USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > History of New Haven County, Connecticut, Volume II > Part 54
USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > History of New Haven County, Connecticut, Volume II > Part 54
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And now after nearly four years more spent in the town of his boyhood, he was ready for a larger field still, and came to Birmingham in November, 1863, and purchased the business and good will of the drug store located on the corner of Main and Minerva streets. Here he remained the active manager of the business until 1875. But in 1866 events were visibly forming for a life of less detail, more activity, and for business on a more extended scale. The Star Pin Company, of Shelton, was organizing, and Mr. Peck was one of the principal stockholders, and was made its first president. He continued in this official relation until 1875, and then bought a larger interest and took the entire management of the company, and has held it ever since.
The Star Pin Company is one of the substantial enterprises of Shelton, Conn. From small beginnings it has developed to strength under Mr. Peck's administration. It manufactures not only pins, but hooks and eyes and hair pins. It makes its own boxes and does its own printing. It has no occasion to ask for credit in any quarter. It carries a considerable surplus capital. About 120 hands are employed in the factory, and a common interest in the profitableness of the business seems to pervade the workmen. This spirit is no doubt due in chief part to the truly kindly bearing of Mr. Peck toward all in his employ.
Mr. Peck has been the recipient of honors at the hands of his townsmen. He was judge of the probate court of Derby for several years, and in 1873 and 1891 was elected representative to the general assembly. He has served the borough of Birmingham as burgess for several years, and for 15 years was on the board of school visitors.
No higher testimonial to the common regard for their neighbor could be given than in the petition presented to him May 4th, 1889, by 67 of the prominent men of Derby, requesting him to allow him-
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self to be elected first selectman for the town of Derby. He very re- luctantly consented to stand as a candidate, and was chosen without opposition, and when his term of office expired the public press of the town spoke in highest terms of the administration of himself and his partners, and commended it as the example for future selectmen to follow.
But even more in the church of which he is a member than in the town, is Mr. Peck esteemed. He has been senior warden of St. James Episcopal church, Birmingham, for 25 years. His devotion to his church is shown not only in the length of service, but in the variety, for there are but few services in either parish or church he has not rendered, for very love of what the church is and stands for. In all those years he has had a co-worker in his wife, quite equal to him- self. He has been the superintendent of the Sunday school for many years, and the children have loved him with a fondness remarkable and equalled only by his own love for the young people and the chil- dren. Mrs. Peck is known beyond her household for Christian graces and character, which have made her greatly beloved. The poor call her blessed, and her neighbors are blessed in her example.
Their family has consisted of five children, three of whom have died: Ina Gertrude, September 6th, 1884, 23 years of age; Julia and Bessie, who died in infancy. The two sons living are Irving H. and Howard B.
ALBERT W. PHILLIPS, M. D., was born at Marcellus, N. Y., July 26th, 1838. His parents were George and Betsey (Cleg) Phillips, of Mar- cellus. Doctor Phillips spent his early years on the farm of his father and in attending school. The latest years of his life at home were occupied in part by teaching the district school, or by employment with a physician. It was during this service that the purpose of be- coming a physician was fully formed. Then at 18 years of age he began the regular study of medicine at Syracuse, N. Y., and in 1861 graduated from the Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago, Il1.
He was then invited by two of his former preceptors in succession, at Syracuse, to become partners with them in the practice of medicine. But just then President Lincoln issued his famous first call for troops to suppress the rebellion, and the young physician, not counting the pursuance of his profession of so much moment as the suppression of the rebellion, volunteered his services, enlisting as private in Com- pany A, 12th New York Volunteer Infantry. But on June 1st, 1861, he was appointed hospital steward of the regiment of which his com- pany formed a part. In this office he had charge of the medical sup- plies, general care of the hospital, and supervision of the nurses. His efficiency in office and his physician's training kept him well in the line of promotion. Hence he remained hospital steward only until October, 1862, when he was promoted to be assistant surgeon of the 149th New York Volunteer Infantry.
Am Philips
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Thus far he was connected with the army of the Potomac. But the federal forces were meeting some reverses in Tennessee. General Rosecrans had fallen back from Chickamaugua to Chattanooga and needed reinforcements. The 11th and 12th Corps of the Army of the Potomac were now transferred to General Rosecrans' assistance, and Doctor Phillips with the 12th. But on November 1st, 1863, he resigned his commission in the army, and in the following spring came to Bir- mingham, Conn., to pursue the profession he had chosen in 1856.
Some of Doctor Phillips' Grand Army friends remember his service with them in the army of the Cumberland. Doctor Kendall, who was acting as brigade surgeon, says that he saw him at a distance before the young physician had reported for orders, and said to himself: "What boy have they sent me for an assistant ?" But it did not take long to discover that a trained and able physician had come in the hearty, robust, young mail.
Nor did Doctor Phillips' official dignity swell with pride of manner in the presence of the soldiers. If need be, he marched with them, carrying his medicines in his pockets. When the battle was on he kept near to wait upon the wounded, and his strong shoulders often bore the gun or knapsack of a weary soldier. At Gettysburg, as the terrible struggle of Culp's Hill was coming on, he worked harder building breastworks than many of the soldiers who were in special need of them. Another of his comrades, reporting from the field in 1863, says of him: "He is an intelligent gentleman, a jovial companion and a brave and fearless soldier." Doctor Phillips' army life is re- membered by him as one of the most interesting chapters, and no associations of the present time are more agreeable to him than those of the Grand Army. He is an enthusiastic member of Kellogg Post, No. 26.
Doctor Phillips has allied himself with the chief social orders. He is a member of the Ousatonic Lodge, No. 6, I. O. O. F .; also of King Hiram Lodge, No. 12, F. & A. M .; of Solomon Chapter, No. 3, R. A. M .; of Union Council, No. 27, R. & S. M .; of New Haven Commandery, No. 2, K. T .; and is a 32d degree Mason of Cerneau Consistory, No. 1, New York.
There is one room of Doctor Phillips' house which illustrates cer- tain phases of his individuality. It is devoted chiefly to mementoes and souvenirs of his army life, and of the social orders of which he is a member, and whose anniversaries he has attended. Upon entering the visitor is struck with the number and variety of them, and the amount of travel done to obtain them. This is indeed the work of an enthusiastic comrade of the army, and of one who delights in the friendship and society of the social orders. Nearly every object in the room has a history. Doctor Phillips is familiar with it, and in relating it the glow of enthusiasm betrays the ardor of his nature, whether as companion or friend. Hence his popularity at home, and
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his untiring agreeableness while traveling, or in the woods and beside the lakes in a vacation outing.
In addition to a large practice in Birmingham, Doctor Phillips has taken great interest in the borough; and though he has had no desire for office of any kind, his fellow-citizens have insisted that he shall not go free. He has been a burgess of the borough by their choice for nine years, and for a term held the office of registrar of vital sta- tistics.
Doctor Phillips married, October 16th, 1862, Miss Nancy P. Owen, of Syracuse, N. Y. Three children have been born to them: Harry Bowdish, born December 28th, 1864, died November 1st, 1865; Ellen Pauline, born May 23d, 1869; and Albert W., born September 22d, 1870, died November 13th, 1876.
Doctor Phillips resides in his own house on Caroline street, Birming- ham. A visit to it discovers a home tastily and richly appointed, where friends and guests receive cordial attention from Doctor and Mrs. Phillips.
DAVID W. PLUMB, born October 13th, 1808, in Trumbull, Conn., is of English ancestry, Robert Plumb, on the paternal side, having been one of the first settlers of Milford in 1639, and Thomas Welles, on the maternal side, was governor of the state in 1655 and held other offices as early as 1641. The family removed to what is now the eity of Bridgeport, then a part of the town of Stratford, when he was five years old. He was educated at the common schools of the day, with a few terms at academies and select schools. He was employed on the farm until 1831, when he started a small country store at the factory village in the north part of Bridgeport. He removed from there to Birmingham in 1836, and engaged in woolen manufacturing on the then new water power there, with B. B. Beach. In 1848 he removed to Ansonia, and built a new mill on the new water power which Anson G. Phelps had established there, the partnership with Mr. Beach hav- ing been dissolved some years before. In 1865 he sold out this busi- ness to the Slade Manufacturing Company, and in 1868 he removed to the new village of Shelton, where the Ousatonic Water Company had brought the water of the Housatonic river into use, and in which en- terprise he had engaged at its organization, having been one of its directors and its vice-president from that time to the present. Since he sold his manufacturing business, in 1865, he has not engaged act- ively in any similar business, though he is a stockholder in several companies and an officer of some.
He is still active and busy with matters that concern himself and the public. He represented the town of Derby in the Connecticut leg- islature in 1838, 1852, 1860, 1862 and 1864, and the Fifth senatorial dis- trict in 1841. During this time charters were obtained for the borough of Ansonia, the savings bank of Ansonia and the Ousatonic Water Company and the removal of the Bank of North America from Sey-
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mour to Ansonia, and change of title to the Ansonia Bank was accom- plished. He was the treasurer of the Ansonia Savings Bank during its existence, was president of the Ansonia Bank until he resigned, and is now vice-president of the Birmingham National Bank. He was the first warden of the borough of Ansonia. He has devoted much time and attention and some means to the development of " River- view Park," a beautiful place in the borough of Shelton, dedicated to the public use for recreation, enjoyment and health, and of which he is one of the commissioners. He has participated earnestly in politi- cal excitements, especially in his earlier life, and when temperance and slavery were important elements in politics, having been strongly in favor of temperance and opposed to slavery and in favor of the free soil movement.
He married, in 1841, Miss Clarissa Allen. She died in 1865. In 1875 he married Miss Louise Wakelee, who still survives. He has no children.
Doctor William S. Randall, born in Brookfield, Conn., August 5th, 1861, is a son of the late Charles W. Randall, a native of Bridgewater, Conn. Doctor Randall received his preliminary education at the Bir- mingham High School, and entered the scientific department of Yale College in 1880, taking the biological course. Graduating in 1883, he attended Yale Medical School, then attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of New York city. He graduated from the latter insti- tution in 1885, then returned to New Haven and spent one year as house physician and surgeon in the New Haven Hospital. He came to Birmingham in November, 1886, and has practiced here since. He is a member of the State and Ousatonic Medical Societies. He mar- ried, in 1887, Hattie L. Beers, of New Milford. They have one son, Harold B., born March 12th, 1889.
Luzon Rowell, born in Monroe, Conn., in 1820, is a son of David and Sarah (Blakeman) Rowell, and grandson of Jacob, who came from Scotland and settled in Fairfield county before the revolutionary war. Both David and Sarah were born the same day in 1780. Luzon came to Derby in 1846, and settled near where he now lives. He learned the trade of ship carpenter, and followed it until 1861. Since that time he has been engaged in repairing mills, moving buildings, etc. He has held the office of selectman seven years, and has been assessor and collector of taxes. He married Phebe A Fairweather, of Monroe, Conn., March 7th, 1841. They have had six children. Two enlisted in the war of the rebellion, David B. and Charles B. David B. was killed in battle at Tracy City, Tenn., January 21st, 1864. Charles B. resides in Aiken, S. C. The other children are: George B., Carrie L. (died 1873), Ella M. and Ida J.
EDWARD NELSON SHELTON, of Birmingham, Conn., is a descendant of Daniel Shelton, who came from England to Stratford, Conn., in 1686. He married, in 1692, Elizabeth Welles, granddaughter of
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Thomas Welles, one of the early governors of Connecticut. Mr. Daniel Shelton finally retired from business in Stratford and resided on his farm in Huntington (then a part of Stratford), about two miles south of the present village of Shelton.
Mr. Edward Nelson Shelton is of the fourth generation in descent from Daniel Shelton. He was born in the home of his ancestors Sep- tember 4th, 1812. He had the benefit of the educational advantages of his native town, and of the more important academy at Derby; and also of Captain Partridge's Scientific School at Middletown and lec- tures at Yale College. He commenced business at Birmingham in 1836, manufacturing tacks, in connection with Mr. N. C. Sanford, un- der the name of Sanford & Shelton. Mr. Sanford died in 1841. and the business was continued under the name of E. N. Shelton until 1854, when it was organized as the Shelton Company.
Mr. Shelton has been president of the Birmingham National Bank since its organization in 1848. It is principally due to Mr. Shelton that the thriving village of Shelton, named in honor of him, with a business capital rated at $2,000,000, and employing 2,000 hands, exists. He was able in 1867 to see the first work done toward the construction of the great dam across the Housatonic, which was to develop the largest water power in the state, and one of the largest in New Eng- land. His long cherished project was brought to a successful comple- tion in 1870, resulting in the founding and satisfactory growth of the village of Shelton. He has been the president of the Ousatonic Water Company, which built the dam, since its organization in 1866.
Though a member of the state senate in 1869. Mr. Shelton has not cared for political life or office. His interest has been principally in the development and growth of the two villages, Birmingham and Shelton. His public spirit and desire that whatever is best for the benefit of the many should be accomplished have always been marked characteristics, as well as his unquestioned honor and integrity. His energy, perseverance and business ability have been proved in various enterprises in his own town and elsewhere, and much success for others as well as himself is due to his keen business foresight. He has always been an earnest supporter of the Episcopal church, as his fore- fathers were.
Samuel Sherwood and his son, Oliver B., settled on Sentinel hill in the town of Derby in 1816. Oliver was born in Ridgefield, Conn., in 1799, married Charlotte Fowler, of Milford, in 1837, and had two sons and two daughters. One son, William O., lives in New York. The other, Albert F., lives on the old homestead where his father and inother are still living; the former is 92 years old, and the latter 81. Albert F. married Emeline Chatfield, of Derby, in 1866. They have two sons: Charles G. and Joseph B. Charles G. married Alice Tucker, of Seymour, Conn., in 1887, and has two daughters: Grace E. and Helen G. These four generations all live under one roof on the old
6. Shelton
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homestead. Albert F. was postmaster of Derby eight years, and was engaged in the drug trade there many years. He is deputy sheriff, and is engaged in the settlement of estates.
DAVID TORRANCE, judge of the supreme court of errors of Connec- ticut, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, March 3d, 1840. No better illustration of merit and ability winning its way from unpromising beginnings to the most honorable position in society can be given than a truthful sketch of the eminent judge whose life is here outlined in tracery all too rude. He came from Scotland to this country with his widowed mother, when he was only nine years old. The family came to Norwich, Conn., for residence, and there Master Torrance attended the common schools, but only for five years. Then it fell to his lot, though a mere lad, to work in a cotton mill. When 15 years of age he went into the Chelsea Paper Mills, Greenville, Norwich, to learn to make paper. And there he worked until the call for volunteers for service in the army became so loud he must heed it. The 18th Regi- ment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry was now making up. Company A was forming, and in June of 1862 he enlisted, and was chosen sec- ond sergeant of the company. The fortunes of the regiment were his, until he was captured at the battle of Winchester, Va., by the enemy, and sent to suffer the horrors of Libby Prison and afterward Belle Island. But in July, 1863, he was paroled. At the close of the year he was appointed to a captaincy of a colored regiment, the 29th Con- necticut Volunteers. Subsequently he was advanced to the position of major, and then of lieutenant-colonel, serving in this position until the regiment was mustered out, in October, 1865.
The war being over, he came home with Colonel William B. Woos- ter, under whose superior command much of his army life had been spent, and entered Colonel Wooster's law office in Birmingham, Conn., January, 1866, as a student. Before entering the army he had cher- ished the purpose of pursuing legal studies, and now found a helpful counsellor and friend in the brave, incorruptible officer who had given , him orders on the field. While waiting somewhat impatiently for the disbanding of the regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Torrance began the study of law under the direction of Colonel Wooster, and now in Col- onel Wooster's office in Birmingham, only continued what he had al- ready begun. So rapidly did the student familiarize himself with the prescribed curriculum that he applied for examination, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1868, for the practice of law in all the courts of the commonwealth. He soon entered into partnership with Colonel Wooster, under the firm name of Wooster & Torrance.
The firm now bore a magnificent title with which to go before the people of Birmingham for patronage. Colonel Wooster was already known and eminent as a counsellor, and his partner won decided re- spect for his ability wherever he conducted cases in court. Both were army men, and brought to their office the prestige of brave leadership
30
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in the army; both possessed those manly graces which win favor from the public and secure popularity; and both were known to be honest men, tried and true, whom their clients could trust to the farthest ex- treme. A large and lucrative practice was the logical result.
In 1871 Judge Torrance was chosen representative for the town of Derby in the general assembly, and again in 1872. His presence in the assembly was a recognized element of strength for legislation. A certain positive and clear vein of Scotch sense and intellectuality appeared in all his committee work and in his addresses on the floor of the house. And when his party nominated him for secre- tary of state in the fall of 1878 his name added weight to the general excellence of the party ticket. He held the office of secretary of state for two years. In 1881 he was appointed judge of the court of com- mon pleas of New Haven county, which held its sittings in New Haven; and in 1885 he was reappointed judge of the same court, but before entering upon his second term he was made judge of the su- perior court of the state; and in 1890 he was advanced to the highest judicial tribunal of the state, the supreme court of errors.
It is apparent at once that the career just sketched is unique, if not phenomenal, and the inquiry at once arises, what were the elements and traits composing this noteworthy life. Nothing more than sug- gestions of them is here attempted. Judge Torrance is wholly a self- made man. The colleges cannot claim him, though Yale University has conferred upon him the honorary A. M. The law schools cannot declare that they gave him his sustained intellectual power and logi- cal acumen. His education has been his own work, and the curricu- lum of his studies, his own planning, and the zeal with which he has pursued them has been determined by his own tastes. He was by nature liberally supplied with good Scotch sense, and with the meta- physical tendency of the Scotch mind. The world is not all one-sided to him, but every pro has a con, and without effort both of those will appear at the same time in his mind, each to be weighed and credited with its value. And then, when the balance is struck, it does not need revision.
The trend of his mind has an illustration in a matter somewhat private, and yet not exclusively so. For many years a club composed of a few of the citizens of Birmingham, drawn together by kindred tastes for philosophical studies, has held weekly meetings. Its name is taken from the Greek word for mind, and hence it is called the "Nous Club." Judge Torrance has been the leader in its discussions, though his modesty would forbid him from claiming to be more than a peer among equals. All the members are en rapport with the objects of the club. The latest subject of investigation in metaphysics has been "Kant's Critique of Pure Reason." Such subjects as that are both informing and recreative to this inquiring company, and no one takes more pleasure in these analytic, acute and logical excursions into the
David Jourancy
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realm of pure and applied reasoning than Judge Torrance. He is an independent thinker, and wherever truth may lead he will follow, whoever may keep him company. It is easy to see how such a mind naturally gravitates to the judge's bench.
But with this Scotch metaphysical intellectuality is united an affa- bility of manner which can state an independent judgment frankly, and even vigorously, and yet not give offense in any quarter .. He has that quality of agreeable genuineness which wins a liking from its very frank sincerity; and hence few men have created fewer antagon- isms than he in all the walks of life -- hence, too, his popularity wher- ever he is known.
Judge Torrance is in demand, too, in a social way, and his speeches at dinners and anniversaries are features of the occasions. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and of the Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Army and Navy Club of Connecticut. He never allows himself to forget his old comrades in arms; and when he is not sitting on the tribunal of justice, makes himself as one of his many friends.
During his army life he came home on furlough, and while in Nor- wich, Conn., the city of his boyhood, was married to Miss Annie France, also of that city. February 12th, 1864. Three children have been born to them: Margaret G., Walter S. and James F. The whole family are parishioners of the Congregational church of Birmingham, as well as prominent constituents of Birmingham society.
THOMAS WALLACE, SR., manufacturer, Birmingham, Conn., was born in Manchester, England, November 15th, 1797. Mr. Andrew Carnegie, of Pittsburg, Pa., in his work entitled “Triumphant Democ- racy," quotes Lowthian Bell as remarking upon the numerous inven- tions made by Americans and their wonderful aptitude in manufac- turing by means of inventions, but he discovered after all that Britons had done a large part of what he remarked upon. Mr. Carnegie found the statements corroborated by the horseshoe machines of Mr. Burden, a sturdy Scot; the smelting of pig-iron with anthracite coal by Mr. Thomas, a Welshman; the steel rail and steel wire mills at Cleveland, Ohio, created by Mr. Chisholm, of Dumfermline, Scotland; the weaving of tapestry in Philadelphia, by Isaac Stead, an enterpris- ing Englishman; and the founding of the famous brass mill at An- sonia, Conn., by Mr. Wallace. The reference is to Mr. Thomas Wal- lace, Sr., who died April 30th, 1875.
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