1795-1864 William P. Greene
William Parkinson Greene was born in Boston, the second son of Gardner and Elizabeth Hubbard Greene. William graduated from Harvard in 1814 and began to study law. But his health not being equal to the requirements of the legal profession, in 1824, at the request of William C. Gilman, Mr. Greene came to Norwich, where he became a partner and agent for the Thames Manufacturing Co. at the Falls. By 1833, the Yantic Falls area was thriving, boasting a large cotton mill, two paper mills, an iron factory, a nail factory, and a rolling mill, all of which were in successful operation.
In 1828, Mr. Greene led a group of investors in forming the Norwich Water Company, whose primary purpose was to promote business development along the Shetucket River. Mr. Greene had previously purchased land on both sides of the river for a distance of three miles. The dam was completed, and a canal, forty-five feet wide and nine feet deep and seven-eighths of a mile long, was built, and the village to be named Greeneville was laid out. Soon, factories for the production of cotton goods, paper, flannel, and carpets sprang up, and the town of Greeneville came to life. Between 1838 and 1842, William Greene formed the Shetucket Company, which built and operated the great cotton mill in Greeneville (which employed 450 people and had an annual product value of $400,000) and the Falls Company to manage the cotton mill at Yantic Falls. Over time, the Falls Company was able to acquire smaller companies and soon tripled in size.
In addition to his mill operations, William Greene was a founder and the first elected president of the Thames National Bank, which was chartered in 1824 and incorporated the following year with a capital of $200,000. In April 1861, at the beginning of the Civil War, Governor Buckingham, a friend and customer of the bank, appealed to the institution for assistance. The bank at once took the lead in this direction, and voted, “that to assist the State in meeting the requisition of the President of the United States for troops for the maintenance of the general government, the Thames Bank offer a loan of $100,000,” which was duly deposited into the treasury of the State of Connecticut. William Greene was also the mayor of Norwich for one year. For health reasons, he declined all other appointments for public office. He was, however, the second president of the Board of Trustees for the Norwich Free Academy. William Greene’s health steadily declined, and he died at the age of sixty-eight in June 1864.
Seldom has the death of a citizen of Norwich evoked in this place such deep emotion and such profound regret. The loss was felt in the circles of those in business, government, education, and philanthropy.
1795-1880 Harriet Peck Williams
Harriet Peck was born in Norwichtown in March 1795 and married Gen. William Williams in May 1812. She was the daughter of Capt. Bela Peck, some of whose high qualities of character she reproduced in her own life, and whose memory she loved to honor. In 1813, the Williamses purchased the Teel House off Chelsea Parade in Norwich, where they made their home for over fifty years. Harriet was remembered for her abundance of social grace and open-hearted charity. At the time, her husband was among the founders of the Norwich Free Academy.
She, on her own, instituted many scholarships and prizes and founded the NFA library, which she named in honor of her father, “The Bela Peck Library.”
The death of her husband, William, left her the last surviving member of this well-known Norwich family, all three of her children having predeceased her husband. It was during her widowhood that the construction of Park Church took place, and Harriet made significant contributions to that project. She donated the building lot for the church opposite her estate, as well as the tower clock and chime of ten bells, and the west stained glass window of the sanctuary. Harriet gave these gifts in the declining years of her life.
A historical note states: Soon after the tower clock was put in place, a series of phrases were proposed to characterize it, among them: “Why is it like its giver? Because it is full of good works”. When Harriet heard of this, she remarked that a better answer would be, “Because it bears the marks of time on its face.”
Her friends will recognize the quick wit of the answer as characteristic of the dear old lady. But generous as she was in public donations, Harriet excelled in private offerings as well. In her last will, she bequeathed a significant portion of her fortune toward the foundation of a high school for girls in New London to be dedicated in memory of her oldest son, Thomas W. Williams, who at the time of his death lived there.
Harriet died in October 1880 at the age of eighty-five.
1796-1873 David Smith
David Smith was born in Norwich in September 1796. He began his business career in Windham, where he gained valuable experience in the manufacture of paper. His early success in this comparatively new industry, combined with his high personal character, earned him an invitation to join the Chelsea Mfg. Paper Mill in Greeneville, which he accepted in 1833. Mr. Smith was for many years a prominent proprietor of the mill, which achieved remarkable success under his direction. The company, which produces high-grade book, writing, and coated lithograph paper, had an output of thirty tons of finished product a day and, in 1860, claimed to be the largest paper-making establishment in the world. The main building was 375 feet in length.
The operation used twenty-six engines to grind and clean the rags, and six more to convert the pulp to paper. The company employed 200 people and had an annual output valued at $475,000. In 1864, the Norwich Board of Trade lists David Smith’s yearly income at $13,331 ($307,000 today). As a resident of Greeneville, Mr. Smith, by his public spirit and benevolence, did everything in his power toward the building up of that part of the town. He was an active member of the Greeneville Congregational Church and made generous contributions on its behalf.
In 1856, he moved to the city of Norwich, where he built a fine residence and was a liberal donor to the Second Congregational Church in the town during its remodeling. Later, he became a member and generous contributor to Park Congregational Church. In 1858, he retired from the paper manufacturing business. From this time onward, he was involved with several business enterprises. He was a director of the Norwich Water-Power Company and president of the Jewett City Bank for twenty years. He was a primary organizer of the Norwich and New York Transportation Company, capitalized at $350,000, and served as its second president, holding the position until 1873, when he declined re-election. Interested in all that promised to promote the general growth of Norwich, he was a director of both the Norwich & Worcester Railroad and the New London Northern Railroad. He was the second president of the Second National Bank in Norwich. He was the vice president of the Chelsea Savings Bank. David Smith represented the town for one year in the State Senate.
Mr. Smith died in November 1873.
1803-1892 William W. Backus
The sixth child in a family of eight, William Backus was born on October 22, 1803, in Woodstock, CT. His father died when he was thirteen years old. William’s mother was the daughter of Charles Church Chandler, a well-known lawyer from Windham. In 1819, he traveled to Marietta, Ohio, where Dudley Woodbridge’s mercantile establishment employed him. Ill health required William to return to Norwich, where he took up residence in his ancestral home, becoming the seventh generation of Backuses to live there.
Through long days of hard work, the family farm began to prosper with bumper harvests of corn, rye, and potatoes, among other crops, including a large herd of cattle. William worked on the farm by day and read and studied by lamplight at night. He was able to publish an extensive, 400-page genealogy of the Backus family. William’s financial success enabled him to make generous contributions to private charities and public benefactors later in life. His gift of $75,000 to the founding of the Backus Hospital is one example of his sensitivity toward the unfortunate and distressed in our society.
1804-1875 William Alfred Buckingham
William Buckingham was born in Lebanon, CT, in May 1804. He is a direct descendant of Rev. Thomas Buckingham, minister of Saybrook and one of the ten founders of Yale. His family home can still be seen on Rt. 8 as it runs through the town. He is a descendant of a family of Puritans, who left England and migrated to America in 1637. He was educated initially in local public schools and later graduated from Bacon Academy in Colchester. When not in school, he worked on the family farm, where the stone walls he built are still present. At eighteen, he began his career teaching in a district school in Lyme, but after one year, William relocated to follow a new vocation. At age twenty, he entered a dry goods business in Norwich, CT, as a clerk. After a few years there and some time in a wholesale business in New York, William opened a dry goods store in Norwich, which met with immediate success. In 1830, he began manufacturing ingrain carpets. The business proved to be very profitable, and he continued in it for the next eighteen years. In 1848, William divested himself from his previous company and invested in the manufacture of India-rubber goods, becoming the treasurer and a director in the Hayward Rubber Co. Subsequently, he became interested in several additional manufacturing enterprises. As a man of business, William Buckingham was distinguished for industry, integrity, and promptness. He uniformly fulfilled his engagements, and his credit was unquestionable.
Buckingham’s home is located at 307 Main Street in Norwich, now across the street from the Chelsea Groton Savings Bank. In September 1830, William married Eliza Ripley, daughter of Dwight Ripley of Norwich. Eliza died in April 1868, leaving his home and heart desolate. His only son, William Ripley, died in early childhood, and his surviving daughter, Eliza Coit (born 1838), married William A. Aiken in 1861. Both lived in Norwich. William served on Gov. Buckingham’s staff as quartermaster general during the Civil War.
The Buckinghams were active members of the Second Congregational Church and, following its destruction by fire, were advocates and generous benefactors for the building of a new church in 1842, now the United Congregational Church. William was a communicant and taught Sunday school for thirty-seven years, excepting four years during the Civil War.
In public office, William Buckingham was elected Norwich’s Mayor four times. In 1858, he was elected governor, first by a narrow margin and later by increasingly larger majorities, and served in office for eight years. No one at the time could have predicted that this office of simple routine would soon be transformed into a post of the most serious responsibility. But in review, it can be said with confidence that William Buckingham, from the earliest beginnings to the Civil War’s bitter end, fulfilled the responsibilities and duties as war Governor and represented the state of Connecticut in a manner which was superior to all others.
Governor Buckingham was a patriotic man, for example, when the state treasury was empty and money couldn’t be raised for months by regular methods. William pledged his private credit to fill the gap. President Lincoln at one time told a visitor who was from Connecticut, “Do you know what a fine governor you have?” In 1866, Buckingham resigned as governor and was elected to the United States Senate in 1868, where he continued to serve the people of Connecticut until he died in 1875.
Following his death, Buckingham’s home was bequeathed to the Civil War Veterans and named The Buckingham Memorial, Sedgwick Post, No.1
An additional point of interest: due to his friendship, William personally invited the then-candidate for president, Abraham Lincoln, to visit Norwich. Lincoln addressed residents and stayed at the Wauregan Hotel.