History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III, Part 37

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 37

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RALPH M. LOWRY

Ralph M. Lowry, engaged in the insurance business as representative of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, is also active in community affairs and is standing stanchly in favor of public progress, reform and improvement as presi- dent of the West Hartford Chamber of Commerce. He was born in Youngstown, Ohio, June 22, 1883, and is a son of the Rev. Dr. Houston W. and Blanche (Lee) Lowry, the former a native of Coitsville, Ohio, and the latter of Poland, Ohio. The father is a Presbyterian minister, still active in the work of the church as pastor of the Bosworth Presbyterian church in Cleveland, Ohio. He has been very prominent in the interests of his denomination, holding various offices in the church organization.

Ralph M. Lowry supplemented his public school education by a course in Wooster College in his native state and after leaving school was associated with various news- papers, spending a part of the time in New Castle, Pennsylvania, while for a period he represented the Arkansas Democrat of Little Rock, Arkansas. In 1910 he came to Hartford, where he was connected for about three years with the Hartford Post and for four years with the Hartford Times, and he still acts as musical critic for the latter journal. During the World war he was assistant director of War Savings and afterward became assistant secretary of the Connecticut Chamber of Commerce. Thus in various fields of activity he has directed his labors-and all to good account. His association with the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company dates from 1921

DON C. PECK

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and through the intervening period of seven years he has made steady progress along the line of achievement and now controls a very satisfactory business.

Mr. Lowry has also figured actively in the public life of the community and in 1927 was elected president of the West Hartford Chamber of Commerce. He is like- wise secretary and treasurer of the Hartford Life Underwriters Association and he has always been active in musical circles, having for fourteen years served as organ- ist of St. John's Episcopal church of Hartford, while at the present writing he is organist and choir director of the Plainville Congregational church.

On the 4th of September, 1906, Mr. Lowry was united in marriage to Miss Sue Falls, of New Castle, Pennsylvania, and they are the parents of three children: Jane Lee, a graduate of St. Margaret's School of Waterbury, Connecticut; Frances, a high school student of West Hartford; and Thomas. The family residence is at 1087 Farmington avenue and in the social circles of the city the family occupies an enviable position. Mr. Lowry is also well known to the membership of the University Club of Hartford, the West Hartford Country Club and the Lions Club, being iden- tified with each of these. Forceful, adaptable, enterprising and progressive, his ac- tivities are accounted a valuable asset in connection with any undertaking with which he becomes affiliated.

VICTOR I. NEILSON

Victor I. Neilson, vice president and treasurer of the Mutual Bank & Trust Com- pany, doing business at 75 Pearl street in Hartford, was born in this city April 16, 1892, his parents being John A. and Augusta (Anderson) Neilson, who are natives of New Haven, Connecticut. The grandfather in the paternal line came from Sweden in early life. The father is a master mechanic and is now with the Westinghouse Company in Brooklyn, New York.

After attending the public schools until he had completed the work of the grades and of the high school, Victor I. Neilson continued his education in the American In- stitute of Banking, being graduated in 1916, and the same year he obtained a position as junior clerk with the Riverside Trust Company of Hartford. He gradually won promotions until he had filled all the intervening positions up to that of discount teller, and when he resigned in that connection it was to accept the appointment on the 1st of November, 1921, to state bank examiner under Commissioner E. J. Sturges. For four years he ably served in that connection and resigned on the 1st of October, 1925. He was then elected treasurer of the Mutual Bank & Trust Company and in Novem- ber, 1927, was also elected to a vice presidency, so that he is now active in executive management and direction of the bank. He is likewise treasurer of the Hartford Bond & Mortgage Company.

On the 1st of November, 1922, Mr. Neilson was married to Miss Doris B. Bieg, of Brookline, Massachusetts, and they reside at No. 45 Arlington road in West Hart- ford. They hold membership in Trinity church and Mr. Neilson belongs also to St. John's Lodge, F. & A. M., the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a member of the Rotary Club and the City Club and is the secretary and treasurer of the Fernleigh Bowling Club. He is a member of Hartford Chap- ter of the American Institute of Banking and for three years served as its secretary and treasurer. Outside interests are never allowed to interfere with the faithful performance of his duties in banking circles and he has attained a creditable posi- tion as the result of his developing powers and increasing capability. Thoroughness characterizes all of his work and his enterprise will carry him steadily forward.

CHAUNCEY N. LE ROY

Among the alert, wide-awake and enterprising young business men of Hartford is numbered Chauncey N. Le Roy, who as a member of the firm of Le Roy Brothers is conducting a growing and profitable business as a fruit merchant at No. 1363 Main street. He was born in Hartford, December 23, 1893, a son of John Baptiste and Mary Jane (Sansome) Le Roy, both of whom were natives of the province of Potenza,

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Italy. The family name is properly Laria instead of Le Roy but has been changed to the more Anglicized form. The father came to America when very young, settling first near Buffalo, New York. At the age of twenty-one years he returned to Italy, where he was married, and brought his wife to the new world, settling in Hartford about a half century ago. He, too, was engaged in the fruit business and also con- ducted a private banking enterprise, having the first Italian bank in Hartford. He was well liked by the early residents here and was very successful in the conduct of his business interests. He frequently acted as an interpreter between the Italian and English speaking people, and, like many of his fellow countrymen, he possessed a decided love of music and displayed considerable talent along that line, organizing what was known as Le Roy's String Band, which was in great demand for festive occasions in an early day. Mr. Le Roy was particularly efficient as a harpist. He died January 19, 1922, and is still survived by his widow.

At the usual age Chauncey N. Le Roy began his education in the Hartford public schools and when his textbooks were put aside he entered commercial circles by buying the business of his uncle, Dominick Le Roy, in partnership with his brother, the firm name being Le Roy Brothers. They have built up an extensive business in fruits and groceries, handling the best that the market affords, and have won a liberal patron- age, while the extent of their business has made it a very profitable one.

In April, 1918, Chauncey N. Le Roy enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve and went overseas on the Steamship George Washington and also made a round trip on the Steamship Rhode Island. He was stationed for some time at the Pauillac (France) Naval Station and was on land for nine months, receiving an honorable dis- charge on the 5th of August, 1919, at Bay Ridge, New York. He now has member- ship with the Veterans of Foreign Wars, with the Knights of Columbus and with the Foresters.

On the 5th of October, 1922, Mr. Le Roy was united in marriage to Miss Laura Allard Bellerose, of Montreal, Canada. They are the parents of a son, John Baptiste, born September 18, 1923. Mr. Le Roy has always resided in Hartford save for the brief period of his military service when he was on duty with the navy and has become well known here. He has never cherished any false ideas concerning business success. He realized that there is no royal road to wealth and by diligent effort and close appli- cation built up the extensive patronage which is now rewarding his labors, making him one of the prosperous merchants of the city.

HARRY C. BARNES

Harry C. Barnes is one of the successful business men of Bristol. It is true that he entered upon a business already established, but in enlarging and developing this he has shown strength, adaptability and initiative and is contributing in sub- stantial measure to the success of The Wallace Barnes Company, of which he is now the treasurer. Bristol numbers him among her native sons, he having been born here November 20, 1889. He is a son of the late Carlyle F. Barnes and a grand- son of Wallace Barnes, founder and promoter of the business, while the father afterward became president of the company and ranked with the leading manufac- turers of Connecticut. The ancestral line on the paternal side is traced back to Thomas Barnes, who left his native England and became a resident of Farmington, Connecticut, about the year 1660. Carlyle F. Barnes married Lena Forbes, who was of Scotch lineage, being a descendant of one who came to the United States on the historic Mayflower.

After completing a course in the Bristol high school Harry C. Barnes attended the Holbrook Military Academy and later spent two years as a student in the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He then made his initial step in the business world by becoming a representative of The Wallace Barnes Company in the fall of 1913. Parental authority was not utilized to give him an easy berth. He began work in the factory and passed through the various departments as he mas- tered the duties assigned him. In a word he earned his promotions and when he had become familiar with the work of the plant he was given a position in the office, where he familiarized himself with executive management and control. His original official position was that of secretary, but following the death of his father he was

HARRY C. BARNES

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appointed treasurer and so continues. He has many outside interests with which he is connected through investment or officially, being now a director of the Bristol National Bank and American Trust Company; vice president and director of Wallace Barnes Company, Ltd., of Hamilton, Ontario; a director of Barnes, Gibson & Ray- mond, Inc., of Detroit, Michigan; secretary of the Associated Spring Corporation of Delaware; vice president and director of the Federal Machinery Sales Company of Chicago, Illinois, and also identified with numerous other interests. He concentrates his efforts and attention upon his business affairs with the outcome that substantial results accrue and he thereby contributes to the commercial and industrial upbuilding of the communities in which he operates.

On the 1st of October, 1914, Mr. Barnes married Miss Lillian Houberts of Ful- tonville, New York, and they have become parents of three children: Edith Forbes, Wallace and Nancy Lee.

Mr. Barnes gives his political allegiance to the republican party and never withholds his active support from plans or projects for the general good. For four years he served as a member of the city council of Bristol and gave thoughtful and earnest consideration to solving the problems vital to the community. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, in which he has become a Consistory Mason and Mystic Shriner. He is also identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and his social nature finds expression in various club affiliations, his membership being in the Farmington Country Club of Farmington, Connecticut; Shuttle Meadow Club of New Britain; Pine Orchard Country Club of Pine Orchard, Connecticut; Chippa- nee Country Club of Bristol, of which he is treasurer; and Wannamoiset Country Club of Providence, Rhode Island. He is widely known in Bristol and in Hartford county, where his circle of friends is almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintance.

ROCCO J. SAGARINO

Hartford has a large percentage of citizens who are natives of Italy or of Italian descent. They constitute an important element here and have made valuable con- tribution to the city's development along material and political lines. Influential among those of Italian birth or descent stands Rocco J. Sagarino, who is chairman of the board of directors of the Italian Club, Inc. He is engaged in the drug business and is well known both in commercial and club circles.

Born in Hartford, October 16, 1896, he is a son of Frank and Theresa (Dichianca) Sagarino, who are natives of Corleto, Italy, whence the father came to America about 1873, the mother joining him five years later. They established their home in Hart- ford, being the third or fourth Italian family to settle here. The father was a belt maker and was employed by the Jewell Belting Company of Hartford for approximately thirty-eight years. In 1920 he retired and still makes his home in Hartford.

In pursuit of his education Rocco J. Sagarino attended the Brown school, St. Thomas Seminary and Trinity College, spending two years as a student in the last named institution. During the World war he enlisted in the Naval Reserves and was given permission to attend the Massachusetts School of Pharmacy, from which he was graduated in 1921. For a year he filled the position of chief dispenser for the Munici- pal Hospital and for two years he was in the employ of the Goodwin Drug Company, while in 1924 he became connected with the Gladding Drug Company, which he has since represented. He is now thoroughly familiar with every phase of the drug trade and by reason thereof contributes to the success of the organization which he represents.

On the 9th of August, 1925, Mr. Sagarino was united in marriage to Ethel Cude- mo, of Hartford, and they are the parents of a son, Francis, born June 11, 1926.

Fraternally Mr. Sagarino is connected with the Hartford lodge of Elks. Outside of business, however, he is chiefly active perhaps in politics. He has served as alder- man from the second ward for two years and for an equal period was one of the selectmen ; and was appointed by Mayor Batterson as a member of the Charity Board for three years. He has always worked earnestly and resultantly for the interests of his people and for the welfare of the city and is a prominent and influential member of the Italian Club, of which he was the president for two terms, while at the present

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writing he is chairman of its board of directors. He is actuated by a spirit of enter- prise that is manifest in every relation of life, and closely studying the needs, the conditions and the opportunities of the Italian people of Hartford, he has labored con- sistently to advance their welfare.

WILLIAM E. CHAPIN

William E. Chapin, well known in insurance circles as special agent for F. H. Williams & Company of Hartford, was born in this city July 12, 1884, and is a son of Henry and Anne (Davis) Chapin, the former a native of Hartford and the latter of Windham county, Connecticut. The son pursued a public school education here and after his textbooks were put aside turned his attention to the field of insurance in 1903, becoming a representative of the Travelers, with which he remained for seven years. He next became a representative of the Aetna Life Insurance Company, with which he was associated for two years. On the expiration of that period he became identified with Judge Tuttle in the Industrial Realty Title & Guarantee Company.

During the World war period Mr. Chapin enlisted in the Home Guard Machine Gun Company and was in World war service in the United States Navy, being sta- tioned at Newport, Rhode Island, in the office of the commandant, receiving his dis- charge and being mustered out on the 15th of March, 1919.

When the country no longer needed his services Mr. Chapin returned to Hartford and became associated with the T. D. Faulkner Company and on its incorporation was made vice president and general manager of the insurance department. On the 16th of January, 1928, however, he resigned his official connection with that organization to become special agent for F. H. Williams & Company. His long experience in the insurance field has made him thoroughly familiar with the business and his labors have been productive of substantial results.

Mr. Chapin is a member of the Masonic fraternity, loyally following the teach- ings and purposes of the craft. He belongs to the Kiwanis Club, of which he is one of the directors, and he has membership in the City Club, the Sequin Golf Club and in the Men's Club of Trinity church. He resides at No. 981 West Boulevard in Hartford and he finds his chief recreation on the links, gaining pleasure and health in this outdoor exercise, which is fast becoming the American game. William E. Chapin is well known as a most creditable representative of one of the oldest of the pioneer families of Hartford.

CHARLES ETHAN BILLINGS

One cannot carry his investigations far into the records of the state without learning of the close connection of the Billings family with the history of Connecticut. From a very early period in the colonization of this section of the country those who have borne the name of Billings were associated with the material, intellectual, social, civic and moral progress from the time when Richard Billings in 1640 re- ceived a grant of six acres of land in Hartford. In 1659 he and others signed a contract, drawn up by him, with Governor Webster to settle at Hadley. He died March 3, 1679, and his wife, Margery, survived only until the 5th of December fol- lowing. Their son, Samuel Billings, who died in Hatfield, February 1, 1678, was married in 1661 to Ursula Fellows, who following his demise became the wife of Samuel Belden and died February 5, 1713. In the third generation was Samuel Billings (II), born in Hatfield, January 8, 1665. His first wife, Hannah Wright, died in 1686 and he married Rebecca Miller, then a widow, who was born March 26, 1661. Their son, Joseph Billings, was born in Hatfield, November 15, 1700, served as a soldier in the Indian wars and died about 1783. He was married January 7, 1726, to Elizabeth (Colton) Kellogg and they became parents of a son, Joseph Billings (II), who was one of a company of seventy that in 1763 petitioned Gover- nor Wentworth of New Hampshire for a grant of land in that province. On August 17, 1763, a charter was granted by King George III for twenty-three thousand and forty acres on the border of Lake Champlain to be incorporated in the town of

Charles & Billing

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Swanton. While the Billings grantees appear on the charter, and Joseph Billings may have been a resident of Windsor, Vermont, there is no record of his residence there. His son, Rufus Billings, resided in Weathersfield, Vermont, married and among his children was Ethan F. Billings, who was born January 27, 1807, and died September 11, 1848. He went from Weathersfield, Vermont, to Windsor, Vermont, followed blacksmithing and married Clarissa M. Marsh, daughter of James Marsh, of Rockingham, Vermont.

Charles Ethan Billings, son of Ethan F. and Clarissa M. Billings, was born in Windsor, Vermont, December 5, 1835, and was a pupil in the public schools there until his father's death and with him learned something of blacksmithing. He pos- sessed natural ability in mechanics and in 1852, when a youth of seventeen, entered upon a three years' apprenticeship with the Robbins & Lawrence Company, machin- ists and gunsmiths of Windsor, at a stipulated salary of fifty cents daily for the first year, fifty-five cents for the second year and sixty cents for the third year. He completed his term of indenture and in June, 1856, came to Hartford, where he entered the employ of the Colt Arms Company as a die sinker in the forging depart- ment. It was then that his inventive genius came to the front and he began study- ing and experimenting in connection with drop hammers, and when he began work- ing for E. Remington & Sons, gun manufacturers of Ilion, New York, in 1862, he acquainted his employers with his ideas concerning drop forgings and was empow- ered by them to erect a plant from his own plans. This he did, showing an increased labor efficiency of four thousand per cent in forging pistol parts, and with his method of forcing the metal into the frame saved the company fifty thousand dollars on contracts then in force. This naturally won to Mr. Billings a justly merited reputation. Returning to Hartford, he accepted the responsible position of super- intendent of the Weed Sewing Machine Company and in 1867 he patented an inven- tion employing four pairs of dies and by drop forging made a shuttle from a single piece of bar steel, whereby the cost of shuttle manufacturing was reduced more than one-half, and his method is today in universal use. In 1868 Mr. Billings re- moved to Amherst, Massachusetts, where, associated with C. M. Spencer, he organ- ized the Roper Sporting Arms Company. The following year he removed the busi- ness to Hartford, but it was discontinued in 1870. That the partners had absolute confidence in the ability of each other, however, is shown in the fact that they formed a new organization under the name of the Billings & Spencer Company for making drop forgings and this undertaking, unlike their previous venture, was suc- cessful. Some years later Mr. Spencer retired, Mr. Billings continuing the business, and the company of which he was the head became one of the foremost of its kind in New England. Mr. Billings largely devoted his life to the development of drop forgings and in the great plant at Hartford the various processes by which bars of iron, steel, bronze or copper are transformed into pieces of irregular size and shape are seen in all the perfection of human ingenuity. Again and again Mr. Billings introduced ideas that worked out into most practical and valuable improvements. Something of his wonderful inventive genius is shown in the story given in a con- temporary publication: "One day in 1886, Mr. Billings, while passing through the Edison Electric Works, noted the then existing method of making commutator bars. There are 'L' shaped pieces of copper set at an angle to each other. Horizontal bars, thin and wedge like, separated by some non-conducting substance, were placed side by side around the shaft of the dynamo and bound firmly together. Electricity was generated by the friction of metallic brushes revolving at high speed against the edges of the bars. These bars were then made in two pieces united with pins and solder, but as the current was partly broken, resistance was increased and a maximum of efficiency could not be obtained. Mr. Billings quickly saw an oppor- tunity for improvement and on his return to Hartford at once addressed himself to perfect a method by which a better commutator bar could be produced and sold to the Edison Company for a lower price than they were paying for an inferior bar. He perfected dies and processes, and within three weeks shipped the Edison Company an invoice of bars forged in a single piece from pure copper having a homogenous molecular structure throughout, and of the greatest possible density. He had not only produced a more efficient bar for the purpose, but had also reduced the cost, facts which so appealed to the large electrical companies that they generally adopted them. But that is only a single instance of the methods by which Mr. Billings brought his plant to the position of the greatest of all drop forging establishments.

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This highly specialized plant produces a myriad of articles which go to every part of the globe. Many of these are incomprehensible to the layman, but a catalogued list includes a complete line of drop forged wrenches, ratchet drills, lathe dogs, clamps, combination pliers, vises, sewing machine shuttles, thumb screws, pistol frames and barrels, machinist's hammers, solid eye bolts, magazine screw drivers, and many parts of machines beyond power of computation. In later years the busi- ness has been developed in the line of manufacturing forging machinery, including drop hammers, trimming presses, and die making machines. Many of the foregoing were Mr. Billings' own invention and it was his superior inventive genious in de- vising machines for special service in his own plant which gave him such an advan- tage in the manufacture of drop forged products, and placed the Billings & Spencer plant in the proud position as the greatest, as it was the first commercial drop forging company in the world. The company was incorporated in 1872, and it is interesting to note that its first extensive contract was for the manufacture of dies, furnished by the Pratt & Whitney Company, as part of a general contract for the equipment of arsenals in Germany. Mr. Billings, president, and for so many years the dominant spirit, is yet president of the company and potent in its councils, but for some time has been retired from active participation in its affairs. From its beginning he made it the great interest of his life and it may be truly said that he loved his business. A hard worker, determined and persistent, he never gave up until he accomplished whatever purpose he had in view. Both he and his company have risen from a humble beginning and it is with no little satisfaction that he reviews his long and honorable life, and contemplates the eminence of the company he formed which is perhaps but yet in its infancy, the tangible expression of a fundamental idea born in the brain of a master."

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History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III, Part 37

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