USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > History of New Haven County, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 72
USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > History of New Haven County, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 72
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86
Mr. Sutliff's habits of industry and close attention to business con- trol his daily life to the present time. At this writing (1891) he may be found in the factory, visiting all parts of it, and keeping an eye of care on the manufacture in general, throughout all the works.
616
HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY.
Mr. Sutliff's principal business relations in the city of Meriden have been those of a capitalist. He was for many years a director of the First National Bank, and is still a trustee of the City Savings Bank. He has made large investments in the West as well as at home, and is never lacking in funds with which to aid persons who desire to secure loans of a few hundreds or thousands of dollars. The fortune so meagre at the beginning of his residence in Meriden has become a great estate in these late years.
Mr. Sutliff has been twice married; first to Miss Mary Ann Dayton, of North Haven, Conn., November 22d, 1828. Their children are: Mrs. Mary Ann Higby, who died December 22d, 1859; John A. Sutliff and James R. Sutliff, vice-president of Foster, Merriam & Co. Mr. James R. Sutliff married Miss Sarah Easton, and to them was born one daughter, Miss Hattie E. Sutliff. Mr. John Sutliff was married the second time to Miss Rebecca Miles, of Cheshire, Conn., November 9tl1, 1842. Two children were the fruit of this union: Edgar E., who died in infancy, and Abby, who died at about four years of age.
JOHN TAIT, M. D., was born February 16th, 1828, in the town of Trumbull, Fairfield county, Conn. Doctor Tait's ancestry was Scotch. though there is nothing in his personal appearance or speech to direct an observer to his parentage. His good citizenship, his ster- ling integrity, and his religion, however, very naturally link on to that race descent. He has been a resident of Meriden, Conn., since 1854, and a leading physician during all those years. He has seen the growth of the greater part of Meriden, and shared in it as an in- terested, public-spirited citizen. His professional services have been sought for in nearly all of the older families of the town, with whom he has not merely acquaintance, but often intimacy and endeared friend- ship. Besides, his practice has embraced many of the families more recently settled in the city. So that going to and fro, from side to side, of Meriden, he is better known in general than most persons, and none are more generally beloved than he.
His early education was obtained in the common schools of the section where his boyhood was spent. His father was a manufacturer of fancy marble paper, and Doctor Tait aided him as a filial son in the manufacture until he was 18 years of age. At that time he formed a partnership with an older brother to carry on the same business. The partnership continued about two years. In those days the United States government exercised no sufficient protecting care over incip- ient and struggling industries, and manufacturers in foreign lands were allowed to flood American markets with their products. The wages of laborers in Germany were much lower than in this country, and the German manufacturers of fancy marble paper could undersell the producers of the same goods in our home markets, where a much higher daily wage was demanded by the workmen. And hence the young Tait brothers could not compete successfully with the import-
21 -2-1 -- >
ICch-110 .. 1
617
HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY.
ers of foreign goods. Accordingly the partnership was terminated. and Doctor Tait at once resolved to gratify his thirst for an education. He took his share of the earnings of manufacture and repaired to Thompson's Academy, in Woodbury, Litchfield county, to fit himself for entrance to Yale University. He succeeded so well in his prepar- atory studies that in two years he was matriculated, and entered the arts course of the university in the class of 1854. But steady in-door life and hard study wore upon his physical strength, and he was obliged, after two years' residence at the university, to give over his purpose of graduating with his class. He must hasten to his special professional studies, or be unable to finish them. He went, in the fall of 1852, to the Eclectic Medical School of New York, and gradu- ated in 1854.
He was now ready to enter upon his professional life, and watched for the opportunity under such conditions as would keep him out of doors much of the time. At that date Doctor Henry A. Archer was a practicing physician in Meriden, and needed an associate to attend to the out-door part of the business. It was just the opening Doctor Tait had been looking for. The office was situated a little west of Broad street, on what is now called East Main street. The center of the vil- lage of Meriden then lay a short distance to the eastward of the office, but now the center of the city has passed to the westward along Main street, so that the location of Doctor Tait's office for a physi- cian's practice in Meriden, during this long series of years, could hardly be improved upon.
This associate business arrangement continued for nearly four years, or until the spring of 1859. Doctor Tait then purchased the entire medical interest and real estate, 244 East Main street, and suc- ceeded to the business which both had together prosecuted. It was a fortunate venture for him, especially the buying of the real estate, for it has increased in value several fold in the passing by of the years since the purchase was made. Indeed, this increase was noticed at once, and the value has steadily advanced, until now his estate, as a residence, is one of the most desirable and valnable in the city of Meriden.
Doctor Tait has remained in this one location ever since the orig- inal purchase, having his office in one division of his house, and specially fitted up for the practitioner's use. He has remodelled the dwelling part somewhat, has raised the entire walls, constructed a new roof and decorated the house throughout. Other new and fine residences have been built near by, on what was vacant land in 1854. and he finds himself now in the very heart of the desirable resident portion of the city of Meriden.
Doctor Tait married Mrs. Tibballs, nce Catherine E. Chapman, No- vember 24th, 1859, daughter of Julius Chapman, of East Haddam, Conn. One daughter, Miss Flora Chapman Tait, was born to them,
618
HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY.
April 14th, 1863, and never was there a happier family. But the fam- ily joy was so soon and so sadly broken into! On May 25th, 1872, Mrs. Tait died, and the light of wife and mother went out from the home. Mrs. Tait was a pleasing lady, much esteemed for her virtues and amiable qualities, quiet, unassuming, but still energetic and of high character, and much beloved. Her illness was brief, and many, besides her heart-stricken family, mourned for her as for a precious friend.
In the year 1874, December 25th, Doctor Tait married Miss Laura A. Chapman, of East Haddam, who now lives and shares with him the high regard and esteem in which he is held. She was a sister of the first wife, and is much like her in those qualities which won for her so much love and esteem. And it is as true as rare to say that the little daughter soon discovered no difference of motherhood. Two other daughters have been born into the family: Nellie Chapman Tait, born June 26th, 1876, and Fanny Robbins Tait, born October 6th, 1878, who died in infancy, December 17th, 1878.
Doctor Tait's library fills a considerable part of his roomy office, while books, magazines and papers lie about in abundance. One side of his office is devoted to drugs and medicines, for he prefers to fill his own prescriptions. Herein may lie one of the secrets of his popu- larity among his patients. It has always been his aim to make his services as inexpensive as he could to his patrons, while yet giving them the highest skill and best results of medical knowledge. The response of the people to him for this has been a large and re- munerative practice, and a confiding intimacy as their " beloved phy- sician."
In politics he has been a republican, from the days of Fremont, for whom he voted: and though often urged to allow himself to be brought out prominently by his party for distinguished party honors and service, he has steadily refused, preferring the quiet life of his profession to the noisy strife of politics.
In business he has quietly passed into positions of trust, being a director of the First National Bank of Meriden for many years, also of the Meriden Fire Insurance Company, and of the City Savings Bank. He is also a Free and Accepted Mason, Meridian Chapter, No. 77, a member of the Center Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also of the local flourishing order of Royal Arcanum, and of the Connecticut Eclectic Medical Society.
In religion himself and family are Congregationalists, members of the Center church, on Broad street. They are highly esteemed and prominent members, and their kindness and even generosity are known to many both within and without the church circle.
HENRY K. WHITE, manufacturer, Meriden, Conn., was born in Bol- ton, Conn., February 7th, 1822. Mr. White is an excellent illustration of a natural aptitude finding its calling in life. Genius not only car-
A. K. While
619
HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY.
ries out its own fortune, but first discovers the lines of life along which the fortune lies. Mr. White's boyhood suggested the farmer's life, but his musical tastes determined the nature of his calling. He was first attracted by the singing schools of that date. Both voice and car made him a proficient pupil in the science of music, and what he learned so quickly and gained the mastery of he was skilful in im- parting. Hence we find him at only 18 years of age teaching singing school and holding musical conventions.
His musical talent was not content with the exercise of the voice, but peered into the mysteries of instruments of music. He mitst familiarize himself with the mechanism of the piano and of the organ, and especially with those manipulations of the tense string and of the reed, which give musical chords. He could now tune either of those instruments by fifths, but found that the chords were not perfect when the whole key board had been adjusted.
In 1841 an opportunity of musical culture, both practical and the- oretical, was seized upon, and he put himself for a year under the tuition of one of the most accomplished tenor singers of that date in the state. In the same year, also, he bargained with a professional tuner of pianos and organs to be taught the principles and methods of tuning those instruments. The conditions were hard enough, for. in addition to the price of fifty dollars for the instruction, he was en- joined from doing any tuning of either pianos or organs in Connecti- cnt during the life of his instructor.
But the world was wide, and Mr. White, in 1842, started out on a tour of other states, going westward through the Northern states as far as Chicago, and then turning southward as far as St. Louis, and then homeward, through Kentucky and the Central states. Upon his return home in 1845 he entered the employ of Dennison Smith, of Colchester, Conn. Mr. Smith had secured a seraphine, made in France, and undertook to manufacture instruments for the market in this country. Mr. White was the sort of aid needed in his factory, but he had not yet attained to the manufacturer's independence, and as all restrictions had been removed from his action in his native state, he began the manufacture of organs for himself in New London in 1847, when he was only 25 years of age.
He was now familiar with the construction of quite all the pianos and reed instruments in this country, and was skilled in the voicing of the latter and the tuning of both. He was then well equipped to undertake the manufacture of either, especially of reed instruments. The building of the cases in New London was done by cabinet- makers, under his supervision, while he put in the action and com- pleted the musical adjustment as to voice and tune. Just then the Carhart principle for reed instruments of exhaust bellows and sailable reed board was brought to the attention of organ makers, and patent rights were offered for sale.
620
HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY.
Mr. White has the credit of suggesting to the discoverer that he himself make the reeds and reed boards and sell them to organ builders, and he was one of the first to use the new discovery in the construc- tion of organs; but in 1853 he accepted the urgent invitation of parties in Washington, N. J., to manufacture organs there. He did so until the breaking out of the war disturbed business and made it impossible to collect a large trust account due in the Southern states.
He now went to Philadelphia, and until 1865 followed his early aptitude for tuning pianos and organs. At that time the great organ works of Jacob Estey, in Brattleboro, \'t., were developing to consider- able proportions, and Mr. White was called and put in charge of the tuning and action department. He was soon found to be so well versed in organ building that he was consulted respecting designs for cases, as well as the internal construction and the musical quality. He continued in the employ of the Estey Company at a high salary for more than twelve years. His sons were evidently following their father's industrial bent, the eldest, J. H. White, having already at- tained to a prominent and high priced position in the factory. The time had come for an independent business organization, in which Mr. White and his sons should figure more prominently than ever. The opportunity opened in Meriden, Conn., where capital waited to be controlled by Mr. White.
The Wilcox & White Organ Company was organized in 1876, and business begun as soon as the large factory could be built. So pros- perous has the company been that though the original factory was large, and thought by its projectors to be all that would ever be needed, 21,000 feet of flooring space have since been added. About 150 hands are employed. Organs are sent to all the principal coun- tries of the world ; at the same time the home market is large. No pains is spared to give the highest quality of workmanship to all parts of the Wilcox & White organ, and it challenges competition. It is made in two general kinds, each kind embracing many styles: First, the mannal organ ; second, the pneumatic symphony, a self-playing instrument of wonderful compass, perfect in execution as that of the most skilled musicians. To Mr. White himself is chiefly due the de- velopment of the Wilcox & White organ, though he himself disclaims so much credit and leaves the chief honor to his sons.
As a citizen, Mr. White is much esteemed among all acquaintances, not only for his business thrift, but for his integrity and character and public spirit. His own residence, surrounded by his neighbors, among whom are his own sons, is an exhibit of the public spirit which animates both himself and them, for the street on which he lives is one of the most beautiful in the city of Meriden.
He is a republican in politics and a Baptist in religious faith. He has been chosen to the city council, and in the absence of the mayor is made president pro tempore.
621
HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY.
September 2d, 1846, he married Miss Lucy Cornwall, of Hartford, Conn. Three sons and one daughter have been born in the family. The sons-James H., Edward H. and Howard-are all prominently connected with the company. James H. is president and treasurer; Edward H., superintendent of the tuning department, and Howard, superintendent of the organ construction department. To these young men is to be attributed much of the development and the present prosperity. The daughter, Mrs. Julia (White) Scott, is the wife of Winfield Scott, also prominently connected with the factory. They all live in close proximity to their parents, and form a very happy family group.
HORACE C. WILCOX, son of Elisha B. and Hepsibah (Cornwall) Wilcox, was born in Middletown, Westfield Parish, Conn., January 24th, 1824. He lived on his father's farm until he was twenty years old, attending school until he was eighteen. In his twentieth year he commenced peddling tinware, and followed this business for nearly two years. In 1850 he came to Meriden and began selling Britannia ware for Mr. James Frary, and finally furnished Mr. Frary with stock, and took all of the goods that he manufactured. He followed this business for several years, taking also the goods manufactured by Messrs. William Lyman and John Munson, of Wallingford, and I. C. Lewis & Co.
Mr. Wilcox took in partnership his brother, Dennis C. Wilcox, and under the firm name of H. C. Wilcox & Co., remained until Decem- ber, 1852, when the Meriden Britannia Company was formed. The company comprises Messrs. Horace and Dennis Wilcox, and the men for whom he had been selling goods. Mr. Lewis was elected presi- dent, and Mr. Wilcox secretary and treasurer. Mr. George R. Curtis, then the cashier of the Meriden Bank, was admitted into the company and filled the office of treasurer, Mr. Wilcox continuing secretary until 1865, when he was appointed president of the company. With the majority of Meriden's manufacturing and financial institutions, as well as its enterprises, Mr. Wilcox was closely identified, and he was always ready to put capital into any project that would advance the moral and material prosperity of the town and city in which he had spent the greater part of his life, and in the welfare of which he had an abiding interest. Mr. Wilcox was also president of the Wilcox & White Organ Company, and the Meriden, Waterbury & Connecticut River Railroad Company, the latter corporation being the ontgrowth of the Meriden & Cromwell railroad, which was built almost exclu- sively through his efforts, and next to the Britannia Company he took a deeper interest in its success than any other institution with which he was identified. Mr. Wilcox was a director in the Meriden Silver Plate Company, Wilcox Silver Plate Company. Manning & Bowman Company, Meriden Saddlery & Leather Company, Folian Organ & Music Company, Meriden Horse Railroad Company, Rogers & Broth-
622
HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY.
ers, Waterbury: R. Wallace & Sons, Wallingford; William Rogers & Son, Hartford; the Meriden Fire Insurance Company, Home National Bank, the Republican Publishing Company, and he had been a trus- tee of the City Savings Bank since its organization. He was also a director in the Walnut Grove Cemetery Association.
While Mr. Wilcox was a hard working business man, he never shirked public duties, and made his influence felt in the various offices he held. He was an alderman when the city government was first organized, and the fifth mayor of the city, holding that office in 1875 and 1876. In 1877 he was elected state senator. He had no liking for political honors, and increasing business cares and failing health prevented him from accepting other offices in the gift of his towns- men. The principal trait in Mr. Wilcox's character was an indomit- able energy and perseverance. From a borrowed capital of three dollars with which he commenced business, he accumulated a very large property. He was a member of the First Congregational church, and was always one of its heaviest contributors; he was on the build- ing committee which had in charge the building of the present beatt- tiful edifice. He was a member of the society committee up to 1884, and was on other important committees connected with that or- ganization.
Mr. Wilcox was married August 9th, 1848, to Charlotte, daughter of Jabez Smith, of Westfield. By his first wife he had five children. The oldest daughter is the wife of W. P. Morgan, who has charge of the Meriden Britannia Company's business at San Francisco. George H. Wilcox, the oldest son, succeeded his father as manager of the Britannia Company. After the death of his first wife, Mr. Wilcox married Ellen, daughter of Edmund Parker. By her he had three children : Dwight P., Florence and Horace C., the latter having died. Mr. Wilcox had a stroke of paralysis in 1887, and was in poor health until a second stroke, which caused his death, August 27th, 1890.
GROVE HERRICK WILSON, M. D., one of the most prominent physi- cians of Meriden, was born in Stockbridge, Mass., in 1824. His par- ents were Joseph H. and Sally (Herrick) Wilson. descendants of two of the oldest and most honorable families in England and America. On his paternal side he comes through a long line of descent from the family of Reverend John Wilson, the first minister of Boston, whose posterity became illustrious in many states. The maternal ancestry of Doctor Wilson is traced to 'Eric the Forester, of the royal house of Denmark, whose long war with the Angles resulted in the cession to hin of the counties of Leicester and Warwick, in England, where the 'Eric (or Herrick) family have, to this day, a manor at Great Stretton, and a , perpetual pew in the cathedral at Leicester. Reverend William Her- rick, chaplain to Edward Vl. and minister to the Sublime Porte under Elizabeth, was grandfather to Robert, the poet, and Sir William
-
623
HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY.
Herrick, whose son, Henry, was the first member of that family to emigrate to America. He settled in Salem, Mass., in 1629, and his grandson, Doctor Daniel Herrick, born in Preston, Conn., was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. To the family of the above 'Eric also belonged the discoverer of Greenland and founder of Erics- fiord (now Julianshaab, Greenland), and whose son, Leif 'Eric, founded the settlements at Martha's Vineyard and in Rhode Island, about the year 1000, this event being commemorated by a statue erected in Bos- ton. Later members of the Herrick family also attained eminent positions in public and private life.
Doctor Grove H. Wilson was educated in the common schools of Tyringham, and at Lee Academy, in Massachusetts, with a view to fit him for the teacher's profession. He subsequently successfully taught school in his native state and in Delaware, until his failing health warned him to seek other occupation. He now began the study of medicine, graduating from the Berkshire Medical Institution in 1849. After two years he adopted homœopathy, and practiced his profession in North Adams and Conway, Mass., locating in Meriden during the hard times of 1857, when the future of that place was very un- promising. His professional career has here been very successful and uninterruptedly continued. He established a large and lucrative practice, his patronage at one time embracing more than two-thirds of the grand list of the town. For several years past he has been assisted in his professional duties by his only son, Edgar A. Wilson, M. D., who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1881, and who was a practitioner at Rockville, Conn., several years before he came to Meriden, where his services have lightened his father's cares. Doctor G. H. Wilson was married to Margaret A. Adams, of Pencader Hundred, Del., and this son is the issue of that union.
In addition to his activity as a practitioner, Doctor Wilson has contributed to the medical knowledge of the country by writing sev- eral original papers, and in 1882 published a monograph, in which he established the theory of the epidemic nature of intermittent fevers in New England. During the past ten years he has also served as a member of the Connecticut Board of Health, his long experience and keen observation being of great use to that body. All the doctor's tastes are in the direction of liberal and scientific culture, and he is well informed in modern mechanical progress and invention. He has frequently given talks to his townsmen on subjects of natural science, among them being the telephone and a phonograph invented by himself two years before Edison invented an instrument of that nature. The doctor has always maintained an unabated interest in public schools, and in 1863 successfully advocated the abolition of the "rate bill," and making the schools of the town absolutely free to every child in Meriden. The wisdom of this action on the part of the town was confirmed by the state, which within two years thereafter
624
HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY.
passed a state law extending the same privilege to all the children of this commonwealth. Many other public interests have received his sanction or warm support, and he has not shunned the duties and cares of public office. He served the town as a member of the gen- eral assembly in 1880, and again in 1882, his career in both sessions being beneficial to his constituents and creditable to himself. Living in a manufacturing community, the doctor has kept himself in touch with the life of the place, and is interested in several industries, serv- ing as the president and treasurer of a company organized for the manufacture of buckles and trimmings for arctic overshoes, etc .- a young but growing corporation.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.