USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > History of Bridgeport and vicinity > Part 51
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On the 19th of April, 1911, Mr. Allen was united in marriage to Miss Clara M. Mather, of Bridgeport, by whom he has two children, Bettie Jane and Ruth Evelyn. The parents are members of St. John's Episcopal church. They are well known in social circles and enjoy the hospitality of many of the best homes of the city. Mr. Allen is a member of the Weatogue Golf Club, which indicates something of the nature of his recreation, and he is also an active and prominent Mason, belonging to the lodge, chapter, commandery, consistory and Mystic Shrine. He is in full sympathy with the teachings and purposes of the craft and exemplifies in his life its beneficent spirit. However, he allows no outside interests to interfere with the faithful performance of his duties in his business connections and has made a most ereditable record since starting out in life independently.
MICHAEL GREEN KEANE.
Michael Green Keane, who is the owner of the granite works located opposite .St. Michael's cemetery at Stratford, Connecticut, was born in Ireland and received his educa- tion in the public schools there. About 1864, when in his teens, he came to the United States and located at Newtown. Connecticut, but did not remain there long. For a year he worked in a button factory at Redding, Connecticut, and then worked for a year as a farm
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hand near Greens Farms, now Southport. At the end of that time he began learning the stone-cutting trade and completed his apprenticeship under Eugene Silliman, of Bridge- port. arriving in this city about 1866. He followed his trade in the employ of others for a time here and in New Haven and then went into business for himself as a member of the firm of Keane & Phelan, his partner being Jolin J. Phelan, the present coroner of Bridgeport. After two years this partnership was dissolved, but Mr. Keane continued in the business. He was first located at the corner of Gold and Middle streets, then at the corner of Lumber street and Housatonie avenue, and since 1915 has been opposite St. Michael's cemetery. He devotes his entire time to the erection of monuments and mauso- leums and has done a great deal of fine work along those lines, including the Barnum Memorial in Seaside Park, Bridgeport, and the Morgan Schley mausoleum at White Plains, New York. this branch of the Schley family being connected with that to which the famous Admiral Schley belonged. Mr. Keane employs five men in the granite works and one, William Matthewson, has been with him for thirty years, which indicates that he is a just and considerate employer. For a number of years in addition to conducting his monu- ment business Mr. Keane engaged in general construction work and during that time erected many important buildings, including the Young Men's Christian Association at Bridge- port, the Protestant Widows Home at Bridgeport, the Protestant Orphan Asylum in Bridgeport, the Presbyterian church at Fairfield, the First Baptist church at Bridgeport, a duplicate of this structure at Yonkers, New York, a church at West Haven, the high school in Danbury, the Gromer school in New Haven, a number of schoolhouses in Bridge- port, a library in Westerly, Rhode Island, and the Hopkins grammar school building in New Haven and also a number of dormitories at Yale University.
Mr. Keane was married in Bridgeport in 1873 to Miss Johanna Kelly, and of their children six survive: Robert B., who is a prominent physician living in Bridgeport and a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work; Elizabeth, Katherine and Agnes, at home; Carroll T., who also resides at home and is associated with his father in business; and Mary, at home. In March, 1917, a son, Henry P. Keane, who was his father's chief assist- ant. passed away after an illness of but three days.
Mr. Keane is a stanch democrat in politics and fraternally is connected with the Woodmen of the World. He belongs to St. Patrick's Roman Catholic church, in the work of which he takes a commendable interest. He has never had occasion to regret his com- ing to this country, for here he has found opportunities for advancement, by which he has profited, so that he is now financially independent.
RICHARD I. NEITHERCUT.
The great industrial organization conducted under the name of the Bridgeport Brass Company is the complex outcome of the efforts of a corps of men of marked business efficiency and enterprise who in marshaling and controlling the efforts of an army of work- men may well be termed "captains of industry." Among the number who have voice in the directive policy of the company is Richard I. Neithercut, who is now assistant secretary. He was born in Albany, New York, in 1875, a son of Richard S. and Emma A. (Poole) Neithercut. He attended private schools in Bridgeport until he reached the age of ten years, when he was sent to the public schools and passed through consecutive grades to his graduation from the high school. He next entered Yale as a student in Sheffield Scientific School and completed the engineering course by graduation with the class of 1897. His initial training was received under the direction of his father, who was presi- dent of the West End Lumber Company of Bridgeport, with whom he remained for a few months, but in December, 1897, he became connected with the Bridgeport Brass Company.
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He spent one year in the rolling mill department and then turned his attention to other business lines for a year. In 1899. however, he returned to the Bridgeport Brass Company and has since been associated with that mammoth concern. On the 6th of February, 1917, be was appointed assistant secretary. He had previously served as head of various de- partments of the business, so that he is able to direct the labors therein performed along the line of successful achievement.
Mr. Neithereut is married and has two children. He holds membership in the United Congregational church and he gives his political allegianee to the republican party. He is well known in elub circles as a member of the Brooklawn Club, the University Club and the Fairfield Beach Club. That his interests are broad and that he recognizes the obli- gations of man to his fellowmen is indicated in the fact that he is a member of the Board of Charities of Bridgeport.
PIERRE AUGUST SODERHOLM.
Pierre August Soderholm, proprietor of the August Soderholm Bakery, selling to the wholesale trade only, has built up a large business through his enterprise and good manage- ment. A native of Sweden, he was born August 1, 1871, of the marriage of Adolf and Ulrecka (Erickson) Soderholm, still residents of that country. After completing his educa- tion in its public schools Mr. Soderholm of this review came to the United States in 1893, landing at New York city. He worked in varions places in the east for a short time, but on the 14th of June of that year came to Bridgeport and secured employment on the Hawley farm, in the northern part of the city. After leaving there he followed the baker's trade, which he had learned in Sweden, and in 1904 started for himself in a small way on North Main street. In a few months the volume of his trade justified his removal to larger quarters on Haneoek avenue and he remained there for three years. His business continued to expand and in April, 1908, he removed his plant to its present location at No. 445 Maple- wood avenue. In 1915 a large addition was made to the building, which now affords a large amount of floor space, and the extent of the business is also indicated by the fact that there are sixteen employes and that five motor delivery trucks are used. When Mr. Soderholm established his bakery be had but one employe and one delivery wagon. Ninety- five per cent of the output is sold in Bridgeport and Fairfield county and the wholesale trade only is eatered to.
On the 12th of May, 1894. Mr. Soderholm married Miss Anna Swanson, also a native of Sweden, where she received her education. She is a daughter of Swen and Maria Swenson. Mr. Soderholm is a strong republiean and is active in local politics, belonging to the Fifth District Republican Club. He is also identified with the Swedish Siek Benefit Association, Monitor Lodge, No. 38, I. O. O. F., and the First Swedish Baptist church of which he is a trustee. These connections indicate that although he gives the most careful attention to his business affairs he also finds time for other interests.
HARRY EUGENE HUSTED.
Harry Eugene Husted, who is secretary and manager of the City lee & Coal Company which does a large wholesale and retail business, was born in Bridgeport March 14, 1874, of the marriage of Charles Edward and Georgiana (Ives) Husted. A brother of our sub- ject, Edward Ives, died in Baltimore, and his sister Miss Edith L., is now living in New Haven.
PIERRE AUGUST SODERHOLM
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Harry Eugene Husted completed the work of the graded school and then took a com- mercial conrse in the Bridgeport high school and was graduated in 1896. On going to work he was first employed by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Company and after a short time spent with that corporation became connected with Wheeler & Howes. Four years later he began working for the Bridgeport Ice Company with which he remained for eight years, and the next year was spent as an employe of Burns & Company. In May, 1906, when the City Ice & Coal Company was incorporated, he became identified with it as secretary and manager and played an important part in the rapid development of its business. When the company was started it had twelve employes and only three or four wagons, while now its employes number seventy-five and twenty wagons and fourteen trucks and from sixty to seventy horses are used. The company sells at both wholesale and retail and its extension has been a steady, normal growth, based upon fair dealing and conscientious service.
Mr. Husted was married on the 25th of October, 1906, to Miss Anna Gertrude Van Stone, a daughter of Stephen and Honora Van Stone. To Mr. and Mrs. Husted has been born a daughter, Mildred Van Stone.
Mr. husted is a republican in his political views and is now serving on the board of apportionment. He belongs to the Algonquin Club and is also a member of the various Masonic bodies including the blue lodge, chapter, council, commandery and Mystic Shrine, in which he is a member of the Arab Patrol, and the Scottish Rite organizations up to and including the consistory. He attends Christ's Episcopal church and his influence is always cast on the side of righteousness. All who have been brought in contact with him in his business dealings recognize that he possesses both soundness of judgment and marked enterprise, a combination of qualities which insure success in every field of labor.
WALTER R. CLARK.
Walter R. Clark, chief engineer with the Bridgeport Brass Company, having under his direction the extensive and complex engineering interests of this great plant, comes to the position well qualified by thorough college training and practical experience. He was born in Derby, Connecticut, in 1879, a son of Wesley L. and Ida (Rockwell) Clark. The family iemoved to Shelton, Connecticut, in 1884, when he was a little lad of five years, and there' he began his education, which he pursued through the various grades of the public schools until he had completed the high school course. He next entered Yale as a student in the Sheffield Scientific School and was graduated therefrom with the class of 1899, having completed the electrical engineering course. He afterward spent a year as an employe of the Birmingham Iron Foundry at Derby, Connecticut, in the engineering department and in January, 1901, he came to Bridgeport, securing a position in the drafting depart- ment of the Bridgeport Brass Company. The capability which he manifested in that direction led to the increase of his responsibilities and in 1906 he was promoted to the position of superintendent of the drafting room. In 1910 he was given charge of all engi- neering work, consisting of plant improvement and design of special machinery and processes, and has held that important position continuously since, his work constituting one of the basic elements of the success of the business. He has taken out many patents for the company from time to time mpon inventions which he has perfeeted and his ability places him with the foremost representatives of engineering in New England.
On the 24th of October, 1906, Mr. Clark was united in marriage to Miss Florence Fray, of Bridgeport, by whom he has a son, Walter R .. Jr., who is nine years of age. Mrs. Clark attends the Congregational church. In politics. Mr. Clark is a republican where national issnes are involved but casts an independent local ballot, supporting in city elec-
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tions the candidates whom he regards as best qualified for office regardless of party affiliation. He has membership in the Brooklawn Country Club and the University Club. and along the lines of his chosen life work be also has interesting connections, being a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Iron and Steel Elec- trical Engineers.
CARROLL B. ADAMS, D. D. S.
Dr. Carroll B. Adams, engaged in the practice of dentistry in Bridgeport, was born in Willimantic, Connecticut, September 21, 1859, his parents being Amos B. and Isabella S. { Hamblin) Adams, who were natives of Maine and of Massachusetts respectively, the former being a lineal descendant of Henry Adams, who came from England in 1630 and to whom also the ancestry of John Adams and John Quincy Adams was traced. The Hamblin family is also an old one of this country, identified with American interests from early colonial days.
Dr. Carroll B. Adams early made choice of a life work. He was a youth of but sixteen years when he took up the study of dentistry in the office and under the direction of Dr. John D. Bentley, formerly of Willimantic, Connecticut. In 1879-80 he was a student in the New York Dental College and since the latter date has been actively engaged in prac- tice, remaining for thirty-one years a representative of the profession in Bridgeport. He became one of the organizers of the Bridgeport Dental Society and was its second presi- dent. succeeding Dr. Clinton W. Strang in that position. During his first three weeks in Bridgeport Dr. Adams was an associate of Dr. Strang in dental practice. His pronounced ability has long been recognized by the public and through all the passing years he has kept abreast with modern scientific research and investigation along the lines of dental practice and surgery. He belongs to the state and national dental societies, also to the New England Dental Society and is a member of the Dental Protective Association of the United States.
In his political views Dr. Adams is a republican and for one term he served as alder- man from the seventh district. He belongs to the Algonquin Club and to the Park City Yacht Club and greatly enjoys yachting, but his chief recreation and interest is in music and he is classed as an artist among thie violinists of New England. For years he was a member of the Yale Symphony Orchestra of New York and for several years he was a violin player at the free public concerts in Bridgeport. Music has been both his inspira- tion and his recreation, and his love of the art has given him a prominent place in the musical circles of the city.
JAMES FLETCHER LEWIS.
James Fletcher Lewis, although still a young man, is the proprietor of the Pembroke Garage, located at No. 441 Pembroke avenue, in Bridgeport, and besides devoting his entire time to the business gives constant employment to three men. He was born in this city May 27, 1888. a son of William H. and Emma (Fletcher) Lewis, both of whom are still residents of Bridgeport. He is a grandson of William H. Lewis. Sr., and Thomas Fletcher.
James F. Lewis attended the Franklin public school and the Bridgeport high school in the acquirement of his education. As a boy he manifested a natural aptitude and liking for mechanical work, especially that connected with automobiles, and on putting aside his textbooks he entered the employ of the Bridgeport Motor Company, with which he remained
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for six years, during which time he became thoroughly versed in automobile mechanics In 1912 he engaged in business on his own account at No. 368 Pembroke avenue and in February. 1915, removed to his present place at No. 441. He has specialized in storage, repairs and supplies, has a capacity for twenty cars in storage and carries a full stock of automobile supplies of all kinds. He himself is an expert mechanic and he also employs three men and his garage is known to automobile owners of Bridgeport as one of the best in the city. He has had eleven years' experience in the business and fully intends to con- tinue in the same.
Mr. Lewis was married on the 11th of May, 1911, to Miss Louise Lapan, a daughter of Albert and Annie Lapan. To this union has been born a daughter, Hazel, who is attend- ing school. Mr. Lewis is a republican in his political belief and has confined his activity in public affairs to casting his ballot. He belongs to no lodges or clubs but is a communi- cant of St. Paul's Episcopal church, which indicates the principles which govern his life.
DR. JAMES E. BEARDSLEY.
Dentistry may be said to be unique among the professions, which on the whole are based solely upon intellectual prowess. Dentistry, however, combines mechanical skill and ingenuity with scientific attainment, and he who would assay the attainment of suc- cess in this field must be proficient along both lines. Well qualified for his chosen calling, Dr. James E. Beardsley is now numbered among the successful dental practitioners of Bridgeport.
He was born in Otsego county, New York, March 10, 1859, and in tracing his ancestral line it is found that he is descended from Josiah Beardsley, who served as one of the Minute Men under George Washington in the Revolutionary war and who was the great- grandfather of the Doctor. At the time of the outbreak of hostilities with the mother country Josiah Beardsley was a resident of Fairfield, Connecticut, and when the British under General Tryon burned the town in 1779, his son, Daniel Beardsley, grandfather of the Doctor, was then but three days old. Their house, however, was spared from destruc- tion because of the fact that the British thought it belonged to another Beardsley, a brother of Josiah, who was a Tory and held the position of mail carrier under the king of England. After the close of the Revolutionary war Josiah Beardsley removed with his family to Otsego county, New York, traveling thither in a sled drawn by an ox team before the day of bridges across the Hudson river, which was crossed on the ice. He took along his family and his possessions, including a sack of apple seed with which to plant an orchard. The immediate ancestors of Dr. Beardsley by reason of this removal became residents of Otsego county, New York, where the family was represented through several generations, but in 1890 the Doctor returned to Connecticut and settled in Bridgeport, close to the town of Stratford, which his ancestors had aided in founding in 1639. the family records of an early period being closely interwoven with the history of this part of the state. The Beardsleys came from Stratford-on-Avon, England, in 1639 and aided in laying out the town of Stratford, Connecticut, which they named in honor of their old English home. There they lived for one hundred and thirty-seven years before the Revo- lutionary war and the ancestral history is one of which the family has ever reason to be proud.
The parents of Dr. Beardsley were Erastus B. and Phoebe (Wood) Beardsley, the for- mer a farmer by occupation, but both now deceased. Their son, James E., became a dental student in Rochester, New York, in early manhood and for thirty years has prac- ticed his profession. His office in Bridgeport was located for twenty-one years at 925 Main street. His boyhood was spent upon his father's farm in Otsego county, New York.
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where he laid the foundation for his splendid physical manhood and stamina. He is a strong. vigorous man weighing two hundred pounds and at the age of fifty-eight years can say that he has never had a physician in his life. His splendid health has enabled him to give undivided attention to his professional interests and his practice has long been large and of a most important character. He belongs to the Connecticut Odontological Society and he has ever kept in touch with the progressive methods which modern scientific investigation, research and experience are bringing to light.
On the 15th of March, 1883, Dr. Beardsley was married to Miss Anna Miller, of Rochester, New York. They are members of the Methodist church and they are widely and favorably known socially, enjoying the warm regard and friendship of many with whom they have been brought in contact.
PHILIP J. CURRAN, M. D.
This is preeminently an age of specialization, a tendency which is manifest in every profession but in none more so than in the practice of medicine and surgery. It is a fact patent to all that more effective results can be obtained, by the man who concentrates his efforts upon a given line than he who attempts to cover the whole field of general practice. Dr. Curran has made a specialty of diseases of the eye, ear. nose and throat and keeps in touch with the latest discoveries and investigations of medical science in this field. He was born in Portland, Connecticut, March 21, 1882, a son of John Curran, a business man of that place.
Dr. Curran was reared and educated in his native city, completing a course in the Portland high school by graduation with the class of 1895. He determined upon a pro- fessional career and won his M. D. degree at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York city in 1901. He afterward spent two and a half years in St. Vincent's Hospital and a year and a half in the Boston City Hospital, devoting his attention to diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. He afterward spent a year in study abroad in Berlin and Vienna, concentrating along the line of his specialty, and upon his return to the United States he opened an office in Bridgeport, where as oculist. aurist and laryngologist he has won much more than local fame. He is now on the staff of St. Vincent's Hospital of Bridgeport and also has a fine private practice. Fraternally Dr. Curran is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and also with the Knights of Columbus. He is ambitious in his chosen field and manifests a love for his calling, which is one of the basic elements of success.
JOHN. EDWARD BOYLE.
John Edward Boyle, a druggist and real estate dealer of Fairfield, ranking with the prominent business men of his city, was born in Bridgeport, January 28, 1878, a son of Michael J. and Mary A. (Rielly) Boyle, who were also natives of Bridgeport, where the mother >till resides. The father passed away in 1889.
John E. Boyle acquired a public school education in his native city and began the study of pharmacy as early as his eleventh year, working after school hours in a drug store. He became a registered pharmacist on the 3d of November, 1903, having in the meantime provided for his education and his support by his Jabor. In August. 1904, he purchased his present business, having but little capital and giving his note for the remainder. When he opened the doors of his store for business he had but thirty dollars in cash, but he has made
JOHN E. BOYLE
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his eredit good and has developed one of the best equipped stores in this part of the state. He has ever recognized the fact that satisfied patrons are the best advertisement and he has put forth every effort to please those who have given him their trade, while his reasonable prices and honorable dealing have also featured in his success. In 1911 he went to the Fairfield Beach for the benefit of his health and there developed a summer resort and established the Vassar Inn, which he still owns and conducts. He also built Boyle's Beach Casino, which was destroyed by fire in 1915. He built a store there and is yet engaged in business at that point, besides owning seven houses there. His investments have been most carefully and judicially made and snecess in large measure has been his. While working for individual success, he has at the same time improved his opportunities to assist in the upbuilding of the city and perhaps no other citizen has done more to aid and develop Fair- field than Mr. Boyle, who has for the past seven years been president of the Business Men's Club and has been instrumental in inducing a large percentage of Fairfield's prominent citizens to locate here. His work has been acknowledged by the press and by the public and what he has undertaken has brought splendid results.
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