USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > History of Bridgeport and vicinity > Part 3
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Dr. Warner's philanthropy was large but unostentatious. He was active in the erection of the fine Young Men's Christian Association building at Bridgeport and was chairman of the building committee for both the Bridgeport branch and the state association. It is said that he was interested in every line of human endeavor and every project having to do with the public welfare of Bridgeport, and few men have realized or met so fully the obligations and responsibilities of wealth.
LYMAN S. CATLIN.
Lyman S. Cathin, treasurer of the Mechanics & Farmers Savings Bank of Bridgeport and a public-spirited citizen, who in every relation of life has manifested loyalty to his country, whether on the battlefields of the south in the Civil war or in the legislative halls of the state, is a native son of Connecticut. He was born in Harwinton, Litchfield county, January 21, 1840, and is a descendant of an old colonial family that sent its representatives to the Amer- ican army in the Revolutionary war. His parents were Sheldon Catlin and Cornelia (Baldwin) Catlin, the former a stone worker and farmer.
Lyman S. Catlin was a pupil in the little red schoolhouse of Harwinton and began earning his living by working on a farm when but ten years of age, being thrown upon his own resources owing to his father's death. He worked in the fields during the summer months and in the winter seasons engaged in clerking in a country store, at the same time improving his mind by reading and study at every opportunity. At an early age he took up school-teaching with the idea of educating himself, it being necessary to earn the funds that would enable him to pursue a more advanced course of study. The outbreak of the Civil war, however, changed his plans and in 1862 he enlisted in Company A of the Nineteenth Regiment of Connecticut
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Volunteer Infantry as a private. After two years with that regiment he was commissioned first lieutenant in the Thirteenth Regiment of United States Colored Artillery and while participat- ing in an engagement on the Cumberland river in southwestern Kentucky he was captured by General Forrest's cavalry. He was then imprisoned and sentenced to be hung, together with officers of other colored troops, but they escaped on a gunboat and in 1865 Lieutenant Catlin with his command was mustered out. He was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Fifth Regiment of United States Cavalry (Colored) and served in Arkansas until 1866, when he was again honorably discharged and returned to Connecticut. He located in Bridgeport and soon afterward organized the Mechanics & Farmers Savings Bank, the growth and develop- ment of which has been largely due to his ability, close application, foresight and sound judgment.
On the 28th of September, 1871, Mr. Catlin was married to Miss Helen J. Lewis, of Strat- ford, Connecticut, and they became the parents of the following children: Sheldon; Lucy J., the wife of Egbert Marsh; George L .; and Cornelia, the wife of Lieutenant Julius A. Furer of the United States Navy. The wife and mother passed away in October, 1906.
Mr. Catlin is a member of Elias Howe, Jr., Post, No. 3, G. A. R., of the New York Com- mandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion and also of the Ex-Prisoners of War Association. His political allegiance was for many years given to the republican party, although at the present time he follows an independent course. From 1881 until 1883 he represented the town of Stratford in the general assembly and served on the joint committee on school funds in 1881 and as house chairman on banks in 1883. In 1888 he was elected senator from the thirteenth district and in 1889 was chairman of the joint committee on banks. He gave most careful and earnest thought to all the vital questions which came up for con- sideration and in their settlement threw the weight of his influence on the side of development, looking to the future as well as to the present needs of the state. In fact in all matters of citizenship he has followed a farsighted policy, which has also been manifest in his business career.
JACOB KIEFER.
Jacob Kiefer, who has almost reached the eighty-eighth milestone on life's journey, still remains as one of the honored citizens of Bridgeport, where so many years of his life have been passed. He came to the city in 1846, and his name figures prominently in connection with its business affairs, its military interests and various events of public importance. Moreover. he is a self-made man and from the age of eleven years has been dependent upon his own resources. He was born in a small town near Strassburg, Germany, September 6, 1829. His father, Jacob Kiefer, was a native of Bruchmuhlbach, Germany, and learned the cabinetmaking trade, while later he became the master builder of his town. He was married in the fatherland and there his wife passed away in 1830, leaving two children, but Jacob is now the only survivor of the family. In 1832 the father took passage on a sailing vessel for America. accompanied by his son Jacob, and after two months spent upon the water they reached Maryland. For a time they remained with Mr. Kiefer's brother at Frederick, that state, and it was there that the father married again, his second union being with Elizabeth Stein. In 1834 he removed with his family to New York city, where he conducted a prosperous cabinetmaking business until 1849, when he fell a victim to the cholera epidemic which in that year swept over the country.
Jacob Kiefer of this review was a little lad of but five years at the time the family home was established in New York city, where he pursued his education in the public schools until he reached the age of eleven. It seemed necessary that he should provide for his own support and he began earning a living in the employ of Benjamin Mooney & Company,
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wholesale hardware merchants at No. 82 Pine street, in New York city, with whom he remained for four years. He possessed natural mechanical skill and ingenuity, which he exercised in the manufacture of guitars in his father's shop, under the direction of Signor Bini, the leading maker of guitars in this country at that time. The superiority of workman- ship and the tone of his instruments attracted the attention of the musical public and at the American Institute Fair held in Castle Garden in 1856 he received the first premium over some of the best known musical instrument manufacturers of the United States.
It was in 1846 that Mr. Kiefer came to Bridgeport at the request of Fenelon Hubbell, for whom he worked as a journeyman cabinetmaker. While thus engaged he thought out plans for the manufacture of furniture by machinery and in 1850 began business on his own account in a small building and with steam power manufactured furniture for his former employers. He had to make his own machinery, for up to that time none had been built for furniture manufacturing. The possibilities of the business opened up before him and in 1852 he was instrumental in organizing what became The Furniture Manufacturing Company, of which he remained general manager for several years. The enterprise proved a growing one from the beginning and the patronage of the house steadily increased, so that as prosperity attended his efforts he was able to purchase the interest of the others in the business and developed the largest furniture manufactory of the eastern states, employing four hundred men and thus conducting one of the largest productive industries of New England. He was president and treasurer of the company for a period of twenty-eight years, or until 1894, when the plant was sold to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railway Company for the site of its present station. The products of his factory established a standard of excellence and were shipped to all parts of the country. Since retiring from that field Mr. Kiefer has practically had no business connections, yet has done some very fine cabinetwork for the Western Electric Company and others.
Mr. Kiefer has ever regarded business as but one phase of existence. He has ever been a public-spirited American citizen, cooperating heartily in well devised plans and measures for furthering public interests along many lines. In 1847 he became a member of the old Volunteer Fire Department of Bridgeport and so continued for about fifteen years, or until a paid fire department was established. Whenever it has been possible to further the general welfare he has been found as an active co-worker. He was one of the first subscribers to the fund for laying out Seaside Park and was one of the first park commissioners. For several years he served as a member of the common council of Bridgeport and in April, 1886, was elected president of the board of aldermen, exercising his official prerogatives in support of many progressive public measures. His military record is one of which he has every reason to be proud. In 1847 he joined the Eagle Guards, a well equipped militia company, and for eighteen years he remained in the state military service with artillery and infantry companies. He was elected corporal and afterward first lieutenant of his company, which later became the Washington Light Guards, at which time he was elected captain, holding his commission under Governor Thomas M. Seymour and thus continuing until William E. Buckingham was elected. In 1863 he was instrumental in organizing a battery of artillery at Bridgeport, which was called the Connecticut Flying Artillery and was a battery of six pieces. There were two companies, known as Company A and Company B, and of the former John T. Sterling was chosen captain. Mr. Kiefer became orderly sergeant and after acting in that capacity for a year was elected captain of Battery A. the members of which were all merchants and prominent men of Bridgeport. During the draft riots of 1863 the company was constantly under arms and Captain Kiefer as its commander was continually in danger. He held a commission under Governor Seymour and also under Governor Bucking- ham. Under the governor's order the command was called upon for active service and for three weeks he slept in the armory, ready at any moment for active duty.
Mr. Kiefer has been married twice. In 1850 he wedded Effie Jane Decker, a daughter of Gabriel Decker, of Newark, New Jersey, and they became the parents of two daughters Vol. TI-2
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and a son: Emma Louise, who married W. Henry Wilson, of Bridgeport, and died in 1910; Hattie J., the wife of William E. Burnham; and Frank W., now deceased. For his second wife Mr. Kiefer chose Mrs. Mary J. Cooper, whom he wedded on the 21st of November, 1897.
Bridgeport had a population of but five thousand inhabitants when Mr. Kiefer took up his abode here and he has since been an interested witness of public progress and has borne his full share in the work of general development. He has always given his political allegiance to the republican party. He is a charter member of the Seaside Club and in 1862 he was made a Mason, since which time he has advanced through the degrees of chapter, council and commandery and has become a member of Pyramid Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. His entire life has been cast in harmony with the teachings of the organization, being based upon beneficent principles. Bridgeport owes much to him. He was the first man to bring to the city people in any considerable numbers. He brought forty men and their families from New York to assist him in the conduct of his business and thus gave a decided impetus to the growth and development of Bridgeport. From that time to the present his labors have been an effective force in advancing Bridgeport's interests, his life record constituting an important chapter in its annals.
DANIEL DAVENPORT.
Daniel Davenport was born at Wilton, Connectient, January 13, 1852, the son of George A. and Mary (Sturges) Davenport. He is a direct descendant of the Rev. John Davenport, founder of New Haven colony, of the Rev. Abraham Pierson, the founder of Newark New Jersey, and of Major Nathan Gold, of Fairfield, Connecticut, one of the petitioners for the Connecticut Charter, 1662. His grandfather, Nathan Davenport, born in New Canaan, Connecticut, August 8, 1768, was educated in the public schools there, married Mary Smith, sister of the Rev. Daniel Smith, of Stamford, Connectient, and became the proprietor of a fulling mill at Wilton, Connecticut, where he resided until his death in 1816. Their son, George A. Davenport, was born at Wilton, Connecticut, January 31, 1808, was edu- cated at Wilton Academy and Staples Academy in Easton and received his legal education at Yale Law School. He was for a time state's attorney for Fairfield county and practiced law at Norwalk, Connecticut, as partner of Chief Justice Butler until the latter's elevation to the bench. For more than thirty years and until he was constitutionally disqualified for the office at the age of seventy he was the judge of probate for the district of Norwalk. Although what was known as a war democrat, he was usually nominated for that office by both parties, and notwithstanding his activity in politics was never defeated. His studious habits remained with him until his death. When past eighty years of age, he began and successfully prosecuted the study of Hebrew. He married Mary, daughter of Erastus Sturges, of Wilton, Connecticut, the member from Wilton of the constitutional convention of the state of 1818, member for very many sessions of the state legislature from that town, selectman and trial justice of the town and a very prominent and active supporter of the democratic party of which he was a lifelong member.
To Mr. and Mrs. George A. Davenport were born six children, five of whom are still living: Mrs. Mary A. White, born in 1844; Julia Abigail, who was born in 1847 and died in 1890; Benjamin, born January 20. 1850, and now a practicing lawyer in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Daniel, the subject of this sketch; Timothy, born February 8, 1854, now a mem- ber of the bar of New York city; and Sarah L., who was born October 31, 1856, and now resides at Wilton, Connecticut.
Daniel Davenport was educated at Wilton Academy and at Yale College, where he was graduated in the class of 1873. He read law with Judge Asa B. Woodward and Judge John H. Perry, of Norwalk, Connecticut, and was admitted to the bar of Fairfield county on September
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24, 1875, at Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he has ever since resided and practiced law. Before he was admitted to the bar, he was elected a member of the general assembly from the town of Wilton. The following year he was appointed prosecuting attorney for the city of Bridge- port, which office he held for one year. In 1893 he was chosen city attorney for Bridgeport, which office he held for two years. He was the delegate from the town of Bridgeport to the state constitutional convention of 1902. Though reared a democrat and always voting that tieket until 1896, he has been an independent in politics ever since.
Mr. Davenport has practiced extensively before the state and federal courts of Connecticut and other states, in the supreme court of the District of Columbia and the United States supreme court at Washington. In 1903, he instituted in the federal courts the suit of Loewe & Company vs. Lawlor, et als., known as the Danbury Hatters' case, which established the individual responsibility under the Sherman anti-trust act of the members of labor unions for the inter-state boycotting acts of their officers, and conducted the case to its close in 1917. He also instituted in the supreme court of the District of Columbia the suit of The Buck Stove & Range Company vs. The American Federation of Labor to restrain the activities of that organization in conducting a nation-wide boycott against the plaintiff, and also the subsequent contempt proceedings against Samuel Gompers, John Mitchell and Frank Morrison for disobeying the injunction issued in that case, and conducted all that litigation to its close. He was also counsel for the plaintiffs in the United States supreme court in the suit of the Paine Lumber Company, et als. vs. The Brotherhood of Carpenters of America, which deter- mined the liability of labor unions under the Clayton anti-trust act for inter-state boycotting. He has been for twelve years the general counsel of the American Anti-Boycott Association, in charge of the legal work of that organization, and has represented them before the Con- gressional committees at Washington in opposition to anti-injunction legislation. He is a member of the American Bar Association and of the Connecticut State Bar Association.
Mr. Davenport married Mrs. Mary Elizabeth (Lockwood) Jones, of New York, daughter of William and Sophia (Halsey) Lockwood, of New York city. They have one daughter, Mrs. Beatrice D. Emmons, of Schenectady, New York, who has one son, Nathaniel Davenport Emmons, born February 2, 1916.
Mr. Davenport belongs to the Brooklawn Country Club and the University Club, of Bridgeport.
ALBERT H. CANFIELD.
Albert H. Canfield, who upon his father's death in August, 1910, took over the active administration of the business of the H. O. Canfield Company, as its president, had previous to that date been closely associated with the business, so that thorough training and broad experience had qualified him in liberal measure for the arduous and responsible duties which he assumed. He was then a young man of about thirty-five years, his birth having occurred in Pekin, Illinois, September 19, 1875, his parents being Henry O. and Imogene C. (Freshour) Canfield. His early life record was characterized by no unusual experiences, being devoted largely to the acquirement of a thorough education, obtained in the public schools, supple- mented by two years' study in Cornell University. His business training was obtained under the direction of his father, for following his college course he became connected with the rubber business of the H. O. Canfield Company, and as he acquainted himself with the trade and familiarized himself with the various details of the undertaking he was given official management and became vice president of the company, so continuing until his father's death in August, 1910, when he succeeded to the presidency. In this connection he controls large business interests and is well known as a prominent representative of manufacturing in Bridgeport.
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On the 7th of February, 1899, Mr. Canfield was united in marriage to Miss Ann F. Stewart. They lost their only son, Jared, and have one danghter, Jean. Fraternally Mr. Can- field is a Mason of high rank, having attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite. He is well known and prominent in club circles, having membership in the University, Brook- lawn Country and Yacht Clubs.
HON. ARCHIBALD McNEIL.
Hon. Archibald McNeil, a member of the state senate of Connecticut in 1902 and 1906, from early youth has been deeply and actively interested in the political questions of the day, while over public thought and action he has exerted marked influence. At the same time he has occupied a prominent position among the business men of Bridgeport, where he is extensively engaged in the coal trade. He was born in Bridgeport, July 2, 1843, and comes of a long line of distinguished ancestry, including some of the founders of Yale College. His father, Abraham Archibald MeNeil, was born at Derby, Connecticut, July 21, 1802, and in early life was supercargo on vessels which were engaged in the West Indies trade and which sailed out of New Haven. In 1825 he established his home at Bridgeport and became a prominent citizen here. For some time he was associated with Samuel Hedges in the shoe manufacturing business but was even better known as a seafaring man and lighthouse keeper, having established the system of lighthouses in Bridgeport harbor, and being for many years prior to his demise keeper of the lighthouse at the entrance of the harbor. He wedded Mary Ann Hulse, a daughter of Captain William Hulse. who in 1813 was lost at sea with all the crew of the brig William, which sailed out of Bridgeport. The death of Abraham A. MeNeil occurred May 11, 1873, while his wife survived for almost two decades, passing away in July, 1892. They were the parents of twelve children.
Archibald MeNeil, the tenth in order of birth, acquired his 'early education in Sellick's School of Bridgeport and afterward became a student in the celebrated Thomas School of New Haven and in the Hopkins grammar school of that city, from which he was graduated in 1860. When his textbooks were put aside he entered the ship chandlery store of his brother, Charles H. McNeil, who was conducting business opposite the old depot and steam- boat landing at Bridgeport. From 1863 until 1876 the brothers were in partnership in the conduct of a wholesale fruit and produce business in this city, but in the latter year removed to New York and established a wholesale butter and cheese store at No. 84 Broad street under the style of Archibald McNeil & Company, Three years later he turned his attention to the export and import business with Cuba, dealing in bituminous coal and produce. In 1888 the New York honse was discontinued and Mr. McNeil returned to Bridge- port, where he has since conducted a mammoth business as a coal dealer under the firm style of Archibald McNeil & Sons Company, Inc., his three sons, Archibald, Kenneth W. and Roderick C., heing connected with him. He represents six large coal-prodneing companies and supplies railroads, factories and other industrial interests, his business being now one of the foremost in this line in Bridgeport.
On the 2d of October, 1881, in New York city, Mr. MeNeil was united in marriage to Miss Jean Mckenzie, Clan Ronald. Their family numbers the three sons now associated with their father in business. The eldest. Archibald, was born in New York city, June 1, 1883, and is now president of the Post Publishing Company. He was graduated in 1901 from the Park Avenue Institute with honors and in 1910 was elected to the senate from the twenty- second district. He is owner or part owner of the Post and the Telegram, two of Bridge- port's leading papers. He has membership with the Elks and in March, 1910, was made exalted ruler of Bridgeport Lodge, No. 36. He also has membership with the Red Men, is the president of Calumet Club and belongs to the Brooklawn and Seaside Chihs. Kenneth
HON. ARCHIBALD McNEIL
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Wylie, the second son, born in Bridgeport. September 14, 1885. is president of the Archibald MeNeil & Sons Company. He was married in New York city in 1907 to Queenie Beatrice Hall, a daughter of William H. Hall, of New York, and they have one child, Kenneth Hall, born in May, 1908. Roderick Clan Ronald, born March 20, 1888, is general manager of the Archibald McNeil & Sons Company.
Mr. MeNeil has been deeply interested in public affairs from early manhood and has done everything in his power to advance the growth and ensure the success of the democratic party. In 1872-3 he was a member of the common council from the second ward of Bridge- port. When William Jennings Bryan was first the presidential candidate of his party, in 1896, Mr. MeNeil was nominated for the state legislature and such was his personal popularity and the confidence reposed in him that, although defeated, he ran four hundred votes ahead of his ticket. In 1897 he declined the nomination for mayor, but in 1902 was nominated for the state senate, to which he was elected by a large majority. In 1906 he was again the democratie nominee and defeated the republican candidate in a district which is probably the wealthiest, most conservative and most consistently republican in the state. While serving in the upper house he was made president pro tem of the senate and became the democratic leader of that body. He gave faithful and earnest consideration to the important questions which came up for settlement, his influence being always on the side of progress and improvement. Of his record it is said: "It is worthy of note that there have been times when Senator MeNeil, abandoning the position assumed by some of his best friends, has fought almost alone for some measure which he believed to be right or against some measure he thought wrong, and his whole legislative record has been a steady and determined refusal to advocate or countenance any measure which in his opinion would not be entirely for the best interests of the state or its institutions." Mr. MeNeil was one of the promoters of the Algonquin Club and served as its president in 1910-11. He was a charter member of the Old Eclectic Club, of which he became president, and he belongs to the Seaside Club, to the Bridgeport Club and to the Bridgeport Yacht Club, of which he has been commodore. He is also a member of General Silliman Branch of the Sons of the American Revolution. The character of his life work has been determined by high purpose and laudable ambition and what he has accomplished represents the fit utilization of his innate talents and powers and his ready recognition of his opportunities.
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