Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

California. Upon his return he resumed
his occupation of farmer and cattle dealer.
(VIII) Albert E. Winchester, son of
Theodore and Anna Maud (Jackson)
Winchester, in 1871 accompanied his
mother to her old home in Ithaca, New
York, where he attended school until
New York City became their home in
1876. At the age of ten he secured his
first position, as office boy with the Wall
street law firm of Wells Hendershott.
The spring of 1881 found our subject embarking
for old Mexico with his mother,
who had been appointed to write a guidebook
for the Gould-Grant Railroad, then
under concession, and as Mexican correspondent
for several American periodi-
cals. At that time he was just fourteen
years old, and there being no suitable
school for him in Mexico in those days,
and having evinced from earliest boyhood
an insatiable zeal and ardor for con-
structive mechanics, and a keen appreciation
of scientific values, he became an
apprentice in the Mexican Central Rail-
road, which was then being built to the
United States. He served successively in
the treasury department, the mechanical
section in connection with locomotive and
car building, and out on pioneer railroad
construction. On completing his time in
1883, he was sent back to the United
States to qualify for college and took a
preparatory course in the Whitlock Academy,
Wilton, Connecticut. At this early
day the young man was investigating the
then new problem of the commercial development
of electricity as his limited
time permitted, and at the conclusion of
his course at the academy, instead of en-
tering college, he began in the year 1886,
as the youngest member of the parent
Edison Company's engineering staff, under
the well known veteran electrical and
mechanical engineer, J. H. Vail, who was
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
250
then the general superintendent, and con-
tinued with the various organizations of
the Edison interests in line of succes-
sion from draughtsman to constructing
engineer, until the formation of the General
Electric Company, with which he
remained until 1893, when he became a
director of the Electrical & Mechanical
Engineering Company of New York, and
its superintendent of construction for the
three ensuing years.
During 1896 and 1897, Mr. Winchester
was on the staff of the New York Edison
Illuminating Company. From that time
to the present (1921) he has held his pres-
ent position of general superintendent of
the South Norwalk Electric Works.
Back in 1892, he designed and superintended
the construction of this plant,
after which year and until 1902 he also
served as a member of South Norwalk's
Board of Electrical Commission-
ers. Thus he has devoted himself contin-
uously to his city since 1892, contributing
a large part of his time and ability without
remuneration other than the know-
ledge of having done his best as a public
servant. Mr. Winchester's present stand-
ing in his city, in addition to that of su-
perintendent of the electrical works, is
that of superintendent of the fire alarm
telegraph since 1893, and city electrical
engineer since 1902. He also assists the
Public Utilities Commission of Connecti-
cut in a consulting capacity, and is elec-
trical adviser to several municipalities
and private corporations. He is a director
of the Norwalk Building and Loan
Association, and a member of the executive
committee of the South Norwalk
Board of Trade. In 1906 Mr. Winchester
became president of the Water and Elec-
tric Company of Westport, Connecticut,
and so continued until the company was
absorbed some years later by the New