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esented the town in the Legislature in
1836-37, and West Springfield in 1850.
In 1847 he built a factory operated by
the Southworth Manufacturing Company,
and he was afterward agent of the Agawam
Canal Company. He erected mills
which operated 20,000 spindles, and in
March, 1855, he removed to New Haven,
Connecticut, where he was president of
the City Fire Insurance Company. He
was one of the first to engage in the manufacture
of paper by machinery, and was
the first to place a traveling salesman on
the road. He married Maria Gillette, and
they were the parents of Harriette Mills,
born December 13, 1846, who became the
wife of George Seymour Hastings, as
previously stated.
Wells Southworth Hastings, son of
George Seymour and Harriette Mills
(Southworth) Hastings, was born June
24, 1878, in New Haven, Connecticut, and
was reared in New York City. He prepared
for college at the famous St. Paul's
School in Concord, New Hampshire, and
entered Yale University in 1897, graduating
with the degree of A. B. in 1902. For
a short time he was interested in manufacturing
in New York and Brooklyn, and
is a director of the Hampshire Paper
Company, of South Hadley Falls, the producer
of the famous "Old Hampshire
Bond." He was also a director in the
Phoenix Hermetic Company of New
York, which manufactures caps for seal-
ing fruit jars, and is also interested in the
Metallic Decorator Company. For many
years Mr. Hastings has given much at-
tention to literary work, and several popular
works of fiction from his pen have
been published, some of them ranking
among the "best sellers." Among these
may be mentioned "The Professor's Mys-
tery," which was prepared in collabora-
tion with Brian Hooker, and published in
191 1. In the same year was published
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
356
"The Man in the Brown Derby," and
many verses and essays and short stories
have been published by Mr. Hastings. In
1912 he took up his residence in Farm-
ington, three of whose original settlers
are among his ancestors. He purchased
considerable land in Farmington, includ-
ing two farms, and what is known as the
Gad Cowles House, and is giving considerable
attention to agriculture during
the summer season. Farmington is the
home of several authors, and here Mr.
Hastings finds congenial society and
health-giving exercise in outdoor life. He
is vestryman of St. John's Episcopal
Church of Farmington, a member of the
local Grange, of the College fraternity,
Delta Kappa Epsilon, and of the Yale
and Players' clubs. He is a man of pro-
gressive ideas, independent of the old
party dictum in politics, and has been
actively associated with the Progressive
movement, so ably headed by ex-Presi-
dent Theodore Roosevelt.
Mr. Hastings married, June 28, 1902,
Elisabeth Putnam Stearns, who was born
October 14, 1880, in West Hartford,
daughter of Charles C. and Sophronia
(Seymour) Stearns. Mr. and Mrs. Hast-
ings are the parents of five children
Elisabeth P., born May 14, 1903; Isobel,
December 22, 1904; Wells S., Jr., July 9,
1908; Constance Southworth, April 6,
191 1
; Elinor, August 24, 1912.
WOODHOUSE, Edward Rogers,
Merchant.
From humble beginnings in the business
world Mr. Woodhouse has worked
his way upward to a partnership in one
of the largest business establishments of
the city of Hartford. This has not been
the result of chance, but is the natural
outcome of his industry, aptitude and up-
right conduct.