Links to Historic People in Connecticut's Lower Naugatuck Valley

If you do not find the personality you are looking for, you may have luck checking the "Places and Events" section. Check to see if a home or business the person was associated with in is listed.

Amendola, Buddy - (DHQ) UCONN football captain from Derby

Basset, Ebenezer - First African-American Ambassador

Bartelme, Jerrod - sea captain who fired upon bridge at mouth of Housatonic River (DHQ)

Beardsley, Dr. Ambrose - Physician and co-author of 1880 Derby history (DHQ)

Bourglay, Jules - "The Leatherman" (DHQ)

Bradley, Senator Henry M. - State senator and Derby historian (DHQ)

Bristol, William (OP) Early Ansonia businessman

Brooker, Charles (OP) Another Early Ansonia businessman

Chamberlin, Clarence - Aviation pioneer who lived in Shelton

Chromik, Martin Late Derby High School Principal (DHQ)

Collins, John H. Derby's first World War I death (DHQ)

Croffut, David K (DHQ) Derby inventor

DeFilippo, Lou  - legendary High School football coach (DHQ)

Dillon, Rev. John Jordan - Derby native was Providence College President (DHQ)

Dirienzo, Mayor Anthony (DHQ) Derby's first Mayor of Italian descent

Dow, Herbert H. (DHQ) Dow Chemical founder spent childhood in Derby

Durand, William F - "Dean of American Engineering" (DHQ)

Egan, James - Major League baseball player born in Derby (DHQ)

Gates, Frank - philanthropist (DHQ)

Gompers, Samuel - famous labor leader mediated 1901 strike in Derby

Haugh, Harry A. Jr - (DHQ) Derby native was a pioneer in the development of the  modern traffic light. See his obituary here.

Holbrook, Josiah (DHQ) Educational pioneer

Hull, Commodore Isaac Famed commander of Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution

Hull, Joseph (DHQ)

Hull, Gen. William Warrior from the American Revolution and the War of 1812

 

Humphreys, Gen. David Aide-de-Camp to George Washington, our first Ambassador to a foreign country, poet, author, industrialist - one of the Valley's greatest heroes.

Hyde, Orson - Valley native was important pioneer in the early Mormon Church (DHQ)

Impellitteri, Vincent - NYC Mayor from Ansonia (DHQ)

Jennings, Dr. Isaac - visionary or fraud? (DHQ)

Keefe, Jimmy - champion track star (DHQ)

Kellogg, Clara Louise - Derby's 'prima donna' (DHQ)

Kellogg, Frances, and her father, Wilbur Fisk Osborne - Industrialists and philanthropists, whose left the legacy of Osborndale State Park, the Kellogg Environmental Center, and the Derby Neck Library.

Kosciuszko, Gen. Tadeusz (DHQ) Polish nobleman who fought in both the American Revolution, as well as the Revolution that liberated his Polish homeland. A hero on two continents who was friends with David Humphreys.

Lallemant, Pierre (DHQ) - Ansonia man invented the bicycle.

Leatherman (The) - The area's famous wanderer (DHQ)

Nettleton, Charles (OP) Derby businessman, and the Borough of Shelton's first Warden.

Mansfield, Rev. Richard served his church for an incredible 72 years, during some of the most tumultuous times in American history.

Orcutt, Rev. Samuel - Author of 1880 Derby history (DHQ)

Osborne, William Fisk (see Frances Kellogg)

O'Sullivan, Patrick (DHQ) Derby attorney and judge

O'Sullivan, Thomas (DHQ) Derby's first Mayor

Patrick, Brother Adelphus Derby native was Manhattan College President (DHQ)

Phelps, Anson (DHQ) Founder and namesake of City of Ansonia

Pettit, Robert (DHQ) Major League baseball player who lived in Derby

Pine, Charles H. Ansonia industrialist, namesake of Pine School

Riordan, Mayor William J. (DHQ) Derby's first Irish born mayor

Ryan, Leo F. - One of Derby High School's greatest coaches (DHQ)

Sanford, Henry Shelton - U.S. Ambassador and founder of Sanford , Florida (DHQ)

Sanford, Henry Shelton - The Sanford Historical Society has a wealth of material on its founder and former Derby resident

Sherman, Lydia (DHQ) Famous 19th century murderess who struck in Derby and Shelton

Shelton, Edward N. Derby pioneer industrialist, namesake for City of Shelton

Shelton, Dr. Gould (OP) Longtime Physician and Health Officer in Shelton

Shelton, Jane DeForest - Noted author (DHQ)

Skoronski, Bob - Derby football player on the championship Greenbay Packers

Strang, Edmund - Boy Scout pioneer (DHQ)

Stephens, Mrs. Ann S. Dime Novel Author

Storrs, John Whiting (DHQ) Derby's "Poet Laureate"

Sullivan, Ed (DHQ) Famous entertainer was in 1956 Seymour auto accident, stayed for a week in Griffin Hospital 

Torrance, David (OP) Attorney and Civil War hero

Waldhaus, Donald - 1924 Olympic Fencer (DHQ)

Wheeler, General Joseph (DHQ) A Confederate general who lived in Derby

Whitney, William (DHQ) Derby man who was Deputy U.S. Counsel to Bermuda in the 1870s.

Whitrock, William (DHQ) Major League baseball player who lived in Derby.

Wooster, Gen. David Shelton Revolutionary War hero who fell defending Connecticut

Wooster, Edward Derby (and the Valley's) first permanent settler in 1651

Wooster, Col. William B. (OH) Ansonia Civil War hero and attorney

Wooster, Sen. William Henry Harrison Seymour Industrialist