USA > Connecticut > Connecticut yesterday and today : 1635-1935 : celebrating three hundred years of progress in the Constitution state > Part 26
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Frederick J. Kingsbury was born January 1, 1823, at Waterbury, the son of Charles Dennison and Elisa (Leavenworth ) Kingsbury. He was married April 29, 1851, to Alathea Ruth Scovill, daughter of William Henry and Eunice Ruth ( Davies ) Scovill of Waterbury. Children born of the union were:
I. William Charles, born in July, 1855, died March 2, 1864. 2. Mary Eunice, born June 9, 1856, married Dr. Charles Stedman Bull of New York City, and died in 1898. She was the mother of three children: Frederick Kingsbury, Ludlow Seguine and Dorothy. 3. Alice Eliza, born May 4, 1858. 4. Edith Davies, born February 6, 1860; died October 29, 1930. 5. Frederick John, Jr., born July 7, 1863; died July 11, 1927.
Frederick J. Kingsbury, Jr., became prominent in the industrial field, being chairman of the board of directors of the Bridgeport Brass Company at the time of his death, and was identified with various other important enterprises.
FREDERICK J. KINGSBURY, II
Frederick J. Kingsbury, II, was born in Water- bury, July 7, 1863, and died at his home in New Haven, July 11, 1927. Upon completing his edu- cation with a course in mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he be- came a member of the staff of the Scovill Manufac- turing Company at Waterbury, became secretary of the Aluminum Brass and Bronze Company at Bridgeport in 1889, was elected secretary of the Bridgeport Brass . Company in 1896, treasurer in 1902 and president in 1905, becoming chairman of the board of directors in 1921, an office he held until his death. Extensive development of the company occurred during his administration of its affairs. When he first became connected with it the capital stock was $150,000 and at the time of his death it was capitalized at two million dollars.
He was one of the first to realize the value of harmonious relations between employer and em- płoyee and took great care to see that the industrial relations policy of his company was beyond criti- cism. He gave valuable service to civic, patriot and benevolent interests. As chairman of the State Industrial Council of the Young Men's Christian Association he was responsible to a great degree for the adoption of the Y. M. C. A. educational pro- gram. He was also very active in church work.
November 11, 1886, Mr. Kingsbury married Adele Townsend, of New York City, and two chil dren were born to them: 1, Ruth, who married Richard C. Sargent, of New Haven. They have two sons, Richard C., Jr., and Frederick Kingsbury. 2, Frederick J. Kingsbury, III, who married Julia Mckinney, of Albany, N. Y., and they have three children: Patricia, Frederick, IV, and Julia Ann.
FREDERICK KINGSBURY BULL.
Frederick Kingsbury Bull, descended from Fred- erick J. Kingsbury through his mother, Mary F .. Kingsbury, who married Charles Stedman Bull, M.D., recognized as one of the leading oculists of New York City. He was born in New York City, April 28, 1884, and received his earlier education in small private schools, later at Pomfret School, Pom- fret, Conn., preparatory to entering Yale, fron which he graduated in 1906 with the degree of B. A
He subsequently spent one year at Harvard Law School and his first occupation after completing his college career was with the firm of accountants, Gunn, Richards & Co. in New York City, remaining with them for four years He then became secretary of the Index Visible, Inc., o. New Haven, from 1913 to 1916, with an office in Nev York City, and was a director of the company from 191 up to the time of its purchase and merger by the Rane
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THE YOUNGER GENERATION OF THE KINGSBURY FAMILY
FREDERIC J. KINGSBURY, JR.
FREDERICK KINGSBURY BULL
LUDLOW S. BULL
Kardox Co., in 1925.
Mr. Bull is now a resident of Litchfield, where he has made his home for a number of years. He is a director of the Bridgeport Brass Co. and other corporations, is actively engaged in philanthropic work and is one of Litch- field's best known citizens.
LUDLOW SEGUINE BULL
Ludlow Seguine Bull, son of Charles Stedman Bull, M.D., and Mary E. Kingsbury Bull, a grandson of Fred- erick J. Kingsbury, was born in New York City, January 1, 1886. He graduated from Yale in 1907, with degree of B.A. and from Harvard Law School, LL.B., in 1910.
In 1914 he entered Chicago University to study Egyptol- ogy. He received his degree of Ph.D. in 1922, his work there having been in- terrupted by two years spent in the army in France during the World War.
In 1922 he became assistant curator in the department of Egyptian art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. In 1928 he was ad- vanced to the position of associate cu- rator, which position he now holds.
His war service began in the spring of 1917, when he enlisted as a private in the Yale-New Haven hospital unit, which went to France at that time. He later became connected with the service of supply and was commissioned sec- ond lieutenant and served in France as such until his retirement from the army in 1919.
He was married in November, 1924, to Katharine Exton, formerly of Cin- cinnati, Ohio, and lives in New York City, although he has a summer home iin Litchfield and is a legal resident of that town. He has three children, Frederick Kingsbury Bull, HI, Roger Ludlow Bull and Agnes Davis Bull.
FREDERICK JOHN KINGSBURY, III
FREDERICK JOHN KINGSBURY (3rd) was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, on September 10th, 1895. He attended the Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven and subsequently the Hill School, Pottstown, Penn., then the Adirondack-Florida School in Onchiota, New York, and Miami, Florida. From there he entered Williams Col- lege, and in the middle of his sophomore year he left col- lege to go to France to join the American Ambulance Field Service, where he served until America went into the war and the American Field Service was disbanded.
Upon his return to this country he entered the Chemical Warfare Service of the U. S. Army and was assigned to the Gas Defense Division, continuing in that branch of the ser- vice until the signing of the Armistice in November, 1918. He then returned to New Haven and became associated with the Index Visi- ble, Inc., until that concern was taken over by the Remington Rand Co., of Buffalo, N. Y., in 1925.
That same year he went to St. Peters- burg, Florida, and was associated in the real estate business for two years when, upon the death of his father in 1927, he returned to New Haven. He then became associated with the R. F. Griggs Co., of Waterbury, Conn., re- maining there for three years until he was obliged to sever his connection on account of his health.
He was married on November 8th, 1919, to Julia Marion Mckinney, of Albany, New York. They have three children, Patricia, Frederick John, IV, and Julia Ann.
He is a director of the Bridgeport Brass Co., of Bridgeport, Conn., and of the New Haven Y. M. C. A. He is a member of the Delta Psi Frater- nity, The Society of the Cincinnati of Connecticut and the Society of Co- lonial Wars.
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SARAH LEAVENWORTH KINGSBURY-DR. FRANKLIN CARTER
SARAH LEAVENWORTH KINGSBURY
SARAH LEAVENWORTH KINGSBURY (Mrs. Franklin Carter)
HE wide connection of the Kingsbury family with other families of note in Connecticut's development was extended even beyond the confines of the state and its activities through the marriage of Frederick J. Kingsbury's only sister, Sarah Leavenworth Kings- bury, to Franklin Carter, a Waterbury resident who later became president of Williams College and one of the country's foremost educators.
Miss Kingsbury was born in Waterbury, April 1, 1840, and had the Kingsbury facility for making and holding fast friends, which continued in her gracious hospitality at Williamstown.
DR. FRANKLIN CARTER
Franklin Carter, to whom she was married Feb- ruary 24, 1863, was the third son of Deacon Pre- serve Wood and Ruth Holmes Carter. He was born in Waterbury, September 30, 1837. In De- cember, 1853, he entered Phillips Academy, An- dover, and graduated from that school with the valedictory address in July, 1855. He entered Yale College in September of the same year, and in June, 1856, was the successful competitor for the Wood- sey scholarship. In April, 1857, his studies were
interrupted by illness and he spent three years in travel in the Southern and Western states. When his strength had been sufficiently restored he made the journey on horseback to Williamstown, Mass., and entered the Junior class at Williams College, graduating in 1862.
In 1863, the year of his marriage to Miss Kings- bury, he was elected to the professorship of Latin and French in his alma mater, and immediately went abroad to travel and study. In January, 1865, he began his new work. In 1868 he was relieved of the task of instruction in French, but remained pro- fessor of Latin until July, 1872, when he was elected to the professorship of German in Yale College. After another year spent in Europe he entered upon his duties at Yale, in September, 1873. While there he wrote and published various articles on subjects connected with the German language and literature and in 1879 published an edition of Goethe's "Iphigenie auf Tauris." He received the degree of Ph.D. from his alma mater in 1877 and that of LL.D. from Union College in 1881.
In February, 1881, Professor Carter was elected president of Williams College and was inaugurated in July of the same year. His inaugural address excited general interest because of the emphasis it placed on the study of Hebrew history and Jewish ideas of our colleges, and his suggestions on that subject have been widely adopted. Under his ad- ministration Williams College gained in every di- rection. Its teaching forces were greatly enlarged in size, while in efficiency they were to be favorably compared with those of any of the country's colleges. Its equipment in buildings and apparatus was also much improved.
It was ever the aim of President Carter to hold the institution faithful to the best traditions of the New England college, to keep prominent the element of personal guidance by the professors and at the same time to multiply and enrich the advantages offered each student. He was, to a marked degree, success- ful in realizing this ideal.
Dr. Carter was the author of the "Life of Mark Hopkins" in the "American Religious Leaders" se- ries: Boston, 1892, and of many magazine articles. He resigned from the presidency of Williams Col- lege in 1901, but continued acting president in 1902. His death occurred November 22, 1919.
THE AMERICAN BRASS COMPANY
Founded 1899
ATERBURY, familiarly known as "The Brass City", carries on its municipal seal the likeness of a small pair of brass rolls and the Latin in- scription Quid Aere Perennius (What is more durable than Brass). It is a matter of historical record that before the middle of the nineteenth century the manufacture of brass in this country was confined entirely to Waterbury.
The Anaconda slogan "From Mine to Consumer" as it appears in The American Brass Company's trademark, today a household phrase throughout the entire country, would have had very little significance outside of Connecticut a century ago, for the small quantities of copper ore mined in America came from this State al- though most of it was exported to Europe.
Brass bars or castings used in the early days were made in Waterbury and transported by team to a crude iron mill in Litch- field where they were rolled down to a workable thickness and re- turned to Waterbury for finishing to thinner gauges on small rolls operated by horse or water power. The largest of these rolls was said to be about twelve inches in diam- eter and twenty-four inches long.
JOHN A. COR, President The American Brass Company
Fifty years ago the first stem winder watch carried the name and Lune of Waterbury far and near, but brass buttons, kettles, pins, clocks and other household necessities represent more graphically the early beginnings of this great industry and the antecedants of The American Brass Com- pany.
Founded in the Naugatuck Valley and spreading in the short space of a century throughout the entire nation, it stands at the head of an impressive industrial group and furnishes employment for a substantial proportion of Connecticut's manufacturing pop- ulation.
Early reports indicate that in 1820, one hundred fifty to two hundred tons of copper constituted the entire tonnage used in the United States. Of this amount the mills in the vicinity of Waterbury consumed one-sixth, the remainder being used for sand-castings. One hundred years ago the Nation's consumption of copper had reached five hundred tons. The amount of sheet brass produced at that time is estimated to have been from fifty to sixty tons.
The advent of various manufactured items, such as kettles, clocks, pins, etc., also the demand for German silver, now com- monly known as nickel silver, by the tableware and plating com- panies, increased the production of copper alloys rapidly, so that by 1843 the gross output was about three hundred tons a year. During this period the only ventures in the brass industry were organized in Waterbury, and all but one of these pioneer mills were definitely connected with the carly antecedents of The American Brass Company.
The brass industry as a whole weathered the panic of 1837, and 1840 marked the beginning of an era of prosperity which lasted until 1880. The production of brass kept pace with this development, and in 1884 the brass mills of the Naugatuck Valley are reported to have produced 200,000 tons, representing about 85% of the total brass output of the country.
Of the eight concerns which in 1880 produced this 85%, five eventually became members of The American Brass Com-
pany. No really authentic figures on which to base comparisons are available since that time but it is interesting to note in 1912 that the total production of the three Naugatuck Valley branches of The American Brass Company would be equal to five times the production of the entire country in 1880.
It is a noteworthy fact that with one exception, during the years of 1820 to 1900 not a brass manufacturing enterprise was organized in Connecticut or outside of its boundaries without drawing in some manner upon the Naugatuck Valley mills.
BENEDICT & BURNHAM MANUFACTURING CO.
Aaron Benedict, founder of the Benedict & Burnham Manu- facturing Company, was born in 1785, and began manufacturing buttons in 1812. Ten years later James Croft, an English but- ton maker well versed in the art of gilding brass buttons, induced Mr. Benedict to undertake their manufacture. Together with three others, a partnership under the name of A. Benedict was formed, capitalized at $6,500. Mr. Bene- dict, James Croft, and Samuel Forest, an expert in making special tools used in button manufacture, comprised the operating personnel.
CHARLES F. BROOKER, Founder The American Brass Company
The new enterprise prospered, and in 1824 Mr. Croft went to England and brought back a pair of steel rolls thirty inches long and eleven inches in diameter, the largest that had been set up in this country up to that time. As compared with modern equip- ment they would look insignificant and yet these additional rolls enabled A. Benedict to turn out all the brass needed for his own use and furnish sheet brass to other manufacturers as early as 1825.
In 1829 a new partnership was formed by Aaron Benedict, Israel Coe, and four others under the name of Benedict & Coe. In 1834 the firm dissolved, Mr. Coc going to Wolcottville, now Torrington, Connecticut, where he established with Israel Holmes a new mill known as the Wolcottville Brass Company. After Mr. Coe left, another partnership was formed, this time under the name of Benedict & Burnham, Aaron Benedict and Gordon W. Burnham being the partners. Renewals of this part- nership took place with increases in capitalization, and in 1843 the firm with a capital of $100,000 was reorganized under the name of the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Company as the first joint stock company formed in Waterbury. Mr. Benedict was elected President and held this office until his death in 1873, by which time the capital had increased to $400,000. On August 6, 1900, the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Com- pany became part of The American Brass Company, and was operated as the Benedict & Burnham Branch until 1921, when this designation was discontinued.
WATERBURY BRASS COMPANY
By 1845 the brass industry had made such progress and proved such a paying venture that in that year Timothy Porter, who owned a water right privilege on Mad River, conceived the idea of starting a new mill. Considerable difficulty in raising money was encountered until John P. Elton of Brown & Elton gave his approval to the scheme and assisted in promoting it.
At a meeting for organizing Timothy Porter's new enterprise, about April 1, 1845, the name Waterbury Brass Company was
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CONNECTICUT'S LARGEST INDUSTRIAL CONCERN
A GROUP OF THE PIONEER BRASS MANUFACTURERS, AND SOME OF THE PLANTS THEY FOUNDED
AARON BENEDICT
ISRARI. HOLMES
ISRAEL COE
JOHN P. ELTON
ANSON G. PHELPS
THOMAS WALLACE .
HOLMES, Boorn & HAYDENS, 1858
JASONLA BRASS & COPPER Co., 1858
COE BRASS COMPANY, 1864
EAST MILL, WATERBURY BRASS CO., 1858
BENEDICT & BURNHAM MFG. Co., 1858
500,000 pounds of metal, and from then on until 1860 sold the largest tonnage of rolled brass of any mill in the Naugatuck Valley. On December 14, 1899 the Waterbury Brass Company became one of the original parties to the organization of The American Brass Company.
HOLMES, BOOTH & HAYDENS
The corporation of Holmes, Booth & Haydens was organized in February, 1853, and again Israel Holmes was the central figure. It came into existence with the deliberate intention of rolling metal and remanufac- turing it on a large scale. Prior to this time none of the brass mills had attempted to do both. August Brassart, a Frenchman who had been in the employ of Daguerre, was secured, and the new company engaged largely and successfully in the manufac- ture of daguerreotype plates. An extensive business in kerosene oil lamps and accessories was also established.
In 1895 there were eighteen brass mills in the country and this concern ranked third in the number of men employed. The original capital was $110,000 which was increased to
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selected and capital stock to the amount of $40,000 was subscribed. The company was incorporated from the start. Israel Holmes, having been persuaded to leave the Wolcottville Brass Company, was elected President. Plans for erecting a mill were brought to completion and the first brass was rolled in February, 1846. This mill was the largest of its kind in the United States, being about one hundred feet square.
In 1852, the manufacturing capacity of the Waterbury Brass Company was increased by the erection of new buildings called the West Mill. At this time the company purchased the manu- facturing rights of H. W. Hayden's newly invented spinning process for making kettles which revolutionized the business and rapidly gained command of the kettle industry. The success and astonishing growth of this company is clearly indicated by increases in its capital stock. Starting in 1845 with $40,000 it had grown to a $400,000 concern by 1860 and with the excep- tion of the first $50,000, these increases represented accumulated earnings in excess of dividends and money spent for improve- ments. In 1855 the Company produced somewhat more than
GEORGE P. COWLES
LYMAN W. COE
THE OUTGROWTH OF A CENTURY OF BRASS MAKING
$400,000. On October 17, 1901, it became part of The American Brass Company.
TORRINGTON BRANCH
In 1834, Israel Coe withdrew from his partnership with Aaron Benedict of Waterbury and went to Wolcottville, now Torring- ton, and associated himself with Anson G. Phelps of New York (founder of the Ansonia Brass & Copper Company) and John Hungerford of Wolcottville, in .a partnership. They bought an old mill privilege and undertook the rolling of brass and the forming of brass kettles by the so-called "Battery Method". This enterprise was the first effort at kettle making in this country. Israel Holmes, who played such an important part in the founding of the brass industry, was connected with this venture and made his third trip to England to secure machinery and men who understood the art of kettle making. Although confronted with tremendous difficulties, he persevered and ac- complished his mission.
In 1841, Israel Coe, Anson G. Phelps, John Hungerford, Israel Holmes and Lyman W. Coc reorganized the partnership into a joint stock company, called the Wolcottville Brass Com- pany. The capital involved was $56,000. In 1843, Israel Coe retired from the company, and a year later he and his son, Lyman W. Coc, sold their interest to Anson G. Phelps. Fol- lowing Israel Coe's departure from the brass business Lyman W. Coe remained as secretary and treasurer until 1845, when he resigned and took a similar position with the Waterbury Brass Company.
Lyman W. Coe resided in Waterbury until 1863, when he returned to Wolcottville and purchased from the heirs of John Hungerford the Wolcottville Brass Company, and organized the Coe Brass Manufacturing Company, with a capital of $100,000. This new company immediately took its place in the front rank of brass manufacturers. In 1878 its production was estimated to be greater than that of any mill of its kind in the country. The mill buildings covered an area of about three acres and approxi- mately two hundred fifty men were em- ployed. Mr. Coe turned his attention toward trade with foreign countries, particularly with Spain and Russia, and during the seven- ties his export trade constituted about two- thirds of the entire production of the Coe Brass Manufacturing Co. Cartridge brass was a specialty.
ANSONIA BRANCH
The Ansonia Branch of The American Brass Company traces its ancestry back to the middle of the nineteenth century, and in- volves the history of two distinct projects, one fathered by Thomas Wallace, the great wire drawer and pin maker of Derby, and the other created by the genius of Anson G. Phelps, founder of Ansonia, whose name has already appeared in connection with the carly history of the Torrington Branch.
Thomas Wallace was the founder of Wallace & Sons, which was taken over by the Coc Brass Company in 1896. He was an English wire drawer who came to this country in 1832 to work for the Howe Manufacturing Company, pin makers, and in 1848 began operations on his own account in Ansonia. The first buildings erected in 1850, several of which are now stand- ing, were his main shop, 50 x 175 feet, and casting shop, 10
Water Wheels of the old East Mill on Mad River, as they may be seen today in Ham- ilton Park, Waterbury - sturdy relics of the Brass Industry.
x 80 feet. With this equipment and fifty workmen he turned out sheet metal and wire at the rate of about 30,000 pounds per month. In 1853 a joint stock company, Thomas Wallace & Son, capitalized at $50,000, was formed and flourished until 1891, becoming one of the largest and most important plants in the Naugatuck Valley. The production in 1884 amounted to four and one half million pounds and there were upwards of four hundred fifty men on the payroll.
A glimpse into the history of Anson G. Phelps, founder of the Ansonia Brass & Copper Company, discloses a unique per- sonality, one typifying all that was best in the successful business man of the past generation. Born, in Simsbury, Connecticut, the son of an officer of the Revolutionary War, and left a penniless orphan at the age of eleven, he became, through sheer ability, self-reliance and untiring effort, one of the most prominent, successful and best-known business men in this country prior to the Civil War. Starting in New York in 1815, his business, that of dealing in copper, tin, brass, iron and lumber, became very extensive and resulted in the establishment of a branch company in Liverpool, England. Having accumulated a fortune, he apparently took the keenest delight in starting new enter- prises, and building manufacturing villages. His dealings in brass and copper brought him in touch with the thriving brass industry of the Naugatuck Valley. In 1834 he became interested in the Wolcottville Kettle Shop and in 1836 he and some associates built a factory for making sheet copper and brass wire in Derby, at the head of navigation on the Housatonic River. This latter venture was successful from the start. Work- men and machinery were secured from England, and Wolcottville and Waterbury, Connecticut, were drawn on for skilled help. In the early forties Mr. Phelps became at- tracted to that territory two miles up the river from Derby, which in 1845 was given the name Ansonia. In 1844 a copper rolling mill was built there, in which Mr. Phelps was financially interested, and in 1854 the mills in Derby previously referred to were moved to Ansonia, merged into the then ex- isting mill, and the Ansonia Brass & Copper Company was formed. Mr. Phelps induced Mr. George P. Cowles to leave the Wolcott- ville Brass 'Company and come to Ansonia, and in 1848 he became resident executive head of the new firm. From 1869 until his death in 1887, he held the position of Vice- President. His ability, foresight, and enter- prise were large factors in the development of the Company.
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