Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

When the Taylor hat-felting machine was m- troduced into the large wool-hat factories of England, Mr. Henry Christie, a member of the English Parliament and head of the largest hat factories of the world, paid a visit to this country. When dining with Mr. Taylor at his residence in Danbury, Mr. Christie complimented him on his being the first inventor to solve the problem of sizing or felting hats by machinery, their firm having expended large sums for that purpose without success. Mr. Christie further extended his regards to Mr. Taylor with a special request to dine with him at an early day mentioned, at his private rooms at the " Fifth Avenue Hotel," in New York, which invitation, out of regard to Mr. Christie, Mr. Taylor could not in honor de- cline. The foreman or head superintendent of Christie's factories at the same time spent several dajs in the factory in Danbury in order to obtain a complete mastery of the opera- tion of the Taylor felting machines; so that there should be no failure in placing them in their fac- tory on his return to England. It is a singular fact, worthy of record, that the original patents on the roller system of felting hats issued both in this country and in England were never ques- tioned. The many large concerns in both this country and England using the machines paid their royalties of six cents per dozen without questioning the legality of the various patents taken out by Mr. Taylor, and this, together with his real estate and other investments, has brought him a handsome fortune. Among his other enter- prises, we may mention the building of the Opera House at Danbury, which was opened July 4, 1871, and it is to Mr. Taylor, also, that the financial success of Tlic Danbury Nci^'s, a paper of wide notoriety for its quaint and witty sayings, has been properly attributed, behaving furnished the funds for starting the paper under the man- agement of J. M. Baily and Timothy Donovan, both of whom were Union soldiers in the Civil war; they were both captured at the battle of Gettysburg, taken to Richmond, and on their parole returned to Danbury, where they entered upon the new enterprise as publishers. Their business has grown to be one of the largest estab- lishments of its kind in the country. While a member of the State Legislature in 1866 Mr. Taylor secured the charter for the Union Savings Bank of Danbury, which now has a deposit of over a million dollars, and on the organization he was appointed president, an office, however, which he early resigned in order to give his at- tention to the perfecting of his inventions. On September 3, 1850, Mr. Taylor married, for his first wife. Miss Sarah L. Sturdevant, daughter of Hiram L. and Loretta Sturdevant, well-known residents of Danbury. She passed to the unseen life April 10, 1891, and on March 30, 1893, Mr. Taylor formed a second matri- monial union, this time with Miss Clara Franks, daughter of the late Dr. Edward S. and Eliza (Livingston) Franks, the latter of whom, at the time of her marriage to the Doctor, was waiting- maid to the Queen of England. Mr. Taylor is the father of eleven children, all by the first mar- riage, their names, with dates of birth, etc., be- ing as follows: Edwin S., February 11, 1852, died July i, 1853. Ella S., October 30, 1853, married Eugene M. Bulkley, of Weston. How- ard, April 9, 1855, died April 2, 1862. Welford, November 26, 1856, died September 13, 1895. Bernard, August 16, 1858, married Miss Nellie Stone, and resides in Danbury. Sarah, October 2, i860, married Calvin Hickok, of Bethel, nephew of Professor Hickok, of Amherst Col- lege. Clifford, May 2, 1862, married Miss Ar- ville Moore, and lives at Danbury; in 1899 he was a member of the General Assembly of Con- necticut. Violetta, June 4, 1864, is the wife of William B. Wheeler, of Danbury. Roland, June 15, 1866, is unmarried. Estella, Novem- ber 17, 1867, is the wife of George Bateman, of Danbury. Samuel, April 6, 1870, married Miss Anna Murphy, and resides in Danbury. Mr. Taylor has always been keenly interested in political questions, as a Democrat, until the breaking out of the war, when he took an inde- pendent stand. His clearly defined ideas as to the issues of the time, and his well-proved integ- COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 171 rity, made him a trustworthy leader, and his fellow citizens were not slow to recognize the fact. In 1 86 1 he was elected to the lower branch of the Legislature by the Union and Republican party, and in 1864 he was sent to the State Senate on the same ticket. In 1866 the Democrats made him their candidate for the General Assembly, to which he was elected, and in 1869 he was again chosen State Senator on that ticket, thus secur- ing a seat in the four legislative bodies which were in session during those four years. He was a strong supporter of the government during the Civil war, and in 1863 and 1864 he served as a recruiting officer by appointment under Asst. Adjt.-Gen. D. D. Perkins; while performing the duties of this office he was made treasurer of a "large fund of several thousand dollars of private subscriptions to procure recruits for the war for the Union and provide for their families, thus filling the same position, involving the same du- ties, that was placed on his grandfather, Deacon James Seeley, during the Revolutionary war. At that time he was also a selectman for his town, and in that position, as well as in those of wider scope, he showed characteristic energy. When engaged in his public duties during the war he had an intimate acquaintance with the war Gov- ernor of the State, William A. Buckingham, with whom he held quite an e.xtensive correspondence, of which the following is a sample: MdKwiCH, August '2.'i, 1864. Executive Dt-partuieiit. Hon. Jas. S. Taylor, Danl)ury. Dear Sir: I much regret that your favor of the iHh inst. came during my absence and I have not seen it until this hour. In reply I would say that I issued an order some days ago which gave men an o]i|jortunity to organi/e into companies in such a manner as you suggest. I tru^l some will avail themselves of this opportunity to associate and go together. I am very respectfully. Your obedient servant, (Signed) Wm. A. Buckingha.m. While Mr. Taylor was in favor of adecjuate measures for the suppression of the Rebellion, he was no less desirous of allaying the bitterness of strife and restoring harmony between North and South as soon as possible, and in 1866 he was a delegate to and attended the Peace Con- vention held at Philadelphia. When Mr. Taylor, at the close of the war. terminated his duties as State Senator, first selectman of the town, and an officer of the war under the commission of Adjt. -General Perkins, and as a special committee for securing funds for procuring recruits and disbursing the same, there could have been no more fitting tes- timonial from his fellow townsmen for the faith- ful discharge of his duties in his various capaci- ties than the presentation by a committee of about one hundred citizens of the several polit- ical parties of the town of the full set of the then new edition of Appleton's Encyclopedia. We may here further note that it was iminediately following the above presentation that he was again elected to a seat in the House of Repre- sentatives of the State m 1866, and again to the Senate in 1S69. Early in life Mr. Taylor joined the Order of Odd Fellows, of which he has re- mained a member up to the present time, and for a number of years acted as the recording secre- tary of Samaritan Lodge No. 7, of Danbury, Conn. He is now (1899) over seventy-two years of age, enjoying all the faculties of life and health. QEORGE L. EASTMAN, secretary of the Rogers Silver Plating Company, at Dan- bury, is a young man of more than ordinary busi- ness ability as is shown by his efficient adminis- tration of various positions of trust and respon- sibility. Mr. Eastman cotnes of a good New Hamp- shire fatnily, noted for strength and vigor of mind and body. His grandfather, Rev. L. L. Eastman, a well known minister of the M. E. Church, died December 31, 1897, when nearly eighty-five, and though not in active service as a preacher for a number of years continued to give attention to many worthy enterprises, and was a trustee of Tilton Seminary, at Tilton, N. H. He married Lucy A. . Methuen was their home after he gave up preaching. James H. Eastman, our subject's father, who was born May 31, 1842, in Hanover, N. H., has a national reputation as a manager of reforma- tories and similar institutions, and is now super- intendent of four of the Rhode Island institu- tions— State Almshouse, Workhouse and House of Correction, Girls and Boys Reform Schools. He married Miss Elizabeth P. Finley, a native of Clinton, Conn., born February 9, 1844, and they have four children: George L. , our sub- ject; Frank G., a physician at East Greenwich, R. I., married Miss Theresa M. Golden, and has one son, James H. ; Alice M. married E. R. Trowbridge, a cotton broker at Providence, R. I., and has one son, Charles E. ; and Miss Grace is at home with her parents. Mr. Eastman, our subject, was born August 10, 1863, at Middletown, Conn., and after at- tending the public schools of that city for some years continued his studies at Menden, Conn., at the Wesleyan Academy, in Wilbraharn, Mass., and at the seminary in Pennington, N. J. At 172 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.