USA > Connecticut > History of Connecticut, Volume IV > Part 16
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Mr. Turner is a native of North Haven, and was born on March 13, 1906, son of Harry Francis and Ella (Raymond) Turner. His father, born in New Haven in 1880, was for more than thirty years head of the electrical department of the Boardman Trade School.
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He retired in 1948, and died on August 2, 1954. He was an active Mason. Ella Raymond, whom he married, was born in New York City in 1883 and died in 1920.
After completing his preparatory courses at Lyman Hall in Wal- lingford, Andrew E. Turner took evening courses at Yale University over a period of two years, studying applied psychology, business psychology and related subjects. From the time he graduated from high school until 1930, he was with the firm of Sperry and Barnes, New Haven division of Swift and Company. From 1930 until 1938 he owned and operated an independent poultry and egg business.
With this background of valuable experience, Mr. Turner joined the Knudsen Brothers Dairy, four years after it was started. He has been with the company since, and has held his present post of sales manager and director of distribution since 1945. In that capacity he is in charge of sales, advertising, distribution and personnel.
Mr. Turner is a Republican, and has been active in the New Haven Young Men's Republican Club. He is a charter member of the North Haven Exchange Club. Affiliated with the Free and Ac- cepted Masons, he has taken his degrees with his employer, Chris Knudsen. A member of the higher bodies of the Scottish Rite, he holds the Thirty-second degree, and is a member of the Pyramid Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Bridgeport. He is a communicant of the Montowese Baptist Church at North Haven.
In New Haven, on June 24, 1929, Andrew Emerson Turner mar- ried Hildur Anderson. Born in that city on January 2, 1909, she is a daughter of Charles G. and Alida (Gustafson) Anderson. Both of her parents were born in Sweden-her father in 1879 and her mother in 1884. Coming to this country about 1900, Charles G. Anderson fol- lowed the trade of gunsmith in New Haven, working for various local arms manufacturers. He died in 1955, and Mrs. Anderson is aiso deceased.
Mrs. Turner is a graduate of New Haven Commercial High School, which has since been renamed Wilbur Cross High School, and she is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. The couple make their home at 317 Quinnipiac Avenue, North Haven, and they are the parents of two children: 1. Andrew E., Jr., who was born on January 8, 1935. He attended Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven, graduating there in 1953, and in 1957 took his degree of Bachelor of Arts at Dartmouth College. He is now a first lieutenant in the United States Air Force, stationed at Beale Air Force Base,
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California. Andrew E. Turner, Jr., married Eleanor Best. Formerly a DeMolay, he is affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons, and is a member of Sigma Chi fraternity. 2. Douglas Boyd, born on Oc- tober 22, 1939. He attended Hopkins Grammar School and graduated from North Haven High School in 1958. He is master counsellor in the Order of DeMolay. Both sons were born in New Haven.
MICHAEL LOUIS ADLEY
For some years, Michael Louis Adley has been associated with his brothers, Daniel and Ralph, in the management of the Adley Ex- press Company. Their efforts have been effective in building this New Haven organization into a firm known for its efficient service all up and down the East Coast, and in Canada as well. They are also part- ners in other enterprises in the real estate and construction fields.
The brothers are the sons of Ralph and Vita (Cerrone) Adley. The father, a native of Italy, came to the United States in 1887, and settled in Bridgeport, where he worked on the railroad, following an occupation most common among Italian immigrants of that day. He was later employed in the rock quarries at Roxbury, where he worked the rest of his life. He was killed in a railroad accident in 1907. He had had military experience in his native land, and was active in the Sons of Italy. Vita Cerrone, whom he married, was likewise a native of Italy and she survived her husband by two years.
Michael L. Adley attended public schools in Bridgeport and com- pleted the second year of high school there. While still in school he worked as a messenger boy for the Postal Telegraph Company, and after leaving his studies, took a position as special delivery messenger for the Bridgeport Post Office. While in this connection there evolved in his mind a practical idea for a package delivery service, which he developed on his own initiative. A successful enterprise, it emerged as a freight business, and provided the groundwork for the enterprise to which he has devoted most of the years of his career.
It was in 1917 that Mr. Adley founded The Adley Express Com- pany under that name, in Bridgeport. Two years later he was joined by his older brother Daniel. Born at Croton Falls, New York, in 1899, Daniel had just returned from naval service in World War I. In 1921 the brothers moved their headquarters to Meriden, and in 1926 the final removal of the firm to New Haven took place. There they have offices at 216 Crown Street, in the Adley Building. Ralph, the youngest
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Ralph A Caley
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brother, who was born in Bridgeport, became a partner in the orga- nization in 1929. He left at the time of World War II to serve as a lieutenant in the army, but resumed his connection after the war.
From a small, one-man enterprise, the company has continued to grow through the years. Today The Adley Express Company has twenty-six offices extending from Montreal, Canada, to Norfolk, Vir- ginia, along the Eastern Seaboard. Its payroll lists fifteen hundred and fifty full-time employees, and another fifty are employed part-time for a total of sixteen hundred employees. Incorporated many years ago, the firm's management roster lists the names of Michael L. Adley as president, Daniel Adley as treasurer, and Ralph Adley as secre- tary. All maintain their offices in New Haven. Their other business interests are also centered in that city: the Adeco Construction Con- pany, the Wingate Corporation, which is a real estate firm, and the Adlon Corporation, another real estate organization.
Michael Adley is a member of the New Haven Chamber of Com- merce and the New England Chamber of Commerce, the Union League Club of New Haven, the New York Athletic Club, and the lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He holds the rank of captain in the Second Company's Foot Guard, a New Haven military organization of long standing. All of the brothers are independent in their political views. Daniel is currently serving as a police commis -- sioner in New Haven. All are of Roman Catholic faith.
At Meriden, Connecticut, on November 28, 1929, Michael Louis Adley married Millie Catherine Batti of Philadelphia, daughter of P. Joseph and Marietta (D'Amato) Batti. Her father, born in Salerno, Italy, came to this country in 1905 and settled in Philadelphia. His wife was also a native of Salerno, and arrived in the United States in 1906. They later moved to Meriden, where Joseph Batti operated a grocery and meat market. Now retired, he lives with Mrs. Batti in New Haven.
Mrs. Adley has been very active in civic affairs, particularly on behalf of the program of Boys' Town for Italy, but also in the cam- paigns for the American Red Cross, the American Cancer Society. and the Heart Fund. She played a large part in the fund-raising drive which enabled Boys' Town for Italy to complete its one-hundred- thousand-dollar building in 1958. Mr. and Mrs. Adley have two chii- dren : I. Michael, Jr., who was born in New Haven on July 17, 1934. He attended Hamden Hall and Cheshire Academy, and is now asso- ciated with his father and uncles in the freight company. 2. Donald Arthur, born March 5, 1936, in New Haven. He received his degree
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of Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College in 1957, and holds a commission in the United States Army.
THOMAS F. WALL
Thomas F. Wall of Torrington is a member of a family whose name is prominent in the annals of law practice in that city, and also in public service. He himself has practiced law in the city for over a quarter-century, and has held public office as prosecuting attorney, judge of the city court, public defender in his county, and state at- torney for that county.
He is a native of Torrington, and was born on August II, 1907, son of Thomas J. and Helen (Hoffman) Wall. His father, who was also born in Torrington, on February 19, 1879, practiced law in the city from 1906, and was for ten years judge of the court of common pleas. His professional career at the bar covered a period of forty- two years, and his death occurred in 1948. Helen Hoffman, whom he married, survives him. She is a native of Winsted.
The public schools of Torrington provided Thomas F. Wall's early education, and he went on to Harvard College, where he took his degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1927, at the age of twenty. He remained at the famed university for his professional training, re- ceiving his degree of Bachelor of Laws with his graduation from Harvard Law School in 1930.
Admitted to the bar of his native state in that year, he began practice in Torrington, and has since been a member of the firm of Wall and Wall. He has been associated with his father and his brother during most of that time, but now heads the firm himself, since Thomas J. Wall is deceased, and Robert A. Wall retired from the organization to serve on the bench of the court of common pleas.
Mr. Wall became prosecuting attorney of the city court at Torr- ington in 1931 and served until 1933. In the latter year he became city attorney, and served in that capacity likewise for a period of two years. From 1935 to 1937 he was judge of the city court, and he then devoted himself exclusively to private practice for some years until 1946, when he once again entered public office as Litchfield County's public defender. This post he capably filled until 1953. Mr. Wall was then appointed state attorney for Litchfield County, and has been active in that position since, concurrently with his private law practice.
As a lawyer he is a member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Connecticut, and the Litchfield County Bar Associa-
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tion, which he is currently serving as president. He is a Republican in politics. A Rotarian, he was president of his club in 1942, and his other memberships include the lodges of the Benevolent and Protec- tive Order of Elks and the Knights of Columbus, the Appalachian Mountain Club, and the Harvard Club of Connecticut. Of Roman Catholic faith, he is a communicant of St. Francis Church.
Mr. Wall is a veteran of World War II service in the United States Navy, and held the rank of lieutenant, junior grade, in the Naval Reserve during his twenty-month period of active service.
In his native city of Torrington, on June 30, 1937, Thomas F. Wall married Susan Markham of that city, daughter of James H. and Julia (Cooke) Markham. Her father is deceased, but her mother is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Wall are the parents of the following children: I. Thomas, Jr., who was born on April 27, 1938. 2. Susan C., born on October 4, 1939. 3. Rosemary, born April 28, 1942.
THOMAS A. KELLEY, JR.
After beginning his career in law practice in Torrington, Thomas A. Kelley, Jr., turned his attention to the business sphere, joining a firm which has continued under the management of members of his family for nearly a century. This is The E. J. Kelley Company, a transportation concern in which he holds the office of president. He is an official of other local organizations as well.
Born October 16, 1916, in Torrington, he is a son of Thomas A., Sr., and Elizabeth (Hanrahan) Kelley, and grandson of Edward Kelley, who founded the company which he now heads. The elder Thomas A. Kelley, who was born at Torrington in 1879, carried on the management of the firm from the founder, holding the offices of president and treasurer until his death in 1953. Elizabeth Hanrahan, whom he married, was born at Unionville, and she survived him until February 8, 1955.
Attending the public elementary and high schools of his native city, the younger Thomas A. Kelley went on to advanced studies at Holy Cross College, Worcester, Massachusetts, and received his de- gree of Bachelor of Arts there in 1938. Interested in a legal career, he took professional training at Fordham University's School of Law in New York City, and that institution conferred on him the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1941. In that year he was admitted to the bar. He practiced until 1952 when he joined the family firm. In 1951- 1952, he served on the bench as judge of the city court.
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The E. J. Kelley Company was founded by Edward Kelley in 1860. Its founder had been first baggage master and freight agent for the New Haven Railroad at Torrington, and established his own organization farily early in his career. Since that time, The E. J. Kel- ley Company has been a growing organization in the transportation field on the East Coast, a reliable specialist in freight and furniture transfer. It also operates storage warehouses, and engages in a thriv- ing coal and fuel business. Still another aspect of its operations is the maintenance of a bus line between Torrington and Brewster, New York, on a route over which public transportation has been maintained since stage-coach days. In these various phases of its business, The E. J. Kelley Company employs over a hundred people. Thomas A. Kelley, Jr., has held office as its president since 1954.
He serves on the board of directors of the Torrington National Bank, and the board of incorporators of the Torrington Savings Bank. He is also an incorporator of the Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, and a director of the Brooker Memorial. In politics, Mr. Kelley is a Demo- crat, and he is of Roman Catholic faith, attending St. Francis Church. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Rotary Club. Fond of farming as an avocation, he operates a dairy farm at Goshen, where he also raises livestock.
JOHN ALLEN COE
John Allen Coe has completed forty years with American Brass Company at Waterbury, of which he is now the chairman of the board. He is an influential figure in Connecticut's business life, holding a number of official posts.
Born at Shelton on November 14, 1897, he is a son of John A. and Jessie (Boice) Coe. After completing his public elementary and high school education in local schools, he entered Williams College in Massachusetts, where he took his degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1920. He had interrupted his studies to serve in the United States Army during World War I.
As soon as he had completed his courses at Williams, Mr. Coe formed his connection with the American Brass Company, for which he worked in various positions of increasing responsibility until he became chairman of the board in 1958. He has been a member of its board of directors since 1941.
Mr. Coe is also chairman of the Anaconda American Brass Com-
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pany of New Toronto, Ontario, and he is a director of the Anaconda Wire Company, Nacional de Cobre, the Southern New England Telephone Company, Berkshire Life Insurance Company, and, in his own city of Waterbury, the Colonial Trust Company and Waterbury Savings Bank. He is also a director of The Torrington Company, and chairman of the Naugatuck Valley Industrial Council, Inc. He has rendered valuable service to welfare causes, and is a corporator of the Waterbury Hospital.
Mr. Coe's memberships include the Newcomen Society, the New England Society of New York City, the Sons of the American Revo- lution, the Waterbury Club and Waterbury Country Club, both of his home city, and the Canadian Club, Downtown Athletic Club, and Williams Club, all of New York City. He attends the Episcopal Church, and is a Republican.
On November 5, 1921, John A. Coe married Miss Hazel M. Winans. They are the parents of two children: I. John Allen, Jr. 2. Jean Winans, who married Gilbert D. Kittredge. The family's residence is on Route 3, Umberfield Road, Waterbury.
RICHARD M. STEWART
In the course of a varied industrial career which included respon- sible posts in the legal departments and the management of various firms, Richard M. Stewart prepared himself for the duties which in 1958 he assumed as president of The American Brass Company of Waterbury.
Born at Silver Creek, New York, on March 29, 1910, he is a son of Vernon T. and Helen L. (Quale) Stewart. He began his ad- vanced studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1932. In that year he began his career in industry, but later resumed his studies, enrolling at New York Law School, where he received a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1938. In that year he was admitted to the New York Bar.
Mr. Stewart's first position was research assistant at Ellis Labo- ratories. While working there he collaborated in the preparation of Carlton Ellis' books, "Chemistry of Petroleum Derivatives" and "Syn- thetic Resins and Their Plastics." Concurrently, he served as instruc- tor in structural design in the Evening Division of the Newark Col- lege of Engineering. He remained in these positions until 1935, when he resigned to accept a place in the patent department of the Ana-
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conda Wire and Cable Company at Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. From 1939 to 1949, he was counsel of this company, and from 1949 to 1956, served The Anaconda Company of New York as counsel. In the latter year he became director of industrial relations with The Anaconda Company, a position he held until 1958. On April 23, 1958, he became president and a director of The American Brass Company.
Mr. Stewart is also a director of The Bullard Company of Bridge- port. He is co-chairman of the Highway Association of Western Con- necticut, and a member of the board of trustees and of the executive committee of the Connecticut Public Expenditure Council. He is a member of the National Labor-Management Policy Committee. In his home city, he serves on the executive committee of the Waterbury Hospital, and as a member of the board of directors of the Water- bury Chapter of the American Red Cross.
In consequence of his law training, he has retained membership in the United States Patent Bar and in Phi Delta Phi honorary legal fraternity. He is also a member of Sigma Nu fraternity. He is vice president of the Veteran Motor Car Club of America, and a member of the Veteran Motor Car Club of Great Britain, the Downtown Athletic Club of his home city, the Waterbury Country Club and the Waterbury Club.
On September 29, 1934, Richard M. Stewart married Eleanor Noel Russell. The couple make their home on Central Road in Middle- bury, Connecticut, and they are the parents of three children: I. Barry Russell, who was born on June 27, 1937. 2. Donald More, born June II, 1942. 3. Robert Bradley, who was born on July 21, 1944.
J. WARREN UPSON
Senior member of the law firm of Upson and Secor of Water- bury, and active in the practice of law since 1929, Mr. Upson is active in professional organizations and is a member of the Waterbury Bar Association, the Connecticut Bar Association, and the American Bar Association.
He was born in New Haven, on December 1I, 1903, the son of Chauncey J. Upson and of Lillian (Terrell) Upson. His father was born in East Haven, Connecticut, and was a farmer by profession. Mr. Upson's mother was born in Hamden. Both of his parents are now deceased.
Mr. Upson studied at the New Haven public schools and at Mount Hermon School, and he obtained the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy
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from Yale University in 1927. He received the degree of Bachelor of Laws from Yale University Law School in 1929, and was admitted to the Connecticut Bar that same year. He then began the general practice of law in Waterbury, Connecticut.
He has been active in community organizations, is a director of the Waterbury National Bank and of American Republican, Incor- porated and, an active Republican in politics, has been a member of the Connecticut State Central Republican Committee. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress in the Fifth Congressional Dis- trict of Connecticut in 1936. His social connections include member- ship in the Waterbury Club and the Waterbury Country Club, and he attends religious services at the First Congregational Church.
Mr. Upson was married on September 8, 1934 at Southbury, Connecticut, to Grace S. Fisher, the daughter of Thomas R. Fisher and of Mary (Shreve) Fisher of Southbury. Both of her parents are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Upson have three children: I. Warren T., now a student at Yale University. 2. Thomas F., a student at the Gunnery School. 3. Dickinson M., a student in the Woodbury, Con- necticut, schools, where the Upsons make their residence.
MARK LEAVENWORTH SPERRY, 2nd
Executive vice president of the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury since 1955, and associated with the company since 1938, Mr. Sperry served as general counsel for Scovill from 1947 to 1955 and he was made a director in 1948. Admitted to the Con- necticut Bar in 1938, he is a director of the Citizens and Manufac- turers National Bank and is a director of the Waterbury Savings Bank.
Mr. Sperry was born in Waterbury on November 22, 1912, the son of the late Leavenworth Porter Sperry and of Olive (Smith) Sperry. His father was born in Waterbury in 1882 and was president of the Scovill Company for many years, and later chairman of its board. Mr. Sperry's mother was also born in Waterbury. His paternal grand- father, Mark L. Sperry, was associated with the Scovill Company and held the post of president for several years. Mr. Sperry attended Taft School and obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Yale College in 1935. He received the degree of Bachelor of Laws from Yale University Law School in 1938. During World War II, he served in the Army Air Corps from 1941 to 1946 and was honorably discharged with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
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Assistant secretary of the Scovill Company in 1941, Mr. Sperry became secretary and general counsel in 1947, and was made treasurer and general counsel in 1952. He is chairman of the board of Water- bury Companies, Incorporated, is a director of the Steele and Johnson Company, is a director of Blue Cross, Incorporated, is secretary of the Waterbury Hospital, and is a trustee of McTernan's School.
He is active in an executive capacity in many companies and is a director and treasurer of the American Pin Company, the Button Attaching Machine Company, the Hamilton Beach Manufacturing Company of Connecticut, the Morency-Van Buren Manufacturing Company, the Oakville Company, The Scovill Manufacturing Cor- poration, and vice president and director of A. Schrader's Son, In- corporated. He is a director of the De Long Hook and Eye Company, Limited, of Canada, and is secretary and treasurer and a director of the Gilchrist Company. Mr. Sperry is a director and vice president of the Hamilton Beach Manufacturing Company of Racine, Wis- consin. He is a director and vice president of the Lyndon Aircraft, Incorporated, of Newark, New Jersey, and is a director and secretary of the Mad River Company, and of the Scomet Company. He is a director and vice president of Airtronics, Incorporated, of Washing- ton, D. C. and of Schrader-Scovill Company Proprietary Limited of Melbourne, Australia, and is secretary and treasurer of the Con- tinuous Metalcast Company, Incorporated.
A member of Chi Psi fraternity of Yale University, Mr. Sperry enjoys social connections as a member of the Country Club of Water- bury, the Waterbury Club, Highfield, and the Edgartown Yacht Club. Golf and sailing are his favorite sports, and he attends religious services as a member of the First Congregational Church.
He was married in New York City on June 23, 1937, to Mary Virginia Welsh, the daughter of Joseph Wickes Welsh and of Do- rothy (Kelly) Welsh. Her father, now deceased, was born in Balti- more, Maryland, and her mother was born in Philadelphia.
Mr. and Mrs. Sperry have five children: I. Mark L., 3rd, born October 26, 1938. 2. Richard Smith, born October 10, 1945. 3. Victoria Wickes, born May 7, 1948. 4. Jonathan Welsh, born July 17, 1954. 5. Pamela Sherman, born March 7, 1956.
JOHN FRANCIS MURPHY, SR.
Coming to this country from Ireland early in life, John Francis Murphy, Sr., of Bridgeport, won a wide reputation for his work in
John F. Inmurphy
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publicity, advertising and bill posting. He became the chief executive of several organizations-Murphy Incorporated of Bridgeport, Mount Vernon Advertising Service of Mount Vernon, New York, and the Murphy Advertising Company of Waterbury.
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