USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > Noted men of Connecticut as they look in life : as published in the columns of The Evening Leader of New Haven : being a collection of portraits and biographical sketches of representative men of Connecticut who have made and are making the history of the states > Part 15
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Mr. Buckingham is likewise active in fraternal circles. He is a pastmaster of St. John's Lodge, No. 3, F. and A. M., Past Sachem of Wowompan Tribe, I. O. R. M., and a member of Samuel H. Harris Lodge, I. O. O. F., Bridgeport Lodge, B. P. O. E., Joseph Dowdal Lodge, K. of P., Waldemere Council, O. U. A. M., The Bridgeport and Triple Link Clubs and the Arion and Germania Societies.
Also is he a valued member of the Bridgeport Y. M. C. A., and prominent in its ath- letics, a man in fact whose advice they seek on all questions.
While in the Yale Law School Mr. Buckingham was pitcher on its baseball nine.
He is now president of the Industrial Baseball League of Bridgeport and is pitcher on the city officials baseball nine. In 1903 Mr. Buckingham married Miss Bessie R. Budan of Bridgeport. They have two sons, one three years and one two years old.
Mr. Buckingham's life is an open page whereon is writ the story of what one young man of determination and character has accomplished solely by his own efforts and his remarkable enterprise.
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JOHN H. PEARCE
JOHN H. PEARCE, NEW HAVEN
Mr. John Harwood Pearce may well lay claim to being one of the best informed men in New England on questions regarding the rubber industry. Over thirty years of experience in handling the gum in American and Canadian factories, in all positions, from the humblest up to the superintendency of a large concern have given him a first- hand knowledge of the industry in all its phases such as entitles him to the place of oracle among his fellow workers. Besides, he has inherited his calling, as his father was successfully engaged in this occupation during his life time. The latter was the son of Richard Pearce, a worthy miller of Barnstable, England. He came to Canada, bringing with him his son Richard M., to take up his abode in Centerville. There he plied his trade honestly and well, reared his children in the fear of God, and at last, ripe in years and experience, was gathered to his fathers.
He had entered his son Richard M., upon a career as a rubber worker, foreseeing, in his careful, thrifty way, that in a new land, the greatest rewards are reserved for the skilled workman, who makes an indispensable article well. The rubber industry was just beginning on an era of expansion paralleled by few other staple manufactures, and Richard M. fared so well that he did not look for a different trade for his son John, know- ing as he did that even better days were to come to the industry. To-day, when the uses of rubber are so manifold for apparel, in electric apparatus, and especially in vulcanized form, and when its production has been so greatly stimulated by the energetic measures adopted by his most gracious, Christian and commercial majesty, King Leopold of Belgium, its use promises to be even greater and more varied. On the other hand, with the growing com- plexity of the industry, increased efficiency will be demanded of rubber workers, and it will devolve upon the leaders to keep abreast of the times, meeting the demand for more efficient workmanship with better mechanisms, meeting the demand of the trade by adapting rubber to new uses. This is just what Mr. J. H. Pearce has been doing and still proposes to do. He has already to his credit a number of inventions of devices intended to increase the efficiency of existing machinery, or else to supply the need for special tools on new kinds of work.
John Harwood Pearce was born in Montreal, Canada, on the 16th of May, 1855. He spent his youth in that city, and received a good education in public and normal schools. Montreal, by the way, was noted then, as now, for her good school system, boasting excel- lent public and private schools, convents, and a university. On leaving school, he decided to follow in the footsteps of his father, who at that time, was superintendent of the Cana- dian Rubber Company's Montreal Works. He remained there for eight years, thoroughly familiarizing himself with every detail of the work. Subsequently his father bettered him- self by accepting a position in Boston, then in Williamsport, Pa., and in 1884, John H. also drifted across the border, and became an American citizen. He was employed by the Boston Rubber Shoe Company, at Malden, Mass., and continued there for the next suc- ceeding two years, after which period he was appointed assistant superintendent in the factory with his father at Williamsport.
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Mr. Pearce's experience in New Haven dates from May 20, 1884, when the large and important L. Candee Rubber Company offered him a position with them. This was eagerly accepted, and for twenty-three years he has served them so faithfully that he is now practically indispensable. He has advanced here, as he did in his other positions, through devotion to duties, and constantly increasing efficiency. In 1892, he became assistant super- intendent, and continued in that place until he was made superintendent on November I, 1901.
The proper management of a large concern, involving the repsonsibility for much val- uable machinery and stock as well as the control of hundreds of workmen, bespeaks a strength of character, and a firmness of decision that entitles a man to especial considera- tion from his fellow-citizens. The citizens of New Haven have shown their appreciation of Mr. Pearce's ability and integrity on several occasions. Ever since his residence in New Haven, he has taken a keen interest in civic affairs, realizing that the purity of municipal politics can only be maintained when the best citizens bestir themselves in the behalf of good government.
Acting on this principle, Mr. Pearce has always accepted civic responsibilities when they were laid upon him by the vote of the people.
Thus he served as councilman in 1895, and alderman from the Fifth Ward in 1897. This is a Democratic ward, and the fact that he, an ardent Republican, was chosen, speaks volumes for the esteem in which he is held even by "his friends, the enemy."
His service as an alderman was upright, conscientious and far-seeing. Mayor Stud- ley, who has the ability to judge men correctly, saw in Mr. Pearce good timber out of which to make a fire commissioner. In that position he has done not a little to maintain the high standard of the fire department.
On May 16, 1883, Mr. Pearce married Miss Estella A. Nichols, who comes from an old Connecticut family. They have had five children, John Harwood, Jr., Walter Nichols, Frederick Richard, who are still living, and Bessie and Charles J., deceased.
Mr. Pearce's face is a familiar one in the lodge rooms. He is a member of Hiram Lodge of the Free Masons, and is a past master in the order. He belongs also to Frank- lin Chapter, No. 2, Harmony Council, No. 8, Pyramid Temple, Mystic Shrine. He is con- nected with New Haven Commandery, Knights Templar. In Masonry, he has gone the limit, being a Thirty-Second Degree man.
His church affiliations are with the St. Paul's Epsicopal Church.
So long as good business men abound, who will not refuse to shoulder their moral and political responsibilities, the higher ideals of our nation will be safeguarded at the same time that her material interests thrive.
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Attorney DAVID E. FITZGERALD
ATTORNEY DAVID E. FITZGERALD, NEW HAVEN
On the 21st day of September, 1874, David E. Fitz Gerald first saw the light of day. With wise foresight, he chose the beautiful Elm City, seat of learning, home of culture, as the place of his birth, and a hard-working Irish couple for parents. His choice was amply justified, for they gave him one of the keenest minds the city can boast of to-day, joined with the sense of humor so characteristic of his race, that enables its fortunate possessor to ride as gaily over the waves of adversity as does a chip on a mountain stream.
It was also quite characteristic of this astute young man to choose an environment of limited financial power, knowing full well that no one in this country stands a better chance of advancement than he whose financial condition compels him to make the most of himself by unceasing effort. Occasionally, a blue stocking will make something of himself despite his wealth. President Roosevelt is a striking example of that.
Mr. Fitz Gerald is distinctly a home product, receiving his education in Hillhouse High School and Yale Law School. An indication of the acuteness of his intellect may be seen in the fact that he emerged from the latter institution at the extraordinarily early age of 20 years, when 22 years is not considered a bad age at which to enter it. On coming of age in September, 1895, he was admitted to the Bar, continuing his studies meanwhile, which culminated in the degree of Master of Laws. This he received in 1896.
During the first two years of his career, he was associated with ex-Congressman James P. Pigott, but in July, 1897, he formed a partnership with his friend, Walter J. Walsh. The firm of Fitz Gerald & Walsh still exists, the partnership being held together by close ties of sympathy and mutual appreciation. Almost from the day he hung out his shingle the ques- tion of his success was practically settled, for clients quickly found that this young lawyer had an extremely old head on young shoulders; that he meant business, and was taking his chosen career seriously. There was not for him that long dreary wait experienced by so many young professional men at the outset of their career, looking for something to turn up. It is Mr. Fitz Gerald's characteristic to keep the weather eye peeled for anything that may be in the act of turning up and to pounce upon it like a robin upon the early worm, before it has had time to let all the world know with a megaphone that it has come. It is also quite characteristic of him to go out with his crowbar and turn up a few things that were supposed to be riveted down and clinched on the under side. Therefore, the wolf bade a touching farewell to his door, and he enjoys to-day an extensive practice that has won for him the title of being one of the foremost lawyers in New Haven. This state of affairs has the double advantage of lightening his heart and increasing the specific gravity of his purse.
Although engaged in general practice, Mr. Fitz Gerald has been particularly success- ful in criminal law. Our readers will remember his clever work on the defense in the famous Regan murder trial. He brings to court, besides his general knowledge of law, a remarkable capacity for grasping the details of an intricate case. With tireless skill, he will lead the jury through the dissection of motives, the analysis of character and a bewilderingly long chain of logic welded together, link on link, with infinite care and precision.
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The wonder is that the average jury isn't quickly beyond their depth, and yelling for the life raft, but they just have to follow Fitz's argument, willy-nilly, when his burning eyes are on them, and like the wedding guest under the spell of the Ancient Mariner, they cannot choose but hear, and so they retire and return a verdict for his client.
Our young friend is gifted with wonderful concentration of thought. When he pleads a case, he lives it, he pours his soul out in eloquent words, and his hearers, seeing the keen mind and large heart, lose sight of the rather insignificant stature and frail physique. Nor is this merely affectation, a sort of cry to the gallery gods; his lips frame moving phrases, because his heart feels them. There is no smallness in him; no meanness. His life is clean. With Sir Galahad, he can cry "My strength is as the strength of ten, because my heart is pure."
This whole-souledness manifests itself in another way, namely, "tremendous executive ability," as one of his admirers has put it. What he puts himself behind, has got to get over chronic inertia in short order. It just has to, you know. As chairman of the Democratic Town Committee, he reorganized his party in a miraculously short time, sounded the hew- gag for the fray and had the enemy defeated before they knew there was any war at all. That's Fitz Gerald. He plays fair, but he plays hard. However, on April 7, 1908, Mr. Fitz- Gerald resigned his office as chairman of the Democratic Town Committee to give his large and growing practice the attention it required. He is prominent among the Elks, the Knights of Columbus, the Knights of St. Patrick, the New England Order of Protection and the Woodmen of the World.
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Senator FRANCIS ATWATER
SENATOR FRANCIS ATWATER, MERIDEN
In Connecticut's legislative halls, there stand few men who so aptly represent the most striking and distinguishing characteristics of New England manhood as does Senator Francis Atwater of Meriden. A life of concentrated energy and used in the service of his fellow-men, progress has been crowned with honor and success, and his high reputation has travelled far beyond the state in which he is one of the most prominent figures.
In the broadening realm of newspaper life, he has passed his years,-climbing the lad- der from the post of "printer's devil" to his present eminence as a publisher of several of the foremost journals in Connecticut.
Meriden, he has claimed as his home since boyhood. As a boy he mastered the print- er's trade, early evincing such skill that he was given charge of the mechanical department of the Recorder, the leading daily publication in that city, when he was only sixteen years of age.
Four years later, this ambitious young man established the Windermere Weekly Forum, in the neighboring town of Wallingford. This he published for about a year- then, selling the paper, he became assistant foreman in the composing room of the Hartford Courant.
During a Western sojourn, he was employed on the Sentinel in Red Bluff, California. and when, with renewed health and energy, he returned to Meriden, his first venture was to establish a large job printing office.
His skill and popularity brought him good results and his absorbing desire to again enter the newspaper field led him to publishing the Meriden Sunday News. Soon after, he went a step further and launched the Meriden Daily Journal.
For nearly a quarter of a century this paper has thrived and gained new influence and popularity. The ripe experience and wholesome enthusiasm of the founder and president, have been of incalculable advantage to the Journal. Admirably equipped, with a notable book and job printing plant attached, this is regarded as one of the finest properties in the State.
Senator Atwater's particular charge is the mechanical department, and here every detail is raised to the highest degree of perfection.
Other newspaper enterprises in which Senator Atwater has engaged, include the pur- chase of the Waterbury Republican, the only morning paper in the Naugatuck Valley, of which he is still the owner ; the management of the New Britain Daily News, which he ran until the opportunity to dispose of it advantageously arrived ; and the management of the Havana Journal.
A most interesting chain of incidents led up to the last named venture. From child- hood, that noble woman, Miss Clara Barton, known and honored the world over for her Red Cross work, had been a close friend of Mr. Atwater's parents-Mr. and Mrs. Henry Atwater-and had taken a lively interest in the success of their son.
Recognizing his special aptitude for the post, Miss Barton invited him to accompany her to Cuba,-where she journeyed to establish asylums for the suffering outcasts,-and to
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act as her financial agent. Mr. Atwater accepted, and during his stay in Havana, seized the opportunity to start a newspaper there. His keen foresight and executive force made the venture a success, and the first all-American daily journal was inaugurated and continued under the most favorable auspices. The paper was bought by a syndicate and is still being published under the name of the Havana Post.
Through the Meriden Journal, he has been able to do much for Meriden. Through its columns came the impetus and the encouragement to organize the Meriden Board of Trade, and the members displayed excellent discernment in selecting Mr. Atwater as their first president. This position he held for many years.
During his term, in his endeavor to find some enterprise that would be of special benefit to Meriden, he settled on the project of building an electric road, connecting Meri- den and Southington. He organized the Meriden, Southington and Compounce Tramway Company, and soon had interested a sufficient number of capitalists so that the necessary amount of money was secured.
The work of construction was pushed rapidly,-Mr. Atwater personally directing the work, and in sixty days cars were running between the two towns, and benefit was speed- ily accruing to the merchants of Meriden.
Later the road was extended to beautiful Lake Compounce, one of the beauty spots of Connecticut. The rapidity and determination displayed by Mr. Atwater in this instance, are dominant characteristics of his nature and explain his numerous triumphs in his varied lines of activity.
Some other lines include an interest in the Cheshire Water Company ; a trolley road from Meriden to Waterbury; and another from Meriden to New Haven. Briefly, he is an author, publisher, printer, organizer, a member of the American Publishers' Associa- tion, National Typothetæ, former president Meriden Board of Trade, and treasurer National Red Cross Cuban Orphan Fund.
In literature he has accomplished a History of Plymouth, Conn., and of Kent, Conn., and has compiled the Atwater History.
In politics, Senator Atwater is a Democrat. He was chosen to represent the Thir- teenth Senatorial District in the General Assembly of 1907-08, and was a valuable worker in important committees. He was chairman of the Commitee on Woman Suffrage, and a member of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments.
His home life possesses great charm. In 1879, he married Helena J. Sellew, and the following year a son, Dorence Keith Atwater, came to bless their union. This gifted youth lived to the age of twenty years, and in the summer following his twentieth anni- versary was drowned at their summer place in Maine.
Senator and Mrs. Atwater have a beautiful home in Meriden, artistically and lavishly equipped, and here they cordially welcome their friends.
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ROGER M. GRISWOLD, M.D.
ROGER M. GRISWOLD, M.D., BERLIN
"But nothing is more estimable than a physician who, having studied nature from his youth, knows the properties of the human body, the diseases which assail it, the remedies which will benefit it, exercises his art with caution, and pays equal attention to the rich and the poor."- Philosophical Dictionary.
In addition to his just share of the above eulogy from the pen of Voltaire, Dr. Roger M. Griswold can claim the distinction of being a worthy scion of an old family which, of the gentry in England, is of the aristocracy of distinguished service in America.
He is a descendant in the ninth generation from Edward Griswold, who with his brother Matthew came to Windsor from England in 1639. They were members of the ancient Griswold family of Solihull, who occupied Solihull Hall, Hillfield Hall and Malvern Hall, and owned Henwood Abbey. Their family history is traced without a break to the latter part of 1200, and their descendants are to-day among the largest land-holders in that part of England.
From Edward and Matthew have descended a numerous line of men prominent in the political, social and industrial history of Connecticut and America, among them the two governors, Matthew and Roger of Lyme. It was said of the wife of the first that she num- bered in her family more governors than any woman in America. Her father was Gov- ernor Roger Wolcott; her brother, Governor Oliver Wolcott; her nephew, the second Governor Oliver Wolcott; her husband, Governor Matthew Griswold, and his son, Gov- ernor Roger Griswold.
Among other descendants of these two brothers were Bishop Alexander Veits Gris- wold, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in America; Rufus Wilmot Griswold, the poet ; Senator and Judge Stanley Griswold of Ohio. Hon. John A. Griswold, whose finan- cial aid rendered possible the building of the Monitor, and Hon. Seneca O. Griswold of the Ohio Supreme Court; Gen. Samuel Holden Parsons of the Revolution ; Hon. Simeon Green- leaf, the celebrated professor of law; General and Chief Justice Waite of the Connecticut Supreme Court, with his son, Morrison R. Waite, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, were descendants through the female line.
The subject of this sketch was born in 1852. His father, the late Dr. Rufus W. Griswold, when a young man, had gone to New York and engaged in journalism. At this time he was editor of the Brooklyn Morning Journal. Later he studied medicine, and, returning to Connecticut, located at Rocky Hill, where he continued in active practice nearly fifty years. He was reckoned one of the leading men in Hartford County, profes- sionally or otherwise. He was an extensive contributor to medical literature, an able and frequent writer upon historical subjects, a great student of nature-a poet of no little abil- ity-and an antiquarian of note. which characteristics in large measure have been trans- mitted to his son, who was a co-laborer with him in much of his literary work.
Dr. Roger M. Griswold was educated at Philip Academy, Andover, Yale, and the University of New York, and received the degree of M.D. from the latter college in 1875. He began the practice of medicine with the late Dr. Ira Hutchinson of Cromwell, then pres-
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ident of the Connecticut Medical Society. He practiced later for eleven years in Manches- ter, and then formed a partnership with Dr. C. E. Hammond of Portland, who was one of the leading physicians in that part of the State, which partnership continued until the lat- ter's death. Three years later, Dr. Griswold's health being impaired by over-work, he gave up general practice.
For several years he had been much interested in the study of ebriety as a disease, and in nervous diseases. His reply to a paper published by Rev. John E. Todd of New Haven, and his caustic criticism of the publication of Dr. Bicknell of London, had attracted wide attention and favorable comment from the medical and secular press, and as a result he was requested by several of the leading clergy, physicians and others, among whom was the late Joseph Medill of the Chicago Tribune, to investigate the methods of treatment in some of the leading institutions of the country.
He continued in sanitarium work in the interest of these diseases till 1895, when he was again obliged to give up all work for nearly a year, and went to Rhode Island, where he was appointed supervisor of the largest fraternal organization in the country. The next year he was made foreman of the order, which numbered 60,000 in New England. He was also appointed supreme medical examiner for another fraternal order for the United States and Canada.
In 1902, he returned to Berlin, which was the home of his wife, and again took up the active work of his profession. While Dr. Griswold has always declined any political office. he has been actively interested in politics since a young man, and as a delegate has participated in many conventions, where his ability as a ready public speaker has made him well known.
At the last Republican State Convention he was a delegate, and by request of many of the Middlesex delegates ably seconded the nomination of Mr. Frank B. Weeks for Lieutenant-Governor. He is better known, however, as a student and a writer than as a politician.
He is a charter member of the Connecticut Society Sons of the American Revolution, a member of several historical and medical societies, and consulting physician and surgeon to the New Britain General Hospital.
He was made a Mason in Warren Lodge, No. 51, of Portland, is a member of Free- stone Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of that place, and Harmony Council, Royal and Select Masters of New Haven, and several other fraternal and scientific associations. He has been a regular contributor to several medical journals and the press for many years, and is much interested in historical and antiquarian research, and during the past twenty years has gathered from all parts of the United States and Great Britain one of the most com- plete collections of quaint and peculiar epitaphs in the country, numbering nearly 3,000 inscriptions.
Dr. Griswold is also a member of the celebrated Putnam Phalanx of Hartford.
Socially, he is a very urbane, agreeable gentleman, an interesting conversationalist, whose rich fund of knowledge and extensive experience have been drawn from and delighted numberless friends, on numberless occasions.
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Hon. RALPH N. BLAKESLEE
HON. RALPH N. BLAKESLEE, WATERBURY
Ralph Newton Blakeslee was born in Waterbury, Conn., February 4. 1856. His father was Edwin Blakeslee (one of three brothers), who came to Waterbury from North Haven and followed the trade of house painter. His mother's maiden name was Jane L. Turney. She was the daughter of David Turney, a Litchfield County farmer. Ralph was the only child of his parents. With the exception of a four years' course at a military school in Weston, he has spent his life in Waterbury. At the age of 19, his father having died, he entered the employ of the People's Coal and Ice Company, where he remained four years. He then secured a position in the buffing department of the Matthews & Willard Company, but retained it only seven months, for the opportunity presented itself of buy- ing out the prosperous teaming business of Lewis Beardsley, and young Blakeslee accepted it. He was at that time in his 24th year, and he has devoted the years that have followed to the promotion and development of the work then undertaken.
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