History of New Haven County, Connecticut, Volume I, Part 71

Author: Rockey, J. L. (John L.)
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: N. Y. : W. W. Preston
Number of Pages: 966

USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > History of New Haven County, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 71
USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > History of New Haven County, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 71

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SAMUEL CLARK PADDOCK was born August 31st, 1816, in Meriden, Conn. The family traditions in Mr. Paddock's line of descent trace back his lineage to Zachariah Paddock, who came from Wales, Great Britain, and landed in Rhode Island-he afterward settled in Middle. town, Conn., and died May 13th, 1800, in the 73d year of his age-and also to Hannah, his wife, who died March 3d, 1819, in the 81st year of her age. Their family included several sons, one of whom was Samuel Paddock, who was born June 18th, 1758, lived in Middletown-and married Mehetable Loveland, May 13th, 1782. She was born January 29th, 1759. Their son, Samuel, commonly spoken of as "junior " for the sake of identification, was born in Middletown, February 22d, 1784, and married Polly Sears, August 30th, 1803. She was born De- cember 2d, 1782, and died October 26th, 1822. Samuel, Jr., died August 7th, 1869. He moved to Meriden in 1806, and was recog- nized by his townsmen as worthy of the civic trusts bestowed upon him.

Samuel C. Paddock, the subject of this sketch, was their second son. His mother, who was spoken of as an excellent and faithful Christian woman, died when he was only six years old. But his father married Charlotte Vale. January 22d, 1823, and Samuel C. was not left without the watch-care of a very worthy and beloved step-mother. He lived on the homestead farm in East Meriden until he was seventeen years of age. The practical business turn of his mind may be in- ferred from the fact that earlier than this his father intrusted him with full power to trade some of the neat foot stock and the horses with any of the local traders; and his father was not only pleased

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with the excellence of the exchanges made, but sometimes surprised at it.

When seventeen years of age Samuel C. proposed to his father to- be allowed to pursue business on his own account. Consent having been given he engaged to sell tinware from a peddler's wagon. It was the beginning of his independent business career. At eighteen years of age he gained full possession of his legal " time," and began the manufacture of brick. He now needed capital, and was able to borrow $2.000 solely upon his personal integrity and giving his indi- vidual note. He soon after purchased a small lot of land and a house in the eastern part of Meriden. and assumed an additional obligation by giving his note for $550 more. It was in the nature of preparation for marriage, for within a few months, March 19th, 1837, he was mar- ried to Miss Jannette Hall, daughter of Casper Hall, and grand- daughter of Brenton Hall, the first representative of Meriden in the general assembly of Connecticut, in the year 1806, and great-grand- daughter of Reverend Samuel Hall, who was the first preacher of the gospel in the town of Cheshire, Conn.

But those were the memorable panic days in the business world of 1837, and the many bricks in Mr. Paddock's kiln remained unsold. He left home in September of that year to sell goods in Alabama. He drove his team of horses all the way to Montgomery, and so success- ful were his sales that he not only brought satisfactory returns to the company sending him out, but in the spring could count up his earn- ings to several hundreds of dollars. These mercantile trips to the far South he continued for several alternate years, having been offered from year to year a considerably higher monthly stipend, until he had gathered funds sufficient to pay off all the note indebtedness, in- cluding interest standing against him in Meriden.

He now purchased on credit in the New York market goods to the value of several thousand dollars, and shipped theni to Alabama, buy- ing and selling on his own account. In 1854 he formed a partnership with R. D. Twombly, of Bragg's Store, Ala .- a man of the highest vir- tue and honor. He there purchased a plantation and house, and built a store, and filled it with whatever goods were in demand in the coun- try. The partnership was a prosperous one, and was- interfered with only by the political exigencies of the time.

The cruelties of slavery lay ever before Mr. Paddock's eyes. He had been trained from boyhood to believe that slavery was innocent, and that abolitionists were chargeable with maligning an innocent order in society. But the sight of his eyes in Alabama changed all this opinion born of early training. There lay open before him " the sum of all villainies " which could whip to death the innocent bondwoman who could not pick the " task " of cotton before the darkness of night came on, or which could amputate the sound leg of the poor colored cobbler to make it of even length with the one already lost-two events.

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HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY.

Mr. Paddock himself was personally cognizant of. These things and others not so horribly cruel rankled in his mind, and though he kept discreetly silent, he became ready for action by the time the next presidential campaign came on. And when the opportunity was offered in the North, in 1855, he took sides promptly with the free- soil party, and voted for John C. Fremont for president of the United States.

But upon returning South to his store at Bragg's, it was hardly possible to allay all inquiries as to what part he bore in the campaign. It was known that he had sold hundreds of spelling books to the blacks, in violation of the statutes of the state. Was this law break- ing carried on in favor to the blacks, or was it due to an inordinate passion for money-making ? And it was also true that he prepared the old colored preacher at about midnight of Saturday for preaching to his colored congregation the next day, reading him a Bible story, and instructing him in the Scriptures for an hour, after all the white customers had gone from the store. And now did he vote for John C. Fremont for president ?

It was 1857, and a rival tradesman in the South, a friend of Mr. Paddock's, and from the same Connecticut town, proclaimed on the streets of Bragg's, that his competitor did vote for Fremont. Cor- respondence was entered into with the postmaster of Meriden to secure from him a confirmation or denial of the report, in respect of his neighbor, and he affirmed its truth to his Southern inquirers. Then the warning letters were despatched to Mr. Paddock. who was in the North, not to appear again among his Alabama acquaintances. But on Christmas day of 1858 he arrived at Bragg's, where his store was situated.

The Vigilance Committee at once met and decided to remove him the next day at one o'clock. At that hour he was conveniently absent and returned in secret only long enough to make out deeds and bills of sale of all his property in Alabama to his partner, who should henceforth appear to be the sole owner. This transaction was wise from more than one point of view, and not the least was the collection of the large floating indebtedness due the store from the slave-hold- ing planters of the vicinity, for they had determined not to pay bills due an anti-slavery creditor. Mr. Paddock at once returned to the hospitable North. But though, as is evident, his business prospects in Alabama were ruined by his political action in voting for Fremont, he has always looked back upon it as one of the proudest and most honorable acts of his life. With those prospects vanished, also many thousands of dollars in Southern securities, still he could do no other than vote his convictions, and there he stood. As between his free- dom as an American citizen before the ballot box and the subservient clutching to his property and business prospects before a Southern slave-holding aristocracy, there was only one thing for him to choose,

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and he chose it. From this distance he now sees that his action then was not only politically and morally right, but financially shrewd, for his pro-slavery acquaintances in the South lost all their wealth in the great national struggle which hastened on.

His business life since has embraced principally marketing and real estate. For several years he kept the largest and most numerously patronized market in Meriden. His real estate transactions have been extensive, and there are but few appraisers of real estate values excelling him in all the town of Meriden. He has always been greatly interested in the welfare of his town, and the promotion of public works. His fellow townsmen have done him the honor to elect him to the highest town offices.

Mr. Paddock is by religious profession a Baptist, and a worthy and beloved member of the church, at whose communion table he sits, but no man except himself has formulated his religious creed. He has been a close student of the Christian Scriptures, and bases his beliefs upon the direct study of them. While so charitable in spirit, and so tolerant of other's views, he is not the less firm and positive of his own. When a young man he could not read " fire and brim- stone" either out of or into the gospels of Christ, nor could the church committee convince him that the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is a picture of the realities in the next world, but rather in this.

In his view God is emphatically one, and the terms of the old theology describing him as three persons, are to be interpreted, to make them correct, as manifestations of him. So, too, Christ was the human personality in the long series of the human race in whom God chose to manifest himself wondrously, the manifestation, however, being not different in kind from that in other persons, but only in degree ; and the work of Christ operated for man not as vicarious suf- fering for his sin, but as a powerful exemplary exhibition of divine love for him, teaching him how to live. He regards the judgment day as running parallel with human earthly life, and as being coter- minous with it, both at the beginning and the end, and not a stupend- ous assize at the end of all things temporal.

To him also the second coming of Christ is a repeated event of divine mercy or wrath appearing in the striking providences which happen to persons or nations, such as the fall of Jerusalem or the san- guinary war which ended American slavery; and death is the dissolu- tion of the unjust into non-existence; but for believers in Christ, by virtue of their life in him, it is their transference to the eternal world, where all that is temporal and material has dropped away from them forever in the event of dying. Mr. Paddock deems these reforms of doctrine suggested in his creed essential to the full power of the gos- pel in the world, and attributes the greater part of the current scepti-

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cism of the age to the false teachings so prevalent concerning these great biblical truths.

Mr. and Mrs. Paddock are the most genial of neighbors and friends, and are held in respect of all who know them. They live now in the enjoyment of their ample fortune. Four years since their " golden wedding " passed gently by, and beautifully together, and amidst loving friends, these excellent citizens move down the declivity of life. Five children have been born to them, of whom two have died -Samuel Archer Paddock, born October 10th, 1847, died November 29th, 1850, and Adella Paddock, born March 16th, 1854, died January 17th, 1876. The living children are: George Byron Paddock, of Jack- son, Minn .; Mrs. Mary Ann Hall, of New Haven, Conn .; and Aland B. Paddock, of Elgin, Neb.

CHARLES PARKER, son of Stephen and Rebecca Parker, was born in Cheshire, Conn., January 2d, 1809. When nine years of age he was placed with a farmer by the name of Porter Cook, where he remained until he was fourteen. He continued on a farm until he was eighteen, when he went to work in Southington casting buttons for Anson Mat- thews. He remained there one year and then removed to Naugatuck, then a part of Waterbury, where he worked for Horace and Harry Smith about six months. In August, 1828, Mr. Parker came to Mer- iden and hired out to Patrick Lewis, making coffee mills. In Decem- ber, 1829, he went into business for himself with a capital of $70, tak- ing a contract from Lewis & Holt for thirteen months to manufacture coffee mills.' During the thirteen months Mr. Parker cleared $1,800. He then took in a partner, Mr. Jared Lewis, and took another contract from Lewis & Holt, to manufacture coffee mills, ladles and skimmers. In January, 1831, he sold out to Mr. Jared Lewis and bought an acre of ground between High and Elm streets. On this ground was an old brown house, and Mr. Parker paid for the house and grounds $650. On the back of this lot he built a shop, which was finished in the spring of 1832, in which he manufactured coffee inills and waffle irons. He then went to market with his own goods. In November, 1833, Lewis & Holt failed, thus leaving the whole market in Mr. Parker's hands. In 1833 he associated with his brother Edmund and Heman White, under the firm name of Parker & White, and carried on busi- ness until 1835, when Edmund Parker was sent to Montgomery, Ala., with clocks and dry goods. In 1836 he returned, and Mr. White went to Montgomery with dry goods, which he sold readily. In October, 1837, he made a second trip to Alabama with a large stock of dry goods; but the hard times came on and he lost heavily, much embar- rassing the firm of Parker & White, who did not fully recover from their embarrassment for over six years. They were often advised by their friends to fail, but did not, and paid all debts in full with inter- est. During this time Edmund Parker sold out his interest to Mr. White, and in 1843 the partnership was dissolved, Mr. White going

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south, where he soon failed. Mr. Parker's business steadily increased, and in 1844 he added largely to his buildings, putting in steam power, having previously used horse power. He was the first to manufacture plated spoons and forks, and the first to plate hollow ware in Meriden. In 1876 Mr. Parker partially retired from business, and his extensive works have been in charge of his sons, Dexter W. and Charles E., and his son-in-law, William H. Lyon, under the corporate name of the Charles Parker Company. The company now own the Union Works on High and Elm streets, the Parker gun factory on Cherry street, the iron spoon shop in East Meriden, the box shop in Yalesville, and the clock shop in the western part of the town.

Mr. Parker is a director in the following companies: Meriden Fire Insurance, Wilcox Silver Plate Company, Safe Deposit Company, Meriden Republican Company, and Meriden National Bank. He is also president of the Charles Parker Company, and the Meriden Cur- tain Fixture Company. Mr. Parker's great business interests have always prevented him from entering public life, but when Meriden was organized as a city he was elected mayor and reëlected the follow- ing year. In 1874, after residing for thirty years at the corner of East Main and High streets, Mr. Parker purchased the elegant residence on North Broad street, which was built by Mr. Jedediah Wilcox, at a cost of $162,000. Mr. Parker early became a member of the Metho- dist church, and has always largely aided in its support. When the new church, on Main and Pleasant streets, was built, he donated $50,000 to the building fund. Mr. Parker married, October 6th, 1831, Miss Abi Lewis Eddy, of Berlin, who died March 7th, 1880. Of their ten children there are now living: Charles Eddy, Dexter Wright and Annie Dryden, who married William H. Lyon. Mr. Parker has al- ways taken an interest in the growth and welfare of Meriden. Emi- nently a domestic man, when not in business his home was in the bosom of his family, and now, while having reached a great age, his intellect is undimmed and his faculties are still acute, and surrounded by his family, he is enjoying that repose which he has rightly earned.

CEPHAS B. ROGERS was born in Saybrook, Conn., December 30th, 1836. His parents, Hervey and Elizabeth A. (Tryon) Rogers, moved to Meriden to manage the Rogers Hotel, when their son Cephas B. was only thirteen years of age. His education was pursued in the schools of Meriden, but not steadily, for a part of his youth was spent in a neighboring factory manufacturing tinware and japanned goods. It was in that factory that young Rogers' energy and ability for busi- ness showed themselves, though so early in his life. Ten hours of toil did not satisfy him. He was up at four o'clock in the morning, did the chores about the factory and opened the japanning kiln, be- fore the work hours came on. The earnings of his overtime work netted him a considerable sum, in addition to his daily wages. His employers were pleased with the despatch he gave to the product of

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the factory every day, and his earnings he carefully saved for future use.

The way of promotion was now opened to him, though it was not yet known just what lines of industry he might follow for the future. The Meriden Lumber & Coal Company needed office help, and he became clerk for a while. He afterward completed his school studies in the academy up-town. But his experience in hotel life, gained from his father's management, suggested a career for him; and he now had the education as well as the practical knowledge fitting a young man for the position of clerk. He was invited to the clerkship of the New Haven House, in the city of New Haven. He held that position for six years, and was there at the outbreak of the rebellion, and during the greater portion of the war. The position afforded him opportu- nity for making a wide acquaintance with men, and with political and state affairs. The New Haven House was the principal rendezvous of the Connecticut political and military leaders, and Mr. Rogers' ac- quaintance with them became fellowship. His wide knowledge of affairs and of men made him a valued partner. He accompanied Mr. Lincoln when that distinguished visitor made addresses in the state, and introduced men to him. It is remembered now that the non- chalance and good nature of Mr. Lincoln were manifest everywhere he went. He was sitting in fatigue attitude at the car stove, when a farmer who had boarded the train on the way to Meriden desired to meet Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Rogers inquired of him whether he would not like to meet " a genuine son of the soil " of the nutmeg state, and at the same time presented the North Haven farmer. Mr. Lincoln re- plied: " Well, Mr. -- , you look old enough to be one of the fathers of the soil rather than a son." Mr. Rogers' enthusiasm for the new party carried him upon the rostrum for the public discussion of the great questions of the day. His ready speech and quick apprehension and wide knowledge of the political situation made him an agreeable and effective public speaker. And when Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated president, Mr. Rogers visited Washington to share in the eclat of the great occasion.

In 1863 Mr. Rogers left the New Haven House and took charge of the Wadawanock House of Stonington, and later of the St. Denis Hotel of New York city. Both of those managements were highly prosperous from a financial point of view, but the constant confine- ment and pressure of responsibility broke down his health, and he returned to Meriden for recuperation.

It was during this restful period that the partnership of C. Rogers & Brothers was planned and entered into in February, 1866. His two brothers, Gilbert and Wilbur F., were skilled manufacturers of silver plated ware, and there appeared to be room in the business world for a new company and a new factory. Beginning small in 1866, the silver plating industry of C. Rogers & Brothers has now become one

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of the principal manufacturing centers of the city of Meriden, and challenges the admiration of all familiar with its inception and growth. About three hundred hands are steadily employed. So successfully is the industry managed that the doors are never closed on week days, except for holidays and for inventory. The products of the factory are ranged in three departments: silver plated spoons, forks, knives and table ware-the manufacture beginning with the metal from which the articles are finally made; casket trimmings and undertakers' supplies; furniture hardware. In one or more of these departments business is always brisk.

The manufactured products of C. Rogers & Brothers have a world- wide reputation. The foreign shipments are large, going to Europe, Australia and South America. So fully does the company have the confidence of its numerous and widely diffused patrons, and so ex- actly do all goods correspond to the representations made of them, that the entire business is conducted from the office of the company in Meriden. The Rogers brothers give their personal supervision to the working and product of all their great factory. By strict integrity, by honorable and prompt methods of business, and by close attention to every department, the C. Rogers & Brothers company commends itself in all the markets of the world, and has won a reputation meas- ured by the constant growth of business from year to year.

The aim of these three brothers in their manufacturing enterprise is not money-making for the money's sake, but chiefly for the good which may be done through it; so that the marked prosperity they have attained to is made to have a high moral end. They are not only prominent business men in Meriden, but are prominent in social and religious circles. They are Methodists, and have been greatly interested in the First Methodist Episcopal church, of which they are members. Cephas B. Rogers has been a member of the official board since 1866, and is the president of the board of trustees. He is promi- nent in his denomination at large, and his abilities give him standing in the deliberations of the governing bodies of the church. He is president of the Lay Conference and trustee of Wesleyan University in Middletown.

In his own city of Meriden he has taken much interest in public matters. Public improvements and the schools of the city have en- gaged his thought and time, and for six years he was a valued member of the common council.

He has also availed himself of the opportunity of foreign travel, visiting, in 1880, England and France.

In 1870 he was married to Miss Margaret, daughter of Doctor Peter F. and Anna M. Clark, of New York city. Mrs. Rogers is a Christian lady, beloved in her church and esteemed highly in Meriden society. Their home is the Rogers homestead in Meriden, beautifully

John Sultiff

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located on North Colony street, and fitted up and kept with elegance of taste and expenditure of means.

JOHN SUTLIFF was born in Wolcott, Conn., August 2d, 1802, and is the son of John and Eunice Sutliff. There were no unusual advan- tages environing his early life, such as forecast and quite secure a successful business career. His inheritance did not consist of wealth, but of such qualities as a sturdy physique, an industrious disposition, economical habits, a willing and intelligent mind, and an honest na- ture which could be trusted, without any entailment of disappointment attaching to the original trust. Endowed in this manner, he went to Meriden when he was about seventeen years of age, and worked fif- teen years for wages at the manufacturing of ivory combs. It was during this period that he accumulated the initial capital. upon which his large fortune was built in after years.

He now formed a partnership with three others for the manufac- ture of ivory combs, in the town of Southington, Conn. The business was there conducted with the least possible risk of loss. The combs were salable in the market, and the factory and power were engaged on such terms of easy relinquishment, that if the hopes of the young men were not realized the business could be discontinued without loss. It was, however, progressing satisfactorily when one of his friends who had observed his business ability and habits, and who in part composed the firm of Foster, Merriam & Co., invited him to pur- chase an interest in the firm. He did so, and took the charge of a de- partment, himself and partners devoting their time and energies steadily to the development of their industry.

The large business enterprise of Foster, Merriam & Co. was under- taken in 1835, and in 1866 it was incorporated under the laws of the state. Mr. Sutliff was made president. The great bulk of the manu- facture consists of furniture castors, draw-pulls, hat and coat hooks, and various kinds of furniture trimmings, and music stool screws. The officers of the corporation are: President, John Sutliff: vice- president, James R. Sutliff ; secretary and treasurer, George C. Mer- riam.

At the time of Mr. Sutliff's entrance into the firm, the whole prod- uct of the factory was wrought out by only five or six hands. The growth since has been rapid. Every year has recorded enlargement, and never has the growth been more rapid than in these latest years. In 1891 about three hundred persons were employed, and the plant covers a large plot of ground in the central portion of the city of Meriden. It is one of the principal industries of the city, which can boast of a large proportion of large manufacturing plants.

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History of New Haven County, Connecticut, Volume I, Part 71

Author: Rockey, J. L. (John L.) Publication date: 1892 Publisher: N. Y. : W. W. Preston Number of Pages: 966

Author: Rockey, J. L. (John L.)
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: N. Y. : W. W. Preston
Number of Pages: 966