USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Redding > The history of Redding, Connecticut : from its first settlement to the present time > Part 20
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Among the physicians of Fairfield County who enjoyed a long and successful practice was Dr. Thomas Davies, of Redding. He removed to Redding in 1793, on the decease of Dr. Fitch, and there continued in the duties of his profession until his death, which occurred in 1831. Dr. Davies possessed the reputation of being among the first of the physi- cians of the county who assumed regularly obstetrical duties, and so successful were his labors, that he became particularly eminent in that department.
The doctor was once summoned as an important witness to appear before the Court in Fairfield, and not appearing, the sheriff was sent to
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HISTORY OF REDDING. 179
compel his attendance. Being absent, and learning on his return that the officer was awaiting at a public-house in the vicinity, he without no- tice to the official rode to Fairfield, and appeared before the Court. On the question occurring with the Court regarding the costs attending the capias, he requested one or two of his legal friends to excuse the delin- quency. The judge decided, notwithstanding, that the law must be ob- served and that the doctor must bear the expenses. Dr. D. then request- ed a hearing in his own behalf, which being granted, remarked: "May it please the Court : I am a good citizen of the State, and since I was sum- moned to attend this Court I have introduced three other good citizens into it." * The Court replied, that for so good a plea, he would leave the parties to pay the expenses.
Bishop Thomas F. Davies was the only male descendant of Dr. Davies.
Among the later practitioners of the town, Dr. Charles Gorham was very widely known and respected. He was the son of Meeker Gorham and Elizabeth Hubbell, of Greenfield Hill, in the town of Fairfield. He began the study of medicine with Dr. Jehiel Williams, of New Milford, and afterward pursued his studies at the College of Physicians and Sur- geons in New York. He settled in Redding in 1816, at the age of twen- ty-one years, and practised as a physician and surgeon in Fairfield Coun- ty forty-two years. He married Mary, daughter of William King Com- stock, of Danbury. Dr. Gorham is described as a man of more than ordinary strength of character, with a well-balanced mind and sound judgment. He was fond of scientific investigations, and was remarkable for close observation and power of analysis. He died at his residence in Redding Centre, September 15th, 1859.
Dr. Moses Wakeman succeeded Dr. Gorham, and until his death, Jan- uary 6, 1892, enjoyed an extensive and lucrative practice. He was born in Fairfield, November, 1829. Studied medicine with his uncle, Dr. Na- thaniel Wheeler, of Paterson, N. Y., for three years, during which period he attended two full courses of lectures at the New Haven Medical Col- lege, from which institution he received the degree of M. D. After practicing four years in Putnam County, N. Y., on invitation of Dr. Charles Gorham, Dr. Wakeman, in 1858, formed a partnership with him which continued until the latter's death in 1859. On May 31, 1864, Dr. Wakeman was married to Harriet White, daughter of Samuel and Mary (Sanford) Collins of Redding. Their children were, Mary Collins, Henry W. (deceased), and Harriet Wheeler. Mary Collins married Dr. Ernest H. Smith, April 9, 1890. They have two boys, Herman White and Homer Morgan.
*From an Address before the Connecticut Medical Convention, in 1853, by Rufus Blakeman, M. D.
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HISTORY OF REDDING.
Dr. Ernest H. Smith was born in 1863; prepared for college at the Boston Latin School; graduated at Amherst College, 1885, and at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, in 1889. Saw six months service in the Emigrant Hospital on Ward's Island, and in 1890 settled in Redding, where he has since remained in the practice of his profession.
Among the later practitioners of the town Dr. Annie M. Read, now retired, enjoyed an extensive practice in this and adjoining towns. She graduated from the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in 1865, from the Woman's Medical College of the New York Infirmary in 1877, and after six months hospital practice began a general medical practice in Redding, from which she retired in 1904.
Among clergymen may be enumerated the following: Rev. Justus Hull, Rev. Lemuel Hull, Bishop Thomas F. Davies; Rev. William T. Hill, former Presiding Elder of New Haven District; Rev. Aaron K. Sanford, at one time Presiding Elder of Poughkeepsie District, New York Conference; Rev. Aaron S. Hill, Rev. Morris Hill, Rev. Moses Hill, Rev. Hawley Sanford, Rev. Aaron Sanford, Rev. Morris Sanford, Rev. A. B. Sanford, Rev. Platt Treadwell, Rev. Albert Miller, Rev. Leroy Stowe, and Rev. Joseph Hill. Several of these have attained eminence in their chosen profession. The Rev. Arthur B. Sanford, after fitting for college at Reading Institute, graduated from Wesleyan Uni- versity and entered the Methodist ministry. After filling important ap- pointments, he was, in 1890, chosen assistant editor of the Methodist Re- view, filling the chair acceptably until 1900, when he again entered the pastorate. He has been Secretary of the New York East Conference for many years, and has served on important boards and committees. (For sketch, see Sanford Family, Chapter XXIV.)
The Rev. William T. Hill has been in the New York East Confer- ence for fifty-one years, and still preaches occasionally. He has held many important appointments and from 1876 to 1879 was Presiding Elder of the New Haven District, and from 1880 to 1883 of the New York East District. He was pastor in Redding in 1884.
The Rev. Albert Miller, D. D., graduated from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, with the degree of A. M., and later received the degree of D. D. from Illinois Wesleyan University. He has had several offers at various times to enter the educational field, but remained in the Methodist ministry, choosing Iowa for his field of labor, until last year, when he accepted the appointment of agent for Cornell College in California. He has been Presiding Elder and has filled other important appointments on Conference boards and committees, and in the pastorate.
The Rev. Arthur J. Smith, the popular pastor of the Methodist Epis- copal Church in Danbury, spent a portion of his boyhood in Redding,
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his father, the Rev. Joseph Smith, having been pastor here for three years from 1874. Rev. Arthur Smith graduated from Wesleyan Aca- demy, Mass., in the business course, in 1874; from Hackettstown, N. J., in 1882, in the college preparatory course, and from Drew Theological Seminary in 1885. In 1906 Providence University, Ohio, conferred the degree of D. D. Since joining the ministry in 1885 he has held some of the most important pastorates in the gift of his Conference.
The following State Senators have been natives or citizens of Red- ding: Thomas B. Fanton, elected in 1841 ; Lemuel Sanford, 1847; Cor- tez Merchant, 1855; Francis A. Sanford, 1865; James Sanford, 1870; Jonathan R. Sanford, 1877; Isaac N. Bartram, 1890.
Thomas Sanford, former High Sheriff of the county, and at one time nominee of the Democratic party for Comptroller of the State; Henry Sanford, formerly president of Adams Express Company, and Aaron Sanford, of Newtown, formerly High Sheriff of Fairfield County, were natives of Redding.
CHAPTER XX. The Summer Colony.
Who among city residents was the first to discover the beauties of Redding and build a summer house here is an interesting question. The distinction, no doubt, belongs to Frederick Driggs of New York, who, in 1900, bought a tract of land in the Foundry District and built in the greenwood near the banks of the Aspetuck a hunting lodge of logs hewn from the neighboring forest. Mr. and Mrs. Driggs are fond of hunting and fishing and what time he can snatch from business is spent largely in this unique forest home. J. W. Teets, of New York, came next, buy- ing, in 1901, of Mrs. Edward P. Shaw, a lot south of her house, and erecting thereon a pretty colonial dwelling after plans by Ralph S. Town- send, a New York architect. Soon after, Frank Dunell, of New York, bought the Henry Whitehead place on Redding Ridge, and has improved and remodeled it, making of it an attractive country seat. Mr. Dunell is an enthusiast in photography and has a fine collection of photographs of Redding landscapes taken by himself.
The following is believed to be a complete list of summer resi- dents, in addition to those named above, now (August, 1906) in Redding, given, not in the order of their coming, but according to locality : Noble Hoggson, of New York, in the old Hull Bradley place, east of the Ridge, one of the stately old homes of Redding,
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which he has greatly beautified and improved. The interior decora- tions of this house are exceptionally rich and elegant. A short distance east John Stetson of New York, bought the Hiram Jennings place, built, it is said, by Lazarus Beach, son of the Rev. John Beach,* and is making it into a beautiful country home. Last year Daniel San- ford bought the Thomas Ryan house and farm, formerly Deacon Lemuel Hawley's, and is making extensive improvements therein. A wing is being added on each end, and the interior is being remodeled and fitted with sanitary plumbing and all modern improvements. When fitted it will be used as a school room and dormitory in winter, and as the Ridge Inn in summer. On Couch's Hill, a mile north of the Ridge, Lester O. Peck bought the large Simon Couch farm and built on it a handsome cottage in colonial style, from plans by a New York architect. Mr. Peck has since bought the farms adjoining him of Ralph Mead and J. W. Sanford, and is one of the largest owners of real estate in Redding. On the lower slope of Redding Ridge, Jeanette Gilder, editor of the Critic, bought the old Floyd Tucker place and does much of her literary work there. On the west side in Sanfordtown, Jesse B. Cornwall of Bridgeport, bought a tract south of George Sanford's and built on the crest of the hill an elegant stone cottage in extensive grounds.
The Beers farm, diagonally across the road from George Sanford's has recently been sold to Francis Forman Sherman. Goyn A. Talmage bought the old Hezekiah Hull farm, near the former Hull district school house, and retaining the old stone chimney built around it a pretty sum- mer cottage, preserving the ancient colonial style, and the huge fire- place in which an ox might be roasted whole. On the same road a short distance west toward the Glen, Francis V. Warner, editor of Pear- son's Magazine, has bought the old Andrew's place and will have it re- built for a summer home. In the Glen, Henry M. Dater, of the New York Bar, built and has occupied for several seasons a log cabin some- thing like that of his friend, Frederick Driggs, in the Aspetuck Valley. Farther up the Saugatuck Valley, Albert Bigelow Paine, the well known author, bought and remodeled the old Bouton place. Diagonally across from him, a few hundred yards away, stands the old John Davis home- stead, later occupied by Noah Sherwood, which, with the farm of about one hundred acres connected with it, was bought in 1906 by Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain). Later Mr. Clemens bought nearly a hundred acres of fine old forest on the south, bringing his estate to the pictur- esque banks of the Saugatuck River, and will erect on the hill above it a costly stone villa of the Italian order of architecture, and which will be fitted for a winter as well as summer residence.
* This distinction is also claimed for the Hull-Bradley place.
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RESIDENCE OF PROF. LUCIEN M. UNDERWOOD, West Redding.
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HISTORY OF REDDING.
On Umpawaug Hill, in West Redding, several homes and farms have recently been sold to New York parties for summer residences. Prof. Lucius M. Underwood, of Columbia College, has transformed the Eph- raim Barlow homestead into a pretty summer cottage, as has his neigh- bor, Frank F. Ewing of New York, the old Stephen Rider place on the south. G. E. Clapp of New York, in the Helen Merchant place, John Doig of New York, in the old Benedict homestead, and Charles Moore of New York, in the Irad Carter place, are other new comers in this section, which is growing rapidly.
In the Center, William S. Hill of New York, recently bought of Mrs. Harriet Wakeman the lot between Dr. Smith's and the Methodist par- sonage and will build soon a handsome cottage thereon. Howard Am- ory of New York, has recently bought of Joseph Squires some twenty acres adjoining Miss Burgess on the north, and will build thereon soon it is said. Mrs. Janet O. Thompson has also bought of Joseph Squires the corner lot, store and house, for many years occupied by David Johnson for store, post office and dwelling house.
Henry Ruff, who in 1905 purchased the old Squires homestead in the Center, sold it to Charles Singer of New York at double the original cost.
Half a mile north of the Center, Edward Deacon of Bridgeport, has bought three farms, those of the late Walter Edmonds, Jesse Sherwood, and Isaac Platt adjoining, and is making extensive improvements in the first named with a view, it is said, of becoming a permanent resident.
The lofty ridges in Loantown, in the northern part of the town, af- fording some of the finest views in the world, still remain largely in the hands of the original owners, who have not placed them on the market. One of the most attractive of these, the Aaron M. Read place, was sold in 1905 to Abraham G. Barnett, a wealthy manufacturer of Pittsburg, Penn., who, it is said, will shortly become a resident.
Early in 1906, Miss Mary A. Rushton, of New York, opened in the house formerly owned by Prof. Shaw on Redding Ridge, the Ridge Inn, which proved so attractive to the best people that it is to be kept open as a winter resort as well.
CHAPTER XXI.
The Literary Colony.
For several years past American authors have showed a predilection for Redding, the movement culminating perhaps with Mr. Clemens' choice of it as the home of his declining years ; so that it may with truth
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be said that Redding has a literary colony. Brief sketches of its mem- bers can but be of interest to the public.
Samuel L. Clemens was born in Florida, Mo., Nov. 30, 1835; appren- ticed to the printer's trade; was a Mississippi pilot for a short time; be- came city editor of the Virginia City (Mo.) Enterprise. Alternated be- tween mining and newspaper work until becoming noted as a humorist he began lecturing and writing books. His works are: The Jumping Frog, 1867; The Innocents Abroad, 1869; Autobiography and First Romance, 1871 ; The Gilded Age, 1873, (with the late C. D. Warner) ; Roughing It, 1872; Sketches, New and Old, 1873; Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1876; Punch, Brothers, Punch, 1878; A Tramp Abroad, 1880; The Prince and the Pauper, 1880; The Stolen White Elephant, 1882; Life on the Mississippi, 1883; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 1885; A Yankee at the Court of King James, 1889; The American Claimant, 1892; Merry Tales, 1892; The £1,000,000 Bank Note, 1892; Puddinhead Wilson, 1894; Tom Sawyer Abroad, 1894; Joan of Arc, 1896; Following the Equator, 1898; The Man that Corrupted Hadley- burg, 1900; A Double-Barrelled Detective Story, 1902; Christian Science, 1903.
Richard Watson Gilder, born in Bordentown, N. J., Feb. 8, 1844. Educated at St. Thomas Hall, Flushing, a seminary established by his father. Was a private in Landis' Philadelphia Battery in the Emergency Campaign in Pennsylvania in 1863; then in the railroad service for two years. Entered newspaper work as managing editor of the Newark (N. J.) Advertiser, and later with Newton Crane founded the Newark Register. Later edited Hours at Home, a New York Monthly, was managing editor, Scribner's Magazine, 1870, and editor-in-chief since 1881, under its present name of the Century. Mr. Gilder's books (poems) are, The New Day, 1875-6; Five Books of Song, 1894; In Palestine, 1898; Poems and Inscriptions, 1901. Mr. Gilder spent a year in Redding in his youthful days, his father, the Rev. William H. Gilder, having been pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church here, and is still a frequent visitor. "The most vivid memories I have of Redding," he said in a chat with the writer recently, "are of going over to meet my old French tutor who came from Danbury to give me a lesson every day, of walking back with him, and of the chats by the way."
Jeanette Leonard Gilder, born at St. Thomas Hall, Flushing, N. Y., Oct. 3, 1844. When eighteen years of age became a writer on the New- wark (N. J.) Morning Register, and Newark reporter for the New York Tribune. Later she was associated with her brother, Richard Watson Gilder, in the editorial department of Scribner's monthly (now the Cen- tury Magazine). From 1875 to 1880 she was literary editor, and later musical and dramatic editor of the New York Herald. In January, 1881,
Photo by C. B. Todd.
Old Davis-Sherwood Homestead, recently bought by Mark Twain. Mr. Clemens' estate extends nearly half a mile south of this and at the extreme southerly portion he will built a villa of the Italian order of architecture, fitted for both summer and winter residence.
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HISTORY OF REDDING.
she, with her younger brother, Joseph B. Gilder, started the Critic Maga- zine, which she still edits. Over the pen name "Brunswick" she was for eighteen years New York correspondent of the Boston Saturday Even- ing Gazette and Boston Evening Transcript. She is the author of Tak- en by Siege, 1886-1896, and The Autobiography of A Tom-Boy, 1900, (some of the scenes of the latter were taken from her experiences in Redding), and editor of many other works. Miss Gilder owns a pretty cottage on Redding Ridge, and most of her vacation hours are spent in the old town where she lived as a child.
Joseph B. Gilder, born in Flushing, N. Y., June 29, 1858, entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., 1872 ; resigned in 1874. Was a reporter in Newark, N. J., 1874-7, reporter and assistant city edi- tor N. Y. Herald, 1870-1880. In 1881, with his sister, started the Critic Magazine, of which he was co-editor for twenty-one years. From 1893 to 1901 he was president of the Critic Company. Mr. Gilder has written much in prose and verse for the magazines, and has edited many im- portant works. As soon as a suitable site in Redding can be secured, it is said Mr. Gilder will erect a cottage thereon.
Albert Bigelow Paine, assistant editor St. Nicholas magazine since June, 1899, was born in New Bedford, Mass., July 10, 1861, began his literary career by contributing to magazines. He is the author of "Rhymes by Two Friends" (with William Allen White), 1893; "The Mystery of Eveline Delorme," 1894; "Gobolinks" (with Ruth McEnery Stuart), 1896; "The Dumpies," 1897; "The Autobiography of a Mon- key," 1897; "The Hollow Tree," 1898; "The Arkansaw Bear," 1898; "The Deep Woods," 1899; "The Beacon Prize Medals," 1899; "The Bread Line," 1900; "The Little Lady, The Book," 1901; "The Van Dwellers," 1901 ; "The Great White Way," 1901 ; and a biography of the late Thomas Nast.
Ida M. Tarbell may be said to belong to the Redding Colony, al- though the fine old farm house she recently purchased for a summer home is in Easton, a few yards from the Redding line. She was born in Erie County, Penn., Nov. 5, 1857, graduated from Titusville High School, and Alleghany College at Meadville, Penn .; was associate editor of the Chautauquan, 1883-91. Studied in Paris at the Sorbonne and College of France, 1891-4. From 1894 to 1906 editor on the staff of McClure's Magazine. In 1906, with other editors, resigned from McClure's and purchased the American Magazine. She is author of "A Short Life of Napoleon Bonaparte," 1895; "Life of Madame Roland," 1896; "Early Life of Abraham Lincoln," 1896 (with J. McCann Davis) ; "Life of Abraham Lincoln," 1900; "A History of the Standard Oil Company," and of many magazine articles on history and current subjects.
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HISTORY OF REDDING.
John Ward Stimson, artist, author and lecturer, has resided for two years past in the old historic Dr. Gorham house near the Center. Was born in Paterson, N. J., Dec. 16, 1850; graduated at Yale, 1872, and at the Ecole des Beaux Ars, Paris.' Became lecturer and teacher of Art at Princeton University ; later for four years was director of the Art Schools of the Metropolitan Museum, New York. In 1888 he founded the Artist-Artisan Institute of New York. Later was director of the Art and Science Institution of Trenton, N. J. Has been for some time As- sociate editor of the Arena, author of "The Law of Three Primaries," "Principles of Vital Art Education," "The Gate Beautiful," "Wander- ing Chords," and of many poems and articles in leading magazines and. newspapers.
Prof. Frank F. Abbott, of Chicago University (see sketch in Chapter XIX), has a summer residence in Redding, the old home of his father, Deacon Thaddeus M. Abbott, at the Center.
Dora Read Goodale, widely known for her three books of poems (with her sister Elaine, now Mrs. Eastman), "Apple Blossoms," 1878; "In Berkshire with the Wild Flowers," 1879, and "All Round the Year," 1880, resides with her mother in the former home of Walter Sanford in the Center. Her mother, Mrs. Dora Read Goodale, is a frequent con- tributor to the press.
Prof. Lucien M. Underwood, Professor of Botany in Columbia Uni- versity since 1896, was born in New Woodstock, N. Y., Oct. 26, 1863. Graduated, Syracuse University, 1877. Is author of "Descriptive Cata- logue of North American Hepaticae," 1844; "Moulds, Mildews and Mushrooms," 1899; "Our Native Ferns and their Allies," 1900; "Our Native Ferns and how to Study Them," 1901.
Mrs. Kate V. Saint Maur has occupied for several seasons the old Grumman place on the West Side. Mrs. Saint Maur is the author of a book, "A Self-Supporting Home," which has attracted much attention.
Miss Frances V. Warner, who has recently become a property owner in Redding, is by birth a Philadelphian, of Quaker ancestry, the first Philadelphia Warner having arrived there before William Penn him- self,-before there was a named settlement there even. She has written a great deal for the magazines, but as Associate Editor of Pearson's Magazine is far too busy with other people's writing to attempt any books of her own.
William E. Grumman, a native and resident of Redding, in his first book, "Revolutionary Soldiers of Redding, Conn." has shown skill in research and fine literary ability, and will, no doubt, in the future, be- come well known in his chosen field.
PROF. DANIEL SANFORD.
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HISTORY OF REDDING.
CHAPTER XXII.
The Redding Institute, Re-organized 1905 as the Sanford School.
One of the youngest and most important institutions of Redding is the Sanford School, a re-incarnation on broader and more modern lines of the old Redding Institute, which many of our citizens as well as scores. of gray-haired graduates in every state and clime will remember.
This school was founded in the Fall of 1847, by Daniel Sanford, M. A., who, after securing a thorough education at Wesleyan University and spending several years as a teacher in White Plains, N. Y., returned to Redding, built a large and well appointed school house adjoining his dwelling on Redding Ridge, and opened a boarding and day school for boys. Mr. Sanford was a man of force and character, and because of this and of his influential family connections, his school soon attained a national reputation, his forms being filled with boys from the first fami- lies of New York, Brooklyn, and the Southern states, with not a few from foreign countries.
In 1851 he secured the services of Edward P. Shaw, M. A., a gradu- ate of Wesleyan University, who continued with him as teacher until 1867, when Mr. Sanford retired, and Mr. Shaw became principal and conducted the school successfully until 1873, when a family bereavement joined to advancing years, led him to discontinue it, although he con- tinued a resident of Redding until his death in 1904.
A few years before his death the present writer called upon his old preceptor and in the course of conversation remarked on the number of notable men who had received their education in whole or in part at his school.
"Yes," said he, "our boys have done pretty well. There is C. B. Thomas, at one time Governor of Colorado, and the silver-tongued ora- tor who put Bryan in nomination for the Presidency. The Rev. Charles E. Briggs of 'Higher Criticism' fame, was another of our scholars. The Rev. Arthur B. Sanford, prominent clergyman, and for some years as- sistant editor of the Methodist Review; Prof. Daniel Sanford, of the Brookline, Mass., High School, a leading educator ; Prof. Myron R. San- ford, of Middlebury College, Vermont, author and lecturer; Marshall S. Driggs, President of the Williamsburgh Fire Insurance Company, and connected with many other great corporations of the Metropolis; Fred- erick Benedict, of the well known jewelry firm of Benedict Brothers, on lower Broadway; Alfred Cammeyer, the great shoe merchant of New York; Theodore Sherwood, who has been superintendent and general manager of several of the great western trunk lines, with scores of suc-
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