Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

Massina Bertier and Susan (Perry) Erskine,
was born December 26, 1847, a°d
died July 8, 1908. At the time his par-
ents went to Wisconsin, the public schools
of that section were for the greater part
in the unformed condition of all pioneer
institutions. But in Racine the schools
were under the supervision of Colonel
McMinn, a man whose skill as an educator
gave him more than local renown,
and provided the youth of the town with
training of a standard rarely to be found
in a frontier town. After completing the
public school course, young Erskine became
associated with his father in busi-
ness, and was soon made treasurer of
the J. I. Case Company, a position which
he held for about fifteen years. While
his start in the business world was made
under auspicious circumstances, nothing
but the sterling worth and aggressive
spirit of the young man could possibly
have such a record as that which he left
on the history of the business world of
Racine. He had charge of the credits of
the company, and built up a splendid sys-
tem, making for himself an enviable reputation
in business sagacity and judgment.
He became a director of the company, and
was largely responsible for its success,
remaining in this office until the business
was sold. The growing town did not fail
to appreciate the solid business ability of
the man, and deferred to him in public
matters, also in the affairs of the economic
institutions of the town. He was for
years a director of the Manufacturers'
National Bank, of which his father had
at one time been president.
But Charles Edwin Erskine was a man
of broad interests, and the foregoing gives
only one side of his nature. He was a
man who delighted in his home and fam-
ily, a man of native culture and refinement.
Music was his chief interest and
recreation. Naturally talented along this
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266
line, he was possessed of an infinite ca-
pacity for patient and intelligent applica-
tion, and early became a really fine
performer, playing the organ in the Pres-
byterian church when a lad of seventeen.
He also possessed a very fine voice, rich
and strong, yet exceedingly flexible and
sympathetic. His early circumstances
had made it necessary to work out his
own financial independence, and his environment
had placed him in the business
world, but as soon as he was able com-
fortably to retire from business, he withdrew
from all active mercantile interests
and devoted himself to music. Long
habit made it impossible for him to re-
linquish all active interests, and he spent
a considerable share of his time in gar-
dening. He was also deeply interested
in the raising of fine cattle, his herd of
Jerseys being the pride of that section.
In these varied lines of congenial effort
he found the self expression which the
business man too often foregoes. He was
very fond of flowers, for his esthetic in-
stincts were highly developed, and his
delight in lovely form and color was as
keen as his appreciation of harmony. He
spent considerable time in travel with his
family, for after all his chief pleasure was
in his family circle. He had a home in
Pasadena, and one in North Carolina.
Mr. Erskine married Emma Payne,
daughter of Alfred Payne, an artist, born
in England. Her mother was Olive
(Child) Payne, a descendant of Benjamin
Child, who came from England with Governor
Winthrop, and settled in Roxbury,
Massachusetts. Of the six children of
this marriage, all have shown, to a marked
degree, the native ability and mental ca-
pacity which are but the natural legacy
of such an ancestry. Alfred, the eldest,
was an explorer, and has added an appreciable
contribution to the sum of human
knowledge ; Harold Perry, following an-