USA > Connecticut > History of Connecticut, Volume III > Part 48
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52
In the mid-1940s, Mr. Scully resumed his education, intent upon a career in the law. He enrolled at the University of Connecticut School of Law, where in 1948 he graduated with the degree of Bach- elor of Laws. Admitted to the bar of his state at that time, he has practiced in Hartford since, with offices at One Grand Street. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the Hartford County Bar Association, as well as his state's bar group.
Mr. Scully became prosecutor of the Town Court of West Hart- ford in 1949 and served until 1951. He was judge of that court from 1955 to 1959; and in 1958, became chief judge of the town, city, and borough courts of the state of Connecticut. A Democrat in his politics, he formerly served as chairman of the Democratic Town Committee of West Hartford.
A member of the West Hartford Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Scully serves on its executive committee, and he is a former president of the West Hartford Exchange Club. His memberships include the Avon Country Club and the City Club of Hartford. A loyal Catholic and a communicant of the Church of St. Timothy, Roman Catholic Church, he is active in parish affairs. He is a member of the executive committee of the Holy Family Retreat League, and belongs to the lodge of the Knights of Columbus. He is also on the advisory board of Marian Hall, and the advisory board of The Robinson School.
On September 12, 1942, at West Hartford, Richard Thomas Scully married S. Elinor Nordstrom, daughter of Arthur J. and Mary C. (Larson) Nordstrom. The couple make their home at 4 Shady Lane, West Hartford, and they are the parents of two children: I. Richard Thomas, Jr., who was born on August 29, 1948. 2. Mary Anne, born September 7, 1953.
LELAND PINNEY WILSON
In a career devoted primarily to the insurance business but also
480
CONNECTICUT
in large measure to public service, Leland Pinney Wilson contributed his own chapter of achievement to the annals of a family long identi- fied with the development of the Town of Windsor. He made his home in the village of Wilson, named for this family, and there he was a leader in zoning improvements and other community programs.
The American progenitor of this branch of the Wilson family was Robert Wilson, who came from England and settled in Windsor, about 1645. He moved from there to Farmington in 1653, and died in that town two years later. He married Elizabeth Stebbins, daugh- ter of Deacon Edward Stebbins of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who arrived there in 1634, went to Hartford a year later, and became one of the original deacons of the Reverend Thomas Hooker's church. Their son, Samuel, born in Farmington about 1653, married Mary Griffin, and their son, John, born in 1686 in Windsor, married Mary Marshall. Their son, Joel, born in Windsor in 1718, married Abigail Loomis. All of their son served in the American Revolution, and one of them, Moses, who was born in Windsor in 1748, married Huldah Allen. Henry, a son of Moses, was born in 1785 and died in 1849. He married Eleanor Loomis, and was the first to settle in the section later known as Wilson Station, Town of Windsor. Their son, Allyn M., was born November 21, 1830. He became a brick manufacturer, and to secure adequate transportation for his product, arranged with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad to establish a stop to be known as Wilson Station, "at which two passenger trains each way were to stop on signal." Such was the way in which Wilson Vil- lage acquired its name. Allyn M. Wilson married, on October 14, 1853, Ellen Barber, and they were the parents of four children, of whom Leland Pinney was the last survivor. Only one other child reached maturity : Arthur Morton who became president of the New England Wholesale Grocers Association, vice president of the Na- tional Wholesale Grocers Association, and vice president and treasurer of The E. S. Kibbe Company of Hartford.
Leland Pinney Wilson, son of Allyn M. and Ellen ( Barber) Wil- son, was born in Windsor on April 25, 1871. He attended local public schools and Hannum Business College at Hartford (later renamed Morse Business College). As a youth he entered the employ of the Connecticut Fire Insurance Company, in March, 1891. There, to quote an earlier biographer, "his promotion testified to his ability and success in his chosen vocation." He continued in this connection for thirty years, the last seven of which were spent as superintendent of the loss department, in which he had responsibility for the adjust-
48I
CONNECTICUT
ment of losses totaling from four to five million dollars annually. He retired from the company July 1, 1921, but thereafter established his own insurance agency, through which he acted as local agent for the Connecticut Fire and Aetna group of insurance companies. He ulti- mately sold the agency to a new management which has operated it as Kiernan and Company to the present time.
Over the years he was one of Windsor's most influential citizens. In 1897 he took a lead in the campaign which made possible much of Keney Park. The bequest of Henry Keney stipulated that all land in the park should be within the territorial limits of Hartford. To make the bequest possible it would be necessary for Windsor to cede to Hartford more than two hundred acres of land. There was much opposition, but after a long fight the vote was favorable and the plan for a park was realized. Mr. Wilson was also an organizer of the Wil- son Fire District, and served as its treasurer until a few years before his death. He was largely responsible for the movement which enabled the district to receive water from the Hartford system. He also served for a number of years as a member of the Wilson Fire Company. The contribution to municipal progress for which he will be longest re- membered was his role in bringing about the adoption of a new and greatly needed building code. The fruit of his efforts, the "Zoning Law and Regulations" of the Town of Windsor, was ready to be put into effect in 1930, and the following year was passed by the state legislature. It was revised in 1936. He had not only served as chair- man of the Zoning Commission, but had done a great deal of investi- gation and promotional work preceding the adoption of the important measure. He was also a leader in the movement which led to the re- valuation of town property, based on the most modern method of in- vestigation, an aerial survey. When the Metropolitan District was formed in 1929, Mr. Wilson served on the committee which drafted the district charter. For more than twenty years, he served on Wind- sor's Board of Finance, and was elected its chairman in 1935. He retired from the board in 1944.
Mr. Wilson took a great interest in the Tercentenary Celebra- tion of Windsor, the oldest township in the state, which took place September 26, 1933. Beginning about two years prior to this event, he worked at intervals consuming five and one-half months in search- ing town, probate, genealogical and historical records, old charts, atlases and maps, and in this way located the one hundred and sixty- one buildings within the present boundaries of Windsor which were erected before the year 1840. Ninety-eight of these predated 1800.
482
CONNECTICUT
He placed suitable markers on each showing the date it was built and the name of the original owner. The work was made difficult by the fact that in deeds going back half a century or more, no reference was made to former deeds to the same property, and a release of mort- gage of this period and earlier, being largely from individuals, read identically with that of a warranty deed. Furthermore, fully fifty per cent of all conveyances were but inheritance from parent or other relative, and in many instances the probate court failed to mention the transfer upon the land record. Here is where genealgoical and pro- bate records became of great assistance. Mr. Wilson's work attracted wide attention and many letters and inquiries came from other towns in the state inquiring about the methods used in securing the informa- tion. Newton Case Brainard of Hartford was so pleased with the re- sults that he had photographs taken of all the buildings erected prior to 1800 and presented copies of each to the Windsor Historical So- ciety and the New England Society for the Preservation of Antiqui- ties.
Mr. Wilson was a charter member of the Windsor Historical Society, which was organized in 1921, and had served as its treasurer from 1956. He had also been a member of the board of the Windsor Library, and of the executive and finance committees of the Windsor Library Association. He was a charter member of the Connecticut Chapter of the American Planning and Civic Association.
He took a vital interest in the Church of Christ at Wilson. It was through his personal efforts, in 1900, that the Wilson Christian Union Association, newly organized, bought the vacant Baptist Church at Rainbow. It was torn down, and rebuilt at Wilson at a cost of about three thousand dollars. The cost was met by individual pledges, and Mr. and Mrs. Wilson secured pledges for fifty per cent of the cost. In this way the Church of Christ in Wilson had its beginning. Mr. Wilson was elected superintendent of its Sunday school on July I, 190I, and served until December 31, 1938. He was elected a deacon in 1914; and in 1922 was elected church treasurer.
In recognition of his service to the community he was voted the Outstanding Citizen Award for Windsor in 1952.
Mr. Wilson was an independent in politics. His avocation was floriculture, and he was particularly fond of raising dahlias, of which he had over a hundred varieties.
On October 1, 1896, Leland Pinney Wilson married Ellen Belle Dickson, daughter of Dr. James N. and Cynthia Ellen ( Ensign) Dick- son, both of whom were members of old New England families. Ellen
483
CONNECTICUT
Belle (Dickson) Wilson died on July 19, 1952, and on August 19, 1954, he married May Louise Dickson, the sister of his first wife.
His death occurred at his home in Wilson on February 4, 1959.
JOHN M. BAILEY
Hartford attorney John M. Bailey formerly served on the bench as judge of the Municipal Court of his city, and he has likewise been active in the councils of the Democratic party. He is now chairman of the State Democratic Central Committee. Besides his nearly three decades of law practice, he has served as an official of several corpora- tions.
Born in Hartford on November 23, 1904, he is a son of Dr. Mi- chael A. and Louise (Moran) Bailey. His father, a prominent physi- cian of the area, died in 1936, and Mrs. Bailey survived him until 1947. Receiving his early education in Hartford public schools, Judge Bailey graduated from Hartford Public High School. He then went to Catholic University in Washington, D. C., where he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1926. In 1929 he received his Bache- lor of Laws degree at Harvard Law School.
The same year he completed his law studies, he was admitted to the Connecticut state bar, and commenced a general practice of law in Hartford which he has continued to the present time. Mr. Bailey has served as judge of the Municipal Court of Hartford. He is cur- rently chairman of the Connecticut State Democratic Central Com- mittee, and a member of the party's Metropolitan District Committee. Mr. Bailey serves on the boards of directors of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Yellow Cab Company, and the South End Bank of Hartford.
As a lawyer he is a member of the American Bar Association, the Connecticut State Bar Association, and the Hartford County Bar Association. His other memberships include the lodges of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Colum- bus, the City Club, Wethersfield Country Club, and Wampanoag Country Club. His favorite sport is golf. He and his family attend the Roman Catholic Church.
At Mansfield, Massachusetts, on August 1, 1933, John M. Bailey married Barbara Leary, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Leary. The couple are the parents of four children: I. Louise, who was born in Boston on December 17, 1934. She graduated from Mount St. Joseph School in West Hartford and from Marymount College at Tarrytown, New York. 2. Barbara Ann, born on July 10, 1936. Also a graduate
484
CONNECTICUT
of Mount St. Joseph, she is a member of the Class of 1958 at Trin- ity College in Washington, D. C. 3. John Michael, and 4. Judith M., twins, born on June 13, 1944. John is a student at Noah Webster School, while Judith attends Georgetown Visitation Convent in Wash- ington, D. C.
WILLIAM S. WISE
For many years, William S. Wise has been rendering valuable service to his state as an authority on water resources and water pol- lution-subjects on which he is nationally recognized as an expert. He now holds the position of director of the State Water Resources Commission. He has been active in interstate agencies as well, holding several offices, and he has written widely on his field of interest.
Born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, on September 22, 1895, he is a son of Warren L. and Ellen (Tobias) Wise. His father was a farmer, and William S. Wise was reared on a farm. He attended local public schools and, from 1911 to 1914, Amity Township High School. He also received his advanced education in his native state, attending Keystone State Teachers College from 1914 to 1916. For a year after graduating there, he taught school in Berks County.
In 1917, Mr. Wise entered the United States Army, being as- signed to the Medical Corps. He served at the Base Hospital Labora- tory in Mississippi, and attended Army Medical School in Washington, D. C. Following his return to civilian life, he enrolled at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1919, and completed his courses there in 1923, taking the degree of Bachelor of Science in Sanitary Engi- neering.
He began his engineering career in private industry, joining the staff of Morris Knowles, Inc., a firm of consulting engineers at Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania. He remained with that organization until 1927, and during the next year was with the Federal Water Service Cor- poration of New York City.
Mr. Wise joined the Connecticut State Water Commission in 1928, as associate engineer. He was promoted to chief engineer in 1942, and after serving for a decade in that post, became director of the State Water Commission in 1952. In 1957 the legislature created the Connecticut State Water Resources Commission and Mr. Wise became its director.
He is Connecticut member of the Interstate Sanitation Com- mission; a member of the New England Interstate Water Pollution
485
CONNECTICUT
Control Commission, which he served as chairman in 1956; regional director of the National Rivers and Harbors Congress; and Con- necticut member of the Northeastern Resources Committee. He is also a member of the New England Sewage and Industrial Wastes Association, which he served as president in 1951-1952; and a mem- ber of the Federation of Sewage and Industrial Wastes Association, which he has served as a member of its Industrial Wastes Research Committee and Executive Committee.
A registered professional engineer in the State of Connecticut, Mr. Wise has also been active in general engineering groups. One of these is the American Society of Civil Engineers. Since 1948, he has been chairman of its Local Qualifications Committee; and he was contact member at the University of Connecticut from 1947 to 1957. He was president of the national society's Connecticut Section in 1946-1947. Mr. Wise has also served as president of the Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers, in the 1951-1952 term. He was engineering associate at the University of Connecticut from 1948 to 1953. His professional fraternities are Tau Beta Pi and Chi Epsilon, and he is a member of the Hartford Engineers Club.
In 1957, Mr. Wise was recipient of the Engineer of the Year Award for 1956, conferred jointly by the Connecticut Society of Professional Engineers and the Connecticut Technical Council. In 1958 he was appointed by President Dwight D. Eisehower as a mem- ber of the Water Pollution Control Advisory Board. He is the holder of a patent, granted in 1935, on apparatus for removing fibrous ma- terial from liquids.
Mr. Wise has written over twenty-five articles on such subjects as pollution control, industrial wastes, the effects of floods, and water conservation, and most of these have been published in technical jour- nals or as brochures. His name is widely recognized for his work in the design of sewage and industrial waste treatment plants, research on sewage and industrial waste treatment, pollution abatement, flood control, and the solution of water policy problems.
Apart from his professional connections, Mr. Wise is an active member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Club of Hart- ford, and served as its president in the 1948-1949 term. He is also a member of the City Club of Hartford, and the Golf Club of Avon. Golf is his favorite outdoor pastime. He is a communicant of the South Congregational Church in Hartford.
On April 20, 1935, William S. Wise married Elizabeth Seymour McCreary. The ceremony took place in West Hartford, which is
486
CONNECTICUT
Mrs. Wise's native city. She is the daughter of Ralph W. and Lucy (Matthews) McCreary.
DR. ABRAHAM J. FELDMAN
For over thirty-five years, Dr. Abraham J. Feldman has been rabbi of The Congregation Beth Israel in Hartford. Rabbi Feldman is also a lecturer at Hartford Theological Seminary ; has distinguished himself in many organizational posts; and is an author, with many books on various phases of religion to his credit.
He came to this country from Kiev in the Ukraine, where he was born on June 28, 1893, son of Jehiel and Elka (Rubin) Feldman. Coming to this country at an early age, he attended Hebrew Union College at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he took his degree of Bachelor of Hebrew Literature in 1913. He became a rabbi in 1918, and received the Doctor of Divinity from Hebrew Union College in 1944. He also holds degrees of Bachelor of Arts from the University of Cincinnati (1917); Doctor of Sacred Theology from Trinity College; Doctor of Laws from Hillyer College; and Doctor of Humanities from Hartt College of Music. These last three degrees were all received in 1953.
Dr. Feldman began his career of service to Judaism as rabbi of the Free Synagogue in New York City. He remained there for a year, then went to Athens, Georgia, as rabbi of the Congregation Children of Israel. In 1920 he assumed duties as junior rabbi of the Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Philadelphia, where he served until 1925. At that time Dr. Feldman became rabbi of The Congregation Beth Israel in Hartford, the position he has held since. He became lecturer on the Old Testament at Hartford Theological Seminary in 1954, and this post too he holds today.
Dr. Feldman was associate editor of the English-Yiddish Ency- clopedic Dictionary from 1910 to 1912; and he is now editor of the Jewish Ledger. He has contributed to the Universal Jewish Encyclo- pedia and the Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Religious Know- ledge, and was editor of "Sermons by Z. H. Masliansky," published in 1926. Dr. Feldman has written many books, whose titles and years of publication are as follows: "Words in Season" (1920) ; "The Un- dying Fire and Other Discourses" (1921) ; "Intermarriage and Other Discourses" (1922) ; "Religion in Action" (1923) ; "God's Fools" (1924) ; "We Jews" (1927); "Lights and Shadows" (1928); "Kid- dush Hashem" (1929) ; "Judaism and Unitarianism" (1930) ; "What Is Faith" (1930) ; "Hills to Climb" (1931) ; "The Faith of a Liberal Jew" (1931); "Sources of Jewish Inspiration" (1934) ; "The Adven-
487
CONNECTICUT
ture of Judaism" (1937) ; "The American Jew-A Study of Back- grounds" (1937, revised 1959) ; "Contributions of Judaism to Modern Society" (1938) ; "A Companion to the Bible" (1939) ; "The Rabbi and His Early Ministry" (1941) ; "The Mourners Service" (1941) ; "Remember the Days of Old" (1943) ; "In Time of Need" (1946) ; "A Modern Synagogue" (1945); "One Hundred Benedictions" (1948) ; and "Confirmation" (1949).
Dr. Feldman was alumni lecturer at Hebrew Union College in 1940 and Visiting Professor of Homiletics at the Cincinnati school in 1958 and at the New York school in 1959. From 1943 to 1957, he served in the Chaplains Corps of the Connecticut State Guard with the rank of colonel. He is currently chaplain of the United States Veterans Hospital at Newington; and in 1940-194I, was associate national chaplain of the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A. He made a mission to Hawaii on behalf of the Department of Defense in 1950, and a mission to the Far East in 1954. From 1932 to 1941, he served as a member of the board of managers of the Department of Syna- gogue and School Extension of the Union American Hebrew Con- gregations. He was a member of the executive board of the Union American Hebrew Congregations from 1945 to 1949 and was reelect- ed to it in 1958. From 1933 to 1940 he served as historian of the Alumni Association of Hebrew Union College, and was president of the association from 1946 to 1948. He was a member of the adminis- trative board of the Hebrew Union College School of Religious Educa- tion in New York from 1947 to 1949; and from 1945 to 1949 he served on the board of governors of the college itself. Active in the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Dr. Feldman served as its president from 1947 to 1949. In 1955 he was elected president of the Synagogue Council of America, and held office until 1957. He is currently trustee, and national co-chairman on religious groups, of People to People Federation. He is a member of the Jewish American Historical Society.
In his home area, Dr. Feldman has made a distinctive contribu- tion in welfare work. He is director of Jewish Social Service, of Mount Sinai Hospital, and also of the Hartford Jewish Federation. He serves on the board of the Hebrew Home for the Aged, and is also a director of the Hartford Council for Adult Education, of which he was president from 1944 to 1946. He was an incorporator of the United War and Community Funds of Connecticut. In 1933, he was in charge of the National Recovery Administration's educational cam- paign in the Hartford area ; and he was state chairman of the National
Conn. III-38
488
CONNECTICUT
Recovery Administration Adjustment Board during 1934-1935. He serves on the board of directors of the National Jewish Welfare Board, and locally is a director of Charter Oak Council of Boy Scouts of America. He is a member of the boards of trustees of Hillyer College and of the Julius Hartt Musical Foundation, and is a founder and regent of the University of Hartford.
Many tokens of recognition have come to Dr. Feldman in con- sequence of his religious leadership and community work. He was named Greater Hartford Citizen of the Year in 1954, and two years later received the George Washington Medal of Honor of the Free- doms Foundation. He was recipient of the Americanism and Civic Award of the Connecticut Valley Council of B'nai B'rith in 1955. He is a member of B'nai B'rith, and of the posts of the Knights of Pythias and Free and Accepted Masons. He served the Masonic order as chap- lain of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut in 1943 and 1944, and in 1959 was made an honorary member of the Grand Lodge of Masons of the State of Israel. He is a member of Phi Epsilon Pi, which he served as national chaplain in 1938; and he has been president of the Hartford Rotary Club. He holds honorary memberships in the posts of the Spanish-American War Veterans and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
On June 2, 1918, Dr. Abraham Jehiel Feldman married Helen Bloch, and they are the parents of the following children: I. Daniel Bloch. 2. Joan Helen, who is the wife of Jerome W. Mecklenburger. 3. Ella, who married Charles Norwood. Dr. and Mrs. Feldman live on Ballard Drive in Hartford, and he has his office at 701 Farmington Avenue.
JOSEPH NORMAN GILL
With practical experience in farming and poultry raising to his credit, Joseph Norman Gill is well qualified for his present state post as Connecticut's Commissioner of Agriculture. He has held a number of offices in farmers' organizations, and has also served as public official in his home community of Mansfield Center.
He is a native of the Southwest, born at Clayton, New Mexico on August 5, 1911, son of Joseph and Mildred (Keith) Gill. His father, who died in March, 1937, was an attorney. Mrs. Gill survives her husband and makes her home in Albuquerque. The Commissioner of Agriculture received his early education in the public schools of that city, and completed his preparatory courses at New Mexico Military Institute. In 1933 he graduated from the University of New Mexico with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. For two years he studied at
PLASTICS, Inc.
Custom Moukers
alexander L. alves
489
CONNECTICUT
George Washington University Law School in Washington, D. C., and he also took courses offered by the American Institute of Banking in New York for two years.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.