USA > Connecticut > Illustrated popular biography of Connecticut > Part 35
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Mr. Clark married Miss Althea, daugliter of Hon. J. W. Bradley, a staunch republican, senator and judge of probate; also holding the first offices of the town for years in the strongly democratic town of Bethany. They have one child, a son, Mr. N. D. Clark, who has distinguished himself as a scholar in the scientific department of Vale Univer- sity
JAMES D. MCGAUGHEY, M.D., WALLINGFORD:
Dr. McGaughey was born in Greeneville, East Tennessee, August 6, 1848, and is now in his forty- third year. His paternal ancestors were of Scotch Irish descent, Presbyte- rians, and emigrated early to America. His great- grandfather was born in Pennsylvania, and was a member of General Mar- ion's independent brig- ade, being with him dur- ing the Revolutionary War, in his campaigns in the Carolinas. He was also territorial sheriff under John Sevier before the territory became a state, and served under J. D. MCGAUGHEY. Sevier after he became the first governor of Ten- nessee. Dr. MeGanghey's grandfather and father were born in Tennessee. The former served several times in the Tennessee state legislature, being a member at the time of the bitter fight over the removal of the capital from Murfreesboro to Nashville. His father was a merchant, doing a large business, but lost almost everything during the war, being an uncompromising unionist. The doctor's maternal grandfather. George Burkhardt, was of German descent, and emigrated to Sullivan
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county, East Tennessee, from Frederiek City, Mary- land. He built the first paper mill, and made the first sheet of paper manufactured in the state of Tennessee, the little antiquated village where the mill stood, four miles east of Bristol, being ealled . Paperville to this day. His wife was of English deseent, making the subject of this sketch a com- pound of Seoteh, Irish, English, and German anees- try. Dr. McGaughey was edueated at Greene- ville College, until it was destroyed by the invading armies, after which his edueation was completed under private tutors. He commenced the study of medicine in 1866, and graduated from the Jefferson Medieal College, Philadelphia, in Mareh, 1870. He praetieed two years in East Tennessee, when, hav- ing married a granddaughter of Deaeon Lyman Cannon of Wallingford, this state, by whom he has sinee had five ehildren, three now living, he re- moved from Tennessee, eoming to Wallingford, where he has sinee resided, and where he has built up a large and luerative practice. The Doc- tor served in the lower house of the state legisla- ture in 1880, taking part in the debate on a final settlement of the boundary line between Connecti- cut and New York, which had been in dispute for over a hundred years. He is a member of the New Haven County Medieal Society, and of the Connee- tieut State Medieal Society. He holds the appoint- ment of "medieal examiner" for Wallingford under the new eoronors' law, is the post surgeon for the examination of subjects for military exemption from taxes, and was registrar of vital statistics of the town for eight sueeessive years.
JERE D. EGGLESTON, MERIDEN: Physician and Surgeon.
Dr. Eggleston was born in Long Meadow, Mass., October 28, 1853, and was edueated at Williams College and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York eity. His professional life has been spent principally at Wind- sor Loeks and Meriden, eleven years in all having been spent in the city. He has been a member of the board of aldermen and eity physician, and is a republican in polities. Dr. Eggleston is a man of great personal energy, and attained his edueation J. D. EGGLESTON. by his own exertions, first earning money for the purpose on a farm, and afterwards by teaching sehool. His father was Jere D. Eggleston, who died when the subject of this sketeh was in infaney.
The death of Dr. Eggleston's mother followed while he was still a youth, leaving him dependent upon him- self. He is a son-in-law of the Hon. Thomas Dunean of Windsor. He married the oldest daughter of that gentleman, Miss Libbie Duncan, in 1881. There have been four children as the result of the union, three of whom are now living. Dr. Eggles- ton is a member of Meridian Lodge, No. 77, F. and A. M. of Meriden, and of the order of Odd Fellows.
WALTER J. LEAVENWORTH, WALLINGFORD: Treasurer R. Wallace & Sons Manufacturing Company.
Colonel Leavenworth is a native of the town of Roxbury, Conn. He was born February 20, 1845. Since finishing his education at the publie schools of Wallingford, to which place the family removed in 1853, he has followed manufacturing, having started out as entry elerk with Hall, Elton & Co. of that place, in 1862. He afterwards became secre- tary of the corporation, retaining the position un- til 1877, when he was elected treasurer and general manager of the W. J. LEAVENWORTH. R. Wallace & Sons Manu- facturing Company. From his first eonneetion in this official eapacity with the company, its business has trebled and is still inereasing rapidly. He has been ealled by his fellow-eitizens to oeeupy various public positions, including that of burgess of the borough of Wal- lingford for four years, chairman of the board of water commissioners for the same period, and he is now president of the Wallingford board of trade. Additionally to his business relations above speci- fied, he is the president and a director of the Wal- lingford Gas Light Company, director in the First National Bank, and has membership with the Areanum Club of Wallingford, and the Quinnipiae Club, and Republiean League of New Haven, His religious connections are with the First Congre- gational church, and his politieal faith is that of the republican party. Colonel Leavenworth has a military reeord eovering nearly twenty years. He enlisted as a private in Company K, Second Regi- ment, Connecticut National Guard, September 15, 1871; was appointed first sergeant on the 19th of the same month, and promoted sueeessively to second lieutenant, December 14, 1871; to first lieu- tenant, August 25, 1873; and to eaptain, January 29, 1874; resigning January 17, 1877. He was again appointed to the eaptaincy of the same eom-
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pany, November 11, 1880, and again resigned June 16, 1882. July 26, 1882, he was elected lieutenant- colonel of the Second Regiment; and on the 16th of February, 1885, was promoted to be its colonel. This position he retained for several years, resign- ing from the command on the, 22d of June, 1889. He was esteemed as an efficient officer and a strict disciplinarian.
Colonel Leavenworth was married to Miss Net- tie A. Wallace of Wallingford, daughter of Robert Wallace, Esq., and they have had four children, three of whom are now living. It may be said that he has, during his business career, identified him- self prominently with every proper interest of his town, in the line of public improvements; and has earned the reputation which attaches to him, of be- ing an honorable and useful citizen.
CHARLES C. COMMERFORD, WATERBURY: Ex-Postmaster.
Charles C. Commerford has been a well-known figure in democratic politics in the state for a num- ber of years. He was born in New York city, June 2, 1833, and received an English and classical education in the schools of the metropolis. He was engaged in mercan- tile pursuits in New York until 1864, when he re- moved to Waterbury and entered the employ of the Great Brook Woolen Mill Company. There he be- came an active participant in politics, and was elected to offices of trust C. C. COMMERFORD. and responsibility, includ- ing that of assessor and member of the Center School district committee. His administration of the school district interests won for him great credit in the city. He was also deputy chief of the original state labor bureau in 1878. He was ap- pointed postmaster by President Cleveland, assum- ing the duties of the office March 14, 1886, and re- tained the position until the appointment of Colonel John B. Doherty by President Harrison. Mr. Commerford has been connected with journalism and is familiar with newspaper men throughout the state. He is a gentleman of interesting per- sonality. His father, John Commerford of New York city, was prominently identified with political interests in the metropolis, and was a candidate for congress on the republican ticket in 1860. Many of the older leaders in social and business life are the personal friends of the subject of this sketch. His wife, who was a New York lady, was Miss Eliza-
beth Hamilton, daughter of Alexander Hamilton, and a descendant of the great New York leader of that name, whose statesmanship was of so much value in the first decade of the republic. The family includes two sons and one daughter. Mr. Commerford is connected with the Episcopal church, and has been a member of the Masonic order for thirty-two years. He is a Cleveland dem- ocrat and is thoroughly in sympathy with the inter- ests and principles of his party.
CROSSLEY FITTON, ROCKVILLE: Agent Rock Manufacturing Company.
Mr. Fitton was born in Oldham, Lancashire, England, December 19, 1839, and was brought to the United States by his parents when he was but three years of age. His father settled at Woon- socket, R. I., where he was engaged in the woolen manufactory of Edward Harris. The subject of this sketch was educated at Lenox Academy, in Berkshire, Mass., and be- came a woolen manufac- turer, as was his father before him. Twenty-six years ago he came to Rockville, and for twenty- CROSSLEY FITTON. four years he has been the agent of the Rock Manufacturing Company, being the oldest in continuous service of all who have held official connection with the manufactur- ing establishments of Rockville. As a woolen manufacturer he ranks among the most able in New England, and during his connection with the Rock Company it has enjoyed continued success and prosperity under his management. The mills have been enlarged, the most improved machinery obtained, the force increased, and woolen goods manufactured equal to any produced in the coun- try. Mr. Fitton was always a hard worker, and often the first man at the mill in the morning and the last to leave at night.
In public opinion Mr. Fitton occupies an influen- tial place. In ISS5 he represented the town of Vernon in the general assembly, serving on the republican side. He was an active associate on the building committee which recently erected the beautiful Union Church on the corner of Union street, in the heart of the city. He is identified with Fayette Lodge, F. and A. M., of Rockville, and with the Court Hearts of Oak of Foresters. He has been president and director of the Rockville Water Power Company, a director in the Rockville Railroad Company, the Rockville Aqueduct Com-
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pany, and the Rockville Gas Light Company. He has always taken a lively interest in the Rockville fire department, and was largely instrumental in securing the first steam fire engine, which was named in his honor. Mr. Fitton married Miss Carrie R. Tarbell of Chester, Vt., and they have three children, one daughter, Mrs. P. B. Leonard, and two sons, George and James Fitton. He ranks among the eminently successful manufac- turers and business men of the city and state. Being but fifty-two years of age, he is still in the prime of life; and, as a man of great public spirit, Rockville looks to his future career as certain to be one of much usefulness and honor.
[Mr. Fitton died at his home in Rockville April 29, 1891, after the above sketch had been prepared. -ED.]
HON. STEPHEN NICHOLS, BRIDGEPORT : Farmer.
Hon. Stephen Nichols, son of William and Hul- dah Nichols, was born September 16, 1804, in Trumbull, Fairfield county, Connecticut. He is of the eighth generation from Sergeant Francis Nichols, of London, Eng- land, who with his family removed to America and settled in Stratford, Conn., in I639. His great-grandfather, The- ophilus Nichols, who was one of the early settlers of Fairfield county, died in 1774. His grandfather, Philip Nichols, was a man of much influence in pub- STEPHEN NICHOLS. lic affairs, and a magis- trate for many years. He was a large landholder; owned several slaves; dealt extensively in live stock, many of which he imported to the West Indies, together with produce of various kinds. He owned several vessels which were engaged in the West India trade. William Nichols, the father of Stephen, was a farmer by occupation. He was a member of the Episcopal church, and two of his sisters married Episcopal clergymen. He was twice married ; eight children were born of the first marriage, and seven by the second. Stephen Nichols was one of the latter. When he was thir- teen years old, having attended the public schools and acquired a respectable education, he was
obliged on account of the death of his mother to seek a home for himself, which he did by going to Bridgeport where he had a married sister, with whom he made his home. He worked by the month for farmers for several years, and then learned the boot and shoe trade, which business he
followed for about twenty years. His old love of the farm returning, he gradually turned his atten- tion again to agricultural pursuits, for which he forsook trade and in which he has since been en- gaged. Mr. Nichols was a whig before the organ- ization of the republican party, but since that time has been an ardent and active republican. As such he was elected to represent the town of Bridgeport in the general assembly of 1878, being the colleague of Hon. P. T. Barnum, and serving on the cities and boroughs committee. Mr. Nichols voted in 1824 for John Quincy Adams, and has voted at every presidential election since. He voted for William Henry Harrison in 1840, was present at the succeeding inauguration ceremonies, and within thirty days thereafter attended his funeral. He has filled various public offices in the town and city of Bridgeport, having been justice of the peace, selectman, assessor, member of the common council of the city and of the town board of relief. Mr. Nichols is a member of the North Congrega- tional church of Bridgeport, and a liberal supporter of its ordinances. Not long ago he made a cash donation of $5,000 to the Olivet church, and more recently has still further shown his generosity by a gift to the same church of valuable real estate on which a new church edifice will be erected and pro- vision made for a parsonage. The Bridgeport Standard, which alluded to the first donation in very complimentary terms, afterward made the following reference to Mr. Nichols' later gift :
" Two very important warrantee deeds were ex- ecuted yesterday by Attorney J. J. Rose, by which Stephen Nichols, Esq., makes another splendid gift to the Olivet Congregational church. By these deeds Mr. Nichols conveys the Hall property entire, which he recently purchased for $10,000, to the church, to be theirs forever, to be used in carrying forward their work. The first deed comprises a strip of land twenty feet wide adjoining the church property, thereby making ample provision for the location of the new church. The second deed com- prises the remaining part of the Hall property, in- cluding the house, the income of which is to be ap- plied to the general expenses of the church, pro- vision being made, however, by which the pastor will receive his rent free, thus virtually increasing his salary. The property is conveyed free from all incumbrance, making the total gift of Mr. Nichols $15,000. Olivet church is now in possession of one of the finest properties in the city."
The liberality of Mr. Nichols in all matters pro- motive of moral and religious advancement, is pro- verbial, and his gifts seem to afford him real satis- faction. He insists that this last bestowment was one of the proudest acts of his life. He is not now in public office, and the only membership he claims, aside from church membership, is with the repub- lican party and the Sons of the American Revolu- tion.
Mr. Nichols was married, March 4, 1829, to Eme- line Beardsley, daughter of Aaron Beardsley of
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Bridgeport. She died of pneumonia, December 13, 1890, after a very brief illness. She is spoken of as a loving and devoted wife, a kind neighbor, and a most estimable lady. Of their two children, one died in childhood ; the other, Stephen Marcus Nichols, served in the war of the rebellion as first lieutenant of Company B, Twenty-third Connecti- cut regiment, under General Banks, and died July 29, 1870.
Mr. Nichols resides in the same house to which he took his young bride in May, 1829, and where he has lived for sixty-two years. During all this time he has not been absent from the old home more than a dozen nights altogether. It has been the scene of the joys and sorrows of his wedded life, and it is not strange that his attachments to it are now very strong. It is in the vicinity of the home of his ancestors for centuries. Ten genera- tions in a continuous line have been born, lived, died, and been buried within two or three miles, at most, of the spot where his homestead stands; and there, as the last of his family, he expects to re- main until called to join the majority. Mr. Nichols has had a very sad and singular experience of be- reavement. The death of his only son in 1870 was a severe blow, and left his hopes for a continuous posterity centered in Wilbur E. Nichols, an only grandson. Last December, as above stated, Mr. Nichols' wife was prostrated by a fatal illness. On the first day of last March Wilbur E. Nichols, aged twenty-six, was stricken with apoplexy while at- tending the service in St. John's church, and was conveyed to his home where he died a few hours later. The circumstances were particularly dis- tressing. He had been in poor health for some time, and was intending to go to Florida the day following that on which he died. He was a young man greatly esteemed and beloved, and his loss was mourned by a wide circle of acquaintances. On the 13th day of the same month, an infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Swan B. Brewster, and a great- grandson of Hon. Stephen Nichols, died suddenly, a victim of diphtheria. And on the 22d, nine days later, Mrs. Brewster, the child's mother, and the grandchild and only remaining representative of Mr. Nichols' family, followed her infant to the grave, having been attacked with the same terrible and fatal disease. Mrs. Brewster was a young woman of amiable disposition and with many esti- mable qualities, She was prostrated with grief by the loss of her infant son, and was thus doubtless an easier prey to her disease. She was devotedly attached to the child, as were the entire family. He was a bright and interesting boy, the pet and pride and hope of his great-grandfather, who looked upon him as the instrumentality through whom Providence intended to transmit to posterity his blood, if not his name. [The illustration at the
head of this sketch is engraved from a photograph which shows the child in the arms of his great- grandfather, the Hon. Mr. Nichols, the subject of this biography.]
Although now eighty-seven years of age, Mr. Nichols is still in the enjoyment of perfect health, with erect form, ruddy complexion, and faculties unimpaired. He looks like a vigorous man of sev- enty, and gives good promise of becoming a cen- tenarian. His life has been an eventful one, and within his memory he has a fund of personal rem- iniscences which constitute him a most agreeable and entertaining companion. He is justly es- teemed and venerated by his townsmen, and is to all his acquaintances not only a lively and interest- ing relic of a former generation, but a good repre- sentative of the best element of the present day.
ALBERT P. MARSH, NEW BRITAIN: House Decorator.
A. P. Marsh, the prosperous and youthful pro- prietor of a well-known paint and house decorating establishment in New Britain, was born in Bir- mingham, England, July I, 1867. When he was eighteen months old his parents emigrated to this country, and afterwards resided in Boston, Provi- dence, New York, Brook- lyn, finally settling in New Britain in 1873. From carly life, or since he be- came eight years of age, Mr. Marsh has been com- pelled to rely upon his own exertions and re- sources. He managed A. P. MARSH. to attend school a portion of several years, though compelled to work between school hours to main- tain himself. At the age of thirteen he forsook school, and commenced life in the shop, later learn- ing the painters' trade in all its several branches, becoming practically proficient in each. When but nineteen years old he began business for himself, without capital or influential friends, and in the face of quite formidable obstacles. His obliging manners and evident knowledge of his business soon brought him patrons, however, and assured the prosperity which has almost from the first at. tended his efforts, and which has given his estab- lishment a prominent place among the best in his line. In 1890 he erected a fine residence on Green- wood street, which was a significant undertaking for a young unmarried man to engage in. Mr. Marsh deals quite considerably in real estate, and in the prosecution of his business employs a large
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force of skilled workmen. He possesses traits of character which make him popular among those over whom he exercises authority. and which at- tract patrons to his place of business. Being thus " wise in his day and generation," he is likely to become a man of wealth and influence in the city of his adoption.
A. F. NASON, HARTFORD: Superintendent of Agencies, Ætna Life Insurance Company.
Almond Francis Nason, son of Rufus Nason, was born in Waterville, Me., December 14, 1841. He fitted for Waterville College (now Colby Univer- sity), but, preferring mer- cantile pursuits, went to Boston in 1859, and en- gaged as bookkeeper. During the war he was a regular correspondent for the Waterville Mail and Portland Daily Press. In 1862 he made a trip as sutler on the United States steamer Rhode Island, Admiral Trenchard commander, from Boston to all the A. F. NASON. blockaded ports of the southern confederacy as far as the Rio Grande and return, arriving at New Orleans in October, while General Butler was in possession of the city. On his return to Boston he married, and re-engaged as bookkeeper. On August 1, 1864, he began his first engagement in life insurance as assistant general agent of the New York Life Insurance Company at its Boston branch office. At the conclu- sion of that engagement in 1867, he formed a co- partnership with L. A. Lyon, under the firm name of Lyon & Nason, as state agents for Massachu- setts of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Com- pany of Newark, N. J. Their agency became the largest in Boston. and the leading one of the com- pany. In 1870 Great Britain was added to their. management, and his partner visited that country to establish agencies. (This was the only foreign business ever done by that company.) In 1872 Mr. Lyon disposed of his interest to S. M. Loveridge, the firm thereafter being Nason & Loveridge. In January, 1875, Mr. Nason retired from the agency ' with a competency. That year he organized, in connection with his former partner, Mr. Lyon, the Shawmut Insurance Company, with the largest cash capital of any fire insurance company in Bos- ton ($500,000), and was its first vice-president. The financial panic, beginning in 1875, so reduced real estate values that he lost heavily. In 1877 he or- ganized the Locke Regulator Company, and was
its president. In 1879 he disposed of his interest to Mr. Nelson Curtis, - whose name the company now bears, -and came to Hartford to accept the position of adjuster for the Ætna Life Insurance Company. In 1882 he was appointed superintend- ent of agencies of that company, the position now held by him.
Mr. Nason has always been an ardent repub- lican, having served as delegate to gubernatorial and senatorial conventions in Massachusetts. He is vice-president of the First Unitarian Congrega- tional Society of Hartford. He was for ten years on the standing committee of the famous old Hollis Street church in Boston, and was a delegate to the national convention of the Unitarians in Saratoga (1873) and Philadelphia (1890). He was appointed a justice of the peace by Governor Rice, and re- appointed by Governor Washburn, for two terms of seven years each. During the past twelve years he has traveled very extensively and almost con- stantly over the United States and the Dominion of Canada, in connection with the responsible duties of his position with the old and well-known com- pany with which he has so long been associated.
Mr. Nason was united (1862) in marriage to Miss Grace E. Blanchard of Boston, who died in 1880, leaving two children, a son and daughter. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity. His experience in life insurance has been wide and successful, and he is esteemed an adept in the department of which he is an active manager.
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