LEONARD DANIELS, who was a prominent figure in the city of
Hartford for nearly seventy years, was born March 1, 1803, in Medway, Mass.,
and died in Hartford Jan. 18, 1892. In build he was short, strong and solid,
and he descended from old American stock that originated in England. No
incidents marked his boyhood save those of his school days, the raising
of crops every summer on his father's farm, and for a few seasons the sale
of produce in the winter time in Boston, during all of which time he learned
what the grammar schools had to teach him, became a strong, vigorous young
man, and gained some acquaintance with the principles of mercantile pursuits.
At the age of twenty-three he removed to Hartford, Conn., arriving Nov.
16, 1826, and there found employment for a time in the sawmill of Ward
& Bartholomew, 011 Sheldon street. When a little later he entered the
service of Humphrey & Nichols, in their grist-mill on the north side
of Little river, on Wells street, he found the calling which pleased him,
and thereafter he devoted his life to it.
About 1830 Mr. Daniels bought a small flour-mill,
formerly owned by Burt & Stanley. Mr. Stanley having given his property
to the South Church, Mr. Daniels brought a lawsuit to compel the trustees
to sell the property, and, winning the case, bought the mill, and went
into business on his own account. This was the only lawsuit in which he
was ever engaged. In 1853 he built a new mill on the south side of Little
river, just above the stone bridge, and began business there in 1855. One
secret of his great success was his promptitude in all business transactions.
Another was his clear and sound mind, careful reflection, and close and
careful personal attention to every detail. As years rolled on, a growing
business copelled him repeatedly to enlarge the brick building, known as
Daniels' Mill, and the surplus means which its operation brought him gradually
grew into a large fortune. After his death the business was left to his
nephew. Leonard C. Daniels, and grandson, Leonard D. Fisk.
Mr. Daniels was a man of very strong individuality.
His face expressed energy and determination. The vigorous health which
originated in a wholesome boyhood never left him, and was preserved not
only by active labor in his business, but by pedestrianism, of which he
was fond. He had never been ill except when attacked with measles, at the
age of thirty-seven, and, like most men so favored, abhorred the notion
of taking medicine. His eyesight became impaired, however, in his later
years, and he was blind for the last eight years of his life. Three operations
were performed, but they did not restore his sight. A remarkable trait
was his conciseness of speech. He was not a misanthrope, and certainly
not an ignorant man, nor was he averse to pleasant conversation with intimate
friends, but he had the reticence characteristic of Gen. Grant, and, with
the energy and a little of the impatience of a born business man, loved
to dispose of an argument, a proposition or a question, in a terse expression,
limited sometimes to two or three words. His honesty was proverbial. Even
during the period when Connecticut was over-whelmingly Republican, Mr.
Daniels adhered inflexibly to his own principles, and was known as an uncompromising
Democrat of the old Jeffersonian stamp, and not by any means a passive
upholder of his party either, because he voted at every election.
Mr. Daniels was thrice married, and one daughter,
the wife of Augustus L. Ellis, survived him.
The business founded by the late Mr. Daniels
has been continued under the name of the Daniels Mill Co. by the grandson,
Leonard D. Fisk, and the nephew, Leonard C. Daniels, previously mentioned.
The business, in the nature of things, has changed considerably in that
time, but has continued to keep pace with the growth of Hartford, and in
addition to this a large wholesale trade has been established, extending
over New England.
(Photo attached)
Commemorative
Biographical Record
of
Hartford County,
Connecticut
Illustrated
Chicago
J. H. Beers & Co.
1901
pgs 31 - 32
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