USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > History of Bridgeport and vicinity > Part 21
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In 1905 Mr. Trumbull was married to Miss Mary J. Smith, of Litchfield, and they have two children, Marion and Donald, aged ten and seven years. In politics Mr. Trumbull is a republican where national issues are involved but at local elections casts an independent ballot. He is well known in club circles, having membership in the Algonquin, Seaside Gun, Housatonic Rod and Gun and Weatogue Clubs. All these, however, are made subsi- diary to his business and throughout his active career he has been notahly prompt, ener- getie and reliable, displaying in large measure that quality of common sense which is so often the one attribute lacking in the attainment of success.
HIERMAN SALTMAN.
Along the legitimate lines of trade and commerce Herman Saltman has worked his way steadily upward and is now president of the firm of Saltman Brothers, wholesale grocers of Bridgeport. A native of Russia, he was born in Podolsk in 1867 and was a young man of ahout twenty years when he crossed the Atlantic to America, arriving at New York city on the 6th of November, 1887. There he at once began work, learning the jewelry business, his labor at first bringing him but two dollars per week. He was without friends, relatives or funds, but he possessed courage and determination and made his industry meet his needs. While learning the jewelry business he was employed at various places, his increased capacity winning him increased salary until he was being paid thirteen dollars per week. Finally he became an expert in that work and was paid five dollars per day. It was his ambition, however, to engage in business on his own account and in 1898 he established a jewelry Vol. II-9
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store in New York city, but on account of the Spanish-American war the enterprise did not bring him the profits that he had desired and after paying his creditors in full, dollar for dollar, he again resumed work at the jeweler's trade at a salary of thirty-five dollars per week. Again from his earnings he saved the money that enabled him to embark in business for himself, but in 1907 a disagreement with a partner led him to discontinue. The firm owed over one hundred thousand dollars in money borrowed from banks or for purchases made of wholesalers and manufacturers. Again Mr. Saltman paid all claims dollar for dollar, and once more he started out to seek a location. A friend advised him to go to Bridgeport, Connecticut, and he visited the city to look over the field. He was pleased with the prospects and in February, 1908, returned. This time he started in the grocery trade, opening a wholesale house in March of that year. The first month's business amounted to seven hundred and fifty dollars, but soon afterward there was a substantial increase in his trade and after moving three times in order to get larger quarters he finally secured his present establishment in 1910 and in 1916 his sales amounted to three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, including the sale of one hundred and twenty-five carloads of flour alone. He now employs two city salesmen and one outside salesman, has one bookkeeper, one stenographer, three men on the floor and two drivers. The business is constantly developing and his trade is now very gratifying.
On the 26th of October, 1889, in New York city, Mr. Saltman was united in marriage to Miss Bessie Rosenfeild, by whom he has two children. Bernard P., who was educated in the public schools of New York city, the high school of Brooklyn and spent six years as a student in Yale College, is now a practicing attorney of Bridgeport. David, who acquired his education in the public and high schools of Bridgeport, is now employed in his father's wholesale establishment. Mr. Saltman is a member of the Temple church and also of Harmony Lodge. His has heen an active and useful life. He would never allow discourage- ment to get the better of him and his determination and enterprise have enabled him to make steady advance, while his life history proves what can be accomplished when energy and ambition point out the way.
WILLIAM W. WRIGHT.
William W. Wright, vice president and general manager of The Artistic Bronze Company of Bridgeport, his native city, was born December 2, 1888, his parents being Dr. J. W. and Elizabeth C. (Knapp) Wright, the latter a daughter of Captain William Knapp, of Fairfield, who was lost at sea while commanding the Evening Star, which was then the biggest steamer afloat. Dr. Wright was born at Cromwell, Connecticut, and removed to Bridgeport, where he has won distinction as a most able and eminent physician and surgeon. He is now presi- dent of the Gaylen Hospital and is mentioned elsewhere in this work.
Liberal educational opportunities were accorded William W. Wright, who attended the Park Avenue Institute and also the Hotchkiss school. He was a youth of about nineteen years when in 1907 he entered into connection with The Artistic Bronze Company in the position of secretary and treasurer, and in 1910 he was made vice president and general manager. This company was incorporated in 1902, taking over a business in this line established years before in New York. The business was removed from New York to South Norwalk, Connecticut, and in 1911 to Bridgeport, the plant being located at No. 2050 Fairfield avenue. They manufacture cabinet and builders' hardware and automatic screw machine products and also do job casting in brass and bronze. They have a one-story building sixty by one hundred and thirty feet, and in addition to the line indicated they also make white metal specialties and automobile hardware specialties. They handle several patented artieles. Their line also includes sanitary sugar servers and iee eream cone holders, and they employ
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ahout forty people, one-half of whom are skilled workmen. The product is sold to jobbers and retailers and they also do considerable special contract work. The officers of the com- pany are: Dr. J. W. Wright, president; William W. Wright, vice president and general manager; and E. V. Shaw, secretary and treasurer. In addition to these, Alfred C. Shaw, of New York, and Charles H. Armstrong, of Bridgeport, are directors. Success has attended the undertaking and the company has tripled its business in the past few years. For a year and a half their factory has been operated twenty-four hours in the day. It pays high wages and the business is conducted according to high ethical standards of modern commercialism.
On the 2d of August, 1911, Mr. Wright was united in marriage to Miss Marguerite C. Williams, of South Norwalk. Connecticut, and they have two sons, John Winthrop, born June 27, 1912, and Lawrence Leverit, born June 14, 1916. Mr. Wright is greatly interested in moral progress and those influences which work for individual uplift, and he holds membership in the First Presbyterian church and also in the brotherhood of that church. He is actnated by high and honorable principles in every relation of life and is constantly extending a helping hand to those who need assistance.
NATHAN BARNUM MIDDLEBROOK.
Nathan Barnum Middlebrook, deceased, who was a well known resident of Stratford, Connecticut, served as a soldier in the Civil war and was an honored citizen in days of peace. He was a native of the town of Trumbull, Fairfield county, Connecticut, born November 26, 1838, and was descended from one of the oldest and hest known families of that section of the state. His father, David Middlebrook, was born in Trumbull, July 31, 1805, and was a son of David Middlebrook, Sr., who died in 1819 at the age of fifty-two years. He was a carpenter and woodworker by trade and made his home in Bridgeport, Connecticut. where he passed away on the 8th of March, 1868. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Hepsey Beardsley, and was a resident of Putney, died in Bridgeport, Con- necticut, Angust 2, 1868.
Nathan Barnum Middlebrook attended both public and private schools of Bridgeport and learned the carriage trimming trade with J. Mott & Company, of Bridgeport, with whom he worked for a number of years. Later he followed the same trade with the well known firm of Hincks & Johnson, with whom he continued until the business was suspended. He then retired from active life and spent his last seven years in the enjoyment of a rest which he had truly earned and richly deserved, passing his days quietly in his home on West Broad street in Stratford. There death called him on the 4th of September, 1915, and his remains were interred in the Union cemetery at Stratford.
When President Lincoln issued his call for volunteers in the Civil war, Mr. Middlebrook enlisted, becoming a member of the Second Connecticut Light Battery, with which he served for three years. Seven months of this time he spent in the Fairfax (Va.) Seminary Hospital, suffering from typhoid fever, and two of his companions died from the fever. Mr. Middle- brook, however, improved and at length rejoined his battery. After he returned home he continned to follow his trade and in 1879 he purchased the .Joseph Lampson place on what is now West Broad street in Stratford, one of the oldest homes of the town. This he greatly improved following the great blizzard that occurred in March, 1888, expending more than two thousand dollars on improvements.
In Stratford, on the 31st of August, 1863, Mr. Middlebrook was married to Miss Susan M. Batterson, who was born at Catskill, New York, June 4, 1837, a daughter of Sillick and Emma (Bailey) Batterson and a granddaughter of Samuel Bailey, of Danbury, Connecticut. Her father was a shoemaker and in 1842 removed to Stratford with his family, where the
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home was maintained. Of his family of fourteen children but two survive, Isaac Batterson, of Stratford, and Mrs. Middlebrook. Sillick Batterson lived to the age of sixty-six years and died from an injury in a fall from a stepladder. His wife survived him many years, living to the age of ninety-two. Both are buried in Union cemetery at Stratford. To Mr. and Mrs. Middlebrook were born seven children: Sillick Batterson, who married Mrs. Eva Dodds and makes her home in Stamford, where he is employed by the Yale Lock Company; Emma, who is the wife of Reuben Olmstead and occupies the old homestead with her mother; Daisy, the wife of George Hurd, of Bridgeport: Virginia, the wife of Ernest Rideout, a well known contractor of Stratford; David, who married Edna Woods and is with the D. M. Read Company of Bridgeport; William, who wedded Lula Tyack and is with the Yale Lock Company of Stamford; and Mary, who died in infancy. Mrs. Middlebrook occupies the old home on Broad street, which has been her home for nearly half a century. She is a member of Christ Episcopal church, to which Mr. Middlebrook also belonged, being one of its most faithful members. He was likewise a loyal member of Elias Howe, Jr., Post, G. A. R., of Bridgeport, and he was most devoted to his family. On the 31st of August, 1913, Mr. and Mrs. Middlebrook celebrated their golden wedding, surrounded by their children, grand- children and many friends, on which occasion they were made the recipients of many presents in gold. They spent fifty-two years of happy wedded life together and reared a family who reflect credit and honor on their good name.
C. A. HANSON.
There is no enterprise which indicates more clearly the development and the high attainment of American skill and ingennity than the American Graphophone Company, now controlling a most carefully organized and highly systematized business that has grown by leaps and bounds until it is one of the great productive industries of New England. C. A. Hanson is well known as general works manager of this enterprise. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, August 18, 1872, and in the acquirement of his education attended the public and high schools and a manual training school of that city. He made his initial step in the business world as an employe of Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Company of Chicago and was later with J. A. Fay & Company, manufacturers of woodworking machinery. Subse- quently he was connected with the Chicago Stamping Company in the purchasing depart- ment and in 1894 he entered the employ of the Deering Harvester Company, filling the posi- tion of general storekeeper. Those who read between the lines will immediately recognize his developing powers in business, for it is a well known fact that power grows through the exercise of effort. and throughout his entire career close application and indefatigable industry have been salient factors. Each change he has made has represented a forward step. In 1900 he became purchasing agent and superintendent of the Weber Wagon Works, which in 1904 became a part of the International Harvester Company. He continued as superintendent of the Weber plant until 1910, in which year he rebuilt the Chatham wagon plant in Ontario, Canada. Of this he became manager and also took over the management of the Akron, Ohio, automobile plant of the International Harvester Company. Subse- quently he became manager of the Plano works for that company and directed the interests of all four plants as works manager, heavy responsibilities and most important duties devolv- ing upon him. After twenty years' service with that company he resigned his position and entered the lumber dryer business. His identification with the American Graphophone Company dates from January, 1916, and in the intervening period he has rebuilt the entire factory and has trebled the producing power. He has also built and equipped an entire new record plant located on the east side of Bridgeport.
In 1899 Mr. Hanson was married to Miss Mary Whelan, of Chicago, and they have three
C. A. HANSON
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children, Hester, Arthur A. and Conrad A. Fraternally he is a prominent Mason, having attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, and he is also a member of the Mystic Shrine. His time and attention, however, have been largely devoted to his business interests and his advancement is notable. He possesses marked executive force and adds initiative to administrative power and he has the ability to organize and harmonize seem- ingly diverse interests into a complex but unified whole.
SAMUEL MELLITZ.
Samuel Mellitz, practicing at the Bridgeport bar as the junior partner in the firm of Goldstein & Mellitz, an association which was the outgrowth of a close friendship formed in college days, was born May 6, 1891, in the city which is yet his home. In fact he has spent his entire life in Bridgeport. His parents, Jacob and Peppie (Hausman) Mellitz, are both deceased. They were natives of Austria and were married in that country. In 1888 the father came to the United States and a year later was joined by his wife, the family home being established in Bridgeport, where he engaged in business as a dry goods merchant. In the family were eight children, five sons and three daughters. The mother died in 1905 and the father survived only until 1909.
It was in the previous year that Samuel Mellitz was graduated from the Bridgeport high school, after which he entered the Yale Law School, completing his course as a member of the class of 1911. The following year, when twenty-one years of age, he was admitted to the bar, and since 1912 he has continuously practiced in Bridgeport as a partner of Harry Allison Goldstein under the firm style of Goldstein & Mellitz. They were classmates in Yale and the strong friendship then begun has been cemented by the close association of later years.
On the 18th of June, 1916, Mr. Mellitz was united in marriage to Miss Sadye L. Silver- man, of Bridgeport, a daughter of Isadore Silverman, a merchant. Mr. Mellitz is a democrat and he is identified with various fraternities, including the X. T. K., a legal fraternity, the Masonic order, Abraham Lodge, I. O. B. B., and also the Independent Order of Abraham. He belongs to the Green Street synagogue and to the Young Men's Christian Association. The interests of his life are broad and varied and have ever been of a character that calls forth the best in the individual.
JOHN H. HINCKLEY.
John H. Hinckley, president and treasurer of the Newfield Silver Manufacturing Com- pany, possesses that spirit of modern American enterprise that overcomes obstacles and perseveres in the pursuit of a persistent purpose until success is assured. It is this quality that has enabled him to make the Newfield silver manufactory one of the important manu- facturing concerns of Bridgeport, his native city. Mr. Hinckley was born in 1877, his parents being John F. and Esther (Lynch) Hinckley. The father was also a native of Bridgeport, and the grandfather, John Hinckley, was a native of Norwich, Connecticut, but in early life removed to this city and for some time operated Moody's grist mill. John F. Hinckley became superintendent of the Bridgeport Horse Railway and so continued for thirty years. He married Esther Lynch, a daughter of John Lynch, a native of Ireland who came to Bridgeport seventy years ago and was foreman of the horse barn of the Bridgeport horse car line.
At the usual age John H. Hinckley of this review entered the public schools and
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passed through consecutive grades until he became a high school pupil. He started out in the business world as a printer's devil in the office of the Bridgeport Standard and was there employed for two and one-half years but turned his attention in other directions, entering the employ of the firm of Holmes & Edwards, the predecessors of the International Silver Company. In that connection he worked his way upward, becoming assistant sales manager, and remained with that house for twenty-one years or until 1911, when he organized the Newfield Silver Manufacturing Company, Incorporated. They bought out the old Newfield Plating Company and the officers are: John H. Hinckley, president and treasurer; and F. B. Elliott, secretary. Their plant is located at State and Ash streets and includes the block between Ash aud Dewey streets. The building is a three-story structure of mill construction, furnished throughout with a sprinkler system and containing eighteen thousand square feet of floor space. They manufacture various kinds of gold and silver plated novelties and automobile lamps and they also do job plating and finishing of all kinds for various manufacturers of the city and for jewelers. They bought out the Bridge- port Electro-Plate Company in 1915, this being one of the oldest establishments of the state and the largest of the kind in Connecticut. The Newfield Silver Manufacturing Company now employs fifty people, semi-skilled labor. They do job work for firms as far west as the Pacific coast and they make a specialty of hotel silver plating. They do all kinds of plating for various manufacturers. They send out hundreds of thousands of pieces of tableware, and the high grade of their work and the thorough reliability of the house insures them a continued and growing patronage.
Mr. Hinckley was married in 1900 to Miss Pearl Reynolds, of Bridgeport, and they have two children: Roger Fuller, born April 2, 1904; and Russell John, born November 17, 1910. Mr. Hinckley gives his political allegiance to the democratic party and keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day but does not seek nor desire office. He belongs to the Algonquin Club, to which he turns for social pleasure and recreation, and in social and business circles he enjoys the high esteem and goodwill of all with whom he has come in contact.
RUSSELL R. MEAD.
Russell R. Mead, connected with the American Graphophone Company of Bridgeport as assistant works manager, was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, March 8, 1876, a son of Sylvester and Antoinette (Cady) Mead, the former for many years superintendent of the Waterbury waterworks. Russell R. Mead acquired a public school education and after- ward learned the tool maker's trade with the Waterbury Clock Company, with which he was associated for seventeen years, gradually working his way upward from one position to another of greater importance and responsibility until he was given charge of the tool department. He was afterward with the William L. Gilbert Clock Company at Winsted, Connecticut, where he acted as foreman of the tool and machine room for nine months. He then became connected with the National Cash Register Company at Dayton, Ohio, as com- pound die maker, there continuing for six months. On the expiration of that period he returned to his native city and entered the employ of the Risdon Tool Works, having charge of the tooling up for a two-inch movement for the William L. Gilbert Clock Company. This work he completed in five months. He then came to Bridgeport in 1907 and entered the employ of the American Graphophone Company as assistant foreman of the tool department and was made superintendent of that department in 1908. He thus served for four years, when in 1912 he was advanced to the position of mechanical engineer and in the following year was made assistant superintendent, while in 1914 he became superintendent and in 1916 became assistant general works manager. His position is now one of large responsi-
RUSSELL R. MEAD
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bility and importance for which his previous training and broad experience have well quali- fied him.
On the 25th of October, 1897, Mr. Mcad was united in marriage to Miss Minnie E. Whitney. of Waterbury. He is well known in fraternal circles, holding membership with the Continental Lodge, A. F. & A. M., Townsend Lodge, No. 89, I. O. O. F., of which he is past grand, while of Anoantawae Encampment, No. 21, of Waterbury, he is past chief patriarch. He likewise belongs to Bridgeport Lodge, No. 36, B. P. O. E. and is well known as a valued member of Park City Yacht Club, of Bridgeport. His military experience covers service as a member of Company A, Second Regiment of the Connecticut National Guard, of Water- bury. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day but does not seek nor desire political preferment, feeling that he can best support civic measures as a private citizen. He concentrates his attention upon his business affairs, and since starting out in life has made continuous progress, reaching a position of prominence and responsibility through individual effort and merit.
CHARLES ARTHUR HOPWOOD.
Charles Arthur Hopwood, attorney at law, has spent his entire life in Bridgeport, where he was born October 19, 1885, his parents heing David and Sarah E. (Collett) Hopwood, who were natives of England, where they were reared and married. About 1881 they crossed the Atlantic to the new world and settled in Bridgeport, where they still make their home, the father devoting his attention to merchandising. In their family were four sons and four daughters, namely: Sallie E., who is engaged in missionery work in China; and Charles Arthur, Mrs. Charlotte Stegemann, Edna May, Minerva, John A., David and Collett F., all yet in Bridgeport.
In the schools of his native city Charles A. Hopwood pursued his early education and afterward attended the Park Avenue Institute, from which he was graduated with the class of 1904. In preparation for the har he hecame a law student at Yale and was graduated there with the class of 1907. He has since devoted his attention to general law practice and has won a good clientage and is making his business a profitable one. He belongs to the Bridgeport Bar Association and in his practice he has always been careful to conform to the highest professional ethics.
Mr. Hopwood gives his political allegiance to the republican party but is not an office seeker. . Fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and he is an active worker and earnest member of St. Paul's Episcopal church, in which he is serving as a vestryman.
HARRY ALLISON GOLDSTEIN.
Harry Allison Goldstein, senior member of the firm of Goldstein & Mellitz of Bridgeport, was born in New York city on the 19th of February, 1888, a son of Jacob and Regina (Lands- man) Goldstein, who removed with their family to Bridgeport during his infancy or in 1889. Here the parents still reside, the father being engaged in the real estate and insurance business.
Harry A. Goldstein attended the public schools until he reached the age of fourteen years, when he put aside his textbooks and began to earn his living as an employe of the International Silver Company, remaining in that connection for six years. He was at first
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in the office and in time was advanced to the position of efficiency clerk. After spending six years as a wage earner with that concern he again took up his studies at the age of twenty years with the idea of preparing for the bar and in 1911 was graduated from the Yale Law School. In 1912 he formed a partnership with Samuel Mellitz, who had been a classmate at Yale, and the firm of Goldstein & Mellitz has enjoyed an extensive and growing general practice. Mr. Goldstein prepares his cases with great thoroughness and care and his trial of a cause indicates a mind well trained in the severest school of investigation and one to which close reasoning has become habitual and easy.
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