USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 7 > Part 49
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Among those who were strongly im- pressed with Mr. Hedstrom's abilities was George M. Hendee, a manufacturer of bicycles, and in his day the greatest high wheel champion in American cycling his- tory. Foreseeing a wonderful future for the practical motorcycle, he commissioned Mr. Hedstrom to undertake the construc- tion of such a machine, and in January, 1901, he became identified with the Hen- dee Manufacturing Company, makers of bicycles, at Springfield, Massachusetts. Soon after entering this concern he made the first "Indian" Motorcycle, the fore- runner of the American motorcycle indus- try. In this machine was installed all that was known of the gasoline engine art at that time, together with a number of im- portant inventions which since have become accepted standards of the craft. Prominent among these inventions were the Hedstrom motor, Hedstrom carbu- retor, double grip control, countershaft hanger construction, cushion fork, bayonet locking inlet valve dome, automatic igni- tion cut-out switch, Hedstrom motor anchorage system, combination tank con- struction, and compensating sprocket. Holding the leadership of the industry, which it never has relinquished, the "In- dian" to-day is being distributed to world- wide marts, and has gained for its build- ers the enviable prestige of being the largest producers of motorcycles in the world. At the Louisiana Purchase Expo- sition, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1904, in token of his motorcycle genius, the jury of awards granted him a silver medal and high diploma of merit, which was the only one granted in the entire motor vehicle section of exhibits. It is interesting to note here that during the World War the "Indian" played an important part, prov- ing its invaluable worth to the courier in the Motor Transport Corps. He is a mem- ber of the Middletown Yacht Club of Mid-
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dletown, Connecticut ; Hartford Gun Club, of Hartford, Connecticut ; New York Athletic Club, Portland Social Club of Portland, Connecticut, and was a member of the Royal Automobile Club of Great Britain. His hobby is motorboat racing, and in 1912 he won the power boat cham- pionship of the Connecticut river with his boat called the "Indian."
Mr. Hedstrom married Julia Anderson, daughter of Alfred and Helena Anderson, November 14, 1898. They are the par- ents of one daughter, Helen Hedstrom. Mr. Hedstrom finds his chief delight in the circle of his home, and is the proud possessor of one of the most beautiful country estates at Portland, Connecticut, which is situated so as to afford a most wonderful view of the Connecticut river. The carcer of Mr. Hedstrom is one of which he may be justly proud, a success in every sense of the word, and it but proves the fact that America is the land of oppor- tunity for the man who aims to succeed.
MCCLELLAN, Wilbert Ernest, Physician, Hospital Official.
The State of Connecticut has been sig- nally favored in the class of men who have represented the medical profession, and prominent among these is Dr. Wilbert E. McClellan, of Hartford, a lineal descend- ant of a family that traces back for many generations in Scotland, the clan to which they belonged being known as the Mac- Clellan clan. The name has been vari- ously spelled, even at the present time various members of the family using dif- ferent forms of spelling. John MacClel- lan, grandfather of Dr. Wilbert E. McClel- lan, serving in the British army in the Na- poleonic wars, and other members of the family participated in the Sepoy Rebel- lion in India and were lost in the "Black Hole of Calcutta."
Robert McClellan, father of Dr. Wilbert E. Mcclellan, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and died in 1912, at the ad- vanced age of ninety-two years. He was reared and educated in his native land, and while yet a youth emigrated to Can- ada, locating in Lanark County, Province of Ontario, where he took up land, to which he added from time to time by purchase of various tracts, becoming an extensive land owner. He took an active part in local politics, and in later years, when he had acquired a competence, took advantage of the opportunity to make up for deficiencies in his early education, and became a great student and reader. He was a man of enterprise and sagacity, worthy of the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens, and was prominent and influential in the affairs of the commun- ity. He married Mary Rath, and among their children was Wilbert Ernest, of whom further.
Wilbert Ernest McClellan was born in Lanark county, Province of Ontario, Canada, June 1, 1882. He was educated in the public and private schools of his native country, and this knowledge was supplemented by a course at the Toronto University, from which institution he was graduated in 1903 with the degree of Bachelor of Medicine. He then went to London, England, where he performed post-graduate work in London Univer- sity College Hospital and Golden Square Hospital for a period of three years, at the expiration of which time he received his degree of member of the Royal Col- lege of Surgery. In 1906 he came to the United States, located in New York City, and became resident physician at the Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital, in which capacity he served for about two and a half years, gaining a wide and use- ful experience. In 1909 he took up his residence in Hartford, Connecticut, and
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has made his home there ever since. He specializes in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, and although he is one of the younger representatives of the pro- fession in Hartford, he has a reputation for skill and ability that many an older medical practitioner might well envy. Possessing a broad and comprehensive understanding of the principles of the sci- ence of medicine and surgery, and with a varied experience, and also by keeping in touch with the progress that is being made toward perfection in the line of medical and surgical science, his future is bright with promise. Dr. McClellan is serving as opthamologist, rhinologist, laryngologist and otologist to St. Fran- cis Hospital, the Babies' Hospital, Hart- ford Dispensary and Newington Home for Crippled Children, and is also consult- ing otologist to the Hartford Contagious Hospital. In addition to this he has an extensive private practice, his patients re- posing in him the utmost confidence. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgery, licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of London, member of the Hartford County Medical Society, Connecticut Medical Society, American Medical Association, Missis- sippi Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Almont, Province of Ontario, Canada, the Hartford Club, Hartford Golf Club, and the New Haven Yacht Club.
FLOYD, Marcus Lawson,
Tobacco Expert.
One of the most active, successful and progressive business men of Hartford. Connecticut, Marcus L. Floyd, general manager of the American Sumatra To- bacco Company, and the pioneer in the raising of tobacco by the shade grown process, was born in Quincy, Florida, in
1860, son of Matthew B. and Martha A. (Dalton) Floyd.
Matthew B. Floyd, his father, was en- gaged in agriculture on an extensive scale, and the son, Marcus L., worked on the farm of his father when not attending the district schools of Quincy. Later he en- gaged in the growing of leaf tobacco, and in 1898 went to Washington to accept a position with the Department of Agricul- ture as a tobacco expert. Mr. Floyd was appointed by Secretary James Wilson of the United States Department of Agri- culture as a delegate to the International Agricultural Congress held in conjunc- tion with the Universal International Ex- position at Paris in 1900. He had been honored with this commission by virtue of his expert knowledge and wide experi- ence in the culture of tobacco. At the request of the United States Government, Mr. Floyd visited the countries of Eu- rope in order to ascertain the conditions of the tobacco industry. He made care- ful notations of his observations, and after several months' travel on the Con- tinent submitted a report covering the desired information, with the recommen- dation that tobacco be placed under gov- erminent inspection, and that it be prop- erly and honestly graded. This sugges- tion was acted upon with very gratifying results.
After his return to the United States, Mr. Floyd took up experimental work for the government, and the experiment of growing the tobacco by the shade process was tried in Connecticut. They produced nearly one thousand pounds of wrapper tobacco that was pronounced by experts to be equal to any wrapper tobacco grown in the world. This lot of leaf was sold at an average of one dollar and fifty-nine cents per pound, and the experiment indi- cated such commercial possibilities that a boom was started and several hundreds
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of thousands of dollars were invested. All but one of the growers failed at first to meet with the expected success. The successful grower was Mr. Floyd, this owing to the expert knowledge which he possessed. The shade growing process was a courageous experiment and to-day the Connecticut Tobacco Corporation has three large plantations located at East Hartford, East Granby, and Floydville, the latter town being named in honor of the pioneer, where are employed several hundred persons the entire year. Each year, before anything can be grown on the plantations, it is necessary to expend about ninety thousand dollars for cloth alone. There are about six hundred and twenty acres of tobacco under cloth.
Mr. Floyd is most enterprising and en- ergetic, and in 1916, when the labor situ- ation became a serious one to cope with, he was the first to introduce the negro laborer from the South. Excellent quar- ters are provided for these laborers and a regular boarding house equipped with shower baths, etc., built on the plan- tation. Some of the men prefer to and do sleep in tents in the open. There are excellent baseball fields available for them for recreation purposes after work- ing hours. The men are well paid and it is possible for them in the three busy months of the year to clear about one hundred dollars over and above their expenses. The great success of this cor- poration is largely due to the expert knowledge of Mr. Floyd, not alone in the art of raising and caring for the tobacco, but also to his progressive ideas in the questions of labor and kindred matters; in equipping and carrying on an organi- ation so that the heads of the firm and employees work in harmony with each other. He realizes the truth of the adage that success lies in the virtue of square
dealing, industry, promptness and tem- perance.
111 October, 1917, the Connecticut To- bacco Company merged with the Ameri- can Sumatra Tobacco Company. The union of these two large concerns formed the largest shade growing tobacco cor- poration in the world. They have offi- ces at No. 142 Water street, New York City. Apart from their holdings in the North, they own forty thousand acres of land in Florida and Georgia, and grow shade tobacco extensively there, besides several thousand acres in corn, potatoes and other grain crops. Their entire out- put of tobacco is shade grown, although they do an extensive business in tobacco cultivated by other methods. At the time the shade grown process was adopted by the large growers of Cuba, men trained under Mr. Floyd's system were sent for to instruct the Cuban growers the suc- cessful way to produce tobacco.
LATHROP, Hayden Redfield, Business Man.
Although the cities dominate the com- monwealth and boast of their social and business advantages, it is from the wide spaces of the remote country districts that the pulsing life of the city is re- newed. It is true that this demand impoverishes the country communities, robbing them of some of their most prom- ising young men, such as are sadly needed in agriculture. But were it not for the vital youth thus poured into the centers of population, the cities would, indeed, fall into decadence.
In South Coventry the name of La- throp has long held a prominent place. It is one of those names which were derived from the fact of the location of its pro- genitors. The original family seat was in Lowthorpe Wapentake, of Dickering,
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East Riding, of Yorkshire, England. This family dates back to 1216, when Walter de Lowthorpe was elected sheriff of Yorkshire. In the natural evolution of written language and the tendency to dis- card unnecessary letters, the name has come to be written Lathrop.
(I) The Rev. John Lathrop was a member of the old English family of that name, and was among those who suffered arrest and imprisonment for following their religious convic- tions. His first wife died while he was in prison. When pastor of a Con- gregational church in London, he was imprisoned with forty-three members of his church (April 29, 1632), because they practiced the teachings of the New Testa- ment. He was released only on condi- tion of leaving the country, and came to America in 1634, shortly afterward estab- lishing a church at Scituate, Massachu- setts ; was admitted freeman of Plymouth Colony, 1636-37, and later removed to Barnstable.
(II) Samuel Lothrop, son of Rev. John Lothrop, was born in England, and came to this country with his father in 1634; Later he also removed to Barnstable, thence to Pequot, now New London, Con- necticut, finally locating in Norwich. He was twice married, first in Barnstable, November 28, 1644, to Elizabeth Scudder, who became the mother of Israel, their sixth child.
(III) Israel Lathrop, as the name is now spelled, son of Samuel Lothrop, was born in October, 1659, and died March 28, 1733. He married, April 8, 1686, Re- becca Bliss, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Bliss, who died August 22, 1737. Israel Lathrop was a freeman in 1730.
(IV) John Lathrop, son of Israel La- throp, was born in Norwich, October 2, 1690; married, April 7, 1715, Elizabeth
Abel, a daughter of Joshua and Mehitabel (Smith) Abel, of Norwich. They settled in that part of Norwich which has since been set off as a township under the name of Franklin. Both joined the church in 1720.
(V) Zebulon Lathrop, son of John La- throp, was born January 10, 1717, died in Norwich, January 13, 1781. He married, September 4, 1740, Lois, daughter of Dr. Theophilus and Elizabeth (Hyde) Ro- gers, of Norwich, where she was born, July 22, 1721, and died September 21, 1777.
(VI) Zebulon (2) Lathrop, son of Zebulon (1) Lathrop, was born Novem- ber 29, 1744, and married Alice Edger- ton, who died in Lebanon, February 3, 1794, aged forty-nine. He died there, March 29, 1814.
(VII) William Lathrop, son of Zebu- lon (2) Lathrop, was born in 1779, and died June 14, 1807. On March 22, 1803, he married Amelia, daughter of Ammi and Esther (Chapman) Paulk, of Tol- land, who was born December 24, 1762, and died October 28, 1810.
(VIII) Kelsey Lathrop, son of Wil- liam Lathrop, was born in Tolland, Octo- ber 17, 1803, settled in South Coventry, and died September 4, 1867, by only about two months surviving his wife, who died July 7 in the same year. His wife was Flora, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Holbrook) Cobb, of Tolland, the mar- riage taking place March 20, 1826. This line of sturdy pioneers leads us down to Walter Herbert Lathrop, father of our subject, of whom further.
(IX) Walter Herbert Lathrop, son of Kelsey Lathrop, was born in South Cov- entry, November 30, 1844, and died in February, 1900. He was educated in the common schools there, after which he branched out for himself, going to New York, there learning the trade of bank-
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note printing with the American Bank Note Printing Company. He remained in New York a few years, then returned to this State and established himself in the grocery business on Pearl street, in Hartford. In 1876 he removed to the store on Asylum street, where his son, Hayden Redfield Lathrop, still continues in the business. The father remained in the grocery business as long as he lived.
Walter Herbert Lathrop was a mem- ber of Hartford Lodge, No. 88, Free and Accepted Masons; Pythagoras Chapter, No. 17, Royal Arch Masons; Wolcott Council, No. 1, Royal and Select Masters ; was captain on the staff of Major An- drews in the Putnam Phalanx and took an active part in the welfare of that or- ganization. He married, November 17, 1869, Cora Kirtland Hayden, daughter of Calvin and Mary (Redfield) Hayden, of Westbrook, Connecticut. Of this mar- riage were born three children: Walter Herbert (2) ; Hayden Redfield, of whom further ; and Elisha E. The family have long been members of the Pearl Street Congregational Church.
(X) Hayden Redfield Lathrop, son of Walter Herbert and Cora Kirtland (Hay- den) Lathrop, was born in Hartford, June 28, 1872. He was educated in the public schools and Reid's Preparatory School. Being an active youth, and in- terested in business affairs, he turned his attention in that direction rather than continue his education farther. He entered the employ of Keeney & Roberts, February 19, 1889, and was twelve years in their office. He then succeeded his father in the grocery business, and en- larged the character of the merchandise to meet the demands of the more exclu- sive trade, which at this time was begin- ning to see the advantage of the modern sanitary methods of enclosing foodstuffs in cartoons. Following this lead, he
added to his regular line those goods known as "fancy" groceries, which have come to be necessities to people of re- finement, until he holds the patronage of the best people of Ilartford.
In 1917 he became secretary of the Farnham Tobacco Company, growers and packers, and up-to-date producers, growing two hundred sixty-five acres of shade-grown tobacco, one of the largest tobacco firms in the State. Mr. Lathrop is a member of St. John's Lodge, No. 4, Free and Accepted Masons; Washington Commandery, No. 1, Knights Templar ; Connecticut Commandery, Knights Tem- plar ; Sphinx Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine ; Hart- ford Club; Shuttle Meadow Country Club; City Club of Hartford; Hartford Chamber of Commerce; Ad. Club; Au- tomobile Club; and Company K, Vet- eran Corps, First Regiment.
Mr. Lathrop married Antoinette, daugh- ter of Porter Whiton, who was born in West Hartford. They were the parents of four children : Elizabeth Redfield, Elinor Louise, Robert Hayden, and Ber- nice Cousins. The family are members of Trinity Episcopal Church. Mr. La- throp is a genial, whole-souled man, such an individual as the people of the city are proud to point out as a represen- tative citizen. His favorite recreation is golf.
(The Redfield Line).
We find the name of Redfield in the early New England records, its form in the first generation, however, being somewhat different. It is found vari- ously as Redfin, Redfen, Redfyn and Redfyne.
(I) William Redfin owned a home in what is now Brighton, Massachusetts, as early as 1639. Later he came to what is now the town of Ledyard, Connecticut. He died about April or May. 1662, the
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last record of his widow, Rebecca, ap- pearing in 1667. It was during the resi- dence of the family in New London that the spelling gradually reached its present form.
(II) James Redfin or Redfield, son of William and Rebecca Redfin, was born about 1646, and was a tanner. He was married, in May, 1669, to Elizabeth How, daughter of Jeremy How, of New Haven, she born in 1645. The father of Jeremy How, Edward How, was one of the early settlers of Lynn, Massachusetts.
(III) Theophilus Redfield was born in 1682, probably at Saybrook, and died February 14, 1759. On December 24, 1706, he married Priscilla Greenel (or Grinnell) daughter of Daniel and Lydia (Paybodie) Greenel. Lydia Paybodie was a daughter of William Paybodie, of Duxbury, Massachusetts, and Little Compton, Rhode Island. William Pay- bodie was born in England, in 1620, and died December 13, 1707. He married, De- cember 26, 1644, Elizabeth, born 1624-25, died May 31, 1717, daughter of John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden, the story of whose marriage in Longfellow's "Court- ship of Miles Standish" has thrilled every appreciative reader.
(IV) Daniel Redfield, born September 22, 1707, resided at Clinton, Connecticut, and died January II, 1758. His wife, Elizabeth, whom he married in 1728, died November 2, 1775, aged seventy-four years.
(V) Roswell Redfield was born Sep- tember 4, 1731, at Guilford, and about 1764 was lost at sea, with all of his crew. On November 2, 1758, he married his second wife, Mehetible Post, who died, after another marriage, June 12, 1814.
(VI) James Post Redfield, born July 3, 1760, in Clinton, died September 27, 1829. He was a farmer at Westbrook, and married (first) Chloe Post, born
April 17, 1765, daughter of John and Chloe (Chapman) Post. The wife died December 5, 1799.
(VII) James Post (2) Redfield, born September 18, 1786, at Westbrook, died August 24, 1832, at Huntington, Long Island. He married Mary Farrington, of Meriden.
(VIII) Mary Redfield, born in Meri- den, August 26, 1810, daughter of James Post (2) and Mary Farrington Redfield, married Calvin Hayden, March 7, 1829. He was the son of Calvin and Elizabeth (Geoffrey) Hayden.
(IX) Cora Kirtland Hayden, daughter of Calvin and Mary (Redfield) Hayden, became the wife of Walter Herbert La- throp, as before mentioned.
TRANT, Thomas,
Contractor.
Thomas Trant, of Hartford, has, by his own initiative, business ability, and straightforward methods, developed for himself a wholesale business said to be one of the largest in its line in the State of Connecticut. He was born February 17, 1866, the son of Maurice and Mary (Coffee) Trant, the former having been born in Ireland, where in early manhood he farmed, and where also he married be- fore coming to America. He reached this country just after the close of the Civil War, and located in Rocky Hill, Connec- ticut, accompanied by his three eldest children. During his entire life in America he followed farming pursuits, at the outset at Rocky Hill, later in Windsor, and still later in Wethersfield. Eventually, he removed to Hartford, where he died about twenty-five years ago. His wife, who was the daughter of John and Mary Coffee, bore him seven children : John C. and Ellen, twins; Bartholomew ; Thomas, of whom further ; Morris B .; Timothy; and Mary A.
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Thomas Trant, third son of Maurice and Mary (Coffee) Trant, was born in Rocky Hill, Connecticut. After a pub- lic school education, he was apprenticed to the plumbing trade, imder George Mahl. After three years' service as journeyman, he had saved sufficient money to encourage him to open business for himself as a contractor on construc- tion work. As such he was kept busily employed for ten years, operating con- currently a retail business. This retail store business assumed large proportions in time, and Thomas Trant found him- self, in his extensive buying, to be be- coming conversant with the wholesale as well as the retail business. In process of time he discovered that his interests would be enhanced by devoting his entire time to the wholesale branch, so that since 1908 he has conducted no retail business. His wholesale connection, however, ex- pands each year, his territory being the whole of New England, over which his three salesmen are constantly traveling. Mr. Trant, who when engaged in the contracting business was well in the fore- front of contractors of the city, now em- ploys in his wholesale business twenty- six people. He gives most of his time to business, although he is a member of some semi-public organizations, among them the Chamber of Commerce, the An- cient Order of United Workmen and the City Club. For three years he was a member of the First Regiment, Connecti- cut National Guard, ranking as corporal when he retired.
Mr. Trant married Mary Ann Maloney, daughter of Thomas Maloney, of Hart- ford, Connecticut.
ELLIOTT, Calvin Hayes, Physician, Specialist.
One of the rising physicians of Hart- ford, Connecticut, is Calvin Hayes El-
liott, who is making a specialty of gyn- ecology and obstetrics in that city, where he has already gained an enviable reputa- tion for his skill and ability. He is not a native of Hartford, nor indeed of Connec- ticut at all, being a member of a branch of the Elliott family which settled in Mif- flin county, Pennsylvania. The Elliott family is a very distinguished one, can claim a very honorable antiquity both in this country and abroad, and now has representatives in well nigh every part of the United States.
Dr. Elliott is a son of William Beale and Mary (Hayes) Elliott, his father hav- ing been a native of Mifflin county, Penn- sylvania. He and his wife afterwards resided in Philadelphia, but Mr. Elliott met his death during a visit to his old home in Mifflin county, through a fall from a tree. He had studied at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania and in the medi- cal school connected with that institu- tion, and was a lecturer on scientific sub- jects. He had also studied law at the Mil- ton Academy in Central Pennsylvania, and was a classmate of Governor Curtin of the State, in whose administration oc- curred the Civil War. He was not quite fifty years of age when he met with his fatal accident, his son, Dr. Elliott, being at that time only three years old. He and his wife were the parents of three chil- dren, as follows: David Hayes, of San Diego, California; Calvin Hayes, with whose career this sketch is particularly concerned; and a child who died in in- fancy. Dr. Elliott's grandfather was Robert Urie Elliott, of Mifflin county, Pennsylvania. He married there Sarah Beale, a daughter of Thomas Beale, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary War from Pennsylvania.
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