History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III, Part 20

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 20

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JAMES H. PRATT

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to the business of the Southington Cutlery Company. It was in 1910 that Mr. Pratt took over the active management and executive control of the business and instituted a policy which has resulted in the steady expansion of its trade relations, necessitating frequent enlargements of the plant, which today gives employment to more people than any other of the manufacturing industries of the town with one exception. The output includes wood screws and steel squares and a line of carpenter's tools. The plant is one of large area and the business has had a continuous existence since October, 1867, when the Southington Cutlery Company was incorporated. In 1869 the stockholders voted to engage in the manufacture of squares, and such has been the steady growth of this branch of the business that the manufacture of cutlery was discontinued in 1905. Today the company is capitalized for five hundred thousand dollars. In July, 1908, the name was changed to the Southington Hardware Company and there has been little change in the personnel of the corporation in recent years, Mr. Pratt serving continuously as president for eighteen years, with Frances M. Gridley as treasurer for fourteen years, and William E. Smith as secretary since 1916. Several of its directors have also been upon the board through an extended period and the business is regarded as one of the safe and stable concerns of Southington, where its steady development bears testimony to the capability and broad vision of those who control its destinies. In addition to his connection with the Southington Hardware Company, Mr. Pratt is a director and vice president of the Blakeslee Forging Company, director of the Southington Savings Bank, president of the Southington Bank & Trust Company, and a director of the Atwater Manufacturing Company, Clark Bros. Bolt Company and the Peck, Starr & Wilcox Company.

On the 12th of September, 1877, Mr. Pratt was united in marriage to Miss Nellie A. Kibbey, of Newport, New Hampshire, and they became parents of four children, but all died in early life save a daughter, Marjorie D. The wife and mother passed away June 1, 1904, and on the 12th of November, 1907, Mr. Pratt married Mary Lane, of New Haven, Connecticut. His religious faith is that of the Congregational church and his political belief that of the republican party. He is a Knight Templar Mason, and that he gets his recreation largely on the links is indicated in his membership in the Southington Golf Club and the Parsons Golf Association. His social qualities make for friendship, his business enterprise has led to success, and the sterling traits of his character are attested by all with whom he has come in contact.

ISAAC ALMARIN ALLEN, JR.

That Isaac Almarin Allen, Jr., entered the field of labor for which nature intended him is manifest in the development of his powers, ranking him with the foremost architects of Connecticut, success crowning his efforts from the time when he made his initial step in the business world. That there is no royal road to success, however, is a truth of which he was cognizant from the beginning, and industry, study and perseverance have played a most important part in his record. His birth occurred in Enfield, Connecticut, May 22, 1859, his parents being Isaac Almarin and Harriet Jane (Carrier) Allen, whose family numbered four daughters and an only son. His grandfather, Chauncey Allen, was a leading farmer and dealer in leaf tobacco who left a large property when he passed away at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. His brother, Isaac Allen, removed from Enfield to Clarkson, Monroe county, New York, and won success in agricultural pursuits there. At the age of eighteen years he was serving as a colonel in the War of 1812. Isaac Almarin Allen, Sr., also followed the occupation of farming, having extensive acreage which he wisely and systematically cultivated. His wife, Harriet Jane Carrier, was a descendant of John Hancock, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Her great-grandmother was a sister of the three Hancock brothers who brought with them from England a bushel of silver coin, with a portion of which they bought land from the Indians in what is now the township of Wethersfield. The grandfather of Isaac A. Allen, Jr., in the maternal line was Omri Gates Carrier, a son of Omri and Rebeckah (Parsons) Car- rier. Omri Gates Carrier married Harriet A. Potter, who was a descendant of Cap- tain Ephraim Pease, at whose home in Enfield George Washington was once a guest. The grandmother of Mr. Allen in the paternal line, Mary (Pease) Allen, was also

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a descendant of Captain Ephraim Pease and thus through both lines he is a repre- sentative of old and honored New England families.

Spending his youthful days on his father's farm, Isaac A. Allen, Jr., attended the Enfield and Thompsonville high schools to the age of nineteen years, when he took the initial step that has led him to the prominent and honorable position which he occupies in professional circles today. He began learning the carpenter's trade with the firm of Kinney & Phelps, contractors in New Haven, and soon became an expert workman, so that he was made superintendent of the construction of many important buildings. His evenings were largely devoted to drawing plans and his thought and study was directed almost exclusively in the field in which he was destined to make notable advance. From 1879 until 1886 his work took him at various periods to New Haven, Glen Island, New York, Stony Creek, Ansonia, Bridgeport and various other places. In January, 1884, he entered the office of David R. Brown, an architect of New Haven, with whom he remained for about a year and then resumed work at his trade. In 1886 he returned to Enfield at his father's request and assisted in the work of the farm, while during the same period he erected several buildings there. In March, 1889, he resumed his relation with David R. Brown, architect of New Haven, and a year later entered the employ of Frederick S. Newman, an architect of Spring- field, Massachusetts. His capability was manifest in his steady and rapid develop- ment and progress there and he had attained such a degree of efficiency in 1891 that he was sent to open a branch office in Philadelphia, which later became Mr. Newman's main office. In 1893 his employer sent him to Hartford to open a branch office and to superintend the construction of the Ballerstein building. Three years later he purchased Mr. Newman's business at Hartford and has since practiced his profession here. His natural talent and acquired ability have placed him in the front rank of the leading architects of Connecticut and many of the finest structures of the city stand as monuments to his skill. He has furnished plans and specifications for approxim- ately a thousand buildings in Hartford and in other cities of Connecticut and neigh- boring states and his name is thus inseparably associated with the development of the capital, his labors added much to its beauty.

On the 9th of September, 1890, Mr. Allen was united in marriage to Miss Mary Elizabeth Willson, of Thompsonville, Connecticut, a daughter of Daniel Sumner and Nancy (Gaylord) Willson. They have become parents of three children: Willson, born in Enfield, August 17, 1891; Charles Almarin, born in Hartford, June 23, 1894; and Grace Elizabeth, born in Hartford, June 25, 1898.

Fraternally Mr. Allen is a Mason, belonging to St. John's Lodge, No. 4, F. & A. M .; Pythagoras Chapter, No. 17, R. A. M .; Wolcott Council, No. 1, R. & S. M .; Wash- ington Commandery, No. 1, K. T .; Connecticut Sovereign Consistory, S. P. R. S .; and Sphinx Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He has also been a member of the Sphinx Temple Band and he has connection with the Oasis Club, the Hartford Business Men's Association, the Hartford Board of Trade and the Putnan Phalanx. His activities and his interests are broad and have always been of a helpful character, contributing to the civic progress as well as the material development of Hartford. His life record shows what can be accomplished through individual effort and presistency of purpose, for steadily he has advanced until the consensus of public opinion places him in the front rank of Connecticut architects.

JOSEPH WATSON BEACH

Joseph Watson Beach, organizer of the insurance firm of Beach, Foreman & Con- pany of Hartford, has made steady progress and today a large clientele is indicative of his enterprising methods and thorough reliability in business affairs. Since his textbooks were put aside and he made his initial step in the business world he has been associated with insurance interests. Mr. Beach was born in Hartford, March 26, 1888, his parents being Dr. Charles Coffin and Mary (Batterson) Beach, of this city, the latter a daughter of the late James Batterson, founder of the Travelers Insur- ance Company.

At the usual age Joseph W. Beach entered the public schools, mastering the work in successive grades until he had finished his high school course, when he matriculated in Williams College at Williamstown, Massachusetts, and afterward pursued his

( Photograph by The Johnstone Studio)

JOSEPH W. BEACH

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studies in the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. His active association with the Travelers Insurance Company dates from 1910, when he began work in the local office, resolutely setting himself to the task of mastering the business in all of its phases. He worked in various branches until 1913 and then went abroad, spending a goodly portion of that and the succeeding year in travel in foreign lands, which is ever a valuable experience. Upon his return he became underwriter in the liability department of the Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company and so remained until March, 1917, when he formed a partnership with George Lisle Forman under the firm style of Beach, Forman & Company, handling general insurance and representing all the Travelers companies. Few men are today able to speak with equal authority upon insurance questions and in all that he has undertaken Mr. Beach has shown great thoroughness, with capacity for handling detail as well as directing the great principles which are the underlying elements of insurance. He likewise has other business connections, being a director of the Hartford Building & Loan Association.

It was on the 25th of April, 1912, that Mr. Beach was married to Miss Jessie Anderson, a daughter of Robert and Jessie (Goodwyn) Anderson, of Petersburg, Vir- ginia, and they are now parents of a son and a daughter: Joseph Batterson, born July 5, 1916; and Anne Harrison, born January 21, 1924.

When the country was involved in the World war Mr. Beach put aside family, business and other relations to enlist in June, 1918, in the United States navy, being stationed at Nantucket on duty on one of the submarine chasers, receiving his dis- charge in January, 1919, as a second class gunner. In club circles he is widely and favorably known, having membership in the Hartford Club, the Hartford Golf Club and the Fishers Island Club, also in the Petersburg Country Club of Petersburg, Virginia. Fraternally he is a Mason. His political views are in accord with the principles of the republican party and he is now serving as a member of the high school committee, while his interest in community affairs is further shown in his connection with the Chamber of Commerce, his aid and influence being at all times given to further any plan or project which has to do with the upbuilding and welfare of his native city.

ERNEST C. PERRY

Ernest C. Perry, vice president of the Perry Electric Company and one of the fire commissioners of Hartford, is a young man who has already made for himself a name and place that argues well for future successful achievement and advance- ment. He was born in Keene, New Hampshire, November 17, 1891, and is a son of Gilbert and Mary (Bouvier) Perry. The father was a native of Canada and the mother of Vermont, and after a period of residence in Keene, New Hampshire, they removed to Hartford in 1898, Mr. Perry here passing away in 1923. His widow sur- vives and yet makes her home in this city, where they reared their family of eleven children.

Ernest C. Perry was a lad of seven summers when the family home was estab- lished in Hartford, where he attended the public schools but put aside his textbooks in order to learn the electrical business and provided for his own support by entering the employ of Rice & Baldwin. There he applied himself earnestly to the thorough mastery of the business and gradually increased his knowledge, skill and efficiency, so that in 1914, after carefully saving his earnings, he was enabled to engage in business on his own account. At the time of the World war, however, he put aside all personal considerations and enlisted in the United States navy on the 8th of December, 1917, being assigned to sub-chaser No. 100, which was in service in the patrol work of the English channel. On March 1, 1919, Mr. Perry received his dis- charge, returned to Hartford and resumed the management and development of his electrical interests. Later in the year the business was incorporated under the name of the Perry Electric Company, with George W. Perry as president and Ernest C. Perry as vice president. They do construction work and have been accorded some important contracts by reason of their thoroughness and efficiency.

On the 9th of June, 1920, Ernest C. Perry was united in marriage to Miss Isabel Williams, of Hartford, and they now have three children: Arline, Virginia and Margery.

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Mr. Perry is a member of the Elks Club and he is well known for his active support of civic projects looking to the benefit and upbuilding of the city. In 1920 he was elected alderman from the old eighth ward and served for a term of two years. In 1924 he was appointed fire commissioner for a three-year term and in May, 1927, was reappointed, so that he is a present incumbent of the office. He takes an active interest in the welfare of the community and the city's progress, and his cooperation can always be counted upon to further the public good.

BURTON H. PHELPS

Every successful commercial enterprise adds to the growth and consequent pros- perity of the community in which it is operated, and through his industrial activities Burton H. Phelps has contributed his share toward Plainville's development, at the same time winning the legitimate reward of well directed labor. A native of this state, he was born August 25, 1876, in Suffield, Hartford county, and attended the Connecticut Literary Institute. At the age of eighteen he moved to Windsor Locks and there secured a position with the F. S. Bidwell Company, dealers in lumber and hardware. He spent twenty-five years in the employ of the firm, acquiring a detailed knowledge of the trade, and was steadily promoted. At the end of that time he came to Plainville and on January 1, 1921, purchased the business of Howard Thompson, a well known lumberman. The business has been incorporated and is now conducted under the style of the Plainville Lumber and Coal Company, of which Mr. Phelps is treasurer. Actuated at all times by an accurate sense of business exigency, he has instituted well devised plans for its expansion and is also a director of the Plainville Trust Company.

At Windsor Locks, Mr. Phelps was married September 8, 1902, to Miss Ethel Waldo and they have become the parents of one child, Lois, born June 2, 1909. In Masonic affairs Mr. Phelps takes a keen interest and is a past master of Euclid lodge, No. 109, at Windsor Locks, also belonging to the Washington Chapter; Suf- field Council; Hartford Commandery and Sphinx Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is past president of the Plainville Chamber of Commerce and a constant and untiring worker for the good of the community with which he has allied his interests, enjoying to the fullest extent the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens.

MAJOR FRANK LANGDON WILCOX

Major Frank Langdon Wilcox of Hartford is now living retired, although finall- cially interested in various important business corporations. While he attained prominence and prosperity in industrial and financial fields, he also found time to render most important public service to his community and his state and has left the impress of his individuality and ability upon the legislative history of Connecti- cut, his name being inseparably interwoven with events that figure in the annals of the state. It was in the town of Berlin, Connecticut, that Major Wilcox was born on the 6th of January, 1858, his parents being Samuel Curtis and Anna Scovill (Peck) Wilcox. On the paternal side he is a lineal descendant of John Wilcox, of English birth, who arrived in America about 1630 and was one of the original pro- prietors of Hartford, since which time representatives of the family have rendered distinguished public service not only in their immediate localities but also to the state and to the nation. Prominent names on the family tree are those of Lloyd Wheaton Bowers, United States solicitor-general under President Taft; Hon. Leon- ard Wilcox, chief justice of New Hampshire; and Hon. Preston B. Plumb, United States senator from Kansas. The progenitor of the family in the new world served as surveyor of Hartford in 1643 and selectman in 1650, passing away here the fol- lowing year, his will being the first one recorded in Hartford. His wife died about 1668. His name is on the Founders Monument. His son and namesake, John Wil- cox (II), born in England, came to America with his father and aided in founding Middletown Upper Houses, now the town of Cromwell, Connecticut, where he died May 24, 1676. Israel Wilcox, son of John and his second wife, Catherine (Stough-

(Photograph by The Johnstone Studio)

MAJOR FRANK L. WILCOX

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ton) Wilcox, was born in Middletown, June 19, 1656, and died December 20, 1689, while his wife, Sarah Savage, whom he married March 26, 1678, was born July 30, 1657, and died February 8, 1725. Their son, Samuel Wilcox, was born in East Berlin, Connecticut, September 26, 1685, was married March 3, 1714, to Hannah Sage and died January 19, 1727, while his widow passed away in April, 1737. The next in the line of direct descent to Hon. Frank L. Wilcox of this review was Daniel Wilcox, who was born in East Berlin, December 31, 1715, and died July 29, 1789. He was married March 16, 1737, to Sarah White, who was born April 22, 1716, and died June 28, 1807. They were parents of thirteen children, to each of whom he gave a farm, for he was a large landowner. His son, Samuel Wilcox, born Septem- ber 12, 1753, in East Berlin, married Phebe Dowd, who was born May 28, 1759, and died March 9, 1796. He was married twice afterward and died March 12, 1832. Among his children was Benjamin Wilcox, who was born at East Berlin, June 27, 1782, and died May 10, 1843. He was the first to make use of the waters of the Mat- tabessett river for manufacturing purposes, he and others building there a mill for spinning cotton yarn, woven by women on hand looms. This property afterward passed into possession of the Roys & Wilcox Company, predecessors of the Peck, Stow & Wilcox Company. Benjamin Wilcox was married February 21, 1806, to Betsey Savage, who was born June 25, 1787, and died January 28, 1831, her father being Selah Savage, who was an ensign at the battle of Bunker Hill. Benjamin and Betsey Wilcox were parents of Samuel Curtis Wilcox, who was born in East Berlin, December 11, 1811. In early life he taught school and afterward conducted a gen- eral store at East Berlin and subsequently at Washington, North Carolina. After many years there spent he opened the first tinware factory in the United States, con- ducted under the name of Carpenter, Lamb & Wilcox, the business developing rap- idly, especially throughout the south. After association therewith for fifteen years Mr. Wilcox, at East Berlin, began manufacturing tinsmith's tools and machines, the business passing eventually to the firm of Peck, Stow & Wilcox, which was organized in 1870 and which brought about the consolidation of eight similar factories, seven in Connecticut and one in Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Wilcox remained vice president of this company until his death and also was president of the Berlin Iron Bridge Com- pany, which under his guidance became one of the largest and most prosperous of its kind in the country, building some of the finest engineering structures in both Amer- ica and Europe. In politics Mr. Wilcox was a democrat. He possessed many admir- able characteristics and his death, on September 21, 1886, was deeply regretted. His second wife, Anna Scovill Peck, who was born March 15, 1827, and died March 7, 1884, was a daughter of Norris and Elizabeth (Langdon) Peck, of Kensington Parish, Berlin.

Major Frank L. Wilcox, one of their family of eight children, was a pupil in the Berlin Academy to the age of twelve years and then entered St. Paul's School at Concord, New Hampshire, from which he was graduated in 1876. He next matricu- lated in Trinity College at Hartford, which conferred on him the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1880. He started out in the business world in a clerical position in the Kensington factory of the Peck, Stow & Wilcox Company and he won his promo- tions, parental authority never being exercised to gain him advancement. He felt great pride, however, in securing a position of larger responsibility and in 1885 had developed such efficiency that he was made manager of the Kensington plant and subsequently became vice president of the company. After the Kensington plant was destroyed by fire he became associated with the Berlin Iron Bridge Company, which he represented as treasurer from 1890 until 1900 and was thus active in con- trolling one of the most important industrial concerns of the country. After its consolidation with the American Bridge Company, one of the component parts of United States Steel Company, Major Wilcox concentrated his efforts and attention upon other interests. He was vice president of the Peck, Stow & Wilcox Company and in 1905 became president of the Fidelity Trust Company of Hartford, so con- tinuing until January, 1923, when it was consolidated with the United States Secur- ity Trust Company, whereupon he became vice chairman of the board of trustees. On the 14th of January, 1925, he retired from active business affairs. He had for- merly been a director of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company of Hartford, of the Berlin Savings Bank of Berlin, the American Hosiery Company and presi- dent of the J. O. Smith Manufacturing Company of Middletown. He still continues in that office and is yet a director of the American Hosiery Company of New Britain.

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He also retains the presidency of the Berlin Savings Bank, and while not now active as an executive, his counsel is frequently sought and he gives out of the rich stores of his wisdom and experience for the benefit of others.

On the 19th of January, 1898, Major Wilcox was married to Miss Harriett Churchill Webster, a daughter of Deacon Charles S. and Julia (Higgins) Webster, of Berlin. Their daughter, Margaret, now Mrs. J. Edgar Hunnicutt, of Atlanta, Georgia, has one son, Edgar Wilcox, and one daughter, Elizabeth Ann. Samuel Churchill, the only son of Major and Mrs. Wilcox, married Pearl Cashman of Ber- lin and they have one daughter, Ann Virginia.

Major Wilcox is an honored member of the Hartford Club, University Club of Hartford, New Britain Club and the Shuttle & Meadow Golf Club of New Britain. Since attaining his majority he has supported the republican party and in 1893 was chosen to represent New Britain in the house of representatives of the Connecticut legislature. In 1903-4 he was state senator from the second senatorial district and was chairman of the committee on roads and bridges and also chairman of the com- mittee for redistricting the state, increasing the number of its senatorial districts from twenty-four to thirty-five. His next public office was that of president of the Connecticut Commission at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, held in St. Louis, Missouri, where the various state manufacturing and other interests were repre- sented in the Connecticut Colonial House, which attracted more attention than any other building at the exposition on account of its architecture, its colonial furnish- ings and its hospitality. Major Wilcox has also rendered valuable public service as a trustee of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Trinity College and of the Connecticut School for Boys at Meriden. His cooperation has never been sought in vain where the object was to further the welfare of the state in any way. He has aided largely in upholding its educational interests, in advancing its material progress, in establishing its political standards and furthering the high ideals of manhood on all occasions.

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History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III, Part 20

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