Webster Family Genealogy

"The History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut 1642-1880" by Samuel Orcut t and Ambrose Beardsley, M.D. 1880 p779 "Stephen..was a merchant in New York city..He died Fe b 16, 1860; buried in Greenwood, of which cemetery he was one of the original incorporators , and a director through his life. He went to New York when 18 or 20 years of age, having had only ordinary advantages at Derby, and engaged himself as clerk to the firm of Lawrence and Whitney, shippers, in which his brother Henry was a partner. By energy and business talent he soon acquired means to enter copartnership with John Currie, a Scotchman, in the wholesale grocery trade. He traded largely in wines, then in cotton, then engaged in ship-building and the shipping trade to nearly all parts of the world; then in canals and railroads, and finally in banks, accumulating great wealth."

He set himself in business as a liquor retailer and later wholesaler in 1805 at Nr 4 Stone Street, New York. Stephen Whitney's fortune grew heavily thanks to some large and fortunate speculations in cotton. In the 1830's he was among New York's richest men. His fortune was doubled by shrewd investments in city real estate. Second in wealth to John Jacob Astor, Whitney's fortune was estimated between 5-10'000'000 dollars at its height.

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History

Calverley is a rural village with a medieval manor house, Calverley Old Hall which was home to the Calverleys. Houses in the village are mostly constructed of sandstone, darkened by the soot of the Industrial Revolution, though there are brick buildings to the south of the original village. The Anglican parish church St Wilfrid's, has parts dating from the 11th or 12th century. The tower was added and increased in the 13th to 15th century.[2] There is a Methodist church dating from 1872, beside Victoria Park, a recreation ground[3] which is home to Calverley St Wilfrid's Cricket Club.[4] Both churches are Grade II listed buildings.[5] There are two golf courses to the south of the village, Woodhall Hills (established 1905)[6] off Woodhall Road, and Calverley Golf Club off Woodhall Lane.

In 1604 the landowner, Walter Calverley, went insane and murdered some of his children in Calverley Hall. He refused to plead and was ordered to be pressed to death, a method used to try to force a confession. However, he died without confessing his crime in order to ensure that his estate was not taken from his remaining family.[7] Legend has it that he can still be seen as a ghost, wandering in the grounds of his former home.[8]