USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 9 > Part 54
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seem remarkable that one so young should have had the self-confidence necessary to embark in such responsible undertakings, but it must be remembered that young Clark had been trained to apply such knowledge as he possessed to the every- day work of life.
Mr. Clark's first opening came when he was seventeen years of age. He had made his first trip to Savannah, Georgia, where he worked as a common hand with the darkies in a sawmill, and was in a strange country, without friends and without money. But his opportunity came, and he did not let it slip. The mainshaft in the mill broke, and there was every prospect of its being shut down for weeks, as it was thought there was no one at hand capable of doing the repairing. But here Mr. Clark's knowledge of blacksmithing came to his aid. He welded the shaft, and thus brought himself into notice. and he was given the contract for the erection of three large steam saw mills in Georgia, which within five months were sawing over 400,000 feet of pine daily. They were completed before he was eighteen. Mr. Clark had early formed a partnership with his elder brother, who was a stone mason, and they continued together as Clark Brothers for over thirty years ; they have practically been associated in busi- ness all their lives. In a little autobiog- raphy, which Mr. Clark prepared at the solicitation of some of his numerous patrons interested in him, he says that their "first work done was to arrange for the support of the mother and family ; the second was to enter into an agreement that none of the brothers should ever make, buy, sell or use any spirituous or malt liquors. This agreement has been scrupulously kept." Remarkable record, indeed ! It serves but to show in a meas- ure the character that brought these brothers such an enviable standing with
unbounded success. Our subject has been an employer for over half a century, the number on his payroll usually running into the hundreds.
For about ten years Mr. Clark carried on shipbuilding in summer and house car- pentering in winter, working from Ban- gor to New Orleans. When he started on his first trip he had but $14 in his pocket, but during the winter he was able to send $200 in gold to his mother, in the spring adding to this $250. In whatever he un- dertook he was successful. In a letter written about this time he sounds the keynote of his success: "What I will to do I can do." In the fall of 1859 Mr. Clark engaged with a Meriden cutlery firm as a journeyman carpenter, at $1.75 per day, but within a couple of days the head man, Aaron Collins, discovered his ability, and at the next meeting Mr. Clark was made foreman of all the outside men at a salary of $10 per day. Always con- sidering his family, Mr. Clark soon ob- tained employment for his elder brother and the two were engaged for seven years with the Meriden company.
Meanwhile Mr. Clark had turned his at- tention to the improvement of agricul- tural implements, and in the fall of 1867 he and his brother commenced the erec- tion of a factory at Higganum. On its completion they went into the manufac- ture of mowing machines, for which George M. Clark had invented a new me- chanical movement. However, after con- tinuing the manufacture of these for a few months, they discovered that they were infringing on other patents, and rather than pay the extravagant royalty, they abandoned this line of business and commenced the manufacture of other agricultural implements. At the begin- ning of their operations a stock company was formed, of which George M. Clark was president, and his brother, Thomas
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J., vice-president. George M. Clark in- vented and patented a number of im- provements on agricultural implements, all of which were utilized by the com- pany. To perfect them it has been neces- sary to test them in the field, and in order to do this Mr. Clark has traveled some 600,000 miles over this continent.
Mr. Clark frequently took contracts for work outside of his manufacturing inter- ests. In 1871, while engaged in the con- struction of a dam, the derrick fell, killing one man, and seriously injuring Mr. Clark. During his ensuing long illness Mr. Clark invented a wire rope clamp, which he soon afterward patented, the first and only device used for this pur- pose effectually preventing the slipping of the rope; it has doubtless been the means of saving many lives. Tons of these clamps were used in the building of the New York tunnel, and by the well known engineer, John A. Roebling, of New York, who gave them his warmest ap- proval. On account of the success of this patent, another firm commenced manu- facturing a device, infringing upon Mr. Clark's patent. Instead of prosecuting them, he paid a visit to the offenders, ex- plained that he had thought out the in- vention almost upon his deathbed, and offered to let them dispose of the goods they had already manufactured, making no charge for the injury he had sustained. This is only one of the instances that may be mentioned indicating the sympathetic and generous nature of the man. All of his workmen find in him a sympathetic friend, whose purse is always open to al- leviate difficulties into which they have fallen. As an evidence of his farsighted- ness and good judgment, it is said of him that, although he has often taken con- tracts for work of which he had no per- sonal knowledge, he never made a mis- take in his calculations, or lost a dollar on a job.
On August 26, 1860, Mr. Clark was married to Clementine Isabel Bonfoey, daughter of Edwin B. Bonfoey, of Had- dam, and they have had four children: I. Estelle Eugenia, born September 17, 1864, married Clement S. Hubbard, of Middle- town, and has had three children : Frances Estelle (deceased), George Mar- shall and Clement Samuel. 2. Harriet Cynthia, born January 3, 1869, died Feb- ruary 25, 1873. 3 .- 4. Clementine Dolly and Isabel, twins, born August 26, 1871. Isabel died June 25, 1872. Clementine Dolly married Elmer S. Hubbard, son of Samuel Hubbard, of Middletown, Con- necticut, and they have one child, Beverly Raymond. Mrs. Clark has accompanied her husband on many of his journeys. and he attributes much of his success to her wise counsel and powers of observation. Mr. and Mrs. Clark are both attendants of the Congregational church at Higga- num, which he helped to raise when he was a mere boy, and has helped support the church ever since. His mother was a member of this church.
Mr. Clark is one of the Old Guard Re- publicans of this State. In 1856 we find him in Hartford as one of the organizers of the Republican party, and ever since he has earnestly contended for the faith of the party he helped to bring into exist- ence. He has, although a busy manufac- turer, with large interests involved. taken a commendably active part in politics, and is the leader of the Republican party in his section. For many years he repre- sented his town and district in the House and Senate, his senatorial district being the Twenty-first. He has been the chair- man of important committees, of which may be mentioned: Incorporation Com- mittee, three terms ; New Towns and Pro- bate Districts, two terms ; Appropriations, three terms; Contingent Expenses, five terms; and was an active and important member of the Insurance Committee.
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Throughout his service as a legislator, Mr. Clark endeavored to work in the in- terests of his constituents, without being in the slightest degree a respecter of per- sons, and hundreds of instances might be cited where he has worked for the poor and friendless, to the detriment, if any- thing, of his own interests, especially in a financial way. But he preserved his honor in his political career, as he has in every other relation of life. In 1885 he intro- duced fourteen bills to reform the methods of fire insurance companies doing busi- ness in the State, and during the contest was on the stand seventeen days, standing up against hundreds of millions. The fight was to insist upon insurance com- panies paying the full amount for which the property was insured.
For the last forty-six years Mr. Clark has been one of the town committee. He has endeared himself to his fellow towns- men, and although the town of Haddam is Democratic, and while twenty years ago the town gave a Democratic majority of 175, and prior to that 280, yet Mr. Clark was elected to the Legislature by a major- ity of 73. He was appointed a delegate from the town of Haddam to the Consti- tutional Convention held in Hartford in January, 1902, and was one of the ablest members of that body, taking a prominent part in its proceedings, by debate and otherwise, having prepared and published, prior to the assembling of the convention, a pamphlet in which he fully set forth his views of what, in his opinion, a correctly revised State constitution should be. His official work has been faithfully per- formed, constituting a most creditable public career. Naturally his acquaintance throughout the State is very large, and he has, deservedly, many warm personal friends at home and abroad.
Mr. Clark is an earnest and faithful patron of all objects of benevolence. He
is a Free Mason, having been a member of Columbia Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of East Haddam ; a charter mem- ber of Granite Lodge, of Haddam ; a mem- ber of Burning Bush Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of Essex; and of Cyrene Com- mandery, of Middletown. One act of benevolence that is not generally known, although worthy of the highest com- mendation, is the conveyance by Mr. Clark to his two brothers, without con- sideration, of his share of the Clark home- stead. In this beautiful home the mem- bers of the family reside, surrounded by every comfort that money can provide. The original farm, comprising the home- stead, contained thirty-nine acres, not more than five of which could be tilled, the rest being a granite ledge. There was fine Connecticut river bottom land adjoin- ing, and in the rear, and to the original tract the brothers kept adding until the farm contained over 400 acres. The old house was removed and two new ones were erected, as well as barn space for seventy-five cattle, and hay space for 200 tons or more. Mr. Clark says, with par- donable pride, "This is my farm record ; and the rest is on the other side of the Connecticut river, where my sixteen-acre grass field is." This is the old Bonfoey homestead, where he resides, and which he has greatly improved and added to, removing over 16,000 tons of rock. From the land thus cleared over 100 tons of hay, two crops, are annually procured, whereas on the entire seventy-five acres of the other farm not over sixteen tons of hay were cut. As a writer and specialist in the raising of grass, Mr. Clark is one of the scientific agricultural experts in the county at this time. Mr. Clark's life and deeds speak more eloquently than words of his untiring kindness, his open-hearted benevolence, and his patriotic citizenship.
Mrs. George M. Clark is a descendant
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of an old Huguenot family, the history of which appears in another part of this work. She is descended from Benanuel Bonfoey (2), the Revolutionary soldier, who was born December 13, 1755, and died August 14, 1825, aged seventy. His son David, the grandfather of Mrs. Clark, was born November 22, 1779, and died in 1863, aged eighty-four. He married Dolly Brainerd, daughter of Prosper Brainerd, who died aged eighty-five. David Bon- foey was a ship caulker, and a Govern- ment contractor. He lived and carried on business in Haddam. He was a very fine and careful workman, and as the proper caulking of a ship was of extreme im- portance, and had to be done with great care and exactness, Mr. Bonfoey gave personal attention to all his work, exact- ing from his workmen the same thorough- ness which was characteristic of his own work throughout life. He was interested in his town and its affairs, but was too busy a man to hold office of any kind. He was an old-line Whig in his political affiliations. He was very honorable in all his dealings, and was a man of refine- ment and sensitive nature.
Edwin B. Bonfoey, the father of Mrs. Clark, was born January 15, 1809, and died in 1887; he was buried in the Higganum Cemetery. Mr. Bonfoey was, like his re- vered father, a natural-born mechanic, be- came a ship caulker, was a Government contractor, and was a fine workman, an expert in his line. He did a large amount of work in his time, and his services were much in demand. At one time he had a job of caulking a vessel for a party who did not want a first-class piece of work done, but Mr. Bonfoey did his work in his usual perfect way, though while engaged on it he noticed many defects of other kinds in the vessel. She went to sea, but was never heard of afterward. A demand was made for the insurance, and Mr. Bon-
foey, as a witness as to the seaworthiness of the craft, was approached with an offer of several thousand dollars to testify that the vessel was perfect in all appointments. This he sternly refused to do, giving the weak points of the lost vessel in his testi- mony. The parties lost the insurance and Mr. Bonfoey his job, as he was in the employ, at the time, of the firm who owned the lost vessel. Mr. Bonfoey was a man of sterling character, had a warm heart, and was upright in all his dealings. He was a quiet, unostentatious gentle- man, greatly respected for his genuine manhood.
Edwin B. Bonfoey married Harriet Cot- ton, daughter of Samuel Cotton, who was a lineal descendant of the famous divine, Rev. John Cotton. To this union were born the following children: Ellen Eu- genia, residing in the old homestead of her father; Mary Elizabeth, deceased ; Clementine Isabel, Mrs. George M. Clark, of Higganum; Mary Elizabeth (2), who married Olin Fairchilds, of Middletown, Connecticut, and has two children, Alice and Charlotte ; Alice Amelia, who married Louis C. Frey, of Hartford, and had one child, now deceased; Arthur L., who mar- ried Jane Morley, of Meriden, and has three children, Frederick L., Bayard Clay- ton and Harriet Morley ; Charles Edwin, who married Ellen E. Briggs (both now deceased), and had three children, Louis C., William Ernest, and Charles Edwin; Frederick Lee, deceased.
STOWE, Charles Edward,
Manufacturer.
In Scitico, a village of Hartford county, Connecticut, on the Scitico river, twenty miles from Hartford, a paper manufac- turing business which was established in 1848 in Suffield, was brought to Scitico, in 1872, that business passing under the
Conn-10-25
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control of Joseph Daniel Stowe, who later admitted his sons and continued in the manufacture of paper under the firm name, J. D. Stowe & Sons. On December 7, 1908, that firm incorporated as J. D. Stowe & Sons, Inc., the incorporators being: George W. Stowe, president ; Charles E. Stowe, secretary and treasurer, and William H. Stowe, vice-president and general manager. The business has ever been a Stowe affair, and at present is en- gaged in the manufacture of leather board for the shoe trade. Joseph Daniel Stowe, the father, married Sarah Elizabeth Wales, of Newton, Massachusetts, and there began business, later moving to Suffield, Connecticut, and from thence to Scitico, where the mill of the present com- pany is located.
Charles Edward Stowe, son of Joseph Daniel and Sarah Elizabeth (Wales) Stowe, was born in Suffield, Hartford county, September 23, 1854. He was edu- cated in the Suffield public schools, Lanesboro Boys' School, and New Haven Business College, the last named institu- tion being then under the principalship of Professor C. R. Wells. After graduation from business college, in 1874, the young man became associated with his father and brothers, forming the firm of J. D. Stowe & Sons. He has given all the · years of his life since 1874 to the upbuild- ing of this exclusive Stowe business, and can review his forty-five years' connec- tion with satisfaction, for J. D. Stowe & Sons, Inc., occupies strong and honorable position in the manufacturing world, its management being progressive, and meet- ing all the requirements of modern life. Mr. Stowe has few outside interests, his business and his home filling his measure of life to the full. He is an earnest advo- cate of the doctrine of Prohibition and always advocated its principles. He is a member of the Congregational church.
Mr. Stowe married, at Somersville, Con- necticut, Nellie C. Little, daughter of John Little, of Somers, Connecticut, and they are the parents of a daughter, Ger- trude Viola Stowe.
PHELPS, Hon. James, Jurist, Legislator.
Hon. James Phelps was born in Cole- brook, Litchfield county, Connecticut, January 12, 1822, son of Dr. Lancelot Phelps, who was for many years a promi- nent citizen of the State, and a representa- tive in Congress from 1835 to 1839.
Hon. James Phelps received his early education at the common schools of his native town, and subsequently attended the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire, Con- necticut. He afterward entered Wash- ington (now Trinity) College, at Hart- ford, but owing to a severe illness during the first year of his course he was obliged to relinquish his studies for a long period. As soon as his health would permit he commenced reading law with Hon. Isaac Toucey, of Hart- ford. In 1842 he removed to Essex, Connecticut, and studied with Hon. Sam- uel Ingham, and he was also for a time in the law department of Yale College. He was admitted to the bar in 1845. Be- sides holding the office of judge of pro- bate and other local positions, Mr. Phelps was a member of the State Legislature in 1853, 1854 and 1856, and of the State Sen- ate in 1858 and 1859. In 1863 he was elected by the Legislature a judge of the Superior Court for the regular term of eight years, and was reëlected in 1871. In 1873 he was elected judge of the Su- preme Court of Errors, from which in- cumbency he resigned in the spring of 1875, upon his election to the Forty-fourth Congress. He was reelected to the Forty- fifth, Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh con-
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gresses as a Democrat. In the Forty- fourth Congress he was appointed on the standing committee on the District of Columbia Pensions and Foreign Affairs and on the special committee to Investi- gate Frauds in the Louisiana Election. In the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth con- gresses he was assigned a place on the committee on Ways and Means, and dur- ing that time the entire subjects of Tariff, Internal Revenue and Refunding of the National Debt were exhaustively consid- ered and reported on by that committee. He also served in the Forty-sixth Congress on the committee on Expenditures in the Navy Department. On financial ques- tions Judge Phelps' votes and views were in accord with those of a large majority of his party in the House of Representatives, but not with those of a majority in his section of the Union. He favored the re- sumption of specie payment, when it could be safely and properly accom- plished, but was opposed to its being pre- maturely forced by violent and extreme contraction of the currency, and was an earnest advocate of the restoration of the standard silver dollar. He was noted for faithful and assiduous attention to the interests and wants of his constituents at the Capital, and in the different depart- ments of the Government. He was un- wearied in his personal attention to the pension claims of soldiers in his district. He procured the establishment of the breakwater at the entrance of the New Haven harbor, and the extensive perma- nent work for the improvement of the chan- nel of the Connecticut river below Hart- ford, as well as liberal appropriations for those works and for other needed im- provements in his district. During his last term he was the only Democratic representative from the State in the Forty-seventh Congress, and the fact that immediately preceding his first election
his district had for six years been repre- sented by a Republican is convincing evi- dence of his popularity with his constitu- ents. His elections to a judgeship were each time made by a Legislature politi- cally opposed to him, and the two last were by the unanimous votes of both houses. His professional and public life were so entirely honorable that no sus- picion ever threw even a shadow over his character for uprightness and integrity. He made no pretensions to those classical accomplishments which are the valuable results of a long course of university training and culture. Whatever of merit he possessed had been acquired by per- severing industry, energy of purpose and fidelity to principles which secured for him a reasonable measure of public con- fidence and support.
In his private life Judge Phelps was quiet, modest and unassuming, and dur- ing his residence of more than half a century in the little village of Essex he obtained a strong hold on the hearts of the people. He was a confidential adviser and friend of the rich and the poor alike, and no man ever lived in the community whose loss was more deeply felt. He was for many years a faithful, consistent and devoted member and a liberal supporter of the Episcopal church. He passed January 15, 1900.
The marriage of Judge Phelps was to Lydia A. Ingham, and two children were born to this union: I. Samuel Ingham, who was for a time secretary to Hon. Charles T. Russell, of Haddam, the con- sul at Liverpool, England, later became engaged in the chinaware trade in New York, and at the time of his death was in the employ of a railroad company at Chat- tanooga, Tennessee; he married Josie Smith, of Essex, and had one child, Har- rison F. 2. James L., born May 5, 1856; attended the public schools of Essex,
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graduated from Yale Law School, and was admitted to the bar in 1887 ; he was town clerk and probate judge until his death in 1899; his marriage was to Harriet W. Coulter, a half-sister of Judge Thomas D. Coulter, of Essex.
ROGERS, George C., Amusement Promotor.
George Crowell Rogers, a progressive and enterprising citizen of New Britain, Connecticut, has done more perhaps than any other inhabitant to promote general and wholesome recreation for the people of that city. He is the owner of what is, in all probability, the finest amusement place of its kind east of New York City, and great care is exercised to maintain at all times such orderliness and such an atmosphere of refinement as appeal to the most refined elements in the com- munity. Mr. Rogers was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey, July 12, 1884, son of George W. and Emeline Minerva (Crow- ell) Rogers, and grandson of Britton and Eliza (Howland) Rogers. The Rogers family is an old one in Monmouth county, New Jersey.
George W. Rogers, father of George C., was born in Logansport, Indiana, January 6, 1845, and was educated in the district schools, also receiving some pri- vate instruction in Shrewsbury, New Jersey. Until he was seventeen years of age he lived on the home farm, and then entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Petroleum Oil Company, where he re- mained for several years. His next busi- ness venture was in the express business, and this developed into a contracting proposition, which he now follows. Mr. Rogers served as a surveyor of highways and was a member of the Home Guard, having two brothers in the Union army. He married, at Ocean Grove, New Jer-
sey, in September, 1875, Emeline M. Crowell, daughter of Lorenzo and Diana Crowell, and her death occurred April 7, 1919. Mrs. Rogers was tenth in line of direct descent from one of the earliest settlers of Yarmouth, Massachusetts (1638), John Crowell, sometimes spelled in the records Crowe. Mrs. Rogers, whose home had been at Ware, Massa- chusetts, attended Casenova Seminary, New York, then taught school at West Warren, Massachusetts, and went to As- bury Park, New Jersey, to open the first public school at the instance of James A. Bradley, the founder of Asbury Park, she being a niece to Mrs. Bradley. Her father was born at West Brookfield, Massachu- setts, January 1, 1810, and her mother's maiden name was Diana Cook Packard.
George Crowell Rogers was graduated from the Ocean Grove high school in 1900, and then attended Bryant & Strat- ton's Business College, at Providence, Rhode Island. Subsequently he accepted a position in the office of the Saranac Woolen Mills, at Blackstone, Massachu- setts, and after a year in the office went into the mill to learn the operating end of the business. He remained in the mill and the agent's office for three years, during which time he learned textile designing. At this time he left the mill to become manager of a bowling establishment owned by his uncle, in South Boston, and after a year there went to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where for the next four years he was a partner of his uncle, E. S. Crowell, leaving in 1913 to engage in a similar line of business on his own ac- count in New Britain, Connecticut. Seven years later his success warranted the building of his present building in that city, consisting of four floors, the first of which is rented for stores and the two upper floors including twenty bowling alleys. The other floor is devoted to pool
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