USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 7 > Part 54
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(III) Benedict N. Whipple, son of
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James D. and Elizabeth (Crowley ) Whip- ple, was born in Bristol, Connecticut, May 1, 1885, and there began his educa- tion in the public schools. He finished classical study at St. Thomas Seminary, Hartford, then began professional study at Yale Medical School, whence he was graduated M. D., class of 1907. From graduation, December, 1908, he was pro- fessionally connected with St. Francis Hospital, then he returned to Bristol and established in private practice. He is a member of the American Medical Asso- ciation, Connecticut State Medical So- ciety, Hartford County Medical Society, and is highly regarded by his profes- sional brethren. He is a member of the Medical Advisory Board of Bristol and Plainville. For the past seven years he has been post surgeon with the rank of lieutenant in the Connecticut State Guards. He is a member of the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Knights of Columbus.
Dr. Whipple married, in June, 1913, Bertha L. Kane, daughter of James A. and Margaret (Burns) Kane. They are the parents of a daughter, Mary, born July 7, 1915.
GEARING, Charles M., Manufacturing Executive.
To New England the manufacturing world of America has looked for many years for the more ingenious and intri- cate devices of a mechanical nature. It has been the center of the Western Hem- isphere so far as the manufacture of clocks is concerned. Since the beginning of the decline in the clock industry, Yan- kee ingenuity has not failed to invent numerous small mechanisms which have upheld, and very materially enhanced, the reputation of the locality for manufac- tured products. But it remained for men
of superior executive powers to build up these manufacturing ventures into the immense plants that now produce these devices by the million, and under the supervision of these men the plants run like the very clock-work which New Eng- land has made a synonym for efficiency. A branch of one of these great factories forms the most important industry in Elmwood, one of the newer suburbs of Hartford, and the man at the head is Charles M. Gearing.
The name of Gearing belongs to that class of surnames derived from the cus- toms and implements of warfare, and this name is the surviving form of the word meaning "spear." The old German form is found as far back as the eighth cen- tury. In the old Anglo-Saxon form it is found Gâr, and in the old Norse, Geir. Other forms of the same derivation are Gore and Gare, with the suffix "ing" added, making the compound, Gearing, Goring or Garing. The name appears in Ireland in 1642, members of the family having gone to Ireland under the Acts and Ordi- nances of Subscription of Charles I.
John Joseph Gearing, father of Charles M. Gearing, was born in the North of Ire- land, and came to America as a young man, locating first in Waterbury. He was a very ambitious young man, and being anxious to establish himself in business, he learned the trade of a baker. At an early period in his career as a baker, he received a physical injury which made it impossible for him to follow his trade. He removed to Bridgeport, and was with the Howe Sewing Machine Company un- til 1877, when he went to Thomaston and was employed in the Seth Thomas Clock Factory until ill health compelled him to give up active employment. He died in Waterbury in 1899. It was in Water- bury, Connecticut, that he married Mary Sophia Fredekra Hoelze, of the city of
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Stullgart, Germany, and they were the parents of a son, Charles M. Gearing, the subject of this sketch.
Charles M. Gearing was born in Bridge- port, Connecticut, May 22, 1872. He was educated in the public schools of Thomas- ton, then went to work in the Seth Thomas Clock Factory and learned clock making. In February, 1889, he left Thomaston and entered the employ of the Hiram Cook Thompson Clock Com- pany, of Bristol. At this time the New Departure Company was just becoming established in Bristol, and gave promise of filling an important place among the manufacturers of the town. Mr. Thomp- son made the first door bell movement in quantity used by the New Departure Com- pany, this company being the first manu- facturers of a spring-actuated push-botton door bell. When this company bought the plant in Bristol which they now oper- ate, and began the manufacture of their own movements, Mr. Gearing entered their employ, remaining with them about a year and a half, when he entered the employ of the Waterbury Clock Com- pany. He remained there for a year, then returned to the New Departure Company, as assistant foreman in their Bristol plant. He was there for about a year when business became dull and the outlook unpromising, so he resigned. At this time he went to the E. I. Ingraham Com- pany of Bristol as an escaper in the move- ment department, and in a year or so was advanced to foreman in the movement finishing department, where he remained for about two years. Then a more advan- tageous opportunity offered, which he accepted, going to the Dunbar Spring Company at Bristol, as superintendent. He remained there three years, then went back to the New Departure Company to take charge of the annular ball bearing works, which at that time practically ex-
isted only on paper. Here Mr. Gearing helped supervise the laying out of tools, fixtures and gauges, and followed same through the tool department. He em- ployed a couple of men and thus started a department which now gives employ- ment to more than two thousand men. He had charge of that work until June, 1913, when the manufacture of small annular ball bearings was transferred to the Elmwood plant. He still remained with the Bristol plant, manufacturing the large annular ball bearings, until Septem- ber, 1915, when he was transferred to the Elmwood plant and was there made divi- sion manager. The Elmwood plant, em- ploying in the neighborhood of six hun- dred hands, is a thoroughly up-to-date factory, both in buildings and equipment, and, it is scarcely necessary to state, in management also. During October, 1919, Mr. Gearing was transferred to manage the large plant of the New Departure 'Manufacturing Company in Meriden, Connecticut, comprising 315,500 square feet floor space, which will give employ- ment to upwards of three thousand hands. This plant is to be used for the manufac- ture of large annular ball bearings and radax ball bearings.
Mr. Gearing is a member of Ethan Lodge, No. 9, Knights of Pythias. He is a member of Franklin Lodge, No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons, of Bris- tol, and the chapter and council there ; Washington Commandery, No. I, Knights Templar, of Hartford; the Connecticut Consistory ; and Sphinx Temple, Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
Mr. Gearing married, on December 27, 1899, Miss Clara L. Zacher, daughter of Morris Zacher, of Bristol, and they have two children: Milton Leroy, and Helen Edith
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FUNK, George J.,
Head of Important Business.
Furniture is a business highly special- ized in the Funk family, George J. Funk, of Bristol, Connecticut, president of C. Funk & Son, Incorporated, of that city, now the head of a business founded by his grandfather, Christian F. Funck, and developed by his father, Augustus Henry Funck. The business is a prosperous one, and for thirty years has been conducted in the four story brick building on Pros- pect street, opposite the railroad station, a building erected in 1890 by the firm, C. Funck & Sons, Incorporated. The business is the most important of the kind in the city, and its founding, development and management has always been in the Funk family.
The head of the family in the United States, Christian F. Funck, was born April 9, 1810, in Neuhaus, Hanover, Germany, and died in Bristol, Connecticut, Novem- ber 14, 1888. He learned the cabinet- maker's trade in Germany, there married in 1831, and in 1846 came to the United States with his family. He located in Bristol, Connecticut, in 1849, and soon afterward secured employment at his trade with Brewster & Ingraham, clock makers. He was an expert worker in wood and capable of doing the finest work, a fact which led him later to begin the manufacture of furniture under his own name. He began in a small way, and in 1865 was joined by his son, Augustus H. Funck, who had been wounded in bat- tle, but had fully recovered. They began business as furniture manufacturers and undertakers, opening their first place of business on Doolittle's corner of the Northside, but moving in 1867 to the cor- ner of South Elm and Main streets. Pros- perity attended the business, and in the spring of 1868 it was moved to the town
hall and there was a fixture for twenty year, when the senior member of the firm of C. Funck & Son passed away. He was a man of industry and ability, a member of the Episcopal church, and thoroughly respected as business man and citizen.
Christian F. Funck married, in Ger- many, Johanna Stamm, born in Hamburg, Germany, died in Bristol, Connecticut, in June, 1873. They were the parents of six children, all born in Germany: 1. Dora, born February 3, 1833, married Conrad Haupt, of St. Paul, Minnesota. 2. William F., born in April, 1834, married Margaret Rathburn, and died in Man- kato, Minnesota, in November, 1892. 3. Augustus Henry, of further mention. 4. Sophia, married George W. Schubert, of Bristol. 5. Charles Christian, who moved to Norwalk, Ohio. 6. Henry Jacob, born in 1843, a soldier of Company K, Six- teenth Regiment, Connecticut Troops, captured and confined in a Confederate prison at Florence, South Carolina, where he died in February, 1865.
Augustus Henry Funck, son of Chris- tian F. and Johanna (Stamm) Funck, was born in Germany, in 1836, and died in Bristol, Connecticut, March 24, 1911. He attended school in Germany until the family departure for the United States in 1846, and in this country also availed himself of public school advantages dur- ing the winter months. His first work was on a farm, his next position being in the Brewster & Ingraham clock fac- tory. He left the clock works in 1855, and in 1856 went to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he worked with his brother, Wil- liam F., at carpentering until 1860. In that year he returned to Bristol and was in the employ of Edward Hall as journey- man carpenter until July 22, 1862. On that date he enlisted in Company K, Six- teenth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, and went to the front in support
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of the Union cause. He was engaged at the battle of Antietam (his first) and there was wounded in the foot. He also fought in the battle of Fredericksburg, was in the Peninsular campaign, and in many other engagements proved the strong soldierly qualities he possessed. At the engagement at Plymouth, North Carolina, he was taken prisoner, and for five months was confined in the infamous prison pen at Andersonville. He was then sent to the prison at Florence, South Carolina (the same in which his brother Henry J. died ) there remaining a prisoner five months, until February, 1865, when he was exchanged. He was an inmate of a convalescent camp for some time after his exchange, and spent four weeks in a Baltimore hospital recovering from an attack of typhoid fever. He was then granted a thirty days' furlough, which he spent at home. Before its expiration, Gen. Lee surrendered and the war ended. Mr. Funck was honorably discharged and mustered out of the United States service at Hartford, June 15. 1865. A period of rest and recuperation followed, after which he became his father's associate in the furniture and undertaking business, and after the death of the senior partner, the son succeeded to the management of the business, which he continued under the old firm name, C. Funck & Son. While the building at the corner of Main and South Elm streets continued a part of the plant occupied by C. Funck & Son, Incorporated, a new four story brick building was erected on Prospect street, finished and occupied by the firm in 1890. Mr. Funck continued as active head of the business until his retirement, being suc- ceeded by his sons, George J., Emil H., Louis E. Funk, of the third generation in the business.
A most capable man of business, Mr. Funck was broadminded and liberal, hav- ing extensive social and fraternal affilia-
tions. He was made a Mason in Franklin Lodge, F. and A. M., of Bristol, about 1860, and continued his membership in that lodge until his death. He was also a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, G. W. Thompson Post, No. 13, G. A. R., and for years was an official member of Trinity Episcopal Church, serving as vestryman, treasurer and senior warden.
He married (first) September 1, 1865, Maria Harcke, born in Neuhaus, Ger- many, in 1840, and came to the United States with her parents about 1840. She died in Bristol, Connecticut, December 16, 1883. He married (second) Septem- ber 1, 1885, Mrs. Annie (Siegler) Fell, of Bristol, Connecticut. Children of Augus- tus H. and Maria (Harcke) Funck : 1. Henry, died aged twelve years. 2. Au- gusta, born July 17, 1867, married Frank L. Muzzy. 3. Sophia, born November 19, 1868, married Harry Landers, of Water- bury. 4. Annie J., born April 3, 1870, married Marshall Smith, of Bristol, Con- necticut. 5. George J., of further men- tion. 6. Minnie, born October 13, 1875, married Stanley Gwillim, of Bristol, Connecticut. 7. Emil, born September 12, 1877, became his father's associate in business; he married Jessie, daughter of Dr. George S. Hull. 8. Louis E., born March 17, 1881 ; also became his father's associate ; married Bertha Gamm, of Bris- tol, Connecticut; Children of Augus- tus H. and Annie (Siegler-Fell) Funck : Harold R., born August 15, 1888.
George J. Funk, eldest son of Augus- tus H. and Maria (Harcke) Funck, was born in Bristol, Connecticut, August 29, 1872. He is now the president and treas- urer of the firm of C. Funk & Son, Incor- porated. Mr. Funk married, September 6. 1893. Nellie Parsons, of Waterbury, Connecticut, daughter of Charles Nelson and Mary (Frisbie) Parsons. They are the parents of seven children : Marie Frisbie, married Kenneth Beckwith ;
Conn-7-25
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Frances Marguerite, Donald Richard, Jo- sephine, George John, Jr., Jeannette, and Arthur Parsons Funk, and the grandpar- ents of one grandchild, Jack Richard Beckwith.
Note-The original name of Funck was pre- served until the present generation, which took the form Funk, and in 1916 the name of the business was changed from C. Funck & Son to C. Funk & Son. Incorporated.
EDDY, George William, Physician.
It is the province of the strong to pro- tect and care for the weak. Where might is used to usurp the place of right, it is a survival of an order which the progress of civilization has left in the discard. Now, so far as the right-thinking, for- ward-looking public is concerned, the great need of weakness and suffering is met by the outstretched hand of strength. Men and discernment hold all abuse of power a relic of barbarism, and the world has recently witnessed the noble spec- tacle of nation uniting with nation to put down despotism; the hand of pity follow- ing in the wake of destruction. The trail of disease is marked by human wrecks which present a similar appeal to that spirit of brotherhood which binds the human race together, and science, with all the accumulated power of ages, meets that appeal through the men who have searched out its secrets and hold them for the good of their fellows. These men are men of strength-often men of the open, born and reared where the broad spaces gave mental balance, and where life and living creatures inspired their interest in the preservation of life. In Dr. George William Eddy, of Collinsville, Connecti- cut, we see a man whose training for a life of service to mankind was begun among big out-door interests, with the traditions of his family those of strong men who have done the work of men.
The name Eddy is evidently Anglo- Saxon. According to Ferguson, it comes from Ead, which signifies prosperity. Eada, Edde, Eday, Eadie, and Eady are all variations of the name. In "Burke's Landed Gentry," a celebrated Saxon monk bore the name of Ede.
(I) This branch of the family came from Killingly, Connecticut, but Dr. Eddy's great-grandfather, Dan Eddy, was a famous old-time mountaineer .of the Adirondacks, who had passed his youth and early manhood in the wooded moun- tain country of Vermont.
(II) Stephen Eddy, son of Dan Eddy, was born in South Corinth, New York. He was a dealer in produce, which he supplied to the hotels at Saratoga, then at the height of its prosperity as a pleas. ure resort. He did a large business along this line. He served as a scout in the Civil War, and was caught between the lines at Cold Harbor. He was in a swamp and was obliged to remain there for sev- eral days. As a result of his exposure and hardships he died prematurely, hav- ing never regained his health. He en- listed from South Corinth. He married Susan Cowles.
(III) Alonzo L. Eddy, son of Stephen Eddy, was born in Corinth, February 27, 1856. He was educated in the district schools, which were the only available educational institutions in that section at the time. Throughout his life he was identified with the lumber business. He was only sixteen years of age when he began buying timber and going into the woods and getting out the logs. He was an ambitious boy, and had been left alone some years before by the death of his father just after the close of the Civil War. He married Ida, daughter of Jere- miah Naylor, and sister of Dr. Naylor, of Hartford. Alonzo L. and Ida (Nay- lor) Eddy were the parents of eleven chil-
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dren, seven of whom grew to matur- ity : George William, of whom further ; Charles R .; John L .; Bertha Elizabeth, now deceased, who married Clarence Hubbard: Gladys Eleanor; J. Henry ; and E. Clayton. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
(IV) Dr. George William Eddy, son of Alonzo L. Eddy, was educated in the public schools of Schuylerville, New York. After completing the High School course there, he went to the University of Vermont Medical School, from which he was graduated in 1904, with the de- gree of M. D. He was then associated for two years with Dr. Naylor, of Hart- ford. He saw an opportunity to build up a practice for himself in Collinsville, and began to practice there in 1909, but until January, 1918, still kept an office in Hart- ford, in which city he did a large amount of insurance work as a side issue.
Dr. Eddy is a member of the Hartford and the Connecticut Medical societies, and of the American Medical Association. He is also a member of the Phi Chi fra- ternity ; of the Village Lodge, No. 29, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons : Co- lumbia Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; Lee Council, Royal and Select Masters; the Eclectic Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; the Foresters of America ; the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Winsted; of the Grange in Col- linsville; of the Knights of Pythias, and Improved Order of Red MIen.
Dr. Eddy married Ann, daughter of John H. Rollins, of Brooklyn, New York, and they have two children : George Rol- lins and Wycliffe Rollins.
Personally Dr. Eddy is a man of gen- ial nature, of broad interests and ready wit. He is much sought, socially, and enjoys a wide circle of friends who value him highly as a man as well as a phy- sician.
FOX, G. & Company,
Merchants.
Among the leading mercantile estab- lishments in Hartford, and the State of Connecticut, is the firm of G. Fox & Com- pany.
Gershom Fox, the founder of the busi- ness, was born in Burglumstadt, Bavaria, where he learned the trade of weaver. He cante to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1847, and started in business on Main street, just south of Gold street, in a very small store, handling dry goods and small wares. This was nearly three quarters of a century ago. The city of Hartford was then little more than a center for the busi- ness of the surrounding country. It was twenty-five years before ground was broken for the present State Capitol, and it was during this decade that several of the great factories in Hartford, which now employ thousands of operatives, were founded. A mercantile establish- ment, however small, was an undertak- ing of consequence in a city of Hartford's population at that time.
Gershom Fox had faith in the future and added to his stock until he outgrew the little store and moved to more com- modious quarters on the corner of Church and Main streets. Here he continued un- til the growth of the business compelled him to seek further opportunity for ex- pansion. He removed to a store located where the Miller building now stands, then finally removed to the large building on Main street, which was destroyed by fire on the night of January 29, 1917. Ger- shom Fox did not live to witness that calamity. In the minds of the public the marvelous period of reconstruction which followed will always be associated with the present firm, but Moses Fox, the son, would say that the inspiration of his father's long struggle and hardwon suc-
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cess gave an impetus to the work which was not entirely due to the activities of the men in whose hands the business had been left.
Moses Fox, the present head of the firm is, in more than one sense, one of the fore- most men of Hartford. His history is so interwoven with that of his father that it is difficult to separate the two. He was born in Hartford, November 26, 1851, and was educated in the public schools of that city. From the time that he was a child, he was a frequent visitor at the store, and after leaving school took his place in the business life of the establish- ment. He early became familiar with the routine of the different departments, working about the store when other young men of his age were idle. As the years passed, his keen interest and eager enthusiasm were a valuable asset in the business, and he became more and more closely identified with the management. His father was, above all else, a progres- sive man, keeping up with the times, in fact watching the tastes and habits of his customers so closely that he was able to anticipate their wants. As the youth de- veloped business talents, and gained the respect and confidence of the employees, father and son carried on the interests of the store side by side, the younger man becoming manager before his father's death.
On the night when half the city watched the destruction by fire of the business which had taken more than a lifetime in its development, the question went the rounds whether a new home would be built, whether the firm would recover from the blow. The few men closely in- terested felt the shock, it is true, but they immediately began to make plans for a new building. The new store was opened on April 10, 1918, and there are very few stores in New England which compare
with it in excellence of appointments and facilities for providing for the comfort of its patrons, as well as meeting their re- quirements in the various lines of mer- chandise. The firm of G. Fox & Com- pany is now composed of Moses Fox, Morris Marks, Moses Stern, and Jacob L Fox.
FOX, Jacob L.,
Business Man.
One of the leading spirits in the man- agement of the business of G. Fox & Company, Jacob L. Fox, was born in Ellsworth, Maine, March 26, 1856. He is a son of Lewis and Mary Fox, and has been connected with the firm since 1877, first as salesman, then as a member of the firm, and when the business was incor- porated in February, 1920, he was made an officer of the company.
WEBSTER, John Clough, Insurance Actuary.
A native of the Pine Tree State, where he was born May 24, 1839, in the town of Kingfield, son of Benjamin and Harriet (Clough) Webster. John C. Webster was foremost in the ranks of insurance offi- cials for many years.
His early education was received in Kingfield and supplemented with a course at the High School of Concord, New Hampshire. At sixteen years of age he taught the school in a district of his na- tive town. Later he learned the trade of printer, and so well did he master the business that he was in charge of one of the largest and most flourishing offices in Concord soon after attaining his major- ity. Three years later he resigned to engage in insurance work and was gen- eral agent of the Aetna Life Insurance Company for the Granite State. It was
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an evident fact from the beginning that Mr. Webster was naturally adapted to the business of insurance. Coupled with this natural ability was a tenacity of pur- pose and perseverance that soon brought him advancement. In 1873 he received the appointment of superintendent of agencies for the company, and in the same year removed to Hartford, Connec- ticut. In 1879 Mr. Webster was ap- pointed vice-president of the company, and in the performance of the duties in- cumbent on this office proved of ines- timable value. In addition to his regular routine work, he edited "The Aetna," a magazine published quarterly for em- ployees of the company, doing the work evenings. He contributed many articles which heightened the value of the paper and gave it prestige among contemporary publications of its kind. From a circula- tion of 30,000 it grew to 300,000 during this period. Mr. Webster also was the organizer and in complete charge of the accident department of the company for several years. After thirty-seven years of faithful and efficient service, twenty years as vice-president, Mr. Webster re- signed from active business cares. On this occasion, a leading Hartford paper said :
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