USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v.2 > Part 20
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tinued in the public schools of his native city, and later he entered the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, graduating therefrom with the class of 1892. After his graduation he entered the employ of the Berlin Iron Bridge Company, of East Berlin, Connecticut, as draughtsman. In February, 1893, he se- cured a similar position with the Water- bury Farrell Foundry and Machine Com- pany. He was employed for a time in the engineering department, then in the commercial department, and is now a di- rector and secretary of the concern. He has served two terms in the board of edu- cation. He is a member of the local lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Waterbury Club, the Waterbury Country Club and the Graduates' Club of New Haven. He and the members of his fam- ily attend St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church of Waterbury.
Mr. Griggs married, June 6, 1904, at Waterbury. Helen Trowbridge Williams, a native of that city, born May 6, 1875, a daughter of Samuel P. and Ella (Rice) Williams, who for many years have made their home in that city. Mr. Williams was a native of Litchfield. Connecticut. and was active in the real estate, loan and insurance businesses. Mr. and Mrs. Griggs are the parents of two children: Henry Charles, born January 27. 1907. and Eleanor Rice, born August 3, 1911.
CAMPBELL, James Noel Howard, Lawyer, Man of Affairs.
A member of the Hartford county bar since 1906, James N. H. Campbell has practiced law for a few years, and then given up the practice of the profession for active business as a broker. He is a worthy successor in public favor to his honored father, Dr. James Campbell, who. from 1874 until his death in 1899 was one of Hartford's leading physicians.
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Dr. James Campbell, fourth in his direct line to bear the name James, was of the sixth American generation of the family founded by William Campbell, of Scotch ancestry, who came from the North of Ireland about 1718 with the Scotch-Irish settlers of New Hampshire and Massa- chusetts. William Campbell is of record in Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1719, and also lived in Boston. The line of de- scent follows through his son, James (1) Campbell; his son, James (2) Campbell ; his son, Benjamin Campbell; his son, James (3) Campbell ; his son, James (4) Campbell, M. D .; his son, James Noel Howard Campbell, of the seventh gener- ation.
Dr. James (4) Campbell was born at Manchester, Connecticut, March 14, 1848. died at Hartford, October 17, 1899. He attended Manchester public schools, se- curing his medical education at the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, and at the University of Ver- mont. At the age of twenty-three years he began medical practice in the State of Minnesota, but later resumed medical study, his preparation including a year and a half course in the hospitals and clinics of Berlin, Prague and Vienna. In 1874 he located in the city of Hartford, there continuing a prominent practice un- til his death, a quarter of a century later.
Those twenty-five years were fruitful ones for Dr. Campbell, and years of bene- fit to the city of his adoption. Fifteen of them were spent at the head of the city board of health as president, thirteen of them, 1886-99, he was a professor of Yale Medical School ; for many years he was a member of the medical staff of Hart- ford Hospital, and all this was in addition to the demands of a large private practice. He was elected professor at Yale in 1886, serving with ability and acceptability un- til his resignation in 1899. In 1891 he was
awarded the honorary degree, Master of Arts, by Yale University, and when he retired the Yale Corporation awarded him an official vote of thanks for his long and excellent service, also expressing their regret that he felt obliged to withdraw from a position they felt he adorned. They did not accept his. resignation, but until his death he remained a member of the faculty of the Medical School. His connection with the City Board of Health was most beneficial to the city, and to his efforts and good judgment the present intercepting sewer is due. He devoted a great deal of time to sanitary improve- ment, and under his executive manage- ment the Hartford Board of Health be- came an important department of the city government. He was an honored member of the medical societies of Hartford, Hart- ford County, Connecticut State and the American Medical Association, the liter- ature of these bodies being enriched by contributions from his able pen. For two years he was medical director of the Ætna Life Insurance Company, and a medical examiner. He held membership in the Association of Medical Directors of Life Insurance Companies of the United States and Canada, and the New York Academy of Medicine. He had also numerous and weighty business interests.
Dr. Campbell held all degrees of York Rite and Scottish Rite Masonry up to and including the thirty-second ; was a Knight of Pythias, and an Odd Fellow; belonged to the Hartford Club, the Church Club of the Episcopal Diocese, and to the Connec- ticut Society, Sons of the American Revo- lution.
In a quiet, unostentatious way he did a great deal of good. He gave fully of his time and skill among the families of the poor. He took pleasure in assisting various young men in getting a liberal education. He was generous to the extent of his means. His kindly ways and magnetic personality drew to him many friends and made him espe- cially loved in the family.
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BRARY
Ebenzer &. Phillips,
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Dr. Campbell married, October 15, 1874, Mary Cornelia Pettibone, born at Hart- ford, February 18, 1846, died there in Sep- tember, 1907. Children : James Malcolm, died in infancy ; James N. H., mentioned below; Grace, born October, 1884, died in July, 1906.
James Noel Howard Campbell was born at Hartford, December 25, 1881. His ele- mentary, intermediate and preparatory education was obtained in Hartford public schools, finishing at high school, gradu- ating in 1899. He then entered the clas- sical department of Yale University, whence he was graduated with the Bache- lor's degree, class of 1903. He chose the legal profession, and from Yale Law School received his degree LL. B., class of 1906. In June, 1906, he was admitted to the Hartford county bar, began prac- tice in Hartford, and practiced several years, retiring to go into active business. Hle is a director of the Colonial National Bank; for several years was a member of the brokerage firm of H. K. Taylor & Company, afterwards becoming a member of the firm of Campbell & Hawley, and is highly regarded by legal and business as- sociates. Mr. Campbell is the present secretary of the Hartford Stock Exchange, a position he has held since 1915.
An ardent Republican, he is recognized as one of the leaders of his party in Hart- ford, and has rendered the city valued service in Common Council, representing his ward four terms in that body. For several years he has been president of the Landlords and Taxpayers Association ; was a member of the high school com- mittee for one year, and is the present chairman of the Republican Town Com- mittee. His church affiliation is with Asylum Avenue Congregational.
Mr. Campbell is a member of the vari- ous Masonic bodies of Hartford; Saint John's Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons ;
Pythagoras Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; Washington Commandery, Knights Tem- plar; Sphinx Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and Consistory of the An- cient Accepted Scottish Rite. His college fraternity is the Phi Gamma Delta. His clubs the Hartford, Country, Republican, Golf. University, Yacht, Automobile and City.
He married, May 1, 1907, Marion Judith Moulton, of Hartford, daughter of Frank P. and Rachel (White) Moulton, of Maine. Children : James Howard Moul- ton, born February 6, 1908: Judith, Octo- ber, 1910; Malcolm Griswold, March, 1912; Esther, October. 1914. -
PHILLIPS, Ebenezer Sanborn,
Business Man, Prominent Freemason.
The honors of Freemasonry, unlike the rain from Heaven, fall not upon all alike but upon the worker alone. Particularly is this true of the thirty-third degree, that highest of all degrees of the Ancient Ac- cepted Scottish Rite, which is conferred solely for "meritorious service" rendered the order. It is a degree to which "few are chosen," one which may not be applied for and its bestowal is the highest mark of honor and appreciation the order can bestow. Consequently, when in 1904 that exalted degree was conferred upon Eben- ezer Sanborn Phillips, of Bridgeport, it was in recognition of the high value placed upon his long years of service in all bodies of the York and Scottish rites in Bridgeport. His particular service has been of a financial and secretarial char- acter as member of the finance committee, and treasurer and secretary of many of the bodies of both rites. Such service is not as spectacular nor public as that per- formed by others, but none the less valu- able, in fact the quiet, retiring secretary is the dynamo who supplies the force that
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drives the machinery of the whole order. Mr. Phillips, in addition to the personal service rendered, has delved deep into the "mysteries," has gathered a famous libra- ry, not alone of Masonic interest, and is a member of that greatest of all Masonic literary societies, the Lodge of Research of Leicester, England. As a business man he has been connected with Bridgeport affairs for more than half a century as employee and owner and to the business of Luddington & Company, which he pur- chased in 1893, he has given and still gives close personal attention. His life, now in its evening, has been one of un- selfish usefulness and a retrospective view can bring him nothing but satisfaction.
Mr. Phillips traces paternal descent from Nicholas Phillips, born in England, who settled in Dedham, Massachusetts, as early as 1636. Later he moved to Wey- mouth, where he was a deacon of the church. He was succeeded by his son, Richard Phillips, who was made a free- man of Weymouth in 1678, and he, by his youngest son, Captain John Phillips, who settled in Easton, Massachusetts, was a prominent town official, captain of the first military company in that town. served in the expedition to Canada in 1690, and forty years later, on account of that service, received a grant of shares in Huntstown, later Ashfield. Massachu- setts, where his son Thomas was one of the first settlers.
Captain John Phillips was succeeded by his son, Joshua Phillips, a member of the Easton Church in 1747, member of the committee on correspondence at Easton in 1776, and there died in 1792, aged eighty-seven years. The line of descent is through his son, Oliver Phillips, who resided in Easton until 1790, then moved to Vermont and died at Newfane, Octo- ber 5, 1836. He was a soldier of the Revo- lution, marching from Easton on the Lex-
ington Alarm and rendering later military service. Nathan Phillips, son of Oliver Phillips, the Revolutionary soldier, was born in Easton, Massachusetts, April I, 1787, and accompanied his father to New- fane, Vermont, where he was a substan- tial farmer. His son, Adin M. Phillips, born in Newfane, Vermont, February 6, 1816, died November 12, 1902. He was a farmer of Newfane until his marriage in 1840, when he purchased a farm at Straf- ford, Vermont, upon which he resided un- til 1869. He then moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut, there engaging in the lumber business. He married, September 16, 1840, Rebecca Sanborn. daughter of Ebenezer H. Sanborn, of Epsom, Ver- mont ; they the parents of an only son, Ebenezer Sanborn Phillips, to whom this review is inscribed.
Ebenezer Sanborn Phillips was born in Newfane, Vermont, January 13, 1842. His early life was spent at the home farm in Strafford, Vermont, his education ac- quired in the public school. In 1863. at the age of twenty-two, he located in Bridgeport, Connecticut, which city has since been his home. For five years he was in railroad employ, then for ten years was a lumber salesman associated with S. C. Nickerson & Company. The follow- ing six years he filled a similar position with Charles H. Hawley & Company. after which he entered the employ of Wheeler & Howes, coal merchants, as bookkeeper. He remained with Wheeler & Howes for ten years, resigning in 1893 to engage in business for himself. The years had developed a careful, painstak- ing, capable business man. highly re- garded by his employers and their cus- tomers. His attention to detail was a strong feature of his work, and in all his dealing uprightness and integrity distin- guished him.
In 1893 Mr. Phillips purchased the
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business of Luddington & Company, truckmen, and to that business has since devoted himself with marked success. He won the confidence of shippers and mer- chants by his careful attention to the vari- ous details of a rather complicated busi- ness, and once that was gained orders for handling shipments, both incoming and outgoing, flowed freely in. Although the years have left their mark he claims no exemption, but each day sees him at his office and there or at various shipping centres his day is passed.
Mr. Phillips has attained all degrees of both York and Scottish rites. He is a mem- ber of St. John's Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and a member of its finance com- mittee ; Jerusalem Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and its treasurer; Jerusalem Chapter, Royal and Select Masters, and its treasurer ; Hamilton Commandery, Knights Templar, and a member of its finance committee: DeWitt Lodge of Perfection, Washington Council ; Pequon- nock Chapter of Rose Croix; and Lafay- ette Consistory, serving the last four bodies as secretary. In 1904 he received the crowning degree, Sovereign Prince of the Royal Secret, the thirty-third degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. He is a member of Ars Quotuor Coronatum, No. 2076. London, England. and the Lodge of Research, No. 2024, of Leicester, England, these the great Eng- lish Masonic literary societies, their mem- bership composed of those interested in the literature and history of the order and pos- sessing required literary qualifications. Mr. Phillips has gathered a valuable li- brary of Masonic, historical and genea- logical works including some very old and rare books of priceless value. He is a life member of the Connecticut Histori- cal Society, and Bridgeport Scientific So- ciety ; is a Universalist in religious faith, and a Republican in politics. He is an
exhaustless mine of information concern- ing the personal history of men of Bridge- port, gathered in his official capacity, and is freely sought by the reporters in gather- ing material for personal sketches for the use of their papers when special occasion demands.
Mr. Phillips married (first) April 23, 1866, Emily Maria Buckman, born in Al- stead, New Hampshire, died in Bridge- port, March 3, 1907, daughter of Lewis Buckman. Their only child, a son, died young. He married (second) November 10, 190S, Anna Adelia Larkin, born in Hartford, December 8, 1853, daughter of Samuel and Eliza Rhodes (Stafford) Lar- kin, her father a manufacturer of Bridge- port and member of the Connecticut Leg- islature in 1865.
BEARDSLEY, Morris Beach, Lawyer, Public Official.
There are very few regions in the world that can compete with New England in the number of illustrious families whose members, without any of the aid which comes of an organized aristocracy, have maintained from generation to generation the same high standard of character and the same high position in the regard of the community from the earliest times down to the present. The annals of New England are crowded with the records of such families, whose achievement as pio- neers, as organizers, as soldiers and men of affairs and last, though not least, as leaders of the great industrial and finan- cial enterprises characteristic of that part of the country in recent years, have shown a degree of inherited strength and ability truly remarkable. Among such families there is none that stands higher in point of age and character than that which bears the name of Beardsley, of which the dis- tinguished gentleman, whose name heads
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this article, was a most worthy scion. He is descended on the paternal side of the house from two ancestors who came to the New England colonies from England in the "Planter," and on every side is allied to illustrious and honored names of the early colonists.
The founder of the family in this coun- try was William Beardsley, who came from England to the American Colonies on the good ship "Planter" in the year 1635. He was one of the original settlers of the old town of Stratford, Connecti- cut, and both in that town and in Bridge- port the family has had a distinguished career to the present day. The old First Congregational Church of Bridgeport was founded by nine men from Stratford, two of whom, Samuel Beardsley and Samuel Gregory, were ancestors of the Mr. Beardsley of this sketch.
For a great many years, descendants of the original William Beardsley made their home in the town of Trumbull, Con- necticut, and it was here that Mr. Beards- ley's grandfather, Samuel Beardsley, was born and lived his entire life. He was en- gaged in successful farming operations and owned valuable property in that region. He was married to Asenath Gregory, like himself a native of Trumbull, and both he and his wife died in that town. They were the parents of two children, Samuel Gregory and Orville Hall, both of whom died in Trumbull many years ago. The first of these children, Samuel Gregory Beards- ley, was the father of Morris Beach Beardsley. He was a farmer, as was his father before him, and also made a success of his operations in this line. He was married to Mary Beach, also a native of Trumbull, who survives him and is now a resident of Bridgeport, Connecticut. They were the parents of three children, of whom the oldest is our subject; the others being Mary Louise, died in 1900;
and Alice M., who is now the wife of L. B. Curtis, of Bridgeport.
Morris Beach Beardsley was born Au- gust 13, 1849, at Trumbull, Connecticut, and there lived during the greater part of his childhood and early youth. The pre- liminary portion of his education was gained in the district schools there, and when he had learned all that these were capable of teaching him, he was sent to the Stratford Academy where he com- pleted his education for a college course. Upon graduating from this institution he matriculated at Yale University, taking the academic course there and proving himself to be an unusually capable scholar. Mr. Beardsley had acquired during his course in Yale a great interest in the subject of the law and determined to make it his career in life, so upon his graduation from the university in 1870, he went to New York City and entered the famous law school of Columbia Uni- versity there. Graduating from the latter, lie returned to Connecticut and continued to read law in the office of William K. Seeley, a well known attorney of Bridge- port. In 1872 he was admitted to the bar of Fairfield county and in the same year was taken into partnership by Mr. Seeley, his former preceptor, the firm taking the name of Seeley & Beardsley. But while Mr. Beardsley was extremely interested and even devoted to his subject, the law, he is perhaps even better known in the community in connection with his politi- cal career, which has been a notable one. After practicing a number of years in partnership with Mr. Seeley, he was elected city clerk of Bridgeport and served in that capacity for four years, 1872 to 1876. In 1876 he was elected judge of the Probate Court at Bridgeport, serving in this responsible position until January, 1893. In the latter year he was the suc- cessful candidate of the Democratic party
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The American Historical Society
Daniel Donewport
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
to the General Assembly of Connecticut and served with distinction in that body. Upon the completion of his term, he re- sumed the practice of law and for some time continued by himself. In 1897, how- ever, upon the graduation of his son, Sam- uel Fayerweather Beardsley, from Yale Law School, he took the young man into partnership with him and the present firm of Beardsley & Beardsley was formed. Mr. Beardsley's career in his profession has been one of distinction and he has handled considerable very important liti- gation before the Fairfield county courts. The legal business of the firm is at pres- ent very large and he is regarded as one of the leaders of the bar in the commu- nity.
Mr. Beardsley is prominently connected with the social and fraternal life of Bridgeport, and is a member of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows and the Masonic order. In the latter he is par- ticularly prominent, belongs to all the local bodies and has taken his thirty-sec- ond degree in Freemasonry. One of Mr. Beardsley's chief interests is connected with the history of his community and his family, in both of which matters he is a profound student. He is one of the most active members of the Sons of the American Revolution, and besides holding many offices in the State Society has served as president general of the Na- tional Society, Sons of the American Revolution. He is also prominent in club life and belongs to the Brooklawn Country Club of Bridgeport, and the Uni- versity Club and the New England So- ciety of the City of New York. In his religious belief he is a Congregationalist and is a member of the United Church of that denomination in the city of Bridge- port.
In Brooklyn, New York, June 5, 1873, Mr. Beardsley was united in marriage
with Lucy Jane Fayerweather, a native of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and a daughter of William and Polly (Botsford) Fayer- weather. Her parents both moved to the West in later life and eventually died at Dubuque, Iowa. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Beardsley, as fol- lows: Samuel Fayerweather, who, as has already been mentioned, is a member of the law firm of Beardsley & Beardsley ; Lucy M., now the wife of Emile C. Can- ning, of New Orleans, Louisiana, and the mother of three children: Amelia B., Morris B. and Lucy F .; Amelia L., who makes her home with her parents in Bridgeport.
DAVENPORT, Daniel,
Lawyer, Legislator.
While Fairfield county, Connecticut, has long been the Davenport family seat, Daniel Davenport is the first of this branch to make Bridgeport the scene of their activities, he having been a practic- ing lawyer of that city since 1875, emi- nent in his profession and highly esteemed as a citizen. He traces his ancestry in New England to Rev. John Davenport, born in England, who settled in New Haven, Connecticut, in April, 1638, and on the following December 9, was in- stalled pastor of the First Church. The founders of the New Haven Colony led by John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton sought to establish a new state in which religion and education should be matters of prime concern. Mr. Davenport was the leader in educational matters and it was part of his plan from the first to make New Haven a college town and thus in a sense he was the original projector of Yale. "Even in his old age he was found struggling with unwearied zeal to estab- lish a college in New Haven for the good of posterity." Rev. John Davenport was
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of the seventeenth generation of a family traced in direct line to Ormus de Daven- porte, born in 1086. Rev. John Daven- port had a son, John; he was a merchant of Boston, and married Abigail Pierson, daughter of the Rev. Abraham Pierson, of Bradford, the founder of Newark, New Jersey, and their son, also the Rev. John Davenport, was ordained minister at Stamford, Connecticut, in 1694, and died February 5, 1731. It was a son of the Rev. John Davenport, Colonel Abraham Davenport, whom Whittier immortalized in his poem relating to " The Dark Day," as calling for candles when darkness fell upon the Senate Chamber in midday, in these words: "The Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not there is no cause for adjournment ; if it is I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles be brought." A son of Colonel Abraham Davenport was also John Davenport, member of Con- gress, 1799-1817, who in 1824 entertained at his Stamford residence the great Frenchman, Lafayette.
While the church and the law have been chosen by many Davenports as the profession they would follow, there has been many business men and farmers in the family, Nathan Davenport, grand- father of Daniel Davenport, of Bridge- port, indulged in both occupations. He was born at Stamford, Connecticut, Au- gust 8, 1768, became proprietor of a full- ing mill at Wilton, which he conducted for many years, and was also a farmer. He married Mary Smith, a sister of the Rev. Daniel Smith. Nathan Davenport had a half-sister, Clarissa Raymond, who lived to the great age of one hundred and four years, eight months and twenty-five days.
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