USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 1 > Part 47
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Dr. Hetzel married, October 17, 1900, Mary Wells, a daughter of the Rev. Ed-
ward Livingston Wells, late rector of the Episcopal church, Southport, and of Mary (Hughes) Wells, his wife. To Dr. and Mrs. Hetzel were born four children, as follows: Joseph Linn, Paul Hunt, John Edward and Roderick Wells. The four sons and their mother all survive Dr. Hetzel. Shortly before he died Dr. Het- zel and his wife moved into the substan- tial old residence situated on Sasqua road, Southport, which the former had recently purchased, and there they continued to make their home until his death, and Mrs. Hetzel up to the present time.
After the account given above of Dr. Hetzel, there still remain many aspects of his life unnoticed, even in the brief manner necessary in a short sketch. His general prominence in the community had re- sulted in his becoming associated with many of the financial and business insti- tutions of the place, and he was a director and important stockholder in both the Southport Trust Company and the South- port Savings Bank, both of which institu- tions, together with the Fire Department, passed appropriate resolutions at the time of his death. It was inevitable that one of such alert and original mind should be interested in the great political issues agitating the country at that time, and such was the case with Dr. Hetzel. In national politics he generally voted the Democratic ticket, but in local affairs he was free of all party considerations and cast his ballot for the man he considered best. He was a valued member of the Pequot Library Association and for sev- eral years, until his death, he was the efficient and painstaking auditor of its treasurer's accounts. He was a member of Pequonnock Lodge, No. 4, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Bridgeport, and the B. C. and M. M. R. Club of Southport. All of these institutions were draped in black on the occasion of his death, which
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occurred February 3, 1912, and all busi- ness in the town was suspended during the continuance of the funeral. It was difficult to believe in witnessing all the spontaneous signs of grief in this sad event that he who had drawn all hearts to him in such measure and had forged for himself so important a place in the life of the community, was not in reality a native of Southport at all, but merely one who had made it his home for the last fifteen years of his life. Yet such was the loss to many, especially the poor, that there are not a few who feel that his place can never be filled.
KERFOOT, John Barrett, Clergyman, Educator.
Right Rev. John Barrett Kerfoot, first bishop of Pittsburgh, seventy-eighth in succession in the American Episcopate, and seventh president of Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, was born in Dub- lin, Ireland, March 1, 1816, and died in Myersdale, Pennsylvania, July 10, 1881. He was brought to the United States by his parents in 1819, and who settled in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
He was graduated from Dr. Muhlen- berg's Institute at Flushing, Long Island, known as St. Paul's College, in 1834. He was ordained deacon in St. George's Church, Flushing, Long Island, March I, 1837, and priest, March 1, 1840, by Bishop B. T. Onderdonk. He was chaplain and assistant professor of Latin and Greek at St. Paul's College, 1837-42, and presi- dent of St. James College at Hagerstown, Maryland, 1842-64. During the Civil War he was a staunch Unionist, while the sympathies of practically all the students of the college were with the South. He continued the school until the buildings were taken for the use of the Confederate troops, when he was arrested and held
prisoner until exchanged for Dr. Boyd, a Southerner. In September, 1864, he be- came president of Trinity College, Hart- ford, Connecticut, and Hobart professor of ethics and metaphysics there, and con- tinued as such until 1866, and he was a member of the board of visitors of the same institution from 1871 to 1881. In 1865 the western portion of the diocese of Pennsylvania was set apart as the dio- cese of Pittsburgh, and he was elected its bishop, and was consecrated in Trinity Church, Pittsburgh, January 25, 1866, by Bishops Hopkins, McIlvaine, Whitting- ham, John Williams, J. C. Talbot, Coxe and Clarkson. He attended the first and second Lambeth conferences, and the Old Catholic Conference at Bonn. He re- ceived the honorary degree of Master of Arts from Hobart College in 1843; that of Doctor of Divinity from Kenyon in 1846, from Columbia in 1850, and from Trinity in 1865, and that of Doctor of Laws from the University of Cambridge, England. He was a deputy to the gen- eral convention of the Episcopal church in 1865, and was influential in reuniting the church in the North and South. His published writings consist of sermons and addresses.
FESSENDEN, Samuel,
Man of Great Ability.
The Fessenden family, worthily repre- sented by the late Hon. Samuel Fessen- den, one of the foremost citizens of Con- necticut, had among its members many men who have been prominently iden- tified with public affairs. His father, the Rev. Samuel C. Fessenden, and his uncle, Hon. Thomas A. D. Fessenden, repre- sented Maine in the Thirty-seventh Con- gress; and another uncle, William Pitt Fessenden, gained an honorable place in history by his able and patriotic service
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as a statesman during the Civil War, and the trying period of reconstruction which followed.
The Rev. Samuel C. Fessenden was born in New Gloucester, Maine, March 7, 1815, and died in Stamford, Connecti- cut, April 18, 1882. He was a graduate of Bowdoin College, and prepared for the ministry in the Theological Seminary at Bangor. He served as pastor of the Con- gregational church at Rockland, Maine; was editor of the "Maine Evangelist," later took up the study of law ; was judge of the Municipal Court at Rockland; was examiner-in-chief at the United States Patent Office, and served in the Thirty- seventh Congress. He married Mary A. G. Abbe. Their son,
Samuel Fessenden, was born in Rock- land, Maine, April 12, 1847. He prepared for college in the Lewiston Academy at Lewiston. Maine, of which institution he was a pupil at the beginning of hostilities between the North and South, and he ac- cordingly gave up his studies and enlisted as a private in the Seventh Maine Battery, which was destined to win such an illus- trious name in the great conflict. He served under General Grant in the cam- paign which was made memorable by the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsyl- vania, Cold Harbor and Petersburg, and for the bravery, tact and devotion ex- hibited by Samuel Fessenden he was recommended by General Grant for a commission and was promoted from ser- geant-major to second lieutenant, under commission signed by President Lincoln, in the Second United States Infantry, and later was promoted to captain. Later he accepted a commission in the First Maine Light Artillery, and subsequently served on the staff of General A. P. Howe until the close of the war.
Upon his return from the war, he at once resumed his studies, and applied
himself to the study of law, completing in the Harvard Law School, where he was graduated, March 4, 1869. His fam- ily having removed to Stamford, Connec- ticut, he was admitted to the bar of Fair- field county, and began practice at Stam- ford as a member of a firm in which the senior partners were the late Joshua B. Ferris and Calvin G. Child. On Mr. Child's retirement, the firm name became Ferris & Fessenden, and continued thus until Mr. Ferris retired wholly from pro- fessional life. The firm was then reor- ganized under the name of Fessenden & Carter, Galen A. Carter becoming a mem- ber, and later Homer S. Cummings was admitted to partnership and the firm name became Fessenden, Carter & Cum- mings, but subsequently was again changed to Fessenden & Carter. Many important cases were entrusted to the care of the firms of which Mr. Fessenden was a member, and these were brought to successful issues. In 1880 he was elected State's Attorney for Fairfield county, and his work as such was notably effective, he having made the law liter- ally a "terror to evil-doers."
Mr. Fessenden always cast his vote for the candidates of the Republican party, and since early manhood had taken an active interest in public affairs. In 1874 he was elected to the Legislature, where he was placed on the judiciary committee, itself a recognition of his legal ability; in 1879 he was again a member of the Legis- lature, a leader among his associates ; and again in 1895 he was a member of the Legislature, being the unanimous choice of his party for speaker. In 1876 he was a delegate to the National Repub- lican Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, which nominated Rutherford B. Hayes for the presidency; that of 1880, when James A. Garfield was nominated; and that of 1888, when Benjamin Harrison
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was chosen. He sat in the Republican State Convention of 1896, at New Haven, which nominated delegates to the Repub- lican National Convention, and drafted and advocated that plank of the platform which was adopted, declaring that "we are unalterably opposed to the issue of unsecured paper currency, either by the government or the banks; and to the free coinage of silver, at any ratio, and favor a single standard of value, and that stan- dard gold. We believe that this policy, with a sound and stable currency upon a gold basis, will furnish sufficient reve- nue to meet all requirements of the gov- ernment and properly support it." He was chosen a delegate-at-large to the Republican National Convention at St. Louis. In that body he was made a mem- ber of the committee on resolutions and took an active part in the discussions be- fore that committee, and the work of the convention and in the advocacy of the gold plant in the platform which was adopted by that convention. In the con- vention there were two leading candi- dates for the nomination for President- William McKinley, of Ohio, and Thomas B. Reed, of Maine; Levi P. Morton, Wil- liam B. Allison and Matthew S. Quay also receiving votes. Connecticut was divided between the two leading candi- dates, Mckinley receiving seven votes and Reed five. Mr. Fessenden was the leader of the five Reed delegates from Connec- ticut, and he took a prominent part in the work for Mr. Reed. Mr. Manley, who also went to the St. Louis convention as a Reed man, came under the influence of the late Mark A. Hanna, who had general charge of the Mckinley forces, and Mr. Manley changed over to Mr. Mckinley. When Mr. Fessenden discovered that Mr. Manley had deserted the Reed colors, he uttered the words which were quoted throughout the country, "Joe, God Al-
mighty hates a quitter." In 1893, al- though not a candidate, Mr. Fessenden received twenty-six votes in the caucus of his party for United States Senator ; in 1899, seventy-four votes; in 1905, seventy-three votes. In 1905-06 he was a State Senator, and pro tempore president of that body.
Throughout his life he continued to mani- fest an interest in military affairs, and in 1872 Governor Jewell appointed him judge advocate, with rank of major, for the Fourth Regimental District, National Guard. He was for many years a mem- ber of the Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, District of Columbia Command- ery.
Mr. Fessenden married, June 28, 1873, Helen M. Davenport, who bore him three children: Helen G., Content, and Glad- stone. Mrs. Fessenden died November 3, 1905 ; her husband survived her, and died in 1908.
WOOD, Henry O.,
Prominent Citizen.
Henry O. Wood, whose death, April 18, 1913, at his home in Waterbury, Connec- ticut, robbed that city of one of its most prominent and highly respected citizens, was a member of a family long resident in Thomaston, Connecticut, where they were highly thought of and where his father played a conspicuous part in the affairs of the town. His parents were John H. and Mary (Ostrom) Wood, Mr. Wood, Sr., being one of the incorporators and the president for many years of the Thomaston Savings Bank. He was also the representative of his town in the State Legislature, elected in 1877, and was ap- pointed, by Governor Phineas C. Louns- bury, Commissioner of Banking for the State. Mary (Ostrom) Wood was a cousin of Senator Orville H. Platt.
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Stery O. Word
NEW YORK IC LIBRARY
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Henry O. Wood was born November 21, 1852, at Thomaston, Connecticut, and there passed his childhood and early youth. He obtained his education in the local schools and after completing his studies, secured a position in the Seth Thomas Clock Company, of which his father was the superintendent. He re- mained in this employ for a number of years, and became his father's assistant. In the year 1892, when Mr. Wood was forty years of age, he received an excel- lent offer from the Waterbury Brass Company to take charge of its shipping department, an offer Mr. Wood promptly accepted. He removed his residence to Waterbury in order to be near his work, and from that time until he died he made his home in that city. He held this posi- tion until the year 1909, when he was forced by ill health to resign. His malady was the same as that which eventually ended his life, and from that time to the end never entirely left him, though he was temporarily greatly relieved. A few months after the resignation of his position with the Waterbury Brass Com- pany, Mr. Wood repaired to the woods of Maine, where a complete rest wrought a great improvement in his condition. Dur- ing the time of his business life Mr. Wood had not spared himself other activities, and had become a prominent factor in the conduct of the affairs of the community. His popularity was on the increase at the time of the breakdown of his health, and although the part he had played in poli- tics had been a modest one, and the only public office he had held was a member- ship on the board of education for a year, his party saw in him the most available candidate for the office of city comptroller in the campaign of 1910. It is not often that a man's popularity is an instrument for his destruction, but one can hardly avoid the conclusion that in this case it
proved so. The question of his nomina- tion for comptroller or mayor was under discussion at the very time he was leaving for the Maine woods, and the decision of his party to name him for the former office doubtless cut short his beneficial rest. He was elected to the office, running on the same ticket with William B. Hotchkiss, the candidate for mayor, and thus involved in duties which, though most honorable, were also arduous. Dur- ing the last year of his incumbency, Mr. Wood was operated upon at Grace Hos- pital, New Haven, and though much bene- fited, it proved but a temporary respite. The last few months before his death were spent in an effort to regain his once more failing health. This effort included a trip to Florida, but with rough weather and an attack of the grippe which he con- tracted in the South, the benefits were negatived and his health too much broken to stand the final attack of his trouble. Mr. Wood was a member of the Republi- can party, and was spoken of as a possible candidate for mayor in the fall of 1913. His religious affiliations were with the Methodist church, and he was an attend- ant at the services of the First Church of that denomination for many years. He was very prominent in fraternal circles, being a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of Continental Lodge, No. 76; of Lafayette Consistory, Sovereign Princes of the Royal Secret, Bridgeport; Sphinx Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Hartford. He was also a member of the order of Elks, and one of its governing board. He was a very prominent member of the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows, and was one of the incorporators of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows' Home of New London, Connecticut, being the one who brought the movement before the Grand Lodge.
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Mr. Wood married, April 15, 1896, Lena Burns, of Waterbury. He is survived by his wife and mother and a nephew, the Rev. Frederick Sawyer, pastor of the Methodist church, at Woodbury, Connec- ticut.
This sketch can conclude with no more fitting words than those of two tributes offered immediately after his death by close associates. The first of these con- sists of a communication addressed to Mrs. Henry O. Wood by the grand patri- arch of the Connecticut section of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, Samuel Prince, on receipt of the news of our sub- ject's death :
MY DEAR MRS. WOOD :- Your postal received this p. m. informing me of the death of Mr. Henry O. Wood, past grand patriarch and past grand representative of the jurisdiction of Con- necticut.
Please accept my sincere sympathy in this time of your bereavement, but we must look upon such events as the inevitable, and hope in the truth of the Scripture, "That to die is to gain," that our sojourn here is but the initiatory to a better and brighter beyond.
The Odd Fellows of this jurisdiction have lost a valuable member, one whose wise councils have been valuable in conducting its affairs to its pres- ent prosperity. He was a true friend and brother, and his presence will be greatly missed in the future conclaves of our beloved order. The city of Waterbury has lost a spirited citizen and the Commonwealth of Connecticut one of her most respected sons, and you who have been his de- voted companion for so many years, in prosperity and adversity, cannot but realize the void that has been made in home surroundings and in your future life. The jurisdiction of the Grand En- campment of Connecticut extend to you and your family their condolence in this the hour of your trial, and hope that you and yours may be com- forted by the rays of light so beautifully expressed in Holy Writ. *
* He has gone from us, but his memory will ever have a sacred spot in our hearts, and although his light has gone out his nobility of character and the influences he exerted for the good of his fellow men will live on forever.
The second tribute was that spoken by W. B. Hotchkiss, ex-mayor of Waterbury, upon hearing of his brother officer's death :
I feel very keenly the loss of ex-Comptroller Henry O. Wood. He was one of the quiet, un- assuming kind, and a man of real worth and honesty, always considerate of others, and a per- fect gentleman to the core. I was intimately as- sociated with him for two years when I had the honor of being mayor, and not once was he ever but a true friend and a real help. He was abso- lutely one of the finest men I ever knew, and the soul of honor in every particular. My heart goes out to his wife in this her great hour of bereave- ment.
PERKINS, George Leonard, Man of Enterprise.
John Perkins, immigrant ancestor of Colonel George L. Perkins, was born at Newent, County Gloucester, England, about 1590, died in 1654 ; he came to Bos- ton, Massachusetts, in the ship "Lion" in February, 1631; removed to Ipswich, 1633, and was deputy to the General Court, 1636. His son, Jacob Perkins, was born in England, 1624, settled with his father in Ipswich, Massachusetts, where he died January 29, 1701. His son, Jabez Perkins, was born in Ipswich, Massachu- setts, May 15, 1677; removed from there to Norwich, in the part of the town after- wards named Lisbon; married (first) Hannah Lathrop, (second) Charity Leon- ard. His son, Jacob (2) Perkins, was born in Norwich, May 22, 1709; married Jemima Leonard. Their son, Hezekiah Perkins, was born in Lisbon, January 15, 1751, died in Norwich, September II, 1822; married, about 1783, Sarah Fitch, of Windham, Connecticut, and they were the parents of Colonel George L. Perkins, of this review.
Colonel George Leonard Perkins, son of Hezekiah Perkins, was born in Nor- wich, August 5, 1788, died September 5,
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1888, at Groton, Connecticut, aged one hundred years one month. He married Emily Lathrop, June 1, 1819, and she survived him.
He was known everywhere for more than forty years as the "venerable treas- urer of the Norwich and Worcester Rail- road Company," and always lived at Nor- wich, where he was highly honored and respected for his fine character. When he was twenty-two he was thought to have consumption, and was sent on a sea voy- age to Brazil for his health. He was so feeble when he started that his attendant had to carry him on board ship, but his voyage had such a good effect that he re- turned home in good health, and once said to a friend : "When I landed in New York I felt as if I could jump over any tree on the Battery, and I have gone on jumping ever since." He engaged in busi- ness in Norwich, Connecticut, as writer of newspaper advertisements, on March 9, 1809. When the war of 1812 broke out he was appointed paymaster of the sec- ond district, including Rhode Island and Connecticut, with the rank of brigade major, and this office brought him in con- tact with many officers and men in high position in the country, whose friendship he always kept. At the end of the war he again engaged in business. He was one of the original corporators of the Norwich & Worcester Railroad Company, and was on its first board of directors; he was its first treasurer, signed its first check, and remained in his office until his death, a period of fifty-three years. He was a member of the Park Congrega- tional Church of Norwich, and was the first to establish Sunday schools there. He voted at every presidential election from Madison on, and several of the pres- idents called on him when passing through Norwich. He walked from Nor- wich to Poughkeepsie in order to be a
passenger on Fulton's wonderful steam- boat going to New York City. In 1861 he was chosen by Governor Buckingham of Connecticut to be a bearer of dispatches from him to President Lincoln, a task which was very difficult.
He was a man of strict moral character, and his advice to young men was never to take spirituous liquors except by the advice of a physician, and "not then, if the physician himself drinks them." He always rose early, and even went to work sometimes before breakfast, accomplish- ing much work before his clerks appeared. He had a marvelous memory, and could relate anecdotes in every particular which happened almost a century before and possessed a keen relish for humor. When he was over one hundred he seemed but seventy-five, being tall and vigorous in appearance, with the faculties of perfect manhood. The anniversary of his one- hundredth birthday came on Sunday, and his name was mentioned in many ser- mons that day in the different churches. He entertained his friends on the next Monday, and remarked that he "had reached par." He died just one month after his birthday, at the Fort Griswold House, Groton, where he was spending his vacation with his family. Children : I. Mary Lathrop, born August 30, 1821, died 1842. 2. George Perit, October 14, 1823, died 1849. 3. Thomas Hezekiah, August 13, 1834. 4. Emily Newton, Octo- ber II, 1836.
DAY, Henry Noble,
Clergyman, Educator.
Henry Noble Day was born in New Preston, Connecticut, August 4, 1808, son of Noble Day, grandson of the Rev. Jere- miah Day, and nephew of Jeremiah Day, president of Yale College.
He was prepared for college chiefly at
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New Preston Academy and the Hartford Grammar School, and was graduated from Yale College, in 1828. He was tutor at Yale, 1831-34; spent the year 1834-35 in Europe; and was ordained pastor of the First Congregational Church in Water- bury, Connecticut, November 9, 1836. His ministry there terminated October 1, 1840, on his acceptance of the chair of rhetoric and homiletics in Western Reserve Col- lege, Hudson, Ohio. In 1858 he resigned this charge and was president of the Ohio Female College at Cincinnati, 1858-64. He resigned the office in 1864 and re- moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where he devoted himself to the prepara- tion of textbooks. Iowa State University conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in 1877. He also re- ceived the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Farmers' College, Cincinnati, and that of Doctor of Laws from Ingham University, New York.
Besides numerous contributions to the leading periodicals, he is the author of : "The Art of Elocution" (1844; rev. ed., 1860); "The Art of Rhetoric" (1850), "Fundamental Philosophy" (1848) ; "Rhe- torical Praxis" (1860) ; "The Art of Book- keeping" (1861); "The Logic of Sir Wil- liam Hamilton" (1863) ; "Elements of Logic" (1867) ; "The Art of Discourse" (1867) ; "The Art of Composition" (1867); "The American Speller" (1867) ; "Intro- duction to the Study of English Litera- ture" (1867) ; "The Young Composer" (1870) ; "Logical Praxis" (1872) ; "'The Science of Aesthetics" (1872) ; "The Ele- ments of Psychology" (1876) ; "The Science of Ethics" (1876) ; "Outlines of Ontological Science, or a Philosophy of Knowledge and Being" (1878) ; "The Science of Thought" (1886) ; "The Ele- ments of Mental Science" (1886) ; "The Science of Education" (1889). He died in New Haven, Connecticut, January 12, 1890.
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