USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > History of New Haven County, Connecticut, Volume II > Part 55
USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > History of New Haven County, Connecticut, Volume II > Part 55
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Mr. Wallace's parents died while he was yet young, his father when he was seven years of age, and his mother when he was eleven. But the impress of his mother, Elizabeth Chapman Wallace, abode on his heart as long as he lived. There is now in the keeping of one of his daughters, Mrs. R. R. Wood, of Ansonia, the old Bible, substan- tially bound, but revealing age and use, of his mother, which he car- ried by her side to and from church, and the Sunday school, which
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she organized. Sunday sehools were very rare in those days, and to Mrs. Elizabeth Chapman Wallace is to be credited the special and lasting honor of opening the first Sunday school in the eity of Man- chester, England. Her little son, Thomas, was one of her regular pupils, and the old Bible belonging to her and borne by him for her sake, was a life-long treasure to him.
But left an orphan at 11 years of age, he passed to the care of his eldest sister. She sent him on to London, and though robbed on the way of the few pounds she gave him, he pressed on, hoping to find employment in the store of a confeetioner. His hope was fulfilled. Here his natural taste for reading developed. It was his duty to carry the delicacies of the confectioner to the residences of gentlemen and ladies of wealth. He was soon desired to bring along with him news- papers, and for this service he was rewarded with the gift of pennies. But " Tommy," as he was familiarly ealled, did not lay out his pen- nies for the delicaeies of the palate, but for those of the mind. The lad had heard of America, and dreamed of America, and his pennies were laid out for American newspapers. He read them when he could, not infrequently by the light of the fire, while he lay on his back on the floor. In this way an American fire was kindled in his heart, which never died out.
A little later in his life he was apprenticed to learn the trade of pin-wire drawing to a firm in Manchester, and from the work room he passed to the office, where he remained, until he, with his wife and children, came to America, entering the harbor at New York, July 4th, 1832.
From this point it is interesting to observe the education which indirectly came to him from the English life about him, in all these years of young manhood. He was a lad of work, and a young man of work, and his daily associations made him familiar with the life of the working people. He shared their hardships with them, and being a gifted mind and an independent thinker, he was necessarily prom- inent among his peers in that troublous period of English history. It was the period when the labor agitations of all succeeding years had their birth, and Manchester was the partieular nursery of the potent ideas which have since developed into the future comparative pros- perity of the laboring man in England. The social condition of Eng- land during that period could hardly have been worse for the poor man, seen from whatever point of view may be taken. The laws of the land were exceedingly oppressive. Many were starving, work was searce, bread was high, prisons were crowded, the criminal courts were aetive, the penal code was terribly severe, misery abounded, and the groans of the people found no redress.
Mr. Wallace's naturally strong, independent mind drank all this in, and his sympathies were with the down-trodden people among whom he classed himself. He was ready for great action, but too
Tho Wallace
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wise to forestall the natural order of events, and enact the Harper's Ferry disaster in the history of American liberty. He uttered his po- litical and social faith, but so discreetly as not to center upon himself the malignity of the aristocratic power. And yet he was several times on the verge of imprisonment or transportation for his active, outspoken sympathy for reform and his laudation of American liberty. It is remembered now that when his eldest daughter was only seven years of age, her father was absent, and it was said he was in the " bread riot " occurring in the streets. But he was so popular with some of the officers, that it is known one of them saved him once by saying: " Tom, follow me, and act as though you were on our side, and will lead you out."
Mr. Wallace, Sr., was a democrat by nature, and could ill brook the social tyranny of the titled or the wealthy. Why should his wife and daughter per right courtesy to the passing aristocrat? Why should the church bailiff be empowered to knock off his hat in the . church doorway? A little while before coming to America, at the church door he was a little too spry in the removal of his hat to allow the gesture of the bailiff to take effect, but not so spry as to forestall the gesture. He reported the event of the bailiff's effrontery to his family, and said: "Never occur to me again, we will go to America." More and more he was working into action in behalf of the working people, at the same time he was extolling America. His own judg- ment counselled him and his friends advised him to go to America before he should become an object of aristocratic hatred.
The early Manchester reformers were his dear friends. A little old album of that date has in it the photograph of Richard Cobden, and written by his own hand under it, " My most intimate friend." In that same album are other pictures of his choice Manchester friends, Abel Heywood, Thomas S. Woodcock, John Heywood, Robert Dale Owen. The annotations of Mr. Wallace to these photographs are evi- dence how true the friendship was.
Upon coming to America, in 1832, he expected to form a partner- ship in Providence, R. I., for the manufacture of wire, but the plans miscarried. Attempts were made up the Hudson and in New Jersey.
An incident which occurred in Annsville will show one phase of the noble Briton. In his factory there were eight apprentices, and three evenings of the week he gathered them about a large table in his own house and taught them penmanship, and had them read to- gether some of the master works of English literature, closing with a familiar talk on some interesting topic.
But not till 1841 did he become settled in Birmingham, Conn., and without detaining the narrative by dates, it is enough to say that the magnificent corporation of Wallace & Sons in Ansonia is the direct outgrowth of the industry founded by the really great and noble character whose name stands first in the corporate title, " Wallace & Sons."
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Mr. Wallace brought with him to America his whole self. Fond of America before he ever stepped upon her shores, he became most loyal and patriotic. His freedom of thought came with him, his grace and courtliness of manner, his pity for the slave, his love of temper- ance, his hate of tobacco using, his orderliness, his gentlemanliness, his kindness, his love of right, and his ability to stand for conscience and freedom and liberty unto the very last, and all alone if need be, his power of keeping friendships in the midst of all differences of opinion, and his fine face. All these came with him to America, and so dis- tinguished him in the town of Derby as to make him one of the most honored and popular citizens.
He had a natural taste for education, as he was intellectual in his cast of mind. He was fond of schools, and took great interest in those of Birmingham. It delighted him to see young men and women as- piring to knowledge, and in some cases he aided those who hungered for it and could not of themselves attain it. There is an unwritten history here of great beauty. As showing his own literary tastes, it may be said that it was his sustained habit, when the business of the day was over, to take a bath, then sit at his table in his library reading a book, making annotations such as adorn the pages of his volume of "Ecce Homo," or writing a newspaper article, perhaps for the Liberator, of his great friend, William Lloyd Garrison.
He chose for his marital partner, while yet in England, a true and typical English woman, Miss Agnes Lord, born April 24th, 1797, daughter of a physician. She was a woman of great energy and character, often proving to be a motive force, and often a guide to her husband. If there were excelling on either side, it is only true to say that she was not less in her sphere than he in his. They were mar- ried, and celebrated their golden wedding in Birmingham December 7th, 1868.
As a testimonial given by the employees on that occasion, there is now in the possession of one of the sons, Thomas Wallace, a case properly inscribed, containing 50 gold dollars. Congratulations and tokens of esteem sent to them or presented in person on that occasion were very numerous. Their children are: Mrs. Elizabeth Wood, John (deceased); William and Thomas (the two sons now in the corporation of "Wallace & Sons)"; Mrs. Agnes Jackson, Mrs. J. A. Wooster and Mrs. Margaret E. Hayes. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Wallace were among the first citizens of Birmingham, and gave to their children an inherit- ance of noble worth, better than the wealth bestowed. They live in the hearts of their children and their neighbors.
Sturges Whitlock, born in Ridgefield, Conn., in 1844, is a son of John Whitlock, who was born in Ridgefield, Conn., in 1821, and grand- son of Thaddeus, whose father was Jonathan. Three brothers came from England; one settled in New York, one in New Jersey, and one in Connecticut. John Whitlock came to Birmingham and founded the
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Whitlock Machine Company. His son, Sturges, moved the business to Shelton, and organized a stock company, of which he is president.
WILLIAM H. WILLIAMS, lawyer, Birmingham, Conn., was born in Bethany, Conn., June 7th, 1850. There were no special advantages of wealth or society clustering about his birth. Hence from the first he must win for himself whatever of position or influence he might gain in the world. His earliest schooling was had in Durham, Conn., in the district school, and then only for a brief year or two, for at seven years of age he left home for the varied fortunes of a farmer's boy, working on the farm in the summer and perhaps attending school for a few weeks in the winter. He then worked in a woolen mill or a grist mill or sold goods from a peddler's wagon, as the exigencies of the time might determine.
But a date may be fixed, September 12th, 1870, as indicating the future of Mr. Williams. He then went to live with the late Judge Harris P. Munson, of Seymour, under conditions which admitted of his studying law in the judge's office and under his direction. For the first two years about half of the time was spent in farm work, and the other half diligently improved in conning the principles of jurispru- dence and their application. The third year was devoted assiduously to legal studies and to those preliminary attempts at legal practice al- lowed to law students before justices of the peace. He was now ready for examination for admission to the bar, and applied in September, 1873, to be admitted. The examining committee could not be assem- bled until after the fall term of the superior court had adjourned. The examiners met in November, and the candidate successfully passed their scrutiny. The next term of the superior court opened at New Haven in January, 1874, with Judge Pardee, of Hartford, on the bench. At the opening of that court January 6th, Mr. Williams was admitted to practice the profession of law in all the courts of the state.
It will be remembered that he already had some experience in the trial of petty cases, and that preliminary work was a favorable intro- duction to the larger arena which he had now entered. He continued with Judge Munson, and his relations to the judge brought him into acquaintance with the judge's daughter-an acquaintance which ri- pened into fondness. For on May 5th, 1874, he was married to Miss Iris E. Munson. The union was delightful, for they were of kindred tastes, only it was broken in upon so soon by death. The fall and winter of that year she spent in the warm climate of Florida, but consumption had fastened its fatal grip upon her, and in September of 1876 she died.
Returning a little now, it is fitting to allude to an experience in Mr. Williams' early practice which many, accustomed to observe the public life of Connecticut men, will call to mind. And it will be re- membered all the more pleasantly in respect of Mr. Williams, for in the judgment of men of high virtue he bore himself so honorably throughout it, and won a good name in all the state. He was ap-
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pointed prosecuting agent under the new liquor law of 1874, and came under obligation to the state to administer the law faithfully. Its spirit and intent were manifest, its language was plain, and it threw on the prosecuting attorney an onerous responsibility, especially in those towns which refused to grant licenses. Liquor men in some of those towns were defiant and sought in various ways to intimidate the pros- ecuting attorney, and failing to quiet him, then to remove him from office. But in all the long struggle Mr. Williams retained the support of the moral and law-abiding forces of the commonwealth to such an extent as to vindicate completely his course as a faithful protector of the public good. He issued from the struggle bearing the confidence and honor of the best portions of society, and really laid the founda- tions for rising to higher distinctions than he had yet attained to.
In 1878, June 17th, he again married a Seymour lady-his present wife, Miss Nellie A. Johnson, and the happiness of home life with another genial spirit, both like and unlike that held in sacred memory, was renewed. Like the former wife, the present Mrs. Williams is an Episcopalian, and the family sittings are under the Episcopalian min- istry.
On April 1st, 1880, Mr. Williams opened a branch office in Bir- mingham, where the late I. M. Gardner, who had just died, had prac- ticed law, and in the spring of 1882 he moved his family to Birming- ham. In 1887-8 he built his present elegant residence, 115 Atwater avenue, overlooking a large part of Ansonia.
Three years only passed by, and Judge David Torrance had been appointed to the bench of the superior court. A vacancy was thus created in the law firm of Wooster, Torrance & Gager, and it was de- sired that it should be filled. The remaining members of the firm, in conference with Judge Torrance, looked about for the available law- yer, and found the qualities and standing desired in Mr. Williams, who was invited to enter the copartnership, and he did so April 1st, 1885.
Mr. Williams shares in the social distinctions of his town, being a member of New Haven Commandery, No. 2, K. T., and also a member of the I. O. O. F., and of the Knights of Pythias.
Looking back now over this sketch, we observe what native worth and steady industry, with the upward gaze, may accomplish. Given the aspiring mind and heart, and the patient toil of years, and the young man thrown upon the world with no resources but himself may come to eminence in the professions, and to equal esteem in the com- munity where he lives.
COLONEL WILLIAM B. WOOSTER, born in Oxford, Conn., August 22d, 1821, was the son of Russel and Avis (Burr) Wooster, of that town. His birthplace suggests that the occupation of his father was agricultural, and that the son shared in the experiences of farm life. His education was pursued in the district school and the academy, and at 19 years of age he began to teach.
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He now seemed to himself, as he did to others, to be born for a larger sphere of operation, and after a few years entered the law school at New Haven, and graduated at Yale University in 1846, bearing a diploma signed by President Day. Judge William L. Storrs had been his instructor, and took such pride in his pupil as to give him counsel which determined the graduate's future. It had been the dream of the student to cast his fortunes into the great West, whither so many were tending, but Judge Storrs said, "I want to give you unsolicited advice. I know you and I know this locality. Don't you leave Con- necticut. Don't leave New Haven county, and come here as soon as , you can." Birmingham was quite near New Haven. In Mr. Woos- ter's horoscope of the future there appeared what has since come to pass in fact; a growing borough with suburbs which might become populous, and he carried out the advice of his eminent legal instructor by establishing himself for the practice of law in Birmingham, Conn., October 1st, 1846.
There was another item in the advice of Judge Storrs which is not recorded above, and it was that the young lawyer should let politics alone, and give himself wholly to the practice of his profession. This he did, and was first successfully tempted into the political arena in 1858, when he had given 12 years closely to professional pursuits. He was then chosen representative to the general assembly from the town of Derby, and in 1859 was elected senator from the Fifth district, and again in 1861 went to the house.
His most conspicuous service in the state government was per- formed on the military committee, and the splendid manner in which Connecticut bore her part in the volunteer service of the army, and took care of the soldiers' families, is to be credited largely to his efforts. He drew many of the acts and resolves which make up Con- necticut's legislative war record, and supported them in their passage through that busy session of the general assembly.
At the same time and later, he was actively engaged in enlisting volunteers, making patriotic and war speeches, even to the neglect of his own professional business. And when President Lincoln issued his famous "call" for 300,000 volunteers, Colonel Wooster felt it to be a call to him personally, and his sense of duty led him to act. He was commissioned, August 22d, 1862, lieutenant colonel of the 20th Con- necticut Volunteer Infantry. The battle of Chancellorsville followed the next May, and for distinguished gallantry on the field he was made colonel by brevet. His command held the ground against bold and fierce assaults, and only when the federal line on both sides of him had given way, did he order a retreat. His forces filed out along the base of the hill, and to escape he mounted two stray horses in succes- sion, but both of them were shot under him. He soon found that the enemy had closed behind him. He was captured, his sword taken from him, and he was marched in the direction of Libby Prison to undergo its terrible ordeal.
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How strangely interesting are some of the happenings in life ! The colonel now has the sword taken from him on the field of Chan- cellorsville, and the old hat put in place of his own, taken from him a few hours after, while he was sleeping on the ground, under rebel guard, in front of General Maury's quarters. The sword he prized for association's sake. It was the gift to him of some of his townsmen, Wallace & Sons, and was properly inscribed. He received it as he left home to take his command in 1862. In a battle on the Weldon rail- road, in August, 1864, our forces, Lieutenant-Colonel Finnicum of the 7th Wisconsin Volunteers commanding, captured an officer of a Miss- issippi regiment carrying this sword. Lieutenant-Colonel Finnicum returned it to its owner.
On release from Libby Prison and exchange, Colonel Wooster hastened to join his regiment, and led his command at Gettysburg. His regiment was in the thickest of the fight, and his own particular command was at the very front, led in person, in the terrible conflict on Culp's hill, on the morning of the third day of battle, when his command with other forces made the attack. No detail of his event- ful army experience is here attempted. It is sufficient to allude to two or three items of it, only to suggest the personal quality and career of the man so widely and highly esteemed in Connecticut.
In March. 1864, he was assigned to the command of a colored regi- ment and made colonel of it, the 29th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, and henceforth his fortunes in the war were identical with the fortunes of that brave regiment. It is an item of special interest that his com- mand was the first to enter Richmond upon its evacuation by the rebel troops; and Colonel Wooster was detailed judge under martial law in the city, a position for which his past legal life eminently quali- fied him.
But the enumeration of these army events do not sketch the man as the soldiers under him knew him, or as his neighbors at home, by long acquaintance, knew him, and have known him since. His bravery and calmness in the peril of battle could not be improved upon. His care of the soldiers under him was constant, painstaking, self-sacri- ficing. He could take no rest hinself unless his soldiers were pro- vided with the food and clothing and accoutrements they were entitled to; and if need be, he would jeopardize his popularity in certain quar- ters by complaints at headquarters, if the supplies were not forthcom- ing. His bravery and ability of command, and his devotion to the well being of his men, made them confide in him to the fullest extent . and love him. Hence they were ambitious to acquit themselves in the best manner, and would follow him anywhere. While he was the im- personation of bravery, and if needful, his nerve was equal to any ten- sion, he was yet tender-hearted and kind. After the battle of Chan- cellorsville, and he was a prisoner, he induced the rebel commander to allow him to go under guard back over the field that he might see wlio
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of his men were killed and gather up messages and mementoes from the wounded and dying to send back home to their friends and families. So full of loving tenderness is his nature.
The war being over, Colonel Wooster returned and opened his law office once more in Birmingham. The tide of business set toward him again, and his clients multiplied. They gave the verdict of having found a perfectly honest lawyer, considerate, able, a very safe coun- sellor and a successful advocate. Colonel Wooster is naturally a man of affairs-eminently a man of action rather than of theory. He is a born leader of men, whether on the field of battle or in civil mat- ters; and so transparent is his sincerity, so frank is his manner, so open his utterance, that the shadow of deceit is impossible to him, and men trust him and his neighbors honor and love him.
He was married October 11th, 1870, to Miss Wallace, of Birming- ham, the daughter of Thomas Wallace, of whom Andrew Carnegie speaks in his "Triumphant Democracy ": " Mr. Wallace was one of the great Britons in America who founded one of the greatest indus- tries in this land." Colonel Wooster's residence is situated on Clifton avenue, Ansonia, and is a model of elegance throughout. There he lives a retired life, surrounded with luxury.
CHAPTER XI.
THE TOWN OF ANSONIA.
Location and Description .- Civil Government .- The Borough of Ansonia .- West An- sonia .- Manufacturing Interests .- Banks .- Post Office .- The Press .- Opera House. -Water Companies .- Physicians and Lawyers .- Lodges and Societies .- Soldiers' Monument .- Congregational Church .- Christ Church .- Young Men's Christian As- sociation .- Emanuel Free Church .- Methodist Episcopal Church .- Baptist Church. -Second (Colored) Baptist Church .- Roman Catholic Church .- Schools .- Biograph- ical Sketches.
A NSONIA is the youngest town in the county. It was set off from Derby in the spring of 1889, and lies north of that town and south of Seymour. The area is not large, and the principal in- terests of the town are confined to the valleys of the Naugatuck river and Beaver brook. The latter is a small stream flowing from the northeastern part of the town and empties into the river in the south- ern part of the borough of Ansonia. This angle of land was early called the " Little Neck," to distinguish it from the larger or " Derby Neck," along the Housatonic, where is now the northwestern part of Birmingham. The low lands in this "Little Neck," near the mouth of the brook, were early called Plum Meadows, and were probably the first farmed in the old town of Derby. In 1654-5 Edward Wooster improved some of them for a hop garden, whose products most likely were used in the brew house at Milford. In 1680 his son, Thomas, was granted one-half of Plum Meadows, and he was one of the first settlers within the present limits of Ansonia. He built a house some distance north of his father's, at "Uptown," in Derby, where he lived until his death, in 1713. He is said to have been a substantial, suc- cessful farmer.
Higher up Beaver brook were also farming lands, less fertile, at a point on that stream, half a mile east from Cliff street, in the borough of Ansonia, and at what was called the upper end of Plum Meadows the first grist mill in old Derby was built, in 1681, by Doctor John Hull. This naturally caused a small settlement to spring up at that place. In October, 1684, the town granted to Doctor John Hull and John Griffin " each of them a home lot in the Little Neck, near the ponds." No doubt this referred to the ponds made by the mill dam. Doctor Hull removed to Wallingford five years later, but members of his family remained at the mill, which was here discontinued sometime about 1700, and the interest transferred to a power on the Naugatuck,
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