USA > Connecticut > Representative citizens of Connecticut, biographical memorial > Part 3
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Frederick Benjamin Rice
Mr. Rice did not confine his activities to the conduct of his personal business or the management of the various great financial interests confided to him, onerous as the duties involved in their successful management would seem to most men. On the contrary he was an active participant in almost all the departments of the community's life. He was greatly interested in politics, both local and general, and played a conspicuous part in the man- agement of the city's affairs. His prominence and general popularity made him particularly available as a candidate, and he was elected successively to the offices of tax assessor, which he held for five terms, and councilman for three terms, and besides these elective offices he also served at different times upon the committees on the water supply, finance and a number of other municipal boards.
Mr. Rice's broad sympathies were such as to interest him vitally in many charitable and semi-charitable movements, and in this field also, he gave most generously of his time and energies. Three institutions were of particular interest to him, the Waterbury Hospital, the Waterbury Indus- trial School, and the Girls' Friendly League, all of which he served as a member of their governing boards.
Any estimate of Mr. Rice's character would be incomplete which left out his religious affiliations, which played so important a part in his life and work. He was a member of the First Congregational Church of Water- bury, and took an active part in the work of the parish, materially aiding in the support of the many philanthropies connected therewith. He was a man in whom business decision and judgment were nicely balanced with a gen- erosity of nature and broadness of human interest which made him a partic- ularly valuable member of the community and caused his loss to be mourned, not only by his immediate family and friends, but by his fellow citizens gen- erally.
Mr. Rice was married, May 23, 1866, to Miss Helen Mccullough Mintie, a daughter of Alexander and Helen (Kenyon) Mintie. To Mr. and Mrs. Rice were born two children, Helen Susan and Archibald Ernest, of whom the former died in early childhood, and the latter, together with his mother, survives Mr. Rice. Mr. Archibald Ernest Rice succeeds his father in the management of the latter's great business and other interests.
CONN .- 2
Edward Butler Dunbar
E DWARD BUTLER DUNBAR. in whose death on May 9, 1907, Bristol, Connecticut, lost one of its most valued citi- zens, and one whose name is most closely associated with the industrial development of the place, was a member of a very ancient Scotch family, which has held a distinguished place in the records of the two countries in which it has made its residence. The Dunbar arms: Gules. A lion rampant argent. A bordure of the last charged with eight roses of the field. (Gules).
The branch of the Dunbar family of which Mr. Dunbar is a member traces its descent from the Dunbars of Grange Hill, founded in Scotland by one Ninian Dunbar, born in 1575, and a descendant of George, Earl Dunbar, the name being thus derived from the famous Scotch city. The descent as thus traced has one break in its continuity, but one which the great balance of probability bridges over. It appears that this Ninian Dunbar had a son Robert, born in Scotland in the year 1630, of whom trace is lost. In 1655 we find a Robert Dunbar just come to America and settling in the colony of Hingham, Massachusetts. All the evidence points to its being the same man, though the connection has not been absolutely established. He had been married in the meantime, though where and to whom is not known, other than that the young lady's Christian name was Rose. They came to the Colonies together and subsequently became the parents of eight chil- dren, and were regarded as among the wealthiest people in the community where they had settled. From this worthy ancestor there were descended three Johns in as many consecutive generations, the youngest being the representative of the family in the Revolutionary period, and was one of the three commissioners chosen by Waterbury, Connecticut, to furnish sup- plies to the Continental Army. His son Miles Dunbar, the great-grand- father of Edward Butler Dunbar, was a young man at the time of the Revo- lution, serving in the army as a fife-major. Subsequently he removed to Oblong, New York.
Butler Dunbar, the grandfather of our subject, was a man of great enterprise and typical pioneer mold whose taste led him to make his home in new regions. He lived for a time in Springville, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Dunbar's father was born, later in Connecticut, and finally in Monroe town- ship, Mahaska county, Iowa, where he spent the remainder of his life engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was an ardent worker in the cause of the Congregational church and gained for himself the sobriquet of "Father Dunbar."
It was Edward Lucius Dunbar, son of the above and father of our sub- ject. whose birth in Springville, Pennsylvania, has just been mentioned, who founded the manufacturing business of which Edward Butler Dunbar later became the head. The elder man was possessed of great ability in the line of business, a talent which his son inherited, and set himself to supply the demands of his times. It was the day of the hoop skirt and crinoline, and
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Edward B. Dunbar
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Foward Butler Dunbar
Mr. Dunbar Sr., in partnership with the late Wallace Barnes, established a factory for the manufacture of the light steel frames used in those wonderful creations of fashion. He also manufactured watch and clock springs and clock trimmings, the former plant being situated in New York City, the latter in Bristol, Connecticut, where he had made his home. The manufac- ture of the watch and clock springs was on a much smaller scale than the fashion requirements, but in is nature was a much more stable business. He was a man of great public spirit and gave a great deal to the town of his adoption, and in 1858 erected the present town hall of Bristol, which on account of the business in which its donor had made most of his wealth was dubbed by the people of Bristol, "Crinoline Hall," a name which clung to it for many years. Mr. Dunbar, Sr., was married to Julia Warner, a native of Farmington, Connecticut, and a daughter of Joel and Lucinda Warner, of that place. Children: Winthrop Warner, whose sketch is found elsewhere in this work. Edward Butler, of whom further; William A .; Mrs. W. W. Thorpe; Mrs. L. A. Sanford, and Mrs. George W. Mitchell.
Edward Butler Dunbar, the second child and son of Edward Lucius and Julia (Warner) Dunbar, was born November 1, 1842, in Bristol, Hartford county, Connecticut, and there, with the exception of two short absences, passed his entire life. He attended the local common schools for the elemen- tary portion of his education, and later went to Easthampton, Massachu- setts, where he took a course in the well known Williston Seminary. In the spring of 1860, when he had reached the age of eighteen years, and com- pleted his course at Williston Seminary, his father sent him to New York City, there to help the late William F. Tompkins in his duties as manager of Mr. Dunbar, Sr.'s hoop-skirt factory. There were from fifty to seventy-five hands employed in the establishment at the time of Mr. Dunbar's arrival, and a large business was done. He had been engaged in the place about two years, and had gained a considerable knowledge of the detail of its operation, when Mr. Tompkins died, and the young man, then only twenty years old, was suddenly put in charge of the concern. It was a tremendous responsi- bility for one of his years and experience to undertake, but the young man did not falter. He quickly seized the reins of management let fall by Mr. Tompkins, and in a short time proved himself entire master of the situation. For three years longer he carried on the great business with extraordinary skill and good judgment, continually adding to the magnitude of the trans- actions, and then the inevitable happened. Fashion pronounced against crinoline, and the whole bottom dropped out of the business. The mill was abandoned and Mr. Dunbar returned to Bristol, after an absence of five years, to engage in his father's other business, that of manufacturing clock springs and similar parts of small mechanisms. At the time this business was conducted on a far smaller scale than the one Mr. Dunbar had received his training in and just abandoned. There were not more than half a dozen hands employed, and the processes were of a very primitive character, so that the capacity of the mill was very limited. With the advent of Mr. Dun- bar, and the initiation of his active and energetic management, conditions were rapidly altered. One of his most important alterations was the intro- duction of modern machinery which quickly revolutionized the industry and
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Edward Butler Dunbar
at one stroke gave the plant a capacity of from five to eight thousand clock springs a day. In an industry such as that in which Mr. Dunbar was engaged, while the demand for the output is one to be depended upon, yet the demand changes in character with the development of invention. Not long after the installation of the mechanisms insisted upon by Mr. Dunbar, there was nothing short of a revolution in the methods of spring making which required a complete alteration in the arrangements of manufacturers to meet the new requirements. This necessity was cheerfully met as has been all such changes subsequently, with the result that the business has always been kept in the forefront of the industry and has grown and flour- ished until it has gained its present great size. To-day the factory has an output of many millions of small springs yearly. In this great enterprise the three sons of Edward Lucius Dunbar have all participated. Edward Butler, Winthrop Warner and William A. Dunbar, under the firm name of Dunbar Brothers, which is now recognized as one of the most important industrial concerns in the region. Edward Butler Dunbar was during his life the pres- ident of the company and in virtue of holding this office became one of the commanding figures in the industrial and financial world of Connecticut. As was natural in so dominant a personality, his sphere of influence was gradually extended and he became identified with many important business concerns and financial institutions in that part of the State. He was presi- dent of the Bristol National Bank and a member of its board of directors, holding the latter position since the foundation of the bank in 1875. He was also vice-president and director of the Bristol Savings Bank, having been elected to these offices in 1889. Among the most important functions which Mr. Dunbar has performed for the business circles of Bristol, is that of presi- dent of the Bristol Board of Trade, which under his energetic administration was extremely active in furthering the town's welfare.
Mr. Dunbar's activity was not, however, confined to the operation of the great business interests which he controlled. On the contrary there was scarcely any aspect of the life of the community of which he was a member, that did not find him an active participant. His public spirit was great and the energy which enabled him to devote himself to the advancement of so many projects not less so. One of his chief interests was politics and he was an intelligent observer of the issues agitating the country in his time. A staunch member of the Democratic party he gave much of his time to work- ing for the attainment of its aims, and his voice was one of the most influen- tial in the councils of its local organization. While still a young man his fellow Democrats recognized his abilities and his qualifications for public office, and it was not long before he appeared one of the most available men in the community for political candidacy. He held a number of important and responsible offices and filled them to the great satisfaction of his fellow citizens. Particularly interested in the cause of public education and the effective training of children, he took a very active part in the advancement of the same in Bristol, and from the founding of the new High School held the office of chairman of its committee, regarding it with pride as one of the best schools in the State. For a number of years he was a member of the Board of School Visitors, and for more than a quarter of a century was a
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Comard Butler Dunbar
member of the District Committee of the South Side School. In the year 1869 he was elected to the State Assembly to represent Bristol, and again to the same office in 1881. In the year 1885 he was elected State Senator, and again in 1887, serving thus for two consecutive terms or until 1889. While a member of this body Mr. Dunbar was very active in the interests of his constituents and exercised a great influence in passing some very import- ant measures for the benefit of workingmen, including the weekly payment act, for which and for the child labor law, he made many effective and elo- quent speeches. In the year 1890 his name was mentioned as the most desir- able candidate for Congress, but Mr. Dunbar declined to consider any such nomination. For twenty-six years he was the registrar of elections for the First District, and for over twenty years president of the Board of Fire Commissioners of Bristol. In the latter capacity he has done valuable work for the town, having increased and modernized the equipment to keep pace with the advance of modern invention and the growth of the town. It had been his father years before who first induced the town to purchase a fire engine of the old hand type, and before Mr. Dunbar's retirement, this had been replaced by two of the most modern engines driven by steam. In con- nection with his interest in education, he busied himself actively for the establishment of a public library, and when through his efforts and those of others who allied themselves with him in the matter, the Free Public Library, became an accomplished fact, Mr. Dunbar was appointed president of the institution, and held the office until the time of his death. To all these manifold activities which seem more than a sufficient task for any man, Mr. Dunbar added another work which he no less ardently strove for, his work in the advancement of the moral regeneration of the town and the cause of the church. He was a life long member of the Congregational church and for the last seven years of his life served as deacon. He was also active in the Young Men's Christian Association in Bristol, and was president between 1886 and 1890, during which time he spared no effort to advance the organization. He was a member of the Reliance Council, No. 753, Royal Arcanum.
Edward Butler Dunbar was married, December 23, 1875, to Alice Gid- dings, born July 8, 1854, a daughter of Watson Giddings, the well known carriage-maker of Bristol. To Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar were born three chil- dren, as follows: I. Mamie Eva, born December 17, 1877, died January 18, 1881. 2. Marguerite Louise, born June 28, 1880, educated in the Bristol public schools, with which her father was so closely connected, and in the two private seminaries for young ladies, Hayden Hall, Windsor, Connecti- cut, and the Gardner School, New York City ; she married, June 22, 1904, Rev. Charles Shepard, D. D., professor of Hebrew in the General Theological Seminary of New York; three daughters: Katharine, Alice Emma and Mar- guerite Dunbar. 3. Edward Giddings, born May 20, 1889, who is now presi- dent of the Dunbar Brothers Company. Mrs. Dunbar and her son make their home in the beautiful dwelling remodelled by Mr. Dunbar. The orig- inal house was an old one built by Chauncey Jerome, the well-known clock- maker of Bristol, and was bought and converted into a most charming resi- dence by Mr. Dunbar, in which are combined the beauties of the older archi- tecture and the conveniences of modern improvements.
ohn I. Sessions
JOHN HENRY SESSIONS, whose death on April 2, 1902, at Bristol, Connecticut, deprived that community of one of its foremost business men and most public-spirited citizens, belonged to an old New England family, which had its origin in Wantage, Berkshire, England. Inquiries insti- tuted by the family in America in 1889 at that place resulted in the discovery that the name had entirely disappeared from the county, and, indeed, that there was but one family of Sessions to be found in England. This was resident in Gloucestershire, the county adja- cent to Berkshire, and there was little doubt of the common origin of the two lines. The English Sessions were people of prominence in the commu- nity, J. Sessions, the head of the family, being in 1889 the mayor of the city of Gloucester, though at the time eighty years of age. The first to bear the name in this country, so far as can be traced, was Alexander Sessions, Sesh- ins or Sutchins, as the name was variously spelled. He seems to have been born about 1645, as in a deposition made in 1669, he states his age as twenty- four years. The place of his birth is not known, however, but the same deposition proves him to have been a resident of Andover, Massachusetts, at the time it was made, and there is a record of his having been admitted as a freeman of that town in 1677. From his time down to the present the Sessions held a prominent place in the community and maintained the repu- tation for worth and integrity bequeathed them by their ancestors. The seventh generation from the original Alexander Sessions was represented by John Humphrey Sessions, one of the most distinguished members of his family and the father of John Henry Sessions, who forms the subject of this sketch. The elder Mr. Sessions was born in Burlington, Connecticut, but while still a mere youth came to Bristol, with the industrial development of which his name is most closely identified. His business, after the days of his apprenticeship, was for a time the operation of a turning mill at Polkville, a suburb of Bristol, but he later (1870) took over the business of trunk hard- ware manufacture, left by the death of his brother, Albert J. Sessions, and established the large and successful house, which later came to be known as J. H. Sessions & Son. Besides this large industrial enterprise Mr. Ses- sions, Sr., was identified with well nigh every important movement which took place in Bristol for the community's advancement. He was one of the prime movers in the introduction into the town of many of the public utili- ties, including the water supply, the electric lighting plant and the first street railway, which came to be known as the Bristol and Plainville Tram- way Line.
He was married to Emily Bunnell, also of Burlington, Connecticut, and to them were born three children, as follows: John Henry, the subject of this sketch; Carrie Emily, born December 15, 1854; and William Edwin, born February 18, 1857, and now president of the great Sessions Foundry Company at Bristol.
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John I. Sessions
John Henry Sessions, the eldest child of John Humphrey and Emily (Bunnell) Sessions, was born February 26, 1849, in Polkville, Connecticut, while his father was engaged in carrying on his wood turning business in that place. He passed the first twenty years of his life in his native town and there received a liberal education in the excellent public schools of the neigh- boring place, Bristol. In the year 1869 the whole family removed to the center of Bristol, and four years later, Mr. Sessions was taken into partner- ship by his father in the latter's great trunk hardware business, the firm becoming J. H. Sessions & Son. After his father's death in 1899, Mr. Ses- sions became the head of the great business which flourished greatly under his able management. He shortly after admitted his son, Albert Leslie Ses- sions, into the firm which retained its name of J. H. Sessions & Son. During the presidency of Mr. Sessions, and later under that of his son, the business has taken its place as one of the most important of the great industries of Bristol. Mr. Sessions, as the head of the firm of J. H. Sessions & Son, was a conspicuous figure in the industrial and financial world of Bristol, and his business capacity still further enlarged his sphere of influence, and asso- ciated him with many important business concerns in that region. The Bristol Water Company, which was organized largely as the result of his father's efforts, on the death of its founder, elected Mr. Sessions president in the elder man's place, an office which he was admirably fitted to fill, having been intimately connected with the affairs of the company from its inception, and served continuously on its board of directors from the first. Another of his father's enterprises with which he was connected was the Bristol National Bank. This institution which has played so important a part in the financial life of Bristol, was founded in 1875 by a group of men of which Mr. Sessions, Sr., was one, and which chose him to head the new concern as president. After his death Mr. John Henry Sessions was elected vice-presi- dent, an office which he held until death. He was one of the incorporators of the Bristol Press Publishing Company. He was also a director of the E. N. Welch Manufacturing Company, of Forestville, Connecticut, after its reorganization. This concern was again reorganized after Mr. Sessions' death and became the Sessions Clock Company under the presidency of his brother, William Edwin Sessions.
While Mr. Sessions naturally found much of his time taken up with his manifold business interests, he was never at a loss for opportunity to aid in every movement for the advantage of the community. He was deeply inter- ested in all that concerned the welfare of his fellow citizens, and interested in the conduct of public affairs. He was a member of the Republican party, and worked heartily for the policies which that party has always stood for, but he never took an active part in politics as that phrase is understood, and his efforts were purely in the capacity of a private citizen. Though he con- sistently refused to be nominated for any elective office, a role for which his position in the community and personal popularity would have well fitted him, he did accept his appointment, in 1881, as a member of the Board of Fire Commissioners of Bristol, and held that office until his death, and from 1883 he was the secretary of the board.
Mr. Sessions was an ardent member of the Methodist Episcopal church,
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John D. Sessions
and one who devoted much energy to the work of his congregation, and sup- ported in a material way the many philanthropies and benevolences in con- nection therewith. He was a prominent member of the Masonic order. The personal character of Mr. Sessions was such as to command respect and admiration from all his associates and a warm and genuine affection on the part of his personal friends. Charitable and tolerant in his judgments of other men he was unbending towards himself, and followed out the strictest code of morals and honor. He was one who, not content with a religion of profession, infused his beliefs into the daily conduct of his life in all its rela- tions. Not a little did this appear in the ready charity with which he sought to relieve all want that came under his notice and assist worthy effort to bear its proper fruit. But though thus generous he shunned ostentation instinctively, and from pure native modesty obeyed the precept to "let not the left hand know what the right doeth." His loss was felt keenly not merely by his immediate family and the large circle of his personal friends, which his winning traits of character had drawn about him, but by all his associates, however casual, and, indeed, by the community at large.
Mr. Sessions was married, May 19, 1869, to Maria Francena Woodford, a native of West Avon, Connecticut, where she was born September 8, 1848, a daughter of Ephraim Woodford, of that place. To them was born one son, Albert Leslie Sessions, January 5, 1872, the present head of the business of J. H. Sessions & Son. Three years after Mr. Sessions' death the company was incorporated under the same name with Albert L. Sessions president, treasurer and general manager, and with himself, his mother and his wife stockholders and incorporators. Albert L. Sessions was married, February 7, 1894, to Leila Belle Beach, a daughter of Hon. Henry L. Beach, of Bristol. They have been the parents of five children, as follows: Paul Beach, born November 19, 1895; Ruth Juliette, born May 14, 1897; John Henry, born July 12, 1898; and Judith H. and Janet M., twins, born May 21, 1901.
Stiles Judson
S TILES JUDSON, in whose untimely death on October 25, 1914, Fairfield county, Connecticut, lost one of its foremost citizens and the State bar one of its most distinguished mem- bers, was a member of one of the oldest families in the State, which from the earliest colonial times has taken a conspic- uous part in the affairs of the community. From the immi- grant ancestor, William Judson, who came to this country as early as 1634, down to the distinguished lawyer, orator and legislator who forms the subject of this sketch, the representatives of the Judson stock have been men of action, men whose voices have had a share in moulding affairs in the community in which they have for so many generations made their home. The first William Judson was a stalwart Yorkshireman, born in that county, in "Merry England," sometime near the last of the sixteenth cen- tury. He came with his son, Joseph Judson, then a lad of fifteen years, to the "New World" and settled for a time in Concord, Massachusetts. Four years later, in 1638, his spirit of pioneering yet unsatisfied, he made his way into the western part of Connecticut, then but sparsely populated, and set- tled on the site of the present town of Stratford. His was the first house built in the neighborhood, and remained the only one there for a full year, so that to the Judsons belongs the distinction of being without doubt the first settlers of Stratford and the founders of the town. To them also belongs the distinction of having made it unbrokenly their home from those early days to the present. During the Revolutionary period the representa- tive of the family was one Daniel Judson, a prominent man in his com- munity and one who served for many years in the Connecticut Legislature. He was too elderly for active service in the Continental Army, but a son dis- tinguished himself not a little therein. This son was Stiles Judson, who thus initiated a name which, including his own, has been borne by four con- secutive generations of father and son.
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