USA > Connecticut > Men of mark in Connecticut; ideals of American life told in biographies and autobiographies of eminent living Americans > Part 11
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As an educator, scholar, and lawyer George Dutton Watrous is generally recognized as an earnest and hard-working man. He believes that hard work under the spur of necessity has taught him the most important and valuable of all lessons and has had the greatest influence ever exerted upon his life and its success.
EDWARD KEELER LOCKWOOD
L OCKWOOD, EDWARD KEELER, merchant and prominent citizen of Norwalk, Fairfield County, Connecticut, was born there on the fourteenth of November, 1828. On his father's side he is of English descent and his mother's ancestors, the Keelers, came from Scotland. His grandfather, Aaron Keeler, was in the War of 1812 and his sons, John, Nathan, and Seth, went West to help found Norwalk, Ohio. Mr. Lockwood's father, Carmi Lock- wood, a manufacturer of woolen and cotton goods, was a leading citizen of Norwalk and was selectman, bank director, treasurer and director of the Norwalk Gas Light Company, and vestryman of St. Paul's Church. He was a man of careful mental habits and firm determination in the proper performance of all duties. Mr. Lock- wood's mother was Laura Keeler Lockwood, a woman of admirable character and strong moral influence.
The boy, Edward Lockwood, was a typical country boy, healthy and active and brought up to understand the necessity of forming industrious habits by doing necessary chores around the house and farm before and after school hours. He was educated at Professor Coffin's Academy and Professor Storrs Hall Academy. He was extremely studious and always strove to be at the head of all his classes. In 1847 he began work as a clerk in his father's store and remained in that capacity until he became of age, when he was given an active interest in the business. The occupation of merchant was chosen both through parental advice and personal preference, and he has continued in the mercantile business throughout his entire life. He succeeded his father as director of the Norwalk Gas Light Company and as director in the National Bank of Norwalk. He was also, at one time, director of the First National Bank of South Norwalk and is now a trustee of the Norwalk Savings Society. From 1865 to 1867 Mr. Lockwood was selectman of Norwalk.
In church interests as well as in business and public affairs Mr. Lockwood has followed his father's worthy example. In 1865 he
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was made a vestryman of St. Paul's (Episcopal) Church, in 1882 he became junior warden and in 1903 senior warden of that church. He was parish treasurer for sixteen years and is now chairman of the finance committee and of the committee on repairs and supplies for the parish. In politics Mr. Lockwood was formerly a Whig and is now a Republican. He has been through all the chairs in Our Brothers' Lodge, No. 10, I. O. O. F., and was once treasurer of that lodge, but he took a card of withdrawal forty years ago because he did not have time to attend to fraternal matters. On the 24th of October, 1854, Mr. Lockwood married Harriet S. Warner of East Haddam, Connecticut. No children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lockwood.
Mr. Lockwood condenses the advice which the experiences of a long and fruitful life enable him to give with especial import and says, very simply, "Get an education and cultivate proper observance of all laws."
WILLIAM AVERY GRIPPIN
G RIPPIN, WILLIAM AVERY, president of the Bridgeport Malleable Iron Company, of the Troy Malleable Iron Com- pany of Troy, New York, and of the Vulcan Iron Works of New Britain, Connecticut, was born in Corinth, Saratoga County, New York, February 23rd, 1851. The ancestry of the Grippin family is traced to Welch and English origin. Their first emigration was to Vermont, but later they settled in Corinth, New York. Elijah Grip- pin, Mr. Grippin's great-grandfather, participated in the Revolution- ary War from 1776 to 1783. Mr. Grippin's parents were Alonzo J. Grippin and Mary Burritt. His father was a farmer of Corinth and a man highly respected. His most marked characteristics were a sincere Christian spirit and high moral principles. His mother was a woman of deep spirituality and her influence on her son was very pronounced.
Mr. Grippin, though not a strong boy, enjoyed the duties and tasks of his early country life and considers these early days of labor on the farm as most beneficial to his health and character, adding that, "the influence of work well done is for good with boy as with man." He was devoted to books, especially the Bible and historical works.
While experiencing no serious difficulties in acquiring an educa- tion, Mr. Grippin received a very brief one, consisting of that offered by the country, district, and village public schools and the academy at Ballston Spa, New York, and terminating when he was fifteen. This, however, was supplemented by a commercial course at Eastman's Business College, Poughkeepsie, New York, in the spring and summer of 1869.
In September, 1869, Mr. Grippin began his business life at general office work with a firm manufacturing malleable iron castings at Troy, New York. He took this step from personal preference, guided by what he terms "providential circumstances," actuated by the firm belief that, "if anything is worth doing at all, it is worth doing well and that advancement and success are sure to follow
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consistent action in this line." That Mr. Grippin began his career with the proper ideas for a young man is amply proved by the highly important positions to which he has been elected in the industrial world. In 1884 he became president of the Troy Malleable Iron Company, which position he still holds, and treasurer of the Bridge- port Malleable Iron Company, of which he became vice-president in July, 1904, and president in November of the same year. Since November, 1890, he has been president of the Vulcan Iron Works of New Britain. He is director in several other manufacturing com- panies, and in the Pequonnock National Bank of Bridgeport and the Century Bank of the City of New York.
Between 1894 and 1904 Mr. Grippin served two unexpired terms and one full three year term on the Board of Apportionment and Taxation of Bridgeport. He is a member of the Seaside Club, of the Contemporary Club, of the Bridgeport Yacht Club, and the Scientific Historical Society of Bridgeport. In politics Mr Grippin is identified with the Republican party, from which he has never turned his al- legiance on any national issue, though on local issues he favors the best man regardless of party. In religious views Mr. Grippin is a Baptist, and is very prominent and active in church work as will be seen from the following: From October, 1896, to October, 1900, he was president of the Connecticut Baptist Convention, and since April, 1904, has served on the executive board of the American Baptist Home Mission Society of New York. He was president of the Baptist Social Union of Connecticut during 1901-1902 and con- tinues an active member.
On November 10th, 1875, Mr. Grippin married Adell Jackson of Ballston Spa, New York. They have two children, a son, William Jackson, general manager and treasurer of the Bridgeport Malleable Iron Company, and a daughter, Edna Adell. Mr. Grippin's home, since 1884, has been at Marina Park, Bridgeport, Connecticut, with a summer home, "Blythewood," at Lake George, New York.
Beginning like so many of our foremost American citizens, in the simple, healthy, industrious life of farming, Mr. Grippin has made his way with rapid strides to places of recognized importance in the business world. Along the pathway of business success he has gathered a broad culture and lively spiritual interests. To young men who would succeed in life he says: "Be prompt, systematic,
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thorough, honest, industrious, and temperate; stand firmly for prin- ciple, avoid debt, and strive to keep expenditures well within income. If you do not find just what you would like to do, take what you can find and do it so well that something more desirable will follow as a natural result. Do not wait for something to turn up, but turn up something,-in other words, make opportunities."
BURTON MANSFIELD
M ANSFIELD, BURTON, one of the foremost members of the New Haven bar, was born in Hamden, New Haven County, Connecticut, April 4th, 1856. He is the son of Jesse Mer- rick Mansfield and Catharine Betsey (Warner) Mansfield. His father was a prosperous farmer and business man in Hamden, where he held the position of selectman and other town offices. Four years after the birth of his son he moved to the city. Mr. Mansfield's ancestors were among the early English settlers in New England; the first to arrive in this country were Richard and Gilian Mansfield, who came to New Haven in 1639.
Young Mansfield was a strong, healthy boy, who spent the first years of his life in the country. He was fortunate in being able to receive a careful school and university training before starting out for himself in life, but even when a boy he had each day his regular tasks to perform, many of them involving manual labor. It was no doubt in this manner that he developed the habits of industry and perseverance which have characterized his life's work. After attending the Eaton public school in New Haven, he went to the Rectory School in Hamden, and later to the Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven, where he was prepared for Yale College. He was graduated from Yale with the class of 1875, receiving the degree of Ph.B. He then became a clerk in the Probate Court in New Haven, a position which he held for one year. Having decided to adopt the legal profession, he matriculated at the Yale Law School and in 1878 received his degree of LL.B. The same year he was admitted to the bar in New Haven, and began a legal practice, which he has continued without interruption, allowing no foreign con- siderations to interfere with his professional work. Equipped with the best legal preparation offered by one of the first law schools in the country, and endowed with natural ability, patience, and perse- verance, he has worked hard and achieved success. His high standing in the community is due to what he has accomplished in his legal
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work. He has served his community as a member of various city commissions and for two years, ending in 1895, as insurance com- missioner of the State. In politics, he is associated with the Demo- cratic party, but on the silver issue he changed temporarily his party allegiance, as did the greater number of those who term them- selves Gold Democrats. He is president of the Connecticut Savings Bank of New Haven, succeeding the late Governor Morris.
In 1900 Mr. Mansfield was married to Anna Rosalie Mix. He has no children. His chief form of amusement and recreation is horseback riding. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in which he has been a power and a leader of the laymen, and also a member of several important committees in the diocese of Connecti- cut. "Honesty, patience, and perseverance" are the principles which he believes in, practices, and teaches. His life has been one of real success and these ideals are what helped him attain this success while still a comparatively young man. As a student of art he has few superiors, and owns a collection of rare interest, which he has made with enthusiasm and judgment.
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EDGAR LEROY POND
P OND, EDGAR LEROY, president of the Andrew Terry Company, of Terryville, Connecticut, manufacturers of mal- leable iron castings, was born in Plymouth, Connecticut, March 3rd, 1854. He is a descendant of Phineas Pond, who came from England to Branford, Connecticut, about 1735. Mr. Pond's father was Alexander Pond, a farmer, who served his townsmen as selectman and in other capacities and was known as a man of promptness in all his dealings. Mr. Pond's mother, whose maiden name was Lydia Gaylord, was a woman of forceful character and her influence was very strong on her son's moral and spiritual life.
Though he was a frail boy Edgar Pond spent an industrious boyhood, for he worked on the farm until he was fifteen years old and this labor implanted habits of industry. He attended the dis- trict school during its sessions and this was the extent of his edu- cation. The death of his mother had broken up the home and he availed himself of the first position open to him at the age of fif- teen, which was a clerkship in the country store of W. H. Scott & Company in Terryville. He has been identified with the mercantile and manufacturing interests of Terryville ever since, and from his beginning at the bottom thirty-three years ago he has justly attained to the presidency of the Andrew Terry Company, which was started by the late Andrew Terry in 1847, and was the first malleable iron foundry in Connecticut. The company was incorporated about 1860.
In 1886 Mr. Pond was chosen to represent his town in the State Legislature, and in 1901 he was elected State senator. He has held many local offices and has always been a consistent member of the Republican party. He is a member of the Congregational Church, of the Sons of the American Revolution, in which organiza- tion he is a member of the board of managers, and he has been state commander of the Order of the United American Mechanics. Fraternally he is a member of the order of F. and A. M., of the A. O. U. W., and O. U. A. M. Golf is his favorite outdoor amuse- ment.
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On the sixth of November, 1878, Mr. Pond married Ella Antoinette Goodwin. Of the three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Pond two are now living, Edgar LeRoy Pond, Jr., born December 26th, 1883, a graduate of Yale in the class of 1904, now in Yale Law School, and Dwight Warren, born September 24th, 1889, now in high school. The family home is at Terryville.
Weighing his failures and successes in life, Mr. Pond says: "I have failed partly by lack of confidence in my own ability. I am sure that such success as I have had in life has been gained by carrying out to the best of my ability whatever responsibility was placed upon me, whether it was small or great. My advice to young men is, 'Whatever you attempt to do, do it.'"
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WILLIAM BRADDOCK CLARK
C LARK, WILLIAM BRADDOCK, president of the Ætna (Fire) Insurance Company, is a man who stands well up in the front ranks of the workers in this country whose lives are an impel- ling force of good to others. His constant watchword through life has been "get to the head," and through his own individual efforts he stands to-day foremost in the profession with which he has been identified for nearly a half century.
Mr. Clark was born in Hartford, Connecticut, June 29th, 1841. He was the son of Abel N. Clark and Emily I. (Braddock) Clark. The family, several generations back, is of fine old English stock, but since the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620 it has been con- nected with the making and preservation of the institutions of this country. Late in the year 1635 John Clark, the first of the name in America, removed from his temporary home in Cambridge, Massa- chusetts (formerly Newton), to Hartford, in company with other settlers of the State. His name appears on the monument to Hart- ford's fathers which stands in the historic old Center burying ground. Through Matthew, John, and Abel Clark the family descended to Revolutionary times. Abel Clark was one of the signers of the famous document of September 3rd, 1775, agreeing to go to the relief of the besieged inhabitants of Boston. Another ancestor, his paternal grandfather, served in the War of 1812.
Mr. Clark's father, Abel N. Clark, was for many years editor and proprietor of the Hartford Courant, and was recognized as a man of great industry, intelligence, and fidelity, and his compara- tively premature death was a keen loss, not only to his family, but to the State and city. The son, William B., inherited many of the estimable traits of the father and, being an indefatigable worker and organizer, he has more than doubled his ten talents.
His early education was acquired at the old North School in Hart- ford. This was supplemented by a year at the New Britain High School and a course at Gallup's "College Green" school in Trinity
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Street. As a boy Mr. Clark had rather a marked taste for mechanics, but as he lived in a literary, rather than a mechanical, atmosphere these tastes were never materially developed, and when he left school it was to enter his father's newspaper office. Showing no especial aptitude for this business, he decided, after a year's trial, that his father's profession need not necessarily become his own, and he severed his connection with the Courant. Mr. Clark then accepted a position in the office of the Phoenix Insurance Company, of Hartford, and entered on a business career, which has always gone steadily onward and upward. Here he continued in a subordinate position for six years. At the end of that time his unflagging interest and zeal for his work were recognized and he was elected to the secretaryship of the company, a high honor for a man in his twenty-third year. A little later, having been tendered the office of assistant secretary of the Ætna Insurance Company, he left the Phoenix to enter a larger field of activity. He soon made himself a power in the new company by his splendid work, unfailing good nature, and courteous manners. In 1888, Mr. Clark was chosen by unanimous vote to fill the position of vice-president. His thirty years of training in all branches of the work was soon felt, and the fortunes of the company took an imme- diate leap forward. It was only a matter of time when a career so marked by high ability, integrity, and judgment would be given the crowning honor. This came in 1892, on his unanimous election to the office of president of the Ætna Insurance Company, oddly enough on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his connection with the company. Mr. Clark's course as president of this great organization is well known. He is extremely popular with the large number of agents which the company has in nearly every state in the Union, and his success, com- ing as it has from continual application to the details of his business and a resolution to let each promotion be only the means to gain another, has been of real encouragement and inspiration to them. While Mr. Clark is next to the youngest president among those of the various Hartford companies, he is the oldest fire underwriter in point of years of service in Hartford. He is now in his forty-ninth year of active work in the insurance business.
He married Caroline H. Robbins, daughter of Philemon E. Rob- bins of Hartford, in May, 1863, who died in June, 1902. Five children were born to them, two sons and three daughters, but only
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the daughters have survived. Mr. Clark has traveled extensively in this country, but his tastes are domestic, he is essentially a home body, and the pleasures of his family circle have always been para- mount to those of club life. He has a fine library in his beautiful home on Farmington Avenue, and is a close student of affairs of the day.
He is an active member of the Connecticut Historical Society and of the New England Society; a director of the Travelers Insurance Company, the City Bank, the First National Bank, the Fidelity Company, and several other organizations of the kind. He is a trustee of the Society for Savings, the Mechanics Savings Bank, and of the Holland Trust Company of New York City; he is one of the corporation of the Hartford Hospital and a trustee of the Retreat for the Insane. He was president of the National Board of Fire Under- writers for 1896 and 1897, but declined reelection after most urgent requests to serve again.
Mr. Clark served as an alderman from the old third ward from 1880 to 1882, and was chairman of the ordinance and printing com- mittees. In 1882 he was appointed one of the board of water com- missioners and served there for nine years, being re-appointed for two terms. In 1890 he was one of the famous committee on Outdoor Alms which brought about important reforms in city affairs.
With the same interest which he manifests in everything he undertakes Mr. Clark has gone into politics. He is a staunch Republican and a member of the Republican Club of Hartford. He was a member of the noted "Wide Awakes" and took an active interest in the doings of the organization in 1861, just before he attained his majority. He is treasurer of the civil organization of the "Wide Awakes" and paymaster on Major Rathbun's staff. He was one of the presidents and vice-presidents of the Veteran Corps of the Governor's Foot Guard, in which command his father was also much interested.
Mr. Clark is connected with the First Baptist Church, being a working member of the same, and is a generous supporter of all its benevolent and charitable works.
His recreation is taken out of doors, gaining the muscle power necessary for work in these times of competition. He is an enthusias- tic oarsman and has been interested in rowing for many years, serving
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as one of the fleet captains of the old Hartford navy before the war. Most of his vacation hours are spent in this sport in his summer home near Fenwick.
Through his whole life William Braddock Clark has been domi- nated by the resolution to achieve success through work. All that he has gained has been by honesty to himself and his employer. He is rounding out his life in a manner that should be a working example to every young man. Beginning at the lowest rung of the ladder he has gained the topmost, testing and being tested. Probably if his life were to be lived over again there would be found few things which could have been done more painstakingly or with more thought as to consequences. A man of real worth to community and country is Mr. Clark, the character of man who has vindicated the spirit of the handful of men from whom he came, who blazed the trail through the wilderness and opened up the promised land for us. He is essentially an American gentleman in all that the term implies.
On August 30th, 1905, Mr. Clark married Mrs. Rachel W. Ewing, at New Hartford, Connecticut.
ABRAM HEATON ROBERTSON
R OBERTSON, ABRAM HEATON, lawyer and public man, was born in New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut, Sep- tember 25th, 1850. He traces his ancestry to Deputy-Governor Stephen Goodyear of Connecticut, who came from England sometime between 1660 and 1670, and to Samuel Robertson, who came from Scotland in 1780 and was a merchant in Charleston, South Caro- lina. Mr. Robertson's father was John Brownlee Robertson, by pro- fession a physician, a man beloved for his courtesy and kindness of heart. He was alderman of the city of New Haven, a member of the General Assembly from New Haven, secretary of state of Connecti- cut and postmaster and mayor of New Haven. Mr. Robertson's mother was Mabel Maria Heaton, a woman of strong character and uplifting influence.
Brought up in a city and in an intellectual home atmosphere and blessed with good health Mr. Robertson had no difficulty in acquiring the education he naturally desired. His chief interests as a boy were in athletics and reading. His favorite books were those on history and travel, and he has continued through his later life to find these subjects the most helpful and interesting ones, outside of his pro- fessional studies as a lawyer. He attended the Russell Military Academy in New Haven and then attended the Hopkins Grammar School there. He was graduated from the Yale Academic Depart- ment in 1872 and from the Columbia Law School in 1874 with the degree of LL.B. Twenty years later, in 1894, Trinity College con- ferred upon him the honorary degree of A.M.
In 1875 Mr. Robertson began the practice of law in New Haven and the following year he married Graziella Ridgway, by whom he has had three children. He has continued steadily in the practice of law and his rise in his profession has been proportionally constant. Both in connection with his profession and outside of it he has held many public offices. From 1878 to 1882 he was alderman of New Haven. From 1880 to 1882 he was a member of the General Assem-
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bly and during that time he served on the committees on railroad, contested elections, and the judiciary. He was State senator in 1885 and 1886, judge of probate court for district of New Haven from 1887 to 1895, corporation counsel for New Haven from 1899 to 1901, Democratic candidate for governor of Connecticut in 1904 and Demo- cratic nominee for United States senator in 1905. Judge Robertson was an aide on Governor Ingersoll's staff from 1873 to 1877 with the rank of colonel.
Added to his public services and his professional work Judge Robertson has many business, social, and church interests. He is a director in the Southern New England Telephone Company, in the New Haven Gas Light Company, the New Haven County National Bank, the New Haven Ice Company, the Naugatuck Railroad Com- pany, the Meriden, Middletown and Waterbury Railroad Company, the Northampton Railroad Company, and the Young Men's Institute of New Haven. He is a member of the Graduates Club of New Haven, of the University Club of New York, the Psi Upilson College Fraternity, the Sons of the American Revolution, the Society of Colonial Wars, and the Yale secret society of Wolf's Head. In creed he is an Episcopalian and he is a warden of Trinity Church, New Haven. His favorite recreation is horseback riding. Mr. Robertson has written several treatises on municipal government and various opinions on questions of municipal law in the Municipal Year Book, which embody his great public spirit and clear insight into legal and municipal affairs.
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