USA > Connecticut > Men of mark in Connecticut; ideals of American life told in biographies and autobiographies of eminent living Americans > Part 19
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The first seventeen years of Mr. Peck's life were spent in the country on his father's farm. After a country school education he attended the Kellogg Academy of Meriden and began his mercantile career as a clerk in a dry goods store in New Britain in 1857, and three years later he formed a partnership with Charles Miller in Water- bury, the firm being Miller & Peck, dealers in dry goods and carpets. Mr. Peck continued in this business until his retirement in 1887, when he withdrew from the firm and gave up active business. Next to dry goods his chief business interest has been in the Dime Savings Bank of Waterbury, of which he is and has been for many years the president.
Henry . J. Peck
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Mr. Peck is on the board of directors of the Waterbury Hospital and is a generous supporter of that and many other institutions. His generosity and benevolence have led him to do much for the needy of his town. In politics he is a Republican and he represented his party in the General Assembly of 1886, and is a present State senator from the fifteenth district. Fraternally he is a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of Clark Commandery, Knights Templar. He is also a member of the Union League Club of New Haven, of the Water- bury Club, and of the Home Club of Meriden. He is a liberal supporter of the Protestant Episcopal Church and greatly interested in its growth. His public spirit, keen business sense, and warm- hearted philanthropy combine to make him a leader of men. He is particularly interested in helping young men forward and onward and he advises them to cultivate above everything else "habits of industry and economy."
ARCHIBALD MCNEIL
M cNEIL, ARCHIBALD, proprietor of the wholesale bituminous coal business, styled Archibald McNeil & Sons, of Bridge- port, Connecticut, was born in that city July 2nd, 1843.
His ancestry is traceable to many substantial Colonial settlers; men active in the wars and seafaring life of the country they adopted. The first known ancestor in this country was Archibald McNeil who is mentioned in the town records of Branford, Connecticut, early in 1735. He married a daughter of Rev. Samuel Russell, one of the founders of Yale College. This first Archibald McNeil was the owner and supercargo of the "Peggie and Mollie," a brigantine engaged in the West India trade. He was one of the founders of Free Masonry in Connecticut, and a charter member of Hiram Lodge No. 1 of New Haven, Connecticut. Captain Archibald McNeil, his son, was born in Branford in 1736, and was prominently identified with the military affairs of his time. He was captain in the French and Indian wars, and was a friend of Benedict Arnold before he identified himself with the English cause. His son, William McNeil, graduated from Yale in 1777, and became a gunner on the "Marquis De La- fayette," a boat engaged in the lucrative occupation of privatcering which was then sanctioned by the government. He made several important captures and became captain of a vessel employed in West India trade. While on a voyage to Martinique he was captured by the French and taken prisoner to France. He made his escape through Masonry, and lived to return to America.
Abram Archibald McNeil, Mr. McNeil's father, was also a sea- faring man and a lighthouse keeper. He founded the system of lighthouses at Bridgeport, and established the light at the mouth of the Bridgeport harbor in 1844. He married Mary Hults, a woman whose influence was particularly strong upon her son's intellectual life. Mr. McNeil was brought up in a village, and educated at various private schools, and at the Hopkins Grammar School, New Haven.
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In 1863 Mr. McNeil formed a partnership with his brother, Charles H., in the fruit and general produce business. For two years previous to this he had been clerk in his brother's store. In 1876 they moved to New York and conducted a butter and cheese store there. Later they carried on export and import trade with Cuba, dealing in coal and other products. In 1888 Mr. McNeil came back to Bridgeport and established the extensive bituminous coal business in which he has continued ever since. He represents six large coal producing companies, and supplies many railroads, factories, and dealers.
In 1881 Mr. McNeil was married to Jean Mckenzie Clan Ranald. They have three sons. Mr. McNeil is a member of several clubs, including the Algonquin Club of which he was the first president, the Bridgeport Yacht Club of which he has been commodore, the Sea- side Club, and the Bridgeport Club. His favorite recreations are automobiling and yachting. In politics he is a Democrat, and has held many local offices. He was elected State senator in 1902, and served two years. He was again made State senator from his district, in 1906, by a plurality of 128.
Mr. McNeil's advice to young men is as admirable as it is con- cise, for he says to them-"Lead an honest life."
WALTER JAMES LEAVENWORTH
L EAVENWORTH, COL. WALTER JAMES, treasurer of the R. Wallace & Son's Manufacturing Company of Wallingford, Connecticut, president of the First National Bank of Walling- ford and former Colonel of the Second Regiment, Connecticut National Guard, was born in Roxbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut, Feb- ruary 20th, 1845. Like all the Leavenworths in America he is a descendant of Thomas Leavenworth, who came from England to Woodbury, Connecticut, about 1665, and of his son, Dr. Thomas Leavenworth, a prominent and wealthy physician. Another of Mr. Leavenworth's ancestors, John Leavenworth, born 1739, served in the Revolution. Another, Lemuel, born 1743, was one of those who resisted Burgoyne's invasion and also participated in the battle of Bennington. James M. Leavenworth, the Colonel's father, was a millwright and carpenter for the Wallace Manufacturing Company. He was greatly interested in educational matters and was a devoted lover of books, His wife, the Colonel's mother, was Julia Leavenworth, a woman of strong character and influence, who was undoubtedly the source of her son's determination to succeed in life.
Endowed with excellent health and brought up in the country Mr. Leavenworth spent a boyhood full of vigorous activity. His education was confined to that of the district schools and terminated when he was seventeen. He worked at odd times during his school- ing on the farm and at carpentering. He inherited his father's fondness for books and his reading was broad and extensive. The books that made the greatest impression on his mind were Rollin's Ancient History and Abbott's Napoleon Bonaparte.
After leaving school Mr. Leavenworth started to be a joiner, as has been said, but soon gave it up to enter the office of Hall, Elton & Company of Wallingford, Connecticut, in which firm he was rapidly promoted to the position of secretary.
In 1877 Mr. Leavenworth was made treasurer of the R. Wallace & Son's Manufacturing Company, his present responsible office. He
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has charge of placing their products on the market, and has done much toward the development of the business to its present vast proportions. He is also a director in the Wallingford Gas Light Company, president of the First National Bank and he has been president of the Wallingford Board of Trade, and chairman of the Board of Water Commissioners. In political faith he has always been a Republican. In 1897 he represented Wallingford in the State Legislature and he was burgess of the borough of Wallingford for four years.
For nearly fifteen years Mr. Leavenworth experienced active military service and his rapid promotions show better than anything else his excellent military work. In September, 1871, he was lieuten- ant in Company K, Second Regiment, Connecticut National Guard. In 1874 he was made captain, in 1882 lieutenant-colonel, and in 1885 colonel of his regiment, and he held the rank of colonel until he resigned in 1889.
In 1867 Mr. Leavenworth married Jeannette Wallace, who was a daughter of Robert Wallace, president of the R. Wallace & Son's Manufacturing Company. Of the four children born of this marriage three are now living: C. W. Leavenworth, Mrs. Bessie L. Leach, and John W. Leavenworth. The family are members of the Congrega- tional Church. The Colonel is a member of the Wallingford Club, of which he is a former president, and of the Union League Club of New Haven. His favorite out-of-door amusement is automobiling.
Colonel Leavenworth believes failures in life to be due to not com- mencing to be earnest sufficiently early in life. He thinks that "a young man of even moderate ability can, in this country, achieve almost any success in life he may desire; the price is study and attention to business."
MOSES AVERILL PENDLETON
P ENDLETON, MOSES AVERILL, vice-president of the First National Bank of Stonington and of the Stonington Savings Bank, was born in the borough of Stonington, February 19th, 1844. His father, Moses Pendleton, was a banker and merchant who held many minor offices in his town. From early Colonial times the Pendleton family has been associated with the history of New England. The first member of the family to come to America was Brian Pendleton, who settled in Massachusetts in 1634. Major Brian Pendleton was president of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1681. Captain James Pendleton served in King Philip's War. Col. William Pendleton was prominent in the Rhode Island militia, and several members of the family served in the Revolutionary War.
After attending the public schools Mr. Pendleton, at the age of seventeen, became a clerk in a grocery store. Urged on by an ambition to succeed he determined to do his best in this position which he held for several years. In 1872 he became town and probate clerk, serv- ing for over twenty years. Later he became interested in the bank- ing business and he is now director and vice-president of the First National Bank of Stonington and of the Stonington Savings Bank. For twenty years he has been a justice of the peace. In politics he has always been a Republican. He is a Baptist, and since 1897 he has been clerk and treasurer of the First Baptist Church.
In 1866 Mr. Pendleton was married to Amelia Barker Sheffield. Of their two children, one is now living. Their home in Stonington is at No. 45 Main Street.
Advising young men how to succeed in life, Mr. Pendleton gives as the principles which he himself has followed: "Success can be best obtained by establishing early in life good habits and a fixed purpose to do always one's best in whatever field one may select."
حمدا عمايلى
DEWITT CLINTON SKILTON
S KILTON, DEWITT CLINTON, president of the Phoenix Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, and one of the most competent insurance underwriters in the United States, was born in Thomaston, Litchfield County, Connecticut, on the 11th of January, 1839. His first American ancestor, Dr. Henry Skilton, was born in Coventry, England, in 1718, and sailed for America in a "gun ship" in 1735, in his seventeenth year. After arriving in Boston he lived first in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and then in Preston, Connecticut, where he married the daughter of Joseph Avery of Norwich. He moved several times, and, finally in his old age, to Watertown, where he died in 1802. He was the first physician to practice medicine in Southington, Connecticut. Other ancestors of Mr. Skilton were among the most prominent settlers of Hartford County. The list includes such historical names as Hon. John Steel (who came to Hartford with Rev. Thomas Hooker in 1636) ; Hon. John Wadsworth, the half brother of Captain Wadsworth, to whom is attributed the fame of concealing the Connecticut Charter in the old charter oak; Sir William South- mayd; Hon. Matthew Allyn, one of the original parties to the royal charter, and Hon. John Allyn, called "the great secretary" in the "History of Connecticut"; Captain William Judd and Timothy Judd, who represented Waterbury in the Colonial government for forty years, and many others distinguished for their part in Colonial and State history.
Mr. Skilton's education was the brief and simple one afforded by a "district school," for at the age of fourteen his father's death made it necessary for him to begin his work in life. He worked in a manufacturing establishment in Thomaston until 1855, when he moved to Hartford to become a bookkeeper in a dry goods store. Inherent business ability and ambition made him capable of earning his living when still a boy, and his purpose to succeed was of carly formation and speedy fulfillment. In 1861 he became a clerk
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in the office of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company, the business in which he was later to make his mark. In 1862, in response to a call for volunteers to preserve the Union, Mr. Skilton enlisted in the Twenty-second Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers, in which he was elected second lieutenant. His service in the army was very creditable, and he was mustered out as first lieutenant. He then resumed his clerkship in the insurance company. In 1865 he married Ann Jeanette Andrews. They have had two children, neither of whom is now living.
In 1867, Mr. Skilton was elected secretary, in 1888, vice-president, and in 1891 president of the Phoenix Insurance Company of Hart- ford; the last position he still retains. He has identified himself with many progressive and important reforms in the insurance busi- ness. He was a member of the "Committee of Twenty" that pre- pared the standard form of fire insurance policy blanks, as ordered by the State of New York, and later adopted by other states. He is deservedly regarded as one of the most able insurance underwriters of our day. He is a director of the Hartford National Bank, a corpora- tor and trustee of the State Savings Bank, and was for three years the president of the National Board of Fire Underwriters. Mr. Skilton is a member of the Army and Navy Club of New York and of Connecti- cut, of the Hartford Club, Golf Club, and Country Club, of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. In politics he is a Republican. His religious connections are with the Congregational Church.
Mr. Skilton's advice to young Americans is worthy their careful regard. He advocates "sound reading for self-education in addition to school or college education; early fixing the mind upon a purpose to accomplish and 'everlastingly keeping at it,' determined to be firmly planted on the front line; striving to be a leader, keeping in mind the virtue of correct living and a high standard of business methods." He is himself a striking example of a self-educated man, whose purpose was "early fixed" and whose determination to be "firmly planted on the front line" has met with signal success.
JOHN JOSEPH PHELAN
P HELAN, JOHN JOSEPH, lawyer, city official in Bridgeport, State legislator, was born in Wexford, County of Wexford, Ireland, June 24th, 1851. His father, Michael Phelan, was a marble and granite dealer, a man of high intellectuality and integrity, who married Catharine, daughter of Patrick and Catharine White of Wexford.
As a child John J. Phelan was fond of home, books, and music and in 1865 he was graduated at the Christian Brothers School in Wexford, Ireland. As his parents were poor, he went to work with his father at the age of fourteen, having just lost his mother by death, and when sixteen his father died, leaving him the oldest of six children. He determined to try for success in the United States and he arrived in Bridgeport, Con- necticut, in April, 1870, and obtained work in the marble and granite works of Eugene Silliman. The next year he worked in Brooklyn, New York, then in Middletown, Connecticut, returning to Bridge- port, where in 1874 he became a partner with M. G. Keane in the same line of business and the partnership continued until May, 1878. In 1875 he determined to study law at the University of the City of New York and arranged with his partner to work one-half of each day. While going to and from New York he studied on the train and late every night, and he was graduated with the degree of LL.B. in 1878. His great ambition on becoming a lawyer was not only to win approval in his profession, but to obtain such worthy prominence in social and political life as would by example allay race and religious prejudice and tend to prove the loyalty and integrity of Roman Catholics as American citizens. He read besides the law, history, biography, and many books of ancient and modern authors to better fit him for his life work.
He began the practice of law in Bridgeport in 1878, was a member of the board of aldermen in the city of Bridgeport 1880-84, town attorney for the town of Bridgeport 1884-85, city attorney for Bridge-
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port 1889-90, secretary of state of Connecticut 1893-94, having been elected in 1890, but kept out of office through the contest of the election of the head of the ticket, Gov. Luzon B. Morris, and he was reelected in 1892. He was chairman of the Connecticut delegation to the Catholic Congress held at Chicago, Illinois, during the period of the Columbian Exposition in 1893. He was a member of the board of trade of Bridgeport. His legislative service to Connecticut was as a representative in 1885 and 1886. He was the choice of the Demo- cratic minority for speaker of the House in 1886 and was a member of the judiciary committee during his legislative service. He was president of the Irish Land League of Bridgeport in 1881-82, chief officer of Park City Council, Knights of Columbus, in 1885, and Supreme Knight of the national organization, Knights of Columbus, from 1886 to 1897. His political faith he finds exemplified in the platform of the Democratic party and his religious faith in the Roman Catholic Church. His recreation he finds in travel, the theater, music, and reading. He was married December 25th, 1879, to Annie E., daughter of David and Mary Fitzgerald of Stratford.
His work in professional and political life and in behalf of his race and creed brings him prominently before the public as an eloquent and forceful speaker and in a retrospect of the latter he says: "I am satisfied in having fairly though crudely attempted to blaze the path of tolerance and confidence for Catholics in this state and elsewhere, but regret that means beyond my control have prevented the fulfillment of my desires, thus leaving to others of my faith and race the duty of rounding out our virtues to the better understanding and appreciation of state and nation." To young men he says: "Be honorable, courageous, and just, endeavor to be virtuous, industrious, and persevering, be humble, charitable, truthful, and patriotic, observe the Golden Rule."
ALBERT HAMILTON EMERY
E MERY, ALBERT HAMILTON, civil and mechanical engineer and inventor, was born in Mexico, Oswego County, New York, June 21st, 1834. His father, Samuel Emery, was a farmer in the town of Mexico, Oswego County, and married Catharine Shepard. His first American ancestor, John Emery, was born in England, September 29th, 1598, son of John and Agnes Emery of Romsey, Hampshire County, familiarly known as Hants, England. He sailed from Southampton, April 3rd, 1635, with his brother Anthony, landed in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, June 3rd, 1635, became one of the original proprietors of the plantation of Contocook, Massa- chusetts Bay, and subsequently located in Newbury.
Albert Hamilton Emery was a delicate child up to his tenth year when he began to gain strength through manual labor on his father's farm. This farm work proved useful and beneficial. His mother early taught him that whatever he did he should do well. She also directed his reading and he became familiar with the Bible, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, and Dick's philosophical works. Aside from his training in the district school, he paid his own tuition while attending the Mexico .. cademy during two terms, after he was eighteen years old. He was a land surveyor in his native town, then taught school, then took up railroad surveying, and in this way helped to pay his expenses through the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, from which he was graduated as a civil engineer in 1858. His chief inspiration to acquire a thorough knowledge of his chosen pro- fession came through the talks, advice, and example of an elder sister. He credits home life as the strongest influence on his own success, and his school life as second. He began his professional career in the fall of 1961, as draughtsman and mechanical engineer for General Richard Delafield, of the United States Corps of Engineers, who had charge of the fortifications of the state and harbor of New York, 1861- 62, and after 1862 he devoted himself to experimenting with and working out his own inventions, including a testing machine for determining the strength and tension of iron and steel, which became recognized as "one of the greatest pieces of engineering that has ever been done." At the annual fair of the Massachusetts
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Charitable Mechanics Association held in 1881, the Boston Society of Arts and Sciences exhibited a number of specimens of wood and metal which had been tested on this machine; and the machine, though not at the Fair, was open to the inspection of visitors of the Fair. It happened that year that a grand medal of honor had been provided, to be awarded to that "exhibit most conducive to human welfare," which was the highest requirement that any exhibit could be called upon to sustain, and to insure its proper award, The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was asked to appoint from its members a committee to visit the exhibition and award this medal. The jury so selected awarded this medal to Mr. Emery. In the judges' report the machine is referred to as "the greatest invention in mechanism of the present century." The machine came into constant use and its determinations are invaluable to the engineering, mechanical, and scientific world. In 1905 the United States and foreign patents issued to Mr. Emery numbered one hundred and forty.
He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. In national politics Mr. Emery has always been a Republican, never having occasion to change his political faith. He was brought up from childhood in the Presbyterian Sunday School and joined the Presbyterian Church when sixteen years of age. In 1881 he came into sympathy with the teachings of Swedenborg, in which he fully believes.
To young men he says: "If I had tried to do only one-tenth as much as I have tried to do, I might have done ten times more than I have done." His advice to them is: "Do nothing but what you try to do well, and ever remember that we all owe constant service to Him who is our very best friend and who can only give us true happiness and true success."
Mr. Emery was married March 3rd, 1875, to Mrs. Fanny B. Myers, daughter of Frederick A. King and Amanda (Howard) King of Sharon, Connecticut, and they make their home in Stamford, Connecticut. She had one daughter and they have one son, Albert H., Jr., who was graduated at Cornell University in the class of 1898 as a mechanical engineer, receiving one of the two prizes which were given to the graduating class in mechanical engineering. Since graduation he has been engaged with his father in engineering work. The daughter, Maggie, is now Mrs. G. A. Clyde of Rome, New York.
Coveret & Lake
EVERETT JOHN LAKE
L AKE, EVERETT JOHN, of Hartford, senator from the first district and prominent in the business life of the State Capi- tal, is a native of Woodstock, Windham County, Connecti- cut, of which town his ancestors on his mother's side, sturdy Scotch- men, were among the first settlers. He was born February 8th, 1871, the son of Thomas A. and Martha A. (Cockings) Lake. His father, whose ancestors coming from England were early settlers in Concord, New Hampshire, was for many years a lumber merchant in Rockville, Connecticut, and subsequently in Hartford, and was prominent in public life. He was representative from the town of Woodstock, in the legislature of 1885, was a member of the Republican State Central Committee and State senator in the session of 1897. He also served with much credit as collector of internal revenue, in Hartford.
The son's education was begun in the country school at South Woodstock, Connecticut, and when the family had removed from Woodstock to the West was continued there until he was graduated at the age of sixteen, from the Stromsburg High School of Stroms- burg, Nebraska, in the class of 1887. Thence he went to the Wor- cester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he was graduated with the degree of S.B., in the class of 1890. After that he went to Harvard University, where he received the degree of B.A., in 1892.
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