USA > Connecticut > Men of mark in Connecticut; ideals of American life told in biographies and autobiographies of eminent living Americans > Part 22
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
Mr. Hoyt's sudden death on his way to morning service on Sun- day, November 20th, 1904, was a keen shock to all who knew him and an irreparable loss to his community. He is survived by his wife, Josephine Bailey Hoyt, whom he married in 1865, and by two daughters.
GREENE KENDRICK
K ENDRICK, GREENE, a prominent lawyer, a distinguished scholar, and public man, was born in Waterbury, New Haven County, Connecticut, May 31st, 1851. He is descended from a very old English family, some of whose members were among the earliest Colonial settlers. One of the early English ancestors of the family is chronicled in the Domesday Book. The line of descent is directly traceable to William Kendrick who lived in the reign of Henry VIII. The first of the family to come to America was George Kendrick, one of the "Men of Kent" who settled at Plymouth in 1633. Mr. Kendrick's grandfather, Hon. Greene Kendrick, was lieutenant- governor of Connecticut in 1851 and took an important part in all the public affairs of his day. John Kendrick, Mr. Kendrick's father, was a lawyer and many times a public official. He was associate editor of the New Haven Register, mayor of Waterbury, a member of the legislature, first city recorder of Waterbury, a member of the National Peace Convention at Philadelphia in 1866, and president of the Rogers & Brothers' Manufacturing Company. He was a man who commanded the utmost respect for his clean and able public ser- vice. He was a traveler of wide experience and a writer of great wit and originality. Mr. Kendrick's mother was Marion Mar Kendrick, through whom he is descended from Governor Bradford and a "May- flower" ancestry.
Greene Kendrick received a broad and liberal education. He pre- pared for college at Professor Bassett's School in Waterbury, the Waterbury High School, and later at Round Hill Seminary, North- ampton, Massachusetts. He made a special study of Greek and Latin, thus laying the foundation for his well-known mastery of the classics. He entered Yale with the class of 1872, but interrupted his course by spending part of his junior year in European travel. He was graduated with his class, as a Phi Beta Kappa man, taking a high oration, and the Clark and Berkeley scholarships. He then took a graduate course in history, comparative philology, and international
393
GREENE KENDRICK
law. In 1875 he was graduated from the Yale Law School and in addition to his LL.B. degree took the Roman and Common Law, the American Constitutional Law, and the Junior Jewell prizes. He was admitted to the Connecticut bar soon after his graduation and began his practice in Waterbury, making a specialty of corporation law. He won distinction in his profession as rapidly as he did in college work. During the first five years of his practice he was given the following public offices : membership in the Waterbury Board of Education, the auditorship of the State institutions, city clerkship of Waterbury, and membership in the General Assembly. In 1883 he was elected mayor of Waterbury, serving until 1885. In 1885 he was admitted to the New York bar and the bar of the Federal Courts, and from 1887 to 1892 he maintained an office in New York where he specialized as a railway and patent lawyer. In 1895 he was made township attorney of Waterbury, which office he still holds. In his political views Mr. Kendrick is a conservative Democrat and he has often been a delegate to both national and local Democratic conven- tions.
Like his father in tastes, as well as in his professional and public career, Mr. Kendrick is an enthusiastic traveler and has visited all parts of the globe. He has spent a great deal of time in Greece and Rome pursuing the study of classical antiquities. He is a member of the New Haven County Historical Society, the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Oriental Society, and the Amer- ican Philological Society. He is a member of several fraternal orders, including the Knights Templar and Shriners and he is a thirty- second degree Mason.
In November, 1896, Mr. Kendrick married Flora Mabel Lockwood of New Haven. They have one daughter, Flora M. In 1902 the family moved to West Haven, Connecticut, of which borough Mr. Kendrick is at present one of the burgesses.
WILLIAM MONROE LATHROP
L ATHROP, WILLIAM MONROE, newspaper man and at present editor of the Waterbury Republican, was born in Washington, D.C., December 26th, 1863, the son of Charles E. Lathrop and Charlotte Dilley Lathrop. His father was a lawyer and editor, and, during Lincoln's administration, public printer and naval store keeper at Washington. Mr. Lathrop's first ancestor in America was the Rev. John Lathrop, who came from England in the sixteenth century and settled in Barnstable, Massachusetts.
Most of Mr. Lathrop's boyhood days were spent in a small city. His schooling was that of a graduate of high school in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, supplemented by a two years' course at the School of Political Science at Columbia University. Outside of his studies his favorite reading was along the lines of history and biography.
When he left Columbia Mr. Lathrop entered the office of the Evening Leader at Carbondale, Pennsylvania, a paper owned by his father. The profession of a newspaper man was his own choice and the success he has won in that work has been equally of his own earn- ing. From 1893 to 1897 he was editor of the Carbondale Evening Leader, at the end of which time he became telegraph editor and later city editor of the Paterson (N. J.) Press. In 1900 he left Paterson to become news editor of Pennsylvania Grit, Williamsport, Pennsyl- vania, and left Williamsport the following year, 1901, to become editor of the Waterbury Republican, his present office. The popularity he has won with the Republican party and the capacity for leadership that he has evinced in his editorial work prophesied a political career for Mr. Lathrop, and in 1904 his party sought his nomination for State representative. In 1903, after the death of his wife, Alice Chase Lathrop, whom he married in 1896, Mr. Lathrop suffered a nervous breakdown from which his recovery was slow, and his responsi- bility in building up his paper according to his ideals was such a tax upon his strength that he deemed it wiser to forego political honors
4
395
WILLIAM MONROE LATHROP
than to take the risk of doing injustice either to his work or to his party and of bringing detriment to his health.
Mr. Lathrop is not a club man and outside of business hours he finds his most congenial diversion in reading and golf. Until 1902 he was connected with the Presbyterian Church, but he has since become a Congregationalist. From his own valuable experience lie deduces the following principle for the guidance of others: "Have an ideal and in working for it 'don't watch the clock.'"
WILLIAM HENRY HART
H ART, WILLIAM HENRY, president of the Stanley Works and of the Young Men's Christian Association, and director in many other enterprises, traces his ancestry from Deacon Stephen Hart, born about 1605 at Braintree, County of Essex, Eng- land, who came to Massachusetts Bay about 1632 and located for a time at Cambridge, Massachusetts, being one of the fifty-four settlers at that place. He became a proprietor at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1639 and was one of the eighty-four proprietors of Farmington, Con- necticut, in 1672. Stephen Hart (5), son of Stephen (4) and grand- father of William Henry Hart, was born in New Britain, October 21st, 1775.
Prominent among the men to whom the city of New Britain owes its existence because of the industries that they have created, is Wil- liam Henry Hart, son of George and Elizabeth (Booth) Hart, who was born in New Britain, July 25th, 1834.
The boy's hereditary birthright was rich in those qualities which have always marked the strong men and women of Connecticut. In- dustry, thrift, business foresight, and the Yankee trick of being handy at all sorts of practical work were his inheritance. Along with it went an upright and healthy soul which carried him safely through the usual temptations of youth. His immediate surroundings gave direction to his tastes for practical life, rather than for academic culture. His father was the owner of an express and stage business and the boy was given his share of personal responsibility as soon as he was able to bear any part in the world's work. He was also sent to private and public schools and later to the New Britain High School, where he is registered in the class of 1854. During the last four years of his school course he had gradually worked into practical business life, and his academic training was interrupted by the numerous calls made for his service as assistant to his father in the stage and express business, as well as acting agent in the local station of the Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad.
Fre : 5 : Williams S Br N'V
MUCH. Haix
399
WILLIAM HENRY HART
He might have enjoyed the advantage of college training, but his natural aptitudes and interests were for business life, and he went on in the direction of those native promptings.
in August, 1852, the Stanley Works was organized with a capital of $30,000, to engage in the manufacture of hinges. In May, 1854, William H. Hart was elected secretary and treasurer of this corpora- tion. He was a young man of nineteen, but so close had been his attention to business under his father's direction, and so thoroughly had he won the confidence of the officers of the corporation that he was given this important position.
The industrial situation of the Stanley Works at this time was this: They were located in an inland city, where freight rates were high, and the distance to fuel and raw material great, while their older and far stronger competitors were situated in New York State, where rates of transportation by water through the natural channels or by canals were far cheaper. Two problems were before the corporation, and upon their successful solution depended the success of the organ- ization ; the processes of manufacture must be brought to the highest pitch of economy and perfection, and a market must be created for the industrial output. This involved inventive skill in the suggestion of new processes, ability to inspire confidence and borrow money, and tact, patience, and unyielding pluck in meeting all the demands of a competitive market.
The corporation employed about twenty men at this time. Indus- try in a small and growing factory was not specialized then as it is to-day, and the young secretary and treasurer not only kept records and books and received and disbursed money but also purchased sup- plies, packed and shipped goods, carried on correspondence, and acted as traveling salesman for the factory. This condition called for a range of industrial versatility, and creative skill, which, while it added labor and responsibility, stimulated the mind to self-reliant and resolute enterprise.
The young officer grasped the situation and formulated his policy. The intrinsic worth of the goods manufactured and the economy of the processes employed must overcome the geographical difficulty involved in the location of the factory and the undeveloped character of the corporation. Mr. Hart's mind was fertile in suggestions whereby machines were built, the number of processes simplified, and a more
400
WILLIAM HENRY HART
perfect product put on the market. The range of product was grad- ually increased, so that bolts, butts, and steel brackets are now made in addition to hinges.
The policy of the corporation, however, has been intensive rather than extensive; perfection in a few lines rather than multiplication of different products. The obstacles in the way of success were many. Repeatedly there came critical moments when the resolution and courage of the young manufacturer were tested almost to the point of yielding. He held tenaciously to the enterprise, however, with that plucky determination that in the end has won out with so many founders of great industries. The practical character of his policy was seen in his personal contact with the market. He traveled observantly and widely until he understood the needs of the consumers. Then he returned, to make the factory output more perfectly meet those needs. Step by step, Mr. Hart saw his efforts crowned with success. The corporation employing twenty workmen now affords industrial oppor- tunity in all its branches, including the department of hot and cold rolled steel, to twenty-two hundred wage-earners. Mr. Hart became its president in 1884.
To what an extent the difficulty in the inland situation of New Britain has been overcome can be seen in the fact that, although the Stanley Works markets about one-half the product of its factories in territory west of Pittsburg, it can pay transportation upon its metal from Pennsylvania, manufacture its products in New Britain, reship them, and successfully compete with the western manufacturer in his own district. This result is the issue of years of painstaking, faith- ful devotion to the task on the part of Mr. Hart.
While thus devoted to his life work in industrial lines, Mr. Hart has not suffered himself to become so engrossed with his tasks that he has ceased to be alert in civic and social interests. He has traveled widely in Europe and America on business and for pleasure. He has been for over half a century with slight interruptions officially connected with the New Britain Institute, the agent in all the best literary enterprises of the city ; he also has been president of the New Britain Club; a director of the New Britain National Bank since 1866, and, for the past five years, president of the Young Men's Christian Association. He has held many official positions in the South Congregational Church, of which he is a member. Mr. Hart's
401
WILLIAM HENRY HART
benefactions have been many, the chief of which has been the un- stinted gift of his own personal service to every good cause in the city. This is especially evident in his devotion to the work of the New Britain General Hospital of which he was an incorporator and director, and is now vice-president. He has been influential in civic life, having served in the Common Council and on the board of street commissioners. Mr. Hart is a Republican in politics.
On September 19th, 1885, Mr. Hart married Martha, daughter of Elnathan and Mary (Dewey) Peck of New Britain. They have five sons and a daughter, all of whom are married. Mr. Hart's sons have served with him their business apprenticeship with conspicuous success, and are now engaged in large enterprises. George P. Hart is vice-president and general manager of sales; Edward H. Hart, manager of the export department; Walter H. Hart, manager of the mechanical department, and E. Allen Moore, who married his daughter, Martha Elizabeth, is second vice-president and general superintendent of the manufacturing department of the Stanley Works. Howard S. Hart is president and general manager of the Russell & Erwin Manufacturing Company and vice-president of the American Hardware Company; Maxwell S. Hart is vice-president, treasurer, and general manager of the Corbin Motor Vehicle Corpora- tion.
Between May, 1904, and September, 1905, Mr. Hart celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his election as treasurer of the Stanley Works, his seventieth birthday, and the fiftieth anniversary of his marriage with Mrs. Hart. At the last anniversary there gathered the twenty- six children and grandchildren, in whose love and welfare Mr. Hart finds his supreme joy and satisfaction.
In his simple tastes, industry, rectitude, and fraternal interest in his fellow men, he represents without assumption the noblest type of the indomitable, successful, high-minded Connecticut manufac- turer.
1
JOHN HOWARD HALE
H ALE, JOHN HOWARD, popularly known as the "Peach King of America," is one of the foremost horticulturists and pomologists of our day, as well as owner and manager of the greatest peach industry in this country. He is a descendant of Samuel Hale who came from Wales, England, in 1634, and later joined the Connecticut Colony. In 1838 he bought the farm in Glastonbury that Mr. Hale now owns. He served in the Pequot War. Mr. Hale's parents were John A. Hale and Hen- rietta S. Moseley. He was born in Glastonbury, Hartford County, Connecticut, November 25th, 1853. His father was general agent of the AEtna Insurance Company of Hartford, and most influential in building up that company. He was a man of great mental and physical strength, whole-souled, liberal, kind-hearted, and always doing for others. His legacy to his son was one of character rather than fortune, and Mr. Hale was obliged to leave school at a very early age, and help in the support of the family.
At fourteen John Howard Hale went to work by the month on a farm in New Britain, earning $12.50 a month for fourteen hours' labor, seven days in the week. In eight months he spent but seven dollars on himself; the rest he sent home except $16.00 spent for fruit trees- the nucleus of the great Hale Nurseries. He considers the hard work and poverty of his youth a great blessing. His mother was a noble woman of high ideals. Of her, Mr. Hale says: "She kept tabs on me with such jolly good fellowship that there were no secrets between us."
Mr. Hale was determined from his childhood to be a horticul- turist. His incentive in this grew out of his mother's love of fruits and flowers. His career had a most humble beginning ; for apparatus, a shovel, a spade, a hoe, and a push-cart; for results, a small straw- berry bed ; proceeds, $8.00. To-day Mr. Hale has three thousand acres of highly cultivated orchard lands at Fort Valley, Georgia, South Glastonbury and Seymour, Connecticut, and the push-cart has grown
403
JOHN HOWARD HALE
into a huge electric express system of fruit shipments with scores of refrigerator cars. This great progress has been effected through his energy, optimism, and executive ability.
Mr. Hale is now sole owner and manager of the J. H. Hale's Nursery and Fruit Farms at Glastonbury, president of the Hale Georgia Orchard Company, at Fort Valley, Georgia, and president and general manager of the Hale and Coleman Orchard Company at Seymour, Connecticut. He was the first American orchardist to sort, grade, and pack fruit, and label and guarantee it according to its grade. He was the first in America to use trolley transportation in the fruit business, and is one of the very few Americans who ship peaches to Europe. He is fittingly called the "Father of Peach Cul- ture in New England." Mr. Hale has also initiated many new ideas in fruit advertising. Another novel feature introduced by him is that of having an orchestra play in the packing rooms at the Georgia orchards. Aside from bettering and developing horticulture all over America, Mr. Hale has done a valuable service to his state in making many acres of so-called "abandoned" hill lands of Connecticut and New England to bloom with beautiful orchards.
For the past fifteen years Mr. Hale has lectured on horticulture and kindred subjects before agricultural institutions, granges, col- leges, and both state and national horticultural meetings. From 1894 to 1899 Mr. Hale was president of the Connecticut Pomological So- ciety. In 1895 he was president of the American Nurserymen's Associ- ation. Since 1903, he has been president of the American Pomological Society, which office is the highest honor in the gift of the fruit growers of America. As horticultural agent for the Eleventh Census of the United States he initiated several special investigations never before attempted by the Government; notably, floriculture, nurseries, semi-tropic fruit, nuts, and seed farms. He has recently started the revival of apple planting on the hill lands of Connecticut, which promises to do much for that valuable industry.
Mr. Hale has written numerous articles on horticultural topics for the World's Work, Country Life in America, and other period- icals. For twelve years he was associate editor of the Philadelphia Farm Journal, and for fifteen years he edited the agricultural column of the Hartford Courant. He has had important positions in the State Grange, and has sacrificed a great deal of time and money in
.
404
JOHN HOWARD HALE
strengthening that organization, being at the head of same from 1886 to 1890, and now chairman of the executive committee. He was also first president of the Glastonbury Business Men's Association.
In politics Mr. Hale is a Republican, "with a conscience, a fair memory, and a sharp lead pencil on election days." He represented his party in the Connecticut General Assembly in 1893-4, serving as member of judiciary committee and chairman of committee on agriculture. His creed is the "Golden Rule." His favorite recreation is riding in the country "with eyes and ears open." He is exceedingly fond of a good horse.
In his advice to others can be formed the reasons for his own well- earned prosperity. After recommending promptness and adherence to agreement he says : "Do not take up any work or profession that you cannot find real enjoyment in. No one can fully succeed who does not love his work. Try to find joy in all you do; the world will reward you when the right time comes. Be loyal to your ideals, your town, and state, and your friends. Be regular in all your habits. Get some fun every day. You can get the most by making others happy."
JAMES ULYSSES TAINTOR
T r AINTOR, JAMES ULYSSES, general agent of the Phoenix Insurance Company of Hartford, secretary of the Orient In- surance Company, also of Hartford, and one of the most able fire insurance adjusters in Connecticut, was born in Pomfret, Wind- ham County, Connecticut, October 23rd, 1844. He is of Welsh-Scotch extraction and his first paternal ancestor in America was Charles Taintor who came to Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1640. Michael Taintor, son of Charles, was an original settler and leading citizen of Branford, Connecticut, and Charles Taintor (2) a descendant of Michael, was a prominent man in the commissary department of Connecticut during the Revolution. Mr. Taintor's father was Ralph Smith Taintor, a farmer, who held various town offices in Colchester, Connecticut, whither he moved in 1848, and was a member of the State senate in 1857. He was a kind, liberal, and temperate man who was always considerate of others and who was a man of great physical vigor and force and consequent energy and of marked indus- try. On the maternal side Mr. Taintor is descended from Scottish and English stock and his first maternal ancestor in America was Thomas Lord, who came to Hartford with Hooker's famous band in 1635. Mr. Taintor's mother was Phebe Higgins Lord, a woman whose firm and noble character greatly influenced his moral and mental life.
A strong, hardy country boy, blessed with a fine constitution and abundant energy, James Taintor was not hindered from securing a thorough education by the severe financial difficulties that he was obliged to face. He was naturally studious and managed to prepare himself for the college education which he was determined to have, by studying at home during the hours he could snatch from farm work and on stormy days and by attending school at the Bacon Academy, Colchester, in the winter term. He employed his evenings in reading and study and took especial interest in history, biography, and mathematics. He read the best fiction and kept up with the political and social questions of the times. During the summers of 1860,
406
JAMES ULYSSES TAINTOR
1861, and 1862, he employed the hours in which he could be spared from labor on his father's farm in "working out" for a neighboring farmer and with the forty dollars thus earned as his sole capital he ventured upon a college course. He insured his life in favor of a friend who advanced money for four years' college expenses, and was graduated from Yale in 1866 with a B.A. degree and three thousand dollars in debt. Three years later he took his M.A. degree at Yale. By great diligence in teaching and serving as assistant clerk in the legislature while in college, and as clerk after leaving college, he man- aged to pay off the debt and start afresh in the fire insurance business, his real life work, which he has carried on in Hartford.
For nineteen years Mr. Taintor has been general agent and adjuster of losses of the Phoenix Insurance Company of Hartford and for twelve years he has been secretary of the Orient Insurance Company in the same city. He has had no other active business connections and has seldom held public office, having no taste for political and civic positions. He was, however, street commissioner for the city of Hart- ford for six years from 1888 to 1894. He has taken great interest in the business affairs of the Congregational Church, of which heisa mem- ber. He is and always has been an adherent to the Republican party in politics. Fraternally he is a member of the Order of Masons. Mr. Taintor has been twice married. In 1868 he married Catharine Augusta Ballard of Colchester, who died in 1875. His second wife, whom he married in 1878, was Isabelle Spencer of Hartford. Mr. and Mrs. Taintor, whose home is on Asylum Avenue, Hartford, have two sons, James Spencer Taintor and Nelson Case Taintor; the former was graduated at Yale, class of 1901, and the latter is in Yale, class of 1909.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.