The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1901-01-10
SUCCESSFUL WALDO COUNTY BOYS.

The Bridgeport, Ct. Standard issues an
almanac each year, gotten up in the highest
style of the printers art. The issue of 1901
has full page portraits and biographies of
some of the leading business men of the
city, and among them are two who were
born in Waldo county-HOn. C. G. R. Vinal
and James Staples. Mr.. Staples is we'll
known to our older citizens, having taught
school here several years. Following are
the biographies:
Charles Green Rich Vinal was born Jan
uary IA, 1910, at Monroe, Maine. He is the
seventh in descent from John Vinal and
Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Nicholas Baker,
who settled in Scituate, Mass, in 1886. He
was graduated from Wesleyan University
in 1861. In 1862 he served as First Lieuten-
ant in the Twenty-fourth Regiment of Con-
necitcut Volunteers.
Mr. Vinal has been Mayor of Middletown'
Town Treasurer, Judge of Probate, and for
the past thirty-fve years Clerk of the Su-
In 1897 he represented the Twenty-second
District in the Senate. He was reelected
in 1899 and served as Chairman of the Judi
ciary Committee. Mr.. Vinal was married
in 1865 to NJ. Amelia Hotchkiss, daughter of
Ex-Lieutenant Governor, Julius HOtchkiss,
and member of the F0rtieth Congress. He
is member of the st. Johns Lodge, No
2, F. add A. NJ. and Mansfield Post, No. So,
G. A. r.
Maine, January 10, 1924, and is the son of
Hezekiah and Elizabeth (Treat) Staples
His ancestery is traced back to Peter Sta
pies who settled in what is now Kittery,
Maine, about 1910. James Staples was edu-
Gated at the District school in Swanville,
which he attended for about six weeks each
| winter till he was fourteen. Then he att
tended the High school at SearspOrt, Maine,
for three terms and the academy at Belfast
| for two terms, being compelled to give up
his studies by failing health from over APP
| plication. On account of this also he aban-
doned his plan of college education. From
his seventeenth to his twenty-fifth year he
| taught school winters and worked on his
| fathers farm at Swanville in the summer,
| his father who was a sea captain relinoush-
| ing the entire charge of the farm to him.
| For five years after this term he taught
school continuously, four years at Belfast,
Maine, and one year at Hyannis, Mass,
| when he was again compelled to change his
plans on account of III health In 1854 he
opened lumber yard in Bridgeport, Conn.,,
and conducted it successfully till the general
crash of 1857 swamped the business with so
many others. Two years later he opened
the first real estate office in Bridgeport, and,
notwithstanding unfavorable prognostica-
| l.,
insurance department being added in 1868
and banking department in 1874.
The firm of James Staples & Co. which
now consists of James Staples, Philip l..
Holzer and Frank T. Staples, has fine large
offices in what is known as the ''Staples
| Building" corner of State and Court streets,
and does an extensive business in banking,
| Insurance, real estate, etc. Mr.. Staples was
Democrat in politics until the slavery
question drove him into the Republican
party, where he has been ever since. He
was a member of the School Board at Swan
| vile. Me-, in 1913, and member of the
| Bridgeport Board of Education from 1876
to 1884. His experience in teaching and the
natural bent of his mind made his services
OF much value and he did not spare him
self in what he felt to be a great and impor-
| tant cause.
Mr.. Staples has been chairman of the Ex-
ecutive Committee of the Bridgeport Board
of Trade since the organization of the board
and has been very active and influential in
inducing new industries to locate in the
town, several large factories having come to
He has never sought political preferment,
and his nomination by the Republicans for
the General Assembly of 1901, was consid-
cred a most excellent move at a time when
there was call for men of wide experience
and broad views in the Legislature. His
election on November 9th was a recogni-
tiOn of qualifications and ability, alike hon
Orable to him and his party.
Mr.. Staples married, i'm 1851, Harriet Huse
Shirley of Searsport, Me-, who died in 1852
She bore him one daughter, who died in
infancy. He was married a second time on
September 81, 1858, to Sarah Elizabeth Tru-
bee of Bridgeport. They have one child,
Frank T. Staples, who is partner in the
firm of James Staples & Co.