History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III, Part 18

Author: Burpee, Charles W. (Charles Winslow), b. 1859
Publication date: 1928
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1390

USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III > Part 18

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After attending the public schools Samuel M. Stone secured a situation in the retail hardware business conducted by his two uncles at Urbana, and was thus employed for three years. He was next associated with the Simmons Hardware Company of St. Louis for a period of fourteen years, and during the last decade was in charge of one division of the buying department of this store, which is the largest hardware establishment in the world. It brought him intimate knowledge concerning the value of metals and wide experience of a varied character, so that he was well qualified for further duties and responsibilities when in February, 1905, he accepted a situation as traveling representative with Colt's Patent Fire Arms Company, of Hart- ford, Connecticut. In 1907 he was advanced to the position of sales manager and continued to travel until 1916, when he was elected vice president of the company, and five years later succeeded the late Colonel William C. Skinner as president of the corporation. In this connection he controls a mammoth manufacturing concern, nor are his efforts confined alone to this line, for various business interests have profited by his sound judgment, his unfaltering purpose and his well formulated plans. He is a director of the Phoenix State Bank & Trust Company, the Hartford Electric Light Company, the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Company, the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, and the American Reserve Insurance Company. He is also a trustee of the Dime Savings Bank, a director of the Atlantic Screw Works, and vice president and director of the Humason Manufacturing Com- pany of Forestville, Connecticut.

On the 16th of November, 1898, Samuel M. Stone was united in marriage to Miss Alice Bailey, a daughter of Rufus and Ermina (Jones) Bailey, of St. Louis. Their children are: IIenry Taylor, born November 4, 1903; and John MacDonald, born April 8, 1908.

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In his political views Mr. Stone has always been a stalwart republican but without aspiration for political honors or office. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and Mystic Shriner and he belongs to the Hartford Club and the Country Club of Farm- ington. More strictly in the path of his life work he has connection with the Manu- facturers Association of Connecticut and the Manufacturers Association of Hartford County and is a director of both. He has never withheld his support from projects for the public good and has rendered beneficial service to the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and to the American School for the Deaf as a trustee. In his vocabulary there is no such word as fail, and he has never stopped short of the successful accom- plishment of his purpose, whether in the field of public service or of private achieve- ment in the ranks of business. He has ever responded to the call of opportunity and has steadily climbed to eminence in the business world.

DWIGHT NATHANIEL HEWES

With many of the public activities which have made for progress and improve- ment in Hartford, Dwight Nathaniel Hewes was closely and helpfully associated and thus it was that his death on the 15th of November, 1926, removed a valuable citizen. He was long prominently known as the secretary of the Mellen & Hewes Company. He was born in Suffield, Connecticut, August 5, 1853, his parents being Nathaniel and Emeline (Gambell) Hewes. His ancestral line is traced back to an early period in the settlement of New England. His great-grandfather, Nathaniel Hewes, was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts, February 24, 1747, and married Sarah Freeman, who was born at Mansfield, Connecticut, November 16, 1749. Both passed away at Lyme, New Hampshire, the former on December 16, 1808, while his wife died March 26, 1851, at the venerable age of one hundred and one years. They were the parents of ten children, the youngest being Moody Hewes, who was born May 31, 1795, in Lyme, New Hampshire, where he spent his entire life. He married Susan Hurlburt and their son, Nathaniel Hewes, was born in Lyme, New Hampshire, in 1823, but in early manhood became a resident of Suffield, Connecticut. His wife, Emeline Gambell, was a daughter of Hiram Gambell and died in 1888, while Nathaniel Hewes died in 1911.

Dwight Nathaniel Hewes, who was the second in order of birth of their three children, spent his boyhood days in Suffield, where he attended the public schools and then started out in the business world as a bookkeeper in the employ of David Wood- ruff at Thompsonville, Connecticut. Subsequently he removed to Mount Sterling, Ohio, but after spending a brief period there as clerk in a store he established his home in Hartford in 1878 and here entered the employ of James G. Welles & Company, crockery dealers, at No. 27 Asylum street. He represented that house as a traveling salesman for about two years and in 1880 became associated with the firm of C. F. Hurd & Company, who were in the same line of business on Main street. Afterward the firm became Hurd & Mellen, and when on the 1st of March, 1890, Mr. Hewes acquired an interest in the business, the firm style of Hurd, Mellen & Hewes was assumed. This was changed to the Mellen & Hewes Company in 1896, at which time Mr. Mellen became president and Mr. Hewes secretary. At two different periods Mr. Hewes traveled as representative of the house, but the major part of his attention was given to the development of the local trade and he contributed in substantial measure to the success of the company, with which he was associated until about seven years prior to his death, when he retired, resigning his position as secretary of the company.

On the 14th of November, 1882, in Hartford, Mr. Hewes was married to Miss Fannie A. Wilcox, a daughter of Captain William and Mary Wilcox, of East Hartford. She passed away in 1918, leaving a daughter, Marion, now the wife of Henry Ramnı, of Avon. In 1920 Mr. Hewes wedded Miss Fannie Gabriel, of Hartford, who sur- vives him.

Mr. Hewes was at one time an active member of the Hartford Board of Trade and was a prominent figure in the Hartford Business Men's Association, of which he became the first president and served for five years. He was also president of the State Business Men's Association for one term. He was also a member of the street board from 1901 until 1906. He held membership in the Royal Arcanum and in the Veteran Corps of Company K, Connecticut National Guard, the Hartford Yacht Club

(Photograph by Johnstone)

DWIGHT N. HEWES

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and the Hartford Revolver Club. He was likewise a Mason, belonging to Hartford Lodge, A. F. & A. M. He was especially interested in the Connecticut Children's Aid Society, of which he served as vice president and director for more than ten years, while in 1916 he was appointed managing director and was assistant secretary of the same until 1922. This indicates something of the broad humanitarian spirit which guided him through all the relations of life and was manifest in kindliness and prac- tical helpfulness to those who needed assistance. He met with substantial success in business, but he left to his family also that priceless heritage of an untarnished name which is rather to be chosen than great riches.

WILLIAM RUSSELL CONE CORSON

William Russell Cone Corson is now president of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Company, his identification with that corporation dating from 1907, when he entered its service in the capacity of engineer and soon demon- strated his skill in a way that has given rise to his steady advancement until he now occupies the place of executive power and direction with one of the foremost business interests of Hartford. His birth occurred in New York, February 18, 1870, his parents being Dr. Adam Clarke and Henrietta (Cone) Corson. The family, of French origin, was founded in America by Cornelius de Coursen, who following the revoca- tion of the Edict of Nantes, by Louis XIV, on October 18, 1685, was one of the great band of Huguenots who embarked on two vessels for South Carolina but through storm at sea or some other cause were landed on Staten Island and from there went to New Jersey. The will of Cornelius de Coursen, dated December 9, 1692, and probated December 7, 1693, left his land and property to his wife, Maritje. One of their sons, Benjamin Corson, removed to Bucks county, Pennsylvania, while Jacob Corson, another son, remained on Staten Island. Other sons were Christian, Cor- nelius and Daniel and early records mention Cornelius as a justice of the peace. At the time of the Revolutionary war some of the family were Loyalists whose property was confiscated and who had to flee to Canada. It is from the Canadian line that William R. C. Corson of Hartford is descended. His grandfather, Rev. Robert Corson, a Methodist Episcopal minister, was born in Toronto and married Aimee Freeland. Their son, Dr. Adam Clarke Corson, was born in Dumfries, York county, New Bruns- wick, January 20, 1839, and won his M. D. degree in 1865. He served as a surgeon in the United States army for two and one-half years, being stationed at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, and afterward sailed on the vessels of the old American Line as ship's surgeon. In 1868 he established his home in New York and thence moved to Hartford, where he practiced successfully until his death five years later. He was a member of the Connecticut State Medical Society and of the Hartford Medical Library Association and his high social and professional standing was indicated in the memorial prepared at his death. He was married August 27, 1867, to Henrietta Cone, a native of Hartford and a daughter of William Russell and Rebecca (Brewster) Cone, the latter a daughter of James Brewster, a prominent carriage builder of New Haven, and a descendant of Elder William Brewster of Mayflower fame. Mrs. Corson's father, William Russell Cone, was graduated from Yale University with the class of 1830 and from the Yale Law School in 1832 and began practice the same year in Hartford, being for some time a member of the firm of Hungerford & Cone, occupying high rank at the Hartford bar. In 1857 they erected the Hartford Trust Company building at the corner of Main street and Central Row, then the finest structure in the city. Mr. Cone was a director and from 1869 until 1887 president of the Aetna Bank, was a director of the Aetna Fire Insurance Company and the Con- necticut River Railroad Company and a trustee for the Society for Savings. At his death, on the 10th of January, 1890, he was the oldest member of the Hartford city bar and had resided in the capital for sixty years. His daughter became the wife of Dr. Corson and after his demise she continued her residence in Hartford, the place of her birth. She was the mother of two daughters and a son: Alice Brewster, who was born June 23, 1868, and died in childhood; William R. C .; and Aimee Freeland, who was born October 20, 1871, and became the wife of George W. Ellis of Hartford. Both George W. and Aimee Freeland (Corson) Ellis are deceased.

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William Russell Cone Corson, the only son of Dr. Adam Clarke and Henrietta (Cone) Corson, is indebted to the public schools of Hartford for his early educational opportunities, which were supplemented by study in Yale University, from which he received his Bachelor's degree in 1891. His start in the business world was made in a humble capacity with the Eddy Electric Manufacturing Company of Windsor, Connecticut, but industry and fidelity gained him successive promotions until eventually he was made superintendent of the factory and later secretary of the company, which went out of business in 1901, at which time Mr. Corson became a consulting engineer, opening his office in Hartford for private practice. In 1907, however, he became a representative of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Company as an engineer. His superior ability led to his election to the office of assistant secretary in 1909, while in 1916 he became secretary and in 1921 was chosen vice president and treasurer. The year 1927 brought him election to the presidency of this strong corporation, giving him executive power over and administrative direction in one of the most important companies of the kind in America. His high standing in profes- sional circles is indicated in the fact that he is an associate member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. Aside from the responsibility that devolves upon him as president of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Company he has various other large business interests, being a director of the Boiler Inspection & Insurance Company of Canada, Aetna Insurance Company, World Fire & Marine Insurance Company, Aetna Life Insurance Company, Aetna Casualty & Surety Com- pany, Automobile Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut Mutual Life Insur- ance Company, Hartford County Mutual Fire Insurance Company, Hartford National Bank & Trust Company and the Bankers Trust Company and a trustee of the Society for Savings.

In early manhood Mr. Corson married Marion Fay Lyles, a daughter of James Henry Lyles of Brooklyn, New York, and they now have two daughters: Dorothy Lyles, the wife of John M. Ellis of New York; and Mildred Cone, the wife of John Richard Cook of Hartford. The religious faith of Mr. and Mrs. Corson is indicated in their membership in the Trinity Episcopal church, in which he has served as vestryman. He has pleasant social connections through his membership in the Hartford, Hartford Golf and Automobile clubs of Hartford and the Yale Club of New York city. His military record covers service with Company B of the First Regiment, Connecticut State Guard. His interest in organizations having to do with the welfare of the state is manifest in his service as secretary of the Wadsworth Atheneum, secretary of the Watkinson Library and trustee of the Hartford Retreat. At the present writing he is a director of the American School for the Deaf and of the Hartford Retreat. During the World war period he was conservation engineer for the state of Connecticut under the United States fuel commission. Important and extensive as are his business interests, he has always found time for cooperation in those plans and measures which have to do with the upbuilding of the state, for the amelioration of hard conditions of life for the unfortunate or for the upholding of civic standards. He has thus met the duties and obligations of citizenship, while in the conduct of his private business interests his has been a notable career, for he has steadily progressed in a profession where advancement depends entirely upon individual effort. His ability, natural and acquired, has led him steadily forward and high on the roll of Hartford's leading business men now appears the name of William Russell Cone Corson.

GEORGE WOODBRIDGE MERROW

To the business development and consequent prosperity of his native state George Woodbridge Merrow is making substantial contribution and is numbered among the captains of industry of Hartford. His interests are now of large importance, for he is one of the owners of the business conducted under the name of the Merrow Machine Company and is fully sustaining the high reputation with which the name of Merrow has been associated in manufacturing circles through three generations. He was born in Mansfield, Connecticut, June 18, 1852, and is a son of Joseph B. and Harriet (Millard) Merrow, who for many years resided in the town of Merrow, so named in honor of the grandfather, Joseph Makins Merrow, who prior to 1819 was engaged in

(Photograph by The Johnstone Studio)

GEORGE W. MERROW

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business in Hartford, where he built a glass factory, and later he built the first knitting mill in the United States at Merrow in the year 1836. His son, Joseph B., became associated with the business, which in turn was taken over by his sons.

In the meantime George W. Merrow had obtained a public and high school educa- tion in Hartford and had continued his studies in the Munson Academy at Munson, Massachusetts, after which he began assisting his father and was admitted to a partnership in the business in 1875 under the firm style of J. B. Merrow & Sons, his brother, Joseph M., also entering the firm. The father passed away in Mansfield in 1897. The business was continued by J. B. Merrow & Sons until 1888, when the mill at Merrow was destroyed by fire, and they removed to Norwich, Connecticut, where they began the manufacture of overseaming machinery. Three times the company has suffered loss by fire, but with characteristic courage and energy has rebuilt. It was in the knitting mills of the Merrow Company in which were used the first knitting machines run by power in the United States. With the removal to Norwich the com- pany began to manufacture crochet machines and today the output of the plant con- sists of the Merrow overseam and shell stitch machines for finishing raw edges of all kinds of knitted and woven fabrics, these machines being the invention of Joseph M. Merrow, brother and partner of George W. Merrow, who has taken out over one hundred patents on his machinery. The business was continued at Norwich until 1893, when it was moved to Hartford, and the stimulating effect of this change, which brought about improved conditions, was at once evident. The business is now of extensive and gratifying proportions, the company maintaining offices all over the United States, in Europe and in other parts of the world as well, the machines being sold in many sections of the globe. George W. Merrow's official connection with the business is that of treasurer and his efforts are largely given to administrative direc- tion and executive control of this industry, which has become one of the foremost business concerns of Connecticut. He is also the treasurer of the Highland Court Corporation.

On the 1st of February, 1881, Mr. Merrow was united in marriage to Miss Eliza- beth Griswold Gurley, a daughter of Charles A. and Ellen Gurley, of Pulaski, New York, and they are now parents of six children. Pauline is the wife of Monroe E. Baker, an attorney of Dallas, Texas, their family now numbering three children: William, Joseph and Ellen. Paul G., the eldest son, is connected with the Merrow Machine Company in Hartford. John G. G., who is manager of the New York office of the Merrow Machine Company and resides in Newark, New Jersey, married Eliza- beth Matches of Summit, New Jersey, and they have three children: Griswold G., Wolcott Kenneth and Marjorie. Ellen E. is now the head of Routh Pines, a school for children to the age of fourteen years, situated in Samarcand, North Carolina. Harriet is the wife of Dr. John Landon of New York and has one child, Elizabeth Merrow. Oliver Wolcott, who is also with the Merrow Machine Company as manager of the Philadelphia office, married Mildred Baxter, of Stamford, Connecticut.

Mr. Merrow has always given his political allegiance to the republican party and is recognized as a leader in its ranks, having been chosen to represent the town of Mansfield in the state legislature in 1881. He belongs to the Hartford Yacht Club and to the Mansfield Fish and Game Club, associations which indicate something of the nature of his recreation. His sterling qualities are many and his worth as a man, as a manufacturer and as a citizen is widely acknowledged.

JOSIAH HENRY PECK

Josiah Henry Peck, attorney at law, the consensus of public opinion placing him among the leaders of the Hartford bar, was born in Bristol, Connecticut, March 5, 1873, and is a son of Miles Lewis and Mary Harriet (Seymour) Peck. He traces his lineage back to Paul Peck, who in 1635 arrived in Boston, having crossed the broad Atlantic from England. The following year he became a resident of Hartford, owning a farm on what is now Washington street, near the present site of the state capitol, and he was a deacon in the First Church of Hartford. In another ancestral line was found William Lewis, who came from England in 1632, and whose great- grandson, Josiah Lewis, together with Zebulon Peck, the great-grandson, of Paul Peck, removed to Bristol in 1748, since which time their descendants have figured prominently

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in connection with the history of that city. The parents of Miles Lewis Peck were Josiah Tracy and Ellen Lewis (Barnard) Peck, the former having been an insurance agent of Bristol and deputy collector of internal revenue during the Civil war period. He was afterward judge of probate and he took active and prominent part in everything pertaining to the welfare of town and county. On the home farm his son, Miles Lewis Peck, was reared and after attending the Williston Seminary of Easthampton, Massachusetts, for a short time he continued his studies in the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut at Cheshire. In 1868 he went abroad, devoting a year to study and travel in Europe, and on his return became his father's assistant in the insurance business. He was appointed and served as county surveyor. In 1870 he and his father were instrumental in organizing the Bristol Savings Bank, of which he took active charge, although his father was nominally treasurer. In 1871 Mr. Peck, then twenty-one years of age, was made treasurer and after many years' service in that office he is now president of the bank. His name has also been known in other bus- iness connections, for in 1905 he was elected president of the Bristol and Plainville Tramway Company, which extended its scope to include other utilities, and he also became president of the Liberty Bell Company, a manufacturing concern. He has taken an active part in politics as a republican and has been instrumental in bring- ing about needed reforms and improvements.

Josiah Henry Peck, one of the five children of Miles L. Peck, is indebted to the public school system of his native city for his early educational advantages, there pursuing his high school course. He afterward entered Yale College and gained his Bachelor of Arts degree at his graduation in 1895. Attracted to the profession of law, he next entered the Harvard Law School and won his LL. B. degree in 1898. The same year he was admitted to the bar and located for practice in New York city, where he continued until 1901, when he returned to Hartford. Through the intervening period of twenty-seven years he has practiced here, and if the true measure of success is determined by what one has accomplished, Mr. Peck deserves classification with the leading lawyers of Hartford. As an attorney he is sound, clear-minded and well trained, is familiar with the long line of decisions from Mar- shall down and is at home in all departments of the law. He is felicitous and clear in argument, thoroughly in earnest, full of the vigor of conviction, imbued with the highest courtesy and yet a foe worthy of the steel of the ablest opponent.

On the 12th of November, 1902, Mr. Peck was married to Miss Maude Helen Tower, a daughter of the Rev. Francis E. and Ella (Shepardson) Tower, of Provid- ence, Rhode Island. He has membership in the Hartford Club, the University Club and the Republican Club, all of Hartford, and also in the Bristol Club. Along strictly professional lines his membership connection is with the Hartford County, Connecticut State and American Bar Associations and at all times his course has maintained the dignity and stability of the profession to which life and liberty must look for protection.

FREDERICK BRANT RENTSCHLER

That Frederick Brant Rentschler is a man of initiative and broad vision is shown by his early entrance into active connection with aviation interests, a connection that dates from 1919, and since 1925 he has been president of the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company. Born in Hamilton, Ohio, November 8, 1887, he is a son of George A. and Phoebe E. (Schwab) Rentschler, who continued residents of Hamilton for many years. He obtained his education in the grade and high schools of that city and then entered Princeton University, where he won his Bachelor of Science degree in 1909. Returning to his home in Ohio, he became associated with the Hooven-Owens-Rentschler Com- pany, manufacturers of Corliss engines, of which his father was the organizer and president, continuing a prominent factor in the successful control of that business until the time of his death, May 21, 1921. At that time Frederick B. Rentschler and his brother, Gordon S., became the active managers of the business, which is still being carried on under the management today of a younger brother, George A. Rentschler.

Thus the early business experience of Frederick B. Rentschler made him familiar with engine construction, as he mastered every phase of the work. He remained in the

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BACHRACH

FREDERICK B. RENTSCHLER

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HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT

firm until May, 1917, when he enlisted in the air service of the United States army, being commissioned a first lieutenant in that month. He was first stationed in Wash- ington and later in New York, where he had charge of the construction of aviation engines for army air service in the New York district and was on duty in that capacity until honorably discharged in May, 1919, with the rank of captain. After the war he organized the Wright Aeronautical Corporation and carried on business first in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and afterward in Paterson, New Jersey, in the building of aviation engines. He remained as president of that company until August 1, 1925, when he came to Hartford and organized the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company, of which he became president and so continues. The knowledge of engines which he gained in young manhood has been of immense value to him, constituting a safe foundation on which to build his later activities. He has studied the question of aviation from every angle and the company of which he is now the head is bringing forth an aircraft engine of the greatest stability and value. Mr. Rentschler has been instrumental in developing a wonderful organization which is now engaged in build- ing the famous Wasp and Hornet engines, both of which have been adopted by the army and the navy. Their sales are constantly increasing as the result of the rapid development in aviation and the business is now one of large proportions.

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History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III, Part 18

Author: Burpee, Charles W. (Charles Winslow), b. 1859 Publication date: 1928 Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Number of Pages: 1390

Author: Burpee, Charles W. (Charles Winslow), b. 1859
Publication date: 1928
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1390