USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 4 > Part 5
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Horace Granville Scofield, younger of the sons of Edwin and Eliza (Bishop) Scofield, was born in Stamford, Connec- ticut, March 7, 1831. After public school courses and attendance at New Canaan Academy, he pursued study under a pri- vate tutor, specializing in mathematics, ever his favorite branch of knowledge. At the age of eighteen he began teaching, continuing in that profession, inventing during that period a machine to be used in the manufacture of strings for musical instruments. From 1853. when he aban- doned teaching, until 1857. he was en- gaged in the disposal of patent rights for
the manufacture of his inventions and others, and further perfecting himself for the practice of the profession he had chosen, civil engineering. During the Civil War he engaged in manufacturing and in professional work, becoming chief engineer of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, a position he held until 1878. During that time he had en- tire charge of the construction work of the road, double tracked the section from New Haven to New York, made the sur- veys, superintended the erection of all the bridges, and made hundreds of miles of surveys for branches and lines, some of which were never built. In 1868 he had accepted the position of city engineer from the city of Bridgeport, and for ten years he filled both positions. In 1878 he re- signed his position with the railroad, but for the next ten years did a great deal of work for them as consultant, also making the surveys and soundings for the bridge across the Thames at New London. But from 1878 until 1905 his chief professional work was for the city of Bridgeport, a period of great expansion and develop- ment for the city, and increasing fame for the engineer. Until 1901 he conducted his professional work under his own name, then admitted Theodore B. Ford and con- tinued under the firm name, Scofield & Ford. In 1905 he resigned his position with the city after a service of thirty- seven years which constitutes a record in the State. Since his retirement he has been engaged as a consultant only, and has several times been called as an ex- pert to testify in court cases of deep im- portance.
While his profession has ever been his chief interest. in fact his only one in a business sense, he has neglected none of the duties of citizenship. but has been keenly alive to his responsibilities. A Republican in political faith, he repre-
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sented Bridgeport in the House of the Assembly in 1867-68, served on the rail- road and other committees and performed faithful service. Yet he was never vio- lently partisan, and through thirty-seven years of changing administrations of dif- ferent party and faction, held the unvary- ing confidence of all, his engineering abil- ity far outweighing party considerations. In private life he held and holds the per- fect confidence and esteem of the city that he served so faithfully, his reputation for honorable dealing rivalling his profes- sional character.
Mr. Scofield married, April 20, 1870, Emma Adelia Hobby, daughter of Ed- ward B. and Charlotte (Horton) Hobby, of an ancient Long Island family, her father for many years a member of the firm of Hobby & Gillis, New York City, hatters. Mr. and Mrs. Scofield are the parents of four children : Edith, principal of Newfield School, Bridgeport ; Frederick, died in Denver, Colorado, aged twenty- nine years; Charlotte, married Egbert S. Marsh; Horace Bishop, a graduate of Yale.
DOWLING, John Francis, M. D., Physician.
Hartford is rich in possessing a very large number of excellent physicians and surgeons, and distinguished among this number is the well-known John F. Dow- ling, M. D., health commissioner. Upon the way in which the men to whom this great task of caring for the public health is entrusted administer their duties in office depends the welfare of the commu- nity. It is a comparatively short time since Hartford and other progressive cities of the United States were without health boards or other adequate provision for caring for the health of the people. The lessening of the prevalence of disease,
of epidemics, and the general improve- ment in the public health, is shown by in- contestable statistical evidence of the wonders accomplished by our health com- missioners. They have had to work against ignorance, superstition, lack of co- operation, indifference, and even opposi- tion, on the part of the people, until a re- cent date, and at the present time are seri- ously hampered in their work by the stolid indifference and refusal to recognize dan- ger which is common among the unedu- cated. Recognition of their achievements is not always as quickly forthcoming as it should be, and we take this opportu- nity, through Dr. John F. Dowling, who is one of them, to pay tribute to these guardians of our health and safety for the colossal improvements which they have made, and their progress against the dif- ficulties which they have had to en- counter.
Dr. John F. Dowling, son of Peter and Elizabeth (Moran) Dowling, was born July 8, 1856, in Meriden, New Haven county, Connecticut. The family is of Irish extraction, and first to immigrate to America was Dennis Dowling, who came in 1848 with his wife and ten children. He was the grandfather of our subject. He was a native of Maryborough, Queens county, Ireland, where he lived until he reached the age of sixty-seven years, when he came to America, and settled in Middletown, taking up farming as an oc- cupation. Here he died, twenty years later, in his eighty-seventh year. One of his sons, James Dowling, served under Generals Sheridan and Custer in the Civil War. He was a member of the First Con- necticut Cavalry, and was killed in the war. Another son, Dennis Dowling, served in the Navy, and died October, 1915, aged seventy-five. Peter Dowling, son of Dennis Dowling, the immigrant, and father of Dr. Dowling, was also born
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in Ireland, in 1830, and came to America in 1848, with his father. He first worked in Durham, later locating at Meriden, Connecticut, one of the first Irish resi- dents of that city. His entire life was de- voted to agricultural pursuits. He was married at Wallingford, Connecticut, to Elizabeth Moran, a native of Westmeath, Ireland, who died March 17, 1886, aged sixty-six years. Their children were : John Francis, mentioned below ; and Elizabeth M., who died June 30, 1914. Peter Dow- ling was one of the oldest members of St. Rose's Church at Meriden, and was highly respected throughout the city.
Dr. John F. Dowling spent the early part of his life on his father's farm in Meriden, meanwhile attending the public schools of the city and the Meriden Acad- emy. Upon leaving school he learned the silversmith's trade, and for several years was employed in this capacity by the Wil- cox Silver Plate Company. In 1884, how- ever, he decided to enter the medical pro- fession, and to study for this purpose went to the city of Chicago, Illinois, where he studied Latin and chemistry in a private school; he worked during the day and studied at night. Later he returned to Hartford, and began to study under Dr. J. J. Morrissey, and in 1887 entered the medical department of the University of the City of New York for the purpose of pursuing his studies further, and then changed to the Long Island Hospital Col- lege, from which he was graduated on March 13, 1890, and in April of the same year he began the practice of his profes- sion at Thompsonville, Connecticut. The success which marked his work there has been characteristic of his subsequent efforts in the various lines of medicine in which he has been interested.
On April 14. 1896. Dr. Dowling was married at Hazardville, Connecticut. to Margaret J. Leary, daughter of Michael
Leary. Mrs. Dowling is a graduate of the Normal School at New Britain, and be- fore her marriage was principal of the grammar school of Thompsonville. Dr. and Mrs. Dowling have two sons and one daughter : Leo Jerome, born February 18, 1898; Claire Elizabeth, April 25, 1901 ; John, July 28, 1910.
Dr. Dowling is a member of the City, County and State Medical societies, and American Medical Association, and a mem- ber and president of the medical staff of St. Francis' Hospital, of which he is also a di- rector. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Columbus in Meriden ; was first grand knight of Silver City Council. No. 2, which was the second council of the order in the State; also connected with the Foresters and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Dr. Dowling was the first health officer of the town of Enfield, under the law which required such officers to be physicians. He also took a great interest in educational affairs in that town, and served as a member of the school board. On December 1, 1895, he sold his practice to Dr. Reardon, and removed to Hartford, purchasing the house of Dr. Morrissey, under whom he had studied. His career since that time and his service as health commissioner in Hartford are too well known to require repetition.
GLEESON, The Rev. Joseph M.,
Rector of St. Patrick's Church, Waterbury.
To no clime nor race nor time does there belong a monopoly of faith and courage, and no country can claim to have given to the world those faithful to the ancient Christian Church to the exclusion of others. From the earliest ages of faith down to the present time of agnosticism and heterodoxy, the church has had faithful sons in every part of the world who not only defied personal dan-
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gers and the hope of rewards, but, what is even more difficult, the subtle spirit of infidelity, to cause them to abandon the religion of their fathers. But although this is unquestionably true, it is only the part of justice to say that of all nations the Irish, as a whole people, have clung most tenaciously to their faith, in the face of the greatest obstacles, and has given the greatest number of her sons to serve upon the altars of the church in propor- tion to the total number. Certainly in this newer land, where religious and civil oppression are so much less, we have a most impressive example of the religious zeal and devotion of this race in the num- ber who, forsaking the pleasures and am- bitions of the world, turn to the priest- hood to find the highest service of God on earth. It is one of the wise provisions of the Catholic church that its votaries should really make the sacrifice that has just been mentioned, and, in taking up a service that looks wholly to the spiritual for its reward, they should, as a proof of their sincerity, turn actually from ma- terial things, especially those things that claim most powerfully the attention and affection of their brothers in the world. Among the things that must be thus sur- rendered, not the least is that most natural craving for the praise of men for those deeds and achievements that we perform, for which, indeed, so many of us per- form them, and it is because he who turns to the service of God and the church must put this also behind him, that the writ- ing down of the records of notable priests must always be a matter of extreme deli- cacy, since, on the one hand, no injustice must be done to the qualities of the sub- ject, and, on the other, no violence to his proper modesty. The task is not impos- sible ; nay more, it is not even difficult, if it be kept in mind that although all per- sonal praise is appropriately barred, yet
a just recitation of the facts serves only to honor the priest of God from whom the human personality is withdrawn in so far as is possible, and so, through him, the church that he serves.
A fine example of the Irish priest as he is seen in the United States is Father Joseph M. Gleeson, of St. Patrick's Church, Waterbury, whose long term of service there has wrought such advan- tage to his parish and added to the good repute of the Catholic cause in the city. Father Gleeson was born in America, on December 28, 1845, and so was not a na- tive of Ireland at all, but of this country. His parentage, however, was Irish, both his father and mother having been born in that country. They were Thomas and Mary A. (Spellacy) Gleeson, who be- longed to and were married in Youghal. County Cork, Ireland, and came from that country to the United States in the month of May, 1842. While their son, Joseph M. Gleeson was still a child, his parents removed to Yonkers, New York, and it was in that city that the greater part of his childhood was passed and the rudimentary portion of his education ob- tained. Later his parents removed to Bridgeport, Connecticut, and there even- tually died, his father at the venerable age of ninety years, and his mother at the age of seventy years.
Father Gleeson was one of a family of fourteen children, and early in childhood began to display the strong religious feel- ing that eventually led to the priesthood. After graduating from the school in Yonkers, he attended college, and during his course finally determined to follow the call to a religious life. After pursu- ing the studies required by the church for those who would enter holy orders at Le Grande Seminaire, Montreal, Canada, where he displayed marked ability as a student, the young aspirant was ordained
Conn-4 -- 3
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December 23, 1876, by the Most Rev. Ed- ward Le Fabre, in the chapel of Le Grande Seminaire. His first mass was celebrated on December 25, 1876, at St. Mary's Church at Bridgeport, Connecticut, and he at once turned to his new duties with becoming ardor and enthusiasm. He was appointed assistant curate at St. John's Church, Stamford, Connecticut, where he remained until November 1, 1878, when he was transferred to St. James' Church at Danielsonville, Connecticut. In March, 1879, he went thence to Thompsonville, where he remained as assistant until April 1, 1883. During this time Father Gleeson visited every Catholic family in the par- ish of Thompsonville once a month for two years, and took up a monthly collec- tion to help pay off the debt of the church property in Thompsonville.
On April 1, 1883, Father Gleeson was appointed by Bishop McMahon rector of St. Anthony's Church, Litchfield, Con- necticut, to succeed Father Byrnes, who was the first resident priest in Litchfield, and he served that parish for two years and eight months. Father Gleeson re- ceived about $1,400 from Father Byrnes, which the latter had collected during his administration of between five and six months. About six months after assum- ing this charge, Father Gleeson purchased a house and two acres of land on South street, for which he paid $6,000. The house is that in which the priest now lives, and the land is that which is back of the house and church. Father Gleeson moved into this house in November, 1883, about the same time building a barn, fur- nishing the house completely from top to bottom, and laying out the walks around the church and house, and he left the place to his successor, Father Sweeney, free of debt. In Goshen, which was attended twice a month from Litch- field, Father Gleeson renovated and paint-
ed the church (which had been built by Father Leo, of Winsted), and the re- modelled edifice was dedicated by Bishop McMahon in November, 1883. In addi- tion to paying for the work which he had done in Goshen, Father Gleeson left in the treasury quite an amount of money which he handed over to Father Sweeney.
On November 28, 1885, Father Gleeson was appointed rector of St. Mary's Church, Portland, Connecticut, to suc- ceed Father Fleming. At that time there was a debt on the church property of about $1,800; this he paid off in July, 1886, after which he purchased the house and land west of the church for $3,000. He fitted up the house for convent uses, and brought the Sisters of Mercy from Middletown in May, 1887, Sister Evan- gelista being in charge. In September, 1887, the Sisters opened the first Catholic school in Portland, in the basement of St. Mary's Church. He installed a boiler house and steam heating plant, and had bluestone flagging laid around the church, convent and priests' residence. When Father Gleeson went to Portland, mass had been said in East Hampton twice a month, and during his administration it was said there every Sunday. He also agitated the question of building a new church in East Hampton, and to that end he made preparations for a fair, which was begun just before he left Portland. Father Gleeson was rector of St. Mary's Church three years and two months, and he left the parochial property $3,000 in debt.
On February 1, 1889, Father Gleeson was appointed rector of St. Patrick's Church, Thompsonville, Connecticut, by Bishop McMahon, to succeed Father Donahue. At that time the first contract on the new church was completed, that is, the walls of the basement were built up to, but not including, the water-table, the
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outlay being $13,000. Five months after- bury, December 2, 1895, and took up the ward, Father Gleeson received the plans work left unfinished by Father Duggan. When Father Gleeson came, the plaster- ing work on both the church and house was being done. He went to live in the house where Father Duggan had spent so many years, and on July 16, 1896, he moved into the new house. In the au- tumn of 1896 he built an addition to St. Patrick's Lyceum Building, erecting a hall which seats nine hundred people. St. Patrick's Church is the largest and hand- somest Catholic church in the State, and to its completion Father Gleeson bent his every energy. It was completed in the year 1903, and stands as a tribute to un- flagging zeal and perseverance and the love and religious enthusiasm of his pa- rishioners. A word of description of this building, of which the parish is so justly proud, seems appropriate here. of the superstructure from the architect. According to these plans, the cornice, tur- rets, minarets and crosses were to be of wood, but Father Gleeson so arranged that they were made of brown stone. The cornerstone of the church was laid Au- gust II, 1889, by Bishop McMahon, Bishop Tierney, who was then rector of St. Mary's Church, New Britain, preach- ing the sermon. The entire work was completed, and the chapel was blessed by Bishop McMahon, October 16, 1892, Archbishop Fabre, of Montreal, cele- brated Pontificial High Mass, and Very Rev. John A. Mulcahy, V. G., preached ; in the evening Bishop McMahon pontifi- cated at vespers, and Rev. John Quinn, of Collinsville, delivered the sermon. On Saturday, the day before the chapel was blessed, Bishop McMahon consecrated the main altar, immediately after which Father Gleeson said the first mass there- on. In the summer of 1893 the stations of the cross were put on the chapel walls, having been paid for by the Scapular So- ciety and the League of the Sacred Heart. During the same year a statue of St. Joseph was presented to the parish and a statue of St. Michael in the following year, also a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and a statue of the Sacred Heart of Mary. In 1895, after the blessing of St. Michael's Chapel, Father Gleeson or- ganized St. Joseph's Athletic Association, and turned the old church into a gymna- sium, two rooms being set apart there for school purposes.
In November, 1895, Father Gleeson was appointed by Bishop Tierney rector of St. Patrick's Church, Waterbury, Connecti- cut, to succeed the Rev. John H. Duggan, and he is assisted in the parish work by Revs. James B. Lawless and William H. Gibbons. Father Gleeson came to Water-
St. Patrick's Church fronts on Charles street, is 165 feet by 76, is 105 feet wide at the transept, and will seat 1,525 people. It is built of rock-faced Plymouth granite laid in ashlar, the facings, window-trim- mings, water-table, buttress, bargings, and the course under the eaves, being of cut granite. The facade, rising up over the valley, is architecturally and mechanically beautiful, and is given character by the great center window, which shows a rose open- ing and four arcade bays. In the facade centre, under this window, are three great doors, every one superposed by a triple pediment, the whole spacing under the pediments being in cut stone. The facade centre is flanked by buttresses that termi- nate in cut stone turrets finialed in crocket work. The great unfinished tower on the northeast corner is doubly buttressed, shows a portal, and is remarkably mas- sive; and it contrasts well with a double buttress, ending in a pinnacle, which dom- inates the other end of the facade. The rear view of the building is quite striking,
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an exceptionally lofty and commanding apse being flanked by a vestry and chapel structure on each side. The side windows of the church are mullioned, and the clere- story is finished in rock-faced copper. The basement of this church shows six- tcen feet in clear, seats 1,400 people, has a sheathed ceiling, and is practically above ground. The altar, in white, blue and gold, has three canopies, and a crocketed and paneled reredos. Two altars grace the side alcoves. The vestry and baptistry are situated conveniently. The main au- ditorium, is eighty-seven feet from floor to apex, and designed to seat 1,525 people, is faithfully Gothic in its general lines, and abounds in unexcelled stucco elabora- tion. The main arches between the pillars are beautified by tiny crockets, and are ennobled by splendidly crocketed pedi- ments. Up from the main pillars rise scalloped columns which will bear elabo- rately arabesqued brackets, every one supporting a splendidly pedimented and filagreed canopy. On every bracket stands a statue (seven feet six inches high), every one representing an apostle, except the two over the choir gallery, these show- ing respectively St. Gregory and St. Ce- celia. High up in the corners of the audi- tory, and under elaborate canopies, stand four trumpeting angels. On the clere- story walls, at the level of the canopy tops. a fine entablature, with plain cornice and foliated frieze, runs along the finials of the main arches between the church pillars, compounding with the moulding itself. Resting on this entablature is the frame work, in stucco, of the clerestory windows, the arches of the latter, which are of con- ventional stained glass, being accentuated by a neat Gothic moulding. From every one of the canopy tops five pendants go up in fan work to form the clerestory em- brasures, as well as an elaborately bossed system of ribbing on the main ceiling.
The side-aisle ceilings are vaulted and bossed, clustered pendants rising from doubly-capped columns on the side walls. Just below the upper capitals of these columns a good moulding, in leaf and flower, goes from window to window, and is carried over in Gothic arches. The capitals of the main pillars are worked out in delicate tracery surrounding angel- heads, and show Corinthian character- istics. The side altars stand in Gothic apse alcoves at the side aisle ends. The chancel is very lofty, the apse being given dignity by a system of pendants that con- verge to a magnificent boss in the crown, from which radiates a halo of stucco ray- work. It shows five facets, every one of which is filled out by a long Gothic win- dow, cluster columns rising to fan-ribbing in the separations. Just below the chan- cel windows is a good moulding, under which the wall is divided into five sec- tions; and these are minutely crocketed, pedimented, and arched. The vestries are generous. Near the sanctuary, and on each side of the main auditory, an arch- way gives entrance to a neat chapel. The church property covers about four acres.
This splendid church is not the only great improvement that the enterprise and energy of Father Gleeson has given to the parish. He has also founded an im- portant kindergarten school, and secured sisters who have had experience in that kind of work to take charge of it. A con- vent for the Sisters of St. Joseph has also been established. The organizing ability of Father Gleeson is amply apparent in these works, and equally so in the many clubs and societies that he has been in- strumental in founding during his pas- torate, and which have added so greatly to the spirit of the parish and played so important a part in the life of the young people. The Third Order of St. Francis, founded by him, is the largest society in
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the city, and numbers its members at much above one thousand. There is also a Society of the Children of Mary, includ- ing about two hundred; the St. Aloysius Club for the boys of the parish; and a chancel choir of one hundred voices.
It seems appropriate to quote in this place some comments upon Father Glee- son which appeared in the local press at the time of his celebrating the twenty- fifth anniversary of his becoming a priest, and which bear eloquent testimony to the place in the affection of his own parish- ioners and the community at large. The well-known paper, the "Waterbury Demo- crat," said in part as follows :
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