USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 11 > Part 35
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sewage disposal plant. When Mr. Crosby became warden the borough was under a floating debt of $200,000. The borough has since been bonded to cover that amount and the bonds are being retired. From 1845 until Mr. Crosby became war- den the borough borrowed money every year, but during his administration it did not borrow a dollar and has retired about $25,000 of its old indebtedness. Among the minor offices held by Mr. Crosby is that of secretary of the school committee that erected three modern schoolhouses, situated, respectively, at Hamilton ave- nue, Coscob street and New Lebanon. He affiliates with Acacia Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which for some years Mr. Crosby held the office of steward.
Mr. Crosby married, August 27, 1878, Maria D. Trefry, daughter of De Lancey and Rachel (Wescott) Trefry, of Yar- mouth, Nova Scotia, and they are the par- ents of the following children : I. Charles, born September 12, 1879; mar- ried Elsie Cliff, of Greenwich. 2. Chester N., born October 19, 1884; married Hilda Wiederman, and they have three chil- dren : Joseph P. (2), Chestine and Ruth L. 3. Joseph Elton, born October 21, 1889; married Estelle White, and they have one child, Joseph Elton, Jr. (see fol- lowing sketch). 4. Genevieve, born Oc- tober 23, 1891; married Ralph Benson Hurlbutt, and they have one child, Ralph Benson, Jr. 5. Helen, deceased.
The record of Joseph Porter Crosby is that of an all-round man. As a business man he has by his ability and enterprise helped to increase the material prosperity of his community, and in the different offices to which he has been summoned by the voice of his fellow-citizens, he has, by his public-spirited devotion to the rights and privileges of his constituents,
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rendered service of a valuable and lasting character. Most richly does he merit the high esteem and cordial regard in which he is held by his friends and neighbors and the entire community.
(The Porter Line).
This ancient family, which has a rec- ord of nearly three centuries in New Eng- land, was founded by William de la Grande, a Norman knight, who accom- panied William the Conqueror to Eng- land, and in return for his services was given lands in or near Kenilworth, War- wickshire.
Ralph, or Roger, son of William, be- came Grand Porteur to King Henry the First, and from his tenure of this high office was derived the family name.
The escutcheon of the Porters is as follows :
Arms-Argent, on a fesse sable between bar- rulets or, three bells of the first.
Crest-A portcullis argent chained or. Motto-Vigilantia et virtute.
(I) John Porter, founder of the Amer- ican branch of the family, was born in England about 1596, and about 1637 is known to have been of Hingham, Mas- sachusetts. Later he removed to Salem and there passed the remainder of his life. He was a man of prominence in the community, holding high and responsible offices, and is said to have been a per- sonal friend of Governor Endicott. John Porter married Mary . His death occurred in 1676.
(II) Samuel Porter, son of John and Mary Porter, was born, probably, in Eng- land, and was a mariner, owning a farm in Wenham, near Wenham pond. He married Hannah Dodge. He died about 1660.
(III) John (2) Porter, son of Samuel and Hannah (Dodge) Porter, was born in 1658, and about 1680 moved from Dan-
vers to Wenham. He was a maltster and lived on a farm. He married Lydia Her- rick. Mr. Porter was an active and influ- ential citizen, and lived to the venerable age of ninety-five years, passing away in 1753.
(IV) Nehemiah Porter, son of John (2) and Lydia (Herrick) Porter, was born in 1692, in Wenham, Massachusetts, and was a weaver and yeoman, living on a farm in Ipswich given him by his father. He married, in 1717, Hannah Smith, daughter of Hezekiah Smith, of Beverly. He died in Ipswich in 1784.
(V) Nehemiah (2) Porter, son of Ne- hemiah (1) and Hannah (Smith) Porter, was born March 22, 1720. He early deter- mined to study for the ministry. He graduated from Harvard College, and in 1750 was ordained pastor of the church in Chebacco parish where he remained sixteen years. At the end of that time he went to Nova Scotia where, however, he spent but a few years, returning ere long to Massachusetts and accepting a pastor- ate in Ashfield, which he retained to the close of his long life. He married (first) January 20, 1749, Rebecca Chipman, daughter of the Rev. John Chipman, of Beverly, Massachusetts. The Chipmans were numbered among the old Colonial families of the Province. Mr. Porter mar- ried (second) Elizabeth Nowell, of Bos- ton. During the Revolutionary War he volunteered as chaplain and always be- lieved that his prayers turned the tide of battle at Saratoga. To his great honor be it recorded that he was strongly anti- slavery. Many anecdotes are related il- lustrative of his strength of principle, his originality of mind and his trenchant and ready wit. A gentleman who refused to attend church ended his argument with "I have a right to think as I have a mind to." To which Mr. Porter instantly re- plied, "You have no right to think
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wrong." On February 29, 1820, this de- voted man "ceased from earth." He had rounded out, in years, very nearly a cen- tury, seventy-five of those years having been spent in the Christian ministry. His character, considered from every side, is one of the noblest in our history.
(VI) Nehemiah (3) Porter, son of Nehemiah (2) and Rebecca (Chipman) Porter, was born January 12, 1753. He married, July 18, 1776, Mary Tardy, of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
(VII) Joseph Blaney Porter, son of Nehemiah (3) and Mary (Tardy) Porter, was born June 28, 1795. He married, De- cember II, 1817, in Nova Scotia, Elizabeth Wyman, daughter of Matthew Wyman. Mr. Porter died April 12, 1859.
(VIII) Elizabeth Porter, daughter of Joseph Blaney and Elizabeth (Wyman) Porter, became the wife of Captain Ansel Crosby (see Crosby IV). She died in November, 1868.
CROSBY, J. Elton, Business Man.
J. Elton Crosby, one of the men who have won success in life by virtue of their natural ability and strength of will, was born October 21, 1889, in Greenwich, Connecticut, son of Joseph Porter Crosby (q. v.).
he opened business on his own account with offices at No. 29 Greenwich avenue, and does an extensive business in local real estate and insurance.
Mr. Crosby married Estelle White, daughter of Warren P. and Jane (Sut- ton) White, of Purchase, New York. They are the parents of two children: J. Elton, Jr., born October 21, 1915; Ger- trude Estelle, born, 1920.
Warren P. White, father of Mrs. Cros- by, was born November 20, 1854. He was reared in Greenwich, Connecticut, and went to school there. Thence he went to Brooklyn and clerked in a retail grocery store for some years, and then formed a partnership to engage in the re- tail grocery business. He was in business in Greenwich for many years, and part of this time was alone, having bought the interest of his partner. In 1910 Mr. White retired from active cares. He married Jane Sutton, daughter of James and Phoebe T. (Carpenter) Sutton. James Sutton was born in the town of Green- wich, Connecticut, and died in November, 1880. He was a farmer all his life. His wife, Phoebe T. Carpenter, was a daugh- ter of Elnathan and Hannah (Haviland) Carpenter. Warren P. White and his wife, Jane (Sutton) White, were the par- ents of three children : Stephen, Edna and Estelle. Mrs. White is a member of the Society of Friends. Estelle White be- came the wife of J. Elton Crosby, as above noted.
He was educated in the Brunswick School in Greenwich, after which he ma- triculated in Worcester Polytechnic In- stitute with the class of 1914. There he became a member of the Alpha Tau Mega fraternity. After completing his formal WINCHESTER, Albert Edward, Electrical Engineer, Inventor. education, Mr. Crosby was associated with his father in the contracting busi- When all things were made, none was better made than the man (the same through all generations) who having found his work does it with all his might, stays on the job and attends to business, ness for about seven or eight years. In 1919 he took charge of the real estate of- fice of Prince & Ripley, in Greenwich, in the managership of which he has been very successful. On November 1, 1920, honors all men and is honored. The high
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character and strength of such men are reflected in the enterprises they manage; their personality imparts the human touch and commands confidence and respect. Such a man is Albert E. Winchester, gen- eral superintendent of the South Nor- walk (Connecticut) Electric Works. In his lineage are to be found many strains that from the Colonial period have con- tributed to give to America its unique character among the nations. His ances- tors were of English, French, Irish and Scotch extraction, including John Win- chester, Royal Governor Belcher, of Mas- sachusetts and later of New Jersey, the Jackson family of the Southern States, and the French Huguenots, Devone and Bennett, of New York and Canada.
The family name of Winchester is among the oldest in England, being de- rived from the city of that name in the County of Hants. The name of Ralph de Wincestre is found in the Hundred Rolls, A. D. 1273.
(I) John Winchester, who has been re- ferred to as one of the "Founders of New England," established this family in America. He was born in England in 1616, and is said to have been an ad- venturous, religious, independence-loving scion of a titled family of Hertfordshire. On April 6, 1635, he sailed on the ship "Elizabeth" and landed in Boston, Mas- sachusetts. He was allotted five acres of land on what is now South street, Hing- ham, July 3, 1636, and settled there. In the same year he became a member of the first church of Boston. He was made a freeman, March 9, 1637, and a year later joined the Ancient and Honorable Artil- lery Company of Boston. About 1650 he and others moved to Muddy River, then a remote part of Boston, but now the aristocratic town of Brookline. There he was surveyor in 1664, 1669 and 1670; in
1672 was constable; and in 1680 was tythingman. He and his family united with the Roxbury church in 1674. His estate, at his death, April 25, 1694, as in- ventoried, indicates that he was well- to-do for those days, for it was appraised at £ 307, and consisted principally of all the land in Harvard street, Brookline, to, the top of Corey's hill and west to the Brighton line.
(II) Josiah Winchester, son of John Winchester, married Mary Lyon, or Lyons, and their son, Elhanan, is of fur- ther mention.
(III) Elhanan Winchester, son of Jo siah and Mary (Lyon or Lyons) Winches- ter, married Mary Taylor, and their son, Elhanan, is of further mention.
(IV) Elhanan (2) Winchester, son of Elhanan (1) and Mary (Taylor) Win- chester, was a deacon in the Church of the "New Lights." In 1777 he advanced £ 300 to the town of Newton, Massachu- setts, to pay the needy soldiers, whom the town in its impoverished condition on account of the war was unable to provide for. This loan greatly reduced his re- sources, and no record that it was repaid has been found. He married Sarah Bel- cher, a daughter of Royal Governor Bel- cher. He held the office of governor of his native colony of Massachusetts from 1730 to 1741, and at his death in 1757 was royal governor of New Jersey.
(V) Samuel Winchester, son of El- hanan (2) and Sarah (Belcher) Winches- ter, served in the Revolutionary War under General Gates. He participated in the battle of Stillwater, and was present at the surrender of General Burgoyne's army in Saratoga, New York. Samuel Winchester married for his third wife Hannah Woods.
(VI) Ebenezer Winchester, son of Samuel and Hannah (Woods) Winches-
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ter, was born in Marcellus, New York, March 30, 1814, and died in Valley Springs, California, February 1, 1897. He was an editor in his early days, being a fellow-worker with Horace Greeley and Whitelaw Reid on the New York "Tri- bune." For some time he was the pub- lisher of the Fredonia, New York, "Cen- sor." At another time he established the "New World," said to have been New York's first society illustrated paper. He also did much editorial and other writing for other newspapers. During the sixties and seventies he and his son, Theodore Winchester, owned and operated a news- paper and printing establishment in Marietta, Ohio. The latter years of Eben- ezer Winchester's life were spent in Oak- land and Valley Springs, California, where until he became blind he pursued writing and research work of a literary nature.
Mr. Winchester married Elizabeth Nel- son Story, who was born in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, March 26, 1815. She was a direct descendant of John Story, who came from England in the first half of the eighteenth century and settled in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he became an extensive ship merchant. His young- est son, Francis Story, father of Elizabeth Nelson Story, was born in Laurencetown, near Halifax, June 24, 1776. Being a commander of ships in the West India trade, he was known as Captain Story. Quite early in the nineteenth century he became a resident of Westchester county, New York. Maternally, Elizabeth Nel- son Story was descended from the French Huguenot families of Devone-now called Devoe-and Bennett, founders of the numerous Westchester county families bearing those names. The original De- vones and Bennetts, having left Rochelle, France, in consequence of the revocation
of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, were early settlers in New Rochelle, New York. Frederick Devone, great-grandfather of Elizabeth Nelson (Story) Winchester, was born there early in the seventeen hun- dreds. He engaged in business in New York City, where he resided during the winter seasons on Franklin square, spend- ing his summers at his country home in New Rochelle. He was the owner of a considerable estate. Frederick Devone was a vestryman of St. Paul's Chapel, New York. Being a Royalist, he removed to Nova Scotia after the British evacuated New York, taking with him his ward, David Bennett, who was born in New Rochelle, March 31, 1757. David Bennett was married at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, to Charity Devone, a daughter of his guardian, Frederick Devone, who was born in New Rochelle, New York, Janu- ary 27, 1759. This marriage took place about 1782 or 1783. Their oldest daugh- ter, Sarah Bennett, who was born in An- napolis, Nova Scotia, December 21, 1784, was married at that place, March 13, 1806, to Captain Francis Story, and they were the parents of Elizabeth Nelson Story, who as the wife of Ebenezer Win- chester was the grandmother of Albert E. Winchester.
(VII) Theodore Winchester, son of Ebenezer and Elizabeth Nelson (Story) Winchester, was born in Brooklyn, New York, March 30, 1842, and died in Balti- more, Maryland, December II, 1883. He received an education better than was given to most youths of his day. He pos- sessed an active mind, and besides mak- ing the most of the opportunities afforded him he added to his store of knowledge by wise and careful reading and by keen and thoughtful observation. He literally grew up in the printing office of his father, the work being such as appeals to almost
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every boy. He became a thorough all- round printer, and remained identified with the printing business in one way and another as long as he lived. He took out a number of patents, and contributed many improvements in methods of de- signing, cutting and making type. Dur- ing the sixties and seventies he was asso- ciated with his father in the ownership and operation of a newspaper and print- ing plant at Marietta, Ohio. It was there that he began his inventive work on printing appliances. At the time of his death he was associated with the Balti- more Type Foundry. During all these years he was associated with various pub- lishers, for he was an exceptionally fluent and versatile writer. While he never essayed to be a poet, he possessed a splen- did gift of poesy, though this was exer- cised mostly for his own entertainment. As a free-lance writer his editorial writ- ings appeared in many publications. He also possessed marked artistic talent, but this too was used merely as a means of amusement.
On December 11, 1865, Theodore Win- chester married Anna Maud Jackson, who was born November 25, 1847, in Danby, New York, and died January 21, 19II, in Los Angeles, California. In her latter years she was known in literary circles and among her friends as Mrs. Winches- ter-Dennie. Her second husband, de- ceased, was Henry Eugene Dennie, a pioneer builder of railroads in Mexico and Central America. From girlhood, Mrs. Winchester-Dennie was devoted to edu- cational and literary work, and became prominent in both, particularly as an edi- torial writer on political and governmen- tal matters and as a promoter of modern education. Her newspaper work took her to Mexico in 1881, and there she labored for and succeeded in the introduction of
the American school system. As a mark of distinction, she was the first woman to be commissioned by the Mexican govern- ment as Professor of Instruction, which followed her marriage to Mr. Dennie. After a residence of about twenty years in Mexico, and having become a widow, she made her home with her son, Albert E. Winchester, in South Norwalk, Con- necticut. Her long continuous work had made her an invalid, and her entire for- tune had been exhausted in the advance- ment of education and uplift effort. In about five years she went to the Pacific coast in the hope of restoring her health, but her strength continued to fail until January 21, 19II, when she passed away. Until a few months before the end, Mrs. Winchester-Dennie pursued her literary work as a reviewer, rewriter and critic of fiction and other writings. Her father, George Jackson, of Virginia and Mary- land stock, late of Ithaca, New York, was of English and Scotch descent. Her mother was Caroline (Denton) Jackson, of Danby, New York, who was of Eng- lish and Irish descent. A direct maternal ancestor is understood to have been an Irish countess who married below her station and ran away to America. George Jackson worked on the laying out of Washington, D. C., and was early asso- ciated with Samuel F. B. Morse, the in- ventor of electric telegraphy, and Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University, with whom he helped to construct the first electric telegraph line between Wash- ington and Baltimore. His forefathers, after concluding that slavery was wrong, freed their slaves and came North, set- tling in the vicinity of Ithaca, many years before the war that settled the slavery question. He was also one of the original "Forty-niners" who went to seek gold in
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California. Upon his return he resumed his occupation of farmer and cattle dealer. '(VIII) Albert E. Winchester, son of Theodore and Anna Maud (Jackson) Winchester, in 1871 accompanied his mother to her old home in Ithaca, New York, where he attended school until New York City became their home in 1876. At the age of ten he secured his first position, as office boy with the Wall street law firm of Wells Hendershott. The spring of 1881 found our subject em- barking for old Mexico with his mother, who had been appointed to write a guide- book for the Gould-Grant Railroad, then under concession, and as Mexican corre- spondent for several American periodi- cals. At that time he was just fourteen years old, and there being no suitable school for him in Mexico in those days, and having evinced from earliest boy- hood an insatiable zeal and ardor for con- structive mechanics, and a keen apprecia- tion of scientific values, he became an apprentice in the Mexican Central Rail- road, which was then being built to the United States. He served successively in the treasury department, the mechanical section in connection with locomotive and car building, and out on pioneer railroad construction. On completing his time in 1883, he was sent back to the United States to qualify for college and took a preparatory course in the Whitlock Acad- emy, Wilton, Connecticut.' At this early day the young man was investigating the then new problem of the commercial de- velopment of electricity as his limited time permitted, and at the conclusion of his course at the academy, instead of en- tering college, he began in the year 1886, as the youngest member of the parent Edison Company's engineering staff, un- der the well known veteran electrical and mechanical engineer, J. H. Vail, who was
then the general superintendent, and con- tinued with the various organizations of the Edison interests in line of succes- sion from draughtsman to constructing engineer, until the formation of the Gen- eral Electric Company, with which he remained until 1893, when he became a director of the Electrical & Mechanical Engineering Company of New York, and its superintendent of construction for the three ensuing years.
During 1896 and 1897, Mr. Winchester was on the staff of the New York Edison Illuminating Company. From that time to the present (1921) he has held his pres- ent position of general superintendent of the South Norwalk Electric Works. Back in 1892, he designed and superin- tended the construction of this plant, after which year and until 1902 he also served as a member of South Nor- walk's Board of Electrical Commission- ers. Thus he has devoted himself contin- uously to his city since 1892, contributing a large part of his time and ability with- out remuneration other than the know- ledge of having done his best as a public servant. Mr. Winchester's present stand- ing in his city, in addition to that of su- perintendent of the electrical works, is that of superintendent of the fire alarm telegraph since 1893, and city electrical engineer since 1902. He also assists the Public Utilities Commission of Connecti- cut in a consulting capacity, and is elec- trical adviser to several municipalities and private corporations. He is a direc- tor of the Norwalk Building and Loan Association, and a member of the execu- tive committee of the South Norwalk Board of Trade. In 1906 Mr. Winchester became president of the Water and Elec- tric Company of Westport, Connecticut, and so continued until the company was absorbed some years later by the New
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York & New Haven Railroad Company. In the meantime, he saw the Westport concern rise from a precarious condition to one of prosperity as the result of the united and earnest purpose of himself and his associates to deal fairly with its pa- trons.
Mr. Winchester's scientific and social affiliations are numerous. He holds the highest grade, that of Fellow, and has been a full member, of the American In- stitute of Electrical Engineers since 1887. He is also a founder member of the Edi- son Pioneers, who were the great inven- tor's helpers in his discoveries before the latter eighties. He is a member of Old Well Lodge, No. 108, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Butler Chapter, No. 38, Royal Arch Masons; Washington Council, No. 6, Royal and Select Masters ; Washington Commandery, No. 3, Knights Templar; and Pyramid Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. His memberships also include the Eastern Star, the Red Men, Elks, Heptasophs, Royal Arcanum, South Nor- walk Club, Knob Club, Council of the Norwalk Division of the Boy Scouts of America, and others.
Since 1893 Mr. Winchester has been a constantly active member of the South Norwalk Fire Department, of which he was chief for two terms, stepping back into the ranks in 1907. After twenty years of continuous service he was made an active life member of Old Well Hook & Ladder Company, which he had early joined, and of which he is now treasurer. In the volunteer service he is credited with never having faltered in the line of duty; regardless of weather, personal safety or other consideration he would be found in the thick of the fight, using good judgment and telling efforts, which won him the respect of his associates and the
citizens generally. He is also a member of the Connecticut State Firemen's Asso- ciation and the Connecticut Fire Chief's Club.
He has often been mentioned for politi- cal offices of prominence, but has declined to be a candidate. He is opposed to en- tering any political contest for the glory of winning, or to oppose a friend, or to seek and accept an office that is held and wanted by a man who has faithfully ren- dered efficient service.
Though he is an inventor of acknow- ledged genius, Mr. Winchester has never taken out any patents for himself, holding that his employers were entitled to the results of his efforts. Among other de- vices, he originated one of the first prac- tical quick-break switches for heavy electric currents, the exact principles of which are in general use to-day. The sectional iron bracket pole for supporting trolley wires was developed by him; also improvements in the key sockets for in- candescent lamps; an automatic trolley pole and contact for electric train service ; an early car motor controller, and he aided in the evolution of the one now commonly in use on electric street cars. He contributed many other improvements and modifications of great value to trol- ley line appliances and construction, to which work he was assigned for a consid- erable period of time. In 1916-17 he col- laborated with the General Electric Com- pany in evolving the new type of very efficient ornamental street lighting unit that was first installed in South Norwalk in 1918. He was also detailed from time to time on special lines under the direc- tion of Mr. Edison, of which fact he is justly proud, and believes that his contact with the great inventor has been of incal- culable benefit to him. Mr. Winchester's speciality, however, has gradually con-
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