USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 4 > Part 37
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Dr. Wolff married Sarah Ansell, daugh- ter of Jacob Ansell, a prominent barrister in London. He was a native of Ipswich. Dr. and Mrs. Wolff were the parents of eleven children, four of whom are living at the present time (1917), namely : Mrs. Caroline Zander, of Brooklyn, New York ; Arthur J., of whom further ; Mrs. Blanche Loew, of Brownsville, Texas; Mrs. Leah Cain, of Brownsville, Texas. The father of Dr. Arthur S. Wolff was an engineer in the army of the first Napoleon.
Dr. Arthur J. Wolff graduated from the Plattsburgh High School, but did not pursue classical studies further. He was reared in a home of culture and refine- ment, surrounded with the best of litera- ture, his father's library containing the choicest creations of the writers of many languages and covering well the fields of literature, art, history and biography. The elder Dr. Wolff was a master of eight languages, and his son, Dr. Wolff, of this review, speaks French, German and Span- ish fluently, having received considerable instruction from his father, not only in the languages but in other branches of learning. He began to read medicine under the preceptorship of his father, and pursued the course in the Texas Medical College and Hospital at Galveston, from which he was graduated in 1876. The following six years were spent in the medical corps of the United States army
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on the southwestern frontier, where he not only obtained wide experience in the practice of his profession under circum- stances that threw him largely on his own resources, but his experience also in- cluded those of the then primitive social conditions of the pioneer settlement, etc.
After leaving the army, Dr. Wolff pur- sued a post-graduate course in Bellevue Hospital Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1883. He then came to Hartford, Connecticut, and has practiced in that city ever since, except during the intervals when he was in Europe. He went abroad in 1889 and studied in the Paris hospitals, and again in 1896, and in 1901 studied in London and Edinburgh. At first, his practice in Hartford was gen- eral in character, but after a number of years more and more of his time became taken up with surgery and bacteriology until these specialties have occupied his attention exclusively, this being the case for several years. He also performed a vast amount of medico-legal work, as an expert in murder cases, making chemical analyses, etc. He has written many papers on medical, surgical and bacteri- ological topics for medical journals and journals devoted to public sanitation. He has served on the staff of St. Francis Hospital as a specialist on diseases of women since the hospital was organized, and he is also one of the directors of the institution. He organized the bacterio- logical department of the Health Board of the city of Hartford in 1894, and Dr. Wolff's laboratory was the second muni- cipal laboratory to be established in the world. He has served as bacteriologist for the city since that date. He is a fel- low of the Royal Microscopical Society of London, Society of American Bacteri- ologists, City, County and State Medical societies, American Medical Association, and the Connecticut State Board of
Health. Dr. Wolff is domestic in his tastes, devoting his entire time aside from his professional duties to his family and home. The demands of his professional work, study and writing have made it impossible for him to give attention to outside interests.
Dr. Wolff married Harriet, daughter of Samuel Krotosliner, of Hartford, Con- necticut. They are the parents of one child, Arthur S. (2nd).
WELCH, Andrew William,
Business Man.
Andrew William Welch is one of the successful merchants of Hartford, and it has been due to his own industry and determination that he has built up the large business of which he is now the head. He is a son of Edward and Ellen (Pattison) Welch, old and highly re- spected citizens of Hartford, and a grand- son of Andrew and Margaret Welch, also of that city.
Edward Welch was born at Simsbury, Connecticut, April 8, 1862, and as a young man worked in the establishment of a florist, one J. B. McLean, of Simsbury. In 1883, however, he severed his relations with this gentleman, and, coming to Hartford, there opened a florist shop on his own account. His establishment in Hartford was located on Windsor avenue, next to the entrance to the Spring Grove Cemetery, where he did an excellent trade. While engaged in business at this location, Mr. Welch, Sr., became foreman for the Hartford City Gas Lighting Com- pany at the time when John P. Harvison was president of that concern. He held this position for seven years, retiring at the same time as did Mr. Harvison. The following year he moved his store to a new location, just north of the tunnel, where he remained for several years.
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Later he removed to the Garde Hotel building, and in 1915 he sold his business to his son, Andrew W. Welch, who moved the business to the Majestic Theatre building. Mr. Welch continued to conduct greenhouses on Annawan street. He was a member of the Hart- ford Lodge of Elks; Court Samuel Colt, Foresters of America; Third Division, Ancient Order of Hibernians; and the Green Cross Council, Knights of Colum- bus. He is survived by his wife, by whom he had four sons as follows: Edward J .; Andrew William, the subject of this sketch ; G. Francis; and Donald D.
Andrew William Welch, second son of Edward and Ellen (Pattison) Welch, was born March 2, 1889, in the city of Hartford, Connecticut. He was educated in the local public schools of his native city, and was graduated from the Hart- ford High School. In the year 1906, after completing his studies at the latter insti- tution, he began to work for his father in the latter's retail store on Windsor ave- nue. In 1908 this store was sold, and the store in the Hotel Garde was opened. Mr. Welch became manager of the new store and served until the year 1914, and in 1915 he removed to his present store. In the month of October, 1914. George F. Lane became a partner in the business, which is now conducted under the firm name of Welch, the Florist.
Undoubtedly the strongest impulse in Mr. Welch's life is that wholesome one toward taking an active part in the world of affairs and business. He is, indeed, typical of the energetic man of affairs, whose united labors have built up Hart- ford's mercantile interests. In him also, as in this type so characteristic of Connec- ticut, this energy and industry is based upon a foundation of moral strength which renders it doubly effective with the power which forbearance always gives.
His honor and integrity are unimpeach- able, his sense of justice sure and his charity and tolerance broad and far-reach- ing. His successes are made permanent, founded as they are on the confidence of his associates, and he has built up for himself an enviable reputation among all classes of men.
LOUNSBURY, Phineas Chapman, Financier, Governor, Statesman.
Phineas Chapman Lounsbury, thirty- fifth Governor of Connecticut (1887-89) and banker, was born at Ridgefield, Fair- field county, Connecticut, January 10, 1844, son of Nathan and Delia (Scho- field ) Lounsbury. He stood in the sixth generation from Richard Lounsbury, of Lounsborough, England, who settled at Stamford, Connecticut, about 1651. This colonist received an extensive grant of land on which his descendants have con- tinued to reside almost to the present day, the majority of them having followed the calling of agriculture. From him and his wife the line of descent runs through their son, Henry Lounsbury, through his son, Nathan Lounsbury, through his son, Enos Lounsbury, and through his son, Nathan Lounsbury, grandfather of the present generation, who attained distinc- tion in the Revolutionary War.
Phineas C. Lounsbury was educated at public and private schools in his native State, proving an apt scholar in a variety of studies, and giving early promise of the distinction and usefulness of his ma- turer years. In 1858 he entered on his active life career as clerk in a shoe estab- lishment in New York City, some years later in association with his brother, en- gaging in the manufacture of shoes in New Haven, Connecticut, under the firm name of Lounsbury Brothers. In 1869 the plant was removed to South Norwalk,
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and with another partner, under the firm name of Le insbury, Matthewson & Com- pany, a business was established, which is still successfully carried on. He en- listed in the Seventeenth Connecticut Volunteer Regiment in 1861, but after four months' service was honorably dis- charged on account of a severe illness. Although he had seen no active service, he was offered a pension, which, under the conditions, he felt obliged to decline. He has, however, retained a continued interest in his old command by his mem- bership in the Edwin D. Pickett Post, No. 64, Grand Army of the Republic, of Ridgefield, and was unanimously chosen to deliver the oration on the occasion of unveiling the regimental monument at Gettysburg in 1884.
In both the business and political world Governor Lounsbury's career has been notable and brilliant. He has partici- pated in almost every State and national political campaign since the Civil War, and by his brilliant oratorical powers and masterly insight into public questions has become a recognized power. In 1874 he represented Ridgefield in the State Legis- lature, where he served on several impor- tant committees. His prominent activity in the deliberations of this occasion soon confirmed his claim to the leadership of his party and resulted in the enactment of several popular laws, notably the local option liquor regulations. In 1882, 1884 and again in 1886, his name came promi- nently before the Republican State Con- vention as a candidate for the Governor- ship, but on both the former occasions he withdrew in favor of a close competitor, only consenting to stand in 1886, when he was unanimously nominated. The cam- paign which followed was a notable one, both for the enthusiasm of friends and the strong opposition of political oppo- nents, and resulted in the election of Mr.
Lounsbury, who was accordingly inaugu- rated on January 6, 1887. Party lines were then closely drawn on the issues represented by the Governor, and, al- though his own convictions on current questions were unmistakable, his official policy and record afforded no opportunity for hostile criticism and gave no just war- rant for discontent. The unanimous ver- dict was that his had been a thoroughly businesslike administration, characterized throughout by a careful observance, not of party interests, but solely of the pub- lic good. On this point the Hartford "Daily Times," a leading Democratic newspaper, said: "While our political preferences did not favor his election to the chief magistracy of the State, and we had at the outset some doubts as to the probable methods of his official course, we very frankly say that he has been one of the best governors Connecticut ever had." Among the best considered enact- ments forwarded and signed by him was the Incorrigible Criminal Act, providing that whenever a person shall be for the third time convicted of a crime meriting an imprisonment of two years or over, the penalty imposed shall be twenty-five years in the State prison. The evident intention of this well considered statute is on the principle that a prison is, first place, an institution for the protection of society, to rid the public of the constant menace of petty crimes committed with the assurance of a long-suffering justice and light penalties. The effect has been excellent, and it is reported on apparently good authority that the number of cases in which this virtual life sentence has been imposed are wonderfully few.
In 1900 he was president of the Mer- chants' Exchange National Bank, which greatly benefited by his splendid execu- tive policy ; a trustee of the American Bank Note Company; a director of the
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Washington Trust Company, Provident Savings Life Assurance Company, and many others. Governor Lounsbury is a member of the Union League and Re- publican clubs of New York City, and, having for many years been an active Ma- son, is connected with the Mystic Tie and Jerusalem Lodge of Ridgefield, the Eu- reka Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, the Crusader Commandery, Knights Tem- plar, of Danbury, and a noble of the Mys- tic Shrine of the Pyramid Temple, Bridge- port. His religious connections are with the Methodist church, to whose general conference he has several times been a delegate. For a number of years also he has been a trustee of Wesleyan Univer- sity, Middletown, Connecticut, which, in 1887, conferred on him the honorary de- gree of Doctor of Laws.
In 1867 Governor Lounsbury was mar- ried to Jennie Wright, daughter of Neziah Wright, one of the founders of the Amer- ican Bank Note Company, of New York City.
PARKER, Charles,
Founder of Important Industry.
Charles Parker, son of Stephen Parker, was born January 2, 1809, at Cheshire, and lived to the great age of ninety-three years. From the age of nine to fourteen he lived with the family of Porter Cook, a farmer of Wallingford, attending the district school and working on the farm. When he was eighteen years old he en- tered the employ of Anson Mathews, a manufacturer of pewter buttons in South- ington, Connecticut, receiving as wages at first six dollars a month and board. A year later he went to work for Harry & Horace Smith, who were also manu- facturers of buttons, and six months later he accepted a position in the factory of Patrick Lewis, manufacturer of coffee
mills. A year later he began to manu- facture coffee mills on his own account, making a contract with Patrick Lewis and Elias Holt to deliver a certain num- ber of mills per month. With a capital of $70 he succeeded in this business in mak- ing a profit of $1,800 in the first thirteen months. In 1831 he became associated with Jared Lewis in the same line of con- tracting, and in the following January Mr. Parker sold out to his partner, bought an acre of land, on which was an old house, for which he paid $650, and built a stone shop which was finished in the spring of 1832, and in which he carried on the manufacture of coffee mills and waffle irons. In November, 1833, his brother, Edmund Parker, and Heman White were admitted to partnership in the business, under the firm name of Parker & White. During this partnership the business had many trials and some reverses, but none ever affected the financial standing of Mr. Parker. His brother retired in 1843 and Mr. White the year following. The only power used up to this time was furnished by a horse attached to a pole sweep. The steam engine installed by this concern in 1844 was the first used in Meriden. The industry grew to mammoth proportions, and now has four engines with a capacity of 500 horse power with twenty boilers having a capacity of 2,000 horse power. besides water power at the factories at East Meriden and Yalesville. \t first Mr. Parker not only made but sold his own goods. He made extended trips twice a year and on one occasion took an order that required two years for the fac- tory to fill. The present method of work- ing on orders had not then come into practice generally. \ few years later. Mr. Parker added to his product the making of silver-plated spoons and forks and was the first to make plated hollow ware in Meriden at what is known locally as
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Parker's Spoon Shop, the power for which is supplied by Black pond. The output of this factory at present is largely lamp products and steel spoons, knives and forks. The capacity of the factory is very large and the goods are sold not only in all parts of this county but extensively in foreign countries. Although the mak- ing of spectacles, which used to be an im- portant part of the business, has been dis- continued, practically every other article that was ever added to the output of the concern is manufactured now.
The Parker coffee mills were made in fully one hundred styles and sizes and have had a steady and growing sale for three- quarters of a century. In the early days in a factory on the opposite side of the road and some distance farther west than the present Parker Clock Factory, where nickel alarm clocks are made, locks and other builders' hardware were made. This old factory has long since been torn down and the land on which it stood has been given to the city, about eight acres in extent, now part of Hubbard Park. This branch of the industry was discontinued some years ago. The factory where the Parker guns are made is situated some distance from the main factory of the Charles Parker Company and is conduct- ed under the name of Parker Brothers. The Parker shotgun has a world-wide reputation for accuracy and reliability. The Parker vise, patented in 1854, has been made at the main factory and is manufactored in enormous quantities, and in a hundred and fifty sizes and styles, adapted to the uses of every trade. The company is the largest manufacturer of vises and coffee mills in the country. At the main factory are produced also brass, bronze and steel wood screws; lamps in large variety ; gas and electric portable lamps; lavatory and bath room fittings. The piano stools and coffee mills are as-
sembled and finished here, but the wood- work is done at the factory at Yalesville. The company makes more piano stools, benches, music racks and cabinets than any other concern in the world. A line of piano scarfs and covers is made in end- less variety. Until 1905 the Charles Parker Company also owned and oper- ated the plant known as the Meriden Cur- tain Fixture Company, the largest con- cern of the kind in the world, employing some five hundred hands, but the busi- ness is now consolidated with other con- cerns making similar goods under the name of the Columbia Shade Cloth Com- pany.
The business was incorporated in 1876 with a capital of $500,000 as the Charles Parker Company, and like the Parker Clock Company, which it controls, is a close corporation. The first officers were: Charles Parker, president; Charles E. Parker, vice-president ; Dexter W. Parker, secretary and treasurer. Since the death of the founder, his son, Dexter W. Park- er, has been president ; Wilbur F. Parker, vice-president ; William H. Lyon, secre- tary and treasurer. The Parker Clock Company, incorporated June 12, 1893, with the following officers: William H. Lyon, president and treasurer ; James F. Allen, secretary. The various Parker companies give steady employment to about 1,500 hands, most of whom are skillful mechanics. Its development has contributed materially to the growth and prosperity of the city of Meriden. The New York salesrooms are at 32 Warren street. Since the death of Charles Park- er, the general management has devolved upon his son-in-law, William H. Lyon, who has been connected with the com- pany for many years.
About twenty years before his death. Mr. Parker was stricken with disease that kept him confined most of the time to his
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home, but did not affect his mental and intellectual vigor and he continued to direct his business affairs. To the very end of his life, his decision was sought and given in important matters. Few men have had such a long and remark- able business career. No man's business credit in the history of Meriden was higher than his. The great diversity of products of the company and the enor- mous capital required in the business called for the highest financial ability in the management. "The evolution of his business life from an apprentice boy to a captain of industry would be the story of the growth of a small inland Connecti- cut town possessing a few local advan- tages, developing in a comparatively few years into a thriving and prosperous city, prominent among the residents of which he was a prince among equals."
Mr. Parker was naturally one of the foremost citizens of Meriden. He took a lively interest in municipal affairs, and exerted a large and wholesome influence in the community. In his early life he was a Democrat. He was one of the pres- idential electors from Connecticut who voted for Franklin Pierce for President. After the Civil War broke out, however, he gave his loyal support to the Union, and helped to equip companies of militia in response to the first call for troops and became a prominent Republican. He was a delegate to both Republican national conventions at which General Grant was nominated for President. When Meriden was incorporated as a city in 1867, Mr. Parker was given the handsome compli- ment of the choice of the people for their first mayor and he started the new city government with wisdom and foresight. He set a standard that has been well maintained ever since. He was a mem- ber of Meridian Lodge, Free and Accept- ed Masons, and was the last surviving
charter member of the lodge. He was also a member of St. Elmo Commandery, Knights Templar, to which he presented a beautiful banner in memory of his brother, Rev. John Parker, his son, Wil- bur Parker, and his nephew, George White Parker, all of whom were Knights Templar. He joined the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution in 1893. From early manhood he was a faithful member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, to which at one time he gave $40,000 toward the building fund. He erected one of the finest residences in the city on Broad street. It is now occupied by his son, Dexter W.
He married, in 1831, Abi Lewis Eddy, of Berlin, Connecticut. They had ten children.
BLAKESLEE, Oliver,
Old-time Schoolmaster.
Samuel Blakeslee, immigrant ancestor of Oliver Blakeslee, well known by the title of "Master," was a planter of Guil- ford, Connecticut, in 1650, and is sup- posed to have been a brother of Thomas Blakeslee, who came in the "Hopewell" from London to Massachusetts, in 1635, was in Hartford in 1641, and removed to Branford in 1645. Samuel Blakeslee re- moved to New Haven between 1653 and 1657, and by the New Haven records died May 17, 1672. He married Hannah Pot- ter. Their son, Ebenezer Blakeslee, was born July 17, 1664, died September 24, 1735 : he lived in North Haven, where he was prominent in church affairs, first with the Congregational and later with the Episcopal. He married Hannah Lupton. Their son, Ebenezer (2) Blakeslee, was born February 4, 1685, resided in North Haven, and married Mary Ford, of New Haven. Their son, Matthew Blakeslee, was born December 10, 1715, was one of
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the subscribers to the Second Ecclesiasti- cal Society at its formation, becoming one of its first two wardens, and married, De- cember 27, 1736, Rhoda Beach. They were the parents of Oliver Blakeslee, whose name heads this sketch.
Oliver Blakeslee, son of Matthew Blakeslee, was born in North Haven, Au- gust 15, 1741. He was known in his day as "Master Blakeslee." His boyhood was spent in hard work, as a large family and a lean larder in his father's house made the crosses there greater than the com- forts. Tradition has it that the maternal hand, often perplexed by the wants of the hungry children around her, was wont to prepare in a huge wooden bowl a por- ridge of meal and the water in which any vegetables or meat had been cooked, and placing it on the floor give each of the children a wooden spoon and unlimited liberty to help themselves.
Oliver was apprenticed in early youth to Squire Ward, of Pond Hill, where he learned the trade of reed maker for the hand looms of those days. He became skillful and it is supposed most of the reeds now preserved in the community as curiosities of a bygone day were made by him. He became an expert weaver and taught his daughters the same trade. He derived the title of "Master" from a long career as a district school teacher, having, tradition says, taught twenty-seven win- ters and three summers. He was a su- perior mathematician and taught naviga- tion to all who desired. Further, he was an accomplished land surveyor and re- ceived the appointment of county engi- neer from the General Assembly of Con- necticut. His calculations in this branch were never questioned, and in the division of estates, the laying out of the highways and the establishing of boundary lines his work was esteemed faultless. His advice was adopted in the survey for Tomlin-
son's bridge at New Haven. Excepting Dr. Trumbull and Solomon Blakeslee no better new name was found. Indeed, in some of his exercises he clearly excels both. There is extant a bit of paper the size of a dime on which he wrote in 1786 the Lord's prayer in beautifully legible letters. He was one of the subscribers to the Second Ecclesiastical Society at its formation, and was its first clerk, also col- lector and treasurer. He was made a vestryman in 1768 and again in 1772-78, inclusive, and a third term, 1786-87-88. In addition to these duties he acted as one of the "Quirestors," 1777-80. He was the owner of the first silver watch in the community. At his death there passed away an active old school gentleman, once prominent in the councils of church and town. There was no one to raise a stone to his memory and the very place of his burial is forgotten.
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