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 3, Part 10

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 988

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 3 > Part 10

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ALMON EDWIN CHANDLER. an honored veteran of the Civil war, and a leading farmer of Prospect, was born in Canandaigua, N. Y .. Oct. 15. 1830. His father, John W. Chandler. was a native of Connecticut, but after his marriage removed to Canandaigua, N. Y., where he engaged in farni- ing until 1832, and then came to New Haven county, Conn., locating in the town of Cheshire, where he followed the same pursuit for some time. Later he came to Prospect and purchased a small farm, upon which he spent the remainder of his life. During the Civil war, although past the age of those subject to military service, he enlisted in Company E, 6th Conn. V. I., and participated in several battles. While in South Carolina, he was taken with small- pox and confined in a hospital there for some time, after which he returned to his home in Prospect. In politics he was first a Whig and later a Republi- can, but was never an office seeker. In Cheshire, he married Miss Laura S. Doolittle, a native of that town and a daughter of Obed Doolittle, a carpen- ter and joiner by trade, and to them were born six children: Moses, a farmer of Prospect : Sidney, who died in Yalesville: Almon Edwin, our subject : Marcus, deceased ; Betsey, wife of Frank Matthews : and one who died in infancy. The parents both died in Prospect and were buried in the cemetery there.

The district schools of Cheshire afforded Almon E. Chandler his only opportunity for obtaining an education, and his knowledge of farm work was ob- tained on the home place. On leaving the parental roof at the age of twenty years, he went to Yales- ville, where he worked in the spoon factory for one year, and during the following five years he was em- ployed in a similar establishment in Prospect, after which he worked in a ferrule shop for five years, At the end of that period he went to Geneva, Ohio, where he worked at ferrule making for six months, and then returned to Prospect, locating on the farm which has since been his home, and to the cultiva- tion and improvement of which he has since de- voted` his energies.

During the dark days of the Civil war, Mr. Chandler offered his services to his country. enlist- ing at Cheshire, Aug. 8, 1862, in Co. A, 20th Conn.

V. I., under Capt. Gilford and Col. Ross. While at Pleasant Valley, he was sent with others to get timber with which to build huts for camp, and he was severely injured in his spine, so that afterward he was unfit for duty. After months in the hospi- tal, he returned home, but has ever since been an invalid.

Mr. Chandler has been twice married, his first wife being Miss Julia Ann Matthews, of Prospect, where she died and was buried. She left one child. William, now a farmer of Prospect. In 1856, at Newtown, Conn., Mr. Chandler married Martha Morse, a native of Prospect, a daughter of Lent Morse and granddaughter of Lent Morse, Sr. Mortimer, the only child born of this union, is now deceased. Mr. Chandler has always affiliated with the Republican party, and both he and his wife are consistent and faithful members ot the Congrega- tional Church, and are highly respected and es- teemed by all who know theni.

JOHN B. POPE has the distinction of having won the proud American title of a self-made man. Many of the leading enterprises and business inter- ests of Oxford bear the impress of his individuality, and in all his undertakings he has been remarka- bly successful. His great determination and energy have enabled him to overcome all the difficulties and obstacles in his path, and to work his way stead- ily upward to prosperity. He is known among his fellow townsmen for his reliability in all trade trans- actions, and he justly merits their confidence and regard.

Mr. Pope was born in the town of Roxbury, Litchfield Co., Conn .. July 13, 1842, and is a great- grandson of Thomas Pope, who came from England and settled near Stratford, Conn. His son, John Pope, married a Loveland. He was a farmer by occupation, and he served as a soldier in the war of 1812. John Pope died when his son. Nehemiah, our subject's father, was but three years old, and the latter afterward lived with an uncle.

Nehemiah Pope was born in the town of Oxford. At an early age he went to Danbury, Conn., where he worked at the tailor's trade until sixteen, and from there went to Orange, this State, where he was employed on the farm of Benjamin Clark for five years. He next worked on a farm in Washing- ton, Conn., and while there he married Miss Eliza A. Parker, a native of that place. He continued his residence in Washington, engaged in farming, until 1863, when he removed to Michigan, locating near Kalamazoo, where he purchased a tract of wild land. At the end of a year and a half, however, he re- turned to Washington, having met with business reverses and suffering from ill health. There he worked on a farm by the month, to secure the money necessary to bring his wife and six children back to Connecticut. Soon after their return he came to Oxford, where he died in 1883. aged seventy-nine years, his wife in 1885, aged eighty-two. In their

John B Safe

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

family were the following children : Elizabeth, wife of William T. Bassett, of Hartford: Frederick B., a wagon manufacturer of Birmingham : Julius J., deceased; Clara, who married Stephen Gunn, of Milford, Conn., and died in 1898; George S., a farmer of Middlebury, Conn .: Benjamin C., a car- penter of Oxford; and John B., our subject.

John B. Pope was brought to Oxford the year of his birth, and on the home farm passed his boy- hood and youth, and was provided with a good com- mon-school education. He remained with his par- ents until his marriage, although at the age of nine- teen years he commenced work as a farm hand. On Aug. 7, 1865, he married Jane M. Nichols, and to them have been born eleven children, all living. namely : Libbie, now the wife of Arthur D. Hub- bell; John H., a farmer in Woodbury, who married Edith Tucker, and has four children. Russell, Al- bert, Elton and Ethel: William B .: Albert : Jennie L., wife of Charles H. Wheeler, who has had three children, John D., Florence and one that died in in- fancy; Alice May, who married Benwell Wilmont. clerk in the National Bank at Naugatuck, and has one child, Dayton; Lewis; Sadie: Edith; Charlie ; and Abbie.

After his marriage Mr. Pope located on a farmi which he had previously purchased. and resided there for two years. He then bought the Sheldon Bristol Farm, which he sold two years later, and next operated a farm on shares for ten years. At the end of that period he went to Naugatuck. Conn., where he was extensively engaged in the dairy business for two years, and then purchased what is known as the Robert Wheeler farm, a tract of 175 acres in the town of Oxford. upon which he has since made his home. In 1893 he also purchased another farm of 125 acres in the same town, and in 1897 bought a farm of 150 acres in the towns of Watertown and Woodbury. A few years after lo- cating at his present home Mr. Pope again em- barked in the dairy business, which he has since carried on in connection with his other business. He has always been interested in buying and selling horses and cattle, and there are few men in that business better known than he. For the past thirty years he has also engaged in the lumber business. and for six years has operated a steam sawmill and engaged in manufacturing charcoal. He is one of the most active and progressive business men of the town, and generally carries forward to success- ful completion whatever he undertakes.

The Democratic party finds in Mr. Pope a stanch supporter of its principles, though he is not strictly partisan, giving his support to the man he considers best qualified to advance the interests of the town, county or State. He has been honored with public office, having served as a member of the State Legis- lature in 1881 and 1882: selectman of Oxford-sec- ond selectman in 1879. 1887 and 1888; and in 1884. and again in 1889, was elected first selectman, in which office he is still retained, having been re- I years.

elected in 1901. He has also been a member of the board of relief. Fraternally he holds membership in the A. O. U. W.

MICHAEL DWYER was one of Ansonia's leading business men, and the best known Irish- American resident of that city. He located there in the fall of 1853, and at the time of his death had been in active business there longer than any other man with one exception. From a village of a few frame houses he saw the place grow to a city of 13.000 inhabitants, and he could recall the time when a one-horse team supplied the families with coal. In the material development of the city his own enterprise and sagacity have been recognized factors, he having erected a number of houses for sale or rent, and as a member of the board of bur- gesses he did much toward shaping municipal poli- cies for several years.

Mr. Dwyer was born in 1837 in the parish of Glenroe, County Limerick, Ireland, son of Patrick and Hanora (Lenihan) Dwyer. His father, who was a farmer by occupation, died in Ireland at an advanced age, and the mother died in August, 1877. This worthy couple had a large family of

children, as follows, six surviving: Catherine, Mrs. David Lenihan ; Mary, Mrs. Houlihan, who

made her home with our subject since the death of her husband in 1880: Michael, our subject : John, a resident of New Haven, where he is engaged in business : Patrick, in the employ of J. B. Gardner's Sons: Thomas, who lived with our subject; and Hanora, widow of Edward Maum. All of these children came to America in 1853.

Michael Dwyer's education was begun in the National Schools of Ireland. After coming to this country he made his home in Ansonia, with the ex- ception of one year, which he passed in Westport, working in a cotton mill. After one year's employ- ment in the cotton mill, in the shop now occupied by the Phelps & Bartholomew Clock Co .. he appren- ticed himself to learn the brass molding trade in the Carter foundry, which is now the shop of F. L. Gaylord Co. Being ambitious and thrifty he saved his money, and at the end of thirteen years' hard work there, he purchased, in 1862. a lot at the corner of Main and Central streets, where he took up his residence and established the liquor business which he carried on 110 to the time of his death. He was a model of integrity in all his dealings. From 1862 he bought and sold real estate extensively, and at his demise he owned six houses on the "Square" ( four of which he built), besides property in other parts of the city. He also owned a business block at the corner of Main and Railroad streets, with stores below and offices above, and was one of the largest individual tax payers of the city. He was a charter member of the Board of Trade, and one of its directors, and was re-elected at the annual meeting in December, 1900, for a term of three

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

In politics Mr. Dwyer was a Democrat, but he voted for the best man in local politics. He was honored repeatedly by his fellow citizens with elec- tion to office. In 1893, when Ansonia became a city, he was appointed a member of the board of assessors, in which he served until his death. For years he was one of the jurymen selected from the city, being first chosen in 1881. Under the old bor- ough government he was for several years a meni- ber of the board of burgesses. He was much inter- ested in educational matters, and was always pres- ent at the graduation exercises of the high school. In religious faith he was a Catholic, and his fam- ily is prominently identified with the Church in Ansonia. In his death, which occurred April 4. 1901, the city lost a man widely known and re- spected for his sterling qualities, and one to whom a needy man never went in vain. He was much be- loved by people of all classes, being a man of good judgment, whose opinions always carried much weight.

In 1872 Mr. Dwyer married Miss Mary Splann, a native of Ireland, and daughter of Cornelius Splann. Of eleven children born to them, seven are living, as follows: Patrick J., M. D., is a physician in Waterbury; John C., M. D., is now house sur- geon at the Maternity Hospital at Baltimore: Michael Francis attended school at Fordham, N. Y., South Orange, N. J .. and later at New Haven, and is now in Brown University, Providence : Mar- garet and Elsie are attending the high school in Ansonia; Edward Thomas is in grammar school; and Josephine in the primary public school.

Michael Francis Dwyer, mentioned above, served during the Spanish-American war as a pri- vate in "Yale Battery" A. This battery was so called because of its being made up almost entirely of Yale graduates ; a few outsiders were admitted at the last in order to recruit its full strength. This was a mounted light battery, armed with six 12- pounders; six horses to a gun. The following speaks for itself :

Michael F. Dwyer, private of Battery A. First Regi- ment of Connecticut Volunteers, was enrolled on the eighteenth day of May, 1898 ( May 18, 1898) to serve two years (2 years) or during the war. Was discharged by reason of muster out of organization at New Haven, Connecticut, October 25, 1898.

BARLOW S. HONCE.

Capt. Ist Conn. Vol. Artillery, Commanding the Battery. Countersigned :

M. W. CROFTON,

Ist Lieut., Ist Infty., Mustering Officer.

EARL SMITH was born in Oxford, New Haven county, Aug. 8, 1829, and is a son of Abra- ham Smith, who is supposed to have been born at the same place as his son, and died in the city of New York. Concerning Moses Smith, the grand- father of Earl, nothing definite is now known by the family.

Abraham Smith spent his boyhood and youth on his father's farm, and learned the tanning and shoe-

making trades, which he carried on in conjunction with farming. He married Emily Candee, who was born in Oxford, and was a daughter of Moses Can- dce, a farmer. She died in June, 1833. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith were born four children: Burritt A., Charlotte M., Earl and Jerome C. Burritt A. was a graduate of Yale, and became a Congregational minister, holding pastorates in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Illinois ; he died in Worcester, Mass. Charlotte M. married William Baldwin, of New Haven, where she died. Jerome C. became a physician, had a fine practice in the city of New York, and died in Germantown, Pa. Abraham Smith was a Whig, and on the dissolution of that party joined the ranks of the Republicans. In re- ligion both Mr. Smith and his wife were members of the Congregational Church.

Earl Smith attended an academy in Massachu- setts, and finished his schooling at the age of nine- teen. He began life for himself as a worker in a factory, and held positions in Woodbury, Nauga- tuck and West Haven. In 1855 he came to Water- bury, and entered the employ of the Waterbury Buckle Co., and in 1865 was put in charge of the business ; in 1895 he was elected president and is still acting in that capacity.

In 1850 Earl Smith married Ellen Scott, daugh- ter of Jonathan Scott, and they became the parents of four children, Alice L., Archer J., Nellie G. and Mabel. Nellie and Mabel are deceased. Alice mar- ried George L. Swift, of Waterbury. Archer J. is secretary and treasurer of the American Mills Co., of which Mr. Smith is president, as he is of the Smith & Griggs Co., of Waterbury. Archer J. Smith married Miss Susan Maltby, a daughter of Douglass J. Maltby, of Waterbury. Earl Smith is a man of character and standing. In religion he is a member of the First Church.

A. BRENNAN. The career of Mr. Brennan is full of interest, and the story of his life is replete with instruction and encouragement for younger generations. He has seen the sun rise and set on the sixty-eighth anniversary of his birth, and while clear in mind and vigorous in body he awaits the close of life in the calm confidence which is born of an earnest religious faith and the memory of long years well spent.

Mr. Brennan is a son of William and Mary (Lackey) Brennan, and was born Dec. 15, 1833, in County Kildare, Ireland, of which his parents were also natives, and where his father was a peasant farmer. William Brennan was born Dec. 15, 1801. Our subject crossed the water in 1854, and his father came to- Naugatuck, Conn., in 1864, working for two years as a foundryman, and dying there April 18, 1866. Eight years afterward, in 1874, his widow passed away. Andrew was one of a family of ten children, four of whom died in infancy, the others being Margaret, who married James Mc- Dermott, of Naugatuck; Julia, the wife of John

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Brennan, of the same town ; William, a journeyman molder of recognized skill; Patrick, a foreman in the Malleable Iron Works, of Naugatuck ; and Bar- tholomew, a valued member of the police force of Springfield, Ohio.

The first year after coming to America Andrew Brennan spent in Stanhope, N. J., working upon a railroad, and in 1855 he came to Hamden, Conn., where he entered upon an apprenticeship to the iron molder's trade in the works at that time known as the Hamden Foundry. On June 7, 1857, he be- gan work as a journeyman in Union City, and for exactly twenty years continued in the employ of the same concern, quitting the establishment June 7, 1877. On Jan. 1, 1880, he organized the Union City Coal Co., with Peter Scadden, of Waterbury, and the City Lumber & Coal Co., of Waterbury. About six months afterward he bought out Mr. Seadden, and in 1888 he bought out the City Lumber & Coal Co. In 1888 he reorganized the company with the following officers: Andrew Brennan, president ; Thomas W. Ahern, treasurer and secretary. In 1894 his son William was made treasurer and gen- eral manager, and held that position until his death, Aug. 16, 1900, when Andrew C. Brennan was made general manager and treasurer of the company. Mr. Brennan also deals largely in real estate, and owns much valuable property in Waterbury. In polities he is independent of parties. In religious faith he is a Catholic, and he and his family attend St. Frances Church of Naugatuck.

Mr. Brennan married, May 16, 1858, Elizabeth Martin, who was born in Kings County, Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Brennan have been blessed with ten children : William (deceased), Ellen, Andrew C., Mary, Elizabeth (1), Elizabeth (2), Catherine, Margaret, Francis and Florence. Three of the daughters married residents of Naugatuck, Ellen being the wife of Thomas W. Ahern, and Mary the wife of Patrick Daly; Elizabeth (2) is the widow of Edward P. Noonan, a merchant, who died Dec. 7, 1901. Andrew C. is general manager and treasurer of the City Lumber & Coal Co. The four younger children live at home. Francis is the manager of a bottling works in Naugatuck.

CHARLES ELLSWORTH EVARTS. Prom- inently identified with the horticultural and agri- cultural interests of New Haven county is the firm of C. E. Evarts & Son, of which Charles E. Evarts is the senior partner. He is a man of standing in the community, and one of its most respected citi- zens.

Charles E. Evarts was born in Guilford, this county, Aug. 27, 1839, and his ancestors were among the oldest settlers of that historie town. Abraham Evarts, his grandfather, was a native of Guilford, where he became a large land owner and well-known farmer, in the Nut Plains Dis- triet, and. there he lived a busy and useful life. and reared a family which has reflected

credit upon the name. Jason Evarts, his son, was born in the Nut Plains District, where he grew to manhood on a farm, and he also spent the greater part of his life in his native place, re- moving in advanced age to the town of Branford. He spent his last days, in Yalesville, at the home of our subject. His death occurred in 1888, and his remains lie in the old Branford cemetery. During early life he had been a pronounced Whig, later adopting Republican principles. He was a leading member of the Congregational Church. Jason Ev- . arts married in Killingworth Rosette Hull, the daughter of Aaron Hull, one of the old settlers of Killingworth, and to this union were born: Charles E., subject of this sketch; Horatio; Joel; Sarah, who married Edwin Clark; Reuben, deceased ; and Frances, who married Stephen Terhune. The be- loved mother of this family died at her home in Branford.

Charles E. Evarts grew up in the village of Guil- ford, and attended the district school. While still a lad he removed to Killingworth and worked with his uncle, Ellsworth Hull. for eight years. He then returned to Guilford, and occupied the succeeding year upon the farm. His next employment was teaming, in the town of Madison, and from there he made a trip to Illinois and farmed for himself two years in Cook county. On his return East he took up his residence in Clinton, Conn., for a brief season, going from there to Meriden, where he found profitable employment in the sash and blind factory, and later with Stephen Parker, at coffee mill manufacturing.

When the Civil war broke out Mr. Evarts was one of the gallant men who immediately re- sponded to the call for help, and enlisted in April, 1861, in Meriden, joining Company E. (Capt. Bix- bee) Ist Regiment, and served through the three months' term of that enlistment, taking part in the battle of Bull Run and other engagements. In Oc- tober, 1861, he testified to his patriotism by re-en- listing, joining the Ist Connecticut Light Battery, under Capt. Rockwell, and for two years served faithfully in the Department of the South. The third enlistment of this brave and loyal soldier was in the Ist Connecticut Light Battery, and he con- tinued to serve to the close of the war, being mus- tered out at its termination at Richmond, Va. He returned home after four years and three months given to the service of his country.

One among the many defenders of his country, bearing the marks of war and exposure, Mr. Ev- arts returned to Connecticut and turned again to peaceful pursuits. Until 1866 no suitable opening presented itself, but in that year he removed to the town of Branford and started in the butcher busi- ness, which was a successful venture. He was thus occupied six years, and in 1872, desiring a larger field, he removed to New Haven, and there con- dueted the same business for two years more. For two years after leaving New Haven he was in Meri-

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

den, employed as carpenter and joiner. Thence going to Branford, he remained six months, and then went to Mt. Carmel, in the town of Hamden, as foreman of the annealing department of the carriage works of the Woodruff Co. This position he held two and one-half years, and remained in Mt. Carmel six years, the latter part of that period engaged. at his trade of carpenter and joiner. Removing to Sey- mour, Conn., he worked there for a short time at his trade, but in 1887 he came to the town of Wall- 'ingford and located near Yalesville, determined to return to agricultural life. Here he purchased a valuable tract of land, consisting of 160 acres, known as the Watson farm, and immediately en- tered the business of market gardening and fruit growing, becoming so prosperous in this line that his name is already known all over the county and wherever horticultural or agricultural topics are discussed. In his son Wesley Mr. Evarts has a most efficient assistant, and he is now a partner in the firm. In 1891 this firm engaged in peach cul- ture, and they now own seventeen acres in peach trees, which yield enormously, and in which Mr. Evarts sees a reward for his labor and scientific study of this branch of horticulture.

In 1863 Mr. Evarts was married in Guilford, to Miss Emma J. Resing, who died June 17. 1874, in New Haven, leaving four children: Sarah, who married Elmer E. Holmes; Nellie, of Massachu- setts; Alice Gertrude; and Charles, of Meriden. The second marriage of Mr. Evarts was to Mary E. Rhodes, a native of Indiana, who passed out of life in 1895. a good and worthy woman. Her chil- dren number four, three of whom survive: Wes- ley, Ruby and Effie. The first named is a partner in the firm of C. E. Evarts & Son, proprietors of the Highland Farm, fruit growers and market gar- deners, and is one of the enterprising and progres- sive young men of this community, possessing nat- ural mechanical talent which he has displayed in the construction of several wagons, and bids fair to give him future prominence.

In politics Mr. Evarts is a Republican, but no office seeker. His business interests and his do- mestic life have engrossed his time, leaving little leisure for public life, and no doubt he feels that enough of his life has already been given to public service. As a man and as a citizen he enjoys the esteem of the community.

WALTER HAMLIN HOLMES, M. D., whose death at Waterbury, Nov. 27. 1898. removed one of the city's most useful professional men and rive scholars, was born June 23, 1854. in Calais. Maine, son of Job Holines. M. D., a physician of creditable standing in the eastern part of that state.

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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 3, Part 10

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 988

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 988