USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume III > Part 43
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Liberal educational opportunities were accorded Abner P. Hayes, who was graduated
Erg. by E. G. Williams & Bro MY
"The American Historical Society
abrier P. Hojas -
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from Yale on the completion of the academic course in 1898, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and while a student there became a member of the Phi Beta Kappa. He after- ward spent two years as statistician for the Pennsylvania Railway Lines west of Pitts- burg and in 1900 entered the Yale Law School, from which he was graduated with the LL. B. degree in 1902. While a student in the law school he was elected a member of the state constitutional convention to represent the town of Bethlehem and was its young- est member. His great-grandfather on the maternal side, Nehemiah Lambert, had served as a member of the first constitutional convention of Connecticut in 1818 and had been a member of the Connecticut general assembly for twenty-two years. The family has thus been actively identified through various generations with the lawmaking of the state. In 1902 Abner P. Hayes was admitted to the bar and in 1903 opened an office in Waterbury, where he has since been actively engaged in practice. Along with those qualities indispensable to the lawyer-a keen, rapid, logical mind plus the business sense and a ready capacity for hard work-Mr. Hayes brought to the starting point of his legal career certain rare gifts-eloquence of language and a strong personality. He throws himself easily and naturally into the argument with a self-possession and a delib- eration that indicate no straining after effect. On the contrary there is a precision and clearness in his statement, an acuteness and strength in his argument which speak a mind trained in the severest school of investigation and to which the closest reasoning has become habitual and easy.
On the 4th of November, 1908, Mr. Hayes was married to Miss Margaret Ingoldsby Fitzpatrick, of Waterbury. Mr. Hayes is a member of the Congregational church and is interested in all those forces which work for. righteousness and for the uplift of the individual. In 1908 he visited Europe and has traveled extensively over the United States, gaining that broad and liberal culture which only travel can bring. He is a Master Mason and an Elk. His chief diversion is reading and he is the possessor of a very fine private library. In politics he is a republican and served for two terms as a member of the lower house of the general assembly, being elected in 1907 and again in 1909. He has been the prosecuting liquor agent for New Haven county since 1907 and has been most active in upholding the law in this regard. He is also a member of the Connecti- cut Civil Service Reform League. He has written largely upon professional questions and topics of the day and is the author of a work entitled "A History of Railroad Strikes in the United States." He belongs to the local and state bar associations and he enjoys the respect and confidence of colleagues and contemporaries. He has ever won for himself very favorable criticism for the careful and systematie methods which he has followed. He has marked powers of concentration and application and his retentive mind has often excited the surprise of his professional colleagues. His record is in harmony with that of an ancestry honorable and distinguished and his life's activities have reflected added credit upon the family history.
LOUIS D. BOULEY.
Louis D. Bouley has a number of business interests in Waterbury, being the owner of a well patronized coal and wood yard and of a blacksmith shop and also engaging to some extent in the real estate business. He was born December 23, 1867, in the province of Quebec, Canada, a son of Godfroid and Rosalie (Bouley) Bouley. He is a representa- tive of a family which has been identified with the new world for many generations. the immigrant ancestor removing to Canada in the early part of the eighteenth century.
Louis D. Bouley received his education in his native province but in 1883. when about sixteen years, removed to Waterbury, Connecticut, and entered the employ of a company engaged in the construction of portable sawmills. He was with them for many years and went from place to place erecting the mills, cutting the timber in that locality according to contract and then removing the mills elsewhere. He operated extensively in New Haven county and gained a wide acquaintance in this section of the state that has been of great value to him in his business operations since. At length he bought out his employers and for a considerable period continued in the sawmill business but in Decem- ber, 1916, gave up that work. In the meantime he had for fourteen years given much of his attention to the management of a coal and wood business which he had established in 1902. The yard is located on East Main street and is two hundred and fifty by two hundred and forty feet in dimensions. The business requires the use of six teams and several auto trucks and furnishes employment to' twelve people. Since 1906 he has also
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conducted a blacksmith shop and has likewise found opportunity to enter the real estate field, having negotiated a number of important transfers of property. He has always given the strictest attention to the matter in hand and this habit has been an important factor in enabling him to differentiate between the essential and the non-essential in the conduct of his interests.
On the 4th of May, 1892, Mr. Bouley was united in marriage to Miss Leda Bouley and they have become the parents of the following children: Eugene J., deceased; Edward; Azelda; and Louis, also deceased.
Mr. Bouley believes in the principles of the republican party and supports its ean- didates at the polls. Fraternally he belongs to the Odd Fellows and the Elks and through his membership in the Business Men's Association he eooperates with other public-spirited citizens in bringing about the material and eivie advancement of Waterbury. His life has been a busy and useful one. and the success which he now enjoys is well merited.
FRED E. BARTLETT.
Fred E. Bartlett, vice president of the American Pin Company, a Waterbury corpo- ration doing a business of three million dollars annually, was born in Lawrence, Kansas, in January, 1872, a son of Joseph Edgar and Carrie (Townsend) Bartlett. In the year 1876 Joseph Edgar Bartlett eame to New England, establishing his home in Waterbury. In his boyhood Fred E. Bartlett removed to the west and remained in Colorado until June 1, 1892. He then returned to Waterbury and has since been continuously identified with the American Pin Company. He became connected with the business as billing clerk on the 20th of June of that year and through intermediate positions has worked his way upward, becoming vice president on the 6th of February, 1913, while on the 2d of February, 1916, he was elected a director. This business has been in existence in Waterbury for more than three score years and ten but its honsing and its equipment bear little resemblance to the plant originally established. With seven large factory buildings fully supplied with automatic machinery the work is conducted in accordance with the most progressive processes and the value of the industry as a factor in the business development of Waterbury is indicated in the fact that its trade relations reach out to every section of the country, its shipments not only covering America but a large see- tion of the world.
On the 18th of September, 1906, Mr. Bartlett was united in marriage to Miss Mande Marvin, of Torrington, a daughter of Charles E. Marvin, and they have one ehild, Made- lin. Mr. Bartlett votes with the republican party and is well known in Masonic eircles. He has taken the various degrees of York and Scottishi Rite Masonry and is also a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, exemplifying in his life the beneficent spirit of the craft.
CHARLES E. PUFFER.
For sixteen years Charles E. Puffer has been identified with the insurance, bonding, real estate and mortgage business in Waterbury and on the 1st of January, 1911, entered into his present partnership relations as a member of the firm of Judd & Puffer, conducting a highly successful business. He was born in Methuen, Massachusetts, July 11. 1875, and is a son of A. C. and Mary F. (Jones) Puffer. The former has now passed away while the latter is a resident of Waterbury.
Charles E. Puffer acquired a high school education and then entered the wholesale dry goods business as a clerk in a Boston establishment. He was afterward an office man with the Plume & Atwood Manufacturing Company of Boston and later repre- sented the same company at Thomaston, Connecticut. In 1901 he came to Waterbury, where he entered the employ of George E. Judd, a well known and successful insurance underwriter. He bent his energies toward acquainting himself with every phase of the business and as the years passed his value to his employer so increased that on the 1st of January, 1911, he was admitted to a partnership under the firm style of Judd & Puffer, an association that has since been maintained. He has a high reputation in insur- ance circles and incidentally has negotiated many important realty transfers and his opinions concerning property are largely accepted as authority.
On the 8th of September, 1897, Mr. Puffer was united in marriage to Miss Georgia
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Emerson, of Methuen, Massachusetts, and they have three children, Donald E., Mary and Richard F. Mr. Puffer is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is a Rotarian. He holds membership in the Second Congregational church and is an active and useful member of the Chamber of Commerce, of which he is vice president. In politics he is a republican and keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day. He is alert and energetic and is highly regarded among his business and social associates.
HARRY B. JENKINS.
Harry B. Jenkins, assistant secretary of the American Pin Company, has been asso- ciated with the business for more than a quarter of a century. He was born in Plain- ville, Connecticut, May 13, 1873, and is a son of James T. and Fannie (Bunnell) Jenkins. The father, who was a druggist, is now deceased, but the mother still occupies the old homestead in Plainville.
Harry B. Jenkins acquired a public school education, supplemented by a course in Huntsinger's Business College at Hartford. Thus qualified for entrance into the commer- cial world, he came to Waterbury in 1891 and secured a position as bookkeeper with the American Pin Company. He took entire charge of the books of the company in 1907 and so continued until the 6th of February, 1913, when he was elected assistant secretary. He was made a director on the 2d of February, 1916, and is now active in the manage- ment and control of the business. While this industry has been in existence for seventy- one years, there have been remarkable changes made even during the period of Mr. Jenkins' connection therewith. Each year sees the work advance as new and improved machinery is installed and as improved processes are evolved.
On the 14th of March, 1898, Mr. Jenkins was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Horn, of Waterbury, and their children are: Ruth, who was educated under private tutors; and Harriet, who attended St. Margaret's school. Both are now at home. Mr. Jenkins and his family attend Trinity Episcopal church. He votes with the republican party and he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and also with the Red Men.
SAMUEL PARMELEE WILLIAMS.
Death called a highly respected and valued citizen of Waterbury when on the 2d of January, 1917, Samuel Parmelee Williams passed away. He was born in Litchfield, Con- necticut, August 8, 1846, his parents being Robert and Helen Elizabeth (Trowbridge) Williams of that place. For several generations the family has been represented on New England soil. The great-grandfather, Samuel Williams, was a prominent citizen of Ber- lin, where he had extensive land holdings. He represented a family which emigrated to Connecticut from Roxbury, Massachusetts. The grandfather, William Russell Williams, served as a private in the War of 1812. His son, Robert Williams, was born in Water- town in 1810 but spent the greater part of his life in Litchfield. He married Helen Eliza- beth Trowbridge, daughter of James Trowbridge and a member of the well known Trow- bridge family of Connecticut.
Reared in his native city, Samuel P. Williams was employed for a time in; Wessel's drug store. At the age of nineteen years he removed from Litchfield to New Haven, where for two years he was employed in Coles & Leete's drug store. He then came with his brother Charles Perry to Waterbury, where he entered the employ of the Apothecaries Hall Com- pany and in this connection added to his knowledge of the drug business. In 1870, feel- ing that his experience and capital justified the step, he formed a partnership with William R. Hillard and purchased the drug store of David Fuller on East Main street, where for five years business was continued. under the firm name of Hillard & Williams. The lat- ter then purchased the interest of his partner and continued in the business alone for twelve years. He then turned his attention to the real estate and insurance business, which he conducted for three decades or up to the time of his demise, being president of Williams & Brown, Inc., which conducted extensive operations in that field. There was no phase of the real estate business with which he was not familiar. He thoroughly knew the property upon the market and was a most correct valuator of realty.
In 1872 Mr. Williams was united in marriage to Miss Ella Susan Rice, a daughter of
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Archibald E. Riee, of Waterbury, who survives him. Their family numbered a son, Sam- uel Parmelee, Jr., who is mentioned elsewhere in this work; Helen Trowbridge, the wife of David C. Griggs; and Dorothy.
Mr. Williams gave his political allegiance to the republican party and at one time filled the office of city treasurer. He was an Episcopalian in religious faith and for sev- eral years served as a vestryman of Trinity church and later of St. Jolin's church. He belonged to the Waterbury Club and the Country Club of Waterbury and he was a great lover of clean ontdoor sports. In young manhood he was much interested in baseball. He was the first president of the Waterbury Lawn Tennis Club. Up to the time of his last illness he was an enthusiastic supporter of golf. A modern writer has said: "To play well is just as essential as to work well. It maintains the necessary even balance of character indispensable to success." This fact Mr. Williams recognized; he entered heartily and enthusiastically into sports. As a business man he was most energetic, enterprising, progressive and reliable.
LEWIS A. PLATT.
Lewis A. Platt, the president of The Platt Brothers & Company, manufacturers of light metal articles. and treasurer of The Patent Button Company, was born in that sec- tion of Waterbury that is known as Platts Mills, May 31, 1854. That district has been in possession of the family for more than a century, having been first occupied by his great-grandfather in 1797. His grandfather was Alfred Platt, the founder and promoter of the present business and one of the pioneer manufacturers of the city. His father was Clark M. Platt, who succeeded to the button manufacturing business and was a leading factor in the continued growth and development of the business interests of the family until his demise. He married Amelia Lewis, a native of Naugatuck, Connecticut, and a descendant of John Lewis, who removed from Simsbury to Naugatuck before the Revolu- tionary war. there following the occupation of farming. Her father was Selden Lewis, also a farmer.
Lewis A. Platt supplemented his public school training by a course in Yale, from which he was graduated with the B. A. degree in 1879. He then returned to resume business connections with The Platt Brothers & Company and worked upward through all branches of the business, becoming thoroughly familiar with every phase of their manufacturing interests. With his father's accession to the presidency of the company he became the secretary and so continued until his father's demise, when he succeeded to the presidency in 1900 and has since been the directing head of the business, the company being engaged in light metal manufacturing and in the making of eyelets. For a long time they were active in the field of metal button manufacture, but this branch of the business was taken over by The Patent Button Company, of which Lewis A. Platt remains the treasurer.
On the 20th of June. 1882, Mr. Platt was married to Miss Ellen Brainard, of Middle- town, Connecticut, who resided at New Haven and is a daughter of Sydney and Ellen Brainard. Mr. Platt is an exemplary Mason and is prominently known in club circles both of Waterbury and New York. He holds membership in the Country and Waterbury Clubs, the University and Yale Clubs of New York and in the Graduates Club of New Haven. His political endorsement is given to the republican party, and in 1910 he became a member of the state senate, where, during his two years' service. he gave thoughtful and earnest con- sideration to the vital questions which came up for settlement.
BENJAMIN ARTHUR RICHARDS.
It is an old and trite saying that there is always room at the top, but a real recogni- tion of this fact should serve to inspire greater perseverance and determination on the part of young business men. It was an understanding of this condition that led Benjamin Arthur Richards to so direct his efforts and activities that today he is occupying a promi- nent position in commercial circles in Winsted as the president and treasurer of the Benjamin Richards & Company, Incorporated, of Winsted.
He was born April 14, 1887, in the city where he still resides. His father, Benjamin Richards, was born in Birmingham, England, October 7, 1851, and came to the United
BENJAMIN RICHARDS
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States in May, 1875, when a young man of twenty-three years. He at once established his home in Winsted. He brought with him his wife, having been married in England on the 15th of December, 1873, to Miss Emma Knowles, who is still a resident of Winsted, where all of the five children were born. The birth of the mother occurred in Wednesbury, England, July 28, 1850. Her four living children are: Gertrude, who is the wife of Samuel Newton Lincoln, of Waterbury, Connecticut; Jessie, who gave her hand in mar- riage to William J. Bailey, of New Haven, Connecticut; Alice, the wife of Ernest G. Burdett, of Winsted; and Benjamin Arthur, of this review. The father of this family passed away on the 20th of February, 1911, when fifty-nine years of age, his death occur- ring very suddenly and being occasioned by heart trouble.
Benjamin Arthur Richards was educated in the public schools of Winsted and in the Gilbert school. While yet a mere youth he entered his father's factory and his business career has been characterized by continuous progress. The business was founded by the father in the year 1902 and was afterward incorporated under the present style. This is a manufacturing industry devoted to curtain rods and other upholsterers' hardware. The father remained an active factor in the management and control of the industry until his demise. At that time Mr. Richards of this review succeeded to the position of presi- dent and treasurer and conducted the business for the Benjamin Richards estate for two years or until 1913, when he and C. W. Richards purchased the shares of the other heirs. The latter is his cousin and is the vice president and secretary of the company.
On the 17th of June, 1914, Mr. Richards was united in marriage to Miss Adelaide Louise Wiegand, of New Britain, Connecticut, by whom he has a son, Knowles Wiegand, whose birth occurred June 3, 1917. In his fraternal relations Mr. Richards is a Mason and in his life exemplifies the beneficent spirit of the craft. He belongs also to the Second Congregational church. He has always resided in Winsted and is today numbered among its representative young business men, his thorough training under his father's direction well qualifying him for the successful conduct of the growing interests of which he is the head.
EDWARD ALBERT HERR, M. D.
Among those who are successfully practicing medicine and surgery in Waterbury is Dr. Edward Albert Herr, who is one of the younger representatives of the profession and has already made an enviable place and name for himself. He was born in this city January 4, 1883, a son of Francis Joseph and Ursula (Seiger) Herr. The father, who was a jeweler by trade, died in Waterbury in May, 1883, when his son Edward was but four months old. The mother survived for many years, passing away in 1909. In their family were seven sons and a daughter, of whom Dr. Herr is the youngest son, all of whom yet survive with the exception of one.
In the year 1900 Dr. Herr was graduated from the Waterbury high school and while a student there he was prominent in athletic circles, playing left end on the high school football team. He prepared for college at the Villanova Institute, a preparatory school. and then completed a full academic course in Dartmouth College, from which he was graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1906. During his college days he was a member of the Dartmouth Glee Club, in which he sang first tenor. He also played on the college football team as right half back in 1904 and 1905 and it was the touchdown which he made in the Dartmouth-Harvard game of 1905 which tied the score with Har- vard. He also belonged to the college track team in 1906. His professional course was pursued in the medical department of the University of Vermont, where he won his M. D. degree upon graduation with the class of 1909. While studying medicine there in 1906-7 he was also football coach for the University of Vermont team.
In the fall of 1909, having successfully passed the competitive examinations, Dr. Herr received his appointment and entered the Boston City Hospital where he took his surgical course, and in 1910 he pursued a course in obstetrics in the Boston Lying-In Hos- pital. He then entered St. Francis' Hospital of Hartford and was graduated therefrom in 1910. During his senior year at the University of Vermont he had been assistant to Dr. A. F. A. King in the obstetrical department. His preceptor has since become very prominent and is now located in Washington, D. C.
Dr. Herr began practice in Waterbury in 1910 and continues in the general practice of medicine and surgery, in which he has won a creditable position. He is very careful in the diagnosis of his cases and seldom if ever at fault in determining the outcome of
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disease. He is now secretary of the Waterbury Medical Society, is a member of the New Haven County and Connecticut State Medical Societies and of the American Medical Association.
On the 11th of November, 1911, Dr. Herr was married to Miss Florence Irving Smal- ley, of Plainfield, New Jersey, and they have two children: Virginia Irving, born August 14, 1912; and Edward Albert, Jr., born May 14, 1914.
Dr. Herr is still deeply interested in manly athletics and outdoor sports. He plays tennis and is a member of the American Intercollegiate Football Official Board. His reli- gious faith is that of the Catholic church, and he has membership with the Knights of Columbus and in many local fraternal bodies. He is also a member of the college fra- ternities-Dartmouth, Beta Theta Pi, Sphynx Senior Society and Alpha Kappa Kappa, medical. He now holds the rank of first lieutenant, being assistant surgeon in the First Battalion, Fifth Regiment, Connecticut Home Guard. He belongs to the Waterbury Coun- try Club, is secretary of the Dartmouth College Lunch Club Association and is vice presi- dent of the Connecticut State Dartmouth Alumni Association. He has a whole-souled way of looking at life and his is a well balanced character. He recognizes the fact that to play well is just as essential as to work well and he enters with enthusiasm into anything that he undertakes.
JOHN HENDERSON.
John Henderson, inventor and manufacturer, whose residence in Waterbury covered a half century, during which he was closely associated with manufacturing interests, passed to the home beyond on the 15th of May, 1917, when he was in the seventieth year of his age. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the 2nd of February, 1848, a son of John and Elizabeth (Hunter) Henderson, who in the summer of 1860 crossed the Atlantie to the new world and established their home in Norwich, Connecticut. After five years there spent a removal was made to Waterbury. The father was an expert paper mill ma- chinist. He removed with his family to Waterbury in 1861 and entered the employ of the Waterbury Farrel Foundry Company. ' He was a most skilled mechanic and assisted in building a large share of the mills in the Naugatuck valley.
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