and commercial circles he has played an important part, and is a director of the First National Bank, and a trustee of the Connecticut Savings Bank. He is a director of the New Haven Trust Company, the New Haven Saw Mill Company and of the Danbury and Norwaik R. R. Co .; director and secretary of the Evergreen Cemetery Association, and the New Haven County Historical Society. He is also a trustee and treasurer of the Clergymen's Retiring Funds, and Aged and Infirm Clergy Fund ; trustee and secretary of the Bishop's Fund. Religiously he is connected with the Episcopal Church in Con- necticut, being a leading and influential member and warden of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in New Haven. Socially Mr. English belongs to the I. O. R. M., and is one of the executive committee of the Sons of American Revolution, in which his eldest son, who is now secretary of the New Haven Park Commission, takes an active interest.
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