USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 5 > Part 44
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Sarah Savelle, baptized October 16, 1717. Samuel Palmes, second son of Bryan and Sarah Palmes, was born May 6, 1755, in New London; was a saddler and har- nessmaker, residing in East Haddam. He married, September 2, 1781, Mary Foster, born in 1756, in Sag Harbor, New York, died December 3, 1824. Their eld- est child was Guy Palmes, born April 16, 1782, in East Haddam, a very successful tanner throughout his active life, and died August 3, 1878. He married, Sep- tember 22, 1812, Silence Hungerford, born May 5, 1791, died February 3, 1866, daughter of Elijah and Rhoda (Harvey) Hungerford. Their eldest child, Caro- line Williams Palmes, born July 3, 1814, became the wife of John Gardner Way, as previously noted.
Henry Russell Way, eldest child of John Gardner and Caroline Williams (Palmes) Way, was born November 12, 1835, in East Haddam, and died Novem- ber 25, 1916, at his home in Hartford. His career was characterized by untiring industry, and his success in life was the result of his own efforts, aided by his sound judgment and thoroughly upright character. He was educated in the pub- lic schools of East Haddam. In boy- hood he was apprenticed to a joiner and became thorough master of the builder's trade. He erected two houses in East Haddam, and made his home in that town for many years; in 1884 he purchased a house on Sherman street, Hartford, which he thoroughly remodeled. After arriving at manhood's estate he purchased a farm on Town street, East Haddam, and began the cultivation of tobacco, and afterward purchased land in East Haddam. on which he carried on this industry. In time he began the purchase of tobacco from other growers, and became an exten- sive packer of toabcco. The growth of his business led him to remove to Hart-
ford, where in 1877 he established his business on State street, as a dealer in tobacco, and continued very successful until he sold out his warehouse in 1910, a period of over forty years. At this time he retired from active management, though still retaining an interest. When a young man, Mr. Way was led by an inherent spirit of enterprise to go West and for a short time he lived in Rock- ford, Iowa, where he joined the Congre- gational church. He was recalled to his native town to manage the estate of his great-aunt, Polly Palmes, and to care for her in her old age. The last years of his mother were also made happy and com- fortable by his filial care. Mr. Way was always prompt in carrying out every obli- gation, and was especially known for his promptness in business affairs and in meeting his bills. Of a retiring nature, he did not seek any part in the conduct of public affairs, but was actuated by settled principles and usually sustained the Republican party in political matters. For some years previous to and after his retirement from business, his leisure was employed in preparing a genealogy of his mother's family, on which he ex- pended several thousand dollars, besides his own labor. The result is a most beau- tifully written copy of the history of this family, produced entirely by his own pen and closely resembling copperplate manu- script in its evenness and neatness, a model of good English.
Mr. Way married, April 24, 1862, Jane Foster, who was born July 8, 1841, in Moodus, Connecticut, daughter of John and Marilla (Chalker) Foster, who sur- vives him and now resides in Hartford. They were the parents of two sons: Clar- ence Henry, born March 12, 1863, and Ernest Newton, of further mention.
Ernest Newton Way, son of Henry Russell and Jane (Foster) Way, was born
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April 30, 1865, in East Haddam, and lived upon the paternal farm in that town until twelve years of age. There he attended the public schools and afterward those of Hartford, being a student in the North- east and Arsenal schools of that city. At sixteen years of age, he turned his atten- tion to business and, though he turned his back upon school books, he has continued by reading and observation to inform himself in the affairs of the world. After leaving school, he was employed as a bookkeeper by George Hibbard & Com- pany, carmen of Hartford, and when his time was not occupied upon the books he was wont to assist in other labors of the establishment. Later he entered the serv- ice of the local Railway Company, where he continued three years as billing clerk, and after that became associated with his father in the tobacco business, which he has continued to the present time, still retaining the name of H. R. Way & Com- pany. In 1910 he purchased a warehouse in Wethersfield, where he has continued a successful business as a packer of tobacco. For some years Mr. Way lived on Windsor avenue, Hartford, and after the death of his father he removed his family to the paternal residence on Sher- man street. He is essentially a business man and gives little attention to other affairs. He entertains liberal views on religious subjects, and is independent of partisan consideration in political mat- ters, though his sympathies are largely with the principles and policies of the Re- publican party.
Mr. Way married, April 24, 1901, Sarah Ella Lane, born December 13, 1874, in Hartford, daughter of Frank Adolphus and Sarah Jane (Mather) Lane. The former was a well-known real estate dealer and owner of extensive tobacco plantations at Fort Myers, Florida. He was also the owner of orange and grape-
fruit plantations, and the proprietor of a hotel on Captiva Island in the Gulf of Mexico. He died at Fort Myers, Novem- ber 25, 1917. Mr. and Mrs. Way are the parents of three children : Henry Mather Lane, born March 3, 1902; Marion Sarah, August 24, 1904; Ernest Newton, Feb- ruary 20, 1908.
PIERSON, Andrew Nels,
Florist, Gardener.
Throughout the State of Connecticut and the regions beyond, the name of A. N. Pierson is well-known among those who deal in flowers, or who are interested in horticulture and gardening. For many years the extensive business conducted by Mr. Pierson at Cromwell, Connecticut, has been operated under the name of A. N. Pierson, Incorporated.
Mr. Pierson is a native of Sweden, born September 1, 1850, in Scona, a son of Nels and Hannah Pierson. In 1869 Nels Pier- son came with his family to America, arriving in New York City. Very shortly after his arrival he went to work for Johnson & Company at Plainville, Con- necticut, as a cabinetmaker, and he con- tinued there over thirty years. In early life in his native land he had been a school teacher.
Andrew N. Pierson came to America with his father, and within a short time . after his arrival went to work for a farmer named Munn, at Plainville, where he continued two years. In 1871 he went to Cromwell, where he became private gardener for Mr. Barbour. The next year he purchased a tract of about eight acres of land which had been used as a cow pasture. The enterprise and faith of Mr. Pierson is shown in this transaction by the hard terms under which he acted. The money for this purchase was bor- rowed at seven per cent. interest with
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the stipulation that if he did not succeed in his undertaking at the end of three years, he would relinquish all claims to the property. He immediately plowed up the land and began the growing of vege- tables for the market, and was wont often to carry his product to the city in a bas- ket. By his industry and careful hus- bandry his land was made highly produc- tive and he was successful. In a short time he began the cultivation of flower- ing plants, and sold cut flowers in Hart- ford, also from a basket, being the first man in Hartford to engage in their sale in this manner. Working early and late. he continued to make a success and soon branched out in growing shrubs, fruit trees, and vines. About 1885 he aban- doned the cultivation of vegetables and plants, and since then has given his attention almost exclusively to the pro- duction of flowers and flowering plants. In this he has attained remarkable suc- cess. By 1888 he had some eighteen hot- houses and was doing a successful busi- ness. At this time he was taken ill and passed through a severe attack of pneu- monia. As soon as convalescent, he went to Florida to recover his health and strength, and during his absence the great blizzard of March, 1888, crushed in every one of his hothouses and all of his plants were totally destroyed, leav- ing him nothing but ruins. In his condi- tion of ill health, this seemed very dis- couraging, but he still had his reputation as an industrious and straightforward business man, and with the assistance of friends he was enabled to rebuild his plant and immediately proceeded to spe- cialize in the growth of roses. He en- gaged Robert Simpson, one of the lead- ing experts in this line in the country, whose salary in the first year or two exceeded the gross profits of the business. In 1894 Mr. Simpson resigned his con-
nection with the establishment and en- gaged in business in New Jersey as a grower of roses on his own account. In 1908 Mr. Pierson's business was incor- porated, as previously noted, and the wife and son of the proprietor became part- ners in the incorporation. The rapid growth of the establishment is indicated by the fact that in 1901 the business trans- acted amounted to over $100,000, in 1908 to $203,000, and in 1917 to $600,000. Many of the rose plants in the United States are grown here, and the company is a large importer of flowering bulbs and of miscellaneous stock, from which shipments are made daily to all parts of the world. In 1914 the establishment entered into the retail field, having pre- viously done a wholesale business exclu- sively. In both branches there is now an immense output, and many florists throughout the country are supplied from the Cromwell Gardens, the local name of the establishment.
The plant now covers five hundred acres of land, of which twenty-two acres are under glass, and three hundred and fifty people are employed throughout the year. This force is of course greatly augmented during the growing outdoor season. . The pay roll for the year 1916 amounted to 258,000. The plant includes sixty extensive greenhouses and employs ten auto trucks, by which deliveries are made as far away as Philadelphia. All the plowing is done by auto tractors and the moving of the soil is done by steam shovels. The greenhouses are the largest in New England, and the operation of the plant consumes annually 15,000 tons of bitu- minous coal. The yearly shipment in- cludes $8,000,000 cut roses, 7,000,000 young rose plants, 150,000 garden roses, a half million young carnation plants, one and a quarter million cut carnations, 3,000,- 000 lilies-of-the-valley, 1,000,000 chrysan-
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themum plants, 200,000 herbaceous plants, a young man of remarkable ability, very and 500,000 bedding plants.
Mr. Pierson is one of the most demo- cratic of men, and his great success is the result of perseverance, enterprise, indus- try and good business management. He knows by experience what is meant by hard labor, and the great advancement in business has not spoiled his disposition. He is the same cheerful, affable man who began life in Cromwell as a worker with his hands. While he is too busy to take any personal share in the conduct of public affairs, he maintains an intelli- gent interest in the progress of his adopted country and the prosperity of his home town and State. Politically he acts with the Republican party.
In 1872 Mr. Pierson was married to Margaret Allison, of Cromwell, daughter of William P. and Emily (Miller) Alli- son, a descendant of William Allison, a native of County Tyrone, Ireland, born near Omagh, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Soon after the Revolution he removed to the United States and settled in Hartford, Connecticut, where he later removed to the Holland Patent in Western New York, where he engaged in agriculture until his death, about 1830. His youngest child, Samuel Allison, born about 1786, served his time as a soapmaker with a manufacturer named Nichols in Hart- ford. In 1807 he settled in Middletown, where he engaged in the manufacture of soap and candles, attaining great success and continuing until his death in 1828. His eldest child, William P. Allison, born March 15, 1806, in Hartford, became a manufacturer of hardware specialties in Cromwell, Connecticut, where he died in 1874. He married Emily Miller, and they were the parents of Margaret Allison, wife of Andrew N. Pierson.
Mr. and Mrs. Pierson were the par- ents of the following children: I. Frank Allison, born 1877, died in 1905. He was
popular and highly esteemed. He was the youngest member ever elected to the Connecticut State Legislature, and also the youngest thirty-second degree Ma- son. He married Ruth Coe, of Cromwell, daughter of Orian Ward Coe, and grand- daughter of Osborn Coe, of Cromwell, and Pasadena, California. They were the parents of Orian Ward Pierson. 2. Wallace Rogers, born May 5, 1880, was educated in the public schools, including the High School, and graduated from the Academy at East Greenwich, Rhode Island, in 1898. He entered the Massa- chusetts Agricultural College at Amherst, from which he was graduated in 1901. After leaving college he became superin- tendent of the carnation department of the Pierson Gardens, and since the incor- poration of the company has been its sec- retary and assistant treasurer. He is an attendant of the Congregational church in Cromwell. He was elected president of the American Rose Society, serving from 1913 to 1915. He married, June 27, 1905, Olive Dailey, of Decatur, Indiana, and Westport, Connecticut. They are the parents of two children: Andrew Al- lison, born June 15, 1911, and Wallace Rogers, Jr., born February 18, 1917. 3. Emily Miller, born June 25, 1881, gradu- ated at the Middletown High School, was two years a student at Wesleyan Univer- sity, two years at Nancy, France, and graduated from Vassar College. For two years she taught English in the New Bri- tain High School. For four years she was State organizer of Connecticut for the Woman's Political Equality League. Columbia College subsequently conferred on her the degree of Master of Arts, and she is now pursuing a special course in the chemistry of food stuffs at that insti- tution. 4. Robert Dudley, born 1884, died in 1885.
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AUSTIN, John Turnell,
President of Austin Organ Company.
History proves that the men who have been successful in any line of endeavor have been those whose success has been the result of their own exertions-the men of the initiative power, and courage to carry their convictions above and beyond the commonplace and accepted. No man can be called a success who, blindly and contentedly, and without striking after better things, follows the customs and dictates of the generation, epoch, or school of thought which pre- ceded his own, or in which he lives. Stag- nation of effort and retrogression, the arch enemies of civilization, follow as surely as night the day the idle, satisfied acceptance of his surrounding by man. Leading every cause of Rome's downfall was her satisfaction in her greatness, the conviction that there were no greater heights to which to strive. And Rome, not occupied with the stern pursuit of honor and fame, drifted calmly into the pursuits which proved her undoing. The history of Rome is that of every other nation which has suffered her fate, from the beginning of the world up to the present day, and the history of every indi- vidual. The possession of an ideal, inde- fatigable energy, ambition, genius, these are the qualities which make the leaders of the industries and professions. Genius is impotent without these to accom- pany it.
John Turnell Austin, who is the founder and executive head of one of Hartford's important industries, owes his success to no fortuitous circumstances. His enviable position in the business world and his success is the result of his application and devotion of his genius for his work in the field of effort which he chose for his career. Mr. Austin was
born in Poddington, England, on May 16, 1869, the son of Jonathan and Charlotte (Turnell) Austin. The Austin family were residents of Poddington for several generations. His paternal grandfather, John Austin, was a blacksmith and a farmer, as was also his great-grandfather. A taste for things mechanical has always marked the Austin family. Jonathan Aus- tin was a farmer by vocation, but was interested in the building of pipe organs. This vocation he carried to practical ends, building six organs for neighboring churches. He died in 1913, at the age of eighty-six years. His wife was the daughter of Thomas Battams Turnell.
Mr. Austin was educated in the private schools of the Episcopal Church of St. Michael's and All Angel's in London, where he completed his education at the age of fifteen, and from that time until he reached twenty years of age he lived on his father's farm. The entire family were music lovers, and he was reared in this atmosphere at home and at school, as vocal music formed an important part of the curriculum and daily exercises of the school which he attended. Watching his father build pipe organs imbued young Austin with a desire to do likewise, and he was only fourteen years of age when he began to build his first organ, doing the whole laborious task by hand, using only rough lumber which he had to dress and work himself to meet the various re- quirements. Every book on the subject of pipe organs to which he could gain access he eagerly devoured, beginning with his father's collection.
In 1889, Mr. Austin came to America, to seek his fortune, and going to Detroit. Michigan, entered the employ of the Far- rand Votey Organ Company. The knowl- edge and practice which he had gained in an amateur way stood him in good stead when he came actually to employ
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it, and this, with his natural aptitude for his work, was instrumental in securing for him the position of foreman in two months. During all the years that he had devoted to organ building, Mr. Aus- tin has devoted a large portion of his spare time to the study of the scientific and physical principles underlying the construction of the instruments, and as a result this study, which was the moving factor in his rise out of the class of the mechanical workman, has made him an inventor of note in his line of work. Up to the present time he has taken out nearly forty patents covering almost every phase of pipe organ construction. In the summer of 1893, he severed his connection with the first firm which had employed him in America. and became associated with the Clough & Warren Company, which built organs under Mr. Austin's patents. This association con- tinued until the fall of 1898, when Mr. Austin came to Hartford, and organized the Austin Organ Company, which was incorporated in 1899. He became gen- eral manager of the corporation, continu- ing in that capacity until about ten years ago, when the repsonsibilities of presi- dent were added to those of general manager of the company.
The business, which has grown to such importance in Hartford, was started on a small scale with three men in the old Bliss plant, which was rented with the understanding that the rent was to apply on the purchase price. As the business has grown, additions have been made, until now the plant occupies about fifty- four thousand square feet of floor space. It is built entirely of brick, and is equipped with every modern device for increasing efficiency and conserving the health, com- fort and safety of employees. The com- pany employs about one hundred and sixty people, and in 1915 the volume of
business went over the five hundred thou- sand dollar mark. The Austin Organ Company is quite generally recognized as the leading firm of organ builders in this country. They built and erected the organs used in the Panama Exposition at San Francisco, and also at the fair in San Diego. They have installed about a dozen organs in Hartford. The business of the firm extends all over the country. They installed the organ in the Taber- nacle in Salt Lake City; the City Hall at Portland, Maine; the Auditorium at Atlanta, Georgia; the Auditorium in Los Angeles; Medinah Temple in Chicago; All Saint's Cathedral in Albany, New York; and many other organs in places too numerous to mention. In fact, there is scarcely a large centre of population in this country in which Austin organs have not been placed. A recent and most notable example is the organ built by the Austin Organ Company for the auditor- ium of the new Public Ledger building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which is spoken of in the "Chicago Diapason" as the largest organ ever constructed, and most unique in various of its appoint- ments. The instrument is in fact an assemblage of three complete large organs, all played from one four-manuel console on the stage. The main organ, in rear of the stage, has four manuals and pedal, controlling 161 speaking stops; the dome organ and gallery organ, each has the same number of manuals with pedal, the former controlling 62 and the latter 60 speaking stops, a total of 283 speaking stops. In addition is a special string organ, which can be played either separately, or in combination with either or all of the other organs. The mechani- cal accessories are a marvel of ingenuity and constructional skill, and "The Dia- pason" says that it may be safely affirmed that never before has an equal number of
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stops, pistons and pedals been placed at the command of a single performer; and it as warmly commends the exceeding richness and beauty of the voicing of the instrument-the quality of tone, through- out.
Mr. Austin was awarded the Edward Longstreth medal of merit by the com- mittee on science and arts of the Frank- lin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania. The medal was awarded for Mr. Austin's invention of the "Universal Wind Chest" and its practical application in organ building. The award was made after a careful examination of scientific and artis- tic merits set forth in the course of a de- tailed analysis and report covering the entire field of organ building.
Mr. Austin is as prominent in the club life of the city as he is in its business field. He is a member and a director of the Rotary Club of Hartford, and a mem- ber of the Hartford Club, the City Club, and the Gold Club. His love for music has led him to ally himself with the mu- sical interests of Hartford and New York. He is a member of the Musicians Club of the last named city. Mr. Austin married Jane, daughter of George E. Rogers, of Milan, Ohio.
His career has been one of which Mr. Austin may duly be proud, a success in every sense of the word, and it is another piece of evidence of the fact that America is the land of opportunity for the man with eyes to see and the will to do.
CLARK, Charles Hallett,
Business Man.
Mr. Clark's ancestry was early estab- lished in England, and handed down to him those qualities of persistence and ready perception which enabled him to excell in the management of business affairs. He was born February 25, 1836,
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and died in Wethersfield, Connecticut, September 27, 1905.
His American ancestor, Hugh Clark, settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, where he was made a freeman, May 30, 1660, and soon afterward moved to Rox- bury, where he died July 20, 1693. In 1666 he was a member of the artillery company. His wife, Elizabeth, died in 1692. Undoubtedly they came from Eng- land, where the name Clark was derived from an occupation. This was one of the varied English pronunciations of the word clerk, which was applied in early days to almost anyone of literary quali- fications.
John Clark, eldest son of Hugh and Elizabeth Clark, was born in October, 1641, in Watertown, lived in Roxbury and New Cambridge (now Newtown), where he received sixty-seven acres by gift from his father in 1681. He married, in 1684. Elizabeth Norman, and their eld- est child was John Clark, who lived in Roxbury, and married, in 1697, Ann Pierce, of Dorchester. Their eldest son, John Clark, born September 22, 1700, set- tled, about 1755, in Waltham, Massachu- setts, where he died May 31, 1773. He married, November 7, 1734, in Water- town, Hannah Cutting, born May 6, 1716, daughter of John and Sarah (Livermore) Cutting.
Their eldest son, John Clark, born Jan- uary 12, 1738, was deacon of the church, selectman and assessor of Waltham, and was dismissed from the Newtown church to the Waltham church, February 28, 1779. He married, in 1762, Alice Green- wood, born March 12, 1739, in Newtown, died October 28, 1792, daughter of Josiah and Phebe (Stearns) Greenwood.
Their eldest son, John Clark, was born November 26, 1766, was captain of the military company of Waltham. He mar-
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