USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > History of Bridgeport and vicinity > Part 43
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In religious belief Dr. McCarthy is a Catholic and he holds membership with the Knights of Columbus. He also belongs to the Elks, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Woodmen of the World and the Foresters of America and is a member of the Bridge- port Automobile Club. He has made for himself a most creditable position in both pro- fessional and social circles and has gained more than local distinction in surgical work.
E. A. GODFREY.
E. A. Godfrey is the president of the Blue Ribbon Body Company of Bridgeport, a newly organized concern, which took on its present form and name in February, 1917, and which is the outcome of the Blue Ribbon Horse & Carriage Company. The changes in the business have been brought about through the gradual development of the automobile industry and the firm is now concentrating its attention upon the building of motor car bodies.
Mr. Godfrey has been a resident of Bridgeport for thirty years. He came to this city from Westport, Connecticut, where he was born in 1863, and here he eventually took np the carriage and automobile business. The Blue Ribbon Horse & Carriage Company was organized in 1900 with Mr. Godfrey as the president and George H. Woods as secretary and treasurer. This company engages in the building, sale and repairing of carriages, also in dealing in horses, making a specialty of fine carriage horses. They likewise maintained a harness depart- ment, in which connection they carried a full line of horse goods of every description, includ- ing harness of all kinds, blankets, robes and whips. They were prepared to build any style of vehicle to order and to make any style of harness. They maintained the horse department stores until 1907, when they abandoned the horse business altogether in order to concentrate upon their growing automobile trade, for in the meantime they had begun handling motor cars and also conducted a garage. With the change in the business Mr. Godfrey took over the manufacture and sales end of the business, while his partner, E. T. Bedford, retained the ownership of the garage. Mr. Godfrey then concentrated his energies upon the manufacture of automobile bodies, carrying on his interests under the name of the Blue Ribbon Auto & Carriage Company, of which he became the president, with George H. Woods as secretary and treasurer. They made a modest beginning in this line of trade but have gradually developed their interests in the building of auto bodies for manufacturers, dealers and individuals. For a time they also acted as sales agents for several leading makes of motor cars. Later, Vol. 11-18
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however, it was deemed advisable to abandon all other interests and apply their energy and experience solely to one special purpose-the building of automobile bodies. At length they determined to reorganize their interests under the name of the Blue Ribbon Body Company, which would more correctly indicate their line, and the new name was assumed on the 1st of February, 1917, with the same officers in charge. Additional land has been purchased and plans have been made for the erection of other buildings, providing more floor space in order to facilitate deliveries, which a growing demand for Blue Ribbon products has made necessary. Since concentrating on the automobile business alone the company has made two large addi- tions to their plant, twice doubling its capacity, and they now have three hundred and eighty-five people in their employ. Their equipment is thoroughly modern, enabling them to do the finest work not only in building but also in upholstering, trimming and painting automobile bodies. This firm was one of the first in the east to concentrate along this line.
Mr. Godfrey, who is at the head of the business as its president, is well known not only in manufacturing and commercial circles but also has prominent social connections, being a member of the Brooklawn Country Club, the Algonquin Club, the Yacht Club of Bridgeport, the New York Athletic Club and the Automobile Club of America.
HAROLD H. HAMILTON.
Bridgeport received a valuable addition to its industrial interests when the Whiting Manufacturing Company, of which Harold H. Hamilton is president, decided to establish its factories in this city. Known throughout the country as leading silversmiths, its business has been a contributing factor to that prosperity which is always based upon local indus- trial and manufacturing enterprises and commercial activities. At the head of this business, alert. enterprising and progressive, stands Harold H. Hamilton, carefully directing its interests, thoroughly master of its most important phases and yet considering no detail too unimportant to claim his attention.
Mr. Hamilton was born in New York city in 1864 and for thirty-three years has devoted his time, thought and attention to the silversmithing business with the result that he has had the broadest possible experience, resulting in knowledge and efficiency that feature as the most important element in the success of the Whiting Manufacturing Company. There is no phase of the manufacture of silver in this country with which he is not familiar, being able to speak with authority upon every branch of the work in its development. Today the Whiting product is found on sale in every state of the Union and its artistic creations are generally represented in all competitions, while the Whiting trademark on sterling silver has become a guarantee of good taste and originality.
The Bridgeport business had its inception at North Attleboro in 1843, when William D. Whiting became a partner in the firm of Tifft & Whiting for the manufacture of small silver novelties. Thirteen years later the William D. Whiting Company was organized and the business was continued under that name until 1858, when it was changed to Whiting, Fessenden & Cowan. During the period of the Civil war its output included not only small silver novelties but scabbards, sword hilts and belt buckles for the army. While the factory was maintained at North Attleboro, an office was established in New York and on the 24th of August, 1866, the Whiting Manufacturing Company was incorporated and capitalized for one hundred thousand dollars. The capital has been increased from time to time to meet the demands of the growing business until the company is now incorporated for one million dollars. While the factory was destroyed by fire in 1875, business was continued at North Attleboro until 1876, when a removal was made to New York city, at which time a retail store was opened on Broadway. Different removals of the retail store were afterward made in accordance with the change in business conditions in the metropolis, but in May,
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1909, it was decided to discontinue the retail department and concentrate upon the wholesale trade, so that quarters were secured in the Silversmiths building at 15, 17 and 19 Maiden Lane in New York city.
When it was decided to remove the factory outside of New York, the company made a careful study of various locations but finally decided upon Bridgeport as offering the most favorable conditions, the city offering various inducements in the lower price of gas and city water, in its accessibility to New York, in its lower price of coal, in the possibility of shipment by steamboat and in the fact that workmen could occupy homes near the plant, thus saving in time and in the amount of energy necessarily expended in long trips to and from the factory. There are four hundred workmen employed and the business has been most carefully systematized, with competent men at the head of each department and each phase of the business in charge of capable foremen. Mr. Hamilton remains as the head of the company, its chief directing spirit, bending his energies upon administrative direction and executive control. He has contributed, moreover, to Bridgeport's development into the industrial capital of Connecticut through the establishment of another under- taking under the name of Hamilton & DeLoss, Inc. Of this he is the president and general manager, with Harry H. DeLoss as vice president and treasurer and George C. Gerrish as secretary. The business was incorporated for three hundred thousand dollars and its factories have been erected adjoining the property of Handy & Harman. There the company carries on a general stamping and blanking business in all metals, including sterling silver, brass and sheet metal. The building is of reinforced concrete and is equipped with the latest improved machinery for carrying on work of that character.
Mr. Hamilton married Winnifred Adams, of Concord, New Hampshire, and they have two children, Stuart Adams and Bethesda. Stuart Adams Hamilton graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, in the class of 1916, and, trans- ferring to the army branch, he is now in the coast artillery service with the rank of first lieutenant.
Mr. Hamilton is well known in Masonie cireles, being a Knight Templar and a Con- sistory Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is, however, preeminently a business man, alert, energetic, farsighted and determined, carefully formulating his plans and promptly executing them and in all things quickly discriminating between the essential and the nonessential. Through the establishment of important and extensive manufactur- ing interests in Bridgeport he has made most valuable contribution to the city.
HAROLD METCALF CLARKE, M. D.
Dr. Harold Metcalf Clarke, numbered among the younger representatives of the medical profession in Bridgeport, was born in Toronto, Canada, December 25, 1885, and is a son of Dr. Charles K. Clarke, also a physician, who is the present dean of the Toronto Medical College. He was a son of the Hon. Charles Clarke, who went to Canada from Lincolnshire, England, and first settled at Hamilton, Ontario, where he became editor of the Hamilton . Spectator. As a journalist and public-spirited man he exercised marked influence over public thought and action and was called upon to serve in the Ontario legislature for a number of terms from the district of Elora. That he was one of the most distinguished legislators of the country is indicated in the fact that he was chosen to serve for sixteen consecutive years as speaker of the house. In faet he figured very prominently in Canadian politics and he was also well known in literary circles, having been the author of two books, one devoted to parliamentary procedure, while another was entitled "Sixty Years in Upper Canada." His life of broad activity and usefulness was terminated by death in 1909. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Margaret Andrews, was born in New Brunswick and
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passed away in 1902. Her people had previously lived in Connecticut and in the maternal line Dr. Clarke comes of Revolutionary war ancestry.
Attracted to the profession to which his father has devoted his life work. Dr. Harold Metcalf Clarke became a student in the medical department of Toronto University and was graduated therefrom with the class of 1909. His initial experience as a practitioner came to him as interne in the New York City Hospital, with which he was connected for eighteen months. He afterward spent three months in the Manhattan State Hospital of New York city and since 1911 he has been engaged in successful practice at Bridgeport. He has com- prehensive knowledge of the principles of medicine and surgery, is most careful in the diagno- sis of his cases and seldom at fault in matters of professional judgment. The general public and his colleagues both attest his high professional worth and ability, and in addition to his large private practice he is acting as surgeon for the Crane Company of Bridgeport, which employs three thousand people, and is also visiting surgeon of St. Vincent's Hospital. He belongs to the Fairfield County Medical Society, the Connecticut State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the American Association of Industrial Physicians, of which he is a director.
On the 1st of June, 1911, Dr. Clarke was married to Miss Winifred Hill Robinson, of New York city, and they have three children: Harold Metcalf, born October 2, 1914; and Eric Kent and Margaret Andrews, twins, born April 20, 1916. The parents are members of the First Presbyterian church and Dr. Clarke's social nature finds expression in his connec- tion with the Weatogue Club of Stratford and the Seaside Club. He is fond of golf, tennis and hockey and in fact is the champion of all manly outdoor sports. The interests of his life are carefully proportioned, making his a well balanced character.
FREDERICK SYLVESTER STEVENS.
The life record of Frederick Sylvester Stevens constitutes an important chapter in the history of Bridgeport and of the state. He was actively, prominently and helpfully connected with many interests that have contributed to the upbuilding and development of the city, interest of both a public and private nature. He was born in Danbury, Con- necticut, June 22, 1848, and was a representative of one of the old colonial families, being a great-grandson of Lieutenant Ezra Stevens, a grandson of Zadoe Stevens and a son of Dr. Sylvester Stevens. The last named removed with his family to Illinois establishing his home in Knoxville, where he engaged in the practice of medicine, becoming one of the leading physicians and well known citizens of that place.
Frederick S. Stevens was a young lad at the time of the removal of the family to the middle west, and while in Illinois he made his preliminary step in the business world as an employe in a drug store at Yates City. When seventeen years of age, however, he returned to Connecticut and at Bridgeport entered the Nelson drug store in which he was employed as a clerk for a few years. Ambitious, however, to engage in business on his own account, he entered into partnership in 1875 with W. H. Painter under the firm style of Stevens & Painter. A few years later he bought out the interest of Mr. Painter, . after which the firm of Frederick S. Stevens & Company conducted a retail and wholesale drug business at the corner of Main and State streets. The enterprise proved a profitable one and he extended the scope of his interests by establishing branch stores at Green- wich and at Danbury, Connecticut, making for himself a place among the leading mer- chants of the state. He was one of the first to put large board advertising signs of the kind all over the state along the line of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad giving the number of miles to Stevens' drug store in Bridgeport, and this novel method of advertis-
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ing brought to him a liberal patronage. His course measured up to the highest standards of business enterprise, resourcefulness and integrity.
On the 22d of June, 1876, Mr. Stevens was united in marriage to Miss Anna May Gaylord, a native of Terryville, Connecticut, and a daughter of Edward L. Gaylord, men- tioned elsewhere in this work. They became the parents of eight children: Edward and Sylvester T., both deceased; Louise May; Frederick W., who has passed away; Nellie Starr; Miner G., who died at the age of twenty-one years; Ferris Alcott; and Editb Mary, the wife of Lewis Young.
The death of the husband and father occurred October 17, 1906, when he was but fifty-eight years of age. His life had ever been a busy and useful one, characterized by high purpose and fraught with success. He was a public-spirited citizen and cooperated in many movements for the general good. In politics he was a very active democrat and at one time was a member of the railroad committee which audited the bills relative to the elevation of the tracks of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company through the city. He was also a member of the board of assessors for years and in 1887 and 1888 served on the governor's staff. He was solicited to become a candidate for mayor bnt declined the nomination, and in 1891 and 1892 he was a member of the legislative assembly, giving earnest and careful consideration to all the vital questions which came up for settlement. Prominent in Masonic cireles he was at one time master of Corin- thian Lodge No. 104, A. F. & A. M., and was a director and secretary of the Masonic Tem- ple Association. He belonged also to scientific and historical societies, which indicated the nature and breadth of his interests, and his life was guided by the teachings of the Episcopal church, for he was long a devoted member of Christ church, which he served for years as vestryman and treasurer. He left behind him the priceless heritage of an untarnished name and his memory is enshrined in the hearts of many who knew him.
FRANK HARVEY COOPS, M. D.
Dr. Frank Harvey Coops, devoting his time and energies to medical and surgical practice in Bridgeport, was born in the little city of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, January 21, 1866. His father, Jabez Gorham Coops, a Inmber merchant, was also born at that place and was a son of John Coops, whose father also bore the name of John. He was a British soldier in the Revolutionary war. His wife, Elizabeth (Gorham) Coops, was a direct descendant of Captain John Gorham, who was an officer of the British navy and whose wife was a daughter of Jolin Howland, one of the Mayflower passengers who landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. The name Jahez Gorham was a favorite one in the family and was borne by many of the descendants. Jabez Gorham Coops, father of Dr. Coops, was united in marriage to Sarah Maria Leslie, who was of Scotch descent. and both are now deceased.
Dr. Coops was reared in Liverpool and won his Bachelor of Arts degree upon graduation from Dalhousie University in 1887. He then began preparation for the medical profession in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, which conferred upon him his M. D. degree in 1896. He afterward spent six months in the Maryland Maternity Hospital of Baltimore and one year in the Baltimore City Hospital and entered upon the private practice of medicine at Danielson, Connecticut, in 1897, there remaining until 1905, since which time he has practiced in Bridgeport with marked success, covering a period of twelve years. He is also serving on the visiting staff of the Bridgeport Hospital. While he engages in general practice he also specializes to some extent in the treatment of genito-urinary diseases and he is particularly well informed npon that branch of professional service. He keeps abreast with modern thought and progress along professional lines, for he is constantly reading and studying, and, moreover, he adds to his knowledge through the interchange of thought
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and experiences among the members of the Bridgeport, the Fairfield County and the Con- necticut State Medical Societies and the American Medical Association, in all of which he holds membership.
On the 21st of January, 1899, Dr. Coops was married to Miss Elizabeth M. Chollar, of Danielson, Connecticut, and they have one daughter, Helen Leslie, who was born April 6, 1901, and is now a junior in the Bridgeport high school.
Dr. Coops is fond of all kinds of outdoor sports and for recreation turns to golf, tennis and billiards. His political allegiance is given the republican party, while fraternally he is a Mason. He also belongs to the Seaside Club and he has social qualities and marked characteristics which have made him popular in these different organizations.
ELMER WINTON DEWHIRST.
Elmer Winton Dewhirst, who is proprietor of the Dewhirst Dairy, is residing upon a fifty acre tract of land near Bridgeport which has been in his family for many years. His birth occurred on the 1st of March, 1856, in the house in which he now resides, and it was also the birthplace of his father, William Seeley Dewbirst, and his grandmother, Mrs. Polly Peet Dewhirst. The Dewhirst family is of English origin and several generations ago became connected by marriage with the Peet family. A representative of the latter family became the owner of a large tract of land, including a great deal of the northwestern and northern parts of Bridgeport, and one Captain Peet gave to each of his children about fifty acres of land and the fifty-acre tract on which the homestead is located has come by inheritance into the possession of our subject. It is not far beyond the city limits and is a very valuable property. The house is now about two hundred years old and, according to the enstom at the time when it was erected, it was built by compass, so that the south doors would serve as sun-dials. The interior paneling is a beautiful example of fine colonial work and the original handmade hinges and nails in the doors are still in use. His father, William Seeley Dewhirst, an only child, was reared upon the same farm which our subject now owns and received his education in the local schools. In 1861 he enlisted in Company D. Seventeenth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, which was attached to the Army of the Potomac, and took part in many battles. On the first day of the fight at Gettysburg he received a severe head wound, but recovered and rejoined his regiment, remaining at the front until the close of the war in 1865. He was for many years a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and through that connection kept in close association with others who fought the nation's battles. He passed away about 1907. He married Miss Mary Winton, a daughter of Harvey Winton and a representative of an old New England family. She passed away in the '70s. In colonial days Mrs. Dewhirst's grandfather Winton kept a tavern on North Main street near Trumbull line which was famed throughout this section of the country, and at the time of the Revolution he served as a colonel in the Home Guards, one of his uniforms being still in possession of the family. A great-uncle owned and operated the Berkshire Mills, which are still in operation and are the oldest industrial concern in the city. Among the treasured possessions of our subject are a gun with bayonet, stamped: "Vernon, England, 1757," which was used in the Revolutionary War and is in a splendid state of preservation, and a colonial hall clock, stamped: "John Whitear Fairfield, No. 92," the supposition being that said Whitear was the maker.
Elmer Winton Dewhirst, an only child, attended the Toilsone Hill district school for a number of years and for three years was a student in a private school. For three years he was employed in the Berkshire Store and by carefully saving his wages secured enough money to attend the New Hampshire School for three terms, there taking a complete business course. He was graduated at the head of his class and returned to the Berkshire
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Store, where he worked until the 1st of March, 1873. For one month, or until the 1st of April, he was out of employment, the only time that he has been unemployed since he began working. He then was offered a position with the Pierce Manufacturing Company by Bradford D. Pierce and remained with that concern for three years. At the end of that time a great- uncle, A. L. Winton, asked him to return to the Berkshire Store as manager at a salary of six hundred dollars a year, with the added inducement of half the profits of the business. Mr. Pierce advised him to accept this offer, to save his money and then purchase an interest in the Pierce Manufacturing Company. Mr. Dewhirst acted upon the advice of his employer and for three years gave his time and attention to managing the Berkshire Store. As times were good the profits of the business were considerable and he found no trouble at all in saving quite a large sum of money each year. At the end of three years he bought a small interest in the Pierce Manufacturing Company, of which he subsequently became a third owner and a director. Still later he bought out Mr. Pierce's interest in the company and became president, in which capacity he directed its affairs for thirteen years. He met with gratifying success in that connection, but at the end of that time, or in 1895, sold out the business to Clark & Parsons. He then took up his residence upon the homestead farm of fifty acres and at once began to restore it to a paying basis, as it had been neglected for years. At the same time he engaged in contracting, so continuing until 1905, when he gave up that line of business and established a dairy. At first he had only one wagon and sold about eighty quarts per day, but as time has passed his trade has shown a steady growth until he now has two trucks and five other delivery wagons and sells three thousand quarts a day. He takes great care to safeguard the purity of the milk and the snecess which he has gained as a dairyman is well deserved.
Mr. Dewhirst was married in 1879 to Miss Dora Holste, who died in 1887. Two years later he married Emma J. Warner. They have no children of their own but have reared a son, Joseph, who in 1914 was formally adopted and given the name of Dewhirst.
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