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CHENEY, Frank Jr.,
Silk Manufacturer.
Frank Cheney, Jr., president of the na-
tionally known Cheney Brothers' Silk
Manufacturing Company, owners of the
extensive silk mills in South Manchester,
Connecticut, was born in that town on
August 14, i860, the son of Frank and
Susan Jarvis (Cushing) Cheney, and in
the eighth generation of descent from
John Cheney, progenitor in America of
that family which, in earlier generations
extending back to the time of the Norman
Conquest, came in many instances promi-
nently into English history.
Frank Cheney, Jr., received a good
academic and technical education, his
primary years of study being passed in
private and public schools of South Manchester.
Eventually he took the high
school course at the Hartford High
School, and was then sent for technical
instruction to the Massachusetts Insti-
tute of Technology, from the mechanical
engineering department of which he grad-
uated in the class of 1882. Then followed
a period of two years, during which he
served in the capacity of superintendent
of repair.- and construction in the South
Manchester mills of Cheney Brothers,
and in 1883 he became superintendent of
the spun silk spinning mills of the company.
His entire business life has been
devoted to the development of the
Cheney Brothers' hugh silk manufactur-
ing enterprise, and he has proved himself
fitted for the high executive offices
entrusted to him. He advanced in
responsibility from director to vice-president,
and eventually to president, in which
capacity he is still a member of the firm.
His organizing and executive ability have
also brought him into official connection
with the management of several other
concerns, corporations of public service
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
297
and finance. At present he is president
of the South Manchester Water Com-
pany, of the South Manchester Light,
Power, and Tramway Company, and of
the Savings Bank of Manchester. He is
also director of the Phoenix National
Bank of Hartford. Politically, he is a
Republican, of active interest, and he has
taken prominent part in State politics,
and had he so wished might have received
nomination to many offices in that rela-
tion. He is highly regarded in South
Manchester, and throughout the State,
and his popularity was demonstrated
when in 1905 he was the chosen represen-
tative of Manchester, Connecticut, in the
State Legislature. He served in the State
Legislature during the years 1905-07, and
enhanced his reputation as an able and
conscientious public servant thereby. Mr.
Cheney is not a member of any church.
He belongs to the Hartford and the Hart-
ford Golf clubs.
On January 6, 1897, at Baltimore,
Maryland, Mr. Cheney married Florence
W. Wade, born in Christiansburg, Vir-
gina, daughter of Dr. David and Eliza
(White) Wade, the former of whom was
a surgeon in the Confederate Army.
They have one child, a daughter, Fran-
ces, who was born on May 27, 1902.
GEORGE, Talcott,
Dean of Bank Presidents.
On January 20, 1917, George Talcott,
president of the First National Bank of
Rockville, Connecticut, received the con-
gratulations of his business associates
and many friends upon having attained
his ninetieth birthday. For fifty-three
years he has been a director of the First
National Bank, and for forty-nine years
has been its able chief executive officer,
yet there is little about him to indicate
that he is a nonogenarian, for the years