USA > Connecticut > Representative citizens of Connecticut, biographical memorial > Part 10
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There are some men whose achievements are at once apparent on a mere recitation of the events of their careers, but, as has already been sug- gested in the introduction of this sketch, the method of recitation fails com- pletely when the accomplishment is in the direction of mind and character development rather than of material success. In the case of such men as Mr. Tuttle, though they have done much, it is not so much what they have done as what they have been that should be dwelt upon. As a man Mr. Tut- tle will long be remembered by those who were fortunate enough to come into contact with his vivid personality. Of a striking appearance and man- ner he attracted at once those who had dealings with him, an attraction which was speedily confirmed and transformed into admiration by the ster- ling virtues which he exhibited. In the business world, in the many semi- public movements with which he was identified, his conduct was in every respect admirable, his integrity unquestioned, his wisdom always vindi- cated. In all the private relations of life, also, his conduct might well serve as a model, his domestic instincts being unusually strong and his faithfulness to his social obligations generally exceptional. He was a wide reader, a traveller of note, his taste in æsthetic matters was discriminating and all his enjoyments wholesome and manly. His life may well serve as a type of the good citizen, the devoted friend, the affectionate father and husband.
Edward Daniel Steele
T HE death of Edward Daniel Steele, of Waterbury, Connecti- cut, on May 24, 1900, was a great loss to that city, where for many years he was a conspicuous figure, both in the business and industrial world and in that of politics and public affairs. Although he was most closely identified with the life of Waterbury, and resided there for the greater part of his life, Mr. Steele was not a native of that city, nor, indeed, of Con- necticut at all. His parents were Hiram and Nancy (Turner) Steele, mem- bers of a New York State family, and residents of Lima in that State.
Edward Daniel Steele was born in Lima, New York, November 20, 1838, but accompanied his parents while still a mere child to Bloomfield, where he passed the years of his childhood and early youth until he had reached the age of eighteen. He received his education in the schools of that place, but after completing his studies removed to Waterbury, Connecticut, beginning a residence which was to continue the remainder of his life. He secured a position with the Waterbury Brass Company, one of Waterbury's great industrial concerns, and it speaks well for the stability of character and persistence of purpose in the young man that he never, during his long career, severed that connection, which covered a period of forty-two years. His natural alertness of mind, his ability to apply practically the knowledge which he picked up, together with his great capacity for hard work, soon drew to him the favorable attention of his employers, and he was started upon that series of promotions which finally placed him in the next highest office within the gift of the company, and made him a power in the Connecti- cut industrial world. In course of time he became the secretary and treasurer of the concern, a double office which he held for a considerable period of years, and was then elected vice-president and treasurer, continuing in this post until his death. He was also made a director of the same company. As his prominence in the financial circles grew, Mr. Steele extended the sphere of his control and influence beyond the limits of any single institu- tion. He became a stockholder in many industrial concerns, having an abid- ing faith in the development of Waterbury's industries and the general growth of the city. He served as director in many corporations both of Waterbury and of Providence, Rhode Island, notably the Waterbury Sav- ings Bank, and the Meriden and Waterbury Railroad Company, and was vice-president of the latter as well.
Prominent as was Mr. Steele in the business world, he is perhaps even better remembered as a man of affairs and a fearless exponent of the right as he saw it, in the political activities of the region. He was a staunch mem- ber of the Republican party, and a keen observer of the political issues agi- tating the country during his life. His personal popularity together with the position he occupied in the city, made him an ideal candidate for some important office, a fact which the local organization of his party was not
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slow in perceiving. They accordingly offered him the nomination for State Senator in the year 1896, and he was triumphantly chosen in the election which followed, serving through the term of 1897.
Mr. Steele's activities were of a varied order, and his interests embraced practically all the departments of life in the city. He was a well known figure in the Waterbury social world, of which his refinement and unusual culture made him an ornament, and he was a member in a number of clubs and fraternities, notably the Sons of American Revolution, and the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he was a member of Nosahogan Lodge, of Waterbury. Mr. Steele was a strongly religious man, and was affiliated with the Episcopal church and was an active worker in its inter- ests in Waterbury. He was one of those who organized Trinity Church and parish, and was a faithful member thereof, and a consistent attendant at the services. The organization was accomplished in the year 1892, and Mr. Steele was appointed a member of the first vestry, and in 1892 he was elected junior warden. He always took an active part in the work of the parish, and was a generous supporter of the many benevolences connected therewith.
Mr. Steele was a man in whom the public and private virtues were admirably balanced. He was regarded in the business world and, indeed, in all his public relations as one whose principles were above reproach, whose strict ideals of honor and justice were applied to every detail of his business conduct, and in no wise compromised, by his unusual sagacity as a business man. Nor was it only in his dealings with his business associates that these characteristics were displayed. It was with his employees and subordinates in the various concerns in which he exercised control that they were perhaps most conspicuous. His courtesy and unfailing concern for their welfare made him highly popular with them and established the esteem in which he was held on the firmest kind of basis. In his private life these virtues had their analogues. A quiet and retiring nature made him a strong lover of home and domestic ties, and his unfailing geniality endeared him to family and friends of whom he possessed many. His death at so early an age as sixty-two years, while his vigor remained unimpaired and he was still in the zenith of his usefulness, was felt as a loss not only by his imme- diate and personal associates, but by the community at large.
Mr. Steele married, April 5, 1864, Sarah C. Merriman, a daughter of Joseph P. Merriman, of Waterbury, Connecticut. To them were born two children, who with their mother survive Mr. Steele. The elder was a daugh- ter, Mary Elizabeth, who is now the wife of Roger Watkyns, of Troy, New York, and the mother of two children, Steele and Edward S. Mr. Steele's second child was a son, Dr. Harry Merriman Steele, who has devoted much time to the study of his profession of medicine, both at home and abroad, and especially at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore; he is now a practicing physician in New Haven. Dr. Steele married Elizabeth Kissam, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who bore him two children, Charlotte Merri- man and Harry Merriman Steele.
Winthrop Warner Dunbar
W INTHROP WARNER DUNBAR, in whose death, on Decem- ber 31, 1912, Bristol, Connecticut, lost one of her worthiest and most respected citizens, was a member of a very old family which has held a most honorable place in the life of both this country, where it has resided since early colonial times, and in Scotland, where it had its origin. It is believed that the name came originally from the ancient Scotch city of Dunbar, which figured so prominently in the romantic history of that country, throughout the long and troublous period of the wars with Eng- land. The Dunbars of America are, it is believed, descendants of George, Earl Dunbar, through the founder of the Dunbar family of Grange Hill, one Ninian Dunbar, back to whom the line may be traced unbrokenly with the exception of one insignificant gap, which every probability seems to render negligible. This break occurs in the life of Ninian's son, Robert Dunbar, born in 1630, of whom we lose sight for a time until Robert Dunbar turns up a settler in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1655, and the immigrant ancestor of the American line. From this Robert Dunbar the descent is direct to our subject, who is of the eighth generation from him.
Robert Dunbar was followed by three Johns consecutively, which brought the family down to the Revolution, the youngest of the name having five sons, all of whom fought in that momentous struggle. One of these was Miles Dunbar, the great-grandfather of Winthrop Warner Dunbar. It was in the life of Miles Dunbar that the family first wandered from the soil of New England, when it removed to New York State and there took up its abode for a time. In the following generation Butler Dunbar, the grand- father of our subject, went still farther afield. Indeed, there was much of the explorer and pioneer in his nature, and after living for a time in Pennsyl- vania and Connecticut he traveled west and settled in Monroe township, Mahaska county, Iowa, where he eventually died.
His son was Edward Lucius Dunbar, the father of Winthrop Warner Dunbar, and a most prominent citizen of Bristol, Connecticut. Edward Lucius Dunbar did not accompany his father to the West, but being taken a few years after his birth, which occurred in Springville, Pennsylvania, to the town of Bristol, he there grew to manhood and continued to make it his home the rest of his life. He was engaged in manufacturing clock springs and trimmings and the steel frames used in the construction of the hoop- skirt and crinoline. It was the former industry that formed the foundation of the immense business since developed by his three sons. The hoop-skirt manufactory was of course abandoned when taste decreed another style, but during the continuance of the custom it was a most paying industry and made Mr. Dunbar, Sr., a rich man. The present town hall of Bristol was erected and donated to the town by him, and was popularly known as "Crin- oline Hall" for a long period. Mr. Dunbar, Sr., was married to Julia CONN-Vol I11-8
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Warner, a native of Farmington, Connecticut, and a daughter of Joel and Lucinda Warner, of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar, Sr., were the parents of six children, as follows : Winthrop W., the subject of this sketch; Edward B., elsewhere mentioned in this work; William A .; three daughters, now Mrs. W. W. Thorpe, Mrs. L. A. Sanford and Mrs. George W. Mitchell.
Winthrop Warner Dunbar, the eldest child of Edward Lucius and Julia (Warner) Dunbar, was born February 25, 1841, in Bristol, Connec- ticut, and there continued to make his home all his life. Up to the time of reaching his seventeenth year he attended the local schools, and upon com- pleting his studies entered his father's factory in Bristol. The Bristol plant was where the springs and clock parts were manufactured, the hoop-skirt mill being situated in New York City. It was to the latter that the second brother was sent to gain his experience, but upon the going out of crinoline he also entered the Bristol works. The third brother, William A. Dunbar, though he had at first sought employment elsewhere, finally found his way to the same place and, upon the death of their father, the three brothers organized the firm of Dunbar Brothers to carry on the business. Although a decidedly primitive establishment at the time the three brothers came into control of its management, under their skillful direction it soon developed greatly and by dint of installing machinery and keeping constantly abreast of the time in all equipment, and by specializing strictly in small springs, a business has been built up which takes its place as one of the most important industries in that region so well known for its great industrial works. The mills of Dunbar Brothers have now a capacity of many millions of springs yearly.
While Mr. Dunbar was greatly interested in politics, and was an acute observer of the issues agitating the country in his day, he never took an active part in local politics and consistently declined offers of nomination for numerous offices made to him by his party. He was a Democrat in prin- ciple, and worked heartily for the advancement of the policies identified with the party name, but ever in the capacity of a private citizen. He was, how- ever, a prominent figure in social and fraternal circles in the town, and held membership in many organizations. He belonged to the Stephen Terry Lodge, No. 59, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Bristol; the E. L. Dunbar Encampment, No. 32, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. and the Royal Arcanum. Mr. Dunbar was an ardent member of the Congregational church, having for many years faithfully attended its services and taken an active part in the work of the congregation.
Mr. Dunbar was married, May 3, 1862, to Sarah Anna Wheeler, a native of Griswold, Connecticut, where she was born June 3, 1840, and a daughter of Oliver Lepenwell and Lydia Almira (Button) Wheeler, of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar were the parents of three children, as follows: Charles Edward, born November 18, 1865; Alice May, born April 13, 1868, married Carl Virgil Mason, of Unionville, Connecticut, where he is a prominent real estate dealer; Beatrice Estelle, born June 22, 1874, died August 29 of the same year. Mr. Dunbar died in Bristol, Connecticut, December 31, 1912.
It seems appropriate to say here a few words concerning Charles Ed- ward Dunbar, whose career gives so much promise for the future. He was
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reared in Bristol, the town of his birth, attending the local schools for the elementary portion of his education and later attending the Williston Semi- nary at Easthampton, Massachusetts. He then took a course in Hannum's Business College at Hartford, from which institution he was graduated in 1887. He was then appointed to the position of superintendent in the firm of Dunbar Brothers, and there exhibited his unusual business capacity to the best advantage. He was married, July 2, 1889, to Elizabeth Bulkley Nott, a native of Bristol and a daughter of William and Mary (Smith) Nott. To them has been born one child, a son, Winthrop William Dunbar.
William R. Orcutt
W ILLIAM R. ORCUTT was during his life one of the most distinguished citizens of Rockville, Tolland county, Con- necticut, and to no one during its history does that town owe more than to him. Mr. Orcutt was not a native of Rockville, having been born in Stafford, Connecticut, a few miles east of Stafford Springs, of a fine old Connecticut family which had been resident in the State from Revolu- tionary days. His parents were William and Eliza (Converse) Orcutt, the former being a farmer and one of the pioneer foundrymen of that region.
William R. Orcutt was born May 18, 1824, and spent the early years of his childhood in his native town, attending the district school, which like most of such institutions in the rural parts, at that period, was an extremely crude affair, where only the most elementary subjects were taught, and where the birch was regarded as the best inducement to studious habits. The lad was an ambitious one, however, and was by no means content with the meagre facilities offered by this school, so he sought to increase his oppor- tunities by every means in his power. He had a strong ambition to study law, but he was one of a family of thirteen children, and his father found it impossible to grant his desire. When only fourteen years of age he left his father's farm and his studies, and made his way to the town of Windsor Locks, where a maternal uncle, H. A. Converse, was the owner of a foundry. With this relative the youth found employment and thus embarked in a business in which he continued for a large portion of his life. He set himself the task at once of mastering the detail of the industry, with such success that as a youth of nineteen, after having been employed for but five years, he was fully capable of running the whole establishment and directing the work of the thirty-five or forty hands employed therein. He was promoted to a responsible position where this direction became his duty, and he remained in this capacity until he received an offer of a similar position with a larger foundry in South Coventry. While employed in the latter place he took advantage of the educational opportunities offered to the mill em- ployees by Professor John Hall, and pursued his studies for some time under that skillful and wise guidance. The ambition of Mr. Orcutt's life at this time was to make himself free of employers of all sorts and strike out in busi- ness for himself, and this by dint of hard work and careful economy he was eventually enabled to do.
In 1847 he formed a partnership with Mr. Charles Hall, and the two came to Rockville, where they established a foundry business under the firm name of Orcutt & Hall. There had been some doubt in the minds of the young partners as to the desirability of Rockville as a location for their new plant, and their intention was originally merely to try the place before set- tling definitely and for good. The period was one especially favorable to the foundry business, and the new firm began to thrive from the start. It was a time when the great industrial development of Connecticut had just gotten
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under way, and mills and factories of all sorts were in course of construction or in project for the near future. Under the circumstances it is not wonderful that there should have been a great opportunity for those engaged in the business chosen by Mr. Orcutt. To take advantage of that opportunity in an adequate manner, and develop the industry in the face of a lively compe- tition, was no such simple matter, however, and Mr. Orcutt's business acu- men and his ability as a manager were called into requisition. He rightly believed that only by the production of the very highest quality of work, and the living up to the spirit as well as the letter of all contracts, could perma- nent success be won, and consequently the firm of Orcutt & Hall came to have the name of the manufacturers of the finest quality of foundry work in the region, and their business grew accordingly. In course of time Mr. Orcutt bought out his partner's interest in the business and continued it alone with a very high degree of success. It had been his intention to remain but a short time in Rockville, at the time of his first arrival in the place, but to the change of plans which induced him to make it his permanent home a number of factors contributed. The success of his business there was un- doubtedly an important consideration in his new determination, but it is doubtful if it was the first.
Rockville was a young and growing place and it was evident to one of Mr. Orcutt's acute business sense that those who identified themselves with this promising development would benefit as it increased. Especially was this obvious in the case of real estate, which had already shown signs of an upward tendency suggestive of great things to follow. Mr. Orcutt was far too good a business man to neglect these opportunities, and it was not long before he invested in Rockville property. Bound thus by this powerful interest to the new place, Mr. Orcutt remained to superintend his new inter- ests there, and thus became one of the most active real estate agents and himself one of the largest owners in the town. His purchases of land were made most judiciously and soon turned out to be a most paying investment, nor was the advantage at all one-sided, since Mr. Orcutt was the most public-spirited of men and took every occasion to develop his property in a way which reacted most beneficially for the whole town. Shortly after his arrival in Rockville, he purchased of John H. Martin, then a large property owner in the region, the entire tract on East Main street, which fronts on the canal, and which now forms the very center of Rockville's town site. At that time, however, only the farseeing business man, such as Mr. Orcutt, could have foretold its value, as it was somewhat to one side of the first growth of the place and occupied by but two buildings. These were its owner's, Mr. Martin, bakery, a small frame building, and an equally small structure of the same sort, occupied as a wheelwright's shop. Mr. Orcutt's forecast of the growth of Rockville was justified by the event, and he was prompt to meet the growing demands for space and conveniences by erect- ing up-to-date structures on the tract. Business buildings of many kinds, but all of a type to bring credit on the town, were the result of his labors, and in addition to this he set about building new and good roads, repairing old ones, and generally opening up the neighborhood. Among the structures which arose at his initiative were the handsome brick building since occupied by
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William R. Drcutt
the Metcalf drug establishment and the Talcott grocery store, and the group of buildings known as the "Monitor Block." He was, indeed, the builder of a very large portion of the business district of Rockville. He built the beautiful Terraces and also Central Park.
Up to the year 1860 his operations included the purchase and sale of real estate, but after that date the latter side of the transaction was discon- tinued, and Mr. Orcutt merely rented his property, which had grown too valuable for disposal. The management of this took up more and more of his time as the density of the business population grew, and greater demands for space and convenience arose, until at length he sold out his foundry busi- ness to the late Cyrus White, and retired from participation in that industry entirely. Among his enterprises was one in which he had the interest of the town in view even more than his own, but which, in spite of that, he met with much opposition. This was the construction and operation of the Rock- ville railroad, one of his dearest projects, the responsibility for which he had to shoulder well nigh alone at the outset. Out of his private pocket came the entire expense of the original survey, and it was under his personal supervision that the road was built and the rolling stock purchased. Once in operation, however, and the advantage to the town patent to every eye, the opposition ceased, and its champion was made its first superintendent, and received the congratulations of the very men which before had opposed him. Besides those already mentioned, Mr. Orcutt was associated with many of the large financial and industrial enterprises, and occupied an extremely influential place in business circles in the region.
But Mr. Orcutt's activities were by no means measured by his business interests, however large and important these may have been. He was no less ardent a worker in purely public movements than in those in which a pecuniary advantage lay for him. He was the founder of the original volun- teer fire department, and was instrumental in inducing all the leading men of that time to join. He was made the first chief of the department, and when the question of purchasing a fire engine came up he was sent to New York City for the purpose. This was partly on account of his great interest in the matter, and also because he was naturally very much of a mechanic, and his judgment could be depended upon in the matter. The purchase made, his interest in the engine induced him to remain for some time in the city in order that he might witness the putting together of its parts and thus gain an intimate knowledge of its construction and manner of use, a knowledge which was of value later.
Mr. Orcutt was one whose broad sympathies and active mind led him to take a deep and vital interest in the political issues of his time and in the conduct of public affairs generally, both national and local. Originally he was a member of the Whig party, his first presidential vote being cast for Henry Clay, but with the founding of the Republican party he became a member and was a faithful, though independent, believer in its principles and policies thereafter. He was elected selectman in Rockville, and held that office for twelve years to the great satisfaction of all his fellow towns- men, political friends and foes alike, so much so, indeed, that they reelected him again and again, his name often appearing as candidate on three party
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