Henry G. Stebbins: 

Civil War Congressman

Ridgefield’s second native-born Congressman apparently didn’t like politics much, preferring the world of high finance.

According to the official Library of Congress records, Henry G. Stebbins was born in Ridgefield in 1811, though the New York Times said in his obituary that he was a native of that city.  

Henry was a great-great grandson of Benjamin Stebbins, one of Ridgefield’s founders whose large saltbox house stood at the north end of Main Street and was used as a hospital during the Battle of Ridgefield. (Razed around 1893, the house stood on the site of today’s Casagmo.)

Henry’s parents were John and Mary Largin Stebbins. A Ridgefield native, John became a fairly well-to-do bank president in New York City and the couple may have been living in New York

in 1811. However, Mary Stebbins may have been staying with the family in Ridgefield when Henry was born.

(Henry’s sister, Emma, was born in New York City in 1815. Emma became a noted American sculptress and feminist lesbian — her 1873 statue, “The Angel of the Waters,” also known as the “Bethesda Fountain,” stands in Central Park, probably thanks in part to her brother, who headed the Park Commission.)

His father wanted Henry to become a lawyer and sent him to a private school.  However, according to a rather bizarre account in his Times obituary, “while prosecuting his studies, he was accidentally struck on the head with a heavy ruler, and was prostrated for some time from the effects of the blow. When he recovered, his physicians insisted that he must give up his studies and his father, reluctantly abandoning his original plans, provided a position for him as an errand boy in the bank.”

Clearly, the ruler blow had no lasting effect for, by 1833 and in his early 20s,  the “errand boy,” was working for S. Jaudan & Co., and that year became a member of the New York Stock Exchange. In 1859, he founded his own brokerage, Henry G. Stebbins & Son. 

He became a colonel in the 12th Regiment of the New York militia in 1847 and for much of his life was known as Col. Stebbins. 

Stebbins eventually rose to the top of the stock exchange, serving three terms as its president: 1851-52, 1858-59 and 1863-64. During the last term, he was also a U.S. congressman.

A Democrat, Stebbins was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1862, took his seat March 4, 1863, but resigned on Oct. 24, 1864, six months before his term ended. He left because he felt his Democratic constituents didn’t support his hard-line approach to the Civil War; he was a strong supporter of President Lincoln’s handling of the conflict. Many Democrats just wanted the war to stop.

“Throughout the session I favored a vigorous prosecution of the war, until the authority of the Government should be reestablished over every part of the United States,” he said in his letter of resignation to the “Democratic citizens” of his district.. “Throughout the session I was opposed to the taking of any steps to a peace calculated to weaken the national authority, or that required negotiations with men in rebellion who had not laid down their arms.

“I am now convinced, though with much regret, and have now to acknowledge my conviction that in all these respects my conduct is, and would continue to be, disapproved by a large majority of those who elected me.
“That you may have the opportunity to put in my place one who will more truly carry out your views, I have resigned my seat.”

Stebbins added, “In the future all my efforts from the position of a private citizen will be directed to the support of such men and such measures as I shall consider best calculated to sustain the honor of my country, to develop its unparalleled resources, and to perpetuate our beneficent institutions.”

A subsequent convention of the Union Party, a conservative party that promoted both the union and the constitution, nominated Stebbins to fill his own vacancy.

“The bold and independent course of Mr. Stebbins, and the reasons which induced him to cut loose from the peace-at-any-price influences … should now receive a hearty indorsement from the War Democracy and all other Union men of that District,” The Times reported after the convention. “With proper effort, he may be returned to finish the term which he has so honorably begun.” He declined to do so.

Stebbins continued as a leading financier in New York, including serving on boards of directors of major corporations. In late 1860s and 1870s he was president of the city Park Commission which oversaw Central Park,  a trustee of the American Museum of Natural History, president of the Academy of Music, and commodore of the New York Yacht Club. 

He died in 1881 at the age of 70.

Jeremiah Donovan: 

The Progressive Barkeeper

Folks who walk into Donovan and Mackenzie’s bar in South Norwalk are entering a bit of Ridgefield history. After all, the venerable watering hole was founded by a Ridgefield native who became a U.S. congressman — and a thorn in the side of Fairfield County conservatives — a century ago.

Donovan was the third Ridgefield native to serve in Congress.

The son of Irish immigrants, Jeremiah Donovan was born in Ridgefield on Oct. 18, 1857. A year earlier, his father, Jere Donovan, paid $25 for an acre of undeveloped land in Branchville, probably on the north side of the then-new highway, Branchville Road, a little west of Old Branchville Road. In 1870, when Jere Donovan sold the property to Nancy Beers, the price was $250 and it included a house.

His son, Jeremiah, attended the nearby Branchville Schoolhouse, and, some reports say,  the private academy operated by William O. Seymour in the former home of the Rev. S.G. Goodrich on High Ridge, opposite Parley Lane. 

By 1870, he was living in Norwalk where his family had apparently moved, and 10 years later, was listed as a “wholesale liquor dealer” in the 1880 census.

In 1889, he established what became Norwalk’s longest-lasting tavern, long called Donovan’s and now Donovan and MacKenzie’s, located at Washington and Water Streets. “Donovan’s was a second home to local politicians during its colorful history, including a number of presidential candidates ‘taking a break’ while making their stomp through New England,” the bar’s current owners report.

Donovan continued as a barkeeper until 1898 when the politics that had been nightly discussed at his tavern began to become his profession. Already active in the Democratic party, he had been elected a member of the city council, was chosen a deputy sheriff, and served as a delegate to every Democratic National Convention from 1896 to 1916.

He was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1903 and 1904, then served in the state senate from 1905 to 1909. Finally, in 1912, he was elected a congressman, defeating Ebenezer J. Hill, who had served nine terms and had been a powerful figure in the House.

A wire service story published in newspapers across the country when he was elected  called Donovan “a progressive Democrat. His constituents say he is a real progressive. His honesty and independence have been strong assets to his political ambitions. He has always fought on the side of the people against the domination of monopoly and was a bitter opponent of the railroad lobby.  He was largely responsible for the act establishing a public service commission in Connecticut.”

He served from March 4, 1913 to March 3, 1915. But Hill had the last laugh, defeating Donovan in his bid for re-election, probably because the more conservative rural towns in the district — such as New Canaan, Wilton, Greenwich, and Darien — rallied to return him. Unfortunately for Congressman Hill, he died two years later.

After his defeat, Donovan returned to more local politics and ran for mayor of  Norwalk, winning office from 1917 to 1921. He was known not only as a progressive, but a generous man and for three of the four years was mayor, he turned over his entire salary to Norwalk Hospital.

He retired from politics in 1921 and died in 1935 at the age of 77.

Walter Gengarelly: 

His Own Drummer

Four Ridgefielders have been their party’s candidates for governor of Connecticut.

The Lounsbury brothers, Phineas and George, were both Republicans and both successful at winning the office.

Melbert B. Cary was a Democrat, but he lost.

And Walter Gengarelly was a Libertarian and, perhaps needless to say, he also lost. 

But few people have been as dedicated to a party and its ideals as was Gengarelly, who  died literally while running for office and whose name is recalled today in an award offered by the Connecticut Libertarian Party.

Walter Janvier Gengarelly Jr. was born in 1935 in New York City, but grew up on a poultry farm in Hillsdale, N.J. He  served three years in the U.S. Army as an artillery radar technician.

Gengarelly began his career in aviation when he took a job at the Ramapo Valley Airport in Spring Valley, N.Y.  to earn money to help pay for his own flying lessons. He worked his way up from a mechanic’s helper to a commercially rated charter pilot, flight instructor, and finally manager and vice president of the airport itself.

In 1967, while living in Vermont, he was involved with stage and screen choreographer Michael Kidd in establishing the Red Fox Airport, a small air strip near Bondville, which he subsequently managed. He owned a Cherokee 235 and used it in business and pleasure for many years.

Gengarelly became an advertising and promotions executive for publications in the aviation field. He and his family moved to Ridgefield in 1974, after he joined Air International News, a magazine based in Danbury. 

In Ridgefield he became active in the Ridgefield Taxpayers League, the Mill Rate Watchers,

and the Republican Party. As a Republican, he ran unsuccessfully for first selectman in 1979 against popular incumbent Louis J. Fossi.

Three years later, after dropping out of the GOP, Gengarelly ran for governor on the Libertarian ticket. He knew he would not win the election, but putting himself up as a candidate allowed him and his party to spread the Libertarian message. 

“The simplest explanation is that we are fiscal conservatives and social liberals,” Gengarelly told The Ridgefield Press. “The point, really, is that people should have a right to make choices about their lives themselves, and not have the government make it for them. How you would educate your children, what kind of medicine you would use if you’re sick, what kind of doctor to get to if you’re sick, what work you do, what you get paid for working.”

Gerard Brennan, state chairman of the Libertarian Party at the time, said Gengarelly was chosen based on his political experience and his ability to articulate the party’s philosophy. Because the Libertarian platform was not well known, it was that articulation, rather than winning the election,

that was most important, Brennan said.

“We don’t have any delusions about winning right away, but it’s important to disseminate our ideas,” added state secretary Richard Loomis.   

In the end, Gengarelly got only about 8,000 votes — winner William A. O’Neill, a Democrat, received 569,000 votes and Republican Lewis B. Rome, 496,000. 

Gengarelly did not give up with his efforts to promote Libertarian positions. He ran for state representative from Ridgefield in 1983 and  for congressman in the 5th Connecticut District in 2002, 2008 and 2010.

Gengarelly was locally known not just for his political activities but also for his rather troubled gas station. In 1978, he bought what had once been called the Hilltop Service Station on Route 33, Wilton Road West, near the Wilton line. In the late 1960s, Shell had acquired the old family-run operation, tore down the low-key but comely Hilltop building that had included a convenience store, and built a modern, glassy station with three service bays — and no store. 

Shell sought a permit to do auto repairs at the station, something Hilltop had never done. The Zoning Board of Appeals refused to allow repairs, saying it would be an illegal expansion of a non-conforming use, and courts upheld the board. Shell was stuck with a three-bay station that could sell only gasoline, oil, and tires, not a moneymaking proposition back then, and the operation eventually shut down.

When Gengarelly took over, he gave up his job working for the aviation magazine, which required a lot of travel, and began working full-time at the gas station. Long hours, many problems and lots of stress resulted. Six months after he bought the station, the nation was hit by the big fuel crisis that resulted from the Iranian revolution. Many stations — especially Gengarelly’s new operation — could not get needed supplies of gas. Long lines formed at stations, and rationing was common.   

All this stress helped lead to the breakup of his marriage. It was a sad irony, Gengarelly said,

 because he had given up his magazine work so he wouldn’t have to travel. “I wanted to be home with my family, that’s why I switched careers,” he told The Press in 1990. “But it wasn’t a good career move.”

The station could not bring in enough money to pay the bills and eventually failed, but Gengarelly, as a Libertarian believer in free enterprise, did not blame the failure on the system. “That’s one of the perils of the free enterprise system,” he said. “Sometimes you go into business and you make money. Sometimes you go into business and you lose money. It just didn’t work out for me — or us, I should say,” referring to his family.

Things got so tough that, for a while, Gengarelly was living in the gas station. Despite all his problems, however, he always seemed optimistic and invariably wore a big smile.

The property was eventually sold, owners got permission for it to become a convenience store, but the station has nonetheless remained closed for years — a sad eyesore on a scenic highway with no other commercial properties for miles.

Gengarelly eventually moved to Newtown and later Danbury. He died of heart problems in 2010 at the age of 75 while in the midst of yet another campaign for Congress. In his honor, the Connecticut Libertarian Party State Central Committee issues the Walter Gengarelly Jr. Award at its annual convention to a person who has exhibited a “sustained and selfless effort to support the cause of liberty” at “extreme sacrifice to him or herself.”

“He was a kind, gentle and generous person who — to those of us who knew him well — very much marched to the beat of his own drummer,” said Wilson Leach, managing director of Air International News. Citing Gengarelly’s Libertarian campaigns for governor and congress, he added, “To the average person this may have appeared to be an unrealistic pursuit, but clearly Walt was a staunch believer in individual liberties.”

Joel Abbot: 

First Native Congressman

Ridgefield was the birthplace of three United States congressmen, but not one is remembered today by more than a handful of Ridgefielders — if that many.

The first native-son member of Congress was Joel Abbot, born here on March 17, 1776. His parents are unknown — there is no record in town hall of his birth, although official Congressional records say he was born in Ridgefield, Conn. 

Abbot probably spent his early years in town, but perhaps tiring of the cold winters of Connecticut, and maybe taking advantage of land grants that were available, his family may have moved to Georgia in the 1790s. 

Abbot was probably living in the town of Washington, Ga., by 1794; he eventually became a physician there. 

As a young man, he had a seat on the city council. In 1799 and for several years thereafter, he was elected a representative to the Georgia state House of Representatives.

By 1817, apparently very popular with the people in his region, Abbot ran for Congress, and won. He continued to serve as a congressman until 1825. 

In 1820, Dr. Abbot was a delegate to the first convention in Philadelphia, Pa., that prepared the original edition of the National Pharmacopoeia. The U.S. Pharmacopoeia today sets the standards for the identity, strength, quality, and purity of medicines and food ingredients. In our times USP’s drug standards are enforced  by the Federal Food and Drug Administration.

Abbot died in 1826, a year after leaving Congress, suggesting that perhaps he retired from political life due to ill health.

Sometime around the turn of the 19th Century, Abbot built a fine home in Washington that is today a National Historic Landmark and Georgia state historic site, open to the public. However, it’s not Dr. Abbot who made the house famous, but Robert Toombs, who bought the place in 1837, gussied it up and lived there many years. 

Toombs also was elected to Congress and then to the U.S. Senate, where, while he supported slavery, he opposed the South’s separating from the Union. After the Civil War broke out, however, Toombs became the secretary of state for the new Confederate States of America. Following a dispute with Jefferson Davis, its president, he quit and became a general in the Confederate army.

When the war ended, Toombs fled the country, but eventually returned to the house Abbot built and became a successful lawyer.