William Henry Edsall, vice president and general factory manager of the H. L. Judd Company and active in public affairs in Wallingford, his aid and influence being always on the side of progress and improvement, was born in Brooklyn, New York, January 5, 1857. He was graduated from the public schools of that city and later was a student at the Polytechnic Collegiate Institute of Brooklyn, after which he made his initial step in the business world by spending a year in a mercantile establishment. In 1875 he entered the employ of H. L. Judd, a manufacturer of brass goods at Brooklyn, and on the incorporation of the business in 1884 as H. L. Judd & Company, Mr. Edsall became one of the incorporators and was elected a director. Upon the death of Mr. Judd in 1899, when the name was changed to the H. L. Judd Company, Mr. Edsall became the vice president. In 1890 he went to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and erected a large branch factory there for the manufacture of wood curtain poles. Until 1896 the company operated a factory in Brooklyn and also one in Wallingford but in that year discontinued the Brooklyn plant and made large additions to the Wallingford plant. It was in that year that Mr. Edsall removed to Wallingford, where he has since made his home, and for twenty-six years, or since 1891, he has had the management of the business in Wallingford and has built up one of the largest concerns in his line.

     On the 16th of November, 1881, in Brooklyn, New York, Mr. Edsall was married to Miss Adelaide L. Blinn, of that city, and to them was born a daughter, who, however, passed away in infancy. Mr. Edsall and his wife are members of the Congregational church and for several years he has been a member of its standing committee. He belongs to the Wallingford Club, the Union League Club of New Haven, the Country Club of New Haven, the Hardware Club of New York and the Holland Society of New York and is appreciative of the social amenities of life. Moreover, he is a very public-spirited and conscientious citizen, working for the continual betterment of the town and its people. His political affiliation is with the republican party and he has been an important factor in town affairs for many years, occupying many offices the duties of which he has discharged with promptness and fidelity. He has been a member of the electric light commission, a member of the board of school visitors and chairman of the building committee of the new Lyman Hall high school. He has filled his positions of public trust with dignity and fidelity and to the great benefit of the town. He applies the same thoroughness to the performance of a public duty that he does to the conduct of his business affairs. He is systematic in all that he does and the spirit of enterprise underlies his every undertaking. Throughout practically his entire business career he has been connected with the enterprise of which he is now vice president, and thoroughly conversant with every phase of the business in principle and detail, he is now directing its interests so that substantial results accrue, while the business has become one of the important productive industries of Wallingford.