USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III > Part 121
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HERBERT R. COFFIN (II)
While widely known in business circles as the vice president and purchasing agent for C. H. Dexter & Sons, Inc., of Windsor Locks, Herbert R. Coffin (II) is equally prominent in the public life of his community through his earnest and effect- ive support of progressive civic measures and especially his active work in behalf of public education. His career exemplifies much that is expressed in the term "an ideal citizen," and while he works toward the highest standards, his methods are at once practical and strongly resultant. His life story therefore is of interest to all who know him. He was born in Windsor Locks, Hartford county, January 15, 1871, and is a son of Herbert R. and Julia S. (Dexter) Coffin, who are men- tioned at length on another page of this work. At the usual age he entered the public schools of his native city and when his educational training was completed he became actively identified with his father's paper mill. Throughout the inter- vening period to the present paper manufacturing has been his chief business and with the thoroughness characteristic of him he early set to work to master every phase of the paper manufacturing industry and the comprehensive knowledge that he has acquired well qualified him for executive management. Upon the death of his father in 1901 he and his elder brother, Arthur D. Coffin, came into the owner- ship of the business and with the spirit of enterprise and progressiveness charac- teristic of young manhood they bent every energy toward its further development
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and growth. Additions have been made to the plant, which is thoroughly modern in its equipment and, moreover, is a model in its sanitary features and in its outlook for the welfare of employes. After conducting the business for about thirteen years under a partnership relation the brothers incorporated in 1914 under the style of C. H. Dexter & Sons, Inc., at which time Herbert R. Coffin assumed the duties of the vice presidency and also those of purchasing agent. The wisdom and discernment that he has manifested in acquiring supplies which constitute the basis of the manu- factured product have added greatly to the success of the corporation. C. H. Dexter & Sons, Inc., manufacture the highest grade of thin paper that is produced in the country-a product known for its excellence throughout trade circles.
While his business has always made heavy demands upon his time, Mr. Coffin has always found opportunity to take an active interest and leading part in the support of all projects for the good of the community at large along civic, political and social lines and is splendidly qualified for the position of leadership which is accorded him. While he holds to high ideals, he has utilized the most practical and effective methods in their attainment. Throughout his entire life he has been deeply interested in the cause of education and it was therefore but natural that he became the outstanding figure in the establishment of the free high school of Windsor Locks. In 1900 he became a member of the school board and has served continuously thereon for twenty-eight years, doing most earnest and resultant work in that connection. Since 1914 he has acted as chairman of the board and was re-elected to that position in 1928, while previously for nine years he served as financial secretary. He has displayed notable prescience in recognizing the needs, the possibilities and the oppor- tunities of the school system here. When he was first elected to the board the subject of establishing a high school in connection with the grammar school at Windsor Locks had been considered to some extent, but public opinion on the question wavered and no definite action was taken. Mr. Coffin at once put his shoulder to the wheel. His progressive views concerning the subject led to a crystallization of public opinion, resulting in the appointment of a committee of two, Mr. Coffin being one of these, empowered to obtain material to start the project of establishing a high school. As a result of his faithful and untiring efforts the town has a splendid high school and grammar school, with an enrollment of six hundred and seventeen pupils in 1928. The demands of the school board have led to the adoption of an excellent curriculum and most thorough training of the high school pupils, some of whom occupy positions of marked trust and large responsibility as bankers, professors, teachers, insurance men, physicians and as representatives of other important lines of activity. Thus the school is proving of untold benefit to the community inasmuch as many of the children of the poorer families of Windsor Locks would otherwise have been deprived of the Mr. Coffin has always believed that advantages of higher educational training. education should be a preparation for life and that due attention should be paid to physical and moral as well as to the mental development of the young. At all times he has closely studied the educational needs of the community and the possibilities of meeting the requirements in this regard and his labors have been far-reaching and resultant. As a means of advancing the mental, physical and moral welfare of the youth of the community he is advocating and sponsoring a proposition to raise one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to build an addition to the school for the further accommodation of a larger number of pupils, a gymnasium, swimming pool and other accessories which promote the health of children. A department for medical and dental inspection has been established and is most systematically carried on, thorough examinations being given to children to determine if the eye, ear and other organs are normal, if there is indication of pulmonary or cardiac diseases, of epilepsy or skin diseases, or if there is evidence of malnutrition. In a word, this inspection provides a safeguard not only to the individual but to other pupils, and it is for the purpose of furnishing needed nursing care. Such a course cannot be overestimated in its worth.
In 1907 there came to Mr. Coffin a recognition of his splendid accomplishments in behalf of the school system through his efforts on the board of education in that his fellow townsmen, recognizing his marked public spirit and devotion to the general good, urged him to accept the nomination to represent his town in the state legisla- ture. This he consented to do and was not only chosen for the office in that year but was reelected in 1909, thus receiving public endorsement of his first term's service, in which he had introduced a bill that the state should purchase and take over the maintenance of four bridges over the Connecticut river, making them free
(Photograph by F. M. Johnson)
HERBERT R. COFFIN, (II)
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bridges. He largely concentrated his efforts upon the support of the bill promoting this measure and his untiring efforts ultimately led to its passage and the accom- plishment of his purpose. He did not hesitate to give time and effort to the project, for he fully recognized the value of such a course. A man of indomitable spirit, of earnestness of purpose and of marked diplomacy, he accomplishes what many others would fail to achieve. He is always approachable, readily makes friends and thereby has developed a marked influence among his fellowmen. In order to make known the value of the plan which he was fathering he entertained small groups of members of the legislature, taking them to see the bridges under discussion and demonstrating the necessity of making them free bridges that they might be of advantage to the entire state. His arguments were based upon such logic and wisdom that it was not difficult to convince his auditors. It was in appreciation of his effective work in making free these bridges for public use that he was unanimously nominated and elected for a second term regardless of party lines, and on the day when the Windsor Locks bridge became a free bridge it was made a gala occasion and Mr. Coffin was presented with a beautiful loving cup by the people of the town in appreciation of what he had accomplished. The entertainment was held on the lawn of his residence, where Mr. Coffin banqueted over eight hundred people, including the governor and the general assembly. His activities in freeing this bridge is doubly interesting on account of his being at the time a director and stockholder in the Windsor Locks and Warehouse Point Bridge and Ferry Company, his action proving him to be one of the few men who put public benefit above personal gain. During his first term in the legislature, he served on the committees on education and woman's suffrage and during the second term was a member of the committee on corporations and assign- ment of seats. It was due to Mr. Coffin's efforts in the 1909 session of the legislature that the amendment to the original charter of the Connecticut River Company was passed, allowing the company to proceed with the dam across the Connecticut river above the railroad bridge for the purpose of developing electric power for the use of Windsor Locks and vicinity. During his entire connection with the general assembly he gave thoughtful and earnest consideration to all vital problems which came up for settlement and earnestly supported those measures which he deemed of real worth as factors in the substantial development and upbuilding of the commonwealth.
On June 26, 1895, Herbert R. Coffin married Miss Jean T. Warburton, of Spring- field, Massachusetts, and they have become parents of three children, of whom two are living: Douglas Pierson Coffin, who is associated with his father in the firm of C. H. Dexter & Sons, Inc .; and Herbert Raymond Coffin (III), who is connected with the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company of Hartford. He is married and has two children, H. Raymond Coffin (IV) and Barbara Coffin.
Mrs. Herbert R. Coffin, like her husband has always been interested in projects for the general good and was one of those ladies who were active in establishing a public park for the town a number of years ago. In this enterprise she was associated with Miss Mary Burnap and Mrs. J. J. Burke and on the 20th of September, 1910, a lease was signed whereby the railroad property near the F. S. Bidwell Company's lumber yard was secured at a nominal rental of one dollar per year for park purposes that the children of the town might have a playground. For some time these ladies earned the money neces- sary for the project in giving entertainments, holding food sales and in other ways. Soon after the inauguration of the project Mrs. Julia S. Coffin, mother of Herbert R. Coffin, became a supporter of the park and made donation of a band stand and largely financed the project of holding excellent band concerts, which were greatly enjoyed by the general public for a number of years. In time the townspeople at large awoke to the value of the project and in 1914 voted three hundred dollars to maintain the park, but as this sum was insufficient, the ladies interested found it necessary to add to the amount. Later the town voted four hundred dollars annually and in July, 1920, the property was purchased by the town from the New York & New Haven Railroad. Land adjoining the park was owned by Mrs. Julia S. Coffin, who during all these years had leased it to the park commissioners, and thereon had been established a baseball ground and lawn tennis court. Following the death of Mrs. Julia S. Coffin this piece of property was purchased by the town and was greatly improved for park purposes. Early in 1928 the ball team endeavored to interest the park commissioners in the building of a grand stand, but after thoroughly considering the matter the committee thought the expense would be too great. Herbert R. Coffin then came forward with an offer to have a grand stand and a substantial back-stop fence, twenty-four feet high, built at a cost of several thousand dollars. This offer was accepted and on the 1st of June, 1928,
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the grand stand and fence were dedicated with an imposing celebration, at which time Mrs. Coffin presented to the town this splendid gift and giving the base ball club an excellent park and equipment for its games. There is an engraved tablet built in the fence with the words
Presented to the Windsor Locks Park by Mr. and Mrs. H. R. Coffin 1928.
From the inception of the town park, Mrs. Herbert R. Coffin has been most active in furthering the movement. The park is beautifully located, a portion of it being wooded and left in its natural state. There is a swimming pool at the lower end, which is to be cemented, and the public has greatly benefited by the splendid spirit which was back of the inception and development of this project.
Mr. and Mrs. Coffin are also deeply interested in the public library and have contributed both time and money to the enterprise. When funds were needed for the purchase of more books they opened their beautiful residence for a party, which was attended by about three hundred people of the town. This banquet and entertain- ment given by Mr. and Mrs. Coffin contributed greatly to the delight of the evening, which netted for the library over four hundred dollars.
In Masonic and club circles Mr. Coffin is widely known. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and an active member of Sphinx Temple of the Mystic Shrine, with which he has been identified since 1910. He has also been connected with the Sphinx Temple Patrol since 1914, has ever been greatly interested in the work, has served as secretary for a number of years and during the past three years has been on the executive committee. 'He likewise belongs to Syria Grotto of Hartford and he has membership in the Elks Lodge No. 1359 of Rockville Center. He belongs to the Exchange Club of Hartford, in which he is very active; the City Club of Hartford and the Masonic Club of Windsor Locks, and he was formerly chairman of the banquet com- mittee of the Business Men's Association of Windsor Locks, which during its existence entertained many out-of-town speakers, frequently holding banquets, which gave the townspeople opportunity to meet distinguished guests from other sections who addressed them on questions of vital interest.
A plan for the benefit of aviators for painting the name "Hartford" on several roofs of buildings in the city was recently instigated by the members of the Exchange Club of Hartford, in which plan Mr. Coffin is deeply interested and active in its accomplishment. At this writing, two such signs have already been completed and several more contemplated. The club has communicated with all Exchange Clubs of the state requesting them to take action and follow their example. Through the efforts of the members of the Exchange Club of Hartford, the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad officials have become interested, and in the near future it is probable the name of each city and town will be painted on the roofs of stations along the route of the railroad.
As an individual and characteristic of the man, Mr. Coffin has established a precedent by having the name of his home town, "Windsor Locks," painted in large letters on his private garage.
Mr. Coffin is richly endowed with that quality which for want of a better term has been called personal magnetism. He is a courteous, genial gentleman, radiating that spirit of human kindliness which sheds around him much of the sunshine of life. He has a legion of warm friends and his value as a citizen can scarcely be over- estimated, so effective has been his work in behalf of the welfare and progress of Windsor Locks. There is scarcely a feature of the town's development and upbuilding that does not bear the impress of his individuality and his progressive spirit. He finds his keenest joy in promoting the happiness of others, and while he is a strong, resourceful and forceful business man, he is at the same time a helpful neighbor, a generous associate and a loyal friend to all mankind.
DEXTER DRAKE COFFIN.
While Dexter Drake Coffin entered upon a business already long established upon a substantial basis, he has nevertheless shown a marked capability as a business man and by personal merit has worked his way upward until he is now assistant general manager and director of C. H. Dexter & Sons, Inc., which is operating an extensive paper manufacturing plant at Windsor Locks. He was born here April 8, 1898, the
(Photograph by John Haley)
DEXTER D. COFFIN
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only son of Arthur D. and Cora Loomis (Drake) Coffin. A sketch of his father, who is the president of C. H. Dexter & Sons, Inc., may be found on another page of this work.
In the acquirement of an education Dexter D. Coffin attended the public schools through the primary and intermediate grades, the Noah Webster public school of Hartford and later the Suffield school, the Phillips Academy at Andover, Massa- chusetts, and Yale University, completing his course in the Sheffield Scientific School with the class of 1920. Ere his course was finished, however, he had enlisted in 1918 as a machinist in the navy reserve, with which he remained until honorably dis- charged following the close of the war. In 1920 he joined his father at the C. H. Dexter & Sons, Inc., paper manufacturing plant, taking up the business as a workman in the laboratory until he had acquainted himself with various phases of production there. He afterward turned his attention to the sales department and after a time he was made assistant treasurer and assistant general manager and was also elected to the directorate, so that he secured a seat in the councils which formulate the policy of the corporation and direct the development of the business. That "power grows through the exercise of effort" is manifest in the life of Mr. Coffin, whose labors in the various departments of the business have brought him wide knowledge and efficiency, so that his work is now a valuable contributing element to the general success of the undertaking.
On June 30, 1921, Mr. Coffin was married to Miss Elizabeth Dorr, of Brooklyn, New York, daughter of Roy L. and Mary (Eaton) Dorr. Mr. and Mrs. Coffin have two sons: Dexter Drake, Jr., who was born in Brooklyn, April 28, 1922; and David Linwood, born in Windsor Locks, December 15, 1925. Mr. and Mrs. Coffin are promi- nent socially and they are also active members in the Windsor Locks Congregational church. He is a trustee of the Suffield School, of Suffield, Connecticut. He is identi- fied with Gensi-Viola Camp No. 36 of the American Legion and he has membership in Euclid Lodge, No. 109, A. F. & A. M. He became a member of the Phi Sigma Kappa at Yale and belongs to the Phi Sigma Kappa Club of New York city. He is also a member of the Suffield Country Club, of Suffield, Connecticut, the Shelter Harbor Country Club, of Westerly, Rhode Island, the Hartford Club, and the Lake Sunapee Yacht Club of Sunapee, New Hampshire, and he has an extensive acquaint- ance throughout this part of the state, where his important business and social inter- ests have brought him into prominence, while the sterling traits of his character have gained him the warm regard of many associates.
MORTON CARTER SWIFT
The life record of Morton Carter Swift covered a period of almost eighty-one years and his course at all times commanded the highest confidence and esteem of his fellowmen. He was born in Warren, Connecticut, on the 1st of August, 1843, to Edmund and Mary (Wadsworth) Swift and after acquiring his preliminary educa- tion in the local schools he entered the Poughkeepsie Business College and through his training there qualified for the duties and responsibilities of business life. It was then that he entered the New Britain Malleable Iron Works, of which his father was president. He applied himself closely to mastering the business in principle and detail and he was active in promoting the expansion of what became one of the important productive industries of this section of the state. The company had a well equipped plant and its business methods were ever such as required no disguise but would bear the closest investigation and scrutiny. As his experience increased Morton C. Swift contributed to the continued success of the enterprise and at the time of his demise was serving as secretary and treasurer of the corporation. He was also well known in financial circles as a director of the New Britain Trust Company and was regarded as a man of particularly sound judgment and of clear vision in business management and control.
On Christmas day of 1873, at Kensington, Connecticut, Mr. Swift married Miss Kate Upson and to them were born four children: Bertha Harrison, Edward P., Mildred and Helen. The family circle was broken by the hand of death when on
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the 6th of June, 1924, Mr. Swift was called to his final rest, when in the eighty-first year of his age. His had been a long, active and useful life in which he had accom- plished his purposes in business, while in matters of citizenship he had ever stood for that which was of most worth to the community. His name was an honored one wherever he was known and most of all where he was best known. He enjoyed the warm friendship and high regard of all with whom he was brought in contact and his passing was a matter of deep regret to many friends but most of all to the members of his own household, for he had long exemplified the sterling traits which made him a devoted husband and father, finding his greatest happiness in minister- ing to the welfare of his family.
JOSEPH RALPH ENSIGN
Throughout his entire business career Joseph Ralph Ensign has been identified with the Ensign, Bickford Company of Simsbury and was called to the presidency thereof in 1917, so that for a period of eleven years he has been the directing head of this enterprise, which figures as one of the chief business interests of Hartford county.
Mr. Ensign was born on the 24th of November, 1868, in the village where his labors center, being the only son of Ralph H. and Susan (Toy) Ensign. He is a direct descendant of James Ensign, a native of England, who after residing for a time in Cambridge, Massachusetts, removed to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1634. The family name is of Saxon origin and was known in England as far back as 1563. James Ensign came to Hartford with the Rev. Thomas Hooker and assisted in organ- izing the Second church. He died in November, 1670. His only son, David Ensign, was born in 1645 and married Mehitable Gunn, daughter of Thomas Gunn, of Wind- sor. Later he married Sarah Wilcox, who died February 3, 1717. David Ensign removed to West Hartford, where he organized the Congregational church, and there died December 12, 1727.
Thomas Ensign, the youngest son of David Ensign, married Hannah Shepherd, daughter of John and Rebecca (Greenhill) Shepherd, and their children included Moses Ensign, who was born in South Windsor, where in 1731 he married Love Andrews.
Their son, Isaac Ensign, was the great-grandfather of Joseph R. Ensign of this review. Isaac Ensign was born in West Hartford, where he was reared, and about 1771 he established a blacksmith shop in Simsbury. Here he married Luranah Petti- bone and they had a family of ten children. Their eighth son was Moses Ensign, who was born in Simsbury and engaged in manufacturing tinware. He married Martha Tuller Whiting. He was a democrat in politics and a prominent member and officer of the Congregational church. He died at the age of seventy and his wife when fifty-six years of age.
Among their children was Ralph H. Ensign, who was born November 3, 1834, in Simsbury, and after attending the local schools studied in the Connecticut Literary Institute at Suffield and subsequently in the Wilbraham Academy. In vacation periods he assisted in his father's blacksmith shop and in the work of the farm. When twenty-one years of age he went to Suffield, where he was assistant foreman in the employ of Samuel Austin, a cigar manufacturer, and for a brief period he lived in Georgia with his elder brothers, who were engaged in business in that state. On his return to Connecticut he became a clerk in Tariffville and later established mercan- tile business on his own account. In August, 1863, he became an employe of Toy, Bickford & Company, fuse manufacturers of Simsbury, and in 1870 was admitted to a partnership. On the 1st of April, 1887, when the business was reorganized under the style of Ensign, Bickford & Company, he became manager of the oldest and largest blasting fuse manufacturing plant in the country, a branch being also con- ducted at Brooklyn, California. Politically Ralph H. Ensign was a democrat and a member of the state legislature in 1876. Fraternally he was a Mason and in religious faith a Methodist. He was married July 21, 1863, to Susan Toy, a native of Cornwall, England, and a daughter of Joseph and Jane (Osler) Toy, who came with their family to the United States, so that she was reared in Simsbury.
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