SKIDDY, WILLIAM WHEELWRIGHT, a leading manufacturer of Stamford, was born in New York City, April 26th, 1845. He is of English ancestry and his forefathers came to this country before the Revolutionary War and settled in New York and Virginia. His father, a man of firm character and remarkable energy, was a naval architect, who, as such, did great service to his country in the War of 1813.

Mr. Skiddy was brought up in New York City and his parents were so situated as to be able to give him a good education before he started his business career. After attending the local public schools he was sent to the celebrated Russell Military School at New Haven. Later he went to Yale where he was graduated with the class of 1865, receiving the degree of Ph.B. After graduation he became a clerk in the Wall Street office of his uncle, Francis Skiddy, where he remained two years and became interested in the coal mining business, in which he was subsequently engaged for eight years. In 1875 he became connected with the Stamford Manufacturing Company and, in 1887, he was made its president. He is also a director of the Stamford National Bank, of the Stamford Savings Bank, and of the Stamford Trust Company. These enterprises have derived the benefit of his executive genius, his untiring energy, and his determination to overcome every obstacle to progress. It is a well known fact that Mr. Skiddy's fruitful activities have not been confined to business life. He has been prominent in politics, in the state militia, and in church affairs. In 1884 and again in 1893 he was sent by the Democrats as a state delegate to the national convention. After a highly creditable service in the militia, he was made state commissary general during the administration of Governor Waller. Since 1875 he has been vestryman of St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church, and has several times been sent as a lay delegate from Connecticut to the general convention and to the diocesan convention of his church, and has been for many years treasurer of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America, He is a member of several prominent clubs, among them the Church Club and the University Club of New York, and he is one of Yale's most active alumni. Although his business affairs take up a great portion of his time, he is fond of all outdoor athletic sports and finds them helpful as a relaxation from his daily work.

In 1867 Mr. Skiddy was married to Eleanor M. Gay. He has had three children, two of whom are living. William died in 1901; Lillie is now Mrs. Willard Parker, Jr., and Adele is now Mrs. E. W. Carle.

Honesty, truthfulness, courage, and, above all, character—these have been his ideals in life. They were traits well marked in his father, and ones which he himself inherited and has conscientiously cultivated. The early moral and spiritual teachings of his father and mother left a lasting impression on his life, and to their influence he attributes all the good he has accomplished in life. He is an ardent reader and has drawn many helpful inspirations from the lives of prominent men and from novels descriptive of character. He was fortunate in starting his active career equipped with a thorough education and under the guidance of his uncle; and, when he was thrown on his own resources, he soon displayed that high executive ability which has brought prosperity to himself and to all institutions with which he has been connected.  Men of Mark Index

SPERRY, ELLIE NEWTON, manufacturer, was born in Woodbridge, New Haven County, Connecticut, January 18th, 1857. His father, Milo D. Sperry, son of Elihu and Anna (Lines) Sperry, was a hard-working farmer, of sterling honesty, who married Mary Lucinda, daughter of Lewis and Lucinda (Higgins) Newton of Woodbridge. His first ancestor in America was Richard Sperry, a native of Wales, who arrived in the New Haven Colony about 1643.

Ellie Newton Sperry was a child in the possession of fair health, brought up in the country, and accustomed to hard work on his father's farm from his very early boyhood. Farm work was distasteful to the ambitious lad and his inclination was in the direction of machinery and manufacturing. His mother was his moral guide and her example and patient helpfulness largely directed his life. His school training was limited to the primary school and to self-instruction largely derived from books on mechanics and manufacturing.

His duty to his family enforced him to remain on the farm until he was twenty-five years of age and in the meantime he had married, October 8th, 1879, Lida Adaline, daughter of Marcus Earl and Martha Ann (Peck) Baldwin of Woodbridge. They have two children. Bertha Lida, born February 1, 1881, and Ralph Milo, born May 10th, 1883.

In 1882 he left the farm and took a position in a manufacturing concern, which change in vocation was the beginning of a successful life work. The business he engaged in was carried on by the Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport and he rose to the position of treasurer and general manager and in 1892 resigned his official position to organize the Bridgeport Hardware Manufacturing Company. This business he sold out in 1902 and returned to the Monumental Bronze Company and soon after was elected president of the concern.

He served his adopted city as an alderman and president of the board; a police commissioner and president of the board of police; a member of the board of charities; as president of the Bridgeport Board of Trade, and in various other capacities where his duty or the choice of his fellow citizens called him. He has been a director of the Bridgeport National Bank since 1890, and a trustee, receiver, or agent of numerous estates, etc. As a manufacturer he has taken out several patents used in the business. He is a member of the Seaside, Brook-lawn Country, and Yacht clubs of Bridgeport and was for a time governor of the Bridgeport Yacht Club. His political affiliation is with the Republican party and he has never found occasion to change his allegiance to that party. He attends the Congregational Church and is a liberal contributor to the various charities directed by that denomination.

To young men Mr. Sperry gives this advice: "Be honest, systematic, work early and late, never be afraid that you will do more than your share, and strike when the iron is hot."  Men of Mark Index

WALDO, GEORGE CURTIS, editor-in-chief and president of the Standard Association, Bridgeport, Connecticut, was born in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, March 20th, 1837. His father was the Kev. Josiah Crosby Waldo, a good speaker and debater and a leading minister of the Universalist denomination, founded by his father-in-law, the Kev. Hosea Ballou. Mr. Waldo's mother was Elmina Ruth Ballou. Through his father Mr. Waldo is descended from Deacon Cornelius Waldo who came from England to Ipswich, Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1634. John Waldo, the deacon's son, settled in Chelmsford, Massachusetts Bay, in 1676.

George Curtis Waldo as a child showed special taste and interest in general literature and in art. His mother being a writer and poet encouraged the literary taste in the boy and helped him in his intellectual work. His boyhood's recreation was found in the woods, where with rod and gun he took long walks in pursuit of fish and game and forgot for a time his books. He read everything he could find, and when fourteen years of age had read all of Scott's and Cooper's works, and could repeat "The Lady of the Lake," "Marmion,” and other poems by Scott and many of Byron's poems. He had also mastered many of the poems of Pope, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Burns, etc. He was prepared for college at The Troy (New York) Academy, after having passed through the Public schools of West Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was graduated at Tufts College, Massachusetts, A.B., 1860, receiving his A.M. degree later. He served as corporal in Company E, Second Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers, commanded by Col. A. H. Terry, in the first call for three months' men in 1861. He then studied both law and medicine in New London, Connecticut, and in 1867 began newspaper work on the Bridgeport Daily Standard as local reporter. He continued with the paper during his active business life as associate editor, editor-in-chief, and as president of the Standard Association. He served his adopted city as a member of the board of education for five years and as a member of the board of directors of the Bridgeport Public Library for sixteen years. He served his adopted state as a member of the board of Shell Fish Commissioners from 1889 and as chairman of the board for ten years, and as a member of the board of directors of the State Insane Hospital at Norwich, by appointment of Governor Chamberlain.

He was married in New Orleans, Louisiana, November 11th, 1874, to Annie, daughter of Frederick and Matilda Brooks Frye, and the four children born of this marriage are now living. They are Selden Connor, Rosalie Hillman (Mrs. Roland Hawley Mallory of New York City), Maturin Ballou, and George Curtis, Jr. He is a member of Christ Church, Bridgeport, and served as a member of the vestry from 1876 and as Junior warden for five years. He was president of the Eclectic, Press, and Seaside clubs of Bridgeport, secretary of the Bridgeport Scientific Society, vice-president of the Fairfield County Historical Society, a director of the Young Men's Christian Association, and declined the appointment as commissary genera] on the staff of Governor P. C. Lounsbury. He is a comrade of the Grand Army of the Republic, Post Elias Howe Jr. No. 3, and of the Army and Navy Club of Connecticut. He received the honorary degree of Litterarum Doctor from Tufts College in 1898.  Men of Mark Index

WALSH, JAMES FRANCIS, lawyer, politician, and public official of Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut, at present judge of the Criminal Court of Common Pleas of Fairfield County, was born in Lewisboro, Westchester County, New York, March 15th, 1864. He is the son of James F. Walsh, a blacksmith by trade, and Annie E. Walsh. Soon after his birth the family moved to Ridgefield, Connecticut, where his boyhood was spent and where he received a common school education.

At eighteen James F. Walsh left Ridgefield and went to Greenwich to study law with his brother, the Hon. R. Jay Walsh. In January, 1888, he was admitted to the Fairfield County Bar and immediately opened an office of his own for the practice of law and he has maintained it ever since and has built up in the meantime a successful and extensive practice. In 1888 he was appointed prosecuting agent for the county commissioners and in 1899 prosecuting attorney of the borough court of Greenwich, both of which offices he held until 1905. In 1900 he was chosen by the Republican party, of which he has been an active and loyal member since his majority, as State representative, and during his term of office he was chairman of the committee on railroads. In 1903 he was elected State senator and was leader of the Senate during his term of office. In 1905 and 1906 he was treasurer of State and in 1905 he was appointed to his present office of judge of the Criminal Court of Common Pleas for Fairfield County. His term of office will expire in July, 1909.

He entered upon his public life at a time when the history of Greenwich was undergoing a crisis and in the transition from old time conservatism to its present modern and progressive state he was one of the chief powers at work. Then, as now, he was intensely interested in the highest welfare of his town and untiring in his efforts to bring about every possible betterment of public conditions.

In addition to his professional and political interests Judge Walsh has been extensively interested in real estate. He is a director in and treasurer of the Byram Land Improvement Company, a director in and secretary of the Greenwich Gas and Electric Lighting Company, a director in and treasurer of The Riverside Water Company, and a director in and attorney for the National Investment Company.

He is a member of Christ Church (Episcopal), of the Indian Harbor Yacht Club, the Riverside Yacht Club, the Hartford Club, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

On April 11th, 1893, Judge Walsh was united in marriage to Emily Gene Tweedale of Portchester, New York. No children have been born to them.  Men of Mark Index

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