History of Madison, (New Haven County) Connecticut United States of America

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Biographies:

Daniel Hand, philanthropist, was born at Madison, Conn., July 16, 1801; son of Daniel and Antonina (Meigs) Hand; grandson of Daniel and Chloe (Scranton) Hand, and a descendant of Joseph Hand, who settled at East Hampton, Long Island, N.Y., about 1640. He worked on his father's farm and attended the country schools until 1818, when with his brother Augustus F. Hand, he went to Augusta, Ga., and entered the employ of his uncle, Daniel Meigs, a merchant of that city and Savannah. He finally succeeded to the business, and in 1846 took George W. Williams, a clerk, into partnership and opened a branch establishment in Charleston, S.C., under the management of Mr. Williams. The business grew steadily and in 1854, an officer was opened in New York city which he himself superintended, leaving the southern business to his partner. At the beginning of the civil war he returned south and while in New Orleans was arrestes by the Confederates as a spy and placed on parole. He was nearly mobbed in Augusta, Ga., soon after, and the confiscation of his property was averted only by the influence of his partner. He resided in Asheville, N.C., under parole during the war and at its close removed to Guilford, Conn. Mr. Williams continued to carry on the business making large profits during the war which he invested in real estate, and at the close of the war he sought out Mr. Hand and turned over to him as his share of the profits securities amounting to $558,000. This unlooked for sum was carefully invested and in 1888 Mr. Hand gave to the American missionary association the principal and its earnings, $1,000,894, in interest-bearing securities to be held in trust as a fund for educating southern negroes, to be known as the Daniel Hand educational fund for colored people. He added to this trust by his will in 1891, $300,000 for immediate use, and $200,000 after the death of family legatees, which became avaliable in 1894. Mr. Hand was married to Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Levi Ward of Rochester, N.Y. He outlived his wife and children, and died in Guilford, Conn., Dec. 17, 1891.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Charles Ferdinand Dowd, educator, was born in Madison, Conn., April 25, 1825. He was graduated at Yale, A.B., 1853; A.M., 1856, and received the degree of Ph.D. for a course in philosophy at the University of the city of New' York in 1888. He was principal of the preparatory department and subsequently professor of mathematics in the University school for boys, Baltimore, Md.; principal of the high school, Waterbury, Conn; associate principal of the Normal training school, New Britain, Conn.; principal of the Granville (N.Y.)academy, and president of the Temple Grove seminary, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. He was the originator of the system of standard time as adopted by the railroads of the United States, submitted to the railway convention, New York city, in October, 1869, and his plan was published in 1870. He afterward attended various conventions of railway managers and perfected the system by which the country was divided into sections, in each of which the time was made uniform, the standards in adjacent sections differing by an hour. The system went into effect, Nov. 18, 1883, and he afterward made an effort to secure the twenty-four hour time notation and the single standard for an American day upon a plan which he originated. He published: A Theory of Ethics, and articles in current magazines.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor