USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > History of Bridgeport and vicinity > Part 31
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On the 6th of December, 1878, Dr. Garlick was married at Fairfield, Connecticut, to. Miss Harriet Trubee Knapp, a daughter of Captain Rufus Knapp, a sea captain of Fairfield, now deceased, and of Caroline Trubec Knapp. Dr. and Mrs. Garlick became parents of five children, of whom Almira Elizabeth Trubee passed away at the age of sixteen years. Four of the number survive. Caroline is a graduate of the Cortland school and of the Fanny Smith Kindergarten Training school and has since been a successful teacher in Bridgeport and else- where. Herbert Middleton, who studied at the Connecticut State Agricultural College is now a successful and progressive farmer of Monroe, Connecticut. Edward Earle is a lawyer of Bridgeport now serving as assistant prosecuting attorney. George B., who is the youngest and was born in Bridgeport, November 16, 1886, is now associated with his father. He was graduated from the University school of Bridgeport in 1904 and afterward devoted two years to the study of science in Carleton College of Northfield, Minnesota. Later he was for four years in the Yale Medical College, which conferred upon him his M. D. degree at his graduation in 1912. He afterward spent two years as interne in the Rhode Island General Hospital of Providence and later four months in the Providence Contagious Hospital, and four months in the Providence Lying In Hospital, thus gaining the broad and valu- able experience which cannot be obtained as quickly and as surely in any other way as in hospital practice. Returning to Bridgeport he was for one year supervising medical
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officer of the City Charities Department and in 1916 he entered upon the general prac- tice of medicine as the associate of his father. During the border trouble with Mexico in 1916 he served as first lieutenant of the sanitary troops of the Connecticut Coast Artillery with the National Guard, going to the border in June with Troop A of New Haven. He is now assistant medical attending physician of the Bridgeport Hospital and a member of the Bridgeport, Fairfield county and Connecticut State Medical Societies. He belongs also to the Seaside Club, finds his chief recreation in motoring and is a member of the United Congregational church. Inspired by the example of his father and actuated by personal ambition he is making steady advancement in his chosen profession.
In his political views Dr. Samuel Middleton Garlick is a progressive republican. He has never sought political office and for four years was health commissioner of Bridgeport. He is coroner's physician, suceeding the late Frederick B. Downs, having been appointed to that service in 1911. For many years he was a member of the First Congregational church and after its union with the United Congregational church in 1910 he transferred his membership thereto and is now one of its deacons. He is a master Mason and was a charter member of the University Club of Bridgeport. He belongs to the Seaside Club and his chief recreation is reading. He finds great delight in American history and is imbued with the spirit of patriotism and devotion to the highest ideals of the country.
JOHN F. TOOLE.
John F. Toole, of the firm of Toole & Sunderlin, pile drivers and dock builders of Bridge- port, was born at Hudson Falls, New York, in 1865, and after acquiring a public school education there was employed in various ways and various places, but eventually turned his attention in a direction which bas led him to his present business connections. For a time he was employed at the lime kilns of Glenns Falls, New York, and afterward worked on the pulp mill and dam at Thompsons Mills, New York. Later he was engaged in the building of the bridge across Newton creek at Williamsburg, New York, and afterward became superintendent of the construction of a bridge at One Hundred and Tenth street and Eighth avenue in New York city. His next position was that of superintendent of the Charleston bridge connecting Charleston and East Boston, Massachusetts, and later he was called to superintend the building of the viaduct through the city of Bridgeport for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railway Company. Previous to the completion of that con- tract he had been superintendent of construction in the building of Grant boulevard in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1905, in connection with George W. Sunderlin, he organized the firm of Toole & Sunderlin, with offices at No. 83 Fairfield avenue. This is a contracting firm organized for the purpose of building docks and for contract work in the line of heavy masonry, pile driving and dredging. This firm has enjoyed a constantly growing business which it is well qualified to handle by reason of an excellent equipment and also by reason of the long and varied experience of the men at the head. Their equipment includes derrick boats, pile drivers, all kinds of pumps and in fact everything necessary for the handling of heavy machinery for pile driving, dredging and dock building. They have built the dock for the electric light company, also the Crane Company dock and the launching wings for the Lake Torpedo Boat Company. They also built the bulkhead and foundation for the tube mill of the Bridgeport Brass Company and they are doing the foundation work for the turbines and suction well of the Connecticut Company. They have also had contracts with the West Chester Light Company at Mount Vernon, built the thirty-six inch outlets for the Deacon street sewer of Bridgeport and have recently completed the Housatonic avenue outlets for the trunk sewer. They also built the Joy dock on East Main street and they employ on an average one hundred people.
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Mr. Toole has a daughter, Kathryn A., who is now being prepared in a select school in Boston for a higher educational course. Mr. Toole holds membership in the Roman Catholic church and fraternally is identified with the Elks. He has steadily advanced to his present position solely through his own efforts, as he began at the bottom and has had no influence nor prestige back of him save that which with the passing years he has built up on his own individual merit. Each change in his business connections has been occasioned by the offer of more lucrative and more responsible work and, mastering all of the complex questions of construction, he is now splendidly qualified to carry out the contracts, many in number and of an important character, that are entrusted to the firm.
ELM SERVICE COMPANY.
The Elm Service Company at Nos. 166-168 Elm street, was incorporated in 1917 and is one of the strong organizations in the automobile circles of Bridgeport. The company's business comprises a high class auto livery, utilizing excellent touring cars and high grade limousines with equipment up-to-date in every detail. Its central location with a modern building forty by seventy feet and two stories in height as well as the recognized high standing of the men behind the organization gives assurance of a service in its line that ranks with the best in any city in the country. The officers of the company are: John Cullinan, president; F. C. Mullins, vice president ; William S. Buckley, secretary and treasurer; and Thomas Morrisey, general manager, who with Thomas J. Scott comprise the board of directors.
BENJAMIN I. HART, M. D.
Dr. Benjamin I. Hart, physician, surgeon and scholar, who since 1908 has practiced his profession in Bridgeport, was born in New York city, March 15, 1881, and is the eldest of a family of three sons and two daughters whose parents, Frank and Matilda (Grauer) Hart, are natives of Russia, where they remained until after their marriage, coming to the United States in 1880. The father is a shirt manufacturer and they are still residents of the metropolis.
Liberal educational opportunities were accorded Dr. Hart, who won his Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of the City of New York in 1900. He then entered upon preparation for a professional career as a student in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, from which he was graduated with the M. D. degree in 1904. For a year thereafter he engaged in teaching school in New York city and from 1906 until 1907 was ship surgeon on the Hamburg-American Line between New York city and South American ports. In 1907 he practiced with marked success in New York and in 1908 removed to Bridgeport, where he has since ably followed his profession, being recognized as one of the most skillful physicians of Bridgeport. He is physician to the Loyal Order of Moose and he is a member of the Fairfield County and the Connecticut State Medical Societies and the American Medical Association.
On the 19th of June, 1909, Dr. Hart was married to Miss Elfreda R. Rubin, of Hartford, Connecticut, and they have a son, Victor, born August 10, 1911.
Dr. Hart gives his political allegiance to the republican party but has had no ambition for office holding. Fraternally he is connected with the Junior Order of American Mechanics and in religion holds to the Hebrew faith. He has ever been a close student of medical litera- ture and history and he has one of the best private libraries of the city, containing five
DR. BENJAMIN I. HART
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thousand volumes or more aside from his medieal works. His reading has covered a wide field in general literature but he is especially interested in antique medical works and history.
EDWARD P. WALTER.
Edward P. Walter, long identified with industrial interests in Bridgeport, was born in Hamburg, Germany, December 23, 1848, and there pursued his education and learned the trades of machinist and brass worker. He was a youth of eighteen when he erossed the Atlantie in 1866, making his way to New York, while later he went to Morristown, New Jersey, there remaining until his removal to Bridgeport, in 1874, when twenty-six years of age. Here he entered the employ of the Pacific Iron Works in the building of hoisting engines and was superintendent of the works for ahout three or four years. He next engaged in business on his own account on Cannon street as one of the proprietors of a machine shop conducted under the firm style of Walter Brothers, Henry C. Walter being his associate in the undertaking. After two or three years Edward P. Walter left the firm and two years later established business on John street under his own name. There he remained active up to the time of his death. He and his brother were the inventors of a small planer which they manufactured and also a shaper, and the former is still being widely used under the name of the Walter planer.
In 1877 Mr. Walter was married to Miss Carrie E. Platt, a daughter of John and Hannah M. (Pritchard) Platt, who came to Bridgeport from Springville, Pennsylvania. Her father was a plane maker by trade but never engaged in business in Bridgeport. Mr. and Mrs. Walter reared an adopted daughter, Charlotte May, who is still with her mother.
The death of Mr. Walter occurred on the 20th of February, 1910, when he had reached the age of sixty-two years. His political support was given to the republican party and, while never an office seeker, he was always a puhlie-spirited eitizen and his aid and cooperation could be counted upon to further progressive public movements and eivie affairs. He belonged to the Algonquin Club and in 1873 he became a Mason. He was in hearty sympathy with the purposes and spirit of the craft and advanced in the order until he attained the thirty- second degree of the Scottish Rite, while in 1908 he joined the Mystic Shrine. His life was ever a busy and useful one in which he carefully considered the rights of others and his obligations to his fellowmen.
REV. JOHN GEORGE SADTLER.
Rev. John George Sadtler, rector of Christ Episcopal church of Bridgeport, was born in Baltimore county, Maryland, just outside the city limits of Baltimore, on the 30th of Mareh, 1867, and is the youngest living child of Rev. Benjamin Sadtler, a Lutheran minister, who at the time of his son's birth was president of a young ladies' seminary there. He was born in the city of Baltimore, his father being Phillip B. Sadtler, at one time a prominent jeweler of Baltimore, founding in 1800 the present jewelry house of G. T. Sadtler & Sons. He was of German deseent and held a captain's commission as commander of a company in the defense of Baltimore in the War of 1812. Rev. Benjamin Sadtler was married in 1845 to Catherine Elizabeth Schmucker, who was born in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia, August 20, 1826, a descendant of Colonel Tavenor Beale, of Mount Airy, Virginia, who served with the rank of colonel in the Revolutionary war. He was an uncle of President James Madison. Colonel Beale was also a direct descendant of Yost Hill, one of the first settlers
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of the Shenandoah valley. Rev. and Mrs. Benjamin Sadtler lived to celebrate their golden wedding in 1895, and in 1901 the former passed away, but the latter is now living in Balti- more at the age of ninety years. In their family were nine children, of whom two daughters and five sons yet survive. The eldest son is Professor Samuel P. Sadtler, who for many years was professor of chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania and is now consulting chemist of Philadelphia and the chemical editor of a book called the United States Dispensa- tory, published in Philadelphia by Wood, Remington & Sadtler, and which is accepted as standard authority by pharmacists throughout the country. Another son, Edwin Beale Sadtler, is the general agent of the New York Shipbuilding Company of New York city.
Rev. John G. Sadtler was reared in his native county and was graduated from the Johns Hopkins University with the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1889. He afterward spent a year abroad in travel and study and following his return to America hecame a student in the General Theological Seminary of New York. He was ordained to the Episcopal ministry in June, 1893, at the Church of the Redeemer in Baltimore county, Maryland, by the Rt. Rev. William Paret, bishop of Maryland. His first charge was Grace church in Darlington, Maryland, where he remained for a year and a half. He then became assistant rector of St. Peter's Episcopal church of Baltimore, where he continued from 1895 until 1898. He was afterward rector of the Church of Our Savior in Baltimore for a decade and was examining chaplain to the bishop of Maryland from 1897 until 1914. During the last five years of that period he was also rector of St. Mary's Episcopal church of Baltimore and in October, 1914, he was called to Christ Episcopal church of Bridgeport, where he has since remained as rector.
On the 26th of June, 1912, Rev. Sadtler was married to Miss Ellen Bruce Rutherford, who was born in Baltimore, August 29, 1880, a danghter of Alexander Hawksley Rutherford, of the Baltimore brokerage firm of Middendorf, Williams & Company. He died November 25, 1915. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Rosa Seddon, was a daughter of Hon James A. Seddon, who served as secretary of war in the cabinet of the Confederacy under Jefferson Davis. The old Seddon home in Richmond, Virginia, is now a Confederate museum. To Rev. and Mrs. Sadtler have been born two sons: Alexander Rutherford, born November 27, 1913; and John Beale, born September 22, 1915.
Rev. Sadtler holds membership with the Beta Theta Pi, a college fraternity. He is fond of rational outdoor sports, of motoring and of golf and turns to these for recreation. He has twice been abroad, gaining that broad and liberal culture and experience which only travel can bring. He studies not only the past but the present for life's lessons and keeps in touch with the trend of modern thought along those lines which are of vital interest to city, state and the world at large.
WILLIAM F. BLAMEY.
William F. Blamey, a contractor and builder of Stratford, where his work has contributed largely to the improvement of the city, was here born on the 14th of February, 1892, his parents being Walter and Josephine Blamey, who are still residents of Stratford. They are natives of England and the father was about thirty-five years of age when he crossed the Atlantic to the new world.
William F. Blamey is indebted to the public school system of Stratford for the educa- tional privileges he enjoyed. A short time after leaving the high school he entered the employ of the Crane Valve Company of Bridgeport, with which he remained for a brief period and then took up carpentering, which he followed at various places in Connecticut and also in Florida. He began contracting on the day that he was twenty-one years of age and has since been actively identified with industrial interests in Stratford. He supplemented
WILLIAM F. BLAMEY
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his day school training by attending night school for two terms and also the Bridgeport Trade School. He possesses much natural ability in the line of his chosen occupation and his skill and ingenuity have brought substantial results. He has built fully thirty residences in Stratford, also one of the church edifices and a large garage, together with many miscellaneous buildings. He has also erected five dwellings at Bridgeport and a similar number at The Beach, a summer resort. Since starting in business on his own account be has paid out twenty-five thousand dollars in wages and one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for materials in Stratford. Thus his business has been an element of worth to Stratford in keeping money in circulation, as well as contributing to the upbuilding of the city.
In Stratford, on the 26th of September, 1915. Mr. Blamey was united in marriage to Miss Ethel May Johnson, a daughter of Charles D. Johnson, of Stratford, and they have two children, Helen Ethel and Doris May, twins, born on the 25th of November, 1916. Mr. Blamey is intensely interested in all matters pertaining to the general. welfare and is now a trustee of the fire department and one of the volunteer firemen. He belongs to the Cupheag Club, the Improved Order of Red Men and to the Bethany church-associations which indicate the nature of his interests and the rules that govern his conduct.
WILLIAM J. NICHOLS.
William J. Nichols enjoys peculiar distinction as a prime factor in the extensive and important operations of the past few years in real estate dealing and in building. Aside from his personal interests he has performed public service of far-reaching and enduring value, for real estate in all parts of the city through his development has rapidly advanced and unsightly vacancies have been occupied by attractive edifices. A native of Connecticut, Mr. Nichols was born in Trumbull on the 27th of January, 1859, a son of Bradley and Sarah L. (Pardee) Nichols, representatives of Connecticut families. They removed to Bridgeport during the boyhood of their son William, arriving here in 1865. In 1898 the father went to Florida and was there drowned in that year, together with his wife, one of his sons and his son's family.
William J. Nichols was a lad of but six years at the time of the removal to Bridgeport. At one time he lived in Fairfield, Connecticut, for fourteen years but in 1890 returned to Bridgeport. For an extended period he has been an active factor in real estate circles. . He began the development of property in 1880 with his father and brother. when they divided the Hough farm in Stratford, a tract of fifty-five acres, located at what is now Central and Stratford avenues. This was converted into a fine residential district. In that work he has since continued until the extent and importance of his operations have made him one of the most prominent real estate dealers of Bridgeport. Their second subdivision covered a tract of thirty acres between Main street and Madison avenue, which they platted and upon which they erected many buildings. This was known as the Synnott addition, in a part of which they placed the sewers and built the sidewalks. They also erected many buildings and gave personal supervision to that work and also to the sale of the property. Another tract which was developed was that adjoining Beardsley Park, known as the Deane & Lamont addition, of thirty-five acres. This they also platted, improved and sold. They likewise purchased the William Meachen property on Stratford avenue, a tract of thirty-five acres, of which six acres adjoins the old Hough farm. They platted altogether forty-one acres in the Meachen addition and the same progressive methods of improvement were carried on there. About the same time they purchased sixty-nine acres where the Remington Arms plant is now located and this W. J. Nichols developed in connection with F. J. Lockwood. It was a part of the old Judson farm and was purchased from the Judson estate, being added to the city under the name of the Lockwood & Nichols tract. He has
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furthermore developed what is known as the Nichols addition, a forty acre tract on East Main street north of Boston avenne. In his extensive business operations of this character he was associated with his father, Bradley Nichols, and his brother, Warren B. Nichols. His operations in the field of real estate have also included the purchase of the Sanford property, extending from Fairfield avenue to State street, and through it Fremont street has been opened. In 1904 he was associated with Adolf Sherman in opening a seventeen acre tract on Seaview and Boston avenues, all of which he sold after platting the same. He was also associated with Mr. Sherman in opening up the Beach tract of twenty-three acres between . Main street and Capitol avenue, which he also platted and sold, and in 1915 he and Mr. Sherman purchased the Knowlton farm near Stratford, a farm occupied by the Weatogue Golf Club. This is now being developed and a large number of residences are under course of construction. In 1916 he and Mr. Sherman purchased the Wilcoxson Farms at Paradise Greens, fifty-one acres, all of which tract is being platted and sold. Mr. Nichols acquired the ownership of the property on Main between Chapel and Congress streets and there built a large block of stores. Through his real estate activities and his building operations he has been closely and prominently identified with the development of the city. The labors of perhaps no other one man have done more to further the interests of city building than his. With notable foresight he has recognized and utilized opportunities and in the development of his real estate business has not only promoted his own prosperity but has contributed largely to the city's growth, improvement and adornment.
In 1879 Mr. Nichols was united in marriage to Miss Mary N. Barker and they became the parents of three children: S. Louise, now the wife of Frank I. Gaylord; William W .; and Elizabeth S., at home. The wife and mother passed away in 1889 and in 1893 Mr. Nichols wedded Miss Elizabeth F. Barker, a sister of his first wife.
In club circles Mr. Nichols is well known, having membership in the Seaside and Brook- lawn Country Clubs. He is a very public-spirited man who through the years of his resi- dence here has closely studied public conditions and in many ways has given active aid in furthering the welfare and progress of the community.
WILLIAM A. MACFARLANE.
William A. Macfarlane, general manager and a director of the Bridgeport Crucible Company and thus identified with one of the most important and productive industries of the city. was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, May 9. 1881, a son of W. T. and Amy R. (Hillis) Macfarlane, natives of Massachusetts and New Jersey respectively. The father was always a manufacturer, and in 1886 removed with his family to Bridgeport, where he is now living retired. William A. Macfarlane, at that time a lad of five years, became a pupil in the city schools and afterward continued his education in the Ohio State University, becoming a ceramic engineer. In 1887 his father established the Bridgeport Crucible Company and remained the founder and president of the business until its sale at a recent date to the Buffalo Copper & Brass Rolling Mill, of Buffalo, New York. From the beginning the enterprise prospered, the business enjoying a steady growth. In 1904 the company purchased the business of the Taunton Crucible Company of Taunton, Massachusetts, and the plant there has since been operated as a branch establishment of the Bridgeport plant. The business was originally organized with a paid up capital of twenty-five thousand dollars, and the land, and buildings were leased from the late P. T. Barnum. Snch has been the profitable nature of the business that no capital has ever been asked for or paid in since the beginning, and only a brief period had elapsed before the company purchased its own plant. In 1901 a stock dividend of seventy-five thousand dollars was declared and paid to its stockholders, increasing its capital stock to one hundred thousand dollars. The product
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