USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 11 > Part 43
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He was at once a young man of practical ideas and incorruptible ideals ; and he had both the personal force to win his way through and the personal magnetism to carry others along with him. From the first he was affiliated with the Republican party. One of the first appointments made by President Lincoln was that of Theodore J. Daskam as postmaster of Stamford, April 14, 1861. His first office in the gift of the local party was that of first assistant engineer of the borough Volunteer Fire Department, being elected May 7, 1859. The following year he was elected chief of the Fire Department, which office he held continuously until 1874. Mr. Daskam was unable to go to the Civil War, owing to a physical dis- ability, and he could hardly resign him- self to staying at home. Meanwhile he was reappointed postmaster by each suc- ceeding president down to the time of President Arthur, holding this office until the day of his death. There have been only three postmasters whose terms of service have exceeded that of Mr. Daskam. He was also for many years United States deputy collector and was assistant as- sessor of internal revenue, holding three Federal offices at the same time. His official record is of the highest, an honor to his constituency as well as to his own name.
In 1864 Mr. Daskam embarked in the insurance business, meeting with marked success. He was a corporator of the Gulf Stream Fire Engine Company, No. 2, of Stamford, and was foreman of the com- pany for years. Mr. Daskam's health became permanently broken while yet in the height of his career. Notwithstanding this handicap, he continued his interest in public affairs and relinquished his ac- tivities only after such a conspicuous struggle with the encroaching disease as made his memory an inspiration to those
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who followed him. Mr. Daskam was a member of Union Lodge, No. 5, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; of Rippo- wam Lodge, No. 24, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Mr. Daskam married, December 6, 1864, Sarah Remer Stanley, daughter of Edward T. and Sarah (Remer) Stanley, of New Haven, Connecticut, old residents of that city.
The tribute paid to Mr. Daskam's mem- ory on the event of his death, February 15, 1883, by the "Stamford Advocate" should stand in more enduring form.
The news of Theodore J. Daskam's death will fall upon the ears of the great majority of Stam- ford people with common sorrow. Especially will it awake the readiest sympathy and touch the tenderest memories of those whose acquaintance with the man is largest, and who knew him best, of those who shared the struggles of his active young manhood, before disease and physical suf- fering had forced him to become a sort of recluse, but little known to the later accessions of Stam- ford citizenship. These last may inquire the secret of Theodore J. Daskam's unbounded popu- larity, but his host of old friends need not be told why they loved him. He had in a remarkable de- gree the power of winning friendships, and not by any means through an effusive disposition to placate those who chose to assume an unfriendly attitude either in the field of politics or business. But his friends, those who possessed his confi- dence, ever found him a man to tie up to. His word was as good as his bond. What he said he would do, he would do. For over twenty years he was the most active organizer and manager of political campaigns on the Republican side. In politics, he was a fighter, and went in to win, and generally did win. To say that a man could occupy a position like that without making some enemies would be to state something incredible. Yet all through his career he numbered many of the warmest personal friends among the staunch- est of his political opponents, and to-day as his fellow-citizens contemplate the lifeless form once so full of manhood's proudest energies, every feeling of party strife, every recollection of party enmity, will fade into thin air, and not the party chief but the genial, whole-souled kindly friend and fellow-citizen will be longest and best re- membered.
In 1919 the Park Board of Stamford gave the name of Daskam to the park on Glenbrook avenue, in honor of this family which from the time it first became con- nected with the town to the present day has been notable for its public spirit and patriotism.
(V) Walter Duryee Daskam, son of Theodore J. and Sarah Remer (Stanley) Daskam, was born September 18, 1865. He was educated in the King School of Stamford, of which he is at the present time president. On May 16, 1882, he en- tered the Stamford National Bank as mes- senger. His dependability, accuracy, and unremitting attention to his duties won for him promotion to the position of tel- ler, which he held for some years. Dur- ing this time he lost no opportunity to make himself acquainted with the theory and practice of banking. At that time there was no trust company in Stamford, and ' recognizing the need for such an institu- tion, Mr. Daskam organized The Stam- ford Trust Company, of which he became treasurer. The growth and financial strength of the company as indicated by its present capital and surplus of $450,000, with total resources of $5,094,965. The safe deposit vaults are of the most modern construction. Mr. Daskam was elected vice-president of the company in 1918. He is also a director and secretary of the Stamford Water Company ; a director and treasurer of the Stamford Gas and Elec- tric Company ; vice-president and director of the St. John Woodworking Company ; treasurer and director of the Stamford Hospital; trustee of the Stamford Chil- dren's Home. Mr. Daskam succeeded Edward W. Kneen, of Shelton, as treas- urer of Fairfield county.
In politics, Mr. Daskam is a Republican and served as town treasurer from 1894 to 1903; was chairman of the Republican Town Committee from 1903 to 1906, and
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is now a member of the City Board of Finance. Fraternally, he is a member of Union Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Puritan Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In December, 1884, he enlisted in Company C, 4th Con- necticut Infantry, and was discharged January, 1890, as sergeant. In March, 1917, he enlisted in the Connecticut State Guard and holds the rank of captain. Mr. Daskam was in charge of the last four Liberty Loan drives and was untiring in his efforts to make them successful; he was also treasurer of the first drive of the Red Cross. His clubs are the Sub- urban and the Stamford Yacht. Mr. Das- kam was one of the four founders of the former club and its first president.
Mr. Daskam married Harriet Tilley, daughter of George H. and Harriet T. (Brown) Tilley, of Darien, Connecticut, and they are the parents of a daughter, Elizabeth Stanley Daskam. Mr. Daskam and his family are members of St. An- drew's Episcopal Church, of which he is a vestryman.
The greatest benefaction which a man can bestow upon the city of his residence is himself. He may devote the wealth of his mental endowment to the service of his fellowman; he may spread broad- cast the material good he has won from life ; but the greatest gift within his power is human sympathy, the spirit which is attuned to the loyal friendship of the peo- ple and responds in kind. Of these gifts, ability, means, time and labor unstinted, Walter Duryee Daskam gives right roy- ally. He is a man among men, the warmth of his genial personality winning the loyalty and esteem of every one of his associates and acquaintances.
COWLES, Russel Abernethy, Man of Great Enterprise. .
From a twenty-two years' association with the Ansonia Brass and Copper Com-
pany, subsequently the American Brass Company, a concern with which two gen- erations of his line before him had been identified, Mr. Cowles entered fields of endeavor intimately connected with the community life and prosperity of Green- wich, his home. A number of enterprises fostered by him and operated under his direction have filled needs long felt in his town, projects that lacked the influence of a man of vision and courage, undertak- ings fraught with commercial danger to the man of little faith and ordinary enter- prise. Mr. Cowles has earned, with a position of business prominence, the last- ing regard and gratitude of his townsmen, whom he has served largely and well.
Russel Abernethy Cowles is a son of Albert Abernethy and Frances (Bailey) Cowles, and grandson of George Preston Cowles, member of a family dating to early Colonial days in New England. George Preston Cowles was a native of Connecticut, and spent the greater part of his life in Ansonia, Connecticut, where he was successively, secretary, treasurer, vice-president, and manager of the An- sonia Brass and Copper Company. His death occurred in October, 1887. He married Charlotte Leaming, daughter of General Russell C. and Orrell (Smith) Abernethy, of Torrington, Connecticut.
Alfred Abernethy Cowles, father of Russel Abernethy Cowles, was born at Torrington (then Wolcottville), Connec- ticut, September 28, 1845. He attended the public schools of Ansonia, subse- quently becoming a student in Chase's Military Academy, at Middletown, Con- necticut, and completing his studies at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France, and Col- lege de France. For two years he was employed in the Ansonia National Bank, and after traveling abroad for a time he entered the counting room of the Ansonia Brass and Copper Company. In 1870 he was placed in charge of the New York
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offices of the company, and soon there- after became an official, proceeding through the posts of treasurer and vice- president to the presidency of the corpor- ation, which he held from 1901 until his death. He was a man of wide business capabilities, a leader in several lines of industry ; he was president of the Ansonia Clock Company, which he organized in 1879; president of the Coronet Phosphate Company, which he organized in 1908; president of the Terra Ceia Estates, Inc .; vice-president of the American Brass Company ; and president of the Birming- ham Water Company. In advisory ca- pacity he was associated with a number of other corporations in widely separated fields. Mr. Cowles was a member of the Union League, Larchmont Yacht, Green- wich Country, and Railroad clubs. His residence was at "The Apthorp," New York City, and he maintained his summer home at Belle Haven. Mr. Cowles bore an honorable reputation through a long and active business career, and in the course of his industrial and commercial capacity bound to him a large number of his associates with the ties of firm friend- ship.
Mr. Cowles married, in 1871, Frances Bailey, daughter of Edward Bailey, of Devonshire, England, and Fanny (Ken- yon) Bailey, of Syracuse, New York. They were the parents of: Russel Aber- nethy, of whom further; and Frederick Houghton, who married Maud Sherman.
Russel Abernethy Cowles was born in Syracuse, New York, October 10, 1873. He attended private school in New York City, Stevens Preparatory School, and Stevens Institute of Technology at Ho- boken. At the age of nineteen he became associated with his father in the Ansonia Brass and Copper Company, and re- mained in that service for twenty-two years, until September 1, 1915. In 1900 the American Brass Company succeeded
the Ansonia Brass and Copper Company, and at the time of his resignation Mr. Cowles was a vice-president of the Amer- ican Brass Company. He then became vice-president of the Buffalo Copper and Brass Rolling Mills, and organized the Metals Trading Corporation, of which he is president at this time (1920). Among the more important of Mr. Cowles' busi- ness interests are the presidency of the Ansonia Clock Company, the vice-presi- dency of the Coronet Phosphate Com- pany, and the presidency of the New England Motor Sales Company of Green- wich. This last is one of several enter- prises Mr. Cowles has founded in Greenwich, which have become institu- tions known far beyond the limits of the town. The New England Motor Sales Company operates a thoroughly modern garage on the Boston Post Road, the main artery of traffic between New York and Boston, and a machine shop that is probably the finest in the district. The company has the agency for the Buick, Franklin, and Owen Magnetic automo- biles, and the White automobile truck. This business, first planned on a scale that to the average mind seemed to spell failure, has developed steadily from the time of its establishment, and residents and tourists have found there the auto- mobile service and satisfaction that every motorist craves.
In 1917 Mr. Cowles gave to Greenwich another institution of which the town had long been in need-The Pickwick Inn -recognized as one of the best inns in the New York suburbs. Philip Gibbs, the noted English war correspondent, was so impressed by its attractive furnish- ings and beautiful atmosphere, as well as the superior quality of the food served, that he devoted several pages in an issue of "Harper's Magazine" to a description of the inn, couched in the most compli- mentary terms. Within a few months
Conn-8-20
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after its opening an addition was found necessary, and since then the inn has been enlarged several times to accommodate the increased numbers of enthusiastic patrons.
In 1919 Mr. Cowles organized The Pickwick Arms, Inc., purchased the Lenox House property at the corner of the Boston Post Road and Greenwich avenue, and constructed The Pickwick Arms, a million dollar hotel, which has given to Greenwich one of the finest hotels in the State. The building, mod- eled after the old English inns, is of fireproof construction, equipped with every convenience and comfort. Mr. Cowles has also entered the business of candy manufacturing and, securing the services of an experienced Parisian candy- maker, placed upon the market "Pickwick Chocolates," which have come into exten- sive demand in New York and suburbs.
It has been the good fortune of Mr. Cowles to have his earnest efforts for his town's betterment appreciated and sup- ported in unusual degree. He has been able to lend practical aid to many friends and acquaintances, and in direct personal manner has been instrumental in the pro- motion of the success and welfare of no small number of those with whom he comes into contact. He is a member of the Union League, the Down Town Club, the India House, the Greenwich Country Club, the Indian Harbor Yacht Club, and the Blind Brook Club.
Mr. Cowles married Louise Marcia Pfarrius, daughter of Ernst and Emma (Tannatt) Pfarrius, and they are the parents of Ernest Francis, and Francis Russel.
McHARG, Henry King, Man of Affairs.
Mr. McHarg's long record as a suc- cessful man of affairs renders the inscrip-
tion of his name at the head of this article an amply sufficient introduction not only to his fellow-citizens of Stamford, but also to the general public. Mr. McHarg is now president of the Detroit & Mack- inac Railroad Company, and director of the Manhattan Bank of New York City.
The name of the family of which Mr. McHarg is a representative is Graham, McHarg being its backward spelling with changing of "a" to "c." Tradition says that one of the family fled from Scotland, probably to Ireland, and that when he re- turned to his native land, in order to escape persecution, he changed the pa- tronymic to its present form. The earliest ancestor on record was William de Gra- ham, who settled in Scotland not long after the beginning of the twelfth cen- tury. The name is a local one, its Scottish form being Graeme, but its ter- mination proves it beyond doubt to have been originally English.
(I) John McHarg was born in 1733, in Wigtownshire, Scotland, and in 1774 emigrated to the American colonies, set- tling in Galway, Saratoga county, New York. He was one of the twelve heads of families who founded that settlement. The year after his arrival witnessed the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, and he gave proof of loyalty to his adopted country by serving as a soldier in Colonel John Beekman's regiment, being also a member of Jacob Schermerhorn's class. After the war he conducted a retail dry goods store in Albany, New York. Mr. McHarg married, in Scotland, Griselda Kelly, who was born in 1748, in the town of Ayr, and their children were: Mar- garet, Anne, Alexander, William, men- tioned below ; a daughter, name unknown ; Jane, or Janet; Mary, died in infancy ; Mary (2), and Sarah. All these, with the exception of the two eldest, were born after their parents came to America. John
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McHarg died in Albany, December 23, 1803, and his widow passed away in that city, September 20, 1843, at the venerable age of ninety-five.
(II) William McHarg, son of John and Griselda (Kelly) McHarg, was born in March, 1778, in Galway, Saratoga county, New York, and succeeded his father in the latter's business in Albany. That was years before the building of the Erie canal, and people came in sleighs to pur- chase goods which they exchanged for such commodities as the Indians could furnish. After the building of the canal it was used by Mr. McHarg as a means of transportation for his merchandise. When the Hudson River railroad was built he foresaw, with the acuteness of the true business man, that the majority of those who had heretofore supplied their wants in Albany would not hesitate to proceed directly to New York. Mr. Mc- Harg married, April 16, 1810, Sophia King, whose ancestral record is appended to this biography, and they became the parents of the following children : Sophia Anne, John, mentioned below; Margaret, William Neill, Rufus King, and Charles King. The death of William McHarg occurred January 27, 1865, in Albion, Or- leans county, New York.
(III) John McHarg, son of William and Sophia (King) McHarg, was born June 3, 1813, and as a young man was advised by his father to open a store in New York City, which, even then, had been for some years recognized as one of the future world centers of trade. Mr. McHarg followed the advice, with re- sults which fully justified it, but in the panic of 1857 his establishment proved to be one of those which failed to weather that fearful storm. His Southern trade had been particularly large. Mr. Mc- Harg married, March 6, 1838, in Hamil- ton, Massachusetts, Martha W. Patch,
daughter of Tracey Patch, a sea captain of Cape Cod. Mr. McHarg enlisted in the Civil War with the rank of captain, and served as aide-de-camp on the staff of General Martindale. The following chil- dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. McHarg: I. Sophia King, born March 4, 1840, in Al- bany; married, December 23, 1863, Gen- eral Horace Porter, of Harrisburg, Penn- sylvania, United States army, who died May 29, 1921 ; Mrs. Porter died April 6, 1903, in Paris, France. 2. John William, born April 3, 1843; married, November 6, 1873, Harriet Schuyler Delavan, of Al- bany, who died July 4, 1906, leaving no children. 3. Theodore, born February 19, 1845, died in New York City, November 26, 1867. 4. Henry King, mentioned be- low. Mr. McHarg died January 4, 1884, in New York, and his widow passed away September 8, 1885.
(IV) Henry King McHarg, son of John and Martha W. (Patch) McHarg, was born February 6, 1851, and received his education in Dr. Reed's Walnut Hill boarding school, at Geneva, New York. On completing his course of study he went to New York City and entered the office of the late Le Grande Lockwood. That was in 1866, and he remained with Mr. Lockwood until 1869, when failure caused the dissolution of the business. Mr. McHarg then became assistant cor- responding clerk in the Third National Bank, but at the expiration of a year failing health obliged him to withdraw for a time from the activities of business. The day following his twenty-first birth- day he became a member of the New York Stock Exchange and is now one of the oldest on its roll. Until about nine years ago he was actively engaged in the bond business.
The railroad interests of Mr. McHarg have for a long period been numerous and important. When the Texas Central
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£
Railroad Company was overtaken by dis- aster he purchased the road, reorganized and rebuilt it, and for about twenty years served as its president. Later he bought the old Marietta & Northern Georgia railroad, which he reorganized and de- veloped as the Atlanta, Knoxville & Northern. For seven or eight years he was connected with the road, developing it into a fine piece of property. He was one of the original men interested in de- veloping the West Shore railroad, and later was president of the Virginia & Southwestern Railroad Company. In 1903 he bought the control of the Detroit & Mackinac railroad, and has ever since been president of the company.
The above record makes it clear that Mr. McHarg's railroad work has invari- ably been constructive. While the ele- ment of speculation which is never wholly absent from any business undertaking had its part in his ventures, more espe- cially as they were all the rehabilitation of unsuccessful enterprises, he has con- tributed substantially to the advancement of the railroad interests of the last third of a century, having imparted to every- thing he undertook some portion of his vitalizing energy.
The business career of Mr. McHarg began in 1873, when he went into the bond and investment business in part- nership with William Adams, under the firm name of Adams & McHarg. At the end of twelve years the connection was severed and Mr. McHarg continued the business alone. For some years he was a director of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, and since 1883 he has held a directorship in the Manhattan National Bank, in which for over twenty years he held the office of vice-president. His clubs are the Union and Down Town, of New York City. Yachting was always his favorite recrea-
tion, and for a number of years he owned a very pretty schooner. He attends and supports St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church of Stamford.
Mr. McHarg married, July 21, 1875, Frederica Bremer Britton, and they have been the parents of the following chil- dren : 1. Edith May, born May 4, 1876; did not live. 2. John, born December 22, 1877; did not live. 3. Madeline B., born November 26, 1878; died December 10, 1881. 4. Henry King, Jr., born October 30, 1883; married Jane, daughter of Thomas J. Craven, of Salem, New Jersey, and has three children; Jane Craven, Henry King (3), and Esther Belle. 5. Marion Adelaide, born January 28, 1886; married (first) George Venable, and has one daughter, Frederica ; married (sec- ond) Ernest Roentgen, nephew of the discoverer of the X-ray; they have one daughter.
For thirty years Mr. McHarg has been a resident of Stamford, and during that time he has been a leader in everything that has been done for the welfare of the town. The time will come when the ex- tent of his benefactions will be known, but Mr. McHarg has shown an inflexible determination that in his benevolences his left hand should not know what his right hand doeth. All that may be said now is that the Stamford Hospital, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Ferguson Library, the Associated Chari- ties, and the Presbyterian and St. John's Episcopal churches are indebted beyond anyone's surmise to his generosity and public spirit.
(The King Line).
Joshua King was born November 24, 1758, at Braintree (now Quincy), Massa- chusetts. His father was one of three brothers who came from England. When the American army surrounded Boston,
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Joshua, then a lad of sixteen, left home, at his own independent option, to join it. By reason of his youth and his capacity he was appointed fifer, but in due time he was admitted to the ranks for more direct soldierly service, being placed in the cavalry, and gradually promoted. He became Lieutenant King, and had the special distinction of acting as escort to the unfortunate André, from his capture to his execution. General King, as he was popularly called, married, April 18, 1784, Anne Ingersoll (see Ingersoll line), and their children were: Catherine, Fanny, Sophia, mentioned below; John Francis, Rufus Howard, Anne Maria, Charles, Joshua Ingersoll, Mary Anne, and Grace Ingersoll. General King died August 13, 1839, his wife having passed away De- cember 30, 1838.
Sophia King, daughter of Joshua and Anne (Ingersoll) King, was born March II, 1790, and became the wife of Wil- liam McHarg, as stated above. Mrs. Mc- Harg died March 24, 1838.
(The Ingersoll Line).
(I) John Ingersoll, of Hartford, mar- ried, about 1667, Mary Hunt, daughter of and Mary (Webster) Hunt, and granddaughter of John Webster, one of the first settlers of Hartford, Connecticut, and fifth governor of that Commonwealth. John Webster, who was a native of War- wickshire, England, and a lineal ancestor of the eminent lexicographer, Noah Web- ster, died April 5, 1661. About 1665 John Ingersoll removed to Northampton, Mas- sachusetts.
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