USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > History of Bridgeport and vicinity > Part 2
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
Nathaniel Sherwood Wordin, eldest of the children of Thomas and Ann (Sherwood) Wordin, was born July 12, 1813, in Bridgeport, where he was reared to manhood. He attended the district school presided over by the Rev. Asa Bronson, who was also pastor of the Stratfield Baptist church and known as a successful teacher as well as a strict disciplinarian. After leaving this school Nathaniel S. Wordin then attended the Eastern Academy, also of Bridgeport, then conducted by the Rev. Nathaniel Freeman, pastor of the Congregational church. He was fifteen years of age when he completed his studies and then entered his father's business establishment as a clerk, and later, upon attaining his majority, he became a partner in the business. Soon after the father withdrew from active participation in the business to devote his attention to his milling interests at Norwalk, and the whole respon- sibility devolved upon Mr. Wordin, Jr. He was fully equal to his new task and from the excellent business left in charge developed something much larger still. Before long the increasing demands of the business required larger quarters and a larger building was erected on Water street, the lower floor of which was taken up by the drug store, while ahove there was a sort of auditorium known for many years as Wordin Hall. The old building, which he had left, was occupied by a number of succeeding men, still as a drug store, until the year 1879, making a period of about four score years that line of business was conducted there. The new store of Mr. Wordin became the local point for calls by physicians and was also the place of resort for sailors and seafaring men and for people out of town generally who needed supplies. For such as these Mr. Wordin prepared small and compaet medicine chests together with printed descriptions of each remedy contained and directions for dose, etc. These gained him the sobriquet of Doetor. which chung to him during the remainder of his life. In this establishment, under both the elder and younger man, were trained a great number of clerks who afterwards became owners and proprietors of their own drug stores in the ever growing city.
Mr. Wordin inherited from his father, besides the drug business, a large quantity of real estate in Bridgeport which the same growth of the city just remarked tended still to
16
BRIDGEPORT AND VICINITY
increase in value. In this matter his great business talent and foresight were of inestimable value to him and his holdings rapidly increased in quantity as well as quality. In 1850 he withdrew from the management of the drug business, being succeeded by a brother, and thenceforth devoted himself to the care of his private estate and certain other financial interests with which he had become identified. He became a director of the Bridgeport Mutual Savings Bank and Building Association and of what was then the Farmers Bank, now the First-Bridgeport National Bank. He was also an incorporator of the Bridgeport Savings Bank and an incorporator of the Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank. But in spite of the demands made upon his time and strength by his varied business interests, Mr. Wordin did not negleet those civic duties which his talents in a certain degree involved him in. It was in a purely non-partisan and disinterested spirit that he entered local polities and this his fellow citizens quickly realized and elected him to the office of city treasurer, which he held between the years 1841 and 1845. In 1848 he was appointed to number the buildings in the city of Bridgeport in accordance with a plan agreed upon by that body, a task by no means easy but which he accomplished rapidly and successfully. In 1859 he was elected assessor and held this office until 1862 and again from 1867 to 1868. Mr. Wordiu was keenly interested in military matters and was prominent in militia circles for a number of years. He served as surgeon with the Fourth Regiment of Light Artillery, Colonel Robbins, to which office he was commissioned September 6, 1836. Of strong religious feelings and beliefs, he joined the First Congregational church of Bridgeport in 1831, when he was but eighteen years of age, and was from that time onward a most faithful attendant upon divine service there. At his death he was the eldest member of the congregation. In 1834 he was elected clerk of the society and served in that office for over fifty years, never failing during that long period to be present at the annual meetings to call them to order. It is stated that in elegance of penmanship and general accuracy, the records kept by him of the society's business transactions were unsurpassed. In the year 1885 this long and pleasant association was cut short by a seizure of apoplexy which, though not fatal, yet ended very largely his participation in affairs. His death finally occurred from the same disease on January 9, 1889. Another manner in which he was identified with the church was as leader of the choir for many years.
On May 29, 1839, Nathaniel S. Wordin married Fanny Augusta, youngest daughter of Dr. Frederick Leavenworth of Waterbury, Connecticut, a successful physician and also for a score of years postmaster at that place. He was a son of Colonel Jesse Leavenworth, who graduated from Yale College in 1759, a lieutenant in the famous Governor's Foot Guards of New Haven, under the captaincy of Benedict Arnold and which organization responded to the call from Lexington at the outbreak of the Revolution in 1775. Rev. Mark Leavenworth, the father of Colonel Jesse Leavenworth, graduated from Yale College in 1737 and was chaplain to the Second Connecticut Regiment and went with it to Canada during the French and Indian war. Four of his sons saw service in the war of the Revolution. The grand- father of Rev. Mark Leavenworth was Thomas Leavenworth, who came to America soon after the restoration of King Charles II, settling first at New Haven, and his name appears as of record at Woodbury, Connecticut, in 1664. His son, Dr. Thomas Leavenworth, in direct line of this ancestry, and father of Rev. Mark, was one of the .ounders of the first church at Ripon, now Huntington, Connecticut, and was a man of position, influence, energy and wealth. To Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel S. Wordin the following children were born: Frederick Augustus, who died in infancy; Helen Caroline; Nathaniel Eugene, of whom a sketch appears elsewhere in this work; Fanny Leavenworth; and Thomas Cooke. The Misses Helen Caroline and Fanny Leavenworth Wordin are residents of Bridgeport, occupying the stately Wordin homestead at 510 State street and which was erected by their father. Nathaniel Sherwood Wordin represented a splendid example of that fine type of manhood developed in New England during the past generation. At once an idealist and practical man of affairs, he possessed that other not more common nor less worthy union of the
Florian Concks Hordie
19
BRIDGEPORT AND VICINITY
strictest of moral standards where he was himself concerned and a gentle tolerance for all others. He was also a man of fine tastes and great talents in many directions. His musical ability has already been referred to in the statement that he was leader of his church choir for many years and indeed he displayed great ability in this direction. He was the prime mover in the organization of the Bridgeport Musical Society and served as its secretary for some years. He was himself possessed of a fine tenor voice and performed very well on the flute and bass viol. Another of his talents was in the direction of the pictorial arts, in which he was equally skillful in the use of pen. crayon and brush. This ability he often turned to account as a pastime and in that manner turned out some excellent work. His oil canvases charmingly decorate the home and for one of these he received a prize at an exhibition held at the state fair. While he thus was an example of substantial business methods and good citizenship, he was also a factor in the spread of art and culture and of his ideals in all departments of life. His death was a very real loss to the community in which he shall long be remembered as a benefactor. .
Thomas Cooke Wordin, youngest member of the family of Nathaniel Sherwood and Fanny Augusta (Leavenworth) Wordin, was born October 15, 1853, in Bridgeport, and received his early education in the public schools, later attending the Williston Seminary at Easthampton, Massachusetts, where he prepared himself for college. In 1870 he matriculated at Yale University and graduated therefrom with distinction as one of the famous class of 1874, which numbered among its ranks William Howard Taft, ex-president of the United States; John Addison Porter, ex-secretary of war; Webb Wilcox, Clarence Kelsey and other prominent men. After graduation he read law with Daniel Davenport, corporation counsel of Bridgeport, but never practiced. On completing his studies he resided two years in St. Joseph, Missouri, and about the same time in Indianapolis, Indiana. Returning east in 1884. he became secretary of the Fairfield Rubber Company and so served for the following seven years. From 1892 to 1897 he was engaged in the banking and brokerage business in New York and Bridgeport and then was appointed assistant appraiser of merchandise for the district of New York. Mr. Wordin's mind was a peculiarly sensitive one to every stimulus of an aesthetic nature and, indeed, to the power of broad ideas in all departments of thought. His interest in life was wide enough to include well nigh everything of worth and he became at once a powerful factor in the development of culture in his native city. In polities he was keenly interested, giving much thought to the issues of the day and even taking an active part in them, though always from the position of the private citizen who desired no political reward. He received a reward, however, if that can be called a reward which involves the recipient in much difficult labor in behalf of the com- munity, when he was appointed by President MeKinley assistant appraiser of merchandise in New York Custom House, his department being jewelry and the fine arts. In this capacity it was possible for him to turn his unusual knowledge in matters aesthetic to the use of his fellow citizens in a most practical way. Among the scholarly attainments of Mr. Wordin was that of a very charming literary style and he was the author of a number of excellent articles on miscellaneous subjects that would have done credit to any pen. He was a contributor at irregular periods to the "Standard" of Bridgeport on various topics of general interest and thus became very well known both to the public and the newspaper profession and was admired on account of the purity and fluency of his style. He was a man of strong religious feeling and was affiliated for many years with the First Congregational church of Bridgeport, which was the first church of Bridgeport-that is the first church built there of any denomination. Upon the death of his father, who had kept the records of the church for fifty years, the son was appointed to the same office, holding it himself for ten years or until the time of of his death.
Mr. Wordin married, at Indianapolis, October 28, 1884, Mrs. Frances E. Johnston, daughter of the Rev. Frederick Patterson Cummings, pastor of St. John's Presbyterian church of Crawfordsville, Indiana. With the cooperation of his wife, Mr. Wordin founded in 1894
20
BRIDGEPORT AND VICINITY
the Contemporary Club of Bridgeport, a literary and social club, which attained a member- ship of over one hundred members and exerted an influence beneficent to the community. He was president of the club for three years and seenred for it addresses of many men of eminence. Mrs. Wordin survived her husband two years, her death occurring in 1907. Thomas Cooke Wordin was distinctly the typical scholar. That quiet life of research and thought made an especial appeal to his sensitive nature and was well fitted as a field for his fruitful talents. This does not imply, however, an undue shrinking from the society of bis fellows and still less from the active duties in which circumstances involved him. He was quite capable of enjoying the heat and bustle of the daily competition of life and, indeed, felt the zest of it rather more keenly than most men. But it was in the other province that his abilities shone with their brightest and most normal Instre and where he was, so to speak, at home. It is perhaps more difficult to measure the influence upon the world about of such a character than of any other that we meet. Mr. Wordin passed away on April 6, 1905, and by his death Bridgeport lost one of its leading citizens. The "Standard" of Bridgeport at the time of his death contained a long obituary article and an editorial comment. In the latter it remarked in part as follows: "The sudden death of Mr. Thomas Cooke Wordin. of this city, removes a man of refinement and enlture from the midst of many appreciative friends who will sincerely mourn his loss. He took a great interest in whatever was uplifting and worthy and was active in behalf of that which made for high civic and social ideals and the true life. Quiet and unobtrusive, his influence was still operative and strong and always for the right."
FRIEND WILLIAM SMITH.
When death called Friend William Smith on the 3d of March, 1917, when he was in the eighty-eighth year of his age, Bridgeport lost a citizen whose work had been of great worth not only to the city but to the world at large through the many inventions which he brought forth and which are now in use throughout every civilized country. He remained almost to the last an active factor in the business world, giving personal attention to his extensive and im- portant interests as president of The Smith & Egge Manufacturing Company. Mr. Smith was a native of New York, his birth having occurred in Kortright. Delaware county, on the 11th of May. 1829. His ancestors came from Holland and England and many of them were actively connected with the work of the ministry. His parents were Friend William and Mary (Myers) Smith, the former a son of Eben Smith and a nephew of James Matthew Smith, who were circuit riders of the Methodist church in an carly day and in that way traveled throughont Connectient and Massachusetts. Friend William Smith, the father, devoted fifty years of his life to the active work of the ministry.
Being stationed a part of the time in New York city, Rev. Friend William Smith removed his family to the metropolis, so that his son, Friend William Smith, pursued his early education in the public schools there, afterward attending Amenia Seminary, in Dutehess county, New York. His imtial step in the business world was made as clerk in a hosiery store of New York city at a salary of ten dollars per month. There he remained for thirteen years and in 1859 came to Bridgeport, where he opened a dry goods store, but the undertaking met with failure on account of the dishonesty of an employe and Mr. Smith was forced to resume elerking. He never allowed discouragement to overtake him, however, and with determined purpose set about to retrieve his lost fortune.
Mr. Smith was at the same time deeply interested in public affairs, and, being an ardent republican, became a prominent member of the Wide-Awakes, marching companies formed dur- ing the Fremont and Lincoln campaigns, and in this connection he did everything in his power to promote republican success. When election gave over the administration of the country to
21
BRIDGEPORT AND VICINITY
the republicans Mr. Smith was appointed postmaster of Bridgeport under President Lincoln and held the office until 1869. He continued an active factor in shaping political thought and action and was made a member of the state central committee and chairman of the executive committee of Bridgeport. On leaving the postoffice he organized the Forrester Manufacturing Company of Bridgeport and in 1870 was chosen superintendent for the Ellsworth Mill & Mining Company of Nevada, in which connection he became familiar with the processes of mining and milling gold, but in 1873 he resigned his position with the Nevada company and returned to Bridgeport.
It was at that time that the United States postoffice department was advertising for a new lock for letter boxes, and giving study and thought to the subject, Mr. Smith and Frederick Egge invented a lock, for which Mr. Smith invented a key. They became the successful bidders for the contract of manufacturing a letter box for the government and the result was the organization of The Smith & Egge Manufacturing Company, which has since remained an important factor in business circles of Bridgeport. In 1878 the company secured another con- tract from the government for the manufacture of mail box locks and for twenty years made all the locks used in the postal service. It was about this time that Mr. Smith originated the system of carrier and postoffice chains for securing the lock and keys and obtained orders for the manufacture for the entire country. He also obtained the contracts for all the cord fasteners and label cases used in the postal service. He brought forth another most important invention, the window chain, used instead of cord for hanging weights to windows. His experiments led to his idea taking tangible form and the Giant metal sash chain was introduced by his company and is now a standard article all over the country. This factory was the first to introduce the nine hour day and later the eight hour day in Bridgeport. In 1891 Mr. Smith went abroad to determine the possibilities of his business in England and organized the Automatic Chain Company of Birmingham, a company that now supplies Mexico, Hayti, Chile and San Domingo, while the trade of the Bridgeport factory covers the entire United States. The company also has extensive dealings with the treasury and navy departments of the gov- ernment in furnishing various equipment and the business has long since been one of substantial proportions and profits. Mr. Smith also organized the Bridgeport Deoxidized Bronze & Metal Company, of which he was for a long time the president. He was an organizer of and was largely interested in the Lake Torpedo Boat Company, thus being largely instrumental in having that concern located in Bridgeport, and was a director in the City National Bank and a trustee of the Farmers & Mechanics Bank, of which he was one of the incorporators. In all his different business connections he so directed his efforts that very gratifying results accrued.
In 1853 Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Angelina Amelia Weed and they be- came the parents of three sons and a daughter: Friend William, Jr., a well known patent attorney; Oliver C., who is secretary and treasurer of The Smith & Egge Company : Charles E., who is superintendent of the plant; and Mrs. Horace H. Jackson. There are also five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Both parents have now passed away, the mother having died in January, 1911, while Mr. Smith survived until March 3, 1917.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith held membership in Christ Episcopal church, of which he was a vestryman. He belonged also to St. John's Lodge, No. 3, of Bridgeport, to Hamilton Com. mandery, K. T., and to Lafayette Consistory, A. & A. S. R. He likewise held membership in the Seaside Club, of which he was a past governor, in the Algonquin Club, the Brooklawn Club, the Seaside Outing Club, the National Manufacturers' Association and the Bridgeport Historical and Scientific Society-associations which indicated the nature and breadth of his interests and the line of his activities outside the field of business. He was ever a man of studious habits, took a keen delight in books and the attainment of knowledge and delved constantly into historical, poetical and scientific works. Those things which are ever a matter of deep concern were of deep interest to him and at no time was he neglectful of the duties and obligations of citizenship. His life span covered a wonderful period in the world's
22
BRIDGEPORT AND VICINITY
history. Born during the presideney of Andrew Jackson, he lived to witness a remarkable revolution in business affairs. in publie life. modern methods taking the place of old-time customs and each year marking a forward step in America's history and development. His life work was a contributing factor to this result and he well deserved the place which was accorded him as one of the most honored and valued of the venerable citizens of Bridgeport.
I. DE VER WARNER, M. D.
No adequate analysis of the life work of Dr. I. De Ver Warner ean be given until the great enterprise which he founded reaches its full fruition as a factor in the business development of Bridgeport and indeed of the country. Yet there is much that may with profit be set down as a record of business enterprise and a stimulus to the efforts of others. His early advantages were no greater than those enjoyed by others, but opportunity was ever to him a call to action and, moreover, his life record is proof of the statement that power grows through the exercise of effort. He was continually called upon to cope with more and more complex business problems and his ability was at all times found adequate, for from each day's activities and experiences he learned the lessons therein contained and therefore brought added knowledge to the work of the succeeding day.
While Dr. Warner was for many years a resident of Bridgeport he was a native son of neither the city nor the state. His birth occurred at Lineklaen, Chenango county, New York. March 26, 1840. He obtained a publie school education in that locality and his interest in scientific knowledge led to his preparation for the practice of medicine. His preliminary reading was pursued under the direction of Dr. C. M. Kingman, of MeGrawville, New York, after which he entered the Geneva Medical College and was graduated with the class of 1861. He then located for practice in Nineveh, Broome county, New York, but after two years returned to MeGrawville and succeeded to the practice of his former preceptor upon Dr. Kingman's retirement. His study of disease led him to the conviction that many of the ills of the human race are due in great measure to modes of living and dress. He attempted to revolutionize customs and dissipate ignorance on the subject by delivering a series of popular lectures on the organization of the physique. He won wide fame and he became prominently known as an advocate of reform in the manufacture of women's corsets, claiming that the style of corset then in use was greatly undermining the welfare of the human race. He therefore began the manufacture of a garment that would correct former abuses and this garment became wnown as the Warner health corset. His brother, Lucien C. Warner, became associated with him in the manufacture of the corset in a little room at MeGrawville, New York. The business steadily grew and in 1876, believing that a removal would prove advantageous, leading to a larger growth of their enterprise, the business was transferred to Bridgeport, where it has grown by leaps and bounds. On their arrival here a four story building was erected and while they had but six employes when they came to Bridgeport. at the time of Dr. Warner's death there were more than three thousand, with a factory covering more than four city blocks. The history of the business is given at length on another page of this work. Not only did Dr. Warner and his brother prove adequate to the demands of a growing and complex business, but they main- tained also a spirit of broad humanitarianism in relation to the employes. Dr. De Ver Warner ever manifested kindness and a fraternal feeling toward those in his service and to this end he founded the Seaside Institute for their special benefit and recreation in 1887. Many social affairs, too, were instituted for lunch hours and other periods and it was the feeling of the company that the noon time should be made an hour of rest and enjoyment. Not only did Dr. De Ver Warner remain an active factor in the control and management of the great corset industry developed under the name of the Warner Brothers Company but
DR. I. DE VER WARNER
25
BRIDGEPORT AND VICINITY
was also a pominent factor in the financial and public interests of the city and state. He became the president of the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company and the Bridgeport Gas Company and was a director of the Pequonnock National Bank, all of which prospered through the aid of his executive ability. He was also a director of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company up to the time of bis demise.
Dr. Warner was twice married. In 1862 he wedded Lucetta M. Greenman, of MeGraw- ville, New York, and they became the parents of three children, of whom two survive, De Ver H. and Mrs. H. W. Bishop. The former took up the extensive business interests of the father and is one of the most prominent representatives of commercial, industrial and financial activity in Bridgeport and New England and has also been an important factor in studying and solving civic problems, giving much thought and consideration to all those involved and complex questions which have to do with the welfare of the individual and of the community. He is arrayed on the side of better housing conditions, better transportation, improved hospital facilities and larger park areas and he is studying these questions from the standpoint of a practical business man. He believes that houses thoroughly up-to-date in every particular should be built so that they may be rented for as low as fifteen dollars per month and thus provide adequate homes for workmen. He believes that the city government must solve the transportation problem and open up more arteries of traffic. He believes, too, that medical treatment for the poor as well as the rich should be ensured and that hospitals should be made cooperative and as a precaution against disease he believes that small parks should be opened in the congested districts and that Steeplechase island should be purchased and operated municipally for the people. In these connections he is carrying out in accordance with modern methods and demands ideas which his father attempted to embody in the early development of industrial Bridgeport. Dr. De Ver Warner, following the death of his first wife, married Eva Follett, and to them was born a son, Ira Follett.
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.