USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 7 > Part 38
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Thomas Preston, grandfather of Father Preston, was between seventy-five and eighty years of age when he came to America, accompanied by his wife. He had been engaged in farming during his active life and also was a gardener on the large estates of his native home. His son, Thomas Preston, father of our subject, was a young lad when he came with his parents to this country, and early learned the trade of shipbuilding. For many years previous to the Civil War, he was en- gaged in this occupation at Charlestown, Massachusetts, and after the struggle above referred to was located at the Brooklyn navy yard. Mr. Preston mar- ried Margaret Bannon, daughter of James and Bridget (Lilly) Bannon, natives of Ireland. They were the parents of eight children, six now living, as follows: John, Margaret, Joseph, Andrew, Mary, and Thomas J., of further mention.
Rev. Thomas James Preston attended the public schools of New Haven, and was a diligent student. Desiring to enter the priesthood, he applied himself to his stud- ies with an earnest heart in order that he might the sooner achieve his ambition. The succeeding years found him a stu- dent successively of the Niagara Univer- sity of New York, where he spent the years 1868 and 1869, and at the Holy Cross College of Worcester, Massachu-
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setts, graduating in 1870. His priestly course was completed at the Grand Sem- inary in Montreal, Canada, in 1876, and he was ordained to the priesthood Decem- ber 23. 1876, by the Most Rev. Archbishop Charles Fabre, archbishop of Montreal.
Father Preston was located for a time in Meriden, Connecticut, as a curate of the Church of St. Rose of Lima. In April, 1883, upon the death of the pastor, Rev. A. Princen, Father Preston began his ad- ministration of St. James' Parish in Dan- ielson, Connecticut. During his stay there he was instrumental in accomplish- ing much towards the remodeling and renovating of the church and the decreas- ing of the church debt. He was a prime factor in the movement resulting in the building of a parochial school at a cost of $16,000. In 1895, St. James "passed under the jurisdiction of the Missionary Fathers of Our Lady of La Salette of Hartford," and this year also marked the close of Father Preston's pastorate there. His services were transferred to the par- ish of which he is the present incumbent, St. Patrick's Parish, of Thompsonville, Connecticut. This parish was organized in 1863, the first resident pastor being the Rev. Bernard Tully. The predecessor of Father Preston was Rev. Joseph Gleason, during whose administration the corner- stone of the fine new church was laid, Au- gust 11, 1889. The parish has four thousand communicants. Father Preston was ap- pointed to St. Patrick's parish, in Thomp- sonville, December 8, 1895, which had a debt of $35,000 and a church to be com- pleted. The first work in the parish was $2,000 expended in the renovation of the convent. He also succeeded in paying $25,000 off of the debt. His chief ambi- tion has been to complete the magnificent brown stone edifice which will cost fully $200,000. In his work he has had the hearty cooperation of all the members of
the parish. St. Patrick's new church is masterfully constructed of Portland stone, laid in broken ashler, and is Romanesque in its architectural lines. It is one hun- dred and fifty feet long and is, exclusive of a beautifully rounded truncated tower that swings off from the front at the gos- pel end, sixty-five feet wide at the facade. Its great tower, on the corner of two streets, is remarkable for its massive gen- erosity, and the whole front, with its three great portals, presents, architecturally, a most noble appearance. The church is especially to be commended for its rear view, with its Roman apse, producing a strikingly solid effect. The interior of the main auditorium will seat fourteen hun- dred people ; its lines are perfect and de- light the eye of the keenest critic. Within are three marble altars, one of which was the gift of Mr. Thomas Preston, Sr., of New Haven, in memory of his wife, Mrs. Margaret (Bannon) Preston. The main altar is a marvel of workmanship. The window over the main altar of the cruci- fixion was the gift of the pastor, Rev. Thomas J. Preston. The window on epistle side, the Resurrection, was given by the Rev. Terence J. Dunn, in memory of his father and mother, John and Eliza- beth Rossiter Dunn.
For almost a quarter of a century Father Preston has labored tirelessly for the good of his flock. Through his good works and helpful ministering, he has made many loyal and lasting friends, irre- spective of creed or belief. He is beloved by all, especially by the little children, who revere him for his kindly word and helping hand. Charities are continually flowing out for the benefit of the unfort- unate and the needy, and there is an in- spiration and diffusing joy about him that is as refreshing to the human heart as water to the parched and thirsty earth. The work of the church and attendant du-
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ties have been such that Father Preston has had little time for outside matters. Hle is progressive and interested in the welfare of Enfield, but is not bound by any particular views in politics, being an Independent. Ilis fraternal activities have been with the organizations connected with his labors and he has taken an active part in the Knights of Columbus order.
WALSH, Joseph William, Physician.
The late Dr. Joseph W. Walsh was among the most esteemed residents of Portland, Connecticut, where he was very successfully engaged in the practice of niedicine at the time of his untimely death, October 20, 1918. During the great influenza epidemic of that autumn, he ex- hausted himself so greatly in trying to care for the sufferers that he overtaxed his strength and became the victim of that monster from which he had rescued so many others. A native of Middletown, Connecticut, born August 29, 1885, Dr. Walsh was a son of John J. Walsh, who was a native of Portland, where for many years he conducted a grocery business and is now retired. His grandfather, Jo- seph Walsh, was a native of Ireland, who came to this country and was among the enterprising pioneers of California in 1849. The son, John J. Walsh, married Annie Mcauliffe, a native of Portland, as were her parents.
Dr. Joseph W. Walsh attended the grammar schools and Middletown High School, from which he was graduated in 1901. Having decided to engage in the healing art, he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, Maryland, from which he was graduated M. D. in 1907. Follow- ing his graduation, for two years he was an interne in a hospital, where in time he
became resident physician. lle began in- dependent practice in Danbury, Connec- ticut, where he continued four years, and in 1912 removed to Portland, where he engaged in the general practice of medi- cine and surgery, with great success. Dr. Walsh gave little attention to matters outside of his profession, and through his earnest and faithful labors was of great use to the community. He was interested in and an examiner for various fraternal organizations, including the Junior Order of American Mechanics, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Loyal Order of Moose, Fraternal Order of Eagles and Improved Order of Red Men. He was a member of the Portland Social Club, and one of the faithful adherents of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church of Portland. A Republican in politics, he was independ- ent in political matters and did not seek any share in their promulgation.
Dr. Walsh was married in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1906, to Mary Catherine O'Keefe. born October 17, 1886, in Mid- dletown, daughter of J. W. and Martha (McDonald) O'Keefe, of Middletown and Portland, respectively. Dr. and Mrs. Walsh were the parents of two children : Geraldine Grace, born September 18, 1907; and Joseph William, born January 24, 1910.
HOLT, Thomas,
Public Official.
A highly esteemed citizen and one of the most efficient and progressive dairy- men of the State, Thomas Holt, State Dairy and Food Commissioner, is giving to the Commonwealth the benefit of his observation and experience. He is a na- tive of England, born January 21. 1863, in Littleboro, Lancashire, son of John and Alice (Fletcher) Holt, of that place.
Before attaining his majority, Thomas
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Holt came to the United States and spent four years on the Western Plains engaged in grain raising, thence he removed to Alabama and conducted a dairy farm at Fort Payne. Subsequently he spent some time in Central New York, and in 1895, after having been a resident of the United States for thirteen years, he settled at Southington, Connecticut, where he built up a very extensive dairy business. He continued to make his home in that town until May 20, 1918, when he removed to Newington and located on a farm which he had just purchased in that town. He still retains his large dairy farm in the northwestern part of Southington, which is under the management of his eldest son. About seventy cows are maintained on the two farms, one-half of them pure bred Jerseys, and Mr. Holt usually main- tains about the same number of young stock, thus keeping his dairy up to stand- ard. For many years he delivered milk to customers in Bristol, Connecticut, where the business is still conducted by his son-in-law, James C. Gilbert. Thus it is apparent that Mr. Holt is a practical farmer. He is thoroughly familiar with all the details of his business, and is still able to milk eighteen cows at an early hour in the morning. Possessed of excel- lent business qualities, he has achieved success and is recognized throughout the State as a leader in the dairy interests, and it was very natural that Governor Holcombe, his neighbor in Southington, should select him, on January 21, 1918, to fill the place made vacant by the death, January 13, 1918, of Frank Stadtmueller, as head of the State Dairy and Food De- partment. This is still more complimen- tary to Mr. Holt, because he is not of the same political association as is Governor Holcombe. On May 1, 1918, at the ex- piration of the term, he was reappointed for the full term of four years. He early achieved recognition among his contem-
poraries, and is now president of the Farmers' Cooperative Purchasing Asso- ciation of Bristol, and of the Connecticut Milk Producers' Association; director of the Connecticut Dairymen's Association and also holds this office in the Hartford County League and Farm Bureau. He makes an excellent director of this asso- ciation by virtue of his thorough knowl- edge of dairying, and is regarded by his associates as an expert and the best in- formed farmer in the State.
While a resident of the town of South- ington Mr. Holt took more than an active interest in civic affairs. He is a Democrat in politics, and held the office of selectman of Southington for five consecutive years, and in all seven years, during which time he rendered valuable service. He is a member of Union Grange of Southington, of which he has been master. Of broad- minded, sympathetic nature and generous impulses, Mr. Holt very naturally became allied with several fraternities. He was raised in Free Masonry at Fort Payne, Alabama, and within a very short time after his locating in Southington, he be- came affiliated with Friendship Lodge, No. 33, Ancient Free and Accepted Ma- sons, of that town. He is also a member of Harmony Lodge, No. 35, Order of the Eastern Star, in which he is now serving his fourth term as worthy patron. He is a member of Steven Terry Lodge, No. 59, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Bristol, and of the Southington Lodge, Knights of Pythias.
Mr. Holt married, October 26, 1884, at Bristol, Dakota, Mary Ellen Hurst, daughter of James and Ellen Hurst, of Littleboro, England, and they are the par- ents of three children : Mary Alice, who became the wife of James C. Gilbert, of Bristol; John William, born in 1895, at Worcester, New York, now a resident of Southington ; George, born in Southing- ton, now residing in Newington.
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HOLLEY, Alexander Hamilton,
Manufacturer, Governor.
Governor Alexander Hamilton Holley was descended from John Holley, a native of England, who settled at Stamford, Connecticut, about 1644. The line was respectably but not notably continued to Luther Holley, a man of great vigor of mind, and of exceptional business ability, qualities which were transmitted to his six sons, all of whom attained distinction, especially Myron Holley, the reformer. Leaving the farm, Luther Holley removed to Salisbury, where he established an iron manufacturing business, and in which he was succeeded by his son, John Milton Holley, in association with John C. Coff- ing. John M. Holley married Sally Por- ter, of a fine family, and they were the parents of Governor Alexander H. Holley.
Governor Holley was born August 12, 1804, at Salisbury, Connecticut, and died at Lakeville, same State, October 2, 1887. After attending schools in Sheffield, Mas- sachusetts, and Ellsworth, Connecticut, he entered Yale College, but feeble health forbade his continuance there, and at the age of sixteen he took a clerkship in his father's counting room. He had not much passed his majority when his father died, greatly increasing his labor and responsi- bilities, and when there were premoni- tions of the great financial panic which came in the next year. Notwithstanding these cares, and while devoting himself industriously to his business concerns, he found time to give much attention to po- litical matters, and was a frequent con- tributor to the press on political and so- ciological topics. In 1844 he began the manufacture of pocket cutlery, employing workmen from the noted factories in Sheffield, England. This business he con- tinued with Nathan W. Merwin as a part- ner until 1854, when it was incorporated
as the Holley Manufacturing Company, with Mr. Holley as president, which posi- tion he held until his death. It is to be said that to him America owes the be- ginning of its prestige in his line of metal goods. He was also active along other lines. He aided in promoting and estab- lishing the Harlem and the Housatonic railroads, those also in Dutchess and Co- lumbia counties, New York, and especially the Connecticut Western, in which he was a member of the directorate and the ex- ecutive committee. He was also active in the organization and management of banks in Salisbury, Boston, and else- where. His benevolent disposition found evidence in the fostering care he gave to the School for Imbeciles, at Lakeville, pri- vately established ; and his last public ad- dress, delivered only a few months before his death, was made at the dedication of its new building.
A Whig in politics, in 1844 he was a delegate in the convention which nom- inated Henry Clay for the presidency. In I854, without his knowledge, he was nom- inated Lieutenant-Governor, and was elected, his election as Governor follow- ing in 1857. In February, 1858, as Gov- ernor, he attended the unveiling of Craw- ford statue of Washington, at Richmond, Virginia, and at a public banquet given on that occasion he delivered an address in which he deprecated any attempt at dis- solution of the Union. In 1860, he was a delegate in the convention which nom- inated Abraham Lincoln for the presi- dency, and throughout the Civil War, in- capacitated through age for hard service, he did all in his power to inspire in others a spirit of aggressive patriotism. In 1866, Governor Buckingham offered him a State commissionership to the World's Fair in Paris, but his delicate health compelled his declination. His last public appear-
Cono-7-18
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ance was at the dedication of the soldiers' and sailors' monument at New Haven.
Governor Holley abounded in public spirit, was exceedingly fond of mechani- cal pursuits, and many of his city's houses and shops were erected under his superin- tendence. He was an intense lover of home and homelike surroundings, and aided industriously in promoting the beauty of the place. He was liberal in his benevo- lences, and was an earnest supporter of the anti-slavery and temperance move- ments.
His first wife, Jane M. Holley, daugh- ter of Hon. Erastus and Abigail (Starr) Lyman, bore him one son, Alexander Ly- man Holley, who became distinguished as a civil engineer. Governor Holley mar- ried (second) Marcia Coffing, daughter of Hon. John C. and Maria (Birch) Coffing, who bore him five sons and a daughter. He married (third) Sarah Coit, daughter of Hon. Thomas Day, who survived him twelve years, and by whom he had no issue.
GOODWIN, James Junius, Man of Large Affairs.
There are many notable names identi- fied with the financial and industrial de- velopment of New England during the past half century, and they deserve the whole-hearted gratitude and praise of those who to-day are reaping the fruits of their labors. Among these names is that of Goodwin, the members of this family having been closely associated in the pro- jection of those vast plans, the consum- mation of which has influenced the entire business world. Among them was the late James Junius Goodwin, whose death on June 23, 1915, left a gap in the life of two communities, New York, and Hart- ford, Connecticut, which it will be diffi- cult to fill. Although his active career in
business brought him into more intimate intercourse with the financial operations of New York than with those of Hartford, the former city as the metropolis of the western hemisphere being a sort of clear- ing house for the world-wide financial transactions with which he had to do, yet in most of the aspects of his life it was rather with the smaller city that Mr. Goodwin may be said to have been identi- fied. His forebears were for many gener- ations among the prominent men of Hart- ford, who set and maintained high stand- ards of probity and liberality for the busi- ness methods of the city ; he was himself born there, and until his death he never gave up his Hartford home, spending, in- deed, the greater part of each year in its delightful retirement.
The founder of the family in this coun- try was Ozias Goodwin, and it seems probable that he was one of the immi- grants who arrived in Boston on Septem- ber 12, 1632, on the ship "Lion" from England. It must have been no great while thereafter that he removed from Boston to the little colony founded by Thomas Hooker on the banks of the Con- necticut river, the germ of the modern Hartford; for as early as 1662 Nathaniel Goodwin, his son, was admitted as a free- man into that community by the General Court of Connecticut. From that time through all the stirring chapters of its his- tory, the Goodwins have been active in the affairs of Hartford, taking part in its civic and military duties, and proving themselves in every way to be public- spirited citizens.
In the earlier part of the nineteenth century the family was represented in Hartford by the dignified figure of Major James Goodwin, the father of James Jun- ius Goodwin, himself a prominent and successful man, who had passed his child- hood in his father's home, long the stop-
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ping place of the stages for Albany and other western points and known as Good- win's Tavern. It was with him that the connection with the Morgan family be- gan, when as a youth he entered Joseph Morgan's office. This Joseph Morgan was the father of Junius Spencer Morgan, the well known London banker, and one of the founders of the great financial inter- ests which later became so closely identi- fied with his son's gigantic career. After a time James Goodwin married a daugh- ter of Joseph Morgan, and from his moth- er's brother. James Junius Goodwin, was given the name of Junius. James Good- win became associated in a prominent way with many of the largest and most important business institutions in Hart- ford, among which should be mentioned the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, of which he was president, as well as institutions of another character, such as the Hartford Hospital, and in the old military organization known as the Governor's Horse Guard, of which he was major of the first company.
James Junius Goodwin, son of Major James and Lucy (Morgan) Goodwin, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, September 16, 1835, and there passed his childhood and youth. His education was for a time in the excellent private schools of the city, and later in the Hartford High School, from which he was graduated with the class of 1851. For a few years following he was employed in a number of clerical positions, and in 1857 he went abroad for eighteen months of study and travel. In the early part of the year 1859. he returned to the United States and ac- cepted a position in the firm of William A. Sale & Company, of New York, engaged in the Chinese and East India trade. He remained with them about two years, and then became the partner of his cousin, the late J. Pierpont Morgan, who
had just been given the American agency of the great London banking house of George Peabody & Company, of which his father was a member. The career of the Morgan firm is too widely known to need rehearsing here, and in fact Mr. Goodwin remained a partner for only ten years, though the interests with which he was connected were always allied to Mr. Morgan's. In 1871 the firm was recon- structed under the name of Drexel, Mor- gan & Company, Mr. Goodwin withdraw- ing from it, and indeed from all active business. He was one of those who in- herited through his father a large portion of his ancestors' Hartford property which, with the growth of the city, had become a most valuable possession, and the care of which required much watchful attention. But though he was not now engaged in active business, he did not sever his con- nection entirely with the financial world in which he had played so important a part. On the contrary, his interests were very large and varied, and without doubt it is due in very large measure to his skill and wisdom that the institutions with which he was connected had great pros- perity. Among these should be mentioned the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, the Hartford Fire Insurance Company, the Collins Company, Connec- ticut Trust and Safe Deposit Company. the Holyoke Water Power Company, and the Erie & Susquehanna Railroad.
Important as was his position in the financial world, and powerful as was his influence from this source, it is not for this that Mr. Goodwin was best known and is best remembered in the city of his birth; for though his business connec- tions were numerous, he was still more active in other departments of the city's life. His public spirit knew no bounds and there were few movements under- taken for the general welfare in which he
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was not a conspicuous participant, aiding with generous pecuniary gifts and also with his time and personal effort. He was proud of the beautiful old city of which his forefathers had been residents for so many generations, and it was a pleasure for him to be active and be known as active in its affairs. He was prominent in the general social life of the community, and was a member of many clubs and or- ganizations, such as the Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth branch of the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Rev- olution, the Connecticut Historical So- city, of which he was vice-president, the General Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut, and the Hartford Club. It is appropriate to add here that he was a member of many important New York clubs, such as the Union, City, Cen- tury, Metropolitan, and the Church. He was also a trustee of Trinity College, which in 1910 conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws. In the matter of reli- gion, Mr. Goodwin was a communicant of the Episcopal church, as were his ances- tors before him. He was a warden of Cal- vary Church in New York for twenty-five years, and when in Hartford the venerable Christ Church was the scene of his devo- tions, and few of its members were more devoted or more valued than he. He held the office of warden for many years, and the parish is certainly much the stronger for his having served it. It was character- istic of him that he was at great pains to preserve its early traditions and records, and it was due to his generosity, in bear- ing the expense of publication, that the extremely valuable and handsome volume of more than seven hundred and fifty pages in which the history of the parish is traced in the form of annals down to the year 1895, by Dr. Gurdon W. Russell, was printed and distributed. Another act of Mr. Goodwin, which illustrated his
great generosity to the interests of his church, was the gift of the handsome house at No. 98 Woodland street, Hart- ford, for the residence of the Bishop of Connecticut.
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