History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III, Part 60

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 60

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Colonel Dunham served on the staff of Governor Charles A. Templeton 1921-1923. He was appointed insurance commissioner of Connecticut by Governor Templeton for a four years' term from July 1, 1923, and on the 1st of July, 1927, he was reap- pointed by Governor John H. Trumbull, so that he is still the incumbent of that position, discharging his duties with diligence and fidelity. He compiled in 1912 a work in three volumes entitled-"The Business of Insurance," published by The Ronald Press of New York city, which has been widely accepted as a practical, working textbook and reference work, covering, as it does, all lines of insurance.

On the 22d of October, 1907, Colonel Dunham was married to Miss Jane Johnson Robbins, a daughter of Elisha J. and Ida (Adams) Robbins of Wethersfield, Con- necticut, where Colonel and Mrs. Dunham reside at 212 Main street. He is chairman of the Wethersfield board of sewer commissioners, treasurer of the Wethersfield fire district and chairman of the town republican committee, and a member of the Hartford metropolitan district committee. He has served as president of the Auto- mobile Club of Hartford for two terms and is at present on its board of governors. He is a director of the Connecticut Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Wethersfield Congregational church and the Congregational Club of Hartford. He has membership also in the Masons, Odd Fellows, Connecticut Historical Society, Sons of the American Revolution, the Vermont Club, and honorary membership in the Aetna Life Club, which he helped organize, the Connecticut Field Club and the Association of Superintendents of Insurance of the Provinces of Canada. He was one of the organizers and is a member of the City and the University Clubs of Hartford. He is also a member of the Hartford Golf Club and the Wethersfield Business Men's Association. For a number of years he was a member of the First Company, Governors Foot Guard, and the Connecticut State Guard.

His character is attested by the many friends whose warm regard he has enjoyed throughout his business career and who have watched with interest and commendation his steady rise.

EDWIN ROGERS HITCHCOCK

Edwin Rogers Hitchcock, a well known representative of the printing business at New Britain, where he is conducting his interests under the name of the E. R. Hitch- cock Company, was born in Southington, Connecticut, in 1877, a son of Henry A. and Mary (Rogers) Hitchcock. The father was a native of Southington and the grandfather in the paternal line was born in Cheshire, Connecticut. Henry A. Hitch- cock carried on business as a dry goods merchant and at the time of the Civil war responded to the country's call for aid in preserving the Union. Later he proudly wore the little bronze button that proclaimed him a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He passed away in 1888.

Edwin R. Hitchcock obtained his education in the public schools of New Britain and when but thirteen years of age became a clerk in the book store conducted by W. B. Thompson, with whom he remained from 1890 until 1898. Being in the book busi- ness naturally awakened his interest in the printing trade and in the latter year he went with the Adkins Printing Company, working as a bookbinder until 1904, when he established business on his own account, having in the meantime carefully saved his earnings until his industry and economy had brought him sufficient capital to justify

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this step. He conducted his interests under the name of the New Britain Book Bindery until 1912, when the business was reorganized under the style of E. R. Hitchcock & Company, while in 1925 it was incorporated under that name. Mr. Hitchcock erected his present building in 1922 and has a well equipped plant for the conduct of a printing and bookbinding business. They have an extensive patronage in the job printing department, which is probably the largest of the kind in New Britain. They also do some state work, receiving patronage from different sections of Connecticut. Mr. Hitchcock is the president and treasurer of the company, with Henry F. Guilmont as vice president, the latter handling the outside work of the firm. Their plant is supplied with thoroughly modern equipment and they are prepared to render the highest type of service in their particular field.

In 1903 Mr. Hitchcock was married to Miss Harriett A. Comstock, who was born in Essex, Connecticut, and they have one child, Agnes, who was born in Essex, Con- necticut in 1905 and who is now a student in Boston University. The parents are members of the First Baptist church, in the work of which they take a very helpful and prominent part, Mr. Hitchcock having served as superintendent of the Sunday school for thirteen years. At the polls he gives his political endorsement to the republican party but is never an office seeker. He has membership in the Kiwanis Club, the Sons of Veterans and the Independent Order of Good Templars and his life is characterized by those principles which make for the development of character and gain for a man an honored place among his fellowmen.

HENRY AUGUSTUS PERKINS

Professor Henry Augustus Perkins is of a family, on his father's side, that has been prominent in Hartford history for a century. While members of it, as seen in the general history, were and are leaders in the legal profession, his great-grand- father, Enoch Perkins, who came to Connecticut in 1790, having been a prominent attorney, his father, Edward H. Perkins, and his grandfather, Henry A. Perkins, turned their attention to finance. For many years the latter was president of the city's oldest bank, the Hartford National Bank. He died in 1873. The father, who died in 1876, was a partner in the private bank known as the G. P. Bissel Bank. Professor Perkins's mother, Mary E. (Dwight) Perkins, who survived her husband until 1917, gave much of her thought and means for charitable and cultural purposes. Professor Perkins is the elder of two sons. The younger, Edward C. (Yale '98), chose the medical profession and for several years has devoted his efforts to mission- ary work, being at the head of a hospital at Kiukang, China.

Professor Perkins has attained recognition among physicists both here and in Paris, where he has studied. He is also interested in art and has written on educa- tional problems. He was born in Hartford, November 14, 1873. Obtaining his early education in the Hartford public high school, after graduation he went to Yale and received his degree of B. A. there with the class of 1896. Three years later Columbia University conferred upon him the Master of Arts degree and the degree of Electrical Engineer. For a year he was with the Hartford Electric Light Com- pany in the engineering department as assistant to Professor William L. Robb, who was then consulting engineer with that corporation. Then for two years he did graduate work in physics at Yale, or until 1892 when he accepted the position of professor of physics in Trinity College, with which institution he has since remained. He was a student in physics at the Sorbonne and at the College of France, both in Paris, in 1908-9 and again in 1921-22, and received his Doctor of Science degree from Trinity in 1920. For a time, after the retirement of President Flavel S. Luther and prior to the coming of President Remsen B. Ogibly in 1920, he was acting president of the college. He is the author of "A textbook on General Thermodynam- ics" and of various scientific articles in French and American physical reviews and also of educational articles which have appeared in the Yale Review, North Ameri- can Review and Educational Review.

On April 8, 1903, Mr. Perkins married Miss Olga Flinch, a daughter of Alfred and Frederika (Boge) Flinch, of Copenhagen, Denmark, and they have two children: Henry A., Jr., born June 17, 1904; and Evelyn Ingeborg, born June 26, 1908.

Professor Perkins is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, Alpha Delta

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(Photograph by The Peterson Studio)

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Phi, American Physical Society, Société Française de Physique, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Explorers Club of New York, American Alpine Club, Hartford Club, University Club, the Friends of Hartford, the Twilight Club, the Monday Club, Hartford Golf Club, the Collectors Club, and the Graduates Club of New Haven. His political endorsement is given the republican party. In 1903 he served as gas inspec- tor of the city of Hartford. Since 1917 he has been a member of the board of park commissioners of the city and since 1913 has been president of the board of directors of the American School for the Deaf. He is one of the directors of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company and is also director of the Charity Organization Society, and the Watkinson Library, finding time for active and substantial aid to these and similar organizations looking to the welfare and benefit of the public at large He finds his recreation in travel, mountain-climbing, winter sports, painting, in prac- ticing the art of photographing in colors, and is an ardent stamp collector.

H. BISSELL CAREY

Throughout his business career H. Bissell Carey has been identified with indus- trial operations and his ability and energy have placed him at the head of the Auto- matic Refrigerating Company, a Hartford concern, whose destiny he has wisely and successfully guided for three years. He was born April 12, 1886, in this city, of which his parents, Frank and Ella (Bissell) Carey, are also natives. The father was a well known journalist and was connected with the Hartford Courant for years.

After the completion of his high school course H. Bissell Carey enrolled as a student in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University and was graduated with the class of 1907. Entering the employ of the Johns Pratt Company of Hartford, he was made superintendent of the factory and remained with the corporation for about ten years. He next became associated with the M. S. Little Manufacturing Company in the capacity of vice president and still fills that office but is not active in its affairs. Since 1925 Mr. Carey has been president of the Automatic Refrigerating Company, which has a modern plant at No. 618 Capital avenue and furnishes work to a large force of experienced mechanics. His name also appears on the directorate of the Standard Fire Insurance Company.

Mr. Carey was married September 30, 1914, to Miss Mary Barney, a daughter of D. Newton Barney, of Farmington, and they now have five children: H. Bissell, Jr., Newton Barney, Austin, Laura Jeannette and Frank S. Mr. Carey is a member of the Hartford Club, the Farmington Country Club and the Hartford Golf Club. His life has been one of quiet devotion to duty and what he has accomplished represents the fit utilization of his time, talents and opportunities. He loyally supports all movements for the good of his city and his genuine worth has established him high in public esteem.

FRANK G. VIBBERTS

Frank G. Vibberts, president of the New Britain Trust Company, one of the strong financial institutions of this city, is acknowledged a forceful factor in banking circles, having so thoroughly mastered every phase of the business that his opinions are largely accepted as authority upon all questions of banking and finance. New Britain numbers him among her native sons, he having been born here in 1877. His parents were Lester A. and Augusta L. (Smith) Vibberts, the former a native of Hartford. The mother, who was born in New Britain, was of English descent and belonged to one of the oldest families of Hartford county. It was in the year 1850 that Lester A. Vibberts established his home at New Britain, settling upon a farm on which he resided until 1892, when he retired from active business life. In his political views he was a stalwart republican and he served as selectman and as town officer in the town of New Britain. He had a family of five sons and two daughters.

Frank G. Vibberts supplemented his early public school training by a course in high school and then started out to provide for his own support by securing a posi-

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tion in the Mechanics National Bank in 1894. He first acted as a runner or messen- ger and later was advanced to the position of bookkeeper, while subsequently he became teller. In 1905 he removed to South Manchester, Connecticut, but in 1906 returned to New Britain, where he organized the Hardware City Trust Company, which in 1907 was merged with the Mechanics National Bank in forming the New Britain Trust Company. Mr. Vibberts had served as treasurer of the Hardware City Trust Company and following the merger of the bank he continued to act as treasurer until elected vice president of the New Britain Trust Company. He then continued as the second executive officer until 1925, when he was elected to the presidency and has since given his attention to administrative affairs as head of the institution. He has for more than a third of a century been active in banking circles and his knowl- edge of financial affairs and conditions is comprehensive and exact, enabling him to wisely direct the interests of the institution which he represents. The Mechanics National Bank was established in 1887 with V. B. Chamberlain as president and W. E. Attwood as cashier and is the second oldest of the commercial banks of New Britain. While Mr. Vibberts meets every requirement of his position as banker, he has also become closely and helpfully connected with other business affairs. He is now a director of the Stanley Works, the Fafnir Bearing Company, the New Britain Machine Company and the Stanley Securities Company, of which he is likewise treas- urer. He is also connected with the Burritt Mutual Savings Bank as a director and secretary.

In 1900 Mr. Vibberts was married to Miss Grace Chamberlain, who was born in New Britain, and their children are: Eleanor; Frank G., who is a student in Hamil- ton College; Anna; John C., who is attending the Gunnery School in Washington, Connecticut; and Grace S. Mrs. Vibberts belongs to the First Congregational church, to the Woman's Club of New Britain and the Artists Club of Hartford and is very active in the social life of her community. She cooperates in all movements which are of cultural value and benefit and her influence is widely and beneficially felt. Mr. Vibberts is an earnest supporter of the republican party and for six years ren- dered valuable service as a member of the school board, filling the position from 1919 until 1925. His cooperation can always be counted upon to further any project for the public good and to this end he has membership in the Chamber of Commerce. He served on the general committee of the Liberty Loan drives during the World war. He, too, is a member of the First Congregational church and is accounted one of the highly respected and influential residents of New Britain.

CLAYTON WOLCOTT WELLES

Clayton Wolcott Welles, manager for the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Com- pany of Hartford, having occupied this position since 1910, started out in the business world as an office boy, and that he has risen to his present position of responsibility is the outcome of his earnest purpose and unfaltering diligence. He was born April 22, 1883, in Wethersfield, Connecticut, where his parents, John Leslie and Mary Helena (Griswold) Welles, were residing. He attended the public schools and also the high school of Hartford and his advanced educational training was received in Yale University, which accorded him the Bachelor of Philosophy degree in 1904. His desire to make a creditable name and place for himself in the business world did not deter him from accepting the humble position of office boy with the North- western Mutual Insurance Company in December, 1904, the year in which he attained his majority. Thoroughness and capability constituted the rounds of the ladder on which he climbed to success and business power. Promotion in time made him solicitor for the company and afterward he became cashier and later assistant to the manager. This brought him knowledge of executive management and he was thus well qualified for added responsibilities when he was appointed manager of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company for Connecticut in 1910. Two years later his duties were increased in his appointment as manager for Rhode Island as well and he continued in that position in relation to both states until 1923, when he was made manager of the Interstate agency for the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company. His duties are manifold, his responsibilities heavy, in this connection, but he measures fully up to every requirement and, moreover, he has rendered valuable service as vice presi-

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(Photograph by The Johnstone Studio)

CLAYTON W. WELLES

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dent of the Connecticut Underwriters Association and as president of the Wethersfield Business Men's Association.

Mr. Welles is a charter member of the Wethersfield Country Club and was chair- man of the fairways and greens committee in the early period of the layout of this club. He is also a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club, and of the Alpine Club of Canada. In connection with his activities in these clubs he has climbed a number of eastern mountains, including Mount Washington and Mount Katahdin; and in the Rocky mountains, Mount Rainier, Sir Donald and Victoria. Mr. Welles is also treas- urer of the Civitan Club of Hartford, with civic interests directed more specially along educational lines. He is an immediate descendant of Governor Thomas Welles, who came to Connecticut (Wethersfield) in 1636.

In his religious life, Mr. Welles is a member of the Wethersfield Congregational church, where he has served as superintendent of the Griswoldville Sunday school and as a deacon. This is the meeting house in which his direct ancestors in the Welles, Wolcott, Adams and Griswold line have worshipped since the early settlement of Wethersfield. As corresponding secretary of the Wethersfield Cemetery Association, Mr. Welles has helped in beautifying the center of the town and in restoring the ancient burial ground to its present beautiful condition.

On the 21st of December, 1909, Mr. Welles was married to Miss Bertha Libby, of Hartford, and their children are: Jane Wolcott, born September 16, 1913; Judith Beach, born December 6, 1916; and Nancy Curtiss, born November 25, 1918. On the 15th of November, 1924, Mr. Welles married Arline Thompson, of Hampton, Connecticut. Fraternally he is a thirty-second degree Mason, loyal to the teachings and purposes of the craft, and socially he has connection with the University Club and the City Club. In politics he is a stanch republican and is deeply interested in community welfare and progress. For six years he served as a member of the Wethersfield school board and for five years of that period was chairman, during which time two new grammar school buildings and a large addition to the high school building were erected. Of the cause of education he is a stalwart champion whose progressive spirit has found expression in the adoption of measures of much worth to the school system.

WILLARD M. BRYANT

An alert and enterprising spirit is manifest in the conduct of his business inter- ests by Willard M. Bryant, who is the chairman of the board of directors of the Bryant & Chapman Company, handling dairy products at 330 Woodland street in Hartford. He was born in Watertown, Connecticut, January 1, 1870, his parents being William Burr and Mary (Mitchell) Bryant, who were natives of Litchfield county, this state. The father became a mason contractor, devoting his life to that work.

The educational advantages accorded Willard M. Bryant were somewhat limited. He attended the New Haven elementary schools and started out to earn his living by delivering bread for a bakery company in New Haven, working for a dollar per day during the first year. He afterward secured a situation as assistant shipping clerk with the firm of Stoddard & Kimberley, wholesale grocers of New Haven, with whom he remained for about five years, and on the expiration of that period became associ- ated with the firm of English & Holt, wholesale dealers in hardwood lumber. After a year thus passed he returned to his home town and invested his savings in a small grocery store in Watertown in 1893. There he conducted business for about three years, when he sold out, and on the 27th of July, 1896, drove to Hartford with his horse and buggy. He reached the capital about noon and before six o'clock of the same day was identified with the dairy trade, having purchased a small business for five hundred dollars. This included the plant and the horses and wagon of the former owner. Mr. Bryant has since been continuously active in this field save for a period of twenty-two months, when he sold out with an agreement not to again enter the business within a certain period. When that time had expired he repurchased the business from the Hartford Dairy Company and in 1897 he admitted Bert W. Chap- man to a partnership that has since been maintained under the name of the Bryant & Chapman Company. Notable success has attended the undertaking, their trade constantly increasing due to the excellent line of dairy products which they handle

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and to their progressive and reliable business methods. They have been pioneers in the distribution of Pasteurized milk and cream in Hartford and year by year their trade has grown in most gratifying manner until they now have the largest plant in the city, employing two hundred people with an annual pay roll of four hundred and thirty-three thousand dollars, while their annual sales reach about two million, five hundred thousand dollars. They cater to the best residents of Hartford and its suburbs and the business still continues to grow, while the firm sustains a most enviable reputation for reliability and enterprise. Mr. Bryant is president of the Connecticut Milk Dealers Association, which indicates his high standing in the field of labor which he has made his life work. He is continually studying the trade and market conditions and is able to speak with authority upon any question having to do with the supply and sale of dairy products. He is likewise a member of the Con- necticut, the Hartford and the United States Chambers of Commerce and since 1914 as distributor of dairy products holds membership in the Hartford Rotary Club and adheres closely to its high standards of service to humanity and loyalty in citizenship.

On the 2d of April, 1893, Mr. Bryant was married to Miss Jane Smith, of Bell- more, Long Island, New York. They are the parents of three children: Helen B., the wife of William E. Buck, of Hartford; and Marion S. and Lois E., both at home. The family resides at No. 225 Ridgefield street. Mr. Bryant belongs to St. John's Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and is a loyal follower of the teachings of the craft.

WILLIAM E. SMITH

William E. Smith, a self-made man whose firm purpose, strong determination and indefatigable energy have been manifest throughout his entire business career, is now the secretary and general manager of the Southington Hardware Corporation. He has looked ever to the steady development of the business with which he has had his present official connection since 1916. He is thoroughly imbued with the spirit of modern-day enterprise, and when obstacles and difficulties arise they seem to serve as a source of renewed effort on his part.

He was born in Yalesville, in the town of Wallingford, December 10, 1883, his parents being Mr. and Mrs. Edwin P. Smith, whose family numbered nine children, he being the eighth in order of birth. After mastering the elementary branches of learning he attended the Wallingford high school for two years, but ere completing the course entered the business world by securing employment in the piano stool factory of the Charles Parker Company. After a few months he left there to accept an office position with the G. I. Mix Company and there obtained valuable experience of a varied nature, but the Mix Company failed in May, 1903, and Mr. Smith came to Southington, soon afterward securing a clerical position in the Plantsville factory of the Peck, Stow & Wilcox Company, there continuing until October 1, 1911. It was at that date that he became a salesman in the employ of the Chase Rolling Mill Company of Waterbury, with which he remained until December, 1915. The oppor- tunity to return to Southington and become a representative of the Southington Hard- ware Company made strong appeal to him and after a brief association with this corporation he was elected secretary and manager in January, 1917. The following year he was made a member of the board of directors, with which he has since been associated, and in his official position he has been active in the control of a business that is now one of the large and important productive industries of Hartford county. The company has an extensive plant, thoroughly equipped, and its output is sent to various sections of the country. Mr. Smith has shown marked determination in surrounding himself with a corps of able and well trained assistants and his fairness and justice in the treatment of employes has won for him their earnest cooperation and support.

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History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III, Part 60

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