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 8

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1010

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 8

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Co Fairchild -

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

dee, of Oxford, and both were earnest and con- sistent members of the Congregational Church. Mr. Fairchild was a Republican in politics. Mrs. Fair- child, like her husband, descended from one of the town's early families. Her father, Job Candee, was a successful farmer, and lived to be ninety years old. On Oct. 3, 1784, he married Sarah Benham, of Middlebury, and they had seven children: Enos, Horace, Leverett, Laura, Esther, Roxy and Sarah, of whom Sarah, the youngest, was the last survivor, living until Aug. 20, 1899, and reaching the age of ninety-two years. Mrs. Sarah ( Benham) Candee lived to the age of seventy-six. Job Candee served in the army of Gen. Washington, enlisting as a fifer, but rising to the rank of captain before the conclusion of the war. His soul-stirring anecdotes of the great struggle which began in 1776, were full alike of pathos and humor, and to listen to their narration was one of our subject's great pleasures in early life. Under the heading, "A Daughter of the Revolution," an interesting article appeared in a local paper a few years ago, and we here give same in part :

Sey mour has a chapter of Daughters of the Revolution composed of lineal descendants of soldiers of the Revolu- tion, mostly of the third and fourth generations, and has also what very few cities or towns in the United States can boast, a daughter of a soldier of the Revolution. This is Mrs. Sarah Fairchild, of Washington avenue, now nearly ninety years of age. She is the daughter of Job Candee, of Oxford, who enlisted Feb. 9, 1779, in Captain Bradley's .company of Matrosses (artillery), raised for the defense of New Haven. He was discharged Feb. 8, 1780, but re-en- listed March Ist in the artillery under Capt. Bradley, and served until Jan. 1, 1781, returning to his home during the most inclement weather, as was the custom with a great number of the patriots during that long contest. In 1781 he served in Col. Canfield's regiment, at West Point. He is mentioned in the list of Revolutionary pensioners, in 1832, and again in 1840, being then eighty years of age and a resident of Oxford. In the records of the Oxford Congre- gational Church (of which he became a member July 20, 1788) he is mentioned under date of 1792 as Lieutenant, and in the Candee genealogy as Captain in 1802. His monument reads-" Capt. Candee was the last survivor of nine brothers, whose aggregate ages were 785 14 years, averag- ing 8744 years. Reader, yet a few years or days or months pass in silent lapse, and time to you will be no more."

Charles E. Fairchild received the benefit of an excellent English education, passing through both the common and high schools of Oxford, and the academy at Newtown. Like many of the bright young men of New England, he believed that he might better his fortunes by leaving the rock-girt, mountain-crested section in which he had been born. and at the age of twenty years he carried himself and his modest outfit to Tennessee, where for five years he filled a clerical position in a store. Re- turning East at the end of that time, he found em- ployment in the city of New York, with a wholesale dry-goods house, as an accountant. He left this position to become a bookkeeper in the Manufactur- ers & Merchants Bank, where he remained fourteen years, resigning his post to become a traveling sales- man for the Fowler Nail Co .; the territory assigned

him extended as far west as the Mississippi. He left the Fowler Co., in 1876, to accept his present position as superintendent and general manager of the H. P. & E. Day Manufacturing Co., of Seymour, a concern engaged in the manufacture of hard rub- ber goods. Here he has found an ample field for the exercise of his rare mental powers, sound judg- ment and executive capacity. The plant is one of the largest and best-equipped in Connecticut, and Mr. Fairchild's strong common sense and tireless energy have contributed in no small measure to the company's remarkable success. He is a director of the- Valley National Bank, of Seymour, of which he was one of the organizers.

Mr. Fairchild has been twice married. His first wife was Martha W. Davidson, of Brooklyn, N. Y., to whom he was united in June, 1862. She was a daughter of William A. Davidson, a well- known custom house keeper of New York, and was a member of the Tabernacle Church, of which Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage was pastor. She died in 1887, after reaching the age of fifty years. On Sept. 18, 1888, Mr. Fairchild married, for his second wife, Ida (Geeren) Coffin, daughter of Alexander and Fran- ces (Clark) Geeren, the former one of the success- ful brick manufacturers of Catskill, New York.

The party ties rest lightly on Mr. Fairchild, his neck bearing no partisan yoke. He votes as his intelligence, prompted by his conscience, dictates, his natural preference being for men rather than party. His fellow citizens have not failed to rec- ognize his keen perceptive mental powers and his incorruptible integrity. They have chosen him to fill the office of assessor, and to membership on the board of relief. While making no bid for popu- larity he makes friends as a matter of course, and his moral worth commands the undisguised respect of the community, without distinction of party. He is one of the influential members of the Board of Trade. Our subject was one of the charter mem- bers of the local lodge of the Order of Red Men, and has filled many chairs in that organization. His residence at No. 25 Washington avenue is one of Seymour's most handsome and best-appointed honies, and there, in his seventieth year, he enjoys the rest which pertains to a serene old age and a "conscience void of offence." Both Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild are communicants of the Episcopal Church.

WHITE. Prominent among the manufactur- ers of Waterbury, for nearly sixty years have been the several members of the White family, sons and grandsons of the late Jacob White, of Cromwell, formerly Middletown Upper Houses. This fam- ily has descended on both sides from early and dis- tinguished New England ancestry. Elder John White, with his wife and several children, sailed from England in 1632 on the ship "Lyon." The head of the family lived at Cambridge, Mass., Hartford, Conn. (of which .place he was one of the

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

original proprietors), and Hadley, Mass. The

late Luther Chapin White and his brothers (sons of Jacob White), of Waterbury, were in the eighth generation from Elder John White, the first Amer- ican ancestor of the family, the line of their de- scent being through Capt. Nathaniel, Jacob, John, Jacob (2), Jolin (2), and Jacob (3).

(II) Capt. Nathaniel White, son of Elder John. born in England, was twice married. His first wife. Elizabeth, died, and he married (second) Widow Martha Mould. He became in 1650 or 1651 one of the original proprietors and first set- tlers of Middletown, Conn., his home being in that part of the town formerly called "Upper Houses." now Cromwell. He was one of the leading men of the Colony and acquired great influence. He was elected a representative from Middletown to the General Court eighty-five times.

(III) Jacob White, son of Capt. Nathaniel and his wife Elizabeth, born in 1665. married ( first ) in 1692, Deborah Shepherd, and (second) in 1729, Widow Rebecca Ranney. He served as constable and also as selectman.

(IV) John White, son of Jacob, was born in 1712, at Middletown Upper Houses, where he lived and died. He married, in 1736, Elizabeth Bord- man.

(V) Jacob White (2), son of John, was born in 1737, in Middletown Upper Houses, where he lived and died. He married, in 1760, Lucy Savage.

(VI) John White (2), son of Jacob (2), born in Middletown Upper Houses, married, in 1790, Ruth Ranney. He was drowned at sea in 1799. (VII) Jacob White (3), son of John (2), born 1792 in Upper Middletown, married, in 1815, Susan, daughter of Capt. William Sage. She was born in 1796. Jacob White was a tanner and

shoemaker, and in 1819 removed to Sandisfield, Mass., where he carried on the business of tan- ning for twelve years. He returned to Upper Mid- dletown, and resided there chiefly until his death, in 1849. His children were: William S., Henry S., Luther Chapin, Harriet M., Jacob Watson, Abigail E., Orrin S. and Jane A.

Capt. William Sage, the maternal grandfather of the late Luther Chapin White, was a great- grandson of David Sage, a native of Wales. The latter was born in 1639, and became one of the first settlers of Middletown, in 1652. Capt. Will- iam Sage was born in 1748, son of Amos Sage. He married Bathsheba Hollister, and they had nine sons and five daughters. William Sage was in the war of independence. Immediately after the battle of Lexington, an event that aroused the country to arms, he, like thousands of others, left family and business and hastened to the scene of conflict, and was at the battle of Bunker Hill. He was afterward in other places in this State when the citizens were called upon to resist in- vasion of the enemy. He died in 1831, lamented and respected by all who knew him.

Luther Chapin White, son of Jacob (3) and Susan (Sage) White, was born Dec. 25, 1821, in Sandisfield, Mass. From the age of ten until he was seventeen he passed the time on his father's farm, in Cromwell, where he attended the district school. At seventeen he was apprenticed to his eldest brother, who was a builder in Middletown, but owing to an injury from a fall he was com- pelled to abandon the business. He then for a time was in the employ of L. E. Hicks, of Crom- well, a maker of plated door trimmings. In 1841 he came to Waterbury and entered the employ of E. E. Pritchard and H. J. White, manufacturers of umbrella trimmings and small brass goods. In December, 1842, he entered the employ of the Sco- vill Mfg. Co., remaining some two years. For the next six years he was employed as foreman by J. S. Norton, a manufacturer of door trimmings. in New Haven, Middletown and Meriden. In 1851, having invented and patented a valuable improvement in the making of burners for "fluid" lamps, Mr. White formed a partnership with Frank Smith, in Meriden, for their manufacture. Two years later they removed their business to Water- bury, and in 1853 organized the City Manufac- turing Co., of which Mr. White was made presi- dent. A year later Mr. Smith died and his inter- est was purchased by Mr. White. The latter con- tinued in the management of this business for fifteen years, although during that time an entire change in the character of the articles manufac- tured was made, owing to the introduction of coal oil and afterward of kerosene. In his important field Mr. White was a pioneer, having been the maker of the first burners ever made in America for utilizing these oils. He was largely interested in the numerous inventions and improvements in the manufacture of lamp burners which were made during this period. The manufacture of these goods was carried on in the building of the Bene- dict & Burnham Manufacturing Co., on South Main street, and the business developed so rapidly that the capacity of the factory was more than quadrupled.

In 1866 Mr. White purchased from the estate of his brothers, J. W. and Henry S. White, the paper and paper box business established in 1851; and associated with him Capt. Alfred Wells, under the firm name of White & Wells. They built up. a large trade in paper and straw board and the extensive manufacture of paper boxes, which is carried on in the buildings on Bank street, and in this line they were closely associated for twenty years. The partnership continued until the death of Mr. Wells, July 11, 1886, after which Mr. White- became the sole owner of the business. Toward the close of 1881 the Southford Paper Co., then newly organized, with L. C. White, as president. bought out the Southford Mfg. Co., with its pa- permill, which had been established since 1853. erected new buildings, and entered upon manufac-

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

turing straw board and manilla paper on a large scale. This company in 1887 ceased operations and the mill was idle for some five years, starting up again only a few weeks before Mr. White's death.

On July 1, 1868, Mr. White sold to the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Co. all his interest in the City Manufacturing Co., but retained the but- ton back business, which he transferred to the building on Bank street and which was afterward conducted by the L. C. White Co. Mr. White was the owner, also, of a paper box factory in Naugatuck, and of the Bridgeport Paper Box Company.

Although really an invalid for many years be- fore his death, Mr. White was reluctant to ac- knowledge it, even to himself, and exhibited great fortitude and courage. When not actually laid aside by illness he applied himself closely to busi- ness, exercising a strict watch over details, and exhibiting the unwearied diligence which charac- terized him in earlier years. The result was visible in his marked success as a business man. He was not, however, so engrossed in business as to ex- clude interest in public affairs, or in the doings of the social world. He was fond of good com- pany and interested in all that was going on around about him. He was of a cheerful and hopeful nature, and those with whom he met from day to day felt the genial influence of his life. He believed in the legitimate pleasure of life, as well as in hard work, and sought entertainment and profit in travel. There was no important section of his own country which he had not visited, and he had also traveled abroad. He was a close ob- server of men and things, and gave his friends not a little pleasure in recounting his adventures and describing what he had seen in other places.

Politically Mr. White was an earnest Republi- can, exhibiting in politics, as in other departments of life, the whole-souled characteristics which made him so attractive to his fellow citizens. In religious affairs he held closely, but without a particle of bigotry, to the faith in which he was brought up. He was for many years a member of the First Congregational Church, and took a warm interest in its welfare.

On Nov. 28, 1844, Mr. White was married to Miss Jane Amelia Moses, of Waterbury, who sur- vived him. Their children were: William Henry, who died in 1873, at the age of twenty-six ; George Luther, now a resident of Waterbury: and Mrs. Lynde Harrison, of New Haven. Luther Chapin White died April 5, 1893.

GEORGE LUTHER WIIITE, son of the late Luther Chapin White, was born July 15, 1852, in Meri- cien. He attended the common schools of Water- bury and for a time the school known as the "Gunnery." in Washington, Litchfield Co., Conn. He was afterward more or less associated with his father in his different lines of business until his death, and then succeeded to his large business in-

terests. In January, 1892, he became the man- ager of the business of White & Wells, and in January, 1895, organized The White & Wells Co., as successors to the business of White & Wells, and was chosen president and treasurer, and has since most efficiently performed the duties of those trusts. At the death of his father he became presi- dent and treasurer of the L. C. White Co. and still holds those offices. He is also vice-president of the New England Watch Co., of Waterbury, and of the Weston Strawboard Co., of St. Mary's, Ohio,! and Gas City, Ind. Mr. White . is one of the younger prominent manufacturers and business men of Waterbury. Socially he is a member of the Waterbury Club, and for some nine years served on the house committee, and from 1899 to 1901 was its president. Politically he is a Repub- lican. He was a member of the common council in 1890, from the Second ward. He has the confi- dence and esteem of the community to a marked degree. On April 15, 1874, Mr. White was mar- ried to Julia Phelps Haring, daughter of James Demarest Haring, of New York City, and the marriage has been blessed with children as follows : Caroline Haring, William Henry and George Luther, Jr.

Jacob Watson White, son of Jacob and Susan (Sage) White, was born Sept. 19, 1827, in Sandis- field, Mass. In 1831 he came to Cromwell, Conn., with his father's family, and lived the greater part of the time until 1850, when he located in Water- bury. There, associated with his brother Henry S. White, he established, in 1851, the paper and paper box business described in the foregoing, which he conducted the remainder of his life. He died July 5, 1865, and the business was managed by his executors until February, 1866, when it was purchased by his brother, Luther C. White. Jacob Watson White was one of the original members of the Second Congregational Church, in the af- fairs of which he took a great interest. He was a man of good business ability, and held the confi- dence and esteem of his fellow citizens. He mar- ried, Oct. 19, 1850, Anna Eliza, daughter of Chauncey Wells, of Hartford, and their children were: (I) Edward Luther White, born Dec. 12, 1853, in Waterbury, was prepared for Yale Col- lege at Williston Seminary, and graduated from Sheffield Scientific School in 1875. . He then en- tered the employ of White & Wells, as manager of their business at Bridgeport. On the death of Capt. Wells, in 1886, Mr. White returned to Wa- terbury, and was manager of their business here until Jan. 1, 1892, when he was appointed secre- tary of the Waterbury Watch Co. He remained connected with that business until his death. Aug. 5, 1893. In January, 1876, he was married to Laura V., a daughter of Judge James L. Ogden, of Jersey City, N. J., and to them were born three children, Ogden Watson. Howard Sage and Ed- ward Luther. (2) Chauncey Howard White was

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born March 24, 1856, in Waterbury, and was ed- ucated at Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Mass. He was vice-president of the White & Wells Co., at the time of his death, Aug. 23, 1901. (3) Anna S. White. (4) Mary W. White. The mother of these died in May, 1862.

WILLIAM A. WATERBURY, one of the best known railroad men of Connecticut, and a prom- inent citizen of New Haven, is the superintendent of the Air Line-Northampton Division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. His career as a railroad man extends along toward a half cen- tury, and with but one exception he is the oldest, in point of service, division superintendent in the em- ploy of the Consolidated Railway Company.

Mr. Waterbury was born March 23, 1838, in Stamford, Conn., where the Waterbury family has been settled for generations. They have been iden- tified with the history of that town from the earliest period, taking an active part in public affairs, and an equally active part in the Revolutionary war. The members of the family have always commanded the highest esteem in their respective communities. Enos Waterbury, the grandfather of our subject, was one of the most respected citizens of Stamford. He lived to the age of ninety.

Jonathan B. Waterbury, the father of our sub- ject, was a native of Stamford. By trade he was a blacksmith and wheelwright, and for many years he did all the blacksmith work at Stamford for the old stage line which ran between New York and Boston. He also carried on farming at one time in his life, and owned much of the land which now comprises Strawberry Hill, the most aristocratic residence section of Stamford. His spacious home of over twenty rooms, was one of the places in Stamford noted for hospitality. His family was a large one, and they entertained frequently and lav- ishly. Mr. Waterbury married Betsy Weed, by whom he had three children: Enos, Charles and Betsy Ann. For his second wife he married Sallie Smith, of Stamford, a daughter of Rev. Frederick Smith, a Baptist minister of that city, who had sev- eral other children who lived to maturity. To this marriage were born ten children: Enos, deceased ; Charles, deceased ; Betsy Ann, deceased : Elizabeth J. ; James A., deceased ; Henry E., deceased ; George A., deceased; Cornelia A. : William A. ; and Mary A., deceased. Elizabeth J. married Andrew Boyd, of Stamford, who belonged to the 28th Conn. V. I. George A., who was also in the same regiment, was taken prisoner at Port Hudson; he was in the celebrated charge there, known as "The Forlorn Hope." Cornelia A. married Samuel W. Mcakim, a gardener of Flushing, L. I. Both Mr. and Mrs. : Waterbury died in Stamford, where they were prominent members of the Universalist Church. Mr. Waterbury was a Republican.

The boyhood days of William A. Waterbury were spent in Stamford, where he attended both a

common and graded school. At the age of six- teen he went to Bridgeport and clerked for about one year. In 1857 he was employed on the Nauga- tuck division of what is now the New York, New Haven & Hartford. Railroad, as clerk and ticket agent at Waterbury, continuing in that capacity for five years. At the expiration of that time, he was promoted to the position of conductor and general ticket agent, serving five years as such, three of which he also had the examination of all freight receipts for that road. The next position he held with the road was that of agent at Waterbury, and he was then transferred to New York City, and made ticket agent there. At that time the Air Line Railroad, running from Middletown to New Haven, was being built, and Mr. Waterbury was appointed superintendent of the construction. As soon as it was completed he was appointed superintendent of the road, and located stations, etc., on its extension for five years, until it was completed to Willimantic, Conn., when in October, 1875, he came to New Ha- ven and took charge of the freighting business at Belle Dock, serving ten years; during nine years of that time he also served as harbormaster. In 1885 Mr. Waterbury was made superintendent of the Air Line and Shore Line, and he retained this posi- tion for three years, but the business then became too extensive for one man to handle, and he dropped the work of the Shore Line. After about three years more he was transferred to the Shore Line, in the same position, remaining there until Feb. I, 1901, when he was appointed superintendent of the Air Line-Northampton division, having charge of about two hundred miles of road.

In Waterbury, Conn., Dec. 25, 1860, Mr. Wat- erbury married Miss Martha E. Kelsey, of Middle- town, a native of New York City, born June 10, 1841, daughter of William and Elizabeth Kelsey. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Wat- erbury: (1) Carrie Amelia married Nelson D. Coe, of Winsted, Conn., who is a clerk in the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad offices at New Haven. Mr. and Mrs. Coe have two children : Harriet Waterbury, a graduate of the New Haven high school, class of 1902; and Frederick Kelsey. (2) Frederick Smith graduated from a hospital col- lege of medicine in Louisville, Ky. He is now a traveling salesman. He is married and has two children-Fred W. and Lois E. (3) Lyman died in infancy. (4) Harriet Elizabeth married Charles E. Burton, of New Haven, who is a member of the firm of George R. Burton & Sons, insurance men, of that city; Charles E. Burton is himself a prom- inent insurance man, special agent for the American Insurance Co., of Philadelphia, with an office in Boston. He is also an insurance adjuster.

In politics Mr. Waterbury is a Republican. He has served his party as a member of the board of aldermen, and was chairman of the Lamp commit- tee, which furnished the first electric lights to the city. Although repeatedly solicited he has declined

HA. Natobuy

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL, RECORD.

any other offices. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, affiliating with Trumbull Lodge, No. 22; New Haven Commandery, No. 2, K. T .; and Pyramid Temple, Mystic Shrine, of Bridgeport. He is a member and trustee of the Knights Templar Club; a member of the board of directors of the Masonic Mutual Benefit Association, and treasurer of Trumbull Lodge. He is also past regent of Live Oak Council, Royal Arcanum; a member and triis- tee of the Knights of Honor ; and very popular in all these organizations. Both he and his family are consistent members of the Universalist Church.

When Mr. Waterbury severed his connections with the Shore Line he was presented with a beauti- ful silver loving cup, appropriately engraved, to- gether with a large framed engrossed set of resolu- tions from his men bearing testimony to their appre- ciation of him as an official, and their friendship for him as a man. Mr. Waterbury is a man of unusual ability, faithful in the discharge of duties confided in him, upright in his dealings, both with his superior officers and the men under him. genial in his asso- ciations with his friends and fellow townsmen, with an untarnished record as a public man and a private citizen ; and the success which has attended his ef- forts is certainly well merited.

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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 2, Part 8

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1010

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1010