Frederick D. Shumway, a real estate dealer of New Haven, was born in Westville, Connecticut, March 18, 1862, a son of the late Dwight Shumway, a native of New Haven. His grandfather, Marcus Shumway, removed from Mansfield, Connecticut, to New Haven in 1836 and was for forty years connected with the Blake Company as head of the foundry department. He traced his ancestry back to two brothers, Elijah and John Shumway, who came to America from France and settled at Groton, Massachusetts, Elijah being the progenitor of the branch of the family to which Dwight Shumway belonged. Marcus Shumway not only took an active part in the business development of New Haven but was also a prominent factor in its moral progress, and was one of the three who organized and built the First Methodist church of Westville, his associates in the undertaking being L. W. Peck and Lucius Parker. For many years Mr. Shumway served as deacon of the church and was most helpfully interested in religious work. During the gold excitement in California he fitted out a ship which sailed for the Pacific coast, but after a brief period spent in the far west returned to New Haven. His interests were many.

  For a long period, Dwight Shumway, the father of F. D. Shumway, conducted a photographic studio in New Haven with good success. He was also very fond of fine horses, in which he took the greatest delight and he owned many of the best to be found in this section of the state. In a word, his was a many sided nature in which the interests of life were well balanced, and his activities made him the strong center of the community in which he lived. He died in New Haven in 1907 at the age of sixty-nine years, while his wife passed away in 1870 at the age of thirty years. She bore the maiden name of Martha Terrell and was a native of Connecticut, her parents being Solomon and Deborah Terrell. The former was a prominent stone mason of New Haven. The Terrell family is of English descent. George Terrell, a brother of Mrs. Shumway, in the early days operated a stage line from Westville to New Haven and was a well known character at that period, having a host of warm friends among the prominent people of his time.

  Frederick D. Shumway, in his early boyhood, was sent as a pupil to the Wiggins school at 257 Blake street, which was conducted by a Mrs. Blake, who numbered among her pupils the children of many of New Haven county’s most prominent families, including May Morris, who has since become the wife of Dr. Arthur T. Hadley, president of Yale University. Mr. Shumway also attended the Francis Benton school at Westville, where he completed his education. At the age of sixteen years he started out independently to earn his livelihood, and was first employed in the grocery store of Dwight Bradley, a leading merchant of Westville, with whom he remained for a number of years, becoming thoroughly acquainted with modern commercial methods. He then came to New Haven, where he was first employed by George A. Dickerman, a florist and vegetable dealer. He afterward entered business on his own account in the same store building, as a partner of C. W. Fellows, who was formerly a superintendent of schools at Westville. The mercantile business was established under the firm style of C. W. Fellows & Company and was thus conducted for five years, when Mr. Fellows retired, Mr. Shumway purchasing his interest. He then admitted Hiram Smith to a partnership under the firm name of Shumway & Smith, but subsequently he bought the interest of Mr. Smith and conducted the business alone for several years, after which he sold out to a Mr. Jameson. During the succeeding eight years he was a traveling salesman with the Pratt Food Company of Philadelphia, covering eight states. On his retirement from that position he entered the manufacturing business, continuing in the manufacture of the Witch toilet soap until 1899. He then turned his attention to the real estate business, in which he has since continued, and for the past fifteen years he has maintained his office in the First National Bank building of New Haven. He has erected many homes and has also opened the Whalley avenue addition between Whittlesey avenue and Young street. He also opened up an addition on Truman street in connection with E. L. Nettleton of Milford, Connecticut, and his operations as real estate dealer and speculative builder have not only brought him substantial success but have also constituted an important element in the further development and upbuilding of New Haven and this section. Mr. Shumway is interested in a six hundred and forty acre wheat farm near Garfield, in Pawnee county, Nebraska, conducted by Mrs. Shumway, who is a successful business woman. Mr. Shumway belongs to the New Haven realty board and is accounted one of the foremost representatives of real estate dealing in this section. At present he is engaged in opening up and selling a tract of land known as the Fowler estate, at the end of the Whalley avenue trolley line in New Haven where he is erecting modern buildings and establishing a colony of substantial citizens.

  On the 20th of May, 1887, Mr. Shumway was married to Miss Alida Hall, a daughter of G. and Caroline (Treadway) Hall, both representatives of old and prominent Connecticut families. Mr. and Mrs. Shumway have a daughter, Marian, the wife of George Preston Wright. She was born in 1897 and has one daughter, Caroline A., born in New Haven in April, 1917.

  Mr. and Mrs. Shumway hold membership in the Summerfield Methodist church and in politics he maintains an independent course. He belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and cooperates in all those plans of the organization which have to do with the upbuilding of the city and the extension of its trade relations. His own business affairs have been conducted along lines that have contributed to public progress and prosperity as well as to individual success, and his worth as a man and citizen is widely acknowledged.