History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 36

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1572

USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 36

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The summer of 1835 was an important epoch in the career of P. T. Barnum. In that year he began the business which has made him famous throughout the civilized world.

He purchased a negress named Joice Heth, then on exhibition in Philadelphia, said to be one hundred and sixty-one years of age and the nurse of Washing- ton, and exhibited her about the country. She lived but a short time after her purchase by Mr. Barnum, and was buried at Bethel, in this county. He then engaged an Italian sleight-of-hand performer, and soon joined Aaron Turner's traveling cirens as ticket- seller, secretary, and treasurer. He subsequently traveled extensively throughout the country with a show, of which he was sole proprietor.

The occupation not proving particularly remuner-

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

ative, and being desirous of having a permanent re- spectable business, he finally, after various discour- agements, purchased the American Museum in New York for twelve thousand dollars, and succeeded in paying for it from the profits in one year. He was now on the high-road to success. His wonderful suc- cess with the museum, with Gen. Tom Thumb, and with the Jenny Lind enterprise, is too well known throughout the world to need repetition in this sketch. The latter was bold in its conception, com- plete in its development, most astounding in its suc- cess, and brought a fortune to its adventurous progen- itor. As high as six hundred and fifty dollars was paid for tickets, and the receipts for ninety-five con- certs aggregated seven hundred and twelve thousand one hundred and sixty-one dollars and thirty-four cents. With Gen. Tom Thumb, Mr. Barnum ap- peared three times before Queen Victoria and the royal court of England, as well as the principal po- tentates of Europe then living.

In 1851 he organized the Great Asiatic Caravan, Museum, and Menagerie; in 1852 became part-owner of the first illustrated paper published in New York, and about this time also was president of the Crystal Palace Association. In 1851 he purchased a tract of land consisting of several hundred acres, where now is located the thriving city of East Bridgeport, laid out the entire property in regular streets, lined them with trees, reserving a beautiful grove of six or eight acres, which he inclosed and converted into a pub- lic park, which he presented to the city, and began the sale of lots, thus becoming the founder of one of the leading manufacturing cities in New England. Through his instrumentality a clock company fron Litchfield, Conn., was removed to the embryo city and reorganized as the "Terry & Barnum Manufac- turing Company," and in 1855 he received a propo- sition from a citizen of New Haven that the Jerome Clock Company, then reputed to be a wealthy con- cern, should be removed to East Bridgeport. The result is briefly told. He advanced a large sum of money to the company, the rotten concern finally came down with a crash, and P. T. Barnum was a ruined man.

So at the age of forty-six, after the acquisition and loss of a handsome fortune, he was once more nearly at the bottom of the ladder, and was about to begin the world again. The situation was certainly dis- heartening, but he had energy, experience, health, and hope.

In 1857 he again set sail for England, taking with him Gen. Tom Thumb, where he remained several years, and accumulated considerable money. He also, while abroad, delivered his famous lecture on "The Art of Money-Getting" in London and various other cities, and was finally offered six thousand dol- lars for the manuscript by a publishing-house, which he refused.

In 1859 he returned to America, and, having re-

deemed his property, on the 31st of March "Bar- num's Museum" was reopened under the management and proprietorship of its original owner. Barnum was on his feet again, and congratulations poured in from friends at home and abroad. The museum was continued by Mr. Barnum with great success until July 13, 1865, when it was totally destroyed by fire. Although his old friend, the lamented Greeley, of the Tribune, advised him to "accept this fire as a notice to quit and go a-fishing," he failed to accept the ad- vice, and soon after leased the premises 535, 537, and 539 Broadway, New York, known as the Chinese Mu- seum buildings, and in less than three months had converted the building into a commodious museum and lecture-room. He soon after made arrangements with the renowned Van Amburgh Menagerie Com- pany to unite their entire collections with the mu- seum, and the company was known as the Barnum & Van Amburgh Museum Company. This was also a success, and the monthly returns made to the collector of internal revenue showed that their re- ceipts were larger than those of any theatre or other place of amusement in New York or America. The fire fiend again visited him, and on the morning of March 3, 1868, the museum was totally destroyed. He then followed Mr. Greeley's advice to "go a-fish- ing," and for about two years retired from active business, though he was still more or less interested is numerous enterprises.

He traveled extensively, and seemed happy in the contemplation of the fact that he was a gentleman of elegant leisure. But nature will assert itself. To a robust, healthy man of forty years' active business life something else than "elegant leisure" is needed to satisfy. He could no longer remain inactive, and so in 1870 began the organization of an immense es- tablishment, comprising a museum, a menagerie, car- avan, hippodrome, and circus of such proportions as to require five hundred men and horses to transport it through the country. In 1871 and '72 this already largest traveling show in the world was reorganized and greatly augmented, and to move it required seventy freight-cars, six passenger-cars, and three engines. Additions and attractive novelties have since been added, and "Barnum's own and- only greatest show on earth" of 1880 is, indeed, the largest combination of circus, menagerie, and museum ever exhibited on either continent.

Mr. Barnum's ambition has always been to exhibit the greatest novelties at whatever cost, and to com- bine instruction with amusement. He never adver- tises attractions which he does not exhibit, thereby forming an honorable exception in his profession. He is careful to secure the best possible assistants,- honest, competent, and, like himself, clear-headed. At this present writing, although he has passed his seventieth birthday, he has just formed a combina- tion with The London Circus and Menagerie, the greatest show in the world except his own, and en-

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BRIDGEPORT.

tered into a contract binding his heirs and executors for ninety-nine years to continue this immense eom- bined moral and refined traveling show,-thus, as he says, hoping to gratify future generations with a sight of "Barnum's greatest show on earth."

At the present writing Mr. Barnum has all the vigor of middle life, and, having made arrangements which he thinks will seeure the permaneney of his great traveling museum, menagerie, and eircus for many years after he is gone, he, in the summer of 1880, erected in Bridgeport buildings covering five acres of land for the headquarters and especially the wintering of his great show. Among these buildings is an "elephant house," containing a ring for the training of elephants, horses, ponies, and other ani- mals, as well as for the practicing of his cireus-riders. Long rows of iron eages in adjoining buildings, heated by steam in winter, eontain many hundreds of the most valuable and rare wild beasts and birds in cap, tivity in any country.

Politieally, Mr. Barnum was a Democrat previous to the breaking out of the Rebellion, but since that time has aeted with the Republican party. He was eleeted to the General Assembly of Connecticut from the town of Fairfield in 1865, and from Bridgeport in 1877. In 1878 he again received the nomination for the same office, and, although in a Democratic city, he was elected by a handsome majority. In 1875 he was elected mayor of Bridgeport, and, as he always has the best interests of the city at heart, it is needless to add that his administration was eminently successful.

Mr. Barnum has ever manifested a lively interest in all measures looking to the advancement of the interests of the city, and has devoted much labor and money in publie improvements generally. He was the progenitor of Seaside Park, one of the most beautiful parks in New England, and it was prinei- pally through his influence that the improvement was consummated. "To Mr. P. T. Barnum," says the Bridgeport Standard, "we believe, is awarded the credit of originating this beautiful improvement, and certainly to his untiring, constant, and persevering personal efforts are we indebted for its being finally consummated." Mr. Barnum purchased the land from the owners at nominal priees, amounting in all to less than five thousand dollars, of which he paid the largest share and obtained private subscriptions for the balance, and thus the park was presented to the eity free of cost.

In the summer of 1878 he expended about twenty- five thousand dollars in the purchase and reclamation of a large traet of salt marsh adjoining Seaside Park and the grounds of Waldemere on the west. Although he well knew that he would never be reimbursed for half of his expenditures, he could see that the im- provement would be a great public benefit, and he bent his energy to the task. He built this dyke straight aeross a channel which let in the tide-water

every twelve hours and covered an immense tract of low salt meadow. He made it seventy-five feet wide at the bottom and of sufficient width on the top to form a fine street leading from one of the city avenues to the beach on Long Island Sound. This extension of Sea- side Park, forming a boulevard for carriages and promenade on the very edge of Long Island Sound, where the flashing waves may be seen, heard, and en- joyed for all time, is one of the finest improvements of its kind on the Atlantic coast.

He also secured to the city of Bridgeport the beau- tiful Mountain Grove Cemetery. He has laid out many streets and planted hundreds of trees in Bridge- port proper, and built hundreds of houses, many of which he sold to mechanics, giving them years in which to make the payments, and in annual sums equal only to about their usual rents.

In 1846 and 1847 he erected the well known " Iran- istan"* palace for his residence. It was modeled after the Oriental architecture, and was the first of this peculiar style introduced in America. Its interior and exterior decorations were of the finest style, and it was singularly complete in all its appointments. The whole was built and established by Mr. Barnum liter- ally "regardless of expense," for he had no desire even to ascertain the entire eost. This was one of the fienst country-seats in New England, and it was indeed a great loss to Mr. Barnum when, on the night of Dee. 17, 1857, it was burned to the ground. He subse- quently built Lindencroft, which was his residence for a number of years, and finally, in 1868, erected a house, laid out walks, etc., on a delightful spot overlooking Long Island Sound and Seaside Park, and christened it "Waldemere" (" woods-by-the- sea"), preferring to give this native child of his own conception an American name of his own creation. He removed to "Waldemere" in 1869, where he has since resided.

Nov. 8, 1829, Mr. Barnum united in marriage with Charity Hallett, a native of Bethel, by whom he had three daughters.

Mrs. Barnum died Nov. 19, 1873.

In the autumn of 1874 he married again. His wife is the daughter of his old English friend John Fish, Esq., whom he has embalmed in his " Recollections" under the title of " An Enterprising Englishman."

Mr. Barnum's career has been a remarkable one. He has been up and down and up again the financial ladder, and now the Bethel boy who at the age of fif- teen years was so poor that he attended his father's funeral in borrowed shoes is reputed to be worth ser- eral millions, and his name is a household word throughout the civilized world.

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142

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

Hon. Alfred B. Beers was born at New Rochelle, N. Y., April 23, 1845, and is the son of Alfred Beers, now a resident of Stratford, Conn., and who has been identified with the Naugatuck Railroad since 1851. The aneestry of Mr. Beers upon the male side of the line is traced baek to James Beers, of Gravesend, Kent, England, who died in 1635, leaving two sons, James and Anthony, who emigrated shortly after to Watertown, Mass., and removed from there to Fair- field, Conn., in 1659. Anthony was a mariner, and was lost at sea in 1676, leaving a son Ephraim, who was born 1648, and died, leaving a son Ephraim, who died in 1759, leaving a son Daniel, who was born 1745, who removed to Ridgefield, Conn., and served in the Continental army and was present at the attack on Danbury and engagement at Ridgefield by Tryon, in 1777, and died 1820. He left a son Edmund, born 1768, who died in 1843, leaving a son Jonathan, born 1789, who settled at Vista, West- ehester Co., N. Y., and died in 1868, and who was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. His mother's maiden name was Mary E. Bishop, her father being Leander Bishop, of Stamford, Conn., who was a brother of Alfred Bishop, late of Bridgeport, Conn., now deceased, a well-known contraetor and builder of railroads, especially of the Naugatuek Railroad ; their father was William Bishop, of Stamford, Conn. The grandfather of his mother upon her mother's side was Dr. Charles McDonald, of Rye, N. Y., a

Scotchman by birth, who eame to this country shortly before the Revolutionary war, and upon the breaking out of hostilities enlisted in the Continental army and served during the entire war, participating in the eapture of Fort Ticonderoga, and also in the battle of White Plains, N. Y., in 1776, where he distinguished himself by his bravery. After the elose of the war he entered the medieal profession, and practiced sue- eessfully until his death, which oceurred about 1842.

Alfred B. Beers removed to Bridgeport in 1851, and was edueated in the public and seleet sehools of that eity. He entered the volunteer army, Sept. 5, 1861, as private in Company I, Sixth Connecticut Volun- teers. This regiment was attached to the Tenth Army Corps, and participated in the bombardment of Hilton Head, S. C., battle of Poeataligo, S. C. (he was honorably mentioned in regimental orders for bravery and meritorious conduct in that engagement), also in the siege of Fort Pulaski, Ga., aetions at James Island, S. C., Morris Island, Fort Wagner, and siege of Charleston, S. C .; re-enlisted as a veteran volunteer in same regiment in 1864, and was engaged in the Bermuda Hundred, Va., campaign against Rieh- mond, siege of Petersburg, Va., engagements at Deep Bottom, Deep Run, Chapin's Farm, and Laurel Hill, on the north side of the James River, in 1864; was promoted from first sergeant of Company I to eaptain of Company B in same regiment, and was engaged in the bombardment, charge, and capture of Fort Fisher, N. C., January, 1865, eapture of Wilmington, Febru- ary, 1865, and advance upon Goldsboro', N. C., April, 1865, and was discharged from the service at New Haven, Conn., Aug. 21, 1865, being theu about twenty years of age. He then engaged in general business and in study until 1868, when he commenced the study of law, and was admitted to the Fairfield County bar in 1871. In 1872 he was elerk of the City Court, in 1875 assistant eity attorney. In 1877 he was elected by the Legislature judge of the City Court of the eity of Bridgeport, re-elected in 1879, and still holds that offiee. He has been prominently connected with the Grand Army organization since 1868, and is now the Senior Viee-Commander of the State of Connecticut, and will probably be elected Commander in 1881. He was married Feb. 29, 1872, to Callie T. House, of Vineland, N. J., daughter of William House, who was one of the settlers of Little Meadows, Pa., and was a brother of Royal E. House, the inventor of the House printing telegraph system, with whom he was interested, and also took part in the construction of the first telegraph line ereeted in this country, being the line from Baltimore to Wash- ington. Two children are the result of the marriage, -Alfred B. Beers, Jr., born Feb. 16, 1873, and Harry H. Beers, born Mareh 27, 1876.

As a lawyer, Judge Beers is devoted to his ehosen profession, and brings to its practice a elear and logi- eal mind, a retentive memory, confidence in his eause upon its merits, and a thorough hatred of triekery and 1

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Photo. by Wilson, Bridgeport.

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LA. Morgan

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BRIDGEPORT.

shams. He is careful in the preparation of his cases, ready in speech as an advocate, and honest in his claims for his client.

As a judge he has discharged the duties of that position with marked fidelity and inflexible honesty. He holds the scales of justice evenly balanced, and renders his decisions unmoved by sympathy and un- awed by clamor.

Possessed of a genial and kind nature, affable in intercourse with his fellows, with a personal character above reproach, he is esteemed and honored as a pri- vate citizen no less than as an able lawyer and an upright and conscientious judge.

DANIEL WHITEHEAD KISSAM.

Daniel Whitehead Kissam, son of Samuel and Eliz- abeth Addoms Kissam, was born in New York City, Jan. 6, 1836. At nine years of age he removed with his father's family to Plymouth, N. C., where he re- mained about six years, when he was sent to West Bloomfield, now known as Montclare, N. J., and entered the preparatory school then known as " Ash- land Hall." He continued in this school, pursuing his studies with diligence and attention, until seven- teen years of age, when lie entered the employ of the late H. N. Conklin, a lumber-dealer in the city of Brooklyn, as clerk, the remuneration being his board and shoes. Although the compensation was small and the labor irksome, he attended strictly to his business, and three years later was rewarded with the position of book-keeper in the large stcam-engine and iron- works establishment owned by Mr. Conklin.

In February, 1859, with a Mr. Wilmot, he started iu business for himself, manufacturing metallic fasten- ings used in the manufacture of hoop-skirts, under the firm-name of Wilmot & Kissam. In the following year the business was organized into a stock company, with a capital of thirty thousand dollars, under the name of the Wilmot & Kissam Manufacturing Com- pany, Mr. Kissam taking one-quarter of the stock. The business was continued until 1865, when it was removed to Bridgeport, and reorganized as the Bridgeport Brass Company, with a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, manufacturing rolled brass, brass wire, tubing, and various other goods. Upon the organization of this company Mr. Kissam was made secretary, and has been secretary and manager of the business since, and is the largest stockholder in the concern. At the beginning the annual sales amounted to about twenty-five thousand or thirty thousand dollars per year, and, as an illus- tration of the rapid development of the business, the annual sales now aggregate four hundred thousand dollars, and two hundred and thirty persons are cm- ployed.

The factory is a three-story brick structure, one hundred and sixteen by one hundred and thirty feet,

with various additions and extensions, located on the corner of Crescent Avenue and Willard Street, East Bridgeport. The power for this establishment is fur- nished by three steam-engines, with an aggregate of two hundred horse-power, and has a capacity of one million two hundred and fifty thousand pounds of metal per annum. This is a representative institution of this manufacturing city, and great credit is due Mr. Kissam and those through whose energy and enter- prise it has been placed in the front ranks of manufac- turing establishments in New England. The present officers of the company are F. A. Mason, President; D. W. Kissam, Secretary ; and Samuel Hohnes, Treas- urer.

Politically Mr. Kissam is a Republican, and is a vestryman in St. John's Church. He has given nearly his undivided attention to his business, and during his whole career as a manufacturer has not been absent from his post of duty two consecutive weeks.

Oct. 22, 1863, he united in marriage with Mary J. Nostrand, of Brooklyn, and their family consists of two daughters,-Jeannie and Elizabeth.

Mr. Kissam has ever manifested a lively interest in the welfare of his adopted city ; is a member of the Board of Trade, corporator and director in the People's Savings Bank, etc.

He is descended from old Puritan stock on his father's side from the "Mayflower," through John Alden, and collaterally from Bishop Seabury. His maternal grandfather served as captaiu in the Revo- lutionary war and fought at the battle of Monmouth, and was one of the original members of the Cincin- nati Society, and his father served in the war of 1812; aud Col. Abeel, an ancestor of Mrs. Kissam, was also in the Revolution, serving as deputy quarter- master under Gen. Greene.

Mr. Kissam is essentially a self-made man. Early in life he learned that the way to success was uo royal road, but was open to stout hands and willing hearts. Energy and integrity coupled with an in- domitable will have rendered his career a success, and the boy who worked for his board and shoes when seventeen years of age is now one of the substantial manufacturers of New England.

DANIEL N. MORGAN.

The ancient town of Newtown has been the home of various men who subsequently occupied conspicu- ous positions in the councils of the State and nation, and of many old and sterling families who have left the impress of the New England character upon their posterity. Prominent among these families and inti- mately associated with the welfare of the town and county stands the name of Morgan.

Ezra Morgan, the father of Daniel N., was for more than forty years a farmer and merchant in this town

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

and one of its leading and influential citizens. He was a leading Democrat, and occupied many official positions of trust and responsibility. He was also president of the First. National Bank of Bethel.

Daniel N. Morgan, son of Ezra and Hannah Nash Morgan, was born in Newtown, Aug. 18, 1844. He received the rudiments of his education at the com- mon schools of his native town, and subsequently attended the Newtown Academy and Bethel Insti- tute, where he acquired an education which well fitted him for his subsequent successful business career.

At the age of sixteen he entered his father's store as a clerk. He soon exhibited a remarkable capacity for mercantile transactions, and at the age of twenty- one years stepped out into the broad area of active business life on his own account, and for one year con- ducted the mercantile business at Newtown Centre as sole proprietor, when he took a partner and continued for three years longer. Desiring a wider range and better facilities for doing business, where his ability might have ample scope, Mr. Morgan removed to Bridgeport and became a member of the firm of Bird- sey & Morgan, dealers in dry goods and carpets. Mr. Birdsey subsequently retired, and the large and prosperous business was continued by Mr. Morgan until January, 1880, when, in consequence of im- paired health, caused by too close attention to busi- ness, he was compelled to relinquish it, and in the mean time took an extensive tour for his licalth to Great Britain and Continental Europe.

His strength of character and financial ability was soon recognized by the citizens of his adopted city, and he has been called to many positions of trust and responsibility. He was elected to the City Council in 1873, and re-elected in 1874. He was also a member of the Board of Education in 1877. In January, 1879, he was chosen president of the City National Bank, and is the present incumbent of that office. In the same year he was elected a trustee of the Mechanics' and Farmers' Savings Bank.

True to the instincts of his early training, he is a Democrat in politics and an able advocate of the prin- ciples of that party. He is active in political circles, and in 1880 accepted the nomination for mayor from the Democratic party, and was elected by a handsome majority, running one hundred ahead of his ticket, -sufficient commentary upon his popularity and worth as a citizen. He is also Master of Corinthian Lodge, No. 104, F. and A. M.

Mayor Morgan also manifests a decided interest in religious matters, is a consistent churchman, is the present clerk of Trinity Parish, and has been many years. He comes of a long-lived ancestry, his grand- parents living to the advanced age of eighty, eighty- four, ninety, and ninety-six respectively.

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History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 36

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1572

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1572