USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 11 > Part 62
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more thorough training, but receiving a very flattering offer from a school in Port- chester, New York, did not remain to be graduated. The young man's genial per- sonality and habits of careful study com- bined to make him a beloved as well as a successful teacher, and he was held in warmest regard by parents, children, and friends. During the entire period of his work along this line, he made his influ- ence felt throughout the community in upholding high standards among the children under his care. Still in all his young manhood, he was constantly look- ing forward, seeking from the future some higher, broader field of usefulness. Char- acteristically, while still teaching school, he took up the study of law under the direction of Col. H. W. R. Hoyt, then and for many years thereafter, a promi- nent and successful attorney at Green- wich, Connecticut. Colonel Hoyt saw a brilliant future before the young man, ap- preciating to the full his analytical tem- perament and his capacity for seeing both sides of a question. He frankly en- couraged him to drop the work of teach- ing and devote all his time to preparation for the practice of the law. He gave the young man such assistance as was most practical-remunerative work in his own office, together with help in professional study.
Mr. Walsh was admitted to the Fair- field county bar, and immediately there- after taken into partnership with Colonel Hoyt, the experienced man giving gen- erously of the ripened fruits of his years of practice, in the form of advice. With unflagging zeal the young man threw himself into the work he had chosen, and while he never failed in his loyalty to the man who had smoothed his way, still his native diligence and indomitable cour- age gave him the personal power without which no real success can be achieved.
Notwithstanding his deep appreciation of the assistance of Colonel Hoyt, in 1882, Mr. Walsh desiring absolute freedom of action and purpose, opened his own law offices in the town of Greenwich.
Gifted with an unusually pleasing per- sonality, an outgrowth of a wholesome optimism and a ready sympathy with his kind, he won and held the confidence of the people, and soon came to be regarded as one of the really big men of the town. He was not permitted to confine his public appearance to the court room. His cool judgment and invincible logic were needed in the public service, and it was inevitable that the Republican party, with which he was closely affiliated, should make him a leader. He gave of his talents in this work, as in every branch of activ- ity, without stint of self-consideration, bringing all the force of his nature to bear in the advancement of what he considered the right.
During the presidential campaign of 1880, he took the stump for Garfield and Arthur, and this was the beginning of a long and brilliant public career. In this same year he was elected to the Repub- lican State Central Committee for the Twelfth Senatorial District of Connecti- cut, which honor he held for nine years, until his duties as judge led him to re- sign. He again took the stump during the campaign of 1884, doing eloquent and forceful work in support of Blaine and Logan. The success of the opposing party in the presidential election in no way weakened his allegiance to Repub- lican principles, and before the close of the year he was nominated by the Repub- licans of the twelfth district as their can- didate for the State Senate. There was great enthusiasm among the voters of the district, and he was elected by a very large majority, running far ahead of his ticket. He was made secretary of the
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State Central Committee in 1886, and his senatorial record had so established him in the confidence of his constituency that upon his renomination, they reelected him by twice his first majority.
He had won recognition in the Senate as a man of power, fearless in spirit, keen of wit, relentless and untiring in pursuit of his object, yet always a fair opponent and graceful in relinquishing a point to the mind of the majority. He served as chairman of the committee on incorpora- tions, in 1885, and later, in 1886 and 1887, was chairman of the judiciary committee. In filling these important positions, for which by nature, as well as by training, he was peculiarly fitted, he demonstrated that element of fairmindedness which so largely contributed to the success of his whole career. During the session of 1887 he had the honor of being called to pre- side over the senatorial body as president pro tem, and no one appreciated more than he the significance of the dignity being accorded to so young a man. In 1888 he was nominated by his party for the office of Secretary of State, and his election was included in the success of the ticket. In the spring of 1889 the home county called upon him to fill a position demanding every power and grace with which the man was so generously endowed. He was appointed judge of the Criminal Court of Common Pleas in Fairfield county. Rarely indeed is a man found who fills this responsible and dignified position as well and as conscientiously as did Judge Walsh. Appreciating to the full the psy- chological side of criminology, his fine discernment and unwavering sense of justice made him no easy prey to senti- ment. His thorough training and wide experience gave him a firm grasp on the most complicated legal problems, and his clear-sighted progress through the most
tangled case made him the admiration of all connected with it.
With the arduous duties thus devolving upon him, he made every effort to with- draw from all political connections, and positively refused renomination to the office of Secretary of State, which he had filled with so much honor to his party and satisfaction to his constituency. The Legislature, however, failed to declare the election of his successor, and since it was constitutionally impossible for the office to remain vacant, he filled the office until another election released him from it, and allowed him to give his full time to the county judgeship, where his personality was becoming a power for right and jus- tice. But his party had not released him permanently from the broader service to the State, as time proved.
Perhaps one of the most noteworthy periods of Judge Walsh's public service was in 1885. He had for some time served as corporation counsel for the borough of Greenwich, and his capacity for the wise administratiion of public affairs became so widely recognized that Governor Har- rison, in that year, appointed him a mem- ber of the commission to revise the stat- utes of Connecticut. He was one of the youngest in that body of men, all eminent in the legal profession. His influence upon the deliberations of the commission was apparent from the first. His keen mind and progressive spirit made him a recognized leader among them, and it was cordially conceded that much of the suc- cess of the commission was due to his efforts. There is a particularly charac- teristic touch in the fact that personally he was more proud of having been the counsel for the town of Greenwich for a period of thirty-five years of changing political administrations of the town gov- ernment than of any of the more showy
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and solid honors that came to him from the larger outside world.
The depth, as well as the breadth of the character of the man was apparent in the less conspicuous activities for the public good which always commanded his cor- dial interest and earnest support. While, as one of the most distinguished attorneys of his time, and as an honored judge, the arduous duties of his professional life might have excused him from many pub- lic offices in which his talent was needed, still he served most devotedly wherever he found the opportunity. The financial world of his town and county has reason long to appreciate the prosperity which was founded largely on his sound common sense and sagacious judgment. At the time of the organization of the Greenwich Trust Loan and Deposit Company, he turned his great ability to most practical use in establishing it securely in the con- fidence of the public. For many years he was president of this company, the honor being entirely unsought so far as he was concerned, indeed his election to this office took place while he was absent from home on an extended vacation, one of his rare periods of relaxation, and continued as its president up to the time of his death, a period of twenty-seven years. He was a director of the Greenwich Gas and Elec- tric Light Company, being one of its most enthusiastic promoters, this at a period when few communities of similar size as- pired to the dignity of city conveniences. He was for some time secretary of the Hawthorne Mills Company, manufac- turers of high-grade woolen fabrics, cap- italized in the millions, and located in Greenwich and New York City ; president of Abendroth Brothers Foundry at Port Chester, New York, manufacturers of boilers, coal and gas ranges and soil pipe, a successful concern employing about five hundred men, of which he was president
up to the time of his death. Also presi- dent of the Greenwich Water Company, the water supply for Greenwich, Port Chester and Rye, New York, holding office up to his death. He was also deeply interested in real estate development, and there are many evidences about the vicin- ity of Greenwich of his taste and good judgment in the laying out of residential sections. He was also president of the Putnam Cemetery Association ; director, New York & Stamford railroad; trustee of Greenwich Y. M. C. A .; trustee of Greenwich Library Association; charter member of Greenwich Country Club; member of Blind Brook Country Club ; of Indian Harbor Yacht Club; of Repub- lican Club of New York; Acacia Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Greenwich ; Empire Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Greenwich.
Perhaps in these varied activities one can measure the man more accurately than in his professional and political ca- reer. In the latter, unquestionably, he reached an enviable position, but in those civic and business interests to which he turned as relaxation, in a way, his world found the human and warmly personal side of the man. He had a genius for the right thing-the kind thing-and his world was not slow to learn to love him as loyally and deeply as it had long ad- mired him.
Still another side of his rich and whole- some nature, but a side known only to his closest friends, as the home life in which he was a devoted husband and father. He married Anna A., daughter of Matthew Merritt, a very prominent resident of Fairfield county. They were the parents of three charming daughters: Lucy M., who is the wife of Walter B. Todd, son of Dr. William S. Todd, makes her home in Greenwich; Edith B., who was the wife of A. W. W. Marshall, vice-presi-
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dent of the Greenwich Trust Company, of Greenwich; she was the mother of a son, Robert Jay Walsh Marshall, born August 20, 1906; she died February 4, 1910; Roberta Jay, who is the wife of Lloyd S. Cooney, now living on Middle- sex road, Noroton, Connecticut, but for- merly of Greenwich. They are leaders in the social life of the county, and earnest workers in every movement for the public welfare, local, State and National.
WILLIAMSON, Charles E., Prosecuting Attorney.
One of the acknowledged leaders of the Fairfield county bar, Charles Ernest Wil- liamson, is also one of the eminently pub- lic-spirited citizens of Connecticut. He is distinguished by his zeal in the public service, and has several times been called upon to represent his fellow-citizens in both the upper and lower house of the Legislature. Since 1913 Mr. Williamson has held the office of prosecuting attorney of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and the man- ner in which he has discharged the duties of this office has been one of satisfaction to the people of that city.
(I) Alanson Williamson, grandfather of Charles E. Williamson, was born in Bed- ford, New York, January 7, 1815, and died at Darien, Connecticut, April 20, 1904. He married, August 14, 1836, Elizabeth Hoyt, born September 11, 1815, at Pound- ridge, New York, and died November 17, 1905, at Darien, Connecticut, daughter of Jesse and Sarah (Norman) Hoyt. She was a direct descendant of the immigrant, Simon Hoyt, one of the first settlers of Stamford, Connecticut, whose ancestry follows in detail.
ried, July 22, 1869, Cynthia Drugen Mills- paugh, born September 12, 1846, daughter of Erastus Elmer and Elizabeth Ann (Derrbon) Millspaugh (see Millspaugh line). George Henry and Cynthia Dru- gen (Millspaugh) Williamson were the parents of three sons: I. Frederick H., born October 17, 1876, of Brooklyn, New York. 2. Charles Ernest, of further men- tion. 3. Norman Lester, of Darien, Con- necticut, born there, June 15, 1881.
(III) Charles Ernest Williamson, son of George Henry and Cynthia Drugen (Millspaugh) Williamson, was born March 29, 1879, in Darien, Connecticut. He was educated in the public schools of Darien and at the Stamford High School, graduating from the latter in 1898, after which he spent a year in the Yale Law School. In 1900 he was employed as a clerk in the grocery house of Richard J. Rogers in New York City, where he re- mained for two years. On June 16, 1903, Mr. Williamson was appointed financial clerk at the Fitch Home for Soldiers at Noroton, Connecticut, which office he resigned October 21, 1907. While thus earning his living, he continued his study of law at the New York Law School's evening sessions, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1907. The same year he entered the office of John W. Banks, who is now judge of the Superior Court, and remained with Judge Banks until 1916. In that year Mr. Williamson formed his present association with Spottiswood D. Bowers, under the firm name of Bowers & Williamson, and their practice is a general one.
Mr. Williamson has ever been inter- ested in all matters of public interest from a youth. As early as 1908 he was a can- didate for Representative to the Legisla- ture and received one hundred and sixty out of one hundred and seventy-six votes
(II) George Henry Williamson, son of Alanson and Elizabeth (Hoyt) William- son, was born December 29, 1843. He lived at Darien, Connecticut, and mar- in the caucus. In the legislative session
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of 1909 he was chairman of the commis- sion on banking, and was again elected in 1910, serving on the same commission. Sufficient warrant of the confidence his constituents had in his ability was shown in 1915 when he was a member of the Legislature and served on the Judiciary Committee. The following year he was elected to the State Senate, and served as chairman of the Committee on Forfeited Rights, and also on the Humane Insti- tutions Committee. In 1918 he was reëlected to the Senate. Since entering politics, Mr. Williamson has been a dele- gate to every State convention except that of 1910. In 1913 he was appointed pros- ecuting attorney of Bridgeport, Connecti- cut, as above noted, and he maintains his residence in Darien.
Mr. Williamson is a member of Puritan Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, of Stamford, and of the Algonquin Club, of Bridgeport.
(The Hoyt Line).
(I) Simon Hoyt was in Salem in 1628 or 1629, and came in either the ship "Abigail," or the "George." He was a pioneer in several places in New England, and at length settled in Stamford, Con- necticut, where he died.
(II) Joshua Hoyt, son of Simon Hoyt, was born about 1641, and died in 1690. The Christian name of his wife was Mary.
(III) Joshua (2) Hoyt, son of Joshua and Mary Hoyt, was born October 4, 1670, and died January 1, 1744. He also lived in Stamford, and married, March 16, 1698, Mary Pickett, who died November 10, 1732.
(IV) Job Hoyt, son of Joshua (2) and Mary (Pickett) Hoyt, was born January 22, 1703-04, and died October 13, 1754. He was admitted to the New Canaan church, September 7, 1735. He married Elizabeth Lockwood, born May 15, 1708,
at Stamford, Connecticut, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Ayers) Lockwood, and granddaughter of the immigrant of this distinguished family, Robert Lock- wood. Mrs. Elizabeth (Lockwood) Hoyt was admitted to the church in New Ca- naan, Connecticut, July 21, 1734.
(V) Jesse Hoyt, son of Job and Eliza- beth (Lockwood) Hoyt, was baptized April 24, 1743, and died between 1829 and 1831. He was a soldier in the French and Indian War, actively engaged along our northern frontier, and was taken prisoner by the British troops in their raid on Poundridge in 1779, but escaped. In 1806 he was a member of the Poundridge church, and during the Revolution was a member of one of the local regiments.
(VI) Jesse (2) Hoyt, son of Jesse Hoyt, was born June 3, 1775, in Pound- ridge, and died at Laceyville, Ohio, Octo- ber 2, 1856. He married (second), April 14, 1804, Sarah Norman, and they were the parents of Elizabeth Hoyt, who be- came the wife of Alanson Williamson, as above noted.
(The Millspaugh Line).
Erastus Elmer Millspaugh was born February 5, 1805, and died September 2, 1886. He married, April 23, 1831, Eliza- beth Ann Derrbon, born June 17, 1814, and died February 3, 1889. Their daugh- ter, Cynthia Drugen Millspaugh, married George H. Williamson, as above noted. Erastus E. Millspaugh was a son of Ed- ward M. Millspaugh, the latter born De- cember 8, 1781, died June 17, 1842. He married, February 23, 1804, Ann Cather- ine Latte, born September 20, 1787, died December 18, 1823. His father, Matthias Millspaugh, was born June 7, 1748, and died April 27, 1796. He married Elsie Kimbach. He was the son of Peter and Susanna (Comfort) Millspaugh, and grandson of Matthias Millspaugh. The
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adelbert arthur Sheel
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Millspaugh family were early settled in Montgomery, Orange county, New York, having left their home in Holland because of religious persecution. There were four families who came together in 1730, namely, Sinsbough, Miltzpach, Book- staver and Youngblood. Their first win- ter was spent in a dugout, and the fol- lowing spring they built a log church, where they worshipped for many years. These families purchased over a thousand acres of land in the town, and part of this same land is now in the possession of their descendants.
SKEEL, Adelbert Arthur,
Lawyer, Veteran of Spanish-American War.
The Skeel family has a long and hon- ored ancestry in Connecticut, whence branches have spread to neighboring States and throughout the country. This outline begins with John Skeel, who mar- ried Hannah Terrill, daughter of Roger Terrill, and removed from South Britain, Connecticut, to Woodbury, in this State. John Skeel died October 5, 1721 ; his wife died November 11, 1730. They were the parents of John, of whom further; Han- nah, Thomas, Elizabeth, Abigail, and Ephraim.
John (2) Skeel, son of John and Han- nah (Terrill) Skeel, was born in Novem- ber, 1679, and died May 25, 1727. He was of Woodbury in 1702. He and his wife, Sarah, were the parents of: Thomas; Miriam; John, who, with his sons, Eliab, Gideon, Adoniram, and Benjamin, and a daughter Mabel, settled in Durham, Al- bany county, New York; Ephraim; Abi- gail ; Jonathan ; Samuel, of whom further ; Sarah; and Hannah.
Samuel Skeel, son of John (2) and Sarah Skeel, married Lydia Belden, and they had children: Belden; Truman, of
whom further ; Samuel, Anna, and Simeon.
Truman Skeel, son of Samuel and Lydia (Belden) Skeel, was a soldier in the American army in the Revolutionary War, serving as a corporal in the 5th Company, 7th Regiment, from South Britain, Connecticut (Lineage Book of the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion, No. 9455). He married, June 2, 1779, Chloe Hill, and among their chil- dren were Arad, and Sarah, who married Abijah Bradley. Arad Skeel, son of Tru- man Skeel, married Sarah Lake, and had a son, Orrin (also spelled Oren). Abiram Skeel, of whom an account follows, had a son Truman and also a son Oren. Many of the two families settled in New York, and all of the circumstances lead to the conclusion that Abiram was a brother of Arad and son of Truman.
Rev. Abiram Skeel was born in New Canaan, Connecticut, and became a preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church. Sterling, Cayuga county, New York, became his home, and there, where his death occurred, he and his wife are buried. Rev. Abiram Skeel married Dr. Lydia Prentice, a woman of strong per- sonality and mentality, who practiced medicine and who was so prominent in church affairs as to gain the title of "the petticoat bishop." She was of the family of General Prentice, of Revolutionary War fame, and a cousin of George D. Prentice. Among their sons were Oren, of whom further; Truman, Alanson; and Rev. Harlow, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Oren Skeel, son of Rev. Abiram and Lydia (Prentice) Skeel, was born in New York State, and became an early settler in Illinois, locating in the town of Dixon about 1838 and engaging in farming oper- ations. He married Caroline Maria
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Douglas, daughter of Warner and Charity (Remington) Douglas, her father of Scotch-Irish ancestry and a native of Ire- land, where his father owned a consider- able estate. Warner Douglas was taken in his youth by two elder half-brothers to Liverpool at a period prior to the Revolu- tionary War and was bound in service to the captain of a ship sailing out of that port. The lad escaped from the vessel, and by good fortune was befriended by a clergyman in Boston, Massacusetts, who took him into his family and reared him. In manhood, Warner Douglas moved to Wolcott, Wayne county, New York. His wife was a native of Massachusetts. Car- oline Maria Douglas was an early advo, cate of prohibition, militant in her ardor for the cause, and led a mob in a raid upon the first saloon in Lena, Illinois.
James D. Skeel, son of Oren and Caro- line Maria (Douglas) Skeel, was born in Stephenson county, Illinois, in 1850. He was educated in the township schools and, learning the trade of carpenter in . his youth, followed it for a time, also engag- ing in agricultural operations. Subse- quently, he became a pattern-maker, was for a time a stationary engineer, and after- ward superintendent of the Stover Man- ufacturing Company at Freeport, Illinois. For several years he has been retired from active life, enjoying a well-earned leisure. He married Elizabeth Schadell, daughter of Samuel Schadell. Children : Cora, mar- ried William M. Schlott, of Freeport, Illinois; Alvah, of Freeport, Illinois; Theron, deceased; Adelbert Arthur, of whom further; Pearl, married Daniel MacNeill, of Freeport, Illinois; Maurice, a resident of Freeport; Ethel, married Albert Albright, of Dakota, Illinois.
Adelbert Arthur Skeel, son of James D. and Elizabeth (Schadell) Skeel, was born in Lena, Stephenson county, Illinois, May
15, 1878, and after attending the public schools of Freeport, Illinois, became a student in the Northwestern Academy at Evanston. For a time he was a student at the noted Cheshire Military Academy at Cheshire, Connecticut, proceeding to the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University and being graduated in 1904 with the degree of Ph. B. In 1907 he graduated from the Yale Law School, with the degree of LL. B., was admitted to the bar in the same year, and until 1911 pursued professional practice in New Haven. In that year Mr. Skeel came to Stamford and formed an association with Cummings & Lockwood that endured for three years, since which time he has prac- ticed independently. Early in his Stam- ford residence he was called into the pub- lic service and he has filled the office of corporation counsel of the city of Stam- ford for five terms with conspicuous suc- cess. He is a Republican in political sym- pathy, has acted as moderator of town meetings, and has been a delegate to sev- eral party conventions.
Mr. Skeel enlisted in Chicago, Illinois, in Company B, 3rd Mississippi Regiment, United States Volunteers, and served dur- ing the Spanish-American War, and is now a member of the United Spanish War Veterans. During the World War he held the rank of sergeant in the State Guard. Mr. Skeel is a member of Puri- tan Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Union Lodge, Independent Or- der of Mechanics, and of the Suburban Club.
Mr. Skeel married Helen Louise Peck, daughter of Benjamin Hall Peck, of Che- shire, Connecticut, and they are the par- ents of one daughter, Esther, born April 22, 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Skeel are mem- bers of St. John's Episcopal Church, of which Mr. Skeel is auditor.
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Ralph L. White Mes
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
WHITE, Ralph Lewis,
Physician, Served in World War.
There is no profession more noble than the profession of medicine. It offers to the young man a career of ability and use- fulness, and it is such a career that Dr. Ralph Lewis White, of New Canaan, Con- necticut, is creating for himself. He was born in Sloatsburg, Rockland county, New York, June 14, 1889, son of James L. and Frances (Becraft) White, and grand- son of David White.
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