Commemorative biographical record of Hartford County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Pt 1, Part 1

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1336

USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Commemorative biographical record of Hartford County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Pt 1 > Part 1

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RICKS CULLL DAVID O. MCKAY _ MANY REXBURG, IDAHO 83440

RICKS COLLEGE DAVID O. MCKAY LIBRARY. REXBURG, IDAHO 83440

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MAY -14 1999

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2 2006

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COMMEMORATIVE

BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD

HARTFORD COUNTY, DE45613

CONNECTICUT,

CONTAINING

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

Pt. 1

ILLUSTRATED.

CHICAGO: J. H. BEERS & CO. 1901.

James Dixon

BIOGRAPHICAL.

IXON, HON. JAMES, LL. D. (deceased). Among the D able and cultured people who made their home in Hartford, and have gone to their reward after giving society a notably refined and intellectual tone, none took higher rank than EM did the late United States Senator, James Dixon, and his gifted wife.

James Dixon was born Aug. 5. 1814, in Enfield, Conn., the youngest son of Hon. William Dixon, a native of Killingly, Conn., who for many years was a prominent and influential citizen of the town. lawyer by profession, he engaged in practice from 1807 to 1825, and attained high rank in his calling. He was a delegate to the convention which formed the State Constitution, held at Hartford in 1818. Gov. Oliver Wolcott presiding. [ See "Hollister's History of Connecticut."| In 1831 the town of En- field was made a probate district. and Ephraim P. Prudens became the first probate judge, serving one year. and being followed by William Dixon, who served three years. Mr. Dixon also served his town in the General Assembly. He died in 1835, his wife, formerly Miss Mary Reynolds Field, passing away in 1840. She was descended from Henry Whitfield, of Guilford, Matthew Allyn, and the Rev- olutionary Capt. Newberry.

James Dixon, of whom we more particularly write, was graduated from Williams College in 1834. Ile was class laureate : member of the Kappa Alpha Society : president of the Adelphic Union : president of the Philotecnian, 1833, delivered the master's oration in 1837, and was honorary member of the Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity. In 1862 the degree of L.1 .. D. was conferred on him by Trinity College. After leaving college he commenced the study of law in his father's office, afterward visiting Europe. where. at Paris, he was presented to Louis Philippe, King of France, Mr. Dixon being at that time aide to the governor of Connecticut. He was admitted to the bar, and removing to Hartford entered upon the practice of his profession in partnership with Judge

Ellsworth, at once giving promise of eminence at the bar. About this time he became interested in pol- itics and the anti-slavery cause, and his attention was somewhat diverted from the legal profession.

In 1837, when only twenty-three years of age, Mr. Dixon was elected from his native town as a member of the State Legislature, at the time being the youngest representative, and was chosen Speaker of that body, in which he also served in 1838, 1844, and 1854. About this time he declined the nomina- tion for governor of Connecticut, though strongly urged to accept it. In 1845 he was elected on the Whig ticket to the United States Congress, being also the youngest member in that body, and served from Dec. I, of that year, until March 3, 1849. In 1854 he was a candidate for nomination as United States senator, but L. F. S. Foster, of Norwich (who afterwards became his sincere friend ), was elected. Two years later he was again a candidate, and was elected by a large majority ; when he took his seat he was the youngest member of the Senate, and he served therein until 1869. In 1869 he was appointed by President Johnson minister to Russia, and his acceptance was greatly desired by the Rus- sian legation at Washington, but he declined the office. He was an intimate friend of Abraham Lin- coln, who frequently sent for him for conference, and has even been known to telegraph for him to come to Washington after an adjournment of Con- gress. Mr. Dixon was also intimate with Charles Sumner, William Pitt Fessenden, Horace Greeley and Gen. Grant, who were frequently at his home. An advocate for the cause of liberty, he was a warm friend of the soldiers in the Civil war, and his house was frequently visited by officers of the army and navy, while his wife was untiring in her kindly min- istrations to the wounded in the hospitals. After the war Senator Dixon was opposed to the confiscation of property in the South, being more desirous to see the restoration of the Union. He advocated "State rights" and was in favor of Free Trade. Upon the expiration of his term in the United States Senate he retired into private life, though strongly urged by

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

his colleagues in the Senate to accept the position of minister to Austria.

Mr. Dixon's health was uniformly good until some time in February, 1873, when he contracted a chill which terminated in a sudden affection of the heart, which caused his death March 27, 1873. He was a man of high culture, a graceful writer and able debater, and his fame as an crudite and ac- complished scholar, a ripe lawyer, and close stu- dent of political economy, was not confined to his immediate surroundings, but extended through- out the entire State, and even far beyond its limits. In his death the people of Connecticut reasonably felt that they had lost not alone a much needed ad- viser in State affairs, but also a citizen who, long and often trusted with public interests, was ever true to his best belief and convictions. He was possessed of a fine and sensitive temperament, and his head and face made one of the finest studies ever seen in the Senate chamber of the United States. In his youth a writer of much merit, his articles were published in the "New England Magazine," the "Southern Literary Messenger," and other journals, while in the files of the Hartford Courant may be found some of his best writings. Socially he was affiliated with the F. & A. M.

Hon. James Dixon was married to Miss Eliza- beth Lord Cogswell, a descendant in the seventh generation from John Cogswell, who was born in 1592, in Westbury Leigh, Wiltshire, England, and came to America in 1635, settling at Ipswich, Mass., where he received a large grant of land. The line of Mrs. Dixon's descent was through William, Capt. Jonathan (who held a commission from the King), Jonathan (2), Dr. Nathaniel, and Rev. Dr. jona- than Cogswell. The last named was born Sept. 3. 1782, in Rowley, Mass., a son of Dr. Nathaniel Cogswell, a man of superior education and acquire- ments, a member of the Committee of Safety, and a model of the most remarkable integrity, and of the purest character. The son, Dr. Jonathan Cogswell, was admitted to Harvard College in 1803, and was graduated in 1806, among the first scholars of his class. Subsequently he attended Andover Theo- logical Seminary for one year, being associated with the first class that graduated from that institution, in 1810. In October of that year he was ordained to the Gospel ministry, and installed pastor of the Congregational Church in Saco, Maine, and there he labored some eighteen years with great fidelity and marked success (giving largely of his private fortune to the work), resigning in October, 1828. After resting for a year he was in 1829 installed pas- tor over the church in New Britain Parish, Berlin, Conn., where he remained until he was called, in 1834, to the chair of Ecclesiastical History in the Theological Institute of Connecticut, at East Wind- sor Hill, where his fine old Colonial house may vet be seen. On May 13, 1834, he was inaugurated professor of church history in that institution. In 1836 he received the degree of S. T. D. from the

University of New York. Prof. Cogswell contin- ued to fill the chair of Sacred History in the Theo- logical Institute for ten years, resigning in 1844 -- having been appointed executor of his brother's estate, which required his presence in or near New York-and retiring to the city of New Brunswick, N. J., where he resided until his death, which oc- curred Aug. 1, 1864, when he was aged about eighty-two years. He was a man of great physical strength, strikingly handsome, being over six feet tall and enjoying good health to the last.

Rev. Dr. Cogswell was twice married, in 18II to Elizabeth Abbot, daughter of Joel and Lydia (Cummings) Abbot, and sister of Commodore Joel Abbot, of the United States navy. She was a lady of high culture, and of most gracious hospital- ity. She died April 30, 1837. Rev. Dr. Cogswell afterward married Jane Eudora Kirkpatrick, daugh- ter of Hon. Andrew Kirkpatrick, chief justice of New Jersey. She passed away in 1864.

To Senator and Elizabeth L. (Cogswell) Dixon were born two sons and two daughters. The eld- est son served in the Civil war on the staff of Gen. Wright, later, in the cavalry, as aide to Gen. Han- cock. The mother of this family was a lady of large fortune, rare attainments, and great personal attractions. It is said that Hon. Richard Spofford once remarked : "MIrs. Dixon was the most accom- plished lady I have ever seen in Washington." Oth- ers have spoken of her as "beautiful and amiable." Donald G. Mitchell dedicated to her his "Reveries of a Bachelor." She was a personal friend of Mrs. Lincoln, who sent for her after the assassination of the President, and Mrs. Dixon went and remained through the night with her. Mrs. Dixon died June 16, 1871, at the age of forty-nine years, deeply be- loved and regretted by all who knew her and ad- mired her for her many virtues.

JAMES BOLTER, the late venerable president of the Hartford National Bank, rounded out nearly fifty years of continuous service with that institu- tion, twenty-five of which were passed as its execu- tive officer, and he was one of the city's esteemed and respected citizens.

Mr. Bolter was born June 27, 1815, in North- ampton, Mass., a son of William and Nancy ( Pom- eroy) Bolter, natives, the former of Boston (to which city his father had come from the County of Norfolk, England, and there died), and the latter of Northampton, Mass., a daughter of William Pom- eroy, a manufacturer of cloth. William Bolter was by trade both a saddler and harness maker and a carriage maker, but followed the latter as an occit- pation through life. He located in Northampton, where in the days of the old militia he was an en- sign of a company, his commission, which his son held among family treasures, being signed by John Hancock, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Bolter died in Northampton, in 1841, at the age of seventy-six years, and his

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

wife Nancy passed away in 1848, at the age of six- ty-eight years. Of their four children, all now Gead, James was the youngest.

On his maternal side Mr. Bolter descended from an especially distinguished ancestry. His great- grandfather, Lieut. Daniel Pomeroy, and the latter's brother, Gen. Seth Pomeroy, were patriots and ren- dered valuable service in the early days of the Col- ony in "times that tried men's souls," both serving from Northampton in the French and Indian war, and both participating in the battle of Lake George in 1755, where Lieut. Daniel Pomeroy was killed. Seth Pomeroy was also at the siege of Louisburg, and the battle of Bunker Hill, and was made a brigadier-general June 22, 1775. Mr. Bolter had in his possession copies of letters written in July, 1755, by Col. Pomeroy, during the French and In- chian war, to the widow of Daniel Pomeroy, in one of which he tells her of the killing of her husband. He had also a letter written by his grandmother to Col. Pomeroy during the war of the Revolution. These letters are believed to be among the oldest letters connected with those early wars. They were reproduced in the Springfield Republican in 1875. One of these letters sets forth that 156 men were killed at the battle of Lake George. Mr. Bolter had also among his family heirlooms a most quaint deed bearing the date 1713. Col. Seth Pomeroy was the grandson of Eltweed Pomeroy (3), who was one of the most prominent men in the early his- tory of Northampton, where he located in 1665. Three brothers. Eltweed (2). Caleb, and Joshua, settled in 1636 in Windsor, coming from Devon- shire, England: two located in Northampton, and from the three descended those of the name in the town. They were the sons of Eltweed Pome- roy (I), who was descended from a long line of English ancestry dating back in unbroken succes- sion to the time of William the Conqueror. Elt- weed Pomeroy (2) came to this country about 1630, settling first in Dorchester, Mass., then re- moved with Mr. Warham's company to Windsor, Conn., where Eltweed (3) was born in 1638.

James Bolter. the subject of this sketch, passed his boyhood and early manhood in Northampton and there received scholastic training in the public and private schools. In early manhood he passed two years at St. Louis, Mo., and with that excep- tion since leaving his native town his long and busy life was passed in Hartford. Coming here in 1832 he entered the employ of C. HI. Northam as a clerk

in a grocery, and continued there four years. Then when about twenty-one or twenty-two years of age he went to St. Louis and remained about a year, but. being unsuccessful, he returned practically pen- niless to Hartford. There he became a partner of Ellery Hills in the wholesale grocery business, a partnership which continued four years, the busi- ness being carried on under the firm name of Hills & Bolter. In 1843 Mr. Bolter became associated in the wholesale grocery business with his former em-

ployer, C. H. Northam, under the firm style of C. H. Northam & Co., with which he continued until 1860; on Jan. 14, of that year, Mr. Bolter was made cashier of the Hartford Bank, later re-organized as a national bank with a capital of one million, two hundred thousand dollars. He sustained such re- lations with the bank until he succeeded the late Henry A. Perkins as its president, July 6, 1874.

The Hartford National Bank, the oldest in the city, in 1892 celebrated its one hundredth anniver- sary. Its founders were men of exceptional ability and force, which has made the bank a distinctively important factor to the substantial and financial de- velopment of the town. It was the first to begin the practice of fire and marine insurance long before the first local company was chartered. Under its wings was gathered the early experience destined, in time, to make Hartford pre-eminent for skill and success in underwriting. Such a galaxy of distinguished men has rarely, if ever, been excelled in a hundred years of any bank's history. The names of John Caldwell, Nathaniel Terry, Joseph Trumbull, Da- vid F. Robinson, Henry A. Perkins and James Bolt- er, would adorn the annals of any community. The bank has had only seven presidents in one hundred and eight years. It was the fifth bank established in the United States. Mr. Bolter's connection with the bank began June 10, 1852, at which time he was elected to its board of directors. At his death he was the oldest man in point of service connected with the Hartford Bank, or any other bank in the city, and he was also among the oldest of Hart- ford's residents. He served on the staff of Gov. Joseph Trumbull. In his religious faith he was an Episcopalian, and was one of the trustees of dona- tions and bequests in the Episcopal Church of the State.

One of the first steps taken by Mr. Bolter on his clevation to the presidency of the bank was to mod- ernize the building, which was made in every way a most substantial and comfortable banking house. worthy of its grand history. During the present ex- ecutive officers' administration of its affairs, the his- tory of the Hartford National Bank has been one of almost phenomenal prosperity, giving it rank among foremost of the banking institutions of the city and State. Mr. Bolter was held in great esteem by fel- low bankers, and, as stated above, by Hartford peo- ple. He had a remarkable insight into the real con- dition of borrowers that has caused his advice to be widely sought by buyers of paper. He gave timely aid, judiciously rendered to many struggling under the burdens of life, met the duties of citizenship fearlessly to protect public interests; on occasions showed conrage in the rebuke of wrong. He was a man of vivacity, one of cheerfulness, and, pos- sessing as he did a wealth of anecdote, was welcome everywhere. He abounded in repartee, and was the maker of many happy and pointed hits that had al- most as wide a currency as the bills of the bank. In his political affiliations Mr. Bolter was a Demo-

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

crat, though not active in that party's affairs. With the exception of service as councilman and alderman we believe he never held public office. He was a di- rector for years in various corporations, among them the National Fire Insurance Co., the Dime Savings Bank, the Hartford County Mutual Fire In- surance Co., and the P. & F. Corbin Co. of New Britain. He was a member of the Hartford Club, of the Colonial Club, of a driving club called "The Zodiac," and of the Church Club of the State. In early manhood he affiliated with St. John's Lodge, F. & A. M., of Hartford.

On Feb. 11, 1846, Mr. Bolter was married to Mary, born July 7, 1820, daughter of Roswell and Sally Johnson ( Stone) Bartholomew, he being one of the prominent citizens of Hartford, and was of the seventh generation from William Bartholomew. of Ipswich, Mass., who came from England in 1634, the line of descent being through William (2) William (3), Andrew, Andrew (2), Andrew (3). To Mr. and Mrs. Bolter were born children : (1) James, born in 1847, married, in 1881, Ellen A. Brown. They had a daughter, Mary E., who married Dr. John B. Griggs, of Farmington, Conn , and to them was born a son, John Boiter Griggs. (2) Alice E., born 1851. (3) Clara M., born in 1854, married, in 1875, John W. Gray, who died in 1892. Their children are, Robert, Mary, and Clara. Mrs. Bolter died in July, 1898, aged seventy-eight years.

In June, 1900, Mr. Bolter went to Bridgeport to attend a diocesan convention, and walked more than usual, becoming very tired, yet hurried home and at- tended a reception in the evening. From this time his strength began to fail, but through all the month of July he continued to go to the bank and attend to his regular duties. On Aug. I he went to the summer home of his daughter, Mrs. Grav, at Weekapaug, R. I., where he remained about three weeks, but, gradually growing weaker, he was brought back to his Hartford home, in a special car, Aug. 20, and on the 6th of September, following. the end came.

GEN. WILLIAM BUEL FRANKLIN, ex- major-general of United States volunteers, and ex- president of the board of managers of the National Home for disabled volunteer soldiers, as well as vice-president of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspec- tion & Insurance Co., was born in York. Penn., Feb. 27, 1823, a son of Walter S. and Sarah ( Buel) Franklin.

Walter S. Franklin, who was clerk of the United States House of Representatives at the time of his death, in 1838, was a son of Thomas Franklin, of Philadelphia, who was commissary of prisoners during the war of the Revolution, and who married Mary Rhoads, daughter of Samuel Rhodes, a mem- her from Pennsylvania of the First Continental Congress, although the family came from Flushing. L. I. Mrs. Walter S. Franklin was a daughter of

Dr. William Buel, of Litchfield, Conn., and a de- scendant of Peter Buel, of Windsor.

William B. Franklin in June, 1839, secured an appointment as cadet in the United States Military Academy at West Point, N. Y., passed through the curriculum, and was brevetted second lieutenant of topographical engineers in July, 1843. The fol- lowing two years he passed in the service on the western lakes and the Rocky Mountains, and after the third year, passed in the topographical office at Washington, D. C., he was appointed second lieu- tenant, Sept. 1, 1846. His first actual experience as. a soldier was had in the Mexican war, and for gal- lant and meritorious conduct at the battle of Buena Vista he was promoted to first lieutenant Feb. 23, 1847. From July, 1848, to January, 1851, he was. assistant professor of natural and experimental phi- losophy at the Military Academy at West Point, and the following two years he was on active duty along the Atlantic, building light-houses on the New Hampshire and Maine coasts. He was commissioned first lieutenant of topographical engineers March 3, 1853, and until 1857 was on duty in connec- tion with lighthouse and custom-house engineering. In March, 1857, he was appointed secretary of the lighthouse board ; in October of the same year he was commissioned captain of topographical en- gineers ; in November, 1859, was appointed superin- tendent of the Capitol and Post Office buildings ; and in March, 1861, was appointed supervising architect of the Treasury Department at Washing- ton, D. C.

In the terrible conflict between the North and South Gen. Franklin gained undying fame for him- self. Commissioned colonel of the 12th United States Infantry May 14, 1861, he was elevated three days later to the rank of brigadier-general, United States volunteers. In the Manassas campaign, and at the battle of Bull Run, he was in command of a brigade, and until March, 1862, he was in com- mand of divisions about the defense of the Capitol. He also took an honorable part in the Virginia peninsular campaign, and on June 30. 1862, was brevetted brigadier-general of the United States army "for gallant and meritorious conduct" in the battle before Richmond, Va., and was appointed major-general of volunteers on July 4, 1862.

In the Maryland campaign the General was in command of the 6th Army Corps, and in the bat- tle of South Mountain, Sept. 14, 1862, commanded the left wing of the Army of the Potomac, carrying Crampton's Gap by assault, and gaining a signal victory. He commanded the 6th Corps in the battle of Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862. While on sick leave of absence in the summer of 1864 Gen. Franklin was sent for by Gen. Grant to come to his headquar- ters in front of Petersburg. AAfter spending some days with Gen. Grant, he started to return to his family, then in Portland, Maine. The train on which he started from Baltimore was captured by Major Harry Gilmore's party a short distance from Balti-

NB. Franklin

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

more. Some one informed Major Gilmore that Gen. Franklin was on the train, and he was at once taken prisoner and started South by the way of Towson and Green Spring Valley in Baltimore county. During the night he succeeded in making his es- cape, and he wandered for forty-eight hours with- out food. not daring to approach any habitation. At last, almost exhausted, he came to a house and asked for food. It proved to be the home of a Union sympathizer named Bitzer, who received, fed and concealed the General for a time. Word was sent to Baltimore, and a large force of infantry was sent to give him safe conduct to that city.

Gen. Franklin commanded the left wing of the Army of the Potomac Dec. 13. 1862, when the army was so disastrously defeated at Fredericksburg. Of that defeat, and the responsibility therefor un- justly laid on Gen. Franklin, we can best speak by quoting from a paper recently published by Col. Jacob L. Greene, himself a veteran of the Civil war, and an honored resident of Hartford. This paper, with a map specially drawn for the purpose, on which the movements of the troops are traced, was first presented to the Monday Evening Club, and has since been given to the public-a valuable contribution to history and a complete vindication of Gen. Franklin by one competent to undertake such a task and carry it to completion. In opening Col. Greene says :

On the 13th day of December, 1862, the Army of the Poto- mac, under the command of Major-Gen. Ambrose E. Burn- side, fought the battle of Fredericksburg, and met defeat with the loss of over 12,000 men. Four months later the Congressional Committee on the conduct of the war uttered its opinion to the world that Major-Gen. William Buel Franklin was responsible for the loss of that battle in con- sequence of his disobedience to the orders of Gen. Burnside. Probably no finding ever announced by that remarkable body ever occasioned more surprise; and none was ever more promptly and completely controverted; but it dark- ened the soul and marred the career of the man it falsely and infamously accused. The slow pen of history has cleared up and will ever more surely clear his pure fame, and his name will stand secure among the posterities. But for us, whose lives have happily touched his through the long years since those eventful days, and to whom his rare intelligence, his dauntless heart and perfect truth and lov- alty are as familiar as the constant stars, it is but a due trib- ute from our friendship and our faith in a manhood that we have never seen fail in any test, to read again the story of that disastrous day, note his part and bearing therein, and the cause and the manner of that cruel and wanton injustice; to learn how it came to be that the true patriot, the trained

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Commemorative biographical record of Hartford County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Pt 1, Part 1

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1336

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1336