USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 8 > Part 43
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Mr. Cowles married Louise Marcia Pfarrius, daughter of Ernst and Emma (Tannatt) Pfarrius, and they are the parents of Ernest Francis, and Francis Russel.
McHARG, Henry King, Man of Affairs.
Mr. McHarg's long record as a suc- cessful man of affairs renders the inscrip-
tion of his name at the head of this article an amply sufficient introduction not only to his fellow-citizens of Stamford, but also to the general public. Mr. McHarg is now president of the Detroit & Mack- inac Railroad Company, and director of the Manhattan Bank of New York City.
The name of the family of which Mr. McHarg is a representative is Graham, McHarg being its backward spelling with changing of "a" to "c." Tradition says that one of the family fled from Scotland, probably to Ireland, and that when he re- turned to his native land, in order to escape persecution, he changed the pa- tronymic to its present form. The earliest ancestor on record was William de Gra- ham, who settled in Scotland not long after the beginning of the twelfth cen- tury. The name is a local one, its Scottish form being Graeme, but its ter- mination proves it beyond doubt to have been originally English.
(I) John McHarg was born in 1733, in Wigtownshire, Scotland, and in 1774 emigrated to the American colonies, set- tling in Galway, Saratoga county, New York. He was one of the twelve heads of families who founded that settlement. The year after his arrival witnessed the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, and he gave proof of loyalty to his adopted country by serving as a soldier in Colonel John Beekman's regiment, being also a member of Jacob Schermerhorn's class. After the war he conducted a retail dry goods store in Albany, New York. Mr. McHarg married, in Scotland, Griselda Kelly, who was born in 1748, in the town of Ayr, and their children were: Mar- garet, Anne, Alexander, William, men- tioned below ; a daughter, name unknown ; Jane, or Janet; Mary, died in infancy ; Mary (2), and Sarah. All these, with the exception of the two eldest, were born after their parents came to America. John
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McHarg died in Albany, December 23, 1803, and his widow passed away in that city, September 20, 1843, at the venerable age of ninety-five.
(II) William McHarg, son of John and Griselda (Kelly) McHarg, was born in March, 1778, in Galway, Saratoga county, New York, and succeeded his father in the latter's business in Albany. That was years before the building of the Erie canal, and people came in sleighs to pur- chase goods which they exchanged for such commodities as the Indians could furnish. After the building of the canal it was used by Mr. McHarg as a means of transportation for his merchandise. When the Hudson River railroad was built he foresaw, with the acuteness of the true business man, that the majority of those who had heretofore supplied their wants in Albany would not hesitate to proceed directly to New York. Mr. Mc- Harg married, April 16, 1810, Sophia King, whose ancestral record is appended to this biography, and they became the parents of the following children : Sophia Anne, John, mentioned below; Margaret, William Neill, Rufus King, and Charles King. The death of William McHarg occurred January 27, 1865, in Albion, Or- leans county, New York.
(III) John McHarg, son of William and Sophia (King) McHarg, was born June 3, 1813, and as a young man was advised by his father to open a store in New York City, which, even then, had been for some years recognized as one of the future world centers of trade. Mr. McHarg followed the advice, with re- sults which fully justified it, but in the panic of 1857 his establishment proved to be one of those which failed to weather that fearful storm. His Southern trade had been particularly large. Mr. Mc- Harg married, March 6, 1838, in Hamil- ton, Massachusetts. Martha W. Patch,
daughter of Tracey Patch, a sea captain of Cape Cod. Mr. McHarg enlisted in the Civil War with the rank of captain, and served as aide-de-camp on the staff of General Martindale. The following chil- dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. McHarg: I. Sophia King, born March 4, 1840, in Al- bany ; married, December 23, 1863, Gen- eral Horace Porter, of Harrisburg, Penn- sylvania, United States army, who died May 29, 1921; Mrs. Porter died April 6, 1903, in Paris, France. 2. John William, born April 3, 1843; married, November 6, 1873, Harriet Schuyler Delavan, of Al- bany, who died July 4, 1906, leaving no children. 3. Theodore, born February 19, 1845, died in New York City, November 26, 1867. 4. Henry King, mentioned be- low. Mr. McHarg died January 4, 1884, in New York, and his widow passed away September 8, 1885.
(IV) Henry King McHarg, son of John and Martha W. (Patch) McHarg, . was born February 6, 1851, and received his education in Dr. Reed's Walnut Hill boarding school, at Geneva, New York. On completing his course of study he went to New York City and entered the office of the late Le Grande Lockwood. That was in 1866, and he remained with Mr. Lockwood until 1869, when failure caused the dissolution of the business. Mr. McHarg then became assistant cor- responding clerk in the Third National Bank, but at the expiration of a year failing health obliged him to withdraw for a time from the activities of business. The day following his twenty-first birth- day he became a member of the New York Stock Exchange and is now one of the oldest on its roll. Until about nine years ago he was actively engaged in the bond business.
The railroad interests of Mr. McHarg have for a long period been numerous and important. When the Texas Central
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Railroad Company was overtaken by dis- aster he purchased the road, reorganized and rebuilt it, and for about twenty years served as its president. Later he bought the old Marietta & Northern Georgia railroad, which he reorganized and de- veloped as the Atlanta, Knoxville & Northern. For seven or eight years he was connected with the road, developing it into a fine piece of property. He was one of the original men interested in de- veloping the West Shore railroad, and later was president of the Virginia & Southwestern Railroad Company. In 1903 he bought the control of the Detroit & Mackinac railroad, and has ever since been president of the company.
The above record makes it clear that Mr. McHarg's railroad work has invari- ably been constructive. While the ele- ment of speculation which is never wholly absent from any business undertaking had its part in his ventures, more espe- cially as they were all the rehabilitation of unsuccessful enterprises, he has con- tributed substantially to the advancement of the railroad interests of the last third of a century, having imparted to every- thing he undertook some portion of his vitalizing energy.
The business career of Mr. McHarg began in 1873, when he went into the bond and investment business in part- nership with William Adams, under the firm name of Adams & McHarg. At the end of twelve years the connection was severed and Mr. McHarg continued the business alone. For some years he was a director of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, and since 1883 he has held a directorship in the Manhattan National Bank, in which for over twenty years he held the office of vice-president. His clubs are the Union and Down Town, of New York City. Yachting was always his favorite recrea-
tion, and for a number of years he owned a very pretty schooner. He attends and supports St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church of Stamford.
Mr. McHarg married, July 21, 1875, Frederica Bremer Britton, and they have been the parents of the following chil- dren: 1. Edith May, born May 4, 1876; did not live. 2. John, born December 22, 1877 ; did not live. 3. Madeline B., born November 26, 1878; died December 10, 1881. 4. Henry King, Jr., born October 30, 1883; married Jane, daughter of Thomas J. Craven, of Salem, New Jersey, and has three children; Jane Craven, Henry King (3), and Esther Belle. 5. Marion Adelaide, born January 28, 1886; married (first) George Venable, and has one daughter, Frederica; married (sec- ond) Ernest Roentgen, nephew of the discoverer of the X-ray; they have one daughter.
For thirty years Mr. McHarg has been a resident of Stamford, and during that time he has been a leader in everything that has been done for the welfare of the town. The time will come when the ex- tent of his benefactions will be known, but Mr. McHarg has shown an inflexible determination that in his benevolences his left hand should not know what his right hand doeth. All that may be said now is that the Stamford Hospital, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Ferguson Library, the Associated Chari- ties, and the Presbyterian and St. John's Episcopal churches are indebted beyond anyone's surmise to his generosity and public spirit.
(The King Line).
Joshua King was born November 24, 1758, at Braintree (now Quincy), Massa- chusetts. His father was one of three brothers who came from England. When the American army surrounded Boston,
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Joshua, then a lad of sixteen, left home, at his own independent option, to join it. By reason of his youth and his capacity he was appointed fifer, but in due time he was admitted to the ranks for more direct soldierly service, being placed in the cavalry, and gradually promoted. He became Lieutenant King, and had the special distinction of acting as escort to the unfortunate André, from his capture to his execution. General King, as he was popularly called, married, April 18, 1784, Anne Ingersoll (see Ingersoll line), and their children were: Catherine, Fanny, Sophia, mentioned below; John Francis, Rufus Howard, Anne Maria, Charles, Joshua Ingersoll, Mary Anne, and Grace Ingersoll. General King died August 13, 1839, his wife having passed away De- cember 30, 1838.
Sophia King, daughter of Joshua and Anne (Ingersoll) King, was born March II, 1790, and became the wife of Wil- liam McHarg, as stated above. Mrs. Mc- Harg died March 24, 1838.
(The Ingersoll Line).
(I) John Ingersoll, of Hartford, mar- ried, about 1667, Mary Hunt, daughter of and Mary (Webster) Hunt, and granddaughter of John Webster, one of the first settlers of Hartford, Connecticut, and fifth governor of that Commonwealth. John Webster, who was a native of War- wickshire, England, and a lineal ancestor of the eminent lexicographer, Noah Web- ster, died April 5, 1661. About 1665 John Ingersoll removed to Northampton, Mas- sachusetts.
(II) Jonathan Ingersoll, son of John and Mary (Hunt) Ingersoll, was born May 10, 1681, in Westfield, Massachu- setts, and during the greater part of his life lived in Milford, where he died, No- vember 28, 1760, his wife, Sarah, having passed away February 14, 1748.
(III) Jonathan (2) Ingersoll, son of Jonathan (1) and Sarah Ingersoll, was born in 1713, at Milford (or Stratford), and 1736 graduated from Yale College. On November 8, 1738, he was installed as pastor of the Congregational church of Ridgefield, and served it for the remainder of his life, a period of nearly forty years. In 1759, during the French War, he served as chaplain of a Connecticut regiment. Mr. Ingersoll married, November 10, 1740, Dorcas Moss (see Moss line), and his death occurred October 2, 1778. His widow passed away September 29, 1811.
(IV) Anne Ingersoll, daughter of Jon- athan (2) and Dorcas (Moss) Ingersoll, was born April 5, 1765, and became the wife of Joshua King (see King line).
(The Moss Line).
(I) John Moss was born in England, in 1619, and in 1639 settled in New Haven, Connecticut, removing, in 1670, to Wal- lingford. His death occurred in 1708.
(II) Joseph Moss, son of John Moss, was born in 1651, in New Haven, where he passed his entire life, holding various offices in that city. He married, April II, 1667, Mary
(III) Joseph (2) Moss, son of Joseph (1) and Mary Moss, was born April 7, 1679, and received from Yale College the honorary degree of Master of Arts with the first class which graduated from that institution, which was in 1702. After teaching a classical school at Derby, he became pastor of the Congregational church in that town, and served it for twenty years. He died January 23, 1732. Mr. Moss was the author of several books, and no clergyman of his time enjoyed a higher reputation.
(IV) Dorcas Moss, daughter of Joseph (2) Moss, was born in 1726, in Derby, and became the wife of the Rev. Jonathan In- gersoll (see Ingersoll line).
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BENNETT, Edwin B.,
Manufacturer, Public-Spirited Citizen.
The name we have just written is familiar as that of president of the Ben- nett Wire Company, not only to Mr. Ben- nett's fellow-citizens of Norwalk, but also to the manufacturing world of the United States and Canada. As a citizen who ever studies the best interests of his commun- ity, Mr. Bennett is numbered among the most highly respected residents of Nor- walk.
The name of Bennett is of Latin origin, signifying blessed, and is derived from the personal name Benedict. £ In the reigns of Edwards Second and Third, of England, it is found under the forms of Fitz-Benedict, Benediscite, Bendiste, Ben- edick and Bennett. It is also said to mean a place overgrown with bennet or bent grass, and hence, a dweller at such a place.
(I) James Bennett, founder of the Fair- field and Compo branch of the family, was born in England, in 1616. He emi- grated to the Massachusetts Colony, set- tled in Concord, and in 1637 was made a freeman. In 1639 he married Hannah Wheeler, daughter of Lieutenant Thomas Wheeler, of Concord, and in 1644, in com- pany with his father-in-law and many other residents of that place, he removed to the Connecticut Colony. This migra- tion was called the Concord Exodus. The settlers found homes in what is now Fair- field, and James Bennett, with nine others, founded what is now the city of Bridgeport, but which then received the name of Stratfield. He became a man of prominence in the colony, and for many years was deputy to the Colonial Assem- bly. He was lieutenant of the Train Band, and one of the founders of what later became the First Congregational Church of Bridgeport. He was buried in the old Stratfield burying-ground.
(II) Thomas Bennett, son of James and Hannah (Wheeler) Bennett, was born in 1642, and lived with his father until 1664, when he was made a freeman. He purchased land in Sasco (Southport), and in 1668 married Elizabeth Thompson, daughter of John Thompson, of Strat- field. Later he bought the rights of Emma, widow of the Rev. John Jones, in her husband's parsonage, which faced the common, southeast of the town hall, Fair- field. In his latter years he removed to Compo, where he died in 1704.
(III) Thomas (2) Bennett, son of Thomas (1) and Elizabeth (Thompson) Bennett, married Sarah Hubbell.
(IV) Thomas (3) Bennett, son of Thomas (2) and Sarah (Hubbell) Ben- nett, was born in 1694. He married (first) Mary Rowland, and (second) Mercy Schofield.
(V) Nathan Bennett, son of Thomas (3) and Mary (Rowland) Bennett, was born March 4, 1725, in Compo, now West- port, and married Hannah Sturges, daughter of John Sturges, of Fairfield. Nathan Bennett died October 5, 1792.
(VI) Elias Bennett, son of Nathan and Hannah (Sturges) Bennett, was born May 10, 1752, in Compo, and in 1773 was made a freeman. During the War of the Revolution he served first as a member of the Coast Guard, and participated in the battle of Ridgefield in which General Wooster was killed. Later he was a mu- sician in Captain Lemuel Clift's company, Ist Regiment, Connecticut Line, and in 1840 was a war pensioner. He married (first) Anna Crossman, born November 25, 1756, daughter of John and Annie (Allen) Crossman, and (second) Eliza- beth Squires. About the time of his first marriage he removed to Weston, where he died in 1842, and was buried in the- Kettle Creek burying-ground.
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(VII) Elias (2) Bennett, son of Elias (1) and Anna (Crossman) Bennett, was born December 25, 1778, in Westport, and early in life began the manufacture of flour sieves, making his netting from horsehair, and these he peddled about the country himself. For a long period he was engaged in teaching, having charge of one district school for twelve years. In politics he was an old-time Whig. While engaged in teaching his health failed and he became a post rider on the road from Bridgeport to Weston, Redding and Georgetown. By many he was called "Post Bennett." He and his family were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He married, about 1804, in Redding or Weston, Mary Perry, some account of whose family is appended to this biography. Mrs. Bennett died in 1853. She and her husband were the par- ents of the following children : Sturges, mentioned below; Mary, born in 1807, died in 1822 ; Aaron, born in 1810, died in 1890; Burr, born in 1813, died in 1887; William, born in 1818, died in 1899; and Samuel, born in 1822, died in 1889. Elias (2) Bennett died April 10, 1863, in Georgetown, Connecticut. It is evident that he was a man of fine mental endow- ments, for although he received only a common school education at a time when common schools were not what they are now, he was a remarkably successful teacher. He and his wife are buried in the Umpawaug Cemetery, in Redding. The death of Mr. Bennett occurred at the home of his son, Sturges, the eldest of the family, and in some respects its most noteworthy member.
(VIII) Sturges Bennett, son of Elias (2) and Mary (Perry) Bennett, was born in 1805, and it is not improbable that as a youth he sometimes assisted his father, "Post Bennett," in distributing through various towns the Bridgeport "Standard"
and "Farmer," and the Norwalk "Ga- zette."
Events proved, however, that he was destined for a wider field of action than any in which his ancestors had moved. In 1830 he married (first) Charlotte Gil- bert, daughter of Benjamin Gilbert, hav- ing been admitted in 1828 to partnership in Mr. Gilbert's business. This event it was which broadened his sphere and marked the beginning, from a temporal point of view, of the great success of his entire life.
After the death of Mr. Bennett's first wife, who was the mother of all his children, he married (second) Betsey 'A. Burchard. On May 30, 1880, Mr. Ben- nett passed away, having completed fifty-two years in the service of the enter- prise in the upbuilding of which he had been so largely instrumental.
(IX) Eli G. Bennett, son of Sturges and Charlotte (Gilbert) Bennett, was born February 2, 1831, in Georgetown, and there grew to manhood. In 1855 he grad- uated from Amherst College, afterward associating himself with his father's busi- ness in the capacity of bookkeeper.
After the Civil War, Mr. Bennett sev- ered his connection with the firm of Gil- bert, Bennett & Company, establishing himself independently as a general mer- chant in Georgetown. About 1880 he disposed of the business and removed to Brooklyn, New York, in order to assume the position of bookkeeper in the New York office of the Gilbert & Bennett Man- ufacturing Company.
In politics, Mr. Bennett was a Repub- lican, but never in the least a politician, the only office which he ever held being that of justice of the peace. He and his family were members of the Congrega- tional church, in which for some years he served as deacon.
Mr. Bennett married Mary Esther
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Birchard, daughter of Edwin Birchard, of Cannon Station, in the town of Wilton, and their children were: Eli Sturges, of Brooklyn, New York; Mary Esther, also of that city ; Jennie, wife of I. D. Hurlbutt, of Brooklyn; Edwin B., mentioned be- low; and Charles, of Brooklyn. About twenty years before his death, which oc- curred July 10, 1920, Mr. Bennett retired from active business. He was a man of more than ordinary executive talent, and was highly esteemed as a useful and public-spirited citizen.
(X) Edwin B. Bennett, son of Eli G. and Mary Esther (Birchard) Bennett, was born April 23, 1869, in Georgetown, Connecticut, and received his education in the public schools of his native place.
After completing his course of study Mr. Bennett, true to the traditions of his family, entered the service of the Gilbert & Bennett Manufacturing Company, re- ceiving his initiation in the business in which his father and grandfather had ren- dered such notable assistance. It soon became evident that he had inherited a full measure of their ability and also of their energy and aggressiveness, and dur- ing the twenty-two years of his connec- tion with the firm he did much for the strengthening and expansion of the busi- ness, serving for the greater part of the time as salesman.
A spirit of enterprise, however, has al- ways been one of Mr. Bennett's dominant characteristics, and in 1907 he established his present business. From a small be- ginning the concern has grown to note- worthy proportions, and is now numbered among Norwalk's most substantial indus- tries. The product is wire cloth, sold directly to stores and manufacturers of wire cloth goods, and finds a market in every part of the United States and also in Canada, having a growing export trade. In 1912 the business was incorporated as
the Bennett Wire Company, with Mr. Bennett as president, an office which he has since continuously retained.
While predominantly a business man, Mr. Bennett never forgets that he is a citizen, and any cause or movement hav- ing for its object the improvement of community conditions invariably enlists the support of his influence and means. He and his family are members of Grace Dutch Reformed Church of Brooklyn, New York.
Mr. Bennett married Isabelle W. Gib- son, daughter of James D. Gibson, a na- tive of Edinburgh, Scotland, who emi- grated to the United States. Since the age of nine years Mr. Gibson has been a resident of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett are the parents of one child : Birchard Gibson, born January 17, 1902.
Edwin B. Bennett is the son and grand- son of men who gave the best years of their lives to the upbuilding of a great in- dustry, and he himself, as a representa- tive of the third generation, has ably and worthily carried on the work. As head of a large and constantly growing enter- prise in the same line of endeavor, he has added to the long-established prestige of the family name.
(The Gilbert Line).
The name Gilbert, which has been as- sociated for more than a century with a manufacturing enterprise of National rep- utation, is of French origin, and is a personal name which was largely intro- duced into England at the time of the Norman Conquest in the form of Gisle- bertus. The meaning is pledge, or host- age-bright. Not only is it a very common surname, but it is the source from which are derived Gibb, Gibbs, Gybbes, Gibbard, Gibbings, Gibbonson, Gibson, Gill, Gilks, Gilpin and many others.
Benjamin Gilbert, founder of the busi-
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ness which to this day bears his name, was born in 1788, in Connecticut, and fol- lowed the shoemaker's trade in the town of Weston, in that State. This was after the War of 1812. He also was master of the trades of tanning and currying, but in none of the three branches of industry in which he was proficient was he to find the key to his future prosperity. Those were the days when families made their own meal, sifting it from the bran through sieves made of horsehair. Benjamin Gilbert was a man alert to opportunity, and his far-seeing mind quickly discerned the latent possibilities of the manufacture of these articles. Abandoning his shoe- maker's last, he embarked in the manu- facture of horsehair sieves. His place of business was the basement of his house, and his entire factory force consisted of his wife and daughters, who wove the hair while he shaved wooden hoops to form the rims of his sieves. The year of the humble beginning of this great business was 1818.
The horsehair sieve market not prov- ing as large as he had anticipated, Mr. Gilbert increased his business by adding the manufacture of curled hair, used for cushions, mattresses and furniture. He moved from Weston to Georgetown, Con- necticut, fifty miles from New York City, where the business continues to this day. In 1826 he installed and put into opera- tion the first machinery ever used in pick- ing hair, and about the same time he leased a small part of an old sawmill, thus obtaining a separate factory at last. It was at this early period of the progress which subsequently increased so amaz- ingly that Sturges Bennett was admitted to partnership, the style of the firm be- coming Gilbert & Bennett. In 1832 Wil- liam J. Gilbert, a son of the founder, was also admitted, the firm name being changed to Gilbert, Bennett & Company.
In 1834 fine wire was substituted for horsehair in the manufacture of their product, and the old Red Mill was pur- chased. Thenceforth the history of the enterprise is that of a rapid and continu- ous march of progress.
Edwin Gilbert, son of Benjamin Gil- bert, became a member of the firm in 1844, and with his brother, William J., and E. O. Hurlbutt, comprised the selling force. Even under the difficult selling . conditions of those days, the sale of their goods spread as far as the Western Re- serve of Ohio, but very few, indeed, fore- saw the time when the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company would run their rails alongside factories of the Gilbert, Bennett & Company and on them take out shipments for all parts of the United States. In 1852 a store was opened in New York City, and in 1885 the firm was established in Chicago. Ben- jamin Gilbert, the founder, conducted the business to the last day of his life, pass- ing away in 1847. On May 30, 1874, the company was incorporated under the name of The Gilbert & Bennett Manu- facturing Company, with Sturges Bennett as president. In the simple statement of this fact may be read the whole narrative of the important part Mr. Bennett had played in the progress of the business almost from the first day of his connection with it. His cool, calm judgment, his unceasing vigilance, and his indefatigable industry, had been of inestimable value during the struggling years of the enter- prise, and continued to be so when he became its leader. In 1876 he resigned the presidency, but remained to the close of his life a director of the company.
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