USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > History of Bridgeport and vicinity > Part 65
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PATRICK McGEE.
Patrick McGee, engaged in the coal trade at Bridgeport, was born in Ireland, February 12, 1869, and came to the United States in young manhood, landing on American shores in 1885. He first located at Sheffield, Massachusetts, where he resided for four years and then removed to Hartford, Connecticut, where he remained for seven years, during which time he was engaged in the grocery business for two years. In May, 1896, he came to Bridgeport and for two years was employed in a factory but on the expiration of that period began dealing in coal with horse and wagon. In 1909 he opened a coal yard and now has a large plant on East Washington street by the river, where he has his own docks, his yard covering an entire block. Ife utilizes six motor trucks and twelve teams and wagons in the delivery of coal and employs from fifty to eighty men, his business having shown a wonderful growth in seven years. He uses coal which is shipped by boat from Vol. 11-27
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Pennsylvania and he handles fifty thousand tons of hard coal annually. He was the first to purchase an auto truck for the coal trade and in all that he has undertaken he has been actuated by a spirit of progressiveness. He was one of the organizers of the American Bank & Trust Company of Bridgeport, and is still a director of the company.
In January, 1892, Mr. McGee was united in marriage to Miss Bridget Burns, a native of Ireland, by whom he has ten children, namely: Mary, Anna, Edward, Lucy, James, Gertrude, Charles, William, Francis and Patricia.
The family are communicants of St. Patrick's Catholic church and Mr. McGee holds membership as well with the Knights of Columbus, the Hibernians, the Woodmen of the World, the Elks and the Foresters. He is a supporter of democratic principles but at local elections where no issue is involved he casts an independent ballot. He is truly a self- made man and one who owes his advancement to unremitting industry and close applica- tion.
W. T. NAGLE, M. D.
Dr. W. T. Nagle, a successful physician and surgeon residing in Fairfield, Connecticut, was born in Southington, this state, of the marriage of William C. and Mary (Quinlan) Nagle, natives of Connecticut and now residents of Southington. The son attended the common and high schools of Fairfield and in 1914 was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and later was for six months connected with the Phila- delphia General Hospital in Philadelphia. For sixteen months he was interne in the St. Raphael's Hospital at New Haven and for a short time was connected with the Bridge- port Hospital. He then came to Fairfield, where he has since engaged in the independent practice of his profession, and he has already secured recognition as an able, conscientious and up-to-date physician and surgeon.
In June. 1916, Dr. Nagle was united in marriage to Miss Frances A. Keenan, a native of New Haven. He is a republican in politics and keeps well informed on the questions and issues before the public. He is now serving as health officer, in which capacity he has done highly efficient work. He has gained a notable measure of success for one of his years and his continued progress in his chosen profession seems assured. He holds a first lieutenancy in the First Ambulance Company of Connecticut.
HENRY ALFRED BISHOP.
Conditions in Bridgeport are far different from those of the picturesque past, when the great majority of the citizens were connected with agricultural interests, claiming the land which they tilled and thus founding settlements in a hitherto undeveloped region. The period of Revolutionary war came on, bringing with it independence to the nation and grow- ing changes in the life of the people. In recent years the history of the city has been largely the record of industrial development with its consequent activity in commercial and financial lines. Prominently connected with this later period of progress is Henry Alfred Bishop, who is identified with many corporate interests that have direct bearing upon the upbuilding and prosperity of Bridgeport and in fact of New England as well.
He was here born December 4, 1860, a son of William Darius and Julia Ann (Tomlinson) Bishop. The ancestral line is traced back to Rev. lohn Bishop, who came to America in 1640. In the maternal line he is descended from Matthias Hitchcock, who reached the new world in 1635, and from Henry Tomlinson, who came in 1652. His paternal grandparents were
DR. W. T. NAGLE
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Alfred and Mary (Ferris) Bishop and his maternal grandparents Russell and Maria (Hitchcock) Tomlinson. His grandfather, Alfred Bishop, became a distinguished figure in connection with the development of railway interests in New England. Hle was the founder and builder of the Raritan canal, of the Housatonic, Naugatuck, the New York & New Haven and the Saratoga & Rensselaer Railroads and as a leading resident contributed in marked measure to the successful management of these undertakings.
Henry Alfred Bishop, in the acquirement of his education, attended successively the Hillside school of Bridgeport. Hurlburt's school of Lime Rock. General Russell's school of New Haven and Yale College, where he became a member of the class of 1884, although he did not graduate. In 1881 he made his initial step in the business world as general ticket agent for the Naugatuck Railroad Company. In 1883 he was advanced to the posi- tion of purchasing agent. in 1885 became assistant superintendent and in 1886-7 was superin- tendent and general superintendent of The Housatonic Railroad Company. From 1887 until 1902 he was purchasing agent of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company and from 1902 until 1904 was vice president of the Western Maryland Railroad Company and the West Virginia Central & Pittsburgh Railroad Company. Constantly his activities have broadened. covering a wider and more varied field, and he is now a director and member of the executive committee of the American District Telegraph Company of New Jersey: director of the Automatic Machine Company: director and vice president of the Brady Brass Company: director of the Bridgeport Gas Light Company : director of the City of Ponce Gas Company : director and vice president of the Clapp Fire Resisting Paint Com- pany: director. president and a member of the executive committee of the Collin Valve Company : director and vice president of the Connecticut National Bank: director and presi- dent of the Connecticut Press; director, vice president and member of the executive com- mittee of the Consolidated Telephone Company; director. president and member of the executive committee of the MeNab Company, director and vice president of the Pacific Iron Works, Incorporated; director and president of the Pennsylvania. New York & New Jersey Power Company: trustee of the People's Savings Bank : director of the Porto Rico Gas Company : director and president of the Read Carpet Company: director of the West- chester Street Railroad Company; director and member of the executive committee of the Western Union Telegraph Company: director of the Texas & Pacific Railway Company; and director and president of the Non-Recoil Gun Corporation.
On the 6th of February. 1883, Mr. Bishop was married in Bridgeport to Miss Jessie Alvord Trubee, a daughter of William Edgar and Susan Curtis ( Alvord) Trubce. They are parents of two sons and two daughters: William Alfred, who was born in 1885 and died in 1886; Marguerite Alvord, who on the 29th of July. 1916. became the wife of Dr. H LeBaron Peters: Henrietta ; and llenry Alfred.
Mr. and Mrs. Bishop are communieants of St. John's Episcopal church of Bridgeport, in which Mr. Bishop is serving as vestryman. He belongs to various prominent clubs and social organizations, including the Algonquin, University. Brooklawn Country and Contem- porary Clubs of Bridgeport, the Maryland Club of Baltimore, the New York Yacht. Union, Yale, Bankers and Recess Clubs of New York, the Metabetchouan Fish & Game Club of Canada, the Hallenbeck and the Black Rock Yacht Clubs. He is likewise a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine.
Mr. Bishop has taken deep interest in political affairs and has long been a stalwart advo- cate of democratic principles. He served as alderman of the city of Bridgeport in 1886, was a member of the legislature in 1886 and 1887 and was president of the police commission from 1888 until 1890. He was a candidate for the state senate in 1886. for secretary of state in 1×88 and for lieutenant governor in 1904. lle has done splendid public service in connection with organizations which are helpful forces in the life of a community, which care for the unfortunate, which look to eultural advancement and which constitute a source of ameliora. tion of the hard conditions of life for the unfortunate. In these connections he is known
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as president and director of the Bridgeport Public Library; ex-president of the Bridgeport Board of Trade; president and director of the Bridgeport Boys' Club; director of the Bridge- port Hospital, St. Vincent's Hospital, the Connecticut Humane Society, the Brooklawn Cor- poration and the Mountain Grove Cemetery Association; trustee of the Bridgeport Protestant Orphan Asylum; director of the Black Rock Company; trustee of the Ladies Charitable Society; and trustee of the Fresh Air Home.
GEORGE THOMAS HATHEWAY.
George Thomas Hatheway, one of the foremost real estate and insurance men of Bridgeport, familiar with every phase of the lines of business in which he is engaged, is actuated at all times by a spirit of enterprise and progress that is most resultant. Through several lines of business he progressed to his present position and from each experience of life gained the lesson therein contained. A native son of Connecticut, he was born in Pequonnock, town of Windsor, Hartford county, August 5, 1865, a son of George Stoughton Hatheway and a grandson of George Hatheway, both of whom were natives of Connectient. The grandfather was a manufacturer and farmer and the father followed agricultural pursuits. In the maternal, as in the paternal line, George T. Hatheway is descended from an old colonial family of Connecticut. His mother bore the maiden name of Leonora Hester and both parents are now deceased. Only two sons of the family sur- vive, the brother of George T. Hatheway being William E. Hatheway, who is president of the Hatheway Manufacturing Company of Bridgeport.
George T. Hatheway was but a young lad at the time of his father's death. He acquired his early education in the public schools. pursuing a course in the New Britain high school and also in the normal school there. The necessity of providing for his own support forced him at the age of sixteen years to become a wage earner and he secured a clerkship in a drug store at Unionville, Hartford county. In that store the village postoffice was conducted and in addition to selling drugs and sundries his duty included handling the mail. After two or three years there spent he removed to Winsted, Connecticut. but in the mean- time, while still in the drug store at Unionville, he had taken up the study of telegraphy, there being a telegraph office also in the store. He thus picked up a knowledge of telegraphy and at Winsted was appointed to the position of Western Union operator. When ahout nineteen or twenty years of age he came to Bridgeport and accepted the position of operator in the Bankers & Merchants telegraph office. In a short time he went to New York city as operator in the main office of the Western Union Telegraph Company. He remained there for about two years after which he returned to Bridgeport with the Western Union Com- pany and devoted eight or ten years to telegraphy in this eity and also taught telegraphy in a local business college, his teaching paying his tuition for a course of study in the same institution, from which he in due time received a diploma. He then devoted five or six years to bookkeeping in a wholesale and retail hardware store and in August, 1901, he embarked in his present business of insurance and real estate. In this connection he soon torged to the front and for many years he has been one of the city's leading fire insurance and real estate men, his business having now assumed extensive and gratifying proportions. He has never had a partner, always conducting his interests under his own name, which has become a synonym for progressiveness. enterprise and reliability in insurance and real estate eireles. He is now president of the Bridgeport Fire Underwriters Association. He is thoroughly familiar with property upon the market. is correct in his valuation and has negotiated many important realty transfers satisfactory alike to seller and purchaser.
On the 12th of October, 1893, Mr. Hatheway was united in marriage to Miss Clara Truloek Davis, a native of Arkansas and a daughter of Major Guernsey W. Davis and
GEORGE T. HATHEWAY
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Victoria B. Truloek, his wife. Major Davis served in the Union army. Mrs. Hatheway is also descended from ancestors who fought for American 'independence and holds member- ship with the Daughters of the American Revolution. Two children have been born of this marriage, Constance Beardsley and Trulock Burton. The former is a graduate of the Courtland school of Bridgeport and now a student in the Leland l'owers School of Expres- sion in Boston, while Trulock is a student in the University School of Bridgeport. The parents are members of the United Congregational church. Mr. Hatheway was a member of the Seaside Club for many years and is a member of the Contemporary Club and also bas membership with the Young Men's Christian Association, a fact which indicates lis interest in all those moral forces whiel work for the uplift of the individual and the bet- terment of the community. His political allegianee is given to the republican party. It is said that he is one of the busiest men of the city, but he is never too busy to be courteous nor too courteous to be busy. In him the interests of life are well balanced and both his character and his success have their foundation in principles and purposes which have never sought nor required disguise.
LEIGH H. WILSON.
Leigh H. Wilson, president of the Bridgeport Y Plate Company, which manufactures a new process of printing plates, was born at Sandy Hook. Connectieut, on the 19th of January. 1877, and is a son of James A. Wilson, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work in connection with the sketeh of Justin A. Wilson.
When his textbooks were put aside he became connected with newspaper interests, being first an employe of the Bridgeport Morning Union, with which he remained for two years. He afterward became a member of the reportorial staff of the New Haven Union and later was editor of the New Haven Palladium. Subsequently he became night editor of the Boston Journal and still later was news editor of the Boston American; then news editor of the Boston Traveler; and was also Sunday editor of the Boston Herald. His identifieation with journalism in New York was that of news editor of the New York .Journal and eventually he made his way to the western coast, where he was news editor of the Los Angeles Examiner. Retracing his steps to a point in the middle west, he became news editor of the Denver Post and afterward was associate editor of Hampton's Magazine. This was followed by connection with the Chicago American as news editor and later he was managing editor of the Washington Times. For a period he published a newspaper at Lawrence, Massachusetts, and on leaving the Washington Times in 1915, he took up his present business.
JUSTIN A. WILSON.
Justin A. Wilson is president of the Housatonic Rubber Works, a business that had its inception in 1886 in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, which was the birthplace of Mr. Wilson, whose natal year was 1874. His parents were James A. and Phebe A. (Curtis) Wilson, the latter a representative of the oldest New England families. The father was born in New York city and was of English descent. He was a lawyer by profession but at the outbreak of the Civil war his business and personal interests were put aside and he espoused the eause of the I'nion, doing duty on the battlefields of the south. He turned from professional to manufacturing interests in 1886, organizing the Housatonic Rubber Works at Sandy Hook. Connecticut, and remaining in active connection with the business until the time of his death
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in 1903. He was a thirty-second degree Mason and a very active and prominent represen- tative of the craft. He was also a charter member of the Algonquin Club. His widow still survives. To their union were born five children: Lynn: Leigh H., engaged in newspaper publication in Bridgeport; Justin A .; Clyde, deceased; and Enid.
Justin A. Wilson spent the period of his early youth at Sandy Hook and there began his education. which was supplemented by study in the public schools of Bridgeport following the removal of the family to this city in 1888. When his textbooks were put aside he joined his father in the conduct of the business, which had been established at Sandy Hook in 1886 and which had been removed to Bridgeport two years afterward. The company secured a location at No. 26 Locust street but in 1903 a removal was made to Knowlton and Stillman streets. In 1903 the business was incorporated under the style of the Housatonic Rubber Works. The factory is one hundred and sixty-six by forty feet, with a seventy foot wing. The business includes the purchase of scrap rubber, from which the cloth is removed and the rubber thus reclaimed, after which it is resold to manufacturers of rubber goods of all kinds. The factory buys its products from all over the world and its output is sold mostly to tire companies. They employ from ten to fifteen people, and the present officers are: Justin A. Wilson, president : Phebe E. Wilson, treasurer; and Lyman W. Wilson, secretary. The business has enjoyed a constant growth and is now returning a good profit on the investment.
DON H. BOLSTER.
Don H. Bolster, president of the Stratford Garage Company, incorporated, doing busi- ness at No. 2446 Main street, Stratford, was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. July 3, 1888, and is numbered among the self-made men of the city, for whatever success he has achieved is attributable to his own efforts. His father, Luther Bolster, was a member of one of the old families of Bridgeport, while his mother, who bore the maiden name of Emma L. Colbree, was born in Canada and was of English descent. Her mother was one of the guests who danced at the wedding of Queen Victoria. The Bolster family was founded in America in 1640. and through the intervening period has been represented in this state.
At the usual age Don H. Bolster entered the public schools and later he continued his education at Troy. Canada. He quit school when a youth of thirteen, however, feeling it incumbent upon him to provide for his own support, at which time he began learning the carpenter's trade and was the youngest journeyman carpenter of the district, having com- pleted his apprenticeship when sixteen years of age. When a young man of nineteen years he began to learn the automobile business in Bridgeport, and later he went to Cleveland. Ohio, where he spent four years as an employe in a large garage. He was also in Florida for a time and his sojourn in different parts of the country brought him valuable and broadening knowledge concerning the customs of different sections of the country. In 1913 he came to Stratford and established the Stratford Garage, which was soon placed upon a substantial financial basis and has continued one of the successful business enterprises of the city. It was incorporated April 18, 1916. Mr. Bolster now owns the ground and building which he uses for business purposes and he has recently erected a handsome residence on Housatonic avenue.
On the 31st of March. 1914, Mr. Bolster was united in marriage to Miss Miriam Terry, and they have one son, Norman Harvey, who was born November 20, 1915.
Mr. Bolster has an interesting military chapter in his life history for he served in the state militia as a member of the Fourteenth Company of the Coast Artillery Corps, from which he was honorably discharged. Fraternally he is connected with the Improved
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Order of Red Men and his religious faith is indicated in his membership in the Episcopal church. He deserves much credit for what he has accomplished, for not only has he won success but has determined and given shape to his own character, and is today accounted one of the valued and respected residents of Stratford.
JOHN A. BARRI.
The Berkshire Mill, of which John A. Barri is the owner, bas the distinction of being the earliest business enterprise of Bridgeport, its history dating back to 1783. It has been the property of the present owner since 1895 and he has made many improvements, bringing it up to a high standard of modern efficiency. Mr. Barri was born in C'ambridge, Massachusetts, February 27, 1855, a son of Captain Thomas O. Barri, who was a graduate of West Point, a captain in the Eleventh Regiment, United States Infantry, in the Civil war and was killed at the battle of Gettysburg. Captain Barri was buried in the national cemetery at Gettys- burg. His wife. Fanny (Howe) Barri, was the youngest sister of Elias Howe, Jr., the inventor of the sewing machine.
After attending the public schools at Cambridge, John A. Barri entered the Mas- sachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He then turned his attention to milling and in 1895 purchased the Berkshire Mill at No. 740 North Washington avenue. Bridgeport. The business was established in 1783, when James French and William Pixlee erected a mill on the east side of the river and constructed a dam cutting off from the main harbor the body of water now known as Berkshire pond. Owing to opposition by men interested in other mills in the locality the dam was removed as an obstruction to navigation but was rebuilt, only to be again removed. In the meantime a little settlement had grown up near the mill and in 1792 a third dam was constructed and this time it was allowed to remain. Mr. Pixlee continued to operate the mill until his death in 1800, when it passed into the hands of a Mr. Penny, wbo not only continued to conduct the mill on the east side of the river but built a mill on the west side which was erected to meet the demand for kiln dried cornmeal created by the growing trade with the West Indies. The next owner of the Berkshire Mill was General Enoch Foote, who in 1836 sold it to James Porter, Bronson Hawley and Phillip L. Smith, who engaged in business under the firm name of Porter, Hawley & Smith. Messrs. Smith and Hawley withdrew from the business in a comparatively short time but Mr. Porter continued to operate the mill for many years. In 1838 a freshet washed away the dam together with the mill on the east side and damaged that on the west side, but Mr. Porter rebuilt the east mill and repaired the one on the west side and continued to do a thriving business, grinding both corn and wheat until 1852, when another flood carried away the east mill and did much damage to the machinery and fixtures of the other mill. At last, becoming discouraged, he retired to his farm and the east mill site was abandoned. However, the west mill was refitted and the business was carried on by a number of different men until 1865, when Andrew L. Winton became the owner of the mill. He was an enterprising business man and for over a quarter of a century operated it suecessfully. making it again an important factor in the commercial life of that section of the city. He passed away on the 29th of July, 1892, and on the 2d of March, 1893, the old mill on the west side, which had been in existence since the first decade in the nineteenth century, was destroyed by fire. In December, 1895. Mr. Barri with Thomas A. Kirkham purchasd the property and in 1897 built a new mill, equipping it with modern machinery. Mr. Barri bought Mr. Kirkham's interest in 1599. The dam was washed out by a flood in 1905 but was rebuilt in 1908. Mr. Barri has taken a great deal of interest in the history
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of the mill and has in his possession the charter granted to Mr. Pixlee for the construction of the dam in 1792, a century and a quarter ago.
Mr. Barri was married in 1883 to Mrs. Jennie Howe, a daughter of William Howe, an uncle of Elias Howe, Jr., and himself a noted inventor. The Howe truss bridge. which was generally used on the first railways in the country, was his invention, and he superintended the construction of many such bridges, including all those along the line of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.
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