USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III > Part 100
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His cooperation was naturally sought in connection with the city's business development and he became president or director of various corporations. He was instrumental in securing the charter for the Dime Savings Bank in 1870 and was its president for many years. He was also identified with the Connecticut Fire Insurance Company through a service of nearly thirty years on its directorate and was likewise a director of the Spring Grove Cemetery Association. He was the holder of one of the first policies issued by the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, this being written in 1846. Through all and above all, however, the Hartford Times held first place in his thought and interests and some years prior to his death he purchased the interest of his brother, Franklin L. Burr, who had been part owner from 1854. In later years Alfred E. Burr turned the management
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and ownership of the paper over to his son, Willie Olcott Burr. The service of the father was sixty-one years and that of the son sixty years, a total of one hundred and twenty-one years, a record probably unequalled among newspapers of the United States.
On the 18th of April, 1841, Mr. Burr married Sarah A. Booth, a daughter of Abner Booth, of Meriden, Connecticut, and they became parents of three children, but one son, Edmund L., died at the age of three years. The daughter, Ella, became the wife of Dr. James McManus, of Hartford. Another son, Willie Olcott Burr, whose whole life was given to the Times, died in 1921.
Mr. Burr was always keenly interested in the welfare of boys and took a prom- inent part in promoting the Good Will Club and in securing a club building. He acted as president of the club for many years and was always the genial friend and wise counselor of its young members. Of Unity church he long served as a trustee, and every phase of the city's material, intellectual and moral growth was fostered and promoted by him. The Hartford Business Men's Association at his death passed a resolution which contained the following: "He was recognized for more than half a century as an active promoter, by pen and word, of every enterprise for the welfare and advancement of his native city. He gave his valuable aid in making Hartford the important business center that it is today, and he was always foremost by his personal labor and example in forwarding the growth of the city as a municipality and the benefits as individuals. His active participation in many large enterprises, and his connection with some of the city's greatest banking, insurance and manu- facturing corporations, gave him a close insight into the business life and needs of Hartford, and, knowing them, he was earnest in his labors for the advancement of the people, alike by aid from his private means and the publicity and encourage- ment given in the columns of the newspaper he controlled."
The Hartford Daily Times remains as a monument to his initiative, his business ability and his progressive spirit. Many public projects equally attest his effective interest in the city and state. The intellectual men of Connecticut profited by his advice and broad-minded attitude on public questions, but in the heart of the great mass of people his memory is cherished because of his tender spirit, his lovable qualities, his high purposes, and well may those who were his associates say of him: "His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world: 'This was a man.'
CHARLES FRANCIS BROOKS
Charles Francis Brooks, building superintendent of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company at Hartford, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, September 11, 1863, and is a son of Phillip A. and Ann (Walls) Brooks, the former a native of Quebec, Canada, and the latter of Ireland. He acquired a public school education at Bridgeport and at New Haven, and following the removal of the family to Three Rivers, in the province of Quebec, he finished his schooling in St. Joseph's College, having to learn and use the French language there. In 1879 he came to Hartford, where he was employed by the Adams Express Company and was connected with the trucking business for about ten years. He then became associated with his father in building operations and that relation was maintained for a decade. His identifi- cation with the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company dates from October, 1903, at which time he was made building superintendent and has since filled the position, being today the oldest superintendent of Life buildings in Hartford.
In 1884 Mr. Brooks joined the Connecticut National Guard for a period of three years and afterward reenlisted, serving in all for about nine years. In 1920 he became a member of the Governors Foot Guard and thus served for four years, after which he joined the Veteran Corps and was commissioned major in 1925. He held the rank of major of Company A of the Veteran Corps during the World war.
On the 24th of October, 1888, Mr. Brooks was united in marriage to Miss Hattie L. Brayman, of Danbury, Connecticut, and they became the parents of two daughters and a son, namely: E. Madeline, who is the wife of George S. Longley, Jr .; Louise E.,
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the wife of Roy E. Clark, of Indianapolis, Indiana; and Francis Phillip, who died in October, 1908, at the age of seventeen years. The last named was in the United States navy and passed away at Mare Island, California, following his return from Central America.
Mr. Brooks is a member of Hartford Lodge, No. 88, A. F. & A. M., and he belongs to the Automobile Club of Hartford, serving on its board of governors and as chairman of its publication committee. He was likewise one of the organizers of the Hartford Building Superintendents Association, of which he is now the secretary. He is well known here and stands as a high type of the stable and sub- stantial New England citizen.
JOHN HENRY HALL
John Henry Hall of Hartford, Connecticut, exemplified in his life all those sterling qualities of mind and character which have made the name of New Eng- lander a proud possession. Energetic and ambitious, he united hard common sense with that imaginative faculty which sees an opportunity in a rather unpromising opening, and, persevering and progressive, he adapted his methods of attack to the nature of the problem before him. Successful in business, he was generous of his time and of his means to the community of which he felt himself a part, and cheer- fully fulfilled the duties as well as accepted the privileges of citizenship. He was an exemplar of all that was worthy and fine in the American business man, and left a memory that will always be held in reverent esteem. In Portland, where he resided for ten years, and in Hartford, in which city he spent the latter part of his life, there was no name in business circles that carried greater weight for ability and uprightness than that of John Henry Hall. He came of the best New England stock, and himself represented the ninth generation of that God-fearing, progressive and intelligent race which has done so much to imprint its own char- acter upon American institutions.
John Henry Hall was born March 24, 1849, in Portland, Connecticut, and as a young boy went to the local public schools. He was then sent to Chase's famous school in Middletown and later finished his school work at the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire, Connecticut. Deciding upon a business career, he entered the employ of Sturgis, Bennett & Company of New York, at that time one of the largest importers of tea and coffee in the country. Here he remained for five years and did good work, winning promotions which put him at the age of nineteen at the head of the foreign and insurance departments. In December, 1877, he returned to Portland, hav- ing purchased a share in the Pickering Governor business. He saw the possibilities in the enterprise conducted under the firm name of T. R. Pickering & Company, although to a less shrewd eye they were not so evident. Into this venture Mr. Hall put his customary energy and his keen executive ability, with the result that it was soon in a more than prosperous condition. In the first five years of his asso- ciation with the firm the sales increased from five hundred a year to five thousand. In addition to his interests in the Pickering Governor concern, Mr. Hall was in 1884 elected the president of the Shaler & Hall Quarry Company, with which his family had long been identified. He soon infused new life and energy, characteristic of the man, into this enterprise. He revolutionized its entire management, introduced new and up-to-date machinery and started it upon a new and thoroughly vigorous career, resulting in prosperity. Twelve years after he became connected with the business, a new company was formed called the Brainerd, Shaler & Hall Quarry Company, and he became the president and acted in this capacity until his death. In the meanwhile his own business, which had been carried on as a partnership, was reorganized as a corporation, Mr. Hall's official position being that of treasurer, while he also retained a proprietary interest.
Early in 1888 Mr. Hall became general manager and treasurer of the Colt's Patent Fire Arms Company and although his position was a trying one and he was new to the field, and the burden of the management and control of this world- wide corporation rested mainly on him, with marked insight and marvelous sagacity he soon mastered the situation, adopting new methods and infusing new life and vigor into the many and varied channels of its activities. When he took control
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JOHN H. HALL
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the business was bankrupt but he soon placed it on a firm foundation and con- tinued in the service of the company for many years, being its president at the time of his death.
Mr. Hall always took a deep interest in the town of his adoption, and was prominent in working for its well-being. He refused nominations to both branches of the state legislature, it being necessary for him to concentrate his energies upon the undertakings to which he was committed. He received various offers of prefer- ment from his fellow citizens who desired his ability in the conduct of municipal affairs, but refusing some, he served from 1890 to 1896 on the city board of water commissioners. In 1895-96 he served as state senator from the first district of Hartford, his party affiliations being democratic, and in 1896-1900 supported the gold wing of the organization.
Mr. Hall was a director in various Hartford corporations, among these being the Phoenix Fire Insurance Company, the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company, the Hartford National Bank and the Dime Savings Bank. He was one of the or- ganizers of the Board of Trade and was a member of its first board of directors. In New York he was a director of the Neptune Meter Company. His name was also on the membership rolls of the Hartford Club, the Manhattan Club, the Engineers' Club, the New York Yacht Club of New York city and the Metropolitan Club of Washington. Moreover, he held membership in the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, the Society of Colonial Wars and the Mayflower Society. In Masonry he attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, and his religious faith was indicated in his membership in the Church of the Good Shepherd, Protes- tant Episcopal, in which he was senior warden.
On the 9th of February, 1870, Mr. Hall was united in marriage to Sarah Gar- rett Loines, of New York, who was descended from Quaker stock on her father's side and also from the family of Hopkins of Rhode Island. Mr. Hall died June 25, 1902, after an illness of about three weeks, and many tributes were paid to his memory and to the sense of the loss the community had sustained. He was able and upright as a business man. Loyalty to the highest, as he knew it, was the keynote to the character of the man, and it was to be seen in his business relations, his contact with the community at large and in his social connection.
MATTHEW J. HAYES
Matthew J. Hayes, a well known contractor of New Britain operating under the name of the Hayes Construction Company in the execution of all kinds of building contracts except residences, illustrates in his career what can be accomplished through determined effort wisely directed. In his vocabulary there is no such word as fail and obstacles have seemed to serve as an impetus for renewed and persistent effort on his part. Born in Manchester, Connecticut, in 1880, he is a son of John A. and Ellen (Toohey) Hayes, who were natives of Ireland, the mother coming to the new world in 1860. The father, who was born in 1846, followed railroading and died in 1881.
Matthew J. Hayes pursued his early education in St. Mary's parochial school and afterward attended the Huntsinger Business College in Hartford. When his textbooks were put aside he entered the employ of the B. H. Hibbard Company, build- ing contractors, for whom he worked for eighteen years. The business was incor- porated in 1906, at which time Mr. Hayes was appointed assistant treasurer, and in the year 1917 he was elected president of the Hibbard Company, a fact which indicates that he had made steady advancement, constantly developing his powers and meeting every situation with a capability that produced gratifying results. In 1919 he incorporated the Leavitt & Hayes Company, which continued operations under that name until 1922, when Mr. Leavitt withdrew, since which time the business has been carried on under the name of the Hayes Construction Company. His work covers a wide scope, including all kinds of contract building except residences, and the success of the undertaking is further guaranteed in the fact that he owns a lumber yard which furnishes him needed builders' supplies. The company erected the Swedish Bethlehem church of New Britain, St. Ann's church of Hartford, the Smalley and Vance street schools of New Britain, and now has under construction
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a war memorial building which when completed will cost approximately two hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Hayes is the president and treasurer of the Hayes Con- struction Company, with C. J. Callahan as secretary and a director. The company belongs to the Association of General Contractors of America and also to the local association of contractors.
In 1916 Mr. Hayes married May L. Ferguson, who was born in New Britain, and their family now numbers three sons: Matthew F., born in 1917; Robert, in 1919; and John Earl, in 1924. The two elder sons are attending the Stanley school. The parents are communicants of St. Mary's Roman Catholic church of New Britain and Mrs. Hayes is connected with various activities of women in this city. Frater- nally Mr. Hayes is allied with the Knights of Columbus and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and he is also a member of the Kiwanis Club and the Shuttle Meadow Club. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party and in matters of citizenship he meets all requirements but concentrates the major part of his time and attention upon his business affairs with the result that success in substantial measure is rewarding his labors.
C. P. TOMLINSON
C. P. Tomlinson, president of the Capitol National Bank & Trust Company of Hartford, was born in Danbury, Connecticut, June 6, 1886, his parents being Wilbur F. and Antoinette (French) Tomlinson. He is of the ninth generation of the family to have lived in this state, the first representative of the family here being Henry Tom- linson, who settled in Milford, Connecticut, in 1652.
After he had graduated from the high school of Danbury, Carl Perkins Tomlinson attended the Bingham School in Asheville, North Carolina, and later entered the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University where he graduated in 1907. He is the thirteenth member of his branch of the Tomlinson family to graduate from Yale, the first being Dr. Agur Tomlinson, Yale College, 1744.
Leaving Yale in 1907 he followed engineering work that took him over the United States, Canada and Europe. In 1914 he became associated with the Grangers Manu- facturing Company of Boston and West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, which had been organized by his father in 1912. This company is engaged in the manufacture of lime- stone products and Mr. Tomlinson has been identified therewith as general manager since 1915 and was made vice president in 1923. He has resided in Hartford since 1914 and his residence is 218 North Beacon street.
In 1926 he was elected president of the Capitol National Bank of Hartford, which was organized that year. He is a director of the Grangers Manufacturing Company and the American Brick Company both of Boston, The W. F. Tomlinson Company of Danbury, Connecticut, The Capitol National Bank and Trust Company and the Capitol National Company.
On the 11th of December, 1913, Mr. Tomlinson was married to Miss Louise Treacy, the daughter of Dr. William and Isa (Lear) Treacy, of Helena, Montana. He is a Mason and a republican in politics and has membership in the Country Club of Farm- ington, Vernon Hall, Phi Gamma Delta, the University Club of Hartford and the Yale Club and Engineers Club of New York. He is treasurer of the Connecticut Society of the Founders and Patriots of America, a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, a fellow of the American Geographical Society and an associate member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
JAMES A. McGREGOR
On the roster of East Hartford's public officials appears the name of James A. McGregor, who has established an enviable reputation as first selectman and main- tains his home in Burnside. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, April 14, 1865, a son of James and Jane (Allan) McGregor and was educated in the public schools of his native city. Afterward he obtained work in a paper mill in the village of Currie and remained there until 1890, when he came to the United States. For
BACHRACH
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two years he was in the employ of a paper manufacturer of Holyoke, Massachusetts, and in 1892 came to East Hartford. He was identified with the Burnside paper mills until 1914, when he went to Dalton, Massachusetts, and continued in the same line of business, of which he acquired a highly specialized knowledge. In 1922 he returned to East Hartford and was active in the paper industry until he met with an accident which incapacitated him for business. In the fall of 1905 Mr. McGregor became a member of the board of selectmen of East Hartford and is now serving for the third term. He was elected first selectman in October, 1927, and has shown that he is the right man for the office, discharging his important duties with marked efficiency and characteristic thoroughness and fidelity.
On the 15th of October, 1895, Mr. McGregor was united in marriage to Miss Julia Gleason, a native of New York state, and for thirty-three years they have journeyed together through life, sharing its joys and sorrows. Mr. McGregor is a member of the Exchange Club of East Hartford and Orient Lodge, No. 162, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church of Burnside and closely follows its teachings. As a citizen he is loyal, progressive and public-spirited and measures up to high standards in every relation of life.
STANLEY HART OSBORN, M. D.
Dr. Stanley Hart Osborn, commissioner of health for the state of Connecticut, was born May 3, 1891, in Peabody, Massachusetts, a son of Charles Lincoln and Alice Cornelia (Hart) Osborn. The father was a prominent leather manufacturer of Peabody, where he passed away in 1919, while the mother still survives. The public school system of his native city accorded Dr. Osborn his early educational privileges and he prepared for his professional career as a student in the Tufts College Medical School, from which he was graduated in 1914, the M. D. degree being at that time conferred upon him.
Immediately afterward Dr. Osborn began to prepare for public health service. He attended Harvard University and the Masschusetts Institute of Technology, in which he did postgraduate work in public health and tropical medicine, receiving the Certificate of Public Health in 1915 from both institutions. He also attended the Harvard Summer School in 1914, where he took postgraduate and municipal sanitation work, and in the same year he was employed as acting biologist for the Metropolitan Water Board in Boston. From 1915 until 1916 he was in charge of a field unit sent to Serbia and Montenegro by the American Red Cross Sanitary Commission for combating the then prevalent typhus fever epidemic in those coun- tries. In 1916 he was made district health officer of the Massachusetts State Depart- ment of Health, occupying that position for a year, and in 1917 he became epidemi- ologist of the Massachusetts State Department of Health, serving in that capacity until he obtained a leave of absence to enter the war.
In September, 1917, Dr. Osborn was commissioned a first lieutenant of the United States Army Medical Corps and went into active service in April, 1918. Three weeks later he went to France, where he served with the American Expeditionary Forces and also with the British forces until July, 1919. He was epidemiologist for the Thirty-ninth Division overseas and also served as battalion medical officer in charge of the sanitary squads, receiving his discharge in July, 1919. On his return he again became epidemiologist in that state. On the 30th of April, 1920, he was appointed director of the Bureau of Preventable Diseases and deputy commis- sioner of health for the state of Connecticut, assuming the duties of the position in Hartford on the 1st of May, 1920, and so continuing until November 1, 1922, when he was appointed commissioner of health for the state.
In September, 1921, Dr. Osborn was married to Miss Gertrude Mellen Hooper, a daughter of William Leslie and Mary (Hurd) Hooper, of Somerville, Massachusetts, and their children are: Stanley Hart, Jr., born October 13, 1924; Henry Hooper, born December 3, 1926; and William Charles, born March 21, 1928.
Dr. Osborn belongs to the Rotary Club and fraternally is a Mason and an Elk. He belongs to the Hartford City, Hartford County, Connecticut and American Medical Associations. He is also a member of the New Haven County Public Health
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Association, Connecticut Public Health Association, the American Public Health Association, the Massachusetts Medical Society and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Along these lines is indicated the trend of his activity and his interest and he finds his keenest delight in solving the intricate and involved problems which have to do with the laws of health.
CHARLES TERRY TREADWAY
The interests of Charles Terry Treadway cover all those forms of activity which lead to the development of honorable manhood and progressive citizenship. His name is synonymous with the history of Hartford county in its present-day epoch of growth and modern development. Business has formed but one phase of his career, as at all times he has fully met the duties and obligations of citizenship and been active in the promotion of those projects which are matters of civic virtue and civic pride. He is perhaps most widely known as a financier and is now chairman of the Bristol National Bank and of the American Trust Company at Bristol, having for nearly thirty years been prominently associated with the banking interests of the state. He was born in Bristol, September 8, 1877, a son of Charles S. and Mar- garet (Terry) Treadway, both of whom were of Scotch lineage. The father was a son of Charles and Emily (Candee) Treadway, who were residents of Bristol, where their son, Charles Seth, was born January 24, 1848. At the age of twelve he accompanied his parents on their removal to Winsted, Connecticut, where he completed his education with a high school course. In his later youth and early manhood he was variously employed. At the age of fifteen he began learning the trade of clock making with the Waterbury Clock Company but after a few months obtained a clerkship in the Waterbury post office. There his alert industry won the attention of A. S. Chase, then president of the Waterbury National Bank, who one day inquired if Mr. Treadway would like to learn the banking business. He immediately responded in the affirmative and was made an office boy in the Water- bury National Bank. There his adaptability and efficiency won him promotion un- til he was serving as one of the youngest tellers in the state of Connecticut. Again the readiness with which he met a situation and the efficiency with which he dis- charged his duties won him attention that opened to him a further way of business advancement. He made the acquaintance of Andrew Terry, founder of the Andrew Terry Company, manufacturers of malleable iron at Terryville, Connecticut, who offered to make him secretary and teller of a new bank in Lawrence, Kansas, of which Mr. Terry was the president. For four years he filled that position of re- sponsibility and when in 1875 the Bristol National Bank was organized by John Humphrey Sessions and Miles Lewis Peck, he was offered the cashiership. This he at once accepted and after thirteen years' absence from Connecticut he returned to Bristol, where he continued to act as cashier of the Bristol bank until 1899, when he was elected to the presidency as the successor of Mr. Sessions, who had passed away. For sixteen years Mr. Treadway remained at the head of the institution, which enjoyed rapid and substantial growth under his wise direction, becoming recognized as one of the strong financial institutions of the state. He also figured in the industrial development of the town, becoming a stockholder in the New Departure Manufacturing Company a few years after its organization in 1887. In 1900 he was elected to the presidency and as its directing head made it an enterprise of international scope, while its business connections with foreign lands were promoted through the establishment of a branch factory in Germany. Mr. Treadway became associated with Everett Horton in the establishment and development of the Hor- ton Manufacturing Company, which engaged in the manufacture of a steel fishing rod which Mr. Horton had invented. Mr. Treadway became the treasurer and the active manager of that business and he was also the vice president of the Bristol Brass Company and the Bristol Manufacturing Company, while as a director he contributed to the policy of the Blakesley Novelty Company, the Bristol Press Pub- lishing Company and the Southington National Bank.
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