USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 1 > Part 40
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
But although the duties of such a post
were sufficiently exacting to seem a task for any man, Mr. Curtis did not limit his interests to any single concern, but was active in many of the industrial and finan- cial concerns of Meriden, such as the Home National Bank, of which he was vice-president ; the Meriden Gas Light Company and the Meriden Electric Light Company, of both of which he was sec- retary and treasurer; the Meriden Trust and Safe Deposit Company and the Mer- iden Savings Bank, of both of which he was director ; and the Meriden Cemetery Association, of which he was president.
Any account of Mr. Curtis, however, which took into account only his business activities would be inadequate indeed, for, important as these were, they were per- haps second to his achievements in other lines. As a philanthropist and man of letters, as a connoisseur of art and a his- torian, Mr. Curtis was equally well known. He was one of those men who seem to possess the power of multiplying time, to say nothing of their own strength, so that they can successfully undertake any number of tasks and carry them through to a conclusion. In the department of philanthropy he was tireless, giving the most amazing amount of energy and time to the effort to better the unfortunate members of the community, and to raise the general enlightenment and culture. His mother, Augusta (Munson) Curtis, had given to the city the handsome mar- ble structure which now houses the Meri- den Public Library Collection as a memo- rial to her husband and daughter, and to Mr. Curtis fell the task of overseeing its construction. He never lost interest in this institution, but proved himself one of its greatest friends, contributing most generously both books and money to the advancement of its usefulness in the com- munity. For many years he served as its president, and he was also president of
276
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
the Meriden Hospital. One of his chief interests, indeed, was the cause of public health, and he was active in many ways to aid in its conservation. As treasurer of the Meriden Public Health Association, and as a leader in the organizations which preceded it, he took a large part in the campaign that is being waged against tuberculosis in this country. As secretary he aided greatly in the successful man- agement of the Curtis Home, established by Lemuel J. Curtis for the care of orphans and aged women.
In the matter of the history of his city and State, Mr. Curtis was an authority. A strong interest had possessed him from his youth in the doings of the men who made New England what it is, and urged him to make a profound study of the sub- ject of early colonial history, including much original research into this some- what complex subject. He was the author of a monumental work on the early his- tory of Meriden, published in "A Century of Meriden," which was brought out in connection with the one hundredth anni- versary of the city. He was associated with many clubs and organizations for the preservation of the historic records and tradition of the country in general, and of New England in particular. Among these should be mentioned the American His- torical Society, the Connecticut Historical Society, the New Haven Colony Histor- ical Society, the Biblophile Society of Boston, the Walpole Society, and the semi-historical and semi-patriotic socie- ties, such as the Society of Colonial Wars, the Mayflower Society, and the Sons of the American Revolution, of the John Couch Branch, of which he was secretary and treasurer for many years. He was also a member of such foreign societies as the Royal Societies Club of London, and the Egyptian Exploration Fund of Lon- don : while nearer home he belonged to
the Grolier Club and St. Anthony Club of New York, and the Home Club and High- land Country Club of Meriden. Mr. Cur- tis was an authority on the subject of sil- verware, ancient and modern, and spent much of his time in collecting valuable antiques until his beautiful home became a veritable museum. He prepared the in- teresting history of the silversmiths of his native State which appeared in the cata- logue of the exhibition of silver in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1911. He also wrote a most informing work en- titled "The Early Silver of Connecticut and Its Makers." For this labor in the field of historical research, Trinity Col- lege conferred on him in 1911 the degree of Master of Arts. His fondness for antiques was not, indeed, confined to sil- ver, for he possessed a splendid collection of old furniture as well as miscellaneous objects of virtu. In the general social life of the community Mr. Curtis was a con- spicuous figure, and took a part much more active than it would seem possible for so busy a man.
One of the chief interests of Mr. Curtis was his religion and church. He was an Episcopalian both by conviction and training, his family having for many years played a chief part in the advancement of the cause of that church in Connecticut. Mr. Curtis's parents were for many years prominently identified with the parish of St. Andrew's in Meriden, and Mr. Curtis himself was a lifelong member and held the office of junior warden during the lat- ter part of his life.
Mr. Curtis married. November 30, 1886, Sophie Phillips Mansfield, of Meriden. a daughter of Thomas Trowbridge and Katherine (Hurlburt) Mansfield, old and highly honored residents of that city. To Mr. and Mrs. Curtis was born one daugh- ter, Agnes Mansfield, who married. June I, 1910, William Bowen Church, of Mer-
277
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
iden, and they have two children : George Curtis, born March 29, 1911 ; and William Bowen, Jr., born May 16, 1914.
The influence of such a man as Mr. Cur- tis upon a community is one of the most difficult things in the world to gauge, for many reasons. In the first place, it is directed in so many different channels and operates in so many distinct ways that there is no common standard by which to measure it; and, in the second place, many of these ways are of that in- tangible kind which we classify as aesthetic and spiritual, for which we have no standard of measurement at all. As a business man, we can see in something like concrete form the industries and financial institutions that are in a degree at least the fruit of his efforts and acumen, and even in the more altruistic sphere of philanthropy we can see such things as hospitals and homes that have been called into existence or fostered by him. Such, for instance, in the case of his work against tuberculosis, are the various soci- eties that have grown up in that region, with this end in view, and of which he was for many years an officer, though even here what has actually been accom- plished in the way of relieving suffering and promoting health and happiness is beyond our ken. Still more so is this the case in such matters as his scientific and artistic researches, his work, for example, as an Egyptologist, or as a collector of rare books, not only cannot be measured, but, without an effort of the imagination, cannot even be apprehended. Yet of such things we know that, although their value cannot be expressed, it is a very real one, and that the indebtedness of a community to one who has given to its members knowledge and culture is profound in- deed, for what are these things but new glimpses into the beauties and wonders of the universe and fresh occasions for tasting of new joys.
PLUMB, David Wells,
Manufacturer, Financier.
David Wells Plumb was a member of one of the oldest New England families, a family representative of the best type which came from the "Mother Country" and established the English people as the foundation of the social structure in the United States. Dominant and persistent in character and blood, it has given the prevailing traits to the population of this country, which no subsequent inroads of foreign races has sufficed to submerge, and has formed a base for our citizenship upon which the whole vast and composite fabric of this growing people is being erected in safety. The Plumb arms are as follows: Argent. A bend vaire, or and gules, between two bendlets vert. Crest : Out of a ducal coronet, a plume of ostrich feathers, proper.
It was sometime prior to the year 1634 when the founder of the Plumb family in this country came to the then scarcely established Colony of New London and settled there. This enterprising voyager was George Plumb, of Taworth, Essex, England. From him David Wells Plumb of this sketch traced his descent directly to George Plumb, of Essex, being seven generations removed from this ancestor. The steps in this descent were as follows : George Plumb, already mentioned; John Plumb, born in New London, in 1634, married Miss Elizabeth Green about 1662; Joseph Plumb, born in Milford, Connec- ticut, in 1671, married Susannah Newton ; Noah Plumb, born in Stratford, Connec- ticut, 1709, married (first) Abiah Platt, and (second) Abigail Curtiss; David Plumb, born June 25, 1751, married Mary Beach, December 29, 1776. This David Plumb, who lived during the Revolution- ary period, was also a native of Stratford, and the grandfather of David Wells Plumb. His son was another Noah Plumb, born in Trumbull. Connecticut,
278
DMPlumb
٣٣.٢٠٠٠
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
May 3, 1782, and was twice married. His first wife was a lady by the name of Thankful Beach, after whose death Mr. Plumb was again married, this time to Uvania Wells, the mother of David Wells Plumb.
David Wells Plumb, the oldest child of Noah and Uvania (Wells) Plumb, was born in 1809, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and in that city passed his childhood and early youth, attending the local schools and obtaining an excellent education thereat. Upon the completion of his schooling, Mr. Plumb removed from Bridgeport to Derby, Connecticut, and there entered business. He did not re- main in that place, however, but soon went to Ansonia, Derby's near neigh- bor, and there engaged in a woolen trade which he conducted with a high degree of success. He rapidly wrought for himself a prominent place in the mercantile world of that region, and came to be looked upon as one of the most substantial and progressive business men in the associ- ated towns of Derby and Ansonia. He did not confine his business connections to his own woolen interests, but became identified with a number of important concerns in varying departments of in- dustry. Among these were the Star Pin Company and the Silver Plate Cutlery Company, in both of which he held the position of president, and the Birming- ham National Bank, of which he was vice-president, and director for twenty- two years. He was also president of the Housatonic and Shelton Water com- panies. In his various business interests Mr. Plumb amassed a very considerable fortune, which he was ever ready to ex- pend in the most liberal and openhanded manner wherever he saw an opportunity of advancing the interests of the commu- nity at large or any deserving member of it. The public interest was always in
his thought and he was the principal mover in many institutions of which the people are the beneficiaries. Among these is the Riverview Park, a project carried out by himself whereby he hoped to pro- vide an appropriate playground for the public. This park was planned by him, the grounds laid out, the site selected and the name given all by him, and it was he who supplied the necessary funds for its completion. One of his chief ambitions for the community was the founding of an adequate library at Shelton, in which place he had taken up his abode, and he connected himself with the Library Asso- ciation, an organization with this end in view. Of this he became the president, and held the office until the end of his life. At his death he willed a large fund to the accomplishment of this, his pet design. A brother of Mr. Plumb took charge of this matter and in course of time one of the handsomest library build- ings in the State of Connecticut was reared and became the home of the Plumb Memorial Library. This collection is a great benefit to the people of the town, containing, as it does, many departments of literature and art, especially one de- voted to the formation of the juvenile taste and knowledge.
About all the life of Mr. Plumb hung the mantle of altruism, and even in rela- tions which with others are apt to be wholly selfish, this could be noted. In his business and commercial interests, for instance, his own aims never obscured the rights and hopes of others from his mind, and the interest which he felt in the general industrial development of the community played at least as prominent a part in directing his acts as did the con- sideration of the success of his personal enterprises. Certain it is that there have been few men more directly connected with the rise of the large Derby and An-
279
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
sonia industries than Mr. Plumb. He re- tired from active participation in business to his charming home in Shelton, some time before his death, but to such a man as Mr. Plumb idleness was impossible and he continued to work at the elaboration of his schemes for the advancement of culture and education up to the time of his death. This sad event occurred June 29, 1893, at his home in Shelton, and caused a profound sense of loss not only among the members of Mr. Plumb's own family and his host of personal friends and admirers, but throughout the commu- nity at large, who felt only too keenly that in him they had been deprived of a sincere and active wellwisher and friend.
Mr. Plumb married, December 7, 1875, Louise Wakelee, a native of the country about Shelton, where she was born. They were the parents of no children.
WHITTEMORE, John Howard, Man of Affairs, Public Benefactor.
John Howard Whittemore, whose death, May 28, 1910, deprived Connecticut of one of her most prominent and useful citizens, and the industrial world of one of its most successful organizers, was a member of an old English family which has been traced back to the twelfth century and which from that time onward, has held a distinguished position, whether in the land of its origin or in that new world which its members, in common with so many hardy compatriots, saw fit to adopt.
The original family name of Mr. Whitte- more's ancestors was de Boterel (or Bot- rel), and the first to bear it, of whom we have record, was one Peter de Boterel, who flourished in Staffordshire, England, during the middle part of the twelfth cen- tury. The family, not long after, were given the name of the locality where they resided, after the well-nigh universal habit
of the time, and so became known as Whitemere, a name signifying white mere or lake. This spelling was gradually altered and modified, taking many forms until the present form of Whittemore was reached. This was not fixed, indeed, until after Thomas, who still called himself Whitmore, had come from Hitchin, Hert- ford county, England, in or about 1639, and settled in Charlestown, Massachu- setts. His descendants continued to re- side in that locality until 1698, when one of them removed to Mansfield, Connecti- cut.
This was Joseph Whittemore, the great- grandfather of John Howard Whittemore. In the following generation the family re- moved to Bolton, Connecticut, where they remained a considerable period, Rev. Wil- liam Howe Whittemore, the father of John Howard Whittemore, having been born there in the year 1800. The career of Rev. William Howe Whittemore was a most honorable and useful one. He was a clergyman of the Congregational church, having graduated from the Yale School of Divinity, and afterwards had charge of a number of important churches in Massa- chusetts, Connecticut and New York State. For fourteen years he was pastor of the Congregational Church of South- bury, Connecticut, and it was while living in that town that John Howard Whitte- more was born, October 3, 1837. He was the third of the four children born to the Rev. Mr. Whittemore and his wife, Maria (Clark) Whittemore, a member of one of the oldest New Haven families, and one which had distinguished itself in the his- tory of Connecticut, both as a Colony and State.
John Howard Whittemore spent his childhood and early youth in the town of his birth, attending the local Southbury schools until twelve years of age, at which time he was sent to the well-known school
280
1
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
of General William H. Russell, at New Haven, known as the Collegiate and Com- mercial Institute. He continued four years there, preparing himself for college, it being his intention to enter Yale Uni- versity. This intention was, however, abandoned and he turned instead to a business career, securing a position at the age of sixteen years in the firm of Shepard & Morgan, commission brokers. It would have been difficult to find two more ca- pable preceptors in all matters pertaining to the principles and detail of business procedure than the two members of this firm, they being Elliott F. Shepard and Edwin D. Morgan, Jr., and it is very obvi- ous that the young man profited by their instructions in a degree which drew their favorable attention to him. It is obvious from the fact that, upon the dissolution of Shepard & Morgan in 1857, Mr. Whitte- more was at once offered a position in the house of the elder Mr. Morgan, well known as the "war governor" of New York. He did not remain long in this em- ploy, however, removing his residence to Naugatuck, Connecticut, as he supposed temporarily, though as a matter of fact it was to continue his home for the re- mainder of his life.
It was here, in the following year, 1858, while Mr. Whittemore yet lacked some- thing of his twenty-first birthday, that he formed an association which was to con- tinue through life, and introduced him to the industrial career with which his name is so closely identified. This is the great malleable iron business in the develop- ment of which he was so important a figure, that his history might almost be said to be that of the industry for many years. His manner of entrance into this line was through securing employment with the E. C. Tuttle Company. This work he supposed was but temporary, but his handling of it gave so much ground
for satisfaction that he was still in the firm's service when a few months later the plant was destroyed by fire. How great was the favor he had already won in that short employment may be gathered from the request of Bronson B. Tuttle, a son of E. C. Tuttle, that Mr. Whittemore join him as partner in a new firm to be founded. Mr. Whittemore had not desired or intended to remain in Naugatuck, his great fondness for New York City urging him to return there, but in the light of the serious depression at that time in the busi- ness world, he felt that it was the part of wisdom to accept this offer, and accord- ingly the firm of Tuttle & Whittemore was constituted. The art of making mal- leable iron castings was just beginning to receive attention, and the firm of Tuttle & Whittemore was among the first in the country to take up the invention in a practical manner. The attempt prospered from the outset and the concern grew as did the malleable iron industry, until it became one of the largest of its kind in the country. In 1871 it was incorporated under the name of the Tuttle & Whitte- more Company, and in 1881 it became the Naugatuck Malleable Iron Company, with Mr. Whittemore as president, an office which he held for upwards of twenty years. As the business of the company increased, Mr. Whittemore's influence and prominence in the industrial world of the country became very great, and his interests gradually widened until they embraced foundries and manufacturies throughout the United States. Besides those in Bridgeport these included con- cerns at New York, New Britain, Troy. Sharon, Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Toledo, in the management of all of which he took an active part, and acted as a director of each.
It was not merely in the malleable iron industry that Mr. Whittemore's business
281
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
interests lay, however, but throughout the financial world generally his influ- ence was felt. He was a director in the Landers, Frary & Clark Corporation and the North & Judd Manufacturing Com- pany, both of New Britain ; a founder and director of the Naugatuck National Bank ; a trustee of the Naugatuck Savings Bank, and he served as president of the Colonial Trust Company of Waterbury. He was also the owner of very large real estate interests in Chicago and other places. Per- haps the office which gave him the most satisfaction, because of the immense con- cerns at stake, was his directorship in the New York, New Haven & Hartford Rail- road, and his membership upon its execu- tive board. He was a man of very power- ful personality and the most progressive designs, and after the year 1905 he occu- pied a leading place among his fellow di- rectors of the railroad. It was to him that the great improvements made in the serv- ice after that period were due, and espe- cially in the facilities given the people of Naugatuck and Waterbury, and the Nau- gatuck Valley generally.
Great as were his services to the indus- trial development of his State and the country at large, it is an open question if his most characteristic, and even his most important work was not of a more local nature. His great efforts toward the beautifying and embellishing of the com- munities in which he lived are of course referred to, efforts occupying a large por- tion of his time during the latter half of his life, and crowned with the most splen- did success. He was a man of the keenest appreciation of nature, and coming in con- tact with the notable work of Charles Eliot, a son of Dr. Charles Eliot, of Har- vard, in the direction of landscape archi- tecture, he had his attention strongly turned toward that delightful art. He at once conceived the idea of applying its
principles on a great scale to the problem presented by the town of Naugatuck and of Middlebury, where he had established a beautiful summer home. These two places and the whole region between were the subject of the most extensive opera- tions, designed to increase the beauty of the neighborhood and utilize every natu- ral advantage already enjoyed there. In Mr. Eliot, and after that gentleman's death in Mr. Warren H. Manning, of Bos- ton, Mr. Whittemore found most able lieutenants and assistants in the carrying out of his schemes, which in their com- pletion have given a unique character to the places involved. Taking his Nauga- tuck and Middlebury homes as starting points, he gradually put into operation plans which involved the cutting of new streets, the planting of trees, the con- structing of new and the reconstructing of old buildings for public use, all with the end of creating and developing a civic centre and the shaping of the entire neigh- borhood to an artistic unity with reference to this. Nor was it merely the two com- munities in which his homes were situ- ated that were subjected to this treat- ment. His plans of an even larger mold, contemplated the beautifying of the whole region. Large tracks of land were ac- quired to insure the continuance of at- tractive outlooks, entire neighborhoods were cleared or planted to increase the natural beauty of the prospects offered by the countryside, and changes on a large scale instituted along the line of the Nau- gatuck and Middlebury highroad. Under the influence of these far-reaching oper- ations, the entire section of country has taken on a new and unique beauty, a beauty due to the brilliant mind which conceived and the energetic will which carried into effect so large and original an idea.
Among the individual benefactions of
282
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Mr. Whittemore should be mentioned his gift of a large building and site to the hospital valued at $350,000, and the en- dowment of the Howard Whittemore Me- morial Library.
Mr. Whittemore never took an active part in political life, although keenly alive to the great issues which agitated the country during his time. He was a strong Republican, whose beliefs had been fixed during the Civil War period, when he saw something of slavery in the "underground railway" activities, heard Abraham Lin- coln speak, and cast his first ballot for that great man. But although he took no active part in politics, his sound judgment and perspicacity were so generally recog- nized that, much to his satisfaction, he was appointed a member of the Connecti- cut Constitutional Convention in 1902. He was also a representative to the Re- publican State Convention of 1908, in which, however, the aims for which he labored were defeated. In religion Mr. Whittemore was a Congregationalist of a very broad and tolerant type.
Mr. Whittemore married, June 10, 1863, Julia Anna Spencer, a daughter of Harris and Thirza (Buckingham) Spencer, of Naugatuck, Connecticut. To them were born four children, two sons and two daughters: I. Harris, born November 24, 1864, married Justine Morgan Brockway, of New York City, September 21, 1892; they have three children: Harris, Jr., Helen Brockway and Gertrude Spencer. 2. Gertrude Buckingham. 3. Julia, who died in infancy. 4. John Howard, who died in his sixteenth year.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.