Person:Frederick Wardwell (6)

Living in Stamford, CT at 1900 & 1910 census.

SAVES THREE DROWNING BOYS F.S. Wardwell Jumps from Car and Reaches Them Just in Time Stamford, Conn., May 13-Passengers on a trolley car passing through Rowayton today heard loud cries for help, and in the Five Mile River Inlet of the Sound they saw three boys struggling in the water. Frederick Schuyler Wardwell, a contracting engineer, leaped from the car, threw off his outer garments as he ran, and jumped into the inlet and swam out to the trio. He was just in time. Herbert Arnold, seven years old, the eldest of the boys, was trying to get the little ones of F.D. Krauss ashore. He was worn out by his efforts and was so weak that he could scarcely help himself. The Krauss boys were sinking when Mr. Wardwell reached them and brought them ashore. It required heroic treatments to revive the younger of the two. The boys had fallen into the deep steam while playing about a wharf. -New York Times 14 May 1905

"Frederick S. Wardwell, engineer and contractor, died in a hospital in Stamford, Conn., yesterday of pneumonia. He was born in Bucksport, Me., sixty-one years ago. He built the street railway system at Duluth, Minn., docks at Coney Island and Stamford, and metal plants and other projects in Connecticut. He was a member of the Stamford common council and a number of engineering societies. He leaves a widow and one son, Virgil E. Wardwell, of Stamford." Boston Evening Transcript 17 January 1921

WARDWELL, Frederick Schuyler Man of Varied Activities Two decades constitute the period that Frederick Schuyler Wardwell passed in the Stamford community, during which he performed most of the work upon which his professional reputation rests and formed the ties that made his death a universal loss. The engineering works that he accomplished during that time will remain as monuments to him for many years, while in the friendships he formed, the impression of his purposeful, productive life upon his associates, his memory will endure far beyond his time. There is placed this record of his career among those of the people who knew him best, as a tribute and memorial to an adopted son of Connecticut whose activities reflect great credit upon the commonwealth. Frederick S. Wardwell was a son of Emery Schuyler Wardwell, whose father was a native of Penobscot, Maine, where he followed the calling of farmer, at one time owning a tract of land one mile square. Emery Schuyler Wardwell was born about 1841, in Penobscot, and served an apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade. During the Civil War he enlisted as Lieutenant in Company K, First Regiment, Maine Heavy Artillery, and was subsequently transferred to the Eighteenth Regiment, Volunteer intantry. He served with his regiment until it took up a position before Petersburg, when he was prostrated by typhoid pneumonia, which disabled him for a period of fourteen months. At the end of that time he became an instructor in schools, for a time serving as superintendent. He was a well educated man for his day, his wife's education being even superior to his. For some time he was trial justice in Penobscot. Just before the Civil War, Mr. Wardwell moved to Bucksport, where he purchased a large farm, known as the"Stover place," and engaged in dairying. His health, however, was not equal to the demands of agricultural pursuits and he returned to Bangor, where he spent his few remaining years. He belonged to the Grand Army of the Republic in Bucksport. Mr. Wardwell married Roxanna Hatch, daughter of Elisha Hatch, of North Penobscot. Mr. Hatch, who was a farmer, was a native of Castine, Maine, where his father had taken up land. One branch of the family had long been resident there, old records showing that Frederick Hatch was one of the early settlers of the town. Of the seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Wardwell, the following reached maturity: Frederick Schuyler, of whom further; Melville H., of Cleveland, Ohio; Victor P., of Stamford, Connecticut; Frances, of Portland, Maine; Parris E., of Asbury Park, New Jersey; and Georgia. At the time of his death, Mr. Wardwell was about fifty-four years of age. Frederick Schuyler Wardwell, son of Emery Schuyler and Roxanna (Hatch) Wardwell, was born January 10 1863, in Bucksport, Maine. He received his education in the public schools of his native town and at the East Maine Conference Seminary. After a time spent in filling clerkships he went, in 1882, to Minnesota, where he attended lectures at the State University in St. Paul. In those days Minnesota was a frontier State, Indians and game being plentiful, and when Mr. Wardwell joined the engineering corps of the Northern Pacific Railroad he slept out-of-doors throughout an entire winter. He was employed by the railroad company about two years, and then entered the service of the Twin Cities Rapid Transit Company, that company being among the pioneers in the electric railway business. He was sent by this company to represent them at Duluth and there built the famous incline which is still in operation. He also constructed the street railway of Duluth, and rebuilt it when the change was made to electric power, a piece of work which occupied him about four years. He then returned to the East for the purpose of building the Edgewood Avenue Railroad of New Haven, afterward constructing the Danbury and Bethel Street Railway System. Next came the Torresdale and Bristol Street Railway, near Philadelphia, and the erection of a foundry and machine shop for the Norwalk Iron Works completing the list of his work of this period. He came to Stamford, Connecticut, about 1900 to undertake the work of widening the east branch of the harbor and to construct docks. Here he made the headquarters for a business that steadily increased, and to which he gave the technical skill, energy and enthusiasm for which he became noted. He concluded to make a specialty of water-front construction, and gradually acquired an equipment that enabled him to perform work for which comparatively few were prepared to contract. One of his accomplishments, which attracted wide attention, was the laying of a pipe in Newport harbor at a depth of about ninety feet to carry water from the mainland to Dutch Island, a military post, about a mile and a half from the shore. This work was done in mid-winter. He constructed an outfall sewer with forty-two inch pipe at Coney Island. His work in Stamford included the construction of docks for the Stollwerck Company, a bulkhead for the Petroleum Heat and Power Company, docks for the Yale & Towne Manufacturing Company, the Getman & Jugg Company, the Masons' Supply Company, and the Luders Marine Construction Company. A difficult commission performed by him shortly prior to his death was the cleaning of a flume used by the railway power plant at Coscob, this being accomplished without interruption of the flow of water pipes to condensers. He was engaged in numerous contracts for dredging and construction along the Sound, these including the building of foundations for various bridges. Shortly after coming to Stamford, Mr. Wardwell began assembling a fleet of vessels to be employed in his work. Starting in a modest way, and making use of crude contrivances, he gradually extended this equipment, which now comprises the dredge "Urban," derrickboat "Orland," pile-drivers "Castine" and "Interurban," towboat "Addie V.," two large and two small scows and a motorboat. He employed a considerable force of men, with whom his relations as an employer were always agreeable. His determination to make his home in Stamford was formed soon after he took his first contract there. He was attracted to the city, and took a lively and intelligent interest in public affairs. As a member of a committee serving without compensation he furnished valuable information and advice regarding sanitation, and made practical suggestion for the abatement of what has long been described as the mill-pond nuisance. He was elected a member of the Common Council in the Fourth Ward in 1918 and reelected in 1920; he served as chairman of the Sanitation Committee, and performed service of high value to the city. His investigations disclosed conditions that convinced both the Common Council and the Board of Finance of the desirability of appointing a full-time food inspector, to give proper supervision of the slaughter of cattle and of meat sold for food purposes, as well as to see to the strict enforcement of ordinances relating to milk. In his work for the city he displayed the same desire to secure accurate information, and to carry forward desirable public improvements, as was exhibited in his own business, and his death was felt by his associates as a serious loss to the municipality. Mr. Wardwell was retained at various times by corporations to make investigations of public service plants throughout the country, and his reports were relied upon for accuracy, expertness and penetrating insight into fundamental facts. Mr. Wardwell was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the Connecticut and Fairfield County. Engineers associations. His clubs were the Kiwanis and the Congregational Men's, and he fraternized with the Masonic order, having joined Ionic Lodge, No. 17, Free and Accepted Masons, of Duluth, Minnesota, and holding the seventeenth degree. He also was a member of the Royal Arcanum and the National Grange. His descent in the line of eldest son of General Bank entitled him to membership in the Society of the Cincinnati, a much coveted honor. Frederick Schuyler Wardwell married, June 5, 1886, Linda Belle Free, daughter of John W. and Hannah Ann (Wait) Free, of Richmond, Indiana, and they were the parents of one son, Virgil Emery, born September 20, 1892, and educated in Stamford public schools and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, formerly associated with his father in business; he married Gladys Darling, daughter of David Darling, of Rye, New York, and they have three children, Frederick Schuyler (2), Katherine, and Virgil Emery, Jr. Frederick Schuyler Wardwell died January 16, 1921. From the great number of written and spoken tributes to Stamford's well-loved citizen two are here given place, one from the men who daily followed his leadership, the other quoted from the funeral address by Rev. Alfred Grant Walton: To create, to build, to perfect, constitute the consecration of a life in Christian effort. We, the employees of F. S. Wardwell, who in the past few hours have felt the loss of this respected leader, feel that his life has been devoted to these principles. The memories of him that will endure vary according as he was known. Those who knew him in the intimacy of his own home, others who knew him in his social community life, and still others associated with him in the service of civic government, will remember him as he lived among them, but we, who have toiled with him in his profession for years past, shall remember him as we knew him best-a counselor, guide and friend. Our hopes and ambitions he made his, our welfare he placed before his own. In times of indecision we sought his counsel; in times of need, his aid. At the noonday meal, where he habitually took his place among us as one of us, there will remain in our memory a vacant chair. To his family, his relatives and friends, who have felt this sudden loss, we express our sincerest sympathy and that they may feel the depth of our sympathy, may we reverently add that he, too, was "one of us." We have stopped momentarily in the pursuit of our daily tasks to pay tribute of respect to a good citizen and friend who has been called to the realm of the Unseen. At such an hour, there is no need for encomium or panegyric, for the life which has been lived for twenty years amongst us speaks more eloquently than any words which one might utter. Mr. Wardwell was a man of simplicity, without show or ostentation, and these obsequies should be in harmony with his simple ways. Yet it is the privilege of all who knew him that some one should speak for all of the good will felt toward him, and the honor in which his memory will be held. Mr. Wardwell was an utterly sincere and honest man. There was no sham about him, no external self that concealed a different inner self; he was genuine through and through. It is always refreshing to meet such a person. It deepens our confidence in humanity; it, makes easier a faith in immortality; it increases our trust in God. Far more important than following the rubrics or giving intellectual assent to various formuli of religious belief is the living of a good, clean, upright, noble life. We attest our appreciation of a man who in every personal and business relation revealed such a life. We might say of him what Hallock said on the death of Joseph Rodman Drake: "None knew him but to love him, nor named him but to praise." -Encyclopedia of Connecticut Biography. New York and Chicago: The American Historical Society (Inc.)

Ellis Island Records show him arriving 25 February 1914 aboard the Calamares from Havana.

"Noted Engineer of State, Wardwell Dies Stamford, Jan. 16, - Frederick S. Wardwell, engineer and contractor, died in a hospital here today of pneumonia. He was born in Bucksport, Me., 61 years ago. He built the street railway system in Duluth, Minn., docks at Coney Island, Stamford, the plant of the Norwalk Iron Works, trolley lines in New Haven and Danbury. He was a member of the Stamford common council and several engineering societies. He leaves a wife and one son, Virgil, of this city." -The Bridgeport (Connecticut) Telegram 17 January 1921

1. ↑ Eliakim Wardwell of York, Maine With an Informal Collection of His Descendants through the 7th Generation, Majorie Wardwell Otten 2002.
2. ↑ Boston Evening Transcript 17 January 1921.