USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > History of Bridgeport and vicinity > Part 25
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HON. EDWARD EARLE GARLICK.
Hon. Edward Earle Garlick, engaged in the general practice of law as a member of the firm of Garlick & Swain, has also taken active part in public interests and throughout his entire life has manifested a spirit of loyalty and progressiveness in municipal and govern- ment affairs that found its culmination in the offer of his services for active duty on the Mexican frontier in 1916. He was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, September 18, 1884, a son of Dr. Samuel M. Garlick, who removed to this city from his old home town of Fairfield, where he had also followed his profession. He was born in Devonshire, England, and mar- ried Harriet Trubee Knapp, a representative of an old New England family established on the American continent in colonial days and represented in the Revolutionary war, so that Mrs. Garlick is now a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and an active leader in the work in Bridgeport. She is also a frequent contributor to the National Maga- zine, published by the Daughters of the American Revolution at Washington, D. C., being the author of an article entitled Trails of the Old King's Highway, recently published in that magazine, and another most interesting article entitled The Heroic Woman. Her writ- ings have also been published in various other magazines and she is well known in literary and club circles.
Edward Earle Garlick prepared for college in the Bridgeport public schools and was graduated from the University school in 1906. He then matriculated in the Yale Law School and is numbered among its alumni of 1910. In February, 1911, he was admitted
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to the bar in Hartford, Connecticut, and since then has practiced his profession in Bridge- port. He entered upon active professional work in connection with Chamberlain & Hull, then as now one of the leading law firms of Bridgeport, and since 1913 he has been associated with Richard S. Swain, under the firm style of Garlick & Swain, in the general practice of law. While one of the younger representatives of the bar he is making substantial progress and his ability is fast becoming recognized, for he has proven his power in coping with intri- cate legal problems.
Mr. Garlick has also figured prominently as one of the leading young republicans of Bridgeport and his official service has been characterized by marked devotion to duty. He has served on the board of aldermen, was formerly assistant clerk of the city court and next was promoted to clerk of the court. From that position he was advanced to the office of assistant proseenting attorney in which he is now serving, and at one time he was actively associated with Connecticut's lawmakers as a member of the general assembly. His loyalty has further been proven by the tangible expression of his military spirit. When President Wilson issued his call for service on the Mexican border in 1916, Mr. Garlick joined Battery A of the Tenth Field Artillery of the National Guard of Connecticut and was with that command three months, the full time, however, being spent at an army training camp in Pennsylvania, to the keen disappointment of Mr. Garlick and his comrades, all of whom were anxious to proceed to the border. Mr. Garlick has membership in the Seaside Club and was formerly a clerk in the North Congregational church, while at the present writing he is a member and clerk of the Union Congregational church, an association which indicates the rules and principles which govern his conduct.
HON. EDWARD T. BUCKINGHAM.
Hon. Edward T. Buckingham, compensation commissioner, is not only a distinguished attorney at law but has also been active in the administration of the law in Bridgeport as mayor of the city. He was the second youngest man ever called to the office but assumed its responsibilities with a full sense of their importance and his incumbency in office was characterized by marked devotion to duty. He comes of a family long connected with the history of New England and is of Puritan ancestry. The progenitor of the Buckingham family in the new world was Thomas Buckingham, who sailed from London and arrived at Boston on the 26th of June, 1637. He became a resident of New Haven, then Quinnipiack, March 30, 1638, and the following year removed to Milford. His first wife, Mrs. Hannah Buckingham, there passed away June 28, 1647, leaving five children: Hannah. Daniel, Samuel, Mary and Thomas. By his second wife, Mrs. Ann Buckingham, he had one son. The line comes down through Samuel Buckingham, who was baptized at Milford, June 13, 1640, and died March 17, 1699. On the 14th of December, 1663, he married Sarah Baldwin, whose father, Timothy Baldwin, was one of the first settlers of Milford, and their children were: Sarah: Mary: Samuel, who died in infancy; Samuel; Hannah; Thomas; Anne; Mary; Hester; and Ruth. Of these Samuel, the second son and fourth child, was born November 1, 1668, and departed this life October 29, 1708. He was a proprietor of the town of New Milford, although he never took up his residence there. His wife, Mrs. Sarah Buckingham, was admitted to the church in Milford, May 17, 1696, and their children were Samuel, Ebenezer, Sarah, Thomas, Elizabeth, Esther and Nathaniel. Samuel Buckingham IH, who was the direct ancestor of Edward T. Buckingham in the fourth generation, was baptized November 21, 1693, and died in Old Milford, December 29, 1749. He was married May 20, 1714, to Silence Clark and their children were Sarah, Deborah, Abigail, Ann, Samnel, Ebenezer. Esther, Jared, Nathan, Elizabeth and Enoch. The third son and eighth child was Jared Buckingham, whose birth occurred October 16, 1732, while he died in Oxford about 1812.
HON. EDWARD T. BUCKINGHAM
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His children were: John; Samuel, who was born in 1772 and wedded a Miss Wooster, of Oxford. Connecticut : Isaac, whose natal year was 1774; and Eunice, born in 1775, who passed away in 1880.
John Buckingham, representative of the family in the sixth generation, was born in 1770 and was married in 1791 to Esther Osborne. Their children were: Fanny, who was born in 1792 and became the wife of Roswell Hill, with whom she removed to Ohio; Hezekiah, who was born in 1794 and wedded Matilda Ann Wooster; Lucy, who was born in 1796 and married E. Bartiss; Letson, born in 1799: Susan Matilda, born in 1802; David Harson, who was born September 19, 1805, and married Anne Marie Scofield; Lucius E .; Linus, born in 1809; Meroe, who was born in 1811 and married Cornelius Cahoe; and Laura L., who was born in 1813 and became the wife of Joel F. Webster, November 2, 1835.
The seventh child of that family, Lucius E. Buckingham, was the grandfather of Edward T. Buckingham. He was born March 17, 1807, and his life record covered the intervening years to 1903. He followed farming at Roxbury, Connecticut, and also engaged in business as a stonecutter and monument builder. He was married June 13, 1832, to Julia A. Taylor, of New Milford, and they made their home in Woodbury, Connecticut. Their children were: Mary A., who was born in Roxbury. April 2, 1833, and on the 31st of December, 1863, became the wife of Isaac B. Prindle, for thirty years cashier of the Pequonnock National Bank of Bridgeport, where she died April 30, 1910; Esther A., who was born July 16, 1835, and passed away December 11, 1855; Walter; George, born in Roxbury, November 14, 1846; Ellen L., who was born December 11, 1848, and became the wife of Henry E. Ward; and Alice A., who was born April 5, 1853, and married Dwight Halleck. Her death occurred in 1895.
Of that family Walter Buckingham was born in Dover, Dutchess county, New York, October 25, 1841. The family removed to Sing Sing in 1844 and the father there engaged in the stove business for a number of years. During that period Walter Buckingham attended the famous old Gunnery school, where he was a schoolmate of Captain Bob Beedes and a son of Judge Van Cott, late postmaster of New York city. Following the removal of the family to Woodbury, Connecticut, Walter Buckingham was there employed in a dry goods store but later removed to Chicago, Illinois, where he engaged in the wholesale commission business for two years. Because of ill health he returned east and for three years was clerk in French's Hotel of New York city, for many years a famous hostelry there. Later Mr. Buckingham conducted a grocery store at South Norwalk, Connecticut, and after- ward went to Metuchen, New Jersey, where he occupied the position of superintendent of railroad construction, having charge of railroad building through that section. At Mount Vernon, New York, he was similarly engaged and built the first macadam road in New York city. Returning to Woodbury, Connecticut, he there engaged in the insurance business for three years and in 1881 became a resident of Bridgeport, where he occupied the position of bookkeeper with the John H. Way Manufacturing Company until its factory was destroyed by fire. He occupied the position of deputy collector of customs at Bridgeport for eight and one-half years and at various times was engaged as an expert accountant. In 1869 he was elected first city clerk of Norwalk, Connecticut, and occupied that office for two terms. In politics he was a stanch democrat and fraternally was connected with King Solomon Lodge, No. 1, A. F. & A. M., at Woodbury, Connecticut, the oldest lodge in the state. He served as its secretary for several years or until he removed to Bridgeport, when he became a member of St. John's Lodge. On the 8th of November, 1865, Walter Buckingham wedded Helen E. Tolles, whose father, Robert I. Tolles, was a sash and blind maker of Plymouth, Connecticut. They had but two children, the daughter, Ida E., becoming the wife of T. W. Joyce of Bridgeport, by whom she had two children, Louis B. and Helen L.
The only son of Walter and Helen E. Buckingham was Edward T. Buckingham of this review, who was born in Metuchen, New Jersey, May 12, 1874, but at the age of three years was brought to Bridgeport by his parents. His education was pursued in the Brand Street
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public school and in the Bridgeport high school, from which he was graduated in 1891. He next entered upon the academic course in Yale University and following his graduation in 1895 took up the study of law at Yale, completing his course two years afterward. In 1898 he located for law practice in Bridgeport and has since followed his profession save for the period of his service in public offices, which have demanded his entire attention. Politically a democrat, in 1902 he was elected city clerk and in 1903 was reelected with a majority of twenty-five hundred and thirty-five votes, the largest ever given a candidate for that office. He was again chosen in 1905 and in 1907, his incumbency continuing until 1909. He was then nominated and elected mayor of Bridgeport with a majority of three thousand and forty- three, the largest received by any mayoralty candidate of the city. Moreover, he was the second yonngest mayor of Bridgeport and few men of his years have occupied a similar position in a city of equal size in the United States. Under very trying conditions he conducted his office with such signal dignity and honor as to win the highest respect of all. All fair-minded citizens named his administration as one worthy of commendation and praise, in which much good was accomplished along the lines of reform and municipal progress. He was mentioned as a candidate for governor in 1910, but withdrew his name and seconded the nomination of Simeon E. Baldwin, who was elected. Mr. Buckingham is one of the strongest men of his party in this portion of the state.
On the 3d of June, 1903, Mr. Buckingham was married to Bessie R. Budau, a danghter of John D. and Annie (Russell) Budau and a granddaughter of John Diedericks Budau, who was born in Lübeck, Germany, October 14, 1817, and passed away in Bridgeport on the 20th of November, 1888. He was sixteen years of age when he came to the new world and for a time followed a seafaring life. He was afterward employed at railroad work in New Orleans, where he was paid fifty cents per day. Making his way northward, he conducted a grocery store for a time and then established business as a dry goods merchant in Bridge- port, successfully conducting that establishment until he sold his stock of goods to Beacon & Smith, this store being now conducted by Radford B. Smith. Mr. Budau then took up the work of settling estates and also engaged in the general real estate business, which he managed wisely and well, so that he accumulated a handsome fortune. Moreover, he was a public-spirited citizen who cooperated in many plans and projects for the general good. For a number of years he served as street commissioner, during which period some of the principal streets and avenues of Bridgeport were laid out. He held membership in St. John's Lodge and in the Knights Templar commandery and was buried with Masonic honors. In 1845 he wedded Louise Jane French, one of nine children, who lived to the advanced age of more than ninety years. She was the daughter of Wheeler French, who was born in 1792 and was a lifelong carpenter of Bridgeport, where he passed away in 1852. He married Sarah Webb, daughter of Zenas Webb. She was born in 1794 and died in 1862. Gamaliel French, the father of Wheeler French, was a soldier of the Revolutionary war and his name is inscribed on a tablet of the gateway erected by the Mary Silliman Chapter, D. A. R., at the old Stratford burying ground near the corner of North and Brooklawn avenues in Bridgeport.
Mr. and Mrs. John Diedericks Budau had a family of seven children, including John Budau, who was born in Bridgeport, February 24. 1851, and there passed away December 31. 1904. He was a musician of ability, belonging for a number of years to the Wheeler & Wilson band. He afterward engaged in the express business and subsequently concentrated his attention upon insurance and real estate. He belonged to St. John's Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of which three generations of his family had been representatives. He married Annie Russell, a native of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and they became parents of a son and a daughter: John H. D. Budau; and Bessie R., now the wife of Edward T. Buckingham.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Buckingham are: Russell B., born June 2, 1904; and Edward T., September 2, 1906. The parents occupy an enviable position in the social circles of the city. Like his ancestors, Mr. Buckingham is connected with St. John's Lodge, No. 3,
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A. F. & A. M., of which, he is a past master, and he is also a past sachem of Wowompon Tribe, No. 40, I. O. R. M., and held the office of great sachem of the state of Connecticut. He is likewise a member of Samuel H. Harris Lodge, I. O. O. F., the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Bridgeport lodge of Elks, the Foresters of America and the Knights of Pythias. He belongs to the Arion and Germania Societies and to the Young Men's Christian Association. On October 1, 1913, he was appointed compensation commissioner by Governor Simeon E. Baldwin and has since ably filled that position. It is said of him that his circle of friends is coextensive with the circle of his acquaintances and that the number of his acquaintances is daily growing. He has made for himself a notable place in the city of his residence, his record setting at naught the old adage that a prophet is not without honor save in his own country. He is recognized as a man of sterling worth and of high ideals and his ability has brought him to the front.
HOMER REID.
Efficiency is the watchword of the great corporations. To maintain an evenly balanced organization every department must be in the care of those especially skilled in the line which they undertake in order to bring that department up to the standard of the whole. The American Graphophone Company is a complex organization of many business enter- prises distinct in themselves yet with a central financial interest over which Homer Reid has supervision as chief accountant. He was born in Washington, D. C., February 27, 1875, a son of John W. and Margaret E. Reid. After attending the public and high schools he took up the profession of teaching, which he followed for four years in Piatt county, Illi- nois, but returning to the east, he became a resident of Bridgeport in the spring of 1898, at which time he entered the service of the American Graphophone Company as a clerk in the shipping department. From the beginning he has been in the accounting department and through intermediate positions has worked his way steadily upward through ability, fidelity and industry, until, in 1911, he was made chief accountant and has since occupied that position.
In 1899 Mr. Reid was united in marriage to Miss Mary Gordon, of De Land, Illinois, and they have two children, Byron G. and Lorin H. Mr. Reid belongs to the Masonic lodge at Bridgeport and politically he follows an independent course, voting for men and meas- ures rather than party. Throughout his entire business career he has been stimulated by the desire to attain something better, utilizing every opportunity to make his services of such worth that the road to advancement would be open to him, and each forward step has brought him a broader outlook and wider opportunities.
CARL G. LINDQUIST.
Carl G. Lindquist, vice president of the Hawley Hardware Company, with which he has been connected for the past twenty-four years, was born at Skara, Sweden, on the 16th of January, 1872, and is a son of Per A. and Anna Charlotta Lindquist, also natives of that country, where they passed their entire lives. The father was a successful harness and leather goods manufacturer. In the family were six children, namely: Louisa, Hilda, Carl G., Beda, Anna and Axel.
Carl G. Lindquist attended school in his native country until he was nineteen years of age and then emigrated to the United States, settling at Arlington, New Jersey, where for six months he was employed in a machine shop. In 1893 he arrived in Bridgeport and
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went to work as clerk in a hardware store owned by C. W. Hawley. He continued in Mr. Hawley's employ until 1906, when he with the other employes formed a corporation known as the Hawley Hardware Company and bought out Mr. Hawley. The business was removed to its present location at No. 1120 Main street and is still conducted under the name of the Hawley Hardware Company. Since the organization of the company Mr. Lindquist has been vice president and has bad an influential voice in the management of its affairs. His long connection with the trade, his naturally keen insight into conditions and his sound judgment have all been of great value to the concern, and the volume of its business has shown a steady growth.
Mr. Lindquist was married on the 10th of March, 1898, to Miss Anna Wennstrom, who was born in Sweden but came to Bridgeport as a young woman. Mr. Lindquist casts his ballot in support of the candidates and measures of the republican party and is now serv- ing his second term as a member of the board of fire commissioners. He gives a great deal of time and energy to the work of that body and has been especially influential in securing an efficient and businesslike administration of the fire department. He belongs to the Baptist church and gives his hearty support to the work of that organization. He is a past noble grand of Monitor Lodge, No. 38, I. O. O. F .; past district deputy and past delegate to the state convention of that organization; and his fraternal connections also include membership in Corinthian Lodge, No. 104, A. F. & A. M. He is likewise identified with the Svea Sick & Benefit Association of Bridgeport, a Swedish organization, and with the Algonquin Club. As these various connections indicate, he has not allowed his business interests to monopolize his time but has had a part in the advancement of various phases of community life.
SETH HILL, M. D.
Living up to one's ideals is, in any strict sense, impossible, since as our conduct grows better our vision of good grows also, keeping thus forever in advance of the steps of its more laggard companion. But though we are forced to admit this, even at the very time we acknowledge it to be our chief object, there is of course no similar reason to admit that we cannot live up to the ideals of our fellows, which are not thus directly stimulated to further flights by every improvement in our behavoir. As a matter of fact, many of the best and greatest figures in the history of the world have not merely seen beyond the ideals of their times but actually lived beyond them, but for most of us the task to live up to them is one quite sufficiently taxing to our strength and courage, so that we may well be pleased even if we do but approach them. The truth of this may well be seen if we take a more limited case, such, for instance, as the great mass of ideals and standards which adhere about any of the great professions as a sort of accepted tradition limiting and regulating the actions of its practitioners. If we should take, for example, the tradition of the great profession of medicine, and note the high standard of professional conduct which it sets for those who would make it their career, it will at once be evident how difficult is the task of realizing this standard in actual conduct. yet equally evident that it is not impossible. Indeed, were there any theoretical doubts about it. the matter would very soon be set to rest by the records of many of the splendid men who have practiced as well as professed this, one of the most altruistic of human occupations. Such a record is that of the life of the late Dr. Seth Hill, of Stepney, Connecticut, in whose long career was well exemplified the best of medical tradition, side by side with an eminently independent spirit which made him dare to face new problems and make original decisions. His death on February 5, 1912, was a very real loss to a large portion of Fairfield county.
Dr. Seth Hill came of good New England stock and was born July 16, 1837, at Easton,
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Sept Hill.
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Connecticut, a son of Wakeman and Eunice (Lyon) Hill, old and highly respected residents of that town. The early portion of his education was obtained at the local schools of his native place and he prepared for college at the Easton Academy. He then entered the Yale Medical School and distinguished himself highly in his classes, drawing upon himself the favorable regard of his instructors and masters and winning the affection of his fellows in the undergraduate body. He carried off many of the honors of the class, was its valedictorian and graduated in 1866 with the degree of M. D. Immediately after graduation he located in Bridgeport and there began the practice of his profession, but he shortly afterwards removed to Bethlehem and later removed to Stepney. From there he extended his practice over the surrounding country and into the neighboring towns of Trumbull and Easton. His practice became one of the largest in the region and he gained a reputation as one of the most successful physicians thereabouts and a leader of his profession. Stepney was his postoffice address for nearly forty-five years, but his home for forty years was in Tashua, Trumbull.
But it was not only in connection with the medical profession that Dr. Hill was promi- nent in the community where he dwelt. His was one of those minds which find all human relations interesting, which feel a sympathy in all the affairs of men. He was extremely active politics and was closely identified with the republican party and a leader of the local organization of that party. He served on the county school board for a number of terms and was extremely efficient in this capacity, one of his keenest interests being in the education of children. In 1880 he was the successful candidate for representative in the state legislature and served in that august body to the full satisfaction of his constituents and to the advantage of the community at large. Besides his private medical practice Dr. Hill was associated very prominently with the Bridgeport Hospital and he was actively interested in the general cause of the profession. In 1884 he was president of the Fairfield Connty Medical Society; was president of the State Medical Society; a member of the American Medical Society and other organizations. In 1901 Dr. Hill became one of the trustees of the Staples Free School and did a great deal of valuable work in the cause of education in this important capacity.
Dr. Hill was twice married, his first wife being Phebe M. Dayton, of Towanda, Pennsyl- vania, who died August 29, 1870. His second marriage was celebrated on June 19, 1872, to Mary Frances Nichols, of Tashua, Trumbull, Connecticut, a daughter of William and Mary Melissa (Mallett) Nichols, themselves old and honored residents of that place and members of old Connecticut families. Mrs. Hill survives her husband and still resides in Tashua, Trumbull. Her home, "Hillsden," was the residence of her father and grandfather Nichols.
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