Horace Bushnell Cheney Sr.

Horace Bushnell Cheney, Sr. was born 19 May 1868. He married Mary Caroline Ogden Pierson (1874-1949). He was a graduate of Yale in 1891(?). He was treasurer and vice president of Cheney Bros. from 1902-1934 and was a selectman of Manchester in the early 1900's. He worked for the Centennial of Manchester, and he was a fundraiser for Yale University and for the local hospital. He worked on the Silk Tarriff in Washington, D.C.

Horace Bushnell Cheney, Sr. coined the word "rayon" to define all artificial silks. He wrote "The Story of Silk", "Romance of Design" and "Glossary of Silk Terms,"and was writing a history of the Cheney family when he died. His oldest son, H. Bushnell Cheney, died at thirty. His second son, Stephen, went to a mental hospital and his youngest son, Roger, went to live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Horace Bushnell Cheney, Sr. was killed in an automobile accident in 1936 while visiting Roger in Santa Fe. His body was brought back to Manchester, Connecticut, for burial.