Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

is now a member of the City Board of
Finance. Fraternally, he is a member of
Union Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons; Puritan Lodge, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows. In December,
1884, he enlisted in Company C, 4th Con-
necticut Infantry, and was discharged
January, 1890, as sergeant. In March,
1917, he enlisted in the Connecticut State
Guard and holds the rank of captain. Mr.
Daskam was in charge of the last four
Liberty Loan drives and was untiring
in his efforts to make them successful;
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
he was also treasurer of the first drive
of the Red Cross. His clubs are the Suburban
and the Stamford Yacht. Mr. Daskam
was one of the four founders of the
former club and its first president.
Mr. Daskam married Harriet Tilley,
daughter of George H. and Harriet T.
(Brown) Tilley, of Darien, Connecticut,
and they are the parents of a daughter,
Elizabeth Stanley Daskam. Mr. Daskam
and his family are members of St. Andrew's
Episcopal Church, of which he is
a vestryman.
The greatest benefaction which a man
can bestow upon the city of his residence
is himself. He may devote the wealth
of his mental endowment to the service
of his fellowman ; he may spread broadcast
the material good he has won from
life ; but
the greatest gift within his power
is human sympathy, the spirit which is
attuned to the loyal friendship of the peo-
ple and responds in kind. Of these gifts,
ability, means, time and labor unstinted,
Walter Duryee Daskam gives right roy-
ally. He is a man among men, the
warmth of his genial personality winning
the loyalty and esteem of every one of
his associates and acquaintances.
COWLES, Russel Abemethy,
Man of Great Enterprise.
From a twenty-two years' association
with the Ansonia Brass and Copper Com-
pany, subsequently the American Brass
Company, a concern with which two generations
of his line before him had been
identified, Mr. Cowles entered fields of
endeavor intimately connected with the
community life and prosperity of Green-
wich, his home. A number of enterprises
fostered by him and operated under his
direction have filled needs long felt in his
town, projects that lacked the influence
of a man of vision and courage, undertak-
ings fraught with commercial danger to
the man of little faith and ordinary enter-
prise. Mr. Cowles has earned, with a
position of business prominence, the lasting
regard and gratitude of his townsmen,
whom he has served largely and well.
Russel Abernethy Cowles is a son of
Albert Abernethy and Frances (Bailey)
Cowles, and grandson of George Preston
Cowles, member of a family dating to
early Colonial days in New England.
George Preston Cowles was a native of
Connecticut, and spent the greater part
of his life in Ansonia, Connecticut, where
he was successively, secretary, treasurer,
vice-president, and manager of the Ansonia
Brass and Copper Company. His
death occurred in October, 1887. He
married Charlotte Leaming, daughter of
General Russell C. and Orrell (Smith)
Abernethy, of Torrington, Connecticut.
Alfred Abernethy Cowles, father of
Russel Abernethy Cowles, was born at
Torrington (then Wolcottville), Connecticut,
September 28, 1845. He attended
304
the public schools of Ansonia, subsequently
becoming a student in Chase's
Military Academy, at Middletown, Con-
necticut, and completing his studies at
the Sorbonne, in Paris, France, and College
de France. For two years he was
employed in the Ansonia National Bank,
and after traveling abroad for a time he
entered the counting room of the Ansonia
Brass and Copper Company. In 1870 he
was placed in charge of the New York