USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 11 > Part 14
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The surname Bishop was in common use in England many centuries ago, and some eleven immigrants of that name emigrated from there with their families before 1650. Rev. John Bishop, minister of Stamford, who founded the family name in this country, married (first) Re- becca, surname unknown. He married (second) Joanna Royce, widow of Rev. Peter Prudden and of Captain Thomas Willet of Swansea, Massachusetts. Of the first union there were six children, of whom Stephen was born in Stamford about 1660. He married Mercy, surname unknown, and had eight children. He had a son, John (2), born in Stamford about 1680 and married Mary Talmadge of Stamford. They had nine children. From Rev. John Bishop the direct line descends through :
(I) Pierson Bishop, lineal descendant of the minister of Stamford, was living in that town in 1790. He married Hannah Finch, and had children, among whom was William.
(II) William Bishop, son of Pierson and Hannah (Finch) Bishop, born June
23, 1769, at Stamford, died February 24, 1844. He married Susanna, at Bridge- port, daughter of John and Sarah (Nich- ols) Scofield. They had eleven children, of whom was Alfred.
(III) Alfred Bishop, son of William and Susanna (Scofield) Bishop, was born at Stamford, December 21, 1798, and died June 12, 1849. He had a great career as a railroad contractor and built a large canal and a bridge over the Raritan River at New Brunswick, New Jersey, and was the first and chief builder of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, the old Housatonic Valley and the Berk- shire, Washington & Saratoga Railroads, and the Naugatuck Railroad, which after- ward became a division of the New Haven system. He was the first member of the House of Bishop to lay the foundation of the family fame as builders and execu- tives of great transportation properties. He married Mary, daughter of Ethan Fer- ris of Greenwich, Connecticut, who died January 3, 1833. They had three children.
(IV) William D. Bishop, second son of Alfred and Mary (Ferris) Bishop, was born in Bloomfield, New Jersey, Sep- tember 14, 1827, and died February 4, 1904. He was the greatest of the Bishops who had to do with the upbuilding and executive management of the New Haven Railroad System. He was graduated from Yale University in the class of 1849, having had a brilliant career as a student. He was a skillful debater in the college's political forum, and was president of the Linonia Society, which was rated as one of the highest honors in the college world of his time. His father having died in June, 1849, during the month of his gradu- ation, the mantle of heavy responsibility fell upon his young shoulders-he was only twenty-two at the time. William D. completed the contracts, including rail-
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roads in the West. In his young man- hood he became a director of the Nauga- tuck Railroad. Next he filled the office of superintendent, and the directors, stockholders and the public saw almost at once that in William D. Bishop they had a "born railroad man." In 1855, six years after leaving college, he was elected pres- ident of the Naugatuck road, and he de- veloped the property into one of the best paying railroads in the United States. He served as president of the Naugatuck for twelve years, and in 1867 he was elevated to the position of chief executive of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Rail- Mr. Bishop was an outstanding leader of the Democratic Party in Connecticut of his time. He was elected to Congress in 1857, and was the youngest member of that body, being also noted for his eloquence in debate, or in impromptu speeches. Failing of reëlection, he was appointed commissioner of patents by President Buchanan, and he systematized his department, so that it functioned in a highly efficient manner. He was ad- mitted to the bar of the State of Connecti- cut in 1870, and in 1871 he was elected representative from the Bridgeport Dis- trict to the Connecticut Assembly. In 1877-78 he was a member of the State Senate. He drafted and promoted the passage of the general railroad law, which was declared to be a model of its kind. road, retaining, however, his interest in the Naugatuck Railroad, to whose pres- idency he was recalled in 1885. The in- terims on the Naugatuck had been filled as president by Russell Tomlinson, 1867- 69, and E. F. Bishop, brother of William D., 1869-83. While the Naugatuck was under the management of William D. Bishop, that railroad became one of the most conspicuous of the transportation properties in the country ; for it netted the shareholders a ten per cent dividend re- turn, and it was on this basis that it was leased to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad in 1887. Of the long period of prosperity which the New Haven system enjoyed under the guiding hands of the Bishop family thirty-six years constituted the tenure of office of William Mr. Bishop married Julia Ann, daughter of Russell and Martha H. Tomlinson. They were the parents of five children : I. Mary Ferris, born October 4, 1851. 2. D. Bishop as president, and in October, 1903, his health having become impaired, he retired from office and was succeeded . by his son, William D. Bishop, Jr. The - Alfred, born June 11, 1853, died April 18, senior Bishop's name remained at the head of the list of directors of the New Haven until his death. During his term of office he was a member of the Con- necticut General Assembly, and during his membership an act was passed con- solidating the New York and New Haven
and the Hartford and Springfield lines. Later the Shore Line was leased, and the Harlem & Port Chester and the Hartford & Connecticut Valley roads were ab- sorbed into the New Haven. Mr. Bishop was a director for many years of the Hou- satonic Railroad, and was a director of the Bridgeport Steamboat Company, which now is controlled by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company. He was founder and president until his death of the Eastern Railroad Associa- tion, which was formed to protect the railroads of the East against patent suits.
1854. 3. Dr. Russell Tomlinson, born April 1, 1856; married Minnie Lockwood, and has one child, Julian Tomlinson. 4. William Darius, Jr., born December 16, 1857, married February 21, 1882, Susan Adele, daughter of Elihu Benjamin Wash- burn, and has children: Natalie W. and
156 1964 186'
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William D. Bishop (3). 5. Henry Alfred, of whom this review is made. 6. Nathan- iel W., born July 16, 1865 ; married, Octo- ber 31, 1889, Anna Lucinda, daughter of Dr. I. DeVer H. Warner of Bridgeport, and has children, Warner, Alfred, and Nathaniel W., Jr.
(V) Henry Alfred Bishop, son of Wil- liam D. and Julia Ann (Tomlinson) Bishop, was born in Bridgeport, Decem- ber 4, 1860. He was educated in the Hill- side School of Bridgeport, Hurlburt's School at Lime Rock, Connecticut, and General William H. Russell's Military School at New Haven, Connecticut. He matriculated at Yale University in the class of 1884, but did not finish his course. While at college he was elected a mem- ber of the fraternities D K, Hay Boulay, and Psi Upsilon. His career as a railroad man began September 21, 1881, when he was appointed general ticket agent of the Naugatuck Railroad. In 1883 he was made purchasing agent, and in 1885 as- sistant superintendent, holding all these offices until February, 1886. He next was appointed superintendent of the Housa- tonic Railroad and when that road had leased the Danbury Railroad, he was made general superintendent of the Hou- satonic and all its subsidiaries or branches. He was appointed purchasing agent of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Rail- road April 1, 1887, and held that office until his resignation, March 1, 1902, to be- come the acting vice-president of the West Virginia Central and the Western Maryland Railroad companies, which had been acquired by a syndicate in which he was interested. He was afterwards ele- vated to the vice-presidency of both rail- roads, but he relinquished his offices in December, 1903, owing to his father's ill- health. He has, however, since been ac- tively connected with different railroad
companies. He stands high in circles of commanding influence in the city of Bridgeport, which he served as a member of the Board of Aldermen with his usual marked ability. He was elected in 1886 to the State Legislature at Hartford. He was president of the Board of Police Com- missioners of the city of Bridgeport from 1888 to 1890. He was a candidate for the office of Secretary of State on the Demo- cratic ticket in 1888, and in 1904 was a candidate for lieutenant-governor. For each of these offices he received a large vote. He was president of the Bridgeport Board of Trade in 1900-01. He is the president and a director of the Bridgeport Public Library and of the Bridgeport Boys' Club. He is a director of the Texas & Pacific Railway Company, Westchester Street Railway Company, Brady Brass Company, vice-president and a member of the executive committee of the Consoli- dated Telephone Company of Pennsyl- vania, trustee of the People's Savings Bank of Bridgeport, chairman of the board of directors of the McNabb Com- pany, a director of the Bridgeport Gas Company, director and member of execu- tive committee of the Western Union Telegraph Company, director of the American District Telegraph Company. He was vice-president and a director of the Connecticut National Bank of Bridge- port, afterward consolidated with the First National Bank, of which he is a director. He is vice-president of the Her- rick Combustion Company and the Pacific Iron Works, vice-president and a director of the Clapp Fire Resisting Paint Com- pany and a director of the Brooklawn Company. He is a member of the Sinking Fund Commission and of the City Finance Committee of Bridgeport, a director of the Mountain Grove Cemetery Associa- tion and a trustee of the Bridgeport
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Orphans' Asylum and the Ladies' Charit- able Society. He is a communicant of St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church, a member of its vestry and chairman of its finance committee. He is a member of the Sons of the Revolution, the Society of Colonial Wars and the Bridgeport Scien- tific and Historical Society. He is affili- ated with all the bodies of the Free and Accepted Masons up to the 33d Degree, and is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a mem- ber of the Contemporary Club, a former president and honorary member of the Al- gonquin Club, member of the Brooklawn Country Club and a former president of that organization, member of the Uni- versity Club of Bridgeport, member and secretary of the membership committee of the New York Yacht Club, member of the Yale Club of New York, the Recess Club, the Hollenbeck Club of Connecticut and the Metabetchouan Fish and Game Club of Canada.
Mr. Bishop married, February 6, 1883, Jessie Alvord, daughter of William E. Trubee, of Bridgeport. Their children: I. William Alfred, born 1885, died 1886. 2. Marguerite Alvord, graduate of Ingleside School, New Milford, Connecticut; mar- ried Dr. H. LeBaron Peters, and has chil- dren, Henry Walker and William Charles Peters. 3. Henrietta. 4. Henry Alfred, Jr., educated at the Hotchkiss School and Yale University; married Gloria Gould, youngest daughter of George J. Gould.
The Henry Alfred Bishop residence is No. 179 Washington Avenue, Bridgeport.
FONES, Hon. Civilian, D. D. S., Dental Surgeon.
Born in the same year that the city of Bridgeport was chartered by the Connect- icut General Assembly as an incorporated
municipality, and of which he was twice elected mayor, Dr. Civilian Fones, who became one of the most prominent men in municipal affairs of his time and one of the foremost dentists of the State of Con- necticut, was the father of a distinguished son, who, following in the footsteps of his parent, is recognized as without a peer in his profession, Dr. Alfred C. Fones, known throughout the country as "The Father of the Dental Hygienist Move- ment." During the terms of office of the senior Fones and his regime as mayor, the city of Bridgeport and its people became the beneficiaries of an era of remarkable progress in municipal improvements and in the forward movement of her institu- tions and the general uplift of the body politic. It was mainly through his efforts and influence that Congress was persuaded to pass a bill and make the appropriation for the erection of the United State Post Office and Government Building at Broad and Cannon streets, on the site of the old St. John's Church, Bridgeport. Profes- sionally he rose to the place of very high- est esteem and confidence in the city of his immediate activities, and in the State his abilities were recognized by his ap- pointment for two terms as a member of the Connecticut State Dental Commission by Governor Morris and of which body he was elected president upon its organiza- tion. He had also been honored with the presidency of the Connecticut Valley Dental Association and of the Connecti- cut State Dental Society. When he died in 1907, at the age of seventy-one years, there passed one of the most remarkable figures and versatile citizens of his gener- ation in the city of Bridgeport, and his death was mourned not only by the mu- nicipality but also by men prominent in official walks in the government of the State, while to the dental profession there
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Civilion Tons
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was lost a member who had graced it with his skill and with a rare and pleasing personality and splendid fellowship.
In the sixth generation from his im- migrant ancestor, Captain John Fones, who settled in Newport, Rhode Island, before 1659, and afterwards lived at Jamestown and Kingston, Rhode Island, Civilian Fones was of French Hugue- not stock, his paternal great-grandfather, Daniel Fones, having been one of those who became exiles to England during the reign of Louis XIV and afterwards be- came an officer in the British navy. Upon his retirement from the service of the Crown he was awarded a grant of fifteen hundred acres of land in Rhode Island, where the old town of Wickford now stands, and on which he located. Daniel Fones, his son, who was the father of Christopher, who was the father of Civil- ian Fones, was born on the ancestral tract. Christopher, also born on the family homestead, married Sarah A. Marigold of South Carolina, who was of English an- cestry, and for a time, while serving as architect and builder in connection with a large contract that he was executing in Toronto, Canada, lived in that city and the vicinity, and it was while a temporary resident there that his son, Civilian Fones was born, October 1, 1836, at Belleville, Province of Ontario. Civilian was reared in his father's profession and business, but, on the family returning to the United States and taking their residence in Bridgeport, the son became identified with the pioneer dental manufacturing estab- lishment of Dr. D. H. Porter, where he began to study for the profession of den- tistry. Subsequently he entered the Bal- timore Dental College, whence he was graduated; and for forty-six years he practiced his profession with signal suc- cess in Bridgeport, his clientele including
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some of the wealthiest and most influen- tial families in the city and its suburbs. He became a member of the first Connect- icut State Dental Commission, having been appointed by Governor Luzon B. Morris, in 1892-93, and was reappointed by Governor Coffin for his second term.
Dr. Fones identified himself with the Republican Party upon its organization, but it was not until 1884 that he held a political office. In that year he was elected to represent his ward as council- man in the City Government of Bridge- port. In the following year he was elected alderman, and he continued to advance in the favor of the electorate ; for in 1886 he was elected mayor of the city, having the unusual honor conferred upon him of the support of both parties. He overcame the opposition's majority by about one thou- sand votes, and in the campaign of the ensuing year, 1887, his administration re- ceived a remarkable endorsement in his reelection by an increased majority, with the virtually united support from both parties. Some of the improvements accomplished during his administrations were the removal of the railroad tracks from Water Street, the removal of the old Miller Building, the erection of the lower bridge and the locating of several gates and crossings. Both of his terms as mayor were marked with harmony, and there was no political disturbance by either party, so that his conduct of the city's business was virtually untrammeled and he was permitted to carry out his policies without interference. Dr. Fones was grand marshal of the great civic and military parade in 1888 as a part of the celebration of the bi-centennial of the in- corporation of the borough of Bridgeport. He was a member and had served as president of the Seaside Club and the Outing Club. He was also a member of
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the New York Athletic Club and was affiliated with all the bodies of the Free and Accepted Masons, inclusive of the 32d degree Scottish Rite. He was also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Dr. Fones married, October 21, 1863, Phoebe E., daughter of Alfred S. Wright of New York City. Their children : George, died at the age of four years; Grace; and Dr. Alfred C. Fones.
FONES, Alfred C., D. D. S., Dental Surgeon.
It may be stated with emphasis that no member of the dental profession, at least in the State of Connecticut, has done more to confer the benefits of the advancement of that department of surgery upon the people of the commonwealth than has Dr. Alfred C. Fones, son of Dr. Civilian and Phoebe E. (Wright) Fones, born in Bridgeport, December 17, 1869, and who is acknowledged by his contemporaries to be at the very pinnacle of the profession. The great strides in dental hygiene among the school children of the city of Bridge- port and later among the schools of large communities of the State and country are traceable to the professional foresight and skill of Dr. Fones, who was among the first, if not the very first, to develop the idea of training women to become assist- ants to dentists in prophylactic work. How much this progressive step has accomplished in promoting the campaign for sanitation of the oral cavity can only be measured by the almost phenomenal rise in the health of the school population and in the beneficent results of the edu- cation in dental hygiene not only upon the pupils themselves but also indirectly upon the entire family at home. The vision that Dr. Fones received a quarter of a
century ago has been concretely realized in the state-wide adoption of prophylactic treatment in the hands of specially trained women in service in dental establishments following the amendment of the State dental law, at his request, to the effect that women who were not graduate den- tists might be employed in that depart- ment of operative work. Such remark- able results were attained by this move- ment, that Dr. Fones was led to seek the establishment of dental hygiene by means of clinics among the school children of Bridgeport. Patient and painstaking at- tention to the line of campaign he had marked out was finally crowned with suc- cess. Dr. Fones is recognized as an au- thority on this subject, and on it he has read many papers before dental society gatherings and prepared many articles for magazines devoted to the profession.
Having received his elementary train- ing and preparatory education in the Bridgeport schools, Alfred C. Fones en- tered the New York College of Dentistry, whence he was graduated in the class of 1890. He at once engaged in the practice of his profession in association with his honored father, who many years before had become established as a dentist in Bridgeport. Some of the high lights in Dr. Fones' career have been raised by the following incidents: In 1900 he conceived the idea of training women specially for prophylactic work. He evolved a system of instrumentation and polishing for use in his office, and practiced it until 1905, when the lack of proper amount of time for the work forced him to carry out his original conviction of the employment of a trained woman for that work. He did so, and has had a highly trained woman on his staff at his office for twenty years. He has made prophylactic treatments compulsory with
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Alfred C. Hours
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his patients. It was in 1907 that as chair- man of the legislative committee of the Connecticut State Dental Association he was able to secure an amendment to the State dental law providing for the legal- ized employment of women specially trained in prophylactic treatment as as- sistants to dentists. In 1900 he inaugu- rated prophylactic work in his office. Be- ginning in 1909, and after four years of strenuous effort, he secured an appropria- tion of five thousand dollars by the Bridgeport City Council to the Board of Education to conduct a demonstration of the value of an educational and preventive dental clinic. Dr. Fones enlisted the aid of other professional men in order to make use of the special fund and to train the new corps of women prophylactic opera- tors in Dr. Fones' magnificently appointed office building where there were excellent facilities for such a class. In 1914, eight- een prominent educators of the East gave their services gratis to educate the first corps of women to be known as dental hygienists, the title now generally applied to them at the suggestion of Dr. Fones in preference to "dental nurse," "prophy- lactic assistant," etc. A textbook on the subject of "Mouth Hygiene-A Textbook for Dental Hygienists" was published and now is in its second edition, it being in use in many of the hygienists' training schools. In 1915 Dr. Fones secured an amendment to the State Dental law which prescribed the field of the dental hygienist and made provision for licensing these women, for the first time in any State of the Union. The movement has spread from the private offices of dentists, to the public schools, to hospitals and to dis- pensaries. The soldiers in the World War who were mobilized in Bridgeport were given the prophylactic treatment by the dental hygienists of Connecticut, with
beneficial results. This work was organ- ized and conducted by Dr. Fones as a free clinic in his office. In addition to this war work, Dr. Fones served on the Dental Committee of the Medical Board, Council of National Defense, and was chairman of the government's sub-committee on den- tal hygiene for mobilized men and was chairman of the New England division of the Preparedness League of American Dentists.
Dr. Fones has served as chairman of the oral hygiene committee of the National Dental Association. When his own courses were completed he cooperated with the courses in oral hygiene at Colum- bia University, in 1918-22. In October, 1920, he was appointed professor of pre- ventive dentistry at the Columbia Uni- versity Dental School, and conducted this course for two years. Owing to the pres- sure of his work in Connecticut Dr. Fones was obliged to resign his professorship. In February, 1921, he went to Honolulu, at the request of ex-Governor George Carter and Mrs. Carter, to suggest a plan for dental service for the school children of the Hawaiian Islands. His suggestion of a plan for a dental hygienist training school was carried out in connection with a central dental infirmary in Honolulu, endowed by Mrs. Carter. The supervisors of the training school were hygienists sent out from Bridgeport to conduct the first course in 1922. The Hawaiian Islands now support the educational and prevent- ive service in all public schools in the is- lands, and hygienists are trained for this purpose at the Honolulu Dental Infirm- ary.
Dr. Fones' two-story office building in Bridgeport is without doubt the most unique, artistic, and aseptic building de- voted to dental work owned and operated by a dental surgeon in connection with his
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private practice in this country, if not in the world. A printed description of it is wholly inadequate to give the correct idea of the beauty, symmetry, appointments, and equipment contained in this archi- tectural and professional gem. One must visit the building, spend not a little time in inspecting its various departments and hearing an explanation of the whole and the several parts from Dr. Fones or one of his highly specialized attendants. An expert in dental matters has well said: "Undoubtedly many will say: 'Only a man of great wealth could indulge in such an office building.' The odd thing is that this is no realized air castle of a rich man. This building, luxurious as it is, has been constructed and is managed on purely business principles. Everything is so systematized, invested capital, cost of maintenance and office charges so har- monize that a wonderfully unique, abso- lutely aseptic, thoroughly professional dental establishment has been proven to be practical."
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