USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume II > Part 15
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CHARLES BENEDICT.
Charles Benedict, deceased, who for many years was president of the Benedict & Burn- ham Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, established by his father, was born Sep- tember 23, 1817, in the eity of Waterbury, his parents being Deacon Aaron and Charlotte (Porter) Benediet, mentioned elsewhere in this work He attended the schools of Water- bury and also the Wilton Academy, while later he became a student in the Berkshire
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George W. Denedict
Aaron ABenedict
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Gymnasium at Pittsfield, Massachusetts. When seventeen years of age he was employed as assistant bookkeeper in a dry goods jobbing house of New York city and the follow- ing year he became bookkeeper in the commission house of Baldwin, Burnham & Company, which represented the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Company in New York. He remained in that connection for nine years and in 1844, associated with George Beecher, he established an agency for the sale of the Goodyear India rubber goods, but the following year gave up that enterprise and formed a partnership with William Ball, of Chicopee. Massachusetts, for the purpose of developing Mr. Ball's pin manufacturing machinery. Mr. Benediet later became the secretary of the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Com- pany and was elected its treasurer in 1854. On the death of his father in 1873 he was chosen to the presidency of the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Company and directed its affairs for a considerable period, developing its interests according to the changing condi- tions of the times. He was also president of the Waterbury Clock Company and of the Waterbury Watch Company and was connected with a number of other important enter- prises and manufacturing interests not alone in the Naugatuck valley but in other sections of the country. He became one of the prominent projectors of the Mitchell-Vance Com- pany of New York, of which corporation he was the president for a number of years. He was a man of wide experience, of marked enterprise and progressiveness and was notably faithful to every trust. His plans were always earefully formulated and promptly executed and he easily and readily recognized opportunities that others passed heed- lessly by.
On the 1st of October, 1845, Mr. Benedict was married to Miss Cornelia Johnson, a daughter of John D. Johnson. She lived to a ripe old age. passing away at her home on Prospect street in 1917, when her remains were interred in Riverside cemetery. She had long survived her husband, who died on the steamship Wisconsin while returning from abroad on the 30th of October, 1881. His remains were brought back to Waterbury for in- terment in the Riverside cemetery, where more than a third of a century later his wife was laid to rest by his side. Their children were: Amelia C., who resides in the okl homestead; Charlotte B., the deceased wife of Gilman C. Hill, of Waterbury; and Cornelia Johnson, who became the wife of Dr. Charles S. Rodman and died November 26, 1879.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Charles Benedict were devoted members of the Second Congrega- tional church, in which for many years he served as a deacon. He was also a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and was president of the American College & Educational Society. He took a deep and helpful interest in community affairs and in 1860, recognizing the duties and obligations as well as the privi- leges of citizenship, he acceded to the request of his fellow townsmen that he serve them as mayor, which office he filled with dignity and honor, giving to the eity a businesslike and progressive administration. He was also councilman and alderman of the city and was presidential elector for Connecticut in 1872, when he cast his vote for General U. S. Grant. He belonged to the Union League Club of New York eity and in the metropolis as well as in Waterbury he enjoyed the respect and friendship of many prominent people. He had had much to do with shaping the material development and progress of this section of the state and his efforts had also been an element in its intellectual and moral advance- ment. In a word, he left the impress of his individuality for good upon the history of city and state.
AARON A. BENEDICT.
Aaron A. Benedict, now living retired, was formerly actively and prominently identified with manufacturing and financial interests of Waterbury, where the family name has been closely interwoven with the material upbuilding and development of the city for about a century. A native of Waterbury, he is a son of George William and Caroline Rebecca (Steele) Benedict, of whose family of children but two are now living, the daughter being Mary C., the widow of Lewis D. Griggs.
The son attended private schools and also Charles Fabrique's school at New Haven before becoming a student in the College Hill School of Poughkeepsie, New York, which later became the Riverview Military Academy on the Hudson. After his schooldays were over he returned to Waterbury and entered the employ of the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Company, of which his grandfather was the founder and promoter. He became bookkeeper and continued to act in a clerical capacity for five years, on the expiration of which period he went to New York city, where he engaged in the commission business, continuing active
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in that field of labor for three years. He then gave up that business, preferring an outdoor life, and went to the west, locating near Denver, Colorado, where he engaged in ranching. For seven years he devoted his time and energy to the management of his ranch property there, after which he returned to his native place and again entered the employ of the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Company, with which he continued for eighteen years as bookkeeper and paymaster, or until 1904, when he retired from active business and has since spent his days in the enjoyment of a well earned rest.
In May, 1882, Mr. Benedict was united in marriage to Miss Addie Lee Rucker. who died in December, 1909, and later he wedded Miss Mabel O. Camp, of Waterbury. a daughter of Oliver G. Camp, of this city. Her innate refinement and graciousness, her artistic temperament and her many admirable qualities have given Mrs. Benedict high social standing. Both Mr. and Mrs. Benedict are devoted to their home and to charitable work. In 1903 Mr. Benedict erected a fine residence on Sands street and Tower road. one of the most beautiful and attractive homes in that section, commanding a splendid view of the city and surrounding country. Mr. Benedict is a man of liberal education who has had time for the cultivation of those interests which lift the individual above the commonplace and remove him from the more sordid phases of moneymaking. Association with Mr. and Mrs. Benedict means expansion and elevation. They are both consistent members of the Second Congregational church, in which he is serving as deacon. For one term he was a member of the city council but has never been a politician in the sense of office seeking. He has always given stanch support to the republican party, yet prefers that his publie duties shall be done as a private citizen. In manner he is quiet and unassuming, rather retiring in disposition, and is devoted to the interests of his home. His sterling charac- teristics and the course he has pursued reflect credit and honor upon a family that has long occupied a most prominent and honorable position in Waterbury's social and business circles
FREDERICK W. GRAY.
Frederick W. Gray, sceretary and treasurer of the American Laundry, Incorporated, is a native son of Waterbury, born in 1870. His parents were Charles M. and Emma Miranda (Grilley) Gray. the former a carpenter by trade, following that business in support of his family. The son acquired a public school education and started out in the business world a as clerk in the grocery store of Spencer & Pierpont. That he was industrious and loyal to the interests of his employers is indicated in the fact that he remained with that house for ten years. He afterward entered the employ of the City Steam Laundry & Dye Works, with which he was connected for eleven years, after which he embarked in business on his own account, organizing the American Laundry in 1908 and incorporating the business in 1915. It was begun as a partnership concern by the firm of Ash & Andrews and upon the death of the senior partner in 1909, Mr. Gray purchased his interest in the business. In 1912 Mr. Andrews sold out to W. J. Latimer and the present officers are W. J. Latimer, president, and F. W. Gray, secretary and treasurer. The business is located at No. 543 Bank street, where they have thoroughly modern equipment, including all the latest machinery found in the first-class laundry of the present day. They utilize three wagons in collection and delivery and handle entirely city trade. While they do all branches of finished work and family laundry, they specialize on the former and have won a well merited reputa- tion for excellence in that line.
On the 20th of Jimie, 1894, Mr. Gray was united in marriage to Miss Jessie Gregory, a native of Rondont, New York Their religious faith is that of the Methodist church and Mr. Gray is also a loyal exemplar of the Masonic fraternity. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he stands for all that is progressive in citizenship.
GEORGE P. BRADSTREET.
George P. Bradstreet, a successful merchant, farmer and dairyman living in Thomaston, is also a man of broad public spirit whose interest in community affairs has been shown by active cooperation along many lines that have proven of far-reaching benefit and importance. He was born in Thomaston, January 10, 1848, a son of the Rev. Thomas and Amanda (Thomas) Bradstreet. The mother was a daughter of Seth Thomas and was born in
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Plymouth Hollow, now Thomaston, the name of the place having been changed in honor of her father, who promoted the clock manufacturing industry here and laid the foundation for the upbuilding and development of the town. Rev. Bradstreet was born in Massachusetts, a son of Captain Dudley Bradstreet, of Topsfield, Massachusetts, and a descendant of Governor Simon Bradstreet of the old Bay state. Liberal educational advantages were accorded Thomas Bradstreet, who was graduated from the theological department of Yale with the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Ile came to Thomaston to accept a pastorate and was here united in marriage to Miss Amanda Thomas. He was the first minister of the Congrega- tional church in Thomaston and took active part in advancing the moral progress of the community. Later, however, he left the ministry and turned his attention to the cotton business. He was a strong republican in politics and took an active and helpful interest in public affairs. He never deviated from a course which he believed to be right between himself and his fellowmen. While he no longer remained active in the ministry, he continued a consistent and helpful member of the Congregational church to the time of his demise. He left the impress of his individuality for good in many ways upon the history of Thomaston and its development.
George P. Bradstreet attended a local academy in Thomaston which was established by his father and at the age of nineteen years he went to New York, where he remained for three years. He then returned to Thomaston, where he established a grain business in 1873, and through the intervening period he has been continuously active in that line, being today one of the oldest grain merchants of this section in years of continuous business and also one of the most successful, for his affairs have been guided by keen sagacity and sound judgment, and his business activity has been the expression of a high sense of com- mercial honor. lle is also the owner of an excellent farm of three hundred acres upon which he has a fine herd of cattle and conducts a profitable dairy business.
On the 26th of November, 1881, Mr. Bradstreet was united in marriage to Miss Hattie Blackman, of Newark, New Jersey, a daughter of Charles W. and Elizabeth (Hammond) Blackman, the former a native of Morris, Connecticut. To Mr. and Mrs. Bradstreet have been born eight children. Thomas J. is with his father on the home farm. Albert Porter, a resident of Waterville, married Effie Calkins and they have two sons, Marshall and Porter Ray. Albert Porter Bradstreet is a member of the Masonic fraternity and also of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. Edith, the third member of the family, is the wife of U. B. Mather, a well known educator, who is master in Loomis Institute at Windsor, Connecticut. Irene is the wife of Joseph Harper, of Thomaston. and has two daughters, Grace and Marion. George Dudley is at home and he is a well known member of the Masonic fraternity. Mary Elizabeth is also at home. Amanda Thomas died at the age of fourteen months. Dorothy Dudley completes the family and is still under the parental roof.
In polities Mr. Bradstreet is a stalwart republican and he served as first selectman for nine years, making a most creditable record in office, for he ever discharged his official duties with a recognition of the needs of the people and their opportunities for community develop- ment. During his term he was largely instrumental in having the main street of Thomaston widened and he also aided greatly in securing the trolley line to Thomaston. His devotion to the public welfare is recognized as one of his marked characteristics. He stands for progressiveness in everything relating to town and county, while as a business man he has contributed much to the material development of Thomaston.
HON. GIDEON HIGGINS WELCH.
Hon. Gideon Higgins Welch, member of the bar and ex-judge of the court of common pleas of Litchfield county, retired after seventeen years service on the bench with a most creditable record for fair and impartial rulings which had won him the full respect and confidence of his colleagues and contemporaries in practice and of the general public. He dates his residence in Torrington from the 1st of August, 1870. He was born, however, at East Haddam, Connectient, September 22, 1844, a son of James M. Welch, a merchant who was born in Chatham, Connecticut, and died at New Haven in 1883 at the age of sixty-five years. For many years he owned and controlled a retail grocery business in New Haven and was favorably known as a representative of commercial interests in the state. He married Eliza Matilda Higgins, a daughter of Gideon Higgins. in whose honor the subject of this review was named. She passed away in 1876 at the age of fifty-six years Her grandfather was Hawes Higgins, a soldier of the Revolutionary war.
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Gideon Higgins Welch prepared for college in Wilbraham Academy of Wilbraham, Massa- chusetts, where he completed his course as a member of the class of 1864. He then entered Yale and won the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1868, after which he matriculated in the Yale Law School, from which he was graduated in 1870 with the LL. B. degree, thus thoroughly qualifying for practice at the bar. In a profession where advancement depends solely upon individual merit he has worked his way steadily upward and has been connected with much important litigation, the court records giving evidence of his ability and success as a lawyer. He was for a year city clerk of New Haven and on the 1st of August, 1870, he came to Torrington, where he has since remained, maintaining a law office and conducting a large and successful practice for forty-seven years. He has largely specialized in the field of corporation law and has been retained as attorney by nearly all of the important corpora- tions and business interests of Torrington. He has other important business interests, has been auditor of the Torrington Savings Bank for forty consecutive years. is the president of the Torrington Library, is a director of the Torrington Water Company and also of the Torrington Electric Light Company.
The part which he has played in public affairs is a most important one. He has held more official positions than any other citizen of Torrington, being again and again called to public offices of honor and trust by his fellow townsmen who have recognized his marked worth and ability. For eighteen years he was town clerk; for ten years he was judge of probate; for five years clerk of his borough; for five years a member of the board of burgesses: for ten years on the town school committee; for ten years judge of the borough court and for seventeen years judge of the court of common pleas of Litchfield county, retiring from the bench by age limitation on the 22d of September, 1914, being then seventy years of age. Since his retirement from the bench he has served in the capacity of state referce. For thirty-five years he was justice of the peace and his decisions in both courts have been strictly fair and impartial -the expression of the highest judicial discrimination. In his lifetime he has been a candidate for public office on thirty-eight different occasions and each time was successful. He is not only the nestor of the Torrington bar but he has the distinction of being continuously connected in law practice for a longer period than any other attorney of Litchfield county. In 1881 he was chosen to represent his town in the state legislature and in 1899 was elected state senator, serving for a term.
On the 8th of October, 1873, Judge Welch was united in marriage to Miss Susan C. Agard, a daughter of Bradley R. Agard and a sister of Charles G. Agard, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work. They have a son, Bradley Agard Welch, now a business man of Hartford. He graduated from the Academie School of Yale and married Fern Faucher, of French-Canadian descent, by whom he has a danghter, Suzanne, five years of age. Mrs. Welch holds membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Judge is eligible to the Sons of the American Revolution. They are both consistent members of the Center Congregational church and for twenty-five years the Judge served as clerk of the church society. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias and to the Torrington Club. Although now seventy-three years old he is extremely active and in the summer time makes almost daily trips to his farm near Torrington, assisting in the work during the busy seasons. He is a distinguished lawyer, an able jurist and a loyal and patriotie citizen, a faithful friend and a devoted husband and father. The public record of no other resident of Torring- ton has extended over a longer period and none has been more faultless in honor, fearless in conduct and stainless in reputation.
GIDEON LUCIAN PLATT, M. D.
In a history of the medical profession of Waterbury the name of Dr. Gideon Lucian Platt figures prominently. For more than a half century he was closely connected with the practice of medicine, rendering his life one of valuable service to mankind. Fortunate is the man who has back of him an ancestry honorable and distinguished and happy is he whose lines of life are cast in harmony therewith. Dr. Platt was one of whom it may well be said, he was "well descended and well bred." He was a representative of one of the oldest and most prominent Connecticut families, tracing his ancestry back to Richard Platt, who in 1630 became a resident of New Haven and became one of the founders of Milford, Connecticut, removing there on the 20th of November, 1635, with his family of four children. Two and a half centuries later Milford celebrated its founding, on which occasion Richard Platt received honorable mention and his name was placed on one of the coping stones of the beautiful memorial bridge erected over the Wapawaug, there being inscribed the words:
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Gideon & Platt.
THE PLATT HOME
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Deacon Richard Platt Obit 1684. Mary His Wife.
Through six successive generations the line is traced to Dr. Platt through Lieutenant Joseph Platt and three consecutive Gideon Platts. Gideon Platt II was married on the 17th of March, 1783, to Hannah Clark, a daughter of Joseph Clark, of Milford, and they had three children, including Gideon III, who was born December 19, 1784, and on the 8th of November, 1807, wedded Lydia Sperry, a daughter of Captain Jacob Sperry, of Middlebury, Connecticut. He was a consistent churchman, serving as deacon in the Congregational church of Milford, in which respeet he followed in the footsteps of his father.
Dr. Gideon Lucian Platt was born in Middlebury, Connecticut. July 20, 1813. and supple- mented his early publie school education by study in the celebrated classical school of Simeon Hart, of Farmington, Connecticut. Hle began reading medicine under the direction of Dr. Henry Bronson, of Waterbury, also studied under Dr. William Tully, of New Haven, and entered Yale. there winning his M. D. degree with the class of 1838.
Dr. Platt located for practice in Waterbury and for fifty-three years continued an active representative of the profession. His former preceptor. Dr. Bronson, admitted him to a partnership, recognizing his ability and his capacity for splendid professional work, and the association was maintained until Dr. Bronson removed to New Haven in 1842. In 1849 Dr. . Platt purchased of Benedict & Coe the property known as Apothecaries' Hall and in asso- ciation with Dr. Fish opened a drug store, which has since had a continuous existence and is still conducted under the name of the Apothecaries Hall Company. In the active practice of medicine Dr. Platt was for a time associated with Dr. Philo G. Rockwell and in 1880 Dr. Walter Hamlin Holmes, later his son-in-law, became his partner. Their professional relation remained uninterrupted up to the time of the death of the senior partner, while in friendship they were very close, kindred interests binding them together. As a physician Dr. Platt ranked with the most capable who have practiced in Waterbury and. winning prosperity as the years passed on, he made judicious investments in real estate and became the owner of much property that has largely increased in value.
On the 18th of December, 1844, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Platt and Miss Caroline Tudor, a descendant in the seventh generation of Elder William Brewster, of the Plymouth coleny, also of Owen Tudor, of Windsor, Connecticut, and a descendant of the Rev. Samuel Tudor and his son, Dr. Elihu Tudor, an eminent surgeon, who was one of the founders of the Connecticut Medical Society. Dr. and Mrs. Platt had a family of four children. Dr. Lucian Tudor, born in 1846, was graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1869 and was married September 15. 1871. to Rebecca Hurlbut, of Winsted, Connecticut, and has one daughter, Medora H. Medora Caroline is the widow of Dr. Walter H. Holmes. Walter Brewster, born December 20, 1853, completed a course in medicine at Harvard and received the degree of F. R. C. S. at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, England. He was married December 20, 1889, to Miss Mary Perine, a daughter of E. Glynn Perine. of Baltimore, Maryland. and they have three sons, Washington. Lucian and David. Charles Easton, the youngest of the family, died at the age of thirty-seven years.
The wife and mother passed away August 10, 1896, having for seven years survived Dr. Platt. who died on the 11th of November, 1889. Both were consistent and helpful members of the First Congregational church of Waterbury and Dr. Platt became one of the incorpora- tors of the Second Congregational church. He was president of the New Haven County Medical Society in 1880 and the following year was honored with the presidency of the Con- necticut State Medical Society, showing his high professional standing. One who knew him well said of him in the Waterbury American following his demise: "Dr. Platt early in his professional career attained a high reputation both as a physician and surgeon, but it was in the practice of his profession in that very close and peculiar relation of a family physician and which especially exists in a country practice. that the strong points of his character were most clearly seen and his highest usefulness developed. In the modern style of city medical practice, where each organ has its special expert. in which it is the organ rather than the man of which the case and condition are considered. that peculiar relation of the family physician. whose constant watchfulness, continued from birth to death, including usually not only the relation of physician but that of confidant, adviser and sympathetic counselor and friend, is almost unknown. It may be that modern scientifie pathology has rendered unnecessary that intimate knowledge of heredity, predisposition and environment on which the success of the old-line physician was based. but whatever it may do for the physical man. it can never be to the spiritual, to the moral, to the intellectual nature- in short to the man himself-what the close and intimate relation of the family physician made him. This was Vol. II-6
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