Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

vice-president of the Bridgeport Hospital
and a trustee of the Bridgeport Protestant
Orphan Asylum, and a director of the City
National Bank. In addition to the absorbing
duties of his business, Mr. Burnham
gave much time and energy to honest
and unselfish service of public interests,
and he was recognized throughout the
city as a man of sterling character as well
as unusual ability in public service. In
1887 he was elected State Senator of the
Connecticut Legislature and served in
this capacity for two years. He also
served on the Bridgeport Board of Public
Works for several years. Prior to the
organization of the Republican party,
he was a staunch Whig, but on the forma-
tion of the latter, transferred his allegi-
ance, and to the time of his death remained
the best type of a Republican.
Mr. Burnham was a member and vestryman
of St. John's Church of Bridgeport.
He was a member of the Seaside Club,
the Algonquin Club and the Bridgeport
Yacht Club, and was a keen sportsman.
He gave generously but unostentatiously
to charities and before his death presented
a large and valuable building to the
Bridgeport Hospital.
In September, 1853, Edward Goodwin
Burnham married Mary Ferree, born July
5, 1826, died June 12, 1899, daughter of
Uriah and Syble Russell Ferree, of Spring-
field, Massachusetts. Their children
: ;
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Mary W., married Henry D. Henshaw
Carrie Bell, married John A. Ten Eyck;
and William Edward, of whom further.
Edward Goodwin Burnham died in
Bridgeport, February 28, 1908. The following
excerpt is taken from the Bridgeport
Standard of that date : "Mr. Burnham's
life was marked by many splendid
qualities, and above all by his great generosity
and his broad charity, which was
the greater for being of the unobtrusive
kind. Since his retirement from business
he has given away a large sum of money
132
in useful charity. Among his public
works was the erection of one of the
wings of the Bridgeport Hospital, but
that was a small undertaking compared
to the steady stream of help which has
flowed from time to time to the poor and
needy, always quietly, the satisfaction
coming to Mr. Burnham in the performance
of the deed and not in the receiving
of public credit for it."
(VIII) William Edward Burnham, son
of Edward Goodwin and Mary (Ferree)
Burnham, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts,
on November 25, 1856. Mr.
Burnham, Sr., removed from Springfield
to Bridgeport in i860, and William E.
Burnham attended the schools of that
city, public and private, and later studied
for two years at Seabury Institute in Say-
brook, Connecticut. His career, like his
father's, has been devoted to mechanics
and manufacture. Very early he determined
on the mechanical field for his life
work, and secured his first employment
in this line in the iron fitting department
of Eaton, Cole & Burnham, of which his
father was president. Convinced that thorough
acquaintance with every phase of
the work of the place was the only basis
on which to build his career, Mr. Burnham
began on the lowest rung of the lad-
der, rising gradually through positions of
varying responsibility to the capacity of
vice-president, assistant treasurer and
manager. During the term of his service
and connection with it, the firm Eaton,
Cole & Burnham became one of the largest
and most important of the enormous
and extensive brass and iron industries of
the entire State of Connecticut. In 1905
the year of his father's retirement, Mr.
Burnham sold out his interest in the company
to the Crane Company of Chicago,