USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > History of Bridgeport and vicinity > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76
JACOB HUBER.
Jacob Huber, president of the Huber Ice Cream Company, has developed that business until it has become one of the leading concerns in that field in Connecticut, but is now leaving much of the actual work of its management to others although he still exercises supervision over its affairs. A native of Germany he was born in Kenzingen, Baden, on the 5th of January, 1856, a son of Jacob Huber, whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather likewise bore that name. The mother was in her maidenhood Barbara Reiner, and her father and grand- father both bore the name of Michael Reiner.
Jacob Huber attended the graded and secondary schools in his native country until he was fourteen years old. When he was but a child he began working on the home farm and after his father's death, which occurred when he was twelve years old, he assisted his mother in operating the place. However, in March, 1871, when fifteen years old, he emigrated to America, landing at New York city. He at once continued his way to Bridgeport, his destina- tion. and here entered the employ of F. J. Freyler, the proprietor of a candy store on Wall street and remained there for nine years, after which he was for one year in the employ of John E. Lewis, one of the pioneer candy men of Bridgeport. In 1881 he bought out his former employer, Mr. Freyler, and condueted that business until June, 1914, meeting with signal success in that connection and building up a large trade in candy and ice cream. In the year mentioned he gave that business to his daughter, Mrs. Lulu (Huber) Battles. He organized the Huber Ice Cream Company, manufacturers and wholesalers of ice cream, and in the fall of 1913 ground was broken while in 1914 the first building of the plant, a structure fifty-four by ninety-six feet in dimensions, was completed. Another building, forty-two by
Jacot Huber
99
BRIDGEPORT AND VICINITY
seventy-five feet, was finished in 1916 and a third. twenty-two by one hundred feet, was com- pleted in 1917. All are three stories in height, the total floor space being thirty-four thou- sand square feet. When Mr. Huber bought out the Freyler store he and his wife did all the work with the help of one boy, and a one horse delivery wagon was sufficient to take care of all their deliveries. At the present time the Huber Ice Cream Company employs forty men and has ten automobile trucks. Every possible care is taken to safeguard the purity of the company's product, and only the best materials are used. The resulting high quality of Huber ice cream, combined with the fair business principles of the company has led to a rapid growth in trade. Jacob Huber has been the president and treasurer of the concern since its incorporation and the other officers are, Harry Tait, secretary, and Ernest Huber, superintendent.
In May, 1881, Mr. Huber was married to Miss Louisa Wild, and they have two daugh- ters: Lulu, who is the wife of Adolph Battles and has a daughter, Meta Louisa; and Lydia. the wife of Harry Howard, who is a conductor on the New Haven Railway and resides in Bridgeport. Mr. Huber came to the United States with the intention of definitely identifying his interests with those of this country, and as soon as he was old enough applied for his naturalization papers, and on attaining his majority became a legal voter, casting his first presidential vote for Samuel J. Tilden. For the past twenty years he has voted independ- ently and makes a close study of political issues. From 1889 to 1891 he served as a mem- ber of the common council of Bridgeport, representing the first ward for one year and the third ward for one year. He has been a member of the Board of Trade since the early '80s and also early became a member of the Bridgeport Business Men's Association. He belongs to both the Algonquin and Bridgeport Clubs, and is well known in fraternal circles as a member of the lodge, chapter, commandery and shrine of the Masons. He was a charter member of both the Elks and the Knights of Pythias, has filled all the chairs in the last named and has also held every office in the Concordia, to which he has belonged for many years, and in the Bridgeport Turnverein of which he became a member in 1872. For a long period his life was one of unrelaxing industry but his affairs are now in so satisfactory a condition that he feels justified in maintaining only a general supervision over the work of the company, leaving the details of management to his associates in the business. He spends his winters in Florida and during the summer devotes much time to motoring and fishing. He is a man of varied interests and has done his share toward advancing his eity along a number of lines. Wherever known he is held in the highest esteem and his personal friends are many.
SIMON C. BRADLEY.
Simon C. Bradley, founder and manager of the Keneul Food Supply Company of Fairfield, has in the course of an active and well directed life reached a creditable position in commercial circles. He was born in Fairfield on the 29th of July, 1858, a son of Zalmon B. and Sarah E. (Sherwood) Bradley. In the pursuit of his education he attended the schools of Fairfield and the Staples Academy at Easton and through the period of his early boyhood he spent the summer months in work upon the home farm, while later he devoted his entire attention to agricultural pursuits until 1904. He then formed the Kenenl Food Supply Company of Fairfield and has since conducted the business, having as partners in the undertaking H. L. Pierson of New York and his son-in-law, Theodore Sturges.
Mr. Bradley was married in 1879 to Miss Anna Belle Bulkley, a daughter of Moses A. and Elizabeth Bulkley, and they have two children: Elizabeth, who is the wife of Theodore Sturges; and Sarah Elizabeth, the wife of Nelson Hutchinson. Mr. Bradley makes his home on the Sturges road and is a man of domestic tastes. His fellow townsmen, however, appre-
100
BRIDGEPORT AND VICINITY
ciative of his worth and ability, have called him to public office. He has been a lifelong democrat. He served as selectman of Fairfield for five years, for one term represented his district in the general assembly and in 1914 was appointed under the Wilson administration as postmaster of Fairfield, which office he filled to the entire satisfaction of the general public until the spring of 1917. when his growing business demanded his entire time and he resigned his position. He belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Improved Order of Red Men. He is well known in Fairfield as a good citizen and popular man, having a circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintance.
GEORGE HUNTINGTON NICHOLLS JOHNSON.
George Huntington Nicholls Johnson is a representative of the old Nicholls family whose ancestral line is traced back in Bridgeport through six generations. At one time much of the site of the city was in the possession of the Nicholls family. The founder of the family on American soil was born in England in 1590 and came to New England in 1635, removing to Stratford. Connecticut, in 1639. He took possession of seventy-six thousand acres of land west of the Housatonic river, seventeen families receiving this tract as a grant from England. Theophilus Nicholls, who was born March 31, 1703, and died on the 7th of April, 1774, had a beautiful mansion on the point where the Farist Steel Company plant is now located, and there he lived for a number of years, while his brother resided on the west side of the river. In 1723 he married Sarah Curtis, a daughter of Lieutenant Ebenezer Curtis and a grand- daughter of Captain William Curtis of Stratford. They had a family of nine children. To the same family belonged Richard Nicholls, who was the first governor of the city of New York and who is buried in the town of Ampthill, Bedfordshire, forty miles north of London.
Philip T. Nicholls, son of Theophilus Nicholls, was born in January. 1726. He was a merchant, shipowner and prominent business man and citizen. On the 9th of October, 1753, he wedded Mehitable Peet of Trumbull, Connecticut, whose ancestors came from England in 1640 and settled at Stratford. Mr. and Mrs. Philip T. Nicholls had nine children, their seventh child being Charles Theophilus Nichols, who died in October, 1849. He was engaged in shipping interests and in looking after his landed estate. His home was on King's High- way and the Pequonnock river, and was the scene of many brilliant social functions. George Washington was once his guest when on his way from New York to Boston. He married Sarah Tomlinson and they had two children. Ann Eliza and George Huntington Nicholls. The latter became a minister of the Episcopal church. He was graduated from Trinity Col- lege at Hartford in 1839, was ordained a deacon in June, 1841, and was ordained to the priesthood of the Episcopal church November 30, 1842, by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Brownell. His first charge was St. John's church in Salisbury, where he was active for many years. On the 8th of June, 1842, he was married by Bishop Brownell, who officiated at his ordination, to Julia Beach Phelps, a granddaughter of Ebenezer Beach, of Litchfield Connecticut, and they became the parents of six children.
The daughter of Charles T. and Sarah (Tomlinson) Nicholls was Ann Eliza, who was born December 27, 1813, and died in 1893, when in the eightieth year of her age. Ann Eliza Nicholls became the wife of William Sumner Johnson, a native of Oneida county, New York, who was for many years a leading merchant in commercial circles in New York city. For a time he engaged in the wholesale hardware business but fire destroyed his establishment, and later he engaged in the wholesale dry goods trade. He removed to New York imme- ditely after his marriage.
George Huntington Nicholls Johnson was born in Brooklyn, New York, January 8, 1844. and in December, 1849, the family removed to Bridgeport, where he attended the public schools, while later he became a student in Columbia College. He entered upon his business
health Johnson
103
BRIDGEPORT AND VICINITY
career in New York and for a time was treasurer of the Moore Car Wheel Company of Jersey City, New Jersey, but in 1868 he returned to Bridgeport, where he has since remained. He hecame manager, secretary and treasurer of the White Manufacturing Company and so continued until 1879. He then entered into partnership with Enoch P. Hincks, under the firm style of Hincks & Johnson, successors to Wood Brothers, and so continued until 1908, when the business was discontinued. They built all of the property on their factory site on Broad street. Their location was opposite the postoffice, a district that is now com- pletely built up with modern store and office buildings.
In New York, on the 15th of April, 1868, Mr. Johnson was married to Miss Mary Emma Webster, of New York city, and they have two children, Annie Webster and Mary W., the latter the wife of Dr. T. L. Ellis. Mr. Johnson is a Mason and his life has been an exempli- fication of the spirit and purposes of the craft. He has membership in Corinthian Lodge, No. 104, F. & A. M .; Jerusalem Chapter, No. 13, R. A. M .; Jerusalem Council, No. 16, R. & S. M .; Hamilton Commandery, No. 5, K. T., and has taken all the degrees of the Scottish Rite up to and including the thirty-second under jurisdiction of Lafayette Consistory. In 1905 he was appointed grand captain of the guard in the grand commandery and in 1915 he was made grand commander of the Knights Templar of the state of Connecticut. His service has been characterized by the same love and zeal that he bas given to business, to recreation and to the church. Public office has never allured him because of the pressing demands of business. His membership in many clubs, especially sportmen's clubs, has given the needed vent for his exuberant spirits, his love of companionship and of manly sports. He belongs to the Algonquin Club of Bridgeport, the Adirondack League Club, the Metabotouan Club of Canada, the White Hollow Fishing Club of Connectient, the Automobile Club of Bridgeport, the Connecticut Automobile Club of America, the Men's Club of Trinity Church in Bridge- port and the Church Club of the Diocese of Connecticut. By nature friendly and ever enthu- siastic, these characteristics of Mr. Johnson's have been greatly enjoyed and appreciated as well as cultivated through his relationship in club life. He has ever enjoyed manly outdoor sports, and he was one of the first to take up the bicycle, importing in the early part of 1870 the first two-wheel bicycle or "bone shaker" from Paris. For over forty years he has responded to the "call of the wild" and has many mounted specimens of fish and wild ani- mals. Coming of an ancestry honorable and distinguished, he is fortunate in that bis lines of life have been cast in harmony therewith. In talents and character he is a worthy scion of his race and his record reflects added prominence to a name long distinguished in the annals of Bridgeport.
GUY P. MILLER.
Gny P. Miller is the secretary and treasurer of the Bridgeport Brass Company and as such is contributing to the city's reputation as a great manufacturing center. In his busi- ness life he has been a persistent, resolute and energetie worker, possessing strong executive powers and keeping his hand steadily upon the helm of his business. Keenly alive to every new avenue opened in the natural ramifications of trade, he and his associate officers of the company have passed over the pitfalls into which unrestricted progressiveness is so fre- quently led and have been enabled to focus their energies in directions where fruition is certain. Bridgeport indeed owes much of her development to this undertaking, employing as it does an army of workmen.
Mr. Miller was born in Wiscasset, Maine, February 11, 1875, a son of Herbert C. and Sarah (Day) Miller, the former a college professor. The mother died when her son Guy was a little child and he was reared by his grandmother in Danielson, Connectieut. After obtaining a high school education he entered the employ of the Pope Manufacturing Com-
104
BRIDGEPORT AND VICINITY
pany of Hartford, Connecticut, and on the 1st of July, 1900, came to Bridgeport, where he has since been associated with the Bridgeport Brass Company, the development of his powers bringing him to his present position as secretary and treasurer of this mammoth enterprise.
The Bridgeport Brass Company was organized in 1865, succeeding to the business of Wilmot & Kissam, which firm was organized for the purpose of manufacturing materials for hoop skirts. The plant was located at Crescent and Main streets. About 1865 Colonel Mason became financially and actively interested in the company and was its president for many years. This company gradually broadened the scope of its activities and became the second company in the United States to begin the manufacture of seamless brass tubing. For this purpose George E. Somers went abroad and secured the necessary information and, returning, inaugurated a process which produced the desired result. He was president of the company for many years and under his leadership an extensive business was built up. With the development of the business they concentrated their energies and attention upon seamless tubing, sheet brass, rods and wire and now they continue in the same line, in addition to which they make metal specialties of all kinds, including hieyele and automobile pumps and plumbing goods. Their pumps are sold all over the world to jobbers, manufacturers and dealers but their output goes principally to manufacturers. The company has two factories in Bridgeport, one located on Housatonic avenue, covering ten acres and comprising a number of buildings. This is used for the raw material work. Their plant on Crescent and Main streets covers six acres. The more recently erected buildings are reinforced concrete and saw-tooth buildings and the sprinkler system is used in one-half the plant. They generate their own electricity, for the plant is operated by electric power, and they use a great deal of hydraulic power. Their equipment is thoroughly modern in every respect and the business has been most carefully systematized, so that there is no useless expenditure of time, labor or material. Each movement must contribute to the sum total of the whole and the three thousand employes, many of whom are skilled workmen, work together with the precision of a machine. During the last two years the business has shown a five hundred per cent increase in the tonnage of the output. The officers are: F. J. Kingsbury, of New Haven, president and general manager; W. R. Webster, vice president and general superintendent; and Guy P. Miller, secretary and treasurer. These men have surrounded themselves with a most able and efficient corps of assistants. R. I. Neithercut is assistant secretary and pur- chasing agent, with A. P. Swoyer as general sales manager; C. A. Baldwin as assistant sales manager: L. M. Allen, chief accountant and credit manager; Arthur Brewer, plant super- intendent : Horace T. Staples, production superintendent; Walter R. Clark, chief engineer in charge of the drafting and engineering department; A. W. Limont, superintendent of the manufacturing department, and W. F. Potter, traffic manager. The directors of the company are Messrs. Kingsbury, Webster, Miller and Swoyer, together with C. A. Hamilton and F. Kingsbury Curtis, of New York, Charles G. Sanford and Waldo C. Bryant. In addition to the important duties which devolve upon Mr. Miller as secretary and treasurer of the Bridgeport Brass Company he is also the vice president and treasurer of the American Tube & Stamping Company, which is one of the big manufacturing concerns of Bridgeport and was reorganized by Mr. Miller in 1917.
On the 27th of October, 1898, Mr. Miller was married to Miss Hattie C. Colt, a daughter of Samuel Colt, of Hartford, and their children are Mary Colt, Catherine Day and Richard Putnam.
Mr. Miller has an interesting military chapter in his life record, for he enlisted at the time of the Spanish-American war with the Hartford Reserves and therein displayed the same spirit of loyalty which characterized his ancestors. In the maternal line he is entitled to membership in the Society of Colonial Wars and is identified therewith. His grandmother's grandfather was General Putnam, the second in command during the war for independence. The Miller family were devoted to professional activities, being ministers and educators of the
105
BRIDGEPORT AND VICINITY
state of New York. Mr. Miller belongs to the Brooklawn Country Club and is a member of its board of governors. In the midst of a most active business life he yet finds time for those things which have cultural value and for the study of those questions which should deeply concern every American citizen. At the same time he is one of the most prominent and widely known business men of New England and in his business career has ever displayed a progressive spirit ruled by more than ordinary intelligence and good judgment, combined with a deep earnestness, impelled and fostered by indomitable perseverance, and a native justice which expresses itself in correct principles and practice.
SPOTSWOOD D. BOWERS.
Spotswood D. Bowers, a prominent attorney of Bridgeport whose large clientage is an indication of his high standing at the bar, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, August 15, 1876, and is the eldest son of Jolin M. Bowers, also a lawyer, now practicing in New York city as the senior partner of the firm of Bowers & Sands. The mother bore the maiden name of Susan Bowler Dandridge and passed away several years ago. She was connected with the Colonial Dames and also with the Daughters of the American Revolution. In the paternal line the Bowers family was represented in the Revolutionary war. John M. Bowers holds membership in the Sons of the American Revolution. Among his ancestors was Israel Putnam. Spotswood D. Bowers is also related to the Spotswood and Dandridge families of Virginia. He was reared in New York city and supplemented his early education by a course in Yale College, while later he attended the New York Law School for three years. On the 15th of November, 1898, he was admitted to practice at the New York bar and removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he entered upon the active work of his profession with the law firm of Harmon, Colston. Goldsmith & Hoadley. He remained with that firm for two years, devoting himself almost entirely to railroad litigation. The firm was a very prominent one in Ohio, one of its members, Judson Harmon, having been governor of the state and also attorney general under President Grover Cleveland.
In 1900 Mr. Bowers removed westward to the state of Washington, practicing in Tacoma for four years in the office of the Hon. James M. Ashton, there devoting himself to admiralty and corporation law, but his health failed and in 1904 he traveled around the world. The following year he became a resident of Bridgeport, where he has since engaged in the practice of law, being now senior partner in the firm of Bowers & Williamson, specializing on appellate eases. His practice is of a very important character and in its conduct he displays a comprehensive knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence, while in the application of a legal point he is seldom, if ever, at fault. He belongs to both the local bar association and to the American Bar Association. He was employed as special prosecutor by the state of Connecticut to investigate the criminal acts in connection with the Burr & Knapp failure. These men were private bankers of Bridgeport who failed September 10, 1914. As a result of Mr. Bowers' investigation Herbert M. Knapp pleaded guilty and spent a year in jail, while Mr. Burr's death undoubtedly saved him from a similar fate. This was a big achievement and victory for Mr. Bowers, who also won before the supreme court of Connecticut the case of the Baird-Untiedt Company vs. the Associated National Manufacturers, in which case the supreme court sustained the right of the hat manufacturers to combine for their own pro- tection and enforce obedience to their rules and regulations by fines. This was another signal victory for Mr. Bowers. Mr. Bowers also was one of the attorneys who successfully defended President Charles E. Mellen and other officials of the New Haven Railroad who were indicted for manslaughter as a result of the Westport railroad wreck. He has recently drafted the bill to create an agricultural, industrial and social welfare commission in the state of Connecticut, which bill contains many progressive matters of legislation, including minimum
106
BRIDGEPORT AND VICINITY
wage, old age and mother's pensions and health insurance. He has the largest private law library in the state and with its contents he is widely familiar.
On the 10th of June, 1916, Mr. Bowers was united in marriage to Miss Christina McLennan, of Syracuse, New York, whose acquaintance he formed while connected with the notable case of William Barnes, Jr., against Theodore Roosevelt. Mr. Bowers appeared for the defense in the suit and was largely instrumental in winning a complete victory for Colonet Roosevelt. Mrs. Bowers died June 15, 1917, at Syracuse. She was a daughter of the late Judge Peter B. McLennan, who at the time of his death was presiding justice of the fourth appellate division of the state of New York and lived in Syracuse.
Mr. Bowers holds membership in the Episcopal church and belongs also to the Calumet Club of New York, the Brooklawn Country Club, the Algonquin Club and Seaside Outing Club of Bridgeport, the Union League Club of New Haven and the Powelton Club of New- burgh, New York. Mr. Bowers has been well known in various athletic sports for many years and has been a devotee of the game of golf for the last twenty-three years, and during practically all that time has been prominently connected with the game. He is chairman of the greens committee of the Brooklawn Country Club and has been such for several years, and it has been largely through his efforts that the Brooklawn Country Club golf course has attained its present high standing, as is shown by the fact that the Metropolitan Golf Cham- pionship was to be played here this year, but was postponed owing to the war. It will, however, be held at Brooklawn when next the championship is resumed. During the years 1897, 1898 and 1899 Mr. Bowers won many golf tournaments, including the President's Cup Competition at Lenox in 1898, when he won the famous Sloan cup. In 1900 he astounded the golfing world by playing a championship course blindfolded in one hundred and twenty-one strokes. Since that time his business has interfered largely with his play, but at that he has won many tournament competitions since and has a large and valuable collection of trophies. Even today he has a national handicap of five which permits him to compete in the National Amateur Cham- pionship. Mr. Bowers formerly played badminton and twice won the United States cham- pionship. Mr. Bowers is also an enthusiastic player of the old game of pool, now known as pocket billiards, and has played on the Algonquin Club team for a number of years and has won a large percentage of his games. While in college, and for a short time thereafter, he played football, playing full back on the Flushing Athletic Club team for several years. Mr. Bowers recently built a handsome residence on Stratfield Road, bordering upon the property of the Brooklawn Country Club, the very evident purpose of which is to permit him to con- tinue to enjoy his favorite pastime of golf, without interfering with his legal business, for after all these other things are but the interests of his leisure hours, while his law practice, extensive and important, claims the greater part of his time and attention. He ranks as a very successful lawyer and has been connected with a number of very important cases, being one of the best known appellate attorneys in the state. Perhaps no lawyer in Connecticut has more practice before the supreme court. He has also been admitted to practice in the United States courts in four different states, namely, Ohio, Washington, New York and Connecticut. He is also well known as the author of several law books and is at present engaged in writing a state digest.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.