WILLIAM EDWIN DEMOND

BIOGRAPHY

AS RECORDED IN:

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF TOLLAND AND WINDHAM COUNTIES CONNECTICUT.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS AND OF MANY OF THE EARLY SETTLED FAMILIES.

PUBLISHER: J.H.BEERS & CO., CHICAGO; 1903 P. 1201

WILLIAM EDWIN DEMOND, a coal and lumber merchant of Stafford Springs, Tolland county, was born March 6, 1855, in Springfield, Mass., the eldest son of Edwin Demond and Frances Taylor, of Rutland, Mass. His ancestry is to be traced back through five generations of sturdy New England millwrights and farmers to Daniel Demond, of Leicester, Mass. The date of the latter's birth and the time of his settlement in Leicester are unknown. From his son, Elijah, born in Leicester, July 31, 1738, and known as Capt. Elijah Demond, are descended all of that name in this country. Capt. Elijah moved to Rutland where his grave can now be found. His second child was Daniel
Demond (2), the great-grandfather of the subject of our sketch. Daniel's third son was Col. Miles Demond, who was prominent in local political circles. His fifth son was Edwin Demond. This makes five known generations and in every generation large families were the rule. The name Demond is probably of French origin and if certain clues or hints that are known could be followed it might be possible to trace it to Huguenot refugees who came to this country through England or Holland in the last years of the 17th century, and of whom there was a large settlement at Oxford, Massachusetts. From the beginning the family has been identified with the Congregational Church.

Edwin Demond by his first wife had two sons, William E. and Charles Taylor, and by a second wife, five children. Charles Taylor Demond, after being educated in the Westfield high school and Boston University, entered the profession of journalism, working on the Springfield Republican, Boston Globe, Philadelphia Press, Chicago Herald, and New York World. He is now the western manager of the Associated Press, with an office at Denver. William Edwin was taken to his grandmother's in Rutland upon the death of his mother, where he remained for several years. At the end of this time, his father having married Mary Bemis, of Paxton, he came to West Springfield to live with them. There he was one of the first to enter the old West Springfield high school. At sixteen, however, he left school to take a place as clerk and bookkeeper in the office of the Southworth Company. Two years later he went to North Adams as bookkeeper and paymaster for the North
Adams Manufacturing Company. He next entered the employ of Chas. Van Benthuysen & Son, of Albany, N.Y., a firm in the printing and publishing business, as salesman. After he had held this place for about a year he was invited back to his old home as paymaster by the Agawam Canal Company, and remained in their employ until 1886. In connection with the paymastership of the mill he bought and carried on a coal and trucking business. This he consolidated in about two years with the trucking business of William F. Cook, under the firm name of Cook and Demond. The coal business was operated under the firm name of Demond, Edgarton & Co.

In 1886 Mr. Demond began a business in Springfield with Henry Newell, under the firm name of Demond and Newell, wholesale paper-dealers. After one year this business was closed out. Mr. Demond then returned to Mittineague, West Springfield, where he built his home. There he expected to spend his life but in November, 1888, in partnership with William F. Cook he purchased the coal and lumber business of Chester J. Holmes in Stafford Springs, Conn., and operated the same under the name of W.E. Demond and Company until 1891.
At this time the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Demond taking the business in Stafford Springs, and Mr. Cook that in West Springfield. In 1891 Mr. Demond purchased the lumber yard of Mr. T.N. Austin in Greenfield, Mass., and incorporated the same under the laws of Massachusetts. He became the president of the company and Mr. W.B. Gaines, of Greenfield, treasurer and active manager. The business under the latter's management has grown and has been extended by the adding of a branch yard at Northampton. Since 1895 Mr. Demond has been running saw mills at Stafford and Norwich, Connecticut.

Mr. Demond has always been connected with the Congregational Church and Sunday-school. In politics he is independent. He belongs to the Temple of Honor, Ionic Lodge, No. 110, A.F.& A.M., and Orient Chapter, No. 42, R.A.M.

Mr. Demond was married May 25, 1882, to Sarah Harrison, of North Adams, a daughter of Almon Bradford and Eliza (Marsh) Harrison. To this union were born: Charles Harrison, born Aug. 16, 1883, at Mittineague; Maurice, born Jan. 8, 1885, at Mittineague; Grace Eliza, born April 21, 1886, at the same place, who died Oct. 17, of the same year; William Malcolm, born Dec. 20, 1888, in Mittineague, who died July 11, 1889; Robert Norton, born Oct. 26, 1891, at Stafford Springs; Miles Elijah, born June 2, 1894, at Stafford Springs; Daniel Bradford, born September, 1895, at the same place.

Reproduced by:
Linda D. Pingel - great-great granddaughter of Cyrus White of Rockville, CT.