USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 4 > Part 18
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Wesley R., died in infancy : Bessie M., died aged thirteen years; Howard Bald- win, born May 1, 1881, his father's busi- ness associate and successor, who married Gertrude Wetmore, of Wallingford, one daughter, Lois B. Hall.
BARRETT, John Calvin, Business Man.
About 1905 Mr. Barrett, a native son of Connecticut, and a practical pattern maker. located in Hartford and in a small way began business. With the years that busi- ness grew, the reputation of its founder became firmly established as a man of ability and honor, its demands leading him to organize as a stock company in 1900, as the John C. Barrett Company. wood and metal pattern makers. Of that company Mr. Barrett is president. The Barrett surname belongs to an ancient and honorable English family founded by a follower of William the Conqueror, who fought at Hastings in 1066 and is among those found in the Roll of Battle Abbey, that monument ordered erected by the Conqueror to commemorate the names of those there engaged with him in the battle which decided the fate of England. Bar- retts came to America among the early settlers of New England, but the ances- tors of John Calvin Barrett remained in England until the Revolutionary War period when William Barrett came with Burgoyne's army to subdue the rebellious colonists. William Barrett was captured with a detachment of British soldiers, and while being taken as prisoners of war to Albany he camped in New Hartford. He eluded the guards and made his escape, but did not rejoin the British army. He remaine'i around the vicinity until the war closed. then permanently settled, marrying a daughter of John Spencer.
Calvin Barrett, a son of William Bar-
rett, married Belinda Merrill, of New Thartford, and had a son. Jason Barrett, who lived in New Hartford He married Dulcina Mullet and had a son, John C. Barrett, born in New Hartford, May 20. 1847. He learned the pattern maker's trade, which he followed in New Britain, Connecticut, for thirty-five years. In the spring of 1914, he suffered a stroke of paralysis, which incapacitated him. He was a member of the Order of United American Mechanics and a man highly regarded as an artisan and as a citizen. He married Lillian Spencer, granddaugh- ter of Michael Spencer, of Burlington, and daughter of Dwight Spencer, an olden time mechanic, a skilled pattern and gun maker of New Hartford and Bur- lington. He made the entire gun by hand and was well known all over the State as an expert workman. John C. and Lillian (Spencer) Barrett were the parents of nine children, eight of whom grew to ma- ture years : Alfred J. ; Myrtle J .; Susan A .; John Calvin, of further mention ; Wil- bur ; Lucy ; Jason M., and Julia. The family were members of the First Metho- dist Episcopal Church of New Britain.
John Calvin Barrett, son of John C. Barrett, mentioned above. was born in New Britain, Connecticut, May 5. 1880. He was educated in the public schools of his native place and grew to manhood. He learned the trade of metal pattern maker and worked at his trade in various local- ities, gaining wide experience and knowl- edge of every form and detail of pattern making. In 1903 he began working in a Hartford plant, and two years later began business for himself in a small way. He prospered and business so increased that a force of ten skilled men is employed in wood and metal pattern making at his plant. In August. 1909. the business was incorporated as the John C. Barrett Com- pany, John C. Barrett president. Mr. Bar-
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* rett is a member of the South Park Metho- dist Episcopal Church and superintendent of Broadview Ileights Chapel Sunday school, the Chapel a mission of South Park Church.
He married Harriet Morgans, daughter of William H. S. Morgans, of Berlin, Con- necticut, the Morgans of Welsh descent. Mr. and Mrs. Barrett have six children : George Morgans, Clayton Spencer, Jessie Abigail, Ruth, Lillian, and John Wesley.
BANNON, Patrick Francis, Representative Citizen.
This is a success worshiping age. The men whom we delight to honor are those who have accomplished something real and tangible, the significance of which we can grasp with our five senses, the men who have built up an industry or raised themselves from a position of obscurity and poverty to one of distinction and wealth. We demand success and, as though in response, we have progress in all the departments of material achieve- ment such as the world has never before witnessed. Perhaps the most character- istic of all the achievements of the day is that which has taken place in the business world, in the line of industrial and com- mercial development, and it is the leaders of activity in this direction that are our choicest heroes. Patrick Francis Bannon, the distinguished manufacturer and man of affairs of Waterbury, Connecticut, is one of those who have risen by their own unaided efforts to a place of prominence in the city, and his career is as con- spicuous for the high principles he ob- served in its course as for the success that has attended it. It may be said of him without exaggeration that he is a progres- sive, virile, self-made American citizen, thoroughly in harmony with the spirit of this modern age, and who, in compassing
his own success, is performing a corres- ponding service for the community of which he is a member.
Patrick Francis Bannon is a native of this country, having been born at Water- bury, Connecticut, November 22, 1855. He is, however, of Irish descent on both sides of the house, and inherits the strong virtues and ready intelligence that have made his race so successful in every call- ing and in every part of the earth where they have found their way. Mr. Bannon's grandfather, Patrick Bannon, was a farmer in County Westmeath, Ireland, where he was born in the year 1783. The greater part of his life was spent in his native country, and it was there that he was married and reared his children. His wife, who was a Miss Reid, also a native of Ireland, bore him seven children, all of whom are now deceased. In the year 1840, when he was a man fifty-seven years of age, he left his native land for good and came to the United States, where he settled in Waterbury and re- mained until his death in 1852, his age being sixty-nine years.
One of his seven children was William Bannon, the father of the present Mr. Bannon, who was born in County West- ineath, Ireland, in 1826, and accompanied his father to the United States at the age of fourteen years. Waterbury became his permanent home and he soon found em- ployment there with the great concern that for many years under the various names of Brown & Elton, Brown Brothers and Brown & Burnham, has manufactured drawn wire and similar products on a large scale. Mr. Bannon worked for this concern during many years of its exis- tence, under all its different names, and finally died in Waterbury in 1902, at the age of seventy-six years. He married Margaret Carroll, like himself a native of Ireland, she having been born in County
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Queens in the year 1830. They were the parents of ten children, only three of whom are now living. These are Patrick Francis, with whose career this sketch is particularly concerned ; William, also a resident of Waterbury, and Elizabeth, now the wife of James Cunningham, of Waterbury.
From the day of his birth down to the present time Mr. Bannon has made Water- bury his home and the scene of his active career. He attended the excellent public schools of the city for his education and showed himself an apt and intelligent stu- dent. Later he entered the employ of the Holmes, Booth & Hayden Company, dealers in brass goods, and there began his career in the industrial world which he is still following out. He did not re- main with the brass concern a great while, however, but in 1874 secured a position with the Waterbury Farrell Foundry Company to learn the machinist's trade, which he had determined to take up. This was in 1874, when he was nineteen years of age, and from that time to this he has remained associated with this company. Mr. Bannon has all his life been possessed of the persistency that works slowly, but indefatigably towards its goal, in no ap- parent hurry to succeed, but none the less perfectly determined to reach the objective point eventually. His is that instinct of loyalty that makes a man con- tinue in the old association, gradually working his way upwards towards the front, instead of, as in the case of so many brilliant men, breaking quickly away from all authority and embarking upon inde- pendent enterprises. And this was pre- cisely Mr. Bannon's course. Slowly, but without pause, he made his way upwards, his intelligence and industry bringing him into the notice of his employers. He now holds the office of superintendent of the great works and is one of the directors of
the company. The success of the concern is due in no small degree to his good busi- less judgment and to his splendid man- agement of the practical details of the running of the plant. There are very few men who understand the foundry busi- ness in every detail as well as Mr. Bannon, who has as it were grown up in it and be- come familiar with it at first hand, having himself worked at each step.
But it is not merely in his business that Mr. Bannon is prominent in the commu- nity. With the instinct for public affairs which marks so many of his race, he has entered politics and played an important part in local activities. He is a staunch adherent of the Democratic party, and it has been as a candidate of that party that he has been elected to various important city offices. Among the more important of these were that of member of the Board of Common Council of Waterbury. which he held during the early nineties. and treasurer of the city, to which he was elected in 1892 and held during four years. In both of these capacities he did invalu- able service to the community, performing his responsible duties with great good judgment and entire disinterestedness. He was also a member of the Second Regiment, Connecticut National Guard of Waterbury, and from 1881 to 1884 was captain of Company G therein, and to this day he is familiarly called Captain Bannon among his personal friends and acquaint- ances. Mr. Bannon is a staunch member of the Catholic church, as his forebears before him have been for generations, and attends St. Margaret's Church, Water- bury, and takes a large share of the work of the parish upon himself. He is closely identified with social life in Catholic cir- cles in the city and a member of a number of clubs and other organizations con- nected with the church, formally or in- formally, such as the Knights of Colum-
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bus and the Catholic Benevolent League. He is also a member of the Order of United Workmen and the Home Benefit Association of Boston.
On September 17, 1889, Mr. Bannon was married to Margaret G. Thompson, of Waterbury, in which city she was born April 18, 1858. She is a daughter of Rich- ard Thompson, a native of County Queens, Ireland, who came to the United States as a young man and made his home in Waterbury until his death. To Mr. and Mrs. Bannon have been born four chil- dren as follows: Helen A., December 20, 1890; Sadie M., July 20, 1892; William T., November 2, 1896, and now a student at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, class of 1919; and Richard C., January 8, 1900, now a student in the Waterbury High School, class of 1918. All the mem- bers of the family, like Mr. Bannon, at- tend the Catholic church, and it is his chief pride that he has handed on the an- cient faith unimpaired to his children just as his ancestors handed it on to him.
DRAHER, John, Manufacturer.
Son of a skilled mechanic, John Draher inherited a natural aptitude for the same pursuits and after a term of service as apprentice, journeyman and manager, suc- ceeded to the business of Thomas Kirk, with whom he had learned the machinist's trade. As head of his own business he has been very successful and although his is not one of Waterbury's large industrial plants it is one of importance, his ma- chine shops at No. 70 North Elm street being devoted to the construction of special machinery as well as to a gen- eral machine shop business. He is a good business man which, with his me- chanical ability places him in excellent position to forcefully conduct a business
replete with new problems each day. He is a son of John and Sophia (Dehn) Draher, his father born in Alsace, that much disputed province now war-racked and the scene of desperate conflict. John (1) Draher came to the United States about 1830, locating in New York City where he remained until making Water- bury, Connecticut, his permanent home about 1850. He was a skilled machinist, and in Waterbury was master mechanic with the Holmes Booth & Harden Com- pany, one of the olden time manufactur- ing concerns of the city. He married, in New York City, Sophia Dehn, of Prussian birth, brought to this country when young. John (1) Draher, died in 1866, his wife yet surviving him at the age of eighty-five years. They had four children: Emma, deceased, was the wife of Valentine Bohl, of Waterbury; Sophia, the wife of Wil- liam Schnitz, of Elgin, Illinois; Mary, wife of Frederick Illy, of Waterbury; John (2), of further mention, twin with Mary.
John (2) Draher was born in Water- bury, Connecticut, January 19, 1857. He attended the public schools, and at an early age received a boy's job with the Scoville Manufacturing Company follow- ed by a term with the Atwood plant. He then began learning the machinist's trade with Thomas Kirk, of Waterbury, and in his machine shop acquired the skill and knowledge which distinguish him among machinists and machinery builders. Three years were spent as apprentice, then a term as journeyman under the same em- ployer terminating only by Mr. Kirk's death in 1883. He continued in the same business until 1894, when he purchased the Kirk plant and has since conducted a general machine shop business employing about fifteen hands. He is president of the General Manufacturing Company, in- corporated in 1909 with plant at No. 68
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North Ehn street, engaged in the manu- facturing of rivets, bolts, screws and burn- ished steel balls. He is also treasurer of the American Fastener Company, incor- porated in December, 1915, to manufac- ture dress fasteners, supplanting the old hook and eye so long used. In earlier days he took an active part in public affairs, represented his ward in Common Council and has ever been a keen observer of men and events. He is a Republican in political faith, but is extremely inde- pendent in thought and action, support- ing men and measures that command his approval. He is a member of the Benev- olent and Protective Order of Elks and of several other orders, turn vereins and clubs, is fond of hunting and fishing, hold- ing membership in the Waterbury Rod and Gun and the Recreation Rod and Gun clubs.
Mr. Draher married (first) Bridget Keenan, born in Waterbury, Connecticut, daughter of Thomas Keenan, who bore him two children: Laura and John (3) Draher, the latter deceased. He married (second) Florence Geddes, of Waterbury, Connecticut. The family home is at No. 259 Cook street, Waterbury.
HENDERSON, John, Man of Affairs.
John Henderson was born within eight miles of the city of Edinburgh, February 2, 1848. It was in this same region, made familiar to the whole world in Stevenson's wonderful pensketches, that his ancestors had resided generation after generation. His father, grandfather and great-grand- father were millwrights.
The great-grandfather's name was John Henderson. He had a shop and employed a number of skilled workmen. Much of his work was in connection with the in- troduction of the paper making machinery
that superseded the old hand process of paper making. To him and his wife, Ellen (Wilson) Henderson, were born six sons and three daughters, all of whom grew up and did their share of useful work and also contributed something to the joy and mirth of their friends and neighbors.
The grandfather, Robert Henderson, came to this country in May, 1854, accom- panied by his wife, Ann (Cowan) Hender- son, one son, Robert, and his wife; two daughters and their husbands, Margaret (Mrs. James France ) ; Janet (Mrs. Thom- as White) ; one son, James, unmarried, and also a dozen grandchildren. An- other daughter, Ellen, with her husband, Alexander Borthwick, and three children came three years earlier. They all settled at Norwich, Connecticut, and there the father and mother, the three daughters and two of the sons-in-law died and were buried. The sons, Robert and James, still live at Norwich. John, the oldest son, and his wife, Elizabeth (Hunter) Hender- son, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Ewart) Hunter, and eight children came in the summer of 1860. One of the chil- dren (James) died at Norwich at the age of eleven years in 1863. Another (David) died at Waterbury in 1909, at the age of fifty-nine years. One died in infancy in Scotland.
The seven children now living are : Robert, Elizabeth, John, William D., Alexander B., Annie, and Thomas, who was born in Waterbury. Robert lives in Thomaston, and Annie (Mrs. William H. Marigold) in Bridgeport; all the others live in Waterbury.
At Norwich the father was employed by the Chelsea Paper Company at his trade of millwright. There he stayed nearly four years, then came with all his family to Waterbury. In Waterbury he was about fifteen years with the Farrell Foundry & Machine Company, then twen-
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ty years with the Waterbury Brass Com- pany. When about eighty years old he retired from active life. His death oc- curred in his eighty-ninth year on June 12, 1910.
John Henderson passed the first twelve years of his life near Edinburgh, and there he received his education at the local schools. At the age of sixteen he began his apprenticeship to the machinist trade. In 18So he and his brother, Alexander B., also a machinist, opened a machine shop and are still carrying on the business here in Waterbury. Mr. Henderson is a well known figure in the city. Two years he served on the old boards of road commis- sioners and sewer commissioners. In 1876 he was elected a member of the Common Council of the city. Six con- secutive times he was elected a member of the Board of Education of the Centre School District. For all the offices to which he was elected he was nominated without being consulted. He regarded his election as a call to duty and tried in every instance to render the best service of which he was capable. As an example of his public spirit and disinterestedness, it may be remarked, that not being aware that members of the Board of Education received any salary he was surprised when a check was handed to him and at once turned it over to the fund for the found- ing of the Waterbury Hospital.
A story of political intrigue ought here to be told. Once at a Republican caucus a committee was appointed to nominate school officers and report to an adjourned meeting. Before the adjourned meeting was held one of the committee went to Mr. Henderson and told him that neither he nor the Rev. R. W. Micou, one of the most useful members of the Board of Education, had been re-nominated. Mr. Henderson then spent a good deal of time arousing the friends of Mr. Micou and
they turned out in great force at the ad- journed meeting. General Kellogg made a stirring speech in favor of Mr. Micou and he was re-nominated without any opposition. Another gentleman then asked, "What is the objection to Mr. Henderson?" As no one answered he also was re-nominated without opposition. Being one of four Republicans who were nominated but only three of whom could be elected Mr. Micou was defeated at the election and Mr. Henderson was one of those elected. A prominent Democrat told Mr. Henderson afterwards that hav- ing a large majority in the district and being sure of the election of their own ticket the Democrats always determined which of the Republicans should be de- feated. They defeated him by instruct- ing a number of their men to vote the Republican ticket and to scratch a certain name from it.
At Salem, New London county, Con- necticut, on April 22, 1872, Mr. Hender- son was united in marriage with Mar- garet Murray, daughter of Gilbert and Janet Murray, of that town, who came from Scotland in 1855 with a large family of children. Both of the parents died and are buried at Norwich. To Mr. and Mrs. Henderson four children have been born as follows: John M., Gilbert M., Arthur and Charles. John M. Henderson is a graduate of the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University and is now a mechani- cal engineer, making his residence at Rome, New York State. He was mar- ried, November 14, 1911, to Charlotte Dunne, of Moira, New York, and they have one child, John C., now two years of age. John M. Henderson was for five years connected with Company A, Second Regiment, Connecticut National Guard, before his removal to Rome, N. Y. Gil- bert M. is associated with his father in business. He was married, January 7,
Conn-4-9
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1903, to Agnes Mackie, a native of Scot- land, and they have one child, a daughter, Margaret, now eight years of age. Arthur and Charles Henderson were twins and are both deceased. The former was a lawyer with a growing practice in Water- bury, and died at the age of twenty-seven years in the month of November, 1904. He was connected with Company A, Second Regiment, Connecticut National Guard, for three years. Charles died in December, 1892, when but fifteen years of age.
Mr. Henderson is a member of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Masonic order. He is also a member of the Third Congregational Church of Waterbury, which on his initiative was organized in 1892. When the West Side Savings Bank was founded in 1889 he was elected a director and still occupies that office.
As a private citizen Mr. Henderson has constantly labored for the improvement of the Brooklyn and Town Plot District, so called, in which he has resided more than thirty-five years. Better streets and new school houses and a Congregational church (the only Protestant church in the district) are some of the results obtained through his efforts. Much was done at his own expense, as when he got Alder street laid out and later got a map of the district made which was printed in the Waterbury "American," June 26, 1905, showing where another bridge was needed across the river and where several new streets were also needed, one of which would necessitate the removal of his dwelling house which was only fifteen years old. When the said street was made he asked that the damages be deter- mined by three disinterested persons, but the lawyer who was mayor of the city at that time wished to have the case go to the Superior Court. At the trial he acted
as attorney for the city and was well re- munerated for his services. The net com- pensation that Mr. Henderson received only covered the expense of a new house of smaller size. The land went for noth- ing. The public now has the use of the bridge and some of the new streets that were shown on his map. In no case was personal gain derived or looked for. A woman and her husband, residents of the district, saw a place when traveling where the streets were in as bad condition as their own used to be. When they re- turned she told Mr. Henderson that when they saw the resemblance her husband said, "there is no John Henderson here."
Having started the movement to get a church built in the district he and the minister-to-be were appointed to raise the money to build it. Men and women of different denominations contributed gen- erously in sums ranging from five to five hundred dollars. The late Mr. R. K. Brown said to the minister as he gave his check that seeing Mr. Henderson was identified with the movement he had no hesitation about giving it. Mr. Hender- son's own contribution, in land and money together, was more than a thousand dollars. Besides the church building he aimed to have a parsonage and then a pipe organ provided. The building and the organ were in due time provided but not the parsonage. . \ gentleman who was well-to-do in the world expressed his in- tention of donating a parsonage in whole or in part and desired that the matter be placed entirely in his hands. He built a house that for several years was called the parsonage. Three ministers occupied it successively for a short time and paid him rent. But he gave up his good inten- tion and turned the house into two tene- ments. The church could have done for itself what he prevented it from doing. In the Congregational System there is no
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supervision of the churches. The one mentioned has had many ups and downs but it still survives and it will celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary in about four months. Mr. Henderson is glad of the opportunities he has had to promote the welfare of the community; the joy of effort and achievement has been his re- ward.
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