USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 7 > Part 42
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WILSON, Frank Milton,
State Legislator, Public Worker.
The late Frank Milton Wilson, during the greater part of his active business life, was one of the leading citizens of Wil- limantic, Windham county, and, being a man of strong character, and possessed of an enviable reputation for honorable deal-
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ings and public-spirited actions, he was preferred to many responsible town and State offices, including that of State Leg- islator. Frank M. Wilson was born March 20, 1849, at Mansfield Depot, Con- necticut, the son of Milton B. and Harriet (Metcalf) Wilson. His ancestry in the maternal lines brings him into the geneal- ogies of some very old New England families, the Metcalfs, Jewetts, and Bad- gers. The Metcalfs and Jewetts both were represented in the French and In- dian and the Revolutionary wars, and the Metcalf genealogy traces back to very ancient times.
Michael Metcalf, progenitor in America of the Metcalf family, was born in Tatter- ford, County of Norfolk, England, in 1586, and was a direct lineal descendant of James Metcalf, of Nappa, in Wensleydale, who was a captain at the battle of Agin- court, under Henry V., in 1415, and was Lord of the Manor of Nappa. Michael Metcalf emigrated to New England in 1637, and located at Dedham. A distin- guished Metcalf of later generation was William Metcalf, maternal grandfather of Frank M. Wilson. He was known as the "father of Mansfield," because of his long service in public office, having been first selectman for many years, and on more than one occasion Representative in the General Assembly. His wife was Chloe Jewett, daughter of Captain David and Elizabeth (Hughes) Jewett, of Tolland, Connecticut, the former born about 1740, a Revolutionary soldier who served with honor at Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and who was reputed never to have shed a tear excepting when he heard of the death of General Washington. Harriet Met- calf, born May 6, 1820, daughter of Wil- liam and Chloe (Jewett) Metcalf, married Milton B. Wilson, May 7, 1846, and be- came the mother of Frank Milton Wilson.
The Wilson family was of Scotch ori-
gin, not for many generations resident in America. The "History of Tolland and Windham County" (1903) states that "Milton B. Wilson, father of Frank M. Wilson, was a member of a Scotch family who established the art of paper making in the United States." He resided in many places in New England before eventually settling in Willimantic, where he died. The children of Milton B. and Harriet (Metcalf) Wilson were: Frank M., of whom further; Hattie R., born in 1855, married James P. Northup, an at- torney of Jersey City, New Jersey; Wil- liam, born in February, 1863.
Frank Milton Wilson attended school in Mansfield and Coventry, and when fourteen years of age entered the Rock- ville High School, after graduating from which he began business life as a clerk in Wilson's Drug Store. To that first em- ployment probably may be traced his later determination to enter the pharmaceuti- cal profession. He liked the work, and about 1867 went to Willimantic to take the position of clerk in Dr. Fred Rogers' Drug Store. He remained with Dr. Rogers for ten years, but in 1878, having formed a partnership with John L. Leon- ard, he resigned from the service of Dr. Rogers, and joined in purchasing from WV. C. Fuller the oldest drug store in the city, the business having been established in 1829. . In 1885, Mr. Leonard retired, and Mr. Wilson became sole owner. Five years later, he took W. P. Jordan into partnership, and the business name was then changed to F. M. Wilson & Company. As such, and as so constituted, the business was continued until 1898, when the partnership was dissolved. Thereafter, until his death, Mr. Wilson was sole owner. His death came quite suddenly, of neuralgia of the heart, on May 1, 1900, while playing with his chil- dren. And then ended a life which had
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Wenn amount Shandling
Photo by Champlain Studios
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been more than meritorious; Mr. Wilson had led in most of the public movements in Willimantic-political, commercial, and social-and he had gained the sincere re- spect of the community by his conscien- tious life and comprehensive understand- ing of public matters. At one time he was chairman of the Willimantic School Board; was elected as Representative from that district to the State Legislature in 1895, during which session he was ap- pointed to serve on the committee on cities and boroughs. For three years he was a member of the old high school com- mittee, and his high standing in the town is shown by the fact that he was thrice reëlected to the Board of Burgesses, act- ing as such in the years 1888-89-90-91. In 1892 and 1893 he was first selectman. Not only in civic affairs was he prominent ; professionally he was honored, in 1886 being elected by his confreres to the pres- idency of the Connecticut Pharmaceutical Association. And in matters of business organization, he must have been able, as he was for some years vice-president of the Willimantic Building and Loan As- sociation, as well as of the Willimantic Board of Trade.
Fraternally a Mason and an Odd Fel- low, these two orders, immediately fol- lowing his death, indicated by resolutions the respect in which he was held by the members of the lodges with which he had been affiliated. And in church work Mr. Wilson was active, for several years being chairman of the Congregational Ecclesi- astical Society.
Mr. Wilson married (first) June 4. 1 879, Gertrude Seaman, of Babylon, Long Island, and to this marriage one son was born, Raymond. on November 24, 1885, but who died on February 16, 1914. Mrs. Gertrude (Seaman) Wilson died in Sep- tember, 1893, and was interred in Wil- limantic Cemetery. On December 20, 1894, Mr. Wilson married (second) Lucy
Byles, daughter of Andrew and Martha (Sharp) Byles, of Ashford, Connecticut. Mrs. Wilson is a woman of many accom- plisluments and strong initiative. Prior to her marriage, she had been at work in Boston, and had gained good repute in medical circles of that city, having for some years been a skillful nurse in Bos- ton hospitals. She took up nursing as a profession, and was a graduate of the Boston City Hospital. In addition, by reason of her ancestry, she was admitted a member of the Daughters of the Ameri- can Revolution, and of late years has been a prominent member of that organiza- tion, and especially of the Anne Wood Elderkin Chapter at Willimantic. She comes of an old Colonial family, for five generations resident on the ancestral farm at Ashford, Connecticut, where she was born. And in the maternal line, she is a great-granddaughter of Robert Sharp, a Revolutionary soldier, who enlisted from Pomfret, Connecticut.
The children of Frank M. and Lucy (Byles) Wilson are: Dorothea, who was born on August 3, 1896; she is now a stu- dent at Miss Wheelock's Kindergarten Training School at Boston, having re- solved to take up educational work; and Milton Andrew, who was born on De- cember 10, 1897, and is now at Dartmouth College.
In 1908, Mrs. Wilson removed to Weth- ersfield, Connecticut, where she has since resided, and has endeavored to provide her children with educations such as will fit them for useful positions in life and so- ciety, and where she continues to actively interest herself in association work.
SHANKLIN, William A., L. H. D., LL. D. Clergyman, Educator. .
Ordained to the ministry of the Metho- dist Episcopal church in 1889, Dr. Shank- lin entered upon pastoral work while yet
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a student in the Theological Department of Northwestern University, and when graduated, was pastor of the First Metho- dist Church of Spokane, Washington. In 1905 he decided to enter the educational field as president of Upper Iowa Univer- sity. His high rank among educators proves the wisdom of his judgment in choosing this field of usefulness. Since 1909 he has been the honored president of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Con- necticut, which, while founded by a group of ministers of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in traditional sympathetic re- lationship thereto, is an independent uni- versity. He rapidly attained an eminence in the councils of the church, and with the years has broadened and grown until he occupies a prominent position among the educators of the country.
Dr. Shanklin is a grandson of Samuel Shanklin, of Wythe county, Virginia, and the son of Wesley Dunscombe Shanklin, a successful merchant and banker of Car- rollton, Missouri, who married Lockie Ann Arnold, daughter of Wyatt and Fran- ces (Austin) Arnold. These were the parents of William Arnold Shanklin, whose career is herein traced.
William Arnold Shanklin was born at Carrollton, Missouri, April 18, 1862. He prepared for college in the public school of his native place, and entered Hamilton College in 1879, graduating, A. B., class of 1883. He prepared for the ministry, and in 1887 was admitted a member of the Kansas Conference, and was stationed at Peru. In 1889 he entered Garrett Biblical Institute, the Divinity School of North- western University, whence he was grad- uated, B. D., class of 1891. During the latter part of his term at the university he became minister of the First Methodist Church at Spokane, going thence, in 1893, to the First Church of Seattle, Washing- ton. In 1896 he was transferred to his-
toric St. Luke's Church, at Dubuque, in the Upper Iowa Conference, where he had a remarkably successful pastorate of four years, 1896-1900. He was then trans- ferred to the Philadelphia Conference and stationed at Memorial Church in Reading, Pennsylvania, which he served acceptably until 1905, when he resigned to accept the presidency of Upper Iowa University, Fayette, Iowa. The eighteen years Dr. Shanklin spent in the itinerant ministry of the church were years of blessing both to himself and the churches he served. He developed strong intellectual qualities, and both as pastor and preacher fulfilled the highest expectations. Even before leaving Iowa, in 1900, he had become widely and favorably known and had been called to the presidency of an important educational institution, an honor which he declined. So, too, his call to the Read- ing Church was begotten of his promi- nence as a divine, and his five years with Memorial Church added to his fame and to the great development of that church.
Upon assuming the presidency of Up- per Iowa University, Dr. Shanklin lost no time in entering vigorously upon his plans for the development of the institu- tion, and during his four years' incum- bency accomplished a wonderful work. His energy and enthusiasm inspired others, and he was able to do a great deal to place the university on a sound basis, and largely increased its standing as a State educational asset. He continued at the university until 1909, when he re- signed to accept the presidency of Wes- leyan University, Middletown, Connecti- cut, an office to which he had been chosen by the university authorities, November 13, 1908.
During his years as pastor and univer- sity president, Dr. Shanklin had formed a wide acquaintance with men of note in public life, in church and in educational
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circles, a fact which was plainly attested upon his formal installation as president of Wesleyan University. November 12, 1900. There were in attendance upon that occasion, in addition to the trustees and the hundreds of alumni, forty presi- dents of educational institutions sitting as delegates, with more than fifty others, five bishops of the Methodist Episcopal and Protestant Episcopal churches, the gov- ernor of Connecticut, with five former governors, the president and the vice- president of the United States, and other distinguished guests, gathered to honor the university and the man selected to guide its destinies. For eleven years he has been at the head of Wesleyan Uni- versity, and the wisdom of the choice then made has been fully demonstrated. The growth and development of Wesleyan throughout this period have been remark- able. Wesleyan fills a high place in the educational field which it is its right to fill, and its career, always one of honor, was never more brilliant or so full of promise.
Among the honors accorded to Dr. Shanklin are those from institutions of learning which have conferred their high- est degree. The degree of LL. D. was conferred by Baker University in 1906, and L. H. D. by Upper Iowa University in 1909. LL. D. has also been conferred upon him by Trinity College, 1910; University of Vermont, 1911 ; Alle- gheny College, 1912; and Hamilton Col- lege, 1913. He is a member of the Uni- versity Senate of the Methodist Episcopal Church, that body having jurisdiction over all the educational institutions of the church. He is a member of Lodge, Chapter and Commandery of the Masonic order, and was formerly chaplain of the Grand Lodge of the State of Iowa. In politics he is Independent. He is a trus- tee of the American University Union in
Europe, and a member of the advisory council of the Institute of International Education, and a member of the State Board of Education in Connecticut. lle was president of the Association of Amer- ican Colleges in 1919. Member of Sigma Phi and Phi Beta Kappa.
Dr. Shanklin married, October 14, 1891, Emma Elizabeth Brant, daughter of Jef- ferson Emery and Mary Ann (Mc. Allis- ter) Brant, of Bloomington, Indiana. Children : Mary Arnold, William Arn- old, and Anna Brant.
SISISKY, Samuel,
Lawyer.
Samuel Sisisky, who is one of the most successful among the younger attorneys of Enfield, Connecticut, is himself a na- tive of this country, but is of Russian par- entage, and exhibits in his personal char- acter that ready adaptability to new con- ditions and that ability to labor without fatigue for a chosen objective which is so characteristic of that great race from which he sprung. His grandfather, Jo- seph Sisisky, was a doctor in Korna, Rus- sia. His father, Nathan Sisisky, was born in Russia, educated at the University of Chakov, Russia, and emigrated to the United States when he was but eighteen years of age. His first occupation in this country was that of a farmer, locating first in Somers, Connecticut, and then in Maspeth, Long Island. He later became a merchant in Holyoke, Massachusetts. and then engaged in the real estate busi- ness, first in New York City and later at Thompsonville, where he now resides, re- tired from active life. He is the present owner of a very considerable estate in Thompsonville, and is regarded as one of the substantial citizens of that place. He married Pauline Schmidt, and the follow- ing children were born to them: Philip,
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a resident of Thompsonville, Connecticut, where he is engaged most successfully in business as a merchant; Rae, who became the wife of Joseph Slaybard, of New York City; Flora, who became the wife of Max Block, of Thompsonville, who is en- gaged in the auto supply business there; Michael, a resident of Thompsonville, en- gaged in a line of mercantile business there; Abraham, a member of the Third New York Artillery Regiment; and Sam- uel, of whom further.
Born at Maspeth, Long Island, June 15, 1895, Samuel Sisisky, son of Nathan and Pauline (Schmidt) Sisisky, came with his parents at an early age to Holyoke, Mas- sachusetts, but moved to Thompsonville, Connecticut, June 15, 1906. Here it was that most of his youthful associations and impressions were formed, and here it was that he received the elementary portion of his education. He was graduated from the Thompsonville Grammar School in 1908, and then studied at the Enfield High School in Thompsonville, Connecticut, graduating from the same in 1912. He had in the meantime decided upon the legal profession as his career, and accord- ingly, matriculated at the Boston Uni- versity Law School. He studied at this well known institution from 1912 to 1914, establishing in the meantime an excellent reputation for himself both as a scholar and as a man of good character, but in the latter year left that school and continued his legal studies at the George Washing- ton University. He graduated from this institution with the class of 1915, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, after which he entered the Yale Law School for post- graduate work and received from that in- stitution the degree of Master of Laws in June, 1916. He was admitted to prac- tice law at the bar of Connecticut in the month of June, 1916, and in the month of September, 1916, at the bar of Massachu-
setts. He engaged in the practice of law in Thompsonville, Connecticut, and Springfield, Massachusetts. In spite of the fact of his extreme youth, Mr. Sisisky has already proved himself a man of great ability and a lawyer of unusual brilliancy, and at the present time much important litigation is entrusted to his care. He has devoted himself with the utmost single- ness of mind and purpose to the mastery of his profession, and as a student is far more profoundly versed in his principles than many a man twice his age. In that still more difficult realm of the law in which theoretical principles are applied to the circumstances of real life, he has also shown a remarkable talent, and his grasp of the significant facts of the case, and his skill in presenting them in a logical and orderly manner to the untrained minds of the average jury, seem to promise a great success for him in the future. Mr. Sisisky is a member of Temple Bethel, at Spring- field. He is a Republican in politics, and has already identified himself closely with the local organization of that party. He is a member of Lodge No. 61, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Spring- field, Massachusetts; a veteran of the World War, having enlisted on a waiver of physical defects ; and the organizer and first president of the Returned Soldiers' and Sailors' Club of Enfield, Connecticut.
IVES, S. Mary,
Physician.
In 1886, James Bostock Ives and his wife, Mary Collins (Johns) Ives, and their seven children, came from their home in London, England, and estab- lished a new home in Toronto, Canada. Four years later, the family came to the United States, locating in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Dr. Ives obtained her professional education and received
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her M. D., and here began practice. Seven years later, she came to Middle- town, Connecticut, where she is nearing the end of her second decade as a suc- cessful practitioner of the Homeopathic School of Medicine. Many honors of the profession which richly rewards its suc- cessful members have fallen to the lot of Dr. Ives, among them the presidency of the Connecticut Homeopathic Medical Society. She is well established in prac- tice in Middletown, where she is held in highest esteem, professionally and so- cially.
James Bostock Ives was born in Lon- don, England, in 1840, and died in March, 1915. James B. Ives was head of a house furnishing business in West End, Lon- don, a business established by his father. He was a man of education and culture, a fellow of the Geological Society of Lon- don, and the inventor of the Ives Strata Map and of the Ives Historical Map, these inventions both perfected after his com- ing to the United States in 1886. His first American residence was in Toronto, Can- ada, where he remained four years, 1886- 1890, his residence in Philadelphia begin- ning in the last-named year. Mr. Ives married, in London, in 1864, Mary Col- lins Johns, born in 1834, died in 1912. She was a daughter of Thomas Coke and Su- sanna (Goodson) Johns, her father a printer, who went out to Russia to print the first Bibles printed in English, he be- ing sent out by the London Bible Print- ing House. Mr. and Mrs. Ives were the parents of seven children: James Ed- ward, born in 1865; Susanna Mary, of further mention; Robert Glendenning, born in 1868; Thomas, born in 1869; Ef- fie, born in 1870, married William C. D. Amon; Henry Goodson, born in 1872; Sarah Edith, married Rev. James J. Cogan.
Susanna Mary Ives was born in Lon-
don, England, October 16, 1866, and there passed the first twenty years of her life. She was educated in the North London Collegiate School for Girls, Camden Town, London, leaving her native city in 1886 with the family, and going to To- ronto, Canada. From there she came to the United States, and in Philadelphia entered the Women's Medical College, whence she was graduated M. D., class of 1894. She then began professional prac- tice in Philadelphia and during the year following, studied at the Post Graduate School of Homeopathics, Philadelphia, graduating with the class of 1895. Dr. Ives continued practice in Philadelphia until 1901, then located in Middletown, Connecticut, where she continues (1920) in successful practice.
Dr. Ives is a member of the Cen- tral Medical Association of Middletown ; American Institute of Homœopathy ; In- ternational Hahnemannian Association ; Connecticut Homeopathic Medical So- ciety, of which she was president in 1907- 1908; Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene; member of the Ethical Culture Society of Philadelphia; the University and College clubs of Middletown, and others.
SCOTT, Walter,
Manufacturer.
Scott, as a man's name, is probably as old as the nation itself. It was common in both the Celtic and Teuton races in the early centuries, and first appeared in England in the thirteenth century. The origin of the name is unknown.
Walter Scott, general manager of the Standard Worsted Company of Stafford Springs, Connecticut, was born in Wils- den, Yorkshire, England, on August 25, 1860, the only son of John and Elizabeth (Jowett) Scott. The grandfather, Jacob
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Scott, was born in Wilsden, where he re- sided most of his life. He began the manufacture of worsteds in the days when all weaving was done on hand looms, and had the distinction of being one of the first manufacturers in that sec- tion of his country to install power looms in his plant. This improvement greatly increased his output and he had acquired a considerable fortune by 1869. This for- tune, amounting to about £80,000, was entirely swept away by financial reverses incident to the Franco-Prussian War. Worry and disappointment caused by his business failure wrecked his health. He married Margaret Tyson, and their son John Scott, father of Walter Scott, was born in Wilsden, England. He became employed at his father's mill at an early age. When his father failed he was obliged to seek a position elsewhere, and at first accepted employment as a regu- lar journeyman, for the small compensa- tion of twenty-two shillings per week. He did not remain in this position long, how- ever, and gradually worked his way up into responsible positions; being thrifty he was able to retire from business some years previous to his death. His wife was the daughter of Thomas Jowett, who came to America in his later years, locat- ing in Wisconsin, where he died.
Walter Scott's early ambition was to retrieve the family fortune lost at the time of the Franco-Prussian War, and with this end in view he entered the mill as a small lad in 1870, taking the position of bobbin boy. He represented the third successive generation engaged in the tex- tile business. In 1884 he came to Amer- ica, locating at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and was employed as a weaver in the Lorraine Manufacturing Company. After remaining here a year and a half he trans- ferred to the Delaine Mill in Providence, as a weaver. He next became a spinner
in the Weybossett Mills, and from there was engaged by the Washington Mill as a spinner when this mill was first opened. After a successful year here he was elected to the position of overseer in the Woonsocket Worsted Mill. In 1897 he came to Stafford Springs as superintend- ent of the Standard Worsted Company of Stafford Springs, and remained in this po- sition thirteen years, at which time he returned to Woonsocket to accept the po- sition of agent of the Samoset Mill. After continuing here successfully for six years he returned to Stafford Springs as gen- eral manager and assistant treasurer of the Stafford Worsted Company.
He had nine brothers and sisters: Mar- garet, who resides in Woonsocket, Rhode Island; Frank, of Newark, New Jersey ; Emma, deceased; Louise, deceased; Al- fred, of Woonsocket, Rhode Island ; Clara, deceased; Arthur; Eva; and John Ty- son, deceased.
Walter Scott married Emma, daughter of Benjamin Farnell, of Bradford, Eng- land. They have two children: Edwin, born September 28, 1907, and Muriel, born May 25, 1912. They attend the Con- gregational church in Stafford Springs.
WENDHEISER, George Peter, Merchant.
One of the most representative houses in Tolland county is the firm of Peter WVendheiser & Son, dealers in musical in- struments. This company is favorably known throughout Eastern Connecticut. It was founded by the father of our sub- ject, Peter Wendheiser, who was actively identified with its management until his death.
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