USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > History of Bridgeport and vicinity > Part 6
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Frederick H. Lyon, after attending the school of Henry Jones on Washington avenue, Bridgeport, continued his education at Yale and later became connected with the hardware business as a member of the firm of Lyon & Kellogg, retail dealers on Water street, The business was there conducted for a number of years, after which Mr. Lyon retired from that connection and purchased property. For a considerable period he has derived his income from ' his realty, his investments having been made most judiciously.
Mr. Lyon was married in Bridgeport, in the old Hawley homestead, to Miss Bessie Hawley, who was born, reared, married and died in the same house. She was noted for her beanty, her culture and charming personality. Her parents were Abijah and Matilda (Benjamin) Hawley, the latter related to Colonel John Benjamin of Stratford. Mrs. Lyon traced her ancestry back to William Bradford, the first governor of the Plymouth colony, who came over on the Mayflower in 1620. Her father, Abijah Hawley, was a very prominent and influential eitizen here at an early day. He was a member of the firm of Abijah Hawley & Company, engaged in the West India trade and also carrying on the Boston coasting grain Vol. II-3
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and lumber business. He represented one of the oldest, most numerous and most prominent families of the state connected with the early settlement of Stratford and of Stratfield, Mrs. Frederick H. Lyon being of the sixth generation of the descendants of Joseph Hawley, who was the first settler of the name at Stratford. The line is traced down through Samuel, of Stratford, and Thomas to Abijah Hawley. In his own career Abijah Hawley illustrated the substantial qualities of his ancestors and through his business affairs contributed in substantial measure to the growth and development of Bridgeport. The firm of Abijah Hawley & Company was composed of Abijah, Aaron and Wilson Hawley and their coasting vessel was called the Three Sisters. probably because of the fact that the three partners married three daughters of Captain Stephen Summers. This vessel was used in the Boston trade, while their New York packet was the sloop Caroline. Ahijah Hawley was not only prominent as a business man of Bridgeport but in 1842 was called upon to represent his district in the state legislature and he was also one of the organizers of St. John's Lodge, A. F. & A. M.
To Mr. and Mrs. Lyon were born seven children. Hanford died in infancy. Frederick Sanford was in the hardware business with his father and died unmarried. Julia became the wife of Frank Wilson. Josephine is living at the homestead. Henry Meigs, who was born in Bridgeport, became a wholesale hardware merchant of New York and a very active and prominent business man. He continued to live in Bridgeport and never married. He was a member of the Algonquin Chib, was an active Knight Templar Mason and a very public-spirited and progressive citizen. In fact he possessed many substantial qualities which won him the high regard of all, and since passing away September 23, 1897, his memory has been revered by those who knew him. William Kellogg Lyon, the next of the family, was for years connected with the Housatonic Railway Company and is now living at the homestead. Helen became the wife of Charles Mills and is mentioned elsewhere in this work.
Mr. Lyon has given stalwart support to the republican party since its organization. He has lived a Christian life as a member of the North church, devoted to its teachings and active in furthering its work and extending its influence. He has also manifested the qualities of public-spirited citizenship, doing everything in his power to promote the welfare of the community in which he has so long made his home. He has lived to see remarkable changes in the ninety years of his active life-changes which have taken Bridgeport out of villagehood into metropolitan greatness-and in large measure he has left the impress of his individuality and ability upon the business development of the community. All who have known him speak of him in terms of high regard and his life record constitutes an important chapter in the history of the city.
WILLIAM AVERY GRIPPIN.
Not by leaps and bounds but along the steps of an orderly progression did William Avery Grippin advance during the years which he devoted to business, becoming at length the head of some of the important industrial enterprises of Bridgeport. Experience, study and close application gave him a knowledge of successful management and he was one of the substantial citizens of Fairfield county, being president of the Bridgeport Malleable Iron Company, the Troy Malleable Iron Company of Troy, New York, and the Vulcan Iron Works of New Britain. Connecticut. He was born in Corinth, Saratoga county, New York, February 23, 1851, and was of Welsh and English descent. although the family has been represented on American soil for many generations, his great-grandfather having been a soldier of the Revolutionary war. His parents were Alonzo J. and Mary (Burritt) Grippin, the former a highly respected farmer of Corinth.
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The son received somewhat limited educational opportunities. He attended successively district schools, the village public schools and an academy at Ballston Spa, New York, but his textbooks were put aside when he was fifteen years of age save that he afterward had the benefit of a course in Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York, in the spring and summer of 1869. In September of that year he took up general office work with Harrison & Kellogg, manufacturers of malleable iron castings at Troy, New York. A quarter of a century passed and he had become president of the company, having been advanced through various stages and intermediate positions, during which he thoroughly acquainted himself with every phase of the business. Extending his efforts in the same field, he became treasurer of the Bridgeport Malleable Iron Company, was elected its vice president in July, 1904. and in November of the same year was chosen president. After November, 1894, he was also president of the Vulcan Iron Works of New Britain and a director of several other companies. With every phase of the iron industry in its manufacturing and sales depart- ments he was familiar and his broad knowledge and long experience constituted the founda- tion upon which he built his success. He also extended his efforts and investments into banking circles and was a director of the Pequonnock National Bank of Bridgeport and the Century Bank of New York city.
On the 10th of November, 1875, Mr. Grippin was united in marriage to Miss Adele Jackson, of Ballston Spa, New York, and their two children are William J. and Edna Adele, the former now treasurer of the Eastern Malleable Iron Company and mentioned elsewhere in this work, while the latter is Mrs. Dudley M. Morris, of Bridgeport. Mr. Grippin married for his second wife Miss Minnie Tillou, of New Haven, in November, 1910, and she survives him. He died March 1, 1911, at Grand Canyon, Arizona, and is buried in Bridgeport.
Mr. Grippin's interests outside of business were broad and varied and of a nature that contributed to individual and public progress. His political endorsement was given to the republican party and he served for two unexpired terms and for one full term of three years on the board of apportionment and taxation in Bridgeport. He belonged to the Seaside Club, to the Contemporary Club, to the Bridgeport Yacht Club and to the Scientific and Historical Society, but his chief interest, perhaps, was in his church work. He was a very active member of the Baptist church and from 1896 until 1898 was president of the Connecticut Baptist convention, while after April, 1904, he served on the board of the American Baptist Home Mission Society of New York. His interests and activities were never concentrated along a single line to the exclusion of those interests which develop character or affect man in his relations to his fellowman. His standards of life were high and his ideals found expression in his efforts in the practical workaday world-efforts that have called forth the best in those that he met, for he was a believer in working on the constructive side of life, both for the individual and for the community at large.
WILLIAM J. GRIPPIN.
William J. Grippin, treasurer of the Eastern Malleable Iron Company, is one of the well known men connected with the metal trades, with which he has been prominently iden- tified since entering upon his business career nearly twenty years ago. Mr. Grippin was born in Troy, New York, September 19, 1876, the only son of William Avery and Adele (Jackson) Grippin. His father was one of Bridgeport's prominent manufacturers, of whom further mention is made elsewhere in this work.
William J. Grippin was but a boy of eight years when his parents removed to Bridgeport, since which time he has been a resident of this city. Graduating from the Bridgeport high school in the class of 1894, he next entered Yale, finishing with the Sheffield Scientific class of 1897. Selecting a business rather than a professional career, he returned to Yale for
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another year's study and took a special course in law, believing such training to be most valuable in the conduct of business affairs. In October, 1898, he became connected with the Bridgeport Malleable Iron Company. Beginning, as it were, at the bottom to learn the business, he was advanced from one position to another until he became assistant super- intendent and later superintendent and succeeded his father as treasurer and general manager. He maintained this relation to the company until July 1, 1916. In the meantime the Bridgeport Malleable Iron Company became a part of the Eastern Malleable Iron Company. This is one of the important industrial enterprises of Connecticut and Mr. Grippin has had an active part in the administration of the affairs of the company as a whole and also in the operation of the Bridgeport plant. He has ever endeavored to introduce methods of the highest efficiency and his well formulated plans have resulted in the attainment of desired ends.
Mr. Grippin was united in marriage to Miss Ethel Kimber, of Bridgeport, and they now have two children: Kenneth Kimber, born March 26, 1911; and Rosalind, born June 25, 1912. Mr. Grippin is a member of the Brooklawn Country Club and the University Club of Bridgeport and the Yale Club of New York. He turns to golf for recreation in summer and to squash in winter. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, but his interest is only that of a business man and citizen. Aside from his business his greatest activity is in church affairs. He is a prominent member and worker in the Baptist church and was for some years president of the Baptist Social Union of Connecticut. He succeeded his father as a member of the board of the American Baptist Home Mission Society. His influence is always on the side of progress and improvement and it is that of a man whose character is the expression of his professions and his belief. Everywhere he is spoken of in terms of the highest regard and while he has made a success in business, it is his natural worth which has gained for him the feeling of friendship and respect which is so uniformly entertained by those who know him.
F. B. HAWLEY.
Prominent among the representatives of banking and industrial interests in Bridgeport is F. B. Hawley, the president of the Spring Perch Company and president of the Bridge- port Savings Bank. What he has accomplished represents the fit utilization of his innate powers and talents. A native son of Bridgeport, Mr. Hawley was born in 1838, a son of Captain Bronson Hawley, who was born in Bridgeport in 1800 and was a son of Wilson Hawley, a descendant of Joseph Hawley, who settled in Stratford, Connecticut, in the early part of the seventeenth century. The father of F. B. Hawley was a sea captain.
Reared in his native city, F. B. Hawley has always been identified wtih its business interests and since the early '60s has been connected with the Spring Perch Company, which was organized in 1847 and incorporated in 1854 by Edward Sterling, J. C. Lewis, Eli Gilbert and Wheeler Beers. The business has been continuously located on John street. although the first location was on the south side of the street. The present plant was begun in the '70s and the building, which is in part three and in part four stories in height. is one hundred and eighty by three hundred feet. The upper floor is occupied by the Trade School. During the early '60s Mr. Hawley purchased an interest in the business and for many years served as its treasurer, but upon the death of Edward Sterling in 1909 he was elected to the presidency and at that time was succeeded in the treasurership by his son, F. S. Hawley, while John C. Hawley became the secretary. The company manufactures leaf springs for automobiles and carriages. These are sold direct to manufacturers all over New England and the middle west. They employ about two hundred people, of whom sixty per cent are skilled workmen. This is one of the carefully systematized .and well managed
F. B. HAWLEY
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business enterprises of Bridgeport which contribute to the general activity and prosperity of the city. In addition Mr. Hawley has other important business interests. He figures promi- nently in financial circles, having for several years been president of the Bridgeport Savings Bank. He is the oldest trustee of that institution in point of service as previous to becoming president he had served as vice president. At all times he is recognized as a man of keen sagacity as well as of unfaltering enterprise and energy.
Mr. Hawley was married to Miss Jennie Curtis, a native of Bridgeport and a daughter of John and Susan Curtis, who came to this city at an early day. They became the parents of eight children. The eldest son, Frederick S., born in Bridgeport in 1860, was educated in the public and high schools and afterward spent ten years in Minneapolis in the banking business. Subsequently he returned to Bridgeport and since 1892 has been with the Spring Perch Company, becoming treasurer when his father was chosen president of the company. In 1887 he married Margaret Chalmers, of Minneapolis, and they have three sons: Frederick Bronson, who was graduated from Yale with the class of 1911 and is now a professor in the University School; Edgar M., who is a graduate of the Bridgeport high school and is now with the Bullard Machine Tool Company; and Thomas C., who completed a course in Pratt Institute of Brooklyn, New York, and is now in the engineering department of the Remington Arms Company. Frederick S. Hawley is a well known and popular member of the Seaside Club. The second of the family, Mrs. Susan (Hawley) Davis, residing on Golden Hill street in Bridgeport, has two children, a son and a daughter. Helen became the wife of Victor S. Curtis, of New Haven, Connecticut, and they have one daughter. who is now attending Vassar College. Frank C., residing in Watertown, South Dakota, is married and has three children. William C., of Bridgeport, conducting business as a member of the firm of Davis & Hawley, is married and has two children. Harriet is the wife of Arthur C. Duncan, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and they have four children. Jennie is the wife of Robert Wheeler, of Bridgeport, and they have two children. John C. is married but has no family. He is secretary of the Spring Perch Company.
The life history of F. B. Hawley contains an interesting military chapter inasmuch as he is a veteran of the Civil war, having served with the Fourteenth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. He participated in many of the hotly contested engagements of that sanguinary struggle and was wounded at Fredericksburg, Virginia. While he joined the army as a private, he became a lieutenant and ever proved a faithful, loyal soldier. In days of peace he has displayed equal allegiance to his country and has stood for those interests and projects which work for American development and higher standards of citizenship. Joining the Masonic fraternity, he has attained the Knight Templar degree in Hamilton Commandery and he has also figured in the social circles of the city as a member of the Seaside Club, the Brooklawn Club and the Country Club. A lifelong resident of Bridgeport, his record is as an open book which all may read, and it is such a record as should stimulate the young who are prompted by laudable ambition and who have regard for those qualities which make for upright character.
CLINTON BARNUM SEELEY.
Fortunate is the man who has back of him an ancestry honorable and distinguished, and happy is he if his lines of life are cast in harmony therewith. In talents and in character Clinton Barnum Seeley is a worthy scion of a race that has furnished distinguished representa- tives to New England, his ancestors having occupied a prominent place in the history of Bridgeport and of Connecticut. He is a lineal descendant of Ensign Nathan Seeley, whose father, Captain Nathaniel Seeley, of New Haven and afterward of Fairfield, was a distinguished colonial hero. From pioneer times the family has figured in connection with the history of
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Bridgeport through successive generations down to the present, when Clinton Barnum Seeley is president of the Bridgeport Trust Company.
A native of Bridgeport he was educated in the schools of New York city, where the family home was maintained until ten years ago, although during that period he spent the summer months in Bridgeport at the country home. In 1907 he took up his abode in Bridgeport, where he has since engaged in the real estate business and has also figured prominently in financial circles. He was formerly vice president of the Pequonnock National Bank and in 1913 became president of the Bridgeport Trust Company, and thus figures actively in connection with business interests of the city. He is an active member of the park board, being chairman of the playground committee. He is also connected with the Board of Trade, and he figures, moreover, very prominently in social circles as a member of the Algonquin, Bridgeport Yacht and Brooklawn Country Clubs.
WILLIAM H. BATCHELLER.
It was in the year 1877 that William H. Bateheller became a resident of Bridgeport, where he continued to reside until called to his final rest. During that period he made for himself a most ereditable and enviable position in business circles and his life in every relation measured up to high standards, making him a man whom to know was to respect and honor. He was born in Grafton, Massachusetts, October 1, 1849, and was one of a family of three sons, his brothers being George Clinton and Hiram Batcheller, who conducted a New York store at No. 345 Fifth avenue. His parents were Moses and Sarah A. (Phillips) Batcheller, the latter a descendant of the Rev. George Phillips, who came from Norfolk, England, in 1630 and cast in his lot with the colonists who were planting the seeds of civiliza- tion on the soil of the western hemisphere. Through his grandmother, Mrs. Polly Chase, and his great-grandmother, Mrs. Prudence Leland, Mr. Batcheller was related to two very old and prominent New England families.
William H. Batcheller acquired his education in the graded schools of Grafton and the high school at Worcester, Massachusetts, and when his textbooks were put aside he started out in the business world as an employe of the firm of Forehand & Wadsworth, successors to the Ethan Allen Firearms Company, with which he was connected until 1877. It was in that year that he came to Bridgeport in connection with the Langdon & Batcheller Corset Company and from that time until his demise he continued his residence in this city. Entering the employ of the company, he started in a minor capacity but worked his way steadily upward through all the departments of the business so that he was familiar with every phase of the work and could intelligently direct the labors of those in his employ. He advanced step by step until he became manager of the factory at Bridgeport, the company having a plant in this city and also in New Jersey and in England. Business was conducted under the name of George C. Batcheller & Company, with William H. Batcheller as secretary and manager of the Bridgeport plant. This was the pioneer corset company of the country, being the oldest of the forty-two corset companies now engaged in manufacture in the United States. The business was established in 1856 under the name of W. S. Thomson. the designer and promoter of the Thomson Glove Fitting corset. Later Mr. Thomson was joined by a partner, leading to the organization of the firm of Thomson & Langdon, and this eventually hecame Langdon, Batcheller & Company, while later changes in the ownership led to the adoption of the name of George C. Batcheller & Company. The business was established in Paris, where Mr. Thomson began the manufacture of corsets, but at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war the plant was removed to London, England. Up to 1877 all of the product of the concern was manufactured in London and imported to the United States, but in order to save duty on the imported goods a factory was built in
WILLIAM H. BATCHELLER
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Bridgeport in 1877. Since that time various additions have been made to the original plant and it has been enlarged from time to time until it is one of the most extensive and best equipped in the country, employing over two thousand men and women. As indicated, Mr. Batcheller thoroughly mastered the business in every detail as well as in its major points and such was his treatment of his employes that no strike ever occurred in his factory. He was thoroughly just and when there was any difference of opinion between himself and his employes he was always ready and willing to discuss the matter thoroughly with them and in this way he brought about a satisfactory adjustment of the trouble. Those who served him not only entertained for him the highest regard, but many of his old employes felt for him the deepest attachment. In addition to his connection with this company Mr. Batcheller was secretary of the Connecticut Clasp Company and secretary of the Crown Corset Com- pany, which erected and still owns a building at Bridgeport.
On the 14th of May, 1884, at Bridgeport, Mr. Batcheller was married to Miss Maria Frances Stearns, a daughter of Isaac Stearns, of Warren, Massachusetts. Throughout the remainder of his life his interest centered in his home. He was most devoted to his wife and no matter how great his business cares or the demands made upon his time and attention he was ever thoughtful of her. He passed away June 21, 1913, his death being deeply regretted in every locality in which he was known. He was a charter member of the Algonquin Club and also a member of the Elks and the Bridgeport Yacht Club. He likewise belonged to the Republican Club of New York city and was a past grand of Arcanum Lodge, No. 41, I. O. O. F. One of his strong traits of character was his thoughtfulness of others and his consideration for their rights and privileges. He took the deepest interest in his fellowmen, not from a sense of duty but because he regarded them as brothers and colleagues in the world's work. His life exemplified many of the traits which are most admirable and his memory is enshrined in the hearts of many with whom he was closely associated. He displayed sound judgment in his business affairs and the keenest discrimina- tion, which manifested itself in the readiness with which he recognized the value of an opportunity. What he undertook he accomplished. He was fortunate in possessing character and ability that inspired confidence in others and the weight of his character and ability carried him into most important business relations. He never deviated from a course which he believed to be right between himself and his fellowmen and his achievements and his actions at all times were the expression of the high principles that governed his life.
CHARLES BOOTH BUCKINGHAM.
Charles Booth Buckingham, president of N. Buckingham & Company, owning one of the leading furniture houses of Bridgeport and also well known in other business connections, is a native son of this city, where he figures so prominently in commercial and financial circles, enjoying the honor and respect of all with whom he has been brought in contact. He was born September 20, 1847, a son of Nathan and Mary A. (Booth) Buckingham, the former a merchant, descended from an old English family that was established at Milford, Connecticut, in 1639. In the maternal line he also comes of English ancestry, the Booth family having been established at Stratford in 1640.
Charles Booth Buckingham attended the public schools of Bridgeport and afterward became a student in the military school conducted by Colonel Emory F. Strong but left that institution when a lad of sixteen years in order to enter the business world as an employe of his father. It was in 1863 that he began work in his father's furniture factory and store and he speedily mastered all the details of the furniture business concerning the methods of both making and selling furniture. In this way he won promotion from time to time until he was given in part executive control and administration of the business. Through the
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