Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Our subject, who is the youngest of this trio, spent much of his boyhood at the old farm in Redding. For some time he attended the local schools, and later he took a course in the Greens Farms Academy at Westport, graduat- ing at the age of sixteen. The next four years were devoted to helping his father in the busi- ness of stock raising, and at twenty years of age he went west on a prospecting tour, spending about a year in Iowa. The more he saw of other places the more he appreciated the advantages of this section, and in the spring of 1869 he returned to Redding to resume the business of stock raising. In the fall of 1872 he went to Bridgeport, and entered the employ of the Adams Express Com- pany, but, his health failing he, in the spring of 1874, removed to New Britain and engaged in business as a dealer in hats, caps, and gents' fur- nishing goods, as a member of the firm of Broth- erton & Miller. In 1875 he sold his interest to his partner and returned to Redding, where he remained until his marriage, October 25, 1876, to Miss Frances W. Coley, of Danbury. He and his bride visited the Centennial Exposition, and then went to Iowa for the winter, and in the spring they made a trip to Texas, where Mr. Miller wished to make personal observations in the cattle business. Leaving his wife at Gaines- ville, Texas, he went through the Pan Handle region with two friends, his experiences while "roughing it " being very interesting. Buffalo and other game were plentiful on the plains, and their journeys through the hills were sometimes broken by deep falls of snow. The cowboys whom they met treated them royally, and Mr. Miller speaks of them in the highest terms. On the way back to Connecticut he and his wife vis- ited some Southern States, and for one year after their return they resided in Danbury, but in the spring of 1879 Mr. Miller purchased a homestead in Redding, while in 1883 and 1889 he was elected to the Legislature. In 1895 he was nominated on the first ballot by the Repub- licans of Fairfield county for the office of county commissioner, he being considered one of the ablest workers in his party. On September 12, 1898, he was elected chairman of the State Cen- tral Committee for the Fifteenth Senatorial Dis- trict; on January 23, 1899, he was elected county commissioner for a second term. Mr. Miller and his wife have three children: Howard C, now (1899) a lad of eighteen; Ed- mund J. and Francis B. Mrs. Miller is popular in Danbury, where her youth was spent. Her father, Wakeman Coley, who died when she was two years old, was a resident of Weston, this county, and her mother, whose maiden name was Anna Augusta Sanford, was a member of a lead- ing family in Redding. Mrs. Miller is a direct descendant of Joel Barlow, poet, statesman and diplomat, and also a direct descendant of Col. Aaron Barlow, of Revolutionary fame. RS. M. A. MERRILL. The president and proprietor of the Merrill College, this capable and talented woman needs no introduc- tion to the readers of this volume. By her own energy in and persistent devotion to her particu- lar line of work she has made for herself a worthy natne among educators everywhere in this sec- tion, and placed the institution, of which she is at the head, in the foremost rank among those of its kind. Mrs. Merrill's maiden name was Har- riet E. Mills, and she is a native of Cornwall-on- Hudson, N. Y. She has for a number of years followed her present profession, having, prior to her marriage, taught in private schools in New York City and Norwalk, Conn. In 1883 she be- came the wife of M. A. Merrill, instructor in classics in Dr. Warring's Preparatory School for Boys, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., who died in 1886. For some time Mrs. Merrill was the principal, and had entire management of a business school in Hartford, Conn., and in 1888 she established herself in Stamford, Fairfield Co., Conn., open- ing a school of which the Merrill College is the outgrowth. Mrs. Merrill's first school, known as the Mer- rill Phonographic Academy, occupied one large room in the Ayres Block, and only two branches of study — shorthand and typewriting — were taught. Another room was soon found neces- sary, and at the end of the first eight months, to meet a growing demand in that direction, a bookkeeping department was added. With the beginning of the second year more space was secured, a commercial department, suitably equipped, was opened in the day school, and the t.:>i--l'i ^:'Jrl■: ■,-<:■ -m'T i\\ ' iiu-in.A';i"<' i i;> ■ . I a -'y'i •■^. ^ij; ;.l(0 I'm:.!-; .O^; //, . rflffi'.ir .1;,- ;.: , .1!,: .|ri<,:| r. -y '. ■,>') ,;i l.-irioi-. 274 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. name was changed to the Merrill Business Col- lege. When the school entered upon the third year of its career, two floors of the building were leased and handsome new fittings were put in, with facilities for the conducting of two new de- partments— an English department and one for the study of telegraphy. Since then depart- ments for the study of architecture and the fine arts have been added, and the school is now known as the Merrill College, with Mrs. Merrill as president and sole owner. It is not often that even the most industrious and enterprising are rewarded with such a degree of success as has come to this lady. Those who ha\e had the opportunity of watching the steady and rapid growth which this school has experienced from the start are filled with amazement at its present attainments andx;apacity. From the date of its comparatively humble beginning eleven years ago to the present time the history of its expan- sion, both as to size and usefulness, is full of interest. Each year the facilities have broad- ened, the standard raised, the equipment en- larged, and the high rank of the college among kindred institutions made more and more ap- parent by the patronage and commendation of competent judges. In the spring of 1895 Merrill College was re- moved to its present home, a building planned and erected expressly for its use, and fitted up in the most approved modern style, with special attention to the sanitation, which is perfect throughout. The assembly hall, 40 x So feet in dimensions, occupies the center of the first floor, and adjoining, on the first floor, are the college and school offices, typewriting and reception rooms, main corridor, coat rooms, etc. The second floor is on two sides indicated by gal- leries, from which may be viewed the large audi- torium, and the entire front part of this story is devoted to the English school, which opens on the north gallery. This department is replete with appropriate furnishings, and in the char- acter of its work is separate and distinct from the others. A library, reading-room, studio and lunch-room open on the east gallery. Merrill College is not remarkable only for its material improvement. It has gained a wonder- ful reputation for the many able students gradu- ated and the great number who through its in- fluence, especially in New York City, have been placed in good positions in business houses, it iiaving been said, and truthfully, that this school provides ninety per cent, of tfie graduates with profitable emploj'ment. The general courses are taught in different departments, viz.: The de- partment of Commerce, department of Short- hand and Typewriting, department of English, department of Art, department of Architecture and department of Telegraphy. Evening school is held on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. The instructors are all carefully chosen, and have the personal as well as intellectual interests of the students at heart, tolerating none whose intention is not work, and giving encourage- ment and help in every possible way, their aim being to make the graduates useful and success- ful men and women, as far as practical. The influence cannot be otherwise than refining and stimulating to all the better faculties, and, locally, the school is regarded as adding considerably to Stamford's standing as an educational center. Unique in its methods, and devoted entirely to the preparation of young men and women for practical, wage-earning work in the commercial and manufacturing world, it occupies a field peculiar to itself, and one of no inconsiderable irriportance and value in the economy of modern business. Its prestige throughout New England is a source of pride to the citizens of Stamford, and its benefits are fully recognized and ap- preciated in that and the neighboring towns, where it draws its support, as well as by the busi- ness public of New York and other cities where graduates are employed. GEORGE MORGAN. For several genera- _, tions the Morgan family has been identified with this county, and the name has always been associated with industry, thrift and intelligence. The subject of this biography, a prominent citi- zen of Bethel, was born in Wolf Pits District, in the same town, April 29, 1828, the son of Eli Morgan and grandson of Abijah Morgan, both of whom were natives of this county. Abijah Morgan was born in the town of Red- ding, where he spent his boyhood, but he after- ward located in Bethel and for many years fol- lowed the cooper's trade there successfully. He was an excellent citizen, and was a regular at- tendant of the Episcopal Church at Redding. The family is noted for longevity, and he attained the advanced age of eighty-four years. His wife, whose maiden name was Molly Williams, was a native of the town of Bethel. Four chil- dren were born to them: Eli, our subject's father; Sally, who married Lodovick Dart, of Red- ding, and died at the age of ninety-three; Melinda (deceased), formerly the wife of Mr. Hickok, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y. ; and Edson, who died at the age of seventy-eight. I'Zli Morgan, the father of our subject, was born August 11, 1791, in Wolf Pits District, I,: -f II' ),} ^i,JJ ■ "'1' ■; t" -'fnofioj," ■'''•! r] ■■ . "' ' ''■■ '■■■: ■■'il ji . : ;u4 to : ' :'■ \1\ U- .1'. ■■huiiVi ■ . ; L, ^ij.:f .(;o. Jf .v.hm;-:' ..• .; '.I. .'I iii'l " , I >.' . ' COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 275