USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 7 > Part 9
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
average of five hundred employees under his direction all the time. In this section of the State the tobacco fields stretch for miles North and South, the width varying with the convolutions of the valley. The plant thrives in the fine mellow soil, the alluvial deposit left by rivers of former glacial periods, ages before this part of the world was inhabited. A plantation of this kind, remote from the city, must be almost entirely sufficient unto itself, so far as construction and repair work is concerned, and Mr. Griffin finds practical use for his experience along these lines. So much of the preparation of the product must be done under protection from the elements that the buildings constitute the largest share in the equipment of such a plantation. These buildings must be kept in constant repair, as well as the machin- ery and small tools used in the prepara- tion of the ground for the crop. All this requires a capable man at the head. The housing of the employees also mounts to a place among the big problems, and de- mands attention to certain lines of detail that are foreign to most productive occu- pations. Mr. Griffin is a member of St. Mark's Lodge, No. 91, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Granby ; Old New- gate Lodge, Knights of Pythias, of Tariff- vilíe.
Mr. Griffin married Gertrude Sickles Crane, and they have one child, Henry Thompson, born December 4, 1914. The family are members of the Granby Con- gregational Church.
HUDSON, Charles Ellis, Educator.
The business world is a world of ac- tion. Ideas and theories have their place here as well as everywhere, but they must be founded on the basic principles on which the world of business stands. It
is only in comparatively recent years that a definite preparation for business has formed a part of the educational system of this country. The city of Hartford is well favored along these lines, but Charles Ellis Hudson, president of the Huntsinger Business College, is one of the few heads of such schools who bring to their position the ripe experience of years of successful dealing in the busi- ness world.
Henry W. Hudson, father of Charles E. Hudson, was born in Concord, Ver- mont, on May 7, 1844, and grew to man- hood there. In early life he learned the trade of carpenter, and later engaged in business for himself as a contractor and builder. He discontinued this business while still a young man, and for the re- mainder of his life was a merchant tailor. In the early eighties he removed to Prov- idence, Rhode Island, and for fifteen years conducted a merchant tailoring business under the Narragansett Hotel. He then removed to St. Johnsbury, Ver- mont, but continued in the same business. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge, of that city, also the Knights Templar, and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, at White River Junction. His wife Hannah was a daughter of Jonathan Adams, and was born in Waterford, Vermont. Mr. and Mrs. Hudson were identified with the Universalist church, where he served as chorister, singing tenor. He was a musician all his life. Henry W. and Han- nah Hudson were the parents of three children, of whom two grew to maturity : Charles Ellis, of whom further, and Nina, secretary of the Huntsinger Business College, of which her brother is presi- dent; she was the fourth lady certified as a public accountant in the United States; she was educated at St. Johns- bury Academy, and in the Zanerian Art School.
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C. P. BENNETT
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Charles Ellis Hudson was born in West Concord, Vermont. April 22, 1867, son of Henry W. and Hannah (Adams) llud- son. He attended the grammar schools in the various places in which his parents resided and the high school in the city of Providence. He then entered the employ of the Union Oil Company, working up with that firm to the position of assistant superintendent. Here he showed marked business ability, but was not content to remain within the narrow limits afforded by this line of business. After ten years he resigned and bought a photographic studio in South Framingham. Massachu- setts, where he found scope for the devel- opment of his artistic tastes, and was very successful. He remained there for twelve years. In 1907 he entered the em- ploy of the Massachusetts College of Commerce. in Boston, as its manager. It was here that Mr. Hudson found his life work. That artistic taste which had given him success as a photographer kept him alive to those niceties of business equip- ment and correspondence which appeal to successful men in any line of business, and the practical, aggressive common sense which had advanced him to a high position with his first employers gave him the ability to apply to the work in hand principles which gave it a distinc- tively practical trend. He remained with this school for four years, then came to the Morse Business College of Hartford as principal of the commercial depart- ment. He remained with the Morse peo- ple for two years, then went to New York City, where he was principal of the Mil- ler School for four years.
Mr. Hudson bought his present school in 1915. Here, as the head and moving spirit of the Huntsinger Business Col- lege. he has been able to stamp his per- sonality on the school. He stands for the highest ideals in business, and his work-
ing out of the student's preparation for his business life is a crystallization of these ideals into practical efficiency. Not only does he incorporate into his courses of study thorough perparation for every branch of business, but he infuses into the atmosphere of the school the spirit of enthusiasm. He is peculiarly well adapted by nature, as well as by training and ex- perience, for the instruction of youth along vocational lines. He is possessed of a pleasing personality, always digni- fied, yet courteous and considerate, suave and diplomatic, yet none the less firm in enforcing necessary discipline. Mr. Hud- son is a member of Framingham Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is past grand. He was district deputy grand for three years, and is also a mem- ber of the encampment. He is a member of the Kiwanis Club, of Hartford, and of the Charter Oak Ad. Club.
Mr. Hudson married Ella, daughter of James H. Onslow, of Jersey City.
The city of Hartford may be congratu- lated on having a man of Mr. Hudson's type at the head of one of her most im- portant schools for vocational training. There is nothing which so contributes to civic progress as the influence of men of integrity and fine mentality on youth, particularly at the age when they begin to feel their responsibility to society, and look forward to taking a useful place in the world.
BENNETT, Wilbur R.,
Manufacturer.
It is impossible to compute the value to mankind of skill in any certain line of work. A book reaches the hands of a hundred thousand readers ; music charms a multitude of listeners ; food production, the textile industry, the building trades, all are vital to the subsistence of the in-
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dividual and the existence of the Nation. But countless lives and incalculable prop- erty values depend for safety on the per- fection of various mechanisms. From the microscopic adjustments of a watch to the massive parts of a locomotive, through nearly all of the numberless industries of to-day, there is felt, if not fully realized, an utter dependence on the flawless qual- ity of hardened metal. In motoring past a modest structure in a quiet suburb, one is not greatly impressed by the import- ance of its bearing on the public safety, but the Bennett Metal Treating Company of Elmwood cannot be set down among unimportant industries.
According to Harrison, the name of Bennett is one of those patronymics de- rived from the locality where the first person using the name resided, and sig- nifies, "Dweller at a Bent, or Moor, over- grown with bennet, or bent-grass." Bardsley, another authority of recognized standing, attributes the origin of the name to a priestly class. He says : "Our 'Ben- nets' once performed the function of exor- cists, and by the imposition of hands, and the aspersion of holy water expelled evil spirits from those said to be thus possessed." The name is on record in England as early as 1256, which is the period when surnames began to come into general use in England.
Wilbur R. Bennett is one of the almost innumerable descendants of Adriaense Bennet, an English cooper, who emigrated to the Netherlands prior to 1636. Later he came to America, and bought a large tract of land from the Indians at Gowanus. He married Mary Badye, widow of Wil- liam Bredenbent, by whom he had six children. His numerous descendants are scattered throughout the country, and number many noteworthy individuals.
Mr. Bennett's father, Joseph Bennett,
was born in Brooklyn, New York, August 6, 1847. The breaking out of the Civil War found him in school, and still a lad, but he enlisted in the Sixth United States Infantry as a drummer boy. He enlisted in 1861, and was discharged in 1864. He was with the regiment all through its service, including the second battle of Bull Run and Gettysburg. After the war he was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, in New Britain. He lived in Fair Haven, Connecticut, and later came to Hartford and went to work for Pratt & Whitney. Here his ability for painstaking attention to detail won him a reputation as a steel expert, and he re- mained in their employ for twenty-four years. By this time he was a valuable man, and when he left there and went to the American Hardware Corporation in New Britain he was considered an acqui- sition. After about five years there, he went to the New Departure Company, of Bristol, and remained there until his death. He married Delia, daughter of the Rev. Rufus Reynolds, whose last appoint- ment was in New Britain. Joseph and Delia Bennett were the parents of several children, of whom three grew to maturity. These were : Wilbur R., of whom further ; Ethel, who married W. A. Renne; Ruth, a well known musician of New Britain.
Wilbur R. Bennett, proprietor of the Bennett Metal Treating Company, of Elmwood, was born in New Britain, Connecticut, January 26, 1872. He was educated in the New Britain grammar and high schools. He early showed an in- terest in the line of work in which his father had become expert. In his eight- eenth year he entered the employ of the Pratt & Whitney Company, of Hartford, and learned the steel treating business, which is far more an art than a trade, requiring a nicety of judgment and del-
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
icacy of touch uncomprehended by an outsider. He remained there eleven years, then went to the Stanley Works, in New Britain, where he was employed for seven years. From there he went to the New Departure Company, of Bristol, where he remained for five or six years. There he had charge of the steel treating depart- ment, the character of their work demand- ing the attention of a man thoroughly skilled in this line. In 1915 Mr. Bennett started in business for himself, and since that very recent date has built up a busi- ness of more than local importance. the foundation being sheer excellence in the work turned out. He draws his patrons from a territory covering a radius of five hundred miles of Hartford, and this in- cludes the manufacturing centers of the East, and some of the oldest established manufacturing concerns of the continent. This business is one of the largest of its kind in New England. Mr. Bennett was recently elected president and treasurer of the W. R. Bennett Company, manufac- turers of steel treating furnaces, which were invented and patented by Mr. Ben- net himself. These furnaces are being shipped all over the world, and mark a point of progress in the steel industry which will be noted by coming genera- tions. Mr. Bennett is a man still in the prime of life, and his achievements at his age are worthy of more than passing re- mark. He is an example of what a young man may do who will specialize in some congenial line of effort, and by patient and intelligent application to theory, as well as practice, place his name on the long and honored list of creative workers. Mr. Bennett is a member of Harmony Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of New Britain.
Mr. Bennett married Margaret, daugh- ter of Christopher Hart, of New Britain,
and they are the parents of three children : Marian, Mildred, and Russell Wilbur. The family are very prominent socially, and interested in all forward movements that make for the progress of the com- munity.
STONER, Louis Emory,
Manufacturer.
Practical industries build character ; they establish, in the men who spend their lives in practical pursuits, the stable, every day habits which become, in the final analysis, constancy and uprightness of character. With every generation of men engaged in useful pursuits, the trend of the public conscience is toward a noble social order, and, away from idleness and degradation, becomes stronger, and indi- vidual character is enriched, broadened and deepened by responsibility. The highest attainments are reached by men whose training in youth has been in use- ful pursuits, and in whom habits of in- dustry have been established while they were still passing through those years in which their character was formed. One of the noteworthy examples of this funda- mental law of society is Louis Emory Stoner, one of the prominent manufac- turers of Hartford.
The name Stoner was originally derived from one of the oldest and most useful of the industries, that of stone-cutter, or stone-mason. According to Harrison, in his "English Surnames," the name Stone is formed of the old English word, stan, meaning stone, and "the agent in the suffix, er."
Mr. Stoner's grandfather. George Ston- er, lived in McConnellsburg, Fulton county, Pennsylvania, and was a cabinet maker. He was a man of great skill, and many fine specimens of his work are still
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
treasured by householders of that sec- tion. He enlisted in the Civil War from McConnellsburg, and died of disease dur- ing the war, somewhere on the Lower Mississippi.
His son, Merrick A. Stoner, was born in McConnellsburg, in 1860, and died in 1900. He was educated in the public schools, and later entered the laundry business, which he followed nearly all his life. He engaged in the laundry bus- iness in different cities in which he lived ; Bedford, Pennsylvania ; Cincinnati, Ohio; Washington, D. C .; and Bayonne, New Jersey. He came to Hartford in 1895 to assume the managership of the Empire Steam Laundry, which is still one of the principal laundries of the city. He married Mary, daughter of John Dicken, of Bedford, Pennsylvania, and they were the parents of three children : George J., now an attorney of Hartford ; Louis Em- ory, of whom further; and Bessie, who married Fred G. Abby, of Los Angeles. His wife still survives him, and is a mem- ber of the First Baptist Church.
Louis Emory Stoner was born in Bed- ford, Pennsylvania, April 27, 1881, son of Merrick A. and Mary (Dicken) Stoner. He attended the public schools in the various cities in which his parents re- sided, completing his formal education in the Hartford Public High School. Being a young man of observant and studious habits, and possessing a retentive mem- ory, his real education was by no means confined to the lessons which he had learned from his text-books. He was bet- ter prepared than most youths to enter a business career. He entered the employ of the City Bank of Hartford, beginning as a messenger. He soon showed himself capable of the faithful discharge of more important duties, and was advanced to more responsible positions. His prog-
ress upward was steady and sure, and he at length became assistant cashier. He resigned, after eighteen years of service, in February, 1915, to become treasurer and manager of the Hartford Morris Plan Company. He remained there until April, 1916, when he became the treasurer of the Jacobs Manufacturing Company. He was elected president and treasurer upon the death of Arthur I. Jacobs. This is one of the many important manufacturing firms of Hartford. Since Mr. Stoner's connec- tion with the firm the business has felt a new impetus, while being carried along strictly in the same spirit of business in- tegrity and progress as heretofore. Mr. Stoner takes an active interest in the busi- ness, and is familiar with the work done in all departments. He is a member of the Hartford Club, the Farmington Coun- try Club, the City Club, of Hartford, the Hartford Gun Club. He is an out-door man in his tastes, is active and full of the keenest interest in all the out-door world, but his favorite sports are hunting and fishing. He is a director of five important Hartford concerns: The Jacobs Manu- facturing Company, the Rhodes Manu- facturing Company, the Hartford Morris Plan Company, the American Industrial Bank & Trust Company, and the Whit- lock Coil Pipe Company.
Mr. Stoner married Clara, daughter of Arthur I. Jacobs, a sketch of whose life appears elsewhere in this work. They are the parents of two sons, Arthur M., and Louis B. Stoner. The family are members of the First Baptist Church.
Mr. Stoner is a man of very pleasing personality, a man who meets his fellow- citizens with a frank and sincere interest, and gives of the wealth of his broad and generous nature to make the world about him a better place in which to live.
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الكسي
누구
John F Wade
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
WADE, John Franklin,
Manufacturer, Public Official.
John Franklin Wade was born June 29, 1860, at Tallokas, Brooks county, Georgia, the son of Thomas and Mary (Oliver) Wade.
His early life was spent on a cotton farm. He attended the schools of the vil- lage. In his twenty-first year, not being satisfied on the farm, he went to Florida in search of other employment, and for a time worked on orange groves. In Octo- ber of 1881, he entered the employ of the S. B. Hubbard Company, of Jacksonville, Florida, a large wholesale and retail store of hardware and building material. In February, 1884, he traveled through Texas, finally locating at Dallas. Not finding employment there in the hardware business, he worked on a farm near Dallas until September, returning to Jackson- ville, Florida, reentering the employ of the S. B. Hubbard Company, remaining for a few months until he had a better offer with the Drew Hardware Company of the same city. He remained there until October, 1885, when he entered the em- ploy of the Rockwell & Kinnie Company, of Jacksonville, Florida, which position he held until they closed out their busi- ness in February, 1889. He left Jackson- ville, March 2, 1889, for Bristol, Connec- ticut, and joined A. F. Rockwell, March 5, 1889, in starting the manufacturing of what was then known as the New De- parture Bell. He started as an ordinary laborer, taking anything that came to hand, having no experience in the manu- facturing business. The business was later organized into the New Departure Bell Company, continuing until 1896, when it was changed to the New De- parture Manufacturing Company. He worked up from the position of ordinary laborer to that of contractor, thus serving
for a year, and then was placed as fore- man in one of the departments, remaining in this position from nine to ten months. He was made general superintendent of the plant, which position he held until August, 1904.
The German government had passed laws whereby they would not protect any foreign patents unless the goods were manufactured in Germany. As he was familiar with the manufacture of New Departure goods, Mr. Rockwell selected him as the man to establish a foreign branch in Germany. Mr. Wade fulfilled his mission most satisfactorily, remaining in Germany as general manager of the New Departure Manufacturing Company until January, 1910. The company then had an offer for the sale of their patents in Germany which they accepted, and their machinery was sold to parties in Birmingham, England, and the business closed out in Germany. After a short time spent in Paris, Mr. Wade returned to the United States, resuming connec- tions with the New Departure Manufac- turing Company, continuing as general superintendent until October, 1915, when he severed his connections, becoming works manager of the Bristol Brass Com- pany, which position he holds at present. He is a director of the Bristol Brass Com- pany, and of the Bryce Manufacturing Company of Forestville, Connecticut.
Mr. Wade has long been active in Bris- tol's public life. In 1899 he was elected burgess on the Board of Wardens and Burgesses. In 1901-02-03-04 he was elected warden, his departure for Berlin, Germany, interrupting his public service. After his return to Bristol in February, 1910, he was reelected warden of the bor- ough in April and held that position until the town and borough government were united under the form of a city govern- ment. He then had the honor of being
CoDD-7-5
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
elected the first mayor of the city of Bris- tol, which position he held for two years, at which time he retired from public life, but remaining an earnest, interested citi- zen, helpful and patriotic.
Mr. Wade married (first) in 1886, Emma G. Ponder, of Jacksonville, Flor- ida. There were two children of this union : John Franklin, born May 10, 1888, in Jacksonville, and Walter Rock- well, born March 23, 1890, at Bristol, Con- necticut. Mrs. Wade died August 12, 1904. Shortly after her death Mr. Wade and sons went to Berlin, Germany, John F., the eldest son, returning immediately to America to attend a business college in Hartford, Connecticut, from which he graduated, returning to Germany in De- cember, 1905. He entered the employ of the New Departure Manufacturing Com- pany in Bristol, Connecticut, taking up the branch of heat-treating, carbonizing and hardening. He passed his examina- tion with the United States Government as a metallurgist, and is now employed by the Marlin-Rockwell Company of Plain- ville, Connecticut, in charge of the heat- treating department. The youngest son, Walter R., remained with his father in Germany, attending a gymnasium school there for about three years. He then re- turned to America, finishing his educa- tion in Bristol, Connecticut. He served his time as a tool maker, and with his knowledge of tool making and manufac- turing became a skilled mechanic. With two years' experience, after the outbreak of the war, working on gauge work, jigs, and fixtures, he became very familiar with the machine gun business. A short time after entering the army he was placed in the ordnance department as Machine Gun Instructor, in which ca- pacity he remained after going to France. Mr. Wade returned to America in Janu- ary, 1906, and on January 17, 1906, was
married to Virginia B. Edmonson, of Tal- lokas, Georgia. One son, Edmond, was born of this union, February 12, 19II.
HAMBLIN, Frank Milton, Physician, Hospital Official.
The name Hamelin is still a common one in France and in England, and is found from the date of the compilation of Battle Abbey Roll as Hamelyn, Hamlin and Hamlyn. The German form of the name is Hamblen. In the United States, Hamblin and Hamlin is the usual form. As the name appears on Battle Abbey Roll it is supposed that a follower of the Conqueror brought it from Normandy. Many of the names bore arms, as regis- tered in the Herald College, and in this country Hamlins were arrayed as sol- diers in liberty's armies. The most dis- tinguished representative of the family in the public life was Hannibal Hamlin, Vice-President of the United States, the friend and contemporary of Abraham Lincoln, United States Senator from Maine, and United States Minister to Spain.
The American ancestor was James Hamlin, who came from New England to Barnstable, Massachusetts, where he was admitted a freeman, March 1, 1614. In the sixth American generation, Thomas Hamlin left Barnstable, made several re- movals, finally settling in New York State. His son, Captain Jabez Hamlin, of Columbia county, New York, was the father of Rev. Jabez Hamlin, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, who married Esther, daughter of Rev. Ebene- zer Snow, the first minister of the Second Baptist Church of Westfield, Massachu- setts. Rev. Jabez Hamlin had ten chil- dren, including the founder of the West- ern New York branches of the family, notably Cicero Hamlin, one of Buffalo's
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greatest merchants and the owner of the world famous Hamlin Stock Farm, the liome of "Marubrino King," "Chimes," "Almont, Jr." and the beautiful record breaking "Belle Hamlin," names once to conjure with in the sportsman's world.
The Hamlins in earlier generations in- termarried with the Hallett family of New England, and in several instances Hallett was used as a given name. This was the case in this branch, a Hallett Hamblin, of Cayuga, New York, being the father of Rev. Milton Hamblin, and grandfather of Dr. Frank Milton Hamb- lin, as the name seems to be spelled in this branch. Dr. Hamblin was for ten years in medical practice in New York State, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, before coming to Bristol, Connecticut, where he has been in continuous and successful practice since 1909. He practices accord- ing to the school founded by the great physician, Hahnemann, and has estab- lished in Bristol a large clientele of de- voted followers of that school of medicine and of Dr. Hamblin, its talented ex- ponent.
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