History of New Haven County, Connecticut, Volume II, Part 59

Author: Rockey, J. L. (John L.)
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York : W. W. Preston
Number of Pages: 1138

USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > History of New Haven County, Connecticut, Volume II > Part 59
USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > History of New Haven County, Connecticut, Volume II > Part 59

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).

The Church of the Assumption (Roman Catholic) is the largest church organization in the town. The services of the Catholic church were introduced into Ansonia not many years after it became a village, many of the laborers on the public works professing that faith. At first a mission relation to Birmingham was sustained, but in 1866 the parish of Ansonia was organized. The following year, through the instrumentality of the first resident priest, Reverend P. J. O'Dwyer, the frame church edifice was built, but has at different times since been improved. Becoming too small for the use of the parish, it was determined to erect a more commodious place of worship, this having become by far the largest church organization in the town. Accord- ingly, a most eligible lot on North Main and North Cliff streets was purchased on which to erect the new edifice, which will be one of the finest church buildings in the county. Ground was broken April 4th, 1890. Work on the building has since been pushed rapidly forward. The walls will be constructed of granite, and will be more than 46 feet high. The length is 168 feet, the front width 96 feet and the rear width 138 feet. The tower is to be 156 feet high. The estimated cost is $160,000. The audience room in the main building will accommo- date 1,200 people, and the room in the basement will hold as many more. The designs for this imposing structure were prepared by

503

HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY.

Architect B. C. Keeley, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and the plans were laid out, as prepared by him, by J. M. Wheeler, of Ansonia.

Much of the credit for the inception of this project is due the priest of the parish, Reverend J. Synott, and his assistants, the Reverends Thomas J. Kelley and M. Cray; but they have been heartily seconded by the lay trustees, Patrick McAuliffe and Matthew Walsh, and the parish in general. The parish embraces about 4,000 souls.

Reverend P. J. O'Dwyer was the first pastor, and was transferred from this parish to Norwalk. He was succeeded by Reverend H. F. Brady, and he in turn, a few years ago, by the present incumbent, Father J. Synott.

In 1879 the parish erected a spacious parsonage on Main street, on which a large school building has also been provided. A Catholic cemetery in West Ansonia contains the graves of many deceased members of the parish. Some of these graves are marked by hand- some monuments.

The schools of Ansonia are among the best in the Naugatuck val- ley and are largely attended. In 1889 the enrollment was over 1,500, the high school of District No. 4 having 52 members, of which 20 were in the class of '91. The school provides two courses of study, the Latin and scientific taking four years to complete, and the commercial two years. The successful principal for many years was E. S. Gordy, who was instrumental in enlarging the library by the addition of $2,000 worth of books. He was succeeded by W. H. Angleton. The high school building will be enlarged to accommodate the increasing attendance, and when completed after the plans proposed, will be an attractive edifice. In other districts of the town the accommodations have also lately been enlarged, and the town appropriation for schools is about $9,000 per year, in addition to about $5,000 received from the state annually.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

William Adams was born in England in 1855, and learned the trade of metal rolling there, commencing when he was 11 years old. He came to America in May, 1881, and settled at Ansonia. He was with the Ansonia Brass & Copper Company six years, then went to Rome, N. Y., as superintendent of the Rome Iron Works. He came back to Ansonia in 1888 and engaged with the Ansonia Brass & Cop- per Company as superintendent in charge of the rolling and casting department. He is at present with the Manhattan Brass Company, New York city. Mr. Adams married, in 1882, Mary A. Greatorex, and has three children. He is an Odd Fellow and a member of the order of Sons of St. George.

DANA BARTHOLOMEW was born in Torrington, formerly called Wolcottville, April Sth, 1847. The Bartholomew family is a large one in this country, and can trace its ancestry to remote dates. The

504

HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY.

most numerous and conspicuous branch of the family name in this country grew from William Bartholomew, of Ipswich, Mass. He was born in 1602-3. But little is known of his early life. One event has so much of historic interest attaching to it that it has been perpetuated in the annals of the family. The famous Mrs. Anne Hutchinson was entertained at his London house prior to September, 1634. In that year and month he landed in Boston, Mrs. Hutchinson and other per- sons of note being among the emigrants.

But beyond William Bartholomew, the emigrant, the annals of the Bartholomew family run away into the depths of the 16th century, until they are lost or become dimly obscure, in John Bartholomew, of Warborough, England, who was married there November 22d, 1551.

The family includes many persons of note in its long history, and is widely spread out over the land. At great pains and research Mr. George Wells Bartholomew, Jr., of Austin, Texas, has composed a large and finely constructed volume of the Bartholomew pedigree, and has earned to himself the lasting gratitude of his family name.

Jeremiah Hotchkiss Bartholomew, of Ansonia, the father of Dana, was in the seventh generation of descent. He was a resident of Plain- ville, Conn., and brought his family to Ansonia when his son, Dana, was only a year old. Here he was distinguished by an eminently suc- cessful career, managing some of the greatest industries of the town, prominent in railroad enterprise, possessing himself of much real es- tate in the most favorable parts of Ansonia, when in his mind's eye he saw what would be the growth of the town; and so laying for his family an honorable and fortunate inheritance in time to come.

Dana was his eldest son. He attended the district school until he was 16 years of age, and then in keeping with his father's opinion that the best school for a business life is the business life itself, entered the employ of the Ansonia Brass & Copper Company. For 14 years he familiarized himself with all the processes of brass manufacture, and became assistant manager and a stockholder of the company. In 1877 he severed his managerial connection with the company, and entered into partnership with A. B. Hendryx for the manufacture of wire bird-cages. This business venture was very prosperous, and when the business was moved to New Haven, Mr. Bartholomew's many in- terests at home requiring his attention, he severed his connection with this company, and formed another for the manufacture, under patent, of bits, augers, screw-drivers and braces; but in 1884 the floods swept the entire plant away by the breaking of the dam of the Ansonia Water Company, in which he was a large owner.

Since that date Mr. Bartholomew has occupied his time in the care of his invested interests. He is the secretary, treasurer and manager of the Ansonia Water Company, which supplies the town of Ansonia with water for family and commercial uses. He is also the president, treasurer and agent of the Ansonia Hall Company, owning the princi-

auce Bartholomew 1

505

HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY.

pal building in the town for offices and hall. He is a director of the Ansonia Savings Bank, and of the Ansonia Ice Company, a director and treasurer of the Meriden Ice Company, and vice-president of the Mallett Cattle Company of Texas, capital stock $200,000. The ranch is about 40 miles square, and supports between ten and eleven thou- sand head of cattle. Besides he is a stockholder or capitalist in many other business enterprises, and owns considerable real estate.

Mr. Bartholomew is a public-spirited citizen, and his fellow-citizens have recognized his ability by sending him to the legislature of 1881, and by choosing him as one of the burgesses of the borough of An- sonia.

He has also been closely identified with the Christian forces of the town for many years. In the Congregational church, of which his honored father was a principal supporter, he served in the office of deacon for many years, and has been clerk of the church for a long term. Like his father, too, he has been one of the foremost members and supporters of the Young Men's Christian Association of the town, and whenever the general Christian enterprises of the town have been in need of special help, their appeals to him have not gone unheeded.

Mr. Bartholomew has been twice married-first to Miss Nettie Wightman, of Southington, September 17th, 1867. Four children were born to them: Nellie, Dana, Jr., Jeremiah Hotchkiss, and Valen- tine, who died in infancy. But the happiness of his elegant home, where everything heart could wish seemed to center, was broken in upon by death. The wife and mother passed away, after an illness of several months, July 21st, 1886. The present Mrs. Bartholomew was Miss Isabel H. Warner, of Springfield, Mass .- a daughter of one of the old and honored families of Enfield, Conn. They were married March 17th, 1888. Their first daughter, Pauline, died in infancy; their second, Helen Gertrude, was born November 25th, 1890.

Mr. Bartholomew's home on South Cliff street is a home where wealth has set its adornments, and the graces of culture have added their refinements. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bartholomew make society agreeable to all their friends.

ARTHUR H. BARTHOLOMEW was born where he now resides, June 3d, 1851, and was one of six children, a son of Jeremiah H. Bartholo- mew, of Ansonia, Conn. He received his education in the public schools of Ansonia, at the "Gunnery," Washington, Conn., and at Au- burndale, Mass. But at 16 years of age he entered upon that other schooling which has given him prominence in the business and manu- facturing world, his practical and executive father believing that a business life is a business school of the first quality. It was the pur- pose of his father to train him for the superintendence of manufac- turing concerns, anticipating the time when the lad might surpass himself in those responsibilities. He began his apprenticeship for this future, under the most favorable opportunities, with the Ansonia

506

HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY.

Brass & Copper Company. There he was employed in different de- partments, and became familiar with all the working and manufacture of brass and copper, especially with the manufacture of clocks. He now became fitted for what he afterward chose to make the leading industry of his life, the manufacture of clock movements in general, and of special time regulators to order.

The clock department of the Ansonia Brass & Copper Company was removed to Brooklyn in 1881. It was the signal for a step Mr. Bartholomew and his future business partner were to take. They formed a partnership for the manufacture of clocks under the style of Phelps & Bartholomew. At first the business was carried on in nar- rower quarters than those used now, but it proved so prosperous that in 1886 it was incorporated, and in 1890 the large, four-story stone building known as the Savings Bank property, standing on the east side of the Main street, was purchased, and the manufacture trans- ferred to those spacious quarters. They were at once found to be none too large. Machinery of special invention is in use for both deli- cate and intricate operations, and production has been greatly cheap- ened by it, while the work done is exact and finished as the most skillful artisan could do by hand.

But Mr. Bartholomew's financial interests, while centering in this leading industry of which he has been treasurer from the beginning, are by no means confined to it. He is a director of the Ansonia Na- tional Bank and has served the Ansonia Savings Bank in a like relation; also of the Ansonia Water Company, and is secretary and treasurer of the Birmingham Water Power Company, and vice-president of the Pine Grove Cemetery Association.

But besides these financial trusts, he has received others by the suffrage of his townsmen in one form or another. He is the deputy warden of the borough of Ansonia, and second assistant foreman of the Eagle Hose Company, of which he was a charter member, and member of the board of managers of the Ansonia Club, of which he was treasurer for four years. His public spirit is shown also in the position accorded him in the public schools. He is chairman of the school committee, and has held the position for the past four years. He began this service appreciating somewhat the value of the public schools to the public welfare, but now regards them equally with the great industries as the pride of the borough.

In politics he is a republican, and represented the town of Derby in 1886 in the general assembly. In that legislature he was chosen clerk of the committee on cities and boroughs. He represented his town again in 1887, and was made chairman of the committee on corpora- tions.

In the social life of his borough he has been prominent, and has been advanced to most honorable positions in many of the societies of the town. He ranks as past grand of Naugatuck Lodge, No. 63, I. O.

V. N. Bartholowent

507

HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY.

O. F .; also as past chief patriarch of Hope Encampment, and comman- der for Totoket Canton, No. 7, I. O. O. F., Patriarchs Militant, and has been trustee of Naugatuck Lodge for several years. He is also a trus- tee of George Washington Lodge, F. & A. M., and member of Mount Vernon Chapter and Union Council, and New Haven Commandery, No. 2, K. T., besides being a trustee of the local New England Order of Protection and Ancient Order of United Workmen.

Mr. Bartholomew believes in identifying himself with the social as well as the business and educational life of the town, for the general improvement of the town gained thereby. The completeness and pro- gressiveness of a town depends on social institutions as well as corpo- rate and industrial, and the young men should patronize them as con- tributing to the general good.

But Mr. Bartholomew's home, on Cliff street, is the garden of his life. It is a home of elegance and refinement within as of beauty without, made so within no doubt largely by the grace and culture of the lady chosen to be his wife, Miss Henrietta E. Cable, of Oxford, Conn. They were married January 14th, 1874. She was the daughter of Horace Scott Cable, of Oxford, one of the old, wealthy and highly respected families of the town. At Mr. and Mrs. Bartholomew's resi- dence acquaintances and friends are welcomed always, and the hos- pitality is full of sunshine. Four children have been born in this home. The eldest, Emma C., died November 6th, 1876, at two years of age. The living are: Henrietta C., Eloise and Arthur H., Jr.

Mr. Bartholomew is a Congregationalist, and though not a member of the church of his boyhood, is yet really a son of the church, for as librarian, usher, clerk of society or organist, he has worked with it, and is now one of the chief financial supporters, having an excellent name not only of them that are without but of them that are within.

EGBERT BARTLETT was born in Salisbury, Conn., January 19th, 1819. His father was of Puritan stock and came from Plimpton, Mass., to settle in Salisbury, Conn. He was a blacksmith and carriage builder, and at the same time carried on farming in the town of Salisbury, where he was familiarly known as Colonel Loring Bartlett. He mar- ried Miss Phebe Everest, of Salisbury, a woman of high virtue, de- voted to the church she loved, and distinguished by a practical turn for all domestic matters. Ten children were born to them, Egbert Bartlett being the fourth in order.

In his boyhood, Egbert Bartlett's time was divided between the farm, the shop and the school, and when 17 years of age he taught in district schools in the winter and worked on the farm in the summer. But his thoughts widened with the " process of the suns," as Tenny- son says, and he graduated from the narrow circle of Salisbury life into a larger sphere. He found his way to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where he became clerk in a store, and later to New York city, pursuing the same employment in several mercantile houses. But in January, 1852,

508

HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY.

he came to Ansonia and opened a store for the sale of merchandise in general, but principally dry goods and hardware. Gradually the dry goods department gave place to the growing hardware trade, and Mr. Bartlett was settled for life in the village of Ansonia. In the one store he continued for 16 years.

During this time he not only became familiar with town affairs and prominent in them, but was entrusted with public service in dif- ferent offices, and either during that period or later has passed through quite all the positions of emolument in the gift of the town, culminat- ing in election to the general assembly in the years 1866 and 1868, as representative of the town of Derby. He is a trustee of the Pine Grove Cemetery Association, and compiled the well arranged and complete set of "Rules and Regulations" of the association. He is a republican in politics, and has been an ardent supporter of the his- toric principles of his party, since from the first he believed them to be true.

During the last years of his mercantile pursuits, he added fire in- surance to the business done, so that upon the sale of the hardware business he entered naturally into insurance, and was pursuing it suc- cessfully when an event happened which drew him also into banking. He had been one of the original incorporators and directors of the Savings Bank of Ansonia. The affairs of the bank were now in a pre- carious condition. It had lost in popularity among depositors, the amount of deposits having waned many thousands of dollars to less than $200,000. At the same time an impairment of the strength of the bank to the amount of $10,000 had occurred, by reason of losses in investments. Mr. Bartlett was solicited by the directors to take charge of the bank's interests as secretary and treasurer. At the same time he might on his own account continue his private interest in insur- ance. The savings bank at once felt the profitableness of the new ar- rangement, and as a result of 14 years of administration the deposits were increased to about $900,000 and a surplus of about $50,000 accu- mulated.

Since Mr. Bartlett's connection with the bank closed in the fall of 1888, he has continued his business of insurance and brokerage in real estate. making investments not only at home, but in the West, through the Equitable Mortgage Company.

The honorable position which Mr. Bartlett holds in the opinion of his townsmen may be inferred from the choice made of him, whether by the courts or by the heirs, to settle estates. At no time for many years has he been without a number of these responsibilities.

Mr. Bartlett married Adeline, daughter of Henry Terry, of Ply- mouth, February 25th, 1852. The name at once suggests the horo- logical occupation of her ancestry. She was the granddaughter of Eli Terry, of clock fame. Two children have been born to them: Frank

Gren.

Galerie Banatero

509

HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY.

L., who died January 15th, 1864, at the age of five years; and Egbert Terry, who died October 10th, 1879, at 26 years of age.

Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett are Congregationalists, having the love and esteem of the church of which they have long been members. Their service for their church has been a very willing and happy service, because of the truths and virtues for which the church stands, and their good name has added strength and given impulse to every worthy cause, both in the church and in society at large.

CHARLES E. BRISTOL, of the Bristol Drug Company, Ansonia, Conn., was born in Derby, December 21st, 1847. He was the son of Charles Bristol and Harriet Bradley, both of Derby. The exigencies of early life circumscribed the opportunities of their son. His father died when he was only nine years of age. He had the advantages of the common schools during the winter terms until he was 16, working in the factories in the summer. He engaged in the drug business in 1864, but when eight months had passed by he obtained a position with Wallace & Sons, of Ansonia, remaining with them two and one- half years, and then returned to the drug business, buying one half interest in the store in which he first started as clerk. The quality of independent action, his own by gift of birth, quickly developed. He studied assiduously the business in which he was engaged, and in February, 1869, only a little later than his twenty-first birthday, pur- chased his partner's interest and became sole proprietor. This busi- ness he has pursued in Ansonia ever since, and in 1888 it was incorpo- rated as a joint stock company (the Bristol Drug Company), that more time might be at his command to give to other interests in which he is engaged. He is one of the directors of the Ansonia National Bank and also its vice-president. He was a charter member of the Ansonia Club. He was one of the earliest members of the Connecticut Phar- maceutical Association, his membership dating from February 20th, 1877, and is also a member of the American Pharmaceutical Associa- tion, entering there on October 20th, 1880.

Soon after coming into possession of his drug business in Ansonia, he was appointed postmaster of that division of the town of Derby, August, 1869. His administration of that trust was distinguished by the same punctilious care and attention to details manifest in every department of his private business. It is spoken of only with praise by his townsmen. He continued to be postmaster nearly 16 years; he resigned in March, 1885.

Mr. Bristol is a positive nature, seeing what he sees so clearly that his opinions, though they may be tentatively held for a time, are yet strong and supported by reasons. So, too, the main structure of his thinking and belief rests on arguments which he himself has outlined or worked out, rather than received from another ready-made. He is full of method to the last degree. In friendship he is loyal and true, and it cannot be turned away, when once it is established, by a slight-

510

HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY.

ing remark or a temporary misfortune. Whatever he identifies him- self with has an earnest and able supporter. He knows how to gain a point and hold it, and at the same time to show a generous spirit toward those who differ from him in method or opinion. The objects to be attained are pursued indefatigably, and whether in business, society or politics his advice carries a weight that makes it not only respected, but often followed. In all his plans and purposes, which embrace the welfare of his neighbor or his town, there is the same high aim, the same critical judgment, and the same executive mastery. Hence he is one of those men who count for much in the building up of a community.

Mr. Bristol is an ardent friend of education, taking pride in the schools of his own town, and directing his children upward along the pathway of the academy and the university. He believes that if the alternative were an inheritance of wealth, and an education in the best schools of the land, the latter is to be preferred by great odds and sought for first of all with intense ardor. The power, the greatness, the splendor of a nation depend more upon its trained intellect than its bank vaults or its mountains of ore. Hence, first of all, he purposes to give his children the best education to fit them for efficient service and achievement in life; and already his eldest son is midway in the course at Yale University, and the second pursuing a preparatory course in one of the foremost academics, with a view to the uni- versity.

Mr. Bristol was married in September, 1867, to Miss Frances E. Bartholomew, daughter of J. H. Bartholomew, of Ansonia. His chil- dren are: Theodore L., born April 25th, 1870; Charles E., Jr., born October 17th, 1873; Howard B., born September 1st, 1878, died April 2d. 1880, and Ralph, born August 23d, 1881.

Edward B. Bradley was born in Newtown, Conn., in 1845. Most of his life has been spent in New Haven county. He ran the first train over the New Haven & Derby railroad in 1871, and has been conduc- tor on that line ever since. He resided for many years in Seymour, removing to Ansonia in 1882. He was married in 1866 to Miss Celeste Steele, and has one daughter, Emma.

Egbert S. Bronson was born in Plymouth, Conn., in 1848, and came to Ansonia in 1866. He engaged with the Ansonia Brass & Copper Company, and was in the clock department 10 years. In 1881 he went into the copper refinery department, and became foreman of this de- partment in 1889. His parents were Spencer and Polly (Hemingway) Bronson. His father served nine months in the war of the rebellion, in Company D, 27th Connecticut Volunteers, and was in the battle of Fredericksburg. Egbert S. also enlisted from San Francisco in 1865, and served until the close of the war. He is a member of the G. A. R. and a Mason. He married Maggie A. Mathis, of Clinton, N. C., in 1869, and has two children, Roscoe E. and Bessie A.

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.

History of New Haven County, Connecticut, Volume II, Part 59

Author: Rockey, J. L. (John L.) Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York : W. W. Preston Number of Pages: 1138

Author: Rockey, J. L. (John L.)
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York : W. W. Preston
Number of Pages: 1138