USA > Connecticut > Illustrated popular biography of Connecticut > Part 16
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A, First Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers, and served under Captain Joseph R. Hawley, now United States senator. In 1862 he re-entered the United States service as first sergeant of Company B, Twenty-fourth Regiment, C. V., being after- wards promoted to second lieutenant of the same company. In 1865 he was with William Rogers when the latter organized the Wm. Rogers Manu- facturing Company at the corner of Front and Grove streets. In 1868 he removed to Waterbury, where he had charge of the plating department of Rogers & Brother. In 1870 he returned to Hart- ford, and founded the Rogers Cutlery Company with his uncle, Asa H. Rogers. They commenced business on Asylum street with only two em- ployes. Soon after Mr. Rogers withdrew, and the business was moved into a factory in rear of the Fourth church on North Main street. In 1879 he purchased one-half of the stock of the Win. Rogers Manufacturing Company, and moved the Rogers Cutlery Company into their factory, corner of Front and Grove streets, when he became presi- dent, treasurer, and general manager of both com- panies, in which positions he has since continued. In 1887 he bought the Kohn silk mill property on Market street, and moved the Rogers companies into the buildings which they now occupy. They employ 150 hands, and sell over $600,000 worth of goods per year. In 1889 he made a contract with a factory in Taunton, Mass., to make hollow-ware, and over 100 hands are kept busy in making blanks for the Rogers companies. In 1890 he bought the Wickersham property in Norwich, in this state, and commenced the manufacture of solid steel handle knives, carvers, fruit knives, etc. One hundred hands are employed, and 2,000 dozens of knives are made cach week. The secret of the transition of Mr.
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Watrous from the condition of a poor boy to a suc- cessful business man, worth many thousands of dol- lars and employing hundreds of hands, has been his strict business integrity and the undeviating quality of goods manufactured, - always selling a better quality of goods than his competitors for the same money, - his thorough, practical mechanical knowl- edge, and his daily personal supervision of every detail connected with the business, and his interest in employes, many of whom have been constantly in his employ for from ten to fifteen years. He is a strong republican, a member of Robert O. Tyler Post, G. A. R., a member of Hartford Lodge of Free Masons, and a member of Washington Com- mandery, Knights Templar.
WILLIAM ROGERS, HARTFORD: Manufacturer of electro-plated ware.
William Rogers was born in Hartford, Nov. 15, 1833, and was educated in the Hartford grammar school, at the same time with Senator Joseph R. Hawley, Hon. Henry C. Robinson, Hon. Charles J. Hoadly, LL.D., of the state library, Charles E. Perkins, and ex-Mayor Charles R. Chapman. His wife, who is still liv- ing, was Miss Lucy J. Ramsey, the soprano of the famous Christ Church choir. One son, a lad of ten years, is the fruit of this marriage. Mr. Rog- WILLIAM ROGERS. ers is a republican in poli- tics, but has not held pub- lic office of any kind. He is engaged in the manu- facture of electro-plated ware, and is at present con- nected with Simpson, Hall, Miller & Co., at Walling- ford, in this state, under a contract that gives him ab- solute control of the manufacture and quality of the goods that bear his name, being made by the orig- inal Rogers plan, as taught him, and as practiced by his father. The subject of this sketch was con- nected from boyhood with the original Rogers Brothers in Hartford, his father being the senior member. He was afterwards connected with the Rogers Brothers, in a contract for 120 months with the Meriden Britannia Company at Meriden, super- vising and controlling the quality of goods then stamped Rogers Brothers. He is the only survivor of the four Rogers of the original Rogers family, who established, upheld, and retained the reputa- tion of the Rogers name upon electro-plated goods. The Rogers were the first successful electro-platers. This involved the first successful electro battery, and preceded by many years the great electrical
improvements of late years. In fact, it was the first step in these wonderful developments. Mr. Rogers resides on Ann street in this city, and is widely known throughout the country.
JAMES SHEPARD, NEW BRITAIN : Solicitor of Patents and Expert in Patent Causes.
Mr. Shepard is a descendant of the eighth genera- tion of Edward Shepard, who came from England, and was settled at Cambridge, Mass., in 1639; and of the seventh generation of John Shepard of Cam- bridge, who settled in Hartford, Conn., about 1666. On his mother's side he is a descendant of the eighth generation of Thomas Alcott, who came from England in 1630, and settled at Charles- town, Mass. He was born at Southington, Conn., May 16, 1838, and received a common school JAMES SHEPARD. and academic education. On September 25, 1859, he married Celia A. Curtis of Bristol, and their only child is a daughter. In 1862, they removed to Bristol, where they resided for twelve years. In 1866 he began the business of soliciting patents and has followed it ever since. Prior to that time he had been employed as a machinist. He opened an office in New Britain in 1868, dividing his time between that place and Bristol until 1876, when he abandoned his Bristol office and changed his residence to New Britain. About 1,873 he began to testify as an expert before the United States circuit courts, in causes apper- taining to patents. He has now had a successful experience of twenty-five years in soliciting patents, and ranks among the best and most skillful patent solicitors in the country. As an expert in mechan- ics, he is widely known among manufacturers and patent lawyers, having testified in several hundred causes, and his testimony having been used in all parts of the United States, from California and Oregon on the west, to Pennsylvania and Maine on the east, and from Wisconsin on the north to Louis- iana on the south.
In religion he is a Congregationalist, and in poli- tics a republican. When in Bristol, he was one of the leaders of his party, but made his change of residence to New Britain the occasion to withdraw from all such outside matters as would be liable to interfere with his regular business. For recreation he frequents the fields and woods, " hunting with- out a gun " and " fishing without a hook," for he and his family are all great admirers of nature,
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with no desire to kill or catch. He is president of the New Britain Scientific Association, and an oc- casional writer on scientific subjeets, botany, min- eralogy, archæology, and conchology being the branches to which he has paid most attention. Valuable contributions have been made by him to the Peabody Museum of Yale College, and to the National Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, for which he has received special public acknowl- edgment. He is also an enthusiastic amateur photographer, and within the last six years has carried a camera over twenty thousand miles.
HON. DAVID M. READ, BRIDGEPORT : Manufac- facturer and Merchant.
Hon. David M. Read of Bridgeport, at present democratic state senator from the fourteenth dis- trict, is one of the leading manufacturers and mer- ehants of New England. He was born in Hoosic Falls, N. Y., October 12, 1832. After the ordinary educational advantages of the district school, he at- tended Drury academy at North Adams, Mass. In 1855, he married Helen Augusta Barnum, daugh- ter of Philo F. Barnum of Bridgeport. They have two sons and one daugh-
ter. Mr. Read was D. M. READ. chosen a representative from Bridgeport to the general assembly of 1881, and served upon the committee on military affairs. He was a delegate to the National convention in Chicago in 1884. He has been councilman and first alderman of Bridgeport, and is vice-president of the Savings Bank and a director of the National Bank. He is a prominent member of the board of trade and was for fifteen years its president. His superior business training is shown in the success he has achieved. He is president of the D. M. Read Company, and treasurer and selling agent of the Read Carpet Company, the New York office of which is at 934 Broadway. He served for several years as commissary of our Connecticut brigade of the National Guard, and under Gov- ernor Ingersoll, in 1876, the centennial year, he was induced to accept the position of acting commissary-general. Senator Read has always exercised great influence in matters legislative. He was elected to the senate of 1889, returned to that body in 1891; was president pro tempore of the senate of 1891, and performed with signal ability the difficult duties devolving upon him
during that remarkable session. Has been prom- inently mentioned as an available candidate for governor.
HON. ALLAN WALLACE PAIGE, HUNTING- TON : Attorney-at-Law.
Allan W. Paige was born in' the town of Sher- man, February 28, 1854 ; graduated from the Yale Law School in 1881 ; and subsequently became the partner of the late David B. Booth of Danbury. His classmates in the law school included Messrs. Frank E. Hyde of Hart- ford, John C. Gallagher of New Haven, ex-senate clerks Charles P. Wood- bury and Clinton Spen- cer, and Sidney E. Clarke of Hartford. Mr. Paige pursued a preparatory college course at General Russell's Military School A. W. PAIGE. and the Hopkins Gram- mar School in New Haven, being a student at the former institution with Mr. John Addison Porter of the Hartford Post. In 1882, Mr. Paige was elect- ed a member of the house from Sherman, and was assigned to the chairmanship of the state prison committee by Speaker John M. Hall. In that po- sition he performed excellent service for the state. In 1883, he was elected assistant clerk of the house, clerk in 1884, and senate clerk in 1885. For several years Mr. Paige was a member of the republican state committee, and in 1884 was its secretary. In addition to his law practice in Connecticut, Mr. Paige is associated with the firm of Duncan & Paige of 120 Broadway, New York. At the No- vember election in 1890, Mr. Paige was elected a member of the house from the town of Hunting- ton, receiving a majority of 228, the largest major- ity ever given to any candidate in the town, and on the assembling of the legislature in January re- ceived the unanimous nomination for the speaker- ship from the republicans. He was elected Janu- ary 7, receiving the total vote of his party in the house. With one exception, that of Hon. Augus- tus Brandegee of. New London, he is the youngest speaker the house has ever had, and the third repub- lican speaker in continuous succession from Fair- field county, -- Col. H. W. R. Hoyt of Greenwich being speaker in 1887, and Judge John H. Perry of Fairfield in ISS9. His unanimous selection, in spite of geographical objection, was due to his large legislative experience, and knowledge of parliamentary law, both essential accomplishments for the speakership. And it is generally con- ceded that at no time within the history of
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the state, not even during the war, have party lines been so closely drawn, and the duties of the speak- er so difficult of successful execution as during the session of the house for the winter of 1891. Mr. Paige proved himself fully equal to the occasion, fertile in parliamentary knowledge and resources, quick in execution and firm in decisions. His po- sition was a most difficult and trying one, but his administration of the office was such as to win for him the unwavering and enthusiastic support of every member of his party in the house, and the admiration and plaudits of the republican press and his party in the state. Speaker Paige is a gentleman of interesting and attractive personal qualities, and has met with marked success in Con- necticut politics. His career has been the result of his own efforts and energy, and shows what a man of spirit and perseverance can accomplish.
The wife of Speaker Paige is the daughter of the late Nelson Downs, who previous to his death was a prominent manufacturer in Birmingham, and one of the leading citizens of the Naugatuck valley.
CHARLES E. OSBORNE, STEPNEY (MONROE) : Merchant.
Charles Edward Osborne represented the town of Monroe in the general assembly of 1887, and was appointed a member of the special committee, of which Senator Coffin was the chairman, to erect a memorial tablet in the main hall of the capitol in honor of John Fitch of Connecticut, the first to apply steam power in navigation. Representa- tives Higgins and Wood were associate members of the committee from the house. Mr. Osborne has been a member of C. E. OSBORNE. the board of relief, col- lector of taxes, and is at present a justice of the peace, secretary of the board of school visitors, and acting school visitor. He is a member of the democratic party, and is an active participant in its management locally. He was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., June 5, 1849, and was educated at the Connecticut Literary Institute in Suffield, and Wesleyan University, entering but not continuing the college course. He has resided at Southport, Bridgeport, Bethel, Watertown, and Southbury. In 1876 he was married to Miss Martha E. Burritt. There are three children, all daughters. Mr. Osborne is engaged in mercantile pursuits, being a dealer in pianos, organs, and sewing-machines at Stepney, which is located in the town of Monroe.
REV. FREDERICK DELLMAR CHANDLER, EASTFORD : Congregational Clergyman.
The subject of this sketch was born in Pawlet, Rutland County, Vermont, June 21, 1842. His father, Thomas Jefferson Chandler, of English lineage, was a stalwart abolitionist, and a man highly respected for his sterling Christian charac- ter. Noted for his atti- tude toward slavery, he was thoroughly identified with the noble band of men whose lives formed a part of that thrillingly interesting historic period, and to whose conscien- tious efforts are indirectly attributable the fate
F. D. CHANDLER.
which American negro slavery met at the hands of this government through the emancipation proclamation of Presi- dent Lincoln in 1863. The son inherited largely the traits of character which distinguished the father. Himself a strong anti-slavery man, it is related of him that the first money he ever pos- sessed (forty-nine cents) was invested by him when he was nine years of age in a pocket Bible; the next money, earned and owned by him, was ex- pended for a copy of " Helper's Impending Crisis." Mr. Chandler inherited from his mother,- a noble Christian woman,-a strong character and an in- tensely religious nature, his religious convictions, manifested at a very early age, showing the trend of his mind toward the calling which in after years he chose for his life work. Like many another ambitious son of a kind but poor father, he had to fight a very unequal battle with poverty in his at- tempt to gain an education in the common and select schools of his native town. In early life he was noted for his studious habits and unconquer- able energy, always standing at the head of his class; and never,- but once, and then unjustly,- losing a prize, if one was offered, in any competi- tion in which he had the opportunity to join. He attended several terms at Castleton Seminary, then under the wise management of Dr. S. N. Knowl- ton. Finally he established a high school in the town of Middletown, but was induced to go to an- other seemingly more advantageous opening at Poultney. From thence, under the auspices of the M. E. Church, he went to one of their theological seminaries, which was then located at Concord, N. H., but about that time became a part of Boston University. It should be stated here that before entering the university, and while engaged in teaching, Mr. Chandler began the study of law, thinking it would be his life avocation; but under
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other and stronger influences his mind was turned toward the ministry. After leaving the Methodist institution above specified, finding that he was not in all points in accord with that denomination, he united with the Congregationalists, and served ac- ceptably and with good success the churches in Hampton, N. H., Kensington, Alton, and East Hardwick, Vt., city of Frankfort, Mich., and East- ford and West Woodstock, in this state. Mr. Chandler is an earnest and effective speaker, an easy and fluent writer, and has rendered good ser- vice in the cause of temperance wherever he has resided, always being found in the front ranks of earnest workers for that most important of moral reforms. He is in politics a republican of the stal- wart type, believing that whatever of lasting good has been accomplished for the temperance cause has been through the influence and agency of the republican party. He is the friend of the poor man, and in sympathy closely allied to their inter- ests, which he makes his own. He has held several important local offices, including that of justice of the peace of Grafton county, N. H., under the ad- ministration of Governor Walter Harriman, and a state justice under Governor Cheney.
Mr. Chandler was married October 25, 1868, to Miss Julia E. Howe, daughter of Samuel Howe of Haverhill, N. H., a graduate of old Newbury (Ver- mont) Seminary. He has no children living. Mrs. Chandler is an excellent musician and teacher, and has been an able and successful worker in her husband's calling.
HENRY A. WARNER, NEW HAVEN: Iron Mant- facturer and Sewer Pipe Dealer.
Henry A. Warner was born in Waterville, town of Waterbury, March 10, 1842, and was educated in the private and public schools of New Haven, where he has lived since he was six years of age. He was formerly an iron manufacturer and is now a dealer in drain and sewer pipe. He resides on Orange street in New Haven and is also the proprietor of Warner Hall on Chapel street. Mr. Warner has served in the second company of Governor's Horse Guard and is a member II. A. WARNER. of the New Haven Republican League. He is a member of the Col- lege Street Congregational church in New Haven. He has not held public office. Mr. Warner is mar- ried, his wife being Miss Gertrude E. Morton. They have 110 children.
HON. EDWARD SPICER CLEVELAND, HARTFORD: State Senator.
Edward S. Cleveland was born at Hampton, in this state, May 22, 1825, and received a common school education. At the age of sixteen he left home to engage in mer- cantile life in Hartford. In 1848 he was chosen assistant clerk of the Con- necticut house of repre- sentatives, and two years later he was appointed engrossing clerk of the lower house of congress at Washington, being as- sociated with John Galpin of New Haven. In 1854 he was a delegate to the democratic state conven- tion and secured the EDWARD S. CLEVELAND. adoption of resolutions averse to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, then pending in the cele- brated Kansas-Nebraska bill before congress. Mr. Cleveland continued to act with the democratic party until the attempt was made to force upon Kansas the Lecompton pro-slavery constitution. He was instinctively opposed to slavery, and would not go a step with any political organization which proposed its extension. In 1860, he entered the field for Lin- coln on the anti-slavery extension issue, and stumped a number of the states in support of the republican ticket. Soon after the inauguration of ·President Lincoln he was appointed postmaster at Hartford, and occupied the office for eight years. proving himself one of the ablest officials of the government in the state. Under his administra- tion the highest business principles were enforced, and it is due to Mr. Cleveland that the post-office in Hartford was made one of model efficiency and excellence. He was a firm friend of the Union cause, and gave without stint of his time and means for the support of the government. Toward the union soldiers he has always been a true friend. After the war Mr. Cleveland found himself in har- mony with the democratic party on the restoration of the union and the rehabilitation of the states which had participated in the rebellion. In 1875 and also in 1876, he was elected representative from Hampton on an independent ticket, carrying the town each year by a large majority. For a num- ber of years back he has taken an active interest in Hartford affairs, having resumed his residence there in 1876.
Mr. Cleveland has been prominently connected with Connecticut politics during the past twenty- five years, and is one of the best-known citizens of the state. I11 1886 he was one of the leading meni- bers of the senate from the first district, having the
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chairmanship of the committee on insurance, be- fore which were many important measures. In the fall of the same year he had the honor of being nominated for governor by the democrats. He was returned to the senate in 1888, retaining the un- questioned leadership of his party in that body throughout the session. He was again returned to the senate for its succeeding term, and in the memorable transactions of that body occupied a conspicuous position not entirely in harmony with the majority of his political associates, though highly commended and approved by his constituents and personal friends.
Mr. Cleveland's social and domestic relations have always been exceedingly pleasant, and his hospitality is proverbial. He has a large circle of acquaintances and friends, while his amiable and cordial ways give him added popularity with the people, among whom rather than with any class or party he always prefers to be assigned, and for whose welfare it is his highest ambition to labor effectively in whatever official position he is called to occupy.
REV. REUBEN E. BARTLETT, LEBANON: Pastor of the First Baptist Church.
Reuben E. Bartlett was born at Shutesbury, Mass., May 25, 1843, and was educated at Madison University. During the war he served as a mem- ber of the Thirty-seventh Massachusetts Volun- teers, belonging to Com- pany F of that command, from July, 1862, until the conclusion of hostilities in 1865. His pastorates have been in the states of Del- aware, Kansas, New Hampshire, and North Dakota. Prior to his settle- ment in Lebanon he was engaged under the aus- R. E. BARTLETT. pices of the Home Mission Society, in North Dakota and Montana. He became the pastor of the Leb- anon Church in October, 1890. In politics he is a republican. The courage and heroism exhibited by the subject of this sketch on the battlefield has entitled him to membership in the Grand Army of the Republic, in which he is an honored representa- tive. He was distinguished for gallantry at the battle of Winchester, Sept. 19, 1864. Mr. Bartlett has been twice married. His first wife, Josephine Moore, died in 1882; the second, Lydia M. Dyer, was the daughter of the late C. H. Dyer of Boston, Mass. The latter marriage occurred April 4, 1884. There are seven children by the first wife, all of whom are now living.
HON. EZRA BREWSTER BAILEY, WINDSOR
LOCKS : Secretary and Treasurer and Manager of the E. Horton & Son Company; Collector of Customs for the Port of Hartford.
Hon. E. B. Bailey is a native of the town of Franklin, in New London county, where he was born March 29, 1841. He is of the sturdiest New England stock, his early ancestry through both
branches representing prominent families of both the revolutionary and puritanic periods in our country's history, who, with their descend- ants, have been distin- guished for physical vigor and intellectual attain- ments, as well as for in- flexible integrity and pa- triotism. He is a son of Aaron and Eliza (Brews- E. B. BAILEY. ter) Bailey of Franklin, and through the maternal line is ninth in direct descent from Elder William Brewster of the Mayflower through the eldest son, Jonathan Brewster, who joined the Connecti- cut colonists in his early manhood and settled be- low Norwich. Mr. Bailey's paternal ancestors were the Baileys of Groton, whose lineage through the Puritans establishes theirs as among the most an- cient of English families. It may be mentioned here, although out of chronological order, that Miss Katie E. Horton, who became the wife of Mr. E. B. Bailey in 1871, is a descendant in the eighth gen- eration from John Alden and Priscilla (Mullens) Alden, prominent characters in Puritanic history; thus in the present generation mingling several strains of ancient English blood which have separa- tely quickened the best subjects of American his- tory. The Hortons of Windsor Locks represent one of the oldest and best of New England fami- lies which, since colonial times, has contributed numerous and distinguished names to the country's service and history.
Mr. Bailey's early life in Franklin was spent on the ancestral farm (of which the subject of this sketch is now the proprietor), where he was nurtured in habits of industry, and acquired at the district school the elementary education which is the basis of all literary accomplishments. His daily toil in the hayfield or cornfield, in the woods and meadows, or at the old mill where his father made the shingles which supplied the cover- ing for the roofs of all the houses in the neighbor- hood, gave the boy a rich experience of the hard- ships and the pleasures of farm life, and sharpened his appetite for the healthy farmer's fare on which he throve and grew to the stature of vigorous
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