JOSEPH ARNOLD was born at Hadham, Middlesex county, Conn., Sep. 16, 1811.  He descended from Joseph Arnold and Daniel Brainard, two of the original twenty-eight who settled the town of Haddam.
     Joseph, the subject of this sketch, was son of Jared and Susan (Brainard) Arnold; received his education at the common and high schools of his native town; made a sea voyage with his father when only fourteen years of age; was placed as clerk in a county store when fifteen, and at nineteen opened a dry goods store in Middletown in company with the old firm of Pease and Hayden.  The next year he bought out the other partners; took another partner, and added the clothing business under the name of Arnold and Buckingham.  Their business was highly prosperous until 1838, when the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Arnold remaining at the old store and Mr. Buckingham going to Portland, Me.
     Finding himself threatened with serious pulmonary difficulty in 1844, Mr. Arnold sold his business at Middletown and spent the next four winters in the West Indies, the Southern states and New York city.
     His health being restored he accepted a position in the American Exchange Bank, New York city, but a few months after, being elected cashier of the Meriden Bank at Meriden, Conn., he removed to that place in 1849.  In 1853 he was elected cashier of the Manufacturers' Bank of Birmingham, which was reorganized in 1865 as the Birmingham National Bank.  This office he accepted, and from that day to this has retained it with great credit to himself and satisfaction to the company and community.
     In 1841 he married an estimable lady, Mary L., daughter of Hon. Noah A. Phelps.  She died in 1851.
     Mr. Arnold may be classed among the self-made men.  Being little aided by his primary education, but possessing an active, vigorous mind, which he has well stored with useful knowledge by reading, he has, by his own exertions, worked out thus far his successful career in life.  In addition to his present responsible position in the bank he has occupied others, such as treasurer of school district, borough and town, and for a long time has been president of the Derby Savings Bank, the people having never found him confidence misplaced.  In his habits he is a model for imitation.  Strictly temperate in all things, although physically infirm, he has been his own physician, discarding generally all drug medication.  For twenty-six years he has scarcely been absent a day from his post of duty in the bank.  Independent in his principles, circumspect in his daily walk, liberal without ostentation, faithful to his word in financial dealings with all persons, he has won for himself a most enviable reputation.
(Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880.)

HENRY ATWATER.
Was born in New Haven in 1819.  He received more than an ordinary education, and in 1846 came to Birmingham and bought one-third of the interest of Abraham and William Hawkins in the spring and axle business.  In the following year a joint stock company was formed, called the Birmingham Iron and Steel Works, and the present extensive buildings were in part then erected.  Mr. Atwater continued an active and energetic member of the company until the day of his death, Jan. 22, 1862, at the age of forty-three years.  For sixteen years Mr. Atwater was among the most enterprising manufacturers, and had the merit of being very public spirited.  He never did things by halves.
     He was warden of the borough two years; was postmaster under President Pierce, Senator of the state in 1850, besides filling other offices.  Social and of gentlemanly address, having considerable public influence, Mr. Atwater was a popular citizen, and his death was deeply lamented.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 524.

WILLIAM T. BACON ²⁹
Was born in Woodbury Aug. 24, 1812; graduated at Yale aCollege in 1837, at the Yale Theological Seminary in 1840, and was ordained pastor in Trumbull, Conn., in 1841.  He was specially engaged in literary tastes, in addition to his pastoral work, for several years, and in broken health retired to the old Bacon homestead in Woodbury, from which he came to Derby, settling first on a farm called "Hillside."  Afterwards, in view of occupation for his sons he established the Derby Transcript, but his son James did not long continue to enjoy the opportunities planned by a fond parent, and his early decease has left a shadow on the household that has beclouded specially all the joys of the father.
     The Transcript is a stirring, enterprising paper, which takes an honorable position among the soaring, bird-like flock, which with stretching wings and eagle eyes, hover over the Naugatuck valley.  Mr. Bacon also established, in connection with Thomas Woodward, the New Haven Courier.
---------------
     ²⁹ This and the following Biographies were completed to late to be placed in alphabetical order with the others.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 676

LEONIDAS BRADLEY BALDWIN
Was born in New Haven, and fitted for college at the Hopkins Grammar School in that city.  He graduated at Trinity College, Hartford, in 1860 and pursued his theological studies at the Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, Conn., and was ordained to the priesthood by the late Bishop Chase of New Hampshire,  Birmingham in 1870, to the rectorship of St. James's Church, which relation was terminated in November, 1879, to accept a call to St. Mark's Church, Boston, Mass.
     Standing, as he did, fifteenth in the honored roll of rectors of this ancient parish from Dr. Mansfield, his rectorship was of longer continuance than any of the others.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 676

LEWIS BARNES
Was born in Southington, Conn., June 26, 1826.  He prepared for college at home and was graduated at Yale in 1847; and afterwards taught school at Bristol, Conn., and Brooklyn, N. Y.  He took a course of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in New York, and received his degree from the Buffalo University in 1863.  He came to Oxford in 1856, and has been in active practice in his profession since that time; has held the office of town treasurer two yeas, and since 1868 has been town clerk and registrar; has been school visitor since 1857, and Judge of Probate since 1872.  He married Caroline Saltonstall of Meriden, Conn., in 1853.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 858

J. H. BARTHOLOMEW
Was born in Farmington, Conn., Apr. 18, 1814.  The life of his father, Jonathan Bartholomew, sometimes called "Uncle Jonathan," may be summed up in one line from Gray's Elegy, "The short and simple annals of the poor."  The subject of this sketch had only a limited district school education, and at the early age of fifteen he was employed by Isaac Dobson to assist in making the double reflecting tin baker, then in great demand, little thinking that this was laying the foundation for his subsequent successful life.  The baker soon went out of use, but Mr. Bartholomew had obtained a pretty good practical knowledge of the tinner's trade, but being out of business he engaged one year as clerk in a store in Plainville.  In 1834 he married Polly H. Root, the eldest of thirteen children.  For a short time he was employed in various kinds of work until he engaged in the making of sheet-iron cow-bells at five cents an hour; the days having fifteen or sixteen hours in those times, so that Old Time coming in to help out the matter, his receipts were seventy-five and eighty cents a day.  Such was the beginning not only of one but of many men in Connecticut who are now transacting business on the basis of millions a year.
     Mr. Bartholomew next engaged in making brass kettles for Mr. Israel Coe of Wolcottville, Conn., and by his steady business habits, after four years’ employment, was made superintendent of all the various manufacturing interests of the Çoe Company, the most important of which was the making of brass kettles by what was called the “battery process.’ When this business began to be profitable a new method of making these kettles was introduced into the country and the business was engaged in by different companies.  At this time Anson G. Phelps, then a large stockowner in the Wolcottville Company, was induced to start the business on a larger scale, and decided on Ansonia as the place of location, and he secured Mr. Bartholomew as the place of location, and he secured Mr. Bartholomew as the general agent of his company.  Several manufacturing establishments were built in Ansonia under his supervision, viz., the "Battery and Rolling Mills," and the large "Brass and Copper Mills."  Besides these, from time to time, numerous other branches were added, all of which proved successful except the "Battery Kettle" business, which was supplanted by the new process.
     These various branches of industry which have added so much to the wealth of Ansonia, as well as to the stockholders, are largely under obligation to the efforts of Mr. Bartholomew; and, an idea of the estimate placed upon his services may be gained from the fact that a large yearly salary was paid him for more than a quarter of a century.
     In 1869 Phelps, Dodge and Company merged all their extensive manufacturing interests in Ansonia with their real estate into one company under the name and firm of the "Ansonia Brass and Copper Company and the Ansonia Land and Water Power."  At the first meeting of the joint companies Mr. Bartholomew was chosen a director and made general superintendent, which office he held up to 1876, when he resigned in consequence of ill health.  His advent into Derby, in 1848, found Ansonia almost a barren, sandy plain, with only two factories and a very few dwelling houses.  Among the first enterprises started was a good common school, in which he took an active part and was instrumental in doing away with the old rate bill system and establishing the method of support by taxing property only, which incensed the mind of Anson G. Phelps, this being the first school in the town to adopt the method, but the excitement soon subsided.
     He took a lively interest in the formation of the Congregational Society of Ansonia, and in building both its churches, the first having been accidentally burned.  He led the church choir over twenty years, and was chairman of the society's committee about the same length of time.  He was a stockholder, director and president of no less than six important moneyed institutions of the town, and served, so far as can be learned, to the acceptance of the parties interested.
     Mr. Bartholomew was the first to propose the extension of the New Haven and Derby railroad, from its junction with the Naugatuck road, to Birmingham and Ansonia, and secured its completion by most persistent efforts; the result being a great reduction of freights and public convenience.
     He is a man of positive character, and being a republican in politics was elected to represent the town in the Legislature of 1869, receiving votes from both parties.  He was a vigorous supporter of the war for the Union, contributing liberally of his means.
     thus the poor boy of Farmington became an active, useful pioneer in a variety of successful enterprises in the town, and his name will long be held in grateful remembrance, especially by the people of Ansonia.  His example is worthy of imitation.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 525

REV. AMOS BASSETT, D. D.,
Was born in Derby (the son of Dea. Amos Bassett of Great Hill Society); graduated at Yale College in 1784; licensed to preach by the New Haven West Association in 1792; was pastor at Hebron, Conn., from 1794 to 1824; preached at Monroe, Conn., afterwards, and died in 1828.  He succeeded Mr. Daggett in 1824 as principal in the Cornwall Mission School.  He was a member of the corporation of Yale College from 1810 to his decease.  "He was an excellent scholar, a sensible and solemn preacher, and especially distinguished for the gravity of his deportment and for godly simplicity and sincerity."
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 676

REV. ARCHIBALD BASSETT
Was born in Derby, Mar. 21, 1772; graduated at Yale College in 1796; ordained pastor of the Congregational Church at Winchester, Conn., May 20, 1801, and dismissed August, 1806.  He was pastor at Wilton, Delaware county, N. Y., from 1807 to 1810, and resided in that place, preaching in that region and helping his brethren in revivals as opportunity afforded, until his death, Apr. 29, 1859, aged eighty-seven years.  He was the son of Benjamin Bassett.
     He married Eliza, daughter of Dea. Job and Eunice (Cowles) Curtiss of Torringford, in the town of Torrington, Conn.  She died Jan. 19, 1868.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 528

BENJAMIN BASSETT, M. D.,
Son of John and Nancy A. (Lee) Bassett, was born in Derby, Jan. 23, 1827; graduated at Yale College in 1847; received the degree of M. D. at Yale College in 1851.  He practiced medicine a time in Brooklyn, when failing in health he removed to New Haven in 1874, where he died in 1879.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 676

EBENEZER D. BASSETT
Was born in Litchfield, Conn., Oct. 16, 1833, and came to Derby when an infant, so that he is essentially a Derby citizen.  His early education was very meagre, and while an office boy for Doct. A. Beardsley he developed talents that courted encouragement.  He attended the High School in Birmingham, then went to the academy at Wilbraham, Mass.; graduated at the State Normal School in 1853; studied at Yale in 1854 and 1855, obtaining a good knowledge of the classics.  He then devoted himself to teaching, continuing for sixteen years.  If his skin was not white he was a good scholar and excelled in mathematics.  During the war he wrote many appears, which appeared in the newspapers, to encourage the enlistment of colored soldiers.  He has been minister to Hayti eight years, and is now stationed in New York city as consulate of the United States to Hayti, for which position he is largely indebted to Col. William B. Wooster and others of Birmingham, who encouraged and furnished him means to press forward in his ambition.  In a note he makes the following acknowledgement:  "My success in life I owe greatly to that American sense of fairness which was tendered me in old Derby and which exacts that every man, whether white or black, shall have a fair chance to run his race in life and make the most of himself."
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page Page 676-77

DOCT. MARTIN BULL BASSETT
Was born in Hebron May 14, 1802, being the son of Rev. Amos Bassett, D. D.; was fitted for college by his father; graduated at Yale College in 1823; studied medicine with Doct. Isaac Jennings of Derby, attending also Yale Medical College.  He married Caroline Tomlinson of Huntington, Conn., and went to Ohio, practicing medicine only a short time owing to delicate health.  Returning East, and inheriting a large farm near Birmingham, with other property, he spent his life in agricultural pursuits.  He died May 15, 179, aged 77.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 678

ROYAL M. BASSETT
Was born in Derby Nov. 22, 1828.  His education was obtained in the district school, except one year in the academic school of Stiles and French in New Haven and two years at Haddam Academy.  His father was one of the leading men of Derby and a pioneer in the business enterprises of Birmingham; first a merchant and then a manufacturer.  He held many official positions with honor, but after the purchase of the Colburns Iron Foundry in 1850, he devoted all his energies to his business until the day of his decease, which occurred June 26, 1864, in his sixtieth year.  On the decease of his father, Royal M., with his brother Theodore, managed the Iron Foundry with much success, giving steady employment to about 125 operatives for sixteen years, making it a valuable establishment to Birmingham.
     Royal M. Bassett has been engaged in various manufacturing enterprises, railroads, and real estate operations, during a quarter of a century, and is a director in three railroad companies at the present time and president of the Utah Northern railroad.  He has been warden of the borough two years, and an active and efficient committee-man of the Birmingham school district for eleven years, besides filling several other local positions, which places him among the public spirited men of the village and town.  In all which he has proved himself a thorough business and upright man.  Social, affable and liberal, and willing to forward any needed work for the public good, he stands among the popular and influential citizens of the town.  He represented the fifth senatorial district in the Legislature, in 1876.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 528

REV. BENJAMIN BEACH,
Son of Benjamin Beach, sen., of North Haven, was born Aprl. 15, 1737, and resided at North Haven some years in a house his father built in the year Benjamin jun. was born; his two brothers residing one on each side of him, and in the three families were at one time seventeen sons.  His brother, Elias Beach, was a farmer and a licensed preacher, but not ordained.
     Benjamin Beach preached in what is now Seymour, Prospect and Milton.  Tradition in the family says, he having agreed to settle in Seymour waited all winter for snow on which to remove his family, but the snow failed to come that winter and he removed in March, 1789, without snow.  In November of this same year Isaac Johnson deeded to Mr. Beach "one acre of land lying a little east of the meeting-house," which was a present to Mr. Beach in consideration of his "settling in the gospel ministry in the Congregational or Independent church" in the place.  On this land Mr. Beach built a house in which he resided, and which is still standing.  In 1791 he bought of Isaac Johnson one acre and a half adjoining, and "lying east and south of the first."  In 1799 he purchased of Amos Hine seventeen acres for $333 at the place called Success Hill, and on Feb. 26, 1810, being then of Cornwall, he sold to John Swift eighteen acres of land at Success Hill for $686.06.
     The meeting-house was built for his use and was standing when he received the first deed.  He preached in Prospect several years, closing his labors there in 1797, and probably served the two churches at the same time.  He is said to have removed to Cornwall about 1805, which gives him eighteen years of ministerial labor in Seymour.
     He married Mercy Blatchley, who died in 1812 on her seventy-fifth birthday, and he died in Cornwell July 12, 1816, aged seventy-nine years.
     Two sermons of Mr. Beach are preserved, and are in the style of the age in which he labored, and compare favorably with hundreds of others by different ministers of that day.  One of these sermons illustrates the old method of giving instruction from a text in a very clear manner.  Many have laughed at the great number of divisions the older preachers mentioned in their sermons, but those divisions frequently marked not a division of the subject treated, but simply the thought illustrative of the topic spoken of; as in this sermon there are only three heads, or general propositions, and the advice given; but during the discussion of the topics there are in all eighty items numbered with figures.  Hence there is secured in such a production a great amount was delivered, all knew precisely what the minister believed, which is not always the case at the present time.  The old people who delighted in such preaching are frequently supposed to have been dull scholars and poor thinkers, but it is quite certain they did know what they believed, and why they believed it.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 532

SHARON YALE BEACH.
Son of Giles and Mary (Dayton) Beach, was born May 21, 1809, in that part of North Haven, Conn., now called Montowese, near Pine River Bridge.  Giles Beach was the second son of the Rev. Benjamin Beach, the first pastor of Chusetown.
     Mary Dayton, the wife of Giles Beach, was the daughter of Jonathan Dayton and Mary Yale of North Haven.  Jonathan Dayton had several children, one of whom married Joel Thorp, who removed with his family from North Haven by means of an ox team to New Connecticut (Ohio) and was one of the pioneers in that section of the country; his nearest neighbor being twelve miles distant.  This Jonathan Dayton was a captain in the Revolution and had four of his sons under him in the army, which gave to his command the name of the Dayton company.  He was also a justice of the peace and a prominent man in his community.
     Sharon Y. Beach had only the advantages of a common school education, although one of his teachers, Benjamin Eastman, grandson of Dr. Benjamin Trumbull himself a liberally educated man, thinking young Beach ought to have better opportunities, offered to furnish them at a higher school; but the spirit of independence declined the friendly offer while the kindness of the teacher was always gratefully remembered.
     His early life was one of temperance, industry and frugality; laboring on a farm until he was seventeen years of age, when he passed through a long siege of ill ness from which he recovered very slowly.  After this, he at first engaged as a peddler, carrying his small stock of goods in a basket and hand trunk, and then accepted a place as a clerk in a dry goods and grocery store where he continued until his employer sold his interests to another firm.  After a few months he was employed by John H. De Forest in the cotton factory, then in operation at Humphreysville, for the small sum of $16 per months for the first year, and $18 per month for the second, with the promise of an increase of wages or a more advantageous position at the expiration of that time.  From this amount of wages he paid his board, clothed himself and saved a small sum for capital on a future day.
    At the expiration of his engagement the business of the factory was so depressed as not to warrant his continuance in which he said: "I recommend him to any one in want of his services as one competent and faithful, and whose character is entirely above reproach."  The terms of this confidence exceeded the expectations of Mr. Beach, but they gave him an inward courage which has never been effaced from his mind; which fact illustrates that a little expression of confidence is often of more value than money.  After six months' employment elsewhere he was again employed by Mr. DeForest in the cotton factory, at advanced wages, where he continued nine or ten years.
     In the year 1843, he in company with George L. Hodge and Samuel Roselle engaged in the manufacture of printing and colored paper, in which relation he continued two years, when a new company was formed, consisting of Ezekiel Gilbert, Samuel Roselle and himself, for the term of five years.  This company purchased the old mill standing on what was still known at that day as Rimmon Falls, and continued the paper making business.  At the expiration of that term Mr. Beach bought the interests of the other partners and removed the paper mill to its present location, about three -quarters of a mile east of Seymour on Bladen's brook, where he has continued to the present time with a good degree of success.
     Mr. Beach has occupied several positions of trust and honor in the town, and manifested considerable public spirit in the more substantial enterprises and progressive improvements of the community and town.  He was elected to the office of justice of the peace while Seymour belonged to Derby, and after its separate organization he was the justice  before whom most of the cases were tried for several years.  Upon the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion he was the first to offer a bounty to those who would enlist in the army for the defense of the Union, and paid to those who enlisted in the twentieth regiment, ten dollars each, to the amount of $270, and continued in an active part in sustaining the town in all its efforts through that struggle.  He has been selectman, a member of the board of relief, a member and chairman of the board of education a number of years.
     He has been a member of a Baptist church about fifty years; has had charge of the Congregational Sunday-school in Seymour at several different terms, and when the Baptist Bible school was started at Ansonia he was elected its superintendent, which position he held about six years.  He was one of the building committee of the Ansonia Baptist church; was elected its first deacon, and has been a prominent member and an active supporter of that church since its organization, there being no Baptist church in Seymour.
     In business and principles of morality, he has made life a success, and has no reason to reflect severely upon it as it recedes into the forgetfulness of the past.
     Mr. Beach married first Adaline, daughter of Asa and Eunice (Johnson) Sperry, of Orange, Conn., and they had eight children, five of whom are still living.  The eldest, George W. Beach, is the superintendent of the Naugatuck railroad.  (Which see.)  Andrew Y. Beach is agent at Springfield (Mass.) of the N. Y., N. H. & H. railroad.  Sharon D. Beach has charge of his father's paper mill.  Theodore B. Beach is the agent of the Naugatuck railroad at Seymour.  Emeline E. Beach, the only daughter, resides with her father.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 533

AMBROSE BEARDSLEY, M. D. ¹
     Doct. Ambrose Beardsley, whose portrait is the first in this book, was born in Monroe, Conn., Oct. 23, 1811.  It is often said "the child is father to the man," the which if true, the young Ambrose must have been one of those kind of boys who according to the Sunday-school books ought to have "died early," but fortunately for mankind did not.  His first appearance in public was in the role of a district school teacher beginning at the age of sixteen years; continuing four years in his own and adjoining towns, during which time he pursued assiduously his own studies under the instruction of Doct. Stephen Middlebrook, of Monroe and later under Doct. Charles Gorham of Redding, and finally graduating with honor at Pittsfield, Mass., Medical College in 1834.  After a residence of a year and a half at Newtown, Conn., Doct. Beardsley came to Birmingham, then in its early infancy, where for forty-four years - nearly half a century - he has led an honorable, upright, and eminently useful Christian life; often officiating at St. James's Episcopal Church - of which parish he has been a life-long member - in the occasional absence of a pastor, as "lay reader."  If Ben Adhem's name led all the rest, according to Leigh Hunt, because "He loved his fellow men," then surely must the name of this kind, self-sacrificing physician be found very near the head of the column of Derby's adopted sons.  In hundreds of families in this and adjoining towns, the name of Ambrose Beardsley is cherished almost as a house hold god; where his genial face and pleasant story, has often done the work of exorcising the demon of disease - real or imaginary - for which the harmless pill gets all the credit.
     Possessed of a clear ringing voice, great fluency of speech and a happy gift of oratory, upon all public occasions Doct. Beardsley has been "the speaker of the day" and conspicuously the figurehead and leader in all enterprises which had for an object the welfare of nation or of individuals.  Before the writer is now lying an ancient looking document which bears the following statement: "The foregoing oration was delivered by A. Beardsley, to the citizens of Derby on occasion of commemorating the anniversary of our American Independence, July 4, 1839."  As a sample of the principles then held by the orator a quotation is important:  "Sacred to the heart of every true American should be the day we have here assembled to commemorate.  We have met to join in congratulations over an event so abundantly propitious to this country, and so marked in its influence upon the world that as patriots and loyal citizens we could not have met on this occasion with other feelings than those of gratitude, and an ardent love and desire to preserve in remembrance the birthday of our National Independence; coupled with a determination to throw off for a moment our more common attachments; to mingle our hearts more completely in the ardor of freedom; to manifest our zeal for the preservation of our dear bought liberties;  and to join in the celebration of the day in a way calculated not only to awaken in our minds anticipations of the noblest destiny, but to call up those master spirits of the past who offered their all upon the altar of Liberty."  Farther along we read as follows: "The founders of this republic have not set in motion a machine which will continue to run uniform without the constant care and vigilance of posterity . . . . .  The history of the past speaks to us in tones of thunder the fact that one of the strongest and most sacred of the obligations imposed upon us by our fathers is the maintenance and perpetuity of the bond of the Union.  I repeat it with emphasis, Union between the states.  The Moslem Turk sleeps soundly in his chains not even seeming to dream of their weight.  The slave surrenders himself tamely to his master, but the hatred of party dissensions and political animosities should never lead to a calculation on the value of the Union.  'One Europe' says an eloquent patriot 'is enough for the whole world,' and if Americans would not hear the shrieks of Liberty, if they would not see this fair Republic 'rent with civil feuds and drenched in fraternal blood,' let them be forever deterred from indulging even a passing thought upon the dangerous doctrine of disunion."  This be it remembered was the utterance of our "Fourth of July orator" forty-one years ago.  In the light of the terrible events of a quarter of a century later, it is seen that had the mouth of a prophet of the Lord even been commissioned to speak an inspired warning it could have hardly been more pertinent and forcible.
     The oration, which is full of the various topics uppermost in those comparatively early days of the Republic, closes with the following peroration: "Let us, fellow citizens, at all times and in all places prove ourselves the undeviating friends of our country, by sustaining its wise government, promoting sound doctrine, advancing whole some morality and pure religion."  But scarcely a quarter of a century had passed when we find this watchman on our national walls sending his own first born to the field in defense of these vary liberties imperiled by intestine feuds, and himself laboring day and night in furnishing comforts and necessities for the sick and the wounded soldiers in the field.   In June, 1864, by all odds the largest and most successful fair ever held in the town was held on Birmingham green under an immense tent, and which resulted in raising over $4,000 in aid of the Sanitary Commission, which enterprise was largely indebted for its success to the unflagging efforts of Doct. Beardsley and the several members of his family who took part in the enterprise of other noble workers took part in the labors of the occasion.
     In political life the Doctor was well fitted to do noble work..  Although never a member of the noble army of Connecticut legislators yet many a time the honor was within his easy reach had he chosen to avail himself of his opportunity.  His always extensive professional practice forbade his acceptance of the position.  In the town, however, he has been a public official in some important capacity nearly all the time of his residence here.  For twenty-five years continuously he was town treasurer; eight years he has been warden of Birmingham, and registrar of vital statistics the same length of time, besides many other minor offices much of the time.  The Doctor, though now verging well towards three score and ten, is vigorous and full of energy; ever ready at all times to respond to the calls of the sick, whether with prospect of remuneration or not, it seems to make little difference with him.  Little indeed has he gathered of the gold that perisheth, but of the wealth that cometh from the living of an earnest, friendly, humane life, he is the richest man in all the town.  It is here clearly put on record that these words will be abundantly verified when his record shall be closed.
     He married Mary, only daughter of Samuel Bassett, Esq., of Humphreysville, Apr. 30, 1837.       J. W. S.
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     ¹ This sketch was written by him whose initials are at the end of it.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 528

GEORGE LUCAS BEARDSLEY, M. D.,
Was born in Milford, Conn., May 12, 1848, where he attended the High School some time.  He prepared for college at the Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven, entered Yale in 1866, and was graduated in 1870.  He was graduated at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, in 1873, and received his degree of M. D.  He came to Birmingham in 1874; has been a member of the Board of Education, and is at present assistant surgeon of the 2nd regiment Connecticut National Guards.  He married, M. Louise, daughter of Amos H. Alling, Esq., Dec. 24, 1874.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 531

THADDEUS G. BIRDSEYE
Was born in Huntington, Sept. 9, 1812, and came to Birmingham in the spring of of 1836, where he engaged in mercantile business with his brother Ephraim, several years on Main street.  He was postmaster six years after Henry Atwater resigned; was town clerk four years, and has been secretary and treasurer of the Derby Savings Bank for the last twenty years.  He has filled all these offices with great credit and satisfaction to the public, especially the last mentioned.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 678

ALFRED BLACKMAN
Was born in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 28, 1807.  His father, the late Samuel C. Blackman, was a graduate of Yale College, class 1793, and was judge of probate for the district of Newtown from its organization until disqualified by the state constitution, which was about fifteen years, and died at the advanced age of ninety-one.
     Alfred studied the classics and was fitted for college by his father, and graduated at Yale in 1828.  He read law in his father's office, reciting regularly for two years to the late Gov. Henry Dutton, and was admitted to the bar of Fairfield county in 1831.  The writer of this remembers well listening in that same year, with great pleasure, to an eloquent oration delivered by him at Monroe, on the occasion of the celebration of the Fourth of July.
     In the spring of 1832 he removed to Humphreysville, then a flourishing part of Derby, and commenced the practice of his profession.  At this time Horace M. Shepard, also from Newtown, was practicing law in that village, where he had been settled two or three years, but removed in a few weeks, and soon after died.
     Mr. Blackman married on the 3d of June, 1832, Abby Beers, of his native town, and had two sons born at Humphreysville, both of whom graduated at Yale, the eldest, Samuel C., in the class of 1854, and Charles S., in the class of 1857.  Three generations of this family were present as graduates at a meeting of the alumni of this college at one of its commencements.
     Mr. Blackman remained at Humphreysville ten years, encouraged by an increased and flattering practice, until he was elected to the state Senate from the firth district.  At the end of the session of the Legislature he removed to Waterbury to take charge of the probate office of that district, and in consequence of the sickness and lamented death of Judge Robinson S. Merriman he was called to take charge of the probate court of New Haven, thus dividing his time between the two districts.  This led him to remove his law office to New Haven, where he has since resided.  In 1855 he was elected as one of the representatives from New Haven, his colleague being ex-Gov. James E. English.  While a member of the Legislature he was elected mayor of New Haven and served in that office one year, declining a re-nomination, and refusing ever since to be a candidate for election to any political office.  He was elected for one year by the Legislature judge of the county court, and on hearing of his appointment immediately sent his written declination of the same to the Hon. Origin S. Seymour, speaker of the House, who assumed the responsibility of not presenting it to that body, and he was persuaded to fill the office one year, although he preferred the office of an advocate to any position or other employment.  But he did consent, under the appointment of the late Andrew T. Judson, judge of the United States district court, to accept the office of clerk of that court and of the circuit court of the United States, which appointment was continued by the late Judge Charles A. Ingersoll and William D. Shipman, and he held these offices from 1852 to 1867, when Judge Loren P. Waldo was appointed his successor, and the office and records were then removed to Hartford.
     Since his retirement from the active practice of his profession in 1872, in consequence of impaired health, he has been occupied most of the time in his private library, in miscellaneous reading, and receiving the social calls of his friends and taking a daily drive in seasonable weather.  His brethren of the New Haven county bar have caused his portrait to be painted, of life size in oil, and suspended in the superior court room, attached to which, in a frame, is a copy of the correspondence which explains itself.  As it is of appropriate character it is given a place in these pages, and is as follows:

NEW HAVEN, November, 9, 1878.     

Hon. Alfred Blackman:
     Dear Sir - Desiring to express in some suitable manner our personal regard for you, and in recognition of the distinguished position you have held at the bar of this state, and also your services in securing the erection of our new court house, we have placed your portrait in the superior court room.  We trust our election in this respect will be agreeable to you and gratifying to your numerous friends.
     Very sincerely your friends and brethren at the bar,
 

NEW HAVEN, January, 1879    

To Messrs. John S. Beach, Charles R. Ingersoll, Arthur D. Osborne, and others, members of the New Haven county bar:

     Gentlemen - Your esteemed favor informing me of your action in procuring my portrait to be painted and placed in the superior court room was recently received, and impressed my heart with war and abiding gratitude.  You may be assured that such an unmerited act of kindness is agreeable to me and commands my cordial approbation.
     To be associated with the portraits of the learned and acute Baldwin, the eloquent and amiable Ingersoll, and the noble hearted and generous Foster, in the arena of their forensic exploits, and in the building which you are so kind as to say I contributed some service in securing its erection, is gratifying to my ardent professional ambition. We belong my friends, to a somewhat belligerent profession; and if, after nearly a half century of intimate association and conflict with my brethren.  I have so far succeeded as to be entitled to this ante mortem token of your esteem and the generous words you so kindly express, you will believe me when I say that I am now and ever shall be. with sincere gratitude,

Your affectionate friend and brother,         
ALFRED BLACKMAN    

     Fixed in his principles, Judge Blackman seldom entered the arena of politics, oftener rejecting than accepting the tender of political honors, choosing rather to confine himself to the duties of his profession.  Affable and gentlemanly in his manners, blessed with a classical education, shrewd and clear-sighted in his capacities, a ready and pleasing speaker, he has won for himself a reputation that enrolls his name among the first members of the New Haven bar. - Since writing the above Mr. Blackman has died, having passed away Apr. 28, 1880.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 536

FREDERICK P. BLODGETT, M. D.
Was born at Broad Brook, Conn., Jan. 6, 1847.  His early school days were passed at the public schools, and Ellington Academy from which he graduated, and entering Yale Medical College in 1868, was graduated at that institution in 1871, receiving the degree M. D.  He has practiced his profession in Ansonia since 1871, with the exception of three years.  Although a young man, Dr. Blodgett has gained a large and remunerative practice, of which many an older physician might well feel proud.  The only public office held during his residence in Ansonia is that of registrar of vital statistics which position he held two years.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 539

REV. JOHN BOWERS
Was a native of England, the son of George Bowers who was in Scituate, Mass., in 1637, in Plymouth in 1639, removed to Cambridge where his wife was buried Mar. 25, 1644.  John was graduated at Harvard College in 1649¹, and was a schoolmaster in Plymouth, perhaps (says Savage) the earliest in the business.  He came to New Haven in the spring of 1653 to teach, which he did some years.  We hear of him next in Guilford, where in 1660, he purchased an estate and  supplied the pulpit for three or four years until Mr. Joseph Elliot was settled in 1664.
     On the removal of Abraham Pierson with other planters from Branford in 1667, Mr. Pierson engaged Mr. Bowers to supply his place until the end of the year.  After this as Rev.  T. P. Gillett of Branford informs, "Mr. Bowers received an invitation to settle with the people although no church was organized.  He remained until February, 1672, and then gave the town liberty to provide a minister for themselves, which they accepted."  In November, 1673, he was preaching regularly in Derby and the people made provision to build him a house, in which he afterwards resided.  In the spring of 1671, Derby granted him twelve acres of land and he had probably preached here some at that time, and was here during most of the year 1673.  For his salary during 1674 he agreed to take what the people were willing to give, and after that for some years he received fifty pounds a year.
     In 1684 he was very sick and made a will which was recorded by the town clerk.  He probably died on the 14th of June, 1687, and yet it is unaccountable how it should occur that the town clerk should have recorded the death of a minister without writing Mr. to his name as in this case.  I do not remember to have seen a minister's name written before the Revolution without the "Mr." attached.
     He married at New Haven, Bridget daughter of Anthony2 Thompson of New Haven, who survived him until May 19, 1720.
---------------
     ¹ American Quarterly Register viii.  335.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 539

REV. JOHN BRAINARD.
Was born in Hartford, Conn,, June 4, 1830, was fitted for college at the Hartford Grammar school and Cheshire Academy, was graduated at Trinity College in 1851, pursued his theological course at the Berkley Divinity school, and was ordained deacon by Bishop Brownell Dec. 18, 1853.
     He was assistant minister at Grace Church at Baltimore for two years and ordained priest by Bishop Whittingham May 28, 1856.  He was called to the rectorship of St. James's Church of Birmingham in 1856, where he remained until November, 1863, when he resigned to accept the rectorship of St. Peter's Church at Auburn, N. Y.
     Mr. Brainard was a very acceptable, exemplary and efficient pastor and his resignation was much regretted by the parish.  In 1870 he received the degree of S. T. D., from Trinity College, Hartford, and is at present rector of St. Peter's Church, Auburn.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 540

THOMAS BURLOCK
Was born in New York, Oct. 1, 1804; was educated in Connecticut, and for two years was a close student in Yale College.  After his marriage to Caroline, the acomplished daughter of Clarke Elliott, he was largely and successfully engaged some years in New York city as a grain distiller and sugar refiner.  Retiring from this business he removed to Huntington in 1840.  Having no profession, and being of an active and sanguine temperament, he took a lively interest in the political issues of that day, and revolutionized the politics of Huntington and was elected in 1847 as a whig representative from that old democratic town.  On his removal to Derby he became variously interested in manufacturing pursuits, but this did not lessen his devotion to whig principles, and he represented Derby with great credit in the Legislature in 1848-9.
     Mr. Burlock was a man of talent, and of gentlemanly manners, and was one of the finest and most elegant off-hand speakers of the town.  He died, much lamented, very suddenly of heart disease, Oct. 3, 1865.
Source:   History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 - 1880 with Biographies and Genealogies by Samuel Orcutt & Ambrose Beardsley, M. D. - Publ. Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass.  1880 - Page 540