USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 11 > Part 1
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Gc 974.6 En1 v.11 1233370
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01147 3516
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
http://www.archive.org/details/encyclopediaofco 11hart
What's homensury
ENCYCLOPEDIA
-OF -
CONNECTICUT BIOGRAPHY
GENEALOGICAL-MEMORIAL
. v. /i
REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
Compiled with the Assistance of a
Capable Corps of Advisors and Contributors
ILLUSTRATED
THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY (INC.)
NEW YORK
PUBLISHERS
CHICAGO
Foreword
E ACH one of us is "the heir of all the ages, in the foremost files of time." We build upon the solid foundations laid by the strenuous efforts of the fathers who have gone before us. Nothing is more fitting, and indeed more important, than that we should familiar- ize ourselves with their work and per- sonality ; for it is they who have lifted us up to the lofty positions from which we are working out our separate careers. "Lest we forget," it is important that we gather up the fleeting memories of the past and give them permanent record in well-chosen words of biography, and in such reproduction of the long lost faces as modern science makes possible.
SAMUEL HART.
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1233370
BIOGRAPHICAL
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En=& bv Somphel N .
Stale Browsing
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
BROWNING, John Hull,
Enterprising Business Man.
The names of the chronicle that follows have all had honored and notable repre- sentatives in. the Connecticut common- wealth, and the pages of her history are open in hearty welcome to the records compiled therein. Browning, Hazard, Hull and Sisson are patronymics standing in distinction and prominence throughout all New England, and Connecticut has had her share of worthy service and de- voted loyalty from their members.
The surname Browning is Anglo- Saxon, and in its older form would ap- pear to be the German word Bruning, which later came to be rendered in vari- ous ways, as Bruning, Bruening, Browne- ing, Brimming, Brininge, Browninge, etc. The earliest form of the name, according to the poet, Robert Browning, was "De Bruni," which was the name in Norman French of one of the ancient German tribes which inhabited the northern part of the country on the shores of the Baltic sea. According to the scholar, John Aaron Browning, the form of the word in High German is Brauning and in Low German is Bruning, names still often found. In the English home of the fam- ily the name was anglicized to Browning. The word Bruning probably refers to the complexion of the skin or the hair of the people originally socalled. The "brun" meaning brown, and the suffix "ing" mean- ing relating to, the significance of the name would be relating to those of brown complexion. Some scholars, however, contend that "ing" is a diminutive signi- fying "less," so that those designated Bruning would be described as less brown
than their neighbors. The Anglo-Saxon word Browning may have the same mean- ing ascribed to Bruning, but "ing" in Anglo-Saxon is the word for meadow or low pasture land, such as surrounds the shores of the Baltic. As the Brunings originally came from that locality, the word may have referred to them as the inhabitants of the low meadows or pasture lands whence they came. The Browning arms are recorded as follows :
Arms-Barry wavy of six argent and azure.
Crest-A sinister arm from the elbow, issuing from a cloud in the dexter, holding the hand above a serpent's head, erect from the middle, and look- ing towards the sinister proper.
(I) Nathaniel Browning, son of Mrs. Elizabeth Browning, of London, Eng- land, was born in London, England, about 1618. Mrs. Browning and her husband would appear both to have been Non- Conformists, and the prosecution that fol- lowed them was probably the inducing cause that led Nathaniel Browning to embark for America soon after he came of age, or in the year 1640, when he was about twenty-two years old. He landed in Boston, Massachusetts, and from there went to Portsmouth, Rhode Island. The reason for his going was probably that his subsequent father-in-law, William Freeborn, was also a Puritan, or Non- Conformist, and had sailed from Ipswich, England, in 1634, when he was forty years old, and his wife Mary, thirty-five years old.
The first mention that we have of Nathaniel Browning in the records of Rhode Island is in 1645, when it is stated that he purchased a dwelling house and two lots in Warwick for three pounds of
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
wampum. The wampum consisted of strings of carefully selected shells, con- sidered and used as money by the Indians. In 1654 he was made a freeman. This implied a good deal at the time, as the colonies were very young, and not only the Indians were in the vicinity, fre- quently visiting the settlements, but also, what was more to be dreaded, many per- sons of uncertain character were continu- ally coming from England to America who threatened the peace and quiet of the settlements. As any person who was made a freeman was taken into the coun- cil and government of the colony, such persons were only admitted by the Gen- eral Court, and after having taken an oath of allegiance to the government here established ; and it was very important for the protection of their wives and children as well as their property that no such per- sons should be admitted as freeman. This custom continued until the second charter in 1692 made Massachusetts a royal province. He died at Portsmouth, Rhode Island, about 1670, when about fifty-two years old.
Nathaniel Browning married, about 1650, Sarah Freeborn, second daughter of William and Mary Freeborn, who sailed from Ipswich, England, in 1634. Two children were born to Nathaniel and Sarah Browning: William, of whom further ; Jane, born about 1655.
(II) William Browning, son of Nathan- iel and Sarah (Freeborn) Browning, was born about 1651, at Portsmouth, Rhode Island. He was a farmer, and lived at North Kingston, Rhode Island. In 1684 he was made a freeman, and the records show that he exchanged lands in 1685. The record also shows that on February 26, 1688, he sold to Robert Fisher twenty acres. He died in 1730, in the eightieth year of his age. His will, dated January
12, 1730, proved February 8, 1730, reads in part as follows :
To wife, Sarah, thirty pounds yearly for life; to eldest son, Samuel, two hundred and fifty acres in South Kingston, one hundred pounds, and to have also ten pounds paid by his brother John; to son William two hundred and fifty acres in South Kingston on which he now dwelleth; to son John a hundred acres at Point Judith, where he dwelleth ; to daughter Sarah three hundred pounds; to deceased daughter Hannah Knowles children, Rebecca and Hannah, a hundred pounds at eighteen, equally divided; to three sons the rest of the estate equally.
William Browning married (first), in 1687, Rebecca Wilbur, daughter of Sam- uel and Hannah (Porter) Wilbur, grand- daughter of Samuel Wilbur and John Porter, both of whom were original settlers of Portsmouth. He married (second) Sarah, surname unknown, who died in 1730. Issue, all by first marriage : I. Samuel, born February 9, 1688. 2. Hannah, born July 16, 1691. 3. William, born September 29, 1693. 4. Sarah, born April, 1694. 5. John, of whom further.
(III) John Browning, youngest son of William and Rebecca (Wilbur) Brown- ing, was born March 4, 1696, at South Kingston, Rhode Island. He was a farmer and lived in South Kingston, near the seacoast. In 1774 he was made a freeman, and the records show that on March 8, 1738, he bought of Jeffrey Hazard a tract of two hundred acres, giv- ing £2000 for it. He sold, October 20, 174I, to Stephen Hazard, for £3000, a tract of land of a hundred acres, and April 27, 1741, he deeded to his son Jeremiah forty acres of the land bought of Jeffrey Hazard, a relative of his wife. In later years the Hazard family became very wealthy by manufacturing woolens, their principal mill being at Peace Dale, Rhode Island. In his will, dated August 23, 1770, proved April 14, 1777, he deeded to his grandsons, Thomas and William, sons
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Browning
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
of Thomas, deceased, all his lands in South Kingston, being part of his home- stead farm, about a hundred acres, and to them fourteen acres salt marsh in Charles- ton. John Browning was buried in the little Quaker burying ground at South Kingston, Rhode Island, near the factory, a small granite headstone, dug from the hills nearby, marking the spot where he lies. The name "John Browning" is all that is carved upon it, while at his side a small mound of earth marks the resting place of his wife, Ann (Hazard) Brown- ing, with no tombstone at all to mark the spot. John Browning died in 1777, at Exeter, Rhode Island, in his eighty-first year.
John Browning married, April 21, 1721, Ann Hazard, born February 28, 1701, daughter of Jeremiah and Sarah (Smith) Hazard. (See Hazard line.) Issue: I. Thomas, of whom further. 2. Sarah Eliza- beth, born 1724. 3. Jeremiah, born 1726. 4. Hannah, born 1728. 5. Martha, born 1732. 6. Ann, born 1734. 7. Eunice, born 1740. 8. John, born September 15, 1742. 9. Mary, born 1744. 10. Ephriam, born September 20, 1746.
(IV) Thomas Browning, eldest son of John and Ann (Hazard) Browning, was born in 1722, at Kingston, Rhode Island. He was a farmer at Hopkinton, Rhode Island, and was made a freeman in 1742. In religion he was a Quaker. He was ensign of Company I, South Kingston, Third Regiment, in May, 1743, and was made captain of his company in May, 1747. He is mentioned as justice of the peace at Little Compton in June, 1749. He died in 1770, at South Kingston, Rhode Island, aged fifty-two years. He left no will, but the inventory of his per- sonal estate showed that it amounted to £650.
Thomas Browning married (first) Mary Browning, daughter of William and
Mary (Wilkinson) Browning. He mar- ried (second), July 2, 1769, Anna Hoxie, daughter of Solomon and Mary Hoxie, of Richmond, Rhode Island. Issue by first marriage: I. Robert, born 1757. 2. Thomas, born 1761. 3. William Thomas, of further mention. 4. Annie, born 1767. Issue by second marriage : 1. Joshua, born 1770.
(V) William Thomas Browning, third son of Thomas and Mary (Browning) Browning, was born at South Kingston, Rhode Island, May 11, 1765. He was left an orphan when he was six years old, and went to live with his uncles, who were also his guardians. He lived part of the time with his uncle, Jeremiah Brown- ing, and part of the time with his uncle, John Browning. When eleven years of age his guardians sold a farm for him for a very large amount for those days, and the money was stored in his guardian's house in South Kingston, in gold and silver coins. This was during the War of the Revolution, and the State govern- ment sent officers with soldiers and took the money, leaving in its place continental currency, which was stored in barrels in the garret of the house. When he moved from South Kingston he went to Preston township, Connecticut, and bought a farm there. He built a new farm house on the dividing line between the townships of Preston and North Stonington, so that one-half of the house was in one town- ship and one-half in the other. This after- wards became known as the old Brown- ing homestead, and is still standing in very good condition, occupied by a Mr. Richardson. The barrels of continental money he took with him and stored in the garret of his new home. He died January 2, 1826, on his farm in Preston.
William T. Browning married, Decem- ber 29, 1784, Catherine Morey, daughter of Robert Morey, of Newport, Rhode
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Island. Issue: I. Catherine, born Janu- ary 28, 1786. 2. Mary, born February 4, 1788. 3. Thomas, born April 21, 1790. 4. Elizabeth, born July 1, 1792. 5. Sarah, (twin), born August 9, 1794. 6. Ann, (twin), born August 9, 1794. 7. William, born August 25, 1796. 8. Thomas M., born June 17, 1798. 9. Joshua, born July 17, 1800. 10. John Hazard, of whom further. 11. Latham Hull, born April 13, 1804. 12. Oren, born March 31, 1806. 13. Benjamin Franklin, born February 18, 1808. 14. Susan A., born November 8, 1810.
(VI) John Hazard Browning, son of William Thomas and Catherine (Morey) Browning, was born July 28, 1801, at the Browning homestead near Preston City, Connecticut. He grew up on his father's farm near Preston City, and when five or six years old met with an accident by falling into a deep well, which nearly cost him his life. He taught school for sev- eral years before starting in business, and began his commercial career in Milltown, Connecticut, in 1821, where he ran a gen- eral store, dealing largely in yarn spun by the farmers' wives. Shortly after his marriage he moved to New London, Con- necticut, and there continued a general merchandise business. In 1833 he moved to New York City and started in the dry goods business at the corner of Fulton and Water streets, as Browning & Hull. In 1849 he closed his business and went into the general merchandise in Cali- fornia, along with Oliver Jennings and Benjamin A. Brewster, whom he sent out to California for the purpose. He re- mained in New York City manufacturing cloth and buying other supplies which he shipped to the store in California. The store was burned three times without fire insurance, and the stock was a total loss. This business was very prosperous, but he withdrew from it and all active affairs
in 1857, except as a special partner with his eldest son in the clothing business, which was conducted by Hanford & Browning. Afterwards this firm became Browning, King & Company, and now has stores in nearly all the principal cities of the United States. He died March 22, 1877.
John Hazard Browning married (first), September 21, 1829, Eliza Smith Hull, of Stonington, Connecticut, daughter of Colonel John W. and Elizabeth (Smith) Hull, the latter of Waterford, Connecti- cut; she died April 21, 1875 (see Hull VIII). John Hazard Browning married (second) Isabelle Rutter, daughter of William Rutter, of New York City, Janu- ary II, 1876. Issue, all by first marriage : I. John W., born March 5, 1831, died in 1833. 2. William Charles, born November 13, 1835. 3. Edward Franklin, born June 21, 1837. 4. Ann Elizabeth, born Febru- ary 13, 1839. 5. John Hull, of whom further.
(VII) John Hull Browning, youngest child of John Hazard and Eliza Smith (Hull) Browning, was born December 25, 1841, in Orange, New Jersey, where the family had been for some time estab- lished. After pursuing a course in the New York Academy, he embarked upon a business career in his twentieth year, entering the wholesale clothing firm of William C. Browning & Company, which business was very successful, and John Hull Browning ultimately became inter- ested in various financial and business enterprises. Soon after 1883 he succeeded the late Charles G. Sisson as president of the Northern Railroad of New Jersey, which position he occupied twenty-two years. He was secretary and treasurer of the East & West Railroad of Alabama, and for twenty years was president of the Richmond County Gas Company, in what is Greater New York. For some
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
time he was treasurer of the Cherokee Iron Company of Cedartown, Georgia, and he was a director in the Citizen's National Bank of Englewood, New Jer- sey. Mr. Browning made his home in New York City, but maintained an attrac- tive summer home at Tenafly, New Jer- sey. He was deeply interested in organ- ized charitable work, both in New York and New Jersey, and in association with his wife erected a fresh air children's home at Tenafly. While he was essen- tially a business man, a director in many profitable enterprises, Mr. Browning al- ways had time for a reasonable amount of recreation, and devoted much thought and care to benevolent work in the inter- est of mankind in general. He was twice a presidential elector, and prior to his marriage was active in the Masonic order. He died suddenly in the Erie ferryhouse at the foot of Chambers street, New York City, October 26, 1914, on his way home.
John Hull Browning married, October 19, 1871, Eva B. Sisson, daughter of Charles Grandison and Mary Elizabeth (Garrabrant) Sisson (see Sisson on a fol- lowing page). They were the parents of a son, John Hull Browning, Jr., born October 6, 1874, died June 10, 1917.
(The Hazard Line).
Arms-Azure, two bars argent; on a chief or three escallops gules.
Crest-An escallop gules.
The family of Hassard, Hassart, or Hazard, is of Norman extraction. At the time of the Conquest they were sitting on the borders of Switzerland, and were dis- tinguished by the ancient but long extinct title of Duke de Charante. Two bearing this title visited the Holy Land as cru- saders. The Hazards in this country belong chiefly to Rhode Island, where the original Thomas Hazard settled in 1639. Tradition says that Thomas Hazard was
accompanied by a nephew, the ancestor of the New York and southern branches of the family. In Rhode Island the name is one of the most numerous in the State. Mrs. Mary Hazard, of South Kingston, Rhode Island, grandmother of Governor Hazard, died in 1739, at the age of one hundred years, and could count up five hundred children, grandchildren, great- grandchildren, and great-great-grandchil- dren, of whom two hundred and five were then living.
(I) Thomas Hazard, the first American ancestor, born in England in 1610, came from England, some say Wales, and set- tled in Rhode Island, in 1635. His name is first found in Boston in 1635. In 1638 he was admitted a freeman of Boston ; in 1639 he was admitted freeman of New- port, Rhode Island, and in 1640 he was appointed a member of the General Court of Elections. He died in 1680. Thomas Hazard married (first) Martha, surname unknown, who died in 1669. He mar- ried (second) Martha Sheriff, widow of Thomas Sheriff, who died in 1691. Issue, probably all by first marriage : I. Robert, of whom further. 2. Elizabeth, married George Lawton. 3. Hannah, married Stephen Wilcox, son of Edward Wilcox. 4. Martha, married (first) Ichabod Potter, son of Nathaniel and Dorothy Potter ; (second) Benjamin Mowry, son of Roger and Mary Mowry.
(II) Robert Hazard, eldest son of Thomas and Martha (Sheriff) Hazard, was born in 1635, in England or Ireland. He was admitted a freeman of Ports- mouth, Rhode Island, and appears to have been a prominent man in the colony, and was a large landowner. He built a big house in Kingston, Rhode Island, which stood for a century and a half. The house had a long L in which was a capacious chimney with two stone seats where, tra- dition says, the little slave children were
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
wont to sit. Robert Hazard, according to the deeds given to his sons and others, owned more than a thousand acres of land. He died in 1710.
Robert Hazard married Mary Brownell, daughter of Thomas and Ann Brownell. She died January 28, 1739, at the age of one hundred years, having lived to see five hundred of her descendants, as previ- ously stated. She appears to have been remarkable in more ways than one, for the "Boston Gazette" dated February 12, 1739, says of her: "She was accounted a very useful Gentlewoman, both to the Poor and Rich on many accounts, and particularly amongst Sick Persons for her Skill and Judgment, which she did Gratis." Issue: I. Thomas, born in 1660, died in 1746; married Susannah Nichols. 2. George, married Penelope Arnold, daughter of Caleb and Abigail Arnold, and died in 1743. 3. Stephen, married Elizabeth Helme, and died September 20, 1727. 4. Martha, married Thomas Wil- cox, and died in 1753. 5. Mary, married Edward Wilcox, and died before 1710. 6. Robert, married Amey, surname un- known, and died in 1710. 7. Jeremiah, of whom further. 8. Hannah, married Jef- frey Champlin.
(III) Jeremiah Hazard, fifth son and seventh child of Robert and Mary (Brownell) Hazard, was born March 25, 1675. He lived at Kingstown, Rhode Island, and like others of the family he owned much land, some of which re- mained with his descendants for genera- tions. He died February 2, 1768, aged ninety-three years.
Jeremiah Hazard married Sarah Smith, daughter of Jeremiah and Mary (Geready) Smith. Issue: I. Mary. born March 12, 1696, died in 1771. 2. Ann, born February 28, 1701; married John Browning, of South Kingston (see Browning III). 3. Robert, born April 1, 1703, married
Patience Northup. 4. Sarah, born Janu- ary II, 1706, married, October 24, 1728, Robert Moore. 5. Martha, born October 8, 1708. 6. Hannah, born in April, 1714; married Samuel Watson. 7. Susannah, born May 21, 1716.
(The Hull Line).
Arms-Sable, a chevron ermine between three talbots' heads erased argent.
Crest-A talbot's head erased argent between two laurel branches proper united at the top.
It is claimed by some that people who spell their name Hull are derived from the same stock as those who spell their name Hill and Hall, etc. In support of this theory, old records are cited, showing the spelling of names as de la Hille, de la Hall, de Hill, de Hall, de Halle, Hall and Hill and de Hulle and de la Hulle, Hule and Hull. It is also claimed that the Saxon word "atte" is the equivalent of the Norman word "de" or "de la" and the surname Hill, Helle, Hulle, or Hulls means a hill or hills. Atte Hull therefore would appear to mean, of the hills or from the hills. The probabilities are, however, that Hull, Hill and Hall are and have always been the names of separate and distinct families, themselves divided into other families of the same name, hav- ing no connection with each other except where they belonged to the same locality. The ancestors of those bearing the name of Hull were among the settlers and founders of this country. They took part in the formation of the government in the early colonies as well as in the first war of the colony of Connecticut against the Pequot Indians; their descendants again served in King Philip's War, and later in the Colonial and Revolutionary wars, and have held in both civic and military affairs of this country positions of which their descendants may be proud.
(I) Rev. Joseph Hull, the immigrant ancestor of one well known American line
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HULL
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
bearing the name of Hull, was born in Somersetshire, England, about 1594. He matriculated at St. Magdalen Hall, Ox- ford, May 12, 1612, aged seventeen years, and was installed rector of Northleigh diocese of Exeter, Devonshire, England, April 14, 1621. On March 20, 1635, he sailed with his family, consisting of his wife Agnes, aged twenty-five years, who was his second wife, and two sons, five daughters, and three servants, from Wey- mouth, bound for New England, with a company composed of sixteen families and numbering one hundred and four per- sons, chiefly west country people. They arrived in Boston Harbor, May 6, 1635. On their arrival at Boston a grant was obtained to establish a plantation at Wes- saguscus, and here, with others from Boston and Dorchester, they soon gath- ered into a church organization with Mr. Hull as their pastor. In September of the same year Mr. Hull, with other prominent residents of his community, took the freeman's oath, and their plantation was erected into a township and "decreed hereafter to be called Weymouth." The new church did not meet with favor from its Puritan neighbors. Dissension quickly arose within the church itself, instigated by the authorities outside, and in less than a year the Separatists had called the Rev. Thomas Jenner, of Roxbury, to be their pastor, and Mr. Hull relinquished his charge and withdrew. He obtained a grant of land in Hingham, the adjoining town, and after a brief season of preach- ing at Bass River, now Beverly, he gave up his ministerial labor and turned his attention to civic affairs. He evidently possessed the confidence of his fellow- townsmen, for he was twice elected deputy to the General Court, and in 1638 was appointed one of the local magis- trates of Hingham. In June, 1639, the Plymouth court granted authority to Mr.
Joseph Hull and Thomas Dimoc to erect a plantation at Barnstable, on Cape Cod. Mr. Hull was elected freeman and deputy for Barnstable at the first General Court held at Plymouth. For a time he sup- ported his family by agriculture and the raising of cattle and horses. Turning once more to the ministry, he preached for a long time at the Isle of Shoals. Re- turning to Barnstable, he accepted a call at Yarmouth and moved his family there, but as the call was not for a recognized church organization, it aroused the hos- tility of the authorities and Mr. Hull was excommunicated by the Barnstable Church in 1641. He withdrew to the more friendly association of the Maine colony. For a time he was settled at the Isle of Shoals, and in 1643 was called to York, Maine, as minister. In 1652 Mr. Hull returned to England and was given the living at St. Burian, in Cornwall, where he remained until after the Restora- tion. In 1662 he returned to America and was settled as minister at Oyster River, now Dover, New Hampshire. Here, among his old friends, he passed the clos- ing years of his life in quietness and esteem. He died at York, Maine, Novem- ber 19, 1665.
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