USA > Connecticut > History of Connecticut, Volume IV > Part 30
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Born at Geneva, Ohio, on March 27, 1881, he is a son of Arthur P. and Elizabeth (Chidester) Clow. Arthur P. Clow was employed in the Buckeye State in the early years of his career but, when the firm for which he worked was acquired by the Eagle Lock Company, he moved with his family to Terryville, Connecticut. He worked for that firm until the end of his life, holding the position of die maker.
His son has followed his precedent. Graduating from Terryville High School at the age of sixteen, he began employment with the Eagle Lock Company as an office boy, and won promotions to assis- tant bookkeeper, bookkeeper, manager of production, and purchasing agent. He was elected secretary of the corporation in 1937, while continuing his duties as purchasing agent. His long years of ex- perience with the organization, and his knowledge of the operation of its various departments, have contributed much to the progress of the firm. He is now retired.
A member of the board of directors of the Terryville Bank and Trust Company, Mr. Clow was elected its president in January, 1949, and has remained executive head since that time. He has also become
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prominent in public affairs. During World War II he headed the local rationing board; and his fellow citizens sent him to the Connec- ticut State Legislature as a member of the General Assembly for the 1947 term. He is currently serving on the Republican town committee at Terryville, being a Republican in his politics. He was formerly treasurer of the Public Library.
Mr. Clow is a member of Union Lodge No. 96 in Thomas- ton, of the Free and Accepted Masons, having been a member for over fifty years. In Masonry he belongs to the Granite Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons and the Ionic Council, Royal and Select Masters in Bristol. He is a communicant of the Terryville Congrega- tional Church, of which he has been a member for sixty-five years, and which he has served as deacon, treasurer, and member of the finance committee.
At Terryville, on July 29, 1903, Harry Chidester Clow married Carrie L. Plumb, daughter of Rollin J. and Cora Jane (Rosset- ter) Plumb. Both of her parents are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Clow were the parents of two children: I. Louise Elizabeth, who was born on May 10, 1904. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1926, and married Dr. John Miller Pratt, September 5, 1931. They have two daughters, Carolyn Louise, born May 29, 1934 and Cynthia B. Pratt, born August 24, 1937. Like her mother, Cynthia attended Mount Holyoke, and in 1958 she attended the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, for her junior year, graduating from Mount Holyoke with the class of 1959. She is attending Radcliffe for post- graduate work. Carolyn Louise married Brice Harris and they make their home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2. Arthur Plumb, born on May 16, 1907. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1929, and immediately started to work for Western Electric Company. He now holds the position of vice president. Married on May 16, 1931 to the former Miss Marjorie Holmes, he is the father of three children: Arthur Plumb, Jr., Stanley Holmes and Richard Chidester.
Mr. and Mrs. Clow were fond of motoring. Each year of the past two, they had driven to the Pacific Coast; and for a decade they have been driving to Florida. Mrs. Clow died April 18, 1959.
REVEREND SETTIMIO CRUDELE
Pastor of Saint Anthony's Roman Catholic Church of Bristol, since 1938, and the founder of Saint Anthony's elementary school and high school, Father Crudele was ordained to the priesthood in 1933.
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He was assistant pastor at Holy Rosary Church, Bridgeport, for five years prior to coming to Bristol.
He was born in Monte Reale, Aquila Province, Italy, on Decem- ber 20, 1896, the son of Francesco Crudele and of Olympia (Di Carlo) Crudele. His father died when he was five years of age and it became the boy's task to care for the farm animals. When he was eighteen, he borrowed money to come to America, arriving in New York in 1914. He worked for a time in the Maybrook freight yards outside Newburgh, New York, and in 1915 he worked for the Berk- shire Ice Company at Congamond, Massachusetts. In 1916, he worked as a trucker with the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut, and was then transferred to piece work making ammuni- tion during World War I. He attended night school while with Sco- vill, and he was promoted to assistant foreman and then to foreman, and was deferred from the draft because of the importance of his work. He became an American citizen in 1919.
As a salesman for the Singer Sewing Machine Company, his work with Italian customers brought him into their homes, and the sight of their lack of spiritual welfare, brought him back to his child- hood desire to become a priest. A visit with Bishop McAuliffe of Hartford gave him encouragement and eventually he was able to enter Saint Thomas Seminary in Hartford, graduating in 1927 after only three years of study. He then entered Saint Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland, and here he obtained the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Sacred Theology and the degree of Master of Arts in 1933. Completing his studies, he was ordained to the priest- hood by Bishop Nilan in Hartford on June 10, 1933, and he said his first Mass on June II at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Water- bury. He was then nearly thirty-seven years old. Assigned to the parish of the Holy Rosary in 1933 as assistant pastor, he became pastor of Saint Anthony's Church in Bristol in 1938.
At the time, the parish had a debt of nearly one hundred thou- sand dollars and there were no schools. Father Crudele began his grammar school in 1939 with one grade, and added a grade annually until the course was complete. He purchased the Veeder Root Plant in 1950 to be used for a high school. In 1955, the first class to finish four years in the new high school was graduated. A new grammar school building was added in 1958, additions were made to the con- vent and rectory, and additional land has been purchased for future use. There are more than eight hundred students in the grammar and high schools, and the parish is one of the best-organized in the Hart-
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ford Archdiocese, and this is largely due to Father Crudele's talents as priest, educator and business man.
In 1958, Father Crudele celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.
GUSTAVE THEODORE ZAHNKE
General manager of the Bristol Divisions of the Wallace Barnes Company of Syracuse, New York, and associated with the company for forty years, Mr. Zahnke is also a director of the Associated Spring Corporation. He is a former director of the Hartford Association of Credit Men and of the Connecticut Association of Credit Men.
He was born in Bristol, Connecticut, on November 4, 1900, the son of Gustave Zahnke and of Pauline (Netzloff) Zahnke. His father was born in Germany on May 22, 1874, and came to America at the age of nineteen. Mr. Zahnke's mother was also born in Germany on April 11, 1878, and came to the United States at the age of sixteen. His parents settled in Bristol, where his father was a plumbing con- tractor. Mr. Zahnke attended Emanuel Lutheran Grammar School, and he graduated from South Side Grammar School in 1914 and from Bristol High School in 1918.
He entered the firm of Wallace Barnes as a stenographer and clerk in 1918, and in 1920 was made head of the order department. Made credit manager in 1927, he became purchasing agent in 1939 and was made a director of the corporation in 1953. He has been general manager of Bristol Divisions of the company in Syracuse, New York, since 1955.
A Republican in politics, Mr. Zahnke served eighteen months as a councilman in Bristol. He served five years as a member of the Board of Finances, and was chairman of the City Retirement Board. A director of the Bristol Town Club, he is a director of the Boys Club, and is active in the Chamber of Commerce. A Thirty-second degree Mason, he is a member of the Hartford Shrine and of the Norwich Shrine. His social connections include membership in the Chippanee Golf Club and the Farmington Country Club, and, apart from golf, his favorite hobby is photography. He attends religious services as a member of the First Congregational Church of Bristol.
Mr. Zahnke was married in Hartford on June 18, 1921, to Ger- trude Johnson, the daughter of Hans Walter Johnson and of Catherine (Stein) Johnson. Mr. and Mrs. Zahnke have three children: I. Dr. Donald W., born in Bristol on July 18, 1923. 2. Lois Caroline, born
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on July 18, 1926. 3. Marlene Esther, born on September 25, 1934, attended Dana Hall and graduated from Wellesley College. She was married to Fred O. Hoerle in 1956. Mr. Hoerle is the president of the Ideal Machinery Company of Plainville, Connecticut.
EDWIN HALL GREEN, JR.
Treasurer of John W. Green and Sons of Danbury, of which there is a record in the industrial and institutional section of this history, and a director of the company, Mr. Green served for a time as president of Fur Cutters, Inc., an affiliate of John W. Green and Sons, which he had organized. He was born in Danbury in 1918, the son of Edwin Hall Green and of Marjorie (Von Gal) Green. His father was born in 1888 and his mother in 1891. Mr. Green graduated from Wooster School, Danbury, in 1936 and then obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts at Princeton University in 1940. During World War II, he served with the 199th Field Artillery Battalion in the European Theater and received the Bronze Star Medal. A director of the Ridge- wood Country Club, Mr. Green also enjoys social connections as a member of the Danbury Club, and he attends religious services as a member of Saint James's Episcopal Church of Danbury.
He was married in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, in 1942, to Mar- dianne Dinkey, the daughter of Robert Dinkey and of Helen (Thomp- son) Dinkey. Both of her parents were born in Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania, her father in 1892 and her mother in 1893. Mr. and Mrs. Green have five children: 1. Mardianne, born in Wynnewood, Penn- sylvania, in 1943. 2. Edwin Hall III, born in 1944, in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. 3. George Robert, born in Danbury, Connecticut, in 1946. 4. Virginia, born in Danbury in 1948. 5. Helen, born May 8, 1958.
ARTHUR BENNETT LEONARD
Secretary and a director of John W. Green and Sons, hat body manufacturers of Danbury, and associated with the firm since 1932, Mr. Leonard is a grandson of John W. Green, the founder of the Company. A record of the company appears in the industrial and institutional section of this history. Mr. Leonard was born in Danbury, the son of Arthur Bennett Leonard and of Anne (Green) Leonard. His parents were born in Danbury, his father in 1883 and his mother in 1885. He attended Taft School, graduated from Pawling School,
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Pawling, New York in 1924, and obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts at Brown University in 1928. Upon graduation from college, he went to work for the Union and New Haven Trust Company, but in 1932 he joined the firm of John W. Green and Sons in Danbury. He also holds the post of treasurer and director of Fur Cutters, Incorporated. He enjoys social connections as a member of the Ridge- wood Country Club of Danbury, Connecticut, and he attends religious services as a member of Saint James Episcopal Church of Danbury.
Mr. Leonard was married in Wilton, Connecticut, in 1937 to Elizabeth Huriburt, the daughter of William Burdette Hurlburt and of Elizabeth ( Macloy) Hurlburt. Her father was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1876, and her mother in Flint, Michigan, in 1875. Mr. and Mrs. Leonard have four children: I. Pamela Mary. 2. Diana Elizabeth. 3. Anne. 4. Arthur Bennett.
HENRY JACOB KNODEL
President, treasurer and general manager of Eastern Elevator Company, Incorporated, since 1946, and associated with the com- pany, formerly known as Eastern Machinery Company, since 1922, Mr. Knodel is widely known in his industrial field and he is a member of the New Haven Chamber of Commerce.
He was born in New Haven on October 22, 1902, the son of Jacob Henry Knodel and of Anna Marie (Braun) Knodel. His father was born in Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1872, and came to the United States as a small boy, his family settling in New Haven. He was a carpenter by trade, working for contractors, and he died in 1951. Mr. Knodel's mother was born in Louda, Germany, in 1874, and came to New Haven with her parents as a child. She met her husband in New Haven, and died in 1941. Mr. Knodel graduated from Hill- house High School, New Haven, and he then graduated from Board- man Trade School in 1919. He began his working career in 1919 as a mechanical draftsman, and it was in 1922 that he became associated with the Eastern Machinery Company of New Haven, now the Eastern Elevator Company. Beginning as a mechanical draftsman, he became vice president of the company in 1943, president and general manager in 1946, and in addition to the last two, since 1950 has held the post of treasurer as well. Mr. Knodel is a past director of National Elevator Manufacturing Industry.
A Republican in politics, Mr. Knodel for some years has been secretary of the Hamden, Fifth District Republican Club. He is a
Frederick W. Tamworth
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Thirty-second Degree Mason and a member of all Scottish Rite bodies. He also holds membership in Pyramid Shrine Temple of Bridgeport and the New Haven Shrine Club, and he is a member of Palestine Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. He attends religious serv- ices at Mt. Carmel Congregational Church in New Haven.
He was married in West Haven, on July 16, 1927, to Beatrice Bur- nard, born in West Haven on June 15, 1905, the daughter of Henry Hart Burnard and of May (Lewis) Burnard. Her father was born in Pennsylvania in April, 1873, and was a coal miner there before sett- ling in Waterbury, around 1895, where he adopted the trade of car- penter. He later became a contractor at West Haven and is now retired. Mrs. Knodel's mother was born in Pennsylvania in 1878.
Mr. and Mrs. Knodel have two daughters: I. Janice, born in New Haven on February 23, 1929, graduated from Hamden High School in 1947, and is married to Richard O. Marenholz, an elevator constructor for the Eastern Elevator Company. They reside in Ham- den and have one child, John Richard. 2. Beverly, born in New Haven on May 29, 1930, graduated from Hamden High School in 1948, and is married to Everett Clark. They reside in Cheshire, and have three children: Katherine, Joan and Kenneth.
FREDERICK WARNER FARNSWORTH
Sales manager and estimator of the Eastern Machinery Com- pany, now the Eastern Elevator Company, of New Haven, Connec- ticut, since 1951, and now the secretary of the corporation, Mr. Farnsworth is a member of the New Haven Chamber of Commerce, and will be the third generation of the Farnsworth family to head his company.
He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on July 20, 1927, the son of Paul Beecher Farnsworth and of Ruth Augusta (Warner) Farnsworth. His father was born in New Haven on May 8, 1897, attended Phillips Andover Academy, and obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts at Yale University in 1919. Associated with the United States Rubber Company in Naugatuck, from 1919 to 1921, he then entered the employ of the Eastern Machinery Company, which his own father, Frederick Benjamin Farnsworth, had founded by the purchase of the D. Frisbie Company of New Haven. The com- pany is a manufacturer of elevators, the Frisbie patented friction clutches and brick-making machinery. Mr. Farnsworth's father suc- ceeded his own father as president of the company, and he held this post until 1946. He was a member of the Yale Naval Unit in World
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War I, was a Blue Lodge Mason, and died in 1947. Mr. Farnsworth's mother was born in New Haven on April 19, 1896, is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, and resides in Hamden.
Mr. Farnsworth graduated from Hamden High School in 1945, served in the United States Naval Reserve from May 1945 to July 1946, and was stationed aboard the heavy cruiser U.S.S. Fall River LA 13I. He then attended the University of Connecticut. In 1951 he be- came associated with the Eastern Elevator Company, is secretary of the corporation, and will eventually be the third generation of the Farnsworth family to head the company. Presently he is a member of the board of directors of the Connecticut Building Congress, Inc. He is a member of Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity. Mr. Farnsworth is a Republican in politics. He attends religious services at Mt. Carmel Congregational Church in Hamden, Connecticut.
He was married in Hartford, Connecticut, on June 23, 1951, to Grace Emma Fyler, born in Hartford on September 19. 1929, the daughter of Wadsworth Gray Fyler and of Grace (Thomas) Fyler. Her father was born in Hartford, was with Johnson and Johnson Company for many years, and is now retired and resides in Babson Park, Florida. Mrs. Farnsworth graduated from Simsbury, Con- necticut, High School in 1947, and obtained the degree of Bachelor of Science, at the University of Connecticut in 1951. She is a mem- ber of Pi Beta Phi sorority.
Mr. and Mrs. Farnsworth have three children, all born in New Haven: I. Paul Beecher, born on April 15, 1952, is a student at Mt. Carmel Grammar School. 2. Nancy Ruth, born on July 17, 1953, is a student at Mt. Carmel Grammar School. 3. Susan Grace, born on July 12, 1956.
CHARLES ATWATER SWEET, JR.
President of the North Side Bank and Trust Company of Bristol, and a director of the bank, Mr. Sweet was assistant to the trust of- ficer of the County Trust Company of White Plains, New York, in 1939 and 1940, and then practiced law with the firm of Hines, Patrick, Dorr and Hammond of New York City. A leading collector of lead soldiers, with an outstanding collection of colonial troops, he is a member of the Society of Military Historians and Collectors.
Mr. Sweet was born in Columbus, Georgia, on March 17, 1914, the son of Charles Atwater Sweet and of Emily Carnes (Ransom) Sweet. His father was born in West Warwick, Rhode Island, was the president of Wellington and Sears, and was a technical consultant
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for the War Department during the War. Mr. Sweet's mother was born in New Bern, North Carolina. The Sweet family settled in Mas- sachusetts in 1636 and then moved to Rhode Island because of re- ligious persecution. Mr. Sweet's maternal grandfather, Major General Robert Ransom of the Confederate Army, had been an honor gradu- ate of West Point. His paternal grandfather served in the Union forces with the rank of major. His mother's great-uncle, Matt Ran- som was a Senator from North Carolina. She was a descendent of a Wilcox, who gave the land for the State House in Hartford, Connec- ticut.
Mr. Sweet graduated from Bronxville High School, Bronxville, New York, in 1932, and obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts at Washington and Lee in 1936. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and an all Southern player on the football team. He received the de- gree of Bachelor of Laws at Harvard Law School in 1939, and while a law student helped coach the Harvard freshman team. During World War II, he served with the United States Navy from 1942 to 1946 with the rank of lieutenant, and previously he had served in the Marine Corps with the rank of second lieutenant. Assistant to the trust officer of the County Trust Company in White Plains, New York, and then in law practice in New York, Mr. Sweet became as- sociated with the North Side Bank and Trust Company of Bristol, Connecticut, and was made president in 1958.
Mr. Sweet has been active in community organizations and is a member of the Bristol Board of Education. He is a Republican in politics. He served as president of the Bristol Rotary Club in 1955- 1956. He attends religious services as a member of the Congregational Church.
Always interested in sports, Mr. Sweet assists in coaching the Bristol High School football team, but his favorite hobby is the col- lection of lead soldiers. He has followed this hobby for twenty years, and his collection of more than twenty-five hundred soldiers of all ages is one of the best in the world, and is particularly notable for its group of American troops of the Colonial Era. Purchasing his soldiers in the rough, he improvises and repairs and paints, he has become an expert in the field and has built up a notable library on the subject. His collection is housed in a room in his home, and he has now begun a collection of marines.
He was married at Bronxville, New York, on December 30, 1941, to Patricia Hambright. born on April 29, 1919, the daughter of Gilbert Hambright and of Irene Hambright. Her mother's second
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husband is William J. Morden, the noted big-game hunter. Mr. and Mrs. Sweet have three children: 1. Charles A., Jr., born in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 8, 1943. 2. William Morden, born in Bristol, Connecticut, on November 25, 1946. 3. David Baldwin, born on April 29, 1952, in Bristol.
GRAHAM RICHARDS TREADWAY
Most of Graham R. Treadway's career has been spent in the banking business, and he is now active in the management of the Connecticut Bank and Trust Company at Hartford as its vice presi- dent in charge of public relations. He was recently appointed by Governor Ribicoff to serve as chairman of the Connecticut State De- velopment Commission.
Born at Bristol on March 8, 1907, he is a son of Charles Terry, Sr., and Elizabeth Graham (Richards) Treadway. His paternal grandparents were Charles S. and Margaret (Terry) Treadway, and the family is descended from Eli Terry of Plymouth, a famous maker of clocks. Charles T. Treadway, Sr., was born in Bristol on Septem- ber 8, 1877, and on his graduation from Yale University, became treasurer of the New Departure Manufacturing Company. He left that firm in 1916 and he and DeWitt Page sold New Departure to United Motors, which later became General Motors. He also served for many years as general manager and president of the Horton Manufacturing Company of Bristol; was vice president of Bristol Brass Company for several years; and was a director of Veeder- Root, Inc., of Hartford, Landers, Frary and Clark of New Britain, and Russell Manufacturing Company of Middletown. In 1907, Charles T. Treadway was elected president of the Bristol National Bank and Trust Company, and served in that capacity until 1927. For the next twenty years he was chairman of its board. In 1947 he was named chairman of the executive committee, and in 1955, a member of the advisory council of the board. He was active in or- ganizing the North Side Bank and Trust Company in 1929, and was for many years a director of the Terryville Trust Company. From 1919 to 1941, he was a partner in Conning and Company, investment bankers of Hartford. Mr. Treadway had a full record of service in community and civic affairs, and was active on behalf of the Republi- can party, serving as chairman of the town committee and the state central committee, and representing the state in the National Con- ventions of 1912 and 1916. He died in 1957.
The public schools of Bristol provided Graham R. Treadway
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with his early education, and he completed his secondary studies at Phillips Andover Academy, in 1926. For two years thereafter he was a student at Yale University. In 1929 Mr. Treadway began his in- dustrial career with the Horton Manufacturing Company, with which he remained for one year. In 1930 he joined the staff of the Bristol Bank and Trust Company, serving in the capacities of bookkeeper and teller for a period of six months. He left to accept a position in the trust department of the Hartford Connecticut Trust Company. Remaining with that institution for over a decade, he was promoted to assistant treasurer in 1938, and to assistant vice president in 1942.
In 1946, following his detachment from the Supply Corps, Uni- ted States Naval Reserve, as lieutenant, Mr. Treadway took a posi- tion as sales manager with the Horton Manufacturing Company, with which he had been identified a number of years previously. He was promoted to the presidency of that firm in 1951. However, in 1953, he resigned to rejoin the Hartford Connecticut Trust Com- pany as vice president. The bank merged with the Connecticut Bank and Trust Company in 1954. At that time Mr. Treadway assumed duties as vice president in charge of public relations, the position he has since held.
It was on June 27, 1958, that Mr. Treadway was appointed by Governor Ribicoff to serve as chairman of the Development Com- mission of his state. He is a director, and treasurer for Connecticut, of the New England Council, is a trustee of the Watkinson School, and is president of the Hartford Sales Directors Club.
During the World War II period, Mr. Treadway was in active service in the United States Navy as a lieutenant, in the Supply Corps. For two years he was assigned to the Navy Purchasing Office in Chicago. He received his honorable discharge in 1946.
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