USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume III > Part 6
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RICHARD S. BURNAP.
Richard S. Burnap, the treasurer of the Waterbury Sand & Gravel Company, is a native of the neighboring state of Massachusetts, his birth having occurred in Fitchburg on the 12th of September, 1884. Mention of the family is made in connection with the sketch of George H. Burnap on another page of this work. He obtained a public school education and afterward matriculated in Williams College, where he completed the aca- demic course by graduation with the class of 1906. Thus equipped for life's practical
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duties, he became connected with the American Road Machine Company as erecting engi- neer and served in that capacity for six years. Upon the organization of the Waterbury Sand & Gravel Company he became identified with the business and is its treasurer. In this connection a large business has been developed, making heavy demand upon the enterprise and efforts of the officers. Mr. Burnap is fully adequate to these demands, however, and is contributing much to the success of the undertaking.
On the 16th of October, 1915, Mr. Burnap was married to Miss Lillian V. Burtiss, of North Egremont, Massachusetts, and they are well known socially in Waterbury, where they have a large circle of warm friends. They attend the Second Congregational ehureh and in politics Mr. Burnap is a progressive republican. He is yet a young man and has already made for himself a position in the business world which many a one of twice his years might well envy. -
JAMES P. JOHNSTONE.
James P. Johnstone, who has the largest dry goods and millinery establishment in Seymour, was born in Scotland, January 3, 1873, a son of James and Agnes (MacLean) Johnstone, both of whom were natives of Scotland. The mother died when but twenty-one years of age and the father afterward went to Japan, where he was married again, to a Japanese lady. By that marriage there were several children and the family have been the guests of James P. Johnstone in Seymour. The father was manager for the Japan Steam- ship Company for twenty years and resided in Japan altogether for thirty-four years, dying on his way from Scotland to Japan in 1906.
James P. Johnstone and his sister Elizabeth, who were the only children of the first marriage, were reared in Scotland, but the sister went to Japan when twenty-three years of age and there she became the wife of James Robertson, a Scotchman living in Japan. They afterward removed to Australia, where they now reside.
James P. Johnstone, reared in the land of hills and heather, there acquired his eduea- tion in the public schools. In his youth he became employed in a dry goods business but afterward started to prepare for a career as electrical engineer. Changing his plans, however, he returned to the wholesale dry goods trade and acquainted himself with both the wholesale and retail phases of the dry goods business. He came to the United States in 1896, settling in Ansonia, Connecticut, where he was employed by the John R. Murray Company. In 1900 he removed to Seymour, where he opened a dry goods and millinery store, his first location being on Bank street. In 1913 he removed to 147 Main street, ocenpying a store twenty-five by eighty-five feet. to which he built an extension upon his removal. He now employs two clerks and his wife is also an active assistant in the establishment. He has the largest store of the kind in Seymour and is accorded a well deserved patronage.
Mr. Johnstone married Miss Ellen Elliott, of Ansonia, a daughter of John and Ellen Elliott, both of whom were of Scotch birth. Mr. Johnstone belongs to George Washing- ton Lodge, F. & A. M., of Ansonia, and is a charter member of Evening Star Chapter, R. A. M., of Seymour. He is also connected with the Knights of Pythias. His religious faith is that of the Congregational church and in politics he is an independent republi- can. He keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day and is thus able to support his position by intelligent argument. In all matters of citizenship he stands for progress and improvement, while in business affairs his course has been such as indicates what may be accomplished by determined and persistent effort, as he has worked his way upward entirely through individual activity and has won a creditable place in business circles.
JOHN J. HOWARD.
John J. Howard, clerk of the probate court of Waterbury, was born in Waterbury, December 31, 1876, a son of Edward and Hannah (MeDonald) Howard. He was educated in the Waterbury publie school until graduated from the high school with the class of 1895. In the same year he seeured the position of timekeeper with John W. Gaffney, who was then constructing the dam of the Wigwam reservoir. He was called to public service in 1896, when he secured a clerkship in the street department, there remaining for about
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two years. In 1898 he became connected with the shipping department of the Waterbury Manufacturing Company, continuing in that position for a year. From 1900 until 1910 he was a clerk in the water department of the city and in the latter year he spent eight months in the employ of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. From 1911 until 1914 he filled the position of clerk of the probate court and during 1915 and 1916 was audit clerk in the comptroller's office. On the 1st of January, 1917, he again became clerk of the probate court and is now serving under Judge D. J. Slavin.
In 1907 Mr. Howard was married to Miss Katherine B. Sullivan of Waterbury, and they have four living children: Edmund J., Mary, Margaret J. and Donald. They also lost one son, John, who died in infancy. The parents are members of the Immaculate Conception Catholic church and Mr. Howard is identified with the Fraternal Order of Eagles, with the Ancient Order of Hibernians and with the Patrick Sarsfield Club. In politics he is a democrat, actively working for the interests of the party. That he has always made an excellent record in public office is manifest in the fact that he has almost continuously served in positions of public trust for two decades. He is systematic, methodical, accurate and thoroughly reliable and his efforts have brought good results.
J. LEROY MINTIE.
J. LeRoy Mintie, secretary of the Hampson, Mintie & Abbott Company, is well known in commercial circles of Waterbury, for in his present connection he is one of the officers in control of one of the most important furniture houses of the state. He has been associated therewith for eight years and brought to the business much valuable knowledge gained in experience along other lines. He was born in Waterbury, October 24, 1877, a son of Alexander C. and Emma L. (White) Mintie. The father was born in Thompson- ville, Connecticut, while the mother, a native of Hartford, was a daughter of LeRoy S. White, who was distinguished as an inventor. In the maternal line the ancestry of J. LeRoy Mintie is traced back through ten generations to Elder John White, one of the first settlers of Cambridge, Massachusetts. His great-grandparents were Preserved and Lucinda (Rice) White. LeRoy S. White was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, May 14, 1828, and losing his father at the age of four years, was bound out to a farmer until he was nine. He afterward returned home and was employed as bobbin boy in a cotton factory in Chicopee, Massachusetts. He inherited mechanical talent from his father and in the factory he made use of every leisure moment in using the tools which were at hand, displaying marked ingenuity in carving out of hardwood or ivory many curious articles. He also early familiarized himself with the use of chemicals and spent much time in experimenting. It is said that he would become so absorbed in his tasks that he would be found working in the factory when breakfast was called the next morning. In the cotton mill he won steady advancement to the position of loom superintendent. In 1852 he married Saralı Jane DeLancey, of New Market, New Hampshire, and soon afterward secured a position as machinist and die cutter at Hartford with the Hartford Manufacturing Company. While thus engaged he invented his first successful machine for burnishing silver plated flatware, selling a patent to the company. The firm of Rogers & Brother was soon afterward organized, establishing business in Waterbury, and for seventeen years Mr. White was superintendent and master mechanic and a part of the time was secretary of the com- pany. His inventive genius further expressed itself in several new burnishing machines still in use. Severing his connection with Rogers & Brother in 1874, he superintended the establishment of a plant for the manufacture of flatware for Brown & Brothers and while with them invented machinery for making seamless tube kitchen boilers. He continued the work of invention and manufacture after leaving Brown & Brothers and he left his impress indelibly upon the industrial history of Connecticut.
The paternal grandfather of J. LeRoy Mintie was James H. Mintie, who was born in Scotland and in early manhood came to the United States. He had previously learned the trade of carpet making and established a factory in Thompsonville, Connecticut, where he engaged in the manufacture of fringes and canopy tops. Later in life he removed to Waterbury. Alexander C. Mintie was identified with the manufacturing interests of this city as assistant treasurer of the Waterbury Button Company and remained active in business until his death, which occurred January 22, 1916. His widow still survives. Mr. Mintie was very prominent as a factor in promoting intellectual and moral progress in the city and in disseminating high civic standards. Hle was one of the organizers of the
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Boys Club and was active in organizing the Italian Congregational church of the city. His membership was in the First Congregational church, in which he served as deacon.
J. LeRoy Mintie, after attending the Waterbury high school, continued his education in the Connecticut Literary Institution and started in the business world as a member of the firm of Mintie & Connor, dealers in bicycles on Bank street. Theirs was one of the first enterprises of the kind in the city. Later he turned his attention to the automobile trade as a member of the firm of Mintie & Benedict, continuing in that line for about twelve years. His next step brought him into the furniture business and in connection with R. William Hampson who was elected treasurer, and Dr. Edmund Janes Abbott, who was elected president, a corporation was formed in May, 1910, under the title of The Hampson-Mintie Furniture Company, Mr. Mintie being elected secretary. On January 1, 1914, Dr. Abbott gave up his dental practice to take an active part in the furniture business and the firm name was then changed to Hampson, Mintie & Abbott, Incorporated, with the officers continuing as before. It is today considered one of the leading house furnishing establishments in the state, occupying the entire Hampson building, which faces the green and is one of the handsomest pieces of architecture in the city.
On the 21st of October, 1903, Mr. Mintie was married to Miss Bertha E. Shader, of Meriden, a daughter of De Witt Shader, and they have one child, Dorothy. Mr. Mintie is a Mason of high rank, having taken the advanced degrees in the order. In politics he is a republican and he holds to the faith of his fathers, being identified with the First Congregational church. His life record is, moreover, in harmony with that of his fore- bears in business connections. The same spirit of enterprise which made one of his grand- fathers a successful inventor and the other a successful manufacturer and placed his father in an important position in the business circles of Waterbury is manifest in his career, bringing him to a position as one of Connecticut's best known furniture dealers.
DANIEL T. FARRINGTON.
Daniel T. Farrington, who, active in business, is concentrating his efforts on real estate and insurance, with offices in the Lilley building, was born in Birmingham, England, June 30, 1868, a son of Patrick and Anna (Vardin) Farrington. The mother died in England thirty-five years ago, after which the father came to the new world and settled in Waterbury, where he passed away twenty-four years ago.
Daniel T. Farrington arrived in the United States in January, 1887, when a youth of eighteen years, and entering the employ of the Scovill Manufacturing Company, occupied a position as foreman with that corporation for eighteen years, becoming prominently known in industrial circles of the city. Long before giving up his position there, however, he had begun operating in the field of real estate and insurance as a side line and, at length resigning with the Scovill Company, he has since devoted his entire time to his present business and to official duties, but in March, 1917, he resigned from the board of assessors although he had still two years to serve. He is today one of the foremost builders in Waterbury, having erected forty residences and two eight family apartment houses in the last few years. He has done much to improve property values in the neighborhood of Hamilton Park, having built many residences there. He is now building on and near Columbia boulevard, which is one of the exclusive residence streets of the city. He has copied many of the latest residences on Long Island so as to be able to give prospective builders all his as well as other builders' ideas and is always willing to accept suggestions for improvements on his plans. All that he undertakes is characterized by thoroughness, his efforts are systematic, and he is ever ready to meet any emergency with the confidence that comes from a right conception of things and a regard for all that is just and all that is progressive.
A happy married life covering twenty-four years constitutes one of the features which has made the character of Daniel T. Farrington one of even balance. He wedded Mary Barrett and they became the parents of four children: Anna, Daniel T., Edward and Thomas. Theirs is one of the most beautiful and attractive homes of Waterbury, also celebrated for its warm-hearted hospitality.
Mr. Farrington is a member of the Catholic church and has membership with the Knights of Columbus and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. In politics he is a democrat and for two years served on the board of aldermen from the fifth ward and during that period was made president of the board. He was a member of the board of assessors for four years and of the board of finance for two years. His intense activity, intelligently directed, has been fraught with substantial and admirable results. He is a most busy man and, moreover,
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Boys Club and was active in organizing the Italian Congregational church of the city His membership was in the First Congregational church, in which he served as deacon
J. LeRoy Mintie, after attending the Waterbury high school, continued his first in the Connecticut Literary Institution and started in the business world as a member of the firm of Mintie & Connor, dealers in bicycles os Bank street. Theirs was one of the first enterprises of the kind in the city. Later he turned his attention to the automobile trade as a member of the firm of Mintie & Benedict, continuing in that line for about twelve years. His next step brought him into the furniture business and in connection with R. William Hampson who was elected treasurer, and Dr. Edmund Janes Abbott, who was elected president, a corporation was formed in May, 1910, under the title of The Hampson-Mintie Furniture Company, Mr. Mintie being elected secretary. On Jannary 1, 1914, Dr. Abbott gave up his dental practice to take an active part in the furniture business and the firm name was then changed to Hampson, Mintie & Abbott. Incorporated, with the officers continuing as before. It is today considered one of the leading house furnishing establishments in the state, occupying the entire Hampson building, which face: the green and is one of the handsomest pieces of architecture in the city.
On the 21st of October, 1903, Mr. Mintie was married to Miss Bertha E. Shader, of Meriden, a daughter of De Witt Shader, and they have one child. Dorothy. Mr. Mintie is a Mason of high rank, having taken the advanced degrees in the order. In politics le is a republican and he holds to the faith of his fathers, being identified with the First Congregational church. His life record is, moreover, in harmony with that of lus fore- bears in business connections. The same spirit of enterprise which made one of his grand- fathers a successful inventor and the other a successful manufacturer and placed his father in an important position in the business circles of Waterbury is manifest in his career. bringing him to a position as one of Connecticut's best known furniture dealers.
DANIEL T. FARRINGTON.
Daniel T. Farrington, who, active in business. is concentrating his efforts on real estate and insurance, with offices in the Lilley building, was born in Birmingham, England, June 30. 1868, a son of Patrick and Anna (Vardin) Farrington. The mother died in England thirty-five years ago, after which the father came to the new world and settled in Waterbury, where he passed away twenty-four years ago.
Daniel T. Farrington arrived in the United States in January, 1987, when a youth of eighteen years, and entering the employ of the Scovill Manufacturing Company, occupied a position as foreman with that corporation for eighteen years, becoming prominently known in industrial circles of the city. Long before giving up his position there, however, he had begun operating in the field of real estate and insurance as a side line and, at length resigning with the Scoull Company, he has since devoted his entire time to his present business and to official duties but in March, 1917, he resigned from the board of assessors although he had still two years to serve. He is today one of the foremost builders in Waterbury, having erected forty residences and two eight family apartment houses in the last few years. He has done much to improve property values in the neighborhood of Hamilton Park, having built many residences there. He is now building on and near Columbia boulevard, which is one of the exclusive residence streets ot the city. He has copied many of the latest residences on Long Island so as to be able to give prospective builders all his as well as other builders' ideas and is always willing to accept suggestions for improvements on his plans. All that he undertakes is characterized by thoroughness, his efforts are systematic, and he is ever ready to meet any emergency with the confidence that comes from a right conception of things and a regard for all that is just and all that is progressive.
A happy married life covering twenty-four years constitutes one of the features which has made the character of Daniel T. Farrington one of even balance. He wedded Mary Barrett and they became the parents of four children: Anna, Daniel 1 .. Edward and Thomas. Theirs is one of the most beautiful and attractive homes of Waterbury. also celebrated for its warm-hearted hospitality.
Mr. Farrington is a member of the Cathohe church and has numbership with the Knights : Columbus and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. In polities he is a democrat and for two years served on the board of aldermen from the fifth ward and during that period was made president of the board. He was a member of the board of assessors for four years and of the board of finance for two years. His intense activity, intelligently directed, has been fraught with substantial and admirable results. He is a most busy man and, moreover,
Daniel J. Lavington
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is a big, broad-minded man in every sense of the term. He studies closely and with dis- crimination questions affecting not only his business but the public welfare, and his cham- pionship of any measure is an indication of his belief in its efficacy as a factor in good government.
CHARLES NEILSON DENISON, M. D.
The standards of medical practice are being continually advanced, the courses of in- struction are broader and the demands more rigorous. The successful physician must keep abreast with the latest scientific discoveries and must be familiar with the most improved processes of practice. Meeting all requirements, Dr. Charles Neilson Denison is now numbered among the successful physicians and surgeons of Waterbury, with office at No. 299 West Main street. He was born in Stillwater, New York, July 9, 1870. His father, Albert Gallup Denison, also a native of the Empire state, was descended from Captain George Denison, who came from England in the seventeenth century and located in Connecticut. Albert G. Denison engaged for many years in the manufacture of knit goods and passed away at Stillwater, New York, in 1883 at the age of fifty-two years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Maria Neilson, died in 1909 at the age of seventy-five. She was a daughter of Charles Neilson, whose name she gave to her son.
On both sides, Dr. Denison is descended from ancestors who served in the Revolutionary war. He was reared in Stillwater, New York, and obtained his early education there in the public schools. At the age of fourteen, however, he went to Brooklyn, New York, to live with an older brother, Dr. Rial Newland Denison, then a practicing physician of Brook- lyn, with whom he remained for ten years, attending school during part of that period He spent two years as a student in the Polytechnic Institute at Brooklyn, New York, after which he was for one year a clerk in the office of a Wall street broker, but having deter- mined upon the practice of medicine as a life work, he entered the Long Island College Hospital at Brooklyn, in which he pursued his studies for three years, being graduated in 1893. He afterward spent one year, 1893-94, as interne in the Wards Island Metropolitan Hospital of New York and for six months in 1894 he practiced at White River Junction, Vermont. Since that time he has resided and practiced at Cheshire, Connecticut, ten miles from Waterbury, and in May, 1916, he also opened an office in Waterbury, where he can be found from two until nine o'clock every day. He is now medical examiner and health officer of Cheshire.
On the 23d of January, 1895, Dr. Denison was married to Miss Minnie Louise Conkey, of Troy, New York. Fraternally Dr. Denison is a Royal Arch Mason and is a past master of Temple Lodge, No. 16, F. & A. M., of. Cheshire. His religious faith is that of the Baptist church and his political belief that of the republican party. For seven years lie served as a member of the Second Company of the Governor's Foot Guard of New Haven, one of America's oldest military organizations, being the oldest in America in con- tinnous existence. For a year and a half he was a private of that command and later was made assistant surgeon with the rank of lieutenant. Later he became surgeon with the rank of captain, in which capacity he remained until honorably discharged.
CHARLES A. MANNING.
Charles A. Manning, as a member of the firm of Manning Brothers, is one of the proprietors of the Walk-Over Boot Shop of Waterbury, which business was established in 1911. He has since concentrated his energies upon the development and extension of the trade and the house now enjoys a very liberal patronage. He was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, a son of Theodore and Caroline (Woods) Manning and a grandson of David Manning, who was a boot and shoe manufacturer of Worcester, Massachusetts. Theodore Manning engaged in the wholesale shoe business in Worcester and in Boston and passed away in the year 1898. In the fall of that year the family removed to Newton, Massachu- setts. In the family were eight children: Frederick Theodore, of the firm of Manning Brothers at Meriden; Charles A., of this review; Grace W. and Florence E., at home; David Ralph, who is managing the Reading (Pa.) branch of the business of Manning Broth- ers; Robert H., who died at the age of seventeen years; Harold G., who is in the patent office in Washington, D. C., and who is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- Vol. III-3
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nology at Boston; and Clarence W., a Harvard graduate, who is now in the Reserve Officers' Training Camp.
Charles A. Manning acquired a public school education in Worcester and entered into active connection with the shoe business at the age of eighteen years. He has since remained active in this field and with his brother, Frederick Theodore Manning, he en- tered into active connection with the wholesale shoe trade at Boston, traveling upon the road for two years. They next entered the retail shoe business in Bucyrus, Ohio, in 1904 and there successfully conducted a store for seven years, during which time they also opened a store in Newark, Ohio. In 1911 they founded their Waterbury establish- ment and sold the Bucyrus store but further extended their interests by opening a branch house at Reading, Pennsylvania, purchasing the business there in 1913. They now con- tinue the stores at Reading, at Newark, Ohio, and at Waterbury and in 1917 they bought a fourth establishment in Meriden. The partners in the business are Frederick T., Charles A. and David R. Manning. The Reading store is managed by David R. Manning and the New- ark establishment by Earl F. Woodward as manager, while the store in Meriden is under the direct supervision of Frederick T. Manning as manager, with Charles A. Manning in charge of the Waterbury establishment. All these carry the Walk-Over shoes. The Waterbury store was opened at 52 Bank street, where they have a space sixteen by sixty feet. They carry both men's and women's shoes, specializing in the Walk-Over, for which they find a ready sale.
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