Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

ployed on the Saratoga line he averted a collision on the Gansvort grade. There had been an ac- cident on the Vermont branch caused by a land- slide, and the train was off thirteen rails. A spe- cial train, loaded with flour, was on its way from Saratoga to lioston. Here we give Mr. Oliver's own version of the affair: " Mr. Van Renssaeler, the superintendent, was so an.xious to save time that he decided to go on with the flour train and meet the expected passenger train. The master mechanic, W. B. Gage, told me to take a lan- tern and go with them, Mr. Van Renssaeler and myself riding on the engine. We knew there was a reckless engineer running the flour train. When we arrived at Gansvort station it was dark, and we had a long grade to go down with a bridge at the foot of it. There was a curve on the cut be- yond. Knowing this, I suggested to Mr. Van- Renssaeler that I take a gang of trackmen and a handcar and go ahead of the train. The engine that was coming was a day engine with no head- light. Our train was too heavy to be stopped readily, which made the situation more hazard- ous; but I got the men and started on. It was several miles to the cut, and when in it and on the curve, the only place where I could have seen the train far enough away to avert the disaster, I saw the flash of the lights in the car windows, although neither engineer could see my light. I left my car and ran toward the flour train swinging my lantern. It seemed as if I should never hear the signal 'down brakes ' from either train; but it came just in time, and the trains were stopped when the engines were so close to- gether that I stood with one foot on each cow- catcher." Mr. Taylor's last work at railroading on the C. & R. I. R. R. at Rock Island was repairing the old pioneer engine " Essex," built in Boston or Lowell, Mass. It might here be also men- tioned that when he was on the canal or New Haven & Northampton railroad in 1849 Seth Thomas presented him with a marine clock, which Mr. Taylor thinks was the first clock ever used on a locomotive in America. It kept good time, and they are now in general use. On giving up railroading Mr. Taylor en- gaged in a general blacksmithing business at Rock Island, under the firm name of H. M. Adams & Co., and for four years was connected with what was known as a "jobbing shop," do- ing work for railroads and steamboats, and fur- nishing the iron work for the piers for the first bridge built across the Mississippi at that point. They did a one-hundred-doilar job on the steamer " Effie Afton," bound for St. Paul, Minn., the day she was burned, and a span of the bridge floated COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 253: down the river on the wreck, which was what started the first lawsuit between the railroads and the steamboat men. They fitted out Mormon trains for Salt Lake and many emigrants for the far West, and ran a stage line by the rapids in summer, up the Mississippi river. From that place Mr. Taylor went to Iowa City, where he speculated in grain and " wild-cat money." His last transaction in the latter line was the sale of some paper of the Florence Bank, a Nebraska institution, to a Western man by the name of of Austin Corbin, later a great railroad magnate of New York. Mr. Taylor's ne.xt venture was in the shipping business in New York City, which he continued until shortly before the Civil war. He then became a broker, his first office being at No. 23 William street, New York, but on the day that Fort Sumter was fired on he moved into an office in Wall street, where he continued in business some eighteen years under the firm name of Taylor & Co On February 2, 1864, Mr. Taylor married Miss Valeria Pearce, daughter of Alvah S. Pearce, and three children have blessed the union: (i) Josephine married Samuel T. Penny (now de- ceased), and they had two children — Louise and Samaola. (2) Miss Grace married Alfred Penny, April 20, 1899. (3) Oliver P. is at home. HENRY C. MEAD, a well-known agricultur- ist of Greenwich township, Fairfield county, is a worthy representative of one of the best old families of that region, for the Meads have al- ways borne an enviable reputation as industrious, thrifty and valuable citizens. He is a native of the township, born June 16, 1850, a son of Abram and Jane (Selleck) Mead. The great-grandfather of Henry C. Mead was Abram Mead, whose son. Job, reared a family of five children, namely: Zaccheus, Abram, Amanda, Eliza and Emeline. Of these, Abram was born in Clapboard Ridge District, and was but a young boy when his parents settled on the farm where he spent his days. He was educated in the primitive schools in vogue during his boy- hood, and grew up to the knowledge of farming under his father's instruction, proving an apt pupil in that line. After his father's death the home farm came into his possession, and he dis- played more than ordinary ability in its manage- ment and cultivation, always seeming to get the best results, and wresting more than a mere liv- ing from the soil. He added to the tract as in- creasing means enabled him, and at the time of his death was the owner of 300 acres of arable land. He passed away in January, 1867, at the age of sixty-five years, highly respected by his neighbors, among whom he had a wide acquaint- ance. His remains were interred in the ceme- tery of the Congregational Church at Greenwich, of which he was a member. He was a Repub- lican politically. Mr. Mead married Abigail Sel- leck, who was born in Greenwich township, daughter of Sands Selleck, and seven children were born to their marriage, viz.: Henry C, the subject of this sketch; Elsie, deceased wife of Abram Close; Samuel, who has a butcher and grocery business at Five-Mile River, Fairfield county; Etneline (Mrs. Isaac Wilson), of Green- wich township; A. L. , a farmer of Greenwich township; William E., also a farmer of Green- wich; and Frederick, of Five-Mile River. The mother, now aged seventy years, is passing her declining years on the old homestead with her son, A. L. Henry C. Mead was given a good practical education, which was commenced in the " meet- ing house " school in Greenwich village, during which time, for the greater part of two years, he lived with his uncle, Zaccheus Mead, whose home was near the village. Later he was a pu- pil in the schools at Round Hill and Peck's Land, there being no school at that time in Clapboard Ridge, and then for some time in a school which had been established in Clapboard Ridge Dis- trict. He completed his literary training at Greenwich Academy under Prof. Shepherd, being obliged to leave on account of his father's death, which threw a great deal of responsibility on his shoulders, as he was the eldest son. However, he cheerfully set about the work which had fallen to his lot, aad proved a great help to his mother, who with his assistance was able to rear her large family in comfort. In 1872 Mr. Mead wed- ded Isabella La Forge, who was a native of New York City, daughter of B. S. La Forge, and they commenced housekeeping in April, living on a rented farm. About three years later they came to the place where they have since had their home, at that time a twenty-five-acre tract with but one building on it, a barn. The house which the family has occupied was erected by Mr. Mead in 1875, and he has put up all the buildings on his farm with the e.xception of the barn above mentioned, which has been remodeled and improved. As he prospered he has been able to add to the original tract, and is now the possessor of one hundred acres of fine land, to the cultivation and improvement of which he devotes all his time and attention. Mr. Mead formerly carried on a dairy business in addition to managing his farm, disposing of his own pro- duce in that line, but this he has discontinued. 254 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. Mr. Mead is a stanch Republican in political belief, but he likes to see the best man elected, especially in local office, and, while not a poli- tician in the ordinary sense of the word, is will- ing to assist to that end. Personally he is not an office seeker, but he has served his township in various capacities, and has been a member of the school committee of Clapboard Ridge Dis- trict. It was mainly through his efforts that that district secured its present school house, and he served on the building committee during its erection. Mr. and Mrs. Mead have two chil- dren living: Clara B., who is attending school; and Chester R. ; Edith H., Seguine L., Henry S. and Grace M. died in childhood. WILLIAM GREGORY. One of the oldest homesteads of the town of Norwalk is that of the Gregory family, as it has been handed down from one generation to another since pio- neer times. At the time that John Gregory, the ^reat-grandfather of the respected citizen whose name opens this sketch, came from England and settled upon the homestead, the land was in a primitive condition, footpaths here and there through the wilderness being the only sign of human life. He engaged in farming in true pio- neer style, building a home and helping to de- velop the locality by cutting roads in various di- rections. He married and reared a family of children, among whom was a son, Denton, the grandfather of our subject. Denton Gregory was born at the old home, and passed his life there in agricultural pursuits except for a period spent as a soldier in the Revolutionary army. His remains now rest in an old burial ground near the homestead, together with those of his wife, Elizabeth (Sherwood), -of Jamaica, Long Island. They had seven children, viz. : John, Samuel, Josiah, Elizabeth, Mary, Clemens and Denton, none of whom are now living. All settled within two miles of their early home except Mary, who married Samuel Sterling and removed to the West.