Trails to the Past

Connecticut

Tolland County

BELDING, ALVAH  NORTON, one of the most prominent and progressive silk manufacturers in the country, was born in Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, March 27th, 1838. He is descended from an old and historic New England family, and bears a name well known in the industrial world.

Going back six generations from Mr. Belding we find William Belding, who was one of the earliest settlers at Wethersfield, Connecticut. His son Daniel was a man of historic fame in the town of Deerfield, Massachusetts. On September 16th, 1696, during King William's War, the greater part of his family was either killed or captured in the encounter with the Indians in that town. Daniel Belding was made prisoner and taken captive to Canada. John Belding, grandson of Daniel, was a soldier in the War of the Revolution. Hiram, his son, and the father of Alvah N. Belding, the subject of this biography, was born at Ashfield, Massachusetts, in 1802, in the old Belding homestead. His occupation was first school teacher, then farmer and merchant. His wife, Mr. Belding's mother, was Mary Wilson, a woman of strong Christian character and gentle disposition, who created in her home an ideal family life, teaching her sons the great lesson of obedience.

The boy, Alvah N. Belding, spent his youth in the country town of Ashfield, acquiring his education in the public and high schools of that town. His physical condition was good, and he was not afraid to work. At sixteen he spent a season selling Jewelry on the road, with great success. This created a taste for mercantile business, which was to determine his career. In 1855, when Mr. Belding was seventeen years of age, his father moved his household to Otisco, Michigan, where he purchased a large tract of unfilled land. The pioneer family set to work to cultivate and farm this land, and thus started the town of Belding, Michigan. Alvah N. Belding joined with the others in the persistent labor of cultivating their farm, until the store was erected in which his father conducted mercantile business until his death in 1866, but Mr.

Belding was more interested in trade than in agriculture, and when his labors were no longer needed on the farm, he engaged in the business of selling silk.

With his brother, H. H. Belding, he formed a partnership known as Belding Brothers just before the opening of the Civil War. In 1863, they opened a store in Chicago, and started a silk factory in Rockville, Connecticut, of which Mr. Belding was made manager. Through his enterprise, this business has grown until it requires the employment of five hundred hands to turn out its silk threads and fabrics. He established a plant in Montreal for the manufacture of ribbons, and in 1877, planned and built another in Belding, Massachusetts, which was afterwards sold to a syndicate in which Mr. Belding became a prominent stockholder. Later he built still another mill in Belding, Michigan, which has been a very great factor in the growth and importance of that town. There are now six of these mills, personally supervised by Mr. Belding, and built from his planning. In these mills over three thousand people find employment, and a ton of raw silk is utilized daily, with an annual product of $5,000,000. In 1883 the entire business was reorganized and incorporated under the laws of the State of Connecticut. The corporation has salesrooms and agencies all over the United States, and has developed with wonderful steadiness and rapidity. This prosperity and growth are largely due to the rare executive ability and energy of Mr. Belding, who fills the responsible positions of vice-president and secretary of the corporation, and has the entire management of the mills at Rockville, where he has made his home since 1869.

In 1870, the year after he went to Rockville to live, Mr. Belding married Lizzie Smith Merrick. Three children have been born to them, of whom two are now living, Florence M. and Frederick N. Mr. Belding is a popular and active citizen of Rockville, and bears an important part in its prosperity. His numerous business positions and duties make it impossible for him to accept many other offices, but he is a staunch Republican, and represented his town in the Connecticut Legislature in 1882, being elected by a very large majority.

Though not devoted to athletics, Mr. Belding is fond of driving a good horse, and has always been vigorous and active. As a business man he is prompt, capable and systematic. As vice-president and secretary of Belding Brothers & Company, president of the Belding Land and Improvement Company of Belding, Michigan, and director of the Belding Paul Co., Montreal, Canada, of the Carlson Curvier Company of San Francisco, of the Spenser Electric Light and Power Company of Belding, Michigan, of the savings hank of that town, of the American Mills Company of Rockville, Connecticut, and of the national and savings banks of Rockville, Mr. Belding proves himself indeed a successful "captain of industry," whose youthful ambition to succeed has been admirably fulfilled in the mature man.

HAMMOND, A. PARK, treasurer of the New England Company, woolen manufacturers, president of the Rockville National Bank and in many other ways a prominent citizen of Rockville, was born in Vernon, Tolland County, Connecticut, June 24th, 1835. He is descended from Thomas Hammond, who was one of the followers of William the Conqueror, when he invaded England, and whose name appears on the Battle Abbey Roll, and from a later Thomas Hammond, who came from Lavenham, England, to Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1636. Mr. Hammond's father was Allen Hammond, a woolen manufacturer and a man who devoted much time and energy to promoting the growth of business and religion in his native town. Mr. Hammond's mother was Ona Park Hammond, and her share in shaping his character and life plans was an important one.

After acquiring the education afforded by the public schools of Rockville, Mr. Hammond attended a private school in Ellington and later took a course in a polytechnic school. He then began his experience in the manufacturing business in the employ of the New England Company of Rockville. After spending four years in the manufacturing department he was taken into the office to learn the financial and clerical side of the business. In 1879 he became treasurer of the company, the position which his father had held for twenty-five years.

During the Civil War Mr. Hammond was a member of Company D, 14th Connecticut Volunteers, having been captain in the state militia previous to 1861. He commanded a company at the Battle of Antietam, and this won his membership in the Burpee Post, G. A. R. He is also a member of the Army and Navy Club of Connecticut.

Business and military interests, though engaged in with thoroughness and success, have not been the only ones in Mr. Hammond's life. He is a consistent Republican and has held public office several times. He represented the town of Vernon in the General Assembly in 1869, and was in the common council of Rockville for three years. He was city alderman in 1895-6. Mr. Hammond has many strong fraternal ties. He is a Mason, a Knight Templar, Washington Commandery No. 1, and a Shriner. He is a Congregationalist in his religious affiliations.

Mr. Hammond has been twice married. His first wife, whom he married in 1859, was Lois Cone Bissell. She died in 1872, leaving three children. Mr. Hammond's present wife was Augusta S. Bissell.

The extent to which Mr. Hammond has made his life count is shown in his responsible part in the industrial and financial life of his community. In addition to being treasurer of the New England Company and president of the Rockville National Bank he is president of the Rockville Water and Aqueduct Company, formerly treasurer of the Rockville Railroad and president of the Rockville Building and Loan Association. He has followed his father's example in the zealous promotion of public welfare as completely as he has in the attainment of personal success.

MAXWELL, COL. FRANCIS TAYLOR, State senator and treasurer of the Hockanum Manufacturing Company, was born in Rockville, Tolland County, Connecticut, January 4th, 1861. He is the son of the late Hon. George Maxwell and Harriet Kellogg Maxwell. His father was treasurer of the Hockanum Company and one of the most prominent men of his town. George Maxwell founded the Rockville Public Library and was greatly interested in the Congregational Church of which he was a deacon.

The founder of the Maxwell family in America was Hugh Maxwell, who came to this country in 1733. He, like the other ancestors, was of Scotch-Irish descent. He bore a distinguished part in the French and Indian and Revolutionary wars, and was wounded at the battle of Bunker Hill, in which he took part as captain of a company of minute men.

Spending his youth in the town of Rockville, Colonel Maxwell received his education at the public schools of that town. He was an earnest student and was graduated from the Rockville High School in the class of 1878. He entered immediately upon his business career, his first position being with the Hockanum Manufacturing Company in 1878. He was soon made secretary of the company, and upon the death of his father he was made treasurer. Besides this position, which Colonel Maxwell still holds, there are many other offices which he fills. He is director in the New England and Springville manufacturing companies, in the Etna Indemnity Company of Hartford, in the Rockville National Bank, the Rockville Building and Loan Association, the National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford, and also in the Rockville Fire Insurance Company. Colonel Maxwell is a vice-president of the Connecticut Red Cross Society, a member of the American Geographical Society, the Metropolitan Museum, New York, and the Hartford Club. He is president of the Rockville Public Library, which his father founded. Colonel Maxwell takes an active interest in politics, and has always been a thorough Republican. In 1896, he served in the common council of Rockville, and in 1898 he represented the town of Vernon in the State Legislature, serving on the committee on insurance as chairman during his term of office. In 1900 he was State senator from the 23rd district, this time serving as chairman on the committee on education.

Besides his business and political positions, Colonel Maxwell has been active in military affairs. As colonel on the staff of Gov. Morgan G. Bulkeley, he represented his city and State at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893.

On November 18th, 1896, Colonel Maxwell married Florence Russell Parsons, whose ancestors were prominent Colonial settlers in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Three daughters have been born to Colonel and Mrs. Maxwell.

Colonel Maxwell is a member of the Society of Colonial Wars and of the Sons of the Revolution. He is a member of the Union Congregational Church, and in his church interests as well as in business and public service he consistently upholds the creditable example of his father.

MAXWELL, WILLIAM, secretary and treasurer of the Springville Manufacturing Company of Rockville, Tolland County, Connecticut, was born in that town, December 7th, 1862. The Maxwell family is of very old Scotch-Irish stock, and their first American ancestor was Hugh Maxwell, who came to America in 1733. He participated conspicuously in the French and Indian War, and in the Revolution; he was in action at Lake George and at Fort William Henry when Montcalm besieged it, and was one of the prisoners taken at that time. During the Revolution he was lieutenant of a company of minute men, who took part in the "Boston Tea Party," was wounded at Bunker Hill and was of the original thirteen men of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati. Mr. Maxwell's father was George Maxwell, a woolen manufacturer, treasurer and later president of the New England Company and treasurer and president of the Hockanum Company. He was a man of strongly religious temperament and of generous public spirit. Mr. Maxwell has never married and has made his home with his mother, Harriet Kellogg Maxwell, for the greater part of his life.

The schools of Rockville furnished Mr. Maxwell's early education until 1881, when he entered Yale University. During his college course he devoted some time to athletics, and was a prominent Yale athlete of that period. He was a member of the Mott Haven Athletic Team and made a very good record as a bicycle rider. He became a member of the college fraternity Psi Upsilon. After graduating from Yale in 1885 he went West and spent several months in North Dakota, before settling down to his life work, the manufacturing business.

Upon his return to Rockville Mr. Maxwell entered the Springville Manufacturing Company, and when the company was reorganized he became its secretary and assistant treasurer. After his father's death he succeeded to the responsible position of treasurer of the company. He is also a director in the Hockanum Company, the New England Company, the Rockville Building and Loan Association, the Aqueduct Company, the Rockville National Bank, and the savings bank of Rockville. He by no means confines his interest to the industrial and financial affairs of the community, for he has been city assessor, he is secretary of the Rockville Public Library, a member of the High School Committee and he has been clerk of the Union Ecclesiastical Society at Rockville. In creed he is a Congregationalist, and in political faith a Republican.

Though still a young man, comparatively speaking, Mr. Maxwell has been highly successful in business and has made his mark creditably and permanently in the industrial history of his time. The name of Maxwell bears an enviable reputation for integrity, enterprise and public spirit, a reputation that has had ample confirmation in Mr., William Maxwell.

HENRY, EDWARD STEVENS, prominent in the financial and political affairs of Rockville, Connecticut, public man, ex-congressman and extensive real estate owner, was born in Gill, Massachusetts, February 10th, 1836. The Henry family is of Scotch-Irish descent and traces its ancestry to Hugh Henry, a sturdy yeoman of northern England who fought under William of Orange in the Battle of the Boyne and whose son, Hugh Henry, came from Coleraine, Ireland, to Colerain, Massachusetts, in 1738 and founded the American branch of the family. Benjamin Henry, son of Hugh, was a soldier in the French and Indian Wars under General Putnam, was for seventeen years a member of Legislature and also participated in the Revolution. The present Mr. Henry's father was Edward Fish Henry, a teacher and farmer. Mr. Henry's mother was Eliza A. Stevens, and through her he is descended from early English colonists.

Edward Stevens Henry was the oldest of six children and began to take personal responsibilities at an early age. He was educated in the public schools of Rockville, Connecticut, and went into the dry goods business at the age of nineteen. At a very early age he became actively interested in the organization and management of the leading financial institutions of Rockville and in this work, in public service and the care of his large estate and cattle farms he has spent his life. He was an organizer and is the present treasurer of the People's Savings Bank of Rockville.

The public positions which Mr. Henry has held have been many and important. For fifteen years he was active trial justice at Rockville, in 1883 he was a member of the General Assembly, from 1887 to 1888 he was state senator, from 1889 to 1893 he was treasurer of state, in 1894 he was mayor of Rockville and in 1894 he was elected a member of Congress and re-elected in 1896. He then served in Congress until 1901 and his long term of office makes him justly deserve the title of "veteran Congressman." In 1888 he was delegate at large to the Republican National Committee at Chicago. As treasurer of state his services were especially efficient and commendable, for he took the office during a transition period under new laws and his management was most prosperous and prudent. During his term of office he abolished the state tax, thereby benefiting the poorer classes very greatly. While in the Legislature he did much for the advancement of agriculture and he is a director of the American Jersey Cattle Club. Some of Mr. Henry's greatest public services are embodied in the public building in Rockville known as the Henry Block and the Henry Opera House, which adds much to the appearance of the town and to the convenience of its people.

In 1860 Mr. Henry married Lucina Dewey, by whom he has had one child, a daughter. Mr. Henry is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, the fraternal order of Masons, the Connecticut Historical Society and he has been a loyal member of the Republican party ever since he attained the voting age. As a business man, a politician, and a citizen, Mr. Henry has been truly useful and successful.

On September 23rd, 1906, Mr. Henry was unanimously re-nominated for Congress.

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