USA > Connecticut > New London County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of New London County, Connecticut > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
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MVI. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01068 5110
563
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW V. 26 VOLUME XXVI
CONTAINING LIFE SKETCHES OF LEADING CITIZENS OF
NEW LONDON COUNTY
CONNECTICUT
" Biography is the home aspect of history"
BOSTON BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY 1898
503
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/biographicalrevi26biog
5. 48466.1
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1742336
ATLANTIC STATES SERIES OF BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS,
The volumes issued in this series up to date are the following : -
I. OTSEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
II. MADISON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
III. BROOME COUNTY, NEW YORK.
IV. COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
. V. CAYUGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
VI. DELAWARE COUNTY, NEW YORK.
VII. LIVINGSTON AND WYOMING COUNTIES, NEW YORK.
VIII. CLINTON AND ESSEX COUNTIES, NEW YORK.
IX. HAMPDEN COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
x. FRANKLIN COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
XI. HAMPSHIRE COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
XII. LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.
XIII. YORK COUNTY, MAINE. XIV. CUMBERLAND COUNTY, MAINE.
XV. OXFORD AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES, MAINE.
XVI. CUMBERLAND COUNTY, NEW JERSEY. XVII. ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE. XVIII. PLYMOUTH COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
XIX. CAMDEN AND BURLINGTON COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.
XX. SAGADAHOC, LINCOLN, KNOX, AND WALDO COUNTIES, MAINE.
XXI. STRAFFORD AND BELKNAP COUNTIES. NEW HAMPSHIRE.
XXII. SULLIVAN AND MERRIMACK COUNTIES, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
XXIII. HILLSBORO AND CHESHIRE COUNTIES, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
XXIV. PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA. XXV. NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. XXVI. NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.
NOTF .-- All the biographical sketches published in this volume were subnutted to their respective subjects or to the sub- scribers, from whom the facts were primarily obtained, for their approval or correction before going to press ; and a reasonable time was allowed in each case for the return of the typewritten copies. Most of them were returned to us within the time allotter, or before the work was printed, after being corrected or revised; and these may therefore be regarded as reasonably accurate.
A few, however, were not returned to us; and, as we have no means of knowing whether they contain errors or not, we cannot vouch for their accuracy. In justice to our readers, and to render this work more valuable for reference purposes, we have indicated all uncorrected sketches by a small asterisk (*). placed immediately after the name of the subject. They will be found printed on the last pages of the book.
B. R. PUB. CO
PREFACE.
T RUE to our purpose of bringing out in the closing years of the nineteenth century -a period of record searching and of record making such as, we venture to say, the world has never before known -- an extended series of biographical works of special local interest and value, thus far within the limits of the Atlantic States, we issue herewith our twenty-sixth volume, devoted to contemporary worthies of New London County, Connecticut. Its pages set forth, in brief outline sketches, the character, connections, and activities of representative citizens of this ancient shire, showing what manner of men and women have succeeded to the possession and occupancy of the territory settled by Governor Winthrop and his followers, in many instances tracing lines of descent from the pioneers of old, showing who are the conservators of the goodly heritage to-day, and what they have done to prove their title to the vast heirship of privilege and responsibility, to win the respect and good will of their compatriots and deserve the remembrance of posterity.
APRIL, 1898.
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW PUBLISHING CO.
Mina-
BIOGRAPHICAL.
IDNEY MINER, whose portrait appears on the opposite page, was for many years a prominent citizen of New London, Conn., his native place, where he died on December 29, 1881, at seventy-six years of age. He was a son of Frederick and Han- nah (Wood) Miner, the father a native of Stonington and the mother of Groton.
Stonington was the home of the Miner fam- ily for four generations or more; and Simeon- Miner, the father of Frederick, spent his life there. Thomas Miner, an English yeoman, from Chew-Magna, Somersetshire, England, the first of the family to settle in America, came, it is said, with John Winthrop in the ship "Arbella." He lived in Boston at first, was a member of the church in 1632, but soon removed to Hingham, Mass. ; and about the year 1646 he came to New London. In 1653 he removed from here to Quiambog, where he spent the remainder of his life. The farm that he owned is still occupied by his descend- ants. He was but twenty-two years old when he left England, and he was married in Bos- ton. His son Ephraim married Mary Avery, June 20, 1666. Ephraim, Jr., son of Ephraim and Mary, married Mary Stevens; and their son Simeon married Hannah Wheeler. Simeon, Jr., son of Simeon, and the next in this line, was twice married, first to Anna Hewitt, and second to Mary Owen,
a daughter of "Schoolmaster " Owen, who was well known in that section of New London County. Frederick Miner, the father of Sid- acy, was the son of Simeon, Jr., by his second marriage. He was a successful merchant. Three sons and a daughter were the fruit of his union with Hannah Wood, but all have now passed away.
Sidney Miner, the special subject of this sketch, was largely interested in the whale fishery up to 1855. After that he engaged in the coasting trade as a merchant. He was actively interested in local affairs, and served on the Board of Aldermen of New London many years. In 1851 and 1852 he built, on the site of one of the old block-houses, the handsome mansion-house in which he after- ward made his home with his family. The main portion of the house is forty-four by forty two feet in ground area, with a large L adjoining, and is three stories in height, built of stuccoed brick. At the time of its erection it was one of the finest in the city, and it is not surpassed by many at the present time.
Mr. Miner married for his first wife Mary Ann Ramsdell, of Mansfield, Conn. She died at twenty-nine years of age, leaving three children, two sons and a daughter. Only the daughter, Mary Miner, is now living. She resides in California. Mr. Miner mar- ried for his second wife on April 23, 1844, Lydia J. Belcher, who survives him. Their union was blessed by the birth of a son and
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daughter, both of whom have passed away, the daughter having died in infancy. The son, Joseph Lawrence Miner, died in September, 1876, aged twenty-nine years. Mr. Miner's second son, Frederick W. Miner, married Jen- nie Hale, and had two sons - Sidney II and Frederick R. Sidney H. Miner married Lucy K. Bishop, of New London. They are living with Mrs. Miner at the family residence, 68 Main Street, and have one son, Sidney Bishop Miner. Frederick Miner is unmarried, and resides in California with his mother.
Mrs. Miner was born in Norwich, a daugh- ter of Colonel William and Sally (Wilson) Belcher, the former of whom was a native of Griswold, and the latter of Jewett City, this county. They had eight sons and two daugh- ters, but only two survive at this day ; namely, Mrs. Miner and her brother, Charles Belcher, who is living in retirement in St. Louis, Mo. Mrs. Miner is a member of Dr. Blake's church, whose house of worship was erected under the supervision of Mr. Miner at the same time that he was building his own house.
ILLIAM FITCH, late a retired mer- chant residing in Norwich, where he died December 22, 18So, was born in Bozrah, Conn., on October 27, 1800. He was the youngest son of Colonel Asa and Susanna (Fitch) Fitch, and was a descendant of James Fitch, who came to America in the ship "Defense " in 1635.
James Fitch, when sixteen years of age, studied theology under the instruction of the Rev. Messrs. Hooker and Stone, of Hartford, Conn., and was ordained at Saybrook in 1649. After remaining as pastor there fourteen years, the Rev. Mr. Fitch removed thence to Nor- wich with the larger part of his congregation, and continued active in the work of the min-
istry till very near the close of his long and useful life, his death occurring at Lebanon, Conn., November 18, 1702. He was a native of Bocking, County Essex, England, the date of his birth being December 24, 1622. The Rev. James Fitch married first, in 1648, Abi- gail, daughter of the Rev. Henry Whitfield. She died in 1659; and he married in Oc- tober, 1664, Priscilla Mason, daughter of Captain John Mason. He had fourteen chil- dren, six by his first wife and eight by the second. Their descendants are very numer- ous. Thomas Fitch, who settled in Nor- walk, Conn., and Joseph Fitch, who settled permanently at Windsor, and was the ancestor of John Fitch, the inventor, were brothers of the Rev. James Fitch; and a Samuel, school- master, who was married in Hartford in 1654, it is said "may have been another brother."
Samuel Fitch, born in 1655, son of the Rev. James and Abigail (Whitfield) Fitch, is said by Stiles in his History of Windsor, Conn., to have been the ancestor of the Bozrah Fitch families.
Colonel Asa Fitch, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Bozrah, February 14, 1755. He was a farmer and iron manufact- urer at Fitchville. By his first wife, Su- sanna, he had ten children, five sons and five daughters. The maiden name of his second wife was Mary House.
William Fitch in his boyhood for some years worked on his father's farm summers and attended school winters. Later, in his sixteenth or seventeenth year, he attended Bacon Academy at Colchester, where he com- pleted the course of study, and was graduated. He had always been fond of books and study, and he next applied himself for several terms to teaching school. At the age of twenty he began his business career, going with his brother Douglas to Marseilles, France, join-
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ing in business their elder brother, Asa Fitch, Jr., who had been in New York City for some years, and who there founded the mercantile house of Fitch Brothers & Co., who sixty years ago and more were doing an immense commission business. In a volume entitled "Old Merchants of New York City" we read that nearly all the American vessels and American produce sent to Marseilles were consigned to "the great firm," also that the United States government appointed this house agent of the navy, charged with supply- ing the provisions and making the payment, etc., of the American squadron in the Medi- terranean. Returning to this country in 1825 or 1826, Mr. William Fitch was engaged for about twelve years in the New York office of the house, having in this period entire charge of the same. Mr. Fitch returned to his native town in 1848, and there remained until 1858, when he removed to Norwich. In this eity he became the owner of considerable real es- tate. The house that he bought in 1857 of Edward Worthington, and which. has since been the family home, was built one hundred and thirty years ago or more by Colonel Will- iam Bradford Whiting, who sold it in 1771 to Azariah Lathrop. A picture of this historic mansion may be seen in the volume entitled "Old Houses of the Ancient Town of Nor- wich."
Mr. Fitch was married October 14, 1857, to Mary E., daughter of Dr. Elias and Mary Ann (Hillhouse) Williams. A biographical sketch of Mrs. Fitch follows this.
RS. MARY E. FITCH, for many years a highly esteemed resident of Norwich, was a daughter of Dr. Elias W. and Mary Ann (Hillhouse) Williams. ller paternal grandfather was the
Rev. Joshua Williams, a native of Middletown, Conn., and a man of great personal worth. He married Mary Webb, who died in middle life some years before her husband. They had six children, two sons and four daughters. Dr. Elias W. Williams was born in Harwin- ton, Litchfield County, Conn., September 16, 1797. He was skilled in his profession, and was a man of cheerful disposition and genial and courteous manners. His career of useful- ness was cut short in his thirty-first year, his death occurring September 16, 1828. His wife, who survived him many years, died in 1385, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Will- iam Fitch, at the advanced age of eighty-nine. They had two children ---- Mary E., and a son who died in infancy.
Mary E. Williams received careful home training and as good an education as in those days was readily obtainable by women. On October 14, 1857, she was married to William Fitch, a member of the family for which Fitehville was named. His father, Colonel Asa Fitch, who was born in 1755, at one time operated an iron furnace in the town of Boz- rah. His sons subsequently built, owned, and operated a cotton-mill in that town. This mill was three times burned, and twice rebuilt by Asa Fitch, Jr. In February, 1781, Colonel Asa Fitch married Susannah Fitch, who bore him five sons and five daughters. After her death he married for his second wife, in January, 1816, Mary House, who sur- vived him some years.
William Fitch was the ninth child and youngest son of Colonel Asa and Susannah Fitch, and was born in the town of Bozrah, October 27, 1800. Hle beeame a member of the firm of Fitch Brothers, commission mer- chants and importers of New York City. Having inherited from his father's estate a goodly patrimony, he added to it from the
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results of his successful business career. A fuller account of his life and ancestry may be found in his own personal sketch, immediately preceding this article. Mr. and Mrs. Fitch had six children, of whom four are now living. Their record in brief is as follows: William died at the age of twenty months in 1860; Fanny, a young lady of great promise, died February 21, 1890, at the age of twenty-two years; Marian Hillhouse is the wife of Elihu G. Loomis, an attorney-at-law of Boston, Mass., and the mother of four children; Susan Lee is Mrs. William R. Jewett, of Grand Rapids, Mich., and has three children; Eliza- beth Mason is the wife of William N. Wilbur, a manufacturer of Philadelphia, Pa., and has three children; and Sarah Griswold, the wife of Francis Hillhouse, of New York City, has musical talents of a high order, and is a skilled performer upon the piano.
Mrs. Fitch died at her home in Norwich town on July 12, 1897. The spacious stately looking house in which she resided is built in Southern Colonial style, and dates back more than a hundred years. It stands back from the street, and is reached by a wide and beau- tiful private driveway leading from the foot of Norwich town green. The extensive grounds are beautifully cared for, and are shaded by tall old trees, which give one a feeling of being in the country, far from the rush of city life. The mistress of this beautiful estate was a modest and genuine lady, unaffected and easily approachcd; and visitors to her home, however humble, were always courteously wel- comed.
OHN MITCHELL, a prominent manu- facturer of Norwich, was born at Stour- bridge, England, in 1819, son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Williams) Mitchell. The father, who was born in 1798, came to
America in 1828 with his wife and five chil- dren. He spent the first three years in New York City. Subsequently, in 1845, he came to Norwich. He was an iron manufacturer, having learned the business in England, and a member of the Cold Spring Iron Company, which he established here and the Gosnold Mills in New Bedford, Mass., in 1855. He dicd in 1867, when sixty-nine years of age, having led a busy and successful life. Eliza- beth Mitchell, his wife, was a native of Bris- tol, England. They were the parents of nine children, of whom five sons and three daughters reached maturity. Of these Mary A., John, William, Elizabeth, Charles, and Emma are living. Mary A. is the widow of William Garner, and resides in Derby, Conn. ; Elizabeth is the wife of George W. Geer; and Emma is the wife of Frank Davis. Except- ing Mrs. Garner, all reside in Norwich. The mother died in March, 1860, at sixty-seven.
At the age of thirteen Jchn Mitchell left the district school, and became an apprentice to the iron business, which has been his chief occupation since. He has been connected with the Cold Spring Iron Works fifty years. Since 1879, when he purchased the Thames Iron Works, he has been the president of that corporation. Also for the past seventeen years he has been the president of the Richmond Stove Works, of which he was one of the founders. He is also interested in the Uncas Paper Company, of which he was one of the original directors.
On June 6, 1841, Mr. Mitchell was married to Miss Joanna Dexter Gibbs, a daughter of Captain Joshua and Deborah (Washburn) Gibbs, of Wareham, Mass. Her father, who was a sea captain, died in the prime of life, leaving two other children, namely: Azel W. Gibbs, of Norwich; and Mary B., the wife of Samuel B. Caswell, living in Los Angeles,
13-14
JOHN MITCHELL.
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Cal. Ifer mother died in 1852, aged fifty-two years. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell have had four sons, of whom two died in infancy. The others are: Albert Gibbs Mitchell, residing in Norwich, who is married and has one son; and Frank Arthur Mitchell, living in Ari- zona, who is married, and has one daughter. Mr. Mitchell has served on the Common Council for two years. For a quarter-century he has been a director of the Thames National Bank. He has been interested in the Nor- wich Savings Bank for about twenty-seven years and its president since 1895. He is also a director of the Crescent Fire Arms Company of Norwich, Conn., and a trustee of the Norwich Free Academy and of several other institutions. A man of sound judg- ment, he has been very successful. Both he and Mrs. Mitchell attend the Second Congre -- gational Church. They reside at 178 West Thames Street, where he erected his present home and settled in 1859, within a short dis- tance of the residence of his father.
ARL J. VIETS, of New London, dealer in books, stationery, and fancy goods, is a lineal descendant of some of the original settlers of Connecticut. He was born in East Granby, Conn., and is a son of John Jay and Jane (Wadsworth) Viets. The family is of German origin. The first progenitor in this part of the country was a colonist from the vicinity of Dorchester, Mass., who with a party under the leadership of ministers Ilooker and Stone made the first settlement at Hartford. The exodus of these colonists took place in June, 1636; and their journey to Hartford (named for Mr. Stone's birthplace in England) is vividly described in Ellis's Youth's History of the United States, vol. i. p. 117. Dr. John Viets settled in
1710 in Simsbury (now East Granby), which has since been the home of the family. His grandson, Captain John Viets, who was the great-great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was the first keeper of the old Newgate Prison at Simsbury, and during the Revolu- tion had Tory prisoners under his charge there. From his time to the present the male members of the family generally have been engaged in agricultural pursuits. John Viets, Carl J. Viets's grandfather, died in 1858, at the age of seventy-five years. His wife was in maidenhood Abigail Eno, of Simsbury; and Amos R. Eno, of New York City, is a cousin of the present Mr. Viets. Mrs. Abi- gail Eno Viets survived her husband ten years, living to be fourscore, and is now rest- ing with him in the East Granby cemetery, where sleep many generations of the family. She reared four sons and two daughters, of whom the only survivor is Ardelia, widow of Edward Bowers, and a resident of Hartford. The last to die was James Rollin Viets, a successful merchant and influential public man, who breathed his last in East Granby in July, 1896, at the age of seventy-five years.
John Jay Viets was born in Simsbury (East Granby) in 1806. He was in business for a number of years in his native town, dealing extensively in general merchandise. Though a Republican in a strong Democratic town, he was often called upon to take an active part in public affairs; and his ability was generally recognized. His death occurred December 10, 1885. He was married in 1851 to Jane Wadsworth, of Farmington, Conn., daughter of Timothy Wadsworth, and a direct descend - ant of William Wadsworth, who was one of the first settlers of IIartford, coming thither with the Rev. Mr. Hooker from the vicinity of Dorchester. Her mother's maiden name was Strong. Mrs. Jane Wadsworth Viets died at
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the age of sixty-one years, sixteen days after her husband's demise. They reared three children : Jennie A., wife of O. L. Livesey, now living in California near Los Angeles; Carl J. ; and Hubert Wadsworth Viets, pro- prietor and manager of a large steam laundry in La Crosse, Wis.
Carl J. Viets acquired his elementary edu- cation in the district school, and was gradu- ated at Columbia Institute at the age of seven- teen. Shortly after leaving sehool he obtained a position in the post-office at Windsor, Conn., and was Assistant Postmaster there for some five years. In the spring of 1881 he was engaged as book-keeper for the Livesey Manufacturing Company in New London; and in 1888 he purchased his present stand, buy- ing the whole estate of Charles Allen. As a book store this place of business has been in existence nearly sixty-eight years, having been established by the Bowles Brothers in 1830. Mr. Viets has a large and well-selected stock, and controls a good business.
He was married May 23, 1883, to Mary, daughter of Major William H. H. and Eliza (Smith) Comstock. She was born in East Lyme, Conn., and has lived in New London thirty years. Mrs. Viets also is of old New England stock. She is a member of the Mayflower Society by right of five anees- tors, two on her father's side, and three on her mother's, all passengers on the historie eraft. She is also a member of the Daughters of the Revolution ; belongs to the Sons of the Revo- lution, which she joined as an honorary mem- ber, being one of the few ladies to have that distinction ; and is a member of the Society of Colonial Dames, besides being eligible to several of the more exclusive Colonial soeic- ties. One child was born to Mr. and Mrs. Viets, a daughter, who died in infancy.
Mr. Viets is a Republican politically, and
he is now serving his third term as a Couneil- man of New London. He is a Master Mason. belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is also a member of the Sons of the American Revolution by right of two lines of deseent, being eligible to the May- flower Society by virtue of being a deseend- ant of John Alden. He has an attractive home on Granite Street, one of the charming residenees in the vicinity of the park, into which he moved February 17, 1896.
ANFORD NELSON BILLINGS, a skilful farmer and extensive land- owner of Stonington, Conn., was born May 18, 1841, in North Stonington, a son of Horatio N. Billings, and is of aneient Colonial stock.
Roger Billings, probably the first of this surname in New England, came over about 1635, and settled at Dorchester, Mass. His epitaph, which has been preserved in print, reads as follows : --
Here lyeth buried ye Body of Roger Billings Senior aged 63 years Departed this life ye 15 day of November 6
I 8 3.
William Billings, an ancestor of the subject of this sketch several generations removed, married February 12, 1658; and to him and his wife, Mary, were born seven daughters and two sons, William being the eldest and Ebenezer, the next in line of deseent, the youngest child. In 1680 Ebenezer married Annie Comstock, who bore him five daughters and an equal number of sons, among them being Ebenezer and Increase. The latter, their eighth child, born May 13, 1697, settled
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in Ledyard, Conn. Ebenezer Billings, Jr., their second child and first son, was the next in this line. He was born January 1, 1684, and on April 2, 1706, married Phebe Denni- son, by whom he had eleven children, six of them being sons. The line was continued through their third child and second son, Ebenezer, third, born March 20, 1711. He married Mary Noyes on November 20, 1733, and had four sons and four daughters. San- ford, the second child and first son, born April 21, 1736, was named in honor of an uncle or aunt who had married into the family of George Sanford. Sanford Billings married Lucy Green, daughter of James Green, whose wife, it is said, was a direct descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, immortal- ized by Longfellow. Nine sons and two daughters were born of this union, Gilbert, the fifth son and child, being the grandfather of Sanford Nelson Billings.
Gilbert Billings was born November 25, 1768, on the old homestead in Stonington. He married Lucy Swan, by whom he had eleven children, eight sons and three daugh- ters; and of these two sons and one daughter died in early life. A daughter, Lucy, was twice married ; and one of her grand-daughters, whose father was a surgeon in the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, commanded by General Grant, now lives in Illinois. A son, Robert Billings, married Calista Kinney, and at his death left one son, Gilbert, of Mill Town. Sanford Billings, second, another son, a young man of great promise, went West as a surveyor when young, and died in Illi- nois.
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