USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > History of Fairfield County, Connecticut, 1639-1928 > Part 45
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highest commendation. He is identified with the Benevolent Pro- tective Order of Elks, the Danbury Club, the Ridgewood Country Club and the Fairfield County and Connecticut State Bar Asso- ciations. Mr. Cable maintains the dignity and honor of his pro- fession and his record is a matter of pride to Danbury's citizens, who have watched his career with deep interest.
SAMUEL A. BLACKMAN
Death often removes from our midst those whom we can ill afford to lose, and such was the widespread feeling when Samuel A. Blackman of Hawleyville departed this life. He had been a substantial and valued resident of his community, widely known as a reliable business man and as a progressive citizen. He always stood for and supported the best interests of the com- munity and his worth was widely acknowledged. He was born at Brookfield, Connecticut, July 10, 1851, and was a young lad when his parents removed with their family to Newtown, where he attended the schools of the Taunton district. When he had completed his education he obtained a clerkship in Taylor's gen- eral store at Newtown and there applied himself so diligently to his tasks that he soon became familiar with commercial methods and was well qualified to conduct a store of his own when three years later he began merchandising at Hawleyville. There he remained for twenty years and at the end of that period erected a new building adjacent to the railroad tracks, in which he in- stalled an attractive line of general merchandise, continuing in the business until three years prior to his death. He early recog- nized the fact that satisfied patrons are the best advertisement and he did everything in his power to meet the demands of the trade. He also became extensively interested in real estate devel- opment and built and owned most of the dwellings and business blocks in the village. He also built and conducted a hotel at Hawleyville, carrying this on in addition to the management of his store until the hotel was destroyed by fire.
At Hawleyville Mr. Blackman was married to Miss Anna A. Barnum, a daughter of Samuel and Jane (Osborne) Barnum. Her father was a native of New Fairfield, Connecticut, whence
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he removed to Hawleyville when Mrs. Blackman was a child. He conducted a general store until the marriage of his daughter to Mr. Blackman, when he turned the store over to them and retired from active business. Mr. and Mrs. Blackman became the par- ents of two sons : Dr. Claude B. Blackman, of New Milford, who married Clara Williams and has two children, Clara and Gordon; and Frank, who married Florence Edwards and has two children, Allen E. and Doris.
Mr. Blackman took an active and prominent part in com- munity affairs and his cooperation could be counted upon to fur- ther any project for the general good. In fact he was an acknowl- edged leader in the community and his advocacy of any public measure drew to it further support because of his influence and the confidence which his fellow townsmen had in his judgment. He was a prominent worker in republican ranks and was called to a number of town offices, serving for nine years as a selectman. His record was ever one of fidelity to duty, whether in office, in business or in family relations, and the sterling worth of his character made him a citizen whom to know was to respect and honor. He was nearing the sixty-seventh milestone on life's jour- ney when death called him, June 6, 1918.
JUDGE WILLIAM J. BEECHER
There are few men of Newtown who have so uniformly com- manded the honor and respect of their fellow citizens as did Judge William J. Beecher, for many years a capable lawyer and dis- tinguished jurist, a successful business man and a progressive and public-spirited citizen. Connecticut was proud to number him among her native sons. He was born in Bridgeport on the 5th of March, 1859, and in his early youth his parents, John and Margaret Beecher, removed to Easton, where he pursued his studies in the district schools until he enrolled as a pupil in the Staples Academy of that place. A careful mental review of the broad field of business activity brought him to the decision that he wished to become a member of the legal profession and with this end in view he entered the Yale Law School, in which he pur-
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sued the regular course of study, being graduated with the class of 1880.
On the 1st of July of the same year Mr. Beecher was admitted to practice before the Connecticut bar at New Haven and in the following month opened an office at Bridgeport, where he con- tinued until January 10, 1881, when he took up his abode in New- town, his removal to this place being the result of an invitation to do so from the late Aaron Sanford, then high sheriff. His first law case won for him public attention in that it took a most un- usual turn, as he caused the arrest of his own client. It was always characteristic of Judge Beecher that he would never enter upon a case in which he did not believe in the justice of the cause which he was to defend. He always prepared his cases with great thoroughness and care and presented the evidence with clearness and force. After practicing successfully in Newtown for eleven years he opened an office in Bridgeport in October, 1892, at the same time retaining his office and residence in Newtown. Two years later he entered into partnership with Frank M. Canfield, a well known attorney, under the firm style of Beecher & Canfield, with offices in the Sanford building of Bridgeport. The passing years marked the steady and substantial growth of his law prac- tice. His reasoning was clear, his deductions logical and he sel- dom failed to win the verdict desired. The court records bear tes- timony of his close connection with many important cases. He was the chief counsel for the late C. H. Peck, executor of the estate of Elon Booth, who was removed from that office by Judge M. J. Bradley. Public opinion felt that this was a most flagrant act in which an injustice was done to an honest man, and in this opinion the superior court coincided, reinstating Mr. Peck. It was a mat- ter of great joy to Judge Beecher, for he felt that it was an entire vindication of his client, whom he knew to be a thoroughly hon- est and reliable man. Judge Beecher's firm was also employed as counsel for the contestants in the will of the late Horatio Lake, who disinherited his relatives and willed most of his estate to Yale University. After considerable activity in behalf of this case the matter was settled out of court and Mr. Lake's heirs secured a substantial amount of his fortune.
In November, 1886, William J. Beecher was elected judge of the district probate court and filled the office for two terms. In
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the election of 1906 Judge Beecher was named for the position as the candidate of the republican party and the leading citizens of Newtown, irrespective of party affiliation, labored for and brought about his election. In succeeding elections he was again made the democratic candidate and he always commanded a very large support among the independent voters of the town. He dis- charged the duties of his position in a most capable and creditable manner. Probate experts have pronounced his records ideally perfect. This did not comprise the full extent of his public ser- vice, however, for he was a loyal supporter of the Newtown high school and did everything in his power to stimulate in the boys and girls of the community a keen interest in acquiring a high school education. For ten years at least prior to his demise he gave forty dollars in gold to be used as prizes on the occasion of each annual commencement and modestly withheld from the pub- lic a knowledge of who was back of this gift.
While the practice of law was his real life work, Judge Beecher was also connected with important business and semi- public interests. He was largely instrumental in bringing about the organization of the Newtown Water Company, supplying water to the borough. At the last moment, when the financial resources were exhausted, he and one other citizen provided a very large amount of money necessary to complete the project. In 1901 he was elected to the directorate of the Newtown Savings Bank and during the last two years of his life served on its loan- ing committee and also acted as the bank's attorney. He took much interest in the growth of the institution and his professional and business opinions concerning its management were of great worth to the bank.
In 1891 Judge Beecher was united in marriage to Miss Mary Blakesley Glover, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Beers Glover. They became parents of two daughters and a son: Flor- ence Glover, Henry Glover and Marguerite Katharine. The death of his only son in November, 1897, was a blow to Judge Beecher from which he never recovered. His interest always cen- tered in his family and he found his greatest happiness at his own fireside. The Judge held friendship inviolable and exemplified in his life the Emersonian philosophy that "the way to win a friend is to be one." He was ever faithful to the teachings of the
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Masonic fraternity, having become a Master Mason in 1905. He was ever ready to extend a helping hand to those who needed assistance and many young men starting out in business have profited by his counsel and by his generous aid. He was free from ostentation and display, but those who knew him recognized in him a sterling worth that was manifest in an honorable and suc- cessful professional career and in his loyal friendship and in his devotion to his family. He could be firm and austere if the occa- sion demanded, but he possessed a warm strain of sympathy that responded to the call of the sick or the needy or to those who needed encouragement. He had traveled life's journey for fifty- six years when death called him and his entire record during that period had gained him the high esteem and warm regard of all. Such was his position in public opinion that during the hour of his funeral services the town suspended business, the schools were closed and flags in the city were lowered to half-mast. In his passing Newtown mourned the loss of a man of generous impulses and of marked public spirit, but the memory of his upright life continues as an inspiration to those who were associated with him.
GEORGE EDWARD VON GAL
George Edward Von Gal, president and treasurer of the Im- perial Silk Works, Inc., of Danbury, is contributing to the con- tinuous commercial development of the city through his success- ful management of this enterprise. A native of the city in which he still resides, he was born February 7, 1893, a son of Edward J. and Theodora (Bloomer) Von Gal. The mother is now deceased. The father, who for many years was a hat manufacturer of Dan- bury, is now living retired, making his home in the country. He was a member of the hospital board and was actively associated with many civic matters promoted for the benefit of the com- munity.
George E. Von Gal attended the grade and high schools of Danbury and afterward the Pawling School for Boys at Pawling, New York. He then entered his father's hat manufactory in order to learn the business, desiring to acquaint himself with
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every phase of the work. He thus gained an intimate knowledge of all the processes of manufacture and in course of time won pro- motion until he became treasurer of the Von Gal Hat Company, Inc., retaining that official connection with the business until 1918. In 1913, however, he had taken over the J. G. Irving silk goods business, which he incorporated, becoming its president, treasurer and general manager. He reorganized the business under the name of the Imperial Silk Works, Inc., and is sole owner of the enterprise, which is given over to the manufacture of silk hat bands and braids, its goods being sent to hat manufac- turers throughout the entire country. The business is one of gratifying proportions and its trade relations are being con- stantly extended.
On the 10th of June, 1916, Mr. Von Gal was united in mar- riage to Miss Marjorie Vreeland, daughter of Herbert H. and Carrie L. (Reed) Vreeland, of New York city, the latter now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Von Gal are the parents of four sons, namely: George Edward, Jr., Herbert Vreeland, Donald Reed and John Crosby. Both Mr. and Mrs. Von Gal hold membership in the First Congregational church and he is also a loyal follower of Masonic teachings, belonging to Union Lodge, No. 40, F. &. A. M .; Eureka Chapter, No. 23, R. A. M .; Crusader Commandery, No. 10, K. T .; Worcester Council, No. 28, R. & S. M .; and Pyra- mid Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. Along the more strictly social lines he has connection with the Danbury, Ridgewood Country and Norwalk Country Clubs, and something of his ideals of citi- zenship is shown in the fact that he is a member of the Rotary Club. Throughout his business career he has been identified with the manufacturing interests of Danbury and has contributed to the reputation of the city as one of the important industrial centers of New England.
9/05/11 RAYMOND R. GANDY, M. D.
In the field of professional service Dr. Raymond R. Gandy has made continuous progress. From comprehensive study and re- search and from years of practical experience he has gleaned val- uable truths in connection with the science of medicine, and has
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long been classed with the leading physicians and surgeons of Stamford. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 21, 1874, and is a son of Alfred Reeves and Tryphena (Massey) Gandy. The grandparents were Lewis and Jane Ann (Reeves) Gandy, the former a native of Tuckahoe, New Jersey. The grand- father became a master mariner and was captain of a schooner plying between Boston, Massachusetts, and the Carolinas. After- ward he engaged in the storage warehouse business in Philadel- phia and remained in that city until his death. His son, Alfred Reeves Gandy, was born in Tuckahoe, New Jersey, in October, 1848, and successfully followed in the business footsteps of his father, also operating a storage warehouse in the Quaker city, where he still resides. He casts his ballot for the candidates of the democratic party and is a Presbyterian in religious faith. His wife was born in 1853 and has always lived in Philadelphia. Her father, Enoch Massey, was a native of England and left that country in his youth, becoming a citizen of the United States. He purchased a steam packet and transported fruit from Delaware to Philadelphia, while later he owned and navigated a tugboat, which he operated in the vicinity of that city.
Dr. Raymond R. Gandy was a pupil in the public schools of his native city, and next attended Temple College of Pennsyl- vania. In 1899 he received the M. D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania and in the same year located in Colchester, Con- necticut, where he followed his profession until 1909. For two years he lived abroad with his family, studying under some of the noted physicians and surgeons of Vienna, Austria, and Berlin, Germany, and then returned to the United States. A year was devoted to postgraduate work in the Sloane Hospital for Women of New York city and on September 27, 1911, he opened an office in Stamford, which has been the scene of his professional activi- ties for seventeen years. His present address is No. 57 Broad street. His attention is chiefly given to obstetrical and surgical work, in which he excels, and his practice has assumed extensive proportions. He is devoted to his work and his is a nature in which self is so completely subordinated to duty that he is never conscious of making a personal sacrifice.
Dr. Gandy was married June 20, 1900, in Brooklyn, New York, to Miss Esther A. Bejbom, who was born in Stockholm,
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Sweden, June 13, 1876, and when a child of four came to America with her parents. In 1894 she was graduated from one of the high schools of Brooklyn, New York, afterward taking a two years' course in higher education, and then taught in the public schools of that city for a year. She was a daughter of Frans Bejbom, who was born December 2, 1852, in Sweden, and came to America when a young man. He has been connected with Tiffany & Com- pany of New York city for a half century and he shapes his con- duct by the teachings of the Dutch Reformed church. His wife, Matilda (Vretholm) Bejbom, was born in Sweden, March 14, 1852, and they reside in Brooklyn.
Dr. and Mrs. Gandy have two children. The son, Dr. Ray- mond Alfred Gandy, was born September 15, 1901, and after his graduation from the Culver Military Academy of Indiana matriculated in the University of Virginia, which awarded him the degree of A. M. in 1923. He was graduated from the medical department of that institution in 1927 and is now resident physi- cian in the University Hospital at Charlottesville, Virginia. In Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, January 5, 1924, he married Miss Helen Kent, by whom he has one child, Raymond Alfred, Jr. The daughter, Gladys Bejbom, was born May 15, 1905, and in 1924 was graduated from the Low-Heywood School at Shippan Point, Stamford, Connecticut. She also had the benefit of instruction in art at The Art Students League of New York city and is now attending the New York School of Applied Design. She is a mem- ber of the Stamford Junior League.
Dr. and Mrs. Gandy have traveled extensively through the United States and in 1926, accompanied by their daughter, they went on an eight months cruise around the world.
Dr. Gandy was a second lieutenant in the Connecticut Home Guard during the World war and his wife was active in Red Cross work. She had charge of one of the surgical departments and received a medal from the Serbian government for her services. Formerly she was president of the woman's auxiliary of the Young Men's Christian Association of Stamford and is director of the Young Women's Christian Association. She is vice presi- dent of the Stamford Day Nursery, is serving for the second term as president of the Stamford Woman's Club, and also belongs to the Women's Republican Club, the Schubert Club and the Stam-
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ford Yacht Club. In the activities of the various societies of the Congregational church she takes a helpful part and is a member of its music committee. While she works toward high ideals, Mrs. Gandy utilizes practical methods in their attainment, and has generously given her services for the public good. The Doctor is also an adherent of the republican party and has been a deacon of the Congregational church. His Masonic affiliations are with the lodge, chapter, council and commandery in Stamford, the consistory in Norwich, and the shrine at Hartford. The nature of his recreation is indicated by his identification with the Stam- ford and Halloween Yacht Clubs. He is connected with the staff of the Stamford Hospital, is an ex-president of the Stamford Medical Society, and also belongs to the Fairfield County and Connecticut State Medical Societies and the American Medical Association. Dr. Gandy has chosen for his life work a field of broad usefulness and owes his professional success to intensive study, tireless effort and the wise use of the talents with which nature has endowed him. Calm, dignified and well poised, he is always to be relied upon in an emergency and his kindness of heart and innate courtesy have established him high in public esteem.
A. WILLIAM SPERRY
A. William Sperry, a dominant figure in the management of the business of the Danbury Power & Transportation Company, is known throughout New England owing to his ability as a civil and construction engineer and has done notable work in that con- nection. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, January 22, 1870, a son of Alfred N. and Lois E. (Ryerson) Sperry, natives respectively of Westville, Connecticut, and Abington, Massa- chusetts. From the time of its early settlement to the present day members of the Sperry family have figured conspicuously in events that have shaped New Haven's history. The first to settle in this part of the country was Richard Sperry, whose name appears as early as January 4, 1663, and who owned Sperry's farms in Woodbridge, near the Judge's Cave and westward of West Rock. He was the last friend and protector of the regicides,
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Goffe and Whalley, at a time when their pursuers from England were trying to find their hiding places. Alfred N. Sperry was long a forceful personality in manufacturing circles of New Haven, where he died in 1918. His wife passed away in that city, May 21, 1902. They had two sons: A. William; and Dr. Frederick N. Sperry, a prominent physician of New Haven and clinical professor of laryngology and otology at Yale University.
In the acquirement of an education A. William Sperry attended the public schools of his native city, during which time he carried newspapers under the direction of our able congress- man and leader of the house of representatives, John Q. Tilson. In 1886, when a youth of sixteen, he began work for Sylvanus Butler, the local land surveyor and former town clerk of New Haven. A year later Mr. Sperry became an employe of the New Haven firm of Bruen & Shepard, the former a graduate of the engineering department of Cornell University and the latter of the same department of Yale. In 1890 the firm was dissolved and Mr. Bruen continued the business alone for two years, at the end of which time it was sold to James P. Bogart. Meanwhile Mr. Sperry had progressed through the various departments, grad- ually assuming heavier responsibilities, and in 1893 became Mr. Bogart's partner. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American war he entered the service of his country, joining the engineering corps in the coast fortifications department, and aided in main- taining the eastern defenses of New York city, at New Haven, Stonington, New London, Plum island and Gull island. Later he was transferred to the ordnance department and in 1899 was honorably discharged. Upon his return home the business of the firm was divided and although Mr. Sperry and Mr. Bogart remained in adjoining offices, they conducted their interests indi- vidually. This arrangement was continued until Mr. Bogart's death in 1901, when Mr. Sperry purchased his business from the estate and organized The William Sperry Company, Inc., engi- neers and surveyors. In 1903 the Sperry Engineering Company, contractors, was formed and in 1905 the two corporations were merged under the style of The Sperry Engineering Company, Inc., A. William Sperry being president and directing head of the corporations from their inception. A branch was established at Bristol, Connecticut, in 1895 by Mr. Sperry and conducted under his name for a number of years, after which it became the prop-
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erty of Sperry & Buell. The Sperry Engineering Company, Inc., forged rapidly to the front, taking its place with the leading firms of the kind in the east, and has built many vast enterprises in manufacturing lines as well as in public utilities, including electric railways and manufacturing plants. An outstanding achievement of the corporation was the construction of the fam- ous Yale Bowl, which has a seating capacity of seventy-five thous- and and is classed with the world's greatest amphitheaters. Dur- ing the period of the World war, The Sperry Engineering Company, Inc., erected many large plants, including the rolling mill for the Scovill Manufacturing Company at Waterbury, the machine and casting shops for the American Brass Company, the Army Hospital at New Haven, the Army Barracks at Fishers Island, New York, and numerous office and public buildings. It was also during the war period that Mr. Sperry aided in the reorganization of the Shore Line Electric Railway, and in 1924 he came to Danbury to give advice in reorganizing the transporta- tion, power and electric light business of the Danbury & Bethel Street Railway. The policies he recommended were carried out and resulted in taking the company out of its receivership, the selling of the light and power business to the Danbury & Bethel Gas & Electric Light Company and the 100 per cent substitution of motor buses for trolley cars, this being the first city in the United States to have 100 per cent motor bus transportation. The Danbury Power & Transportation Company has profited by the scientific knowledge and skill and the business experience and acumen of Mr. Sperry, its president and treasurer and prin- cipal stockholder, and is now on a very sound financial basis. Mr. Sperry was president of the Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers for one year.
Modern Connecticut Homes and Homecrafts, New York, 1921, describing the work of The Sperry Engineering Company said: "It is a wide range of endeavor that is included in the important achievements of this organization, and plentiful indeed are the successful examples of it swork in Connecticut. There is sufficient breadth of scope, it would seem, for any one concern that lays out interurban railways, builds and equips them, plans and constructs its viaducts and bridges, completes in record time America's greatest amphitheatre, constructs huge factories and other industrial buildings, entirely remodels the interior of a
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