USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume II > Part 20
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In 1890 Mr. Jenks was married to Miss Lill Anna Weston, of Manchester, New Hampshire, who died in 1911, leaving two children: Florence Weston, who is well known in the social circles of Waterbury; and Weston Morse, a junior in Cornell University, now in the service of the United States, having enlisted in the Naval Coast Reserve in April, 1917, and later transferred to the Aeronauticovision of the United States Navy.
In politics Mr. Jenks is a republican and served on the board of assessors from 1903 until 1905 inelusive, when J. P. Elton was mayor. He is prominent in Masonie circles, belonging to Springfield Commandery, K. T., of Massachusetts, and to Aleppo Temple of the Mystic Shrine of Boston. IIe is likewise a member of the Waterbury Club and attends the Second Congregational church. His interests are broad and varied, and his aid and support can always be counted upon to further measures and movements for the publie good.
ASA HOPSON WILCOX.
Asa Hopson Wilcox, engaged in the insurance and real estate business at Torrington, was born in Clinton, Connecticut, September 1, 1857, a son of Asa Chapman Wilcox, who was a farmer by occupation and died when his son Asa was but two months old. The Wilcox family has lived in Connecticut through many generations. The mother, Pamelia (Scranton) Wilcox, was born in Haddam. Connecticut, and died in Torrington in 1899, at the home of her son Asa, who was one of two brothers, the elder being Sherrill E. Wilcox, of Hartford.
Asa Hopson Wilcox was reared in his native town, for after his father's death the mother remained with her two little sons in Clinton, Sherrill being then but three years of age, while Asa was a baby. She cared for her two sons, giving them every possible advantage and seeing to it that they had good school privileges. When she sold her farm and paid off all indebtedness there was only three hundred dollars left and she certainly did a mother's full part in caring for and rearing her children, who in her later years repaid her with filial love and devotion. Asa H. Wilcox prepared for college in the Morgan school of Clinton and in 1876 became a student in the Wesleyan University of Middletown, Connectieut, from which he was graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1880. In 1883 he received the degree of Master of Arts from the same institution. He taught school for two years at Yalesville, Connecticut, and later spent two years as a teacher in the School of the Lackawanna at Scranton, Pennsylvania. On returning to Connectient he beeame a elerk in a grocery store at Meriden, where he remained for a few months and then devoted a quarter of a century to Young Men's Christian Association work in the capacity of general secretary. For three years he was stationed at Rondout, New York, for two years at Norwalk, Connecticut, for eight years at Meriden and for thirteen years. or from 1898 until 1911, at Torrington, removing to Torrington for the purpose of accepting that position. Just before coming to Connecticut he was engaged in Young Men's Christian Association work at the military camp at Montauk Point, Long Island, which had been established by reason of the needs of the Spanish- American war and was known as Camp Wyckoff. Since the 1st of September, 1911, he has devoted his attention to the insurance and real estate business and was also from 1911 until
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1912 city editor of the Torrington Register. For the past fifteen years he has been the local correspondent of the Hartford Courant and of the Waterbury American.
Mr. Wilcox has been married twice, his second wife being Melissa A. Beadle of Hartford, Connecticut, whom he wedded November 27, 1889. They have one son, Arthur H., who is a graduate of a business college of Hartford and is now cashier with the Torrington Manufac- turing Company. In politics Mr. Wilcox is a republican. He has served as deputy sheriff for the past two years and has been probation officer of the town of Torrington for eight years. He is also a member of the board of relief for the assessment of taxes. His religious faith is that of the Methodist church and his life has ever been actuated by high and honorable principles. The early training of his mother bore rich fruit and his entire life record has been such as to make him a man honored and respected by all with whom he has been brought in contact.
HENRY E. BRADFORD.
Among the well known representatives of the motor car business in Waterbury is Henry E. Bradford, who was born in Chicago, November 4, 1889, a son of Henry A. and Irene Bradford. Being left an orphan in early boyhood, he went to live with an aunt in Boston and there attended the public schools, while later he became a student in the Rensselaer Technical Institute at Troy, New York, and subsequently attended Cornell College, there pursuing a civil engineering course. Thus liberally educated he afterward served as private secretary to Charles Page Bryan, United States minister to Portugal, for a year. Later he was vice deputy consul general of Portugal for two years.
Following a three years' sojourn abroad Mr. Bradford returned to Kingston, New York, and entered into business relations with Wyckoff, Church & Partridge, importers and manu- facturers of automobile trucks, with whom he continued for two years. He then opened the Jennings Automobile Branch at Waterbury, which he conducted for two years, and on the expiration of that period he went to California as representative of the Fiat Motor Car Company in Los Angeles, remaining in that connection for seven months. In July, 1915, he returned to Waterbury, where he established an automobile business on his own account, after conducting the Jennings Branch for a year. He has handled the Franklin, Stearns, White and Chalmers cars in Waterbury and surrounding territory and built a fine service station at Brown Place, in addition to which he has an uptown office at Center and Leavenworth streets. His sales in 1916 amounted to more than one hundred cars and he is now well established as one of the leading motor car dealers of Waterbury.
In September, 1912, Mr. Bradford was married to Miss Elroy Foote, of New Rochelle, New York, a daughter of Dr. Hubert Foote, and they now have three children, Barbara, Jane and Elroy. Mr. Bradford belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and to the Delta Kappa Epsilon. He is also a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon Club, of the Waterbury Club, the Cornell Club and the New York Athletic Club. In polities he is an independent republican, for while he usually votes with the party, he does not consider himself bound by party ties nor subject to party dictation. He is well known, prominent and popular socially, while in business circles he has made for himself a creditable position as a representative of the younger generation.
ARTHUR M. GORDON.
The high degree of efficiency attained by the Seth Thomas Clock Company is due to the fact that its general officers have been enabled to surround themselves with a corps of most able assistants-men who have specialized in their field and have expert knowledge concerning the line of manufacture in which they engage. A representative superintendent of the company is Arthur M. Gordon, who in 1886 was given the management of the Tower clock department and has since continued in that capacity. He was born in Marion, Connecticut, January 12, 1859, a son of George and Betsy (Potter) Gordon. The Potter family was established in Connecticut in early colonial days, settlement being made by representatives of the name near what is now Thomaston prior to the Revolutionary war. George Gordon was born in Scotland and came to the United States when a young man of twenty-two years and later located in Thomaston where he passed away.
Arthur M. Gordon attended the public schools in the old town of Plymouth and at the
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age of fourteen years entered the employ of the Seth Thomas Clock Company, with which he has since been connected. He has advanced from one position to another, his efficiency increasing as the years have gone by, and his greater knowledge, gained from experience, has brought him at length to the responsible position which he now occupies. In 1886 he was given the management of the Tower clock department. He has remained here continuously save for a short period when he was in ill health. He has been largely responsible for the remarkable development of this department and is widely known as an expert clock maker, designer and inventor. He has brought forth many new and attractive designs which have added much to the possibility of ready sales. There is no feature of the business of clock making with which he is not thoroughly familiar and his pronounced efficiency ranks him with the leaders in this line in the country.
In May, 1887, Mr. Gordon was united in marriage to Miss Mary Alling, of Plymouth, Connecticut. They are members of the Baptist church and in the social circles of the town occupy an enviable position, having many warm friends, while the hospitality of their own home is greatly enjoyed by all who know them. In politics Mr. Gordon maintains an independent course but gives active allegiance to many movements for the general good and is a most public-spirited citizen.
REV. CHARLES ALLEN DINSMORE, D.D.
Dr. Charles Allen Dinsmore, pastor of the First Congregational church of Waterbury and well known as a lecturer and writer upon religious, literary and civic topics, was born in New York on the 4th of August, 1860, a son of Dr. Lafayette Henry and Mary S. (Ladd) Dinsmore. The family is of Scotch origin and representatives of the name removed from the land of hills and heather to Ireland, settling in County Antrim. The American branch was founded by John Dinsmoor, who crossed the ocean in 1723 and settled in Londonderry, New Hampshire. John Dinsmore, the great-grandfather of Dr. Dinsmore, was a Revolutionary war soldier who fought at the battle of Lexington, as did his father, Eliphalet Dinsmore.
Liberal educational training has developed the natural endowment of intellectual force which came to Charles Allen Dinsmore, who, ranking with the scholarly men of New England, has wielded a very wide influence, especially in the field of cultural and moral development. He was a member of the class of 1884 in Dartmouth College. On account of ill health he left Dartmouth in his sophomore year and served in the engineering corps of the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad in the Ozark mountains of Missouri for nearly a year. Later he was appointed by the United States government to have charge of a party of engineers surveying the Helena reach of the Mississippi river. Then entering Kentucky University in Lexington, Kentucky, he studied for two years, preaching in the mountains throughout Kentucky. In 1885 he entered Yale Divinity School, graduating in 1888. Dartmouth conferred upon him the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1894 and that of Doctor of Divinity in 1906. Yale University also conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1916. Following his graduation from Yale he was ordained a minister of the Congregational church in 1888 and has served as pastor successively at Whitney- ville and Willimantic, Connecticut, in the Phillips church of Boston and in the First church at Waterbury, having been called to his present pastorate in 1905.
On the 24th of October. 1889, Dr. Dinsmore was married to Miss Annie Laurie Beattie, of Sandusky, Ohio, and they have become parents of a daughter, Rachel, the wife of Donald G. Tuttle, of Naugatuck.
The breadth and nature of Dr. Dinsmore's interests is indicated by his connection with many organizations and lines of activity. He is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, of the New York Author's Club and of the Dante League of America. He has in the past been university preacher at Cornell and at Yale and he is a trustee of the Monson Academy of Massachusetts and of the Hartford (Conn.) Seminary Foundation. He has frequently delivered lectures on Dante, is a well known contributor to American magazines and his authorship includes several volumes: "The Teachings of Dante," published in 1901, "Aids to the Study of Dante," 1903 (both translated into Japanese) ; "Atonement in Literature and Life." published in 1906; and "The New Light on the Old Truth," in 1912. His writings have had an extensive sale in England. especially the "Teachings of Dante" and the "Atonement in Literature and Life." He has three times visited Europe and has greatly profited by the educational value of travel. He
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is now chairman of the Waterbury Red Cross. That he is a man of broad scholarly attainments has been shadowed forth between the lines of this review. He is, moreover, a man of the widest human sympathy and of keen understanding, reaching out in helpful spirit to the individual and at all times proving a stalwart champion of the cause of right and progress.
HON. FREDERICK M. PEASLEY.
Hon. Frederick M. Peasley, attorney and former judge of the district court, is numbered among the alumni of Yale whose professional records reflect credit upon that institution. He has made for himself an enviable place at the bar and upon the bench and his name is also prominently connected with important legislative measures enacted through his services as a member of the general assembly.
A native of St. Marys, Ohio, Judge Peasley was born February 9, 1866, a son of Professor Jacob A. Peasley, who devoted his life to the profession of teaching and at the time of the birth of his son was principal of the public schools of St. Marys, Ohio. Jacob A. Peasley was born at Mount Gilead, Ohio, in 1836 and died at Worthington, that state, in 1915. At the time of the Civil war he served as a private in the Union army. He was the son of Chalkley Peasley, a farmer, who was born in Vermont. One of the great great- grandfathers of Judge Pcasley was John Marsh, a soldier of the Revolutionary war. His mother, Janc Anderson Paul, was born in Scotland and was one of the seven children of Mr. and Mrs. James Paul, who died in Scotland of cholera within a week, when Mrs. Peasley was but seven years of age, and three of their children were also victims of that disease at the same time. Four children were thus left orphans, after which their uncle, Andrew Anderson, who was then superintendent of the Benedict & Burnham rolling mills of Waterbury, sent for the children and reared them in his Waterbury home. Mrs. Peasley was the third of the four in point of age, the others being Marion, Andrew Anderson and James Anderson. Of the four Mrs. Peasley and James Anderson Paul are still living, the former a resident of Ohio and the latter of Philadelphia. The parents of Judge Peasley became acquainted at Oberlin College, where they were schoolmates. Of their marriage six children were born, of whom four are living: Mrs. Harriet P. Curtis, of Beloit, Alabama; Frederick M .; Dr. Andrew Anderson Peasley, a practicing physician of Columbus, Ohio; and James Anderson, a lawyer who is now prosecuting attorney of Waterbury.
After pursuing his education in the public and high schools of Worthington, Ohio, Judge Peasley continued his studies in the Ohio State University and became a law student in Yale, from which he was graduated with the LL. B. degree as a member of the class of 1895. In the meantime he had come to Waterbury in 1886, this being the girlhood home of his mother, and for eight years he held a responsible position with the Plume & Atwood Manufacturing Company, of which he became assistant superintendent, which position he resigned in 1894 to enter Yale as a member of the senior law class. He had previously taken up the study of law while with the Plume & Atwood Company under Daniel Webster, a well known attorney of Waterbury, who served as mayor of the city and was also a member of the general assembly. This previous study enabled Judge Peasley to become a senior at Yale and in 1895 he was admitted to the bar. He at once began practice in Waterbury, where he still maintains his office, but for the past ten years he has been a resident of Cheshire, ten miles from Waterbury. While advancement at the bar is proverbially slow, no dreary novitiate awaited him. Almost immediately he gained a good clientage which has constantly increased in volume and importance, and his name figures in connection with much of the important litigation heard in the courts of his district. He is a member of the local and the state bar associations.
In 1894 and 1895, while attending Yale, Judge Peasley originated the Connecticut statutes annotations now in general use all over Connecticut, in which work he was associated with Terrence F. Carmody, under the firm style of Peasley & Carmody. In 1902 Judge Peasley compiled and published a small volume entitled "Reference Notes to the General Statutes of Connecticut," which is now in general use by lawyers throughout the commonwealth. Under the name of the Dissell Publishing Company, operating in conjunction with Henry C. Dissell, Judge Peasley and Terrence F. Carmody published and reprinted the first eight volumes of the Connecticut State Reports. One of these eight volumes, prepared by Ephraim Kirby in 1785, was the first printed volume of court deci- sions published in the United States, at which time its author was court reporter.
Greek Weasley.
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Judge Peasley is a republican in politics and in 1901 was appointed deputy judge of the district court of Waterbury, which office he filled for nine years. In 1910 he was appointed judge of the court, a position which he held for four years, being suceeeded by the present judge, Francis T. Reeves, whom in turn he will succeed March 25, 1918, through reappointment of Governor Holcomb in January, 1917. This appointment will make him the incumbent of the office for four years. His course on the bench is in harmony with his record as a man and a lawyer, distinguished by fidelity to duty and by a masterful grasp of every problem presented for solution. Ile represented the town of Cheshire in the Connectient general assembly following the election of 1915 and served on the judiciary committee. In 1917 he was returned to the legislature and was made house chairman of the judiciary committee and majority leader on the floor of the house. He is a man of marked influence in public affairs, having had much to do with shaping public thought and action in recent years.
On the 8th of October, 1891, Judge Peasley was married to Miss Elizabeth Brooks, of Waterbury, and they have two daughters, Marion and Harriett, who are now in school. Judge Peasley holds membership with the Sons of Veterans and with the Sons of the American Revolution. He is also an Odd Fellow and a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, and aside from his professional connections he is secretary of the Waterbury Title Company. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Second Congre- gational church. He finds his chief reereation in farming and has a beautiful country home of sixty-five acres, known as the Maplewood Farm, which is stocked with Holstein cattle and pedigreed poultry. It is most highly improved and is one of the handsome country estates in this section. Judge Peasley turns from arduous professional and legis- lative duties to his farm and finds there rest and recreation. He is widely known and his record is that of one who places the public good before personal aggrandizement and the interests of the commonwealth before partisanship.
JOHN L. GAFFNEY.
John L. Gaffney, a Waterbury attorney and one of the younger representatives of the bar, has already been accorded a good practice. He was born July 25, 1883, and is a native of the city in which he resides. Ile is the younger of two sons of John W. Gaffney, a well known citizen and prominent contractor of Waterbury, who although a native of Ireland, has spent practically his entire life in this city.
John L. Gaffney received his primary education at St. Mary's parochial school and was graduated from the Waterbury high school in the elass of 1904. During his senior year he was president of the high school debating club and managed the football club. IIe entered Georgetown University in 1905 and while there was a member of the freshman debating club, track team and crew. After completing his sophomore year in the academic department he entered Georgetown University Law School, in which he continued his studies for three years and was graduated with the degree of LL. B. in 1908, being vice president of his class. In October of the same year Mr. Gaffney became associated with Attorney Charles H. Harriman, of New Haven, with whom he gained a valuable insight into the practical side of the profes- sion. In 1911 he was admitted to the Connecticut bar and became the professional associate of Judge Charles G. Root, of Waterbury. Since 1912 he has maintained a law office inde- pendently in the 'Law Chambers at No. 51 Leavenworth street and now has a good clientage, his devotion to the interests thereof being proverbial. He is a member of the Waterbury and the Connecticut State Bar Associations. After his graduation from the law school and before his admission to the bar, Mr. Gaffney engaged in the jewelry business in Waterbury, then conducted under the name of the Gaffney Jewelry Company. As part of a versatile training which all lawyers seek to acquire, Mr. Gaffney, while yet a law student at George- town University, obtained employment as a reporter for a well known Washington daily, securing in this way an acute knowledge of human nature which now serves as a valuable asset in his chosen profession. In addition to the practice of law at the present time he is also treasurer of the Milford Land & Cottage Company, a corporation organized by his father. John W. Gaffney, who is also its president. The company owns a large amount of valuable improved real estate in Waterbury, including the Law Chambers, the Milford building. the five story business block at Nos. 59, 61 and 63 Center street. and the Robbins building at No. 53 Leavenworth street, all located in the heart of the eity.
Mr. Gaffney is a parishioner of the Immaculate Conception church of Waterbury and a
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member of St. Joseph's T. A. Society. For the past year he has held the office of Grand Knight of Sheridan Council, No. 24, K. C., an organization which now numbers about nine hundred members. He is also a member of Bishop O'Reilley Assembly, 4th Degree, K. C., and of the local lodge of Elks. He is one of the few lawyers who has not entered the political field.
HARMON JOHN COOK.
The family of which Harmon John Cook is a representative has been identified with the history of Torrington since its earliest settlement, a representative of the name having been one of the five original grantees of the tract on which Torrington is built. Successive genera- tions have occupied the old homestead, both the grandfather and father as well as Harmon John Cook having been born on the old place-a farm that still embraces thirty-five acres and lies entirely within the corporate limits of Torrington. The father and grandfather were both born in the house which the family still occupies, and the parents of H. J. Cook are there enjoying life amid most comfortable surroundings. The father, John E. Cook, was born and has spent his entire life in this house and for many years he devoted his life to farming but is now living retired. He married Rose Dickinson, a native of Illinois and a daughter of Leonard Dickinson, who went to California as a gold seeker in 1849 and, returning eastward, took up his abode in Illinois. To Mr. and Mrs. John E. Cook were born two children, the daughter being Mrs. Emeline Merrill, of Waterbury.
In the acquirement of his education Harmon J. Cook passed through consecutive grades to his graduation from the Torrington high school with the class of 1908. He then entered the Sheffield Scientific School and is numbered among the Yale alumni of 1911. The following year he secured a minor position with the Progressive Manufacturing Company and the Standard Company, and working his way steadily upward, he has been assistant superin- tendent with the former for three years and of both companies for one year, thus having prominent connection with the industrial activities of the city, being identified with two of the most important interests.
Mr. Cook is well known in social circles. He belongs to the Torrington Club, to the Elks Club, to the Greenwoods Country Club, to the Hartford University Club of Hartford and to the Marshepaug Fish and Game Club. He is very fond of fishing, which he makes his chief source of recreation, but he never allows outside interests to interfere with the faithful performance of his duties, which are now of an important character in his present position as assistant general superintendent of the Standard Company and of the Progressive Manufacturing Company.
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