History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III, Part 69

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 69

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On the 1st of June, 1904, Dr. Grosvenor was married to Miss Helen Allan, a daughter of John and Helen (Rose) Allan, of Toronto, Ontario. Their children are: Allan Livingstone, born July 31, 1908; and Nancy Mackin, born December 8, 1921.

With the attainment of his majority Dr. Grosvenor gave his political allegiance to the republican party and has never swerved from that course to the present time. Something of the nature of his recreation is indicated in the fact that he holds mem- bership in the Hartford Golf Club and also in the Hartford Club. He is numbered among the men of prominence in this city by reason of his attractive social qualities, which make for friendship and genial companionship, and by reason of his capability in professional and business circles, his powers having grown through the exercise of effort until he now stands among the forceful factors in the business life of his adopted city.

FREDERICK ALBERT SEARLE

Frederick Albert Searle, actively associated with the firm of Landers, Frary & Clark of New Britain, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1869 and in 1881 was brought to the city of his present residence by his parents, Henry L. and Ellen (Childs) Searle. The father was freight agent for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad at New Britain through a period of four years and was with the company altogether for thirty-five years, devoting his entire life to railroad work. He died in August, 1896, his wife, who made her home on Farmington avenue in Hartford, died October 9, 1928.

Frederick A. Searle completed a public school education by graduation from the high school of New Britain with the class of 1885 and in the fall of the same year he entered Yale. He started out in the business world as discount clerk in the employ of the New Britain National Bank, with which he remained until 1889, when he went to the old Hartford National Bank as bookkeeper, so serving until 1900, when he returned to New Britain. Here he became associated with Landers, Frary & Clark as head of the invoice department and subsequently was advanced to the position of assistant treasurer in charge of the sales department. His next pro- motion made him vice president of the firm, with which he has since been actively identified in his official capacity. His duties have to do with the sales end of the business and his association with the enterprise through a period of twenty-eight years well qualifies him for the important duties and responsibilities devolving upon him. He is also a director of all its subsidiary corporations in New York and Chi- cago. Moreover, he is a director of the New Britain Trust Company, is likewise president of Charles Forschner & Sons, Inc., of Connecticut, and is the president of Charles Forschner & Sons of New York city. His sound business judgment con- stitutes a valuable element in the successful control of the various and important business interests with which he is associated. He is also one of the incorporators of the Savings bank of New Britain and is auditor of that institution as well as of the Burritt Mutual Savings Bank of New Britain.

In 1891 Mr. Searle was united in marriage to Lula M. Burt, of Hartford, Con- necticut, and they are the parents of two sons. Raymond B., who resides in West Hartford, is a teacher of science in the Junior high school of New Britain. He mar- ried Dorothy Cowles, of Hartford, and has a daughter, Luella. His brother, Kenneth M., is a successful automobile dealer of New Britain, handling the Reo cars. The latter married Eleanor White, of New Britain, and has a son, Kenneth M., Jr. Both

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Raymond and Kenneth Searle enlisted for service in the navy when the United States entered the World war and were honorably discharged in 1919. The mother, Mrs. Lula Searle, is a member of the South Congregational Society of New Britain and is rendering effective service on its woman's board. She is also active as a member of the woman's board of the New Britain Hospital, D. A. R. and figures prominently in social affairs.

The activities of Mr. Searle have been far-reaching in extent and have been thoroughly resultant. He votes with the republican party and has done effective work in public affairs as a member of the board of finance and taxation. He holds membership in the South church and is chairman of its music committee. He be- longs to the Shuttle Meadow Country Club, the New Britain Club, the Farmington Country Club and the Country Club of Madison, Connecticut. He also has member- ship in the Hardware Club of New York city, the Twentieth Century Club of Hart- ford and in the Royal Arcanum. His activities are largely immeasurable by any known standard yet there is no phase of community life which has not elicited his attention and gained his cooperation on the side of advancement and improvement. His work has been of direct benefit to New Britain in many ways and as a business man he has proven strong and forceful, his life work constituting an example well worthy of emulation.

JOHN C. COOK

John C. Cook is the president of the Asa S. Cook Company, manufacturers of wood screw machinery, a Hartford business that has been in existence since 1869. He has thus come to a place of prominence in commercial circles and he also deserves mention as a veteran of the World war. He was born in the capital city on August 6, 1893, his parents being John F. and Josephine (Garrison) Cook, who were also natives of Hartford. The son obtained a public school education, passing through consecutive grades until the completion of his high school course, after which he attended Suffield Academy. He then entered the factory of the Asa S. Cook Company, a business which bears the name of its founder, who came from New Hampshire and established the enterprise, which has since steadily grown and which year by year has developed along progressive lines, much of the success of the undertaking being due to the improvement of the machinery made by the company. Asa S. Cook, who founded the business in 1869, came to Hartford in 1850 and for eight years was em- ployed in the Colt pistol factory, in which he became foreman. In 1858 he began contracting on his own account, making machinery for the Colt and other companies, and the same year undertook the manufacture of wood screw machinery, the business being conducted almost continuously until 1915 in the West armory of the Colt Com- pany. A new factory was then built on Franklin avenue with an extremely attractive exterior as well as a splendidly equipped interior. The main building, seventy by two hundred and fifty-one feet, is one and two stories in height and the ell of the two- story portion, twenty-five by forty feet, is occupied by the offices, a display room and the drafting room. The building is of steel and brick of modern construction and the equipment of the plant is unsurpassed. The shop has four main drive sections, run by a fifty-horse-power motor, and these are so equipped with clutches that only a small section of the shop need be shut down at any time by reason of accident or by any machine shifting. There are unusual features in this plant not commonly found in other factories of similar character but contributing in large measure to the efficiency of operation and to the success of the undertaking. The business was incorporated as the Asa S. Cook Company in 1896 and the founder remained active in the enter- prise until his death. The company has always engaged in the manufacture of special machinery, having built machinery and machine tools of the most diverse types, this special work forming a considerable part of its output. When John C. Cook entered the plant he first worked as a machinist and by sheer ability and force of character gained promotion through the several departments, thereby acquiring a full knowledge of the business in every detail. Eventually he was made assistant treasurer and in July, 1926, he became president following the death of John F. Cook. There are about fifty employes and the business has long been upon a substantial basis, with a large trade, and fully meets the requirements of its patrons. The officers of the company

(Photograph by The Johnstone Studio)

JOHN C. COOK

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are as follows: John C. Cook, president; Frank E. Newton, treasurer; Alvin W. Hyde, secretary; and Reuben S. Crosby, general manager. Mr. Cook is also the president of Harry A. Cross, Inc., conducting a mercantile credit service.

His business activity, however, was interrupted by his enlistment for service as a member of Troop B of the Connecticut National Guard Cavalry, which was on duty on the Mexican border. He was afterward with the Three Hundred and Second Field Hospital unit in the World war, went overseas and served in France and Germany as a sergeant, being mustered out at Camp Devens in Massachusetts in August, 1919. He has membership with the Sons of Veterans and he also belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, to the Exchange Club No. 19 and to the West Hartford Country Club.

On the 15th of June, 1921, Mr. Cook was united in marriage to Frances Reid, of Hartford, and they are the parents of two children: Jane Cole, born September 1, 1922; and Mary Frances, who was born July 15, 1927. The family resides at 73 Bain- bridge road.

Such in brief is the life history of John C. Cook, who since starting out in the business world has devoted his time and attention to the interests of the Asa S. Cook Company, and the thoroughness with which he has mastered every phase of the work has led to the substantial growth of the trade. Thoroughness and reliability have characterized his record and he has the entire confidence and good will of those with whom he has been brought in contact. In social life, too, his personal qualities have endeared him to those who know him and in the city in which he has always lived he has a circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintance.

JAMES H. BREWSTER

Among the men who were most active in the years that covered the close of the nineteenth and the opening of the twentieth centuries-men who laid broad and deep the foundation upon which rests the present prosperity and stability of Hartford- was numbered James H. Brewster, who for more than a half century was an out- standing figure in insurance circles. His plans were always well defined, promptly executed and measured up to the highest ethics of business life. It is therefore meet that his record should find a place in the history of the city in the financial develop- ment of which he played so important a part. Connecticut proudly numbered him among her native sons, for he was born at Coventry, Tolland county, December 24, 1845. He was a representative in the ninth generation of the descendants of Elder William Brewster, who came to America on the Mayflower and aided in planting the seeds of civilization on New England soil. The line comes down through Jonathan, Benjamin, William, Peter, Jacob and Shuabel to Henry Augustus Brewster, who was born in Coventry, Connecticut, July 23, 1817, and was married December 10, 1844, to Fannie S. Badger, a daughter of James Badger, of Mansfield, Connecticut, born March 20, 1821.

Their son, James H. Brewster, spent his entire life in the state of his nativity, attending the schools of Coventry and of Hartford and starting out to provide for his own support as a clerk in the store of Pease & Foster of the capital city. After two years he severed that connection and from 1867 was continuously associated with insurance interests. He first entered the employ of the Connecticut Fire Insurance Company in a clerical capacity and with characteristic determination and laudable ambition began acquainting himself with every phase of the business. His close study, his unfaltering purpose and his unabating energy enabled him to make rapid advance and after six years' association with the company he had become assistant secretary, filling that office for seven years. On the 1st of November, 1880, when his friend, Martin Bennett, was appointed manager of the United States branch of the Scottish Union and National Fire Insurance Company, he offered Mr. Brewster the position of assistant manager and from 1880 until 1900 the two were associated in carrying on and developing the interests of that business in the relative positions of manager and assistant. They built up a splendid organization and so directed their activities that the business grew to one of mammoth proportions, and following the demise of his friend and business associate Mr. Brewster became manager in Janu- ary, 1900. He was a constant student of insurance and its possibilities and he

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planned wisely and well in furthering the interests of the corporation which he repre- sented, his services being most satisfactory and highly appreciated by the corporation. He was further known in financial circles of Hartford as a director of the First Na- tional Bank.

On the 9th of December, 1879, Mr. Brewster was married in Brooklyn, New York, to Miss Mary E. Folts, a daughter of George W. Folts, and their only child, James H. Brewster, Jr., is mentioned elsewhere in this work. Mr. Brewster was widely known in Masonic circles, having membership in St. John's Lodge, F. & A. M .; Pythagoras Chapter, R. A. M .; Washington Commandery, K. T .; and Sphinx Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., all of Hartford. He ever exemplified in his life, the beneficient spirit and high purposes of the craft, loyally following its teachings. He passed away August 2, 1920, and the news of his demise brought a sense of deep personal regret to all who were associated with him in business, both fellow officials and employes of the company, to those with whom he was associated in fraternal rela- tions, to the many friends whom he had made during his long, active and useful life in Hartford, but most of all to his own family, for he was a devoted husband and father who found his greatest happiness in ministering to those at his own fireside.

WILLIAM LAWRENCE HUMASON

William Lawrence Humason was born in New Britain June 17, 1853, and died there August 2, 1925. He was the son of William and Ennetia (Eno) Humason and a member of one of the pioneer families of Hartford county. In 1870 Mr. Humason com- pleted a course in the New Britain high school and in 1872 was graduated from Willis- ton Academy at Easthampton, Massachusetts. In 1877 he received from Harvard University the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He began his business career by actively engaging in industrial affairs. From 1889 until 1912 he was executive head of the Humason & Beckley Manufacturing Company. In 1914 he became president of the Peck & Young Manufacturing Company of Forestville, a firm specializing in springs and screw machine products. This concern was later known as the Humason Manu- facturing Company. Throughout his business life, he was esteemed not only for his marked executive ability but also for his personal integrity.

At Kensington, Connecticut, October 13, 1884, he married Miss Florence Cole, who passed away in 1903. On October 14, 1915, he married Mrs. Grace Sturgis. By the former marriage there were three children, Marjorie Florence, Melicent Eno and Lawrence Cole.

SIMSBURY HIGH SCHOOL

In September, 1903, the Simsbury High School was opened on the third floor of the old McLean Seminary building. There were about forty-five pupils, most of whom were in the eighth grade or the first year of the high school course. The faculty con- sisted of a principal and two teachers, both of whom are still in the service of the school. It was a time of small beginnings and hard work, helped by earnest enthu- siasm. An often expressed opinion was "We will wait and see whether it is a success or not."

When the probability of permanency was established, the principal, Harold Law- ton, began the agitation for a high school building. The interest of generous people in the town was aroused and a large sum was pledged. A very desirable site consist- ing of about twenty-three acres fronting on Hop Meadow street was purchased from the heirs of Dr. Lucius I. Barber. The first plans drawn were for a two-story brick structure of the ordinary type, but the largest donor to the building fund wished a building of the type of architecture used in the great English public schools. In accordance with his wish a stone building of the collegiate Gothic style was planned by Edward Hapgood of Hartford. The construction was in the hands of the firm of Andrew Ketchin & Son of Tariffville, the material used being sandstone quarried in Simsbury. The dedication was held on December 27, 1907. Both building and land were a gift from citizens of the town.

WILLIAM L. HUMASON

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Meanwhile the growth of the school under the principalship of Anson W. Belding and the demand for a commercial course led to the employment of a fourth teacher in 1906. The commercial course proved popular at once. On account of the oppor- tunities which it offers large numbers of the pupils go into business, particularly in the Hartford insurance offices. Our first class graduated in 1907, in the old building. Under the third principal, Albert J. Chidesher, now professor of education at Berea College, Kentucky, who took a deep interest in the pupils, the athletic side of high school life was developed.

The year 1915 was particularly important in the history of the school, as it marked the beginning of the long and successful administration of Irving Wright Smith. New courses in agriculture and domestic science, planned by his predecessor, Mr. Childs, were offered by Mr. Smith. Three large rooms in the upper story were done off to meet the demands of the enlarged curriculum. Two of these rooms were used for the science department, the former science rooms being used for the classes in agriculture.

Of these two new courses the one in domestic science has proved the more popular and successful. In addition to the work in cooking and sewing, for several years the school lunch department has been in charge of the domestic science teacher.

The course in agriculture and woodworking started out well in charge of an excellent teacher from Cornell, but during the World war it was necessary to drop it temporarily, as it was practically impossible to obtain an instructor. As the number electing the course was small, it was finally abandoned in 1924.

During the World war, in common with other high schools, we suffered from decreased attendance, as so many of the older boys left to take the places of men who had gone into the service. Others were absent for a part of the spring term, having enlisted for farm work.

Our Roll of Honor for the World war contains between eighty and ninety names of teachers and pupils. We have four Gold Star boys: Joseph Tomalonis, killed at Seicheprey; Philip Shannon, killed at Chateau-Thierry; George Hall, killed in the Argonne Forest; and Robert Packard, who died in a southern camp. For a small school we furnished a large number in the time of our country's need.

From the beginning a large proportion of the pupils have come from the sur- rounding towns-Granby, East Granby and Avon. In the earlier years many of these pupils boarded in Simsbury or came on trains. More recently the bus system has made transportation easier, and at the present time three regular school buses transport the Granby and Avon pupils, those from a part of East Granby coming on the Westfield-Hartford bus. At the present time the tuition fees paid for out-of-town pupils amount to nearly ten thousand dollars for about eighty pupils.

Since the war our attendance has increased rapidly every year, until in the fall of 1927 the registration was about two hundred and twenty-five. The increase in the faculty has kept pace with that of the school. In 1903 we had a principal and two assistant teachers. Now we have a principal and ten assistants.

The athletic side of school life is particularly strong. Several of the principals have worked hard to build up this department, particularly Mr. Buck, our present principal, who was a prominent athlete in college and subsequently a coach in private schools. We have also had several excellent coaches who have inspired great enthu- siasm. Several of our graduates have done excellent work on college teams at Yale and Storrs. The basket-ball teams have won nine cups in the Farmington Valley League.

In 1925, through the generosity of Horace Belden, two large rooms for recitation and sewing, also a sitting room and a dining room for teachers, were done off in the upper story. On account of the growth of the school large additions were constructed in 1927. The plans were carried through largely by the enterprise and energy of our present superintendent, Mr. Russell. Part of the money, as before, was a gift from citizens, and the rest was appropriated by the town. The architects were the Frank Irving Cooper Corporation of Boston, and the work was done by the Lawrence & Coe Company of Hartford. The addition to the main building contains a much larger principal's office and four classrooms, two of which are used by the commercial department in addition to the commercial room in the older part of the building. At right angles to the main building runs the new auditorium-gymnasium of which the school is very proud. Besides the large hall with its commodious stage, it contains teachers' rooms, coat rooms, shower baths for both boys and girls, and a large room

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which can in future be used for manual training. It is a great addition to the social side of school life.

It has been a pleasant custom, inaugurated by our first class, for each graduating class to leave a gift for the school. Most of our best pictures and all of our casts of famous statues have been class gifts.

It is impossible to write of the intangible things which have made the real life of the school,-the beginnings of a love of learning, the friendships, the faithful serv- ice of superintendents, principals and teachers.

The school has reason to be proud .of the record of its pupils out in the world. Simsbury High School has been represented at Yale, Williams, Wesleyan, Brown, Clark, Leland Stanford, Trinity, Holy Cross, St. Bonaventure, Bates, Colby, Boston University, University of Illinois, Storrs, New Hampshire State College, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Wellesley and Connecticut College, the New Britain and Willimantic Normal Schools. Some have been successful in the professions, many more in business life. A number of our recent pupils are the children of those with whom we began school years ago. If we think of Simsbury without the high school we can have some idea of what it means to the town. The principals from the beginning have been as follows: Harold Lawton (Harvard) ; Anson Wood Belding (Harvard) ; Albert J. Chidesher (Syracuse) ; Earle A. Childs (Bates) ; Irving W. Smith (Trinity and Yale M. A.); Fay E. Kutscher (Harvard) ; Raymond G. Flynn (Harvard) ; E. Newton Smith (Tufts) ; and George S. Buck (Trinity and Columbia). The super- intendents have been: John B. McLean (Connecticut State Normal School) ; Fay E. Kutscher (Harvard); and Earle S. Russell (Harvard and Columbia).

SIDNEY E. STOCKWELL

Throughout his entire life Sidney E. Stockwell has been a tireless, conscientious and efficient worker and his record is the story of an orderly progression that has brought him from a lowly position to that of division manager of the New Departure Manufacturing Company. He maintains his headquarters in Hartford and for many years has been identified with this company, to which he renders the services of an expert. A native of Massachusetts, he was born on a farm near Northampton, June 30, 1877, and is a son of John A. and Belle J. (Bosworth) Stockwell, both members of old families of America.

Mr. Stockwell was educated in Northampton and soon after his graduation from high school went to Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, becoming a clerk in the office of the Overman Wheel Company, manufacturers of the Victor bicycle. Afterward he worked in the plant, becoming a proficient mechanic, and his next position was with the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Company of Chicopee Falls. While with that concern he had charge of the department in which the small tools were assembled and on severing his connection with the firm he went to Springfield, Massachusetts. There he served an apprenticeship with the Waltham Watch Tool Company and also took a course in the mechanical arts high school of Springfield, specializing in mechanical engineering. His work in Hartford was in the small tool department of the plant of the Pratt & Whitney Company and in 1904 he entered the Bristol factory of the New Departure Manufacturing Company. At first he was assigned the task of mak- ing models of the coaster brake and hubs and later he had charge of the dye depart- ment, which was combined with the tool section. He was placed at the head of both and while acting in that capacity supervised the making of the dies on the first New Departure ball bearing that was produced by that company. In 1910 he was made superintendent of the Hartford plant of the Jacob Chuck Company and later served the Abbott Ball Company in the same capacity. In 1913, while in Hartford, he re- entered the employ of the New Departure Manufacturing Company and in 1918 assumed the duties of superintendent. A year later he was made division manager of the Hartford business, an office which he has filled with marked ability for nine years, and is also a director of the company. In the operation of the plant he has secured maximum efficiency with a minimum expenditure of time, labor and material and under his expert management the production has increased from three thousand small sized bearings per day to thirty-five thousand a day. No detail of the work escapes the keen observation of Mr. Stockwell, who has a special talent for managing

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History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III, Part 69

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