USA > Connecticut > Representative men of Connecticut, 1861-1894 > Part 65
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Lorrin A. Cooke was married in 1858, to Matilda E., daughter of Deacon Abner S. Webster of Sandisfield, Mass. She died in 1868, without issue. For his second wife he married, in 1870, Josephine E., daughter of Michael Ward, a Riverton manufacturer. Of the three children born to them only one daughter survives.
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W HEELER, NATHANIEL, president of the Whecler & Wilson Manufacturing Company, was born in Watertown, Conn., Sept. 20, 1820, and died in Bridge- port, tlic city for whose welfare lie had contributed so liberally, Dcc. 31, 1893.
He was a descendant, in the seventh generation, from Moses Wheeler, who came to America from London, Eng., in 1638, and who lived in New Haven, Co1111., in 1641, and settled in Stamford, which then included the present site of Bridgeport, Co1111., as early as 1643. Moses Wheeler was an extensive land owner and a man of promi- nence in his community. He died in 1695, having lived one hundred years. Many of his descendants still reside in Connecticut, mainly in the towns of Stratford, Derby and Watertown.
David Wheeler, the father of Nathaniel, was a carriage-maker at Watertown, having six children. Nathaniel worked at the carriage trade, and made quite a reputation as a painter of taste and ingenuity in the decoration of carriages and the old-fashioned sleighs, which were profusely decorated with stripes and ornaments. In 1841, in which year Nathaniel attained his majority, his father retired to a farin, and Nathaniel took the carriage business on his own account, and conducted it successfully for about five years. At that time the manufacture of small metallic wares having become an important industry in the neighboring town of Waterbury, lie decided to engage in it. Buckles, buttons, eyelets and slides for hat bands were among the articles made, and, beginning with hand tools only, he soon introduced machinery of various kinds in their manufacture, greatly cheapening their cost. Among the articles he produced were polished steel slides for ladies' belts, etc., which he was among the first to make in this country. The price at first was eight dollars a gross, but he reduced it to twenty-five cents a gross through the improvements he introduced in machinery and methods of production.
Buckles and slides for hat bands were made in the same town by the firm of Warren & Woodruff, and Mr. Wheeler joined his business to theirs, the partnership proving a success. When on a visit to New York, he heard of the Wilson Sewing Machine, then considered almost in the light of a novelty. It was on exhibition in the old "Sun " Building on Fulton street. After examining it he saw its possibilities and at once made an engagement with Mr. Wilson to go to Watertown with him to perfect the machine and superintend its manufac- ture. The result of this arrangement was that Messrs. Warren, Wheeler, Woodruff and Wilson forined a copartnership under the name of Wheeler, Wilson & Co. All of these gentlemen afterward bore an important relation toward the development of the Wheeler & Wilson sewing machine. The one, however, whose untiring energy, capacity to anticipate and prepare for the future, ability to inspire in others the same degree of confidence in his business acumen that he felt himself, and whose faculty of adapting himself to every situation mnade and con- tinued him the central figure in this development and success, was Nathaniel Wheeler. The important part played by him in making the sewing machine a practical and commercial success will be best understood by a brief reference to the earliest known attempts to make machinery do with needle and thread the work formerly done by hand.
The " History of Fairfield County," published in 1881, contained the following mention of this corporation, which fills so large a place in the city of Bridgeport: "The Wheeler & Wilson Company has been so long and so intimately connected with Bridgeport, and has given employment to so large a number of the population, that no history of the city, even though a brief one, can be written without containing some account of it. This company removed to Bridgeport in 1856, but, in order to gain a clear idea of its history, it is necessary to go back to 1849, the year when Allen B. Wilson first invented his sewing machine.
OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894. 405
Nathaniel Wheeler, who was born in Watertown, Conn., in 1820, was then carrying on the manufacture of light metallic goods in his native place. Happening to be in New York upon business, he went to see the new sewing machine, which was then on exhibition in a room in the old "Sun " Building, and was attracting considerable attention. Mr. Wheeler quickly recognized the merits of the invention, and at once entered into a contract to build five hundred of the machines at his factory in Watertown, Mr. Wilson agreeing to remove to that place and superintend their manufacture.
Further improvements having been made in the machine, an application for a patent was filed, and the document was issued Aug. 12, 1851. Messrs. Wheeler and Wilson now entered into copartnership with Alanson Warren and George P. Woodruff of Watertown, under the firm name of Wheeler, Wilson & Company, and began the manufacture of machines under the patent. Several hundred had been sold, and Mr. Wheeler had succeeded in introducing them into the extensive shirt factories at Troy, N. Y., and New Haven, Conn., and had established depots for their sale in Boston, New York and Philadelphia, when, for the better prosecution of the business, the firm was dissolved, and the Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing Company was organized in October, 1853, with a capital of one hundred and sixty thousand dollars, one hundred thousand of this sumn representing the patent right, and the remainder standing for tools, machinery and working capital already employed in the business.
The first president of the company was Alanson Warren, and the first secretary and treasurer George P. Woodruff, while among the original incorporators and stockholders was George Mallory, then of Watertown, but for many years past a resident of this city. Mr. Wheeler was elected president of the company July 18, 1855. In the spring of 1856, the business having greatly increased, it was decided to remove to East Bridgeport, where the works of the Jerome Clock Company had been purchased. Since that time its history had been identified with that of Bridgeport. The original clock factory has been greatly enlarged and new buildings erected, so that the establishment is at present one of the most extensive and complete in the country.
At the present time the principal buildings consist of the inain factory, for metal-working, assembling, testing, etc., occupying one complete square, 368 by 307 feet, under one roof ; a wood-working factory, covering a second square, 526 by 219 feet; a foundry and needle factory upon a third, 368 by 232 feet; the works altogether covering over seven acres of ground. To show how far division of labor is carried, it may be mentioned that the well- known rotary hook undergoes one hundred and twenty-eight distinct operations, a glass-presser thirty-two, and a hemmer seventy. As the sewing machine proper is useless without the needle, the latter is, of course, an article of prime importance. No department of these works is more interesting than the mechanical processes of converting steel wire into perfectly finished needles. The distinct operations in the making of each needle now number thirty- three, having been recently reduced from fifty-two by improved machinery.
The wood-working or cabinet department of this company is under a separate organiza- tion, styled the Sewing-Machine Cabinet Company. The main buildings of this department are two in number, each 526 feet in length. Here is made all the furniture for the inachines, from a plain table-top to the most elaborate and expensive full case or cabinet. The raw material, brought from Arkansas and elsewhere, is cut to dimensions in the company's saw- mill, and afterwards worked up into the desired forms. The excellent finish of the cabi- net-work is obtained by the use of the wood-filling invented by Mr. Wheeler, and patented Jan. 18, 1876. The invention is said to be one of great value, not only for sewing-machine work, but for all kinds of wood-work where a superior finish is desired."
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He was not content to limit his services to his company to executive and purely prae- tical functions. His inventive ability was of prime importance and benefit. Althoughi tlie company from the beginning consistently adhered to thic rotary mechanism, its machines, as lias been seen, from time to time underwent material modifications, and in recent years very radical improvements were in the main due to thic experiments instituted and directed by Mr. Wlecler, to the consequent inventions of others put into practical shape by him, and especially to original inventions of his own.
Mr. Wheeler's inventions, as shown by the Patent Records, are as follows: In 1876, and again in 1878, he patented wood-filling compounds, now in general use. In 1876, with J. A. House, he patented a power-transmitter clutch ; in the same year, with Philo M. Beers, an improvement on a former invention of Beers's for polishing needle eyes. In 1878, a refrigerator. In 1883, a ventilating arrangement for railroad cars; also a system of heating and ventilating houses. In 1885, with Wibur F. Dial, the eccentrically-centered loop-taker ; also the feed regulator for the No. 12 machine, two patents. In 1890, the barred hook used in the No. 2 machine, two patents for tension release and one for combination of parts in the No. 9 machine. He also patented a design for cabinets.
If it be conceded that the Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing Co. have been foremost in the march of improvement in the art of sewing by machinery, it must be conceded that the progress made by them was due to Mr. Wheeler personally in a greater degree than to any other man. An active business career of fifty-two years, each of which saw some valuable contribution from Mr. Wheeler to the industry with which his name will always be associated, is a record which any young man, starting as he did, may review with profit. His ambition was ever at the highest, and his aims were always of the broadest, it being his frequently expressed desire to leave behind him a record which would stand to his honor.
Mr. Wheeler had many other interests besides those in the sewing-machine company. At the time of his deathi he was a director of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, a position which he had filled for many years; director in the Willi- inantic Linen Company, and in the City National Bank and Mountain Grove Cemetery Association, and an officer in several other corporations in which he was financially interested.
Years ago his fellow-townsmen saw and appreciated in him the qualities which had drawn the attention of the entire business world. He was several times elected to the local Common Council, and in 1872 represented his city as a member of the House of Representa- tives. In 1873, and again in 1874, he was the state senator from his district, and he served as a member of the local Board of Education from its organization until he resigned about two years ago. In all of these capacities Mr. Wheeler served with distinction, and especially was his connection with local educational matters of material benefit to his city. The system of ventilation in the public schools of the city was his invention, and it is conceded to be one of the best in use. He was a member of the building committee of the present county court house and of the high school. He was one of the building commission on the present state capitol, which has the proud distinction of being about the only costly public building ever erected in this country within the appropriation. At other times Mr. Wheeler's consent was all that was lacking to secure for him the nomination for Congress and the governor- ship of his state.
In foreign countries, too, Mr. Wheeler's genius and achievements were recognized. The Wheeler & Wilson Co.'s display at the World's Exposition, at Vienna, in 1873, eaused tlie Austrian Emperor to bestow upon him the Cross of the Order of Francis Joseph I. This made him a knight of the empire, and gave the right to the prefix of "Sir." This is a distinction rarely conferred, and is the same of which "Sir " George M. Pullinan, the palace-
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car builder, was the recipient. The title ends with the life of the person, and it is required that at the death of the latter the decoration be returned to the Emperor. Abhorrent of ostentatious display, Mr. Wheeler never wore the cross but once, that being on a special occasion at the Chicago Exposition. At the Exposition Universelle, Paris, in 1889, he received the Cross of the Legion of Honor of France, with the rank of chevalier.
Mr. Wheeler was truly a part of the city of Bridgeport, and deeply will his loss be regretted by its citizens. For thirty-six years he had watched and assisted the growth of the place. in which he made his life's success, and in many ways his public-spirited exertions and liberality in belialf of that city bore rich fruit. It was principally through his efforts, while a member of the Common Council, that a local sewer system was instituted. That his death should be indirectly due to a sewer seems like the irony of fate. Early in life, he recognized tlie great need for various sanitary reforins, and it may be said to have been one of liis life-objects.
Voicing the sentiments of all the citizens, a Bridgeport paper said a few days before liis decease :
We regret to hear of the very serious illness of the Hon. Nathaniel Wheeler of Bridgeport. His physicians were with him all last night, and we judge that hope is almost abandoned. Mr. Wheeler is a very capable business man, an upright citizen and respected gentleman. He was the principal member of the well-known Wheeler & Wilson Sewing-Machine Company, and he amassed a large fortune in that great business. He is known as a modest, quiet man of pleasant address. He was a member of the state capitol commission, where he served for seven years in an intelligent and very useful manner. He neglected no duty in that long and arduous work. He was present at alinost every meeting, and no detail of the work escaped his attention, as the building progressed story by story. His suggestions were always wise and practical. A man of principle, of strict integrity, a friend of justice, a stern opponent of jobs and wrong doing, is Nathaniel Wheeler. He has been a useful citizen, and his services have been of value to the public whenever he has been called to attend to public duties.
After his death, the Hartford Courant, a paper politically opposed to Mr. Wheeler, practically gave expression to the feeling throughout the state :
The death of the Hon. Nathaniel Wheeler of Bridgeport was recorded in Monday's Courant. He has been feeble for some time, and his recovery was not expected, but his death, though not a surprise, is none the less a loss to the state, aside from the personal grief it brings to many friends. Mr. Wheeler was a strong man and a good citizen. Things that he undertook to do were generally accomplished. He had the patience and energy and foresight that made business a success, and along with these had a clean character and a reputation for trustworthiness and integrity that nothing in his career ever tarnished. Whoever came in contact with him was impressed with his directness, his force of mind and his simple honesty. He served the state in many ways, never ambitious for public office, but always ready to do his duty, and was, from the consolidation in 1872, a director of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Bishop of Bridgeport, Mr. Robinson of this city, and Mr. Trowbridge of New Haven, who died a few weeks ago, were for a long period of years the controlling force of the corporation. The Courant did not agree with Mr. Wheeler's politics, for he was a life-long and earnest Democrat, but he was sincere in them, and in his death Connecticut has lost a good citizen.
UBBARD, HENRY GRISWOLD, of Middletown, pioneer in the manufacture of elastic webbing in the United States, for many years general inanager of the Russell Manufacturing Company and ex-state senator, was born at Middletown, Conn., October 8, 1814, and died at his home in that city, July 29, 1891.
Mr. Hubbard traced his ancestry back to the earliest settlers of New England. George Hubbard, the founder of the family in America, was born in Wakefield, England, and with his wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Watts, came with the first English emi- grants to Hartford, Conn., in 1636. Both spent their lives at Hartford, as did also their son, Joseph, born there Dec. 10, 1643, and their grandson, Robert, born Oct. 6, 1673. The first named married Mary Porter, whose parents, likewise, were early settlers of the place. Robert
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married Abigail Atkins. Thicir son, also named Robert, born at Hartford, July 30, 1712, married Elizabethi Sill, of Saybrook, Com., a granddaughter on her mother's side of Richard Lord, whose wife, Elizabeth, was thic daughter of Samuel Hyde, the son of William Hyde, who came to this country in 1633, and settled at Newton, now Cambridge, Mass. Williamn Hydc, with the Rev. Thomas Hooker, the first pastor of the church in that place, removed i11 1635-36, to what is now Hartford. William Hyde was of English birth, and belonged to a family whose ancestors came to England with William the Conqueror, and from wliom descended inany distinguished statesmen of that country. Soon after his marriage with Elizabetlı Sill, Robert Hubbard (2d) purchased a farm at Middletown, and removed to that placc, where lie spent the rest of his life following the occupation of farming.
His son, Elijah, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, born in Middletown in 1745, married Hannah Kent. Even in boyhood he evinced a predilection for mercantile pur- suits, and when eigliteen years of age engaged in trade, his capital being but nineteen cents. From this insignificant beginning he rose by rapid stages to a position of wealth and influ- ence, and became the richest merchant in the town. His principal field of enterprise was in the West India trade, of which Middletown was, before the Revolutionary war and for inany years thereafter, one of the chief centers. During the struggle for Independence, Mr. Hubbard labored with patriotic zeal and energy to advance the cause of the colonies. As commissary and superintendent of stores, commissioned by the Connecticut authorities, he rendered valuable services to the Continental army. When hostilities ceased, he reengaged in the West India trade, and amassed a comfortable fortune. In local affairs he enjoyed a high degree of prominence, being a justice of the peace-an office of great honor in those times - and for twenty-eight years in succession the representative of his district in the General Assembly of the state. As a financier he was likewise well-known and success- ful, being the originator and largest stockholder in the old Middletown bank, incorporated in 1795, and its president from that date until his death, which occurred at Hartford in 1808, while he was in attendance at the General Assembly.
His son, also named Elijah, was born at Middletown, July 30, 1777, was educated at Yale College, graduating in 1795. After reading law at Litchfield, he was admitted to the bar at New London, where he engaged in practice. He rose to distinguished prominence in public life, was mayor of Middletown for many years, served eight terins as a member of the state Assembly, and held other offices of honor and trust. A successful financier, from 1822 to 1846, he filled the office of president of the Middletown bank. He married Miss Lydia Mather, daughter of Samuel Mather, a highly respected resident of Lyine, Conn., who bore him four children, of whom Henry Griswold was the second.
He received his early schooling at Middletown, and when about fourteen years of age he entered as a pupil at the famous military academy of Captain Partridge at Norwich, Vt. After two terms at this institution he entered the Ellington high school where he was pre- pared for college. He then entered Wesleyan University, his intention being to secure a thorough classical education. At the age of seventeen, and before completing the course, he found that his health would not stand the strain of application to study, and quitting the university, he took employment as a clerk in the office of J. & S. Baldwin, merchants. After a brief terin in their cmploy he went to the city of New York and took a clerkship in the office of Jabez Hubbard, a distant relative, wlio was a commission merchant in woolens. Here he remained until he mastered the intricacies of trade. In 1833, he returned to Middletown, and in partnership with Jesse J. Baldwin engaged in the dry goods business. Success crowned his youthful efforts, and he at once took rank with the leading business men of the place.
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Upon attaining his majority he was offered and accepted the responsible position of manager of the Russell Manufacturing Company, of which he had become a stockholder. To the duties of this position he devoted liis best energy and talents, with the happiest results. It has been said of him that "his individual history is indelibly inscribed in the history of this company." Many of its greatest successes have been directly attributable to his personal zeal and shrewdness. One of the greatest of these, the successful manufacture of elastic webbing, was achieved in 1841. The circumstances attending this notable advance in weaving are as follows : Up to the year mentioned the manufacture of the webbing for elastic suspenders had scarcely been attempted in America. Resolved to remedy this deficiency, Mr. Hubbard purchased in New York a single pair of imported suspenders, for which he paid three dollars. Having pulled out the rubber threads lie gave them to his foreman and asked him to make a warp of them and then to weave a strip of thread. Although a skilled workinan, the foreman confessed his inability to comply with this request. Nevertheless Mr. Hubbard persisted in his belief that it could be done, and eventually proved that it could be done.
About this time he learned that a Scotchman named George Elliott, employed in a factory at New Britain, Conn., was weaving elastic webbing on a hand loom, a single strip at a time. Seeking an interview with this workman he found that the factory in which he had been employed was closed. After diligent search he found the man himself, and learned from his own lips that he had a valuable secret in the preparation and manipulation of rubber thread. To secure the services of this skilled workinan he bought the machinery employed by him and gave him also a remunerative position in the service of the Russell Manufacturing Company. The price paid for the machinery was one hundred dollars. Thereafter it was employed in the mills of the Russell Company, where it was improved and adapted to various requirements in the manufacture of elastic webbing, giving to the company a decided advantage in the trade. To Mr. Hubbard belongs the credit of its introduction, and he could justly claim the honor of being the pioneer in the manufacture of this fabric in the United States.
After Mr. Hubbard became connected with the Russell Manufacturing Company lie managed its affairs with zeal and rare sagacity up to his last illness. Master of every detail of manufacture he guided and controlled each department with increasing care and with the happiest results. Just and considerate in his treatinent of the employees of the company, he had their respect and best wishes. In the seven great mills controlled by the company, hundreds of the men, women and children employed were known to him personally, and many of them in time of sickness and distress were the grateful recipients of his bounty or friendly offices. Although he was the executive head of one of the greatest corporations in the state and obliged to guard every moment of his time during business hours, he was one of the most accessible of men and received the humblest workinan as freely and courteously as the richest merchant prince. Neither his wealth nor his eminence in the business world affected his demeanor, which was affable and agreeable under all circumstances.
In social circles he was greatly esteemed as the possessor of many of the mnost sterling qualities of mind and heart. By religious faith he was an Episcopalian, but he entertained liberal views regarding the rights of the various denominations, respecting equally the claims of Catholic and Protestant, and solicitous only for the true essentials of Christianity. Mainly at his own expense he caused to be erected a chapel at Middletown, in which the services of the Episcopal church are regularly maintained. He also built a residence for the rector and, in addition to the rent, contributed a regular amount monthly to his salary.
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