USA > Connecticut > Men of mark in Connecticut; ideals of American life told in biographies and autobiographies of eminent living Americans > Part 27
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Charles Henry Leeds fitted for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, and was graduated from Yale University in 1854. After leaving college he engaged in the business of manufac- turing straw goods in New York and continued at this business for thirty years. In 1883 he moved to Stamford, Connecticut, which has been his home ever since. At the time of his removal to Stamford he gave up the straw goods business and for the next four years he was secretary of the Stationers' Board of Trade of New York City. Since 1888 he has not been actively engaged in business, but he has been one of Stamford's busiest and most useful citizens. In 1893 he was elected warden of the borough and during his term of service Stam- ford was incorporated as a city and he was made its first mayor in 1894. He has always been a loyal and leading Republican in political allegiance. In 1897 he was appointed a deputy collector of the United States Custom Service of the Fairfield district in charge of the sub-port of Stamford and he still fills that office. Mr. Leeds is a trustee and treasurer of the Stamford Presbyterian Society and treasurer and manager of the Children's Home of Stamford. He has been secretary, was for twelve years treasurer, and is now a director of the Stamford Yacht Club and he was for a number of years treasurer and a governor of the Stamford Suburban Club. He
476
CHARLES HENRY LEEDS
has been very active in the organization and promotion of the Stam- ford Hospital, of which he is a director and one of the executive committee.
On the twenty-first of December, 1865, Mr. Leeds married Sarah Perley Lambert, daughter of William G. Lambert of New York City. She is descended on her father's side, in the seventh generation, from Francis Lambert, who, with several others, came from Rowley, Eng- land, under the leadership of the Rev. Ezekiel Rogers, and founded the town of Rowley, Massachusetts, in 1639. Mr. and Mrs. Leeds have had seven children, of whom six, four sons and two daughters, are now living. All the sons are graduates of Yale University.
Chas. Elliott Mitchell
CHARLES ELLIOTT MITCHELL
M ITCHELL, CHARLES ELLIOTT, lawyer, was born in the town of Bristol, Hartford County, Connecticut, May 11th, 1837. On his mother's side Mr. Mitchell traces his ancestry to Thomas Hooker, the famous Puritan preacher popularly regarded as the founder of Connecticut. Ira Hooker, Mr. Mitchell's maternal grandfather, a farmer and manufacturer of Bristol, Connecticut, was several times a member of the legislature. On his father's side Mr. Mitchell is descended from William Mitchell, who came from Scot- land and settled in Bristol shortly before the Revolution. His paternal grandfather was George Mitchell, a man of probity and prominence, a State senator, and a leading manufacturer. Mr. Mitchell's father was George H. Mitchell, a merchant and the post- master of Bristol. His mother was Lurene Hooker Mitchell, and her influence, which was very strong on his intellectual life, was most lasting and helpful. To her encouragement he ascribes very largely the success that has been his.
Living in a village and endowed with vigorous health, Mr. Mitchell's youthful days were filled with wholesome industry. He had a decided penchant for legal studies, and a native mechanical taste that led to an intimate acquaintance with the manufacturing industries of his town. He was fond of gymnastics, but above all he was fond of good literature. Macaulay's history and essays, biogra- phies of statesmen, other English essays and poetry gave him the greatest delight. Like so many other successful men, he combined work and schooling, for he assisted his father in the post office while he was preparing for college, studying in the office and reciting sometimes to the principal of the high school, and at other times to one of the clergymen of the place. He supplemented this frag- mentary preparation with a year at Williston Seminary. He then entered Brown University and received his degree in 1861. For a time he served acceptably as principal of the Bristol High School, and later on he entered the Albany Law School, from which he was
480
CHARLES ELLIOTT MITCHELL
graduated in 1864 with the degree of LL.B. From his early boyhood Mr. Mitchell has had a strong natural preference for the study and practice of law, and this purpose so early formed and so persistently followed and fostered has insured his success at the Bar. He began as a general practitioner of law in New Britain, but gradually, by a process of natural selection rather than by conscious choice, he inclined to making a specialty of patent law. His practice soon became extensive in patent and trademark cases, giving him a national reputation and taking him frequently to the Supreme Court of the United States. In response to the general desire of the patent lawyers of the country, Mr. Mitchell was appointed Commissioner of Patents by President Harrison. During his service as commissioner, he conducted its affairs on sound business principles, introducing various reforms, and brought the work of issuing patents into a condition equal to the pressure of the incoming applications, a most important step. In the fall of 1891 he resigned and removed to New York, where he practiced his profession very assiduously until 1902, when he returned to Connecticut and soon resumed his residence in New Britain.
Confining his efforts and interests to his profession, Mr. Mitchell has generally held aloof from public life, and as he has never sought political office, his excursions into politics have been so slight as to hardly amount to exceptions to his rule of adhering to one purpose in life. He is a Republican in political creed, and although at times not wholly satisfied with the policies of his party, he has never desired to shift his allegiance. In 1880 and 1881 he was a member of the Connecticut House. In 1880 he was chairman of the committee on corporations and in 1881 an influential member of the judiciary com- mittee. In the presidential campaigns of 1884 and 1888 he made several speeches. He was the first city attorney of New Britain.
During his residence in New York, he was principally engaged in electric litigation, being employed by the General Electric Company in many cases relating to Edison's incandescent lamp and other electrical inventions. At one time and another he has been con- cerned in litigations involving the inventions of Edison, Tesla, Brush, Thomson, and others of the great inventors of the electrical art.
Besides his legal and occasional political interests, Mr. Mitchell has always been deeply interested in the material, moral, and reli-
481
CHARLES ELLIOTT MITCHELL
gious life of his home city. In addition to holding the presidency of the Stanley Rule & Level Company he is director in various other manufacturing companies. Recently, owing to his somewhat impaired eyesight, he has withdrawn to some extent from the practice of law. He is a member of the American Bar Association, of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Hartford County Bar, the Century Association, the University Club, the Hardware Club, the New Britain Club, the New England Society, and while in New York was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Alumni Association of that city.
Mr. Mitchell was married to Cornelia A. Chamberlain, a sister of Ex-Governor Chamberlain, in 1866. They have three sons, Robert C., Charles H., and George Henry. The eldest and youngest are practicing law in New York. Charles H. is clerk of the city and police courts of New Britain.
It has been said that Mr. Mitchell's motto in life has been "to deserve success," believing that the constitution of things is such that success can be obtained in that way better than in any other.
ELLIE NEWTON SPERRY
S' PERRY, ELLIE NEWTON, manufacturer, was born in Wood- bridge, New Haven County, Connecticut, January 18th, 1857. His father, Milo D. Sperry, son of Elihu and Anna (Lines) Sperry, was a hard-working farmer, of sterling honesty, who married Mary Lucinda, daughter of Lewis and Lucinda (Higgins) Newton of Woodbridge. His first ancestor in America was Richard Sperry, a native of Wales, who arrived in the New Haven Colony about 1643.
Ellie Newton Sperry was a child in the possession of fair health, brought up in the country, and accustomed to hard work on his father's farm from his very early boyhood. Farm work was dis- tasteful to the ambitious lad and his inclination was in the direction of machinery and manufacturing. His mother was his moral guide and her example and patient helpfulness largely directed his life. His school training was limited to the primary school and to self- instruction largely derived from books on mechanics and manufactur- ing.
His duty to his family enforced him to remain on the farm until he was twenty-five years of age and in the meantime he had married, October 8th, 1879, Lida Adaline, daughter of Marcus Earl and Martha Ann (Peck) Baldwin of Woodbridge. They have two children, Bertha Lida, born February 1, 1881, and Ralph Milo, born May 10th, 1882.
In 1882 he left the farm and took a position in a manufacturing concern, which change in vocation was the beginning of a successful life work. The business he engaged in was carried on by the Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport and he rose to the position of treasurer and general manager and in 1892 resigned his official position to organize the Bridgeport Hardware Manufacturing Company. This business he sold out in 1902 and returned to the Monumental Bronze Company and soon after was elected president of the concern.
He served his adopted city as an alderman and president of the
483
ELLIE NEWTON SPERRY
board; a police commissioner and president of the board of police; a member of the board of charities; as president of the Bridgeport Board of Trade, and in various other capacities where his duty or the choice of his fellow citizens called him. He has been a director of the Bridgeport National Bank since 1890, and a trustee, receiver, or agent of numerous estates, etc. As a manufacturer he has taken out several patents used in the business. He is a member of the Seaside, Brook- lawn Country, and Yacht clubs of Bridgeport and was for a time governor of the Bridgeport Yacht Club. His political affiliation is with the Republican party and he has never found occasion to change his allegiance to that party. He attends the Congregational Church and is a liberal contributor to the various charities directed by that denomination.
To young men Mr. Sperry gives this advice: "Be honest, systematic, work early and late, never be afraid that you will do more than your share, and strike when the iron is hot."
FRANCIS TAYLOR MAXWELL
M AXWELL, COL. FRANCIS TAYLOR, State senator and treasurer of the Hockanum Manufacturing Company, was born in Rockville, Tolland County, Connecticut, Jan- uary 4th, 1861. He is the son of the late Hon. George Maxwell and Harriet Kellogg Maxwell. His father was treasurer of the Hockanum Company and one of the most prominent men of his town. George Maxwell founded the Rockville Public Library and was greatly inter- ested in the Congregational Church of which he was a deacon.
The founder of the Maxwell family in America was Hugh Max- well, who came to this country in 1733. He, like the other ancestors, was of Scotch-Irish descent. He bore a distinguished part in the French and Indian and Revolutionary wars, and was wounded at the battle of Bunker Hill, in which he took part as captain of a company of minute men.
Spending his youth in the town of Rockville, Colonel Maxwell received his education at the public schools of that town. He was an earnest student and was graduated from the Rockville High School in the class of 1878. He entered immediately upon his business career, his first position being with the Hockanum Manufacturing Company in 1878. He was soon made secretary of the company, and upon the death of his father he was made treasurer. Besides this position, which Colonel Maxwell still holds, there are many other offices which he fills. He is director in the New England and Springville manufacturing companies, in the Ætna Indemnity Com- pany of Hartford, in the Rockville National Bank, the Rockville Building and Loan Association, the National Fire Insurance Com- pany of Hartford, and also in the Rockville Fire Insurance Company. Colonel Maxwell is a vice-president of the Connecticut Red Cross Society, a member of the American Geographical Society, the Metro- politan Museum, New York, and the Hartford Club. He is president of the Rockville Public Library, which his father founded. Colonel Maxwell takes an active interest in politics, and has always been a
Francis Taylor Hawal
487
FRANCIS TAYLOR MAXWELL
thorough Republican. In 1896, he served in the common council of Rockville, and in 1898 he represented the town of Vernon in the State Legislature, serving on the committee on insurance as chairman during his term of office. In 1900 he was State senator from the 23rd district, this time serving as chairman on the committee on education.
Besides his business and political positions, Colonel Maxwell has been active in military affairs. As colonel on the staff of Gov. Morgan G. Bulkeley, he represented his city and State at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893.
On November 18th, 1896, Colonel Maxwell married Florence Russell Parsons, whose ancestors were prominent Colonial settlers in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Three daughters have been born to Colonel and Mrs. Maxwell.
Colonel Maxwell is a member of the Society of Colonial Wars and of the Sons of the Revolution. He is a member of the Union Congregational Church, and in his church interests as well as in business and public service he consistently upholds the creditable example of his father.
JAMES MARION EMERSON
E MERSON, JAMES MARION, editor of the Ansonia Sentinel, is a Maryland man by birth, having been born in Denton, Caroline County, in that state, on December 14th, 1845, but he belongs to-day, not to Ansonia and New Haven County alone, but to all the State of Connecticut.
His "father before him," John H. Emerson, was an editor and deputy assessor of internal revenue; a man of marked characteristics, positive and firm in his convictions. He came of early English stock as did his wife, Sarah L. Emerson. The family records were destroyed by the fire which burned the Dorchester County Court House.
After spending his boyhood in the country and attending the Denton Academy, Mr. Emerson finished his studies in Washington College, Chestertown, Maryland, where he was graduated with the class of '63. He began at once upon his career as a newspaper man. His first position was that of editor of a weekly paper in Denton, and he made a success of it.
In 1876 he came to Ansonia, where he bought the Ansonia Senti- nel, then a weekly, and the job printing office in connection. The community was then small and was well served by dailies from New Haven and Waterbury, but from the weekly to an evening daily was but a short step. Not only in Ansonia, Derby, Birmingham, and throughout
the Naugatuck Valley had readers been attracted by the virility of the Sentinel, but people throughout the State had come to look with interest for the senti- ments of the editor, particularly in State affairs. There was no par- tisan bias, but just the simple, straightforward opinion of a keen ob- server and an independent commentator. Newswise, also, the paper is clean, honest, and enterprising.
Mr. Emerson is a Republican in politics, but partisanship has no part in the policy of his paper. In his religious faith he is a Congregationalist. Had he had a taste for political preferment, Mr.
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JAMES MARION EMERSON
Emerson has had no time to devote to the duties of elective office ; the responsibility of the editorial chair has commanded all his energy and faculties, and his fellow citizens recognize that there he gives them most faithful service.
Mr. Emerson has been married twice. His first wife was Lizzie N. Steward of New Jersey, who died in 1871. His present wife was Julia B. Foord of Delaware. He has had six children, of whom three, Howard Foord, John Ralph, and Lilian May, are living. His home is at No. 38 William Street, Ansonia.
ARTHUR LINCOLN GILLETT
G ILLETT, ARTHUR LINCOLN, A.M., D.D., clergyman, and professor of apologetics at the Hartford Theological Seminary, was born in Westfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts, Janu- ary 5th, 1859. He is descended from Jonathan Gillett, who came from England to Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1630, and afterwards removed to Windsor, Connecticut, and from William Fowler, who came from England to Boston in 1637 and the following year settled in New Haven. Doctor Gillett's parents were Edward Bates and Lucy Douglas (Fowler) Gillett. His father was a lawyer, a most brilliant speaker, and a writer gifted with a rare literary style and he was also a man of prominence in public life, having been State representative and senator and district attorney for fourteen years.
In boyhood Arthur Gillett was healthy and strong and his early days were spent in the country in the usual "New England way." He prepared for college at the Westfield High School and at Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Massachusetts, and then entered Amherst College. He was graduated from Amherst in 1880 with the A.B. degree. He then studied for three years at the Hartford Theological Seminary, where he was graduated in 1883. He returned to Hartford for a year of post-graduate study, and the same year, 1884, received the degree of A.M. from Amherst College. The summer following he entered upon his ministry at Plymouth (Congregational) Church, Mil- waukee, Wisconsin, where he acted as pastor's assistant. After a year's service in this church he left to become pastor of Plymouth Church, Grand Forks, North Dakota, where he remained three years, at the end of which, in 1888, he returned East and was engaged as an instructor at the Hartford Theological Seminary, with which insti- tution he has been connected ever since that time. From 1889 to 1891 he studied in Germany as fellow of the Hartford Seminary. In 1890 he became associate professor of his subject, apologetics, and since 1895 he has been professor. Since 1894 he has been editor in chief of the Hartford Seminary Record.
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ARTHUR LINCOLN GILLETT
In 1901 Amherst College conferred upon Professor Gillett the honorary degree of D.D. Since 1900 he has been a trustee of Smith College and since 1903 he has been a member of the prudential com- mittee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He is a member of the American Oriental Society, belonging to the section for comparative religion, and also of the American Philo- sophical Association. In politics he is a Republican. On June 22nd, 1887, Doctor Gillett married Mary Bradford Swift of Hartford, who died January 15th, 1901. Two of her three sons survive her.
M
·
LIST OF FULL PAGE PORTRAITS
VOLUME I
PAGE
PAGE
Max Adler 243
George L. Lilley 75
Simeon E. Baldwin 91
Charles H. Lounsbury. 260
Charles E. Billings. 435
George E. Lounsbury 172
Theodore Bodenwein 35
Phineas C. Lounsbury. 176
Frank B. Brandegee
55
Flavel S. Luther, Jr. 124
Morgan G. Bulkeley
47
Francis W. Marsh 222
David N. Camp.
408
Frank T. Maxwell. 485
Walter Camp. 429
Abiram Chamberlain 149
William H. Chapman 443
Charles H. Clark.
231
George P. McLean 153
William B. Clark.
210
Henry H. Peck. 337
O. Vincent Coffin
160
Miles Lewis Peck. 326
Samuel O. Prentice 101
Bradford P. Raymond 136
William A. Grippin.
201
Henry Roberts 25
Arthur T. Hadley 105
Albert L. Sessions 313
Frederic B. Hall
87
William E. Sessions. 303
William Hamersley
97
De Witt C. Skilton 346
59
William H. Hart. 397
James Swan.
463
E. Stevens Henry 64
John M. Taylor.
81
Edwin W. Higgins 77
David Torrance.
165
Ebenezer J. Hill
70
John M. Holcombe 291
Marcus H. Holcomb 363
George H. Hoyt. 389
Frederick J. Kingsbury
180
Frank L. Wilcox 191
Everett J. Lake 354
Thomas M. Waller.
James F. Walsh 39
Pierce N. Welch 251
Eli Whitney. 370
Rollin S. Woodruff.
31
Orange Merwin
280
Asahel Mitchell. 43
Charles E. Mitchell 478
Henry F. English 381
Jacob L. Greene. 458
Alfred E. Hammer. 470
Nehemiah D. Sperry
416
James S. Elton 451
Charles S. Mellen 270
LIST OF BIOGRAPHIES
VOLUME I
PAGE
PAGR
Max Adler. 242
Charles L. Edwards. 378
John W. Alling. 274
James S. Elton. 450
Wilbur O. Atwater. 316
James M. Emerson. 488
Simeon E. Baldwin. 90
Albert H. Emery 351
Elmore S. Banks.
263
Henry F. English 380
Royal M. Bassett. 432
Henry W. Farnam. 294
Henry A. Beers. 120
Henry Ferguson 132
Alvah N. Belding. 254
Irving Fisher 298
Francis G. Benedict. 140
Charles N. Flagg 366
Edward B. Bennett
194
Arthur L. Gillett. 490
Charles E. Billings. 434
Theodore Boden wein. 34
Jacob L. Greene. 459
Frank B. Brandegee 54
Lewis C. Brastow
217
Arthur T. Hadley 104
John H. Hale. 402
Frederic B. Hall 86
William Hamersley
96
David N. Camp.
409
A. Park Hammond. 246
Walter Camp. 428
Samuel Hart. 426
Abiram Chamberlain. 148
William H. Hart. 396
William F. Henney 235
William H. Chapman
442
Louis R. Cheney 240
Ebenezer J. Hill.
71
Russell H. Chittenden 116
John M. Holcombe
290
Charles H. Clark. 230
William B. Clark. 211
O. Vincent Coffin
161
Herbert W. Conn
145
George H. Hoyt. 388
Homer S. Cummings.
386
Charles F. Johnson 130
267
William P. Curtiss 456
Ralph W. Cutler. 184
Charles S. Davidson 323
James D. Dewell. 360
Arthur M. Dickinson
334
Charles A. Dinsmore
376
Greene Kendrick.
392
Arthur R. Kimball. 311
Frederick J. Kingsbury 181
Oscar Kuhns.
320
Henry R. Lang
307
John R. Buck 237
Morgan G. Bulkeley. 46
Willie O. Burr
265
Alfred E. Hammer. 471
Charles F. Chapin. 357
E. Stevens Henry.
65
Edwin W. Higgins 76
Marcus H. Holcomb. 362
Thomas Hooker.
276
John Day Jackson 373
Howard J. Curtis 358
Edwin O. Keeler.
William A. Grippin
200
Burton G. Bryan.
257
Karl W. Genthe 134
Frank L. Bigelow
454
Arthur L. Goodrich 448
PAGE
William M. Lathrop. 394
Walter J. Leavenworth. 342
Charles H. Leeds. 475
Eugene L. Richards 282
Henry Roberts 24
A. Heaton Robertson 215
Judson H. Root. 411
Albert L. Sessions. 312
Phineas C. Lounsbury. 177
Thomas R. Lounsbury
422
William W. Skiddy 332
Flavel S. Luther, Jr.
125
De Witt C. Skilton 347
Everett J. Lake. 355
Herbert K. Smith 219
Burton Mansfield.
205
Alfred Spencer, Jr. 186
Mahlon H. Marlin 421
Ellie N. Sperry .
482
Francis W. Marsh 223
Nehemiah D. Sperry
58
Frank T. Maxwell
484
George B. Stevens.
287
William Maxwell 248
James Swan. 417
Archibald McNeil
340
Horace D. Taft. 229
Charles S. Mellen 271
James U. Taintor 405
Watson J. Miller 439
John M. Taylor 462
Asahel Mitchell
42
David Torrance. 80
Charles E. Mitchell 479
Morris F. Tyler 225
Edwin K. Mitchell. 446
George C. Waldo 384
John R. Montgomery 441
Frank A. Wallace 227
Orange Merwin
281
Thomas M. Waller. 164
William D. Morgan 188
George P. McLean. 152
George D. Watrous 196
Henry H. Peck. 336
Pierce N. Welch.
250
Walter O. Whitcomb.
413
Moses A. Pendleton
344
Henry C. White
278
Henry A. Perkins. 368
Herbert H. White.
467
John J. Phelan. 349
Eli Whitney 371
Charles W. Pickett. 473
Frank L. Wilcox. 190
Edgar L. Pond. 207
Caleb T. Winchester 142
Samuel O. Prentice. 100
Rollin S. Woodruff. 30
Bradford P. Raymond
137
Henry P. Wright.
110
PAGE
Stephen E. Reed 330
Charles B. Richards. 309
George L. Lilley. 74
Edward Keeler Lockwood. 198
Charles H. Lounsbury. 261 George E. Lounsbury 173
William E. Sessions. 302
1053
James F. Walsh. 38
Miles Lewis Peck
327
Men of Mark in Connecticut
IDEALS OF AMERICAN LIFE TOLD IN BIOGRAPHIES AND AUTO- BIOGRAPHIES OF EMINENT LIVING AMERICANS
EDITED BY COLONEL N. G. OSBORN
EDITOR "NEW HAVEN JOURNAL AND COURIER"
FOUR VOLUMES
WILLIAM R. GOODSPEED HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT 1908
PREFACE TO THE WORK.
HE publisher desires to say that it has been his design in co-operation with the eminent gentlemen associated in the preparation of this work, to present some account of those useful citizens who are the real leaders in every community and in every calling. The work consists of four volumes of about four hundred and twenty-five pages each, printed on old Stratford water-marked paper. The volumes contain over five hundred well-written and correct sketches, accompanied by over two hun- dred and fifty full-page portraits. Three volumes have already been delivered and the fourth is in the hands of the printers, The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co. The work is bound in half and full morocco-gilt top, deckle-edged.
Prices for four Volumes :
Half-Morocco Binding -
$50.00
Full-Morocco Binding - - 60.00
A complimentary Portrait Gallery containing all the por- traits given free with each advanced subscription received now.
W. R. GOODSPEED, Publisher.
February 15, 1908.
MEN OF MARK IN CONNECTICUT.
Some time ago "The Courant" noticed the first volume of the "Men of Mark in Connecticut" series of biographical sketches. The second and the third volumes are now out. The second came a while ago, but the third is just off the press.
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