USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume III > Part 38
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MYRON LUCIUS COOLEY, M. D.
Dr. Myron Lucius Cooley, successfully practicing as a physician and surgeon in Water- bury, was born at Cheshire, Connecticut, December 23, 1859, a son of George W. and Cornelia (Merriam) Cooley. He was educated in the Hopkins grammar school of New Haven and prepared for his professional career in the University of Buffalo, from which he was gradu- ated with the M. D. degree in 1886. Locating for practice at Southbury, Connecticut, he there remained until 1895. when he removed to Waterbury, where he has since continued. While he remains in general practice, he specializes to a large extent in gynecology and obstetrics and was gynecologist on the staff of the Waterbury Hospital from 1897 until 1903.
Dr. Cooley is a past master of the Masonic lodge, is a republican in politics and in 1888-9 served in the state legislature from Southbury. He was president of the Waterbury Medical Society in 1906 and belongs to the New Haven County, Connecticut State and American Medical Associations.
WILLIAM H. SANDLAND.
William H. Sandland, mayor elect of Waterbury and manager and editor of the Water- bury Herald, was born July 23, 1868, in Waterbury, his parents being James A. and Esther MI. (Bailey) Sandland, both representatives of old New England families. One of the great- grandfathers of Mr. Sandland was of Indian blood. In the public schools of his native city William H. Sandland began his education and was graduated from the Crosby high school in the class of 1884. Starting out in the business world, he entered the employ of the H. W. Lake Drug Company and afterward became an employe of the Waterbury Button Company, with which he remained for about twenty years. In 1905 he became an active factor in political circles. He had been a supporter of republican principles from the time that age conferred upon him the right of franchise and he became a candidate on the republican ticket for city clerk. He was elected to that office for four successive terms, making an excellent record by the prompt and capable manner in which he discharged his duties. He was also assistant city clerk under Mayor Martin Scully and in 1917 he was elected mayor of Water- bury on the republican ticket, defeating Mayor Scully, who was the democratic candidate. He will take his office on the first Monday of January, 1918, and his constituents have no fear concerning his administration, for bis past record indicates his worth, his public spirit and his
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devotion to duty. In 1916 he became manager and editor of the Waterbury Herald and is still connected with the paper in that capacity.
On the 21st of October, 1892, Mr. Sandland was married to Miss Harriet B. Liner, of Sharon, Connecticut, and they have one son, Howard W. The family attend St. John's Episcopal church and Mr. Sandland is well known in fraternal circles, having membership with the Elks, the Loyal Order of Moose, the Odd Fellows, the Foresters, the Knights of the Golden Fagle, the Woodmen of the World, the British American Society and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He was formerly a member of the volunteer fire department of Water- bury. In his school days he was much interested in outdoor sports, playing on the football, baseball and basket-ball teams and taking much interest in athletics. He has been a member of the Connecticut National Guard for thirteen years and for twelve years of this period has been a commissioned offieer, serving with the rank of first lieutenant of Company A. He is now a major of Battalion D of the Home Guard, and his son, Howard W., is now in the service of his country in France. He stands for progress and improvement in all things and the public has indicated its confidence in him by choosing him for the responsible position of mayor at this important crisis, when a steady hand is needed on the hehn.
EDWARD CROFT.
Edward Croft, connected with the office activities of the Benedict & Burnham branch of the American Brass Company at Waterbury, was born in Camden, New Jersey, March 28, 1870, a son of Edward and Martha (Packard) Croft. The father, a native of Waterbury, was a son of James Croft, who was born in Worcestershire, England. On coming to America in early life he settled in Waterbury, where he was employed by the Scovill Manufacturing Com- pany. Before 1829, however, he became connected with the Benedict & Burnham Company and on twelve different occasions made trips to England for skilled employes in connection with the brass manufacturing industry. He continued with that company to the time of his death. His son, Edward Croft, was also with the Benedict & Burnham Company before the Civil war as department superintendent and later was with the Blake & Johnson Company, being employed by that firm at the time of his death, which occurred in 1885. He was not only a skilled mechanic but an inventor as well and many patents were issued to him. He helped to develop the roll screw thread and his name is associated with other devices most valuable in the field of mechanics. He wedded Martha Packard and for a year they were residents of Camden, New Jersey, where the birth of their son Edward occurred, but both were representatives of old Waterbury families. The mother died in 1872.
Edward Croft attended the public schools of Waterbury and later he went to the west, spending a year and a half with his brother at Stanford, Fergus county, Montana. In July, 1888, he returned to Waterbury and on the 1st of January, 1889, became connected with the Benedict & Burnham Company, with which his grandfather and his father had long been associated. He has since been with the company in a clerical capacity and with him, as with his forbears, his name is associated with thorough reliability and loyalty.
On the 26th of November, 1893, Mr. Croft was united in marriage to Miss Gertrude Gar- rigues, of Waterbury, and they now have two children: Harry P., who is a student in Rensselaer College; and Robert W., attending high school.
The military history of the family is an interesting one. The father of Edward Croft served as a member of Company A, Twenty-third Regiment of Connecticut Infantry, during the Civil war with the rank of sergeant. The oldest brother, James M. Croft, served as adjutant in the First Montana Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish-American war. Edward Croft is connected with the Connecticut division of the Sons of Veterans and is a past division commander. Fraternally he is associated with the Masons and with the Odd Fellows, politically with the republican party and religiously with the Congregational church.
WILLIAM ALBERT GOODRICH, M. D.
Dr. William Albert Goodrich, physician and surgeon, with office at No. 6 Abbott avenue in Waterbury, has always been a resident of New England, his birth having occurred on a farm in the town of Hardwick, Caledonia county, Vermont, July 8, 1876, his parents being Charles E. and Julia (Cass) Goodrich, who were also natives of the Green Mountain state and of
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English descent. Both represented old families of Vermont. The mother of Charles E. Good- rich, who bore the maiden name of Miranda Jennison, was a descendant of Vermont's first governor. The paternal grandfather of Dr. Goodrich was Levi Reddington Goodrich, also a native of Vermont, who became a well-to-do farmer. Charles E. Goodrich was born April 14, 1849, and died at the age of fifty-one years. His wife passed away in 1884, when her son William was but eight years of age. Several of her brothers served in the Civil war.
The boyhood and youth of Dr. Goodrich were spent on a farm in Orleans county, Vermont, amid the usual conditions and influences of farm life. He was graduated from the academy at Craftsbury, Vermont, in 1896 and late in his youth he taught school for two years. For the same length of time he was a student in the medical department of the University of Vermont and for two years attended the Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia, graduat- ing therefrom with the M. D. degree in 1902. In the meantime he spent the spring and sum- mer of 1901 in the Kentucky School of Medicine at Louisville and after winning his profes- sional degree in Philadelphia he came to Waterbury, where he has since successfully prac- ticed, being recognized as one of the leading general practitioners of the city. He is thorough and painstaking and keeps in touch with the latest discoveries and researches having to do with medical practice. His suite of rooms in the Dime Savings Bank building constitutes the last word in convenience, arrangement, appointment and equipment.
On the 12th of January, 1907, Dr. Goodrich was married to Miss Irene Babcock, of Waterbury, and they have two children: William Albert, who was born October 4, 1909; and Harriet Louise, born June 5, 1913.
Dr. Goodrich finds his chief recreation in fishing and golf. He is a member of the Waterbury Country Club and of the Waterbury Club. He is also well known in fraternal circles, having membership with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while in Masonry he has attained the Knights Templar degree of the York Rite and the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite. He has also become identified with the Mystic Shrine. Professionally his membership relations are with the Waterbury, New Haven County and Connecticut State Medical Societies and the American Medical Association, and through their proceedings he keeps abreast with the work of the profession in all that has to do with its growing efficiency.
HON. ARTHUR LUCIUS CLARK.
Hon. Arthur Lucius Clark, merchant, banker, manufacturer and legislator of Winsted, whose activities have been resultant factors in the upbuilding and progress of city, county and state, was born on a farm in Medina county, Ohio, March 12, 1858, a son of Cyrus Ebenezer Clark, who was born in Washington, Connecticut, and was a farmer by occupation. He was descended from one of the old families of this state-a family represented in the struggle for American independence so that Arthur L. Clark now holds membership with the Sons of the American Revolution. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Harriet Oviatt, was born in Washington, Connecticut, and is still living in Medina, Ohio, at the notable age of ninety-one years. She is still well preserved and very active for one of her age. In the family were three sons and a daughter, two of the brothers and the sister living yet in Medina, Ohio.
Hon. Arthur L. Clark is the only one of the family who has returned to Connecticut, the home of his ancestors. His youthful experiences were those of the farm-bred boy, for he was reared on the old homestead in Medina county, Ohio, where he attended school, eventually becoming a pupil in the high school in the city of Medina. He put aside his textbooks when eighteen years of age and immediately afterward came to Connecticut. establishing his home in Winsted, where he has since resided, covering a period of forty years. He was a clerk in the store of Woodford & Camp for four years and thus he gained his initial business training along commercial lines. In 1882 he was admitted to a partnership and the firm style of Woodford, Camp & Company was assumed. Some time later Mr. Woodford retired, at which time the firm became Camp & Clark. A later change in partnership led to the adoption of the firm name of Clark & Hart. This was continued for four years, at the end of which time the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Hart taking over the grocery department, while Mr. Clark retained the dry goods. For fifteen years he remained in the dry goods business, which he conducted under his own name, having one of the leading establishments of the kind in Win- sted. He then sold out to F. J. Lyman, who remains proprietor of the business today.
In the meantime Mr. Clark had become interested in banking and in manufacturing in Winsted and has been prominent in these fields for many years. He was vice president and later
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for ten years president of the Winsted Savings Bank and still remains one of its directors. In the meantime he had become vice president of the Hurlbut National Bank and later was elected to the presidency, in which position he still continues. He is also the president, treasurer and general manager of the Winsted Edge Tool Works, a position which he has filled for several years, and he is a director of the Winsted Hosiery Company, a director of the William L. Gilbert Clock Company, the Winsted Manufacturing Company and of the Litchfield County Hospital, of which he was president for ten years, while at the present time he is one of its directors and a member of its finance committee. The substantial qualities which he had dis- played as a business man, the executive force, the administrative ability, the keen insight and sound judgment, led to his cooperation being strongly sought for the benefit of the hos- pital and of other institutions of a benevolent and philanthropie character. He is now the president of the William L. Gilbert Home for Children, is a trustec of the William L. Gilbert School and is a member of its finance committee. He gives active and earnest consideration to all movements which are looking to the betterment of the individual and of the community at large, and his aid has been a most effective factor in the line of progress.
Mr. Clark has been married twice. He first wedded Miss Kate Miller, of Bristol, Con- necticut, who passed away a few years later, leaving no children. Some time afterward he wedded Miss Jennie Hallett, of Winsted, and they have two children, Helen Louise and Hallett Franklin, both at home with their parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Clark are members of the Second Congregational church and he also holds membership with the Winsted Club, with the Sons of the American Revolution, and with the Masons, being a Knight Templar and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He served for one term as a member of the house in the state legislature, this being in the year 1901, and in 1906 he was a member of the state senate. His legislative service was characterized by marked devotion to the general good and over the record of bis publie career there falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil. His entire life has been actuated by high principles and measures up to high standards. To know Arthur L. Clark is to esteem and honor him. Actuated by a high sense of duty and a recognition of the responsibilities and obligations of life, he has ever extended a helping hand where aid was needed, either for the individual or in public matters, and his efforts have been farreaching and effective, contributing to the material, intellectual, social and moral progress of city and state.
CHARLES E. STEVENS.
Charles E. Stevens, secretary of the Blake & Johnson Company of Waterbury, his native city, was born September 3, 1854, a son of Orville H. Stevens, who died in 1894, while his wife, surviving for about twelve years, passed away in February, 1906. In the attain- ment of his education Charles E. Stevens entered the public schools, passing through consecutive grades to the completion of a high school course. Later he entered the Williston Seminary at Easthampton and, following his graduation therefrom, became a student in mining engineering in Princeton, where he completed his course with the class of 1877. He then went to Colorado, where he spent the year following his graduation, and in 1879 went to Montana. He made Helena his headquarters and built mining plants at Wickes and various other localities, being continuously identified with mining interests in that city until 1893.
Mr. Stevens then returned to the east and took up his father's business, Orville H. Stevens being then president and general manager of the Blake & Johnson Company. Charles E. Stevens remained as purchasing agent and in January, 1917, was elected secretary of the company. This business had been organized in 1849 and while operations were begun on a small scale, two factories are now maintained, there being two hundred and fifty people employed in the manufacturing division at Waterville and one linndred in the machinery division at No. 173 Elm street, Waterbury. The company builds rolling mills for reducing all metals to fine gauges and manufactures general metal-working machinery. At Waterville it manufactures screws, rivets, piano action hardware and screw machine parts. The product is sold directly to manufacturers and the company employs mostly skilled labor. The output goes to all parts of the world and the machinery is a development of their own. The company started with a small building on East Main street, in Waterbury, but the Waterville plant now contains two acres of floor space and covers an acre of ground. It is a modern concrete and brick sawtooth building, splendidly lighted and . equipped with steam and electric power, with individual motor drive. It is also supplied with sprinkler system and the Waterbury plant is equally adequate in every particular.
Charles & Steno
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O. H. Stevens was secretary of the company from 1855 until 1873, was treasurer from 1855 until 1894 and president from 1879 until 1894. His son is now secretary of the company and thus the family have been very active in the management of the business.
On the 28th of November, 1895, Mr. Stevens was united in marriage to Miss Sarah L. Gordon, of Readfield, Maine. By a former wife he had one son, Berca E. The family attend the First Congregational church and Mr. Stevens gives his political allegiance to the republican party. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons and with the Knights of Pythias. He is now bending his energies to the further development of the business and vet he is appreciative of the social amenities of life and retains an active interest therein to an extent that preserves an even balance.
CHARLES R. VAILL.
Charles R. Vaill, president of the Waterbury Ice Corporation, which is controlling im- portant interests of that character, having about seventy-five per cent of the business in their line in Waterbury, is characterized in all that he does in a business way by a spirit of marked enterprise and progress. He has been continuously connected with the ice trade since 1889 and his ability has brought him to the front. He was born in Thomaston, Connecticut, in 1869, a son of William and Alice (Daniels) Vaill. The father, a native of Cornwall, Con- necticut. traced his ancestry back to Jeremiah Vaill, who in 1838 left Wales for the United States and first went to Massachusetts, but immediately afterward made his way to South- old, Long Island. Later he crossed the Sound to Connecticut and eventually became a resident of New Jersey. William Vaill was a carpenter and contractor.
Charles R. Vaill was graduated from the high school of his native town and made his initial step in the business world as clerk in a dry goods store, but turned his attention to the ice trade in 1889, when he became connected with the Hall & Upson Company. Mr. Vaill became the president of the Waterbury Ice Corporation in 1902 and has so continued. The company employs the most thorough and up-to-date business methods and conducts a con- stantly growing business, necessitating a removal in 1915 to larger quarters at No. 74 Water- town avenue, where it has a frontage of five hundred feet. It handles ice from Lake Quassa- paug, Great Brook reservoir, Wedge's Pond, which is very pure, and it also takes the entire output of ice from the Hellmann Brewing Company, amounting to sixty tons per day. At the lake the company has storage for eight thousand tons and in Waterbury it can house one hundred and fifty tons for immediate use. The business under the wise guidance of Mr. Vaill has continuously grown and developed and he has based his success upon the principle that satisfied customers are the best advertisement.
In 1902 Mr. Vaill was married to Miss Louise Locke, of Sherbrooke, Canada, a daughter of Frederick and Tirzah Locke. Their children are Deborah, John and Frederick. Mr. Vaill belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and gives his political allegiance to the republican party, but neither seeks nor desires office. His family attends the Congregational church. He is now well known as a progressive business man of Waterbury, where he has made his home for twenty-eight years, and the integrity and enterprise of his business methods have won him a creditable position and success.
WILLIS D. UPSON.
Willis D. Upson, whose name has become a synonym for progressive activity in connec- tion with the motor car business in Waterbury, is a representative of one of the oldest and most prominent Connecticut families, his parents being Willis and Julia (Daniels) Upson. Born in Waterbury on the 22d of April, 1857, Willis D. Upson passed through consecutive grades in the public schools to the high school and in 1874 began learning the jewelry busi- ness, with which the name of Upson had long been prominently associated. Mastering every branch of the trade in principle and detail, his increasing knowledge and efficiency brought him to a position where in 1880 he felt justified in embarking in business on his own account. He therefore opened a jewelry house on Bank street and while he afterward made two removals always continued on Bank street, enjoying a large patronage and conducting one of the most attractive houses in his line in the city. He remained in the jewelry trade until 1911, when, feeling that there was a still broader and more lucrative field in the automobile business, he sold his jewelry store and became actively interested in the sale of motor cars in May, 1911,
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accepting the agency for the Buick. He also handles the Ross eight cylinder car, his terri- tory including Cheshire, Wolcott, Terryville, Plymouth, Thomaston, Morris, Bethlehem, Wood- bury, Southbury, South Britain, Oxford, Middlebury, Naugatuck, Beacon Falls and Waterbury. His annual sales now amount to about two hundred cars. In addition to his uptown office he has a service station at No. 59 Center street and a storage house at Getney Farms. In the spring of 1916, owing to the lack of freight facilities for shipment, he drove many of his cars in from Flint, Michigan. In connection with his agency he employs five people. He is con- nected, however, with another project which has before it a splendid outlook. He is the president of the Eastern Motors, Inc., which was organized in 1916 and capitalized for one million dollars, with head offices at New Britain. This company was organized for the purpose of producing a high grade car, to be known as the Charter Oak, which will be the expression of mechanical supremacy. It will be a specialists' car, in that every unit of its construction will be the best which the science of the specializing manufacturer has been able to produce, and is so conceded by both automobile expert and layman. It will be a six cylinder car, costing when completely equipped between four and five thousand dollars. A factory has been leased and manufacturing will commence as soon as war conditions will permit.
In 1880 Mr. Upson was united in marriage to Miss Caroline Eunice Hotchkiss, a native of Prospect, Connecticut, and they have one son, Willis Richard, who is engaged in the optical business at No. 70 Bank street, Waterbury. He is married and has four children.
Mr. Upson exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the republican party and keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day but without desire for office as a reward for party fealty. Fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His attention centers upon his business and he is developing his interests along well defined lines productive of substantial results. .
ALBERT I. CHATFIELD.
Albert I. Chatfield, who to the time of his death was building inspector of the city of Waterbury, was born at Derby, Connecticut, December 2, 1846, a son of Charles R. Chatfield, who was born in Oxford, Connecticut, and was a brother of Colonel John L. Chatfield, who served in the Civil war and was severely wounded in the battle of Fort Wagner, resulting in his death, which ocenrred shortly afterward in Waterbury. The father was a blacksmith by trade. He wedded Rhoda Gerard, who was born on Long Island, and both of whose parents died in Derby.
When sixteen years of age Albert I. Chatfield came to Waterbury, where he made his home to the time of his death, residing here from 1862 or for a period of fifty-five years. He here learned the trade of a stone and brick mason, serving a four years' apprenticeship, which he completed at the age of twenty-one. He worked as a journeyman for some years and as such was employed on the building of the old city hall, St. John's Episcopal church, the First Congregational church and the old high school building. Being energetic and industrious, he became foreman for his uncle, Benjamin P. Chatfield, soon after he had completed his apprenticeship, and a few years later, with his cousin, the late George S. Chatfield, he entered the building business, under the firm name of A. I. and G. S. Chatfield. They continued in business for twenty-five years and in that period erected many blocks, dwellings and factory buildings in this and surrounding towns. This partner- ship was later dissolved and for a few years Mr. Chatfield conducted a jewelry business on Bank street, at the place now ocenpied by J. R. Clayton. He continued to engage in contracting until the disastrous fire of 1902, when in order to provide against a future catastrophe of the kind, the office of building inspector was created and Mr. Chatfield was made the first incumbent of that position. He continuously occupied the office to the time of his death, covering a period of fifteen years. He was placed in this position by vote of the board of aldermen, the tenure of office being, by a special act of the legislature, for life or during good behavior.
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